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Saved by the Bell.... er, Tape...
The latest in our series to heal the lumpen, teeming masses of the politically lame…
Dear Polly:
I saw last week that a new Osama bin Laden tape suddenly appeared just in the nick of time to stop discussion of the Bush illegal wiretap scandal. It strikes me that these tapes tend to appear in a most timely manner, and coincidentally, fit beautifully into George Bush and Dick Cheney’s talking points.
Maybe I’m getting completely paranoid, but doesn’t it seem like the OTB tapes are serving the same function as the terror alert level changes before the 2004 elections? They seem to appear just like the ‘orange alerts’ did when the President’s poll numbers were in the proverbial pooper, and they need a distraction.
Is it just me? Am I starting to go round the bend? Many of my friends have wondered the same thing, so I am not alone in this. But frankly, there has been so much malarkey from this administration that I’m starting to doubt my ability to sort truth from fiction.
Please tell me your thoughts so I can share them with my friends.
Suspicious Lady Out West
Dear SLOW:
Heavens to Betsy, woman!! Are you suggesting that the Bush White House is somehow attempting to control the media? Or manipulate the public through the use of fear and intimidation? Or that George Bush senses the sweeping legacy of failure that hangs over Republican leaders in the run up to the 2006 elections? And that the OBL tapes are being released at carefully selected moments when a subject change is desperately needed?
Is that what you’re saying?
Well, that’s pretty much the size of it, dear.
In fact, I think we can anticipate an upswing in announcements of “increased terrorist chatter” “a cautionary change in the terror alert color level (ooh, I’m so scared)” and look for something really big if/when Karl Rove is indicted. That one will have to be huge. Like maybe a confirmed Al Qaeda plot to deploy a bomb that can destroy every mom and every piece of apple pie in America, or some such hooey.
The point is that this administration has survived because they’ve kept the masses of the politically challenged so terrified that they are unable to think clearly.
My conclusion at this point is that the discussion of American politics should not be about Red vs. Blue. It should be about the divide between the people who wake up every day peeing themselves in fear vs. those of us who don’t.
I’m not afraid of Al Qaeda. I don’t live in fear every day of terrorists blowing up my country. I’m an American. This doesn’t frighten me.
What frightens me is that we have become a nation of people cowed by fear. We’ve become willing to let the freedoms we are supposedly fighting for slip away, so that we can be ‘protected’ from misty, omni-present monsters. The President fills the airwaves with fear to keep the children quiet.
So, think about this, SLOW: Can you face the possibility of terrorism with calm and resolve and a rededication to the principles that our country was founded on? Or, will you trade those principles to live in fear? Has it become okay for our President to lie to us, to illegally spy on us, to abuse Executive Privilege?
If that’s okay with your friends, then I suggest to you that perhaps Al Qaeda has already won the war against America.
Stay strong.
Your friend Polly
Speaking of Big Brother, watch this - with sound:
http://www.aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf
Published on Monday, November 18, 2002 by CommonDreams.org
The Boogie Man Is Coming
by Charles Sullivan
Many of us can recall a time as children when we were gripped by irrational fears. Those fears controlled many aspects of our young lives. One such fear was our belief in the ‘Boogie Man.’ While we never actually saw the Boogie Man, we instinctively knew that he lurked in the dark recesses of our room and meant to do us harm. His evil presence was palpably felt and had a profound effect upon our mood, and our behavior.
Sometimes when my two sisters and I were especially rowdy—presumably in a vain attempt to frighten us into submission—our parents warned us that the Boogie Man was coming to take us away. Only our good behavior, our compliance to our parent’s wishes, could keep him at bay.
The first white settlers to land here were afraid of everything. They feared the vastness of the North American continent, the unbroken wilderness, wild animals, Indians, and one another—a whole cadre of Boogie Men that continues to this day.
Once again, especially since the events of September 11, 2000, we witness yet another attempt to frighten us into submission by self appointed authority figures—George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, and John Ashcroft. These daring and fearless warriors have brought with them a vast array of Boogie Men designed to frighten us into submission. In the latest incarnation of evil they have brought us such notable ‘golden oldies’ as Osama Bin Laden and their all time favorite whipping boy, Saddam Hussein. And isn’t it wonderful to see that Bin Laden has come back from the dead to make headlines again?
Now, try not to be too frightened. I have it on good authority (my parents told me when I was twelve) that the Boogie Man isn’t real. Neither is Santa Claus or the Hamburglar. I know that this may come as quite a shock; but bear with me. This is important.
However, in order to justify their complete and utter contempt for working people, education, the environment, and health care, rampant corporate corruption, the faltering economy, the falling stock market, union busting, class warfare, racism and bigotry—the Bush regime has had to reintroduce the Boogie Man. This was tactically necessary in order to justify the hugely bloated military budget that usurps funds from worthwhile programs that would benefit the vast majority of American citizens. These tremendous expenditures can only be justified in the face of credible threats—such as the Boogie Man.
more... http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1118-06.htm
And this from Rawstory and Newsweek: Pentagon admits spying on domestic peace activists may have gone too far.
The Other Big Brother
The Pentagon has its own domestic spying program. Even its leaders say the outfit may have gone too far.
The demonstration seemed harmless enough. Late on a June afternoon in 2004, a motley group of about 10 peace activists showed up outside the Houston headquarters of Halliburton, the giant military contractor once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.
snip
A Defense document shows that Army analysts wrote a report on the Halliburton protest and stored it in CIFA's database. It's not clear why the Pentagon considered the protest worthy of attention—although organizer Parkin had previously been arrested while demonstrating at ExxonMobil headquarters (the charges were dropped). But there are now questions about whether CIFA exceeded its authority and conducted unauthorized spying on innocent people and organizations.
snip
Last Thursday, Cheney called the program "vital" to the country's defense against Al Qaeda. "Either we are serious about fighting this war on terror or not," he said in a speech to the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. But as the new information about CIFA shows, the scope of the U.S. government's spying on Americans may be far more extensive than the public realizes.
snip
A Pentagon spokesman declined to say why a private company like Halliburton would be deserving of CIFA's protection.
more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10965509/site/newsweek
Sorry - hopelessly off topic, but
GO STEELERS!
The Nazis did not show up (for the advertised "White Power" rally at the Space Needle), nor did they show their faces in Olympia - but putting word out on websites did get them publicity on Channel 7 news, which covered the counter rally but did NOT cover The Backbone Campaign's rally at Channel 7 and Channel 9 (also in the shadow of the Space Needle). Could it be because the Nazis are a "kook" group that is sensationalist enough to get tv viewers, but the Backbone Campaign is a serious organization that actually was asking some hard questions about why the media doesn't cover anything of substance?!
Then to make it even more comedic, the Mayor was inside the Food Court of the Center House, giving out some sort of award. I got alot of nice photos of anarchists and radicals and also strange rides, video games & arcades, anyway.
And back on topic, from thinkprogress.org :
McCain: Bush Does Not Have “The Legal Authority To Engage In These Warrantless Wiretaps”
Today on Fox News Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Bush’s warrantless domestic wiretapping program is illegal:
WALLACE: But you do not believe that currently he has the legal authority to engage in these warrant-less wiretaps.
MCCAIN: You know, I don’t think so, but why not come to Congress? We can sort this all out. I don’t think — I know of no member of Congress, frankly, who, if the administration came and said here’s why we need this capability, that they wouldn’t get it. And so let’s have the hearings.
more: http://www.thinkprogress.org/
Well, good for McCain, he removed his lips from Bush's ass long enough to actually say something sensible.
Now, the comment about Congress being able to sort it out... I'm not sold on that one.
McCain Mutiny
On this 33rd anniversary of Roe, we should not be fooled into believing that the right is not ready to recriminalizing abortion sooner than we think. This is some not kind of philospohical exercise. Its called aiding and abetting an abortion doctor which will carry imprisonment of 1-20 years of hard labor.
All college aged women should be informed that if they refuse to vote, they may someday be confronted with criminal prosecution if they choose to have an abortion. It may take such scare tactics to wake up this generation.
"Even if Alito and Roberts prove to be staunch antiabortion votes, a bare majority of justices would still support the core principle of a woman's right to end an unwanted pregnancy. But a retirement or illness among the more liberal justices could change that balance.
In anticipation of that day, antiabortion activists have been focusing their efforts on establishing policy at the state level.
Louisiana sets out that "the unborn child is a human being from the time of conception." The Nebraska Legislature has said that it "expressly deplore[s] the destruction of unborn human lives." Pennsylvania seeks "to extend to the unborn the equal protection of the laws." Utah, Missouri and Illinois are among several other states with similar language in their constitutions or statutes.
Such statements are merely philosophical; they don't have the force of law. But at least a dozen states have criminal laws banning abortion. They can't be enforced as long as Roe vs. Wade remains binding. In theory, though, they could take effect immediately upon a reversal, subjecting abortion providers to penalties ranging from 12 months' hard labor in Alabama to 20 years' imprisonment in Rhode Island.
"What the public doesn't realize is that the building blocks are already in place to re-criminalize abortion if Roe is overturned," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York."
that is Linclon Chaffee's Rhode Island the author was referring to: penalties ranging from 12 months' hard labor in Alabama to 20 years' imprisonment in Rhode Island.
Wow! Great article!
Posted by: monkey at January 22, 2006 05:02 PM
Monkey,
Shame on you! I'm sure McCain had his fingers crossed when he said it and his lips are still firmly planted....
Posted by: Ira at January 22, 2006 05:11 PM
Yes, my college aged daughter was ranting at me about this just the other day.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012206A.shtml
To: Congressional Democrats
From: William Rivers Pitt
RE: A bold maneuver
I have a wild and crazy idea. George W. Bush's delivery of the State of the Union address will take place on Tuesday, January 31, a little more than a week from now. It is my strong belief that every single Democrat present in the House chamber for the speech should, at a predetermined moment, stand up and walk out. No yelling. No heated words. Every Democrat should simply stand silently and leave.
MOLLY IVINS RELEASE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2006, AND THEREAFTER AUSTIN,
Texas --- I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president. Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone This is not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges. The recent death of Gene McCarthy reminded me of a lesson I spent a long, long time unlearning, so now I have to re-learn it. It's about political courage and heroes, and when a country is desperate for leadership. There are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times. . . . -- the whole column is worth reading. Check out the whole thing athttp://www.creators.com/opinion_show.cfm?columnsName=miv
nice posturing by McCain but we have already seen Bush vow to circumvent McCain's torture bill.
McCain is certainly running for President and I doubt anyone believes that he will stand with John Kerry who this morning called for an independent/special prosecutor into the illegal surveillance, which would certainly p.o. the Republican base Mccain is so desperately courting.
his lips will qickly find its way home monkey.
Re the Wm Rivers Pitt about the Dems walking out of the SOTU, received from a friend:
I think I must have sent this to you at exactly the same time you sent this to me!!!! I am THRILLED by this idea. . I just sent the url to Sen. Kerry's office, and will also send it to Kennedy (since they're my senators) as well as Harry Reid.
===So I am now sending it to MY senators, Murray and Cantwell. Can everyone do the same for their state, please?!
Posted by: DiAnne at January 22, 2006 05:56 PM
Dianne,
Should they walk out or just not show up? OR show up LATE and keep the pResident waiting for them!
DiAnne I just don't get it. I see that idea as a gigantic turnoff by the public. I know that is a contrarian philosophy here, I just don't see it happening.
maybe leaving immediately afterwards to have a press conference and demand an independent counsel.
Hopefully Lieberman will have the good sense to avoid the kiss again.
Read/see photos of the White Power rally that didn't happen.
http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/
Hmmmm- I just found the news on yahoo that Time was publishing, on it's online site, a series of pictures of W alongside Jack Abramoff. BUT, when I went to the Time online site and clicked on the link to the article, it couldn't be pulled up. It said something to the effect that that link contained no data.
Come on guys- if they don't publish them online, they'll still publish them in the magazine.
Set the website free.
haha no wonder the neoNazis didn't show up.
from IndyMedia:
update on Nazi demo
from phone call to Nazi at 10:45 AM Sunday
Justin says "white patriots" should meet at "Mcdonalds" at 12:30 at the Seattle Center. I asked him if this is near the fountain and he said yeah. But, the main info he communicated was that he was encouraging me to go to Olympia instead. Oly activists, please give them an appropriate response. I will be at the Seattle Center instead. I can't remeber the Nazis ever trying to demonstrate in Seattle or Olympia and we need to show them that this will never be a benefit to them. Even they are all probably just idiotic children, it is an important political statement than they are not tolerated by the working class.
U=pdate from Oly Acivist:
I heard it was a Burger King, but bill, my anti-nazi activist friend said it was going to be at Wendy's. I know it won't be a Taco Bell, because that's Mexican food. I suspect it's really Burger king, because They want it their way. Anyway all of us peace activists are going to meet at the Weener House and have lunch and hope the Nazis don't find us/
LOL
Ira
Well at any rate, I always love to see the expression of disgust on Ted Kennedy's face.
Linda - I just found this link for the Jack/George pix:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1151784,00.html?cnn=yes
But - great article but no pix.
Posted by: abqjohn at January 22, 2006 06:55 PM
It says in the sub-head that the photos are yet unpublished.
Linda, defarge posted a story about such photos here last week. Joe Connison was talking about this meeting in the oval office on Al Franken/Air America that Abramoff was in the oval office in May 2001 reported in the Texas Observer by Molly Ivans. That would unfortunately have been way before the Indian Tribe scandal. Hopefully there are some more recent photos or even better tapes. We should urge release of the same Whitehouse logs the right jumped up and down insisting being released about Clinton. That's why we need an independent counsel or ask that the Plaine/Fitzgerald leak investigation be extended to cover internal espionage.
abq- thanks, I found it. I had been trying to access it through google, and I finally went through yahoo and got the article. That's a bit weird, but I guess it's not too suspicious.
I don't think any photos of Bush and Abramoff are going to do Georgy any good, especially since he's on record as never having met the man.
So, the photos won't come out in Time, Time knows about them, but they expect them to come out in the tabloids?
Well, more Americans read the tabloids anyway, so I really don't care. I only care that they get out.
The tabloids can afford big bucks to paparazzi and sellers of photos.
On Senators walking out of the SOTU--They can come over and do a few licks on the guitars and drums and add their voices to the choirs and spoken word artists of the World Can't Wait event outside the Capitol.
We plan to make a *joyful noise* and rise up over the cold rhetoric of untruth.
We plan to wake up the press corpses.
We plan to enjoin America in a soulful cry to the universe for sanity and reason and the end of the Bush regime.
Tell the Senators to come and join us.
If you know a Vet, share this with them:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/20/211258/581#8
Tell the Senators to come and join us.
Posted by: karen at January 22, 2006 07:40 PM
And tell them they can sing off-key and kick on the off beat.
And while they're there, Karen will lead them in their abdominal exersizes so they're spines will be fully supported and they'll know how to speak loudly from their diaphram.
Polly,
SLOW is not the only one asking questions. (Posted without commentary)
_______________________________________________________________
What's not right about the Osama Bin Laden audio tape.
SNIP
Bogus tape alert! The Bin Laden tape plugging Bill Blum's book Rogue State is a ridiculous neo-con forgery intended to tarnish the progressive left.
http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/5747167.html
Polly, there for a minute I thought maybe it was I who wrote you that letter, but I don't live out west.
We have the most to fear from fear itself, and this administration knows that.
Would anyone care to repost that article that was posted months back by someone here on the use of fear of attack from outside entities, and pushing extreme "patriotism" (red white and blue props), are tools that were also used by a fascist regime 50 years ago?
Posted by: oncall at January 22, 2006 08:03 PM
I'm sorry, but I think the whole thing is bogus.
(I'm safe saying it here because nobody can throw banana peelings and fruit at me.)
D-Day: War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
Bluto: And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough...
[thinks hard]
Bluto: the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go!
[runs out, alone; then returns]
Bluto: What the f*ck happened to the Delta I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? "Ooh, we're afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble." Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Wormer, he's a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer...
Otter: Dead! Bluto's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part.
Bluto: We're just the guys to do it.
D-Day: Let's do it.
Bluto: LET'S DO IT!
Hey, W made a new enemy for us...
Thousands rally against U.S. in Pakistan
Second week of angry protests in wake of deadly American airstrike
INAYAT QALA, Pakistan - Thousands of angry Pakistanis protested Sunday against a U.S. airstrike that killed civilians, chanting "Long live Osama bin Laden!" as anti-American rallies in the country entered their second week.
About 5,000 demonstrators assembled on a dry riverbed in a mountain market town near the site of the Jan. 13 attack. Shouting pro-bin Laden, anti-American slogans, they burned effigies of U.S. President George W. Bush.
more... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10972951/
and then he runs out of the room while everyone sits there...
some days, I can relate...
Posted by: Nobody's Fool at January 22, 2006 08:12 PM
NF,
I agree, but I thought it would be interesting to see what is floating around the web. Don't worry, I would never throw fruit, I would rather eat it.
On Senators walking out of the SOTU--They can come over and do a few licks on the guitars and drums and add their voices to the choirs and spoken word artists of the World Can't Wait event outside the Capitol.
We plan to make a *joyful noise* and rise up over the cold rhetoric of untruth.
We plan to wake up the press corpses.
We plan to enjoin America in a soulful cry to the universe for sanity and reason and the end of the Bush regime.
Tell the Senators to come and join us.
Posted by: karen at January 22, 2006 07:40 PM
CNN Headline News last night had put the necon spin on the "World Can't Wait" protest while Bush is giving his State of the Union address.
The spin they repeated every fifteen minutes last night was that the "World Can't Wait" organization has a bunch of radical left Hollywood Stars behind it. And of course, MoveOn.org. They know we will be playing musical instruments and banging on pots and pans. All of us, led by nut jobs.
These guys are so corrupt. Clearly Karl.
I have to agree with this post, "I've got a better idea. Why don't the Democrats reconsider their choice and pick someone more able than Kaine to make the national security argument? They don't even have to make a big deal out of the switch. Kaine can simply come down with a really, really bad cold that night. Cough, cough... and Murtha is waiting in the wings."
Maybe we can borrow it for a 5 min/day...Calling all people with a cold to DC...Can you please go stand near Kaine so we can have Murtha?
TSP -
Wow - I'm amazed that they gave it any press. I think that's a great thing, especially this far ahead. More people will come out!
Fla. GOP Rallies Around Harris for Senate By BRENDAN FARRINGTON, Associated Press Writer
Sat Jan 21, 10:29 PM ET
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - If there was any remaining doubt that Florida's top Republican leaders weren't behind Katherine Harris's run for U.S. Senate, those leaders did their best Saturday to cast it aside.
snip
The campaign hasn't been easy for Harris since August when she announced her bid to challenge incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson. GOP leaders in Washington searched for another candidate, convinced that voters were polarized by her role as Florida's secretary of state in the 2000 presidential election recount and that she could not win.
snip
We know that when we turn out the Republicans, we'll be victorious," she said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060122/ap_on_el_se/senate_harris
Carol,
I completely agree.
Posted by: sparrow at January 22, 2006 09:19 PM
I wouldn't put anyhing past the Republicans in this one. They will do anything they can to disgrace Nelson. Swiftboating will look like child's play. They will be happy to plant the seeds of doubt now, and go after him in the next go around. Harris is taking it for the team, just like she did in 2000.
Posted by: oncall at January 22, 2006 09:23 PM
Ok, this may be very unfair, but I remember a picture of her and the associate she had an affair with. Is that fair play to use it? (Well, only if he's crystal clean himself)
oncall,
irc and/or call me?
I cut this post from crooksandliars.com. Now, here is somebody who knows what we have to do to get George Bush out of the White House.
Rachel Maddow BLEW IT!
Now,
Obama BLOWS it!
Wow! Apparently, the dems weren't taking notes from Kerry.
(Sigh!)
O.K. here's how this interview should have gone:
----------------------
Russert: ...do you think that it was appropriate to call George W. Bush a terrorist.
Obama: Let me ask you this, Tim. Do you think it is appropriate that this president -- two years ago -- said that Osama Bin Laden was not a concern of his...
Russert: but...but...
Obama: Do you think it was appropriate that our President is relinquishing our civil liberties and fighting unjustified illegal wars while the architect of 911 is still on the loose sending us audio tapes?
Russert: We have to go to a break now...
-----------------------
Someone get the f-----g smelling salt fot the dems. What is wrong with them?!!!
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/crooks/6816/
i gather that Kaine was chosen precisely to deal with issues other than national security. Say the disastrous prescription drug bill, Bush's insane tax policies he wants to make permanent, destruction of Social Security,right wing judges out of the mainstream. kaine is also a great communicator connecting with religious voters. i like kaine's selection, but I like a lot of the Kaine/Warner Virginia tandum.
A little off-topic but things are going nuts around here right now - for the Seahawks!
I don't even like football and went to the mall to escape it BUT everyone was watching it there on giant screens, even me (because it's fun to see everyone go nuts!)
--I got to talking to a security guard who makes $8/hour but used to make as much as $32/hour at a union job and his company got downsized - NPR listener, very informed, and believe me - he knew who was running in all the elections and WHY they won (Germany, France, South American countries etc). Related it all to economics. Interesting.
I don't think someone coming on tv and saying the right thing is going to make much difference.
At least football games can't be hacked like elections.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/home/index.html
Peter Daou on Russert:
http://daoureport.salon.com/synopsis.aspx?synopsisId=6f052bca-17ea-4b85-a2d4-ba85a5589324
Astute.
(Old timers will remember Daou's work from 2003-2004)
Results 1 - 10 of about 77,700 for tim russert is racist. (0.29 seconds)
Best comment on saw about Russert was:
If Russert asked Senator Obama about Belafonte. Obama should have asked Russert why pigs dig for truffles.
At Least 23 Iraqis Die in Spate of Attacks
By SAMEER N. YACOUB
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at a policeman's home northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, killing his four children and his brother and raising to at least 23 the number of Iraqis killed in attacks this weekend.
Also Sunday, police found the bullet-riddled bodies of nearly two dozen men abducted last week north of Baghdad after being rejected entry into a police academy, officials said.
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/20060122/1555007225.htm&ewp=ewp_news_iraq_hostage&floc=NW_1-T
Here is the same link from the above story, it might be easier to access this way:
http://tinyurl.com/7rqfw
Halliburton Cited in Iraq Contamination
By LARRY MARGASAK
The Associated Press
Sunday, January 22, 2006; 10:25 PM
WASHINGTON -- Troops and civilians at a U.S. military base in Iraq were exposed to contaminated water last year and employees for the responsible contractor, Halliburton, couldn't get their company to inform camp residents, according to interviews and internal company documents.
Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, disputes the allegations about water problems at Camp Junction City, in Ramadi, even though they were made by its own employees and documented in company e-mails.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/22/AR2006012200422.html?sub=AR
Pakistan PM: CIA attack reports 'bizarre'
No evidence that top al Qaeda leaders were at target, he says
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/01/22/pakistan.attack/index.html
Sunday 22 January 2006
MEMO
To: Congressional Democrats
From: William Rivers Pitt
RE: A bold maneuver
I have a wild and crazy idea.
George W. Bush's delivery of the State of the Union address will take place on Tuesday, January 31, a little more than a week from now. It is my strong belief that every single Democrat present in the House chamber for the speech should, at a predetermined moment, stand up and walk out. No yelling. No heated words. Every Democrat should simply stand silently and leave.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012206A.shtml
Tim Russert, Chris Matthews - same diff.
I watch tv so seldom I can't keep them straight.
This is fun though.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5598
We just watched "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" with Joan Crawford & Bette David, yet I find when I get back on the internet, truth is STILL stranger than fiction!!
Kaine is one of those Democrats that I may not agree with every issue with, but he is Democrat he ran a race in a Republican State as a Democrat he didnt run a race in a Democratic State as a Democrat, see the differance?
He may or may not be the person to define our message but since no one else seems to be doing an outstanding job of this let him try, it cant hurt.
Murtha has become the voice of the anti-war part of the Democratic party but I dont think thats what he intended at all, a lot of us Democrats believe we need to leave Iraq however we also believe we need to do so in away that limits the damage, we may not like it but we broke it and now we have to help fix it, those of us who believe this way also believe Bush is not the man to do that fixing.
I watched Meet the Press last night with Begala and Carville they were talking about their book they said something a lot of us have been saying, take out any election fraud issues for a second and look at things this way. Democrats have not found their backbone, look at the way we allowed John Kerry to be defined by the Republican Party in the last election, his team let them say what they wanted and were slow to defend him, even though there was a ton of evidence that could have been used immediatly. If we keep letting them define us we lose its as simple as that, we need ONE Clear message that we hammer home, when we find that and when we can go on a sustained attack and still carry that message we will win no matter how much they try and steel elections its as simple and as hard as that.
On an aside: TEAM IS GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL YEAHHHHHH GO STEELERS