Empty Promises, Hollow Responses
NY Times Can't Bring Itself To Challenge Bush
oday's NY Times Editorial lashes out at the Bush administration for it's "artful misdirection" in the State Of The Union address: the administration, as it always does, says one thing publicly and does almost the exact opposite in private. The editorial then goes on to describe in detail the lies the Bush administration is spreading about its policies. But it just can't bring itself to say that. The editorial finishes by adding: It is possible that Mr. Bush's forthcoming budget proposal will offer more cheerful news for the country's environmental and energy future. The State of the Union offered almost none.
Excuse me, but when, in its two years of existence, has this administration done any such thing? Why can't the Times' editorial staff just come right out and say what's going on without adding these little fairy-tale riders?
I give the Times credit for keeping on Bush's most vocal critic: Paul Krugman, who has even dared to call Bush a liar, which, under other newspapers, would have perhaps ended his career as a columnist. But that's hardly enough. The Times fancies itself the paper of record, and I can understand their commitment to journalistic standards, but where does it say that you can't be vocal when the government lies as often, and as badly, as it does?
It's all about the truth, people. And if you're afraid to say the truth because you're worried people might think you're too "partisan," then perhaps you should try another field. The Truth must be the operative word in any news organization, especially one which aspires to such lofty goals as the Times.
The foundation of the Pax Liberalis, like the foundation of any free society, is TRUST. We must have trust in a free government to safeguard our rights, trust in the captains of industry to choose the common good over their profits, and perhaps most importantly, in the truthfulness of a free press. Because free citizens cannot make the decisions they need to make if they don't know the truth. gw Bush would not have been elected if newspapers like the Times and others were as agressive in uncovering Bush's past as they were in attacking Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
I call upon the NY Times to do it's job and tell us the truth about what's going on in this country. Give us the information we need, and then trust us to do the right thing.
Divine Bullying
Geov Parrish: Working For Change
Excerpt:
Bush's speech included many of the key elements that are making normally supportive Americans leery, particularly of Bush's foreign adventurism. There are, by my count, three major reasons why Bush and his aides are infatuated, at a geopolitical level, with the idea of invading, conquering, and either running or installing a puppet regime in Iraq.
Dominators Rule
Michael Krepon: Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists
Excerpt:
Thanks to Osama bin Laden, dominators now rule the roost in Washington. The terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon gave President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld wide latitude to implement their preferred remedies. Notwithstanding the close division on Capitol Hill between Republicans and Democrats, U.S. national security policy is now heavily lopsided toward power projection and away from treaty regimes and preventive diplomacy.
Flogging the French
Nicholas D. Kristof
Excerpt:
The macho notion that we'll do what we choose and if the world doesn't like it, it can go [insert expletive here] is both ludicrous and dangerous. We mustn't become slaves to foreign opinion, but neither should we glibly dismiss it as we prepare to launch a war that will hugely aggravate this distemper — which will nurture more terrorism.
Jesus wouldn't have a prayer among the far right
Erik V. Williams
Excerpt:
If one is keeping score, it is just as easy to point out the evils of Christianity. Tens of thousands of men, women and children, both Christian and non-Christian, have been terrorized and sped into the arms of their Maker on the point of a sword, or toasted on church bonfires, all in the name of Christ. It is a subject that seems to rarely come up in Sunday school for some reason.
The Lies In The State Of The Union
Institute For Public Accuracy
Excerpt:
Economic growth also depends on education, public health, and infrastructure - all realms in which government plays a big part, even in [w]’s America. Yet he proposes vast tax cuts that will make it harder to pay for these prerequisites of growth - tax cuts that will add over $90,000 to the income of millionaires - but $400 to households with incomes in the $30,000-50,000 range, and $58 to those with incomes between $10,000 and $20,000. The people who need public services the most -- poor and middle income households - will take the biggest hits from spending cuts -- benefit least from the tax break. And the millionaires who send their kids to private schools get the biggest breaks. All as part of a package that will produce very little economic stimulus.
A War Crime or an Act of War?
Stephen C. Pelletiere
Excerpt:
This much about the gassing at Halabja we undoubtedly know: it came about in the course of a battle between Iraqis and Iranians. Iraq used chemical weapons to try to kill Iranians who had seized the town, which is in northern Iraq not far from the Iranian border. The Kurdish civilians who died had the misfortune to be caught up in that exchange. But they were not Iraq's main target.
Mandela: Bush leading us to "holocaust"
ormer South African President Nelson Mandela said that gw Bush was after Iraq's oil and that Tony Blair's support had made the British leader the US "foreign minister". Mandela knows something about the currrent administration's tactics, having been imprisoned by similar Nazi types in South Africa. Mandela was speaking an International Women's Forum in Johannesburg. Asked to comment, gw Bush said to a befuddled reporter, "Isn't that nigger still in jail?"
US Making Good Use Of Propaganda
he Bush administration has repeatedly referred to Saddam Hussein as "Hitler," but according to this article, it's not very effective propaganda because it has yet to be backed up by anything, like pictures of the babies he supposedly "pulled from incubators and scattered like firewood across the floor," as b41 accused him of. Rumor has it that w has the same feelings. But you'd think they'd at least try to present some proof of that. It's certainly easy for people like me to assume the worst when it comes to this administration. If they'd be more forthcoming about their evidence, I and people like me would be more willing to be behind this war. But their addiction to secrecy prevents them from opening up, and that only leaves us to deal with their actions, and those speak very loudly.
Four More Soldiers Die In Afghanistan
our U.S. soldiers were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training mission in eastern Afghanistan. Since U.S. military action in Afghanistan began in October 2001, at least five U.S. helicopters have crashed or had hard landings that have injured or killed troops. Two Army Rangers and two Marines have been killed, and at least 11 other troops have been injured. Officials from the Bush administration could not be reached for comment: they were too busy trying to figure out how much money they're going to make on the Iraq war to be worrying about trivial things like which US soldiers died for it.
GOP Starts Year With Millions in Bank
olstered by their having control of the government, the Republican National Committee began 2004 with over $5 million in the bank, while Democrats languished, $106,000 in debt. Democrats attributed the low figure to their having spent huge sums of money on "infrastructure," using the remaining "soft money" they had accumulated before it would become illegal to use under new campaign laws, and to the fact that they blew a ton at the crap tables in Vegas.
Judicial Nominees Being Forced Down Our Throats
enate Republicans are trying to prevent opponents from blocking gw Bush's judicial nominees by bunching them together in groups rather than holding individual hearings. As many of us already know, the GOP managed to block many of Bill Clinton's judicial appointments, and now that they have the power, are preparing, as I have warned in the past, to flood the courts with right-wing racists and anti-federalist fruitcakes. As if things weren't bad enough.
Exile For Hussein?
n a sign that someone out here may be reading Pax Liberalis, the Bush administration said that exile for Saddam Hussein and his "henchmen" was a possibility, but that "time was running out." Bush made his comments during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The meeting went cordially until gw Bush asked if Berlusconi had ever eaten any food prepared by Iron Chef Italian Masahiko Kobe.
oday's NY Times Editorial lashes out at the Bush administration for it's "artful misdirection" in the State Of The Union address: the administration, as it always does, says one thing publicly and does almost the exact opposite in private. The editorial then goes on to describe in detail the lies the Bush administration is spreading about its policies. But it just can't bring itself to say that. The editorial finishes by adding: It is possible that Mr. Bush's forthcoming budget proposal will offer more cheerful news for the country's environmental and energy future. The State of the Union offered almost none.Excuse me, but when, in its two years of existence, has this administration done any such thing? Why can't the Times' editorial staff just come right out and say what's going on without adding these little fairy-tale riders?
I give the Times credit for keeping on Bush's most vocal critic: Paul Krugman, who has even dared to call Bush a liar, which, under other newspapers, would have perhaps ended his career as a columnist. But that's hardly enough. The Times fancies itself the paper of record, and I can understand their commitment to journalistic standards, but where does it say that you can't be vocal when the government lies as often, and as badly, as it does?
It's all about the truth, people. And if you're afraid to say the truth because you're worried people might think you're too "partisan," then perhaps you should try another field. The Truth must be the operative word in any news organization, especially one which aspires to such lofty goals as the Times.
The foundation of the Pax Liberalis, like the foundation of any free society, is TRUST. We must have trust in a free government to safeguard our rights, trust in the captains of industry to choose the common good over their profits, and perhaps most importantly, in the truthfulness of a free press. Because free citizens cannot make the decisions they need to make if they don't know the truth. gw Bush would not have been elected if newspapers like the Times and others were as agressive in uncovering Bush's past as they were in attacking Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
I call upon the NY Times to do it's job and tell us the truth about what's going on in this country. Give us the information we need, and then trust us to do the right thing.
When Will This Happen To You??
Let Bush Know How It Feels In 2004!
Let Bush Know How It Feels In 2004!
Divine Bullying
Geov Parrish: Working For Change
Excerpt:
Bush's speech included many of the key elements that are making normally supportive Americans leery, particularly of Bush's foreign adventurism. There are, by my count, three major reasons why Bush and his aides are infatuated, at a geopolitical level, with the idea of invading, conquering, and either running or installing a puppet regime in Iraq.
Dominators Rule
Michael Krepon: Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists
Excerpt:
Thanks to Osama bin Laden, dominators now rule the roost in Washington. The terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon gave President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld wide latitude to implement their preferred remedies. Notwithstanding the close division on Capitol Hill between Republicans and Democrats, U.S. national security policy is now heavily lopsided toward power projection and away from treaty regimes and preventive diplomacy.
Flogging the French
Nicholas D. Kristof
Excerpt:
The macho notion that we'll do what we choose and if the world doesn't like it, it can go [insert expletive here] is both ludicrous and dangerous. We mustn't become slaves to foreign opinion, but neither should we glibly dismiss it as we prepare to launch a war that will hugely aggravate this distemper — which will nurture more terrorism.
Jesus wouldn't have a prayer among the far right
Erik V. Williams
Excerpt:
If one is keeping score, it is just as easy to point out the evils of Christianity. Tens of thousands of men, women and children, both Christian and non-Christian, have been terrorized and sped into the arms of their Maker on the point of a sword, or toasted on church bonfires, all in the name of Christ. It is a subject that seems to rarely come up in Sunday school for some reason.
The Lies In The State Of The Union
Institute For Public Accuracy
Excerpt:
Economic growth also depends on education, public health, and infrastructure - all realms in which government plays a big part, even in [w]’s America. Yet he proposes vast tax cuts that will make it harder to pay for these prerequisites of growth - tax cuts that will add over $90,000 to the income of millionaires - but $400 to households with incomes in the $30,000-50,000 range, and $58 to those with incomes between $10,000 and $20,000. The people who need public services the most -- poor and middle income households - will take the biggest hits from spending cuts -- benefit least from the tax break. And the millionaires who send their kids to private schools get the biggest breaks. All as part of a package that will produce very little economic stimulus.
A War Crime or an Act of War?
Stephen C. Pelletiere
Excerpt:
This much about the gassing at Halabja we undoubtedly know: it came about in the course of a battle between Iraqis and Iranians. Iraq used chemical weapons to try to kill Iranians who had seized the town, which is in northern Iraq not far from the Iranian border. The Kurdish civilians who died had the misfortune to be caught up in that exchange. But they were not Iraq's main target.
Mandela: Bush leading us to "holocaust"ormer South African President Nelson Mandela said that gw Bush was after Iraq's oil and that Tony Blair's support had made the British leader the US "foreign minister". Mandela knows something about the currrent administration's tactics, having been imprisoned by similar Nazi types in South Africa. Mandela was speaking an International Women's Forum in Johannesburg. Asked to comment, gw Bush said to a befuddled reporter, "Isn't that nigger still in jail?"US Making Good Use Of Propaganda
he Bush administration has repeatedly referred to Saddam Hussein as "Hitler," but according to this article, it's not very effective propaganda because it has yet to be backed up by anything, like pictures of the babies he supposedly "pulled from incubators and scattered like firewood across the floor," as b41 accused him of. Rumor has it that w has the same feelings. But you'd think they'd at least try to present some proof of that. It's certainly easy for people like me to assume the worst when it comes to this administration. If they'd be more forthcoming about their evidence, I and people like me would be more willing to be behind this war. But their addiction to secrecy prevents them from opening up, and that only leaves us to deal with their actions, and those speak very loudly.Four More Soldiers Die In Afghanistan
our U.S. soldiers were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training mission in eastern Afghanistan. Since U.S. military action in Afghanistan began in October 2001, at least five U.S. helicopters have crashed or had hard landings that have injured or killed troops. Two Army Rangers and two Marines have been killed, and at least 11 other troops have been injured. Officials from the Bush administration could not be reached for comment: they were too busy trying to figure out how much money they're going to make on the Iraq war to be worrying about trivial things like which US soldiers died for it.GOP Starts Year With Millions in Bank
olstered by their having control of the government, the Republican National Committee began 2004 with over $5 million in the bank, while Democrats languished, $106,000 in debt. Democrats attributed the low figure to their having spent huge sums of money on "infrastructure," using the remaining "soft money" they had accumulated before it would become illegal to use under new campaign laws, and to the fact that they blew a ton at the crap tables in Vegas.Judicial Nominees Being Forced Down Our Throats
enate Republicans are trying to prevent opponents from blocking gw Bush's judicial nominees by bunching them together in groups rather than holding individual hearings. As many of us already know, the GOP managed to block many of Bill Clinton's judicial appointments, and now that they have the power, are preparing, as I have warned in the past, to flood the courts with right-wing racists and anti-federalist fruitcakes. As if things weren't bad enough.Exile For Hussein?
n a sign that someone out here may be reading Pax Liberalis, the Bush administration said that exile for Saddam Hussein and his "henchmen" was a possibility, but that "time was running out." Bush made his comments during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The meeting went cordially until gw Bush asked if Berlusconi had ever eaten any food prepared by Iron Chef Italian Masahiko Kobe.
posted by CupOJoe at 1/31/2003 01:31:00 PM | 
Have you heard about the latest plan the Pentagon is considering for bodies of American troops killed in combat in Iraq? Because of the possibility of biochemical contamination, those who make the ultimate sacrifice may end up in mass graves, closed with the loving touch of a bulldozer, their no longer needed bodies receiving no sentimental fare thee well and Hail Marys, just a final cleanup pass of heavy earth-moving equipment. Those who loved them can never say goodbye and never cast them that last look of love and longing.
n his last State Of The Union Address, gw bush said that "my economic security plan can be summed up in one word: jobs." Since then the economy has lost thousands of jobs, and the stock market has dropped like a stone. I shudder to think what would happen if he didn't focus on jobs.
Of course his answer to all of this was equally predictable: tax cuts! But that contradicts what the Wall Street Journal said about "lucky duckies" like me who don't pay "our fair share"! How the hell am I supposed to figure all this crap out? Who the hell am I supposed to believe when they're all so damned evil? How long before my head explodes? No taxes on dividends! BOOM! Privatize Social Security and Medicare! POW! Tort Reform! KABLOOEY! Help me, Jeebus!
.S. and coalition forces are 
espite UN inspectors having chastised Iraq's lack of cooperation, they have 
orth Korean dictator Kim Jong Il ordered the U.N. nuclear agency to 
oters in Israel took to the polls and are expected to 
omeone on a message board asked me if I would support the coming war on Iraq if Clinton or Gore were the ones prosecuting it. My immediate reaction, and subsequent response, was that it's not a fair question. Clinton or Gore (or McCain, if it had come down to it) would simply not do things the same way as the current administration. You might as well ask if you would support France and Germany's current stance on Iraq if they were being led by Napolean and Hitler. So the question is moot.
K, she used nicer language than that. But in an 
roving that he's still President, as David Letterman told him, President Bill Clinton 
hile our attention is being diverted to Iraq, the illegal, babykilling Bush administration continues to tear down the wall between Church and State. Calling it "discrimination against religious groups", a new policy from the Dept. of Housing and Urban developement will allow allow religious groups, for the first time, to 
he Reverend 
y good buddy BChan is at it again, re: Iraq. Since there's no argument he can make that justifies his immoral and arrogantly ignorant position on the coming slaughter, he does what freepers do best: change the subject. He's now talking about how ANSWER and Not In Our Name, two of the many organizations involved in the anti-war protests, are 
ontinuing their policy of blaming anyone but the people who make the rules, the US officially 
nswering the call of our nation's need, the mighty denizens of 
The right wing, being toadies of the existing neo-fascist power structure to begin with, don't need such great numbers. It's remarkable how few of them are needed to speak out in order for them to get their way: look at the Michigan University lawsuit. A few whiteys complain about unequal treatment and that's enough to put into doubt decades of hard work which culminated in the civil rights movement and affirmative action programs designed to bring justice to a system unfairly tilted towards whites. And so a vast (but loud and obnoxious) minority, who can't even get a decent counter-protest going (picture on right), are allowed to dictate policy.
NY Times columnist 
Senator Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat, announced that he was "gooing to be President." Notice he didn't say he was "forming a committee," or "thinking about it," he said he was Going to be President. I wish we had a hundred more like him. I hope the Bush family doesn't "suicide" him.
The Navy also is prepared to put as many as six aircraft carriers within striking distance of Iraq. As a further precaution, the Air Force has made plans to ensure that both Voltron and Ultraman will be available if necessary.
Continuing their double standards when it comes to dealing with countries that do or don't have oil, the illegal Bush administration is considering 
It seems that BChan took my comment: My problem is that I let guys like that get to me too much: my first instinct is to want to bash their brains in, but the law frowns upon that sort of thing as an actual threat, and warned me that I "better make that first bash count". This from a guy who's a proud regular on 
The babykilling Bush administration has announced that it's going to make its interference with oil-rich Venezuela more public. A group of central American nations, called the "
The New York Times, working with PBS and the Canadian Broadcasting Company have been investigating numerous deaths and injuries at the various iron plants of McWane Inc. Part One, 
McWane has simply decided that it's cheaper to pay the fines than it is to make their workplace safer. If you go into a grocery store in Texas, rob a clerk and shoot him, you get executed. But if you're the manager of an iron plant that knowingly puts workers into dangerous places, it doesn't matter how many get killed, you will almost never get prosecuted, almost no chance of getting convicted, and on those rare times that you do, you get almost no disciplinary action: 
There you go again. I'm sure the Japanese felt the same way when they attacked Pearl. You know, I would agree with you if we weren't so damn hypocritical. See the pretty picture? That's Donald Rumsfeld, currently the US Defense Secretary, shaking hands with the "evil one", Saddam himself. We did a lot of business with him in the eighties, just like we've done business with a lot of scummy characters when it suited our interests. I don't know what Hussein did to get on our bad side, but it must have been pretty big. Dave already mentioned Pinochet, and he's just one of many over the years: The Shah of Iran, Marcos in the Phillipines, Noriega in Panama (until he pissed us off, too), etc., etc., etc. The Saudis are only slightly better, so are the Yemeni and the Kuwaitis and all the other assorted lunatics and scumbags we've put into power and propped up in the name of expediency.
In case you think I'm a little paranoid, consider that the US has just completed a deal with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan for the construction of an oil pipeline that will originate in the Central Asian Oil fields, which have a LOT of oil, to the Arabian Sea, a pipeline the freepers refuse to believe will be constructed. Why the pipeline? Because according to companies like Unocal, which holds the contract on the pact just signed, that's the quickest,easiest, and cheapest way to get the oil. So here we are, just finishing off a battle in Afghanistan (which still isn't quite finished, but that's another story), getting ready to go to war in Iraq, and stirring up trouble in oil-rich 
If a station knows he can count on the money regardless of the ratings, then the actual ratings matter less to them. And these "advertisers" consider the money well-spent if they can use radio as a propaganda machine to fire up their loyal supporters who will fire up politicians, who in turn will reward these companies with tort reform and deregulation and other goodies. The advertising money is an investment in a political strategy, and it's become a huge network where Republican politicians have a free route to their audience and it skews the whole national outlook. Democrats need to start doing the same thing and start sponsoring both veteran hosts like Rhodes.
Congratulations to the Falcons and quarterback Michael Vick for 
That's me on the left, when I was maybe four years old. I grew up in a pretty normal family, but somehow I didn't turn out normal, in fact you might say I'm kind of the black sheep of the family. I don't mean that to sound like I'm a criminal or anything, in fact I've never been arrested, never even really been in trouble unless you count a couple of traffic tickets and a bunch of financial difficulties. My life, from a certain point of view, has been pretty damn boring. I don't drink, I don't do drugs, I don't treat women like property, I love my wife dearly and I'm not afraid to show it. So why am I considered the black sheep? Because my relatives have something I don't: A LIFE.
I've been thinking a bit about the article I mentioned below that talks about the Democrats looking for left-wing talk show hosts. Now, Joey Davis and I just completed show #21, which I called