October 2005 Archives

[Editor's note: We are leaving Karen's piece up for a bit longer than we normally would have a post on top. We feel it's critical to explore and deserves more exposure. Thank you. ]

Amy posts on the previous thread:

I show up for almost everything, but I've been very disappointed in a lot of the progressives that I know in my area. They blog, they know about things, but they don't show up.

Posted by: Amy at October 31, 2005 07:59 PM

I had been thinking about the same issue tonight, as I stood in front of the White House, listening to the World Can't Wait people talking about torture, Alito, and the Bush administration. This is the beginning of the third week; I have not been there every day, but most days. Travis, Lee, Tracie, Marylou, Don and others have withstood icy rain, hecklers, Park police and tourists's questions day after day.

Tonight a woman came along and watched for a while. She asked, "But aren't you afraid to protest in front of the White House?"

"A little fear is fine," said one of tonight's speakers. "But overall, there is a lot more dissent these days, and it is important to organize so that you are not alone."

Lee shared a story from earlier today that showed how frightening this whole process can be. They took the sign that said "2 Days Until the Beginning of the End of the Bush Regime" and went over to the Supreme Court because they figured the media would be there.

Not many in the media were left, but there was a group of radical right-wingers there. They had a group of children with them. The young children were on their knees, praying. Across their mouths was red tape. On the tape was written the word "life".

(space for you to think about THAT image for a while.)

What Lee came away with from that: If they can get Alito through, nothing will stop them. They are off to the races...

Gosh… A new Supreme Court nominee has literally rocketed into the national spotlight immediately following the indictment on Friday of the Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff, Lewis Libby.

I’m sure it’s just coincidence that Harriet Miers withdrew her name from Supreme Court consideration on Thursday – the day before indictments were known to be forthcoming in the White House’s own morally righteous backyard.

Well, folks, let's have at it. What are you discovering about Judge Alito?

Anything you want to share here about the man or his plan?

The "We don't do body counts" Pentagon, then:

General Tommy Franks, March 2003

"I don't believe you have heard me or anyone else in our leadership talk about the presence of 1,000 bodies out there, or in fact how many have been recovered," Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the Afghanistan operation, said Monday at Bagram Air Base. "You know we don't do body counts."

Donald Rumsfeld, November 2003

RUMSFELD: Well, we don't do body counts on other people.

The "We don't do body counts" Pentagon now:

The New York Times, (emphasis added)

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 29 - In the first public disclosure that the United States military is tracking some of the deaths of Iraqi civilians, the military has released rough figures for Iraqis who have been killed or wounded by insurgents since Jan. 1 last year.

The organizers of The World Can't Wait held a speak out today in front of the north side of the White House, leading up to the offical launch of WCW on Wednesday, November 2. On a bright, breezy afternoon, veterans of the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the current war in Iraq, and family members of people serving in Iraq stepped up to the microphone and talked about what had brought them to call for Bush's immediate ouster from office.

Elaine Brower's son served 4 years in Afghanistan, and is scheduled to leave for Iraq soon. Brower had a fiery promise for George Bush: "He'll never hear the end of me if my son dies in Iraq."

Stephen Potts is an Air Force Academy graduate who was on active duty from 1998 to 2003. Potts said that the approach of the war led him to reexamine his commitment to killing, and that he decided to apply for conscientious objector status and get out of the military before the war started.

Joe Ungo, a Vietnam era vet, said that Bush was behaving even worse than Johnson and Nixon in prosecuting the war. "This time," Ungo said, "they don't even hide the torture."

My colleague Bill Evans has had a long life in the dance world. When I was in Buffalo a few weeks ago, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in the field. I asked if I might have a copy of his acceptance speech to share with all of you, because I was so moved and grateful for his contexting of what I do in the world we share, and what I do here, at the DCP:

Thank you, Sara Lee.

Last April, to celebrate my 65th birthday, I performed solo concerts at SUNY Brockport, where I am a Visiting Professor. My friend Diane McGhee told me that she found those performances bittersweet; she was right, I think. My dances expressed both the pleasure and the pain, the triumph and the defeat, the joy and the sadness of the life I have lived. It is the bitterness, perhaps, that forces me to grab hold of the sweetness that life has brought me and to be grateful for it.

Sweet, indeed, is the warmth I feel this evening, as friends and peers recognize my contributions to dance education. I thank my treasured friend Cheryl Adams (for nominating me) and the NDEO Awards Committee (for their endorsement)!

I accept this acknowledgement humbly and gratefully.

You are my people! My heart is full, and I shall cherish this moment, this evening and this wonderful conference for the rest of my life.

Nonetheless, I can’t shake off the crushing sadness I feel for our sisters and brothers of the Gulf Coast and their devastating losses from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Those tragic occurrences have forced me to recognize acutely the desperate plight of the poor and disenfranchised in the most powerful nation on earth.

Josh Marshall hits on a point that I was thinking about:

Remember, I. Lewis Libby doesn't just work for the Vice President.

From the beginning of the administration, a key root of Libby's power at the White House is that he works both for the Vice President (as Chief of Staff and National Security Affairs Advisor) and the President of the United States (as Assistant to the President).

Why is this important? Because as the spin machine gets going, you will begin to see the Republicans try to narrow the story and isolate Libby from the President, and just associate him with the Vice-President. But let's remind the media at every opportunity and folks that we talk to that Libby, as a National Security Affairs Advisor and as an Assistant to the President. He was advising the President regularly before and during the lead up to the Iraq War. He was an instrumental advisor to the President on security matters, such as, say, yellowcake in Niger.

Josh also points this information out from page five of the indictment:

Go to page 5 of the indictment. Top of the page, item #9.

On or about June 12, 2003, LIBBY was advised by the Vice President of the United States that Wilson's wife worked at the Central Intelligence Agency in the Counterproliferation Divison. LIBBY understood that the Vice President had learned this information from the CIA.

This is a crucial piece of information. The Counterproliferation Division (CPD) is part of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, i.e., not Directorate of Intelligence, the branch of the CIA where 'analysts' come from, but the DO, where the spies, the 'operatives' come from.

Libby's a long time national security hand. He knows exactly what CPD is and where it is. So does Cheney. They both knew. It's right there in the indictment.

How is that not treason?

You can go view the video for yourself, but here are my impressions:

Pat Fitzgerald is a guy who takes his job very seriously. Moreover, he is a man who clearly feels the weight of his responsibility in this investigation, because at the heart of it, is nothing less that national security.

Clearly, Fitzgerald is going to present a damning case against Scooter Libby, and in doing so, he will be damning those around him, those that knew what had happened, and what Libby had done, and the entire Bush Administration's modus operandi as well.

In closing, Fitzgerald reminds everyone watching today, covering this trial, and watching at home, that in America, we follow the rule of law. We follow due process, and we do so with dignity, and asks for people to treat the process with dignity as well.

I sincerely hope that the dignified and straightforward tone that Fitzgerald has set in this newsconference is followed during the course of the trial.

UPDATE: John over at Crooks and Liars will have the video of the press conference as soon as it is over.

I. Lewis Libby, Chief of Staff to Vice-President Richard Cheney, was charged in a five count indictment handed up shortly after noon today. Included in the indictment are two counts of making false statements, two counts of obstruction of justice, and one count of perjury. All of the charges are felonies and carry penalties of fines and jail sentences.

CORRECTION: The five counts in the indictment are as follows: one count of obstruction, two counts of perjury and two counts of making false statements.

Interestingly, the indictment confirmed a story earlier this week in the New York Times, and written about here yesterday, that Vice President Richard Cheney was the person who told Libby of Valerie Plame Wilson's identity.

Giving an indication of where Fitzgerald's investigation will be heading next, he (sic) included in the indictment the accusation that Libby's action endangered national security.

What's next? We will see in the coming weeks. But I don't imagine that the President can be too happy that not only has a high ranking official has been indicted, but that the federal investigation which is crippling his presidency for months now, will continue.

This is only the beginning.

UPDATE: Libby Resigns. The Vice-President has not yet commented on this story. He is busy attending fundraisers for Republican candidates in Georgia. Likely one of those candidates is Ralph Reed, who is under federal investigation for his involvement with uber-Lobbyist turned indicted criminal, Jack Abramoff.

UPDATE II: Contained in the Special Counsel's perjury charge against I. Lewis Libby, the indictment states as its two witnesses (perjury requires two confirming witnesses), Matthew Cooper and Tim Russert. For the last two years, Tim Russert has been acting as though he had no involvement in this story. Now we learn in this indictment that he not only is deeply involved, he is a material witness in the case. Clearly his bosses at NBC had to know this, and yet they still let him cover this story.

That is simply wrong. Very, very wrong.

UPDATE III: I have been trying to get the indictment link and the Department of Justice link keeps locking up my computer. I recommend using this link to Think Progress to read the indictment.

Here are two preparatory articles I'd like to share, one old and one new, but then scroll down to the "drink ideas" section and start brainstorming for tomorrow night when the indictments have come down.

In August 2003, I sent my husband and son to Shoreline Community College in Seattle to hear a panel which included Ambassador Joe Wilson, since I could not get back here in time to attend. It was there that Wilson made the now-famous comment about "frog marching" Rove out of the White House. We've waited two years and it could finally happen! Here is investigative reporter Ric Anderson's account from the Seattle Weekly, from that time:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0543/051026_news_josephwilson.php

Last night, I once again missed Ambassador Joe Wilson in Seattle, almost on the eve of the indictments, because I attended the Green Lake vigil for the 2000th death in Iraq. Here is the account from The Stranger, our other weekly, by Eli Sanders, who I consider my surrogate for this time.

Ezcerpt:

I had gone to the blogs first thing when I awoke too. When I didn't find news of any indictments—Karl Rove was still a free man? Scooter Libby too?—I thought about calling Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and confessing to the crime myself, just to relieve the tension. Inside the penthouse suite, the man who triggered what has become the political suspense thriller of the moment—one that has sucked in not only my companion and me, but also most everyone I know—was signing copies of his book, The Politics of Truth, for the suede, silk, and cashmere set of liberal Seattle. People told him over and over: "Thank you so much." They were thanking him for writing an Op-Ed in the New York Times in July of 2003, titled "What I Didn't Find in Africa."

Now on to the drinks, which will be served at the Indictment Party at a local establishment downtown, but this is an idea which could work anywhere and we deserve it!

THE JUDITH MILLER, so strong you'll forget where you ever heard the name Valerie Plame (or, if you actually heard the name as "Valerie Flame," and wrote it down in your notebook that way, making it hard to claim you remember nothing, this drink will cure you of any inconvenient memories of who told you to write the name down that way in the first place).

THE FITZGERALD, a straight shot of Irish whiskey, in honor of our straight-shooting special prosecutor.

THE SCOOTER SHOOTER (AKA The Scooter Shooter), which will of course involve Tequila.

THE GEORGE W BUSH, a nonalcoholic beer followed by "a Texas-sized shot of straight whiskey."

THE VALERIE FLAME, a flaming shot of a fancy, sophisticated, and currently top-secret substance.

As you can see, some of our drinks are still in the conceptual stages. If you have ingredient suggestions or ideas for other drinks ("The Ambassador" Joseph Wilson anyone?) post them here.

Why is walking FEMA disaster Michael Brown still on the federal payroll?

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Oct. 26) - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Wednesday defended FEMA's decision to extend former director Michael Brown's post-resignation employment by another 30 days.

"It's important to allow the new people who have the responsibility ... to have access to the information we need to do better," Chertoff told The Associated Press as he flew to view Hurricane Wilma's damage in Florida.

"We don't want to sacrifice the real ability to get a full picture of Mike's experiences; we don't want to sacrifice that ability simply in order to make an image point," Chertoff said.

[...]

Russ Knocke, the Homeland Security spokesman, has said in the past that Brown was staying on to advise the department on his experience with Katrina. He said Brown has no decision-making or management responsibilities.

I can't imagine what advice Brown could possibly be giving to FEMA. And as far as the valuable information Mike Brown might have to share from his Hurricane Katrina experiences, doesn't two months seem like a sufficient period of time to debrief an employee?

Is continuing to pay Mike Brown his $148,000/year salary the best use of our taxpayer dollars?

Libby to be indicted. Rove to continue to be investigated. Fitzgerald to extend Grand Jury's term for six months.

Thus speaks the NY Times:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 - Lawyers in the C.I.A. leak case said Thursday that they expected I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, to be indicted on Friday, charged with making false statements to the grand jury.

Karl Rove, President Bush's senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, will not be charged on Friday, but will remain under investigation, people briefed officially about the case said. As a result, they said, the special counsel in the case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, was likely to extend the term of the federal grand jury beyond its scheduled expiration on Friday.

Oh, just shoot me now.

Wait, I forgot. Of course, this is the New York Times we are talking about. The one that still employs one Judith Miller. So what this really means is that nobody knows anything for sure.

Back to waiting for the phone to ring.

From Murray Waas of the National Journal (subscription):

Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, overruling advice from some White House political staffers and lawyers, decided to withhold crucial documents from the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2004 when the panel was investigating the use of pre-war intelligence that erroneously concluded Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, according to Bush administration and congressional sources.

Cheney had been the foremost administration advocate for war with Iraq, and Libby played a central staff role in coordinating the sale of the war to both the public and Congress.

Among the White House materials withheld from the committee were Libby-authored passages in drafts of a speech that then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell delivered to the United Nations in February 2003 to argue the Bush administration's case for war with Iraq, according to congressional and administration sources. The withheld documents also included intelligence data that Cheney's office -- and Libby in particular -- pushed to be included in Powell's speech, the sources said.

The new information that Cheney and Libby blocked information to the Senate Intelligence Committee further underscores the central role played by the vice president's office in trying to blunt criticism that the Bush administration exaggerated intelligence data to make the case to go to war.

You think now we can maybe have a real Congressional investigation?

Maybe a few Contempt of Congress citations?

Maybe a Congress that can do its damn job of asking questions and serving the function of being a check on the power of the Executive branch?

[Editor's note: Just a reminder that The Democracy Cell Project is non-partisan. The opinion of the blogworld expressed below is the opinion of the writer. Thank you.]

I try to read alot of blogs. I am always on the hunt for who's writing something interesting, and who's offering a different take on the day's news. For fans of the former, there's the blog firedoglake, and for fans of the latter, there's Paul Begala's entry at Josh Marshall's TPM Cafe. Here's a bit about each:

Over at TPM Cafe, former Clinton advisor Paul Begala has written a very interesting piece on what it's like to be working in a White House that is 'under siege'. Here's a snippet, but it's worth going over for the whole read.

...This I know first hand: when The Boss explodes like that, there are two kinds of aides -- those who fight and those who flee. When he came to Washington, Mr. Bush surrounded himself with tough-minded people who seemed not to be afraid to stand up to him. But now his team is loaded with weak-kneed toadies, and Mr. Bush is home alone. Karl Rove, of course, is fending off a potential indictment. His prodigious brain has not entertained another thought in months. (That's why, I suspect, some months back Rove popped off and said liberals wanted to give terrorists psychotherapy after 9/11. It was a loopy, stupid, and distinctly un-Rovian, meltdown - the first public sign that the pressure was causing Karl to crack.)

Go here to read the rest.

The other blog I have been reading is called Firedoglake. Primarily written by an attorney and a former federal prosecutor (Reddhedd and Jane Hamsher, respectively), Firedoglake provides insight and context to the legal proceedings surrounding the leak investigation. They research the news exhaustively and put the pieces together in a way that is extremely helpful and understandable while steadfastly refusing to condescend to their audience.

Also, they are witty and clever without being either cutesy or mean. A perfect example is this morning's post. Everyone knows that Fitzgerald's office is leakproof. The only comment they ever have is no comment. And yet, Jane manages to get a story anyway:

"The spokesman for Mr. Fitzgerald, Randall Sanborn, refused to comment." I can't tell you how many times I've read that line. Every time I open a paper, it seems. And I'm always thinking, I want this guy's job -- he could be phoning it in from the high Himalayas for all we know.

So when I called him up the other day I expected the same thing. Since I'm working on a post on Fitzgerald, I had to do the obligatory request for an interview, which I knew he'd turn down, which he did.

"One more thing," I said. "I'd like to know if you could confirm the Viagra pen story."

Welcome to another day in the miasma that is the Bush White House…

Not that we didn’t know it was coming, but this story in the New York Times clarifies what the more cynical among us have believed for many moons: that Vice President Dick Cheney did in fact discuss CIA agent Valerie Plame with his Chief of Staff Lewis Libby, weeks before her identity became public. This contradicts Libby’s testimony before a federal grand jury, in which he stated that he learned of Valerie Plame’s identity from reporters.

The Republicans eat their young...

From MSNBC:

WASHINGTON - Confronted with criticism from both liberals and conservatives, Harriet Miers on Thursday withdrew her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a statement, President Bush said he “reluctantly accepted” her decision to withdraw, after weeks of insisting that he did not want her to step down.

Here's the nonsense part:

Bush blamed her withdrawal on calls in the Senate for the release of internal White House documents that the administration has insisted were protected by executive privilege.

She was Bush's lawyer for crying out loud. What, as White House counsel she didn't foresee this? That alone would have made her supremely unqualified for the job.

Nope, Harriet Miers withdrew because the wingnuts weren't happy. Opposition groups began running commercials against her. CWA came out against her. Dobson and Bauers were going to have to testify during the hearings.

There was no way that the right wing was going to disclose the depths of how far they can reach into the White House. And that spelled the end of Harriet Miers.

As readers of this blog know, many of us worked on John Kerry's Blog, and were moderators on the Kerry-Edwards Blog as well. Since this is an educational, and not a partisan political blog, my comments here will be personal and from my heart. I trust it is no one's purpose here to stomp on my heart.

The Georgetown audience was excited. JK was greeted by a fairly heated standing ovation. He looked good--relaxed and focused.

I spotted Marvin across the floor. Marvin is JK's Chief of Stuff--his body man--Marvin waved hello. I said hello to some old friends and members of JK's entourage and it was reassuring to note how many of the people who truly love him were present.

The speech itself is available all over the internet, so I will not reprint it here. Most of you have received it via email anyway. I want to share my EXPERIENCE of what he said, and how he said it.

Note that I have spent the last few months as a fairly active member of the peace movement, and have thought long and hard about what I think should happen with Iraq. I also co-wrote a short theatre piece about torture and war called, "Fear Up". I have marched, reported, listened, wrestled, and cared deeply about the way our government has recklessly and seriously messed up the world our children will inherit. So it was with some trepidation that I approached today's speech. I wondered what he might say that could make a difference.

Christine and I had our usual vigil last night, beginning just after Cindy and the Code Pink and World Can't Wait people had their first *die-in*.

And then, about 80 eight-graders ran up to us as we were lighting the candles for the vigil. They asked what we were doing.

Christine writes:

Steve Clemons is reporting the following:

An uber-insider source has just reported the following to TWN (since confirmed by another independent source):

1. 1-5 indictments are being issued. The source feels that it will be towards the higher end. 2. The targets of indictment have already received their letters. 3. The indictments will be sealed indictments and "filed" tomorrow. 4. A press conference is being scheduled for Thursday.

CBS’ JOHN ROBERTS: Lawyers familiar with the case think Wednesday is when special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will make known his decision, and that there will be indictments. Supporters say Rove and the vice-president’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, are in legal jeopardy. But they insisted today the two are secondary players, that it was an unidentified Mr. X who actually gave the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame to reporters. Fitzgerald knows who Mr. X is, they say, and if he isn’t indicted, there’s no way Rove or Libby should be. But charges may not focus on the leak at all. Obstruction of justice or perjury are real possibilities. Did Rove or Libby change statements made under oath? Did they deliberately leave critical facts out of their testimony or did they honestly forget? Some Republicans urged Rove to step down if indicted. Not a happy prospect for President Bush.

Any guesses about who the five are and what charges each indictment will contain?

Gossip amongst yourselves...

UPDATE: Karen (from the field) announces a contest to name the number of indictments handed down and the names of those indicted. The person who gets closest to the correct answer, first by the number of indictments, and second by who was indicted, will win a Democracy Cell Project T-shirt. Contestants may post their guesses on this thread only, and the contest will remain open until 8AM tomorrow morning. The losers will be announced at Fitzgerald's press conference, and the winner of the t-shirt will be announced on the blog shortly thereafter.

The rain is falling steadily and it is cold; the press are irritated because they are waiting in the nasty weather, and several of us are trying to dance to keep warm...Where is Cindy?

The World Can't Wait people take up their places in front of the White House.

She arrives, striding through the park, and the press crowd around her. She recognizes a few of them from Camp Casey and greets them warmly and they visibly relax. They like her, they really do. She is accessible and real.

From CNN:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The war in Iraq saw two milestones Tuesday that reflect the country's path to democracy and its human toll as officials said the referendum on a draft constitution passed and the U.S. military's death toll reached 2,000.

CNN's count of U.S. fatalities reflects reports from military sources and includes deaths in Iraq, Kuwait and other units assigned to the Iraq campaign.

I don't know why we mark these things in nice round numbers. Somehow that seems just slightly obsene to me. I don't think the families of these people think of their loved ones in nice round numbers.

I don't think God works in base ten. I wonder, why do we?

Last night we found ourselves at a remarkable event: a planning session with Code Pink, Military Families Speak Out, United for Peace and Justice, DC Antiwar Network, the World Can't Wait's Travis Morales, Cindy Sheehan, Ann Wright, and others, all sitting around a big table at Busboys and Poets (currently THE social destination for the antiwar/peace movement in DC!).

Andy Shallal puts his head together with Cindy Sheehan

I'm not reporting on the meeting so much as sharing what we are all learning as we go along (for specifics on the outcome of the meeting, see the press advisory on the front page of this website).

It is never easy for organizations to work together, and each representative has to go back to the home organization for final approval of joint efforts. But the process was instructive and worth sharing.

Ann Wright and Travis Morales

We began (after introductions, and cheers for Ann Wright's shout-out from the Congressional gallery last week to Condileeza Rice) by setting the goals for the week: Cindy spoke eloquently about the meaning of the 2000th American death. Others brought up the Iraqi dead, the wounded, and the fact that George Bush would be having a session today with spouses and wives of dead soldiers; and that became the focus for today's actions.

We discussed the need for a beginning, middle, and end to each day and for the overall four day event.

The people present had tons of ideas about ways to drive home the messages; the challenge became to sequence those ideas in a way that amplified the messages and did not undercut them with clever but divergent concerns. It is so easy for progressives to be all-inclusive, but we need to adhere to the discipline of assuring that just the right messages get out and that messages are not stumbling over each other.

It felt rather like being in the room with a lot of artists--beginning with brainstorming all the images and ideas for a work, then the more difficult process of sequencing those ideas, losing some along the way that really belong in another work, adding new ones as the particular moments become clearer.

Over the years I have found collaborative work requires patience, perspective, clear guiding principles, and good souls. Last night we had all that, and it was good.

Christine and her brand-new Code Pink t-shirt

What is going on in your towns this week? How can you help to amplify and make visible the work that is going on in front of the White House?

[Editor's Note: This piece comes to us from Fe. I put it up ( in addition to the NYT obituary of Parks on the thread below) because it includes a personal remembrance of how Parks affected the life of its writer, who is a person of color.]

It was like any other day, in Montgomery, Alabama, when a white man approached a black woman who had taken a seat on the bus, asking her to move to the back. She refused.

"Are you going to stand up?" the bus driver asked.

"No," she answered.

"Well, by God, I'm going to have you arrested," the driver said.

"You may do that," she responded.

And they promptly arrested her.

That woman was Rosa Parks. By refusing to give up her seat, she became the catalyzing agent that set off the 381-day Montgomery Bus boycott, and the blossoming of the civil rights movement in America.

"At the time I was arrested I had no idea it would turn into this," "It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in."

I was almost a year old when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. Because of her, I grew up in a world where I never had to bow, scrape, or imagine myself less than. It was through people like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and later, Cesar Chavez, Bobby Kennedy that an America that lived up to its highest, most fearless ideals came to full flower.

"I am leaving this legacy to all of you ... to bring peace, justice, equality, love and a fulfillment of what our lives should be. Without vision, the people will perish, and without courage and inspiration, dreams will die — the dream of freedom and peace."

For Rosa Parks, from all of us who work for justice and peace, we hold you in our hearts like a poem and a prayer.

From the New York Times:

Rosa Parks, a black seamstress whose refusal to relinquish her seat to a white man on a city bus in Montgomery, Ala., almost 50 years ago grew into a mythic event that helped touch off the civil rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's, died yesterday at her home in Detroit. She was 92 years old.

For her act of defiance, Mrs. Parks was arrested, convicted of violating the segregation laws and fined $10, plus $4 in court fees. In response, blacks in Montgomery boycotted the buses for nearly 13 months while mounting a successful Supreme Court challenge to the Jim Crow law that enforced their second-class status on the public bus system.

The events that began on that bus in the winter of 1955 captivated the nation and transformed a 26-year-old preacher named Martin Luther King Jr. into a major civil rights leader. It was Dr. King, the new pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, who was drafted to head the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization formed to direct the nascent civil rights struggle.

"Mrs. Parks's arrest was the precipitating factor rather than the cause of the protest," Dr. King wrote in his 1958 book, "Stride Toward Freedom. "The cause lay deep in the record of similar injustices."

Her act of civil disobedience, what seems a simple gesture of defiance so many years later, was in fact a dangerous, even reckless move in 1950's Alabama. In refusing to move, she risked legal sanction and perhaps even physical harm, but she also set into motion something far beyond the control of the city authorities. Mrs. Parks clarified for people far beyond Montgomery the cruelty and humiliation inherent in the laws and customs of segregation.

That moment on the Cleveland Avenue bus also turned a very private woman into a reluctant symbol and torchbearer in the quest for racial equality and of a movement that became increasingly organized and sophisticated in making demands and getting results.

"She sat down in order that we might stand up," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said yesterday in an interview from South Africa. "Paradoxically, her imprisonment opened the doors for our long journey to freedom."

Please take the time to go here and read the whole obituary.

God bless Rosa Parks, and may she rest in peace.

Once again, Karen Hughes just doesn't get it.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - U.S. goodwill envoy Karen Hughes got a earful from a group of mostly female Indonesian Muslim students on Friday, who expressed anger at the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and attacked Washington's foreign policies.

Tasked by U.S. President George W. Bush to polish America's image overseas, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy is in Jakarta to meet leading Muslim clerics and students during a tour of the world's most populous Muslim nation.

"Why does America always act as if they were the police of the world?," Barikatul Hikmah, a 20-year-old student at the Syarif Hidayatullah University asked Hughes.

Now there's a question we'd all like the answer to. But a better question might be, why does this administration want to act like the world's really bad parents?

Dear God, I hope Karen Hughes "listening tour" ends soon. I don't know how much more the world can hate us, and I don't particularly want to find out.

Watching the Republican Political Machine is an awful lot like watching snakes limbo. Just when you think the belly-crawling crowd has gone as low as they can go, they just slither right under the morality bar one more time.

Take United States Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's (R-TX) performance on Meet The Press yesterday morning:

I certainly hope that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn’t indict on the crime so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation were not a waste of time and dollars.

I was watching the show with my older sister who was visiting for the weekend. Now, you should know that I call my sister nearly every day with my "political outrage of the day". And everyday, her response is a stunned, "Are you kidding me?".

I always give her the same response, "I can't make this up."

[Editor's note: Matthew Carnicelli is on vacation. This Sunday's feature article comes to us from DCP regular Christy Cole. A full coterie of Ms. Cole's writing can be found at the group blog, ReBelle Nation. Our regular Sunday morning feature series, The Tao of Politics, will return when Mr. Carnicelli does. In the meantime, please enjoy the talented writing of our associate, Christy Cole.]

To A Soldier, From A Citizen

To the soldiers of my nation, wherever you are, I send you greetings from the heart of your empire. A grateful nation awaits your homecoming.

Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Cherokee. I am Creek. I am Choctaw. I am also German, Dutch, French, Scottish, Irish, English and Portuguese. I am a true daughter of America, and I have never known any other way of life.

I am from the rural ghettos of Louisiana. I am from the ghettos, but, I did not make them. Many of you are from such places, as well. Perhaps you call them 'el barrios', the 'hood, the projects, or trailer parks. Most of the soldiers who fight for this nation are from exactly these places. And we all know, you did not make them either.

Whatever place you come from, you have chosen a higher path.

I was married to a soldier once. He taught me many things. He said to me, "No soldier ever declares the war he fights. And no politician ever fights the war he declared."

We had only been married five days when he went to Saudi Arabia. He had nine days left when a bomb exploded in front of his barracks at Khobar Towers. We were on the phone when it went off. From half a world a way I was an ear witness to it.

[Editor's Note: We are moving this to the top in case anyone was interested in a movie review for this evening.]

I like good solid, quiet films with great acting that give me the pleasure of watching a fine actor ply their craft. "Good Night and Good Luck", a film of that type, is about the famous broadcasts by CBS News' Edward R. Murrow covering the fear tactics of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the mid 1950's. It is also one of those films where the enjoyment is not only about the quality of acting, but the compelling nature of the subject.

It was a wistful reminiscence of a once prescient news media that acted to truthfully, openly and fairly inform its audience about the news of their world while the nation was gripped in fear. Murrow was portrayed as someone who knew his network was in a high-risk game producing segments exposing the then-powerful McCarthy's red-baiting tactics during the era of the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee).

If you wondered how our Berkeley audience reacted, the Friday night audience at the Albany Twin paused and drank in the last few words of each of the three monologues by David Straitharn, who played Murrow. His delivery was deliberate and dispassionate, and at the end of each one, the theater erupted in applause.

We clap at heroic moments in films, and I think we clapped this weekend because his statements were both heroic and ironic in this day and age where journalistic integrity is so woefully missing: the NY Times of Judy Miller, embedded reporters, Novak outing a CIA operative et cetera...we so desperately long for just an honest, unmuzzled press.

But this glowing review has a bitter aftertaste. That we cheered on the lead character of a film that made a hero of an honest newsman gave me hope that one day, journalism that can't be bought will be something we take for granted again. That we cheer journalistic honesty and integrity as a fantasy on film (albeit an historic account)--because it is so far forgotten by our present-day "real-life" mainstream media is for all intents and purposes, tragic.

If you've seen the movie--share your opinion (just don't give away the key plot points...)

In a world gone mad, the latest offering in our series to heal the politically vulnerable.

Dear Polly:

Tense in Charleston.

As commentor Spinnaker noted below in the previous thread, Lindsay Beyerstein of the blog, Majikthise, held a fundraiser a short time ago so she could travel to Texas and cover the Tom DeLay perp walk and arraignment.

Having reached her fundraising goal, Lindsey was at the event yesterday and has posted her photo gallery and Amanda's account of the proceedings on her (sic) blog here.

Aside from Tom Delay's maniacally beaming mug shot, I have yet to see any other photos of this historic event in any of the major news outlets. Nice work, Lindsay, and thank you for giving us the insider's view.

Armando over at DailyKos posted this article from Yoo and Paulsen at the LA Times. Let's ignore the snarky implication of "Where were these guys on Robert's?", and move forward to what is obvious--that this is the approach the Senate should be taking on all nominees.

The administration's stealth strategy assumes that it is improper for senators to ask, or for a nominee to answer, a question about Roe vs. Wade or any other substantive constitutional question. This has things exactly backward. The Constitution not only permits such questioning, it arguably requires it. Although the Constitution makes judges independent after appointment, it sets up an explicitly political appointment process before a judge is approved. Why on Earth would determining a nominee's approach to interpreting the Constitution be thought to be out of bounds, before giving her a lifetime appointment to do exactly that?

Is there any line of inquiry that the Constitution does not permit? Yes. It would be improper to try to exact a pledge as to how a nominee will rule in future cases. As long as the inquiry stops short of that, it does not violate the Constitution's protection of judicial independence, nor does it violate judicial ethics. Parties before the courts are entitled to judges who will consider their cases without bias. But they are not entitled to judges who have no views of the law. An open mind is one thing; an empty head is another.

Well said.

From John at AmericaBlog:

From Planned Parenthood: A 26-year-old Missouri woman was refused EC when she handed her prescription to a pharmacist at a Target store in Fenton, MO, on September 30. The woman was told by the pharmacist, “I won’t fill it. It’s my right not to fill it.” She was told that she could go to a local Walgreens instead. The woman said, “When the pharmacist told me she wouldn't [fill the prescription], I went from disbelief to shock to anger. I guess I'm still pretty angry. It seems unbelievable to me that a medical professional could/would deny access to a federally approved drug and impose their personal beliefs in a professional setting. I am also grateful that I did not need it filled at that time. I don't know how it would be if I had just been raped or if the condom broke and I was a feeling confusion and panic anyway -- and then was denied access and told to go across the street.”

Who's next? - Target pharmacists who don't want to fill prescriptions for customers who killed Christ? - Target pharmacists who only dispense HIV medicine to "innocent victims" of AIDS? - Target pharmacists who want proof that women were really raped, and that they didn't "deserve it," before they sell them emergency contraception? - Or how about Target pharmacists (or cashiers) who are simply Jehovah's Witnesses? Can they refuse to sell any medicine to anyone, even aspirin?

What can you do? Here's what John suggests:

Call Target's press office (hey, we're new media, and this will get their attention FAR more than calling their stupid customer services number).

Message: Why is Target supporting radical right bigotry against its own customers? How dare they tell us they won't fill our prescriptions because their pharmacists thinks we're sinner? Would they turn away Jews if their pharmacist were a conservative Catholic or Baptist? Would they turn away gays if their pharmacist thinks they're abominations? Would they turn away people with AIDS because, you know, they're hardly "innocent"? Demand answers.

Susan Kahn, 1-612-761-6735 Cathy Wright, 1-612-761-6627 or 1-847-615-1538 Paula Thornton-Greear, 612-696-3400 Carolyn Brookter, 1-612-696-6557

Here is what I am doing. I have call and requested an interview from their press office. I am going to ask them this: If they refuse emergency contraception for a woman, who then dies from an ectopic pregnancy, are they prepared to defend themselves in a libel suit?

What question would YOU want to ask them? I will be collecting questions on this thread and asking Target press representative during my phone call with them.

In the meantime, and barring any change in policy, Target can whistle up a rope for any more of my business.

So why is Target doing this? Well maybe there is an answer to be found in their ban on the Salvation Army's red-kettle Christmas fundraising. From last Christmas:

Robert Knight of Concerned Women for America says that Target's decision to suddenly enforce its no-solicitation policy reeks of political correctness and sends the wrong message to society.

Knight said, “Target is free to do this, nobody says they have to have the Salvation Army out there, but in an era in which most major retailers have banned Christmas, OK, they haven't done it officially, but you don't hear Merry Christmas any more, it's happy holidays, because they don't want to offend. We had one tangible aspect of Christmas beyond the commercial reason, we had the Salvation Army out there, a Christian charity that is collecting money for the poor at Christmas. What a great counter-weight to the almighty dollar, which is being worshipped in these stores. I think they ought to be ashamed of themselves, and I think consumers ought to take this into account when they do their Christmas shopping."

So last year Target made a serious enemy of rabid pro-life/anti-contraception group, Concerned Women of America.

Is this Target's attempt to get CWA to remove things like this and this from their site?

UPDATE, October 21, 2005: It seems that Target PR Department is not giving interviews on this matter. Gee, I wonder why that is?

Last week, ABC News’ Ann Compton told us that at 9:45 AM (Thursday), we’d be able to watch President Bush talking with US troops in Iraq in a live video teleconference. She said: "The live teleconference will actually be President Bush getting live feedback from the field—10 American soldiers and one Iraqi—telling him about security in the city of Tikrit for this constitutional referendum.”

Sounds great Ann. But aren’t you supposed to be a “reporter”? As opposed to a robotic shill for blatant Bush administration propaganda? We know that you have to earn a living, and a very good one, no doubt, but how much is your soul worth to you? How could anyone who has not been in a persistent vegetative state for the last five years say what you said with a straight face?

The next day, we awoke to discover that your very own network, ABC, is reporting “Bush Teleconference With Soldiers Staged.” Subhead: “President Bush Teleconference With U.S. Troops Was Choreographed to Match His Goals for Iraq War.” (To be perfectly correct here, this story is from the AP, written by Deb Reichmann, and posted on the ABC News website on Friday morning.)

Are you shocked, shocked to discover that Bush is (yet again) faking the news?

Shocked that deputy assistant defense secretary Allison Barber was on hand in Iraq to coach the “troops” (five of whom were officers)?

Shocked that the “troops” delivered an upbeat report?

Shocked that White House press secretary Scott McClellan insisted that the troops were just telling the president what was on their minds?

Wouldn’t it have been more accurate, that morning, to have said: “The White House has announced the President Bush will participate in a live teleconference this morning with a group of hand-picked, carefully scripted, scared-for-their-careers officers in Iraq, who will tell the president exactly what Karl Rove has told their superiors to tell them to say.”

And if you really wanted to be helpful to your fellow citizens, Ann, most of whom have a hell of a lot more things to do than sit around and watch the president do some more of his pathetic playacting, while simultaneously debasing the bravery and dedication of every man and woman who wears our military’s uniforms, how about a little warning: “Anyone who watches this live teleconference will not learn anything that they do not already know about President Bush’s policies (or lack thereof) in Iraq.”

Deb Reichmann’s story is the kind of reporting we need. Here’s her story: I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

As of October 18, 2005 at 5:21 pm, there are 1979 confirmed American casualties in Iraq.

Within the week or so, we will witness the tragic milestone of the 2000th American serviceperson killed in Iraq.

Many of you joined together on August 17, when all across the nation, tens of thousands of concerned citizens stood vigil in support not just of Cindy Sheehan, but of an idea that the American Military involvement in Iraq was a mistake, is a mistake, and will continue to be a mistake until we bring the troops home.

Listening intently, yesterday

A few hours ago, in front of the White House, The World Can't Wait protesters sponsored a press event on the theocratic takeover of the U.S government.

Speaking today were:
Rev. Luis Barrios, assistant clergy at the City University of New York
Rev. Phil Wheaton, Episcopal co-pastor, Community of Christ, Washington DC
Rev. Graylon Hagler, Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington DC

Rev. Wheaton and Rev. Barrios

I spoke with them, asking some of the questions that I thought bloggers might want to ask:

Me: Rev. Barrios, what will the actions of worldcantwait.org accomplish?

After two disastrous weeks of media coverage, the White House assembled a team of 20 high powered professional image gurus and legal coaches to remake their candidate for the Supreme Court, Harriet Miers.

Yesterday was the unveiling, and yesterday their efforts to manipulate the media fell as flat as their efforts to manipulate the media did last week.

Meet the new Harriet Miers. The same as the old Harriet Miers.

Confused and confusing.

Trying to woo senators who will determine whether she is confirmed for the court, Miers aided the White House as it scrambled yesterday to quell controversy over a published report that two Texas judges said she opposes the 1973 decision that affirmed the right to an abortion in all 50 states. "She said, 'No one knows how I would rule on Roe v. Wade ,' " Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters after their private meeting.

But as Miers sought to distance herself from the judges' assertions, her day on Capitol Hill ended in confusion over how far she went in telling senators that she believes there is a constitutional right to privacy -- the right that is the legal premise of Roe.

If you want to engage everyday Americans in conversation about what's right and wrong with their government, you couldn't pick a better place than Layafette Park, right across the street from the White House. Stand up against the wrought iron fence, the White House glowing in the background, and 1-2-3, you've got the ultimate iconic photo shot from Washington, D.C.

On Saturday afternoon, the organizers of World Can't Wait set up their vigil in Lafayette Park, leading up to their national call for demonstrations across the U.S. on November 2: Drive Out the Bush Regime.

By Sunday noon, when we got down to Lafayette Square, there was a steady stream of tourists from all over the U.S. and overseas asking questions, lured in by an irresistible sign reading "17 Days Until November 2." Just what was going to happen on November 2? There were plenty of people who were sick of Bush, but hadn't given any thought to the idea that he could be driven from office, just as public protest brought an end to the regime of Richard Nixon, and caused Lyndon Johnson not to run again. For some, the idea brought wicked smiles to their lips; for others, the conversation was just beginning, as they wrestled with the idea of what would happen if Bush really did leave office.

The latest in our series to heal the politically challenged… this letter came from a desperate housewife in Lancaster. The poor sweet thing.

Dear Polly:

I am a dedicated progressive activist. Lately, I’ve been receiving about 50 emails a day from every progressive organization on the planet. They all seem to be saying roughly the same thing – that they have an agenda, and that they need my help to make that agenda a reality.

As a follow-up to my critique last week of “strict constructionist” judicial philosophy (Judicial Fundamentalism), I thought this 2004 Op Ed by Professor Joseph J. Ellis, exploring the related ideology of “original intent”, would be of interest.

Joseph Ellis is the author of several well received books on American history, including his most recent New York Times best seller, His Excellency: George Washington; others books include American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson; The Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams; and Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. He is the Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College.

*****

What Would Jefferson Say About the Amendment to Ban Gay Marriage?

By Joseph J. Ellis

Abraham Lincoln once observed that America was founded on a proposition, and that Thomas Jefferson wrote it. He was referring, of course, to the section of the Declaration of Independence that begins, "We hold these truths to be self-evident . . . " The reality, though, is that we are founded on a debate over what Jefferson's proposition means. And the current struggle over gay marriage is but the most recent chapter in that longstanding American argument.

[Editor's Note: This is another installment in our ongoing Saturday morning series examining and exploring the powerful relationship between Art and Politics.]

Fifty years ago on Oct 7, 1955, six poets held a seminal reading in San Francisco, which inspired a nationwide movement: They were Philip Lamantia, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Allen Ginsberg, and Gary Snyder. They were brave and revolutionary during these dark days of the Cold War.

At this reading, Ginsberg read the poem "Howl" for the first time. I heard the original recording replayed on NPR, while driving home from work. Soon after, Terri Gross was interviewing Donovan on "Fresh Air," with audio clips. At the risk of sounding like a nostalgic old hippie, I must say that these collective remembrances are inspirational in these times. It's very frequently nowdays that younger people ask me about those days and speak of the quality of art, music and politics that we were a part of then. It sometimes seems to be as though we're travelling backward in time, not progressing forward. At those times, I like to think of ways to evoke timeless energies and integrate them into our progressive movement today.

From Howl

by Allen Ginsberg

        I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
              madness, starving hysterical naked,
        dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn
              looking for an angry fix,
        angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly
              connection to the starry dynamo in the machin-
              ery of night,

Pulitzer-prize winning playwright August Wilson Died on October 2, 2005.

Usually, I post the notice of someone's passing with their obituary and little personal comment. Somehow, this time, that didn't seem fitting. A dry recitation of August Wilson's life, a life spent contributing so much to the understanding of the experience of life itself, was somehow, not enough. Not nearly enough.

I found this eulogy written by and posted over at the blog of my friend Driftglass. Driftglass loved the work of Mr. Wilson, and it shows in this loving and beautifully written tribute to him.

He begins his memoriam quoting from the Ebony article describing the event at which he got to meet his hero, August Wilson.

The misty air cleared just as the van pulled up to the curb at the spot we used to call "Monica Beach". There were the members of the fourth estate, sitting under their umbrellas, waiting...waiting...numbingly bored...

Out jumped several...condoms. The condoms began chanting "Some things should never leak!".

Led by Carrie and Gail, the condoms ambled around and the press were all over them like a rug.

Several others distributed condoms:

Everyone seemed to enjoy the event, including the press, but especially the people exiting the courthouse. I would, in general, describe the mood as *suddenly gleeful*. Thanks to Code Pink, The League of Pissed Off Voters, and the Ruckus Society, many minds were saved today from total dissipation and annoyance at having to sit around and wait for the small-minded to emerge and refuse to answer questions.

In these dark days, we need a moment of levity, a glimpse of sunnier days to come, and some laughs. Thanks, Neocondoms!

Sid Blumenthal has a great piece pulling together all of the loose threads of the Bush administration into one grand oligarchy, with no ideology beyond the accumulation of power in the executive branch and the simultaneous enrichment of the wealthiest people in the country.

There's a lot going on right now, and with the various prosecutors poking around, the next couple of weeks are going to be strenuous. Clip and save Sid's piece as a handy guide to which strand of the mega-conspiracy is collapsing today.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/100705K.shtml

This was my letter to Richard Cohen regarding this morning's column in the Washington Post:

Dear Mr. Cohen,

From this morning's column regarding Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation of the Plame Leak case, "Let This Leak Go":

The alleged crime involves the outing of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative whose husband, Joseph Wilson IV, had gone to Africa at the behest of the agency and therefore said he knew that the Bush administration -- no, actually, the president himself -- had later misstated (in the State of the Union address, yet) the case that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger.

Wilson made his case in a New York Times op-ed piece. This rocked the administration, which was already fighting to retain its credibility in the face of mounting and irrefutable evidence that the case it had made for war in Iraq -- weapons of mass destruction, above all -- was a fiction. So it set out to impeach Wilson's credibility, purportedly answering the important question of who had sent him to Africa in the first place: his wife. This was a clear case of nepotism, the leakers just as clearly implied.

Not nice, but it was what Washington does day in and day out. (For some historical perspective see George Clooney's "Good Night, and Good Luck'' about Edward R. Murrow and that most odious of leakers-cum-character assassins, Joseph McCarthy.) This is rarely considered a crime. In the Plame case, it might technically be one, but it was not the intent of anyone to out a CIA agent and have her assassinated (which happened once) but to assassinate the character of her husband. This is an entirely different thing. She got hit by a ricochet. [Emphasis added]

Mr. Cohen, please try to refrain from rendering legal opinions. You are quite clearly not qualified in this area.

For that matter, please give up the mind-reading act as well. You have no way of knowing what anyone's intent was in identifying Valerie Plame to the media. As the administration so often reminds us, we are engaged in a global war on terrorism. Identifying and revealing the names of covert agents is not the same as, say, identifying and naming who's gay and who's not in homophobic/Republican Washington, D.C. The information was not only marked "classified", but also marked NF (no foreign). In a time of war, to reveal this information may well be considered treason, regardless of the intent of those who leak the information, hence The Espionage Act.

Both the SEC and the Justice Department are investigating Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. This morning's Washington Post reports that the SEC has subpoenaed Frist.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has been subpoenaed to turn over personal records and documents as federal authorities step up a probe of his July sales of HCA Inc. stock, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued the subpoena within the past two weeks, after initial reports that Frist, the Senate's top Republican official, was under scrutiny by the agency and the Justice Department for possible violations of insider trading laws.

The Culture of Corruption is ever widening. At what point does Frist have to resign his position as Majority Leader?

Many of you know I am a movement analyst and I comment on body language for the media. Today I am joined by the Washington Post columnist, Dana Milbank, in his new-found understanding of the interpretation of movement. Welcome to the dance, Mr. Milbank:

"...this much could be seen watching the tape of NBC's broadcast during Bush's 14-minute pre-sunrise interview, in which he stood unprotected by the usual lectern. The president was a blur of blinks, taps, jiggles, pivots and shifts. Bush has always been an active man, but standing with Lauer and the serene, steady first lady, he had the body language of a man wishing urgently to be elsewhere."

Dear President Bush,

We think your idea for all of us Americans to be better energy conservers is a good one.

We would like to suggest that you could start us off on the right foot by immediately discontinuing your seemingly endless trips to hurricane ravaged areas of the country.

It is beginning to look more like you are doing the political version of the Stations of the Cross then acting like the President.

[Editor's Note: It's been rainy where I live for three days. It's going to rain all week. I would like to personally thank DiAnne for this thread, since I have read everything except the back of the toothpaste tube. I was looking for some new material and I, too, would love to hear what folks think. Again, many thanks, DiAnne.]

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE: found in a rubbish bin in Oxford, UK)

I just hit University Bookstore in search of new titles by the disgruntled. I was wondering whethering inquiring minds and conspiring pens had been put to paper since the 2004 elections, particularly in the areas of media and election reform. My methodology was to look for a flashy cover, an intriguing title, an self-explanatory lengthy subtitle (if possible), then to delve into the liner notes, index and table of contents and read any juicy parts I could find. I have also given some presumptious awards.

It seemed like after the "2nd bloodless coup" that these three books were trendy:
1. Don't Think of An Elephant - George Lakoff
2. What's the Matter With Kansas - Thomas Frank
3. God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It - Jim Wallis
& I keep recommending
4. The Best Democracy Money Can Buy - Greg Palast

Now I'm curious about the following:

MEDIA REFORM:

Tragedy and Farce: How the American Media Sell War, Spin Elections and Damage Democracy -
Nichols & McChestnuy

Blog! How the Newest Media Revolution is Changing Politics, Business & Culture - David Kline &
Dan Barsten

Sneaking Into the Flying Circus: How the Media Turn Our Presidential Campaigns Into Freak Shows
Alexandra Pelosi (award: best book for fitting into both media & election categories)

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet & the Overthrow of Everything - Joe Trippi (award: best title)

ELECTION REFORM:

What Went Wrong in Ohio: The Conyers Report on the 2004 Presidential Election

The Great Divide: Retro vs Metro America - John Sperling

CONSERVATIVE CONSPIRACIES:

The Raw Deal: How the Bush Republicans Plan to Destroy Social Security and the Legacy to the New Deal
Joe Conason

What We've Lost: How the Administration Has Curtailed our Freedoms, Mortgaged our Economy, Ravaged the Environment & Damaged our Standing in the World - Graydon Carter

The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America from Slavery to the War on Terror - Christian Parenti

Jesus Is Not A Republican: The Religious Right's War On America - Eds Willis & Hardcastle

The Republican War on Science - Chris Mooney

BAD FOREIGN POLICY:

Weapons of Mass Distraction: Soft Power & American Empire - Matthew Fraser

The War on Truth: 9/11, Disinformation & the Anatomy of Terrorism - Nafeez Mosadeqq Ahmed

INSPIRATION:

Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington: The Brit Who Set Congress Straight About Iraq

ACTION:

Had Enough: A Handbook for Fighting Back
- James Carville

Going Nucular: Language Politics & Culture in Confrontational Times - Geoff Nunberg

Welcoming comments, critiques & suggestions

Uh oh...

Former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) met for at least 30 minutes with the top fundraiser of his Texas political action committee on Oct. 2, 2002, the same day that the Republican National Committee in Washington set in motion a series of financial transactions at the heart of the money-laundering and conspiracy case against DeLay.

During the meeting at his Capitol office, DeLay conferred with James W. Ellis, the head of his principal fundraising committee in Washington and his chief fundraiser in Texas. Ellis had earlier given the Republican National Committee a check for $190,000 drawn mostly from corporate contributions. The same day as the meeting, the RNC ordered $190,000 worth of checks sent to seven Republican legislative candidates in Texas.

President Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers ignited a firestorm on the right this week. Fearful that another Supreme Court nominee of a Republican President might eventually be transformed - though exposure to "elite opinion" from more liberal colleagues - into a voice of moderation and reason, many conservative pundits and politicians were uncharacteristically blunt about their lack of enthusiasm for Miers. Some were even calling for her nomination to be rescinded.

What these unhappy conservatives are seeking is an established judicial fundamentalist or, to use the term that Bush has often used, strict constructionist. What would a judge who adhered to strict constructionist judicial philosophy believe?