Diplomatic Tensions with Russia Over U.S. Involvement in Georgia Coup
What Awaits the U.S. Beyond this War on Terror?
I've been reading the stories associated with the Georgia coup and frankly, I'm concerned for this reason:
The Bush administration has not been historically adept at diplomatic success.
Allow me to be clearer: They are diplomacy-bunglers.
The world, by and large, is no less than disgusted by the Bush arrogance in matters of international concern.
The Bush administration has, however, been greatly successful at pushing U.S. interests for the cause of the great oil pipeline. (While telling the American people it's all for the cause of "democracy").
"Democracy" actually means the "pipeline" to the President's administration.
Russia is saying that it's becoming clearer, as days pass, that the U.S. played a heavy-hitting role in the Georgian coup.
An article by Jeffrey Donovan from last August in Baku Today Online would support the suspicion.
While I am not at all surprised, I can see where this may be going.
Terror is born when its father, which is the arrogance of western interests, conjoins with the mother, which is Poverty's Voiceless and Powerless Misfortune's children.
The mother of terror, "Powerless Misfortune's" children are not just tramps on the street.
They are often charming, cultured people.
Perhaps not so different from you or me.
What does corruption, greed, and lust for power do to fine and ordinary people?
We weren't supposed to ask those questions after 9-11. The subject seemed taboo.
I think it's high-time we begin a widespread discussion about it.
Now is the time for the most cultured, wise, and compassionate diplomats.
I have lost trust that the Bush administration either has or properly activates well-meaning
diplomatic representatives. General Powell, a decent, loyal and compassionate man in my estimation, has been ill-used.
Will social progress be cast aside for Western gain in the Caucasus region?
When will ordinary Russians and citizens of the Caucasus become terrorists and active
enemies of the American state?
Let's watch as history unfolds before our very eyes.
The Cold War has passed. Russia has become a shadow of the powerful threat she once threateningly
represented to America.
Our leaders tell us that 'Terror' has replaced 'Communism' as the threat to our free existence.
Does anyone, besides me, see that we are creating 'terror' by our great failure as international diplomats?
Some liberals may not willingly give credit to former President Ronald Reagan for any part in the fall of
Communism, but it cannot be said that he was a dangerously radical, arrogant, diplomatic failure.
Ronald Reagan did not create more Communism.
I'm afraid to believe that the Bush administration is creating more terror, yet I must...and I do.
I see it happening in each news story that passes.
What has occurred in Georgia is akin to what George Soros would have desired.
Soros is a man who recently said he would stake his entire fortune if it would ensure a 2004 Bush defeat.
I see this Georgian confluence of interests..Soros and Rumsfeld.. as quite a paradox.
Soros' hope is for social progress.
I cannot trust that the U.S. cares more about social progress than they care about the pipeline.
I wonder if Soros believes what has occurred in Georgia is good, in the long run, for true democracy
in that region. I wonder if his hopes will be dashed. If we elect a new leader in 2004, we may be able to head off tensions and make this a fruitful experience for society as well as capital gain. But right now the Bush administration is at the wheel and I'm greatly concerned. Now is the time for concern as America extends its influence into the Causasus. I recently read an excellent piece by Canadian journalist Mark Ames which caused me to wonder.
In it, McKinnon says:
"....While America considered Milosevic an enemy for years before his ouster, we backed Shevardnadze, dollar-for-voter, more than any leader in the world besides Rabin/Barak/Sharon."
"...Russia still has four military bases in Georgia and control, via proxy, of vast swathes of their territory, not to mention control over Georgia’s energy supplies. Life is not going to be easy for Burdzhanadze and the more popular opposition leader, Harvard-trained Mikhail Saakashvili, who are going to try to move Georgia even more forcefully and rapidly into the West’s orbit. "
"...What’s next? If you take the example of Serbia, then what’s next is this: in about six to nine months, vast disappointment and disillusionment with the Velvet Revolution will set in. Burdzhanadze will be too weak to control the brutal politics, and Saakashvili, a nationalist who at one time was compared to Zhirinovsky (not apt, but he’s definitely a populist), will find that the struggle to maintain and expand his powers will take up all of his energies and enmesh him into all the ugly tactics used by his predecessors: corruption, corruption and more corruption. "
"....America, will focus exclusively on securing the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline. All aid, all choices of whom to support, will rest on that oil pipeline, even if it means propping up another round of corruption and increasingly unpopular leaders. And the Russians will do all they can to make the Americans’ cronies’ job as difficult as possible."
"...In the end, as always, it will be the Georgian people—the most charming, proud, cultured people in Europe, in my opinion—who lose out. "
When the proud, charming, cultured people are the ones who "lose out" through greed and power-grab,
what is left to win?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Additional Readings:
Mark Ames' "Exile" Article About James Baker's Odd Diplomatic Role in the Geogia Coup
A new U.S. Military Mission to Georgia?
Who's Who in the Georgia Coup
Q & A: The Georgia Coup
Greg Palast: Baker Takes the Loaf-President's Business Partner Slices Up Iraq
Last May, it seemed that we were headed toward "victory" in Iraq and this is how Stratfor.com viewed Russia in
the perspective of Caucasus politics and the E.U. ..the potential superpower-to-be.
Consider how that "victory" has turned to sorrowful failure for the U.S. to date...along with our great slip in international credibility and respect.
Russia and U.S. spar in Allah's Mountains
"....as the US continues to assimilate worldwide humanitarian endeavors to its imperial ambitions, the heavy hitters of the NGO establishment are preening for another round of mediagenic self-celebration at the upcoming World Social Forum. Suggested new slogan: "Another Coup is Possible."
"The United States has followed its successful regime change in the strategic Caucasian nation of Georgia with a series of moves aimed at pressing its advantage over its major rival in the region, Russia."
Arms made in Caucasus feared sold to terrorists
The issue of Abkhazia-think about the need for U.S. diplomacy with Russia and Turkey.....then think about Iraq and its Turkey-related diplomatic implications.
Regarding Abkhazia, now is the time for the greatest diplomatic care.
Donald Rumsfeld is no diplomat.
James Baker is an influential Texas money-man whose interests are transparent.
The U.S. Supreme Court may have been impressed with him in Florida 2000, but the Middle-East may
not be quite as convinced. Baker will be a strong-arm...not a diplomat.
Brenda Shaffer of Harvard University's Caspian Studies Program, while saying it's right for Rumsfled to attend to the Caucasus, suggests that Washington's best strategy for pursuing its interests would be to undertake "joint, vigorous action with Russia to resolve conflicts that afflict the region." (Note: "Joint and vigorous does not mean causing more tensions with Russia).
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a vicious war over Nagorno-Karabakh and a post-independence civil war in Georgia led to the "de facto secession" of both Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
These conflicts deserve attention, as a renewal of violence would hinder economic and social progress
throughout the Caucasus.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Note: The U.S. is not the only stock market which will benefit greatly from the new, improved Georgia.
Example:
Sumitomo Corp. has recently won a contract to produce steel pipe for the natural gas pipeline that will connect Azerbaijan and Turkey in a deal estimated to be worth just under 20 billion yen (US$185 million). The order for the pipe was placed by South Caucasus Pipeline Co., which constructs and operates pipelines and consists of firms such as BP and the government-owned State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan. This contract would be the biggest deal won by a Japanese company for the construction of steel pipe in the Commonwealth of Independent States region.
The U.S. markets are showing renewed investor confidence this week--and if you don't see the Georgia-connection, I implore you to think carefully about it.
My question...will our renewed investor-confidence eventually cause us to be riding over the rights
of Georgian citizens?
Do we care, as long as our richest get fatter?
Our President has shown, through his economic and foreign policies, that his chosen route to success and "freedom" is
enriching the richest among us. That's no assumption on my part..the Administration has made no secret of it.
When do we start thinking about the moral implications for our own countrymen as well as the people of the rest of this world? When will we finally see the results of our nation's "ethical policy" decisions and their eventual ties to the birth of terror?
Diplomats: Let's talk.
One More Seat at the Table
By Parag Khanna
Published: NY Times, December 6, 2003
I found this to be one of the best appeals to the United States..an appeal to relinquish its Security Council veto power in favor of majority voting. In Khanna's words, "No country has more frequently exercised its veto right, while simultaneously denouncing other nations' use of it."
He calls for a stronger United Nations, which can extend (and repair tarnished) American influence while also making unilateral action by the United States unnecessary in the future.
Will anyone listen?
Nicholas Kristof is either a GOP mole or secretly endorses another Dem Candidate
Re: There They Go Again
By Nicholas D. Kristof
Wow.
What an intellectually disappointing column by Kristof.
My personal view is that, if he doesn't have a personal agenda, then he's very much out of touch with
the pulse of politics of the moment.
He says: "I agree with Mr. Dean on many issues, and I admire his willingness to oppose our Iraq invasion from the beginning. But shiny-eyed teenagers who distribute leaflets for him in places like Yamhill County are going to get very cold stares — and end up heartbroken.."
I'd remind Mr. Kristof that there are hundreds of thousands of shiny-eyed folks of all ages out here working for Governor Dean.
When you think about it, there were some shiny-eyed folks in 1776 who faced the risk of a lot more than
heartbreak. (Can you spell prison and death?)
It worked out well for them. And it was totally unexpected, wasn't it?
I can almost hear Kristof back in 1776.."..those silly, shiny-eyed fools think they can beat the British..."
Someone nudge old Nick and remind him that this is the new bloodless revolution.
And we will win..with Howard Dean as our chosen leader.
Kristof is very condescending and downright insulting to middle Americans in this column:
"...I seriously doubt that anybody who publicly uses the word "contretemps" can ever be elected president...You get the feeling that if Mr. Dean and Mr. Bush were stuck together in a small Missouri town, Mr. Dean would lecture farmers about Thomas Paine's writings, while Mr. Bush would have the cafe crowd in stitches by doing impersonations of Mr. Dean..."
First, he makes Bush sound absolutely retarded in this scenario. Then he makes middle-Americans sound like a
bunch of ignorant rednecks who would never understand or care about principles, but would rather laugh at a monkeyboy's antics. I give middle America far more credit. I truly have faith that all Americans are concerned about the health and welfare of their own communities and the health of the democracy that allows their participation in the political process.
Kristof says: "...Mr. Dean is smart, but he knows it. America's heartland oozes suspicion of Eastern elitists, and Mr. Dean's cockiness would exacerbate that suspicion."
I'm not sure that middle America is any different than the South in the "suspicion of elitists", but I DO know that Howard Dean has taken the Democratic lead in South Carolina according to the most recent Zogby poll.
This contradicts Kristof's stated belief.
What do you think?
Is Kristof a one-man "stop-Dean-team"?
Just which one of those other nine Democrats do you figure is on his secret agenda?
This sounds too much like something that would happen in the Gaza strip
When is the chance of killing one "known-terrorist" worth the lives of nine innocent children?
Was the "isolated, rural site" we bombed a family home?
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A U.S. air strike apparently killed nine children as well as the suspected militant who was targeted on Saturday in eastern Afghanistan, according to the U.S. military.
Washington Post: Army Will Face Dip in Readiness
This blog thinks Donald Rumsfeld Needs to Step Down
4 Divisions Need to Regroup After Iraq
By Vernon Loeb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 6, 2003; Page A01
From the article
"....Four Army divisions -- 40 percent of the active-duty force -- will not be fully combat-ready for up to six months next year, leaving the nation with relatively few ready troops in the event of a major conflict in North Korea or elsewhere, a senior Army official said yesterday."
"...Retired Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, a former division commander and staunch advocate of more Army forces, said four to five divisions below the C-1 rating "means literally half the Army is broken and not ready to fight."
Only two Army active-duty divisions will be available to fight in other parts of the world.
Extreme weather in Iraq and the unprecedented magnitude of the planned troop rotation have contributed to division-
"re-setting" slowdowns. Once divisions return from Iraq, Army readiness will be at its lowest point since the end of the Gulf War. Since then, Army officials have tried to keep divisions at the highest, (C-1) readiness level.
Ironically, President Bush had been known to sharply criticize the Clinton administration during the 2000 Presidential campaign for allowing two Army divisions to fall to the lowest readiness category in the late 90s because of peacekeeping obligations in the Balkans. Has Bush set a political trap for himself? Will he have Donald Rumsfeld to thank?
Should Donald Rumsfeld be fired, as suggested many times in the recent past, by the likes of Democratic candidate Howard Dean and so many American newspaper-editorials?
Will Capitol Hill be pushing for an increase in Army troops (as Senator John McCain has been saying for a while now?)
"....The article says "members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that they, along with Rumsfeld's staff, are still trying to determine whether the requirement for Iraq, which now stands at 130,000 soldiers, is a "spike" that will soon come down, or an ongoing commitment.
If it is a spike, they said, increasing the size of the Army may not be necessary..."
This tiring hedging, hemming, and hawing is nothing more than evidence of further misleading and lying
by the Bush administration.
We will need to be in Iraq for many years if our mission is to be accomplished. We'll need far more troops if that mission is proven worth our while and especially if we fail to get further international respect and cooperation.
The Bush administration can't seem to adequately support our troops because of their own worries about Bush's re-election. If these political election-related worries cause President Bush to continue to mislead and/or lie to his own people at the expense of those precious troops, I would not only call him a poor leader. I would call him ruthlessly and negligently anti-American.
Look, I'm just one citizen sitting here able to foresee a tremendously dismal and dangerous National Secuity future for our nation with the way Rumsfeld has handled his Secretary of Defense duties.
It's time for our Representatives and the press to wake up (as the Post has done in this instance) and keep Americans informed of the danger we face because of horridly irresponsible Defense Department decisions.
Ask yourself:
If your son or daughter should be called to duty, would you trust these shady, misleading, irresponsible characters
in the Bush administration with your children's lives?
If you cannot answer with a resounding YES, then it's time to let your Representatives know that you think Rumsfeld should go. Our troops need your good and true support now more than EVER.
League of Liberals Saturday Spotlight:
From the Pages of Jesse Gotham at Gotham City 13
credit: Gotham City 13
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Common Sense for a New Century
addressed to the Citizens of America by
Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.
December 2003
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
Thomas Paine
“Are the special privilege boys going to run the country, or are the people going to run it?”
Harry Truman
“Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind.”
Thomas Jefferson
“Common sense is seeing things as they are; and doing things as they ought to be.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe
“Let each person do his or her part. If one citizen is unwilling to participate, all of us are going to suffer. For the American idea, though it is shared by all of us, is realized in each one of us.”
Barbara Jordan
“The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
Thomas Paine
Poll shows Dean edging past
Edwards in S.C.
UTICA, N.Y., Dec. 5 — Howard Dean's presidential campaign
continues to gain steam, with the former Vermont governor moving to
the head of the pack in South Carolina's Democratic race, according
to a poll released Friday. link
~~~~~~~~~~~~
From Talking Points Memo:
"...I had lunch today with someone who is not a politician but a fairly prominent Washington Democrat -- certainly not someone from the party's liberal wing. And in the course of answering a question, I said "If it [i.e. the nominee] ends up being Dean ..." At which point, with the rest of my sentence still on deck down in my throat, my friend shot back : "It's Dean."
It was effortless. He wasn't happy or sad about it. He wasn't trying to convince me -- more like letting me in
on something I apparently wasn't aware of yet...."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clinton blasts Bush for trying to 'undo New Deal'
"This administration is in danger of being the first in American history to leave our nation
worse off than when they found it."
Senator Hillary Clinton
~~~~~~~~~
Salon.com: Is Dean Stoppable?
"...if Dean knocks them out clean after the first two rounds, it's going to be very hard for anyone to stop him at that point, because there will be two big nights with balloons and everyone rallying to the front-runner..."
~~~~~~~~~
Miserable Failure? Google Trick Says It's Bush
Google-bombing: the latest craze!
~~~~~~~~~
Jimmy Breslin:
"Not only will Dean win the nomination but he will take over the Democratic Party, or whatever there is of it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stem-Cell Research:
Bush's logical incoherence betrays moral insincerity in favor of pure political gain
Michael Kinsley asks if this pandering moral fakery, in light of the lives that are waiting to be saved, is good enough reason for some to dislike him personally.
From the article:
"....Bush cannot possibly believe that embryos are full human beings, or he would surely oppose modern fertility procedures that create and destroy many embryos for each baby they bring into the world...You cannot logically outlaw the one and praise the other. And surely logical coherence is a measure of moral sincerity..."
"If the president is not a complete moron—and he probably is not—he is a hardened cynic....."
*hmm..we just don't know for sure, do we?*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I tried helping a rookie blogger this week. An act of reaching out to show we libs aren't all that bad.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this Sunday's NY Times Magazine:
The Dean Connection
By Samantha M. Shapiro
Published: December 7, 2003
"Teachout says she has been wanting to do something like this since March. ''When I was falling in love with our grass roots,'' she says, ''I thought, If I get fired, I am going to go on the road and meet all of them. Once the idea occurs to you, how can you resist?'' Teachout says she would pore over pictures that people posted on the Web from Dean meet-ups, just ''to get a sense of the characters involved.''
I ask her if the people she hopes to meet on her trip are her friends.
'' 'Friend' is an odd word,'' she says slowly. ''I mean, these are the people who populate my imagination.''
Howard Dean Meet-Up
Wednesday, December 3, 2003
Syracuse, N.Y.
from a photo by V. L. Trojnor
I'm there in the back...under the bright turquoise highlighting.
We have a great group of Howard Dean supporters in Syracuse.
Nice venue--the Spaghetti Warehouse in Syracuse.
Talkin' 'Bout Chad and Me
Chad of the dogtulosba,ink. blog and I have had an interesting discussion this past 24 hours about an error I made in classifying President Bush's garment as a "grey Army bomber". Turns out it's actually a "workout jacket".
It turned out to be a discussion about more than a fashion-lesson, though.
Although I learned the basic difference between a bomber-style and a workout- style jacket (along with the meaning of a term that's new to me.."asshat"), my one regret is that Chad seems to want to persist in stripping away my claim to intelligence and responsible research because I did not know the fashion-lingo.
I would implore and invite him any any other bloggers, regardless of political ideology, to come on in and take a look around this blog.
I wasn't voted one of the best (lesser-known) political blogs by E-The-People for having nothing of substance for my readers.
So, back to Chad..and me..
You know, I think Chad and I might yet actually become adversarial yet blog-collegial friends.
OF FAKE TURKEYS AND THE POMP OF DECORATIVE PROP:
ONLY ONE OF THE TURKEYS IN THIS PHOTO IS REAL
The other's just for decoration.
Molly Ivins Endorses Howard Dean
"I'm for Howard Dean -- because he's going to win."
Paul Krugman Under Fire From Right-Wing Attack Squad Over Exposing Faulty Voting Machines
Paul Krugman at Syracuse University Nov. 20, 2003
photo by Vicki L. Trojnor
see related story
The fearfully guilty in right-wing journalism are running wild...fangs fully exposed..ready
to cover their masters' filthy tracks; tepid drool dripping from snorting angry snouts.
In the National Review, the lame-excuse-machine Donald Luskintakes over where the 3rd-grade-level name-caller Alex Beam recently left off. They are becoming the tag-team of shame.
I know Paul Krugman MUST be doing something right to have these attack-dogs at his throat (or should I say his writing hand) 24/7.
Bless you, Professor Krugman. When they (let's call them 'Beam') call you "crackers" and insinuate that you have a "personality disorder", you just know you are getting to the exposure-core of their hoped-for deceit.
When another journalist (let's call him 'Luskin') refers to the other cad's debasement of Krugman's very honor and uses it to support a new attack upon him.....well....Professor Krugman most definitely has "gotten to them".
(It's good for Al Beam and Donald Luskin that today's dreadful cads who attack a gentleman's honor are
no longer challenged to the dueling field. Makes you almost long for the old days, though).
So...here we have Beam, then Luskin....
'ad hominem flesh-rip' meets 'piss-warm excuse and blustering blizzards of blurred reason'.
Some tag team.
Look at Luskin's utterly-pitiful excuse-making:
From the National Review article: ----
"..Krugman just can't resist reminding us that Republican "Orrin Hatch...recently announced that one of his aides had improperly accessed sensitive Democratic computer files that were leaked to the press. Krugman fails to mention, however, exactly what those leaked "sensitive Democratic computer files" contained. It turns out they were horrifically embarrassing staff memoranda revealing the hand-in-glove strategic partnership between Democratic senators and various lobbying organizations dedicated to blocking President Bush's judicial nominees (according to one memo, "most of Bush's nominees are nazis")...."
A theft justified what the stolen item contained?
Oh, I don’t think that would fly in any American court of law.
It was a theft…
Luskin justifies theft.
From the National Review article:----
"And according to yesterday's Wall Street Journal, there wasn't even anything "improper" about the aide's access to the files. They were all just sitting on a shared server set up by Democratic senator Pat Leahy's IT staff — a server, it seems, just like the one Diebold used."
Luskin again justifies theft by attempting to rationalize it away.
This, to me, is indicative of a journalist with greatly- compromised integrity.
From the National Review article:----
"... he brings up the infamous 2000 Florida presidential election — that wellspring of so many beloved liberal myths — citing the "'felon purge' that inappropriately prevented many citizens from voting in the 2000 presidential election." But according to Peter Kirsanow, a member of the US Commission on Civil Rights who wrote a piece on the subject..."
Luskin totally insults (and alienates) the majority of Americans who voted in Election 2000 by
categorizing a genuine occurrence as a “myth”---and a “liberal myth” to boot.
There are far more Centrist Americans than there are those on the far left.
In essence, it appears that Luskin is merely preaching to his choir.
I notice that the only “evidence” Luskin presents in this instance is from Peter Kirsanow, the
partisan shill who was forced upon the Civil Rights Commission with a lawsuit brought by the Bush
administration and their interests.
Speaking of preaching to the choir, even the choir loft was full when Professor Krugman spoke at S.U. in November. The numbers of interested and concerned Americans are growing.
photo by Vicki L. Trojnor
From the National Review article:-----
"....Krugman continues by asserting that "An analysis of Diebold software by researchers at Johns Hopkins and Rice Universities found it both unreliable and subject to abuse." Krugman fails to mention that Avi Rubin, the computer scientist who led the Johns Hopkins analysis team, has confessed that he held stock options in VoteHere Inc., a Diebold competitor, and was a member of VoteHere's advisory board...."
There goes Luskin again - attacking the honor of yet another gentleman.
When all else fails, ATTACK!
Would we expect that a person who knew nothing about voting mechanisms to be APT to serve on a
voting-mechanism ANALYSIS team?
HELLO?
Did Luskin not mention Avi Rubin is a computer scientist?
Luskin is impugning someone’s honor again.
Good thing the art of the duel is passé.
From the National Review article:----
QUOTE FROM KRUGMAN:
"Early this year Bev Harris, who is writing a book on voting machines, found Diebold software — which the company refuses to make available for public inspection, on the grounds that it's proprietary — on an unprotected server, where anyone could download it."
Luskin says: "My investigations confirm that a Diebold server was indeed unprotected for a period..."
Look, Mr. Luskin - - if it happened, then it happened. Yes?
Mr. Luskin feels the need to attack Paul Krugman for ever having revealed the quirks in the system.
Ergo, Luskin is seemingly afraid for you to know that these machines are fallible and susceptible to fraudulent tampering.
Moreover, Luskin seems to want you to FORGET that human nature can cause great temptation when hominids lust for power.
Apparently, It’s worth a vicious attack upon a fellow journalist and a gentleman to cover the paymaster’s tracks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NOTE: Bev Harris gives a great interview to Buzzflash
about the reality-potential of the most fraudulent election-theft to ever be orcestrated....yes...even more fraudulent than 2000.
Wednesday-The News and How I See It
Israel wants Powell to stay at home.
He's straying from that Road Map.
Is he straying because there may be a more direct and less dangerous route?
The reviews are mixed.
I enjoyed reading (League of Liberals member) Speedkill blog's take on the situation.
___________________________
From: IN THESE TIMES:
Dishonorable Discharge
Bush administration slashes veteran’s benefits
By Dave Lindorff | 11.26.03
~~~~
"...In 2000, candidate Bush campaigned hard for the votes of soldiers and military families, promising “Help is on the way.” It was, but in reverse..."
~~~~
This article makes some clear and concise points about the way Bush "saves us money"...which is virtually a series of
non-supportive and deliberate actions toward the men and women who've laid it all on the line for our nation's security.
From the article:
"...Even more than his father, and Ronald Reagan before him, Bush is cutting budgets for myriad programs intended to protect or improve the lives of veterans and active-duty soldiers. Bush’s handlers have worked hard, through the use of snappy salutes and fly-boy stunts, to present the service-ducking former National Guardsman as the soldiers’ friend. But though Republicans enjoy widespread military support, Bill Clinton was the only president of the last four to cut weapons programs instead of veteran benefits..."
___________________________________
The Quiet Revolution
All eyes are on Iraq, but the most breathtaking democratic reforms in the Muslim world are happening in Turkey—with Islamists leading the way.
By Stephen Kinzer, American Prospect, Issue Date: 12.1.03
Kinzer writes about the powerful and non-violent move toward Islamic democracy in Turkey.
I particularly like the words of political scientist Soli Ozel, who reminds us that the most unexpected people deliver what is most unexpected of them. Can a thirst for democracy be pushed at the point of a gun and under the threat of the bomb? I think back to our own American history. Was James Madison threatened and coerced into penning his inspired writings?
Did someone hold a gun to Thomas Paine's head? Left to chance in Iraq, would the best ideas of the people (for their people) ever have found a way to flourish without spilling so much blood? We seem to want a government of the people in Iraq, but for WHOSE people?
Our 'people' (that is, People's Republic of Halliburton) or the actual people who live in Iraq?
From the article:
"..A Muslim party leading the charge toward European-style democracy—this is a deliciously subversive contradiction. Turkish intellectuals have consumed much raki while musing about how it came to happen. One of them, the political scientist Soli Ozel, calls it "another example of a historical irony or dialectic, that the most unexpected people deliver what is most unexpected of them"....."
____________________________
'We're air force pilots, not mafia. We don't take revenge'
Israel's F-16 and Black Hawk refuseniks say why they could not obey illegal orders and kill innocent Palestinians
Chris McGreal in Tel Aviv,Wednesday December 3, 2003
The Guardian
~~~~
"...Now, having been thrown out of the air force, they are talking publicly about what brought members of the most revered branch of the Israeli military to make an unprecedented challenge to the handling of the conflict with the Palestinians..."
~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since soldiers are the ones asked to kill in order to protect their countrymen, and since soldiers have to be able to sleep at night and live with their conscience, one should not be surprised to read that they would speak out when
they believe their government has "crossed the line".
Would dropping a one-ton bomb on the home of an enemy militant leader..knowing that you killed 14 members of his family along with him (the 14 being mostly children), cause YOU to lose sleep?
___________________________________________
Phase three: civil war
The post-occupation power struggle in Iraq may yet be the bloodiest chapter in the conflict
Simon Tisdall, Wednesday December 3, 2003, The Guardian
~~~
"Continuing, escalating civil strife, scattering the seeds of a possible civil war, could yet turn out to be the Bush-Blair legacy in Iraq"
~~~
I want to know what actually happened in Samarra.
Who were the people we killed?
Was it a great victory or an act of needless violence and/or despearate fear?
Today, Juan Cole contrasted The American Enterprise Institute's conference findings on Iraq with that of the more recent Brookings Institute postmortem and it's stated that "The US army's search and destroy mission in the Sunni Arab heartland is alienating the population needlessly."
If thousands of hearts and minds were lost to our "cause" because of Samarra,
where is the gain?
Will we ever know the true story?
When we ease our grip on Iraq and began to pull away, what will we have accomplished....what will we be leaving behind? We never have had world cooperation in this war and Bush is worried about re-election.
How will this affect the people of Iraq, to whom he is "bringing freedom and democracy"?
Prior to the war, there was much speculation that if Saddam was removed from power, the Shiite majority would massacre the Sunnis. Have we opened the door to a civil war in Iraq that will violently take the innocent lives of
far more than Saddam Hussein ever could have taken himself?
From the article:
"...One shopkeeper said that once under attack, American soldiers began shooting wildly and in all directions. After seeing two civilians shot down, he said he was so incensed that "if I had a gun, I would have attacked the Americans myself". Another eyewitness, a Samarra policeman, gave a similar account. As of Monday, only eight bodies of the official total of 54 had been accounted for and most were reportedly civilians.
So what was Samarra? Was it a great feat of American arms? Was it a massacre of the innocent? Or was it just another familiar yet confused and bloody incident about which the real truth will probably never be known?...."
````````
" ...Through ineptitude and fear, the fight for "hearts and minds" is being lost, in Samarra as elsewhere. Last month's surprise decision to fast-forward the political transition, far from reflecting Washington's concern for Iraqi self-determination or any great confidence that it will work, is actually a panicky political act driven by George Bush's re-election calculations.."
```````
"....The question therefore is no longer one of invasion and war, or even of occupation and withdrawal. It is a question, fundamentally, of which Iraqis will take control of their country as the coalition's grip eases, how they will do so, and with what degree of legitimacy. This next phase offers a choice: self-rule ---or self-destruction....."
_____________________
Beloved American Toy Company Cannot compete with the WalMarts and Targets-
FAO SCHWARZ files for bankruptcy
_______________________
REAGAN HEAD ON DIME?!
THIS IS GOING FAR TOO FAR:
APPLY HERE??!
PROOF THE GOP WANTS TO ERASE F.D.R. FROM HISTORY
"It is particularly fitting to honor the Freedom President on this particular piece of coinage because, as has been pointed out, President Reagan was wounded under the left arm by a bullet that had ricocheted and flattened to the size of a dime," Souder wrote to colleagues in the House of Representatives.
"FDR believed the federal government should spend your dimes."
```
Souder spokesman Martin Green said this bill was fueled by Republican outrage in the wake of the CBS miniseries "The Reagans," which the network eventually canceled. The program aired on the Showtime cable network on Sunday.
Souder says he is willing to compromise with Democrats who might not want to dump FDR completely from the coin. An arrangement could be set up to rotate the two presidents' images on the dime.
________________________
Church doesn't think like Jesus
Survey shows only 9% of Christians have biblical worldview
THEN WHY ARE THE TOM DELAYS OF THE GOP AGGRESSIVELY (AND POLITICALLY) ACTING AS IF MOST OF THE NATION HAS (OR SHOULD HAVE) A BIBLICAL WORLD VIEW?
From the Article:
"... 9 percent of born-again Christians hold a biblical worldview.
Barna, who surveyed 2,033 adults in his study, found only 4 percent of the general population have a biblical worldview and suggests many of the nation's moral and spiritual challenges are directly attributable to this fact..."
_________________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JANE BOND MEETS VANITY FAIR
I'm glad she's writing a book. Wish it could come out before the 2004 election.
______________________________
PATRIOT ACT DESTROYS AMERICAN SCIENTIST
Scientists Say Government Was Overzealous in Pursuit of Plague Researcher
Who's to say what progress this man could have made in stamping out the potential dangers posed by the plague and terrorists who would love to use it against us?
From the Article:
"...Thomas C. Butler was convicted Monday on 47 of the 69 charges stemming from a federal investigation into his work with the deadly bacteria. He was acquitted on charges of lying to the FBI, smuggling plague samples into the United States and illegally transporting samples..."
______________________________
Poll: 7 in 10 Do Not Think Iraq War Reduced Threat of Terrorism
I'm not surprised.
You?
_________________________
There is a great article at Salon.com today about MoveOn.Org.
From the article:
"...MoveOn has been tagged in mainstream media as a liberal activist group, when in fact the positions they've articulated have tended to fall more in the center," says Jonah Seiger, a visiting fellow with the Institute for
Politics, Democracy and the Internet at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. "Their birth was a moderate position on the Clinton impeachment -- censure the president and move on. It wasn't 'This is all bullshit and we shouldn't do anything,' and it wasn't 'Let's tar and feather him.' Their position on the war was also a middle-of-the-road position --
give inspectors time. It wasn't 'Let's not be there,' and it wasn't 'Let's go right to war.'"
"....Boyd says that if it hadn't been for the impeachment, "..we wouldn't have gotten involved in politics. But at a certain point, you can't look away. You wonder about what was lost and what we could lose if we
don't step forward."
"...Their sense that American politics had run off the rails began during the impeachment, but was driven home after the 2000 election. During the recount, the right mustered mobs, but Democrats were oddly quiescent.
"We now know that the system, to be fair, has to be people screaming on both sides."
"....the group has defined itself by opposition to Republican Party initiatives like the Clinton impeachment and the war, but its ideology is arguably closer to the mainstream than Bush's is...
That center has been obscured by television, which thrives on rancor and outrage. But Boyd believes the Internet is beginning to counteract some of television's distortions. "The American people are smart, talented,
resourceful, all of those good things," he says. "Right now with technology, we can tap into that resourcefulness; we can help play a catalytic role in helping to get these people to step forward. That's what you're seeing with
MoveOn. That's what you're seeing with the Dean campaign and other campaigns...."
****My comment: BUSH DOES SOMETHING GREAT FOR A CHANGE****
"...Bush has done far more than anyone else could to make MoveOn's base indivisible. Wes Boyd says: "I wouldn't give too much credit to the process," Boyd says. "I think it's easier to have a clear opponent that unifies all progressives. There's much less nattering going on among progressives right now than I think has historically been the case."
Iraq Vets in Need are not Qualifying for "Veterans Status" in New Jersey
What's wrong with this picture?
"We go fight for our country, come home and get nothing."
Democracy: Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi Speaks Her Mind
~~~~~~~
"....freedom, democracy and human rights are not things that can be imposed with bullets, tanks and guns.."
Shirin Ebadi
~~~~~~~
This is a Muslim woman from Iran who has been harassed, threatened and thrown in jail, then recognized for her courage and determination by winning the Nobel Prize.
She doesn't agree with the Bush foreign policy.
Now, let me ask you...is she "for us" or is she "with the terrorists?"
I guess it depends upon who you ask in America these days, doesn't it?
From the League of Liberals:
Estimated Prophet
I enjoyed reading this recent writing from fellow League of Liberals member Estimated Prophet.
I thought you'd enjoy it, too, dear reader.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Todays's Sesquipedalian says:
"Let me suggest to those of you like me that this year, at least, there is a pre-emptive remedy for all that overwrought Christmas cheer -- an inoculation, as it were, against the holiday blues. It's simple, it costs $8, can be taken with popcorn, Coke and/or candy, and should at least help you coast through for a week or two.
Go see Bad Santa."
I couldn't agree more.
I am in love with just about every project Billy Bob Thornton touches..
and this movie, while definitely not for kids, is hilarious!
I also recommend "Levity", another movie starring Billy Bob Thornton, Morgan Freeman, Holly Hunter, and Kirsten Dunst.
In actuality, levity was not even remotely part of the film, but I thought the story was compelling...
and definitely well-acted.
Some might consider the movie rather bleak, but if you "do bleak movies", you'll like this one.
There are two killer songs by the Eels which you can hear as the closing credits roll.
Tuesday Afternoon BlogStream of Consciousness *with links*
First, here is the Harvard Crimson's article about the Howard Dean appearance on Hardball last night.
Did you know that the independent daily newspaper at Virginia University, the Cavalier Daily,has a diverse staff of more than 150 students? Or that it's an entirely student-run, non-profit organization with an operating budget accrued solely through advertising?
In a recent opinion piece from the Cavalier, the general thought (pun intended) is that Wesley Clark will not secure the Democratic nomination, but may well serve as a complement to "a Northern Democrat"( pssst-Howard Dean ).
"While the latest Gallup tracking numbers show Clark in a tie with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean among Democrats and Democratic leaners, no one expects Clark to keep pace because of his liabilities and strategic choices.
It's been suggested that Clark would make a good vice-presidential candidate to one of the other Northern Democrats; modern presidential election norms almost dictate a split North-South ticket. As for the presidential nomination, however, the general is outflanked."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Howard Kurtz' latest article about Howard Dean is in the Washington Post today.
A special congratulations to my good friends at Veterans for Dean, who got an honorable mention in the article:
"Front-runner Howard Dean, who has no military experience, has a staff member devoted to courting the veterans' vote, and a group called Veterans for Dean."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speaking of Veterans for Dean, the latest Paul Krugman titled "Hack the Vote" is on the site today...and well-worth the read.
I heard Howard Dean on NPR's Diane Rehm Show Monday morning voicing his concerns about the legitimacy of these touch-screen voting contraptions with which Diebold Inc.'s Walden O'Dell will be hoping to help "deliver Ohio's electoral votes" to Bush next year. (listen to the Dec 1, 2003 show here).
The UK newspaper "Independent" ran a "hair-raising investigative report" on U.S. touch-screen voting a couple months ago.
In his article, Paul Krugman pulls the Orrin Hatch staff fiasco into the mix of "nasty partisan nature meets unverifiable voting systems".
Orrin Hatch..the same Sen. Hatch who, regarding a memo stolen in October (..yes..STOLEN) from staff of Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller,
said that Sen. Zell Miller was "right to charge that the memo outlining plans by Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats to politicize Iraq war intelligence bordered on "treason."
If you must engage in thievery to make a partisan accusation of "treason", what examples are these so-called "leaders" setting for our leaders of tomorrow? After 2000, how can any one of us trust the technical electoral system, knowing that hatred itself will elect the next President no matter who wins...knowing that the very person who runs the touch-screen SHOW itself is a driving force in the electoral college?
It smells like shit to me.
How about you?
Krugman says:
"..... there's nothing paranoid about suggesting that political operatives, given the opportunity, might engage in dirty tricks. Indeed, given the intensity of partisanship these days, one suspects that small dirty tricks are common.
For example, Orrin Hatch, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, recently announced that one of his aides had improperly accessed sensitive Democratic computer files that were leaked to the press.
This admission — contradicting an earlier declaration by Senator Hatch that his staff had been cleared of culpability — came on the same day that the Senate police announced that they were hiring a counterespionage expert to investigate the theft. Republican members of the committee have demanded that the expert investigate only how those specific documents were leaked, not whether any other breaches took place. I wonder why.The point is that you don't have to believe in a central conspiracy to worry that partisans will take advantage of an insecure, unverifiable voting system to manipulate election results. Why expose them to temptation?.."
Why, indeed?
What are we going to do to ensure a fair election in 2004?
What CAN we do?
My Comments to TruthLaidBear
I'm sure most of you know about the regretful situation.
With much thought, honesty, and care, I posted these words to TTLB today:
(note: typos have been corrected).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think NZ Bear's decision on this week's contest is fair and I believe his explanation is honest.
The whole "situation" this week has been unfortunate for everyone.
I feel badly for NZ Bear because he's worked so hard for this Ecosphere and now faces credibility questions about the accuracy of the very system for which he's struggled.
I feel worse for those few in the League of Liberals who actually believed their very reputation rested upon the outcome of this scenario.. which basically involved one blogger's questionable activities. I believe their hurt is just as real as anyone else's, even though I do not agree with their "flight" choice.
I hope NZ Bear and the one blogger in question will eventually reach some form of reconciliation.
I am amazed at some of the comments I've read from people impugning over 50 individual members of one group (LoL)...questioning the very character of individuals they do not even KNOW.. over the questions about the ONE blogger's
site-meter habits. Rushing to judgement of the many for the ONE..especially when there was only accusation..was, to me, about the least democratic and American thing some of you could have done.
And shame on 'the Commissar', whose total deception in entering the League of Liberals as an alleged "liberal" showed the least character of all. If any reputation is to be sullied, 'the Commissar' did that nicely...for himself.
His determined effort to cause a fracture in the league itself
caused a minor earthquake. If he takes satisfaction in this accomplishment, I think we need to wonder why. In my book, I call what he has accomplished nothing but outright cheating.
A blogger's virtual Linda Tripp. Only a person with the lowest character might take joy in such accomplishment-- through such tactics.
I wish Kynn the very best. Kriselda, too.
I regret they left the League in the haste and midst of worry over how they, alone, would be perceived. I'll miss them.
I had thought the spirit of a league was being committed to concentrating strength upon a common goal.
Now, IF the common goal of a league is ONLY to best the odds in an internet Showcase competition, I don't think it's the kind of league to which many of us would really wish to belong....do you?
I'm not demeaning TTLB in any way, but I would never leave a league of so many good and talented people over an unfortunate situation such as this. If anything, this unfortunate and challenging situation will help the League to prioritize their reason for being IN league...and will help clarify their common goal.
I, as one of the many League of Liberals, will not stand for the impugning of my reputation nor any of my fellows because of this "he said/he said" fiasco. I find the premise utterly ridiculous in the most universal sense.
Bottom line, I do not speak for the League itself, but I'm still personally willing to trust in NZ Bear and appreciate his work here. It's really quite marvelous..this creation of his. He'll tell you himself he's not perfect.
And that's understandable.
My hope is that the League of Liberals, as time progresses, will continue to be an asset to the promotion of new weblogs alongside our Conservative brethren.
Of course, that will take more than just our cooperation.
I wonder..is that YOUR hope...or do you just wish us to go away?
Let's talk.
This should be an exercise of collegiality.
Anything less only makes it a futile exercise of distrust and irritation.
For all his work, I think that NZ Bear needs to know that we individually appreciate him and to understand that this IS his creation. Although he has not made the "rules" crystal-clear, he is still the proprietor of this
territory and his rules and decisions are..without a shadow of doubt..his rules and decisions-- and they must be respected. (Even if, by trial and error, he is forced to make the rules up as he goes along.)
Yes, this whole experience has been unfortunate for all involved. In many ways, it betrayed us for the human beings we are...each and every one of us. It's not such a bad thing, this "being human" business, is it? There are positive outcomes that can be reached from these lessons.
If we can remember that and move on with appreciation and respect for NZ Bear, we'll all be the better because of it.
These are the times when a person's real character shines through. Measure your words with care.
I would like to end this by simply thanking NZ Bear for all his work with the Ecosystem. He's brought far more enjoyment to our blogging days than suffering. Let the suffering pass, as all things must.
Yours in Blogging,
Jude
iddybud
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DEAN CANNOT LOSE THE SOUTH AND WIN IN 2004
If Governor Dean loses the South in 2004, he'd have to win 70 percent of the remaining Electoral College votes to win the presidency.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta's carefully worded remarks (found here)" ..reflect widening fears among Democratic leaders here and elsewhere in the party — especially in the South — who say that Mr. Dean is too liberal, not just in his opposition to using military force to topple Saddam Hussein but in his call for repealing all of the Bush tax cuts, imposing regulations on businesses, erecting new trade-protection rules and favoring civil unions for same-sex "marriages."
**My Note: If a "Stop-Dean" movement within the Democratic party is indeed activated,
I think the Democratic Party will lose great influence with the newly-motivated crop of
idealistic and exuberant movers and shakers at the grassroots level. A lose-lose situation for all Democrats. You cannot stop the tide from rushing in. Howard Dean is the face of the Democrats' active survival, in my opinion.**
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
South Carolina Presidential Primary Plans Off to Slow and Painful Start
The DNC has served notice it will not step in to finance the South Carolina primary despite the embarrassment and humiliation a canceled contest would cause. The DNC wants to avoid the precedent of bailing out one state party, knowing that if it does, "others would come calling".
“It would be a disaster for the state Democratic Party if they were forced to cancel the primary. If the national party allows this to happen, you would know what it thinks of the South Carolina Democratic Party.”
Robert Jeffrey, Wofford College political scientist
~~~~~~~~~~
Why Governor Dean Will be Helped By
a Southerner for his Running Mate (a John Edwards..a Wesley Clark):
"..Opposition to gay marriage is strongest among older Americans, the most reliable group of voters. There is also more opposition among adults over 30 who do not have a college degree than those that do, and among men, groups that have been migrating to the Republican Party in the South for decades. Sixty-seven percent of Southerners oppose gay marriage, according to the Pew poll, compared to 50 percent of Easterners."
"..Dean probably has the most to lose by [the issue's] rising profile since he is the only candidate who has signed legislation allowing gay couples to legally unite."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
How Governor Dean Can Appeal to Southern Voters Himself:
"..Democrats slowed the Republican advance among white Southerners primarily through the successful presidential campaigns of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. But George W. Bush's sweep of the region in 2000 showed it will take more than a white Southern Democrat such as Tennessean Al Gore on the ticket to reverse the Republican tide.
Take the Confederate flag out of candidate Dean's formulation, and the former governor of Vermont is saying, correctly, that Democrats can broaden their appeal and expand their base in the South. To do so, they need to focus on such issues as fiscal integrity, respect for law and order, patriotism, national defense and personal responsibility..."
According to this quickie internet quiz-
This author "wrote" me:
Jane Austen wrote you. You are extremely aware of
the power of a single word.
Which Author's Fiction are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
The Biggest Turkey of November: Medicare Reform
Nebraska's Senator Chuck Hagel exposed the Medicare bill for the political tripe that it truly is in today's Omaha World-Herald.
He says the bill "expressly prohibits the federal government from negotiating drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries, even though the government negotiates prices for other Medicare services."
He asks: "Who wins here?"
He exposes the fact that there is nothing in the bill to control costs.
He asks: "Who is looking out for the future of the country?"
He ends by saying: "The forces of reality will require us to go back and try to undo the damage we've just done to Medicare and future generations. We then will have another opportunity to do it right.
This time it was about 2004 politics. Next time it will be about responsible policy for the future."
He really couldn't make it any clearer, could he?
Bush's Sweet November
I saw Chris Matthews today on his Sunday morning news discussion show with Gloria Borger, Campbell Brown, Howard Fineman and Tucker Carlson.
Matthews seemed more manic than usual (if you can possibly believe he could be more manic). He led the beginning of his show with this question (in a loud manic voice):
"Can you believe this past month? Has this been a great November for the Bush administration or what?"
To which Gloria Borger beamed from ear-to-ear and proclaimed nearly as manically, "Yes. It's surely been a sweet
November for President Bush..."
My mind went to the 72 soldiers killed in the line of duty in 'sweet November'.. and every relative of those 72 troops...each and every friend.
I wondered what they might have thought of Gloria and Chris gushing manically about the sweetness of the month that stole their darlings from their lives forever.
The sheer insensitivity of the moment floored me.
Borger went on, later in the manic broadcast, to once again compare Howard Dean with George McGovern.
Apparently, Borger and many other of today's narrow-minded journalists have forgotten that America has learned
some hard, hard lessons these past 30+ years. 9-11 shocked us to our shoes, but it did NOT erase the memory of VietNam or civil oppression.
Howard Dean is not your father's McGovern.
*and what was great about watergate?*
My one and only 2004 prayer:
That Dean does NOT choose Bob Graham as running mate.
Hey- I was a poet..didn't know it!
According to Matt Drudge, Governor Dean allegedly said this about Bush tonight in New Hampshire:
"I think he's made us weaker. He doesn't understand what it takes to defend this country, that you have to have high moral purpose. He doesn't understand that you better keep troop morale high rather than just flying over for Thanksgiving.'
League of Liberals
29 November 2003
I recommend readings from two blogs authored by members of the League of Liberals:
SOB (Sick of Bush)
SOB has a unique way of cutting through President Bush's wildly vague statements...looking at them in the cold, bare light of reality..politics removed.
It's amazing how ridiculous they are when stripped naked.
SOB also warns us that we should be careful of what we wish for, because the President elected in 2004 will face a daunting task after what has occurred these past three years. *Hopefully, we'll actually get the President the majority of us have chosen the next time.*
~~~~~~~
Anonymoses
Anonymoses reminds us of the words of Balthasar Gracian, whose timeless guide to life-
'The Art of Worldly Wisdom' - still guides the souls of good people today.
Anonymoses has created a wonderful piece on the subject of the supercilious sin known as arrogance.
He reveals how arrogance affects us..especially those in power..and how the often-unseen consequences of this arrogance touch our natural lives with ineitable, unexpected and unfortunate negativity.
~~~~~~~
My vote for this week's blog Showcase:
Damage: Global Warming Catastrophe - New Evidence
What about Benamar Benatta?
I'm going to ask you to read about Benamar Benatta today.
Draw your own conclusions.
~~~~
"I had a problem with the terrorists who wanted to kill me and with the military, which was beating and torturing people. My parents knew I did not intend to come back."
Benamar Benatta
~~~~
Bush's Thanksgiving PR Stunt Was a Missed Opportunity
Bush's lightning visit to boost the morale of troops in Iraq was a great opportunity to fill the Thanksgiving airwaves
with images of a brave Commander In Chief, wasn't it?
How many times do you suppose we will have to see the image of Bush in Iraq sporting the grey Army jacket by the time the 2004 election comes around? I'll wager we'll have seen that image blasted on our FOX, CNN and MSNBC telly-screens for a longer collective period of time than Git-In-Git-Out-Chickenturkey Bush actually spent on that Iraq base.
I'll bet this is not the only great secret Bush has kept from the people and the press, you know?
Think about his stealth-plan..then think about all the other sneaky methods he may have utilized to
keep you in the dark about many important issues that affect you and me.
I do know that, no matter how nice you may think this visit was for the troops (and I think it was), there was a missed
opportunity for anyone who truly considers themself a "leader".
I read this today:
"On the other bank of the Tigris river, in Kazhamiyah's mostly Shiite lower-middle class neighborhood, residents also complained the US-led coalition had failed to bring back security.
But they insisted they were thankful to Bush for ridding them of Saddam Hussein under whose rule they were systematically oppressed. "Of course, I'll always be thankful to Bush for restoring our rights as Shiites but I still think he should have also bothered to meet ordinary Iraqis rather than only caring about the well-being of his troops," said Shuruh, a 30-year-old woman.
"He needs to know how we live, without any security. He needs to understand that freedom without security doesn't mean much to us," she added.
Her mother Amal, wrapped from head to toe in the black abaya, complained Bush had failed to deliver his promise to "bring prosperity and democracy to the country".
"And he will only realise those shortcomings if he mingles with us," she said.
Mohammed, a 42-year-old grocer, said "Bush's visit makes no difference to me as long as stability has not returned to Iraq."
"We owe the Americans big time for what they did for us, but now it's high time they dealt with our security," he said, echoing a feeling shared by Sunnis and Shiites alike as reconstruction efforts are stalling and violence flaring.
"I am flabbergasted that the most powerful nation in the world failed to take into account what would happen here after the war," Mohammed said.
"Could they not factor in the reaction of Saddam's supporters? Bush must now finish off the insurgents and let us elect our own government."
Shiite leaders this week voiced their opposition to a coalition plan for a phased transfer to sovereignty, asking that general elections be held at once.
As Bush flew back to Washington after the lightning visit, officials told journalists that the US president had told the four members of the US-installed interim leadership, who were the sole Iraqis that he met, that he was ready to review the blueprint in the light of the determined opposition from the majority community here."
We have already missed an opportunity to do this thing right (since Bush and our soft and pliant blanket-authority-giving Congress decided to barge headlong into this war).
The very least Bush could have done (long before now) was to establish a presence in Iraq for the people to whom he claims he wants to bring his great democracy.
They don't really care whether he's there or not, but he is CLEARLY NOT THERE for them in policy's name.
Where is their security? Where is their hope?
If Bush thinks he did the right thing in Iraq, he's going to have to do more than sneak around and hit-and-run.
The Iraqi governing council don't think a lot of his chicken-dance.
They aren't stupid. They know it was a PR stunt.
And they know he gave four of their 25 members a hand(shake)job quickie in his frightened haste to git-in-git-out.
It was like putting on some gloss to cover great loss.
I know about gloss...my red lip gloss looks juicy and attractive for about 15 minutes..then it's
back to the reality of the bare lips again.
temporary beauty
Then again, I don't have the cable news networks blasting photos of me with the fresh gloss every 15 minutes.
Man, I'd be popular if they did.
Bush's popularity will be higher this morning. I heard another troop died in Iraq this morning.
Hillary Clinton was far braver and a more honest spokesperson for Americans in Afghanistan than was GW Bush in Iraq this past week.
Newsmax boasts in their usual-partisan way today that "Bush thrills troops, Hillary Doesn't".
In the article, they say:
"The New York Democrat has lately taken to accusing President Bush of not appreciating soldiers' sacrifices, and even covering-up battlefield casualties.
Three weeks ago Sen. Clinton secretly visited wounded soliders at Walter Reed Army Hospital, then told Democrats gathered in Iowa that the troops she met were paying the price for Bush's "failed policy" in Iraq.
Clinton also has a spot airing on MSNBC this weekend where she delivers a Thanksgiving message of appreciation to the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Do you notice that Newsmax used "secretly" in describing Hillary's visit to Walter Reed Army Hospital?
How many "stealth-trips" has Bush made to Walter Reed Army Hospital?
Please tell me. I may not have heard about all of them.
*I checked and learned Bush has made the trip to WR Hospital a few times..they just don't widely broadcast these visits by any politicians, apparently.*
Do you think that the Iraq troops may have been louder in their surprised cheers because, unlike Hillary's dignified, planned and courageous visit to a hot war-zone on Thanksgiving, Paul Bremer called his secret (probably shaking in his cowboy boots) guest dramatically onstage as if this was a rock concert? If I were to think in a Newsmax-mindset (except liberal), the whole thing would make me think President Bush was a jealous little b*tch who couldn't bear the thought of any Clinton upstaging him.
'MAY BE'
-a Zen Tale
I read this on Brain Tags blog today and wanted to pass it on.
MAY BE
There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.
“May be,” the farmer replied.
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.
“May be,” replied the old man.
The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.
“May be,” answered the farmer.
The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.
“May be,” said the farmer.
(via Zen Stories to Tell Your Neighbors )
Hoping for Something Better for our Nation On Thanksgiving?
Me, too.
_________
".....Changing all this is what this war of ideas is all about, and I am so pleased you are so bad at it. As long as you let one of your top generals and your pals on the Christian right spew hate against the Prophet Muhammad, you only strengthen the will of my young people against you. And your "moderate" Arab allies are good at the police tactics to repress our angry, humiliated youth, but they have no serious strategy to give them new jobs, new ideas and new beliefs..."
Saddam to Bush in a mock-memo by Thomas Friedman
~ ~ ~
Reading today's Thomas Friedman column titled "A Letter From Tikrit", which is a mock-memo to Bush with Saddam Hussein's name attached, I got to thinking about this one point:
Bush took this nation to an unprecedented and virtually unilateral pre-emptive war without any form of electoral mandate. The social divisions in this nation could not be any more divisive..I would wager to say they are wider than pre-Civil War America. Whether we wish to admit it or not, this nation is in sorry shape as we stand today.
9-11 was not enough to unite us.
I do not fault the American people entirely.
I blame the political atmosphere which heavily influences the national media.
I particularly blame our polarizing President.
As a Democrat and a decent American citizen, I sit here today and tell you that I firmly believe, through Bush's actions, that he is no less than hostile to people of my political ilk.
Yes...not just firm in his beliefs...
Hostile to the loyal opposition.
Hostile.
This can never be a good thing..to alienate half your own nation.
If GW Bush cannot convince one solid half of his own people that this NeoCon wet-dream "War of Ideas" is:
1. --worthy of active fighting to begin with..
I'll be back..."
2. --worthy of re-activating the draft and risking more troops..
3.-- not just a Christian vs. Islam fundamentalist war (So often, Bush-lips spout it is not so,
and then the Gen. Boykins and Franklin Grahams and State Department-haters like Pat Robertsons proudly state otherwise)...
Osama's Neo-Con come-on for which Bush fell
4. --not just a war for which we have fallen into Osama Bin Laden's greatest wish..to destroy
America's international influence. (It almost seems, through Bush's easy compliance to enter war without great contemplation, has become nothing more than Osama's patsy)..
5. --not just an organized force-effort to take ultmate advantage of the natural resources of the nations we're atacking...
Gets longer every day
6. --not just a war based on lies and morbid exaggerations...
7. --going to make us any safer in a world where we lose respect, support, and influence with each passing day..
Look up...black helicopter at ten o'clock...
8. --a war about which any of us Americans can express civil dissent without fearing FBI surveillance and being labeled something less than patriotic in political attack-ads...
9. --a war which will not do irreparable damage to our precious civil liberties and our Constitution..
Dad, Pat, and the grease
10. --of tangible benefit to anyone other than the Christian Right, Halliburton and other corporate cronies of the Bush administration..
..then we'd best work on backing off in a safe way for the Iraqi people and our troops and actually getting the President for whom we VOTE next time (because this current nation-dividing President is clearly not going to change his stripes).
Once we have a humble, non-hostile, and stable President in place, we need to get the world to see us as something far less than the arrogant and greedy imperialists we're appearing to be.
A warning:
Unless we Americans (and our Representatives) can heal some of these cultural and social divisions that divide us,
I assure you that America will be weakened to a point of failure not only in Iraq, but right here at home.
I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.
Jude
Oh, come on...
you know I'm only joking.....
right?
Ousting Bush: One Person Makes a Difference
I enjoyed reading n todd's article about his experiences as a volunteer for the Dean campaign.
The League of Liberals also mentioned n todd's piece today at their website.
As I write this, I'm putting on my boots and heading out the door to collect signatures for Dean in New York.
The Des Moines Register has put Gov. Dean on top of the heap after the debate on Monday night...Wes Clark coming in second.
"....Clark's performance will likely renew talk that he would make a good running mate with Dean. He could provide national-security credentials to a ticket headed by the Vermonter..."
This is the "dream team", my friends.
It's what I've been saying for quite a long time.
Howard Dean and Wesley Clark are the faces of the Democratic party as we stand here in 2003 looking out to the
horizon. The future of our America will rest safely in their patriotic hands. They understand what our forefathers understood. America is only as good as the strength and good determination of its people.
The shame of the Bush administration is their clear determination to take government from the hands of individual people like you and me...instead to place our government in the hands of corporations, the special interests, the wealthiest 1%, and the Richard Perles and Douglas Feiths who make the plans that will tragically result in your son (or daughter) going off to a foreign land to die or to be maimed for their friends' greed.
I'm just one little voice.
Howard Dean has convinced me that I am going to make a difference.
I know I must try.
There is a real and present danger here, my brothers and sisters.
Four more years with the Bush administration could mean grave danger for the security of not only
our own nation, but the entire world.
We must stop pushing an agenda of arrogance and disinterest toward the opinion of the civil world.
The Universe is fair and the Universe is balanced by an unseen God. I believe this to be true.
The Universe does not care what Brit Hume or Judy Woodruff thinks. In the grand scheme, the Universe
does not care about Tawana Brawley, about whom Tom Brokaw and MSNBC seem to fret so much.
It's time to get real...to ask the questions that cut to the heart of matters that matter.
As for me, it's simply time to go to work for Howard Dean.
It starts with a simple knock on my neighbor's door.....
I hope you will do what you can do today for the candidate of your choice.
The son-of-a-Bush is destroying American democracy as he makes democracy his personal whore in foreign lands.
A new light shines in the halls of the League
A warm and hearty "Welcome!" to Anonymoses, the newest member of the League of Liberals.
BRING ON THE CULTURE WAR
We Just Can't Wait
Hard-core Conservatives won't vote for Howard Dean in 2004 (should Dean be nominated) because of his supportive stand on the issue of gay/lesbian civil unions.
That is not "news" in any way, shape, or form.
These Conservatives, however, do wish to demonize Howard Dean for his stand on the issue.
I really don't see this as a threat to Dean in 2004.
This nation is divided straight down the middle in an ideological sense.
With this Conservative group, we are talking about the people who are going to vote for Bush no matter what he does.
It has become virtually pointless to try to appease them.
Now is the time for bold civil reform.
Conservatives say Bush is a leader, a creator, that he is making history, that he works tirelessly, that he is reponsible...
He has already led the Liars Club by lying straight-faced about WMDs in Iraq, he has created a budget deficit to rival the depths of a bottomless pit, he has made history by losing so many of our jobs, he has worked tirelessly to break down pro-environmental standards, and he has been responsible for the destruction of U.S. support and credibility amongst the world community.
Obviously, nothing will change the minds of these
gullible people who allow the Liar-In-Chief's pandering to them flatter them into voting for more Constitutional abuse, fewer job opportunities, and further weakening of our nation's international stature.
I think the best thing they could possibly do is to make civil unions for gays a central issue in 2004.
Then perhaps we can make some meaningful history together by voting for a new leader who will
tirelessly and responsibly re-create the wonderful thing called "hope"...the hope that so many Americans (and their would-be supporters around the world) have lost because of Dubya Bush.
The most important facet of leadership involves the innate ability to instill hope in your constituency.
If the only hope Bush will be instilling in the 2004 campaign involves a weakening of States' Rights and the exclusion and discrimination of a certain group of Americans, (along with the disasters he has wrought since stealing the office of the Presidency), then I say: BRING IT ON.
He's sure to be flushed down the annals of history straight back to being the anus of Crawford.
Have a great liberal day!
Jude
Bill Clinton's 21 Favorite Books
According to the AP, Clinton's list, in alphabetical order by author, is:
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," Maya Angelou.
"Meditations," Marcus Aurelius.
"The Denial of Death," Ernest Becker.
"Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963," Taylor Branch.
"Living History," Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"Lincoln," David Herbert Donald.
"The Four Quartets," T.S. Eliot.
"Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison.
"The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-First Century," David Fromkin.
"One Hundred Years of Solitude," Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
"The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles' Philoctetes," Seamus Heaney.
"King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa," Adam Hochschild.
"The Imitation of Christ," Thomas a Kempis.
"Homage to Catalonia," George Orwell.
"The Evolution of Civilizations: An Introduction to Historical Analysis," Carroll Quigley.
"Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics," Reinhold Niebuhr.
"The Confessions of Nat Turner," William Styron.
"Politics as a Vocation," Max Weber.
"You Can't Go Home Again," Thomas Wolfe.
"Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny," Robert Wright.
"The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats," William Butler Yeats
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