Progressive Leaders Endorse Kerry, not Nader

Nader's Top Endorsers from 2000 Urge
"Swing States" Support for Kerry

The swing states are getting a clear message from top Progressive leaders. In a recent proclamation, the message is:

Vote for Kerry, not Nader.

See a partial list of signers here.
These are not pantywaist progressives.
These progressives are the real deal. Among them are Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Cornel West, Rabbi Michael Lerner, and Norman Solomon.
They're the big guns of progressive politics and they are stressing the necessity of strategic voting in swing states this time around.

Meanwhile, that progressive-hugging fellow (grin), Jeb Bush, is trying his hardest to give his brother a "leg-up" on the election by overseeing a senior Republican-appointed official ordering Nader's name reinstated on the Florida ballot.

Bush's Failure

Bush's Failure
Iraq Storms Toward Tragedy

Ahman Mohammad, his chubby, 20-year-old face scarred with burn marks, his arms charred to the bone, lies on a blood-stained bed at Karkh Hospital and tries to make sense of the day’s horror, etched in his mind like a Hieronymus Bosch painting.

"Human beings were piled one on top of the other like pieces of meat," he says, shivering. "I’m all choked up with shock. I saw it with my own eyes."

Today's Scotsman editorial documents the many failures on the Iraq war, and recommends:
-The administrations in the US and Britain need to focus on Iraq as their number-one priority
-Elections must go ahead as soon as possible, in order to isolate the insurgency.
-The security situation in Baghdad must be stabilised as soon as possible. If that means more coalition troops being deployed, so be it.

The Scotsman also has a piece by Borzou Orzou Daragahi (in Baghdad) about distraught Iraqis, who are are blaming the US as more innocent blood is shed. Hossein Ali Hossein is a 41 year-old train driver who was sitting in a tea shop when an explosion occurred. He said: "This was a peaceful, modest lower-middle-class neighbourhood where everyone cared about everyone. I was born here. This explosion has changed everything in this neighbourhood forever."

Last, at the Scotsman, Colin Freeman gives us a brutally honest assessment of the lie "turn-over of sovereignty" has become. Iraq is listing towards total anarchy, and the fact that US troops regularly give the enemy an easy hiding--killing scores, sometimes hundreds at a time--is no comfort.

The bullish confidence of George W. Bush boasting of his successes at the election rally podiums is startling in contrast to the news coming out of Iraq.

K Street: Exclusiveness of American Avarice

K Street: Exclusiveness of American Avarice

While you shell out your hard-earned tax dollars to the Federal government, the fat cats of K Street hire the washed-up Republican Congressmen who took major corporate contributions for many years, ensuring a continuity of the great mammonite partnership-- the Republican/Corporate oligarchy.

They have plans for your tax dollars and they don't
care what your ideology might be.
It's not about you or your democratic freedom.
It's about their power and their agenda.

Seven figures isn't too bad for a position with the K Street Project, a GOP-led effort to persuade lobbying firms to hire Republicans in their top positions.
Democrats are virtually persona non grata.

Go K Street.

Maybe we'll soon see more tax breaks that encourage businesses to buy Humvees for delivery vehicles.

Woo-hoo. Celebrate.

Dan Rather Isn't Running for President

This is not Dan Rather

Dan Rather Isn't Running for President

I think Dan Rather should ask Marian Carr Knox, the 86-year old retired Ellington AFB secretary who worked for Lt. Col. Jerry Killian to give him an exclusive interview. I have a feeling she'd be a fascinating woman. If there's a mea culpa due to the American people over this memo authenticity flap (and I think there may be), it could be offered with a healthy dose of 'first-hand witness'. She might be characterized by those who wish to destroy her credibility as a sweet but confused old lady, but I think most Americans would love to see her side of the story.

In the LA Times, Lt Col Killian's son Gary D. Killian ('bless his heart') is trying to impugn Marian Carr Knox's credibility, saying:

"I had more time to talk to my father and know what he thought about those things than Ms. Carr, bless her heart."

I don't buy this sugared-up line of thought at all. I believe there are plenty of things we discuss at work that we never carry home to our children and our spouse. (Unless we're incredibly obsessed with our careers).

The story is a circus. Killian's son admits to being partisan (toward Bush) and so does Marian Carr (anti-Bush).

Ben Barnes' daughter thinks he lied, but she admits to having a strained relationship with her father. (It makes you thankful for having a good family relationship. Hell hath no fury like a daughter scorned).

The Bush campaign and the bloggers who love them best have been successful in getting the media to blur the actual content of Ben Barnes' message (he got Bush into the Guard so he could avoid Vietnam) with the Dan Rather memo circus.

Editor and Publisher reveals a disturbing story, leading me to believe that someone may have been trying to manipulate CBS (not that CBS shouldn't have known better):

USA Today has revealed that it, too, received letters and memos purportedly written in the early 1970s by Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, Bush's former commander in the Texas National Guard.

USA Today, like CBS, has refused to say how it got them, beyond saying that it was "from a person with knowledge of Texas Air National Guard operations. The person refused to be identified out of fear of retaliation. It is unclear where the the documents, if they are real, had been kept in the intervening three decades."

This may or may not be the same person who leaked them to CBS. Like the CBS documents they are copies, not originals.

See:

USA TODAY: Amid criticism, CBS stands by its reports

USA TODAY: Memo debate eclipses content

The World Is Drifting Toward Tragedy with Bush

The World Is Drifting Toward Tragedy with Bush

"Today, we heard more of the same distortions from the President about the situation in Iraq. George W. Bush keeps saying that things are getting better even when we all know that's just not true. The fact is, no matter what he says, all of us can see for ourselves what's happening in Iraq - we can see it on the front pages and on the nightly news. But why would we expect George Bush to level with us about Iraq? He never has. So I'll be straight with you: things are getting worse. More than a thousand Americans have been killed. Instability is rising. Violence is spreading. Extremism is growing. There are now havens for terrorists that weren't there before. And the Pentagon has even admitted that entire regions of Iraq are now controlled by insurgents and terrorists. The situation is serious and we need a president who will set a new direction and be straight with the American people."

--John F. Kerry 9-14-04

Kristen Breitweiser Endorses Kerry

9/11 Widow Kristen Brietweiser
Endorses John Kerry

"I don’t really know what happened to him. I don’t know whether he jumped or he choked to death on smoke. I don’t know whether he sat curled up in a corner watching the carpet melt in front of him, knowing that his own death was soon to come or if he was alive long enough to be crushed by the buildings when they collapsed. These are the images that haunt me at night when I put my head to rest on his pillow."

--Kristen Breitweiser, speaking about her husband Ronald, who died on 9/11/01

I believe this is one of the most important endorsements John Kerry could have received. Kristen Breitweiser has often been the topic of my conversations here at Iddybud. She was featured in my second and third anniversary 9/11 blog presentations.I respect her greatly for having had the fortitude and persistence in speaking out for the 9/11 Commission at a time when the Bush administration was doing nearly everything in their political power to put a stop to it. Kristen asked the right questions. She expected answers, as any of us women who might have lost their husband or family member might expect the government to answer our questions.

Kristen wanted to know why her husband Ronald had to die that beautiful horrible day in September.
She wanted to know if our governmental agencies were doing their job on that fateful morning.
She only wanted to know.

Kristen has said she finds it strange that Bush would pin his re-election hopes on an event like 9/11 because she thinks it was the chief failure of his administration. She said the highly critical Sept. 11 commission report should be enough to make any politician think twice about invoking the attacks.

"I don't understand how 9/11 can be a platform for his re-election," said Breitweiser, who voted for Bush in 2000. "Every day that goes by since Sept. 12 I see as a squandered opportunity by the administration in fixing problems everyone knows need to be fixed."

Freedom Thieves: Shays/Meehan/McCain/Bush/Kerry

Freedom Thieves:
Shays/Meehan/
McCain/Feingold
Bush/Kerry

Most of the Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform favored politicians' organized interests over individual liberty.

Suing the FEC over 527s reveals these Congresspeople as Americans with a divested interest in seeing my speech--and yours--cut down to silence.

Special interests belong to American individuals--and not to the members of Congress as a cartel.

If their lawsuit is successful, these 527 groups will be forced to register as political action committees and thus be confined to using hard money only. If 527s are outlawed, there will be other ways for these groups to form legally.

My emphasis here? I firmly believe that all these politicians are doing is showing us their contempt for American voices having a power equal to that of Congresspeople's favorite lobbyists and corporate contributors.

An oligarchy cannot stand when individual voices break down the shrouded concentration of corporate power through individual freedom of speech. In this case, "money" is the same as "freedom" for individuals as much as "money" is "freedom" to corporate special interests.

They've wasted our hard-earned tax money and become embedded with the lobbyists of Washington D.C. for too long. Their regrettable use of pork-barrel spending to lure PAC money has made political competition nearly impossible.

American individuals have found a powerful political voice in the 527 option. I'm not surprised that members of Congress and President Bush and his challenger John Kerry would be intimidated.

But to see them sue to cut off our individual voices--it's criminal. It runs against all tenets of freedom and liberty. Free speech can harm no one except the most corrupt Representatives, when all is said and done. Americans should be trusted to form their own common-sense opinions in an atmosphere of sheer freedom.

I pray the Supreme Court will find a way to legally accomodate the American individual and not the D.C. cartel.

See this editorial that praises Bush for his "progressive" stand on 527s. What is wrong with this picture? It's thievery of American freedom in the name of bipartisanship. Why is this one of the only issues on which Congresspeople can "get along" when it runs contrary to individual freedom?

Have you noticed that neither Bush nor Kerry has asked their supporters to discontinue 527 activity immediately?

Russia Going Back to Authoritarian Rule

Russia's Democracy: Another Casualty of the Iraq War

During Ronald Reagan's presidency, the spell of Communism was broken and the Berlin wall came down.

During Dubya Bush's presidency, Russia turned back toward Soviet rule.

It's nothing surprising. Russia's been sliding back toward Soviet-style rule for years now.

What should be shocking is the fact that our president watched Russia slide back toward its ocean of Soviet illness and has done nothing to abate the undertow. The sands of democracy erode beneath the Russian people's feet.

The Bush administration has squandered many opportunities to keep Russia from sliding back toward authoritarian rule. What was our foreign policy toward Russia? Did we even have one?

The leverage the U.S. had before 9/11 was softened like mashed potatoes by the (greatly restrained) State Department in order to attempt to get Russia's cooperation on Bush's Manichaean war on terror. The Bush administration deliberately looked the other way, knowing fully well that Chechnya was a victim of Russia's cruel denial of human rights.

Russia agreed to help us in Afghanistan. In the tradition of Gorbachev and Yeltsin, Putin had been consistently pursuing wide-ranging security cooperation with dominant Western powers--especially the U.S. Then came Bush's disastrous Iraq war, which contributed greatly to a near-total breakdown of trust of the Bush administration--in over half of domestic America and abroad.

Bush's dogmatic insistence and race to unilaterally take out Saddam Hussein caused him to proceed with blinders, neglecting a diplomacy that was sorely needed and inviting distrust of America and inviting right-wing radicals-East and West- to follow America's pre-emptive lead. Putin recognized the Iraq war (and rightly so) as a war evocative of the Cold War-era rather than a new and necessary type of warfare where we don't rub out regimes, but instead rub out terrorist networks.

That breakdown in trust has led to Russia's falling away from democracy and contributes to European instability which endangers our nation's interests in Central Asia. It has lead many in the world to believe that the Bush administration's National Security strategy did not take into serious consideration the fact that the Berlin Wall had fallen in the first place. It's no wonder all nations of the world (except for three) hope there is a change in American leadership this November.

As historians look back with retrospect, Bush's greatest historic error will have been his alliance with Neoconservatives--rabid Russia haters who hide themselves in 'freedom-fighters' clothing while placing Israel's interests above America's best interests.

As punishment for their refusal to join America in the Neoconservative war on Iraq, Russia was made to appear, by frothing Bushite propaganda, as little more than a thief-nation which robbed in the name of the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food program (when myriad nations, including the US, reaped untold benefit from the same easily-corruptible program).

Any morally-trained child could tell you that, if you alienate a friend in need, that friend will slide into despair. If we hold liberty as our American mainstay, the people of Russia should have been considered friends. We should have acted, in accordance with the America's best interests, to ensure that the people of Russia remained free. As overwhelmingly troubled as the old U.S.S.R. was, Ronald Reagan understood that, unless you employed diplomacy with hope and good faith, you will never forward America's best interests.

Colin Powell has been kept on a short leash by the president and allowed himself to be used badly in the lead-up to the Iraq war (in the name of loyalty to the president). Shamefully, Powell has been the most-wasted American asset.

While I truly believe Ronald Reagan acted in his nation's best interests, I believe Bush has acted with contempt for America's best interests, or at best, Bush has simply been an incapable leader.

This is only one glaringly dreadful consequence of failure of American leadership. Faltering US/international relationships and the quickly disintegrating Israeli-Palestinian relationship, the rise of Fundamentalist popularily in Muslim states, and the growth industry for new terrorists are more examples of failure in American leadership.

Not only has Bush admitted the war on terror is unwinnable, we've lost Russia's democratic promise. Putin has, in effect, coopted and encouraged the right-wing flank of the Western political spectrum and the Bush administration is a beautiful example.

Wartime restrictions on citizens' freedoms in the US have allowed Putin and his pro-Kremlin media, through America's example, to recast Russia’s domestic dictatorship of the law as a standard towards which the US itself has allegedly turned.

Bush-supporters are afraid to look into the sterile eyes of the truth, because what would stare back at them would shatter their frozen, false beliefs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
See Washington Monthly for Robert Kagan's statement on the issue of democracy in Russia.

Andrew Sullivan on Media Wars 2004

Andrew Sullivan on Media Wars 2004

"...it's real and dynamic and open. It's democratic. And if you're interested in politics, it keeps you looking forward to opening your laptop each morning."

-Andrew Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan has written what I consider to be a brilliant piece on the shift in political influence via modern media wars. Sullivan cites three genuinely new power-brokers in American politics and culture in this election season. They are cable news, the blogosphere, and "527s".

Question:

• Bloggers: Andrew believes you've arrived. How does it feel to sit at the wheel of democracy?
• Do you believe you have more of a political voice with the blogosphere and 527s?
• Do you believe your chosen political "side" is doing a good job in the mainstream arena?
• Any other comments?

Political Ads--Bill Hillsman's Views

Political Ads-
Bill Hillsman's Views

There is an interview about political ads at Mother Jones that I found to be fascinating. The interviewee is Bill Hillsman, who made his name in political advertising with spots (featuring candidates such as Paul Wellstone and Jesse Ventura) that bucked the tired old formulas and really got people talking.

Excerpt:

MJ.com: Which presidential campaign do you expect will do a better job reaching swing voters?

BH: I think Bush’s campaign will be better at it. They were in 2000, the Republicans were absolutely better at that during the 2002 midterm elections, and Bush’s people are just better at it than Kerry’s people. In fact, I don’t think Kerry wins unless some independent groups come in and do a good job with those voters. But if you look at what’s been going on so far with the Media Fund people and the MoveOn people, they can’t get out of the way of themselves. They don’t really know how to do ads that are aimed at these swing voters because they’re not those types of people. So they sort of do these “anybody but Bush” ads that have no real relevance to independents or swing voters. All they’re really doing is spending a lot of money to talk to their base, which is already convinced.

Question:

• What kind of Kerry ads would you imagine swing voters would be drawn to?
• What issues would best motivate swing voters to vote for Kerry in November?

For Whom Would Sun Tzu Vote?

For Whom Would Sun Tzu Vote?

"Bush's campaign has mastered at least one of Sun Tzu's ancient rules of warfare: When you are weak, appear strong."

Many people on the left believe that John Kerry should have answered the president this summer by saying no, he would not have gone to war in Iraq, knowing what he knows today. Writer Steve Sebelius suggests it would have shown that Kerry has learned something, and is putting it into practice.

I often complain that our current president makes many errors of judgement, then stands by them, even when we all can see clear evidence to the contrary.

This is not proof of an inherently wise leader.

This causes me to ask the question:

The Bush campaign points to and mocks John Kerry, who, in real time, is putting into practice all he's learning before the eyes of the world, regardless of their characterization of him as "flip-flopper".

* See my comments about Sun Tzu and Bush on August 29th

Question:

• Take some time and study the Art of War.
• Who, in the eyes of Sun Tzu, do you believe would truly be the wiser of the two leaders?
• Why?

Bloggers' Pie Still in the Sky

Bloggers' Pie Still in the Sky
Oh, how I identify.

The Washington Times Insider features an article about the money (or lack thereof) being made in the world of blogging.

At Raw Story, Avery Walker has some advice for the overrated blogosphere.

"I love oxblog, wonkette, iddybud and American Amnesia as much as the next guy. More, in fact. These people find stories that have otherwise slipped through the cracks and follow them with a tenacity that print journalists sorely lack. But we have to remember that these people have some of the best blogs out there. Many of these bloggers are, in fact, writers and journalists who use their blog as a way of expressing themselves outside of the restrictions of print media.

*Thanks, Avery.*

LA Times Credits Bloggers/Exposes Rightwing Media Chain

LA Times Credits Bloggers/Exposes Rightwing Media Chain

In the LA Times today, from a story titled
"No Disputing It: Blogs Are Major Players-Netizen's late-night post questioning CBS claims about Bush's service spreads at warp speed.":

"It was amazing Thursday to watch the documents story go from FreeRepublic.com, a bastion of right-wing lunacy, to Drudge to the mainstream media in less than 12 hours. That's not to say the documents didn't deserve examination. But apparently the entire thing was cooked up by a couple of amateurs on Free Republic. The speed with which it moved was breathtaking."

--Jim Jordan, a strategist for independent Democratic groups opposed to Bush

When we speak of the right wing "conspiracy", we can clearly see it's no conspiracy at all. As a matter of fact, mainstream media plays directly into the steamroller we tend to mislabel as the "right wing conspiracy".

Last week when the CBS forgery story was sprung, I visited one of my favorite blogs called The Moderate Voice, which is written by veteran journalist Joe Gandelman. (Joe also writes for Dean's World).

Joe had quoted the NY Post's house-neocon John Podhoretz as saying:

"THE populist revolution against the so-called mainstream media continues. Yesterday, the citizen journalists who produce blogs on the Internet — and their engaged readers — engaged in the wholesale exposure of what appears to be a presidential-year dirty trick against George W. Bush."

My thoughts at the time were:

I think he's mainly talking about the infamous squeaky wheel known as Matt Drudge (who gets his "tips" from God-knows where, but it's surely steeped in rightwing poop).

While I do not begrudge Drudge (bad pun intended), I think the marvelous "populist revolution" of which Podhoretz speaks is not worth much more than the gossip-mill that spits it out.
Drudge is the new Paul Revere, except he runs through the wires screaming "The lefties are coming! The lefties are coming!"

The thing that is most troubling is the emphasis and weight placed on Drudge's gossip-train by our mainstream media.

How low have we sunk in American journalism?
Have our journalists become as incurious as Bush himself?

This chain-of-events is all too familiar.
The left dares to speak out against King George.
Suddenly, a major story pops up on the Drudge report and it's suddenly scandal!

Key word: "suddenly".

Mainstream media, in their race to keep up with the gossip train, falls incredibly short of fairness, balance, and truth.
For instance, ask yourself why this forgery story is on the front pages instead of the real issues facing America at this moment?
Perhaps it's a story as old as time. Sensationalism sells.
Sensationalism isn't going to unite America, though. Nor will it create an opportunity for Americans to make serious choices.
The only "revolution" I see is the right getting one step closer to making America a nation ruled by one party.
Ben Franklin would spin in his grave like chicken rotisserie if he could hear Podhoretz ramble on.

My point?
Until the mainstream media learns it cannot compete with gossip generated by bloggers, they will be considered just another arm of the right wing.

The mainstream media cheapens America. Journalists and editors all over America serve to dumb down the public by allowing the right wing mouth-machine to hijack the great American discussion.

David Broder recently wrote about the fact that neither Bush nor Kerry are presenting a vision of the future in this presidential campaign of distortion. It has been nearly impossible for John Kerry to talk about America's future when the Bush campaign, the right wing mouth-machine, and the mainstream media facilitate a tornado of diversion.

Outside of narrow talking points, I have not seen the mainstream television media give voice to Kerry or Edwards' bigger ideas. It's as if the executives of mainstream media are intentionally and heavy-handedly keeping those ideas from reaching Americans.

The devil is in the details, in this particular case- a "th" on a typewriter. How easily Americans are being distracted from the most serious issues they've ever faced by the media's hyperfocus on Dan Rather.

Newsmax, a right wing media haven, is saying today in their headlines that the CBS flap will be the factor that causes Kerry to lose the November election.

If an election is lost upon the predication that there's a dubious chance that a document may be fake as opposed to a President's lies being responsible for sending over 1000 troops to unnecessary death, then God help America.

I am happy to say that I am a blogger who speaks to the bigger picture and the realistic issues, and I always will. If visionary bloggers never get a second glance from the LA Times or the NY Post, it's their loss. Suffering from a cultural attention-deficit-disorder as we do, believe it's also America's loss.

To date, Syracuse.com has been the only mainstream media outlet who has appreciated some of my thoughts. I am grateful to them for the opportunity to get my message out.

If anyone is asking "Where is the 'Drudge' of moderate-to-left America?", my answer is the same as yours. The mainstream media loves Drudge. They've loved him since the Clinton scandal.

In the words of James Wolcott:

Unlike Bush, Kerry can't delegate his aggression to Cheney, Fox News, and a yapping band of attack poodles; the Democratic party doesn't have that same threshing infrastructure. He has to go it almost alone and run the risk of being too forceful and coming across as "unlikeable" in the eyes of gardening clubs like The Capital Gang. Pundits prefer their Democrats soft and emasculated, it makes them so much easier to fillet.

I know there are serious and intelligent voices out there. So does the mainstream media. It's obvious that they don't care. They've been Drudged-down and they're taking American trust down the toilet of mainstream journalism along with them.

I thank the LA Times and Peter Wallsten for this story. I think they've done a good job of telling it like it is. They remain one of my favorites for their fine writing and editorial staff.

"Just Like Bush"-A Child's Tale

"Just Like Bush"-
A Child's Tale

Part Three:

So, children...
After the terror in Beslan, the Kremlin reached for harsh levers, refusing to negotiate its way out of the Chechen war for fear it would look weak and embolden other separatist movements in Russia.

George W. Bush would never have negotiated with terror. Why should Vladimir?

So 100,000 more Chechens were slaughtered and 100,000 more terrorists were born.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The moral of the story:
No one wins when you rage, with hatred and bloodthirst, against a tactic.

Learn To Love

Learn to love what you do, or stop.

9/11/04

On 9-11-

My prayers go out to all who lost loved ones three years ago today.
In their memory, I reprint the 2002 Congressional testimony of Kristen Breitweiser, who lost her beloved husband Ronald on that dreadful day.
Listen to Kristen's voice.
It took quite a while for Kristen's voice to be heard. After many Stonewalls and U-Turns, the Jersey girl got what she and other 9/11 families had hoped for.

"The mortal citizens of a planet are praying right now that we will bear in mind, better than ever before, that no kind of bomb ever built will extinguish hatred."

-Barbara Kingsolver / 9-23-01

Statement of Kristen Breitweiser, Co-Chairperson September 11 Advocates, Concerning the Joint 9/11 Inquiry
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Reprinted from September 18, 2002


I would like to thank the families of the 3000 victims for allowing me to represent them, here today, before the Joint Intelligence Committee. It is a tremendous honor. Testifying before this committee is a privilege and an enormous responsibility that I do not take lightly. I will do my best not to disappoint the families or the memories of their loved ones.

Toward that end, I ask the members present here today to find in my voice the voices of all’ of the family members of the 3000 victims of September 11th. I would also ask for you to see in my eyes, the eyes of the more than 10,000 children who are now forced to grow up without the love, affection, and guidance of a mother or a father who was tragically killed on September 11.

I would now like to thank the members of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Eleanor Hill, and her staff for giving the families this opportunity to be heard. It has been an excruciating and overwhelming 12 months, and it is now time for our words and our concerns to be heard by you.

My three-year old daughter’s most enduring memory of her father will be placing flowers on his empty grave. My most enduring memory of my husband, Ronald Breitweiser, will be his final words to me, “Sweets, I’m fine, I don’t want you to worry, I love you.” Ron uttered those words while he was watching men and women jump to their deaths from the top of Tower One. Four minutes later, his Tower was hit by United Flight 175. I never spoke to my. husband, Ron, again.

I don’t really know what happened to him. I don’t know whether he jumped or he choked to death on smoke. I don’t know whether he sat curled up in a corner watching the carpet melt in front of him, knowing that his own death was soon to come or if he was alive long enough to be crushed by the buildings when they collapsed. These are the images that haunt me at night when I put my head to rest on his pillow.

I do know that the dream I had envisioned, that I so desperately needed to believe—that he was immediately turned to ash and floated up to the heavens, was simply not his fate. I know this because his wedding band was recovered from ground zero with a part of his left arm. The wedding band is charred and scratched, but still perfectly round and fully intact. I wear it on my right hand, and it will remain there until the day I die.

September 11th was the devastating result of a catalogue of failures on behalf of our government and its agencies. My husband and the approximately 3000 others like him went to work and never came home. But, were any of our governmental agencies doing their job on that fateful morning? Perhaps, the carnage and devastation of September 11th speaks for itself in answering this question.

SEE REMAINDER OF STATEMENT HERE

~~~~~~~~~~



REALITY: Who would think you'd see a sign like this at the site of the World Trade Center just three years after the 9/11 tragedy?

~~~~~~~~~~

Commending an AP Politics Writer

Commending an AP Politics Writer
This is the way it should be done.

I highly respect Pete Yost from the Associated Press for quoting Dubya Bush at a West Virginia rally yesterday and then following up on Bush's biting rhetoric with some facts. We just don't see enough honest journalism like this anymore.

THE RHETORIC: "The newest wrinkle is that Sen. Kerry has now decided we are spending too much money in Iraq even though he criticized us earlier for not spending enough," Bush said. "One thing about Senator Kerry's position is clear. ... If he had his way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power and would still be a threat to our security and to the world."

THE REALITY: Kerry has not chided Bush for spending too much money on the war but has criticized the president for engaging in "a war of choice" without obtaining more financial support from allies. The war has cost nearly $200 billion that, according to Kerry, could have been used for domestic programs.

Mr. Yost wrote about the fact that Zell Miller was campaigning in West Virginia with Dubya.
Yost followed up with this fact:

THE REALITY: Miller's keynote address at the Republican convention galvanized delegates and left Democrats fuming over what they called an angry, inaccurate rant by the Georgia Democrat.

Does Lack of Vision Perpetuate American Fear?

"Fear is not the natural state of civilized people."

--Aung San Suu Kyi

Does Lack of Vision Perpetuate American Fear?
James Wolcott believes so, and explains how our cultural attention-deficit disorder stymies our progress
[LINK]

"Now there are lots of reasons bruited about for why this election is dragging so much dead baggage.
• The group narcissism of the baby boomers.
• The unhealed wounds of Vietnam.
• An attempt to misdirect attention from a war we're in the process of losing (Iraq) to thrash about in the big muddy of a war we lost thirty years ago (Vietnam).

All very plausible explanations. One or all may be true.

But I also think that the future is what this election wants to avoid. The country now has such short attention span that it can't/won't concentrate on the future, finds it too taxing, would rather back up into the future than face it honestly."

--James Wolcott

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

See: The Long Now Project, a cultural institution, where the necessity of mechanism or myth which encourages the long view and the taking of long-term responsibility is stressed. 'Long-term' is measured at least in centuries.

"Jesus-Loserman"

This one's making the rounds. I found it on Daily Kos.
It's from Mad Magazine.
I call it 'Jesus-Loserman'.

William Saletan: Wrong-Way Bush

Wrong-Way Bush
In the war on terror, the worst defense is a bad offense.
There isn't much we can do now about the damage the Iraq war has done to our campaigns against al-Qaida and WMD proliferation. But there is something we can do at election time about a president who persists in running the wrong way despite all pleas and evidence: We can tackle him. LINK/SLATE

Bush: Cowardice, No WMD, Nat'l Guard Updates

Bush: Guided By Moral Cowardice

From The Hill-
Bush’s National Guard years-
His moral cowardice has guided him all along
By Josh Marshall
The same sort of moral cowardice that led him to support the Vietnam War but decide it wasn’t for him, run companies into the ground and let others pay the bill, play gutter politics but run for the hills when someone asked him to say it to their face — those are the same qualities that led the president to lie the country into war, to fail to prepare for the aftermath and then to refuse to take responsibility for any of it when the bill started to come due.

Iraq Survey Group Verdict: No WMD

Nothing on their hands except...

The final [no WMD] verdict in the long-awaited report from the Iraq Survey Group will prove a great embarrassment for both leaders:
George W. Bush and Tony Blair.

National Guard Headlines

• Which is more cowardly? Bush's Alleged Service or Recently-Alleged Lack of Service?
• CBS convinced of 60 Minutes Guard document authenticity even though Bush campaign is trying hard to make it look like they're forgeries.
• Bush's Lost Year by James Fallows
• Now It's Bush's Turn to Squirm by Sidney Blumenthal
• Diagnosing Dubya-The president who mistook his wife for a hat by Timothy Noah
• Sen. John F. Kerry to Address National Guard Association Conference Sept 16
• Texas National Guard has first Iraq fatality

UPDATE:
• Daily Kos: TANG Typewriter Follies; Wingnuts Wrong
• The Moderate Voice: Were The CBS Documents On George Bush's Military Service Forged?
• At The Angry Liberal: A good summary of the latest articles
--C. Murphy Archibald, who worked on the Blount campaign, said that in the fall of 1972, Bush frequently was late for work on the Alabama campaign and often bragged about how much he drank the night before. (USA Today)

Kerry: Bush is No Good Samaritan

Kerry: Bush is No Good Samaritan

"Four years ago, George Bush came to office calling himself a compassionate conservative. Well, in the story of the Good Samaritan we are told of two men who pass by or cross to the other side of the street when they come upon a robbed and a beaten man.

They felt compassion, but there were no deeds. Then the Good Samaritan gave both his heart and his help.

It is clear: For four years, George W. Bush may have talked about compassion, but he's walked right by. He's seen people in need, but he's crossed over to the other side of the street."

--John Kerry, speaking today at the National Baptist Convention in New Orleans, LA

Dog Does WHAT?!?

Dog Does WHAT?!?



You've heard of 'dog bites man', but......click on this photo and you'll see what this dog did.

Bushes Attacked Nat'l Guard Service of Others

The Bushes Attacked National Guard Service of Others

From The Daily Mislead:
As reported in the August 23, 1988 Los Angeles Times, then Vice President George H.W. Bush's campaign co-chairman John Sununu went on national television to impugn an opponent's dealings with the National Guard during Vietnam. Sununu specifically claimed Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) had improperly helped get his son into the Texas National Guard during Vietnam. Bentsen's son served in the very same National Guard unit at the very same time as George W. Bush. The Bush campaign's attacks came just days after Bush's allies on Capitol Hill launched a vicious attack on Gov. Michael Dukakis (D-MA) for receiving a draft deferment during the Korean War. At the time of the coordinated attack, George W. Bush was serving as a senior adviser to his father's campaign.

[A further irony is that Texas politician Ben Barnes now admits he helped both young men get into the Guard]

A Moral Course? NeoCons Willing to Overlook Terror

A Moral Course?
NeoCons Are Willing to
Overlook Terror

At TomPaine.com, Robert Dreyfuss details an incredibly hypocritical statement from semi-retired NeoCon Richard Pipes and a Guardian article pointing to the "American Committee for Peace in Chechnya" (ACPC), whose members include Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, Midge Decter, Frank Gaffney, Bruce Jackson, Michael Ledeen, James Woolsey, etc.

In both articles, we see Bush's Manichaean war of great moral consistency fall flat as a pancake.

In their rush to do as much damage as they can to Russia, these NeoCons are perfectly willing to look past the terror that killed hundreds of Beslan's babies last week. They're the blame-Russia-first crowd.

While it is a worthy cause to support liberty for the decent people of Chechnya, it is politically devastating to Bush's moral cause to use a double standard. After the past week's terror attacks on Russia, we can no longer look past the fact that their innocent people are being targeted by the same terror that is being practiced throughout the Middle East.

If we are Americans are a truly moral people, we will stand behind Putin in his time of weakness rather than proclaiming to the world that we wish to beat him down to nothing as everyday Russian citizens face the fiery trials of terror.

That would make us the most immoral poopyheads in the world.
That may be what the NeoCons want to be, but I don't think they are working in America's best interest, anyhow.

Allow me to say it loud and clear.
They are working in Israel's best interests.

We need to get them the hell out of OUR White House.

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

James Wolcott's new blog is a joy to read.
I'm so glad he's become a blogger:

"Podhoretz and his fellow neocons will not be satisfied until there are as many world wars as Police Academy sequels."

Mr. Wolcott's witty commentary on American culture and a Canadian NeoCon who plots wars for those tacky U.S. hominids:

"[David]Frum, Canadian, has little understanding of the manicured grasp [Kitty]Kelley has on the sordid imagination of America. He has spent too much time with his coauthor Richard Perle plotting to grease America into neverending war to understand what a destructive dynamo in a bouffant is Ms. Kelley.

Gee, Thanks, George Pataki

Gee, Thanks, George Pataki

N.Y. is the most heavily-taxed state in the Union.

Go Republicans.

We Are No Safer Today Than 9/11/01

We Are No Safer Today Than 9/11/01

The LA Times Editorial staff puts it bluntly.
(I love the LA Times' editorial attitude.)

Regardless of what we think of Dr. Horror's Dick Cheney's statement yesterday, there is one clear-as-a-bell truth that has popped up its head and is waving to us all.

That truth is a'ringing and singin' throughout all of political creation this morning:

We are no safer now than we were on 9/11/01.

Howard Dean got a lot of -gasps- when he bluntly stated, on the morning of December 14, 2003, that America was no safer with Saddam Hussein caught.

If Osama bin Laden is snatched up in the next few weeks, I'll be equally blunt in joining with Steven Simon, co-author of the new book, "The Age of Sacred Terror":

"bin Laden has successfully launched a global insurgency with franchises that operate autonomously. The cancer has metastasized and it's doing fine on its own. Osama bin Laden's done his job well."

Here's a challenge to any of you. Give me real and true examples of how America has been made safer since the dreaded day the towers fell. Give me something tangible...no idealistic visions of liberty sugarplums and freedom fairies.

Shall I repeat that in case someone didn't quite get it the first time?
Hello??
We are not safer now than we were on 9/11.

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

The NYT Editorial beats on Dr. Horror Dick Cheney for making the statement at all. I've got to say that I was not surprised at all to hear Cheney give strong voice to the threats that face America.

Threats of terror are real and Dick knows we'll be hit again. While Bush twiddled his thumbs in Texas, an overwhelming blow to America was planned, then executed without a hitch. While we got pretty color-coded threat levels, Osama bin Laden got hundreds of thousands of inspired recruits.

The Bush administration has not stemmed the tide of terror and I predict that Europe's stability will soon be rocked and devastated by terror right under our noses...while the president and vice-president tell us there should be no priority on treaties or global organizations. While Bush and Cheney tell us we should stay the course in Iraq, where we are losing more and more control by the day.

Rather than wringing our hands over Dr. Horror's Dick Cheney's words, we should be crying out for good-faith re-engagement with the world before it's too late for not only Europe, but for all civilized human beings.

This administration is hopeless.

Plainly and simply hopeless.

I Can See Our Playgrounds Bleeding

I Can See Our
Playgrounds Bleeding

Our legislators have completely failed us.
The 10-year old federal assault weapons ban is set to expire.

Our president can push just about any part of his agenda through his puppet House of Representatives, but when Tom DeLay really wants payback, Bush gives it to him.

This time, Tom DeLay and George W. Bush will be responsible for more dead children in the halls and grounds of our schools.



Maybe a terrorist or two hiding right here in our nation will find it much easier to get hold of the Uzis that would take out as many of us out as possible at one time.

The Great Sniper of 2002 would have loved the news. I'll bet there's other perfectly insane and depraved folks out there that are waiting to be the next Sniper of the Year. With a fancy new sub machine-gun, he could have a field day.

Buy two weapons from Beretta and get two free 15-round magazines!



Disgruntled employees---just think of how many you could take out at one time with one of these babies.



Order one now from ArmaLite Inc. and get a bayonet to go with it!

Homeland Security is a joke to our legislators and our President.
They're enabling the heavily-armed and kicking our children's safety in the ass.



The power-team of Delay and Bush are proving what they think about public safety right before your eyes. I could be holding a dead child in my arms and some of you would still be in my face telling me it's all about your (godforsaken) freedom.

Ohio's Todd Schneider: Kerry In Akron/A Dem Weekend

Todd J. Schneider, Ohio Correspondent Checks In

A Democratic Labor Day Weekend in NE Ohio
John Kerry in Akron, Ohio

A 'loyalty-oath'-free 3 days was enjoyed by all Democrats this weekend in the land of John Brown!

It actually began early in the week, with a phenomenal job of preparation for a surprise visit (at least to most of us) to Akron by Senator John Kerry.

My family's involvement started on Tuesday, when I picked up 20 tickets. I am sad to say the person at the office didn't trust me to have this many - I think she thought I would waste them on no-shows. They were gone by Thursday, and every ticket given represented a body at Firestone Stadium in Akron on Saturday.

Friday evening was the volunteers' meeting for the rally, then Sat. at 6:30 the volunteers' arrival at the Stadium. After some waiting for the magnetometers to get set up, we finally got into the stadium to go to our assignments - ours being voter registration and absentee ballot applications. My apologies for this amount of boring detail, but for those who will have Senator Kerry or Edwards coming to their town, this is the formula, so you will know ahead of time.

The rally itself was a gathering to make every Democrat proud. In the crowd were Union folk, business men and women, the elderly and invalid, babies, their moms and grandmas, veterans, firefighters, teachers - in other words, America was there. And on the stage was a list of speakers that represented everything Democrats could hope for, and a group that while unique to Ohio, would register in the minds of Democrats across the nation. There were Representatives Sherrod Brown, Tim Ryan, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones and Dennis Kucinich. There was our beloved John and Annie Glenn, and the man who we are working to make another great U.S. Senator, Eric Fingerhut.

My personal favorite though, is Akron's Mayor Don Plusquellic, who is currently the President of The U.S. Conference of Mayors. Mayor Plusquellic and Rep. Tim Ryan breathe some fire, my friends. They call them as they see them, and every Democrat was on their feet while they slung some crap at our boy-king and his minions.

Senator Kerry was right on the money with all that he said, though every last one of the 12-15 thousand attendees not-so-secretly wished he would REALLY let 'what's-his-name' have it in the manner that the repubs dish it out. Taking the high road is not always easy to like. Even so, every person that we gave tickets to said they wouldn't have missed it for the world.

On Sunday, we had a nice gathering of Democrats in nearby Tallmadge, in the 'circle' (Northeasterners - the ancestors of us all in the Connecticut Western Reserve - will know this as a 'rotary'), ably put together by Pat, Lisa and Mike Carano and our independent Summit Dems group, led by John Cross.

Considering the energy-draining day we had the day before, we were very pleased by the attendance. It would be hard to gauge the exact number, but the eagerness to be there and the fellowship displayed made it seem like thousands. And let me say that it was a day that sprung from a meeting of 12 or 13 people in a Starbuck's back in February - a group of people that heard the clock ticking and wasn't going to wait for the Party apparatus to get moving. If ever the term 'grass roots' could be applied as a visual aid, this group would be the poster child.

The very same day (5 Sept.), The Cleveland Plain Dealer had an article that showcased our grass-roots organization, emphasizing the cross-section of life it represented, and the urgency with which it has acted. This author is blessed to have been some small part of this cadre, and I will treasure these past months forever.

On Labor Day (brought to you by our progressive ancestors), the anti-Bushite City of Barberton held it's annual parade, which according to Al Canfora (who gracefully answered my 14-year-old son's inquiries into his May 4 1970 bullet wound) was a rousing show of Democratic politics in this proud, yet depressed Ohio city. For me, our talk with Alan and Gwen was the icing on the cake of this Democratic weekend. It was a talk with an two courageous Democrat soldiers that gave us inspiration down the home stretch.

The Sunday before last, it was a glorious adventure with anti-Bushites from across the land in beloved NYC.

Last Sunday, it was more of the same with friends and family at home.

We are ready to defeat the tyrant here in NE Ohio.

Will you join us?

--Todd J. Schneider

Alan's Ditty

Jesus would vote for me, you fools!
Why won't you?--you know He rules!

I'm gonna be spankin' that slaveholder Obama
Get me Jesus on the Hotline, hoo-lawdie Mama!

-Alan

Dick Cheney: "D" stands for Dr. Horror

Dick Cheney:
"D" stands for Dr. Horror

David Corn writes about Dick Cheney's fear-mongering:
'Expect Worse Than This'.

"Vote for Kerry and die!"....it has a nice ring to it, don't you think?



If "W" stands for WRONG,
"D" stands for DR. HORROR
Mwuhahahaha--ha!.

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

James Wolcott describes Dr. Horror Cheney as a "broken down sidekick ready for a lawnsale".

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

Juan Cole's analysis of Dr. Horror's comments: 'Cheney seems to be saying that the reason there won't be another attack if he is reelected is because he will keep fighting "preemptive" wars. So, he is promising us more wars, folks. And he almost certainly has Iran foremost on his mind.'

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

At the WhyWeAreBack blog, Ron shows us How to Cheney Cheney.

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


This golden tidbit from Bill Maher was mined by Atrios. It's a must-see.

9/11 wasn't a triumph of the human spirit. It was a fuck-up by a guy on vacation.

Nothing But a Lie

Nothing But A Lie

"So bring them back, and make it soon
Before we lose one more
And tell us now what we can do
To end this needless war

We honor and respect our troops,
and hold our flag up high.
But please don't make them shed their blood
for nothing but a lie."

--Mona Abboud, writer of the song "Nothing But A Lie"

Ben Barnes Unfairly Characterized By White House

Ben Barnes Unfairly Characterized By White House

If you're wondering what the significance of THIS might be, I'll explain.
On 60 Minutes tonight, Ben Barnes will reveal how he got Bush into the National Guard.
As you might expect, the Bushites are ready and willing to trash Barnes.
Today, White House spokesman Scott McLellan said of Barnes’ comments: "It is not surprising coming from a longtime partisan Democrat. The allegation was discredited by the commanding officer. This was fully covered and addressed five years ago. It is nothing new."
Longtime partisan Democrat...hmmmm.....that's funny....

In 2002, Ben Barnes gave $10,000 to the GOP's own Carole Keeton Strayhorn's Texas campaign. (See that link again).

Oh---and by the way......

Carole Keeton Strayhorn is Scott McLellan's MOTHER!

James Carroll: The unwinnable war

The unwinnable war
By James Carroll

"..There is the single most troubling aspect of the war in Iraq. We launched it against the wicked Saddam Hussein, yet the majority of so-called "insurgents" against whom our forces are arrayed hated Hussein more than we did. We are killing people by the thousands who threaten absolutely nothing of ours....

...Even though the war on terrorism is indeed, as the president said, a "crusade," it has nothing real to do with Islam.....although Islam is surely its target. Not Islam as it actually exists in dozens of different settings and cultures across the globe, but an imagined Islam that exists only in the troubled minds of a people who project "evil" outward and then attack it. Alas, it is an old Christian habit.."

Please read this article.

Bush Service Questioned In 'Texans For Truth' Ad

Bush Service Questioned In 'Texans For Truth' Ad

A new group, Texans for Truth, are claiming that George W. Bush dodged his military responsibilities during the Vietnam war.

A timeline of Bush's National Guard service is here.

You can watch the group's new TV ad online.

There was an article about the group and its ad in USA Today.

Texans for Truth plans to spend $100,000 to $250,000 to run the ad for a week in closely contested states that are home to large numbers of families of U.S. troops killed in Iraq. Such states include Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Oregon and Arizona.


If The Texans for Truth don't have enough information for a super-sleuth like you to read through, you always have the option of going to AWOLBush.com

At ChangeForAmerica, Adam Mordecai is a wee bit skeptical about what could have happened to all those records that the dog ate; or that were burned or wrecked; or just plain got lost or "don't exist".

Was the Terror Attack on Russia International?

Today America told Russia to negotiate with their terrorists.
What happened to "No surrender to Terror"?

Was Terror Attack on Russia International?

"These are not "freedom fighters.
Would you talk with Osama Bin Laden?"

Vladimir Putin

Who Are They?
Where Do They Come From?

The Korean Embassy in Moscow has learned that at least some of the terrorists involved in the recent hostage drama in the Russia republic of North Ossetia were Korean. Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported that the terrorist group involved in the hostage taking was the most international ever -- it included Chechens, Dagestanis, Tatars, Kazakhs and even Koreans. LINK

From The Korea Times-

--The South Korean government is employing all possible means to confirm the report that ethnic Koreans were involved in last week's school hostage siege in Russia.

Koreans known as the "Kareiski" were people of the Choson Kingdom who moved to the far-eastern part of Russia during the period from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century. They were forced to move to Central Asia by Joseph Stalin in 1937 and now about 470,000 are estimated to live in Russia and the CIS, including in the states of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. They are basically Russian nationals, not Koreans. LINK

Who's who on the side of Chechnya?
As you can see, it gets a bit confusing as the group of terrorists expands out to people from various nations of the Caucasus and beyond.


Is the Focus of War Against A Tactic Without Meaningful International Cooperation Causing the Modern West to Lose Ground to Islamic Fundamentalism?

I see the West losing the war on the tactic known as terror, and if we're going to insist on fighting a tactic, no one will be safer until we understand that the secret to beating international terrorism is making our own nation's fight an integral part of a strong, unshakable international effort.

Is the Russian problem the same as America's?
In a political sense, yes and no.
We know Russia has been bombing Chechnya into submission for quite some time now.
We understand the conflict.
Yet, what we've seen in Russia over the past two weeks with the downing of two planes and now the Beslan suicide attack....it's all too eerily familiar.

Tony Blair has called the Beslan atrocity "Terrorism without limits".

This is where the Bush administration's Manichaean philosophy about terror falls flat as a pancake.
If Russia's problem is not our problem, then Russia's problem must not be a form of Islamic terror.
Right?
Well, wrong.

Terror is terror.
What occurred in Beslan last week was one of the most repulsive acts of terror I've ever seen.
There's no question it was an act of heinous terror.

So how do we morally square off with this, from our nation's standpoint?
We tell Russia to negotiate.

Negotiate--really?
With terrorists?


Are Chechens Lone Copy-Cats Or Are They Internationalizing?
How long before they attack American oil interests in the Caucasus region?

I've never been impressed with the fact that President Bush designed the war in which our nation is engaged as a war on a tactic. It takes political reality out of the picture. It takes a chance for alternative political solutions out of the realm of possibility.

The knowlege that the Chechens are some of the most active groups using Islamist/al Qaeda tactics against innocent civilians strengthens my case that the war on the tactic known as terror may have had a totally different (far more successful) face had Bush understood the importance of true international diplomacy and political reality before he barreled headlong into Iraq.

The Beslan disaster underscores the focus of Bush's quest against the tactic of terrorism--a tactic--which Russian President Vladimir Putin also recognizes.

Putin also recognizes the hypocrisy of Bush to expect him to bow down and negotiate with Muslim terror when Bush would never advocate that for his own nation's people.
Putin is admitting his nation is weak against the tactics employed by terrorists.

This begs the question: Has Bush has become so obsessed with his vision of a Manichaean conflict between good and evil that he has lost touch with political reality altogether? Chechnya obviously is becoming a stronger base--if not for international Islamic revolution, then at least employing the same tactics learned in Islamic training camps.

I wonder..how many Islamic moderates have turned and will turn to hard-line fundamentalists as the Islamic world spirals downward into hopelessness with the West's priority of beating down a tactic?

Have Chechen rebels decided to join forces with international terrorists? Have international terrorists decided to join forces with them? Either way, we've got ourselves a hell of a problem in Washington, D.C. and I can't see how applying a double standard to Russia is going to make our moral case against terror stronger. It's only a matter of time before these rebels begin to attack American oil and gas interests in the Caucasus region.


War on a Tactic Reveals Hypocrisy
If we'd taken wiser and clearer steps, our nation and its economic interests would be more safe and secure today

How could Bush or leaders of other Western nations possibly reconcile the expectation that Putin would ever negotiate with terrorists; especially Bush--given his own narrow focus on terror and decscription of that which constitutes a terrorist?

I think our own President Bush has approached this war from the wrong angle from the start.

War against a tactic won't stand up to the test of time or moral efficacy. How could it? The course of this war against Islamic terror must change. Hope not only leans upon the success of military force; hope for Islamic modernity depends upon changing hearts and minds--and that will depend upon a change of course.

Those of us who recognize terror will never see Russia's battle with Chechnya the same way.
Not after Beslan.


What becomes of liberty when a war against a tactic becomes the one blinding priority?

Last week, President Bush said that the war on terror isn't actully one that's ever going to be clearly won.
What happens if Putin, under political pressure, decides to fall in line with the virtually unwinnable war against a tactic?
What happens to the many good and decent people who have only desired liberty in Chechnya? (Make no mistake, there are many decent people in Chechnya even though we only hear about the worst). They are calling on the international community to step in and help bring peace to both Chechnya and to Russia. To date, international ears and eyes remain closed.

Is their hope as dead as the victims of Beslan?


LEARN MORE:

The Painting of Nikolai Sergeevich Shin

Anger rising in volatile Caucasus

Timeline: History of Chechnya

Evening of surprises with a hospitable president

--On Beslan, Putin Looks Beyond Chechnya, Sees International Terror

Bush and Putin: We're Not Girlie-Men

PINR: "Chechnya: Russia's Second Afghanistan"

Toronto Star op-ed: It's easy -- but wrong -- to dismiss (or justify) Beslan as simply a problem for Russia in its continuing struggle with Chechnya.

Limerick and Rhyme

Limerick and Rhyme

Mad Kane inspired me to write a limerick about Zell Miller.

ZELL

At the place where
elephants yell
We all heard a chorus swell
When Zell got to the podium
We reached for Imodium
'Cause he stirred up the
bowels of hell.

TROLLS

Never teach a troll to sing
It's really not a pretty thing
It wastes your time; annoys the troll
And wears away the human soul
Instead, teach talking points to
each fink
With which to drive the libs to drink.

Liberal Ladies Are Busy Blogging

Liberal Ladies Are Busy Blogging

Progressive Women Bloggers is a new ring on the web.

Mahablog has a great rundown on the latest from Paul Krugman and E.J. Dionne.

At BOP, Ellen Dana Nagler talks about the latest from Bozo the Prez: "Too many OB-GYNs are unable to practice their love with women all across this country."

In a post titled September 11, 2001, Dawn Summers at Clarified wryly begins: "No wonder George W. Bush wants another term. It seems like in the last four years, he only got to be President for one day."

Nora Ui Dhuibhir at Wilson's Almanac showcases a funny piece on bin Laden by Borowitz.

Today is Elayne Riggs' 2nd Blogiversary. Be sure to go and wish her a happy one.

Welcome back to Trish Wilson, who just returned from WorldCon. Trish has been meeting some other ladies of Blogdom.

Rivka of Respectful of Otters, who also attended WorldCon, talks about the shameful fact that, in the mainstream news, the Bush propaganda events seem to be working well.

Shaula Evans leads you to a story about a GOP delegate who could not, in good conscience, ever vote for Bush again.

Carla at Preemptive Karma asks: Where's Journalism?

Shari at An Old Soul proclaims: "We don't need your parenting, Dubya."

Echidne of the Snakes has a piece on the so-called "decadent left".

If you don't know who June Brashares, Rox Populi can help you out.

Let Us Not Forget Iraq

Let Us Not Forget Iraq

I know you aren't hearing as much about the news on Iraq as you once did on mainstream media.
The presidential campaign seems to suck all the relevance away from the land where our troops are supporting Iraq... and dying.
Eleven today--and my heart and my prayers are with the families of each one.

When it comes to keeping us informed on Iraq, noboby does it better than Juan Cole.

These are the latest headlines at Professor Cole's site:

September 3:

• The CEO Test for Bush
• 7 Dead in Latifiyah
• Qaradawi Calls for Attacks on Americans in Iraq

September 4:

• Iraq War Continues into Month 17; Dozens Killed, nearly 100 wounded in Multiple Clashes, Bombings
• AIPAC Spy Case Update
• Sullivan on Cole
• Two US Soldiers Wounded; Demonstration at Fallujah

September 5:

• National Council Elects 4 Vice-Chairmen
• Iraqi Government Extends Ban on al-Jazeerah
• Najaf: The Aftermath as Viewed by Iraqis

September 6:

• Bombing Near Fallujah, Clashes in Najaf
• Fighting in Tal Afar, Latifiyah; 1100 US Troops Wounded in August

Dear John Kerry: Turn your scars into stars

"The Vietnam Vets are vital in the fight for America to reclaim its soul."

Dear John Kerry: Turn your scars into stars

Patty Ann Smith of Hope4America has a theory and I think it should be discussed across the blogdom--and beyond.

This is Patty Ann's "Turn your scars into stars" theory:

• The symbolism of revisiting the Vietnam War as a means of choosing our next President may simply come down to Divine Providence.

• The Vietnam Vets...and John Kerry is one of them...who tell the truth about Vietnam are here to liberate America from over 30 years of lies.

• This country has been built more and more on lies ever since then.

• The Vietnam Vets are vital in the fight for America to reclaim its soul.

• A vote for John Kerry for President is a vote for us, as a nation, to have closure from a past filled with lies.

• John Kerry's Mission will not be completed until America is free from those lies that have continued since the Vietnam War right up to today and the War in Iraq.

God Challenges Zell to a Duel

God Challenges Zell to a Duel

God doesn't like lies and He's showing it.

Seeing that one His servants, Zell Miller, took the opportunity to use His name in vain at the Republican National Convention last week, God is sending a mighty glove with which to slap Zell across the cheek.

The glove, in the form of a hurricane named Frances, will wallop Zell's hometown of Young Harris, GA this week.

Sounds like a challenge to an almighty duel.

You don't mess with God.

The Big Guy's sending a woman to tell Zell a holy what-for.
He might send Ivan next.

I wonder, when will God get out of Zell's face?




*That's h-u-r-r-i-c-a-n-e.
Not to be confused with Zell's preferred weapons of choice:
b-a-n-j-o and b-u-s-h.

Zell Humor From Mad Kane

Mad Kane presents Zell Haiku:

Zell betrayed the Dems,
Slurred Kerry for GOP.
He's Rove's problem now.


Mad Kane introduces a new Zell limerick:

Ode to the "Zellot"
By Madeleine Begun Kane

There once was a turncoat named Zell,
Whose soul to George Bush he did sell.
Gave a speech so insane,
That Dub's love for him waned,
So Karl sent the man packing pell-mell.



Care to add any of your own?
See the comments section below!

Why Were Lies and Physical Violence Accepted at RNC?

Why Were Lies and Physical Violence Accepted at RNC?

"This election has become a test of whether reality still means anything to the American people, whether this country has moved to essentially a new form of government in which one side is free to lie about everything while a paid “amen corner” of ideological media drowns out any serious public debate... LINK

_________________________________________________



Last week's bitter RNC attacks coming from the stage, stocked with many hyperbolic lies, demonstrated that Karl Rove and Company wish to destroy the reputation of anyone who dares question the Bushites.
They made it clear.
Any politician who tries to strike up a meaningful debate which could possibly result in Americans taking up a view which opposes the Bushites will suffer stinging rhetorical negativity based upon sheer lies, if need be.
As things progress, Americans who believe something totally independent of the GOP talking points-- and dare to speak out about it-- are apparently going to be at increased risk of physical harm from Republicans.

For example, the Satanic look on Zell Miller's face at the RNC podium last week matched the attitude of a young Republican when he consciously chose to kick a female protester after ripping the sign from her hands and knocking her to the ground.
It looked like 1930s Italy.
The only thing this nasty excuse for a decent human being was missing was his Mussolini Black Shirt.

I wonder---was the physical attack upon this non-violent protester an embodiment of the GOP's will?

Did Zell Miller's madman rantings or Dick Cheney's machismo hatespeak at the podium legitimize violence in this young Republican mind?

If so, this nation is in dire trouble, dear readers.

See for yourself.

Talk Left's Jeralyn has more on the Blackshirt unnamed young Republican male.