"Truth and the Media"

Our words, and our message, is part of our heart as tutterfly says. It's difficult to 'change' it to speak in a "frame" when our old words were and are everybit as sincere.

Would we even be thinking of doing this if the media didn't slice and dice the facts, the truths, and the words themselves?

What Media ?

Or should we say Bush's MEDIA. They now have Limbaugh spewing his fake news to the troops in Afghanistan. When will this circus end ?

Limbaugh brought his Democrat-bashing to U.S. troops in Afghanistan

While in Afghanistan to highlight America's ongoing relief efforts in that country, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh delivered a partisan attack against a "political party," an apparent reference to Democrats, in a discussion with American troops. Recounting his remarks during a phone interview with guest host Roger Hedgecock on the February 22 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show, Limbaugh noted that he told the troops he wouldn't "go politically correct on them" by hiding liberals' "opposition" to the troops and their mission:

LIMBAUGH: And, by the way, folks, if you're wondering, I didn't go politically correct on them. I told them exactly who's saying what about them in an opposition fashion. I told them what I think is the sort of phony-baloney, plastic-banana, good-time rock 'n' roller of some members of the American left saying they support the troops but they don't support their mission --

And I haven't run into anybody who has snickered. They're eager for the truth here.

more>
http://mediamatters.org/items/200502230009

NO SURRENDER !!!

NOVAK still spewing his LIES

Novak called Swift Vets' ads "honest" and "exactly correct"

Syndicated columnist and CNN host Robert D. Novak found yet another opportunity to heap praise on the discredited anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (now called Swift Vets and POWs for Truth): a February 20 New York Times report that conservative lobbying organization USA Next has hired consultants who previously worked with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to "orchestrate attacks" on one of the chief opponents of President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security, AARP.

Listen here>
http://mediamatters.org/items/200502230005

NO SURRENDER !!!

Jeff:
I understand your sentiments about "getting out the facts" about election reform and media reform but you have basically ignored everything Lakoff wrote about in don't think of an elephant. One of his central themes as you know is the importance of framing and how just arguing the facts does not win the day; even when you are right about the facts. Perhaps your well written opening was intended to open up the discussion of facts v framing which deserves our time and attention.

Ok, this is what I think on the Media and Election Reform, and why DCP is so important. I know Latkoff has a lot of good points, but our biggest problem is, no matter the facts or the framing, the MEDIA will make it their Facts and their Framing, and who does the Media belong to the Corporations and who do the Corporations support, that is an easy one to answer.

I'm sorry but nothing will change until we hit the TRUTH at the grassroots in each town, village and city in this country.

We watched how the Media portrays us and panders to this administration. We must be the Media, we must use our own voices and we must stick to our principles and our values.

Quit letting the pundits frame this debate, I believe that the more we listen to them the more we fall into the trap that something is so wrong with our message. There is nothing wrong with our message it is the way the message is being ripped apart by the Media. My common sense tells me this is what is happening.

I am one to sit back and listen and really look deep into what is happening. IMHO there is a fog between us and the Media and until we lift that fog, nothing will change.

NO SURRENDER !!!

Very interesting and well written point, tut. I used to say all the time, "we must not change our values; we should change the way we articulate our values." But you bring up a good point: if our values arent changing, and if we speak from our hearts, then why should our language have to change? At the time, though, I see what Ira is saying about Lakoff. I mean, I know I use different language and put things in different terms when I'm talking to my liberal family in Chicago than when I'm trying to convince a conservative here in Texas. Neither way of speaking is less sincere, but you have to use different tactics when talking to different people... oh well. It's an important issue to think about, and I agree with Sparrow- unfortunately, if it werent for the "media" twisting words and facts, we wouldnt be having this discussion.

...just by the by- did anyone listen to bush's speech today? i certainly didn't, but a friend told me he kept saying "moo-lah" when it should be "mull-ah"

I am one to sit back and listen and really look deep into what is happening. IMHO there is a fog between us and the Media and until we lift that fog, nothing will change.

NO SURRENDER !!!

Posted by: KerryDem at February 23, 2005 07:30 PM

ah, you're right- very true. And as we always used to say... BE THE MEDIA!

just by the by- did anyone listen to bush's speech today? i certainly didn't, but a friend told me he kept saying "moo-lah" when it should be "mull-ah"

Posted by: NativeTexan4Kerry at February 23, 2005 07:45 PM

Well, considering it's all about the "moolah" to this adminstration, I'm not suprised.

Show Me The Moolah

hahaha Marc! So it was a freudian slip just like when he said "Our enemies are determined and resourceful, but so are we. They never stop thinking of new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

... and speaking of moolah and the cowpokes visit to Europe...

European firms display wares in Iran
Visit to air show documents companies with Pentagon contracts hoping to do business with America's adversary

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7018071/

By Lisa Myers & the NBC investigative unit
Updated: 7:38 p.m. ET Feb. 23, 2005

KISH, Iran - As President Bush pressures European allies to get tougher with Iran, NBC News got a rare glimpse inside the country — at an Iranian air show attended by some of the world's leading military contractors eager to do business with America's adversary.

On the island of Kish, mullahs mixed with Ukrainian generals amid photos of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Iran's contempt for the United States was clear — emblazoned underneath a helicopter, in Farsi: "Death to America."

It's generally illegal for American companies to do business with Iran. But NBC News found more than a dozen European defense and aviation firms eager to fill the void. Some do business with the Pentagon, yet they were actively selling their wares to Iran.

"We sell to Iran [sic] Air Force," said Francois Leloup from Aerazur, a French company that markets fighter pilot vests, anti-gravity suits and other protective gear for military pilots.

"We sell mainly to security people like police," said Arnaud Chevalier with Auxiliaire Technique, which was representing a group of companies at its exhibition booth. Some of the brochures on dispay showed tank helmets, communication systems for light armored vehicles and an "infantry headset." Chevalier said such equipment was "not for sale."

NBC News showed our video from the air show to arms expert John Pike, director of the nonprofit organization GlobalSecurity.org.

"I think that the Europeans would sell their grandmothers to the Iranians if they thought they could make a buck," says Pike.

Also exhibiting at the show — European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) and its subsidiary Eurocopter — which has launched a campaign in the United States to get a bigger share of Pentagon contracts, featuring ads that wrap the company in the American flag.

But if the company is so pro-American, why is it ignoring U.S. policy to isolate Iran?

"As a European company, we're not supposed to take into account embargoes from the U.S.," says Michel Tripier, with EADS.

"The emphasis here is on our civil helicopters. We are not offering military helicopters here," he adds.

Yet, prominent on the company's video in Iran — a military helicopter.

"It says 'Navy' in their own promotional videotape," says John Pike. "I guess they're hoping Iran's navy is going to want to buy it."

EADS says the helicopter just happened to be on the video, and that it abides by U.S. and European rules against selling military goods to Iran.

Another company, Finmeccanica, recently won a contract to build a new version of the presidential helicopter, Marine One, as part of a group led by U.S. contractor Lockheed Martin.

It was also in Kish showing off its helicopters to Iran.

"This company is building the American president's new helicopter, and they're trying to trade with the enemy!" exclaims Pike.

Steven Bryen used to be the Pentagon official responsible for preventing technology from going to countries like Iran. Now he's the president of Finmeccanica in the United States. Does he think Iran is an enemy of the United States?

"I think they're our enemy at this point," says Bryen. "I mean, they're behaving like our enemy."

So why would Bryen's company trade with an enemy?

"In Europe, they don't call it the enemy," he says. "If it's a civilian item that doesn't threaten anyone, then I don't have a problem with that."

European subsidiaries of NBC's parent company, General Electric, have sold energy and power equipment to Iran, but GE recently announced it will make no new sales. (MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)

Still, even with the president now pushing hard to isolate Tehran, European allies are likely to continue their role as what one company called, "a reliable partner for Iran."

I didn't hear the speech today, just caught a clip in which he said "moo-lah". But early this morning I did hear a CNN newsperson saying he actually pronounced "nuclear" correctly. Another newsperson quickly observed, "That makes one in a row."

Sorry, but this thread's Bill Maher annoys me more often than not. On his last show, he went on about the freedom and democracy angle everyone else in media is using to describe Bush's "higher power" sales job, co-opting the Dems. Bill needs to stop perpetuating the spin.

Bill missed the forcing freedom argument and differences with this Iraq War and preventative policy, or that freedom was last on the list given to the American people as justification.

I don't think he pays attention to our comments. I've tried on cuter issues.

This just came in from Paul Lehto on their case for open election process. It was sent out to Seattle DC. I hadn't heard of the organization, just Andy Stephenson, who ran for Secretary of State with the Green Party, Washington, and was defeated in the primaries. He is also estranged from Bev Harris of Black Box Voting, but I'm much more interested in whether this could actually work.

I want groups to work in solidarity but when I sent out a message about the one million Kerry had donated to the DNC, someone just had to send a group message that it wasn't enough - he should have donated more. & so it goes. Anyway, this is the deal.

The long awaited Velvet Revolution Divestiture for Democracy campaign is about to begin! Thanks to all of you for your patience as we worked through both the complicated legal and technical logistics to bring off an exciting, powerful, innovative and effective campaign over these past several weeks!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the details, we are sending, tomorrow morning, a letter to the heads of all nine major American Voting Companies asking them to do the right thing for their country.

In short, we are asking them to:

Voluntarily open their hardwareand software for independent public inspection.

Provide auditablevoter-verified paper ballots with all votes cast.

Assure that there can no form ofnetworking on their machines.

Allow fornon-partisan, independent monitors of the votetabulation process.

Institute a corporate policyprohibiting the company and all of their executives from supporting candidates for public office or political action groups.

Discloseall data, codes and recordsfrom the last three national elections if requested.
Adoptall feasible best practicessuggested by a national committee of experts.

Do all of the above atno extra cost to their governmental clients with whom they work

We are allowing them 60 days to comply with these concerns. If they do, we will broadly recognize the company for their efforts.

If, however, they do not wish to comply with our patriotic concerns about their roles in hindering the possibility for free, fair and transparent elections in America, then VR -- along, we hope, with all of you! -- will encourage all Americans to divest from these companies and those with which they are affiliated in a massive national boycott targeting them, their affiliates and their clients along with an education campaign for the American public about the proprietary way in which these companies are secretively doing the public business of handling elections in the world's most important democracy!

We believe, with your help, this campaign will be extremely effective and we hope that we can rely on "all hands on deck" for this effort!

In the next day or so, we will send you information and links on the VR site to which we hope you will point your members from both your websites and mailing lists to support this innovative and exciting campaign. We will have a page where everyone can quickly and easily send an Email to all nine of the major American Voting Machine companies in a massive wave, urging the companies to stand with the Velvet Revolution and do the right thing for their country.

If I can answer any questions about the coming campaign, please feel free to contact me at the address below. We would, of course, like to get the word out high and low via your sites, publications, radio programs, etc.

As well, our E-Voting Advisor, Andy Stephenson (CopperTop98125@yahoo.com), can answer specific questions you may have about the voting companies themselves and the concerns we are expressing to them, and our Legal Advisor, Paul Lehto (Paul@LehtoPenfield.com), has volunteered to make himself similarly available to answer any legal questions you may have about any of these efforts. We all wish to do whatever we can to get the word out!

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http://www.velvetrevolution.us/VR_Logos.php
...Velvet Revolution is meant as a massive umbrella group/citizens brigade to support all of your organizations! As we show our support for your heroic efforts, we hope you will proudly display yours for VR!

I dont' dispute Lakoff's methods might work well for people. His book is a valuable teaching tool. My point is that we all own a particular style of telegraphing hard truths that people are trying desperately to deny.
If a well framed position is going to turn the light on for someone, then by all means take it to them. And, for the people who you can appeal to with your heart, be your whole self, and instead of a frame, don't pretty up the hard thruths we all know so well.
I'll be cheering every method that works, even if I'm not an expert in all of them.

Bob Evans

I am not allowed to use internet for news at work (or blogging) and consequently my productivity is very high and I am a "bargain."

Anyway, I did hear a blurb on the car radio and I heard The Beast say "EyeRan is not EyeRock" and I heard him say the "moo-lahs" better not have "noocular ambitions." It is normal for him to speak this way in public in Merka, but it's really embarrassing when he goes overseas.

I found out my professional organization has reciprocity with Canadian equivalent, so I have a contingency plan if Washington has to have a Gubernatorial revote and mafia Rossi wins.

German Protesters Call Bush 'No. 1 Terrorist'

By Alexandra Hudson

MAINZ, Germany (Reuters) - About 12,000 protesters, many carrying banners reading "Bush go home," "No. 1 Terrorist" and "Warmonger," marched through the German city of Mainz on Wednesday, but were mostly kept away from the visiting U.S. president.

The official rally, which was twice as big as expected, never got within earshot of President Bush, but a small group of protestors rushed toward his car as he left to visit a U.S. base in nearby Wiesbaden. Police wrestled several demonstrators to the ground and led them away in handcuffs, a Reuters witness said.

snip>

"When John F. Kennedy came to Germany he drove through cheering crowds," said Mark Reichelt, 20, a student. "Now Bush is here and will drive through empty streets."

more>

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-02-23T175428Z_01_L2347198_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-BUSH-GERMANY-PROTEST-DC.XML

NO SURRENDER !!!

Bush had to cancel his town hall style meeting in Germany because they were unwilling to let him control who attended and could not guarantee that he would not be asked angry questions.

In many ways we have been portrayed as unworthy of having our points of view considered in a thoughtful debate. Whose fault is that? Certainly not ours. The media (I hate that term because I don't believe we have a "media") has marginalized and trivialized the concerns of most Americans. That is why I consider the news organizations as propaganda machines whose only purpose is to perpetuate corporate America's goals. We have to be diligent and determined to stand up to the lies and misperceptions that Bushco propaganda continues to say about Americans who disagree with the corporate mantra. Too many people have been brainwashed into believing that the greater good of America will be realized when they have sacrificed their freedoms (that includes economic and civil freedoms). The more peope fear, the more inustices they will tolerate. That is why we need to be clear that we are all Americans. Americans thirsty for a country that guides itself by the ideals of the framers of the Constitution.

To me, "frames" suggest a way to communicate concepts of how the Constitution and the American ideal influence our decisions and perceptions of government. There are many ways to do such a thing. No particular message is the correct one. Yet, we do know that people in opposition to our country's current policies are characterized as less than American. We have to stand up and be willing to confront those that challenge our patriotism. We have to speak from the heart with reasoned passion.

If there is no dissent,
There is NO democracy.

Jeff, you are a man of deep insight and few words. It is a treat when you post. Great header.

It is my perception that we are fighting fire with fire when using Lakoff's reframing techniques. I am thinking perhaps the right has studied human behavior and psychology down to the point of how to phrase words and ideas to make them more readily acceptable to people. Their campaign never stops, it is full time propaganda, using our sight (patriotic signs, red white and blue, flags, slogans at every event), using our hearing and thinking processes by feeding us carefully chosen words that people are more likely to "buy into". I see the Lakoff technique as psychological warfare. Before Lakoff, I would share, and the walls went up right away, and stayed up. We are fighting a psychological war. I think Lakoff framing opens the door to more conversations down the road a bit, because it softens the barrier.

Yeah, I know it feels sometimes like we are acquiescing, but I look at it like we're not.
We are being (forgive me for this, Tut), the
"better person" because we know the people we are talking to are either totally unaware of anything wrong with this administration and/or unaware that what they have been led to believe is a lie. They may have a fascade on that says they are better than you, but you know they are not, they are being led down a path of destruction. So, being the "better person", on their behalf, we can learn some new techniques to help them to see. I do it for them, for myself, for us. The other way was not working.

INSOMNIAC REFRAME for "Joe Sixpack" -

Bush is "crawling back" to the UN, NATO & the EU to "beg for help to clean up the mess he started overseas."

He has "run the country into debt and squandered the Social Security surplus" but his private accounts are "a joke & a plot to make his friends on Wall Street rich."

His drug benefit is "a trick to make his buddies the drug companies rich."

He will raise payroll taxes (for the rich butit's STILL a TAX HIKE!) to pay for his plan and he's borrowing money from China because he's looted our treasury. Greenspan will have to hike interest rates & we'll live with inflation. If the dollar crashes enough, we'll go into a Depression.

Take that, Joe Sixpack!

Oh and he isn't going to ban gay marriage or get rid of abortion. He just isn't - they never do. They just talk about it to get your vote.

European Press Review

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4293121.stm

Ouch, it hurts!
But you should like it...
I wonder if the neocons in their bubble are reading the European reactions to Georgie's surrealistic trip.

President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin are in Slovakia, preparing for a meeting that promises an opportunity to address increasingly strained ties between the two countries. While the two are expected to sign nuclear security and anti-terrorism agreements, Bush said he also plans to raise Western concerns about the health of Russia's democracy.

(Let's see... increasingly strained ties... things with Russia were so rosy when li'l georgie came riding in on his mechanical horse 4 yrs ago. I believe you said, "I can see into his soul", didn't ya georgie? Suprise! We can see into yours too. Oh, and keep using the word democracy, over and over and over... your legions of mindless fans think it makes you quite the president... so patriotic.)

Pentagon seeks freer hand for special ops
Secret missions could bypass U.S. envoys

By Ann Scott Tyson and Dana Priest
The Washington Post
Updated: 12:06 a.m. ET Feb. 24, 2005

The Pentagon is promoting a global counterterrorism plan that would allow Special Operations forces to enter a foreign country to conduct military operations without explicit concurrence from the U.S. ambassador there, administration officials familiar with the plan said.

The plan would weaken the long-standing "chief of mission" authority under which the U.S. ambassador, as the president's top representative in a foreign country, decides whether to grant entry to U.S. government personnel based on political and diplomatic considerations.

The Special Operations missions envisioned in the plan would largely be secret, known to only a handful of officials from the foreign country, if any.

Read the rest of the story,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7019975/

Will Torture Claims Sink Terror Case?
The Justice Department’s surprise decision to charge a young American accused of planning to assassinate President Bush could raise tough questions about U.S. treatment of terror suspects—and embarrass one of America’s allies

By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
Newsweek
Updated: 7:03 p.m. ET Feb. 23, 2005

Feb. 23 - A lawyer for accused Al Qaeda associate Ahmed Omar Abu Ali said today that evidence that Saudi Arabian security officers brutally tortured his client—allegedly with the collusion of FBI agents and other U.S. government officials—will be “front and center” in his client’s defense on charges that he plotted with Saudi-based terrorists to assassinate President Bush.

“There is scar tissue all over his back,” defense lawyer Edward MacMahon told NEWSWEEK, adding that the scars are consistent with Abu Ali having been beaten during the 20 months he was detained and interrogated by Saudi officials before being flown home to the United States this week to face criminal charges that he provided material support to a terrorist group.

But federal prosecutors today strongly rejected the claims that Abu Ali, a 23-year-old American citizen, had been abused while in Saudi custody and called him a "grave danger to the community—and to the nation" in a court filing Wednesday. They also hinted that they will present more evidence to back up their case at a detention hearing in Alexandria, Va., on Thursday.

“Is there anybody left who believes the Saudis don’t torture people?” MacMahon said. “They behead people. Are they [the U.S. government] going to bring the Saudis that questioned him into the courtroom?”

MacMahon’s threat to make evidence of torture central to Abu Ali’s defense raises the stake in what is rapidly shaping up as a major criminal prosecution that could prove embarrassing to one of the U.S. government’s staunchest allies in the war on Al Qaeda—as well as FBI agents who worked closely with the Saudis on the handling of the former northern Virginia resident. It also comes at a time there are mounting investigations—in Congress and by foreign governments—into the U.S. practice of “rendering” terror suspects to countries that are alleged to practice torture.

read more... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7018521/site/newsweek/

"Once again, just as President Bush runs into political trouble,
he floats above the fray while the help takes out his opponents."

February 24, 2005

Swifties Slime Again
By MAUREEN DOWD

WASHINGTON

Instead of trying to destroy AARP, Republicans should be signing up the seniors' lobby to find Osama.........

.......Mr. Jarvis defended his ad by saying that he was simply trying to provoke liberal bloggers, and that he succeeded. In fact, part of the sinister beauty of the Swift Boat method is its viral quality: it slips into a host body - "Inside Politics," say - and hijacks it. An ad it showed briefly on the Internet has now been replicated free, all over the world, and, yes, it is now being transmitted through the Op-Ed page of The New York Times.

Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey sent a letter to President Bush yesterday calling the USA Next ad "incendiary" and asking him to denounce such tactics. But, of course, President Bush has nothing whatsoever to do with any of this. Right?

more>
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/24/opinion/24dowd.html?th

NO SURRENDER !!!

Bu$h can denounce the ad all day long, it makes no difference... once the cat is out of the bag, it's out, and th damage is done.

Bu$h then gets to look like he's above the fray by denouncing it, but anyone with a shred of intelligence knows it is part of the strategy.

And the beat goes on...

Marc,

Yes, we all know how it works. I was rememberign yesterday that when we started the DCP, Dick pointed out that, for the first time there were tens of thousands of people who had seen right into the process on the neo-con side. Those of us who had done the research and who knew who John Kerry and John Edwards really were and what they stood for had the unenviable pleasure of watching the spin and hate machine up close.

We still see it in action, and every day we know more and more about the danger facing our democracy.

Pundits are acknowledging this slowly. But I am not patient.

Never before have we had such a critical mass of knowledgeable and focused people. Among the blogs, 527s, progressive online groups, resource sites, and alternative press we have the necessary shared understanding.

We need the actions. LTEs, emails to friends, visibility and witnessing, canvassing, creating new media with clear messaging, campaigns for better legislation, all the way to working for candidates and running for offices ourselves--these are what is required.

Karen knows... in triplicate.

Warning From the Markets

NYTimes Published: February 24, 2005

When a seemingly innocuous remark from the central bank of South Korea makes the dollar tank, as happened on Tuesday, all is not well with the United States' position in the world economy.

The dollar has been on a downward trajectory for three years, thanks in part to the Bush administration's decision to try to use a cheap dollar to shrink the nation's enormous trade deficit. (A weak dollar makes exports cheaper and imports costlier, a combination that theoretically should narrow the trade gap.) To be truly effective, however, a weak dollar must be combined with a lower federal budget deficit - or even a budget surplus, something the administration clearly hasn't delivered. So predictably, the weak-dollar ploy hasn't worked. The United States' trade deficit has mushroomed to record levels, as has the United States' need to borrow from abroad - some $2 billion a day - just to balance its books.

Enter South Korea. On Monday, its central bank reported that it intended to diversify into other currencies and away from dollar-based assets. And why not? It holds about $69 billion in United States Treasury securities, or 4 percent of the total foreign Treasury holdings. Such dollar-based investments lose value as the dollar weakens, leading to losses that any cautious banker would want to avoid. But as the Korean comment ping-ponged around the world, all hell broke loose, with currency traders selling dollars for fear that the central banks of Japan and China, which hold immense dollar reserves - a combined $900 billion, or 46 percent of foreign Treasury holdings - might follow suit.

That would be the United States' worst economic nightmare. If it appeared that the flow of investment from abroad was not enough to cover the nation's gargantuan deficits, interest rates would rise sharply, the dollar would plunge further, and the economy would stall. A fiscal crisis would result.

Tuesday's sell-off of dollars did not precipitate a meltdown. But it sure gave a taste of one. The dollar suffered its worst single-day decline in two months against the yen and the euro. Stock markets in New York, London, Paris and Frankfurt dropped, and gold and oil prices, which tend to go up when the dollar goes down, spiked.

Luckily, the markets calmed down yesterday, as Asian central banks said they they did not intend to shun dollars. While such damage control is welcome, it's no fix. Tuesday's market episode has its roots in American structural imbalances that will be corrected only by new policies, not more of the same tax-cut-and-weak-dollar deficit-bloating ploys.

If Mr. Bush were half the capitalist he claims he is, he would listen to what the markets are telling him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/24/opinion/24thu1.html?8br

Bush protest Germany

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/24/international/europe/24germany.html?ex=1109912400&en=9a11c93178e2d545&ei=5059&partner=AOL

Also, Bird Flu is hitting our media after being covered in Britain for months. US is working on a vaccine. If it jumps from birds to cats to humans to humans, could be pandemic like 1918.

Temperatures in WA & BC are breaking records for this time of year, also ultralow rainfall - global warming? Closest records were also recent. Whistler ski resort is making plans for snow-making machines & moving to high alpine areas in the future.

The symbol of Bush stop in Bratislava.

There is a bouble reading behind this choice.
1- Bush chose it because the country fought for its freedom. Good.
2- It is the most ultra liberal eastern European regime.

What does it mean? OUTSOURCING.

Here is a former member of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, that was swallowed by the Communist one after WWII, got free and entered EU.Wonderful.
The only problem is that while we are fueling them with European funds to improve their economy, build roads, hospitals, schools.... they do not make anything about social reforms. It's 19th century over there about salaries and working conditions. The average income is 160€/month and to attract more western firms the taxes level has been limited to...10%.
Outsourcing crept silently at the beginning, but voices are now rising in the west against it in order to save jobs and the Tcheks have their backs pulled to to the wall. Either they improve their salaries and working conditions to the western standards or they will face shortages in EU funds.

And this is the system we fight but that George praises so much: ultraliberalism with all the human disasters left behind, but in the name of profit.

See the similarities with what is going on at home for you?

Double, not bouble.

Just wave the magic wand..........

For Immediate Release: February 23, 2005
Contact: Chas Offutt (202) 265-7337

MORE THAN A THOUSAND WHISTLEBLOWER CASES DUMPED — Special Counsel Dismisses Hundreds of Disclosures and Complaints in Past Year

Washington, DC — The U.S. Special Counsel has dismissed more than 1,000 whistleblower cases in the past year, according to a letter from the Bush-appointed Special Counsel released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The Special Counsel appears to have taken action in very few, if any, of these cases and has yet to represent a single whistleblower in an employment case.

http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=483

DiAnne you mentioned Andy Stephenson in an earlier post, well Andy is having serious health problems and needs help.

William Pitt just posted on Truthout a way to help him.

Will Pitt - FYI
Will Pitt - Overview T O needs your help
A Friend in Need

By WilliamPitt,

Thu Feb 24th, 2005 at 08:47:20 AM EST :: Voter Rights ::
If you have followed the push for election reform over the last two years, you have probably heard the name Andy Stephenson. Andy, who worked for a long time with the folks over at BlackBoxVoting.org, has been at the forefront of the fight to make sure that every vote is counted, every vote counts, and that our elections do not become a privatized exercise in electronic touch-screen theft.

I was with Andy in Seattle last July at a Rolling Thunder event. I was trying to be upbeat about the looming election, but Andy could not summon the will to do more than tell the hard truth. On that day, he predicted everything that happened in Ohio, Florida, Nevada and elsewhere. I ran into him again at the inauguration protests this past January, and he had an 'I %&$#!*@ told you so' face on that could have cracked granite.

For the last several weeks, Andy has been suffering through a bout of Hepatitis. The word came down yesterday, however, that his siauation is far more serious. "I apparently have a tumor growing around the bile duct where it passes through my pancreas," he wrote. "The tissue sample was consistent with malignancy; it could be benign but I am planning for the worst."

Andy has been out of work for several months; he gave pretty much his entire life to the

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http://forum.truthout.org/blog/story/2005/2/24/84720/3496

NO SURRENDER !!!