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Ongoing stories:
Reuters Cameraman Mazen Dana Killed in Iraq Dana's death brings to 17 the number of journalists or their assistants who have died in Iraq since war began on March 20. [MORE]
BUSH SAYS, "BRING'EM ON!" WE SAY BRING THEM HOME NOW! A movement calling for the immediate withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq has been started
by the families of US soldiers and army veterans. [MORE - Bring Them Home Now! Website]
ANTI-WAR PROTEST PLANNED FOR WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON (AP) - Protesters plan to return to the nation's capital next month to oppose the presence
of U.S. troops in Iraq, demonstration organizers said Wednesday.
The International ANSWER coalition, whose name stands for Act Now to Stop War and Racism, brought
thousands of anti-war protesters to Washington in January, March and April.
Organizers predict the Oct. 25 march from the Justice Department to the White House and the Pentagon
will attract tens of thousands of people. The group is seeking a protest permit for 10,000 people, the
National Park Service said...
Organizers said at least 50 buses will bring people to Washington from around the United States and
Canada. [MORE]
Our enemy is not terror, it is not Islam, it is not the radical suicide bomber, it is the threat to our
society that ignorance poses to our nation. America has become a nation of misinformed radical flag
wavers who do not even understand what they are supporting when they flaunt their patriotism. We are
taught that democracy means that we all get to sing the national anthem before every sports event but we
do not realize that without a free press we have no democracy. [MORE]
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DISINFORMATION WARNING: CIA Posing as Al-Qaeda at Jihad Unspun?
03OCT2003 
Watergate-type trouble for the Bush White House
Blue-collar support for Bush, and in particular
Let Them Eat War By Arlie Hochschild (from tomdispatch) reminds me of when (how) Anita Hill outed
Clarence Thomas, and a lot of men even some who up 'til that moment thought they were "liberated"
and decent chaps but had to realize then they hadn't quite gotten it just right either).
Now, how is it that we look at those Yahoo! stats and see Britney Spears (of interest to 13yo
girls and 50yo men, and on the Esquire
cover for November) and NASCAR consistently in the Top 20,
and don't get the (vital) importance of the latter's negative impact on the rest of us?
Only two days ago, I wrote a no-reply-necessary note to Declan/Politech:
NASCAR is hot. I contend that people care about car racing because there is always the
possibility someone is going to get killed. That's the attraction to a stupid "sport"
that just burns up a lot of gasoline.
The gruesome pics story is some variation of the same deal. I'm of the Bring the Troops
Home Now crowd, but only if it gets them home sooner are pics of our troops blown to
bits acceptable for mainstream news. - These are not happy times
My two paragraphs in the context of "News media may withhold gruesome images, but Internet
sets them free" at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03271/226452.stm
Except as Tom suggests, our having here the makings of a conversation starter, I don't know just
exactly where the
Blue-collar support for Bush essay fits editorially in
what is our usual fare around here but I do know every one of us who are not NASCAR dads
must find a way to communicate some of our best wishes to them because without them our
best wishes (even for them) are not going to happen for us. The idea of "us and them" just
took an interesting turn about inter-dependence, community and networking.
Irksome, ain't it - to share knowledge and make alliances with people who like to see car
crashes OR how do we convey to low-lifes (NASCAR dads or the kinds of presidential candidates
they vote for) that war is bullshit - without offending anyone?
On Wednesday, guest chaplain Imam Qazwini in offering the prayer for the 108th Congress said,
"Oh Allah, endow the people of this great land with a growing trust in one another, and an increasing
faith in You: Help us all uphold our God-given rights of freedom and equality. Allow us never to revoke
your law by embracing color or creed as tools for superiority. As You say in al-Qur'an (49:13):
"'Oh people, We have created you from one male and one female, and made you into nations and tribes, so
that you may know one another. Verily, the best amongst you are those who are the most pious.' Amin."
Waitaminute! How about we screen NASCAR dads through the Blue-collar (union and non-union workers)
filter? Still, we must wonder how is it possible that people who work for a living would or could
ever support Bush - who "acts" like one of the boys but who is about as anti-worker and anti-middle
class as it gits. Certainly the Bush White House and the Reagan Republicans are anti-labor, hence
anti-laborer. So again, why do these guys support Bush?
And acknowledging the high road of "that you may know one another" again, of the one anothers, NASCAR
as a rallying point is is a mostly white, mostly male spectator "sport" and so are the
spectators, exhibiting the social characteristics of the "red" (Bush) states starting with the anti-social
Republican state of mindlessness.
Those of us who work for a living and who support organized labor can't leave our NASCAR and/or working
fellows out of the loop which includes some political activism and organizing and some very serious teach-in.
In November 2000, the majority were the "blues" (for Gore) nation wide. In 2003, are the majority of
voters so disgusted with the stste of the state (of California) as to turn a blind eye to sexism and
nazism and then vote for a sexist Austrian-American movie star who idolizes the likes of Kurt
Waldheim? OR in an October Suprise, will there be enough Latinos whose opinions have not been
accounted for in the polls to carry the day against the Republicans?
Maybe
Blue-collar support for Bush/Let Them Eat War is the most profound and stunning essays ever posted on the tomdispatch
website!
BTW, what a ride it was, the inkling of 18 words or the 18 missing minutes
resolving for all of us who have followed it so closely, a real turn-around. David Corn is a thoughtful
cat who got it right. I wonder when he (actually) knew he got it right...
The Rove/Novak "lives are in danger" gamble is still worth some speculating upon, and since
I'm not CIA, and to my knowledge, no one I know is, and this is still a First Amendment
country (for all except el estupido and shit-in-his-veins Rush Limbaugh), right? let the (speculation)
games begin, or as they say over at NASCAR, "Gentlemen, start your engines!"
I'll start with the inter-dependence, community and networks of trust blown when the CIA
agent got outed. How extensive the real damage to our national security we (ordinary folk) will never
know, but we will learn who blew it. If Valerie Plame's work really was about protection from suitcase
A-bombs, those who betrayed our civil servant should be hung from the yard arm - and this
from a guy who doesn't support capital punishment or wars anymore.
So, how about a trip down Memory Lane? Set the way-back for
18JUL2003, which started out as a normal post-Election 2000 or post-911 day except for one
minor detail; it felt like a turning point day and we said so.
The fact that we read what turned out to be David Corn breaking the Novak-Rove story is no small
matter in the broader scheme of things that unfolded in the following context:
18JUL2003
Are the pro-Zionist neo-Fascist Occupiers
of the White House Guilty of Treason?
Ed. note: The answer of course, to the rhetorical question is "Of course, they are!" They
nearly stole our country away from us. Even the right wing goof balls who even after the "selection"
of Bush were still complaining about Ruby Ridge and Waco, were also aware that under this new (Ashcroft
Justice) regime of outlaws, their days too were numbered - right along with Tom Dashile and James
Carvile, and whoever else the Bush White House considered to be (Nixonian) "enemies list" material.
They used "willing" members of the U.S. Supreme Court to steal the 2000 Election; they were
complicit in 9/11 (their "Pearl Harbor") to justify a war in Afghanistan that would get them an oil
pipeline through that nation, and get the heroin spigot turned back on; a war in Iraq so's to get
access to the Iraqi oil fields in behalf of the American oil and energy companies, and besides
establishing "empire" or a pax americana, they nearly achived their ultimate dream of the Israeli
(tail) wagging the US (dog) to death - along with the Palestinians.
Hoodah thunkit that those "sixteen words" in the Bush State of the Union address could wind up as
turning-point in American history as the "18 missing minutes" in Nixon's Watergate tapes?
Before this most recent Iraq war, the whole world protested, and the USUKI (United States, United
Kingdom, and Israel) told the protestors to fuck themselves. Backed up by US military might, every
nation cowered when Bush proclaimed. "Either you're with us or you're aginst us" - implying that
shock and awe be unto those against us!
And that was quite a show they put on for the whole wide world to see, with their
Daisy Cutter bombs the size of Volkswagons that blew tops off mountains; leveling them just perfectly
so pipelines could be laid across the newly excavated Afhgani real estate.
And how about 2,000 bombs a night into downtown Baghdad, blowing up everything with Saddam's name on it?
And how about that little photo op (show), of US soldiers helping some Iraqis take down a Saddam
statue, and a US soldier (temporarily) planting the very same U.S. flag that flew over the Pentagon
on 9/11 atop the statue. Real cute.
And how about the number of journalists killed by "friendly" fire?
And how about the Jessica Lynch story?
Tell me another... about the day more U.S. soldiers had been killed in Iraq War II than were
killed Iraq War I (Desert Storm). That would have been yesterday, July 16th, 2003.
So what hope for a future without the pro-Zionist neo-Fascists in the White House, and how do we
get there from here OR without Bush and the pro-Zionist neo-Fascists (the so-called "neo-cons") in
the White House, can we
have the troops home by Christmas OR will Rumsfeld get away with sending in National Guard units to
replace the battle-weary because other nations have refused to fight in behalf of USUKI??
In today's e-mail bag the alternative press Santas ("saints" aka The
Coalition of the Rational) brought us:
Katrina vanden Heuvel's idea for a
Coalition of the Rational. Is there an echo in here OR do I hear a second??
Impeachement (as referred to by Robert Scheer in
A Firm Basis for Impeachment) would be nice right about now, except practically speaking,
by the time that could
happen, the 2004 Election with electronic balloting controlled by the remnants of the
pro-Zionist neo-Fascist crowd would already be upon us.
Also from The Nation, David Corn asks in his Capitol Games
column:
The White House's thuggish smear of former
US Ambassador Joseph Wilson, did senior Bush Administration officials blow the cover of a US
intelligence officer working covertly in a field of vital importance to
national security -- and break the law -- in order to strike at the
Administration critic and intimidate others?
It sure looks that way, if conservative journalist Bob Novak can be
trusted. But then trusting Bob Novak with Truth in Journalism would be like trusting Pat Buchanan to
guard a Nazi concentration camp without smirking.
Some background: Wilson was already on the White House's bad side for opposing war with
Iraq. Last March in The Nation, he argued that the "underlying objective
of this war [Iraq] is the imposition of a Pax Americana on the region,"
and that "the projection of influence and power through the use of force
will breed resistance in the Arab world that will sorely test our
political will and stamina." [MORE]
Also see
Joseph Wilson's March 3 Nation editorial in full.
CIA Leak Is Big Trouble For Bush
By DAVID CORN
Scott McClellan, White House press secretary, falsely accused me of rigging the truth. But before
we get to that, the news of the day: the Bush administration is responding ridiculously to reports that
the CIA has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether White House officials revealed the
identity of an undercover CIA officer to punish or discredit an administration critic.
Regular readers of this column will remember that back in July conservative columnist Bob Novak wrote
a piece in which he reported that two "senior administration officials" had told him that the wife of
former Ambassador Joseph Wilson (who had publicly challenged the White House's claim that Iraq had been
shopping for uranium in Niger), was employed by the CIA and worked on counter-proliferation matters.
Novak printed her name. The leakers apparently were trying to suggest that Wilson--who had been sent
by the CIA to check out the Niger allegations and who concluded that there was nothing to them--had not
been chosen for the job on merit. Wilson said that he considered the leak--which blew his wife's cover
and perhaps undermined national security--was a message from the White House to others who might speak
out against it: don't cross us, or we'll come after you and your family.
To brag a bit, I was
the first
journalist to report that the Novak leak was evidence of a possible
White House crime. Under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, it is a felony for an
official who possesses classified information to reveal the identity of a covert officer. The
punishment is up to ten years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $50,000. (This law was championed by
George H.W. Bush, former CIA director and father of W.) This past weekend, MSNBC.com revealed that the
CIA has requested that the Justice Department investigate the anti-Wilson leak. And The Washington Post,
citing an unnamed senior administration official, reported that "two top White House officials" had
called at least six Washington journalists in an effort to disclose the identity and secret occupation
of Wilson's wife. That makes it seem as if there was a White House campaign targeting the Wilsons.
(Wilson, by the way, is a winner of the new Ron Ridenhour Award, which is given in honor of the My Lai
whistleblower and journalist.)
This is trouble for the White House. And that was evident today at McClellan's daily briefing for
reporters. He was repeatedly asked what Bush intended to do to get to the bottom of this ugly episode.
In essence, McClellan's answer was, nothing. Over and over, McClellan said the Justice Department, not
the White House, was the "appropriate agency" to investigate. And he said that anyone with information
on this matter should contact the Justice Department--not the president. But shouldn't the president be
taking steps on his own? the reporters wondered. Every time that query was placed in front of McClellan,
he batted it away with a stock reply, noting that the White House had no information beyond the media
reports--which were based on anonymous sources--to "suggest White House involvement" in the Wilson
leak. "Are we supposed to chase down every anonymous report in the newspaper?" McClellan asked. And
several times, he challenged his inquisitors, "Do you have any specific information to bring to my
attention suggesting White House involvement?"
This was a ruse. McClellan was claiming that the White House was not obligated to conduct an inquiry in
response to allegations predicated on anonymous sources. But the CIA's request for an investigation
indicated these allegations are serious and not merely the routine spin often attributed to anonymous
sources in the media. After all, the anonymous quotes that appear in the papers each day rarely charge
the White House with criminal behavior that possibly harmed national security. Isn't Bush--who promised
to restore honesty and integrity to the White House--curious about whether his aides might have engaged
in illegal and underhanded conduct? McClellan maintained that Bush takes the matter seriously. Just not
seriously enough to order any action, such as questioning top White House aides.
McClellan did assert that the White House had determined that Bush uber-adviser Karl Rove, was not a
party to the Wilson leak. But he declined to say how that had been learned or when he had spoken to Rove
about this. McClellan further defended Rove by saying, "I've known Karl for a long time, and I didn't
even need to go ask Karl because I know the kind of person that he is, and he is someone that is
committed to the highest standards of conduct." ("Have you read any book about him lately?" one reporter
replied, and McClellan did not take the bait.) When McClellan was asked if Bush was "convinced that
there was no White House involvement" in the Wilson leak, he did not answer.
McClellan presented a poor case for why the Bush White House was refusing to look into the
allegations, and the journalists got annoyed. Near the end of the briefing--after McClellan once more
explained White House inaction by saying, "if there is specific information that you have to bring to
our attention, please do so"--a frustrated reporter exclaimed, "You keep pointing the finger at us to
step forward with information. I mean, you're asking us to come forward and reveal things, but you
haven't asked the White House staff to."
This was a weird situation. Here was McClellan telling the press corps that he and the White House had
absolutely no information of their own on the Wilson leak, yet several reporters--including Novak--know
exactly who called them to pass on the information on Wilson's wife. These reporters, though, can only
reveal the truth by ratting out a confidential source. As of yet, none of them have done so. In fact,
several White House reporters with whom I spoke--who were not contacted by the leakers--had only
guesses as to which White House aides might have orchestrated the Wilson leak. That is, the identity of
the leakers has not yet become out-in-the-open scuttlebutt. But there are journalists--NBC's Andrea
Mitchell appears to be one--who can say definitively whether the White House was behind the leak.
Shortly before McClellan hit the podium, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer called for a special counsel
to handle the investigation. He argued that Attorney General John Ashcroft and his political appointees
should not be trusted to oversee a probe of the White House. Asked about a special counsel, McClellan
said there was no need, and he asserted the Justice Department could handle it. "Scott," one reporter
said, "the statement you gave about why there shouldn't be a special prosecutor was almost word for
word what the Clinton people said in 1994 about why there shouldn't be a special prosecutor in
Whitewater. Why should it stand now if it didn't stand then?" McClellan answered: "I just reject that
comparison." The reporters laughed.
Pity McClellan. He has a tough task--to depict the president as caring about the leak even though he
is doing nothing about it. The White House could well end up being ensnared in this scandal. The early
signs are that there was indeed a plot to get Wilson (and destroy the career of his wife). The news
reports indicate that some administration officials--perhaps only one or two--are upset about this and
are willing to talk to reporters. If they're willing to talk to reporters, they might be willing to
speak to prosecutors. The CIA must be committed to pushing the issue, otherwise it would not have
requested an inquiry that places the White House in the crosshairs. Before this, the CIA and the White
House had engaged in tense scuffling concerning the uranium-from-Niger controversy. But Tenet's request
for an investigation was the bureaucratic equivalent of going nuclear. Now the Justice Department is in
the spotlight. Will it go ahead with an investigation that threatens the White House? And will its
decisions in this case be regarded as credible and not influenced by politics? Schumer says that he is
rounding up more Democrats to join his call for a special counsel. In the meantime, McClellan will have
to keep on dancing.
Speaking of which. At one point at the press conference, the subject shifted to a letter recently sent
to Tenet by the House intelligence committee reporting on the committee's review of the prewar
intelligence on Iraq's WMDs and ties to terrorists. The committee found that this intelligence--which
Bush has said was a solid basis for going to war--was predicated on fragmentary, circumstantial and
out-of-date information and contained "too many uncertainties." McClellan noted, "Let's look at what
we knew. We knew, just like the United Nations Security Council and intelligence agencies across the
world and previous administrations, that Saddam Hussein...had large, unaccounted for stockpiles of
biological and chemical weapons....We knew all these facts. Then came September 11th."
Wrong. And since I was there in the White House briefing room, I pointed out this was not the case,
noting that Secretary of State Colin Powell had said in early 2001 that there were no stockpiles
("Hussein has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction"),
that the Defense Intelligence Agency in September 2002 had concluded there was no "reliable information"
on whether Iraq had chemical weapons stockpiles, and that the UN inspectors had not said there were WMD
stockpiles. "Where are you getting your information?" I asked. Referring to the Powell statement,
McClellan said, "That's not what he said....I think you're mischaracterizing Secretary Powell's
comments." But it was what he said in 2001, I countered. McClellan then claimed "it was well documented
by the United Nations Security Council that there were undocumented stockpiles of chemical and
biological weapons." No, I said, and referred to Rolf Ekeus, the former executive chairman of the UN
inspections in the 1990s. In a 2000 interview, Ekeus said, "There are no large quantities of weapons
[in Iraq]. I don't think that Iraq is especially eager in the biological and chemical area to produce
such weapons for storage. Iraq views those weapons as tactical assets instead of strategic assets,
which would require long-term storage of those elements, which is difficult. Rather, Iraq has been
aiming to keep the capability to start up production immediately should it need to."
McClellan did not counter facts with facts. Instead, he tossed out rhetoric: "America is safer,
the world is better, the world is safer because Saddam Hussein and his brutal regime have been removed
from power."
The facts are closing in on Bush and his crowd. And perhaps the law--that is, if Bush's comrades at the
Justice Department are on the level. As Iraq continues to be a $170 billion headache, they have tied
themselves to the mast of their prewar misrepresentations. As the Wilson leak threatens to become a
primetime scandal, they are yielding no ground and hoping this inconvenience blows past. All in all, a
precarious position for Bush. These are messes too severe to be straightened out by McClellan's
heavy-handed, ludicrous spin.
Ed. note: Overnight news brings us a crisp and new BuzzFlash interview with David Corn, who as
stated above broke the "Treasongate" story. [MORE]
David Corn's new book: The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception
(Crown Publishers). For more information and a sample, check out the book's
official website www.bushlies.com
As a tidying-up for all of the above, herewith is included another tid-bit
from TomPaine.com on Ray McGovern, a CIA analyst for 27 years, who is now on the steering group of
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. Before retiring, he led one of two CIA teams conducting
the most-secret daily intelligence briefings at the White House.
Conscience Before Career
By RAY McGOVERN
"Even though I'm a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for
those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious
of traitors." - George H. W. Bush, 1999
What could have been going through the heads of senior White House officials when they decided to
expose a CIA officer working under deep cover? Why would they want to blow the cover of Valerie Plame,
wife of former United States Ambassador Joseph Wilson?
What will the FBI find out? It is not altogether reassuring to learn that John Dion is heading the
investigation. Dion is widely known in intelligence circles as one who does not feel he can go to the
bathroom without first asking the Justice Department for permission. Sadly, we can expect the kind
of "full and thorough investigation" that Richard Nixon ordered then-Attorney General John Mitchell
to conduct into Watergate.
The important thing is not who-done-it, but why. [MORE]
President Bush's Tax Cuts Still Not Delivering Jobs as Promised
The President's claim that, "Tax relief is stimulating job creation all across the country," is not
borne out by new unemployment figures released this morning, which showed the unemployment rate
stayed flat at 6.1% - The administration predicted its Jobs and Growth package would create an average of 344,000 new jobs
per month. The net gain of 57,000 jobs was 287,000 jobs short of the administration's prediction.
The jobs picture for many long-term unemployed continues to remain bleak, with 2.1 million workers
now counted among those who have been seeking work for more than six consecutive months -- over 23%
of all unemployed workers. [MORE]
Racism's alive & well - just ask Limbaugh
By KAREN HUNTER
Rush Limbaugh should not have stepped down as analyst on ESPN's weekend football program. He's just
what America needs.
After his comments about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, who Limbaugh basically said
was getting a free pass on poor performance because he is black, Limbaugh caught a lot of heat from
people who deemed his statements racist.
McNabb himself said an apology wouldn't do because Limbaugh "obviously thought about it before he
said it."
Limbaugh not only thought about it, he said what he felt was the truth. His truth and the truth,
unfortunately, of too many Americans.
But I thank him for calling it as he sees it. In doing so, he exposed himself and many others for
what they are. [MORE]
The CIA Infiltration of the Left
What next? THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT BEGINS - MoveOn.org
Also see 29SEP2003 Draft Hillary 2004 Update
02OCT2003
This is Sports? You Bet!
Ed. note: The top stories in the overnight news were about Rush, the CIA Outing Inquiry, the
Girl Soldier Killed in Iraq, and the California Recall. Rather than seeing the same AP or Reuters story
published in 100 different online newspapers as is what most of the news is about, or the same lame
regurgitation of rip'n'read Press Releases from the Bush White House posted as news - instead,
particularly since Robert Novak's outing of the CIA agent, those same 100 online newspapers are
generating their own stories and posting from-scratch editorials. Jeez, whatever it takes...
Adios, Rush! - It took only three weeks for Rush Limbaugh to show his true colors
Limbaugh resigns from ESPN under pressure
By DAVID BARRON - Houston Chronicle
Conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh resigned Wednesday night from his weekend job as an
analyst on ESPN's NFL pre-game show after making what network officials described
as "insensitive and inappropriate" remarks. [MORE]
What a surprise!
By WILLIAM HOUSTON - Globe and Mail
Let's see, it took three weeks for Rush Limbaugh to say something racially
incendiary on ESPN's football pre-game show. What a surprise.
Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh resigned from ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown last night,
three days after his comments about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb being overrated
because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.
Limbaugh said: "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media
has [sic] been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in
McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defence
carried this team." [MORE]
It took only three days for Rush Limbaugh to resign after making racist remark
Besides the racially reactionary remark, Rush was wrong where stats count.
Says,
John Clay, Lexington's Herald-Leader sports colimnist, "Someone should point Mr. Limbaugh in the
direction of a stat book. There he would find the Philadelphia Eagles' Donovan McNabb was the third
highest-rated passer in the NFC last season."
Not bad for someone Limbaugh claimed is "overrated" and praised only because of a "little social
conscience concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well...
he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve."
"Maybe someone got a spot on ESPN he didn't deserve."
Although now it's too late,
Brett Friedlander of the Fayetteville (NC) Observer advises that "Before Rush Limbaugh starts
criticizing anyone's credentials as a football player, like he did with Donovan McNabb this week,
maybe he should take a good look at his own credentials as a football commentator.
"If that's all Limbaugh has to add to ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown," maybe he should simply stick to
politics - where there aren't as many statistics to disprove his bombastic, reactionary opinions."
It should be noted that ESPN and ACB are owned by Mickey Mouse (Disney), who in news maybe there's
something to be desired, as socially responsible (corporate) folk however, there is no place for a
racist or a bigot at the sports or children's entertainment table, and ESPN accepting Rush's resignation
with such grace says something - I just don't know what that "something" is. (Danny Schechter
mentioned in his News Dissector
blog today that "Rush is carried on ABC radio in News York." And most of the ABC affiliates around the
country, as a matter of fact). Rush is the same racist
and bigot who speaks for the Bush White House, and for some reason the corporate sponsors of Rush's
radio talk show don't get it yet. Rush is a quitter (which according to the New York Post sportswriter
George Willis) is "the ultimate disgrace
in sports" ... Too bad he won't quit with feeding his hatred to people who don't know the
difference, and the likes of Don Imus, Laura Schlessinger, Sean Hannity. Michael Savage
and Michael Reagan go the way of Limbaughs of this world. [MORE - Rush was Offsides by George Willis]
Rush Flees Kitchin, Can't Stand Heat
By DANNY SCHECHTER
CNN's defense of Limbaugh's "right to be wrong would be laudable if (Aaron) Brown knew anything about
the way the Mr. Limbaugh's onions dominate our radio waves, making it hard for others to get heard.
Limbaugh is on the air as an entertainer, not a commentator. He was there to spike the ratings, not
make himself the story. ESPN was trading on his persona in hopes of bringing more of his ditto heads
to their channel. And they were succeeding, it self a commentary on our media culture.
Rush's mistruths, lies and deceptions have been taken over the coals for years. His insensitivity
and arrogance are well known. That didnıt stop ESPN for hiring him Does CNN have nothing to better
to do than align its hot shot anchor with his ravings. Please Mr. Brown, get down from your pulpit
and look at how the media system that surrounds you works to enhance and promote opinions such as
yours in the middle of the road and Rushıs on the right side and freeze out the rest of us. [MORE]
Motormouth of Talk Radio Moonlights as King of Hillbilly Heroin
By TRACY CONNOR
Talk radio star had drug habit, maid sez. The "rush" drugs in question are potent time-released
prescription medications (OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone) for relief of
moderate to severe pain, and known as hillbilly heroin. [MORE]
CIA outing Inquiry
Payback Time
By JOHN LeBOUTILLIER
Many have wondered if CIA's Tenet has 'something' on the Bushes. Now many more are wondering who made
those six phone calls - and who authorized them? [MORE]
Leak Wars - Washington Media Circus!
MotherJones
As Mother Jones pointed out earlier this week, Robert Novak's July 14th column revealing the
identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame went largely unnoticed until CIA Director George Tenet
requested an investigation into the leak. On Wednesday the White House " vowed to cooperate" with
the investigation, and the justice department says there's no need for an independent counsel. At
the end of the FBI's great whodunnit hunt, we may know who did the leaking. Until then it's a media
free-for-all, with everybody getting their shots in.
CIA operatives revealed! Inflated rhetoric, right and left! Live conspiracy theories! Wild rumors!
This week only: Pundits spin at warp-speed! [MORE]
The Spy Who Loved Him
By MAUREEN DOWD
The issue is the administration's credibility...
The men who won the 2000 election by promising to restore honor and integrity to the White House
spent yesterday doing a pretty good imitation of O. J. Simpson, looking for the culprit. You could
just picture President Bush with his Sherlock Holmes deerstalker, magnifying glass and bloodhound
Barney. Silly. The White House knows who did it. All Mr. Bush has to do is roll heads. [MORE]
Girl soldier killed, baby girl wounded
Three Soldiers Killed
By ANDREW MARSHALL
Guerrillas killed three American soldiers in a wave of attacks in Iraq.
A military spokesman said a soldier from the 4th Infantry Division was killed on Wednesday evening in
a rocket-propelled grenade attack on a convoy driving through the hostile town of Samarra.
A female soldier from the same division was killed earlier on Wednesday and three soldiers were
wounded when guerrillas detonated a remote-control bomb as a convoy drove past in Tikrit.
In Baghdad, an attacker with a handgun ambushed soldiers after dark on Wednesday in the Mansur
neighborhood, killing one and wounding another, the Army said.
The attacks brought to at least 84 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action since Washington
declared major combat over on May 1, according to Pentagon figures.
In the flashpoint town of Falluja, police said U.S. gunfire killed an Iraqi man and wounded a woman
and a six-year-old girl after an American patrol was shot at on Thursday. [MORE]
California recall
Women Say Schwarzenegger Groped, Humiliated Them
By GARY COHN, CARLA HALL and ROBERT W. WELKOS
The acts allegedly took place over three decades.
Six women who came into contact with Arnold Schwarzenegger on movie sets, in studio offices and in other settings over the last three decades say he touched them in a sexual manner without their consent.
In interviews with The Times, three of the women described their surprise and discomfort when Schwarzenegger grabbed their breasts. A fourth said he reached under her skirt and gripped her buttocks.
A fifth woman said Schwarzenegger groped her and tried to remove her bathing suit in a hotel elevator. A sixth said Schwarzenegger pulled her onto his lap and asked whether a certain sexual act had ever been performed on her.
According to the women's accounts, one of the incidents occurred in the 1970s, two in the 1980s, two in the 1990s and one in 2000.
A campaign aide denies the accusations.
Ed. note What are doing following the California re-call story so closely from Oregon?
Two reasons. One, California borders on our south, and the migration of dissatisfied California residents and
business owners effects Oregon tourism and Oregon Coast real estate. Not complaining. And two,
does anyone remember Oregon's own Bob "SuperGroper" Packwood? For the sake of future anguish and embarrassment,
Californians would be wise to vote NO on the Recall!
An Action Item
According to the Washington Post, "two top White House officials" committed a high crime in the first
weeks of July. They handed over the identity of an American secret agent to journalists. They blew
her cover, risking the lives of colleagues and contacts and possibly erasing years of intelligence
work. Why? "Purely and simply for revenge," an administration official told the Post. The spy's
husband was a vocal critic of the Iraq war. (Sources below.)
The White House and the Justice Department have known about this crime for months -- after all, the
agent's identity was published in scores of newspapers in early July. But until a few days ago, they
did nothing about it. And even now, President Bush has said he has no plans to ask his staff whether
they were connected to it.
Republicans contend that an investigation by the Justice Department will reveal any wrongdoing. But
Justice Department chief John Ashcroft -- who was appointed by President Bush and who employed key
Bush advisor Karl Rove -- is hardly neutral. Already, there are signs that the investigation will
give the White House room to cover the crime up.
The simple fact is that the truth will only come out under pressure. If we don't speak up now, the
investigation could be left in John Ashcroft's hands, and the perpetrators and the crime could be
swept under the rug. Please tell John Ashcroft and Congress that you want a special prosecutor --
someone who isn't tied to the Bush Administration -- to investigate this illegal and vindictive act.
Join us now!
Although almost 7 in 10 Americans believe that Ashcroft should appoint a special prosecutor to handle
the investigation, he currently refuses to do so. But he had a point back in 1997, when he said
that "A single allegation can be most worthy of a special prosecutor. If you're abusing government
property, if you're abusing your status in office, it can be a single fact that makes the difference
on that."
It certainly appears that people in the Bush White House abused their status in office.
On July 6th of 2003, Valerie Plame's husband Joe Wilson wrote an editorial in the New York Times.
Joe Wilson was a former Ambassador to Iraq, appointed originally by President George H. W. Bush, who
had been sent in 2002 to investigate claims that Iraq was trying to buy uranium from Niger. He
concluded that "based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war,
I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons
program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."
On July 14th, conservative columnist Robert Novak revealed that according to "senior administration
officials," Wilson's wife was "an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." Up to this point,
Valerie Plame's identity was a carefully kept secret, but Novak blew her cover.
Then, last Sunday, the Washington Post printed an article titled "Bush Administration is Focus of
Inquiry." The article contained a revelation: "Yesterday, a senior administration official said that
before Novak's column ran, two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists
and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife. . . . 'Clearly, it was meant purely and
simply for revenge,' the senior official said of the alleged leak."
In 1999, President George H. W. Bush said that "I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who
betray the trust by exposing the names of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of
traitors." Right now, it looks like possible traitors in the White House are being given a free pass.
Please call on Attorney General Ashcroft and Congress to appoint a special prosecutor today. We need
to get to the bottom of this.
Please sign on now!
http://moveon.org/intimigate/?id=1744-1525953-WAwHaiPIxue..oy_vRKBlA
Sincerely,
--Carrie, Eli, Joan, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn Team
Sources:
1. "two top White House officials" and "Purely and simply for revenge":
BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS FOCUS OF INQUIRY
By Mike Allen and Dana Priest, Washington Post, 9/28/03
2. Leak was published in scores of newspapers in early July:
MISSION TO NIGER
By Robert Novak, multiple papers, 9/14/03
3. Bush has no plans to ask his staff:
BUSH AIDES SAY THEY'LL COOPERATE WITH PROBE INTO INTELLIGENCE LEAK
By Mike Allen, Washington Post, 9/29/03
4. Ashcroft employed Karl Rove; signs of room for a cover-up:
ATTORNEY GENERAL IS CLOSELY LINKED TO INQUIRY FIGURES
By Elisabeth Bumiller and Eric Lichtblau, New York Times, 10/2/03
5. 7 in 10 Americans want a special prosecutor:
OUTSIDE PROBE OF LEAKS IS FAVORED
By Dana Milbank and Mike Allen, Washington Post, 10/2/03
6. "A single allegation can be most worthy of a special prosecutor":
CNNıs Evans and Novak, 10/4/97
7. Joe Wilson's New York Times editorial:
WHAT I DIDN'T FIND IN AFRICA
By Joseph C. Wilson 4th, New York Times, 7/6/03
8. "I have nothing but contempt and anger":
REMARKS BY GEORGE BUSH AT THE DEDICATION CEREMONY FOR THE GEORGE BUSH CENTER FOR INTELLIGENCE
26 April 1999
The President's Promises on Homeland Security are long on Talk, Short on Money
The Bush Administration apparently is willing to shortchange the police,
firefighters and emergency personnel who would be the first to arrive on the
scene of a terrorist attack on American soil. [MORE]
Will Electronic Voting Machines Steal the 2004 Election?
By BuzzFlash
BUZZFLASH: Electronic voting machines, including touch-screen voting, have been touted as the
salvation of a fair voting process. Your tenacious research over the last year has shown that this
idea may be the Trojan Horse of voting machine reform, allowing elections to be stolen more easily
than in the past. What are the basic reasons that you argue that electronic voting machines pose a
threat to democracy?
BEV HARRIS: Four reasons:
1. Secrecy: What has always been a transparent process, subjected to many eyes and belonging to all of us, has very recently become secretive and proprietary. This happened when voting systems, which should be considered part of the "public commons" were turned over to private companies. These companies now assert that the process underlying the vote must be held secret from the voters.
2. Ownership: When a system that belongs to the public becomes secret, it becomes doubly important to make sure we can completely trust those who run it. Voting machine companies are not required to tell us who owns them. Two of the top six firms have been foreign-owned: Election.com, owned by the Saudis until an acquisition by Accenture recently, and Sequoia, now owned by DeLaRue (Great Britain). Three of the top six firms have owners and/or directors who represent vested interests:
Election Systems & Software, the largest company. Main owner is a company owned by Senator Chuck Hagel's campaign finance director, Michael McCarthy. Hagel has owned shares in both the voting company itself and in the parent company run by his campaign finance director, and Hagel was the CEO and Chairman of the voting machine company while it built the machines that counted his votes.
Diebold, the second largest voting machine company. CEO is Wally O'Dell, who recently visited George W. Bush at his Crawford ranch along with an elite group of Bush supporters called the "Rangers" and "Pioneers." Days later, he penned a letter to Ohio Republicans promising to help "deliver the votes" for Bush. O'Dell sponsored a $600,000 fund raiser for Dick Cheney in July. Diebold director W.H. Timken is also a Bush Pioneer.
VoteHere, the company striving to get its cryptography software into all the other companies' machines (already has a contract with Sequoia), has as its Chairman a close Cheney supporter and member of the Defense Policy Board, Admiral Bill Owens. Former CIA director Robert Gates, who heads the George Bush School of Business, is also a director.
Voting companies also have a somewhat incestuous group of key players Todd Urosevich and Bob Urosevich founded ES&S, but Todd now is an executive with ES&S while Bob is president of Diebold Election Systems. Sequoia and ES&S share software and optical scan machines.
3. Disabling the safeguards: Voting systems have always had people trying to rig them, with varying degrees of success. What has changed is scale. Whereas it used to be that one had to run around bribing someone to shave the wheel on each lever machine, or collect up ballot boxes and stuff them in a trunk, nowadays a programmer can, essentially invisibly, create a back door into the vote system for millions of votes at once. Whereas vote-rigging has always required physical access before, modems and wireless communications devices now open up possibilities for remote vote rigging that no one can observe.
The audit trail is being taken away: An audit is simply the act of comparing two independent data sets that are supposed to match. Probably the most important understory to the voting issue right now is this: The voting industry is spending literally millions of dollars, and going through amazing feats of contorted logic that can best be described as marketing gymnastics, to convince us that we should discontinue proper auditing. They want us to eliminate the ballot which you verify, and trust the secret system instead. Even with the optical scan machines, which retain a paper ballot, some states have passed laws to prevent us from looking at the paper ballot to use it for a proper audit.
Incorrect programming: One thing we've never had until we got electronic vote-counting (which includes touch screens and optical scan machines), is bad software programming. A lever machine can be tampered with, but you don't have any software programming errors with it. Incorrect software programming has now been identified in over 100 elections, often flipping the race to the wrong candidate, even when the election was not close.
No one knows how many elections have actually been misprogrammed, and as we eliminate paper ballots, no one will ever know. We do know that errors as high as 25 percent are not uncommon, and software programming errors have been documented as high as 100 percent, and in one small Iowa county, a single machine miscounted by 3 million votes.
Incorrect software programming can take two possible forms: Accidental or deliberate. Either one takes away our right to have our vote counted as we cast it.
4. Secret certification and testing, which gives a passing grade to flaws The whole reason we are supposed to accept secret software and secret ownership is that, we're told, these systems go through extensive and rigorous certification and testing. However, this turns out not to be the case.
First of all, the certification officials refuse to say what tests they do.
No one quite knows what the certifiers' credentials are or why they keep hiring the same guy, and we're not allowed to ask that question.
It turns out that the states generally do not look at the secret programs at all; they simply ask some routine questions and do a "Logic & Accuracy test" that does not detect fraud, and has proven to miss huge software programming errors quite often.
We now know that the certification process is fundamentally flawed. The recent report by Scientific Applications International Inc. (SAIC) on the security of the Diebold voting system identified 328 flaws, 26 of which it deemed "critical." The examination was ONLY done because, quite by accident, we got access to the voting program files and a report was written that exposed problems. But what this illustrates about certification is simply this: It doesn't work!
[MORE - How a company could steal votes for one party and we would never know about it?]
The CIA Infiltration of the Left
What next? THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT BEGINS - MoveOn.org
Also see 29SEP2003 Draft Hillary 2004 Update
01OCT2003
Sex in the Church Revisited
Ed. note: George Tennet may be the key the whole kangaroo - as the CIA bureaucracy wrestles
control of the agency away from George HW's off-the-shelf rogues - at last!
As the gynecologist of Maggie Thatcher usta say, speaking of light at the end of the
Watergate tunnel...
I am not such a good looking guy as I might have been, especially after yesterday, or was it earlier
this day when the sun was still up, and before I lost time away from my beauty sleep...
Too many hours were spent traipsing around in the Google and the Google-related "news" and "groups"
pages searching out "rove" and "novak" leads. Nice seeing Howard Kurtz out there.
Then I racheted it up to the Robin Wright notch and drew too many blanks to make any further search
worthwhile.
I mention Robin Wright instead of Andrea Mitchell because I have followed RW's interpretation of
mideast news since the Sacred Rage days - that had credibility with me from the inside-out and from
the git. "At the end of the day", as a book writer, Robin kept "the story" on the journalism side of
the issue. There is no book-writer or journalist, man or woman, Muslim or non-Muslim who has a
better intellectual or spiritual handle on the mideast, and in particular Iran and Palestine than
Robin Wright. Also, I never noticed that over the years she'd turned from the light to say for the
man, so I was surprised that the White House would call upon her to leak something... if they did.
I'm not the first one to say it, but I echo this as being the best story since "Woodstein!" [MORE]
The press, rather than DoJ is likely to bring down the Bush White House, but if you trace it back,
GT led the whores to water, right?
Today's Top Five Headlines on BuzzFlash.com:
How Do You Parse Treason? A BuzzFlash Editorial
Does a Felon Rove the White House?
RNC Chair Admits White House Scandal, If True, Could be Worse Than Watergate
Bush is Transparently Laughable and Condoning of Treason. He Won't Even Ask His Staff if
They Betrayed the Nation. This Guy Should be Impeached. 10/1
Democrats Want Fully Independent Probe of White House Act of Treason Against the CIA and America's
Safety, Not an Ashcroft Whitewash 10/1
Bush Jr.'s Failure to Heed Advice of Bush Sr. Traps U.S. Forces in Iraq for Foreseeable Future
On Tuesday members of the Iraqi Governing Council contradicted Secretary of
State Colin Powell's optimistic timetable for self-government, saying it
take up to 18 months to ratify a constitution, thus extending the U. S.
occupation into 2005.
This is far longer than senior administration members
suggested just last week but is exactly what President Bush's father warned
might happen. [MORE]
Tough Task For Leak Probers
CBS/AP
"Surprise, surprise, they (Democrats) are calling for a special counsel. My goodness."
-- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas
Joseph Wilson claims White House officials leaked information that his wife worked for
the CIA. Frenzy Over CIA Leak Probe. W. House Denies Leaking CIA Name. Bush Aides Eyed In CIA
Flap. The Leak: Key Players. WMD Fallout. [MORE]
The New White House Slogan
By DAVID LINDORFF
"Case Closed. Just Move On." [MORE]
Credibility Gap
By RICHARD WOLFFE
Why the White House canıt drive a stake through the story of Niger, uranium and the CIA agent.
At the start of summer, the White House halted the runaway train by tying two senior officials to
the track: George Tenet, the director of the CIA, and Stephen Hadley, deputy national security
advisor to the president. With not one but two officials sacrificing themselves (at least with
public admissions of guilt), the seemingly technical story just evaporated into the summer heat.
But the truth is that the story never went away. The White House tactics of dumping on Tenet and
Hadley left many inside the administration - including at the White House itself - bitterly disappointed
with their own leadership. [MORE]
Name, Shame, Blame Game:
Shades of Kelly as CIA agent's cover is blown
By TOR CHING LI and JAIME KOH - Channel News Asia
In a twisted play on a game that governments have recently become fond of, officials of the Bush
administration may have deliberately disclosed the identity of their own undercover CIA agent -
to get even with her husband.
The incident has echoes of the David Kelly case in Britain, where the weapons expert was named and
shamed after the administration realised he had told the media that the Iraq dossiers were "sexed up". Dr Kelly later committed suicide.
The American case, now gathering steam, may claim political victims as a Justice Department
inquiry is underway and an outcry is building up over the dirty tactics. The Democrats are milking
the political fallout while a defensive President George W Bush has reportedly threatened to fire
anyone responsible for the leak.
To outsiders, however, the episode signals that the Bush administration will play hardball with
its critics at home just as it will crush its enemies abroad. [MORE]
Tsk tsk, Bush: Is there an enormous scandal at the White House?
By KEITH URBAHN - Yale Daily News
What is most remarkable about all of this is that the CIA has shed its submissive lap-dog image
and is now turning on the Bush administration to take shelter from the unavoidable political fallout
from the war in Iraq. Whatever happened to the repentant George Tenet who, in front of Congress,
took the fall for the State of the Union debacle? The same issue has resurfaced and Tenet doesn't
appear to be taking the blame now. Had the CIA director not wanted his agency to file a complaint
against the press leak, he undoubtedly could have stopped it. Only time will tell if it was a
blunder that will cost Tenet his job or a shrewd tactical move to distance the CIA from an
administration fast losing credit with the public.
It is to be expected that Bush's political opponents would criticize the administration's policies,
but the CIA? [MORE]
Clear it up now, Mr. President
Wilmington Star-News editorial
If he's smart, President Bush will call for an independent investigation of allegations that White
House officials revealed the identity of a CIA agent.
The charges might not be true. They might be overblown. If so, the president deserves to be cleared
and the public deserves to be reassured.
But even many Americans who admire the president would be suspicious of the findings of his own
Justice Department
Whatever the source of the leak or the motive of the leaker, the result is that an American agent
has been revealed and her sources might be uncovered - perhaps even silenced forever.
CIA Director George Tenet wrote the Justice Department to ask whether the leak broke federal laws.
Democrats are circulating a comment from Mr. Bush's own father, who was CIA director before he
was president. Those who reveal the identities of intelligence sources, said the elder Bush,
are "the most insidious of traitors." [MORE]
Probe in leak of CIA widens
By BOB DEANS - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The notion that staffers would have had time to destroy materials dismissed...
The CIA is required by law to seek a Justice Department inquiry into allegations of such a breach
of security.
For the department to launch a full investigation, the CIA must first demonstrate sufficient
reasons for an inquiry, including details on the CIA employee who has been compromised and the
nature of the security breach.
That process began in earnest last week, Ashcroft said, 2 1/2 months after conservative columnist
Robert Novak first published the leak, naming Wilson's wife. Novak said he based his report on
information from two senior Bush administration officials.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales was notified
of the investigation at 8:30 p.m. Monday. Gonzales, in turn, discussed the matter with Bush early
Tuesday. Gonzales then sent a memo to White House staffers directing them not to destroy materials
that might be relevant.
After receiving a Justice Department letter detailing the scope of its inquiry, Gonzales sent out a
second memo at day's end, directing White House staff to retain e-mails, telephone records, computer
discs, notes and diary entries relating to:
Wilson or his wife's "purported relationship" with the CIA.
Wilson's 2002 travels, on behalf of the CIA, to Niger.
Contacts with syndicated columnist Robert Novak of the Chicago Sun-Times and reporter Knut Royce
and bureau chief Timothy Phelps, both of Newsday, a Long Island newspaper.
"You must preserve all documents relating, in any way, directly or indirectly, to these subjects,"
Gonzales wrote, "even if there would be a question whether the document would be a presidential or
federal record or even if its destruction might otherwise be permitted."
Democrats pounced on the overnight lapse between when Gonzales was notified of the investigation and
when staffers were directed to retain relevant materials.
"Every good prosecutor knows that any delay could give a culprit time to destroy the
evidence," Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. "If there were a special counsel, it is
extremely doubtful that the White House would have been allowed to delay the request to preserve
documents and other evidence."
McClellan dismissed the notion that staffers would have had time to destroy materials. "That's just
a silly suggestion,'' he said.
Gonzales asked the Justice Department whether a memo should go out immediately Monday night,
McClellan said.
"They were prepared to do so,'' McClellan said. "The Justice Department said this morning would be
fine."
Lapse not explained...
Ashcroft offered no explanation for the lapse between Friday, when he said the investigation began,
and Monday night, when he said he notified Gonzales. [MORE]
Sex in the Church Re-visited
By SAMUEL MAULL
The man who had sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral as an on-air radio prank died of heart attack, and
his co-defendant and girlfriend is "still in a state of shock." [MORE].
30SEP2003
Man, is Coltrane beautiful or what?
Ed. note: Ann Coulter (not your average cunt) and "Treason" again. Now we really do have treason, right out of the
Bush White House, and Ann Coulter is quiet as a mouse on the Night Before Christmas about the outing
of CIA agent Valerie Plame, the wife of Joseph C. Wilson who refused to sex-up "proof" that Saddam
purchased "yellowcake" uranium, which can be used in nuclear weapons, and who after Bush used the
false information in his UN speech, Wilson went public with the fact that Bush lied. In case no one
noticed, with or without Ann Coulter, this is the biggest story since Watergate - in that the
off-the-shelf (Kennedy assassination team) CIA has collided head-on with the CIA bureaucracy that has
been powerless over the years - it's like a Miracle that Rove would have given the info to Robert
Novak who ran with it so at last we (the people) can get a special prosecutor to look into the matter. The spin-off from this is that
the Congress may be encouraged (and be courageous enough) to take a look at Halliburton and the Iraq
war, find out who the profiteers are and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law! Today's overnight news would not be complete with a link-to tomdispatch, who as always and
conicidentally brings us a thoughtful look into, you guessed it, Halliburton. Tom also looks at the
Robert Novak flap
in
Missing words, legacy corporations, and a sheep of fools.
In today's News Dissector blog, Danny Schechter
looks long and objectively at the Robert
Novak story. Also DS gives us a good read on his IRAQ AND 911 and 911 CONSPIRACY BOOM serials,
and he relates a tender moment in the life and death of Edward Said. [MORE]
OpenDemocracy commemorates the passing of Edward Said, literary and cultural critic and
articulate advocate of the Palestinian cause - "with his
words, and ours..."
WHERE I'M COMING FROM
Unauthorised extracts from a recent interview with Edward Said reflecting on family life, 'home', Orientalism and Palestine
A LIFE FOR FREEDOM
Marina Warner recalls a great public intellectual and a rare, true friend
WE ARABS AND THE WEST
Said's enlightened struggle is part of a distinguished Arab tradition, says Faleh Jabar
THE MAN, HIS MUSIC AND HIS LEGACY
Judith Herrin remembers Edward Said's love and mastery of music, and ponders the metaphoric importance of an orchestra that rings harmony from human difference
Robert Fisk on Edward Said
By ROBERT FISK, Fisk Middle East Correspondent - The Independent
Palestinian, intellectual, and fighter, Edward Said rails against Arafat and Sharon to his dying breath. [MORE]
Is 1,000 Yees of Revenge a Wen Ho Lee Re-run?
By ANDREW LAM - Pacific News Service
Chinese Americans are worried about similarities to trial-by-media atmosphere surrounding Army
chaplain's arrest. [MORE - AlterNet]
No wonder America has so many enemies
By ERIC MARGOLIS
President Bill Clinton was impeached by a Republican-controlled Congress for lying about sex.
President George W. Bush and aides lied the United States into a stupid, unnecessary colonial war
that has so far killed more than 305 Americans and seriously wounded more than 1,400. It has also
cost many thousands of Iraqi dead, and $1 billion US weekly.
Lying about sex is an impeachable offence; lying the nation into war apparently is not.
I was no Clinton fan, but give me his iffy morals any day over Bush's Mussolini-like strutting.
Sen. Edward Kennedy is absolutely correct when he calls Bush's Iraq war a "fraud" concocted to win
the next elections. [MORE]
Tax Cuts Lead to Largest Deficit Ever in Complete Reversal of Bush White House Predictions
Despite President Bush's assurance in 2001 that his tax cuts "could happen
without fear of budget deficit, even if the economy softens," the estimated
$455 billion budget deficit this fiscal year will be the highest in U. S.
history. - In the President's 2002 State of the Union message he tried to shift blame
onto Congress, saying "our budget will run a deficit that will be small and
short-term so long as Congress restrains spending," but earlier this month
he admitted his tax cuts account for 25% of the deficit. [MORE]
From: "G . Waleed Kavalec" g.waleed@kavalec.com
To: "Declan McCullagh" declan@well.com
Subject: FW: CAIR-NET: Support the 'True Patriot Act'
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 14:33:33 -0500
-----Original Message-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CAIR ACTION ALERT #394
SUPPORT THE 'TRUE PATRIOT ACT'
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/29/03) - CAIR is urging members of the American
Muslim
community and other people of conscience to contact their elected
representatives and ask that they co-sponsor the recently introduced
"Benjamin Franklin True Patriot Act," (H.R. 3171) designed to repeal
unconstitutional sections of the original USA PATRIOT Act.
The bipartisan bill, which was introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) on September 24, 2003, and co-sponsored by 19
other representatives, addresses mounting concerns raised by citizens at
a
grassroots level who have organized to defend the bill of rights.
The Kucinich-Paul bill repeals 15 sections of the original USA PATRIOT
Act,
including those that permit:
* "sneak and peak" delayed notification search warrants (section 213),
* warrant-less searches of a broad range of personal records including
library, medical, and financial records (section 215),
* the indefinite detention and deportation of non-citizens without
judicial
review (section 415).
The True Patriot Act also bans:
* certain post-9/11 special immigration detention regulations including
the
use of local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws,
* Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) restructuring that limits
immigrants'
judicial review.
Click for FULL TEXT of the bill.
Contact your representative today and encourage him or her to support
this
bill.
CO-SPONSORS OF THE BILL: Rep. Paul (TX), Rep. Conyers (MI), Rep. Miller
(CA), Rep Baldwin (WI), Rep. McDermott (WA), Rep. Serrano (NY), Rep.
Hinchey (NY), Rep Schakowsky (IL), Rep. Lee (CA), Rep. Solis (CA), Rep
Woolsey (CA), Rep. McGovern (MA), Rep. Abercrombie (HI), Rep Stark (CA),
Rep. Filner (CA), Rep. Grijalva (AZ), Rep. Honda (CA), Rep. Tubbs Jones
(OH), Rep. Jackson- Lee (TX), Rep. Farr (CA).
ACTION REQUESTED:
1. CONTACT your elected representatives to ask for their support for
this bill.
GO TO: http://capwiz.com/cair/issues/bills/?bill=3548741
2. Send copies of correspondence to the officials above and to CAIR at:
cair@cair-net.org
CAIR - Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
_______________________________________________
Politech mailing list
Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
U.S. Uses Terror Law to Pursue Common Crimes
By ERIC LICHTBLAU - New York Times
The Subpoenas are Coming!
By MARK RASCH
Citing a provision of the Patriot Act, the FBI is sending letters to journalists telling them to
secretly prepare to turn over their notes, e-mails and sources to the bureau. Should we throw out
the First Amendment to nail a hacker? [MORE]
Pulpit Bully
By SUSAN JACOBY
The latest Bush White House moves to undermine
church and state separation
The White House has taken what may be its boldest step yet to blur the constitutional separation of
church and state.
In a radical move largely ignored by national news outlets, the Bush administration has abolished
longstanding prohibitions against federal grants for social programs sponsored by churches and
religious organizations.
"Faith-based" groups are now eligible to compete with secular organizations for some $28 billion
in government money, subsidizing everything from housing to "mentoring" the children of prisoners.
The new rules, announced Sept. 22 at a White House press conference, give bureaucratic teeth to an
executive order issued last year that banned so-called discrimination against religious institutions
applying for government grants.
The administration has long argued that religious-based organizations can provide needed social
services, especially when numerous federal programs are not being fully funded. But there's another,
more disturbing facet to this debate that the recipients of these dollars don't want to acknowledge:
Federal funding will greatly enhance their evangelizing and conversion activities.
The conversion agenda can be seen in the fine- and not-so-fine print in the new White House rules. [MORE]
Deserting Our Troops
Steven Rosenfeld
A new government report scorches the Pentagon for violating a law meant to protect our soldiers. [MORE]
ON/OFF SUBJECT: Putin's War
by MATT BIVENS
Matt Bivens looks at what the media isn't telling us about
Vladimir's war against Chechnya. [MORE]
Man, is Coltrane beautiful or what?
By WIL HAYGOOD
Fanning The Flames Of Antiwar - Amid all of the fanfare and rushing about during its annual
convention, there was something constantly humming during Congressional Black Caucus week. It was a
determination among its leaders to express their patriotism while continuing to raise the volume of
criticism about the engagement in Iraq. [MORE]
Bringing Life Back to the Living
By NAT HENTOFF
Give it up for Wendy Oxenhorn of the Jazz Foundation: a one-woman rhythm section
Merle Haggard is hardly played anymore on commercial country music stations because his writing and
singing come too deeply out of the roots of real life, including his own. He and his combo love to
play jazz, depending on where Haggard is booked. We were talking once about the power of music,
and Merle Haggard said, "When I'm very down, way down, only music can bring me up."
Years ago, John Coltrane was telling me what the music he listened to did for him. "It gives you a
lift up," he said. For me too. When I'm burnt out, Armstrong, Mingus, Jimmy Rushing get the life
force going again. It started when I was 11, growing up in the most anti-Semitic city in the country,
Boston, where a Jewish boy, walking alone at night in his own neighborhood, might well have gotten a
lasting reminder of why he was thought to be an accomplice in the killing of Christ. As an outsider,
jazz gave me a place to belong.
Eight years later, I started playing jazz regularly on a radio station, and writing about the music
for jazz magazines, and beyond. Ever since, I've been trying to pay part of my lifelong debt to these
resounding musicians.
That's why I write about the Jazz Foundation of America, which exists because, as I wrote in the
liner notes to last year's benefit concert at the Apollo, A Great Night in
Harlem (Concord Records/Playboy Jazz):
"Jazz musicians do not get medical insurance. Nor do they receive pensions. Therefore, when they're
no longer working regularly because of illness or because they're out of fashion, some become
homeless or are threatened with eviction. Others require medical services, including surgery,
but cannot afford care that can be lifesaving." [MORE]
The CIA Infiltration of the Left
What next? THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT BEGINS - MoveOn.org
Also see 29SEP2003 Draft Hillary 2004 Update
29SEP2003
Would Jesus have laughed at the first post-911 joke?
Ed. note: On a more serious note than our usual fare: It's Monday, what th'hell... The latest,
shortest (two-word) blond joke you won't hear in comedy clubs or on late night TV: "Ann Coulter!"
In this day and age, when about the only place you can hear uncensored news about the Bush White
House, the Iraq war, and the Third Anniversary of the Intifada is through the latenight
comedians, some are still questioning if ethnic jokes are funny. Shoot! Sometimes they are and
sometimes they don't hurt too much. Sometimes they're about us - who we really are or how it's just
a joke, and we laugh, even at ourselves. No shame in that.
Racism is never funny. Jokes in support of arms manufacturers and war are not funny. The Carlyle
Group comes to mind. Campaigning for Arnold Schwarzenegger is not funny, even for, especially for
comedians. Joan Rivers wouldn't campaign for Arnold, although she didn't hesitate to ridicule some of
the 911 dead, and deservedly so about some of the dead police and firemen. While alive, they were
abusive. Dead, they brought relief to the domestic misery of the spouses, plus posthumously they
brought about a million bucks each into the now headless households. Better than an un-televised
episode of Bobbit & Bobbit, for chrisakes!
And it wasn't funny about the New York police and firemen being killed in 911. Not even Joan Rivers
thought that. What was funny was the irony of it all. That the hated Usama could have inadvertently
brought so much (Sancho) joy to the now rich wives now free of their abusive husbands.
Dennis Miller, who made an appearance on the Emmys the other night was not funny. I mentioned it to
my wife. That guy wasn't funny, I told her. He was invited because he is thought by some TV producer
to be a comedian. He did a stint on Monday Night Football and got his ass booted off for not being
funny. Maybe he started out on Saturday Night Live - certainly not the one I usta watch in the
early 1970s.
This is a new generation of comics that don't hafta be funny as long as they are perceived to be funny
by people in high places who don't know what humor is in the first place, and who at the same time
don't know what the political definition of "is" is - they are mucking up and blurring the First
Amendment line. Republicans generally do not know what the definition of "is" is and they have a
real twisted sense of humor; Ann Coulter is to be taken seriously in Republican circles, whereas in
comedy clubs she is merely a bad joke. Who will ever forget #17 - the one the guy had never heard?
Just as the Republican and Christian right think Ann Coulter isn't to be laughed at, neither Lennie
Bruce nor Jesus Christ would likely laugh at Dennis Miller jokes, even if he told one about Ann
Coulter, which he wouldn't because like Christopher Hitchins, both he (Miller) and Hitchins are Ann
Coulter-like in-drag. Has Hitchins lost his mind or just slid off into emotional responses that
imitate intellectuality? Hate (as an emotion - actualized or subjective) is never, ever funny. At the
opposite end of the journalists' nightmare from Hitchins Gone Goofy, is Tom Friedman, and again, NOT
funny! Being afraid is no joke - the stone opposite of being comforted.
After the Emmys, I saw Dennis Miller again on Fox. Again, WHY, I'm wondering. Why is he hired by Fox
or anyone for comedy or political commentary? The only "funny" Miller brings to the process is funny
as in fucking peculiar. Jerry Lewis comes to mind on this score.
Would Jesus have laughed at the first 911 joke about the number of lawyers who were killed that day?
Maybe not. Maybe one small snicker... Do you think Jesus was gay? He usta hang out with all those
guys, telling them, "I'll make you 'fishers of men!'" Maybe he was bi-sexual, I mean, if you believe
Martin Scorsese.
So today I read on the Internet that Dennis Miller is a resident of Santa Barbara, and he is a
registered Republican, and he is indeed campaigning for Arnold, and it is said that he has some
political ambitions of his own - which, according to one of the Internet articles, he (Miller)
wouldn't comment on.
Elsewhere, as I researched this story (from "facts" gleaned off those same Internet news wires),
it is possible that the Republicans are out to recruit Miller, the way they recruited Arnold, and the
way they recruited Colin Powell, and the way they recruited Condoleeza Rice.
In journalistic circles, some are complaining that, Hitchins and Friedman aside, all too many of
their fellows sold them out during the Iraq war reporting season. Buck up! Even worse as betrayal
goes is blacks who give up who they are to become half-white, half-lapdogs to the right, or Muslims
who abandon Islam in order to be accepted in Christian Zionist circles. But even worse than all of
that is a fake comedian bringing shame to the madness.
Egypt Releases Plotter in Sadat Killing
By MOHAMED KHALIFA
Ed. note: This seemingly run-of-the-mill article has more hidden twists and turns, and hooks
and loops, and bobs and weaves and pearls than a Persian rug, and tends to tell the whole story for
anyone interested in the future of Islamic relativism; as in 1,000 Yees of Revenge, believe only half
of what you read, and pay no attention to Dan Pipes or Tom Friedman if you want to know what's
happening:
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - An Islamic militant group leader who helped plot the assassination of President
Anwar Sadat but later expressed regret for the Egyptian leader's killing has been released from
prison after nearly 22 years, officials said Sunday.
Karam Zohdy, 51, one of the leaders of Al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, or Islamic Group, was serving a life
sentence for being among those who ordered Sadat's assassination in October, 1981. Zohdy was
released Thursday and returned to his hometown of Minya, 140 miles south of Cairo, police officials
said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In a July interview with the London-based daily Asharq Al-Awsat, Zohdy called Sadat a martyr and
said he believed the assassination was wrong. He said if he could turn back time, "I would
interfere to prevent it." Zohdy and the group have also renounced violence entirely.
Interior Minister Habib el-Adly decided to release Zohdy in part because he is suffering from heart
problems and diabetes, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency reported.
Also, according to Egyptian law, a life sentence normally means 25 years behind bars. The prison
year is calculated as nine months, meaning that Zohdy was more than four years overdue for a release.
Radicals had condemned Sadat for standing in the way an Islamic state and for being the first Arab
leader to sign a peace treaty with Israel, in 1979.
Under Sadat, the government sought the support of Islamic groups to counter the influence of
leftists. It released hundreds of jailed Muslim Brotherhood members and backed the nascent
al-Gamaa. But the Brotherhood turned against Sadat and al-Gamaa grew so radical it joined forces
with another militant group, Islamic Jihad, to assassinate the president.
Zohdy's release comes days before the 22nd anniversary of Sadat's assassination.
Dia'a Rashwan, a Cairo-based expert on militant groups, said Zohdy's release was timed with the
governing National Democratic Party's annual convention "to give a general impression of political
openness in the country."
"It also sends a message that Egypt is under no threat from the militants, that they are no danger,"
he said.
Al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, once Egypt's largest Islamic militant group, tried to overthrow the
government during the 1990s in bloody campaign that killed more than 1,000 people, mostly militants,
tourists and police.
Egypt has been under emergency law ever since Sadat's assassination. In 1997, al-Gamaa proposed a
unilateral cease-fire that came into effect in March 1999. [MORE]
DoJ to probe leaks from White House
CIA officer's name allegedly given to journalist
By MIKE ALLEN and DANA PRIEST
It is said that Karl Rove, leaked the (CIA) cover of Joseph C. Wilson IV's wife Valerie Plame (to Robert Novak) after Wilson
refused to sex-up "proof" that Saddam purchased "yellowcake" uranium, which can be used in nuclear
weapons, from Niger. Wilson said Aug. 21 at a public forum in Seattle that it was of keen interest to
him "to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs." [MORE]
Rove said of Wilson's comments: "It is a ridiculous suggestion, and it is simply not true."
The Intelligence Protection Act, passed in 1982, imposes maximum penalties of 10 years in prison
and $50,000 fines for unauthorized disclosure by government employees with access to classified
information. [MORE]
Also see the November 1, 2002, article published in CounterPunch
Exposing Karl Rove by WAYNE MADSEN.
"America's Joseph Goebbels: As a 21-year old Young Republican in Texas, Karl Rove not only pimped for
Richard Nixon's chief political dirty tricks strategist Donald Segretti but soon caught the eye of
the incoming Republican National Committee Chairman, George H. W. Bush. Rove's d | | | | |
