However, it's a high-stakes game. I'm guessing that the Bushies will
downplay it, saying that "our all-volunteer military does a wonderful
job and is quite capable of dealing with all of the challenges facing
it." They might embrace it, though, thanking (i.e. blaming) the
Democrats for introducing the idea, seeing it as a way to accelerate their
plans for global empire. This would then put other Democrats in the
awkward position that Rangel is trying to put Bush and the other
Republicans in: seeming to be protecting their own children from military
service by opposing the draft.
At this point, things are getting bad so quickly that this is probably
a useful strategy: Rangel's bill will be hard to ignore, and if things go
well it will mobilize a large portion of the country that has been either
silent or stupidly flag-waving to this point.
When the then-U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, April Glaspie, met with
Hussein on July 25, 1990, a week before the Iraqi attack on Kuwait, she
assured him that Bush "wanted better and deeper relations,"
according to an Iraqi transcript of the conversation. "President Bush
is an intelligent man," the ambassador told Hussein, referring to the
father of the current president. "He is not going to declare an
economic war against Iraq."
Unfortunately, the article refrains from mentioning the so-called
"green light" that Glaspie gave Saddam when she stated that the
US had no opinion on the Iraq-Kuwait dispute. While Saddam did not tell
her that he was planning on invading Kuwait a week later, he certainly
must have been surprised at the vehement "worse than Hitler"
response from someone who had "no opinion" and who "wanted
better and deeper relations." Unless, of course, as many in the
Middle East believe, Saddam has been a US agent all along, providing a
ready excuse for the ever-increasing military presence in the region.
Saddam has stayed alive and in power, either with US help or due to US
reluctance (or whatever it was that stopped Desert Storm from storming
Baghdad in 1991), while the Iraqi people pay again and again and again:
war with Iran, Gulf War, sanctions, no-fly zone bombings, Desert Fox, and
now, probably, Gulf War II.
I don't know what the truth is, but I am quite sure that what the
Bushies are telling us is lies, just as it was in 1990. Saddam is not a
threat to the US: he's a convenient ongoing excuse.
I don't know about you, but I get awful chills when I see the words
"Bush" and "clone" in the same sentence. Brrrrrrr!
What with the war and all, the Bushies simply forgot to write up a
report. Impossible. If proof existed, the Administration would have released
it to make people like me shut up.
The evidence is circumstantial at best. Now we're talking. More likely
than not, American intelligence strongly suspects bin Laden et al. but can't
prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
As a matter of fact, FBI Director Robert Mueller admitted in a speech
last April that he has no evidence: "In our investigation, we have not
uncovered a single piece of paper – either here in the U.S. or in the
treasure trove of information that has turned up in Afghanistan and
elsewhere – that mentioned any aspect of the September 11th plot. The
hijackers had no computers, no laptops, no storage media of any kind."
So, as Rall points out, we've killed 3500 civilians and 10,000 Taliban
soldiers in Afghanistan without any evidence. And it's on to Iraq, based on
allegations of a crime, possession of weapons of mass destruction, of which
the US is the world's leading violator. And we are given no evidence that
Iraq is not obeying the UN resolutions, outside of Rumsfeld's
"obviously they aren't."
Just a brief reminder about how W got where he is, on the off chance that
one among those 28% might be reading this blog (chances are, they read
nothing at all). I've been meaning to make a cartoon out of this, but I'm
not really much of a cartoonist. So I'll just make it a little dialogue
between the wealthy corporate powers-that-be and our thought-challenged
president:
(1986)
Harken Execs: Well, Mr. Bush, your little Spectrum Oil Company has
had some rough times lately. How 'bout we buy it out for much more than it's
worth and give you a place on the Harken board? It pays really well, and you
don't have to do anything.
W: Cool!
Harken Execs: Oh, and say "Hi" to your father the
Vice-President for us, won't you?
(1990)
Harken Execs: Well, George, we all know Harken stock is going in the
tank in a few months, but because we like you so much, we've arranged a
secret buyer for your stock so you can cash in now while the price is still
high. Go buy a baseball team or something, and say "Hi" to your
dad in the White House, okay?
W: Excellent!
(1997)
Co-owners of the Texas Rangers: You know, Governor Bush, we've been
glad to have you on our team as we've grabbed private land at taxpayer
expense to build this fancy new ballpark. Never mind that the Rangers never
win anything: your work is done here. Here's your ownership share in the
Rangers back, and an extra twelve million for being such a swell guy. Don't
forget about us back at the governor's mansion, or if you ever move to a
bigger house--in Washington, say.
W: Cool!
(August 2000)
Republican Party Leaders: Well, George, we've paid an ungodly amount
of money and slandered a war hero to buy you the nomination for president,
overcoming your obvious lack of qualifications. Don't you forget who paid to
get you here!
W: Don't worry--I love you guys!
(December 2000)
Supreme Court: Mr. Bush, since you came in such a close second in the
election, we're awarding you the presidency! Of course, some of us wouldn't
be here if it weren't for your dear old dad--say "Hi" to him, will
ya?
W: Cool!
(September 2001)
American Public: President Bush, since you happened to be vacationing
in Texas while intelligence about a massive terrorist attack sat on your
desk unread, leading to the worst attack on American shores since the Civil
War, we're giving you this gigantic mandate to do whatever insane things
pass through that little mind of yours. Kill, maim, or detain innocent
people anywhere in the world, destroy the constitution, destroy the
environment: whatever you want.
W: God bless America.
(November 2002)
American Public: Mr. Bush, in less than two years you have taken a
nation that was wealthy, confident, and at peace, with a budget surplus, and
turned it into one which is struggling, afraid, at war, and broke.
Therefore, we're giving you Republican control of both houses in Congress.
W: Excellent! You ain't seen nothin' yet. Let's roll!
Moral to the story: Nothing succeeds like failure.
Read the whole article for a reminder of what the "land of the free
and home of the brave" is doing to mere suspects detained in our name.
The FBI now can get our list of library books, e-mails, telephone
records and so on. When I was worried about an overdue book after the
library closed, I called the FBI for help.
"Please check on a book for me, will you," I told the agent.
"What? Do you think we work for you?"
"Is Bernard Lewis's book on the Middle East overdue?" I
pleaded.
"Well, okay, I'll look it up. Hey, you've also checked out 'Lawrence
of Arabia.'"
"It's a great book," I protested.
"Did you see the movie, too?"
"Yes," I said.
"Have you checked out the video - never mind, I'll check. Yeah, just
last week."
"Honest," I replied, "I wanted to see the restored
version."
"A doubtful story. And, yes, you're overdue on the book."
"Darn," I said. "I guess I'm not getting my mail on
time."
"Mail? Well, let me check. Nope, no card from Bellingham library,
but your long-distance phone bill shows you've called Mahoud's Diner. Who's
Mahoud?"
"He's a great cook and what are you doing with my phone bill?"
"Just checking. By the way, you are behind in the phone payment.
Want me to pay it from your credit card?"
"You've got my credit statement?"
"Of course. There, I charged it on your card."
"Thanks," I said. "What a service."
"Saved you a penalty. Anything else we can do for you?"
"Yes," I replied. "Did my neighbor pay cash for his new
car?"
"What! Do you think we spy on people?"
Lyle E. Harris
Bellingham
We have selected the US as our first priority based on criteria provided
by the Bush administration. According to those criteria, the most dangerous
states are those run by leaders who:
1) have massive stockpiles of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons;
2) ignore due process at the United Nations;
3) refuse to sign and honour international treaties; and
4) have come to power through illegitimate means.
The current US administration fulfills all these criteria. And so, again
following Bush’s guidelines, Rooting Out Evil is demanding that his
administration allow immediate and unfettered access to international
weapons inspectors to search out their caches of chemical, biological, and
nuclear weapons.
If they refuse to comply, we will assemble as many volunteer weapons
inspectors as possible at a major border crossing between the US and Canada
and attempt to cross into the US on a mission of peace. We will be greeted
on the US side by Americans who favour true global cooperation, an end to
weapons of mass destruction, and a regime change in the US at the next
election.
Go here to sign up as a
volunteer inspector and lend support, in person or in spirit, to our
Canadian friends trying to bring a little sanity across the border.

Kristoff praises the Bush administration for allowing snowmobiles in
Yellowstone National Park. He says that the new four-stroke snowmobiles are
much quieter and less polluting than the two-stroke variety, and I'm sure
that's right. But Kristoff claims that "when the roads are closed in
winter, the only alternative to snowmobiles is snow coaches, which are like
vans on treads." This is a lie: Yellowstone is open to cross-country
skiing and snoeshoeing, according to its web
site. He makes another statement which is true, but still ridiculous:
"It's pretty clear that without snowmobiles very few Americans will get
the thrill of seeing Yellowstone in winter." Ridiculous, because even
with snowmobiles, very few Americans will see Yellowstone in winter. I
couldn't find the numbers for snowmobile rentals in Yellowstone, but I would
hazard a guess that the number of Americans partaking in this is far below
the number of Americans who will get the thrill of seeing Iraq this winter.
Kristoff claims that animals don't run from the newer, quieter snowmobiles
because he saw some. Well, Nick, you didn't see the ones that did run, now
did you?
We have boxed nature into tiny little corners in this country, and now
Bush and his publicist Kristoff think that it's okay for us to use our
expensive toys to trample around even in those little corners. Rather than
allowing snowmobiles in Yellowstone, we should be eliminating them, along
with SUV's and cars in general, from more and more places, so that Americans
won't have to go to Yellowstone to experience nature.
It's sort of like a doctor explaining to you why he is amputating your
left arm by saying "if I amputated both arms, you would be in really
bad shape." That is, they are comparing their stupid idea to an even
stupider idea, rather than to the already stupid enough status quo. Another
comparison, which I'm surprised Bush hasn't used already: "We have to
attack Iraq because if we attacked Atlanta I would probably lose
votes."
You know, you Republican corporate drones, you could also bring dividend
taxes in line with those on capital gains by raising both to 90%, which
would mean that those who make money by having money would have to pay more
taxes than those who make money by working.
Mr. Lieberman sponsored the Homeland Security Act, and was at Mr. Bush's
side last fall as he pushed through a Congressional resolution authorizing
the use of force in Iraq. By noting that he had also voted in favor of the
first resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq, in 1991, Mr.
Lieberman drew an unstated contrast with other Democrats in the race like
Representative Richard A. Gephardt and Senator John Kerry, who opposed that
resolution.
Friends,
Today I am ashamed to be a Christian. Tomorrow will be worse.
The center of my spiritual life is Jesus, a/k/a the rabbi, Yeshua bar Yusef
who--according to Himself--was NOT the Son of God, but came "to give
[humanity] the power to become the sons and daughters of God"; can you
imagine how different the world would be if we recognized that all
people--regardless of our differences--are truly sons and daughters of the
Creator? We might actually relate to and treat everyone else as our sisters
and brothers, even if they were Muslim, even if they were Iraqis.
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the birth of Yeshua in Beth-lehem, the city
of bread, a town under military occupation, governed by a corrupt and
hypocritical king, backed by the Empire of Rome. The infant Yeshua grew into
a man who embraced the finest teachings and characteristics of Judaism/the
faith of the Hebrew people and became known as the Prince of Peace. His
radical philosophy of equality of all people (including women, eunuchs, and
the poor), of the necessity of resistance to injustice (he made it a
condition of discipleship), commitment to what we call creative nonviolent
direct action/civil disobedience, and devotion to love--even love of
enemies--got him crucified, but also inspired Gandhi and Martin Luther King,
Jr.
The Church, beginning in the Third Century when it sold out its principles
to Constantine in return for worldly power, has consistently perverted
Yeshua's message and meaning, despite the fact that a few each century (like
Dr. King and many of the civil rights activists) have rediscovered His
essential message and sought to manifest it. The Church, in response, has
tended to kill such "heretics," of course.
And so it is that tomorrow, good Christian Church folk in nearly all the
churches in our area will sing Christmas carols about the Prince of Peace
and Bethlehem, and IGNORE their responsibilities as followers of Yeshua.
They will be ignorant of (or is it, rather, out of callousness) the fact
that the real, live, flesh-and-blood people of Bethlehem are today living
under a brutal military occupation, run by a corrupt and hypocritical
government backed by the Empire of Corporate America.
The overwhelming majority of these Christians (apparently "Christ"
has NOTHING to do with Yeshua!) will celebrate their holiday by engaging in
a consumeristic orgy and then eat too much, and go to bed feeling very
self-satisfied. They will NOT be organizing or demonstrating or committing
acts of civil disobedience to stop Bush's insane vision of total, unending
war, or to stop US funding of Israel's cruelties. And after tomorrow, they
will continue to be blind to the reality of what's happening in the world,
and to the true meaning of their faith.
While I would have preferred a stronger statement, it is good to see that
the pressure
put on the Sierra Club leadership by the Utah and San Francisco area
chapters had some effect. Who knows, maybe I had a little impact, too. When
I read about the objections raised by local chapters to the Club's apparent
support of war (which, admittedly, was just as watered-down as this new
opposition), I had a Sierra Club fundraising request on my desk. I wrote
"No more $ until oppose war" on the form (there wasn't room for
complete sentences) and put peace signs all over the envelope, and mailed it
back without a donation. I mean, you can recycle until the
genetically-modified cows come home and you will do less to preserve the
environment than stopping just one "little" war. So I'm glad to
see the Sierra Club tiptoe over the line from mildly supporting war to
mildly opposing it. I've got another envelope on my desk now; I'll give them
something now. I mean Bush hates the environment almost as much as he hates
Iraq, and the Sierra Club is the biggest environmental group out there.
We've got to keep pushing them not to sell out.
According to The Wall Street Journal, "In Dec. 2000, nine months
after he took over, Mr. Donaldson told investors that the company's problems
with skyrocketing medical costs were finally under control and projected
rosy 2001 earnings, driving Aetna's stock price up.
"It turned out that Aetna's system for calculating costs was out of
whack (oops!). In April, four months after Mr. Donaldson's upbeat
predictions, Aetna announced that earnings would be 'significantly lower'
than expected, driving its stock price down by 18 percent in one day.
"Mr. Donaldson had retired 10 days before the profit warning.
Aetna's board months earlier had set his compensation for his 10 months of
service as CEO in 2000 at a $1 million salary, a $6 million bonus and more
than $11 million in restricted stock and options." Our kind of guy.
...
But what a payoff on the investment! A mere $5.9 million in campaign
contributions over 13 years and they got $164 million in the last four years
in tax rebates without ever paying taxes. I'm telling you, this guy Mr. Snow
is a genius, and I have perfect faith that as the Bush team moves ahead to
cut more taxes for the rich, fight a $200 billion war and increase defense
spending, the books at Treasury will balance nicely. It all makes perfect
sense to me.
One of five technically
legal signs that can be posted in a library to warn patrons of
intrusions on their privacy. Politics
in the Zeros has more.
According to the justice department in George Bush Sr's administration,
Bosch had participated in more than 30 terrorist acts. He was convicted of
firing a rocket into a Polish ship which was on passage to Cuba. He was also
implicated in the 1976 blowing-up of a Cubana plane flying to Havana from
Venezuela in which all 73 civilians on board were killed...Bosch now lives
in Miami and remains unrepentant about his militant activities, according to
Bardach. -- from a Guardian
article about the book Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami
and Havana, by Ann Louise Bardach. Read the whole artice; it will give you a
good idea of the criminal nature of the whole Bush clan. Probably a good
idea to read the book, too, but I haven't done that yet (reserve requested
at the library).
I may have been wrong months ago when I said that the biggest mistake
this country ever made was readmitting Texas to the Union after the Civil
War. Florida may have been even bigger. When you've got a chance to lose
corrupt Bush-voting cesspools like these, you've got to take advantage. Or,
to paraphrase Trent Lott, if the Navy hadn't pulled George H. W. Bush out
of the Pacific after his plane went down in WWII, we wouldn't have had all
these problems. No October Surprise, no Iran-Contra, no "read my
lips", no Panama invasion, no Gulf War I, no Gulf War II, no World War
III.
Asked about Baghdad's assertions that it is complying fully with the
United Nations, Mr. Rumsfeld said, "Well, they obviously aren't."
That's what passes for proof in the Bush administration. Obviously.
The reason the families wanted to pick Rudman was that they wanted six of
the ten commission members to be independent of the White House, thereby
increasing the likelihood that key administration figures like Attorney
General Ashcroft, CIA Director Tenet, and even W himself might be
subpoenaed. Clearly Bush is more dedicated to his cult of secrecy than he is
to keeping a promise to victims of his own administration's incompetence.
Absolute, total sleazebag.
PLA further suggests that the promise made to moderate Republican
senators Chaffee, Snowe and Collins that the porkbarrel provisions added to
the Homeland Security bill would be revisited in the new congress in
January. Those provisions included the incredibly sleazy protection of
drugmaker Eli Lilly from lawsuits over thimerosal, the mercury-containing
vaccine additive which may be linked to autism. (PLA
is the father of an autistic child and blogs on the issue a lot.)
{SARCASM}Ari Fleischer added that the administration believed that the
Japanese surrender on the battleship Missouri in 1945 was "all hat and
no cattle," and that the burden of proof is on Japan to show that it
has stopped fighting World War II. He also said that it is "way past
time" for Great Britain to recognize American independence, and that
Paraguay had better come clean about its ladder to Saturn or "face the
consequences."{/SARCASM}
The Iraqis have called Bush's bluff, but it looks like Bush will insist
on knocking the table over before anyone sees the cards. This is soooooo
embarrassing! Why did we elect this clown? (Oh, right, we didn't.)
The first transfer in 1948 was replete with massacres large and small.
This one would be even more violent. Palestinians are much more determined
not to leave now. On the Israeli side their Prime Minister is a man who has
personally led the slaughter of Palestinians for 50 years and who has never
suffered any long term political reverses because of it.
Let me lay out a possible scenario, the U.S. invades Iraq, a huge bomb
goes off in Israel and the the IDF moves into action. Village after village
is marched to the Jordanian border. The Jordanian Army refuses to let
Palestinians cross the border and the IDF bombards them until they retreat.
Then the Palestinians are driven across the border.
Impossible? A nightmare? Well, who would stop Sharon? Bush might if he
thought it harmed the pulverizing of Iraq. If the war's going well, however,
would he even lift a finger? -- from Stanley
Heller.
At the root of the problem, as I see it, is that communities on just
about every scale are in competition with each other, to just about
everyone's detriment. Indonesia and Bangladesh takes jobs from Mexico which
went there from the US fifteen years ago. Alabama gives Hyundai $126 million
in corporate welfare so they'll locate a plant there instead of in Kentucky
(Michigan? Forget about it!). People looking for a house are lured to new
subdivisions in Livingston County because of low land costs, lower taxes,
low gas prices, and no tolls on the highways, to the detriment of Ann Arbor
and metro Detroit, despite their existing housing and infrastructure.
Competition has its place, but the government must not only provide a level
playing field (which it rarely does); it must prohibit competition which is
generally bad for the public welfare. Sprawl is one such form of
competition. While the farmer may get more for his land than he would
otherwise, and the developer makes a lot of money, and many of the people
who buy houses there will at least claim to be happy, the overall impact of
sprawl on society is negative, so it should be stopped.
I've been remiss in not giving more attention to the Palestine situation.
I tend to rant about what I read in the paper, and this isn't getting much
attention anymore. Maybe the Trent Lott thing was intentional just to keep
focus off of this brutal issue until the troops are in place and it's a new
moon over Iraq. But the fact is that there is a brutal occupation going on
in the West Bank and Gaza, and there is talk of relocating the Palestinians
(again); basically, ethnic cleansing. Many people in the Ann Arbor Area
Committee for Peace are justifiably outraged over this issue and the fact
that the US continues to support Israel monetarily and militarily. Of course
there is some blame to be placed on the suicide bombers, but this isn't too
far removed from blaming the guy in Tienamen Square who faced down the
Chinese tanks. The Israelis have the power, which means they have the power
to choose between peace and war. The Palestinians are left with a choice
between dying or dying while fighting.
So every day, while the Republicans are picking a new senate leader and
Bush tells more lies about Saddam's lies, people are being killed in
Palestine by US-funded bullets, bombs and grenades.
In their apparently infinite lack of compassion, the INS
is deporting a 29-year-old Texas woman to her native Afghanistan, which
she left when she was 15. She works in a restaurant in Texas, and is
currently the primary caregiver for her elderly mother. Having no male
relative to watch out for her in Afghanistan, she will have no rights and
will be lucky to survive even a year. Thanks to Ampersand
for the link.
"The theory that I'm going to protect myself and my family
even if it costs other people's lives has been the operative incentive for
the design of these vehicles, and that's just wrong," said Dr.
Runge, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (known by its abbreviation and pronounced NIT-sa), in a
recent interview.
"Not to sound like a politician, but that's not compassionate
conservatism."
Now Dr. Runge's agency is reviewing several safety issues involving sport
utility vehicles that could have wide-ranging implications for motorists and
automakers. Detroit's Big Three, especially, derive a lopsided share of
their slim profits from these vehicles.
Intent as he is on attacking the dangers of S.U.V.'s, Dr. Runge is still
part of an administration that is not enamored of regulation. Yet he says
that if he cannot address this nettlesome problem, his agency has little
purpose.
As the WSWS
points out, the mainstream media has been lavish in their praise of Gore
for dropping out. I've been disturbed by the large numbers of editorial
cartoons that I've seen which show either donkeys celebrating or elephants
crying over Gore's announcement. This is shear nonsense. Aside from Hillary,
Gore is better known than any other potential Democratic candidate. With his
apparent new approach to telling it like it is rather than what his advisers
said, he was easily the Dems best chance to beat Bush--again. My guess, as the
WSWS suggests, is that it was becoming clear that Gore wasn't going to get the
financial backing of the corporations if he pursued a populist agenda. A more
sinister thought is that he was threatened with attacks such as anthrax
letters to his family if he didn't withdraw. If Gore had persisted with his
attacks on Bush militarism, his call for universal health care, and had
returned to his previous interest in protecting the environment (his sellout
on this issue in 2000 is why I voted for Nader instead (and don't blame me,
Gore still won Michigan)), he would have been well on his way to becoming our
44th president.
Actually, I think his withdrawal makes him in some ways even more appealing
as a candidate. I think maybe Lincoln was the last president we've had (well,
perhaps Eisenhower or Carter) who wasn't just drooling over the prospect of
being president. The result has been that most candidates, no matter how
well-intentioned when they started, have sold their souls to get elected. Gore
did this in 2000, and it worked until the court-ordered coup threw him out.
But now it seems as though he is trying to buy his soul back, and if he
succeeds he would be an excellent candidate for 2004. Maybe we should start a
"draft Al" campaign in either the Democratic or Green parties.

No! The vaccination program is evidence that our warmongering government
wants us to believe that the threat of terrorism is real so they can continue
with their agenda of domination and repression, abroad and at home.
They support the right of poor young people to put their lives in danger in
order to get a college education.
They support the right of the troops to be shipped off with no notice to
fight pointless, undefined, unwinnable and imperialist wars.
They support the rights of the troops to be exposed to undisclosed toxins,
both of US and enemy government creation, to be given undisclosed medical
treatments, supposedly for their benefit, and to be given the runaround when
they try to claim they have suffered ill health affects from any of the above.
They support the right of the troops to be killed and injured.
And when the war is over, they support the right of the troops to be
homeless, addicted and traumatized.
Those who oppose the war support the right of the troops not to be shipped
off to die for US oil interests. Again, how dare they tell us that we don't
support the troops?
This is Bush's America. It sucks.
![]()
And another thing! How is Bush supposed to convince the ten
non-permanent members of the UN Security Council that the Iraqi document was
incomplete when he is withholding two-thirds of it from them?
C'mon, guys, who wouldn't want a little live virus put into them,
especially one that creates an open sore and is highly contagious? All for a
disease which was eradicated from the planet 25 years ago. At best, this
smallpox plan is just another scare tactic, like the color alert system. At
worst, it is a plan for genocide, either by innoculating those they want to
protect and then releasing smallpox on the rest, or by simply administering
lethal injections, something which W had no qualms about in his governor days.

The arrests were part of a post Sept. 11 program that requires all males
over 16 from a list of 20 Arab or Middle East countries, who do not have
permanent resident status in the United States, to register with U.S.
immigration authorities.
Monday was the deadline for men from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Sudan.
News of the mass arrests came first in southern California, which is home to
more than 600,000 Iranian exiles and their families.
...
INS spokesman Arcaute said those arrested had violated immigration laws,
overstayed their visas, or were wanted for crimes. The program was prompted by
concern about the lack of records on tourists, students and other visitors to
the United States after the Sept. 11 hijack plane attacks on New York and
Washington.
Islamic community leaders said many of the detainees had been living,
working and paying taxes in the United States for five or 10 years, and had
families here.
"Terrorists most likely wouldn't come to the INS to register. It is
really a bad way to go about it. They are being treated as criminals and that
really goes against American ideals of fairness, and justice and
democracy," Khan said.
The Iranian protesters said many of those detained were victims of official
delays in processing visa and green card requests.
Might as well ship the Statue of Liberty back to France--it doesn't mean
anything here anymore. This gets more and more like the Nazis every day.
More on this: LA
Times (registration required); the story hasn't made the front web pages
of the NY Times or the Washington Post.
Along with several others, I sent a letter to the editor objecting to this
piece:
To the Editor:
As a member of the Ann Arbor Area Committee for Peace who attended the City
Council meeting on December 2, I take exception to the "Skip Iraq, Get
Leaves" article in Sunday's "Talk About Town." First, there was
nothing "aggressive" about our support for the resolution: we
assertively exercised our rights as citizens to contact our elected
representatives and express our wish that Ann Arbor speak out against war.
About 100 of us showed up to show our support, but no one was threatened into
anything. No one expressed any displeasure at Mike Reid's thoughtful statement
or vote against the resolution. And no one from the “water cooler" or
elsewhere showed up to express opposition to the resolution.
As for the remark about council member Herrell and her colleagues being a
non-issue at the White House: well, that’s our point. Our national
government IS ignoring us. War in Iraq has been estimated to cost $200
billion. Ann Arbor’s contribution in taxes will be approximately $70
million, money which the city could use to improve leaf collection (which
isn’t really much of a problem, no matter what the water cooler gang says)
or for other, more important services.
Michigan voted for Gore. Both of our Senators voted against Bush’s war
resolution in October, as did Representatives Rivers and Dingell. Our voices
don’t seem to have gotten through yet, but we’re going to keep expressing
our support for peace in any way we can, and we thank City Council for its
vote.
This was printed in last Sunday's (12/15) paper. On Tuesday I received a
nasty letter from a Dennis Smith of Belleville, Michigan. I don't have the
patience to re-type it, bad spelling and all, so I have scanned it. You can
read it: page
1; page
2 (you may need to save the images and open them in an image editing
program to be able to read them--the pictures themselves are clear, but they
appear very small in some browsers).
I tell you, my cat understands the issues better than this yahoo, and she's
much nicer. Dennis Smith of Belleville is one child who was definitely left
WAY behind in school, and worse, he doesn't care. It is scary to think how
many millions of morons like Dennis there are in this country.
I told the staff person of our organization about the letter; she said she
and one other member had received similar letters, although theirs were more
threatening. We are going to compare the letters tomorrow to see if they all
came from the same source.
[Debunking the argument that] Saddam's acquisition of "weapons of
mass destruction" (WMD) would threaten U.S. and world security
This is untenable nonsense, first, because the United States is well able
to defend itself and has overwhelming retaliatory capability, and even Israel
would threaten a level of retaliation that precludes Saddam's using those
weapons offensively against it even if he had them.
What is more, he has no delivery systems that would allow him to reach U.S.
targets. He has used WMD in the past, but only when the United States supplied
him with and protected his use of such weapons (against Iran, a U.S. enemy),
the United States even going so far as to prevent condemnation of Saddam's
methods in the Security Council (for details see the Labour Party
"counter- dossier," Sept. 21, 2002: http://www.traprockpeace.org).
Saddam did not use WMD during the Persian Gulf War, because he knew that if
he did so U.S. retaliation would be severe. CIA head George Tenet testified
before a Senate Committee in early October that the probability of Saddam's
using WMD in "the foreseeable future" was "low," except as
a desperation move if attacked. In short, even if Saddam Hussein did possess
WMD, he could only use them as a means of self-defense, unless he directed
them against a U.S.-approved target, as in the 1980s.
Dang! That guy tells it like it is! Thanks to John
Ashcroft for that timely advice! Here's another choice Ashcrotch quote in
light of the rush to pass the despicable USA Patriot Act:
I spent four hours debating the bill without yielding the floor and
signaled my willingness to do so for an extended period of time. When they
realized they were not going to be able to carry this through at the high
velocity they wanted (you know, velocity is the enemy of reason) they
fell back.
When Bill Donaldson comes up for Congressional approval someone should say,
"Hey, Bill. How can you run the SEC if it was the SEC that censured the
organization you were running for not complying with SEC rules?" --
from the NY Post, of
all places, thanks to MaxSpeak for the
link.
Let's face it. The Bushies are going to be unable to find nominees for
government posts who agree with their philosophy who are not tainted by
bribery, corruption, shady dealings, or racism, because that is their
philosophy.
(PS--I like MaxSpeak because he put me on his blogroll!)
Tuesday, he cited the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America as
evidence that the country faces ``unprecedented threats'' and needs the
anti-missile shield.
Nineteen guys with boxcutters hijack four airliners. How in the world is
this ridiculously expensive boondoggle going to stop that? But Bush has allies
on the hill:
Rep. Duncan Hunter, the likely next chairman of the House Armed Services
Committee, lauded the decision to proceed on missile defense.
"Today, the United States cannot stop a single ballistic missile
headed for an American city,'' said Hunter, R-Calif., who chairs Armed
Services subcommittee on military research and development. ``The consequences
of such an attack would be devastating, and the danger continues to grow as
nations such as North Korea, Iraq, and Iran continue to develop, purchase, and
sell advanced ballistic missile technologies.''
These guys are nuts. Just absolutely, completely out of their tiny little
minds.
Gee, now I wish I'd been harder on Lott, so I could take some of the
credit! Good going, bloggers!

By the way, W, we do have a Nobel-prize-winning former president who would
be excellent for the job.
[Later addition:] No, George, I don't mean your Dad. There's isn't a Nobel
Prize for Being a Wuss. I'm talking about Jimmy Carter. I realize you were
drunk through most of his presidency, but if you have the slightest interest
in appearing fair in appointing the chairman of this committee (no sign of
that yet, unfortunately), Carter would be ideal.
a board member and donor to the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan group
that has long annoyed White House officials by warning relentlessly about the
danger of federal deficits.
"How in the world can he sell a program that he has never shown any
inclination of believing in?" Mr. Moore asked on Tuesday on the Web site
of the National Review. "The Concord Coalition represents the Chicken
Little deficit-reduction myopia that was once the rage in the Republican
Party."
Amazing: A Republican being attacked by other Republicans for being too
fiscally conservative. But Friedman has promised to be a good "don't tax,
then spend" Bushie.
According to the article, The Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace
ordered two cases but sold them out within days, said spokeswoman Arianna
Barrios. Heaven forbid.
On stealing from the poor to give to the rich: In an act of reverse
Robin Hood effrontery, the president helped defray some of the cost of his
nonstop campaigning with an accounting trick that allowed him to dip into the
coffers of the Office of Family Assistance by piggy-backing campaign
appearances onto trips ostensibly made to talk about welfare reform. That's
right, money meant to assist poor families was used to help elect politicians
who believe that, even with all the problems facing this country, cutting
taxes for the rich should be job one. -- from Arianna
Huffington.
Not even your American citizenship, according to Bush, will save your life
if and when he decides to kill you. The only reason you're reading this right
now--instead of meeting the Entity Formerly Known as God--is that neither Bush
nor one of his "high-level officials" has yet signed a piece of
paper declaring you an "enemy combatant." Once they do the
paperwork, Administration officials assert, they have the right to murder you.
Bush's secret assassination directive surfaced on Dec. 3, when reporters
asked about the Nov. 3 Central Intelligence Agency rub-out of alleged Al Qaeda
operatives riding in a car in Yemen. Langley fired a Hellfire missile from a
remote-controlled Predator drone into the vehicle, blowing up several men. The
CIA later discovered that an American citizen, Kamal Derwish, had
inadvertently been killed in the inferno.
"No constitutional questions are raised here," asserted National
Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, stretching credulity more than usual.
Officials claim that a loophole in Bush's order authorizing the CIA to
"covertly attack Al Qaeda all over the world" validates Derwish's
murder. Since this sneaky directive makes exception neither for Americans nor
American soil, these guys say, you and I have no more rights than the
now-deceased, not-presumed-innocent Kamal Derwish.
To what extent is automobile use a "free good? According to Hart
and Spivak, government subsidies for highways and parking alone amount to
between 8 and 10 percent of our gross national product, the equivalent of a
fuel tax of approximately $3.50 per gallon. If this tax were to account for
"soft" costs such as pollution cleanup and emergency medical
treatment, it would be as high as $9.00 per gallon. [Probably a lot more
if wars for oil are included--Bob] The cost of these
subsidies--approximately $5000 per car per year--is passed directly on to the
American citizen in the form of increased prices for products or, more often,
as income, property, and sales taxes. This means that the hidden costs of
driving are paid by everyone: not just drivers, but also those too old or too
poor to drive a car. And these people suffer doubly, as the very transit
systems that they count on for mobility have gone out of business, unable to
compete with the heavily subsidized highways.