Sami Omar al-Hussayen

"This is a big, important trial, and the fate of Hussayen serves as a microcosm of what could happen across the country. Boise has once again become a battle ground for human rights."

--Gerry Spence

The Department of Justice claims that Hussayen, by helping to maintain websites, has violated the USA Patriot Act's "expert advice" provision -- which makes it a crime to provide "expert advice or assistance" to groups that meet the Act's definition of "terrorist". The case is a key test of the limits and constitutionality of this part of the USA Patriot Act ("Patriot Act"). Although the facts of the case are still emerging at trial, to the extent that the government's case suggests that web hosting alone can constitute "expert advice," the prosecution has troubling implications for free speech. Question: The issues go far beyond the case itself. What about the chilling effect on others who are posting, or simply allowing on their forums, controversial ideas far short of an actual fatwa? What about the chilling effect on those who want to be moderators or posters, but know they will not be able to scrutinize everything that appears on their email lists, or everything they upload?[LINK]

On a recent thread about Sami Omar al-Hussayen, one Freeper commented: "Ther (sic) are no "innocent" muslims."
Freeper-types love to condemn without rational thought. The Freeper-types ought to follow the witch-hunting trails to one American they ideologically idolize before they hyper-judge:
CAIR -> Bassem K. Khafagi -> Grover Norquist

"My brothers and sisters, it is wrong to stay inside your house and think this storm is going to pass,” said Bassem Khafagi, community affairs director of the national office of CAIR. "We owe it to our kids to stand up and explain who we are and what we believe. Otherwise, what kind of country are you going to leave them-- a country that hates them? A country that knows nothing about their religion. Would you like your kid to say someday, ‘Oh, my dad left me with a million dollars, but with no dignity?’” Khafagi left no doubt about what he regarded as the path to salvation in America. “Are you an ambassador of Islam? Are you telling others about Islam? If you’re not doing your job, then don’t curse the media, please. Each one of us is responsible.”

Headlines


NYT- In the Fulbright Mold, Without the Power
**The success in the effect of propaganda-media (ie: FOX) lies in the manipulation of public opinion. Politicians are, for all intents and purposes, enslaved to the slick bias of cable news. (Which means the American people are also enslaved to headline-hypnosis and punditry-thralldom by cable news editors.) Our Congressmen are forced to ignore the tenets of America's founding fathers in favor of their ugly politics. If we want to heal the bitter divisions in the nation, we have to become smarter media consumers. For some reason, I am doubtful this will happen anytime soon.**

Richard Lugar...the current chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee...has not spoken at any length to the president in nearly eight months...."In 1966, the foreign policy debate was focused on the Foreign Relations Committee," Mr. Hagel said. "It was the only forum the people of the country could go to.....Now, he said, "with all the talk shows, the cable news channels and the constant 24-hour-a-day barrage of news, the culture of the foreign policy debate has changed. "Even more important," Mr. Hagel said, "you have an administration that does not reach out to or see much value in consulting with Congress. They treat Congress as an appendage, a constitutional nuisance."

WP-Gamble on Sharon Goes Awry for Bush; Likud Vote Against Plan a Blow to U.S. Credibility

President Bush took a huge diplomatic gamble two weeks ago when he forcefully embraced Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza.....Now, the Likud Party's overwhelming rejection of that plan has left the administration's credibility in the Middle East in tatters...."The real objective of giving Sharon the blank check he left with was to shore up his political support at home," said a State Department official speaking on the condition of anonymity. "We paid a very high price and did not get a return."

NYT- After Attack, Company's Staff Plans to Leave Saudi Arabia
**Read Prince Abdullah's statement. What does this say about Saudi Arabia's government and their real attitude toward America vis-a-vis Israel?**

One diplomat said he also expected recent events in Iraq to spur more such attacks, especially in light of reports of Americans abusing Iraqi prisoners. "I fear that those pictures and the images are indelibly printed on the minds of many young Arabs and Muslims, and there will be outpourings of outrage," said a Western diplomat in Riyadh. Crown Prince Abdullah..blamed outside influences, specifically Israel, for the terrorism plaguing the country..."It became clear for us and I say it, not 100 percent but 95 percent, that Zionists' hands are behind what is going now," the crown prince said. "Unfortunately, they deceived some of our sons. The devil made them daring and they are supports of the devil and colonialism."

Yahoo News/AP- Bremer Takes Back Statements About Bush
**Unless we're impulsive fools, it's generally held that we don't say things unless we mean them.**

At a McCormick Tribune Foundation conference on terrorism on Feb. 26, 2001, Bremer said, "The new administration seems to be paying no attention to the problem of terrorism. What they will do is stagger along until there's a major incident and then suddenly say, 'Oh, my God, shouldn't we be organized to deal with this?' That's too bad. They've been given a window of opportunity with very little terrorism now, and they're not taking advantage of it."

WP- Bush Executive Powers in the Balance
**Who trusts this Supreme Court to make the right choices?**

After hearing the final oral arguments of the term last week, the Supreme Court enters an intense two-month period of opinion-writing that legal analysts expect to produce some of the most momentous legal pronouncements in recent memory -- and no one has more at stake in the outcomes than President Bush. To a significant extent, what the court will be ruling on is the Bush administration's effort to carve out greater presidential power and privilege, in the realms of foreign and domestic policy....

NYT/Maureen Dowd- Wolfie's Fuzzy Math
**I thought Bill Kristol looked like an angry child on FOX News Sunday yesterday. I kept thinking: This is the b*stard who carries heavy responsibility for us BEING in this Iraq mess, and he would begrudge a reading of the names of the men and women who died for his horrendouly Utopian bullsh*t ideas? Chris Wallace looked like a slave and a pathetic little (well-paid) whore for Mr. Murdoch when he criticized Ted Koppel's reading of the names of our Fallen. I thought Brit Hume was a refreshing voice of reason in his comments (for a change)...calmly stating the truth: that people will take away from 'the reading' what they will. You really do have to wonder why Bill Kristol got his shorts in an uproar.**

This is, of course, an administration that refuses to quantify or acknowledge the cost of its chuckleheaded empire policies, in bodies, money, credibility in the Arab world, reputation among our allies or the reinvigoration of militant Muslims around the globe. Duped themselves, they duped Americans into thinking it would be easy, paid for with Iraqi oil. But Donald Rumsfeld's vision of showing off a slim, agile military was always at odds with the neocons' vision of infusing enough security into Iraq to turn it into an instant democratic paradise.....Now things have deteriorated to the point that the administration is pathetically begging for help from the very people it was trying to roll over — the U.N., Saddam's Baathist generals and the Iranians.....When Ted Koppel decided to devote his Friday "Nightline" to showing the faces and reading the names of the men and women killed in action, Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard denounced it as "a stupid statement.....Americans won't take casualties for the credibility of the Bush administration. That's not a good enough reason for people to die."

San Mateo Times-Ellsberg draws parallels between Iraq, Vietnam

If he hadn't waited until 1971 to go to the press with the Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg asked, could he have minimized the toll of war? They were tough questions without easy answers. He is still grappling with them. By extrapolation, he challenges the possible whistleblowers in the current administration to consider the harm they might prevent. Richard Clarke made recent headlines with his book charging that President George Bush failed to focus on the warnings about al-Qaida before Sept. 11 and diverted resources from the fight against terrorism by invading Iraq. It was better for Clarke to reveal his information before the presidential election, Ellsberg said, but he should have gone public two years ago.

anonyMoses gives Adrian Mitchell Viet Nam war poetry a modern face

Tell me Lies about Iraqnam


Tell me Lies about Iraqnam
by anonyMoses


I was run over by an SUV one day.
Ever since the Selection I've walked this way
So stick my legs in Hummers
Tell me lies about Iraqnam.

Heard the Wingnut screaming with hate
Couldn't find myself so I went back to Slate
So fill my ears with Limbaugh
Stick my legs in Hummers
Tell me lies about Iraqnam.

Every time I shut my eyes all I see is Plames
Made a blog entry and I carved all the names*
So coat my eyes with football
Fill my ears with Limbaugh
Stick my legs in Hummers
Tell me lies about Iraqnam.

I smell someone learning, hope it's just my brains.
They're only dropping daisy-cutters and daisy-chains
So stuff my nose with cocaine
Coat my eyes with football
Fill my ears with Limbaugh
Stick my legs in Hummers
Tell me lies about Iraqnam.

Where were you at the time of the crime?
Down in Camp David drinking slime
So chain my tongue with Coors Lite
Stuff my nose with cocaine
Coat my eyes with football
Fill my ears with Limbaugh
Stick my legs in Hummers
Tell me lies about Iraqnam.

You put your bombers in, you lock your conscience out,
You take the human being and you pissed it all about
So scrub my skin with Oil
Chain my tongue with Coors Lite
Stuff my nose with cocaine
Coat my eyes with football
Fill my ears with Limbaugh
Stick my legs in Hummers
Tell me lies about Iraqnam.

-anonyMoses

At the White House correspondents' dinner...


I wanted to comment on something I'd written earlier this week. I'd criticized Pres. Bush's value-hyperfocus on Pat Tillman's walkaway from millions of dollars in order to serve our country. I'd said:

"It makes me so sad. I honor Pat's service. I honor the life he gave for this country. I honor every man and woman who died, was wounded, or is going through a non-stop hell because of the greed that brings people to the point of war. They all walked away from shelter, safety, beloved family, for their country. Those are the things our president should be applauding. During his State of the Union speech last January, he never gave tribute to the dead at all. I respect the office of the president, but I have to say, from what I've seen of his political face (which is the only way I could possibly be able to judge), that I don't think I like Mr. Bush very much as far as human beings are concerned. His values are so very different from my own.

Perhaps I'd judged G.W. Bush too harshly in the case of Pat Tillman. I watched Bush at the White House correspondents dinner last night and heard him say

[the death last month of Pat Tillman] "brought home the sorrow that comes with every loss and reminds us of the character of the men and women who serve on our behalf. Pat Tillman was modest because he knew there were many like him making their own sacrifices. They fill the ranks of the armed forces. Everyday somewhere they do brave and good things without notice. Their courage is usually seen only by their comrades, by those who long to be free and by the enemy. They are willing to give up their lives and when one is lost a whole world of hopes and possibilities is lost with them. This evening we think of the families who grieve and the families that wait on a loved one's safe return."

It almost seemed a direct response to my prior criticism.

Credit where credit is due. I stand corrected.

I hope, in months to come, Mr. Bush will become a better Commander-in-Chief. I can't help but wonder if, deep in his heart, he is sorry he trusted and took the counsel of Neo-conservative chickenhawks like his (alleged) second-in-command Dick Cheney and deputy Sec'y of State Paul Wolfowitz (who can't even care to properly keep track of the numbers of troops fallen because of his grande schemes).... while Mr. Bush turned his back on great men like General Eric Shinseki.

I fear the inexperienced G.W. Bush has learned too little; far too late. Then again, as long as we're alive, we have the ability to change our course.

Appeal to the U.N. now, President Bush. Bring our troops home.
Their mission is, indeed, accomplished.
All that is left to accomplish would be making a killing field of Iraq.

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

Let's face the truth bravely, honestly, all politics laid aside.

"We have already failed. Staying in longer makes us fail worse. ... I think we've passed the chances not to fail. And now we are in the situation where we have to limit the damage."

---Retired Lt. Gen. William Odom, a former director of the National Security Agency on the Today Show last Thursday

"Anybody that's pro-American cannot gain legitimacy. It will be a highly illiberal democracy, inspired by Islamic culture, extremely hostile to the West, and probably quite willing to fund terrorist organizations."

---Retired Lt. Gen. William Odom in the Wall Street Journal last week, commenting on how any new Iraqi democracy won't look familiar to people in the West.

Bring Them Home- U.S. soldiers' families speaking out


Larry Syverson

The Family Readiness Group of the 333rd MP unit has taken its grievances to the top, sending a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld requesting that the troops return home as soon as possible.

"Our troops are still waiting for more body armor. They are still waiting for better equipment. They are still waiting for a policy that brings in the rest of the world and relieves their burden."
--Army National Guard 1st Lt. Paul Rieckhoff, Iraq war veteran in today's Democratic response to the president's weekly radio address.

The U.S. can't win under the circumstances present in the Sunni triangle, no matter what they try to do. The willingness of the U.S. to install a relatively unknown armed force with ties to the ousted regime at the forefront of the Fallujah standoff is a sign of U.S. eagerness to find a way out of the siege, which has raised an international outcry and has angered many Iraqi leaders who once supported the United States. These Iraqi leaders will likely be part of the new Iraqi government at the end of June. All I can foresee is civil war and U.S. troops in the middle of it in the dreaded heat of the coming summer.

God forgive us

What kind of God do we assume will forgive our moral transgressions?


"I don't support [the insurgents], but the way the Americans have dealt with and are dealing with this city makes me hate every American here, more and more."

--Sabah Alani

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Volunteers hunting for bodies in Fallujah find a woman and her daughter in their home, killed in the siege but undiscovered for days. Chanting mourners bury two boys caught in the crossfire of a Baghdad gunfight. A morgue in Basra overflows with torn and burned bodies from a suicide bombing.

Victims... young and old, women and men, insurgents and innocents --have been piling up day by day, making April the deadliest month for Iraqis--and Americans--since the fall of Saddam Hussein a year ago.

The Associated Press found that around 1,361 Iraqis were killed from April 1 to April 30.

"For this to be happening a year after Saddam fell, Iraqis are shocked," said Mahmoud Othman, a member of the U.S.-picked Governing Council. "This shows that the United States cannot rule Iraqi properly..." [LINK]

After the public was hoodwinked, we've attacked a country that was not an imminent threat to us.
We've caused terror to be unleashed in that country of poor souls.
We never planned for the inner-chaos amongst the Iraqi nationalists.
A cake-walk, they told us. Flowers.
Instead, resentment, blood, hatred, death.
Women and children are made victims too easily..too often. Why should their lives be cheaper than yours and/or that of your own beloved family?
This is sheer insanity.
It's all gone so wrong.
The world-at-large has abandoned Bush's imperialist dream.
Bush holds stubbornly tight to that imperialist dream, like a willful child in pitiful denial.....refusing to let go of his dead dog long after the car's run it down.

Bring our troops home.
Get them the hell out of there.
Now.

President is wrong in trashing our troops

Let me start by saying I do not condone or defend cruelty to any prisoner of war while in the hands of captors, but to hear Bush saying he's disgusted with the troops (when he doesn't have the full story) made me think: He put our men and women in a land where savagery and hatred against them reigns. He's also employed private contractors who are under no constraint such as the Geneva Convention rules. Creating a prison-camp at Guantanamo, Cuba set a new standard for more freedom to "interrogate" out of the watchful eyes of the world. War is not pretty. There is never a guarantee of justice in war. These American men and women are facing hell..pure hell..every damned waking moment of their year (plus-extension) in Iraq. They are emotionally disturbed by what they see. They've killed for their mission...with regret. They've seen their friends bruised, bloodied, and killed in front of their eyes. They are not their civil selves while at war. Why do we treat them as if they're some kind of superhuman? Put yourselves in their hellish place. A careless liar put them there..in hell. A frolicking stooge who never faced gunfire in his life (unless he was shootin' at some food). I wonder if you can tell I'm disgusted myself? I give our soldiers every benefit of the doubt. So should the President. God knows what monsters any of us would become if we were living in hell every waking moment.

Instead of displaying public disgust, find out what brought our military to such low tactics..investigate from how high-up the gross violation of human rights was approved...and mostly, bring the troops home where they belong. We all know the most-heard statement from Iraqi citizen to American troop: "Thank you for liberating us, now go home." It's time.

America may well be the world's only hope for a bright future, but we'll never convince anyone at the butt of the gun. Our troops did their job...their mission was accomplished (and accomplished well) after Saddam Hussein was caught. Everything that's happened since has been a disaster because it was never their job to do alone.

I'm here to say I'M disgusted with a commander who lost the trust of the world (after a golden opportunity post 9-11) He could not (and did not try to) convince leaders to to do the right thing and step in alongside us to win the Iraqi trust, hearts and minds. He was too afraid..too proud to make the U.N. appear "relevant". Not one more American man or woman should die, but instead should be on a ship or airplane bound for the re-uniting with their loved ones and their countrymen who have the utmost respect for their commitment, bravery, and loyalty.
___________________________

*Did anyone express digust about what happened to Maher Arar?

"The Exorcist" in 30 seconds

Re-enacted by bunnies
*With a mysteriously power-of-Christ-compelling rendition of the theme song at the end.
This is a must-see, people.

Flowers and Curses

Mordechai Vanunu, flanked by his two loyal and devoted brothers, Meir and Asher, emerged through the prison gate into the spring sunshine. He raised his hands in the air with the 'V' sign, and told the world he was the same man who had been captured and imprisoned in 1986, and that he was proud and happy with what he had done.

Mordechai Vanunu has been freed.
From NPR's Julie McCarthy: "Since Vanunu's been in jail, India and Pakistan joined the nuclear club. The US went to war to destroy what it said was Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. His release comes as Libya and Iran have been put under intense scrutiny to dismantle their nuclear capabilities. It's against that backdrop that Israel continues to maintain its decades-long policy of nuclear ambiguity, neither confirming nor denying the existence of nuclear weapons. And successive US administrations haven't demanded anything more. Meanwhile, Vanunu, we're told by associates, says he's going to campaign to the extent he can against the spread of nuclear weapons."

On Being a Desert

Being a Desert

There is an ancient teaching that is at the core of true spiritual development: in order to connect constantly to the Light of the Creator we must develop and become like the desert.

The desert is un-owned, open space within which anybody can do anything they want. This is the level to which we are supposed to develop. Being like the desert means that you do not care what people do to you, what people say to you, or what they do not do for you or say to you. It means being free in the deepest sense.

Our nature is usually the opposite of the desert. We are extremely and constantly concerned about what people do, say or even think about us. We are captive to almost everybody, for their actions, words and even thoughts can influence our feelings and life. In order to develop spiritually we need to constantly work on becoming like the desert, feeling open and free like the desert. It is not an easy process but one that not only greatly enables our spiritual development, but also brings to a level of equanimity and peace that cannot be reached any other way.

It is a process that takes constant focus and effort but one whose spiritual and practical effect is immense.

Rabbi Michael Berg

The honoring of our fallen should not be censored


"Just look at these people. Look at their names. And look at their ages.
Consider what they've done for you. Honor them.
I truly believe that people will take away from this program the reflection of what they bring to it.''

--Ted Koppel


Many of you may not be aware of my Honor Roll website/blog. I went there today to add what I consider to be a shameful headline: Sinclair Broadcasting refuses to air Nightline reading of the list of our fallen.
I applaud any network that would devote its time and effort to honor the men and women who gave their lives for the cause and commitment they made for this nation, regardless of politics.

Whatever brought Sinclair Broadcasting to this decision..I don't understand it, but silencing mention of our dead is f*cking shameful! Those men and women fought for American values and freedoms that are being stepped on by the likes of Sinclair.

Jane Bright of Military Families Speak Out is the mother of Sgt. Evan Ashcraft, who died July 24, 2003, near Mosul, Iraq. She said: "The Sinclair Broadcast Group is trying to undermine the lives of our soldiers killed in Iraq. By censoring Nightline they want to hide the toll the war on Iraq is having on thousands of soldiers and their families, like mine."

Sinclair's soft money political contributions will probably tell you exactly what they're afraid of. The hard money tells the same sordid tale.

I'm right on this. I know it clearly. Our soldiers know it. Their families know it.
If we cannot distinguish public mourning from making statements against a war, then we have failed as a free and civil people. We are no longer beholding of the American ideals on which our nation was founded.

See: Sen. John McCain's protest to Sinclair
See: "Koppel defends the fallen" by Al Tompkins

Daniel Pipes: U.S. military is not an instrument for social work

Daniel Pipes has written an interesting article about Americans and their vision of our nation in relation to the world-at-large. He means to show that the ensured success of bringing democracy to Iraq by miltary force is clearly not a foregone conclusion. He states that the U.S. goal 'cannot be a free Iraq, but an Iraq that does not endanger Americans'.

He offers a triad of perceptions/ideas formulated by Samuel P. Huntington, a Harvard professor, from his new book, Who Are We: The Challenges to America's National Identity (forthcoming in May).

*Cosmopolitan: America ''welcomes the world, its ideas, its goods, and, most important, its people.'' In this vision, the country strives to become multiethnic, multiracial and multicultural. The United Nations and other international organizations increasingly influence American life. Diversity is an end in itself; national identity declines in importance. In brief, the world reshapes America.

*Imperial: America reshapes the world. This impulse is fueled by a belief in ''the supremacy of American power and the universality of American values.'' America's unique military, economic and cultural might bestows on it the responsibility to confront evil and to order the world. Other peoples are assumed basically to share the same values as Americans; Americans should help them attain those values. America is less a nation than ''the dominant component of a supranational empire.''

*National: ''America is different'' and its people recognize and accept what distinguishes them from others. That difference results in large part from the country's religious commitment and its Anglo-Protestant culture. The nationalist outlook preserves and enhances those qualities that have defined America from its inception. As for people who are not white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, they ''become Americans by adopting its Anglo-Protestant culture and political values.''

Mr. Pipes admits to wavering between the bottom two choices. I'd have to say I waver between the top choice and bottom choice. The more of the world we take within and incorporate into our national psyche, the more we erase the differences that once acted as a barrier to ultimate understanding and peace. I find the choice to be quite simple. I don't understand why the second choice would ever be paramount... it seems smug, ego-based and greed-driven. In Sunday school I learned about the Golden Rule and, gosh-darn it, it's made every subsequent choice in my own life amazingly clear and simple. In these days of terror, the world really does need to work as a team. Each team member needs to respect all the differences brought to the table and ego and imperialistic attitude simply must be left at the door, regardless of who's carrying the biggest stick at the table.

How about you? Where do you fall within these choices?

Three questions

ABC's political web daily, The Note asks:

--Which candidate would you say the national political press like more?

--Who do you imagine the national political press think will win in November?

--Who do you suppose the national political press think is running the more competent campaign?

_________________________

The Note previews Kerry's speech, which is to be given today at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

The Note offers a preview excerpt:

"We need to put pride aside to build a stable Iraq. We must reclaim our country's standing in the world by doing what has kept America safe and made it more secure before-leading in a way that brings others to us so that we are respected, not simply feared, around the globe."

"Will all this be difficult to achieve? Yes. Is there a guarantee of success? No. In light of all the mistakes that have been made, no one can guarantee success. No one can say that success is certain, but I can say that if we do not try this, failure is all too likely."

Only the dead never change their opinions.

Why I will be supporting John Kerry

"There is no violent reason for this; I'm doing this for peace and justice and to try to help this country wake up once and for all."
--John Kerry, anguished as he committed his war decorations to the wind in his hope for America to learn the truth about a war which made no sense. [LINK]

He lived and breathed the terror of battle. He saw with his own eyes. He stood up strongly and non-violently at a confused time for his cause (for truth) which we now see, through the clear lens of history, was a righteous cause.

I believe Iraq is as wrong as Viet Nam. I'll never understand why John Kerry voted "Yes" for the Iraq resolution on a fatefully sad day in October 2002. Because he did, John Kerry was not my first choice for the Democratic presidential nominee. I still find it intellectually difficult to personally forgive him for what I perceived as a gross lack of intuition and a violation of decent political ethics.

I ask myself: "Where was Kerry lacking in intuition?"
My answer: "For having trusted George W. Bush".

Now Kerry is running up against the man he trusted..the man who betrayed his trust. A man who betrayed all our trust. A man who fed us lies and material misinformation in order to obtain the political keys to his warped and inadequate war plans.

I'm heartsick to the point of nausea about the American men and women we've already lost in Iraq. (Not to mention the raw pity I am feeling for the innocent civilian life already lost or living in hell alongside our soldiers).

The only success George W. Bush has had in uniting Iraq is unting Iraq against America. He did a bang-up job of doing that.

By the betrayal of my trust and John Kerry's trust, he has also succeeded in uniting the betrayed against him in the next election.

I will warn John Kerry, though...if he gets my vote, he can expect me to remind him as loudly as possible that I want our troops back home where they are respected, valued....loved. They're our precious treasure. I believe, in the depths of my heart, that John Kerry agrees with me.

John Kerry, I hand you my hope.

I read the news today, oh boy



Blogger Soj isn't trying to bum you out. Really. She underscores her current blog entry titled "World Unrest Report", which is a round-up of news from around the world, with:

Note: The links are provided to raise awareness. Please click on one (or all!) of them and find out what's going on. They are not provided to depress you, or to focus solely on the negative, but to raise consciousness about what's going on around this big planet of ours.

Grover Norquist mocks followers of Jesus Christ
Heretics call Norquist a "prophet"

Excerpts from an adoring and glowing review of Norquist:

Excerpt One:

---Grover views those of us on the right as being "the good guys" who "just want to be left alone." Conservatives ask the government for nothing.

America is not for yourselves alone. If you want to be left alone, relinquish your citizenship and move to Mars.

Excerpt Two:

---Norquist then shared the secret for Republican transcendence and that is to constantly seize upon the populace's hatred for taxation.

Cheap and easy. Grover is nothing but a whore. Wait until Grandma starts eating from garbage cans because she has no money and nursing her never-healing wounds with her own spittle because she has no medical coverage.

Excerpt Three:

---He told of the Governor of Alabama who "outwardly had no signs of mad cow disease" and even cited Jesus in his attempt to create a bigger and lazier leviathan [although Norquist comically noted here that he was previously unaware of Paul advocating for a progressive income tax in the New Testament].

As if Jesus Christ and St. Paul didn't advocate helping the poor amongst us. It is the Judeo-Christian's moral responsibility and conscience-based drive to be compassionate, even when it comes to formulating decent public policy. Grover's irreverent mockery of the Christian sensibilities in most Americans will lose him more than he'd ever hope to gain. He should know America better. He's a clown..and a hypocritical clown to boot.

We also know he's in big trouble for courting dubious Islamic-fundamentalist groups for Republican campaign funds. Ask Frank Gaffney.

I suggest that the pledges our representatives are signing- with the promise not to raise taxes- are decidedly not only undemocratic, but anti-American. It is a form of political enslavement. There are many forms of enslavement. Condemning certain citizens to poverty can be far more oppressively enslaving than the requirement for the government (of the people) to require some to pay a share that will not materially harm them and will benefit the necessary welfare of the nation.

We need to speak out on this issue. Look at how these pledges are being used and beware!

I think every American who cares about democracy should pledge NOT TO VOTE for any politician who would enslave themselves by signing away their integrity and political freedom like this. Why? Because they represent us..and they're signing away OUR political freedoms.

______________________

Read:

March of the Banana Republicans
by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton

At ABC News' Political Note, it says: "Grover Norquist is tearing out his hair …" LINK

Looking For Your Own Face


Your face is neither infinite nor ephemeral.
You can never see your own face,
only a reflection, not the face itself.

So you sigh in front of mirrors
and cloud the surface.



It's better to keep your breath cold.
Hold it, like a diver does in the ocean.
One slight movement, the mirror-image goes.

Don't be dead or asleep or awake.
Don't be anything.

What you most want,
what you travel around wishing to find,
lose yourself as lovers lose themselves,
and you'll be that.

--Attar
Persian Sufi poet, 12th Century
as translated by Coleman Barks

Pat Tillman was a man who believed in a cause, died for his country

Pat Tillman was a man who believed in a cause, died for his country

The cause in which his country was engaged mattered more to Pat than the dull emptiness of greed. It mattered more to Pat than life.

Buffalo Bill's
defunct
who used to
ride a watersmooth-silver
stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
Jesus
he was a handsome man
and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death

--ee cummings
from a wonderful Sports Illustrated article

I saw this line in an article today:

[Pat] Tillman has been lauded by many Americans, including President Bush, as a hero for walking away from a $3.6 million contract in the prime of his football career to join units serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

How do we reconcile Bush's applause regarding one decent and honorable man's walking away from millions for a cause in which he felt so strongly that he gave all for country --- while nearly every policy of the Bush administration is filled with the motives of the greediest among us? It makes me so sad. I honor Pat's service. I honor the life he gave for this country. I honor every man and woman who died, was wounded, or is going through a non-stop hell because of the greed that brings people to the point of war. They all walked away from shelter, safety, beloved family, for their country. Those are the things our president should be applauding. During his State of the Union speech last January, he never gave tribute to the dead at all. I respect the office of the president, but I have to say, from what I've seen of his political face (which is the only way I could possibly be able to judge), that I don't think I like Mr. Bush very much as far as human beings are concerned. His values are so very different from my own.

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I saw a headline at World Net Daily: "Firm will give Tillman's jersey to family--Could have made up to $4 million selling pieces with trading cards"
A businessman is meant to look like a hero for not being a sleaze who'd cash in on the back of a dead American hero. I'm sorry, I think I'll refrain giving him any special pat on the back. Why do we glorify the greediest-worst of businesspeople when they finally do something ethical? What does that say about our society?

Sgt. Pat Tillman wore two uniforms that Americans will always remember: the Army fatigues in which he died, and the NFL jersey he sacrificed first..... Before his death, Pat Tillman's NFL jersey might have been lost in the 55,000-square-foot building near the Ballpark in Arlington, where Donruss Trading Cards assimilates iconic souvenirs, putting small pieces of history on collectors' cards. The pieces of a typical game-worn jersey will yield about 2,000 trading cards. In the case of Pat Tillman, the company estimates it could have made up to $4 million. "What Pat Tillman is going to mean to the United States of America is better left to his family and who they want to write that chapter ... not us," said Dully.

Coming Tomorrow to a 9-11 Commission Near You...

Coming Tomorrow to a 9-11 Commission Near You

No..it's not Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy...it's..

THE DICK CHENEY AND DUBYA MCBUSHY SHOW!