Monday, September 30, 2002

Salon.com Osama who?
"That happens to be a piece of intelligence that either we don't have or we don't want to talk about." In other words: Proof? We don't need no stinking proof!
Instant Runoff Vote in San Francisco a major advance for voter choice


I am a strong supporter of Instant Runoff Voting.
LP News Online: October 2002: The Heart of Libertarianism

A book by a socially conscious libertarian.

"Whenever a politician promises to solve a problem, whether it is an individual's problem or the community's, we should stop and ask ourselves if we are about to improperly delegate away our own duties and responsibilities," he writes.

Interestingly, an entire chapter is devoted to addressing the "10 core values" of the Green Party -- the Greens' "Statement of Principles" -- and how Libertarian solutions can achieve environmental and social goals without resorting to coercion.

Charley Reese
Several months ago, an American polling firm did extensive face-to-face interviews in several Arab countries. They discovered that Arabs do not hate America, do not hate Americans and do not even hate American culture. They hate American policy in the Middle East.
CNN.com - Turkish uranium suspects released - Sep. 29, 2002 Not weapons grade, small amount.
The President's Real Goal - Jay Bookman
A printer friendly version of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution summary.

I have been writting about this and blogging for weeks and am glad to see it is finally getting out there. The AJC has a reputation as a very conservative paper so this is spreading.
Question Mark #20: 'Push'Anti-War Fash commercial.
Beliefnet.comThe Islam debate over Iraq, terrorists, and the clash of civilizations.
beliefnet: Justice and the Just War

A strike against Iraq is unjustified under the Christian theory of just war.

This can be debated but not the way Bush is trying to wage it.

The Joe Bob Report
Iraq agreed to admit United Nations weapons inspectors to search for bombs, and the Bush administration said that if the inspectors find any bombs, that's why we have to attack them, and if they don't find any bombs, that's why we have to attack them.

Plus more on "terrorists" in the US.
beliefnet
War, Love and the Divine
A war correspondent with a divinity degree talks about the only force more powerful than war
Yahoo! News - U.S. Supplied Germs to Iraq in '80s

3 years after this story was broken in the alternative media the AP finally notices it.
t r u t h o u t - EDITORIAL - William Rivers Pitt | Rip Their Lungs Out

Let the word go forth in this time and place that there are some things worth fighting for. The Right has known this for years, and has capitalized on it to our common woe. Unless we do the same, we shall indeed earn the title of traitor.
Unitarian Universalist Association: Affirming the Inherent Worth and Dignity of Every Person

UUA President Opposing War with Iraq
The Top Ten Conservative Idiots, No. 85 - Democratic Underground
BBC NEWS: US moderates eclipsed on Iraq

"Are the Americans already expecting their resolution to be rejected by the other members of the Security Council?

In that case, President George W Bush could blame the UN for failing to act, then go it alone.

The continued tough language from the administration suggests that may be his true purpose.

That would explain why it has taken so long even to persuade Britain to agree to the resolution, despite the otherwise firm support of the UK Government. "
BBC NEWS Russian criticism of current allied air strikes in Iraq
HoustonChronicle.com - Williams: Swerving around a straight ticket

Potential problems loaming in Harris county eSlate voting?
TOMPAINE.com - Uncle oSAMa Says I want YOU Invade Iraq.

Why Iraq
Salon.com Comics | This Modern World Election Night - Florida Style
MSNBC - Senate could move to debate Iraq text Democrats and Republicans agree
on threat but not on urgency, authority
Eliminating the Threat

The Right Course of Action for Disarming Iraq, Combating Terrorism, Protecting the Homeland, and Stabilizing the Middle East - The Text of Ted Kennedy Speech
Veterans For Common Sense
NEWSWEEK IN ARABIC - Shock Therapy
Support the war because it will shock Islam into pragmatism???
YellowTimes.org ''Welcome to 1984: Bush's declaration of world domination''
YellowTimes.org The reason that George W. Bush wants this war on Iraq is that this has been the plan for years. The oil companies that financed this Administration are becoming insistent that they obtain the oil reserves that lie beneath the land of Iraq.
Newsweek: Democrats Take the Lead in Midterms
Washingtonpost.com)
War Talk Shapes Fall Elections
Democrats' Ability to Use the Economy Against GOP Wanes
NY Daily News - Home A well-placed Bush political adviser ticked off the triple-digit losses in his personal stock portfolio yesterday and couldn't help blurting out the foulest of heresies.
"As an investor, I wish Bill Clinton was still President," he moaned. "And I say that almost half-seriously."
Chris Croome - London Anti-war pictures. Boobs not bombs.
Vision of World War IV -- The Washington Times
R. James Woolsey, a former CIA director during the Clinton administration, believes we are now in WW IV. The third war was the "cold war." This is "not a war on terrorism" - but article doesn't explain what it is a war about.

Typical bad Moonie logic even when citing a good source.
Washington Times What is a Just War?
The beginnings of a Christian debate on the war with Iraq.
FT.com
America cannot afford to ignore the UN

Even more than the conventional military strategies of the past, the new vision of national security presupposes internationally accepted legitimacy for US operations and close co-operation with other states. How, after all, will Washington ensure regime change without persuading others to commit ground troops to share the burdens of military occupation? The war against Iraq alone will require more National Guard and Reserve forces than the 70,000 so far assigned. What effective intelligence war can be won against terrorism by going it alone when it will take years for the CIA merely to train an adequate number of Arabic-language specialists?

The limits to even America's power are quickly reached. If this administration is serious about its global mission, it has no choice but multilateralism, and there can probably be no multilateralism except through the much-despised UN.

TIME.com: General Karl Rove, Reporting for Duty

Rove planning 2004 campaign. Still "Powell has warned the White House that he doesn't expect to receive, and won't accept, phone calls from Rove."
TIME Europe: Theater Of War -- Oct. 7, 2002

Americans have caught up with Europe in criticizing Bush's Iraq policy, but his juggernaut still looks unstoppable


The historic bond of common cause, intensified by Sept. 11 — "We are all Americans now," Le Monde famously observed — has dissolved into incomprehension and distrust. Wars fought by democracies require the consent of the governed. The tussle between Bush and those who want to restrain him is now thoroughly transatlantic.

Yet it still feels like kabuki, a precooked debate moving to a preordained conclusion. It will take some months, but unless Saddam converts to pacifism or gets much better at concealing weapons, Bush will have his war, with sufficient support on both continents.
U.S. News: Ready. Aim. Fire First (10/7/02)
Early indications are that those in uniform are far less enamored of pre-emption than their civilian bosses
26 September 2002 New York Times Advertisement

WAR WITH IRAQ
IS NOT IN AMERICA'S
NATIONAL INTEREST


ABS-CBNNEWS.COM
The cost of war is too great; try other options

Imagine sending 10,000 weapons inspectors, an absurdly large number and enough to turn over every imaginable stone in Iraq. If each were paid $100,000 a year, the cost would be $1 billion. Even paying all of their expenses and keeping them there for 10 years would cost less than 10 percent of the cost of a war and without the risk of killing thousands.

ABS-CBNNEWS.COM
France, Russia rebuke U.S. on Iraq, China skeptical on UN resolution
ABS-CBNNEWS.COM

"US foreign policy expert Charles W. Maynes argued only two years ago, the US 'is a country with imperial capabilities but without an imperial mind.'

That is a thesis hardly worth defending today as the unilateralism of the Bush administration begins to more and more look and sound like imperial hubris -- and as more and more spokesmen for US ruling circles argue the logic, correctness and alleged humaneness and benevolence of US imperial rule."
Yahoo! Photos - AP
The Uninsured Vary by State
Amarillo Globe-News: Both Cornyn and Kirk back Bush's strategy or war with Iraq 09/29/02
NYTimes : Undermining Environmental Law
In four seperate ways the administration is trying to undermine the National Environmental Policy Act - forest policy, energy policy, off-shore policy, and "streamlining".
Should the U.S. Invade Iraq? Slate writers
The Slate great debate.


It continues here.
InNYTimes: Trenches of a War on Unyielding Poverty
How entrenched poverty can be in places where the escape routes to a better life are blocked — by the lack of transportation, jobs and child care, by geographic isolation, by hopelessness.
Slate : Is there new intelligence linking Iraq to al-Qaida? And more on the debate over going to war. Kate Taylor
NYTimes : Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda Are Not Allies
Opinion - StatesmanJournal.com
Why is President Bush turning Republican fund-raising events into rallies for his first-strike policy toward Iraq?
BostonBoston Globe :Few back Iraq war without allies
NYTimes - Friedman - You Gotta Have Friends
Even Republican voters are ambivalent and really don't want to fight this war alone.
America's latest deterrence - a note from Rumsfeld - Sydney Morning Herald
This is the Bush plan to stop WMD?
New U.S. Doctrine Worries Europeans (washingtonpost.com)
New U.S. Doctrine Worries Europeans
Decades of Coalition-Building Seen at Risk

Opposition to what is seen as the administration's emerging unilateralism comes not just from the left but from across the board, and includes the highest levels.
MSNBC ‘A War Waiting for a Pretext’
A Persian Gulf War POW accuses the United States and Britain of being hypocritical about Saddam
BuzzFlash Reader Commentary - With a Little Spine, the Democrats Can Turn Back The Bush Barbarians at the Gate
The only reason why Bush was close to Gore in 2000, as an example, was that swing voters figured it was better to vote for an idiot than a liar. If Gore had assaulted the Republicans for assaulting his character, refuting the charges one by one and turning the spotlight on Bush's character, staying with it until the issue went away or was neutralized by a focus upon Bush's own tendency to distort the truth, he would have won with 55-60% of the popular vote. Since they are on the wrong side of most issues, the only way Republicans can even compete with the Dems is through character assasination--and until those efforts are vigorously refuted, such as in Daschle's speech, the GOP will have strength beyond their numbers.
Creators.com - Creators Syndicate Molly Ivins

The economy is a mess. We are now in the second dip of a double-dip recession. ("Looks like a W," say the economists, another reason why economists are not famous for their humor.) Six and a quarter trillion dollars has disappeared from the stock markets.

Clinton had set up two multinational efforts to get a handle on offshore banking. Bush came in and promptly dismantled both efforts. After Sept. 11, the need to track terrorist money became urgent, and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill was put in charge of the effort, with Congress swiftly providing a new law for him to work with. After several months, Senate hearings indicated that O'Neill was dragging his feet on this effort. Poverty is up, unemployment is up, 40 million Americans don't have health insurance, we have allowed unrestrained greed to ruin the economy and the president wants to know, "What, apart from government, can we do?"

The most commonly asked political question in America today is, "Where the hell are the Democrats?" The answer is they're also corrupted by campaign financing, but since they are the only ones likely to do anything about this mess, I suggest the gutless wonders that pass for an opposition party in Washington get up off their fat duffs and get to work.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ajc.com: Bush's real goal in Iraq

Invasion would mark the next step toward an American empire

Finally, an article in a newspaper that repeats what I have been saying for weeks. "the approach of the new National Security Strategy was clearly not inspired by the events of Sept. 11. They can be found in much the same language in a report issued in September 2000 by the Project for the New American Century, a group of conservative interventionists outraged by the thought that the United States might be forfeiting its chance at a global empire."

Written by J. Bookman, this is the best short synopsis of what has happened I know.
Newsweek: U.S. Special Forces, Witnesses in Eastern Afghanistan Say Operation Mountain Sweep was a Disaster
The only media news I saw reporting on this was CBC, the Canadian equivalent of CNN.
Why Iraq

Saturday, September 28, 2002

I will let Ann Coulter (boo, hiss) have the last word:

"A President who uses his duties as Commander in Chief to bomb foreign countries every time he wants to change the subject ought to be removed with alacrity," in Human Events, 12/25/98, p. 6.

From the Bartcop Forums.


HoustonChronicle.com - 56% of Texans belong to religious congregations
Accurate religious statistics are always difficult because of how each body counts members.
HoustonChronicle.com - Montgomery group forms to fight book banning
CONROE -- In a county where art and children's books have been at the center of an intense ideological battle lately, the word "mainstream" has become the latest bone of contention.

Two groups in Montgomery County have staked claim to the word, saying they represent prevailing public opinion in a struggle over one side's effort to get two children's books banned from the county library.

CBS News | Poll: No Rush To War | Sept. 24
I thought I should get the original CBS War poll up.
DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism Security
A Very Right-Wing Israeli Intelligence News Site - not always reliable.

Current News: Iraq sent teams in August to seek enriched Uranium in Eastern Europe, US-Russian teams responded.
CIA is trying to stir up dissent in Iran.
This week Israeli intelligence carried to US the info on Iraqi-al-Qaeda links.

Note: The one very strong support Bush has in this war is right-wing Israeli.
Newsday.com - Md. Candidates Focus on Education

"This is not Star Trek. African-Americans are not aliens. If they're not part of your comfort zone, that's a problem with your party."

A lot of political Star Trek references recently. I had some emails about this I haven't posted here.
Yahoo! News - As Thousands of Salmon Die, Fight for River Erupts Again

How Bush manages the environment.
Atlantic Unbound | Politics & Prose | 2002.09.25
When the U.S. faced a mortal threat not 6,000 but ninety miles away during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a threat for which the evidence was incontrovertible as it is not with Iraq, President Kennedy rejected a pre-emptive attack on the Soviet missiles. Striking first, his brother Robert said, was un-American—it would be "a Pearl Harbor in reverse." If the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive strikes had been in place, the Soviet commanders on the scene, faced as Saddam will be with a "use it or lose it" situation, would likely have launched their missiles. We now know they were nuclear-armed.
Common Dreams - Even Friends Abroad Decry America's Arrogance
The two Americas and America's hubris.
How I Became a Target for America's Zealots

The writer wrote a small article about the changes in America in the last year.

She thought the biggest change was the stifling of dissent.

Ironically - she is attacked in the right-wing media and gets a flurry of vicious dittohead hate mail.

But she also receives more support and agreement than hate mail.

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
The Hill - Cartoon - Why Iraq?
Dick Morris =TheHill.com=
Polling is in trouble. Big trouble. The data is no longer reliable and won’t be for several more years. Why were all the national polls (except Zogby) wrong in predicting that George Bush would get more votes than Al Gore in 2000? Why were all the polls wrong again in predicting a close Senate race between Rep. Rick Lazio (R) and Hillary Clinton in New York that same year? The telephone poll is no longer a credible method of measuring public opinion...We need to take all polls conducted in this atmosphere with a healthy dose of skepticism. The pinpoint accuracy that was possible in earlier days is no longer achievable.
HoustonChronicle.com - Longshoremen are locked out on West Coast
The association representing shipping lines decided Friday to lock out longshoremen at all West Coast ports until Sunday morning as contract negotiations deteriorated.
Democracy Now!
Congress Overwhelmed With Anti-War Calls From "The Silenced Majority" Even Republican senators are getting a majority of calls supporting diplomacy over war.
United Press International: Gore scores a slam dunk
To paraphrase Capt. James T. Kirk in the classic original 1960s "Star Trek", Gore boldly dared to go where no Democratic Party man or woman had dared to go before. Even the outspoken New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, the dark horse winner of the party leadership "fashion show" in Manhattan, has not dared to come out and boldly confront Bush on Iraq. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, a heroic Vietnam Navy vet, has yet to speak out so boldly
HoustonChronicle.com - Area religious leaders decry policy on Iraq
Twelve Houston-area religious leaders spoke out Friday against President Bush's plan to go to war against Iraq.

They called such a conflict morally indefensible and urged U.S. leaders to pursue weapons inspections rather than violence.

Florida Campaign 2002
A new poll shows the race between Gov. Jeb Bush and Democrat Bill McBride is a dead heat, with respondents favoring smaller classes, higher teacher pay and a cigarette-tax increase for schools.
Agency disavows report on Iraq arms -- The Washington Times
The International Atomic Energy Agency says that a report cited by President Bush as evidence that Iraq in 1998 was "six months away" from developing a nuclear weapon does not exist.

Even the Moonies say he lies.
USATODAY.com - Clinton favors U.N. backing in war with Iraq
AlterNet: Curtain Call for the Puppet Show
Private Insurance company profiting by preventing free speech.
Protests were muzzled at 2000 Republican convention and insurance is paying for aggressive defense of police.
Reuters - Bear Market Longest in 60 Years
Worse news for some investors, the Standard & Poor's 500 index .GSPC is flirting with its most recent low, which makes it perilously close to making this the deepest bear market since 1938.
Democrats fear losing majority in Senate -- The Washington Times
Democrats fear that they may lose control of the Senate as polls show that at least four of their incumbents are in danger of defeat.
On the other side of the Senate equation, Mrs. Ravitz-Meehan (spokeswoman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee) points to three races where the Democrats believe they stand a good chance of picking up Republican seats to offset any losses.
Reuters
Turkish Police Seize Weapons-Grade Uranium
Turkish paramilitary police have seized more than 33 pounds of weapons-grade uranium and detained two men accused of smuggling the material, the state-run Anatolian news agency said on Saturday.
NYTimes - The Jack Welch War Plan
"There is a fine line between arrogance and self-confidence," said Mr. Welch in "Jack: Straight From the Gut," his Bushian-titled memoir. "Arrogance is a killer." Mr. Bush and the C.E.O.'s around him seem as oblivious to this maxim as the C.E.O. who coined it.

It's when such dishonesty extends to the war on terrorism, though, that you appreciate just how much a killer arrogance can be.
John Ashcroft, ... in May 2001 testified to the Senate that "our No. 1 goal is the prevention of terrorist acts." We now know that he was just putting us on. On Sept. 10, 2001, he refused a F.B.I. budget request to add 149 field agents, 200 analysts and 54 translators to its counterterrorism effort. He did so despite the fact, unearthed by Congressional investigators, that the F.B.I. then had only one analyst monitoring Al Qaeda.
AlterNet: Pre-emptive War Has Its Benefits
With Iraq -- our first pre-emptive war -- there is opportunity to debate and discuss, to consider costs and consequences, to weigh options for what to do after the fighting ends.

Friday, September 27, 2002

GOP Isn't Showcasing McCain This Fall (washingtonpost.com)
HOPE Magazine -- March/April 2002 Legacies of Love

Families who lost loved ones on September 11 are reaching out in extraordinary ways. The peace movement of victim's families.
Letter to President George W. Bush on Iraq
Dear President Bush,

Each of us lost a family member on September 11, 2001. We are writing to you now to express our grave concerns about your stated intention to lead our country into a war in Iraq.

We are disappointed that you have used the anniversary of our loved ones’ deaths not as a time to mourn and reflect but as a time to call for war on a country unrelated to the events of September 11th. We are concerned that a war in Iraq will divert the necessary resources from the task of apprehending and bringing to justice those responsible for the September 11th attacks. We fear this war could destabilize the Middle East region and cost the lives of countless, innocent civilians in other nations. We are deeply troubled that more killing will only fuel the fires of terrorism and enable terrorist organizations to recruit more easily those who would harm us.
MotherJones.com For a decade, Mother Jones has been telling readers about the shoddy business practices of George W., Jeb and Neil Bush.
AlterNet: HUFFINGTON: The Latest Bush Doctrine: Out With The Old, In With The Old Like a WWF wrestler, the war promoters in the White House know that the better you work the mike before the match, the better your chances of winning over the crowd.
9-26-02 Houston Protest Pics : Houston Indymedia
NYTimes - Defend the Country, Not the Party
Gephardt: To question people's patriotism for simply raising questions about how a war is to be fought and won — to say that anybody who doesn't support the president's particular policy on national security is against national security — is not only insulting, it's immoral.

NYTimes - Fighting Street to Street
Is America really prepared for hundreds of casualties, even thousands, in an invasion and subsequent occupation that could last many years?
Yahoo! News - Poll: Support for Iraq Action Drops
Would you favor or oppose taking military action in Iraq to end Saddam Hussein's rule?

Overall — 64 percent favor, but that drops to 33 percent if the United States must act without allies.

Republicans — 77 percent favor, dropping to 43 percent if no allies.

Democrats — 42 percent favor; 13 percent favor if no allies.

Independents — 65 percent favor; 38 percent favor if no allies
MSNBC
Ashcroft’s Baghdad Connection

Why the attorney general and others in Washington have backed a terror group with ties to Iraq
BuzzFlash - Southern Style - Bush using "Weapons of Mass Distraction"
Yahoo! News - Gore Accuses Bush of Eroding Freedom
Democrat Al Gore, criticizing President Bush as he tests the waters for another possible presidential bid, accused the administration Thursday of an "attack on civil liberties" and ignoring signs that Osama bin Laden had been planning a terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

"The warnings were there" before the attacks, Gore said. He asserted that Bush's Justice Department had devoted more time and agents to investigating a suspected brothel in New Orleans than to monitoring bin Laden and his al-Qaida network.
"Where is the sense of priorities?" asked Gore.
FT.com / World US 'evidence' of Iraq's link with al-Qaeda

Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday made an explicit link between al-Qaeda and Iraq, saying the evidence was contained in a new report by the Central Intelligence Agency.
However, European defence ministers who were shown the evidence were divided over whether it proved a link.

FT.com / World
Madeleine Albright, the US secretary of state under Bill Clinton, on Thursday accused some members of the Bush administration of an "irrational exuberance for this conflict" with Iraq.

Speaking before the Senate committee on foreign relations, Ms Albright said: "It is not an American trait to want war.

"And it is not a sign of sound leadership to understate the risks of war or to offer constantly shifting rationales - as this administration has - for undertaking such a venture," Ms Albright said.

Center for Voting and Democracy
Jim Hightower on Instant Runoff Voting.
MotherJones.com | Commentary
Which president produced:

1. The highest growth in the gross domestic product?
2. The biggest increase in jobs?
3. The biggest increase in personal disposable income after taxes?
4. The highest growth in industrial production?
5. The biggest rise in hourly wages?
6. The lowest Misery Index (inflation plus unemployment)?
7. The lowest inflation?
8. The largest reduction in the federal budget deficit?

Done guessing? Okay, here are the answers: 1. Truman; 2. Carter; 3. Johnson; 4. Kennedy; 5. Johnson; 6. Truman; 7. Truman; 8. Clinton. A Democratic sweep.


MotherJones.com | News A national pro-business lobby is drafting most of Texas's laws.

Thursday, September 26, 2002

Star Telegram | Molly Ivins | 09/26/2002 | A new kind of U.S. foreign policy
This is a different link to her take on the "toned down" new security policy of the United States. She does trace the roots further back than the Project for the New American Century.
Are Weblogs Changing Our Culture? By Kurt Andersen and Andrew Sullivan
Can Blogging Save Liberalism?
Counting Casualties - How many people would die in an Iraqi War? By Michael O'Hanlon Analysis of probable casualties, it depends is the safest answer but if it gets down to real fighting over 1,000 American dead.
Gore's War - The only Democrat with guts. By Joe Klein
CNN.com - McCain doubts he'll run for White House again - Sep. 21, 2002
United Press International: McBride gains on Gov. Bush in Florida
Still down but momentum with McBride ahead of debate.
Bush speeds up environment reviews
Meanwhile "John Peter Suarez, an assistant administrator for enforcement issues with the Environmental Protection Agency, said federal statistics show that reviews have actually been going more quickly in recent years.
“One year has been shaved off the median time to process environmental documents for major projects” since 1998, when Congress approved the current federal highway program, Suarez said."
Two big challenges complicate Iraq attack | csmonitor.com
Massive quick strikes planned to try to stop biological and chemical counter-attacks. A large Psych-Ops also planned to drive a wedge between Saddam and Iraqi troops while also warning of accountability after the war.
MSNBC Bush planning steep cuts in Medicare payments<
MSNBC - The Iraq gender gap issue
Will the Republican push for war cost it women voters?
Salon.com Politics | Joe Conason's JournalRush and Dittoheads and Faux News had already started a scandal of Democrats illegally taping Harkin opponent. Trouble is a Republican just confessed.
A quick, quirky coup? | csmonitor.com
Republicans can take control of Senate before January if they win Missouri.
Salon.com News | The arrogance of the Bush Doctrine Robert Scheer
The president's new foreign policy will only anger other countries, and provoke them to take their own "preemptive action."
Global progress in slashing poverty | csmonitor.com
While poverty is declining worldwide it is increasing in the United States under Bush.
Cato Daily Dispatch for September 26, 2002
ACLU and CATO challenge Ashcrofts's Padilla Detention
PageSix.com: Page Six: MCCAIN MUTINY IN WORKS?
Top 10 Reasons Not to "Do" Iraq
An August CATO Institute (major Libertarian) article against the war.
U.S. and Britain Drafting Resolution for Iraq Deadline
Gives about 2 month deadline, other permanent members not aboard.
"On a day when politics and a sense of war fever seemed to boil over in Washington, a senior administration official familiar with the drafting process said, "I personally don't think weapons inspectors will ever return to Iraq."

He said in an interview that "the president is not going to worry about the Security Council" because he will have all the authorization he needs from Congress.

"Once Congress acts, that's the final — that's all that has to happen in our system," the official said."

So the administration thinks if Congress approves the resolution it can bypass the UN?

Democratic Leaders Abdicate on War Policy
Article has interesting points about Kucinich.
Molly Ivins: Mr. Bush, Stop the Insanity
She has read the Pax Americana plan.
CNN.com - Rice: Iraq trained al Qaeda in chemical weapons - Sep. 26, 2002
Washington Post - Attempting bipartisanship, Daschle begins to realize he is being "played for a fool" by an administration intent on making political gains. Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) blasted President Bush yesterday for "politicizing" the debate over national security and demanded he apologize for contending that the Democratic-controlled Senate is "not interested in the security of the American people."

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) topped off a day of unusual vitriol by accusing Daschle of playing into Hussein's hands. "Who's the enemy here: the president of the United States or Saddam Hussein?" Lott said on the floor.

CBSNEWS - Poll, Americans do not want a rush to war. Before the president's speech to the U.N. September 12th, a majority of Americans said they wanted to give the U.N. more time. Now, almost two weeks afterward, they still do.

Yahoo AP - Chinese and French leaders on Thursday agreed that the United Nations should not authorize the use of force against Iraq unless Baghdad defies a demand for the return of weapons inspectors.

Riley for Congress. I would love to see DeLay gone, and Riley is a conservative businessman who would represent the district. The chances of it happening are remote, however. Even the extremely conservative Houston Chronicle can no longer stomach DeLay and has endorsed Riley.

In my own district, it looks like Chris Bell will win.

CBS News Dick Meyer - My Big Fat Iraq Debate "So in a nutshell, the "majority" and me certainly agree with the president that Saddam is a dire, unpredictable threat, but then he has been for a long time. And we agree that the President has made his position clear recently, but that hasn't had much impact on our assessment of the need for war against Iraq. The question "why now, exactly?" still looms."
ACLU - Safe and Free
in Times of Crisis Homeland Security Bill Step Backward; Demands Senate Include Civil Liberties Protections

They also oppose the Government Turning Neighbor Against Neighbor!


Condi Rice now saying that the secret interrogation of al Queda prisioners is revealing links between them and Iraq. They have not presented this evidence to anyone before now and are releasing it on the PBS news show. She says the administration will provide details later.
" After Sept. 11, officials in the Czech Republic said Mohamed Atta, believed to have led the suicide hijacking attacks, had met with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague, which some viewed as a link between Iraq and the attacks. But U.S. officials have since said they doubt the meeting took place. The Iraqi government has been linked to other groups labeled terrorist by the United States, primarily those that oppose Iran and Israel."

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

NYTimes - The Sunshine Warrior An 8-page article on Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, and one of the foremost war proponents.
Foreign Policy In Focus | Global Affairs Commentary | Chicken Hawks as Cheer Leaders
Obvious - those urging war have never served in war.
AlterNet: The War on Iraq Is a Runaway Train
The fact that an attack on Iraq seems irrational in light of the known facts; out of proportion to other existing threats; and a dangerous adventure risking continuing conflict throughout the region for years to come, appears irrelevant to the Bush administration. The Bush approach may be mistaken, irrational, self-defeating and illegal by basic international standards, but that doesn't matter -- no one is listening.
NYTimes - Culture War With B-2's
Mr. Rumsfeld offered sophistry instead of a smoking gun: "I suggest that any who insist on perfect evidence are back in the 20th century and still thinking in pre-9/11 terms."

Ah, Rummy. Evidence, civil liberties, debating before we go to war . . . it's all sooo 20th century.

NYTimes - 3 Retired Generals Warn of Peril in Attacking Iraq Without Backing of U.N.

But the three commanders, some of whom warned that a war with Iraq could detract from the campaign against terrorism, said the Bush administration must work harder to exhaust diplomatic options before resorting to unilateral military action to oust President Saddam Hussein and eliminate any weapons of mass destruction Iraq may have
WashPost - Louder War Talk, and Muffled Dissent (washingtonpost.com)
Democratic leadership faces rising opposition to the war from rank-and-file.

I saw Gore and Bush and McCain on television in the last several days.
While I admired and applauded Gore's stand and was very impressed with how he won over a crowd that seemed initially hesitant, he still seemed like a college professor. A great college professor but still a professor.

McCain surprised me with a principled support of Pax Americana - the soft idealistic side of America supporting democracy around the world.. I think the majority of the American people would most like him to be president. McCain also showed opposition to Bush's tax plan and the economic direction of our country. I had noticed that McCain was listed on the Project for the new American Century site but hadn't realized there was an idealistic perspective to creating an American Empire.

Bush is an idiot.

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

BT - Americans won't back a United States empire - September 18, 2002
"There are two major obstacles in the way of this New American Imperialism."
One "There is very little evidence to support the notion that the American people would be willing to support such an ambitious and costly Pax Americana project... Americans have traditionally been willing to fight wars based on the rules established in the Powell Doctrine, which assume a clear and present danger, the need to defend a national interest and, yes, an exit strategy. They want their wars to be devastating - but short."
Two "What happens when many US troops would have to do the 'policing', fighting and dying in Iraq, Iran and Palestine? That would make it necessary for the Americans at some point to reintroduce the military draft and test the willingness of the American people to serve as the New Imperialists."
Bush's bold gambit, awkward spot | csmonitor.com 47 percent of Americans say the US should send ground troops only with UN support, compared to 37 percent who believe it's OK to go ahead without it.
Military needs: quick forces, broad reach | csmonitor.com The Bush administration has formally put the world on notice that its approach to Iraq is not the exception – but rather the rule – of a new US national security doctrine.

csmonitor A Bush vision of Pax Americana
National strategy, released Friday, calls for US dominance to expand global peace.
HoustonChronicle.com - Politics seen in duel over David's fig leaf With poll
Republican social conservatives are banning books and art in Montgomery County.
Yahoo! News - Democrats Seek Alternatives in Wording Authorizing War

So far, Republican criticism of the president's proposal has been muted, although Democrats say a number of Republicans have voiced worries about the wording of the resolution. Sen. Charles Grassley said, ""But I think it's very necessary for us to do all we can to urge the U.N. to be involved. It gives us not only moral authority, but more legal authority."
NYTimes - Krugman: White Man's Burden
"There's a definite whiff of imperial ambition in the air once again....In the end, 19th-century imperialism was a diversion. It's hard not to suspect that the Bush doctrine is also a diversion — a diversion from the real issues of dysfunctional security agencies, a sinking economy, a devastated budget and a tattered relationship with our allies."


Belgians Lead Push for Regime Change in America, by Phil Lebovits - Democratic Underground
Again, trying to end with a little humor.
CNN.com In-Depth Specials - The Unfinished War
A CNN history of the aftermath of the war.
This is my friend Peter's phrase for the Iraq War. He feels we have the right to restart the war because of Saddam's non-compliance. That is the justification for the war, except the organization that had the legal right to force compliance is the United Nations, not the United States. I feel we need some kind of fig leaf from the United Nations in order to remain on the right side of this.
British Gulf War General Says Iraq Invasion 'Totally Unjustified'
It also looks like the UK, the only country whose government is really supportive of the war, has not been asked to and will not send troops.
GlobalSecurity.org
A very current military reference site on global security issues. Provides up to date articles and links and has a photo section.
Clinton's statement announcing Operation Desert Fox
In 1998 Clinton attacked Iraq over its WMD program. Republicans and the right-wing media machine denounced him.

Another article here on Republican backlash.

“It's certainly rather suspicious timing,” said Rep. Tillie Fowler, R-Fla. “I think the president is shameless in what he would do to stay in office.”

“He's playing politics with national security,” said GOP consultant Alex Castellanos.

“What he's doing here,” said leading conservative activist Paul Weyrich, “is more of an impeachable offense than anything he is being charged with in Congress.”

“Both the timing and the policy are subject to question,” Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.
The following is from an email discussion I am having.

Saudi Arabia does not have nuclear weapons. I think that they
consider us their shield and do not think they need them.
http://cns.miis.edu/research/wmdme/saudi.htm

The Pax Americana doctrine of unilateral action, preemptive strikes,
and a strong military stationed around the world was developed by
conservative Republicans before Bush took office. I have a number of
links to this on my weblog. The official Bush policy is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/20/politics/20STEXT_FULL.html

I feel Byrd and Gore are right. I thought the Gore speech was so good
I taped it off CSPAN. We are not objecting to taking out Saddam.
Far from it, everyone wants him gone. We object to the method because
it is dangerous to the rule of law, is not bipartisan, is
unilateralist, and until one statement by Rice recently, gave no
thought to what happens afterward. Democrats are stuck because, with
the war rhetoric heating up, they can't object to the methods without
being viewed as soft on terrorists.

On Byrd: Yes, Bush's timing of Iraq war rhetoric and suddenly forcing
the UN and the Senate to take action was political. The highly
organized Republican Party advises candidates to make an issue of the
war. Democrats have never been organized. "I belong to no organized
political party, I'm a Democrat" - Will Rogers.
http://www.wvgazette.com/display_story.php3?sid=200209213

On Buchanan: I agree - except for the attack on Clinton supposedly
trying to distract people with strikes on Iraq. Saddam was a threat
then but Republicans objected to even cruise missile attacks.
Democrats get blamed for not eliminating this threat earlier when
there was no support for even weak action.
http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/stories/buchanan091802.htm

There was some speculation about Iraq involvement in the 1994 World Trade Center
bombing but no evidence was ever presented and it was never
investigated. Iraq even jailed one person believed to be responsible.

I do not object to sending 100,000+ troops into Iraq after a rapid
bombing campaign that is a magnitude beyond anything ever done. I
object that we are doing it in a partisan, sudden and reckless manner.

I further object to an official doctrine that says 1) the President
can launch preemptive strikes against possible future threats and 2)
we will prevent any other country or bloc from having anything
approaching our power. Actually, I wonder if 2 is so objectionable
even if this will be deeply resented.

The reason our allies are not behind the US action against Iraq
is because of the manner in which it is being done - not because they
support Iraq.

Yes, the question should be, "What's the best way to take him out?"
This way is partisan, reckless and sets a bad precedent.

Prediction: when the President gets done fund raising he will give a
better speech written for him making a case to the American people,
the Democrats will support a restricted to Iraq resolution and we will
invade sometime between December and March. It is possible Saddam
will try to cut a deal that gives him his life in exchange for
surrender. Biological and chemical weapons may or may not be used if
Iraq is attacked.

Monday, September 23, 2002

MSNBC Gore rips Bush’s approach on Iraq
They had it live but were at least 4th to post to the web.
FT.com Home US
Condi Rice vows to rebuild Iraq as democracy.

U.S. Taking Steps to Ready Forces for Iraq Fighting
CIA will operate with special forces, F-18 Super-Hornets on station, coordination with Northern Kurds.

USATODAY.com - Support for Iraq mission conditional
79% Favor Invasion if UN approves, 69% if Congress approves, 38% say US should take on Iraq on its own.
Bear Left!: War Fever
History reminds us that the passion of those clamoring for war does not always mean that their cause is wise, just, or sound. In 1898, 1957, and 1964, the rashness and brashness of our politicians and media led America astray. The Maine explosion was not caused by Spain, there was no missile gap, there was not an American, Vietnamese naval battle, there is now no evidence that Saddam is behind anti-US attacks and that it has nuclear weapons.
Yahoo! News AP - Gore Decries Bush's Iraq War Push The second story posted on speech
algore04.com - Al Gore Iraq and the War on Terrorism transcript Go Gore Go!
Yahoo! News - Gore in California Speech Warns Against Iraq Attack
Suddenly, Jeb Bush in Close Race (washingtonpost.com)
MSNBC War plans target Hussein power base
The most probable war options - 100,000+ initial troops - preceded by most massive air strike in history.
MSNBC ‘Secrets of the Tomb’ Excerpts from book about Bush's super-elite secret sociiety Skull and Bones.
London Sunday Herald Bush's replacements for Saddam would be just as bad.
"I examined my notes of the interviews I conducted with 82 Iraqi opposition leaders, and began identifying those on my list whose thinking resembles Saddam's. To my horror, I decided 75 of the people I interviewed were men who would kill to achieve their goal."

Saturday, September 21, 2002

AlterNet: Bush Draft Resolution Rings False "the administration acts as if only days remain before mad-man Saddam unleashes Armageddon. If Bush is sitting on secret information that proves the necessity of dashing to war, he ought to find a way to make some of it public." Bush ain't no Kennedy.
Deliver Us From Evil By Michael Kinsley Skewering William J. Bennett

"there has never in our entire history been a proposition from which fewer Americans dissent than 'Osama Bin Laden is evil.' Calling terrorists 'evil' requires no courage and justifies no self-congratulatory puffing. It's just not a problem. But it's also not a solution."
The Center for Security Policy "Message to Congress: A vote for UN approval is a vote for Saddam Hussein" Ridiculous, even has a particularly large and ugly picture of Saddam. Salon had previously pointed out that this group was part of partisan attempts to portray any deviation from Bush's plans as un-American and pro-terrorist.
Chris Matthews Final Column - Hail and farewell "So I'll say it: I hate this war that's coming in Iraq. I don't think we'll be proud of it. Oppose this war because it will create a millennium of hatred and the suicidal terrorism that comes with it. You talk about Bush trying to avenge his father. What about the tens of millions of Arab sons who will want to finish a fight we start next spring in Baghdad? "

After reading more of their papers, I am wondering if I have given too much credit to the Project for the New American Century and not enough to The Center for Security Policy on the creation of the present American foreign policy. Cheney and Rumsfeld were on the boards of both groups.

Friday, September 20, 2002

I can't get fooled again.. Fool me once, shame on, ... shame on... you, fool me, fo, you can't get fooled again. Bush explaining his Iraq policy.

The Daily Show News Low Speed Connection

The Daily Show News High Speed Connection

Unknown Creator - The real Bush doctrine

Email your elected officials.
Write to your Representative and Senators at http://www.congress.org - put in your ZIP code, write, and your email or letter is sent. Elected officials do have staff who gauge sentiment on an issue. A good issue could be writing about the overly broad, rushed resolution of Bush's asking for authority to attack any country, anywhere, anytime in the Middle East.
Mark Twain, "The Mysterious Stranger" (1910) excerpt:

The loud little handful - as usual - will shout for the war. The pulpit will - warily and cautiously - object... at first. The great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, "It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it."

Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded, but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the antiwar audiences will thin out and lose popularity.

Before long, you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men...

Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arianna Huffington "What prompted the transformation in my political thinking"
Just as Bush and conservatives can believe there is Evil in the world I can read this and see Good.
Bush Seeks Sweeping War Powers "It's wide open," said Scott L. Silliman, director of Duke University's Center on Law, Ethics and National Security. "This resolutions says, 'Mr. President, you can use force anywhere to bring peace and stability anywhere'."

Common Dreams - Weapons of Silent Mass Destruction - the harmful effects of depleted uranium and other metals extensively used in modern munitions. Not mentioned is that this is probably the main cause of many "Gulf War Syndrome" cases.

NY Times - Full text of Bush's National Security Strategy. This will be extensively discussed in the coming weeks and years. I am trying to get time to compare it to the original 2000 Pax America plan.

The Onion

WASHINGTON, DC—Vowing to "exact justice for the taking of innocent American lives," a determined and defiant President Bush deployed more than 14,000 ground troops to the West Nile Monday.
"We will hunt down and capture those who bring sickness and death to our shores," said Bush. "Nothing can deter us from bringing down these bloodsucking anti-American parasites."

Trying to end on a lighter note.
A Good Poll Who is for war, who is opposed. Support for war eroding. Democrat political leaders stuck - their supporters don't want war but the Democratic Party reminds them what happened when they opposed Iraq War 1. If Democratic leaders avoid the rush to show support popular support may fade.

Salon - Iraq: The phantom menace
George W. Bush's war plans in the Middle East have more to do with elections than global security.

Common Dreams carried this Toronto Star Column

An Iron-Fisted Foreign Policy
Bush's Hard Line on Iraq Serves Notice That No Carthage Will Be Allowed to Rise to Challenge Today's Rome
by Richard Gwyn

"No Carthage will be allowed to arise to challenge today's Rome, nor any mini-Carthage as some "rogue state" might become, once equipped with even crude weapons of mass destruction.

Bush was giving notice that the U.S. will forever hopelessly outspend everyone else."

He also mentions that the U.S.' military budget is larger than those of the next 15 nations combined. The US also accounts for 80 per cent of all the world's military research so that it can fight wars that no one else can even yet imagine.

Common Dreams - President Bush Wants War, Not Justice - And He'll Soon Find Another Excuse For It
by Robert Fisk " Saddam's letter to Mr Annan was a smart move, as contemptuous as it was inevitable. Stand by, then, for an equally contemptible response from President Bush."
He also mentions "But for now, the Americans have been sandbagged. It will take at least 25 days to put the UN inspection team together, another 60 for their preliminary assessment – always assuming they are given "unfettered" access to all Iraqi government facilities -- then another 60 days for further inspections. In other words, George Bush's latest war has been delayed by more than five months. Saddam, of course, must have his own worries. Back in 1996, the Iraqis were already accusing the UN inspectorate of working with the Israelis.

Major Scott Ritter, Iraq's nemesis-turned-savior, was indeed – as an inspector – regularly traveling to Tel Aviv to consult Israeli intelligence. Then Saddam accused the UN inspectors of working for the CIA. And he was right. The United States, it emerged, was using the UN's Baghdad offices to bug Iraq's government communications. And once the inspectors were withdrawn in 1998 and the US and Britain launched "Operation Desert Fox", it turned out that virtually every one of the bombing targets had been visited by UN inspectors over the previous six months. Far from being an inspectorate, the UN lads – though they didn't all know it – had been acting as forward air controllers, drawing up an American hit list rather than monitoring compliance with UN resolutions."

Thursday, September 19, 2002

NY Times - Way to go ACLU. Why don't you join it or the Electronic Freedom Foundation or the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund today?

Another link from NY Times : THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
"It's also not true that the public is solidly against taking on Saddam Hussein. What is true is that most Americans are perplexed. The most oft-asked question I heard was some variation of: "How come all of a sudden we have to launch a war against Saddam? I realize that he's thumbed his nose at the U.N., and he has dangerous weapons, but he's never threatened us, and, if he does, couldn't we just vaporize him? What worries me are Osama and the terrorists still out there." We can stop Saddam, we cannot stop the young Muslims, and the "young, angry undeterrables will blow us up long before Saddam ever does." Increasing peace, opportunity, and secular democracy will save us, not creating a fundamentalist war zone.




Dear Ann Slanders - JFC that is creepy.
Study Says Middle Class to Lose Much of Bush Tax Cut's Benefit The study found that 97 percent of families with two children and income of $75,000 to $100,000 would be forced off the regular income tax system by 2010. This shift in who pays the alternative tax explains, the authors said, why those making $75,000 to $200,000 will pay a larger share of all income taxes in 2010, while those making $1 million or more will pay less.

Yes, the massive Bush tax cut only goes to the rich.

Mathew Miller - WAR: KARL ROVE'S ULTIMATE WEDGE ISSUE

"One benefit of invading Iraq that conservatives speculate openly about is that it will tear the Democratic Party down the middle, as did Vietnam. A peace candidate in New Hampshire in 2004 is the new Republican fantasy. Serious Republican thinkers believe the only way for their party to achieve a governing majority is for the theme of war to be dominant. This is a fact, and whatever else you may think of it, it's a little scary."

This has been a brilliant Sun Tzu Art of War maneuver. The Pax Americana plan has the American Empire with a much stronger military engaged in regime change in many, many countries always preventing other powers from developing This will create a Spartan America always having to be on guard against terrorists.
Free Speech TV America's Growing War in the Philippines --- The Next Vietnam?

The US is dramatically increasing it's military deployment. At first the rationale was to train Philippine troops to fight the Abu Sayaf, a bandit and kidnapping gang with ties to the Philippine military. But over the last several months the US advisors have gone from 160 to over 1000. And the US is putting a full court press on the government of President Gloria Arroyo to permit reopening of Clark and Subic bases, which the US was forced to abandon in the early 80s in response to massive popular pressure.

Part of the Pax Americana plan is to expand bases in South East Asia.
HA"ARETZ NEWS Ritter in an interview says an Iraqi War would be a disaster for IIsrael. It would open the door for an Iraqi attack on Israel, whether conventional or nonconventional; it would undermine regional stability and tilt Arab public opinion even further against the U.S. and Israel; and it would increase terrorism inside Israel.

Reuters Worldcom expected to announce billions more in additional accounting errors. They are already writing down over $50 billion.
Switzerland joins the UN I overlooked on September 11th that Switzerland has finally joined the United Nations.

AlterNet: Baghdad, September 2002: City of Doom I can hear the raspy and prophetic voice of Sen. Wayne Morse, who voted against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, roaring 38 years ago: "I don't know why we think, just because we're mighty, that we have the right to try to substitute might for right."

Battle continues over vet benefits Bush threatens veto if vets can collect disability and retirement like other federal workers.
London Review of Books | Michael Byers : Jumping the Gun The international law on attacking Iraq - no, it is a Security Council problem and Bush would create a damn dangerous precedent undoing over a century of international law.
Tehran tongue-tied about war next door The Iranian position.
Marching as to war Opponents can attack on every front: intellectual, political, moral, practical and strategic.
More on Pax Americana

Guardian Unlimited | Columnists | Jonathan Freedland: Rome, AD ... Rome, DC? British serious discusion about Pax Americana.

Bear Left!: Mister Clean Tacitus quotes the Scottish leader Calgacus as saying "solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant": they create a desert, and call it peace. Calgacus accurately portrayed an important aspect of the Pax Romana. Assuming our records survive the next nineteen centuries, what will history tell of the Pax Americana?
Jan Herman Rockerfeller Center censoring art.
The CIA connection to Syria Bush enriching Saddam Hussein to collect information on al-Qaida.
Reuters German Justice Minister compares Bush to Hitler
Out of Control Hysteria Increasing Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/19/2002 | Profiling charged on 'nightmare' flight

News-Press.com Tape shows South Florida men paid - probably overpaid. Out of Control Hysteria.

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Ozone News - Those pesky environmentalists did it again, the ozone hole looks like it is closing. It might be cured by 2050 if CFC'c are still regulated and rising greenhouse gasses don't stop the process. Don't tell the DittoHeads, they still don't believe there is a hole. Of course, they don't live in Australia where teachers have to make sure children put on sunscreen before going outside at recess.

Times Online New Office of Global Communications will launch $200 million PR Blitz at home and abroad to justify attacking Iraq.

Health and Human Services Replacing Science Advisors with Pro-Business newcomers.(washingtonpost.com) This is wrong but expected.

Philadelphia Daily News - Flight 93 recorder tape ends 3 minutes before plane crashed? I read in in a recent interview that Rice was in the command center and they had just given orders to scramble military jets when word was received the flight was down. For 30 minutes she said everyone had a sick feeling that we had shot it down before word came back we didn't. I believe it was downed in the struggle but this is how conspiracy theories start.

Washington Post - Two things. One, Republican strategists are moving candidates to run on attacking Iraq now compared to those wusses the Democrats. Two, Lockheed-Martin, the world's largest military contractor, is running ads on the Washington Post web page directing viewers to this F-22 website. As I have pointed out previously Lockheed Martin appears to be one of the supports of Pax Americana, the Republican plan for a century of America as the world Empire.

Salon - The Moonie propaganda story against the NEA that won't die. The NEA "blaming America first" has been shown to be a lie several times but the right-wing media bias network continues to spread the lie because it fits their fantasy world view.

Joe Conason's Journal - More crony capitalism in Texas, the Bush created University of Texas Investment Management Company. Plus: Will Iraq hawks take yes for an answer? And why Superman is mad at George W. Bush.

William Greider - Talks about corporate influence, term limits, and the Imperial United States.

Geov Parrish - We will go to war, the only untold story is how much this "Imperial Adventurism" is going to cost.

Alternet - Testimony to Congress about the cost of the war. Add it all up and it is probably $200 billion plus.

Borowitz - IRAQ AGREES TO WEAPONS INSPECTIONS; CHENEY BEGS THEM TO RECONSIDER. Don’t Make Any Hasty Decisions, Vice President Urges Saddam. Nice to see some humor in this.
A Crack House Divided A former conservative Republican, now compassionate moderate, calls Jeb Bush on his drug policies.

"Of course, Jeb's wildly inconsistent attitude on the issue -- treatment and privacy for his daughter, incarceration and public humiliation for everyone else -- is part and parcel of the galling hypocrisy that infects America's insane drug war on every level."


Remember John O'Neill

"Clinton's advisors met nearly weekly on how to stop bin Laden...I didn't detect that kind of focus from the Bush administration."
- Two Star General Donald Kerrick

"In August 2001, FBI Deputy Director John O'Neill resigned from his post over George W. Bush's policy on terrorism and Osama bin Laden. Specifically, O'Neill's department was told to "back off" their bin Laden and Al Queda investigations while the Bush administration negotiated with the Taliban. O'Neill became the security chief of the World Trade Center - where he died during the events of 9/11."

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

Molly Ivins Remembering Billie Carr - One of the smart democratic women in Texas.
How Clinton created 8 years of economic miracles. Note that on some major issues he did not have a single Republican vote.
In contrast to The Nation, BuzzFlash Report follows the Drudge Report model. Short sentences that are hyperlinks. The Drudge Report is the most popular conservative weblog. It has created the mold for the most popular short-attention-span topics-of-the-day blogs. The model necessitates predominately sentence fragments, occasional sentences, very rarely two sentences. BuzzFlash follows that model. I have made BuzzFlash report my first permanent front page link. It provides the liberal/progressive perspective on important topics of the day.
The Nation has added these online columns they are calling weblogs. They are not. They are online irregular columns. If they added hyperlinks they would be weblogs. I like the idea of The Nation having rapid response columns but they should not call them weblogs.
An article about the coming Democratic majority. All of the demographic groups that are majority Democratic are growing, the Republican groups are shrinking. There is little Republicans can do about it. The Bush brothers actually are better than most by trying to appeal to hispanics to vote Republican. This has not been that successful in the majority of Republican races.
I don't want get into Iraq now or even about the Bush gang plans for an Imperial United States. Interesting, moving away from saying that the United States is a Republic, not a Democracy to saying the United States is an Empire just indicates who is running the Republican party now. Instead I'll point you to Paul Krugman, award winning economist, who has a clear explanation of why the Bush tax cut was a huge mistake as he said when it was proposed. Deficits all the way out even with the reductions in benefits each year built into the projections.

Monday, September 16, 2002

the bitter shackzilla of resentment - Dick Cheney vs. Nelson Mandela Our unelected VP Dick Cheney, one of the main leaders on the "War on Terrorism", branded Nelson Mandela still a "terrorist" back in 1985. That was when even most of the conservative House was considering him a hero. Should we question his qualifications to define a "terrorist"?

Yahoo News - Iraq accepts UN weapons inspectors with no conditions. Wait, wasn't someone just giving speeches about how that would never happen? It will be interesting to see the spin tomorrow.
Wired - Lists some of the fundamental legal rights America gave up with the Patriot Act.

I have never protested or marched. I am reconsidering. On 9/28 there is a planned Bush protest in Houston..

FAS - The $3.8 Billion in anti-terrorist aid since 9/11 has been going to some unsavory regimes and questionable anti-terrorist activities.

Czech Economic News - “IN 20 YEARS MY FILM WILL BE BANNED” In an interview about his film on the anarchist author "Uncle Fester", director Robert Ellman says "with the new global era of terrorism, in which the less developed misuse the scientific achievements of the developed, it will be rather difficult for the representatives of the developed to tolerate freedom of speech to this degree. Probably, all published literature will be under stricter control". If this is the legacy of 9/11 then the terrorists have won.

UK Independent News - Rebel Labor party members may force a Parliament vote. Blair may yet get a vote of no-confidence out of this.
US Representative Ron Paul - Some questions that won't be asked about a war with Iraq.

I had attempted to follow a misspelled link to the Project for the New American Century website. It, and its archives, have been on the web all along. As someone who is interested in military strategy, I may have some good things to say about the site later. This does not mean that the basic premise of creating a Spartan-like American Empire is right. I would also disagree with the almost 20% increase in the military budget as well as with some of the recommended actions they suggest.
Common Dreams - "A SECRET blueprint for US global domination reveals that President Bush and his cabinet were planning a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure 'regime change' even before he took power in January 2001."

Knowledge is moving up the pre-major news media food chain.

Flash! Project For The New American Century is back on the web.
I oppose growing government intrusion into the personal lives of U.S. citizens. That is a libertarian position.
I oppose the growing concentration of power in a few large corporations. That is a liberal position.

On to the news, what a mess the television news medium made of the South Florida scare. The Miami Herald documents how wrong they got it.

London Times - An Iraqi nuclear scientist defector says they will have nuclear weapons by Christmas. If this is not disinformation it is very troubling.

Washington Post As predicted and expected, Democrats are questioning Bush's timing on Iraq. Factual article makes the case.

Sunday, September 15, 2002

On the morning of September 10, 2001, New Yorkers could have heard the Deputy Executive Director, Project for the New American Century explaining the need for a new American Empire on NPR. A year later their plan has been revealed as the driving force behind the policies of this administration.

The Project for the New American Century is dedicated to pioneering "a new proud American Imperialism".

Did you want to find out more?

Too bad if you were looking for the primary source materials on the web. The Project For A New American Century Organization is no longer on the web and they have removed themselves from the Internet Archives. Someone must have pointed out it would not be good public or international relations now that their plan is in operation.

Some information is available:

Here is a letter from them posted last September 20th.

Here and here were grants they received from some foundations.

Here the journal Current Concerns discusses the people shaping foreign policy with Rumsfeld and the next page shows how they were all developers of the Project for the New American Century.

In a pre-9/11 article here it is mentioned how Bruce Jackson, Vice President of Lockheed Martin, the world's largest military corporation, is one of the group's directors.

The short but still best available information is here:

U.S. Foreign Policy -
Attention, Right Face, Forward March

By Tom Barry and Jim Lobe


Notice that the above article on the foreign policy plan of this administration, created back in 1997 -1999 by a coalition of the big Republican conservative blocs, was written in April of this year.

Isolated voices have been warning of this PNAC crew since immediately after September 11th. Hey, when the CIA thinks you are right-wing nuts... From the Village Voice, Nov. 21-27, 2001, "the Agency's old Afghan and Middle East hands marvel at what they consider lunacy. "The Agency as an institution would never offer up a view of these people, but if you ask individuals, they think these guys are more than a little nuts," says a veteran of the CIA's Directorate of Operations."

The PNAC have not yet converted all the American Military-Strategic Think Tanks to their vision of Pax Americana. Large, permanent forces stationed in the middle east, central Asia, and southeast Asia to prevent any enemies, no matter how small, from threatening the new American global Empire is not in everyone's vision. Here is one from Seattle who disagrees. But, as even he writes, he seems to be "an anti-war movement of one".

Thomas Donnelly, Deputy Executive Director of the Project for the New American Century, writing for the magazine Foreign Affairs:

"THE FACT OF A (ONE-WORLD) AMERICAN EMPIRE IS HARDLY DEBATED THESE DAYS. Even those who fear and oppose it - in this country, the libertarian right and the remnants of the new left; abroad, a variety of voices from Paris to Baghdad to Beijing - define international politics almost entirely in relation to U.S. power, and especially U.S. military power. The 'unipolar moment' has become a unipolar decade and, with a little effort and a little wisdom, it COULD LAST MUCH LONGER."

Do you honestly think this administration has even "a little wisdom"?

Wow, I had started this research just looking to see if the Homeland Security Cultural Bureau was "real" like the conservative front group Americans for Victory Over Terrorism or an elaborate practical joke and I serendipitied into this.
Scottish Sunday Herald

"A SECRET blueprint for US global domination reveals that President Bush and his cabinet were planning a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure 'regime change' even before he took power in January 2001."


If this report is true this is unbelievable. I have been talking about a "Pax Americana" doctrine for years and it appears the current administration leadership planned it, with the same name, at a Conservative think tank.

Selections:
US must "discourage advanced industrial nations from challenging our leadership or even aspiring to a larger regional or global role."

Peace-keeping missions demand "American political leadership rather than that of the United Nations."

Even should Saddam pass from the scene "bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will remain permanently."

Iran "may well prove as large a threat to US interests as Iraq has."

China is highlighted for "regime change" and "it is time to increase the presence of American forces in southeast Asia."

Encourages US development of "advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes."


“A Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be fashionable today. But it is necessary if the US is to build on the successes of this past century and ensure our security and greatness in the next.”
Another good link on this topic.


As one of the first popular right wing bloggers says
Developing.
Religious and Public Stations Battle for Share of Radio Dial I had wondered why KPFT was no longer also in College Station. I was visiting my Dad's and the Houston signal fades out. The non-profit Christian stations have found that they can kick non-profit repeater stations off the air if they build a real station. Wildmon has been a big problem for diversity and intelligent shows for years. I want to encourage local stations but in many cases these small towns are getting multiple religious stations and alternative news sources are disappearing. The other real problem is that while the rules were probably designed to encourage local content - the new religious stations are in fact repeater stations in all but name. Two new stations in one community ihave one employee to flip the switches and pick up the satellite feed. Perhaps NPR and Pacifica didn't realize all they needed to do was to hire one part-time person and they could be a local station?
Support KPFT or KUHF in Houston.
Bushwatch with some great art this week.

From You might be a Republican if you believe that 50,456,169 is more than 50,996,116.


Washington Post - Liberty Wins - For Now - There is a good demonstration of how the balance of powers is working in the United States right now. European states are losing civil liberties since 9/11 while some of the excesses of the Bush/Ashcroft/Rumsfeld gang are being overturned by the courts. This is not proceeding very fast and they may not overturn them all but this is how a good system should work. I am a balance-of-power-ocrat, as I had briefly mentioned in one of my earlier posts. Justice is not swift and it is not sure but it is a good balance to undemocratic executives.

WarbloggerWatch looks like it could be a useful site to keep an eye on. Except I wonder if they would think I am a switch hitter. I actually think that comply or else weapons inspectors with US forces backing them up is the best way out of this mess. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Iraq Plan - pdf.

Saturday, September 14, 2002

Cheney's Outrageous Rush to Partisan Attacks
Scott Ritter - more people should listen to him
The American Prospect - Emily's list is getting criticism for dividing progressive candidates, not compromising to elect a better but not perfect candidate, and having too strict of a litmus test on abortion. I am just glad that there are some liberal PAC's to counter the more pervasive conservative ones. A better solution is much more effective campaign finance laws.

LA Times - As expected, American citizens tax dollars are bribing support for foreign allies in this coming war.

Someone else is troubled by the "prospect of eternal war" supporting a Imperial United States.

Dave Winer, who is on my favorites list and will be pointed to when I add a link section to this page, is against the war with Iraq.

Friday, September 13, 2002

Rebecca Knight has an Abiding Anger over Bush - Southern Style.
A Prayer for America - From Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich:

Let us pray that our nation will remember that the unfolding of the promise of democracy in our nation paralleled the striving for civil rights. That is why we must challenge the rationale of the Patriot Act. We must ask why should America put aside guarantees of constitutional justice?

How can we justify in effect canceling the First Amendment and the right of free speech, the right to peaceably assemble?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Fourth Amendment, probable cause, the prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Fifth Amendment, nullifying due process, and allowing for indefinite incarceration without a trial?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Sixth Amendment, the right to prompt and public trial?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Eighth Amendment which protects against cruel and unusual punishment?

We cannot justify widespread wiretaps and internet surveillance without judicial supervision, let alone with it. We cannot justify secret searches without a warrant. We cannot justify giving the Attorney General the ability to designate domestic terror groups. We cannot justify giving the FBI total access to any type of data which may exist in any system anywhere such as medical records and financial records.

We cannot justify giving the CIA the ability to target people in this country for intelligence surveillance. We cannot justify a government which takes from the people our right to privacy and then assumes for its own operations a right to total secrecy. The Attorney General recently covered up a statue of Lady Justice showing her bosom as if to underscore there is no danger of justice exposing herself at this time, before this administration.

Let us pray that our nation's leaders will not be overcome with fear. Because today there is great fear in our great Capitol. And this must be understood before we can ask about the shortcomings of Congress in the current environment. The great fear began when we had to evacuate the Capitol on September 11. It continued when we had to leave the Capitol again when a bomb scare occurred as members were pressing the CIA during a secret briefing. It continued when we abandoned Washington when anthrax, possibly from a government lab, arrived in the mail. It continued when the Attorney General declared a nationwide terror alert and then the Administration brought the destructive Patriot Bill to the floor of the House. It continued in the release of the Bin Laden tapes at the same time the President was announcing the withdrawal from the ABM treaty. It remains present in the cordoning off of the Capitol. It is present in the camouflaged armed national guardsmen who greet members of Congress each day we enter the Capitol campus. It is present in the labyrinth of concrete barriers through which we must pass each time we go to vote. The trappings of a state of siege trap us in a state of fear, ill equipped to deal with the Patriot Games, the Mind Games, the War Games of an unelected President and his unelected Vice President.

Let us pray that our country will stop this war. "To promote the common defense" is one of the formational principles of America. Our Congress gave the President the ability to respond to the tragedy of September the Eleventh. We licensed a response to those who helped bring the terror of September the Eleventh. But we the people and our elected representatives must reserve the right to measure the response, to proportion the response, to challenge the response, and to correct the response.

Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq.
We did not authorize the invasion of Iran.
We did not authorize the invasion of North Korea.
We did not authorize the bombing of civilians in Afghanistan.
We did not authorize permanent detainees in Guantanamo Bay.
We did not authorize the withdrawal from the Geneva Convention.
We did not authorize military tribunals suspending due process and habeas corpus.
We did not authorize assassination squads.
We did not authorize the resurrection of COINTELPRO.
We did not authorize the repeal of the Bill of Rights.
We did not authorize the revocation of the Constitution.
We did not authorize national identity cards.
We did not authorize the eye of Big Brother to peer from cameras throughout our cities.
We did not authorize an eye for an eye.
Nor did we ask that the blood of innocent people, who perished on September 11, be avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan.
We did not authorize the administration to wage war anytime, anywhere, anyhow it pleases.
We did not authorize war without end.
We did not authorize a permanent war economy.

Yet we are upon the threshold of a permanent war economy. The President has requested a $45.6 billion increase in military spending. All defense-related programs will cost close to $400 billion. Consider that the Department of
Defense has never passed an independent audit. Consider that the Inspector General has notified Congress that the Pentagon cannot properly account for $1.2 trillion in transactions. Consider that in recent years the Dept. of
Defense could not match $22 billion worth of expenditures to the items it purchased, wrote off, as lost, billions of dollars worth of in-transit inventory and stored nearly $30 billion worth of spare parts it did not need.

Yet the defense budget grows with more money for weapons systems to fight a cold war which ended, weapon systems in search of new enemies to create new wars. This has nothing to do with fighting terror. This has everything to do with fueling a military industrial machine with the treasure of our nation, risking the future of our nation, risking democracy itself with the militarization of thought which follows the militarization of the budget.

Let us pray for our children. Our children deserve a world without end. Not a war without end. Our children deserve a world free of the terror of hunger, free of the terror of poor health care, free of the terror of homelessness, free of the terror of ignorance, free of the terror of hopelessness, free of the terror of policies which are committed to a world view which is not appropriate for the survival of a free people, not appropriate for the survival of democratic values, not appropriate for the survival of our nation, and not appropriate for the survival of the world.

Let us pray that we have the courage and the will as a people and as a nation to shore ourselves up, to reclaim from the ruins of September the Eleventh our democratic traditions. Let us declare our love for democracy. Let us declare our intent for peace. Let us work to make nonviolence an organizing principle in our own society. Let us recommit ourselves to the slow and painstaking work of statecraft, which sees peace, not war as being inevitable. Let us work for a world where someday war becomes archaic.

That is the vision which the proposal to create a Department of Peace envisions. Forty-three members of congress are now cosponsoring the legislation. Let us work for a world where nuclear disarmament is an imperative. That is why we must begin by insisting on the commitments of the ABM treaty. That is why we must be steadfast for nonproliferation.

Let us work for a world where America can lead the way in banning weapons of mass destruction not only from our land and sea and sky but from outer space itself. That is the vision of HR 3616: A universe free of fear. Where we can look up at God's creation in the stars and imagine infinite wisdom, infinite peace, infinite possibilities, not infinite war, because we are taught that the kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven.

Let us pray that we have the courage to replace the images of death which haunt us, the layers of images of September the Eleventh, faded into images of patriotism, spliced into images of military mobilization, jump cut into images of our secular celebrations of the World Series, New Year's Eve, the Superbowl, the Olympics, the strobic flashes which touch our deepest fears, let us replace those images with the work of human relations, reaching out to people, helping our own citizens here at home, lifting the plight of the poor everywhere. That is the America which has the ability to rally the support of the world. That is the America which stands not in pursuit of an axis of evil, but which is itself at the axis of hope and faith and peace and freedom.



America, America. God shed grace on thee. Crown thy good, America. Not with weapons of mass destruction. Not with invocations of an axis of evil. Not through breaking international treaties. Not through establishing America as king of a unipolar world. Crown thy good America.

America, America. Let us pray for our country. Let us love our country. Let us defend our country not only from the threats without but from the threats within. Crown thy good, America. Crown thy good with brotherhood, and sisterhood. And crown thy good with compassion and restraint and forbearance and a commitment to peace, to democracy, to economic justice here at home and throughout the world. Crown thy good, America. Crown thy good America. Crown thy good.