Liberal Repercussion: 03/07/2004

vendredi, mars 12, 2004

http://tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/10087

Eating Their Words

William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times best-selling author of two books, War On Iraq (Context Books) and The Greatest Sedition is Silence (Pluto Press). His book Our Flag, Too: The Paradox of Patriotism will be available in August from Context Books.

"I'm a firm believer in feeding people their own words back to them,
when it's appropriate."
-Trent Lott

As we hurtle headlong into the silly season, a high colonic for the mind is in order. There is going to be a lot of back-and-forth between the candidates regarding who said what and when. Feast, in that context, upon this small collection:

"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."

- George W. Bush, discussing Kosovo, Houston Chronicle, 04-09-99

"I said on my program, if, if the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again."

- Bill O'Reilly, on ABC's Good Morning America, 03-18-03

"I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus—living fossils—so we will never forget what these people stood for."

- Rush Limbaugh, Denver Post, 12-29-95

"If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual gay sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. All of those things are antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family and that's sort of where we are in today's world, unfortunately. It all comes from, I would argue, the right to privacy that doesn't exist, in my opinion, in the United States Constitution."

- Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), Associated Press, 04-22-03

"I would warn Orlando that you're right in the way of some serious hurricanes, and I don't think I'd be waving those flags in God's face if I were you. This is not a message of hate; this is a message of redemption. But a condition like this will bring about the destruction of your nation. It'll bring about terrorist bombs; it'll bring earthquakes, tornadoes and possibly a meteor."

- Pat Robertson, speaking of organizers putting rainbow flags up around Orlando to support sexual diversity, The Washington Post, 06-10-98. For the record, Orlando remains undestroyed by meteors.

"Environmentalists are a socialist group of individuals that are the tool of the Democrat Party. I'm proud to say that they are my enemy. They are not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be Americans."

- Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), Alaska Public Radio, 08-19-96

"When you strip it all away, Jerry Garcia destroyed his life on drugs. And yet he's being honored, like some godlike figure. Our priorities are out of whack, folks."

- Rush (currently under investigation for drug use) Limbaugh, on the death of Jerry Garcia, 08-20-95.

"I don't understand how poor people think."

- George W. Bush, confiding in the Rev. Jim Wallis, The New York Times, 08-26-03

"Get rid of the guy. Impeach him, censure him, assassinate him."

- Rep. James Hansen (R-Utah), talking about President Clinton, as reported by journalist Steve Miner of KSUB radio who overheard his conversation, 11-01-98

"We're going to keep building the party until we're hunting Democrats with dogs."

- Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), Mother Jones, 08-95

"My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to The New York Times building."

- Ann Coulter, The New York Observer, 08-26-02

"Homosexuals want to come into churches and disrupt church services and throw blood all around and try to give people AIDS and spit in the face of ministers."

- Pat Robertson again, The 700 Club, 01-18-95

"And there is, I am certain, among the Iraqi people a respect for the care and the precision that went into the bombing campaign."

- Donald Rumsfeld, defenselink.mil, 04-09-03

"Emotional appeals about working families trying to get by on $4.25 an hour are hard to resist. Fortunately, such families do not exist."

- Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), House Majority Whip, during a debate on increasing the minimum wage, Congressional Record, H3706, 04-23-96

"Chelsea is a Clinton. She bears the taint; and though not prosecutable in law, in custom and nature the taint cannot be ignored. All the great despotisms of the past—I'm not arguing for despotism as a principle, but they sure knew how to deal with potential trouble—recognized that the families of objectionable citizens were a continuing threat. In Stalin's penal code it was a crime to be the wife or child of an 'enemy of the people.' The Nazis used the same principle, which they called Sippenhaft, 'clan liability.' In Imperial China, enemies of the state were punished 'to the ninth degree': that is, everyone in the offender's own generation would be killed and everyone related via four generations up, to the great-great-grandparents, and four generations down, to the great-great-grandchildren, would also be killed."

- John Derbyshire, National Review, 02-15-01

"I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period."

- Pat Robertson again, The 700 Club, 01-08-92

"Probably nothing."

- Jeb Bush, during his losing 1994 bid for Florida Governor, when asked what he would do for black people, quoted by Salon on 10-05-02

"The homosexual blitzkrieg has been better planned and executed than Hitler's."

- Rep. William Dannemeyer (R-Calif.), The New Republic, 08-01-94

"When lawlessness is abroad in the land, the same thing will happen here that happened in Nazi Germany. Many of those people involved in Adolph Hitler were Satanists. Many of them were homosexuals. The two things seem to go together."

- Pat Robertson again, The 700 Club, 01-21-93

"Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. Why is he there? And I tell you this morning that he's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this."

- Lt. General William G. Boykin, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, The New York Times, 10-17-03

"We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors."

- Ann Coulter, at the Conservative Political Action Conference, 02-26-02

"I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."

- Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, NPR Morning Edition, 05-25-01

"I don't agree that you need an enormous number of American troops. Saddam's army is down to one-third than it was before, and I think it would be a cakewalk."

- Kenneth Adelman, Defense Policy Board, to Wolf Blitzer on CNN, 12-06-01

"The fact of the matter is that this (increased American casualties) is a sign of the success of our operation, not its failure."

- Ralph Reed, GOP strategist, on MSNBC's program 'Hardball,' 10-28-03

"There are some who feel that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring 'em on. We have the force necessary to deal with the situation."

- George W. Bush, The Chicago Tribune, 07-03-03

"The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on, which was weapons of mass destruction as the core reason."

- Paul Wolfowitz, quoted by Tim Russert on 'Meet The Press, NBC, 06-01-03

"Quit looking at the symbols. Get out and get a job. Quit shooting each other. Quit having illegitimate babies."

- State Rep. John Graham Altman (R-SC), addressing African-American concerns about the 'symbol' of the Confederate Flag, The New York Times, 01-24-97

"Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity. The degree these two have diminished is in direct proportion to the corruption and fall of the nation. Every problem that has arisen (sic) can be directly traced back to our departure from God's Law and the disenfranchisement of White men."

- State Rep. Don Davis (R-NC), e-mailed to every member of the North Carolina House and Senate, reported by The Fayetteville Observer, 08-22-01

"NOW is saying that in order to be a woman, you've got to be a lesbian."

- Pat Robertson again, The 700 Club, 12-03-97

"My biggest fear is going to be going to the funeral of some young Iowa man or woman who dies in this conflict and having their mother or father come up to me and ask whether or not their son or daughter died for America, or died to save Bill Clinton's presidency. I don't know what I would say to those grieving parents. For that reason I believe the President must resign immediately."

- Rep. Jim Nussle (R-IA), Congressional Record, H11963, 12-18-98

"Why should we hear about body bags and deaths and how many, what day it's gonna happen? It's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

- Barbara Bush, said on 'Good Morning America' the day before the Iraq war started, The New York Times, 01-13-03

"I'm the commander—see, I don't need to explain—I don't need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the President. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."

- George W. Bush, Washington Post, 11-19-02

These quotes, and about a thousand others equally as preposterous, can be found in a new book by Bruce Miller and Diana Maio titled Take Them At Their Words. The next time our valiant conservative leadership bemoans the "corruption and fall of the nation," remember that, by and large, these bemoaners are the clowns who have been running the circus for the last several years.

A few are also up for re-election in 2004. Bear that in mind.

Mark Townsend and Paul Harris in New York
Sunday February 22, 2004
The Observer

Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters..

A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.

The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.

'Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,' concludes the Pentagon analysis. 'Once again, warfare would define human life.'

The findings will prove humiliating to the Bush administration, which has repeatedly denied that climate change even exists. Experts said that they will also make unsettling reading for a President who has insisted national defence is a priority.

The report was commissioned by influential Pentagon defence adviser Andrew Marshall, who has held considerable sway on US military thinking over the past three decades. He was the man behind a sweeping recent review aimed at transforming the American military under Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Climate change 'should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a US national security concern', say the authors, Peter Schwartz, CIA consultant and former head of planning at Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and Doug Randall of the California-based Global Business Network.

An imminent scenario of catastrophic climate change is 'plausible and would challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately', they conclude. As early as next year widespread flooding by a rise in sea levels will create major upheaval for millions.

Last week the Bush administration came under heavy fire from a large body of respected scientists who claimed that it cherry-picked science to suit its policy agenda and suppressed studies that it did not like. Jeremy Symons, a former whistleblower at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said that suppression of the report for four months was a further example of the White House trying to bury the threat of climate change.

Senior climatologists, however, believe that their verdicts could prove the catalyst in forcing Bush to accept climate change as a real and happening phenomenon. They also hope it will convince the United States to sign up to global treaties to reduce the rate of climatic change.

A group of eminent UK scientists recently visited the White House to voice their fears over global warming, part of an intensifying drive to get the US to treat the issue seriously. Sources have told The Observer that American officials appeared extremely sensitive about the issue when faced with complaints that America's public stance appeared increasingly out of touch.

One even alleged that the White House had written to complain about some of the comments attributed to Professor Sir David King, Tony Blair's chief scientific adviser, after he branded the President's position on the issue as indefensible.

Among those scientists present at the White House talks were Professor John Schellnhuber, former chief environmental adviser to the German government and head of the UK's leading group of climate scientists at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He said that the Pentagon's internal fears should prove the 'tipping point' in persuading Bush to accept climatic change.

fBush Has a New Top Career Patron
MBNA surpasses Enron as the president's top lifetime contributor

WASHINGTON, March 11, 2004 - A small number of donations by employees
of
the credit card giant MBNA Corp. last month was enough to unseat Enron
as President George W. Bush's top career donor.

The Delaware-based company has given Bush $605,041 over his career,
while Enron ($602,625) slipped to second, according to a recent
supplement to "The Buying of the President 2004," a book by the Center
for Public Integrity detailing the financial interests behind each
presidential candidate.

The Center's study found that investment companies continue to make
staggering donations to Bush, driven by so-called bundlers. Nine of
Bush's largest ten donors during October 2003 through January 2004 were
financial services companies. All of Bush's ten largest donors from
October through January are linked to bundlers who have pledged to
donate $100,000 to $250,000 as part of the president's Pioneer and
Ranger Programs.

To read the full report go to http://www.publicintegrity.org

jeudi, mars 11, 2004

Roosevelt said these books influenced him more than anything else in his political philosophy, in some ways they might be considered the conception point of the New Deal. That they were highly influential in the production of the modern liberal is hardly to be doubted by any serious student of history.

http://www.blackmask.com/books13c/lookingbackwarddex.htm

http://www.blackmask.com/books115c/equaldex.htm

You get them free, Roosevelt had to buy or borrow his copy.

On her radio show Dr Laura Schlesinger said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura, penned by a US resident, which was posted on the Internet. It's funny, as well as informative.

Dear Dr. Laura,

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it
to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Law and how to follow them.

1. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2. The passage clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Your adoring fan,

THIS WOMAN IS ANDY CARD'S COUSIN.! WHAT IN BLAZES IS GOING ON HERE?

Susan Lindauer, 41, was arrested in her hometown of Takoma Park, Md., and was to appear in court later in the day in Baltimore, authorities in New York said.

She was accused of conspiring to act as a spy for the Iraqi Intelligence Service and engaging in prohibited financial transactions involving the government of Iraq (news - web sites) under dictator Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). Prosecutors say she accepted $10,000 for he work.

"I'm an anti-war activist and I'm innocent," Lindauer told WBAL-TV as she was led to a car outside the Baltimore FBI (news - web sites) office. "I did more to stop terrorism in this country than anybody else. I have done good things for this country. I worked to get weapons inspectors back to Iraq when everyone else said it was impossible. I'm very proud and I'll stand by my achievements."

Lindauer worked at Fortune, U.S. News & World Report and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer before beginning her career as a political publicist.

She worked for Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. in 1993 and then Rep. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in 1994 before joining the office of former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun (news - web sites) as press secretary in 1996. From March to May 2002, she worked for Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.

"Her position was eliminated in the downsizing following the 1994 elections," said Josh Kardon, chief of staff for now-Sen. Wyden. "She worked for us a short period of time."

Braun's current spokesperson, Loretta Kane, said the former senator does not remember Lindauer.

According to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Lindauer made multiple visits from October 1999 through March 2002 to the Iraqi Mission to the United Nations (news - web sites) in Manhattan. The indictment makes no mention of her congressional staff work.

There, she met with several members of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the foreign intelligence arm of the government of Iraq that allegedly has played a role in terrorist operations, including an attempted assassination of former President George H.W. Bush, the indictment alleged.

The government said she accepted payments from the Iraqis for her services and expenses amounting to a total of $10,000, including $5,000 she received during a trip to Baghdad in February and March 2002.

Her acceptance of the money and her willingness to bring it home from Iraq violated a law prohibiting transactions with a government that sponsors international terrorism, the government said. The indictment did not specify a motive.

The charges against Lindauer were included in an expanded indictment in the case against Raed Rokan Al-Anbuge, 28, and Wisam Noman Al-Anbuke, the sons of Iraq's former liaison with United Nations weapons inspectors.

The brothers were charged last year with acting as Iraqi government agents and conspiring to do so, prosecutors said. The indictment said Lindauer conspired with the brothers.

On Jan. 8, 2003, prosecutors said, Lindauer tried to influence U.S. foreign policy by delivering to the home of a U.S. government official a letter in which she conveyed her access to and contacts with members of Saddam's regime. The official was not identified in the indictment.

The United States invaded Iraq in March of last year, and the government fell the following month.

The indictment said she met on two occasions in Baltimore in June and July with an undercover FBI agent who posed as a Libyan intelligence representative who was seeking to support resistance groups in postwar Iraq. It said she discussed the need for plans and foreign resources to support these groups.

According to the indictment, she continued to correspond with the undercover agent until last month and followed the agent's instructions to leave packages on two occasions in August in "dead drop" operations.

Lindauer, who was not immediately assigned a defense lawyer, faces up to 10 years in prison on the most serious charge and five years on the lesser charge if she is convicted, prosecutors said.

More than a half dozen FBI agents could be seen searching Lindauer's residence in Takoma Park, a city known for its liberal views. Her neighbors recalled her as friendly.

Joao Luiz Vieire de Castro, 39, described Lindauer as "a regular American who walks her dog in the mornings and the afternoon."

"It's a big surprise. Who would think that it's (espionage) in your neighborhood?" said Dean Paris, 45, who sometimes greeted Lindauer on the street, which is less than a mile from the District of Columbia line. Paris said he never saw anything suspicious.

But Malvina Lacey, who lives next door to Lindauer, added, "She lives in a fantasy world."

___

Associated Press writer Derrill Holly in Takoma Park, Md., contributed to this story.

http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/2004-03-04/news.html/1/index.html

Amateur Hour
Congressional candidate Mike Murphy feels the strong arm of the GOP
BY JOHN GONZALEZ
john.gonzalez@dallasobserver.com

Mark Graham
Mike Murphy's run for the District 4 congressional seat has ruffled feathers in the national GOP. He just can't figure out why.

About a year ago, Mike Murphy and his pal J.J. Miller were at his pad in Frisco shooting pool over a few cold beers and lamenting the state of politics. Murphy, who is now 30, and Miller, 33, couldn't find a candidate whose ideas and values meshed with theirs, and the two young Republicans thought their party needed better guidance.

"That's when I said he should run for Congress," Miller recalls. "I told him he'd be perfect."

The idea grew on Murphy, despite a few obstacles to his candidacy. For instance, the finance manager and Texas native had no political experience.

And no money.

And, when you get right down to it, not much of a chance, really.

But political hope springs eternal--witness Ralph Nader, Al Sharpton, et al. --so with help from other politically interested friends and volunteers, in January Murphy filed as a GOP candidate for the U.S. House in District 4, which includes parts of Dallas and Collin counties, among others. He went to a candidates' school, where he learned basic campaign strategy on a tight budget. He went door-to-door and talked to people about issues. He hasn't run any television or radio ads; his is a grassroots campaign.

So it seemed a bit strange when Murphy received a phone call on January 13 from New York Congressman Tom Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Reynolds advised the novice to get out of the race.

The suggestion itself was not too unusual, though hearing it from someone as high in the party as Reynolds seemed odd. Incumbent Ralph Hall had represented the district as a Democrat for more than 20 years until January, when he switched parties and joined the GOP. "I think I can get re-elected much easier if I run as a Republican," Hall told The Associated Press at the time. The GOP, naturally concerned that their newest member could be attacked in a primary for his defection and his comments to the AP, wanted to make the race easier for Hall.

...

Carl Forti, the NRCC's communication director, denied that the party tried to squash District 4's grassroots challenger with bluster. Forti confirmed that Reynolds and Telford had been in contact with Murphy, but said that Karl Rove's name had not been dropped in either conversation. He also denied that either caller had in any way suggested that running might ruin Murphy's political career and make him an enemy of the White House.

Unfortunately for Forti, Murphy owns a tape recorder. He taped his conversations with Telford and Reynolds, and he shared them with the Dallas Observer.

On the tapes, Reynolds can be heard clearly: "Normally with a party switcher, I'd deal with it myself or take it to the speaker, but I took this one directly to Karl Rove because of the unique relationship the White House has with Ralph. That's what started this whole thing." Reynolds also acknowledged that the Republicans don't want "party switchers" in the South getting beat up too badly, because they'd like more to follow Hall's example.

Telford was recorded saying that the relationship between Hall and the president "goes back a long way--they've helped each other for forever and a day, and the White House won't rest until he wins." Then, later:
"Just consider what you're doing now. You don't want to have the freakin' president of the United States mad at you for the rest of your life." And, finally: "It will help you immensely to not do something that won't take you anywhere in a practical manner and that will really screw up your chances down the road...If you step off this cliff, gravity never goes up, it goes down."[

After hearing the tapes, the Observer called Forti back. He said he hadn't fibbed; the talks between Murphy and the party honchos had been incorrectly "characterized," which led to a "misunderstanding." "Look, that's the reality of the race," Forti said. "That's the bottom line. The NRCC needs to help as many Republicans as possible."

Maybe. But according to the NRCC, which says it often contacts challengers on behalf of vulnerable incumbents, no other calls of that kind were made to any challenger in Texas. Oddly, the NRCC failed to contact Mike Mosher, the other Republican candidate in District 4. Mosher could be seen as a bigger threat to Hall than Murphy because he's been running radio ads and plans to continue doing so until the March 9 primary, not to mention that he was recently endorsed by The Dallas Morning News. (Forti said that the NRCC was unaware of Mosher's candidacy until after the filing deadline.)

"I just want to run a strong race, you know, fight the fight, and if I lose, at least I tried," Murphy says. "Texas would be the Republic of Mexico if we'd just given up at the Alamo. I thought it was a little odd that they'd called me. And when they were going on about the White House and ruining my career, all I could think was, 'I don't have a career.'"

"You know, I've heard of a lot of ways to handle situations in politics, but that's one of the best--it's like a Saturday Night Live skit," says Bill Miller, an Austin-based political consultant for HillCo Partners. "On the NRCC's part, that's what you call ham-handed amateur hour. Do people have bad days? Yeah. Are people stupid? Absolutely. And I think this is more of latter than the former.

"The fact that people get threatened in politics is nothing new. But using Karl Rove's name and saying that he would be an enemy of the president for life if he didn't get out--that's a different situation because of the context. I mean, here's a kid, Murphy, who is an amateur, but he acts like a pro. And the party, they're pros, but they act like amateurs. It speaks to how capable, or incapable, they are. We should all tip our hat to him because he caught them on tape and let them talk themselves into a disaster."

mercredi, mars 10, 2004

". . . take this monkey just as he was, in short, and you could desire no better image of the Mammon of copper-coin, symbolizing the grossest form of
the love of money."--- Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2434593

March 5, 2004, 10:48AM
Perry denies reports about divorce, infidelity
Associated Press

AUSTIN -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry is denying widespread rumors that he and his wife plan to divorce over his alleged infidelity and that he will resign from office, according to a published report Friday.

Perry told the Austin American-Statesman in a copyright story that political enemies are responsible for the "smear campaign."

The first-term Republican, who was elected in 2002, said Thursday he was forced to respond publicly because the "obvious, orchestrated effort" had reached critical mass, with rumors spread by e-mail and on Web sites.

Perry said the rumors "are not correct in any shape, form or fashion. These are irresponsible. They're salacious. They're hurtful to my family."

The governor's press staff has said it has fielded calls about the rumors for about two months. At the Governor's Mansion on Thursday, Perry's 54th birthday, he said he had decided to speak out on what he sees as a dangerous new political trend.

"I don't think a rumor can just get to critical mass by itself," Perry said. "I think you have to have a well thought-out, organized effort to disseminate that kind of information and keep it going day after day after day after day."

The governor's wife, Anita Perry, declined to comment after her husband's interview with the American-Statesman.

Perry said the rumors were heard by his son Griffin at Vanderbilt University and by his daughter Sydney, a local high school student. Perry's staff, in trying to track down the source of the rumors and who is helping to spread them, has found references on multiple Web sites.

The governor's staff, after weeks of declining to have Perry personally address the rumors, approached the newspaper this week and said Perry wanted to respond. In mid-February, he had referred questions about an interview on the topic to press secretary Kathy Walt. She said then that the governor would not respond to unsubstantiated rumors.

Perry's staff, in trying to track down the source of the rumors, said it has found multiple references on the Internet.

The governor declined to blame a specific source for initiating the rumors,...

"What is truly indecent is the state of children's health care, public schools and insurance rates under Perry's regime," Soechting said in a statement issued by the Texas Democratic Party. Voting in the state's primary is Tuesday.

http://www.prospect.org/print/V15/2/hendra-t.html

We See That Now
A heartfelt -- no -- abject -- no -- craven apology to the right from the left for our campaign of hate, anger and malice against God's own president.
By Tony Hendra
Issue Date: 2.1.04

We confess. It's all true. Everything you say. We trafficked in hate. We did it in anger. Just as you said, Mr. Kristol, Mr. Krauthammer, Mr. Brooks: We poisoned the airwaves and befouled the sheets of our nation's most august publications. We attacked a sitting president, impugned his integrity, smeared his family, invaded his privacy, tried desperately to drag him down to our own filthy, rock-bottom, sewer-dwelling level.

There is no parallel between your measured criticism of Bill Clinton and our vile attacks on George W. Bush. Bill Clinton deserved everything thrown at him because a corrupt and evil man who gains the White House by underhanded means should be attacked with every weapon at the disposal of a free press. And yes, it's true, just as your more sagacious radio hosts have maintained: Hillary Clinton does owe her success to the practice of witchcraft. And no, it's not true that ridiculing Chelsea at the most vulnerable stage in her development was the media equivalent of child molestation. Chelsea Clinton was fair game because she is the spawn of Satan. Scurrilous of us to suggest that the tirelessly moderate and civil proponent of these and so many other truths, Robert Bartley, now resides in the circle of hell reserved for hate-mongers and bigots! Mr. Bartley dwells in the bosom of his Republican creator. We see that now.

George W. Bush cannot be, as we've screamed till we're blue in the face, the cretinous finger puppet of an incalculably cynical and malevolent cabal and a ruthless neo-Confederate, bent on creating a plutocratic ruling class at home and a rapacious corporate imperium abroad. He's one or the other. We cannot have it both ways. We see that now.

'Intentions are good. But it's not intentions that count. What counts is action,' - Paul Wellstone

http://www.grandoldpetroleum.com/openspigots.html

Bush's Broken Oil Promise: Open the Spigots

As OPEC prepares to meet tomorrow, June 5th, it has become apparent that President Bush is breaking his campaign pledge to "jawbone OPEC," to increase production. Last year Bush said OPEC was the "main reason," for high gas prices, but this year, as gas price have reached $2 a gallon in some regions, his Administration is rejecting "begging or publicly bashing to get more oil," with a "gentler approach" to OPEC.

Bush Now: Don't Pressure OPEC

Bush Administration is Taking "Gentler Approach" With OPEC, Abraham Said Bush Administration Rejects Begging or Bashing for More Oil. According to the New York Times, the Bush Administration is opting for a "gentler approach to its key oil-rich allies, particularly the Persian Gulf states." Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, said last week, "We reject privately begging or publicly bashing to get more oil."

Gulf Countries Think Bush Administration is Comfortable With High Oil Prices. "Moreover, the Persian Gulf countries think this administration is more comfortable with oil at around $20 a barrel than the Clinton administration was, said. High oil prices also help the United States oil companies, which made record profits last year and are loyal Bush backers," according to the New York Times.

Cheney Said "Jawboning in the Oval Office" Won't Solve Any Problems. "Jawboning in the Oval Office or allegations of price gouging that aren't valid don't solve any problems," said Vice President Dick Cheney on May 20, 2001.

OPEC Production Cuts Have Kept Gas Prices High. "OPEC has reduced its daily output about 9 percent since the start of the year, which has…kept gasoline prices high." according to the New York Times.

Alan Greenspan, Lawrence Lindsey Think President Should Pressure OPEC. One part of the Bush Administration, including, "Lawrence Lindsey, the President's chief economic adviser, and Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman, is said to think that the administration should pressure the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to raise production," according to the New York Times.

Bush Then: "Jawbone" OPEC, OPEC Is "Main Reason" for High Gas Prices

In 2000, Bush Said OPEC Can Be Blamed As the "Main Reason" for Gas Prices. As a Presidential Candidate in June 2000, Bush said the "main reason" for gas prices was OPEC withholding production and he "would hope the administration could convince our friends at OPEC to open up the spigots."

In 2000, Bush Said President Clinton Should "Jawbone OPEC" to "Open Your Spigots." "In January 2000, with oil prices at nearly $28 a barrel, Bush called on President Clinton to 'jawbone OPEC' to get prices to retreat. 'What I think the president ought to do,' he said while campaigning in New Hampshire where heating oil prices were soaring, 'is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say, 'We expect you to open your spigots,'" according to the Associated Press.

A History of Candidate Bush Calling on OPEC to Raise Production

March 20, 2000: Bush Said President Clinton Should "Jawbone Opec" To "Open Your Spigots." "In January 2000, with oil prices at nearly $28 a barrel, Bush called on President Clinton to 'jawbone OPEC' to get prices to retreat. 'What I think the president ought to do,' he said while campaigning in New Hampshire where heating oil prices were soaring, 'is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say, 'We expect you to open your spigots,'" according to the Associated Press.

June 21, 2000: Bush Said OPEC Can Be Blamed As The "Main Reason" For Gas Prices. Bush said the "main reason" for high gas prices was OPEC withholding production and he "would hope the administration could convince our friends at OPEC to open up the spigots."

June 16, 2000: Bush Suggested We Work With OPEC To Ensure Low Gas Prices. "We should I think the -- we need to be working with our friends in OPEC to make sure that the price of crude oil, which doesn't rise to continue to force the price of gasoline up, particularly as the summer season comes -- is upon us."

June 27, 2000: Bush Said He Would Work With "Friends In OPEC" To Help With Gas Prices, Use "Capital," To "Open The Spigot." When asked for a concrete example of a solution to high gas prices, Bush said, "I would work with our friends in OPEC to convince them to open up the spigot, to increase the supply. Use the capital that my administration will earn, with the Kuwaitis or the Saudis, and convince them to open up the spigot."

Saw this on Daily Kos:

Bush is against campaign finance reform; then he's for it.

Bush is against a Homeland Security Department; then he's for it.

Bush is against a 9/11 commission; then he's for it.

Bush is against an Iraq WMD investigation; then he's for it.

Bush is against nation building; then he's for it.

Bush is against deficits; then he's for them.

Bush is for free trade; then he's for tariffs on steel; then he's against them again.

Bush is against the U.S. taking a role in the Israeli Palestinian conflict; then he pushes for a "road map" and a Palestinian State.

Bush is for states right to decide on gay marriage, then he is for changing the constitution.

Bush first says he'll provide money for first responders (fire, police, emergency), then he doesn't.

Bush first says that 'help is on the way' to the military ... then he cuts benefits

Bush-"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. Bush-"I don't know where he is. I have no idea and I really don't care.

Bush claims to be in favor of the environment and then secretly starts drilling on Padre Island.

Bush talks about helping education and increases mandates while cutting funding.

Bush first says the U.S. won't negotiate with North Korea. Now he will

Bush goes to Bob Jones University. Then say's he shouldn't have.

Bush said he would demand a U.N. Security Council vote on whether to sanction military action against Iraq. Later Bush announced he would not call for a vote

Bush said the "mission accomplished" banner was put up by the sailors. Bush later admits it was his advance team.

Bush was for fingerprinting and photographing Mexicans who enter the US. Bush after meeting with Pres. Fox, he's against it.

lundi, mars 08, 2004

THIS will warm the cockles of your heart. Stern discusses the relative tastefulness of Bush's ghoulish 9-11 campaign ads. Everyone needs a good laugh: here is a big 'un.

http://www.horkulated.com/music/howard.stern.bush.ads.horklog.com.mp3

I'm sure this goes without saying. The brain trust of the future, folks. Sheltered, overprivileged, undereducated, Jesus-peddling brats, straight to government, to decide the finer details of OUR lives.

This has GOT to stop.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/08/education/08HOME.html?hp

College for the Home-Schooled Is Shaping Leaders for the Right
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Published: March 8, 2004

URCELLVILLE, Va. — As one of 12 siblings taught at home by their parents in St. Croix Falls, Wis., Abram Olmstead knew he would fit right in at Patrick Henry College, the first college primarily for evangelical Christian home-schoolers. But what really sold him was the school's pipeline into conservative politics.

Of the nearly 100 interns working in the White House this semester, 7 are from the roughly 240 students enrolled in the four-year-old Patrick Henry College, in Purcellville. An eighth intern works for the president's re-election campaign. A former Patrick Henry intern now works on the paid staff of the president's top political adviser, Karl Rove. Over the last four years, 22 conservative members of Congress have employed one or more Patrick Henry interns in their offices or on their campaigns, according to the school's records.

"I would definitely like to be active in the government of our country and stuff," Mr. Olmstead, 19, said as he sat in a Christian coffeehouse near the campus, looking up from a copy of Plato's "Republic." "I would love to be able to be a foreign ambassador, and I would really like to move into the Senate later in my career."

The college's knack for political job placement testifies to the increasing influence that Christian home-schooling families are building within the conservative movement. Only about half a million families around the country home-school their children and only about two-thirds identify themselves as evangelical Christians, home-schooling advocates say. But they have passionate political views, a close-knit grass-roots network and the financial support of a handful of wealthy patrons.

FUN FACT:

Bush set aside more time to make his 9-11 campaign ad than he did to testify to the 9-11 Commission.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uslist0306,0,1686020,print.story

(snip)

Subpoena list

March 6, 2004

A federal grand jury has subpoenaed White House records on administration contacts with more than two dozen journalists and news media outlets in a special investigation into the improper leak of a covert CIA official's identity to columnist Robert Novak last July. They include:

Robert Novak, "Crossfire," "Capital Gang" and the Chicago Sun-Times
Knut Royce and Timothy M. Phelps, Newsday
Walter Pincus, Richard Leiby, Mike Allen, Dana Priest and Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post
Matthew Cooper, John Dickerson, Massimo Calabresi, Michael Duffy and James Carney, Time magazine
Evan Thomas, Newsweek
Andrea Mitchell, "Meet the Press," NBC
Chris Matthews, "Hardball," MSNBC
Tim Russert, Campbell Brown, NBC
Nicholas D. Kristof, David E. Sanger and Judith Miller, The New York Times
...

Greg Hitt and Paul Gigot, The Wall Street Journal
John Solomon, The Associated Press
Jeff Gannon, Talon News

(end snip)

More from the list at the link...

http://www.glocom.org/opinions/essays/20040301_tsurumi_president/

At Harvard Business School, thirty years ago, George Bush was a student of mine. I still vividly remember him. In my class, he declared that "people are poor because they are lazy."

He was opposed to labor unions, social security, environmental protection, Medicare, and public schools. To him, the antitrust watch dog, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities Exchange Commission were unnecessary hindrances to "free market competition." To him, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was "socialism."

Recently, President Bush's Federal Appeals Court Nominee, California's Supreme Court Justice Janice Brown, repeated the same broadside at her Senate hearing. She knew that her pronouncement would please President Bush and Karl Rove and their Senators. President Bush and his brain, Karl Rove, are leading a radical revolution of destroying all the democratic political, social, judiciary, and economic institutions that both Democrats and moderate Republicans had built together since Roosevelt's New Deal.

In June 2003, Bill Moyers said that "Karl Rove has modeled the Bush presidency on that of William Mckinley (1897-1901) and modeled himself on Mark Hanna, the man who virtually manufactured McKinley. Mark Hanna saw to it that Washington was ruled by business, railroads, and public utility corporations." President Bush's tax cuts have given over 93% of their benefits to large corporations and well-to-do households with over 250,000 dollars of annual income (about 10% of the U.S. households).

Liberal Repercussion

vendredi, mars 12, 2004

jeudi, mars 11, 2004

mercredi, mars 10, 2004

lundi, mars 08, 2004

Qui suis-je

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