Spongebob vs. the Missionary-Position

Spongebob vs. the Missionary-Position

Spongebob and the missionary position?!?
What could they possible have in common, you ask?

They both appear in a clever piece by SFGate columnist Mark Morford.

Excerpts:

"Note the people who look at hilarious children's cartoons and see only sinister mind control, who look at their fellow human souls and see only an army of debauched heathens, who look (reluctantly) at their own genitals and see only a gnarled clump of pain and confusion, who look up at the beautiful blue sky and see only a massive canopy of daggers.

How incredibly sad. And, for right now, how very, insidiously dangerous...[..]

[..]....They have jammed a black seed of paranoia and dread into the tired soil of American consciousness, and have made it their lifelong duty to ensure that the seed festers and erupts into a gnarled weed of hate and ignorance and bad missionary-position sex with the lights off."

Flip Flopping On The Definition of ‘Freedom’

Flip Flopping On The Definition of ‘Freedom’

The Bush administration’s had a lot of explaining to do about their meaning of “freedom”, the one little word which speechwriters had sprinkled throughout the President’s January 20th inaugural speech, leading to a lot of big questions. Washington Post columnist EJ Dionne says: “You can spin a lot of things. Freedom shouldn’t be one of them.” LINK

The day after the inaugural address, the White House basically said they didn’t really mean what we may have thought they’d meant when President Bush talked about the expansion of “freedom”. They went on to try to explain what they did mean, which in reality, had little to do with the bold speech itself. Dionne calls it the “Freedom Shuffle”. The uncertainty, after sounding oh-so certain and determined, can only increase political division in America and enhance further mistrust amongst foreign nations, according to Dionne. When it depends upon what the definition of “freedom” is on any given day, the President makes it easy for anyone to easily doubt his intent and tenacity in standing up for whatever he thinks the word means. We are only left to scratch our heads and wonder. Dionne says:

The younger Bush’s Freedom Shuffle — he’s an idealist on Thursday and a realist on Friday — may come as a relief to the many foreign policy specialists allergic to grand visions. A majority of Americans will be pleased with the elder Bush’s reassurance that the speech does not mean “newly asserted military forces.”

But the Freedom Shuffle is a terrible mistake for Bush, because the greatest barrier to Bush’s success in his second term is the intense cynicism he has inspired about his motives. This cynicism affects the near majority that voted against him at home but also a vast number of citizens in nations around the world that were once American allies. It is a cynicism that, if it spreads further through the Muslim world, could doom the very best aspirations of Bush’s policy.

Bush supporters see this cynicism as mean-spirited. In fact, it is the bitter fruit of bitter experience. A war originally justified in the name of ridding the world of weapons of mass destruction is transformed with some well-chosen phrases into — presto! — an episode in the long struggle for freedom. The shifting rationale is never acknowledged. His disquisition on this struggle did not even mention the central theater of battle in Iraq. No need to mire grand dreams in grim realities. A nation that should be the world’s leading advocate of human rights gets caught up in a torture scandal, and the president has yet to hold himself or high officials accountable for this deep stain on his country’s reputation.

Bush's Vision of America Will Mean TYRANNY

Bush's Vision of America Will Mean TYRANNY
James Madison would spin like chicken rotisserie in his grave if he knew.

Read the selected quotes below.
James Madison sternly and solemnly warned against concentration of power in all branches of government.
There stands an elected majority in both the House and Senate. (Elected or not, heed Madison's warning from Federalist 47).
We can safely predict President Bush's political intent, should a Supreme Court seat (or two or three) become vacant in the near future. (Did you get a good look at the Chief Justice at the inauguration? I don't think it will be long.)
How can the President expect any of us to believe his rhetoric about fighting tyranny when he plans to create the perfect opportunity for tyranny to reign Supreme (pun intended) in his own country?

QUOTE ONE:

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny..[..]..From these facts, by which Montesquieu was guided, it may clearly be inferred that, in saying ``There can be no liberty where the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or body of magistrates,'' or, ``if the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and executive powers..where the WHOLE power of one department is exercised by the same hands which possess the WHOLE power of another department, the fundamental principles of a free constitution are subverted''

--James Madison, Federalist No 47, February 1, 1788

QUOTE TWO:

"President Bush has indicated he favors nominating justices with a strict constructionist view of the Constitution, a judicial philosophy generally regarded as anti-abortion. Mr. Bush has said he favors a justice in the mold of the high court's strongest conservatives, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas."

--Andrew J. Baroch, Voice of America, 26 November 2004

QUOTE THREE:

"So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world...[..]..All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors."

--George W. Bush, Second Inaugural Address, January 20, 2005

In his inaugural speech last week, President Bush said there could be no justice without freedom.

Heed my warning.
There can be only an end to freedom with Bush' plans for the future of the Supreme Court.

Be prepared for four years of tyranny in your own country, America. The only oppressors the Bush administration will ignore, apparently, is the Bush administration.

"An ELECTIVE DESPOTISM was not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually checked and restrained by the others."

----James Madison, Federalist No. 48, February 1, 1788

Kevin Sites: Tsunami Stories

Mannequin in tsunami wreckage. image: Kevin Sites

Kevin Sites: Tsunami Stories

Kevin Sites' latest blog reporting from the Tsunami zone is a must-read.

Excerpt from "Black Plastic" by Kevin Sites:

Mohammed picks up a photo album. It's covered with mud -- the pictures inside ruined. All the years of memories destroyed like the lives they depicted.

A few feet away is an inflated life jacket. I wonder whether if the force of the wave ripped it from the person who was wearing it or whether they cven had a chance to put it on.

The Indonesian soldiers who are recovering bodies here have run out of latex gloves. They improvise by tying black plastic bags around their hands to do mortuary work on a scale they likely never dreamed of.

Universal Press Syndicate Will Harbor Bush Shill Maggie Gallagher

Universal Press Syndicate Will Harbor Bush Shill Maggie Gallagher

Universal Press Syndicate explains why they'll keep Maggie Gallagher.

They hype themselves as having "The best opinions in the universe." Instead, they should call it "the best opinions the Bush administration can purchase."

I'll never trust any of their journalism from here on in. Ted Rall should remove himself from this creepy group as soon as he can. Run, Ted. Run.

Torture:The New Casual Topic

"It's not nice to fool Mother Nature Uncle Sam!...If you think it's butter torture and it's not...it's Chiffon Al Gonzales' acceptable form of interrogation!"

Torture: The New Casual Topic

Tom Tomorrow makes a comically astute point about the new/cavalier (almost breezy) attitude toward the topic of torture. He titles his latest cartoon "How Low Can We Go? The Disturbingly Brief Journey From Unthinkable to Mundane"
Arlen Specter's performance in the Al Gonzales nomination hearing comes to mind...his casual questioning about the "ticking bomb" scenario, in particular. (*Someone's watching waaay too much "24").

________________

James Wolcott says 'Just Say NO' to Gonzales nomination

At Daily Kos, they're telling us that Gonzales has pointed out the Convention Against Torture treaty, as ratified by the Senate, which doesn't prohibit the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading" tactics on non-U.S. citizens who are captured abroad, in Iraq or elsewhere..Gonzales, White House counsel and a close Bush adviser, described recent reports of prisoner abuse as "shocking and deeply troubling." But he refused to answer questions from senators about whether interrogation tactics witnessed by FBI agents were unlawful..." LINK to News Story-San Jose Mercury

Proposal to Democrats: Disband!

Proposal to Democrats: Disband!

My idea? Nope.
If you're wondering, I didn't propose this.
It's crossed my mind many times lately, though.
I'll bet it's crossed yours, too.
Do you think it's a harsh suggestion?
I don't know....
It was absolutely revolting to hear Sen. John McCain categorizing Dems who would stand up for truth and vote proudly against Condi Rice as "sore losers". (And getting away with it. CNN and FOX are replaying it ad nauseum).

I believe the real losers are the ones who willingly ignore reality for their own cheap political gain. Losers come in Red and Blue; Elephant and Donkey. I'm not being partisan here.

This post is for the Donkeys who refuse to stand up for reality and sell their supporters out at almost every opportunity. Shame on them!

At The American Street, Emma has decided to put it up for public discussion.

I think Emma's "DISBAND" suggestion isn't a bad one.

Seeing how few of the Dems actually stood their ground and voted a resounding "NO" for a woman who lied, bold-faced, to the public about a war into which our nation should never have entered is revolting. If Democrats are so easily intimidated by GOP hacks tossing around terms such as "un-American", they aren't representing those Americans whom they are charged with the duty of representing. The word "worthless" comes to mind.

Someone commented that a proposal of this type is barely necessary. Why propose to have them disband? The Democrats, by their abandonment of duty to the left and even many moderate Democrats, are systematically destroying themselves - and the success of the American system of government hoped for by the nation's Founders.

*An Alternative Idea?
"How about we just shake up the management and put a fighter in charge. Maybe a loud-mouthed Governor from New england or something?"
--Comment by 'Fast Eddie' at American Street

Americans Catching On To Bush Voodoo Optimism on Iraq

Americans Catching On To Bush Voodoo Optimism on Iraq

See the latest AP poll. Already-shaky confidence in Iraq's future has slipped.
Even Southerners and rural Americans are becoming resistant to President Bush's Iraq-related voodoo-optimism. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but sooner or later they're going to have your number.

It won't be long before they'll be calling for the troops to come home.

My only question will be: What took them so long?

Juan Cole: The Speech Bush Should have Given

Juan Cole: The Speech Bush Should have Given

Juan Cole lays out the speech he thinks Bush should have given back in 2002, as he was trying to convince Congress to give him the authority to go to war against Iraq.

Excerpt:

"..There also isn't any operational link between a secular Arab nationalist like Saddam and the religious loonies of al-Qaeda. They're scared of one another and hate each other more than each hates us. In fact, I have to be perfectly honest and admit that if we overthrow Saddam's secular Arab nationalist government, Iraq's Sunni Arabs will be disillusioned and full of despair. They are likely to turn to al-Qaeda as an alternative. So, folks, what I'm about to do could deliver 5 million Iraqis into the hands of people who are insisting they join some al-Qaeda offshoot immediately. Or else.

So why do I want to go to war? Look, folks, I'm just not going to tell you. I don't have to tell you. There is little transparency about these things in the executive, because we're running a kind of rump empire out of the president's office. After 20 or 30 years it will all leak out. Until then, you'll just have to trust me."

Gore Vidal: Bush Inaugural Speech Was Un-American

"I’d say what we have now in the United States is working up a nice tyrannical persona for itself and for us."

--Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal: Bush Inaugural Speech Was Most Un-American Ever
US Could Become Dictatress of the World And Lose Her Soul
LINK-DEMOCRACY NOW

GORE VIDAL QUOTE: "There's not a word of truth in anything that he said. Our founding fathers did not set us on a course to liberate all the world from tyranny. Jefferson just said, “all men are created equal, and should be,” etc, but it was not the task of the United States to “go abroad to slay dragons,” as John Quincy Adams so wisely put it; because if the United States does go abroad to slay dragons in the name of freedom, liberty, and so on, she could become “dictatress of the world,” but in the process “she would lose her soul.” That is what we -- the lesson we should be learning now, instead of this declaration of war against the entire globe. He doesn't define what tyranny is. I’d say what we have now in the United States is working up a nice tyrannical persona for itself and for us. As we lose liberties he’s, I guess, handing them out to other countries which have not asked for them.."

______________________

Gore Vidal: America Has Worst Educational System of Any First World Country

GORE VIDAL: "...And that an American audience would sit there beside the capitol or reverently in front of their TV screens and watch this and not see the absurdity of what was being said -- absolute proof of a couple of things that I have felt, and most of us who are at all thoughtful feel: We’ve got the worst educational system of any first world country. We are shameful when we go abroad, because we know nothing. Just to watch the destruction of the archaeologists’ work at Babylon. Babylon is a center of our culture. Nobody knows that. Nobody knows what it is, except it's a wicked city that the lord destroyed. Well, it was the center of our civilization, the center of mathematics, of writing, of everything. And apparently our troops were allowed to go in and smash everything to bits. Why did they do it? Was it because they are mean bad boys and girls? No. They're totally uneducated. And their officers are sometimes mean and bad, and allow them to have a romp, as they also had in the prisons, none of which we heard about in the last election. We were too busy with homosexual marriage and abortion, two really riveting subjects. War and peace, of course, are not worth talking about. And civilization, God forbid that we ever commit ourselves to that."

Okay, I'll admit it: I'm paranoid about Bushites' intent toward Iran

Okay, I'll admit it:
I'm paranoid about Bushites' intent toward Iran
Knowing they lied, rushed and botched the Iraq situation, I think I have good reason.

Should we be openly promoting the idea of democracy in Iran?

Yes, I think we should... with honor, good faith, and the utmost respect for human rights and the rule of law.

Does that mean attacking them with bombs (as we've done in Iraq)?

I say no, no; one thousand times NO!

First, you do not deliver human rights with a bomb.

It never works.

You support. You do not destroy as a first means of offering your nation's support or convincing people that your nation's intent is forwarded in good faith.

NeoCons showed us how NOT to support human rights and democracy in Iraq. They provided President Bush with the perfect blueprint (a blueprint he willingly accepted) for what NEVER to do again!

Listen to the reasoning of Shirin Ebadi (quoted below-see LINK). It's time for Americans to rely on our own sense and use our own freedom to speak out now...before we enter into another damned disaster.

"Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi has said that while she, too, opposes nuclear weapons, the West would do more good by focusing not on Tehran's nuclear programme but on promoting democracy in the Islamic Republic.

"In a country or a society where people supervise decisions and everything else, like a democratic country, the existence of an atomic bomb cannot be dangerous," Ms Ebadi said."

What is “expansion of freedom"?

What is “expansion of freedom”?

I have a question for you:
Who thinks that President Bush is an abuser of the word “freedom”?

In his inaugural speech today, President Bush recalled America’s “deep commitments”.
He stated he was “determined to fulfill his oath”, and for those who have disagreed with his foreign policy, that is a frightening statement to have heard him make.

He said that our duties are defined by the history we’ve seen together. He’s made some of that history, after the “Day of fire” (9-11) raised a “moral threat” to our nation. (Mortal threat may have been the better word- perhaps I heard him wrong).
President Bush wishes to redeem his narrowly-gained power in the next four years to “reward hope of the decent and the tolerant.” He stated that our liberty depends on liberty in other lands, and that our best hope is the “expansion of freedom”.

WHAT IS “EXPANSION OF FREEDOM”?

What is it going to mean to America?

What will be the dreadful cost?

Shall we ask the Neo Cons?

Shall we ask Donald Rumsfeld?

President Bush said that the urgent requirement of our nation’s security and the “duty of our time” is ending “tyranny in our world”. (This, from the guy who likened nation building to a political disease in 2000).

He vows to help others find their own voice (Or else, I wondered? Snuff their voices out with bombs and American occupation? Have you noticed how big that went over in the Middle east when we charged into Iraq?)

President Bush promises that we will use American power confidently in “freedom’s cause”.
and that freedom is “eternally right”.

The Bush administration’s definition of “freedom” is paramount to the American discussion which must follow; after this inauguration day is over.

President Bush says that human choices move events and that God chooses as He wills.

George Bush claims to have relied upon God’s voice and he made some unfortunate choices these past few years.

He said no one should live at the “mercy of bullies” (I immediately thought to myself: After what we’ve done in Iraq? Hello?)
He said that there’s no justice without freedom.
That depends on what freedom means to you, doesn’t it?

If you ask a lot of Iraq people today (the ones still alive), what their definition of “mercy”, of “bullies”, and of “justice” might be - - well - I think you might be shocked at the difference between their opinion and this American President.

The President focused on the “unfinished work” of American freedom.

I fear he truly believes he needs to finish what he has begun- and then some.

Is anyone worried? Will idealists be the ruin of America by abusing the very word, ” freedom”?

Please Cast Your Vote My Way

Please Cast Your Vote My Way

I've been nominated for The Koufax Awards: Most Deserving of Wider Recognition

Go Here to Vote

It would be deeply appreciated!

Rice admits bad Iraq decisions

Rice admits bad Iraq decisions

Oh, wow. That really does a lot to boost world trust in Ms. Rice.
(Sarcasm intended).

The headline above is a beginning of a truthful exposure - about what this administration's wrong-minded foreign policy has done to American trust - and world trust.

When will Ms. Rice be forced to admit that she willingly misled America?

She has admitted some obvious blunders (which must have really pained her deeply to have to do - she'd probably rather have had a double root canal without novacaine).

I'd heard her misinform the public many times in both the lead-up and the post-"shock and awe"-phase of the pre-emptive attack upon Iraq. I specifically recall her appearance in an interview on the PBS News Hour.

What we knew going into the war was that this man was a threat. He had weapons of mass destruction. He had used them before. He was continuing to try to improve his weapons programs. He was sitting astride one of the most volatile regions in the world, a region out of which the ideologies of hatred had come that led people to slam airplanes into buildings in New York and Washington.
Something had to be done about that threat and the president to simply allow this brutal dictator, with dangerous weapons, to continue to destabilize the Middle East.

LINK

--Condoleeza Rice, July 30, 2003

I'm glad Barbara Boxer dealt with Rice in a straight-on fashion yesterday. I wonder why so many of our Representatves and the media that follows them have been remiss for this long?

Have they learned their lessons yet?

Judging from the Rice confrontation, it looks like they may have begun to learn. When deferring to civility and rules gets us nowhere - when it puts us smack dab in the middle of a war we never should have started - when protocol is abused by bad politics, it's time for giants to awaken..if they are present ANYWHERE in our government today.

We're watching.

I don't want to hear about how we're going to be "spreading freedom" to Iran with bunker busters and a new draft to bulk up a voluntary military of withering numbers.

NEVER AGAIN!


_____________

Why the hawks are circling over Iran
As George W Bush prepares for a second term, his administration is setting its sights on Iran. But, Rupert Cornwell reports, a new foreign policy adventure could be disastrous

Checking In

Checking In

I saw the always-eloquent Pete Hamill speak about and read from his new book, "Downtown: My Manhattan" Tuesday night at Borders in Bethesda, MD. I can't wait to read the book. I'll have more on it upon my return.

I walked down by the MCI Center on Tuesday afternoon and noticed an unusually heavy presence of smartly dressed military men and women, along with tons of security all around. Turns out there was an event taking place where President Bush just happened to be in attendance. LA Times:

The audience of about 10,000 included 60 winners of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for combat bravery. As he began his remarks, Bush snapped them a sharp salute.

The roads around Washington DC were an incredible mess today. There was a snowstorm that produced just enough of the white stuff to disrupt traffic.

I hope the weather will be better for the inauguration tomorrow. I hope to have an insider's report; to be written by a reliable source. A family member will be in attendance. I'll be watching CSPAN for a glimpse of him in the grandstands from my (mercifully) warm hotel room.

I'll be away for a short while

I'll be away for a short while

I'll be in D.C. during inauguration week. I'll try and get back here with blog reports when possible, but due to limited online service, I can't promise regular bloggings.

Have a great week!


- Jude

Morally Empty Absolution

Morally Empty Absolution



President Bush: Don't blame me......and whatever you do, don't ABSOLVE me or my fellow Americans on your own cheap and easy behalf.

"Cheap grace" is worthless. Worthless, worthless, worthless. See Josh Marshall's comments about Bush's latest affront to our sense of intelligence and decency.

“Cheap grace" is absolution without personal confession.
Josh pretty much hit the nail on its head.
In President Bush’s mind, Election 2004–the “great American Communion”, has washed clean what we see as his foreign policy sin.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed by the Nazis, by the way.

See Melanie Mattson's comments.

See Echidne's comments.

Poor Babylon: Works of Ages Destroyed in Two Years' Time

Poor Babylon: Works of Ages Destroyed in Two Years' Time

It is with sorrow, this morning, that I quote the words of my fellow blogger Sapere Aude, a wise world historian and mystic wanderer:

"A profound thought is realized here, that a site that has survived human machinations for thousands of years can be destroyed in two years, a testament to this world's meme of "destroy or be destroyed", a parasidic attitude that has infected our civilization.

Perhaps what is left can be preserved for future generations to visit and study. It's a maudlin thought that future historians must relegate themselves to reading about the ancient city, rather than touch the edifices and stones that were touched by an ancient civilization of ages past."

MLK and the new Dream

"Let us turn our thoughts today
To Martin Luther King
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the Earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood
That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children
Can grow free and strong
We are bound together
By the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead.."

- James Taylor -

MLK and the new Dream

Martin Luther King said:

"You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive."

Reverend Martin was speaking about the tribulations of the people of his time. We often think about people of color when we think of the dear Reverend. Yet, he was not a prophet for people of color alone. He was a fierce defender of righteousness and justice. I look, today, for anyone on the horizon who could match Martin's heart and wisdom. People like him are rare. I see a new group of human beings, regardless of color, who are today's "creative sufferers"; unearned sufferers.

Martin suggested that those who suffered should know that somehow their situation can and will be changed. He said:

"Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream."

Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King. We are bound together, every color, every man and woman living today...suffering today.

The task still stands before us, in our time.

Remember the American dream.

Work to see it fulfilled.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day in the hills and halls of America that the sons and daughters of Blue States and the sons and daughters of Red States will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.



I have a dream that one day even the state of Georgia, a state sweltering with the heat of political treason borne by the likes of Zell Miller, sweltering with the heat of hatred and fear of progress, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that our little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by their political ideology, but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down at FOX News and Rush Limbaugh's studio, with their vicious propaganda, with their lips dripping with the words of lies and deliberate misinformation; one day, in spite of them, right there in New York, Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Alabama, Progressive Americans will be able to join hands with American Conservatives as sisters and brothers and get down to the real and meaningful business of healing a nation and a world in need of justice, mercy, and compassion.

I have a dream today.

On First Impressions: Gladwell's New Book "Blink

On First Impressions: Gladwell's New Book "Blink"

Robert Stribley has an interesting blogpost on Malcolm Gladwell's new book.

Random Ten Songs

Random Ten Songs

Roxanne asked for 10 random songs. She said:(1) Fire up your IPOD, MP3 or other digital media player
(2) Set to random play
(3) List the first ten songs

Here are the first ten that came to mind for the way I feel today:


Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man - The Byrds
From The Morning - Nick Drake
Beeswing - Richard Thompson
Streets of London - Ralph McTell
Steal My Sunshine - Len
Light and Day - Polyphonic Spree
Tiger In My Tank - Eels
Echo Park - Joseph Arthur
Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
Late In The Day - Hot Rize

-- Jude

Cartoon

Credit: Tom Toles Cartoon/Copyright Washington Post

Me, Blaire, and G Star

Hanging out at my brother's place on New Years Eve with my niece, B. Hannah, and my pal G. Star

Bring 'Em On, Li'l Dawgies

Bring 'Em On,
Li'l Dawgies

Hank says: "Bring 'em on? Oh yeah?
We'll see how you swagger when I get
through with ya! Woof!"

LINK

*Thanks, Echidne
Hank rocks. ;)

Protecting Armstrong Williams, Right-Wing Lies About Kos

Protecting Armstrong Williams, Right-Wing Spreads Lies About Kos

Desperately trying to take the "heat" off so-called "journalist" Armstrong Williams, who was caught red-handed taking a government bribe for a secret political agenda, right-wing mud-slingers are suddenly trying to claim that Kos (Markos Moulingas of Daily Kos) secretly had a political agenda while leading one of the top blogs in the world.

THAT'S A LIE.

I have been a Kos diarist a long time. I knew who Markos was and what he did for a living. He has always made it clear.

Kos has NEVER hidden what he does for a living, and the fact that his consulting firm did some work for Howard Dean was made public long ago. Markos was never ashamed and never took taxpayer's money.

The question is: What other journalists have been taking taxpayer bribes from the Bush administration? Who's bribing them?

I want to know!

______________

Related Stories:

Kos speaks (and he's pissed - and I don't blame him a bit for feeling that way.)

American Street - Echidne, who asks: "Who in the government is BRIBING journalists?"

A Story from a YEAR AGO TODAY publicizing Kos' activities. It was no secret!

Wall Street Journal's totally lame-ass attempt to impugn the ethics and integrity of Markos-as-blogger

Digby speaks (via Anonymoses' link)

Disturbed & Deranged in Alabama

Disturbed & Deranged in Alabama

This is really and truly sickening.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. "A woman angry with her 12-year-old daughter for having sex forced the girl to drink bleach and sat on her until the child died..The girl's 9-year-old brother was forced to watch the attack...She told him that if he shed a tear that she was going to kill him, too."....she told authorities she was disturbed because "her daughter told her that she was no longer a virgin."..

LINK

WMD LIES AND BRING 'EM ON BLUNDERS

WMD LIES AND BRING 'EM ON BLUNDERS

What can YOU do?
-- Go to the above link and watch.
-- E-Mail Congress - ask them to stand up and challenge Bush's deceitful policy on Iraq.
-- E-Mail President Bush - tell him you know policy in Iraq is a failure and is based on a lie. When saving face means sacrificing and taking more precious lives, it's time to put it to a screeching halt.

This dismal puzzle has already been done for you.


credit: Christian Science Monitor, Bennett Cartoons

Want a laugh?

Want a laugh?

If you've seen the film Napoleon Dynamite, this is a must-see.

Blogging, Journalism, and Credibility

Blogging, Journalism, and Credibility

On January 9, I'd written about the upcoming invitation-only conference Blogging, Journalism, and Credibility to be held at Harvard on January 21 and 22. The schedule is here.
At Greensboro101 and Ed Cone, I was referred to a link at Raving Lunacy about the conference and
The 'Head Lemur' breaks down the strange fellowship of Blogging as tool, Journalism as occupation, and Credibility as goal. He comments that, while only time and events will bestow credibility to anybody, it's undeniable that the Internet is becoming the primary source for news and information for more and more people, and that there is both promise and danger to the intersection of blogging and journalism. Be sure to read his entire blogpiece.

Ed Cone, who will attend the conference, says that Greensboro has

"interesting things going on here with our traditional journalists as they try to figure out how blogging and newspapers co-exist."

Looking ahead to the time he gets to the Harvard conference, Ed says:

I think I have something to tell the media elite in Cambridge next week, and that is the way traditional and alternative journalism are being practiced on the web here Greensboro. It's not about blogging as punditry, or blogs as the bane of reckless TV journalists, it does not answer burning questions about the place of bloggers in the social hierarchy of Manhattan and DC, but it does address the issues of blogging, journalism, and credibility.

As a community blogger working in harmony with the Syracuse, NY newspaper, The Post Standard, I can relate to Greensboro blogger David Wharton, who will blog about a local issue one day and blog about the tsunami the next.

I wish Ed Cone and all attendees the best of luck at the conference.

Meet the next-door blogger/Syracuse.com

Meet the next-door blogger
By Brian Cubbison, Assistant News Editor
Syracuse Post Standard, January 13, 2005

My interaction with the Greensboro101 bloggers was printed on Page 2 of The Syracuse Post Standard yesterday.

If you live in Cazenovia, Parish or Camillus, your neighbor might be a blogger.

Syracuse.com is nurturing local bloggers who write about their neighborhoods. It’s a trend that’s also taking roots in communities in New Jersey, North Carolina and Washington state.

Jim Jurista writes the Cazenovia Free Press. The technology consultant writes about national politics or village events, such as the Cold War and a men’s night out.

Lou Guindon writes Positively Parish, sometimes in the classic style of a weekly newspaper: "Mr. and Mrs. James Anderson and Lloyd and Arreta Ware had dinner at a local restaurant Friday evening and then enjoyed a duel of cards, the men beating the women. Arreta’s home made chocolate cake soothed the ladies, but they pledged to get even another time."

In Faith Meets Life, the Rev. Jim Corl, of Christ Church in Manlius, wrote a post-election blog about values.

Donna Reynolds, of Syracuse, writes a daily blog, That’s Entertainment. This prolific freelancer is an assistant editor for Reality News Online, among other projects. She’s your source for Survivors, Idols, Amazing Racers and Elvis water on eBay.

Orange fans write blogs about Syracuse University sports. Downstate and Jersey fans weigh in on the Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Jets and Giants.

Gridiron Grit covers local high school football and Track Smack follows auto racing. Dr. Scott Petosa, tennis coach at LeMoyne College, writes The Fitness Fanatic.

When the News and Record of Greensboro, N.C., wondered how to turn a traditional newspaper into an online destination of the future, it turned to the local bloggers at greensboro101.com and the visionaries at the Press Think blog at New York University.

From Camillus, Jude Nagurney Camwell urged them on. She writes The Rational Liberal at syracuse.com. She vouched for her experiences with syracuse.com and The Post-Standard and urged on the Greensboro experiment. "The people in Greensboro have such talent — and such heart!" she wrote. "I wonder — is it something in the drinking water?"

Maybe blogging is in your water. To check them out, or to start your own, go to
www.syracuse.com/weblogs

— Brian Cubbison, assistant news editor

For more, plus links to sources mentioned here, see the News Tracker blog at
www.syracuse.com/newslogs/ newstracker/

* The soundtrack:From "Hometown Hero" by Mary Chapin Carpenter.

Copyright 2004 The Post-Standard

Press Think Comments on Rathergate

"If the anchorman is on the hook, you don't let him do the news from the hook position."
- Jay Rosen, speaking about Dan Rather

Press Think Comments on Rathergate

Don't miss Jay Rosen's Press Think coverage in the aftermath of the release of the CBS report on "Rathergate". I had recently said that Mary Mapes' superiors should have been held responsible. Mr. Rosen seems to agree, and gives his reasons. He says:

My other major reaction is that, like others, I am shocked that CBS News President Andrew Heyward still has his job. This is the reason.

As soon as the reporting of the Air National Guard story came under question, CBS had not one but two problems. The evidentiary problems with the story were one. The involvement--no, the immersion--of Dan Rather in the events thereafter was the other. Rather is the star of CBS News, the face of the brand, the personification of the news division. The anchor. Immediately it was clear that he had "bigfooted" the rest of the division and took over defense of a case in which he was accused. In effect, he was making policy for the network, as when he said that there is no investigation underway at CBS. There were huge dangers for Rather, for CBS News and for the network itself in allowing Rather to become so involved in defense of the story, which muted everyone else "under" Rather, leaving only Andrew Heyward, the boss, who did not act. He was the one who could have protected the brand and his friend, Dan Rather, by speaking truth to (star) power. The responsibility was his alone and he failed in the clutch.

See Mr. Rosen's Short Letter to Dan Rather.

"So I kind of resent your attitude toward your numerous critics who operate their own self-published sites on the Web. They were being more accurate than you were, much of the time. I don't speak for them, but I know my own archive." Plus: Lose the spokeswoman, Dan. Hire a blogger.

Not a bad idea, eh?

Democracy is a Means, Not an End

Democracy is a Means, Not an End
FEATURED COLUMN OF THE DAY:

Democracy is a Means, Not an End
by Michael Munger

Think carefully when reading this article by Michael Munger, Chair of Political Science at Duke University.

"When we help a developing nation design its government, we need unashamedly to advocate something like the U.S. model."

We may be totally disgusted (disappointed, at best) with the President with whom we are forced to endure for the next four years, but at the same time, we need to be careful not to abandon the hope of the PROMISE built into the American framework created by the Founders of this nation.

We can began to take matters into our own capable hands and become active in ensuring that the PROMISE is delivered, or we can watch the PROMISE of America die.

"We live together because social organization provides the efficient means of achieving our individual objectives and not because society offers us a means of arriving at some transcendental common bliss. Politics is a process of compromising our differences, and we differ as to desired collective objectives just as we do over baskets of ordinary consumption goods."

--James Buchanan, The Limits of Liberty

A good part of that PROMISE depends upon having a CONGRESS which fulfills its responsibilities to the American people. We are a people who must remember we have the Bill of Rights to protect us from the realistic tyranny that "liberal America" (I prefer to call us "Progressive America") is experiencing today.

If you are a liberal thinker and a Progressive in contemporary America, you are (sadly) in the (large-sized) minority. When you look at the big picture, a government poised to recognize pure democracy, in the United States today, is not something for which a truly liberal thinker would thirst.

Frankly, we have too many under-educated and misinformed people to trust the masses. If this sounds haughty to you, I ask you to consider that it is a reality. Americans have been systematically misinformed with false information (the most recent example is the WMD issue in Iraq). With an right-elitist mainstream media taking control of the radio and television airwaves, propaganda is allowed to reign, where a good and decent Civics/History education and an academic ability to discern truth from propaganda once took priority. Intellectualism, frighteningly, is a dirty word with today's American majority.

I do not believe, from his track record to date, that President Bush has ever carefully considered how his decided encouragement of a 'tyranny of the misinformed majority' has effected the nation he is leading. He has done tremendous damage to the spirit of civic unity of the people of America. Even after suffering the 9/11 attack, the U.S. is just as politically divided as in the Civil war era. Bush could never unite America because he has absolutely no spirit of civic compromise.

That said, we have a serious problem, in my opinion, with the Congress we have today. When I say "serious", I mean life-or-death for the PROMISE of democracy within the framework of government.

Those in the Legislative branch are not appropriately or adequately acting out the will of half the nation, fully knowing that the President exclusively embraces the (slim) majority in a nation so politically divided. 50% of the American culture and society is being politically ignored by a Congress which is too easily cowed by right-heavy popular media. They are also a Congress which has been virtually purchased, with political contributions, by corporations. ( No conspiracy theory - one look at the Open Secrets website will prove this to be true ). The fact that so many retiring Congresspeople move on to become high-paid lobbyists, perpetuating a corrupt system, takes the small amount of hope and trust that Progressive America has had in the "American PROMISE" and blows it away with an ill wind.

Chances are very good that there will be a need for Supreme Court nominations within the next four years. The odds that President Bush will offer any Judicial nominees who are from a moderate ideology is slim-to-none.

Progressives must understand that the Legislative branch is the only current hope for a change.

American Progressives tend to place all the blame for political isolation on the Bush administration, while neglecting to understand that our Congressional representatives have a duty to enact laws in accordance with the culture that actually exists in their nation. Does the Right have political capital to spend? Yes, thanks to dubious 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Does that require them to be duty-bound to the majority and to the wishes of the Executive, exclusively? Of course not! Yet, a wholesale political neglect of half a nation has taken place for the past four years, and I see little indication that we will soon see a change.

What has become of the American public's trust in their Federal government? We must ask ourselves: Is (small "d") democracy working against the liberal Progressive in America today?

Mr. Munger recognizes the serious problem facing today's America when he says:

"Policy makers must understand the twin anachronisms that complicate the failures of voting institutions and democratic ideologies in the U.S. There really are two distinct anachronisms, each of which requires immediate attention.

First, our technology of democracy is too old, and prone to abuse or at least distrust. We must bring voting technology into the 21st century, because we accept much less than is possible. We must immediately solve the problem of guaranteeing mechanisms for recording and counting votes that are beyond reproach. As the election of 2004 shows, we are nearly out of time.

Second, our ideology of democracy, our notion of what democracy can accomplish, is anachronistic also. But in this case, the anachronism is not out of the past, but out of a utopian science fiction future. So, we must also take voting ideology back to the 19th century, where it belongs. We have come to expect much more than is possible from democracy, and democratic institutions."

Headlines

Headlines

Aljazeera.net - A US National Guard unit has defied a Pentagon request that sought to stop television news crews filming six flag-draped soldiers' coffins arriving in Louisiana.

ColumbiaTribune.com - "Louisiana community mourns fallen soldiers" Quote: In civilian life, Bradley Bergeron was an air conditioning technician. Kurt Comeaux was a probation officer, and Warren Murphy was a tugboat deckhand. You could find Christopher Babin behind the wheel of his truck. Armand Frickey and Huey Fassbender III worked in restaurants. Each of the six also had another job: Members of the Louisiana National Guard.

MediaMonitors.com - "Church at war? :: An Overview of the Religious Front" by Abid Ullah Jan, the author of "A War on Islam?" Quotes: "Everyone who loves peace on this earth earnestly hopes that this is a war for oil but reports that emerged from left and right suggest otherwise..[..]..On the media front, ABC, CNN, NBC, etc. are as much for the global domination as Fox News. The New York Times, Washington Post and LA Times are as radical in proposing solutions as the Washington Times. Friedman and Safire are as radical as Daniel Pipes.."

TLS - Tsunami myths by Wendy Doniger, Quote: "Philosophy doesn’t do the trick for most people; Leibniz failed, Voltaire failed, and in India, too, the myths pick up the pieces where philosophy throws up its hands. The great myths may help survivors to think through this unthinkable catastrophe, to make a kind of sense by analogy, to say, “This is not unlike anything else; this is like that. This tsunami is like the doomsday flood."

Democrats: How Long Before We Proudly Admit We’re a Party of Progress?

Democrats: How Long Before We Proudly Admit We’re a Party of Progress?
by Jude Nagurney Camwell
From: American Street January 13, 2005

I wonder how long the Democratic party thinks Progressive Americans can hold out on promises which never come close to realistically materializing? How long could any person dedicated to the principles of their party hold out hope for "the future" while core principles of the party are trampled upon and trivialized by both major political parties?

"[Tim] Roemer as head of the DNC sounds like a desperate effort to figure out which way the wind is blowing, long after the 2004 wind blew the Democrats away."

Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi is clearly not a proponent of Roemer's campaign for DNC chair. She views the current "win-at-all-costs" philosophic thrust of the DNC as nothing more than institutionalizing John Kerry's losing campaign strategy:

"When it comes to controversial issues, duck. Stand for everything and nothing. Whenever possible, avoid direct answers on issues like war and abortion."

Where the party's half-assed embrace of true values and principles may gain few firmly-entrenched Bush voters into the 'big tent', it may cause an elephant-sized hole in the rear of the tent where progressives have run from the circus of vague complacency that the Democratic party has become.

Happy Birthday, Anonymoses!

Happy Birthday, Anonymoses!


Blogstud

To my guest blogger and American Street colleague Anonymoses HyperLincoln, a very happy birthday!

The Best Chance to Expose GOP Noise Machine

The best chance we have ever had to hold the Republican Noise Machine up to public scrutiny

Do you think the volume of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk is far too loud? Do you think the heavy weight the right wing talk radio circuit is allowed to throw upon our political system and mainstream media is undeserved?

Well, this is your chance, bloggers!

Do your jobs.

Get this story going.

You know Armstrong Williams was not an isolated incident!

Dem Club in CA Writes to DNC

Dem Club in CA Writes to DNC

Take a look at this letter from the Democratic Club of Central Orange County (CA) to the DNC. See if you identify with any of their thoughts.

You Tell 'Em, Teddy

You Tell 'Em, Teddy

"We cannot become Republican clones. If we do, we will lose again, and deserve to lose. As I have said on other occasions, the last thing this country needs is two Republican parties.

"If the White House's idea of bipartisanship is that we have to buy whatever partisan ideas they send us, we're not interested."

"I do not retreat from the view that Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam. The administration turned away from pursuing Osama bin Laden and made the catastrophic choice instead to bog down American forces in an endless quagmire in Iraq."


- Sen. Ted Kennedy, National Press Club speech (Reuters)

See Boston Globe story

Adam Nagourney's article/review of the speech

Nation's Political Elite Live in a Bubble

"Do not go gentle into that good night; Blog, blog against the dying of the light."
- Blogger Cathie from Canada

Nation's Political Elite Live in a Bubble
Progressive Bloggers Needed Now More Than Ever

Progressive bloggers understand that America's political elite live in a world all their own. Unfortunately, opinion leaders lay their 'bubble-speak' on the American public 24/7 on cable news networks and the public is believing in their bubblemush just as much as they believe that "reality TV" is actually "reality".

Dave Johnson of Seeing the Forest writes:

" America's political elite live in an information bubble. It's like the Right has set up a "conventional wisdom machine" that is targeted at opinion leaders, legislators, their staffs and the circles they associate with. Heavily-funded right-wing organizations work to infiltrate their message into the information that these "leadership elite" receive. They achieve this in many ways. One way, of course, is that they have their very own bought-and-paid-for media outlets like Fox, the Washington Times, and most of AM radio. But they also have worked to get the more mainstream opinion leaders under their influence. Influential columnists and reporters receive large speaking fees from corporations and trade associations. They get free "retreats" where they learn about "market solutions." And everyone is certainly afraid of the shame and humiliation should they become the target of the character assassination machine. That acts as a powerful incentive to toe the line and reject "marginalized" information sources -- people like Scott Ritter and Michael Moore, constituents complaining about election fraud, and Progressive online news sources or blogs (those terrible things that leaked the exit polls) -- and stick to "credible" sources.

The Armstrong Williams scandal shows us the amounts of money involved in, and the "reach" of this effort. I mean, Armstrong Williams? If Armstrong Williams is getting $240,000 directly from the government, imagine what mainstream opinion leaders are getting from the big-money corporate trade associations, right-wing think tanks, etc. -- over (speaking fees, travel, gifts) and under (bribes, like Williams got) the table..[.] "

* [Where's 'the drumbeat' on Armstrong Williams, by the way? David Corn has plenty of insightful commentary about Williams this week. ]

[.]" ..The amounts of money the Right is putting into their outside-the-election-process propaganda effort -- over $300 million a year just for the think tank/advocacy communication infrastructure -- ought to warn us that most of the traditional channels through which "the leadership elite" get their info are likely targets of this effort.

Marginalizing sources like blogs is one way to scare Washington types away from the info they contain. Reading blogs is a way to break through that bubble."

To All Progressive Bloggers -

We need you more than ever. Keep it real. Keep truth alive. America needs you if you care about truth. We've already seen most truth bled from the mainstream vein of journalism.

Our democracy's future rests with you, Progressive Bloggers. This is no easy task, and Heaven knows it's not a thankful or economically lucrative job. But when you think about the big-time cable journalists raking in their far-more-than-decent payday while touting their cherry-picked headlines (I just saw one about Kim Jong-il's hair on MSNBC complete with a playing of the song "God Bless The USA") and giving the political elite endless (hot)-air time, and then you look at the measly little blogger expecting no reward and loving her country and the world's people enough to care to be here working day in/day out - -

Well, you tell ME who has more stock in having "an agenda". Look in the mirror. See the ones who really care, knowing the news and views they relay bring them no reward. We do what we do all day long, and will get up tomorrow and do it all over again.

We have an endless love affair with truth and compassion.

Progressive Bloggers, I'm grateful to each one of you.

Howard Dean: "I'm Running"

Howard Dean: "I'm Running"

"There is only one party that speaks to the hopes and dreams of all Americans. It is the party you have already given so much to. It is the Democratic Party.

We can win elections only by standing up for what we believe."

LINK

Jesus Loves a 4-Door

"..Jesus said to "feed my lambs, tend my sheep, and his sheep were the poor, the downtrodden, the poor in spirit. That's pretty challenging stuff.

I don't think progressives can ever win elections in this country without appealing to moral values and presenting our own. We want people to step up to the problems of the world.

We need to step up first.."

Jesus Loves a 4-Door

I found this article by Bob Geary at the Independent Weekly/Durham, NC, to be a good and sane way to begin to speak about progressive faith-based values.

"...when I listen to Bill O'Reilly, the Rev. James Dobson or any of a number of other conservative haranguers who've shoved themselves into our daily lives, I'm reminded how incongruous it is that a loving God would repose her moral values in folks who rant and rave about the people they hate and how stupid they are.

If we on the progressive side are going to reclaim the moral-values mantle, and I think we must, ranting and raving is not the way to do it. So I won't rant, at least from this point on. Good Catholic boy that I still am at some level, I think God comes to us with a smile and his hand out to help, even if--especially if--there's no rational reason why he'd want to help you.

I see a God at work at every execution, when People of Faith Against the Death Penalty come to Central Prison to plead for a life to be spared and stay into the early morning hours to pray for a soul when it isn't."

Geary provides a list of ministries in his area which are helping people in a very tangible way.

2004 In Review at Alt.Weeklies

2004 In Review at Alt.Weeklies

Catch the 2004 Best-Of Lists HERE.

-- I particularly enjoyed Geov Parrish's top overhyped and underreported stories.

-- Newcity Chicago's Top 5 of Everything That Matters is interesting. Ross McElwee's "Bright Leaves" made the Top 5 Documentary list.

-- Artvoice's Top 20 Albums of 2004

-- Seattle Weekly's Best Music Lists

-- Independent Weekly Durham, N.C. Best-Of Lists

I notice a group called "The Thermals" are on many of these Best-Of lists. I guess I'll have to check them out to see what I'm missing.

CBS Breakdown: How it Happened

CBS Breakdown: How it Happened
by Al Tompkins
Poynter Online

The investigation into what went wrong at CBS' "60 Minutes Wednesday" paints a portrait of an intensely competitive producer who feared being scooped...

I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am with CBS News on the Rathergate incident. I wonder how many voters they may have turned off (and away from John Kerry) because of their impulsive reporting. Unfortunately, in the minds of many incompletely-informed Americans, a lack of credibility on the part of the CBS news network likely translated to a lack of trust in the party that was opposing Bush in the election. [Joe Lockhart's involvement here surely didn't help].

"If there was a journalistic crime committed here, it was not by me." - Mary Mapes

The sad part was this: The story about Bush, the way he was helped to get out of dangerous duty (in-country/Viet Nam), and his absence during his stateside tour of duty was, in essence, quite true and Bush supporters know it to this day. CBS, through deceit, whether intentional or unintentional, took the focus off the REAL story and, through their journalistic irresponsibility, made the story about THEM.

Mary Mapes most likely deserved to get the boot. But read Al Tompkin's series at Poynter Online. Mapes' superiors should have gotten the boot, too. They all belong together in the Armstrong Williams/Jayson Blair/Judith Miller/Bob Novak shitebucket of journalism. The way I see it, they may have played a key role in the Democrats' electoral loss on November 2.

I'd like to reiterate something I've said before: The bloggers DO deserve much credit for breaking the story. And quite a story it was. But the way our mainstream media works is such that the story was allowed to run away with the material truth behind Bush's desertion of duty in the National Guard. The bloggers who broke the story were partisans who rightly jumped on the story. Some of them wonder why "the left" is fairly silent on the matter today. The answer is that the partisan bloggers succeeded in doing their job and the matter was over on November 2, when Bush won the election. Why are they surprised that this story doen't garner quite the same attention now than it did when the heart and soul of America was at risk? The little deserter won his shady election and 1 in 5 Americans believe the election was won by fraudulent means. Now THERE'S something for bloggers to be talking about!

SEE MODERATE VOICE for Joe's RATHERGATE post

________________

"The long awaited report of CBS's investigation of the 60 Minutes/Dan Rather report on President Bush's National Guard service record has arrived, bringing with it an interesting rational for their use of fraudulent documents. "Myopic Zeal". This bland sounding excuse for terrible behavior on the part of a national media outlet just got four 60 Minutes staffers fired.."

--Diane at Respublica

My previous Rathergate-related posts: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE

Meanwhile, sloppy liars extraordinaire continue fibbing shamelessly, mockingly, and regularly at FOX News.

Is the U.S. Organizing Salvador-Style Death Squads in Iraq?

Is the U.S. Organizing Salvador-Style Death Squads in Iraq?
Democracy Now!
Monday, January 10th, 2005

Read Transcript - Amy Goodman interviews journalist/activist Allan Nairn

Listen to Segment

Excerpt:

ALLAN NAIRN: "..I did in a closed session and was questioned by dozens of the Intelligence Committee staff for about three or four hours about what the U.S. had done to back and create the Salvadoran death squads. Now this was a bit curious since they were the ones, who had security clearance, who had access to the C.I.A. and Pentagon files. They were the ones who worked with them, indeed funded them, but they were asking me, I think in part maybe to try to find out how much I knew. What I knew is what I printed in the magazine, but I was trying to spur them to investigate. And they did. They then launched an investigation where they say they examined more than a million internal documents. They produced a 400 page report, which was heavily classified. They told me that only two copies of the report were produced, one was in a sealed room that only -- kept on Capitol Hill, which only the Senators on the committee could read, and another at the C.I.A. headquarters. A public report was released, which said nothing. Some of the Senators told me that the classified - they told me a little bit about the classified report. They said they had verified that in fact, yes, the U.S. had set up these death squads in Salvador and also that U.S. personnel had sometimes been on the premises during torture sessions and had supplied questions for the prisoners being tortured.

AMY GOODMAN: So, this was back in 1984 and 1985 when this was coming back -- coming out. Did it surprise you that the Pentagon is actually calling this proposal, according to Newsweek, to train -- it's not clear if it's C.I.A.-backed, Pentagon-backed assassination and kidnapping squads in El Salvador, that they're calling it the Salvador option. Have they ever acknowledged it publicly?

ALLAN NAIRN: Well, it sounds … No, they never acknowledged it publicly. That Senate report was classified. But now it sounds like in an offhand way, it's almost -- it sounds as if they're almost talking about it even in a -- almost a joking way, oh yeah, we'll do to them what they did to Salvador. It's an astonishing admission, but I think now that this is on the record, immediately, the Senate Intelligence Committee should release their classified report of 1984, and there should be a demand that the Pentagon and the C.I.A. release all internal documents they have about the Salvador option, and similar activities in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Salvador, also - there are dozens of other countries in the world where this has happened.

Poem for Mothers / Tsunami Charity for Women

Poem for Mothers / Tsunami Charity for Women


AP photo

When she awoke he was not there
She recalls a man with a mask shaking her
To a consciousness she'd wished she'd not regained

For all the pain that followed when memory fell
back in, like the flood that swept him away
from her desperate arms, his cries drowned by the sea

If she'd only been carried along with him
She would not be left here, cursed with knowing
she'll leave without his body, miraculously saved, alone.


--Jude Nagurney Camwell

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



There are many agencies ready and waiting to take donations for tsunami relief. I have posted a list of these agencies, with links, at my personal website. Sri Lanka and Indonesia are likely to have the greatest need for humanitarian support. In Sri Lanka alone, over one million people have been displaced. Among them are tens of thousands of pregnant and nursing women, who are especially susceptible to waterborne diseases and require emergency medical attention and trauma counseling.

I want to make readers aware of one of those agencies, which is called MADRE.
MADRE is an international women’s human rights organization that works in partnership with women’s community-based groups in conflict areas worldwide. MADRE specializes in assisting displaced women and families, offering them crucial trauma counseling which will help them cope with the deaths of their children and other loved ones, gradually heal from their trauma, and begin to rebuild.

MADRE has chosen to partner with INFORM. They are part of a regional network of women’s groups that can reach out immediately to many different communities at at time such as this.

MADRE can be found on several websites (including Charity Navigator and GuideStar) that rate the business practices and overall effectiveness of charities.

Donation information can be found HERE.

DNC Chair Election Buzz / Emanual Elected DCCC Head

DNC Chair Election Info /
Emanual Elected DCCC Head/
A Good Dem Committee Website

How is the DNC Chair Elected?

SEE HERE.

Here is a background on what happened down South with the interviews of
some of the candidates for the Chair.

Wnat to see an example of a gem of a local democratic committee web site?

Check it out.

I've been hearing a buzz amongst many grassroots Dems - -

"Joe Trippi for DNC Chair!"

Don't confuse DNC and DCCC positions. Rahm Emanuel hasn't been elected as the DNC Chairman, but was chosen as the "DCCC Chairman", which means he will spearhead democratic races for the House of
Represenatives.

SEE THE NYT



* Thanks to Vicki Trojnor, Fingerlakes DFA, for leading me to all the above-mentioned information.

___________________________

Speaking of DFA, at Blog for America, Greg Greene has a great post. It deserves repeating here:

Irony Comes Supersized These Days ...

And now, the quote of the day — thanks to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article about a Republican suit to throw out the result of the Washington gubernatorial election:

"... Harry Korrell, the lawyer for the GOP, said: 'If you can't tell who won an election because of errors and mistakes, you have to rerun it.'"

Wait a sec — really?!!

Will Future Journalism Prompt Govt Reps to be More Accountable?

Will Future Journalism Prompt Government Representatives to be More Accountable to the People?

Will Pitt lays out the names of those he considers heroes in last week's objection to certification of the Ohio Electors.

While I highly respect Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. John Conyers for doing their duty [I consider them to be honest and forthright in light of standing up to such an ugly and intimidating Congress], I expected far more from the rest of our Democratic representatives. I couldn't be more disappointed with Senator Kerry himself for disappearing on "objection day". I realize he has political aspirations and is aiming for the next Presidential run. Good for him, but remember this: Politics stopped him from defending the American people's right to vote and expect the vote to be fairly and accountably counted. I'm sorry. That's not "okay" with me. Think back, if you will. It was not moral sense or common sense that led Kerry and many other Democrats to vote "yes" on the Iraq resolution in 2002. Politics was the prime consideration they offered when they gave Bush authorization to unleash immoral hell upon Iraq's people, writing a death scenario for over 1000 Americans and, according to a Lancet report, over 100,000 Iraqi civilians. God forgive them, I don't think they knew where their political stupidity was leading them or our nation. How can we reward any of these people for their utter stupidity?

Lately I hear many of them rationalizing about the acceptability of torturing other human beings, as if they were not human at all, but some form of alien called "terrorists". In their rush to accept the wrong man for attorney general, dopes in Congress waver on the respect for the rule of law and call a torturer their "buddy". Call it politics. Call it whatever you want. Our nation is totally messed up because of a lot of fantasy-hugging lunatics are making a circus of our government and ignoring the base truth behind the sheer will of the people. The Founding Fathers would line them up and shoot every one of them for their dedication to fantasy and their irresponsible stupidity. The only thing I can tell you, based upon knowledge of history, is that history will surely see that we, the people who allegedly have a say in our own government, will pay for that stupidity in ways we probably would never suspect. We are responsible for letting these government representatives run roughshod over sanity itself.

Will Pitt is right, though. The big heroes in this story are the individual citizens who stood up in the face of so many lies and demanded the truth. The force of the people's demands for accountable and reality-based government must become more concentrated and much stronger. My hope for 2005 is for a strong Blogger Corps to create that force. [Rebecca MacKinnon gets credit for this great idea]. I believe it is only citizen-bloggers can save our mainstream media from falling into a permanent state of fantasy-following. Rather than working against one another, my hope is that mainstream media will work directly with the blogging world in order to produce honest stories in the full scope of the American experience.

I recommend Jay Rosen's 2004 Top Ten ideas to get an an idea as to where he believes journalism is going.

1. The Legacy Media.
2. He said, she said, we said.
3. What the printing press did to the Catholic Church the blogging press does to the media church.
4. Open Source Journalism, or: "My readers know more than I do." (Dec. 28)
5. News turns from a lecture to a conversation. (Dec. 29)
6. "Content will be more important than its container." (Jan. 1)
7. "What once was good--or good enough--no longer is." (Jan.4)
8. "The victory of affinity over geography."
9. The Pajamahadeen.
10. The Reality-Based Community.

I look forward to seeing what comes from the Blogging, Journalism, and Credibility Conference: Battleground and Common Ground, to be held January 21st and 22nd, 2005 at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

To be continued..

Headlines

Headlines

Armstrong Williams Column Axed by TMS

Shill for Bush adminstration propaganda. I'll bet he's not the only unethical creep in media who's accepted these types of bribes. He was simply found out.

Groups Protest Ouster of Veterans' Committee Chief

He was too good to Vets. Wouldn't toe the GOP line. Refused to screw the vets.

Omidyar.net

Omidyar.net

Welcome to omidyar.net

We believe every individual has the power to make a difference.
We exist for one single purpose:
So that more and more people discover their own
power to make good things happen.

If my readers do not yet know about the open source commons known as Omidyar.net, I strongly recommend you join and participate, based upon your interests and desire to connect with others of like mind.

The Rough Guide To A Better World

The Rough Guide To A Better World

THE ROUGH GUIDE TO A BETTER WORLD is the essential guide to how the world can be a better place for everyone. Poverty in the developing world is well known, but less publicised are the efforts of those who combat hunger, disease and illiteracy. This guide shows how you can get involved. It covers:

THE ISSUES: How prosperity in poorer countries benefits us all; how development works; and why the bad news is only half the story.

THE CHALLENGES: The nature and scale of the problems faced by developing countries.

FIVE WAYS TO CHANGE THE WORLD: How activism, ethical shopping and tourism, giving to charity and volunteer work can all help.

THE INFORMATION: Lets you know what to do - from a change in shopping habits to a change of job. It tells you the most effective ways of contributing and gives contacts for relevant organisations.

Click on the photo to order book - it's free (although there is a shipping charge).

You can read it online.

John Boehner Claims Voter Concerns Not Serious

Claims Voter Concerns Not Serious

I just saw Ohio Republican Congressman John Boehner call the American electoral problems NON-SERIOUS.
Seriously. How dare he?
There is political rhetoric -- and there is Constitutional blasphemy.
Calling concern over voter's rights NOT a serious issue is assuredly American-style blasphemy.
Boehner said he wanted to get back to "the serious work of the people", that we should "get over it" [get over asking questions about the possibility of the Ohio swindle] and then he commenced to try to shame the Democrats who were brave enough to stand up to these unaccountable fascists.

Tom Delay called the move by Democrats "a shame", but said it was a serious matter. I agree--it is a shame. But not the kind of shame he'd like to showcase. It is a shame upon him and the likes of him for calling good and decent Americans like me "X-files"-paranoid freaks. Tom Delay is dead wrong, and is so heavily addicted to his power that he's lost touch with the reality of the people who own this nation. He is our servant, not our moral guru. He's calling the challenge a threat to American ideals. Guess what? The little right-wing power-drunk has got it perfectly backwards. He's a colossal shame himself. This was a GOOD debate to be having TODAY. It was of great symbolic importance. His "leadership" has brought his House to this point. I hope he's proud of himself. He is no healer. He never will be.

This isn't an effort to scrape away at the legitimacy of the Bush presidency. This is to open up a wide debate about what we have REASON to suspect about Ohio's electoral shenanigans. They cannot get away with it. We cannot blink or shame it away.

President Bush should join in the concern and should support his own American people, not his partisan goons. Let's see what he's worth - let's hear President Bush speak to us on this issue in a serious way.

To Congressman John Boehner, this is the most serious issue facing free people of America. You are accountable.

There will be no "healing" until the partisan power of the Republicans in the Oval Office, House, and Senate will ADMIT there is an issue to BE healed.

GET REAL!


You can see which House Reps and Senators stood and spoke today at Will Pitt's blog. Thanks, Will!

Liberal Hawks: Ideological Deserters?

Liberal Hawks: Ideological Deserters?

Reason Online editor Tim Cavanaugh calls "liberal hawks" a bunch of 'ideological deserters' for publically skating on Bush now that the Iraq war is a security failure.

Let's back up.

How soon we forget!

I think we should all be afraid and dismayed that ANYONE, from the House to the Senate to Bush himself, authorized this pre-emptive, immoral war to begin with, especially since there were outright lies told to the American public to get us there.

They are truth deserters.
They are morality deserters.
They are honesty deserters.
They abandoned their duty and lost the trust of the American people.
Thousands upon thousands have died for each and every one of their lies and authorizations.

I'm not being facetious here.

I won't forgive any of them anytime soon.

Stick THAT in your REASON pipe - and smoke it!