Fri, 14 Oct 2005 18:00:01 -0700
General Clark will deliver the Democratic Radio Address (12 hours)
General Clark - Forbes on FOX (14 hours)
General Clark on Fox News Sunday (2 days)
Timing: You will need to check your local programmes as the time shown on this site's "Home Page" under "Upcoming Events" is Central Time
On what station? NPR? Time? Thanks!!!!!!!!!!! dixie clarkie
is covering
Contractor fraud and abuse at Halliburton, by someone in the know.
Democrats should appear depressed or fed up - but never HAPPY about what is going on with this admin.
Bush came into office promising to give us all a RESPECTED Government - one that works for US. Instead we get one that is a disgrace across the world, within our own borders, one that seems willing to do anything in the name of politics, and one that favors the rich and powerful.
It's a sad day in America when we can't find an administration that "WORKS FOR THE PEOPLE" - instead of themselves or their friends. We need an administration that we see very little of - but is working day and night for the American People.
That leader is General Wesly Clark
an e-mail ab. your generous offer earlier. I hope it went through and I am not asking too much or being too picky. My car is just so lonesome since the campaign ended. :-( dixie clarkie
Perhaps it's time Democrats celebrated the work our soldiers have done? Do you suppose we could keep quiet about a plan to have a party of sorts to celebrate the WORK of our troops?
we are always accused of not supporting them - perhaps if we set up something to go on across America and get what friends we have left in other nations to join us from their nations - we could show our support for them in big numbers.
Have all democrats across the nation go to their local National Guard Armory and Celebrate our men and women in uniform at a specific time of day. Democrats MUST be the ones organizing it - be everybody is welcome. We could arrange to have live teleconferences with families of soldiers. At least one or two from each State.
Man I wish I had POWER and MONEY. I'd do this in a heart beat. It would not only THANK our soldiers for doing their JOBS - it might prove the GOP wrong - we do CARE.
has posted a transcript of Wes's radio address tomorrow.
It never fails that when I begin having my doubts about this war and why we are there, all I need do is listen to the general again.
He gives a person a sense of SAFETY and sense that HE'S IN CHARGE and KNOWS WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE.
We can only pray that other Americans will decide the General needs to Lead US to Peace and Prosperity.
What is this bs that they're saying Wes has no specific plan? I am so f'ing tired of this. They don't want to f'ing hear a plan, do they? Dems have no plan. Dems have no plan. Dems have no plan. ENOUGH! What do they want? Dems to come up with a 4500 page step by step guide without access to what actually is going on over there? GMAFB. I can't take it anymore. I want to b*tch slap these people.
They don't want Dems to "have a plan" because saying Dems doesn't makes for better press. What happened to actual honest to god reporters who actually investigated things before they shot their damn mouths off?
I posted a rant on Yahoo for Clark today about exactly the same thing. I am sick, sick, sick of media whores (and even our own side has fallen for this sh*t)...constantly moaning about the fact that the democrats don't have a plan...the democrats don't stand for anything...the democrats need to provide alternatives to repukes....blah, blah..blah. If a democrat does start talking about their beliefs on t.v., they are quickly shut up...or shouted down...or ridiculed. Many of the smart liberal media types are now refusing to go on cable shows...because like John Stewart "they refuse to be their monkey." I've heard both Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz say that they are turning down most requests to appear on t.v. "panels" because they get so little time to say anything and are just there to provide background for the mouth breathers.
I have e-mailed excerpts from Gen. Clark's op ed pieces, etc., about Iraq to TV journalists who have said that the Democrats don't have a plan. At least, the journalists will know that we don't fall for their baloney.
I posted this same picture last Wednesday here-
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/1695#comment-26957
Great minds!
Also posted the bushian arrest one same day which they photoshopped Saddam's body and bush's head!
I added the bold and underlines.... Not a whole lot we can say at this point but "I told ya so" to the sheeple who are just now hearing this stuff for the first time.
------------------
Questions of Character
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: October 14, 2005
George W. Bush, I once wrote, "values loyalty above expertise" and may have "a preference for advisers whose personal fortunes are almost entirely bound up with his own." And he likes to surround himself with "obsequious courtiers."
Lots of people are saying things like that these days. But those quotes are from a column published on Nov. 19, 2000.
I don't believe that I'm any better than the average person at judging other people's character. I got it right because I said those things in the context of a discussion of Mr. Bush's choice of economic advisers, a subject in which I do have some expertise.
But many people in the news media do claim, at least implicitly, to be experts at discerning character - and their judgments play a large, sometimes decisive role in our political life. The 2000 election would have ended in a chad-proof victory for Al Gore if many reporters hadn't taken a dislike to Mr. Gore, while portraying Mr. Bush as an honest, likable guy. The 2004 election was largely decided by the image of Mr. Bush as a strong, effective leader.
So it's important to ask why those judgments are often so wrong.
Right now, with the Bush administration in meltdown on multiple issues, we're hearing a lot about President Bush's personal failings. But what happened to the commanding figure of yore, the heroic leader in the war on terror? The answer, of course, is that the commanding figure never existed: Mr. Bush is the same man he always was. All the character flaws that are now fodder for late-night humor were fully visible, for those willing to see them, during the 2000 campaign.
And President Bush the great leader is far from the only fictional character, bearing no resemblance to the real man, created by media images.
Read the speeches Howard Dean gave before the Iraq war, and compare them with Colin Powell's pro-war presentation to the U.N. Knowing what we know now, it's clear that one man was judicious and realistic, while the other was spinning crazy conspiracy theories. But somehow their labels got switched in the way they were presented to the public by the news media.
Why does this happen? A large part of the answer is that the news business places great weight on "up close and personal" interviews with important people, largely because they're hard to get but also because they play well with the public. But such interviews are rarely revealing. The fact is that most people - myself included - are pretty bad at using personal impressions to judge character. Psychologists find, for example, that most people do little better than chance in distinguishing liars from truth-tellers.
More broadly, the big problem with political reporting based on character portraits is that there are no rules, no way for a reporter to be proved wrong. If a reporter tells you about the steely resolve of a politician who turns out to be ineffectual and unwilling to make hard choices, you've been misled, but not in a way that requires a formal correction.
And that makes it all too easy for coverage to be shaped by what reporters feel they can safely say, rather than what they actually think or know. Now that Mr. Bush's approval ratings are in the 30's, we're hearing about his coldness and bad temper, about how aides are afraid to tell him bad news. Does anyone think that journalists have only just discovered these personal characteristics?
Let's be frank: the Bush administration has made brilliant use of journalistic careerism. Those who wrote puff pieces about Mr. Bush and those around him have been rewarded with career-boosting access. Those who raised questions about his character found themselves under personal attack from the administration's proxies. (Yes, I'm speaking in part from experience.) Only now, with Mr. Bush in desperate trouble, has the structure of rewards shifted.
So what's the answer? Journalists who are better at judging character? Unfortunately, that's not a practical plan. After all, who judges their judgment?
What we really need is political journalism based less on perceptions of personalities and more on actual facts. Schadenfreude aside, we should not be happy that stories about Mr. Bush's boldness have given way to stories analyzing his facial tics. Think, instead, about how different the world would be today if, during the 2000 campaign, reporting had focused on the candidates' fiscal policies instead of their wardrobes.
"One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was that not one of the first six Presidents of the United States was an orthodox Christian."--The Encyclopedia Brittanica
say thank you to Mr. Krugman who's been right there with us the whole time.
And so this piece makes me wonder about the corporate controlled media. He makes it sound more like journalists actually DO have a choice of what to report, spin or ignore and it's NOT that they are controlled but that they are looking out for their own careers/wealth/prestige.
OTOH, I know Robert Koehler tried to write about election fraud more than once and his paper (Chicago Times I think?) wouldn't print it, so there is some control.
In any case, this is a great piece by Krugman. Thank you for posting it Nom.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. -Hunter/Garcia
Thank heavens for people (too few of them) like Paul Krugman.
And thank heavens that, although every word of his article is true and all this stuff about Bush's true character and lies should have come out years ago, at least it's coming out now. It's too bad this is 2005 and not 2004--but at least the 2006 elections, in which all this may make a difference, are ahead of us and not behind us.
Are mountains of corrections and reforms to election equipment and to procedures before we have anywhere near an assurance of a fair vote in 2006.
We all need to be proactive (<---a word I usually refuse to use!) and hammer away at the local/ state levels.
I posted a link Kos had up on Blog Law and what you can do without getting sued. Posting copywrited material can get you sued. Blocked content like what the NYT's is doing, I suspect is being monitored. Personally, I wouldn't do it. I don't want WesPAC to be sued by the NYT's. Most blogs have even stopped commenting on what these columnists have to say since the "iron curtain" went up in cyberspace. If your curious about the Blog Law link, it's still up on my blog.
That's the limit on DU for copyrighted articles, and they probably had some legal-type person look into it.
'Retired General Wesley Clark, who campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, will deliver the party's radio address Saturday, RAW STORY has learned.
Clark's address will question Bush Administration policy on Iraq. The onetime Supreme Allied Commander of NATO has briefed Democrats in Congress and is seen as a credible voice for the Democrats' Iraq policy, which does not involve a plan for an American pullout.'
The top headline - cute picture too - VERY cute!
"Staying the course is not a strategy. It's just a slogan." Love it! Go Wes!
I'm so glad to hear Wes commenting today - so very glad. And I'm thankful to good Clark supporters who challenge the old "Dems/Wes have no plan" meme. That has become so very tiresome!
Leadership means lifting people up. --Wes Clark
Here's a link to the constitution Iraq is voting on: http://www.pjstar.com/stories/101405/AP__B7QTPLEC.012.shtml
Sounds to me like Islam still rules. And LANGUAGE is a big deal over there - only two allowed. Too bad America won't make that kind of law here - ENGLISH ONLY.
It also sounds like something the Bush administration would write - mentioned terrorism and democracy alot, etc..
How in the world can any people accomplish the creation of laws that will not violate the laws of Islam on one hand the the tenets of democracy on the other?!
Leadership means lifting people up. --Wes Clark
off the coast of Southern California:
the whilstleblower on Halliburton on now on the West Coast.
This story has really been gnawing on me for days. These people are going to be left for dead. Two million are homeless in the mountains and winter is coming. They don't have tents, food, blankets and even if they did, how do they keep from freezing to death in the Himalayas in winter? China must have a gazillion tents and blankets with all the manufacturing they do. Why aren't there the helicopters and people to get these supplies to these people? The stories about not having medical supplies, also heartbreaking. The idea that the aftershocks can go on for a long time and threaten those people is also a worry. How do they move those 2 million people and to where?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/naturaldisasters/story/0,7369,1592832,00.html
This is an email I got from a friend in Santa Cruz yesterday. Unfortunately it is much the same as it was after Katrina. People are basically on their own. Governments are the same the world over.
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 06:37:12 +0000
Hi Everyone,The following is a list of websites that I have collected through various mediums. They are all from reliable sources so feel free to conduct research if you decide to donate.
I want to thank you for your concern at this difficult time. It is truly a dire situation. The latest estimate is 41,000 dead with aftershocks still in full swing. Here is an article on the latest from South Asia
Thanks again for your support and concern.
Zarqap.s. Also, on Monday we will be having a table set up at the student union for cash donations. This will be through the Pakistani Student Association here at SJSU. A little bit goes a long way =) (posters note: this is at San Jose State University in CA.)
p.p.s. Also, if you would like to donate clothes, medicine, blankets etc please let me know, a shipment of goods is ready to go soon.
_______________________
1. Pakistani Charities:
i) Edhi International Foundation.
42-07 National Street
Corona, New York, 11368 USA
Tel: (718)(639-5120)
Fax:(718)(335-1978)
E-Mail: edhi at cyber.net.pkii) Special Cell at The Embassy in DC: opened a designated account to receive donations for the President's Relief Fund. Donations can be sent to the Embassy of Pakistan, 3517 International Court, NW, Washington, DC 20008.
Cheques should be made payable to the President's Relief Fund.
_____________________________
2. Religious/Other Charities
i) Islamic Relief at http://www.irw.org/asiaquake/
http://www.islamic-relief.com/submenu/appeal/pakistanquake.htmii) Hidaya at http://www.hidaya.org/
iii) Aga Khan Development Network: http://www.akdn.org/
__________________________3. International Charities
i)Oxfam
ii) Sarid at: http://www.sarid.net/
v) UNICEF
________________________________
OTHER WEBSITES:
http://www.insanityworks.org/earthquake_relief.html
Islamic Relief: http://www.islamic-relief.com/
Association for the Development of Pakistan (ADP):
http://www.developpakistan.org/International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC): http://www.ifrc.org/
UNICEF's Emergency Programs in Pakistan:
United States Fund for UNICEFor call 1-800-4UNICEF
This is a developing list. Please help scrutinize and add to it. Thank you.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. -Hunter/Garcia
my friend that sent this pointed out that even $10. goes a long way.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. -Hunter/Garcia
Jen is that you have to be careful.
The Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S. was interviewed and took calls on Washington Week either this Wednesday or Thursday. It was quite interested as three Pakistania and one Kashmiri called in. The purpose of three of the calls, one of which was from Arkansas, was to complain to the Ambassador about the graft and would the money people were being asked to send via the embassy get to those who needed it. Of course, he assured them that it would.
$10. is a lot of money in that part of the world and if you're donating to a recognised charity that has a history in the country they will spend as much on supplies as they can in the country itself, so helping their economy too.
UNICEF used to be absolutely excellent too, but I have become nervous of them because of all of the problems with the UN.
to the International Rescue Committee, who have doctors, paramedics and supplies going on the ground there quite early on and also did in Aceh. I donated to them after the Tsunami. It's too much to expect NGOs to manage 2 million homeless people. India didn't accept international help and that's been a big problem for those living on Indian soil there. They types of injures left to go untreated after an earthquake with crush injuries are really horrible. It really takes governments working together as they finally got going after the Tsunami to manage something like this. WIth the Tsunami, people were drowned almost immediately, no so many injuries. With earthquakes there are so many more terrible injuries.
accept help is because they could manage and take care of their own people with their own resources and finances and believed that the help should go to other countries who were not in such a fortunate position as them.
Know how you feel - I have been having nightmares as I know well and love Kashmir as was married to a Kashmiri.
The very best charity working in India/Pakistan/Kashmir is Oxfam. If you take a look at the following webpage you will see that they have taken over a factory in Lahore which has the capacity to make 100 tents and hour. They always report on the work they are doing and are very supportive of women in many different ways. I have been involved with Oxfam UK for forty years; contacted OxfamUS when I first came here and they never responded. I have always supported the OxfamUK because I have seen them on the ground in the areas.
Also saw Catholic Charities at work there too, but would never give them any financial support because they encourage poverty instead of encouraging people to help themselves. The fact that they will not teach women who are living in abject poverty birth control and celebrate their having a baby every year absolutely infuriates me.
The Canadian Red Cross are wonderful as is the Internation Red Cross too. The American Red Cross is too political.
There are, of course, horrendous problems there now, but many good people on the ground helping.
Anyway take a look:
'A review by former intelligence officers has concluded that the Bush administration "apparently paid little or no attention" to prewar assessments by the Central Intelligence Agency that warned of major cultural and political obstacles to stability in postwar Iraq.
The unclassified report was completed in July 2004. It appeared publicly for the first time this week in Studies in Intelligence, a quarterly journal, and was first reported Wednesday in USA Today. The journal is published by the Center for the Study of Intelligence, which is part of the C.I.A. but operates independently.'
I certainly hope more of this "reality reporting" will become public knowledge.
Reality is going to bite BushCo in the keester.
Leadership means lifting people up. --Wes Clark
I returned a short while ago from the reception for "an evening at home with Pres Bill Clinton. Wes and Gert were alson in attendence. I got my pic taken with Wes AND Bill!! woohoo!! It's a little blurry tho (dang it!). Fab fab fabulous time!!! Will write up a report when I come back to earth
.
"...the measure of success is not 'Can you win?' It's 'Can you get your ideas adopted?' " ~ Wes Clark
when he was running in the primary about expanding the war to other countries? This article in The Guardian about what Bush said to Blair supports what Wes was saying then.
He was being challenged by Rep and Dems alike!! And accused by some of lying. I'd like to see O'R give a report on this.
Leadership means lifting people up. --Wes Clark
I saw on the home page that Gen. Clark was in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Does anyone know how that event turned out? I still have good memories of the pro-Clark people I talked to when my son and I were making phone calls for Clark during the primary campaign.
Arrrrrr......
Intense one.
We just wrapped up a volatile argument that emanated from the amount of broth in the soup at dinner!! I'm not sure how it got so "heated" -- or even what we were arguing about. LOL!
Good old wobbles... Get you crazy.
And goodnight all.
I hereby take full rewsponsibility for my actions in this matter. If the publishers of this blog wish to comply with any potential fallout by deleteing such posts, then that is what they should do. I personally, am a "free" man in that I have neither job, possesions, bank account, or property to lose to a zealous lawyer. This is freedom at its most basic and primative. Soon I will have the privilege of facing potential incarceration if I light a cigarette within 25 feet of the entrance, window, or vent of any public building in the state of WA since I will refuse to pay a 100.00 fine if cited. My civil disobedience in both these matters should be considered wilful by myself alone and Wespac and the publishers of this blog should refer any inquiries to my name and address listed in their database freely if requested by the copyright police of the NY Times organization.
IP and copyright lawyers (you know who you are) may wish to weigh in on the potential consequences of this statement. If I consider the potential for damage to those who provide this forum to be greater than I currently estimate, I will start publishing on my offshore server in plain text and provide a link. Which of these actions do you think the founding fathers of this republic would condone if any?
"One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was that not one of the first six Presidents of the United States was an orthodox Christian."--The Encyclopedia Brittanica
3 strikes for Bushco.
[The president] would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged(√), or of being in some way or other personally allied to him(√), or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure.(√)
-- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers #76
.
"One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was that not one of the first six Presidents of the United States was an orthodox Christian."--The Encyclopedia Brittanica
This is a pretty cool optical illusion. I just wish if we stared at the Bush administration long enough that they'd turn green and then eventually disappear.
http://www.patmedia.net/marklevinson/cool/cool_illusion.html
While I'll be delighted to read the transcript, how about posting a LINK TO THE AUDIO, PLEASE 
"Our public servants work for us - we don't work for them. We have an obligation, as citizens of this country, to always remember that - and to never let them forget it." - DeadMessengers
GENERAL CLARK'S BIRTHDAY FUNDRAISER IS ON!
From now until midnight December 23rd, the CLARK COMMUNITY has an opportunity to send their contribution to WesPAC in honor of GENERAL CLARK'S 61st BIRTHDAY!!!
Monthly and One-Time contributions are being accepted through the CLARK VOLUNTEERS website in the same way the NCCM did the "friends" program. Contribution amounts would go toward promoting WES CLARK as he travels around the country in support of Democratic leaders for 2005, 2006 and beyond.
But your kind donation will also be in honor of GENERAL CLARK'S birthday. General Clark will be presented with the names and the final contribution amount from the CLARK COMMUNITY on CHRISTMAS EVE. NOEL SCHUTZ will be lighting the candles on the General's birthday cake as the donation amounts increase.
* * * * All donations will be treated with the same respect and thanks. * * * *
Click on the following link for more details about making your BIRTHDAY CONTRIBUTION count.
http://www.clarkvolunteers.com
THANK YOU CLARKIES FOR ALL YOU DO!
.....thru' December....so new people coming on CCN see it. Any ideas?
Larry, Brent? Anyway way to do this?
George Bush has had his day and he's bollixed it up.
Wingnuts go nuts again - now its American Girl dolls
by Chris in Paris - 10/15/2005 04:22:00 AM
These nut cases really have compiled an interesting list of targets going back to Teletubbies and more recently SpongeBob SquarePants and now, the former right-wing favorite American Girl dolls. Yes, when you buy an American Girl doll you are supporting choice, self-esteem and even worse, girls education. Oh no! The last thing we need is girls education and self-esteem because who knows what will happen if they start thinking. Wingnuts are talking about protests outside of the stores in New York and Chicago. Another great moment for wingnut democracy.
Read more about the "radical" Girls, Inc organization and make up your own mind.
It's not against American Girl Dolls (I'm not a fan, but that doesn't matter). They are against Freedom of Speech - they want to control who and what we support with words and actions.
The extreme right-wing are fascists.
Blue State of Mind
I just posted it on the Speech thread. Too bad that Rawstory had it first.
It's good, folks!
hope this works:
"...the measure of success is not 'Can you win?' It's 'Can you get your ideas adopted?' " ~ Wes Clark
(Asked whether we can stay in Iraq for decades, comparing it to Japan after WWII)
It's a subordinate question. We're not in any position to stay for decades. Our military leaders say we're part of the problem. Sitting on a rift between shiite and sunni islam. this is a civil War about to explode that we're on top of.
There was nothing in Japan like we see in Iraq. Mac Aurthor dealt with the Emporer. Japan was a defeated nation. Iraq was three pieces fused together by Saddam.
We've got to find the right way to handle Iraq. We've got to get Iraq's neighbors involved. They're already involved under the table.
We don't know ehether Iran will cooperate, because we haven't tried. Can't contue policy of isolating Iran.
(shouting over each other about whether or not Iran will cooperate)
You're giving a theory. We've got to try to talk to Iran. We haven't tried. When you've got 150,000 troops it changes the diplomacy.
(There were other people there, but I only did a play-by-play on Wes.)
was a know-it-all jerk - talking about how Iran is a theocracy, blah blah blah and we shouldn't/can't talk to them - Wes says we have to try. Forbes' attitude was basically "we don't like them so we're not gonna talk to them" - just like the administration - very childish and simplistic view. Wes was obviously the adult in the discussion.
I liked the deference and respect the reporter showed - nice to see. He said something like "we're only journalists so what do we know - we have General Clark and Forbes here."
Surprising to see even Fox is not giving chimpy and Iraq a free pass anymore...
The Zarqawi letter is Bush's prime evidence in his speech today, but it appears that the letter may not have been from Zarqawi at all:
"As Iraqis prepared for this election, the world learned of a letter written by a leading terrorist explaining why Iraq is the central front in their war on civilization. Al Qaeda's number two leader, a man named Zawahiri, wrote to his chief deputy in Iraq, the terrorist Zarqawi. We intercepted this letter, and we have released it to the public. In it, Zawahiri lays out why al Qaeda views Iraq as "the place for the greatest battle" of our day."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/10/20051015.html
"The July 9 dated letter, which U.S. officials say was written by al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, appears near its close to urge the Iraq insurgent leader to send greetings to himself if visiting the Iraqi city of Falluja.
"My greetings to all the loved ones and please give me news of Karem and the rest of the folks I know," says an unedited English translation posted at www.dni.gov, the office Web site of U.S. intelligence chief John Negroponte.
"And especially, by God, if by chance you're going to Falluja, send greetings to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," it states.
Zarqawi is the Jordanian-born leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, the most prominent segment of the deadly Iraq insurgency. His organization has said the letter is a fabrication.
A spokesman for Negroponte, who is the U.S. director of national intelligence, or DNI, acknowledged the greetings passage was confusing but said the intelligence community was confident the letter was addressed to Zarqawi by Zawahri.
"We don't know what to make of it (the passage). It's unclear," the Negroponte spokesman said.
"But we are absolutely confident that it was intended for Mr. Zarqawi, based on a review by multiple agencies over a protracted period of time."
U.S. officials have refused to disclose details of where, when or how authorities came by the letter, or what methods have been used to determine its authenticity.
Some experts contend the strange passage undermines the letter's credibility.
"This would appear to be conclusive evidence that the DNI was mistaken, and that the letter was written to someone other than Zarqawi," Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists said on on Friday in his e-mail intelligence newsletter, "Secrecy News."
Aftergood cited an article in the online Slate magazine that called attention to the passage as well as the fact the letter was signed with the name, Abu Muhammad."
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N1460892.htm
Blue State of Mind
Negroponte threw this letter up on his site as fast as flipping a pancake without the proper vetting. Not a healthy sign for the Director of National Intelligence is it? The letter is now pretty widely accepted as a fake, a fraud, (even I detected questionable areas in the first read through of it!)
CBS can be raked over the coals for a producing a document later pronounced as a fake, people's jobs were lost within weeks of the discovery. A entire broadcasting company was smeared for many months over it. So what about Negroponte? He just awkwardly recoils with a momentary "Ooops" and continues to produce false documentation regarding the terraists?
The letter refers to us as the great atheists in battle in Iraq. Then a few pages later refers to us as the great Crusaders. The disclosures in it seem unnatural and crafted to specifications.
Accountability Takes a Holiday -- For five years.
But I found this in his latest column (for Monday)-- and it gave me even more hope. After five years of sniping at each and every person who misuses the word "conservative" to describe any one of the radical right-- I at last have an ally in....of all people....George Will! (bolding mine)
~~~~~
Conservatives are not supposed to be cuddly, or even particularly nice. They are, however, supposed to be competent. And to know that scarcity—of money, virtue, wisdom, competence, everything—forces choices. Furthermore, they are supposed to have an unsentimental commitment to meritocracy and excellence. The fact that none of those responsible for the postwar planning, or lack thereof, in Iraq have been sacked suggests—no, shouts—that in Washington today there is no serious penalty for serious failure. Hence the multiplication of failures.
at least he finally DID!
A bit plodding, but he got there. They should all be coming around about now.
Even my dyed in the cashmere NeoCon sister just summarily announced the other day... "I think I'm getting out of reading and talking about politics....it has it's own life and nothing can really affect it". Lalalalala life goes on.
She sure picked a curious time to abandon her longtime hobby of defending george bush against all odds.
I wonder if the conservative journalists are beginning to do this in order to maintain the level of their own credibility or they are honestly concerned for the future of the Republican party, post Bush?
Once the shockwaves of this corrupt administration and the GOP in general stop reverberating, it will be interesting to see how the conservatives reinvent themselves. I think the Dems are in the catbird seat right now. We just need to play our cards right and promote the right leaders to head up the party.
This post from the Nitpicker thinks he has.
http://nitpicker.blogspot.com/2005/10/bush-has-lost-lou-dobbs.html
He also has linked to the Dobbs transcript in question.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0510/14/ldt.01.html
There is this from the end of an exchange on a changed jobs-outsource report from the Department of Commerce.
DOBBS: Well, I think we ought to -- as we have said -- straight out, the government has in point of fact lied to us and we would like to have anyone from the Commerce Department, the United States government come here and set us straight on that because I'm tired of hearing people say it appears it was changed, it was this. It was changed. It was doctored straightforwardly.
TUCKER: You talk to the people who saw the original presentation and the one that was presented to Congress -- it was changed.
DOBBS: And as I remind everybody on this broadcast, our staff, our producers, and what we try to bring to you at home every night is a nonpartisan reality. That's our responsibility.
It's also the responsibility of our government, and a responsibility that they fail altogether to fulfill in this case.
If you're interested in the perspective on the new Constitution from an Iraqi woman's viewpoint, please go to my blog to read about No Woman Left Behind :
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/1774
Where the description of life before spring of 2003 is a reminiscence of freedom of movement; nostalgically summarized by one woman -- "God, it was wonderful"
"One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was that not one of the first six Presidents of the United States was an orthodox Christian."--The Encyclopedia Brittanica
is definitely a take off on our own favorite, Christopher Hitchens.....drunk, obnoxious know-it-all that he is.
Clean water act and the supreme court.
It was fun while it lasted...
"One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was that not one of the first six Presidents of the United States was an orthodox Christian."--The Encyclopedia Brittanica
We have some masks of dangerous Republicans, so we're going to make jails out of boxes and put their heads in them in our front yard . . . we have GWB and Newt G--we tried to find Karl Rove but no luck!
