December 31, 2003
Happy New Year!
Onward and Upward to all in 2004!
Veralynne
ACT
December 28, 2003
Center for American Progress: 2003 Review of Bush claim vs Bush fact
Once again SmirkingChimp.com has provided a link to even more superb information to document the massive errors fo the Bush regime. This time, SmirkingChimp recycled a report from the Center for American Progress which provided specific data to counter the various inaccurate and deceptive claims from the White House propaganda machine.
On Dec. 13, the White House issued a document entitled "2003: A Year of Accomplishment for the American People." The document made various inaccurate and deceptive claims about the administration's record over the last year. This report by the Center for American Progress seeks to correct those distortions, matching the White House's rhetoric with facts.
This is an excellent document, discussing the specific distortions on the subjects of drug coverage, drug costs, health savings accounts, economy, deficits, 'healthy forests,' power plant emissions, mercury emissions, education, consumer protection, veterans' benefits, AIDS, international financing, international military help, weapons of mass destructions, Saddam- Al Qaeda ties, military support, funding, terrorist financing, first responders, and cyber security.
This is an absolute must-read.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT:
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=14674
or
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=14311&mode=nested&order=0
You can also download this article as a Rich Text Format document.
December 27, 2003
Bush and the Mad Cow
Like the defective energy policy so eloquently described by Greg Palast in his often- seen article Power Outage Traced to Dim Bulb in White House, President Bush cotinues to exhibit extremely poor judgement, this time in the matters of public health.
Sandra Blakeslee of New York Times writes about the problems of the Mad Cow disease, and how the Bush administration has stood in the way of intelligent government policy. Again, another reason why America desperately needs a better president.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Expert warned that mad cow was imminent - but Bush administration did not listen
By Sandra Blakeslee, New York Times
Ever since he identified the bizarre brain-destroying proteins that cause mad cow disease, Dr. Stanley Prusiner, a neurologist at the University of California at San Francisco, has worried about whether the meat supply in America is safe.
He spoke over the years of the need to increase testing and safety measures. Then in May, a case of mad cow disease appeared in Canada, and he quickly sought a meeting with Ann M. Veneman, the secretary of agriculture. He was rebuffed, he said in an interview yesterday, until he ran into Karl Rove, senior adviser to President Bush.
So six weeks ago, Dr. Prusiner, who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on prions, entered Ms. Veneman's office with a message. "I went to tell her that what happened in Canada was going to happen in the United States," Dr. Prusiner said. "I told her it was just a matter of time."
The department had been willfully blind to the threat, he said. The only reason mad cow disease had not been found here, he said, is that the department's animal inspection agency was testing too few animals. Once more cows are tested, he added, "we'll be able to understand the magnitude of our problem."
READ THE REST OF THE STORY AT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/25/national/25WARN.html
or
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=14304&mode=nested&order=0
December 26, 2003
Remembering Bush's First Year
Here’s a reminder the things George W. Bush did during his first year in office.
STATE OF THE PRESIDENT
In George W. Bush's First year in office he:
1. Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.
2. Cut federal spending on libraries by $39 million.
3. Cut $35 million in funding for doctors to get advanced pediatric training.
4. Cut by 50% funding for research into renewable energy sources.
5. Revoked rules that reduced the acceptable levels of arsenic in drinking water.
6. Blocked rules that would require federal agencies to offer bilingual assistance to non-English speaking persons. This, from a candidate who would readily fire-up his Spanish-speaking skills in front of would- be Hispanic voters.
7. Proposed to eliminate new marine protections for the Channel Islands and the coral reefs of northwest Hawaii (San Francisco Chronicle, April 6, 2001).
8. Cut funding by 28% for research into cleaner, more efficient cars and trucks.
9. Suspended rules that would have strengthened the government's ability to deny contracts to companies that violated workplace safety, environmental and other federal laws.
10. OK'd Interior Department appointee Gale Norton to send out letters to state officials soliciting suggestions for opening up national monuments for oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and logging.
11. Appointed John Negroponte - an un-indicted high-level Iran Contra figure-to the post of United Nations Ambassador.
12. Abandoned a campaign pledge to invest $100 million for rain forest conservation.
13. Reduced by 86% the Community Access Program for public hospitals, clinics and providers of care for people without insurance.
14. Rescinded a proposal to increase public access to information about the potential consequences resulting from chemical plant accidents.
15. Suspended rules that would require hardrock miners to clean up sites on Western public lands.
16. Cut $60 million from a Boy's and Girl's Clubs of America program for public housing.
17. Proposed to eliminate a federal program, designed and successfully used in Seattle, to help communities prepare for natural disasters.
18. Pulled out of the 1997 Kyoto Treaty global warming agreement.
19. Cut $200 million of work force training for dislocated workers.
20. Eliminated funding for the Wetlands Reserve Program, which encourages farmers to maintain wetlands habitat on their property.
21. Cut program to provide child care to low-income families as they move from welfare to work.
22. Cut a program that provided prescription contraceptive coverage to federal employees (though it still pays for Viagra).
23. Cut $700 million in capital funds for repairs in public housing
24. Appointed Otto Reich - an un-indicted high-level Iran Contra figure - to Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs.
25. Cut Environmental Protection Agency budget by $500 million.
26. Proposed to curtail the ability of groups to sue in order to get an animal placed on the Endangered Species List.
27. Rescinded the rule that mandated increased energy-saving efficiency regulations for central air conditioners and heat pumps.
28. Repealed workplace ergonomic rules designed to improve worker health and safety.
29. Abandoned campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide, the waste gas that contributes to global warming.
30. Banned federal aid to international family planning programs that offer abortion counseling with other independent funds.
31. Closed White House Office for Women's Health Initiatives and Outreach.
32. Nominated David Lauriski - ex-mining company executive - to post of Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health.
33. OK'd Interior Secretary Gale Norton to go forth with a controversial plan to auction oil and gas development tracts off the coast of eastern Florida.
34. Announced intention to open up Montana's Lewis and Clark National Forest to oil and drilling.
35. Proposes to re-draw boundaries of nation's monuments, which would technically allow oil and gas drilling "outside" of national monuments.
36. Gutted White House AIDS Office.
37. Renegotiating free trade agreement with Jordan to eliminate worker’s rights and safeguards for the environment.
38. Will no longer seek guidance from The American Bar Association in recommendations for the federal judiciary appointments.
39. Appointed recycling foe Lynn Scarlett as Undersecretary of the Interior.
40. Took steps to abolish the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
41. Cut the Community Oriented Policing Services program.
42. Allowed Interior Secretary Gale Norton to shelve citizen-led grizzly bear re-introduction plan scheduled for Idaho and Montana wilderness.
43. Continues to hold up federal funding for stem cell research projects.
44. Makes sure convicted misdemeanor drug users cannot get financial aid for college, though convicted murderers can.
45. Refused to fund continued cleanup of uranium-slag heap in Utah.
46. Refused to fund continued litigation of the government's tobacco company lawsuit.
47. Proposed a $2 trillion tax cut, of which 43% will go to the wealthiest 1% of Americans.
48. Signed a bill making it harder for poor and middle-class Americans to file for bankruptcy, even in the case of daunting medical bills.
49. Appointed a Vice President quoted as saying "If you want to do something about carbon dioxide emissions, then you ought to build nuclear power plants." (Vice President Dick Cheney on "Meet the Press.")
50. Appointed Diana "There is no gender gap in pay" Roth to the Council of Economic Advisers. (Boston Globe, March 28, 2001.)
51. Appointed Kay Cole James - an opponent of affirmative action –to direct the Office of Personnel Management.
52. Cut $15.7 million earmarked for states to investigate cases of child abuse and neglect.
53. Helped kill a law designed to make it tougher for teenagers to get credit cards.
54. Proposed elimination of the "Reading is Fundamental" program that gives free books to poor children.
55. Is pushing for development of small nuclear arm to attack deeply buried targets and weapons, which would violate the Comprehensive Test BanTreaty.
56. Proposes to nominate Jeffrey Sutton - attorney responsible for the recent case weakening the Americans with Disabilities Act-to federal appeals court judgeship.
57. Proposes to reverse regulation protecting 60 million acres of national forest from logging and road building.
58. Eliminated funding for the "We the People" education program which taught School children about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and citizenship.
59. Appointed John Bolton - who opposes nonproliferation treaties and the U.N. - to Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.
60. Nominated Linda Fisher - an executive with Monsanto - for the number-two job at the Environmental Protection Agency.
61. Nominated Michael McConnell - leading critic of the separation of church and state - to a federal judgeship.
62. Nominated Terrence Boyle - ardent opponent of civil rights to a federal judgeship.
63. Canceled 2004 deadline for automakers to develop prototype high mileage cars.
64. Nominated Harvey Pitts - lawyer for teen sex video distributor -to head SEC.
65. Nominated John Walters - strong opponent of prison drug treatment programs - for Drug Czar. (Washington Post, May 16, 2001.)
66. Nominated J. Steven Giles - an oil and coal lobbyist – for Deputy Secretary of the Interior.
67. Nominated Bennett Raley - who advocates repealing the Endangered Species Act - for Assistant Secretary for Water and Science
68. Is seeking the dismissal of class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. against Japan by Asian women forced to work as sex slaves during WWII.
69. Earmarked $4 million in new federal grant money for HIV and drug abuse prevention programs to go only to religious groups and not secular equivalents.
70. Reduced by 40% the Low Income Home Assistance Program for low-income individuals who need assistance paying energy bills.
71. Nominated Ted Olson- who has repeatedly lied about his involvement with the Scaiffe-funded "Arkansas Project" to bring down Bill Clinton – for Solicitor General.
72. Proposes to ease permit process - including environmental considerations - for refinery, nuclear and hydroelectric dam construction. (Washington Post, May 18, 2001.)
73. Proposes to give government the authority to take private property through eminent domain for power lines and gas pipelines.
74. Proposes that $1.2 billion in funding for alternative renewable energy come from selling oil and gas lease tracts in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve.
75. Plans on serving genetically engineered foods at all official government functions.
76. Forced out Forest Service chief Mike Dombeck and appointed a timber industry lobbyist as his replacement.
Vote early, vote often!
STOP! DON'T SCROLL ON BY!
About.com's 2003 Political Dot-Comedy Award Nominees Announced
[Madeleine Kane, a true comic talent and a good friend of ours, deserves your vote! Below, her note. -v]
"Hi, I'm very pleased to report that I'm a nominee in two categories in this year's About.com Political Dot-Comedy Awards competition. My MadKane.com political humor as a whole is nominated in the Best Parodies (Overall Achievement) category and my Dubya's Dayly Diary is a nominee in the Best Bush Humor category.
"So if you have time, I'd really appreciate your voting for me in one or both categories here. Thanks!
"And even if you're not in a voting mood, I'll bet you enjoy visiting the terrific nominees in categories including Best Web Cartoons, Best Satirical News, Most Entertaining Left-Wing News & Commentary, Most Entertaining Right-Wing News & Commentary, Best Print Comic Strip, and Best Late-Night TV Comedy. You may even find some new (to you) humor sites to help you survive 2004.
"FYI very few blogs are nominated. This Modern World (Tom Tomorrow) in the comic strip category is a notable exception."
[P.S. Vote early and vote often! -v]
December 25, 2003
And on Earth Peace, Good Will to All Men
From Lisa:
WELCOME TO AMERIKA
A picture is worth a thousand words, folks...
MERRY F***ING CHRISTMAS TO US!
For those who are unfamiliar with military equipment, that is a surface-to-air missile launcher...
...with the Washington Monument in the background.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have heavy artillery on the National Mall. Just like the Soviets in Red Square, and the Chinese in Tiananmen Square, our alleged citizen gathering place is now a de facto military installation. What swell company to be in. NOT!
I could be wrong, but I haven't heard of such measures being taken at arguably higher-profile tourist attractions around the world, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids, the ancient ruins in Greece, etc.
Does anyone REALLY think there is going to be an air attack on the Mall?! If these weapons are legitimately needed for protection, why aren't they stationed at the real targets — the White House and the Capitol, for example?
Would it clash with the White House Christmas decorations? or take up too much room on the Capitol steps?
Or does the choice of placement send a message to the dissenters who have in the past used, and would in the future use, the Mall to exercise their right (for now, anyway) of free speech?
HMM.....
On a related note: no wonder the feds oppose DC statehood... it would invoke posse comitatus!
December 24, 2003
Man Gets 3 Years For Barroom Remark About Bush
I don’t know if I’d classify this as a “reason” why we need another president, but it is disturbing news nonetheless.
(St. Louis-AP) -- A federal appeals court has upheld the sentence for a man who had suggested that President Bush might be set ablaze.
Richard Humphreys appealed his three-year sentence, saying his
comment was protected by free speech rights. He was convicted in
2002 of threatening to kill or harm the president.
Humphreys says he got into a barroom discussion with a truck driver
a day before Bush's March 2001 visit to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
READ THE FULL STORY AT:
http://www.rense.com/general46/3yr.htm
http://www.wweek.com/flatfiles/printstory.lasso?autonumb=3491
December 21, 2003
Remind me . . .
Actions to Take to Make a Difference
Remind us: Why Did the U.S. Government Invade and Destabilize Iraq?
The action is threefold but simple. The action is imperative.
The action is embedded within this flash animation.
Please watch, act, and pass it on.
Thank you.
And thank you, InformationClearinghouse.info.
December 20, 2003
JUST AN ASIDE . . .
From Colleen:
I know that this is a poll strictly for Canadians, but hopefully Americans will start thinking along these lines too. Just a little something to make your day.
[Verrrrrrrry interesting. I wonder how many pollsters in the U.S. phrase their polling question in this way--the way it SHOULD be stated! It's a shame that, in our new global scheme of things we can't have the world voting in the coming election! LOL! -v at ACT]
December 19, 2003
White House Covers Tracks By Removing Information
from THE DAILY MIS-LEAD at
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1181248&l=12634
===============================
WHITE HOUSE COVERS TRACKS BY REMOVING INFORMATION
In a high-tech cover-up, the Washington Post this morning reports the White House is actively scrubbing government websites clean of any of its own previous statements that have now proven to be untrue. Specifically, on April 23, 2003, the president sent his top international aid official on national television to reassure the public that the cost of war and reconstruction in Iraq would be modest. USAID Director Andrew Natsios, echoing other Administration officials, told Nightline that, "In terms of the American taxpayers contribution, [$1.7 billion] is it for the US. The American part of this will be $1.7 billion. We have no plans for any further-on funding for this."
The president has requested more than $166 billion in funding for the war and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. But instead of admitting that he misled the nation about the cost of war, the president has allowed the State Department "to purge the comments by Natsios from the State Department's Web site. The transcript, and links to it, have vanished." (The link where the transcript existed until it caused embarrassment was http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/nightline_042403_t.html).
When confronted with the dishonest whitewash, the administration decided to lie. A Bush spokesman said the administration was forced to remove the statements because, "there was going to be a cost" charged by ABC for keeping the transcript on the government's site. But as the Post notes, "other government Web sites, including the State and Defense departments, routinely post interview transcripts, even from 'Nightline,'" and according to ABC News, "there is no cost."
This story is not the first time the President has tried to hide critical information from the American public. For instance, the president opposed the creation of the independent 9/11 investigative commission, and has refused to provide the commission with critical information, even under threat of subpoena. Similarly, after making substantial budget cuts, the president ordered the government to stop publishing its regular report detailing those cuts to states. And when confronted with a continuing unemployment crisis, the president ordered the Department of Labor to stop publishing its regular mass layoff report.
It is also not the first time the administration has sought to revise history and public records when those records become incriminating. As the Post reports "After the insurrection in Iraq proved more stubborn than expected, the White House edited the original headline on its Web site of President Bush's May 1 speech, "President Bush Announces Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended," to insert the word 'Major' before combat." And the "Justice Department recently redacted criticism of the department in a consultant's report that had been posted on its Web site."
===============================
For more information, Subscribe to the Daily Mislead! Go to http://www.misleader.org and enter your e-mail address in the "Receive the Daily Mislead" box in the top-left corner of the page.
December 18, 2003
BREAKING NEWS
9/11 Chair Says White House Could Have Stopped Attacks
It has been two years and three months since America absorbed the horrific attacks of September 11. A fight has been waged since then to determine the facts behind that terrible day: How did it happen? Why was it not stopped? The Bush administration has fought the official investigations into these attacks every step of the way, going so far as to nominate master secret-keeper Henry Kissinger to chair the investigation. They failed in this nomination, and wound up with former New Jersey Governor and fellow Republican Thomas Kean. Today, Kean has fired an incredible broadside across the bow of the White House, stating bluntly that the attacks of September 11 could have and should have been stopped, and that blame for this failure rests squarely on the shoulders of the Bush administration.
-- William Rivers Pitt
December 17, 2003
Something to Think About
I've been listening to the mainstream talking heads blather on since Sunday about the victory Dubya has accomplished by unearthing Saddam--literally. They've pinned all sorts of heavy effects on this event, from ending the resistance in Iraq to giving the democratic candidates for the presidency nothing to compete against Bush with, to improving the economy and suddenly making us feel safer on America's shores! Sickening!
First of all, I'm not comfortable with the timing and method of revealing the finding of Saddam to the world. Something in my gut tells me they've had him for a while and chose this moment to reveal to us the drug-addled, cowed old man, already over-interrogated, for political -- election-related -- impact. I believe it's more for American approval points than to quell resistance attacks on troops, sad to say. Deadly attacks on troops have, in fact, increased because the Iraqis now feel that they don't need the U.S. to protect them from Saddam.
Anyway, I think the important thing to remember is that these events being touted as some sort of victory or achievement are meaningless in the face of the true damage to America, its image, its values and its respect in the world. And, at least with respect to our corporate presence in Iraq, hear Paul Krugman tell it:
Patriots and Profits
By Paul Krugman
New York Times
Tuesday 16 December 2003
Last week there were major news stories about possible profiteering by Halliburton and other American contractors in Iraq. These stories have, inevitably and appropriately, been pushed temporarily into the background by the news of Saddam's capture. But the questions remain. In fact, the more you look into this issue, the more you worry that we have entered a new era of excess for the military-industrial complex.
The story about Halliburton's strangely expensive gasoline imports into Iraq gets curiouser and curiouser. High-priced gasoline was purchased from a supplier whose name is unfamiliar to industry experts, but that appears to be run by a prominent Kuwaiti family (no doubt still grateful for the 1991 liberation). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers documents seen by The Wall Street Journal refer to "political pressures" from Kuwait's government and the U.S. embassy in Kuwait to deal only with that firm. I wonder where that trail leads.
Meanwhile, NBC News has obtained Pentagon inspection reports of unsanitary conditions at mess halls run by Halliburton in Iraq: "Blood all over the floors of refrigerators, dirty pans, dirty grills, dirty salad bars, rotting meat and vegetables." An October report complains that Halliburton had promised to fix the problem but didn't.
And more detail has been emerging about Bechtel's much-touted school repairs. Again, a Pentagon report found "horrible" work: dangerous debris left in playground areas, sloppy paint jobs and broken toilets.
Are these isolated bad examples, or part of a pattern? It's impossible to be sure without a broad, scrupulously independent investigation. Yet such an inquiry is hard to imagine in the current political environment — which is precisely why one can't help suspecting the worst.
Let's be clear: worries about profiteering aren't a left-right issue. Conservatives have long warned that regulatory agencies tend to be "captured" by the industries they regulate; the same must be true of agencies that hand out contracts. Halliburton, Bechtel and other major contractors in Iraq have invested heavily in political influence, not just through campaign contributions, but by enriching people they believe might be helpful. Dick Cheney is part of a long if not exactly proud tradition: Brown & Root, which later became the Halliburton subsidiary doing those dubious deals in Iraq, profited handsomely from its early support of a young politician named Lyndon Johnson.
So is there any reason to think that things are worse now? Yes.
The biggest curb on profiteering in government contracts is the threat of exposure: sunshine is the best disinfectant. Yet it's hard to think of a time when U.S. government dealings have been less subject to scrutiny.
First of all, we have one-party rule — and it's a highly disciplined, follow-your-orders party. There are members of Congress eager and willing to take on the profiteers, but they don't have the power to issue subpoenas. [Emphasis added. -v]
And getting information without subpoena power has become much harder because, as a new report in U.S. News & World Report puts it, the Bush administration has "dropped a shroud of secrecy across many critical operations of the federal government." Since 9/11, the administration has invoked national security to justify this secrecy, but it actually began the day President Bush took office. [Emphasis added. -v]
To top it all off, after 9/11 the U.S. media — which eagerly played up the merest hint of scandal during the Clinton years — became highly protective of the majesty of the office. As the stories I've cited indicate, they have become more searching lately. But even now, compare British and U.S. coverage of the Neil Bush saga.
The point is that we've had an environment in which officials inclined to do favors for their business friends, and contractors inclined to pad their bills or do shoddy work, didn't have to worry much about being exposed. Human nature being what it is, then, the odds are that the troubling stories that have come to light aren't isolated examples.
Some Americans still seem to feel that even suggesting the possibility of profiteering is somehow unpatriotic. They should learn the story of Harry Truman, a congressman who rose to prominence during World War II by leading a campaign against profiteering. Truman believed, correctly, that he was serving his country.
On the strength of that record, Franklin Roosevelt chose Truman as his vice president. George Bush, of course, chose Dick Cheney.
Related Stories:
In Iraq, The Slaughter Goes On
Many More Americans Dead, Wounded in Iraq
Halliburton Continues Extended Payday in Iraq
Anti-war MPs Give Blair No Respite Over WMD Hunt
James Ridgeway | You Got Him? Get Out!
The Threat From Computerized Voting Machines
From the Desk Of...
Martin Sheen
Dear Current or Future Member of TrueMajority,
I am writing to you as a fellow member of TrueMajority to ask for your help in preventing a scandal that could shake our nation to the roots of our democratic principles. Please take a moment to send a free fax to your Representative in Congress, and then to pass this letter on to your friends and family in the hope that they will help too.
We start with a principle so obvious it seems strange even to write it: For a democracy to work, the people must believe that balloting is conducted fairly and votes are counted accurately. Americans feel justifiable pride that our nation has created a system to ensure this, including provisions for recounts.
In the wake of the punch card voting mess in Florida, the federal government dedicated billions of dollars to help states purchase new voting machines. Some pioneering states have begun purchasing a new type of touch screen computerized voting machine. These machines register votes on a memory chip and then digitally transmit the results via telephone modem to election headquarters.
We can only hope that neither glitches nor tampering will change or erase any of our votes. We all know that computers sometimes crash and lose data. Power cords get pulled out of the wall. And what better trophy for a hacker--or over zealous campaign worker--than to skew the outcome of the actual election?
There is a simple solution to these problems. The California Secretary of State has ordered that these new computerized voting machines print out a paper copy of your vote for your approval before the vote is registered. These printouts would then be saved in case the machines malfunction or there is any question as to whether or not they have been tampered with. Without them we would just have to trust the companies that make the machines--companies like Diebold whose CEO, Walden W. O'Dell, recently wrote in a fundraising letter for the Republicans,
"I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President next year."
Without a paper trail, there is no way to reliably validate an election or conduct a reliable recount. It's that simple.
Register with TrueMajority, or customize your message here.
POWERFUL LETTER TO THE EDITOR FEATURE
Letters to the editor are another powerful way to influence your Congressmembers. This feature uses state-of-the-art technology to make it really easy for you to send a letter to the editor.
TrueMajority is working on this important issue with some of our partners, including Working Assets, The Electronic Frontier Foundation, and MoveOn.org.
The California Voter Foundation has lots of great links to these groups and news articles about this problem.
The New York Times also did a great editorial on this issue.
So please take a moment to protect your right--our right--to make sure every vote is counted and every election is fair.
Thanks for your help,
Martin Sheen
December 15, 2003
Brian Wagner on Saddam Hussein
My old friend Brian Wagner sent me an interesting email regarding the capture of Saddam Hussein. I thought it was worth sharing with others. Brian granted me permission, so here it is....
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hey there,
A strange thing happened this morning. For no good reason, I woke up at 6:30am on a Sunday morning (remember that I'm on Central Time). Those who know me understand that I don't like waking up that early on any day of the week, less so on weekends.
Realizing I wouldn't get back to sleep, I turned on the morning news and saw the announcement of the capture of Saddam Hussein. As you can imagine, I was thrilled to hear the news and suddenly wasn't so upset about having woken up so early.
Over the next few hours I watched the commentary, flipping between CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox (I don't have cable). One comment I heard over and over was about how this positioned Bush so well to defeat whomever the Democrats choose to run against him in 2004.
Okay, you probably know I have opinions. Usually I keep them to myself until asked. This time, however, I'm speaking up.
To be honest, I have no idea how I'll vote next year. It's usually not along any party line and I don't expect it to be different this time around. That said, there I things Bush still has to answer for before he can win my vote:
* Manipulation of intelligence
* Osama bin Laden still running free and financing terrorists
* Complete and utter lack of Weapons of Mass Destruction
* No-bid contracts for Haliburton
* Blustering arrogance towards NATO allies
* Lack of reaction to North Korea (always a bigger threat than Iraq).
* Donald Rumsfeld
* Four hundred billion dollar deficit (there was a surplus when he took over, now he's going Reaganesque on us)
* Pre-emptive war - known to the rest of us as Aggravated Assault and Battery, a felony.
* Guantanamo Bay and the lack of due process
* Pushing for FBI wiretaps without court orders
* Giving tax breaks to American companies to move jobs overseas.
* We're still the only industrialized nation that doesn't provide Universal Health Care for children. (Both sides of the aisle need to explain this horrendous situation.)
You may agree or disagree with me as you choose. Feel free to offer back opinions. As always, remember that I love debating this stuff and will respond to anything you offer back.
Oh yeah, and Merry Christmas everybody!!
--
Brian Wagner
December 14, 2003
Read 'em and weep--or laugh
Two From Colleen:
Who the Hell Said That?
By Will Durst, AlterNet
December 11, 2003
And now it's time to play "Who the Hell Said That?"
1. "With a healthy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them."
A) Tom Delay, revealing his secret strategy to keep Republican Members of Congress in line when they express concerns about the Bush administration's rampant deficit spending.
B) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, on his feud with Colin Powell and the State Department.
C) Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger spokesman, H. D. Palmer, on cutting K-12 funding.
D) Lt. Colonel Nathan Sassaman, battalion commander of the forces occupying Abu Hishma, Iraq, explaining a plan to keep the village safe by encircling it in a wall of barbed wire.
2. "The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."
A) Donald Rumsfeld, articulating his frustration at the Coalition's inability to find Hussein's fabled Weapons of Mass Destruction.
B) Spokesperson for the legal team of Michael Jackson's accuser speaking either on behalf of his client's case or the King of Pop's missing nose cartilage.
C) California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver making a Freudian slip in defense of her husband's groping accusations.
D) Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, disputing whether the West Bank wall Israeli soldiers are erecting exists because he's banned all photographs of it.
3. "Wal-Mart is the greatest thing that ever happened to low-income Americans."
A) W. Michael Cox, chief economist of the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas.
B) W. Michael Cox, a man who obviously never tried to run a household paid minimum wage with little or no benefits.
C) W. Michael Cox, a man whose portfolio apparently includes absolutely no Kroger, Safeway, Jewel or Albertson's stock.
D) All of the above.
4. "I think gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman."
A) Former Vice President J. Danforth Quayle.
B) President George W. Bush.
C) California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
D) Reality Show Star Paris Hilton.
5. "We know there are known knowns: there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns: that is to say we know there are things we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns- the ones we don't know we don't know."
A) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during a briefing on Iraq.
B) My Uncle Bud after eight hours on a bar stool at Tony's Tavern watching an entire Sunday slate of NFL football.
C) AARP directors defending their decision to endorse Medicare reform even though it may end up costing seniors more money.
D) Iowa State Elections Chairman, Bob Roberts, explaining the state's arcane caucuses regulations.
6. "Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war."
A) Actor Tom Cruise on the decision to portray little or no blood in the battle scenes of his new movie "The Last Samurai."
B) Condoleeza Rice, referring to the official White House policy of preventing journalists from documenting returning body bags.
C) Russell Crowe's character, Jack Aubrey, in the film adaptation of Patrick O'Brian's "Master and Commander."
D) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, when questioned as to why the Pentagon refuses to provide kill figures for enemy combatants.
Answers are 1. D) 2. A) 3. D) 4. C) 5. A) 6. D)
Will Durst's 2003 Totally Full of Crap Award goes to Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.
---0---0---0---
I especially love (NOT) the military attitude of "With a heavy dose of fear and violence . . . we can convince these people . . . that we are here to help them." I
don't know if sentences can be considered oxymorons, but this particular bit of
military intelligence -- itself an oxymoron -- seems to fall into that category. Should
we laugh or cry? And does it really make any difference if we do either? Colleen
Totally FUBAR!
[This regardless of Sunday's reported discovery of Saddam. -v]
Bush's Iraq Policy: A Quagmire of Confusion
By Jim Lobe, AlterNet
December 12, 2003
As the Bush administration searches with increasing desperation for a viable "exit strategy," its so-called Iraq policy grows more muddled with each passing day.
The latest example – and an especially spectacular one – was when George Bush personally asked key European and other leaders on Wednesday to forgive tens of billions of dollars of Iraq's crushing debt. The very same day, the Pentagon announced on its website that companies from these countries will not be permitted to bid on 18.6 billion dollars in reconstruction contracts in Iraq.
Needless to say, the Pentagon's directive and its timing were unlikely to put the leaders of Russia, France and Germany – the most important of the excluded countries – in the mood to entertain the president's request
Read 'em and weep . . . or laugh--whatever
December 11, 2003
GOP conservatives assail Bush
Spending is out of control, they say
By Carl Weiser / Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON — President Bush is a "fraud" and a "disaster." He’s betraying the Reagan Revolution. He has turned the Republican Party into the "the new welfare state party."
Those are Republicans talking. And that rage from Republicans who favor small government and fiscal restraint, in Washington and the heartland, could mean trouble for Bush’s re-election.
"This administration has presided over one of the most massive expansions of the federal government in history," said Phil Heimlich, a Republican who is a Hamilton County, Ohio, commissioner. He grades Bush a D.
"Conservatives feel betrayed," said Brian Reidl, a federal budget expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
"As far as this fiscal conservative is concerned, I’m doing everything I can to expose Bush for the fraud that he is," said Jim Urling, a Cincinnati lawyer and chairman of a local group that fights government spending and taxes.
READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE AT:
http://www.detnews.com/2003/politics/0312/10/a04-3999.htm
Promises made, promises broken
Promises made, promises broken . . . so, what else is new?
From DUG:
WALL STREET JOURNAL:
PRESIDENT BACKS OFF PLEDGE TO FUND GLOBAL AIDS FIGHT
The Daily Mis-Leader
By the Staff of MoveOn.org
The Wall Street Journal today reports, "President Bush plans to ask Congress for relatively small funding increases to fight AIDS and poverty in the developing world, stepping back from his highly publicized pledge to spend huge sums to help fight them." The President's decision is just the latest step in a calculated effort to slowly -- but surely -- abandon his own commitment to fully fund the global fight against AIDS. [Emphasis added.]
Just last year in his State of the Union speech, the President said "I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next five years...to turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean. Seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much for so many." At face value, it was an historic request, with Congress and AIDS activists ecstatic about the promise to pump $3 billion a year into combating AIDS throughout the world. U2 Singer Bono, who has been one of the leaders of the AIDS fight, "hailed" the President's speech, saying "If we can turn the president's bold long term vision into near term results we're excited," adding, "any delay in increased funding means more lives lost and an even bigger check in the future."
Unfortunately, as the LA Times reported, just five days later, the President introduced a budget in which he "only sought $2 billion for the year" for AIDS -- 33% less than he had promised. The Senate later voted to increase the President's request, and Bono visited with the President to urge him to keep his promise. Nonetheless, the White House "repeated its strong opposition to any funding beyond $2 billion" while claiming with a straight face that the President was doing all he could. When questioned about the discrepancy, White House spokesman Scott McClellan simply refused to address the issue, saying only "The President has shown unprecedented leadership in the fight against AIDS."
December 09, 2003
By Pip at Wilson's Blogmanac
*Ø* Blogmanac | If you watch no other TV this year ... watch this
"A compelling documentary, almost haunting at times, which takes one of the biggest political bones on the current global landscape (broadly, the war on terrorism and, specifically, its impact on Afghanistan) and chews it to pieces.
"While the public relations machinery of Western governments recycles positive imagery as a way of allaying fears about the conflicts which have engulfed the world, journalist John Pilger reports from the front line of what appears to be a new and frightening cultural and political conflict.
"Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, is a city reduced to rubble. Much of the damage, reports Pilger, has been done not by the Taliban but by the US-backed warlords who now run the country. The government functions on less than $US300 million and there is no budget for reconstruction.
"Of the millions in aid which poured into the country, only a fraction of it has been spent rebuilding the country and -- astonishingly -- Pilger claims a large slice of it has been spent on military rebuilding.
"Deposing the Taliban may have brought music, education and some freedom for women back to Afghanistan, but you have to wonder if there has been any real victory in a country which, in parts, still subjects women, caught outdoors with an unrelated man, to a 'chastity' check.
"Coupled with the re-establishment of the opium industry and the fact that Afghanistan's US-backed president never leaves his office without his 42 US Special Forces bodyguards, you have to ask just who is running the country?
"From there, the program broadens into an examination of the 'truth and lies' in the war against terrorism, including the training of terrorists and the funding of terrorism.
"The program is astonishing. The information it presents is as disturbing as it is compelling and, undoubtedly, some of its claims will sound long and loud after this hour ends."
Source
You won't want to miss John Pilger's interviews with some top American State Department and military officials who seem to have no idea of what's happening in the world. Then there is a former top CIA official, a friend of George Bush Sr, who has fascinating insights to what he said were always called "The Crazies" ... people such as Perl and Wolfowitz. When Pilger asks him if he agrees with Norman Mailer that the USA has entered a pre-fascist era, he says "I hope so". Because he thinks America is already in a fascist era. It's chilling, as is the whole documentary by Australia's best-known doco journalist.
You can watch it here for free online with Real Media, thanks to the good folks at Informationclearinghouse.info
Please view it and spread the word.
December 07, 2003
Only Dictators Ban Television News
By Helen Thomas
Hearst Newspapers
Sunday 30 November 2003
The raid by the U.S.-appointed Iraqi officials on an Arab television network bureau in Baghdad and the ban on its broadcasts hardly fits my idea of how to spread democracy in the Middle East.
Isn't that the first thing dictators do -- shut down broadcast outlets and newspapers? For those in power, tolerating a free press is difficult, even in a democracy. As a foreign occupier in Iraq, we are proving it is intolerable.
The terrible irony here is that we pride ourselves on offering a model to the rest of the world on how to design -- and live by -- our constitutional freedoms. Journalists around the globe have been taught to emulate our approach to newsgathering, hopefully in an atmosphere free of government restraints.
At the same time, we're snuffing out news outlets we don't like.
On Monday, the U.S.-appointed Iraqi government raided the Baghdad bureau of the Al-Arabiya TV network. The network's crime was to broadcast an audiotape from Saddam Hussein complaining about Iraqis who were cooperating with the U.S. occupation force and calling for resistance. The tape had been sent to Al-Arabiya's headquarters in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
The network, which has interviewed Secretary of State Colin Powell in the past, is one of the largest TV outlets in the Arab world.
Any tape portraying Saddam's views on life fits the definition of news, if for no other reason than it is evidence that he is still alive and able to secretly communicate from wherever he was hiding.
Al-Arabiya and its competitor, the al-Jazeera Satellite Channel, have a wide following throughout the Middle East. Al-Jazeera caused Washington much discomfort in the lead-up to the war by broadcasting statements from Saddam. The White House strongly offered "advice" to U.S. TV outlets to shun those tapes but the American networks generally ignored the unhelpful hints.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused both Arab stations of being hostile by covering news of the guerrilla attacks on U.S. forces.
Al-Jazeera's Baghdad bureau was hit by a U.S. missile on April 8, killing a reporter-cameraman. The network also has complained of an attack on its marked vehicle April 7.
On Nov. 13, 2001, during the U.S. war on Afghanistan a U.S. missile went "awry," according to the Pentagon, and destroyed the al-Jazeera bureau in Kabul.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned the move against Al-Arabiya, noting that "statements from Saddam Hussein and the former Iraqi regime are inherently newsworthy and news organizations have a right to cover them."
Rumsfeld grouses that the two stations were violently against the American coalition. He hopes to counter their influence when a U.S.-controlled TV satellite channel begins broadcasts next month.
Then will the Iraqis and the Arab world be guaranteed the truth?
In a brilliant speech earlier this month before the National Conference on Media Reform, broadcaster and former newspaper editor Bill Moyers warned that American media conglomerates may find common cause "with an imperial state."
But Moyers said "the greatest moments in the history of the press came not when journalists made common cause with the state but when they stood fearlessly independent of it."
Against that statement of values, the recent performance by U.S. journalists does not measure well.
White House and Pentagon reporters initially pulled their punches in reporting on the Iraqi war. Some media outlets admittedly did not want to rock the boat by showing grisly photos or videotape that could be disturbing to Americans.
As a result, many Americans tuned in on foreign news channels to get the full picture of the war.
Even now, with the administration's pro-war arguments reduced to a pile of confetti, many news outlets have failed to demand accountability from the Bush administration for what appears to be systematic dishonesty in trying to justify the U.S. attack.
This failure and the U.S.-led suppression of newsgathering in Iraq show that the historic American model for a free and independent press needs courageous bolstering.
ORIGINAL WEB-LINK:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/150333_helenthomas30.html
OR
http://truthout.org/docs_03/120203F.shtml
Babes Against Bush
There's 99 Reasons listed at BabesAgainstBush.com why one should vote to get rid of President G.W. Bush.
There's also some pictures of ladies that like to show off their assets, so to speak.
December 06, 2003
Meet Barry Crimmins
If you haven't already, meet Barry Crimmins
Yippee! Some more good news!!! Our friend, Barry Crimmins, whose quips often fill this space [Words and Works at ACT -v], is now a writer and commentator for the new liberal radio network out of Boston. They (or we) couldn't ask for a better guy--the format is "comedy and content" and Barry is the cream of the crop of the genre. I can't wait to hear his words and works on a daily basis. Way to go, Barry!
This message from Barry:
Fellow Rabble,
Did you see W in the bulletproof box at the Pageant of Peace? Some jokes come pre-written.
Two major developments to report:
My upcoming book from Seven Stories Press has a title.
"Never Shake Hands With A War Criminal" should be out in time to help make the case against electing Bush (just this once) next fall.
The other development can be found in the Dean Johnson story from today's Boston Herald. I hope these two items help to explain why I've been less prolific than usual in recent weeks. A big year is headed our way and the required preparations are ongoing and extensive.
With warm wishes from a cold mountaintop,
Barry Crimmins
More from Barry:
W's Proudest Planks
Barry summarizes George W. Bush's strong suits in this essay originally read (available in audio version or text version)on the Christmas Comedy Coup Players 9/4/03 audio assault on WBAI (99.5 FM -- Pacifica in NYC). Judging by Barry's remarks, the Committee to Reappoint the President (CRAP) will have to fix a lot more than the Florida vote to keep their boy in office.
Want more?
More QUIPS
To join the CrimQuips mailing list please click: Crimquips homepage on Riseup
ATTENTION, AMERIKA!!
The IRS Claims New Patriot Act Type Powers
to Punish Political Dissenters
By Robert R. Raymond
In a precendent-setting case, the IRS wielded new power
to punish the political speech of those who "espouse views"
the government considers"inconsistent" with government-
held beliefs.
In a hearing originally closed to the public in a secret tribunal on a military island, but moved to a public location after protests from the press and the public, the IRS wants to wield this power against a former IRS whistleblower, who was forced to resign upon his discovery of fraud in the agency. [At right: A fear-filled fear mongerer. -v]
After monitoring and taping the whistleblower's appearances on Sixty Minutes, talk radio shows, and political publications where he rebroadcast his findings of IRS fraud, the IRS initiated this inquisition against their former whistleblower.
This new power may find new political targets soon enough.
The IRS, through the small office of "Director of Practice," claims the authority to wield carte blanche authority over all the other powers of government -- the authority to monitor, surveil, and eavesdrop on political dissenters, the authority to pry into the private financial records of banks, businesses, and taxpayers, the authority to conduct secret investigations under a criminal grand jury, and the authority to censure political dissenters by branding on them a badge of infamy and stripping them of governmentally-protected licenses.
In short, under the guise of a "practice" investigation, the IRS claims the right to wield all intrusive and invasive powers of government available.
A "license" to practice before the IRS -- even for people who have never requested such a license or actually practiced before the IRS, but are given one as a matter of law if they are accountants -- "licenses" the IRS to conduct private audits without notice to the taxpayer, confer with criminal prosecutors without disclosure, and bring special "disbarment" proceedings against disfavored dissenters, even if the alleged "disreputable" conduct has nothing to do with any "practice" before the IRS.
The IRS now claims it can use these so-called "practice" investigations of anyone who Congress licenses to practice before the IRS -- regardless of whether they actually practice before the IRS -- to surveil the public appearances of dissenters, eavesdrop on the political conversations of dissenters, benefit from secret grand jury investigations, hold secret conferences with the criminal investigators, surreptiously tap the private database of taxpayer information, including taxpayers who merely have some financial "connection" to the accused, audit the political dissenter's personal financial records, and use all this information against the dissenter in the "practice" proceeding.
Under the guise of a "practice" investigation, the IRS can ignore all the normal procedural protections against an illicit audit while it conducts such an audit.
Simultaneously, the IRS can ignore all the legal protections afforded a person accused of a crime while conferencing with the people conducting a criminal investigation.
Indeed, the IRS can even ignore the sunshine laws, as the records of such "practice investigation" are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, as are grand jury proceedings.
The IRS claims it can exercise this authority in a secret proceeding without allowing a person the opportunity to cure any alleged mistakes, the opportunity to prepare a defense by knowing the exact facts they are accused of, without any opportunity for discovery, without any opportunity to call witnesses necessary for their defense, without any opportunity to cross examine their accusers, without any opportunity to testify at their own hearing about the merits of their position, without being forced to testify against themselves without such an assertion being held against them, and without even an opportunity for a hearing on the evidence.
This power of this little office with a Napoleonic vision goes even beyond the Patriot Act type authority and stories of FBI monitoring of war protestors.
Too Hoover-ish to be true in modern America?
Just read the case of the IRS against Joe Banister scheduled for a "hearing" -- a hearing where the IRS prohibited Banister from introducing any witnesses or presenting any evidence as to his defenses, and even discussing the sincerity, the truth or the "reasonableness" of his positions -- on December 1 in the city by the bay, in the Tax Court chambers of the federal courthouse in San Francisco.
History is being made.
Robert R. Raymond is the past Independent candidate for the U.S House of Representatives for Wisconsin's 5th District in the 2002 elections.
Please forward to any interested parties.
December 04, 2003
The Idiot Pinhead's surrounded by sleaze!
Laugh? I thought I'd die!
As Lily Tomlin's little girl character used to say,
"And that's the twoofththphbbbttth!!!"
The Grownups Have Left the Building
By Molly Ivins, AlterNet
December 2, 2003
AUSTIN, Texas – Call them – irresponsible ... Call them – unreliable ... Throw in – undependable, too ... Yes, it's undeniably true – the Congress of the United States makes Bart Simpson look like Averell Harriman.
The grownups have left the building. Good grief, what a horror show.
Just when you thought you'd seen the worst of the scams . . . .
===0===0===0===
Who Tried To Bribe Rep. Smith?
Stop Protecting Him, Congressman.
By Timothy Noah, Slate
Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich., says that sometime late Nov. 21 or early in the morning Nov. 22, somebody on the House floor threatened to redirect campaign funds away from his son Brad, who is running to succeed him, if he didn't support the Medicare prescription bill. This according to the Associated Press. Robert Novak further reports,
On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests would give his son $100,000 in return for his father's vote. When he still declined, fellow Republican House members told him they would make sure Brad Smith never came to Congress. After Nick Smith voted no and the bill passed, [Rep.] Duke Cunningham of California and other Republicans taunted him that his son was dead meat.
Where are the RICOH laws when we need 'em?
===0===0===0===
Colorado Justices Overturn Voter Districts
By the Associated Press
Redistricting case could influence 2004 national elections
In a decision that could have national implications, the Colorado Supreme Court threw out the state's new congressional districts Monday because the GOP-led Legislature redrew the maps in violation of the constitution. The General Assembly is required to redraw the maps only after each census and before the ensuing general election -- not at any other time, the court said in a closely watched decision. A similar court battle is being waged in Texas. [Emphasis added.]
Under the ruling, Colorado's seven congressional districts revert to boundaries drawn up by a Denver judge last year after lawmakers failed to agree.
The same power grab in my state gives Repugs seven seats!
Google "Miserable Failure"
Type in the phrase "miserable failure" with GOOGLE, and what do you get?
December 03, 2003
Bush Lies
I stumbled upon a great blog titled "Bush Lies." This official description:
"This blog attempts to track and document the unfathomable dishonesty of the current Occupant of the White House and his minions."
There are some excellent articles at this site, and I highly recommend it.
CHECK IT OUT AT
http://bush-lies.blogspot.com/
December 01, 2003
Talking turkey about Bush
"What person who loves his country would not detest a man dedicated to ruining it? "
- Harley Sorensen, San Francisco Chron, December 1, 2003
You can read more about Harley Sorensen's opinion of (p)resident G.W. Bush in today's article for the San Francisco Chronicle - 'Talking turkey about the Bush brothers'......
Eat your heart out, Ronald Reagan! George W. Bush has made you look like a rank amateur. His Thanksgiving Day publicity stunt in Baghdad was the stuff of true genius.
Take a back seat, Mr. Great Communicator. "Win one for the Gipper" just doesn't cut it any more. This is the new millennium. Bush rules!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, readers of all ages, it may surprise you to learn that I'm sincere. Do I still detest Bush? Most assuredly. What person who loves his country would not detest a man dedicated to ruining it?
But one must give credit where credit is due, and the advantage our current president took of a slow news day was absolutely brilliant. He must be commended for his audacity, which rivals his mendacity.
AND MORE AT....
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=13977&mode=nested&order=0