Tsunami? What tsunami?

I'm just popping in quickly to make an observation. Then I'll get back to diaper duty.

As I write this the estimated death toll for the Asian Tsunami Disaster has risen above 76,000 and is expected to top 100,000. I thought that I would peruse some of the blogs of our "christian" friends and see what kind of relief efforts were going on and what they had to say about the event in general. Well, apparently they haven't heard about it.

The great leader of the free world originally promised $15 million in aid and then when he was called "stingy" the US announced that it would up the amount to $35 million. Democracy Now! put this in perspective by pointing out that Bush will spend between $30 and $40 million on his inauguration celebration next month and he has spent an average of $228 million per day in Iraq.

Maybe Bush thinks that if he ignores this there will be that many less muslims in world to deal with. But I can't understand why our christian bloggers aren't organizing fund drives for the victims of God's wrath in Asia.

Santa's Helper 2004

Yesterday was my annual day as Santa's helper. I think we made twelve stops this year--three senior citizens and nine with kids. The kids were the cutest ever.

This little girl talked to Santa non-stop in her own special language.


All of the families were very happy and thanked Santa for coming to see the kids. This year we a had a couple of parents who were laid off because their employer shut down and moved out of the country, we had one family with two kids and the mother had a stroke after the birth of the second, a couple of kids with health problems, and the senior citizens were so happy to see us. The one lady even asked me to change the filter in her furnace (which was in the kitchen) for her.



The only thing that I didn't like was being away from the baby for that long.

Quote of the Day

"That kid is soooo bleeping cute!"
-- Aunt Katie

Birth story

Birth is the most exciting thing and scariest thing I have ever witnessed. It was a long labor. She planned on doing it without any kind of pain relief but after suffering through back labor and going without much sleep for over two days she changed her mind. I am so glad that she did. The midwife suggested an epidural so we talked to the anesthesiologist and agreed to do it. Within minutes she was asleep and she slept through contractions for a few hours.

About twelve hours after we arrived she was able to start pushing. She pushed on almost every contraction for 3 1/2 hours. I could see the baby's hair but he just wouldn't come out. The midwife brought the doctor in and they said that they wanted to use a vacuum to help get the baby out. We asked about the risks and after they explained them we tried a few more pushes and then agreed to the vacuum.

So the pediatrics team showed up and manned the baby warmer, the doctor and the midwife put on gowns and eye protection and we were ready to have a baby. I was right there as the doctor pulled the head out. Then an arm and another arm and the rest of the baby. As soon as it was out they put two clips on the cord and cut between them. They took the baby's limp blue body right to the warmer where they suctioned his nose and mouth and rubbed him and gave him oxygen. He took a breath and and then let out a scream. His face and torso turned purple then pink. His arms and legs remained a bit purple for a while.

By this point my knees were getting weak and my head was spinning. I thought for sure that there was something wrong with him. I went over to get a closer look him and he was beautiful. My eyes filled with tears. I went back over to his mother and held her hand. She asked if he was okay and I told her that he was beautiful.

We spent the next two and a half days there. The baby is extremely pleasant. He is being followed for a few minor (we hope) health concerns but he is great. It seems like we've always had him.

Quote for today

"You are a citizen of a great and powerful nation. Are you not ashamed that you give so much time to the pursuit of money, and reputation, and honors, and care so little for truth and wisdom and the improvement of your soul?"
--Socrates, The Apology

Teaching Peace

The fall 2004 issue of Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy is a special issue devoted to "teaching peace." There are some interesting things in it, including an article entitled "Conversations in the Blogosphere: Weblogs in Inclusive Pedagogy of Peace and War" by Jo Ann Oravac. But two things caught my attention. The first was in a review article called "Eco-pedagogy: Philosophy and Praxis for a Peaceful World". Below is an excerpt:

For my students at least, the possibility the "war" might include the gross inequities between the industrialized and the developing nations--or practices such as clear-cutting which destroy not only wildlife habitat but the lives of local people; or the targeting of the world's disenfranchised for the siting of waste dumps and landfills; or the continuous, unavoidable, deadly exposure of all organisms to biocides and other toxins in food, water, soil, and air; or the consumerism, globalization, and Wal-martization" which are the underlying causes of all the above--is a novel, unnerving, and often unacceptable concept.
-- Jeri Pollack, "Eco-pedagogy: Philosophy and Praxis for a Peaceful World", Tranformations Vol XV No. 2

That is one sentence. In the first paragraph. There is one even longer in the next paragraph. I think I'm a fairly intelligent guy but by the time I got to the end of the that sentence I could not remember what the beginning was. This was only a five page article but I gave up part way though the second page. I think she had some good things to say but who is going to pay any attention.

That's part of the problem with "us"--the left, the intellectual elite, or whatever they are calling us these days--we can't just say "weapons of mass destruction" or "terrorists" or "flip-flopper" and get six million people to grunt in agreement. We have this need to over-explain everything.

The other piece in this issue that I liked was a poem:

The Pledge of Allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the flag
we tremble as the fireworks erupt
on the Fourth of July
red, white and blue stars exploding
deafening sounds of friendly fire
helicopters hover above war ships
echoes of jungle warfare, chemical rain
naked children running
through their own rice fields
filled with enemy bombs, not yet detonated
weapons of mass destruction
made in the homeland

of the United States of America
we broke bread with the Indians
the history books tell us
when November rolls around
we eat turkey, give thanks
for food and friends and freedom
we do not tell our children about the slaughtered
the mass graves of men, women, and children
who lived on this land before we did
or those who came here after us, in chains

And to the Republic for which it stands
our forefathers shaped a "finders' keepers" America
we were all created equal:
white, educated, male, land and slave owners only
the blood of wounded spirits, wounded people
stains the flag that our children face
as they recite the pledge each morning

One nation, indivisible
while we cover our blood soaked soil
with rows of identical houses, strip malls,
Wal-Marts, gated communities
and one
big
white
house
filled with "evil doers"
let's remember never to forget
the suffering of the past
the motherless-fatherless children
let's speak for those who were and continue to be
silenced
pledge allegiance to the truth
use your mind as your bow, and your words as your
arrows
to fight the good American fight for peace
with liberty and justice for all

--Maeve D'Arcy

And that is by a seventeen year old student.

Transformations is published semi-annually by the New Jersey Project.

The true meaning of...

Samantha Bee made the following observation on tonight's The Daily Show Mark Your Calendar segment (paraphrased):

Christmas: it's the only religious holiday that is also a federal holiday. So christians can go to their services and everyone else can stay home and reflect on the true meaning of separation of church and state.

Attack of the Yes Men

The Yes Men struck again on Friday, December 3, the 20th anniversary of the Union Carbide Bhopal disaster. BBC World Television emailed them through their site DowEthics.com and asked for a Dow representative to come on and discuss the anniversary.

The Yes Men call what they do "identity correction". They impersonate leaders of corporations and organizations "to publicly humiliate them." It would be refreshing if a corporate PR person actually said things like Mr. Finisterra was saying. He said that DOW accepted full responsiblity for the disaster and intended to compensate the victims because it was the right thing to do.

watch the video

Union Carbide took two hours to respond and said this
from Men's News Daily:

* The Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) will NOT be liquidated. (The fake "Dow plan" called for the dissolution and sale of Dow's fully owned subsidiary, estimated at US$12 billion, to fund compensation and remediation in Bhopal.)

* Dow will NOT commit ANY funds to compensate and treat 120,000 Bhopal residents who require lifelong care. The Bhopal victims have ALREADY been compensated; many received about US$500 several years ago, which in India can cover a full year of medical care.

* Dow will NOT remediate (clean up) the Bhopal plant site. We do understand that UCC abandoned thousands of tons of toxic chemicals on the site, and that these still contaminate the groundwater which area residents drink. Dow estimates that the Indian government's recent proposal to commission a study to consider the possibility of proper remediation at some point in the future is fully sufficient.

* Dow does NOT urge the US to extradite former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson to India, where he has been wanted for 20 years on multiple homicide charges.

* Dow will NOT release proprietary information on the leaked gases, nor the results of studies commissioned by UCC and never released.

* Dow will NOT fund research on the safety of Dow endocrine disruptors (ECDs) considered to have long-term negative effects.

* Dow DOES agree that "One can't assign a dollar value to doing what's morally right," as hoaxter Finisterra said. That is why Dow acknowledged and resolved many of Union Carbide's liabilities in the US immediately after acquiring the company in 2001.

Again, most importantly of all:

* Dow shareholders will see NO losses, because Dow's policy towards Bhopal HAS NOT CHANGED. Much as we at Dow may care, as human beings, about the victims of the Bhopal catastrophe, we must reiterate that Dow's sole and unique responsibility is to its shareholders, and Dow CANNOT do anything that goes against its bottom line unless forced to by law.

Turn Your Back on Bush

Controversial TV ad

Two major US television networks have refused to run this controversial ad--see it here.

CBS, NBC refuse to air UCC television advertisement

United Church of Christ ad highlighting Jesus' extravagant welcome called 'too controversial'

Nov. 30, 2004

CLEVELAND -- The CBS and NBC television networks are refusing to run a 30-second television ad from the United Church of Christ because its all-inclusive welcome has been deemed "too controversial."

The ad, part of the denomination's new, broad identity campaign set to begin airing nationwide on Dec. 1, states that -- like Jesus -- the United Church of Christ seeks to welcome all people, regardless of ability, age, race, economic circumstance or sexual orientation.

According to a written explanation from CBS, the United Church of Christ is being denied network access because its ad implies acceptance of gay and lesbian couples -- among other minority constituencies -- and is, therefore, too "controversial."

"Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations," reads an explanation from CBS, "and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks."

Similarly, a rejection by NBC declared the spot "too controversial."

"It's ironic that after a political season awash in commercials based on fear and deception by both parties seen on all the major networks, an ad with a message of welcome and inclusion would be deemed too controversial," says the Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president. "What's going on here?"
[read more]

But they happily ran those SwiftVet ads that were full of lies...over and over and over.

Keep the war criminal out

Apparently war criminal Bush can not be indicted in Canada because he is still in office. Canada does, however, have an immigration law banning war criminals or suspected war criminals from entering the country.

November 26, 2004 A Memo to Canada's Ministry of Immigration Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada By MICHAEL MANDEL and GAIL DAVIDSON The Honourable Judy Sgro, P.C., M.P. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Ottawa Canada K1A 1L1 Tel: 1 613 954 1064 Fax: 1 613 957 2688 Minister@cic.gc.ca sgro.j@parl.gc.ca Dear Minister Sgro, Re: President George W. Bush proposed November 30th 2004 visit to Canada. We wrote to Prime Minister Martin on November 19 2004 protesting the invitation of President Bush to Canada on the grounds of the President's flagrant commission of the most serious crimes against international law. Our letter is enclosed. As that letter indicates, many of the crimes of which President Bush stands accused are crimes under Canadian law, specifically under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. We are writing to you now to remind you that these crimes render President Bush inadmissible to Canada under our immigration laws. Because responsibility for the operation and enforcement of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act lies with you and your Ministry, we are calling on you to advise the Prime Minister of this fact and to insist that he rescind this invitation out of respect for our laws. As you know, section 35 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, 2001 2001 provides as follows: 35. (1) A permanent resident or a foreign national is inadmissible on grounds of violating human or international rights for (a) committing an act outside Canada that constitutes an offence referred to in sections 4 to 7 of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act; Paragraph 2 of section 35 allows for exceptions to be made for other classes of inadmissible foreign nationals 'who satisf[y] the Minister that their presence in Canada would not be detrimental to the national interest.' However, these exceptions specifically do not apply to those who have committed acts constituting offences referred to in sections 4 to 7 of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. Section 6 of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act incorporates by reference all international crimes against humanity and war crimes, and, explicitly, all crimes enumerated in Articles 7 and 8(2) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Section 7 of the Act places special responsibility on 'military commanders' and other 'superiors' for crimes committed by their subordinates that they knew of, or were criminally negligent in failing to know of, and with respect to which they did not take necessary and reasonable steps to prevent. Section 33 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act specifically provides that 'facts that constitute inadmissibility under sections 34 to 37 include facts arising from omissions and, unless otherwise provided, include facts for which there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have occurred, are occurring or may occur.' The evidence of President Bush's past and ongoing criminality is overwhelming. A recent editorial in the Washington Post commented on some of the now well known facts regarding the chain of memoranda from the President and White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, now Attorney General, that led to the use of torture by the US Armed Forces. These memoranda clearly establish the President's culpability for the torture used on detainees at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prisons. We also refer you to the many careful reports prepared by respected human rights organizations, journalists and scholars and also to recent decisions by US Courts, some of which are referenced in our letter to the Prime Minister and others we have listed below. These clearly provide far more than 'reasonable grounds to believe' in President Bush's legal and moral responsibility for the gravest crimes under numerous provisions of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. [read more]

Thanksgiving poem

On my way to Thanksgiving dinner yesterday I heard a poem on the radio. It was "As If to Demonstrate an Eclipse" read by the poet Billy Collins.

As If to Demonstrate an Eclipse

I pick an orange from a wicker basket
and place it on the table
to represent the sun.
Then down at the other end
a blue and white marble
becomes the earth
and nearby I lay the little moon of an aspirin.

I get a glass from a cabinet,
open a bottle of wine,
then I sit in a ladder-back chair,
a benevolent god presiding
over a miniature creation myth,

and I begin to sing
a homemade canticle of thanks
for this perfect little arrangement,
for not making the earth too hot or cold
not making it spin too fast or slow

so that the grove of orange trees
and the owl become possible,
not to mention the rolling wave,
the play of clouds, geese in flight,
and the Z of lightning on a dark lake.

Then I fill my glass again
and give thanks for the trout,
the oak, and the yellow feather,

singing the room full of shadows,
as sun and earth and moon
circle one another in their impeccable orbits
and I get more and more cockeyed with gratitude.


by Billy Collins from Nine Horses © Random House

Buy Nothing Day

Don't forget about Buy Nothing Day on Friday here in the US and on Saturday in the UK.

You can even take part in a Whirl Mart. Also see Consumer Monster. Or see 101 THINGS TO DO ON BUY NOTHING DAY. And of course Buy Nothing Christmas (see article).

Deer 5, Hunters 192,934

Hunter kills five, injures three after tree stand dispute

By JOSHUA FREED
Associated Press Writer
BIRCHWOOD, Wis. - A deer hunter shot and killed five people and injured three others in northwestern Wisconsin over a dispute about a tree stand during the hunt's opening weekend, authorities said.

The 36-year-old alleged gunman, who lives in the Minneapolis area, was arrested at about 5:15 p.m. Sunday at the Rusk and Sawyer County line, Sawyer County sheriff's officials said.

Jake Hodgkinson, a deputy at the county jail, identified the suspect as Chai Vang but would give no additional details.

Two hunters were returning to their rural cabin on private land in Sawyer County when they saw the suspect in one of their tree stands before noon Sunday, County Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle said. A confrontation and shooting followed.
[more]

U2 Rocked SNL

Tonight's Saturday Night Live viewers were treated to a third song by U2. After the last commercial break host Luke Wilson and Bono were sitting on the edge of the stage with the cast behind them when Bono got up and went over to the music stage and U2 performed "I Will Follow". It looked like the live audience was even treated to one more song after that. I've wanted to go see SNL in person for years but I never did. This would have been a good one to see live.

I remember buying my first U2 recording in 1983. I saw them live in 1992. I actually heard them live all summer when I was working at Hersheypark and they were practicing for their outdoor ZOO TV tour. I still love U2. I'm not like a crazy fan or anything but I enjoy seeing them perform.

Anyhow, this was a welcome change from the Ashlee Simpson lip-sync fiasco.

****update****

Here is a link to the video of the "I Will Follow" performance at the end of the show.

Why we love Molly Ivins

Read this by Molly Ivins:

A long four years
November 17, 2004

AUSTIN, Texas -- My, my, gonna be a long four years. House Republicans have rewritten the ethics rules so Tom DeLay won't have to resign if indicted after all. Let's hear it for moral values. DeLay is one of the leading forces in making "Republican ethics" into an oxymoron.

The rule was passed in 1993, when Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, was being investigated for ethics violations. And who helped lead the floor fight to force him to resign his powerful position? Why, Tom DeLay, of course. (Actually, it's sort of a funny story. The D's already had a caucus rule that you had to resign from any leadership position if indicted. The R's changed their rules to match the D's, except they deliberately did not make their rule retroactive, so the highly indicted Rep. Joseph McDade, senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, could, unlike Rostenkowski, retain his seat.)

DeLay has already been admonished by the House ethics committee three times on separate violations of ethics rules. Please note, that is the Republican-dominated ethics committee. The hilarious rationale offered by the R's for the new rule to exempt DeLay is that no one can accuse them of taking the moral low road here because, "That line of reasoning accepts that exercise of the prosecutor in Texas is legitimate."
[read more]

Bless our Wal-Mart Nation

PBS showed Hedrick Smith's "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" on Frontline last night. The whole Wal-Mart thing is eerily similar to the Bush Administration's America. Wal-Mart convinces its low wage employees and its shoppers that Wal-Mart is good for them. Meanwhile, they are responsible for shutting down American manufacturers. Responsible for sending American jobs to China.

So Americans lose their jobs, communities lose their factories and their tax base, and Wal-Mart makes gobs of money for a very few people. And dumb Americans continue shop there.

The "far left" (me) responds

This is from a certain Bush-mo-tized blogger:

Where is the outcry from the far left? Where are the feminists? Where are the bloggers who were obsessed with what happened at Abu Ghraib? Why are they silent when civilian contractors are burned and hung from brides, when civilians are kidnapped and have their heads sawed off, when mass graves containing men, women, children and babies are discovered, when innocent school children, parents and teachers are tortured, raped and murdered in Beslan, Russia? Far left liberals would rather bitch and cry about the humiliation of men in panties or the justified killing of insurgents (terrorists!) who fire upon our troops and would kill us if given the chance.

This is my response:

1. Civilian contractors (mercenaries!) should not be in Iraq.


2. The US military should not be in Iraq. Therefore every US and British military death, every civilian death (Iraqi and otherwise), and the destruction of Iraq could have been avoided.


3. The humiliation and torture of prisoners of war is a war crime perpetrated in the name of the people of the United States.


4. It is illegal under the Geneva Convention to kill a wounded person. Period.


5. While the Beslan school massacre was horrible and disturbing, it was not done in my name.

This is what 'liberation' looks like

"I am pleased to have been part of a team that launched the global war against terror, liberated the Afghan and Iraqi people" -- Colin Powell (from his resignation letter)

Join The Revolution

The Revolution Starts Now I was walkin' down the street In the town where I was born I was movin' to a beat That I'd never felt before So I opened up my eyes And I took a look around I saw it written 'cross the sky The revolution starts now Yeah, the revolution starts now The revolution starts now When you rise above your fear And tear the walls around you down The revolution starts here Where you work and where you play Where you lay your money down What you do and what you say The revolution starts now Yeah the revolution starts now Yeah the revolution starts now In your own backyard In your own hometown So what you doin' standin' around? Just follow your heart The revolution starts now Last night I had a dream That the world had turned around And all our hopes had come to be And the people gathered 'round They all brought what they could bring And nobody went without And I learned a song to sing The revolution starts now by

Who are we

I saw this posted by someone who is proud to be a "Red State" voter:

We are the red states. We listen to talk shows and Fox News. We tear up when we hear the National Anthem. We drive SUVS and fly business class. We go through drive-thrus, have mortgages, and shop at Wal-Mart. We attend BBQs, football games, fire hall meetings, and places of faith. We believe life is precious and marriage is sacred. We believe there are some things worth dying for. We have the utmost respect for those who lay their life on the line defending our freedom and protecting our streets. We believe religion is not a philosophy but a way of life. We raise our children as best we can. We'll help anyone who really needs it, and not blame others for our own bad choices. We read our Holy Books. We pray because we know wisdom comes from God, not man. We go about our lives quietly as we care for our families. We might not have time to demonstrate, but we make time to vote. We expect the values we teach our children to be respected in our schools. We expect people to say what they mean and mean what they say. We expect to work hard and earn the just rewards of that labor. We expect to be able to watch a football game with our kids and not have to worry about the content of the half-time show. We expect terrorists and those who harm the innocent to be punished. We are farms, ranches, small businesses, and town squares. We are BBQs, baseball games, fishing holes, and civic clubs. We are little league games, piano recitals, Bible Studies, and car pools. We are grandfathers in Iwo Jima, fathers in Vietnam, and sons and daughters in Iraq. We are fly-over country. We are the red states.

I came up with my own list. I do not intend to speak for everyone in blue states, nor do I intend to speak for everyone who voted against Bush.

We are informed and educated about the rest of the world. We listen to Democracy Now! and the BBC. We write for and read our local newspapers. We know that talk radio listeners think they are more informed but are really less informed. We take public transportation and drive hybrids. We walk our children to school or to the bus stop. We shop at co-ops and corner stores and local merchants, while they brag about shopping at Wal-Mart despite the cost to their community and our society. We volunteer at food banks and thrift stores. We use our libraries and public schools. We believe in education and rehabilitation. We know that they believe in incarceration and execution. We believe that children should be allowed to pray in school--silently by themselves, not led by teachers. We know that in 2004 there have been 58 executions in the US, 57 of them in Red States. We know that since 1977 there have been 937 state executions, 889 of them in Red States. We know the top ten states in inmate incarceration rates are all red. While Red State voters talk about values, we act upon our values. We know they allow their neighbors to live in poverty, yet claim to be Christian and "moral". We read; and not only "holy books". We have passports and we have been to "Old Europe". We know that practicing religion is a right and a choice. We don't believe in writing our religious beliefs into law. We know that forcing our "values" on others is wrong. We know that the rights of the minority must be protected from the tyranny of the majority. We manned the Underground Railroad. We immigrated from Asia and Europe to build railroads and work in coal mines. We fought for workers' rights and against child labor. We refused to name names. We walked with Martin Luther King, Jr. We were the Stonewall Girls. We protested American agression in Vietnam and Cambodia. We were killed for exercising our First Amendment rights. We died for what we believed in. We are anti-globalists and eco-feminists. We are librarians and professors. We are business owners and artists. We are waitresses and teachers' aides. We are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. We are black and white, yellow and brown. We are Christian and Buddhist, Jew and Atheist. We are thinkers and laborers. We are Americans and citizens of the world.

And we are a lot more than that, but it's a start. Please feel free to add to the list in the comments. (And you red staters do not have to to add that we are godless commies, or that we are terrorist-loving tree huggers, or baby killers. We already know that you believe that.)

More from Ashcroft

He won't go away. So I guess that judges who disagree with Bush are terrorists too.

Ashcroft condemns judges who question Bush

By CURT ANDERSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- Federal judges are jeopardizing national security by issuing rulings contradictory to President Bush's decisions on America's obligations under international treaties and agreements, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Friday.

In his first remarks since his resignation was announced Tuesday, Ashcroft forcefully denounced what he called "a profoundly disturbing trend" among some judges to interfere in the president's constitutional authority to make decisions during war.

"The danger I see here is that intrusive judicial oversight and second-guessing of presidential determinations in these critical areas can put at risk the very security of our nation in a time of war," Ashcroft said in a speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative lawyers group.
[more]

Ashcroft / Jesus in 2008

I know, I really have too much time on my hands.

But what else can I do.

Specter must go

...according to the Evangelical Christians.

Last week Pennsylvania's senior Senator Arlen Specter who is in line to head the Senate Judiciary Committee warned Bush about appointing people who are pro-life to fill judicial vacancies. Well, ever since, the extreme christian right has been on a crusade to stop Specter.

From NPR's All Things Considered:

"We would like to see him gone. We don't believe that Arlen Specter represents what the president stands for, we don't believe that Arlen Specter represents what the Senate leadership stands for, particularly on the abortion issue. Arlen Specter is a man who's time has gone, and he ought to go too." -- Tom Minnery, Vice President of Public Policy for Focus on the Family

So the Evangelical Christians, who are responsible for giving Bush a second term, want to get their religious beliefs passed through Congress and they don't want a MODERATE Jew from a blue state slowing them down. They're even having a "Pro-Life Pray-In" to stop Specter. They make the guy sound like Ted Kennedy.

It's really sad when there is no place in the Republican party for moderates. The GOP better start to take their party back from the bible thumpers before it self destructs. On second thought, maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

Definition

From The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, 1911

Christian, n. One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor. One who follows the teachings of Christ in so far as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin.

Site of the Day

fuckthesouth.com

Site of the Day

turnyourbackonbush.org

Quote of the Day

"The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved" -- John Ashcroft
(from his resignation letter)

Today I feel a bit safer

ASHCROFT RESIGNS!

One of my wishes came true. I am not very optimistic about his successor, but I don't think that anyone could be worse (except maybe Alberto Gonzales). Ashcroft has no regard for the Bill of Rights or civil liberties and the country will be better off with him gone from the Justice Department. Now if only we can get rid of his USA PATRIOT Act I'd be even happier.

Good riddance Brother Ashcroft!

Lewis Black on the election

From The Daily Show last week:

Eleven states proposed anti-gay marriage amendments and after record voter turnouts every single one passed by a considerable margin....But in the end these ballot initiatives remind us that America is the land where people are free to dream whatever they want, so long as that dream doesn't make midwesterners feel "icky". -- Lewis Black

The blog it is a-changin'

I had a busy weekend and haven't had much time keep up on all of the news. I spent two days surrounded by pregnant women and learning what to do when it's time for the baby to come out.

There's going to be some changes around here (in case you haven't noticed). The most obvious is a new template. I've also added back the BackBlog comments; I think that they are easier to use than the Blogger comments.

Also, at least 55 million of us voted to remove Bush from office. There are signs that actually a lot more than that voted against him. The corporate American media has decided not to cover the story but Greg Palast and others are on it and Bev Harris has filed the largest Freedom of Information Act request in history to get election records. In one Ohio precinct Bush got 4,258 votes out of the 638 votes actually cast. Any findings will not change the fact that Dubya will be our "President" for another term but we can see where there were problems and get them corrected so that the votes of all of those people who stood in line for hours will in fact be counted next time.

Anyhow, people are working on that. What we have to do is focus on stopping the Bush Administration from doing anymore damage. That means keeping ultra-conservative judicial nominations from being approved. It means getting the UN and Europe to put pressure on the Bush Administration to get out of Iraq.

Also, check out the "I am not afraid" campaign and join us. ~~~~~>

Help us take back our country.

More on political capital...

"My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it. If I have a chance to invade...if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency."
-- George Dubya Bush to Mickey Herskowitz (ghost for writer Dubya Bush and Poppy Bush) in 1999

*****

and Ted Rall on the election: GUILTY, DISGUSTED, AMERICAN

Coming home for the holidays

I have a feeling that the 59,054,087 "dumb Americans" who voted to allow George W. Bush and the neo-cons to keep their jobs will be having second thoughts after the imminent attack on Fallujah. I know that most of that 51 percent of Americans who voted for Dubya don't give a rats ass about brown-skinned foreigners but it might hit home when they start to hear the stories of all the (white, christian) fathers, sons and brothers who will be coming home for the holidays in flag-draped boxes.

The first casualties of the upcoming battle have already occured. British troops from the Black Watch were reassigned from Basra in the south to Baghdad to take over for US troops that will be headed to Fallujah. On the way there several of the Black Watch soldiers were killed in an attack.

Maybe the British people will put pressure on Tony Blair to get their troops out of Iraq. Maybe they can do what the American people are incapable of doing--restraining neo-con aggression.

In his victory speech Bush said that he would reach out to the 55 million people who voted against him.

So today I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent: To make this nation stronger and better I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust. A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation. -- GW Bush, November 3, 2004

Then, yesterday during a rare press conference he said, "I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals." Hey, that's big of him. It's not much of reach though.

These guys can't even stop spinning after a victory. On Wednesday Cheney called the election results "a broad, nationwide victory" and that "the nation responded by giving him a mandate." Has he seen the map?

So the neo-cons are probably sitting in their bunkers laughing at all of those people who went out to vote for "moral values". They got the job done. They mobilized enough scared old people and homophobic white people to get their boy elected. Now they can carry on with their plan for world domination--until the people realize and admit that they were duped.

Go read this

This Is Where We Begin
by Gia

Four more years

• of erosions to our freedom


• of war without end


• of US imperialistic aggression


• of tax cuts for the rich and corporations


• of lies


• of us and them


• of alienating the world

Poem du jour

by John Greenleaf Whittier

The Poor Voter on Election Day

To-day, of all the weary year,
A king of men am I.
To-day, alike are great and small,
The nameless and the known;
My palace is the people's hall,
The ballot-box my throne!
The rich is level with the poor,
The weak is strong to-day;
And sleekest broadcloth counts no more
Than homespun frock of gray.
To-day let pomp and vain pretence
My stubborn right abide;
I set a plain man's common sense
Against the pedant's pride.
The wide world has not wealth to buy
The power in my right hand!

It was read on NPR's Morning Edition this morning.

Site of the Day

KerryHatersForKerry.com

Let the fiasco begin

Attention Florida cops: please see the U.S. Constitution.

From The Miami Herald November 1, 2004:

Writer hit by police at poll

A journalist and author from New York was punched in the back and arrested by a deputy after he refused to stop photographing early voters waiting on a public sidewalk in West Palm Beach.

By JANE DAUGHERTY

Palm Beach Post

WEST PALM BEACH - A widely published investigative journalist was tackled, punched and arrested Sunday afternoon by a Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy who tried to confiscate his camera outside the election supervisor's headquarters.

About 600 people were standing in line waiting to vote early when James S. Henry was charged with disorderly conduct for taking photos of voters about 3:30 p.m. outside the main election office on Military Trail near West Palm Beach.

A sheriff's spokesman and a county attorney later said the deputy was enforcing a newly enacted rule from Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore prohibiting reporters from interviewing or photographing voters lined up outside the polls.
[more]

My Prediction
I predict that Senator Kerry will win by a fairly substantial margin and that the Republicans will challenge the votes in several states and Dubya will not concede gracefully.

The end is near

In less than 60 hours all votes will be cast in the presidential election. With any luck we will know shortly thereafter that we have elected a new President. Then the real work of righting this great ship of state begins.

These last four years and especially these past few months have made me almost a hateful person. I have all but lost faith in the American people. After all that the current administration has done (or failed to do) in the last four years, there is no way that this election should even be close. Yet the polls tell us otherwise.

Shortly aftert 9/11 when Dubya stood with the firefighter and spoke with the bullhorn and when he addresssed Congress I thought that maybe I was wrong about the guy. Nothing would have made me happier than for him to prove it; sadly, in the three years that followed he has only proven that my initial feelings about him being an incompetent tool of evil men were correct. I cannot stand to even listen to Bush any more, I get so enraged.

After the 2000 Florida debacle and subsequent Supreme Court ruling I felt sure that all of those people who were disenfranchised and those who just decided not to vote would make sure that their voices would be heard this time around. We will see shortly if that happens.

I can understand why selfish rich people want to reelect the guy, but most of the people that I see out there at Bush rallies and with Bush/Cheney bumper stickers on their cars are working people. The Jimmy the Cab Driver spot about tax cuts gets it right, most people who work for a living get no benefit from Bush's tax cuts. But just try to tell a Bush supporter that.

So the self-proclaimed uniter has succeeded in polarizing this country and the world. This man who can't think of any mistakes that he has made has the blood of tens of thousands on his hands. His black or white view of things has spread to his followers yet some of us can still see shades of grey.

Please...

...go read this:

From The New Yorker

THE CHOICE
Issue of 2004-11-01
Posted 2004-10-25

This Presidential campaign has been as ugly and as bitter as any in American memory. The ugliness has flowed mostly in one direction, reaching its apotheosis in the effort, undertaken by a supposedly independent group financed by friends of the incumbent, to portray the challenger--who in his mid-twenties was an exemplary combatant in both the Vietnam War and the movement to end that war--as a coward and a traitor. The bitterness has been felt mostly by the challenger's adherents; yet there has been more than enough to go around. This is one campaign in which no one thinks of having the band strike up "Happy Days Are Here Again."

The heightened emotions of the race that (with any luck) will end on November 2, 2004, are rooted in the events of three previous Tuesdays. On Tuesday, November 7, 2000, more than a hundred and five million Americans went to the polls and, by a small but indisputable plurality, voted to make Al Gore President of the United States. Because of the way the votes were distributed, however, the outcome in the electoral college turned on the outcome in Florida. In that state, George W. Bush held a lead of some five hundred votes, one one-thousandth of Gore's national margin; irregularities, and there were many, all had the effect of taking votes away from Gore; and the state's electoral machinery was in the hands of Bush's brother, who was the governor, and one of Bush's state campaign co-chairs, who was the Florida secretary of state.
[more]

Movie quote for today

The Big Lebowski

Donny: Are these the Nazis, Walter?

Walter Sobchak: No, Donny, these men are nihilists. There's nothing to be afraid of.

GOP steps in Al Qaqaa

Who's lying now?

Video Suggests Explosives Disappeared After U.S. Took Control
Evidence Indicates U.S. Military Opened Al-Qaqaa Bunkers, Left Them Unguarded

Oct. 28, 2004 -- The strongest evidence to date indicates that conventional explosives missing from Iraq's Al-Qaqaa installation disappeared after the United States had taken control of Iraq.

Barrels inside the Al-Qaqaa facility appear on videotape shot by ABC television affiliate KSTP of St. Paul, Minn., which had a crew embedded with the 101st Airborne Division when it passed through Al-Qaqaa on April 18, 2003 -- nine days after Baghdad fell.
[more]

Pentagon Lt. Col. Barry Venable said, "Another explanation is that regime loyalists or others emptied the facility prior to coalition forces arriving in Baghdad in April." And Dubya finally responded while campaigning in Pennsylvania yesterday using the same line, "the explosives may have been moved before our troops even arrived at the site."

TV Crew Photographed Explosives Cache at Al-Qaqaa
Images Suggest Explosives Were There When U.S. Troops Arrived
JOHN MASON and JOANNA HJELMELAND, KSTP-TV


Oct. 28, 2004 -- A Minnesota television station news crew reporting from Iraq in the spring of 2003 came very close to the spot where tons of high explosives are alleged to have disappeared.

Based on GPS data and confirmation from officials of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, KSTP-TV 5 Eyewitness News determined its crew was on or near the southern edge of the Al-Qaqaa installation on April 18, 2003, nine days after the fall of Baghdad.

KSTP in St. Paul is an ABC News affiliate station. Its journalists were embedded with the 101st at the time and shot exclusive footage that may raise new questions about the controversy surrounding the fate of those munitions.

Some 377 tons of high explosives -- HMX and RDX and PETN -- are said to be missing from the Al-Qaqaa weapons depot and questions have arisen about what the United States knew about the site and what it did to secure it.
[more]

Meanwhile Rudy Giuliani went on NBC's Today show to bash the troops in Iraq:

"No matter how you try to blame it on the president, the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough? Didn't they search carefully enough?"

Farewell baseball, see ya in '05

Thank god the Red Sox finally won a World Series. Now we won't have to hear New Englanders whining about "the curse" and always coming up short. The Phillies may be the losingest team in baseball but at least I've seen them win a World Series and I've attended one of their World Series games in person.

It was an exciting post season this year. Boston's comeback from three games down to the Yankees and then a World Series sweep was quite a feat. And in the NL I happy that Houston was not in the World Series. First, because they're from Texas and I find it hard to cheer on anything from Texas. Second, because I don't like Roger "I-don't-make-roadtrips-unless-I'm-pitching" Clemens and Andy "Power for Living" Pettite.

I thought that the Phillies had a good shot at the post season this year, but they had a major meltdown in July and never recovered. Ah well, next year starts in five months.

More Jimmy the Cab Driver

More Jimmy the Cab Driver ads from MoveOnPac.org:

• Number 4
• Number 5
• Number 6
• Number 7
• Number 8

And log in to MoveOnPac.org to watch Rob Reiner's "Mistake" from week three.

Maps

I was looking to see where lynchings took place and found this map:



I thought that it looked strangely similar to the 2000 election map:



Hmmmmm

An atheist president?

I vowed to stop commenting over there but I read this so I will comment here (and be accused of stealing content and making mean personal attacks).

You can read the whole thing in context at http://dumbgirl.bravejournal.com/entry/8105, but here's what disturbs me:

Eric: "I heard a poll quoted last week, credibillity unknown, that said the American People where far more inclined to elect a devout muslim to the White House, than a confirmed Athiest. This disturbs me..."

Amy: "...I understand why you find it that poll distrubing. I hope neither will ever be President"

And Amy seems to be one of the more level-headed Bush backers. Are Muslims and atheists somehow less than Christians? What is so scary about atheists or muslims? I am more scared of a leader who claims to be guided by God than one who makes decisions based on knowledge and understanding, whether he or she is christian, muslim, jew, atheist, or whatever.

Religion is a private thing. We have a constitutionally protected right to practice our religion and to be free from someone else's. Why must our leaders be seen praying at all. I would be much happier if there were absolutely no talk of religion during the campaign and during the president's term in office.

Matthew 6:5-6: "And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men....when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret...."

Fundamentalist Christians and and their followers can spout off all they want about the Founding Fathers being christians but the facts prove otherwise. Jefferson, Paine, Franklin, Washington, and others were deists. As Deists they did not believe that Jesus was God, they did not believe in the Trinity, they did not believe that God took sides in a war, or that God intervened because of prayer. They believed that a Creator God made the world and set down natural laws and then was hands off.

Republicans please keep your God to yourselves; out of our laws, out of our Constitution. Thank you.

Site of the Day

shardsoglass.com

Live TV

...exposes no-talent frauds like Ashlee Simpson. She obviously lip-synched her first song and then this happened during her second song:
watch the VIDEO
...and she had the balls to blame the band.

Whatever...

Over the past few days (and months) I've been accused of many things, some true and some not true. The only thing that really bothers me is being chacterized as a mean-spirited liar and having people believe it to be true.

I foolishly jumped in to defend myself when someone wrote in the comments of this post that "(p)eople like...Rob and others of their thinking lash out with disgusting personal attacks, lies and false accusations." I'm sure that her motive was to get her friends to tell her that she is wonderful and those mean liberals should leave her alone, and I played right into it. It's useless trying to have a civil discussion with some people.

Anyhow it worked and one of the little ladies came to her defense:

Rob, I am going to get the last word. You have been provoking, teasing, and writing about Donna for months. I have seen it over and over again. All she has ever done is write in her own blog and commentate on her friends' blogs... I, for one, am sick of you acting so innocent like you have never done a thing. Like she would just feel this way towards you for no good reason... Come on! She has done nothing to you, yet you continue to obsess with commentating on your journal about her." -- Alice

Well, I've had enough of them. I tried to present them with another view of things, i.e. other than the Bush-is-chosen-God-and-can-do-no-wrong viewpoint. They don't want to know about it. I'll leave it to someone else to expose them to some of reality.

I don't write people off if we disagree about politics or religion. My best friends both happen to be medical doctors and both serious practicing Roman Catholics. We disagree about almost everything politically but that does not stop us from enjoying each others' company. They even chose me to be the godparent of their child--me the atheist. So there are open-minded conservatives and christians.

In fact I read this article today by Dr. Teresa Whitehurst of JesusOnTheFamily.org:

Why Are Some American Christians So Bloodthirsty?

Understanding Pro-war Christians' Indifference to Civilian Deaths
by Dr. Teresa Whitehurst

It's been going on for years now. Almost daily we read that another child, another parent, another sister or brother, another grandpa or aunt, is killed in Afghanistan or Iraq by U.S. weaponry in Mr. Bush's "war on terror." Sometimes it's a wedding party, or a bunch of kids, or a family of six. Sometimes it's a journalist, or a whole group of journalists, who may even be killed on camera in real time for all the world to see and hear.

But no matter how bad it gets, nothing seems to change Americans' support for war, which for some reason is stiffest among Christian supporters of the Bush Administration. "Stuff happens in a war zone." "Don't worry because God is in control." With these and other slogans, I've been reassured by countless pro-war Christians that, as long as civilians aren't intentionally targeted, taking their lives is okay, maybe even predestined, God's will.
[more]

So in my last two posts I've cited The American Conservative and JesusOnTheFamily.org and I'm the intolerant, close-minded fool? Okay.

The American Conservative endorses Kerry

Kerry's the One
-- Scott McConnell, Executive Editor The American Conservative, November 8, 2004 issue

You Bush supporters who claim to stand for "conservative" and "traditional" values please take note.

Remember this is the Executive Editor of The American Conservative writing in his endorsement of Kerry:

Bush has behaved like a caricature of what a right-wing president is supposed to be, and his continuation in office will discredit any sort of conservatism for generations. The launching of an invasion against a country that posed no threat to the U.S., the doling out of war profits and concessions to politically favored corporations, the financing of the war by ballooning the deficit to be passed on to the nation's children, the ceaseless drive to cut taxes for those outside the middle class and working poor: it is as if Bush sought to resurrect every false 1960s-era left-wing cliché about predatory imperialism and turn it into administration policy.

Exactly what I've been saying for the past two plus years. Thank you Mr McConnell.

Women's libbers

I took a trip to Women's Right's National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York. It was a beautiful drive up there throught the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania and through Elmira and Watkins Glen and up the west side of Seneca Lake through the vineyards. It has been raining in this part of the country for about a week but the trees along the way were green and gold and red and orange.

There are some little shops in downtown Seneca Falls. My favorite was WomanMade Products which carries just that, all kinds of great stuff. They also had all kinds of bumper stickers and buttons from BushMustGo.net, so I picked up a few of those.

The exhibit at the park's visitor center is a bit dated. I don't think that anything has been updated since the late 1980s and it seems to present things from the perspective of a very 1970s idea of radical feminism. The park rangers, however, are very knowledgeable and were eager to answer questions about the Women's Rights Convention of 1848 and the participants in that convention.

I thought that it was interesting that only one signer of the Declaration of Sentiments lived long enough to see women get the right t vote in the United States.

Today I saw a film about a lynching in Delaware in 1903. One of the commentators noted that these "spectacle lynchings" were ritualistic events that involved the whole community. He said that more often than not it was a well-organized event that was very orderly and involved thousands of people, including women and children. Many of the more than 3500 documented lynchings from 1865 to 1920 took place outside of "The South". I think that everyone in this country that allowed lynchings to take place was just as guilty as the people who lit the fire or tied the rope or shot the gun. Just like today, those of us who allow our government to invade and occupy sovereign countries, to drop bombs on civilians, to hold torture and detain prisoners indefinately are just as guilty as those actively participating in such things.

Jon Stewart does Crossfire

Thank god for Jon Stewart. He refused to play their game at Crossfire. He told Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson that they are partisan hacks masquerading as a news program.

CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and you're accusing us of partisan hackery?

STEWART: Absolutely.

CARLSON: You've got to be kidding me. He comes on and you...

(CROSSTALK)

STEWART: You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls.

Watch the video

CARLSON: I do think you're more fun on your show. Just my opinion.

(CROSSTALK)

CARLSON: OK, up next, Jon Stewart goes one on one with his fans...

(CROSSTALK)

STEWART: You know what's interesting, though? You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show.

I also liked this exchange:

CARLSON: Wait. I thought you were going to be funny. Come on. Be funny.

STEWART: No. No. I'm not going to be your monkey.

"It's a day for the good Lord, not for the devil"

Bible-belt fundies are freaking out about Halloween on a Sunday.

Sunday Halloween Irks Some in Bible Belt

By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press Writer

NEWNAN, Ga. - Across the Bible Belt this Halloween, some little ghosts and goblins might get shooed away by the neighbors ? and some youngsters will not be allowed to go trick-or-treating at all ? because the holiday falls on a Sunday this year.

"It's a day for the good Lord, not for the devil," said Barbara Braswell, who plans to send her 4-year-old granddaughter Maliyah out trick-or-treating in a princess costume on Saturday instead.

Some towns around the country are decreeing that Halloween be celebrated on Saturday to avoid complaints from those who might be offended by the sight of demons and witches ringing their doorbell on the Sabbath. Others insist the holiday should be celebrated on Oct. 31 no matter what.
[more]

Words of wisdom from Gore Vidal

From: We Are The Patriots, GORE VIDAL / The Nation v.276, n.1, 2jun03

It was Benjamin Franklin, of all people, who saw our future most clearly back in 1787, when, as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia, he read for the first time the proposed Constitution. He was old; he was dying; he was not well enough to speak but he had prepared a text that a friend read. It is so dark a statement that most school history books omit his key words.

Franklin urged the convention to accept the Constitution despite what he took to be its great faults, because it might, he said, provide good government in the short term. "There is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other." Think of Enron, Merrill Lynch, etc., of chads and butterfly ballots, of Scalia's son arguing before his unrecused father at the Supreme Court while unrecused Thomas sits silently by, his wife already at work for the approaching Bush Administration. Think, finally, of the electoral college, a piece of dubious, antidemocratic machinery that Franklin doubtless saw as a source of deepest corruption and subsequent mischief for the Republic, as happened not only in 1876 but in 2000.

Franklin's prophecy came true in December 2000, when the Supreme Court bulldozed its way through the Constitution in order to select as its President the loser in the election of that year. Despotism is now securely in the saddle. The old Republic is a shadow of itself, and we now stand in the glare of a nuclear world empire with a government that sees as its true enemy "we the people," deprived of our electoral franchise. War is the usual aim of despots, and serial warfare is what we are going to get unless?with help from well-wishers in new old Europe and from ourselves, awake at last?we can persuade this peculiar Administration that they are acting entirely on their vicious own, and against all our history.

We can correct the Court's mistake in a few weeks. We will not stand by this time around.

End of the century

The documentary film festival is now over. I went to see Ramones: End of the Century on Wednesday. What a good film.

The two hours flew by. It features some excellent interviews mixed with performance footage. Also, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder is credited. He shot some super 8 film with The Ramones in South America. And according to co-director Michael Gramaglia, who spoke after the film, Vedder will be a featured commentator on the DVD release that is scheduled for next spring.

The star of the film has to be Dee Dee. The filmmakers did two extensive interviews with him and everything he said was funny in his own naive way. At the other end of the spectrum was Johnny who seemed to be a miserable person his whole life. Dee Dee said that Johnny was the adult of the group, to make his point he said that Johnny would buy hamburger and potatoes and cook himself dinner while Dee Dee would eat hash and some chips. Joey was already sick when they started filming but they found an older interview with him that they used. Tommy, Marky, Richie and CJ are also in the film.

The documentary is limited release but if plays anywhere near you it is well worth a trip to see it on the big screen.

Stop Sinclair

via NewsHounds.us:

Sinclair Affiliates Ordered to Run "Stolen Honor"

The Baltimore Sun reported yesterday that, shortly before the election, media giant Sinclair Broadcasting will pre-empt normal programming to show the politically motivated anti-Kerry movie, "Stolen Honor". According to the article, the stations will be required to broadcast the movie. One wonders how the "fair and balanced" FOX News will handle this information. Will they use their power and influence to declare that this is a clear example of conservative media's attempt to influence an election? Or will they gleefully report and report and report on the story, giving Sinclair and "Stolen Honor" masses of free publicity.
[more]

Please Take Action
or call Sinclair's headquarters:
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.
Corporate Headquarters - Hunt Valley, MD
410-568-1500

What is terrorism

"Terrorism is not the weapon of the weak. It is the weapon of those who are against 'us' whoever 'us' happens to be."
-- Noam Chomsky, The New War Against Terror, October 24, 2001

Debate tonight

After the last debate the right wingnuts spent a day or two saying the Kerry cheated. They showed video of him pulling a pen out of his pocket and insisted it was notecards.

Indymedia, on the other hand, posted this:

Bush Blows Debate: Talks to Rove in Earpiece!

During the Presidential Debate Bush made what may be his most costly error- he exposed that he?s using an earpiece to help him answer debate questions. In the middle of an answer bush said, "now let me finish" as if someone was interrupting him - yet nobody did - he was talking to the person in his earpiece.

Listen to the mp3 yourself- or watch the video at c-span
rtsp://cspanrm.fplive.net/cspan/project/c04/c04093004_debate1.rm
ffwd to 40 min 30 sec

Listen - Let me finish

Even Salon, which is semi-mainstream, published an article entitled Bush's mystery bulge with a photo of Bush from behind where there is clearly some sort of box between his shoulder blades.

Maybe they will have to pat down the candidates tonight. Or maybe even do full body cavity searches to ensure no cheating.

***update 8:14 am***
Dissent will not be tolerated. The FBI is continuing the US governmment's harassment of Indymedia.

From Sydney Morning Herald:

FBI seizes Indymedia servers
By Online Staff
October 8, 2004 - 3:53PM

Rackspace has offices in the US and the UK. Independent Media Center, which is better known as Indymedia, was set up in 1999 to provide grassroots coverage of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) protests in Seattle.

Rackspace complied with the FBI order, without first notifying Indymedia, and turned over Indymedia's server in the UK. This affects over 20 Indymedia sites worldwide, the group said.

Indymedia said it did not know why the order had been issued as it was issued to Rackspace. Rackspace told some of the group's volunteers "they cannot provide Indymedia with any information regarding the order." ISPs have received gag orders in similar situations which prevent them from updating the parties involved on what is happening.
[more]

The Daily Show headlines

After ranting about the news yesterday I saw this:
Mess O'Potamia: Off the Record
...and had a good laugh. Thank god for The Daily Show.

"Sixty-four words explaining why he wouldn't cede power, now guess which two the Bush Administration jumped on like a fat kid on a Smartie."

"My guess is that if John Kerry said all americans should step up and do their duty, they'd attack him for talking about doody."
-- Jon Stewart

News?

For the past few months I have not been watching much of the 24-hour news channels. I used to just leave the TV on MSNBC or CNN while I was working and try to keep an eye on what was going on. But lately I have been looking elsewhere for my news.

Right now MSNBC is televising a Bush campaign speech in Wilkes-Barre and over each shoulder there is a sign reading "A SAFER AMERICA / A STRONGER ECONOMY". The crowd is chanting, "Four more years! Four more years!" Is this news?

Last night after the debate I saw Ken Mehlman on one channel and Joe Lockhart on another. What possible analysis could they give? This morning they have the candidates' daughters on their news programs and asking for their reactions to the debate.

Last week on 60 Minutes Andy Rooney suggested that CBS broadcast a one-hour news program every night as a public service:

Turn our Evening News With Dan Rather into a one-hour broadcast seven nights a week. Provide it as a public service in exchange for the license that CBS has to make hundreds of millions of dollars from the entertainment shows that Les Moonves puts on. -- Andy Rooney

That would be a great start. I would take it a step further and make the CBS news division completely independant. Make Viacom put a set amount of their operating budget into news but give them no control over the news division. Heck, tax anyone that uses the public airwaves for commercial purposes and fund a BBC-like news organization. I think that Viacom, Disney, GE, Murdoch and the others forget that they don't actually own the airwaves.

Anyhow, I downloaded the BBC desktop alert and now the little box pops up and plays that BBC sound and I know if there is anything important going on. Otherwise I try to catch All Things Considered on the radio, Democracy Now! on FSTV, and several news sources through their RSS feed online.

I know that Dubya wants to go around "the filter" to get his message directly to the people, but sometimes a filter is good. Fact checking is good. Questioning the government is good. Pointing a camera at something and televising it does not make it news.

GOP wants me to "fight the spin"

I just got this from Ken Mehlman and my pals at the GOP:

Dear Friend:

The debate tonight presents a tremendous opportunity for the campaign to attract undecided voters, but people's perceptions are shaped as much by their conversations around the water cooler as by the debates themselves.

The Vice President`s goal is to do what he`s been doing throughout this election: explain to the American people why the President`s policies are right for America and the world we live in today - in fighting the war on terror, in keeping our economy growing and in responding to the new challenges of the 21st century.

After last week's debate, the Kerry campaign spin machine managed to mask their candidate's flip-flops on the war in Iraq, imposition of a "global test" for protecting America, and repeated denigration of our troops and allies.

If we plan to win the election, we must fight back against their spin and make sure our friends and neighbors get the truth.

We need your help tonight!

oVisit www.GeorgeWBush.com/DebateFacts tonight during the debate so you will have the facts. Print and share them with your friends.
oImmediately after the debate, visit online polls, chat rooms, and discussion boards and make your voice heard. The major news networks will all have internet polls after the debate. Make sure you vote in polls on:
oMSNBC.com
oFoxNews.com
oABCNews.com
oCNN.com
oand even CBS.
oMake sure swing state voters know why you support the President by sharing your thoughts on message boards in target states.
oCall Talk Radio shows in your area
oWrite letters to the editors of your local papers.
oVisit Chat rooms on AOL, MSN, and Yahoo!

This is how they run their campaign and this is how they run the government. They think that if enough people repeat something that makes it so.

I just want November 2 to get here already.

Documentary film festival

A local independant movie theater is in the middle of a two week documentary film festival. I got to see two films this weekend--Control Room and The Corporation.

Control Room looks at the coverage of the Iraq War from the US Central Command Media Center in Qatar with a focus on Al-Jazeera. You get a real sense of how the US military uses the news media as a propaganda machine. From the story of the US attack on Al-Jazeera headquarters in Baghdad, which killed one of its reporters, to the Jessica Lynch rescue story this film gives you a feel for how news is "made".

The film seems to lack any real direction. It follows several people, including Hassan Ibrahim of Al-Jazeera. Ibrahim, who is described as an Arab nationalist, seems to be the most level-headed, intelligent, and likeable guy in the film.

The Corporation, on the other hand, is well-structured and pretty much focused. It starts with a history of the corporation and then the film is broken up into "chapters", each with its own thesis (some more persuasive than others). The film uses talking-head interviews interspersed with vintage clips to illustrate points. Among the talking heads are Milton Friedman, Noam Chomsky, Peter Drucker, Vandana Shiva, and Michael Moore. Like Moore's films, The Corporation is satirical and witty yet it is weightier and not as easily dismissed by detractors.

The film takes a lot of time making the case that the corporation is by definition a psychopath. It uses a checklist of the characteristics of a psychopath and then uses experts to make the case that corporations exhibit all of these characteristics.

The Corporation made me think and I learned a few things. At one point Chomsky makes a comparison to slavery. He notes that while the institution of slavery is inherently bad there were slaveholders who were not necessarily bad people. One CEO that they use to illustrate the point is Ray Anderson, Chairman of Interface, Inc., who described how he had an epiphany about the impact of his company on the environment. Another part that made me think was a public meeting deciding whether the locality would allow more corporate fast food restaurants to open. One person said that people can choose not to do business with those places thereby voting with their dollars. Another person responded that rich people have more votes than him in that scenario.

Control Room just made me feel helpless and angry, The Corporation at least gave me hope that we can do something and that some people actually are doing something.

The other films I want to see are lighter fare. Ramones: End of the Century, Slasher, and Bukowski: Born into this all look pretty good. We'll see.

Debate: Round 1

Unfortunately, I had to attend a lecture last night (which was very good) so I missed a lot of the debate. I caught the last hour of it on the radio. I got home and saw only the last few minutes of The Daily Show and then switched over to C-SPAN and they were replaying the debate and it was at about the same point where I started listening on the radio.

So I am at a bit of a disadvantage here, I haven't seen the full debate nor have I heard any real commentary. But from what I did see Bush did not come off as a complete idiot. He did look (and sound) angry a lot of the time. I think he just does not like to be challenged on anything. I could hear the anger in his voice when Kerry or the moderator suggested he might have made a wrong decision.

I bet that he was the kid who would show up at the ball field with the bats and balls so he would get to decide who was on his team and he appointed himself pitcher, and batted first, etc. And then he gets to organized ball (Little League or whatever) and then he doesn't get to do what he wants to do all the time so he quits.

Back to the debate. I was surprised that Kerry was able to articulate his positions in only a sentence or two. I know Bush wanted to say "flip-flop" so bad. But I think that Kerry may have scored some points with people who were seeing at length for the first time. He may have pulled in a few people...or maybe not.

I'll have to turn on the cable news programs this morning and see how they are spinning it.

Jon Stewart on Fresh Air

Those of you who missed this can hear Jon Stewart on Thursday's Fresh Air. Yes, he's pushing his book, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction , but it's a good interview.

Remember

Prayer works better than actually voting.

Please, if you believe in the power of prayer stay home and pray.

Bubble Boy Bush

Here is an interesting essay from a member of the liberal academic elite.

Published on Friday, September 24, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
Rip Van Winkle had nothing on the Boy in the Bubble
by Rosa Maria Pegueros


Perhaps the most astonishing pronouncement of the inarticulate President of the United States is that he doesn?t read. George W. Bush says that his advisers tell him what he needs to know. What an amazing thing for the husband of Laura the librarian and the son of Barbara Bush, campaigner for literacy, to say! But more than that, it is deeply disturbing that the president of the dominant global power, the leader of the free world, the most powerful man in the world, would choose to have his perceptions of the world censored and spoon-fed to him by his underlings. It is simply unfathomable.

However, it does help one to understand how Bush could honestly say, as he did in a recent interview with Larry King on CNN, "I don't have a sense that there's a lot of anger [towards me]." *

If Bush reads nothing and his campaign workers screen all the members of the audiences at his campaign stops and require them to sign a loyalty oath promising to vote for him, how could he perceive anger towards him? If his critics are described to him as the usual pot-smoking, hippie malcontents that he expects them to be, can he know that protestors against the war in Iraq cut across age, race, and class lines?

As he makes his proclamations about creating an ownership society, does he have any idea that many working-class people are living without medical insurance, without drug coverage, and the terrifying prospects that catastrophic illness, disability and old age pose to them? Such elaborate lengths to insulate him can only result in a clueless leader who ambles along, convinced that he is universally admired.
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Veterans for truth

Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist David Horsey had this cartoon in today's paper (it is from Sunday but it was in our local paper today).

One nation under evangelical christians

"God is pro-war"
-- Rev. Jerry Falwell

Who needs the Constitution, why don't we just scrap it and replace it with The Holy Bible as interpreted by Evangelical Christians. Soon we will adopt their perverted form of christianity as our framework for government.

I just don't understand these people. Is it that they think they are right and everyone else is wrong? They claim that their God commands these things and you can't argue with God. They not only want to dictate how their own people live but how the rest of us live. If I don't accept Jesus as my personal savior I am going to burn in hell.

This is nothing new, I guess. It has been going on from the time that the Puritans, fleeing religious persecution in "Old Europe", landed here nearly four centuries ago. It just comes in waves. From witchhunts to abolition to McCarthyism. We don't really learn about these things in school from the football coach that is supposed to be teaching history.

Although I am not a practicing christian, most of my family members are church-goers and I was raised as a christian. More specifically in a Congregationalist church. There were about fifty members of this little autonomous country church which was established in the late eighteenth century. Each Sunday it was pretty much the same: a few readings from the Bible, a few hymns, the Apostle's Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and a sermon from the minister. Forty-five minutes a week of "religion", the rest of the week was spent on community things like bloodmobiles, bake sales, dinners, food drives, etc.

While I enjoyed the community aspects of the church I do not believe in God. I could not stand there every Sunday and say "I believe in God, the Father Almighty," because I don't; I never have. So I stopped attending church as soon as I was able to make that choice.

Now I live among Old Order Mennonites and Nebraska Amish. Their horse-drawn buggies share the roads with the evengelicals' SUVs and pick-up trucks. The clip-clop of their horses is part of the daily background noise. They, however, do not proselytize. They believe what they believe and they live their lives according to those beliefs and let the rest of live as we want.

They are not very popular among some of the mainstream protestants in the area. Interestingly the Mennonites ended up here after some Old Order Mennonites were incarcerated here during World War II for being pacifists. They noticed the land surrounding the prison and after they were released they told their families about the land and they bought some farms here.

I have been religion free for many years now. However, it is getting harder to escape other people's religions. I cannot listen to several public radio stations that used to come in clearly because there are now evangelical christian radio stations with national programs that block out the community radio stations. Even the local AM radio station carries James Dobson's daily message of hate. There are billboards lining the country roads with messages like "Have you personally accepted Jesus Christ as your savior?" Every meeting or dinner that I attend seems to start with a christian prayer.

Maybe I am just noticing it more these days. I don't know.

I am pretty sure though that the God I learned about in my church-going days was not pro-war.

From: BBC

Religion and politics in America
By Richard Allen Greene
BBC News Online in Colorado Springs and Boulder, Colorado

The first bumper sticker I saw when I arrived in the United States said "Got Jesus?" So did the second one. And the third.

Americans are divided about the role of religion in politics
The stickers - a religious take on a milk advertising campaign - were plastered on a Ford van in Detroit.

The next day I ran across a lawn sign asking "Need prayer?" There was a free phone number on the sign: 1-800-541-PRAY.

Americans are a deeply religious people - and one - as the stickers prove - comfortable with public displays of faith.

In fact, although the United States has a constitutional barrier separating church and state, the vast majority of Americans want their leaders to be religious.
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