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Democracy Camp
Do you ever wish you knew how to create podcasts? Or Op-eds? Or could sing loud and clear directly to Congress?
Do you ever think about what it would be like to be with thousands upon thousands of people who decide to return this country to a democracy by making their presence known in Washington DC? Folks like Cindy Sheehan, Howard Zinn, performing artists, musicians, writers, peace activists, veterans, blue-collar workers, immigrants...
Do you feel called to do something more than read and talk about the current wars, abuses, and loss of human and civil rights?
Do you have wisdom and/or skills to share?
Do you want to inspire others? Do you want to BE inspired?
HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH YET?
If these questions make your heart beat a little faster, you need to make your plans NOW for September 5-21 and beyond. Come to the National Mall in Washington DC for Camp Democracy.
We're not talking about another rally or march here. We're talking about bringing people together to learn the skills we need to make democracy work for everyone. And along the way, we'll celebrate the spirit that moves us with music and dance and theater.
Camp Democracy's multi-day events are a chance to learn about democracy in a whole different way.
We especially encourage everyone to come during September 9-11, when workshops will abound and follow-up plans will be made. September 11 is, in addition to the fifth anniversary of 9-11, the 100th anniversary of Gandhi's nonviolence movement and we will be honoring the tenets of nonviolence that day through workshops, music, dance, and films. Come and learn how to actively create peace and justice.
And then, please stay and help us make it happen, or go home and make it happen. The time is now, and the vehicle is US.
Poll: Most think bin Laden planning another U.S. attack
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
(CNN) -- As the five-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks approaches, nearly three-fourths of those responding to a CNN poll said they believe Osama bin Laden is planning another significant attack against the United States.
Seventy-four percent of the 1,033 adult Americans polled said they believe an attack is being planned, according to the poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation on behalf of CNN.
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/22/osama.poll/index.html
Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he was glad to hear McCain has realized “we need more than tough talk” on Iraq.
“It’s time we win the war on terror,” said Reid. “To do that we must change the course in Iraq.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14475828/
PLEASE tell me why Harry Reid is parroting the "war on terror" mantra???????????
Geez O. Flips
Good morning.
About Camp Democracy...I just managed to get my class altered to a new day, so I'm going to check flights next. Switching dates was not as easy as I thought it would be.
Next...Monkey about Harry Reid...he needs to be given Lakoff's book. Should we send him a copy? The best thing Harry did was shut down Congress, but has anyone heard anything more about phase two since then? Where's the meat to go with the potatoes on this?
Reid is considered a 'moderate' as well as a hell-giver; however, I've noticed that he seems to need more feedback from us. Sometimes his hell-giving is more like a flicker from a match...hot, but only temporarily. and quickly fades. He should come to our house...we can really show him how to build a fire and keep it burning for a long time!
Since, he's not likely to arrive on my doorstipe, maybe instead, I'll just call him and share the Lakoff information.
If you didn't hear Paul Hackett on Hardball, here's a link.
http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=24412
Wow! I love how he doesn't become a shouting head but all he said was, "Talking point..." or "Sound bite"...literally 2 seconds to make an effective point and to teach Americans at the same time.
Posted by: Suz at August 23, 2006 10:50 AM
I was SO friggin happy to see someone FINALLY asking the question, "what was al Qaeda's role in Iraq prior to our invasion?" FINALLY making the connection that this administration created the carnage and the instability that exists there now.
They keep wanting to say, "well, we are where we are now", but you have to keep hammering that point home that it was WRONG from the start. Even McCain is getting it that you have to call this what it is (although I find McCains timing and motivation to be suspect, but still).
Man, Chris Matthews went right at that droid, kudos for a change.
Welcome to the Roadkill Grille
(you want lies with that?)
After yesterday's Marine reserves call up by the Defense Department, an Iraq veterans group says a draft will be the next step, according to a report at ABC News.
Reports yesterday indicated that 2,500 inactive reserve members of the Marines were called up for duty in Iraq. The Marines are members of the individual Ready Reserve and have already given four years of service, allowing them to return to civilian life. However, they are contractually obligated to return to service when needed.
But Jon Soltz, of the group VoteVets.org, warned that the call up showed the lack of plans for victory in Iraq, and the problems faced by an overburdened American military. Furthermore, he warned ABC News's The Blotter that the move is "one of the last steps before resorting to a draft."
The Bush administration has repeatedly claimed that it is in favor of retaining an all vounteer military force.
The full ABC News report can be found at The Blotter.
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Group_US_marching_toward_military_draft_0823.html
Posted by: monkey at August 23, 2006 11:11 AM
What happened to Chris Matthews? Did someone kidnapp him and leave this journalist (truth teller) behind? Or will he simply turn around and attack Dems on tomorrows show to make up for his honesty last night?
From the previous thread:
Is it my imagination ... or are there a whole lot less Bush and W-04 bumper stickers out there? I live in Texas, and I swear, I've only seen 2 or 3 of those this week - a huge drop from just a few months ago.
Posted by: HawkEye at August 23, 2006 08:29 AM
There are still plenty of those in Los Angeles - the Hidden Red State. It's especially true of the suburbs, home of the Reagan Revolution as well as some of the most conservative immigrants that we've taken in over the past generation.
"VIVA BUSH" is especially common.
Posted by: monkey at August 23, 2006 11:27 AM
They will have a draft by 07 if the Republicans win.
Right now, they're simply trying to keep the dissatisfied to a minimum...but when they kill those families off or those soldiers kill themselves, they will have to expand to the rest of 'their base'.
Frankly, I think the only reason they held off this long was because they didn't want to prove Democrats right from the 04 election and they wanted to keep 06 for themselves. Now however, they're trapped...their lies are catching up with them, their crimes are being smacked down by the courts--despite the fact that they set-up the courts!--and the peoples' eyes are wide open now.
As a friend said to me after the 04 atrocity..."Well when people have had enough pain, they'll step up..." I'd say we're approaching that marker now.
Posted by: Suz at August 23, 2006 11:37 AM
Time will tell... maybe even Newsweek.
Sub Scribe
About Camp Democracy...I just managed to get my class altered to a new day, so I'm going to check flights next. Switching dates was not as easy as I thought it would be.
Posted by: Suz at August 23, 2006 10:35 AM
Good for you!
After working 60 hrs/week and 7 days/week, I wanted to get some time off - but this being a small family business, it won't happen. I won't be able to help with Camp Democracy. :(
I decided to settle for Labor Day in Vancouver, so that I can hopefully learn something from the Canadians.
They will have a draft by 07 if the Republicans win.
Posted by: Suz at August 23, 2006 11:41 AM
I wonder how the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" thing will work if and when we have a draft.
Posted by: Ally McLesbian at August 23, 2006 11:46 AM
Well....if I were a guy, I'd dress up like a girl and show up dressed in a miniskirt and a push up.
If I were a girl, which I am of course, I'd show up carrying Prozac and a book on "Recovering from Depression and Schizophrenia" or the book with the title, "What to do when you hear those voices in your head..."
Ally,
I'm sorry you won't be able to make it to DC. Last year was a great time and felt so purposeful too. It was great to see such a large turnout.
Well....if I were a guy, I'd dress up like a girl and show up dressed in a miniskirt and a push up.
Posted by: Suz at August 23, 2006 11:56 AM
In other words, be Mann Coulter? :)
Memo to House Democrats
by Robert B. Reich
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0822-29.htm
It's Lieberman, I-Conn. for fall ballot
State confirms signatures necessary for November election
Updated: 2 hours, 1 minute ago
HARTFORD, Conn. - U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman has gathered more than the 7,500 signatures needed to secure a spot on the November ballot with a new party, the secretary of the state said Tuesday.
The certification means that Lieberman, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000 and a presidential candidate in 2004, will run for re-election as part of the Connecticut for Lieberman party against Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Alan Schlesinger.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14482646/
No it's not I-Lieberman, it's CFL-Lieberman. Independent is a separate designation in CT and Joe is NOT an Independent party member. He's a Connecticut for Lieberman party member.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States on Wednesday said Iran's proposal to the United Nations about its nuclear program "falls short of the conditions set by the Security Council."
It was the first U.S. response to Iran's announcement this week about a proposed package of incentives, offered by the U.N. Security Council's permanent members and Germany, to get the Islamic republic to halt its uranium enrichment program.
The United States and other nation's suspect Tehran is interested in developing nuclear weapons. Iranian officials have insisted that their nuclear program is solely for generation of power and that they have no ambitions to build nuclear weapons.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said this week his country was willing to immediately resume talks about its nuclear program, but he did not address the thorny issue of whether Iran would suspend enrichment activities. Enrichment is critical in the making of nuclear weapons.
State Department acting spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said: "We acknowledge that Iran considers its response as a serious offer, and we will review it. The response, however, falls short of the conditions set by the Security Council, which require the full and verifiable suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities."
Gallegos added, "We are consulting closely, including with other members of the Security Council, on next steps."
The Bush administration reiterated Monday that Iran must adhere to an August 31 deadline to halt uranium enrichment or face U.N. sanctions.
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/23/us.iran/index.html
WHERE BUSH'S ARROGANCE HAS TAKEN US
Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown
An illegal war, a long list of eroded rights, and a country run by and for the benefit of corporate campaign donors -- all courtesy of the imperial presidency.
http://www.alternet.org/story/40678/
BIG OIL, AG AND TOBACCO WILL KILL YOU FOR A PROFIT
Jane Smiley, HuffingtonPost.com
Since Reagan's election, our government has catered to the needs of corporations that refuse to accept the destructive consequences of their actions.
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/40682/
It's Not Bush's Fault!
It's so wrong of nasty libs to blame every social ill on Dubya. After all, he means well. Right?
By Mark Morford
I get this a lot, from the distraught and Bush-embarrassed right, whenever I happily cough up Dubya's name in a column that would seem to have nothing whatsoever to do with our bumbling, neck-groping disaster of a whimpering leader:
Hey (I'm paraphrasing here) you gay-loving yoga pervert communist! What the gosh-golly hell does George W. Bush possibly have to do with (fill in the blank) cancer rates/MS Windows/electric sports cars/Christina Aguilera? Why do you insist on sneaking in little slaps and stabs at the beleaguered monkeyman even when writing about problems and issues that (seemingly) have nothing to do with him -- like, say, iTunes or vibrators or global warming? Why, in other words, do you blame every social ill on Dubya? It's so not fair!
It has become the default wail, the last remaining lament available to a frazzled and bitch-slapped GOP, a group now completely unable to dredge up a single defensible position for Bush in the wake of so much scandal and abuse and wiretap, failed war and environmental devastation and global meltdown:
It's not all Bush's fault! He cannot be blamed for, say, teen sex and bad sitcoms and Mel Gibson! As for national policy, well, Bush inherited years of complicated problems which clearly overwhelmed his unsophisticated brain and attacked him like a swarm of angry multifaceted mosquitoes which he could only flail and swat at like a terrified child! In other words, Bush is merely one little man swimming in a massive swirling tide of corruption and misprision and difficult-to-pronounce countries. Leave him alone! ...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2006/08/23/notes082306.DTL&nl=fix
TRUTH-TELLING GONE WILD
Molly Ivins, AlterNet
The Bushies are having the hardest time trying to un-lie.
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/40674/
"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
Joseph Goebbels
"Once a government resorts to terror against its own population to get what it wants, it must keep using terror against its own population to get what it wants. A government that terrorizes its own people can never stop. If such a government ever lets the fear subside and rational thought return to the populace, that government is finished."
--Michael Rivero
"It also gives us a very special, secret pleasure to see how unaware the people around us are of what is really happening to them."
Adolf Hitler
Murtha: Marine recall shows Iraq getting worse
Published: Wednesday August 23, 2006
Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) has blasted the involuntary recall of Marines to Iraq at "a time when we should be bringing our fighting men and women home from Iraq, we're sending more over there," as symbolic of the "mismanagement of this effort," RAW STORY has learned.
Murtha, the first Vietnam War veteran to serve in Congress, is mulling a campaign for Majority Leader, should Democrats recapture the House in the fall's midterm election.
"This recall is just another sign of how badly the war in Iraq is going," Murtha insisted.
"Because of the mismanagement of this effort and all the killing and maiming in Iraq," he blasted, "young men and women are not joining the military at the necessary recruitment levels. We're involuntarily recalling Marines and increasing the age limit of soldiers to maintain troop levels.
"If everything were going as well as predicted or depicted by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld," he continued, "we would be fulfilling field commander's desires of earlier this year to reduce troops. Instead we're going to extraordinary means to increase them."
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Murtha_Marine_recall_shows_Iraq_getting_0823.html
Posted by: madame defarge at August 22, 2006 04:30 PM
MD...only parts & previews...hope to catch more next Tuesday. Hard for me to handle in bulk though...saw & dealt w/too much of it in person.
Six Questions for Michael Scheuer on National Security
Posted on Wednesday, August 23, 2006.
By Ken Silverstein.
Sources: Michael Scheuer served in the CIA for 22 years before resigning in 2004; he served as the chief of the bin Laden unit at the Counterterrorist Center from 1996 to 1999. He is the formerly anonymous author of Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror and Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America. I met him for breakfast last week at an IHOP in the Virginia suburbs outside of Washington. Over a plate of eggs and hash browns, he answered a series of questions about the current state of the Bush Administration’s “War on Terrorism.” His prognosis was illuminating and insightful—and, unfortunately, almost unrelentingly grim.
1. We're coming up on the five-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Is the country safer or more vulnerable to terrorism?
On balance, more vulnerable. We're safer in terms of aircraft travel. We're safer from being attacked by some dumbhead who tries to come into the country through an official checkpoint; we've spent billions on that. But for the most part our victories have been tactical and not strategic. There have been important successes by the intelligence services and Special Forces in capturing and killing Al Qaeda militants, but in the long run that's just a body count, not progress. We can't capture them one by one and bring them to justice. There are too many of them, and more now than before September 11. In official Western rhetoric these are finite organizations, but every time we interfere in Muslim countries they get more support.
In the long run, we're not safer because we're still operating on the assumption that we're hated because of our freedoms, when in fact we're hated because of our actions in the Islamic world. There's our military presence in Islamic countries, the perception that we control the Muslim world’s oil production, our support for Israel and for countries that oppress Muslims such as China, Russia, and India, and our own support for Arab tyrannies. The deal we made with Qadaffi in Libya looks like hypocrisy: we'll make peace with a brutal dictator if it gets us oil. President Bush is right when he says all people aspire to freedom but he doesn't recognize that people have different definitions of democracy. Publicly promoting democracy while supporting tyranny may be the most damaging thing we do. From the standpoint of democracy, Saudi Arabia looks much worse than Iran. We use the term “Islamofascism”—but we're supporting it in Saudi Arabia, with Mubarak in Egypt, and even Jordan is a police state. We don't have a strategy because we don't have a clue about what motivates our enemies.
more...
http://harpers.org/sb-seven-michael-scheuer-1156277744.html
Posted by: Veritas at August 23, 2006 04:27 PM
Watching it brought forth so many emotions. I can only imagine what it was like to live through it... It's a powerful piece of work & clearly shows the failure of our government & this administration. The only group they gave high kudos to was the CG & said that the CG went way beyond the call of duty to help save as many lives as possible.
Did anyone hear that Bush met with a Katrina victim who created a Fema trailor and brought it to DC to meet with the President?
According to the clip of this man on CNN radio, he was practically kissing Bush's feet while saying, "I don't blame you at all, Mr. President...but there's still work to be done in NOLA."
And so Bush met with him and said, "We're still getting the aid to NOLA as quickly as possible."
So...let's see...He meets with a fawning Katrina victim, but Katrina victims who disagree with him are arrested. And grieving moms are forced to walk in ditches while getting bitten by red ants, and he still lets them camp out for eternity, get arrested, and even starve. But still no meeting...
So that's what we should do. Pretend we like him and then when we're there, just speak truth to power and let it all hang out!
Posted by: Suz at August 23, 2006 05:09 PM
You might want to read this from Crooks & Liars RE: good ole Rockey, the Katrina "victim"...
Does Rockey sound too good to be true?
In fact, we had a hunch — that maybe, just maybe, Rockey Vaccarella had a background himself in GOP politics.
And, whaddya know? Turns out that the earthy Vaccarella — a highly successful businessman in the fast-food industry — is indeed a Republican pol, having run unsuccessfully under the GOP banner for a seat on the St. Bernard Parish commission back in 1999. We don’t have a good link, but here (via Nexis) is part of his bio that ran in the New Orleans Times-Picayune on Oct. 15, 1999:
ROCKEY VACCARELLA
PERSONAL
Republican
35. Born in New Orleans. Grew up in Arabi and Chalmette. Lived 11 years in
Meraux.
Married, two children.
Graduated from Chalmette High, 1982. Attended St. Bernard Community
College.
Director of operations, Lundy Enterprises, as manager of 31 Pizza Hut
restaurants and 450 employees. Former general restaurant manager of Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits on East Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette.
And in fact, Vaccarella seemed very confident that he would be meeting with Bush when he left home, to the point where he had a date scheduled and everything:
Dinner with the President is planned for the evening of August 22nd.
As it turned out, dinner last night was with the White House aide running Katrina relief, and he met Bush at the White House today. Close enough. Before he left Louisiana earlier this month, Vaccarella made it clear that he’s no Cindy Sheehan...
Read the rest...
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/08/23/does-rocky-sound-too-good-to-be-true/
Wow! Everyone should see this PDF!
http://www.firedupmissouri.com/system/files?file=troop_readiness.pdf
Posted by: madame defarge at August 23, 2006 05:23 PM
OMG!! I thought when I heard it on the radio that something was fishy.
Headed to C & L right now to read the rest.
Posted by: madame defarge at August 23, 2006 05:23 PM
Nice work, and gee, I'm stunned.
Rockey Vaccarella, 41, of Meraux in St. Bernard Parish, has been traveling the Gulf Coast region to mark the Katrina anniversary.
Vaccarella said he wanted to thank Bush for the federally provided trailers that have provided temporary housing to many in the region who lost homes but also to keep the pressure on.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
How about those FEMA trailers though, huh?
Are FEMA trailers ‘toxic tin cans’?
Private testing finds high levels of formaldehyde; residents report illnesses
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. — For nearly a year now, the ubiquitous FEMA trailer has sheltered tens of thousands of Gulf Coast residents left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. But there is growing concern that even as it staved off the elements, it was exposing its inhabitants to a toxic gas that could pose both immediate and long-term health risks.
The gas is formaldehyde, the airborne form of a chemical used in a wide variety of products, including composite wood and plywood panels in the thousands of travel trailers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency purchased after Katrina to house hurricane victims. It also is considered a human carcinogen, or cancer-causing substance, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and a probable human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Air quality tests of 44 FEMA trailers conducted by the Sierra Club since April have found formaldehyde concentrations as high as 0.34 parts per million – a level nearly equal to what a professional embalmer would be exposed to on the job, according to one study of the chemical’s workplace effects.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14011193/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14011193/
Nancy Pelosi speaks out RE: Katrina...
Democratic Leadership Releases Report on Failed Republican Response to Hurricane Katrina
--snip--
Key findings include:
* Thousands of families are still waiting for FEMA trailers.
* An estimated 11 percent of the $19 billion that has been spent by FEMA –or $2 billion – has been waste, fraud and abuse.
* 80 percent of Gulf Coast businesses with approved SBA disaster loans are still waiting to get their loans.
* The Republican Congress didn’t enact needed housing money for homeowners in Louisiana until June, 10 months after Katrina – and the money has still failed to reach these homeowners.
* Only three of the 10 acute-care hospitals in New Orleans have re-opened; the only public hospital, Charity, has still not re-opened.
* Only 56 of 128 public schools in New Orleans are enrolling students this fall.
http://democraticleader.house.gov/press/releases.cfm?pressReleaseID=1749
***
BTW, Pelosi was on Letterman last night & did a great job. My husband, who continually asks me what the Dems are doing & how come they're not speaking out, said, "Why don't we see more of her?" My answer: "Because MSM news etc. never show what the Dems are doing or saying!!!" He finally got it.
Some people came to pick up the gorgeous pro-voting information/educational cards we had leftover from Hempfest. They reported that we registered 491 new voters over the weekend. The quota was 300.
It looks like McGavick (opponent of Cantwell) is having a fundraiser at a restaurant right next to the Dem HQ - so it'll be easy to protest. The owner is someone I know - wonder if they just rent it out to anyone with bucks or if they endorse the conservative?! If they support the conservatives, then they're the upwardly mobile type of new immigrant who drinks the Koolaid, like Ally talks about. I hope not! I have supported their restaurants for 26 years and taught some of them in school. I think the anti-Communist card may have been played (Taiwan v China).
Ava Lowry from Peace Takes Courage has created another short video -- this time about Katrina.
You can watch it here. Please do.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/08/23/avas-cl-hurricane-katrina-video/
Also please remember that many Katrina victims are still struggling to recover almost a year later. At least 1,836 people lost their lives and hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their homes. Peace Takes Courage has put together a list of organizations that are still working to help victims of the storm. Even the smallest amount helps.
Please visit www.peacetakescourage.com/aid for information on how you can help Katrina victims.
http://tinyurl.com/rx7rm = Peace Takes Courage info page
OT, but if you get msnbc, turn it on and watch this last segment of Olbermann - right now - eastern time.
Apparently US News & World Report tells the story of the President greeting new aides with flatulence to break the ice.
The cards to encourage voting are off to the Evergreen Fair and the Bothell RiverFest this weeken, according to their owner/creators. I think these work so well because they are definitely not throw-aways and stimulate so much discussion. Topics are: student loans (diploma resting on money), do you want Alito & Bush making reproductive choices for you (their ugly mugs), do you feel safer (Bin Laden), where are our jobs going (outsourcing), no millionaire left behind (homeless), and anti-war (flag-draped coffins). They were chosen by students for students & other young people, but we have even had people come up and ask "How do I get rid of my affiliation with the GOP?"
Posted by: Carol at August 23, 2006 08:53 PM
Yes that's why we have a magnet that says, "George W Bush .. making the world safe for frat boys."
Posted by: Carol at August 23, 2006 08:53 PM
Hail to the Cheese
Sen. Allen Apologizes for Offensive Remarks
By Tim Craig and Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 23, 2006; 7:48 PM
Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) apologized directly to S.R. Sidarth today, telling the 20-year-old Democratic campaign staffer that he was sorry for offending him with remarks that have generated nationwide criticism for being racially insensitive.
Allen's telephone call to Sidarth was the first direct contact between the two since Allen was caught by Sidarth's video camera calling him "macaca" and derisively welcoming the Fairfax native to "America and the real world of Virginia."
Sidarth said Allen told him the apology was "from his heart."
"His main point was he was sorry he offended me," Sidarth, who started his senior year at the University of Virginia this week, said in an interview later. "He realized how much he offended me from the comments I made in the media."
The call followed a series of public mea culpas , including one heard across the nation Tuesday on the conservative radio talk show hosted by commentator Sean Hannity.
"I take full responsibility. I'm not offering any excuses because I said it and no one else said it," a somber-sounding Allen told Hannity's audience of more than 12 million listeners. "It's a mistake. I apologize and from my heart, I'm very, very sorry for it."
Allen also apologized Tuesday at the Greenspring Village retirement community in Springfield, saying "from the deepest part of my heart, I'm sorry and I will do better."
The term "macaca" refers to a genus of monkey and is considered an ethnic slur in some cultures. After Webb's campaign posted Sidarth's video on the Internet, the incident became national news and has had Allen on the defensive, the senator had already issued a public apology and had said he was sorry at other recent events. But political observers said Allen appears to be trying to put the controversy behind him with more fervent expressions of regret.
But even as he did so, about 50 Democratic activists protested outside a Fairfax County fundraiser for Allen headlined by President Bush. As Bush arrived in Virginia this evening, Democrats waved signs that said "Hey, George, macaca is a bad word." About the same number of Allen supporters offered signs like "We love George. We support you."
And while the senator was apologizing, his campaign manager continued to blame his Democratic opponent, James Webb, the media and the senator's "leftist" foes for the ongoing controversy.
"It's great to have the president in Virginia, raising substantial amounts of money so we can fight off the scurrilous attacks by our opponent and his leftist allies," campaign manager Dick Wadhams said in an interview.
more...
http://tinyurl.com/r4vun
Posted by: Carol at August 23, 2006 08:53 PM
Posted by: monkey at August 23, 2006 09:08 PM
Well since you brought up the old fart, check this out...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1971049
Jumpin' Jack Flash
Jagger/Richards
I was born in a cross-fire hurricane
And I howled at my ma in the driving rain,
But its all right now, in fact, its a gas!
But its all right. Im jumpin jack flash,
Its a gas! gas! gas!
I was raised by a toothless, bearded hag,
I was schooled with a strap right across my back,
But its all right now, in fact, its a gas!
But its all right, Im jumpin jack flash,
Its a gas! gas! gas!
I was drowned, I was washed up and left for dead.
I fell down to my feet and I saw they bled.
I frowned at the crumbs of a crust of bread.
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I was crowned with a spike right thru my head.
But its all right now, in fact, its a gas!
But its all right, I'm jumpin jack flash,
Its a gas! gas! gas!
Jumping jack flash, its a gas
Jumping jack flash, its a gas
Jumping jack flash, its a gas
Jumping jack flash, its a gas
Mo Rocca was hilarious in his deadpan about the Bush farting story. I think he and Keith got every euphamism in the book.
Here's the original story - just a small paragraph:
snip
Animal House in the West Wing
He loves to cuss, gets a jolly when a mountain biker wipes out trying to keep up with him, and now we're learning that the first frat boy loves flatulence jokes. A top insider let that slip when explaining why President Bush is paranoid around women, always worried about his behavior. But he's still a funny, earthy guy who, for example, can't get enough of fart jokes. He's also known to cut a few for laughs, especially when greeting new young aides, but forget about getting people to gas about that.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/articles/060820/28whisplead.htm
What was that about tarnishing the office? Can you imagine being one of those young aides? Sooooo embarassing.
Carol
I sent it to a guy in Paris who was Clinton's intern last year (Bill).
Would much rather have interned for Clinton than Bush, I think!
Posted by: DiAnne at August 23, 2006 09:54 PM
I'm thinkin' it stinks either way.
Oval Orifice
Key findings include:
* Thousands of families are still waiting for FEMA trailers.
*****************************************
Yes, but how many trailers still sit, waiting for state & local governments to approve where they should go? Or for local utilities to provide power & water?
Without endorsing their work wholeheartedly, I do agree with one conclusion of the 9/11 commission: our government at all levels suffers from a stifling lack of imagination when it comes to crisis problem-solving. The more influential bureaucratic types I've met with, the more I believe it.
Recession will be nasty and deep, economist says
Housing is in a free fall and is pulling the economy down with it, Roubini says
MarketWatch
Last Update: 4:59 PM ET Aug 23, 2006
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The United States is headed for a recession that will be "much nastier, deeper and more protracted" than the 2001 recession, says Nouriel Roubini, president of Roubini Global Economics.
Writing on his blog on Wednesday, Roubini repeated his call that the U.S. would be in a recession in 2007, arguing that the collapse of housing will bring down the rest of the economy. Read more.
Roubini wrote after the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday that sales of existing homes fell 4.1% in July, while inventories soared to a 13-year high and prices flattened out year-over-year.
"This is the biggest housing slump in the last four or five decades: every housing indictor is in free fall, including now housing prices," Roubini said. The decline in investment in the housing sector will exceed the drop in investment when the Nasdaq collapsed in 2000 and 2001, he said.
And the impact of the bursting of the bubble will affect every household in America, not just the few people who owned significant shares in technology companies during the dot-com boom, he said. Prices are falling even in the Midwest, which never experienced a bubble, "a scary signal" of how much pain the drop in household wealth could cause.
Roubini is a professor of economics at New York University and was a senior economist in the White House and the Treasury Department in the late 1990s. His firm focuses largely on global macroeconomics.
more...
http://tinyurl.com/qf3qd
"As the housing sector slumps, the job and income and wage losses in housing will percolate throughout the economy," Roubini said.
Consumers also face high energy prices, higher interest rates, stagnant wages, negative savings and high debt levels, he noted.
"This is the tipping point for the U.S. consumer and the effects will be ugly," he said. "Expect the great recession of 2007 to be much nastier, deeper and more protracted than the 2001 recession."
Somebody remind me again what it is that Dubyuck has EVER done right?
Hoover Factory
Marines badly in need of funding, report says
By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 23, 2006
Largely echoing what Marine commanders have told Congress in recent weeks, the study says the Corps needs $12 billion to bring its ground, communications and aircraft equipment back up to their levels before the Iraq war.
The service must also spend $5 billion for equipment repairs each year it maintains a major presence in Iraq, said military experts from the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., and the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. Before the war started, Marine officials spent about $3 billion annually on refurbishing equipment that was 20 years old in many cases.
The Corps' wartime equipment challenges have significantly boosted the workload for a key maintenance and repair center in Barstow, possibly put troops at greater risk for death or injury in combat zones and strained the operating budgets for bases such as Camp Pendleton and Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, where everything from child care services to library hours were temporarily reduced this year.
“You are going to see the Marine Corps increasingly not ready for duty unless it gets funded,” said Max A. Bergmann, an author of the 25-page report titled “Marine Corps Equipment After Iraq.”
“(The Marines) will still be able to go to the Korean peninsula or respond to a tsunami, but they'll be limited once they get there,” he added. “I think the 911 force definitely needs 911 assistance. They are hurting.”
more...
http://tinyurl.com/mg3vb
Heard about the housing meltdown on the way home (NPR) - sales down all over the country. Sellers are asking more than buyers can shell out. What goes up must go down.
Read an editorial in one of our papers while working out - know who started one of the Iranian Liberation groups - one of the top guys at Lockheed. Abraham Lincoln said war profiteers ought to have their heads off - something like that. I'll have to find it. You get my drift.
Off to bed - up at 6 AM. What a world.
Just follow the money.
Monkey,
I've been seeing the housing recession for more than a year now. Even when I was working with the minimum wage increase campaign there were so many houses just empty--both new and old ones too!
I also witnessed at the same time, many people who had no credit card...my first thought was "Hmmmm...bankruptcy deadline coming up."
Combine the two...and what does that give you?
Posted by: Suz at August 24, 2006 07:17 AM
Well, since I'm currently trying to sell my house and get the hell out of Jebville, it gives me a pain down south.
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Bruce Gary, the rock drummer who worked with George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Stephen Stills but is best known as The Knack's original drummer -- the man who played on the group's No. 1 hit "My Sharona" -- has died. He was 55.
Gary died Tuesday at Tarzana Medical Center of lymphoma, said Helen Gary, the drummer's mother.
Besides Harrison, Dylan and Stills, he recorded with Cream's Jack Bruce, Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow, Bette Midler, Yoko Ono, Harry Nilsson and The Doors' guitarist Robby Krieger, according to the Web site http://www.brucegary.com/.
Gary also worked with blues masters Albert Collins, Albert King and John Lee Hooker and toured with former Eagles member Randy Meisner and Spencer Davis. He also co-produced a series of posthumous releases from Jimi Hendrix, including the "Blues" compilation.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/24/obit.gary.ap/index.html
COUSHATTA -- Nine black children attending Red River Elementary School were directed last week to the back of the school bus by a white driver who designated the front seats for white children.
The situation has outraged relatives of the black children who have filed a complaint with school officials.
Superintendent Kay Easley will meet with the family members in her office this morning.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People also is considering filing a formal charge with the U.S. Department of Justice. NAACP District Vice President James Panell, of Shreveport, said he would apprise Justice attorneys of the situation this week. He's considering asking for an investigation into the bus incident and other aspects of the school system's operations, including pupil-teacher ratio as it relates to the numbers of white and black children, along with a breakdown of the numbers of black and white teachers employed.
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AI...
Dangerous Days
The world crisis has grown far too serious for the U.S. president to take an extended summer break.
Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek
Updated: 4:35 p.m. ET Aug 23, 2006
Aug. 23, 2006 - This is as dangerous an August as I can recall, at least since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait 16 years ago. The Europeans are dithering over contributions to a peacekeeping force while a dangerously unstable Lebanon slips into a "security vacuum," in the words of United Nations envoy Terje Roed-Larsen. Iran is stringing along the West in negotiations as it rushes to perfect the nuclear fuel cycle—which could occur as soon as the next several months—while bidding skillfully for regional hegemony. North Korea is hinting darkly at a nuclear test after firing off missiles. And Iraq is, well, say no more.
It is the sort of moment when peace and history could be hanging in the balance for a generation to come—the kind of tipping point when American presidents can no longer leave the negotiating to underlings. They must take the world stage themselves to find a new way out, simply because no one else has the globo-oomph to do so. There is a grand American tradition behind this sort of personal involvement of America's chief executive, one that goes back almost precisely a century. Teddy Roosevelt spent much of August 1905 directing talks in Portsmouth, N.H, that prodded Japan and Russia into an agreement ending the Russo-Japanese war. Woodrow Wilson went to Paris for nearly six months between January and June of 1919 to negotiate the end of World War I. Franklin Roosevelt, though he was dying and suffered a terrible physical disability, flew halfway around the world to hash out the postwar peace at Yalta. Richard Nixon went to China, Ronald Reagan journeyed to Reykjavik and Jimmy Carter holed up at Camp David, where he tested the limits of brinksmanship with Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat.
George W. Bush is going to Kennebunkport, where he'll test his golf skills with Poppy.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14483814/site/newsweek/
Ellen of the Tenth has a great thread today...
Dear Scared People,
I opened a little dark chocolate Dove candy this evening (only 60 calories!) and the inside of the foil wrapper said "Be fearless." I thought of you. You know who you are, the folks who check the terror alert every day, no longer fly, support Kirk because you believe war is the only real support for Israel, and boost Bush's poll numbers every time there is a supposed terror threat. You are the folks who are willing to accept republican (Iraq War Party) plans to deport parents of children who are US citizens and to single out gays for discrimination because it may keep someone you find distastful away from you. You are the folks willing to trade your liberty for a promise of security on a "trust me". I have something to say to you. It's time to buck up and stop it!
Read the rest here===>
http://ellenofthetenth.blogspot.com/
Posted by: madame defarge at August 24, 2006 10:38 AM
That's awesome.
I especially like the symbolism of the Dove bar.
Peace by chocolate.
Posted by: monkey at August 24, 2006 10:57 AM
Well, yeah, I'll have to admit...any piece (peace?) that opens with chocolate wins me over.
But you're on to something: Peace by chocolate! I'd be more than willing to share all the chocolate I have if it brought peace...even my favorite dark Belgian chocolate. Now, that's a sacrifice.
Hoisted on Its Own Petard
BY RUSS WELLEN
08.24.2006 06:15 | DISPATCHES
Except for a handful like John Kerry, John Edwards, and Russ Feingold, it's as if most Democratic senators don't believe the polls that lay bare public disaffection with our occupation of Iraq. They refuse to call for a timetable for withdrawal.
However, they have just been handed the keys to the kingdom -- they're dangling in front of them, anyway. Afraid the public has heretofore been unable to separate Iraq from the war on terror, most Democrats have been unwilling to embrace the argument that the war in Iraq has siphoned off funds and energy from the war on terror. But lately progressive commentators have stumbled on the talking point to end all talking points.
Sidney Blumenthal sums it up:
"Having told the public that Iraq is central to a war on terror, the worse things go in Iraq, the more the public thinks the war on terror goes badly."
Just like the administration, he and others are now capitalizing on the public's inability to separate the two. Thus hoisting the administration on its own petard.*
(snip)
*If you've always wondered what a petard was, here's the etymology: Origin: 1590-1600, from the Middle French, pet(er) to break wind. You've probably heard of Frenchman Le Petomane, who, blessed with unusual control of his recturm, turned it into a stage act at the turn of the century.
(snip)
http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/blog.php?id=249
Speaking of Red River Parish.... MAN oh man.
Black students ordered to give up seats to white children
Status of Red River Parish bus driver is unknown.
COUSHATTA -- Nine black children attending Red River Elementary School were directed last week to the back of the school bus by a white driver who designated the front seats for white children.
The situation has outraged relatives of the black children who have filed a complaint with school officials.
Superintendent Kay Easley will meet with the family members in her office this morning.
Snip
"If the smoke is there, then there's probably fire somewhere else," Panell said in a phone interview from New Orleans. "At this point, it is extremely alarming. We fought that battle 50 years ago, and we won. Why is this happening again?"
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060824/NEWS01/608240332/1002/NEWS
Lord have mercy.
Ooops sorry Dianne did not scroll up far enough before I posted
Why is this happening again?"
Posted by: Christy at August 24, 2006 11:30 AM
Because George W. Bush is a uniter.
Why, just look at all the love and peace that surrounds us.
Welcome to Crowford.
VIDEO: Jon Stewart dissects Bush's latest 'desperate soundbites'
by David Edwards
Published: Wednesday August 23, 2006
President Bush's press conferences are the subject of a humorous segment from Comedy Central's Daily video clip, below.
Jon Stewart, the show's host, noted that there was something "peculiar" about President Bush's August 21st White House press conference. Bush was in Washington, DC, explained Stewart. President Bush is known for spending the month of August vacationing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. "What could be so important as to lure our president from the spa like oasis that is Crawford, Texas?," asked Stewart.
video...
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/VIDEO_Jon_Stewart_dissects_Bushs_latest_0823.html
Christy
You must also read from top to bottom.
But it is scandalous (the segregation).