General Discussion
"We are involved in an endless War for nefarious purposes. There hasn't been anything like this since the founding of our Republic, in my opinion."
General Wsley Clark
NYC 6/19/06
That is how our good General started out his comments at the Eric Massa fundraiser held in Manhattan last night. Unfortunately I don't have time to blog about it, we got home after midnight and I am packing to very shortly leave on a trip, but I wanted to make sure this quote got recorded.
And our good Commander Massa last night said, among many wonderful things, "Questioning of Government Officials is not dissent, it's the way things are meant to work."
The friendship these men have for each other is something wonderful to be in the presence of. When Eric made his comments, he delivered Democratic Fire and Brimstone onto the Republicans running our nation aground, and Wes was standing off to the side through all of it, grinning from ear to ear, watching his friend get worked up into a righteous fury.
I have to sign off now, sorry I can't write more about the night, but it was great! Carry on the fight, I'll check in from the road.
You better get packing!
It is wonderful to see the relationship between those two. Wes is so proud of Eric and Eric thinks the world of Wes....
Have a safe trip!
"The mark of leadership is not to standup when everybody is standing, but rather to actually stand up when no one else is standing" - Pulitzer Prize winning author Samantha Power, introducing Gen Clark
I just put up more details at Democratic Underground so I will add them here also, and then I am gone:
Clark said that when he heard in 2002 that Karl Rove planned to run Bush as a War Time President for re-election (Eric Massa used the word "re-selection" in his comments by the way), he immediately put that together with the PNAC plans for multiple military conquests that his military contacts had told him about. When told the Administration wanted War with Iraq, Clark said he asked Why, and Generals he knew said "Sir, when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." They knew it was a mistake according to Clark.
Clark said the War on Terror was the perfect war for Republicans to attempt to twist to their political purposes: "They can't say when it is going to end, and if you oppose them you are called "unpatriotic", and advocating for "cut and run". He said: "Sending our young people to War, except as a very last resort, is Unwise, Un-patriotic, and Un-American."
General Clark and Commander Massa are both clearly furious over how this Administration misuses our military.
Howard Dean: SUPER SMACKDOWN
I'm not even going to try to do this justice by describing it. From the Situation Room, last night.
***********
Just seeing how long the recent comments box says it takes for this post to go through on a currently 5 comment GD thread.
I listen to Thom Hartmann on AAR (my local affiliate plays him at 9 am instead of Springer) and for the last few days he has pointed out something that seems obvious in retrospect.
The War is over. We won.
It is the Occupation we are in now and the Neocons have buggered it beyond all repair.
FUBAR.
The GWOT is what the neocons and the pResident want people to associate with Iraq and that only works if we let them.
It is hard to do, but we must correct people, especially within our own party, when they speak of the "War in Iraq"
GWOT is another war on a Noun. Like the War on poverty and the War on Drugs, it is intended to be a forever war. An excuse for military procurement, space based weapons and an umbrella under which mega corps can corner the rest of the worlds resources for the profit of the few.
The US Military is finely trained and equipped for two things.
Killing people and Breaking things.
They are the best in the world at what they do.
The US military is neither designed, trained, staffed nor equipped to rebuild a nation we have broken. Especially in light of the Neo-cons disregard for the basic requirements of an occupation set forth in precedent and the Geneva conventions.
Wars on nouns can last forever even when failure is obvious (War on Drugs for example)and can spawn terrible tactics that governments grow dependent on (RICO and other property seizures, where even being found innocent will not help get your property back).
Every occupation must end eventually (unless your Israel and have your own versions of the neo-cons)
Is a new Palestine what the American people want?
I don't think so...
"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 Britannica
Snagged from: http://horsesass.org/
Insurance industry faces an inconvenient truth by Goldy, 06/19/2006, 1:57 PM
Every time I talk about An Inconvenient Truth, the deniers come out in full force, regardless of whether they have actually seen the documentary. The science is bogus, they tell me. They insist that there is no scientific consensus that climate change is a reality, or that human activities have led to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Um… well… tell that to the insurance industry: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/274250_climated.html
-----
The planet’s most conservative, risk-averse businesspeople now recognize the reality of global climate change. The insurance industry, which has to pay up if the consensus of scientists is correct, has quite literally bought into the scenario.
Lloyd’s of London, the oldest insurance market in the world, released a report this month on the threat the industry faces. “Climate Change: Adapt or Bust,” warns, “If we do not take action now to understand the risks and their impact, the changing climate could kill us.” While the report “focuses on adaptation … we recognize that mitigation of the risk itself (i.e., the reduction of CO{-2} emissions) is crucial.”
Marsh, the world’s leading risk and insurance services firm, released a report in April in which it called climate change “one of the most significant emerging risks facing the world today.” Last month, American International Group adopted a policy that “recognizes the scientific consensus that climate change is a reality and is likely in large part the result of human activities that have led to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere.”
----
But then, we all know that the insurance industry is nothing but a bunch of wide-eyed, liberal propagandists. Meanwhile An Inconvenient Truth has already earned over $6.4 million in four weeks, making it the 11th-top-grossing documentary of all time.
"One of the embarrassing problems for the early nineteenth-century champions of the Christian faith was that not one of the first six Presidents of the United States was an orthodox Christian."--The Encyclopedia Britannica
Nephew heard phrase 'maniacal genius' on the television. Tells grandma he'd like to be one. She asked that maybe he should concentrate on the 'genius' part. As there are already too many 'maniacal' types out there. Nephew responds, "Oh. You mean like President Bush."
What would you do for a Klondike Bar?
Why does Al Franken continue giving airtime to Richard Perle, Neocon Architect?
I posted a thread over at the Franken blog about Clark vs. Perle HERE!
If you have time, help me out over there!
&$%#**!!!! neocons!
Got GOLD?
over <----- there. Please feel free to add to it!!! This info had me up all night. Cripes, I just can't imagine how we let things get so bad, but here we are. Thank God I have you all to keep me going.
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/7147#comment-110703
Good morning and catch y'all laters.
BUSH ADMIN used phone record brokers to bypass search warrants
Hotlist by kos
Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 12:27:36 PM EST
Remember those online phone record brokers where you could buy anyone's records for a fee? Aravosis underscored how nefarious those services were by buying Wesley Clark's records and the subsequent attention led the House to unanimously pass a bill outlawing the practice. Well, guess who was a big customer of those phone records?
Yeah, I gave it away in the title of this post, but it still boggles my mind...
::::: thread is open for commentary ::::::
Thank you!
It's top post, front page, but just in case here's the link:
Bush admin used phone record brokers to bypass search warrants
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
Call on the FCC to Stop “Fake News”
TV Stations Broadcast “News” Segments Secretly Produced by Corporations or the Government
Sign the petition at True Majority
~~~~
And from Dr. Dean:
Dear Jen,
We're in the middle of our campaign to explain the 50-state strategy and answer questions about its purpose. So far you've heard from me, but this week you're going to hear straight from the people on the ground about the work we're doing to build a truly national party.We are at a crucial moment in our party's history, and it's up to us to show that the 50-state strategy has the financial backing of ordinary Democrats across the country. We're doing that in a new way, too: we're counting the number of people donating on our web site, and we'll reveal the amount at the end. Less than halfway through this drive we hit the goal of 5,000 people.
As a result, we've set a new one and we're going to keep going, because this is about getting the word out: the 50-state strategy is right for our party, and the people who support it will stand up and be counted. Make your donation to support the 50-state strategy now:
http://www.democrats.org/peoplecount
Today I'm passing along a note from the state party chair in Utah -- not a place many would expect the national party to be focusing its resources. But as you will see our work is already paying off.
Governor Howard Dean, M.D.
Personally, I think it's pretty important we show that we're behing Dr. Dean on this. Even $10. will be a show of support.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
Should I write a bug report for this? I'm sure the admins are still busy working on updates here, but when you click "contribute to Dan Dodd" the actblue page opens with no option to contribute to his campaign (TX-03).
His photo isn't there, but he's listed (under Busby). If you put a $ amount in the box, scroll to the bottom and click "contribute" it seems to be working.
BTW, is the link you posted up there ^ here somewhere? I don't see it?
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
Thanks for spotting that Jen, but I think that if they have the time, they should add Dodd's name to the list at the top of the page at the link: http://actblue.com/page/wespac
The link is from SecuringAmerica - if you click on the 2006 federal "All Endorsed Candidates," the list of WesPAC-endorsed candidates opens. When I clicked "Contribute to Dan Dodd!" the link opens to the WesPAC ActBlue page.
but won't show up on the 'top list" till he's gotten at least one contribution from us. Please do the honors for us.
Act Blue has his pic now, but it usually take a few days for them to get it posted.
Thanks for all you're doing!
It's good to know about ActBlue functionality, since I imagine there will be more additions as time goes by. Thanks.
of our newspapers and/or cable so-called-news shows will pick up this story:
Safavian Found Guilty in Lobbyist Trial <--link goes to Guardian.
As always, Christy at firedoglake is much more fun to read:
The jury is back in the David Safavian trial — he was found guilty of four of his five felony counts, as charged in the indictment — for obstructing justice and lying to investigators and/or Congress.
~snip~
Game on. Were I a member of Congress who had accepted bribes and other inducements in exchange for Congressional favors and earmarks and the like, I’d beat a path to the door of the Federal prosecutors working this case. Because David Safavian has just gotten his first taste of fear of sentencing, and they ought to as well.
Word to the wise: first one to cut the deal gets the better one — the longer you wait, the less likely you are to get a deal. I’m just saying. The squeeze is on, and those who fess up early will only have to deal with short penitentiary time. The longer you wait, the longer you get…try keeping that in mind the next time you look at your family and friends.
Oh, and Ralphie boy — they’ve got all those e-mails about your Texas gambling scam. You think that’s not gonna come out over the next few months of campaigning? Come to Jesus, Ralphie. And cough up everything you have on your co-conspirators. You’ll enjoy the confessional, and you might save something other than just your ass for a change. The public dime doesn’t need to be wasted on the likes of you.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
Hi everybody. Just got a moment to log in and report.
After a long hiatus from politics it was great to get back into the fray with a NYC event and see old friends. My night was somewhat unusual because I was video taping clips for the Massa web site in another room downstairs. I interviewed Eric first and he was spot on with his answers. He has gotten very good with thinking on his feet. I did a short endorsement spot with Wes when he arrived and had some time to catch up with him. He gave me sad news about my friend Rollie who worked at the WesPAC office in LR. (I spent one of the best afternoons of my life with Rollie when I was in LR last summer. He is a magnificant story teller). Sadly Rollie is dying and was in the hospital. Wes said he had gained some weight and was much better than he had been, but still...
When we went upstairs after the shoot the first thing Wes said was, "Where is the food? I haven't had breakfast or lunch." Typically, Wes did not go for food, but instead engaged with the people in the room. I made up some crackers with brie and kept handing them to him as he talked to people.
I had a nice conversation with Reg and met Carol. Gordon Suber and I talked for awhile. Of course I gave Meow, Woof, ICB a big hug. Great to meet hubby Carl too. I met Chris Smith who was a NY delegate for Clark and worked NH in 2003. Also met Lewis Cohen who is a major Dem strategist in NYC. Great guy.
The speeches were wonderful and Tom captured them nicely already. Wish I had video taped them, but it was nice to just listen for once.
Last words to Wes (since I usually can't think of any probing questions about saving the world) were about sending my love to Rollie and asking Wes to tell him I will never forget him. (I kinda teared up on that one) I feel confident Wes will deliver the message and give Rollie a smile knowing he is remembered.
Its great to have you back taping and reporting! I wish I had been there but I should have left Virginia earlier. I only made it as far as NJ and home.
Its sad to hear about Rollie. "I spent one of the best afternoons of my life with Rollie when I was in LR last summer. He is a magnificant story teller." I could have said that myself from my first trip to LR. Meeting and hearing Rollie's stories was a unique and special experience. If he's feeling a bit better in the hospital I'm sure that the nurses are having the same experience. And somehow that makes me feel a little better.
Barry
Are you safer today than you were five years ago?
From KO's - Countdown tonight:
Now that top White House aide Karl Rove is off the hook in the CIA leak probe, President George W. Bush must weigh whether to pardon former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the only one indicted in the three-year investigation. Speculation about a pardon began in late October, soon after Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald unsealed the perjury indictment of Libby, and it continued last week after Fitzgerald chose not to charge Rove. A pardon before the trial could could cut off the disclosures and spare Vice President Dick Cheney from testifying as Fitzgerald's witness about Libby, his former chief of staff. But the timing of a pardon, the attorney suggested, likely would depend on the outcome of the midterm elections.If Republicans retain control of Congress, Bush could act swiftly. But if Democrats win control of the House or Senate, Bush might wait, and use Libby's trial as an excuse not to cooperate with any congressional investigations into the leak.
~~~~
Dan Rather, the hard-charging anchorman who dominated CBS News for more than two decades but whose final months were clouded by a discredited story on the president's military service, is leaving CBS after 44 years, the network announced Tuesday. The 74-year-old Rather has complained of being virtually forgotten at CBS Corp. since his exit as anchor last year, six months after the story on President Bush's military service aired. He has said he is considering an offer to do a weekly show at the HDNet high-definition network. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13436656/
What would you do for a Klondike Bar?
I probably should have posted this reminder sooner, but here it is now:
Reminder: Darfur/Africa Special on Link TV June 20 and June 30
Call to Action
A contact sent me this info:
"Link TV is devoting four-hours of primetime programming to current state of Africa and the ongoing genocide and upheaval in Darfur, which has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions homeless, on Tuesday, June 20 and Friday, June 30 at 5 p.m. PST and 8 p.m. EST."
Here is a link to General Clark's podcast on Darfur http://www.securingamerica.com/clarkcasts
and a link to where you can take action:
Democrats in congress debated an ammendment this afternoon about funding and denying funds for surveillance unless the FISA law was obeyed by the WH. Barney Franks and even some Republicans were on fire in favor of approving this. Of course, it got shot down with a voice vote. They wouldn't permit the calling of the yeas and nays, which I 've never seen before.
Now in the senate they are debating raising the minimum wage. Kennedy, Dodd and others are doing a great job of making the case (WITT), but of course Republicans (YOYOs) are arguing against. Kennedy, Dodd and the senator who replaced Corzine really understand WITT economics. I'm very impressed. This is a corner stone of where we get back to being a nation again and not this huge fiefdom of the corporatocracy.
Watching the evening news and the blathering of the usual array a numbskulls, ranting about the evil demonic torturers and killers that murdered the two lost soldiers.
Of course it has nothing to do with the fact that our soldiers have murdered innocent Iraqis...absolutely not. It's all because we killed Zaquari.
Sit with mouth agape...WHAT THE HELL DID THEY EXPECT?
I just can no longer handle the sheer idiocy of the people of this nation...the press, the government...none of it!
Did they really think we could torture, maim and kill whoever we wanted for any reason or no reason at all, and not expect to get the same in return?
Damn you to hell George Bush...you are the most evil corrupt human that the world has seen. You put Hitler Stalin and Pol Phot to shame. You have corrupted the greatest nation on earth today and you smirk your smirk while doing it.
US Dunkirk in Iraqi Desert: The Tipping Point!
By K Gajendra Singh
Al-Jazeerah, June 20, 2006
What would you do for a Klondike Bar?
...or Viet Nam.
What an $%^&*&^%$ disaster!!!
This is not a time for a candidate who will offend no one; it is time for a candidate who takes clear stands and kicks ass.....Molly Ivins
always gives me cause to pause. Neverhtheless, things aren't getting better
What an $%^&*&^%$ disaster!!!
yep, start to finish...
What would you do for a Klondike Bar?
"The US Neo-cons, responsible for the current US ills having exposed their ignorance of history, incompetence in post war planning, and arrogance based on an evil and racist Straussian ideology have come a cropper .The Republicans are trying to whistle through the dark days to next November elections, in trepiditation. But does it matter, in an almost bi-partisan consensus on gobblisation of others' wealth by US led West. ..."
Well whatever it means,.. gobblisation is the illness that has infected American politics. :/
I tried to edit my comment to include that graph but lost it somehow.
IMO it says it all.
This is not a time for a candidate who will offend no one; it is time for a candidate who takes clear stands and kicks ass.....Molly Ivins
of what a dillweed Rummy is, but I found this post at firedoglake especially disgusting and worthy of being spread around, being that we're the media and all...
~ ~ ~
Sorry Gulf Coast: He Does Wars
By Christy Hardin Smith
[This is another great guest post from Scout Prime from First Draft. Accountability is sorely lacking for the entire Bush Administration — most of all, perhaps, for Donald Rumsfeld. Thanks so much to Scout for shedding some light on his role in this. — CHS]
~Cont. reading at firedoglake
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
By Hume's Ghost
I ended my previous post on Michelle Malkin's "salute" to "Coultermania" with a promise to explain why such things merit a response, which is what I intend to do here. The topic is one I find difficult to narrow down (and compose a decent entry on in a day), so I might ramble a bit. Please bear with me.
As Glenn noted yesterday, the primary reason to respond to Malkin, Coulter, Hannity, et all is that they are influential. Let me try and put a personal face on that reason.
Not too long ago a friend of mine told me she was trying to become more politically informed. To do so, she continued, she had begun reading Ann Coulter's How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must). Think about that for a moment. This was an individual who did not know much about politics, was a non-ideological independent and the first person she could think of to learn more about politics was a hate-mongering hack. This should have never happened, because Coulter should have been exposed for the vile, bigoted, intellectually bankrupt propagandist that she is by journalists a long time ago. In this regard, my friend was failed by a mainstream media which is more interested in using Coulter as a figure to drive up ratings than they are in doing their jobs of promoting a responsible national discourse.
This is why I respond to Coulter and her apologists like Malkin, because I don't want their hate corrupting people like my friend. In the comments of Glenn's post, I linked to this entry I had previously written about why eliminationist rhetoric is not a joke as an explanation of why I write about extremists. You'll notice that it contains a link to a post that Alonzo Fyfe wrote after his wife was sent an e-mail from a co-worker which fantasized about the deaths of liberals. The co-worker thought it "too good not to pass along."
~ snip ~
To which I added that this tactic is facilitated by the line of books demonizing "liberals" and it is often coupled with eliminationism, because "the more the symbol, with all its negative associations comes to represent the group, the less that the group is perceived as human, the easier it is to rationalize injustice committed towards the group." The rhetoric of these media transmitters, both by repackaging extremist views for mainstream consumption and by engaging in the ritual defamation of those with whom they disagree, serve to shift mainstream political discourse towards the extreme. I'm passing over this subject briefly but will direct your attention to Dave Neiwert's seminal essay Rush, Newspeak, and Fascism: An exegesis (from which the transmitters link is taken) which exhaustively explains why and how American values are being transformed and corrupted by the right-wing extremism that the likes of Coulter and Malkin help to diffuse into every day discussion.
As a quick example of the process of transmission, let's look at Malkin for a case in point. Michelle claims that conservatives "zealously police their own ranks" to guard against extremism. I already wrote a post about her apologetics for Coulter's extremism, but what about Malkin herself? Does she transmit extremist views? Yes, she does. As Alex Koppelman has noted, Malkin writes for and keeps in her blogroll VDare.com, an organization that has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law center as a hate group with ties to white supremacism. The interesting thing about Koppelman's link is that he frames his post with a rant from Bill O'Reilly about how "far left" extremists are allowed on television to push their views but right-wing extremists like the KKK aren't, followed by O'Reilly bringing on Michelle Malkin who gives extremist views a soft face for palatable mainstream consumption . This is a microcosm of the way in which our media legitimizes right-wing extremism. Which brings me back to Coulter.
The fact that Coulter is on tv in the first place means that something is seriously wrong with our society. Peter Daou, who called Coulter's appearance on the Tonight Show "a dangerous inflection point in American politics" recognizes the absurdity of having a hate-mongering bigot like Coulter on, but he shied away from making the "obvious comparisons." The obvious comparisons need to be made. So here it is: Coulter talks about "liberals" the way racists talk about blacks, the way the Nazis talked about Jews. Her "jokes" are predicated on the notion that the elimination of a set of humans are funny, her "jokes" are funny the way anti-Semetic "jokes" like this were funny, which is to say, they are not not funny. They are disgusting and deadly serious...
~Cont. reading at Unclaimed Territory
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
to the above:
I.
Projecting Fascism
by David Neiwert
Rush Limbaugh likes to call himself "the most dangerous man in America." He offers this epithet tongue in cheek on his radio program, but the truth is, he isn't kidding. Over the decade and more that Limbaugh has ruled America's talk-radio landscape, it has become inescapably clear that he is, if nothing else, certainly the most dangerous demagogue in America, maybe in history.
In terms of his breadth of reach as a political propagandist, he has no real parallel in American history. The closest might be the Rev. Charles E. Coughlin, known to his radio audience of the 1920s and '30s as "Father Coughlin." Coughlin started out as an anti-communist firebrand, and by 1930, his weekly broadcasts reached an audience estimated at 45 million. (Limbaugh claims a weekly audience of 20 million.) He was a major supporter of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, but turned on FDR shortly afterward and became a severe critic of the administration through most of its tenure...
~Cont. at Cursur.org.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
Oompah Rush - a Flash Flick @ bushflash
Get yer lederhosen and DANCE!
Got GOLD?
Visit www.exDittohead.com !
The evil of Cheny and the egos of them all.
Will have to check listings and see when it's on here.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
Pacific Time. It will be available to watch online Thursday, 5pm ET.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
Every adult in the U.S. should be forced to watch it with their "flippers" hidden in another room. Tie 'em down.
Spells out the evil, the lies, the duplicity.
Screams loud and clear...YOU GOT SCREWED AMERICA!
Wish my dad would encourage a few of his Repub golf buds to watch! Those are the people who need to see it - but most likely won't.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
I just cannot watch any of these TV programs about the crooks or featuring them or anything to do with them. I can't even watch the news most of the time. My emotions just can't take any more. I know, I'm a chickens--t, but there it is. How do you stand to watch it?
This was one I wanted to see because the blurbs for it looked like they might actually be speaking the truths of the lies.
And boy did they.
From beginning to Scooter's indictment by the grand jury.
Good to see you by the way. :-)
for understanding :).
Yes, I'm still hanging around the place, confident that if there is anything I really need to know (like when Wes will be on the tube) someone here will post it. I'm trying to comment more in order to help have a little something going on here. People sure seem to be slip-sliding away, huh?
Unfortunately this blog setup is extremely frustrating for me. Looks great, horrible load speed no matter what I do.
So, while I wait for a page to load I go off and sort laundry, or play with a cat, etc, etc.
Not really condusive to quality conversation. Quite disappointed am I.
I'm happy to see your posts. You've always been a quiet one LOL.
I've DVRed it to watch later.
This is not a time for a candidate who will offend no one; it is time for a candidate who takes clear stands and kicks ass.....Molly Ivins
will be on Live Chat at WaPo tomorrow:
Live Chat With Producer Michael Kirk - Wednesday at 11am et on washingtonpost.com
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
Now I KNOW why the GOP is once again trying to cut or eliminate funding for PBS. They want to stiffle programs like the one aired tonight. There's nothing more dangerous to their agenda than an informed public. PBS hasn't bought into their smear and lie and cover up -- better known as "hear no evil, speak no evil" against the GOP. This is a program that every American should see, but won't because PBS doesn't have the viewership as MSM and MSM would NEVER air this program out of fear and retribution.
Hey Joyce, you hit a nerve! The GOP not only want to cut funding for CPB but they want it ELIMINATED!
Public Broadcasting Targeted By House
Panel Seeks to End CPB's Funding Within 2 YearsBy Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 10, 2005; Page A01A House subcommittee voted yesterday to sharply reduce the federal government's financial support for public broadcasting, including eliminating taxpayer funds that help underwrite such popular children's educational programs as "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," "Arthur" and "Postcards From Buster."
In addition, the subcommittee acted to eliminate within two years all federal money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- which passes federal funds to public broadcasters -- starting with a 25 percent reduction in CPB's budget for next year, from $400 million to $300 million.
~snip~
he subcommittee's action, which came on a voice vote, doesn't necessarily put Big Bird on the Endangered Species List. House members could restore funding as the appropriations bill moves along or, more likely, when the House and Senate meet to reconcile budget legislation later this year. The Senate has traditionally been a stronger ally of public broadcasting than the House, whose former speaker, Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), waged a high-profile but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to "zero out" funding for the CPB a decade ago.The cuts nevertheless surprised people in public broadcasting. In his budget sent to Congress in February, President Bush had recommended reducing CPB's budget only slightly.
... much more details at link...
The GOP could NEVER win another election with their radical regressive programs and ideas in an honest, open system! That's because they control the media message and hold elections on privatized hackable machines. They have overthrown our Constitutional government with the coup selection of gwb in 2000. Now "gay" Arthur & Big Bird are under attack, as well as Frontline and other shows. Next time you watch the Lehrer Report, pay attention to the underwriters.
An educated & informed public is THE LAST THING the regressives want.
The List of Groups, Candidates Declaring 'NO CONFIDENCE' in Busby/Bilbray Election Results Continues to Grow
MA Secretary of State and MD U.S. Senate Candidates, Election Defense Alliance all Issue Statements, Call for Manual Hand Count of Ballots…
The number of organizations and individuals now declaring "No Confidence" in the reported results of the Busby/Bilbray special election to fill the U.S. House seat of the jailed Randy "Duke" Cunningham is now increasing exponentially. The race, as we've reported since it was held on June 6th, was run on easily-tamperable Diebold voting machines that were effectively illegal and decertified on both the state and federal level after they were sent home with poll workers for days and weeks prior to the election in contravention of laws, regulations, and of course, common sense.
I'd continue to encourage you to support candidates and organizations who are willing to speak up on these issues! As well as not support those who don't! And feel free to let them know why!
Joining the burgeoning list of groups and individuals and candidates who have already declared "No Confidence" in the race and who are demanding a manual hand count of the ballots (you can do so yourself via VelvetRevolution.us' petition here,) are the following so far today…
Massachusetts Secretary of State candidate, John Bonifaz — who's also a Constitutional attorney — joins the "growing number of citizens" in declaring "No Confidence" in the unverified Busby/Bilbray election results as . In his statement, he declares that "We face today a crisis in public confidence in the integrity of our elections. This crisis threatens the foundation of our democracy."
His statement then goes on to add…
We cannot claim to serve as a model of democracy for the world, when our own election outcomes are not trusted here at home.
As Massachusetts Secretary of State, I will build and lead a coalition of secretaries of state from around the country to stand up to the private voting machine companies that are undermining the public's trust. I will set a standard for Massachusetts and for the nation: We will not contract with any private voting machine companies that do not guarantee a paper trail and hand-recorded paper ballot, access to the source codes and data within the machines, and opportunity to publicly own the machines in full.
We must reclaim our democracy. Count every vote...
~ More at BradBlog
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
It goes on and on and on and finally some are SEEING THE LIGHT!
Copy, paste and SEND to everybody you know! Talking with Jennifer Brunner (OH Dem SOS candidate) a few weeks ago, I got the feeling SHE gets IT too (gave up a judge seat to run) and really warmed to my idea of REGISTERED VOTERS being picked like juries to run polling places, instead of the (no offense to the elders here) the retirees who work our polls now and are set in their ways on how to do things and VERY averse to change.
Funny chicken and egg: We need to get her ELECTED on Blackwell's (diebold) machines!
Huh.
I have to admit, even I didn't think the political pimps in control of our national whorehouse would have the gall to sneak through a pay raise for themselves, then turn around a week later and kill the first increase in the minimum wage in almost ten years. Even I wouldn't have imagined they would think they could get away with it. Not in an election year. I guess it's their way of showing Tom DeLay they don't need him around to act like a pen full of swine with a taste for eating their own feces. The Bug Man may be gone, but his pestilence remains.
But what it really indicates, I think, is the complete confidence the GOP majority now places in the chronic amnesia of the American voter -- and the willingness of the corporate media complex (particularly its broadcast arm) to avoid doing or saying anything that would jog the patient's memory, at least when doing so might directly damage the interests of a powerful business constituency.
The piglets must assume that no matter how bad the juxtaposition of the two items above may look in June, by November it will just be another half-remembered trivia question -- like the infamous Dubai ports deal, which is being quietly resurrected now that all the fuss has died down.
They're probably right: There no longer seems to be any limit on what the devious and the dishonest can get away with in this country, as long as they're willing to be patient about it.
http://billmon.org/archives/002474.html
This is not a time for a candidate who will offend no one; it is time for a candidate who takes clear stands and kicks ass.....Molly Ivins
believe elections are being stolen... Cripes. WTF does it take to wake people up to what's going on?
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
...or even imply, that?
This is not a time for a candidate who will offend no one; it is time for a candidate who takes clear stands and kicks ass.....Molly Ivins
It's me saying that from what I read:
But what it really indicates, I think, is the complete confidence the GOP majority now places in the chronic amnesia of the American voter -- and the willingness of the corporate media complex (particularly its broadcast arm) to avoid doing or saying anything that would jog the patient's memory, at least when doing so might directly damage the interests of a powerful business constituency.
The piglets must assume that no matter how bad the juxtaposition of the two items above may look in June, by November it will just be another half-remembered trivia question -- like the infamous Dubai ports deal, which is being quietly resurrected now that all the fuss has died down.
They're probably right: There no longer seems to be any limit on what the devious and the dishonest can get away with in this country, as long as they're willing to be patient about it.
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
Hey, anyone wanna mosey on over to the Book Club and throw up a post about some book you've read and liked and maybe want to discuss or just tell the rest of us about? I know you guys are reading books....Just see if it fits into one of the categories under Book Club....Or maybe someone even wants to make a comment on The Weather Makers??
Also, thinking of putting a poll to see if there's something the community wants to read and discuss...Any suggestions for books to go in it?
Thanks much!
"The mark of leadership is not to standup when everybody is standing, but rather to actually stand up when no one else is standing" - Pulitzer Prize winning author Samantha Power, introducing Gen Clark
Hi Carol! I was wondering where our CCN book club was! (You didn't give a link -- where is it?)
Right now I'm reading Noam Chomsky's updated "Manufacturing Consent" and it is a real eye-opener to how the gov't & corporatists control the mass media message by commission & ommission. Slow and detailed, but * * * * !
On my shelf I have several books ready to go:
- "Hostile Takeover" by David Sirota
- "Failed States" by Noam Chomsky
- "Fooled Again" by Mark Crispin Miller
- "Armed Madhouse" by Greg Palast
- "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" by John Perkins
- "Imperial Ambitions" by Noam Chomsky
- "How the GOP Stole America's 2004 Election & is Rigging 2008" by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
There are only so many hours in the day, between work and taking care of the homestead (dishes, laundry, yardwork, paying bills, etc.), blogging, email, my subscriptions to mags (like Harper's, Rolling Stone, and others) and baseball. ;-)
So I'm slogging through "Manufacturing Consent" a few pages at a time and keeping up with current events at the same time and trying to run my life and keep my head above water. I feel like a juggler with 10 balls in the air!
Many have read some of the books I've listed (I lent out "House of Bush - House of Saud" after reading the 1st chapter; creeped me out BIG TIME), so many may have thoughts on those books.
Where was the CCN Book Club again?
SAVE OHIO - Jennifer Brunner for Ohio Secretary of State
There's a tab up top for it...
Here's the link though...http://securingamerica.com/ccn/taxonomy/term/38
There is one discussion going on now...here...under Wes Recommends...
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/taxonomy/term/207
Thanks for asking...and for the list of books...
"The mark of leadership is not to standup when everybody is standing, but rather to actually stand up when no one else is standing" - Pulitzer Prize winning author Samantha Power, introducing Gen Clark
I'm TWO full books behind in the Harry Potter Series, too, and Da Kid is buggin' me about it! He FINISHED these already!
"Order of the Phoenix" & "The Half-Blood Prince"
Sunday Reading!
SAVE OHIO - Jennifer Brunner for Ohio Secretary of State
Went to hairdresser, while my hair was being washed I was discussing Wes' fabulous speech at the Texas Dem Convention. The woman in the chair next to me was about to get her hair washed and while I had my head back being washed, she grabbed my hand and squeezed it and said, "I've been listening to you and I will go to his website. I'm desperate for someone to help our country." Then she said something about how our Dems are allowing our country to sink into the mire created by the neocons. Her hairdresser and shop owner is from France. He saw my bumper stickers on my car when he went out to the trash and came back and had been telling her that he voted for Wes in 04, and he wanted to know if it was her car. She said no, so then he realized the car was mine.
All three of these people, including one man waiting to have a haircut, said that if Wes runs they want to help me.
I should go to the hairdresser and shop more! I seem to be able to segue into these conversations easy and I'm amazed that I get positive reactions. Of course it's usually blue shop owners, customers, etc. But still, it seems many are desperate for a LEADER ON THE DEM SIDE AND LISTEN WHEN I TALK ABOUT WESLEY CLARK!
So.... with all the crappy news, it made my day! Bring 'em over, one person at a time!!!
You and Dee are some of the best ambassadors for General Clark. I've read so many stories from the two of you here on CCN about spreading the word. Glad you found some more support.
all to vote in November! This was a long discussion had by all of us, because they know that '08 will not matter if we don't take the House in '06.
It's wonderful to know some people get it. They also know it's important to talk to everyone to GET OUT THE VOTE!
In last election the hairdresser connection was understood and effective campaigns were designed for exactly that... yep they are great place to talk about political candidates...
2006/06/19/
what%e2%80%99s-jeb-raising-19-million-for/
What’s Jeb Raising $1.9 Million For? <!-- /title --><!-- /headline --><!-- byline -->Posted by Trish | Jun. 19, 2006, 11:36 am<!-- /byline --><!-- /byline --><!-- Text of post starts -->
Jeb Bush isn’t saying what he plans to use the $1.9 million he’s amassed in a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organization. The Foundation for Florida’s Future web site is decorated with apples and glowing headlines about how great the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Acheivement Test) is, so we would assume it has something to do with education. Not necessarily. The Palm Beach Post says the fund it can be whatever Jeb wants it to be.
Despite its vague goals, Bush faithful — those who have been well rewarded for loyalty by various Bush family members — continue to give generously
Bush has since been coy about what the foundation will fund.
“No plans yet,” he said last week.
Despite its vague goals, Bush faithful — those who have been well rewarded for loyalty by various Bush family members — continue to give generously to the fund.
…donors, including a host of developers and construction industry-related magnates from around the state, say they don’t care how he spends it.
…Jacksonville engineer Richard Blankenship, who served Bush’s brother, President George W. Bush, as ambassador to the Bahamas for two years, said he has given the foundation at least $185,000 over its lifetime.
… The top donation, $500,000, was given by Tampa-based Cast-Crete Corp., which makes building materials and is headed by conservative activist Ralph Hughes.
The Geo Group, a Boca Raton-based company that runs private prisons, donated $100,000. Its major shareholder is George Zoley, a Florida Atlantic University graduate Bush appointed to the university’s board of trustees.
Of all the headlines on the FFF web site about the FCAT, there were no links to the most recent story, about how the people employed by a private company to grade the test are not educators but instead, pizza delivery drivers and movie theater popcorn technicians. Read on for more.
If we don't want to define ourselves by things as superficial as our appearances, we're stuck with the revolting alternative of being judged by our actions. - Ellen
Sign this new petition to keep Progressive Radio on the air
in Cincinnati OH WCKY 1530 AM!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/251565251
Cross-posted at
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Copy, Paste and send world-wide!
Fight the corporate media!
Help keep progressive voices on-the-air!
imbillorightsmanandiapprovethismessage
NewsWeek June 19th - -c entral pages -- Arnold has a green campaign bus..and an Hydrogen Highway
Phil Angelides told Newsweek - "It 's going to take a lot more than a green bus to improve his environmental credentials." "The governor is blinded by his Republican ideology from making the right decisions ( about environment ) ."
If we don't want to define ourselves by things as superficial as our appearances, we're stuck with the revolting alternative of being judged by our actions. - Ellen
Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams.
Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential.
Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in,
but with what it is still possible for you to do.
- Pope John XXIII
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"We believe our values are superior. We take care of each person. We believe in helping people be all they can be. We believe in not discriminating against people. We believe in lifting people up and inspiring them to be more. We don't write people off. We don't fence people out. We don't put people down, we lift them up and bring them in. There are no greater values." ~Wes Clark, Jan '05