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American Militarism
With the advent of the Bush 2 Regime, and especially since 9/11/01, the cloak of militarism has settled ever more firmly on America’s shoulders, wrapping itself tightly around the national psyche. The painful emotions born on that fateful September day were the initial fuel for this rampant mood of aggression, igniting a legitimate urge to strike back and defeat those who had attacked us. Skillfully manipulating the fear and outrage of that dark hour, however, the Bush administration quickly inflated the War on Terror to embrace preemptive strikes on nations that one day might pose a threat or might give weapons to terrorists. The besieged and occupied Iraq is, of course, the primary example of this recipe for never-ending war, but murmured threats now include Syria, Iran, and anyone else who might get in our way. On the news shows and from the punditry, we hear constantly about “the enemy” and what this omnipresent force might do to us if given half a chance. We are kept in a state of continual vigilance by the administration’s spokespeople, always reminded of our need to destroy those who are “evil” and attack them “there” rather than “here”. The increasingly lucrative, mega-billion dollar defense industry, using some of its war-profiteering loot, saturates our media with slick ads about how it is helping us “defeat the enemy” with its cutting-edge technology. And meanwhile, a larger and larger share of our hard-earned tax dollars is going to the bloated defense department budget for building increasingly lethal weaponry, for creating the exorbitant and non-functional anti-missile system, for maintaining over 700 military and intelligence bases worldwide, for developing a new, improved form of bunker-busting nuclear weapon that can be used in combat situations, and for meticulously planning the military and technological mastery of space. Summing up this grim martial reality in one succinct image, Doonesbury’s Garry Trudeau has depicted George W. Bush, since early in his first term, as the garish helmet of a conquering Roman emperor-general. What is called for, and what the Democrats should make into a clear, bold platform for America’s future, is a new paradigm for national security. Rather than the hyper-militarism and monomaniacal focus on terrorism of George Bush, let us create a secure America that doesn’t feed the fires of terrorism and hatred but instead reconnects with America’s creativity, abundance, and generosity. As Katrina vanden Heuval said in a recent speech at the Take Back America conference: “We want an America that is less warrior and preacher and more architect and builder.” Let us significantly trim our swollen military expenditures and pour some of these liberated resources into creating the many industries that will move us toward energy independence, thus mitigating our need for multiple military bases in the world’s oil rich regions, and, simultaneously, taking the biggest thorn out of our relationship with the Muslim world. The Democratic vision of a secure nation could be one where the economy is strong and not mired in debt, where foreign aid to combat poverty and illness is unstinting and generous, where industries are being developed on the cutting edge of science and renewable energy that move us away from our dependence on foreign oil and the terrorist threat, while moving us toward a cleaner, healthier, and economically sound future. In this vision, we work collaboratively, both at home and abroad, on the problems of poverty, disease, scarce resources, and environmental degradation with a moral clarity that will regain our respect in the world. This is a far-sighted and astute national security strategy and one infinitely more effective than the current administration’s attempts at bullying and beating the rest of the world into submission. The hyper-militarism of the Bush administration represents a virulent descent into unrestrained machismo, with little mitigating sensitivity, empathy or compassion. This unbalanced attitude can be seen not only in its aggressive foreign policy, but in the administration’s increasingly hostile attitude to policies that help the suffering and vulnerable members of society, as exemplified by the recent bankruptcy bill, the parsimonious amount of aid going to address global poverty and illness, and the largely unaddressed issue of the increasing number of those without health insurance. University of California linguistics and cognitive science professor George Lakoff suggests that a strict father morality is the prevailing theme of today’s conservatives, whereas a nurturant parent (mother) morality is the prevailing theme of liberals. In an ideal world, these two polarities, although focusing on different priorities, would work well together in a sort of balanced “marriage”, like two complementary halves completing the whole. What is necessary to maintain this balance, however, is that each half contain within itself a bit of the other, just as the yin and yang symbol of cosmic balance portrays each side as having a small circle of the other within itself. Likewise, the work of Carl Jung describes the male psyche as containing an inner feminine element (the anima) and the female psyche containing an inner masculine element (the animus). In our modern political climate, however, the two partisan polarities, conservative and liberal, have taken a dramatic turn into dysfunction, with the more paternal element of the conservatives moving into the domain of the excessive and unrestrained masculine energy of the abusive spouse and the more nurturant or maternal element natural to liberals demonstrating the paralysis and fear of the abused spouse. Each is in danger of totally losing its connection with that counterbalancing element of the other within itself. The abusive spouse is generally a master at keeping his mate on the defensive. She is rarely given the time to respond coherently before another unexpected attack comes for which she must rally anew. Any criticism of the abuser is deflected by an often irrelevant, vicious, and frequently dishonest criticism of his victim, which has the added benefit (for the abuser) of diminishing the victim’s confidence and clarity of thought. The abuser is never held accountable for any mistakes or lies. It is his abused spouse who is always seen to be at fault and who is always trying to become more acceptable, a state she can never reach. Moreover, the abused spouse becomes very good at tiptoeing around anything that might launch the abuser into another attack, often to the point where she is barely able to express her true self without fear of reprisal. There are many examples of this process going on between Republicans and Democrats and between Republicans and the media, which has also become increasingly fearful of angering the administration and muzzling itself to avoid conflict. The pattern of the GOP engaging in vicious criticism, often dishonest, that puts either Democrats or the media on the defensive and keeps the spotlight off of Republican misdeeds is incontrovertible. The damage done by the deceitful Swift Boat Veterans, the focus on the CBS memos that eclipsed the real story of Bush’s absence from his National Guard service, the Newsweek flap in which the Bush administration blamed the magazine for 17 deaths that resulted from anti-American riots, and even the recent stir about Howard Dean’s criticism of the GOP all have this in common: each was a blatant attempt by the GOP scream machine to put either the Democrats or the media on the defensive and to deflect all attention from mistakes, misdeeds, or crimes that this Republican administration does not want people to look at. The solution to this very dysfunctional imbalance is for the Democrats and the media to reclaim that fragment of the “other” buried within, that small circle of yang within the yin. Both must find within themselves the ability to bully, to put off balance with sharp criticism, and to constantly put their Republican abusers on the defensive. When Republicans criticize something Howard Dean has said, which is usually just a less than tactful statement of a truth the GOP wishes to avoid, Democrats should NEVER agree with the criticism and, with head hanging down, humbly try to do better next time, just like the abused spouse. They must STAY ON MESSAGE, reiterate the essence of what Governor Dean has said, albeit in a more diplomatic and politically correct form, but nonetheless keeping the GOP on the defensive about their misbegotten policies, rather than facilitating them in their ploy to make Howard Dean the story. It is clear to many that the excessive militarism of this administration, with its torture camps, its bullying tactics, and its abusive attitude toward its enemies, both political and foreign, must be restrained. In the international arena, foreign nations are already creating new alliances to counter the perceived threat of America’s push toward global hegemony. In the domestic arena, if both the Democrats and the media can increasingly engage their inner aggression and courage, it would totally shift the current unbalanced energy dynamic. A bit of yin energy might even bloom amidst the killing fields of Republican dominance. And when the Democrats find their true voice and let it ring out loud and clear, unintimidated by the local bullies, one of the questions they might ask the American people is this: do you want your country to be an autocratic planetary thug that pours all its resources into military prowess while its much-vaunted democracy withers under the strain of imperialism, or do you want to reclaim the intent of the founding fathers and harness your creative might and your bold enterprising spirit to make a more fruitful, healthy, freedom-loving nation in a peaceful world?
In addition, progressed US Midheaven has been quincunx progressed US Mars during 2004 through early 2005. This, too, is now waning, but progressed US Mars remains stationary at 18Libra42, enabling its militant tone to continue in the background until it successfully starts its retrograde motion in 2009. It is worth noting that in January 2005, during the Jupiter station exactly on progressed US Mars, American militarism experienced a fleeting triumphal (Jupiter) moment with the elections in Iraq. In the second Bush term, there are three separate transits of Uranus to Mars that will bear watching as regards the timing of potential aggression. The first is Uranus opposite Bush’s natal Mars during 2005 and early 2006. The second will be Uranus square to Inaugural Mars in 2007 and early 2008. And the third, and potentially most disruptive, will be Uranus square to US Mars in 2008 and early 2009. These aspects, however, do not exist in a vacuum, and there will be many restraining influences on Bush during much of this time. The second Bush Inaugural chart suggests that the Bush administration will be kept largely ineffectual and bogged down by the powerful Saturn influence which adversely impacts every point in the chart except Mars and Uranus. The problematic Saturn in that chart is conjunct the IC, within a 2 degree orb, an aspect that indicates feelings of failure and real despair. In the past week, transiting Saturn briefly crossed the Inaugural IC (5/31 – 6/10), and we saw Bush’s polls continue to plummet and the damaging story of the Downing Street Minutes begin to find its way into the mainstream media and the collective awareness. From February 2006 through February 2007, solar arc Saturn will be conjunct the Inaugural IC, bringing a more protracted period of failure and difficulty similar to what we have seen hounding the administration in the past week. In addition, the progressed Inaugural Midheaven will be conjunct natal Chiron for all of 2006, adding to the implication that 2006 and very early 2007 will be a very difficult time for the administration, and possibly a period when some kind of debilitating “wound” (Chiron) cripples its functioning. The restrictive energy of Saturn that will keep Bush somewhat leashed and mired in difficulties over the next few years is also due to the transits in his own chart, as well as the progressions and natal positions in the Inaugural chart. Currently, Saturn is returning to its own place in his natal chart after just completing a square to his Midheaven. Although he managed to “win” the election with these aspects (and a Jupiter return), he has been floundering in the morass of the Iraq War, a disaster entirely of his own obsessive and incompetent making, and dealing with several Republican mutinies on the home front ever since. Beginning in September 2005, Bush will undergo Saturn crossing his Ascendant, Mercury, and Pluto on and off through early July 2006, after which it will cross his Venus through June 2007. His poll numbers are likely descend even further during this period, especially from October 2006 through June 2007.
A second period of potentially aggressive or overassertive eruptions from the Bush administration is likely from April through early August 2007, as well as during the second half of February 2008. Uranus will be square to the Inaugural Mars, ruler of the 7th and 12th houses in the Inaugural chart, suggesting some kind of attack on the administration from secret or open enemies, possibly those he considered friends, since Uranus rules the 11th house. This will not necessarily be a military event, and could instead be a political or legal attack of some kind. Bush will respond with overconfidence and may be prone to recklessness and poor judgment, due to his progressed Mars conjunct his natal Jupiter, with transiting Uranus quincunx Mars during this same timeframe. Things will go very poorly for him at least through June 23, 2007, while Saturn remains on his natal Venus. After that date, he will be less restrained and may have more success. Perhaps the most likely planetary aspect to bring an intensification of American militarism will be the transit of Uranus square to US Mars beginning in mid-April 2008. This transit will be quite strong from April 9 through August 26, 2008, and then repeats during the first half of February 2009. Needless to say, a vicious political war is also a possibility with this aspect during an election year, but the danger of a military event should not be ruled out. As of late November 2008, Saturn will move to station square US Mars through January 20, 2009. This indicates that whatever ferocious military or political energy has been unleashed by the Uranus transit, it is likely to be restrained or run into significant obstacles by the end of the year. Beyond February 2009, there is little to suggest that this over-macho posture that has been rampant in America with the coming of George W. Bush will continue. Hopefully, some amount of balance will be restored.
Nancy Waterman on Jun 12 | Link
Comments
Nancy great article, very far thinking. And I happened across this little ditty today, and my immediate thought was how desperate they are that they brought out the junk yard dog...the abusive husband...how fitting. Cheney slams Howard Dean as 'over the top' WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President "I think Howard Dean's over the top. I've never been able to understand his appeal. Maybe his mother loved him, but I've never met anybody who does," Cheney told Fox News Channel. "So far, I think he's probably helped us more than he has them. That's not the kind of individual you want to have representing your political party," Cheney said. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=584&e=2&u=/nm/20050612/pl_nm/cheney_dc Posted by: Morgana on June 12, 2005 10:03 PMOh, Nancy... Oh, oh, oh. Flowing, informative prose of the best kind. This alone gives me hope. Talent put to such good use. How exactly timed... this putrid Cheney action. He is so low. That's unbelievable ...the mother comment from this abusive parent. Do you think, maybe, perhaps, hopefully, possibly, by some stroke of grace that when Saturn gets out of Cancer we won't need this so much? Posted by: jm on June 12, 2005 10:20 PMWasn't aware Cheney had said that. Gee, if we had a media interested in fairness and objectivity, this kind of bs from Cheney might actually get some coverage! (and then I woke up) Posted by: Jonathan on June 12, 2005 10:29 PMConsidering the "horrified" reaction when Kerry brought up Cheney's daughter in the debate, Cheney's remark about Howard Dean's mother is another example of this administration's hypocrisy. Wonderful article, Nancy. I always look forward to your writing. Posted by: Teresa on June 12, 2005 10:33 PMThe Dems need a strategy lesson. I wish I could go and lecture them. Their response to Cheney should be an attack: how dare he make personal attacks about Dean, about who loves him and who doesn't ? What kind of bizarre nonsense is this? Cheney is the one who told the most outrageous lies about Iraq and pressured the intelligence the most, so who want him as a political leader, etc. Put it right back on them. His dishonesty and moral turpitude are infamous. Who is he to pass judgment on anyone!! Now that is a response that would take the subject off of Dean and put it back on the immorality of the GOP where it belongs. Someone told me that my memo to Harry Reid was posted here. Thank you to whoever was kind enough to do that for me. I outlined a strategy I think they should use consistently. It is basically to stay on message no matter the temptation. For anyone who missed my memo, I will repost it here. Please feel free to send it to your Senators or Congressmen or anyone. I am so tired of seeing them duped into talking about what the GOP wants them to talk about, most of which is beside the point.
When Howard Dean or any other Democrat says something that is not politically correct or diplomatic enough to pass muster and you are asked to comment, YOU SHOULD RESTATE WHAT HE SAID IN A SOFTER AND MORE PALATABLE WAY, BUT NEVER CRITICZE HIM. As soon as you criticize him, that becomes the story, and the GOP has once again successfully derailed any critique or examination of what they are doing. They do this ALL the time. You must stay on message, stay with the issues he has brought up. Dean is essentially giving you the microphone, the ear of the public, by making news. It is a wonderful opportunity if you all work together.
Senator: Well, many of the GOP policies are very harmful to working people. Under George Bush wages have stagnated while the very rich just get richer, 45 million people don’t even have health care and this number is growing every year (etc., you can fill in the meat here). And the reality of voting in Ohio for working people was terrible, having to wait on line for up to 8 hours to vote. How can hard working people do that and keep a job? Pundit: But what about what Gov Dean said? Do you agree with it? Senator: The GOP policies are very problematic for the average working person in health care, wages, retirement issues, etc. I think these policies are very insensitive to working people’s needs.
Absolutely wonderful Nancy! They are indeed the abusive spouse/parent....distract and abuse, distract and abuse. G*d help them, and all the rest of us. Posted by: Pat C on June 12, 2005 10:41 PMWell this is some start to Mars in Aries. It's a setup for a counterattack. What do you think Dean will do? You are so right, Nancy. The window to distraction. If anything, it would be so good for the Dems to end it and get back to issues. People always are screaming for attack dogs and look where it gets them. We have a lot to learn about debate with this country's Saturn in Libra. And all this Martial thrust. And what the hell is this proverbial top that everyone is always going over? The top of what? Posted by: jm on June 12, 2005 10:45 PMI've got to put this out into the universe... Dems, PLEASE DON'T FALL FOR THIS! This is classic Aries square Cancer. Emotional warfare. I think we'll get through it. Posted by: jm on June 12, 2005 11:00 PM
Above, this starving girl in Darfur didn't make the cut—Sudan's debts weren't forgiven by the G-8. The rich nations are so proud of themselves. U.S. Treasury secretary John Snow called Saturday's decision by himself and the officials of the other G-8 nations to forgive $40 billion in debt owed by some of the poorest countries "an achievement of historic proportions." Bluntly put, $40 billion is not much of a sacrifice for the world's haves, considering the corporate welfare and greed that continue unabated. Here are some other figures for perspective: • $15.9 billion: Year-end Wall Street bonuses handed out in 2004. • $940 billion: estimated windfall for financial companies in fees generated by Bush's privatization of Social Security. • $5.8 billion: estimated monthly cost to taxpayers of the war in Iraq. • $9 billion: estimated oil-for-slush scandal money unaccounted for or missing under Jerry Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority during post-war reconstruction in Iraq. • $40 billion: ExxonMobil's revenues extracted from its operations in Aceh, Indonesia, during just the past decade. • $200 billion: Lockheed Martin's deal to build the "Joint Strike Fighter." • $30 billion: Value of the Boeing tanker-lease proposal bitterly fought by John McCain and others and now caught up in a monumental Pentagon scandal. • $1 billion: Annual cost of maintaining the huge, new U.S. embassy in Baghdad. • $146 billion: Cost of corporate tax cuts in the "middle-class" tax-cut package signed into law on October 4, 2004. • $4 billion: Corporate-welfare export subsidies to U.S. firms that even the WTO bitterly complains about. • $16 billion: Amount borrowed by California, under GOP governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, to pay its bills this year. • $11 billion: Halliburton's Iraq revenues—so far. • $417 billion: U.S. Department of Defense budget for one year (not counting the add-ons) announced at signing ceremony on August 5, 2004, during which George W. Bush told the crowd of generals, officials, and defense contractors: http://villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeat/archive/000987.php Posted by: Pat C on June 12, 2005 11:20 PMThey could seize this opportunity now that there is media attention. Maybe something like: "Who does or does not love Mr. dean is not an important issue. When four Americans were killed today in Iraq, adding to the troubles that are mounting daily. We need leadership that we can trust to be straightforward with the American public, to tell the truth, and assure the people that they are doing everything they can to solve our problems in Iraq and face the increasing economic hardships here at home. Posted by: jm on June 12, 2005 11:39 PMMake Cheney look small, childish, and foolish. Posted by: jm on June 12, 2005 11:43 PM"If the current administration can't focus on and solve these problems, then it is time for the American people to establish new leadership." Posted by: jm on June 12, 2005 11:55 PMApparently the media have forgotten that shining moment when Cheney told Leahy to "go **ck yourself". Perhaps HD should bring that up. Wonderful Nancy, I hope the Dean people get your memo. Posted by: M. on June 13, 2005 12:01 AMNo, focus on the future, the alternative, the promise. There is an election coming up. Don't play their stupid game. Create a new one. Now is the time. Set a whole new tone to the next battle. Posted by: jm on June 13, 2005 12:10 AMMaybe we all could send him a copy. Posted by: Pat C on June 13, 2005 12:53 AMThis is mainstream media. White House Presents Misleading Terror Data Mark Benjamin | Return of the Body Counts My letter to the NYTimes: To The Editor, I'm still searching your paper for the outrage over Cheney's insensitive and unstatesmanlike remarks about Dean, his Mom and who does (or doesn't) love him. If I remember correctly, The Times had a field-day when Kerry, during the campaign, mentioned Cheney's lesbian daughter (in the context of the Republican's support of discriminatory anti-gay measures and amendments). But when a sitting Vice President says something gratuitously nasty against a Democrat -- and following on the heels of wall-to-wall coverage about the Democrat's alleged foot-in-mouth disease -- there's absolutely nothing to be found in your paper. It's getting very difficult convincing my friends that the Times is not just a worthless mouthpiece for the Republicans and their cronies. I'm damn near close to giving up! Come on, guys, get to work, do some objective reporting (um, there IS a huge scandal in Ohio involving the Republicans, the Bush 2004 Team and possible illegal money, by the way ... or does it only count if it involves a Democrat and a Buddhist Temple?) and prove me wrong. Please! All you guys on AW -- this feels GREAT to do! Make them know you're watching and aware of their imcompetence. Enough letters and they'll feel damn near obliged to start working! :-) Posted by: Jonathan on June 13, 2005 01:33 AMJonathan, what a great letter! Good for you! It does feel good to take action by putting your thoughts/feelings into words that will potentially (and certainly hopefully!) be seen by LOTS n LOTS o' people! Thought you all might like to know this (found in a thread on a different astro site; pertains to the Downing STreet Memo): "A meeting between Gold Star military families (Those who have a family member killed in service) are going to be meeting with members of Congress on June 15 to push for an inquiry into the matter." SHA-WEET!!!!!!!!! Every bit helps! Posted by: Lori on June 13, 2005 01:38 AMTurn the mirror around and aim it back at Cheney. Is he any more politically correct and diplomatic than Dean? I'm guessing with Mars at 0 Aries is still in 1 degree separating orb to Malefic Sheat making a square to Mercury could be old Cheney foot in mouth disease hoping to create a Dean beheading? Like a thug who kicks an already beaten vicitm. But this can turn around and bite Cheney's butt. Can't 'yo mama' anyone and get a way with it; what a cowardly, ugly thing to say. My vote's on Sheat; remember Maya Delmar said not to make oneself a target. Travesio and all, Remember a few months ago when I went to DC for the DNC Chair convention where Dean was elected? Well, at the time, I was caught on camera shaking hands with Dean. Since Howard has been back in the news, those clips are being aired again. I'm on TV!!! Again!!! Posted by: Dave on June 13, 2005 03:02 AMGreat article Nancy, you can feel the rolling of the vise down on this group. Frist is under investigation, Delay is close to indictment, Sensenbrenner has gone nuts, the media is beginning to every so slightly blow their nose in the direction of news, the military has its own serious problems right now as they are losing troops (when they didn't have that many to start with) and no one wants to "sign up." One could say that Saturn is repressing the entire "homeland' as it makes its winding way through the end of Cancer. Posted by: Sally on June 13, 2005 03:19 AMOMG, Dave! What are the chances of that happening? And of you catching it? Jonathan...sooooo good. We've got to do something.
Instead of attacking Cheney back and perpetuating the game, one could say something like: "Our problems are increasing steadily. We are not safe in America. If our President does not have the strength, courage, skill, and maturity to lead this country out of danger, then it is time to elect leaders who do. We cannot continue on this path. Our lives and our childrens' futures are at stake." Think pride, pride, pride. Self respect, dignity, self esteem, Leo, the heart. Cheney can't do this one. He's had four heart attacks. And things will get worse when Saturn comes to square his Sun and everything else. Can't you see what he is really saying?..."I am unloved". This horrible, pathetic man is our Vice President. If we want this to end, we have to get smart. We have to leave this abusive house. Posted by: jm on June 13, 2005 03:23 AMYou make excellent points JM. But there are moments when one has to stand up to the school yard bully and this may be it. When the fear drops away and you are no longer afraid to speak, or stand up, for yourself. For comes a day that if you won't do it no one else will. I did like HD's response when asked about the Cheney comment and he said Faux is a propaganda toll and he doesn't reply to propaganda. Posted by: M. on June 13, 2005 03:37 AMOur input is needed @ CNN. What do you think of the Guantanamo Bay detention center? Terrific David Podvin article on Dean and the Dems: http://makethemaccountable.com/podvin/more/050612_DeanCuckoosNest.htm Posted by: Nancy on June 13, 2005 04:29 AMIf politics contines to be a sado masochistic ritual then I'm getting out of it again. When grace arrived, I stepped in. If how hard you can beat up someone else in becomes a thing of great achievement, then I am out. No wonder we have wars. Posted by: jm on June 13, 2005 05:05 AMI get so damned irritated at this nonsense. In the same breath that they say Democrats are weak and too polite and don't imitate the Republicans properly, they say the election was stolen. That means that John Kerry WON by being an eloquent gentleman. Make up your damned minds! Posted by: jm on June 13, 2005 05:26 AMProposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution. (Introduced in House) HJ 24 IH
1st Session H. J. RES. 24
February 17, 2005
`Article -- `The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is repealed.'. Excellent article Nancy. Posted by: Jo on June 13, 2005 05:40 AMummmm... in Nancy's article, I wasn't really aware that prog mars was at 18 libra in USian chart, but it well fits... exactly on my own ascendant/sun. No wonder I've been so acutely unhappily aware (as are you guys) of the USian govt's psychopathic viciousness, cruelty & violence... absolutely at odds with a libran's need for social justice, fairness, etc. And it squares my mid-heaven & moon in cancer. I wish I could move to another country... another world would be even better. ;O) Posted by: JoannaOregon on June 13, 2005 05:49 AMUS Constitution: Twenty-Second Amendment Amendment Text | Annotations Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term. Section 2. This Article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment22/ Joanna....I knew it...I knew it....they are going for the gold....I knew they would try to make this a dynasty. I hope it dies nasty.....like all of them. Posted by: judi gemini on June 13, 2005 07:01 AMYea, verily, Judi... Jo found it. It's not unexpected however... the monsters have been attacking the Constitution/Bill of Rights right along, yes? Yes. Posted by: JoannaOregon on June 13, 2005 07:30 AMAnother great article Nancy! Thanks so much! "We're going to continue to talk about a positive agenda, no matter how people focus on other issues," Reid said. "We're going to talk about our agenda - we're not going to let the Republicans set the agenda," Dean said. And to the reporters, he added, "And to be quite honest, we're not going to let you set the agenda." Posted by: Kiwijeanie on June 13, 2005 08:02 AMExcellent. Posted by: jm on June 13, 2005 11:13 AMJust a quick post here folks---I did like Dean's reply to Mr. FY(Ch*ney), but I feel he missed an opportunity to say something like this "Mr. Cheney also said Saddam had ties to Al-Qaeda and he'd never met John Edwards before their debate, so can you really believe anything he says these days?" and to thusly mount an attack on the entire regime's credibility......just my $.02..... namaste....and they'd better not try to repeal the 22nd amendment---although, technically, B*sh wasn't elected the first time, so I wouldn't discount them trying for a 3rd time...and with Diebold, will this nightmare never end? Posted by: Garry on June 13, 2005 12:55 PMMary Scott O'Connor is a fine writer... she writes at dKos frequently. Her words are very colorful, too colorful for Cap'n Sally's cozy comfy corner, so I have blocked them out... but her message is one with which I FULLY concur: "If voting reform is not the TOP priority in the Democratic agenda, everything else we've all been wailing and pondering and screaming and talking calmly about (Social Security, Roe v. Wade, the RWCM, the MYRIAD Republican scandals being uncovered HOURLY)... All of it means d*#&. I'm serious. The absurdity of refusing to assert, loudly and repeatedly, that what we want is a way to be ASSURED all votes are counted properly... well, it astounds and infuriates me. Dean mentions it in every speech, it seems -- anybody know why??? Because, g*&da*$#*&, unless we fix this f*#%ed up, Diebold-Republican stranglehold on the VOTING SYSTEM in this godforsaken f*&#ing country, NOTHING ELSE MEANS D*&%." http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/12/204821/773 Posted by: Jo on June 13, 2005 01:34 PMColorful, isn't she?! Well, she's right on the money... As our own Joanna has been saying, we have to get rid of the evoting machines... demand a paper trail. Those of us on this board know the litany of crimes these fascists have committed... and I'm not holding my breath until the 'State Media' begins to report the truth... or until a GOP ('God's Own Party --- that's the slogan the xtians have interpreted GOP to mean!) majority decides to impeach the 'empty suit' --- which will be replaced by another 'empty suit'... (impeachment will never happen, actually) --- elections in 2006? Surely you DON'T expect DEMS to win? Work on that cognitive dissonance if you do.
An excellent viewpoint regarding what Dean is up to. http://www.corante.com/mooreslore/archives/037050print.html Posted by: M. on June 13, 2005 01:44 PMM., I hope with all my heart your linked article is correct... that the writer's assessment of Dean proves to be true. There are some skeptics however who see Dean as a tool (albeit an innocent one) to prevent the progressives from becoming too radical --- that is, to prevent them forming a third party. Some believe the Democratic Party is too corrupt to reform, that it is part of the fascist regime. Time will tell which assessment is accurate. Posted by: Jo on June 13, 2005 02:29 PMMy, my. Republican Congressmen have smelled the low polls, the opposition to the war, the low recruiting numbers... allying with the Democrats? They also smell a coming election. Winds are shifting... even Yahoo News is carrying their criticism of Fuhrer's War... Hagel is saying "I told you so" at the beginning, not enough boots on the ground. My, my... things change, and they stay the same. http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050612/us_nm/iraq_usa_republicans_dc Posted by: Jo on June 13, 2005 02:39 PMFirst of all thank you for the positive feedback for my post in the previous thread. As per usual, it was just the usual Piscean 'stream-of-consciousness' stuff that seems to come to me from somewhere. I don't have the exact dates but until the early 70's the Sedition Law was still in place so you could be thrown in jail for speaking against the government. I think it has always been wrong to think that free speech exists in the USA. There has always been the illusion of free speech but not in reality. The difference is now that it is overt and not covert. What America now has the opportunity to confront is itself as represented by the B* admin. Everything that is wrong, dark, nasty, f***ed up, dysfunctional, hypocritical....you name it is there in the WH. What a motley bunch. And yet you could walk down any street and find much the same lurking beneath the surface of sweetness, light and apple pie. Just because America has a dark side doesn't mean it has be ruled by it. Anyway, I'm sure that you're familiar all the microcosm/macrocosm stuff. I've been working on micro stuff and better things have been happening outside: increased income, G8/Live8, Beethoven week, Pink Floyd getting back together, Labour acting like Labour should, Blair getting debt cancellation from B*, Europeans standing up to be counted...all good. Instead of focussing on B*, his cronies and their screwy agenda and empowering them...set your own. What do you want? It's time that we set our own agenda and not be dictated to by the WH, Capitol Hill, Wall Street, Downing Street or those in the Media. I've begun shouting 'I don't want that' and 'Not interested' at the TV adverts. I am awake and I am thinking for myself. Right, my brain is turning into mash so that's it for now. Posted by: Jase on June 13, 2005 02:51 PMOh, before I go... Claudia Dikinis' article on Nixon is great and I really enjoyed reading about the impact of the Part/Lot of Accusation. It'd be great if any of the hardcore astrologers could take a look at the impact of this point on some of the important charts: Dean, Cheney, B*, Tony etc. Posted by: Jase on June 13, 2005 02:56 PMI hope so too Jo. I take heart in Sally's assessment of Dean over the past six months. The last thing she said here, if I remember correctly, was that he would have a difficult time for a while, but if he stuck it out he'd make it through. Personally, I have felt, ever since the flap about the words coming out of his mouth began, that there was a method to his madness. As for him being used as a tool, well we all know far too well how the politicians in DC, on both sides, have been cynical about their manipulation of voters, so I never dismiss anything out of hand. But the delicious thing about this scenario, if it is in place, is that it will backfire on them. To keep the progressives, they will have to keep Dean and he will keep on keeping on, which is just what we want. He'll keep on organizing, bringing people who haven't had a say together, and speaking the truth. The joke on them may be that while they keep him to prevent a schism in the base, the work he's doing will, hopefully, bring about such a change as to make them irrelevant. Also, I must say I'm surprised they're worried about a 3rd party, I didn't know "our fearless leaders" were paying enough attention to what we think to recognize that if he goes, many of us will go as well. I don't see how we can lose here. I say this while mindful of another article of Sally's where she says a 3rd party is a real option that has possibility. Namaste Jo. Posted by: M. on June 13, 2005 03:13 PMJust don't want to shout only at my TV, I want to put my disgust in the face of the perpetrator. Nice = corrupt bastard I don't feel so nice being hoodwinked and abused so why play nice on TV? I can always shove my angry feelings down with more food, uber amounts of blogging, or some other substitute for depression. But no, rather feel my feelings even if society thinks 'not nice'. Posted by: bhakti on June 13, 2005 03:18 PMSpeaking of ABUSIVE!! How abusive is it when unelected illegal govt thugs can demand access (spread yer legs, honey... here... lemme help!) to OUR schools, lure OUR kids into illegal killing machines... by THEIR LAW... AND make us pay for it?!? Turn our children into psych unit fodder at the very least, & charles manson clones at the very worse. We shld put up with it because...?!?!?!?!?! It's absolutely outragous!!! And absolutely unacceptable!!! * They Won't Go [bushaGulag] is in no danger of being ranked among the nation's pre-eminent commanders in chief. Not only has he been unable thus far to win the war in Iraq, but on his watch significant sectors of the proud US military have been rapidly deteriorating. The Army reported on Fri that it had fallen short of its recruitment goals for a 4th consecutive mo. The Marines managed to meet their recruitment target for May, but that was their 1st successful mo this yr. Scrambling to fill its ranks, the Army is signing up more high school dropouts & lower-scoring applicants. With the [assault] in Iraq going badly & allegations of abuse by military personnel widespread, young men/women are increasingly deciding that there's no upside to a career choice in which the most important skills might be ducking bullets & dodging roadside bombs. The primary reason the US went to an all-volunteer military in 1973 was to ensure that those who did not want to fight wldn't have to. That option is now being overwhelmingly exercised, discretion being the clear choice over valor. Young people & their parents alike are turning their backs on the military in droves. The Army is so desperate for even lukewarm bodies that it is reluctant to release even problem soldiers, troops who are seriously out of shape, or pregnant, or abusing alcohol or drugs. And it is lowering standards for admission to the jr officer ranks. For example, minor criminal offenses that previously wld have been prohibitive can now be overlooked. At the same time Army recruiters have been chasing high school kids with such reckless abandon that a backlash is developing among parents who, in many cases, want the recruiters kept out of their children's schools. "To the extent that we think students are threatened by recruiters, it's our job to intervene," said Amy Hagopian, a co-chair of the Parent-Teacher-Student Assn at Garfield Hi School in Seattle. Ms Hagopian, who has an 18 y/o son, complained that recruiters too often put the hard sell on impressionable hi school youngsters w/o informing them of the potential dangers of a life in the military. Recruiters with the gift of gab go into the schools with a glamorous pitch, bags full of goodies for the kids (T-shirts, donuts, key chains) [the Native Indian treatment] & a litany of promises they can't keep. The kids don't hear much about their chances of being maimed or killed, or the trauma that often results from killing someone else. (A soldier's job is to kill. I can still hear the drill sgts in basic training screaming at us decades ago: "What are you? What are you?" And we'd scream back: "Killers! Killers!" And the sgts wld say, "What is your purpose?" And we wld shout: "To kill! To kill!") The Army, frantically searching for solutions, is offering enlistments as short as 15 mos & considering bonuses worth up to $40,000 [all lies]. But it may be facing a problem too difficult for any amt of money to overcome. Americans are catching on to the hideousness & apparent futility of the war in Iraq. 5 marines were killed in a single bomb attack in western Iraq on Thur. On Fri, a front-pg Wash Post headline described the effort to rebld the Iraqi military as "Mission Improbable." [What childish brute makes up these titles?!?!?] A Wash Post-ABC News poll last wk found that nearly 3/4 of Americans believe the number of casualties in Iraq is unacceptable, & 60% believe the [assault] was not worth fighting. There's something frankly embarrassing about a govt offering trinkets to children to persuade them to go off & fight - & perhaps die [or be maimed] - in a war that their nation shld never have started in the 1st place. It's highly questionable whether most hi school kids are equipped to make an informed decision about joining the military, which is exactly why they're targeted. The addl knowledge/maturity gained in the 1st few yrs after hi school make it easier for a young man or woman to make a wiser, more meaningful choice, pro or con. The parents of the kids being sought by recruiters to fight this unpopular [assault] are creating a highly vocal & potentially very effective antiwar movement. In effect, they're saying to their own children: hell no, you won't go. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/opinion/13herbert.html?pagewanted=print Posted by: JoannaOregon on June 13, 2005 04:15 PMThanks for the David Podvin article, Nancy. Just read it and haven't finished the thread here yet; it seems to me we can tag those Dems protesting about Dean as "same team, different jerseys" Republicans Marta has told us about. In my mind, I figure those are the ones on the corporate take for ultimately their own benefit, which is how I see most Republicans as well. All of the same cloth, those folks. I believe the Howard Deans of the world are very needed in the country which has become one big La La Land on the banks of Denial. Give 'em hell, Howard! (he should just make his own party; he'd have plenty of support!) Posted by: Lori on June 13, 2005 04:22 PMHi everybody, I've been enjoying this site for quite some time and just want to say thanks for all of the great posts and info. Today the DSM article was front page news in my local paper, if you want to see it the link is http://www.recordonline.com. Is this the start of the avalanche? Boy do I hope so! Posted by: Dave K on June 13, 2005 04:39 PMOne thing I didn't mention in the article (there was actually a lot, I couldn't fit it all in) was the progressed Inaugural Ascendant that is now in square to the Inauguarl Neptune. It started in May and signfies how much more obvious all of the deceptions are now. It is a pretty tight natal square, so it colors the whole 4 years, but this aspect makes it especially strong from 5/05 through 1/06. The solar arc Asc square Neptune is from 8/05 to 8/06. I think the first progression might be stronger, but in any event, note that the issue of the DSM which is primarily deception, is now coming up. This issue of deception and the distrust people will have for the administration will grow over the next year. I continue to wonder if this is the chironian wound the adminstration will suffer that will cripple it but may not impeach (due to rRepublican cowardice and corruption). Posted by: Nancy on June 13, 2005 04:47 PMJM, I understand you getting "...so damned irritated at this nonsense. In the same breath that they say Democrats are weak and too polite and don't imitate the Republicans properly, they say the election was stolen. That means that John Kerry WON by being an eloquent gentleman." But it doesn't matter if Kerry won by being an eloquent gentleman, or by espousing public policy most voting Americans want, or both, or anything else, if he and the Dem establishment are content to accept a rigged election (both the voting and the counting). What good does "he really did win" do us in that scenario? I also disagree that anyone wants Dems to imitate the Repugs. In my view, what we want is Dems to speak powerful truth in the face of lies of the powerful. Which is different than telling nasty tales and making personal (and either irrelevant, untrue, or both) attacks, like the Repugs do. Meanwhile, should repeal of the 22nd Amendment actually happen (which will take 7 years, right? So we won't have W, but we will have some other neoconman), we're looking at the formalization of the dictatorship we already have. Maybe we'll be like Egypt, and in 20 years our Resident will let other people run against him...sort of. I have not had the time to research the whole thing, but there is something in the Constitution that basically says the states together can remove decisions from Congress and force investigations and removal of elected branches of government. If anyone has time to research that particular "wedge" the people have that would be great. Wisconsin Democrats introduced a request for impeachment procedings against Bush. Posted by: Sally on June 13, 2005 05:03 PMNothing found yet, Sally, but came across this history book text (apparently) describing the beginnings of the federal US gov't. I found it interesting so thought I'd share: http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/history/chapter7section1.rhtml Posted by: Lori on June 13, 2005 05:36 PMSally, Did the Wisconsin Democrats request for the Impeachment of Bush just happen recently? Or is something that happened earlier? Just curious ... Posted by: Jonathan on June 13, 2005 05:36 PM* Churches Promote the Worst Forms of Tyranny ...They may think they are doing the world a favor, but they are imposing tyranny. Consider the words of the great xian author CS Lewis: "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. [Thank you very much... I CHOOSE NEITHER!] The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us w/o end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." Nobody likes a controlling spouse, a controlling boss or a Little League parent. They always need to "make a project" out of someone else. They always say they are doing it for someone else's "own good." And they always make that person's life a living hell. History is full of overly controlling govts that made whole countries into living hells--killing millions in some cases--but insisted they were doing ["their subjects"] a favor. (cont) http://www.strike-the-root.com/51/newman/newman9.html Interesting stuff out there when searching for info on states' right to remove federal officials, etc... I was unsuccessful in my search; if there is such a clause in the Constitution, I'll bet some good crosstian fundy right wing site has the info! (But you'd think they would've used it on Bill...) Ciao for now! Posted by: Lori on June 13, 2005 06:25 PMhttp://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Content=70 "June 1 June 8 Looks like that is what you were referring to, Sally? I'm really off to enjoy my day now! Posted by: Lori on June 13, 2005 06:40 PMMark Fiore 'toon... http://www.savedarfur.org/go.php?q=neverAgain...Again.html Posted by: JoannaOregon on June 13, 2005 06:42 PMHappy Birthday Jo, WASHINGTON , The Supreme Court on Monday turned away appeals from broadcast and newspaper groups that sought to restore government rules that would have eased restrictions ... Lori, I think an amendment to the Constitution has to be ratified by 3/4 of the states WITHIN seven years... the law is not saying you wait seven years but that you HAVE seven years in which to get 3/4 of the states to ratify. So, the state legislatures could sign off on it right up to 2008 and if enough ratify (3/4), empty suit could run again! And they could select him again with their ugly evoting machines... Jase, I certainly agree with you about the 'illusions'... and about finding what works for you... Joanna, The invasion of Iraq and the continuing occupation is the greatest example we could have of the dark underbelly of our government. They want our children... but they are going to discover that they have pushed the envelope... folks are waking to the fact that not only are their children mortgaged to the hilt, but they are expected to die or be maimed for the greed of the few. My gut tells me it will get ugly before we finally drive these cockroaches out of the woodwork and gain control of our government. Pat QofP, Thank you --- I just bring the news, can't help the content!!! the Dems? labels don't mean a thing, they simply keep us confused... which is the intent, right? Sally's right about the fact that we are just beginning to see what has always been... Again, the system is broke... repeat after me... the system is broke. (actually it never would have worked the way we thought it did... and we can't fix it, because it's not what we thought it was!) Y'all know in your hearts we need a new system, it's just so overwhelming to think about, right? Wrong? tPluto has done and is doing us a favor by doing what we ourselves can't bring ourselves to do... tear the facade down... Down with the HIER archy... it's trickle down democracy... whatever the heck that is! anarchy looks pretty good to me... better every day... have any of y'all researched it? imho it's the only path to REAL democracy. Posted by: Jo on June 13, 2005 08:15 PMSally, I just read through the Constitution and could not find what you are alluding to --- 'course that doesn't mean it's not there! Mike Rivero says that 1)the present government is illegal; 2) the present government has performed illegal (some would say criminal) acts; 3) citizens do not have to support an illegal, immoral government. Actually, I would go further and say that we are morally charged to NOT support an illegal, immoral government. Which brings us to The Unanimous Declaration of WHEN, in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Correct me if I am wrong but I believe this marks the first time that a Bush assministration official has resigned because of his involvement in a scandal. The White House claims that Cooney's resignation was planned all along, but that's simply bullshit wrapped in spin. I'm certain it won't be the last time one of these bastards is forced out. The chief of staff for the White House council on environmental quality resigned his position just days after it was revealed that he routinely edited scientific reports on global warming, changing language in a way that suggests the phenomenon and its causes are widely debated. The official, Roger A. Cooney, is accused of adding or changing the wording of several official reports on the relationship between greenhouse gasses and global warming. He is the immediate past head of the American Petroleum Association, an oil industry lobby group. The revelations came from a former official with the US Climate Change Program, Rick S. Piltz, who released a signed letter through the government accountability project and provided documentation to the New York Times, which first reported the story Wednesday. -Please pardon some of the language but I just posted what was written Posted by: abilene on June 13, 2005 08:36 PMHappy Birthday to all AW Geminis!!! Did y'all know that Geminis are the rebels of the zodiac? Patrick Henry was born... when? 29 May 1736 A true Gemini!!! And Uranus rules my chart... so, can't help myself... freedom is essential to this entity. And I don't see much evidence of it in this country. Do you? Yeah, I know JM... you're going to tell me that the fact that I can say this proves we are free... No, it only proves I'm not a big enough gadfly to the powers that be. That's all. My birthday present to myself for the coming year is to make sure my grandchildren don't get drafted, EVER... and to be prepared. I'm washing out jugs and filling 'em w/ water. And checking the first aid kit and canned goods. You know, the usual Girl Scout things. Posted by: Jo on June 13, 2005 08:41 PMNancy....a great article. Especially since I can send it to non astro people! thanks....also have been reading the DU astro site with your posts, it is a great combo....anyplace else where you are posted? Sorry for the ignorance, but do you also have a web site? Jo and JoannaOregon....Clinton has said all along that if the rethugs get the 22nd suspended, he'll run again...although at this point we are sure that the same group controls almost every candidate, at least this one would sure know the ropes. I also have had some intimations of a psychic nature (and who believes psychics?) which has me remembering the 1792 Revolution in France....and that led to Mdm. LaFarge knitting, and that led to Napolean....geez. What good is revolution when it leads to more of the same only somewhat worse? hahahahah... Posted by: judi gemini on June 13, 2005 08:43 PMI hate to stink up the place with this, but a verdict has been reached in the Jackson case and will be announced at 4:30 EDT---guess they'll need another distraction tomorrow: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4604027.stm based on the timing, anyone got any predictions for the hapless virgo? Posted by: Garry on June 13, 2005 08:57 PMNancy....solar arc square in August...I am wondering....when people as bad as these are leaders, when a square happens, do they make stupid mistakes ? Is that also ture for people who are not out of integrity? I am still fascinated by this quetion....and I am hoping that the August square brings visible and unrefutable hubris to the neopigs. It is more and more like Animal Farm every day... Happy birthday Jo....it is a beautiful day for a birthday in SF...hope it is for you too...and all the other Gemini's waiting in line. Except the vipers, of course.... Posted by: judi gemini on June 13, 2005 09:00 PMJo, that's cuz all us Gemini's keep shooting our mouths off or letting our fingers do the talking. It is revealing that the chairman’s most venomous critics are not the malicious demagogues of the GOP or the professional deceivers in the mainstream media, but the babbling lunatics in his own ranks. Democratic politicians demand adherence to the fantasy that being deferential towards Republicans is the winning formula, disregarding the fact that the approach has been tried repeatedly and has always failed. As Benjamin Franklin noted, continuing to do the same thing while expecting different results is the very essence of insanity. Morgana...good to see you back...didn't know you were a Gemini, when? Posted by: judi gemini on June 13, 2005 09:32 PMthis may be redundent and you all know it, but Make Them Accountable has a great link page for government.and media contact..http://www.makethemaccountable.com/links.htm Posted by: judi gemini on June 13, 2005 09:38 PMGerman TV airs documentary charging American war crimes in Afghanistan The US State Department has reacted angrily to the showing of a documentary on German television alleging that US soldiers were involved in war crimes in Afghanistan. The film, Massacre in Afghanistan—Did the Americans Look On?, was produced by Irish filmmaker Jamie Doran. It was shown December 18 on one of the main German public channels—ARD. The 45-minute documentary had previously been shown by the British Channel 5 and the Italian station RAI. ~snip~ In the wake of the battle for Konduz, American military forces participated in the armed assault and killing of several hundred Taliban prisoners in the fortress of Qala-i-Janghi. The American John Walker Lindh was one of 86 Taliban fighters who survived the massacre by hiding in tunnels beneath the fort . The film sets out to demonstrate that following the events at Qala-i-Janghi, in collaboration with its Afghan ally General Rashid Dostum, the American army command was complicit in the killing of a further 3,000 prisoners who were separated out from the total of 8,000 POWs and transported to a prison compound in the town of Shibarghan. Prisoners were shipped to Shibarghan in closed containers lacking any ventilation. Local Afghan truck drivers were commandeered to transport between 200 and 300 prisoners in each container. One of the drivers participating in the convoy relates that an average of between 150 and 160 died in each container in the course of the trip. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/dec2002/docu-d21.shtml Posted by: Jo on June 13, 2005 09:47 PMJust like the cattle train cars & trucks that sent millions to their uncomprehensibly cruel deaths by the nazis. Same-old same-old... nothin' new there! Same old pink geezers... same old pink behaviors. Posted by: JoannaOregon on June 13, 2005 10:19 PMJo...quite a few weeks back I heard Randi Rhodes talking about this, the modern version of the german cattle train to the ovens...horrifying, same old same old. Posted by: judi gemini on June 13, 2005 10:25 PMWell...we'll see if this is how it work out or not:...sorry to be so 'paranoid' By John Byrne Two radio executives who made Clear Channel and Rush Limbaugh household are to announce today they have purchased The Ed Schultz show, America’s fastest-growing talk show in the country, RAW STORY has learned. Veteran radio execs Randy Michaels and Stu Krane purchased the show from Democracy Radio, a non-profit which helps seed progressive talk radio hosts. Michaels’ and Krane’s new company, P1 will now carry the show. The protracted sale has been in the works since March. Posted by: judi gemini on June 13, 2005 10:28 PMSpeaking of more of the same, this is more of the same: rightwing conservative Reverend says gay's should wear a 'warning lable' Speaking of pink...pink triangles were the labels put on the gays by the nazis. Posted by: judi gemini on June 13, 2005 10:32 PMI use the color "pink" because the whites are not white... they are pink, dusky or ruddy. They are a color just like everyone else... you know the phrase... "women & people of color." These guys NEED to be seen as "white" as in western culture, "white" symbolizes chaste, pure, holy, a part from, set-aside as special & sacred. The only real white people are albinos... an extreme genetic rarity that cuts across every species, race, & stupid creed. In addition, pink supremacist malebots loathe being called "pink" (that I know well ;O) ) because it has a feminine or gay connotation to it. Females & gay folks are a special anathma to that type of male who thinks hisself 1-of-a-kind special. In fact, he's just one with all the rest of us plus the additional characteristic of being experienced as one royal pain-in-the-ass. Happy birthday, dear Jo! May you have many, many more! Posted by: JoannaOregon on June 13, 2005 10:40 PMHeya Judi, 5/27 yup a gemini aries/libra intercepted gemini 3rd, 4th house,pisces asc., uranus/moon conj in cancer, nifty stellium in taurus 2nd house (jupiter venus mercury and expanding waistlines!) Posted by: Morgana on June 13, 2005 10:41 PMThe 'few' want the 'many' to destroy each other. Well, not entirely. They want some of us to survive, else where would they get their cannon fodder and where would they get their slaves to pick the peaches, run the factories (the few we have left), clean the toilets and do the cooking. Ain't gonna happen, cap'n... Posted by: Jo on June 13, 2005 10:43 PMAnd rape, Jo... you forgot rape. Who would they rape?!? From whence would come their snuff videos & the loathsome preachers their targets. (I get carried away perhaps... libra/scorpio combo... naaaaah! I say, speak the truth) Posted by: JoannaOregon on June 13, 2005 10:55 PMWe should elect John Conyers President. UFPC sent me an email. You probably have one also. At least one Congressman has gonads. ------------ Rep. John Conyers, Jr. is convening a hearing to gather more testimony about the Downing Street Minutes and the Bush administration's manipulations and lies. On this Thursday, June 16th, Rep. Conyers, the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and other members of Congress will use this hearing to address a set of Constitutional questions raised by the information disclosed in the Downing Street Minutes. Rep. Conyers is prepared to lead the fight to pass a Resolution of Inquiry which would direct the House Judiciary Committee to launch a formal investigation into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House to impeach President Bush. Posted by: Jo on June 13, 2005 10:57 PMThings could get worse... The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments: You're right on, Joanna, thanks for reminding me! and thanks for the good wishes. We're all going to need them, aren't we! Yep, gonna be a hot summer. Posted by: Jo on June 13, 2005 11:00 PMMorgana...belated birthday wishes from my expanse to your expanse...what is this s**t about weight gain after 50? geez....my continuing birthday present...sore throat, lost my voice, and confused head again. Well...don't know if I can blame that on an illness! More & more are gonna scream "NOOOOOOOO!!!!" in the face of the asailant, Jo. Then they're gonna knee the crotch, grab the eyes, or chop under the nose. Anybody here been to one of those self-defensive classes for women?!? Niceties are left at the door when one's self/life is being assaulted & endangered... mebbe time for reviving manners later when sanity is more/less the norm again. Psychopathic bullies don't "do" manners... or follow any laws. Posted by: JoannaOregon on June 13, 2005 11:14 PM* Web of cold-blooded lies In Jul 2002, the head of MI-6, Britain's secret intelligence service, briefed PM Tony Blair & his cabinet on [bushadruggie/neocon] plans to attack Iraq. Sir Richard Dearlove ("M" to James Bond fans) reported that US [rez] had decided to invade oil-rich Iraq in Mar 2003, in a war "to be justified by the conjunction of terrorism & WMD. The intelligence & facts are being fixed around the policy." Translation: The US & British govts wld concoct charges against Iraq to justify [assault]. After Britain's ag warned that unprovoked invasion of Iraq wld violate internatl law, Dearlove opined with oily cynicism, "If the political context were right, people wld support regime change." Translation: Use propaganda & scare tactics to whip up war fever. British & US intelligence agencies were ordered to produce "evidence" to justify a war. In the US, faked "evidence" & grotesque lies were fed to the frightened public by pro-war neo-cons & frenzied natl media. The US Congress clapped for war like trained seals. In Oct 2002, [rez] actually claimed in a natl speech that Iraqi "drone" aircraft were poised to shower germs & poison gas on America. [v-rez] cheney insisted this absurd allegation was the "smoking gun" that justified invading Iraq. Blair ordered his cabinet to support the invasion. Bush, in his subsequent SOTU speech, warned that Iraq was importing uranium from Niger to build nuclear weapons aimed at the US. This ludicrous claim was based on a forged document. The forgery was back-channelled to the Pentagon thru neo-fascists in Italian military intelligence. And so it went. Lie after lie. Scare upon scare. Fakery after fakery, trumpeted by the tame media that came to resemble the lickspittle press of the old Soviet Union. Ironically, in the end, horrid Saddam Hussein turned out to be telling the truth all along, while bush & blair were not. MI-6's smoking-gun memo, revealed for the 1st time last mo in London by the Sunday Times, wld have forced any of Europe's democratic govts to resign in disgrace. But not b&b. Far from it. ... Hey, JoannaOregon, me too! Libra Sun, Scorp Merc-Nep-Ven. I enjoy your directness! :-) Posted by: Lori on June 13, 2005 11:31 PM
Bombshell As Six More British Documents Leaked 06/13/05 - - Six new secret British documents have been leaked and are provided below. These were retyped from the originals to protect the source, RawStory.com has verified the authenticity . Iraq options paper: Full text The following, titled "IRAQ OPTIONS PAPER," was prepared and dated March 8, 200. It presents possible courses to war. Continued
British foreign secretary Straw says case for Iraq is weak he following is purported to have been penned by the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw--U.S. equivalent of Secretary of State--concerning a possible war in Iraq. Straw indicates the case for war is weak; that the Iraq situation has remained unchanged; and that the United States would not have gone to war without September 11. Continued.
Condi committed to regime change in early 2002 The following, is purported to be written by Blair foreign policy advisor David Manning, indicates that now-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was committed to "regime change" in early 2002. It also outlines some problems a postwar Iraq might face. Continued
Iraq: The British legal background The following was said prepared as an Iraq legal background for war. It is not dated. Continued
'What has changed is not the pace of Saddam's WMD programs' 06/13/05 - - This memorandum, said from Blair political director Peter Ricketts and dated Mar. 22, 2002, indicates the challenges that an Iraq war would face. It indicates that it would have been carbon copied to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and President George W. Bush. "The truth is that what has changed is not the pace of Saddam Hussein’s WMD programmes," the document says. Continued
'The need to wrongfoot Saddam on the inspectors' The following is said from Christopher Meyer, British ambassador to the US from 1997 through February 2003, and dated in March of 2002. Strikingly, the document speaks of a "need to wrongfoot Saddam on the inspectors" and suggests British intelligence and diplomacy draws a great deal on articles written by Sy Hersh in the New Yorker. It also describes a meeting with then-Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz. Continued.
Posted by: wv on June 13, 2005 11:34 PM
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9125.htm Posted by: wv on June 13, 2005 11:36 PMWV, loved the Ted Koppel piece. Exactly why I would never want OnStar -- it's easy to see through these things. Even just using my credit card on a rare trip or writing a check...anything other than cold, hard cash allows your movements to be tracked. It doesn't matter if you've nothing to hide. Easy enough to plant evidence, prints, etc. (hahaha, Judi Gemini, no need to EVER apologize for paranoia to ME!) It amazes me how people fall for this stuff under the guise of safety, security, accurate medical information, etc. People even haul their kids down to have them all fingerprinted, etc., as if that will prevent them from being snatched! People actually think concealed carry laws are...well, depends on your view I guess, whether you think it's a positive or a negative. Sure does let the authorities know where to go if they want to confiscate, though -- regardless. I'm wondering, do we include global positioning devices in this mix, too? I'd imagine if with GPS you can track info through a satellite, the satellite can track you. Isn't this the same as OnStar, only in form of a wristwatch or something? I actually know & have heard of people going for hikes/mountain climbs in the wilderness who carry GPS devices with them! Posted by: Lori on June 13, 2005 11:53 PMJoanna...right on. Adam's apple works good. Posted by: judi gemini on June 14, 2005 12:15 AMJo, Hey you gadfly!! Happy BD!!! Thanks for sharing some of it with us. And that explains everything. Uranus. I was wondering where your outrage, rebelliousness, and exqusitely sharp intellect were dilineated in your chart. I am Uranus ruled too. And I am an anarchist. People mistakenly think anarchy is chaos. It isn't . It simply means "without a leader". This discussion needs a whole website. I believe that the only way to good government is from the innate desire for each individual to control themselves and cooperate with the collective. But it starts with self government. People have to discover the consequences of their choices. If you think pandemonium would take over, you might be surprised. Given a chance, we would learn cooperation out of desire. I think desire is the seed, not imposed force. But this will take some evolution time. I am in the vanguard, and I am glad when I discover others who understand about anarchy. I have spent well over half a century as a Aries rising with a Mars/Uranus square, and I have experimented with every appraoch to skirmish imaginable. Of course there are times whrn brute force is called for, but mostly, when you react with violence you are continuing the contract. Even if you kill them, they will reappear in another form. One of the best ways is to outsmart the enemy before he has a chance to draw blood. You use your wits. And you figure out how to avoid making yourself a target. Sometimes if you don't respond to taunt with the intended reaction, as with Cheney yesterday, they look like fools and their thrust goes limp.
From a DU poster (astrology in action?): "The most important statement I believe Dean made was to tell us to be prepared for a bombshell of a report the Democrats should be releasing in the next 10 days or so that documents the widespread voter suppression and fraud last November in Ohio particularly and the country in general." I've forgotten the specific astrological aspects over the next month or so, but doesn't this, perhaps, tie into them? Just curious ... :-) Posted by: Jonathan on June 14, 2005 12:30 AMJM....you are right...I said something similar to PatQ about engaging on an energy level. You are soooooo right . And when you are 5 ft. tall, you've got to use you brain! Posted by: judi gemini on June 14, 2005 12:35 AMOhio has a 24 degree Gemini Moon where Pluto has been hanging out for a long stretch. Posted by: jm on June 14, 2005 12:36 AMJonathan, there is a poster on DU who is working for Raw Story, I wonder if that is where it came from....but cool....hubris in motion! Hits wall....bam! Posted by: judi gemini on June 14, 2005 12:38 AMYes, Judi. We are evolving in that direction. I think we can win this current war tactically. Maybe we are making it harder than it really is. Sun Tzu warrior skills are also a good thing to bone up on. Posted by: jm on June 14, 2005 12:42 AMLori this has a fascinating and readable account of the rise of the two factions of the political party philosophies...thanks for posting it.I was never very clear on any of it. Posted by: judi gemini on June 14, 2005 12:48 AMI'm sure there are several poster on DU who were for several very good organizations, but the quote above was actually shared by a man who was at a recent speech Dean gave (with the Jacksons, both Jr. and Sr.) and those were Dean's words. I guess legal teams have been working and the rigged Election of 2004 isn't a done deal! Maybe if they discovered the Bush Campaign received illegal money from CoinGate, that would somehow screw up his election results in Ohio? I don't know ... just thinkin' out loud. :-) Posted by: Jonathan on June 14, 2005 12:59 AMquite a visionary, Washington was....(as a matter of fact, he did have many "psychic" visions in his time) Everything he feared came true. Washington’s Farewell Address In 1796, Washington retired from office, deciding not to run for a third term. He thereby set the precedent of presidents serving no more than two terms in office—a precedent that became law with the ratification of the Twenty-Second Amendment (1951). In his farewell address, Washington implored future generations to avoid embroilment in the affairs of other nations, and to concentrate on the creation of “efficient government” at home. He warned that the development of parties would destroy the government, fearing that special interest groups and foreign nations would come to dominate the two factions. http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/history/chapter7section1.rhtml Posted by: judi gemini on June 14, 2005 01:18 AMJonathan, I am clueless on what can actually happen in Ohio...I do think that the Ohio rethug in charge of the elections should be jailed...along with the Diebold execs....treason to subvert an election .... and does this sound familiar? The Alien and Sedition Acts * The Alien Enemies Act, the first and least controversial act, defined the procedure by which, during wartime, U.S. authorities could deport a citizen of an enemy nation whom they deemed a threat to national security.
I was reading the section on religion in Amerika, and although I ws aware of the cycles of its waxing and waning, never really knew much about it. My gr.grandfather was, I am convinced, a transcendalist (he named his first born so Swedenburg in 1856) and I recognized it immediately when I was reading sophomore lit! (Thorear, Whitman, etc) This is a good review of what can only be the Third Awakening! (or maybe the 4th or 5th?)and how it worked with politics, as it always seems to do Yea, verily, JM... TaHA! I have sun in very close trine to uranus/gemini. How I love riding that energy & kickin' "evildoer" a** (I'm 5'8" ;O) ). However, much much less fun is sitting with my cancer/moon energy tr jup/merc/mars/scorpio, but necessary... I use it to sit in contemplation with the World's assault-damaged, killed & maimed children. I weep a lot. People don't like to sit & work with that energy... they like denial... n' "nice." To hell with 'em. Thank you for the news, Jonathan... the sound of that rings good... ;O) Posted by: JoannaOregon on June 14, 2005 02:05 AMThank you JM... good to find another anarchist! There are a good many closet ones, they're afraid others don't really understand what they're about, I think... Astrology is really wonderful! It allows you to see how your own facets fit with those of others... and goodness knows we have a number of same sun signs on this board, and NO two are alike! But other aspects, like moon and personal planets can lend understanding as to why we meld or find tension sometimes with one another. You all mean a great deal to me... you're the only group I can discuss my true feelings with... isn't cyberspace amazing! and wonderful... namaste Consider this: seven months after the election 61+ % oppose the occupation of Iraq and only 37% approve of *... question. Where were all these folks in November? Remember: the Fundies are in the MINORITY... they have always been so... and they still are... There are more of us than there are of them!!!!!!! And 'them' are waking up every minute! Feel the energy... may the force be with you! Posted by: Jo on June 14, 2005 02:32 AMPlease excuse my post above ("poster" should have been "posters" and "were" should have been "work"), but I'm surprisingly unwell today and my mind isn't functioning at anything close to full capacity. Sheesh! It took me three tries just to type that paragraph above! 'Night all. Off to bed. Posted by: Jonathan on June 14, 2005 02:34 AMthis fellow anarchist loves coming here to share with like-minded radicals such as ya'll. Jo, you are enjoying your b-day, I can tell :) yay!!!! for you. Nancy, this article is too, too much for my mind to take in at the moment for some reason, but I wanted to thank you for sharing your glorious intelligence with us, along with your ALWAYS apparent astrological expertise. I love, love, love Uranus (isn't it the higher vibration of Neptune?) Posted by: Peg on June 14, 2005 02:48 AMJudi Gem, I am so glad you are enjoying that "sparknotes" site! I found it really fascinating, too; I have been wondering the last year or so how these political parties came into being, and learned that and so much more! Thanks for sharing so much of it on this thread. REALLY interesting the parallels then-now! Posted by: Lori on June 14, 2005 03:09 AM* Howard Dean is "over the top," [v-rez The Dick] cheney says, calling the Dems' chairman "not the kind of individual you want to have representing your pol party." "I've never been able to understand his appeal. Maybe his mother loved him, but I've never met anybody who does. He's never won anything, as best I can tell," cheney said in an interview to be aired Mon on [Faux] News Ch's "Hannity & Colmes." ... Dean was elected gov of VT 5x between 1992-2000. ... Karen Finney, a spokeswoman for the DNC... "Governor Dean must be doing something right if the [v-rez] of the US wld stoop so low as to use the gov's mother as a way to deflect from answering the concerns of the American people," Finney said Sun. "It's no wonder [rez]'s approval ratings are at an all-time low." ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050612/ap_on_el_ge/cheney_dean WhaddaHOOT!! You go, Miss Karen! Posted by: JoannaOregon on June 14, 2005 03:21 AMI thought it was someone, either here at AW or over at DW, who said that Cheney was about to "become" more of what he really is. Whomever said it, you were right on target. Cheney's remarks towards Dean are quite revealing. It's easy to see and dismiss him as the vile and despicable creature that he certainly is. But in my eyes, he's simply pathetic -- and secretly very jealous of Dean. Why jealous? Dean is an agent of progressive change backed by the genuine support and admiration of millions. Cheney prides himself as an agent of "progressive" change in his own way (i.e. right-wing), but his plans are now being openly challenged by Dean's movement, among other things. I think Cheney resents Dean for his comeback resillience (Why didn't he just stay down for the count after the Primaries?) and, though Cheney would never admit it, for the fact that Dean has so many genuine supporters. JM, you pointed out that Cheney likely feels unloved. I think that is so very true. I don't know if he expects to walk into a hall full of people who are his own genuine supporters, but I suspect that he does think people should be appreciative of his work. Cheney seems very much the type of person who has elbowed and intimidated his way throughout most of his life. He's a bully. But there is still a place in that bitter and rotten heart of his that is very soft and tender, and in a lot of pain. Pain for what? Who knows? Though I suspect it may ultimately go back to his relationship with his own mother. Posted by: NEOBuckeye on June 14, 2005 05:50 AMAnd in other news... The News! No, really! http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/13/215918/015 Independent World Television (www.iwtnews.com) will go public on June 15. The goal, as bold as it is big, is to create an alternative news and current affairs network that is, as its name implies, global in reach and free from corporate or government pressures. The network’s success depends on changing the economics of media, with an audacious plan to raise $25 million a year made up of $50 donations from half a million people around the world. Money from business, advertisers and government will be prohibited. --snip-- ...They would use the Internet -- which allows millions of people to band together – to raise the money. Jay has brought on board key strategists from the Howard Dean presidential campaign who were astonishingly successful in raising millions of dollars in small amounts over the Internet. --snip-- The 98-member IWT advisory committee reads like a who’s who of progressive left activism and journalism, especially from the US. The list includes Lewis Lapham of Harper’s Magazine, Gore Vidal, Jeff Cohen, Laura Flanders and Janine Jackson from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, and Janeane Garofalo of Air America. Among the 35 Canadians on the committee are familiar names like Patrick Watson, Bill Roberts of Vision TV, Naomi Klein, Avi Lewis, Stephen Lewis and filmmaker Alan King. From other countries the advisory board contains people like investigative journalist Greg Palast, anti-nuclear armaments activist Helen Calidicott, and former U.K. Labour Minister Tony Benn. --snip-- Sample programming consists of six hours of programs five days a week. These include one hour of citizen journalism from around the world, the evening news, an issue-focused debate show, a show in which journalists and experts analyze the day’s major stories, an investigative program, feature-length documentaries, a show on the global political economy, political satire, issues from the south, environmental issues and a show profiling how people have organized their campaigns. *** It's about time! And it's great to see so many Dean people and other progressives and liberals involved. Look out Faux News -- The dreaded "Libural Media" is arriving at last. Can you dig it? Posted by: NEOBuckeye on June 14, 2005 06:03 AMOoooooweeee!!!! Are we having fun?!! Now as Saturn exits Cancer, everybody, Are we secure? Everybody in unison... "Yeah, we are safe and secure!" I'm no psychic but as an astrologer I easily could have predicted that Mars in Aries would give us a kick! NEO B, I think Cheney is a deeply unhappy man. Dark and tragic. No hope for him. Filled with emptiness. Joanna, I hear ya again. My Sun in Cancer likes to shed a few tears, but then... To hell with all the evildoers!!! Peg, I'm with you on Uranus love. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Posted by: jm on June 14, 2005 06:57 AMIn response to this article on Dean: I think the writer is dead on. Howard Dean is the real deal. No, he's not perfect or ultra-liberal, but he is a man of our times and, it seems, the right man at the right time for the Dems and anyone who really wants to take this country back from the brink of a NeoCon/Evangelical apocalypse. I think the "Dean Dozens" which hopefully will continue in 2006 (probably as Democracy for America or "DFA Dozens") will prove to be a decisive factor in progressives and liberals reclaiming the Democratic Party. The first class of these people are already in Congress and in many state and local offices. Don't know if anyone recalls Dean's debate with Ralph Nader last year on July 9, 2004, but I found the following to be very interesting. Dean favors voting reform that would guarantee the right to vote for all adults as well as Instant Runoff Voting -- just the sort of change that could give rise to a third party or even a multi-party system. It all seems like a pipe dream now, but the Repugs can't rule forever. The people with Dean's Dozens are gathering on the fringes, preparing to make their stand when the time is right. http://www.crocuta.net/Dean/Dean_Nader_Debate_July9_2004.htm "I think we need complete electoral reform. I think we need-- first of all, that Jesse Jackson Jr's Constitutional amendment giving Americans the right to vote ought to be passed, so that they-- the right wing of the Republican party could not, as they did in 2000, disenfranchise thousands and thousands of African-American voters. Secondly, we wouldn't be having this debate today if we had a system of Instant Runoff Voting in this country. Then Ralph Nader would pose no threat to the reelection of George-- er, to the election of John Kerry. He would not be facilitating the election of George Bush, the most right-wing President that we've had. If we had Instant Runoff Voting, we could have the kind of debates that Ralph wants-- open debates-- because minor parties-- third parties wouldn't cause those problems. We need fundamental electoral change. I argue to you, that we have a better chance of having that with John Kerry as President than we do with George Bush as President." Posted by: NEOBuckeye on June 14, 2005 07:07 AMBTW, I've got some interesting news. Tonight I had a couple of drinks with my girlfriend from Brazil. She told me that the USA was about to give Brazil a loan to help fight AIDS if they agreed to an abstinence advertising program. Brazil turned it down. Sex and the City, or has South America had enough of our dictatorship? Posted by: jm on June 14, 2005 07:13 AMOh boy, it's rolling down the runway, about to take off...get your ring side seats, ladies and gentlemen, it's, as Bhakti would say, "NOT NICE" time in your nation's capitol. Some time ago, I predicted that "management" would grow very weary and worried with the * regime, bad for business you know. Get rid of Cheney, then Bush and put in their own "beloved" consensus candidate (forget the Speaker of the House, etc....this is Nixon (to) Ford stuff). Well, here is the shot across the bow. Mrs. Alan Greenspan, Andrea Mitchell, who hasn't done a days reporting in her life, just wrote this little piece. Go read the whole thing. It is the RATIONALE for Bush to be "resigned." You see "management", you know "them", has stopped hinting and is going on the offensive. Mitchell's writing is an embarassment but she doesn't do much reporting and writing. For Mitchell to write this article means one thing, and one thing alone: the gates of publicity Hell are opening up to *. As per my previous prediction/rant, the Plame thing will get hot again with a Cheney confidante indicted (and Cheney resigning). We get stooge McCrook "nice guy" as VP, then * gets real sick and says bye bye. Nancy, one of your very best and that's saying a lot. I disagree with one point, he stole the election. You were right the first time. Here's the link and some of Mrs. Greenspan's find prose. More British memos on pre-Iraq war concerns -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON — It started during British Prime Minister Tony Blair's re-election campaign last month, when details leaked about a top-secret memo, written in July 2002 — eight months before the Iraq war. In the memo, British officials just back from Washington reported that prewar "intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" to invade Iraq. Just last week, President Bush and Blair vigorously denied that war was inevitable. “No, the facts were not being fixed, in any shape or form at all,” said Blair at a White House news conference with the president on June 7. :ROFL: Yeayyyyy Mike is back! Posted by: Jo on June 14, 2005 11:30 AMCorrect. Mrs. Greenspan has never been noted for her instinct to ferret out the truth! Juan Cole has an excellent piece (yesterday) on Downing Street Memo and bloggers (go bloggers!)... http://www.juancole.com/2005/06/downing-street-memos-and-revenge-of.html Posted by: Jo on June 14, 2005 12:30 PMI am in paradise. Life is kind. I have a Venus/Uranus conjunction in Gemini in the 3rd house and all my life, my best girl pals have been Geminis or girls with strong planets therein. Joyce in childhood, Jane in Junior High, and Janet in HS, and many more. Geminis are like cupcakes to me. White with thick white frosting, colored sprinkles, and little silver balls. They say Geminis aren't deep? Hmmmmph!
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Group_claims_windfall_for_Enron_execs_buried_in_new_energy_0606.html Posted by: wv on June 14, 2005 03:01 PMhealthiest places to live! One of the big surprises was the second-place ranking of Washington, D.C. It scored well in all five major categories, including the top score in mental wellness. Washingtonians reported feeling well physically, mentally and emotionally and had high scores in dental care and BMI (or body mass index). However, Washington did record higher than average incidences of diabetes and hypertension. http://articles.health.msn.com/id/100104508?GT1=6548 JM I LOVE your description of Gemnini! That's how I feel when manefesting my Gem. ASC energy. With progressed ASC.in Leo..I morph from cupcake to Alice's Red Queen every once in a while.....disconcerting!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/11/AR2005061100575_pf.html Posted by: wv on June 14, 2005 03:05 PMDemocrat introduces fast-track resolution to rebuke GOP chairman over Patriot Act hearing Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) has introduced a privileged resolution in the House which seeks to rebuke House Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) for abusing his power at a Patriot Act hearing last week, RAW STORY has learned. The resolution declares Sensenbrenner "willfully trampled the right of the minority to hold an additional day of hearings." It moves to have the House condemn the Wisconsin's actions and enjoins the chairman to schedule an additional day of hearings on the Patriot Act. Posted by: judi gemini on June 14, 2005 06:06 PM
The dunce His former Harvard Business School professor recalls George W. Bush not just as a terrible student but as spoiled, loutish and a pathological liar. - - - - - - - - - - - - Sept. 16, 2004 | For 25 years, Yoshi Tsurumi, one of George W. Bush's professors at Harvard Business School, was content with his green-card status as a permanent legal resident of the United States. But Bush's ascension to the presidency in 2001 prompted the Japanese native to secure his American citizenship. The reason: to be able to speak out with the full authority of citizenship about why he believes Bush lacks the character and intellect to lead the world's oldest and most powerful democracy. "I don't remember all the students in detail unless I'm prompted by something," Tsurumi said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "But I always remember two types of students. One is the very excellent student, the type as a professor you feel honored to be working with. Someone with strong social values, compassion and intellect -- the very rare person you never forget. And then you remember students like George Bush, those who are totally the opposite." The future president was one of 85 first-year MBA students in Tsurumi's macroeconomic policies and international business class in the fall of 1973 and spring of 1974. Tsurumi was a visiting associate professor at Harvard Business School from January 1972 to August 1976; today, he is a professor of international business at Baruch College in New York. Trading as usual on his father's connections, Bush entered Harvard in 1973 for a two-year program. He'd just come off what George H.W. Bush had once called his eldest son's "nomadic years" -- partying, drifting from job to job, working on political campaigns in Florida and Alabama and, most famously, apparently not showing up for duty in the Alabama National Guard. Harvard Business School's rigorous teaching methods, in which the professor interacts aggressively with students, and students are encouraged to challenge each other sharply, offered important insights into Bush, Tsurumi said. In observing students' in-class performances, "you develop pretty good ideas about what are their weaknesses and strengths in terms of thinking, analysis, their prejudices, their backgrounds and other things that students reveal," he said. One of Tsurumi's standout students was Rep. Chris Cox, R-Calif., now the seventh-ranking member of the House Republican leadership. "I typed him as a conservative Republican with a conscience," Tsurumi said. "He never confused his own ideology with economics, and he didn't try to hide his ignorance of a subject in mumbo jumbo. He was what I call a principled conservative." (Though clearly a partisan one. On Wednesday, Cox called for a congressional investigation of the validity of documents that CBS News obtained for a story questioning Bush's attendance at Guard duty in Alabama.) Bush, by contrast, "was totally the opposite of Chris Cox," Tsurumi said. "He showed pathological lying habits and was in denial when challenged on his prejudices and biases. He would even deny saying something he just said 30 seconds ago. He was famous for that. Students jumped on him; I challenged him." When asked to explain a particular comment, said Tsurumi, Bush would respond, "Oh, I never said that." A White House spokeswoman did not return a phone call seeking comment. In 1973, as the oil and energy crisis raged, Tsurumi led a discussion on whether government should assist retirees and other people on fixed incomes with heating costs. Bush, he recalled, "made this ridiculous statement and when I asked him to explain, he said, 'The government doesn't have to help poor people -- because they are lazy.' I said, 'Well, could you explain that assumption?' Not only could he not explain it, he started backtracking on it, saying, 'No, I didn't say that.'" If Cox had been in the same class, Tsurumi said, "I could have asked him to challenge that and he would have demolished it. Not personally or emotionally, but intellectually."
Students who challenged and embarrassed Bush in class would then become the subject of a whispering campaign by him, Tsurumi said. "In class, he couldn't challenge them. But after class, he sometimes came up to me in the hallway and started bad-mouthing those students who had challenged him. He would complain that someone was drinking too much. It was innuendo and lies. So that's how I knew, behind his smile and his smirk, that he was a very insecure, cunning and vengeful guy." Many of Tsurumi's students came from well-connected or wealthy families, but good manners prevented them from boasting about it, the professor said. But Bush seemed unabashed about the connections that had brought him to Harvard. "The other children of the rich and famous were at least well bred to the point of realizing universal values and standards of behavior," Tsurumi said. But Bush sometimes came late to class and often sat in the back row of the theater-like classroom, wearing a bomber jacket from the Texas Air National Guard and spitting chewing tobacco into a cup.
The Vietnam War was still roiling campuses and Harvard was no exception. Bush expressed strong support for the war but admitted to Tsurumi that he'd gotten a coveted spot in the Texas Air National Guard through his father's connections. "I used to chat up a number of students when we were walking back to class," Tsurumi said. "Here was Bush, wearing a Texas Guard bomber jacket, and the draft was the No. 1 topic in those days. And I said, 'George, what did you do with the draft?' He said, 'Well, I got into the Texas Air National Guard.' And I said, 'Lucky you. I understand there is a long waiting list for it. How'd you get in?' When he told me, he didn't seem ashamed or embarrassed. He thought he was entitled to all kinds of privileges and special deals. He was not the only one trying to twist all their connections to avoid Vietnam. But then, he was fanatically for the war." Tsurumi told Bush that someone who avoided a draft while supporting a war in which others were dying was a hypocrite. "He realized he was caught, showed his famous smirk and huffed off." Tsurumi's conclusion: Bush is not as dumb as his detractors allege. "He was just badly brought up, with no discipline, and no compassion," he said. In recent days, Tsurumi has told his story to various print and television outlets and appears in Kitty Kelley's exposé "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty." He said other professors and students at the business school from that time share his recollections but are afraid to come forward, fearing ostracism or retribution. And why is Tsurumi speaking up now? Because with the ongoing bloodshed in Iraq and Osama bin Laden still on the loose -- not to mention a federal deficit ballooning out of control -- the stakes are too high to remain silent. "Obviously, I don't think he is the best person" to be running the country, he said. "I wanted to explain why." Posted by: on June 14, 2005 06:17 PMSICKNESS!!!!..... Monday, June 13, 2005 Over a dozen US Senators refuse to sign on to anti-lynching resolution UPDATE: They passed it by voice vote, to hide the bigots. And AP totally missed the real story. Well well well, looky here... Wow how sick is this!!!! Senators who refused to sign anti lynching resolution Here are the 20 Senators who 1) refused to co-sponsor the anti-lynching resolution passed yesterday, and 2) refused a roll-call vote so they'd have to put their name on the resolution. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) 19 Republicans and 1 Democrat, a real wall of shame. http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/6/14/12949/6428 Posted by: Morgana on June 14, 2005 06:23 PMJM....I am so happy you wrote about Gemini energy in such a positive way....as last night I had a conversation with my ex in NYC...his dad was Gemini, his Mom Leo (like our daughter) but he is a Capricorn, Taurus Moon, Virgo rising...pretty much as earthy as you can get, with the caveat of Merc & Venus in Aquarius, Mars in Sag. He was yet again complaining about Geminis being the bane of his existence...his friend who ran the company he works for dropped dead 3 months ago, and the brother has inherited...and he is a Gemini, and ex is having confrontations with the ghost of his dad over it....I think my ex is having the opportunity to deal with all his father's energy to resolve stuff. One thing that makes him crazy, as he pointed out numberous times, is how Geminis finish other people's sentences (I refrained from saying that it is because we THINK faster than other people)....anyway, I don't often feel validated .... I am going to have to become an advocate for myself instead of someone always apologizing all the time for being the bane of someone else's existence! So JM...all five feet of you, thanks! ANd my Uranus is in a conjunction with Mercury, but my mercury is in Taurus and Uranus in Gemini. Clint Eastwood is my astrological twin, which I find amusing....not on the same day or year....but same rising, sun, moon, mercury and mars....different venus! Anyone else know of famous twins (not so much the same day, although that works too....although 'Prince' and Tom Jones are born on the same day as me, I am not relating to them quite the same way as to Clint!). Posted by: judi gemini on June 14, 2005 06:30 PMMorgana, we posted the same story only I didn't have the list! Thanks....what sick people. And not all of them are southerners, either. I am surprised at Kent Conrad...he was a real voice at one point for balanced budgets, etc, and spoke out against the B**** budgets... What ails these folk? Posted by: judi gemini on June 14, 2005 06:33 PMPQ, that "healthiest cities" article was interesting. Articles like that always bring questions to my mind: How do various age groups fit into the categories? I realize a study would become unwieldy if one tried to look at all the variables. Personally, I tend to take health news with a grain of salt and live my life according to my wont. I recently had a conversation with my best friend (who's studying naturopathy at Bastyr) about how there are so many variables when any aspect of health and disease is studied, I'm not sure it's possible to really pin things down (because it's impossible to isolate or control all variables of a life). Nevertheless, I enjoy reading these things. I'm just sharing what goes on in my mind after doing that reading. PQ, again, I thank you for bringing this to our attention! Posted by: Lori on June 14, 2005 06:40 PMlol Judi talk about gemini synchronicity .. our mutual outrage.
Morgana, we are on the same wavelenght!(and I have Scorpio rising! ) With the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in serious trouble, a prominent business leader recently laid it on the line: Business groups are prepared to cut off campaign contributions to House members who oppose the pact. "If you [lawmakers] are going to vote against it, it's going to cost you," Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, warned recently during a meeting on Capitol Hill of leaders of a 500-plus business-trade association coalition with more than 500 members. In fact, 11 of the 20 (over half!) are from the north or the west...or the northwest. Wow. I sure don't get that! I can't believe...oh, well, thinking about it now, Idaho is known as a haven for those pink supremacists JoannaOregon was talking about. Ah. That explains Idaho and perhaps Montana. North Dakota too? But what about Iowa and Ohio?!?! Those two have got to be the least explicable/understandable. Which is not to excuse the others. Good GOD!! It's the 21st Century! "Helloooooooo, bigots! Anybody in there?" (echoes heard deep in the cave...) Posted by: Lori on June 14, 2005 07:18 PMThat says it all, doesn't it? Our supposedly representative gov't being THREATENED by big business. How much more clear and "out there" can BUSINESS be about pulling the strings? Posted by: Lori on June 14, 2005 07:21 PMIf you sweep too much under the rug, one day the "stuff" under the rug will ooze out... all on its own: -------------------------------- Now comes someone to state the obvious, and because he was once part of the fascist regime, his words are being printed. Question: the fact that the Washington TIMES carries the report as reported by UPI (another right-wing organization) make it "conspiracy"...???? "A former Bush team member during his first administration is now voicing serious doubts about the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9-11. Former chief economist for the Department of Labor during President George W. Bush's first term Morgan Reynolds comments that the official story about the collapse of the WTC is "bogus" and that it is more likely that a controlled demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and adjacent Building No. 7. Reynolds, who also served as director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas and is now professor emeritus at Texas A&M University said, "If demolition destroyed three steel skyscrapers at the World Trade Center on 9/11, then the case for an 'inside job' and a government attack on America would be compelling." Reynolds commented from his Texas A&M office, "It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate over the cause of the collapse of the twin towers and building 7. If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either. The government's collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only professional demolition appears to account for the full range of facts associated with the collapse of the three buildings." http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050613-102755-6408r.htm Posted by: Jo on June 14, 2005 07:23 PMWow, if the Washington Times (a miserable far right rag of a newspaper if there ever was one!) is printing stuff like this this, some REALLY BIG revelations are brewing and about ready to boil over!! Have you ever watched their editor Tony Blankley on The McLaughlin Group?? He is one of the most disgustingly consistent neo-conning Bush apologists there is. With the usual caveat about my being a non-astrologer (too lazy to really study it) I can really FEEL that the predictions Sally + Nancy et al have been making about the upcoming summer solstice/full moon period being a romper is really spot on! I am really sorry, but I just cannot wait for the press' lemming like feeding frenzy re smelling Bush's blood in the water to begin in earnest! Posted by: Grizzly on June 14, 2005 07:58 PMOn Thursday June 16, 2005, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Wasserman Room at 430 S Capitol St. SE, Washington, D.C., Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and other Congress Members will hold a hearing on the Downing Street Minutes and related evidence of efforts to cook the books on pre-war intelligence. The hearings are being held at the Democratic National Committee because the Republicans controlling the House Judiciary Committee refused to permit the ranking Democratic Member to use a room on the Hill. ~snip~ Later on the same day at 5:00 p.m. ET in Lafayette Square Park, in front of the White House, a large rally will support Congressman Conyers who plans to deliver to the White House a letter addressed to President Bush and signed by over 500,000 Americans and at least 94 Congress Members. --------------- They're calling for rallys all over the country. http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=155&newlang=eng Holy roller moly...it IS rolling, isn't it? And check out this smallest quiz to determine who you are politically...http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html I am 100% liberal on personal issues score and on ecomoic issues score 20% ....making me NOT a libertarian, hahahahaha! Posted by: judi gemini on June 14, 2005 08:30 PMthat should be the WHOLE place, not the WHO place... I'm still dropping letters like crazy. Posted by: judi gemini on June 14, 2005 08:31 PMI don't know how many of you saw or read about Duncan Hunter's presenting the average lunch as an indication of how well we treat the prisoners at Guantanamo. Me, I find it ludicrous, obscene and have fired off letters and emails to Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, and every one else I can think of... giving a man lunch does not erase torture and abuse it only keeps them alive to endure more of the same from us. http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/06/14/congress.guantanamo.ap/index.html However, these photo's from Abu Ghraib are much more indicative of what we are doing and probably worse at Guantanamo. http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=2444 Less we forget and buy off on the rubber chicken lunch...
Morgana, I saw the photo 'teasers' on that story, and knew they were going to rile up the faithful....last night I was watching the Daily Show and an ad came on for a new comedian's show and he was saying 'people are so DUMB in this country, I wish someone would EAT them!" hahahahah Posted by: judi gemini on June 14, 2005 08:41 PMOh, yeah, in case anyone doesn't know, Michael Jackson is no longer on trial. Now ON WITH THE SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Posted by: Lori on June 14, 2005 10:26 PMC-span short (7 minute) video on Sen. Sensenbrenner shutting off the mikes and adjourning the committee meeting to hear testimony on the Patriot Act and then walking out ... it didn't go over well with the public http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Sensenbrenner_ends_Comittee.wmv unbelievable! Posted by: Marta on June 14, 2005 10:45 PMMy, my, things ARE getting good, are they not, AW'ers? Where's Bhakti with the popcorn? Shylurker, got any more room under that bed? Oh, and happy birthdays to all the delightful Geminis here, I knew I sensed some kindred airfolks here(I'm an Aquarius, btw). And to everyone, namaste, and let's hope the evil house of cards collapses soon....... Posted by: Garry on June 14, 2005 11:03 PM A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW They're planning ... to create a nation where you can change the Constitution with simple majorities, where you can pass laws with simple majorities, where you can pack the courts and thereby create a Christian nation through a simple majority vote. ... The whole thing is one of the grand coup d'etats of all time. That's what we're seeing. * * * Sometimes we come across an eye-opening book by an American who is not part of the author circuit, and this is the case with the two-volume set, It Can Happen Here. George E. Lowe wrote a book in 1964 called The Age of Deterrence, but then went on with his career in the military. He served as a speech writer in the Reagan Department of Education, where he told BuzzFlash, he awoke to the threat from radical religious zealots taking over the Republican Party. Lowe's two-volume collection is a labor of love (originally and prophetically written in 2000) that offers a provocative and persuasive explanation about how the Neo-Cons became a logical partner with the "Rapture" Christians, whose goal is to precipitate Armageddon and a Second Coming of Christ. One clear common political goal is increasing weapons production, because it will both enrich the Neo-Con corporate interests and help precipitate a Messianic age for the radical fundamentalists. * * * BuzzFlash: You published a two-volume set -- -- It Can Happen Here: A Fascist Christian America -- -- in 2000. You pretty much forecast what has come to happen in the United States since then, although we don't officially have a fascist Christian America. George E. Lowe: We're heading fast toward it. BuzzFlash: There's certainly the assertion by everyone from Antonin Scalia to Bill Frist to General Boykin and John Ashcroft that America is a country where God is king. George E. Lowe: The famous phrase is: "I have no king but Jesus." BuzzFlash: You were ahead of the curve on this. What made you so motivated to write two volumes, together hundreds of pages, about this topic? George E. Lowe: The answer is I lived among them. When the Reagan Administration came in, I was Secretary of Education Bell's speech writer. I looked around and who did I see? Gary Bauer as an Assistant Secretary. Bob Billings, one of the founders of the Moral Majority -- -- another Assistant Secretary. Civil rights was handed over to Alan Keyes and Clarence Thomas. They dumped a lot of strange people into the department that had Hal Lindsey's book, The Late, Great Planet Earth, and the Good Shepherd's Yellow Pages. They had little cards that they would post up in the halls saying, "Listen to Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye." They were revolutionaries. And here I am, an American historian, worried about this, because I was fighting the military fascists in the sixties. Here we get Christian fascists, and I just couldn't comprehend it. BuzzFlash: What has happened since you wrote the book to accelerate this? Why has the influence of the radical Christian fundamentalists gone from being somewhat in the background and somewhat at arm's length to being an overt part of the Bush Administration? George E. Lowe: As I say on the cover of my book, it's that they've taken over the party of Lincoln. You could just look at the electoral map and you know that. It's the old Confederacy. And they've expanded it to the new booming Southwest. That and the Mountain West is their core base. There are people that essentially are the old David Duke crowd -- the Northern European, white, Protestant, small town, middle and lower-middle classes -- and their time has come. They're tired of all these foreigners that came in after '48 or after the Civil War, and all those two million Jews and all those Southern European Catholics -- those dusty people -- all those. They feel it's time to take back America. In essence, this is the revenge of the South for losing the Civil War. BuzzFlash: You've brought up an interesting issue which is the racial component of this. Is it just coincidence that these are white Christians, with occasional Clarence Thomases, to try to show diversity? Is the emphasis on white? Or is it on Christian? George E. Lowe: It's also Northern European Protestants, over and against the Southern European Catholics and Polish and Italian. I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and I can tell you all about the diversity of America, and the class stratification in Northeastern Pennsylvania coal fields. What's happened is that the white Protestants that ran Scranton, Pennsylvania, are now of a different variety, but they're trying to stage a coup d'etat and take over America from all the immigrants that came in. BuzzFlash: Where do you put someone like Antonin Scalia, who is a Catholic, but an Opus Dei Catholic, meaning he goes back to before the Vatican reforms. How does he fit in with the Protestants? George E. Lowe: The genius behind this is Pat Buchanan. He put together the great coalition, along with Paul Weyrich, and that other genius, Richard Viguerie, and they put together a coalition of Orthodox Jews, conservative Catholics and fundamentalists, conservative Evangelicals and Pentecostals. And that's the coalition that is now in power. BuzzFlash: If you have people of different faiths -- Orthodox Jews and Conservative, Opus Dei Catholics like Antonin Scalia, who believes that the Constitution is a divine document and says this is a Christian nation -- what brings them together? George E. Lowe: Power. Power in Washington. That's why Buchanan ran for President. He thought he could put together the Reagan coalition. But, in fact, Karl Rove has. It's the same coalition. BuzzFlash: They have different faiths, but is it enough for them to say that we believe in an all-powerful divinity and that God should be integrated into the state? George E. Lowe: Yes, you can argue that some of the Catholics are going back to a previous golden age, and some of the Protestants are looking forward to a new golden age. But the idea is a fusion, or a union of church and state. Franco did that, Peron and Mussolini did it. BuzzFlash: We posted an article on BuzzFlash about Antonin Scalia speaking at a synagogue. There was a period about two months ago when he seemed to be doing a road tour for Christ. And he really was just out there saying this is a Christian nation, and the Constitution is a Christian document, there really should be no separation of church and state, and so forth. George E. Lowe: The buzz phrase that Pat Robertson has used is that separation of church and state is a lie of the left. BuzzFlash: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who gave Bush the Presidency in 2000, said to the synagogue that Jews should feel very secure in a Christian state, and should not be afraid of America becoming a Christian state. Now, maybe I'm missing something here, but did this guy study the history of Nazi Germany? By the way, the Rapture idea has kind of created an alliance between extreme Evangelicals who believe in Armageddon, and the "Christian Zionists," even though it's one of those temporary alliances, because the Christian Zionists believe that all the Jews will be destroyed except for 144,000, who will then be converted in the coming Armageddon. So they really look forward to the destruction of Israel, don't they? George E. Lowe: Exactly. Jerry Falwell, and others, believe God wanted them to have the entire West Bank, frankly Syria and the whole Middle East. That should be the greater Israel, from Jerry Falwell's point of view. BuzzFlash: Getting back to Scalia, how could he possibly make a statement like that, when Hitler rose to power as a Christian nation and killed six million Jews? George E. Lowe: Scalia is blinded by Opus Dei. The point is that he is a hyper-intellectual, and he's taken all this doctrine and believes it, that's all. BuzzFlash: So he just forgets Hitler was a Christian who said we are a Christian nation, and he killed the Jews and the gypsies and the gays and the Catholic. Scalia erases it from his mind. George E. Lowe: Right. more ... http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/05/06/int05024.html Posted by: Marta on June 14, 2005 11:51 PMGore Vidal article in the Nation...http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050627&s=vidal Sorry if anyone else posted, don't have time to check.... Posted by: judi gemini on June 15, 2005 01:11 AMDid you all get the Move On mailing on congress voting to cut off all funds to PBS and NPR??? Save NPR and PBS The House is threatening to eliminate all public funding for NPR and PBS, starting with "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow" and other commercial-free children's shows. Sign our petition to Congress opposing these massive cuts to public broadcasting. Tell your Senators and Representative: Posted by: judi gemini on June 15, 2005 01:13 AMMarta...that is quite an article....confirms the pattern we've seen in pieces. Posted by: judi gemini on June 15, 2005 01:33 AMJM and Neobuckeye: Wrote a chastising letter to the NY Times today after I saw it's deeply hidden and banal article on the DSM. I'm glad to see Juan Cole's article. remember after 9/11 B** joked that he wouldn't mind a dictatorhsip as long as he was the dictator? well guess what, it wasn't a joke... Great new documentary out! http://hijackingcatastrophe.org/downingstreet/ Posted by: Nancy on June 15, 2005 03:24 AMBeasley - When exactly does the wheel turn down for Cheney? Thanks. Posted by: M. on June 15, 2005 03:34 AMBarck Obama's Commencement speech: snip - ... So that while most of us have been paying attention to how much easier technology has made our own lives—sending e-mails back and forth on our blackberries, surfing the Web on our cell phones, instant messaging with friends across the world—a quiet revolution has been breaking down barriers and connecting the world’s economies. Now business not only has the ability to move jobs wherever there’s a factory, but wherever there’s an internet connection. The result? China is graduating four times the number of engineers that the United States is graduating. Not only are those Maytag employees competing with Chinese and Indian and Indonesian and Mexican workers, you are too. Today, accounting firms are e-mailing your tax returns to workers in India who will figure them out and send them back to you as fast as any worker in Illinois or Indiana could. When you lose your luggage in Boston at an airport, tracking it down may involve a call to an agent in Bangalore, who will find it by making a phone call to Baltimore. Even the Associated Press has outsourced some of their jobs to writers all over the world who can send in a story at a click of a mouse. As Prime Minister Tony Blair has said, in this new economy, “Talent is the 21st century wealth.” If you’ve got the skills, you’ve got the education, and you have the opportunity to upgrade and improve both, you’ll be able to compete and win anywhere. If not, the fall will be further and harder than it ever was before. So what do we do about this? How does America find its way in this new, global economy? What will our place in history be? Like so much of the American story, once again, we face a choice. Once again, there are those who believe that there isn’t much we can do about this as a nation. That the best idea is to give everyone one big refund on their government—divvy it up by individual portions, in the form of tax breaks, hand it out, and encourage everyone to use their share to go buy their own health care, their own retirement plan, their own child care, their own education, and so on. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society. But in our past there has been another term for it—Social Darwinism—every man or woman for him or herself. It’s a tempting idea, because it doesn’t require much thought or ingenuity. It allows us to say that those whose health care or tuition may rise faster than they can afford—tough luck. It allows us to say to the Maytag workers who have lost their job—life isn’t fair. It let’s us say to the child who was born into poverty—pull yourself up by your bootstraps. And it is especially tempting because each of us believes we will always be the winner in life’s lottery, that we’re the one who will be the next Donald Trump, or at least we won’t be the chump who Donald Trump says: “You’re fired!” But there is a problem. It won’t work. It ignores our history. It ignores the fact that it’s been government research and investment that made the railways possible and the internet possible. It’s been the creation of a massive middle class, through decent wages and benefits and public schools that allowed us all to prosper. Our economic dependence depended on individual initiative. It depended on a belief in the free market; but it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for each other, the idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we’re all in it together and everybody’s got a shot at opportunity. That’s what’s produced our unrivaled political stability. And so if we do nothing in the face of globalization, more people will continue to lose their health care. Fewer kids will be able to afford the diploma you’re about to receive. So today I’m here to tell you what most of you already know. This is not us—the option that I just mentioned. Doing nothing. It’s not how our story ends—not in this country. America is a land of big dreamers and big hopes. What if we prepared every child in America with the education and skills they need to compete in the new economy? If we made sure that college was affordable for everyone who wanted to go? If we walked up to those Maytag workers and we said “Your old job is not coming back, but a new job will be there because we’re going to seriously retrain you and there’s life-long education that’s waiting for you—the sorts of opportunities that Knox has created with the Strong Futures scholarship program. What if no matter where you worked or how many times you switched jobs, you had health care and a pension that stayed with you always, so you all had the flexibility to move to a better job or start a new business? What if instead of cutting budgets for research and development and science, we fueled the genius and the innovation that will lead to the new jobs and new industries of the future? Right now, all across America, there are amazing discoveries being made. If we supported these discoveries on a national level, if we committed ourselves to investing in these possibilities, just imagine what it could do for a town like Galesburg. Ten or twenty years down the road, that old Maytag plant could re-open its doors as an Ethanol refinery that turned corn into fuel. Down the street, a biotechnology research lab could open up on the cusp of discovering a cure for cancer. And across the way, a new auto company could be busy churning out electric cars. The new jobs created would be filled by American workers trained with new skills and a world-class education. All of that is possible but none of it will come easy. Every one of us is going to have to work more, read more, train more, think more. We will have to slough off some bad habits—like driving gas guzzlers that weaken our economy and feed our enemies abroad. Our children will have to turn off the TV set once in a while and put away the video games and start hitting the books. We’ll have to reform institutions, like our public schools, that were designed for an earlier time. Republicans will have to recognize our collective responsibilities, even as Democrats recognize that we have to do more than just defend old programs. It won’t be easy, but it can be done. It can be our future. We have the talent and the resources and brainpower. But now we need the political will. We need a national commitment. And we need each of you. Now, no one can force you to meet these challenges. If you want, it will be pretty easy for you to leave here today and not give another thought to towns like Galesburg and the challenges they face. There is no community service requirement in the real world; no one is forcing you to care. You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and go chasing after the big house, and the nice suits, and all the other things that our money culture says that you should want, that you should aspire to, that you can buy. But I hope you don’t walk away from the challenge. Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. You need to take up the challenges that we face as a nation and make them your own. Not because you have a debt to those who helped you get here, although you do have that debt. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate than you, although I do think you do have that obligation. It’s primarily because you have an obligation to yourself. Because individual salvation has always depended on collective salvation. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential. Nearly two centuries ago, before civil rights, before voting rights, before Abraham Lincoln, before the Civil War, before all of that, America was stained by the sin of slavery. In the sweltering heat of southern plantations, men and women who looked like me could not escape the life of pain and servitude in which they were sold. And yet, year after year, as this moral cancer ate away at the American ideals of liberty and equality, the nation was silent. But its people didn’t stay silent for long. One by one, abolitionists emerged to tell their fellow Americans that this would not be our place in history—that this was not the America that had captured the imagination of the world. more... Hey, Judi G, yes, I remember * saying that about dictatorship. And then he snickered. Or chuckled. In the article you posted, http://rense.com/general66/dond.htm, the author mentions 2-3 times checkpoints on the road. Already here, of course; it's been for a good decade or more now. Right now, they're called "sobriety check points." Don't know whether there are plans to change the name in the future. But just like the rest of it (and just like I understand Hitler did it): one little piece at a time. We barely notice and a lot of people think, "oh, yeah, I sure don't want to get hit by a drunk driver." We accept it and every national holiday and every now and then on random weekends the law sets up their checkpoints. Think all they're doing is checking for drunks? I always figured the drunk driver was the one swerving around up ahead, who you wanted to stay a good distance behind... Posted by: Lori on June 15, 2005 04:00 AMSo I flipped the Weather Channel on and we've a TSUNAMI warning for the entire west coast of the US and Canada... Posted by: Morgana on June 15, 2005 04:08 AM7.4 quake off California here's the link to the tsunami warning http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/message000363.txt Posted by: Morgana on June 15, 2005 04:12 AMMorgana...did you feel anything from that quake? All I know is that suddenly the fog has lifted from my brain (although my throat is still sore)...and there is a beautiful golden sunset... Frankly, M, I think his DOWN has begun. Watch Saturn when it hits around 27 Cancer and then start counting. As I said, when Saturn goes into Leo, it will be making some pretty hard aspects to his natal Sun, his progressed Saturn, Jupiter, his natal Jupiter,Saturn,Progressed MC and Pluto. John Sununu (sp?), NH?!!!! Idiot. Posted by: Beasley on June 15, 2005 04:36 AMYea, verily... all the billions in that awful monster's pocketses will not save it from crossing that great divide... there is such a thing as Fate, & that's one of them. At least for the time being. ;O) Posted by: JoannaOregon on June 15, 2005 04:55 AMBeasley, I see some health issues also (first house concerns), but I cannot help it. Everytime I look at his chart and the progressions, there is some real danger of his physical safety with assassination a possibility. I mean, this could happen I think in 2006. I do feel a scandal is inevitable for the whole admin.(Neptune/Sun/Chiron) on the MC in the second term chart. With Pluto in Sag, the assassin looks like a religious fanatic. Whatever happens, I am sure Bush will not finish his term in office. Am I wrong? Let me know. I wonder if others see these issues. Posted by: Travieso on June 15, 2005 05:00 AMA religious fanatic will do... & it's appropos Posted by: JoannaOregon on June 15, 2005 05:10 AMThank You Beasley for your response. Glad to hear his down has begun. Does Saturn hit 27 Cancer this summer? Posted by: M. on June 15, 2005 06:26 AMCheck out Cheney's most recent photos over at DU -- especially the first one. He doesn't look particularly healthy, especially in the first one. Posted by: NEOBuckeye on June 15, 2005 07:14 AMSorry, forgot the link: Great Cheney breakdown, Beasley. Thanks. I would like to see this because I don't scare easily, but Dick Cheney scares me. I resent that, although it's up to me to tweak the levels. Anyhoo, when that Mars goes retro in Taurus, Saturn goes on into Leo, Jupiter goes into Scorpio, and Neptune remains in Aquarius, this Grand Cross will be around Cheney's Taurus, Leo, and Aquarius planets. I see him up on this cross flayed by his own demons. Posted by: jm on June 15, 2005 07:18 AMbhakti's theory of "nice" has inspired me to think more creatively about the world around me. i was listening to court tv for amoment on the MJ verdict. someone spoke to one of the jurors and said how did you deal with MJ's celebrity. the juror said something like: "we decided we had to think of him as one of us." :rofl: i immediately thought, "well, with a jury full of perverts, no wonder he got off." i have an idea. lets oranized a funding project to get the OJ and MJ jury members together for a conference in someplace really special, like say, Uzbeckistan, or maybe, some Suni village in Iraq. they will all roast on the open fire of eternal damnation. :evilgrin: ok, now that i have that off my chest (i get so upset when murderers and child molesters go free, silly me), HERE'S THE GOOD NEWS. saw Dean on C-Span last night. he was addressing the DNC and spent a good deal of time on election fraud. introduced the head of a task force and they are some heavy duty people. eric holder, one of the hottest attornies in the country (former clinton doj guy) is heading up this effort. it will start with OH and FL 2004 irregularities. woohoo. but it gets better, a friend at a meeting where Dean spoke recently was around him after the meeting. people were really piushing him on election fraud. he said, hold on, there would be a "blockbuster" coming out in the next few days on that subject. woohoo. speaking TRUTH TO POWER...it's an ugly job and you don't want someone too "nice" doing it. i'm confident we'll prevail and that the TRUTH will be told...this is the necessary step to freedom. hey, bush, welcome to Saturn in the first house! it will rock your world. have a great today and tomorrow! this is a great place to be! Posted by: mike on June 15, 2005 07:34 AMYou are so right, Neo B. I'm looking at it now. Very strange. There's a weakness there. A look of sadness and retreat. That comment about love was so weird. What relevance did it have to the situation? Thanks for this link. My fear has evaporated. Posted by: jm on June 15, 2005 07:36 AMCheney's natal moon is in Pisces. I have a good friend with this placement. He often puts up a front that makes himself appear emotionally tougher than what he actually is (although I confess that could be more of his natal Leo Sun). Also has a certain knack for distorting the truth and reality, even in the face of the obvious. Interestingly enough, he recently graduated from Law School... I recognize some of the Pisces Moon archtype traits in Cheney, except that unlike my friend, Cheney long ago became so caught up in his own emotional distortions and self-deceptions that he lost all touch with reality. He probably wouldn't even know the truth now if it was staring him right in the face. The sad part is, he's probably deluded himself into justifying every bit of the tripe he's been shoving down our collective throats, which again feeds back into what I said above, about him probably being jealous of Dean and feeling that he's not getting the respect that he (Cheney) himself deserves. Posted by: NEOBuckeye on June 15, 2005 08:29 AMJUST MAYBE~ FORMER BUSH TEAM MEMBER SAYS ~ WTC COLLASPE LIKELY A CONTROLLED DEMOLITION ~~ "AN INSIDE JOB" A highly recognized former chief economist in Labor Department now doubts official 9/11 story, claiming suspicious facts and evidence cover-up indicate government foul play and possible criminal implications. June 12, 2005 A former chief economist in the Labor Department during President Bush's first term now believes the official story about the collapse of the WTC is 'bogus,' saying it is more likely that a controlled demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and adjacent Building No. 7. "If demolition destroyed three steel skyscrapers at the World Trade Center on 9/11, then the case for an 'inside job' and a government attack on America would be compelling," said Morgan Reynolds, Ph.D, a former member of the Bush team who also served as director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis headquartered in Dallas, TX. Reynolds, now a professor emeritus at Texas A&M University, also believes it's 'next to impossible' that 19 Arab Terrorists alone outfoxed the mighty U.S. military, adding the scientific conclusions about the WTC collapse may hold the key to the entire mysterious plot behind 9/11. "It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate over the cause(s) of the collapse of the twin towers and building 7," said Reynolds this week from his offices at Texas A&M. "If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either. The government's collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only professional demolition appears to account for the full range of facts associated with the collapse of the three buildings. CONTINUED ~ Judi (one of our committed Geminis), I have spent so much time defending my love for Geminis you wouldn't believe it. People miss it. Mercury is the Winged Messenger. Not everyone can keep up. If they are accused of inattentiveness, sentence finishing, lack of loyalty, or whatever, it's not personal. They have their antennae constantly up and wavering receiving the latest information from the cosmic news wire. They have a million messages to receive and deliver and they can be busy. That's exactly what I love. The constant flickering ticker tape. The wonderful liveliness. Everything happening at once. And so much to discuss. I even enjoyed my sad Sun/Saturn gemini whose first husband turned out to be a transvestite, and whose second beat her up regularly. She eventually divorced him and married another Gemini. An archeologist. A delightful man. The Moon in Taurus can be wonderful. My Brazilian friend has one and we always share earthly pleasures. She is warm and affectionate and hugs and kisses are always included. She deals in tangibles and always bears gifts. I think it is so fascinating with our current Sun in Gemini that Thursday the American people will be "delivering a message" en masse to the President of the country. By courier. At the front door. Posted by: jm on June 15, 2005 01:00 PMHi, AW, from yet another Gemini, Starrynight, THANK YOU for posting the article re: WTC-"AN INSIDE JOB." It's very interesting, to say the least. After reading the entire article, I passed it on w/link, encouraging the recipients to also read the entire thing. Do you all remember how, after the WTC collapse, national news broadcasts reported that the passport of one of the terrorists was found completely intact on the ground nearby? It was supposed, I guess, to be proof of who did the deed. Aside from the points made in the article linked above, it seemed to me (and still does) completely illogical (ludicrous!) to believe a small paper/plastic booklet would survive the fireball of the plane in the building. Absolutely ridiculous. The articles now coming out about all this are great. Hopefully this will spread widely throughout the land. Which is not to say the people thinking there are terrorists lurking in every neighborhood just plotting, planning and waiting to get us won't cling to denial... Posted by: Lori on June 15, 2005 03:48 PMspeaking of mars, sorry, no link! The Red Planet is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again. The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the East at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month.
Share this with your children and grandchildren as no one alive today will ever see this again. Posted by: mimi on June 15, 2005 03:57 PM
Bush for Life! http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2005/06/319395.shtml Posted by: wv on June 15, 2005 04:18 PMhttp://www.thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2005/06/13/LeftWingCNN/ Canadian Paul Jay's drive to create Independent World Television. Independent World Television will go public on June 15. The goal, as bold as it is big, is to create an alternative news and current affairs network that is, as its name implies, global in reach and free from corporate or government pressures. The network’s success depends on changing the economics of media, with an audacious plan to raise $25 million a year made up of $50 donations from half a million people around the world. Money from business, advertisers and government will be prohibited. Independent World Television is the brain child of Paul Jay, a Toronto-based award-winning documentary film-maker who made the film Return to Kandahar. Jay is also former executive producer of CBC Newsworld’s debate program Counterspin and the founder of Hot Docs. If successful, IWTnews will have its own digital TV channels in Canada, the U.S. and other countries, and programming will be offered on its web site. Jay and his associates are negotiating with public and non-profit channels in North America, Europe and elsewhere to carry IWT programs. Link TV will carry IWT programming, ensuring that 25 million U.S. home will have access to IWT shows. Progressive braintrust More.... Posted by: Pat C on June 15, 2005 04:31 PM
Re the posts on the lack of apology and the thwarting of a roll call vote by Frist over 'lynching'.....my writer friend wrote this, and I thought it was right on analysis: Extreme right conservatives don't believe in government apologizing for anything, it's seen as a sign of weakness that can be exploited by bleeding heart liberals and they're afraid the apology will be give credibility for a monetary claim and they also don't want to open cans of worms that might lead to accountability. Hence it's always the passive voice: mistakes were made, and "time to move forward!" etc. Hi Judi gemini and AW, yeah, I thought the interview connected alot of dots and what is most clear is that, as suspected, all of what is happening has been planned for a long time by many, many people - who, as far and I'm concerned are all traitors. Posted by: Marta on June 15, 2005 05:11 PMHere is my reaction when watching Cheney speak....oh man, he is such a perfect 'father' archtype, and then I start to get 'lullled' by his quiet voice, and then ..... omg, I start to believe him....it takes a reality check right away to keep from giving him credence about any of his lies. It is obvious that I am open to that Neptune energy he has. Jon Stewart the other night was making fun observations about Kim Jong Il of N.Korea's telling the US that they were the worst human rights violators....this in reaction to Condi Rice saying Kim was crazy...and Cheney said something of the same, and Jon said 'and what was scary is I agreed with Cheney' and then did a complete head to toe body shiver! Very funny....and then said he agreed with Kim.... I guess in terms of Cheney's 'pain'....well, we have a choice in life to acknowlege our own pain and then either do for others or take it out on others.....I guess we know what Cheney's done. Posted by: judi gemini on June 15, 2005 05:21 PMi am taking the liberty to reproduce exactly the words of my significant other. sometimes Another great sensationalist piece by a bunch of paranoid whackos who 1) Who are the sponsors - are they Republicans or democrats or both? 2) Do you know the process for repealing an amendment to the 3) Do you believe that this process can be accomplished between the More to my expectations if the current powers that be were to try to Don't be paranoid. It isn't worth it. the above post entered by me in response Who cldn't really love the Rude Pundit! ;O) by Rude One @ 10:23 AM http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2005/06/sean-hannity-loves-dick-after-last.html
A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the Lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply "Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803 Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin." Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows (actual letter): "Your letter regarding title in Case No. 189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 194 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased, by the U.S., from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application. For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France, which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain. The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch, Isabella. The good queen, Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus' expedition. Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God,it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part of the world called Louisiana. God, therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back, to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it AND the FHA. I hope you find God's original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we have our loan?" The loan was approved Posted by: Marta on June 15, 2005 07:15 PM
TBR News – June 12, 2005 “Here is an interesting attempt on the part of the Bush worshippers to dish the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution that limits a President to two terms: IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 17, 2005 Mr. HOYER (for himself, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. SENSENBRENNER,Mr. SABO, and Mr. PALLONE) introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary: ------------------------------------------------------ JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification: `Article -- `The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is repealed.' Isn’t this nice? Sieg Heil, Mein Führer! The Bush people have now set up an entire system to permit instant military crackdowns inside the United States in the event that, to quote from an official order, now in my safe, “provides the vehicle for the reestablishment of domestic order in the event of civil insurrections…” I have sent this to TBR in the hopes that they will publish parts of it to entertain those interested in the neo-fascist rompings in the Chimpanzee Retirement Home. And from a friend in the DoD (upper level bureaucrat who detests Bush and his band of trained snakes) this bit of neonazi fun. It seems that since recruiting has tanked totally, the next step is to recruit school dropouts, dimbulbs, those with “minor” criminal records or 18 year olds who might find themselves inside an institution for the delinquent. (!) The second part of this program is scary, even for one who lives inside the Beltway. A study has been concluded aimed at permitting the DoD to recruit men who are convicted of felonies and currently on parole for same or incarcerated in a Federal or State penitentiary! However, only those convicts or ex-convicts with prior military service will be considered! And certain categories of convictions such as arson, rape or murder will not be considered…’unless said individual possesses skills that can be considered essential to the War on Terrorism’ (!) The question here is this: Will these dregs of society be used inside or outside of the United States? The study concludes that there are over 3,000,000 such individuals in prison and the states incarcerating them are begging Bush for relief. The right-wing crazies have wanted to lock up every pickpocket or newspaper thief for life but the states can no longer afford to feed them. This plan has met with considerable approval in the Oval Office because it will relieve the military manpower problem and avoid a very unpopular and potentially fatal universal draft (wanted by Bush but not by the military) and take tens of thousands of mouths off of the public tit. The suggestions have been made to those working this project up is that the convict brigades only be used outside of the United States. What these sweet and charming dregs of society would do if in uniform and armed is so terrible of contemplation that there is no point even thinking about it. But what if they decide they do not like Bush? Look what happened to the Roman Emperor Caligula.” See our Inside the White House archive: Last updated 15/06/2005 Thanks JM. That's good news. Cheney, IMHO, is the lynchpin to this entire mess. He goes and the rest falls apart. Posted by: M. on June 15, 2005 07:44 PMTo tell you the truth, If I were stuck Unless, of course (and I wouldn't put it past the Repugs to do something like this), once they finished their Military Duty, they were put right back in prison to finish paying their "debt to society". Sounds like a truly Bush/Rove/Cheney thing to do, in my opinion. Posted by: Jonathan on June 15, 2005 08:47 PMJoannaOregon, I'm in the midst of reading the Dick story right now! (rude pundit) And I'm just wondering. When Dick says, "If you put them out on the street now and if you were to take action to release them, then you'd find yourself in a situation where the -- you may well find them back trying to kill more Americans. So we need a facility." what exactly is he saying? Is he telling me the US is so unsecured by our illustrious Department of Homeland Security that the folks would hop a raft with some Cubans and float right over and attack? Whatcha sayin' here, Dick? Which is it? Are we secure, or are we not? I'd also like to point out that being forced to wallow in your own shit is, IMHO, better than being forced to wallow in the shit of others. HAHAHA!!!! Hope you're noting the sarcasm in my tone here! Posted by: Lori on June 15, 2005 08:53 PMFolks in prison cover a wide spectrum of crimes; some are innocent, simply couldn't afford a smart attorney... some are innocent, but are of color and easily convicted, especially when the locals foul up their paperwork or simply allow the trail to run cold and the natives are screaming for a perp! Committing a crime does not negate one's rights. What are these folks considering? Completely dissolving the rights of individuals to decide themselves if they want to serve in the military? Many are in prison because they used drugs. [same people who built the prisons import the drugs!!!] So now if you do drugs you get shipped off to kill people? Innocent people, whose land we have occupied? On the other hand, we get addicts who will be using and carrying a gun. [Now, that's a scary thought?!] Tell me these fascists care about us and/or US... and we, who are addicted to our lifestyle, are simply allowing them to do whatever they want to... believe me, there are enough of us to storm the gates, but we don't... by the time we get off our comfy sofas and say STOP, it will be too late. We should have stormed the TV stations and radio stations and newspapers (all of Corporate Media) when * said he would invade Iraq. All of us (I repeat ALL of us knew it was a lie! the inspectors had found nothing... anyone surfing the net knew there was no yellow cake... etc. etc. This is what happened in Germany. Germans were fine... their children were being educated. When the manufactured "terrorism" came, when the economy went down the toilet, they had to find a scapegoat. Well, their leader offered one up! The Rez has offered one up also... Muslims... and of course Gays and gypsies and prostitutes (sound familar? It should) Why 'look' at what the government is doing? Just turn your head, go home to your family... Move along, nothing here. We're just emptying the prisons... we're just closing down access to abortions... we're just relocating the Gays... we're just cleaning out the treasury, tearing up the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, nothing to see here... just move along... write your senators and congressmen, those that aren't helping us with our fascist agenda... those that aren't on the 'dole'... just move along, do your job, pay your taxes so we can build our mansions, buy more cars and planes, more toys... produce more children, to fight our wars... but, don't live too long, there's going to be no more SS, no more medicare or medicaid... the sick will be relieved of their misery... just move along... Well, I'm not moving along... always was hardheaded. YOU MOVE ALONG... YOU AND ALL YOUR FASCISTS CO-HORTS, MOVE OUT OF OUR WAY... WE'RE AWAKE AND KNOW WHAT YOU'RE ABOUT... Tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow Rep Conyers is bringing the lie to the spotlight. Tomorrow, where will you be? Gonna call C-Span to see if they're telecasting? Gonna initiate a rally? Gonna join a rally? Gonna email your friends/family? Or have a beer and watch the idiot box? Your choice. Posted by: Jo on June 15, 2005 09:00 PMI agree with Jonathan. And while it does sound good (we all know there are SCADS of people in prison for non-violent crimes) at first glance in terms of them gaining freedom from prison, I'd bet that war is incomparably worse. The degree to which it f(*#s with one's head, heart and soul cannot be underestimated or even fathomed by anyone who hasn't been there. We're talking about an environment in which the very basic boundaries of what we call civilization are obliterated. And in addition to Jonathan's thought that the Repugs would throw the people right back in prison upon their return (if any), well, they'd HAVE to! We're talking about people who to some degree or another (and I'm not espousing support for all the laws on the books, just looking at the practical situation) have disregarded society's boundaries of behavior (presumably; not addressing false convictions here). We know that inside prisons, while there are rules and boundaries and a culture established by the prisoners, it's not exactly like lawful life on the outside. (and along with the fact that there's little if any rehab efforts inside, nor support once back on the outside, I think this helps to explain the high recidivism rate) Now on top of all that, initial inherent tendencies (whether nature or nurture), uncivil life inside, imagine being pulled out, forced into the unimaginably violent and boundary-blasting environment of war, (and can we say "slave soldiers?" cuz that's what they'd be). Then you're supposed to come back and reintegrate into society? FAT CHANCE!!!! Even lots of WWII vets -- the "good" war -- had problems with that. Problems that may not be obvious, since no one talked about things like incest back then so we have no idea how much horrible things like that went on after WWII vets' return -- had problems with reintegration. And look at Vietnam vets, and then look at the obvious and growing distaste for Iraq (and God knows which war(s) next) among the lied-to public....I'll stop now. I think I've made my point. Posted by: Lori on June 15, 2005 09:24 PM
By Robert Fisk 06/14/05 "The Independent" - - There he was, just as his victims looked on his own television screens, his words censored, his arguments unknown, his case as undemocratic as the "judicial" courts in which Saddam destroyed his own enemies. The Iraqis - or, let us speak frankly, the Americans who tried to censor the old reprobate's previous court appearance - decided yesterday that his words would also be censored. That is Saddamism. This is how Saddam ran Iraq. The words were obliterated. And now the Americans and their obedient, Shia-led government, are acting out the same Saddamite line. The pictures, the BBC admitted, were "mute". What in God's name did this mean? Who emasculated the BBC to such a degree that it should say such a ridiculous thing? Why were they mute? The BBC didn't tell us. If Saddam was really being charged with war crimes over the killings of Shias - which I hope he was - then why, in heaven's name, didn't we hear what he had to say? Why use the methods of Saddam himself? The silent film, the assumption of guilt? Or was Saddam telling the court that the United States was behind his regime, that Washington had given him the means to destroy the Halabja Kurds with gas? How can we know? And when so many of our journalistic brethren failed to challenge the reason why this tape should be "mute", what does this say of us? We are told, by Saddam's jailers of course, that he is being questioned about the murder of Shia villagers south of Baghdad in 1982. I hope so. But how do we know? The reality is that Saddam is from Iraq's past, something from the era before "our" insecurity and destruction and the rape and insurgency and death which has now overwhelmed Iraq. Yes, there are those who would like to see Saddam brought to justice. But they want safety and law and order and freedom - freedom from us, too - before they care about this crazed old man's trial. But we insist the Iraqis have bread and circuses before they have freedom. And they must experience our democracy by understanding that the defendant in a court must be shut up and denied his own words in order to appear on the BBC. ©2005 Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd. State sponsored civil war in Iraq??? Militias now have the overt backing of the interim Iraqi "government."
By SCOTT SHEPARD And there was disagreement Tuesday over whether Saxby Chambliss, one of Georgia's two Republican senators, had supported the measure when it was approved Monday night. EMAIL THIS Eighty senators, however, had signed as co-sponsors, putting themselves on record as supporting the resolution. By the time the Senate recessed Tuesday evening, five other senators had added their names as co-sponsors, leaving 15 Republicans who had not. Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson was among the 80 sponsors listed Monday night. Chambliss' name was added to the list of co-sponsors after the resolution was adopted, according to the Congressional Record. But his office said he had signed onto the bill as a co-sponsor before Monday's vote. The resolution was adopted under what is called "unanimous consent," whereby it is adopted as long as no senator expresses opposition. But the group that was the driving force behind the resolution had asked Frist for a formal procedure that would have required all 100 senators to vote. And the group had asked that the debate take place during "business hours" during the week, instead of Monday evening, when most senators were traveling back to the capital. Frist declined both requests, the group's chief counsel, Mark Planning, said Tuesday evening. "It was very disappointing" that Frist handled the matter the way he did, Planning said. "Other groups have gotten roll call votes, so there was nothing new to this, nothing different that we were asking for." Bob Stevenson, Frist's chief spokesman, said Tuesday evening the procedure the majority leader established was "requested by the sponsors." The chief sponsors of the resolution, Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and George Allen (R-Va.), disputed that assertion. Landrieu said Monday before the resolution was adopted she would have preferred a roll call vote but had to accept the conditions set by Senate leaders. When Stevenson was informed of Landrieu's statement, he amended his comments to say "at least one of the sponsors" had requested adoption on a voice vote and in combination with a resolution related to Black History Month. Allen press secretary David Snepp took issue with Stevenson. "I don't know why Bob Stevenson would characterize it that way," he said. Snepp said Allen, since agreeing to sponsor the resolution, had insisted that he preferred a roll call vote. Planning agreed that Landrieu and Allen "made every effort" to have the resolution debated during the day, when it would attract the most attention from the public, and with a formal roll call of the senators. "We were very perplexed" that Frist would not agree to that, Planning said. Jan Cohen, the wife of former Defense Secretary William Cohen and one of the key figures in the Committee for a Formal Apology, expressed outrage over the lack of a roll call vote. "America is home of the brave, but I'm afraid there may be a few cowards who have to cower to their very narrow-minded and backward, hateful constituency," Cohen told ABC News. "They're hiding out, and it's reminiscent of a pattern of hiding out under a hood, in the night, riding past, scaring people." Posted by: wv on June 15, 2005 09:59 PMHijacking the Facts FBI worked hard to cover up a 9-11 cover-up—and then hide it some more WASHINGTON, D.C.—It's no secret the FBI let at least two 9-11 hijackers—Hazmi and Mihdhar—slip through its fingers when they landed in California in 2000 and proceeded to live openly under their own names in San Diego before moving into position for the attack. What makes the situation especially ludicrous is that one of these hijackers rented a room from a San Diego landlord who was an FBI informant on the Muslim community. That's bad enough. But after 9-11, when the Joint Congressional Intelligence Committee found out what had been going on, the FBI refused to allow the informant to be interviewed by the committee staff or to testify. The FBI actually took steps to hide this man so Congress could not find him. All this is described at some length in former senator Bob Graham's book Intelligence Matters—the one book on this entire affair written by an actual participant in the behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing over what was permitted to come into public view about 9-11. Graham was chairman of the joint congressional investigation. To resolve the informant question, Graham writes, he met with Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI director Robert Mueller, and other top officials. But when he tried to serve a subpoena on one top FBI official, the man shrank away and would not take the piece of paper. In the end, Graham says, he discovered that the FBI was taking its hard line on the informant on orders from the White House. Now comes the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General with a lengthy description of the FBI's relationship with the landlord asset. Like the congressional committee, the inspector general did not interview the landlord, but relies on secondhand information gathered from FBI agents. The landlord no longer works for the Bureau. The inspector general reports, "In July 2003 the asset was given a $100,000 payment and closed as an asset." It is interesting to note that the 9-11 Commission was formed in late 2002. The Joint Congressional Inquiry, which discovered the landlord's existence and sought unsuccessfully to question him, issued its final report July 24, 2003. http://villagevoice.com/news/0524,mondo1,64920,6.html Posted by: Pat C on June 15, 2005 10:43 PMJo...what is good about committed anarchist like you is that you don't mind repeating the call to arms over and over....just remember, the sheeple will need to hear the same thing 28 times to have it register. That is an o ld maxim in advertising which is why you see the same ad on tv and in print over and over....don't anyone forget you have to keep pounding it home. Posted by: judi gemini on June 15, 2005 10:45 PM
The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments: Note: To protect against computer viruses, e-mail programs may prevent sending or receiving certain types of file attachments. Check your e-mail security settings to determine how attachments are handled. Posted by: on June 15, 2005 10:45 PMRight Judi, So y'all sing along with Emimem, and MOSH: ~snip~ Let the President answer on high anarchy [Chorus] Come along, follow me as I lead through the darkness Namaste Posted by: Jo on June 15, 2005 10:53 PM http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9147.htm Posted by: wv on June 15, 2005 10:59 PMM and Travieso, Whereas I don't see the Cheney's first house severely impaired, I notice, Travieso, that when Saturn hits 27 Cancer at the end of June, it not only makes aspects already mentioned, but also sqrs his Progressed Asc at 27 Libra. Transiting Saturn makes so many aspects to his progressed and natal chart that I think it is the kicker to a whole series of domino aspects, some to his fifth house which suggests heart trouble. By mid I would be very interested Travieso, if you could tell me what you see about his first house. I certainly am capable of not seeing things right in front of my face. That an effort of repeal the 22nd amendment has been made is appalling, but I certainly don't think it has any long term clout. There are too many ego maniacs out there to let it pass...and I mean the dems to independents. I can't wait for tomorrow. I want to know the exact time Conyers begins. I won't be home, but I hope somebody records the time. I am so weary. Why don't we push Conyers for President? Everytime I turn around he's the only one making rude, delightful noises at the Reps. And he's not backing off. He just slowly gets out his thoughts in his own slow way of talking and lets the truth stand on its own. He doesn't seem to flinch at the Repugs outrageous stings. He stays on point. Posted by: Beasley on June 16, 2005 03:44 AM P.S. Marta, I loved your FHA story. Very funny. 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