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By Libby, 76

 

SEPTEMBER 1, 2004

MYTH AND METHODOLOGY

Outside the Convention Center, history was being made; inside, myths were being made. While at least half a million people gathered to show the world that We, the People, did not share the Bush vision , inside 1,255 delegates decreed that they liked unemployment, poverty and fear.

The glittering extravaganza of Bush’s elite base gushed about how he had, single-handedly, brought peace and prosperity to this troubled nation. Delegates proudly wrapped themselves in Our Flag and flashed that new accessory for the “in” crowd -- the purple heart band aid.

 

Outside, those who had earned the right to wear the real purple heart mingled with the largest crowd ever assembled to protest a presidential candidate; unheard and unseen by a self-dubbed “war president” who prefers the “rigors” of campaigning to the rigors of combat.
Inside, it was reminiscent of the scene in Michael Moore’s film Roger and Me where the elite gathered at a Garden party to discuss their very pampered lives juxtaposed by scenes of the poverty they had helped created in Flint, Michigan. The mostly white faces of the Republican delegates celebrating Bush’s nomination, juxtaposed by a photo of Rosa Fernandez, dressed in uniform, cleaning up after the Republicans had gone.

Oh, they do hate Moore for showing that their emperor has no clothes. The film maker who showed We, the People the dirty little secret of that video tape taken in a Florida elementary school classroom that toppled the myth of “strong leader” was booed by those 1,255 delegates that do not want the Truth to intrude upon their

conscience. But Moore is made of sterner stuff than Bush, this working class guy from Flint who “made good” can take it.

Moore was at the convention as a columnist for USA Today. McCain, without naming names, was given the dubious honor of singling Moore out for criticism. McCain and the Republicans may have planned to draw enough blood to award Moore his own purple heart band aid that night. But Moore is a lot tougher than Bush who never appears in public unless a hand-picked crowd signs a “loyalty oath”. The not so “elite” Moore simply quipped, “I know what the Christians probably felt like walking into the Coliseum.” and, like General Douglas McArthur, said he would be returning.

Moore outshown their “star speaker”, Schwarzenegger. It took him almost 45 minutes to get through all of the security checks Republicans felt they needed to be “safe” because of all the reporters and television cameras that followed in his wake. Take heed, elite Republicans, We, the People now have a HERO.

Knowing full well, that the Republican myth of “great economy”, “leaving no child behind” and “winning Iraqi freedom” was needed to balance the reality of middle-class America lost in a jobless world of poverty, school budgets so stripped that they fire teachers and cancel classes, and Bush’s Invasion that will have taken the lives of as many soldiers as there are delegates in that convention hall by the time they cast their ballot in November.

So they bring on his perky twin daughters; little party girls who spent their college years ducking arrests for under-age drinking, and using Our Secret Service to get their boyfriends out of jail -- it would not be an issue if Bush had not called into question so many other’s moral character.

And then the silent Laura Bush, dubbed by some as the Stepford wife, finally spoke. She was supposed to tell us tales of his “compassion”, his “strength” and his “conviction”. She was supposed to tell the convinced crowd why her husband should be elected president.

She says he passed sweeping education reform without mentioning that the “reform” had produced a nation wide crisis in our public schools by wiping out school budgets, eliminating classes and teachers and after school programs for the children who most needed them while dire reports of unsafe roofs and crumbling walls went unheeded.She also says her husband was the first to provide federal funding for stem cell research -- not a very solid “first” since he was also the “first” around to have a chance to fund it, and that he had been dragged kicking and screaming to become that “first”.

And then, she diverged into the “courage” thing. It seems that Bush was focused on “working to protect our country and defeat terror so that all children can grow up in a more peaceful world.”

Has she counted the number of vacation days her husband has taken? Did she know that the August 6, 2001 PDB promising that “Al Qaida Determined to Attack Inside the United States” went unread while he practiced his golf swing? Does she realize that the self-dubbed “commander-in-chief” not only did not rise to meet the crisis, he did not rise from his seat in a Florida classroom EVEN WHEN THE PENTAGON WAS IN FLAMES???

Whatever he was doing, wherever he was doing it, he was not “working to protect children...” Too many parents of too many children died on that day in September because Bush did not feel there was anything importance enough in that PBD to interfere with his golf game. That did not take “courage”, that took neglect.

And with the Bush’s failure to recognize the enormous rise in poverty documented by the U. S. Census Bureau for the four years he has been in charge of our country -- 35.5 million and rising -- Our children will not be getting much of a chance “to grow up in a more peaceful world.” His Iraq war debacle makes it very probable that these children will get the chance to earn purple heart band aids of their own in a few years.

But what’s a few million people more or less. All is right in the Land of Republicans. With a few words they have wiped out the Reality of our existence and replaced it with a myth of their choosing.

AUGUST 31, 2004

***SPECIAL***

HOW LOW CAN THEY GO?

Not everyone was ready to give up on the Republican party. There are some of us that believe there are enough mature adults among their group to salvage it; however, the childish antics of the delegates brings their party to new lows. They have taken one of our military honors bestowed on veterans and turned it into an act of derision.

They have put the likeness of the Purple Heart awarded to every soldier wounded in combat onto a band aid which they sport like some teenage fad across their chins, cheeks, hands, and who knows where else!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?????

The whole “band aid thing” is based on an untrue assumption. Kerry DID NOT bring up his war record; Bush and his elite base did! REPUBLICANS were the ones challenging, not just Kerry, but every other VietNam vet they met in the “battle” of an election. From John McCain, groveling at Bush’s feet yesterday, to Max Cleland, they all had their service denigrated.

NO MATTER WHERE THEY SERVED, OR WHAT THEY DID, FROM POW TO LOOSING LIMBS, THEIR VIETNAM SERVICE WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. THERE ISN’T ONE PERSON IN THE REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRATIC PARTY WHO IS ‘HEROIC’ ENOUGH TO MEET BUSH’S TOUGH CRITERIA OF SERVICE!!!

This convention is turning into some kind of high school clique thing where the “in” crowds are vying to be the top group!!! Donna Cain, a delegate from Oregon, a state with one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, gushed, “Probably a lot of people are handing them out because they are very symbolic...”

I excepted her to add, and, like, so cool, and, like, they really go with everything! Everything except a conscience! Can’t she think of something more important to do than put on a band aid -- unless, instead of insulting decorated veterans, she is actually using it as a symbol to make a subtle statement about Bush’s band aid approach to government!

She continues blandly, “It is not any way defaming of them (U. S. troops wounded in Iraq), because I know people who have received Purple Hearts and I know that they’re not boasting about their war record.” One more time, KERRY DIDN’T BRING UP HIS SERVICE RECORD, THE DISAPPEARING NATIONAL GUARD MEMBER, GEORGE W. BUSH DID. But I don’t hear Ms. Cain expressing concern over Bush’s insulting veterans of the VietNam war by having the audacity to judge their war experience while Bush was “under fire campaigning for one of Daddy’s friends!”

Or perhaps the Republican delegates are doing just that; by wearing the purple heart symbol they are subliminally calling attention to the fact that Bush got out of going to VietNam four times during his National Guard “service”. Yes, that makes more sense.

To all the bigots at the Republican National Convention: You can’t have it both ways; either Bush is WORSE than Kerry because he did not go to war, never earned a purple hear or any other decoration or you really don’t give a damn about the men foolish enough to be “caught” by the draft or by volunteering.

The only “symbol” these band aids represent is the “symbol” of the contemptible depths the Republican party will the sink to. They arrogantly think they will never be held accountable! They think it’s clever and cute!! What’s next on the agenda, defaming Medal of Honor recipients?

 

AUGUST 31, 2004

POINT BY POINT

Bush’s elite base is throwing one extravagant gala this week; just as close to the site where the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 took down the World Trade Center, and many other buildings, as they could get without actually partying on the ground where it stood.

It is called the Republican National Convention, and it has come to praise Caesar, not to bury him under the overwhelming tide of criticism rolling through the streets of New York. Already we see the “media” joining in the praise of Bush, with nary a negative comment to be seen or heard. Therefore, it is up to We, the People, to judge Bush by Our own lie detection machine, point by point.

“We need a leader with the experience to make the tough decisions and the resolve to stick with them.” Arizona Senator John McCain.

Ah, Senator McCain, do you really believe that Bush has experience at leading a country? Do you really believe that on the job training is the best that we can do? How many years ago was it that you were campaigning for “someone with experience” to lead our nation? Where, oh, where, Senator McCain, has George W. Bush received this “experience”?

And how can you define stubbornness as “resolve”? Bush does not make mistakes, he tells us, so how can he negotiate with world leaders who believe they are right and Bush is the one who is wrong? Where has Bush picked up the art of diplomacy? Or do you, like him, believe that bombs and guns are diplomacy?

The invasion of Iraq was “necessary, achievable, and noble...” Arizona Senator John McCain. Bush is a wartime “president” whose leadership is “rock solid” Republicans saluting Bush.

No. It wasn’t. We were an injured nation, trying to recover from a huge wound in our financial world and our military command center.

Iraq was a detour off the straight path of bringing Osama bin Laden to swift justice. While we dally in Iraq, bringing up oil wells and filling the coffers of Cheney’s Halliburton et. all, Osama bin Laden has been planning and successfully carrying out attack after attack upon the nations of this world.

Bush is too much in love with being a “war president” and playing the role of “commander-in-chief” to concentrate on trying to solve the problems of Our Nation -- most of which he created during the past four years.

“I don’t think we can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the - those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world.” George W. Bush

“He was talking about winning it in the conventional sense...about how this is a different kind of war and we face an unconventional enemy.” Scott McClellan

You would think that Bush did not speak English; every sentence he utters has to be translated for us by his staff. But We, the People, got it, Scott. He doesn’t plan to “win” this war on “terror” any more than he “won” his war to “get bin Laden”. Too much “shift-in-the -wind” going on here.

While Republicans sing his praises four miles from the sight of the worst terrorist attack to hit the United States, the known Iraq casualty count for Our soldiers stands at 975. Does anyone know what the casualty count of Our soldiers in in Afghanistan? Do those Republican delegates in that Convention center care?

“Since September 11, 2001 attacks ... Bush has remained rock solid. We need George Bush now more than ever.” Rudolph Giuliani

Giuliani was mayor of New York when the terrorists hit. I do not recall seeing George W. Bush anywhere except in that elementary school classroom, watching children read and getting his picture taken. The video tape of that “photo op” shows him doing no “leadership” activities for at least 27 minutes. In that time buildings crumbled, the Pentagon was hit, and people burned.

The heroes leading that response was the man giving credit to George Bush, Mayor Giuliani, and Richard Clark, former President Clinton’s “terrorist zar” that Bush had virtually ignored, so busy was he in planning his Iraq invasion.
No, We, the People do not share the Republican evaluation of George W. Bush’s leadership. That is evident from the huge number gathered in New York to bring their grievances to Republicans who refuse to hear Our voices. We find their emphasis on his quality of leadership offensive. Lorie Van Auken, whose husband died in the World Trade Center, says it best.

While four widows, Kristen Breitweiser, Patty Casazza, Mindy Kleinberg and Lorie, did their own investigation into the timeline of the terrorist attacks upon the world trade center, she discovered that the timeline didn’t reconcile with the official story. “There is no way this could be. Somebody is not telling us the whole story.” And finally, after running the video of Bush in the classroom she said, “I couldn’t stop watching the President sitting there, listening to second graders while my husband was burning in a building.”

This is not the actions of a strong leader. Nor is it the actions of a strong leader that, after the terrorist attack, after the grounding of all aircraft, his first thought was not to bring our Legislatures, our former Presidents and Vice Presidents back to the United States. Bush left these perfect hostages stranded in foreign countries to make their way home as best they could.

But he, or he allowed someone on his staff, to quickly gather rich bin Laden relatives and Saudi royals and make sure they were safe! Of all the thousands of diplomats in the United State that might have wished to depart, why was this group, most closely tied to bin Laden, allowed more freedom than our own present and former leaders?

No, this act alone puts the lie to any claim of being a “strong leader”.
Republicans may say that Senator John Kerry is a “shift-in-the-wind” campaigner, not worthy of Our White House; but George W. Bush has certainly proved himself to be more led than leader; the question is who is the one holding the leash?

AUGUST 30, 2004

THE PEOPLE’S CONVENTION

Something awesome happened yesterday! One in every 600 citizens came together in the streets of New York City to form one of the largest peaceable assembly of citizens ever. They weren’t there to support the Republican party; they were there to demand a redress of their grievances.

In a way, the alliance of all the diverse groups marching under the United for Peace and Justice banner, formed its own national convention of We, the People. We had no delegates, no party “bosses”, just an enormous group of almost half a million people converging at 34th Street and Seventh Avenue to Canal Street, standing shoulder to shoulder in 88º heat, to tell the world that Our Country does not stand with George W. Bush.

It was described as a sea of protesters, with signs and banners stretching across the wide avenue from 23rd Street to 34th Street and across 5th Avenue. There were no “free speech zone” detention centers large enough to contain this many citizens and few arrests were made. Police lined the route to Union Square Park like an honor guard, while citizens exercised their Constitutional Rights for the first time in almost four years.

The “delegates” to this convention brought various grievances with them. From welfare mothers living in poverty, to Women’s Rights Organizations, anti-war groups, Young Koreans United who were worried about Bush’s Korean policy, the economy, health care, schools, the environment, civil rights, the disenfranchisement of our vote, and many, many others...all came together to unite for the purpose of getting Bush out of office.

Faith Strongheart, a 31 year old film producer who came from New Jersey to participate echoed, “The main message is to get Bush out of office.”

Another New Jersey protester, Rich Cahill, states flatly, “We want to take charge and reach the right people and influence them to go on and spread the message that this is a corrupt government”.

The Raging Grannies from Rochester put their protest to the tune of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”. A 98 year old woman in a wheelchair held a placard, “I’m 98 and I’m outraged.”

Alan Zelenki of Eugene, Oregon stated, “I hope this shows the world that they’re not alone in their hatred of George Bush.”

Writer, Laurie Russo, a New York citizen, echoed many New Yorkers when she said, “They chose New York, where they’re universally hated. They should have gone somewhere they’re more welcome. They exploited 9/11 by having it in New York this time.” Her statement was proved by the many residents leaning out the windows along the demonstration route shouting their support.

Republican delegates, gathering in New York to re-nominate Bush, shouted slogans like, “four more years”, at the huge crowd gathered to “address their grievances”, and showed their antipathy toward the concept of an equal government by saying, as Colorado delegate Flora Rohrs snapped, “What is going on here is we are going to to get George Bush reelected.”

But We, the People aren’t ready to give up or give in yet. Our convention continue to dispute the Republican delegate’s opinion of George W. Bush. They carry fly swatters with Bush’s face upon them. They chant, “No More Years”. They hold aloft a huge white circle with the familiar road sign red slash across Bush’s name. Mari Elena Granger, a New Yorker, carries a sign that says, “Bush lies, Who dies. Bring the troops home now”.

And one of the most shocking events was seeing those 1,000 coffins covered with Our Flag, slowly moving, in cadence. The realization of those 1,000 coffins, coupled with another event depicting a thousand empty pairs of shoes, should have moved even the Republican delegates as to the enormity of Bush’s reign. And the question must be asked, why are they so unmoved by the coffins representing the dead troops Bush sent to war?

Michael Moore, in his speech to the demonstrators, told them “the majority of this country opposes the war.” The majority of this country was on the lines demonstrating against Bush’s obsession with war before he invaded in March, 2003. He ignored us then, he ignores us now.

Professor of government and sociology at Cornell University, Sidney Tarrow, says, “I can’t remember anything this big in history. In 1968 it was much more violent and there were many fewer people.” And look what those demonstrations accomplished. A black votership in the South that put minorities in offices that had previously been held only by white men, integration of schools, and the end to the war in VietNam that had raged for sixteen years. If a few could accomplish this, what can this great majority of citizens do today?

“We are the majority” Michael Moore, who brought the truth to many with his movie Fahrenheit 9/11, told this huge crowd. “The majority are here to say, “It’s time to have our country back in our hands.”

Actually, it is four years past due. Our slow advance to this date has cost We, the People thousands of lives and the livelihoods of millions more. If the vast majority of We, the People could not bring about the impeachment of Bush for what he has done to this country, if Our Convention being held in the streets of New York can not stop the tide of madness engulfing our Nation, what will?

AUGUST 29, 2004

Well, this is the kickoff weekend for Republicans and they have employed a plethora of whirling dervishes to bring their spin to We, the People. Usually, I just snicker or snort in disgust, but this little item made me laugh out loud. And it is for all you VietNam veterans out there, who made it through that hellhole, to be told by the George Bushes of the world that you didn’t deserve the medals they gave you.

Bush finally admitted “JOHN KERRY’S SERVICE WAS MORE HEROIC THAN MINE” during an interview on NBC news Saturday, BUT (and you did expect a but didn’t you? ) he qualified it with “...had my unit been called up, I would have gone...” The question is, WHERE? To quote, “I think him going to VietNam was more heroic than my flying fighter jets...He was in harms way but I wasn’t. On the other hand, I served my country. Had my unit been called up, I would have gone.” WHAT?????

That National Guard waiting list wasn’t because the Guard was going to see combat; it was used to keep from seeing combat! We had a draft and we all know that most of the soldiers serving in VietNam did not come from the prep schools of the east, but the farms an inner cities of this country! Those, like Kerry and Gore, got to VietNam by not getting on those National Guard lists!

First, Bush didn’t have to wait for his national guard unit to be called up; he was on his way when he graduated from Yale and lost his deferment. Second, to keep from going to VietNam he jumped over a waiting list of 500 names to become a member of the Texas Air National Guard. Third, he was also on his way when he failed to report for his flight physical in 1972; which grounded him. This wasn’t an option Bush had; not reporting was disobeying an order and that could get you sent to VietNam. And around this same time, he pulled a disappearing act to supposedly “campaign” for a friend of his father’s; which would have pointed the way to VietNam for failure to report for duty!

Somehow, he missed all four chances to end up in VietNam. What luck (or influence)! I think that any of those Vets would have gladly preferred to serve their country by helping out in a campaign, and I know that those 58,000 plus dead would have exchanged places with Bush quicker than you could say “deferment”! So call off your dogs and leave the Vets and their medals alone; until you earn one yourself!

And speaking of earning the right, families of the victims of September 11 are also unhappy with Bush and the Republican party. Half of the families feel that REPUBLICANS HAD NO RIGHT to use their tragedy to shore up their faltering party and should have taken their convention elsewhere. A fourth of the families believe that the New York site was chosen to “capitalize” on that terrorist attack to bolster Bush’s “strong leader” image. It didn’t take Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 movie to inform them that Bush spent 27 minutes setting and waiting for photos to be taken while buildings burned and crumbled and their loved ones died while he took no action! They already knew it.

Nearly 2/3rds of the families surveyed think that John Kerry would “make the right decisions” on protecting the country from terrorism. And half said they disapproved of the way Bush is handling his job. 60% said that the war in Iraq was not worth the cost in soldiers’ lives.

But this poll only interviewed 339 relatives and close friends. Because the total population of victims relatives can not be determined, the polltakers say the group can not be sampled with any statistical precision. Probably not, but then, we aren’t “statistically” sure of how many victims died during that attack either.

Maybe the Republican’s motto is don’t worry, we’ll take care of everything, but Kerry’s “FEAR AND SMEAR” seems a better fit. The Republican party is a negative entity; it promotes fear and violence, both spoken and physical. It excluded so many of We, the People that it is more like an exclusive country club. Bush’s own words, while addressing one of those hoity-toity gatherings that he is always attending, says so. The very rich are his people, the elite wealth of this nation, his “base” that he turns to for money and influence.

It’s over when Bush says it’s over; whether it is trying to find the perpetrator of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack (remember his telling us that getting bin Laden wasn’t important?) or announcing “mission accomplished” from the deck of an aircraft carrier while making sure more troops were being readied for Iraq. And right now, 28 dead soldiers away from Bush’s first thousand, he is in New York, confirming for his “base” his plans for OUR future. The man who ran from serving in VietNam has long range plans for your children in Iraq. At least 972 dead, 3,698 wounded...and rising.

Do you plan to vote for that?

 

AUGUST 28,2004
527s
That’s you and me, People!

We, the People who decided in 2000 that we had to do something to fix our broken electoral system; We, the People who decided that Bush couldn’t lead us out of a paper bag after he botched the September 11, 2001 response to that terrorist attack; We, the People who agreed that our economy was in ruins and determined that We would vote for ANYONE BUT BUSH; and We, the People who flocked to former Governor Howard Dean as Our savior.

And it is We, the People that George W. Bush wants to get rid of. While soldiers died in Iraq, he spent his time on vacation or attending soirees given by his elite “base” who handed him over $243,656,202.

But he wants McCain and Kerry to help him pass legislation to block our small attempts at making our voices heard in the Legislative halls of Our Government. The “media” and the two parties have classified Our organizational efforts as “shadowy” outsiders who have no right to interfere with the the election as arranged by the Republican and Democratic parties. They want to outlaw Our Right to participate in the election process they have created; just as they have taken Our First Amendment Right to “peaceably assemble, to speak out, and petition ...for a redress of grievances” and exchanged it for detention centers known as “free speech zones”.

They want to eliminate 527 groups like MoveOn.org. They want to silence this voice of We, the People. They want to force them to stop airing political ads paid for by the small contributions from We, the People of $20, $30, $50 while allowing Bush to freely spend his $240,000,000+ million given to him by his admitted “base”.

But We, the People have a “base” too. We are ordinary citizens and We make up the bulk of taxpayers and the workers that keep the United States in business. And way back before the beginning of the Caucus process that gave Kerry the Democratic nomination; a little group called MoveOn.Org, a grass roots organization dedicated to Takebackthemedia.com, Buzzflash.com, and many others brought to our attention the fact that we weren’t helpless. We didn’t have to accept the Ashcroft findings that there was nothing to investigate in the 1965 Civil Rights Commission’s report on the Florida election.

These three groups, separately, brought us news and facts that our “media” either didn’t know about or ignored. And when MoveOn.org decided to hold a primary before the Democratic primary, everyone -- including the Democratic party -- got their eyes open! We, the People had our own ideas about government and they didn’t include the ones the politicians were telling us We believed in.

We had nine candidates to choose from and We did chose. MoveOn.org said they would throw the backing of their organization behind whichever candidate received 50% of the vote. Only members of MoveOn.org could vote and suddenly they were overwhelmed by people signing up to become members of their group. The last membership number I heard was over two million people! That is more than all of Bush’s “elite” base!

Although no one candidate received 50%, one candidate showed a vast lead, former Governor Howard Dean. His message resounded with We, the People, in ways that no one else had done. And Move.On.org’s little internet movement spawned the huge Dean internet network that has changed the way campaigns are run.

Dean had a tremendous lead right up until the Caucuses, in fact, when Kerry was said to be leading, Dean still had more pledged delegates than Kerry. Something happened during those caucuses; somehow, the leader, Howard Dean, was no longer the leader.

Everyone suspected “fuzzy math syndrome” but the overwhelming goal was to get rid of Bush and so We, the People, declaring that Kerry was not a choice but a necessity, threw ourselves into the political arena to make sure that ANYONE BUT BUSH got the votes. But we also began a process to make sure all the votes were counted this time.

And the loudest voice that We, the People, had was MoveOn.org. They started a little contest for ordinary People to submit ads telling why We wanted ANYONE BUT BUSH. The organization was overwhelmed by the response! It seemed as if all citizens had their favorite gripe about Bush and wanted to share it with the world.

THESE ARE THE ADS BUSH IS ASKING MCCAIN AND KERRY TO HELP HIM STOP! THESE ADS ARE THE VOICE OF WE, THE PEOPLE, TELLING BUSH WHAT WE THINK OF HIS LEADERSHIP. To censor the Voice of We, the People will not stop the results of Our message.

And the political message is loud and clear: DO NOT INTERFERE WITH OUR ELECTION. THIS IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. And they plan to enforce this decree by outlawing our political action groups, locking us under armed guard in detention centers, refusing permits to demonstrate on OUR streets, putting Our names of felon lists, making it difficult to register to vote, closing or moving polling places a la California’s recall election, no “paper trails” to track the vote (no recounts), and refuse to allow election monitors -- except for Republican monitors in predominately black voting districts.

Without those 527 groups, how could We, the People fulfill Our constitutional duty? “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government...”These 527 groups have united to do just that, we find the Bush government destructive of these ends, and it is the Right of We, the People to alter that government. That means We, the People plan to alter it by installing Senator John Kerry as our President and Commander in Chief. Then, We, the People will begin working on taking back Our Power from the Republican and Democratic parties so that we will once more be a Government, of the People, by the People, and for the People.

 

AUGUST 27, 2004

“BASHING” THE BUSH

I had no quarrel with Bush. If he had kept his “good ole’ boy” act in Texas instead of taking it on the road and forcing me to become involved with it; he could have lived out the rest of his life on his state-of-the-art “ranch” in Texas without my ever uttering his name -- except when I thought about the long forgotten demise of the Savings and Loan industry.

But he did shove his way into Our White House, thereby making himself a servant of We, the People and subject, not only to Our scrutiny but Our job review every four years. And, so far, the review ain’t good! Frankly, I’m inclined to fire the guy.

If he worked for my company, he would already be gone. None of my employees can spend half their time away from their jobs on vacation. They are paid to work. They have a vacation schedule. I’m not inclined to foot the bill for Bush’s vacation time when he takes more days off than I do. Oh, I try to be generous, if they have “family problems” or illness, I am first in line to tell them to take some time off to deal with it; I’m even willing to give them time off with pay.

But so far, Bush has not shown that he is taking care of any “family problems”’, like his daughters run-ins with the law over underage drinking, -- that was handled by the Secret Service guys, whose salaries We, the People also pay!

Bush abuses Our generosity; We don’t pay him to play golf, We don’t pay him to fish, and We don’t pay him to oversee the hired help in cutting out new trails on his ranch. We also don’t pay him to attend fancy parties where he begs for money from the rich guests. If he doesn’t like the job or the salary, he can just quit.

We can always find someone else to do the job because running for president is sort of like those 250,000 applicants showing up for 16,000 temporary jobs in California; there are always more candidates wanting the job than We can hire!

I also don’t like his personality. He is either strutting around “good ole’ boy style, all cocky and with a chip on his shoulder, or whiny and looking scared to death. He also does a lot of blustering in the wrong places and at the wrong time. Since he took the Supreme Court appointment as the “winner” in 2000, I have seen more world leaders with puzzled expressions on their faces than in my whole life.

These guys could face a firing squad with a stoic expression, but when Bush was being introduced to the world as the next leader of the United States, the small flickers of emotion dashing quickly across their features was fascinating. Upon meeting this “leader” who couldn’t put a coherent sentence together, some would step in and take the lead, some just sat shooting bewildered glances Bush’s way, some looked downright gleeful at his faux pas, and some showed a momentary glance of...fright.

But no matter what they thought, it was apparent that they all shared one thought, things had definitely changed and not for the better. Most of We, the People shared this opinion. It was one of the strangest inaugurations in history. What was supposed to be pomp and circumstances turned into a mad dash to Our White House after he became aware of the thousands of demonstrators lining his route.

Again, if my company had mistakenly hired someone who could not “play nice” with others, and the other workers constantly complained about him for grandstanding, not cooperating and not doing the job he was hired for, that person would have been dispatched a long time ago.

But the bureaucracy that was so swift to judge Clinton’s moral character just can’t seem to get it together when it comes to Bush’s morality. Clinton could have gotten life for spitting on the floor, while Bush won’t even get a reprimand for failing to do his “homework” on the August 6, 2001 PBD that promised an al Qaida attack was on its way!

I also have a problem with Bush’s military service. Yeah, I know his National Guard record needs a thorough investigation and I know that some guys spent time in prison for things Bush got away with. But I REALLY have trouble with him allowing, or instigating, the madness of challenging those VietNam veteran’s records!

When you use influence to get a place in an overcrowded National Guard Unit -- and during the VietNam war they were definitely overcrowded because everybody who could rustle up a little influence was shoehorning themselves into a Unit -- you have given up the right to criticize ANYONE who faced death in a war zone.

Those anti-war protesters who put their OWN lives on the line to stop the war have more right to criticize than Bush and his administration does! But I think this is a red herring to deflect our attention away from the war that is going on right now.

I mostly detest Bush for his trying to con me. He refused to listen to We, his BOSSES, and went to war against Our advice. Again, my company would have booted him out for lying to Management!

Look at it this way, he stood up before the stockholders (Congress) and gave a blatantly false report (State of the Union speech) that told us the Company (United States) was at risk when it wasn’t true. He also indicated that we needed to get rid of the competition (Iraq) by any means necessary. Now, in companies, People just get “laid off or “downsized” or “outsourced”. But they usually don’t die.

Bush’s con has cost an estimated 972 lives, 60 in the months of August, 2004. 2.4 citizens every day for 28 days died in Bush’ Iraq invasion that Congress voted for after Bush lied to us in his State of the Union speech. 328 were estimated wounded during those 28 days. Since Bush’s invasion began, approximately 6,497 men have been wounded. We say “approximate” and “estimated” because our government won’t tell us the exact “cost” of this war.

They only way we could actually know how many have been killed or wounded would be to ask everyone who had someone killed or wounded to send in their name to some central location, like this blog site. I would truly like to see a listing of all the names of the dead during the four years of the Bush administration; starting with the September 11, 2001 massacre and ending with Bush’s war in Iraq. I think we would all be surprised at the totals.

And yes, I hold him responsible! It happened on his watch. The Japanese bombed Pear Harbor and We did not stop until We had the perpetrators. Where is bin Laden? Why wasn’t he caught? We don’t have a total number of soldiers who have died in Afghanistan searching for him because it isn’t a Bush priority. He directed us to “support the troops” and told us that Saddam Hussein was “helping” bin Laden. Hussein is long gone and al Qaida is still spreading terror throughout the world.

But mostly I bash Bush because he declared that the Iraq invasion was complete in March, 2003 and that should have ended his Congressional “authority” for war. So why are we still there? Why are they projecting that our troops will be staying for unspecified years? Why is he still holding soldiers who have completed their tours of duty in a combat zone? Why is he throwing more and more troops into Iraq? And why are they preparing to reinstate the draft system? Why do they need more young citizens to feed a war machine that should be satiated?

To say the least, Bush has exceeded the authority of his job description. To say the most, he has violated the Trust the company placed in him when he was given this position of authority. His review should state that he should be immediately dismissed from his position.

 

AUGUST 26, 2004

“VOLATILE” INDICATORS

Let’s leave the swift boat people circling in the river for awhile and get back to something slightly more important than which was more heroic - Kerry being shot at in VietNam or Bush tossing back “shots” in the National Guard.

And that, my fellow citizens is what are we going to do about the economy? Yes, I have seen the Bush propaganda, and yes, I have heard that the economy isn’t “bad enough” to keep him out of office; but no, I don’t believe it. And I don’t believe it because, in spite of so much spin that a whirling dervish would get dizzy, they simply can’t keep the numbers up longer than it takes to get them in a report telling us the economy is better.

Now, we should be very familiar with the “nonvolatile economic indicators” by now; those numbers they measure that exempt most of the items ordinary people use; like groceries, gas for the car, and the euphemistic catchall energy!

And I’m sure we all read, or heard about, that convoluted report showing that our income was way down. But the piece de resistant was that IRS report showing that we’re all paying less tax because the rich got that big tax break and middle class citizens, who bear the tax burden almost alone, aren’t paying in as much because a lot of them are unemployed! That’s right, People, in spite of a constantly falling unemployment rate, (said to be 5.5%) we’re still loosing our jobs at an awesome rate.

We, the People should be asking how they get these statistics, instead of just accepting them. We’re told that “initial unemployment claims” for the week ending August 21 is a “revised” 343,000. They blame this increase on Hurricane Charley this week. But we didn’t have weekly hurricanes when the unemployment figure climbed to 6.1% and stood above that magic 400,000 number through most of 2003; right up until the time that Bush began campaigning for another four years.

It also began a magical descent from 6.1% without the creation of any new jobs and no data saying those laid off had returned to work! That, in itself, is a miracle!! They seem to think that ordinary citizens can’t add or subtract, let alone the complicated task of multiplying and dividing, so they never give us a whole monthly number of unemployed.

Take the month of August; the week before the just released August 21 data, 337,500 newly unemployed hit the streets. This isn’t complicated, People, it doesn’t need “massaged” numbers. 343,000 + 337,500 = 680, 500. That is more than half a million people in just two weeks! If the two previous weeks equaled the smaller week (343,000) that is 1,366,500 citizens out of work in just one month! And this is using the government’s “adjusted” economic figures.

Now consider that most of those 6.1% didn’t find a job; they either took a part-time job at a much lower salary or they are called “long term unemployed” and simply don’t count any longer. Although, “long term unemployed” are not counted in unemployment statistics, they are counted in the Census data, which has show a huge increase in poverty for the three years Bush has been in office. It also shows a huge increase in workers who fear they can’t provide enough food for the family or have actually skipped meals.

Those long term, uncounted, unemployed are estimated between 10 -12 million, but, as far as I know, there is no government agency which follows up once you are no longer eligible to receive unemployment -- you just disappear!

During the Reagan years of the 1980’s, his “recession” hit blue collar workers and farmers; dropping millions of citizens from a comfortable working class environment to a state of homelessness and hopelessness in 8 years. The economy, and those working class citizens, never recovered and just disappeared out of society. You probably encounter one of Reagan’s “economic” victims every day on the street. They even have their own classification now, “Street People.”

Once again, we are faced with millions of laid off citizens unable to find jobs; however, this time they are middle-class, many highly educated, and technology trained individuals who had followed the mantra, “if you get an education, you will live the American dream” only to see their jobs going off shore and not one person in government lifting one finger to stop it.

While Bush continues to party with his elite “base”, we keep pounding the proverbial pavement in search of a job - any job that will pay the bills. Highly educated people sell shoes and suits to Bush’s affluent “base”. They also wait on Bush’s “base” when they go on vacation, park their cars, carry their luggage, and fetch and carry much like the surfs of old.

The economic data provides a Bush fantasy; but look at your bottom line, that paycheck. And ask yourself, ARE you better off today than you were 4 years ago? Is your family? When was your last raise? How much have your “volatile” numbers gone up since your last raise? Has your savings increased? What about that stock market portfolio; is it back to where it was pre-2000? IS YOUR JOB SECURE OR ARE YOU STARING OUTSOURCING IN THE FACE IN 2005?

Are you one of Bush’s “base” or are you one of We, the People? Where does your loyalty lie?

 

AUGUST 25, 2004

THE IMPORTANCE OF AMENDMENT I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise of....

I am appalled at the ignorance that translates “prohibiting the free exercise of” into, not just public displays of religion, but as tacit approval to impose your particular religious beliefs upon others in public places.

Can you imagine every public event recognizing every person’s religious conviction with an observance? Just imagine a school board meeting with Muslim prayer rugs spread everywhere; imagine a variety of Christian prayers delivered by Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Seven Day Adventists, Christian Scientists, Mormons, Greek Orthodox, Catholics, to name just a few, ... alongside Jewish prayers and all Quakers who expect to contribute their own religious observation! Would there be time for the reason the meeting was called?

Oh, you say, just choose one, a non-denominational one. Shall we make it the Muslim? Perhaps the Mormons, who believe in the devineness of Brigham Young? Hindu? Buddhists? Now how do you feel? Of course, you want the “dominate” religion, don’t you, and that would be Christian, and there you have established your religious preference! And now you have expected the government to endorse your religious preference over everyone else’s free exercise of...

Every time I hear someone pompously proclaim that this country was founded by religious zealots, I ask myself, why don’t they know their country’s history? It takes a pretty uneducated person to believe that a group like the Christian Coalition founded this country! The Christian Coalition wouldn’t allow most of the bedraggled religious outcasts who landed on these wild shores to practice their religion any more than the government established religion of England did!

You are pretty desperate to come all this way into the wilderness, clear a little patch of land and hunker down with less than a hundred or so people to battle savage beasts and depend upon the kindness of “savage” strangers. But they did.

At one point, Quakers were a dominate religion this country because William Penn had received a huge land grant from England and established his own colony for that religion. IF our constitution had “established a religion”, we just might all be Quakers!

So, forget the nonsense that agreeable Christians established our Constitution. Most of those who produced that document and founded this nation classified themselves as agnostic, atheists or believers in some sort of “creator”; which could even be nature. One of the sticking points to ratification of the Constitution was that every little religious group present either wanted their religion to be the dominate one, or feared that an “established” religion would outlaw them just like England did.

There is also the myth that the Founding Fathers had put “In God We Trust” on the coin of the new country. Sorry, but that wasn’t added until the Civil War. Secretary Salmon P. Chase was responsible for submitting the motto, which was approved for coins; paper money did not include the motto until 1957 -- two very volatile periods in our history. One being the Civil War, the other the McCarthy era of the “communist witch-hunts.”

As for the Pledge of Allegiance, it was introduced for the first time in 1892 and consisted of:

I pledge allegiance to my Flag,

and to the Republic for which it stands:

One Nation indivisible,

With Liberty and Justice for all.

A patriotic little motto, inclusive, no one’s God excluded. It was an allegiance to this country, not to a religion. The version most commonly used today was introduced in 1954, that old McCarty with-hunt hysteria again.

So why am I introducing a little constitutional religious history? Because I just read that Republicans have added a “plank” to their platform that calls for a constitutional amendment on marriage, specifically aimed at gay citizens of the United States but could easily spill over onto Women’s Rights, and added that they oppose any legal recognition of gay civil unions. The committee members who added this plank, have added a caveat saying that they “respect and accept” dissenting view. “We are the party of the open door.” Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says, while firmly closing it.

Christopher Barron, of the Log Cabin Republicans, (a gay-rights group) stated, “You can’t craft a vicious, mean-spirited platform and then try to put lipstick on the pig by putting Rudy Giuliana and Arnold Schwarzenegger on in prime time.” (Do Republicans realize that these two have some deep moral issues of their own to answer for?)

The only basis for this “marriage amendment” that has been spoken about was a religious morality that Christians like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson say the found in their bible. Whatever their bible says is irrelevant to our Constitution.

The Rights of gays and lesbians are inalienable, granted in Our constitution. Religious convictions are not a part of it -- never have been! Republicans, and the Christian Coalition seem to have a selective morality; they can condemn in some what they forgive in others. That, too, has no place in the Constitution.

Fortunately, all is not lost. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a U.S. District Court in Little Rock, Arkansas, who had issued an injunction against prayers during mandatory staff meetings at the DeValls Bluff School District, but it said that it did so for the wrong reasons.

The Circuit Court of Appeals said that an injunction benefiting Steve Warnock, an art teacher, should have been granted because the Devalls School District endorsed a religion -- not because the prayers “offended” Warnock. Warnock’s suit, filed in 1999, said that the mandatory prayers openly promoted Christianity and that district officials harassed him.

Both elements of the case were unconstitutional. The School District did violate Warnock’s civil rights by forcing him to endure their interpretation of their “established” religion. And the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was correct that the case went beyond Warnock’s civil rights issue to encompass the violation of the “establishment of a religion” because there was no way Warnock could fulfill his job requirements without being forced to participate in a religion not of his choosing.

Unfortunately, the Republican party has now leaned so far toward “establishing a religion” that it is in total violation of our Bill of Rights and our Constitution. Bush, the “commander-in-chief” tells us that his god told him to invade Iraq, his god also told him to give our tax money to certain religious groups to establish programs.

If you don’t share “gods” with him, the world is going to be a less friendly place for “other” religions. Remember, one of the most important goals of the Third Reich was getting rid of one religious group. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s father was among those assisting in that goal; one of Schwarzenegger’s most beloved friends assisted in eliminating that group.

And, unless you fit the definition of “Christian” as defined by Bush and his party, you are at risk of loosing your Constitutional protection of “no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” All religious faiths, beware.

 

AUGUST 24, 2004

EMBARRASSING FAILURE?

They (political scientists and economists) are predicting that George W. Bush will be the winner of the November 2004 election. They are saying this in spite of what they call “an embarrassing failure” four years ago.

What they aren’t saying is that their forecasting model four years ago wasn’t made with all the data. In fact, if they had factored in a very large part of the data that was missing; that many millions of people who would go to the polls to vote would not be allowed to do so or that their votes would not be counted, they would probably have come up with a different model!

But stolen votes isn’t one of their predictors. They include economic data on growth, inflation, unemployment, wage growth and/or a combination of these factors.

All of those were high indicators that Gore would be elected because the economy was roaring along; no stock market crash, plenty of jobs, wages up, inflation steady and poverty down. There were no job cuts that would produce tens of millions of unemployed or underemployed citizens and “outsource” so much of our manufacturing base that we risked being reclassified as an un-industrialized nation. (Bush “reclassified” a few million service jobs to keep it from happening.) And, for the first time in a long time, we enjoyed a multi trillion dollar surplus.

Amazing isn’t it, that all these positive economic indicators spelled a “loss” for Gore, but these same negative indicators spell a “win” for Bush?

Let’s put the economy this way. You are at the top of a cliff, you fall off. More than halfway down, you grab something that stops your fall. This is a very tall cliff and you are safe hanging there and you may never make it to the top. You can choose to hang there, assuring yourself that you will be fine.

Pretty soon, just hanging onto that piece of rock seems to be the most normal thing in the world. So, as the hours pass you decide that maybe it isn’t so bad, maybe you can just stay there, scratch out a little ledge for yourself and just reside there forever ... but then, something moves somewhere on that mountain and you are suddenly in freefall.

You are going to hit bottom and it is going to hurt. Somewhere above you, everyone is just going about their business, but you aren’t one of them anymore. You are at the bottom of that cliff, trying to get up, trying to find a way back up that mountain. And you aren’t going to make it unless someone gives you some help!

That is the four years of the Bush economy in freefall. But, for some reason, all the models are predicting another four years of Bush! The last three incumbents to lose, Hoover, Carter and Bush, Sr were all in economic trouble when they lost their bid for reelection. This is one of the “historic patterns” used to predict elections.

For the majority of We, the People, Bush’s economy invokes “Grapes of Wrath” memories that our grandparents used to tell us about living through Hoover’s “big one”. And these “historical patterns” of those three presidents show a major stock market crash, (Hoover) due to the same trickle down policies followed by Reagan, which put us back in an inflation and depression that in turn brought on the Bush recession and helped him to loose his bid for reelection. Carter was touched by the gas crisis and double digit inflation that he had inherited from Nixon. Whoever followed Nixon was doomed; Republican or Democrat.

Whoever followed Clinton, inherited the “wealth”. But after eight years of Clinton economic success; four years of Bush has reduced a thriving economy to the worst economy since the Great Depression and it began right after the Supreme Court declared Bush the victor, not a moment before or a moment after -- but economic predictors say he’s gonna win?

Something’s wrong somewhere! These guys must either be accepting Bush’s economic rah rah speeches, they are spending way too much time in their labs, or they need new models! If these factors are supposed to predict Bush success based on economic factors, then they should be predicting that Bush will loose... unless this time the are factoring in those they missed last time.

Michael Lewis-Beck, University of Iowa, says the election is too close to call. He has changed his model to take into account 1.1 million of the lost jobs during Bush’s four years. “Bush has the worst jobs record of any incumbent since the Second World War...” Lewis -Beck says, predicting that Bush will win 51% of the vote and that will make this election too close to call.

A Yale University economist, who “built” his predicting model around gross domestic product growth predicts that Bush will take 58.5% of the vote “If this election follows historical patterns.” (?) Historical patterns indicate that Bush is a looser.

Nigel Gault of Global Insights, based in Lexington, MA says, “Our equation says the economy ought to be good enough for Bush to win...If the election turns out to be not entirely or not mainly about he economy, Bush might be vulnerable.” Are We, the People stupid enough to accept “good enough” when we remember “GREAT”?

Economist Robert Dye says they show Bush with 53.7% but that has been falling in recent months. But... “The caveats are legion. We do not consider any type of voter preference on foreign policy and we are not accounting for non economic issues.” Some mighty powerful issues not factored in, like a draft that would put our teenaged children in Iraq for possibly the next 5 years!

Nor do these models take into account voter anger over the botched 2000 election, the intervention of the Supreme Court that stopped the recount that would have proven Gore the winner, Fahrenheit 9/11, and the “anyone but Bush” movement that has proved so strong in this year’s campaign process.

Doing an “economic model” is just one factor in this coming election, and, it doesn’t look like a very important one to me. Most of those long term unemployed aren’t factored into the economic model either, and my guess is that they will vote for whichever candidate is more likely to give them a job -- just like in the 1932 election that put Roosevelt in power for the rest of his life!

But, by putting out the information that “Bush is gonna win the election because the economy isn’t worse”, it is a bit of a subliminal push in the direction of a Bush vote. By not balancing this “economic” message with the other factors; war, deaths, poverty; you could read this as a definite sign that your vote won’t count - once again.

The price We, the People paid for that botched 2000 election is still being collected in blood, sweat and tears. And the World is really watching this time; and what they are seeing isn’t Democracy in action.

The “historical factors” they are observing are the same ones they witnessed in 2000. The new “felon list” of Florida, shows that they never got around to removing the names of legal voters wrongly listed on the old felon list, machines that can’t or won’t tally all the votes and switch votes from one candidate to the other, no paper trail to confirm the vote, the notion that Our election just might be canceled, and the request for election monitors by members of the House of Representatives.

Our democratic model of allowing all citizens to vote, and to count the votes of all the citizens, failed us four years ago. The economic model that predicted a Gore victory was right on. And they may be “right on” again this time, if the “model” used to take the election away from the elected president Gore, is the one being used to predict the 2004 election.

It isn’t inconceivable that We, the People could witness another elected president being again displaced by an un-elected one, unless enough of We, the People can be persuaded not to vote for Kerry, or to vote against our own survival and give a “victory” to Bush. If Bush’s election hangs on “economic” factors, then he will loose. If his election is going to a ruthless reenactment of the one in 2000, then We, the People will loose. I just hope the choice is still ours....

 

AUGUST 23, 2004

ONE BILLION AND COUNTING

For two years now, I have watched the machine called The Election getting revved up for this November. It was rolled out of the garage almost simultaneously with the inauguration that took place in 2000 to begin “fixing” it for 2004.

It needed a lot of maintenance after the Florida Fiasco which had most civilized nations in the world asking, “What happened?” If We, the People really knew what happened, we might have been better able to repair the damage; but, lacking the means to do a thorough inspection, (The 1965 Civil Rights Commission Report did the best and only diagnostic available) it was left up to each individual state to tinker with it.

Most government “political” officials determined that our problems must come from what we had been using to substitute for a “show of hands” and decreed that those paper punch ballots were getting into the engine. They planned to replace the old fashioned Paper Trail for a new state-of-the-art machine that could count the votes swiftly and give quick and definitive information.

However, they forgot one little thing known as accountability. It appears that these highly touted machines have the same problems as the old paper punch ones. In fact, those paper ballots might be old fashioned, but they worked better than the newfangled machines in our old Democratic engine.

Unlike the derided “paper trail” ballots that allowed Florida, and all the other states to recount the ballots, those Diebolt voting machines just chew them up and swallow them. Every election since the Florida Debacle has had a bunch of experts gathered around scratching their heads over ballots which automatically switched candidate’s votes, or just totally disappeared!

It might have been bent, folded, spindled, mutilated, pregnant, or hanging but at least those chads were there for us to see. Try crawling inside the mind of a Diebolt machine to determine who really got a vote. Without that notorious “paper trail” the machine should spit out, your election official’s guess is as good as mine!

Literally, nothing has been done to improve the “voting side” of an election; in fact, it is harder to determine the “winner” now that it was when the Supreme Court decided that they would just kill the election engine and declare a winner!!

So with our voting engine rusting away, a whole list of people have been out there trying to persuade us to vote for them. And it doesn’t have much to do with “issues” like what are they doing with all that money we hand over every April 15? Or where have all the jobs gone? Or why doesn’t the World like us anymore? Or why can’t I afford to take my kid/wife/parent/ME to the doctor anymore? Or why the hell are you talking about starting a draft that will send my teenage son/daughter to Iraq?

AND WHY ARE YOU STICKING ME IN A NASTY, WET, DETENTION CENTER GUARDED BY BURLY MEN IN BATTLE GEAR AND POINTING RIFFLES AT ME WHEN I WANT ANSWERS FROM EMPLOYEE BUSH?????

And none of this bait and switch nonsense for me. Kerry’s service record - good or bad - has nothing to do with how Bush is running the country INTO THE GROUND!!! I care more about Bush being on vacation more than half of his four years in office than I do if Kerry’s swift boat was under fire 30 years ago. But as long as they brought it up, let’s compare Kerry’s keeping his a** down in VietNam with how Bush kept his a** OUT of VietNam!

A military record isn’t necessary to be president, but a little experience with looking mortality in the eye doesn’t seem such a bad thing right now, what with Bush deciding to take out America’s old comrade in arms Saddam Hussein. It’s not just We, the People, wandering around in circles trying to make sense of it; the United States military seems to be having the same trouble. Did Bush just throw a dart at a map and it landed on Iraq? Is that why almost a thousand soldiers are dead and thousands more are wounded?

Don’t expect an answer from the “fly boy” who declared that it “was over” back in April of 2003. He just says quit your whining, suck it up, we’ll be there for a few more years, and I’m going on vacation!

Which brings me to another point. He splits his time on vacation or attending parties that only his “elite base” are invited to and whoever the attendees are, they are giving Bush money hand over fist. At last count, they had coughed up about $200,000,000 and Bush didn’t use it to pay down the deficit either!! WHERE IS ALL THIS MONEY COMING FROM AND WHY ARE THEY GIVING IT TO HIM?

Being the cynical citizen that I am (no one is offering me money for working part time and spending the rest vacationing) I’d like to know what they think they will be getting in exchange for all this money? I am a confirmed subscriber to the “no free lunch” theory, so I’m more than a little skeptical. With all that has been happening lately, I’m more than a little concerned that, like receiving money from the Mafia, the price to be repaid is going to be considerably more than what was received ... and my worry is that I’m going to be the one paying it!

Since Bush impulsively decided, around the age of 40, that it was time to do something with his life, unlike you or I, he also decided to start at the top. Like a little boy playing war games, he revels in the titles of “war president” and “commander-in-chief. But like most spoiled rich kids, he tires of the game quickly and now our troops seem destined to spend years on the field of battle while he seems to have moved on to other things; like parties and campaigning.

With millions finding it hard to scrape up the money to buy food, this presidential election has wasted over 1 BILLION DOLLARS on a campaign whose outcome is already predetermined. All those new election regulation laws didn’t seem to work. This is record setting spending which simply isn’t necessary! What do they think we are going to do, vote for the guy who spends the most? Both of these guys are playing a game that we don’t know the rules to. All this money, all these words, add up to a big fat zero for We, the People.

If one of these guys had sent One Billion Dollars to fix some of the problems of unemployment and poverty in this country, I guarantee he would be the guy getting the votes -- that is, if those Diebolt machines would let us vote for him.

 

AUGUST 22, 2004

MORE FACTS...

I never considered myself a Democrat...nor a Republican. I am a confirmed third party voter; I sway between those parties, depending on who is their candidate and what their “platform” consists of. But one bitter lesson I have learned since the 2000 election is that the Republican party creates their own truth. And that “truth” has nothing to do with facts.

In 2000 we had a burgeoning third party system that is now defunct. Where once there was a possibility of a third party victory, there now is none. Nor is there any real opportunity for a “different” or “individual’ to emerge from the two party political system.

All of the candidates who get nominated for the presidency are generic; with the notable exception of George W. Bush, someone who didn’t fit the stereotype of a “politician”...but then he never claimed to be a servant of the people; he chose his own label and installed himself as “commander-in-chief”, unaccountable for his actions to We, the People.

Which is why, citizens like Glen Hiller of Berkley Springs, shouting questions at Bush during his visit to Hedgeville High School, (HOW DID HE GET IN????), suddenly found himself unemployed. Hiller says that his company, Octavo Designs, Frederick, Maryland, fired him because he had embarrassed and offended a client who had provided tickets to the rally.

Or citizens like the Millers, who got searched and their tickets to a Bush speech torn up because the daughter, Theresa chose to wear a pink t-shirt with the slogan, “This is what feminism looks like”, and her mom Barbara happened to grab a sweatshirt, in case she got cold, that had a pro-choice message on it. Seems this is considered subversive by the Bush gestapo who has the power to choose which citizens get to see public servant Bush.

And the Iraq National Guard vet, just back, who decided to take a few teenage students, whose short term futures included both voting for the guy who just might be responsible for reinstituting the draft that would put their young lives in jeopardy in Iraq! But, as they were dubbed, some of those teens were “baby Democrats” and therefore didn’t deserve to hear or see the man who held their fate in his hands.

But then, according to the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, hosting the Republican Convention at the beginning of September (to take advantage of the September 11 anniversary) FREE ASSEMBLY IS A PRIVILEGE, NOT A RIGHT. Either Mayor Bloomberg is totally ignorant of Our Constitution or else he just doesn’t care about it. He states that First Amendment rights of free speech and free assembly are “privileges that could be lost if abused”!!!

The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” That is the sum total of that Amendment.

Mayor Bloomberg says, “People who avail themselves of the OPPORTUNITY to express themselves...they will not above that PRIVILEGE... Because if we start to abuse our privileges, then WE LOSE THEM...”

Mayor Bloomberg seems to have confused Bush’-Homeland Security- Patriot-Act, with the real McCoy! The preamble to the Constitution states,

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident...that they are endowed with certain UNALIENABLE RIGHTS... that to SECURE THESE RIGHTS, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED...

Nowhere is it written that these are privileges! Nowhere is it written that they can be taken away. THEY ARE INALIENABLE. For Mayor Bloomberg’s edification, inalienable is defined as FOREVER,TO ETERNITY, NOT CAPABLE OF BEING TRANSFERRED TO ANOTHER. So, how did Bush and Bloomberg arrive at the conclusion that they had the power to simply get rid of them? They should both be asked that question.

I guess they got the idea that our Bill of Rights wasn’t worth the parchment it was written on from the same people who decided that it didn’t matter if all of We, the People protected by that Bill of Rights, got our votes counted. And this may be an eye opener for some of you, but even if you did find your way out of the maze of registration restrictions, DON’T COUNT ON YOUR VOTE BEING COUNTED.

Since 2000, more and more reports show that the number of votes not counted in the 2000 election exceed those votes that never made it to the ballot box in the 2000 election. Although Republicans and their partners, “the media” keep telling us that Bush won, we know it wasn’t by a landslide, not even by a trickle. Count the portion of uncounted votes, or the disenfranchised votes, or the number of votes which mysteriously maneuvered around inside those voting machine to other people or to mysteriously disappear and what you have is a landslide for Al Gore.

Report after report on every election since 2000 is showing a new phenonoman: The mysteriously disappearing votes.

When I think of those voting machines, I automatically envision the magician who puts his lovely assistant in the box, waves his magic wand, and presto! she is gone. The only difference is that she comes back, but the votes that go in the Diebolt voting machines come out in new shapes or don’t come out at all!!

Looks like our Bill of Rights has been fed into the Patriot Act and has come out the same way!

 

AUGUST 21, 2001

THE SWIFT BOAT AFFAIR

I have often wondered where anyone would use the phrase, “it boggles the mind” but what is going on with the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” truly boggles the mind! First, why are they going to such lengths to smear the military record of someone who actually volunteered for that dirty war in VietNam?

Here we are, just about two months before the election of John Kerry or George W. Bush and instead of discussing issues that We, the People must know about; jobs, schools, health care, that damn deficit, and that damn invasion of Iraq, we are mired in re-fighting the VietNam war via John Kerry’s service record -- although once again, not George W. Bush’s ignoble VietNam service record.

The smearing of Kerry’s service is the same as smearing the service record of some poor National Guardsman dragged from civilian life into the Iraq invasion and then belittling the medals he receives from being hit by shrapnel from one of those bombs the resistance is throwing at our guys over there.

My problem starts with a group whose only purpose for being seems to be to attack Kerry, and anyone who served with him, to tarnish their war record. We know the same thing happened to former Senator Max Cleland when Republicans targeted his election campaign with criticism about how the triple amputee lost both legs and an arm while in combat in VietNam.

Supposedly, these members were in VietNam and that is why they can make these accusation of “no firefight”, and the claim that Kerry insisted he be written up and/or wrote up his own report for a medal when no actual firefight happened. Leaving all this nonsense aside, as the “facts” from this group seem to be moving about as fast as Kerry’s “swift boat”, if they were there, then they know that no area was “safe” from attack.

Al Gore was attacked for his military service in 2000 because he wasn’t on the “front lines” but “safe in Saigon”. Have you ever listened to the stories of those who served and stood guard in VietNam? They didn’t know who was “the enemy” and who wasn’t. They didn’t know who or where the person snipping at them was most of the time. “Insurgents” were constantly tossing bombs and blowing up things.

How did this group of “Swift Boat Veterans” manage to avoid all the dangers those ordinary veterans faced and still be everywhere, seeing and hearing everything about where Kerry was and what he did. Had they been posted to VietNam to watch Kerry???

John McCain’s military service record was also attacked by his own Republican party in 2000. True, McCain wasn’t in the midst of that much fighting during his military service in VietNam; but he was in the midst of the enemy camp, he was a prisoner of the VietCong! Rather hard to do much fighting when you are kept caged up, I would suppose.

Since most of the Bush administration have no military service records, you would also suppose that the Republican party would want to keep the military thing quiet after the big brouhaha over former President Clinton’s never having been drafted; and the Republican stampede to get out of the way when the draft threatened to blow them to VietNam -- but somehow, military service just isn’t as important...when you’re the one who didn’t serve.

I came across a handy little chart posted on the internet showing the members of this band of “Swift boat Veterans”. It gives a precise outline of the members and their connection to prominent Republicans. It also gave a concise listing of the members and their previous statements over the years versus the military records.

New York Times article “Connections and Contradictions” of August 10, 2004 or

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/08/19/politics/campaign/20040820swift_graph.gif

Now, they can claim that the military records aren’t factual or were “doctored” BUT they must be exceedingly careful when they tell us that the military documents aren’t true because they now balance their “commander-in-chief’s” military credibility upon that double edged sword. If all the military documents about Kerry’s service can be put in doubt, what does that do to George W. Bush’s claims that he “satisfactorily completed his National Guard Service”???

If the records of VietNam battles are suspect, what does that do to the legitimacy of the erased, missing and altered records of George W. Bush’s National Guard service? If Kerry can not satisfactorily “prove” that he deserved his medals (and if carrying a piece of shrapnel around for over 30 years isn't enough proof, what is?) how can George W. Bush possibly prove that he did not desert his National Guard Unit in time of war?

George W. Bush tells us he is a “war president” but when he had his chance to serve he was far from the battle. The closest he got to service was when he refused to take a flight physical, disappeared from duty, and was about to be punished with a trip to VietNam. The closest he has been to a war of any kind was when he said he was going to invade Iraq with or without the approval of the United Nations or his bosses; We, the People.

There is something wrong with these men who would go to such lengths to tarnish, not only Kerry, but the service of all our troops who are sent to war by old men. When Bush invaded Iraq, he, and all the members of his administration constantly told us that we must “support the troops”. They used the VietNam war as an example of why we must “support the troops” even if we didn’t support the war. But Bush supporters are showing no support for those young men who fought and died during four administrations’ VietNam policy for sixteen long years.

The Republican party and the “Swift boat Veterans” can not have it both ways. What they are doing and saying goes beyond a challenge of whether or not Kerry deserved his medals. There are World War II veterans, Korean War veterans, the first Gulf war veterans, who were awarded medals for the same kind of wounds as Kerry’s.

Are they saying that the sacrifices these men made didn’t deserve to be honored? Just facing death every day deserves some recognition. My grandfather’s recognition is in a $5.00 a month pension for his sacrificed years. How much is your child’s life worth?

 

AUGUST 20, 2004

TOO IMPORTANT TO IGNORE

Four years ago we saw a glimpse of things to come. We, the People watched while our sacrosanct voting system was destroyed through inattention, degradation and accusation. Watching Republican stormtroopers taking the building where the legal recount of the Florida vote was being done was frightening; the fact that it successfully stopped the recount was appalling.

Watching the Supreme Court, that Judicial Branch of Our government; whose blind scales of Justice were supposed to protect all of the citizens; take off that blindfold and decree the winner of the Florida election by refusing to allow the State to recount all the votes, was a blow to Our freedom to chose Our public servant leader.

And that interference by the Supreme Court, which validated the storming of that building where Our votes were being painstakingly counted by hand, took this country out of the control of We, the People and put it in individual hands not elected, but appointed.

We have seen dark days before and have emerged scarred and wiser. Many of us still remember being targets of the witch hunt known as the era of “McCarthyism”. For those of you too young to remember, or never got this bit of information during your school years, Senator Joe McCarthy used his senatorial position to begin a lengthy investigation into citizens he labeled as “Communists”.

There were no boundaries on those he accused or his reasons for doing so. And if you pursue the tangled web of his investigations, you see some names important to the future Republican party among his assistants. Names like Richard Nixon, who was a member of McCarthy’s investigating committee; and Ronald Reagan, head of the Screen Actor’s Guild, who gave the committee whatever they asked for and thereby condemned hundreds of actors, writers, musicians, film produces and many, many others, to lives of despair.

Hollywood was particularly hard hit by a blacklist that kept them from working in this country and forced them to work under assumed identities as late as the 60’s and 70’s; others ended up exiled for life to live and die in foreign countries. Some simply committed suicide. Beloved comedian Lucille Ball was among those targeted by the McCarthy investigation.

The Republican Junior Senator from Wisconsin held our country hostage for four years, accusing various public figures of being communists and creating a climate of hysteria, distrust and fear. At first, he had concentrated his efforts on Democrats associated with the New Deal. Harry Truman was contemptuously portrayed as a “dangerous liberal”.

As the climate of fear grew, and McCarthy’s attacks became bolder, members of Congress tried to stop his escalating accusations, but it wasn’t until 1954, when he attacked the military, that he met his match. Chief Army Counsel Joseph Welch, in a televised hearing watched by 20 million Americans, proved to be McCarthy’s downfall.

After this televised hearing, he gradually lost his bully-pulpit power and sunk into obscurity but those he had harmed could not be given their lives back; they had to live with what he had done to them. And our country’s history had to include that black chapter when every action revolved around fear. There was no “official apology” to those whose civil rights had been denied.

So why bring up this historical event? Why is it important to contemplate today, a short couple of months before our next election? Because those who do not learn from history, and their mistakes, are doomed to repeat them. And we are rapidly repeating this embarrassing and shameful event.

George W. Bush road into power on a wave of fear. From the moment he assumed command we have been in the midst of a crisis that has never gone away, but is based on fear and is constantly being escalated. Republicans have learned from their history; but the lessons they learned are harmful to our country.

The Bush administration has a list of “traitors” who fight against his agenda. He uses much the same tactics to “out” them as McCarthy did. Their names are spread and tarnished and it does not matter who gets harmed on the way; be they Plame or Khan.

The Bush administration capitalizes on fear; whenever one of Bush’s “projects” gets into trouble we hear the sounds of the Orange Bell of Homeland Security sounding the alarm -- just as McCarthy did.

The communists are coming!

The terrorists are coming!

The message is the same. Fear accompanies every action, thereby causing us to pause to contemplate our safety rather than the reasons we need to be kept safe.

September 11, 2001 is another embarrassing and shameful event in our history -- not the loss of so many lives, but the way the man who was supposed to lead the country reacted to that terrorist attack. While people jumped from burning buildings and planes roared unchecked through our airspace, we see video of a frightened “commander-in-chief” supposedly “gathering his thoughts” for 27 minutes. And after it was over, and his safety assured, he emerges to wave and take credit for other’s work.

But he first “took charge” of finding his Saudi friends, royals and relatives of the head of the group that used our planes as bombs. He approved transporting them to a location so that they could be whisked away from the devastation caused by their fellow countryman - Osama bin Laden.

And then he waited.

The man who likes to be known as a “war president” did nothing until pushed into going after bin Laden by NATO. I wish that Michael Moore had included that in his film. Our allies had to push him into going after the head of that terrorist group by saying, “If you don’t, we will.” There will always be this question of why he did what he did when he did it.

Bush & Company use this attack to fuel his political campaign; although nothing that was done before, during or after, can be credited to his direct action. And what he created to supposedly “protect” us from terrorists, simply snares ordinary citizens in his widely cast net of “patriot act” and “homeland security”.

The patriot act his administration created is like the list of Communists created by Joe McCarthy. We are all suspects, and we are all treated as if we were guilty. It was said that to cross McCarthy brought about a witch-hunt likened to the Salem Witch Trials. To cross Bush now brings the same witch hunt.

Under the guise of the Patriot Act, the Bill of Rights is no longer observed. We are targeted, listed, interrogated, and imprisoned. There is an abundance of examples. Citizens who have tickets to hear their public servant speak, find that those whose salaries We, the People pay, are deciding if we can or can not hear him speak. The “hired help” tears up your tickets, boots teachers and teens learning valuable citizenship lessons, and threatened others with arrest for having the audacity to not blindly believe.

We have built what one judge has termed detention centers, some call cages, to virtually lock up dissenters whenever Bush rolls into town for one of his “speeches” to his “elite base”. And citizen protesters, whether they carry signs or sing chants, are herded into these areas and guarded by men with guns... “inalienable right” to “peaceably assemble”.

The FBI is sent to our door to interrogate, threaten, and warn us that our dissent is not wanted; that for our own good we should stay away from staged Bush events, like the upcoming Republican convention. Legal penalties for demonstrating against something, like the Iraq invasion, have been raised so that now you will carry the stigma of a criminal record; which, by the way, will also take away your right to vote in Florida.

And, if we wish to travel, our names will be put on lists that will categorize you as a potential terrorist and you will not be permitted to travel. You can be detained at the airport for days, weeks, months...until your captors are satisfied that you aren’t a terrorist...this time....

Your right to be secure in your “persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures” CAN be violated and warrants CAN be issued, and you CAN be detained without “probable” cause because the patriot act says because Amendment IV of our bill of rights is no longer a guarantee; it isn’t even a suggestion.

Think it can’t happen to you? It already has.

350 United States citizens have been stopped from boarding flights. Among those detained were two nuns; anti-war protesters; a Vermont college student; a Presbyterian minister; a member of the American Civil Liberties Union; Representative John Lewis and Senator Ted Kennedy, the brother of our martyred President Kennedy. The one thing all these diverse citizens had in common was that they each found themselves on a terrorist watch list, refused permission to board and interrogated over and over and over.

Representative Lewis, a Democrat from Georgia is a nine-term congressman who is famous for his civil rights work with the Reverend Martin Luther King. He says he has been stopped between 40 and 50 times in the past year. Did his civil rights work earn him a place on the “terrorist watch list”?

If you do not know who Senator Ted Kennedy is, or what he looks like, your are one of the most uninformed people on the planet. The youngest brother of our martyred President John Kennedy has been in the senate since 1962; he has been a continuous proponent of health care and has constantly been reviled by Republicans.

Congressman Lewis says he contacted the Department of Transportation, the Department of Homeland Security, and executives at various major airlines in a fruitless effort get his name removed from the terrorist list.

Although the elected member of our legislative branch of government has been given a letter from TSA that he can give to ticket agents saying he has passed an “identify check” with the agency; the letter also states, “While TSA cannot ensure that this procedure will relieve all delays, we hope it will facilitate [a] more efficient check in procedure for you.”

So the State of Georgia still has an elected representative on the terrorist watch list.The Democratic Senator Kennedy has taken the identical flight for 42 years from his Massachusetts district to Washington, DC and back. His first notification of his name being on the “blacklist” terrorist watch list was in March, 2004 when his credit card was refused and he was told he couldn’t fly to Washington. It took Senator Kennedy more than three weeks and intervention by the head of Homeland Security, to get his name off this terrorist list.

After the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, bin Laden’s relatives were allowed to leave the country with less interrogation than we get going through customs.

Something is very wrong here.

We thought the witch-hunt mentality of the McCarthy era was dead; it appears to be alive and expanding. If our well known elected senators and representatives can be subjected to this sort of treatment; what of We, the People? Who will stand up for us? Where will this all end? Larger, more permanent detention centers for those of us who are not members of George W. Bush’s “elite base”?

 

AUGUST 19, 2004

“Commander in Chief” George W. Bush

Campaigning with the Elite

Your Base,

USA

Dear Commander in Chief Bush,

Sorry that I must interrupt your weekly vacation, but it is very difficult to catch you at work. Yesterday, I wrote your opponent a letter asking him questions about why he wishes to be the president of the United States. Now I wish to ask you some questions about your reason for wishing to be president of the United States.

There is no question that you not only desire, but expect to win this election - it appears with or without the votes of We, the People - so I ask you why? Is it to continue with the occupation of Iraq? Was your sole purpose in running for president of the United States in 2000 to inflict this war upon Our peaceful country?

When you asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the 2000 election, what were your goals for this country? Did you really believe that being a public servant of We, the People would give you Our permission to get rid of over two million jobs, increase poverty, financially break schools, institute your religious faith throughout the land, insult and deride every other world leader and and make up lies to invade a sovereign foreign country?

Did you really think We, the People wanted that? Did you truly believe We wanted Our sons and daughters dead in another unconstitutional war, condemned by the United Nations and all of the civilized nations of the world? Do you understand the enormity of your determining, in the name of Our freedom, that our children die defending the oil fields of Iraq?

I would think, like all of Our Great Leaders, if you understood what you had really asked of Us, that those soon to be one thousand children of our Country, would haunt your every move. Do any of these lost lives skim the surface of your conscience?

In 1950, one of our greatest presidents, Harry Truman, observed,
“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”

Read that again, Commander in Chief Bush. I know that you do not care for the details of thinking, but try to understand that this is what your leadership has brought our country to. Since you have occupied Our White House, you have brought a new set of rules with you. We are no longer guaranteed the unalienable rights of Our Bill Rights. The definition of unalienable is literally “not to be separated”. And yet you have separated us from those rights in many ways.

You have set yourself up with the trappings of monarchy; everywhere you go, those who offend you are kept from your sight, herded into razor wired holding pens guarded by men with guns. You speak only to selected “nobles” (your elite base, as you put it) that you bestow your blessing upon in the form of tax cuts. And when someone displeases you, you set your hounds of distraction upon them.

Unfortunately, a large portion of We, the People, are terrified by the country you have created. Many of us live in fear. You seem to have no plans to rectify that. You accuse your opponent of “flip flopping” on issues but you seem to be flitting from issue to issue, dismantling what was there and flitting on without ever finishing what you start. Since you assumed the presidential mantle, you have dabbled with school, taxes, jobs, war -- and Terrorism. And you have completed nothing.

While We, the People are left scrabbling about trying to recreate some kind of order in our lives; you seem not to notice the tsunami that trails behind you. We are left with the wreckage of your “plans” while you continue to take time off -- a luxury We barely remember.

And two months before We, the People go to the polls to vote for a leader to guide us through this mess, you tell us that nothing is wrong, no mistakes were made by you or your cohorts. Are we imaging this, Commander in Chief Bush? Do you truly think that We unemployed, now homeless People can believe that this was all Our own doing? And yet you refuse to address these issues.

For the past two weeks, you have focused attention away from your own actions and tried to refocus them upon the military record of your opponent in a war that ended almost 30 years ago. The Republican party made much of former President Clinton never serving in VietNam, although he was never drafted. John Kerry volunteered for service in VietNam, but his record of service was not good enough to pass the Republican “test”. Neither was John McCain, nor Max Cleland. What is good enough for the Republicans to accept, Commander in Chief?

When you lost your deferment and was faced with being drafted, you sought the influence of members of your “base” to “jump the list” and become a member of the Texas Air National Guard.

Did Republicans nominate you because they felt your National Guard service record of being grounded due to failure to report for a flight physical, disappearing for approximately two years and not reporting for duty in time of war, somehow escaping the punishment for such an offense (which was being shipped out to VietNam) was somehow better than Kerry’s, or McCain’s or Cleland’s? Did they really accept, without investigation, that you “fulfilled your obligation” to the National Guard when they have gone over Kerry’s record minutely?

No medals, no wounds - even small ones - mar your “service” record. But that is enough for the Republican party to promote you as “Commander in Chief” and let you call up thousands of National Guard Units for unlimited duty to invade, and guard the oil fields, of Iraq?

Since your four years of leadership is immersed in the color of blood from a war we did not want by a man who has never tasted the “fruits” of any war; I ask that you try to contemplate this

“Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.”

and

“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”

Both quotes are from a great leader who risked his life in war and did ultimately give his life for his country, John F. Kennedy.

And another of our great leaders, Franklin D. Roosevelt, warned us,

“Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and Senators and Congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.”

You say

“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”

The “media” says it was just a faux pas like you usually make, but you frequently assured us that you do not make mistakes. Or do what you said?

Very Sincerely,

Every Citizen

United States

America

 

 

AUGUST 18, 2004

Senator John Kerry

Campaigning Somewhere

USA

Dear Senator Kerry,

Since you wish to represent We, the People for the next four years, I wish to ask you a few questions and would certainly appreciate a swift answer.

First, do you really want to win this election? Did you enter this “contest” with the desire to defeat George W. Bush, or are you just the latest sacrifice to be thrown to the Republican lions? Who is advising you to keep quiet and not “bash” Bush as much as he is bashing, not only you, but every citizen who refuses to bow to his will?

The man elected to be president in 2000 was finally persuaded to acquiesce to Democratic and Republican demands to essentially “not make a scene”. I have a sneaking suspicion that he was told that it would cause a Constitutional crisis if he pursued the Truth of Our votes that year and that he would be responsible for splitting this Nation asunder.

But how could this country have been more damaged than by the Supreme Court decision to stop the recount because of the “harm” that might have been done to George W. Bush but never consider the harm that was done to an experienced and competent man and to We, the People who elected him? We live with the results of that decision every day. We are poorer, we are unsafe, and thousands of us are dead. What could Al Gore possibly have done that could have been worse than that?

The legacy of George W. Bush is written in pain, suffering and death. His government thrives of perceived threats and fear and character assignation. So why, Senator Kerry, have you taken a stand not in your best interest, or Our best interest? Knowing what you know, and we know that you know it, (otherwise you are too gullible to be elected president) why do you allow these roadblock to remain in your path?

You know of which We speak. You have not only stood by, but appear to aid Bush in his attempts to denigrate your military service. You have given the impression, by not correcting the negative comments, that you are timid and afraid to call him to account for these statements. Your stance may be an accepted political protocol, this may be the way the game is played, but playing a Republican game by Republican rules is risking all that We, the People hold dear. That blind obedience to a set of rules developed by you “politicians” kept Gore out of office, and it could keep you from office also.

Before Michael Moore’s movie, I truly believed that those who bought into the Bush agenda shared his beliefs. But, from the comments made by ordinary citizens, I now realize that they simply did not know. All we hear in the “media” programs we watch is propaganda as choreographed as Pradva. How can a citizen, buried under the overload of overwork, fear and worry over job security and health care, do the necessary investigation to discover the truth? They couldn’t. They relied upon a free and unbiased press to keep them informed. And it failed them.

Have one of your staff go to michaelmoore.com and read those e-mails from those ordinary people who suddenly realize that they have been taken by one of the biggest cons of all time. And then realize that when you accepted that nomination, you accepted the OBLIGATION that goes with it.

In the words of one of our most greatest citizens, Thomas Jefferson,

“Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice they may be relied on to set them to rights.”

We, the People may be slow learners, but Our government has attracted our notice, and we want to set things right. You, sir, by your acceptance of the nomination to run against Bush have put yourself in this position. You owe it to We, the People, to do everything in your power to give us the Truth.

You condemned an ad which questioned Bush’s National Guard Service during the VietNam war, but you say nothing about Bush refusing to condemn an ad questioning your service and your valor during your VietNam service. What is the Truth? Do you believe that George W. Bush has more right to ridicule your service than you have to call attention to his suspicious service?

The Republicans do not play by the same set of “political” rules and you know it. You were a Senator present when all of those members of the House of Representatives petitioned for an investigation into the disenfranchisement of Florida and other states in the year 2000. By your not signing that document, you declared yourself on the side of covering it up; whether for the “good of the Country” or not; your motives are unknown.

George W. Bush is constantly telling us that you are a failure; your 17 years in the Senate produced nothing, your military service was nothing, your stand against the VietNam war was a betrayal, you “flip-flop” about your vote to invade Iraq. This is how Bush portrays you. You will not find a “media” defense against this portrayal.

You took the nomination away from a candidate the people were flocking to and believed in, Howard Dean, who was outspoken about what he had done and what he would do if he were president. The Democratic party did not like what Dean said, he didn’t play the “political game” very well, although he beat you in delegate pledges when the caucus began.

We are, literally, stuck with you. You carry our future in your hands and you need to assure us that you deserve it. Handling Bush and his “elite base” with kid gloves will not convince those of us are not, and never will be, one of Bush’s elite kind. You are conducting a campaign that is out of sync with the times. We can never go back to those days. For the good of We, the People, you must put aside those old ways and find your way in this new wilderness if you want to win the prize.

Never, ever, forget, this job you seek is not a CEO position; you are the simple servant of this nation. You are the mouthpiece through which We, the People speak. George W. Bush forgot, or never knew, this. But we remember, we know from whence we come. Another wise man, Franklin Roosevelt, tells us

“The liberty of democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it [be]comes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism -- ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.”

And he also said, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.” The Bush administration has used fear effectively to keep We, the People in line; however, they should have done more research. Fear is short term. It can only be used so long before it turns into the commonplace. Our ancestors lived with danger every day; but they lived. A jolt of fright kept them temporarily safe, but soon, that dulled and returned to a cautious watchfulness rather than a panicked fear.

With every orange terror alert it dims. Three years have gone by. Soon, living with the knowledge that terrorists are out to get us will be commonplace. And we will remember September 11, 2001. And next time will come the fight response... far more dangerous to control.

Should you become Our president, you have much to do, much to find answers for. Are you up to the task? If so, now is the time to let us know. Now is the time to convince all those independent and non-voters that you can provide the leadership Bush lacks. Fight back, force Bush from the darkness into the light, Senator Kerry, make it necessary for Bush cancel the elections to keep his power. We, the People will support you, if you will let us.

Sincerely,

Every Citizen

United States

America

 

AUGUST 17, 2004

DON’T LOOK AWAY

Do you remember the old bit in movies; or perhaps you were unlucky and fell for a friend’s or sibling’s use of it; where the sneaky villain would suddenly stare and/or point toward something behind you to divert your attention while they snatched “the prize”?

This 2004 election leaves me with that feeling of having been taken. The guy who got the Supreme Court to declare him the “victor” in 2000, is doing that same old trick again. The man with only a modest amount of “experience” in government, is saying that “After 19 years in the U. S. Senate, my opponent has had thousands of votes, but few signature achievements.” Say what????

If this isn’t a diversionary action, I don’t know what is. The only “signature achievement” credited to George W. Bush is that he is going to have killed 1,000 soldiers by the time the 2004 election rolls around and that he is responsible for loosing a three trillion dollar surplus, compiled the largest deficit in history and has surpassed Hoover in job losses!!

He goes on to say that during Kerry’s eight years on the Senate Intelligence committee, he voted to cut the intelligence budget and has no record of “reforming America’s intelligence capability.”

Another deflection. Under the administration previous to Bush, we didn’t need our intelligence fixed. President Clinton, in office only 76 days, met the challenge of a terrorist bombing quickly and concisely and stopped at least three major attacks planned for the bridges, tunnels, and subways using that same old intelligence network Bush accuses Kerry of not “fixing”.

Perhaps if Mr. Bush had spent less time on vacation, and not ignored his terrorist chief’s PBD of August 6, 2001, his minions wouldn’t have dismissed the terrorist activities that were being reported to them by their lowly agents in the field. A little leadership and a little less vacation time might be the answer, rather than Kerry’s not voting to “reform” intelligence before Bush took office.

Bush also claims that Kerry has no significant record in reforming education or health care. However, the bottom line is that education and health care reform was stopped by Bush’s own party members! The reforms were there, and former President Clinton DID manage to get some of them through; but the Republican party spent 8 years and $50 to $80 million dollars (depending on whose figures you believe) trying to impeach Clinton; not reform schools and health care for We, the People.

And, although Bush sees success through his rose colored glasses, he either doesn’t understand, or was never told, that schools were so strapped for cash that they were cutting classes, before and afterschool programs, teachers, and ending the school year early. And I haven’t even gotten to the schools that were so unsafe that they were closed down!

Bush had four years to improve education and lift the children out of poverty -- but he has only INCREASED hunger among children. The Census Bureaus has reported that, after declining through the 8 Clinton years, it has increased every year since Bush took office. In 2002, twelve million families were worried about “putting food on their families”; as Bush would say; and 32% of those were skipping meals because of not enough food. And we know that every year that Bush has been in office, millions of jobs have been lost due to “downsizing” and “outsourcing”.

Food banks and public schools are cooperating to try and establish a program that would feed the hungry children during the time they were away from school. The program Bush points to with pride, school vouchers to attend “better” schools, doesn’t seem to be much of an answer when you can’t even afford enough food.

Those “school vouchers” won’t even cover the entire cost of the tuition, let alone buy the required uniforms... and how do they eat when they get there? Perhaps the prep-school educated Bush doesn’t even know enough about public schools to form a viable program. And I doubt he has ever asked anyone who actually lives and works there. And even if Kerry shares Bush’s elite prep school education, we can hope that perhaps those 17 years of Senate “experience” has taught him more about how ordinary people live than Bush’s sheltered elite lifestyle that allowed him to avoid a paying job until he was in his 40’s! (How did he eat?)

And, at this point, how can we help but compare Bush & Company’s “spin” about Kerry’s volunteer service in VietNam with Bush’s missing year from the Texas Air National Guard. Now here is where the screams of “Look, look” become the loudest. They must divert attention to Bush’s -- at best AWOL, at worst, DESERTION -- National Guard record with Kerry’s VietNam combat service record.

They are quibbling about medals, whether Kerry deserves them or not, whether he was heroic, whether he should have been rotated back to the United States, whether he should have spoken out against the war...etc., ect...... BUT, where was Bush? Where are his medals, deserved or otherwise? Why wasn’t he rotated to VietNam for disobeying orders when he refused to take his flight physical or when he took off to “work on an election campaign”? Whether or not Kerry was “heroic” pales in comparison to “Where was Bush and what was he doing?” (There are tales out there of rehab!)

Bush says we should “support the troops” and not say anything bad about his little war. What he is really saying is support me in my invasion because I always get my way. Bush, and his loyal followers, don’t support the sacrifices made by “the troops”, not those in Iraq and not those who died or survived VietNam. During his 2000 election campaign, he made much the same accusation about his opponent, John McCain’s service, he set forth his dogs of “war” to tarnish the sacrifice of Max Cleland, and now has moved on to Senator John Kerry’s service record.

The only untarnished “service record” belongs to Bush. And none of his people will go there.

Make a chart, do the math. 17 years of experience, versis 0 (on-the- job-training doesn’t count) years of experience looks better from my perspective. If we want a novice politician, go with Nader! At least he’ll tell us the truth whether we want to hear it or not!

 

AUGUST 16, 2004

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

I saw a photograph of George W. Bush taken during a visit to Springfield, Missouri. He is standing at a podium, looking a bit dazed as if he doesn’t know how he got there. He is surrounded by a crowd of unsmiling faces.

I don’t know if it was just a photographer’s unfortunate timing, or if these people were unsure about the man they had come to see. Not all of these grim people were clapping, and they were seated so far apart that gaps appeared in the photo. But then, when you lock up everyone who doesn’t agree with you, crowds can get pretty sparse.

We have all heard, read, and seen those barbed wire detention centers that await those who wish to disagree with government policies. We have seen protesters in ankle deep water, surrounded by guards with guns. And we all know that Republican party members will not be forced to go there. They are the chosen few who are excused from Bush’s new laws; just like the chosen Germans in the 1930’s.

We all know that those allowed to see “strong leader” Bush must pass a security check first. And we know they are handpicked. There will be no dissent; those who are admitted into his presence must sign “loyalty oaths”, like those required in Nazi Germany; they must show no sign of “disloyalty”.

A sweatshirt or t-shirt carrying the “wrong” message will cause you to have your tickets savagely torn up and threatened with arrest. And a teacher escorting teenagers from the “wrong” political party (Democrats) will all be banned from hearing their public servant Bush speak.

You may not gather near his route, may not display signs except those favorable to the regime, and you will remain unseen and unheard in what we are calling detention centers erected miles from where he is.

A great Constitutional lesson for Our young future leaders! Are those labeled with the new epithet “liberal” the new “Jews” of the Bush regime?

And, while incessant orange alerts divert the “media” attention from our loss of Civil rights, the FBI is showing up at your door to investigate those who disagree with the Bush agenda. While terrorist pursue their destructive agenda, FBI officials are pushing agents to canvass their assigned territory in pursuit of protesters. They have a list, and they are methodically going through it to determine your politics in ways they never investigated the terrorist on their FBI watch list.

Who is the enemy here? Sarah Bardwell, one person interrogated by six FBI investigators say the message she got was that they were trying to “intimidate us into not going to any protests and to let us know...we’re watching you.” The question is: WHY?

Norman Siegel, former director of the New York Civil Liberties Union says, “Dissent is a cornerstone of a democratic society. It's how we measure whether we’re an open society....”

The National Lawyers Guild will be distributing cards to activists advising them to say nothing when they receive their visit from the FBI. “It’s a chilling reminder of the world we live in.” Tanya Huff, member of an anti-war group, emphasized.

Bill Dobbs, organizer with United for Peace and Justice, stated, “We are under a constant pressure to give up freedom in the face of fear.”
Not a good enough reason for those who plan to put themselves in Bush’s path; metaphorically and literally!

•A group of labor activists plan to stage the world’s longest unemployment line, from Wall Street to 31st Street and Madison Square Garden on September 1.

•Cheri Honkala, one member of a group of welfare mothers from Philadelphia, says 5,000 rural and urban poor will be doing an illegal march across town to Times Square. “The police says there was no way in hell that they were going to give us a permit to march.” Her group was at the Democratic Convention also, did the “media” report that? That is probably why she says emphatically, “We have to mess it all up...Poor people have been living with terror every day.” Other groups representing the poorest of our society plan to lead a march to the convention site at Madison Square Garden.

•Thousand of protesters tired of the religious attack upon Roe V Wade, and the inequality of women’s health care, plan to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall Park.

•Those who died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack will not be forgotten. A group of bell ringers plan to encircle Ground Zero and ring 2,749 bells in their memory.

•And more than 250,000 people will be marching up Seventh Avenue by Madison Square Garden on the Sunday before the Republican convention to protest the Iraq Invasion that, to date, has killed 944 American soldiers, and is scheduled to continue into the distant future.

But inside that Convention Center, there will be only silence. There will be crowds roaring their approval for George W. Bush, the weakest leader, the least compassionate, the most disagreeable man to ever hold the office he aspires to; but no Republican, not even Senator John McCain, will dare to express disagreement.

And outside, all of those who have expended such great effort to make their feelings known, will be told that, if they are arrested for protesting, they can go to jail. A spokesperson for the National Lawyers Guild says that defense lawyers must explain the potential risk that could come with being in a protest due to a new court ruling that will allow the Manhattan district attorney’s office to use previous arrests for civil disobedience against them.
How did this happen?

While Paul Revere reenactors will make nightly horseback rides down Lexington Avenue alerting everyone that, “The Republicans are coming, the Republicans are coming.”, We, the People are coming to the realization that our First Amendment rights are under fire from Republicans!

During these past four years, Congress has allowed the Bush government to move to “establish a religion “(his)...” aided in “abridging the freedom of speech” by allowing the incarceration of protesters in detention centers far removed from Bush’s sight, and denied “the right of the people to peaceably... assemble” and has allowed him to ignore those citizens who “petition the government for redress of grievances.”

Deputy Commissioner Brown says that there are “anarchists” among the demonstrators. “We’re familiar with them.” he says, without naming groups or organizations who have made his anarchist list.

Civil Liberties Attorney, Norman Seiegel sees it differently, “Now the climate is so hostile, that when there are splinter groups or unplanned actions, the trust that’s needed won’t be there. The present atmosphere is not conducive to trust.”

But, let’s suppose that this Republican National Convention will be attended by Patrick Henry (Give me Liberty or give me death), Benjamin Franklin, that old writer/inventor who goaded so many into taking a stand, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John and Abigail Adams, or Mary Ludwig Hayes (Molly Picture) or Elizabeth Griscom Ross (Betsy) or those “anarchist” who held a tea party in Boston Harbor, and all the others who contributed to making this British colony the United States.

The British took names and investigated citizens, too. But nothing they did could stop the onslaught of the Will of We, the People to form our government of the People, and by the People! What makes Republicans think they can change us now?

 

AUGUST 15, 2004

...AND SOME MORE LOOSE ENDS

POLLS, DO WE HAVE POLLS! They will validate any answer you seek. Want Bush to be a “strong leader”? There is a poll out there for you. Want Kerry to be leading in electoral votes? You may have to search a bit, but you’ll find it. And this roller coaster ride is going to continue right up to, during, and even after the election!

Polls will tell you why Bush won and why Kerry didn’t, why you voted the way you did, why you didn’t vote, and whether or not the winner will get reelected next time.

Let’s get real for a minute. We have a guy in office who is absolutely glowing at being a “war president” even though his little war is costing an average of 2.7 lives per day. Now you might not think that too many; unless your loved one is one of those 2.7 daily casualties. But we really don’t know if it is actually 2.7 or more, because those deaths are shrouded in a veil of secrecy - it could be a lot more but it certainly is not less. But polls say there is little difference in Our opinion about the handling of Iraq. Do we simply not care?

He also failed to stop a major terrorist attack on September 11, 2001; didn’t even bother to read the PDB that was practically yelling that the terrorists were coming; h---, we don’t even know who he designated to read it! And to top that off, he had to mull over what to do about planes crashing into buildings for about 30 minutes before he could move his heinie off an elementary schoolroom chair.

Apparently, the only decisive act his government could manage was to swiftly dispatch aircraft to pick up Saudi rich people and relatives of the guy who was responsible for the terrorist plot and whisk them to safety...while our firemen were still trying to put out the fires. But this one decisive act translated into polls that “proved” that we thought Bush was a “strong leader”!

You also have a guy surrounded by very rich loyal subjects, known as his “base” who give him millions of dollars at the same time their companies are outsourcing and laying off workers faster than during the Great Depression. It took over ten million jobless Americans before the polls began reflecting discontent with Bush’s economic plan. In spite of 2/3 rds of those polled thinking that the economy is bad, Bush continues to churn out economic data that is supposed to prove them wrong. How many positive polls will it take to prove those jobless Americans wrong?

And, in spite of being hated throughout the world, polls show that his opponent, Kerry has only a slight lead in foreign policy. The flip-flop issue is also big in the polls, seems Kerry is seen by more than 40% as the most likely to change his mind while less than 30% saw Bush as changing his mind. Polls seem to think that this is a good thing; however, Bush is the guy, when asked what mistakes he had made, stated that he couldn’t think of any. Give me a flip-flop over a “decisive” my-mind-is-made-up-don’t-bother-me-with-facts anytime.

There’s a time to be decisive, like when Kerry turned back to rescue one of his crewman, and a time to negotiate. I prefer someone who knows the difference and Bush’s take-no-prisoners attitude doesn’t assure me. He flipped and flopped over far more important matters, like do I take my National Guard physical or do I not? Well, perhaps he was decisive, can’t sent a grounded pilot to VietNam, can you?

But none of this stuff makes it to polls. I’ve never seen a question about how you feel about a guy who uses influence to avoid being drafted to VietNam, disappears for a year or so, gets an early release during time of war, then delights so much in the title of “commander-in-chief” that he promptly starts a war so he can go down in history as a “war president”. If those 2.7 daily casualties got to answer that poll question, what do you think they would say?

But, think about this, if those 939 Iraq casualties probably couldn’t even get to tell Bush what they think about his war. A just back from Iraq 23 year veteran of the National Guard, Tim Walz, went to see Bush during his stop in Mankato. But he obviously didn’t have the “right stuff” to get into a Bush event. Walz, a teacher, also escorted some teenagers to the event. During the interrogation process, one teen was discovered to have a *g*a*s*p Kerry sticker in his wallet (they check wallets before you can get into Public Servant Bush’s speech???) Not only were the teen ousted, but Walz, this veteran of Bush’s Iraq invasion, was threatened with arrest and subjected to a political investigation (there goes the secret vote!)

His objection to the teens treatment put him back in the trenches, so to speak. “You’re not welcome.” the Bush agent said. It was downhill from there until Walz asked if they really wanted to arrest someone who had just gotten back from Iraq because he wanted to see “the president”?

The guy’s “soft spot” for Bush’s army kicked in, Walz was told that if he behaved himself they would “do him a favor”! Some favor. The good news is that this act of censorship convinced Walz that he should work for Kerry’s election.

This CENSORSHIP by Our public servant isn’t a first. The handpicked crowd of 7,000, who provided the adulation that the clothless emperor requires, is just one of many staged events. Those disagreeing with our employee have endured almost four years of being shunted into barb wire enclosures, surrounded by guns and guard just as if we resided in some dictatorship. That notoriously behind “media” is just now beginning to report on the “no free speech events” orchestrated by the Republican party to protect the fragile ego of Bush.

You don’t have to be a card carrying Democrat or be waving anti Bush anti war signs to be booted from Republican events. A family of four was recently removed from a Bush appearance for carrying a a rolled up sweatshirt with a pro-choice slogan. The “villain” Barbara Miller, a Dow Chemical Co. chemist, said she thought she might get cold and obviously, her choice of sweatshirt was on the forbidden list. Her daughter, Theresa was just as guilty, she wore a t-shirt proclaiming “This is what feminists look like”.

The gestapo type guards weren’t any more gentle than they were with Walz, they grabbed the Miller’s tickets and violently ripped them up. “We don’t accept any pro-choice, non-Republican paraphernalia.” he snarled. Miller’s counterpoint to his claim was that, “This is Democracy under Bush.”

Yes it is. Which means it isn’t! Fortunately, Bush may be converting wavering independents to a new cause. After all, if the guy who wants to lead the country only talks to his “elite base” and that doesn’t include you, there are only two choices, give in and give up, or get rid of him. And Bush is making that choice easy, regardless of what the polls say!!

AUGUST 14, 2004

MORE THAN JUST AN INSULT

The “girlie” Schwarzenegger seems to think he bought the rights to Kah-li-fornia when he won the dubious recall election less than a year ago. Staging his own Hollywood premiere in Las Vegas, complete with rock music and star entrance where he emerged from a “cloud of smoke”; which seemed a rather odd choice considering that the state has a reputation for its lethal smog!

He then strolled along a “red carpet” like catwalk. He says it was to attract new business, and later did a publicity appearance by descending in a mechanical lift outside the mall where he posed for pictures in front of billboard plastered with him in a t-shirt with the slogan “Arnold says California wants your business”.

Hope he enjoyed his show, because it appears that he didn’t impress many people. Nevadans certainly didn’t seem to be impressed. One, Jason Young, who fled California to Las Vegas two years ago says he won’t be going back! “Why?” he asks, “It just seems difficult to live and work in California...I live in a house with twice the square footage I had in California, with a pool, for less money.”

Schwarzenegger seems to think that he can give Californians a strut and throw out a few phrases like “girlie men” and problem solved! And, from his public appearances on the Leno show, it appears that, like George W. Bush, if he doesn’t like it, it just didn’t happen! He thinks his “girlie men” reference was humorous, therefore, so should we. If we don’t, there is something wrong with us, not him!

Democrats are upset because he isn’t taking the budget crisis that concerns all Californians seriously enough; using derogatory name calling (girlie men) instead of negotiating budget problems. This same budget crisis brought about a Republican driven recall election that essentially refused to acknowledge that it was Republican run ENRON that had created it!

But, “playboy Arnie” doesn’t seem to really care; he is tossing off quips as if this is a movie script like, The Last Action Hero. He tells Jay Leno, “Who cares? They feel sensitive. I think maybe the truth hurts.” he chuckles, refusing to apologize for his “girlie men” remark, stolen from a Saturday Night Live skit. And he continues, “Everything is interpreted, you know, attacking gay people and lesbians and all that stuff.” I guess “all that stuff” is referring to his sexual misconduct against women; a criminal act when you or I do it, simply “a dash of humor” when he does it.

So why does Schwarzenegger’s behavior as governor affect anyone but Californians?

Because he has been given a prominent speaking roll in the Republican convention. Because George W. Bush visits him in California all the time. Because he has begun campaigning with Bush.

Because he has said that the Constitution should be changed to allow naturalized citizens to run for president. Because one of our legislators has introduced legislation for a Constitutional amendment to change that part of our Constitution. Because his political ambitions include running for president of the United States.

But most of all, because right after he took the oath of citizenship he went to Austria and campaigned for his Nazi friend Kurt Waldheim. Because he toasted Waldheim at his wedding and lamented his absence due to “this Nazi thing” that barred Waldheim from entrance into the United States. Because he said he “loved” Waldheim.

Because he has never repudiated his father’s Nazi service during World War II. Because he has never repudiated Waldheim’s responsibility for killing Greek Jews during World War II.

Because these acts would and have stripped anyone else of their citizenship. Because millions of Americans are still living who risked their lives fighting to stop “this Nazi thing”. Because admiring or assisting Nazis in election campaigns is mocking the sacrifice of Our World War II veterans. Because as long as We, the People remember, no Nazi admirer will become president of our Country.

AUGUST 13, 2004

WOOING NEVADA

Is Yucca Mountain Bush’s Waterloo? Seems the state, that Bush supposedly carried in the disputed 2000 election, just might be. He is not only facing a lot of unhappy Democrats and unaligned citizens, but a host of Republican party members who are volunteering to help Democrats defeat him in 2004!

And what, you may ask, brought this on? And the answer is: a huge nuclear disposal site that would fill Yucca Mountain with 77,000 tons of radioactive material and keep it radioactive for at least 10,000 years. Nevadians aren’t particularly enthusiastic about the idea of living on a pile of radioactive debris! Don’t say I blame them. We have a good crop of data developed by putting “atomic veterans” in the path of nuclear fallout for us to unequivocally decide we don’t want it in our backyard!

While scientists and artists are busy trying to design a

KEEP OUT

sign that will indicate poison to an evolved species we can’t even imagine, Bush is continuing with plans to fill ‘er up. The governor of Nevada has promised that it will not happen and has filed lawsuit after lawsuit to stop it. So far the courts have sided with Bush, so what is a state to do?

This one has decided to get rid of Bush. Adriana Martinez, chair of the Nevada Democratic party, says that Yucca Mountain is a “recruiting poster” as Republicans volunteer to help defeat Bush. And the Republican party is about as unhappy with that solution as the people of Nevada are with Bush’s storage solution. But does the Republican party blame Bush’s determination to contaminate Nevada?

No, it is the Democrats fault, namely Kerry, for “tapping into voter anger” over being designated a national repository for nuclear waste! Sig Rogich, a former aid in Reagan and Bush administrations, says that Kerry is “pinning his hopes” on that anger because, “there’s nothing else” for them to run on! Here’s the spot for, “Oh, really?” So Nevada is so shallow that they couldn’t possibly worry about the economy, war, poverty of their fellow citizens and would vote for Bush if it wasn’t for nuclear trash being buried in their backyards! Even if that were true, a mountain aglow with nuclear waste isn’t only Nevada’s problem.

Although the project is set to go forward, the consensus is that “Houston, we’ve got a problem”. A plethora of specialists have been consulted to try to contain the contamination. There is agreement that the biggest obstacle is that the future can’t be predicted. Consultations with futurists, archaeologists, materials scientists, astronomers, geologists and any other group that might be able to provide information, have produced only one consensus: You have a mighty BIG problem here.

The future is NOW. Geologists inform us that a crack in the mountain could release torrents of the evil poison into ground water and rivers. There is nothing they can do about it. If canisters of the deadly stuff erode and seep throughout the mountain, there will be no maintenance because this stuff too deadly to get close to. Materials scientists are going to be charged with the task of producing a container that will withstand ten thousand years. Even the pyramids aren’t that old yet. Yucca Mountain will be uninhabitable for more than 10,000 years! So many generations will have passed that we won’t even be a memory -- but our legacy will still be alive and dangerous to all who inhabit this planet.

Unfortunately, Bush & Co seem to be mired in the immediate now; mainly whether or not he can get enough votes in Nevada to give him the State’s electoral votes. Rather limited vision when faced with a mountain full of death.

AUGUST 12, 2004

TURNING A CORNER/HOPE IS ON THE WAY

John Kerry, presidential candidate, says that “hope is on the way” for those of us devastated by the past four years.

George W. Bush says that we are “turning the corner”, hopefully back to where we were when former President Clinton was being “strong leader” and not playing “war president”!

Without either candidate giving us solid promises of change, We, the People are forced to accept their words as possible facts and hope for the best - I guess that is the “hope” on the way...

But the one thing we can do, and that both parties can’t prevent, is to weigh their history in light of their promises. Since Kerry is coming late to the party, with a proven voting record that encompasses several administrations of both party persuasions; we’ll concentrate our search upon the deeds of the unknown, George W. Bush. Because no matter what the propaganda says, George W. Bush is the one with no experience.

What has transpired the past four years was a learning experience. He was shoved into office by the Supreme Court, who knew full well that the little upstart had NO political experience, no knowledge of dealing with foreign governments, and in fact, had failed as CEO of more than one company. Their choosing Bush over Gore was like a harassed parent placating a child having a tantrum, “My brother told me I won!”

For four years we have heard nothing but excuses and complaints that others have gotten in his way, refused to do what he told them, and when he didn’t get his way he used every means he could think of to take them out. He never listened, as a good leader should, to anyone but those chosen few whispering in his ear. He thought We, the People were just there to worship at his feet.

His vision is narrow and focused entirely upon himself. He says schools are “turning the corner” but doesn’t define the corner they turned. Teachers fired, no money for books, classes canceled, and school days cut to meet a bare bones budget Bush approved.

He says we have turned a corner when it comes to spreading the peace, “...we’re not turning back.”, although 2.8 soldiers have been killed every day this month. The Iraq Invasion has produced 936 dead citizens and every reason Bush has given for going to war has been proven a lie. So, Mr. Bush, why did they die so that you could “turn [this] corner”?

And as relevant as the needless deaths in Bush’s Iraq invasion, is his assurance that we have “turned a corner” economically. Senator John Kerry has said, “The last time we had a president who talked about turning the corner Herbert Hoover was in the White House as the country sank into the Great Depression in the 1930s.” Ah, yes, Hoover, tent cities, massive hunger, millions of jobless citizens, for a decade, crisscrossing the country in search of a job -- any job.

But Mr. Hoover, er, uh, Bush, believes that the loss of Our jobs to other countries is good for our economy. In fact, he believes in it so much that he has outsourced as much of his election campaign as he could. At a time when his economist are trumpeting a gain of 32,000 job and playing down almost a million and a half new unemployment claims during the same time period.

His inexperience has been shown in too many ways to count; in invading another country, insulting our allies, in giving huge tax breaks to his “elite base” because they need it more than We, the People do, in awarding no bid contracts to favored political friends, by allowing thousands of jobs to be outsourced without penalty and companies to keep billions in untaxed profits offshore and disposing of a trillion dollar surplus and creating the largest deficit in the history of this nation.

But never least, putting Our future at risk due to a massive increase in hungry children, whose parents fell from middle class into poverty by loosing their jobs through no fault of their own. Children, who will grow up lacking health care that Our parents could provide.

George W. Bush sets on a fat cushion of money given him by the richest people in our land; those who received his tax cut. Bush’s elite base believe they deserve that tax cut more than We, the People do. Bush’s naiveté about ordinary people has shifted focus to this extremely elite and wealthy base.

The Congressional Budget Office has just released a report saying that the tax burden is solidly on the middle class now. With our jobs less secure and wage increases non existent, We, the People will be paying more than our share of the tab for the Bush agenda. And in his mind, there is nothing wrong with shifting the tax burden to the middle class.

And he certainly doesn’t realize that the questions uppermost in our minds are: What’s next? Where does he plan to go from here? Does he plan to invade other countries? Cut out more social services and jobs? Do away with the social security pension that we have paid into all of our working lives and just make it another tax? How many of us, our sons and daughters will be dying in a far off war in the next four years?

And, if the terrorists come, will the “commander-in-chief” be able to handle them any better than he did in September 11, 2001; while he sat in a chair in a schoolroom and listened to a story read by schoolchildren and a plane flew straight into the second World Trade Center tower? And he made no “command decisions” that could have stopped that third plane from hitting our military command post. In fact, it was days before any “command decisions” were made by the “commander-in-chief”; they were made by Richard Clarke.

This is what we know of this man who was appointed president of the United States. The “experience” he has gained over the past four years does not qualify him for the office. At least Kerry knows the ins and outs of international storms. At least he is not reviled in every country he visits. At least he has the experience of working on legislation about health care, schools, social security, balancing budgets. At least he has been to war and seen his friends die and knows its terrible toll is more than just money. Perhaps this experience will keep him from going lightly where the inexperienced Bush has chosen to tread.

AUGUST 11, 2004

ECONOMIC REALITY

For all you potential voters out there; perhaps you failed to see this little economic article that could profoundly affect your future. It seems the “war president” is mulling over a national sales tax. George W. Bush told an “Ask President Bush” campaign forum in Florida, that,

“It’s an interesting idea. You know, I’m not exactly sure how big the national sales tax is going to have to be, but it’s the kind of interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously.”

Say what???

Republican economists (those responsible for those “good” economic numbers we’ve been hearing about) are saying that the Bush campaign has been looking into the idea, should Bush win the election, of overhauling the tax code as “part of their agenda”. Some legislators have also floated ideas of simplifying the tax code by a flat income tax rate or a national sales tax.

One of the most important facts that I took away from Economics 101 was that, unless I became a multimillionaire, sales taxes weren’t in my best interest. The second was that little recognized flat tax on INCOME!

Now, whenever I have met a flat tax proponent, the one little problem that I have raised with them is met with a wide eye stare that reveals wheels suddenly turning - and that is: Does the flat tax consist of taxing only earned income, like we pay taxes on? Or do those who receive their income from other sources, say stocks and bonds, trusts, etc. also pay a flat tax on their income? I have never yet met a person advocating “flat tax” who knows the answer about what defines flat tax “income”!

The answer to that question is extremely important for us wage earners because, as any economist worth his degree will tell you, those taxes are going to hit the poor and the middle class the hardest because we are all going to pay the same, whether our income is $20,000, $200,000 or $2,000,000 a year. Now, guess who is going to have less “disposable” income? You or the guy with a couple of million dollars?

While Bush is flying around the country in Air Force 1, attending parties paid for by his “elite base” who shower him with millions of untaxed dollars -- around 200 million at last count -- and in general living the good life at Our expense; we skip the vacations, that Bush is so fond of, for the reality of longer work weeks and less salary -- IF our job hasn’t been outsourced.

They are using the descriptive phrase, “Consumer (that’s We, the People) confidence has turned sour”, to indicate that while Bush may believe that we believe the economic hype, we don’t. It probably has something to do with what has been happening to our paychecks.

These politicians can say anything but they get into trouble when the statistical figures start pouring out of the government. Such as, Consumer Confidence for the latest week measured, August 1, show that only 39% of consumers express confidence in their ability to buy what they need or want. And that had fallen from 41% the week before. Are you beginning to see a downward trend here?

Just to emphasize the point, before Bush assumed the office of president in 2000, January 16, Consumer confidence stood at 80%. Only 20% of all citizens felt that they could not afford to purchase what they wanted or needed. That is a huge change in less than four years!

But times have changed. With the job market shrinking rather than expanding (32,000 jobs created last month but new unemployment claims standing at approximately 1,340,000 for the month.) it doesn’t take a statistician to figure out there is a negative number there! And, since the Bush government believes (or says they do) that those 32,000 jobs are going to employ all those out of work millions, there are no unemployment extensions, and those who are still working aren’t getting additional income.

Last Friday, August 6, the Labor Department release figures for the Consumer Price Index showing it had risen 0.1%. Now that may not seem so bad except those bills coming from your paycheck aren’t measured in that figure. No, the CPI (governmentese for “consumer price index) removed “volatile” (defined as: changeable, inconstant, fickle, explosive) food and energy cost. And the other figure released, showing an inflation gain of 0.3% is also suspect because during the month of May, the inflation gain was 0.6%. If we gain between 0.6% and 0.3% for just a few months, you are now dealing in whole percents! Just adding those two months and inflation has risen almost 1% in two months!!

Tearing it apart like this gives the impression that it is smaller than it is. Taking out food and fuel makes it appear smaller. But, as we know from the July report on income, wages fell, taxes did not. So the Consumer bottom line is that we are receiving less money to pay for food and fuel that has risen almost 1% in two months. No one but Bush needs a translation of that!!

But, according to their report, food prices increased 0.2% after a 0.9% gain in MAY. Housing rose 0.3% in June after gains, in April and May of 0.4%. Putting these increases together, they are over 1% for only a couple of months! And fuel, that commodity that is required, if we plan to continue working rose 3.2%. Natural gas and electricity prices also rose. There you have it. A real test of the economic gains made by We, the People, would be in the assessment of year to date compilations. By sectioning them out month by month, they don’t appear to be as bad as they are. January to July -- all it would take is addition and you have a true picture of inflation.

And the census department has given a true picture of what has happened to our economy since Bush was installed as our leader. Their latest analysis showed that income fell for the second straight year (2001 and 2002). The rise in poverty and the decline in median income was primarily caused by unemployment. Under the leadership of Clinton, unemployment stood at 4% in 2000 when Bush took office. By 2003, unemployment stood at 5.9%. And those numbers didn’t include the long term unemployed who have fallen off the unemployment rolls, or those who are no longer counted because they have taken lower paying jobs or part time jobs.

It also told us that for the third year in a row, the number of households experiencing hunger, and those worrying about having enough money to buy food has increased. Government figures estimate that 3.8 million families experienced hunger to the point of someone in the family skipping meals. That is an 8.6% increase from 2001. In 2002, 108 million families, or 11%, were skipping meals.

Food kitchens are telling us that the last two weeks of the month they see an influx of women and children who simply can’t stretch the paycheck to cover shelter and food for the month. They say their supplies don’t meet demand.

And some, like Second Harvest, are beginning to supply children with backpacks of food to keep them fed over the weekend. In some of these schools, as many as 2/3 of the students have subsidized lunches. These are the programs cut by Bush to increase the tax cuts for his “elite base.”

These families are going to pay the same sales tax as Bush or his “elite’ wealthy “base”. His base may spend more, and thereby pay more in sales tax; but then, who is to say what they buy will be U. S. products, or be purchased in the United States?

If the Bush twins are spending several thousand dollars on vacation on the Rivera, I don’t think We, the People, will be benefitting from whatever sales tax they pay!

AUGUST 10, 2004

TOUGH CROWD?

Uh, oh!
More than 7,500 “minority” journalists registered to attend Unity 2004 being held at the Washington Convention Center on Friday, August 6, 2004. It was the largest convention of “minority” journalist ever assembled in the U. S. and guess who was going to address them.

Yup! The man who avoids journalists like the plague, who won’t take unrehearsed questions and stalks out when they ask one he doesn’t want to answer, George W. Bush!

But let me digress just a minute. What exactly is the difference between minority journalists and other journalists? This is really bothering me, don’t they have the same education? Isn’t their experience in their field exactly the same as other journalists? Why were they called a “tough crowd” as opposed to other “media”?

I think I know the answer and I hope that you agree. Other “media” don’t really question Bush and stick to the script. These “minority” guys are true journalists and seem to be asking some pretty serious, gotta think hard questions. And we all know that Bush just can’t get his brain working that fast.

It was said that his “performance” was pretty dismal to the point of being frightening at times. I admit, when you hear a guy supposedly a “strong leader” and a “war president” fumbling around with , “You can’t read a newspaper if you can’t read”, it makes you wonder how he gets through all those intelligence reports piled on his desk every morning.

But he doesn’t, does he? He simply accepts whatever verdict he is given and gives a Patrick Stewart, “make it so” response. Is that how we got involved in Iraq? Isn’t his failure to read the PDB of August 6, 2001 one of the reasons the 9/11 attack fell through the cracks?

From what I’ve seen, it appears that these journalist ask a lot of questions, most of which Bush wasn’t prepared to answer, let alone answer in depth. In what must have been a truly baffling and scary response to a Native American journalist’s question about sovereignty for the Indians tribes of the United States, it was obvious that Bush didn’t have a clue. First of all, the journalist tossed off a three syllable word that it appears no one had briefed Bush on the definition of.

He stumbled and mumbled his way through what must be one of the most embarrassing statements of any president at any time. “sovereignty is well...sovereignty, and if you have sovereignty you are sovereign.” This wasn’t a spelling bee where you identified and defined words -- it was a question about a change in national policy; a policy issue that Bush didn’t appear to even know existed!

Uh, does that mean he is for sovereignty for the Native American tribes, not for sovereignty of Native Americans, or didn’t he know what the journalist was asking? Come on, Staff, isn’t this what you are paid to do. Next time, define sovereignty for the educationally challenged guy! This word is likely to come up the next time he meets a foreign leader!

Maybe next time we chose a leader we should give him one of those proficiency tests Bush demanded high school students take before they can graduate. How did this guy get into Yale? ...oh, l-e-g-a-c-y; another three syllable word that he probably does know the meaning of.

AUGUST 9, 2004

ALL THE NEWS THAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

You get a very different look at news without the prism of television interpreting for you. And if you are inclined to watch the television “pundents” who interpret the news for you, the facts you hear are usually filtered through that prism before you see that plastic “newsface” they put on.

But if; unlike George W. Bush who says he never reads but gets a synopsis from his staff; you glean your information from several sources, you will notice the difference in the spoken, and interpreted word, versus the flat printed word, and you put your brain in gear to sift through the information.

We are (or were) among the most literate and best educated countries in the world. Setting aside the recent decline in our schools due to lack of resources, there are millions of us out there educated by a system that was set up to get us, not only to the moon and back, but to be technologically capable of going beyond that moon.

It has been written that some of the saddest words are, “it might have been”. And right now, this country is in the middle of one of the biggest “might have beens” ever. We have gone from world admiration to the bottom level of third world countries. We have descended from the high road of enforcing the Geneva Conventions to the low road traveled by nations who torture their prisoners for “information”.

We have gone from a prosperous nations to a nation on the edge of reclassification from “industrialized”. We have descended from consuming compassion to feed the world to a nation that resents feeding our own hungry children. We are moving backwards from being a civilized country.

And all the while this is happening, our perky, smiling “media” ignores all of this. But the hard, cold fact rest in the words of government reports and out of the mainstream press, and are there if we wish to know them. No longer does the press deliver these facts to us. We must now have the knowledge and determination to ferret them out.

But we are extremely busy people. Unlike Bush, who spends at least half of his work year on vacation, we are slaves to jobs that pay a pittance for our labor, long days, longer nights, and early mornings. We are lucky to steal a quick glance at that bright, smiling face on the morning news program who is reporting all the positive spin that she and her handsome co-star are handed to read.

But in spite of spending our days surrounded by people, we are pretty much isolated in our own lives. We don’t discuss salaries, job security, overtime, with most of the people we see daily. And therefore we have no way of knowing if their lives mirror ours. Unless we peruse the census statistics, we don’t know that more and more Americans are worried about their own hunger; of being able to fee their children from paycheck to paycheck.

They hide their desperation at knowing their jobs are about to end, that they have just been outsourced, laid-off. They go about their daily lives, picking up groceries and dry cleaning, filling their car with gas and they are counting every dollar that leaves their hands because who knows when they will receive those riches again.

And yet the plastic faces smiling at them from their television set, brought by cable that will be one of the first expenses to go, are giving them false information about how great the economy is, how Bush is blameless, therefore it must be your fault that you can’t find another job.

And now you have time to read, want ads, internet employment sites, articles on the economy, and words written by others just like YOU....

AUGUST 8, 2004

MORE LOOSE ENDS...

The latest economic news appeared to have those Bush economists, who keep telling all of us unemployed and underemployed how great things are, must still be picking their jaws up off the floor! Now we really don’t expect Bush and his “base” to comprehend what happened when they released the latest “economic indicators” but those economists should be hanging their heads in shame.

Since the Bush propaganda began telling us that it wasn’t the economy, stupid! We, the People knew that the truth would out sooner rather than later. All those miraculous jobs Bush pulled out of thin air, all those “good” economic indicators he kept throwing out in his money-gathering-campaign-speech-to-his-elite-“base”, were going to implode in his face; and now they have.

Everyone knows that the unemployment figures that keep falling are more a result of the unemployed being kicked off unemployment rolls than the result of actually getting a well paid, full time job. The recent 5.5% is only an “improvement” if that 0.1% reduction actually reflected an increase in employment!

And, if the downward trend in consumer spending, in areas where you least expect cutbacks, like food, fuel and shelter cost, didn’t grab their attention, then nothing will. Stock market back down, the rosy job forecast reduced to a mere 32,000 added jobs for the month of July while first time unemployment claims stood around the same number they have since Bush lost all those jobs his first year in office. Oh, yeah, Bush certainly has a lot of ‘splainin’ to do.

And while he’s at it, perhaps he would care to explain this article putting the lie to his highly touted,

ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM.

A study just released in April by The Environmental Protection Agency found that 159 million in 31 states live where smog levels exceed federal standards. Summer days where the air quality fails federal health standards could double by mid-century for people living in 15 eastern cities.

Unhealthy smog levels could rise from a scale of 12 to almost 20 in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago and Pittsburgh. We get an “orange” terrorist alert that produces nothing all the time; but the number of “red alert” days on the federal air-quality index is given little “media attention, although the forecast says that those “red alert” days will double in most of those eastern cities.

These alerts stop more people from going about their daily lives than do the terrorist alerts. Those with pulmonary disorders and asthma are constantly warned to stay inside during the ozone alerts and the “red alert” days. Children with asthma literally find themselves housebound during those days.

California took action many years ago to curtail the smog over their state but under Republican administrations, those “clean-up programs” for cars, factories and oil refineries have become as extinct as the dinosaur as companies were put on the “honor system”. Bush sees no reason to change that system and has gone so far as to deny the validity of the government’s own commission investigating Global Warming as a fact rather than a theory.

But then, fossil fuels (oil and oil products) are linked with respiratory problems. Oil is the source of most of the Bush income, the income of the elite Bush “base” who supports his election, and most of the officials he has appointed in government. Oil appears to be the reason he invaded Iraq, as those oil fields were provided protection before hospitals, museums and schools. We may only have the “duck theory” to go on, but if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it is up to Mr. Bush to prove to us it isn’t a duck!

And, here is a “duck” of a different “quack”. George W. Bush owes his education at Yale University to YALE LEGACIES. The mediocre-at-best student, proudly told a college graduation class that he was a C student.

However, while the rest of us sweat blood to try to get into a college with a good reputation, George W. Bush was admitted to Ivy League Yale University not on his looks, his school performance, his athletic prowess, or his intellect. No, that coveted spot was given to him because of what they call “legacy admission preferences”, or, to put it bluntly, favoritism for the sons and daughters of alumni no matter how stupid they might be. Four generations of Bushes has attended Yale University, the latest, daughter Barbara. No word on whether or not she was a “legacy”.

In spite of his telling the “media” that he supports affirmative action to “get more minorities in...school” he also said that he opposes the quota system that guaranteed that colleges had to admit those same minorities. Seems he is confused about what he believes and what he doesn’t, because he recently opposed an affirmative action before the Supreme Court.

When put on the spot, the guy who; if he had attended public school instead of an elite prep school; would have ended up destined for auto shop instead of Yale, says he doesn’t believe in legacies. The guy who took advantage of every “legacy” offered him from admission to Yale to jumping the Texas Air National Guard list to keep out of VietNam, now says there should not be “a special exception for certain people in a system that’s supposed to be fair”!!! What is he hinting at?

Just imagine a world where George W. had not gone to Yale, had managed to get into VoTech training, and been drafted as a foot soldier in VietNam. Do you think he would be calling himself a “war president”?

AUGUST 6, 2004

IF NOT NOW, WHEN?

In November We, the People should be heading for the polls to vote for the man we wish to become the next president of the United States. Is it too late for us to make sure that this time every citizen’s vote will be counted?

Unfortunately, yes. After the Florida debacle known as the 2000 election, where Republicans ran roughshod over voting processes. (see 1965 Civil Rights Act Commission’s report) After the legal battles, the unconstitutional interference of the Supreme Court, and acts of violence committed by Republicans, who seemd to have lost their minds, during the legal recount process, legislatures across the country determined to “fix” things for the 2004 election.

Well, they have “fixed” them all right; but I don’t believe what has happend and what was intended coencide! First, because the duplicious Katharine Harris’ staff had assigned ancient punch card machines to the poorest Florida districts, an upgrade was ordered - to computerized voting machines with no paper trail. Unfortunately, those machines have already proved to be less reliable than those old punch card machines they used last time.

Report after report says the machines have crashed, that votes were lost, switched, not tallied correctly or just simply disappeared. In those states who refuse to provide paper trails there is no method of policing the machines for accuracy; you just take Diebolt’s word for it. The latest report, July 28, 2004, says that, in Florida, a computer crash erased detailed records from Miami-Dade County’s first widespread use of those touchscreen voting machines that were supposed to keep the vote safer than those old punch card machines.

Except for one tiny little problem. Barring Supreme Court interference, those punch cards can be recounted. The crashss that took out the Florida election votes from 2002 can’t be recounted - EVER! And here’s the real kicker, no one knew about it until the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition requested all of the data from the 2003 gubitorial primary! And, this was a common occurance all over the United States where computer voting was used during the 2002 elections AND THE CALIFORNIA RECALL ELECTION.

Even Katharine Harris’ notorous “felon list” could be fixed. This can not. Once the votes are gone, they are gone. As chairwoman Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, of Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition stated, “This is a disaster waiting to happen. Of course it is worrisom.”

I disagree with Rodriguez-Taseff; it has already happened. Those “machines” used in the wealthy Florida counties, we are told, worked perfectly during the 2000 election. They also told us they all showed Bush the winner. Only those living in the poor or “elderly” secitions of Florida were considered faulty. But the Republican run state, and the Republican who was in charge of the election, Katherine Harris, blocked every effort at a manual recount of the votes in those heavily Democratic areas. JUST WHAT WERE THEY AFRAID OF?

Something was rotten in Florida. And the inept person who should have been held accountable for that rotten election wasn’t fired but promoted, by the votes in those same wealthy Florida counties on those same touchscreen machines, to the House of Representatives in Washington, DC!!!

And according to the Commission report, something was rotten in a lot of the states that election year. The Commission has no power to file charges and their findings much be turned over to the Attorney General for action. And they did recommend legal action be taken, but when Ashcroft received the Commission report, the literally flipped them off, saying there was nothing in the report that required action. I guess he thought they were just a bunch of “un-chrisian liberals” biased against “Bush’s base.”

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups believe the stained reputation of Florida requires a paper trail to be in place to recount the votes. “I have concern about votes that are cast but not recorded”. Says Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU in Florida. Considering the lost votes from the 2000 election that changed the course of history, I would think so!

But with the 2004 election just months away what can We, the Voter, do to ensure that our votes will ALL be counted? I’m not sure that there is anything we can do to tack the machine votes.

We can all demand paper ballots be used; after all they have from November to January 2005 to count those ballots. Or, as thirteen members of the House of Representatives and the Senate recently petitioned. We can bring in election monitors like any other suspect “democracy” to make sure our vote is honest.

This election, we are at war and thousands have died because Our Senate didn’t have the courage to demand an honest count of the election. Florida managed to flout the law and shove votes to Bush after certification while denying Gore the same legitimate votes and our Senate saw nothing wrong with that.

When John Ashcroft was shriking for a recount in Missouri, after loosing to “a dead man” as they said, he was placated by his appointment as Attorney General. A great placed to be when the Civil Rights Commission’s report came out about the Florida election.

And never forget, some twenty members of the House of Representatives submitted a challenge to the Florida election in 2000 and not one senator thought it was worth the effort to sign that challenge. There is a very poinent scene in Fahrenheit 9/11; watching Democracy die. And Florida has been caught, once again, producing a “felon list” disenfranchising innocent Florida voters. So ask yourself, what, exactly, has changed?

AUGUST 5, 2004

DEFENDING DEMOCRACY

The catch phrase coming out of the 2004 election isn’t, “It’s the economy, stupid”, it is “defending Democracy” and it is on the lips of every politician involved in the selection process of our next president.

As usual, we lay it at the door of George W. Bush , who has whined since September 12, 2001 that he is a “strong leader” and that everything he has done was simply “defending Democracy”. I’m sure that phrase will be bandied about at the Republican convention as much as it was the Democratic convention; however, ole George, and the rest of his merry elite friends, don’t have any actual experience “defending Democracy”; only of avoiding “defending Democracy”!

Kerry and his group claim to have experience in “defending Democracy” by serving in VietNam. It was a major theme in his acceptance speech. And he has begun to back peddle away from his criticism of VietNam to suddenly declare that VietNam was a war where we were “defending our country.”
Shades of WMDs!!!!

We, the People aren’t that stupid. Almost 60,000 died in VietNam in an undeclared war whose purpose was to “fight Communism” which is now the government of VietNam. We inched our way up from a few “advisors” into a full scale Korea over sixteen years and a total of 8,744,000 soldiers and draftees. And none of these poor young, mostly minority, boys were “defending democracy”; they were defending a political agenda - whose we still don’t know.

The last soldiers who served truly defending our country was during World War II. There is no historical doubt that Nazi Germany did not plan to let an ocean stop them; they had every intention of crossing that barrier just as they had all the others. This country was at risk and every citizen -- man woman and child -- played a significant part in “defending democracy.” No accolades were expected, they were simply doing their civic duty.

But it took more than 50 years for those 16,112,566 veterans of the last war who truly defended Democracy to receive recognition from a grateful nation. Listen to these soldiers. Read their memoirs, or, if you are like George W. Bush, simply watch the mini-series “Band of Brothers” based on the lives of one company who fought and died in the German theater. Tarnishing their sacrifice, by calling what has been done in the name of “defending” our country, the same as the ill conceived invasion of Iraq diminishes those lives. We owe them more than that.

And we owe those poor men and women snatched from their safe civilian lives to be whisked off to Iraq more than that. They deserve the truth of why they fight and die on the sands of a country who never attacked us, in fact, had been our ally until the first George Busy went to war with Saddam Hussein in 1990. They deserve to know why their elected representatives did not do their duty and investigate the legitimacy of those claims that took us to war in 1990 and again in 2003. Both wars were begun on false information. The why of the political agenda we still do not know.

But, We the People, who tried so hard to stop Bush’s invasion, fervently hope that those 929 lives snuffed out in Iraq since March of 2003 were not killed just so Bush, as he proudly notes, could go down in history as a “war president.” Because this is no war “defending democracy”. And there is no honor in spilling the blood of our citizens, who have pledged to defend democracy with their lives, for some obscure political agenda. I thought that lesson had been learned in 1975. I thought it had been written in the blood of those almost 60,000 men who died in that far off jungle.

Kerry needn't defend his military service, his medals, or his “heroism”. In his entire life, George W. Bush can not point to one thing he has done that was heroic, not one action he has taken to “defend” this country which has given him so much. He has only taken. “Defending Democracy” it ain’t!

AUGUST 4, 2004

MORE POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

Republicans - and some Democrats - are busy trying to stuff Michael Moore in the closet at the same time they are trying to put former Governor Howard Dean back in. I suppose they shouldn’t have let him out for the Democratic Convention; but then, there are all those loyal Dean followers needed by the Democrats....

It appears that these two guys just don’t know when to speak and when to shut up! Moore was extremely useful to Democrats when he showed the naked emperor in his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, but Democrats weren’t grateful enough to invite him to their Convention. In fact, they carped that he wouldn’t come right out and support their favorite candidate and continued to tell all that it was simply a matter of supporting anyone but Bush and that, if Kerry was the candidate the Democratic party chose, then that was who We, the People would have to vote for whether We wanted to or not!

And it didn’t help that Moore was the real star of the Convention, constantly being trailed by “media” and fans! And it didn’t help that loyal Dean followers were saying the same thing; they weren’t really supporting Kerry, but anyone but Bush!! Both men drew an enormous crowd when they spoke at an overflowing ballroom at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, MA during the Democratic Convention.

Dean’s message not only ignited his constituency at the Convention, but the turnout at the ballroom was proof that the “Dean magic” was still there. More than 2,000 people gathered to hear the speech, and those who were kept out by fire marshals waited patiently until Dean emerged to give another speech to those who hadn’t been admitted.

Democrats certainly don’t mind using that loyal following to enhance Kerry’s poll numbers; but it appears to be a different story when Dean doesn’t follow the “party line”. The party faithful was all for putting their disagreements aside, and made much of Kerry seeking out Dean’s help before the Convention. They also didn’t mind co-opting much of what Dean’s followers were complaining about and putting it in Kerry’s campaign pledges. But, it is very apparent that Dean’s agenda is not the Democratic agenda.

And that was never more evident than when Dean criticized the Bush administration over their last “orange” alert; conveniently timed to remove the limelight from the just nominated Democratic contender for the office Bush is presently holding. Always telling it as he sees it, Dean remarked that “ample evidence” exists that Bush is using terrorists as a political pawn!

Since most of the information used to justify that alert was about an old plan al Qaida was contemplating before September 11, 2001; one wonders why it is suddenly at the forefront of our intelligence alerts; especially considering that Bush simply ignored a comprehensive PBD given to him on August 6, 2001 literally screaming that al Qaida was determined to strike somewhere in the United States.

But when Howard Dean pointed out that Bush seemed to be a little behind the times, he was criticized by both Republicans and his own Democratic party! While we expect Ridge, Cheney, and others from Bush & Co. to criticize anyone who points out the emperor’s unclothed state, it is eye opening to hear the criticism coming from the Democratic party that has vowed to save us from Bush’s incompetency.

Senator Joe Lieberman (and unsworn vice-president of the United States) seems to share more Republican views than Democratic. He states that “nobody in their right mind would believe that Bush would scare people for political reasons.” Oh, yeah, what do you call that State of the Union address where he told us Iraq had weapons of mass destruction trained on us and could deliver them in 15 minutes?

It is also said that Kerry; who sought Dean’s help in convincing his followers to not rock the boat and demand a Dean nomination; and other “prominent Democrats” have “distanced themselves” from Dean’s statements. Fortunately for We, the People, Dean still doesn’t seem to care if he doesn’t follow the party line. Described as unbowed and unrepentant, Dean pointed out:

“If it took three weeks for them to get this information, then they’re not doing their job protecting the United States of America. There’s one of two possibilities here. One, we need a

new president so we can really take care of intelligence needs and the defense of the United states of America against terrorism. Or two, they’re playing politics with their timing of the release of these document.”

Ever blunt and unequivocating, when asked if he believed Ridge when he said that politics played no role in the decision to raise the “alert level” to orange, Dean gave a one word response: “NO”. Dean continued, [Bush] “has said that he intents to run as a wartime president. If you say those kinds of things, then you’re going to have to expect your motives to be questioned.”

Bush’s campaign spokesman, Terry Holt sneered that [Dean] was “a bizarre conspiracy theorist” that “this is a shameful display of angry partisanship from Dean... and it’s not helping us win the war on terror.” and he ends HIS diatribe with “ We have a chorus of people that have discredited and repudiated the Dean statement.”

I’d like to know who. So far, the only “spokespeople” we’ve heard from are the same ones who ignored the terror warnings and PDBs BEFORE September 11, 2001, the ones who told us that Iraq was going to get us with WMDs, that Iraq would be a “cakewalk” and that we all have more money and more jobs even though outsourcing will stand around 40% by 2005!!

Oh, yeah, their bizarre assertions are much more reliable than Dean’s quest to know why the guy who ignored information about al Qaida prior to September 11, who refused to leave an elementary school classroom while those same terrorists bombed the seat of our military complex, who refused to accept any criticism from the multiple thousands of citizens who told him we didn’t want to go to war in Iraq, is suddenly obsessed with locking down the country over a plan he didn’t even consider relevant enough to read in August 2001!

And just as scary is the idea that the Democrats still won’t call his bluff!! They seem to care more about the vile names the Republicans call them than how We, the People view both parties. Dean’s still got the power because he still has the People.

AUGUST 3, 2004

RABID PROTESTER ESCAPES FROM FREE SPEECH ZONE

Yesterday, a rabid protester escaped from the “free speech” detention center and disrupted a political speech in Milwaukee, hurling epithets of “four more years”... oh, wait!!! It was a Democratic political rally and the demented protester was a Republican screaming Bush, Cheney, Bush, Cheney...

What happened? We know that there are “free speech” detention centers for all of those who disagree with Bush policies. We saw them during the Democratic Convention. And the Democrats certainly made it clear that they wanted their Convention free of “Bush bashers” so, naturally we just assumed that there were little prisions for Republicans who disagreed with Democrats also!

U. S. District Court Judge Douglas Woodlock called the little prisons where protesters are locked up “an affront to free expression” and a “festering boil”. What Republicans have labeled a “free speech” zone, others call internment camps.

Carol Rose, says they are really “gross and spooky” and from the photo I saw of three women, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, standing in a barbed - excuse me, razor-wired enclosure with water coming up to their ankles, it certainly wasn’t a place I would bring my children to experience the “right of the people to peaceable assemble” or demonstrate a government responsive to the individual voices of We, the People!

But putting aside the illegality of having your protest so far removed from the government official that should be redress[ing] your grievances, that he doesn’t even know your grievance exists, let’s investigate this Republican protester and his obvious escape from the designated Republican “free speech zone” that “disrupted” the Kerry political rally in Milwaukee.

Not that Democrats couldn’t handle him, they didn’t even have him removed or arrested! From the articles I have read, it appears that Mrs. Kerry simply put the oaf in his place. While the guy shrieked, “four more years” through a bullhorn from the back of the park, she addressed her audience with “They want four more years of hell.” At that, the crowd erupted in cheers and began chanting, “Three more months!”

Unfortunately, those quick police that usually hover over those demonstrators assembled at political stops, were really slow to make arrests that day, so the guy continued his diatribe over Kerry’s speech, yelling “Bush, Cheney, Bush Cheney.” Where was that detention center for Republican dissenters? And why wasn’t it being used?

Since Bush established the idea of We, the People being like the children of the Victorian era, seen (if we are well behaved) but not heard, anyone with a grievance to petition the government about can do so - in a cordoned off area where the government can neither hear or see you. Especially reporters. Reporters never go near the internment centers to ask the People penned there what they are petitioning the government about.

Bush and the “media” became especially fond of these internment camps during his quest to invade Iraq. There were far too many expressing contrary views that he didn’t want to see. It became routine for those few who supported his Iraq invasion policy to receive special status while those who preferred peace were sent miles away. He liked the idea so much that it was expanded to every speech he gave and he expected it every where he went.

Which is why most nations prefer him to stay out of their countries. They are forced to cordon off streets to shield him from the thousands of protesters who line his route, their legislatures aren’t under tight control, like Ours, and they are constantly giving him hell when he visits their parliaments. And don’t even mention their press! He got into such a snit over a reporter’s pre-approved questions that he provoked an international incident - and got the reporter in trouble with her own colleagues for asking pre-approved questions! He may not be trailed by protesters, but he is sure trailed by trouble!

So in this “free” society we live in, where our Rights are explicitly laid out in our Constitution, we have not only become a nation run by elites, for elites economically but our Right to “Freedom of speech...the right [to] peaceably assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances” belong to a chosen few, like the bullhorn guy bellowing at the Kerrys

.
No detention center for him; he’s spewing the correct propaganda so while We, the People, have our Message buried under concrete and razor wire, he is free to “assemble” as close Bush’s “enemy” as he wishes and to say whatever he wishes. A government of the few, by the few, and for the few.

AUGUST 2, 2004

CHICKEN LITTLE TACTICS

Another terrorist threat just released. Almost three years after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, the creation of a special agency, the gutting of the Bill of Rights, and Bush still can’t get it right. Why is it only the United States can’t get itself together enough to either deflect, anticipate, or plan for, terrorist attacks like other countries?

It took one event, and former President Bill Clinton was on top of it after only 76 days in office and without all the special agencies and acts Bush said he needed to “stop terrorism”. The first terrorists to try their hand at bombing the World Trade Center are setting in prison, convicted. As Clinton recalls ruefully, he just missed bin Laden when he bombed the Afghanistan camp in 1998.

Without benefit of special cabinet posts, legislation curtailing civil rights and a conglomerate of other surveillance techniques, Clinton’s terrorist czar, Richard A, Clark, reported in his book “Against All Enemies” that Clinton was well aware that al Qaida had to be eliminated. That he was emphatic in his “commander-in-chief” roll that they had to be gotten “rid of...once and for all.”

Unfortunately, for We, the People, the paramount problem being address by Our elected officials was instead, getting rid of Clinton once and for all. What a price we paid for that obsession!

Richard A. Clark also says that attention was focused on the invasion of Iraq rather than al Qaida. That is born out by the 45 minute work day of George W. Bush on August 6, 2001, just a short 37 days before the attack, when he received the PDB titled “Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States” and chose not to read it.

Well, Bush did get his invasion; against the Will of We, the People. And he is still embroiled in it. Although, like VietNam, we have no idea of the true casualty count; the known causalities stand close to 1,000 and more are added each day. Thousands have been maimed from this ill conceived rush to battle. Bush still contends that this invasion was the “right thing” to do. But during the three years since September 11, 2001 and the year and three months of the Iraq invasion, it appears that Bush has been successful with neither. We all must accept the facts being denied by the Bush administration. Unless we withdraw or turn over control of Iraq to the United Nations, we may see another 16 year war and another 60,000 soldiers die.

Up until now, the soldiers have been reserve units, National Guard units, some career military units and some undefined “contractors” fighting in Iraq. Where will the new soldiers come from? The answer to that question is: the same place our VietNam soldiers came from. Young boys straight from their high school graduation, without the means to “avoid the draft” like many of our politicians, who voted to invade Iraq, did during that earlier war.

And with all our National Guard, established to keep us safe at home, gone who is left to help “fight terrorism”? Just yesterday, the head of Bush’s new creation, Homeland Security Tom Ridge, announced another “the terrorists are coming” orange alert. This time, he says, it is real. This time they know where they will hit - financial institutions -, this time they know where it will be - New York -, this time they know when it will happen - between now and...?

New York is becoming an armed camp, streets closed, ID’s checked, armed police everywhere. Three years of Bush “fighting terrorism” has produced no real gains. From the armed guard that patrol the nation, it looks like were are less safe than on August 6, 2001 when Bush was handed that first PDB. In fact, it looks more like the country under British rule before the Revolutionary War.

Shortly before the Democratic Convention, the mainstream “media” pointed out that it might be necessary to cancel elections in the fall due to a “terrorist threat.” Because of the “terrorist threat” is was necessary to throw dissenters into “free speech” detention camps during the Democratic Convention.

When Congresswoman Corrine Brown introduced the idea of election monitors because of the inexcusable disenfranchisement in the 2000 election, she was silenced as effectively as if the Republicans had used duct tape over her mouth. Is this, too, a part of a “terrorist threat”?

Let’s look at facts: We have given George W. Bush three years to get his “terrorist act” together. He hasn’t done so. If he can’t produce something in three years, it is definitely time for a change. And it doesn’t matter too much who we change to at this point.

Without all the billions and Congressional legislation President Bill Clinton stopped three major terrorist attacks, improved the economy, balanced budgets and improved the Welfare of We, the People -- all the while answering court summons and fielding interrogations.

Surely a president who has spent half his time in office on vacation could have found the time to create a better plan than we have now. Shouting “the terrorist are coming” chicken little style doesn’t seem to be producing results!

AUGUST 1, 2004

LOOSE ENDS....

Well, the Democratic Convention is over, Kerry gave his speech and now we know what the issues of the campaign culminating in November will be: WAR. Not just Iraq, but VietNam. Since Republicans call the tune that the Democrats dance to; Kerry’s appearance at the Convention was amidst his old war buddies, whose lives were literally dependent upon his judgment.

Bush, whose National Guard service borders on AWOL versus desertion, has managed to make Kerry’s “heroism” an issue. Personally, any Vietnam volunteer who puts his own life in jeopardy doesn’t have to defend himself -- and if he does, we certainly have failed those troops we put in “harms way” to fight our wars!

And we certainly have more to worry about than re-fighting the VietNam war -- take the new one. Both candidates express a desire to not only remain in Iraq, but to enlarge the war. More money, more bodies! Draft, anyone?

Both candidates see us embroiled in Iraq the same way we were embroiled in VietNam. VietNam involved the country in war for sixteen years; both Bush and Kerry see us in Iraq for an undefined number of years. When the poverty level in our country is rising as fast as the national debt, you would hope one of these guys would removed his brain from Iraq and check on what is happening at home.

Lip service isn’t going to work anymore; one of you guys had better come up with a quick fix (and I don’t mean study it for four more years!) for this economy and the unemployed millions in this country before we become embroiled in a war at home reminiscent of the burning ghettos of the late 1960’s. The Have Nots are increasing exponentially and “Bush’s base” may find themselves unwillingly sharing their wealth quite soon.

And speaking of “BUSH’S BASE”,

those CEO’s who are contributing all that money to Bush’s election coffers, are certainly going to have it to give! CEO raises at the nation’s largest companies (those so fond of outsourcing your job) more than doubled their raises in 2003. And, unlike your income as reported to you on your WD 40, their income consists of a base salary, annual bonuses, restricted stock, long-term incentive payout, value realized from stock options...and a BIG tax cut courtesy of the man who receives a generous “bonus” in campaign money, George W. Bush.

However, George W. Bush doesn’t define rich the same way you and I do. Addressing a group (who probably signed a “loyalty oath” to Bush before being admitted) he says that Kerry had plans to tax the rich to pay for trillions of dollars of new spending.

Bush doesn’t give a clue as to how HE plans to get his trillions of dollars to pay for the new spending, but he does say, “In the campaign, you hear, we’re only going to tax the rich, ... That’s what you’ll hear. Now, this from a fellow who has promised about $2 trillion of new spending thus far. And only taxing the rich, first of all, creates a huge tax gap, which means buyer beware...You see, if you can’t raise enough by taxing the rich, guess who get to pay next? YES, THE NOT RICH. THAT’S ALL OF US.”

HUH?

Not counting his inherited wealth, a 1,583 acre state-of-the art house, his stock portfolio; the guy still makes $400,000 a year and has all his expenses paid for by Our tax money! In the town where he delivered the startling news that he wasn’t one of his “elite base”, the average income is $34,600 and a good portion of that goes for taxes, a mortgage payment, health insurance (no helicopter ride to Walter Reed when they get choked on a pretzel) and food!

Considering the fact that during Bush’s four years in office, joblessness, homelessness, and hunger have set new records, I’d like to know if this one-of-us guys has ever visited a homeless shelter? A school where backpacks containing food for the weekend are distributed to hungry students rather than showcase classrooms for photo opts?

And while these companies are sheltering their billions tax-free off our shores, Bush has allowed our government spending to increase to the LARGEST DEFICIT EVER.

It is reported that the economy will be taking a backseat to terrorism this election. With the newly released IRS information saying that Our incomes have fallen since Bush was put in office in 2000, it looks like terrorism comes in more than one form. We, the People are terrified of loosing our jobs, our homes, our children’s future, but Homeland Security isn’t there to protect that.
Polls say that FEAR is shaping voter’s views. And a psychological study published in the December issue of the journal Psychology Science and the September issues of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin reports that their studies show that talking about death can raise people’s need for psychological security.

Sheldon Solomon (Skidmore College, New York) specializes in terrorism. He says, “There are people all over who are claiming every time Bush is in trouble he generates fear by declaring an imminent threat.” Yup, it has become so routine that it has become a joke; however, this study shows how easy it is to manipulate that fear to get the results you want.

The study participants who were asked to think about September 11 had a very different reaction to Bush’s agenda than those who had not thought about death. Bottom line, Solomon says, “...They had a very strong approval of President Bush and his policy in Iraq.” He continues, “I think this should concern anybody. If I was speaking lightly, I would say that people in their, quote right minds, unquote don’t care much for Bush and his policies in Iraq.”

I can’t say that Bush & Co. have employed a psychologist for the purpose of instilling fear, but I agree with Solomon that voters should be aware of the psychological pressures and how they are used. I do know that The Third Reich relied heavily on psychological pressure and fear to turn ordinary German citizens against other citizens they marked for disposal.

And that reminds me, what is all this about John Kerry’s grandfather changing his name from Fritz Kohn to Fredrick Kerry? Why is the “media” bringing it up now? Kerry’s grandfather renouncing his Jewish religion surely isn’t as relevant as George W. Bush concealing his DUI from voters in the 2000 election. And why wasn’t anyone digging into the Bush past to publish his grandfather’s connection with Germany before and during World War II?

And why did the “media” choose to ferret out Kerry’s unknown Jewish heritage but refuse to investigate the dubious past of Bush’s grandfather? It seems to have taken a lot of investigative effort to dig out that information on grandfather Kohn; but the information on grandfather Bush is contained in Congressional records for all to see.

JULY 31, 2004

BUILT ON SAND

The gala Democratic Convention is over, the gala Republican Convention will soon begin. Until November 2, 2004 We, the People will be receiving glowing reports from the “media” about how well off we are, how the country is prospering, how wise one particular candidate is versus the “other” candidate. Dead soldiers in far off lands won’t be mentioned, hungry children and jobless citizens will just disappear; as will mention on our trashed international reputation.

The “media” will concentrate on bring us the perceived “shortcomings” of one candidate and the “experience” of the other and somewhere amidst all this prattle will lie the truth. So right now, before the rose colored glasses go on, let’s take a look at reality.

INCOME IS FALLING!!!

This is NOT a statistic that even George W. Bush can play with. It is an announcement from the most feared agency in the United States, the IRS. They have reported that Our income has fallen, for the first time since the current tax system was put in place during World War II (with the exception of one year in 1953), and it started falling after the stock market crash of 2000.

We didn’t need IRS statistics to convince Us. We, the People, have been aware, since shortly after Bush took office, that our disposable income was going down and that we have less to spend. We are also aware that when We lose Our job, we aren’t going to find another one soon. And we are very cognizant of the fact that our retirement has declined or disappeared!

And all these factors translate into the bottom line of that 1040 showing that you are going to be paying less taxes this year -- unless you are among the euphemistically titled “long term unemployed” which means you are off the tax scale and won’t pay anything.

Couple that with the recent tax cuts for “Bush’s base” and down the tax revenue goes!!!

Even those filing returns who earn between $25,000 - $500,000 are showing a “slight” drop in income; somewhere between 0.1% or a 2% gain depending on your income category. However, my guess is that those earning the pittance of $25,000 aren’t the ones seeing that gain!

The IRS says the decline was due to a combination of the big fall in the stock market and the loss of jobs and wages in well-paying industries as “the recession” started in 2001 and the tax cuts pushed by Bush in 2001.

And now we get to the real problem. This income decline has hit government tax collections because individual income taxes declined 18.8% between 2000 and 2002 which means less money for Greenspan to play with. Ergo, the biggest budget deficit EVER!

Today, the budget figures released by the Republican government show a record setting $445 billion. The projected “summertime” budget update forecast “shortfalls to $331 billion next year”. In February 2004, it was estimated that there would be a $521 billion budget gap; although the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted a $477 billion deficit.

Naturally, Republican government officials are putting a positive “spin” on these numbers, although the reality is that in 2001 Bush had projected a budget surplus of $262 billion if Congress would just approve his first tax cut. But this new “shortfall” is the third consecutive shortfall under Bush!

And no one has even asked where did the three trillion dollars Clinton saved went. Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) member of the Senate Budget Committee says, “What we’ve got now is a president of the United States who is actively misleading the American people on the financial condition of the country...Shame on him.” Lead House Budget Committee Representative John Spratt (D-SC) says, “There’s no shock, there’s no shame, and there’s no solution.”

There is agreement that the deficit will continue to climb. Members of Congress say that this “new” projected budget does include the $25 billion recently approved for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but that there will be another request made early in 2005 that remains unknown. With vague promises of jobs in the “service sector”, companies planning to outsource even more jobs, wages kept low and prices of the “goods” needed for survival steadily climbing, the “good” economic news seems anemic.

As Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisers says, “As an economist, I’d hate to bet my career on three months of economic numbers, because they are so volatile and they get revised too often. Yet these politicians are betting their careers on three months’ worth of economic numbers.”

Phil Smith, national grassroots director of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan group that promotes fiscal responsibility, says “Neither side is really doing anything to address the major long-term economic challenges facing this country, particularly entitlement reform.”

Isabel Sawhill, director of economic studies at the Brookings Institute agrees with Mr. Smith. “If you’re asking who is going to reduce the deficit more, based on what the two candidates have said, so far there isn’t a huge difference between them.”

And therein lies the truth between these two gala events. I view the economy like one of those beach houses built on stilts. At the moment it looks ok, but every day those waves eat away a little more sand those stilts stand on. Eventually, we’re going to have some waves big enough to bring that house down if we don’t do something to shore it up before those next BIG waves hit!

JULY 30, 2004

VALUES SPOKEN/ACTIONS TAKEN

The Democratic nominee for president, Senator John Kerry, seemed to cover all of the bases in his speech, didn’t he? But the one thing missing from it was his pledge to tear down “free speech zones” where We, the People have been relegated since George W. Bush seized Our White House.

A “stone’s throw” from the Fleet center where the Democratic party held their convention was a cage that U. S. District Court Judge Douglas Woodlock called “an affront to free expression and a “festering boil...an internment camp.”
You can find a photo of this internment camp atIt is a 28,000 square-foot area with two entrances, a chain link fence, nets and razor wire. Police officers and camouflaged individuals stand guard above it, constantly surveilling the inmates. Those citizens who came to exercise their First Amendment Rights of “freedom of speech ”..to “peaceably assemble”, and to “petition the government for a redress of grievances.” peer out from the large cage as if they were “detainees” at Guantamano.

Carol Ross, American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts states, “If this is a celebration of democracy, it’s pretty sad. The irony is that those [in the fleet center] are talking about hope and democracy.” The Democratic party theme is “hope is on the way.”

Last night, Kerry stated, “...in the city where freedom began, only a few blocks from where sons and daughters of liberty gave birth to our nation...on behalf of a new birth of freedom”, but what he either didn’t know, or didn’t mention was that in the city where freedom began, only a short few blocks from where he spoke, stood a 28,000 square foot detention center surrounded by razor wire, where the sons and daughter of liberty were not free to speak.

While he said, “...for all of you with great faith in the American people, I accept your nomination for President of the United States”. His speech was filled with great promises and great ideas. But his party constructed that detention center for the purpose of NOT hearing the voices of We, the People. And, claiming his place as a presidential candidate, he did not use his power to persuade his fellow party members to tear down that prison!

Picture By Tom Tomorrow

These detention centers built to house those who wish to “petition the government” are an invention of the Republican party who would not face We, the People who disagreed with “commander-in-chief” Bush. Bush was a public servant who wanted to be a king. And, as a king, he could order that We, the People be banned from his sight. And We were. The horror is not that Bush ordered us banned, but that no fault was found with him doing so.

But when Kerry speak of “the most important election in our lifetime” and quotes the problems that Howard Dean brought to his attention, he is not speaking of the shredding of Our Constitution by passage of a “patriot act” that is not patriotic, or the breaking of our First Amendment. He speaks of the stakes being high because we are a nation at war; a “global war on terrorism.” But we have come late to the battle the rest of the world had been fighting since the beginning of our last century.

And he tells us that his priorities are not to free Our People but to continue supporting the invasion of Iraq -- whose plans brought about the detention centers that the Republicans call “free speech zones.”

He says, “...I know there are those who criticize me for seeing complexities and I do believe some issues just aren’t that simple.” But, there is nothing complex about the detention centers just blocks away from where he is speaking. Issues may sound complex to Kerry, but they were crystal clear to our Founding Fathers. There is no negotiating room in our First Amendment, nor in our Bill of Rights. “WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF EVIDENT...”

And We, the People agree with his statement that “For 4 years we’ve heard a lot of talk about values. But values spoken without actions taken are just slogans.” So true, Senator Kerry. So how do you stand on the so called “free speech” detention centers? Are you in favor of them or do you oppose them? This convention was the perfect opportunity for you to take an action that would prove that your words aren’t just slogans.

Ask yourself this. If you were a member of the radical Continental Congress, where would you stand? Would you be with the zealous Thomas Jefferson who wanted slavery eradicated? With the larger number of those assembled who refused to ratify the Constitution if slavery was banned? Or would you be standing in the middle, doling out compromises?

You want the job, now convince We, the People, your boss, that you will restore the faith and honor of the United States. And you can start by stopping Democrats from using these cages, these prision-like detention centers!

JULY 29, 2004

DEMOCRATIC STAR

Amid the applause and the cheers of the Democratic National Convention, the real star goes unheralded -- at least formally! While it is business as usual on the Floor, this working class guy, dressed in jeans, t-shirt and baseball cap, looking more like he belonged in the Democratic “free speech” holding pens that a judge recently compared to an internment camp, instead of joining former President Jimmy Carter in his skybox.

But this particular guy from Flint, Michigan, looking totally out of place when compared to another guy from a working class background addressing the Convention, John Edwards, is unpretentious Michael Moore. Listening to Moore, you get the feeling that he is still in shock at what he has created. This is the guy who showed up in Cannes without a tuxedo and accepted his award for his documentary, “Bowling for Columbine”, in a borrowed one. (This year he said he did bring one.)

But, the unassuming Moore isn’t afraid of the the guys in VIP suits. He’ll tackle them all -- and he does! I doubt there is anyone except hermits and shut-ins who don’t know what Fahrenheit 9/11 is. He is one reason that the Democrats have revived their party after the 2000 election steal that they decided to not stop. But I’m not sure that this Democratic Convention knows or acknowledges that their party’s revival is because of those, like Moore, who dared to brave Republican ire.

Bottom line, Moore -- and Howard Dean -- can outdraw Kerry and Edwards in a heartbeat. Moore is not an official guest of the Democratic party, he wasn’t scheduled to speak. In fact, since Democrats are trying to “play down Bush Bashing”, he wasn’t even invited to the Convention. It is said that his blunt and spontaneous style would be too risky for a convention that is “more scripted than most Shakespeare plays.” I’m sure Our Founding Fathers Sam Adams, Patrick Henry and Ben Franklin wouldn’t be pleased to hear that!

One problem Democrats have with Moore is that he had not endorsed John Kerry BUT the movement to remove Bush from power. I have news for them; most of We, the People haven’t endorsed Kerry either. After the Dean Bashing, from the Democrats and the “media”, removed him from consideration, a new movement sprang up, called “Anyone but BUSH!”

Democrats could have run Lieberman, Gephardt, Clark, the local dog catcher, and most of us would have trekked to the polls to vote for him. We considered Kerry one of the weaker links on the Democratic chain of Ten; he simply went along with Republicans far too much for us to put too much trust in him.

And, there is that Iraq war invasion vote that just won’t go away. Now, he talks like we are going to be in it for a long haul -- like VietNam. Closing in on the first 1,000 casualties from the Iraq Invasion, We, the People, are looking down a long road that must include a draft and that will certainly take our children down it!
But take a look around that Convention Hall and you will see the spirit of We, the People is still heard. There were a lot of “politically correct” speakers on the program, but you could tell by the raucous cheers who the delegates’ favorites were: Al Sharpton, Al Gore, Howard Dean, and of course that much maligned and hidden until now, Bill Clinton.

But neither Howard Dean or Michael Moore need that Democratic podium; they can take their message to We, the People, anywhere, anytime and we will come! More than 2,000 people showed up in Cambridge to hear and see Howard Dean and Michael Moore. It was so crowded inside the banquet hall that seated 500 that fire marshals stopped entry. There were so many present, that Dean gave a speech to those outside after the event.

And wherever Michael Moore goes, massive crowds follow. They clog elevators, escalators, passageways; he travels in a swarm of “media” and fans. But party organizers aren’t acknowledging the tremendous following of either of these two men. But they should. This is the true voice of We, the People.

These are the People that the Democratic party should be listening to. They are the future of the Democratic party; they will control and shape it in the future. The time of the “Conservative Democrats” who don’t or won’t “bash Bush” is coming to an end. The future lies with those who challenge the House of Representatives to think of election monitors, in those Dean loyalists who will be running for low level offices for the first time, in Michael Moore’s defiant message of Fahrenheit 9/11.

JULY 28, 2004

CHARISMATIC DEAN

It’s all over but the cheering, and what is different? As the Democratic Convention winds down, Senator John Kerry will receive the delegates stamp of approval; there will be balloons and rousing music and then he will be off to do what he has been doing since the voterless caucuses anointed him as the nominee to run against Bush.

But it might have been different. Among those numerous Democratic candidates who came forth to express a wish to change Our country was a depth of vision and challenge that had not been seen in years. Even Candidate Clinton did not generate the fire of those Democratic challengers.

And they united We, the People, in a determined effort to change Our lives and Our country as never before. Yet, they were mostly blocked from the competition by the “media” and their own party. It was as if the Democratic party leaders didn’t want to hear what we were saying. They preferred the status quo, the John Kerrys and the John Edwards...not even “experienced” men like Dick Gephardt or Dennis Kucinich, or Joe Lieberman made the cut.

But the man who set the country on fire, the man who created a whole new movement with his concise truth, the man who was in the lead with more pledged delegates even as the “media” proclaimed Kerry number one, the man who would have brought millions of voters to the polls expecting Real change... OUR candidate never had a chance.

In the staid halls of the Democratic Convention, the “media” and party leaders are lauding the “rising stars” of the party Barack Obama, senatorial candidate for the state of Illinois; Governor Tom Vilsack; Representatives Arther Davis and Stephanie Herseth. No mention of the brightest star, Howard Dean.

Tuesday afternoon (July 27, 2004) Dean spoke to a crowd of 500 crammed into the ballroom of the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, Mass. So many came to hear him speak that fire marshals stopped people from entering. After his ballroom speech, Dean gave a second speech to the crowd patiently waiting outside. He urged his loyal followers to continue the new way of campaigning that began with the grass roots movement for Dean, “The future of this country is about two-way campaigns, campaigns where candidates are not guided by focus groups and polls, they’re guided by blogs and people who go to Meetups”. Ordinary people like you and me.

He wants to use his political action committee to fund like-minded Democrats who will run for schoolboards and library boards. “The way the Republicans beat us is that years ago they started to make sure that somebody ran for the school board, somebody ran for country commission, and somebody ran for every single office you could think of, right up to the president of the United States. We didn’t do that... People say, ‘Jeez, Howard, I can’t believe you’re involved in a campaign of a guy who is running for library trustee’ Well, I think library trustees are pretty important positions in an administration where they like book burning better than reading books.”

And we should all remember, that librarians were responsible for Michael Moore’s latest book being published after it had been pulled, and that Fahrenheit 9/11 would not be in theaters today without the constant vigilance of those outside the mainstream “media” and political arenas.

It has been reported that Democrats inside the Beltway dreaded the thought of Dean winning the Democratic nomination. Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute has states, “I was going around last fall and winter before Iowa in a state of Dean-induced depression. Dean had clearly tapped into a deep vein of antipathy and anger toward Bush and was skillful in turning that against his fellow Democrats as well.”

What Marshall and most of the “Beltway Democrats” didn’t seem to realize is that We, the People were more than ready for Dean. We wanted someone to shake up the system. We wanted someone in the Democratic party to stand up and say that this emperor had no clothes! We wanted action and we wanted control, not limp responses to an aggressive Bush who refused to testify before the 9/11 Commission under oath and only if Cheney was there, too. We wanted someone with the backbone of the Black Caucus to talk back to Republicans who didn’t want to listen to us. And We, the People, want it NOW!

The harsh truth is in the words of Robin Battson of Columbia, South Carolina, a Dean supporter, “Well, it’s kind of a matter of we have to [support Kerry], this year, to change the administration...We all need to come together, Dean supporters, Kucinich supporters, previous Nader supporters.” And when asked if Kerry’s support for the Iraq invasion was a problem, she replied, “For some people it is...but we probably need to be pragmatic about what was going on in Congress at that time.”

The “media” says Dean “crashed and burned” in Iowa and New Hampshire in January but that is not so. Kerry was chosen OVER Dean by party caucus, not the votes of We, the People. We wanted someone with vision, someone who related to the problems of this nation and someone with the strength to stand up to Republicans and their destructive agenda.

We have no proof that Kerry will be able to do so. We have no proof that he will keep his promises to stop the killing in Iraq, stop the jobs from flowing to other countries, stop the loss of medical care for Our elderly and Our young; we’ve heard promises but we’ve heard them before. And, frankly, Kerry was not in agreement with most of the plans he now says he favors. Most of his agenda was taken from Dean’s platform which was based on the words of We, the People.
And so the bottom line of this Convention is that We, the People must wait another four years to see our fate. But the other bottom line is that We are listening to Dean, he still has our attention and our hope. No matter who is nominated to fill the office Bush now occupies, we are waiting. And we are taking Dean’s advice. We will take back our country; if not now, tomorrow.

JULY 27, 2004

CHOICES

There they stood. Three men of great stature, doing their best to convince us that John Kerry can right Our world. And amid the standing ovations and roars of approval, it was very clear that the man they wanted to lead our country out of the abyss was former President Bill Clinton. The president we are not allowed to choose.

And Al Gore, the man chosen in 2000 by We, the People, to continue the policies of President Clinton, was also greeted with enthusiasm and cheers. The president that the Supreme Court decided we could not choose.

And one of the most respected and admired leaders in the world, Nobel Peace Prize recipient former president Jimmy Carter. A man so well known for his honesty and integrity that the nations of our world ask him to help negotiate the way through crisis after crisis. The president the “media” decided we did not want to choose.

And they did their best to convince us that John Kerry could lead us as they had. And we hope that they are right because we have no other choice. George W. Bush must go; for the sake of our nation, for the lives of our people, for the continuance of our Democratic Republic and Our Constitution...for Our Future.

Former President Carter accused George W. Bush of squandering the international goodwill we received from September 11, 2001. After all, in spite of Bush’s declaration that no other country had been devastated in this way, the nations of the world have been under terrorist attack for many more years than our country has. And, they had the expertise and knowledge gained from the constant bombardment of terrorist acts. And they generously wanted to share it with us.

But Bush wanted to go it alone. And we have. And look what he has produced. A nation whose government is so paralyzed with fear over “what ifs” or “something is about to happen” that the only decisions made is to destroy our Constitutional Rights and create a spy network focused on We, the People instead of outward toward the terrorists.

President Carter is correct when he says “...in just 34 months...all this goodwill has been squandered by a virtually unbroken series of mistakes and miscalculations... Unilateral acts and demand have isolated the United States from the very nations we need to join us in combatting terrorism.”

The leader we chose in 2000, former Vice President Al Gore, was well aware that bin Laden had set the goal of attacking the United States. If the Supreme Court, and a biased Katharine Harris, had stayed out of the 2000 election, President Al Gore would not have ignored PDBs and information from employees who were denied access to “upper management” and thus were responsible for ignoring their findings.

Except for use as propaganda, defending ourselves against al Qaida took a backseat to the Bush administration’s push for an invasion of Iraq. Former Vice President Gore (and president elect) stated that Iraq diverted attention away from the principle danger posed by al Qaida and asked this question during his Convention speech, “Wouldn’t we be safer with a president who didn’t insist on confusing al Qaida with Iraq?” Considering that the leadership of Iraq had been obeying United States “suggestions” since 1980, is seems a little farfetched that, after asking our permission to invade Kuwait, Saddam Hussein suddenly takes off in a totally independent and different direction to support al Qaida!

And Gore is correct, there is unfocused anger over the 2000 election.

We know that when he says, “Take it from me -- every vote counts”, that he knows of what he speaks. The “media” keeps reporting that Bush won by “537” votes; however, we know that after Katherine Harris refused to add 365 legitimate votes to Gore’s total because “the vote had been certified” that she allowed 65 votes to be added to Bush’s total to make that 537.

That leaves that old disputed number of 107 votes. The illegally disenfranchised black vote, in Florida numbered close to 100,000. Statistics show that 90% of the black vote went to Gore. The illegally counted 3,000 Republican “fixed” absentee ballots gave Bush 3,000 illegal votes. That was balanced out with 3,000 illegal ballots presented to elderly, mostly Jewish, voters who had the deceptive “butterfly ballot” placed in their hands.

Bush: First name, first circle

Gore: Second name, THIRD Circle

Bucannon: Third name, SECOND circle

Florida law: candidate Bush listed first, candidate Gore listed second. A reasonable assumption, whether you are old or Jewish is that the second circle would be a vote for Al Gore!

And the list goes on....

Gore says we must “make sure that this time every vote is counted.”
He asks, “Is our country more united today? Or more divided? Has the promise of “compassionate conservatism been fulfilled? Or do those words now ring hollow?” And he asks of us, “To those of you who felt disappointed or angry with the outcome in 2000, I want you to remember those feeling. But then I want you to do with them what I have done: Focus them fully and completely on putting John Kerry and John Edwards in the White House.”

And, our elected, but unsworn president, has put action to his words. He is creating a “media” network to combat the prejudicial and biased networks who now disseminate the news to We, the People. And he emphasizes, “Take it from me - every vote counts.”

But what he didn’t say is that every vote MAY NOT be counted!
It was reported that John Kerry’s team was urging speakers to go easy on the “Bush-bashing”. Why? The Bush team never backs away from bashing “liberal” Democrats or their supporters. It seems to always be open season on anyone who disagrees with Bush. And Democrats always seem to be “pulling their punches” when it comes to Republicans.

When we read something about the installation of voting machines without paper trails, they are silent. When the CEO of one of the largest manufacturers of voting machines, Walden O’Dell loudly proclaims with his words and his money that he is “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the “president”” this year, Democrats are silent.

When we hear report after report that the voting machines have “voting irregularities” where votes are switched or dropped or added to certain candidates, Democrats are silent. When we know that Florida once again produced a “felon list” of voters that would disenfranchise legitimate voters, they are silent. Where is their united voice??

If the Democratic party is truly serious about putting our country back on course, they must do more than what they are doing at this Convention. They must stick their necks out and, not just take the punches thrown at them by Republicans, THEY MUST FIGHT BACK. IF REPUBLICANS NO LONGER USE “GENTLEMEN’S RULES”, DEMOCRATS MUST RESPOND IN KIND OR LOSE THE FIGHT.

BEING A LIBERAL OR A DEMOCRAT IS NOT A CRIME, AND DEMOCRATS SHOULD NOT COWER FROM THE REPUBLICAN DEFINITION.

No President, not even Richard Nixon, has ever been attacked the way President Bill Clinton was. But he refused to play by the Republican’s rules and continued to do his job while they wasted millions of our taxpayer dollars and the time we paid those civil servants for.

And that is why We, the People still adore him and would reelect him in a instant! He gave us what we paid him for. He brought peace and prosperity to a troubled country. He stopped terrorist attacks upon our major cities without bending or breaking one civil right or one color coded response. And he handled all this adversity with good humor, style and grace.

 

JULY 26, 2004

CROSSING THE LINE

Torture: The inflicting of intense pain (as from burning, crushing or

wounding) to punish, coerce, or afford sadistic pleasure.

Sadism: Extreme cruelty, a delight in cruelty.

Civilization: An advanced stage of development in the arts and sciences accompanied by corresponding social, political, and cultural complexity. Polite, cultured, refined.

The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland recently turned its attention to a poll regarding the acceptability of torture of those captured by the United States during the Iraq invasion and its occupation. 66% believed that the United States should abide by international law that “governments should never use physical torture”, but 29% thought that was “too restrictive.” But 29% who find acceptable ways to justify torture are too many.

Throughout history, it has not required a majority to approve torture. In fact, throughout history, it is the majority which protest that eventually end up being tortured. The acceptance of torture is an erosion of morals, principles, and ideals over time. What happened in Iraq did not happen over night, nor was it “a few bad apples” that coincidentally received the unchecked power to produce “extreme cruelty” upon the inmates of Abu Gharib prison.

Civilized nations have turned their attention to the causes that produce such aberrations since the discovery of the atrocities committed in the name of government called the Third Reich. It is common knowledge that a sustained cruelty; the very definition of sadism, was widespread in Germany before the 1939 invasion of Poland. It was impossible to live in Germany during this time without being aware or experiencing the acts of torture and cruelty.

But what We, the People, may not be aware of is that what happened in Germany, which made liberal use of the field of Psychology to control the populace, is that the civilized nations of the world were obsessed with finding out why it had occurred; what had let to such an evil degradation of a nation. And they were not pleased with what they discovered.

The first experiment that led scientists to believe that “there, but for “the grace of god,” go I” was one involving test subjects who were given instructions to administer shocks to a subject they could not see.

The experiment was designed to see if the person would continue to deliver the shocks as directed when the unseen person registered pain. Although most of the participants registered unease, the majority of them continued to shock the unseen person even though they were registering pain responses. Those conducting the experiment were horrified to discover that, with the appropriate prompting, their test subject would continue to deliver the shocks, even though their information indicated it was a fatal shock.

The second experiment had even more appalling results. A college professor decided to try a little experiment with his consenting psychology students.
He divided the class into two groups: those with blue eyes and those with brown. The blue eyed group were considered “special” and given privileges over the brown eyed group. They began to consider themselves the elite group and to expect to receive preferential treatment, and as the experiment progressed, they became abusive to the brown eyed group. The professor’s intentions had been to switch groups and make the brown eyed group the superior but the experiment got so out of hand that it was terminated. But the results were already in.

The torture at Abu Gharib did not occur in a vacuum. The United State government and military has been on the verge of outright participation for generations. Since the 1980’s we have been overtly or covertly involved with the Central and South American governments who used arrest and torture as it’s main control over their people. Our government has condoned or assisted in its use in Nicaragua, Columbia, El Salvador, Chili, Brazil, Guatemala, and Argentina.

Ronald Reagan, praised as “great president” by Republicans just a month ago, was knee deep in an “arms for hostage deal” and “Iran-Contra” scheme that has never been thoroughly investigated. Much of the deception of the Reagan government is still classified “secret” and beyond the reach of those who would like to know just how involved Reagan and his vice president, the first George Bush , was in the torture and murder of thousands of citizens under the oppressive regime in these countries.

And the question must be asked; was it Our government’s secret involvement in Central and South America that has produced the torture mechanism churning out victims in Iraq today?

How could George W. Bush have immediately set his minions to work finding a way to ignore the Geneva Conventions regarding the treatment of prisoners of war, and to keep himself from being tried for war crimes? The legal definition of these actions is known as “premeditation”. What, exactly, had he premeditated?

What, in his background, made him believe he was above, not only United States law, but the law of the nations of the world, and the laws of civilized behavior? What, in his background, allowed him to believe he could get away with it?

It is said that he once committed torture upon the members of his college fraternity; branding them with a hot coat hanger and then refusing to accept responsibility for any wrong doing. When the fraternity was suspended for the incident; he felt the judgment was too harsh, that it was a normal event. If you are on the receiving end of someone who inflicts pain by burning you, wouldn’t you deem it torture?

The Abu Gharib soldiers charged with the crimes of torturing prisoners say they were just following orders. Where have we heard that before? Those investigating say that the torture was committed by a mere six men and that the general in charge of the prison was lax; she says that she was under orders to not interfere. Those charged say that military intelligence, intelligence agents, and even “contractors” all were telling them what to do.

But while the trials of these few individuals proceed, we are hearing about routine torture, justification for the torture in order to “get information.” And now we have the assertion that the Pentagon has video tapes showing children being tortured. Of young children being used to “get information” from others. Of the rape of these children for this information.

The PIPA study says that 60% of We, the People, took the position that even if the prisoners are members of al Qaida, the United States should still give them the rights provided by the treaties. That is the behavior of a civilized nation; a majority.

So why are we at the mercy of a group of 30% who believe the ends justify the means? We, the People need to clean house. We need to sweep all of these uncivilized “elite” people from our House. And we need to demand an open investigation of all that has occurred since the year 2000.

Responsible: Legally or ethically accountable for the care or welfare of another. Capable of making moral or rational decisions on one’s own...of being trusted or depended upon...good judgment or sound thinking.

When the time comes for the nations of this world to pass judgment upon We, the People, and our country, where will you stand? And it will come. Remember, Germany, too, thought they were invincible and that might makes right. And look how far they fell.

 

JULY 25, 2004

SUNDAY AGAIN,

the day I tie all the little items into one long group ending in “what is going on here?” Today, I am starting with

IS IT THAT TIME AGAIN?

With the 2004 election right around the corner, with the self-proud, self-dubbed “war president” revving up his campaign to take the prize, we see this article which is essentially asking, Why bother?” It seems that it is already a “done deal” AND YOUR VOTE WON’T MATTER ANYWAY!!

First, consider this, the pollsters are basing the 2004 election data on the flawed 2000 data! Considering that Bush did not get voted in but was definitely appointed by the United States Supreme Court, that the legitimacy of the Florida vote was challenged by House members and ignored by Senators; if this had been a scientific study all the data would have been thrown out because it was contaminated!!

But, since the propaganda is perpetuated, they say that Bush has already got the electoral votes to be reappointed. John Kerry is trailing Bush and his states have fewer electoral votes anyhow, so there! Bush and Kerry need 270 votes to be declared president. It is said that Bush already has 25 states and 217 electoral votes. Poor Kerry only has 14 states and 193 electoral votes. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

It is reported that in 2000 Bush won 20 states and 271 votes (including Florida and Missouri; two highly states with highly disputed vote totals) and that, although Gore won 20 states and 267 electoral votes; the “media” played down the controversy and called Gore a “poor sport”. Actually, it was whiney Bush who was the poor sport, informing Gore that his brother, the governor presiding over the inexcusable Florida debacle had told him he had won! And it was his first cousin, John Ellis, reporting for Fox network who declared Bush the winner when every other network was saying Gore had won.

And we all know what the 1965 Civil Rights commission report concluded. And we also know that, in those states where Democrats won, the vote was sometimes counted three different times to try to turn the tide to Republicans - most of the time it failed.

However, in the most controversial area, Florida, a recount was never done. It is also a fact that Katherine Harris added 65 votes to George W. Bush’s total after refusing to add 365 votes to Al Gore’s total saying that nothing could be added after she had certified the vote. Those 65 votes she allowed in for Bush put his total over what they had allowed Al Gore by just a few; however, those 365 votes she refused to certify for Gore would have put him over the top by hundreds of votes. And that doesn’t include the black vote that was disenfranchised!

So how can they project the data that Bush is going to win? The same way they projected Bush was going to win in 2000, except they have another weapon now, those conniving voting machines that can tally and switch votes with a flick of a finger -- and We, the People will never know this time.

Because they don’t want outside election monitors to observe the 2004 election. Something to hide? And if, for some reason, it doesn’t work, why they will cancel the election.

But, how can the Electoral College even consider putting a guy whose first act was to set Justice Department Lawyers on a search of the Geneva Convention for a loophole that would keep him from being charged with

WAR CRIMES

I wonder about the morality of a country that has a leader who considers his own safety above that of We, the People. What sort of person begins a hunt for a way out of being charged with a crime before he has even had time to unpack his bags? And I wonder about the morality of its citizens when 1/3 of Americans do not share Our belief that physical torture of the people we invade and detain is wrong. Shades of Ghengus Kahn!

We’ve seen the photos, the government has seen the video tape. A limp investigation was begun regarding memos from Justice Department lawyers giving Bush scenarios on how he might escape blame for the torture and killing of prisoners of war. It will probably go the way of all the other government “investigations” such as the 9/11 Commission report. Plenty of blame to go around - except for Bush and Cheney who refused to give testimony under oath. At the moment, we are hearing that the government has video tape of the abuse and rape of children by intelligence and military representatives of our government. But where’s the investigation? It won’t be coming soon, after all we have to wait until Bush officially gets those 25 states and those 270 electoral vote; then it will once again be too late to do anything about it.

 

JULY 24, 2004

A BEWILDERED BUSH

Ole Bring It On Bush not only doesn’t get it; he just can’t get it! Like a schoolyard bully he can’t seem to understand why no one trusts him. He struts around the schoolyard (Our country) telling us how great he is, and how everything he is doing to us is for our own good.

And he is backed up by his gang who keeps saying, “Yeah, like it or lump it.”

While the “media” and most Democrats are willing to let Republicans tell them to “F••• It”, some of us are not willing to let Bush be King of Our hill. And they are mostly the ones who have been told to “Cheney it” all of their lives!” So Bush does what he always does; he turns tail and runs. In his almost four years as our “strong leader” and “commander-in-chief-” he has never faced the angry crowds of those who disagree with him.

When he wanted to invade Iraq, and We, the People told him NO loudly and constantly; he ran away. Not once did he have the courage to face us. The Government of the Free was forced to develop new methods of keeping We, the People out of his sight. Thus, the mini-detention centers created as “free speech zones” miles from where Bush might be disturbed by Our protest signs.

Back ways had to be created for his arrival in foreign countries to spare him the vision of thousands lining the streets to protest, not only his policies, but his audacity at visiting their country! The Australian parliament booed him so harshly that he has been too cowardly to face free foreign governments since then. He seems to only visit countries where crowd control is (i.e. invisible dissent) guaranteed.

And his refusal to face the NAACP, while trying to scrounge black votes, because they’ve said some nasty things about him, shows his complete lack of courage when faced with opposition.

According to what his staff says, he will deliver a speech to the Urban League in Detroit. I don’t think that is going to fix the Bush Credibility Gap. But let’s step back a moment and review the events that have Bush trying to convince blacks to vote for him while making sure they don’t disturb his “party of the elite”!

We all know what happened to black voters during the 2000 election in those “battleground” states he is campaigning in so hard for this election. We also know that the “media” poo-pooed their complaints that they were kept from voting, or their votes weren’t counted. A quick read on the 1965 Civil Rights Commission’s report on the 2000 election lays it out precisely - but not precisely enough for Attorney General John Ashcroft to take action.

But the general consensus is that just those disenfranchised from the notorious Florida “felon list” would have put Gore so far over the top that it would have been impossible for Gore to be reported as “loosing” the election. But being caught once and getting away with it just seemed to convince the Republican party that they could do it again. The 2004 Florida felon list surprised many a Floridian voter when they discovered that their name graced that new felon list. What was it that Bush said...fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice...uh, er, uh, you can’t fool me again.

The same dirty tricks are in play, but with a new twist. The Bush government has put out feelers about canceling the election because of “terrorists”. When members of the House of Representatives brought the subject of election monitors to the floor, the Republican House leader of the day,Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) promptly shouted down and squelched the debate by censoring Congresswoman Corrine Brown’s remarks and removing all trace of them from the record. Ah, yes, free and open debate.

And then there is the remarkably insensitive “visit” that Bush made to the tomb of Martin Luther King this past year. He breezed into town like a potentate to pay a brief stop, lay a wreath and then get out of town quickly. It seems that the Secret Service proceeded his motorcade and interrupted a meeting at King’s old church, Ebinezer Baptist and told the group that they would have to leave.

It also appeared that the congregation and the civil rights leaders who were in the process of completing plans to honor King’s birthday took exception to the evacuation. In fact, when the old civil rights leaders started telling the assembled crowd how to use King’s tactics to protect themselves, the city decided not to remove the demonstrators and instead began parking city buses in front of of them so that Bush would not have to look upon the faces of the congregation, or those who lived in the neighborhood.

And Bush wonders why 9 in 10 blacks prefer Kerry to him! Representative Corrine Brown has stated that in the 2000 Florida election 27,000 votes were thrown out. The notorious Florida “felon list”, (Responsibility of Bush’s Election Committee Chairman, now Representative Katherine Harris) wrongly purged 57,000 from the voter list. And blacks say that, throughout the United States they were kept from the polls and there are estimates that one million voters were disenfranchised. In Missouri, where Bush keeps returning during this election, black voters told of being locked out of the polling places, of standing in line for hours and then being told that it was “too late” to vote.

A campaign aid said Bush will continue speaking “directly with the African-American community about how his agenda is worthy of their attention and consideration.” But he couldn’t accept an invitation to address one to the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States! Instead he went to Detroit to address what the “media” reports as “another influential back group that he views as less hostile.”

Less hostile... so now, the African-American community is being a split into two groups... “You’re either with me or agin’ me”, Bush has been quoted as saying. He also has said that he is the president, he doesn’t have to answer questions, he asks them. Back to the school yard bully, just shut up and do as you’re told.

The African-American community just doesn’t seem able to do as they are told. They keep fighting back, even if they loose. Whether it is in Congress challenging an election or refusing to leave the Ebinezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King was minister. We, the People, once great fighters ourselves, would do well to follow the example of the Black Caucus, the black communities and question public servant Bush’s intentions. Remember, when you challenge a bully he usually runs.....

 

JULY 23, 2004

 

Gust Blog BY WHA?

 

Rant

 

For those of you still arguing about the Niger story. WHAT ARE
YOU STUPID! The U.S. has been in Iraq over a year and found
nothing.

No Nuclear plans no equipment the only nuclear related items
were from before the first Gulf war. So I ask you what the hell
was he supposed to do with the yellowcake? Bake it in a cake and
mail it to the White house?

 

Or do you think the Iraq’s had learned
how to process yellowcake with the power of their mind alone? Or
do think Saddam is such a bargain hunter he will buy early while
its cheap? Lets remember that Iraq already had yellowcake so why
would he need to squirrel away more? The answer is simple that he
wouldn’t.

The Israelis blew his first attempt to get nukes and that was
when Saddam had U.S. support. And despite the talk about Saddam
being a ”madman” the truth is was ruthlessly pragmatic which meant
he wasn’t going to waste money and risk pissing off the UN when
the Americans, British and Israelis were looking for targets.

Only a fool would believe that because somebody somewhere thought
that Iraq might want yellowcake that's legitimate evidence.

Watch
how its done: here is a rumor that Aliens are planning to disrupt
the supplies of coffee, so we’ll be to sleepy to resist their
invasion. Now how do prove its wrong? You have a source? You know
America would be helpless without coffee? It does make some sense
doesn't. Now if this rumor gets spread through the net and finds
it way into a DDB I want to get paid the same amount as Chalabi.

 

JULY 22, 2004

 

KNOW THEM BY THEIR DEEDS

Ronald Reagan, Jr. is returning to his father’s political roots, he is scheduled to speak at the Democratic National Convention this week. His speech made a news ”sound bite” about a week ago and disappeared off the tv screen. CBS, the network hounded into shelving a movie Republicans deemed critical of Reagan, Sr., has said they will not cover the speech. They say it is too short, only 8 minutes long. It is doubtful that the other networks will be able to squeeze it in either.

Last months, Ronald Reagan was hailed by the Republican party as “one of the greatest presidents” and they wanted to put his name or face on everything from Mount Rushmore to the coin of the realm. Obviously his son doesn’t share his father’s political loyalty to Republicans or he wouldn’t be speaking at the Democratic National Convention. But those rowdy Republicans don’t want too much attention focused on Junior’s defection.
The question I must ask is: If Ronald Reagan, Jr. was scheduled to speak at the Republican convention, on behalf of George W. Bush, would his eight minute speech get coverage?

But Republicans seem to have more problems from “defectors” than former President Reagan’s son. In June of this election year, a group of former diplomatic and military officials signed a statement condemning the Bush administration’s foreign policy. There are signatures from 20 former United States ambassadors, military commanders and former Chiefs of staff. They call the group Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change.

A former deputy State Department spokeswoman for the Reagan administration, Phyllis Oakley, said the statement was “prompted by a growing concern, deeply held, about the future of the country’s national security.” Although it doesn’t endorse a candidate, it flatly states that “We are on the wrong track, and we need a fundamental change.”

Oakley says the group represents very senior, former government officials who have “spent their lives working to erect the stature and posture of the U. S. as a leader in the world... and we simply see that edifice crumbling.” She continues, “We’re all career servants who have never taken a political stand. What we want to get on record is our profound concern about the future of the United States.”

Among those taking this stand are William Harrop, who was appointed ambassador to Israel by the former President George H. W. Bush, Marine General Joseph P. Hoar, Commander in chief of U. S. Central Command for the Middle East in 1991, retired Admiral William Crowe, Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1985-89. Oakley says that releasing that statement was not an easy decision for them.

It should not be considered a courageous act to fulfill the obligation to We, the People that they incurred when they took their oath of office; but in these time, in this climate of vitriol, it is. And we must acknowledge and salute this courage.

The Democratic convention will be held July 26 through 29th and the theme will be “Stronger at Home, Respected in the World.” Speakers will include presidents Carter, Clinton and Gore and the history making First Lady, Senator Hillary Clinton. Considering the very real need for Democrats to all “hang together” the real stars of the Democratic primary will also be speaking. They will shine a spotlight on the “rising stars” in the party also; such as Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, and Steve Brozak.

Brozak, is another Republican party “deserter” who changed his party registration after witnessing the Republican's treatment of Arizona Senator John McClain in the South Carolina primary in 2000 and the attacks upon another Viet Nam veteran, Senator Max Cleland of Georgia. The particularly vicious attacks questioning the triple amputee’s patriotism was simply too much for the retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who switched parties and is running for Congress in New Jersey.

It is an open secret that the Republicans, hoping to benefit from the September 11, 2001 “strong leader” image fostered by the “media” plan to hold their convention as close to the “Pear Harbor event” as they can. They are countering the Democratic lineup with such Republican “stars” as Senator John McCain and the former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Governor George Pataki and...Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It was said that Schwarzenegger campaigned hard for the spotlight. The unknown, untried Schwarzenegger received vast Republican support in the recall election of Governor Gray Davis of California. Amid more dubious voting reports from vote tallying machines and closed precincts in poor “minority neighborhoods”, they celebrated his “victory”.

Republicans refused to consider Schwarzenegger’s notorious history of crimes of sexual battery and sexual harassment. (Shades of an impeached Clinton - some of Schwarzenegger’s were even caught on tape!)

And We, the People, simply can not understand Republican refusal to investigate or address his past association with known Nazi war criminals! Why would Republicans embrace this man who campaigned for a Nazi running on a Nazi party ticket in Austria after he had become a naturalized American citizen, vowing to “renounce all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty...”?

And why would the Republican party proudly embrace and give a prominent speaking position to a man who professed Nazi sympathies when he lamented that his “good friend” Kurt Waldheim, responsible for the deaths of thousands of Greek Jews during World War II, could not attend his wedding because of the “Nazi thing” which had also put Waldheim on a world wide watch list when he was elected to office in Austria - with Schwarzenegger’s help!

If Republicans obsess over perceived foibles of Democratic candidates and our “media” constantly consider Democrats characters to be less moral than Republicans; HOW DO THEY RATIONALIZE THEIR SUPPORT OF THE NAZI TIES OF ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER? These ties may not be as relevant to a body building, aspiring actor BUT THEY ARE VERY RELEVANT TO THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND TO SCHWARZENEGGER’S POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS TO BECOME PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES -- even if he must change our Constitution to do so.

We, the People should be searching for the answers to our future when we watch these conventions. Just like you monitor the company your children keep, so should you monitor the company our two parties keep. Did you really think that George W. Bush wanted to play war with your children’s lives when he made all those promises on the campaign trail?

The lies that men tell in order to achieve power are always there; it is Our duty to uncover them. We must constantly chose from among the weak because the strong are not among them. We were a naive country then, even though it was there for us to see in 2000. It is even more clear in 2004. Now we know the results that come from listening to the slick words that men say; now We, the People know that we must judged them by what they do.

 

JULY 21, 2004

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A NAME MAKES!

We, the People, seem to be faced with a “breach of national security”. Every “media” source is trumpeting it in their headlines - both printed and audio. We’re going to be mired in a “criminal probe”. Republicans are in an uproar. They want answers; NOW.

No, it doesn’t involve another orange alert, it didn’t come from Ashcroft’s office nor “homeland security.” This crisis comes to us courtesy of the 9/11 Commission investigating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack upon the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

It is being hysterically reported that Sandy Berger, former Clinton Administration National Security Advisor (think Condoleezza Rice) admitted to inadvertently removing documents he was reviewing for the 9/11 Commission during his search of the national Archives. Seems that during the 2003 search, he accidentally got some mixed in with personal papers and placed them in his briefcase. When notified by the Archive in October 2003, he returned them.

But suddenly, this event from 2003 is attracting the attention of Republicans who are demanding blood. House Majority Leader, Tom Delay, says the incident is “absolutely shocking.”, but he wasn’t so shocked when Texas Republicans were using Homeland Security to track down Texas Democrats who wouldn’t play along with their arbitrary redistricting to provide less representation for minority voters and would produce more “Republican districts” -- in fact, he provided a little assistance of his own and that was according to “mainstream media”!

One big difference, Berger’s attorney Lanny Breuer, emphasized was that, although against archival procedure, Berger’s mistake was not against the law and, the Attorney General’s office expressed no concern until now... hummm.

Perhaps Democrats are correct, the timing is suspicious.
But, just in case this turns into the full “Ken Starr treatment”, I think we should extend the “Ken Starr treatment” to include the Bush administrations own wrong doings which have fallen through the investigative cracks. Starting with:

1. The stonewalling of the 9/11 investigation.

2. Protection given by the Judicial System to Cheney allowing him to hide the members of his secret energy commission from both government and private investigators.

3. A State of the Union address that reported unsubstantiated information about “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq that led to an invasion and caused the deaths of 901 United States soldiers and at least 112 contractors working for American companies.

4. Refusing to release memos which outlined a plan to ignore the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war and

5. Giving the Justice Department lawyers the task of locating loopholes that would keep Bush & Co for being tried as war criminals.

6. The treasonous act of releasing a major CIA agent’s name by someone in the Bush administration in retaliation for her husband’s refusing to support false information to justify the Iraq Invasion to We, the People.

7. Bush ignoring the August 6 PDB which wasn’t “precise enough” to indicate a terrorist warning although it was titled, “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U. S.”

 

8. A full investigation into the torture of prisoners of war by the American military and intelligence agents.

9. Refusal to investigate environmental concerns covering such diverse areas as clean air and factory pollutants.

10, Favoritism in the selection of certain contractors, i.e. “no-bid contracts” to Haliburton, which is still giving Cheney money every year.

11. Favoritism of Saudi nationals during and after September 11, 2001 in two major areas: 1) Being allowed to travel and leave the United States when American citizens were not allowed to and 2) financial ties between influential and royal Saudis and Osma bin Laden.

12. And last, but by no means least, a full, unbiased investigation into the illegalities and irregularities of the 2000 election that put George W. Bush in office -- including the favoritism of the United States Supreme Court.

And yes, I know there are many others ignored by Republicans and “mainstream media” but I’m not sure that this country has enough money left in Our Treasury to investigate all of the misdeed of the Bush administration!

But don’t hold your breath waiting for any investigation of anyone bearing the label “Republican” or “GOP” to happen . We already know that Washington, D. C. is a Republican “company town”! Even during the Clinton Administration, which is why Sandy Berger’s faux pas will be endlessly investigated, rehashed, and pontificated upon ad nauseum during this coming election. And while questions of Republican misdeeds, like military casualties, highest budget deficit in history, etc., will be met with silence or downright hostility.

However, one change I have noticed during the last few elections is that party names don’t appear on campaign signs any more. And then there is also the suspicious use of “GOP” lately. Sort of reminds me of the name change shady businesses make when they loose customers. Perhaps We, the People, are wising up to the “name-blame-game.”

But if your name is BUSH, you can get away with anything! Like being on vacation more days than you work, working 45 minute days while terrorists plan to destroy the financial district and the Pentagon, invasions of countries for their resources like oil, torture of prisoners of war... acting like a dictator... canceling elections... and getting away with it all....

 

JULY 20, 2004

NEW AGE POLITICS

A new political age has dawned, placating voters and influence peddling are things of the past. Politicians who want your vote want you to see how tough they are so they are using a lot of words, in public, caught on tape, that wouldn’t make it past the censors in most of TV land.

Dick Cheney may be credited with the movement since he was the first to dare to tell a Senator - on his own turf - to F*** himself; and it is true that he “outed” the new political wave by refusing to apologize and chuckling about his bad behavior and how good he felt afterwards; but he wasn’t the first. Obnoxious behavior has been slipping out of their mouths for years. During his campaign George W. Bush was also caught with an open microphone giving an ****expletive deleted**** opinion on someone he didn’t like.

Unapologetic bad behavior seems to be the norm now; and at least the Republicans don’t seem to give a Boulder Dam about it! The Watergate break in during the Nixon administration now seems to be a mild form of lawlessness when you consider the ciber crime of hacking a Democratic computer from a Republican legislator’s office and stealing their confidential files, or deliberately giving a CIA agent’s name to a source that you know will publish it.

And there is that little matter of using Our government to try to influence your vote by linking sites critical to John Kerry to government internet sites. When you need some information about the Department of Health and Human Services you get a Republican critique of Kerry’s fitness to be president -- oops, just another little mistake made by the Bush government!

Republicans have been insulting Democrats with name calling for years. And Democrats seem to have the attitude taught to us by society, “sticks and stones will hurt my bones, but words will never hurt me.” However, a lot of damage has been inflicted to the Democrats’ “bones” from the words hurled by the Republican “schoolyard bullies.” No question that a double standard of behavior exists when President Clinton is required to defend himself for eight years and those who are judging him are guilty of the same crime. It was sort of like having the jury box filled with members of a rival gang. No way was it going to be a fair trial.

But those politicians who should be needing our vote are no gang members. They are supposed to be held accountable by We, the People, for their actions. These privileged children of the “elite” who grew up to want to snatch Our Power, need to be put in their place.

Yesterday, Arnold Schwarzenegger, stood before a crowd to give a little political speech telling us how wonderful he was and that anyone who doesn’t think the way he does are “girlie men”.

Now, we all know Mr. Schwarzenegger doesn’t hold the highest opinion of women; otherwise he would not feel that he has a right to commit sexual battery upon their bodies. And we all know that the Republican party must share his view because they never rebuked him for his blatant criminal activity; in fact, they did everything they could to see him become governor of California!

Half of this country is made up of women. Most of that female half are Democrats. Most of those “girlie men” Schwarzenegger insulted are Democratic. How does this elite party of the, mostly male, rich expect to have anyone vote for them? Most of the voting public do not share their values - a theme Republicans talk a lot about but don’t practice much - or their goals. We, the People didn’t want our jobs outsourced to India or China, and We didn't want to invade Iraq. And We sure don’t want any more of our children dying there!!

We, the People sure don’t share the Republican values that allowed Abu Gharib to exist. Torture isn’t our thing. And we certainly don’t want a leader, no matter what he calls himself, “commander-in-chief or “war president” whose values include ordering the Justice Department to find ways to keep him from being tried for War Crimes before he ever started one!

Under Bush’s last four years, We have turned into a snarling, backbiting, belligerent nation that no one wants to call friend. We insult foreign leaders before the drop of a hat and call into question the patriotism of We, the People, and denegrate the military service of our war heros.

But the unsavory truth is that most of the Bush Team considered their lives too “precious” to risk loosing them in VietNam. So, convinced that it should be left to others to fight and die there, they simply ignored it. Cheney, decided to F*** it; he had more important things to do. Bush just got tired of playing “pilot” and went home. And all the others in his administration had reasons to not “play” war also. Perhaps that was why it was so easy to start another one - no risk, no personal pain.

So, this election, We, the People seem to be left holding a mixed bag of tricks. How do they plan to “win” this time? Have they played all of their cards? It appears so, since they are replaying the same ones they used in Florida and other states in 2000. But, there is one new one: Just “F*** ‘em”, if they won’t vote our way, we’ll just cancel it!

 

JULY 17, 2004

 

REAL DEMOCRACY IN ACTION

Richard Armstrong, a Colorado software engineer is doing what our government should be doing. He is exercising his Right as a citizen to take matters in his own hands and stop the outsourcing that is bleeding our country dry.

He, and a group of volunteers are collecting signatures to put an initiative on the ballot that would bar the state from firing We, the People from our jobs and then giving them to other countries. Mr. Armstrong, like millions of Americans, knows what he is talking about. He began pushing to stop the siphoning off of U. S. jobs in 2000, after he had lost two jobs to foreign competition. The last time, his company even required him to train his replacement before dumping him.

Mr. Armstrong says, “We feel that taxpayers have the right to decide where their taxpayer dollars are spent” Yes, we do. And we also believe that an economy won’t grow when citizens lose their jobs and companies keep their profits tax free in foreign countries. Not only is the income NOT returned to our economy, but it is reduced because those losing their jobs won’t have any income to buy the products produced by outsourcing, nor any earned income to pay taxes.

A little fact that our elected representatives seem to either be unaware of, or ignore. A state senate committee rejected a similar bill to Armstrong’s earlier this year, justifying their actions by saying that the computer system would have to be replaced because some of the jobs to maintain it are overseas. So why did they send the maintenance job to maintain it so far away? I’m sure they lost in tax revenue what they saved in salaries.

In spite of the economic hype, in this real world We, the People live in, things are getting worse. Millions of people are still unemployed, under employed (that’s part time or low wage jobs) and that falling unemployment figure Bush bragged about is rising to new heights. Consumer prices, at least those We, the People purchase every day, like energy and food, have shown the largest increase in 3 years! Try stretching unemployment for cover that!! There is a true disconnect between our elected officials who earn triple what we do in a year, when we have a job, and the reality of trying to keep a roof over our heads here in the “land of the free”.

A recent article said that raises for workers were low this year, around 3.3%. If you have been working at any job for the past four years, you probably haven’t seen a 2% raise, if you were lucky enough to get one. “Downsized” and “outsourced” people shop at WalMart. We know that department store sales have been down for about four years now; and now WalMart had joined them in the decline.

The movement to stop outsourcing that is not coming from our government, (Remember, George W. Bush declared that it was good for the economy without mentioning how it would be good for you!) but from the citizens who voted for those telling them that We, the People will benefit from it. In Georgia, Glen Jackson has started a similar movement to ban state outsourcing. Which state will be next.

Remember, a small band of radical thinkers got together to take control of their lives and their homes away from England and it resulted in the United States.

Remember that, in the late 1880’s a group of coal miners and factory workers decided they had had enough of unsafe working conditions and organized into groups that culminated in organized unions that created the safer working conditions and job guarantees we had -- until this newly created “outsourcing” was invented.

Imagine what would happen to our employment situation in this country if Armstrong and Jackson’s movement spread throughout the country? We might just get our jobs back.

It’s worth a try.

 

Guest Blog By The Wha?

 

July, 18 2004

 

Does anyone else find it odd that the same people who
demonstrated both their gullibility and incompetence are releasing
a report to the media about intelligence failures?

I knew even before the vote to authorize the war that every
piece of evidence was challenged in the media. But more
importantly the top experts on terrorism kept telling them they
were wrong on almost ever front. And what exactly did they think
those inspectors had been doing all those years anyway?

Considering that these people are in charge of intelligence
perhaps they should be aware that you can’t make weapons without
factories, materials, or scientists. Just the stuff that I saw in
the Net told me way before the War that Iraq had nothing.

I mean come on people, what do call someone who believed that
former U.S. allie (Saddam), under sanction, surrounded by enemies
was some how more dangerous to the United States than Iran or
Pakistan or North Korea; not even talking about Al Qadia; all of
whom are actively seeking WMD.

 

How Gullible was the Senate
that they didn’t start getting worried when Saddam allowed the
Inspectors back in? Did anybody really think he did that
expecting them to find weapons? If the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence had been doing their jobs they would have talked to
Richard Clark and the other experts. Hell, they didn’t even need a
hearing just have an aide listen to people bitching around the
water cooler would have done the trick. Now they put out a report
telling us what almost everybody on the net knew from the
beginning. But saving the stuff that Bush did till after the Election! Hey, I have an Idea instead of having a cabinet level
post why don’t we have several bloggers talk about it on the net
you get lots of free analyses Good and bad idea and you can still
have everybody ignore the information until after the disaster.

JULY 16, 2004

SILENCED IN THE CONGRESS

“The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States...which shall be determined by adding the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound into Service for a Term of years. and excluding Indians not taxed....The number of representative shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative....Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business...Each house may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a member...”

“Each state shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.”

When Congresswoman Corrine Brown, elected from the 3rd District of Florida, rose to bring an election issue before the House, she was rudely shouted down. They did not want to hear what she was saying. “Mainstream media” reported an “outburst” from her on the floor of the House.

But before she had finished her statement, she was shouted down with screams from the Republicans leaders of the House. True, she raised her voice, true she stated that the 2000 election had resulted in what she termed a coup d’etat, and true, she warned them that the same election scenario was once again being set up for the 2004 election.

But why did those words she spoke in an almost empty chamber, among very few House members, result in a purge of her statement, and a punishment of forced silence? And when did they assemble a quorum in order to impose such a harsh punishment? What was going on in that Chamber? Why did her words produce such fierce response?

The 600,000 Floridians represented by Congresswoman Brown deserve an answer as to why their Voice was silenced. Rep. Brown says that she was introducing debate on the request made by five Representatives to have the United Nations monitor U. S. Elections. The House leadership retaliated by introducing legislation forbidding any United Nations money be used to monitor elections in the U. S.

Representative Brown then informed the members present that they had participated in a “coup d’etat” in 2000 by stealing the election and that monitoring was necessary to keep it from happening again. At this point, the presiding leader of the house, Representative Mac Thornsberry, (R-Texas) began slamming the gavel and yelling for her to “get off the floor”. It seems he took umbrage at her accusing other members of “committing a crime.”

Coming from a state (Texas) only too happy to silence critics by mass redistricting to eliminate trouble spots, one must ask why Republican Thornsberry was so troubled by Representative Brown’s statements. The petition requesting that our 2004 elections be monitored has already been filed with the United Nations. It had already been signed by 13 of our elected representatives. It is a little late to censor Brown in our House of Representatives. Thornsberry can’t “unring the bell” by obliterating her words, but he has certainly given credence to the critics of the 2000 election.

Tom Kilgannon, president of Freedom Alliance, which says it is dedicated to protecting American sovereignty, criticized the signers of the petition. “Your appeal to the secretary general is alarming and embarrassing...it is disturbing...that you would entrust the most sacred act of American democracy...to an international institution...” he says.

What Mr. Kilgannon ignores is that the United States has already been embarrassed. In 2000. Where was Mr. Kilgannon when the blatant attack upon our “sacred act” of voting was going on in Florida; from the illegal “absentee ballots” fixed by Republican party members to the notorious “felon list” that was so successful in disenfranchising voters that it has resurfaced for the 2004 election? Where was he when the nations of the world decided that America be removed from the monitoring of dubious elections because of our own dubious election in 2000?

And many of those who signed the United Nations petition for election monitoring were present during the 2000 election. They were among those who stood and presented petition after petition after petition challenging the legality of the Florida election before the join session of the House. They were among those who saw John Ashcroft find “nothing” in that 1965 Civil Right Commission Report, that would require an investigation; let alone the legal action requested by the Commission.

They were silenced in that attempt also. And almost a thousand soldiers lie in their graves because of it. More than 3,000 of our citizens are dead because of it. The Supreme Court decreed that George W. Bush would be harmed by a recount of the Florida vote.

And when they decreed that, they were stating that We, the People who chose Vice President Al Gore to represent us, would not be harmed by that decision. The Join Session that cast their disputed electoral votes for George W. Bush decided that We, the People, would not be harmed by appointing George W. Bush president.

We, the People, knew better. And we are grateful for the efforts of these thirteen brave individuals like Representative Brown and Johnson, who are willing to take the vitriol spewed at them, to stand firm in the name of the People they represent. We thank them for upholding the Oath of Office they took when we entrusted them with the honor and the duty to represent us, to keep us safe.

They are not listed among the “wealthy elite” of Bush’s “base”, but they far better represent the “base” that provides the “Consent of the Governed” than those elite Republicans who constantly try to remove our “Right of Free Speech.” They have put their faith in our democracy and their reputations on the line to hold true to our Constitution. It is my belief that, when this chapter of history is written, their names will be listed among the patriots of this country who tried to keep our country free. And We, the People say to them, keep true to your ideals. We are with you. As are the spirits of those who have gone before....

JULY 15, 2004

THE NEW CONSTITUTION

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights”... except for homosexuals, lesbians, women, African-Americans, and voters who vote the wrong way.

Out with the old; in with the new.

There has never before been an administration so determined to eliminate the Bill of Rights and erode the substance of our Constitution. From the moment Bush stepped through the doors of Our White House, he has been determined to rewrite our Constitution.

I don’t think anyone took him seriously when he revealed his plans in December of 2000. BEFORE he had taken the presidential oath of office in January, 2001 to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States”, BEFORE he pledged to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”, he told us that being a dictator would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as he was the dictator.”

Contrast that with our first president, George Washington. He was not only given the opportunity to lead the country for life, but offered a crown that would have given him dictatorial powers. He declined, saying eight years was long enough to lead this nation.

Contrast that with John Adams, our second president. Our nation was still young, and he was leading us through the hostilities with England called The War of 1812; he could easily have taken what Washington refused. But he also declined.
Contrast that with Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the Republic and credited with the authorship of the Declaration of Independence, who wanted neither power nor glory but a free nation.

What historians have called “a collection of the greatest minds in history” came together to produce one of the most awesome document of history. And George W. Bush believes he can do it better.

Abigail Adams, wife of John, could have done it better. She had steadfastly stood behind the ideals that would come to be known as the Constitution of the United States, realizing that her life was on the line just as much as her husband’s was. And her reply was succinct and to the point, “Don’t forget the ladies.”
She wanted equal rights for all; she did not live to see it but the concept was there from the beginning; just voted down in the Continental Congress in order to get the Constitution ratified. It wasn’t until the ratification of Amendment XIX in 1920 that the “forgotten” ladies were finally remembered.

That simple amendment reads, “The right of citizens of the United States shall not be denied or abridged by the United states or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
When Thomas Jefferson and his committee of five, were outlining the offenses of the British Crown, he included a clause that censured Britain for imposing slavery upon the colonies of America. It was taken out. In spite of being a slave owner, Jefferson fought a long battle to eliminate slavery in the United States. He did not succeed in his lifetime, either. But, another president, Abraham Lincoln, completed Jefferson’s life long work in 1865 when the XIII Amendment to the Constitution was ratified.

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, expect as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United states, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.In spite of the 1870 amendment XV that emphatically gave the freed slaves the right to vote,

Section 1. The right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, pr previous condition of servitude.
Section 1. The Congresses shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

that “enforcement” of equal rights did not come about until the 1960’s and it took more than our elected government to make it a reality. It took the idealistic youth of our nation; it took their commitment, their time, their idealism, and sometimes their lives.

It did not take a new Amendment to our Constitution; just the enforcement of one already there. It was these events involving the registration of black Southern voters that established the 1965 Voting Rights Act; which, in turn, created the Commission that investigated the disenfranchisement of African-American voters during the 2000 Florida election.

We expect our elected government to respect our Constitution, to honor the blood shed in it’s creation. There is no place for a private agenda among its 26 amendments. That was done once. It was a failure.

In 1919 we amended our Constitution to ban drinking in the United States by ratifying Amendment XVIII. It did not stop one person who wanted to drink; it only created a whole class of criminal activity and labeled millions of our citizens as law breakers. Twenty two years later, another Constitutional amendment rectified this mistake and Prohibition (as it was called) was repealed.

This excursion into legislating morality succeeded only in creating a divided country; Us and Them. And once again, our leaders are trying to use Our Constitution as the moral conscience of our country. Certain groups consider themselves the arbitrators of justice. Their judgments are based on personal beliefs they consider un-compromisable and the idea that those personal beliefs need to be legislated for your own good.
The idea that

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

is not acceptable to them. They are the ones who rally behind George W. Bush’s proposed amendments to our constitution that will dispose of those rights written in the blood of our forefathers.

African-Americans are still struggling to overcome the second class status imposed upon them when those assembled in the Continental Congress chose to vote against the abolishment of slavery. Women are still struggling against the second class status imposed upon them by the denial of their individual rights against being the property of their husbands.

With the fall of the Separation of Church and State, more and more “different” religions are finding themselves on the receiving end of intolerance. Anti Semitic crimes have risen at an alarming rate since Bush let it be known which god his government favored. Public taxpayer funds have been used to enhance the programs, schools, and doctrines of Bush supporters. There was rhetoric among our elected legislatures that we should declare ourselves a “Christian nation”; thereby denying the legitimacy of whatever your religion is.

And now, the Republican agenda is pushing a Constitutional Amendment that would declare another segment of our society second class citizens. They want an amendment that would define, for all time, who can be considered married, who will be considered married, and what condition will constitute a marriage.

This collides with, “...these truths[are]...self evident...that they are endowed... with certain unalienable Rights....Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness...That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men....”

Do our public servants, elected by a vote of We, the People, plan to define a religious ceremony in our Constitution? That is all the marriage ceremony is. Different faiths have different ceremonies; there is no one religious ceremony - it totally depends upon your version of god. There is only a marriage registry complied by the state where you live. You register your dog, your car, your house, your children... why is it so wrong to register you fealty to another human being?

Why do Republicans feel that they can make better medical or personal decisions for the female half of our country? It was a long hard fight for women to achieve a semblance of parity with men. Why should legislation and amendments be enacted to take it away now? What has changed in the last 84 years to make them think we are no longer rational or intelligent? Why do we need them to write a “marriage amendment” to “protect” the sanctity of marriage. Isn’t that determined by your religious faith? One of the freedoms guaranteed under our Constitution. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...” Why isn’t your passing laws upon your individual religious convictions considered establishing a religion?

Why aren’t men subject to the same medical restrictions as women? Why isn’t their productivity as scrutinized as a woman's? What is wrong with legislation determining a male’s ability to procreate? Why should his doctor be allowed to determine what treatments he receives; after all, if a woman could be forced to bear a child and her medical condition is irrelevant; shouldn’t men’s medical conditions that might render them sterile also be irrelevant?

Our Constitution was not meant to regulate whether gays can marry or whether women have the right to their own bodies. These are covered under our guarantees of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. It is meant to regulate such issues as whether men can arbitrarily go to war without the consent of We, the People. It is meant to hold accountable men who seek ways to protect themselves from charges of war crimes, while watching 892 citizen soldiers die in a war they say no longer exists.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “I have sworn upon the alter of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

John Adams stated, “People and nations are forged in the fires of adversity.”

At this moment, to be recorded in our history, our “grand experiment” is engulfed in a “tyranny over the mind of man.” And our country is engulfed in “new fires of adversity.” We, the People, must hold tightly to the bonds of our Constitution and, as they say in the marriage ceremony, let no man pull it asunder!

.

 

JULY 14, 2004

THE DAY AFTER...

November 2, 2004 will be the beginning of a new era in American history. At this moment, We, the People have the power to determine our fate. After November 2, 2004, We, the People will not.

The person declared the president of the United States, by whatever means used; election or canceled election, will determine what happens to this country for the next four years. But We, the People already know some of the future. We will continue to ride the bucking bronco that is Iraq, and Iraq will continue to try to throw us off. More soldiers will die. Just like VietNam.

The economy will continue to deteriorate unless Our jobs are brought back home; it can not be stopped. And the candidates have not promised to stop outsourcing our future. An outsourced job brings no capitol to a capitalist system.

Without We, the People, returning our wages back into the system, it will run like a car without oil; eventually the engine will fail and it will stop. Our taxes are the oil lubricating the government, without them where will the money to pay for government spending come from? Not from wages paid to China. Not from taxes collected from India. Not from United States companies sheltering their billions in profits in foreign lands.

What we face without our citizens contributing to Our economic system is more horrifying to contemplate than the possibility of bin Laden launching another attack upon the United States. Already we see a deteriorating class system. It is common knowledge that the chasm is widening daily between the “haves” and the “have nots.” , or as George W. Bush calls them, “the elite...his base.”

Crime is already on the rise and it will continue to grow as more and more people find themselves without food or shelter. And soon, We, the People, will find ourselves protecting what we have from those who want it. Remember back, or read the history, of what went on in this country during the long hot summers of riots and the shouts of “burn, baby, burn....” There were troops in the streets then, but those troops are now in Iraq just trying to stay alive from day to day.

The narrow vision of not only the two presidential candidates but the Legislative branch of our government must be broadened to stop the corrosion of our Nation. But they appear blinded by their loyalty to a party rather than We, their employers. Daily, we read such items as:

•Government web sites, like Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Services, linked to sites criticizing Kerry. Statements like this one by Rep. C. L. Butch Otter (R-Ohio) posted on the House Republican Conference at www.gop.gov, saying that John Kerry “would embolden environmental extremists to press an aggressive agenda of restricting access and responsible use of public lands.” This, at the same time that news articles say that logging restrictions have been removed by the Bush government.

•Bush, who left his duties in Washington to attend fundraiser after fundraiser while casualties in Iraq escalated, who collected over 200 million for this political campaign, who was said to have been on vacation more than 40% of his time in office, criticized Democrats over a fundraiser that included celebrities that were not Bush fans. He was indignant that they had used “off color language” and called him names.

A week before, his own appointed vice president, in the Senate, had directed what is euphemistically known as the “f” word at one of Our elected Senators because he did not agree with him. Cheney didn’t apologize for telling the Senator to “F--- himself”, in fact he chuckled about it in an interview and said it felt good. Why is it worse for those who earn their living in Hollywood to use foul language than it is for Republican government officials? Doesn’t the freedom to curse someone extend to Whoopie Goldberg who makes her living as an actress and a comedian?

•One candidate has refused an invitation to speak to the oldest civil rights organization. That candidate is George W. Bush. That organization is the NAACP. He has declined every invitation since 2000. He is also the one who has all but eliminated affirmative action. He is also the one who benefited from a Florida “felon list” that disenfranchised so many in Florida in 2000. The NAACP was the organizational Florida precinct when calls from black voters flooded into their offices telling of intimidation, harassment, and being refused the right to vote.

On July 1, 2004, 13 courageous members of Congress requested that the United Nations monitor our November election. On July 8, 2004 they held a news conference regarding their petition addressed to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. It went unreported in the mainstream “media.” Once before, courageous members of Congress stood before the join session of the Congressmen and senators, and their plea that we clean up our election mess went unheeded. So now we need an international cleaning crew.

The example of exemplary democracy that we held up to the world was not just tarnished but was broken. The 2004 election is a way of redeeming our system. The 1965 U. S. Civil Rights Commission Report, ignored by Attorney General John Ashcroft, states, “When the right to vote is infringed, whether by poor planning or intentional actions, the nation as a whole suffers.” And we have suffered these past four years!

Fortunately, we are not alone in our convictions that what happened during the 2000 election must never be allowed to happen again. During the July 8, 2004 news conference, Congresswoman Eddie Johnson declared,

“It is imperative that there be some type of independent monitoring for this fall’s election. The United Nations provides this assistance for other Member countries. Why not the United States? We are not above the law. Nor are we above asking for assistance....The right to vote, and have votes counted, in free and fair elections is a cornerstone of representative government.”

And these Representatives of our government are not alone this time. We, the People will not be taken by surprise again. The human rights community stands with us. The executive Director of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development wrote, “We support the suggestion by Members of Congress that other nations send observers to our Presidential Election. The disenfranchisement of voters in Florida in 2002, and the further distortion of the democratic will in the aborted recount process, led to tragic consequences for people in many countries, including our own.”

Global Exchange, which has conducted election monitoring in 10 countries around the world, is also appealing to the international community to come and monitor our election. They believe it is crucial to a fair election and has plans to place at least 28 independently, international monitors in the United states as part of its “Fair Elections” initiative.

Although our patriotism has been questioned time and time again whenever we ask George W. Bush questions or disagree with him, remember those brave men questioning and disagreeing with England were also “unpatriotic”. They produced this “great experiment we are living. If, after the 2000 election, we have to prove ourselves, then so be it.

George W. Bush may believe, “If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier”, but then, who gave him the idea that keeping democracy alive wouldn’t be hard?

 

JULY 13, 2004

 

SEEKING SAFETY

News reports tell us that We, the People, are searching for an illusive something that will guarantee our Safety. George W. Bush says he provided it when he invaded Iraq. He also says that he can keep it by postponing or canceling the November 2004 election.

George W. Bush can not guarantee it; no one can. But we can chose leaders who do not put us in harm’s way. And that is what our decision must be; who, among the scant choices we now have, can most likely keep We, the People, free and alive for the next four years.

Bush is resting on very thin laurels. Four years ago we were safe and prosperous and assumed that we would continue to be so. Today, the focus of our country is on a war in Iraq that has killed at least 887 of our citizen soldiers and there is no end in sight. Even after Bush declared in “over” three months after it began, and even after he said he returned “sovereignty” to Iraq last month, our soldiers keep dying.

Bush failed to provide safety when his actions led to the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Long before that date, his focus was on a reason to invade Iraq, and therefore he failed to see that danger would be coming from bin Laden’s terrorist group, al Qaida. And when it came, he was frozen in fear. While a hijacked airliner tried to eliminate our concentrated military leadership, he did nothing.

The “commander in chief” who loves to call himself the “war president” took no action until our allies, NATO, told him that if he did not act, they would act without him. And thus, an invasion of Afghanistan began. Bin Laden was not found; Bush said it wasn’t important to find him. We rounded up prisoners of war and stuck them away on a military base close to Cuba.

The prisoners are still there, bin Laden is still free and planning his next attack. The Bush administration tells us so, that is why they are busy contemplating the canceling of the November election, so they say.

And while Bush reassures us that our country, facing a possible al Qaida attack of such magnitude that it could stop the course of a democratic election, is safer because of his decision to invade Iraq.

“We have removed a declared enemy of America who had the capability of producing weapons of mass murder and could have passed that capability to terrorists ben on acquiring them. In the world after September 11, that was a risk we could not afford to take.”

Saddam Hussein, the ruler of Iraq, was put in power by Bush’s fellow Republicans. Rumsfeld himself delivered the good news that we would supply Iraq with the chemical weapons that would cause the destruction of life that Bush now recognizes.

Saddam Hussein asked permission to invade Kuwait from the senior Bush. And it was given through a diplomatic reply sent through the American ambassador to Iraq. If Saddam Hussein is the monster that Bush portrays; he is a monster our own leaders have created.

Yet, according to an AP poll of 804 registered voters, 2/3 described Bush as “decisive”; a perceived character advantage over his rival Kerry. True, Bush never changes his mind or accepts responsibility for his mistakes; but standing on the railroad tracks while a train is bearing down upon you and making the decision not to move is decisive, but it isn’t a person I would want to decide for me!

I think Bush is decisive because he doesn’t think things through, like his John Wayne “bring it on” statement that inflamed Iraq militants. A true leader responds to events as they happen and can change his mind to fit a new situation instantly. Don’t take my word for it, watch children playing, watch the leaders.

George W. Bush doesn’t seem to know much about American history; therefore, he can’t learn from the mistakes or triumphs of those leaders who came before him. This isn’t the first time we have stood at the threshold of disaster; nor is it the first time an elected leader just didn’t have the skills to cope.

There is no “commander in chief” to get us out of Iraq like George Washington. There is no FDR to pull us from our economic disaster. There is no John F. Kennedy to defeat the terrorists as he did the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis. We have no Clinton who can coordinate a thousand different actions from hundreds of nations. What we do have is a choice between two “elitists” from the society of the very rich.

What we must measure, if we are allowed to vote, is the actions of the man. Consider: A “good ole boy” persona from a family of enormous wealth and privilege or a man married to a woman of tremendous wealth and privilege, who risked his life in a war he did not have to fight in.
Neither of these men will ever know what it is like to see their children hungry, wearing clothes too small, without medical care when they are sick. Their children will never wait in a line at school for a backpack full of food to keep them fed over the weekend. They will never have to huddle in a shelter, or eat at a food bank. Their jobs will never be outsourced to a foreign country. Their sons or daughters will never be send to the forgotten war in Afghanistan to die an anonymous death. Never know the deprivations of fighting in far off Iraq.
But We, the People, will. And the decision you make in November, 2004 will determine just how safe you will be. The man you chose to lead us for the next four years will inevitably make mistakes. And that is why you must look at his mistakes along with the successes. Both men now have leadership records to look at. Don’t just accept the rhetoric. Kerry’s Senate votes tell a story about the man. Bush’s governorship of Texas and the last four years tell a story also.
And there are questions I would like to ask both men before giving them my precious vote.
To Kerry: Why did you vote to invade Iraq? And why do you say we have to stay? And what do you plan to do about that forgotten war in Afghanistan? Do you know how many soldiers have died there?

To Bush: Why did you set such a low priority to investigate the September 11, 2001 attacks? Do you ever question why your good Saudi friends never warned you about one of their own planning to attack the United States? You do know that they were funneling money to bin Laden, don’t you? Do you realize that most ordinary citizens have more accurate information about what is going on in the rest of the world than you seem to have? Why?

 

JULY 12, 2004

FEAR

The Bush administration is full of it. They want to pass it on to you. Nothing but fear has come from the government of We, the People, since 2000 - nothing except FEAR and death.

The dictionary definition of the word begins with “an emotion of alarm and agitation cause by the expectation or realization of danger” and finished with “To be afraid, frightened or terrified.”

We have lived in a world of fear, agitation, terror, anger, hurt and alarm since George W. Bush was given the office of president of the United States by Our Supreme Court in 2000. He has betrayed our Trust and his Oath of Office to “...faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States and will, to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

He has usurped the powers granted to Congress and the Senate that provided the Checks and Balances between the Three Separate Branches of the Government. He has replaced the Bill of Rights granted in perpetuity to We, the People as an inalienable right, with an egregious patriot act that was never put to a vote of We, the People, nor a legal amendment to our Constitution ratified by Congress.
He has tricked the House and the Senate into giving him power to conduct an invasion with perjured testimony during a State of the Union Speech mandated by our Constitution “from time to time [to] give the Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend for their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient...”

And now, after two invasions of two countries for two very different reasons, we have been told that the Bush administration has failed in his duty to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States” and must consider the suspension of our mandated elections to thwart “the terrorists.”
Oh, Mr. Bush, how did you get us to this point? What did you do? What did you fail to do?

•••••••FEAR•••••••

George W. Bush, and those he appointed to work in his administration, are using fear as a weapon against We, the People; just as he used bombs in his invasion of Iraq. He wanted to persuade us that Iraq would terrorize us if we did not invade but our terror comes from the daily causality list that grows longer each day.

He created a new department to terrorize We, the People. He called it “Homeland Security” and uses it to provide us with terror alerts designed to keep us living with constant fear.

And he appointed DeForest Soaries Jr., a Republican former New Jersey Secretary of State and senior pastor of a Baptist Church, to head a new agency titled United States Election Assistance Commission. Another illegal creation. The Executive Branch of the Government has no authority to created this agency; no authority to appoint anyone to it.

The whispers have been in the wind for years now; ...just wait and see, after the fiasco of the 2000 election Bush will figure a way to stop the next one...
Paranoia gripped our country. It took Michael Moore’s movie, Fahrenheit 9/11 to focus our scattered concerns into one positive reaction. WE MUST STOP WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR COUNTRY.

It was right after Bush’s poll numbers began to drop that al Qaida once again took precedence over Iraq. With casualties and violence climbing, our soldiers spread so thin that replacements will have to come from a draft, we once more began to hear the “terrorist” rhetoric. In his zeal to invade Iraq, Bush said capturing bin Laden wasn’t important any longer.

Now, with an another uncertain election “win” staring him in the face, the Bush administration has pulled out the old terrorist card again. They are coming to disrupt our voting. Just like they did in Spain. Bush clings to the myth that the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Sapatero was elected because the Spanish people caved to the terrorists even though the people of Spain had repudiated former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar from the moment he chose to join Bush’s invasion.

The Bush agenda is to put in place “guidelines” for canceling or “postponing” our Constitutionally mandated election. But these guidelines are coming from Bush appointees, not the Congress and Senate who have Constitutional responsibility for elections. (See July 9, 2004 for the specific Constitutional responsibilities of each Branch of Government - or peruse your own copy!) And, as Intelligence Committee member Senator Diane Finestein says,

“I don’t think there’s an argument that can be made, for the first time in our history, to delay an election. We hold elections in the middle of war, in the middle of earthquakes, in the middle of whatever it takes. The election is a statutory election. It should go ahead, on schedule, and we should not change it.”

The first Continental Congress gathered delegates from widely spread colonies to form a wartime government, declare their independence from Britain by creating the Declaration of Independence. Neither the British nor the Tories could stop its completion. If our forefathers could accomplish all of that during an occupation and spying Tory neighbors, certainly we can complete the task of voting George W. Bush out of office.

We can not allow Bush’s fear of his failing to stop the terrorist during our November election take away our Constitutional rights to chose who shall represent our country. But, wasn’t he quoted as saying,

“If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.” (December 18, 2000)

Now, they are trying to stop the election...............dissolving our Political Bands.......destructive of these Ends......through FEAR ......

 

JULY 11, 2004

ANOTHER SUNDAY, most of our television stations will have what are called “pundits” analyzing the news for you. If you are one who watches their pontificating about matters that profoundly affect your life, pay close attention to what they say and then e-mail me if you can find a truly positive, informative debate about whatever issue they are discussing. Unfortunately, you will probably find the same old mantra, “Republicans good...Democrats bad”. But, why should we expect any difference in what they say from what is printed?

Like this one.

On Wednesday, the “rich boy” who couldn’t make good without the assistance of “daddy’s friends” made this statement. “I’m going to carry the South because the people understand that they share -- we share values.” Now, we know campaign rhetoric gets carried away and that candidates often promise things they can’t deliver; but does Bush really think that most Southern people, especially blacks living on the edge of white society, consider Bush as sharing their values?

He may visit the South often, but he confines his visits to the wealthy homes and country clubs the “elite” belong to; or, as you saw caught on tape in Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, Bush laughing as he gazed over his bejeweled and elegantly dressed audience, saying that some call them the “elite” but Bush calls them his base. And, from his campaign “war chest” we all know that Bush’s “base” consists of the wealthy, not poor Southerners!

As they say, the bottom line is that all four guys have more money than their grandchildren will ever need -- they are all “elitist” multi-millionairs, so that sort of cancels out the prospect of any one of these guys “sharing your values.” They can afford not to.

And then, there is the guy with NO experience; that was the “leader”; who calmly sat in a classroom while 3 airplanes commandeered by terrorists succeeded in their mission to take out our financial district and our military headquarters; having the audacity to say that John Edwards didn’t have the political skills and experience of Dick Cheney [to act as president]. By Bush’s own admission, Cheney has more “political skills and experience” than the guy the Supreme Court appointed to the presidency in 2000 -- oh, I forgot, it’s sort of common knowledge that Cheney IS the acting president, isn’t it?

However, whoever has been running the show for the past almost four years has botched everything from the response to the terrorist attack of September 11 to the two wars they are supposed to be supervising. I think a change of “commander in chief” is in order, and in THAT arena, Kerry beats both Bush and Cheney because he DOES have military experience and the Bush-Cheney team have none!!!

AND SPEAKING OF MILITARY EXPERIENCE...

Bush just can’t get away from the fact that all of his National Guard records have mysteriously “disappeared” so we have no “proof” that he did or didn’t show up for duty. A new article published July 10, 2004 once again tells us that Bush’s payroll records were unfortunately “damaged” for the first quarter of 1969 and the third quarter of 1972. C.Y. Talbott, of the Pentagon’s Freedom of Information and Security Review section has informed us that, “Searches for back-up paper copies of the missing record were unsuccessful.” Well, that settles that, doesn’t it?

From 1968 to 1972 Bush was supposed to be in the Air National Guard. How he got in, how long he was active, why was he allowed to just refuse a flight certification physical, when he showed up to “help” campaign for a Republican friend of his dad’s while your son was off to Viet Nam, how he got release early; all these problems have no answers because George W. Bush’s records have gone missing.

Now, these missing years would be a problem for you or me if you wanted to be hired in any capacity by Civil Service but not for assuming the office of President of the United States. Missing years of military service? No problem for a Bush!Could those missing records have anything to do with an article I read about a year before he started running for office that reported that a search was underway to seek and destroy all of Bush’s bad boy paper trail? Just who was involved in this mysterious disappearance of all things negative to George W.? And, the coincidences are just unbelievable! A complete disappearance of all of Bush’s official documents when the files are bulging with information on everyone all the way back to World War I and beyond!! Who could imagine such good -- err -- “bad” luck?

BUT MONEY WILL BUY YOU ANYTHING

Including the “media”, according to sources. It seems that most of our “liberal biased media” is owned by men or companies that prefer George W. Bush. And it also appears that the Bush family had deep and long term relationships with those owners of the supposed “liberal media.”

Rupert Murdoch, a name Americans are very familiar with by now, just about owns all of the “media” outlets in the United States; all of those “fair and balanced” “liberal” networks who insists on holding Bush accountable for all of his mistakes. He has upped monetary contributions to the Republican party from a mere 4.6 million pounds in 2000 to 7.56 million pounds in 2001 and 2002 !!

According to Center for Responsive Politics, a U. S. research group whose business is tracking the money that goes into politics, the “liberal biased media” is contributing heavily to Republican campaigns. Now there’s an oxymoron!!
News Corp’s donations show that 24% of their donations went to Bush personally, but their total contributions in “soft” money to the Republican party was close to 90%. Now, even those whose math concept are “fuzzy” should be able to realize that Democrats didn’t get much “hard” or “soft” cash from them!!

The owner of NBC, General Electric, and News Corporation, owner of Fox and Sky television networks AND the New York post, are said to be the most prolific at supporting the Republican party with huge donations. GE gave $1.9 million, almost 60% of ALL donations, to Republicans.

Various “whistleblowing” sites have traced the intricate web of connections between the Bush family and those who own the “media”.

Takeback the media.com has published those connections between the Bush family and Clear Channel. Clear Channel is linked with the Bushes through Lowry Mays, who is linked with Bush through the University of Texas Investment Management Company. The vice-chairman, Thomas Hicks, is a long time friend of George W. and bought the Texas Rangers baseball team from Bush for $250 million in 1998 for three times what Bush and his partners had originally paid.
And, horror of horrors, the Bush family has a connection with the cult known as the Moonies. Sun Myung Moon, whose recent “coronation” was attended by no less than 80 members of our Legislative Branch of the Government. And the Bush family is reported to have closely intertwined ties with the cult leader. The former President Bush is said to have received hefty lecturing fees from the Unification Church cult. Obviously, that tax evading cult leader must be “liberally biased” to pay Bush all that money to be called names!!

And we won’t even go into the financial ties of the Bush clan and the bin Laden family that remain unreported by the “liberal” media but found their way into Michael Moore’s film Fahrenheit 9/11. That “liberal media” sure showed Bush that they weren’t in his corner by refusing to say one positive thing about liberal thinker Michael Moore’s documentary.

Any criticism of the Bush is met by the “liberal” media name calling or special programs presenting only the Republican point of view.

Oh, yeah, the “liberal media” connection is right there for all to see -- you just have to read between the biased reporting.

 

JULY 10, 2004

 

CONVOLUTED THEORIES FROM THE BUSH GOVERNMENT

I have a problem. That seems to come with trying to interpret the “news” given us anymore. My problem seems to be that my education included a little thing known as thinking. Unfortunately, my teachers expected me to not just regurgitate what they said, but to be able to reassemble it in an order that verified what they said. It was called “reports”, “term papers” or “debates”. They required more than one source and they required that I back up whatever determination I stated.

Last night was an example of what went “wrong” with my education.

I watched a portion of an interview conducted by Matt Lauer, the Today anchor, and one of Bin Laden’s 54 siblings, Yeslam bin Laden. Nothing much there until Lauer brought up Michael Moore’s new movie Fahrenheit 9/11. It was a discussion of Moore’s segment which told America that the Saudis were granted permission, by someone very high up in our government, to leave the U. S. after 9/11. Essentially, Lauer asked this rich Saudi when those relatives left the country and he said they didn’t land in Geneva until the 20th and that was seven days after the airports had opened.

And here is where my problem with thinking kicks in. Lauer DIDN’T point out that there was proof that those rich Saudis were flying above the skies of America before that ban was lifted. Nor did he inquire as to where those Saudis were from September 11, 2001 until they landed in Geneva on September 20, 2001. What we do know is that bin Laden’s rich relatives weren’t being interrogated by the FBI like so many other foreign nationals!

Moore’s movie gave us the proof that at least (no one knows for sure) 300 Saudis were gathered by chartered aircraft from various points across the U. S. and deposited in one secret location AND THAT THE AIRPORT LOGBOOKS DEFIANTLY SHOWED PLANES TAKING OFF AND LANDING SEPTEMBER 13, 2001 BEFORE THE BAN WAS LIFTED!

I am personally aware of more than one person who wasn’t flying on September 13, 2001. And it wasn’t a wealthy or royal Saudi. One was a businessman stuck in an airport and unable to get home for a week. This person got to the car rental counter too late, couldn’t get on a bus and couldn’t take a train. The question still remains: If it was “safe” enough to release Osama bin Lauden’s relatives, why wasn’t it safe enough for citizens to fly back home?

Ok. That one took more than a little thought. Why would the government provide preferential treatment for the relatives of the guy who was responsible for blowing up two buildings and the Pentagon and yet refuse to let you go home? As Michael Moore said in Fahrenheit 9/11; if it was a murder investigation (which is was) and it involved you, would they just let you fly away? You would be locked up as a “material witness” if you didn’t answer their questions, wouldn’t you? Yes, the difference is in that phrase Bush hates for you to use but uses in private himself: ELITISM. Money. Black Gold!

And here is another beauty that is taxing my brain. Before the terrorist attack, FBI agents and CIA agents were practically bouncing off the ceiling trying to get someone to pay attention. Memos flowed alerting the Bush government to the fact that bin Laden was planning something BIG!!

However Bush & Co were occupied with other pressing matters such as, how can we invade Iraq? More than one has testified that the Bush government was pushing and demanding that some agency come up with “proof” that Reagan and Rumsfeld’s old buddy Saddam Hussein was a “danger to our country.” When former ambassador Joe Harris could not provide “proof” that Iraq had nukes, but let We, the People know it also, someone in the Bush government promptly published his CIA wife’s name.

Now, you see... this is where my learning to think is at odds with what they are trying to get me to believe. This morning, out comes an article blaming the CIA for the false intelligence that Bush used to get us to invade Iraq.

For some reason, the same men who poo-pooed the information about the coming September 11, 2001 attack that culminated in 3,000 to 5,000 deaths (this administration is so secretive about casualties that I wouldn’t bet my life on any of their figures!) are the very ones who used every lie they could to try to convince us to invade Iraq.

These same men told us that they ignored the terrorist warning because it wasn’t specific enough, no time, no date, no mention of planes. And yet when news was brought back, by Harris and others, that didn’t fit the invasion plan, they ignored it also! They picked and chose what information to use and what to discard; for both events.

And they picked and chose that information from that supplied by the FBI and the CIA. The FBI is faulted because their information wasn’t “specific” enough (time, date, place, method used.) The CIA is faulted because the information they used (WMDs, nukes, chemical weapons) weren’t actually there, even though various sources would not or could not confirm their existence.

Oh, there is blame here, enough for everyone. But, ultimately, regardless of what agency did what, it rests with the Bush administration that was so obsessed with an agenda that We, the People knew nothing about! All three of our Branches of Government failed us. And no one is going to be held accountable.

9/11 happened because Bush’s brain was disengaged. The invasion of Iraq happened because it was planned before he ever took office.

They both happened because most of those elected didn’t care enough to do the job W, the People, elected them to do.

Almost 6,000 citizens have died because not one Senator had the courage to sign the document investigating the validity of the Florida election. Although I never voted for him, I wish we had just given Clinton four more years -- and this time he would have had my vote!

 

JULY 9, 2004

Hummmm.... I think I see a pattern emerging here. Yesterday, the head of “Homeland Security” announced that once again the “terrorists are coming” and they intend to stop you from voting!

Ridge solemnly declared that, although they had a steady stream of intelligence from militia-linked web sites that were “chattering” about disrupting the November election, he wasn’t serious enough about it to raise that famous “color code” back to orange. Just a little warning, a jolt of adrenaline for the masses to keep them on their toes.

Seems like we have come a long way since September 11, 2001, when the government ignored very specific warnings from the low level employees that were churning out memos declaring that bin Laden was doing something BIG, and PDBs alerting George W. Bush that bin Laden was planning something BIG.

Yup, for five seconds, Ridge, Ashcroft, or some other government VIP steps before a microphone to inform us that “the terrorists are coming” every time Bush gets his tush in a sling, things don’t go his way, or a rival gets a little too much positive publicity. And just as quickly it disappears. Those announcements can’t help but bring back memories of the childhood fable of Peter and the Wolf. When the wolf finally did appear, no one was buying what Peter was selling!

There may be a twofold reason to ratcheting up the fear level this time. One being the snit Bush showed by walking out of the room when a reporter dared to ask him about his “good buddy” Ken Lay’s indictment. But my first thought was what a friend had gloomily told me right after the Patriot Act was produced by Bush & CO. “Just wait, there will be another terrorist threat announced right before the next election and they will just not have one.”

Sounds a little paranoid, doesn’t it? Imagine my surprise at reading that Bush had appointed DeForest B. Soaries to head a “federal voting commission” to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling an election.” I didn’t even know a commission had been created! Did anyone know he was doing this? How can a member of the executive branch create or appoint anyone to produce guidelines to cancel or “reschedule” an election? It isn’t in the presidential job description!

Article I, Section 4 (Senate)

“The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof: but the Congress may at any time by Law alter such Regulations, except as to the place of Chusing Senators.”

Article I, Section 5 (Representatives)

“Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business....

Article II, Section 1 (Executive)

“Each State shall appoint, in such a Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State my be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United State, shall be appointed an Elector...The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.”

But then, who follows the Constitution of the United States anymore?

California, when deciding to hold a recall election, also decided that it just wasn’t worth opening all the voting precincts for that election; but did they close them in Schwarzenegger’s ritzy neighborhood? Did I need to ask? They cited the euphemism of “poor voter turnout” in poor ethnic neighborhoods as a reason to not open them for something as unimportant as the recall election of the governor of the state they lived in.

For some reason, those running this so called “recall” election thought it would be easier for poor minimum wage workers; who could have their wages docked for taking time off to vote; to run around their city trying to find an open polling place that would let them vote than it would be for wealthy people to be inconvenienced by a chauffeured drive to an open polling place in a another neighborhood.

If you think the California election was a freak event, listen to this story: During the last presidential election I spoke with a young mother waiting in line to cast her vote, kids in tow. Her husband wouldn’t be voting because his employer wouldn’t allow him time off to vote; plus he was expected to work overtime until the polls closed because of some “rush job”... when did we lose our right to time off to vote?

And we all know the example of Florida, multiple thousands of black votes not counted, intimidation, harassment at the polls. Gore would have won the election just by giving all these Gore “black votes” access to the ballot box. And of course the notorious felon list. Did we really “fix” things for the 2002, 2004 election? Of course not!! The new felon list is out and would have been a “November surprise” if someone hadn’t gotten a copy and published it. Almost as many surprised Floridians as in 2000!

And the “intimidation” factor of parking police cars in front of polling places has been taken care of. What better reason to have police patrolling precincts than to be watching for terrorists. The question is... who is being considered a terrorist?

FBI Director, Robert Mueller, said that “officials were taking security steps that we anticipate will continue all the way through the election.” Boston and New York authorities have already begun working to secure thousands of polling sites, said a “Senior intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity.” Road and rail closures and “greater restrictions than usual” imposed on the convention sites. That’s the way to make a democracy work!

Considering how hard it is just go get on an airplane anymore; what do you think we will have to do to get to vote? Will we need more than a voter registration card and one form of picture ID? Will we need two plus a birth certificate? Do we get patted down like when we board a plane? Once? Twice? Will we be pulled from line for a special search? How fast will the lines be? If we go after work, will we have time to clear security and still get to vote before the polls close? Don’t know about you, but I would like some information in writing regarding this new “security”.

The last time, Homeland Security got involved with trying to provide protection from terrorists we ended up with the Patriot Act which negated the Bill of Rights I, IV, V, VI, VIII, IX, and X. That only left three, and they were the one about guns, no soldiers being quartered in our houses and the jury trial where the controversy shall exceed $20! And these were rights that NO MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, THE SENATE, OR THE PRESIDENT COULD TAKE AWAY!!!!

But they did, so just how farfetched is it that Bush would declare no election in November?

Starting now, We, the People, who are really in charge of the government, need to hold those constantly telling us the wolf is at our door accountable for what they say. It is time to call a halt to all this fearmongering. We have been through some very tough and fearful times before September 11 and I’m sure we will go through many more. Sure, there are terrorists trying to kill us; there always have been and there always will be.

During World War II, German subs planned a landing on our shores that almost succeeded. There is no question that had England fallen, eventually Hitler would have come knocking on our door. But we didn’t curl in a ball and color code our response. Every man, woman and child could spot an aircraft’s origin, identify a ship close to our ports. It was our contribution to “keeping America safe.”

But looking at the fear on the face of George W. Bush on September 11, 2001, most of We, the People realized that our “leader” simply could not cope. He did not handle adversity well.

Has he never heard the famous quote of FDR? “There is nothing to fear except fear itself.” A very wise statement. Fear won’t protect you and in the end you will be facing that which you most fear. Personally, I prefer to go down fighting not huddled in a duct taped room!

And please, don’t let terrorist alerts stop you from voting. Even if they do attack the polling places and some die, remember this: 228 years ago, a lot of us died for the privilege to be free; this is just another sacrifice that we make for our country. If, as Bush keeps telling us, we are in a terrorist war, there is no safety. We must face our fears and go forth as our parents and grandparents did in World War II. We, the People, will keep our country safe. And to do that we must also safeguard our Constitutional freedoms and act as spotters for those who would take them away.

VOTE AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED UPON IT; IT DOES!

 

 

JULY 8, 2004

WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?

During the VietNam era that question, immortalized in song, was on the lips of every American. Trying to find an answer to why we were in a far off land that had never threatened us and why thousands of our children were dying there, and why was our government lying to us about the terrible price that We, the People, were paying for that war, succeeded in dividing this nation as only the Civil War had done.

A young John Kerry dared to ask that question. A young George W. Bush did not.

But the result of that war with VietNam produced almost 60,000 deaths, countless scarred and maimed young men and women; both in spirit and body. The VietNam war was a shadow over this land from 1952 until 1975. It encompassed the administrations of four presidents of both parties. And we have carried the results of that war into the new millennium.

And now we are standing at the threshold of another war without end. George W. Bush declared it “over” three months after our troops invaded Iraq, but we stayed on. He handed “sovereignty” over in June, 2004 but we have stayed on. Both men, Kerry and Bush, who are asking to lead the nation through the next four years, vow they will stay in Iraq until some unfathomable reason tells them it is time to leave.

Realistically, we could be guarding the gates of Iraq longer than we occupied Germany and Japan.

Like VietNam, this invasion is draining our country of resources and citizens. Republicans and Democrats, are suddenly worried that our military is in deep trouble in Iraq, are finally asking questions. But they are not questions about WHY we are in Iraq, or WHY the “commander in chief” won’t leave Iraq but where will we be getting more bodies to put into Iraq!

In May of this year, while “commander” Bush is telling us how well his war is going, the Army National Guard reported that they were at 88% capacity, the Air National Guard was at 93%, and the Air Force Reserve was at 91%. Representative John McHuges, (R-NY) stated that it was not reassuring that most reserve “components” (They are HUMAN “components” - call them People.) were below recruitment goals for 2004.

Democratic congressman Ike Skelton says, “We are taxing our part-time soldiers...nearly to the breaking point. We have to be aware that the families...are paying a significant price. We don’t want to break the force.”

Another Republican, Rep. Duncan Hunter, (CA) the House and Arms Services Committee Chairman believes, “We’re concerned that insufficient force structure and manpower are leading the services to make decisions that I liken to eating the seed corn. That is, in order to make it through today, we do things that mortgage the future.”

Congressman Hunter is talking about things like the Army deciding to deploy units previously used to train other soldiers for combat. He also informs us that the ratio of reserves to active duty soldiers in Iraq is increasing and believes that “turnaround time” is too short for those who are being sent back to Iraq.

The Pentagon has ordered a “stop-release” program that literally refuses to allow troops who have finished their military obligation from leaving; a bondage of sorts. 5,600 of the military, who have recently completed their obligation or retired, are being recalled to active duty to be sent to Iraq.

Thousands of members of the Individual Ready Reserve, will probably be called up next year, according to the Pentagon. These Reservists are different from the National Guard because they do not attend regular training sessions and are not paid reservists. The Individual Ready Reserve are there for emergencies. Iraq is NOT an emergency, Bush tells us all is well and on schedule.

But this tells us that the one difference between the VietNam war and the Iraq invasion is that those fighting in this war are older men, with families and civilian careers. In VietNam, our youth did tours of duty and came home to begin their lives; in Iraq lives are interrupted and stopped for an undetermined time. But these men can not fight forever. Where will the fresh bodies required for this long term occupation come from? They are not being “recruited”, therefore, at some point, the must be drafted. Once again....

Bush has supplied a number of reasons why our county’s soldiers are in Iraq. None of them were true. But no one has had the foresight to ask him what his real reason is for invading a country that we have been supporting since Ronald Reagan’s presidency when Donald Rumsfeld delivered the good news that Reagan would supply the chemical weapons that Saddam Hussein used against the Iranians and his own people.

No one has asked why the Kuwait ambassador's daughter gave perjured testimony to the United States Congress before the “Desert Storm” invasion and on George H. W. Bush’s watch.

And no one seems to really care that George W. Bush perjured himself before Congress by swearing that we were in mortal danger from Iraq when it was not true. We, the People, and the nations of the World, tried to stop him and we failed.

When our country emerged from the long, costly, unsuccessful war with VietNam, We, the People echoed the phrase that emerged from the atrocities of World War II, we promised, “Never Again.”

It is a promise we did not keep. We hope that the nations of the world realize that We, the People tried to stop this invasion. We hope that they realize that Bush ran away from our demands that he not invade. And we hope that they learn that Bush assumed a power he did not have through intimidation and fear of consequences that could never have happened.

March 2003 will be recorded in our History as the day we invaded a country that had never threatened us and began, once more, a war involving thousands of our citizens, billions of our dollars, and once again we are asking, “What ARE we fighting for?”

And once again, the answers are as ambiguous as the number of corpses this “war” has created. Our democratic government hides the casualties from us, just as they did in VietNam. Are these dead soldiers held hostage because they might harm Bush’s chances of winning in November? To the best of our knowledge, on this date 876 U.S. citizens have died in Iraq. 106 “private contractors”. Thousands have been maimed.

FOR WHAT?

 

JULY 7, 2004

THE REPUBLICAN WAY

I know it seems as if I’m always picking on Republicans; but they are always standing up and having a little hissy-fit and then yelling “Hit me!” by doing the very thing they are having the fit about!! And, Democrats just always seem to be running a close second!

There is no better proof than the “close-the-barn-door-now-that-the-horse-is-gone” news articles describing the Schwarzenegger “administration”. If you recall, Gray Davis was vilified for not balancing the budget, for not stopping the ENRON Energy Scheme, and probably that last earthquake in California.

Schwarzenegger is also having trouble balancing the budget. Seems he can’t get it under control either but that is ok because he isn’t being held to the strict standards applied to Gray Davis. His first act, cutting taxes on those big luxury cars, like Hummers, began a new trend in California government which I shall call “Schwarzenneger elitism”. Jamie Court, a consumer activist with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights put it succinctly:

“For a governor who came to office saying he would cut the government, he seems to have really pumped it up, at lease salaries for his inner circle. It doesn’t show much respect for taxpayers.”

From all I’ve read, I don’t think respect for taxpayers was on the political agenda when Republicans began petitioning for Governor Davis’ recall. I think it had more to do with Schwarzenegger’s political ambitions to become president one day and the necessity of putting California’s big 55 electoral votes in the Republican column.

But the “hissy-fit” that removed Davis from office and put another man of dubious character in power, smacks of Republican artifice again. Elected by some of the people but not all of the people. Those people living in minority neighborhoods where the polls never opened were simply disenfranchised like in Florida; if you wanted to vote you had to find your way to an open polling place -- out of your precinct!

The “new” governor has really shaken things up; he is in up to his eyeballs in borrowed money to try and balance the state budget.

And, he has cut the budget but guess which programs he cut? Yes, he plans to balance it on the backs of the poorest taxpayers. Education and “other services” (?) is on the chopping block, union contracts are going to be reopened (Less money for blue collar workers?) “Everyone has to make sacrifices.” Schwarzenegger was quoted as saying.

Everyone but him and his staff.

First, although he points to a smaller staff than Gray Davis, that is suspect, because it appears that he has “outsourced” the cost of dozens of staff members to other government agencies. Although nothing has been released, you can’t help pondering how many Schwarzenegger staffers are paid from which budgets...like Children’s Welfare, fuel and energy programs for the poor (if they still exist), education and food programs for children... what has he cut and what has he kept?

Schwarzenegger spokeswoman, Margita Thompson says that the governor’s office is “traditionally exempt” from the hiring freeze that Schwarzenegger imposed on state agencies last year. So why all the complaints about Gray Davis? What changed except the classification of the governor from “democratic” to “republican”. Looks like business as usual to me.

Although, I would certainly like to know what has happened to the ENRON lawsuit Davis filed on behalf of California.

The bottom line on Schwarzenegger’s payroll is this:

•Although, on paper, Schwarzenegger appears to have a few less employees than Davis did, Schwarzenegger is spending 8% more on salaries than David did.

•Payroll records show that the average annual salary for employees in the government office has risen 22% during the 7 months Schwarzenegger has been in office. Wouldn’t you like to have a 22% raise in salary instead of facing job layoffs???

•Fourteen employees on the official governor’s payroll make $100,000 or more a year. That number is almost double the number of employees making $100,000 a year on Gray Davis’ staff.

•"Everyone has to make sacrifices” -- except Schwarzenegger. The governor’s office payroll has grown from $3.37 million to 3.63 million; a 7.7% increase.

So what does this mean to non-Californians? Who ever thought that one day whether we lived or died would be controlled by that Texas governor who couldn’t even remember the name of the guy next door and who instituted a slash and burn policy that left prosperous Texans gasping. It is no secret that Schwarzenegger, born in Austria, has designs on the presidency of the United States.

He has stated that the Constitution should be changed to allow foreign born citizens to run for the office; a Constitutional amendment was proposed by a prominent Republican who believes that Schwarzenegger is “presidential material”.

But, a short time after Schwarzenegger took the oath of citizenship making him an American citizen, he was off to campaign for his good friend Kurt Waldheim in Austria. By doing so he violated his oath of citizenship to “absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity of any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty....”

And another problem. Sexual battery and harassment is a serious crime. It should not be condoned in any form. Certainly, if we could impeach a president for consensual sexual conduct, the standards must be higher for nonconsensual conduct. But the Republican party, so obsessed with “getting” Clinton has totally ignored Schwarzenegger’s conduct toward the women he worked with. Another “hissy-fit” that simply doesn’t matter when the conduct belongs to a Republican.

And probably the most scary. Do you want any person in any government office who supports and admires a Nazi war criminal? Kurt Waldheim, when elected in Austria, with Schwarzenegger’s help, was put on a world wide watch list because he was the Nazi in charge of having Greek Jews killed during World War II.

Schwarzenegger has said he “loved” Waldheim, he toasted Waldheim at his wedding because “the Nazi thing” kept Waldheim from attending his wedding to reporter, Maria Shriver.”

The Nazi thing?

Our fathers and grandfathers did not fight and die on the sands of Normandy and throughout Europe to promote the Nazi agenda. Their memories of Nazi death camps would not allow you the option of even considering someone with a Nazi past or Nazi affiliation to become a governor, a president. You betray their sacrifice if you do.

And no matter what justification the Republican party may have for supporting this man’s rise to power, it is not sufficient for them to give him the Republican party’s support.

In seven months, Schwarzenegger has shown that he can not do a better job than Davis did. In seven months, the same Republican elitism has raised its ugly head.

And stirring in the shadows are the ghosts of more than 12 million people restlessly watching Kurt Whadheim’s good friend in his first position of power.

 

JULY 6, 2004

WE, THE LOSERS

Less than a year ago, We, the People had Hope spread like a banquet before us. We might not have a choice of Republican candidates, but we had a plethora of Democratic candidates to chose from. Ten men promised to bring our country back from the brink, to return us to prosperity and to honor their promises.

How did it happen that our choice of a new leader turned into the two men at the bottom of our list? How did it happen that those we most believed in are now gone? One by one we watched the strongest fall ... Dr. Howard Dean ... General Wesley Clark ... Congressman Richard Gephardt...

When, in the order of things as we saw them, did Senator John Kerry and Senator John Edwards, become our chosen candidates? Or were they chosen for us?

Although most of us have heard the stories about “stolen elections”, we were mostly satisfied with the results because they mirrored our own community’s votes. There were rumblings in 1980 when we wondered aloud that, if no one in our community would admit to having voted for the befuddled Ronald Reagan, how did he get that second term? But the idea of a blatantly stolen election had still not crossed our naive minds, we believed that our “media” would have investigated such a thing.

Since most of those we knew planned to vote for Dukakis, we were flabbergasted at extent of his loss. We knew it would probably be a close election; much closer that the supposed election of the son of Bush in 2000; but the absolute rout of the Democrats was beyond belief. I think that was the beginning of our suspicions about those machines that could distort the vote. Pull a lever, punch a hole -- but did the hole on that paper correspond to the name you thought you punched? The notorious “butterfly ballot” with the misaligned holes showed us how it easily it could be done.

When Clinton was elected to serve as our president, we also had numerous candidates. Clinton was at the bottom of the pack also. He came from nowhere to obtain the nomination and most of We, the People were still asking, “Who?” Was George H. W. Bush supposed to have won? Did something happen to make the man who shaped his public service on John F. Kennedy’s legacy appeal to us? Did that photo of a young Clinton shaking Kennedy’s hand speak to those of us who remembered Kennedy’s unfulfilled promise?

Why did Republicans, who had no problems with Reagan and Bush ineptitude, hate Clinton so? Was it because, in spite of everything they said, We, the People, chose him and refused to let the Republican House and Senate remove him from office?

And, he did prove himself. In spite of eight long years of criticism from Republicans, who will allow NO criticism of their protégée George W., Clinton put this nation back on course -- and he did it while fighting nuisance lawsuits that ate into Our time and he did it while a Republican Congress more concerned with “getting” Clinton than their duties to We, the People; impeached him. What could he have accomplished if he had been allowed to serve full time?

The 2000 election gave us choices. A strong Republican Senator, John McCain had decided to ask us to give him the job as President. Vice President Al Gore ask to be allowed to continue the job that Clinton had started. And from out of nowhere came George W. Bush, who had no political background, had somehow parlayed a partnership in a Texas baseball team into a governorship of Texas.

And, of course, the rest is history. This unknown, untried governor who couldn’t remember the name of the leader (Fox) of the country (Mexico) that bordered his state somehow wrested the nomination from the experienced war hero Senator John McCain and, with the help of the Judicial Branch of the United States government, took the legitimate election of Al Gore away from We, the People.

This is where most politicians make their mistake; the election is not about changing CEO’s or “going up the corporate ladder”. It is much more serious than that. It is about SERVING WE, THE PEOPLE. It is not a game, not something they “win” or “lose”. It is about the obligation they take upon themselves protect and serve the citizens of this country when they seek our vote. It is about carrying out their duty to obey the will of the People and to carry out what We, the People, decide is right for our country.

And there is nothing that We, the People, can say is right about the coming November election. Just as the Republican party disenfranchised thousands of Americans across the United States with dubious, if not downright dishonest practices, we are beginning to see a repeat of the suspicious 2000, 2002 elections. In spite of the Attorney General of the United States dismissing the 1965 Civil Rights Commission Report, thousands of minority voters in Florida were NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE.

They were removed by various methods from “felon lists” to closing or removing polling places, keeping polling places inaccessible to those with disabilities or whose only problem was age. Intimidating police cars were parked in minority neighborhoods to harass potential voters, and Republicans were allowed to add thousands of Republican absentee ballots by illegally “correcting” them and at the same time tossing “incorrect” Democratic absentee ballots in the trash. Witnessed, sworn to, reported to the highest authority, and ignored by all those who were

 

contacted months prior to the election. (Sworn testimony contained in the final report of the 1965 Civil Rights Commission report of 2000.)

The 2000 election was judged by a horrified world. Because of this visible corruption, the United States of America, once a bastion of honesty and integrity, was removed from participating in election monitoring in countries where “fixed” elections denied their citizens choices. Since George W. Bush was appointed to office, the United States has been removed from a lot of lists; to our shame.

If what we are discovering is true, Kerry will probably never become president and will go the way of Gore. We have voting machines that have been proven to switch votes, drop votes, and change winners into losers quicker than you can cast your vote. And the Florida felon search is once again on its way. The U.S. News reported on July 3, 2004 that the new Florida felon list has identified 48,000 people as being felons even though they have no criminal record!

The perpetrator of the first Florida Felon list was rewarded for her inexcusable failure with a job in Congress. Wonder what reward awaits the perpetrator of the 2004 Felon list. I suppose getting caught so blatantly altering the votes of We, the People, just convinced the Florida Republican party that they just need more practice. A spokeswoman for George W. Bush’s brother, Jeb, dismissed complaints about the “felon” list as “pure politics”. I guess accuracy isn’t a top priority with Jeb.

Ah, yes. If you’re black and want to vote you are simply using “pure politics”. If you are Jewish and can’t read the “butterfly ballot” you are doing it for “pure politics.” If you’re handicapped and can’t make it through a construction site to the polling booth, your complaint is naturally “pure politics”!

Only Republicans aren’t political. They have your best interest at heart. They know what is best for you and how you should vote. So shut up and accept your “felon” classification. Republicans NEVER make mistakes!

eaders carefully from among themselves, critiqued those they voted for, and held them accountable for all they said and did. That has changed.

Our leaders no longer feel the need to be accountable to We, the People. From the horrific conclusion of the Florida election controlled by one candidate’s brother, which was said to disenfranchise a proven 90,000 voters, to the Supreme Court deciding that a recount of the corrupted vote would “harm George W. Bush” but not his opponent, we have seen no investigation.

The Attorney General appointed, and confirmed by our Legislative branch of government, refused to peruse the 1965 Civil Rights Commission’s Report on intimidation, collusion and registered voters denied the right to cast their ballot. This is not paranoia, this is not accusations. It is in the testimony of thousands of Florida voters. And yet the whole government chose to ignore it.

When legally elected representatives from Florida, the Black Caucus (a majority of disenfranchised voters were black), and others presented a petition to the assembled Legislators to investigate the disputed Florida election before giving George W. Bush the executive office of president, not one Senator would sign the petition.

The men and women brave enough to sign that petition displayed the courage and conviction of those who created this nation. But they were dismissed by the larger group who did not share their bravery. And the cost of that dismissal was the lives of 860 soldiers and militia (National Guard members) over 5,000 wounded -- most who will never walk again on their own two feet or hug a loved one with their own two arms -- and 104 designated “civilian contract” workers sent to illegally invade Iraq.

That has changed. Never before has our country been involved in such blatant imperialism. Never before has our elected leaders ruled by fear of consequences they were elected to protect us from. Never before would We, the People allow an elected representative to preside over a terrorist attack which killed, by official estimates, three thousand people, destroyed the financial district of our largest city, and damaged the seat of our military power without demanding more than trite phrases.

And now, government representatives are using their inexcusable incompetency to cry for change of our Constitutional guarantees of our Right to Vote. George W. Bush, put in power under suspicious circumstances, has created a new “federal voting commission” and appointed DeFOrest B. Soaries as its head.

Mr. Soaries, appointed to the federal Election Assistance Commission last year by the man who benefited from the Florida disenfranchisement, has contacted National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and Tom Ridge; another new position created by Bush to supposedly keep an eye on terrorists but who spends more time focusing on We, the People; to “establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorist strike the United States again”.

That is a change. Under the election laws prescribed by our Constitution there can be no guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections for any reason. What he is advocating is a Constitutional Amendment. That Amendment would require approval of our Legislative Branch of government and a nation wide vote by We, the People! Condoleezza Rice, Tom Ridge, George W. Bush, nor any other member of the administration can change this with or without a terrorist act. It is a violation of our Constitution. It can not happen. If it did, we are no longer a free country. Heed your responsibility closely:

Article I, Section 4. “The Times, Places, and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives , shall be prescribed in each state by the Legislature thereof: but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of Chusing Senators.”

Article II, Section 1. “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors , equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.”

Do they believe our Constitution is no longer adequate to handle elections? Why do they believe that it could not be done? We have experienced great fires, floods, hurricanes and earthquakes without anyone advocating tampering with our Constitutional Right to Vote? They say we need new rules established to take care of the problem of terrorism that Bush & Co. say they are “winning the war on.” But what sort of terrorist attack are they contemplating slipping through the shield that Bush tells us he has created???

Republican Soaries is worried that “If the federal government were to cancel an election or suspend an election, it has tremendous political implications.”

Yes, Mr.Soaries, but not in the way you mean. If for some reason, our country is in such shambles that an election can not be held, THERE IS NO COUNTRY. If this country crumbles on your party’s watch, then We, the People will assume control of our own neighborhoods and States. We survived before the ratification as individuals. We, the People have the courage and the spirit to do so again.

Did you learn nothing from that September 11, 2001 terrorist attack that you use as an excuse to replace our election laws? The man who appointed you showed no leadership, the Mayor of New York was the leader during this time of crisis. We, the People,were the ones taking charge and organizing and efficiently putting our world back together. We, the People, organized rescue efforts, a search for the missing, the supplies needed by those obsessively working to save lives.

And if it becomes necessary to do so, We, the People can assume the leadership to see that free and honest elections are held. That is more than the current leader has done. We, the People will, once again, do fine.

 

JUNE 1, 2004

MISSING FROM THE NEWS

The Irish debacle. Did anyone see it, read about it, hear an interpretation of it?

I was astonished to find that here, in the land of the Constitutionally guaranteed free press, Bush’s NATO trip was reported as making the most of foreign policy and implying that he had managed to smooth the ruffled feathers of Europe. However...

The international press was busy publishing his faux pas and the number of anti-Bush demonstrators that turned out to meet him. We all know, or should know, that his visit to Italy was met with thousands of demonstrators showing their displeasure with him and his meeting with the Pope turned into a Papal lecture!

He fared no better in Ireland. It was said that 1/3 of Ireland’s police force was used to “protect” Bush -- from what I’m not sure. Perhaps it was the multitudes gathered to tell him he wasn’t wanted in Ireland. Two pictures tell the story. The first showed thousands gathered to greet President Clinton on his arrival there. Beside it was a photo of Bush’s arrival; no people, just tanks! I understand it wasn’t an easy job to route Bush away from all those thousands of Irish gathered to tell him to go home.

But, since the Bushes didn’t see all of the demonstrators, they will probably believe the same thing they did on their English state visit. Since the demonstrators weren’t allowed within their view, they simply thought they didn’t exist even though it was the largest demonstration in British history!

But... it was also hard for Bush to comprehend the free press of Ireland. Seems they aren’t like our “media” who only ask him easy, scripted questions. The interviewer, Carole Coleman’s questions not only required answers but took his responses and followed up with questions that weren’t on the “menu”.

Now, I just happened to see the video tape of that interview and I suddenly realized that I was cringing with embarrassment at Bush’s treatment of interviewer Carole Coleman. She kept her cool, a true reporter, in spite of Bush interrupting her, and sniping about her try at follow up answers. And he literally told her to shut up three times because it appeared he didn’t want to answer her questions. Between his non-answers, his rudeness, I was really ashamed that he represented the United States.

But his snit didn’t end there. His administrative lackey told the Irish Independent newspaper that the “White House” was “concerned that Coleman had overstepped the bounds of politeness.” After watching Bush, I didn’t know he knew the definition of politeness!! Because of Bush’s inability to handle an interview, an interview with Laura, (the intelligent one of the couple?) was canceled also. So much for Irish goodwill.

Whenever they let this guy out of his cage, our allies are beginning to get out the whips and chairs. While attending the NATO conference, he decided to interfere with the EU by informing them that they should let Turkey in. It was predictable to everyone but Bush & Co that the EU would not like his tone, nor his interference in the business of the EU. And that France, in spite of Bush’s efforts to be polite enough to get money and troops for his Iraq Invasion, would tell him to mind his own business.

 

And it goes on and on! I imagine the Statue of Liberty has changed her greenish hue to crimson. I have read that Bush is the most hated leader on the planet. He worked harder at achieving that title than he ever worked for We, the People. My prayer is that we have enough good will left among our former allies that, after Bush is gone, they will give us another chance. KERRY, DON’T SCREW IT UP!

 

 

JUNE 29, 2004

THE HITLER FACTOR

Back when we still had nine Democratic candidates to chose from, a little grass roots organization known as MoveOn.org held a contest. It asked We, the People, to participate directly in the election of one of these men. First, it held a pre-primary where We, the People could simply sign up and vote for one of the guys; and they promised to throw their support behind any one of the candidates that got 50% of the votes.
Well, former Governor Howard Dean didn’t get 50% but he came close. Senator John Kerry wasn’t even in the running! But, the sheer number of internet votes convinced MoveOn that there was a vast chasm that needed to be filled with action. So it held an internet contest for the best ads, which they intended to run just like the Republican and Democratic “packs” do.

The difference was that these ads were submitted by ordinary citizens working in groups or alone, young and old - not PR firms hired to produce a slick image. And they got some great ones. You have probably seen one of them yourself, if you watch the political ads.

Among those ads was a submission that was good but not a subject that anyone wanted to touch -- back then. It interposed scenes of the little dictator wannabe George W. Bush, with scenes of big dictator Adolph Hitler. The firestorm was immediate and nasty. Republicans, with their usual disregard for researching the truth, said MoveOn was comparing Bush to Hitler. MoveOn retaliated by withdrawing the submission from the vote and disavowing it.

You might think that would be the end of it, but not for the Republicans. They had copied the submission and are now using it, without the creator’s permission we must assume, in an ad probably constructed by a Republican PR firm, to compare:

•the man really elected by We, the People to the office of president in 2000, Al Gore,

•the People’s candidate receiving the most support for the 2004 Democratic nomination for president, former Governor Howard Dean,

•and that “notorious” film producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore to...

HITLER!!!

Imagine that! Guess it wasn’t so tasteless after all -- just depends who is calling who by the “H” word!

Since that one ad, the vision of Hitler just won’t go away. But that wasn’t the first time that Bush had been compared to Hitler. It was first noted in Europe, where Hitler had been experienced up close and personal; many of those who had been his “guests” during World War II distinctly remembered what it was like; and if they chose to compare our present government head to him perhaps we should at least listen.

 

After all, one of Bush’s first actions was to order the Justice Department to find a loophole that would prevent him, and his staff, from being tried for war crimes when they didn’t abide by the Geneva Conventions for prisoners of war. When I read about this action, my first thought was of a mafia don telling his underlings to “take care of it” but don’t tell me how.

More and more comparisons are surfacing, and the minute they are made, apologies must also be made. Take Judge Guido Calabresi, a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan who made a remark that Bush’s rise to power was similar to Mussolini and Hitler. He says his remarks were extemporaneous and were “something which I did not intend, that is, take a partisan position.”

What he said was that Mussolini had not won an election but the King of Italy put him in power. And that is what happened when Hindenburg put Hitler in. He explained that what transpired was “a rather complicated academic argument about the nature of re-elections after highly contested original elections....”

And we all know what happened in the 2000 election; or if you don’t, just visit the 1965 Civil Rights Commission report on the Florida election -- if you can still find it, that is. Also remember that a complaint on the legitimacy of the Florida election was presented to the joint Houses, but never acted on, before the Electoral College confirmed Bush. That done, the context of Judge Calabresi’s remarks should be more clear.

But someone as sensitive to criticism as George W. Bush is shouldn’t allow others to use his name to toss around the Hitler label either! Once done, he loosed his right of protest for anything said against him, and that includes being compared to Hitler.

Since George W. Bush and the Truth don’t seem to have even a nodding acquaintance, perhaps we should all just give him the famous duck test based on our own beliefs. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it is most probably a duck -- unless we prefer the parable of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

 

 

JUNE 28, 2004

WE WON!

Finally, after so many defeats, We, The People have at last won a battle over censorship! Michael Moore’s documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11 has defeated those who tried to stop the release of his movie and censor the message it delivered.

But just as we “peaceably assembled” before George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq to let Bush know we did not want it; we “peaceably assembled” at the theater in our neighborhoods to show Bush that, in spite of his illegal “Patriot Act”, he could not stop us from exercising our Amendment I freedom to watch this movie.

The Bush administration measures everything in dollars; therefore, we have brought him proof of our resolution to have uncensored Truth, with our dollars. He may have run away from our Truth by leaving the country; just as he did when he left town during our demonstrations against the Iraq invasion; but he can not hide forever.

Fahrenheit 9/11 was the Number 1 movie at the theaters this week. This little ‘documentary” grossed more than the entertainment flick, “White Girls”. Because of the drive to censor the movie, it only opened in 868 theaters, but it was sold out, and in some theaters people stood for the 116 minutes of the film because there were no seats. When, if ever, have you have stood through an entire film just to see it?

Fahrenheit 9/11 had a box office of $21.96 million. White Chicks,second highest earner, only made $19.6 million. Even the “mainstream media” had to report on this historic happening. But what we didn’t hear in the “mainstream media were the comments from those who saw the movie. On the one NBC program I watched this morning, the only person they quoted gave a semi-negative comment about the movie. But you get a far different view from movie goers from the numerous sites inviting comments about the movie.

The people attending have one common theme which the “mainstream media” would do well to heed -- “I didn’t know this....” Why not? Why was it such news to ordinary Americans that the man the “media” dubbed “strong leader” had sat in a classroom listening to children reading while our financial district and our military headquarters in Washington, D.C. were being rammed by hijacked airliners? Moore simply included videotape of the event. It was always there for the “media” to use -- censorship, perhaps?
Why was it such news to ordinary Americans that, while they, or their loved ones, spent days in a closed airport unable to get home, that Bush saw that his wealthy Saudi buddies were picked up in charter airplanes and delivered to a secret location to be flown home. While our elected leaders, caught abroad in this crisis, and needed at home in the Congress and the Senate to conduct affairs of state (the Pentagon was attacked!), were denied permission to enter the United States!!!

The 9/11 Commission says the Saudis were “vetted by the FBI before leaving the country”, and didn’t investigate further. But they never investigated why the Saudis had a higher priority in our government than your elected representative in our government. Why didn’t the “mainstream media” inform you of that? Why did it take Michael Moore to tell you?

These are just two items in the movie that the “mainstream media” chose to complain about. The other is the heartbreak of a mother whose son had died in Iraq. She had supported Bush’s invasion. And she had paid the highest price possible for supporting Bush’s invasion; her son’s life. They say Moore should not have included her grief in the movie. I ask, why not? Obviously this lady needed to do something to lessen her grief. It was her choice. And if she felt it was something she wanted to do, no one has a right to stop her. Isn’t that what American freedom is all about?

And “mainstream media” has thousands of stories they could have told us and chose not to. Almost a thousand deaths, over five thousand wounded. Instead of statistics -- numbers easily overlooked and dispassionate -- “mainstream media” could have allowed us a glimpse of their stories, the heartbreak of the lives changed forever, by death or injury, of almost six thousand families during Bush’s one year and three month invasion. If the grief of just one woman is too much for us to see, then why has the “mainstream media” ignored the grief of the thousands involved in Bush’s invasion?

Instead, they have formed a “coalition of the willing” to keep We, the People, free of the Truth. And they denigrate and vilify those who would point them out. Michael Moore’s movie is like the little boy in the fairy tale, pointing out to a plethora of sheep, that the arrogant and vain emperor virtually has no clothes.

Let’s all go see the naked “strong leader” who prefers vacations to work and has no problem with killing thousands to prove his “strength”. Let’s let the “mainstream media”, the Republican party, and all of the Bush administration know that our eyes are open and that we are watching, and that Fahrenheit 9/11 has opened our eyes.

 

 

JUNE 25, 2004

AIN’T GONNA WORK!

You would think Michael Moore was running against George W. Bush for president instead of Senator John Kerry. The Republican pack of hound dogs that have been nipping at Kerry have stopped in mid-flight and changed directions to go baying after Moore and his movie Fahrenheit 9/11.

The more they bay, the more the public’s attention focuses on the movie. It was said the documentary’s pre-ticket sales have outsold the movie “Dodgeball” and “Spiderman II, and that says something that Republicans don’t want to hear. During its first two theater openings yesterday it broke records set by the movies “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Men in Black” - and those were blockbuster movies!

Documentaries not usually being date fare, you wouldn’t think it would be setting movie records but it is. After all that Disney did to keep it from being distributed to the public, after Republican websites inundating theaters with threats of boycott, it appears to be unstoppable. So this weekend we shall see the end results of a fed-up public’s response to it.

But, even though they were unable to keep it from the public, those hounds haven’t given up yet. They have used their Republican political and government clout to stop publicity for the movie by declaring it some sort of “political ad”. Here I hark back to that old Republican standard that it is ok to do or say anything about Clinton, but you can’t criticize Bush!

In order to stop this movie that is going to be seen whether they like it or not, the FEC is investigating Michael Moore’s movie for violating campaign finance law!! How about that, People. If you go see Fahrenheit 9/11 in a movie theater you are violating a campaign finance law!

The agency’s general counsel states that political documentary filmmakers may not air television or radio ads referring to federal candidates within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election. Section 100.29 of the federal election regulations defines “corporate-funded ads” as those identifying a candidate by “name, nickname, photograph or drawing...(making) it otherwise apparent through an unambiguous reference.”

All it take is 6 members of the FEC to enforce a ban on advertising of Fahrenheit 9/11. Where were these guys when former Governor Howard Dean was being trashed by the “media” prior to the primaries??

Where, also, was David Bossie, the president of Citizens United, who says Fahrenheit 9/11 violates federal election law and plans to file a complaint with the FEC. I didn’t hear any complaints from Citizens United when all the bad mouthing came from the Republicans. Shall we say that M

However, a voice of reason can be found with Commissioner Michael Toner,

“I think there’s evidence that when Congress created the press exemption they intended for it to cover media in all its forms. If a documentary produced by an independent company would be subject to restriction, or equally important, if efforts to promote the documentary would be subject to restriction, I think that is very problematic”.

He made this statement in response to the general counsel’s opinion that the media exemption was a “narrow” one and distinguished “corporations that are part of the media industry” from “other corporations not involved in the regular business of imparting news to the public”. This exemption was supposed to apply to members of the press who discuss political candidates freely in the days before an election

I agree with Commissioner Toner, news organizations and political ads are a different breed of “media” from movies, sports events, etc.

They might have a problem IF the Republicans or Democrats wanted to show Fahrenheit 9/11 at their National Conventions; that might come under the campaign finance law; but NO ONE has the right to tell me that I can’t hear advertisements for a movie, whether it deals with George W. Bush, the environment such as “The Day After Tomorrow” (which also received it’s share of Republican ire) or the Manchurian Candidate!
Amendment I of the Constitution does not specify that The FEC or the federal government can ban actions critical of the present administration. It specifically states, “...no law respecting... or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble...”. Since Republicans seem to need a refresher course in the Bill of Right, let me interpret it for them.
Even though, when this was written, there weren’t movies, there were books. We have a right to see or read what we choose without government interference. Look at Fahrenheit 9/11 as Harreit Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Now, think about her novel being censored by not allowing the public knowledge of it. That censorship could have changed the course of history, but would we have wanted it that way?
Thus it is with this movie, it may not be an easy medicine for Republicans to swallow but it is necessary for the health of this country.

 

JUNE 24, 2004

KERRY... HELPING OUT THE REAGAN MYTH

It isn’t as of we have a real choice in November; we have Bush or we have “the other”, and according to both parties, “the other” can not include any third party candidate. So we who absolutely refuse to be a party to Bush’s trashing of America, are stuck with Republican lite.

That means we are being forced to vote for John Kerry because the negative publicity directed at the only other viable candidate, Ralph Nader, will produce the same results as the negative publicity directed against the people’s candidate, Dr. Howard Dean, did.

We had a protest vote once; it put Richard Nixon in the Oval Office instead of Lyndon Johnson. Because those of us old enough to remember living through all of the Nixon era, not just the Watergate scandal but his escalation of VietNam, his ending space exploration, his wage freeze that left prices soaring beyond the average American’s ability to buy... we remember the consequences of voting for Nixon because we didn’t want Johnson to continue the war.
And here we are again, with no choice to speak of, that choice snatched away by Democratic and “media” appointment of John Kerry as Bush’s opponent in the 2004 election. Kerry, and the other “party” candidates were always at the bottom of the polls. The People DID NOT want Leiberman, Gephardt, Edwards or Kerry. They had not disagreed with Bush enough. They rubberstamped too many of Bush’s ideas and his plans.
But, Bush is on a path of destruction that we simply can not ignore. Most of us now feel compelled to vote for Kerry even though we know he will not take us where we want to go. But we have no choice. And with every passing day, we feel the force of our ability to elect a leader receding farther and farther away.

The scales that balance Bush or Kerry against our responsibility to elect a good man do not convince many of us. And each day more weight is put upon Kerry’s scale that could tip voters away from him and toward the campaign of Nader because we simply can not bear to be a party to another Nixon-style protest vote. We simply can not bear the personal and moral responsibility of what might happen. We know Kerry has no plans to end the war. We know that the economic and health care agenda were not one of his major concerns during the primary campaign - that was Howard Dean’s agenda. And we know that there will be no reprieve at the Democratic convention; they have anointed Kerry and We, the People must live with it as best we can.

They will make Kerry or Bush our next president. But We, the People, will bear the burden here, and abroad, for their mistakes. And we know full well what Bush’s mistakes will be. And we get a glimpse of Kerry’s true alignment by his “honoring” Ronald Reagan, the man responsible for the looting of the American economy in the 1980’s that makes Nixon’s mistakes pale by comparison.

They are saying that Kerry is trying to contrast Reagan’s leadership with Bush’s to show Bush’s failure. There was no Reagan leadership. Reagan’s time as President was marred by numerous wandering stories and mistakes. He was involved or allowed treasonous actions, which were never investigated or the perpetrator punished for, during, or after, his 8 years.

He allowed corporate raiders and foreign countries to gut the American economy. His 8 years saw the beginning of the homeless phenomenon in our country as poverty rose to new heights. He said trees polluted the environment as much as toxic companies. He said that hungry children could eat catsup and mustard as vegetables. He almost destroyed our airline industry by firing overworked air traffic controllers who had the audacity to strike to correct working conditions that could have caused people to die.

His Alzheimer’s disease was so advanced that he could not even pretend to lead the country during his last four years. World leaders looked at him in bewilderment, much as they did Bush, at some of the nonsense things he said to them. He was never a “great leader” either, he was a disaster! He should have been removed from office because of his health, if not for his treasonous actions against the United States of America.

The horror is not just that Republicans have built a mediocre leader, at best, into some mythical person but that Kerry seems to think there was something to admire in what Reagan did. And, when he gave Reagan credit for “global leadership” he was booed and hissed by those who knew better.

And Nancy Reagan’s sudden discovery that her “Ronnie” might have been helped by stem cell research just points up the lack of empathy that the rest of government has for We, the People. The need was there long before Reagan, just like the need for research into the cause of AIDS was there and ignored during Reagan’s administration.

No, there was nothing to admire in Nixon’s “leadership” and there is nothing to admire in Reagan’s. We are still living with the results of those 23 years of Republican power. Republicans are fond of blaming Democrats for the state of the country; but all the downturns in our economy came during Republican administrations, not Democrats.

Carter’s four years as Commander in Chief did not do as much damage as Bush’s three. Clinton’s 8 years halted the downward slide of poverty and economic decline. Had Gore been allowed to serve his four years, what differences would it have made in our lives? Would those thousands of men dead and wounded in Iraq be alive and whole?

A question we must answer when we cast our vote in November. It is not an easy choice. We need someone strong, a powerful leader that can pull us back from the brink of decline, someone so moral that we can began earning back our country’s reputation. In that group of ten potential candidates that held our attention during the summer, there were many strong men of purpose, those who had openly fought the country’s direction.

None of them were considered worthy by our “media”. We have Kerry. We have Bush. We have Nader. And people are so frightened of Nader bringing about another “2000” that they do not consider him. But the third parties of this country did not stop Gore from becoming president. That mistake lies at the feet of the Supreme Court when they assumed that George W. Bush would be harmed by a recount but Al Gore would not. What they didn’t consider is that We, the People, might be harmed by their interference. That was a decision made for We, the People. But we live with the results.

Will our choice be any different this time? Will Bush simply seek Supreme Court appointment if our votes make Kerry the winner? Will Kerry follow a Republican path laid out by Nixon, Reagan, the two Bushes? Or does he have the courage to follow truly admirable men who made the hard choices and accepted the responsibility for them; FDR, Truman, Kennedy...

Kerry...Bush. No choice.

 

JUNE 23, 2004

MORE ON MOORE

It’s beginning to look like a personal vendetta, but not by Michael Moore but against Michael Moore! He must be telling a powerful Truth for the whole of the “mainstream media” to not have one positive thing to say about him or his movie Fahrenheit 9/11. I haven’t see such an assault since former Governor Howard Dean declared his candidacy for President of the United States!

It is hard enough to negotiate the negative publicity generated by a supposedly “liberal media” about the film, which won the Palm D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, to find a theater brave enough to violate the McCarthyism type censorship and show the thing; now they have labeled it with an R rating!

After all, there doesn’t seem to be anything in the movie that the “media” didn’t display on, during, or after, the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. If our kids could see all of this on the evening news, why is the movie banned with an R rating? This is history, People. You don’t get to rewrite it; you just get to live through it. And your opinion is as valid as that coming from the government!

A lot more so, I’d say, if you were one of those people walking the streets, in the aftermath of the collapse of the twin towers, searching for someone. “Strong leader” Bush was busy making himself scarce when the smoke and debris was wafting about those streets. He didn’t show up, on the news, or in person, until the clean up began.

It was quite easy for him to stand on the rubble still containing the bodies of those who died and speak in platitudes. Quite difficult for him to cough up the money to replace dead firemen and police officers, equipment, and to provide health care for those who were involved in that toxic clean up day after day.

They are still waiting.

In spite of efforts at censorship there is just as huge an effort to bring it to We, the People, so that we may judge instead of accepting the censor’s opinion. Tom Ortenberg, president of Lions Gate Films, says that he hopes the R rating doesn’t have a large impact at the box office. “I’ve spoken to many parents, including some on the appeals board, who absolutely say they are going to take their children to see the film. We’ll just have to hope the teenagers...find their way in through parents or adult guardians.”
As Jonathan Sehring, president of IFC Films says, “Some of these images are disturbing, but in a year or two, if kids are off to war, they’re going to be faced with those disturbing images for real.”

Especially if Bush institutes the draft; 18 year olds will be prime targets for Iraqi service ... just like in VietNam. The kids either got a quick education in the art of combat or they joined the list of casualties.

But the censorship of this movie was never about the “violence” in the film. It is

 

almost a rite of passage in this country for teenagers to slip into R rated movies containing graphic violence. The censorship of this movie is about politics. Disney began this strange odyssey with it’s refusal to release the movie because it was “too political”.

This isn’t new; this is the third attempt that we know of, to censor material that Republicans don’t like. First, the Reagan movie portrayed Reagan in an “unfavorable” way. Forego the rhetoric that emerged when he died and look at the history. There is no way to put this guy in an “unfavorable” light that wasn’t true! It was too political for Nightline to simply read the names of the soldiers killed in Iraq. And now, Michael Moore’s movie is said to depict George W. Bush in a bad way.

If you are convicted with words right out of your mouth, it is a little too late to cry foul. If Bush’s words and actions can’t stand the scrutiny of this movie, then he should pack up and go back to his fancy “ranch” and play golf... that was where he was when he received the PDB telling him that the terrorists were on their way. And that report wasn’t done out of concern for the safety of We, the People, but because Bush was afraid a terrorist might try to “get him” at the G8 summit he was going to attend. Don’t know if Moore included that fact, but it is true. Check the Congressional testimony of Rice, the news articles detailing Bush’s daily schedule.

And, in just the last couple of months, enough has been unearthed on Bush’s conduct in office for Moore to make a sequel. I’ll be waiting for the next installment.

 

 

JUNE 22, 2004

A MOMENT OF PRIDE

On a sandblasted bit of desert, a new generation gathered to watch the lift off of strange looking aircraft that was destined to usher in a new generation of space flight. For that moment in history, we felt a pride in our country and our people. It gave us hope that we might regain some of our former spender and once again, travel among the stars.

Since the death of our space program during Nixon’s administration, the world has continued to progress without us. Our chief rival, Russia, continued to pursue an orbiting space station and succeeded where we never even tried. The “workhorse” space shuttle, designed to ferry building materials into space, was used for nothing except ferrying satellites into orbit. That great dream of a giant station in space by 1999 was forgotten. Nothing exists of that great dream any longer, except in the minds of people.

 

But the shadows of that dream have brought a new space age to reality. The idea of a private vehicle climbing beyond the boundary of space took hold and is now enchantingly close to reality. Yesterday, pilot Mike Melville, at age 63, achieved that dream while those gathered at Mojave, California watched him take that historic flight.

SpaceShipOne, designed by Burt Rutan, achieved 328,491 feet above the Earth’s surface. A scant 400 feet above what is considered the boundary of space. But those 400 feet ushered in a new era in space. This flight was not a government military flight. It was a civilian flight trying to break a commercial space flight barrier.

Mike Melvill, who has set world altitude and speed records and has logged over 66,400 hours in flight time, is now in the history books. Like Neil Armstrong’s words when he walked on the moon for the first time, Rutan’s words will also be remembered. “It was nothing like I’d ever seen before.” he said, “You really do get the feeling that you’ve touched the face of God when you do something like this.”

SpaceShipOne is at the beginning of its future. We won’t be lining up anytime soon to be taking space jaunts; but I bet the waiting list is already long. The ship, designed by two dozen teams trying to win the $10 million Ansari X prize, was built to meet or exceed their standards. It must be a three-seat spacecraft that will launch to an altitude of 62 miles twice in 14 days. SpaceShipOne will need to repeat yesterday’s performance to win the prize.

And there are other companies out there, eager to provide bigger and better service, close on the heels of SpaceShipOne. The true successor will be the first to provide service on a regular basis to tourists who wish to break the bonds of space and see the earth outside it’s restraining gravity. For now, that is ambition enough.

But we have come a long way toward making the science fiction of Jules Vern and Buck Rogers a reality. With ingenuity and time, we may travel to distant planets, colonize them, travel to distant galaxies like the Enterprise. When we see accomplishments like this, our future seems limitless. It has been far too long since We, the People, had this moment of success and pride in our achievements.

On this day when reports of war and deaths dominate the news, we can glimpse a shinning future soaring into the sky. We can focus our hope on this new adventure; in the determination of these men investing in that future with the production of new technology, new jobs, new tomorrows.

 

 

JUNE 21, 2004

WHERE THERE’S SMOKE....

Fahrenheit 9/11 hasn’t even hit the movie theaters and yet it has generated more heat than just about any movie made; and certainly the most for any documentary made. Most people don’t even know when documentaries are released, let alone spend the price of a movie ticket to see one!! All of this negative publicity hasn’t been produced by Michael Moore or his winning the Palm D’Or in Cannes. All this smoke to obliterate the movie before it gets off the ground comes directly from two sources; the “media” and the Republican party.

Republicans have stopped the 2004 campaign blitzkrieg against Senator Kerry to throw their panzer divisions against Michael Moore and his film. They have internet campaigns targeted toward any theater brave enough to acknowledge showing the film. Every “media” personality from Matt Lauer to Dan Rather seems to be pontificating about its meaning and its perceived bias - supplying proof of their own “media” political bias in the process!!

This leads to the question: WHY? What has Michael Moore put into this movie that would cause the whole Republican party and most of the mainstream “media” to lose it? It is a movie, similar to “Roger and Me” produced during that Reagan era of corporate raiders and downsizing. Moore simply wove his way through the automobile city of his hometown, Flint, Michigan, showing both unemployed auto workers and the social elite of Michigan. The contrast was startling. But then the Truth always is.

Moore has said that this new movie doesn’t contain much footage of him, that he uses a lot of contrasting images and words from the source; that is George W. Bush. If Bush comes off badly, it is his own fault. It is one thing for you to believe your own PR but quite another to expect all of We, the People to be suckers, too!

Not having seen the movie, (it isn’t released yet) I have heard that one of the most devastating scenes is the countdown scene of George W. Bush relaxing, and laughing, in an elementary classroom while the World Trade Center is annihilated and the Pentagon is attacked. Moore isn’t the only one this bothered. One of the “four moms” who battled so hard for the 9/11 investigation Commission , Lorie van Auken, stated in an interview with Gail Sheely in 2003, “I couldn’t stop watching the president sitting there, listening to second graders, while my husband was burning in that building.”

 

 

For more information look at:.www.buzzflash.com

www.takebackthemedia.com

www.tvnewslies.org

www.moveon.org

www.voice4change.org/

www.motherjones.com

Flordia Election Summery

www.informationclearinghouse.

www.mediawhoresonline.com

www.michaelmoore.com/

Expats Against Bush

http://flash.bushrecall.org/

htt://campaindesk.org

Dishonst Dubya

Oreilly clock.htm

FLASH MOVIES

Voting Machine

Liberty Bell

Fair And Balanced

Service Anouncment

The Road Taken

 

 

 

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