July 2005 Archives

[Editors Note: This article appears as part of our ongoing Sunday series examining the intersection of religion and politics and its relationship to our present state of democracy, written exclusively for the DCP, by Matthew Carnicelli]

With Chapter Six of his Tao Te Ching, Lao Tse seeks to again remind his reader of the luminous power of the Tao. In this section, however, his focus is expressly on its feminine or “yin” dimension.

The Tao is called the Great Mother:
empty yet inexhaustible,
it gives birth to infinite worlds.

[The next installment from the intrepid Polly Sigh, our self-help columnist, in an ongoing series to politically heal the lumpen masses, strewn across the charred electoral landscape...]

This note was passed to me as I dined with a friend at a local Irish watering hole... it embodies the kind of angst that is afflicting Americans all over this land. As always, I feel their pain.
I would also like to note that due to an extraordinary exertion of universal forces, a great discomfort seems to have beset friends far and near. Naturally, I do my best to try to ease their burdens. I love them all.

There are two meta-media stories that deserve as much close scrutiny as possible. These two stories are an education in exactly how far the media has come to, and then gone completely over the edge of reason, past the brink of insanity, all while grabbing a big torch and setting fire to whatever rules of ethics and standards they had/have for their profession.

First, we have Senator Dr. Bill Frist dubiously, and as it turns out, incorrectly, practicing medicine by videotape in the Terri Schaivo case (and later lying about it).

Now we have Senator Not Doctor Rick Santorum making sociological and medical claims about birth control, women's health, societal health, and a host of other things he is not qualified, from his position of authority in the United States Senate, to make pronouncements about.

Let me be clear here-this has nothing to do with Rick Santorum "candidate for re-election". This has everything to do with the increasing role that some people are taking in using the instruments of government and power of public office to make decisions which, ultimately, seek to control and intrude upon the privacy of a person's physical body.

Yesterday I was invited to observe a gathering of progressive interns in the Capitol. Representatives Dennis Kucinich and Lynne Woolsey spoke to them, along with several representatives of progressive organizations:

Malia Lazu of Cities for Progress

Erika Smiley of Jobs with Justice

David Swanson of After Downing Street

Amy Isaacs of Americans for Democratic Action

The Reverand Lennox Yearwood of the HipHop Caucus

Rep. Kucinich got the meeting off to a passionate beginning by telling the interns that they are already having an impact on the future of democracy just by working inside the walls of Congress.

"It all seems pretty dark now," he said. "We are at war without reason. But we are called upon hold up the light of hope and human dignity and freedom."

"Don't get pulled into pessimism, or the sheer density of Washington. It is divisive here, but that is not how we sustain the world. The pageant of democracy begins when young people come into it and breathe new life into it."

"The country is alseep. The answer is in you."

As I looked around the room, eyes were wide open. SOmeone asked, "Are you going to run again?" He is not sure; he thinks he will at some point. But, he pointed out, the most important reason to run is to influence the debate; to make a difference; to wake people up.

Yesterday, only minutes after NASA' Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off its launch pad, returning the program to manned orbitor flight, NASA announced it was grounding the program indefinetly.

In shocking news, some of the foam insulation (the same problem which doomed the Shuttle Columbia upon re-entry), had once again, fallen off. Fortunately, it fell some forty seconds later than it had on the Shuttle Columbia, which meant that the Shuttle Discovery's critical orbitor wings, were not damaged.

To me, this is a sad moment. I have always loved the wild potential and thrilling sense of infinity that came along with sapce flight, and I remember the national sense of exceitement that President Kennedy generated with his bold promise of putting a man on the moon, over forty years ago now.

But this is also a proud moment. The first reaction of the scientists when they saw that the problems had recurred, was to acknowledge it, take responsibility for it, and make a decision for which they agreed to be held accountable.

In what has easily been one of her best posts to date, Arianna Huffington offers this fascinating picture of the now "Rove-Libby-Wilson-Powell-Gonzales-Ashcroft-Bolton-Rice-Hadley-Fleischer-Card-Comey-Cheney-Hughes-Plame" scandal.

Not everyone in the Times building is on the same page when it comes to Judy Miller. The official story the paper is sticking to is that Miller is a heroic martyr, sacrificing her freedom in the name of journalistic integrity.

As Speaker of the House of Representatives, you have a ton of power to decide what legislation moves where, and when and if it ever breathes its first breath of life, let alone lives to see even a committee vote.

As the Senate Majority Leader, you don't have quite the same range or immediacy of power on legislation that the Speaker does on the House side, but you have some, which is usually enough.

And those two facts are what make this story particularly disgusting.

It seems that Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist, has decided to use his power to move the National Rifle Association's pro-gun manufacturer's bill, S.397, to the head of the line. What is even more egregious, is that he had to stop the debate and work on the National Defense Bill to do it.

It's always a bad day for the truth when I sit down to read the morning papers with a cup of coffee, and after ten minutes begin wondering if it's too early to start drinking.

This morning, I am cheered to report, has been a good morning for the truth.

From the front page of the Washington Post, above the fold:

The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war, according to several officials familiar with the case.

Prosecutors have questioned former CIA director George J. Tenet and deputy director John E. McLaughlin, former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, State Department officials, and even a stranger who approached columnist Robert D. Novak on the street.

In doing so, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has asked not only about how CIA operative Valerie Plame's name was leaked but also how the administration went about shifting responsibility from the White House to the CIA for having included 16 words in the 2003 State of the Union address about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium from Africa, an assertion that was later disputed.

There's more, but you should go read at the site please, as we prefer not to reprint copyrighted material in its entirety.

Also, the best part is at the end, and gives a preview to where we are all going in the next few months on this story.

Have a nice morning.

When history is written of today, what will be said? Will it be said that the tragedy of 9/11 made our country stronger? That the fight against terrorism deepened our national character? Will it be written that 9/11 allowed the American people to reaffirm everything we stand for, everything we believe in?

Or will it be said that 9/11 was the justifying incident in a mad rush to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world? The birth of a desperate need to support a sound and fury that signifies nothing? The addition of newly blind eyes to our global face?

The answer depends on the difference between writing the truth, and writing a version of truth we’ve decided we can live with.

For now, the truth has been successfully marginalized. The truth, through highly effective daily publicity efforts, has been made into something subversive, radical and harmful to our national future. We’re not supposed to be interested in the truth – we are told every day that the fight we are engaged in is the right fight and that we’re winning. That’s all we need to know.

But unless you live in a cave in the remote Andes, this version is getting harder to swallow every day.

Every day, I hear people debate whether the Iraq war is helping or hurting our ‘war on terror.’ Personally, I’ve been doing the math, and cannot reasonably justify the opinion that Iraq is helping us in this fight. But the larger truth - that Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with September 11th – is never discussed. And it certainly is not discussed in the television media, which is where most Americans get their news.

We just can’t face it. It’s too much. Because more than anything, in the days following 9/11, we all needed to believe in our government. We needed to think that steps would be taken to protect us. We needed to think we would do the right thing. We needed to believe.

But as time passes, and the effect of our policies comes home to roost across the globe, I do not feel safer. The truth is, I feel less safe. And in reality, little has been done in our country to make us safer. Our ports, nuclear facilities, food supply and transportation systems are still shockingly vulnerable to attack.

And a big part of the reason is that we’re spending every nickel we’ve got – and many of our grandchildren’s nickels – on the war in Iraq. The war that was supposed to let us ‘fight them over there, so we wouldn’t have to fight them here.’

Well, we’re still going to have to fight them here. This reality is clearer with each passing day, each passing incident experienced by our allies. It reminds us that we will still have to fight them here. Unfortunately, our resources are not infinite, and the long and costly Iraq effort has seriously undermined our ability to protect ourselves at home.

But again, this is not a truth that has been openly discussed by leaders on the national stage. There are few members of Congress willing to address this in any real way, and the ones that do are quickly made to look like mad, partisan dogs barking at nothing.

Well, it’s not nothing. It’s the biggest not nothing in my lifetime.

When members of Congress start standing up and demanding answers on how current policies are benefiting the American people, then we will start to make progress in this fight. How are we safer? When will sufficient resources be available to make us safer at home? What is the timeline to address these issues?

But until that time, until the American people wake from their fear-induced slumber, we will continue to be the victims of this alternate reality.

Denial makes us vulnerable.

It’s time to wake up, America.

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-What's the matter with KS)is planning on using his Chairmanship of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to begin hearings to investigate the CIA, with regard to the Plame leak. Let me repeat, Pat Roberts (R-What's the matter with KS) will holding hearings on the CIA's role in the Plame investigation.

Meanwhile, Hoekstra's counterpart in the Senate, Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, intends to preside over hearings on the intelligence community's use of covert protections for CIA agents and others involved in secret activities.

The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence could hold hearings on the use of espionage cover soon after the U.S. Congress returns from its August recess, said Roberts spokeswoman Sarah Little.

Little said the Senate committee would also review the probe of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who has been investigating the Plame case for nearly two years.

This means that we can expect a thorough smearing of Special Prosecutor Pat Fitzgerald, which will be both interesting and tricky, since Fitzgerald is the star US Attorney and Republican appointee who sucessfully prosecuted the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center the first time around in 1993.

So, instead of holding hearings on the leak itself, Roberts will be holding hearings on the CIA use of covert agents and what a covert agent is, or some such nonsense. This is roughly the equivalent of holding hearings on the quality of paper upon which the Pentagon Papers were written, and then citing the poor quality of that paper to dismiss what was written on it.

How completely predictable was this move?

{UPDATE:07.22.2005, 19:00:05 EDT. If Pat Roberts, or anyone else for that matter, is interested in what the meaning of covert is, they might want to peruse the Intelligence section of the Defense Appropriation Act of 1991. It's the handy piece of law which sets forth a statutory definition of the term so we don't have to hold sham hearings on this matter as a cover for any administrations illegal activities. Still, I don't imagine the facts will get in the way of Senator Robert's apparent quest to obfuscate the true concenrs over the Plame leak, namely, the compromising of our nation's security in order to achieve the dubious political goal of silencing an administration critic and whistleblower.)

No matter how hard the majority party and the Bush administration has tried to prevent it, Saturday John Conyers and the Downing Street Minutes OFFICIALLY made it OUT of the basement and into the Law Auditorium at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where they were greeted by a packed room and the local press.

(This is a story from Saturday's events--I am putting it up now because A. It is fun, and B. We need some cheer and creative ideas as we battle along!)

Our old friends, the Billionaires for Bush were also at the Rockefeller Plaza event.

Dr. DeBooks tells me "someone has to do it." (referring to his name) He introduces me to young Al Lowance, a trust fund brat with brand new cufflinks.

I ask them about the Downing Street Minutes, and what effect they think they might have on future economic concerns. "We are thrilled," says the good Dr. "We wanted to look for any course to war. The DSM are an example of our minority rights. Someone needs to stand up for the need to go to war on any pretext, and to lie, steal, and cheat as needed."

Al adds, "We are very grateful to our fellow billionaires on the corporate board at NBC for protecting our rights by staying silent."

DeBooks points out "Look, we came off our yachts to show solidarity with the wealthy 1%. We are a minority too!"

Reporting live from Rockefeller Center--this is Karen. The job just doesn't get any better...

...or, when is a "member", NOT a "member"?

In their efforts to present Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts, Jr. as a tabula rasa, the Bush White House and the nominee have been forced to alter the meaning of the word "member".

In 2001, Roberts requested and got the Washington Post to issue a retraction stating that Roberts "is not and never has been a member of the Federalist Society, as previously reported in this column." (James V. Grimaldi was the reporter.)

Why was the Federalist Society such a hot potato? The organization just happens to be the legal arm of the network of radical conservative organizations that is dedicated to packing the federal courts with judges who bring a Scalia/Thomas-like view of the Constitution.

But Roberts has run into a little problem. In the Federalist Society's Lawyers Division Leadership Directory from 1997-1998, the Washington Post reports that Roberts is listed as a "member of the steering committee of the organization's Washington chapter..."

What to do, what to do. On Sunday, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said "Roberts has no recollection of being a member of The Federalist Society, or its steering committee."

One hopes that the Senate Judiciary Committee will make the country aware of the Federalist Society's attacks on the Constitution and given the prominence of this organization in the neocon legal and political circles within which John Roberts has thrived, one hopes that the committee will do its best to discover what else Roberts has conveniently forgotten.

Greetings!

I was unable to blog directly from the Labor Temple but kept my eyes and ears open and rushed home via the first bus possible, to upload my photos and get on-line! (I'll also be cross-posting at http://www.democracycellproject.net,
http://www.backbonecampaign.org & http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com)

I had always intended to read the Downing Street Memo in full but hadn't completed the task, so the skit - sponsored by the Backbone Campaign - was stunning in its overt plotting behind the backs of the British & American people. The readers wore the costumes and nametags of Jack Straw, Geoff Hoon and other British dignitaries/Neocons.

Tony Blair was played by a puppet that looked like something between a poodle and a lamb.

“As I go to a prison cell for a lifetime, I know that I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

These are the words Eric R. Rudolph, son of a former Catholic nun, and unrepentant American jihadist, upon being given two life sentences on July 18th for the murder of Robert Sanderson, an off-duty police officer. Rudolph pleaded guilty in April to the bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama abortion clinic, and three bombings in Atlanta, including that of a gay club and the 1996 Olympic Centennial Park incident.

In a statement that accompanied his plea-bargain in April – a deal that allowed Rudolph to escape the death penalty – he offered the following rationale for his faith-based activism.

“Because I believe that abortion is murder, I also believe that force is justified in an attempt to stop it. Because this government is committed to maintaining the policy of abortion, and protecting it, the agents of this government are the agents of mass murder, whether knowingly or unknowingly.“

The latest installment in our series to heal the politically lame… God knows they need it.

Dear Polly:

Sad Lady in Memphis

Dear SLIM:

Bob Fertik opens the event...

Liz Holtzman tells the truth...

Randi Rhodes rolls her eyes, listening to Liz...

Rep. Hinchey on fire...

Randi Rhodes honors Liz Holtzman...

smirkingchimp.com and BobGeiger.com enjoy Randi...

It is a beautiful day in New York City and the mood at Rockefeller Center is upbeat. Everyone seems to understand that this event is part of a long haul--a serious campaign to tell the truth about our government. Individuals with signs and fliers are speaking with tourists and the conversations are substantive.

I am in NYC. Last night, my friend Luis wore a t-shirt that read "We deserve the government we allow." We sat in Central Park and saw the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company move through memory, speaking and evoking truth and hope.

One small section was about the peroneus, a muscle along the side of the leg, and the use of the "peroneus strike", a method of torture. Bill T. made the connection between joyous moving in community and abuse of each other as humans quite clear.

What will we humans choose? Life and community? Or death and dissolution?

Today is the third anniversary of the Downing Street Minutes.

Today we can ALL help. There are events, live blogging, and disseminating information to the media and we can each do our part!

Over 350 events are planned!
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

If you are participating in an event, you are encouraged to do more than participate:

BE THE MEDIA!

If you would like a password that will allow you to post reports on the http://www.afterdowningstreet.org website, please send us your name, Email address, and which event you'll be attending or hosting.

Otherwise, simply Email reports as soon as you can tomorrow to david@davidswanson.org

Via Atrios:

Larry Johnson to give Democrats radio address tomorrow morning. Transcript:

"Good morning. I'm Larry Johnson, an American, a registered Republican, a former intelligence official at the CIA, and a friend of Valerie Plame.

I entered on duty at the CIA in September 1985 with Valerie. We were members of the Career Trainee Program. Senator Orin Hatch wrote the letter of recommendation for me which I believe that helped open the doors to me at the CIA.

From the first day we walked into the building, all members of my training class were undercover, including Valerie. In other words, we had to lie to our family and friends about where we worked. We could only tell those who had an absolute need to know where we worked. In my case, I told my wife.

From Steve Clemons at The Washington Note:

TWN has just learned from a highly placed source -- and in the right place to know -- that John Bolton was a regular source for Judith Miller's New York Times WMD and national security reports.

The source did not have any knowledge on whether Bolton was one of Miller's sources on the Valerie Plame story she was preparing, but argues that he was a regular source otherwise.

It's all "thickening."

And the White House still refuses to release the list of names Bolton requested be investigated while he was the Undersecretary of State in charge of terrorism, WMD, and among other things, yellowcake in Niger.

And the White House also refuses to withdraw Bolton's name from nomination. Why? And whose name is on the list that Bolton wanted investigated? Could it have been the name of a certain undercover CIA agent in charge of terrorism, WMD, and, among other things, yellowcake in Niger?

On behalf of a blogger who wishes to remain anonymous, but raised this idea weeks ago--we're just asking a few questions here.

In the meantime, as this story gets more complicated, it becomes increasingly obvious that none of the folks doing cable teevee-journalaminimalisming became journalismismists because the quantum physics classes were full. Not only are they giving new breadth of meaning to the word "ditzy", but they have now begun admitting it. The lead reporter on the story for MSNBC's Connected Coast-to-Coast, just said after quoting the Bloomberg story, and throwing the story back to anchor Ron Reagan, "Gee Ron, this story is sure getting complicated. I just don't know what to make of it."

*hitting head repeatedly against keyboard*

I'm sure I sound like an elitist here, but shouldn't a reporter have a more progessed sense of logic than the plot of a Pauly Shore movie?

Just askin'

In addition to the problems created by "The Downing Steet Minutes" memo, there is now another set of problems related to another secret memo and yet another basis for accusations that the Bush Administration either lied, or otherwise deliberately misled Americans in the run-up to the Iraq War.

The Downing Street Minutes refers to a memo written by an MI5 (British equivalent of the United States CIA) analyst about the Bush Administration's decision to wage war on Iraq, far in advance of when the administration claims such a decision was made.

This latest memo, from the CIA, provides key information about when, who and how CIA analyst Valerie Plame's name first surfaced in regard to the Bush Administration's dubious claims of Iraq's alleged attempt to buy uranium from Niger, and how the leaking of that information came to be part of a Grand Jury investigation involving top Bush Administration officials. The administration's claim about the Iraq-Niger-uranium-WMD nexus (later proved false), were at the time, a key plank in building the case for war against Iraq, so much so, that the assertion became part of President Bush's State of the Union Speech in January 2003, two month's prior to the US invasion of Iraq.

Okay, it's both the treason and the lying. Think Progress has the story up from Bloomberg about Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald and his investigation of White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Rove, and Vice-President Cheney's Chief of Staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, for, among other things, perjury charges.

Rove, Libby Accounts in CIA Case Differ With Those of Reporters

By Richard Keil

July 22 (Bloomberg) — Two top White House aides have given accounts to the special prosecutor about how reporters told them the identity of a CIA agent that are at odds with what the reporters have said, according to persons familiar with the case.

Prince Bandar, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States, and quite possibly the man who knows where most, if not all, of the bodies are buried on US foreign policy, is quitting his post after 22 years. The question is, why now?

From the Washington Post:

Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the dean of Washington's diplomatic corps and confidant of presidents both Republican and Democratic over the past 22 years, has resigned and will be replaced by the former head of Saudi Arabia's intelligence service.

Interestingly, there is no mention whatsoever in this article by the Washington Post, of the allegation made by the Post's own managing editor, Bob Woodward, in his book, Bush at War, of Prince Bandar's role in the days leading up to the Iraq War.

So why is Prince Bandar quitting now? Please don't tell me it's to spend more time with his family. We know who his family is, and it ain't Ward and June Cleaver and company. And it's not that as the questioning around Rove and the DSM heats up, someone eventually somewhere might start wanting to ask Bandar a few questions or anything. It's just that the timing seems questionable and it would be nice if someone in the Press Corps would at least ask the question.

The spin has started on the Rove/Cheney "Treason-gate" with the media proclaiming that "Liberals are salivating at the news that Rove and Cheney were involved in leaking Valerie Plame's identity to the press."

How may I ask you is this a "Liberal" partisan attack? Do liberals care more about National Security, our safety, our childrens' lives than Neocons do? What is the responsibility of our Representatives--whether they are Republican or Democrat?

One of our principal goals at the Democracy Cell Project is to gain a better understanding of the forces that determine the political world we are living in, with the Republicans dominating the legislative and executive branches.

In the current issue of New York, writer Ryan Lizza gives us what amounts to a great political organizing primer on of how one man, banker and former PR specialist, Mallory Factor, has raised tens of millions of dollars for the Republican Party from businesspeople who are social libertarians but who are indifferent to being in bed with the fanatics of the religious right as long as their candidates keep business' agenda moving forward in the Congress.

Not that we didn’t know it was coming… the media have begun to ask actual questions during the press briefings, polling is showing that a large majority of Americans think Rove should be fired if he was involved in the leak, and the President is back-peddling madly from his earlier tough talk on the leak situation.

Look over here, everybody! I’ve got big news! Way bigger than that silly CIA agent story… I’m going to nominate a Judge to the Supreme Court!

Well, you know what? It doesn’t matter. Not at all. The President will nominate a substantially right-of-mainstream judge, there will be a fight about it in Congress, Republicans will demand that no questions be asked of this lifetime appointee, and the White House will exert so much pressure on the rubber-stamp leadership that they will be falling over themselves to confirm the nominee. There are no questions here. Nothing to see. It’s a done deal.

And as part of the “stop talking about the White House leak” program, I’m going to go out on a limb and speculate that the Supreme Court nomination process will be quite lengthy, quite complex, quite Byzantine in feature... all this to keep the media, once so thoroughly terrified and gagged by this administration, from continuing to exhibit signs of life.

Will the press go chasing after the pork chop dangling from the stick, or will they keep asking the questions that need to be asked? The question is not whether Karl Rove has met a standard that will result in conviction. The question is whether the Bush Administration and the Republican Party can keep a straight face while clutching the national security mantle and looking the other way on a wartime intelligence leak from inside their own White House.

Moments ago, they were taking callers on Public Radio, in response to the question, “Do people in your neighborhood care about the Karl Rove CIA leak?” I tried to call in, but by the time I got through, the girl on the other end of the line said they had already received enough calls from people who care about the leak – they were hoping to get some calls from people who didn’t care.

Ken Mehlman… please come to the White Courtesy Phone… Ken Mehlman…

And by the by... here are some real numbers on how many Americans 'care' about the leak. Courtesy of Think Progress:

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/07/19/call-to-conservatives-wake-up-and-smell-the-polls/

Being a college student during the Watergate hearings was an exhilarating time for me--a young radical in her early undergraduate years at San Francisco State University, worried about the draft, about the war--SF State was a place of great political unrest during the late sixties and early 70s during the Vietnam War.

Deeply imbedded in my generation's psyche is the ghost of the historical events of 1972-74, the Watergate Hotel break-in, the special prosecutor, the Watergate hearings and the bringing down of a Presidential administration. It goes without saying that the events of the past two weeks have made me reflect more deeply on this prescient article, written by Eric Francis, on the history and meaning of Watergate in this country's history and how it impacts us today.

I posted his piece on the DCP forum mid June. The full text of the article can be found in the DCP forum.Scroll up when you hit this page to get to Eric's article.

Every so often, it's useful to remind ourselves how the business of our so-called democracy is actually conducted. Let's take the recent bid by the Chinese energy company CNOOC for the US-based Unocal company.

CNOOC's bid was 2 billion dollars higher than an earlier bid from the US-based Chevron company. Now, Chevron COULD have sweetened its bid, but that would have cost 2 billion dollars or more. Why not pay a few million to Washington's corps of lobbyists and win on the cheap?

The Washington Post reported on Saturday on the new members of Chevron's lobbying team.

*Wayne Berman: A top Bush fundraiser (whose wife, BTW, is the White House Social Secretary)

*Drew Maloney: former legislative director for House Majority leader Tom DeLay

*former Clinton Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor

*David Marchick: A Clinton senior trade official who also specializes in national security reviews by the high-level Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

No one knows, right now, who this gaggle of lobbyists has been button-holing. And fanning anti-Chinese sentiment is not difficult these days. But let's just look at all of the pro-Chevron efforts that Members of Congress have made since CNOOC announced its bid in late June:

*letters from Senate and House members protesting CNOOC's efforts

*a House Resolution demanding a national security review

*letters condemning CNOOC's lobbying efforts

*a hearing by the House Armed Services Committee warning of China's intentions

And, on Tuesday the House Energy and Commerce Committee will be holding a hearing on "China's bid for US energy assets."

We are all too familiar with the incessant bleatings from advocates of unregulated "free markets", but when there is some real money on the table, it doesn't take long for the call to the K Street market- fixers.

Navy Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt has a complaint. As noted in Laurie Goodstein’s July 12, 2005 New York Times story, Evangelicals Are a Growing Force in the Military Chaplain Corps, Klingenschmitt is one of fifty chaplains from Evangelical churches who have filed a class action suit against the United States Navy. This suit charges that these chaplains were unfairly dismissed from the Navy or denied promotion.

Klingenschmitt, a minister in the Evangelical Episcopal Church, first drew the ire of his Commanding officer during a memorial service for a fallen Catholic sailor. In his sermon, he warned everyone who had yet to accept Jesus as his or her savior that “God's wrath remains upon him". The chaplain was subsequently advised that his pastoral style was insufficiently inclusive, and after several such incidents, it was recommended that he not be retained.

Klingenschmitt has another view. As he argues in Goodstein’s story:

"The Navy wants to impose its religion on me. Religious pluralism is a religion. It's a theology all by itself."

The latest in our series to heal the politically lame...

In lieu of a reader letter this week, I will be sharing information about the new Polly Sigh Spa-Retreat. It's called "Camp Neocon," and will feature everything a rightwing extremist could dream of...

In a sort of homage to the charming "Camp Gitmo" described in such detail on the Rush Limbaugh website, we've created our own special haven for angry neocons and right wing fanatics.

Nestled in an undisclosed barren desert location, Camp Neocon combines the rigid ideology of James Dobson with the oily hypocrisy of Senator Norm Coleman and the devil-may-care splendor of U.S. military detention facilities.

Upon check-in, guests receive a specially designed welcome package that includes a leather-bound Bible, a copy of the U.S. Constitution with flame thrower, and our patented "Fraternity Prank Personal Intimidation Kit." The kit contains a polaroid camera, various dog training equipment, and a dozen AAA batteries with cable.

After the free shuttle service to our spacious guest accomodations, visitors are summoned to the opening gala - a lavish culturally sensitive repast of endangered species, followed by a visit with a leading right wing member of Congress, who will personally autograph a copy of our handbook, "America in the World: Why the Rules Don't Apply to Us."

And then the fun really begins for our guests...

Busloads of liberal elitists are brought in to Camp Neocon, solely to engage in fraternity pranks on our neocon guests. Fraternity pranks can include a variety of tactics, all completely harmless and rarely resulting in severe injury or death. These games are merely intended to elicit important information about Neocon plans for taking over the government. But it's all in good fun at Camp Neocon!

The highlight of the evening is the rollicking 'Bible Flush and Light Show.' This usually results in an emotional breakdown for some guests, and counselors are available onsite to address their psychological needs.

When our exhausted and contented guests are shuffled back to their cabins, the fun doesn't end... Round the clock staff turn the lights on periodically throughout the night, resulting in severe sleep deprivation and anxiety. Liberal elitists are brought in to watch the confused and nervous guests through a specially designed mirror.

When morning finally comes, visitors are awakened by a continuous tape of barking dogs, and another day at Camp Neocon dawns bright and sunny.

So... sign up today, and give the special Neocon in your life a gift they'll always remember. Mention that Polly Sigh sent you, and you'll receive a 10% discount.

And remember our slogan!

"Camp Neocon: Let us remove your personal barriers."

See you next week.

Your friend,
Polly

You have to be a profoundly angry, knee-jerk kind of partisan to convince yourself that Karl Rove’s treasonous outing of an undercover CIA agent is okay. Or as a Fox News correspondent put it, “Karl Rove should be given a medal” for outing Valerie Plame. Interesting.

That’s what passes for patriotism these days – awarding medals to White House staff who expose American undercover agents, and wearing purple bandaids to mock a recipient of the military’s Purple Heart, who is running against your candidate. Remember the smug Republican convention insult to every American that ever served? The little purple bandaids they all wore? That one reeked of Karl.

And I suppose we’ve come to that... It’s been an eventful trip into the wasteland that is now the political landscape, and one of the key figures behind the downhill plunge is Mr. Rove.

But George Bush, the self-described ‘War President,’ is suddenly not so tough on Rove's involvment in the leak issue, hoping the country will forget earlier assurances of firing the leaker. Punishment was apparently predicated on whether or not you are a friend of the President. Loyalty to George Bush outranks loyalty to the country, whether we’re at war or not. This is the President who has proclaimed his dedication to national security.

The Prayer of the Activist

May God and Goddess bless you with discomfort,
At easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God and Goddess bless you with anger,
At injustice, oppression and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God and Goddess bless you with tears,
To shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain to joy.

And may God and Goddess bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in this world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

More evidence mounts up that proves this President and his administration's use of political leaking has threatened our safety. While the discussion this week has focused on Rove's leaking of Valerie Plame's identity, proof mounts that 50 people in London were killed thanks to Bush and Rove's leaking of another spy Muhammad Kahn just after the Democratic National Convention.

Mr. Rove, President Bush, Dick Cheney, and other neocons appear to play by the theory, "Win at all costs..." but it's too bad our lives are the costs they're willing to risk for their own political gains.

Politics is politics; but if this is proven to be true, is this an act of treason?

"People are angry", MoveOn's Tom Matzzie told a reporter, as we walked up to the White House today. A larger crowd than expected had taken time off work and made a point of stopping by the brief, but spirited demonstration that was taking place.

We chanted and marched and agreed with each other that Karl Rove needs a pink slip. One showed up:

The terrorist bombings in London blew the stories coming out of the G-8 meeting in Scotland off the front pages. Seven of the eight countries had agreed that taking a tough position on global warming would be one of the most important accomplishments of this summit.

But George Bush, clinging to his pathetic claim that dealing with global warming would "wreck" the American econmony, WRECKED any chance of a meaningful communique from this summit on global warming.

G8 SUMMIT AGREES MORE TALK, NO ACTION

Gleneagles, Scotland ­ Friday 8th July, 2005 -- The final statement on climate change, issued at the Group of Eight Summit this afternoon, shows that leaders are still divided and have made no real progress in the fight against climate change.

Friends of the Earth International said that the very small steps made on debt relief and aid for Africa will be further undermined by the failure to address climate change. The environmental campaign group blamed the US administration for the lack of progress, saying the document offered nothing new, with no commitment to firm action agreed.

The group also queried the role of a separate dialogue process outside of the Kyoto Protocol and the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Convention, but said this would be valuable if it aided agreement at UN climate talks in Montreal in December.

Friends of the Earth International Vice Chair Tony Juniper said:

"This is a very disappointing finale. The G8 have delivered nothing new here and the text conveys no sense of the scale or urgency of the challenge. Bush appears to have effectively stalled all progress. The action plan, without any targets or timetables, will deliver very little to reduce emissions, or to roll out renewables to the scale required."

Read more here:

http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/press/pr20050709.html

Action plans and communiques: http://www.g8.gov.uk

Bush's minions have been effective in stalling any progress towards addressing climate change in any meaningful way. But they did not limit themselves to lip service only on climate change issues; oh no.

Let's discuss poverty as well:

Greetings from Bizarro World, where reality-based thinking is taking the world's longest coffee break.

In this week's offering from the Land Where Up Is Down, we stumble upon the talking points from Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, in which Mehlman appears to be advocating a bold and radical image makeover for embattled, White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Bush Political Advisor, Karl Rove:

"It's disappointing that once again, so many Democrat leaders are taking their political cues from the far-left, Moveon wing of the party. The bottom line is Karl Rove was discouraging a reporter from writing a false story based on a false premise and the Democrats are engaging in blatant partisan political attacks." -RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman

I see...Karl Rove as victim. Wow, who knew Ken Mehlman was so damn funny? Ken, stop it, you're killing me, man!

[Editor's Note: This moving post came in to Sunday's DCP forum "Soapbox" from Feeling Fabulous, to whom we give high marks for being, in this day and age of "culture wars", at a still point that brings everything into balance.]

When I hang my US flag, I do feel a little bit more fabulous.

My flag is forty-five square feet. I drape it over the front door of my home whenever I feel like it.

I feel like it often these days. I use it to remind myself that I am proud of what mom and pop stood for. I am proud of what the flag they fought for, stood for. I am fifty-two years old and I am fighting for that flag today. This is our day and time. Fighting is not easy. It is not hard, just different. And, I’ll bet you have seen this kind of flag before.

The President gave me this one. Actually, the Naval Commander at Annapolis presented it to me. He presented it on behalf of the Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy and the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of Defense and the President, George W. Bush, who were all sorry on the occasion of the passing of my father, USNA ’43.

The frontpage headline from the Washington Post on July 6, 2005, was about the advice and consent procedure for the President's nominee to the Supreme Court:

Are a Nominee's Views Fair Game?

Well, my view on that is not only a resounding, "Yes", but more like a "Hell, yes".

The fact that this is even a question for consideration is baffling to me. Of course a nominee's views are fair game. Why wouldn't a nominee's views be "fair game"?

Where did people get the idea in the first place that a nominee's views are off limits?

I think I may know the answer to that question. From Karl Rove, or more specifically, from Mr. Rove's lectures to the media on this subject.

WHITE HOUSE REGULAR NEWS BRIEFING
JULY 11, 2005
SPEAKER: SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY

QUESTION: Does the president stand by his pledge to fire anyone involved in a leak of the name of a CIA operative?

MCCLELLAN: I appreciate your question. I think your question is being asked related to some reports that are in reference to an ongoing criminal investigation. The criminal investigation that you reference is something that continues at this point. And as I’ve previously stated, while that investigation is ongoing, the White House is not going to comment on it. The president directed the White House to cooperate fully with the investigation. And as part of cooperating fully with the investigation, we made a decision that we weren’t going to comment on it while it is ongoing.

QUESTION: I actually wasn’t talking about any investigation. But in June of 2004, the president said that he would fire anybody who was involved in this leak to the press about information. I just wanted to know: Is that still his position?

MCCLELLAN: Yes, but this question is coming up in the context of this ongoing investigation, and that’s why I said that our policy continues to be that we’re not going to get into commenting on an ongoing criminal investigation from this podium. The prosecutors overseeing the investigation had expressed a preference to us that one way to help the investigation is not to be commenting on it from this podium. And so that’s why we are not going to get into commenting on it while it is an ongoing investigation — or questions related to it.

It's hard to believe anything Veterans Affairs Secretary, Jim Nicholson, says, such as this quote in today's WaPo:

"Our number one priority is returning service members from the combat theater . . . and to provide world-class health care to veterans, as well as benefits," Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said after a tour late last week of the 127-acre Waco campus, whose neighbors to the west include the huge Army base of Fort Hood, with 41,000 soldiers, and President Bush's ranch in Crawford.

"The increase in demand for our services from what we projected is up 126 percent," he said. "We have to obviously be prepared to ramp up."

As I said, it's hard to believe, when in the very next paragraph, we read this:

The Waco hospital, with its well-kept pre-World War II red-brick, red-roof-tiled buildings, has provided health care for veterans in central Texas for 73 years. Now it is on the chopping block, scheduled along with 17 other VA hospitals to be closed or downsized as part of an agency plan to restructure the health care system. A 1999 government study found the VA was spending $1 million a day on buildings it did not need, and in 2003 a government commission recommended closing older, underused hospitals, including the one in Waco. The Waco facility is part of the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, which also includes a hospital in Temple and outpatient clinics in Austin and five other communities.

It might be more accurate to call Waco a "heretofore" underused hospital, since it seems to be getting plenty of use now and for the foreseeable future as well.

And here's a question to think about: If the VA Hospitals begin to close, where will the troops turn to for medical care? At hospitals such as those owned by the Frist family? If so, shouldn't Senator Frist have recused himself from any action or comment on this issue?

Author’s note: I originally offered a version of this column in response to the events of September 11th, at Human Potential Left. In the aftermath of the London bombings, and the troubling religious rhetoric of the 2004 Presidential Campaign, its themes strike me as being as pertinent today as it was back then.

Humanity has yet to arrive at a collective conception of God. Each and every day, from Rome, to Calcutta, to Kyoto, to Mecca, to Manhattan, to Missoula, men and women offer praise to radically different conceptions of a Creator. This astonishing divergence of approach is both a testament to the richness of the human experience and the cause of extraordinary confusion. This confusion has a price.

For instance, the men responsible for the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon actually believed that the murder of innocent civilians in the name of Allah would result in their immediate installation in Paradise. While the clerics who endorse this deliberate misrepresentation of Islamic theology must bear the brunt of responsibility for the carnage that was the result of this teaching, they are not alone in the practice of "spinning" a conception of God to inspire dubious or crudely nationalistic action.

When Jerry Falwell inserted foot-in-mouth on the September 14, 2001 broadcast of the 700 Club, he was betraying a consciousness not far removed from that of hate-filled, terror-inspiring clerics.

God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.

Today’s installment in our series to heal the politically lame features this note from a deeply troubled reader... Naturally, I feel her pain.

Dear Polly:

Sincerely,
Depressed Over America

Dear DOA:

I understand your feelings completely. Even I, keeper of the white light and possessed of tremendous spiritual strength, can fall prey to the occasional feelings of hopelessness.

But alas, we cannot dwell in such a negative place. As patriots, we must do whatever it takes to heal ourselves, and commit anew to the struggles that lie ahead. And there will be struggles, to be sure.

My advice to you, DOA, is to take the day off. Yes, the whole day. Lock the children in their cages if you must, but find a way to regain your spiritual center. Hear some music, take a long walk, work in the garden, become wildly intoxicated – whatever it takes to release the negativity that weighs you down. Then return to the fray with all your newly found energy. It works. Trust me.

You know, when I was a child growing up in Andersonia, we had one dentist in our town. Everyone went to him. His office was upstairs of the bank and across the street from the newsstand. He was unique among dentists in that he did not believe in the use of novacaine during dental work. He gave this advice just before turning on the drill:

“Look out the window at that flag across the street, and remember all the people that gave their lives for you, and how lucky you are to be an American. Just keep looking at the flag, you’ll be fine.”

Well, I took him at his word, as children are wont to do. I looked at the flag as he drilled into my teeth. And the amazing thing looking back on it, is that I don’t remember feeling any pain.

Such is the power of the heart and the mind.

We must always work to create that flag in our minds eye every day. When we are tired, and don’t think we can go on, we pause, but we always return. We bend, but never break. We take a breath, but we never stop.

This is the work of a patriot. So, my advice to you today is the same as that given to me by my dentist those many years ago...

Just keep looking at the flag, you’ll be fine.

And don’t forget Rock Hudson and Doris Day.

I’ll be here if you need me.

Your friend,
Polly

The NY Times:

Leading Cardinal Redefines Church's View on Evolution By CORNELIA DEAN and LAURIE GOODSTEIN Published: July 9, 2005

An influential cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, which has long been regarded as an ally of the theory of evolution, is now suggesting that belief in evolution as accepted by science today may be incompatible with Catholic faith.

The cardinal, Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, a theologian who is close to Pope Benedict XVI, staked out his position in an Op-Ed article in The New York Times on Thursday, writing, "Evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense - an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection - is not."

Our friends at AfterDowningStreet.org are hoping for a large turnout on July 23, as well as more events:

Forty Events on July 23rd

Mourn the Losses, Learn the Truth, and Investigate the Lies

There are currently 40 events planned around the country for Saturday, July 23, the three-year anniversary of the famous meeting on Downing Street. It's definitely not too late to make it 41. Early next week we'll announce these events to the media.

Sign Up to Attend an Event

Sign Up to Host an Event

Get Resources for Your Event

Dramatic Readings of the Downing Street Minutes
These minutes make a nice one-act play, and performing it helps people understand what went on at the meeting.

Here's a straight version.

Here it is with humor added.

Information on a DVD of the Downing Street Minutes.

TakeBackTheMedia.com has a 5-hour 2-DVD set containing the complete hearings and rally in Washington, D.C., on June 16, 2005. This includes every bit of the hearings and the rally, plus Congressman Conyers' delivery of a
letter and 560,000 signatures to the White House, plus interviews of some leaders of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition. http://web.takebackthemedia.com

News from Downing Street
Cindy Sheehan, on the Mike Malloy Show, talks about her meeting with Bush http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/685

Joseph Wilson on Bush Crowd: "A Real Threat to Our Republic"

I read with disgust this morning this article in WaPo:

Lobbyist to Campaign For Bush Court Nominee
Gillespie Choice Marks Bid to Use GOP Muscle
By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 8, 2005; Page A04

Ed Gillespie, who will help promote President Bush's future nominee to a vacancy on the Supreme Court, is a top-tier lobbyist who represents a host of clients with direct and indirect interests in the outcome of Supreme Court decisions.

Bush is expected to formally announce soon his designation of Gillespie, 43, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, to work with former senator Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.) to shepherd Bush's choice to succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor through the Senate. Thompson, a television actor, will deal privately with senators and provide advice to the nominee on preparing for Judiciary Committee hearings, while Gillespie will help develop Bush's nomination message.

What's wrong with hiring Ed Gillespie?

Plenty. Ed Gillespie is yet another of the revolving door Washington lobbyist who represents the interests of a number of companies, very few of which have interests that coincide with yours and mine.

On any other day, this would likely be the lead story. From the BBC:

Egypt has confirmed its ambassador to Iraq has been killed, five days after he was kidnapped in Baghdad.

An internet message purportedly from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's militant group was released on Thursday, claiming Ihab al-Sherif had been killed.

A video on the website showed a blindfolded man who identified himself as Mr Sherif saying he had worked at Egyptian embassies in Iraq and Israel.

...

Mr Sherif was abducted in Baghdad on Saturday. ID cards bearing his name appeared on a website on Wednesday.

A statement also released on Wednesday in the name of al-Qaeda in Iraq said Mr Sherif would be killed because he was an "apostate", who had betrayed his faith.

...

"The reason we delayed the announcement of capturing the ambassador of the dictator Egypt was to be able to capture as many ambassadors as we can," it said.

When the shock wears off, and the political ramifications set in, I think the President will need to answer some hard questions about his "flypaper strategy" and we're fighting them in Iraq, so we don't have to fight them over here" strategy.

Sadly, I don't expect to hear any real answers, just more empty rhetoric.

UPDATE: 14:10:25 EDT, Casualties have been updated to 39 confirmed dead, over 700 injured, not including those from the Tavistock bus bombing. [Editor's note: If you can avoid coverage on CNN or MSNBC, I would advise you to do so. CNN International has good coverage, as does the BBC2 and other international non-US based news outlets, which seem unable to keep themselves from either speculation or editorializing (I expect to hear them say any minute that we should "go shopping or the terrorists have won." That is not such a leap, since Miles O'Brien just said, in answer to Soledad O'Brien's speculative comments on "what the terrorists want", "I suppose we could all become victims if we let ourselves".) Again, avoid CNN, etc.]

UPDATE: 13:15:25 EDT, Blogger DiAnne posted this blogsite for minute-by-minute details of events in London as they unfold.

UPDATE: 13:01:25 EDT, British Authorities have reopened streets to through traffic in the area around London's financial district, and expect to reopen transportation in time for the opening of tomorrow's London Fianancial Market.

The United Nations Security Council met in an emergency session. It has passed a resolution condemning the atrocities committed in London this morning, expresses its solidarity with the people of Great Britain, and renews its resolve to tackle the worldwide problem of terrorism.

[Editor's Note: It is difficult to know exactly what the United Nations means when it says that it is renewing its resolve to tackle the worldwide problem of terrorism, as the United Nations has yet to define the word, "terrorism".]

UPDATE: 12:19:25 EDT, DoHS Press Conference Secretary Chertoff confirmed earlier reports that the threat level for all public transportation systems across the United States has been raised to Level Orange. He counseled Americans to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity at or near these places to local authorities. He declined to define what he means by suspicious activity.

UPDATE: 11:49:25 EDT Awaiting news conference from Homeland Security to begin shortly. In the meantime, this Kossack Gerry In London, has a diary from this morning here.

UPDATE: 10:36:25 EDT National Threat Level for mass transit systems will be raised to orange within the next half-hour, though the Department of Homeland Security has received no evidence or credible threat of any attack.

The Secretary of Homelad Security, Michael Chertoff, asks that all Americans be vigilant. Exactly what we are supposed to be vigilant for, has yet to be announced.

UPDATE: 10:36:25 EDT

From the London Police News Conference:

At 08:47:00EDT this morning there was a confirmed explosion 100 yards into the Liverpool station resulting in 7 confirmed fatalities. Shortly thereafter, in the Kings Cross Russell Square 21 confirmed fatalities. There was an also explosion in the Edgemore Station, blasting through a wall and into a train on the other side, as well as a train at the platform in the station, involving a total of three trains, with five fatalities in that incident. Shortly thereafter, there was an explosion in Upper Roveson (sp?) Square (Tavistock) involving a double decker bus, resulting in undetermined fatalities.

There were a total of four devices in today's incidents. There were no warnings to polices services about the attacks and they have received no call of responsibility for the attacks. These attacks were clearly designed to kill innocent members of the public.

Bus services are expected to come back online this afternoon. All underground services will be closed until tomorrow. All stations that were attacked, as well as Victoria station will be closed as they are the sites of criminal investigations.

Londoners have been advised to think carefully about their journey home, and to please be mindful of thing such as traffic, et cetera.

Russell Smith, director of Emergency Services for London, report 45 seriously or critically injured, and 300 people with minor injuries. He requests that no one call 999 (911 for Great Britain) unless there is a life threatening emergency, until further notice.

-----------

London was rocked this morning by a series of explosions across its trasportation systems. A number of underground commuter trains and double-decker buses were the subject of simultaneous bomb blasts. At least three people have been killed and dozens injured. Those numbers will likely rise as the true extent of the damage is assessed.

Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims, their families and all victims of terror at this time.

More information is available here.

A New York judge has ordered New York Times reporter Judith Miller jailed on charges of contempt of court for refusing to reveal the name of her source for information she received about the leaking of classified information in the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame.

The other reporter charged in the same case, Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, was given permission by his source reveal his (sic) name and testified before the Grand Jury investigating the Plame matter this afternoon. The judge dismissed charges against Cooper earlier this afternoon.

Thoughts?

I am deeply troubled by the article in today's New York Times about the American Psychological Association's failure to categorically distance the organization and its members from ANY participation in the interrogation of prisoners (at Guantanamo or elsewhere) that might be construed as torture.

The Times reports on a new report from the APA which the organization issued in response to earlier reports about the possible participation of psychologists in U.S. interrogations of alleged terrorists.

This story makes my heart ache. To my way of thinking, the American Psychological Association and its members are supposed to support the mental and physical well-being of their clients. They ought to be the ultimate "Human Rights supporters" since they have an intimate knowledge of peoples' psyches or souls.

[Editor's Note: This letter was originally published in the Toronto Globe and Mail, March 28, 2003. With the G8 Summit this week in Scotland, it is interesting to take a look at what other countries think about America.]

Dear America: This is a difficult letter to write, because I'm no longer sure who you are.

Some of you may be having the same trouble. I thought I knew you: We'd become well acquainted over the past 55 years. You were the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comic books I read in the late 1940s. You were the radio shows -- Jack Benny, Our Miss Brooks. You were the music I sang and danced to: the Andrews Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald, the Platters, Elvis. You were a ton of fun.

You wrote some of my favourite books. You created Huckleberry Finn, and Hawkeye, and Beth and Jo in Little Women, courageous in their different ways. Later, you were my beloved Thoreau, father of environmentalism, witness to individual conscience; and Walt Whitman, singer of the great Republic; and Emily Dickinson, keeper of the private soul. You were Hammett and Chandler, heroic walkers of mean streets; even later, you were the amazing trio, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner, who traced the dark labyrinths of your hidden heart. You were Sinclair Lewis and Arthur Miller, who, with their own American idealism, went after the sham in you, because they thought you could do better.

It's hard to imagine larceny on this scale, but here you have it.

The London Review of Books did a compilation review of six books that detail the cost of the war in Iraq, entitled, "Where Has All The Money Gone". Right up front and in the first sentence we find out that $1.5 billion in shrink-wrapped packets of $100 bills was stuffed into 3 Blackhawk helicopters, and handed over to a contract courier.

The review continues with more startling revelations (with a big giant hat tip to Draco):

Paul Bremer, the American pro-consul in Baghdad until June last year, kept a slush fund of nearly $600 million cash for which there is no paperwork: $200 million of this was kept in a room in one of Saddam’s former palaces, and the US soldier in charge used to keep the key to the room in his backpack, which he left on his desk when he popped out for lunch.

Then there's the overbilling corruption, with Halliburton predictably in the starring role:

The GAO report of July 2004 found that in the first nine months of the occupation, KBR was allowed a free hand in Iraq: a free hand, for example, to bill the Pentagon without worrying about spending limits or management oversight or paperwork. Millions of dollars’ worth of new equipment disappeared. KBR charged $73 million for motor caravans to house the 101st Airborne Division, twice as much as the army said it would cost to build barracks itself; KBR charged $88 million for three million meals for US troops that were never served. The GAO calculated that the army could have saved $31 million a year simply by doing business with the caterers directly.

War profiteering. There is simply no other phrase for it. It's despicable.