For lo, the multitudes did gather in multiplexes across the land, as the prophets had foretold. And at last they beheld The Passion of the Christ, and did render unto Mel Gibson millions upon millions of dollars in ticket and merchandising sales.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today in history...


photo credit: angelfire.com

"Sunday a soldier of Company A died and was buried. Everything went on as if nothing had happened, for death is so common that little sentiment is wasted. It is not like a death at home."

-Elisha Hunt Rhodes, 2nd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry
photo credit: angelfire.com


1862- Civil War, In camp with Elisha Hunt Rhodes

1935- Hitler organizes Luftwaffe

1993- A bomb built by a group of Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others


Today's Headlines and Opinions

GUILTY NEOCON FLIES THE COOP! The Prince of Darkness has left the building, leaving the lives of over 500 American troops and countless lives of Iraqi citizens (and no WMDs) in his idealistic wake. Here's his resignation letter.

U.S. lifts Libya travel restrictions after 23 years-Removal follows Tripoli affirming it was behind airliner bombing
Hello? Would that mean we'd open relations with Osama Bin Laden and/or the Taliban as long as he/they admitted to being the masterminds of 9-11? How would that sit with you as a parent of someone killed on 9-11?
Ask Susan Cohen what she thinks. Susan's the mother of Thea, a Syracuse University student who was killed at the age of 20 when
Pan Am 103 was blown from the skies over Lockerbie, Scotland in December, 1988. Susan has not forgotten that tragic day. Susan is aware that all Moammar Gadhafi has done is to "buy peace" from our nation. She's disgusted, and you know what? I cannot blame her. Libya's Prime Minister has admitted they needed to buy peace from the U.S.::
"After the sanctions and after the problems we have [been] facing because of the sanctions, the loss of money, we thought that it was easier for us to buy peace and this is why we agreed to compensation."
--Shokri Ganem, Prime Minister of Libya
In a recent Reuters article, Susan Cohen is quoted as saying: "For the Bush administration, Lockerbie is just an issue to get around. It is typical of the Libyans to say one thing one day and another the next," said Susan Cohen, whose daughter died in the bombing. She accused the administration of trying to "whitewash" Lockerbie and of making Gaddafi into a hero..."

Can the father be far behind? A son of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri , has been captured by Pakistani forces , one of Pakistan 's leading newspapers reported on Wednesday.

I hear the investigation's really heating up on this Rep. Nick Smith-Medicare-House of Representatives bribery case. The House Ethics Committee may not be the only investigators...I hear there may also be an ongoing criminal investigation.


Macedonia's president killed in plane crash


When I read this, my first thought was that Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan isn't telling us anything we don't already know. While a lot of people would like to jump all over the messenger, conservative leaders Grover Norquist, Paul Weyrich, and Karl Rove have been talking about shrinking U.S. social programs for years. If we keep voting the GOP ticket, I don't see how we will be able to complain if and when markets sag and security nets disappear (and the Ken Lays are still thriving). Perhaps we will then know we've been officially bilked. The Boston Globe editorial on Greenspan's announcement says, in part:"No raid on retirees...Congress needs to find the money to keep Social Security solvent."

According to The Hill, Republicans plan to stage a lengthy Senate debate on Iraq today to respond to intensifying Democratic attacks on President Bush over his conduct of the war and its turbulent aftermath. The debate, is meant to catch the Democrats off-guard.

Also from The Hill, Senator Ted Kennedy has asked his staff to put together a case that he hopes will prove that President Bush’s recess appointment of Alabama Attorney General William Pryor to the U.S. Court of Appeals was unconstitutional.

Political strategist Dick Morris says the only way President Bush will be re-elected in November is, basically, to continue to frighten us into electoral submisson.
Quote:

"He [Pres. Bush] must underscore the limits of his own success and focus upon the huge tasks and enormous dangers that lie before us. It is only by summoning the sense of national urgency — that we should, in fact, be feeling — that he can win.
Americans want Bush for one thing and one thing only: to lead us out of danger from terror. We don’t really think he is much good at anything else..."

What does it say about the Democrats that they appear to feel their best hope of winning is to ask the competition to politely bow out?

SAFIRE: Manipulating Bloviator Extraordinaire-
Seeing a prominent opiner such as Mr. Safire manipulating news of the actual developments on the war on terror will not help Americans make educated decisions. His own newspaper directly refutes him (almost daily) with a bothersome thing called "FACT", yet they continue to let him blather on. What does that say about the integrity of the Times? With recent journalistic failures such as Jayson Blair and Judith Miller, one would think they would try to be as ethical as possible.

Front-running presidential candidate John Kerry says he backs Massachusetts state ban on same-sex marriage
Quote: "If the Massachusetts Legislature crafts an appropriate amendment that provides for partnership and civil unions, then I would support it, and it would advance the goal of equal protection," the senator said yesterday, stressing that he was referring only to the [Massachsetts] state, and not the federal, Constitution. He has said he would oppose any amendment that did not include a provision for civil unions. "I think that you need to have civil union. That's my position," he said Tuesday.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Anti-Gay Proposals:
"The debate over this issue, the latest battleground in the culture wars that have so divided the nation, is more about politics than principle..Misusing the very constitutional documents that bind us together as a people doesn't protect marriage, it defiles and cheapens them."


Kucinich: "I do not view the media as a monolith. I know there are people . . . who want to do the right thing [and] others want to use their influence to achieve a certain outcome. I understand where that's coming from. I also know if I had a fraction of the coverage these other candidates have had, I'd be running away with the nomination."



credit: Get your War On

FYI: The Week magazine provides some basic information about
Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani

9-11 Shame...

"I can't understand why these elected officials, particularly the president and vice president, aren't willing to come before the American public and testify...That raises a concern they're hiding something."

--Kristen Breitweiser of New Jersey, whose husband, Ronald, died in the World Trade Center



The [9-11] commission has requested a 60-day extension, which would place the report date uncomfortably close to the 9/11-anniversary-timed Republican convention in September 2004. Obviously, the administration will do everything it can to avoid that, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has already announced that he "can't imagine a situation where they get an extension."

--Eric Alterman, January, 2004

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



9-11 families beg for proper investigation

Condi turns her back

Hastert turns blind eye on American victims for politics' sake

Stanford Daily Online: Osama in the house?

There is a valid complaint, in my opinion, that the American press on the whole doesn’t push hard enough than accepting the Defense Department’s press releases while, in most cases, the truth lies somewhere between the official military report and the story carried in the foreign press. As I've discussed here recently, two British papers, The Sunday Telegraph and The Sunday Express, have reported that Osama Bin Laden is surrounded by U.S. Special Forces in an area of land bordering northwest Pakistan and Afghanistan. (Attributed to “a well-placed intelligence source” in Washington.) The writer of this article, Kathryn Wallace, explores the question:

"...you haven’t seen this reported in the U.S. press — not even the story that other press organizations are reporting an Osama capture. But does that mean the story is pure fiction?"

Ms. Wallace reminds us that embedded journalists in Iraq failed to check power while they were a little drunk on the idea of "playing soldier in the desert".

Today in history..


Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath
photo credit: chicklit.com

"I am solitary as grass. What is it I miss?
Shall I ever find it, whatever it is?"

From: Three Women by Sylvia Plath

1956- Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes meet.

David Yount: 'The Passion' Preaches to the Choir

I ask myself: Why would I want to see this movie?

I haven't made up my mind about seeing this movie. I certainly can say, from all I've heard, I would not look forward to its content. Perhaps it stems from my Puritan ancestry, of which NY Times op-ed contributor Kenneth L. Woodward says: "To the Puritans, displays of the body of Jesus represented what they considered the idol worship of the Papists." Yet, I was raised a Catholic, and therefore I am in a bit of a theological conflict with myself over this film. I suppose, in the end, the inner conflict is brought about by my innate and unique Christian sensibility.

I ask myself:

Would I be going to entertain myself? Surely not. I've heard this movie, because of its graphic (possibly gratuitous) violence, might actually be agonizing for some people. I don't "do" violent movies as a rule. Why would I subject myself to a film I've heard, had it not been about Christ, would probably have gotten an NC17 rating?

Would I be going to learn something? Surely not...I've read the Gospels many times over. I know them as surely as I know my heart. The mysteries of Christ are my heart.

Would I be going in order to see Christ in a new light? Why? I have spent the better part of my life studying Jesus Christ. To see Christ looking like bloodied meat is a visual I know is not a scene to which I would subject my teenage child (who has taken part in Passion plays himself and has a wonderful understanding of the story). Why would I subject myself (knowing how a child would be tortured and haunted?) We are all innocent children at heart. I have made a shining and welcoming place for Christ in my heart which could not be made more perfect by seeing Him die all over again. The dying itself is allegedly shown so bloodily at the hands of mankind, which, in my opinion, may only raise feelings of distrust and disgust for our fellow man. Do we really need that in these treacherous and uncertain times in which we live? Will the core message be lost in the swirl of blood and sweat and human meat?

I ask Chist in meditation:

God has made man to die. By man came death, but God is all. No Roman, no Jew killed the Christ. Christopher Hitchens, in Vanity Fair, has said that God himself is to blame for Jesus' suffering and death. Scripture prophesied that Jesus would die. Since it was inevitable, it was no human fault.
We all will face our own personal death and will have to carry our own cross someday. It isn't my unavoidable death I wish to concentrate upon. It is the perfection of my soul that Christ wanted me to focus on every moment of my waking life. When I speak to Him in meditation about such matters as whether or not to go and see Mel Gibson's version of His bloody death, He tells me resoundingly: "Jude, stay home".

The only thing that would lure me to the theater is based upon sociological curiosity. (a motive, which, to my own way of thinking about theological philosophy, might be a personally sinful motive). Knowing that my fellow man (and woman) is seeing the film, I suppose I desire to understand how they may have been affected by it...and I could not be an effective commentator if I hadn't witnessed the thing with my own eyes.
We'll see.......
It's comments like this one that arouses the curious side of me:
"The movie just . . . made me feel like I was part of that crowd [at the crucifixion], like I was there . . . So much so that my chest is just caved in. It's awesome." [NY Post Feb 25, 2004]

Then again, when I see political-economic motives in moviemaking enter the picture, I once again shrink back into my innate Christian sensibility. When you think about how the film industry will realize the profits that have been forfeited over the years by creating films that were out of sync with the interests of the citizens of the red states....



~~~~~~~~~~~

Cragg Hines of the Houston Chronicle seems to be in agreement with the view of Christopher Hitchens that "whoever sought, carried out or acquiesced in the death of Jesus was an unwitting tool of divine intent." Hines believes that on Ash Wednesday (which marks the beginning of the Lenten season), "Christians are called to reflect upon their own lives and shortcomings and to repent the wrongs they have caused by word, deed or inaction. No controversy or distraction -- certainly not a movie that purports to be based on the Gospels -- should deflect Christians from the path of reflection to that of resentment." I can't help but to agree.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Speaking of resentment, here we go already....see "Jews Killed Jesus' Billboard Causing Controversy--Pastor Refuses To Remove Or Change Saying On Outdoor Marquee."

~~~~~~~~~~~

A 50-year-old Michigan man said, after seeing the movie:

"It's the most authentic version of the death of Jesus that I have ever seen."

My question: How on earth would he (or anyone) know?

Movies have a strange (and frightening) way of dictating their own reality to us en masse. I think this is my problem with this film. Do we really need a new Gospel "according to Mel"?

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

In the same article, A Roman Catholic named Bade said: "I never knew the passion to be so cruel as it was portrayed in the movie...You better go see it with a strong stomach."

I'm sorry. This picture is not the one I personally would want to remember when I read the Gospels in the future.
It would be like seeing a photo of a loved one dead in their casket when trying to recall the light they brought to your life. Not healthy, people. Not healthy....

Did you know former Vermont governor Howard Dean is still on the ballot for all of the states that have yet to hold primaries?

For those Democrats who have been part of the Howard Dean movement and have yet to vote in your state's primary, you still have the ability to vote for him in your primary in order to send Dean delegates to the Democratic National Convention and to ensure his message will be heard.
I have been part of this passionate and exciting grassroots movement from the beginning and I plan to write more about it in the future. I think the impact Howard Dean has had on Democratic politics is going to someday be seen as historically important. Opinion columnist David Broder has written about it recently in an op-ed titled "Dean campaign will prove a milestone". I've noticed that, even though Dean's campaign is suspended, the pundits still love to talk about him. I'll tell you why I think that's true. There was an exciting story to be told..and that story has not simply withered and died because Howard Dean is not on the campaign trail. I would invite anyone reading this to take just a moment and view this video titled "Thank You, Howard."

I also bring to your attention an interesting opinion I read today about the fate of the Dean campaign titled "The Assasination of Howard Dean". The writer says the Democratic party is still waiting for a candidate who will help rediscover its soul.
I'm afraid Howard Dean was just that person...but he was "done in" by powers far greater than "the People". It makes you think...
Quote:

In the end, Dean threatened a troika of powerful institutions. He was a threat to the political parties (because he attacked Democrats' centrist drift), to media (because he criticised their cowardly reporting) and to big business (because he would roll back chummy tax-benefits for corporations). All three institutions responded with venom and destroyed Dean's candidacy. In 1968, a bullet ended Robert Kennedy's anti-establishment candidacy. In 2004, the methods used were more subtle, but just as effective.
[Daily Star Feb 25, 2004]

Walter Shapiro on the Bush promotion for a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage:

"The president declared Tuesday that "the preservation of marriage rises to the level of national importance." But it can also be argued that a vitriolic political debate over such a constitutional amendment rises to the level of a national distraction. After Sept. 11, two wars and a radical restructuring of the tax rates, America does not face a shortage of campaign issues. Instead the nation confronts the challenge of remembering our responsibilities in countries such as Afghanistan in the midst of an election that seems headed straight into Jerry Springer territory."
[USA Today Feb 24, 2004]

In the Houston Chronicle, Cragg Hines says:

It will be interesting to see when President Bush voluntarily next mentions his support for a constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage, the hunk of blood-red meat he threw to his mewling right-wing base on Tuesday. It will be a good gauge of how desperate he senses his chances of re-election have become...

....What if Bush had been talking about any other form of legalized discrimination and oppression, say, slavery, instead of a prohibition on gay marriage, how bizarre this paragraph would sound in the 21st century: "After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization. Their actions have created confusion on an issue that requires clarity."
[Houston Chronicle Feb 24, 2004]

A quote from President Bush in 2000 and a comment from author Peter Singer:

Q: So if a state were voting on gay marriage, you would suggest to that state not to approve it?

A: The state can do what they want to do. Don't try to trap me in this state's [rights] issue like you're trying to get me into. … In my state of Texas, if we tried to have gay marriage, I would campaign against it.

--Candidate George W. Bush, in a presidential debate moderated by Larry King in Columbia, S.C., Feb. 15, 2000


"No genuine advocate of small government would seek to take from the states the right to decide whether people of the same sex can marry."

--Peter Singer, author of the new book titled "The President of Good and Evil: The Ethics of George W. Bush".

[Slate, Timothy Noah Feb 24, 2004]

What were you doing this past January 13th?



Did you know the planet Earth was minutes from an 'asteroid alert'?
Scientists now reveal they nearly warned Presidentent Bush of potential devastation.

FrontPage:
Karl Rove and Grover Norquist have not been very careful or apologetic about the financial contributions pouring in from those with questionable ties to radical Islam

"When asked by Wall Street Journal reporter Glenn Simpson if he thought radical Muslim groups such as the friends and associates of Khaled Saffuri were exercising "undue influence" at the White House, Karl Rove simply shrugged and replied, "No."

As evidence of Saffuri's ties to three prominent terrorist suspects deepens, say alarmed conservatives, those blanket denials may look to be increasingly hollow."

--Kenneth R. Timmerman, Insight magazine

~~~~~~
Here's another case where Grover Norquist has shown that he rejects the rule of law in favor of playing politics. Many Republican senators (including Orrin Hatch and Bill Frist) are currently condemning two former aides who are being investigated for prying into Democrats' computer files. Some conservative leaders, including Norquist, are in disagreement. South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham has said to Hatch and Frist:

"The conservatives [such as Norquist and Paul Weyrich] who offer a justification for this based on politics have missed the boat. You have rejected a political defense to an unethical or legal wrong and the day that a political defense is accepted, then we are off track, because the rule of law goes."

Senator Graham sounds like a gentleman.
Then we have boorish Grover Norquist ( a poor excuse for a decent human being if I've ever seen one), of whom it is said:

".... Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, says the rule of law doesn't apply here since the Democrats' files allegedly could be accessed on the committee computer network without any "hacking" or purloined passwords.
"If someone had really broken in and stolen their stuff, we would have no truck, but that is simply not the case," said Norquist. "They left these memos on an open server. If you wander around naked all the time, someone is going to see you naked."

Ugh.
What a creep.

Homeland Suck-urity:
Duh-ooo we really have brains?

Washington Post/ Steve Coll
Ghost Wars: The CIA and Osama bin Laden, 1999-2001
Flawed Ally Was Hunt's Best Hope
Afghan Guerrilla, U.S. Shared Enemy

This is Part Two of the series I mentioned earlier this week.

See Part One: Pre-9-11: Who tried to stop bin Laden? Why did they fail?

Washington Post/Dana Milbank
White House Forecasts Often Miss The Mark

Jesus the Palimpsest


"...while public furor in the United States "has always been over the `authenticity' of the Hollywood Jesus, the overlooked issue is really what this Jesus says about America, where we are and where we are going."

--Professor Steve Humphries-Brooks, who teaches a course called "Celluloid Savior" at Hamilton College in Upstate NY


*see: palimpsest

Jews call on EU to halt anti-Semitism
"We bring a message today - and that message is a warning to Europe... anti-Semitism and prejudice have returned. The monster is here with us once again"

Suggestions have ranged from setting up a permanent body to discuss inter-faith issues, to the EU backing a UN security council resolution condemning anti-Semitism. In light of everything that is happening today, I think it's time for the EU and the UN to consider this proposal.

"Someone needs to tell the White House they're not running against Howard Dean anymore."
--Bruce Reed of the DLC on FOX news w/David Asman (today, 12:45 EST), when asked about the Democrats' criticism of the Iraq war.

What's wrong with Bruce Reed? Is this a proper-sounding defense when faced with hard questions about the Democrats' stand on the Iraq war? Did Howard Dean not teach these people ANYTHING? Does the DLC NOT realize that Howard Dean is still hanging (unified) with the Democratic party (when he, like Nader, could easily have gone for an Independent run?) How is it possible that Bruce Reed and his DLC is so ready and willing to forget how many Democrats in this nation still believe in Howard Dean's message? How is it possible that he's so willing and able to forget that Howard Dean still has a substantial number of delegates (and superdelegates) and although his campaign is suspended, he is still on the primary ballots of most states and is still standing to send as many progressive delegates as possible to the Democratic convention in Boston? My displeasure with the powers-that-be in the Democratic party grows stronger with every weakened lily-livered retort (like the one I've quoted).

The DLC is very disappointing to me. They seem to totally forget that anger is a wonderful and necessary catalyst for positive change. Instead, they defend and define themselves as the "not-all-that-angry" faction. They titled their latest manifesto "The Right Fight", citing their belief that anger alone won't beat Bush. That may be true, but when I read their 10-step plan, I nearly completely failed to see how they are actually going to balance the severe bleeding away of jobs in this country with a timely plan to help American middle-classers compete with third-worlders. Not only do they look afraid to boldly stand up to what so many of us know is wrong with the Bush administration's economic and foreign policy, they give us pie-in-the-sky generalities about how they will be different. I want to take America back from the Bush administration, but we will only do it the right way with a real plan for change..with genuinely incorruptible people... from the grassroots up.

Bush to America:
Let's abuse our Constitution & increase the cultural 'Great Divide'

There are two ways spelled out in the Constitution for amendments....The second method is for a Constitutional Convention to be called by two-thirds of the legislatures of the states, and for that convention to propose one or more amendments. These amendments are then sent to the states. This route has never been taken.

I'll bet this will be the first time.

"Marriage cannot be severed from its cultural, religious and natural roots without weakening the good influence of society."
--GW Bush

Natural roots is really what it all boils down to. The Constitution was not meant to limit inalienable rights endowed by the Creator. Culture and religion are manmade structures and we were born free by our Creator to choose to join or not to join.
Then there is our nature. Is it not within any (consenting) adult's nature to want a partner with whom to share life?
(Regardless of how they decide, between the privacy of the consenting two, to express that love?)
This is going to be some debate....

If it's so important to "protect and defend" marriage, will President Bush start a national debate about a Constitutional amendment to ban divorce next? (Before those activist courts continue to grant all those heinous divorce decrees?)

I'm not surprised, but always disappointed by President Bush. His choice of politics over American democracy and freedom makes him a significantly anti-American character to me. His quick reliance upon marring our precious Constitution and creating a wedge amongst his own people will only make it easier to abuse that precious blueprint for freedom in the future. I'm very concerned about the direction in which our nation is headed.

~~~~~~~~~

According to the Washington Post, "thousands of gay rights supporters are posting open letters on the Internet urging Mary Cheney, the vice president's daughter, to speak out against amending the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage."

~~~~~~~~~~

Here are blogger Andrew Sullivan's words:
"The president launched a war today against the civil rights of gay citizens and their families. And just as importantly, he launched a war to defile the most sacred document in the land. Rather than allow the contentious and difficult issue of equal marriage rights to be fought over in the states, rather than let politics and the law take their course, rather than keep the Constitution out of the culture wars, this president wants to drag the very founding document into his re-election campaign. He is proposing to remove civil rights from one group of American citizens - and do so in the Constitution itself. The message could not be plainer: these citizens do not fully belong in America. Their relationships must be stigmatized in the very Constitution itself. The document that should be uniting the country will now be used to divide it, to single out a group of people for discrimination itself, and to do so for narrow electoral purposes. Not since the horrifying legacy of Constitutional racial discrimination in this country has such a goal been even thought of, let alone pursued. Those of us who supported this president in 2000, who have backed him whole-heartedly during the war, who have endured scorn from our peers as a result, who trusted that this president was indeed a uniter rather than a divider, now know the truth."

She Bangs!

William Hung is the latest cult-rage.

..................
Who needs ^^ him when you can have him^^???
Hung photo credit: Fox broadcasting


The link above will take you to William's American Idol audition.
This link will take you to a Video-On-Demand: William Hung's halftime concert at Cal-Berkeley this past Wednesday night.

LA Times/Marc Cooper
Soldier for the Truth: Exposing Bush’s talking-points war

My heroine Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski speaks to the LA Times.

Jesus Movies

With the frenzy over Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ', Sgt Stryker's Daily Briefing gives us an amusing rundown of on Jesus movies that came before....

YOU'RE DEAD, YOU BIG FAT LAZY PIG!!!

I installed Trackback today. Yay.
See Haloscan for details.

The Vietnam Syndrome, Again
The mistake Democrats make when they compare Iraq to Vietnam.
By Christopher Hitchens

"More than a quarter of a century after the collapse of the doomed American intervention in Indochina, we can't get over it. This is, in my opinion, as it should be."
--Christopher Hitchens 2-16-04

I do not like what's happening in Iraq, yet I agree that if we're going to criticize the Iraq war, we have to criticize the war based upon its own failings and not that of Viet Nam.
Whether or not President Bush showed up for guard duty, in the end, won't matter. We have already seen four years of his administration and know what we may expect from another four.

I think Christopher Hitchen's line here is 'right on target' regarding the issue of the President's limited service to the U.S. during the Viet Nam war:

"Bush evidently did the gentlemanly minimum."

Indeed. Current Democratic front-runner John Kerry went to battle not only for one tour of duty, but two. As the Pope said about the Mel Gibson movie "The Passion", "it is as it was".
How would I answer Mr. Hitchen's question:

"...some Democrats really seem to want to act hawkier than thou. Are they so sure that this is a bright idea?"

Answer: Why not? "It is as it was." The Viet Nam war (and the anti-war movement it sparked) is settled history now (though still unsettling) and I think we're mature enough here in America to talk about it and sort through the shades of gray.
I do not agree with Mr. Hitchens' oversimplification of matters by calling the Democrats' hailing (as heroes) of our Viet Nam soldiers as "creepy", nor do I come anywhere close to agreeing with Mr. Hitchens that the Democrats have, in any way, shape, or form "denigrated" the troops for their fine efforts in Iraq. The denigration, (if we wish to call it that), would stem from the policy of the Bush administration (from whom many believe there was no honest forthcoming about the reasons for war). Democrats urged the President, before the preventive Iraq war was launched, to carefully consider the available intelligence and the fullness of the rule of law in the international community. Apparently, their trust in the President to do so was shattered.
It's a 'no-brainer' that terrorists are the common enemies of humanity. I think Mr. Hitchens is a wonderful writer, but he either makes a mistake or he's being intellectually dishonest in lumping a discussion about our loyal and brave troops in Iraq with the foreign policy of the Bush administration itself.

Daniel Ellsberg urges individuals inside government to produce Pentagon papers

"....just as Senators Byrd and Kennedy, the only two remaining in the Senate who voted for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, learned from an error they have regretted for almost 40 years and tried to warn their current colleagues against repeating it last fall, so can insiders such as I once was do better than I did then. Individuals inside government, from low-level clerks to Cabinet members, have the power -- to be sure, at the risk of their careers -- to tell the truth. There are surely drawers full of documents in Washington right now -- the Pentagon Papers of Iraq -- that, if leaked in bulk, would drastically alter the public discourse on whether we should have sent our children to kill and to die in Iraq, and more urgently, whether we should continue to do so.

I urge patriotic and conscientious Americans who have access to these documents, and who know it is wrong for their bosses to lie to the public about why we are in this war, to consider doing what I wish I had done in 1964 or early 1965, years earlier than I did: Go to Congress and the press; tell the truth, with documents. The personal risks are real, but a war's worth of lives are at stake..."
[Boston Globe 2-22-04]

Politics: The Internet Revolution

I find it fascinating how the internet is considered an "alternate world". On this blog, for instance, you may see things that would possibly seem "out of place" on the mainstream media. Ask yourselves why. I'm not a gossip-mongerer. I write about reality...often taken directly off the mainstream...injecting my opinion, of course. The Internet is confounding the "real" world with all these voices who have been silent for so long. What to do?

He's baaaaaack
What will Progressives do? (WWPD?)



The Democrats have themselves to blame thank

On 'Face the Nation', I saw DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe blaming Ralph Nader for former VP Al Gore's loss in 2000.
I wondered: "When will he start taking responsibility for his own party's decisions and policies?"
As much as I was displeased (and appalled) at the barely-democratic process which handed us George W. Bush as our President in 2000, I do not begrudge Ralph Nader a run as an Independent candidate in 2004. I will not sit here and ignore him...nor will I mock his candidacy.

I used to think differently

I've been guilty in the recent past of cynicism and frustration about Nader, but I am realizing, after giving him a fair listen this morning, that vanity is likely not his reason for running. I will no longer attack his motives as "vanity-seeking-power". I hear the vanity-spin beginning already this morning in the mainstream media. I recall the media's "crazy-Howard" and "weirdo-Dennis" spin, too. I refuse to let my displeasure with Bush cause a "DISCONNECT" with my views on democracy in this nation. I love American democracy more than I politically disagree with the Bush administration. My view on this matter is evolving before you. If there's one thing you can say about politics, it's that it is NOT enhanced by adynamic thought. If that were so, I'd be holding fast to ideas long-obsolete. Why, then I'd be like a far-right Republican, for Pete's sake. Let me explain myself.

I'm sure Nader has watched the Democratic race closely. Why do you suppose he waited until now to enter as a Presidential candidate?

In many ways, the Democratic party has handed Mr. Nader the invitation to run in the way I've observed Democratic leadership running their primary contest. I'm tired of the carpenter blaming his tools for a shoddy end-product. Had American voters been given equally serious, educated, and clear media-disseminated choices (which we all know could have occurred with Democratic party leadership influence), there might not be such disgust with those whom many voters consider to be establishment-Democrats (aka "Republican-lite"). Serious DNC promotion of lesser-known candidates like Carol Moseley-Braun and Dennis Kucinich would have meant more than giving them token spots and occasional questions in the debates while sitting back silently as the mainstream media (for all intents and purposes) ignored and often MOCKED them. They have NOT taken the views of their left-leaning base seriously..and the 'left-base' knows this all too well. If anyone has to pay the piper for the Ralph Nader run, it would have to be the DNC chairperson....where the buck stops. Of course, Mr. McAuliffe will have the ever-influential DLC leaders Bruce Reed and Al From with whom to share the credit for Ralph accepting their cordial invitation to run.
They "brought him on".

Let's think about this carefully as we move forward

I'll end this with my own quote from last September. I hope you can sort through my words and understand that I am looking at my own gut-feelings through the shady glass of realism (based upon the jaded two-party political system in America today...and the media who loves them).

"..I think we should be realistic for the health of our democracy.
A second Bush term may decay democracy to a point of no return.
This may be the most important American election in history.
We really do need to find a way to unite as Democrats, Greens, Progessives, Independents...the strength of the party of Karl Rove is the way he's unifying their base.

This next election will be war...let's be prepared for battle.

The American dream of our forefathers will never continue until we awaken from our current nightmare.

..I happen to think Dennis Kucinich is one of the most truly decent souls in the entire field of democratic candidates.
I have the utmost respect for his ideas.

But I'll tell you this..and I believe it's true.
Americans will not elect Dennis Kucinich...
...I know America too, too well.
How I wish it could be different.

I saw what happened in the last election...I felt that Ralph Nader had fantastic ideas. So did many others.

Unfortunately, we saw what happened in Florida..which may well have been avoided had some of our idealistic voters chosen to consider the sheer pragmatism of the situation and the danger of the fast-encroaching radical right-wing...and voted for Gore rather than Nader.
I wonder, knowing what they know now, if many of the Nader voters would have changed their vote.

Idealism, Kate Harris, and five crooks on the US Supreme Court got us one "George W Bush" in 2000.

What a prize.

What's my point, you ask? Only that you consider all the factors and decide with your heart and mind toward a better day--whatever that means to you.

It's fairly clear that, had Mr. Nader never run for President as a Green in 2000, the voting results in Florida between Bush and Gore would possibly not have been so close. Then again..if Nader had not run in 2000, perhaps the small percentage of Greens that did vote for him would have stayed home on election day. Bottom line, we'll never know.
What we do know is that what happened in Florida, 2000 was and is still a shaded mystery...resulting in shaded history.
While I applaud Mr. Nader's right and respect his decision to run, I do hope we all have learned something from the shaded history that was "Florida 2000". I have not decided upon any other candidate for President since Howard Dean has suspended his run. I will still vote for Howard Dean in my NY State primary. Personally, I will probably use my November vote for pragmatic reasons. I want, in the end, what is best for this world. Sometimes we have to choke back our idealistic pride in order to move to the next level.
Ask yourselves...do you want four more years of the Bush administraton? Would it be easier for you to work as a Progressive in a more welcoming (albeit barely more comforting) political atmosphere with a Democratic president who failed to espouse your every ideal? I'm not telling you what to do...only to consider.

NZ Bear at The Truth Laid Bear blog has a very interesting analysis at his website.

We've ALWAYS had him



A Timeline

President Bush family dog Spot has died

" President Bush's dog Spot, the 15-year-old English springer spaniel, died Saturday after a recent series of strokes, the White House said..."



Condolences from the Iddybud blog to the Bush family.
It's never easy to lose a beloved pet.

FACE IT!


What do faces have to do with winning?
More than you'd expect......



"Dean consistently showed anger by pressing his lips together or tensely holding his mouth slightly open," Mr. Hill said. "Last fall, Kerry was showing definite signs of contempt and disgust by raising his upper lip, but that's gone now. He's trying to be more likable by smiling more, but rarely can he get past the social smile to the genuine smile. Edwards gets there much more often. He conveys the most optimism, and lately he's been adding gravitas by knitting his eyebrows to show that he feels the pain of the other America."

Pssst- Dennis Kucinich is still
running for President
(I'm telling you this because you'll
seldom hear it on cable news)

I'm sending out thanks to the Duchess, who has posted regular updates and current news about the Kucnich campaign:
From Hanging Out with the Duchess blog:

SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN ENDORSES KUCINICH
Kucinich picked up an important endorsement on February 18th from the San Francisco Bay Guardian. The Bay Area's influential and widely read alternative weekly, which put a photo of Congressman Kucinich on its front page, had this to say:

"Kucinich is a genuine progressive. . . We're glad he's out there, and he deserves encouragement and support. The Kucinich campaign -- which shows no signs of giving up -- can be an organizing force for the left and help keep the activist spirit alive in the party as we head to a convention where the focus has to be on defeating Bush. "

THE NATION MAGAZINE: "PROGRESSIVES SHOULD VOTE KUCINICH"
"Dennis Kucinich is the one candidate for President whose vision, eloquence and commitments on the issues can lead us to rise to and surmount the worldwide crises precipitated by the Bush Administration. " Read more of this article
at the link above.

The Harvard Business Review List:
Breakthrough Ideas for 2004 [pdf]

From the fields of biology, neuroscience, economics, positive psychology, network science, marketing, management theory, and more...these are some of the emergent ideas that are changing the way business is done. Includes 20 new ideas by various authors, such as Prof. Rakesh Khurana, big-thinker Chris Meyer, Prof. Robert Sutton, Joel Kurtzman, Daniel H. Pink, Thomas A. Stewart, and Gardiner Morse.

Pre-9-11: Who tried to stop bin Laden? Why did they fail?

This story, to be featured in tomorrow's Washington Post, speaks of the years before the 9-11 terrorist attacks, when our CIA carried out a secret (ultimately unsuccessful) manhunt for Osama bin Laden.It is written by Washington Post managing editor Steve Coll, who will be online at the Post on Monday at 10 a.m. ET to answer questions about the book from which the article was adapteded: "Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001", The Penguin Press (New York: 2004) The book is an inside story going beyond any book previously published on the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan from the time of the Soviet invasion in 1979 through the summer of 2001. This article is the first in a series of two articles..the second is yet to come. I consider it required reading for anyone who wishes to better understand the history which led up to 9-11....what U.S. intelligence analysts might have known about the rising threat of radical Islam before Sept. 11, 2001... who tried to stop bin Laden ...and why they failed.

In a companion article by Mr. Coll, also to be featured in the Sunday edition of the Post, you will learn of policy disputes over the search for bin Laden which allegedly 'paralyzed' former President Clinton's aides. From the article:

"..Clinton had demonstrated his willingness to kill bin Laden, without any pretense of seeking his arrest, when he ordered the cruise missile strikes on an eastern Afghan camp in August 1998, after the CIA obtained intelligence that bin Laden might be there for a meeting of al Qaeda leaders. Yet the secret legal authorizations Clinton signed after this failed missile strike required the CIA to make a good faith effort to capture bin Laden for trial, not kill him outright...."
[Washington Post, Feb 22, 2004]

Bush Says His View of Iraq Threat Was Widely Held
Flashback- February 15, 2003:

Iraq Terrorists not connected with al Qaeda

According to this NYT report:

The most active terrorist network inside Iraq appears to be operating mostly apart from Al Qaeda, senior American officials say.
Most significantly, the officials said, American intelligence had picked up signs that Qaeda members outside Iraq had refused a request from the group, Ansar al-Islam, for help in attacking Shiite Muslims in Iraq.

This could well be another problem for the Bush administration's credibility, as they portrayed Al Qaeda and Ansar as closely linked associates and used those links as part of their justification for war against the Iraq/Hussein government.

What about the Deaniacs?


I just read something I wanted to share here on the Iddybud blog. I can't tell you exactly where we're going, but we "Deaniacs" are doing a bit of scattering now that Dean's out of the actual race. Yet, our hearts are still with the candidate who changed our lives. To me, Howard Dean represented my version of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" Although I don't believe for a moment he was as politically naive as Smith, he was every bit as refreshingly idealistic. He had patriotic clarity and conveyed it well. He lifted a veil so that we may see the filth that pollutes Washington politics today.
There's a great thread at the for Change for America blog, and this is where I found these comments from "Politicalfinger":

"Why does Steve Grossman keep talking about Dean giving the eventual nominee (in his mind - Kerry) his vast number of supporters? Is this his dream to hand Kerry the Dean supporters and crawl his way back to the fold? It will be his nightmare. Dean supporters can not be bought and sold to the highest bidder. Grossman defected publicly right before the Wisconsin primary as a signal to Kerry that he was willing to throw a wrench in the Dean support at the polls. There are professional whores who work campaigns every election cycle and now there is much media about how they will be "punished" for supporting Dean rather than the establishment candidate pre-selected by the DNC/DLC (Kerry - Why do you think the convention site is Boston?) These professionals will always be around; they ridicule "true-believer" types (like Dean's supporters) and will do what ever they feel they need to do to get the next job. Beware these types and don't let the bastards get you down. Keep being a true-believer, otherwise we will continue to see "business as usual" in all areas of government. In the Sixties we said "Power to the People". That slogan is now being dusted off. Give them the Political Finger!"

Guys like Steve Grossman and labor leader Gerald McEntee (who recently called Gov. Dean "nuts" for not dropping out before Wisconsin) are only two representives what is wrong with politics today.

What's Next for Deaniacs?
Click on the link above...come to NationalGrassroots.us and join a national discussion.
National Grassroots' current objective is to:

--Create an umbrella organization to share and provide services to and from members including National Ad Spots, PR, Media, Technology, Volunteer Organizing, Voter Outreach Campaigns, Visibility, GOTV, and Strategy while enabling groups to maintain autonomy.

--Draw national media attention to the power, breadth, and depth of the grassroots by giving the grassroots a consolidated voice in the media.

--Maximize the effectiveness of grassroots activities by sharing our pooled wealth of volunteer talents.

--Strengthen the partnership between Dean grassroots volunteers and Dean For America.

Bin Laden "found"?

A British newspaper (The Sunday Express) is well-known for its "colorful" scoops (like World Net Daily or The National Enquirer). They are claiming Osama bin Laden "has been found and is surrounded by US special forces in an area of land bordering north-west Pakistan and Afghanistan." The Paper is said to have gotten information on bin Laden from a "well-placed Washington source". I've seen similar stories lately.
Interesting timing, wouldn't you say?
Perhaps a bin Laden capture would stop the swirling fervored chatter from the public about censuring President Bush because of the Iraq war intelligence fiasco.
Perhaps it will give President Bush a snowball's chance in Hades of winning the election in November.

The One You've Been Waiting For
By William Rivers Pitt

I consider William to be one of the greatest patriots this country could possibly know today.
For those who have been working hard to support the candidates of your choosing, regardless of their respective successes in the Democratic primaries, please take a moment and read this article. I guarantee you'll be glad you did.

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]

Tough words from George McGovern, who disagrees with Thomas Friedman

"Replacing Saddam Hussein with Ahmad Chalabi would be comparable to replacing Jack the Ripper with Al Capone. Such a development is not worth risking the death of one additional American."
--George McGovern, Democratic candidate for president in 1972

Read his letter to the NY Times here.
Mr. McGovern, like Thomas Friedman, speaks to Senator John Kerry as if he's already secured the Presidential nomination. (I'm so glad they can both so accurately predict the future.) McGovern's words to Kerry, to whom he feels compelled to aim his words, bring to mind the many complaints I've expressed here about Kerry's lack of a "leader's intuition" on the Iraq resolution. Especially the ending of the letter: "Thousands of young Americans bled and died in Vietnam to keep a series of political frauds in power in Saigon. Let's not go down that road again, claiming all the while, "We will not run." How about a compromise? Let's walk out of Iraq."

Bill Moyers Leaving PBS

Feeling compelled to get his book about President Johnson written, Bill Moyers will stay on through the Presidential race, but will then end his time as host of the program NOW, where he's been an executive editor and frequent reporter since its premiere in 2002. I'll miss him greatly, and I'll bet many others will.

Democrat-centrists will shut out Washington insiders who supported Dean.
I see where we're headed. I don't like it.

I'm not at all surprised to read the Democratic party-centrists are punishing those Washington insiders who threw their weight and influence behind Howard Dean. I am, however, disappointed. Did the Democratic party learn nothing from all of this? Will we simply forget Howard Dean's message existed and retreat to business-as-usual? Will we accept Senator Ted Kennedy's dismissal of Dean's criticism of Democrats for not standing up to Bush on the "No Child Left Behind" act (calling Dean "naive")? Does he think we're all "naive"? Because we are not "naive" enough to miss weakness when we see it. Compromise is necessary in politics, but knowingly selling your constituents' souls is unaceptable. Personally, I fully understand why Al Gore and so many others inside and outside the Washington beltway chose to support Howard Dean. I want true representation..not a diminishment of my child's right to a solid education in exchange for other needed political favors. To hell with that! I want to be truly represented. Isn't that what a healthy democracy is all about?

Democratic Presidential Race: New York Is In Play

Syracuse.com is reporting that Senator John Edwards is scheduled to stop in five New York cities in the coming days, not including Syracuse. His wife, Elizabeth Edwards, is scheduled to campaign in Syracuse on Wednesday.( 2/25 )
Senator John Kerry will be in Rochester Saturday while his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, tours Western and Central New York, including Syracuse.

Assemblywoman Joan Christensen, D-Syracuse, who is undecided about which Democrat she'll be supporting, said (about the Wisconsin primary results) that she is "skeptical of a Democratic primary that allows in other-party members." (''I don't know what to make of it,'' she said. ) I have often contemplated the consequences of such a primary election myself. We cannot know what motivates individuals to vote one way or another...especially in a nation that is deeply polarized in a political sense. Divisive/partisan intent could always be a factor when those of an opposing party are allowed to participate in the other party's electoral process. John Edwards had a great showing in Wisconsin, however..and I can't believe it can be attributed to any particular anti-Kerry faction. I have watched the Edwards' campaign buoyed by the endorsements of many persuasive major newspapers in States where primaries have already taken place. When people see Edwards close-up, they seem to be won over. I'm curious to see how New York will like Senator Edwards. I believe Edwards' strength is in his gifted ability to generate passion for his candidacy by speaking directly to the individual, even when he's speaking to a room of hundreds or a television audience of millions. Frankly, I have not seen Senator Kerry generate this level of passion.

Today, there are people from Syracuse (including some former Dean supporters) who are talking about Senator Edwards at his campaign's website.
Here's some of what they are saying:

--"Will JRE be campaigning in Syracuse? They really need him up there, they've just lost Carrier, just like the folks in Tennessee. Anybody know if JRE will be in Central New York?"


--"Elizabeth will be there? YAY!! They will LOVE her! Does it say where she'll be and at what time? I'd like to get some family members and friends lined up to go watch her."

--"Hey it looks like there are a few Edwards supporters near Syracuse. Any word about a campaign office there or opportunities to volunteer?"

--"Yes, I was raised up there, for the most part, and my family still lives there. I used to live in Oswego as well, had to travel to Syracuse every day to work for a very low paying job. Eventually I had to move downstate. My brother is working his butt off up in Syracuse, way too many hours for way too little pay. He doesn't want to leave his home, and I know most people in Syracuse area face the same challenge. It's very heavy Republican base up there, and everyone hurting really badly under Bush administration. JR[Edwards] would win them over because he is EXACTLY what they need right now. I sure hope he can speak to them there..."

"Project Censored"- Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2002-2003

On their website, the stated mission of "Project Censored" (out of Sonoma State University) is to 'educate people about the role of independent journalism in a democratic society and to tell The News That Didn't Make the News and why.'
Current "Project Censored News" can be found here.

George Will's column defending outsourcing sounds good in theory; looks bad in political reality

George Will's column appeared in the Syracuse Post Standard today. [See:"When jobs go away, sometimes it's for good reason" at Tallahasee.com site] Mr. Will begins by dismantling a statement by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert:

"An economy suffers when jobs disappear."

It seems like a simple statement, but Mr. Will wants us to know that it really isn't an accurate statement at all. He says the economy does not truly suffer and he gives a fairly good technical economic explanation as to why he believes it to be so.

I read it...I understand it. It left me cold..unconvinced.

In the end, it may not be an economy that suffers due to jobs being bled away to foreign lands where workers will do the work for less (and thus lift their own foreign economies). No..it's not the economy that suffers...it's the PEOPLE who suffer. These are the same people who not only vote, but who, in the Declaration of Independence , were said to be endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights and to secure these rights, a Government was to be instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
Which men? All men. (And women, naturally..although perhaps it wasn't completely apparent at the time...;)
My point: ours is a government of the people....not corporations. They are people with families who depend upon them. What the current administration will have to live with is the simple fact that when the people suffer because of their nation's economic policy..good or bad for the nation and/or world economy, those people (also voters) are not going to remember the greatness or social nobility of the policy. They will only recall their personal sufferings and how their government cared (or failed to care) about those sufferings.

While Mr. Will spells out his ideas in what seems to be an intelligently sound manner, outsourcing is not simply a
Hobson-like choice between free trade and no trade at all. With mutual interest must come fairness to concerned parties. The economy may be dynamic, yet the dynamics seem to have gone off-track for American workers. It seems that all the Bush administration has done is to put in temporary political fixes such as temporary steel tarriffs and farm subsidies. We seem to have forgotten that the economist John Maynard Keynes stated that capital is best employed at home. We must ask ourselves: "Who is setting the standards for investment and concentration of capital at home and abroad?"

Americans are not blind, nor are they numb to the effects of unemployment. They do not see dynamics at work here. They have seen the loss of millions of jobs here in the U.S. over the past four years and have been teased by fleeting (give-then-take-away) promises of jobs to come. NAFTA and WTO are not working as they should for some reason, and as pretty a picture George Will paints about the splendour of new American jobs from foreign auto companies, the bald truth is that free trade agreements and open borders are putting our own middle class workers into direct competition with the masses of very poor workers in third world countries. Without principled and moral governmental oversight, our middle class is left to hang. In the upcoming Presidential election, middle class workers (who make up the better percentage of voters in this country) will be heard more loudly than George Will's "plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face" talk about economic rationality. We desperately need principled leadership on this matter, or the backbone of this nation is going to lose ever-important ground. Cutting taxes while increasing the deficit is not going to cover the Bush administration's crucial mistakes much longer. A healthy economy with a middle class who suffers presents little more than a cold, meaningless, and unAmerican prospect.

The "Prince of Darkness" calls the kettle 'black'

In an amazing statement of hypocrisy, Richard Perle (loudest cheerleader for Iraq invasion at any cost) has pointed his twisted little finger at George Tenet and blamed him for "conclusions of the intelligence agencies".
Just last week, George Tenet averred that at no time did he advise of an imminent WMD threat from Iraq or Saddam Hussein.
People, this is absolutely an unbelievably bold accusation from Perle, who called New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh a "terrorist" for reporting about Perle's potential financial interest in seeing a war in Iraq. Hersh said of Perle, in an October, 2003 New Yorker article:

In a speech on November 14, 2001, as the Taliban were being routed in Afghanistan, Richard Perle, a Pentagon consultant with long-standing ties to Wolfowitz, Feith, and Chalabi, articulated what would become the Bush Administration’s most compelling argument for going to war with Iraq: the possibility that, with enough time, Saddam Hussein would be capable of attacking the United States with a nuclear weapon.

Possibility....enough time?? This doesn't sound "imminent" to me at all...how about you?

Then there's the article from August of 2003 in the Asia Times with this revelation about Perle:

There was some hint of a parallel policy apparatus dating back just after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It was known early on, for example, that the Pentagon leadership, without notice to the State Department, the NSC, or the CIA, convened its advisory Defense Policy Board (DPB), headed by Richard Perle, to discuss attacking Iraq within days of the attacks.
The three agencies were also kept in the dark about a mission undertaken immediately afterward by former CIA director and DPB member James Woolsey to London to gather intelligence about possible links between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, as if the CIA or the Pentagon's own Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) could not be trusted.

Perle also had a chance to head off this war before it was started, but he and his secret little friend at the CIA (the agency he's dissing now) decided to blow it off. They just weren't "interested".

Perle, a member of the Defense Policy Board, said in a telephone interview that he was approached last winter by Imad al Hage, a Lebanese businessman, with what was described as a offer by Saddam Hussein to hold elections and perhaps to permit the entry into Iraq of a small number of U.S. troops. Perle said he conveyed the offer to a friend at the CIA.

A friend? I wonder what Tenet knew, if anything, about this "friend" at the CIA. Black Perle's always pointing at the kettles. Yet he's a-bubbling darkly away himself.

Update: More on the Neocon philosophy of intelligence from Feb 19 Asia Times

Howard Dean to end campaign?

AP Breaking news:

Howard Dean will end his campaign for the presidential nomination and oversee a new effort to keep his issues alive and his supporters organized on behalf of Democratic causes, two party officials said Wednesday.

If he drops out of the race, I'll predict he'll endorse Senator John Edwards. Personally, I hope he stays in the race. If he drops out today and endorses Edwards, I believe it could only mean that he firmly believes in John Edwards as the candidate (of the remaining two pragmatically "electable") to carry Dean's message forward. I've been a Dean supporter all along, and while I would be disappointed to see him end the campaign, I would put my support behind a candidate he would endorse.
We'll see what happens in Burlington, Vt. today.

Al Franken's coming soon--hopefully to a radio near you!
REAL MEN HELP ;) : Read about "a benefit for the Palace Theatre, which was actually arranged between Al Franken and Palace director Peter Ramsey following a controversial moment there a few weeks ago, during a Howard Dean rally. Franken made headlines for helping remove a heckler from the audience. Ramsey took the stage last night alongside Franken, and explained how, in the midst of the disruption, while ABC newsmen George Stephanopoulos and Peter Jennings did nothing, Franken took action....."




I'm glad to see the New York Times reiterating what I (and so many others) have been saying for quite a while now. We need a complete investigation...not a cover-up.

PBS New Hour, February 11, 2004:

JIM LEHRER : Speaking of Terry McAuliffe, he's the one who started this issue about President Bush's National Guard Service during the Vietnam War, the White House yesterday issued some papers related to the president's service, does that put it to rest?

DAVID BROOKS: I think it's an idiotic issue. When somebody is running for president, you want to know what their service was in the military, how they behaved. But when somebody has already been president, you know how he behaves, we know how George Bush behaves under pressure because he's spent three years in the White House. Something that happened 30 years ago I don't think is relevant, I don't think it's important. He's a different man than who he was before Sept. 11, and I just think it's an inane issue.

David Brooks has been trying to say that what happened 30+ years ago..what the candidates might have said or done at that time... should be of little impact and/or political consequence when it comes to the 2004 Presidential election. I believe he's seeing that it will have an impact...and there will be political consequences. I find it interesting that he now turns the table a bit and begins to point the conservative finger at Democrats for Viet Nam, saying Truman and JFK's post-WWII "confidence took them into Vietnam and into the quagmire." Mr. Brooks claims "Scoop Jackson Democrats saw Vietnam as a bungled battle in what was nonetheless a noble anti-Communist war. Most of these people ended up as Republicans." He categorizes the rest of the Democrats as liberals who "saw the bungling and the lies as symptoms of a deep sickness in the military-industrial complex".
Brooks goes on to suggest that Reaganites "saw themselves as the heirs to Truman and Kennedy", resulting in a great American perception that "Reagan was right about the world, and that the Democrats were naïve."
You have to accept this premise in order to concur with the rest of Brooks' questions about current events. I found it very interesting that Brooks never once invoked the name of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon (and his "secret plan" to end the war), Gerald Ford, or Dem Lyndon Baines Johnson...as if they never existed.
Let's not forget that Reagan opposed the Helsinki accords signed by Gerald Ford and being used as a model for Middle East policy by today's Bush administration. Come on, David Brooks....would I leave Bill Clinton totally out of an article about the history of the War on Terror? Let's be more complete in our regurgitating of history lest we be seen as dishonest intellectuals!

Mr. Brooks seems to be indicting former President Carter for talking about "root causes like hunger and poverty". Is there something wrong with or naive about a President, past or present, addressing hunger and poverty anywhere in this world? Thankfully, Carter was never faced with a 9-11. We'd best understand that this is a far more sophisticated matter than the case David Brooks is making here. I concur that that after 9-11, the U.S. couldn't afford to sit back and wait to decipher or cure Middle Eastern terrorism's "root causes"...because the immediate causes are of a not so much economic in nature as they are depraved, homicidal, and obviously unpersuaded by any plea the Western world could make. I think, however, we rushed headlong into Iraq without a defined 9-11-connection, without a decent plan for after-battle activity...without the international-community, and with dubious reasoning. I don't believe it should ever have happened that way. I also credit most Americans with seeing things exactly as they are. Now that we are there in Iraq, we will have to consider "root causes" for the continued attacks upon our troops.
We will also have to consider an economic plan for the people of Iraq who have been systematically starved between years of international sanctions and robbery of its citizens by Saddam Hussein. If we want to "win hearts and minds", I think we'd better be a bit more "Carter" (who, by the way, was one of the most truly moral and diplomatic men who ever graced the Oval Office)..and a little less 'Hawk'...or at the very least, be a Hawk with sound, honest reasoning and a well-rounded plan.

GREGORY CLARK SPEAKS OUT ABOUT THE NAIVETE OF BUSH/BLAIR IN IRAQ

Gregory Clark is a former Australian diplomat and honorary president of Tama University who, in the past, has written that 'right-wing foreign policy mistakes leave the way open to the left-wing indulgences." Clark said, in a Nation article in 1972, ".....it is remarkable that a country can go to war for six years without anyone bothering to challenge the obviously false premises on which that war was launched. Even the U.S. Congress has had enough sense of democratic responsibility to repeal the Tonkin Gulf resolution."--[NATION, JULY 8, 1972]

The Iraq war has been the near-perfect formula for Clark's theory to be tested in recent months. While some may cheer on the Bush administration for initiating this 'preventive' war, we can look upon it, to date, with much skeptcism as to its policy-wisdom. We can...and we do. Just as some academic careers were virtually destroyed for those who had dared to oppose the right wing hardline on Vietnam and China in the mid-sixties, we see our universities under fire today for taking a stand against right wing policies on Iraq. Some like to blame academia and left-wing commentators, but the left's indulgences are borne of every mistake made by Bush and Blair in their rush to war.

In today's Japan Times, Mr. Clark writes that as things stand today, the U.S. military-intelligence complex is now virtually out of control, arguing that the 'naivete of the Bush/Blair arguments over Iraq cries out for explanation'. (Clark compares Indonesia's occupation of East Timor and resulting atrocities to this type of naivete where hawks are allowed to run the larger portion of the 'show'). He comments that religious fundamentalism seems to have been allowed to seep into U.S. government leadership and that an eerie "veil of silence" has befallen those who spoke of Iraq becoming a hub of secular democracy while we watch it unfold into something far different..Iraq's "democratic elections" being a "nonsecular activity similar to that in that other "Axis of Evil" candidate, Iran."

CNN reports that Archbishop Desmond Tutu challenged Tony Blair and George Bush to apologize for their pursuit of what he considers to be a counter-productive and "immoral" war in Iraq. "How wonderful if politicians could bring themselves to admit they are only fallible human creatures, and not God, and thus by definition can make mistakes....Weak and insecure people hardly ever say, 'Sorry.' It is large-hearted and courageous people who are not diminished by saying, 'I made a mistake.'....Who makes the decision about which regimes should be changed? And what authority do they (Bush and Blair) have to do whatever they may think is right .....is it a matter of 'might is right' and to hell with the rule of international law?" were some of Tutu's statements in an evening lecture delivered at Church House, Westminster, in central London.

In the Denver Post, Walter Cronkite states that he believes the United States has suffered a major self-inflicted wound in his article about U.S. intelligence and our reasons for going to war in Iraq.

Jimmy Breslin says he believes we have a commander in chief who only "plays" soldier with other people's lives while his apparent goal in the early 70s was to dodge war altogether. Not only "dodge".. "he is a guy who ducked the war, dodged the war, reneged on any chance to go to war, and yet without even a hint of personal shame sends young people to die in a war that his record shows that he would duck." According to Mr. Breslin, "Bush went to Alabama and that pretty much ended his fighting career although he did battle cavities in a dentist's chair at Maxwell Field, Ala."