Arab-American Political Action Committee Endorses Dennis Kucinich
"It was not a strategy endorsement, it was an endorsement of principle.The argument we had yesterday was should we stand by our principles or cast a vote based on electability. But this was a group that voted for (President) Bush in 2000 and were stung by the Bush administration. They decided that they needed to make it clear that this community will vote for the candidate that best represents its interests, not necessarily the one that may be elected."
--Osama Siblani, editor-in-chief of The Arab-American News.

Zell Miller: Famous supportive words of a fool/August, 2002

"Today, I am proud of our President. He has said we are at war with terrorism and with states that sponsor and harbor terrorists. I agree with that. But let's face it - that means an ever-increasing, wider war.
And as far as I'm concerned, it means at some time going after Saddam Hussein.
We don't have to prove he was involved with September 11 or with Al Qaeda. We know he hates the United States. We know he has weapons of mass destruction..."

Let's face it, unfaithful Democrat, you were duped.

In fairness to Zell, I appreciate these words from the same speech:

"It is a system that Cuisinarts individual thought into a blind party goose step. A system that expects one to go along with the team even if the quarterback is calling the wrong signals.
And one of these days someone smarter and younger and more articulate than I is going to get through to the American people just how really messed up it has become.
And when that happens, the American people are going to rise up like that football crowd in Cleveland and run both teams off the field.
Because as Churchill said, "Democracy is based on reason and a sense of fair play" and there is nothing reasonable or fair about this system.

And yet...Zell's reasoning totally collapsed when he threw his 2004 endorsement to Bush. A person can have wise ideas, yet not have the common sense to understand how to create conditions under which the ideas can flourish. With his endorsement of Bush, possibly the worst divider in Presidential history, Zell perpetuates the problem and betrays the very independent thinker he claims to be. He betrays all Americans by promising more of that which he claims to abhor.

The Nation/Katha Politt:
Judy, Judy, Judy
I think this is the best article written (to date) about the First-Lady-go-round.

Guardian:
US officials knew in May Iraq possessed no WMD

Intelligence sources, policy makers and weapons inspectors familiar with the details of the hunt for WMD told The Observer it was widely known that Iraq had no WMD within three weeks of Baghdad falling, despite the assertions of senior Bush administration figures and the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
The new revelation came as White House sources indicated that President George Bush was considering establishing an investigation into the intelligence, despite rejecting an inquiry the previous day.(hmmm...)

WMD: How it went wrong

In a series of interviews, senior former US intelligence officers, members of the weapons community and former senior US policy advisers have told The Observer that it was well known in intelligence and senior administration circles by the first week of May that it was extremely unlikely that any weapons would be found. The allegations pose serious questions for Downing Street and the Prime Minister, raising the possibility that Blair and his officials began their feud with the BBC and Andrew Gilligan after it had become known that the intelligence used to justify Britain's involvement in the war was largely incorrect.....why did Bush and Blair press on for months with their insistence that the WMD existed, after it was clear that the intelligence was hugely flawed?
...'What is so remarkable is that it became very quickly apparent in the post-war interviews with scientists and other officials, that no one even admitted that even plans such as those existed.....
"'I know for certain that there were analysts in the Defence Intelligence Agency and the State Department and the CIA who took an alternative point of view. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and ultimately George Bush chose to ignore their cautions. Worst-case scenarios were being taken by policy makers who were picking and choosing intelligence."
--Larry Johnson, former CIA anti-terrorism expert

God is to us everything that is gode amd all thing
that is made

In this same time our lord shewed to me a ghostly sight of his homely loveing. I saw that he is to us everything that is good and comfortable for us. He is our clotheine that for love wrappith us,(halseth) us and all beclosyth us for tender love, that hee may never leave us, being to us althing that is gode, as to myne understondyng. Also in this he shewed a littil thing, the quantitye of an hesil nutt in the palme of my hand; and it was as round as a balle.
I lokid thereupon with eye of my understondyng and thowte:
"What may this be?"
And it was generally answered thus:
"It is all that is made."

--Julian of Norwich

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adventures of confessions of saint augustine bear

Comedy Central
John Stewart on WMDs/David Kay/Condoleeza Rice
You've got to see this video! Often these days, the fake news drives the point home far better than the real!
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The Onion:
Bush 2004 Campaign Promises to Restore Honor and Dignity to White House

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And they say Howie's a screamer!?

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Two Trailers Containing Bio-material FOUND!

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Karl Rove's Been Seen Sneaking Out at Night...

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Why Is Dean So Angry?

N.Y. Times
9-11 Commission: Extent of government's failures coming to light
Bush and GOP prefer political protection to completion of investigation

The panel faces a May 27 deadline. It wants two more months to complete its work but faces resistance from House GOP leaders and the Bush administration. They fear the process could become too politicized if it's released in the days near the November elections.

Arianna Huffington moved by Judy Dean's heartfelt declaration of independence from our "Thing" Culture

"There is a way that leads from all-colors
to colorlessness. Know that the magnificent variety
of the clouds and the weather comes from
the total simplicity of the sun and the moon."
-Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi, I, 3462-3485

People like my mother and Judy Dean stand in stark contrast to our national obsession with consumption. Our "Supersize Me!" society has so elevated the manufactured over the meaningful that when somebody dares question the value of our collective covetousness we react like they've impugned the legitimacy of the sacred scrolls of the scriptures.
In their rejection of our fixation on the fashionable, these anti-Trumps suddenly become the little boy pointing out that despite our designer clothes, top of the line SUVs, and plasma TVs, we're really just a bunch of emperors in expensive birthday suits, trying unsuccessfully to buy our way to happiness.....

...Consumer debt is at an all-time high as are the number of people filing for bankruptcy.....
Of course, this culture-wide shopping spree is happening on the watch of our conservative leaders. Conservatism is supposed to stand in clear counterpoint to the excesses of the counterculture -- with responsibility, self-discipline, and living within one's means replacing the "if it feels good, do it" ethos. But George Bush and his corporate cronies have sacrificed these values on the altar of consumption: "If it feels good, buy it!"

...What also struck me about the not very thingy Judy Dean was the sense of contentment and comfort she radiated with who she is -- and who she isn't.

...she'd make one hell of a First Lady.... I would love to have a very different kind of role model front and center in the national spotlight. One who loves her job, puts her family first, doesn't equate split ends with mortal failure, doesn't mind getting a rhododendron for her birthday, and doesn't even have cable TV.

N.Y. Times
Paul Krugman: Where's The Apology?

...America's credibility has been badly damaged — and nobody is being held accountable. But that's standard operating procedure. As far as I can tell, nobody in the Bush administration has ever paid a price for being wrong. Instead, people are severely punished for telling inconvenient truths. And administration officials have consistently sought to freeze out, undermine or intimidate anyone who might try to check up on their performance....
....These people politicize everything, from military planning to scientific assessments. If you're with them, you pay no penalty for being wrong. If you don't tell them what they want to hear, you're an enemy, and being right is no excuse.
-Still, the big story isn't about Mr. Bush; it's about what's happening to America. Other presidents would have liked to bully the C.I.A., stonewall investigations and give huge contracts to their friends without oversight. They knew, however, that they couldn't. What has gone wrong with our country that allows this president to get away with such things?

Here's my take. No one is fired from this Administration because once they're let go, they'll sing like birds about the shady doings within the White House. They might even reveal, as Paul O'Neill did, that the Emperor has no brains clothes.