March 2006 Archives
[EDITOR'S NOTE: This piece was written by Dick Bell, who teamed with Karen to liveblog today's Senate Censure hearing.]
The immediate scrums after the hearing broke up centered on Sen. Feingold. There were questions about why there weren't more Democratic Senators present; Feingold said Leahy's opening statement was the strongest statement Leahy has made to date, that they rarely hold hearings on Friday, and that he's seen fewer Senators in the middle of the week [all of which your correspondent can testify is true.]
In his post-hearing remarks, Feingold emphasized that his principle reason for seeking censure had little to do with the NSA spying itself, and that focusing on the narrow issue of the NSA actually helped the White House by taking attention away from the pattern of Bush's power grabs. He joked that being attacked by the New York Times "probably helps me."
Feingold said afterwards that he had chosen censure in order to avoid the wrenching impeachment process. He pointed out that while the Republicans predicted Bush's polls would shoot up in response to Feingold's censure resolution (the RNC is running an ad conflating censure and impeachment), nothing of the sort has taken place.
He told a questioner that he felt he had no choice but to bring this resolution in order to defend the rule of law: "A Democratic Party that doesn't stand up for the rule of law is not the Democratic Party I want."
What was really extraordinary was that this hearing took place at all. While the formality of the hearing restrains the intensity of debate, this hearing room is also a very long way from the back rooms of the blgosphere. Feingold, and the grassroots support of his work, was able to force onto the public record very clear statements about the dangers of the course that Bush has put us on.
In that respect, John Dean was perhaps the most on message speaker. His argument about Bush seeking more power for the sake of gathering more power, unlike most of the earlier presidents whose power-grabbing was in the interest of some program or project.
The effectiveness of Dean's arguement lit a fuse under Sen. Graham, who spent a good deal of his time bullying Dean about events during Watergate, while completely ignored the substance of Dean's critique.
Late in the hearings, Graham left the room for an extended period, but when Feingold started really unloading on Bush, Graham came hustling back into the room, ready to start baiting Dean once again. Note that Graham also spent some time presenting himself as the guy who wants to find "a middle ground," and that he said he thought there were places where Bush had gone too far. Graham has 2008 presidential ambitions, and they were on display today.
There's nobody left now but interns cleaning up the mess, disconnected the mikes, and gathering up the nameplaces.
Keep up the pressure.
DUE TO SOME TECHIE DIFFICULTIES, WE ARE USING THE COMMENTS OF THIS THREAD TO LIVE BLOG THE CENSURE HEARINGS. DICK IS LIVE BLOGGING UNDER KAREN'S HANDLE.
PLEASE JOIN US. THE MORE THE MERRIER.
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This week, I spent one afternoon at a Progressive Caucus event (more on that as we unroll the results of the inside-outside discussions) and one afternoon at the Department of Motor Vehicles for the District of Columbia.
The contrast between "Washington" and "DC" could not have been clearer. The first was a lively exchange of ideas, with lots of frank information sharing; a mutually educational environment.
The second was a dreary waiting room, where people sat, for hours, and waited for their number to be called, so they could fork over lots of money and drive a car legally in the District.
There was a lot of paper at the first event; reports, talking points, action plans. People were passionate and informed.
There was a lot of paper at the second event as well; forms filled out and checks to process. People were alternately irritated and passively defeated.
There was multimedia at the first event: powerpoint, and creative illustrations of bad policy effects.
There was only one medium at the second: a television set, turned to Judge Alex and a show about how people screw each other over and over again until one gets mad and sues the other. The ads were for depression intervention. I could understand why.
Today I am going over to the Senate Office Buildings to see about this censure hearing. I think it will be interesting to note whether it falls into the passive pass-the-Lexapro, we're-all-victims here side of the current mileu or an energetic creative discussion of what is possible.
hmmm.
Watch this space...
Once is a mistake. Twice is a pattern.
It seems to me congressional candidate Howard Kaloogian is either on the Doug Feith level of stupid, or his intent to deceive, lie, manipulate and distort the facts, knows no bounds.
The story of his trying to pass off a picture of a Turkish suburb as downtown Baghdad is now widely known, the truth having been uncovered and verified in less than a day by independent bloggers, AnthonyLA, and jem6x over at Daily Kos.
The new picture Kaloogian has submitted to demonstrate his absurd caption from the first picture, is just as ridiculous.
The new picture, shown here was taken from where?
Likely, it was taken from a balcony at the Rashid Hotel. The Al-Rashid Hotel is perhaps the most fortified and protected square footage of real estate in all of Iraq, let alone Baghdad. Baghdad is safe and peaceful, but the only picture supplied was taken from the balcony of the safest place in all of Iraq?
Oh my, what would Laura Ingraham say?
But why is that fact important? It's important because the caption process is being used to tell you what to think and what to believe about what you are seeing. Namely, that this is what downtown Baghdad looks like today, since Kaloogian has on his website, that he "just returned from Iraq".
Well, candidate Kaloogian fails the honesty test on a couple of levels. First, he didn't just return from Iraq. He "returned from Iraq" in July 2005. Talking about your experiences and posting pictures from a trip to Iraq in July 2005, is a like talking about your experiences and posting pictures from a trip to New Orleans in July 2005. It bears no relationship to the current reality whatsoever, and we all know it.
Moreover, when Kaloogian was there last July, things were hardly jolly, as reported by Martha Zoeller, fellow member of his "delegation" (as he refers to his group) and uber patriotic supporter of the war in Iraq:
The sand storm kicked up and stayed around two days. We spent 18 hours in the temporary terminal at the Baghdad Airport. This was also a great opportunity because random military and civilian contactors came in and out on their way to other places and leave and other bases or home and provided an opportunity to continue to expand the number of people and the viewpoints. The most radical viewpoint came from a UN worker, who didn’t want to have her name used. The day before a heinous homicide car bomb exploded in a crowd of children and families that had gathered around Americans giving out candy. The cowardly bomber waited until the children had gathered and then detonated the bomb, killing 27 children.
So when Kaloogian makes the claim in the caption of the Baghdad picture that, "the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it", let me tell you, they don't have far to look to find it.
They didn't in July 2005, and they don't today.
So, let's review the claims of candidate Kaloogian:
Twenty-seven children are murdered in a suicide bombing during Kaloogian's trip and he reports all quiet and happy on the Iraq front.
He makes the trip to Iraq in July 2005, and reports on his website that he "just returned" from there.
He posts a picture purporting to be downtown Baghdad, but is actually a picture of a suburb of Istanbul.
As I said, once is a mistake. Twice is a pattern. And three times is what, pathological?
Finally, some good news:
BAGHDAD, March 30 -- American journalist Jill Carroll, abducted in early January by gunmen in Baghdad, was released to a Sunni Arab political party in the capital Thursday morning after 82 days in captivity.
"I was never hurt, never hit," she said in an interview with an Arabic-speaking questioner at Islamic Party headquarters. "I was kept in a safe place and treated very well."
Carroll, 28, a freelance reporter working for the Christian Science Monitor, was brought to party headquarters just after 1 p.m. and was able to borrow a phone from a party member and speak with her parents and her twin sister. She also spoke with a Washington Post reporter, who drove to the office and spoke with her.
We wish Ms. Carroll and her family the best. We also wish them a bit of privacy.
I can’t speak for all immigrants and their experience. I can only speak for mine. I am a child of immigrants. Our family was part of the second wave of immigrants from the Philippines started when America first colonized it in the early 20th century. My father was made a citizen in Hawaii shortly after its statehood, my mother a legal alien in the US for most of her life.
In the 1950’s the American zeitgeist for immigrants was to be as AMERICAN (meaning white and speaking English-only) as possible. And though one of these self-imposed requirements was physically impossible, the other one was exploited to the best of our ability. It got me and my sister a good education, good jobs, social acceptability. It also put a permanent glass wall between us and our parent’s culture--which I still mourn to this day. But that was the price of assimilation in those days.
Some species just don't evolve from generation to generation...ladies and gentlemen, I give you the President's nephew, Pierce Bush.
How proud his parents must be.
In other news, Jesus wept.
UPDATE: On this evening's edition of MSNBC's "The Countdown" with Keith Olbermann, Mr. Olbermann named Jerome Corsi as his choice for his nightly awarded dubious honor of "Worst Person in The World". But what about Olbermann's colleague at MSNBC, Monica Crowley?
When announcing this evening's recipient, Mr. Olbermann explained that Mr. Corsi had earned this title because of his plagiarism of fellow conservative columnist, Debbie Schlussel's, work. Mr. Olbermann's cited Ms. Schlussel's article in which she accuses Corsi of plagiarism, and updates the story herself after Corsi admits to stealing Schlussel's work to their editor, who then does almost nothing to remedy the situation.
Curiously, Olbermann made no mention whatsoever of the accusations and convincing examples of plagiarism by MSNBC commentator, Monica Crowley, about whom Ms. Schlussel also wrote in the same article.
In fact, not only did Ms. Schlussel accuse Ms. Crowley in the same article as Mr. Corsi, but she spent twice as much space in her column detailing Ms Crowley's plagiarism than she spent on Mr. Corsi's (two graphs for Corsi, four for Crowley).
In other words, it was far more than a passing reference to Ms. Crowley's dubious work habits, and next to impossible to miss.
So if it was next to impossible to miss, why did Olbermann leave his colleague Monica Crowley out of the story, and out of the competition?
Story updated at 12:49 AM, March 27, 2006, by Casey Morris
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In light of this article (via James Wolcott), you have to wonder why Ben Domenech was singled out for slaughter while other accused plagiarists, Monica Crowley, and Jerome Corsi, have been ignored?
When I use the term "slaughter", I don't mean the criticism and eventual exposure that Domenech received from the left side of the blogosphere. Brady hired him to incite controversy, though I imagine he got more than he bargained for in the three short days that young Domenech worked for him.
No, I'm talking about the pile-on from the right side of the blogosphere- NRO, Michelle Malkin and many others.
Wolcott points us to Debbie Schussel's article in which she asks this very question. She doesn't mind the pile-on, but she wants to know why Monica Crowley and Jerome Corsi have been allowed a free pass on what, in Corsi's case, was admitted plagiarism, and in Crowley's case, appears to be convincing evidence of plagiarism?
I don't know the answer to that question, but it made me come up with a few other questions that should be asked alongside it. For example, does the fact that both Crowley and Corsi work for organizations (MSNBC and WorldNetDaily) that are decidedly and overtly sympathetic to conservative Republican messengers make a difference? Were Crowley and Corsi's transgressions purposefully ignored by their corporate bosses to favor Republican agendas?
Here's another question: Now that Malkin, The NRO and others have taken such a strong and principled stance against plagiarism, will they apply those same standards to Crowley and Corsi? Will they call for Corwley or Corsi's firings from their respected positions?
And finally, now that discovering instances of plagiarism is the new black, how many other examples of plagiarism by Crowley and Corsi will be unearthed in the immediate days to come? Will they be fired or even castigated publicly for the plagiarism Schussel convincingly makes the case for?
Well, we'll see. But it's more than possible that the same apparatus that shut off the discussion of Crowley and Corsi before, could well be poised to stifle public discourse once more.
I could be wrong. I often am. I'm not holding my breath, though.
I just don't look that good in blue.
cross posted at Daily Kos, entitled, "More Right-Wing Plagiarism"
This is the latest installment of my weekly series for the tired, poor, huddled masses who dot the charred American political landscape. I have read your letters and feel your pain. May god bless you all. You are my people.
-- Polly
I received the following email written to radio personality, Dr. Laura Schlessinger. Dr. Laura is not a medical doctor, but she did receive a Ph.D. in one of the touchy-feely disciplines. This qualifies her to judge and pass sentence on Americans every day. So far, Dr. Laura has not answered the questions of this listener, so I will attempt to answer them today. The lumpen deserve no less. Read on…
Dear Dr. Laura: Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them.
[From the ongoing Saturday series, "Art and Politics", examining the impact of Politics on Art, Art on Politics, and a few things in between.]
This film review is coming to you live from Santa Cruz, California, home of the University of California at Santa Cruz. Yes, THAT UC Santa Cruz.
We are still gasping for breath. Nikko and I just finished seeing "V for Vendetta", and the word that comes to our minds is simply:
"Awesome".
Not just because its topical, but it is. Not just because Islamic people, homosexuals, non-Christians are demonized in the society "V" exists in. But they are. And not because the analogies are literally word-for-word, event for event a cautionary tale of what a terror-based neo-dictatorship looks like in a republic like England or America. But it most certainly is.
It is that and its more.
"V for Vendetta" is a film that makes a hero out of a terrorist. This theme alone causes dyspepsia amongst neocons, but the deeper aspects as to WHY he became one is the heart of why you go to see this film. The parallel to Alexander Dumas "The Count of Monte Cristo" is drawn to make a point about not judging V the terrorist so swiftly or superficially.
The madness driving V to commit acts of violence against the state is everyone's madness to a greater or lesser degree. The state's need to control free thought, individuality, expression and personhood created a society fed up with being spoonfed lies by a government-controlled media. People live under heightened security alerts, and the overarching presence of the dictator. Everyone living in this society is part of a seething, disgruntled yet dulled and powerless mass, needing an alarm to wake up. Need I say does this sound familiar?
"V" provides the alarm clock and more. Both in the society in which the plot is based, and for the audiences of this film in theaters across the country.
In Santa Cruz, CA, a university town always lively with anti-war activities since the early 70's and UCSC a subject of surveillance by the Pentagon for its anti-war activities, it came as no surprise to see the long lines form in front of the theater for this film. A sense of irony hit me as we were watching--I felt as though I was watching a film within a film--the movie theater a microcosm of what we see happening across the country: NSA, FISA, Patriot Act. And right outside on the streets of this small California town.
It was not a comfortable feeling.
But the heroes of "V" say something that made my heart full and I hope gives you heart when you go see the film. They talk about the power of ideas and the value of hope. And in those ideas, lie the seeds for awakening.
See this film and tell us what you think.
Many of you know that I continually encourage us to act publicly. There are a number of reasons for this, despite the occasional feeling that it is a lonely chest-beating dance:
It makes those who act feel like we are doing SOMETHING, no matter how small, as Howard Zinn continually reminds us.
It encourages others who merely watch and lets them know they are not alone.
It emboldens some to act in even smaller ways but it begins a journey for them.
It sends a message to the powers-that-be that people are not really asleep and we are paying attention.
Also, that we are armed with the truth.
So it is with renewed hope that I share the following announcement from Code Pink:
Dear CODEPINK Activist,
Mother's Day is often seen as if through a soft-focus lens -- a sentimental day of cards and flowers and frills. It has a surprisingly radical history, however. Just as International Women’s Day, March 8, started as a day for women to rise up for peace and justice, so did Mother’s Day in the US begin with Julia Ward Howe’s inspirational 1870 Proclamation against the carnage of the Civil War:
Arise then...women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts!… Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, For caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, Will be too tender of those of another country To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs." From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
Julia goes on to exhort women to leave their homes and gather for an “earnest day of counsel” to figure out how “the great human family can live in peace.” It’s time to take Julia’s words to heart and bring them to fruition in the world. Bouquets of spring flowers may be lovely, but lasting peace is the greatest way to honor all mothers -- past, present and future. Read the rest of Julia's Proclamation here.
Join us this Mother's Day weekend, May 13-14, in Washington DC as we gather for a 24-hour vigil outside the White House. Bring your mother, your children, your grandmother, your friends, your loved ones. Come for the whole vigil (4pm Saturday to 4pm Sunday) or for a few hours! We’ll sing, dance, drum, bond, laugh, cry and hug. We’ll write letters to Laura Bush to appeal to her own mother-heart, and read them aloud. We’ll discuss new ideas for ending the war and building peace. In the final two hours, from 2-4pm on Sunday, we’ll be joined by some amazing celebrity actresses, singers, writers--and moms. For more information and a schedule of events to help you plan your trip, check out the Mothers' Day page on the CODEPINK website. If you can’t join us, you can create or join a Mother's Day activity in your own community. For ideas to help you plan an action check out the resources section of the Mother's Day page.
And whether you’re in the US or overseas, please consider writing a letter to Laura Bush to ask her how she, as a mother, can continue to support a war that is leaving scores of American and Iraqi mothers bereft. Send your letters to laurabush@codepinkalert.org, we’ll deliver them en masse; we'll also take the most compelling letters and turn them into a book, “Letters to Laura.”
Let’s make this Mother’s Day, May 14, one where we heed Julia Ward Howe’s original call to action. Let’s come together to build the world we want for our children --and our mothers.
******
Of course, men and those who are NOT mothers can consider participating in these actions -- we all HAD mothers. Think about 5 million PARTICIPANTS in this 24-hour project. Think about doing whatever you can do to deliver your personal point of view to the White House.
It's a democracy, as long as we say it is, and as long as we ACT within it.
Sometimes I read pieces by Digby that are just so good, that I think I will just quit writing altogether. Digby wrote a great piece that says everything I wanted to say, only better.
So here it is. Digby on the media contortionists.
And I guess as long as there is politics, I won't run out of things to write about anytime soon. Probably by this afternoon.
In the meantime, there's Digby.
Oh, and about Ben Domenech, plagiarist extraordinaire, somebody might want to give WaPo a call and tell them the building's on fire.
I walked into the bank yesterday to make one of those long, tiresome and takes-forever-because-we-have-to-count-out-tons-of-change kind of deposits.
Fortunately, they have a good "kids corner" there, so I knew it would be okay to bring my four year old without wreaking havoc on the bank for the 20+ minutes we would be there. In case you haven't noticed, most banks are now quieter than most libraries.
Except my bank.
Since you may have to wait in line, they have thoughtfully installed a television up on the wall for your viewing pleasure while you wait. Nice. Except for one thing. It's always tuned to Fox. Always. I had marked this fact before mentally, but it wasn't until today as I thought back on it, and confirmed in my memory that it really is tuned to Fox every single time I come into the bank.
Worse still, the President was on the television, speaking to a crowd in West Virginia, informing us how brave the people from the Sago Mine tragedy are, and how we have to pray for them. He didn't mention that we need to pray especially hard for them because he and the Republican-led Congress removed the protection for miners and removed funding for enforcement of MSHA violations.
He then continued with a bit about how we need to understand what the soldiers in Eye-Rack are facing.
As I stood in line, I thought, "That's enough."
In a fairly loud voice, I called over to the lovely teller Michelle, "Excuse me, Michelle? Can we please change the station here? I find this offensive." She nicely replied that she didn't have the remote, but she would call her manager, which she promptly did.
The manager came out of his office and over to me in line right away. He said in a fairly startled voice, " Hi. You are offended by the news?"
"No, I'm not offended by the news, " I replied. "I am offended by Fox News, which pretends to be the news, but reports things that are demonstrably false. I am offended by any news outlet which sees its job as being a cheerleader for the President instead of a cheerleader for the truth. But mostly I am offended having to listen to the President tell us how we need to understand what the troops are facing in Eye-Rack. I don't need to be lectured to about understanding what the troops face by a guy who spent Vietnam dodging the draft while other people died. You know, my child is here, and I don't want him listening to this [pointing to President Bush speaking on the television]. And I don't want to be forced to listen to this while I am standing in line. So, could you please change the channel?"
You can imagine my shock when four other people in line started applauding my mini-rant.
As the bank manager looked at us, you could see the mild surprise and acquiescence cross his face.
"Okay, well, I will go get the remote and change it. What do you want on?", he asked.
"How about the weather channel?" I said, looking at my line standing compatriots. Everyone nodded and the channel was changed.
As I look back, I hadn't noticed that when the manager came out, he hadn't intended to have to change the channel. He didn't bring the remote with him. He left it in his office. Interesting.
The real point to the story is obvious though. We don't have to take it. We don't have to tolerate propaganda in public places.
Our democracy didn't slip away in 2000 with a Supreme Court decided election, and it didn't get overthrown in 2004 either.
It's been eroded and deteriorated and desecrated, day by day, in many ways, both large and small.
It will take many actions, both large and small, on the part of all over us, to get it back. To take it back.
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance," said Thomas Jefferson.
Eternal vigilance everywhere. Even in line at the bank.
The last two presidential elections were clouded, to say the least. The mainstream media went on with business as usual, while private citizens went sleuthing. The result is a diversity of grassroots investigation and activism. I now view fair elections activism as a branch of the civil rights struggle that has gone on for decades.
Last week, Elizabeth Walters of Seattle organized a Forum. She is a political activist and volunteer who has chosen the issue of fair elections as her major focus, and considers it the question that really matters in the 2006 and 2008 elections. The event was essentially about preserving democracy in America. Co-sponsors were local party districts, local progressive talk radio, Code Pink and the Backbone campaign. We heard three speakers at the forum which was followed by a moderated discussion.
The Speakers
Bev Harris, author of “Black Box Voting – Ballot Tampering in the 21st century” and founder of Blackboxvoting.org, a consumer protection organization that helped prove that voting machines can be hacked.
Paul Lehto, consumer protection attorney; recently won a citizen’s lawsuit against Sequoia Voting Machines.
Richard Borkowski, computer consultant and activist, demonstrated in person how to secretly reverse election results and he did it in a few seconds.
When I started to even THINK about writing letters to the editor, Gore had lost the recount and Bush was installed. I thought, but I didn't do anything.
Eight months later I had a baby, and six weeks after that I was nursing my baby at about nine in the morning and watching the Today Show. The date was September 11, 2001.
A week later, as I watched the manipulation of fear turn into a grab for what would eventually look an awful lot like a fascist government in our midst, I knew I needed to DO something.
I was a political and media professional. I had skills and experience. How could I stand by and do nothing?
I began to feel real terror, but not from the terrorists who attacked us in New York. I felt terror at watching the freedoms and liberties I was raised to fight for, be traded off like the cheap items and a silent auction. A very silent auction.
But I had a big problem. I had a new baby.
What if Mommy says a word that the government doesn't like and they drag Mommy off to jail? Shortly after 9-11 the Congress gave the President the power to determine who is an enemy, and then pick them up, never to be seen again.
Of course, we come to find out five years later that both Congress and the Courts are just an irritating formality to the Executive. The President did not need Congress to pass legislation approving that. He would have done it anyway. And that is what I suspected in the first place.
If I had been single and childless, it would have been much easier, but now I had a baby to consider.
I called my sister (not the Bush supporter, the one who believes in the Constitution), to complain about the government. I call her everyday with a "Daily Disgrace" political report. She had been already getting these calls for sometime, when finally one day in October she asked me pointedly, "Look, when are you going to do what you know you should be doing about this? When are you going to get involved and start writing and going public with all of this stuff?"
I said, "I can't. I'm afraid. What if they don't like what I am saying? These are some seriously scary people."
I still remember the tone of her voice when she said to me, "That's why you have to do it. Because these are very scary people."
I looked at her hard. "Hey, I'm not kidding. These are scary people and they are NOT going to like what I am saying."
She put her coffee cup down, and as she stood and turned to put on her coat to leave she looked down at the baby and said, "Well then, you better be sure that whatever you have to say, you shout from the rooftops so as many people hear as possible. The more people that know what's going on, the safer we'll all be. Really, it's our only hope."
And she was right. She still is.
One foot in front of the other. Keep moving, keep going. Each thing builds on the next.
Hope conquers despair, and action vanquishes fear.
[Editor's note: from blogger LadyTechie, a remembrance.]
MARCH 19, 2003
I sit in my little apartment; I should have gone to work today, but it feels to scary to leave the place. Somehow I'm trying to follow everything -- I've got the computer and the TV on, trying to keep up. The pictures on the TV are scary, SHOCK AND AWE they claim. Well, if it frightens me, what must it feel like to the Iraqi mother or the fruit seller in the street? Why are we doing this? It makes no sense.
Last weekend saw the largest demonstrations in history. Don't they understand no one wants this war? It somehow feels like 'Nam all over again. We don't know what will happen when we get there, when we reach Baghdad. Rummy says we'll be greeted with flowers. We'll see in a few days.
MARCH 19, 2006
So three years have passed. We didn't get the flowers now, did we? It was just in May, 2003 that Bush stood on a battleship, with that banner above him, "Mission Accomplished." Seems like every month the flags here are at half-staff. I post in the blog of my sorrow for another family left to mourn, and I go sign the book here. Go yourself and look at the faces. These faces are the legacy of this war, and the only reason I need to oppose it.
~ LadyTechie ~
[Editors Note: We are revisiting this part of our ongoing Sunday series examining the intersection of religion and politics and its relationship to our present state of democracy, written exclusively for the DCP, by Matthew Carnicelli. Mr. Carnicelli has been on an extended sabbatical in recent months are we eagerly await his return to this Sunday morning blogspace. I have chosen to report this piece, originally published early last year, because i think it is pertinent to the discussion and decision we are facing now and in the coming months about leadership. What leadership is, what it is not, and how we come to choose our country's leaders will be critical to our future. A serious examination of how leaders have been chosen in the past six years is necessary to expose the lies and careful crafting that has gone into creating the "false gods" of politics in the past. ]
In the third chapter of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tse begins by touching on two seemingly unrelated ideas that actually hover around a central axis. Let us initially explore each thought separately.
If you overesteem great men,
people become powerless.
In this first sentence, Lao Tse is in my view describing our tendency to put inspirational leaders – like Martin Luther King and Mohandas Gandhi, for instance – on a pedestal, to make them seem as imposing and larger-than-life as a father or mother must appear to a small child.
[From the ongoing Saturday series, "Art and Politics", examining the impact of Politics on Art, Art on Politics, and a few things in between.]
Seattle's Consolidated Works is a contemporary arts venu with a theater, film center, galleries and it is the meeting place for a new organization of political artists.
In the first gallery is an installation with Rachel Corrie's emails that were read in the United States Senate and are a tender reminder. (The 23-year-old peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a bulldozer as she tried to prevent the Israeli army destroying homes. Seattle's Vets for Peace are known as the Rachel Corrie Brigade, in her honor.) Painted representations of Rachel's vulnerable body were surrounded by quotations from her emails in red as in blood, interspersed with pink-faced men in suits.
Several galleries contained multimedia works by the collective Negativland. Negativland coined the term "culturejamming," which figures prominently in
Just like death and taxes, very soon that time of year will be upon us: Political Commercial Season.
The rule of thumb in campaigns is that it takes seventeen times of a commercial airing in order for everyone to have seen or heard about it once. But that statistic is from before the internet, so that number has likely fallen, but can you think of a political ad that you would have found interesting enough to see even five times? Remember any from 2004? And does a memorable ad make it a good political ad?
I'm just going to throw this out there--What makes a good political ad?
And if you were writing an ad, what would it be about, what would it say, and what would make it good?
[Editor's note: Here's the third in a series of posts from DCP blogger Veritas on the topic of taking back our country. The original posts is "Be the Government" and How to Take Back Our Country, Part 2.]
How to start a "press office":
1 - Find out which print & broadcast reporters cover the local issues you will be promoting. Introduce yourself. Get to know them. Familiarize yourself with their reporting style, their slant, their interests.
2 - Assemble your press team. Your team may include reporters, writers, editors, photographers, videographers, etc. Find people who are really good at what they do. You will be sending unsolicited stuff to the media so it needs to be top-notch in order to gain credibility with them. If everyone seems too busy, recruit retired folks, stay-at-home parents, and job-searchers. A high school or college student in journalism classes would love to join your team.
3 - Develop a mission statement and clear objectives/guiding principles for your team. This cannot be overstated. Your whole purpose as a press office is to craft a certain type of message so you have to ensure everyone on your team is going to speak the same language. Review the mission statement and guiding principles every time your team gets together to work.
[Editor's note: Here's a second post from DCP blogger Veritas on the topic of taking back our country. The original post is "Be the Government".]
I should start by saying that I'm a planner. I'm also a chess player. So my timelines tend to run in decades rather than months or years.
I'm not about 2006 or 2008 or even 2012. I'm looking at the next generation, and the generation after that, and the historical rise and fall of empires and cycles of economics and social values.
Howard Dean was thinking in the right direction when he emphasized training up a new crop of political leaders by "voting up" from the bottom of the ticket. But social sea-change demands more than electable, experienced candidates. In many ways, it doesn't matter who the candidates are, how they run their campaigns, how many people support them, or what the "official" vote counts are. De Toqueville's observation on democracy in America still holds true: we are a country run by majority opinion.
The first time I heard the term FEAR UP was last summer, when I was working on the theatre piece that eventually acquired that title. It described perfectly the visceral experience of hearing true stories from Guantanamo and Baghdad.
We found the description of the torture technique in the The U.S. Army’s manual on interrogation, FM 34-52: “The fear-up approach is the exploitation of a source’s pre-existing fear during the period of capture and interrogation…. This approach has the greatest potential to violate the law of war.”
I couldn't stop thinking about such a strange little phrase: A verb (or a noun), and a preposition--a direction, something your sixth grade English teacher would immediately reject.
Fear. Everywhere I go, every conversation I have about where George W. Bush is leading our country; sooner or later, and most often, sooner, people bring up fear.
The latest in our series to heal the politically afflicted…
As regular readers will know, two weeks ago in this column, I requested that my friends at the DCP send letters outlining their political woes… Today, I will be responding to one of those letters.
This one comes from our friend “NonnyO,” a regular poster and contributor at the DCP. Her plea for assistance in the area of Media Reform caught my attention. After all, can there really be a democracy without a free and unbiased press? I think if you’ve watched or read mainstream media in the last five years, you know the answer to this question. Nonny wants to know what we can do. Here is a part of her letter:
Dear Polly –
One of the original stated objectives of this blog was "media reform." How do you suggest we educate the media?
All of Nonny’s post can be seen on this thread titled "The Voice of the People".
By now, of course, you've all heard the sad news:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- An aid worker from Virginia taken hostage with three other peace activists was found dead near a railroad line in Baghdad with gunshots to his head and chest and signs of torture on his body, Iraqi police said Saturday.Tom Fox, a 54-year-old member of Christian Peacemaker Teams from Clear Brook, Va., was the fifth American hostage killed in Iraq. There was no immediate word on his fellow captives, a Briton and two Canadians.
(You can find a more complete news report on the death and the life of Tom Fox here, learn more about his work with the CPT organization here, and read more about him in his own words on his personal blogsite here.)
Requiescent in pace, Tom Fox. You gave up your life in service to poor, hungry, desperate persons who were, and still are, in need. In full accordance with the tenets of your Quaker faith and your own sincere humanity, you chose to travel halfway around the world from your comfortable Virginia home in order to help hundreds of people you never even knew.
[From the ongoing Saturday series, "Art and Politics", examining the impact of Politics on Art, Art on Politics, and a few things in between.]
Since there are a number of things that have flown across the radar this week, I thought we would use this space to aggregate those items, and if folks want to begin a discussion on any of them in the comments, that would be lovely.
If not, well, quiet Saturdays can be nice, too.
(Editor's Note: our new friend Chris Chandler is a NOLA musician who played at the January 31 State of Emergency concert at the U.S Capitol; he sent us this piece about his recent return home.)
T.H.E. .M.U.S.E. .A.N.D ..W.H.I.R.L.E.D. .R.E.T.O.R.T
Hey everybody,
It's that time of the month again.
There is nothing funny to say. So if you were looking for a funny newsletter maybe check back next month. I hope my humor will have returned.
Below the balcony where I sit - on the sidewalk along St. Claude - there is a mannequin torso seated in a wheel chair. She evokes a memory of the streets here in New Orleans just 6 months ago when the bodies in wheel chairs were not mannequins. In this case, hot rod tail pipes extend from the chair to the street, and she is blindfolded with yellow "Bio-Hazard" tape. She is made entirely of the flotsam and jetsam still littering the urban beach head now that it is low tide in the by water. Across the street in the Neutral Ground amongst the piles of refrigerators, mattresses and plaster that line St Claude is a succession of white crosses made from lath board ripped from the gutted houses and a tombstone made of gutted plaster. They are both part of an exhibit called "Toxic Art" at a gallery that sits at the very edge of a neighborhood known as "The By Water" before crossing the bridge at the industrial canal into my old neighborhood the 9th ward.
The exhibit serves as a reminder that until only very recently the bridge served as a military check point.
Last Friday on this blog, there was an interesting and mostly very respectful discussion of racism. The conversation centered mostly on issues of assimilation of immigrants, and somewhat more specifically, the assimilation of African immigrants into France.
Since France has both the largest population of Jews and the largest population of Muslims in Europe, it would seem France has a lot to discuss these days.
It cannot help when horrors like this occur:
BAGNEUX, France, March 3 — Two strips of red-and-white police tape bar the entrance to the low-ceilinged pump room where a young Jewish man, Ilan Halimi, spent the last weeks of his life, tormented and tortured by his captors and eventually splashed with acid in an attempt to erase any traces of their DNA.
All photos by Dick Bell and Karen Bradley.
Ann Wright, "Hope comes from your feet."
Dr Entisar Mohammad Ariabi told us about how many doctors have been killed and how many have left Iraq, leaving a huge gap in medical care, especially for women.
HR 4437 is a bill that was protested by thousands yesterday at the Capitol. Learn more about its lovely provisions here: http://tinyurl.com/fsndp
From the United Nations website on International Women's Day:
... "International Women's Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities."
I'd like to take a moment to pause and reflect on the presence of the Iraqi women visiting us here in the US on International Women's Day. I'd like for each of us to think about the women in our lives--our immediate circle--our family and friends, and what they mean to us.
For me, the one who comes to mind first is my dear friend of many years Rhodessa, whose spirit has inspired so many women to save their own lives from inside the jails of California to Texas to Florida, to prisons in Europe and South Africa.
I think about Dana Reeve, whose life was spent devoted to taking care of her husband Christopher, fighting for stem cell research and establishing a foundation supporting people with disabilities.
I think about my niece Felicia, whose tireless work as a peace activist and president of her high school peace club is just the first of many steps she consciously takes because she wants to be a leader.
Women lead revolutions everyday from where we stand. We fight when we participate in the PTA. Fight to lower the toxins in our children's foods and groundwater. Fight when we go to the streets to protest states that pass laws taking away our right to choose what happens to our bodies and health. Fight when war threatens to take away the heart and soul of our hopes. Fight because our very existence is a stand against all the blows that come to us physically, mentally, economically, and politically. Now, and still to come.
And we are still...Very. Much. Here.
For every woman fallen, another girl rises, grows up, remembers, and takes up the cause. Because its her body, her child, her community, her country that's at stake.
Its International Women's Day today. Write us about women you love, admire and respect--in your family or the world's.
And remember to honor them.
The Iraqi women have arrived at the Foundry Methodist Church. We will update as we can!
Dick and I will be live-blogging, along with Mike Hersh.
Information about the event is HERE.
7-9 pm Women Say No To War Public Forum and Music event : Gold Star Moms Cindy Sheehan and Elaine Johnson, Anas Shallal, Eman Khamas, Nadje Al-Ali, Faiza Al-Araji, Medea Benjamin, Ann Wright and others…Musical Guests: In Process, Holly Near and Emma’s Revolution.
Foundry United Methodist Church
1500 16th St., N.W. (16th and P)
Washington, D.C. 20036
Dupont Cirlcle metro stop or #30 buses
$10 online at codepinkalert.org/catalog or at the door*
*Proceeds from the reception support travel for the Iraqi women and their programs in Iraq
For more info email dc@codepinkalert.org
[Editor's note: Please be advised that The Democracy Cell Project has no financial connection to the organization(s) linked to, and it does not in any way profit from the money contributed above. The views presented reflect those of the writer(s). As a non-profitable charitable organization, the Democracy Cell Project does not endorse any specific piece of legislation or candidate for office. Thank you. ]
(Editor's note: Our friend Mike Hersh sent this along as a call to arms. Events continue throughout today and tomorrow.)
Tonight I met some Iraqi women who lost loved ones in the war. At one point, they broke down crying. The whole room broke down crying. Afterward, I hugged them and promised I'd keep doing all I could to end this war and occupation, and to commit the USA to paying for rebuilding Iraq, not building permanent bases. These women traveled 1000s of miles, endured indignities to come to the nation which has shattered their civil society, killed 10,000s of their people. I don't think I could find it in my heart to visit the homeland of those who occupied my home and killed my family.
I heard tonight from an Iraqi engineer, an Iraqi doctor, an Iraqi pharmacist, an Iraqi college professor and other Iraqi women that the Iraqi people - Kurds, Sunni, Shia and others - all believe US forces will never leave their nation. That our media lie to us about them. That the Bush/Cheney regime wants a crisis or civil war in Iraq as an excuse to stay forever. That no one cares about them and their suffering. They told us how each morning Iraqi families say good-bye to each other, not knowing if they will ever see their child or parent or brother or sister alive again.
One of these brave women challenged us. She said Iraqis are people just like us. They want to have what we have in this country. They want to have fun in life. They want to live without fear, violence and death. They are just like us. Why, she asked, do Iraqis deserve the bombing of their homes and hospitals? Don't they deserve the same things we have in the United States? Of course they do. But they don't have those things because our nation - admittedly hijacked by a neo-con and theo-con cabal - has destroyed the fabric of Iraqi society.
Afterward, I spoke at length with her. I told her some Americans know Iraq has 8,000 years of history. She gave me her card, showing she is an engineer at a water treatment company. I explained that you know how our bombing and the years of sanctions before the war killed helpless Iraqi children - dead from wasting diseases from lack of safe water. I made a promise to her and some of the other Iraqi women that I - and you - will make sure all their fears do not come true. That the living hell in Iraq will end soon. She offered to send me pictures of Iraq as it is - devastated, innocent lives destroyed. Soon, I'll be posting links to those pictures, but the pictures she and her sisters painted with their words were more than enough - too much - for me.
I promised we will do all we can to help. So the bombs will stop falling. The blood will stop flowing. That our troops will leave Iraq. That America will leave Iraq to the Iraqis so the Iraqi children, women and men with stop dying in this ugly, pointless, senseless, war which has degenerated into war crimes. That's what drives me to do what I do. I have to do what I can do to help. I know you want to help too, for all the same reasons. We have to help. We have to do more.
Tonight I learned that $6000 from Code Pink helped women in Iraq set up a medical clinic and a delivery room facility in an Iraqi town which had neither. Such a small amount of money in the right hands is saving lives every single day. I want to know if you can do two things to help the Iraqi people. If you can spare $25, $50, $100, $500, $1000 or more, please make a tax-deductible donation to Code Pink HERE.
You can email them to ask that your donation go to help Iraqis, or you can leave it to Code Pink to choose how to use your contribution: info@codepinkalert.org - and as a favor to me, mention you heard about this and contributed based on this email from me, Mike Hersh.
If you can't spare any money right now, please do this: Join Women's Global Call For Peace!
Sign the Women Say No to War Call TODAY!
I will stand with Code Pink and the Iraqi women to deliver the Women Say NO to War petition signed by 100,000 people across the globe to demand the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq if you help and sign now! Do it HERE/
If any of these links break in a post, forward etc. you can get all the info and links here: http://www.codepinkalert.org/
WomenSayNOtoWar.Org is your opportunity to unite with international women everywhere and contribute towards the end of the illegal war in Iraq. Go to: http://www.womensaynotowar.org to sign the call now! Forward this to everyone you know who cares about what's going on in Iraq. We have little more than a day to get another 10,000 people to sign up.
Our call will be delivered to the White House on March 8, 2006. Please celebrate International Women's Day on this date by joining us and visiting this page for action/event ideas.
Thank you for taking action.
Mike Hersh
[Editor's note: Please be advised that The Democracy Cell Project has no financial connection to the organization(s) linked to, and it does not in any way profit from the money contributed above. The views presented reflect those of the writer(s). As a non-profitable charitable organization, the Democracy Cell Project does not endorse any specific piece of legislation or candidate for office. Thank you. ]
In an historic move to make women's uteruses the property of the the state in South Dakota, and support the rights of rapists and child molesters to futher abuse their victims, Governor Mike Rounds has just signed into law, "The Rapist's and Child Molestor's Rights Bill of 2006".
The signing statement of Governor Rounds.
And then if you haven't read it, Digby makes an effective point with his piece called, Digby's Sodomized Virgin Exception)
In Frank Ahren's column about the intersection of culture and the internet, he asked readers a pretty basic question, but one I am sure elicited some pretty complex responses.
Why do you blog?
Here are some of the answers:
For some, blogging is not a hobby -- it's crucial:
· "Blogging is engaged democracy. It creates an end-run around power publication, in that the people with the most power control what is heard."
· "In a sense, blogging allows more than simple social feedback; it provides a digital foundation on which individuals, who frequently feel increasingly divorced from society, can build their relationship to the rest of the world. It is the new PlayStation, in many million more homes, and with a terribly far social reach."
· "I blog for the same reason lots of 20-somethings blog -- if I didn't blog, I wouldn't have any friends. Blogs may be the most complex pen-pal system ever created. . . . As sad or self-indulgent as it may seem to an older generation (of mostly Luddites), the Web log is just one facet of a new kind of community and a changing world. My Web log is the family newsletter, the virtual refrigerator door, the rotary club meeting, the office water cooler, the love letter and the town newspaper."
Some blog for one reason, then end up blogging for another:
· "I started blogging when I was deployed to the Green Zone in Baghdad and the funniest thing happened: I got an e-mail from my 13-year-old daughter saying, 'I don't even know who you are anymore.' The strange thing about it was that for the first time she actually was learning about who I am -- what I think, what some of my opinions are; things that did not come up in our normal daddy/daughter relationship."
· "When I started blogging, I ran into a maxim, which I'll paraphrase: If only the birds with the best song sing, the forest will be very quiet."
These are just a few of the responses he got.
We'd like to hear from you. Why do you blog?
(Please feel free to use a different blogging name if you want to contribute an answer but feel it's more personal than you would be confortable with under your regular blogging name. We mention this because we are a community here; one that has grown and shone through adversity and victories. Since we would like to hear as many responses as possible, we would do our best to remove any bars to people responding.)
Thank you.
It's been a rough week -- shucks, a rough winter -- for hard news and heavy thinking here on the DCP blog. With that in mind, it seems only appropriate to lighten things up for a little while this afternoon by calling your attention to the most recent skirmish in the ongoing feud between William James "Blah Blah Bill" O'Reilly and Keith "Don't Call It SportsCenter" Olbermann.
The public feuding between the two commentators has been heating up to full-blown Hatfield-McCoy levels in recent days, and the blogosphere is having a field day with it.
Media Matters has been following the growing animosity between O'Reilly and Olbermann for some time. Here's an excerpt from the story they published about the most recent dust-up between the two broadcast pundits this past Friday:
AP - 7 minutes ago.
Washington, D.C.
March 3, 2006
Polly Sigh, noted political activist and healer, has unveiled plans to build an exclusive urban development catering strictly to a non-religious population.
"We're just trying to get back to the American idea of personal freedom and small government. We won't be catering to the zealots out there. If you're a religious wacko, and you want to be told what you can watch, who you can sleep with, who you can marry, or how to live your life in any way, don't move here."
If you have any doubt as to the importance of a free and independent press in a democracy, all you have to do is look at the lengths some will go to shut it down.
Yesterday, in predawn raids, armed and masked government troops stormed the offices of Kenya's largest newspaper, The Standard, and held employees at gunpoint while they destroyed computers, and damaged printing presses.
The Standard has written articles in recent weeks critical of President Mwai Kibaki and calling for independent investigation into government corruption at the highest levels.
In a simultaneous raid across town, gunman entered the studio of The Standard's sister television station, destroying its offices, equipment and taking it off the air.
While this move has split the cabinet, the reaction of the internal security minister, in statements to the press Thursday, claimed the raid was designed to protect state security, but neglected to elaborate on exactly what threat to state security the newspaper and television station posed.
"If you rattle a snake, you must be prepared to be bitten by it," Internal Minister John Michuki told reporters on Thursday.
When I saw this story I thought of the actions our country took to shut the press in Iraq, while simultaneously claiming it was spreading freedom and democracy there.
BAGHDAD - Iraq's U.S.-led administration Sunday shut down a newspaper that is a mouthpiece for Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Sadr, accusing it of publishing articles that incite violence against American troops.
Ali Yasseri, editor of the weekly al-Hawza newspaper, said dozens of U.S. troops padlocked the newspaper's offices after ordering staff to leave.
"They told us they would arrest us if we did not leave. They said our articles incite people against America," Yasseri told Reuters outside the newspaper offices.
Last July, the U.S.-led administration closed down another newspaper for inciting violence. The Arabic-language satellite television news channels Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya have also faced sanctions from the administration and the Iraqi Governing Council for allegedly violating the law.
The "law" in question was actually a "law" made up by the Coalition Provisional Authority which prohibits newspapers from creating instability through inciting violence against the coalition forces. In July 2003, the U.S.-led administration closed down another newspaper for inciting violence.
The Arabic-language satellite television news channels Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya have also faced sanctions from the administration and the Iraqi Governing Council for allegedly violating the law.
Referring to the shutdown of Sadr’s newspaper, freelance Iraqi journalist Omar Jassem told the Washington Post: “I guess this is the Bush edition of democracy.”
This is not a defense of the newspapers or the television stations in question, nor is it a statement about the authenticity of what was published or reported. This is a defense of the importance of a free press in a democracy.
In a democracy, a government should be open and transparent enough to endure criticism and investigation. And that's any democracy, whether it's Kenya, Iraq, or the United States.
It quite simply impossible to have a democracy without a free press. i don't know what you would call such form of government, but it's not a democracy.
In response to the Kenya's Internal Minister John Michuki's remark about rattlesnakes, a commentor from Kisima (Kenya) had this advice for the Kenya government:
This government of self-declared snakes better beware. There is an electorate of mongooses waiting to remove you.Kisima, Kenya
Other governments who would try to restrain or silence a free press would be wise to take heed of that advice as well.
William F. Buckley, America's leading conservative and founder of the National Review Magazine (and NRO) penned a column last week, declaring the Iraq War Is Lost.
Bill Buckley has never been what anyone would characterize as a cheerleader of the Iraq War, either before or during what has now become a barely organized carnage-in-the-sand/civil war. However as a well-mannered conservative, he was willing to stand by and watch uncritically as the Bush Administration proceeded to destabilize the entire Middle East, throwing the hope of peace in that troubled region, in our time, or our children's time, out the window.
All of that has now officially changed. He has now declared the war lost. Ya think, Bill?
I'd be fascinated to know upon which particular disaster he has based his pronouncement. Is it one incompetent choice, or the sum of the incompetent parts that has caused the clouds to lift and Buckley to have a clear view of what has been obvious to over 60% of Americans for some time now (despite the media ignoring that fact). Among the bare points he makes against the administration his arguments run mostly towards the Iraqi blaming front: America gave Iraq a great chance at democracy-too bad they just weren't up to the magnificent opportunity we blessed them with. Or a hearty, "Hey, we gave it our best shot," as if the politics-first decision making over the policy-last decision making had no influence whatsoever on how the war was lost. As such, while Buckley's made a step in turning his face toward the reality in Mecca, his body politic has not yet followed.
Even this much though, is enough to blow the burnt embers of free thought on right into Buckley effigy-burning flames of indignation.
To be sure, there has been a clash of reaction among the third-rate fifth columnists of the fourth estate to Buckley's about-face in facing reality. I generally don't have either the time or the stomach to read them all.
Yet, there has been one standout among the Buckley opinionists, Jeff Goldstein.
Goldstein has only dim view of Buckley's enlightenment. He seems to think that since Buckley is a conservative purist, the fact that he has prounounced the war is lost, doesn't really count against him, you know, the way it would if he were on the political left, which has always seen the war as a losing proposition.
That is just a bizarre accounting of responsibility, no matter how you look at it.
No, Goldstein contends that is wasn't the Bush Administration mismanagement of the war that has caused this result, but rather the failure of those opposed to the war before its beginning, to then fall in line and goose-step our way to a cheery victory. If only we hadn't noticed that the war wasn't going well and said something critical about the poor decisions being made, it would all be different. Bill Buckley is not included among the non-marchers who have caused this sad result. He is excluded by virtue of the fact that even though he knew better, and believed the war was wrong, he did nothing to dissent.
I see. To stand and watch massacre and do nothing is now a virtue.
Well, there have been a number of reactions to Goldstein's idiotic contention, many snarky and witty, but amongst them there was this gem of an interesting point that is important and not snarky, from Sifu Tweety at The Poorman Institute:
Got that? He accepts complete responsibility for his continuing support of the war, because it’s totally going awesome and will work out great. Unless it doesn’t turn out great, in which case liberal critics of the war need to understand their grave responsibility for pointing out from the very beginning how not-great it would, in fact, turn out to be.
Here’s my little translator’s key to this emerging talking point: Republicans attach incredible importance to media criticism of the war, because they genuinely believe that the war is won and lost IN THE MEDIA. The American media, that is. Their partisan selves are so thoroughly embedded in the culture-jamming electioneering of the Rovist personality cult the GOP has become that they genuinely don’t recognize the difference between actually achieving peace and a non-doomed secular democracy in Iraq, and just being able to plausibly claim that peace on American TV.
Such is the state of the American media. Such is the power that the consolidation of the media into the voice of corporatism, instead of voice of the people, wields. The power to wage war, or at the very least, the power to sharply and decidedly influence the conduct and outcome of a war.
So the new reality is now the war is all the media's fault. And when it's not the media's fault, it's the Iraqis fault, for not being responsible enough to handle democracy. And when it's not the Iraqis fault, it's the political left's fault for not clapping harder for Peter Pan.
I wonder how long it will be until the pro war gang blame the left for the United States going to war in the first place.
Sadly, I doubt it will be very long. It seems that blame-shifting is the new black.
[Editor's note: The version of this article that was first published was a draft, and not the final product (such as it is) as is seen here. Blog software, user error, argghhh, blah, blah, blah. You've heard it all before. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. Thanks for understanding.]
Question for the lawyers in the room-at what point does President's Bush abject failure not only to act, but to even be aware of what was happening in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina, become a legal case for criminal neglect?
From tonight's interview with President Bush (hattip to Think Progress)
VARGAS: When you look back on those days immediately following when Katrina struck, what moment do you think was the moment that you realized that the government was failing, especially the people of New Orleans?
BUSH: When I saw TV reporters interviewing people who were screaming for help. It looked — the scenes looked chaotic and desperate. And I realized that our government was — could have done a better job of comforting people.
Comforting people? What planet does he live on?
According to Bush, he didn’t realize there was anything wrong with the administration’s response until almost four days after the hurricane. The first time he saw newscasts of the situation on the ground was on the morning of Sept. 2, when White House “Counselor [Dan] Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One.”
Reminders (emphasis added):
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
-The Presidential Oath of Office
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
preamble to the United States Constitution
I can only think that the fellows who wrote the Constitution thought that the ideas of promoting the general welfare and securing domestic tranquility were so important, that they put them right up front so everyone would know what the Constitution was supposed to be for and about.
So I will ask the question again-at what point does President Bush's failure to know about Hurricane Katrina, and then act in a manner consistent with this oath of office, constitute a level of neglect that rises to the definition of criminal?
From today's WaPo:
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales appeared to suggest yesterday that the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance operations may extend beyond the outlines that the president acknowledged in mid-December.
In a letter yesterday to senators in which he asked to clarify his Feb. 6 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gonzales also seemed to imply that the administration's original legal justification for the program was not as clear-cut as he indicated three weeks ago.
At that appearance, Gonzales confined his comments to the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, saying that President Bush had authorized it "and that is all that he has authorized."
But in yesterday's letter, Gonzales, citing that quote, wrote: "I did not and could not address . . . any other classified intelligence activities." Using the administration's term for the recently disclosed operation, he continued, "I was confining my remarks to the Terrorist Surveillance Program as described by the President, the legality of which was the subject" of the Feb. 6 hearing.
Well, all suspected as much, didn't we?
The real questions are WHAT ELSE are they doing? And WHO is going to find out what else they are doing? And then when is THE PUBLIC going to find out what else they are doing?
What is the process for holding people accountable? Is there one?
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