Americans Are Not Only Angry With the Bush Administration, They Are Fed Up With
Politics-as-Usual Democrats

Democrats like Joe Lieberman are accusing Howard Dean of dividing the party, but I beg to differ.
A mirror is available just about anywhere one goes..and really, attacking the front-running candidate with the most bluntly-honest and original ideas when Saddam Hussein gets captured only makes one look petty and opportunist.
Today's Washington-Democrats seem afraid of facing our future and our common destiny..relying upon old and tired (and filthy) political tactics.

In 2000, after having a Presidential election hijacked by a partisan, Republican-coddling Judiciary, millions of intelligent Americans had a major awakening of consciousness to the fact that we needed to change the very face of politics or see our democracy die.

We have become utterly and painfully aware of many of our own cowering Democratic representatives.
In October, 2002, being faced with the Iraq Resolution, they let Bush run roughshod over them..abandoning their own courage and intuition. If they'd gone with their guts, wisdom, and instincts, their handling of the challenging situation might have had the conclusion of revealing them as brilliant leaders. Alas, in fear of how they'd be politicaly perceived if they had dared to stand up to Bush, they dismally failed us.

After 9-11, we find that the American PEOPLE are far braver, intuitive, and consciously aware than our Representatives have been.

Howard Dean matches our courage, shares our intuition, welcomes our participation, respects our awareness.
This is what makes him a winner..not his "anger".

In the poem "The Song of a Man Who Has Come Through", D.H. Lawrence wrote:

"Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me!
A fine wind is blowing the new direction of Time.
If only I let it bear me, carry me, if only it carry me!"

The winds of the hijacked election; the winds of 9-11; the winds of great job losses in America; and the winds of the lies we were fed day after day during the lead-up to the PNAC-planned Iraq war have blown through Americans and we are more than aware that there is a new direction we must take for our future.

Yesterday's 'Washington-insider' Democrats cannot convince us that they are looking forward.

The more you tell Americans they can go about business as usual as their job-foundations are sucked away under their needy feet, the more Americans will resent you when they find their jobs are gone.

The more you tell Americans their opinions aren't worth anything and proceed to give an untrustworthy President a blank check to attack another nation... even when you see hundreds of thousands of those good Americans protesting BEFORE that war is begun, the more Americans will resent and disrespect you for your ignorance and blind compliance.

The Democratic party must show itself as clear, strong, steadfast, innovative, hopeful, respectful of its diverse constituency (without becoming mired down in the any-varied issues), respectful of each and every person who feels they can make a difference and wishes to participate in the great gift the Founders of this nation created for them, and gutsy and honest enough to tell Americans they are living falsely-materialistic lives. We will have to pay the piper somewhere along the line....or it's damn certain our children will pay for our hypocrisy, greed, lies and ignorance.

My parents had more opportunity than their parents.
I had more opportunity than my own parents.
My son may not even see an opportunity-level close to my own.

We have to ask ourselves....what the hell is happening?

Wake up, Democrats.

We, the People, are awakened; aware.
The winds have come through and we are carried by them.
You've only been fighting them.

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Song of a Man Who Has Come Through

Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me!
A fine wind is blowing the new direction of Time.
If only I let it bear me, carry me, if only it carry me!

If only I am sensitive, subtle, oh, delicate, a winged gift!



If only, most lovely of all, I yield myself and am borrowed
By the fine, fine wind that takes its course through the chaos of the world
Like a fine, an exquisite chisel, a wedge-blade inserted;

If only I am keen and hard like the sheer tip of a wedge
Driven by invisible blows,
The rock will split, we shall come at the wonder, we shall find the Hesperides.



Oh, for the wonder that bubbles into my soul,
I would be a good fountain, a good well-head,
Would blur no whisper, spoil no expression.

What is the knocking?
What is the knocking at the door in the night?
It is somebody wants to do us harm.

No, no, it is the three strange angels.
Admit them, admit them...

D.H. Lawrence

Censored 2004: The Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2002-2003

AP: A Roll Call of the Greats Who Died in 2003

These are only a few.






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Another Roll Call Representing the Loss of Greatness Among Us

The American Soldier is the Time Magazine "Person of the Year".

This is just one of those great souls...Spc. Brandon Tobler of Portland, Oregon.
He died in a Humvee accident during a blinding sandstorm early last Spring in Iraq.
He was 19 years old.

In a last, hurried e-mail to his aunt from somewhere in the deserts of the Middle East, Tobler wrote that if he could help make one family safe during this war in Iraq, he would've made a difference. He would've done his duty. link



If you click on his photo, you will see just one of the small acts done in his honor..it is an act of love and
respect in memory of his service to our country.
There are hundreds like this brave young person....and hundreds upon hundreds more who knew and loved them.

Please remember them all in your prayers this holiday season.

Dean Announces Foreign Policy & National Security Advisors

I read this news on Veterans for Dean blog:

Press release from the Dean campaign on Blogformerica.com:

Governor Dean today announced the team of distinguished experts who will advise his campaign on national security and foreign policy. Dean will deliver a major address on national security today in Los Angeles at 1:30 pm ET (10:30 am PT). We will post a transcript as soon as it is available. The advisors are:

Benjamin R. Barber is Kekst Professor of Civil Society at the University of Maryland and is the author "Strong Democracy," "Jihad Vs. McWorld," and "Fear's Empire: War, Terrorism And Democracy." He has been an informal advisor to former President Bill Clinton.

Ashton B. Carter is Co-Director (with former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry) of the Harvard-Stanford Preventive Defense Project and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy in the Clinton administration.

Ivo H. Daalder is a Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution and served as Director for European Affairs on the National Security Council during the Clinton administration.

Morton H. Halperin served as Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. Department of State.

Elisa D. Harris is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland and former Director for Nonproliferation and Export Controls on the National Security Council staff during the Clinton administration.

General Joseph Hoar (USMC, Ret.) served as Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Central Command.

Major General Randy Jayne (USAF, Ret.) is currently a Senior Partner with Heidrick & Struggles in McLean, VA. Prior to retiring from the Air Force and the Air National Guard, he served on the National Security Council staff, in the Office of Management and Budget. He was also the President of a major aerospace and defense operating company.

Franklin D. Kramer is Of Counsel to the law firm of Shea & Gardner and served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs for President Clinton.

Anthony Lake is Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He served as National Security Advisor to President Clinton.

General Merrill McPeak (USAF, Ret.) served as U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff during the first Persian Gulf War.

Clyde Prestowitz is President of the Economic Strategy Institute and served as Counsel to the Secretary of Commerce during the Reagan Administration. He is the author of "Rogue Nation: American Unilateralism and the Failure of Good Intentions."

Susan E. Rice is Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy and Governance Studies at The Bookings Institution and served as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.

Jeffrey Sachs is Professor of Economics and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and has served as an advisor to many developing nations.

Admiral Stansfield Turner (USN, Ret.) formerly served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

William Woodward is former Deputy Director Policy Planning for the U.S. Department of State.

The new team of advisors adds to the group that has been informally advising the governor. For over a year and a half, Danny E. Sebright, Associate Vice President of the Cohen Group, has been Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to Governor Dean. In addition to helping the campaign develop national security and foreign policy, he has spearheaded the process of recruiting the team of advisors.

Colonel Richard L. Klass (USAF, Ret.), a Washington area international security and business consultant, has conducted outreach to the military community for the campaign for nearly a year. A Rhodes Scholar and former White House Fellow, Colonel Klass was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart for combat in Vietnam during his Air Force career. Lionel Johnson, Vice President and Director of International Government Relations of Citigroup Inc., is also assisting with the campaign's outreach efforts to the foreign policy community. Prior to joining Citigroup, Mr. Johnson served in the Departments of State and Treasury, and was formerly a foreign service officer.

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See Rodger A. Payne's blog for information and opinion about some of the people on this list.

Jim Wallis: Dangerous Religion - Bush's Theology of Empire



Is George W. Bush a blasphemer?

".....It's not a surprise to note that the global church does not generally support the foreign policy goals of the Bush administration—whether in Iraq, the Middle East, or the wider "war on terrorism." Only from inside some of our U.S. churches does one find religious voices consonant with the visions of American empire..."

"....In Christian theology, it is not nations that rid the world of evil—they are too often caught up in complicated webs of political power, economic interests, cultural clashes, and nationalist dreams. The confrontation with evil is a role reserved for God, and for the people of God when they faithfully exercise moral conscience. But God has not given the responsibility for overcoming evil to a nation-state, much less to a superpower with enormous wealth and particular national interests. To confuse the role of God with that of the American nation, as George Bush seems to do, is a serious theological error that some might say borders on idolatry or blasphemy..."

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Duane Shank: The Project for a New American Empire
Who are these guys? And why do they think they can rule the world?


"We will crush you....mwuhaha!"

"....The plan of the Project for the New American Century must be countered with a vision that insists militarization and pre-emptive war is not the path to real security. We must advance the vision of a world where international institutions are strengthened rather than destroyed, where global poverty is seriously addressed, where all countries, including the United States, are disarming their weapons of mass destruction, and where human rights are taken seriously. People of faith and goodwill in this country and around the world stood up by the millions to oppose the war against Iraq. We must now continue that opposition—through doing justice, loving compassion, and walking with God in the struggle."

Rutland Herald-
Dean warns: 'Blather' is bad for Democrats

I love that word....blather.
I used it (and provided the Merriam Webster definition) just recently in this blog-entry.

Gov. Dean makes some great points:

"..This is not good for the Democratic Party to have this blather going on in Washington..."

"....While chastising his opponents for causing internal party strife, he joined in, saying congressional Democrats who supported the war "backed away from what was right." ...I think it's very clear that Democrats in Washington have said anything they can to change the course of what's happening here," Dean said in a state where the polls have him 25 to 29 percentage points ahead...."

"...I think the Democratic Party has to offer a clear alternative to the American people," he said. "The capture of one bad man doesn't mean the president and Washington Democrats can declare victory in the war on terrorism. The question is what is right, not what is popular."Real dangers ranging from stateless terrorists to the nuclear threat from North Korea must be confronted, he said.

"The truth is, Americans are no safer from these serious threats than they were the day before Saddam Hussein was captured," he said. "We are no safer today than the day the planes struck the World Trade Center."

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This goes along with what Gov. Dean is saying:
NY Times: Terrorism Drills Showed Lack of Preparedness, Report Says

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And this...
Newhouse News:
WASHINGTON -- The capture of a powerless and virtually helpless Saddam Hussein, alleged mastermind of Iraq's bloody resistance, has exposed a major flaw in American strategy in the war on terrorism, analysts say.

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Washington Times: According to the National Intelligence Council, new report says the near-future for Iraq looks mighty bleak.

See National Intelligence Council Report here: The Middle East to 2020

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Ashcroft's terror-cases are mostly fizzling...
Boston Globe: Few jailed in terror cases, study says

"..About 6,400 people were referred by investigators for criminal charges involving terrorism in the two years after the attacks, but fewer than one-third were charged and only 879 were convicted, according to government records reviewed by Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
The median prison sentence was 14 days, according to a study by clearinghouse codirectors David Burnham and Susan P. Long. Only five people were sentenced to 20 years or more.
Critics seized on the numbers to question whether Attorney General John Ashcroft and other top law enforcement officials have been overstating the success of their antiterrorism efforts..."

My vote for TTLB's Showcase this week:
What's so wrong about peace, love and higher taxes?

Open Democracy: The UN in 2003- a year of living dangerously

The crisis over Iraq has brought the United Nations to a crossroads. At the end of a year when diplomacy was felled by force, the institution can regain its influence only by rethinking its core security mandate.

U.S. Army News/Soldier Stories:
Soldier improves Humvee protection

An improvising reservist has been using his engineering skills to help provide better protection to Soldiers riding around Iraq in unarmored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles.

Capt. Darryl M. Butler, a facility engineer for Task Force 1st Armored Division’s 354th Civil Affairs Brigade, an Army Reserve unit from Riverdale, Md., is the type of Soldier who is never satisfied with equipment that is simply “adequate.”
Currently, Butler is working with a growing team of Iraqi engineers, including metal workers, sprayers and welders, piecing together his new brainchild: the Modified Protection for un-Armored Humvees.
More than 900 pounds of steel in a 25-piece kit make up what has been dubbed “The Butler Mobile,” a custom, modular armor plating system designed to be an addition to soft-top Humvees.
The kit includes door pieces, floor plates and a bolt-on fortress for the rear and roof, all of which put a layer of heavy steel between Soldiers and whatever the enemy throws at them, Butler said.