Bureaucratic Nightmare: Shirin Ebadi Book Squelched by US Government

Bureaucratic Nightmare: Shirin Ebadi Book Squelched by US Government



Shirin Ebadi is one of my personal heroines. I was flabbergasted to read the guest editorial at Juan Cole's Informed Comment today. It was written by William Fisher,who has managed economic development programs in the Middle East for the US State Department and the US Agency for International Development, and served in the international affairs area in the Kennedy administration.

Mr. Fisher claims that Iranian human rights activist/Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and her literary agent are suing the U.S. Treasury Department - and the Treasury Department obviously hasn’t yet told our State Department. Due to US governmental bureaucracy, a virtual "tipping of the hat" to Iranian law is being allowed to squelch the publication of Mme. Ebadi's new book in the United States. The Treasury Department has ruled it illegal “to enhance the value of anything created in Iran without permission” -- including books. As current laws stand, if Mme. Ebadi's literary agent were to help prepare the manuscript to Mme. Ebadi's new book for an American audience, both she and Mme. Ebadi would be subject to punishment -- 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for an individual or $1 million for a publishing house.

William Fisher says:

"Publication of the Ebadi book in the US would be perfectly OK with Treasury if the book were already published in Iran. But the Catch-22 here is that the ayatollahs have already foreclosed this option.

And now an anachronistic US law is having the same effect."

UPDATE: The WSJ reports that a lawyer for Mme. Ebadi has said that new regulations have been written for Treasury which "might be sufficient to end the lawsuit".

*Thanks to Jaded Reality for pointing this out to me.

The Reindeer Shoe by Billy Jones

The Reindeer Shoe
A Christmas Story For All




How would you like to read a Christmas story that will warm your heart and put you in the spirit of this holiday season?


I suggest that you read The Reindeer Shoe by Billy Jones, also known as Billy the Blogging Poet.


It begins with Billy's foreward, an interesting history of what we know today as the Christmas celebration. Then begins his magical tale, a new classic for all to enjoy- regardless of our age.





Billy is mentioned at Jay Rosen's Press Think today for his involvement with the Greensboro101 blogging community. Ed Cone is also given the honor he's due for his efforts in knitting the community together. The people in Greensboro have such talent - and such heart! I wonder - is it something in the drinking water? Whatever it is, it makes you wish you were there.

We'll miss you, Bill Moyers

"I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee," Moyers said. "We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people....


We'll miss you, Bill Moyers

As a blogger, I want Bill Moyers to know how he has inspired people like me. It's because of Bill's desire to keep democracy alive through conversation that I am here, inspired to keep Bill's dream alive. I can't begin to tell you how much I'll miss NOW. The last show will air on PBS tonight.

There was a repeated broadcast of a wonderful interview which Bill gave to Terry Gross on today's NPR show, Fresh Air, and I will link the interview once it's available.

The Star Tribune has an article about Bill: After three decades, Bill Moyers calls it a career

The New York Times' headline reads: Moyers Leaves a Public Affairs Pulpit With Sermons to Spare

At Al-Jazeerah, Sam Hamod says: Goodbye, Bill Moyers: Some Praise and Some Criticisms of Moyers and PBS

The Nation talks about Our Debt to Bill Moyers

Front PAge magazine bids Bill 'adieu'.

Godspeed, Bill. Whatever you choose to do in this life from here on in, I hope you will understand, in fullness, just how much you've meant to us.

Berkeley Pries Open Votergate

The day after electors cast votes at state capitols nationwide, at the regular meeting of the Berkeley City Council, half the public speakers expressed concern for democracy, given problems on Nov. 2 including minority and student vote suppression.

Berkeley Pries Open Votergate
A Resolution that the GAO Immediately Investigate 2004 Elections
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 15, 2004

Berkeley Pries Open Votergate,
Calls for Immediate Investigation of 2004 Election.

From Press Release:

Home of the free speech movement, Berkeley often tackles injustices. After hearing the citizens speak at the Tuesday night meeting, Mayor Tom Bates proclaimed, "Nothing is more fundamental than a free, fair election. When you start tinkering with that, it throws the whole system into disarray. I am pleased that we are taking this stand." The City Council then adopted, by unanimous consent, the "Resolution Supporting the Request that the GAO Immediately Undertake an Investigation of Voting Irregularities in the 2004 Elections." It is posted on the web at www.berkeleyresolution.blogspot.com.

Home

The waters of home
flow sweetly as winter
approaches with promise
to steal the colors which
caused enchantment this day



*I took this photo on a walk near my home in early November.

Brad Friedman:Updates on Ohio and Clint Curtis case

Brad Friedman:
Updates on Ohio and Clint Curtis case

Freelance journalist Brad Friedman never ceases to amaze. He has posted Yang's (YEI's) full response to the Clinton Curtis charges and has provided a response of his own.

Brad also informs us that Greens, Libertarians, along with Kerry-Edwards 2004 have just added "election tampering" to a civil suit filed against the state of Ohio. The fine folks at RAW STORY have the scoop and the court documents online.

Brad leads us to a WP story by staff writers Michael Powell and Peter Slevin, titled Several Factors Contributed to 'Lost' Voters in Ohio, which cites electoral problems which prevented many thousands of Ohioans from voting on Nov. 2. While "most senior state officials, Republican and Democratic alike, tend to play down the anger" over Ohio, the article leads you to understand this isn't all about conspiracy theory and tin-foil headgear. Some are saying that this is too little too late; that journalists are framing this too lightly; that they weren't out there doing theire job while the vote in Ohio (and God knows where else) was very possibly manipulated.

Ray Beckerman's Ohio Election Fraud will keep you up to date on many Ohio developments, including the Triad Vote Machine tampering/pending recount lawsuit.

US Embroiled in Iraq's Civil War

US Embroiled in Iraq's
Civil War

Bomb at Iraqi Shiite shrine Kills 7, wounds 32

Another attack upon a Shiite shrine in Iraq today.

As Sunnis pull away from the "democratic" electoral process and continue attacks upon holy Shiite places - targeting Shiite clerics - how long do you suppose the Bush administration can keep blaming Syria and Iran for what the Iraqi Sunnis have consciously chosen to do?

How long will it be before a Shiite fundamentalist comes to power through a lopsided vote?
How long before a newly-elected Iraqi leader commands that the US occupation forces make attacks upon Sunni strongholds?
Isn't that what we're already doing?
Are we pawns caught in the middle of Iraq's civil war?
How could George W. Bush have allowed this to happen to our military?

Helping Iraq is one thing - if Iraq had chosen to willingly help themselves. They have not proven to be willing to fight for their own nation. I've never seen a genuine intent on their part.

I think it's now a full blown civil war in Iraq.

January 30th may bring elections, but we cannot expect those elections to bring the kind of democracy that will curtail civil war within Iraq. In the light of this knowlege, the war has been a complete and utter failure. I hang my head in sorrow for all who've been caught up in this disaster.

The Splendid Failure of Occupation, Pt 23

The Splendid Failure of Occupation
Part 23: Dick Cheney, reshaping history with an ax
By B. J. Sabri
Online Journal Contributing Writer
LINK

Excerpt:

...think of Cheney and his reinterpretation of world history and relate that to Zionism, the locomotive of the neoconservatives ideology for world power, and then, think of Fallujah, the small Iraqi city the U.S. turned into rubble.

The instant we juxtaposed Cheney to these new ideas, our original thought stops, discards Halliburton, and begins searching for new relations with Cheney still at the center. Because Vice President Cheney is a pillar of hyper-imperialism, he is a means to understand America’s war on Iraq, and the militarist thrust to impose a durable U.S. world hegemony.

Accordingly, I shall discuss Cheney from five viewpoints: 1) Empire vs. imperialism; 2) U.N. resolutions as war alibis; 3) 9/11 as a rationale for Iraq’s conquest; 4) interaction with Zionism and vice versa; and 5) Falluja as a symbol for Cheney’s “American Modified and Accepted Hitlerism.”

From Part 23 of a series of articles written by B.J. Sabri, an Iraqi-American antiwar activist. The next part will be - Part 24: Dick Cheney: rewriting history with a shovel

Kerik Fest

photo from The Age

Kerik Fest

Omigoodgawd!

It's no wonder he never smiles!

'New Testament'according to Iddybud - joke

McMount McCavalry

'New Testament'according to Iddybud
*joke*

"To her husband's surprise the Virgin Zhood was pregnant with child. Fortunately for Virgin Zhood, an angel explained that her child was Harmonious Christ, the world's lord and cooter farmer, the glorious Husband of God. At his birth angels told shepherds in the field to follow the shining pone to find him. Also, three scented doghead dogs came bearing gifts of taters and beans. Yea verily, and it came to pass, after Harmonious Christ was baptized by being submerged in mule deer he gave the sermon on the stew. At the sermon on the stew Harmonious Christ taught: Blessed are the mealy for they shall take the legs, and furry are the bucks for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Harmonious Christ also performed many miracles such as when he turned Ears of Corn into Yogurt heads at his friend's wedding, and made the lovely man not so lovely. Unfortunately the rulers became angry with the influence of Harmonious Christ, So they gave him but a lovestick. But someday he will return in magnificent glory... So tithe and watch your back!!"

Okay, I need to explain this to you, dear readers. I had no clue what I was writing when I played the game at: New Testament Instant Religion Creator. There are other opportunities to write scripture at: RELIGION CREATOR. Knock yourself out.

I sincerely hope it doesn't offend. It's all in fun.

Viktor Bout's ties to the U.S. military

Viktor Bout's ties to the U.S. military

Last summer, I asked Who Is Viktor Bout--and why do they call him "The Merchant of Death"?

Laura Rozen has been following the story. According to her December 13th blog,

"Douglas Farah flags quite a scoop by Newsweek's Michael Isikoff. Not only has notorious "Merchant of Death" blood-diamonds trafficker Victor Bout been flying ammunition into Iraq under US government contract. It's been flying it in for Kellogg, Brown & Root, the subisidiary of Dick Cheney's Halliburton. Not once or twice or a dozen times: 142 times."

The most recent update at Ms Rozen's site includes an article by the LA Times on Bout's contracts with the US government.

Alex Harrowell (aka the Yorkshire Ranter) has been covering the story as well.

See: UN/Liberia/Bout -page 62-63

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

At today's DoD Special Defense Department Briefing on Iraq Reconstruction: - LINK
*Mr. Hess is Charlie Hess, who is the director of the Project and Contracting Office in Iraq

Q: There are reports that air cargo companies affiliated with a Russian arms dealer by the name of Viktor -- I'm probably mispronouncing it -- Bout, B-o-u-t -- have received a fair amount of business in Iraq despite the fact that he's on a Treasury Department blacklist. Do you know anything about it, first of all? And do you have any mechanisms in place to ensure that that kind of thing doesn't happen?

MR. HESS: Well, in terms of our contracts -- and that certainly does not sound like one, is is not one that I am familiar with at all -- but our contracts, our contracting officers will certainly look at the debarred contract list and at the embargoed contractor list to make sure that we're not dealing with firms that are, in fact, precluded from working with the U.S. government.

Q: But you don't have any information about --

MR. HESS: I have no information on this one whatsoever. I mean, if you could give me some more information about what they're doing. Is this a service contract of some sort, I take it?

Q: All I know is air cargo.

MR. HESS: I have not heard anything about that. But if you had some details, we can certainly check into it.

You Go To War With What You Have

"You Go to War With What You Have"
A Poem to Donald Rumsfeld from the Troops
by Jude Nagurney Camwell

Why do we soldiers dig and beg
While fighting in this powderkeg?
You lied to send our units here
In danger, without proper gear

We finally asked you to your face
Why our armor’s not in place
You looked at us as if we’re dumb
Your hands flew ‘round the podium

"You go to war with what you have", you rail
"I see violence! We must prevail!
The war’s an ugly dang’rous one
A lot’s not right; it isn’t fun."

You told us freedom's on our side,
Our enemies have no place to hide
And human history sweeps freedom true
Well, Rumsfeld, we've got news for you

"What you have" are good, good men
Who trusted when you began
This war to liberate Iraq
and find the WMDs in stock

Turns out there wasn't a WMD one
But still you kept us on the run
By telling us we'd liberate
A nation that we've learned to hate

Each brother forced to deathbed calm
by RPG, trap, and sucide bomb
Regrets they ever bit this dust
Or ever learned to loyally trust.

They went to war with what they had-
A thing called life, you ignorant cad!
And all you say is, "You can have all
the armor in the world and you still might fall."

It doesn't take the smartest guy
To figure out that you would lie
To your own Grandma if you thought it might
Get her to come to Iraq to fight.

Copyright Jude/Iddybud 2004

Before He Went To War-A song by Patty Ann Smith

Before He Went To War-A song by Patty Ann Smith

"BEFORE HE WENT TO WAR"

This is a song that Patty Ann Smith of Hope4America has written about her brother, Bob, a Vietnam Vet who died in 2003.
She dedicates this song to all of our troops both past and present.
Click here to download free at Scrub Records: http://scrubrecords.com//artists/918/

Harvard's Other Rock Star: Andrew Morgan

Music:
Harvard's Other Rock Star: Andrew Morgan
Meet Nietzsche's answer to Britney Spears.
By Justine Nagurney
Harvard Independent, 9 Dec 2004

"Essentially what I'll be attempting is to integrate the heart of Nietzsche's critique of Christianity into pop song structure," Morgan told me in an interview. "The intent behind an integration of Nietzsche's critique and pop music is one of subversion - accessing the widest possible mainstream audience in order to introduce content that would challenge the current manipulations of religious language and dogma by undercutting the basis for such actions. [ .. ] Twenty-two musicians (including former Built to Spill cellist John McMahon), five years, and at least as many cities in the making, Misadventures in Radiology ultimately came into being as a result of the goodwill of the late Elliott Smith, to whom the album is dedicated.."

- Justine Nagurney '06

House Rep Cynthia Davis Owes Apology to Citizens and Colleagues

House Rep Cynthia Davis Owes Apology to Citizens and Colleagues


Davis

I saw this quote at Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo, and I think it bears repeating, if only to point out what is gut-worst in some of our elected representatives. Missouri Representative Cynthia Davis is allegedly speaking for her "common sense" and "grassroots" constituency in Missouri while comparing liberalism to terrorism:

"It's like when the hijackers took over those four planes on Sept. 11 and took people to a place where they didn't want to go," she added. "I think a lot of people feel that liberals have taken our country somewhere we don't want to go. I think a lot more people realize this is our country and we're going to take it back."

Rep Cynthia Davis is not only speaking in an unstatesman-like manner, she is a nothing more than a hateful-sounding partisan for making such comparison. She is not representing common sense. She is boldly representing what is so very wrong with America today. She owes at least half the population of the United States (and her colleagues) an apology.

Clinton Curtis' "show stopper" testimony causes "gasps" at hearing

Clinton Curtis' "show stopper" testimony causes "gasps" at hearing
Daily Kos diary, Spiral Stairs, 14 December, 2004

There is a transcript of a video of Curtis' Ohio Democratic House Judiciary Committee testimony at Daily Kos and Raw Story.

Credit for the story belongs to Brad Blog.

Other references:

Mark Adams is covering this story at Dispassionate Liberalism.

see Who Is Clinton Curtis? Iddybud, 12 Dec 2004

Deceiving America

Deceiving America

U.S. military charters call for giving truthful information to the media and the public, and must be reconciled with the Pentagon's bitter current debate over how far it can go in creating propaganda to influence opinion abroad.

Will Americans soon be totally deceived by their government about war? Sometimes it can't be helped, if you ask Brig General Mark Kimmitt, who now serves as deputy director of plans for the American military command in the Middle East. It's a tough business, but sometimes we just have to learn to accept outright lies because of "conflicting principles". (Is this sounding acceptable to you yet?)


According to the NY Times:

"This is tough business," said General Kimmitt.

"Are we trying to inform? Yes. Do we offer perspective? Yes. Do we offer military judgment? Yes.

Must we tell the truth to stay credible? Yes. Is there a battlefield value in deceiving the enemy? Yes. Do we intentionally deceive the American people? No."

The rub, General Kimmitt said, is operating among those sometimes conflicting principles.

"There is a gray area," he said. "Tactical and operational deception are proper and legal on the battlefield." But "in a worldwide media environment," he asked, "how do you prevent that deception from spilling out from the battlefield and inadvertently deceiving the American people?"

New Yogananda Book May Change View of Jesus

photo credit: www.reluctant-messenger.com

New Yogananda Book May Change View of Jesus

52 years after his death, a book compiled from decades of Paramahansa Yogananda's speeches and writings is being published by his Los Angeles-based Self-Realization Fellowship. "The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of Christ Within You," is a book which offers Yogananda's ideas about the deeper meaning of Jesus' teachings and their essential unity with yoga. Yogananda believed these major teachings were lost to institutional Christianity. The "bridge-building book" will offer intricate discourse on various Gospel passages and may change the way people see Jesus, according to USC professor emeritus and specialist in world religions, Robert Ellwood.

According to Amazon.com's editorial review:

"Yogananda takes the reader on a profoundly enriching journey through the four Gospels. Verse by verse, he illumines the uni­versal path to oneness with God taught by Jesus to his immediate dis­ciples but obscured through cen­turies of misinter­pretation: "how to become like Christ, how to resurrect the Eternal Christ within one’s self."
Never before available in its entirety, this landmark work by one of the most revered spiritual teachers of our time transcends divisive sectarianism to reveal a unifying harmony underlying all true religions. A groundbreaking synthesis of East and West, it imparts the life-transforming realization that each of us can experience for ourselves the promised Second Coming -- awakening of the all-fulfilling Divine Consciousness latent within our souls.."

LA Times writer Teresa Wantanabe says:

The guru did not focus on a literal return of Jesus. Rather, he said, the significant Second Coming involved a return of the "Christ consciousness" of divine intelligence, wisdom and perception that was incarnate in Jesus and other masters, such as Krishna of India. As it spreads among seekers, it will bring peace and harmony, he said.

Yogananda also says that John's puzzling Book of Revelation is not a treatise on Armageddon and the final days before Christ's Second Coming, as perceived by many Christians. He says John, whom he described as the most deeply mystical of Jesus' disciples, was providing a road map to divine union using yoga techniques [...]

..If the book confounds or offends traditionalists, however, Chappel and Sharma say it might not surprise mystics. The path to God or enlightenment through meditation is found in Sufism of Islam and cabala of Judaism, monastic Buddhism and contemplative Christianity.

Chidananda says such Christian mystics as Teresa of Avila, Meister Eckhart and John of the Cross have described experiences of divine union that uncannily resemble the yoga experience.".

Being Left by Kathryn Schulz

"..we on the left have failed [..] not only to express convincingly that we love our country, but also why we love our country."

Being Left by Kathryn Schulz

At The Nation, Kathryn Schulz does an eloquent job of explaining how she believes many progressives have missed the boat on defining their vision for the America they love and desire to see.


Photo credit: www.adsources.com

While we don't have to be a bunch of crooning Lee Greenwoods, we should never be afraid to admit that we are heartbroken over the fact that our efforts failed insofar as the election goes. Yet, we shouldn't dwell on the angst. Instead, we can express how deeply we love and care about our country and its people and move on to a future of hope.

"Instead of defining that vision, we have scrabbled desperately for a tiny patch of space inside the right's increasingly narrow-minded nation, abdicating our real job of providing a countervailing ideal. We have forgotten that we are supposed to have a dream, and as a result, we now have a nightmare. Like many progressives, I look at another four years of the Bush Administration and see a widening gyre: more war, more terrorism, more corruption, more governmental secrecy and inaccessibility, more religious fanaticism, more poverty, more debt, more international isolation. I see a political ethos of greed, secrecy, divisiveness and cronyism, and a cultural ethos that makes moral failings of this country's bedrock principles--reasoned dissent and respect for difference. I look on all of that and I understand why much of this nation is heartbroken.

And yet, strangely, it is ultimately in that heartbreak that I find some measure of hope. Heartbreak is, after all, evidence of the existence of love, and our current grief is a kind of emotional sonar, a way to measure the previously hidden depth of our dedication. We need to begin acting on that love and dedication".

Thin veil of democracy torn asunder by "Electronic Jim-Crow" voting

"It is not until the economy crashes, the draft is reinstated, more major terrorist attacks happen and the stuff really hitting the fan that more and more people will see what is really happening. Unfortunately by the time that people get mad enough to hit the streets en masse, it will probably be too late, with the current neocon administration declaring the protests as terrorist activities and sending troops in to break them up, jailing the protesters as "enemy combatants".

--Jeffersonian American, responding to an article by Lloyd Hart

Thin veil of democracy torn asunder by "Electronic Jim-Crow" voting

At North Texas Indy Media, Lloyd Hart believes that there will never be another free and fair election in America until there is a civil war restablishing an open democracy.

DNC: State Chairs revolt against DC consultant culture

DNC: State Chairs revolt against DC consultant culture

According to Oregon's new DNC Committeewoman Jenny Greenleaf, it isn't only bloggers who are unhappy with the "consultant culture" in Washington, D.C. Jenny attended the ASDC (Association of State Democratic Chairs) meeting over the weekend and came to this conclusion:

"The states are revolting against the Washington consultant culture..[ ].. Most of them are just as frustrated with the DNC as bloggers. And they are ON the DNC."

Jenny offers this view for bloggers who believe there's an intent to shut certain people out of the big tent:

"The Democratic Party not a monolithic organization. I guess what bothers me most about many of the diatribes against Party that I read on the ‘net is the sense that there’s a deliberate attempt to exclude people. I don’t think it’s intentional."

See Jenny's entire entry at today's American Street.

Jenny's accounting of DNC Chair candidates' backgrounds and positions is here.

At the Blogging of the President (BOP), D.C. got "killed" in an informal exit poll of DNC members who were at the state chair event:
Howard Dean 26
Wellington Webb 26
Ron Kirk 24
Donnie Fowler 14
Martin Frost 9
James Blanchard 7
Simon Rosenberg 4
Harold Ickes 3.

Leo Hindery has dropped out.

(*poll taken by Jerome and Matt at BOP. Matt likes Simon Rosenberg for the position, and explains why he thinks you should get to "know him" HERE. ).

According to Jerome Armstrong,

"There's something wrong when DNC Chair candidate Donnie Fowler, during his 5-minute presentation on his candidacy, singles out Matt Stoller as an example of embracing the technological ideas that are going to bring this party forward, and then some DNC staffer walks up to Stoller and tells him he's got to leave the room, because he's a blogger..[ ]..Nevermind the bizarre disconjunct of their kicking us out while they eye the DNC coffers from the internet's small donor with greed. Put aside their praise for Terry McAuliffe having figured out how to hook up 2 million new activist small donors, while they kick out the activists that help make it happen. We want to hear what they are going to do to reform the DNC inside the states, because it's inside the states, not just in DC, that this reform needs to happen."

So I took this test...

So I took this test....

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convincing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Brownstein: Beinart Analogy Off-Base in Light of Current Realities

Brownstein: Beinart Analogy Off-Base in Light of Current Realities

Ron Brownstein explains how Peter Beinart's recent TNR article fails to address current realities when suggesting that today's Democratic leaders have been weak in coalescing behind a "fighting faith" against radical Islam.

Beinart is a smart and serious student of political history, and his lengthy argument (published in the Dec. 13 issue) is intriguing. But his analogy to the 1940s is imperfect for explaining the situation Democrats face now. In fact, his argument shows how difficult it will be for Democrats to set a new course on national security until they regain the White House.

Beinart may lament Democratic reaction to Bush's mistakes in Iraq, and it may be true that the Democratic party has been recently defined more by its opposition to Bush's choices than by its own alternatives. As more of the grave errors in the Bush administration's judgement regarding Iraq are exposed, however, I think the public will begin to more easily understand that there was valid reason for protest all along. In my mind, if we agree with Peter Beinart, we are agreeing to help the Bush administration cover one of the biggest blunders in U.S. history, which will only serve to further diminish our nation by prolonging a wrong-minded foreign policy. It's important that we move on, but we must move on with dignity, righteousness, and a political mindset that encompasses honesty, respect, and social justice. The Bush foreign policy has done little to forward such notions.

Brownstein speaks about the impotency and futility of Beinart's argument about Kerry's failure to develop a positive post-9/11 Democratic national security agenda. The simple and inescapable fact was this: Bush was the incumbent.

"In American politics, the party out of the White House is defined mostly by its reaction to the president's decisions, especially in foreign policy. Beinart is wise in counseling Democrats to highlight ideas for the war on terrorism that extend beyond criticizing Bush. But Kerry's experience shows that even when they do, the president will still set the terms of debate because he sets the direction for national security policy."

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.