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These People Are Nuts
From Karl Rove today, to the Republican Congressman from North Carolina, Joe Wilson, these people are quite simply, nuts.
From Congressman Joe Wilson,(R-NC)today (Via Wonkette):
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who joined Pryce at the press conference, told Cybercast News Service that it "is just inconceivable and truly incorrigible that in the midst of the war, that the Democratic leaders would be conducting guerrilla warfare on American troops..."
Democratic leaders are conducting guerilla warfare on our troops?
Yes, I would say that's pretty inconceivable, unless you are a complete nutjob, in which case, you not only conceive of it, you talk about it at a press conference.
Once again, it's not about Democrats and Republicans.
It's not about right and left.
It's about right and wrong.
Or in this case, it's about people who are nuts, and the rest of the world.
All polls are showing American support of Bu$h's Iraq war = sinking fast. Free-fall fast..
Bu$h's Iraq war is not sustainable if American parents will not send their sons & daughters to die for Bu$h's corrupt Iraq war.
Are we really surprised that this corrupt administration goes back to the tactic of using the ghost of 9-11 to buck up their poll numbers.
The Republican object is to once again equate 9-11 to Iraq....stir up all the feelings of 9-11, remind Americans "its US against them", so "support the troops, by supporting your president"....
Sorry, Karl, more Americans are on to you now.
As your VP would say, the terror grip the Republicans have had on hiding the truth is "in its last throes".
Repost from last thread:
Just got home a bit ago from my visit with DiAnne and her mother. DiAnne, is so bright, and fun! We had a good time. Her mom and I got a little mixed up on our directions, and once I found myself going the wrong way down a one way street, but, hey, we made it. Had a real good visit, and she just called me on the phone to tell me about the latest Karl Rove misdeed.
I am already mad, because Cyrano you are absolutely correct in your assessment that Rove is the closest to a satanic figure that we have in American politics. I cannot express the level of disdain I have for this man. Pure evil.
~ ~ ~ * * ~ ~ ~
I suspect this is part of the rollout of the President's new messaging about Iraq.
Thanks.
Posted by: Casey Morris at June 23, 2005 06:28 PM
CASEY, I noticed this slant over the past three days. They are pulling at people's heart strings, preaching patriotism, fear mongering. I posted yesterday about the pattern I saw developing on CNN (so you know it is on Faux too),
with ramping up the airing of video of Muslims with turbans hovering around bombed burning cars. MEGA airing. Scotty McClellan said that the fact that we now have all these TERRORISTS in Iraq is all the more reason to stay there and "stay the course", (implied inference, of course, 'otherwise they will just migrate to America and terrorize YOU'.) The Iraqi people want us out. They do not see us as liberators, only conquerors. Bu$hCo. has torn up their country, destroyed the little bit of security they had, killed and wounded their people, taken their oil, made big profits off building on their land, built several new U.S. military bases in their country, and NOW attempt to muffle the cries of objection and dissent back home in the U.S. by telling U.S. citizens "they" are going to come over here and do to us what we have been doing to them. For shame.
We can win this!!!! WE CAN WIN THIS!!!! The American people have started to wake up. If the Dems can get their message out there (go Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry (good for you!)), before the people get scared mute again, we can do it.
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at June 23, 2005 07:44 PM
Right on, Casey!!!
After reading these links, and links previously posted about the torture going on at Gitmo and elsewhere, will someone please explain to me just WHY Senator Durbin felt he had to apologize for telling the truth?!?!?
US Doctors Linked to POW 'Torture' at Guantanamo
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0623-06.htm
UN Experts Say They Have Reliable Accounts of Torture at Guantanamo
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0623-05.htm
Guantanamo; the new-world icon
Guantanamo is emblematic of a militarized world stripped of humanity or justice. It looms as the salient icon of the new world order.
by Mike Whitney
To fully appreciate the depravity of the Bush claque, we only need to visit the Rush Limbaugh web site, where the drug-addicted spokesman for the administration is currently hawking T-shirts (Orange; "I got my free Koran and Prayer Rug at G'itmo" or, orange baseball cap reading "Camp G'itmo") and baseball caps in an public relations scheme to trivialize the horrors of systematic torture of detainees in US custody.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9243.htm
U.N. Expert Says U.S. Stalling on Request to Visit Guantanamo Detainees:
Manfred Nowak, the U.N. special investigator on torture, said that he and three other experts would use a news conference later Thursday to voice their complaints that Washington has not responded to their mid-April request to check on the conditions of the detainees.
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB0IPKTAAE.html
The Bill of Rights: The Rights of the Accused
Is the Sixth Amendment relevant today? You bet it is
by Jacob G. Hornberger
Make no mistake about it: If the feds treat foreigners accused of terrorism in this way, they’ll do the same to Americans. Just ask Jose Padilla, an American whom the Pentagon has held in a military dungeon for over three years and whom they have denied all the rights enumerated in the Sixth Amendment.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9255.htm
Norman Solomon | Voluntary Amnesia in the Service of War
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0623-32.htm
[Every aspiring "journalist" ought to be required to take history courses before they are let loose on the air.... MSM has much to answer for if it ever decides to start reporting facts, hard news, and truth, rather than official propaganda....]
Michael Smith | The Real News in the Downing Street Memos
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0623-25.htm
Excerpt:
"The way in which the intelligence was "fixed" to justify war is old news.
The real news is the shady April 2002 deal to go to war, the cynical use of the U.N. to provide an excuse, and the secret, illegal air war without the backing of Congress."
Arianna Huffington | Just Say Noruba
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0623-22.htm
"I wouldn't call it fascism exactly, but a political system nominally controlled by an irresponsible, dumbed down electorate who are manipulated by dishonest, cynical, controlled mass media that dispense the propaganda of a corrupt political establishment can hardly be described as democracy either." Edward Zehr
Congress Considers Parental Notification for Contraceptives
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/062305WB.shtml
Kelpie Wilson | Exponential Enrons Ahead
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062305A.shtml
[Deregulation of utilities.... pay energy bill to Halliburton or other oil companies.... head for another Great Depression...]
Sidney Blumenthal | Blinded by the Light at the End of the Tunnel
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062305D.shtml
Democrats Fear GOP Push on Flag-Burning
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062305F.shtml
[There are far more important things to bring to this nation's attention than a ridiculous amendment such as this. Doesn't the person who thought up this dumb idea know the correct way to honorably dispose of a wind-tattered flag is to fold it neatly and burn it?]
Bob Herbert | Jeb Bush: Cruel and Unusual
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062305H.shtml
[Just when you almost begin to think things can't get any dumber with false issues for MSM to dwell on instead of covering real news.....]
FYI--I don't know if anyone has seen the CNN reports from Afghanistan today, but guess what? The White House propaganda machine is in full swing on covering the war. Since the war in Afghanistan is the one that most American's "approve" of, CNN's Barbara Starr "has been granted exclusive access to the troops fighting in the hill along the border of Pakistan"
Now, two questions immediately occur to me: What's the new message? And how many more exclusive opportunities are going to be granted to various members of the media, one at a time, so it's "exclusive" coverage that they will "jump" at, and thus, just as they did when they had reporters embedded during the beginning of the Iraq War, and they will be once again in FULL control of the media message about the war.
Posted by: Casey Morris at June 23, 2005 06:28 PM
CASEY!
I saw that "exclusive" of the war in Afghanistan, with coverage of the troops fighting in the mountains along the border of Pakistan.
The first thought I had when I saw it of what the message is now:
OSAMA BIN LADEN IS 'STILL OUT THERE'. WE ARE FIGHTING A 'WAR AGAINST TERROR'. AFGHANISTAN, BIN LADEN, AND THE "terrrists" IN IRAQ ARE ALL IN IT TOGETHER TO HURT Y - O - U.
This is the card they play when they want to pull in the reins, they know they are losing control.
Come on, DEMS!!!!
David Gergen, appearing on Countdown on MSNBC just said that since Bu$h's poll numbers have gone south, especially on Iraq, that a strategic decision was made in the WH to step up heated rhetoric against the Democrats this week, by questioning their patriotism again, on 9-11 and on Iraq. In effect, calling the Dems "soft on defending the country".
He also said it was a risk, and it could backfire on the WH.
I think that people are getting used to Rove now and put all of the elements together much, much faster than they used to.
For example:
If you look at McClellan's well prepared answer to Rove, and you look at Rep. Wilson's and Pryce's remarks, and then Barbara Starr's exclusive access to the troops and reporting from Afghanistan, and then Dick Cheney's granting an exclusive to CNN's Wolf Blitzer, and then Chris Matthew's exclusive interview with Al-Jafaari, a picture begins to emerge, doesn't it?
It's redirection time, folks.
It's a good opportunity to study and learn about frames, too. I expect we should start to see them emergin more and more, as I have already found one. It's from mcClellan, who said four time during his press conference, "it's a difference about philosophies and differences in approaches to the War on Terror, meaning that one side is strong, storng strong and the other is weak and wants the terrorists to get therapy. So what I suspect you will see happening, starting with Rove, is the WH moving to a very, very sharp tack on what they view as delineating those differences.
Posted by: Casey Morris at June 23, 2005 08:21 PM
All I can say is "Rots of Ruck". I hope to goodness the American people are opening their eyes enough, and are "so sick and tired of being sick and tired" of this administration, the war, the economy, the attempt at raping social security, and lying about all the above, that they just aren't going to believe it any more. Lie to people enough, and they see it enough, and this fear tactic isn't going to work. (Please God let it be NOW).
"it's a difference about philosophies and differences in approaches to the War on Terror, meaning that one side is strong, storng strong and the other is weak and wants the terrorists to get therapy."
Posted by: Casey Morris at June 23, 2005 08:21 PM
yes, and this is the lead in to the '06 elections. Can you imagine the panic in the WH if the Dems regain control of the House or Senate in '06....Dems in control of "over-sight" & investigative committees????
The Repubs are setting the ground work now, to push to john-jane Q-public voters in '06 that conservatives will keep you "safe" (daddy party) and libs won't. That's what this latest redmeat Rove tactics are all about, they know they can't control what Iraq will be like by the '06 election cycle....so they're laying their "Republicans are the party of strength, we kept you safe after 9-11" groundwork now...
Ira, Casey & others, you are correct..all hands on deck, its about '06 now.
Spotlighting Afghanistan again in light of the Porter Goss statement that he had a pretty good idea of where OBL is takes the spotlight off of the losses in Iraq, and attention away from the Rovian slimeball statement last night, and gives the sheeples false hope that they will be vindicated in believing Bu$hCo's lies for five years!
I just wrote to Durbin's office again, sent the links for the past two days about torture, descriptions of torture, what's going on in Gitmo. I repeated he had no need to apologize and ended the email in plain language:
"Please... never be afraid to speak truth to power. The neoCon Bu$hCo administration has had Democrats pulling back and afraid to speak up since he was appointed to his office by the Supreme Court in 2000, especially after 9/11. Democrats are sick and tired of watching Democratic Senators and Representatives pull back and be "too nice" in the face of disgusting personal attacks and ridicule by the neoCons. If it gets you face time or a mention on mainstream media TV, great! At least a few words of truth (however difficult to hear) will get to the American voters who so desperately need to know that our elected officials have the balls to stand up to Bu$hCo and his minions! We need to know you see the abuse of power by the Bu$hCo administration (whom we believe has this nation firmly in a state of corporate fascism already) as clearly as we do.
You may pass that message on to other Democratic Senators who have the courage to tell the American public the truth about the Bu$hCo administration."
OK, I know Durbin will never see the email, but maybe one of his aides will read it and the links about torture.....
I posted the following comments on another blog but they seem appropriate here as well:
It is getting to be more obvious that Bush and Rove worked this out not all that long ago. Demorcrats were characterized as "obstructionists" and now as unpatriotic weaklings. The Neocons are throwing the red meat everywhere and hoping that there will be enough savages remaining to eat it all up. WE HAVE TO STAY ON MESSAGE. They want us to respond to this and divert attention from all of their failures. Playing the "terra" card is the modus operandi for the right wing. This was predicted several months ago, and as the election season heats up for '06, we can expect more of this slime from the Rovians.
Furthermore: I believe it is time to hit them back harder than this last puppy punch from Rove.
For example, the Neocons are weaklings who are hurting this country. They have relied on military answers without any hint of a military success. Iraq is a mess. Afghanistan is practically in the same shape it was in before we evicted the Taliban. Our CIA knows where OBL is, but wont capture him-tell me what that is about? Our V.P tells us the insurgency is in its last throes and an Army General gives testimony today to Congress that totally contradicts the V.P. People are at greater risk of losing everything because of our economic policies are geared toward the hyper rich. The world respects China more than the U.S.A. And the list goes on. If this is success, I hate to image what failure would be.
Get ready for the Bush speech about the war, it will be a doozy.
A side note.
Does anyone think it just a little "odd" that every time the neocons are in trouble, new footage and/or tapes surface of bin Laden? This time, it was reported that there have very recently been "new sightings of bin Laden" during the airing of the Porter Goss intimation that Goss "had a pretty good idea of where he (bin Laden)is." At the same time, they also reported that bin Laden has been seen moving around alot, and that he is in "very good health".
Truth,
Wasn't that the same dude wanted 'dead or alive'? "We'll hunt him down; we'll go cave to cave and smoke him out..."
Gee...like everything else...it's a great big game of tough guy with nothing to support it. Sort of like the g.i. joe toy. Looks tough, but without the kids to move them around they just lay there like rocks.
B.T.W.,
NEW COMMERCIAL IN NORTH DAKOTA CAMPAIGNS FOR '06.
I believe Dobson already threatened a number of senators, and my two senators are Democrats in this red state - Conrad and Dorgan.
In case you are not enraged enough, guess what I just saw air here in my rural red plains state?
A commercial by the Republicans, saying the "liberal" Democrats will say no to ANY of George Bush's nominations, so to tell your Congressmen (yep, they are campaigning hard for '06 as we speak) that you want a plain up or down vote.
Someone very shrewd is at the Helm.
Posted by: Suz at June 23, 2005 09:46 PM
The guy who said that is trying to "smoke him out" today! Don't you know that? Ha.
That guy says whatever sounds good at the moment, but it is very subject to change. An example during the Kerry/Bush debate in '04: "The only qualification I have for an appointee to the judicial court system is that he "follow the law".
Gee, more than he can do.
He went against his own word on his criteria for court appointees. Recently, to play to the American Taliban, he said loud and clear that he will appoint quite conservative nominees. So, if he will do that, he will "stretch the truth" on anything, IMHO. And you know what, Suz? I no longer think he is just some poor sap that has had the wool pulled over his eyes. I think he knows exactly what political moves are being made, when he parrots what "they" tell him to say.
Nobody, I repeat, Nobody tells single mothers working three jobs with no health benefits for herself or her children that he thinks it is just fantastic that she is working three jobs, in the middle of a faux "town hall meeting", with a bussed in crowd of "admirers", rehearsed "citizens", and an entourage and an extended tour complete with winks and aw- shuckses.
The leader of our country cannot be trusted, IMHO.
I honestly don't know how he sleeps at night.
And you know what else? My gloves are coming off, too. If people can't see it for themselves by now, and they need someone to draw them a picture, I aim to please.
I feel like we are in a critical phase now. I expect them to crank the fear way up.
(Sorry guys, this is a rant.)
Get ready for the Bush speech about the war, it will be a doozy.
Posted by: oncall at June 23, 2005 09:37 PM
Well, I think we should play the drinking game when it airs, then.
Goodnight all.
Chuck in Houston with a TV now (no cable unitl tomorrow):
Just wanted to let everybody know that game seven in the NBA finals is really good and its halftime. This congressman quoted at the top of this thread ... [expletives deleted] ... I would really like to meet him in a bar with a few on us both and nobody else around. Just so we could talk plain. For example, when did we declare war, and if we did in some obscure manner, why? I support many Democrats. I support our troops so much that I would never favor putting them in physical and moral danger without a very good reason. After all, they are us. I shouldn't write emotional things like that but man, this is a great game seven!
Chuck in Houston, torn between Detroit and San Anton.
I dont whether this has bee posted,
http://www.bushsamerica.com/counting/
Kangaroo Brisbane Australia
It's tied at the end of three ... I love this game! I love this country!
Chuck in Houston
PS: I hope both teams show good sportsmanship after this is over....
Chuck,
Husband here going nuts over the game--high drama!!
Well, that was a great game and San Antonio should a lot of class down the stretch. So did Detroit, for that matter.
Chuck in Houston (Trailblazer fan to the end, however bitter)
Very good game. I am waiting for the Chicago Bulls to return to the glory days.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I PROUDLY PRESENT AN ISLAND OF SANITY IN THE MIDST OF THE MADNESS:
Barack Obama's commencement address at Knox College http://www.knox.edu/x9803.xml
...Like so much of the American story, once again, we face a choice. Once again, there are those who believe that there isn't much we can do about this as a nation. That the best idea is to give everyone one big refund on their government - divvy it up by individual portions, in the form of tax breaks, hand it out, and encourage everyone to use their share to go buy their own health care, their own retirement plan, their own child care, their own education, and so on.
In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society. But in our past there has been another term for it - Social Darwinism - every man or woman for him or herself. It's a tempting idea, because it doesn't require much thought or ingenuity. It allows us to say that those whose health care or tuition may rise faster than they can afford - tough luck. It allows us to say to the Maytag workers who have lost their job - life isn't fair. It let's us say to the child who was born into poverty - pull yourself up by your bootstraps. And it is especially tempting because each of us believes we will always be the winner in life's lottery, that we're the one who will be the next Donald Trump, or at least we won't be the chump who Donald Trump says: "You're fired!"
But there is a problem. It won't work. It ignores our history. It ignores the fact that it's been government research and investment that made the railways possible and the internet possible. It's been the creation of a massive middle class, through decent wages and benefits and public schools that allowed us all to prosper. Our economic dependence depended on individual initiative. It depended on a belief in the free market; but it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for each other, the idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we're all in it together and everybody's got a shot at opportunity. That's what's produced our unrivaled political stability.
And so if we do nothing in the face of globalization, more people will continue to lose their health care. Fewer kids will be able to afford the diploma you're about to receive.
More companies like United Airlines won't be able to provide pensions for their employees. And those Maytag workers will be joined in the unemployment line by any worker whose skills can be bought and sold on the global market.
So today I'm here to tell you what most of you already know. This is not us - the option that I just mentioned. Doing nothing. It's not how our story ends - not in this country. America is a land of big dreamers and big hopes.
It is this hope that has sustained us through revolution and civil war, depression and world war, a struggle for civil and social rights and the brink of nuclear crisis. And it is because our dreamers dreamed that we have emerged from each challenge more united, more prosperous, and more admired than before.
So let's dream. Instead of doing nothing or simply defending 20th century solutions, let's imagine together what we could do to give every American a fighting chance in the 21st Century.
What if we prepared every child in America with the education and skills they need to compete in the new economy? If we made sure that college was affordable for everyone who wanted to go? If we walked up to those Maytag workers and we said "Your old job is not coming back, but a new job will be there because we're going to seriously retrain you and there's life-long education that's waiting for you - the sorts of opportunities that Knox has created with the Strong Futures scholarship program.
What if no matter where you worked or how many times you switched jobs, you had health care and a pension that stayed with you always, so you all had the flexibility to move to a better job or start a new business? What if instead of cutting budgets for research and development and science, we fueled the genius and the innovation that will lead to the new jobs and new industries of the future?
Right now, all across America, there are amazing discoveries being made. If we supported these discoveries on a national level, if we committed ourselves to investing in these possibilities, just imagine what it could do for a town like Galesburg. Ten or twenty years down the road, that old Maytag plant could re-open its doors as an Ethanol refinery that turned corn into fuel. Down the street, a biotechnology research lab could open up on the cusp of discovering a cure for cancer. And across the way, a new auto company could be busy churning out electric cars. The new jobs created would be filled by American workers trained with new skills and a world-class education.
All of that is possible but none of it will come easy. Every one of us is going to have to work more, read more, train more, think more. We will have to slough off some bad habits - like driving gas guzzlers that weaken our economy and feed our enemies abroad. Our children will have to turn off the TV set once in a while and put away the video games and start hitting the books. We'll have to reform institutions, like our public schools, that were designed for an earlier time. Republicans will have to recognize our collective responsibilities, even as Democrats recognize that we have to do more than just defend old programs.
It won't be easy, but it can be done. It can be our future. We have the talent and the resources and brainpower. But now we need the political will. We need a national commitment.
And we need each of you...
Posted by: Karen at June 23, 2005 11:38 PM
I'm impressed that Dick could stay up that late. Good game, but I fell asleep.