Charlotte "Fahrenheit 9-11" party Updated

Charlotte NC MoveOn.org-Fahrenheit 9/11 party

The fine people of Charlotte, NC were very welcoming to this Central New Yorker Monday night at one of the 3000+ MoveOn.org-Fahrenheit 9/11 house parties across the nation. It was very well-attended (I took some photos which will I'll post when available).

UPDATE: Photo here:




The party was held at the Evening Muse in the lovely NODA section of Charlotte. It was hosted by manager Lea Pritchard and her fiancee, who was a spirited emcee. I was happy to have had the opportunity to meet Jane Whitley, secretary of the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party and to spend time with the talented blogger Anonymoses.

There were some memorable moments, such as the first hour of the event, where the people in the interesting crowd were given free time to make any comments and suggestions they desired. At about 8pm, the teleconference began. Michael Moore seemed very animated..thrilled to see that his movie was being appreciated by people from many segments of the political spectrum...not just preaching to the "choir". He recalled one woman in a Florida theater in tears after the movie ended. She's witnessed some things she hadn't before seen in the major media. Mr. Moore felt that the mainstream media was culpable for their failure to fully investigate and/or tell the whole story during the lead-up to the Iraq war. Mr. Moore also conjured up the image of a theater crowd in Greensboro NC giving an extended standing ovation to a blank screen long after the final credits had rolled.

By the way, the food at the Charlotte event was outstanding! Thanks to all who contributed their culinary talents.

I am thoroughly enjoying the Anais Mitchell CD I won (for having come the farthest-from Syracuse,NY-to attend the party).

You can hear the audio of Michael Moore's teleconference HERE.

On Iraq: We must ask ourselves..

On Iraq: We must ask ourselves...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chilling:

"We are seeing a fact-free, faith-based approach to Middle East policymaking."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Why did the Bush administration ignore a wide range of Middle East experts who warned against the dangers of an occupation of Iraq, (including some experts who supported the war)?

Why has the Bush administration been plagued by the stifling environment of groupthink, especially in the office of the Secretary of Defense?

See this statement by Rashid Khalidi at a talk on May 27 at UCLA for the Center for Near Eastern Studies.

Juan Cole-"The New and Improved Iraq"

Juan Cole-"The New and Improved Iraq"
From: In These Times

I highly recommend that you read this essay. Professor Cole makes the all-important point that further American (and the Allawi-interim government) attempts to shape the political scene in Iraq by trying to disqualify candidates on various pretexts will likely prolong the various insurgencies in the country.

Plame Indictments Rumored to Be Coming; 'Imperial Hubris' author "outed"

Plame Indictments Rumored to Be Coming Soon; 'Imperial Hubris' author "outed"

Those in the Bush administration (the same ones who former U.S. envoy Joseph Wilson recently derided as "un-American" and "punks") may find fresh indictments awaiting them for leaking to the media the name of Wilson's CIA-wife. I hear it may happen quite soon.

Stay tuned.


Somewhat related to the Plame outing, the Boston Phoenix has "outed" "Imperial Hubris" author Anonymous.

According to the Phoenix, this outing isn't posing a danger to Anonymous, who is actually CIA officer Michael Scheuer. They say "..at issue here is not just the book’s content, but why Anonymous is anonymous. After all, as the Times and others have reported, his situation is nothing like that of Valerie Plame, a covert operative whose ability to work active overseas cases was undermined when someone in the White House blew her cover to journalist Robert Novak in an apparent payback for an inconvenient weapons-of-mass-destruction intelligence report by her husband, Joseph Wilson. Anonymous, on the other hand, is, by the CIA’s own admission, a Langley-bound analyst whose identity has never required secrecy..."

Krugman on Michael Moore's Success:

Krugman on Michael Moore's Success:

"...his film is a hit because the respectable media haven't been doing their job."


LINK