Stephen J. Williams--The Teacher Behind the Cupertino Lawsuit

"..Some parents criticize Williams for taking the extreme step of filing a lawsuit. He should have taken his discontent to parents and school officials rather than creating negative publicity for the school, they say....."

"..Parents' coping strategy: Try to keep things normal for the children's sake..."

Stephen J. Williams--The Teacher Behind the Cupertino Lawsuit

San Jose Mercury- Teacher's suit puts uneasy spotlight on Cupertino

Excerpt:

"Williams was born in Madison, Wis., according to a biographical entry in a school yearbook. He grew up in Ithaca, N.Y., and his family moved to San Jose in 1978. He attended Lynbrook High School in San Jose, where he played trombone in the marching band and performed in a school production of ``South Pacific.'' He swam competitively while attending the University of California-Berkeley, where he earned a degree in economics.

He entered teaching, according to the yearbook, after working for an economic consulting firm. While completing his teaching credential, he began working as a substitute teacher in the Cupertino district in 1995 and landed a position at Stevens Creek Elementary in 1998.

Two years ago

Williams began injecting religious references into his daily lessons about two years ago, according to parents and teachers. He had joined New Hope Peninsula Church in San Carlos, where he met his wife. The couple live in Mountain View, have a 5-month-old daughter, and are expecting another child this summer.

``I went through a long process of investigating things, looking into the meaning of the Bible, and asking questions about a higher order,'' he told the Mercury News. ``I was not a Christian most of my life. I was not raised a Christian.''

According to the lawsuit, his handouts came under scrutiny last year when a parent complained that Williams brought religion-based materials to class to elaborate on a discussion about the inclusion of ``under God'' in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Other parents say they've complained on several occasions about other aspects of Williams' teaching over the past two years....

....Armineh Noravian, whose son was in Williams' class last year, said, ``Nobody has any qualms about him personally,'' she said. ``He's a very nice man. But he is shoving his agenda down people's throats. It's indoctrination.''

See Iddybud- Mr. Williams' Battle Over Jesus, 9 December

Who Is Clinton Curtis?

Who Is Clinton Curtis?

Who is Clinton Curtis and what was his election-related programming job in September 2000? Learn about his prototype computer voting program (technologically undetectable, operable with hidden keys) that could flip the vote so a losing candidate could become an election winner. What's the story that has been broken at Brad Blog all about? I'm just learning, and I think it's worth further investigation.

LISTEN TO THIS INTERVIEW (Air America)

Justaflyonthewall.com has the computer program.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics has met with Clinton Curtis.

Raw Story has good coverage.

I'm sorry to report that Mr. Curtis' German Shepard was allegedly shot and killed a few hours after Brad Blog published the original story. According to Brad Blog, this is the second time that Mr. Curtis has been the apparent victim of intimidation through such tactics. Another one of his dogs was killed in 2002.

The 12 Days of Rummying

The 12 Days of Rummying

A new Christmas classic by Maureen Dowd.

Peace On Earth

Kerik's Out-Who'll be next choice for Homeland Security?

Kerik's Out-Who'll be next choice for Homeland Security?

I wonder who'll be nominated as Homeland Security secretary now that Bernard Kerik has decided to drop out? My bets are on Asa Hutchinson (unless he has gubernatorial aspirations). I'd be surprised if Bush were to choose Thomas Keane (a Republican who chaired the 9/11 panel), although he may wish to pay Mr. Keane back for being pretty soft on him in the final 9/11 Commission analysis, knowing Bush ignored all those pre-9/11 memos, warnings, and signs.

I guess he didn't like it!

'Tis the season....



I guess he didn't like it!

So....what does your kid do when he fails to get a present he really wanted?

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



And seriously, the next time you give a cold steak and cheese sandwich to a public works employee on his lunch break, prepare ye the way for the most unpredictable of reactions.

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



Meanwhile.....

SANTA1: "I'm gonna kick your ass."
SANTA2: "Oh, yeah? I'm gonna kick yours."
SANTA3: "Look out, I'm gonna take both of you with one Santa-hand tied behind my back!"

Introducing: A Blog Novella Army

Introducing: A Blog Novella Army

Christina has written CHAPTER ONE

Eric has penned CHAPTER TWO

Rob took good care of CHAPTER THREE

Jack---you're up next!


If you'd like to know a bit more about how this has come to pass, see Boudicca's blogpost or Christina's thoughts.

Kos: DLC's irrelevance

Kos: DLC's irrelevance
An important discussion at Daily Kos

Mr. Williams’ Battle Over Jesus

Mr. Williams’ Battle Over Jesus
by Jude Nagurney Camwell, American Street, 9 December 2004

Mr Williams is no sudden stranger to controversy

I am building upon Dave Johnson's latest American Street entry (and Seeing The Forest blogpost) More Mush Journalism as New Lies Spread. Dave's article spoke of the legal case, which the media is erroneously calling a "banning of the Declaration of Independence" in a California school because it contains the word ‘God’. This is not true and Dave has shown you that it's not true.

The more I investigate the case, the easier it is for me to suspect that the teacher at the center of the case, Stephen J. Williams, may not be telling us the whole truth. The cable news media hasn't bothered to tell us, either. Mr. Williams says he's surprised at the reaction of the nation over the recent controversy surrounding his use of Jesus-and Bible-filled handouts in his classroom. What the facts of the case say about Mr. Williams seem to reveal a personal agenda with defiant disregard of his public duty as teacher of 5th grade history students at Stevens Creek Elementary School in Cupertino, California.

On a Fox News live broadcast of Hannity and Colmes at the Flint Center in Cupertino, Mr. Williams stated he was "blown away" upon seeing what a controversial issue this has become in the press. Yet, Mr. Williams is no sudden stranger to controversy.


Mr Williams rides the legal Jesus rodeo

Williams recently sued the Cupertino Union School district, saying his civil rights were violated when he was told by a school administrator to refrain from using supplemental teaching materials on colonial history that had contained inappropriate religious references. Among those religion-bloated handouts were excerpts from the US Constitution. Williams had distributed a handout to students titled "What Great Leaders Have Said About the Bible", which included mixed quotes from U.S. Presidents.. .and Jesus Christ.

Parents of past students of Williams' state that "he goes overboard" in the classroom, making a heavy-handed case for Christianity. There have been many past complaints about his decidedly deliberate classroom agenda. One parent, Mike Zimmers, has said, "My daughter came home one day and said, 'Mr. Williams talks about Jesus 100 times a day."


All the 'blah-dee-blah' you hear on cable news may not tell you the whole story

The cable news media, as Dave Johnson has duly warned you, is not telling you every relevant thing you need to know about the case. Jordan Lorence, who is an Alliance Defense Fund attorney (representing Williams) has called the school's position an "allergic reaction" to the mention of God in schools. What they don't tell you is that Mr. Williams is not simply "mentioning God" to his students. He's laying Jesus Christ on them - as thick as molasses in January. Admitting to using hyperbolic rhetoric "for effect" (aka "exaggerating without conscience"), Lorence is blaming it on what he calls "blue-state" hypersensitivity.: "Anyone who disagrees is just an ignorant rube from a hayseed red state", said Lorence.

Williams, by defying his school district authorities, is acting as a de facto public school classroom advocate for Jesus Christ. He's willingly pushing the buttons with full knowledge he's ignoring well established public protocol in the classroom.


If teachers won't abide by state standards, send them on their way to play religious advocate somewhere else.

As a parent, I believe that teachers who cannot (or refuse to) abide by the public school district's standards and California's State Standards should be removed from the classroom and sent far away from our children. As American citizens, I do not feel that parents should have to subject their children to becoming a fanatical religious advocate's guinea pigs or political tools. It clearly puts the goal of true education last and political goals first. Whether you're from a "red" state or a "blue" state, you can be a Christian and abhor political abuse of your children. When teachers stop caring about finding common ground for all students in their public classrooms and cross the line of good judgement, they should not be surprised when there are consequences for their willing and deliberate defiance.


The Red state/ Blue state lie turns Jesus rebel into folk hero

I call upon all journalists who claim to be fair and balanced to give us a full accounting of Mr. Williams and his activities within his classroom. Cupertino is not a "godless" school district made up of evil Jesus and rube-hating "blue state" pagans. It's far too easy for the mainstream cable squawkers to broadcast the fact that the fundamentalist advocacy groups label school districts as such, and then never present another all-important side to the story. That's a deliberate withholding of available truth...also known as a lie in many circles. Those lies only serve to make a fundamentalist folk hero out of a man who may simply be a defiant and one-track minded teacher who is more dedicated to an agenda than to his students or to a code of professionalism. That's a disservice to history, to intellect, to our Founding Fathers, to the understanding of our Founding documents, and to the truth of who we are as Americans.

Dwelling on the theological history surrounding the disparate religious views of the Founding Fathers is not a healthy or appropriate way to teach 10-year-old about their nation's birth. I could talk to you all year about the varied theological views of the Founding Fathers. Overconcentration of these Christ-laden opinions is going to skew a 10-year old's understanding of the very nature of the freedom to worship, which the Founders sought to protect while, at the same time, keeping religion at safe length from a properly balanced and sane civic government.

Williams' attorneys are claiming he's not on a "religious crusade" to indoctrinate his pupils. That will be up to the courts to decide. The school district obviously does not agree, because Williams is the only teacher in the school who has had to submit his lesson plans in advance. While we don't have all the facts, we can only hope the mainstream media will do their job and get some of them so we may make a reasoned decision for ourselves. My most fervent hope is that the media will start putting more reality and truth into their headlines when they talk about the case.

_________________

In fairness, I want you to see the accepted standards placed upon California's education system for History/5th grade level:


California State Education Standards: Grade Five History-Social Science Content Standards.
LINK


United States History and Geography: Making a New Nation


5.4 Students understand the political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era.

--Understand the influence of location and physical setting on the founding of the original 13 colonies, and identify on a map the locations of the colonies and of the American Indian nations already inhabiting these areas.

--Identify the major individuals and groups responsible for the founding of the various colonies and the reasons for their founding (e.g., John Smith, Virginia; Roger Williams, Rhode Island; William Penn, Pennsylvania; Lord Baltimore, Maryland; William Bradford, Plymouth; John Winthrop, Massachusetts).

--Describe the religious aspects of the earliest colonies (e.g., Puritanism in Massachusetts, Anglicanism in Virginia, Catholicism in Maryland, Quakerism in Pennsylvania).

--Identify the significance and leaders of the First Great Awakening, which marked a shift in religious ideas, practices, and allegiances in the colonial period, the growth of religious toleration, and free exercise of religion.

--Understand how the British colonial period created the basis for the development of political self-government and a free-market economic system and the differences between the British, Spanish, and French colonial systems.

--Describe the introduction of slavery into America, the responses of slave families to their condition, the ongoing struggle between proponents and opponents of slavery, and the gradual institutionalization of slavery in the South.

--Explain the early democratic ideas and practices that emerged during the colonial period, including the significance of representative assemblies and town meetings.



Other references:

RAW STORY, 11-24-04

Battlefield Earth by Bill Moyers

photo credit: http://www.seizmicactivity.co.uk/Copyright Richie Bond

Battlefield Earth
By Bill Moyers, AlterNet. Posted December 8, 2004.
LINK

The environment is in trouble and the religious right doesn't care. It's time to act as if the future depends on us – because it does..

Excerpt:

"..I not only read the news but the fine print of the recent appropriations bill passed by Congress, with the obscure (and obscene) riders attached to it: a clause removing all endangered species protections from pesticides; language prohibiting judicial review for a forest in Oregon; a waiver of environmental review for grazing permits on public lands; a rider pressed by developers to weaken protection for crucial habitats in California.

I read all this and look up at the pictures on my desk, next to the computer – pictures of my grandchildren: Henry, age 12; of Thomas, age 10; of Nancy, 7; Jassie, 3; Sara Jane, 9 months. I see the future looking back at me from those photographs and I say, "Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do." And then I am stopped short by the thought: "That's not right. We do know what we are doing. We are stealing their future. Betraying their trust. Despoiling their world."

And I ask myself: Why? Is it because we don't care? Because we are greedy? Because we have lost our capacity for outrage, our ability to sustain indignation at injustice?

What has happened to out moral imagination?"

Meet The Beast

Meet The Beast
The Christian right and the Christian left are engaged in a debate over who 'owns' Jesus—and whether Dubya is a force for good or evil.

Excerpt:

"Evangelical churches have a sense of urgency about the doing of 'good' in the world that the mainline church has lost. If the church can't show a positive, enticing, seductive vision of the future, where people fall in love with God and fall in love with this community, then it really doesn't have anything to say." Revelation teaches us what happens to lukewarm Christians.

It won't be easy. The political and religious left are not organized. "And part of the reason it cannot organize is that the people in the pews benefit from the system as it is," says Lang. "They can't work up any kind of passion to change it. As those benefits stop, we'll see the left arise. But it might be too late."

Ultimately, despite his despair, Lang is a man of faith. "I really do believe that we're in for several decades of a very dark time. But that's not the end of the world."

LINK

The First European Weblog Awards

The First European Weblog Awards

How exciting! A blog contest for our European friends.
I plan to nominate The Yorkshire Ranter for best UK blog (and other categories).

Announcing The First European Weblog Awards
by David/Fistful of Euros

Today is a good day because I get to announce The First European Weblog Awards. The purpose of the awards is to recognize the efforts and contributions of Europe’s many talented bloggers, to maybe help build a sense of community among us, and, more than anything, it’s a chance for people to discover lots of new good blogs.

Also, awards are fun.

Rules:

You can nominate as many blogs as you like. Please don’t be shy about nominating your own blog.

There’ll be a post for each category. Nominations should preferably be in the form of comments or trackbacks to the relevant post.

Only European blogs are elegible. By that we mean that the blog should be written by Europeans, or else focus on some European issue. (Czech, Catalan…)

This weblog is not eligible for any awards, but our contributors’ other blogs are.

The nominating phase will go on for several weeks. The finalists will be determined by the number of nominations and our discretion.

We’ll introduce categories gradually during the day, and maybe tomorrow. I will update this post with links to the nomination posts.

The Satin Pajama Award for Best European Weblog
Best Political Weblog
Best UK Blog

Ohio election fraud uproar blasting to new level

"...the call for a re-vote as in Ukraine has become a consistent theme among disgruntled Ohio voters."

Ohio election fraud uproar blasting to new level
by Steve Rosenfeld, Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
December 7, 2004
LINK

Nagourney Slashes Away at Howard Dean

Nagourney Slashes Away at Howard Dean

I think Adam Nagourney can do much better than writing a "factual" article about Howard Dean while using Bob Kerry, who is supporting Dean's DNC chair contender Leo Hindery, as a primary source of opinion for the piece. SHEESH! Where's the fairness...the balance? From some of Nagourney's first lines

..."What precisely Dr. Dean is running for is not entirely certain during this period of transformation for the Democratic Party and its better-known leaders...."

I could smell the establishment bias. It's rank.

I'm disappointed. I expect much better journalism from Adam Nagourney.

Rhetoric and the Spiritual Life

Rhetoric and the Spiritual Life



"About the rhetorical use of words nothing much need be said. There is rhetoric for good causes and there is rhetoric for bad causes-rhetoric which is tolerably true to facts as well as emotionally moving, and rhetoric which is unconsciously or deliberately a lie. To learn to discriminate between the different kinds of rhetoric is an essential part of intellectual morality; and intellectual morality is as necessary as a pre-condition of the spiritual life as is the control of the will and the guard of the heart and tongue."

-- Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy


Photo credit:Channel14.com

One of the many reasons I love Arianna

"Welcome to the Great Democratic Party Identity Crisis of 2005."

One of the many reasons I love Arianna
1. Her latest column..

*..for those in my family reading this, I don't mean my niece Arianna, although I do love that little wondergirl dearly.*

Arianna Huffington writes, in her latest column THE NEXT DNC CHAIR: WHY YOU SHOULD CARE:

Last week’s meeting of the 21-strong Democratic Governors Association was similarly an orgy of centrist groping, best summed up by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who said, “This, for us, is our moment to push an agenda . . . that is centrist and that speaks to where most people are.”

If Gov. Granholm, a rising star in the party, really thinks the center is where the majority of people were located this past election, the Democrats are in even worse trouble than we think. Have these people learned nothing from 2000, 2002 and 2004? How many more concession speeches do they have to give — from “the center” — before they realize it’s not a very fruitful place?

......cognitive psychologist George Lakoff told me: “Democrats moving to the middle is a double disaster that alienates the party’s progressive base while simultaneously sending a message to swing voters that the other side is where the good ideas are.”

....The party needs a chairman able to drive a stake through the heart of its bankrupt GOP-lite strategy and champion the populist economic agenda that has already proven potent at the ballot box in many conservative parts of the country.

Copyright 2004 ARIANNA HUFFINGTON

My companion piece from yesterday: DNC: Stop eating your own best candidates

Howard Dean Speaks at GWU

Howard Dean Speaks at GWU

Former Gov Howard Dean spoke at GWU today and made what I believe are some very important points. The transcript is not yet available, so I'll share a few of them with you:

--Four years ago, the President won 49 percent of the vote. The Republican Party treated it like it was a mandate, and we let them get away with it. Fifty one percent is not a mandate either. And this time we're not going to let them get away with it.

--There are no red states or blue states, just American states. And if we can compete at all levels and in the most conservative parts of the country, we can win ... at any level and anywhere.

--The GOP has abdicated their responsibilies to America in the areas of economic, fiscal, civic, personal, moral, and social responsibility.

--Health care, education, a sense of community..these are all moral values. HONESTY is a moral value. IF this last election had been decided on moral values, the Democrats would have won.

--Democrats have to learn how to say what we believe, to be proud to say what we believe, because we ARE what we believe.

--How can we be worthy as an example for the world's aspirations for freedom if we've failed to insure electoral reform within our own nation; for our own people?

--As a party, we need to learn to "punch our way off the ropes" and WE should be setting the agenda.

Governor Dean assured us that he'll be speaking about the reforms he believes will be necessary within the Democratic party in days to come.

UPDATE: Transcript is now available

C.S. Lewis: A Glimpse of The Unfallen World

C.S. Lewis: A Glimpse of The Unfallen World

Seen at The Window in the Garden Wall, one of my favorite blogs:

"...I said that everything a man does to a beast is either a lawful exercise or a sacrilegious abuse of an authority by divine right. I didn't say which of the things we now see men doing to beasts fall into which class. The robin in a cage and the over-fed Peke are both, to me, instances of the abuse of man's authority, tho' in different ways. I never denied that the abuse was common: that is why we have to make laws (and ought to make a good many more) for the protection of animals.

I do know what you mean by the sudden ravishing glimpse of animal life in itself, its wildness--to meet a squirrel in a wood or even a hedgehog in the garden makes me happy. But that is because it is, being partly exempt from the Fall, a symbol and reminder of the unfallen world we long for."

~C.S. Lewis, The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis: Volume II, Letter to Mrs. Stuart Moore (Jan 1941)

I was listening to a beautiful rendition of the Christmas carol Silent Night by John Michael Talbot while reading this passage, and the lyrics "God's pure light" reminded me of that which I perceive whenever meeting a wild creature in the wood.

In the Headlines Today

In the Headlines Today

Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia yesterday tried to discover how the militants penetrated the defences of the US consulate.

In Iraq, the Red Crescent has been ordered to leave Fallujah by the US Millitary. The Red Crescent had been delivering food, water and blankets to approximately 1,500 people in the city. Now, conditions have become dangerous enough to warrant evacuation.

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer officially declared yesterday what New York's political establishment has suspected for months: He'll be a Democratic candidate for governor in 2006.

The House of Representatives passed the bill intended to overhaul the US Intelligence system on Tuesday, voting 336-75. The Senate had passed a largely identical measure before Thanksgiving. It's far from a done deal, however. The bill's implementation "will require careful oversight", in the words of the 9/11 Commission chairmen Lee Hamilton and Thomas Kean. Them, there is the question: Will More Power for Intelligence Chief Mean Better Results?

As part of a compromise to end Ukraine's political crisis stemming from the presidential runoff election, the Ukrainian Parliament overwhelmingly voted today for sweeping political and constitutional changes. Reform candidate Yushchenko has called it "a day of historic compromise", although the reaction of his supporters on the Kiev street is decidedly skeptical and subdued.

POWWOWIRAQSI -A Musical Journey

POWWOWIRAQSI-A Musical Journey

My co-blogger David K. Beckwith (aka Anonymoses Hyperlincoln) has created a musical suite entitled "POWWOWIRAQSI" ( Music in the Age of George the Unready ).

It is dedicated to (and is written about) the people who are dying in Iraq.

You can download the MP3 here. David says it's his interpretation of what it might be like to those who have to experience it.

The music inspired Patty Ann Smith to write this moving poem:

Can You Taste The Tears?

This is not the heartbeat of the Earth.
Can you hear the fear, can you taste the tears?
Can you smell the blood, can you touch the wounds?
This is the adrenalin rush of mankind at war with itself...
The death throws of a failed experiment.
Hope and despair living in the same body at the same time...
an impossible task
that must be altered.
Otherwise, there will be merciful silence for the Earth in the end
and...no more children to build a future for.

~ Patty Ann Smith / Hope4America

Advice for DNC: Stop eating your own best candidates

Advice for DNC: Stop eating your own best candidates

Here we go again. According to The Hill, many House Dems have said they think that a Howard Dean DNC-chairmanship would drive the party further from the mainstream of American politics. That view, according to the Hill, is "also shared by Republican lawmakers and strategists, who welcomed the prospect of Dean heading the Democratic Party".

This is the same crap we heard the last time the GOP faked the dumb Dems into thinking Howard Dean was poisonous and that the Bushites couldn't wait for him to win the Dem presidential primary. ( Remember the Weekly Standard cover titled "Please Nominate This Man" with Dean's picture on it? )

Democrats: Stop listening to the GOP and the yapping heads of the mainstream media, for sanity's sake!
You'll be sorry when you piss your grassroots progressives away.
Stop running scared and eating your own best candidates.
The party's pulse is still detectable.
Stick with your loser-establishment and you will remain losers.
Listen to the voice of the people instead of the slick-haired Dicks and lip-juicy Janes of the out-of-touch Washington media.
And, by all means, STOP listening to any advice that comes out of GOP mouths.

A Perfect Job for Howard Dean

A Perfect Job for Howard Dean
Please, please, let Howard Dean become the leader of the DNC.
By Natalie Binder Dec 6, 2004
LINK

Iraq- A War on Witnesses?

"...in Iraq, US forces and their Iraqi surrogates are no longer bothering to conceal attacks on civilian targets and are openly eliminating anyone--doctors, clerics, journalists--who dares to count the bodies...."

-Naomi Klein, from Guardian article, 26 Nov 2004

Iraq- A War on Witnesses?

Poli-Sci professor Robert E. Williams cites Naomi Klein's recent assertions that United States forces in Iraq are attempting to suppress reporting of civilian casualties in that nation.

DLC takes nauseating stand on UN

DLC takes nauseating stand on UN

It's absolutely nauseating to see the DLC ideologically bonding with the likes of the weasel-Senator known as Norm Coleman.

Democrats are going to have to get a spine..or continue taking the road to an impotency that Viagra could never resurrect from the bone-dead.


*See Jeffery Dubner's comments at American Prospect.

From Chinaview.cn: Spain, France express support to Annan

"Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and French President Jacques Chirac, who were meeting in the northern Spanishcity of Zaragoza, told a press conference they had called Annan to"express their solidarity at a time when he is being unfairly attacked."

Remember Pearl Harbor-A Story Unfinished

"..all those untold stories
all those silent lies
we'll never know each other
keeping them deep inside...."

-from the song Untold Stories by Tim O'Brien

Remember Pearl Harbor-A Story Unfinished

On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese. At the American Street, Anonymoses offers some good food for thought. It tastes of unfinished tales and untold truths.

In the Seattle Post Intelligencer editorial today, it says:

"Perhaps congressional leaders found it sadly ironic to be still dithering over intelligence shortcomings in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the eve of the 63rd anniversary of another attack for which the nation was woefully unprepared: Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941."

Today, as Congress gears up to try to pass legislation to better protect America with a remake of our intelligence system, we understand that the ways in which Bush and his advisers have met this challenge will be key to how history judges them. It will never help to know that Bush fought the independent 9/11 Commission every step of the way.

The Syracuse Post Standard's columnist Sean Kirst reminds us there is one less Pearl Harbor survivor in Central New York this year.

Krugman Debunks SS Hype

Krugman Debunks SS Hype

In today's NYT column, Paul Krugman attempts to debunk the hype about a so-called "Social Security crisis".

"...the same people who claim that Social Security isn't an independent entity when it runs surpluses also insist that late next decade, when the benefit payments start to exceed the payroll tax receipts, this will represent a crisis - you see, Social Security has its own dedicated financing, and therefore must stand on its own.

There's no honest way anyone can hold both these positions, but very little about the privatizers' position is honest. They come to bury Social Security, not to save it. They aren't sincerely concerned about the possibility that the system will someday fail; they're disturbed by the system's historic success.

For Social Security is a government program that works, a demonstration that a modest amount of taxing and spending can make people's lives better and more secure. And that's why the right wants to destroy it."

Iraq Gets Double Thumbs-Down from CIA

Iraq Gets Double Thumbs-Down from CIA

The NY Times states that two recent CIA assessments have warned that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating and may not rebound any time soon. The top American military commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., reviewed the CIA assessments and initially offered no objections, while American ambassador to Iraq, John D. Negroponte, was said by the officials to have filed a written dissent, objecting to one finding as too harsh, on the grounds that the United States had made more progress than was described in combating the Iraqi insurgency. Together, the appraisals, which follow several other such warnings from officials in Washington and in the field, were much more pessimistic than the public picture being offered by the Bush administration before the elections scheduled for Iraq next month.

Howard Dean to make major speech Wednesday

Howard Dean to make major speech Wednesday

Democracy for America Executive Director, Tom McMahon, sent this email to DFA supporters this morning:
__________________________

Governor Dean will lay out a vision for the future of the Democratic Party this Wednesday at 12 p.m. Eastern in Washington, D.C.

He will outline not just a direction for our party, but a concrete destination: a party built from the ground up.

That means a party powered by millions of small donors, not millionaires. It means a party that speaks plainly and commits to concrete outcomes that affect real people. And it means a party that
competes in every single race, for every single vote, in all fifty states.

You can watch live video of the speech on Wednesday morning at the Democracy for America web site:

www.democracyforamerica.com

Be sure to join us for the live webcast on Wednesday at 12 p.m. Eastern. Thank you.

Tom McMahon
Executive Director
Democracy for America

__________________________


The AP picks up the story of Governor Dean's upcoming speech on the future of the Democratic party:

Howard Dean, who is weighing a bid for leadership of the Democratic Party, will call on Democrats to fight for victory across the country instead of ceding wide swaths of the South and West to Republicans. [...]

Dean spokeswoman Laura Gross said while other Democrats are talking about whether the party needs to move farther to the left or the right to attract voters, Dean plans to focus on the need for "destination, not direction" during an address at George Washington University on Wednesday.

Jenny Greenleaf Elected to DNC

Jenny Greenleaf Elected to DNC

Congratulations and best of luck to my American Street colleague Jenny Greenleaf, who unseated Mary Botkin as Oregon DNC Commmitteewoman. ( See BlueOregon.com )

Mary has made some outgoing suggestions for Jenny. Here is an excerpt:

"With your new leadership will come the responsibility of gaining the respect and support of those who do not currently support the policies of this new and interesting direction we are headed......try to build support from the 'red" states where we lost - and examine why Howard Dean lost all the blue states to Kerry early in the process so we don't repeat those mistakes. Dr. Dean had an interesting formula for victory. We can and must learn from that formula - we must also learn from it's failures.."

Daily Kos reported on Jenny's win today. There is a lot of healthy discussion there about where others think the DNC should go from here.

Jenny's own comments can be seen at American Street. She has included a copy of the speech she gave. Although she says she took aim at the DNC somewhat, she also states she is not anti-DNC. She says she just wants to shift its focus a bit.

The Christmas season is upon us

"Not least art thou, thou little Bethlehem In Judah, for in thee the Lord was born..."

--from a famous quote by John Oldcastle

The Christmas season is upon us
May we be reminded of the Word, wonderful counselor, glorious messenger of peace

From the Celtic carol Don Oiche Ud I mBeithil (That Night in Bethlehem)

"I sing of a night in Bethlehem, a night as
bright as dawn
I sing of that night in Bethlehem, the night
the Word was born.
The skies are glowing gaily, the earth in
white is dressed
See Jesus in the cradle drink deep in
His mother's breast



And there on a lonely hillside the shepherds
bow down in fear
When the heavens open brightly and God's message
rings out so clear
Glory now to the Father in all the heavens high
And 'peace to His friends on earth below'
is all the angels cry."

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

Don Oiche ud I mBeithil, beidh tagairt ag grian go brach
Don Oiche ud I mBeithil go dtainig an briathar slan
Ta griosghrua ar spearthaibh 's an talamh 'na cludach ban;
Feach Iosagan sa chleibhin, 's an mhaighdean a dhiul le gra.

Ar leacain lom an tslebhe go nglacann na haoiri scath
Nuair in oscailt ghil na speire ta teachtaire De ar fail
Cead gloire anois don Athair I bhFlaitheasaibh thuas go hard!
Is feasta fos ar talamh d'fhearaibh dea-mhein siochain!


small photo credit: ed-waco.com

Ukraine: The Orange Revolution Goes On

Click photo for CNN International's coverage
photo credit: AP

Ukraine: The Orange Revolution Goes On

The NY Times reports:

"The demonstrators' desires..transcend the destiny of their candidate. In conversations over the past few days, protesters expressed a wish to carry Ukraine not only to democratic rule but also to alter the fundamental direction of the country's history.

For more than three centuries, Ukraine has been the prize of Russian czars and Soviet leaders. Its territory has been a battlefield of vicious wars and political repression. Yushchenko's supporters say their goal is to face West, a compass point they believe will end Ukraine's history as a pawn of their northern neighbor."

Clueless: Bin Laden trail is as cold as a Superbowl tit

Clueless: Bin Laden trail is as cold as a Superbowl tit

"Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that the search for Osama bin Laden has gone completely cold..."

WaPo

Sorry to see John Danforth Go

Sorry to see John Danforth Go
Madison Capital Times editorial

The editorial on today's Madison Capital Times' webpage shows how they believe "Bush and his fellow Republicans went out of their way to disregard and disrespect the international body [of the UN] in ways that embarrassed" exiting UN Ambassador John Danforth, who spent a mere seven months in the position.

With unrealistic calls for Kofi Annan's resignation, it is believed that Danforth was never given an real opportunity to improve relations between the United States and the United Nations.


Related commentary about the US/UN politics at my Progressive Women's Blog ring colleague Carla's Preemptive Karma.

Courage: Mark Halperin Interview with HPR

Courage: Mark Halperin Interview with HPR

With no offense intended toward Mark Halperin of ABC Political News, I found his reply to a Harvard Political Review interview question, regarding the topic of courage, to be ambiguous and decidedly pusillanimous, in and of itself. The question pertained to limited news coverage of photographs of American bodies coming home from Iraq. Sometimes I think our journalists attempt to look so very unbiased, even in interviews like these, that they miss the mark of truth by a mile (or much more).

Mark Halperin: ....the press's courage and capacity to press the government on these matters is less than it's been in years past for a variety of reasons. And that means that the press's capacity to give Americans the full view of the costs and benefits of this war is really limited in a way that I think is bad for the country...

HPR: How can you deliver the news if you don't have the courage to show the full consequences of the war?

Mark Halperin: It's very hard when we're not able to travel all around [Iraq] because of security reasons. Unfortunately we have to rely on government officials, and without singling the Bush administration out, we know for a fact that all governments lie, and that governments tend to lie particularly during wartime. So it's a challenge to show a complete picture, positive and negative, because of the circumstances of this war.

Why not "single the Bush administration out"? Who else was directly accountable during the Iraq war?
If "the circumstances of this war" are in question, (not WWI or Vietnam, etc), then why not be straight about who is being criticized?
Why are journalists afraid? Mainstream political journalists weave and wind their logic around their fear of being labeled as biased. We wind up with a meaningless, tangled ball of junk.

In defense of Mr. Halperin's performance in this interview, he did later admit:

"The Bush administration is very aggressive about protecting their interests, and not necessarily always balancing First Amendment rights."

I thought this was a good inteview, although I would have liked to have seen the interviewer take some of these questions a bit further. I think we may have received many relevant and helpful clues from Mr. Halperin as to how the media can improve on safeguarding the media's First Amendment rights on behalf of themselves and for the dual benefit of American democracy.

Harvard Political Review: Blogosphere Rising

Harvard Political Review:
Blogosphere Rising

In its December 11th issue, Ben Milder of the Harvard Political Review reveals that "progressive blogs are now a media force with which to be reckoned".

Excerpt:

Today, blogs are treated by the mainstream media as a novelty, and have at best a niche audience. Yet if they continue to grow at their current pace, they could indeed someday succeed in their goal of making the media and even the entire political system more accessible to the average American.

HPR's current issue covers Election 2004.

Civil War Rears Ugly Head in Baghdad

Civil War Rears Ugly Head in Baghdad

Iraqi insurgents have suicide-bombed a Shiite mosque, a holy place. It was brutal in its sectarian targeting.


Make no mistake, this is a sure sign that civil war has broken out in Iraq.

If we didn't already know or if any American was unsure, this is a horridly easy foretelling of things yet to come.




photo credit: CTV

Related: Scrutiny Hooligans

San Diego Union-Tribune loses Jim Goldsborough

The San Diego Union-Tribune loses Jim Goldsborough
by Jude Nagurney Camwell, American Street, Dec 4, 2004


"The spike of the column was "almost like prior restraint." Don't criticize Bush, or you column won't be run."

--Jim Goldsborough, from an Editor and Publisher article by Mark Fitzgerald

_______


Veteran columnist Jim Goldsborough of the San Diego Union-Tribune, who calls himself a moderate, is quitting the paper. While he may be losing a paycheck, which is never an easy choice to make, I applaud him for doing so. He's already been offered a job with a soon-to-be-available daily online newspaper, the Voice of San Diego.

Mr. Goldsborough is quoted as saying, "I've written columns for everybody. I've been edited, criticized. … But never have I gotten a call Sunday night that the column is not running Monday, and there's no discussion......."

Goldsborough's publisher David C. Copley, in eleventh-hour fashion, pulled a column scheduled to run Monday, saying that the column "might be offensive". Jim has asked, " Offensive to whom? That's the question. The column is not offensive to Jews. Maybe to Bush."


Mr. Goldsborough won't sit back and watch the newspaper's editorial page tilt in one right-heavy direction. Not while he's still part of the team. He's leaving on principle.

Dick Needs New Shoes

Dick needs new shoes

US offers to let Taliban off the hook

US offers to let Taliban off the hook

So much for the great moral clarity of Bush.

There are bigger fish to fry (and more things to blow up and rebuild) in Iraq, where we unilaterally obliterated a regime which had nothing whatsoever to do with the murder of over 3000 of our citizens on 9/11.

poem by jude- 'alone'

alone
by jude nagurney camwell




a pebble in my shoe has made
it hard to keep on going
long day's heat reminds me
of each needed breath i'm towing

clothing snatched up just before
my leaving has become oppression
like autumn drop them without caring
where they land, glad lost possession

with firesound this body shakes
spasm scream conditioned reflexion
my own reflection could disappear, next
crack of mirrorlight inspection

a neighbor's dreadful season's
come, his eyes by now have seen
too much of this nomadic
form, survivalism mean

soldiers beg us "move keep moving"
blasting sun brings whitewash blessed
too quaked by qualm and quiver
to remember all the rest

evening camp is built i lie
upon the rockhewn sacred ground
it's then one sees the span of sky
in darkness starry 'round

the haunting stalks me when i stop
to take this nightly rest
it's then i see my hasan as
the heart beats out my breast

a rock is thrown he comes too close
a shot wends from above
my rose hasan oh my hasan
was all save God i knew of love

i long to join this desert
unknown open empty bare
and wish for all who'd tread on me
to weep for this night's suffering there




photo credit: mapw

iddybud "--The next best thing to being there."

politics

humor

philosophy

poetry

A Beautiful Blog

A Beautiful Blog

I love to share new blog finds which I know my readers would appreciate.
Lorianne's blog is one of them.

CBS and NBC Refuse UCC Ads

CBS and NBC Refuse
UCC Ads
American Street, by Jude Nagurney Camwell, December 2, 2004

"It's ironic that after a political season awash in commercials based on fear and deception by both parties seen on all the major networks, an ad with a message of welcome and inclusion would be deemed too controversial. What's going on here?"

-- Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president

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

The CBS and NBC networks have refused to run a paid advertisement from the United Church of Christ.
Americans should be concerned. CBS and NBC are categorizing the UCC ad as nothing more than controversial “advocacy advertising”.

"All ads are advocacy; what else is an advertisement if not an opportunity to advocate for your toothpaste or your cause?” said the Rev. Nancy S. Taylor, president of the Massachusetts conference of the United Church of Christ, the largest Protestant denomination in the state. "The ads are about hospitality and a wide welcome. And how that is controversial – I find that extraordinary. We are stunned."[quote from Boston Globe story by Michael Paulson]

The ad has been accepted at ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, History, Nick@Nite, TBS, TNT, Travel and TV Land. Potential media buys are still pending with CNN, Lifetime, Comedy Central and MSNBC. UCC church executives said they accepted the ABC network's position that it did not accept any religious advertising.

According to the UCC website,

"The consolidation of TV network ownership into the hands of a few executives today puts freedom of speech and freedom of religious expression in jeopardy," says former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani, currently managing director of the UCC's Office of Communication. "By refusing to air the United Church of Christ's paid commercial, CBS and NBC are stifling religious expression. They are denying the communities they serve a suitable access to differing ideas and expressions."

Adds Andrew Schwartzman, president and CEO of the not-for-profit Media Access Project in Washington, D.C., "This is an abuse of the broadcasters' duty to inform their viewers on issues of importance to the community. After all, these stations don't mind carrying shocking, attention-getting programming, because they do that every night.

According to the NY Times, the commercial offers the message, "Jesus didn't turn away people and neither do we." It concludes with a panorama of people, including two young women, one of whom has her arm around the other. It never mentions the word "gay."

Janet Jackson’s tit was more likely to see the light of day on CBS than a commercial from this Christian church.

On ABC, you’re far more likely to see a scantily clad Desperate Housewife breathlessly humping her neighbor than to see a commercial from this bedrock church.

NBC can show you a Cialis commercial with that incredibly annoying and lame “blues” (white man’s sex) music 60 times a day, but they shirk from showing a welcoming and inclusive ad from a mainstream American church.

It was perfectly fine to air and discuss the radical cleric Jerry Falwell’s accusation of gays being “enemies of America” just last Sunday on Meet the Press:

MR. RUSSERT: I want to ask Reverend Falwell about something and broaden the conversation. We talked about Iraq and the war on terrorism. Something that you said two days after September 11, when you were with Reverend Pat Robertson: "I fear... that [September 11th] is only the beginning. ...If, in fact, God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve ... I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle ... all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say `you helped this happen.'"

DR. FALWELL: And I went on to say in a sleeping church, a lethargic church likewise is responsible.

What has changed, you ask? Why are CBS and NBC turning their backs on a church whose foundations are as old as America itself?

The White House political agenda. It's the only reason I can imagine NBC and CBS are cowering. They're under the Bush administration's careful eye and powerful thumb. They are willing to shut out the UCC's ad on behalf of assuring their own comfortable market survival by towing the corporate/government line. One hand feeds the other. They know they won't be able to survive on five loaves of bread and two measly fish. Blessed are the meek, but when it comes to letting them advertise on CBS or NBC, they can take a long walk off a short pier.

The hypocrites at the head of these morally warped networks aim to show American people eating worms and bugs for cheap ratings, and then ban a liberal American church with a message of kindness and unconditional acceptance from advertising on their network. (I direct that toward ABC as well, for why should we allow a major network to shut out mainstream religious advertising, taking into consideration all the crappy and mind-numbing advertising to which we're now subjected?)

UCC's Talking Points are here

You can take action here Contact the national offices of NBC and CBS and express your disappointment at their decision not to run the ad

"This is an opportunity for the United Church of Christ to renew its distinctive voice as a people of welcome, justice and passion for the Gospel. This initiative will help us fall in love again with the United Church of Christ, be generous in financial support, and turn our hearts toward a world that needs to experience the presence, embrace, and encouragement of Jesus."

-- John H. Thomas, UCC General Minister and President

See Chuck Currie's blog for additional commentary.

The Ten Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time

The Ten Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time

Don't miss John Scalzi's list of the ten Holiday duds. It's a great laugh.

A Tapestry of Recent History

"I've been trying to pull together several seemingly unrelated threads of thoughts out of inchoate contemplation and weave them together into a tapestry showing how these radically different ideas and events form a coherent picture, a picture that can warn and guide us.

It hasn't been easy..."

A Tapestry of Recent History

At Random Fate, Jack says he's going to sort through disparate threads and pull together what I picture as a quilt composed of many patches. Each patch depicts a chaotic scene from the world's most recent history. What are we to make of the finished product?

"I see relationships between quantum mechanics, the pre-election video released by Osama bin Laden, the apparent divide between the Red States and the Blue States, the reaction in blogworld to the retirement of Dan Rather, the controversy over the Marine shooting an apparently surrendered man in Iraq and the reporting of the incident, other aspects of the ongoing fighting in Iraq, the opposition of France to almost every US foreign policy, the election in Ukraine and the consequent increased visibility of the attempt by Vladimir Putin at establishing a Russian version of the Monroe Doctrine, and several other threads in the tangled skein of the world.

Hopefully, I can get this pulled together before the beginning of next week, which is going to be a very busy at work for me."

FBI Searches Pro - Israel Lobbyists' Office

FBI Searches Pro - Israel Lobbyists' Office

FBI agents on Wednesday obtained files and served subpoenas at the offices of AIPAC.

Juan Cole-Spy Case Update

WRMEA- New Spy Investigation Suppressed at Crucial Juncture

Laura Rozen/Jason Vest- Cloak and Swagger

Howard Dean Could Represent New Era of Triumph for Dems

Howard Dean Could Represent New Era of Triumph for Dems

Dan Thies of the Seattle Times has written an excellent editorial.

"..In the shadow of President Bush's re-election, and strengthened GOP control of virtually every element of government, many are convinced that the Democratic Party, if not on the brink of collapse, has been relegated to a generation or more of minority party status. It's now clear that nothing short of a radical overhaul will be necessary to revitalize the Democratic opposition. Enter our old friend, Howard Dean....If the DNC places the faith in Dean they so willfully denied him earlier this year, he'll offer a unique chance at revitalizing the party, and could set the course toward a new era of triumph for the Democrats...".

BLOG is the word

Blog noun [short for Weblog] (1999) : a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.

BLOG is the Word

..it's the word that you heard, it's got groove, it's got meaning......

Thanks to Matthew Gross, I've learned that BLOG is Merriam Webster's 'word of the year' (based on online lookups).

Joe Trippi: Only Grassroots can save the Dems

Joe Trippi: Only Grassroots can save the Dems

Joe Trippi's article appeared in today's Wall Street Journal and, since many of us are not subscribers, he's provided a copy at JoeTrippi.com.
An excerpt:

Since the Democratic Leadership Council, with its mantra of "moderate, moderate, moderate," took hold in Washington, the Democratic Party has been in decline at just about every level of government. Forget the Kerry loss. Today the number of Democrats in the House is the lowest it's been since 1928. Democrats are on the brink of becoming a permanent minority party. Can the oldest democratic institution on earth wake from its stupor?

Here are some steps to pull out of the nose-dive...

LINK HERE

Note: Joe would appreciate your comments at his website.

US activists to file war crime charges against Rumsfeld/Tenet

US Activists to file war crime charges against Rumsfeld/Tenet

According to A Fistful of Euros:

"While the German Chancellor is - contrary to earlier reports - apparently planning to visit the US President even before his second inauguration in January, a US human rights group, the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, is about to disturb the two governments’ reconciliation efforts.

According to a report by the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau (quoted by The Raw Story, Reuters), the American activists will file war crimes charges in Germany against senior U.S. administration officials - including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and former Central Intelligence Agency director George Tenet - for their alleged responsibility for crimes committed in the Abu Ghraib prison."

Marine Corps Times story

Center For Constitutional Rights

GOOGLE

Iraq/Iran

Iraq/Iran

Quote
credit: Rational Enquirer

"We are without allies amongst the Iraqi populace, including those who have benefited from the ouster of Saddam. Across Baghdad, Latifiyah, Mahmudiyah, Salman Pak, Baqubah, Balad, Taji, Baiji, Ramadi and just about everywhere else you can name, the people absolutely hate us. . . . The Iraqi people have not bought into what the Americans are selling, and no amount of military activity is going to change this fact."

Anonymous U.S. Security Consultant
Press Interview WaPo
November 16, 2004

_________________

GI threatens suicide over return to Iraq, Connecticut Post - November 30, 2004

Embassy sounds alarm over growing dangers in Iraq, Independent - November 30, 2004

Thwarted U.S. May Seek Lone Push on Iran Sanctions, Reuters (via Washington Post) - November 30, 2004

Rumi or Rumsfeld?

Rumi or Rumsfeld?

Now here's a humorous exercise. Several lines are provided by State.com (South Carolina) which were spoken by either the 13th-century Sufi poet OR the current U.S. secretary of defense. Take a wild guess.

* A hint-one of them sounds like a total ass.

John Edwards Hints at Future in Farewell Speech

John Edwards Hints at Future in Farewell Speech

In Charlotte, N.C. last night, John Edwards was greeted by about 250 supporters at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. Senator Edwards was responding to a question about how he wanted to be remembered. He was quoted as saying: "First of all, I don't want to be a memory". Earlier, at his farewell speech in Asheville, Senator Edwards said that he was vowing to help his wife Elizabeth during her treatment for breast cancer and carry on his own political activism.

My thoughts and prayers are with the Edwards family.

Asheville Citizen Times

Sen.Edwards is scheduled to be at the Greensboro Historical Museum, 130 Summit Ave., at 11:30 a.m. today. He will hold a town-hall-style meeting for constituents and will hold another in Raleigh at 6:30 at the N.C. Museum of History

Chilling Video by Iraqi Insurgents

Chilling Video by Iraqi Insurgents

Have you seen this raw footage taken by Iraqi insurgents? (footage supplied by Reuters News Service). The footage includes attacks upon American targets.

Give the DNC Chair to this man

My man Howard

Give the DNC Chair to this man

Where does a dream go after you've dreamt it?

If you look at my very first blog posts back in January, 2003, you will see that one of my dreams was to see Howard Dean as president.

One overblown scream and 3 million surplus GOP votes later, the essence of my dream is still floating out in the ether, awaiting fruition.

I want to see Howard Dean get the DNC Chair, if that's what he wants. I couldn't imagine anything more healthy and reviving for a nearly self-destructing Democratic party. (Eleanor Clift agrees).

Like Dr. Frankenstein, I want to see lightning-energy zapped into the veins of the decapitated party once again, so that I may cry out with fervored joy, "IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!"

We could use some fervored joy right now.

*photo credit ABC News

Related story: Alternet- Take a Chair, Any Chair by Joshua Holland

"..the right's activist base is busy getting things done. And we, once again, turn to a national leadership that's so busy navel-gazing and avoiding an ideological debate that it is unable to offer a compelling alternative to an extreme conservative agenda and too spineless to get in there and fight the dirty, no-holds-barred brawl this country's polity demands. It's time for liberals to lead and the Democratic Party bosses to either follow or get the hell out of the way..."

Monday Headlines

Monday Headlines

I think you'll enjoy Jay Rosen's piece titled Writer Says Media is Election's Big Loser: 21 Times.


Professor Juan Cole is an expert on the Middle East and I have come to fully trust his judgement. He says Iran's president Khatami and pundit Charles Krauthammer are both wrong in their reasons for promoting a January deadline for Iraq's election. Professor Cole makes short work of Quentin Langley's views as well.
See Elections in Iraq will be Held on Schedule, But with What Result?



The NY Times titled their editorial "Mr. Smith Goes Under the Gavel," which warns against declaring war on one of the oldest traditions in American democracy - the filibuster. See a similar opinion titled "Watch 'Mr. Smith' Die". It was a November 12th Iddybud opinion.



Joyce Marcel has written a piece on Sy Hersh titled Bush: When Even the Good News is Bad.

"...We must let events take over, Hersh said."We have put ourselves in an enormous hole," he said. "There's no magic story to get us out. The market will crash. Maybe people will come to their senses. Maybe some Democrat will step forward to do the right thing. And maybe the Easter bunny will turn out to be real."

I want to give Sy a bear hug for keeping it real, no matter how depressing.




At Preemptive Karma, Carla is concerned about the movement by fundamentalists into politics and power. She leads us to a discussion regarding Liberal Christians over at Chuck Currie's blog. I wish to refer any of you who may be interested to a site to which I've contributed and read regularly, titled JesusReligion.com (Truth: Bad Religion in the Name of Christ). They're a group of fine liberal Christians whose discussions would put the fundamentalists and all their proud political desires to shame. Here is a mere sampling.

_________________

Thanks to Billy Bob at JesusReligion.com for:

THE TOP TEN SIGNS YOU'RE A CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALIST:

10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of
gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when
someone denies the existence of yours.

9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists
say that people evolved from other life forms, but you
have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were
created from dirt.

8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem
believing in a Triune God.

7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the
"atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even
flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all
the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the
elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" --
including women, children, and trees!

6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and
Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have
no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated
Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed,
came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little
loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth
(4.55 billion years), but you find nothing wrong with
believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting
in their tents and guessing that Earth is a couple of
generations old.

4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet
with the exception of those who share your beliefs --
though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend
Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet
consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."

3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and
physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot
rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be
all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it
comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be
evidence that prayer works. And you think that the
remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and
agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church
history - but still call yourself a Christian.

____________

Read the lyrics to SOLDIERS OF CHRIST by Jill Sobule. They're the best.

"..our lord loves the country, he's with you at the polls
He knows the lever that you pull
He's keeping track of souls.."

Hear the song on MP3 at the website.

Drezner: Ukraine Update

Drezner: Ukraine Update

Daniel Drezner has a good update on developments in Ukraine's troubled election.

Don't miss Mr. Drezner and Henry Farrell's blog-related article appearing in this month's Foreign Policy magazine: Web of Influence

Laura Rozen updates an important story

Laura Rozen updates an important story

Laura Rozen has an important update regarding a story on which she's been keeping steady watch. It's a follow-up to a Washington Monthly article by Laura, Josh Marshall, and Paul Glastris titled "Iran-Contra II? Fresh scrutiny on a rogue Pentagon operation".

Excerpt from original article:

"On Friday evening, CBS News reported that the FBI is investigating a suspected mole in the Department of Defense who allegedly passed to Israel, via a pro-Israeli lobbying organization, classified American intelligence about Iran. The focus of the investigation, according to U.S. government officials, is Larry Franklin, a veteran Defense Intelligence Agency Iran analyst now working in the office of the Pentagon's number three civilian official, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith.

The investigation of Franklin is now shining a bright light on a shadowy struggle within the Bush administration over the direction of U.S. policy toward Iran. In particular, the FBI is looking with renewed interest at an unauthorized back-channel between Iranian dissidents and advisers in Feith's office, which more-senior administration officials first tried in vain to shut down and then later attempted to cover up...."

Pay this one close attention. We have three of our most gifted journalists working on a story that may reach the pages of mainstream media before long.

TomDispatch: Chalmers Johnson on CIA

"With the reelection of President Bush and the appointment of Porter Goss to bring the CIA under White House control, it becomes increasingly hard to see how the republic will survive."

-Chalmers Johnson

TomDispatch: Chalmers Johnson on CIA

Tom Engelhart provides us with Chalmers Johnson's view on Creating a Worthless Intelligence Agency.

Leon Panetta's decidely "sunny" view of the new Bush cabinet appointments is pretty creepy. In Tom Engelhart's words:

"Imagine our uncurious George and his Vice President as feudal lords who have called their retainers to their side. Their men are now filling the moat and pulling up the drawbridge. (No more embarrassing kiss-and-tell memoirs like those from term one!) In essence, what's now being created inside the Beltway is the equivalent of what was created for the President on the campaign trail -- those adoring rallies, that moving campaign bubble, lacking the slightest challenge from reality. In a sense, what's now being put in place is a full-scale fantasy regime, armed to the teeth. Inside the castle (or the bubble, if you prefer) reality will be -- for a while at least -- what the President and Vice President decide it is."

On the inconsonancy of faith

On the inconsonancy of faith

David explains why he feels good about being agnostic. Belief, to him, is like mercury. He uses one of my favorite Richard Feynman quotes.

"You see, one thing is, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here...

I don't have to know an answer.
I don't feel frightened by not knowing things,
by being lost in a mysterious universe
without any purpose,
which is the way it really is
as far as I can tell.
It doesn't frighten me."

Richard Feynman, 1981

Question: Is making a pact with oneself not to subscribe to a particular belief not a belief, in and of itself? Can we ever escape faith, even in its most naked form? Are we inevitable prisoners of faith unto death?

Happy Birthday to Upyernoz

Happy Birthday to Upyernoz!

Da big 35!

Meanwhile, in Fallujah....

"Flies swarm upon some ruins as gray monstrous shadows. The stench is awful..."

Meanwhile, in Fallujah....

Helena Cobban provides us with testimonies from Fallujah.

Having a teenage boy myself, my heart breaks upon reading this:

-- "After interrogations, the Americans give the usual detainees to our traitors ... — he calls the new Iraqi army by this word — and those [in Iraq's new army] shoot them. This boy was executed together with three other men. Bastards...

The surgeon comes out after an hour. The teenager has died. The crying mother is led away by the old Iraqi. He is her brother. The surgeon sits down on the sofa and closes his eyes.

-- Aneh teben! — I am so tired! ..."

Helena's final line, "Stalingrad... Grozny... Fallujah", should give us grievous pause.

Haunted by the thought of swarming flies attracted by the stench of death, I am reminded of a poem by Yusef Komunyakaa, who wrote about another war - Vietnam. Is Iraq any different? What the hell have we done?

Excerpt:

"He danced with tall grass
for a moment, like he was swaying
with a woman. Our gun barrels
glowed white-hot.
When I got to him,
a blue halo
of flies had already claimed him.
I pulled the crumbed photograph
from his fingers..."

Poem: We Never Know
by Yusef Komunyakaa

See full poem here.
Copyright, All Rights Reserved

Happy 4th Blogiversary to Josh Marshall

Happy 4th Blogiversary to Josh Marshall

Talking Points Memo had a blogiversary this month.
Congrats go out to Josh, a macroblogger among bloggers.