From the L.A. Weekly
David Corn: The Novak Affair
How I broke the CIA-leak story, and why nobody noticed
Read David Corn's scrutiny of today's typical Republican damage-control dissembling.
Excerpt:
"....The issue is not who’s screaming about the leak but who did it. Yet if Portman and the Republicans can succeed in presenting the controversy as another one of those same-old bitter face-offs between D’s and R’s — creating a moral equivalency between the leakers and the complainants — they win. Their aim is to exploit the public’s (justifiable) cynicism toward Washington and to battle to an it’s-all-politics draw. This is a good strategy — as long as no indictments materialize..."
Internet muse.
Daring, bold, never sold.
My daily weblog of politics, humor, philosophy...and a constant and nagging reminder of the existence of universal love....
Monday, October 13, 2003
David Corn-"How I broke the CIA-leak story, and why nobody noticed"
Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson- from "Informed Comment" website
This is a great tongue-in-cheek must-read by Juan Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan.
While you're there, read the rest of his "Informed Comment" site.
In this blog's humble opinion, it is the cream of the blogcrop.
Sunday, October 12, 2003
by Bart Whiteman
From the Chattanoogan News
This blog thanks Mr. Whiteman for what we consider to be a generous contribution to the mental health of those of us out here who are beginning to think either we are certifiable.. or the rest of the nation has gone mad.
"...Cheney warned us all about the big, bad, boogie day of doom that awaits us all if we don’t toe the line. He tried very hard to frighten as many people as he could with his portrayal of the horrors that are in store if we don’t let these administration cowboys continue to round up and dispose of the terrorist herd at will.
Oh, and anyone who disagrees with him is a wimp.
Well, Dick, I noticed you delivered your bold message at the Heritage Foundation, the well-endowed incubator of conservative thought. Who’s the wimp here? If that ain’t preaching to the choir, I don’t know what is...."
Cheney came out of the bat cave on Friday and Americans saw his shadow
"....It’s pretty clear that nothing short of electoral defeat or impeachment will stop the war from the administration’s perspective, and since Congress is in the hands of the Republicans, they’ll just go keep going along for the merry ride..."
"...The major media have soft-pedaled and glorified the whole thing because they are along for the corporate ride..They have leveraged the war for better ratings and better advertising revenues. They have invested in your party. They have supplied champagne to celebrate whenever there is something to celebrate. There may be a few lunatics left out there questioning the whole operation, and the Iraqi people may be suffering through your trial by p.r., but they don’t really matter, do they?.."
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Dick Cheney knows....trust him..
Trust him?
"....There is no glorious anti-war rhetoric. The American public has submitted. You don’t need to justify the unjustifiable. You already did it. You started your war, and no one said ‘boo.’ You divided the world into the good (us) and the evil (them). Your action is the justification. The results are the justification. If you get your way, then what does it matter what anyone else thinks? Stop trying the sell the war. Wage the war. Shut down the p.r. machine. It’s not working. No one believes you any more, at least not your words, which change with every shift of the breeze. Go about your business.
Go back to shadow land..."
Blake Lethem and Howard Dean-NY Post Attacks
Totalitarian-style Editorial in NY Post-
Post imputes Howard Dean for the legal fallout of the free actions of Blake Lethem
"....Well, thanks to all the publicity, Howard Dean's favorite "artist" may be facing some richly deserved jail time...."
In a free and open America, this will never stand.
The NY Post's criticism of Howard Dean for giving an artist space to express himself in a legal manner is completely out of touch with our precious American values of free expression.
This is a clear GOP warning shot crossing the Democrats' bow....support the freedom of controversial art and you will not only risk political injury, but the artist you support will be imprisoned.
Is this Cuba..or America?
Saturday, October 11, 2003
U.S. is Supporting a Terrorist's Organization
Pat Robertson has made nuclear threats and promoted terror against the U.S. State Department.
U.S. citizens are being forced to support his organization with faith-based funds.
Is this Saudi Arabia or the free United States?
What is the government going to do about Pat Robertson's terrorist threats?
Friday, October 10, 2003
Cheney's at it again at the Heritage Foundation--
Cheney says....
I'm watching VP Dick Cheney speak as I type these words.
Twist, twist, twist..
Fib, fib, fib....
In his speech this morning to the Heritage Foundation shamelessly promoting funds for the Iraq war,
Cheney told them...
"Remember what we saw on the morning of 9-11...."
"Remember Beirut..."
*he never mentions PanAm 103*
"Khobar Towers...."
"USS Cole..."
Cheney goes on to say there was a tendency to consider past acts of terror as individual criminal acts..he speaks of Ramzi Yousef....his criminal punishment...how some thought "case closed" once he was convicted.
(**Actually, Yousef won't be back..unless he outlives his 240-year sentence**)
Cheney says the threat was not recognized for what it was..a sustained campaign...
Cheney says for us, the war started 9-11....for them(**whoever them is**), it's been going on a long time.
Cheney says it continues today..
Riyadh(**where actual arrests have ben made and civilized justice is being done today**), Najaf(August 2003), Baghdad(**current*)....
***(notice how he pulls in POSTWAR Iraq...how many "terrorist" attacks do you recall in Iraq before the war began????!)****
Cheney is tying a long line of hatred for America by myriad nations, groups, individuals...
and claiming the culmination of it all was IRAQ.
I'm sorry, that is pure, unadulterated bullshit.
Cheney considers lobotomizing all Americans in case his lies don't go over terribly well....
He cites the Bush docritine..any government harboring terrorists will be held to account.
In that case, we are harboring them in Iraq today since we are the occupying force.
Let's hold US to account!
It's funny, by the way, these "terrorists" weren't there before the pre-emptive strike.
Hussein, as nasty as he was, would not have stood for this..he would have put these terrorists in
torture chambers...perhaps he would have gassed them!
That is the great conundrum, and the source of the Bush Administration lies.
Our war has CAUSED terrorist problems that were never there beforehand.
Cheney says Saddam Hussein had an established relationship to AlQeada--and this has NEVER been proven.
Let's ask Assistant Under Secretary Douglas Feith to show us the proof...he is the one at the helm of the top-secret department who went
terror-connection-shopping..cherry picking...to find enough slim rumor to create enough magnfied innuendo to scare the American people into believing a war was necessary at any cost.
Doug knows.....so why can't he prove it to us?
Now Cheney's defending David Kay's report which turned up with no WMD threat which would have constituted an imminent threat to any American before this pre-emptive war.
Bottom line, Cheney has nothing new.
Only old lies, boldly told, with a captive (fully supportive) audience applauding like zombies.
I'd love, just once, for Cheney and Bush to stand before a group of REAL Americans and speak....
with no one in the audience being held behind police barriers lest they should boo so loudly that the T audience might see how the Media presents pretty lies to them day in / day out.
Cheney mentions that GW Bush says our enemies are waiting to attack us with the most dangerous weapons possible.
In that case, we'd best forget the GRAVE error made in Iraq and move 'em out to North Korea pronto...lest Cheney is to be too clearly seen for the hypocrite he is.
Cheney says we fight in Iraq now so we don't have to fight in our own cities someday.
Iraq would fight us? With what? Old metal shit a redneck Iraqi scientist once buried under the rose bush?
I guess Cheney thinks it's important that we used Iraq as a stomping ground...
..but really--how moral does that sound to you?
The people of Iraq don't deserve the terror of war, either.
DO THEY?!
Bottom line....Iraq was NOT an imminent threat.
Bottom line...The Bush administration is liable for a great sin.
Whatever was happening in Iraq, it was NEVER sufficient reason to go into that nation without international support.
Americans were lied to and will now pay ever so dearly for the great caper..the great blunder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE OTHER SPEECH...THE OTHER "HOT ONE"....
Don't miss Buzzflash's Claims vs. Facts regarding Bush's New Hampshire Speech to Air National Guard Reservists
Democratic Debate / Katrina Swett / General Clark
Democratic Debate
I was surprised to see Howard Dean confronting General Clark in last night's debate in Arizona.
This is the reference Howard Dean made tonight when challenging Gen Clark on his Iraq stance:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/stories/news/politics2002/1010_clark_2002.shtml
I imagine Gov Dean needs to separate himself from Gen Clark as the more consistent "outsider".
If I hear Dick Gephardt attack Howard Dean on Medicare one more useless time, I think I'll puke.
Gov Dean has clarified the issue so many times..to our complete satisfaction.
Rep Gep's looking ridiculous by dragging this out.
Dick Gephardt's line about the nation of Togo sending ONE soldier to represent them in the Iraq "coalition of the willing" was priceless sarcasm.
John Kerry had the line of the night with his deadpan Rush Limbaugh prescription drug reference.
Dennis Kucinich had the most wonderful idea..a Department of Peace. I can't imagine why we have not yet had a leader with the vision to incorporate the central idea of peace into everyday governing.
John Kerry's campaign seems to have great influence over Judy Woodruff.
She interrupted what was meant to be a "town-hall" style 'Q and A' session in order to facilitate a Kerry campaign attack on Howard Dean. This seemed terribly inappropriate to me.
She asked..out of the blue...:
(From Transcript:) WOODRUFF: Governor Dean, before you sit down, I've just been handed a document. I think it came out of the press room that Senator Kerry's staff has been distributing some comments about what was said. Among other things they are saying that you, Governor Dean, tried to kick Vermont seniors off their prescription drug plan. That's relevant to what you were just saying here, so do you want to respond to that?"
The strangest thing was this: While Dean stood to answer his TownHall question, Kerry could be seen behind Dean and Kerry's lips were definitely moving. It was as if Kerry was feeding information to someone...but who? And why?
In *Slate, William Saletan dubiously voted for Kerry as follows:
Least credible alibi:
"Kerry, after Woodruff read aloud a criticism of Dean that "Senator Kerry's staff has been distributing" in the debate press room. "I didn't raise this, and I didn't know they were saying that."
Speaking of Judy Woodruff, she was terrible annoying to both the viewers and (obviously) the politicians
as she interrupted them constantly. I did not care for this tactic, for this was supposed to be a debate and not an interview.
There seemed to be too much CNN pandering to individual campaigns.
Overall, I give CNN a "D" on their performance.
Time given each candidate was not well-meted and the usual blowhards took advantage.
You know who they are. ;)
I was completely underwhelmed by Joe Lieberman's vow to fight Hollywood. Thinking about the recent chokehold on our civil liberties these past two years with the Patriot Act, the last thing I want to hear is a promise for more censorship in this nation.
*You can see William Saletan's analysis at Slate.
Here's a sampling:
1. Clark's credibility problem:
Wes Clark always looks sincere
(**so true**)
2. Stop-Dean Gridlock:
If you're going to gang up on a candidate, get your story straight.
The more Howard Dean gets attacked from the left (by Dick Gephardt on Medicare and Social Security, and by Dennis Kucinich on the Iraq occupation) and from the right (by John Kerry and Joe Lieberman on trade and middle-class tax cuts), the more the attacks blur into a din of contradictory complaints, suggesting that Dean must be somewhere in the comfortable center. Every jab from Kucinich lets Dean show he's no Kucinich. Every jab from Lieberman lets Dean show he's no Lieberman. Dean summed up the effect when, after taking a shot from Gephardt, he said with a smile, "The folks that are running against me have had the greatest time. First they said I was George McGovern and couldn't win, and now they're saying I'm Newt Gingrich and I couldn't win."
Listen to what Dean said in this debate, and you'll get the real story:
Here are the differences between me and the [candidates] from Washington. First, our campaign is changing the political system in this country. Last time, last quarter, we raised more money than any other candidate by three times—200,000 donors, average gift $72. Secondly, I have a record. Everybody is going to talk about health insurance. Every kid under 18 in my state has health insurance. A third of all the seniors have prescription benefits. Working poor people have health insurance. And the third area is the war. ... If you want real change in this country, then I'd like your support.
That's one issue (the war), plus executive experience (legislators can't get their way as a governor can), plus raising money from medium-sized donors. The legitimate rap on Dean isn't that he's too far to the left or right, but that he's parlayed largely procedural differences into an image as the lone candidate who will bring "real change."
Blogging: Chicago Tribune Discovers a New Source of Talent
An unlikely new source of writing talent: Blogs
By Maureen Ryan
Tribune staff reporter
"....."The media is starting to pay attention to blogs."
Jeff Jarvis, co-founder of Entertainment Weekly
Howard Dean interview-NY Times
By Jodi Wilgoren
NY Times
Published: October 9, 2003
"...they all come from Washington, which I think, this year, is going to be a problem for them."
Gov Dean speaking of some of his Democratic rivals
Thursday, October 09, 2003
A Good-Tempered Man by Charley Reese
Charley Reese
October 8, 2003
"....An honest man with sincere convictions will get angry when he hears lies. Some of our greatest presidents had ferocious tempers. George Washington, Andy Jackson and Harry Truman are three examples.
You don't see other candidates getting angry because they are all phonies..."
"...Whether you agree with him or not, Howard Dean actually believes in his convictions. He is a genuine man.
An honest, genuine man will not suffer fools lightly, nor will he stand around like a dummy with a phony smile on his face while he hears himself lied about..."
The Money Machinery vs. Direct Democracy in Politics-We are not free
The Money Machinery vs. Direct Democracy in Politics:
We are not free...
Re: Tom Paine article
California Hangover
Robert B. Reich
After the California recall, it seems that American democracy only goes as far as the cash will take you.
The vote was nearly inconsequential when you examine the overall process.
What does 'direct democracy' truly mean in today's America?
WHAT?! You have no cash?!
End of the road for you, my friend.
If successful 'direct democracy' is exclusively and effectively tied to money, as Reich suggests, then freedom
is not TRUE freedom. Freedom is corrupted.
Freedom is relative to how much money you have.
Suddenly, it seems slavery is back in vogue.
When you think about it in a most realistic way, the average-to-poor person in this nation is chained to a system in which they will never have a hope of truly being able to be free...
not when the tyranny of money is the only avenue to American power...all other roads dead-ended.
Tyranny builds on tyranny.
Monarchy produced tyranny which sparked the American Revolution.
Will moneyed power-concentration in government do less?
How long will Americans stand for stolen elections and attempted coups in the guise of "elections"?
How long will media be accomplices in the process?
The only way to obtain your freedom in America.
This proves capitalism a flawed method of maintaining true freedom for individuals.
Reich has a good point here.
Things have gone too far.
It's time to take a step back and see what's happening to our country.
Democracy and freedom shouldn't be complicated concepts...
but they are.
They say you can't legislate what they call "freedom".
Eagles live on light...they soar on air.
We must put limits on this corrupted type of "freedom", if we are a nation of/by/for "the people".
Because what they are calling "freedom" is actually "money"...and nothing more.
Look up "freedom" in your favorite book of philosophy.
Keynes said of self-interest:
"Dangerous human proclivities can be canalized into comparatively harmless channels by the existence of opportunity for moneymaking and private wealth, which if they cannot be satisfied in this way, may find their outlet in cruelty, the reckless pursuit of personal power and authority, and other forms of self-aggrandizement. It is better that a man should tyrannize over his bank balance than over his fellow-citizens. . . ."
He is harmless is his miser's chamber...until he decides he wants your freedom as part of his sorry stash.
What happens when those who 'tyrannize over their bank balances' are allowed, through organized interest,
to govern a nation that was born to espouse democracy and the self-evidence of each man being created equal?
We are allowing it, my fellow Americans.
We are allowing freedom to become a perverted concept in our America.
Today's average American is no more than this...a slave to special interest.
One comment: If there was a positive to be seen, it would be the results of the recall.
It sparked many, many voters to get out and speak their mind.
I wonder how many of those voters who said "NO" to the recall realized that they never stood a chance?
Jude
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpts:
".....Progressives of a century ago, such as California’s then Republican governor Hiram Johnson, never dreamed that a single person’s money could buy enough signatures on a petition to force an entire state to go through a recall vote. That would be the reverse of direct democracy."
"...now, any governor is fair game at any time, at least in California. All you need is one very determined and very wealthy person, coupled with a governor whose popularity has sunk for whatever reason and no matter how temporarily.."
"...Gray Davis wasn’t the only loser yesterday. If Californians woke this morning with a headache, it’s not surprising. They made a mockery of what their progressive forebearers intended to achieve.
"..Let’s hope they’ve learned a lesson, and the rest of the country has, too. Direct democracy is a fine idea, as long as it’s accompanied by strict limits on what people can spend on it..."
NOTE:
SEE MY BLOG ENTRY ABOUT THE RECALL FROM 6-29-03
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Second Superpower
The Second Superpower
James F. Moore
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Harvard Law School
"..the collective wisdom of the second superpower is grounded in the individual wisdom within each of us..."
Sen. Conyers of House Judiciary Committee asks for Rove's Resignation
Congressman Conyers of House Judiciary Committee
asks for Rove's Resignation
October 7, 2003
Dear Mr. Rove:
I write to ask you to resign from the White House staff. Recent press reports have indicated that, while you may or may not have been the source of the Robert Novak column which revealed the status and name of a covert operative, the wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson, you were involved in a subsequent effort to push this classified information to other reporters and give it even wider currency. This itself may be a federal crime, but regardless of that fact, your actions are morally indefensible......
see entire letter here at Buzzflash
Dreadful Dismal Doleful Dolorous Dollar-Less
Sometimes the Olde Times Feel Like the Now Times
From : The Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser
1765
Newspaper of William Bradford, then-age 24...the leading printer in Philadelphia. On the day preceding the one in which the Stamp Act was to go in force, the newspaper contained the emblematic head and "doleful" communication seen in this engraving.
Main Entry: dole·ful
Pronunciation: 'dOl-f&l
Function: adjective
Date: 13th century
1 : causing grief or affliction a doleful loss
2 : full of grief : CHEERLESS a doleful face
3 : expressing grief : SAD a doleful melody
Main Entry: do·lor·ous
Pronunciation: 'dO-l&-r&s also 'dä-
Function: adjective
Date: 15th century
: causing, marked by, or expressing misery or grief
Pakistan Holds Second Missile Test in a Week With Rocket That Can Reach Most Targets in Rival India
By Paul Haven Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 8, 2003
Four days ago, after the last Pakistani missle test, this was U.S. official reaction:
"...we have continued to urge both Pakistan and India to take steps to restrain their nuclear weapons and their missile programs, including no operational deployment of nuclear-armed ballistic missiles."
State Dept. spokesman Richard Boucher
SOME RESTRAINT!
Dniel Pipes on WMDs
Pipes Makes Apology and Excuse for Lack of WMD Discovery--
Furthers Story of Saddam Playing the U.S. for Complete Saps
"......If no WMDs exist, the real mystery is not how the Bush administration made the same mistake everyone else did; the mystery is why Saddam purposefully created the false impression he had WMDs. Why did he put himself into the bizarre position of simultaneously pretending to build WMDs and pretending to hide his non-existent weapons?"
In other words, Bush scratches his head....can't believe he was duped into becoming attack dog..and it's Clinton's fault as usual...(note the "everyone else" reference)
Colin Powell Speaks..
I Have Questions
I am using some of Colin Powell's quotes from this week's Washington Post letter:
POWELL: "What the world knew last November about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs was enough to justify the threat of serious consequences under Resolution 1441. "
--Enough?
What DID the world "know", General Powell?
Obviously not what you THINK you knew.
I watched you at the U.N. before this war began.
You aren't fooling anyone, Sir.
Was it enough to justify all the war dead?
Was it enough to justify so much of this?
I say NO.
POWELL: "In the interim report, Kay and his team record the chilling fact that they "found people, technical information and illicit procurement networks that if allowed to flow to other countries and regions could accelerate global proliferation."
Having put an end to that harrowing possibility alone justifies our coalition's action against Hussein's regime. But that is not the only achievement of our brave men and women in uniform and their coalition partners."
--How can you say you have put an end to the possibility of the outflow of procurement when you don't even know where these weapons or plans for weapons are..if they ever existed....or if you don't know whether or not these
ghost-weapons have already made their way across borders while we lost control of Iraq during our unilateral strike?
It's strange, General Powell, that you completely fail to mention the Kuwaiti foiling of an attempt to smuggle $60 million worth of chemical weapons and biological warheads from Iraq to an unnamed European country last week. Do you not wish to expose how vulnerable you have made Americans?
No.
POWELL: "Three weeks ago I paid my respects at a mass grave in the northern city of Halabja, where on a Friday morning in March 1988, Hussein's forces murdered 5,000 men, women and children with chemical weapons. Saddam Hussein can cause no more Halabjas. His "Republic of Fear" no longer holds sway over the people of Iraq. For the first time in three decades, the Iraqi people have reason to hope for the future.
President Bush was right: This was an evil regime, lethal to its own people, in deepening material breach of its Security Council obligations, and a threat to international peace and security. Hussein would have stopped at nothing until something stopped him. It's a good thing that we did."
--Question for you, General Powell....
We don't have one weapon of mass destruction to date.
Not a one.
I see that Saddam Hussein was a horrific leader.
Terrible things happened under his rule.
That said....
WAS WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN IRAQ SUFFICIENT REASON TO GO INTO IRAQ WITHOUT INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT?
My answer is a resounding NO, General Powell.
NO!
French 9/11 provocateur loses libel case
PARIS, Oct 3 (AFP) - Thierry Meyssan, the French author of a book that claimed the September 11 attacks were organised by the United States and that no plane crashed into the Pentagon, has lost a defamation case against a newspaper that accused him of being a profiteering fabulist.
The Paris court Wednesday struck down Meyssan's EUR 25,000 (USD 30,000) claim against the daily Liberation, saying its articles criticising his theory and character were protected by freedom of the press and the right of journalists and the public to challenge the author's controversial position.
Liberation printed three stories in March and May last year rubbishing Meyssan's assertion in his best-selling book "L'Effroyable Imposture" (printed in English as "9/11: The Big Lie") that the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon was carried out with a bomb planted by US authorities, not a hijacked plane, and that it was "a conspiracy ordered by a militaro-industrial group close to President Bush to justify the war in Iraq.... Meyssan has continued to taunt the US government, and his association has started selling a deck of playing cards featuring the faces of President George W. Bush and his aides with captions alleging they waged war on Iraq for reasons of greed."
Vivendi and General Electric
...or...
Vivendi and General Electric Sign Definitive Agreement on New Entertainment Company
By Jamey Keaten Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 8, 2003
Now..to crush Disney....
One can never get enough military media concentration, can one?
Two sides of a story?
BAH!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)