Be the Government

Veritas,

My idea is to create a vibrant online community in which people will challenge each other to research and disseminate the truth, will activate and motivate each other to action, will create new tools and organizational structures for systemic change and engagement in democracy, and which will challenge the status quo in government so that government itself improves.

Oh wait. That sounds like...

I do believe in good government, and I believe that a government which responds to the needs of the people, makes friends with other nations, works for the greater good, and does not seek to amass more power than is due, is the kind of government the founders envisioned.

You know, that self-determining stuff.

In the meantime, soup kitchens are good places to meet interesting people. And the classroom is where I teach and learn the most. Besides here.

I volunteer to be a travelling diplomat but I will promote humane policy rather than official policy.

A little off topic, but on topic from last thread I think. I've been wanting to start my own newspaper because our local paper is not cutting it---printing Mark Kirk's press releases verbatem, but not exactly sure how to find the time and how to allocate it for best results. Anyone on the blog ever do something like this before?

From the previous link about Bush being helped by the Bin Ladein video...
I remember the big discussion about it.
We should either hammer Bush about how the guy that murders 3000 of us is running around loose or do nothing. The campaign chose to not mention it. Whether it was the correct move or not is debateable and only important if it happens prior to another election.
I can picture Smirky's grin as he tells the story.
Gotta go puke.

EB,

Yes, Dick has done this. Join us in the irc tonight. I think around 9:30 EST...

Repost:

Speaking of a network of press offices, check out this wiki entry on IndyMedia Centers (IMCs)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indymedia

IMCs produce print, audio, photo, and video journalism, but are most well known for their open publishing newswires: internet weblog sites where anyone with internet access can publish information. The content of an IMC is determined by its participants, in collaboration with various layers of individuals designated as administrators.

A graphical way to find the location of Indymedia Centers has been created in a world-wide Indymedia map
http://manifestor.org/john/worldkit/

Posted by: Ellen Beth at February 28, 2006 05:13 PM

I think I know someone who can help you.

For those of us who can't be there...

Watch the live feed from Bourbon Street here ==>

http://www.cnn.com/pipeline/freeday/

(Maybe we'll catch a glimpse of Indy...)

Can someone send me a transcript of the Mardi Gras party...uh...I mean the discussion in the IRC tonight?

My "on the road" network connection can't handle all that revelry and won't let me IRC along with the best of y'all. [And whoever takes over for me as bartender...don't forget the hand grenades.]

To democracy!...vive la revolution

Posted by: madame defarge at February 28, 2006 07:56 PM

Hey wait, when I was there you had to do more than wave for beads!

Posted by: Veritas at February 28, 2006 08:01 PM

LOL! Care to elaborate???

madame- I think Veritas might be referring to the, uh, removal of a ladies upper garments to attract the attention of the bead throwers.
'Tis a Mardi Gras tradition, for sure.
Down here in P'cola, which is just 50 miles from Mobile, where Mardi Gras really started in the US, contrary to the opinions of most historians and Louisiana revellers, we just scrunch up really close to the 16 year olds who are wearing their tank tops and are draped over the security gates. Standing next to those girls is always a good place for bead catching.
Exactly WHY we want the beads eludes me, but I have them hanging on my bookcases all over my house.

http://tinyurl.com/ftxx4

For those who doubt where Mardi Gras began in the US- here's the Mobile, Ala. take on it. Their dates preceed New Orleans dates by several years.
BUT, New Orleans does it better, so who cares.

So the mardi gras is the perfect place for the breast not bombs marchers.

Posted by: Linda Enterkin at February 28, 2006 08:53 PM

Shocked...I'm totally shocked, I tell you... Must be a liberal thing because I'm sure conservatives wouldn't be caught dead showing their mammary glands... ;)

ALERT RADIO/TV: Audio Commentary from Pollster John Zogby is available for download and broadcast through this link https://interactive.zogby.com/media

Le Moyne College/Zogby Poll shows just one in five troops want to heed Bush call to stay "as long as they are needed"

While 58% say mission is clear, 42% say U.S. role is hazy

Plurality believes Iraqi insurgents are mostly homegrown

Almost 90% think war is retaliation for Saddam's role in 9/11, most don't blame Iraqi public for insurgent attacks

Majority of troops oppose use of harsh prisoner interrogation

Plurality of troops pleased with their armor and equipment

An overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year, and nearly one in four say the troops should leave immediately

The poll, conducted in conjunction with Le Moyne College's Center for Peace and Global Studies, showed that 29% of the respondents, serving in various branches of the armed forces, said the U.S. should leave Iraq "immediately," while another 22% said they should leave in the next six months. Another 21% said troops should be out between six and 12 months, while 23% said they should stay "as long as they are needed."

Different branches had quite different sentiments on the question, the poll shows. While 89% of reserves and 82% of those in the National Guard said the U.S. should leave Iraq within a year, 58% of Marines think so. Seven in ten of those in the regular Army thought the U.S. should leave Iraq in the next year. Moreover, about three-quarters of those in National Guard and Reserve units favor withdrawal within six months, just 15% of Marines felt that way. About half of those in the regular Army favored withdrawal from Iraq in the next six months.

The troops have drawn different conclusions about fellow citizens back home. Asked why they think some Americans favor rapid U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, 37% of troops serving there said those Americans are unpatriotic, while 20% believe people back home don't believe a continued occupation will work. Another 16% said they believe those favoring a quick withdrawal do so because they oppose the use of the military in a pre-emptive war, while 15% said they do not believe those Americans understand the need for the U.S. troops in Iraq.

The wide-ranging poll also shows that 58% of those serving in country say the U.S. mission in Iraq is clear in their minds, while 42% said it is either somewhat or very unclear to them, that they have no understanding of it at all, or are unsure. While 85% said the U.S. mission is mainly "to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9-11 attacks," 77% said they also believe the main or a major reason for the war was "to stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq."

"Ninety-three percent said that removing weapons of mass destruction is not a reason for U.S. troops being there," said Pollster John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International.

"Instead, that initial rationale went by the wayside and, in the minds of 68% of the troops, the real mission became to remove Saddam Hussein." Just 24% said that "establishing a democracy that can be a model for the Arab World" was the main or a major reason for the war. Only small percentages see the mission there as securing oil supplies (11%) or to provide long-term bases for US troops in the region (6%).

The continuing insurgent attacks have not turned U.S. troops against the Iraqi population, the survey shows. More than 80% said they did not hold a negative view of Iraqis because of those attacks. About two in five see the insurgency as being comprised of discontented Sunnis with very few non-Iraqi helpers. "There appears to be confusion on this," Zogby said. But, he noted, less than a third think that if non-Iraqi terrorists could be prevented from crossing the border into Iraq, the insurgency would end. A majority of troops (53%) said the U.S. should double both the number of troops and bombing missions in order to control the insurgency.

The survey shows that most U.S. military personnel in-country have a clear sense of right and wrong when it comes to using banned weapons against the enemy, and in interrogation of prisoners. Four in five said they oppose the use of such internationally banned weapons as napalm and white phosphorous. And, even as more photos of prisoner abuse in Iraq surface around the world, 55% said it is not appropriate or standard military conduct to use harsh and threatening methods against insurgent prisoners in order to gain information of military value.

Three quarters of the troops had served multiple tours and had a longer exposure to the conflict: 26% were on their first tour of duty, 45% were on their second tour, and 29% were in Iraq for a third time or more.

A majority of the troops serving in Iraq said they were satisfied with the war provisions from Washington. Just 30% of troops said they think the Department of Defense has failed to provide adequate troop protections, such as body armor, munitions, and armor plating for vehicles like HumVees. Only 35% said basic civil infrastructure in Iraq, including roads, electricity, water service, and health care, has not improved over the past year. Three of every four were male respondents, with 63% under the age of 30.

The survey included 944 military respondents interviewed at several undisclosed locations throughout Iraq. The names of the specific locations and specific personnel who conducted the survey are being withheld for security purposes. Surveys were conducted face-to-face using random sampling techniques. The margin of error for the survey, conducted Jan. 18 through Feb. 14, 2006, is +/- 3.3 percentage points.

Please click the link below to view the full news release with tables:
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1075

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/28/AR2006022801712.html

Veterans Report Mental Distress
About a Third Returning From Iraq Seek Help

More than one in three soldiers and Marines who have served in Iraq later sought help for mental health problems, according to a comprehensive snapshot by Army experts of the psyches of men and women returning from the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places.

The accounts of more than 300,000 soldiers and Marines returning from several theaters paint an unusually detailed picture of the psychological impact of the various conflicts. Those returning from Iraq consistently reported more psychic distress than those returning from Afghanistan and other conflicts, such as those in Bosnia or Kosovo.

Iraq veterans are far more likely to have witnessed people getting wounded or killed, to have experienced combat, and to have had aggressive or suicidal thoughts, the Army report said. Nearly twice as many of those returning from Iraq reported having a mental health problem -- or were hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder -- compared with troops returning from Afghanistan.

In questionnaires filled out after their deployment, more than half of all soldiers and Marines returning from Iraq reported that they had "felt in great danger of being killed" there, and 2,411 reported having thoughts of killing themselves, the report said. It did not have comparable data from earlier conflicts.

Earlier research has suggested that 12 to 20 percent of combat veterans develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which produces flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive thoughts that disrupt work and home life. The new study found that Iraq veterans have mental disorders diagnosed at the rate of 12 percent per year.

(much much more at the link)

The classic definition of Shadow Government is an unelected and unaccountable group or individual replacing elected officials.

The best example is the 2nd term of Ronald Reagan. When he was no longer able to make decisions, the presidency was replaced by a small group of officials making policy and decisions without consent of the President.

Looking at present government we could make the arguement the executive branch has created a shadow government operating outside the restrictions of the Constitution.

Maybe in 8-10 years when these people are on their deathbed we will find out how far this administration went.

Posted by: Toolmaker at March 1, 2006 01:19 AM

Toolmaker, while our alternative government is certainly unelected, we are definitely accountable: to our networks of friends, co-workers, relatives, acquaintances, etc. who come to depend on us to fill the gap between what the government should offer and what it does.

Maybe "shadow government" is the wrong term...maybe "halo government" comes closer to the mark.

And someday decades from now when "official history" gets wind of what our halo government has done...our accomplishments, I dare say, will be night-and-day opposite from the corrupted indulgences of the current shadow admin.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060301/ap_on_re_as/afghan_bush
Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Afghanistan
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan - President Bush made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday, flying here secretly to support its fledging government in the face of rising violence from al-Qaida and Taliban militants.

Norman Solomon | Mahatma Bush
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022806M.shtml
Norman Solomon writes: The White House announced plans for George W. Bush to lay a wreath at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial in New Delhi this week. While audacious in its shameless and extreme hypocrisy, this PR gambit is in character for the world's only superpower. One of the main purposes of the Bush regime's media spin is to depict reality as its opposite.

EPA Okays Chemical Testing on Fetal Tissue
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/022806HA.shtml
Without any public notice, the US Environmental Protection Agency has rewritten its proposed rule on human experiments to authorize chemical testing on fetal tissue, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

{{{Anyone besides me wonder if the 'pro-lifers' will be up in arms about chemical testing on pre-born dead fetuses? That seems to be the legislative 'compromise' since there was such a hullabaloo over the fact that chemcial companies wanted legislation enabling them to test their chemicals on living fetuses via pregnant women, or on young children.... OK. I don't get any of this. When chemicals are bad, they're bad, and no one needs to do any huge amount of testing to prove that, especially not on fetuses, pregnant women, or young children, which only reminds history buffs of the testing done on people in Hitler's concentration camps. I know from personal experience that the chemicals that make soaps and fabric softeners and candles and most perfumes can trigger an asthma attack... it did so on my asthmatic mother ever time we went in stores together, and the smelly stuff gives me instant headaches, so I know they're bad for babies and fetuses. I still don't know why the chemical formulas were changed on baby products and shampoos and hand lotions. Even I can't stand the stench of baby oil any longer, and when a baby scrunches up its face in displeasure when encountering those smells, that should tell any mother aware of her child's likes and dislikes that the chemicals that make the smellies just aren't good.... No common sense any more in many young women who buy those products at inflated prices.}}}

Climate Scientists Issue Dire Warning
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/022806EA.shtml
The Earth's temperature could rise under the impact of global warming to levels far higher than previously predicted, according to the United Nations' team of climate experts. Recent computer models have foreseen increases as high as 11 degrees centigrade.

Sunny Weather Creeps Me Out
Unseasonably warm, blissful days were once cause for naked rejoicing. Now they scream, 'Global warming!'
By Mark Morford
Just a week ago today, before the cold rains swept back in, it was 74 degrees in San Francisco and clear and sunny and gorgeous as a giant diamond licked by nubile virgin cheerleaders high on rum and lip balm and pink-bunny vibrators.

It was refreshing as a banana split in hell, cloudless as a forest nymph's dream of spring. It was so warm and perfect for a normally chilly February it made you look around the city and sigh in a swooning, maybe-the-world-isn't-as-miserable-as-I-thought kind of stunned bliss even as you scanned past the weather section and saw that places like Michigan and Chicago and New York were still digging out from blizzards and ice storms and subzero I-can't-feel-my-eyeballs frigidity, even as you realized this burst wouldn't last and we would soon be returning to biting fog-blasted rain any day now.

For this time of year in San Francisco, blasts of weird summerlike weather are probably completely normal. February invariably means sporadic rain, long spurts of frigid cold beaming down from ever-melting Alaska, alongside nice puffy tufts of warm sun of sufficient perfection to make you think about car washes and sex in the park and how you need to get some new T-shirts for summer.

But then again, not quite. Something is amiss. Something about this blazing loveliness feels just a little bit off, a little bit wrong, something nagging and squirming just under the skin of this sunny daydream bliss, and if you're paying any sort of attention to the world these days you can't help but hear, as you bask in the warm sun-kissed goodness, an uneasy and nervous voice stabbing into your sun-dappled brain: Isn't it just a little too warm? Too sunny? Can this be right? ...
(click here to read the rest)
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2006/03/01/notes030106.DTL&nl=fix

Let history judge
By Scott Ritter
It was judge Jackson's words, and my steadfast allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, motivated me to give testimony this past Saturday at the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration, in particular in support of the first count put forward by the commission: that the Bush administration authorized a war of aggression against Iraq.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12100.htm
Excerpt:
In 1946, the Nuremburg Tribunal rejected the German defense of pre-emption when it came to the invasion of Denmark and Norway in 1940. The Germans had cited the imminent occupation of these two nations by the armed forces of France and Great Britain, which would have threatened the German northern front, as just cause. This defense was rebuked by the tribunal, led by US Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, who instead identified the German action as constituting a "war of aggression." Judge Jackson went on to say that "To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

{{{To repeat what made an impact on me, since I can't use 'bold' print: US Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson said: "To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." My question: if the "supreme international crime" is initiating war of aggression... isn't that good justification for IMPEACHMENT?!?!? Aside from the illegal torture & detention centers, etc....}}}

Senator Feinstein's War Profiteering
By Joshua Frank
Senator Feinstein's husband has a nice profile at SFGate. Richard Blum has scored bundles from this war and the millions have been deposited in his accounts, which he undoubtedly shares with his wife (even if they aren't, she's certainly reaping the benefits as her salary could not possibly afford a $16.5 million mansion).
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12106.htm

Byrd Says He Regrets Voting For Patriot Act
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0228-07.htm

Miscreants, Murderers, and Malefactors: Imperial Conquest, Torture, and a Little Matter of Genocide:
The monstrous psychopaths now infesting the White House have taken malevolence to a whole new level. Let us remind ourselves that The White House belongs to us and that Bush serves us.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12113.htm

Storm the White House:
It is our duty and the duty of the United Nations to rescue the people of the world from the U.S. dictators. Murder for occupation and theft of land is illegal. Murder of journalists is criminal. Remove the traitors who have stolen the U.S. budget and used it to commit international crimes against humanity.
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?calid=15790

U.S. Opposes U.N.'s Planned Rights Panel: :
The Bush administration will oppose a U.N.-backed resolution calling for the creation of a council to expose the world's worst human rights abusers, John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Monday.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12109.htm

Seven Arrested at White House Protest against Iraq War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022806T.shtml
Holding a banner that read "GOD FORGIVE AMERICA," seven peace activists were arrested yesterday in front of the White House, in a civil disobedience protest against the war in Iraq. Arrested by US Park Police were Brian Terrell, Ed Bloomer, and Elton Davis, all from Catholic Worker communities in the Des Moines, Iowa, area; David Goodner, a University of Iowa student; Eileen Hansen, a Catholic Worker from the Winona, Minnesota; Jeff Leys, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence (VCNV); and Bernie Meyer, a retired social services worker from Olympia, Washington.

Martha Campbell and Malcolm Potts | The Pill Is Mightier than the Sword
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/022806WA.shtml
The Bush Administration intends to cut US funding for international family planning by almost one-fifth. More unwanted births will make the world less secure, for just as smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer, so a high proportion of young men in the population compared with older men is a risk factor for violence.

Molly Ivins | Bush's Carnival Tricks
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0228-33.htm

Center for Constitutional Rights: First Violation of McCain Torture Amendment Alleged in Emergency Injunction
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0228-04.htm

Death of a professor :
here is now a systematic campaign to assassinate Iraqis who speak out against the occupation
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12108.htm

There's only one (polite) word I can think of to describe the president...delusional...

Despite polls, Bush says he has 'capital'

--snip--
"I fully understand that when you do hard things, it creates consternation at times," Bush said. "I've been up in the polls, and I've been down in the polls -- it's just part of life in the modern era. I think the American people -- I know the American people want somebody to stand on principle, make decisions and stand by them and lead this world toward a more peaceful tomorrow, and I strongly believe we're doing that. And I enjoy it. It's a fantastic opportunity."
--snip--
He told Vargas he hopes that his presidency, in retrospect, will be viewed as an "agent for peace."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/28/bush.interview/index.html

Why is it every visit by Bush, Rummy, Cheney or Rice is a "suprise"?

Bush pays suprise visit to Afghanistan...
Rice pays suprise visit to Iraq...
Cheney pays suprise visit to Iraq...
Rumsfeld pays suprise visit to Iraq...

Oh yeah, everything is a secret with these people, I forgot. National security.

I feel secure, don't you?

Posted by: monkey at March 1, 2006 09:14 AM

"Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency..."

(And besides, if their visits were announced in advance, they'd have greeting parties like those tens of thousands of protesters who are waiting for them in India... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/india_us_protests )

Graphics speak louder than words...

Bush looking Nixonian...

http://www.pollkatz.homestead.com/files/BNCapp_12756_image001.gif

All-out publicity blitz and photo-op.
First trip to Afghanistan in 5 years - why now?
"Bush Vowed Bin Laden Will Be Captured"
Then he makes speech assuring us we'll "stay the course" in Iraq, as usual, and makes it sound rosy. Then off to India. It's all so predictable.

Posted by: not my president at March 1, 2006 09:45 AM

Anything at this point to make Boosh look presidential, instead of presimental.

SUPRISE!

Posted by: not my president at March 1, 2006 09:45 AM

The speculation on another blog is that he traded the Dubai port deal for OBL...

It's the electorate... stupid.

D’oh! More know Simpsons than Constitution
Study: America more familiar with cartoon family than First Amendment

CHICAGO - Americans apparently know more about “The Simpsons” than they do about the First Amendment.

Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.

But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11611015/

I look forward to ongoing "cabinet meetings" of our halo government...where over a glass of wine, crusty bread, savory cheese, and a handful of crisp, juicy grapes, we shall share our progress and our challenges.

Start drafting your reports...

This is the article I was recommending last weekend. It's been reprinted.

FOCUS | Jane Mayer: The Memo
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030106Z.shtml
The memo is a chronological account, submitted on July 7, 2004, to Vice Admiral Albert Church, who led a Pentagon investigation into abuses at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It reveals that the General Council of the
Navy, Alberto J. Mora's criticisms of Administration policy were unequivocal,
wide-ranging, and persistent.

--It's also frustrating to look at the news & see glorification of Bush's trip--propaganda & photo-ops, whitewashing, brainwashing & BS.

Conyers smear underway...

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/030106/news2.html

Per a great, detailed Kos diary with an analysis of the Feb. 2006 presidental approval polls...

175 House districts currently represented by Republicans have estimated Bush approval levels at or below 50%.
--snip--
Here are the districts with ulcerous Republicans (from most to least ulcerous): CT-2, IA-2, CT-4, DE-AL, IA-1, IL-10, NH-2, PA-7, CO-7, FL-22, NM-1, NY-25, PA-6, WA-8, CT-5, KY-3, NV-3, NJ-2, OH-15, PA-15, VA-15, FL-10, IA-4, MI-9, MN-1, MN-3, NH-1, NJ-3, NY-23, OH-1, OH-12

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/1/93139/60565

Check out the various details in the maps posted.

new thread, fred