Monday, June 30, 2003

Is Google God?

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Thomas Friedman asks the burning question.....



Is Google God?


"The key point is not just whether people hate us," says Robert Wright, the author of "Nonzero," a highly original book on the integrated world. "The key point is that it matters more now whether people hate us, and will keep mattering more, for technological reasons. I don't mean just homemade W.M.D.'s. I am talking about the way information technology -- everyone using e-mail, Wi-Fi and Google -- will make it much easier for small groups to rally like-minded people, crystallize diffuse hatreds and mobilize lethal force. And wait until the whole world goes broadband......"

http://politicalwire.com/archives/002349.html

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Dean Raises $7 Million For Quarter


See Taegan Goddard's Poliical Wire for more about the good news!


Sen John Warner refuses Iraq investigation

DID YOU KNOW THAT
SENATOR JOHN WARNER HAS REFUSED A REQUEST FOR A SENATE ARMED
SERVICES COMITTEE INQUIRY INTO IRAQ INTELLIGENCE?

article here

Ask yourselves--why wouldn't the good Senator Warner care?
Why would the Armed Services Committee need to wait until the Senate Intelligence Committee
has completed its review, then decide how to move ahead?

When covering asses becomes paramount over an imperative truth (a truth which has taken the lives of over 200 precious U.S. troops
and countless Iraqi troops and civilians), then there clearly IS no Senate bipartisanship and should be no angst about Senate bipartisanship.



SCREW bipartisanship if this is the way of things.


Senator Carl Levin---we Americans salute you!
Thank you.

Foreign Power Detains Mayor of U.S. Southern City

Foreign Power Detains Mayor of U.S. Southern City!



"Foreign troops detained the mayor of this Christian-dominated southern city on Monday, accusing him of kidnapping and corruption, and arrested 62 of his top aides, the foreign military said...."




OK.

This isn't a real story.

Something similar has actually happened, though, in another country.

Imagine it happening here.
Can you?
I wonder.....


...and the nuttiest thing is this: we appointed the guy in the first place.
What the hell are we thinking? What the hell are we doing?!


Democracy? I'm sorry.....did someone say democracy??!?


..with a straight face?!??


Incidentally, the photo above is actually the Addams family's "Cousin It" being taken to the City Zoo.


And, no---this is NOT John Kerry.




But this surely resembles Emperor Bush surveying his conquered lands amidst the vanquished of desert sands..

Bush Misled US Into Iraq War--An Official Finding?

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David Corn
Bush Misled US Into Iraq War--An Official Finding?


U.S. Representative Jane Harman (ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee) is speaking strongly.
Will Bush's prewar deceptions end up more thoroughly substantiated than was his case for war?


See article here

California State Democrats recall lessons of Florida

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California State Democrats recall lessons of Florida
Republicans' 2000 tactics serving as model for Davis team


"When the 2000 presidential election melted down in Florida, Democrats were admittedly exhausted, caught off guard and outmaneuvered by Republicans. Now, Democrats are applying the lessons they learned 3,000 miles away to the potential recall of Gov. Gray Davis.

Over the past two weeks, Davis and his supporters have become more organized and focused, and unafraid of ground-level skirmishes. They have settled on a simple message -- that the recall is a right-wing coup attempt -- and started preparing a long-range public relations assault..."

read article here

Top 100 Small Art Towns

Top 100 American Small Art Towns
-Where the towns are small, but the art is always BIG


An image from Le Paradis Musulman

illustrated by F.-L. Schmied


See author John Villani's list of Top 100 Small Art Towns in America
*from his book "The 100 Best Small Art Towns in America: Discover Creative Communities, Fresh Air, and Affordable Living":

See index here

Art reference: http://www.wilsey.net/

The Language of Nonviolence

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The Language of Nonviolence
By Marshall B. Rosenberg

The path to non-violence begins by considering that:
(from article):
How are you?” has become ritualized in many cultures, but it’s a profoundly important question, because living in harmony with our nature – which I think is compassion – requires being able to stay connected to one another..."

*Marshall B. Rosenberg travels the globe teaching Nonviolent Communication to diplomats, educators, corporate managers, parents, military personnel, peace activists, and others in over 20 countries.

Natural Child Project
Misc Rosenberg Articles

Newsday Columnist Agrees That Cable News is Swiftly Becoming Irrelevant

Newsday Columnist Agrees That Cable News is Swiftly Becoming Irrelevant

See article here

The Cable News networks may as well be Court TV.

Excerpt:

"I was a little worried about the coming news vacuum now that we've won the war in Iraq. The only thing left is to get Iraqis to like us and stop shooting our nation-builders.

It's a comfort to know that, thanks to TV news, the most trusted source of information, a recent poll found one-third of the American public believes weapons of mass destruction were uncovered in Iraq. Another 22 percent believes Iraq used chemical or biological weapons against coalition forces.

The whole world is in recession. You can get a six-year loan with zero interest on a car, and dealers still can't give the cars away. Ford is seemingly going bankrupt. Still, there is no economic news worth saturation coverage.

You can't do foreign news, because surveys find that Americans are bored by foreign news. So covering the 60 countries where we may have to send our troops to help rebuild is frowned upon."

'Enron Ralph' given senior spot in Conservative Bush campaign

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'Enron Ralph' given senior spot in Conservative Bush campaign

"Mr. Bush has named Ralph Reed, who first rose to prominence as executive director the Christian Coalition, as a senior member of his campaign team. Beyond that, Mr. Rove and Mr. Mehlman are viewed by conservatives as advocates for their point of view in the White House."

...the same "prominent" Ralph Reed who, prior to his recent rise to capaign glory, achieved "prominence" when a cushy job with Enron was bestowed upon him.....thanks to "friends in highhh places..".
Sing a long, Ralph: "Whaaaat a friend we have in Dubya....."

Here's a quote from Edward H. Crane, president of the Cato Institute, a libertarian research organization: "His fiscal record is appalling — spending is out of control... the fiscal record of the Bush administration makes Clinton look downright responsible."

If democracy-loving Americans remain complacent, Grover'Norquist's twisted wish will come true:
"The Republicans are looking at decades of dominance in the House and the Senate, and having the presidency with some regularity," Mr. Norquist said.

Don't just sit there----DO something.

Adam Nagourney/NY Times article here

Britain stirs, America sleeps

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Britain stirs, America sleeps
By William Pfaff TMSI/IHT

Excerpt:

".. A good deal has already been written about corrupting the intelligence services to serve ideological interests. Not so much has been said about plain lies, which travel a long way in an electorate as uninterested in international affairs and as ill-served by press and television as today's American electorate.

Bush convinced the majority of Americans that Saddam Hussein not only had weapons of mass destruction but was about to use them against America. He convinced the public majority that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were linked, and that Iraq collaborated in the Sept. 11 attacks. He has now convinced the public that Iran is a nuclear threat, and 56 percent of American opinion would support military intervention in that country to deal with the claimed danger.

Presidential lies to Congress, strictly speaking, are constitutional ground for impeachment. They really are something more serious. They rupture the relationship of responsibility that is supposed to exist between president and public.

Partisan or personal interest and equivocation are one thing. Lies about matters of state, and about war, are another. To lie to the citizenry is to reject the confidence freely given a president.

It destroys the moral bond that holds a democratic society together."


Another interesting Pfaff article: The long reach of Leo Strauss

Daddy, Why Did We Have to Attack Iraq?

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Daddy, Why Did We Have to Attack Iraq?