The Government who lied-The greatest sin committed against Americans

Chalabi Got What He Wanted--The WMD Lies? As President Bush Said: 'So What's the Difference?'

"Our objective has been achieved. That tyrant Saddam is gone, and the Americans are in Baghdad. What was said before is not important."


So sayeth Ahmad Chalabi--puller of Bush administration strings

"We are
heroes in error!"


*"....And I am the hero of skimming off the financial benefits of our error!""

Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and our Commander-in-Chief....these are only a few the "dreamteam dupes of Chalabi" who led America down the path to unnecessary war. I'm not certain if this sin against the American people can ever be forgiven.

"Now maybe, just maybe, Saddam's capture will start a virtuous circle in Iraq. Maybe the insurgency will evaporate; maybe the cost to America, in blood, dollars and national security, will start to decline.
But even if all that happens, we should be deeply disturbed by the history of this war. For its message seems to be that as long as you wave the flag convincingly enough, it doesn't matter whether you tell the truth."

--Paul Krugman NY Times, 12-19-03

We're heroes in untrustworthy recklessness!

About Thomas Friedman....

"I hear rumors that, for his next project, he is working with Pat Buchanan co-writing a screenplay for Mel Gibson. It is called:
The Jews Killed Kennedy, Mr. Rodgers and Captain Kangaroo."



Aww, c'mon, don't get in an uproar..it's a joke, already.
This is a memorable line from a new Jeff Dunetz article whose humor, albeit au courant, is not denotative of a Mel Gibson"Passion" puff-piece. This is about N.Y. Times columnist Thomas Friedman who, as of late, has been observed confusing us readers with inconsistent aplogist doublespeak about many a topic. Mr. Dunetz calls it like he sees it...with refreshing humor. But you won't get him wrong...he makes it clear that he means what he says.

"...look at some of the things [Thomas Friedman's] said. Like the time he said that the only reason President Bush supported Israel was that he didn't want to alienate the Jewish vote. "Mr. Bush blinked because he didn't want to alienate the Jewish Voter." (NY Times June 30th 2002 ) Does that really sound like someone whose last name is FRIEDMAN?" No, that sounded like it came from the Prime Minister of Malaysia. It's like he is ignoring Palestinian terrorism totally. He can't really believe that, he must be acting like an Anti-Semite to make a point...."

.......“Look at his statement this past January 18th that Israel is standing in the way of the Arab/Muslim world modernizing? Could any sane man really believe that? Totally ignoring that repressive regimes such as Iran and Syria refuse to modernize because it will lead do democratization…and the end of their power. Come on! He even uses terms like 'vicious cycle of violence,' putting the blowing up of a bus and the killing of terrorists on the same moral plane. I bet that Tom Friedman hates saying that. Surely every time he describes a West Bank settler a "fanatical Jew" a tear comes to his eye! But he is taking one for the team, fighting Anti-Semitism by taking it to the extreme. What a nice guy that Tommy is!”

I can't help but think of the old Wayne Walker song: 'Are You Sincere?"

Are you sincere when you say "I love you?"
Are you sincere when you say "I'll be true?"
Do you mean every word that my ears have heard?
I'd like to know which way to go, will our love grow?
Are you sincere?

I want readers to know I do not take this matter lightly.
Our most prominent journalists must be as rational and fair as possible in this treacherous day and age. The future of a decent and peaceful civilization depends upon it. Reuven Koret, the publisher of the Israeli daily magazine "Israel Insider", had this to say about Mr. Friedman in April, 2002:

"...He [Friedman] is privy to the plans of the New World Order. He can "pass" where other Jews cannot: within the borders of Saudi, to be used by their potentates, too. He dutifully leaks what they want us to hear, which is this: Unless it obeys the Order, Israel will be blamed for no less than the Clash of Civilizations. Israel will be blamed for future acts of Islamic terrorism against U.S. and Western interests. Israel will even be blamed for acts of terrorism against Israel itself. It is already happening..."

No matter how you may feel about the issue, I ask you to take a few moments and think about this.

Related: A website by Mark Rupert, a political scientist at Syracuse University, discussing his failure to appreciate Friedman's decidedly neoliberal views about globalization. Quote from the page:

Friedman has been among the most outspoken critics of the new social movements which have arisen to challenge neoliberal globalization, which had their coming out party in Seattle in November-December, 1999. In a column entitled Senseless in Seattle (NYT 12/1/1999), Friedman called the protesters "ridiculous," "crazy," "a Noah's ark of flat-earth advocates, protectionist trade unions and yuppies looking for their 1960's fix", who if they only "stopped yapping" long enough to think "would realize that they have been duped by knaves like Pat Buchanan".

Ralph Nader may run for President

The San Francisco Chronicle says: "Ralph Nader will announce Sunday [on NBC's Meet the Press] whether he will make another run for the White House, but all signs indicate the consumer advocate plans to jump into the race as an independent."

Labor leader disgraces himself by brutally attacking the dignity of failed Democratic nominee


This angry and troubled man owes Howard Dean an apology

Gerald W. McEntee, AFSCME president, did not wish to throw what he considered to be good political money after bad. He decided to abandon the Howard Dean campaign just before the Wisconsin primary. McEntee says Dean didn't understand how substantial his decline was after the "Dean'scream" in Iowa. McEntee admits to losing confidence in Dean after the Dean-scream. When Dean decided to move on with the race in Wisconsin, McEntee told him he "couldn't win". Dean decided to move ahead, regardless of McEntee's opinions about his chances.
Because of all this, McEntee calls Howard Dean "nuts".
I'm sorry...I don't see his point.
My opinion is that McEntee was sorry he didn't back Kerry after he realized Dean was being killed off by the
media-bashing he took after the "scream". (Which really wasn't a maniacal scream at all...anyone in that very loud room that night would tell you so). McEntee didn't get his way with Dean. He obviously couldn't take it like a gentleman. I think it's McEntee who needs a vacation...chill out..get some "R-and-R". Dean had many supporters to answer to...and none of us wanted to see him drop out before Wisconsin. He isn't "nuts" and I think McEntee's an ungentlemanly cad for insinuating so. Adam Nagourney's motivational decision to write about it is curious...and the NY Times' decision to print the story even MORE SO. It borders upon slander and libel. As far as decent journalism goes, this was bottom-of-the-barrel.

"Who would have ever thought that the New York primary might make or break a candidate?"
--Senator Charles E. Schumer, D-NY

10 states are going to the polls on March 2. (California, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont).
New York has a total of 236 delegates. Most of our State's Democratic primary voters come from New York City. In the last Presidential primary in 2000, there was a ratio of 70-to-30 downstate-upstate.
In today's New York Times article about the political landscape in New York state, one leading New York Democratic strategist, speaking on the condition of anonymity, is quoted to have said bluntly:

"[Sen. John] Edwards's populist message of job loss works well upstate because it's a fading industrial area that's a lot like other parts of the country where he has done well....But in New York Democratic primaries, upstate is not where the votes are."

The article discusses which issues are most important to people living in the different regions of the State. Political strategists are not yet certain how Senator Edwards's brand of populism will be received in New York City. Because white-collar jobs are beginning to be sent overseas, they think Sen. Edwards' economic message may resonate in NYC and its suburbs as well as Upstate.

Will politics or common sense rule this summer's days in Iraq?
The following are excerpts from recent articles about the state of elections in Iraq and the upcoming date of expected turnover of power to the new Iraqi government.

"...even some in the [Bush] administration have begun to worry that the [June, 2004] date reflects more concern for American politics than Iraqi democracy. Their fear is that an untested government taking power on June 30 may not be strong enough to withstand the pressures bearing down on it.."
[New York Times Feb 19]

"..The US plan to hold council-based elections has collapsed--the Iraqis don't want it, Sistani doesn't want it, no one wants it. But Mr. Bremer insisted at a news conference on Thursday that 1) the transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government will occur without fail by July 1 and 2) Islamic canon law will not be the law of the land, and the rights of minorities will be guaranteed in the Fundamental Law now being drafted by the Interim Governing Council. The major issue now is how exactly a government will be erected that will take control of the country from the US this summer, and that will then guide Iraq to open elections by the end of the year or so.."
[Juan Cole Feb 20

"...Amid preparations for pivotal elections Friday in Iran - and later this year in Iraq - analysts see two Shiite visions of democracy vying for dominance. Some say the traditionally "quietist" clergy represented by Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is growing more influential at the expense of Iran's all-embracing system of clerical rule embodied by Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei..."
[Christian Science Monitor February 20]