Paul Johnson has been beheaded

Paul Johnson Jr. has been beheaded

"Delivering on our promise, the mujahedeen from the Fallujah Squad slaughtered the American prisoner Paul Marshall Johnson after the ultimatum set by the mujahedeen to the tyrants of the Saudi government expired."

-from a statement posted on an Islamist website and signed by "Al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula."

__________________________

"...the United States will soon withdraw about 7,000 U.S. military personnel from Saudi Arabia and terminate a significant military presence there that lasted more than a decade..."The Persian Gulf", Donald Rumsfeld said, "is now a safer region because of the change in Iraq.".....

--April, 2003
[LINK]

_____________________


Donald Rumsfeld's words (above) have proven out to be totally wrong.
It's time for our President and the Pentagon to stop playing Friendly-footsie with the Saudi Arabian government. It's turning awfully sour in the Persian Gulf region these days. (See my comments from earlier this week). This has gone too damned far. If the Saudis are not willingly harboring terrorists (and I have to say I am actually skeptical these days, considering Bush's definition of a nation who harbors terrorists), they are surely not in control of their own national security. If they can't do it, it's time we did...at least if Bush is going to be consistent with his own foreign policy. Perhaps it's time for Prince Bandar to head for a spider hole.

I heard the Saudis killed a guy they claim was the al-Qaeda ringleader in the country.


Here he is..here's the proof the Saudis were good soldiers. When will the Saudis start taking serious pre-emptive action to get these murderers before they lop American heads off?

So--(ding dong)the wicked ringleader's dead. I guess that means they've solved the problem..right? Bush is appeased, perhaps they suppose? We can expect to see no more heads lopped off? (Why did I hear more warnings of future heads to roll on CNN this morning?)

It's important, I believe, to share with my readers the reason I seem so unconvinced that Saudi Arabia has been doing all they possibly can to stop their citizens from attacking Westerners and that I believe it's time to get tough as nails toward them. Many more of their typical citizens (so many more than we've been told) are cheering the Jihad on:

....residents of three Islamic fundamentalist districts in Riyadh, interviewed before news broke of Johnson's killing, suggested that the kidnappers enjoyed popular support, partly because of U.S. policy in Iraq and its perceived backing for Israel.

"How can we inform on our brothers when we see all these pictures coming from Abu Ghraib and Rafah," Muklas Nawaf told The Associated Press as he ate meat grilled on a spit at a restaurant called Jihad, or holy war in Arabic.

He was referring to the pictures of Iraqis abused by U.S. soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad and Israeli military incursions and killings in the Gaza refugee camp of Rafah.

"This is not a little skirmish. It is a war," Nawaf said.

[LINK]

I am not alone in my mistrust of Saudi Arabia. Look at the views of this conservative American at Tomfoolery of the Highest Order.

This isn't going to have a happy ending for our relations with Saudi Arabia. If we think it does, we are DREAMING.

I heard Bush say he will not allow "these kinds of extremist thugs" to intimidate America. So what is Bush going to do? Send troops into Saudi Arabia? Somehow I don't think so.

The saddest joke of all?

While Bush has our troops bogged down amidst an unnecessary bloody civil war in Iraq, al-Qaeda has moved to a new address and has hung out their sign for the new "central front for the war on terror."
It's called Saudi Arabia.

[LINK]

--Link to site for VIDEO-CNN

--Colin Powell Hopes Americans Stay in Saudi Arabia So They Can Get Their Heads Cut Off, Too Despite Risks

--From the "No sh*t, Dick Tracy" headlines: "Saudi US embassy says hostage killing "inhumane"

--See Joe Gandelman's June 15th op-ed on Paul Johnson

--See Joe Gandelman at Dean's World today

Grand Forks Herald Suggests Zinni or Powell for Kerry VP

Grand Forks Herald Suggests Zinni or Powell for Kerry VP


Really.

The question of "Who will it be?" is looming heavily.

We scan the horizon..we ponder..we check Google every 30 minutes....

[LINK]

Jesuit tells Kerry: Ignore Right-wIng Bishops; Move Ahead with Grace

Jesuit tells Kerry: Ignore Right-wing Bishops; Move Ahead with Grace


Being wise enough to understand the Communion debate "is a nonissue" in the Kerry campaign and simply a tool of the Republican Party, Jesuit priest Robert Drinan has advised John Kerry to clamp down on religious rhetoric and "keep cool on the Communion thing". He believes it would be far more graceful to let the Communion issue go during this campaign season. [See LINK]

I think Rev. Drinan understands that if you place the scalpel too close to the collective heart composed of the individuals who make up today's American Catholic church, that heart would have to be split in half. There are far too many divisive issues. The heart, of course, would soon stop beating after the chambers were separated.

Respectfully, though, John Kerry will not benefit by ignoring the subject of religion altogether. Kerry recently said "Catholicism is not defined by one issue," and I think he's absolutely right to continue to remind people of that fact.

What the political right-wing aims to do is to separate the chambers of Catholicism's heart from one another. The scalpel is in their hands. Certainly not in possession of the wisdom of Solomon, they'd rather see the baby cut in two.

Recent scandals involving priest-pedophelia nearly bled the heart of the church, but it did not kill it. If there is ANY issue that should be at the forefront today in the Catholic chrusch, I think it's the pedophelia issue. We know it has not been resolved to the satisfaction of most Catholics. It was smoothed over.

To see a priest deny Communion to a man like John Kerry (knowing many of those priests protected pedophiles..or perhaps had been pedophiles themselves) is nothing short of a sad and unbelievable joke.

I do hope John Kerry takes Rev Drinan's good advice, but also understand that he needs to be unafraid and unashamed to talk about the importance of religion in his own life. Americans want to hear about it. They relate to it.

Right wing ignorant evildoers should be ignored. (Anyone who would aim to split the baby in two is definitely ignorant and inherently evil).

Meanwhile, Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, didn't like the fact that a Kerry aide (Mara Vanderslice) attended (and allegedly helped to organize) an IMF protest where some violence erupted. That got me wondering: What does Bill Donohue think, as a Catholic, of the war in Iraq? I did a bit of research. I saw that Donohue has defended the Catholic position for war, saying that "the pope’s position on the war was that it could be resorted to only ‘as the very last option,’ thus allowing room for a legitimate debate on whether that time had arrived."

Now, if the IMF protest sparked violence, what the hell do you call the war in Iraq?

Do you see..do you smell Bill Donohue's hypocrisy?

We can go and kill untold thousands of innocent civilians over a "religious debate of legitimacy", but a Democrat cannot legitimately speak out against injustice in our world?

Holy bullcrap!

It seems a moral shame to see Kerry's campaign allow people like Mara Vanderslice to be marginalized over such ignorant attacks.

If all that being Catholic means these days is being an automaton without the fire of Christ's mission in our hearts, then I suppose Catholic people like Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and the Berrigan brothers are evil to men like Bill Donohue.

When it becomes "evil" to make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves in a free and peaceful environment as God intended them to do, I might side with Bill Donohue..but right now I have to say I think his soul is dulled and corroded by politics.

Catholicism isn't defined simply by two issues..homosexuality and abortion.

The right-wing (many not even Catholic themselves) are pushing the issues of homosexuality and abortion with the goal of trying to do damage to the Democratic party. I would hope, when American Catholics see how their spiritual lives are being used and abused by those only interested in politics, that they will be spiritually strong enough not to lose their faith altogether. I hope they will stand together and say: "Get politics the hell OUT of our churches."

Michael Moore film was only film that may have saved Disney summer

Michael Moore film was only film that may have saved Disney summer

Or: How being intimidated by Government is bad for Business

Or: The Free Market is Laughing at Michael Eisner

...the one hit film Disney could have had this summer, Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," is set for a blockbuster opening a week from today from Lions Gate and IFC Films.

[LINK]

Putin: American Intel was told what Russian Intel Knew--And..?!

Putin speaks:
American Intel knew what Russian Intel Knew--
And...?!

Any shock-value intended in this news article is incredibly underwhelming. [see LINK]

Russia's president Vladmir Putin says Russia warned the U.S. of Saddam's desire to attack us on our own soil. This, of course, means nothing. Why do I say that? Because it's old news. Older than our pre-emptive war on Iraq. Russian intelligence informed American intelligence at the very time the information was relevant.

America knew everything Russia knew. And.....?!

There is no "rest of the story", you see. What Russia knew didn't change Russia's mind when they opposed regime change in Iraq.

It all comes back to American intelligence and all the failures that have come back to haunt them...and the mis-leaders who knowingly used the highly questionable intelligence. There is still no proof of ties to al- Qaeda terror wrapped up in Putin's so-called "new revelation".

All I can say is that I can clearly see the Bushites are desperate. They've been forced to defend their weak charge that there had been links between Saddam and al Qaeda to justify the invasion of Iraq. Now they rely on Putin to bolster their lies to the American public.

Russia...the same country right-wingers have berated for their ulterior motives in the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal..the same country whose companies the Pentagon barred from bidding on Iraq reconstruction contracts because they'd totally opposed the regime change in Iraq.

I repeat--totally opposed the regime change in Iraq.


UPDATE: June 20, 2004: Zev Chafets writes about the Putin statement (and its odd timing):

Bush argues that no responsible post-9/11 President would shrug off such warnings..The GOP will ask: What would President Kerry have done with the Russian warning? One answer is that there was no warning, that Putin is lying to curry favor with Bush.

Looking Forward to Tomorrow

Looking Forward to Tomorrow

One sunny day in 2005 an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."

The Marine looked at the man and said, "Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer President and no longer resides here."

The old man said, "Okay" and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."

The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer President and no longer resides here."

The man thanked him and, again, just walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same U.S. Marine saying, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the President and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?"

The old man looked at the Marine and said, "Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it."

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, Sir!"

Childish Cheney Lashes Out at N.Y. Times for Headline Truth

Childish Cheney Lashes Out at NY Times for Headline Truth
FOX News fan Dick Cheney lashed out at the N.Y. Times yesterday for reporting the news that the 9-11 Commission found absolutely no link between Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 terrorists. He called the NY Times reporting headlines "outrageous" and commenced spreading the same tired garbage about Saddam's "general" connections to "terror" all over again in an interview with Gloria Borger on CNBC's Capitol Report.
And you'll never guess who Cheney wanted to expound upon to try and make his case: The one---the ONLY---Abu Masab al-Zarqawi. (The Bogeyman! What did I tell you just hours ago? al-Zarqawi's the only hook these misleaders have to hang their liar's hats on these days.)

In today's N.Y.Times, Maureen Dowd has a delicious description of Cheney's unbelieveably stubborn insistence that his war was justified by the connections that were never there....

Mr. Cheney did it again on Monday in Florida speaking at — where else? — a conservative think tank; he said Saddam "had long-established ties with Al Qaeda." This claim, used by the White House to justify its gallop to war, was once more flatly contradicted by the 9/11 panel's report yesterday: "Two senior bin Laden associates have adamantly denied that any ties existed between Al Qaeda and Iraq. We have no credible evidence that Iraq and Al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."

The report says Osama did seek help from Saddam in the 90's, "despite his opposition to Hussein's secular regime." But aside from sending an official to meet with Osama in Sudan, Saddam stiffed his request for weapons and training-camp space.

Mr. Cheney isn't programmed to process evidence that shows he was wrong; he simply keeps repeating the same nonsensical claims as if he has a microchip malfunction.

Unfortunately, there's no spouse to give him a knock on the head, as the Stepford husbands do when their Farrah fem-bots go haywire and keep repeating things like, "I'll just die if I don't get that recipe. . . . I'll just die if I-I-I [bop!] don't get that recipe. . . ."

Cheney-bot just keeps going and going: "He had long-established ties with Al Qaeda. . . . He had long-established ties with Al Qaeda-a-a. . . . He-he-e-e—— brzzzrrrp!"
[LINK]

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

UPDATES:

--See Center For American Progress for discussion of this topic

--See David Corn's take on the subject

Dubya Unchained!

Dubya Unchained!
At The Hill, Bill Press says we can't afford another four years of G.W. ("My Way or the Highway") Bush. Give him four more years and he'll bring you more war, more extremist judges (including as many as three on the Supreme Court), bigger and bigger deficits, more environmental destruction, more anti-Americanism around the world, and less freedom at home.

[LINK]

How Reagan Armed Saddam with Chemical Weapons

How Reagan Armed Saddam with Chemical Weapons

According to Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, in a December 15, 1986 article, the CIA began to secretly supply Iraq with intelligence in 1984 that was used to "calibrate" mustard gas attacks on Iranian troops. Beginning in early 1985, the CIA provided Iraq with "data from sensitive US satellite reconnaissance photography ... to assist Iraqi bombing raids".

Iraqi chemical attacks on Iranian troops--and US assistance to Iraq--continued throughout the Iran-Iraq war. In a parallel program, the US defence department also provided intelligence and battle-planning assistance to Iraq....

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

....On March 16, 1988, Iraqi forces launched a poison gas attack on the Iraqi Kurdish village of Halabja, killing 5000 people. While that attack is today being touted by senior US officials as one of the main reasons why Hussein must now be "taken out", at the time Washington's response to the atrocity was much more relaxed.

Just four months later, Washington stood by as the US giant Bechtel corporation won the contract to build a huge petrochemical plant that would give the Hussein regime the capacity to generate chemical weapons.

On September 8, 1988, the US Senate passed the Prevention of Genocide Act, which would have imposed sanctions on the Hussein regime. Immediately, the Reagan administration announced its opposition to the bill, calling it "premature". The White House used its influence to stall the bill in the House of Representatives. When Congress did eventually pass the bill, the White House did not implement it.




[LINK]

Christian Version of American Idol Set to Debut

Christian Version of American Idol Set to Debut

I hear William Hung will be coming back to perform "She Hangs".

-SHE HANGS! SHE HANGS!-

[LINK]

New book: "Bush on the Couch"

New book: "Bush on the Couch"
Inside the Mind of the President



Here at Iddybud, I'll soon be reviewing this new book by Dr. Justin Frank. It's already generating a lot of conversation. Dr. Frank, 35 years in practice as a psychoanalyst, is a clinical professor at George Washington University Medical Center. He traces the development of George W. Bush's character from childhood to the present day and relates this development to Bush's hampered ability to manage his emotions. His psyche, according to Dr. Frank, is charged with restless anxiety. Dr. Frank shows how Bush's life-charted psychological development has conditioned him to view the world in the black-and-white terms that have so evidently shaped his administration (and our nation's ultimate destiny).

For the past four years, there has been a record of violence and cruelty which has seemed to be increasingly dependent on the unstable psyche of the man at its center.

Dr. Frank begs the all-important question (too-often unspoken) in this book:

Is our president psychologically fit to run the country?


I cannot wait to read this book and share my thoughts with my readers.

Related sites:

Official Site-Harper Collins
Salon
Washington Post
Sify.com
Daily Kos
Anonymoses
Billmon

NOTE:
You may wish to read Dr. Frank's unforgettable satirical piece on Kenneth Starr

The Rumor: Howard Dean as VP

The Rumor: Howard Dean as VP
O.K.

I'll play the gossiping little blogger.

Word is, on Blogdom Boulevard, that Howard Dean helps neutralize potential dissatisfaction with the Democratic party's left and might be on the V.P. A-List.

See Daily Kos.

Pass it on.

Move Over, Osama: It's al-Zarqawi-The Bushites' New Bogeyman

Move Over, Osama: It's al-Zarqawi-The Bushites' New Bogeyman


It seems that Abu Masab al-Zarqawi is the last man the Bushites can try to use as the Saddam-connection-to-terror "bogeyman" link. They love to summon up his fear-producing name. His terrorist moniker makes us shudder.

The name al-Zarqawi pops up everywhere..his fingerprints are allegedly on every act of Iraqi terror, according to the Bush administration. He was allegedly present at the beheading of Nicholas Berg (although, strangely, the person alleged to be al-Zarqawi didn't have the identifiable al-Zarqawi ill-fitting wooden leg). He is alleged to have been the mastermind behind every defiant act against the U.S. in Iraq, it seems...even the one that occurred today.

The Bushites do not like to talk about Iraqi nationalist insurgents fighting the Western power they perceive behind the new Iraqi government. They want you to believe all the terror is coming from outside Iraq. It looks better for their war.

To infer that some of these people are fighting for their own version of national identity undermines the fact that we're trying to "free them".

Have you ever walked into a lion's cage and tried to explain that you were there only to set them free? Why, they'd tear at your limbs, then proceed to eat you alive. After you were digested, they'd seek their own level of freedom and would claim to have never needed you to give it to them. I don't see this war as any different. This nation, Iraq, was a wild land. Saddam Hussein had not fostered a civil society among these poor people. We entered as savages dropping bombs over civilian's heads rather than utilizing every possible bit of diplomacy with our friends around the world. There was never a heart or a mind to be won by attacking an already-weakened country while killing the ones we didn't like (and, indiscriminately, the ones unlucky enough to be in the way).

The 9/11 Commission reports are revealing the folly of Bush's shock and awe upon Iraq. In a recent CPA poll, just 2% (that's TWO percent) of Iraqis believe we came as liberators.

Only 1 (that's ONE) man with any possible connection to "terror" in Iraq in recent years was...guess who? You've got it!

Abu Masab al-Zarqawi.

The bogeyman.

In questioning the extent of any ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda, the commission weakened the already spotty scorecard on Mr. Bush's justifications for sending the military to topple Saddam Hussein.

Banned biological and chemical weapons: none yet found. Percentage of Iraqis who view American-led forces as liberators: 2, according to a poll commissioned last month by the Coalition Provisional Authority. Number of possible Al Qaeda associates known to have been in Iraq in recent years: one, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose links to the terrorist group and Mr. Hussein's government remain sketchy.

*Sketchy..always sketchy...*

[LINK]

Walter Shapiro Dismisses Moore Film as Snide, Immature

Walter Shapiro Dismisses Moore Film as Snide, Immature

[LINK]

I found Walter Shapiro's review of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" to be intellectally insulting.

Shapiro asks:

Does anyone seriously believe, as Moore suggests, that the United States invaded Afghanistan primarily to pave the way for a natural-gas pipeline? Or that the war in Iraq was a single-minded effort to win new contracting business for Halliburton?

Primarily? When did Moore say "primarily"? These are Mr. Shapiro's words.

I think this is dissemination on Mr. Shapiro's part. We'd be pretty naive to think a new free market in Afghanistan would not benefit us greatly when it came to opening a go-ahead path to the pipeline. Like most of us, Moore wasn't born in a turnip patch. The very name of his film, containing the numbers 9/11 make it quite obvious why we began a campaign in Aghanistan. It would also be very naive of us to believe Halliburton did not benefit greatly from this war in Iraq. One look at a factual breakdown of DOD contracts made for Iraq reconstruction will tell you they received sweet corporate welfare from U.S. taxpayers.

Mr. Shapiro seems to miss the "joke" entirely as Moore places a French product in his pre-9/11 scenario:

A single sentence captures the filmmaker's cheap-shot style. Describing George W. Bush's trip to Florida on Sept. 10, 2001, Moore gleefully declares in his voice-over, "He went to bed that night in a bed made with fine French linens." The way Moore presents this tiny detail conveys the impression that stalwart Democratic presidents such as Bill Clinton slept only on the cheapest sheets available from Wal-Mart. Maybe Moore and his fans can call this hitherto unreported Bush scandal "Linen-closet-gate."

Huh?!
I wonder if Mr. Shapiro simply didn't "get it" or worse..if he's feigning disgust at Michael Moore's so-called "snide" commentary to keep his cushy job with USA Today?

At a time when the nation's problems seem so daunting, it is tempting for voters to derive nourishment from moviemakers and radio personalities who offer entertaining theories about how the world really works.

Oh!
You mean, like, Bill O'Reilly, Alan Colmes, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh?

But it does raise troubling questions about the ability of voters to render mature judgments about America's role in a hostile international environment. What does it say about our democracy when Jay Leno and Saturday Night Live are regarded as respected sources of political commentary?

Actually, Jon Stewart betrays 50 times as much truth in 30 minutes than FOX News in a whole day. Saturday Night Live is politically irrelevant these days. Jay Leno is a Bush-man. FOX News is a comedy every time they claim to be balanced. The big-lipped blonde FOXette Laurie Dhue knows how the world works? Give me a break!

I think Mr. Shapiro has given Moore a very unfair shake, considering the deep sh*t we have to wade through every single day in the world of right-wing talk radio and cable TV news.

Bill Clinton's Very Personal Reflections

Bill Clinton's Very Personal Reflections
In '60 Minutes' Interview, Ex-President Calls Affair 'Terrible Moral Error'
By Howard Kurtz/Washington Post
[LINK]

Clinton's greatest accomplishment, in his opinion, was the creation of 22 million jobs.

Dan Rather said Clinton was "supportive" of President Bush on Iraq and that "it will surprise some people."

I don't plan to be overwhelmed or impressed by the "support" Clinton will throw to Bush. Anything he offers will probably be a security blanket for Hillary's political future. Iraq was an unnecessary war and the American public was used badly by a lying administration. Bush alienated our nation from the respect of many of our allies. His Iraq folly drew resources away from the fight against Al Qaeda. The Iraq war caused an increase in membership to terror groups and probably will for years to come. We've only succeeded in spending hundreds of billions of dollars while actually decreasing our security. More than seven hundred Americans have been killed and thousands have been seriously injured.

If Bill Clinton says he clearly supports any of those things, I'll eat my hat and howl at the moon.

The Simple Wisdom of Mad Kane

The Simple Wisdom of Mad Kane

Mad Kane was so pleased last week to see that Bush wasn't exploiting and politicizing former President Ronald Reagan's death. So pleased was Mad that she was inspired to write this lovely poem in his honor:

Dubya Takes The High Road
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Reflected glory Dubya seeks
From Reagan's mourned demise.
Too bad that next to Forty-Three
Ron's statesmanlike and wise.

[LINK]

Philadelphia Daily News Endorses Kerry Before Nomination Accepted

Philadelphia Daily News Endorses Kerry Before Nomination Accepted

It's very unusual to see an endorsement of this kind in the pre-election season. I wanted to share it with you because it is so politically unique. They explain that this endorsement is being made now, when the election is months away, because this race promises to be close and Pennsylvania is one of 18 swing states that can go to either candidate. I'm not sure if this is the first time in American history that such a strong endorsement is made this early, but it certainly stands out as significant and indicative of an expected tough contest to come this fall.

The endorsement is titled:
"KERRY FOR PREZ:
Why Him, Why Now-
And How To Put Him In The White House"

An excerpt:

The Case Against Bush

George W. Bush received - and deserved - praise for his leadership during the dark days immediately following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

But since then, the Bush administration has been marked by failure - failure to shepherd the country through a tough economic downturn, failure to keep the nation focused on the true enemies to our security.

He has failed in even the one challenge he set out for himself at the beginning of his administration - to bring the country together. His has been one of the most ideologically driven and divisive administrations in recent times.

Instead of moving forward, the country has been on the wrong track. These last four years have been wasted.

Bush wasted the opportunity to lead an international movement against al Qaeda, the real terrorist threat. Instead he has led us, with false intelligence, into a senseless war. In less than two weeks, the United States will hand over control of Iraq to the Iraqis. But our troops will remain - and will have to remain for years to come.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, there was a sense of national unity. Bush wasted the moment by deciding to appease the most strident in his conservative base, opposing gay marriages, gagging abortion information and giving comfort to the more irresponsible voices in the National Rifle Association...


The Case For Kerry

Kerry acknowledges that his privileges left him with a responsibility to serve and an ambition to lead. And he has - from combat in the Navy, then as the cleancut (and therefore highly effective) leader of the Vietnam veterans' anti-war movement, as a prosecutor in Boston, and in four terms in the U.S. Senate.

He is not the indecisive waffler the Bush team would have you believe. Instead, he is offering a concrete, pragmatic direction for the nation.

On the issue of high unemployment he is proposing changing the tax laws that give U.S. companies incentives to outsource jobs to India and China.

Kerry promises to roll back the Bush tax cuts for people making more than $200,000 to help cut the federal deficit and help pay for his health-care program, which seeks to expand coverage. He will withdraw the special privileges given to polluting industries and the oil companies as we work toward freeing ourselves from dependence on oil from the Middle East.

On homeland security, Kerry understands that if we are attacked again, the first to respond will be firefighters and emergency medical teams, which have been largely ignored by the Bush administration. Kerry is proposing recruiting an additional 100,000 firefighters. Bill Clinton did the same with police during his term. Afterward, crime went down across the country. Coincidence? Hardly.

On Iraq, there's little evidence that Bush can enlist the international help necessary to bring more of our troops home. There's reason to believe that Kerry, who understands the human cost of war, will.....

Because he respects the intelligence of the American people, he rarely talks in sound bites.

He understands that sound bites aren't solutions.....



[LINK]

Plundered/Sabotaged: Iraq losing oil revenue all around

Plundered/Sabotaged: Iraq losing oil revenue all around


Is it any wonder there is so much anger amongst the people of Iraq?

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

"Despite Allawi's words of assurance, the scene on the street suggested that popular revulsion against the U.S. occupation and the government is growing...."

--From a news report describing Monday's rioting in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, the worst since Baghdad fell in 2003

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

Plundered by the Ones They See As Occupiers

Our Coalition Provisional Authority is positively scrambling to beat the June 30th date to give away $2 billion of Iraq's oil revenues in reconstruction bids to private contractors. The Bush administration knows the new Iraqi government is going to take the reins in just 14 days and they will then have a rightful claim on how their own oil revenues are used. It's ethically disgusting for the CPA (ie: Bush admin/Pentagon) to commit the money to their preferred contractors now. It's really no wonder they're despised and mistrusted by so many Iraqis. The money will come out of the Development Fund for Iraq. The UN Security Council resolution (passed on June 8) requires the new Iraqi government to satisfy all outstanding obligations against the Development Fund for Iraq made before June 30, leaving the new interim Iraqi government with no choice but to honor these questionable expenditures by the CPA.

Just as bad as robbing the Iraqi people's revenues, the business of the State subsidizing corporations through the use of these private contractors (far out of the realm of the "free market") is little more than State-sponsored theft from the People of the U.S. America is providing the capital necessary to undertake Iraq's reconstruction projects. The organization known as the Program Management Office Concept of Operations has the responsibility to ensure Americans receive the best value possible from their investment into the Iraqi infrastructure for the benefit of the Iraqi people. What are they doing? Are you paying attention?


The whole story of the pre-emptive attack upon Iraq is nearly pornographic...one of the most obscene moral tales you could ever hear.


Sabotaged By Those Who Fight Occupation

Iraq's oil exports have been hurt badly by the Basra sabotage. It would take about $30 billion a year in income for the Iraqi state to run the country properly and repair everything that needs to be repaired, as well as servicing its debts and paying reparations. In the past year, Iraq has only been able to generate about $10 billion from petroleum. This is a real kick to Iraq "sovereignty's" credibility-kiester since the direct hit to oil-revenue will be an economy-buster for the new government. Reviving petroleum exports is the key to restoring Iraq's economy after decades of war, international sanctions and Saddam Hussein's tyranny.

If the instability-trend in Iraq spreads to Saudi Arabia (which it seems to be doing right quickly), prices at the pump are soon going to be devastating to us.

American citizens..have you considered that you are being robbed alongside the citizens of the new Iraq? Do you see where your tax-dollars are going?

And you thought IRAQ was terror-connected?

And you thought IRAQ was terror-connected?

The Bush administration and the right-wingers who love them have been desperately attempting to tie Saddam with 9/11 terrorists. VP Dick Cheney constantly tells us there was a connection while offering no proof. We just found out that Osama was rebuffed by Saddam, matter-of-fact. While the Bushites continue to lie (bald-faced) to us and then dig and dig for more fake proof of the slightest coincidental connection, we see stories like these from Saudi Arabia that SCREAM 'terror-harboring'.

We understand that Saudi Arabia knowingly harbors terrorists (voluntarily or not, it's sure terrorists exist fairly openly amongst them).
We understand that Saudi Arabia is a dangerous place for Americans.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has appeased terror-abiding Saudi Arabia by pulling our military bases out.
We've warned American citizens to leave the country.

Yet---
Saudi Arabia has promised George W Bush a re-election campaign boost by manipulating oil prices at the 'right time'.

This leads me to believe that if a government will cooperate with the U.S., it doesn't matter what their terror connections are.

If Saddam had played the U.S. game, he may have been sitting pretty still today. He was not a 9/11 terrorist nor was he "connected". He was a rebellious ex-friend of the Reagan era.

If American contractor Paul Johnson is murdered by these terrorists who hold him captive, we'd better get ruthlessly tough on Saudi Arabia if we're going to be consistent and credible. Saudi Arabia is no less than infested with terrorists and the Saudi government is not firm enough in their resolve. They are too bloody afraid of their own populace.

Why are we allowing them to get away with their inadequate responses? Why aren't we chasing Prince Bandar into a spider-hole?

The hypocrisy of our foreign policy is astounding.

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

Note: If you think chasing Prince Bandar into a spider-hole seems a ludicrous idea for a civilized nation to propose, think about the proportion of 9/11 terrorists who were citizens of Saudia Arabia compared to the number that were from Iraq. The Bush administration has made a hypocritical circus of this war on terror...attacking a nation who played no part in killing so many of our citizens in NYC in 2001.

Ashcroft: Worst Attorney General in History

Ashcroft: Worst Attorney General in History

Paul Krugman says there's no question:
John Ashcroft is the worst attorney general in American history.
(This particular column is focusing only on Mr. Ashcroft's role in the fight against terror.)

[LINK]

5.2 Earthquake in San Diego

5.2 Earthquake in San Diego

Today's earthquake in San Diego (a 5.2 earthquake) took a lot of people by surprise. You can read about the experience (and memories of a far more dangerous quake) at Moderate Voice. Kevin at Primary Main Objective, Lt. Smash, Cinediva, San Diego blog, and USS Clueless have reported in about the quake at their blogs as well.

Louis...if you're out there..how did you make out?

David Brooks and the Great Overgeneralization

David Brooks and the Great Overgeneralization

Someone please tell David Brooks that it doesn't matter that Dubya is a "Manager" and went to business school and drives a pick-up.

Bush is destroying America from the inside.

I don't really care that John Kerry plays classical guitar.

He might be able to turn America's disastrous tidal path. We're heading for the rocks.

Of Managers and Professionals

I worked for a major corporation most of my life as one of David Brooks' "Managers" in a "Professional's" skin. A false career for me, I suppose, when you consider my nature, although I did very well and derived a sense of personal satisfaction for a job well-done. After a post 9/11 career change, I now do the work that better suits my nature. 9/11 informed me in a way that no career-advisor could ever inform a client.

Life isn't very long.

We need to do what we can while were here.

Watching all Bush has done after 9/11..pick-up truck and classical guitar considerations aside...I know that part of what I need to do is to remind my fellow Americans that we have a dangerous man at the helm of a country so many of us love with breath and depth indescribably immense.

Brooks blames the citizenry

One look at a man like Lincoln Chaffee or Christopher Shays completely dilutes Brooks' pick-up/management overgeneralizations. Chaffee, Shays, Chuck Hagel, Richard Lugar...just a few examples of GOP men who do not fit Brooks' "Manager" overgeneralization. Brooks says, if not for the civil war within the educated class in America, this country would be far less polarized. I wonder why it is Brooks fails to fault leadership in Washington, D.C. for the absolutely shitty job they've done this past decade to show the American people what it means to intelligently argue their ideals without all the ad hominem attacks? These are the figureheads of our nation. If they are not charged with heavy responsibility for setting the tone of civility, who should be? To fail to assign blame where blame belongs is little more than delusional and misleading dissemination on Mr. Brooks' part.


America was born through the driving force of David Brooks' Professionals

David Brooks says:

"Managers are more likely to value leaders whom they see as simple, straight-talking men and women of faith."

Let me be blunt. Ben Franklin got more tail than a toilet seat. He loved the women. That wouldn't go over big with the faith-crowd in today's technological news age. Yet, Ben Franklin's abundance of ideas fostered the creation of our nation.

David Brooks says:

"[Managers] prize leaders who are good at managing people, not just ideas. They are more likely to distrust those who seem overly intellectual or narcissistically self-reflective."

Dear heavens. "Managers" would have HATED Ben Franklin.

If Brooks thinks he's broken some magical political code with this analysis, someone needs to know we're out here laughing...through our tears.

Less censorship! Not more!

Less censorship! Not more!

"One of the most important lessons everyone can take from 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' whether they support the war in Iraq, oppose the war or are undecided, is that we need less censorship in this country, not more!"

-- Tom Ortenberg, president of Lions Gate Releasing, which is distributing the film
[LINK-MoveAmericaForward is moving America backward]

See my story from June 11.

Blogger Tsuredzuregusa has some good ideas about how to fight the right-wing's campaign for censorship.

There's a great thread at Daily Kos..

*Discussion:

It was suggested to me by one of my good readers that this is more of a boycott than censorship since censorship is generally considered a government's action and not a function associated with the private sector. I explained that I begged to differ and that there is more to censorship than meets the popular desciption. I've heard many a Rush Limbaugh fan say "Censorship cannot be done by corporations...that's not censorship." I am here to remind them that they couldn't be more wrong.

The inescapable fact that the U.S. has an oligarchical concentration of power through corporations (especially with so many mergers over the past 30 years) cannot be discounted when those same markets decide what will be marketed and what will be relegated to silence. The markets are directly responsible for many discriminatory acts...whether or not they could be deemed legally unconstitutional. Bush and Company need not do the censoring..they can sit back and enjoy their corporate partners doing the dirty work for them. What Disney did to Moore was censorship. Disney didn't boycott Moore. They refused to distribute his film. Disney feared governmental rebuke...not a loss of profits. It was censorship, sure as you're born.

Like our Founding Fathers, we need to understand that a concentration of power in the hands of a few is a dangerous game. I urge you to look at the big picture when it comes to the people who are deciding what you'll see and what you won't be able to see.

Linked HERE is a further discussion of the issue.

Eric Alterman Congratulates Iraq Hawks

Eric Alterman Congratulates Iraq Hawks

In a sarcastic way, mind you. I liked it enough to share it with you in case you missed it.

Take a look at this:

It’s hard to say which is the best representation of what this war is doing to and has done to this country. Is it the lies that were told to get us into it? Is the fact that we are picking up innocent people off the street and torturing them? Is it that we have suspended the most basic civil liberties in our own country? Is it that the work of professional intelligence agencies has been corrupted? Is it that we have drawn resources away from the fight against Al Qaida which has completely regrouped? Is it that we are creating more terrorists? Is it that more than seven hundred Americans have been killed and thousands have been seriously injured? Is it that thousands of Iraqis have been killed but nobody is keeping an account of the numbers of their deaths? Is it that we are now more hated around the world than we have ever been? Is it that we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars while actually decreasing our security? Is it that we are doing all this while starving the most crucial homeland security programs? Is it that everyone who told the truth about what was being planned has been dismissed and seen their characters attacked? The usually soft-spoken and moderate intelligence analyst and author Thomas Powers does not exaggerate when he notes that Bush and the neocons have "caused the greatest foreign policy catastrophe in modern U.S. history."

Congrats to everybody involved…
[LINK-Altercation]

U-Turn for Colin

U-Turn for Colin


"Terror attacks were way down!"


"Uh..Terror attacks were way up..."



"Sheeit, Colin, how come the fibs didn't work?"

*Seriously, people, do you believe anything this administration tells you anymore???

Halliburton/Cheney the focus of new MoveOn PAC Ad

Halliburton/Cheney the focus of MoveOn PAC Ad

MoveOn PAC has a new ad reminding Americans voters that Vice President Cheney's office helped ensure that Cheney's old company Halliburton would receive a $7 billion no-bid contract for rebuilding Iraq. Faced with a choice between serving our troops and helping out his corporate buddies, Cheney chose the latter.

Starting tomorrow, Congress will be holding hearings on whether Halliburton used its close ties to administration officials to get sweetheart deals, shortchanging both our troops and U.S. taxpayers. This is probably an opportune time to coordinate a political ad of this nature.

Halliburton has overcharged taxpayers millions for gas and charged hundreds of millions of dollars for meals for our troops that were never delivered. Last week, Time Magazine exposed this: newly disclosed internal Pentagon emails suggest that the office of Vice President Dick Cheney was instrumental in sealing an $18 billion no-bid contract for the Vice President's former company. In a Pentagon audit, Halliburton was warned that its food service facilities (which serve our troops in Iraq) were dangerously unsanitary, with "blood all over the floor" of its kitchens, "dirty pans," and "rotting meats..and vegetables." As Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) put it, Halliburton is ultimately "a company that arrogantly is overcharging when they can get away with it and not providing the quality of service that they agreed to do." Vice President Dick Cheney still holds hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of stock options in the company. It's hardly surprising that the Administration's response has been anemic, even when faced with clear evidence that the company is bilking taxpayers.

See the MOVEONPAC ad here

Put This Photo on the Sawbuck

Put This Photo on the Sawbuck


Reagan's Envoy Rummy circa 1983

....to remind us of one of the top 10 American Presidents of all time who embraced a murderer..who created a monster...who looked the other way when Saddam murdered his own people..who supplied Saddam with the evil weapons we could no longer find when Dubya wanted to use them as an excuse to attack.

The Long Journey

The Long Journey

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

God's given us years of happiness here
Now we must part
And as the angels come and call for you
The pains of grief tug at my heart

Oh my darling
My darling
My heart breaks as you take your long journey...

From a song by Doc Watson & Rosa Lee Watson

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



Valerie Reitman of the L.A. Times speaks to us about the language we use to prepare for the longest Goodbye. Whether the crossing is real or metaphoric, it's an inevitable mystic event.

Families and health care-workers hear words about the journey so often from the dying, conveying a sense of moving from one place to another, of being in transition...that a reasonable conclusion is that it must be a special language the dying have to communicate what they're experiencing.


[LINK]

Max has an idea

Max has an idea




Max Blumenthal has a counterproposal to Grover Norquist's HR 452. It's called the Ray Charles Memorial Act and it would save the ten dollar bill from Reagan's mug.

That would free the sawbuck problem and make room for my notion: to chuck the silly 'National ID card' idea and use the image of Reagan's head for National ID tattoos on each of our American foreheads instead.



Again, there's Anonymoses' idea: Change the name of the U.S. to "Reagan".

Krishnamurti-"Inquire"

IT IS NOT FOR THE TRULY FREE MIND
TO SIMPLY ACCEPT OR TO SIMPLY DENY

"One has to find out for oneself."


"This does not mean that you reject what others say...

___*______*_____*___

....but that you inquire without acceptance or denial."



^~^~^~^~^~^"An aggressive mind, a mind tethered to a belief, is not free.......


^~^~^~^~^~^

~^~^~^~^~^~and therefore it is incapable of inquiry."



"All this demands intensive inquiry, not acceptance."
____________________________________


KRISHNAMURTI

Turkey taking harder line on Ariel Sharon at OIC Talks

Turkey taking harder line on Ariel Sharon at OIC Talks

The foreign Ministers of a 57-member bloc of Islamic nations began talks in Turkey's commercial capital, Istanbul, over the future of Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict today. Turkey is the only Muslim member of NATO.

The foreign ministers will also elect a new secretary general for the Saudi-based grouping, known as the Organization of the Islamic Conference, or O.I.C.

In the Washington Post, it says the conference will likely emphasize the unity of Iraq amid Arab and Turkish fears the country could fragment along ethnic lines.

At BakuToday.com, it says that foreign ministers are expected to call for a speedy transfer of full sovereignty to the Iraqi people and emphasize the need to preserve the territorial unity of Iraq. Iran, Syria and Turkey, which share borders with Iraq, have expressed deep concern over a feared break-up of Iraq into separate, Kurdish, Shia and Sunni entities should the Iraqis' experiment with democratic self-rule fail. All three are especially worried that the emergence of a Kurdish state in Iraq could fan separatist sentiment among their own Kurdish minorities.


Last week, the leaders at the G8 summit adopted a compromise version of President Bush's plan for Middle Eastern reforms and tied it to resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (one of the few Muslim leaders invited to the G8) has said: "Change should not be imposed from the outside. The character and traditions of each country must be taken into consideration." Before leaving for the U.S., Erdogan had told reporters that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and bringing stability to Iraq were crucial issues for the current OIC.

It is believed that it would be a major coup for the Turks to get a Turkish head of the OIC, and although the Washington Post doesn't mention it, I read this in Baku Today (a less-western-flavoured news source):

Host nation Turkey has long been criticized by Arab nations for its strong military and economic ties with Israel. In recent weeks, however, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken out against the policies of his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon, accusing the Jewish state of engaging in terrorism against the Palestinians.

To gain political ground with the OIC, Turkey is apparently being forced to take a harder line on Israel because of the Iraq war.

I wonder if this Sharon-dissing by one of the only democracies in the region was foreseen by the NeoCons who wanted this war so badly?

Quote:

"And I just, you know every so often I hear some people suggesting, well the right reaction for Turkey to this bump in our relationship is, well we should make more friends with Iran and more friends with Syria. Excuse me, that's absolutely the wrong way to go. The right way to go, as I say, is to think about where the real democrats, where does democracy need to be supported."

-Paul Wolfowitz to CNN Turk May, 2003

We've Killed More Innocent Iraqis Than We've Been Told

We've Killed More Innocent Iraqis Than We've Been Told

It would shame us as good people to ignore the fact that the United States launched many more failed airstrikes on a far broader array of senior Iraqi leaders during the early days of the war last year than has ever been previously acknowledged. Knowing that some caused significant civilian casualties should give us pause to mourn the innocent victims of our war intended to "liberate" them. Only a few of the 50 airstrikes have been described in public. All were unsuccessful. These failures were an early warning sign about the thinness of American intelligence on Iraq. The unspoken numbers of civilian casualties has not been acknowledged by the Bush administration.



The fervored Texas-style manhunt for the faces on that infamous deck of Iraq's "most-wanted" playing cards turned into an entire tome filled with innocent faces who were unlucky enough to be in the way when the shock and awe began.

I am ashamed of the government that would have led us in this iresponsible manner. If you aren't, I wonder if you possess a soul of basic human compassion. This is not to preach, but to ask you how there can be any form of national pride-in-responsibility when our leaders play "Deputy Dawg" and stomp on others' homelands with faulty intelligence and devastating bombs?


MOST WANTED


MOST GOTTEN

The reality of the awareness that every breath is shared with all life and that all people are brethren may never become a political asset...but it will always be true.

The war was unnecessary. Untold numbers of perfectly innocent souls are dead at our hands. The President may not wish to talk about it, but it will always be true.

[LINK]

About Wallace Turnage

About Wallace Turnage



WALLACE TURNAGE
Photo credit: NY Times

His story, written on blue-lined paper in a leather-bound notebook, probably sometime in the late 19th century, ended up with a neighbor, Gladys Watt, who discovered only by reading it that Mrs. Connolly was a former slave's daughter. Mrs. Connolly often described herself as "Portugee" to explain her dark complexion...Mrs. Watt kept the notebook in a closet for years, in a clamshell archival box, unsure what to do with it. And then last summer she took it to the Historical Society of the Town of Greenwich....After the Turnage narrative was donated to the Greenwich historical society, the group hired two researchers to make sure it was authentic. "This is such a vivid and amazing story, the first thing we wanted to do was make sure it was not a fake," said Debra Mecky, the society's executive director. The researchers found that much of Mr. Turnage's account could be verified in census, Army and bank records...

Mr. Turnage's story tells..of the brutality of slavery, because most of his years of bondage were spent as a field hand in Alabama. He writes of near-crippling lashings of female slaves and describes four unsuccessful attempts to escape, some of them followed by severe beatings, before he finally succeeded in 1864 after hiding in a swamp for a week.

While hiding, he often slept in an unused Confederate lookout perch. One morning, he writes, as if he were witnessing a miracle, he saw the tide bring something in.

"Now when I got down there I seen a little boat very small indeed though the tide was going out," he says. "It stood like it was held by an invisible hand; so I got in the little boat and it held me."

A few hours later, as a storm threatened to drown him, he was pulled over the side of a Union gunboat by eight soldiers — and finally "had obtained that freedom which I desired so long."

He ends his story with a stern command to his readers not to regard his account as a "novel, nor a fable, but a reality of facts."

"My reader," he adds, "I will now leave my book to your judgement. The end."


[LINK: N.Y. Times- Journals of 2 Former Slaves Draw Vivid Portraits by Randy Kennedy]

Frank Rich- Bush is clearly no Reagan

Frank Rich-
Bush is clearly no Reagan

Not even close

Last weekend in Normandy, the president sat for an interview in which Tom Brokaw challenged his efforts to pull off a bigger flimflam than impersonating Ronald Reagan — the conflation of the Iraq war with World War II. "You referred to the `ruthless and treacherous surprise attack on America' that we went through during our time," Mr. Brokaw said. "But that wasn't Iraq who did that, that was al Qaeda." With the gravesites of the World War II dead behind him, the president retreated to his familiar script ("Iraq is a part of the war on terror"). Even if you think the lines make sense, the irritated man delivering them did not sound like someone who had ever experienced pain of the life-and-death intensity that comes with war. The problem is not merely that Mr. Bush lacks Reagan's lilting vocal delivery. As any professional actor can tell you, no performance, however sonorous, can be credible if it doesn't contain at least a kernel of emotional truth.

[LINK]

Sanchez Approved Torture; White House May Be Linked to Decision

Sanchez Approved Torture; White House May Be Linked to Decision

Daily Kos diarist DHinMI provides us with an analysis which leads us to expect we'll soon be easily able to connect the Abu-Ghraib dots from Gen. Ricardo Sanchez directly to the Pentagon and to the White House. An article in the Telegraph (UK) tells us:

New evidence that the physical abuse of detainees in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay was authorised at the top of the Bush administration will emerge in Washington this week, adding further to pressure on the White House.

[Telegraph- Interrogation abuses were 'approved at highest levels']

We should face the fact that most Americans have highly suspected the torture at Abu Ghraib was not the work of just a few "bad apples." It would seem terribly naive to think otherwise.

[LINK-DHinMI at Daily Kos]

Also--new in today's N.Y. Times--the Red Cross has said it alerted American military commanders in Iraq to abuses at Abu Ghraib in November. But the disclosures that the military's own interrogators had alerted superiors to abuse back then in internal documents has not been previously reported. LINK/NYT- Unit Says It Gave Earlier Warning of Abuse in Iraq


Michael Moore saw prisoner abuses long before 60 Minutes' revelation

Filmmaker Michael Moore allegedly kept silent about prison-abuses of Iraqi detainees for fear he'd only be blamed for publicity-seeking.

From SFGate.com-

Filmmaker Michael Moore said Friday he wasn't sure he did the right thing by saving footage of U.S. American soldiers' cruelty toward Iraqis for his controversial documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11,'' instead of releasing the evidence earlier when it might have helped halt such abuse.

"I had it months before the story broke on '60 Minutes,' and I really struggled with what to do with it,'' Moore said in a telephone interview with The Chronicle. "I wanted to come out with it sooner, but I thought I'd be accused of just putting this out for publicity for my movie. That prevented me from making maybe the right decision.''

The footage, eerily similar to film of the atrocities at Abu Ghraib prison, shows GIs laughing as they snap photos of each other putting hoods over Iraqi detainees.

In the same scene from "Fahrenheit 9/11,'' which opens Friday at Bay Area theaters, an American soldier fondles a prisoner's genitals through a blanket.

"The stuff with the detainees in my movie is even more shocking than what we saw in that prison because it happens outdoors and is more commonplace,'' Moore said.

[LINK-Documentarian kept quiet after filming U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqis]

Other articles:

WP- General Granted Latitude At Prison; Abu Ghraib Used Aggressive Tactics

Detroit Free Press- U.S. forces lose track of Iraqi prisoners; Men and boys vanish; families search in vain

U.S.News.com- Hiding a bad guy named triple X; How the military treated some inmates at Abu Ghraib like 'ghosts'

Editor and Publisher- Exclusive: Shocking Details on Abuse of Reuters Staffers in Iraq

Need for Change in U.S. Foreign and Defense Policy

Need for Change in U.S. Foreign and Defense Policy

Heavy-hitters in Diplomacy and Military (many from Reagan era) aim to see Bush defeated in 2004

Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, a group of retired ambassadors and senior military officers, will hold a Morning Newsmaker news conference Wednesday, June 16, at 8 a.m. EDT at the National Press Club (Zenger Room), 13th floor, 529 14th St., N.W., Washington, D.C.

The topic will be "The Need for Change in U.S. Foreign and Defense Policy."

The group includes former ambassadors Jeffrey Davidow, William DePree, Charles Freeman Jr., William Harrop, Arthur Hartman, H. Allen Holmes, Samuel Lewis, Princeton Lyman, Jack Matlock Jr., Donald McHenry, Richard Murphy, David Newsom, Phyllis Oakley, John Reinhardt, Ronald Spiers, Nicholas Veliotes and Alexander Watson; and Adm. William Crowe (former chairman of the Joint Chiefs under Reagan), Gen. Joseph Hoar and Adm. Stansfield Turner.

[LINK]

See: NYT- Former Officials to Criticize Bush Foreign Policy

Bush succumbs to Kerry pressure; Contradicts his own Iraq policy

Bush succumbs to Kerry pressure; Contradicts his own Iraq policy

In a political atmosphere which has produced some of the lowest poll approval numbers Bush has seen, we've seen him cave in to pressure to internationalize his dreadful Iraq problem. Jim Hoagland demonstrates how Bush's current efforts to internationalize have only exposed a naked contradiction to his reasons for being in Iraq to begin with. Concessions on Iraq's sovereignty have no rational relation to the moral and national security reasons Bush put first forward for invading Iraq.

I'm afraid this, like so many other purely political moves Bush has made, will only serve to backfire in its effects upon the facts-on-the-ground.

We need much less pitiful political damage-control and far more decisions made by wise and morally consistent leadership.

[LINK-Washington Post]

Frum/Perle Beliefs Threaten the World

Frum/Perle Beliefs Threaten the World

~~~~~~~ - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The Communists, by their own declaration, did not invade Hungary in 1956, or Czechoslovakia in 1968; they "liberated" these countries from evil. Frum and Perle have learned their lessons well."
~~~~~~ - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


David Gordon systematically deconstructs the logic of Perle and Frum.

Frum and Perle have identified with great clarity a system of belief that threatens the world. This system requires all governments to conform to the policies of a single power. Those that refuse face violent overthrow. The ensuing military occupation by the dominant power is styled democracy; and, once people grasp its benefits, it is claimed that democracy of this sort will conquer the world.

[LINK-Ludwig von Mises Institute]

UK Elections: Blair's party takes a beating

UK Elections: Blair's party takes a beating

Clare Short, the former international development secretary, has called on Tony Blair to stand aside after the Labour party suffered its worst 24 hours at the polling booths since the mid-70s.

Short has said:

"I think that the electorate is sending a message to Tony Blair because the Labour party is incapable of correcting him. What he did in Iraq has brought disgrace and dishonour on Britain around the world. As Tony Blair won't change the policy, the only way to make a correction is for him to step aside from the leadership."

[LINK-Guardian]

In Iraq Today

In Iraq Today

Bassam Salih Kubba gunned down
Was Iraq Ministry's most senior diplomat

The 60-year-old Kubba was a longtime diplomat, having served as acting chief the Iraqi mission to the United Nations and Iraq's ambassador to China. Kubba was the second senior Iraqi official to die in weeks. On May 17, Iraqi Governing Council head Izzadine Saleem was killed in a suicide car bombing near the U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad.

Three hostages were butchered by insurgents..one Lebanese hostage and two locals working for a foreign company in Iraq.

[LINK]

Shia Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr gives Iraqi government conditional support
An aide told the Arab television station Al-Arabiya that al-Sadr would cooperate with the new government if it worked to end the U.S. military presence in the country.

[LINK]


In Sadr City

On Friday in Sadr City, one Mahdi Army militiaman was killed and several others were wounded in clashes with American forces in Sadr City, Baghdad. A Sadrist clergyman, Shaikh Nasir al-Sa'idi, preaching at the al-Hikmah mosque, warned nations considering joining the multinational force in Iraq that they will be treated the same way the present occupiers are treated.

[LINK]

In Kufa

At the Friday prayers at the Kufa Mosque, Shaikh Jabir al-Khafaji preached in the stead of Muqtada al-Sadr, reading the latter's prepared sermon for the third week in a row. During the sermon, he mentioned that Muqtada al-Sadr would support the caretaker government if it demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of Occupation forces from Iraq. He emphasized his "refusal to kowtow to the Occupiers."

In Najaf

On Thursday and early Friday, Mahdi Army militiamen looted and burned a Najaf police station after the police attempted to arrest an aide to Muqtada al-Sadr. Although US-installed Najaf governor Adnan Zurufi accused the Mahdi Army of breaking the truce, it is hard to see how the attempted arrest was consistent with a truce. Zurufi is probably egged on in these matters by Paul Bremer and the Coalition Provisional Authority, but note that the US offered him no help on Friday. I think it is a legitimate demand that militias not appear in the streets armed. I'm not sure trying to arrest Muqtada's aides is so legitimate.

--Juan Cole

[LINK]

Food for Thought

A 6/19/2003 report by Juan Cole on the cancellation of planned municipal elections in Najaf was particularly painful for Professor Roger Myerson of the University of Chicago to reread from today's perspective. He wrote recently:

"You [meaning Prof. Cole] reported then that local US officials believed "Najaf was ready for elections and that the theocrats would have done poorly." But even if the Sadrists had won the election, their movement may have developed very differently over the past year if they could have built their political power by spending public funds for local reconstruction, rather than by recruiting soldiers for armed resistance."

Larry Sabato on parallels between 1980 and 2004

Larry Sabato on parallels between 1980 and 2004

Joe Gandelman brought this new article by the University of Virginia's Larry Sabato to my attention (Thanks,Joe).

[LINK HERE-A LESSON PLAN FROM THE GREAT COMMUNICATOR]

Mr. Sabato's asking if this week's look back upon the Reagan years provided us with any insight about the 2004 Presidential campaign. He focuses on 1980, the year when Ronald Reagan achieved what observers at the time thought unlikely.

As the road to the 1980 election narrowed, Mr. Sabato points to these historical
mile-markers:

Foreign policy seemed a mess.

Americans were unhappy about the economy.

Our primary international enemy (the the USSR) appeared to be on the march and achieving major goals.

A sizeable majority of voters said the country was seriously off on the wrong track and
questioned whether the incumbent President and his team were competent enough to handle the myriad challenges before them.

An independent candidate for President added to the confusion of the election.

The country as a whole was uncertain what to do.

In 1980, it was pretty much a dead heat between Carter and Reagan up until October, yet at campaign's end, everything came together for Reagan.

It goes to show us all that you never know what might happen..and this whole 2004 race just might come down to the fates. I think Mr. Sabato is dead-on-target when he comments:

Had Carter managed to free the hostages just forty-eight hours before the election, it is conceivable that he could have managed to win a narrow reelection. Surely, both George Bush and John Kerry are waiting with bated breath to see if certain events in late October (the capture of Osama bin Laden, a terrorist act on American soil, a fresh disaster in Iraq) will swing the election one way or the other.

Though some people may think a happy resolution of the hostage situation wouldn't have quickly erased the public's memory of the long gas-lines and the inflation of Carter's unfortunate political time, I think they would be off-the mark. The public is easily swayed by such events poured out over their TV screens like high drama with heart-wrenching music and happy tears of relieved family members. Levers would have been pulled for Carter had fate smiled upon him.

Fate never smiled on Carter that year. Reagan eventually (boldly and illegally) defied fate and decided to cast his sails with the political winds at his back by selling arms to Iran for the release of those hostages.

If Osama bin Laden is caught in October, CNN and FOX will surely create the 24/7 drumbeat..the sappy movie-quality dramatics, music and all...and the dynamics of Election 2004 could greatly change... leaning toward an easy Bush victory. As long as bin Laden remains at large, however, America is reminded how pointless and unnecessary the violent Iraq war really has been.

Mr. Sabato wonders if John Kerry might not win by a landslide if this set of seven points still holds true on November 2nd.

I happen to think there's going to be a hell of a lot of violence and death in Iraq this summer. I hope I'm wrong, but i don't expect I will be. Bush will lay the blame and responsibility on the Iraqis, since they're now "in charge" (cough-cough). I don't think the public will buy it, but who knows? The public's been fooled many times by the misleading Bushites. They seem to accept many of the lies without question. Will they willingly accept many more troops killed as a civil war rages in Iraq? (A recent LA Times poll indicates that a majority of Americans now thinks it was not worthwhile going to war in Iraq).

Outsourcing was not a major issue in 1980. Have any Americans been watching Lou Dobbs? Will they be patient while their jobs continue to leave their small towns as their state taxes rise? Does Kerry promise them any relief?

There was no fear of E-vote theft in 1980...and there hadn't been a stolen (ahem--Supreme Court-assigned) election in 1976. A lot of 2000-Gore voters are just waiting to prepare their ballots very carefully and correctly this time. Will Diebold be capable of giving us an honest vote-tally? Why should we trust them knowing their CEO promised to "deliver" Ohio to Bush?

What about the Saudi promise to lower those gas prices for Bush just before the election?

I think this country, as a whole today, is more certain of what to do than in 1980. The problem is, there is a Grand Canyon-sized gap between those people.

The irresponsible party-before-country (pig-headed) leadership in Washington is perfectly reflective of the gap. Last summer we saw Rep Bill Thomas call the police on his fellow statesmen. That gave the phrases "beyond the pale" and "over the top" entirely new meanings.

I don't think we're going to see any landslides unless Bush totally screws up.

(I can't believe I'm saying that--because I personlly do think that President Bush has already screwed up--far past my own political tolerance-point....yet I understand he has loyal and fierce supporters who practically live to see skeptics such as myself shut up and/or shut away.)

Note- See Joe's latest--Will the Bush Campaign's Use of Reagan Imagery Prove A Double-Edged Sword?

You can also see Joe over at Dean's World this week.

It's A Shame About Ray

It's A Shame About Ray

I'm not talking about Evan Dando's Lemonheads.

I'm talking about Ray Charles.



I think "You Don't Know Me" was my favorite song by Ray.

I'll never forget the warm night in June when I heard him sing 'Georgia' live from the stage at Jazz Fest in Clinton Square.

Man, I'm sorry to see him go...

Funeral Over-Maybe we'll get some real news now?

The Funeral's Over
Maybe we'll get some real news now?


Quote of the day:

"The great American news industry, the Pekinese of the Press with so much room and time and nothing to say, compared Reagan to Lincoln and Hamilton, they really did. This is like claiming that the maintenance man wrote the Bill of Rights."

--Jimmy Breslin

[LINK]

Charles Krauthammer on Optimism, Liberals and Reagan

Charles Krauthammer on Optimism, Liberals and Reagan

Charles Krauthammer cannot abide any liberal person's praise of former President Reagan, it seems.

[SEE LINK-REAGAN REVISIONISM]

Crediting President Reagan for his fine ability to inspire the average American is just not good enough. If you don't agree with Reagan's ideology lock, stock, and barrel, then I'm sorry, dear reader...Charles says you are a damned phoney.

I submit to you that Mr. Krauthammer sounds like a wounded little child who wishes to keep Reagan in his pocket for his selfish little self and won't let you hold him..even for just a moment.

Reagan belonged to all Americans and we can say anything we truly believe, if we believe the Bill of Rights. Of course, that doesn't mean idiots like Mr. Krauthammer won't try to prove us liars.

Now, I don't begrudge Mr. Krauthammer his own opinion. When he takes others' opinions and turns around to call the others fakes and liars, he only comes off appearing infantile, ill-mannered, and disrespectful....which is a terrible flaw in character I find common in many right-wing ideologues today.


'Vindicated' by history?

Mr. Krauthammer says:

"Rarely has a president been so quickly and completely vindicated by history."

Vindicated?
History isn't over yet.

With no disrespect intended toward former President Reagan, if history was at its end, you could twist your facts around and turn even a farceur into a permanent mythical hero...but you'd know you'd have to ignore and omit many other facts. That, my friends, is what you call revision...which is exactly what Mr. Krauthammer is accusing liberals of doing (while doing a bang-up job himself). What a futile exercise.

We're looking back at Reagan from a narrow lens..all that will stem from Reagan's actions (or lack thereof) is yet to be.

I'm not sure about Mr. Krauthammer, but I know what I saw on September 11, 2001. The rest of you readers saw it happen, did you not?

If Mr. Krauthammer believes the murderous event that shook America in utter defeat at the hands of a popular Muslim fundamentalist leader on that autumn morning in New York City is disconnected from Ronald Reagan's failure (by his negotiating with the fundamental terrorists of Iran rather than stand morally strong) and from Reagan's failure to understand the future of the post-Cold-war world (especially after seeing 241 Marines suicide-bombed and Pan Am 103 in pieces on the Scotland ground), then I think Krauthammer had better think it out again.


Reagan's 'new peace'?

Mr. Krauthammer says:

"His policies of unrelenting toughness won the Cold War and brought a new peace."

A new peace.

September 11, 2001. That's all I can say about Reagan's new peace.


Bush 43 could never come close to Reagan's uniting abilities

Mr. Krauthammer mockingly discounts optimism in his column and I realize that's exactly what is missing in right-wingers today.

At the funeral service today, Margaret Thatcher talked about Reagan's grace under pressure..about Reagan's wit, faith, and optimism. It's a shame to see Mr. Krauthammer discounting such wonderful character traits.

GW Bush should have such abilities. He doesn't, though. He's far more like dead wood.

Reagan, through his abilty to inspire, was a brilliant figurehead.
Compare that to Bush--the wooden cigar-store Indian that cannot come up with an eloquent reply to an impromptu question from the press.

If Reagan was an "amiable dunce" (not my words), that would make G.W. Bush is a "non-amiable dunce", hostile to those who do not share his ideology (my words). Reagan was a capable uniter, even while pushing an ugly agenda of greed. Bush is a divider in the world and in his own country.

Perhaps that's why Krauthammer cannot abide a liberal's praise for a former President's graceful wit. He knows the current right-wing oaf in office will never win on "grace".

Who is the dissembler and a revisionist when it comes to an open discussion about Reagan, really?

In section 59 of Arlington National Cemetery, near the graves of 21 American soldiers killed by a suicide bomber in the line of duty in Beirut, there is a cedar tree with this marker:

LET PEACE TAKE ROOT
THIS CEDAR OF LEBANON TREE GROWS IN LIVING MEMORY OF THE AMERICANS KILLED IN THE BEIRUT TERRORIST ATTACK AND ALL VICTIMS OF TERRORISM THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.


Do you think I'm being a phoney, readers?

What Have We Become? Ret. Naval Officer Speaks

What Have We Become?
A Retired Naval Officer Speaks

Sen. James Inhofe, Rep. Duncan Hunter, Rush Limbaugh, Kate O'Beirne, President Bush are named as some of the leaders in a zealot's parade.

Doesn't it ever occur to those zealots that something we do can be terribly wrong even if something else, somewhere else, is worse? I am very afraid that even that thin line will soon become so blurred we will be inured to anything, all in the name of patriotism.

I say this with the full knowledge that I'll be accused of "blaming America first." In this age of instant awareness of everything that goes on in the world, too many of us insist on being unaware of what some of us are becoming.

--Keith Taylor, retired officer, U.S. Navy

[LINK-Online Journal]

Newsmax is proudly encouraging censorship

Newsmax is proudly encouraging censorship

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I see the folks at Newsmax do not wish for Americans to be free to consider views alternative to theirs.

The spirit of censorship by a market force within our capitalistic political structure, my dear readers, is what it means to be anti-American...to run against the Bill of Rights.

Our troops defend freedom in wars promoted by these market forces, yet the markets are not promoting freedom.

In this manner, they betray the troops with false sermons about what it means to be American.

I'm American, and so is Michael Moore.

Michael Moore isn't an alien enemy. He's an American with a story to tell.

Newsmax is claiming they don't want Moore to "profit" from his film, but we know what they really do not want is for too many Americans to hear the "other side of the story".

The man who's leading the charge is Mr. Howard Kaloogian, the same fellow who made history as Chairman of the Recall Gray Davis Committee.

Kaloogian talks a pretty talk about supporting the troops, but he falls flat on his ass when it comes to promoting the spirit of a truly free America. He has "AGENDA" written all over his false face.

Newsmax is free to help Mr. Kaloogian try to recruit people to speak out in anger, but in the end, what they hope for is market-censorship of "Fahrenheit 9/11".

Freedom is freedom.

Censorship is censorship.

The forces behind the market known as "Newsmax" are trying to control the political system. They know the election is fast-approaching and their obvious agenda is damaged every time an American hears hidden truths.

America is a nation of non-market-based individuals (sometimes known as humans) born to the hope of freedom in a nation born with and raised on The Declaration of Independence.

Newsmax does not represent freedom in the spirit of our Founding Fathers.

They're much closer to acting as market-fascists with their censorship-crusade.
[LINK]

UPDATE:

See Max Blumenthal June 14, 2004

Abu Ghu-ber

Abu Ghu-ber


Abu Goober