Today's News and Views -- Weekend, 19-20 June 2004
Wal-Mart has
profoundly altered labor politics, deploying ever more creative and ruthless
tactics to suppress the right to organize while driving down wages and
benefits in the retail industry and beyond. Staying union free is
a full-time commitment. Unless union prevention is a goal equal to other
objectives within an organization, the goal will usually not be attained.
The commitment to stay union free must exist at all levels of management --
from the Chairperson of the "Board" down to the front-line manager.
A draft affirms the need for
government to aid the needy and warns of excessive
nationalism. By Larry B. Stammer, Times
Staff Writer Los Angeles Times The National Assn. of
Evangelicals is circulating a draft of a
groundbreaking framework for political action that strongly endorses
social and economic justice and warns against close alignment with
any political party. Steeped in biblical morality
and evangelical scholarship, the
framework for public engagement could change how the estimated 30
million evangelicals in this country are viewed by liberals and
conservatives alike.
http://www.latimes.com/la-me-evangelicals20jun20,1,6850191.story
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7454/1458
Will Labor Take the Wal-Mart Challenge?
SANTA FE, N.M. - More than two dozen witnesses, from former Cabinet secretaries to unemployed textile workers, spent hours on Friday attacking President Bush's domestic policies and no time squabbling among themselves in the last of three public hearings to help the Democratic Party write its 2004 national platform.
There were no flare-ups, rude banners or angry disagreements. Not even a whisper of discontent. It was a far cry from the days when Democrats regularly savaged one another in platform battles over issues such as the Vietnam War, civil rights and
Get the barf bag ready, then read this:
Bush, McCain Look Beyond Differences in Appearance at Washington Army Base, Republicans Rally Veterans' Support
By Mike Allen Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, June 19, 2004; Page A06
FORT LEWIS, Wash., June 18 -- President Bush and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) put aside their animosity Friday and hugged onstage at a rally for 6,000 soldiers, ending any hopes of some Democrats that the maverick Republican would form a cross-party ticket with Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass).
Kerry and the
Mark of McCain
By Colbert I. King
Saturday, June 19, 2004; Page A23
Washingtonpost.com
John Kerry fancies himself a very disciplined politician who never tips his hand. But in his hunt for a running mate, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee may have revealed more about himself than he had in mind. Kerry is now interviewing potential running mates in his own party. But regardless of how he tries to dress it up, today's candidates are backups. The original object of Kerry's affection -- the person he personally courted for the second spot on the Democratic ticket -- was Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain. That McCain wasn't interested in the job is now old news. That Kerry had actually turned to a conservative Republican is an insight into the man and how he might govern if elected.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53683-2004Jun18.html
Is the "Big Lie" technique beginning to fail and Cheney doesn't know it?
Cheney blasts media on al Qaeda-Iraq link
Says media not 'doing their homework' in reporting ties
Friday, June 18, 2004 Posted: 2:25 AM EDT (0625 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday the evidence is "overwhelming" that al Qaeda had a relationship with Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, and he said media reports suggesting that the 9/11 commission has reached a contradictory conclusion were "irresponsible."
Among the dead is Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin, the nation's most-wanted militant and the self-proclaimed leader of al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. Al-Muqrin claimed responsibility for the beheading of U.S. hostage Paul Johnson Jr.
By Jr Ross
Published:
When Bad Journalism Met Government Lies
by Nicholas Von Hoffman New York Observer (weekly), June 20, 2004
The nominations are in, and in the category of worst correspondent working for a major newspaper, the anti-Pulitzer goes to Judith Miller of The New York Times. From The New York Review of Books to New York magazine, Ms. Miller has gotten ripped for her role as the War Witch who sold America on the existence of weapons of mass destruction.
Her own newspaper has dumped on her and, in the process, dumped on some of its other reporters and their supervisors ....
http://www.observer.com/pages/observer.asp#
Smack That Cheney-Bot!
People here still haven't stopped buzzing about the president's bizarre behavior at the White House unveiling ceremony for the Clintons' official portraits on Monday. Mr. Bush acted totally out of character: witty, engaged, amiable, bipartisan and magnanimous. Even to Bill and Hillary. ...
By EDITH M. LEDERER
The Associated Press Thursday, June 17, 2004; 8:21 PM
UNITED NATIONS - Defying the United States, Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to stop shielding American peacekeepers from international prosecution for war crimes. Annan cited the U.S. prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq in opposing a U.S. resolution calling for the blanket exemption for a third straight year. The United States introduced the resolution last month but has delayed calling for a vote. Despite intensive lobbying, Washington doesn't havethe minimum nine "yes" votes on the 15-member council to approve a new exemption, council diplomats said.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50485-2004Jun17.html
Posted June 19 2004 Sun-Sentinel (South Florida)
Marine Renounces Killing of Civilians
by Paul Rockwell
For nearly 12 years, Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey was a hard-core, some say "gung-ho," Marine. But the brutality, the sheer carnage of the U.S. invasion of Iraq , touched his conscience and changed him forever. He spoke to me from his home in Waynesville, North Carolina
http://war-times.org/issues/18art1.html
The New York Times Editorial June 18, 2004
The C.I.A. as History's Editor
If only the Central Intelligence Agency had been half as vigilant on the road to the Iraq war as it has been in redacting the Senate's critique of its failures. The Senate Intelligence Committee remains in a tug of war with the Bush administration over the panel's overdue report on intelligence bunglings, with the C.I.A. allowed to play the role of censor. After weeks of delay, the agency has decreed that much of thereport is too sensitive for the public to know.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/18/opinion/18FRI3.html
Consequential Lies
Ray McGovern June 17, 2004 TomPaine.common sense
The 9/11 commission has found "no credible evidence" of an Iraq/Al Qaeda link. But that doesn't mean Bush's spin machine will be put out to pasture. In fact, Bush and Cheney gave speeches earlier this week timed to drive the connections story home once again. But beyond perpetuating election-boosting misinformation among the American people, such creativity with the truth has much more frightening consequences. Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern explains.
Ray McGovern is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. He had a 27-year career as a CIA analyst from 1964 to 1990.
An attempt by Senate Democrats to restrict the actions of contract workers in Iraq was defeated by Republicans. Posted on Thu, Jun. 17, 2004
By SUMANA CHATTERJEE
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans on Wednesday defeated Democratic attempts to limit the role of private contractors in Iraq in a pair of votes that broke largely along partisan lines.
"They do admit: “The central assumption underlying this magazine's strategic rationale for war now appears to have been wrong.” (They’re referring to the idea that Iraq was busily building a nuclear weapon.) Duh. Everyone with any sense knew that before the war. Those with no sense figured it out a few weeks after the war. Then there is TNR, just realizing it now."
Down a little further is another great Dreyfuss article, "In a World of Shit"
ACLU Online ACLUOnline@aclu.org
Bush told he is playing into Bin Laden's hands
Al-Qaida may 'reward' American president with strike aimed at keeping him in office, senior intelligence man says
Julian Borger in Washington Guardian Unlimited Saturday June 19, 2004
A senior US intelligence official is about to publish a bitter condemnation of America's counter-terrorism policy, arguing that the west is losing the war against al-Qaida and that an "avaricious, premeditated, unprovoked" war in Iraq has played into Osama bin Laden's hands.
BY ELIZABETH HOLTZMAN
Elizabeth Holtzman is a former congresswoman, New York City comptroller and Brooklyn district attorney. She served on the House Judiciary Committee during impeachment of President Richard Nixon.
The missing link The Salt Lake Tribune
No matter
what the Bush administration did or did not say about it, it is now clear that
Saddam Hussein was not involved in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and
that any support for the Iraqi war based on the assumption that he was involved
was misplaced.
Misplaced,
widely held and, most disturbingly, still given life by the president himself.
Thursday, a day after the
9-11 commission announced its detailed history of the attacks, President Bush
repeated his insinuation that Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida
were so closely linked that a horrible crime committed by one justified an
assault on the other
read the rest at: http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Jun/06182004/Opinion/Opinion.asp
Labor's Democrat Problem
June 15, 2004 TomPaine.common sense
Jonathan Tasini is president of the Economic Future Group and writes his "Working In America" columns for TomPaine.com on an occasional basis.
The last few days, I’ve had that queasy feeling I get when I feel more repelled by so-called “liberals” than conservatives. The occasion: the wringing of hands and finger wagging at the local police union that has been picketing the site of the Democratic National Convention in Boston
The story in brief: The police have been without a contract for two years. The mayor, Democrat Thomas Menino, is offering a contract that the police officers don’t like. So far as I can tell, here is what the police have done: they’ve made some noise and made people uncomfortable. They’ve picketed at the site—oh, lord, they’ve exercised their First Amendment right by demonstrating—and other unionized workers have refused to cross the picket line, delaying work...
read the rest by following the URL below... Though it sometimes "stung" he is presenting an important perspective.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/labors_democrat_problem.php
by Ivan Eland
http://www.liberty-news.com/showNewsletter.php?id=200406191
IT'S NOT TOO HARD TO GET YOUR VOTE LOST -- IF SOME POLITICIANS WANT IT TO BE LOST
FLORIDA STILL HAS THOUSANDS OF ELIGIBLE VOTERS ON ITS PURGE LIST
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63781,00.html
JACOB OGLES, WIRED - Thousands of eligible Florida voters may be removed from the rolls in this year's election because of a faulty database aimed at convicted felons. Florida Department of State officials promise the new database, assembled entirely by public entities with state records, will be more accurate with added precautions. County election supervisors in all 67 counties will be responsible for verifying every name as a convicted felon, and those stripped of rights must be notified before the elections so they may challenge the finding. But voter advocacy groups remain concerned about the list being unrolled so close to this year's elections."
Intelligence: The Pentagon-Spying in America? (June 21 issue)
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5197014/site/newsweek/
Blow to US over cotton subsidies
Nick Mathiason The Observer Sunday June 20, 2004
The United States has lost a landmark case at the World Trade Organisation that could spell the beginning of the end of rich countries' subsidy payments to farmers. The WTO, based in Geneva, ruled on Friday that billions of dollars of annual subsidies given by the US government to 25,000 cotton farmers are illegal.
The case, brought by Brazil, had support from four African nations that produce cotton at cheaper prices but cannot sell it because subsidised US cotton has depressed world prices. US trade officials said they will appeal the WTO's ruling. US cotton farmers have been courted by George Bush, who sees their votes as crucial in the November elections.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1242864,00.html
Today's News and Views -- Friday, 18 June 2004
Some very interesting, even fun, articles today. This will be the last from me until Sunday night, bar emergency. If you have something you think should be included, please send to me at vmetze@metze.net. Cheers to you all.
Published on Friday, June 18, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
Scrooge & Marley, Inc. -- The True Conservative Agenda
by Thom Hartmann
There is nothing "normal" about a nation having a middle class, even though it is vital to the survival of democracy.
As twenty-three years of conservative economic policies have now shown millions of un- and underemployed Americans, what's "normal" in a "free and unfettered" economy is the rapid evolution of a small but fabulously wealthy ownership class, and a large but poor working class. In the entire history of civilization, outside of a small mercantilist class and the very few skilled tradesmen who'd managed to organize in guilds (the earliest unions) like the ancient Masons, the middle class was an aberration.
If a nation wants a middle class, it must define it, desire it, and work to both create and keep it. http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0618-03.htm
Al Qaeda militants kill American hostage
Terrorist group leader, 3 others die in Riyadh gunbattle
Friday, June 18, 2004
Posted: 8:16 PM EDT (0016 GMT)
(CNN) -- Saudi security forces killed a top al Qaeda leader in the kingdom shortly after the decapitated body of American hostage Paul Johnson Jr. was left in a remote area of Riyadh, security sources said.
THE SEPT. 11 COMMISSION June 18, 2004, LATimes.com (Los Angeles Times)
Air Authorities Were in Chaos, 9/11 Panel Says
The government was vastly unprepared and fumbled its response to the
terrorist strikes, investigators find. The FAA is taken to task.WASHINGTON — Federal aviation authorities and the nation's air defense command were unprepared in virtually every way for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and were forced to improvise amid chaos and miscommunication, the commission staff investigating the attacks said Thursday
http://email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/ehZQ0H5Cms0G2B0F23P0AG
NARAL is on the march. They need your help to keep Bush from quietly re-appointing two anti-choice anti-science zealots to the FDA panel regulating women's reproductive health. To help, go to sign their petition at
http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/hager_bush_6_18_04/kkxe8w2vjdwbjd
Terry Jones is apparently inspired by the headline below, to write "This won't hurt much"
LONDON, 17 June 2004 - Donald Rumsfeld holds that torture isn't torture if causing pain isn't the objective.
This won't hurt much
Terry Jones
June 16 2004
For some time now, I've been trying to find out where my son goes after choir practice. He simply refuses to tell me. He says it's no business of mine where he goes after choir practice and it's a free country.
Now it may be a free country, but if people start going just anywhere they like after choir practice, goodness knows whether we'll have a country left to be free. I mean, he might be going to anarchist meetings or Islamic study groups. How do I know?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1239688,00.html
Terry Jones' web site is http://www.terry-jones.net
The Thomas Dunne imprint of St. Martin's Press has agreed to pay around $500,000 to Pat Buchanan for an anti-Dubya book to be called "Where the Right Went Wrong."
Kerry proposes raising minimum wage
Democratic candidate blasts tax cuts "to the wealthiest people"
Friday, June 18, 2004 Posted: 12:41 PM EDT (1641 GMT)
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on
Friday proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $7 an hour by 2007,
which he contended would benefit working women more than any other group
Robert Reich's Call to 'Reason'
http://www.alternet.org/story/18968/
http://www.buzzflash.com BTW, did you know you can get headlines from them posted automatically to your web site? Works, too!
This is fun, but could be addictive. Look it over and see how you can tell George what to say!
"What the President meant to say was..."
http://www.george-says.com/index.php
The Texas Freedom Network, www.tfn.org, sent out an email alert today to members, with the platform that the religious right wants to get in the Texas Republican platform. Sounds exactly like what is in store for us as Bush pushs his neo-conservative, radical right wing religious beliefs which seems to have ordained him God, further and further despite all objection. I haven't found a URL for the alert, but the site is interesting. www.tfn.org.
Alliance for Retired Americans Alert
Take Action!
Urge Your Senators to Support the Dorgan-Snowe Reimportation Bill
Americans need relief from higher drug prices now. The best way is to enact a comprehensive, affordable prescription drug program under Medicare. Until we have leadership in Washington that can do that, safe reimportation of drugs is needed.
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/dorgan_snowe
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/dorgan_snowe/explanation
Rosier Outlook for Social Security
An analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed that the Social Security system is more financially secure than previously reported by the Bush administration. The CBO's analysis projected the program would remain solvent until 2052, a decade longer than the Social Security Trustees Report earlier this year. The Alliance has maintained all along that Social Security is not in a crisis state and has a future we can count
http://www.retiredamericans.org
http://www.retiredamericans.org/index.php?tg=articles&idx=More&topics=72&article=245
Florida restores thousands of felons' rights
By Christopher Smith
The Salt Lake Tribune
WASHINGTON -- America's most secret court approved an average
of nearly seven spy warrants each weekday last year, allowing the FBI to
covertly intercept communications of suspected terrorists within the United
States.
And that's about all that is publicly known about the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court, to which Utah's chief federal judge, Dee
Benson, was appointed last month. Even the identities of the 11 federal
judges who meet in the court's secure chambers in the Department of Justice
headquarters were not generally known until government watchdog groups last
year released membership rosters obtained through the Freedom of Information
Act.
http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Jun/06132004/utah/175008.asp
Today's News and Views -- Thursday, 17 June 2004
From the Daily Misleader
As reported in an earlier Daily Mislead,[1] the Bush administration awarded a $10 billion Department of Homeland Security contract to Accenture, a company that based its headquarters in Bermuda to avoid paying U.S. taxes. The move defied the President's promise to make sure everyone is "paying their fair share."[2] As if the Administration's actions weren't enough, yesterday the White House's Congressional allies defeated legislation that would have stopped the contract.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Congress "bowed to Republican leaders" and rejected legislation sponsored by Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) that would have prevented the contract from moving forward.[3] Despite proponents of the bill noting that Accenture "has shrunk its tax bill by moving its headquarters to Bermuda,"[4] the White House's allies defeated the legislation on a party line vote.
At the beginning of June, the presumptive Democratic nominee, John Kerry, made a well-timed pivot in his message strategy. He had patiently worked on building his credentials while President Bush was sinking in the polls. Though he occasionally took shots at the president, Kerry kept his focus on building his image as a war hero and dedicated public servant. It was a sound strategy. If the incumbent is foundering, just make yourself an acceptable alternative.
http://www.thehill.com/goddard/061704.aspx
The Son of Patriot Act Also Rises
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/17/inside.edge/index.html
Frankly, I got a little lost in this but for those of you who have more patience ...
Diplomats break silence to criticize White House
Joe Conason - The New York Observer
... Diplomats rarely act like dissidents. So it was extraordinary to learn that on June 16, a group of 26 distinguished former Foreign Service and military officers plans to issue an urgent, explicit call for Americans to eject George W. Bush on Election Day. Although their brief statement does not endorse John Kerry, the implication will be plain enough. (None of them is likely to vote for Ralph Nader.)
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=17127 More detail in articles below
Committee of Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change Releases Statement on Need to Replace Bush Administration
You can hear this morning's press conference/webcast at:
http://www.connectlive.com/events/foreignpolicy
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=137-06162004
The web page for the committee is at http://www.diplomatsforchange.com
A special thank you from me to the person who found these references today.
Great article by Marjorie Cohn about the Torturer-in-Chief in Truthout today.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/061804A.shtml
Reagan's Family Criticizes Use Of Reagan In Anti-Kerry Ad
The Plain Truth New York Times Published: June 17, 2004
There are two unpleasant alternatives: either Mr. Bush knew he was not telling the truth, or he has a capacity for politically motivated self-deception that is terrifying in the post-9/11 world.
Frist sides with right-wingers to stymie widely supported sea treaty
'On their way to Abu
Ghraib'
by Mike Ferner
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=16628&mode=nested&order=0
As if we didn't have enough to worry about, the assault on class action lawsuits, the consumer's tool to prevent consumer injury and death goes on. I think these guys in Washington just want to throw out all our laws and turn the country over to the corporations and Ashcroft :-(
From Paintball Practice to Prison: A Look At One of The Most Controversial Terrorism Cases in the Country
In Virginia, a judge sentenced three men to prison Tuesday, including one to life and another to 85 years, on terrorism charges connected to a game of paintball. But the sentence is coming under intense criticism – from the judge herself who described the sentence as "appalling" and "Draconian." We talk to one of the defendant’s attorneys who says the ruling marks "the greatest miscarriage of justice of any case" he has ever seen. [Includes transcript]
Today's News and Views -- Wednesday, 16 June 2004
Hope there are some things here you enjoy, but missed today.
By Stephen Barr
Washington Post
Wednesday, June 16, 2004; Page B02
Hate Crime Law Extended to Gays and Lesbians
Foreign policy damages nation, group says
From Paul Courson
CNN
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 Posted: 9:06 PM EDT (0106 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration's foreign policy in Iraq and elsewhere has been a "disaster," and President Bush should not be re-elected, a group of former diplomats and military leaders say in a newly released statement.
Although a leading Vatican cardinal states that Catholic teaching is clear about denying communion to a politician who supports abortion rights, two key U.S. bishops say withholding the sacrament from a dissenting Catholic like Massachusetts Senator John Kerry is not a likely option.
U.N. Says Globe Drying Up
at Fast Pace
By CHRIS HAWLEY
AP Jun 15, 7:17 PM (ET)
UNITED NATIONS (AP) The world is turning
to dust, with lands the size of Rhode
Island becoming desert wasteland every year and the problem
threatening to send millions of people fleeing to greener countries, the
United Nations says. ...
Slash-and-burn agriculture, sloppy conservation, overtaxed water supplies and soaring populations are mostly to blame. But global warming is taking its toll, too.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040615/D837O6TO0.html
Washington Post
Wednesday, June 16, 2004; 1:32 PM
There is "no credible evidence" that Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq collaborated with the al Qaeda terrorist network on any attacks on the United States, according to a new staff report released this morning by the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46254-2004Jun16.html
ENERGY KABUKI
The Republican leadership in the House is gearing up to pass an energy bill that's almost exactly the same as one passed by the chamber last fall and twice foiled in the Senate by filibusters. Oh, and they intend to push through other bills that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, circumvent environmental-justice protections, and more -- though none of the measures are expected to make it to President Bush's desk. Why, you ask? Get the scoop on this sound and fury signifying nothing in Muckraker -- today on the Grist Magazine website. today in Grist: House GOP leaders plot to vex Democrats -- in Muckraker
http://www.gristmagazine.com/muck/muck061504.asp?source=muck
Heinz Kerry says why she joined Democrats
WASHINGTON -- Teresa Heinz Kerry says anger, not ideology, prompted her to become a Democrat. The wife of Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, says her emotion stemmed from the way the Republican Party, to which she had pledged allegiance, treated Democratic Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia in 2002.
Salon Premium has an article about US strip searching foreign reports at airports then deporting them. I am not sure their day's pass lets you into premium. If you can access it, it is at
ACLU is launching a campaign to stop the Flag Desecration Amendment. See
BUSH MISLEADS ON SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
If you can stand to hear more about Florida ....
Education reforms pushed by President Bush and his brother the governor have raised the prominence of high-stakes scores -- and the ire of key Democratic blocs
By Terry M. Neal and John Poole
washingtonpost.com Staff Writers
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. The Sunshine State is known for many great things. Beaches. Palm trees. Conch fritters. No state income tax. Disney World.
The public education system, however, has not been on the list of excellent Florida qualities. The state ranks 42nd in spending per pupil. It is 30th in teacher pay. More than a fifth of its residents have no high school diploma - placing Florida behind all but 15 states. It receives more federal funding for disadvantaged students than all but three states.
WASHINGTON, June 14 - As Republicans try to cloak President Bush in the mantle of Ronald Reagan, their biggest obstacle may be Mr. Reagan's own family.
Even before Mr. Reagan died, Nancy Reagan and her daughter, Patti Davis, made their opposition to Mr. Bush's policy on stem-cell research well known. But on Friday, at the culmination of an emotional week of mourning for the former president, his son Ron Reagan delivered a eulogy that castigated politicians who use religion "to gain political advantage," a comment that was being interpreted in Washington as a not-so-subtle slap at Mr. Bush.http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/15/politics/15memo.html
By TERESA HAMPTON Editor, Capitol Hill Blue Jun 14, 2004, 01:00
The Iraqi war that has so divided Americans is also causing a rift in the family of President George W. Bush. The President’s father, George H.W. Bush 41st President of the United States disagrees with his son’s decisions in the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which is why the former President has not commented in public on the war.
Enough With Reagan Already
The Gipper's true legacy? Making the GOP as it is
today: nasty, brutish and shortsighted.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2004/06/16/notes061604.DTL
This may be the most interesting to you computer types:
FTC Says No to Spam List Washington Post Tech News
It's not like the
And in what must surely be the least-ringing
endorsement for the list that we've heard thus far, FTC Chairman
Today's News and Views
-- Tuesday, 15 June 2004
a
few really good pieces among those I saw today ... Enjoy! *Travesty of Justice* by PAUL KRUGMAN
The New York Times June 15,
2004 No question: John Ashcroft is the
worst attorney general in history.
[me: Actually, that should be enough to get you to read it. Krugman is
fantastic.] For this column, let's just focus on Mr. Ashcroft's role in the fight
against terror. Before 9/11 he was aggressively uninterested in the
terrorist threat. He didn't even mention counterterrorism in a May 2001
memo outlining strategic priorities for the Justice Department. When the
9/11 commission asked him why, he responded by blaming the Clinton
administration, with a personal attack on one of the commission members
thrown in for good measure. We
can't tell directly whether Mr. Ashcroft's post-9/11 policies are
protecting the United States from terrorist attacks. But a number of
pieces of evidence suggest otherwise.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/15/opinion/15KRUG.html WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Members
of the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating prewar Iraq intelligence
expressed displeasure Tuesday with CIA efforts to keep large parts of the
committee's report secret.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/15/wmd.cia/index.html
REPORT: CHENEY LYING
ABOUT HALLIBURTON INVOLVEMENT Vice President Dick Cheney has repeatedly assured
Americans that he has positively no
involvement in directing billions of taxpayer dollars in
no-bid contracts to Halliburton, his former employer. In September of
2003, he told NBC's Meet the Press that
his office has "absolutely no influence
of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form of contracts."[1]
In January of 2004, he told Fox News Radio, "I don't have anything to do
with the contracting process,[2] and I wouldn't know how to manipulate
the process if I wanted to." But,
according to new evidence, Cheney's office
"coordinated"[3] the Halliburton contracts and had the Pentagon
specifically seek its input in
constructing what ultimately became a multi-billion-dollar
contract.
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1421314&l=40364
THE DAILY
MIS-LEAD is a project of MoveOn.org
When Ignorance Isn't Bliss
Between Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Chris Matthews, John
Ashcroft's terror warnings, "The Bachelor," the final episode of "The
Sopranos" and those incessant injury lawyer commercials, voters in November
are somehow expected to cast informed votes for Congress. We are supposed to
base our decision on talking points parroted to us by inane TV reporters or,
worse, paid political ads.
CNN Washington Bureau
Tuesday, June 15, 2004 Posted: 7:50 PM EDT (2350
GMT)
Reagan blasts Bush
"My father crapped bigger ones than George Bush," says the
former president's son, in a flame-throwing conversation about the war and the
Bush administration's efforts to lay claim to the Reagan legacy.
By David Talbot
April 14, 2003 | The Bush inner circle would like to think of George W.'s presidency as more of an extension of Ronald Reagan's than of his one-term father's. Reagan himself, who has long suffered from Alzheimer's disease, is unable to comment on those who lay claim to his political legacy. But his son, Ron Jr., is -- and he's not pleased with the association.
http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2003/04/14/ron_reagan/
P.S. Note the age on the message.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
O'Reilly: "The Faster We Get Out of There, the Better"
O'Reilly, who has the top-rated political talk show on cable news, was confronted on ABC's "Good Morning America" about his statement before the Iraq war that if Saddam Hussein is overthrown and there were no such weapons found, he'd apologize to the nation.
http://montages.blogspot.com/2004/06/oreilly-faster-we-get-out-of-there.html
06/15/04 05:41 PM, EDT
President Bush was out of line to ask the Vatican to get U.S. bishops more involved in promoting his conservative social agenda, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Tuesday.
Kerry vows to halt economic 'squeeze'
ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (CNN) -- Sen. John Kerry on Tuesday promised to end the "middle-class squeeze" he blamed on President Bush's economic policies, telling union members they deserve a government that shares their values of "hard work, service and caring for one another."
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/15/kerry.speech/index.html
MoveOn starts new thrust: "If Bush won't repudiate torture, we must"
They will join with FaithfulAmerica to present to the Arab countries with a moving ad expressing the regrets so many of us feel. You can view the ad at