Existential Ramble has Moved

Existential Ramble Moves

2006-05-06T03:45:00.000-05:00

I have moved to my own server. You can find me at www.davidandpatrick.com/erblog/. We look forward to seeing you there!

glbtq >> encyclopedia

2006-05-01T15:05:00.000-05:00

glbtq >> gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender & queer encyclopedia I just wanted to note to any visiting that this is a really excellent resource for any who might be looking for information as I suggest in Tripping on Closets

Evaluating the Republicans

2006-04-30T20:16:00.000-05:00

John And Jerry - The Archive - The New York Times: "But if you choose to make common cause with religious extremists, you are accepting some responsibility for their extremism. By welcoming Mr. Falwell and people like him as members of their party, Republicans [and Senator John McCain] are saying that it's O.K. -- not necessarily correct, but O.K. -- to declare that 9/11 was America's punishment for its tolerance of abortion and homosexuality, that Islam is a terrorist religion, and that Jews can't go to heaven. And voters should judge the Republican Party accordingly."

Blogging a Global Government

2006-04-28T13:02:00.000-05:00

Future Positive : Front Page: "They were giants for their time, but their time has come and gone. Except for a notable few, one of whom was Abraham Lincoln, they could not imagine that corporations, once a creature of nation states, would so expand while ridding themselves of social responsibility to the point they could hold virtually any government to ransom for the priviledge of their presence. Today, nation states and elected politicians are more creatures of corporations than corporations are creatures of nation states. Unfortunately, while it was democracy and liberty corporations needed to reach their present dominance, in the main, their governance is the antithesis of democratic, free and just. I do not think it bodes well for the future of democracy. It is futile to directly challenge such institutions, political or commercial, for they have an oligopoly on power, money and instruments of compulsion. Nor do they hesitate to use them if threatened. However, they will prove to be vulnerable, rusted out hulks if confronted with new and better ideas of organization which transcend and enfold them. Ideas that excite the very people they expect to remain passive. What they cannot resist is the searchlight of informed public opinion. Once the public begins to withdraw relevance from them they are helpless, as Gandhi so ably demonstrated in India. While I don't begin to understand Blogging, your paper set something turning in the back of my mind that whispers it may be one of the keys to the puzzle. I wonder if you realize that a dozen or two people like yourself with the right combination of communication, technological and organizational skills could design and implement a global government without the consent of any present form of organization and provide it with the neural network to insure its success. A government that could continually evolve to ensure that no matter affecting the public good or the health of the planet fails to be disclosed, examined and understood. Or that any existing organization could escape being confronted with synthesized opinions and alternatives that would swiftly emerge. Such an organization based on rights of participation and withdrawal and consent of the participants could be something entirely new in this tired world. Now that would be something truly worthy of the best within us and the best among us."

Gas Price Sideshows

2006-04-26T08:13:00.000-05:00

How Not to Cure an Addiction - New York Times: "During his State of the Union speech last January, President Bush correctly diagnosed America's oil consumption as an addiction. Unfortunately, Mr. Bush is balking at taking the steps to cure the abuse. Yesterday, the president told an audience of the Renewable Fuels Association in Washington that he would try to lower gasoline prices by increasing the supply of oil available to Americans this summer. His plan is to refrain from topping off the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but it &hellips; is nearly full already, so skipping a few deposits won't appreciably affect supply or prices. &hellips; Mr. Bush's other recommendations were similarly off point. For instance, he acknowledged that higher prices reflected global demand. But he offered no strategy to combat demand-driven price rises."

The piece goes on to observe what I was thinking last night: the supposed crack down on price gouging is a sideshow. If they want to know what oil executives are busy doing, they should put them in peril of perjury when they testify before Congress.

Soldiers Don't Believe

2006-02-28T08:02:00.000-06:00

The Soldiers Speak. Will President Bush Listen? - New York Times: "When President Bush held a public meeting with troops by satellite last fall, they were miraculously upbeat. And all along, unrepentant hawks (most of whom have never been to Iraq) have insisted that journalists are misreporting Iraq and that most soldiers are gung-ho about their mission. Hogwash! A new poll to be released today shows that U.S. soldiers overwhelmingly want out of Iraq &mdash and soon. The poll is the first of U.S. troops currently serving in Iraq, according to John Zogby, the pollster. Conducted by Zogby International and LeMoyne College, it asked 944 service members, 'How long should U.S. troops stay in Iraq?' Only 23 percent backed Mr. Bush's position that they should stay as long as necessary. In contrast, 72 percent said that U.S. troops should be pulled out within one year. Of those, 29 percent said they should withdraw 'immediately.' That's one more bit of evidence that our grim stay-the-course policy in Iraq has failed. Even the American troops on the ground don't buy into it — and having administration officials pontificate from the safety of Washington about the need for ordinary soldiers to stay the course further erodes military morale. While the White House emphasizes the threat from non-Iraqi terrorists, only 26 percent of the U.S. troops say that the insurgency would end if those foreign fighters could be kept out. A plurality believes that the insurgency is made up overwhelmingly of discontented Iraqi Sunnis."

The Constitution and the Rule of Law

2006-02-23T12:03:00.000-06:00

Paul Craig Roberts: From Conservatives to Brownshirts: "A woman in the audience told Barr that the Constitution placed Bush above the law and above non-elected federal judges. These statements gallop beyond the merely partisan. They express the sentiments of brownshirtism. Our leader uber alles. … There are only two reasons for Bush to refuse to obey the law. One is that he is guilty of illegitimate spying for which no warrant would be issued by the FISA court. The other is that he is using 'national security' to create unconstitutional powers for the executive."

With a hat-tip to Motherlode at NoMoreApples, I thought this an excellent article by a former Reagan appointee. At the very least, we must see a change in tone and position from this Administration, or the foundation of this government will be undermined. The Constitution is a robust organizational tool as long as we all agree to work within it. If the powerful choose to disregard it, chaos is a certainty.

Tripping on Closets

2006-02-06T02:00:00.000-06:00

It is two in the morning and still I am awake. My husband and I watched the movie The Trip this evening. It is a powerful movie. Like the equally excellent Longtime Companion, it is a tale spread over many years. And perhaps this is where I am caught. There is a nexus here in the passage of time and the prison of the closet experience. The Closet in this context refers to an experience of shutting away who you are and hiding from others to protect yourself or your loved ones. It is very damaging. There is so much loss involved. And pain. Perhaps this is what resonates with me from The Trip. The protagonist struggles with a strong closet experience that contributes to the loss and the tragic line of the story. How much have we lost over the years in an effort to maintain the closet walls? How deep is the fear we breathe in from our society? Consider the story of Ennis in Brokeback Mountain. When you think about the society that would produce a father who specifically brings his young boys to see a murdered and genitally mutilated body… It is extreme, but do not consider it extreme based on your own life experience. It is not unrealistic. Consider the children rejected by their parents. Consider the bashings and violence that continue to this day. The reasons for living in a closet are real. Hiding is often an effective option. It exacts a price, however. Hiding crushes love. Hiding limits opportunities. Hiding impoverishes lives. All our lives. Consider the way the twisting can damage people. Consider Roy Cohen or Jim West. These men hurt others in their effort to hide. In the case of Mr. Cohen, many others. What do we do? How do we improve our society? How do we help our children? Educate yourself. Read about Bayard Rustin and many other famous men and women who have lived productive and happy lives. Speak of this with all our children. Tell the history of the Stonewall riots and the life of Harvey Milk. You don't have to be focused on someone you suspect might be gay (a bad guessing game). Tell all your children. Tell all your colleagues. This will make the world a better place and in that safe space, the hiding will stop. People will be who they are and we will all be stronger for it.

The Death of the Republic

2006-02-04T08:53:00.000-06:00

I've been busy recently, but I did notice that we had suspended The Constitution of the United States of America. It is a shame. It will not be fun living in a dictatorship run by religious fundamentalists. Unfortunately, it seems that there is little interest in retaining the integrity of the governmental system we have had so far.

U.S. Constitution - Amendment 4 - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net: "Amendment 4 - Search and seizure The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Of course, I was not surprised that we could not find the will to impeach the President over the lies that led us to war in Iraq. It was a murky issue and while there are lots of grounds for impeachment, it is a signal sign of the decline and coming death of our society that the President can declare himself above the law and it garners little more than a yawn from those who are currently comfortable with the growing Dominionist movement. We've mentioned this before.

Censorship of Science

2006-02-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

NASA Chief Backs Agency Openness - New York Times: "'It is not the job of public-affairs officers,' Dr. Griffin wrote in an e-mail message to the agency's 19,000 employees, 'to alter, filter or adjust engineering or scientific material produced by NASA's technical staff.' The statement came six days after The New York Times quoted the scientist, James E. Hansen, as saying he was threatened with 'dire consequences' if he continued to call for prompt action to limit emissions of heat-trapping gases linked to global warming. He and intermediaries in the agency's 350-member public-affairs staff said the warnings came from White House appointees in NASA headquarters. Other National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists and public-affairs employees came forward this week to say that beyond Dr. Hansen's case, there were several other instances in which political appointees had sought to control the flow of scientific information from the agency. They called or e-mailed The Times and sent documents showing that news releases were delayed or altered to mesh with Bush administration policies. In October, for example, George Deutsch, a presidential appointee in NASA headquarters, told a Web designer working for the agency to add the word 'theory' after every mention of the Big Bang, according to an e-mail message from Mr. Deutsch that another NASA employee forwarded to The Times. And in December 2004, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory complained to the agency that he had been pressured to say in a news release that his oceanic research would help advance the administration's goal of space exploration."

Remodeling Progress

2006-01-28T09:00:00.000-06:00

Well, there is probably no one still visiting my blog, but that's okay as I made a special point of beginning this website with the plan that it was for posting on issues and topics that were of interest to me, so I hope some of you come back, but I'm not trying to compete with Crooks and Liars or the Daily Kos or Talking Points Memo. Or No More Apples who does an excellent job tracking down news. The house remodel is going well! We have completed the plumbing rough-in and finished out the plumbing in one of the bathrooms (waiting on a toilet in the other). The kitchen cabinets are fabulous! Our carpenter, Mark Aud, is remarkable. The cabinets are perfect for the space and he built them on site with careful adjustments made for our 87-year old not-so-square walls. We have tiled the new bath and the new shower-tub in the old bath and we are doing a lot of painting now while we wait for the cabinet doors to arrive, the artist to stain the cabinets, then granite and finally the wood floors in the upstairs bedroom and kitchen will be refinished. It has been an adventure, to say the least. Now if we could just start remodeling the government and remove years of corrupt Republican mis-management, there would be more hope for the country. With a President who is above the law and supported in his superiority by a captive media, there is reason to fear the end of this Great Experiment.

Hope for the Nation

2005-12-09T06:33:00.000-06:00

Polling Report: Bush Administration: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Oct. 6-10, 2005. N=1,500 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3 (for all adults). "Looking ahead to the next presidential election, would you like to see a president who offers policies and programs similar to those of the Bush Administration, OR would you like to see a president who offers different policies and programs?"

             Similar
             To Bush    Different    Unsure   
                %           %           %   
 ALL adults     25         69           6   
   Northeast    17         80           3   
   Midwest      24         68           8   
   South        28         64           8   
   West         27         67           6

Existential Ramble: December 2004

2005-12-07T22:47:00.000-06:00

Existential Ramble: December 2004: Existential Ramble The content and meaning are one. Choice is the controlling factor. We've been doing this for a year now. I'm not posting a lot right now as we have just purchased a home and are doing a lot of remodeling so it is a rather consuming process. For those of you who visit Cutting to the Chase, it seems Chase McInerney is a father!! YEA!!!

Post Saddam Iraq

2005-11-30T07:40:00.000-06:00

Hat Tip to The Left End of the Dial for leading us to this succinct summary of how wonderful it is in Iraq now that we have spent 223 billion dollars (and counting), maimed tens of thousands of American soldiers, killed tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens and over 2,000 young American men and women.

Flogging the Simian @ WeBlog.ro: At least we got rid of Saddam: Maybe it's time for a chart:

Iraq Under Saddam Iraq Today
Torture? Yes Yes
Illegal detentions? Yes Yes
Ba'athist thugs in power? Yes Yes
Rigged elections? Yes Yes
Censorship of media? Yes Yes
Use of chemical weapons against civilians? Yes No*
Functioning economy? Yes No
Religious fundamentalism including sha'ria law? No Yes
Repression of women's rights? No Yes
Functioning basic services like water, electricity? Yes No
Exporting oil to earn revenue? Yes Somewhat
Engaged in war with neighboring states? Yes No
Home base for terrorism and Al-Qaeda? No Yes
Children dying of malnutrition and dehydration? Yes Yes
Americans and British being killed? No Yes

Well it looks like except for engaging in a war with its neighbors, the new Iraqi government is actually worse than under Saddam. Whoever wanted that to happen?

I put an asterisk next to "NO" for the current government using chemical weapons against civilians. As far as I know only the American military has done that in Iraq.

While everyone hopes that next month or next year or in the next decade that things are better under non-Saddam rule, so far it's hard to see how anything's improved whatsoever for the Iraq people.

Dishonest, Reprehensible, Corrupt ...

2005-11-28T15:37:00.000-06:00

Dishonest, Reprehensible, Corrupt ... - New York Times: "GEORGE W. BUSH is so desperate for allies that his hapless Asian tour took him to Ulan Bator, a first for an American president, so he could mingle with the yaks and give personal thanks for Mongolia's contribution of some 160 soldiers to 'the coalition of the willing.' Dick Cheney, whose honest-and-ethical poll number hit 29 percent in Newsweek's latest survey, is so radioactive that he vanished into his bunker for weeks at a time during the storms Katrina and Scootergate. The whole world can see that both men are on the run. Just how much so became clear in the brace of nasty broadsides each delivered this month about Iraq. Neither man engaged the national debate ignited by John Murtha about how our troops might be best redeployed in a recalibrated battle against Islamic radicalism. Neither offered a plan for 'victory.' Instead, both impugned their critics' patriotism and retreated into the past to defend the origins of the war. [more... sub-req]"

Excellent summary of the Bu$hco Iraq problem.

No More Tax Exemptions

2005-11-28T15:07:00.000-06:00

CREW FILES IRS COMPLAINT AGAINST JAMES DOBSON'S FOCUS ON THE FAMILY - CREW: " Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) today filed an Internal Revenue Services (IRS) complaint against Focus on the Family, a conservative, non-profit organization led by its Founder and Chairman James C. Dobson. The complaint asks for the IRS to investigate activities by the group which may violate IRS regulations and require a revocation of its tax-exempt status."

The blatant election work of people like the repugnant James Dobson bring up an interesting question. Here at Existential Ramble, we are increasingly of the opinion that no organization should be exempt from taxation. It could be possible to arrange for tax deductions for certain specific activities such as feeding the poor, however most activities of most religious organizations that are currently tax exempt, do not actually benefit society in a way that justifies their exemption from taxation. If anything, there is a stronger argument for the exemption of businesses due to their benefit to society than there is for most non-profit, tax-exempt organizations. Mind you, we are hardly suggesting the exemption of businesses. There is far too much corporate welfare in this supposedly capitalist system already.

Domestic Surveillance

2005-11-27T15:06:00.000-06:00

Pentagon Expanding Its Domestic Surveillance Activity: "'We are deputizing the military to spy on law-abiding Americans in America. This is a huge leap without even a [congressional] hearing,' Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a recent interview. … Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the data-sharing amendment would still give the Pentagon much greater access to the FBI's massive collection of data, including information on citizens not connected to terrorism or espionage. The measure, she said, 'removes one of the few existing privacy protections against the creation of secret dossiers on Americans by government intelligence agencies.' She said the Pentagon's 'intelligence agencies are quietly expanding their domestic presence without any public debate.'"

All we have to say here at Existential Ramble is to quote again the words of a man by the name of Hermann Goering. Most remember him as Hitler's Reich-Marshall. The following was a quote from Mr. Goering at the Nuremberg Trials (hat tip to Dem Vet)

"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."

Indeed.

Path to Dictatorship

2005-11-26T09:17:00.000-06:00

Arthur does an excellent job of articulating the constitutional dangers posed by the Bu$hco Administration and their propaganda voice to the wealthy: The Wall Street Journal.

Once Upon a Time...: The Ignorant Liars at the WSJ -- Paving the Path to Dictatorship: "I discussed the significance of the Padilla case and this week's indictment a few days ago. Let's briefly remember the key aspects of this battle over individual rights. Jose Padilla is an American citizen. The government held him for more than three years, and during much of that time he had no access to a lawyer. The government held him as an 'enemy combatant.' He was an 'enemy combatant' simply because the president said he was. The government never offered any evidence to support its claim, nor did it believe it was obliged to. Before this week, the government never charged him with even a single crime. This is the naked exercise of raw executive power -- power without limit, oversight or restraint of any kind. The Bush administration seeks to bypass the entire judicial system of the United States and the constitutional rights it guarantees, a system that has endured for more than 200 years. According to this part of the Bush doctrine, the president may declare anyone -- including any American citizen, which means you -- an 'enemy combatant' whenever he wishes. The administration maintains that the executive should be able to lock up any one of us for any reason or for no reason, and keep us imprisoned for the rest of our lives if it chooses -- without ever offering a single word of explanation or justification. As I've stated, this is -- in principle -- the power of any authoritarian dictator. It is literally the power of life and death. If this aspect of liberty and individual rights is destroyed, the rest won't matter a damn in time. In the most significant sense, in terms of its meaning and implications, this is the whole ball game. See the earlier post for more details."

Waiting for More Coffins

2005-11-24T15:05:00.000-06:00

No More Apples: "The Sage and I just got off the phone with our daughter's boyfriend, who is stationed in Iraq. Someone was passing a satellite phone around, so he took the opportunity to call, and we were thrilled to hear from his voice. 'We just ate Thanksgiving dinner, and it sucked,' he said. He's currently at Camp Cook, which is in Taji, north of Baghdad. 'Oh, C----,' I said, 'I'm so glad to hear your voice and to know that you're safe.' 'Safe? I'm not safe,' he replied. They spend every other day in Tarmiya, which he called 'the next Fallujah.' He's living in a water treatment plant and said that every day they 'ride around (they do police action) and try not to get blown up.' They're constantly being sniped at by insurgents. 'I'm definitely not safe.' 'We've got to get out of here,' were his closing words to me before I passed the phone to The Sage. 'Get us out of here.' So much for 'our troops want us to finish the 'mission'.'"

Detail of Bush-Cheney Perfidy

2005-11-24T14:57:00.000-06:00

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Key Bush Intelligence Briefing Kept From Hill Panel (11/22/05): "Ten days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush was told in a highly classified briefing that the U.S. intelligence community had no evidence linking the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein to the attacks and that there was scant credible evidence that Iraq had any significant collaborative ties with Al Qaeda, according to government records and current and former officials with firsthand knowledge of the matter. The information was provided to Bush on September 21, 2001 during the 'President's Daily Brief,' a 30- to 45-minute early-morning national security briefing. &hellips; The administration has refused to provide the Sept. 21 President's Daily Brief, even on a classified basis, and won't say anything more about it other than to acknowledge that it exists. "

Bovine Stare: More on Marriage

2005-11-22T06:52:00.000-06:00

Bovine Stare: More on Marriage: "One of the concepts some of my straight friends have the most difficulty accepting is that gays and their relationships are not defined by sexual activity. They think of us as misbehaving heterosexuals -- men or women who have the same basic capacity for straight sex and relationships but who pervertedly choose to play around with each other rather than the opposite sex. "

B brings up an interesting point in the question of how it seems many misunderstand homosexuals. We are not twisted heterosexuals. We are different. But the difference cannot be understood by starting with sameness and extrapolating. You have to start with the difference and then you will see much that is the same.

Bovine Stare

2005-11-22T06:47:00.000-06:00

An old friend has started blogging. I'm looking forward to seeing what he has to say. I'm sure our politics diverge, but our respect does not. I think we can count on a thoughtful perspective from Bovine Stare.

Summary State of the Nation

2005-11-22T06:36:00.000-06:00

Jesus' General: "Forgive me for interrupting, but for the last few hours I've been struggling with a post juxtaposing the Christian right's obsession with sexual morality and theocracy with their lack of concern about torture and murder. I can't finish. It's too painful to address satirically. I've been in a funk for the last few weeks. I'm absolutely horrified by what my country has become. Corruption has replaced the rule of law. The media has sold its watchdog role for a few pieces of silver and invitations to the ruling class' cocktail parties. The owners in our ownership society are rigging the system to enslave the rest of the population through debt. Worst of all, where we were once a nation that at least pretended to value human rights, we now celebrate torture and eagerly commit murder in the name of promoting freedom. America has lost its soul."

Eloquent, well stated discussion starter. Worth a moment to read and reflect.

Republicans on Iraq: Empty Rhetoric

2005-11-20T16:13:00.000-06:00

I am a Christian Too >> Republicans on Iraq: Empty Rhetoric: "The Republicans' rhetoric in reaction to Congressman John Murtha's bold truth-telling conceals an utter lack of logic. They are trying to play on Americans' emotions, while acting as through we have no brains. It's, um, how can I put it, dishonest and reprehensible. Here are the arguments I heard tonight during the House debate on the Hunter Resolution from the Republicans, and why they are empty:"

Excellent.

Dreaming of Different Outcomes

2005-11-20T12:05:00.000-06:00

THE BRAD BLOG: "Democracy Breakin': Ohio's Electric Boogaloo": "&hellips;he again takes for granted that results counted on newly invented and programmed voting machines, verified and double-checked for accuracy by nobody, should be trusted instead. That, despite U.S. Homeland Security warnings from just prior to last year's election verifying that Diebold's central vote tabulators are hackable by just a single malicious user, and the non-partisan GAO Report, released barely a month ago after a year-long investigation, which showed that Electronic Voting Machines are not secure, not properly certified and indeed confirming that '[C]oncerns about electronic voting machines have been realized and have caused problems with recent elections, resulting in the loss and miscount of votes.'"

We knew that Bu$hco, founders of the Neo-Robber-Baron party, stole the election in 2000 through the Judicial Activism of the Supreme Court of the United States. It comes as something of a surprise to learn that the Ohio results could be, not simply close, but scandalously corrupt. There is an increasingly large body of evidence that the election system in Ohio has been corrupted by the corporate interests that control the new voting technology. As frequent users of computer technology, it is evident to us that the opaque nature of the voting systems built by Diebold create an environment of doubt and a seedbed for corruption. Computer technology is fascinating, powerful and helpful. It is, however, far from perfect and in no way should the technology be employed without fully redundant systems checks. Furthermore, transparency in the systems seems to be required for any endeavor of such a critical nature. For the integrity of the voting process is critical to the survival of any form of democratic government. It is an embarassment to this nation that we may need the assistance of The Carter Center to ensure the integrity of our elections.

The Congress From Nowhere

2005-11-18T19:57:00.000-06:00

The Congress From Nowhere - New York Times: "Congress's idea of homeland security has been political posturing. The House has been wallowing through its great 'budget hawk' melodrama - making a show of slashing Medicaid spending for the poor while quietly preparing still more tax cuts for the rich. Meanwhile, the Senate has passed resolutions on Iraq aimed at making it very clear that whatever happens, the members up for re-election should not be held responsible. No one expects any profiles in courage, or even difficult decisions, from this House and Senate. But putting local political pork above the protection of major terror targets is just pathetic. "

Restoring dignity to our national government?

dems should target "gop," not bush

2005-11-16T11:26:00.000-06:00

Night Light: dems should target "gop," not bush: "Democrats, bereft of a message and unwilling to state plain truths about war, diplomacy, and the economy, are providing a vacuum which some smart conservative politician will be happy to fill."

Iraq War Hurts Democracy

2005-11-16T11:19:00.000-06:00

Night Light: Conference Debacle Confirms: Iraq War Hurts Democracy in Middle East: "'Some delegates,' says the Times, 'saw &hellips; growing irritation with what some say is the lecturing tone of American calls for democracy. United States involvement in Iraq plays a part in that: the Arab world is not persuaded by the administration's portrayal of Iraq, which Secretary Rice visited on Friday, as a beacon of democracy.' Well, Karen Hughes ought to be able to fix that! 'Rather,' writes the Times, 'Iraq represents the perils of imposing democracy from outside. Its current chaos and violence is widely seen as a cautionary tale rather than an inspiration, American officials acknowledge.' (emphasis mine) So we've seen the deaths of more than 2,000 American heroes and tens of thousands of Iraqis, and the expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars. The result? The one cause we can all support is being set back, perhaps for decades to come."

Polling Research

2005-11-16T10:50:00.000-06:00

...Of Cabbages and Kings: You hate me! You really hate me!: "If you've been watching our Peerless Leader's polling numbers tank and wonder how real it is, go look. Prof. Charles Franklin (introduced to us by Blumenthal) has taken all but the latest Gallup Poll results and produced a graphic showing the decline in Bush's approval rating. I've reproduced it here:"

Facts for Bu$hco Veteran's Day Speech

2005-11-15T21:54:00.000-06:00

TrueMajority: "In his Veterans' Day speech, President Bush said anyone who tries to rewrite the history of the Iraq War is 'deeply irresponsible.' We couldn't agree more. Here are some of the historical facts: 1) 57% of Americans say Bush Misled Public on Iraq: 'NBC/WSJ poll shows president at new lows in all job approval categories' MSNBC, Nov. 9th http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9981177/ 2) Senators did not investigate whether political influence tainted the presentation of intelligence." 3) Italian Secret Service knew key Iraq intelligence was falsified, and told U.S. officials before the war "Italian lawmaker: U.S. told of WMD forgeries" Associated Press 4) The United Nations Security Council specifically did not adopt a resolution endorsing the U.S invasion, which was therefore illegal aggression under international law. 5) White House withheld intelligence data. Specifically, the Administration withheld or repressed portions of intelligence documents which questioned and contradicted the excerpts being used to promote the war. 6) Congressional Iraq resolution was not aimed at removing Saddam from power. At the time the resolution was passed, the Administration was claiming the war was all about weapons of mass destruction.

Target Discriminates at the Pharmacy

2005-11-15T21:12:00.001-06:00

Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. - Get Involved: "Imagine walking into a pharmacy with a prescription and being told by the pharmacist, 'I won't fill it. It's my right not to fill it.' Yes, it's outrageous, but this is exactly what happened to a 26-year-old woman who presented a prescription for emergency contraception at a Target in Fenton, MO, on September 30. Planned Parenthood is demanding that pharmacists dispense medication, not moral judgment"

With thanks to Crooks and Liars and AMERICAblog for the information, Existential Ramble, a long-time Target customer, offers an open letter to Target: I wish to register my dismay and shock at the information that Target has chosen to cater only to fundamentalist Christians. By allowing pharmacists in Target employ to exercise their religious beliefs to the detriment of Target customers, Target has chosen a single, targeted issue upon which to discriminate. If Target were seriously going to implement such a policy, it would also be possible for a Christian Scientist in Target employ to refuse to sell me medicine of any sort. If Target were serious about a policy of respecting employees' "sincerely held religious beliefs," you would need to completely stop serving my family because many of your employees have sincerely held beliefs that, while contrary to science, are sincerely held in believing that gay men and lesbian women are sinners who choose perversion and are outcast from society. This is a sincerely held belief. Where does it end? Well, it ends when Target recognizes that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not mean that the sincerely held religious beliefs of employees dictate the function of your business. It simply means that if I sincerely believe that Tuesdays are Holy to my God, then I should be accomodated in scheduling that I might not be required to work on Tuesdays. It means that if I sincerely believe in Zeus as the principle god of the pantheon, I should not be discriminated against in employment. It does not mean that if my religious belief makes the job impossible that you must hire two people to do the job: a Christian Scientist clerk except for aspirin and then another clerk will scan the aspirin. Allow your employees to hold their religious beliefs and allow them the time to do so on their own time. Do not tread on mine by insisting that the employee trumps the paying customer. I have some faith in a commercial organization that has demonstrated real sense in so many areas, so I will await your change of policy.

Gap Growth

2005-11-14T10:37:00.000-06:00

Class Matters: "Two months ago, in his prime-time address from New Orleans, President Bush called upon the nation to 'rise above the legacy of inequality.' He was joking, obviously. The president's congressional allies now propose to cut Medicaid, food stamps, free school lunches and child-care subsides. They do not propose to save money by undoing the tax cuts that have handed an average of $103,000 a year to people making over $1 million. This is a scandal, and not because every liberal spending program deserves protection. It's a scandal because, whether you support this program or that, inequality is growing poisonous. The meritocratic premise of this country, essential to both its political consensus and its economic success, is starting to ring hollow. I wish that statement could be dismissed as irresponsible class warfare. But in 1980, the top fifth of families earned 7.7 times as much as the bottom fifth; by 2001, that ratio had risen to 11.4. So even though the bottom fifth of households made modest gains, the inequality ratio jumped by almost 50 percent. If you measure inequality by wealth rather than earnings, the results are even more preposterous."

If the future of the country depends on having the best and brightest rising up to protect our lives, it seems the worst of aristocracy to suggest that a genetic connection to the wealthiest will result in the best. Meritocracy is not the same as aristocracy.

Joy of Childhood

2005-11-07T22:59:00.000-06:00

Fire Truck! Fire Truck! Fire Truck! | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "Look, out the window! A fire truck! I've seen drawings of fire trucks in my picture books, of course, but how could I have ever known how pale and insignificant those crude representations were in comparison to the real thing! Fire truck! Oh, great God in heaven, fire truck! This has got to be the most moving of mankind's creations, and perhaps of nature's, as well. "

This is a really wonderful expression of the joy of childhood. Hat-tip to Jess.

Impeachment Momentum

2005-11-05T20:30:00.000-06:00

In the following two quotes, you can see a snapshot of the growing momentum. In a nutshell, we have seen interest in impeachment move from 42% to 53% in a matter of four months. What I find particularly interesting is how hard it is to find any reporting of this phenomenon in the major media outlets. Blogs: Open Source News.

53% of Americans Favor Impeachment :: ILCA Online :: Making Labor Media a Force to Be Reckoned With: "By a margin of 53% to 42%, Americans want Congress to impeach President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq, according to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003."

And…

The Ipsos poll shows a dramatic transformation in support for Bush's impeachment since late June. (This is only the second poll that has asked Americans about their support for impeaching Bush in 2005, despite his record-low approval ratings.) The Zogby poll conducted June 27-29 of 905 likely voters found that 42% agreed and 50% disagreed with a statement virtually identical to the one used by Ipsos Public Affairs. (see footnote below)

Ipsos 10/8-9
Zogby 6/27-29
Net Change
Support Impeachment
50%
42%
+8%
Oppose Impeachment
44%
50%
+6%
Impeachment Margin
+6%
-8%
+14%
After the June poll, pollster John Zogby told the Washington Post that support for impeachment "was much higher than I expected." At the time, impeachment supporters trailed opponents by 8%. Now supporters outnumber opponents by 6%, a remarkable shift of 14%. Support for Clinton Impeachment Was Much Lower In August and September of 1998, 16 major polls asked about impeaching President Clinton (http://democrats.com/clinton-impeachment-polls). Only 36% supported hearings to consider impeachment, and only 26% supported actual impeachment and removal. Even so, the impeachment debate dominated the news for months, and the Republican Congress impeached Clinton despite overwhelming public opposition.

Leaning Toward Europe

2005-11-04T09:54:00.000-06:00

Dreaming of the FTAA - Mr Bush goes to Mar del Plata: "Prior to the summit, the leader of the Democrats in the US Senate, Harry Reid, attacked President Bush for having neglected the country's ties with the countries of Latin America and, as a result, US interests in the region. In recent years, many of the US's southern neighbours, particularly those which are members of Mercosur (the Southern Common Market formed by Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela and Paraguay), have been strengthening their relationship with Europe as a way of counterbalancing US influence, and Mercosur has already reached agreement in principle with the European Union about a free-trade treaty."

I think it is foolish to indulge in the arrogance that thinks the United States is unassailable as the dominating leader of the world economy. Out of my own ignorance, I do not take issue with the proposition that the US may be in such a position now, I simply suggest that one cannot remain in such a position while taking an oppositional attitude toward the rest of the world. The perspectives of the others who live on this planet cannot be shoved aside with impunity, in spite of the grandstanding of this president.

Democrats Find a Spine

2005-11-02T10:46:00.000-06:00

CNN.com - Senate Democrats force closed-door session - Nov 2, 2005: "Democrats forced the Senate into a temporary closed session Tuesday to pressure the Republican majority into completing an investigation of the intelligence underpinning the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Livid Republicans decried the Democrats' move as nothing more than 'a stunt.' Democrats demanded that Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts move forward on a promised investigation into how Bush administration officials handled prewar intelligence about Iraq's suspected weapons programs."

Harry Reid is being accused by the mainstream media of grandstanding. I would agree that it was dramatic, but no more dramatic than taking up a gun and defending your country from direct attack. It is remarkable that the Democratic party seems to be finding a voice and a spine. One of my favorite sites, Crooks and Liars, has the video of Senator Reid. I found it more enlightening than most commentary other than perhaps that of Mr. Cafferty.

Starr Standard

2005-11-02T09:52:00.000-06:00

The Carpetbagger Report >> Blog Archive >> The Starr standard: "Seven years ago, Ken Starr prepared a lurid report for Congress detailing his case against Bill Clinton. At first blush, it wouldn't appear to have any relevance to the Plame scandal affecting the Bush White House, but I was reviewing the Starr report recently and something jumped out at me. After he laid out the 'narrative' of Clinton's alleged transgressions, Starr wrote a section he called 'Grounds.' In it, Starr details what he described as 'acts that may constitute grounds for an impeachment.' There were 11 in all, most of which dealt with Clinton's grand jury testimony and remarks during a deposition in Paula Jones' civil suit. But the last of the grounds for impeachment went a little further. …"

Hmmm… impeachment. Sounds like a just idea. Let's re-restore integrity to the White House.

Evolution to Devolution? Apparently Not.

2005-10-25T11:17:00.000-05:00

...Of Cabbages and Kings: "In the U.S., many of the religious right attack evolution because if evolution is true, they maintain, there is no need for a Creator, and without a Creator we will sink into anarchy and chaos. Evolution is, they assert, a leading contributor to social dysfunction because it is amoral. OK, but the least religious developed country in the world is Japan, the country where evolution is least controversial is Japan, and guess which country has among the lowest crime rates and most stable societies in the world? The country with the lowest level of acceptance? Do I have to say? Evolution is not an issue in Europe either, and their societies are far safer and more stable than ours. The homicide rates in Christian Europe and the Americas were once astronomical. While it has decreased dramatically all over, guess which country has by far the highest. It�s true of most major crimes as well. How about sex? (How about sex?). The U.S. has a sexually transmitted disease rate six times higher than the secular developed, pro-evolution countries, Paul writes. In the totally secular Scandinavian countries, it has been virtually eradicated."

The Big Guy Throws a Fit

2005-10-25T09:55:00.000-05:00

Protecting the Presidential Seal. No Joke. - New York Times: "'It has come to my attention that The Onion is using the presidential seal on its Web site,' Grant M. Dixton, associate counsel to the president, wrote to The Onion on Sept. 28. (At the time, Mr. Dixton's office was also helping Mr. Bush find a Supreme Court nominee; days later his boss, Harriet E. Miers, was nominated.) Citing the United States Code, Mr. Dixton wrote that the seal 'is not to be used in connection with commercial ventures or products in any way that suggests presidential support or endorsement.' Exceptions may be made, he noted, but The Onion had never applied for such an exception. The Onion was amused. 'I'm surprised the president deems it wise to spend taxpayer money for his lawyer to write letters to The Onion,' Scott Dikkers, editor in chief, wrote to Mr. Dixton. He suggested the money be used instead for tax breaks for satirists. More formally, The Onion's lawyers responded that the paper's readers - it prints about 500,000 copies weekly, and three million people read it online - are well aware that The Onion is a joke. 'It is inconceivable that anyone would think that, by using the seal, The Onion intends to 'convey... sponsorship or approval' by the president,' wrote Rochelle H. Klaskin, the paper's lawyer, who went on to note that a headline in the current issue made the point: 'Bush to Appoint Someone to Be in Charge of Country.'"

Get It Together, Democrats

2005-10-19T11:51:00.000-05:00

Get It Together, Democrats: "What the Democrats have to do is get off their schadenfreude cloud and start the hard work of crafting a message of hope that they can deliver convincingly to the electorate - not just in the Congressional elections next year, but in local elections all over the country and the presidential election of 2008. That is not happening at the moment. While Americans are turning increasingly against the war in Iraq, for example, the support for the war among major Democratic leaders seems nearly as staunch and as mindless as among Republicans. On that and other issues, Democrats are still agonizing over whether to say what they truly believe or try to present themselves as a somewhat lighter version of the G.O.P."

Ah, if only we could have more than two parties…

Lawyering Without a License

2005-10-19T11:46:00.000-05:00

Naughty Harry: Lawyering Without a License - New York Times: "Now it turns out that a Supreme Court nominee doesn't even need to always be a lawyer in good standing. Harriet Miers shared a little secret about herself on her application to be an associate justice: 'Earlier this year, I received notice that my dues for the District of Columbia bar were delinquent and as a result, my ability to practice law in D.C. had been suspended.' Did that little dog on the birthday card she sent W. eat her dues? Ms. Miers, then the White House counsel, remedied the situation after she got the letter. But weren't the Bush spinners making a case for her by reporting that she was really great at managing the paper flow when she was the president's staff secretary? Now we discover that she could be such a scatterbrain about paperwork that a little tiny thing like being able to legally practice law slipped her mind while she was serving as the lawyer for the leader of the free world?"

Personal New Orleans Account

2005-10-18T10:49:00.000-05:00

LitTechNote: I received this recently via a professional colleague. It is important, I think, to be reminded that all is not well in Mississippi and Louisiana.

I wanted to give everyone an update on the “big easy”. I am still receiving your well-wishes and encouragement and it is (as always) so greatly appreciated. You have not heard from me in a while because I have been so busy putting my life and my home back together. Last week was my first week back in New Orleans! It has been both wonderful and horrifying. My first days home were filled with mops, brooms, bleach, disinfectant, scrubbers, etc. An empty, moist house unoccupied for six weeks is a science experiment (to say the least). Mold, fungus and all sorts of fun critters evolve. My husband was assigned the task of cleaning out the refrigerator that had rotten veal, melted popsicles, and other unidentifiable confections. And the smell is such a delight! I have met with FEMA administrators, insurance adjusters, car salesman, bank representatives, etc. You cannot imagine the headache! I was so delighted to arrive back in the city but my excitement faded fast. I had to call a friend last week to tell her her house was on fire. There was nothing I could do but watch her house burn. There is no 911 service here. You don’t call the fire department or the police. There are no services available and there is very little water pressure. When the fire had finally burned itself out, we donned our respirators and salvaged what we could. Another friend arrived home to a methamphetamine lab in her house. She called the police and they told her she just wasn’t a priority. And still, so many of my friends returned home to nothing or to houses that had been submerged in water for nearly four weeks. I have never had so much emotion… laughter, tears, exhaustion, fright, anger, denial…I’ve felt it all. New Orleans is not the city I left six weeks ago. There are only three restaurants open. (Can you imagine only three restaurants open in New Orleans?) We get mail only on Mondays. Garbage pick-up is unpredictable—some weeks there is pick-up other weeks there is not. The phones work sometimes. My cell phone beeps from messages on a six hour delay. There are only two schools open. Kids don’t live here anymore. You don’t go to the movies on the weekend. You don’t go out for ice cream. We don’t have a mall. There are still times when gas is unavailable. There are lines to enter the grocery store. Roofs line the streets--- I have already purchased three new tires from the nails and debris in the road. I am now adept at loading and shooting a gun—an absolute necessity in this city at this time. Homes and neighborhoods look like fraternity houses--- every lawn has couch on it! I wish I were making this stuff up but it is reality! Each day is getting better but I am realizing how slow this recovery is going to be. I long for the “old” New Orleans. Today I saw a bird. It was the first bird I had seen in the city. (Even the birds evacuated!) Little things like birds and butterflies bring delight; they remind me that life is coming back to New Orleans. Thanks, again, to all of you. I have so appreciated your thoughts, prayers, and encouragement.

Bush is Worst Disaster

2005-10-17T20:04:00.000-05:00

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Hurricane Katrina (Worst Disaster): "captured from a Sky News (Ireland) broadcast, uses a text caption in conjunction with a video clip of President Bush to convey that the President had declared Hurricane Katrina to be 'one of the worst disasters to hit the U.S.' Without the video context however, the caption could be read as labeling President Bush 'one of the worst disasters ever to hit the U.S.,' especially given the lack of quotation marks to offset the phrase and indicate it was a paraphrase of his words rather than the news agency's descriptor."

Sanity Published in Edmond, Oklahoma

2005-10-17T11:42:00.000-05:00

The Edmond Sun--Monkeys on the loose in Pennsylvania: "A statement should be read in all mathematics classrooms that the concept of pi (the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter) may be a conspiracy by agents of Satan to pollute the minds of young students. The vast majority of mathematicians and scientists claim that its numerical value is approximately 3.1416. In that statement the students should be referred to I Kings 7:23 in the Holy Bible where it clearly states that the correct value for that ratio is exactly 3.0. In that way the students would be exposed to an alternate view of a highly controversial subject. In geography class when the lesson plan calls for the teacher to explain that the earth is round, the students should be referred to Isaiah 11:12 and Revelation 7:1 where the earth is described as a four-cornered object. The students would then be aware of an alternate view of the earth as a flat-sided square or perhaps a tetrahedron. The Flat Earth Society would welcome the recognition. In civics class when democracy and capitalism are discussed the students should be referred to Acts 2:44-45 where it is made clear that all true believers should live in a state of communism. Copies of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto could be passed out to ensure exposure to this alternate belief system. … The tongue lodged in my cheek is developing a cramp, so I will now remove it. The above list of practices and alternate ideas that are not presented in public schools could go on to infinity. They are not presented for at least three reasons: (1) in some cases it would clearly be teaching religion, (2) practical observations and experience have trumped earlier understandings of how the world works, and (3) it would simply be a waste of valuable time. And yet, the school board in Dover, Pa., is asking its science teachers to violate all three reasons for avoiding certain concepts. The school board is currently being sued by a coalition of teachers and concerned parents over its requirement that Intelligent Design be presented in science classes as an alternative to the Theory of Evolution. Part of that presentation would include referral to an Intelligent Design textbook entitled 'Of Pandas and People' that has not been peer reviewed by scientists."

Things Left Undone

2005-10-13T10:50:00.000-05:00

Things Left Undone: "Imagine if, in advance of Hurricane Katrina, thousands of trucks had been waiting with water and ice and medicine and other supplies. Imagine if 4,000 National Guardsmen and an equal number of emergency aid workers from around the country had been moved into place, and five million meals had been ready to serve. Imagine if scores of mobile satellite-communications stations had been prepared to move in instantly, ensuring that rescuers could talk to one another. Imagine if all this had been managed by a federal-and-state task force that not only directed the government response but also helped coordinate the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and other outside groups. Actually, this requires no imagination: it is exactly what the Bush administration did a year ago when Florida braced for Hurricane Frances. Of course the circumstances then were very special: it was two months before the presidential election, and Florida's twenty-seven electoral votes were hanging in the balance. It is hardly surprising that Washington ensured the success of 'the largest response to a natural disaster we've ever had in this country.' The president himself passed out water bottles to Floridians driven from their homes. "

Hat tip to Chriss.

This President: All Hat and No Cattle

2005-10-12T11:44:00.000-05:00

Some Ideas in Search of an Author - New York Times: "But, of course, that was exactly what Americans expected the White House to do. There seems to be no coordinated plan, no single person in charge of making the recovery happen. With this president, there is a vast gulf between words and action. Americans were understandably dismayed when confronted with President Bush's slow response to the unfolding disaster of Hurricane Katrina. They were equally dismayed by the evident lack of disaster expertise among the men the president had tapped to handle such emergencies. Mr. Bush was supposed to have put an end to that dismal story when he spoke at Jackson Square. But that seems to have been nothing but a grand and meaningless gesture. Where are the actual programs he's supposed to be putting into place to rebuild the city? Administration officials say they have located about 4,000 federal properties that could be provided as part of the urban homesteading proposal Mr. Bush announced in New Orleans. That is a drop in the bucket when compared with the actual need; more than a quarter of a million homes were damaged or destroyed by Katrina. How will the recovery work? Who will decide how much to spend, and on what? Yes, there is an expectation that the White House will send a big Here's Our Recovery package to Congress. Where is it?"

Presidential Body Language

2005-10-12T09:03:00.000-05:00

For President Under Duress, Body Language Speaks Volumes: "The fidgeting clearly corresponded to the questioning. When Lauer asked if Bush, after a slow response to Katrina, was 'trying to get a second chance to make a good first impression,' Bush blinked 24 times in his answer. When asked why Gulf Coast residents would have to pay back funds but Iraqis would not, Bush blinked 23 times and hitched his trousers up by the belt. When the questioning turned to Miers, Bush blinked 37 times in a single answer -- along with a lick of the lips, three weight shifts and some serious foot jiggling. Laura Bush, by contrast, delivered only three blinks and stood still through her entire answer about encouraging volunteerism."

A liar caught in his web of lies.

Poll: Americans Favor Bush's Impeachment

2005-10-12T08:49:00.000-05:00

By a margin of 50% to 44%, Americans want Congress to consider impeaching President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq, according to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003. The poll was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, the highly-regarded non-partisan polling company. The poll interviewed 1,001 U.S. adults on October 6-9. The poll found that 50% agreed with the statement: "If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable by impeaching him." 44% disagreed, and 6% said they didn't know or declined to answer. The poll has a +/- 3.1% margin of error. Among those who felt strongly either way, 39% strongly agreed, while 30% strongly disagreed.

Hope for the integrity of our nation.

Observations from Abroad

2005-10-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

Mirror.co.uk - News - IS THIS THE DEATH OF AMERICA?: "[The United States] has 37 million living under the poverty line, largely unnoticed by the richest in a country with more than three million millionaires. The typical white family has $80,000 in assets; the average black family about $6,000. It's a wealth gap out of the Middle Ages. Some 46 million can't afford health insurance, 18,000 of whom will die early because of it. The US, we learn, is 43rd in the world infant mortality rankings. A baby born in Beijing has nearly three times the chance of reaching its first birthday than a baby born in Washington. Those who survive face rotten schools. On reading and maths tests for 15-year-olds, America is 24th out of 29 nations. On the other side of the tracks, 18 corporate executives have so far been jailed for cooking the books and looting billions. The prosecution of Mr Bush's pals at Enron - the showcase trial of the greed-is-good culture - will be soon. But the backroom deal lives on and, in an orgy of cronyism, billions of dollars are being carved up in no-bid contracts awarded to politically-connected firms for work in the hurricane-hit states and in Iraq. The war, seen as unwinnable, is becoming a bleak burden, with nearly 2,000 American dead. Two-thirds think the invasion was a mistake. The war costs $6billion a month, driving up a nose-bleed high $331billion budget deficit. In five years the conflict will have cost each American family $11,300, it is said. Mr Bush says blithely he'll cut existing programmes to pay for the war and fund an estimated $200billion for hurricane damage. He won't, he says, rescind his tax cuts. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel says Mr Bush is 'disconnected from reality'. Americans have been angered by a reports that US troops have routinely tortured Iraqi prisoners. Some 230 low-rankers have been convicted - but not one general or Pentagon overseer. Disgruntled young officers are leaving in increasing numbers. … America's sense of itself - its pride in its power and authority, its faith in its institutions and its belief in its leaders - has been profoundly damaged."

A Singular Lack of Honesty

2005-10-10T12:33:00.000-05:00

Bush's Veil Over History - New York Times: "… But perhaps the most egregious example occurred on Nov. 1, 2001, when President Bush signed Executive Order 13233, under which a former president's private papers can be released only with the approval of both that former president (or his heirs) and the current one. Before that executive order, the National Archives had controlled the release of documents under the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which stipulated that all papers, except those pertaining to national security, had to be made available 12 years after a president left office. … Unless one of these efforts succeeds, George W. Bush and his father can see to it that their administrations pass into history without examination. Their rationales for waging wars in the Middle East will go unchallenged. There will be no chance to weigh the arguments that led the administration to condone torture by our armed forces. The problems of federal agencies entrusted with public welfare during times of national disaster - 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina - will be unaddressed. Details on no-bid contracts awarded to politically connected corporations like Halliburton will escape scrutiny, as will the president's role in Environmental Protection Agency's policies on water and air polluters. This is about much more than the desires of historians and biographers - the best interests of the nation are at stake. As the American Political Science Association, one plaintiff in the federal lawsuit, put it: 'The only way we can improve the operation of government, enhance the accountability of decision-makers and ultimately help maintain public trust in government is for people to understand how it worked in the past.'"

The 9/11 Time Warp Again

2005-10-08T13:29:00.000-05:00

President Bush's Major Speech: Doing the 9/11 Time Warp Again - New York Times: "If we ever needed the president to demonstrate that he has a working understanding of exactly where he wants to take this country, we need it now. The president's inability to grow beyond his big moment in 2001 is unnerving. But the fact that his handlers continue to encourage him to milk 9/11 is infuriating. For most of us, the memories are fresh and painful. We mourn the people who died on Sept. 11, as we mourn Daniel Pearl and other Americans, not to mention innocents from other countries, who were murdered by terrorists. The administration's penchant for using them as political cover is offensive. It threatens to turn our wounds, and our current fears, into cynical and desperate spin."

A Letter from New Orleans

2005-10-06T06:49:00.000-05:00

This Letter from New Orleans is by Hank, an industry colleague, passed on by a mutual friend.

October 3, 2005—just past midnight New Orleans, Louisiana It’s at least as bad as you’ve heard. It’s really, really bad. It was just before midnight Sunday. I was taking a break from downloading tracks from my favorite CDs to my laptop. I went on my back porch to grab a smoke and a bottle of water from the cooler. It was a beautiful New Orleans evening. The air was warm and moist without being oppressive and there was a nice breeze. Upstairs, Teri was in bed with our new cat Scram (he’s a stray that somehow survived the hurricane and we’ve adopted him before the SPCA guys could catch him and send him wherever they’re sending stray cats). I was simultaneously exhausted and wired because Teri and I had spent a day filled with raw emotions and hard physical labor. The night was dead quiet. Literally the only sound I could hear in the city was that of my absent next door neighbor’s air conditioning compressor cutting on and off in 15 second cycles. The hurricane crippled it and now that the power is back on it’s like a desperately wounded animal instinctively struggling to stay alive. Since her A/C unit is very new, the machine’s death rattle was barely a whisper. As I sat on my porch, a heavily armed and armored military patrol marched down my street. They were soldiers with flak jackets, assault weapons and some of the electronic gewgaws that our modern army carries these days. They spotted me, I waved, and two of them came through my front yard towards the gate to my back yard to check me out. I invited them into the back yard and we talked for a few minutes about this and that including the fire down the street a few hours earlier. I wanted to know about it since it was very close. I could hear the sirens and see and smell the smoke, but it took place after curfew, so I couldn’t check it out myself. The soldiers were from New Hampshire and they were hot and sweaty because of all their war gear and because they weren’t yet acclimated to the New Orleans humidity. I was perfectly comfortable in my t-shirt and shorts. After a moment one of the guys radios beeped. “They’re worried about us,” said one of the soldiers. Sure enough, a voice came over the radio—“are you okay?” “Affirmative, it’s friendly contact,” he replied to his buddy just down the street. Then they took their leave to continue their patrol down Peniston Street. That’s life in New Orleans as it is right now. It’s a place where a middle aged guy sitting quietly on his porch in his back yard is a potential threat to be investigated. Welcome to the post-apocalypse. It’s Sunday night as I write this and tonight Teri and I are the only human beings inhabiting a block of 10 homes. Tonight I am pretty sure there is not another soul in any house for at least a block in any direction. Last night there were a few others in the neighborhood, but they had to leave before the 6 p.m. curfew to get to their new temporary homes in Baton Rouge so they could get to their new jobs on Monday. During the day our loaded .357 revolver is in a spot in our living room where we can easily get to it if need be. At night it goes on the nightstand by my bed. My relative lack of caution shows how much law and order has improved in recent days. Those who tried to weather the storm tell me they spent the first days after Katrina with guns in their waistbands to deter the bad guys. It might be paranoia on my part since I’m pretty sure that the criminal population of my part of New Orleans is approximately zero at the moment. But there’s plenty of evidence that caution and self-protection are called for in New Orleans these days. Today several New Orleans police officers were suspended without pay—because of their participation in looting. My friend Ray, a rookie New Orleans cop, is one of the good guys and is stationed in a tough part of town. At the height of the madness, he had to position himself on the roof of the First District police station to shoot at a gang of armed men that was attacking them. Cops with assault rifles took the roof while cops with shotguns held the gang at bay from below. Nor is it completely over even today. Ray told me he was shot at just a couple of nights ago while on patrol. Ray has been truly scarred by what happened in New Orleans after Katrina—most of what he saw, he won’t discuss. He looks for all the world like a victim of post traumatic stress disorder. The only problem is that he hasn’t gotten to the “post” part of the trauma yet. He’s still on patrol twelve hours a day and dealing with demons that will take him a lifetime to exorcise. In my part of town things are much quieter. Nobody is shooting at police officers. Nobody is dealing drugs, burgling or doing anything else untoward. Basically nobody is here. That’s the part that is hard for me to adjust to. My neighborhood is generally a busy and noisy place both day and night. People are everywhere and New Orleanians aren’t quiet by nature. That’s not the case tonight. Tonight I will sleep in a ghost town. My block has power, gas and water, but it’s not safe to drink the water or even bathe in it. I have ignored the bathing mandate because I’m a thrill seeker, but I’m limited to cold showers because both of our hot water heaters were lost in the hurricane. I’ve only seen a tiny bit of the city—what I could see on the drive in and what’s within a few blocks radius of my house. The house and yard have commanded almost all my attention since we got here. What I’ve seen in my part of town, is a disaster on a scale that I can’t begin to explain. The damage I’ve seen is stunning. The stories I’ve heard are horrendous. And my neighborhood is one of parts of the city that was least hard hit by the storm and the subsequent flooding. The only thing I can tell you is that it’s a surreal thing to see your home town, a major city, desolate. The friendly witches on the corner had their store looted. They had painted a pentagram on plywood covering a window in hopes that it would discourage or at least curse any looters, but it didn’t seem to work. The looting of the store was a double loss for them since the store was also their home. Among other things, the looters cleaned out the supply of ritual oils (the purposes to which the looters put these oils I don’t care to know). To add insult to injury their roof gave way and the whole place flooded. As we arrived Saturday, they were packing up a U-Haul with what they could salvage and were headed for a new life in Denver. My neighbors Derek and Kara two blocks down and my friends Henry and Joan three blocks away were both looted as were many others in the neighborhood. Contrary to what you might have heard, the looting wasn’t all about self-preservation—diapers, baby formula and food—it was also about ritual oils and people’s stuff. No house on our block was looted, probably because our neighbor Helen stayed through the hurricane and kept a sharp eye out for the 1900 block of Peniston. She and the other handful of stragglers in the neighborhood were forced out at gunpoint by the National Guard five days after the hurricane. Most of the people I’ve spoken with in the last few days aren’t from around here. They’re FEMA people, insurance adjusters, soldiers, cops from other places, SPCA volunteers, Salvation Army volunteers, etc. They are all well meaning and desperately needed, but they don’t belong here. Teri especially dislikes the tanks (or whatever they are) that come down our street every few hours. They weird her out, and they do seem a bit excessive, especially since pretty much all the bad guys that were here have long since been evacuated to your city. As bad as it is here in the city, it’s worse elsewhere. There are neighborhoods north, east and south of us are completely destroyed. They’re essentially gone. Government officials are saying that it may be next June before anyone will be able to live in St. Bernard Parish, which adjoins Orleans Parish to the east and south. A parish in Louisiana is the equivalent of a county elsewhere and this one had 66,000 residents five weeks ago. Today the population of St. Bernard Parish is zero. I still can’t wrap my mind around an entire parish being wiped off the map. It’s a place I’m well familiar with. St. Bernard Parish is where Teri and I have gone together every year to buy our Mardi Gras beads and it’s also the place where I once went to buy the .357 that protects me tonight. Structurally, our house is in pretty decent shape but there is some damage. There’s mold in some walls, both our water heaters and two of our three A/C compressors were destroyed. We have fence that was damaged when a neighbor’s tree fell on it. Our yard was a complete mess. It took two solid days of work to clean it up. The government is putting a blue tarp on our roof because we lost a whole lot of roofing tiles and there are nowhere near enough workers to fix all the roofs that need fixing any time soon. Blue roofs are a very common sight in the burbs outside of New Orleans right now, but since most New Orleanians had been barred from the city until this weekend, the blue tarps are still a relative rarity in the city proper until more folks get signed up for the program. One of our windows was blown out in the storm, and an animal (cat, we suspect) took refuge inside for what must have been days until the floodwaters receded. That was a stinky mess and we’re going to need new carpets upstairs. The fridge has been carted to the curb. I wore an industrial mask to clean it out first. On Sunday morning we walked to our church. We had to hold our service in an annex area because our main sanctuary suffered major structural damage in the storm. The pastor expected about 10 people would show. Instead, there were 146 of us. How? Where did they all come from in this empty city? There were tears, laughter and hugs all around. When she opened the service with the words “welcome home,” I choked up as everyone applauded. We ended with “Amazing Grace” and I choked up again. Last night, my neighbor Colleen and her girls came over for dinner. We grilled steaks and baked potatoes and shared a good bottle of wine. Afterwards we sat on the porch and listened to New Orleans music as we told our stories and caught up on five weeks spent apart from our city. Colleen had a request for me to play on the stereo. I had the song and the particular version she wanted—the one done by our city’s greatest son. We all got a little choked up all over again . . . and opened a second bottle. Today the Saints played and won a home game… in San Antonio. Later today we’ll leave just before the dusk curfew and head back to Birmingham. We’ll leave a land of unimaginable pain and suffering and head back to the America I’m used to. We will crossing Lake Ponchartrain on the way back to a place with ice and cable TV and DSL and air conditioning and schools and grocery stores—a place where armored military vehicles and soldiers don’t patrol the streets—a place where most of the people don’t wear badges or uniforms--a place where people can drink from the tap or at least bathe from it. As we cross the lake, I will plug in a CD and will once again hear the voice of Louis Armstrong:

Do you know what it means, to miss New Orleans, and miss it each night and day? I know I’m not wrong; the feeling’s getting stronger, the longer I stay away. Miss the moss covered vines, the tall sugar pines where mockingbirds used to sing. I’d like to see, the lazy Mississippi, a hurrying into spring. Oh the Mardi Gras, the memories, of Creoles’ tunes that fill the air. I dream of oleanders in June and soon I’m wishin’ that I were there. Do you know what it means, to miss New Orleans, when that’s where you left your heart? There’s something more, I miss the one I care for, more than I miss New Orleans.

Postscript, October 4, 2005—9 p.m.: Birmingham, Alabama I did play that Louis Armstrong song while we crossed the lake. It helped, but not that much. Leaving New Orleans last night we literally felt like we were escaping from hell under cover of darkness rather than leaving our home of the last fifteen years. As we traveled north, we could gauge the signs of progress and civilization from the Waffle House signs lit along I-59. If you’ve ever traveled an interstate highway in the Deep South, you’ve seen the bright yellow Waffle House signs with black lettering. They look like this: WAFFLE HOUSE In New Orleans and the immediate vicinity, they were completely blown out. The Waffle House sign in Hattiesburg, Mississippi said this: US In Laurel, Mississippi you could dine at F HO SE “The F-Hose?” I said to Teri. “That sounds kind of dirty.” By Meridian, Mississippi you could eat at the WAF LE HOUSE “The Wafflie House,” Teri said. “I wonder what a wafflie tastes like?” By Tuscaloosa, Alabama, you could once again dine at the . . . WAFFLE HOUSE . . . and we knew we were back in civilization once again. As we drove north, a song came on over my car stereo--a random selection shuffled from my iPod that summed up our feelings at the moment even better than Louis Armstrong did. It’s a reggae song by Jimmy Cliff. It’s a song that never meant that much to me, but one that I completely understand now. Teri wasn’t familiar with it and she made me play it several times for her. For the time being, it’s “our song.”

Sitting here in Limbo Waiting for the tide to turn. Yeah, now, sitting here in Limbo, So many things I've got to learn. Meanwhile, they're putting up a resistance, But I know that my faith will lead me on. Sitting here in Limbo Waiting for the dice to roll. Yeah, now, sitting here in Limbo, Still got some time to search my soul. Meanwhile, they're putting up a resistance, But I know that my faith will lead me on. I don't know where life will take me, But I know where I have been. I don't know what life will show me, But I know what I have seen. Tried my hand at love and friendship, That is past and gone. And now it's time to move along.

Peace and love, Hank

Further Grounds for Impeachment

2005-10-01T22:21:00.000-05:00

Buying of News by Bush's Aides Is Ruled Illegal - New York Times: "Federal auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party. In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated 'covert propaganda' in the United States, in violation of a statutory ban."

Reduce Income and Increase Expenses

2005-10-01T21:54:00.000-05:00

The Wrong-Way Congress - New York Times: "At a minimum, you'd think the party would want to demonstrate that it had moved beyond Mr. DeLay's philosophy that Congress should feel free to break the bank with out-of-control spending and tax cuts for the wealthy as long as it made G.O.P. contributors happy. But no. Members of the Republican caucus rushed into an emergency repair session and - quite amazingly - opted to continue their shabby business as usual. In choosing Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri as Mr. DeLay's immediate replacement, the members presented as their new face of leadership still another political wheeler-dealer best known for his deep ties to Washington's corporate lobbying industry. A hand-groomed prot´e;g´e; of Mr. DeLay, Mr. Blunt promises no change in the retrogressive Republican program that has polarized the nation and driven generations of taxpayers into deeper national debt. Sycophantic supporters are already praising the new majority leader as more of a 'conciliator,' with a lighter touch and 'more approachable' personality - as if the lawmakers' challenge were all about their own intramural peace rather than the nation's fraying commonweal."

Hard Bigotry of No Expectations

2005-09-25T16:33:00.000-05:00

Hard Bigotry of No Expectations - New York Times: "Since his failure to notice the Katrina disaster, Mr. Bush has stopped bragging that he doesn't read or watch the news. If he's paying attention now, he should get a message from the outrage over Katrina and shrinking support for his policies in Iraq: The American public has much higher expectations than he does for the president and his government."

The case for impeachment of President George W. Bush

2005-09-25T16:25:00.000-05:00

The case for impeachment of President George W. Bush - SourceWatch: "The case for impeachment of President George W. Bush is outlined below in books, websites, documents, articles, and SourceWatch Resources related to what are believed to be Bush's impeachable offenses. "

Interesting site.

Morality, Bigotry and Twisting Lives

2005-09-24T13:51:00.000-05:00

Vatican to Tighten Rules on Admitting Gay Men to the Priesthood - New York Times: "Homosexuals, even those who are celibate, will be barred from becoming Roman Catholic priests, a church official said today, under stricter rules soon to be released on one of the most sensitive issues facing the church. " Gay Men Ponder Impact of Proposal by Vatican - New York Times: "'I feel like a Jew in Berlin in the 1930's,' said a 48-year-old gay priest who has spent 18 years in a religious order. He said he was considering donning a pink triangle - the symbol used by the Nazis - and getting heterosexual priests and members of the laity to wear the triangles as a protest."

I recently read a post about this news issues where the emailer suggested that the role of religion is to provide a framework for morality. I would agree that the Catholic Church arrogates this role unto itself, but I do not find theology to be a particularly enlightening way to establish a foundation for moral and ethical discussion. My observation is that building one's ethics or morality upon one's understanding of the wishes of God-as-you-understand-it is a precarious way to find the social stability that is sought through good morals and ethics. As for the Catholic Church, as a former Catholic seminarian, it is my experience and observation that this will lead to nothing good. The seminary is already a hiding place for many who are not able to deal with the ways in which their experience of the universe differs from the reality mandated by the Catholic Church. These people will simply hide harder. They will be more careful and further submerge the issues that they need to address. It is pure arrogance for the Church to assume it is capable of determining the sexuality of its candidates. I've been there. I know they cannot. As for vocations, this attitude will further erode vocations in the parts of the world where vocations to the priesthood are not a step up in one's quality of life. The Roman or Latin Rite of the Catholic Church has long depended on prestige and power to attract men to the priesthood. For this reason, there is a spike in vocations for the dioceses of the Third World countries, and increasingly First World countries are staffing their churches with men from these areas. Finally, there are only two ways in which I, as a non-Catholic, am concerned with this. The first is the sense in which the Church continues to twist people who live in our society. It seems to me that their actions along these lines continue to populate our world with people who are damaged by these prejudicial attitudes. People whose moral compass becomes so twisted by the need to hide and submerge feelings, that it causes damage beyond the boundaries of the Catholic community. The second way in which I am concerned is only in the way the Catholic Church continues to provide some energy to the prejudice of various parties. Their actions and their taking time with this issue provides some measure of energy to the movement of bigots who refuse to acknowledge the work of the scientific community in favor of their twisted theologically based moralities. For these two reasons, I hope their work bears fruit in a continued world-wide decline in vocations.

Evil Leadership

2005-09-24T13:42:00.000-05:00

3 in 82nd Airborne Say Beating Iraqi Prisoners Was Routine - New York Times: "Three former members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division say soldiers in their battalion in Iraq routinely beat and abused prisoners in 2003 and 2004 to help gather intelligence on the insurgency and to amuse themselves. … In the newest case, the human rights organization interviewed three soldiers: one sergeant who said he was a guard and acknowledged abusing some prisoners at the direction of military intelligence personnel; another sergeant who was an infantry squad leader who said he had witnessed some detainees' being beaten; and the captain who said he had seen several interrogations and received regular reports from noncommissioned officers on the ill treatment of detainees."

Faith-based disaster

2005-09-20T20:16:00.000-05:00

Faith-based disaster: "Years before Katrina, a coalition of public agencies and nonprofit groups in Tulsa, led by the Red Cross, had devised a disaster plan. In the wake of Katrina, the coalition quickly developed a detailed strategy to aid the survivors who, it was anticipated, would be sent to Tulsa -- to provide help not just in the immediate aftermath but for the days and weeks ahead. An estimated 1,500 to 2,000 hurricane survivors were indeed bused from New Orleans via Houston to Camp Gruber, a nearby National Guard facility. But in deciding which Tulsa agency to turn to, FEMA chose Catholic Charities -- which wasn't part of the coalition, had no relevant experience with long-term placement of disaster victims and whose mission is 'bringing Christ's merciful love to people who suffer in our midst.' FEMA was so intent on relying on a faith-based group that it neglected to look at the state map: it initially contacted Catholic Charities in Oklahoma City, 123 miles away from where the storm victims were being housed. …[B]ecause Catholic Charities lacked the necessary personnel for the assignment, local fire departments were enlisted to help in doing the job. While firefighters are trained to do many things, they don't know how to help victims of natural disaster start a new life. This lack of expertise made the resulting failures entirely predictable. Because the wrong organization was placed in charge, there was no effective long-term plan for the survivors. Consequently, no one knows for sure how many people were brought to Camp Gruber or where they've gone to. Check out the Tulsa Catholic Charities' Web site and you'll read instead about the bishop's visit and the "active pastoral presence" at the camp. It makes sense, in the wake of a cataclysm like Hurricane Katrina, for the government to mobilize nonprofits as part of the response. Using religion as a litmus test to decide who will provide relief is not only wrong, it's a surefire prescription for disaster. "

Consequence of the Action

2005-09-20T20:07:00.000-05:00

Clinton slams Bush effort on disaster relief / He says the poor fared better under his administration: "'This is a matter of public policy,' he said. 'And whether it's race-based or not, if you give your tax cuts to the rich and hope everything works out all right, and poverty goes up and it disproportionately affects black and brown people, that's a consequence of the action made. That's what they did in the '80s; that's what they've done in this decade. In the middle, we had a different policy.' "

Voter Doubts About Bush

2005-09-20T20:02:00.000-05:00

Katrina Raises Voters' Doubts About Bush: "Hurricane Katrina and the bungled government response have weakened President Bush, raising questions among Americans about his Iraq and Gulf Coast spending plans and spreading fears among fellow Republicans that his troubles could be contagious."

Warning Flare: The Republic is at Risk

2005-09-20T18:45:00.000-05:00

The Blog | Catherine Crier: CONTEMPT -- How the Right Is Wronging American Justice | The Huffington Post: "Of course, the key to each and every one of these issues is the federal courts. And this drives the extreme Right to distraction. They have nothing but disdain for the founding fathers' belief in three branches of government and the prescient system of checks and balances. Indeed, they are rewriting America's revolutionary history to accommodate their point of view. For all of those Americans who believe that our democracy is safe, you are wrong. Today, the radical Right is winning, and they know it. Sooner rather than later, we may be living in a very different country, a country that had been ours, a country that will be theirs."

Thanks to MotherLode for the link.

The Normality of Gay Marriages

2005-09-17T14:59:00.000-05:00

The Normality of Gay Marriages - New York Times: "There's nothing like a touch of real-world experience to inject some reason into the inflammatory national debate over gay marriages. Take Massachusetts, where the state's highest court held in late 2003 that under the State Constitution, same-sex couples have a right to marry. The State Legislature moved to undo that decision last year by approving a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages and create civil unions as an alternative. But this year, when precisely the same measure came up for a required second vote, it was defeated by a thumping margin of 157 to 39. The main reason for the flip-flop is that some 6,600 same-sex couples have married over the past year with nary a sign of adverse effects. The sanctity of heterosexual marriages has not been destroyed. Public morals have not gone into a tailspin. Legislators who supported gay marriage in last year's vote have been re-elected. Gay couples, many of whom had been living together monogamously for years, have rejoiced at official recognition of their commitment. As a Republican leader explained in justifying his vote switch: 'Gay marriage has begun, and life has not changed for the citizens of the commonwealth, with the exception of those who can now marry who could not before.' A Democrat attributed his change of heart to the beneficial effects he saw 'when I looked in the eyes of the children living with these couples.' Gay marriage, it turned out, is good for family values. … We can only hope that this new appeal to fear and bigotry will stumble over the reality, already apparent, that gay marriage is no threat to the larger community. States that rushed to ban same-sex marriages after the Massachusetts court ruling were succumbing to misplaced hysteria."

To Whom is Bushco Speaking?

2005-09-16T07:42:00.000-05:00

Katrina's Unsung Victims:John is a young man with striking, movie-star looks who arrived at the shelter alone, as his wife had died in the storm. He cried in my arms. Bruce is a retired professor of comparative literature. Randolph is a cook who'd worked for decades at the New Orleans fairgrounds and then at Mike Anderson's, a popular seafood restaurant. Barry and Sylvia had a landscaping business.
Not one of them has a home to go back to, investments to fall back on, or much in the way of savings or insurance. No pension funds; no IRAs; no stocks or bonds or country club memberships or family compounds in Maine or vacations in Europe or facelifts or Pilates classes or an opportunity to go back to school and finally get that doctorate in philosophy or the history of art.

When the wealthy, psychopathic corporations and their large stockholders lobby for laws like the recent bankruptcy laws and the tax breaks for bad debts for creditcard pushers, these issues come home to roost on the shoulders of these when our social fabric rips.

Republicans Returning - Fascism Remains

2005-09-16T05:07:00.000-05:00

New York Times: G.O.P. Split Over Big Plans for Storm Spending: "We are not sure he knows what he is getting into," said one senior House Republican official who requested anonymity because of the potential consequences of publicly criticizing the administration.

On the one hand, one is encouraged to hear once again the Republicans beginning to return to the values of the party. It has been a long time since we heard anything from this party that resembled fiscally sound policy. The deficit has spiraled out of control and the Panderer In Chief has been the first US President to cut taxes while waging a war. No, we too aren't sure he knows what he is getting into. He seems to be playing at being President.

On the other hand, one is disturbed to hear continuing fear of the vicious retribution of this administration. If one felt that this was the only place one would hear of it, one would dismiss it as the paranoia of this one official. One is, however, hearing this a good bit more often than seems healthy for the Republic.

E tu Brute, indeed.

Dr. Pants Accountability List

2005-09-12T11:30:00.000-05:00

My friend, Dr. Pants, offered this remarkably pithy list of that for which we need to hold Bu$hco accountable.

Couldn't Say It Any Better
Getting us into an unwinnable war? Check.
Turning a giant surplus into a massive deficit? Check.
Tax cuts for everybody who doesn't need them? Check.
Completely disregarding the seperation of church and state? Check.
Putting his friends into jobs where they can screw up spectacularly, ending in lots of death? Check.
Telling you and I that even asking questions, wanting solutions, demanding accountability is somehow killing America? Check.

It is not a game and it is not about blame. It is about accountability. Job accountability, ethical accountability, moral accountability. The lies must end.

Retire the Cowboy

2005-09-12T08:28:00.000-05:00

Osama and Katrina - New York Times: "On the day after 9/11, I was in Jerusalem and was interviewed by Israeli TV. The reporter asked me, 'Do you think the Bush administration is up to responding to this attack?' As best I can recall, I answered: 'Absolutely. One thing I can assure you about these guys is that they know how to pull the trigger.' … Well, if 9/11 is one bookend of the Bush administration, Katrina may be the other. If 9/11 put the wind at President Bush's back, Katrina's put the wind in his face. If the Bush-Cheney team seemed to be the right guys to deal with Osama, they seem exactly the wrong guys to deal with Katrina — and all the rot and misplaced priorities it's exposed here at home. These are people so much better at inflicting pain than feeling it, so much better at taking things apart than putting them together, so much better at defending 'intelligent design' as a theology than practicing it as a policy."

Balanced Views on Hurricane

2005-09-12T08:05:00.000-05:00

Email from Friend: "I have been reading your blog, and I thought you might like this article from the New York Times. The general perception I am hearing on the street here in Louisiana is that Gov. Blanco is most to blame. There is a lot of anger at her everywhere you go. People are really not that angry with the federal government and the more I read the vast majority of the mistakes were made at the State and local level. I just think that to be intellectually honest, you need to look at the missteps by state and local officials as well as national figures. The Red Cross tried to move in, and the Gov. and her people stopped them. Even people I know and have talked to were not able to lend aid because of the Governor. Even now, when it is more than evident that she is in far too deep, she still refuses to give up any of her authority. There is a lot of real anger at her. I know that your blog is aimed at exposing problems in the Bush administration, but it looks like there is plenty of blame to go around." Political Issues Snarled Plans for Troop AidWASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - As New Orleans descended into chaos last week and Louisiana's governor asked for 40,000 soldiers, President Bush's senior advisers debated whether the president should speed the arrival of active-duty troops by seizing control of the hurricane relief mission from the governor. For reasons of practicality and politics, officials at the Justice Department and Pentagon, and then at the White House, decided not to urge Mr. Bush to take command of the effors."

My friend in Louisiana brings up an interesting point. By no means do I wish to imply that there is no lack on the part of local officials. The points I have made here are focused on the federal level for two reasons. The first is that this is an administration that sold itself on its ability to defend this nation from terrorist attacks. I didn't believe it before, but more than half the voting public did believe it and it matters that this administration has failed to deliver. Their lying ways are catching up with ordinary Americans. It does matter when our President lies about WMDs and other related topics. Just because the lies initially only impact the poor citizens of another country who have died in the hundreds of thousands… Just because the lies initially only impact a small group of US citizens who signed up to defend our country… Just because the lies initially don't seem to matter to the moral sensibilities of the self-righteous doesn't mean that a tendency to have pretty word pictures in place of substance will not come home to roost. This administration has been preparing for terrorist attacks of this sort of magnitude for four years. They should be impeached for their lies. My second reason for focusing on the federal administration is the scope of their effect and my role in their existence. I did not vote for and cannot so easily comment on the accountability of the Mississippi and Louisiana Governors. I care what has happened there and I hope that Barbour and Blanco are held accountable for the failures under their administration, my interest in that process is more limited than the that of the citizens of those states. Accountability for the federal response, however, is something upon which I am entitled to insist. Bu$hco insists on calling it a "blame game." Mr. President, it is called accountability, not blame. You are responsible. The buck stops with you.

Republican Opportunism

2005-09-12T07:26:00.000-05:00

A Shameful Proclamation - New York Times: "On Thursday, President Bush issued a proclamation suspending the law that requires employers to pay the locally prevailing wage to construction workers on federally financed projects. The suspension applies to parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. By any standard of human decency, condemning many already poor and now bereft people to subpar wages - thus perpetuating their poverty - is unacceptable. It is also bad for the economy. Without the law, called the Davis-Bacon Act, contractors will be able to pay less, but they'll also get less, as lower wages invariably mean lower productivity. Republicans have long been trying to repeal the prevailing wage law… Now, in a time of searing need, the party wants to achieve by fiat what it couldn't achieve through the normal democratic process."

Implications of Population Drop

2005-09-12T07:22:00.000-05:00

The Necessity of New Orleans - New York Times: "After describing how and why New Orleans is and always has been central to the economy — for reasons that go way beyond the oil industry — Mr. [George Friedman, chairman of Strategic Forecasting] writes that while it's good that so much of the infrastructure is intact, the population loss could be devastating. 'The physical and business processes of a port cannot occur in a ghost town, and right now, that is what New Orleans is. It is not about the facilities, and it is not about the oil. It is about the loss of a city's population and the paralysis of the largest port in the United States.'"

Federal Disaster

2005-09-11T08:11:00.000-05:00

Breakdowns Marked Path From Hurricane to Anarchy - New York Times: "But an initial examination of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath demonstrates the extent to which the federal government failed to fulfill the pledge it made after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to face domestic threats as a unified, seamless force. "

Let Them Eat Cake

2005-09-10T20:16:00.000-05:00

The Raw Story Newsweek flash: Bush approval 38%, 57% have lost confidence in U.S. to deal with disaster: "New York-President George W. Bush's approval ratings have fallen across the board in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and a seemingly flawed government response to the disaster, according to the latest Newsweek Poll. Bush's job-approval rating dropped to 38 percent, the lowest ever in the Newsweek Poll. Sixty-six percent of those polled say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time; just 28 percent are satisfied, another record low in the poll. "

Has the country finally awakened from its peaceful wartime slumber? I can only hope, but let's not forget the Bu$hco marketing and disinformation team were all on vacation when Corrine (oops! Katrina) hit and now they're back firing on all cylinders, not wanting to play the "blame game." But as long as the Bush family keeps touring the shelters in their typical Marie Antioniette style and giving us all these great one liners as Babs Bush told the evacuees as they sat on their cots in the Astrodome, "this is working well for them." I think the elecorate might actually stayed tuned to a new breed of journalist who won't let them get a free pass with all of the obvious lies. Maybe they could even go back and finally get someone at the White House to explain where those WMD's are really hidden. I can only hope the retribution for this completely out of touch administration and their families is swift. "Let them eat cake."

Polls Starting to Effect the White House Spin Detail

2005-09-10T15:46:00.000-05:00

CNN.com - U.S. won't ban media--from New Orleans searches - Sep 10, 2005: "HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- Rather than fight a lawsuit by CNN, the federal government abandoned its effort Saturday to prevent the media from reporting on the recovery of the dead in New Orleans."

Polls do matter. Yea!

Account of Oklahoma Evacuee Center

2005-09-09T12:57:00.000-05:00

I just got back from a FEMA Detainment Camp - Above Top Secret Conspiracy Community: "Jesse Jackson was right when he said 'refugees' was not the appropriate word for the poor souls dislocated due to Katrina. But he was wrong about why it is not appropriate. It's not appropriate beause they are detainees, not refugees. "

I'm not sure what I think about this, because there are so much potential for misunderstanding or misinformation, but I think it is an interesting datapoint and if nothing else, it begs questions of our government. UPDATE: 12 September 2005: Excellent clarification from Chase McInerney at Cutting to the Chase. Please visit this page if you found yourself reading my post. He provides excellent clarification and he speaks from a position of considerable knowledge of the details of this issue. http://chasecuts.blogspot.com/2005/09/giving-credit-where-credit-is-due.html

Mr. Will Asks Questions of Mr. Roberts

2005-09-08T17:25:00.000-05:00

Some Questions For the Nominee: "In 1798, just seven years after the First Amendment was added to the Constitution, Federalists, then a congressional majority, said the Sedition Act was compatible with the amendment because freedom of speech meant only freedom from prior restraint — from prohibitions on speaking — not freedom from subsequent punishment for what was said. However, Republicans such as Albert Gallatin said it is 'preposterous to say that to punish a certain act was not an abridgement of the liberty of doing that act.' Is the fact that Gallatin's view has prevailed a defeat for 'originalism'? If so, aren't you glad?"

Lord know, George and I don't always agree, but I always appreciate a thinker with intellectual honesty. Can we have Mr. Will as a guest questioner at the Congressional Hearings?

Justifiable Frustration

2005-09-08T17:15:00.000-05:00

Mr. Bush's Storm: "Many Americans are already frustrated -- justifiably so -- by the administration's unwillingness to candidly acknowledge the difficulties it is facing in Iraq, and the degree to which its own misjudgments contributed to them. They aren't likely to have much tolerance for a similarly inadequate response to a domestic disaster -- nor should they."

Frustration is a good way to characterize the feeling. One hope that efforts to avoid truth are not used to soften our anger and allow us to become, as a group, complacent about the need for accountability and competence.

Blame it on Someone

2005-09-07T16:04:00.000-05:00

White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage - New York Times: "IIn a reflection of what has long been a hallmark of Mr. Rove's tough political style, the administration is also working to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana who, as it happens, are Democrats. "

Watch the liars spin and duck and run for cover. In an effort to move the blame, they actually stated, and many people now believe, that the Louisiana governor did not declare an emergency. One doesn't want to suggest that state and local governments did everything they should have done, one simply observes that there is a lot of noise about Louisiana, but strangely nothing is being said about Mississippi. Here's a snippet from the timeline at Think Progress:

Think Progress — KATRINA TIMELINE: "Saturday, August 27 5AM — KATRINA UPGRADED TO CATEGORY 3 HURRICANE [CNN] GOV. BLANCO ASKS BUSH TO DECLARE FEDERAL STATE OF EMERGENCY IN LOUISIANA: “I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster.” [Office of the Governor] FEDERAL EMERGENCY DECLARED, DHS AND FEMA GIVEN FULL AUTHORITY TO RESPOND TO KATRINA: “Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.” [White House]"

It would be my observation that the public is quite patient when people take responsibility and then fix things. Of course, that implies that the current Administration is capable of fixing anything at all. Rather than take responsibility, however, this Administration is orchestrating a partisan shift of blame. If Blanco is in some sense responsible for the pathetic federal response, why are we not also talking about the perfidy of Haley Barbour?

Onion Speaks Truth

2005-09-07T15:12:00.000-05:00

God Outdoes Terrorists Yet Again | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "BAGHDAD—The 4,000 Louisiana National Guardsmen stationed in Iraq, representing over a third of the state's troops, called home this week to find out what, if any, help they could offer Katrina survivors from overseas. 'The soldiers wanted to know if they could call 911 for anyone, or perhaps send some water via FedEx,' said Louisiana National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Pete Schneider. The Guardsmen also 'would love to send generators, rations, and Black Hawk helicopters for rescue missions,' but, said Schneider, 'we desperately need these in Iraq to stay alive.' Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld praised the phone support, but noted that it would take months to transfer any equipment from Iraq to New Orleans, saying, 'You fight a national disaster with the equipment you have.'"

Other headlines in this issue: Government Relief Workers Mosey In To Help Refugees Moved From Sewage-Contaminated Superdome To Helhole Of Houston White Foragers Report Threat of Black Looters Bush Urges Victims To Gnaw On Bootstraps For Sustenance

Prepare for a Sneering Whitewash

2005-09-07T11:25:00.000-05:00

It's Not a 'Blame Game' - New York Times: "President Bush blithely announced at a photo-op cabinet meeting that he, personally, was going to 'find out what went right and what went wrong.' We can't imagine a worse idea. No administration could credibly investigate such an immense failure on its own watch. And we have learned through bitter experience - the Abu Ghraib nightmare is just one example - that when this administration begins an internal investigation, it means a whitewash in which no one important is held accountable and no real change occurs. Mr. Bush signaled yesterday that we are in for more of the same when he sneered and said, 'One of the things that people want us to do here is to play a blame game.' This is not a game. It is critical to know what 'things went wrong,' as Mr. Bush put it. But we also need to know which officials failed - not to humiliate them, but to replace them with competent people."

Of course he sneered. We've let him get away with this sort of behavior for almost five years. He has never been a good president. His leadership has been suspect for years. Only the most obvious work has been completed well, and that was usually completed by others under circumstances that allow people to work without the need for leadership. It remains to be seen if we will let another whitewash occur. Everyone seems pretty satisfied allowing a 9/11 whitewash even after the work of the 9/11 Commission.

'Stuff Happens' Presidency

2005-09-07T11:00:00.000-05:00

The 'Stuff Happens' Presidency: "Even if we'll never win the national-greatness sweepstakes for solidarity, though, we've long been the model of the world in matters infrastructural, in roads, bridges and dams and the like. But the America in which Eisenhower the Good decreed the construction of the interstate highway system now seems a far-off land in which even conservatives believed in public expenditures for the public good. The radical-capitalist conservatives of the past quarter-century not only haven't supported the public expenditures, they don't even believe there is such a thing as the public good. Let the Dutch build their dikes through some socialistic scheme of taxing and spending; that isn't the American way. Here, the business of government is to let the private sector create wealth -- even if that wealth doesn't circulate where it's most needed. So George W. Bush threw trillions of dollars in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, and what did they do with it? Did the Walton family up in Bentonville raise the levees in New Orleans? Did the Bass family over in Texas write a tax-deductible check to the Mennonites for the billions of dollars they would need to rescue the elderly from inundated nursing homes?"

Destructive Administration Contempt

2005-09-07T09:41:00.000-05:00

Daily Kos: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.: "As specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas."

I think more media attention should be focused on the destructive behavior of this Administration. We have years of clean up and restoration ahead and we need to have the right people doing the job. Now is the time to determine which of the current Administration should be doing this work. First, we have trained first responders being used as social workers at best, and Administration shills at worst: http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3004197 Then we take some of these first responders and use them as stage props: I really think this is an issue that needs more attention. We need to make sure we don't have unreliable, unstable or incompetent people in positions of authority during a disaster. I rather think this skillfully edited picture is a better summary of the situation than the one above it. It is a fake, but it tells a truth. George Walker Bush: A Twenty-first Century Marie Antoinette

Collapse of Credibility

2005-09-06T10:40:00.000-05:00

The "City" of Louisiana: "And most chillingly of all, this is the Law and Order and Terror government. It promised protection — or at least amelioration — against all threats: conventional, radiological, or biological. It has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water."

Crooks and Liars has offered us a link to the video of this editorial by Keith Olbermann of MSNBC.

Ongoing Failure

2005-09-06T08:32:00.000-05:00

It's Your Failure, Too, Mr. Bush: "…for these failures there's ultimately no one to blame but the president. First, an administration that since Sept. 11, 2001, has told us a major terrorist strike is inevitable should have had in place a well-elaborated plan for evacuating a major American city. Even if there wasn't a specific plan for New Orleans -- although it was clear that a breach of the city's levees was one of the likeliest natural catastrophes -- there should have been a generic plan. George W. Bush told us time and again that our cities were threatened. Shouldn't he have ordered up a plan to get people out? Second, someone should have thought about what to do with hundreds of thousands of evacuees, both in the days after a disaster and in the long term. As people flooded out of New Orleans, it was officials at the state and local level who rose to the challenge, making it up as they went along. Bring a bunch of people to the Astrodome. We have a vacant hotel that we can use. Send a hundred or so down to our church and we'll do the best we can."

Bush Family Values

2005-09-05T23:30:00.000-05:00

Eschaton: "NEW YORK Accompanying her husband, former President George H.W.Bush, on a tour of hurricane relief centers in Houston, Barbara Bush said today, referring to the poor who had lost everything back home and evacuated, 'This is working very well for them.' ... In a segment at the top of the show on the surge of evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: 'Almost everyone I've talked to wants to move to Houston.' Then she added: 'What I'm hearing is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed with the hospitality. 'And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (she chuckled)--this is working very well for them.' "

Via Atrios

We need a new leader

2005-09-05T18:27:00.000-05:00

"All levels of the government are doing the best they can," Bush said in Baton Rouge. "So long as any life is in danger, we've got work to do," he said [USA Today] If he's doing the best he can, he is not up for this task. We were so upset that a grown man got a blow job that we actually impeached him, and yet it is fine with 74% of Republicans if Bush lets thousands of people die slow deaths in New Orleans? [ABC News] I am not calling for Bush's impeachment, but I am whole-heartedly calling for him to do the job he'd be falling over himself to do for Indonesia, or to step aside and let someone else do it. The news reports have done a pretty good job of making us aware of just how hard it is to fly heliocopters into residential neighborhoods, amongst power lines and other irregular structures, but tens of thousands of people living in poverty did not move into New Orleans two weeks ago. Hospitals weren't built and occupied the evening before the storm hit. This was not an earthquake or a tornado. They knew these people were there, they knew they would be trapped, and if they'd been sitting on barrels of oil they'd have been evacuated before this storm hit Florida, let alone before they drowned or died from a lack of access to insulin or heart medication.

Ezra Klein: Ideological Casualties

2005-09-05T18:10:00.000-05:00

Ezra Klein: Ideological Casualties: "...[C]onservatives, generally, are all for the private market and individual charity. If Bush really was so uncomfortable with government involvement, he could still do a bang-up job relying on his church/industry connections to create a parallel and powerful rescue effort. The government could take care of the basics, but the private and theological spheres could provide much of the material, cash, and space. In doing, Bush would help discredit Big Government and legitimize the conservative philosophy. He hasn't. And that he's hasn't demonstrates his basic absence of a driving ideology. He's neither able to effectively deploy government or call on his friends outside of it. He's just incompetent, as I said before, a small man in a big office. He speaks the language of small government conservatism because it gets him elected, pushes big government solutions because they prove easiest, but is so separated and uninterested in the whole enterprise that the result is a wreck of incoherence and unexpected outcomes. "

Eloquent summary that could point to an explanation of Bushco's failure.

Dirty work

2005-09-03T22:03:00.000-05:00

Editor's Note: Our friend Chriss is posting from the hurricane devastation using his Blackberry device. We will be adjusting spelling which can go awry on these devices. His home is north of Lake Pontchartrain and his mother and brother live(d) in Slidell.

I am fortunate to live outside the direct impact of year storm that did hit New Orleans. For those that do not know, the government has employed many brilliant people to run this scenario since 1970. Let's just say when NOLA was much smaller they knew this would be exactly what happened.

Today, as we cleared three large trees from my brother's roof, a person had the nerve to say that the President had to wait to be asked to help. When questioned about his policy on Iraq he boasts that leaders do not wait for things to happen, they take charge, they are proactive.

Like I stated I am on the verge of the destruction and everything is different. My street is affluent but we have never had street lights. I have discovered that the ambient light of front porches and windows glowing with various cathode ray tubes can make the character of a neighborhood. Tonight, these familiar lights are replaced by the drone of generators. The soundtrack of ruined lives, destroyed homes and the lucky trying to make certain looters do not steal what Katrina left behind.

My brother identified three friends today who drowned while trying to bring in their shrimp boat into protected waters. In Slidell, where he lives, there is destruction so random and varied it can being you to your knees. My mother's home is beginning to stink. The flood waters are so saturated in every pore of the home you think it will never dry and the wind chimes seem more like they are mocking you. The mosquitoes are moving in and we hold out hope for progress in infrastructure improvements. You can not believe how comfortable a fan can be until you realise how close you are to not having the power to run it. Or the ceiling from which it hangs. My blessings are far to many to count. I wish you all my good fortune.

Good night Chriss Cazayoux

Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless.

Katrina Nights

2005-09-03T20:09:00.000-05:00

Editor's Note: Our friend Chriss is posting from the hurricane devastation using his Blackberry device. We will be adjusting spelling which can go awry on these devices. His home is north of Lake Pontchartrain and his mother and brother live(d) in Slidell.

I am in the lucky suburb of Madisonville outside New Orleans

My street has never had street lights but funny how porch lights and the glow of the tube adds to the ambient light. That comfort is replaced by the hum of generators. My uncle has wired my house to run on one of these so we can sleep in the comfort of fans. Our bodies are tired and our minds have turned to humor to keep from crying. Like what buildings will make great fishing holes.

In Slidell, where my mother's home seeps with the remnants of flood waters, the stench is begining and the mosquitos are multiplying exponentially. My brother identified three bodies today at a business that tried to ride it out

Finally the residents of St. Bernard parish have begin to boat out through canals and lakes to where we live. Their desperation is piled en mass aboard each vessel.

I am lucky I get to sweat and work on recoverable properties. I get to do this. Chriss Cazayoux

Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless.

Waiting for a Leader

2005-09-01T08:15:00.000-05:00

Waiting for a Leader - New York Times: "George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end." "Sacrifices may be necessary to make sure that all these things happen in an orderly, efficient way. But this administration has never been one to counsel sacrifice. And nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis."

I turned to a friend in shock yesterday afternoon. I inquired if it was just me. I hadn't expected much. I really hadn't. I mean this is a man who doesn't read and struggles to pronounce the English language. But even I had higher expectations than this. It appears he is a single-tone leader. If he can bluster and blow and whip up fear of some other, then we can expect good comfort and connection with the man. The only passion seemed to come when talking about oil production. As it currently stands, it appears that human tragedy is beyond his scope. He does not relate to the common person. One recalls that he was slow and stingy to the point of embarrassment in offering assistance to the tsunami-ravaged countries. One can only conclude that he does not care.

Time for impeachment hearings

2005-08-30T08:20:00.000-05:00

In 2003, George Bush invaded Iraq primarily because Iraq allegedly had Weapons of Mass Destruction that could threaten the United States. But last October, the Duelfer Report proved there were no WMD's in Iraq in 2003. And this May, the Downing Street Memos proved the pre-war "intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" to sell an illegal invasion of Iraq to Congress, the American people, and the world. On June 30, a Zogby poll found 42% of Americans said

if it is found that President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should hold him accountable through impeachment." http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1007

And yet, a week after this poll was released, only three mainstream media outlets even made cursory mention of the results.

The Impeachment Question: "But you wouldn't know it from following the news. Only three mainstream outlets that I can find made even cursory mention of the poll last week when it came out."

The time has come for accountability from this administration. Enough with the lies. Enough with the distractions. Enough with the fear-mongering. Enough with this president.

Don't Cross Halliburton

2005-08-29T09:16:00.000-05:00

Army Contract Official Critical of Halliburton Pact Is Demoted - New York Times: "Known as a stickler for the rules on competition, Ms. Greenhouse initially received stellar performance ratings, Mr. Kohn said. But her reviews became negative at roughly the time she began objecting to decisions she saw as improperly favoring Kellogg Brown & Root, he said. "

Don't cross Halliburton. They paid good money for their President and Vice President.

Supernatural Selection

2005-08-26T09:17:00.000-05:00

Mark Fiore does it again

Brainless Bully

2005-08-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

Capitol Hill Blue: Bush's Obscene Tirades Rattle White House Aides: "Bush, administration aides confide, frequently explodes into tirades over those who protest the war, calling them 'motherfucking traitors.' He reportedly was so upset over Veterans of Foreign Wars members who wore 'bullshit protectors' over their ears during his speech to their annual convention that he told aides to 'tell those VFW assholes that I'll never speak to them again is they can't keep their members under control.' White House insiders say Bush is growing increasingly bitter over mounting opposition to his war in Iraq. Polls show a vast majority of Americans now believe the war was a mistake and most doubt the President's honesty."

When Shrub runs out of foreign countries to push around, he turns in and starts revealing his totalitarian tendencies.

Maureen Summarizes W

2005-08-24T15:51:00.000-05:00

My Private Idaho - New York Times: "'We owe them something,' he told veterans in Salt Lake City (even though his administration tried to shortchange the veterans agency by $1.5 billion). 'We will finish the task that they gave their lives for.' What twisted logic: with no W.M.D., no link to 9/11 and no democracy, now we have to keep killing people and have our kids killed because so many of our kids have been killed already? Talk about a vicious circle: the killing keeps justifying itself. Just because the final reason the president came up with for invading Iraq - to create a democracy with freedom of religion and minority rights - has been dashed, why stop relaxing? W. is determined to stay the course on bike trails all over the West. This president has never had to pull all-nighters or work very hard, because Daddy's friends always gave him a boost when he flamed out. When was the last time Mr. Bush saw the clock strike midnight? At these prices, though, I guess he can't afford to burn the midnight oil. "

Exactly.

More False Connections

2005-08-22T00:46:00.000-05:00

Refusal to See Sheehan Is Second-Guessed: "Bush aides said that, beginning on Monday, he will try to bolster support for his Iraq policy by giving three speeches in military settings over the next two weeks. They said he will argue that just as 'the greatest generation' saw World War II through to victory, the nation must be patient while today's military combats terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan. Citing the approaching fourth anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Bush will contend that the ideology of terrorism and the willingness to kill innocents link the insurgency in Iraq to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and to last month's bombings in London."

If you are going to try and re-write history, why wait until the historian's get a shot at it? Let's re-write now! Take the facts, twist them early and hard, and see if you can line them up with your own picture of reality. Iraq has nothing to do with 9-11. Iraq bears no resemblance to the war of "the greatest generation." Refusing to stand in public and answer questions about the death of thousands of soldiers is not leadership, it is cowardice.

The Cover-up Continues

2005-08-21T10:26:00.000-05:00

Walking the Wrong Way - New York Times: "The Bush administration took the nation to war on the basis of a bundle of ever-changing arguments, few of which stood up once the fighting began. Ever since, the White House has tried to shore up its positions by discounting all bad news and shielding the civilian public from any war-connected inconvenience. But that strategy has very clearly stopped working. It is time for a somber acceptance of the war's costs, and some specific talk about what the nation's goals and strategy are in Iraq."

I have a dear friend whose father was fascinated by the cover-up surrounding the Kennedy Assassination. He was not a conspiracy theorist of the typical variety. He did not subscribe to any particularly implausible or peculiar theories about the event, but he did feel that based on his rather extensive reading and research into the subject, that there was a cover-up. I mention this only because it seems to me that the current Administration is working on out-doing the cover-up that (may) have surrounded the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. If the truth about the Iraq War ever breaks out into the open, it will be a new measurement of the pits of political opportunism. Even when presented with evidence, the American public has been loathe to confront the issue and looking for ways to avoid dealing with the perfidy of their leaders. Be warned, gentle reader, that this is exactly how the Catholic church spiraled out of control on the subject of sexually abusing children. For many years, it was always possible to pretend that there was nothing wrong with the organization or the leadership. Only when it was simply not possible to avoid the realities that had been known for years did the house of cards begin to collapse. This could be a metaphor at least for the future of the current Administration. Let us hope it is not a foretelling for the country.

Sacrifice for What?

2005-08-19T07:59:00.000-05:00

SACRIFICE? COUNT ME OUT - Yahoo! News: "I'm already sacrificing too much for a war I always believed was stupid and wrong. I'm paying three dollars a gallon for buck-fifty gas and walking through gauntlets of over-armed National Guardboys at airports and bus stations. I'm in greater danger than ever before of getting blown up by a pissed-off fanatic. And I dread the giant tax hike we'll eventually need to pay off Bush's deficit. But these aren't enough sacrifices for Bush and his vainglorious generals, who are planning 'a Civilian Reserve, a sort of Peace Corps for professionals...a program to seek commitments from bankers, lawyers, doctors, engineers, electricians, plumbers and solid-waste disposal experts to deploy to conflict zones for months at a time on reconstruction assignments, to relieve pressure on the military.' If you voted for Bush, here's your chance to plant your butt where your ridiculous car magnet is, smack dab in the middle of the Sunni Triangle. Good luck."

A bit of a rant, but the author brings up an interesting observation about the opportunism of this war. We don't want to talk about it with the general public. We don't want the discussion to spread much beyond the Pundit Zone (The Pundit Zone is a point in time and space where reality is somewhat twisted by the need to sound smarter than the pundit sitting next to you.). A war prosecuted for the profit line of Exxon and Haliburton. Thousands of American youth mowed down. A country and region destabilized. More terrorists than have ever been before. Good plan, Mr. President.

I can't wait until 2008

2005-08-11T10:41:00.000-05:00

Hillary for President. This animation is really too funny. An amazing good job. Brilliant. Enjoy.

Existential Ramble Status

2005-07-21T17:01:00.000-05:00

Greetings, gentle reader. As my regular readers know (all four of them), when events at work press upon me, I tend to blog little. I'm not even paying attention to the Supreme Court appointment process. Shocking, I know, but the fact is that it hardly helps me to lobby my senators given that both of them are utterly intractable and one of them has proven himself, in correspondence to me, an insufferably arrogant pedant. I will be celebrating my wedding on 30 July and that too is taking up much bandwidth. Happy bandwidth, however. I hope all my readers will come celebrate with us. If you did not receive a formal invitation, this is only because I often know not who you are or do not have your address. Email me and I'll send you the details. Ciao, -LiteraryTech

Catholics are Bad Says Government

2005-07-15T19:01:00.000-05:00

Adoption Agency Rejects Catholic Parents - Yahoo! News: "A Christian adoption agency that receives money from Choose Life license plate fees said it does not place children with Roman Catholic couples because their religion conflicts with the agency's 'Statement of Faith.' Bethany Christian Services stated the policy in a letter to a Jackson couple this month, and another Mississippi couple said they were rejected for the same reason last year. 'It has been our understanding that Catholicism does not agree with our Statement of Faith,' Bethany's state director Karen Stewart wrote. 'Our practice to not accept applications from Catholics was an effort to be good stewards of an adoptive applicant's time, money and emotional energy.'"

Anyone up for a good theocracy? Oh, excellent. In that case, let's all decide what theology will drive the theocracy. Should it be that of Charlie Meadows of OCPAC? No? Oh, well, how about that of the National Day of Prayer organization? What's that? You're a good, honest Christian and think you can interpret the Bible as the Holy Spirit moves you? Yeah. Right. But how can I tell you how to march in lock-step if you don't agree that God put me in charge?

	Iraq Under Saddam	Iraq Today
Torture?	Yes	Yes
Illegal detentions?	Yes	Yes
Ba'athist thugs in power?	Yes	Yes
Rigged elections?	Yes	Yes
Censorship of media?	Yes	Yes
Use of chemical weapons against civilians?	Yes	No*
Functioning economy?	Yes	No
Religious fundamentalism including sha'ria law?	No	Yes
Repression of women's rights?	No	Yes
Functioning basic services like water, electricity?	Yes	No
Exporting oil to earn revenue?	Yes	Somewhat
Engaged in war with neighboring states?	Yes	No
Home base for terrorism and Al-Qaeda?	No	Yes
Children dying of malnutrition and dehydration?	Yes	Yes
Americans and British being killed?	No	Yes

	Ipsos 10/8-9	Zogby 6/27-29	Net Change
Support Impeachment	50%	42%	+8%
Oppose Impeachment	44%	50%	+6%
Impeachment Margin	+6%	-8%	+14%