Bush and Syria / We don't want another war

Bush and Syria
Say It Now, Citizens: We Don't Want Another Endless War

With the GOP touting the Iraq elections as the one and only reason for an ideological paradigm shift in the Middle East, one has to sit back and watch, cheer for those who desire their own respective brand of freedom and democracy, yet with the clearest eye, understand they don't all want the same thing. Most of the time, a coup brings about a lot more civil division than the more ignorant among us would imagine. Hizbollah's presence and support would remain in Lebanon, even with Syria's dearture. Popular agitation against Syria’s grip on the country following the killing of Rafiq Hariri may plunge Lebanon into a new civil war. There will likely be an increase in terror, as we saw in Iraq. With a swift evacuation of Syrian presence will come more civil struggle for Lebanon. Who will be there to take Syria's place? Who will keep the peace? Will the world cooperate with us this time or will Bush be unsuccessful in gaining their trust? Do you trust Bush?

I heard President Bush say something irresponsible, overly idealistic, and bordering upon theological fervor in front of a Maryland crowd yesterday.

'You get your troops and your secret services out of Lebanon so that good democracy has a chance to flourish'...The world is speaking with one voice when it comes to making sure that democracy has a chance to flourish in Lebanon and throughout the greater Middle East... Freedom is on the march. It's a profound period of time. So I look forward to continuing to work with friends and allies to advance freedom -- not America's freedom, but universal freedom, the kind of freedom granted by a Higher Being."

We know the world has not spoken with one voice on the Iraq war. There's been a lack of cooperation and agreement due to a leader who has never respected the opinions of international leaders, and instead has only made the 'necessary' (empty) political gestures and then has run roughshod over world leaders. It has been a painful and embarrassing sight to see for millions of American citizens.

We have no idea what "good" democracy means. It could mean anything, depending on the person who is saying "good" at the time. "Good" is purely subjective and has no place in a political speech about democracy. If you asked 50 different Americans citizens if they thought we had "good" democracy in this country, some would say 'yes', some would say 'no', and some would stare at you with blank looks on their faces.

Invoking the name of any God is inappropriate when you are threatening a Muslim nation with whom you have a quarrel (Syria) regarding the nation they are occupying, which has a Christian majority (Lebanon). It's all about perception. Americans aren't the only ones listening to Bush's words. Those words sound far too close to the threat of Holy War.

I read an interesting blog today, where Lina Maria said:

Looking at the hordes of Iraqis going to the polls, risking death, to cast their votes, is an inspiring message, regardless of hard feelings for Bush and his endeavor.

I would imagine this is true, to some extent, although the people of Lebanon probably see what we see, which are hundreds of bloodied half-blown up bodies littering the streets of Iraq, even a month past the elections.

U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state David Satterfield, who just returned from three days in Beirut, has told legislators on Capitol Hill that "events were moving at a rapid pace". He also said "What is needed now is not rhetoric, whether private or public. What is needed is actions on the ground."

The Right-wing mouth machine spits out McCarthyite accusations about anyone who would question the fine details of our dissent about what we suspect about the true intentions of our own leaders. I suspect we're gearing up for war with Syria. I smell the stench of saliva dripping from the rabid mouths of Neocons and I realize that President Bush is their best representative, because every time I see an editorial by a Neocon, Bush is repeating their lines the very next day.

Max Boot is giddy.

Ex-CIA officer Michael Scheuer has a more sobering assessment, deducing that our post-9/11 choices "are not war and peace, but war and endless war."

Somewhere between lies a caution that we must use in our approach and with which we must measure our country's options for military involvement. The press is telling you that France is in solidarity with the US for Syria to leave Lebanon, but how far would France go? I would guess they would back away from war, and I'm hearing the sabres rattling in Washington D.C. It's "deja vu all over again", as John Fogerty has recently sung.

We need to speak out on this issue now, before it's too late. We should say it now, that we do not support a unilateral move (in our name) to start war with Syria over this issue.

Robert F Kennedy, in one of his campaign speeches at Weber State College in 1968, said that the spirit of the young does not accept the failures of today as a reason for the cruelties of tomorrow and that men of good will, working together, can grasp the future and mold it to that good will.

When did we forget that lesson?

RFK's words:

"How ironic it is..that at a time when our own example spreads the seeds of liberty abroad and at home, there are some who see danger in the exercise of that liberty here in America, where it all began. They decry the growth of dissent: they urge that "the time has come to unite..to support our leaders, our government." And they ask us, "Who's side are you on?" I think the time has come to answer that question...I am on the side of those who seek an end to this war, not by unilateral American withdrawl -
nor by further fruitless escalation..."

_____________________


Juan Cole has an informative posting on Lebanon/Syria.

Excerpt:

I don't think Bush had anything much to do with the current Lebanese national movement except at the margins. Walid Jumblatt, the embittered son of Kamal whom the Syrians defeated in 1976 at the American behest, said he was inspired by the fall of Saddam. But this sort of statement from a Druze warlord strikes me as just as manipulative as the news conferences of Ahmad Chalabi, who is also inspired by Saddam's fall. Jumblatt has a long history of anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiment that makes his sudden conversion to neoconism likely a mirage. He has wanted the Syrians back out since 1976, so it is not plausible that anything changed for him in 2003.

The Lebanese are still not entirely united on a Syrian military withdrawal. Supporters of outgoing PM Omar Karami rioted in Tripoli on Monday. Hizbullah leader Hasan Nasrallah still supports the Syrians and has expressed anxieties about the Hariri assassination and its aftermath leading to renewed civil war (an argument for continued Syrian military presence).

Much of the authoritarianism in the Middle East since 1945 had actually been supported (sometimes imposed) by Washington for Cold War purposes. The good thing about the democratization rhetoric coming out of Washington (which apparently does not apply to Algeria, Tunisia, Jordan, Yemen, Uzbekistan, and other allies against al-Qaeda) is that it encourages the people to believe they have an ally if they take to the streets to end the legacy of authoritarianism.

But Washington will be sorely tested if Islamist crowds gather in Tunis to demand the ouster of Bin Ali. We'll see then how serious the rhetoric about people power really is.

See Mahablog for a related entry

Liberals: Jim Gibbons thinks YOU should be a human shield

Liberals: Jim Gibbons thinks YOU should be a human shield


Smiling through public and unrestrained hatred and disrespect for American citizens. Are you offended yet?

According to this Raw Story, this Congressman, Jim Gibbons, thinks that citizens like you and I should be used as targets for terror. He's unapologetic. He hates you for who you are. I remember what happened to government targets of hatred in Nazi Germany. Why don't Red-staters and Limbaugh lovers remember that?

John Edwards Named Visiting Fellow at Harvard

John Edwards Named Visiting Fellow at Harvard

The Charlotte Observer is reporting that former Senator John Edwards

"..has been named a visiting fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. On April 13 he'll speak to students and help teach a course on public policy."

The Harvard Crimson story is HERE.

1500

1500

Fried Corn

Fried Corn



Now for something completely different.
I laughed while reading Pam's experience with (and recipe for) Fried Corn.


Pam also provides a recipe for Fried green tomatoes.



Mmmm. I'm getting hungry.

Pam's site is called Southern Kitchen and if you love southern-style food, I think you'll want to pay her a visit.

Paul Krugman on Social Security

Paul Krugman on Social Security

If you hear or read nothing else on the Social Security issue, listen to THIS. (From NPR's Fresh Air)

Gunner Palace

Gunner Palace

A new film by Michael Tucker is due in theaters across America this weekend. Gunner Palace reveals the complex realities of the situation in Iraq not seen on the nightly news. It's told first-hand by our troops.
Michael Tucker lived with 2/3 Field Artillery, a.k.a. "The Gunners" for two months, and has captured the lives and humanity of these soldiers whose barracks are the bombed-out pleasure palace of Uday Hussein (nicknamed Gunner Palace) in Baghdad.

At the Gunner Palace website, you can see the "Baghdad Diaries", which
was compiled by Gunner Palace directors Mike Tucker and Petra Epperlein and consists of notes from the production of the film in 2003-2004 and emails sent from 2/3 FA soldiers during their 410 day deployment to Najaf and Baghdad.

A Reuters news item lays out one of the scenes from the film:

"The funniest moment of the Iraq war documentary "Gunner Palace" -- at least to the people who are in it -- just may be when a U.S. Army artilleryman shows off his Humvee's scrap-metal armor.

"This armor was made in Iraq. It's high-quality metal," the gunner says, looking into the camera's lens through tinted glasses. "And it will probably slow down the shrapnel so that it stays in your body instead of going straight through."

With an affectionate tap on the vehicle's roof, he turns to a group of fellow soldiers, who are literally rolling on the ground in helpless laughter. This is plainly the best joke they've heard in a long time."

The Rolling Stone story is here. (click on photo)

The Village Voice says that the documentary will "bring a deeper understanding of the experience of soldiers" in Iraq.

Frank Rich weighed in on the film in late January, in a must-read article in which he compared the Bush administration's 4-day inaugural "salute" to our troops to the Fifth-Avenue swells' use of "forgotten men" in the 1936 Hollywood classic film "My Man Godfrey". Rich said:

It says much about the distance between the homefront and these troops that the Motion Picture Association of America this month blithely awarded "Gunner Palace" an "R" rating - which means that it cannot be seen without parental supervision by 16-year-old high-school kids soon to be targeted by military recruiters.

Rich believes this film will raise the American public's awareness of what the troops are actually facing, and that it may be an impetus for citizens to take action to call upon their Representatives for the trooops to come home.

In Washington the gears are shifting to all Social Security all the time. A fast growing plurality of the country wants troops withdrawn from Iraq, but being so detached from the war they are unlikely to make a stink about it. The civilian leaders who conceived this adventure are clever at maintaining the false illusion that the end is just around the corner anyway.

Last June my colleague David Neiwert at the group blog American Street wrote:

Among the soldiers Tucker interviewed and spent time with was a young man from Kent, a middle-class suburb south of Seattle, named Ben Colgan. A few weeks later, Colgan — whose parents are antiwar activists — was killed.

Tucker sent me an e-mail describing the film and hoping my readers give it a look:

“As we are out of the major festival cycle, we decided to go ahead and post a few clips from the film — scenes that we think are definitive not only of what we have captured, but of the experience. In one scene a soldier does a freestyle rap; in another, a young soldier plays a very electric version of the Star Spangled Banner on the roof of Uday Hussein’s Palace.

After Abu Ghraib, after the massive amounts of attention paid to M. Moore’s F911, it is our hope that this film is at the center of an American conversation, about who we are and where we are going. We hope to find a middle ground, not division. That’s happening right now. On blogs ranging from antiwar.org to military sites, people are embracing the story and the reaction has been, more often than not, surprising.

That’s where this ties into the culture war. Over the last week, as people write me — I just received a letter from the mother of a soldier who died in the unit I filmed — I sense exhaustion. America has been at war for almost three years. Much soul searching is going on, but there is also much rabid commentary. Ann Coulter thinks Iraq is a raging success; Michael Moore thinks the insurgents are “the Minutemen”. To both, I suggest a soft-skinned HUMVEE ride through Baghdad. America is ailing, I hope there is a way to bring the war to the table of a constructive discussion free from stubborn rhetoric.”

Elizabeth Edwards Interview

Elizabeth Edwards Interview

Elizabeth Edwards, recently diagnosed with breast cancer, has completed her last chemotherapy treatment. Mrs. Edwards is focused on getting better and making the move back home to North Carolina, where her husband, Senator John Edwards, will be heading up a new Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Go to this link for an interview with Mrs. Edwards at Campus Progress (a CAP project).

I wish Mrs. Edwards a speedy return to robust health.

Blogblocks & Groupblog Synergy

Blogblocks & Groupblog Synergy

Anonymoses speaks of the potential for blogggers to influence media and policy with basic structure and a common goal.

Black Republicans Attack Howard Dean

Black Republicans Attack Howard Dean

Republicans are very afraid of Howard Dean (as I've blogged about for years now), and it's showing now more than ever. American Street writer Hesiod asks:

I wonder what Medgar would think of his brother enabling and giving cover to politicians who routinely play the race card to get elected, or to advance an ideological agenda?

OPINION: The Making Of A 9/11 Republican

"To my astonishment, I found that the only voices that seemed to me to be intellectually and morally honest were on the right. Suddenly, I was listening to conservative talk-show hosts on the radio and reading conservative columnists, and they were making sense."

OPINION: The Making Of A 9/11 Republican

I read what I believed to be a heartful and honest essay wriiten by Cinnamon Stillwell and published in the SF Chronicle today.

As I said to Cinnamon in an e-mail, I think any Democratic strategist would learn a lot from reading her words.

Here is my e-mail to Cinnamon:

Hi, Cinnamon,

I wanted you to know that I read your column and decided to link it to my blog today.
I'm a committed Democrat, but it's a very big tent and I realize we don't all think alike.

Above any party, I try to place my priority on being American and I try to look for what all of us have in common, because a vigilance toward our common values and rights are the only places where we will find success in keeping America strong.

Wars with other nations do us no good when we fall apart in bitter division at home.

I was an Independent voter until 1994, when I realized that the balance of this nation was shifting to the right and the dirtiest tactics I'd ever witnessed were being employed by the American Right to systematically dismantle liberalism and social democracy. This, to me, was not indicative of a true American spirit. We all need to respect freedom of conscience and the Right is effectively silencing many diverse voices through the manipulation of market forces. It goes on today, worse than ever. Frankly, I am deeply concerned.

I understand many of your concerns, although there are many points with which I may not agree. We all come from different sets of experience. I think that you described yours beautifully. It seems as if your brush with the extreme left, along with the shock of 9/11 drove you to the Republican party.

Where I come from, most Jewish Americans are Democrats. There is never an excuse for anti-Semitism or for hating anyone for who they are as human beings. Democratic Americans share that value.

I'm from the state that was attacked on that fateful Tuesday morning. I walked the streets of New York and saw the aftermath of the 9/11 attack. My brother saw the planes strike the
towers from his office window. He ran from the burning towers, and remembers being told not to look back.

After all of it, neither my brother nor I were driven from our commitment to the Democratic party or the dream of a peaceful, respected, and strong America. When I think back, I don't think we ever suffered any disillusionment about the realities we'd always faced in this world or the actions and reactions which had sprung from our own nation's foreign policy. This is clearly not to say we "blamed America", because we ARE America. Accusing fellow Americans of 'hating' America is fruitless. Knowledge cannot be translated, in philisophical truth, to a blind self-hatred.

We're on the mend in America. We're still recovering from a shocking, fearful and anxious time. 9/11 shook many of us to our core. It shook America to its core. It's a shame it took a dreadful attack like that to unite Americans in spirit. As you know, it didn't take long for the partisan bitterness and intentional dividing to begin again. One viewing of a show like Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes" will prove it.

Crossing the lines and reaching out our hands to one another in the spirit of trying to understand each other is the only way to heal our land. Wars and more killing won't heal us. Talk radio won't heal us. CNN won't heal us.

I respect your thoughts and I think you've provided rational, forthright words that Democratic strategists could (and should) take to heart.


Regards
Jude Nagurney Camwell

In The News

In The News

Bill Gates: Redesign Our High Schools

Harley Sorensen - "Republicans in Congress are seeing to it that the Guckert-Gannon outrage is made to disappear from the public consciousness. And the press, of course, is, for the most part, compliant."

SF Chronicle - OPINION: The Making Of A 9/11 Republican

Activist Eugene Parks, RIP (1947-2005)

Ben Russel/UK -Angry Scene in British Parliament

Independent: British-born Muslim admits plot to blow up airliner bound for America

Independent - Putin sets up youth group to stop 'orange revolution'

Independent - Milosevic power grows after Serbian courts and parliament lean his way

Johnny Depp's Philosophy

Johnny Depp's Philosophy

This is from an interview with Johnny Depp, which was granted to Erik Hedegaard for publication in the Guardian's Observer Magazine (UK).

"....that's Depp for you. He has a number of words he tries to live by. From the poem Desiderata by Max Ehrmann:

'In the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.'

From the preface to The Time of Your Life by William Saroyan:

'Place in matter and in flesh the least of the values, for these are the things that hold death and must pass away. Discover in all things that which shines and is beyond corruption.'

And from Depp himself, from deep within himself, when faced with his fears, doubts, anxieties, uncertainties and ambivalences, which are legion: 'F*ck it!'

'I've ended up saying it in life a lot and in the work a lot, and I've always found it very helpful,' he said. 'Yes,' he went on, between sips of red wine, '"F*ck it" over the years has always been pretty soothing.'

Introducing ProgressiveDepot.com

ProgressiveDepot.com Lets Visitors “Shop Their Hearts”

For Immediate Release:
Online Mall Invests Profits in Progressive Causes

LAKEWOOD, Ohio – Americans distraught over the 2004 election results now have a unique outlet to fight back: shopping. ProgressiveDepot.com, a new online shopping portal, promises to invest a percentage of its shoppers’ dollars in progressive causes.

Located at http://www.progressivedepot.com, ProgressiveDepot.com offers thousands of products from over 150 online merchants, including clothing and accessories, books, furniture and home décor, travel services, electronics and electronic media, food, automotive products and more.

"The Progressive dollar has power," says Adam Jusko, ProgressiveDepot.com owner and a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention. "The challenge is to make our dollars command attention and create positive change."

"Immediately after the election, some progressives suggested boycotting companies perceived to be conservative supporters. I felt it would be more practical in the long term to create a site where visitors could shop with a clear conscience, secure in the knowledge that a piece of their shopping dollar goes toward progressive organizations they support."

ProgressiveDepot.com will announce its first contributions to progressive non-profits and/or political organizations in early July of 2005. Site visitors can sign up for the ProgressiveDepot.com mailing list and suggest organizations they feel deserve financial support.

Lebanon: The First of Many Victories for The People

Lebanon: The First of Many Victories for The People


Click on photo for story and link to photo credit

WR Pitt: Another Bloodbath in Iraq

Another Bloodbath in Iraq

Blogstories I Liked

Blogstories I Liked

Common Ills says Welcome To The New Iraq.

Don't miss this past weekend's Scrutiny Hooligans offerings:

Uptown Ruler has more on the "F-word".

With a tip o'the blog-hat to Some Bourbon Guerillas, Screwy Hooley presents further adventures in framing.

At Hoarded Ordinaries, Lorianne tells you about her Sunday drive around Southern New Hamphire.

I realize this is not a blog story, but I want to refer you to a piece by John C. Mohawk, Ph.D., who is a columnist for Indian Country Today and an author and professor in the Center for the Americas at the State University of New York at Buffalo. It's called U.S. policy in Iraq not sustainable. Mohawk covers the lessons of history looming over today's Iraq and explains how that history contradicts the NeoCon ideology.

more to come...

David Corn May Be Missing the Big Picture on Gannon

David Corn May Be Missing the Big Picture on Gannon

You can hear Marc Cooper's an interview with David Corn on the Gannon story at THE NATION.

I believe David is speaking with the heart of a journalist and the mind of a Democrat, yet I think he's missing the bigger issue, of which Jeff Gannon is only a small part. I think it's time we started thinking with a common soul, with all that it means to be American.

Mr. Corn is a journalist and it's clear he thinks with the journalist's mind. One idea Corn raises is that the story could be viewed from a different standpoint. Corn suggests that perhaps it wasn't a scandal that a partisan reporter from a highly questionable "news organization" got into the White House Press room via a series of day passes. Corn asks us to think a bit differently - Do we know of any "reporters" who COULDN'T get in because they were left-leaning partisans from highly questionable "news organizations? From a journalist's point of view, the "Left-outs" would be more telling than the "Let-ins". I do think this is a good point.

Corn is being overly cautious and uneasy, in my opinion, in discussing Gannon's sex-related issues. I don't think Corn should be so shy to express outrage or to express ironic humor, at best, over an easily-detected prostitute from a fake news organization doing national politics reporting which has been entered into our nation's most solemn Congressional Record.

Mr. Corn believes that Karl Rove is probably happy, seeing all the to-do about Gannon while no one is making a concerted effort to press for the declassification of documents regarding past activities of (National Intelligence Chief nominee) John Negroponte. Corn believes the left should not be in the business of "scalp-hunting", but should concentrate on policy issues. This is where I suggest that Corn is thinking with the mind of a Democrat. Concentrating on policy issues didn't get John Kerry very far (and worse, Gannon was part of the extremely damaging White house-enabled Kerry-disinformation scheme-through-journalism last year).

I believe Mr. Corn offers an all-too easy excuse for the White House, stating that it might have been just a 'simple screw-up' to allow Gannon in. When our fine journalists fail to see the bigger picture, they betray the nature of the First Amendment. I think Mr. Corn is being far too soft on this issue and I really don't understand why, except for the probability that he's missing the boat or afraid to offend. Perhaps he wishes to separate himself by those he sees as "scalp-hunters".

I consider Jeff Gannon to be the poster child for Propaganda-Gate.

Gannon, in and of himself, is not "the scandal". Yet, he is a glaring example of the corruption which has taken place in the public
(dis)information dissemination 'machinery', in which the White House is proven to have been been complicit.

Mr. Corn believes Gannon may be a waste of political time. While that may be true, we've ignored the little Gannons, Hannitys, Limbaughs and Fox News propaganda for too long. As always, the elephant in the room escapes detection.

Mr. Corn seems to be saying "Aww, they're not so bad" as the Bush administration is ripping him and his fellow discerning journalists to professional shreds. I've valued David Corn's ideas and his writing in the past, and I hope he will take some time to think this one through and reserve his judgement on what Gannon means, in terms of "the big picture" for a later time when it becomes more clear. (And I believe it will). This is about far more than gay prostitution and scalp-hunting. It's more a philosophical discussion we need to be having and less a concerted effort to destroy Mr. Gannon's already-poor reputation.

We can act in the mindset of Democrats and we can think with the heart of the journalist within us. Yet, if we do not start thinking with the soul of our common American traditional values, we will be forever lost. Freedom of the press is crucial to the life of American democracy.

Reconciliation

Reconciliation

I believe that the greatest need in our world today is diplomatic reconciliation. There have been deep wounds inflicted by the U.S. in her dogmatic pursuit of the Iraq war. In order to re-establish proper relations with the rest of the world,we must be willing to admit our share of the responsibility for the breakdown in international relations. We must be willing to forgive unconditionally.

If there is anger toward allies such as Germany and France for their perceived lack of cooperation in the past, we must remember the twin foci of 1.- admission of our own guilt and 2.- a willingness to forgive without condition. This is the only way to move on in the hope of future cooperation. The loud and smothering heaviness of right-wing propaganda spilling out over the radio and television airwaves does not help America's chances for diplomatic reconciliation with our foreign allies.

We were not meant to fight all this world's troubles alone. We should not act as if we expect to be able to do so.

It is a gross disservice to the men and women in our Armed Forces to place such burdens solely upon their shoulders.

What if we were to read this news in our morning paper?

"In an act of astounding humility, President Bush expressed deep regret for the mistakes that were made during the lead-up to the Iraq war and asked the world community to join the U.S. in all efforts to end terror."

I realize it may never happen. Yet, common sense would tell me that it would be just the kind of news that would heal resentments and enable us to move on with greater success against radical Islamic politics.

Checkbook journalism

Checkbook journalism

Words of wisdom from MoDo:

It was remarkable to see President Bush lecture Vladimir Putin on the importance of checks and balances in a democratic society.

Remarkably brazen, given that the only checks Mr. Bush seems to believe in are those written to the "journalists" Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher and Karen Ryan, the fake TV anchor, to help promote his policies. The administration has given a whole new meaning to checkbook journalism, paying a stupendous $97 million to an outside P.R. firm to buy columnists and produce propaganda, including faux video news releases.

I like that description: "Checkbook journalism."
It goes along with the Jeff Gannon-as-prostitute saga. The Washington DC-world of PR and journalism has become nothing more than a prostitution ring.

"All the truth money can buy" is not what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they established the Bill-of-Rights groundwork for freedom of the press. It runs against common sense. With each purchase of propaganda comes the sure death of the right of conscience in America.

Cash as Weapon

Cash (in many cases our tax dollars), in the hands of the current White House administration, should be looked at as a weapon being used against the freedom of the American people.

Syracuse Blogs

Syracuse Blogs

I have taken advantage of a great new service providing free blog publishing.

SEE: Syracuseblogs.com

My new Syracuseblog, HEY JUDE, will make link-connections to many local Syracuse-community bloggers as well as other New York State blogs.

I've also been researching blogs in Syracuse. Here is a partial list:

Red Thunder

David Metraux

NYCO

Collin vs. Blog

BlogJosh.forum

Mick Mather

K. Reid Wightman

Larry Roux

Parablemania

Uncle Sam's Cabin

OrangePhilosophy

Vacuum Energy

Entertainment Boogly

BooGuy Comics

Booglie-blog-munch

Hyleninja

Semi-Intelligent Thoughts

As I See It Now

Clearing Away The Fog

Sarah Kennedy

Ian Garatt

Cicero Commons

Concerned Camillus Citizens

Brennan Center for Justice

Gridiron Grit

That's Entertainment!

Fitness Fanatic

Faith Meets Life

CNY Traveler

Rational Liberal

Cazenovia, NY

Parish, NY

Movie Boy

Music Reviews

Auto News

Knicks Clicks

Big Blue Blog

Jetstream

Orange Juice

Orange Pros

O-Zone

More On Gannon / Propagandagate

More On Gannon / Propagandagate

Raw Story has an update on the Propagandagate issue. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has broken her silence, granting an interview to Raw Story.

This week, Jay Rosen said:

"Now the trail has led to Jeff Gannon, and In the Press Room of the White House that is Post Press. As far as I'm concerned, it is all one story. But I do not pretend to understand it yet."

I agree. The Right began their push to turn free press into a tool for their propaganda over 20 years ago, and dismantling their "handiwork" will take a lot of committed concentration and effort on the part of citizens like you and me. It has become apparent that we cannot depend upon the mainstream media to save themselves.

If there's one thing that's certain, it is that any person who holds a strong conviction regarding a truly free press will need to be vigilant in days, months, and perhaps years to come.

Jeff Gannon (aka James Dale Guckert) was only a drop in an ocean of right-wing propaganda which has been employed, whether directly or not, by the Bush administration like no other administration in the past.

Any self-respecting American with a healthy respect for freedom and truth, regardless of their respective political party, should be ashamed to defend the participatory destruction of the "Fourth Estate" by this White House.

Quote

"You are judged by what you do
While passing through....."


*Other gems of wisdom from musicals
Photo credit: Appleseed's

Blogosphere: LA Times Coverage of Gannon Disappointing

Blogosphere: LA Times Coverage of Gannon Disappointing

CJR -

If Fitzwater or Neuman honestly believes that there is any comparison to be made between Helen Thomas and a fake journalist with a fake name working for a fake news outlet asking fake questions at a real press briefing, then Neuman's feigned befuddlement over what a journalist is begins to seem less feigned. Alas, if the Los Angeles Times sees fit to print lazy and misleading pieces such as this, then the craft may indeed be facing an identity crisis, the likes of which Jean-Paul Sartre described 50 years ago.

American Street

-the piece misses so many of the actual truths invovled in this fiasco, that we were forced to write a letter to the editor of the latimes:

ladies and gentlemen:

i was happy to see your paper finally cover the gannon/guckert story about a phony reporter having access to the white house without proper credentials for over two years (a story which has been discussed publicly in other print media, on television and on internet discussion forums for more than a month, but better late than never, right?). however, i have some reservations about your reportage.

ms. neuman, aside from not researching or contacting the so-called “gay activists” and “left-wing bloggers” that broke the story, stated that those bloggers “posted on the internet homoerotic photos of gannon advertising himself as a $200-an-hour gay escort.” this implies some sort of invasion of privacy “outing” activity. ms. neuman failed to make clear that it was gannon/guckert who posted those “homoerotic photos” of himself on the internet for anyone with a mouse click to see (including print reporters for a large metropolitan newspaper, if they were so inclined to do any actual investigating).

and, by quoting gannon/guckert when he said “i’ve made mistakes in the past,” ms. neuman helps to propagate the implication that gannon/guckert’s escort activities were over with. in reality, the websites advertising his $200 per hour services were still current and active as of the beginning of this year, when the story broke. ms. neuman makes no mention of this fact.

further, ms. neuman failed to specify that talon news, the partisan republican website that gannon/guckert was “reporting” for, did not come into existence until several months after gannon/guckert was already allowed access into the white house under a false identity.

by focusing mainly on the “homoerotic” part of the story, ms. neuman deftly denigrates the points being made and questions being asked by thousands of americans on the internet forums (who have at least as much journalistic integrity as gannon/guckert, and therefore deserve as much respect from your paper). these are questions of national security, to wit: how did a prostitute (male escort renting sexual favors by the hour) get access to the white house under an assumed identity?”.....(read the rest at link)

why not take some time write a letter of your own?

Gary Brolsma Doesn't Want His 15 Minutes

Gary Brolsma Doesn't Want His 15 Minutes

Gary Brolsma is sorry he ever did it. Like many others, I got a lot of joy from his performance. So, even if you don't want your 15 minutes, Gary - Thanks for the smile you brought to my face.

Why Not Here?

Why Not Here?

"...as we've seen in spades over the past two years in Iraq, this rashness - this tendency to leap before we look - has its downside. Things don't come out wonderfully just because some fine person asks, Why not here?"

But this is clearly the question the United States is destined to provoke.

- David Brooks, NYT

Leap before you look?

I appreciate the longing for freedom just as much as any freedom-loving person. I think, however, that someone should poke a reality-stick in David Brooks' manic blather-bubble about his rhetorical question: "Why Not Here?"

The head of the Syrian Press Syndicate told The Times on Thursday: "There's a new world out there and a new reality. You can no longer have business as usual."

I'll say.

The people of Syria and Iran understand that Bush likes to provoke more than just 'questions'.

When most of them think "Why not here?" in terms of America, they are thinking 'If Bush could do what he did to Iraq, he could do it to us.'
It sends shivers dcown their spines.
They're not freedom-shivers.

They recall a President who leaped before he looked and still has not looked too closely at the civilian carnage and lives torn apart by his unnecessary war.

Why don't we?

Is there no outrage left in the country?

Thanks, Sens Durbin, Kennedy, Lautenberg, Kerry, Reid

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Thanks, Sens Durbin, Kennedy, Lautenberg, Kerry, Reid

Thank you, Senator Durbin.
Thank you, Senator Kennedy.
Thank you, Senator Lautenberg.
Thank you, Senator Kerry.
Thank you, Senator Reid.

You understood the importance and value of the public trust.
Where were the rest of the Democratic Senators?
Where were Republican Senators?
That's my question.

Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Please join me in praying and/or sending healing thoughts for Pope John Paul II. Regardless of your belief or your faith, suffering is a common human experience.



Suffering highlights the fact that we are frail human beings.
Suffering can draw our interests toward the deep meaning we seek.
Suffering helps us to see the real value of life.
Suffering leads us to be compassionate to others.
Suffering sharpens our awareness that we will not be here forever.
Hardships have value, although they are often hidden. Suffering brings value to light.
Life is hard. Life is good. Love is present, even in the suffering we see and experience.
May we learn to show compassion and kindness towards all who are suffering.

"I pray that Mary, Health of the Sick, will continue to grant her loving protection to all who are wounded in body and spirit, and will intercede for those who care for them. May she help us to unite our sufferings with those of her Son as we journey in joyful hope to the safety of the Father's House."

Who Is Ketchum?

"I've always thought it was dangerous for the White House to get into the business of defining who is and is not a member of the press corps. That is better done by the news media."

- Mike McCurry, Clinton White House Press Secretary

Who Is Ketchum?
..and what did they have to do with the Bush Adminstration?

Open communication fosters informed decision making in our democratic society. PR is unregulated in the U.S. and is considered to be a vehicle for free speech. A PR firm's clients communicate with the news media as part of a free and open public debate. What happens when PR agencies fail to regulate themselves? When public trust is lost, the PR firm only harms itself. Has Ketchum crossed the line and contributed to knowingly polluting the news media?

According to their website, Ketchum is a unit of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC; www.omnicomgroup.com). The firm is headquartered in New York. Additional information on Ketchum, its award-winning work, and past press releases can be found at www.ketchum.com.

NYT - The Bush Administration is warned about its "news videos"

Electablog - I Know PR But What Am I

"Jay Rosen laments the fact that so few PR bloggers blasted Ketchum for their role in paying off Armstrong Williams to push the Dept of Education's No Child Left Behind program.."

Media Matters - On February 24 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, former Representative Susan Molinari (R-NY), president of the public affairs unit of public relations firm Ketchum Inc., made false assertions regarding President Bush's Social Security plan.

Salon.com - Beware the Coming Propaganda Juggernaut by Joe Conason

Exactly what Bush's minions at the SSA have been up to, aside from writing strategy plans, isn't clear yet. To find out, Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal public interest group, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the SSA last month. Sloan asked for "records of any contacts between the agency and outside public affairs firms," notably including any dealings with Ketchum and Fleishman-Hillard -- the Washington P.R. giants recently implicated in the administration's pundit payola and news management scandals. Public records show that the SSA already has entered into a $1.8 million consulting contract with Fleishman-Hillard.

101PublicRelations.com - Bush Administration Has Been Bery, Bery Good To Ketchum


INF Opinions - Circling The Wagons: PR Firms Fear Revenue Loss, Thanks to Williams, Ketchum and others


Corporate Engaement blog - Interview: Talespin author on PR disasters, Ketchum, blogging and more


Ketchum: Former White House Economic Policy Advisor Carlos Bonilla Joins The Washington Group – A Ketchum Company

Ketchum’s The Washington Group (TWG), a government relations and lobbying firm, announced today that Carlos Bonilla, former White House economic policy advisor, joined as senior vice president. His extensive experience working with the Bush White House enhances the firm’s government relations capabilities.

Ketchum: About The Washington Group – A Ketchum Company

Founded in 1997, The Washington Group has a mix of clients including healthcare, technology, telecommunications, environmental, real estate and transportation companies. Seventeen government relations professionals with more than 150 years of combined legislative and political experience staff the firm.

The Washington Group became a part of the Ketchum Washington, D.C. office in January 2001. The combined Washington Group/Ketchum operation works synergistically to provide clients with the full range of public affairs services including lobbying, grassroots, constituency relations and public relations. The combined entity’s practice areas include: Corporate, Healthcare, Litigation, Public Affairs & Government Relations and Technology.

USA Today: Report: PR spending doubled under Bush

A young American Speaks Out at Montgomery Blair High School - Agencies must be held accountable for payoffs; Use of tax dollars is unacceptable

"Other parts of the Ketchum deal included last year's fabrication of fake video news reports featuring government employees posing as reporters. These segments were also intended to gain public approval for NCLB by tricking Americans into believing that they were watching objective news reporting, a tactic that has been declared both illegal and dishonest by watchdog groups."

Star Tribune - A lesson on disclosure and ethics by Patrick R. Hirigoyen

"..the Bush administration was the client of a public relations firm. In his Jan. 26 news conference, Bush said federal departments would no longer follow such practices nor enter into such contracts. The damage, however, not only had been done to the columnists' reputation, but to the administration's position. It appeared as if support could be obtained from experts and opinion leaders only by paying them -- certainly, not the perception the agencies wanted to create.

Which points to the role of the third party, particularly in the Williams case: the Ketchum Public Relations firm. This is an established, reputable firm, respected by clients and competitors. In the Williams case, the Jan. 12 New York Times quoted a spokesperson for the Council of Public Relations Firms as saying it was Williams' responsibility, not Ketchum's, to disclose the payments.

That's passing the buck. The strategy and program developed by Ketchum did a disservice to the client, hurting the administration's position and, in the end, its reputation."

__________________

Stories Related to Omnicom Group:

"The industry began selling its soul when it sold out to these advertising companies because the public relations business should be about the truth, not about sales."

- Jack O'Dwyer, public relations gadfly

CorpWatch - Spinning Media for Government by Chris Raphael

"In another curious development, a site on http://www.ketchum.com that touts the virtues of influencing public opinion leaders – through a special tool Ketchum calls “Influencer Relationship Management” – is no longer working.

Snapshots of the site on Wayback Machine (see http://www.archive.org and type in http://www.ketchum.com/IRM in the search bar) describe how the system works by “influencing the influencers.” The premise of Ketchum’s system, described in a press release and in snapshots of the site on Wayback Machine, is that there are a select group of people – such as elite media and analysts -- who mold public opinion. Through an “IRM portal,” clients can view the opinions of these influencers on an “attitude” scale. A snapshot of an “IRM portal” even seems to promise pictures of who these “influencers” are."

US Newswire, Feb 23, 2005:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint against the Social Security Administration (SSA) in the District Court for the District of Columbia for failing to produce documents pursuant to Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA). CREW had asked SSA to produce any records relating to contracts SSA may have entered into with any public relations firms..

".we know that SSA has paid Fleischman-Hillard nearly $1.8 million since September 2003, we don't know what role, if any, Fleischman- Hillard has played in manufacturing that crisis. This is what we first tried to learn by filing the FOIA request and what we are now trying to learn by filing a lawsuit."

O'Dwyer PR/Communications website: "A PR industry ad campaign is needed to offset the Feb. 13 New York Times article headlined: “Spinning Frenzy: PR’s Bad Press".

”Sweeping consolidation has transformed public relations over the last two decades, with such publicly traded global communications giants as Omnicom, the WPP Group, the Interpublic Group, and Publicis Groupe acquiring a bevy of large, formerly independent firms. These behemoths have picked off well-known companies like Ketchum, Fleishman-Hillard, Hill & Knowlton, Weber Shandwick and Burson-Marsteller, placing them inside holding companies that also operate advertising, strategic consulting and marketing businesses....

"This is the Three Mile Island of the P.R. business," said Jack O'Dwyer, a public relations gadfly in New York who heads a research firm and publishes a newsletter bearing his name. "The industry began selling its soul when it sold out to these advertising companies because the public relations business should be about the truth, not about sales." - LINK

Polianna.com - The White House gave special privileges to a conservative operative with a shady past. But this is only the latest scandal in the GOP war against news.

Press Think: Further Analysis on WH Post Press

"Now the trail has led to Jeff Gannon, and In the Press Room of the White House that is Post Press. As far as I'm concerned, it is all one story. But I do not pretend to understand it yet."

- Jay Rosen

Press Think: Further Analysis on WH Post Press

A high-five to Jay Rosen. He's done some excellent analysis on the Gannon case in its relation to the Bush Administration's de-certification move against the Washington press. The story may shift, in its focus, from Gannon to a $97 million pot of post-press money that went to a PR firm named Ketchum.

Read this excerpt from his latest posting:

Whomever declared "Jeff Gannon" a valid correspondent believed, first, in the invalidity of the regular White House correspondents, whose representatives had of course rejected Gannon for a regular pass. As he rejected them. Froomkin reported on it (March 10, 2004) in the White House Briefing column he does for the Washington Post:

Gannon works for a tiny, supremely conservative organization called Talon News which publishes a Web site by the same name as well as one called GOPUSA.com. With the sole exception of Gannon, who says he is compensated, all the "reporters" are volunteers.
Gannon's presence in the White House briefing room is something of an irritant to most of the press corps, which considers his questions at briefings to be preposterous softballs.

And in return, Gannon sometimes writes on his own Web site about his views of the corps and how there is "perhaps no depth to which it will not sink in order to undermine a presidency."

In this view, there is no such thing as journalism; there is only raw politics. According to Media Matters, Gannon said on his radio show January 27 that the White House press corps "deserves to be gone around because they're not telling the truth about Social Security reform."

The key word is deserves. An illegitimate press demands not only national scorn but practical replacement. It is in this sense that "Jeff Gannon" deserved his press pass, Armstrong Williams deserved his $240,000, and Ketchum public relations deserved $97 million of taxpayer money to help the Bush Administration communicate the message. (My sense is that the big uncovered facts in this scandal are to be found there, in the $97 million pot of post-press money that went to Ketchum, a PR firm willing to bend the rules, and help create a replacement for real journalism.)

In the press room of the White House that thinks itself post-press, many of the people who have been de-certified still show up for their jobs each day, expecting some kind of briefing, as if they were, still, the Fourth Estate, as if they yet had some role in national politics. It probably galls the Administration that the ritual with real journalists has to go on, since "they don’t represent the public any more than other people do."

- Jay Rosen

SEE JAY ROSEN'S JAN 19th ARTICLE - Bloggers Are Missing in Action as Ketchum Tests the Conscience of PR

"Maybe this is the way things are done all the time in PR today. It's one of the most plausible explanations we have for the Ketchum contract, the apparent fraudulence of which is roughly parallel to the dubious memos in the Dan Rather case. But there we had bloggers who refused to let go."

SEE LISA STONE'S JANUARY 20th ARTICLE - Ketchum and Bloggers: Who Said What? What Remains? Lisa Stone Reports.

Hope4America

Hope4America

One of my favorite blogs is authored by Patty Ann Smith. Hope4America is like an oasis in the blogosphere. When I search for hope, inspiration, and meditation, she's always there to provide. I'm grateful.

Power Line Writes A Gannon-Shielding Piece of Fantasy

Power Line Writes A Gannon-Shielding Piece of Fantasy
If this is reliable blog journalism, I'm Jeff Gannon J.D. Guckert

I generally don't read much from Power Line. I went there today to have a look. What I found was what I perceive to be a lot of one-sided commentary, which is really no surprise. There seems to be very little balance, which is no surprise. The fact that these people have a direct line to mainstream media (such as CNN and MSNBC), all too often using Hinderaker as a voice for the overall blogging world should be a surprise. It helps me understand why the mainstream is squelching the Guckert/Gannon story. I'll speak more specifically about that in a moment.

Even the usually outspoken Christian Right fears talking about the story of Gannon in the White House Press Corps. And I think this is a shame...it's almost criminal that they are afraid to speak out.

I'm a Christian myself, and here's what I think. If Gannon was gay, I don't care about that aspect of his person. As a matter of fact, he'd have my support for his right to achieve full equality in the eyes of civil law. If he was a prostitute, then he was. Everyone can change. That said, I find Gannon to be a proud and bitter partisan, which has lead him to make false attacks on others who seek the truth about his entry into the White House Press Corps. To provide an example, here is what Jeff Gannon/JD Guckert recently said:

"If I had been a liberal reporter with the salacious past now attributed to me, I would be the Grand Marshall of the next Gay Pride Parade as well as a media darling, able to give softball interviews."

It runs against common values we share Americans to stay silent on this matter. It has nothing to do with Mr. Gannon's ego and everything to do with the White House.

Allow me to get back to the Power Line discussion.

The most utterly surprising Power Line entry I read was the one where shame is cast upon those citizens who want to know why a partisan plagiarizer with no real experience and no news organization (at the time) was given access to our White House. How can Powerline be so bold in their denial and get away with it?
How f**king stupid have we become that our mainstream media (and the public) will be satisfied with such blathering and ineffective excuses from Gannon's right-wing protectors?

In a search to make J.D. Guckert look like a victim, John Hinderaker belittles himself by relieving nearly all personal accountability from JD Guckert and attempting to place it on others.

It is a curious escape from reality, having little to do with the truth of the matter.

Here are some excerpts:

..liberals began “investigating” Gannon.

They found that he was a homosexual and started posting photos of him on their web sites, along with vicious personal attacks.

Gannon, stunned by the virulence of the left’s attack on him, quit his job at Talon.

a poor guy who thought he could put his past behind him and pursue a career as a reporter.

they seized on poor Mr. Gannon, made silly, baseless accusations against him, denounced him for being a homosexual

to distract attention from Jordan

to punish Mr. Gannon.."

Citizens had reason to investigate Guckert.
Guckert/Gannon wasn't the only one who "quit". Talon, the so-called "news organization" he represented, took a holiday itself. Most of their articles were wiped clean off of their website soon after bloggers brought their name to light.
If that doesn't raise a red flag, then I think you must be color-blind.

Gannon was no "poor guy". He was doing well for himself, it seems.

He's even back on the scene now, tilting at windmills of the "Old Media". He's possibly getting off on all the attention.

Who knows? Maybe he'll be the next Rush Limbaugh.

But he didn't belong in the White House Press Corps and we still want to know how and why he was there. The "accusations" made about him were not silly. They were based on real evidence found by a simple internet search.

The distracting/punishing jargon is purely rhetorical.

I think that John Hinderaker's piece was a sad joke made to cover for someone whose situation in the White House should be FULLY investigated to alleviate public distrust and concern.

_____________

One other comment, since I rarely talk about Power Line. That glaring flag of Israel directly under the US flag on the sidebar leads me to believe that there are more than just US interests in mind at Powerline. Our nation supports many friends around the world, so I ask myself why the Powerliners need to stick that one particular flag in our faces? I wonder if Powerline supports the espionage for Israel that has taken place within the OSP?

Gannon has come back with an internet presence, and Americans who respect truth ought to ride him out on a rail and wave a fond bye-bye at the station. Buy Hinderaker a ticket while you're at it.


See World O'Crap blog for a counterpoint to Tom Maguire's "Gannon/Guckert for Dummies"

Sadiq Zoman - Was It What He Did or Who He Was?

Sadiq Zoman -
Was It What He Did
or Who He Was?
My story at: AMERICAN STREET

Excerpt:

"As a teenage boy, Hungarian-born Elie Wiesel was deported with his family to Auschwitz and then to Buchenwald, where his parents and younger sister died. In his book “Night”, Mr. Wiesel has left behind a bare-bones record of the horrific experience.

In one scene, late in the story, young Elie is demoralized to the point that he no longer sees a reason to go on living. There he was, a young man who should have everything to look forward to in life…suffering a great loss of meaning and spirit as he was treated worse than an animal by his fellow human beings.

How did his captors see him? Was young Elie something less than human to them? If there is any evil at work in this world, is it when we take the human framework and break it down to something worthless? What allows captors to be capable of such cruelty?

In good conscience, I must ask you this:

Was Sadiq Zoman tortured in Iraq, not for anything he had done, but simply for who he was? Was he tortured for no more than what the totality of his life experience and circumstance had led him to?

Why did Sadiq Zoman deserve such treatment?


Sadiq Zoman



I have read the words of Elie Wiesel and I have cried.

I think of the family of Sadiq Zoman and I shake my head and wonder,
"My God, what have we done? What have we become?"

Please read Mr. Wiesel's words about a terrifying night over 60 years ago.
Consider all....

Excerpt from NIGHT can be seen at American Street

Christopher Locke on Hunter S. Thompson

Christopher Locke on Hunter S. Thompson

QUOTES ABOUT HUNTER S. THOMPSON FROM CHRISTOPHER LOCKE

ON LOCKE'S BOOK, "GONZO MARKETING" : Gonzo Marketing wasn't so much about marketing as about voice -- that indefinable quality of communication that unmistakably signals it's coming from a human being. But not just any old garden-variety human. This is where the indefinable part comes in. And the risk of a perversely inverted elitism. It's simply not possible to weigh or measure voice, but chances are good (if you're not dead from the neck up and the waist down) you'll know it when you hear it. Thompson had voice. [..]

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

I think if there's a reason HST killed himself, I mean, if he really meant to do that, it was some manner of long-delayed reaction to what he describes in this -- to me, the most arresting -- passage of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning...

And that, I think, was the handle - that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting - on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave...

So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark - that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."

- C. Locke

Dems - "Positioning" Isn’t Enough

Dems - "Positioning" Isn’t Enough

It's all about ideas. You must be firm about what you believe before you can take a stand.

QUOTE FROM "THE PHILOSOPHY GAP" BY MICHAEL TOMASKY:

I’ve been wondering lately, if there’s a deeper answer to the question of greater conservative sense of purpose? What if it’s not just about tactics, but about philosophy? [..]

I know this will sound really silly, but I’d like for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean and every other Democrat who’s interested to read Dewey and Lippmann and have a session in which they sit down and talk about it. Or a much simpler assignment, because it involves less reading and they’re busy people: Read Lyndon Johnson’s historic speech “To Fulfill These Rights” -- his commencement speech at Howard University in 1965 and the strongest philosophical justification for the Great Society that he ever issued in a single place -- and then sit down and debate what he said and figure out what their conclusions about LBJ mean for them today. Or Harry Truman’s speech to Congress laying out the Truman Doctrine. Et cetera, et cetera. [..]

AMERICAN PROSPECT

Irony Lost on American Ears

Irony Lost on
American Ears

JUSTIN WEBB QUOTE: "I talked yesterday about the attractions of the plain speaking President versus the complex Europeans - but there is of course a downside to this simple virtue.

Complexity and texture is sometimes rather satisfying in cooking and in language. At the news conference the German Chancellor said the two men had agreed that they should not emphasise their disagreements.

The faint irony of this comment was lost on American ears. They have reported it as "diplomatic speak" - not as a rather clever and gentle way of disposing of the subject."

LINK- BBC

Plamegate: "One by Two by Six"

Plamegate: "One by Two by Six"

This is important - read this excerpt from an article by Murray Waas - and read it carefully.

Prospect.org/Murray Waas:

According to sources, Rove, in his interview with the FBI, said that he and others on the White House's political staff wanted to contain the political fallout from Wilson's allegations, and that they thought the charge of favoritism was a legitimate issue. Rove added that when he steered others in the direction of the now-disproved charges, he believed them to be true, in part because he regarded Novak as a credible news source.

When the Justice Department investigation began last September, the White House press corps repeatedly questioned White House press secretary Scott McClellan as to whether Rove was the person who leaked Plame's name to Novak. Initially, McClellan said that Rove had denied that he was the leaker.

Then, on September 28, The Washington Post reported:

"Yesterday, a senior administration official said that before Novak's column ran, two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife. `Clearly, it was meant purely and simply for revenge,' the senior official said of the alleged leak. A source said reporters quoted a leaker as describing Wilson's wife as `fair game.'"

A subsequent Newsweek story suggested that the Post had been incorrect in some details. According to the magazine's account, the calls to "at least six Washington journalists" took place after Novak's column appeared, rather than before. Furthermore, Newsweek made an assertion (confirmed by Wilson) that MSNBC talk-show host Chris Matthews called Wilson in July, a full week after Novak's column appeared, telling the former ambassador that "Karl Rove … said your wife was fair game."

When grilled on this variation of Rove's involvement, McClellan became evasive. McClellan insisted that the criminal investigation only centered on "whether someone leaked classified information;" questions regarding the "fair game" report were "down the road of rumor and innuendo and unsubstantiated accusations."

McClellan then warned reporters "not to read anything into what I said," refusing to answer questions about whether it was, in one reporter's words, "ethical for a senior administration official to advance a story about an illegal disclosure of a CIA operative, basically giving that story legs."

McClellan then repeatedly refused to exonerate Rove, according to a transcript of his remarks, instead insisting that any White House comments were merely a matter of "setting the record straight" rather than "spreading information to punish someone for speaking out," something the White House "would not condone."

As a result of the Post report, federal investigators are now hunting for not only the identity of the administration official who leaked Plame's name to Novak but also the administration official who told the paper about the telephone calls to the six other reporters. The investigators believe it likely, according to an attorney familiar with some aspects of the criminal investigation, that the source of the Post story may very well know the identity of the person who leaked Plame's name to Novak.

In interviews with potential witnesses, investigators have taken to referring to the story and its mysterious source as "one by two by six," meaning that one official may know the identity of two other administration officials who spoke to the six reporters.

"If they find 'one by two by six,' then just maybe… they have also found their guy," said one attorney familiar with the criminal investigation.

FULL TEXT available at American Prospect.

Sibel Edmonds is back in the news

Sibel Edmonds is back in the news

Washington, DC, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- The Department of Justice has abandoned its claim that allegations made by a fired FBI translator are secret, paving the way for a court case that will air embarrassing allegations about incompetence, poor security and possible espionage in the translation unit of the Bureau's Washington Field Office.

-- WASHINGTON TIMES

Both Houses of Congress Get Involved in 'Gannon' Case

Both Houses of Congress Get Involved in 'Gannon' Case

Editor and Publisher reports:

- Two leaders of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee want the federal prosecutor investigating the Valeria Plame case to subpoena a personal journal of controversial White House reporter James Guckert.

- In addition, E&P has confirmed an online report that Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) is circulating a letter among his colleagues that asks President Bush to launch an investigation into how Guckert, who writes under the byline “Jeff Gannon,” gained access to White House press briefings over two years despite having no journalism background and using a false name.

_________________


SEE ACTION ALERT at AMERICAblog - Tell your US Senators to sign the Durbin letter about Gannon

________________


Speaking on condition of anonymity, an aide for Sen. Harry Reid has said the Senator has joined the call for an investigation. SEE RAW STORY

John Kerry has signed on. After making waves on Bill Maher, Joe Biden confuses and disappoints by declining to sign.

Jon Aravosis at Americablog has posted about a World Net Daily article which is highly critical and suspicious toward J.D. Guckert's easy access to the White House Press Corps. Here is an important quote from the WND article by Joseph Farah:

"You might remember the two-year fight WorldNetDaily waged to become credentialed by the Senate Press Gallery. Meanwhile, an activist organization – pretending to be a journalistic one and ensnared in personal scandal – pranced into the White House and secured access to the president of the United States. It raises serious security questions. It raises questions of propriety. It raises questions of judgment. And it raises questions about the role of a free press in a free society."

REPUBLICAN SENATORS MUST JOIN THE CALL FOR AN INVESTIGATION.
CITIZENS FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM SHARE CONCERN.

Heidi Anderson:Liberal Media?! Get real!

Heidi Anderson:
Liberal Media?! Get real!

I am leading you to Heidi Anderson's guest column at The Shorthorn, newspaper for the University of Texas at Arlington, where Heidi is a history senior.

No Meaning in Liberal Media -
Phony reporter disproves this bias in broadcasting

Excerpt:

"I did not learn about James Guckert on the local news. I did not hear about him on any cable news networks either. I certainly did not read about him in The Dallas Morning News. I was not informed about this very important story by any of the traditional news media outlets; so I have two words to say to all you conservatives who claim that our news is delivered by a “liberal media”:

"Get real."

_____________

Media Matters: Local US Newspapers speak out

Capital Times (Common Dreams) - Bush's Journalism Jihad Exposed

John Steinberg - Raw Story Column

Salon - 'Gannongate': It's Worse Than You Think

Alternet -

"Behind every scandal of the past few decades -- from Watergate to Iran-Contra -- was a congress controlled by the opposition party. Dems can't issue subpoenas and thus, Hertzberg concludes, Gannongate is likely to end up Nothinggate."

*Nothinggate: See Hendrik Hertzberg

Buzzflash - Mark Crispin Miller Examines Mainstream Media's Blind Eye Towards the Gannongate Sex Scandal

Donald Russo/Morning Call - White House Owes Us an Explanation

Senate Dems Asking for Inquiry on Gannon/Media

Senate Dem Leadership Asking for Inquiry on Gannon/Media

Thank you, Senator Durbin, and all Senators who care about citizens' concern about the state of the media's relatonship with the White House.

U.S. Senators: Please join the call for this inquiry.

Bush In Europe

Bush In Europe
From BushWatch.com
Bush In Europe

Bush Tells Europe United Front Against Iran 'Essential,' But Refuses To Provide It, nyt
Most European Press Believe Bush Words Don't Match His Deeds, nyt
Germans offer a chilly welcome to Bush, Cathy Grieve, BBC
Bush's charm offensive falls foul of Chirac, Settle
Chirac defies Bush on China arms, BBC
Bush Faces European Disagreement On China Arms Embargo, nyt
Bush threatens reprisals over EU arms sales to China, Castle
Chirac urges Bush to offer Iran incentives, AFP
Bush in Europe: tensions boil beneath talk of transatlantic unity, Van Auken
Different Trip, Same Old Bush, Froomkin
More hot air from Bush in Brussels, tehran
Bush warns Russia on the rule of law, Bumiller
Next stop Bratislava and a testing time with his pal Putin, Tisdall
Bush May Feel Chilly Blast From Russians, nyt
Barroso's EU thermostat set on cool for Bush, Vinocur
EU "Keen" To Host Conference On Aid To Iraq, BBC
Iraq clouds Bush's Europe visit, Deccan Herald


Iraq issue is not over, EU tells US, afp
Only friends in hall for Bush's speech, Bowley
Why Europe Matters, Bergmann
Europe: Happy Meals, Harvey+Legum+Baskin
Bush listens to Europe's concerns, Jonathan Marcus, BBC
Ed: Bush's European visit, asahi ed
Europeans, lend Bush your ears, Dale
Pictures: Bush in Europe, Hindustan Times
US and EU: double standards in trade policies, Shahid Javed Burki
All 26 NATO allies will help train Iraqi forces in Europe, AP
Anti-Bush Protesters Dispersed At EU Headquarters, AP