Love Sees No Color

"Love Sees no Color"--
About Fred Nassiri



".....The theme of the video and what Nassiri claims is the whole motivation behind the music in general, is a message of a humane charity and peace-on-Earth. The music is what Nassiri refers to as "New Generational," a genre he coined. "It's a new type of music and I want to introduce it to the world," says Nassiri.
Abdullah asserts that "every dime" of the proceeds from the CD and DVD sales will go toward Children and Armed Conflict, the United Nations organization that rescues third world children forced to join military forces..."

Nassiri Video site here

Lyrics to the Song:

Love Sees No Color

Love sees no color, no race, no religion
We are the same as the rays from the sun
Love sees no color, no race, no religion
Only through love can we live as one.

When I look into your eyes I see hope, and future
Realizing what we have inside.
Hearts of love, hearts of light, hearts of new beginnings
Eager to find the answers we are seeking

Why does it take one man to end it all?
Oh, why can't we see!
Why does it take much more to stop the fall?
When it only takes love to be free.

Love sees no color, no race, no religion
We are the same as the rays from the sun
Love sees no color, no race, no religion
Only through love can we live as one.



Let’s light a candle for the joining of our union
One for the fate of all mankind
One for love, one for thanks, all that we are given
Celebrating life and love we are finding.

Why does it take one man to end it all?
Oh, why can't we see!
Why does it take much more to stop the fall?
When on only takes love to be free.

Love sees no color, no race, no religion
We are the same as the rays from the sun
Love sees no color, no race, no religion
Only through love can we live as one.

Love sees no color, no race, no religion
We are the same as the rays from the sun
Love sees no color, no race, no religion
Only through love can we live as one.

Iran Quake

Dear God: At least 10,000 Souls Lost..
Iranian Quake Deaths Could Reach 40,000


This was all that was left of the remains of the old city. Located on a 6 sq. km site and built in the 11th century, the Citadel of Bam’s unique mud-brick structure was the largest clay structure in the world. It seems it was destroyed in the quake.

See Guardian articles:

Bam: Jewel of Iranian heritage

and

In minutes, Bam's 2,000 years of history and its hopes for the future were left in ruins

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Jihad in Tappahannock!?

Tappahannock, VA is a lovely town with one of the best river-views and one of the best little-known used book-stores around.
But...Tappahannock?!? Rappahanock? Who'd know?!?


Rappahannock River -photo by Iddybud

"....According to this morning's news, the little town of Tappahannock, with a population somewhere under 2000 souls, may have been identified through intelligence intercepts as a possible terrorist target. Tappahannock is some 90 minutes down Route 17 from me, and it reportedly has a single policeman on duty at any given time. So my question is a simple one: Tappahannock? .."

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A 14-year-old boy reveals more tongue-in-cheek wisdom than the pundits who cover up the truth for Misleader Bush on a daily basis.

The twisting Bush can't fool children, who see life in the simplest, least hypocritical ways.

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Mad Kane's Latest Parody: Bushtown Races :)

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YOU MUST SEE THIS CHRISTMAS CARTOON!

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MORE FUN: Take the King William's College quiz

Pupils at King William's College on the Isle of Man have suffered this fiendish general knowledge quiz for 99 years. The average score is just two. Answers will be forthcoming in the new year .

_ _ _ _ _ _

Guardian: 2003: End of year news quiz

It was the year of the Iraq war, royal embarrassments and rugby. What can you remember from 2003?

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Robert D. Blackwill is the new "grand pooh-bah" of U.S. foreign policy.

..The job was designed to provide cohesion and long-range planning for a White House foreign policy team under stress from breaking wars and ongoing crises. Blackwill has quickly become the alter ego to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
...Although a colorful and highly public figure in the past, Blackwill is now among the least accessible officials. In his heart, he tells colleagues, he's a 19th-century man who believes in the necessity of secrecy.

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Remember Joseph Wilson? Leak of CIA agent Probe Gathering Momentum

..the CIA believes that people in the administration continue to release classified information to damage the figures at the center of the controversy, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV and his wife, Valerie Plame, who was exposed as a CIA officer by unidentified senior administration officials for a July 14 column by Robert D. Novak.

..a grand jury may be called to take testimony from administration officials

.."The only fear I've heard expressed is that the investigation will be too slow or too fast and will kick into a visible mode in a way that is poorly timed for the election," the Republican said. "If they prosecuted someone tomorrow, I don't think the White House would care. And they can do it in December 2004. They just don't want it to become an issue in the election."

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Paul Krugman takes on the media and tells them to GET REAL:

"Don't fall for political histrionics. I couldn't believe how much ink was spilled after the Gore-Dean event over Joe Lieberman's hurt feelings. Folks, we're talking about war, peace and the future of U.S. democracy — not about who takes whom to the prom.
Political operatives have become experts at manufacturing the appearance of outrage. In the last few weeks the usual suspects have been trying to paint Howard Dean's obviously heartfelt comments about his brother's death in Laos as some sort of insult to the military. We owe it to our readers not to fall for these tricks.

It's not about you. We learn from The Washington Post that reporters covering Mr. Dean are surprised — and, it's implied, miffed — that "he never asks a single question about them." The mind reels..."


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Washington Times on Grover Norquist

"The soul of the new machine," is how Mother Jones describes Grover Norquist in an in-depth profile.
"As national ward boss for the right," writes Michael Scherer, "Norquist has gone a long way toward demolishing the old Democratic agenda. And he isn't done yet."
For readers who don't know the 47-year-old president of Americans for Tax Reform, his invitation-only Wednesday meetings, for which he is the blunt master of ceremonies, "have become a hot ticket for Washington's conservative In Crowd, the place for GOP players to brain-storm, swap intelligence and see and be seen."
Even Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, is known to drop by. As do senators and congressmen, from 259 of whom Mr. Norquist has secured written promises not to raise taxes. But his agenda doesn't stop there. He's launched Republican recruitment efforts to attract minorities, especially Muslims, aiming to turn them into ideal Americans.
"My ideal citizen is the self-employed, home-schooling, IRA-owning guy with a concealed-carry permit," he says. "Because that person doesn't need the [expletive] government for anything."
"And rather than negotiate with the teachers unions and the trial lawyers and the various leftist interest groups, we intend to break them," says Mr. Norquist, who at age 12 volunteered for Richard Nixon's campaign.

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Seeking a new emphasis, Dean touts his Christianity

I'd hardly call answering an interview question "touting".
I'd call it "answering".
See how the media can be?

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Carter's kin is riled up with enthusiasm for Howard Dean!
Jimmy Carter's son Chip stumps for Dean

"...as you travel around the world, people are looking for a new leader. The world is so scared of George Bush. They don't know what he is going to do next."
Carter thinks it would only take "20 minutes" for Howard Dean to make an impact on this worldview and rebuild confidence in the United States again from other nations.
Carter feels that Dean's has a good chance to stand against President Bush in the upcoming presidential election because he is willing to reach out to groups who previously have not voted.

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Who cares what these damn pundits wail on about? We've chosen our side....and the pundits will wind up victims of
losing the mainstream...scratching their head..see NATION article

"...Today, the nation remains no less divided than four years ago, with about 20 percent of the vote up for grabs. The punditocracy has chosen its side. Perhaps it's time the rest of us choose ours..."

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Sharks, Bigfoot Lead National Geographic Top News Stories of 2003

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It couldn't happen to a more deserving terrorist
Al-Qaida assassins after Gadhafi

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Happy Christmas!

I Wish You A Happy Christmas!

The Rebel Jesus
by Jackson Browne

All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season


And the merchants' windows are all bright
With the faces of the children


And the families hurrying to their homes
As the sky darkens and freezes


Will be gathering around the hearths and tables
Giving thanks for God's graces


And the birth of the rebel Jesus

Well they call him by 'the Prince of Peace'
And they call him by 'the Savior'


And they pray to him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor


And they fill his churches with their pride and gold
As their faith in him increases


But they've turned the nature that I worship in
From a temple to a robber's den


In the words of the rebel Jesus

We guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions


And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations


And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us


But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why they are poor


They get the same as the rebel Jesus


But please forgive me if I seem
To take the tone of judgement


For I've no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment


In this life of hardship and of earthly toil
We have need for anything that frees us


So I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer


From a heathen and a pagan

On the side of the rebel Jesus

William Rivers Pitt Speaks for Dean

William Rivers Pitt:
"Howard Dean wants his country back, and so do I, and all the electoral math is pointing more and more every day to the fact that if we are to take this country back from the brigands, we will be doing it in Howard Dean’s army."

".....But the ad in Iowa, the nonsense about Hussein’s capture, and these most recent smears about Dean’s brother, are a cancer. It smacks of bitterness, of candidates who thought it was their turn and now feel thwarted by this doctor who came out of nowhere. It smells like brimstone, because if it continues, it will return to haunt us in the general election, the “Dean can’t win” claims will become a self-fulfilling prophesy, Bush will secure victory in 2004, and we will reap the whirlwind. If the Democratic party eats itself over the nomination of Howard Dean, it will cease to exist as a viable force in America, and deservedly so. Memo to the DLC and DNC: You have been warned..."

Howard Dean is Treated Most Unethically by Iowa Newspaper
Quad-Cities Times


Quad-Cities Times: I can't believe they actually did this

I will post the entire Quad-Cities Times Editorial at the end of this blog entry.
The Editorial would have been fine up until the last sentence, clearly meant to take a great deal of credibility away from
Howard Dean in a most unethical fashion.

I've seen tawdry tactics before, but this one really takes the cake.

It brings to mind how far I believe some of our journalists have strayed from ethics and from human reality today, even in the scope of "all's fair" American-style politics.

Fritz Williams of the Baltimore Ethical Society said:

"Suffering and joy teach us, if we allow them, how to make the leap of empathy, which transports us into the soul and heart of another person. ln those transparent moments we know other people's joys and sorrows, and we care about their concerns as if they were our own."

There is an element of empathy in the story of Charlie Dean's family situation that most Americans capable of empathy can clearly see..and that the Quad Cities Tmes has totally missed.

According to Jodi Wilgoren of the NY Times, Dr. Dean has written a letter to the Quad-Cities Times, saying he was "deeply offended" by the editorial. I don't see the letter posted at the Quad Cities site. Perhaps they're embarrassed. They should be.


Howard Dean's statement about his brother finally coming home

When Charlie's remains looked as if they'd been found, Howard Dean publically stated:

"This has been a long and emotional journey for my mother, Jim, Bill and me. We greet this news with mixed emotions but are gratified that we may now be approaching closure to this painful episode in our lives. We ask that you respect our privacy as we arrange for the transfer, identification and ultimate burial of what we believe are Charlie Dean's remains.

I want to particularly thank the United States military. The men and women I visited with and stayed with at base camp last year in Laos are extraordinary human beings. This whole operation is an extraordinary credit to the government and the U.S. military. My family and I are deeply appreciative.

This is an extraordinary thing they've done: I've been on the site of five POW/MIA where they believe people are buried. It's very, very difficult. It's very rare to recover the type of remains that we recovered, which are very significant and are very likely to be positively identified.

At every turn [JPAC and the U.S. military] have been accommodating and respectful of our family's needs, and we're grateful for their service to our family and to every other family who has experienced a similar loss.

This is painful not just for us, but for the families of every POW/MIA in America. Based on my spending time in Southeast Asia last year I can tell you and all those families that similar efforts are being made for every family and every missing American from these Southeast Asian wars. This is an extraordinary step our government has gone to [to bring home every POW/MIA]."

So when did we lose our sense of empathy in America?

Charlie may not have been a soldier. He may not have been CIA. Frankly, none of this has ever been made clear and perhaps we, the public, will never and should never have access to any of that information. Charlie's not coming back. His family has suffered deeply, as I'm sure your family would. Howard Dean, in his eloquent statement expressed the great lesson he learned from the POW/MIA experience....and that lesson was borne of empathy for other families who lost beloved soldiers in the Viet Nam War. He also expresses his thanks and respect to the Military operation that enabled his family to have a final reuniting with Charlie.

If you can't see Howard Dean's answer for what it is and understand that it is truly the first thing that comes to this man's mind when he's asked about his closest relative and the armed forces, then I have no answer other than to say there's a sad combination of a lack of ethics, empathy, and a removal from reality on the part of the Editorial-writer at the Quad Cities Times. I won't go as far as to say there was deliberate atempt to impugn Dean's honesty and/or credibility, but I must say I suspect it.

It was incredibly scummy.

At a recent Sunday morning meeting, Dr. Khoren Arisian of the New York Society for Ethical Culture said:

"...When I say that since the times are always changing and so must we, I’m urging that if we are to be effective in the world, we need to catch on to the tunes and code words being played all around us. Then, maybe, we can respond forcefully and convincingly and make our voices heard.

"...Democracy depends on our being citizens first, consumers second, couch potatoes never.

"...The good life, the fulfilled life, is ultimately with people who are real. Real people are characterized by an ability to deal boldly with reality, with what’s actually at stake as opposed to what’s ostensibly happening, the music and the code words mentioned earlier. We have to learn to read between, not into, the lines..."

Howard Dean is about as real and as bold as you can get in politics today.
I understood what he was saying in his answer to that question..and I'll bet most other Americans did, too.
The Quad-Cities Times failed to read between his lines, and in doing so, missed a great opportunity to show
themselves as an humanly empathetic or ethical newspaper.
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THE EDITORIAL

Dean's answer reveals more than intended

For 12 weeks, editorial page readers have learned a little bit about the human side of our presidential caucus candidates.

Our Caucus Q&A each Sunday defines each candidate in terms beyond position statements. They have divulged childhood experiences and influential teachers. In today's installment, the candidates named their favorite comedy film.

Last Sunday, Howard Dean offered an unusually revealing answer.

The candidates were asked to cmplete this sentence:

My closest living relative in the armed services is...?

Dean's reply: "...my brother is a POW/MIA in Laos, but is almost certainly dead."

Dean's truthful answer provided an inaccurate response. His brother was never a member of the armed services.

In an interview Friday with the Times editorial board, Dean said he believed the question was meant to get at his personal understanding of the military.

That definitely was the intent of our question.

We wanted to know the intent of his answer.

Dean said he visited Vietnam with veterans and military personnel and participated in digs to unearth enlisted men's remains.

That experienced created a strong affinity for men and women in uniform.

Charlie Dean's remains were found last month in a Laotian rice field, ending nearly three decades of anguish for his family.

Charlie Dean by many accounts was a renegade, an anti-war activist who didn't scream objections and wave signs. He worked for George McGovern, and in 1974, began a world journey. The news stories called him a "tourist," but his activism would indicate the trip was much more than that.

He crossed the Pacific by freighter. He worked on an Australian ranch.

Then for reasons only he knew, he went with a friend to Southeast Asia to see the war first-hand.

At some point, he was arrested by Laotian communist troops and held against the formal objections of the U.S. and Australian governments.

The U.S. Department of Defense classified Charlie Dean as Missing in Action, meaning that he was among

those officially sought by our government. He wasn't the only civilian with such a classification.

But he was a civilian, not a member of the armed services.

Charlie Dean's capture and death in Southeast Asia certainly shaped his brother's opinions about the American military.

Knowing that story tells us something about the candidate.

So does inaccurately implying a direct family connection to the armed services for the 72,000 Quad-Citians who received Sunday's newspaper.

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I think the Quad-Cities Times Editorial shamefully revealed more about their own agenda than intended.

More information on this subject can be found at the following sources:
Jimmy Breslin
Telegraph
Gerry Cohen
N.Y. Post
Boston.com

Code Orange

Howard Dean was absoutely preposterous and well out of the mainstream when he said the nation "hasn't been made any safer" since we've caught Saddam Hussein...
Oh, by the way, there's a slim chance that you might be blown to smithereens
later this week...
Oh, but don't let that stop you from getting on the plane to visit Grandma...
Buh-bye! Don't worry!
Have a good time!

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Look at fickle William Saletan falling for Centrist DLC pukery:

"We are no safer today than we were the day the planes struck at the World Trade Center," Dean said Thursday, adding that the capture of Saddam Hussein "does not mean that this president—or the Washington Democrats—can declare victory in the war on terror."
Picture that debate next year: On one side, Bush, the Washington Democrats, support for some tax cuts, relief at Saddam's capture, and the belief that by toppling the Taliban, if not Saddam, we're safer today than we were on 9/11. On the other side, Howard Dean."

By next year, we could be dealing with a fresh terror attack..especially if you listen to what the Bush administration is telling you this week. If you really think we're safer from terror now, I think you need your head checked. Read my lips..Saddam was a tin-pot dictator..not a terrorist. Is Saletan now buying into the Saddam-9-11 connection?
If so, he's lost all credibility with me and many others as a reasonable journalist. You tell me who's the one losing track of reality here. I surely don't think it's Howard Dean.

"....Bruce Reed, Clinton's former chief domestic policy adviser, called Dean's remark "a cheap shot at Clintonism."

That's B.S....and Reed knows it. Talk about fakery. Reed's feeling the sting because DLC-darlings Kerry, Edwards, and Lieberman's poll ratings have gone down the tubes.
Bruce Reed is out of touch with Democrats, he's destroying the Democratic party, and I recommended his firing last summer.

The threat of terror is very real, Howard Dean understands this better than most of the others, and he has a plan to deal with it. It doesn't involve lying to the American public. It doesn't involve cowering behind an untrustworthy,
wrong-minded, secretive President who maintains an acceptable popularity rating. Dean will not need masterful advisors who pump his popularity by resorting to deceptive paths. He has been and will continue to be popular by being himself..an honest, intelligent leader with nothing to hide.

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Jimmy Breslin Isn't Fooled By Such Cock and Bull
Breslin: Blaming Saddam For Everything

"...the unmistakable feeling is that more and more of the American public will consider Saddam Hussein a partner in terror with Osama bin Laden and that it was a wonderful thing we did, going to war to catch one of them..."

"...I could hear George Bush and his people all saying: "We went and got Saddam because it is better to fight terrorists in Iraq than in Manhattan."
No matter that Saddam had nothing to do with the attack.
There were 15 Saudi Arabians who were in the suicide attack. Then immediately, the FBI gathered up those members of bin Laden's sprawling family who were in America and got them on planes to Switzerland. And soon, the Saudi Arabian prince was at Waco, Texas, for an amiable day with Bush..."

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DLC can dish it out/can't take ribbing about what's true.
Lieberman criticizes Dean for comment about Democratic Leadership Council

* Bruce Reed and Al From have sabotaged the progress of the Democratic party. Dean shares much of the group's political philosophy, conservative fiscal principles, and progressive social ideals, but he's been at odds with these two wrong-minded leaders. Iowa and New Hampshire poll results have proven Reed and From very, very wrong about the direction Democrats need to take...something I've been saying here on this blog for almost a year now. *

".....Howard Dean says he was only having some fun when he described the centrist Democratic Leadership Council as the "Republican" part of the Democratic party. But Joe Lieberman, a former chairman of the group, says he did not see anything to laugh about."

"One of the reasons I wish the others guys running for president would tone it down a little bit is that at the end, we're all going to have to pull together in order to beat George Bush," he told several hundred people at a packed town hall meeting.........even the Democratic Leadership Council, which is sort of the Republican part of the Democratic Party … the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, we're going to need them too, we really are." - Howard Dean

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Quotes from Guardian UK: Tough Climate for Centrist Democrats

"We spent two decades in the political wilderness because the middle class didn't trust us with their values or their taxes,'' said Bruce Reed, a former Clinton aide who is president of the DLC. ``I, for one, don't want to go back there.''

*Then I'll tell you what, chum. I'll tell you straight as an arrow.
The middle class..especially middle class in the Red States.. didn't trust Democrats with their values after 1998.
I think you know why.
I, for one, don't want to go back there.*

"What I can't understand is why our party won't heed the lessons of the one Democrat elected and re-elected to the White House in six decades,'' said Al From, founder and chief executive of the DLC."

* I can't believe I have to tell you this, Al.. pal. I mean, you're the one who's supposed to be the expert and all.
A big lesson was that a man (like Clinton) can be as great as any President ever was....but the minute he was hunted down by the witches of the GOP and impeached for sexual play on national business-time/the taxpayer's dime, he fell amazingly from grace with a hell of a lot of swing voters. Ask Al Gore about why he believes he lost in 2000 (other than the GOP chicanery). Regardless of how great we both might think Bill Clinton was for this nation and the world, if you do not see the association between the sullied 1998 White House and the Gore loss of states like Tennessee in 2000, you'd best seek a new line of work. Perhaps you forget Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist's remark that in 2000, "The tarnished presidency made Gore damaged goods in his home state." When it all falls out, I also think having the good Sen. Lieberman as running mate to Gore was a turn-off for Red-state swing voters. I hate to say this, but I think it's straight and it's true.
So there you have it.
Stop seeking a 'Re-Clinton' or a 'Clinton Cont'd' and open your eyes to the new political genius of the brilliant and popular man standing in front of you...his name is Howard Dean. Joe Lieberman doesn't have the chutzpah it takes to woo voters to take him on as their President. There are no Bill Clintons in your DLC-bunch. Clinton's keen intellect and his political brilliance will always stand, but I am afraid that his ethical reputation will never be repaired. *

9-11 Commission Head Tom Kean States on CBS Nightly News-
"This is not something that had to happen."

Meanwhile, a ridiculous Op-Ed in the N.Y. Post (accusing Kean of having
'an agenda') states:

".....Indeed, Kean has long made clear that he believes his primary responsibility is to the victims' families - who have declared that they will "not stand for some broad, sweeping, historic account."
They want heads to roll. "

Uh, no. I think all they want is the truth.
Is Kean wrong to be working toward an answer for these families?
If this was your father, mother, brother, friend who died (live/in living color) in front of the world on 9-11, wouldn't you want him to be doing what he's doing?
I would.

Howard Dean Has Become Synonymous With Our Very Selves

How the name of Howard Dean has become synonymous with the investment of our very selves

by Jude Nagurney


What do James Madison and Senator James Jeffords have in common?

James Madison warned that the majority must be rendered, by their number and local situation, unable to concert and carry into effect schemes of oppression. A majority of five out of nine caused George W. Bush to be the President in 2000. A majority of Republican-influence in the Senate make-up of 50 Rep-50 Dem in January, 2001, along with the new Bush administration pushing through an ultra-conservative agenda with no mandate was only the beginning of Madison's warnings-come-true.

Senator Jim Jeffords, then a Republican, understood this, and acted in Madisonian conscience when he made the tough decision to become an Independent. In his own words on the second anniversary of his switch to Independent, Jeffords said, "..events of the past two years have only heightened my concern over the president's veer to the right, and the poisoning of our democratic process of government." Unfortunately, it provided only a temporary remedy to the a malady within our Union that I will discuss in this essay.

The Republican party, along with rightwing media pundits, convinced many unsuspecting Americans that Senator Jeffords was a traitor, when in reality, he had acted in the utmost patriotic fashion.

Madison also said that a pure democracy, by which he meant a society consisting of a small number of citizens who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. He said that when we extend the sphere of society, we take in a greater variety of parties and interests and it would be less likely that the majority of the whole would have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens..or if such a common motive exists, it would be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength and to act in unison with each other. Where there is consciousness of unjust or dishonorable purposes, communication is always checked by distrust in proportion to the number whose concurrence is necessary.


What's Happened to the Health of Our Democracy?

The body of our Union in Washington is suffering from an unchecked malady that has tainted members of both major parties. That malady is called the special interests.
Their common motive is to hijack America from individual citizens for whom the very idea of the American Republic was founded. We, the People, have the right and the reason to distrust the effect of the special interests upon our Representatives. The undue power of the special interests skews the scope of our individual rights. Special interests' monied influence upon our Representatives takes the place of our God-given individual freedom within this American society. The special interests are the unelected and invisible danger..the unriddable ghosts that have been possessing our Union's Representatives for far too long. Because our Representatives are ultimately the voice of the People of America within in this Republic, we need to bring the truth of the dangers of the special interests to the forefront. We need to drag the tragic way in which Washington has been infected into the light of day.

In your own good sense and in good faith, would you allow your destiny to rest in the hands of the unelected entity of the Energy/Oil lobby?
Do you believe the Insurance lobby or the AARP is your natural patron and friend?
With all your good sense, do you believe the interests closest to your American heart can be promoted by Ralph Reed or the Christian Coalition?

It is not what many of today's rightwing pundits would classify as "anti-American" interest that causes me to speak out about this issue. It is, rather, what James Madison called my "zeal, borne of Amerian pleasure and pride, in cherishing the spirit and supporting the character"of men like Jim Jeffords.

Along came Howard Dean, promoting joyous citizen participation as avidly as Bush was oppressing it

The spirit of Jeffords moved me in 2001, and has been complimented by the spirit of Howard Dean.
Although Senator Jeffords has not yet publically endorsed Howard Dean, the two men are so close in spirit that I cannot imagine Jeffords would endorse another.

I have long been possessed by the love of American democracy.
I would like to extend some of the credit for my more recent inspiration to Howard Dean.
He got my attention over a year ago when I heard him speak about his vision of America, which was so close to my own.
He is the one man who has inspired so many Americans like me to understand the duty and importance of acting upon our civic rights. He has caused me to invest in America in a most deeply personal way.
He makes an obvious distinction between himself and George W. Bush. He makes the undeniable point that while he promotes the egalitarian community of American citizens, self-reliance, civil liberties, and democratic participation, Bush supresses these values at every opportunity. In the end, Howard Dean's reminder of these distinct and nearly-forgotten American values was the dream of each and every one of our Founding Fathers--to have a Republic based upon the best each of us can be as individuals with rights bestowed upon us by God himself. God does not depend or rely upon a special interest group to make the rain; nor does God consult a special interest group to deem who lives and who dies on any given day. Our Representatives are far from being God (although some unbelievably act as if God is in their faction's camp). The Government is an artificial structure that has overcome some tremendous historical difficulties with often-unexpected unanimity. The beauty of America has been this: the translating the reality of what is best within each individual soul into a totally artificial government-structure. Through this potentially-miraculous translation, we have long enjoyed the mutual benefit to all in our American society...citizen-to-government/government-to-citizen.
In our history, I firmly believe it is the transcendent empowerment naturally held within each American citizen that has facilitated in capturing the hearts and minds of our best/most respectful governmental leaders and has shown the world the hopeful revelation of our common destiny as a people struggling to be the best that God can allow us to be.

When I hear people attacking Howard Dean (as I have heard so often lately), I am beginning to take each word in each attack in a deeply personal way.
I am not saying this because I am partial to Howard Dean (although I admit to being so).
I am telling you this because, most simply, it is true.

The name of Howard Dean has become synonymous with the investment of our very selves in the betterment of our nation, our love for healthy and strong American democracy,and our individual interests in preserving our American rights and performing our American duties.
This man, Howard Dean, has caused us to believe in ourselves and all we can be for our vision of America.
Most important is his reminder of the fact that America is ours...and we need to take her back.
The Bush Administration is beginning to see the danger to Dean's candidacy and I don't think they ever really saw it coming.
Every attack they will make on Howard Dean will be felt (quite deeply) as an attack on every American who feels they have the right to participate in American government.
What a paradox! With every attack on Howard Dean, he is further empowered.

What Does Madison's Scheme of Oppression Have to do with America in 2003 ?

The scheme of oppression in America has been a booming success these past few years. The most insidious of the Washington powerful have used (and will continue to use) the deaths of 3000 on 9-11 to defend their secret reliance upon the special interests.The scheme was strengthened by the majority of five in the Supreme Court in 2000 and got its most powerful after 9-11, when fear could easily be politically-used to continue the special-interest reign in Washington.
It continued through the false punditry of the rightwing media to further a special agenda(FOX/MSNBC/Hannity/O'Reilly/Snow/Hume/
Limbaugh/Savage/Beck); through vicious attacks by the GOP on good and decent men like veteran Max Cleland (decency and campaign finance concerns trampled in favor of a special interest group); through lies told to the American public resulting in a war that never had to happen; through the Patriot-Act theft of our precious liberties (for which so many of our soldiers have surrendured ALL and American cities have proclaimed against); through the Tom DeLay use of Homeland Security for the purpose of tracking down Democrats (while attempting to change a law every time something hasn't gone the GOP's way, even if it means a Federal intrusion into States' rights-as in the Texas redistricting case); through the deep darkness in which the Executive operates while attempting to usurp power from the People and store it in the reserve of the secretive Executive-(as in the mystery surrounding VP Cheney and the Energy industry). In these few examples (and many more), you might see how special interests have both benefitted from and contributed to today's democracy-thieving political machinery.

Although the GOP is not the only party to be sucked in by the special interests, they are the party most willing to play the game. It shows in the contributions they receive from the special interests and the legislation gifted to those interests in return. Meanwhile, millions of Americans lose jobs they will never see again.
The Democrats have participated in the game, too. In doing so, they have forgotten what it means to be Representatives of the People.
After 9-11, the People paid much closer attention. The Democrats were weak on defending their own decency and they ignored their own constituency. While I hate to have to say this, I was often ashamed of them. By not standing up proudly for who they were and what they stood for, they lost power to translate their decency into the artificial structure known as the U.S. government. We the People got a wicked case of laryngitis because of the malady in Washington.

It's well past the time for a major change.

That change is Howard Dean.


Words of Warning to Democrats

Democrats, take heed. If you do not move with and get behind your front-runner Howard Dean now, the party will remain voiceless.
I don't know if some of you who think you have great power within the Democratic party have some sort of secret strategy to damage Dean's campaign. I'm not privvy to that sort of thing. All I can say is to look into your own hearts.
When you calm your mind and forget the snare of ambition, I believe you'll see what I've seen for a long time...and what
hundreds of thousands of extremely successful grassroots activists have learned over the past year.
You know that it's too late to make these Dean-damaging moves and still reasonably hope to maintain a party of decent souls who wish the best for a healthy citizen-participant America. (And have shown they can get the job done). If you do not listen to these words with an eye upon sheer reason, you may as well get on board with George W. Bush's re-election team at this juncture.


Words of Caution to All Elected Representatives-
We Haven't Forgotten Who Owns America

A vow should be made to try to begin to change in Washington D.C.
I make a plea to our Represntatives:
The next time you look at a lobbyist, think of the millions upon millions of individual citizens
and the trust they placed in you on election day. That trust is worth more than any contribution they could ever make to your campaign or any political favor they could do for you..or you for them.
It's a new day.
The breach of that unspoken promise of trust for your special interest-hugging actions in the past has caused the
new-found political rise of Howard Dean.

James Madison warned that the majority must be rendered, by their number and local situation, unable to concert and carry into effect schemes of oppression. His warning rings true today. He made no provision to stem the tide of undue special interest-influence because it did not exist in the scope or magnitude that it does today. Yet, the spirit of his commentary and advice lives on. We need to render these special interests far less able to carry on this oppression through the channel of the government owned by the American People.

JNC/Iddybud
12-21-03

Howard Dean sets Washington Post straight:
Out of the Mainstream? Hardly.

"The Post's Dec. 18 editorial discussing my recent foreign policy speech ["Beyond the Mainstream"] badly misrepresents both my position and the central argument in the coming election on how best to strengthen America's security...."

"...The Post repeatedly misstates my views.."

"...The Post's editorial comes close to equating the Bush administration's foreign policy -- including its signature doctrine of "preemptive war" -- with the American foreign policy mainstream. In fact, the Bush agenda represents a radical departure from decades of bipartisan consensus on the appropriate use of U.S. power and our leadership in the world community..."

"...In the end, I believe it will be clear who is in the mainstream and who is swimming against the tide of history."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

See other LETTERS TO EDITOR in response to "Beyond the Mainstream"

"....Your paper doesn't like Dean saying that the capture of Saddam Hussein has not made us safer, although none of us has seen the terrorist warning improve from Code Yellow to Code Green..."

"...I am a Dean volunteer, but I am not a Democrat and I am not angry. Attempts to typecast the campaign will prove futile in slowing his grass-roots support from people like me..."

"....your paper owes its readers a little more variety and balance. As Howard Dean would say: "We can do better than that!"

Prof. Gary Leupp has the Best Quote on the Capture of Saddam:

"....these pundits who see this as a big boost for Dubya may be right. The human mind is a complex thing, and many are capable of consigning their mounting realization that the war was based on lies to one section of their gray matter, while storing the image of the captured Saddam (hauled from his "rat's nest," his "snake pit," his "lair" in mainstream journalese) in whatever section produces seratonin..."

Gary Leupp***** *****Professor of History at Tufts University, Adjunct Professor of Comparative Religion

*Be sure to read Prof. Leupp's ten points of serious doubt about the Saddam-9-11 ties*

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

Reminder: "..the capture of Saddam
has not made America safer.." Howard Dean

Trying link again.. idon't see that my first vote counted on TTLB.
Here is the vote--again. Chris Brown
Chris "Lefty" Brown's Corner: What's so funny about peace, love, and higher taxes

Saddam trial may backfire, prof says
Profesor Juan Cole Interview/Ann Arbor News
Sunday, December 21, 2003 By Art Aisner

"....One of the persons who is calling for a war crimes tribunal in Iraq is Shiite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, current president ofthe interim Governing Council. Sixty-three members of his family were killed by Saddam Hussein. I'm willing to concede that the man is an upright man, but I don't know if saints exist to that extent in the world where he has no sense of vindictiveness about this...." -Prof. Juan Cole

There has been much national and international debate over what to do with deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein since his capture by the U.S. military.

University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole has taught Middle East and South Asian history since 1984, has a Ph.D. in Islamic studies and has written extensively on Iraq and modern Islamic movements in the Persian Gulf.
We recently spoke with him about Saddam's capture, how he should be prosecuted for the treatment of his people and the dangers of putting Saddam on trial.

Q: What concerns do you have about the suggestions of putting Saddam
Hussein on trial?

A: There are several. The Bush administration and Iraqi interim Governing Council both seem to think it's a good idea to try him in Iraq, and I understand why. But one wonders at what cost this will come. A lot of Sunni Muslims in Iraq fear the fall of the government because it will place them in the vast minority to Shiites who were persecuted by Saddam.
Any trial is going to cover his acts of genocide against the Kurds in the late 1980s and Shiites following the first Gulf War of the early '90s. Spending months on these kind of investigations has the potential for
provoking ethnic violence.

Q: What are other potential consequences of putting Saddam on trial?

A: I believe giving Saddam Hussein a stage or platform in Iraq through a trial is a bad idea because he's going to be defiant and still has Fedayeen and a loyal base active in the country. There also is the potential
that Saddam may find ways to underline U.S. complicity in the atrocities, which could make it difficult to maintain support for the occupation forces.

Q: The atrocities you mentioned that are attributed to Saddam are what we know about. Is there a danger that such trials would reveal more that we don't know about?

A: Diplomatic historians say there are no secrets if you know where to look. We already know a great deal about the U.S. government's [complicity] with Saddam Hussein and his actions. There could be more.

Q: Would he focus on that compliance to mount a defense?

A: I don't know that he would. It certainly would hurt his stature in the Middle East and Arab world to make himself look like an agent of the CIA, so he may not want to. But when he can bring that information to light in self defense, I believe he could.

Q: International human rights organizations have been collecting data on Saddam's brutal regime for decades. With so much documentation, what kind of defense could he mount?

A: What we have seen in the cases of those dictators who have been tried for war crimes in the past is that they are impertinent. They blame subordinates, say things got out of hand and blame the victims. He's already been quoted as saying the bodies of those found in mass graves throughout the country belonged to thieves and traitors.

Q: Is it possible for him to get a fair trial?

A: That's another issue. One of the persons who is calling for a war crimes tribunal in Iraq is Shiite leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, current president ofthe interim Governing Council. Sixty-three members of his family were killed by Saddam Hussein. I'm willing to concede that the man is an upright man, but I don't know if saints exist to that extent in the world where he has no sense of vindictiveness about this. That's a problem that a lot of the people involved in this have talked about, and for those reasons I really think it is important that any trial occurs in The Hague.

Q: Are there other reasons why any trial should be conducted by the
existing format of international war crimes tribunals?

A: There has never been such a tribunal in Iraq before. It's being created from scratch, most of the judges with long experience in Iraq are Baathists and there's no constitution in Iraq. Under what statutes can he be tried?

Q: Does it matter if he gets a fair trial?

A: I think it does matter. First, Saddam still has supporters, and to satisfy those supporters, it's important that any trial is conducted through a fair process. Otherwise, it could be construed that he was treated unfairly. I also think it's important for Iraq. If there is going to be a new Iraq, it must be founded on the principles of law and fairness. It would not [...] bode well that the country's first act would be to railroad someone even as despised as Saddam Hussein.

Todd P. at Dohiyi Mir has posted a couple of interesting articles about Howard Dean.
One by Frank Rich, the other by Joanthan Alter and Richard Wolffe.
Rather than trotting them out here, go to this link and read Todd's comments.

Saddam held by Kurds, drugged and left for US troops?

Follow Up Story-What Haven't We Heard?

Sunday Herald: Revealed: who really found Saddam?

The Age/AU: US Saddam claims being challenged

Saddam Hussein was captured by US troops only after he had been taken prisoner by Kurdish forces, drugged and abandoned ready for American soldiers to recover him, a British tabloid newspaper has reported.

Saddam came into the hands of the Kurdish Patriotic Front after being betrayed to the group by a member of the al-Jabour tribe, whose daughter had been raped by Saddam's son Uday, leading to a blood feud, reported the Sunday Express, which quoted an unnamed senior British military intelligence officer.

The newspaper said the full story of events leading up to the ousted Iraqi president's capture on December 13 near his hometown of Tikrit in northern Iraq, "exposes the version peddled by American spin doctors as incomplete".

A former Iraqi intelligence officer, whom the Express did not name, told the paper that Saddam was held prisoner by a leader of the Kurdish Patriotic Front, which fought alongside US forces during the Iraq war, until he negotiated a deal.

The deal apparently involved the group gaining political advantage in the region.

An unnamed Western intelligence source in the Middle East told the Express: "Saddam was not captured as a result of any American or British intelligence. We knew that someone would eventually take their revenge, it was just a matter of time."

-- AFP

~~~~~~~~~~

Asia Times OnLine: Part 1: How Saddam may still nail Bush

Pan Am 103 Victims' Families Experience Mixed Feelings of Betrayal, Skepticism, Disappointment in Libyan Developments

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

"I feel betrayed by President Bush.
This is all about money and oil, it is disgusting.
It's a disgraceful act on the part of George Bush, it's a sickening business deal, it will do a lot of harm because Gaddafi will be more powerful, more dangerous than he is now. It is not a wonderful transformation of Gaddafi, there is no change. If Hitler had changed after all he did, would he have been allowed to stay in power?"

Susan Cohen, mother of Pan Am 103-bombing victim Theodora Cohen, who was her only child

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


This quilt hangs at Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse University.
It holds the names of 35 S.U. students
who were taken from us by a heinous act of terror involving Moammar Khadafy's Libyan agents on December 21, 1988.
Imagine giving busines, respect and trust to Osama Bin Laden in another 15 years.
Dear God.


"...U.S. officials did not publicly discuss the lifting of sanctions against Libya, which have prevented U.S. oil companies from reclaiming their interest in the country's lucrative but antiquated oil industry. The U.S. companies have long been eager to return to the North African nation, but have been stopped by the Pan Am Flight 103 case and the ongoing punishment of Libya for its weapons program and terrorist past.

"Libya can regain a secure and respected place among the nations, and over time, achieve far better relations with the United States," Bush said.

Bush made no mention the crash of Pan Am Flight 103 or the families of those who died.

Susan Cohen, whose daughter was killed when a bomb exploded as the jetliner flew above Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988, said she was disturbed by Bush's omission and by the agreement announced yesterday.

"It was a total betrayal," Cohen said. Gaddafi "blew up a plane. God knows, if this can happen, Osama bin Laden can come back."

Bob Monetti, who lost his 20-year-old son aboard the flight, said he remains suspicious of Libya's motives but is willing to give Gaddafi a chance.

"Most of us are in a 'Let's-see-what-goes-on attitude.' If, in fact, they have changed their stripes, maybe we should just get on with it," said Monetti, president of Families of Pan Am 103. "I still don't believe it, but it could actually be happening. It's in our financial interest that some of this happen, and we're still really skeptical about it."

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

Must-read: Whiskey Bar- Coddling Dictators--"..Saddam baaaad. Ghadafi goooood."

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

Why are we letting this scummy dictator who killed our citizens in a burning act of terror in 1988 and recently got caught developing WMDs stay in power..sanction-free?

Oh..I..reaLize...bet you do, too!


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

William Safire has not forgotten the Syracuse University 35........yet looks cautiously/optimistically forward to doing dirty business with this damned forefather of Osama Bin-Laden. So this is the American way? Frankly, I'm sickened at the realization of our blatant hypocrisy.

"....I remember Colonel Qaddafi's underground poison-gas factory — "Auschwitz in the Sand" — and wonder where he bought Libya's present stock of centrifuges. As a Syracuse University dropout and trustee, I visit the memorial on campus to the 35 college students aboard Pan Am 103 whose blood can never be washed from his hands.

It may be, "for reasons of state" — like Musa Kussa's help in penetrating terrorist-protecting parts of Syrian and Saudi intelligence services — we should ultimately permit our investors to revive Libya's oil industry. But we should verify and never trust, and neither forget nor forgive Muammar Qaddafi."

Cheney to be prosecuted?
20/12/2003
Paris - "A French prosecutor is examining whether to prosecute US Vice President Dick Cheney over alleged complicity in the abuse of corporate assets dating from the time he was head of the services company Halliburton, the French newspaper Le Figaro said on Saturday.
The case stems from a contract by a consortium including the American company Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR), a Halliburton subsidiary, and a French company, Technip, to supply a gas complex to Nigeria, the newspaper reported. (SEE OCTOBER, 2003 STORY)
A Paris investigating magistrate has been conducting investigations since October into allegations that $180m were paid in secret commissions during the late 1990s up to 2002 from funds established by the consortium in Madeira, the report said.
Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive between 1995 and 2000.
In a letter to the attorney-general's department, magistrate Reynaud van Ruymbeke ruled out directly prosecuting Cheney on a charge of bribing foreign officials, Le Figaro said.
But the official did not exclude the possibility of prosecution on the grounds of complicity in misuse of corporate assets, it added...."


Well, well...what do you know?
Newsflash: Halliburton has filed for KBR bankruptcy!

And...

Pentagon says Halliburton won't turn in papers-WSJ
December 19, 2003

"The Pentagon has accused Vice President Dick Cheney's former firm Halliburton Co of refusing to turn over internal documents that show the company knowingly overcharged taxpayers $61 million for work in Iraq, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday. The newspaper said the dispute over the documents is outlined in a Dec. 10 letter from the Defense Contract Audit Agency to a top official at Kellogg Brown & Root[KBR], the Halliburton unit handling more than $5 billion of work in Iraq.
"It has come to my attention that DCAA has been denied access to and/or copies of internal audit documents and reports performed on KBR operations," the newspaper quotes the letter as saying."


KBR Bankruptcy News/Information

BBC: Asbestos Is The Reason Halliburton Bankrupts KBR

".....The bankruptcy proceedings will not effect KBR's government services division, which is currently accused of overcharging the US military for some of its services..."

**They can go on stealing from all of us**

SEE OTHER RELATED STORIES HERE

~~~~~~~~~

Helen Thomas: Cheney Hypocritical In Telling Media To Check Facts

"....Vice President Dick Cheney is accusing the press of "cheap shot journalism" in covering the Bush administration, claiming "people don't check the facts."

Cheney is miffed over a raft of stories about his ties to Halliburton Co., a Houston-based energy conglomerate, which is a major recipient of U.S. contracts to rebuild Iraq.

While he's lecturing about accuracy, Cheney should do some fact-checking of his own statements about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction weapons. The vice president's prewar chant about such weapons helped lead the nation into war."

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

Molly Ivins: Dick Cheney and the Axis of Avarice

"......Halliburton, the oilfield equipment company, merely kept Saddam Hussein's oil fields pumping, the only thing that allowed the s.o.b. to stay in power. Halliburton cleverly ran its business with Saddam through two of its subsidiaries, Dresser Rand and Ingersoll-Dresser, in order to avoid the sanctions.

Unlike the Germans, the French and the Russians, Halliburton was not punished by the Bush administration for dealing with the dictator. Instead, it got the largest reconstruction contract given by this administration, with an estimated value between $5 billion and $15 billion. And the company got the contract without competitive bidding.

Halliburton has amply repaid the administration's faith. The Pentagon is now investigating the company for at least $120 million in overcharges, including $60 million for importing gasoline into Iraq and $67 million on a food services contract. Among the allegations are that Halliburton had blood in its food service refrigerators and is serving our soldiers rotten meat.

I think the French will particularly enjoy being lectured on their hypocrisy, preferably by Cheney himself. It's the kind of thing sophisticated people especially appreciate."

Robert Muller: Good Morning, World-
Earth Peace Plan 2010

"....Since so many of my dreams have been fulfilled during my life, I believe that dreams are the surest ways to new realities.

My ultimate dream is to see this Earth preserved and improved as the most beautiful paradise in the universe with a humanity living in peace, well-being and utmost happiness in it.

Is that dream too big? I do not believe so. All we have to do is to dream it, to want it, to work for it and it will happen."

Paul Krugman on Iraq: We Should Be Deeply Disturbed About the History of This War


"...as long as you wave the flag convincingly enough, it doesn't matter whether you tell the truth.."

__________________

Excerpt:

"......Now maybe, just maybe, Saddam's capture will start a virtuous circle in Iraq. Maybe the insurgency will evaporate; maybe the cost to America, in blood, dollars and national security, will start to decline.

But even if all that happens, we should be deeply disturbed by the history of this war. For its message seems to be that as long as you wave the flag convincingly enough, it doesn't matter whether you tell the truth.

By now, we've become accustomed to the fact that the absence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction — the principal public rationale for the war — hasn't become a big political liability for the administration. That's bad enough. Even more startling is the news from one of this week's polls: despite the complete absence of evidence, 53 percent of Americans believe that Saddam had something to do with 9/11, up from 43 percent before his capture. The administration's long campaign of guilt by innuendo, it seems, is still working.

The war's more idealistic supporters do, I think, feel queasy about all this. That's why they lay so much stress on their hopes for democracy in Iraq. They're not just looking for a happy ending; they're looking for moral redemption for a war fought on false pretenses."

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

Harold Myerson's Statement on the topic is here:

American Prospect: Muted Joy
Why Saddam Hussein's capture is a terrific result of a terrible policy.

"....The ousting of the Baathists is not just good in itself; it's great in itself. But it was never simply "in itself," of course. Ousting Hussein as Bush undertook the task also required a rewriting of the norms of international conduct in favor of wars of choice, and the norms of domestic discourse in favor of systematic presidential deception, of waging a war on false pretenses. From the vantage point of any street corner in Baghdad, these changes, I acknowledge, may seem damned inconsequential. But we are not in Baghdad, and what were imperatives there were always choices here.

We do not know what will ultimately follow Saddam Hussein, whether in five years' time we will be opposing some militant, theocratic regime that has risen in its place. What's before us now, though, with all the irony of which history is capable, is a terrific consequence of a terrible policy...."

Americans Are Not Only Angry With the Bush Administration, They Are Fed Up With
Politics-as-Usual Democrats

Democrats like Joe Lieberman are accusing Howard Dean of dividing the party, but I beg to differ.
A mirror is available just about anywhere one goes..and really, attacking the front-running candidate with the most bluntly-honest and original ideas when Saddam Hussein gets captured only makes one look petty and opportunist.
Today's Washington-Democrats seem afraid of facing our future and our common destiny..relying upon old and tired (and filthy) political tactics.

In 2000, after having a Presidential election hijacked by a partisan, Republican-coddling Judiciary, millions of intelligent Americans had a major awakening of consciousness to the fact that we needed to change the very face of politics or see our democracy die.

We have become utterly and painfully aware of many of our own cowering Democratic representatives.
In October, 2002, being faced with the Iraq Resolution, they let Bush run roughshod over them..abandoning their own courage and intuition. If they'd gone with their guts, wisdom, and instincts, their handling of the challenging situation might have had the conclusion of revealing them as brilliant leaders. Alas, in fear of how they'd be politicaly perceived if they had dared to stand up to Bush, they dismally failed us.

After 9-11, we find that the American PEOPLE are far braver, intuitive, and consciously aware than our Representatives have been.

Howard Dean matches our courage, shares our intuition, welcomes our participation, respects our awareness.
This is what makes him a winner..not his "anger".

In the poem "The Song of a Man Who Has Come Through", D.H. Lawrence wrote:

"Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me!
A fine wind is blowing the new direction of Time.
If only I let it bear me, carry me, if only it carry me!"

The winds of the hijacked election; the winds of 9-11; the winds of great job losses in America; and the winds of the lies we were fed day after day during the lead-up to the PNAC-planned Iraq war have blown through Americans and we are more than aware that there is a new direction we must take for our future.

Yesterday's 'Washington-insider' Democrats cannot convince us that they are looking forward.

The more you tell Americans they can go about business as usual as their job-foundations are sucked away under their needy feet, the more Americans will resent you when they find their jobs are gone.

The more you tell Americans their opinions aren't worth anything and proceed to give an untrustworthy President a blank check to attack another nation... even when you see hundreds of thousands of those good Americans protesting BEFORE that war is begun, the more Americans will resent and disrespect you for your ignorance and blind compliance.

The Democratic party must show itself as clear, strong, steadfast, innovative, hopeful, respectful of its diverse constituency (without becoming mired down in the any-varied issues), respectful of each and every person who feels they can make a difference and wishes to participate in the great gift the Founders of this nation created for them, and gutsy and honest enough to tell Americans they are living falsely-materialistic lives. We will have to pay the piper somewhere along the line....or it's damn certain our children will pay for our hypocrisy, greed, lies and ignorance.

My parents had more opportunity than their parents.
I had more opportunity than my own parents.
My son may not even see an opportunity-level close to my own.

We have to ask ourselves....what the hell is happening?

Wake up, Democrats.

We, the People, are awakened; aware.
The winds have come through and we are carried by them.
You've only been fighting them.

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

Song of a Man Who Has Come Through

Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me!
A fine wind is blowing the new direction of Time.
If only I let it bear me, carry me, if only it carry me!

If only I am sensitive, subtle, oh, delicate, a winged gift!



If only, most lovely of all, I yield myself and am borrowed
By the fine, fine wind that takes its course through the chaos of the world
Like a fine, an exquisite chisel, a wedge-blade inserted;

If only I am keen and hard like the sheer tip of a wedge
Driven by invisible blows,
The rock will split, we shall come at the wonder, we shall find the Hesperides.



Oh, for the wonder that bubbles into my soul,
I would be a good fountain, a good well-head,
Would blur no whisper, spoil no expression.

What is the knocking?
What is the knocking at the door in the night?
It is somebody wants to do us harm.

No, no, it is the three strange angels.
Admit them, admit them...

D.H. Lawrence

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