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The War On Reporters And The Truth
My first reaction to this story was shock.
(hattip to Kos Diarist, A Peaceful Warrior)
From Palast's website ( which is scatty at the moment due to high traffic):
Yes, the rumor's true. Greg Palast is facing a criminal complaint from the Department of Homeland Security stemming from his filming the Hurricane Katrina investigation for Link TV and Democracy Now. The film's producer, Matt Pascarella, is also facing the legal wrath of Big Brother.
It appears the complaint is about filming a sensitive national security site owned by Exxon petroleum. It seems that photographing major Bush donors is now a federal offense.
Reached at an undisclosed location, Palast says, "Let's not get over-excited. They haven't measured us for our orange suits yet."
During questioning by Homeland Security, Palast asked, "Hey, aren't you supposed to be looking for Osama? Or for guys with exploding shoes? ... We're journalists." At Palast's request, Homeland Security confirmed that Louisiana is, indeed, still part of the USA but did not respond when asked if the First Amendment applies there.
It seems that Homeland Security, in its infinite wisdom, has determined that Greg Palast is a bigger terrorist threat than, say, Osama bin Laden. Hence, they are pursuing a criminal investigation and charges against Palast, and not pursing 9-11 related charges against Osama, either through the CIA or the Justice Department.
In another reporter harassment and intimidation story (hattip to John Aravosis):
Two CNET News.com reporters' personal telephone records were accessed by a contractor hired by Hewlett-Packard to uncover the source of boardroom leaks to the media, according to the California attorney general's office.
[...]
Kawamoto and Krazit co-wrote a Jan. 23 article outlining a private, long-term strategy session held by HP's board of directors. The article, which quoted an unnamed source at length, prompted HP chairman Patricia Dunn to authorize an investigation into HP's board to determine the identity of the story's source.
Kawamoto and Krazit were apparently not the only reporters targeted by HP's investigators. The personal phone records of nine journalists, including a reporter from The Wall Street Journal, were accessed, HP spokesman Mike Moeller said late Thursday afternoon. He declined to comment on the timeframe over which the incidents took place or any of the organizations other than the Journal and CNET News.com.
The Journal reported on its Web site that reporter Pui-Wing Tam was targeted. Among other HP stories, Tam wrote in January 2005 about the board's unhappiness with ex-CEO Carly Fiorina. A reporter for The New York Times, John Markoff, also was a pretexting target in 2005, the Times said.
This is part of the effect of members of government holding themselves above the law. This is what happens when there is no public accountability. Corporations think they, too, are above the law. Every parent knows that the real worry of parenting is that your kids watch everything you do. And then repeat it. For better or worse, the government functions to some extent the same way. They lead, people follow. If they lead with criminal acts, then the people begin to wonder why they should obey the law.
Reporters who have written stories critical of the White House, or Hewlett-Packard being singled out for harassment is only the latest development in this disturbing pattern.
As I said, my first response to these stories was shock.
My second thought was, "Well, it was just a matter of time."
And sadly, wasn't it?
UPDATE: Here's how reporters who are friendly with the administration get treated (hint: think Armstrong Williams)hattip Josh Marshall:
At least 10 Florida journalists received regular payments from a U.S. government program aimed at undermining the Cuban government of Fidel Castro, The Miami Herald reported on Friday.
Total payments since 2001 ranged from $1,550 to $174,753 per journalist, according to the newspaper, which said it found no instance in which those involved had disclosed that they were being paid by the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting.
Nice.
[Editor's Note: Greg Palast is author of the several dangerous tomes, such as, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Armed Madhouse]
Being an investigative reporter takes more courage than ever. Palast has been on Air America recently.
This is from Center for American Progress:
Taking the 'Docu' Out of 'Docudrama'
Scheduled to air around the five-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks, ABC's docudrama "The Path to 9/11" has elicited a firestorm of criticism for being an inaccurate and deeply-biased account that blames President Clinton for the 9/11 attacks while praising President Bush's response. Written by avowed conservative Cyrus Nowrasteh, the film claims to be based on the bipartisan 9/11 Commission report, despite containing numerous factual inaccuracies that have no basis in the Commission's work. Senate Democratic leaders, led by Harry Reid (D-NV), wrote a letter yesterday to Robert Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company (the parent company of ABC), urging him to "cancel this factually inaccurate and deeply misguided program." Clinton lawyer Bruce Lindsey also wrote Iger, explaining, "The content of this drama is factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate and ABC has a duty to fully correct all errors or pull the drama entirely." Feeling the heat and recognizing its errors, ABC "has in recent days made changes to the film" and is claiming "the editing process is not yet complete." As the Families of September 11 have said, the events surrounding 9/11 are far too important to play politics with. Take action now -- join the over 69,000 individuals who have called on ABC to tell the truth about 9/11.
ALL DRAMA, LITTLE DOCUMENTARY: In recent days, the film's writers and consultants have begun distancing themselves from the factual inaccuracies contained in the film. Nowrasteh has said that a key scene falsely in the movie -- which alleges that former National Security Adviser Samuel Berger failed to pull the trigger on a surefire opportunity to kill Osama bin Laden -- was "improvised" by the actors on the set. "Accidents occur, spontaneous reactions of actors performing a role take place," Nowrasteh argued. Former 9/11 Commission Chairman Thomas Kean, who acted as a senior consultant and was credited as co-executive producer of the movie, "admitted...some scenes in the film are fictionalized." Actor Harvey Keitel, who plays FBI special agent John O'Neill in the film, said, "You can't put things together, compress them and then distort reality." ABC and its defenders have evolved their positions on the movie, emphasizing that the miniseries is a "dramatization, not a documentary." But in fact, ABC publicized this film as the official rendering of the 9/11 Commission report. Executive producer Marc Platt and Nowrasteh said earlier that they wanted to "match the just-the-facts tone of the report." ABC producers earlier claimed the film was "based solely and completely on the 9/11 Commission report." For ABC to now suggest that the miniseries was not billed as a documentary is disingenuous. Steve McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment, explained the project in the following way: "When you take on the responsibility of telling the story behind such an important event, it is absolutely critical that you get it right."
CRITICISM COMING FROM ALL DIRECTIONS: While some conservatives have tried to argue that critics of "The Path to 9/11" are simply partisans who are "whining," the truth is that complaints have reigned down from all circles, including from conservatives, former Bush officials, and 9/11 Commission members. Conservative author Richard Miniter, who wrote a book blasting President Clinton's counterterrorism policies, has acknowledged that there is "zero factual basis" for the "idea that someone had bin Laden in his sights in 1998 or any other time and Sandy Berger refused to pull the trigger." Conservative media watchdog Brent Bozell said ABC should "correct" the scenes that "do not have any bearing on reality." Former counterterrorism officials Richard Clarke and Roger Cressey, who worked for Presidents Clinton and Bush, have blasted the movie and said that scenes in the movie are completely made-up. Many former members of the 9/11 Commission have also spoken out against the film. Richard Ben-Veniste said that as members of the Commission were watching a private screening of the film, "we were trying to think how they could have misinterpreted the 9/11 commission’s finding the way that they had.” Jamie Gorelick told Iger, "I hope that you will correct the record before series airs," and Tim Roemer told CNN yesterday that the Berger scene had no basis in the 9/11 report. Even Kean said he "had pointed out the issue" with the Berger scene to ABC recently, and according to CNN, ABC told Kean "they would go back and take a look at the scene."
SCHOLASTIC CUTS PARTNERSHIP WITH MOVIE: Scholastic Corporation, one of the leading distributors of educational materials for children, announced yesterday that it was ending its partnership with "The Path to 9/11" film. Scholastic and ABC had earlier announced a pact to produce "online study guides" related to the film and to send 100,000 educators a letter from Kean informing them of such materials. As Media Matters documented, the discussion guides were "rife with conservative misinformation" and key omissions which resulted in a distorted account of pre-Iraq war WMD capabilities and misleadingly suggested a tie between Iraq and 9-11. In a press release, Scholastic stated the educational materials "did not meet our high standards for dealing with controversial issues." Scholastic will produce a new classroom discussion guide to that it claims will not aid in "promoting the program" but will still encourage the use of the film as as a "teachable moment." Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, called on teachers across the country not to use "The Path to 9/11" to educate their students about the history of 9/11 because of the film’s inaccuracies.
A PRECEDENT FOR CANCELLATION: If the film's inaccuracies cannot be corrected prior to its scheduled airing, ABC should not to run it. There is precedent for such a decision. In Nov. 2003, CBS announced that it would broadcast a mini-series called "The Reagans," which many conservatives argued contained fabricated dialogues about Ronald and Nancy Reagan. The National Review's Ed Morrow wrote at the time, "Attempts to distort our history must be resisted. Historical truth is simply too valuable to be made a plaything for biased filmmakers rewriting it to fit their politics." Similarly, the Review's Seth Leibsohn said, "We should all be ashamed of bad history, though -- of dressing up fiction as fact." Wall Street Journal editorialist James Taranto acknowledged the similarities in the arguments being made against the two movies: "The Clintonites may have a point here. A few years ago, when the shoe was on the other foot, we were happy to see CBS scotch 'The Reagans.'" Daily Variety reports today that, just as the Reagan documentary was pulled from CBS, a similar fate may soon hit "The Path to 9/11." "Sources close to the project say the network, which has been in a media maelstrom over the pic, is mulling the idea of yanking the mini altogether," the Variety writes.
HEWLETT-PACKARD SAYS IT SPIED ON REPORTERS
Hired investigator surreptitiously obtained records from phone company to trace leaks
Verne Kopytoff, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, September 8, 2006
An investigator for Hewlett-Packard Co. secretly obtained phone records of nine journalists, including reporters for Cnet Networks, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, adding a bizarre twist to a boardroom drama that has transfixed Silicon Valley and has prompted an investigation by the state attorney general.
The snooping, disclosed Thursday by Hewlett-Packard, follows recent revelations about similar spying by the company's hired investigators on its own board members as part of an effort to unmask who on the board leaked inside information to the media.
Business ethicists have almost universally panned Hewlett-Packard for its role in the spying, which has gained a high profile even when compared to some of Wall Street's corporate scandals in recent years. Many legal experts, along with state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, have said Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard's intrusions were against the law.
The episode, which comes at a time when Hewlett-Packard is emerging from a financial slump and is regaining its place among the technology industry's leaders, provides a rare glimpse behind the closed doors of one of Silicon Valley's most storied companies.
Ryan Donovan, a spokesman for Hewlett-Packard, said his company gave the attorney general's office a list of nine reporters whose personal information was compromised during the company's investigation and that those reporters subsequently were notified.
The names of four of the reporters have become public: Dawn Kawamoto and Tom Krazit of Cnet, an online publication in San Francisco that covers the technology industry, John Markoff of the New York Times and Pui Wing Tam of the Wall Street Journal.
Kawamoto was told by the attorney general's office Thursday that her home phone records had been accessed by Hewlett-Packard's investigators. The investigators, who have yet to be identified, used a technique called "pretexting" to surreptitiously obtain Kawamoto's information through impersonation.
The practice, roughly defined as posing as someone else to obtain information, is relatively common among Internet fraudsters, who often buy or steal Social Security numbers for the purpose of thievery. In this case, investigators hired by Hewlett-Packard allegedly obtained Social Security numbers, or sometimes even partial Social Security numbers, to open accounts and obtain personal information.
According to Cnet, on Jan. 30 an individual used the last four digits of Kawamoto's husband's Social Security number to create an online account with AT&T, the telephone company, and get the phone records. The phone is under her husband's name, and she never authorized that the information be shared, according to Cnet.
A week earlier, Kawamoto and Krazit had written an article about a private meeting of Hewlett-Packard's board in which members talked about the company's long-term strategy. The article, which relied on an anonymous source for much of the information, led Hewlett-Packard's chairwoman, Patricia Dunn, to call for an investigation of her company's board to uncover the source of the leak.
The Internet address of the person who established the AT&T account matched that of the person who had tried to obtain the phone records of Tom Perkins, a Hewlett-Packard board member who subsequently quit the board in anger after learning of the investigation. He has since led vociferous attacks against the company and has complained to authorities, tarnishing Hewlett-Packard's reputation and prompting the attorney general's investigation.
In a statement, Cnet said it takes the hacking of its employees' records seriously:
"These actions not only violated the privacy rights of our employee, but also the rights of all reporters to protect their confidential sources. We are continuing to gather all relevant facts and to analyze appropriate next steps. We have requested that HP provide us with a full accounting of all actions taken in connection with this matter."
Hewlett-Packard also gained access to the personal phone records of Tam, the Wall Street Journal reporter, using undisclosed methods, her newspaper reported on its Web site Thursday. Tam broke news in January 2005 about concerns Hewlett-Packard's board had about Carly Fiorina, the chief executive at the time who later was fired.
In addition, Markoff of the New York Times was the target of pretexting in 2005, according to an article in the Times, suggesting the practice has been going on for a long period.
Donovan, the HP spokesman, apologized about the investigators' spying on reporters, saying the company "is dismayed that the phone records of journalists were accessed without their knowledge, and we are fully cooperating with the attorney general's investigation." He declined to provide any other details.
Shawn Berman, a management professor at Santa Clara University, called Hewlett-Packard's behavior Big Brother-like and said that the scope of its board's mismanagement is breathtaking.
"I've seen this whole saga as really pushing the frontier as to what's acceptable in the world of ethics," he said. "I don't think there's any board that has spied on its own members and private citizens."
Berman added that Hewlett-Packard's actions -- if ever commonplace among companies -- would put a chill on journalism.
"If we are going to take away from the ability to keep sources private, then that kneecaps a reporter's ability to do the job."
THE CONTROVERSY: Hewlett-Packard's board of directors is under fire for conducting an investigation of its own members -- as well as members of the press -- to find out who leaked confidential information to the media.
WHAT HAPPENED: Using a technique known as "pretexting," investigators for the board obtained portions of directors' and journalists' Social Security numbers and then misrepresented themselves to phone companies to obtain phone records.
THE FALLOUT: The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked for more details about Hewlett-Packard's actions, and California's attorney general is investigating possible violations of privacy law.
The players
Patricia Dunn: HP's chairwoman of the board is in the middle of the storm, having overseen the investigation.
Tom Perkins: The Silicon Valley power broker quit the board this year and has prodded the company to come clean, while also helping officials with their investigations.
Mark Hurd: HP's current CEO finds himself at the helm of a company whose board problems date back to the tenure of the firm's previous CEO, Carly Fiorina.
Bill Lockyer: The state attorney general says crimes were definitely committed in the process of the investigation, although who committed them remains unknown.
George Kenworth: The HP board member who allegedly leaked information to media outlets like Cnet and the Wall Street Journal is not being renominated for his seat.
Can we discuss the Ratheon and antiRPG technology cover up story?
I think its a significant story that has been lost with the 911 docum drama fiasco and effects the safety of our troops.
Hopefully we will honor the 3,000 lost Americans here on Monday with the dignity and somberness this memorial deserves. Unlike the right I believe 911 is a human story and not a political story and that we can distinguish ourselves from our opponents as humanitarians who care more about the loss of lives and the real impact to 3,000 lost souls and their families rather than the political consequences of that tragic day. I will try and check back with the dcp when I arrive in Ohio tomorrow but my time here will be severly limited over the next 60 days.
This is the story Ira is referring to...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/7/9514/34117
and this is one of the original news articles the diary was based on...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14704366
September 08, 2006
JOHN BOLTON CONFIRMATION IS DEAD
Several well-placed sources close to the Bolton nomination process have reported to me that the Bolton confirmation process is now dead.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is "highly unlikely" to reconsider Bolton's confirmation again as things now stand.
One insider reported, as far as the Committee is concerned, "we consider the confirmation over. It's dead."
more...
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001632.php
An alternative tv viewing suggestion courtesy of edgery...
"The Price of Security" -- the first in a series of shows by Ted Koppel on the Discovery Channel.
Here is what Discovery says about the program:
Ted Koppel begins his groundbreaking Discovery Channel series with a three-hour primetime special on the eve of the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11 with The Price of Security. Integral to the special and the live town meeting are interviews with current and former administration members -- including Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, and Presidential advisor Karen Hughes. Koppel also interviews military and security experts, including the man who oversees the 9/11 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Admiral Harry Harris, as he explores the dilemma the government faces in the war on terrorism.
The government has been criticized for not doing enough to "connect the dots," but it is also being assailed by civil libertarians for undermining the freedoms on which the United States was founded. Koppel sorts through these critical issues facing Americans and their lawmakers, succinctly bringing viewers all sides of the national debate.
Following the broadcast of KOPPEL ON DISCOVERY: The Price of Security, Koppel will host a live town meeting at Discovery Communications World Headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., with 9/11 family members, civil libertarians, administration officials and members of the 9/11 Commission to discuss what lies ahead for America and the delicate balance between national security and individual liberties.
read the rest here...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/8/131750/7093
Report: No prewar Saddam-al-Qaida tie
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 31 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - There's no evidence Saddam Hussein had a relationship with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his Al-Qaida associates, according to a Senate report on prewar intelligence on Iraq. Democrats said the report undercuts President Bush's justification for going to war.
The declassified document being released Friday by the Senate Intelligence Committee also explores the role that inaccurate information supplied by the anti-Saddam exile group the Iraqi National Congress had in the march to war.
It discloses for the first time an October 2005 CIA assessment that prior to the war Saddam's government "did not have a relationship, harbor, or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi and his associates."
Bush and other administration officials have said that the presence of Zarqawi in Iraq before the war was evidence of a connection between Saddam's government and al-Qaida. Zarqawi was killed by a U.S. airstrike in June this year.
The long-awaited report, said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., a member of the committee, is "a devastating indictment of the Bush-Cheney administration's unrelenting, misleading and deceptive attempts" to link Saddam to al-Qaida.
more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060908/ap_on_go_co/iraq_report_12
The other 9/11:
On September 11, 1906, Mohandas K. Gandhi launched the modern non-violent movement by pledging to use non-violence and civil disobedience in his quest for justice. His decision that day changed the course of human history.
To honor this 100th anniversary, New Yorkers for a Department of Peace and the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence are sponsoring 100 Years of Non-Violence, a campaign that invites citizens around the world to attend and organize screenings of the movie Gandhi on September 11, 2006.
Maybe it's not too late to organize something in your community on the night of ABC's docudrama to commemorate the birth of the nonviolent movement?
Here's the link to the NYC-DOP site: http://www.nyc-dop.com/gandhi/index.html
Posted by: Hawkeye at September 8, 2006 01:53 PM
Or rent Gandhi from Blockbuster's and invite soem friends over.
Oh you won't believe this ... or maybe it's just all too easy to believe...
a dkos diarist has come up with who started the pt911 project and who funded...
would you believe a Christian fundie organization?
check out the details here and Recommend the diary if you have a dkos membership...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/8/133335/7036
CNN QuickVote
Should filmmakers use fictionalized scenes to dramatize the events leading up to the September 11 attacks?
Yes 15% 5423 votes
No 85% 30081 votes
Total: 35504 votes
...would you believe a Christian fundie organization?
Posted by: dwahzon at September 8, 2006 02:19 PM
Oh, I can't begin to tell you how stunned I am, simply stunned.
... and the truth shall set you free, unless you believe you have a free pass to heaven no matter what.
Nailed.
Dwahzon
Thanks to you and anyone else updating re relevant diaries from Kos & I have a couple pals emailing about same. Here at work I can't possibly keep up well, just glimpses.
_________________________________________________
I am through avoiding political talk and being neutral in the workplace, including with clients. Like the Dixie Chicks, "Not Ready To Make Nice" - not with so much at stake. The truth must come out.
A homeschooling mom just told me she is covering Global Warming and I recommended Al Gore's movie. I said I regret not doing more to get him elected and she said she did too.
I will do my job duties, but when the opportunity comes up, I will speak out.
We need to work hard to get the truth out there -alternatives. People may be forced to do some thinking. That is part of "security" - it's not acceptable or possible anymore to feel "protected" because of the President or even the military. People have to start using their own brains for survival! We have to work on the apathy and mental sedentariness epidemic as well as just physical obesity.
Here is the latest from Kerry:
John Kerry on Release of Phase II Report on Misleading Iraq Intelligence
“After more than two years of stonewalling, even the Republican-led Intelligence Committee confirms that the Administration intentionally manipulated intelligence to mislead the country into war in Iraq.
“They knew Saddam had nothing to do with Al Qaeda or 9/11 but led Americans to believe the opposite. They knew the information from the Administration’s paid advocates at the Iraqi National Congress was based on lies, but used it to deceive Americans anyway. To this day, there’s been no accountability. It’s beyond insulting that for this trumped up case for war, George Tenet got a medal and Ahmad Chalabi got a seat next to the first lady at the State of the Union Address. Worst of all, the administration still won’t level with the American people about their disastrous war in Iraq.”
from democrats.org
developments over the last 48 hours:
President Clinton, through his attorney, rebuked ABC for producing a "factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate" miniseries -- and walked the network through three make-believe scenes in the "the Path to 9/11" that defame people and misrepresent events during his administration.
Clinton's spokesman later stepped up the pressure, condemning Disney as "despicable" for "airing a fictional version of what is a serious and emotional event for our country. No reputable organization," he said, "should dramatize 9-11 for a profit at the expense of the truth."
The families of September 11 victims have weighed in on the controversy, telling "entertainers" not to "promote misleading or incorrect information as fact to the public."
House and Senate Democratic leaders hammered Disney president and CEO Robert Iger, in letters that questioned the company's commitment to its "reputation ... as a corporation worthy of the trust of the American people and the United States Congress."
Scholastic has pulled teaching materials off its website and has scrambled to adopt a plan to help teachers show students "the differences between factual reporting and a dramatization," but is still encouraging teachers to show their students this propaganda.
--
Have received email from Britain & France. People are talking about the ABC special.
We need to keep up the pressure.
KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The Taliban have claimed responsibility for a massive suicide car bombing that killed at least 18 people -- including two U.S. soldiers -- near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
"A coalition convoy was the target of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device this morning near the U.S. Embassy here," according to Master Sgt. Chris Miller. The convoy was comprised of three armored Humvees.
Journalist Tom Coghlan said the Humvee that bore the brunt of the explosion had its turret blown 30 yards from the site the the attack. The blast spread debris and body parts across the Massoud roundabout, about 50 yards from the embassy. (Watch flames, smoke pour from the wreckage of the car used as a deadly bomb -- 1:10)
Video from the scene showed a charred, severed foot on the ground as military medics attended to a limp body dressed in military fatigues a short distance away.
CNN's Anderson Cooper, at the scene of the attack, said: "This is a real sign of a resurgence of the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. It is also a sign that the Taliban are increasingly adopting al-Qaeda-style tactics."
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/08/afghanistan.blast/index.html
... and we're in Iraq, WHY AGAIN?????
We need to keep up the pressure.
Posted by: DiAnne at September 8, 2006 03:15 PM
What's amazing is how the right has villified the "Hollywood" types for years as not being in touch with reality, being too "liberal" with facts and artistic license.
Well, if there is any group who has proven to either not be in touch with reality, or refuses to investigate or seek the actual truth, or takes what they KNOW to be the truth and twist it to their liking, it's the Right.
Let's twist again... swiftly.
Today, on the 40th Anniversary of the first broadcast of Star Trek, all I can say is:
"Beam me up, Scotty. There's no intelligent life in this White House."
okay, now I'm going to give you a link to something that's going to make you feel a lot better...
a youtube of a retired Marine Colonel who's voted Republican all his life telling it like it is and indicating that he's going to vote all Democrat this fall in hopes that control of the House is changed and this administration is tied up in knots and can do no more damage...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYSF3H6onrc
Maybe it's not too late to organize something in your community on the night of ABC's docudrama to commemorate the birth of the nonviolent movement?
Here's the link to the NYC-DOP site: http://www.nyc-dop.com/gandhi/index.html
Posted by: Hawkeye at September 8, 2006 01:53 PM
We are showing this at Camp Democracy Monday evening--everyone in the 'hood come on down!~
Posted by: monkey at September 8, 2006 03:33 PM
When I watched Couric on her CBS debut, the one story that stood out as the most incongruous was a reporter interviewing Taliban members "ten miles" from a US military base.
My immediate thought that night:
If it's so easy for "news" crews to find Taliban members, why is it so difficult for US and UN military forces to find the Taliban...? Why didn't the military forces just follow the "news" crews...?
Well, okay. In hindsight, I suspect the men who were interviewed weren't even Taliban members, and that it was a staged thing via Pentagon propaganda.... but, still, IF they were real Taliban members, and IF the US and UN forces are so hell-bent on capturing or killing them, what stopped them from following the "news" crew to find the alleged Taliban members...?
It still makes no sense whatsoever to me.
Bush Tribunal Plan Ignores Supreme Court Ruling
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090806Z.shtml
Under the measure that President Bush proposed on Wednesday, Khalid Shaik Mohammed and other major terrorism suspects would face trials at Guantanamo Bay in military tribunals that would allow evidence obtained by coercive interrogation and hearsay and deny suspects and their lawyers the right to see classified evidence used against them.
Amid Wide Criticism, Bush Pushes for Greater Wiretap Authority
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090806O.shtml
President Bush urged Congress Thursday to give him "additional authority" to continue his administration's warrantless eavesdropping program. The speech was his latest effort in several days to mark the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks by framing the election-year national security debate to political and policy advantage.
{{{All the better to spy on political opponents, my dear.... heh, heh, heh...}}}
Tom Engelhardt | 9/11 in a Movie-Made World
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090806P.shtml
"Only relatively small numbers of New Yorkers actually experienced 9/11: those at the tip of Manhattan or close enough to watch the two planes smash into the World Trade Center towers," writes Tom Engelhardt. "For most Americans, even those like me who were living in Manhattan, 9/11 arrived on the television screen."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-j-weiner/say-what-you-will-about-9_b_28891.html
Say What You Will About 9/11, But Don't Piss On The Reagans
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5325590.stm
Bin Laden '9/11 video' broadcast
{{{Between the prisoners illegally detained in other countries now being transferred to Gitmo, fictional account of 9/11, the "new" tape that connects the 9/11 hijackers with OBL, once ignored, but resurrected in time for the 5th anniversary of 9/11 and in time for this fall's elections, I'm thinking publicity about things related to fear-and-war-mongering rhetoric are good covers for the idiotic piece of legislation that McIdiot now wants passed in a hurry so he can set up kangaroo courts to try the Gitmo detainees (why the bum's rush for a hurried up-or-down vote on everything?). I don't ever remember a time in American history when a person accused of a crime (in regular or military courts) wasn't aware of evidence, what laws were broken, and who was bringing the charges - and certainly, I've never heard of anything so criminally outlandish as a defendant being denied the right to see the evidence against him/her. If Dem or Repub Congress Critters give Resident McIdiot a free pass on this, they all need to be voted out of office....}}}
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5326130.stm
Armitage admits to CIA disclosure
{{{I fully expect now that Armitage has "confessed" and apologized that the Bu$h administration will want to dismiss any other evidence of wrongdoing as irrelevant... and, of course, McNumbNuts will pardon any of the criminals anyway, just as Ollie North was pardoned.}}}
Paul Harris | The Myth of Fair Elections in America
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090806L.shtml
"The debacle surrounding the Republican victory in 2000 demonstrated to the world that America's electoral process is wide open to abuse," Paul Harris writes, and "America's system of voting is now even more suspect, more complicated, and more open to abuse than ever before."
William Rivers Pitt | The Other War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090806J.shtml
"Most people in the United States haven't given a moment's thought to the war in Afghanistan in a very long time. That war is over, we are told, and we won," writes William Rivers Pitt. "The Taliban was routed, and al Qaeda lost a safe haven. The war in Afghanistan, as it turns out, is far from over."
John Cory | Clowns and Harlots
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090706A.shtml
John Cory writes: "We now live under a government and media run by clowns and harlots who peddle their wares from the corner of K Street and Pennsylvania Avenue all the way to Main Street, USA. They spray the night air with the rancid perfume of fear while selling cheap lipstick-lies that kill, as they offer the flesh of our Constitution to the highest corporate bidder."
Pentagon Spends Billions to Outsource Torture
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090706C.shtml
The thousands of mercenary security contractors employed in the Bush administration's "War on Terror" are paid for by American taxpayers, but they've handed Osama bin Laden his greatest victories - public relations coups that have transformed him from just another face in a crowd of radical clerics to a hero of millions in the global South.
Le Monde | Bush and the Law
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090706H.shtml
Le Monde points out that the US president has only come clean with the law in some respects in order to bend it in others, while the Los Angeles Times details the specific concessions in legal procedure the administration plans to wrest from Congress.
Larry C Johnson: What George Bush Didn't Say About Guantanamo
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090706Z.shtml
Larry Johnson: "If we had to rely solely on the word of George W. Bush about the progress in the war on terrorism and the value of information obtained from Muslim prisoners in US custody we would be in trouble. Bush's speech today from the White House was both self-serving and misleading. I give the President credit for one thing - he's a great propagandist."
Excerpt:
Republicans and Democrats need to come together on one critical point - when it comes to fighting terrorists, we cannot and should not act like terrorists. That's a point George Bush still does not grasp.
Senate Panel Delays Vote on Bolton Nomination
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090706S.shtml
Senator Lincoln Chafee has pulled the plug on a push by his fellow Republicans to confirm John Bolton as UN ambassador, saying he had more questions that needed to be answered. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was expected to vote along party lines during a committee meeting Thursday to approve Bolton, but the panel postponed the vote after Chafee, R-Rhode Island, expressed doubt.
Bush and Lieberman Pollster Made Up Poll Results
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090706T.shtml
The owner of DataUSA Inc., a company that conducted political polls for the campaigns of George W. Bush, US Senator Joe Lieberman and other candidates, pleaded guilty to fraud for making up survey and poll results. Tracy Costin pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Costin, 46, faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when she is sentenced November 30.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5324756.stm
British species migrate northward
We need to keep up the pressure.
We deserve more than propaganda, especially since many people have been killed because of lies. This administration didn't want the information in Richard Clarke's book to get out to the public and have them really think about it. As usual, Rove is using the Orwellian technique of attributing one's own characteristics to the one being attacked.
- The Iraqi government is supposedly being put in charge of the military there. They are not remotely ready.
- The Taleban were supposedly knocked out in Afghanistan except for "remnants." The Taleban have regroups and NATO can't get enough forces.
- Bin Laden is not in custody, unless we don't know about it. He could have been & it's not the fault of Clinton. That's a lie.
- Hurricane Katrina, the BP Oil Spill, the Enron thefts, Halliburton's profiteering, our oncoming housing crash and recession - on W's watch.
- Two stolen elections.
This is only a small part of it.
MoveOn and True Majority are joining forces.
Every thinking American needs to wake up now.
Go to http://pol.moveon.org/abcdoc)
In a little over 48 hours, ABC will air a five-hour "docudrama" on the 9/11 attacks. The movie was written and produced by a right-wing activist who fabricated key scenes to blame Democrats and defend Republicans.
1 It's so partisan that even Rush Limbaugh was surprised ABC decided to air it.
2 And an FBI agent who was brought in to consult on the docudrama quit because, he said, "they were making things up."
3 Public outrage is mounting across the country, and Variety reports that ABC is now "mulling the idea of yanking the mini altogether."4
The Path to 9/11 appears to be part of a coordinated push - including speeches by President Bush and millions of dollars in advertising - to exploit the five-year anniversary of 9/11 for political gain. That's not acceptable from anyone?especially not a news organization like ABC.
It's not just that ABC's movie is slanted. Big parts of it are simply untrue. The producer himself even admitted to simply improvising a key scene which depicts the Clinton administration letting bin Laden go when they had him in their sights?a complete fabrication.5 Last night, the movie's star, Harvey Keitel, said "It turned out not all the facts were correct."
Sources: 1. "Writer of ABC's 9/11 'Docudrama' Is Avowed Conservative Activist," ThinkProgress, September 1, 2006 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2047&id=8706-6738814-CFomlJy6nH.2S8_JXfrtow&t=6
2. "Clintonoids Prepare To Attack 9/11 Movie," The Rush Limbaugh Show, August 30, 2006 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2049&id=8706-6738814-CFomlJy6nH.2S8_JXfrtow&t=7
3. "FBI Agent Who Consulted On Path to 9/11 Quit," ThinkProgress, September 7, 2006 http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/07/fbi-agent-quit/
4. "Under fire, ABC mulls yanking mini," Variety, September 7, 2006 http://www.variety.com/VR1117949675.html 5. Greg Mitchell, Editor & Publisher, MSNBC appearance, September 7, 2006 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2077&id=8706-6738814-CFomlJy6nH.2S8_JXfrtow&t=8
6. "Harvey Keitel speaks out on Path to 9/11: 'It turned out not all the facts were correct'", Showbiz Tonight, September 7, 2006 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2078&id=8706-6738814-CFomlJy6nH.2S8_JXfrtow&t=9
NonnyO
Are you kidding?
Bush brought Taleban to the ranch before.
from Michael Moore:
“Then in 2001, just five and a half months before 9/11, the Bush administration welcomed a special Taliban envoy to tour the United States to help improve the image of the Taliban government.”
“A Taliban envoy appealed to the Bush administration Monday to overlook his group's support of extremist Osama bin Laden and the destruction of priceless centuries-old Buddhist sculptures and lift sanctions on Afghanistan to help alleviate a humanitarian crisis threatening the lives of a million people. Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi delivered a letter from the Taliban for President Bush that called for better U.S.-Afghan relations and negotiations to solve the dispute over the Saudi-born Bin Laden. Robin Wright, “Taliban Asks US to Lift its Economic Sanctions,” Los Angeles Times, March 20, 2001.
“The Town Hall forum was Hashemi's final meeting in a weeklong visit to California, where he spoke at several universities, including USC, UCLA and UC Berkeley. Later Thursday, he left for New York for another stop on his public relations tour before going to Washington, where he is scheduled to deliver a letter from his party to the Bush administration.” Teresa Watanabe, “Overture By Taliban Hits Resistance," Los Angeles Times, March 16, 2001.
Well, here I am, all hooked up to internet again!
Thanks to everyone for the good words and wishes.
NonnyO,
Haven't had time or the internet to look up the progressive views of Katie Couric's debut. Are any progressives taking her seriously? (O.K. now everyone quit laughing.)
Saw her debut night and the one after that. Don't like the fact that Rush Limbaugh is one of her first "free speakers". Oh, well. Don't know if she is trying to truly be unbiased, or if it is more lipstick on a pig. Seeing how she is on the network that "just didn't have anything" further for Dan Rather, uh, my hunch is on the latter.
Casey et al, my reaction to the news about Greg Palast was "Oh, NO! They are trying to silence the voice of a very daring truth teller". I thought about them trying to silence anyone of his caliber when I first read him. Some may think he is a bit of a conspiracy theorist, but I have always found him to be on the sharp biting edge of truth telling the gutsy, but dangerous way. I am so sorry to hear it.
Lots of good information on this thread, as always. Thank you everyone.
DiAnne,
Now I am in your time zone!
Lovvvve the weather here, and my internet connection is twice as fast here as it was up north! Both cable!
No email addy's yet, folks, I will send them to y'all.
******
...would you believe a Christian fundie organization?
Posted by: dwahzon at September 8, 2006 02:19 PM
Hmmm. The "Christian" denomination of the Assembly of the Rovians? Hmmph. Shall have to look into that.
read the rest here...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/8/131750/7093
Posted by: dwahzon at September 8, 2006 01:27 PM
Dwahzon, thanks also for the info on an alternative tv viewing suggestion courtesy of edgery. Sounds like a very good suggestion.
This is long but a must read for those who want an examination of MSM's failure to report detainee abuse and torture.
Via Rawstory...
A column at The Columbia Journalism Review has revealed the media establishment's collective reluctance to report incidents of detainee abuse, torture, and even homicide in the early days of the "war on terror".
Writer Eric Umansky goes into extensive detail--relaying several anecdotes directly from journalists who attempted to cover such incidents--regarding mainstream network and newspaper distate for negative coverage of the war.
One British reporter that Umansky spoke to discussed an unnamed show that passed on his story of secret CIA prisoner transfers, telling the reporter that they preferred items with "somebody who's innocent."
Read the entire article here...
http://www.cjr.org/issues/2006/5/Umansky.asp
It's long and enlightening.
Heard on NPR that the presidunce is going to be giving a prime time speech on Monday, September 11. Press secretary Snowjob claims that it's not political, but instead will be Georgie's thoughts & feelings about the day.
Maybe he'll read "My Pet Goat" to us...
Palast action hero.
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at September 8, 2006 04:54 PM
I've had enough of Couric. I won't be watching her any time soon....
Posted by: madame defarge at September 8, 2006 06:56 PM
Not giving a political speech.... Oh... hahahahaha, stop, my sides are aching from laughing too hard already.... Bwahahahahahahaaaaaa
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at September 8, 2006 04:54 PM
Welcome back! :-) Sounds like you've gotten settled in....
First in order of importance has to be an internet connection... :-) Without that, how would one keep up with the current events of the day and something honest and truthful...?
Norman Solomon | As Others See US - The "War on Terror"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090806C.shtml
"The USA's mass media constantly tell us how Americans see the 'war on terror.' But the same outlets rarely tell us much about how the rest of the world sees it," writes Norman Solomon.
Senate Panel to Issue Iraq Intel Report
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090806B.shtml
The Senate Intelligence Committee will release a report Friday on pre-war Iraq intelligence that will confirm that "the Bush administration's case for war in Iraq was fundamentally misleading."
Ohio Judge Orders '04 Ballots Be Preserved for Legal Examination
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090806G.shtml
A federal judge ordered Ohio's county elections boards on Thursday to preserve ballots from the 2004 presidential election, a move activists hope will help prove accusations of fraud.
Senate Panel: No Saddam, al Qaeda Connection
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090806Y.shtml
The theory that a connection between Hussein and bin Laden ever existed - widely viewed as government propaganda on the left - has now been debunked. In a harsh rebuke of Vice President Cheney, and other high ranking Bush administration officials, the Senate Intelligence Committee today released a report denying any connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization.
{{{Er... even if the Senate is just now releasing the info, this is still 'old news' to bloggers and the internet news community.... This is why Snow is dismissing the report as 'nothing new' - but that does not explain why everyone in the McAdministration from the top on down, even including Dem incumbents and/or candidates for office, keeps linking Iraq to al Qaida and terrorism (all in one breath, in same sentences), when any rational person knows better....}}}
SICK TO DEATH OF TRUSTING BUSH
Terry J. Allen, In These Times
Bush lied about Iraq's WMDs, his tactics in the 'war on terror' and his domestic spying program. Now he wants us to trust him that it's safe to make weapons out of the world's deadliest diseases.
http://www.alternet.org/story/41368/
Excerpt:
The 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention made it illegal under international and U.S. law to make or stockpile bacteriological or viral organisms for use as weapons. The United States is exploiting a loophole: The treaty allows nations to develop small amounts of biological warfare agents for defensive research.
{{{"Defensive...?!?"}}}
WHEN WILL JOE BIDEN BECOME FAIR GAME?
Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com
Senator Joe Biden is the ultimate creep Democrat -- happy to attack Rumsfeld when Iraq is polling badly, and arch defender of the credit industries that have put thousands of US troops abroad in bankruptcy.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/41407/
Jason Leopold | Armitage Shmarmitage
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090806R.shtml
"Perhaps mainstream journalists have declared war on Fitzgerald over the past few weeks because so many of the country's top reporters have been hauled into court against their will by the special counsel to testify before a grand jury about their conversations with White House officials in the leak matter," writes Jason Leopold regarding the CIA leak case.
US Court Ruling Blocks Alaska Oil Lease Sale
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/090806EB.shtml
A federal judge issued a preliminary ruling on Thursday that temporarily blocks the US administration's plan to allow oil development in the sensitive wetlands near vast Teshekpuk Lake in Arctic Alaska.
Infection Risk in Kids Living Near Landfills
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/090806HA.shtml
Living near a hazardous waste site containing persistent pollutants such as dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls and chlorinated pesticides seems to increase the risk of hospitalization for respiratory infections and asthma in children.
Posted by: DiAnne at September 8, 2006 04:48 PM
I remember that.... and it still ticks me off that Moore's documentary didn't have more of an impact. Grrrrr.....
When I put on my tin foil hat, I figure the Bu$h and Bin Laden families have such close financial ties that I am convinced OBL will never be found on Resident McIdiot's watch....
Resident McIdiot's watch....
Posted by: NonnyO at September 8, 2006 09:09 PM
That's Chicken McIdiot to you, Missy.
Frayed sew.
Saturday's edition of the New York Times will carry an article slated for the front page which examines President Bush's "reset the clock" strategy.
"When President Bush and his top aides gathered in July to plot out a strategy for the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, it was clear to all that they had to try to reset the clock -- back to a time, before Iraq, when portraying himself as a steely commander in chief was a far simpler task for Bush, before Katrina, when questions about competence did not weigh so heavily," write David E. Sanger and Sheryl Gay Stolberg.
"From those discussions emerged the speeches of the last week in which Bush has attempted to regain ground he has lost for more than two years, turn the conversation away from Iraq," the article continues.
"It is a carefully-honed strategy that will accelerate all weekend," report Sanger and Stolberg.
DEVELOPING...
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/NYT_President_Bushs_reset_clock_strategy_0908.html
Can't we clean his clock instead?
I have something irreverent to share.
Since replacing my Calista Flockhart wallpaper with an aerial shot of Blue California (AKA San Francisco), my HP laptop is booting up much faster - as in, 30 seconds as opposed to 5 minutes.
Is this a sign?
"It is a carefully-honed strategy that will accelerate all weekend," report Sanger and Stolberg.
DEVELOPING...
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/NYT_President_Bushs_reset_clock_strategy_0908.html
Can't we clean his clock instead?
Posted by: monkey at September 8, 2006 10:22 PM
Anybody have any other thoughts as to why the goofball wants to give a "prime time" televised speech on September 11 during the middle of the Path to 9/11. Can anybody say Nuremberg rally? Can anybody say Goebbels?
Posted by: monkey at September 8, 2006 10:22 PM
I would just doody in my pants if any of the major networks refused to air the Goofball's speech. It would be such beautiful thing. Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't the networks do that once to Clinton, or was it Bush?
Can anybody say Goebbels?
Posted by: oncall at September 8, 2006 11:02 PM
And they are busy comparing AL GORE to Goebbels...
Kettle. Pot. Black.
Is this a sign?
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at September 8, 2006 10:50 PM
No Ally,
It is probably because HP decided to deactivate the bug in your computer.
Hi!
Tonight the President drove by in a motorcade; everyone ran out into the street to sahre their feelings. I am afraid it wasn't pleasant...
The Vets are marching tomorrow at 9 am. They have feelings to share too...
Note: Monday Night Football doubleheader during the scheduled non-political Ptetzeldental 9/11 Compassionfest.
Wide Right.
Truth Shall Prevail
I have enjoyed reading Palast too, not that what he reported was the way I wished things really were!
You'll enjoy this time zone, as you'll be among the last ones up on the internet (in this country, save Hawaii).
Hey! I just noticed that the church nearest my house says "God Bless The Whole World" on the marquee. I looked in the prayer book at the hospital up north, & someone had written the same thing. It's encouraging (rather than the old "God Bless America.") No one should be left out just by accident of birth.
Karen
I had heard the guy on Democracy Now who badly burnt himself (and a military van) after finding out his son had been killed in Iraq. He travels the country with a coffin & memorabilia. Can't remember his name but you'll probably know. & his wife did some research & found out that recruiters like to look for young Hispanic males who come from single parent families. Citizenship is optional as is high school diploma.
Karen
What I also meant to say - same couple were headed to Camp Democracy.
Posted by: DiAnne at September 8, 2006 11:55 PM
That IS encouraging, although I still tend to think the fundies mean, "God Bless the Whole world who believes what we believe, and to the rest of you, we're coming!".
As for inclusion and grace for all, I'll Believe It When I See It.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20060909/cm_huffpost/029015
Secret Rightwing Group Behind 9/11 Propaganda Movie
Let's play the numbers game:
U.S. count of Baghdad deaths excludes car bombs, mortar attacks
That has allowed U.S. officials to boast that the number of deaths from sectarian violence in Baghdad declined by more than 52 percent in August over July.
http://rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.realcities.com%2Fmld%2Fkrwashington%2F15474438.htm%3Ftemplate%3DcontentModules%2Fprintstory.jsp
Posted by: monkey at September 8, 2006 11:52 PM
Oooooohhhh..... Chickenhawk McIdiot interrupting Monday Night Football for a propaganda speech....?
Hmmmm.... 1984... Two Minutes of Hate...?
Right end-zone anyone...?
Oncall
I'll go with the figures from Human Rights Watch, which said the US underestimated deaths in Iraq.
I would just doody in my pants if any of the major networks refused to air the Goofball's speech.
Posted by: oncall at September 8, 2006 11:12 PM
I would doo-doo the same out of sheer shock if the networks refused to air his hate-and-fear-and-war-mongering propaganda fest....
Given the mood over the 9/11 fiction factor, I can't imagine a speech by herr leader would be cancelled. As things stand right now, the shows must go on, according to the GOP-Mouse....
I'll have to read about the hate fest and the hate movie. Ring me if anyone plans to see if Chickenhawk McIdiot has a tight end, and maybe I'll turn my TV on to watch that kind of porn....
Posted by: Karen at September 8, 2006 11:47 PM
Too bad we never get to see sound bytes with 'film at 11' messages about incidents like that....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060909/ap_on_go_co/iraq_report
Senate: Saddam saw al-Qaida as threat
WASHINGTON - Saddam Hussein regarded al-Qaida as a threat rather than a possible ally, a Senate report says, contradicting assertions President Bush has used to build support for the war in Iraq.
Released Friday, the report discloses for the first time an October 2005 CIA assessment that before the war, Saddam's government "did not have a relationship, harbor or turn a blind eye toward" al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or his associates.
~~~~~~
"For the first time..."...???" Er... WHERE has the Senate been for the last five years?!? That is NOT the FIRST time I've read that information. I know I've read about that info at least a half a dozen times since finding the Kerry political blog in '04, although I know I couldn't find links to any of those stories now. Just because the Senate is now releasing "official" information doesn't mean people haven't known the facts all along....
Read the last paragraph of the article and you'll probably have the same mental reaction as me.... "Ya think?!?!?"
Something that we need to pay attention to:
This post at The Next Hurrah goes into what actions the Bush administration is taking to neutralize the Hamdan ruling and eliminate the possibility that the Supreme Court will have any control over the actions of the executive branch and by the way, make torture legal again.
Pay particular attention to the first/only comment on this post. It has an terrific bibliography of articles. In fact, the comment by itself would make an excellent "letter" to share with friends with a little intro.
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2006/09/prediction_real.html#more
Posted by: dwahzon at September 9, 2006 08:22 AM
Great link and analysis! I sent it on to my usual list of people who will appreciate it, and to my rep and to the Dem candidate (a prosecuting attorney in 'real life' - and she's ahead in the MN polls, too) to replace Dayton, along with this comment:
If the current Congress Critters pass this piece of toilet paper legislation that retroactively gives the McAdministration immunity from prosecution for war crimes while making torture legal, they need to be voted out of office...!!! And, if passed (which I assume this idiotic Repuke-controlled, rubber-stamp Congress will do), the next Dem-controlled Congress needs to repeal the whole thing. In fact, I'd like to see the next Dem-controlled Congress repeal virtually all the garbage legislation passed since Jan., 2001, starting with that monstrosly menacing Patriot Act which has infringed on so many of our rights...! Then, the next Dem-controlled Congress needs to impeach the bam dastards and send them all to The Hague to be tried for war crimes! If they don't they can be voted out of office, too.
The fear-and-war-mongering xenophobic rhetoric has been ratched up to a fevered pitch by the McAdministration in the last couple of weeks, and it will only get worse before Nov. 7. I wonder how many people will buy into their lying rhetoric this time... besides the kool-aid-drinking sheeple who think Resident McIdiot is the savior who will bring on the rapture for the 'ignorance is bliss' crowd who have believed every lie the McAdministration has uttered...? They desperately need a reality rupture from their self-induced hypnotic states...!
NonnyO
Good points.
Bush's invasion of iraq was based in many minds on the false assertion Saddam = Al Quaida/9-11. Saddam's regime was a secular dictatorship but opposed to Islamic extremism. Bin Laden called Saddam an infidel and said US had replaced the lackey Saddam to install the lackey Alawi. Saddam did not do direct hostility to the United States warranting invasion. The family of Saud had much more to do with funding and aiding Islamic extremists, as did Pakistan. The Bush administration has been very accomodating to both. US could have captured Bin Laden and destroyed Al Quaida when surrounded at Tora Bora. Would that have been less ethical than the loss of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians to kill insurgents hiding among them? Instead we diverted resources toward a secular dictator because he headed a country with strategic resources. This provided an ideological boost to the extremists and a new rallying ground. Clinton prevented the millennium plan in 2000. 9/11 occurred after nine months of Bush in power. Kerry would have had a more similar worldview to Clinton than Bush. So the party of Clinton and Kerry is being discredited by lies regarding terror response now. Saddam was taken out of Iraqi government and the infrastructure was destroyed under Bush. The real perpetrators of 9/11 and the Wahabi influence were not provably weakened more under Bush. The influence of Christian fundamentalism would have been less at play under Democrats and they would have been better at opposing neocon influence.
The neocons planned the war actions in the middle east long before Bush came to power. They influenced sanctions against Iraq, Tomahawk missile against Iraq under Clinton, and war against Iraq. Their goal is global economic domination. They are not traditional conservatives. Bush has been more easily pressured toward Christian fundamentalist social agenda as well as the neocon plan. Republican strategists knew how to manipulate public opinion and are still at it. Some Christian fundamentalists may have wanted a Crusade as badly as some Islamic fundamentalists wanted Jihad. I doubt that was Bush's focus, despite his religiosity, or why would he have spent hundreds of billions on secular Iraq, who kept Islamic fundamentalists at bay. He would have instead targeted Pakistan, Sudan, Iran, Malaysia where Islamic clergies rule and Islamic terrorists have been harbored. I can think of no logic whereby invasion of Iraq made sense in terms of reaction to 9/11 nor how it was directly connected.
Army Times report on lack of link:
http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2091485.php
Suspected terrorits should only have been put in known facilities where their treatment could be monitored by the Red Cross. Guantanamo could have been used for high-value terrorists in the first place instead of lowly foot soldiers of the Taleban, teen recruits of Al Quaida, chicken farmers and cab drivers without charges. The Pentagon could have followed the Geneva Conventions and military tribunals that followed the Military Code of Justice. There might not have been Abu Graib or secret CIA torture prisons. This administration is doing too little too late, trying to look good just before an election. The Army is releasing a new manual banning torture at the same time Bush defended the CIA's "alternative" interrogation techniques.
Posted by: DiAnne at September 9, 2006 10:30 AM
I wonder if BushCo will claim that the Army Times isn't supporting the troops & is trying to undermine the war effort...
But then again, nothing this regime does surprises me anymore.
I was working on my primary election ballot and stopped when i came to Judicial candidates. I decided to research it more before proceeding. They are not labelled by party affiliation and only their names are given on the ballot. The days of voting for women in general are long gone.
Just in the nick of time, a Guide to Judicial Candidates for Progressive Voters.
Here are my choices:
A woman with a record of protecting civil rights, fighting special interests, protecting the public's right to know. Endorsed by Sierra Club, NARAL, Labor Council, 100 plus judges.
vs
A man who voted with the Christian Coalition 100 percent, opposes right to choose and stem cell research, voted against environment, civil rights. Backed by Building Association and Realtors.
====
A man who made court proceedings more transparent by televising them, supported campaign finance reform, endorsed by Sierra Club, Labor Council, Sierra Club.
vs
An anti-environmentalist activist (male) fights against laws protecting open space, has clients who are far-right wing organizations, realty, mining and home building corporations. Contributes thousands to conservative candidates personally.
====
A man voted Outstanding Judge by women lawyers, three decades protecting working people and crime victims. Endorsed by labor, NARAL, Sierra club, firefighters, police, sheriffs, bar association
vs
A woman voted off superior Court after one term, attorneys asked to be transferred out of her courtroom because she was biased and unfair, and she threatened to punish women who wore pants in her courtroom. Endorsed by far right orgs.
====
None of this would have been self-evident from the ballot.
This mailing was all I had other than delving into research myself with limited time. I did have an email saying that expensive commercials are going to be blitzed all over the state by right wingers, seeking to stack the courts with their ilk.
Just FYI for those who are interested. Taytay is liveblogging John Kerry's speech on National Security at Faneuil Hall over at dailykos
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/9/104253/0341
Army met its recruiting goal for August. ( As did the Navy, Marines, and Air Force, but the National Guard is down)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6068994,00.html
How?
- bonuses up to $40,000
- reaching young people over the internet
- letting 42 year olds join up rather than up to 35
- 1/3 more recruiters on the street
- they hit it hard in summer
- recruiters hang out on Army Web chat rooms 24/7 then arrange meetings
- they accept those with lower aptitude scores
- they waive many criminal records
I've seen the Craig's List tricks where they try to make it look like a band is auditioning. Meeting in the chat room and arranging face-to-face meeting reminds me of the technique used by pedophiles.
Just sent this to ABC and used all 500 characters allowed.
My family and I are boycotting ABC, Disney affiliates as well an advertisers and spinoff products indefinitely, to punish you for showing a false drama disguised as a documentary (for the gullible) and will make sure others do so as well.
You know the one I mean. A forty million dollar production with no commercial sponsorship needed, and which makes time for a presidential speech in the middle of the second night is nothing but shameless rightwing propaganda. You are not a purveyor of truth.
Halliburton Fraud Lawsuit Details Super Bowl Party
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090906Z.shtml
Halliburton Co. executives ordered a big-screen television and 10 large tubs of tacos, chicken wings and cheese sticks delivered to Iraq for last year's Super Bowl, then billed US taxpayers for their party, according to a lawsuit unsealed Friday.
Excerpt:
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), who has been the leader in Congress in attacking Halliburton, said that the charges were further proof of war profiteering by the oil services giant.
"One former Halliburton employee after another tells the same story of outrageous and intentional overcharging," Waxman said in a statement. "Yet no one in the Bush administration seems to care."
{{{Er.... why would they care, Henry? They're bilking our treasury and profiting nicely from our bankrupt state... we're getting dictatorially screwed without any token goodwill kisses.... The McAdministration will only say they're supporting the troops and wax patriotic about it in sentimental bandwagon phrases... while calling critics unpatriotic (presumably the critics are labeled unpatriotic because they don't approve of contributing more money to Halliburton's war profits).}}}
I called local ABC. I got a recording whereby I could trigger a voice-automated system by using a verbal keyword. I chose "News." I got a human. I asked whether local ABC intended to show Seattle audiences the propaganda piece about 9/11 which cost $40 million, had no commercial sponsorship and would include a presidential speech in middle of the 2nd night. She started to read a prepared statement about "ABC has chosen to show .." etc. I asked if the local affiliate couldn't be a little provocative and refuse to play along. She offered that I could talk to a customer feedback line. I said, "No, I want to talk to a local person from Seattle." She patched me in to a voicemail that sounded like a local woman (news editor or something) and I left a tirade until there was no more room. Sometimes it feels like a small effort, even to make some small cog in the wheel possibly think about what they are participating with.
Posted by: DiAnne at September 9, 2006 11:33 AM
Excellent zinger!!! :-)
FAT LADY SINGING.
F*CKING RUMSFIELD IS DONE!
FORT EUSTIS -- Months before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld forbade military strategists from developing plans for securing a post-war Iraq, the retiring commander of the Army Transportation Corps said Thursday.
In fact, said Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid, Rumsfeld said "he would fire the next person" who talked about the need for a post-war plan.
Rumsfeld did replace Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army chief of staff in 2003, after Shinseki told Congress that hundreds of thousands of troops would be needed to secure post-war Iraq.
Scheid, who is also the commander of Fort Eustis in Newport News, made his comments in an interview with the Daily Press. He retires in about three weeks.
Scheid doesn't go so far as calling for Rumsfeld to resign. He's listened as other retired generals have done so.
"Everybody has a right to their opinion," he said. "But what good did it do?"
Scheid's comments are further confirmation of the version of events reported in "Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq," the book by New York Times reporter Michael R. Gordon and retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Bernard E. Trainor.
In 2001, Scheid was a colonel with the Central Command, the unit that oversees U.S. military operations in the Mideast.
On Sept. 10, 2001, he was selected to be the chief of logistics war plans.
On Sept. 11, 2001, he said, "life just went to hell."
That day, Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of Central Command, told his planners, including Scheid, to "get ready to go to war."
A day or two later, Rumsfeld was "telling us we were going to war in Afghanistan and to start building the war plan. We were going to go fast.
"Then, just as we were barely into Afghanistan ... Rumsfeld came and told us to get ready for Iraq."
Snip...
"The secretary of defense continued to push on us ... that everything we write in our plan has to be the idea that we are going to go in, we're going to take out the regime, and then we're going to leave," Scheid said. "We won't stay."
Scheid said the planners continued to try "to write what was called Phase 4," or the piece of the plan that included post-invasion operations like occupation.
Even if the troops didn't stay, "at least we have to plan for it," Scheid said.
"I remember the secretary of defense saying that he would fire the next person that said that," Scheid said. "We would not do planning for Phase 4 operations, which would require all those additional troops that people talk about today.
"He said we will not do that because the American public will not back us if they think we are going over there for a long war."
Why did Rumsfeld think that? Scheid doesn't know.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-21075sy0sep08,0,2264542.story?page=1&coll=dp-widget-news
I am submitting Kerry's speech in full. It's a good one and addresses morality (what is right and wrong, fundamentally). I realize that it is lengthy but it's likely a new thread will appear soon anyhow.
Kerry: 5 Years After 9/11, 5 Big Steps for Real Security
Kerry Challenges Democrats to Reject Failed Republican National Security Policy, Offer Vision to Win War on Terror
The war on terror that was brought home to the Casey family on a sunny autumn morning that suddenly turned into midnight five years ago, also brought home for all of humanity the stark reality that we are in a fateful contest between forces of evil and hate and the defenders of progress and hope.
The outcome will determine whether our children live in freedom or fear. This is a clash between humanity’s best ideals and the darkness of superstition and oppression. And this is not a clash of faiths: the true Islam is a faith to live by, not a call to terrorize and kill.
In this war, the war against terrorism, there is no substitute for victory. I don’t know a single American who needs a politician to remind them that we have to win this fight.
On Monday, we will commemorate our largest loss of civilian life on a single day in American history. As we remember the horror, the unforgettable shock, and the pride in those who rushed to the rescue, it is our duty to take account as a nation of where we have come since that terrible moment and where we must go if we are to keep America safe in these perilous times.
please read the rest of the speech here...
http://www.democracycellproject.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1501&view=findpost&p=4791
[Edited]
ABC has answered me personally! They care!! I guess "suggestions" are forwarded to their Legal Department.
Audience Relations Department, ABC
As you can imagine, we receive thousands of messages a day from our viewers and while we appreciate you taking the time to provide feedback regarding our programming, we are not able to respond to each one directly.
We encourage you to continue to communicate with us!
ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS:
-- Many of your show-specific questions can be answered on the ABC.com website: Go to ABC.co Go to the top and click on "Shows" Go down the list and click on the name of the show you are seeking information on
Again, thank you for contacting ABC.
Note: The Company's long-established policy does not allow us to accept for review or consideration any ideas, suggestions, or creative materials not solicited by us or our subsidiaries. Therefore, in the event that you have submitted such content, please be advised that the submission has been forwarded
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Posted by: Karen at September 8, 2006 11:47 PM
Feelings to share. Love it.
****
As I drove while moving I thought with all my new responsibilities "Boy, I wonder if I'll have time to keep in touch and involved with the DCP blog."
After a couple of weeks of catching snooze snippets on tv while waiting for our internet installation appointment, I found my dad and I regularly discuss what is being presented as "news" and what we have been able to scratch up as reality without the internet. He is still sharp as a tack, he snickers as he watches "Blabbermouth" (our Pretzledent) and then tosses me the newspaper accounts of Reid doing his best to get rid of Rumsfeld. We banter back and forth, and rant to each other daily. I find we BOTH need and want the truth in our news....So, I have dedicated the following song to you, the DCP community of bloggers.........
(For you keep me sane in a nutty uberOrwellian world...)
I Need You
Written by Gerry Beckley, 1971
We used to laugh, we used to cry
We used to bow our heads then, wonder why
And now you're gone, I guess I'll carry on
And make the best of what you've left to me
Left to me, left to me
I need you like the flower needs the rain
You know I need you, guess I'll start it all again
You know I need you like the winter needs the spring
You know I need you, I need you
And every day, I'd laugh the hours away
Just knowing you were thinking of me
And then it came that I was put to blame
For every story told about me
About me, about me
I need you like the flower needs the rain
You know I need you, guess I'll start it all again
You know I need you, I need you
I need you like the winter needs the spring
You know I need you, guess I'll start it all again
You know I need you, I need you
I need you like the flower needs the rain
You know I need you, guess I'll start it all again (from Truth - for we keep each other sane!)
You know I need you, I need you
I need you like the winter needs the spring
You know I need you, guess I'll start it all again
You know I need you, I need you ...
For Otter
Final Straw
by Michael Stipe
As I raise my head to broadcast my objection
As your latest triumph draws the final straw
Who died and lifted you up to perfection'
And what silenced me is written into law
I can't believe where circumstance has thrown me
And I turn my head away
If I look I'm not sure that I could face you
Not again...not today...not today
If hatred makes a play on me tomorrow
And forgiveness takes a back seat to revenge
There's a hurt down deep that has not been corrected
There's a voice in me that says you will not win
And if I ignore the voice inside
Raise a half glass to my home
But it's there that I am most afraid
And forgetting doesn't hold
It doesn't hold...now I don't believe and I never did
That two wrongs make a right
If the world were filled with the likes of you
Then I'm putting up a fight...putting up a fight
Putting up a fight...make it right...make it right
Now love cannot be called into question
Forgiveness is the only hope I hold
And love...love will be my strongest weapon
I do believe that I am not alone
For this fear will not destroy me
And the tears that have been shed
It's knowing now where I am weakest
And the voice in my head...in my head
Then I raise my voice up higher
And I look you in the eye
And I offer love with one condition
With conviction...tell me why
Tell me why
Tell me why
Look me in the eye
Tell me why
http://tinyurl.com/n9fz9
America needs neo-cons like a fish needs a bicycle.
Or like Baghdad needs a Bush Doctrine.
Posted by: monkey at September 8, 2006 11:59 PM
FILLED WITH LOVE
by Joyce Andersen '2003
Men of anger, men of war
My heart is filled with love
Tell me what you are fighting for
My heart is filled with love
This death I see won't make me numb
My heart is filled with love
Every boy a mother's son
My heart is filled with love
Raise your voices, spread the news
My heart is filled with love
Buddhist, Christian, Moslem, Jew
My heart is filled with love
They all teach the golden rule
My heart is filled with love
Do unto others as you'd have them do
My heart is filled with love
I will not fear these foreign tongues
My heart is filled with love
There is a place for everyone
My heart is filled with love
I cannot make their will my own
My heart is filled with love
But fear can turn a heart to stone
My heart is filled with love
I do not know my neighbor's name
My heart is filled with love
I love that stranger just the same
My heart is filled with love
Hope is rising from this place
My heart is filled with love
Divine wisdom, amazing grace
My heart is filled with love
Men of anger, men of war
My heart is filled with love
Tell me what you are fighting for
My heart is filled with love
Tell me what you are fighting for
My heart is filled with love
My heart is filled with love
My heart is filled with love
My heart is filled with love
My heart is filled with love
http://tinyurl.com/n9fz9
(Thanks, TSP! Howdja know that I was feeling particularly homesick for the land of that old sweet song this morning, and that I could really use a Michael Stipe fix to make me feel better? You rock, grrl!)
My husband says he might watch part of the propaganda show "to see what it's like." I have already planned to distribute more cards (for voting) to college students and to see "The Illusionist" during that time. I have also printed out these cartoons while my husband is at work & taped them to the tv. (Warning: title contains F word).
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/9/95011/39413
[Editotter's note: Although that was not my intent when I begin writing this post, I can see that it's in resonance with Truth's impression of yr hmbl otr crspndnt as indicated by the Michael Stipe lyrics she quoted above. Hmmmm...]
FYI, fellow travelers... I dunno what plans the rest of you have for Monday, but this is one of the things that I'll be doing to make a difference that day:
http://www.opheliaproject.org/main/Erie%20Events/VolunteerOpenHouseSeptember06.htm
Yes, I know, I'd rather be at DemCamp on 9/11, as wouldn't we all... but one is where one has to be sometimes, and at least for me for now, this here is still it.
And one thing I'm particularly pleased about my still being here now is that there are surprisingly large numbers of people in what is in many other ways a relatively backwater burg who are making a genuine difference on a national and even a global level.
You've probably heard me make reference before to Sister Joan Chittister and Pax Christi USA and the Sojourners and all the other local activists here who've made peace on earth a personal policy as well as a Sunday-morning catchphrase.
Well, my friends & neighbors at the Ophelia Project are making personal peace a policy, too. They're fighting against fighting by standing up against violence at its very roots, right where it begins. And by so doing, they're saving the future one young person at a time.
By now you've probably picked up on the fact that I might perhaps be something of a pacifist by inclination. A pacifist, yes; but hardly a passive one. Not by a long shot. As I've said here before, peacemaking is an active verb. And I'm not a peacenik because I have to be, but because I specifically choose to be.
Peace begins at home. And I can't think of a better place to be spending some of my time on this 9/11 anniversary, or a better group of people to be spending it with, than folks like these who are making peace happen on a daily basis right where they live.
Take a look at what they're up to and what they're all about and see what you think. There may well be an Ophelia Project group that's active where you are -- but if there isn't, then maybe it's your karma to help one to get started where you are, too.
Look! This local novice is raising so much money in a conservative district that Rove himself is coming in to try to counteract it!
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/284498_house09.html
Otter
That is very cool.
A Times review of a interesting new book chronicling the rise of home grown American terrorism, and its role in rolling back reconstruction in the 1870s:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/books/review/Wilentz.t.html
Sunshine
by Jonathan Edwards
Sunshine go away today,
I don't feel much like dancin'
Some man's gone, he's tried to run my life
Don't know what he's askin'
He tells me I'd better get in line
Can't hear what he's sayin'
When I grow up, I'm gonna make it mine
These ain't dues I been payin'
How much does it cost? I'll buy it.
The time is all we've lost. I'll try it.
He can't even run his own life,
I'll be damned if he'll run mine
Sunshine
Sunshine go away today,
I don't feel much like dancin'
Some man's gone, he's tried to run my life
Don't know what he's askin'
Working starts to make me wonder where
fruits of what I do are going
He says in love and war all is fair
He's got cards he ain't showin'
How much does it cost? I'll buy it.
The time is all we've lost. I'll try it.
He can't even run his own life,
I'll be damned if he'll run mine
Sunshine
Sunshine come on back another day
I promise you I'll be singin'
This old world she's gonna turn around
brand new bells'll be ringin'
Posted by: monkey at September 9, 2006 03:59 PM
Now I KNOW why we are all together.
Ain't nobody NOHOW gonna tell me how to run my life according to his rules. 'Specially not a lying hypocritical irresponsible silver spooned son of a privileged background hand chosen from a pack of wolves facade wearing naked Emporer.
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at September 9, 2006 04:34 PM
Aint It The Truth
TeddySanFran @
231
Here’s another angle of attack on ABC/Disney — let’s enlist the good people at American Airlines, ask them to protect their brand and their Boston employees from libel.
Here’s the comment I wrote at the CONTACT US/CUSTOMER SERVICE tab at http://www.aa.com/
Dear American Airlines:
I am writing to you about the first few minutes of the ABC movie “The Path to 9/11″ which shows highjacker Atta cleared to board at your Boston location. If this depiction is true, American Airlines personnel at Logan Airport violated security procedures in allowing Atta to board. If this depiction is true, I will not fly American Airlines. Ever.
Millions of Americans who see this movie on Sunday will make the same decision — that American Airlines screwed up and is to blame for the 9/11 highjackings by letting Atta board your plane.
If this depiction is false, please contact ABC/Disney about it and get the movie cancelled. From page one of the 9/11 Commission Report, I know the airline was US Airways and that the incident happened in Portland.
What is true? What will Americans take away from this movie about American Airlines? Will you allow ABC/Disney to libel American Airlines and your Boston employees?
You be the judge. Contact ABC/Disney now. They owe your brand and your employees the truth.
Sincerely yours….
Please take a moment to enlist a potential ally in our fight with the Mouse. American Airlines really could engage on this in the next 36 hours if enough emails reach them through their website, don’t you think? While ABC apparently doesn’t care about pissing off Albright, Berger, Clinton, and a bunch of lefty bloggers — they might think twice about pissing off another Corporation.
Try it.
pass it on.......
Otter,
TSP has ESP?
Ref:
Posted by: Otter at September 5, 2006 10:02 PM
;-)
What you are doing Monday IS VERY COOL. We each need to be a catalyst for something positive - getting that energy out there. Thanks for sharing about the Ophelia Project, and for helping make this world a better place.
I once attended a funeral for a teenage girl who took her own life to escape being bullied by a gang. She was a beautiful young woman of fourteen who got in with the wrong crowd and couldn't see a way out.
Hearing about what you are doing Monday Otter makes me very happy. It's a rich thing to do, and hearing about you doing it makes my life brighter today. Thank you.
recruiters like to look for young Hispanic males who come from single parent families. Citizenship is optional as is high school diploma.
Posted by: DiAnne at September 8, 2006 11:57 PM
That's how they are turning the Latino community far to the right, using the community's ingrained machismo to translate it into military service, where their homophobia and right-leaning politics will be repetitively reinforced.
And military service is quick path to citizenship, so it's too sweet a deal on paper to ignore, for these guys.
Posted by: mkh at September 9, 2006 04:48 PM
You guys ALL rock!!!
(We rock!)
Since I'm doin' the overnight shift here and haven't slept much this week, I'm gonna try to lie down and get some zzz's cuz I'm back on shift at 5:00 p.m. tonight. (Maybe I'll ask the nurses if they can give ME some morphine tonight. Not really, just my weird sense of humor.)
Posted by: mkh at September 9, 2006 04:48 PM
This is best done by people who are elite-level frequent fliers at American Airlines - paying customers can really make a difference.
Since I've flown American only once, I don't think my voice will carry far. However, I do have tons of United miles, and if a similar charge is being brought against United in the Path to 9/11, I will definitely contact United.
- letting 42 year olds join up rather than up to 35
Posted by: DiAnne at September 9, 2006 11:17 AM
Maybe they should do away with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" altogether, so that I can see Mann Coulter in uniform. Coulter was under 42, the last time I checked.
If s/he will sign up and fight for his/her beloved "freedoms," I will have far more respect for him/her.
Ally
I love a Mann in Uniform
Ally
Another group (indigenous, not immigrants) where the military takes advantage of the cultural "warrior" image is Native Americans.
Ally/DiAnne:
Thanks a not for that particular mental image. Mann Coulter in uniform? Yikes! Remind me to send you the bill for my next six months of psychotherapy.
Bill Clinton's Ultimate Betrayal (Turning 60)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1868393,00.html
He did nothing to turn back the hands of time.
[thx 2 T 4 d lynx 2 Jynks]
We Don't Want Your War
(words and music by Jynkz)
When you can't believe a word they say
And you're haunted by the swords they raise
Like a rabid dog we've seen before
They refuse to hear the world pounding, pounding down their door
We don't want your war
Let's all yell a little louder now
We don't want your war
All stand together tall
We don't want your war
But you keep telling us, you keep telling us we do
The king has no clothes so he leads by fear
We must challenge all the lies we hear
The devil's bombs has an oily smell
Frames a legacy with infamy and he burns it, he burns it into hell
We don't want your war
Let's all yell a little louder now
We don't want your war
All stand together tall
We don't want your war
But you keep telling us, you keep telling us we do
Try to turn us into lemmings with their magic on TV
Leaking military secrets is one of their specialties
To reporters hanging on their words like schoolgirls in love
They've got the scoop, but we're no closer to the truth
If we raise our flag on a million graves
Will we all be proud or will we be ashamed
Of our leadership, greedy and arrogant
And we'll all be judged by the choices, the choices that we made
We don't want your war
Let's all sing a little louder now
We don't want your war
All stand together tall
We don't want your war
But you keep telling us we do
We don't want your war
All stand together and yell
We don't want your war
All stand together tall
We don't want your war
So stop telling us... stop telling us we do
Ray McGovern: Bush: A "Plenty Tough" Torturer's Apprentice
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090906X.shtml
Ray McGovern writes, addressing the use of torture Wednesday, President George W. Bush played to the baser instincts of Americans as he strained to turn his violation of national and international law into Exhibit A on how "tough" he is on terrorists. His tour de force brought to mind the charge the Athenians leveled at Socrates - making the worse case appear the better. Bush's remarks made it abundantly clear, though, that he is not about to take the hemlock.
Excerpt:
The White House has been putting pressure on Senate Judiciary Committee chair Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who initially called the warrantless eavesdropping activity extralegal and vowed to put it under close scrutiny. Specter has now come full circle, drafting legislation that would hold harmless the president and others involved in that program - again, retroactively. Hard to tell what changed Specter's mind. Not to be ruled out is the possibility that NSA coughed up some juicy detail on his political or even personal life - and that the administration used the kind of "alternative procedure" employed so successfully by former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. It is worth remembering that it was precisely this kind of illegal activity that the FISA law was designed to stop.
Accountability
Is there no one to hold our leaders to account? The Bush Crimes Commission, a grass-roots citizens' initiative determined not to follow the example of the obedient, passive Germans of the thirties, has taken testimony on torture and other key issues to establish whether President Bush is guilty of war crimes. Testimony was given in October 2005 and January 2006, indictments have been brought and served on the White House, and the judges will issue their verdict on Wednesday, September 13 in Washington (See http://bushcommission.org.) (Full disclosure: I was privileged to have been invited to take part in the proceedings of the Bush Crimes Commission.) Join us next week.
GOP Senators' Bid to Confirm Bolton Is Called Off
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090906Y.shtml
Republican efforts to formally confirm John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations hit an unexpected snag yesterday when a Republican senator in a tough reelection bid said he could not support the diplomat until the Bush administration answers his questions on Middle East policy.
{{{Hmmmm... I remember early on after the recess appointment, reading that BoltHead's term expires in Jan., 2007, that he can't be given another recess appointment, that to keep his job at the UN he has to go through the normal confirmation process. Well, not that breaking rules has stopped anyone in this administration before.... Wonder what kind of egomaniac DimWit will come up with to replace BoltHead, if push comes to shove, of if DimWit will just bide his time until after Nov. 7 and then shove the whole nomination through Congress if the e-voting machines let them retain the neoCon majority...?}}}
A friend who wrote to American Airlines got an Auto-Reply back, ironically dated September 11th.
I noticed Bush found an obscure fire department in NYC area who will be photographed with him (he has done this before) & is heading around to the WTC site, Pentagon etc. for photo ops on 9/11/06.
Why doesn't he commemorate the 5 year anniversary by randomly flying Air Force One around again & then stop off & read the kids another chapter of My Pet Goat. Will Cheney be in the bunker?
If all goes well, in 45 minutes I'll be eating Gormeh Sabzi
(it's Persian).
Khoreshe Gormeh Sabzi
2 Tbsp. oil
2 lb. lamb
2 medium onions
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
6 Tbsp. lemon juice
7 cups water
2/3 cup black eyed peas
2 cups green onion
2 cups leek
2 cups spinach
2 cups parsley
Brown meat, onion, salt, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg in oil in a large pot. Once browned, add lemon juice, water and black eyed peas. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Chop green onion, leek, spinach and parsley and add to meat mixture. Simmer another fifteen minutes.
Serve with plain yogurt, pita bread, and Persian crispy rice.
"For us to get American military personnel involved in a civil war inside Iraq would literally be a quagmire."
-- Secretary of Defense Richard B. Cheney, 1991
Remind me to send you the bill for my next six months of psychotherapy.
Posted by: Otter at September 9, 2006 05:42 PM
Go ahead and send it anytime! :)
Update - I decided to keep my TV set, if only to watch real documentaries and classic movies - on DVD. The cable and antenna will be disconnected forever, however.
Satellite
by Dave Matthews Band
Satellite in my eyes
Like a diamond in the sky
How I wonder.
Satellite strung from the moon
And the world your balloon
Peeping tom for the mother station
Winters cold spring erases
And the calm away by the storm is chasing
Everything good needs replacing
Look up, look down all around, hey satellite
Satellite, headlines read
Someones secrets youve seen
Eyes and ears have been
Satellite dish in my yard
Tell me more, tell me more
Whos the king of your satellite castle?
Winters cold spring erases
And the calm away by the storm is chasing
Everything good needs replacing
Look up, look down all around, hey satellite
Rest high above the clouds no resrictions
Television we bounce round the world
And while I spend these hours
Five senses reeling,
I laugh about the weathermans satellite eyes.
Satellite in my eyes
Like a diamond in the sky
How I wonder.
Satellite strung from the moon
And the world your balloon
Peeping tom for the mother station
Winters cold spring erases
And the calm away by the storm is chasing
Everything good needs replacing
Look up, look down all around, hey satellite
Rest high above the clouds no restrictions
Television you bounce from the world
And while I spend these hours
Five senses reeling
I laugh about this world in my satellite eyes.
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
Posted by: Otter at September 9, 2006 10:23 PM
From right to left across your radio dial.
Fire Sail.
Ready. Fire. Aim.
Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks.
You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly.
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain.
You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansions
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud.
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins.
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do.
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul.
And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand over your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead.
--Robert Allen Zimmerman, "Masters of War", 1963
Dick Meyer | Torturing the Truth
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/090906E.shtml
"I've said to people we don't torture. And we don't. "That's what President Bush told Katie Couric. The president's statement here is beyond doublespeak and above spin. It's untrue, it's egregious. The Pentagon's backhanded, long-delayed and uncourageous acknowledgment that torture was used also repudiated what the president has been telling citizens for years. We've been lied to and we are still being lied to.
When I saw who wrote the article, I went to the CBS news web site and left this message on their blog (1500 word limit) along with the above info I found on truthout:
"WE'VE BEEN LIED TO AND WE ARE STILL BEING LIED TO." Wash, rinse, gargle, repeat..... The supreme irony is, the fellow who wrote that piece is a producer at CBS news. Sounds to me like he needs to write Couric's scripts... At the very least, Meyer's written piece needs to be a video essay for one of Couric's 'free speech' segments, and that sentence needs to be repeated daily, several times a day, on every network.
I watched Couric's debut, and when she announced Rush McLimpDick was going to be on Thursday's 'free speech' segment, I decided that I wouldn't watch CBS news again. Rush does NOT need another outlet for his xenophobic hate-and-fear-mongering format. If that's the best Couric can come up with, she should have joined the propagandists at ABC.
Take a clue from BBC news anchors. Give people the news sans spin, and no drama-queen adjectives. Serious news that tells the truth about the high crimes and misdemeanors and war crimes by the administration. Period.
We actually had a couple of chicken dishes - I can not even begin to describe how delicious. Persian rice with the browned part on the bottom. Organic corn on the cob. People from US, Iran, Afghanistan, Japan, Sweden & England. 2 bottles of wine. Laughter. Politics. (We all agree on one thing - you know what it is).
The funny part was that our host raises fruit bushes & he traps the squirrels that eat his berries. Then he cooks & eats them but his family refuses. He took some chili con ardilla, which is actually squirrel chili, to the Master Gardener's potluck & they loved it. They didn't actually ask what it was. I think even the vegetarians ate it.
One thing we decided about the conservatives: 'They hate us for our freedom.'
Seems Tela, mbk & maybe Carol were all live at JK today in Boston!!!
One thing we decided about the conservatives: 'They hate us for our freedom.'
Posted by: DiAnne at September 10, 2006 01:43 AM
Right On.
Bin Laden trail goes ‘stone cold’
U.S. steps up efforts, but good intel on the ground is lacking
Dana Priest and Ann Scott Tyson
The Washington Post
Updated: 10:58 p.m. ET Sept 9, 2006
The clandestine U.S. commandos whose job is to capture or kill Osama bin Laden have not received a credible lead in more than two years. Nothing from the vast U.S. intelligence world — no tips from informants, no snippets from electronic intercepts, no points on any satellite image — has led them anywhere near the al-Qaeda leader, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials.
"The handful of assets we have have given us nothing close to real-time intelligence" that could have led to his capture, said one counterterrorism official, who said the trail, despite the most extensive manhunt in U.S. history, has gone "stone cold."
But in the last three months, following a request from President Bush to "flood the zone," the CIA has sharply increased the number of intelligence officers and assets devoted to the pursuit of bin Laden. The intelligence officers will team with the military's secretive Joint Special Operations Command(JSOC) and with more resources from the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies.
Bin Laden ‘off the net’
The problem, former and current counterterrorism officials say, is that no one is certain where the "zone" is.
"Here you've got a guy who's gone off the net and is hiding in some of the most formidable terrain in one of the most remote parts of the world surrounded by people he trusts implicitly," said T. McCreary, spokesman for the National Counterterrorism Center. "And he stays off the net and is probably not mobile. That's an extremely difficult problem."
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14724112/
Gee, in the last 3 months, the prez has sudden interest aain in looking for the actual culprit behind 9/11... wow, the timing seems odd, yes?
In a pivotal year, GOP plans to get personal
Millions to be spent digging up dirt, ‘defining’ Democratic candidates
By Jim VandeHei and Chris Cillizza
The Washington Post
Updated: 12:06 a.m. ET Sept 10, 2006
Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.
The hope is that a vigorous effort to "define" opponents, in the parlance of GOP operatives, can help Republicans shift the midterm debate away from Iraq and limit losses this fall. The first round of attacks includes an ad that labeled a Democratic candidate in Wisconsin "Dr. Millionaire" and noted that he has sued 80 patients.
"Opposition research is power," said Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (N.Y.), the NRCC chairman. "Opposition research is the key to defining untested opponents."
The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, has enlisted veteran party strategist Terry Nelson to run a campaign that will coordinate with Senate Republicans on ads that similarly will rely on the best of the worst that researchers have dug up on Democrats. The first ad run by the new RNC effort criticizes Ohio Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) for voting against proposals designed to toughen border protection and deport illegal immigrants.
Challengers make easy targets
Because challengers tend to be little-known compared with incumbents, they are more vulnerable to having their public image framed by the opposition through attacks and unflattering personal revelations.
And with polls showing the Republicans' House and Senate majorities in jeopardy, party strategists said they have concluded that their best chance to prevent big Democratic gains is a television and direct-mail blitz over the next eight weeks aimed at raising enough questions about Democratic candidates that voters decide they are unacceptable choices.
"When you run in an adverse political environment, you try to localize and personalize the race as much as you can," Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757598/
When you can't win the hearts & minds of the citizens with your position on issues, this is what you resort to.
Smear City Resort
"We're Glad You're Hear"
Maher panel slams ABC 9/11 movie's inaccuracies
David Edwards
Published: Saturday September 9, 2006
On his HBO show Real Time, Bill Maher, along with his panel of guests, agreed that ABC should correct details in the miniseries "Path to 9/11" or not air it all.
"It's worse than you think," said panelist Joan Walsh, editor of Salon.com, who had seen a review copy of the docudrama.
The show, which ABC has promoted as based on the 9/11 Commission's report, contains fabricated scenes, several of which cast Clinton administration officials in a negative light. The miniseries is scheduled to air Sunday and Monday nights.
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Video_Maher_panel_slams_ABC_911_0909.html
ABC delenda est.
I have posted a comment I read on Crooks and Liars. It contains some offensive language but the point is well made.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is so fucking depressing.
I think everybody's missing the real point.
Rove, Cheney, Bush and the fundamentalist cabal that created this film have used this whole bogus "who's-to-blame-for-9/11" debate to help forestall and control the real debate over Bush's competence and GOP they want so desparately to avoid before the election.
The real issue is what John Kerry so eloquently - and angrily - said the other day. Bush lied to America, used 9/11 to go after the wrong enemy, fucked up the Middle East, failed militarily, diplomatically and strategically, dismembered Iraq, empowered Iran, and created a nice new incubator for terrorism that increased the threat to both the US and Israel.
That's the sad outcome of 9/11, five years after the smoke cleared.
These are the facts - and what the fuck are we talking about? Because of this docudrama travesty, progressives are forced to re-argue known historical facts from the very report this film is based on.
Once again, it's all about Clinton's dick. Reality goes out the window.
This is fucked.
Annoyed Canuck | 09.09.06 - 8:42 pm | #
Posted by: DiAnne at September 10, 2006 01:57 AM
DiAnne--
Tela was at a fund-raising reception, keynoted by Sen. Kerry, in western Massachusetts the night before and she actually participated in a question-and-answer session with him. So she got the intimate view.
The Good Doctor has spoken, and yet again he misses the point:
With all the information available about all the hateful efforts of the terrorists to strike America since the late 1980s -- easily available by one click on the Internet -- let's simmer down on the censorship calls and honor the memory of 9/11 by letting people see ABC's The Path to 9/11 and draw their own conclusions about the Islamofascist war against America.
Written by Bill Frist, M.D.
http://www.volpac.org/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=453
Wanted Dead or Alive
Wanted dead or alive, my butt!
Dubya is like a Sheriff who started out after Billy the Kid, then elected to get good and drunk in the next saloon, before invading an Indian reservation to advance some dishonest tycoon's attempt to steal the gold reserves recently discovered there, under the guise of settling an internal dispute - and who would alternatively claim that Billy the Kid was no longer important, or that Billy the Kid's return so threatens the safety of the town that our Sheriff deserved near dictatorial powers.
How dumb or brainwashed do you have to be to buy this knave's sorry act?
Posted by: Cyrano at September 10, 2006 09:26 AM
Americans are hopelessly and pitifullly optimistic. Bushco kidnaps that trait from Americans and ransoms it for votes. We are living through the crime right now. Over the last several months, the majority of Americans refused to believe that their government was actually doing a good job, and that their President was worthy of their support. So the crimanal leaders with the support of their accomplices trotted out a propaganda ridden movie (a' la Goebbels) to obfuscate the current government's monumental
failures. So now the debate turns to the previous administration and its alleged failues to protect America - THE BIG LIE. Americans want to believe that their current government and their leaders are good and worthy of support, so the current leaders and their henchmen make the previous adminstration culpable when in fact it was not - THE BIG LIE. Are Americans so gullible? Yes, most are unfortunately. That is because they have been brainwahed by media machine that feeds into and ACTUALLY FABRICATES parts of THE BIG LIE. What will it take for Americans to say enough is enough to say we wont let ourselves be kidnapped, we will not let Bushco Christiofascists get away with anymore lies?
What will it take?
Did you post a comment on Frist's blog? I thought of posting a few choice thoughts, but figured that they would be deleted rather than "approved".
Finally, we'll get some true & honest reporting, even if it's for only a short while. I'll take what I can get...
Moyers Return to Investigative Reporting on PBS in October
In October, Bill Moyers returns to investigative reporting with three documentaries taking on important issues facing the country in the upcoming elections for control of Congress. Moyers in America will report on political corruption, Christians and the environment, and democratic access to the Internet.
"We're looking at three issues that deserve to be at the center of the debate this fall, not just because they are important topics, but because together these stories reveal a powerful and sometimes disturbing picture about how our government works," says Bill Moyers. "The way these issues are playing out should serve as a wake-up call for citizens."
October 4, 11, and 18 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings):
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/10/85029/5894
Posted by: Cyrano at September 10, 2006 10:07 AM
My comment, but it was not posted (very tame IMHO)
I wonder why the people that produced the show did not do their due diligence and use the internet for their research? I wonder why two FBI advisors quit the production due to its gross inaccuracies? I wonder why you are so gullible?
OMG! There is a horror picture on T.V. Cheney is on Meet the Press.
Of course he is lying through his crooked and ugly teeth. We are doing a great job in Afghanistan and Iraq. No flag on his lapel. Shit this guy is scarier than......hell, I can't think of anything scarier.
OH SHIT, I turned the channel and Condi Rice is lying through her crooked and ugly tooth as well. She just said that Hussein was probably going to invade Saudi Arabia if we hadn't taken him out of power. She also tried to link Hussein to terrorism....OMG, I just puked on my keyboard.
Keyboard is now cleaned off. Back to Cheney. Again trying to make Hussein the terror threat to America. The lies are fast and furious.
"The fact is the world is much better off with Sadam Hussein out of power."
Why wont this guy have a major heart attack and put all of us out of this pain?
Listening to this guy, it is clear he is making the case to invade Iran next.
Cheney:" If we had to do it all again, we would do it exactly the same way."
Meet the Press 9/10/06
Sheeeesh somebody pull the plug on that guy.
I couldn't handle it, so I turned to NickJr. and am now watching animated stuffed animals dancing and singing polkas.
Does God want you to be rich?
September 10, 2006
Editor's note: The following is a summary of this week's Time magazine cover story
Blessed are the rich?
A booming movement that began with Evangelical Christians holds to the belief that a God who loves you does not want you to be broke. In a Time poll, 17 percent of Christians surveyed said they considered themselves part of such a movement, while a full 61 percent believed that God wants people to be prosperous.The movement's renaissance has infuriated a number of prominent pastors, theologians and commentators.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/10/time.cover.tm/index.html
The glowing success of the Shrubya Regime's voodoo economics is proof that Dog loves us and wants us to be happy.
And tomorrow belongs, tomorrow belongs, tomorrow belongs to me.
*fnord*
OnCall
Sounds like Nick Jr would be better.
The Canuck was right too.
The story mentioned in the thread header (Josh Marshall blog) about Bush admin paying off journalists - now in the New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/09/washington/09cuba.html?ei=5059&en=a1c34faa6de2f11c&ex=1158465600&partner=AOL&pagewanted=print
Did well at Toronto Intl Film Festival - Michael Moore's "Sicko" - about our disgraceful healthcare system.
http://www.comcast.net/entertainment/index.jsp?cat=ENTERTAINMENT&fn=/2006/09/10/473162.html
Posted by: oncall at September 10, 2006 10:37 AM
Har de har.
Ugly and crooked tooth. LOL.
Look folks, it is what it is. Orwellian, through and through.
You know the Orwellian way is to take exactly what the scoundrels are doing and accuse the other camp of doing what they themselves are doing. Scrambles the brain waves and causes confusion.
I still love the bumper sticker: Dr. Kavorkian for White House Physician.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/10/time.cover.tm/index.html
Posted by: monkey at September 10, 2006 11:14 AM
As phrased by the immortal (or infamous) Reverend Ike many years ago: "it's not money, but the lack of money, that's the root of all evil!"
The interesting thing about thing about this attitude is that it's usually accompanied by an "I got mine, now to hell with yours" type of attitude.
My yardstick for judging the credibility of a minister on this issue: if they're asking you to tithe large amounts to independent groups that support the poor, then they're legit; if they're asking you to continually tithe large amounts to support their ever growing ministry, they're con men.
Cheney: WMD or not, Iraq invasion was correct
Even if U.S. knew there were no WMD, ‘we would do exactly the same thing’
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14767199/
No they wouldnt have, had the Administration come clean with the American people and congress there is no way anyone would have allowed them to take us to war in Iraq, Bush and company may have wanted to but they would have been stopped.
Posted by: April at September 10, 2006 12:52 PM
April,
Knowing what we know now, that is true. However, at the time, most Americans were willing to believe anything. Bushco knew it, and according to their pre-election plans, they moved as quickly as they could to invade Iraq. THEY LIED THE BIG LIE. Senators who would not have allowed Bushco to go to war *would* have voted *against* the invasion - some did - if they had known the truth. But a big question to me is, would the media have given those who actually knew the truth a "fair and balanced" representation? I happen to recall a former U.S arms inspector who had been in Iraq - I can't recall his name, maybe somebody does - who vehemently argued that Iraq did not have any weapons of mass destruction. He was marginalized and trivialized by the Busco Propaganda Machine. The current situation with Disney Corporation and ABC Network are premonitions of things to come - MORE BIG LIES.
So April, what you said would be true if we lived in the America we once knew. I feel so sad for this, once upon a future time, great country.
Land of the Pilgrims' pride.
But then again, we now know what *they* were all about, too. They'd probably like the way it is now just fine.
Posted by: monkey at September 10, 2006 11:14 AM
It's called the "Prosperity Doctrine", and I got a bad taste of it when I wanted to go into full time ministry and sold my things and moved to Florida to go to a "credible" college that taught that doctrine (unbeknownst to me before I got there.)
I was there three weeks. I watched the very well heeled pastor and his wife come out of their private "dining and entertaining" quarters at the front of the church flanked by bodyguards each day, demand not just tithes but as much money as you could possibly throw in the plate plus tuition, demand your time on their schedule every possible waking hour, tell you that if you gave all you would get huge amounts of money miraculously one minute, then the next minute tell you to be sure to work when you weren't at school or church because money didn't just "float out of the sky".
I decided it was a cult, and I couldn't run fast enough.
I don't think it is a doctrine taught by all Christian denominations, but I do know that Paul told Christian followers to "be content in all things - in prosperity and in lack". I decided that for myself long ago that what rings other people's chimes doesn't ring mine, and I don't want to go to college to learn how to try to manipulate their "Dog" so we can all be rich. That's just me. I don't hate money, or material things, or the rich. I've been rich, and I've been poor, and rich is better. It's just not my personal priority. That's just me though, and to each his own.
Monkey in Suit speech:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/10/144358/689