Review-Vote For Change Concert Oct 11 Washington DC

Review-Vote For Change Concert
October 11, 2004
MCI Center, Washington D.C.

"I am a patriot
and I love my country
Because my country is all I know
I want to be with my family
With people who understand me
I got nowhere else to go

And I ain't no communist, and I ain't no capitalist
And I ain't no socialist
and I sure ain't no imperialist
And I ain't no democrat
And I ain't no republican either
And I only know one party
and its name is freedom
I am a patriot.."

-from the song I Am A Patriot (and the river opens for the righteous) by Little Steven Van Zandt, sung by Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, and Keb Mo at the Vote For Change concert finale, October 11, 2004 in Washington, D.C.

The sun was shining on a clear Sunday afternoon in Washington D.C. The mall was sprinkled with people tossing footballs and frisbees, tourists strolling the sculpture garden at the Hirschorn Museum, and students reading their schoolbooks at the Starbucks on 7th Avenue. You could tell which people were headed to the Vote For Change concert finale at the MCI Center either by their Kerry-Edwards T-shirts or anti-Bush statement shirts. If you listened carefully, you may have heard some say jovially to one another "So, have you heard the rumors on the internets?"

A few hours before the show, four or five Freeper-types stood across the street, one with a Saddam Hussein costume on, another holding a sign saying something ludicrous like "MoveOn.org rocks for Osama" and "Saddam-Aid 2004". I waved to them while happily, thinking about the great music they were never going to be hearing that evening while they backed Bush the loser whose big-name entertainment supporter is Wayne Newton.

As concert time drew near, a large crowd gathered outside the MCI center. There were people handing out flyers and stickers, groups looking for volunteers to travel to swing states, and 'Billionaires for Bush' looking dapper and darling. Inside the arena, a large crowd swarmed the T-Shirt concession area, lining up six-deep to gaze upon the Vote For Change merchandise.

By the time the show started, at 7pm sharp, most people were not yet in their seats. By the time the first artist, John Mellencamp, had taken the stage, the crowd had quickly gotten into their assigned places to enjoy the show, which had been sold-out 30 minutes after tickets had gone on sale last month.

Before Mellencamp sang, a group of artists came out to make a brief political statement. Bruce Springsteen, Emily Robison (of the Dixie Chicks), Dave Matthews, Michael Stipe, and Eddie Vedder came onstage together. Without mentioning Bush or Kerry, Springsteen said, "We're here to raise our voices loud and clear...we want to change our government."

Eddie Vedder added, "We want government that's open, rational, responsible for the citizenry, and humane."

I enjoyed Mellencamp's set. I'd seen him at a small club when he was still John Cougar Mellencamp back in the 80s, and watching him at the MCI Center, I realized he has never lost his energy or his spirit through the years. He set the tone for the night with a solid acoustic performance. Mellencamp's rootsy band included a drummer, two guitarists, violin, accordian, upright bass, and background singer. Songs performed:

1. In my time of dying (blues version)
2. Paper in Fire
3. Walk Tall (prefaced by the statement, "This next song is about what the Devil can do if you don't keep your eye on him.")
4. Authority Song
5. Pink Houses

By the time Mellencamp had finished his set, the crowd was on its feet with an energy that would last the whole night long.

Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds was next, doing one smooth, blues-injected song, "Change the World" (a hit song written by Eric Clapton, produced by Babyface).

Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, and KebMo were next, performing the following songs together:

1. Worlds in Motion
2. For What It's Worth
3. I am a Patriot
4. Stand up and be Strong

At the end of the set, Bonnie Raitt stated, "America, we'll see you at the polls!"

"I am a Patriot" was one of my favorites of the concert. It was written by Little Steven Van Zandt, and I believe its lyrics and reggae spirit stayed closest to the theme of the raucous evening of political rock for change.

Jackson Browne came back to the stage after a short break as the stage was rotated to a new set and he introduced the hip hop act, Jurrassic 5.
1. I Am Somebody
2. And you Don't Stop
3. Freedom
After the performance, members of the group stated, "It starts with you first."; "Don't point the finger at no one else."; "Vote yes on Proposition 66"

At about 8:30pm, REM took the stage. I was thrilled as it was my first opportunity to see them in concert. It was a dream-set with stellar guest-singers. REM gave a CD-quality performance of the following songs:

1. The One I Love
2. Begin the Begin (with guest singer Eddie Vedder)
3. Leaving New York (an excellent new song)
4. Losing My Religion (oh, man, this was great)
5. Man in the Moon (with Bruce Springsteen)

Pearl Jam was next.

1. Grievance
2. Save You
3. New World (by X) (with guest singer Tim Robbins)
4. Bushleaguer
5. Master of War (The Bob Dylan song, and Vedder sang the tune with a decided high-lonesome Appalachin feel, a bone-chilling rendition--one of the best performances of the night.)

Vedder was heard saying, "I guess now everyone is going to vote" Also, Vedder remarked that everyone is talking about November 3rd--how the work will have just begun on November 3rd. He said he was worried people would forget the actual day they need to vote and he asked the audience to raise their hands for the television cameras and show them the day they have to vote. The 2nd sign doubled for the peace sign, and Eddie Vedder was pleased with the resulting visual mass statement.

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

"I hate it when they say you shouldn't change horses in mid-stream. The horse can't swim and it's in way over its head and that horse shouldn't have crossed the stream in the first place, and there's a good democratic mule right there. So change that horse. Change it."

--James Taylor

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

Pardon my adolescent-sounding admiration, but I was blown away by James Taylor.

1. The Secret of Life
2. Hold Them Up

(Out came the Dixie Chicks to join Taylor for a couple songs)

3. Sweet Baby James (A sweet rendition with Natalie Maines on vocals and Taylor on harmony--the audience went wild with appreciative applause after the song.)
4. Shower the People

James Taylor made the most astute remarks of the evening:

--"I hate it when they say you shouldn't change horses in mid-stream. The horse can't swin and it's in way over its head and that horse shouldn't have crossed the stream in the first place, and there's a good democratic mule right there. So change that horse. Change it."

--"We started the tour on the eve of the first debate and I've been asked 'What advice do you have for undecided voters?' You take a look at the two candidates; you study 'em real close... and YOU CHOOSE THE SMART ONE. You choose the smart one."

The Dixie Chicks performed the next set on their own:

1. Some Days You Gotta Dance (with guest James Taylor)
2. Truth No. 2
3. Mississippi (Bob Dylan song)

Natlaie Maines' comments included:

"Gosh, I hope y'all show up to our next tour." and "After 'the incident', people asked me if I wanted to take back what I'd said. I thought, well, no, because after that, Bush would just call me a flip-flopper." The audience cheered with amused delight.

At about 10:20, the Dave Matthews Band took the stage. Their set list:

1. Don't Drink the Water
2. One Sweet World
3. Joy Ride
4. Ants Marching
5. So Much to Say
6. Too Much

Bruce Springsteen took the stage a bit past 11:00.

1. The Star Spangled Banner (guitar version)
2. Born in the USA
3. Badlands
4. No Surrender

John Fogerty was introduced by Springsteen as the Hank Williams of our generation. Fogerty, along with the E Street band, started with a new song called Deja Vu. It was another one of my favorites of the night. It sounded as if the song was written just for the evening. It was a fresh look at what's happening today through the eyes of someone who's lived long enoughto have seen it all before. Shades of "Won't Get Fooled Again". Fogerty then performed a rousing version of "Fortunate Son" to a responsive and enthusiastic crowd.

Springsteen continued on with his set.

5. Because the Night /with Michael Stipe (It was GORGEOUS.)
6. Mary's Place (From the post-9/11 CD "The Rising", a song which contained the key line for the whole album, "How do you live brokenhearted," with a juxtaposition of sad lyrics and complete party music with Clarence Clemons playing a mean, mean sax).

Public Service Annoucement -Bruce Springsteen, in a televangelist preacher style, called all believers to their television screens and asked them to touch the screen and chant (three times) a healing: "Halliburton, Halliburton, Halliburton". ;) Springsteen then got serious and it was the one and only time he mentioned his confidence in and support of John Kerry and John Edwards, which he expressed with a serious yet hopeful patriotic tone.

7. Born to Run (with Peter Buck and Mike Mills of REM--and just about every member of the audience!)

I can't begin to tell you about the energy that was running through the arena by this time. It was more intense than I'd ever experienced at a concert in the past--and I've attended many a concert in my day. The E Street band sounded like they did in the late 70s/early 80s, with a vibe that sent shivers down my spine.

It was time for the finale. All the stars came to the stage to join in singing:

8. What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding? (With Michael Stipe and Eddie Vedder playing air guitar and bouncing joyously.)

11. People have the Power

I watched the finale from the stage left door looking directly onto the singers onstage. It's a moment I wish I could have recorded by means other than memory. It's a sight I'll never forget. I only hope the message sent by these fine, conscientious performers will travel straight to the hearts of Americans and will be translated to their hope--our hope---which is new leadership in the capital of the nation we all love so much.

Tonight's Debate

Tonight's Debate- Transcript

The transcript is on CNN.

Bush looked like a victim of a stroke or Bells palsy. The corner of his lip seemed to sag deeply and unnaturally. Some people observed what appeared to be a bit of drool hanging at the same lip corner.

Both candidates wore similar ties. Even so, it was easy to tell them apart. All you needed to do was to spot the smarter one...the taller one..the one whose eyes weren't blinking at the speed of light. The one who didn't laugh like this: "Eh Eh Eh Eh Eh," while only moving the bottom of his chin, much like a marionette.


"Eh eh eh eh eh"

Bush was totally rude to CBS' Bob Schieffer by making the snide comment about the credibility of "leading news networks". (We know he meant CBS).

Bush quotes that Kerry could've had fun with:

"I was a border governor for a while... Borders are much better protected today than when I was governor of Texas".

To be continued...


10/14 UPDATE: Salon.com is now talking about the drooling and the stroked-out look on Bush's face.

Salon/Joyce McGreevey- Wednesday in the Dark With George: A theater review of the third presidential debate. "..Blinking, drooling and mugging his way in response to a query about vaccines.."

Buzzflash- Third Presidential Debate
"Bush was alternately babbling, snide, smirking, and, we think, drooling."

Bill O'Reilly Slapped with sexual harrassment lawsuit

Bill O'Reilly Slapped with sexual harrassment lawsuit


Bill's loofah fantasy here


After reading the complaint on Smoking Gun, I was most disturbed by this threat regarding Al Franken. I think it proves what a sick man O'Reilly really is and what a fantastic power trip he must be on.

O'Reilly is crying "extortion".

There may be taped conversations. This may get really juicy, dear readers.

Derrida and the Last Debate

Jacques Derrida

Derrida and the Last Debate

"Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side."

-- Balthasar Gracian, great advice from his timeless Art of Worldly Wisdom

Tonight is the last chance for George W. Bush to try to prove that John F. Kerry is wrong. He has not had success to date. After Kerry's impressive performance in the first two debates, there are fewer and fewer voters left to convince. The two sides are firmly ensconced. There are few minds left to be changed now. Unless Bush undergoes a lobotomy or Kerry uncharacteristically comes unprepared, it's a near-certainty that Kerry will be tonight's debate victor. In most instances, Kerry sounds "right" and Kerry makes more realistic sense, no matter how many times Bush takes the opposite side for the sake of drawing stark political distinctions with meaningless rhetoric.

We lost philosopher Jacques Derrida last week. Derrida warned that compositionists should be especially wary of what he called “rhetoricism”, which is 'thinking that everything depends on rhetoric.' Certainly, rhetoric is central to almost every facet of life, but Derrida warned that we must not attribute to rhetoric more power than it has. Rhetoric is not the last word. Derrida knew the full complexity of language; its power and its limitations.

George Bush has only his rhetoric left to defend his miserable failures. If Bush is re-elected, it will only mean that Americans have bought into the powerful fantasy of his rhetoric. It's a frightening thought.


DERRIDA Obituary

AndretheGiany blog on Derrida, usury, neo-cons

James Baker/Carlyle Group embroiled in controversy over Iraq debt

James Baker/Carlyle Group embroiled in controversy over Iraq debt

The Carlyle Group plans to cash in as Bush appointee James Baker asks countries to forgive Iraq's crushing debts while secretly proposing to try to collect $27 billion on behalf of Kuwait

LINK-Naomi Klein/Guardian

Read the documents here.

Related:
The Nation- James Baker's Double Life by Naomi Klein

Blair is sounding like Bush

-

What happened to him? His very image used to inspire respect and dignity. Now, knowing what we know, he resembles Howdy Doody.

Blair is sounding like Bush
A far more articulate Bush.

During his most recent weekly questioning period in Parliament, Tony Blair refused to accept responsibility for misleading Great Britain toward the unnecessary war in Iraq. Although he did apologize for the WMD misleading (retracting his '45 minutes' WMD claim), he said he wouldn't ever apologize for removing Saddam Hussein.

Funny, no one asked him to apologise for the idea of removing Saddam Hussein. He's beginning to sound like Bush. What disturbs Blair's fellow politicians is the wrong way he went about "protecting" his nation. At George Bush's side, he rushed to a war because of a supposed "imminent threat", and now says he's proud of changing the regime in Iraq, which was never the supposed rationale for war in the first place. He is using the recent discovery of a mass grave, found by US-led investigators, as his latest crutch to escape responsibility for his failure of leadership. There are mass graves now being required to bury innocent Iraqis caught in the middle of Bush and Blair's folly.

I could hardly believe my ears when I heard Blair say that his angry critics in Parliament were displaying an "inconsistency" in their positions on Iraq and playing politics in attacking him at this stage of the game. It's straight from the Bush administration playbook. The Big Cheese blames the underlings for his shitty decisions when it all falls apart. It's as if he and Bush are saying, "Why, oh why didn't you stop me before I led the nation to disaster?"

The war was outside the rule of international law. It was stupid, it was illegal, it was unjust, it was based on lies, it had deadly consequences for all loyal and trusting troops who were sent to Iraq. The most expert of politicians could never escape responsibility for such a dreadful move. Blair may or may not suffer political consequences in the UK. I think he should, but that's up to the citizens of the UK.

Here in the USA, I am becoming more and more confident by the day that Bush will suffer the consequences of his lies and weak, unrealistic defences for his proven lies when November 2nd rolls around.

Even though he'll never say, I know Blair will be relieved when Bush is thrown out of office by American voters. He said he would like to see the Middle East peace process revived now, but he said the reality is that it will be after the US presidential election in the next few weeks that he can make progress. We all know what that means, don't we?

"I think it was his battery."

BulgeGate

"I think it was his battery. I think tomorrow, before the debate, John Kerry ought to pat him down."

--jovial John Edwards, on Tuesday's Tonight Show

Joke of the day- Bush bulge busted!

See You Soon

See You Soon

I'm heading to D.C. for the Vote For Change concert finale. I'll be reporting back to you about it next week.


UPDATE:

The show was great!
I'm working on a review.
Stay tuned.


The Reviews

LA Times
Washington Post
NY Times
Entertainment Weekly
Billboard
Reuters
Herald Sun
What the Huck
Springsteen Message Board
Washington Times

See Chris "Lefty" Brown's fabulous review

TIMBER!

TIMBER!

I predict GW Bush is going to lose in a near-landslide this November 2. During the second debate, he looked an aggressive near-maniac (with a wildly roaming eyes and a forced smile for the camera) who had to distort the truth in order to make himself look like a leader who has used good judgement. (He hasn't).

Kerry set him straight with reality at nearly every turn.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/101004Z.shtml William Rivers Pitt- The Scary Little Man

Bush was every inch the angry man on Friday night, which is dangerous enough. But to witness anger combined with belligerent ignorance, with a willful denial of basic facts, to witness a man utterly incapable of admitting to any mistakes while his clear errors in judgment are costing his country in blood, to see that combination roiling within the man who is in charge of the most awesome military arsenal in the history of the planet, is more than dangerous.

Buzzflash- Timber! Bush Caught Lying About Lumber Business in the Second Debate.

Buzzflash- Watch Out for Those Killer Drugs from Canada, Bush Warns

Headlines

Headlines

NYT/Adam Nagourney/Richard W.Stevenson- In New Attacks, Bush Pushes Limit on the Facts
"...Mr. Bush pushed the limits of subjective interpretation and offered exaggerated or what some Democrats said were distorted accounts of Mr. Kerry's positions on health care, tax cuts, the Iraq war and foreign policy...analysts, including some Republicans, said Mr. Bush was repeatedly taking phrases and sentences out of context, or cherry-picking votes, to provide an unfavorable case against Mr. Kerry...On foreign policy, analysts said, many of Mr. Bush's assertions fall into a gray area between opinion and distortion.."

Juan Cole- Bombs in Taba, Multan, Baghdad Signal Failure of War on Terror
"The Bush administration thinks the problem is rogue states. But the real problem is radical terrorist groups. Bush has done all too little about the latter. Most of the al-Qaeda officials captured have been taken by the Pakistani military, so that this vital task has actually been outsourced. But where the Pakistani military wants to coddle an al-Qaeda-linked group, like the Army of the Prophet's Companions, it does, and Bush seems too weak to stop it. Bush and Cheney want now to overthrow Syria and Iran, pushing them into the sort of instability we have seen in Iraq."

Informed Comment- Conditions In Iraq
"Zaid al-Ali, an Iraqi attorney who has practiced in New York and Paris, returned to his native land recently and wrote about what he saw."

Thomas Oliphant- Cheney's fading credibility
"The reason behind Cheney's dramatic misstatement of an easily verifiable fact is revealing. It helps explain why Cheney's performance overall may have been helpful to George Bush in its appeal to already rabid Republicans, but why Edwards's was more helpful to John Kerry in its stronger appeal to the undecided or still-persuadable."

NYT/Kessler- War's Rationales Are Undermined Again/Bush's Credibility Further Damaged
"One by one, official reports by government investigators, statements by former administration officials and internal CIA analyses have combined to undermine many of the central rationales of the administration's case for war with Iraq -- and its handling of the post-invasion occupation."

NYT/Goodman- The Myth of "Security Moms"
"Never mind all the anecdotes about undecided moms scared straight into the arms of the president. They are, by and large, voting for Bush because they already are Republicans. Ta da. They are more likely to align with the president on questions of faith and values than security. I never could figure why Bush would make women in particular feel safer."

LA Times/Carlson- (Flip-Flopping's a Good Thing--Who Knew?) Bush Fails to 'Flip-Flop' Despite Evidence Policies Are Failing
"Embrace Flip-Flopping, Be the Flip-Flopper....People just need to look at the carnage on the nightly news, their shrinking paychecks and their escalating doctor bills to know that Bush's steadfastness is stubbornness. His insistence that he's always right means he can't get off the wrong track."

Reuters- Turn Down Your Thermostats-Get Out the Blankets and Wool Sweaters/You're Going to Pay out The Ying-Yang for Heat This Winter
"American consumers will feel the effects of record-high crude oil prices with winter home heating oil bills jumping about 28 percent and natural gas costs rising by 15 percent, the U.S. government said on Wednesday."

American Prospect/Meyerson- "Imperfect Elections"-Blot Out the Vote-It will be difficult for many to vote in Iraq -- and, incredibly, in America.
"Yesterday the Democrats unveiled a task force that will guide the efforts of the thousands of volunteer lawyers whom the party plans to deploy at the polls and in the courts on Election Day, to ensure that the United States defends the right to vote in Cincinnati as urgently as it does in Samarra."

LA Times/Bob Drogin and Greg Miller- Bush lied, soldiers died: Iraq's illicit weapons gone since early '90s, CIA says
"Saddam Hussein did not produce or possess any weapons of mass destruction for more than a decade before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq last year, according to a comprehensive CIA report released Wednesday. Hussein intended to someday reconstitute his illicit programs and rebuild at least some of his weapons if United Nations sanctions were eased and he had the opportunity, the report concluded. But the Iraqi regime had no formal, written strategy to revive the banned programs after sanctions, and no staff or infrastructure in place to do so, the investigators found. The report said that Hussein's illicit-weapons capability was "essentially destroyed" after the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and was never rebuilt. It said Hussein considered the U.N. sanctions "an economic stranglehold" that in effect curbed his ability to build or develop weapons in the ensuing 12 years."

TomPaine.com/John Brown- The Return Of The World Warriors
"As the Bush administration's purported objectives for invading Iraq turn out to be strawmen, there's been an uptick in rhetoric about the Iraq as a front in the global war on terror. And it's working. Unfortunately, few on the left or the right are willing to challenge this notion that 9/11 launched the United States into a "world war." Certainly not the current Democratic contenders. But the real intellectual heavyweights behind the "World War IV" concept come from the right. Here, Brown -- a former diplomat -- argues that the belief we're in a "world war" is not only wrong, it's dangerous."

Media Matters- FRAUD: Russert Knew Cheney Lied About Not Meeting Edwards, But Withheld the Info
"Following the October 5 vice presidential debate, NBC's Meet the Press host Tim Russert repeated without challenge Vice President Dick Cheney's claim that Cheney had never met Senator John Edwards until the debate, but Russert knew Cheney's claim was false: Cheney and Edwards appeared on the same 2001 broadcast of Meet the Press. Russert said on the October 6 edition of NBC's Today show: "I thought that John Edwards would call him [Cheney] on it right at that very moment."

CAP/Alterman and McLeary- Think Again: Torturous Logic, Media Silence
"The all-encompassing rhetoric surrounding the 'war on terror' has been used by conservatives to sell the American public everything from tax cuts to the expansion of the federal government to the invasion a country that posed no discernable threat. At the same time, these same conservatives have portrayed anyone who points out these contradictions as near treasonous, recalling George Orwell's maxim: "The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them." Regarding, for instance, Abu Ghraib, conservatives almost hit for the cycle, with Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly ignoring reports of torture, President Bush insisting that Americans simply do not do such things, and Rush Limbaugh claiming that the abuse was little more than frat boy-style hazing."

Alvin York and Tonight's Debate

Alvin York and Tonight's Debate

"I don't remember whether I was working on a farm or on a road when war first broke out. But when we came in I was driving steel and blasting on the road that is now called the York Highway. I was earning a dollar and sixty cents a day. Had anybody at the time said the road was going to be named for me, I would have told him that I didn't believe it ever would."

--from Sgt. Alvin York's diary

As we draw near to the time of tonight's debate, I think about the two men who will be standing in front of America.

One is a leader who lost the popular American election, yet still got into office by a combination of luck, the Supreme Court, the electoral college, and cronyism. The worst attack on American citizens in history happened on his watch. He lied to America in order to convince its citizens to believe a war in Iraq was necessary, when we know it never was. I am so sad for our nation. I am so concerned for our fighting men and women.

The other man is a veteran of the war in Vietnam. It wasn't a war in which he wished to fight. It wasn't a war any of our soldiers wanted to fight, but John Kerry did his duty in Vietnam. He saw it through. He saved lives. He killed for his country. He saw it through.

On this day in our nation's history, Corporal Alvin C. York is credited with single-handedly killing 25 German soldiers and capturing 132 in the Argonne Forest of France. The action saved York's small detachment from annihilation by a German machine-gun nest and won the reluctant warrior, who halied from backwater Tennessee, the Congressional Medal of Honor.

In 1917, two months after the United States had declared war on Germany, Alvin York received his draft notice.

Because his church opposed war, he asked for conscientious objector status, but he was denied at both the state and local level because the small Church of Christ in Christian Union was not recognized as a legitimate Christian sect. Enlisting in the 82nd Infantry Division, he was offered noncombat duty but eventually agreed to fight after being convinced by a superior that America's cause was just.

Alvin York trusted that his nation's cause was just.

What soldier can confidently say that today with a known incompetent---a known misleader--as commander in chief?

If anyone can truly say they love this great country of ours, regardless of partisanship, they need to realize that this particular leader and his administration are corrupt to the core. It will take a transcendence of ego for the right wing pundits to understand that the nation's best interests are far more important than the Republican party's interests. It will take new leadership to turn this ill course around and to regain not only the world's trust, but more importantly, America's trust.

When John Kerry steps up to speak tonight, think of Alvin York's contribution to America. York wound up to be a hero, a word that would have, no doubt, sounded absurd to him in the days leading up to that fateful day, October 8, 1918.

I see John Kerry as our generation's absurd hero. He never expected to go to Vietnam, but he served when called. Fate lead him to save the life of a brother-in-arms. Bush hovered behind in the 1960s and pulled easy duty stateside. I think John Kerry was brave. I think George Bush was not brave.

In 2002, John Kerry trusted Bush to be presidential when Kerry gave Bush the necessary authority on the Iraq decision, much as Alvin York trusted his nation's cause. Bush let us down miserably and his pride and fear of political damage will not allow him to admit his misleading or his incompetence. John Kerry is sorry he ever trusted George Bush. I'm sorry John Kerry trusted Bush. Bush wasn't trustworthy.

I believe it's John Kerry's fate to be the one to turn America in the right direction. I trust he will do it.

Blog Recommendation

Blog Recommendation

"I have lived nearly sixty years with myself and my own century and am not so enamoured of either as to desire no glimpse of a world beyond them."

~C.S. Lewis, "De Audiendis Poetis", Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature

I read a lovely blog today and wanted to share it with my readers. Arevanye does a great job of displaying a daily C.S. Lewis reading along with colorful illustrations and/or photos. The link:

The Window in the Garden Wall: daily quotes from the works of C.S. Lewis

Media: Is there still a place for truth

Media: Is there still a place for truth?
Kirsty Milne/Scotsman
LINK

For anyone accustomed to the partisan British press, the attack mode is familiar, but the mainstream US media has been slow to grasp what is happening. Fox is dismissed as "a boutique operation", yet during the Republican convention, it had more viewers than any of the three major TV networks.

Fox is not a boutique. It is a noisy shopping mall, the Walmart of the airwaves. Liberal America does not watch and therefore does not understand it - in the way that liberal Britain does not read, or understand, the Sun - but knows that something monstrous is out there....

.....the avid audience for Fox and other partisan outlets suggests a more complicated picture...It is easy to make fun of the [American journalists'] handwringing, which is more conscientious than the UK media - other than the BBC - would ever attempt. But the effect on readers, viewers and journalists is comparable to the impact of the Kelly affair. Who can be trusted? Where are the credible sources of information? Or are they all contaminated?

.... Meanwhile, the 2004 election campaign is passing the conventional media by. Excitement has come, not from networks or newspapers, but from blogs, books and films....

...For US journalists, who take themselves and their ethics seriously, the question is urgent. In this clamour of partisan voices, is there still a market for truth?

Related blog article:
BLOGGERS: Documenting the Media Coup of 2004
Teaching Newspeople the value of impartiality.
Holding them accountable for their crimes...captured in millions of recording homes by Anonymoses

Evan Williams, Blogger co-founder, leaving Google

Evan Williams, Blogger co-founder, leaving Google

Evan Williams, co-founder of Blogger/Pyra, is leaving Google to pursue independent interests. He says he's going to be informally advising, on an as-needed basis and that Blogger is in excellent hands. He says he wouldn't feel comfortable leaving at all if he didn't believe that. He's optimistic about Blogger's future.

I'd like to thank Even for all that he's done for me, a blogger who knew nothing about blogging until Evan made it possible and, thankfully, easy.

Best of luck, Evan.

Young 'Uns

The Young 'Uns

Study reveals 29% of Bloggers are Losers

Study reveals 29% of Bloggers are Losers

34% of bloggers admit to calling in sick to stay home and work on their blog.

45% of bloggers play video games regularly.

11% of bloggers stated that on at least one occasion had they had passed up sex with a spouse or partner to work on their blog.

76% of bloggers admit to working on their blogs at work.

73% of bloggers admit too making up things to put in their blogs to make themselves look cool.

82% of bloggers describe themselves as progressive.

51% of bloggers stated that they have more friends on line that in real life.

32% of bloggers admitted to linking too cool site to make them selves look cool.

78% of bloggers are looking for a date on any given Friday night.

This is satire, already!

Jobs

Jobs

Charlotte, NC: Bank of America to cut 4,500 jobs beginning this month
AT&T to Cut 7,000 Jobs and Reduce Assets by $11.4 Billion
Dallas News: Hurricanes blew away up to 100,000 jobs
Unisys Corp. (UIS) plans to cut 1,400 jobs, or nearly 4% of its work force.
Ohio: 900 Jobs Could Be Lost After Eyeglass Company Takeover

Forecasters expect the Labor Department to report the economy added about 158,000 jobs last month.

I'll bet they didn't take any of the above into consideration.

______________

USA TODAY: Give Bush his pink slip

UPDATE: Reuters- Job Growth Weaker Than Expected

This president is completely out of touch with reality

"This president is completely out of touch with reality."

--John Edwards


See my review of "Bush On the Couch" by Dr. Justin Frank

Demand Honesty About the Draft

Demand Honesty About
the Draft

Sign This Petition

CNN Playing Games With Public Trust

CNN Playing Games With Public Trust

See the story at The American Street.

Before and After

Before and After

Take a peek at some of the Bush administration statements before the Iraq War. See how those statements evolved as the lies were exposed.

Rodney, I'll Miss You

Rodney, I'll Miss You

Jacob Cohen, more popularly known as Rodney Dangerfield, left us at 1:20 p.m. yesterday. I'll always see him as Al Czervik, the hilarious role he played in Caddyshack.



My favorite Rodney lines from Caddyshack:

"Oh, this your wife, huh? A lovely lady. Hey baby, you must've been something before electricity "

"Oh, this is the worst-looking hat I ever saw. What, when you buy a hat like this I bet you get a free bowl of soup, huh? Oh, it looks good on you though.."

"Last time I saw a mouth like that, it had a hook in it."

LINK

Rest in peace, Rodney. You brought much joy.

William Rivers Pitt: Cheney's Avalanche of Lies

"These are the facts."

William Rivers Pitt: Cheney's Avalanche of Lies
LINK

Cheney was also every inch the snarling, hunch-shouldered golem that has made him one of the least popular politicians in recent memory. He seldom looked up at moderator Gwen Ifill, or at the cameras facing him, choosing instead to speak into his own chest for the entire night. Cheney appeared, overall, to cut quite the frightening figure, the dark night to Edwards' optimistic day.

The other problem for Cheney, of course, was the way he lied with nearly every word that passed his curled lips. It was a virtuoso performance of prevarication, obfuscation and outright balderdash. On Thursday night, George W. Bush played the part of a man who couldn't possibly defend his record. On Tuesday night, Cheney acted as though that record did not exist.

From Howard Altman: Goodbye, Breck Girl

"Curses, foiled again."


From Howard Altman: "Goodbye, Breck Girl"
or: "Veep Debate No Quayle Hunt"

See Howard Altman's comments on last night's VP match-up. He takes us all the way from Afghanistan back to our own shores to explain why he believes that Senator Edwards won’t be hearing the shampoo pejorative too many more times.


"So long. We'll miss you, Johnny!"


"Mr. Vice President, I don't think the country can take four more years of this kind of experience."

Slate- William Saletan praises Edwards performance

See: VP Debate Wrap-up at Daily Reality Check

NYT- Cheney "Tired...Angry...Dyspeptic," Edwards "Serious And Tough", editorial

NYT- Edwards Proved To Be A Tougher Opponent Than Lieberman, by Adam Nagourney

I wonder whose toes Dick Morris was sucking (or whose ass he was kissing) when he wrote this 'alternative-universe' NY Post schlock?

James Wolcott: "..nearly 44 million Americans watched last night's debate..such intense interest probably spells bad news for the Republicans."

Our Soldiers Speak

Our Soldiers Speak

During the wicked frenzy enveloping this election season, I think we tend to forget the very real experience of the American soldier.

I remind my readers that almost every recent political thought I have is based upon my genuine caring for the individual safety of each of their precious lives.

Often, I realize that I sound irreverent about the Bush administration, and I realize that sort of public behavior is not allowed within the ranks of active American military service. My irreverence is wholly packed with the punch of truth. I am grateful for the fact that our men and women of the armed forces serve our nation trustingly and loyally and to them, I am reflecting that essence for which I know they risk everything. By exercising the right and privilege to speak as a free and honest American citizen, a large part of my goal is to watch over these soldiers and to ensure they are being given a fair shake by the government they serve to protect. I know theiir lives depend upon the stability and wisdom of their commander in chief.

Today, I honor the following websites--all written by members, past or present, of our Armed Forces:

http://www.voiceofaveteran.blogspot.com/-I got to know Vet when we mutually supported Howard Dean's candidacy. He is an important rational voice in the blogging community.

http://cbftw.blogspot.com/ - Colby (aka CB) is stationed in Mosul with the Stryker brigade. He writes with the heart of the philosopher. He was cut off from blogging by the powers that be for a short time, but now he's back.

http://docinthebox.blogspot.com/ - Sean is a Navy medic. He's articulate and his writing is very well thought out. (Even though he dreads what his high school English teacher might think if she were to gaze upon his blog).

http://lt-smash.us/ - Iraq war veteran and war blogger, now he's a stateside citizen. He has a group called Protest Warriors. Go here for a sample of his thoughts and the discourse that follows in the Comments section.

http://sgtstryker.com.cr.sabren.com/ SSDB-A collaborative blog discussing the conflict day-today. Pay Stryker, Kevin Connors, Sgt. Mom, and Sparkey a visit. Good, honest writing.

http://www.dogtulosba.com/ I got to know Chad when he came to Iddybud to straighten me out on my military terminology. He's the expert, and I deferred to him. I also became a fan. Note: Chad gets my vote for the category of 'Best blogger smile'. ;)

http://www.cimoli.com/blog/cimoli_blog - Gordo is a US Army Aviator. He's been in the Army since August 1988 and has been all over the world from Panama to Canada. In iraq now, Gordo recently expressed concern that his unit's embedded reporter, CBS Bob, is leaving to head back to the states. He was their link to the world--he had the sattelite internet connection and could keep the soldiers up to date on what was going on in the world.

http://livefromiraq.blogspot.com/ -Sorry, folks. He's been shut down and shut up.

http://soldierslifeafteriraq.blogspot.com/ -There is a new blog on the horizon written about a soldier and his experiences by his wife. It's called Reaching Out.

http://scrimshaw.blogspot.com/ -91 Ghost- A literary vet, who recently wrote: "Say a little prayer that our enemies shall be defeated, that our Republic shall flourish in the light of its Constitutional intentions and guidances, and that our leaders, whomsoever they may be, will have the wisdom and discretion to do the right thing, whatever that may be...and say a little prayer that our politicians, on either side of the aisle, will defer to our war chiefs when it comes to making war decisions...because this situation we are in, is not a football game. Say a little prayer, above all, for the soldier walking point tonight, and for the soldier laying up in Walter Reed tonight, and for those whose last sight on earth was of a mzzle flash in some slum in Iraq, and not the fields they called home."

"If the coalition were to just pick up and go would the insurgency stop altogether? I mean these people have some plan right? I only wonder what their objective mission is? Seems to me that they are killing more of their own people then ours. If I take CNN's word for it, they killed 40 of their own and just 1 US Soldier today. So is it about the Coalition being there? Now when I say one of their own, I mean of Arab descendent. We all know that the insurgency is not just Iraqi's.

I couldn't imagine what goes through their thick stinking skulls as they are planning this shit. Do they really justify killing woman and children? Do they chalk it up as a casualty of war and Allah will compensate them when they go to Heaven?

I wonder what would make it all go away? I can bet that if we just left it wouldn't!"

--American Soldier, 30 September 2004

http://www.soldierlife.blogspot.com/ -American Soldier states: "I sacrifice so others may never have to face war or adversity that plagues this nation that we live in."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski-arch.html -Karen Kwiatkowski recently retired from the active duty USAF as a Lieutenant Colonel. Her final assignment was as a political-military affairs officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Under Secretary for Policy, in the Sub-Saharan Africa and Near East South Asia (NESA) Policy directorates. Her work can be viewed at Lew Rockwell's website.


http://www.hackworth.com/ -David Hackworth's military career as a sailor, soldier and a military writer has spanned several dozen wars and conflicts, from the end of World War II to the first Gulf War to the present situation in Iraq -- which he describes as “the biggest military miscalculation in our nation’s history.”


http://www.ivaw.net/ -Iraq Veterans Against the War(IVAW) is currently working on a nation wide speaking tour and participated in the October 2nd Vigil in Washington D.C., with speakers including Lila Lipscombe, who was a mother of a soldier who was killed in Iraq. I saw the entire event on CSPAN and found it to be very moving, but it never made the news, most curiously. Other than CSPAN, the media was dead-silent.

My Thoughts: Edwards Won the VP Debate. Here's Why

My Thoughts: Edwards Won the VP Debate. Here's Why.

I believe that Senator John Edwards, with quiet dignity, clarity, honesty, and truth, won this debate.

Why do I call this Edwards' win?

Edwards convinced me he was telling the truth and he convinced me that Dick Cheney, although he might be masterful, is only masterful at distorting the truth.

I can't tell you how many times I detected lies and deliberate distortions from Cheney, who is a master of deception. Where shall I begin?

He totally evaded Gwen Ifill's first question about Paul Bremer's revelation that Bush/Cheney failed to provide proper troop levels to ensure success in Iraq.

When he said, "What we did in Iraq was exactly the right thing to do. If I had it to recommend all over again, I would recommend exactly the same course of action," he may have sounded more coherent than Bush, but I knew, by his words, he was just as dangerous, wrong, and stubborn as his incurious commander in chief.

"The senator has got his facts wrong. I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11, but there's clearly an established Iraqi track record with terror."
I don't know who Cheney thinks he's fooling. He's spun his web about 9/11 and Saddam's Iraq so many times our heads spin..and then he denies ever saying it. The press should have called Cheney on his lies about these bogus terror connections a long time ago. If they had done their job, perhaps we wouldn't have to look at Dick Cheney still making up more lies today.

When Cheney said, "Gwen, we've never let up on Osama bin Laden from day one," I could envision a multi-color neon sign on Times Square flashing the word "L-I-A-R". It doesn't take a genius to figure that sometime between attacking Afghanistan and Iraq, Dick and George "let up" on making Osama their priority.

When Cheney began to play his distortion harp about John Kerry's lack of conviction, my prayers were answered by Senator Edwards' response. He beautifully pointed Cheney out as the distorter he is. It's all Cheney seems to be good for in this campaign, really. People don't actually like him. He turns them off. He might be a nice fellow in real life, but he turns people off. All he has left is distortion.

For just a moment, when he was pressed by Edwards to justify the war in Iraq, I thought Cheney might actually come out and say "Thank God Zarqawi is out there beheading Americans---because he's all I've got left to try to connect with Saddam Hussein--even though the CIA says it's the weakest possibility!"

Cheney said to Edwards, "The first time I ever met you was when I walked on the stage tonight."
This was a lie from Dick Cheney, disproven quickly at the Kerry/Edwards blog. He didn't fool me. I'm on to his tricks.
Cheney pulled the same trick about "not knowing" Joseph Wilson on Meet the Press last year.

I have absolutely no respect for ABC's Nightline, who used a heavy-laden GOP-participant poll just after the debate to enforce their assertion that Cheney won the debate. In doing so, I was reminded ABC is acting very much like Dick Cheney. I am confident most people believe their own eyes over distortions.

TRANSCRIPT OF DEBATE

Who Will Be the Victor in Tonight's Debate?

Who Will Be the Victor in Tonight's Debate?


Dick from the Black Lagoon?--Or John of Mayberry?



At The Nation, John Nichols has 10 Questions for the Cave Creature

Best of the Headlines

Now cannot see Iraq-9/11 Connection

Best of the Headlines

• More Bush Administration Lies Exposed:
CNN: Rumsfeld: Al Qaeda comments 'misunderstood' and concedes WMD claims about Iraq were proved wrong
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld conceded Monday that U.S. intelligence was wrong in its conclusions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and appeared to back off earlier statements suggesting former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had links to al Qaeda.


• Bush Blog- Spin Desperately Needed
The Bushites are begging their supporters to spread their love for Dr. Doom after tonight's debate with John Edwards. Various message boards are being recommended as the chosen platform for Republicans to spout their spin. They provide us with an easy guide to send our own comments. Check it out.

• ABC News/Reuters- Bremer Says Not Enough U.S. Troops in Iraq
L. Paul Bremer Tells Group U.S. Didn't Have Enough Troops Upon Arriving in Postwar Iraq

• IHT-"Don't Forget Poland"
Poland unexpectedly says troops may quit Iraq in 2005. "Poland is like any other country. The public do not like the war. The government cannot ignore that," said a Polish diplomat, who asked not to be named.

• US Newswire- More than 180 Former U.S. Ambassadors from Republican and Democratic Administrations Endorse Kerry
At a news conference at the National Press Club, members of Ambassadors for Kerry-Edwards issued a letter stating, "We believe it is imperative to our national security that we change the leadership of the nation we all love and elect John Kerry and John Edwards." The statement criticized President Bush for needlessly squandering the good will and support of the world following the September 11 attacks and undermining our ability to win the war on terror by eroding our strong international alliances.

• USA Today- Nice guy vs. The Ice Guy, Tuesday night in Cleveland
Advisers underline that Edwards has an advantage Lieberman did not have: Cheney now has a nearly four-year record that he'll have to defend.


• Christian Science Monitor- How VP debate can help - or hurt
"It's Dr. Doom versus Huck Finn," says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "Very little rides on this debate, but it's going to be enormously interesting. People will be interested to see this fairly curious matchup."

• Towanda Daily Review- Topic of Bush's Speech to Invitation Only Crowd in PA Will Unexpectedly Change
Bush changes content of planned speech to make up for lost ground in polls
The official said the president might still touch on medical malpractice, but the majority of his speech would be on the war on terror and the economy.
He did not offer a reason why the decision was made.


• Reuters-Iraq Muslim Clerics Express Doubts Over Elections
"An influential group of Iraqi Sunni Muslim clerics said Tuesday that elections scheduled for January would be a farce unless they were nationwide."

• New York Times- Randal Archibold: Edward Notes Cheney Warned of Getting "Bogged Down" in Iraq
Seizing on a published report that Vice President Dick Cheney warned 12 years ago of getting 'bogged down' in Iraq, Senator John Edwards on Wednesday accused the Bush administration of botching plans for occupying that nation. 'He knew - that's the worse part about this - he knew how dangerous this was,' Mr. Edwards told a crowd here. 'They knew that there were enormous predictors of what would be happening there, and they still didn't have a plan even though they knew what might be coming'.'' (See also Robert Dreyfuss' "Well, Iraq Worked, Right?").

• American Prospect-Robert Reich: Where Are the Rational Greedy Bastards?
"Privately, CEOs and Wall Street bankers fret about the mounting red ink. They remember what happened to the economy under previous Republicans, and they know supply-side economics is bunk masquerading as a free lunch... A rationally self-interested greedy bastard who never thought about the future would far prefer the Clinton years to another four years of Bush, even with Bush’s tax cuts. John Kerry promises to continue Clinton’s economic policies, so the greedy bastard should line up behind Kerry."

• Guardian (U.K.)-Sidney Blumenthal: Retreat Into a Substitute Reality:
By touching on Bush's ambivalent relations with his father, Kerry exposed his delusions about Iraq.

• Vanity Fair (via Make Them Accountable), October 2004 issue- David Margolick, Evgenia Peretz, and Michael Shnayerson: The Path to Florida
Here is a long, detailed examination of the 2000 election fiasco and fraud that was Florida 2000, with questions about how much has changed in Florida since that scandal four years ago. Short answer: Not much. "[The authors zero] in on the frenzied 36 days that followed the 2000 election, investigate the 'Brooks Brothers riot,' Jeb Bush's high-tech felon hunt, and the new voting machines that leave no paper trail, and ask, Could it happen again?

• Independent (U.K.)- Andrew Woodcook: War Planned "Months Before Vote"
Britain was involved in planning for war in Iraq for at least nine months before MPs approved military action, according to a document apparently leaked from the Pentagon. Details from the secret briefing paper, published in London's Evening Standard, suggest that military commanders took part in a war planning conference with US counterparts as early as June 2002. At the time, Prime Minister Tony Blair [along with Bush] was insisting that no decisions had been taken on military action. Today's leak, on the eve of a crucial debate on Iraq at Labour's conference in Brighton, will fuel speculation that Mr Blair agreed in principle to join the US in military action at his April 2002 summit at President George Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas - something the Prime Minister has always denied.

• DON'T MISS THE DNC VIDEO- BUSH: "FACES OF FRUSTRATION"

A Question of Loyalty

A Question of Loyalty
By Ernest Partridge
Co-Editor, "The Crisis Papers."
October 4, 2004
LINK

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil
is for good men to do nothing.

Anon. (Attributed to Edmund Burke)

Senator Lincoln Chafee, Republican from Rhode Island, has decided not to vote for George Bush in November.

"’ll vote Republican," [Chafee] said, explaining that he would choose a write-in candidate, perhaps George Bush the elder, as a symbolic act of protest. Asked if he wanted Senator John Kerry to be president, Mr. Chafee shook his head sadly, as if to say he could not entertain the question. “I’ve been disloyal enough,” he said. (New York Times, October 4, 2004).

With all due respect for Senator Chafee, and that respect is genuine, I submit that he has not been loyal enough.

It all depends upon the what the Senator regards as the supreme object of his loyalty. To Chafee, it is apparently the Republican party.

But that party is not the entity to which he swore allegiance when he took his oath of office. At that time he, and all his Senate and House colleagues, swore allegiance to the United States of America and its Constitution. And that allegiance requires much more of Lincoln Chafee and others who claim loyalty to the Republican party.

For today, institutions and moral principles cherished throughout our history and held in common today by a majority of Americans -- Democrats, Republicans and Independents -- are being threatened, not by a foreign invader, but by a radical faction that has seized control of our government and our media. The shared prosperity of the American people is being undone by a few greedy plutocrats who now effectively control the Republican party. These individuals have caused the honor and reputation of the American Republic in the world community to sink to an all-time low.

We are at a crossroad in history, one road leads to disaster and the other to restoration and renewal. Neither road is in any way defined by the traditional political differences between Republicans and Democrats.

We must now look down that dreadful road, before we travel on. For there we find:

Federal bankruptcy, the end of public services including Social Security and Medicare, and an impoverishment of the public schools.


With the decline of our educational institutions, an end of American leadership in science and technology – both the well-springs of prosperity in an industrial economy.


International isolation, as the United States continues to become an international outlaw, initiating wars at times of its choosing, and violating treaties at its convenience.


A loss of media independence and diversity – “the fourth estate,” recognized by our founders as indispensable to a free society.


A loss of civil liberties and the Constitutional guarantees of free press, speech, assembly and religion. A violation of the rights of fair trial, access to counsel, habeas corpus.


An endless “war on terrorism” legitimizing the erosion of these liberties and the abrogation of the Bill of Rights, and furthermore requiring a permanent draft.


Class warfare, as national wealth flows from the producers of that wealth to the very few who own and control the wealth.


The privatization of the technology and tallying of voting – in effect, an end of the citizen franchise and the “consent of the governed.”


Environmental devastation and economic collapse, as petroleum reserves are exhausted with no national provision made for transition to a post-petroleum energy source. (See my “The Oil Trap?").

This is our future unless, together and regardless of our habitual party preferences, we unite and throw out of national office, those individuals who, due to dogmatism, ignorance or the myopia of greed, fail to recognize or feel obliged to lead us away from these perils.

The challenge transcends party. The Republican Party of Lincoln Chafee’s father, Senator John Chafee, is no more. It has been succeeded by a gang of theocrats, oligarchs, and empire-builders who retain, from the Republican Party of old, little more than the name “Republican.” (See my “Letter to a Republican Friend”).

The Republican Party of Dwight Eisenhower, Earl Warren and Nelson Rockefeller stood for fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets, limited government, opportunity for small business entrepreneurs, citizen autonomy, defense of the US Constitution and its Bill of Rights, and international law and order. These principles have been abandoned in practice by the Republican part of today.

Nonetheless, with the entire political spectrum having shifted sharply to the right, there now exists a political organization that upholds and defends these principles of moderate republicanism. It is called the Democratic Party.

So what motivates a moderate Republican or an authentic conservative to vote for George Bush and Dick Cheney? What, other than habit and the names, "Republican" and "conservative."

In a generation, the words "Republican" and "conservative" ("liberal" too, for that matter), once a guide to intelligent political discourse, have become weapons in the hands of greedy and power-hungry opportunists – a “Newspeak” devised by PR wizards who have treated George Orwell’s 1984, not as a warning but as a guidebook.

Thus we are now on a precipice of history, and if we are to draw back and escape catastrophe, Americans of all religious creeds and political persuasions must pause, contemplate the morally legitimate objects of their loyalty, and then follow the demands of that loyalty as they vote to protect their Constitution, preserve the rights and liberties of all citizens, demand a just distribution of the nation’s wealth, and restore the honor of their country among the community of nations.

There are a few key individuals who could, by themselves, take a principled stand and favorably change the course of history. Colin Powell and John McCain come to mind. Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that they will do so.

And so it is up to the rest of us to do so – powerless as individuals, but together an irresistible force.

Several significant organizations and individuals have done so already. Among them:

Ten Nobel Laureates in Economics.

4,000 scientists, among them 48 Nobel Laureates.

Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. And in particular, “The Jersey Girls” – the courageous and determined widows of 9/11, without whom there would not have been a 9/11 Commission.

Iraq Veterans Against the War.

And many more, too numerous to mention.

And yet, the election contest remains close. If there is to be a favorable outcome, the current of dissent and opposition must become a flood.

Daniel Ellsberg, John Dean, Sibel Edmonds, Colleen Rowley, Karen Kwiatkowski and other “whistleblowers” have demanded that still more patriots, within and outside of the government, who are in possession of crucial information, come forth and expose the corruption and malfeasance of this most secretive Administration.

It is also past time for a few prominent journalists to rip open the media curtain, and let the light of truth at last shine forth. Many media celebrities have become independently wealthy through their careers. Now it is payback time. Where are the I. F. Stones, Ed Murrows and Walter Cronkites of our age? Will they be heard in the month that remains?

The time is short. But with the example of Lincoln Chafee, and other newly-dissenting Republicans such as Chuck Hagel, Richard Lugar, Doug Bereuter, and former Republicans such as Arianna Huffington, John Dean, Jim Jeffords and Kevin Phillips, the demands of duty and loyalty become ever more compelling.

In a mere month, the current of dissent and defection must become a flood, if the usurpers of our liberties, the thieves of our national treasure, and the despoilers of our national honor are to be swept from their ill-gotten offices.

For after November 2, it will be too late, for then we may all be embarked upon the road to disaster from which there will be no return in our lifetimes -- if ever.

Bush Earpiece Rumor

Bush Earpiece Rumor

From Democrats.com:

Rumor of Bush Earpiece Floats around Net
"Raw Story has received numerous e-mails suggesting that Bush wore an earpiece during the Florida debate Thursday with Senator Kerry. While at this point the suggestion is simply rumor, the volume of emails and the demands of our readers required we at least post the information for public review. The crux of the rumor centers around a part of the debate where Bush says, 'let me finish,' though neither Senator Kerry or moderator Jim Lehrer have moved to interrupt him. The video file can be seen here. Viewers also note the numerous pauses during Bush's answers, though some also note that Bush regularly uses dramatic pauses as part of his replies. The final element of the rumor surrounds an alleged wire in the back of the president's suit jacket, the photograph of which appears below."

See "Little Voices" by Digby (and check out the photo).

Bush is no FDR

Bush is no FDR

"...let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things..."

--Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his first inaugural speech

We have more than material things about which to be concerned as we face November's election. We worry about terrorism and we worry about our children being drafted to a liar's war, which is seemingly a war with no end.

We face the election a completely divided nation.

We have had an administration who has played upon our deepest fears in the selfish hope for political gain.

There can be no future trust or support for an administration which has been carelessly exaggerating and misleading in their past public statements about the level of threat posed to us Americans; which has directly led us to an unnecessary war.

"These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow men.

Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit...."

Will someone please repeat that part to 'Halliburton Cheney' and 'Oil-Made-My-Family-What-We-Are Bush'?

First Monday in October-One Year Ago

First Monday in October-One Year Ago

One year ago at Iddybud, two articles were brought to your attention. Listen to the words spoken back then and consider all that has happened since.

Muslims everywhere know that Putin has been engaged since 1999 in a ruthless campaign against the Muslim population of Chechnya. They know that just yesterday he rigged an election in that rebellious province by forcing every credible candidate but his own to withdraw. When he praises Putin's vision of "democracy and freedom and rule of law in Russia," how can Bush expect anyone to believe that he is any more serious about his own commitment to democracy and freedom in Afghanistan or Iraq?

--Fred Hiatt/WP 10-6-03

THE COLLAPSE in global support for the United States during the past several years is hard to overstate. Numerous polls show that the number of people holding a favorable view of this country has fallen from a majority to single digits in nations ranging from Indonesia to Spain. The damage is worst in the Arab Middle East, the very region where the Bush administration hopes to propagate the American values of liberal democracy and capitalism....much of the damage has been caused by the Bush administration's behavior, ranging from its spurning of allies and international treaties to its continuing insistence on monopolizing power in Iraq.

--WP Editorial 10-6-03

It couldn't be any clearer.
We need new presidential leadership.

Online News Hour: Homefront Battle

"When the army itself admitted they were unable to find the weapons of mass destruction, my son began to question, "Why am I here? Why do I have to continue to be here?" So, I feel a certain amount of responsibility, as his mother, to stand up and say, Why did you send my son to war? Why did you put my son in harm's way?"

--Vicki Monk, whose son is currently with the army's 1st Armored Division in Baghdad

Online News Hour: Homefront Battle

In case you missed the News Hour on PBS tonight, I highly recommend that you see this featured story. It can be read or viewed on Real Audio at the PBS website.

Firebombings: From My Father’s Wars to Mine by Christopher Dickey

"Firebombings: From My Father’s Wars to Mine" by Christopher Dickey

Christopher Dickey, son of poet and novelist James Dickey, gave a thoughtful lecture at Clemson almost a year ago as a part of the Calhoun Lecture series at the Strom Thurmond Institute of Government and Public Affairs. It was about his father, the wars of his father's generation and the wars that have followed,the never-ending war on a notion known as terror, about human dignity. I think it should be required reading for every American voter.

On his father's poetry:

"Drinking from a Helmet," written almost two decades after WWII by James Dickey, comes back to the theme of involvement and detachment. The poet is getting water from a truck on a battlefield; a place where the fighting is mostly over. Afraid to take off his own helmet, he picks up another one that has been discarded on the ground. As he drinks from it he comes to think it belonged to another soldier who has died. He sees his own boyish reflection in the water...

Selected ripples rove through it,
Knocked loose with a touch from all sides
Of a brain killed early that morning,
Most likely, and now in its absence holding
My sealed, sunny image from harm.

He becomes fascinated by a growing sense that he knows the life of this soldier he never knew, whose death he never saw.

I stood as though I possessed
A cool, trembling man
Exactly my size, swallowed whole.

Putting the helmet on, the poet’s mind joins with that of the dead man, who is resurrected – reincarnated— in him."

On dignity:

"...just about the time I was writing this speech, “dignity” started to be a buzzword in U.S. administration rhetoric. J.Paul Bremer, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, used it some 27 times in his Ramadan address to the Iraqi people on Nov. 7, 2003. President George W. Bush referred to it when he stopped in at Baghdad airport for Thanksgiving. But the standards they set for dignity, unfortunately, are theirs for the Iraqis, not necessarily the Iraqis’ for themselves."

On today's wars and inhumanity:

"...more than fifty years after World War II, and more than thirty years after my father wrote that poem, technology, especially American technology, continued to dehumanize the inhumanity of war until, by the late 1990s, we were able to convince ourselves, at our great distance from the destruction, that such a thing could be waged as a war that was humane. Now, that’s a pretty dangerous concept if you think about it. Because a humane war,especially one waged from a sanitary distance, is implicitly an EASY war. It doesn’t have to be righteous. It doesn’t even have to be memorable....

...You know, history does not end except, perhaps, in academia. But if you ignore the past, ifyou refuse to connect cause and effect, and you start to think that war is without consequences – at least for you in your comfortable suburban home — then war can come to seem perfunctory, eventrivial, except for those who are on the ground beneath the bombs...."

On our great mistake:

As the Yale sociologist William Graham Sumner pointed out in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, expansion and imperialism are inimical to what, precisely, we Americans think we are. They are “a grand onslaught on democracy,” said Sumner, they are “at war with the best traditions, principles, and interests of the American people.”

Generally, Americans — and their leaders — have understood this, which is why, despite the present administration’s rhetoric about spreading democracy, the heart of its message has been quite different since September 11: not that we will change the world, but that, in the end, the world will not change us.That is why it was so important to get the message out, unofficially and meretriciously, that Saddam Hussein was behind September 11. That is why it’s important that some sixty percent of the public think that’s the case. Because if it is not, then we have embarked on exactly that kind of expansionist and imperialist project our forebears warned us against, and we see that this war in Iraq could change us every bit as much as we’re likely to change the world. The media have played a strange role in all this, becoming technological accomplices in a grand illusion.

(pdf link)
(non pdf link)

US: Divided against itself

US: Divided against itself
The Guardian: If Americans choose Bush over Kerry, it will be from fear, a lack of choice - and a preference for power over safety by Gary Younge

Gary Younge asks what the world should make of America and Americans if Bush wins?

If Bush wins fair and square on November 2, then what conclusions can we draw about a nation that consciously decides this is the course it wants to take? If Americans come away from the plurality of opinions with which they have been presented to back Bush, it will not be because they did not know that other views were out there, but because they chose to believe one set of views over others.
The question is, why?

Younge says:

More than anything else, though, a Bush victory would suggest that when given a choice between leading the world through force or through consensus (the notion that America should not lead the world has not arisen), most of those who expressed a preference preferred force..They will have decided that global supremacy is more important to them than being either liked or respected.

The country is riven on almost every axis possible - between red states (for Bush) and blue states (for Kerry), between the religious and the secular, the metro and the retro. "Not since the civil war has the country been so divided," argues John White, professor of politics at the Catholic University of America. Whether Bush wins or loses, these rifts will endure. America is not just a nation at war with the world; it is a nation at war with itself.

Related: Poles Apart/Baltimore Sun (subsc required)

Secret Service Tosses Message T-shirt Wearers at Wisconsin King George Rally

Secret Service Tosses Those Donning Message T-shirts at Wisconsin King George Rally

Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News blogs about three Racine, Wisconsin, residents who were ejected by the Secret Service from a recent Bush rally, not because they were a threat to the president or because they verbally disrupted the affair, but because they donned T-shirts with the word "liar" on them. Keith Rosenberg, Michael Goebel and James Bremner said they signed the required pledge stating they supported Bush. They said they did not put on the their message T-shirts until Bush appeared on stage to speak. They claim they did not intend to riot, but intended to "hand it to [Bush] because the guy is a blatant liar."

We should be very concerned by happenings like this. The recent arrest of the mother of a dead soldier, Sue Neiderer, was probably the saddest example of what's happening out on the campaign trail. What this T-shirt story proves is that Bush is a danger, himself, to the political stability within our own nation. His policies and divisive leadership have apparently caused the Secret Service to have concerns, whether legitimate or not, about the safety of this president and his Loyalty-Oath audiences. It shows us that they believe there is such instability inside our nation that even a fresh-faced American college kid with a message T-shirt is a potential danger to anyone with conflicting opinions while in the same arena with this president. If that sounds ludicrous, it may be because it is. How did we get to this stifling point in American dissent and free speech rights?

I believe, if the overall political discussion was more open in the media and more reflective of the way America really thinks (rather than "rah-rah" Honeymoon Bush), there would not be such public frustration and conflict. I believe, if Bush rallies were open to the American public, regardless of political affiliation, the truth would be naturally and peacefully revealed. We'd hear some 'boos' and healthy democratic dissent. Instead, the Bush campaign is anti-democratic (while Bush spouts off about the value of freedom and democracy on the other side of the barricades). The campaign's Loyalty Oath policy creates confrontation.

He's not a King. He's our public employee.

TPM Reveals Bush Goof on Trained Iraqi Troop Quote

TPM Reveals Bush Goof on Trained Iraqi Troop Quote

Josh Marshall has posted a "Gotcha!" regarding one of Bush's debate comments last Thursday.

The statement:

"There's 100,000 troops trained: police, guard, special units, border patrol. There's going to be 125,000 trained by the end of this year."

The truth:

It's estimated that 22,700 Iraqi personnel have received enough basic training to make them "minimally effective at their tasks," in contrast to the 100,000 figure cited by Bush. LINK

Thomas Friedman Has Returned

Thomas Friedman Has Returned

And he's had plenty of time to think.
Here are some excerpts from his return column:

This war has been hugely mismanaged by this administration, in the face of clear advice to the contrary at every stage, and as a result the range of decent outcomes in Iraq has been narrowed and the tools we have to bring even those about are more limited than ever.

What I resent so much is that some of us actually put our personal politics aside in thinking about this war and about why it is so important to produce a different Iraq.

...from the beginning [Bush] has run Iraq policy as an extension of his political campaign.

Friends, I return to where I started: We're in trouble in Iraq. We have to immediately get the Democratic and Republican politics out of this policy and start honestly reassessing what is the maximum we can still achieve there and what every American is going to have to do to make it happen. If we do not, we'll end up not only with a fractured Iraq, but with a fractured America, at war with itself and isolated from the world.

LINK-Iraq: Politics or Policy?

Stipe and Springsteen rock against Bush

credit: Rusty Kennedy/AP

Stipe and Springsteen rock against Bush

"We’re here tonight to fight for a government that is open, rational, progressive and humane."

--Bruce Springsteen


LINK-Sunday Herald
LINK-Toronto Star, Rock gets political to roll Bush
Story by AP/Patrick Walters
NYT story
SALON.com (need subsc. or one day pass)


"America is not always right -- that’s a fairy tale you tell your children. But America is always true. And it’s in seeking this truth that we find a deeper patriotism. Remember, the country we carry in our hearts is waiting."

--Bruce Springsteen

Dreier Story Making the Rounds

Dreier Story Making the Rounds

The NY Post via Raw Story
Advocate
LA Weekly via Yahoo News
New York Press
Data Lounge
PR Newswire
devtob at Daily Kos

In all fairness, Congressman Dreier did vote against the Marriage Protection Amendment last week.