Big Brother Is Watching: Bush seeks to expand DNA database

DNA profiles from juvenile offenders and from adults who have been arrested but not convicted would be added to the FBI's national DNA database under a Bush administration proposal.

Critics say adding juvenile and arrestee profiles to the database threatens privacy by expanding the pool of samples beyond adult criminals. Although only digital DNA profiles would be linked to the FBI computer, the blood or saliva samples from which the DNA was drawn would be kept by state labs, they note.

"It's only a matter of time before the government gets its hands on those DNA samples and starts playing around with our genetic codes," says Barry Steinhardt, privacy specialist for the American Civil Liberties Union's national office in New York City. "They say they don't want to do that, but not too long ago they were saying they'd only take DNA profiles from rapists and murderers and now they want juveniles ... We're not just on a slippery slope, we're halfway down it." more

Clinton blasts Bush, US approach to international affairs

Our last legally elected US President Bill Clinton blasted US foreign policy adopted in the wake of the September 11 attacks, arguing the United States cannot kill, jail or occupy all of its adversaries.

"Our paradigm now seems to be: something terrible happened to us on September 11, and that gives us the right to interpret all future events in a way that everyone else in the world must agree with us," said Clinton, who spoke at a seminar of governance organized by Conference Board.

"And if they don't, they can go straight to hell."

Clinton said that sooner or later the United States had to find a way to cooperate with the world at large.

"We can't run," Clinton pointed out. "If you got an interdependent world, and you cannot kill, jail or occupy all your adversaries, sooner or later you have to make a deal."

He said he believed Washington overreacted to German and French opposition to US plans for military action against Iraq and suggested that the current administration had trouble juggling foreign and domestic issues.

"Since September 11, it looks like we can't hold two guns at the same time," Clinton said. "If you fight terrorism, you can't make America a better place to be."

Clinton said that if he were at the White House right now he would scrap a 726-billion dollar tax cut proposal made by the president in January that leading economic experts say will do nothing to revive the economy. more

Hundreds of U.S. Soldiers Emerge as Conscientious Objectors

Although only a handful of them have gone public, at least several hundred U.S. soldiers have applied for conscientious objector (CO) status since January, says a rights group.

The Center on Conscience and War (CCW), which advises military personnel on CO discharges, reports that since the start of 2003 - when many soldiers realised they might have to fight in the Iraq war - there has been a massive increase in the number of enlisted soldiers who have applied for CO status.

”The bare minimum is several hundred, and this number only includes the ones that have come to my group and to groups we're associated with,” CCW official J.E. McNeil told IPS.

”There will be others who will have gone through different channels, and some people do it on their own,” she added.

Generally, COs possess a sincere conviction that forbids them from taking part in organised killing. This objection may apply to all or to only particular aspects of war. more

Mark Twain Speaks to Us: "I Am an Anti-Imperialist" (he would have HATED Bush!)

With U.S. troops occupying Iraq and the Bush administration making bellicose noises about Syria, let's consider some rarely mentioned words from the most revered writer in American history.

Mark Twain was painfully aware of many people's inclinations to go along with prevailing evils. When slavery was lawful, he recalled, abolitionists were "despised and ostracized, and insulted" -- by "patriots." As far as Twain was concerned, "Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul."

With chiseled precision, he wielded language as a hard-edged tool. "The difference between the right word and the almost right word," he once commented, "is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." Here are a few volts of Twain's lightning that you probably never saw before:

* "Who are the oppressors? The few: the king, the capitalist and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat."

* "Why is it right that there is not a fairer division of the spoil all around? Because laws and constitutions have ordered otherwise. Then it follows that laws and constitutions should change around and say there shall be a more nearly equal division."

* "I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land."

At the turn of the century, as the Philippines came under the wing of the U.S. government, Mark Twain suggested a new flag for the Philippine province -- "just our usual flag, with the white stripes painted black and the stars replaced by the skull and cross-bones."

While the United States followed up on its victory in the Spanish-American War by slaughtering thousands of Filipino people, Twain spoke at anti-war rallies. He also flooded newspapers with letters and wrote brilliant, unrelenting articles.

On Dec. 30, 1900, the New York Herald published Mark Twain's commentary -- "A Greeting from the 19th Century to the 20th Century" -- denouncing the blood-drenched colonial forays of England, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. "I bring you the stately matron named Christendom, returning bedraggled, besmirched and dishonored from pirate-raids in Kiao-Chou, Manchuria, South Africa and the Philippines, with her soul full of meanness, her pocket full of boodle and her mouth full of pious hypocrisies. Give her the soap and a towel, but hide the looking-glass."

Twain followed up in early 1901 with an essay titled "To the Person Sitting in Darkness." Each of the world's strongest nations, he wrote, was proceeding "with its banner of the Prince of Peace in one hand and its loot-basket and its butcher-knife in the other." Many readers and some newspapers praised Twain's polemic. But his essay angered others, including the American Missionary Board and the New York Times.

"Particularly in his later years," scholar Tom Quirk has noted, "the fierceness of Twain's anti-imperialist convictions disturbed and dismayed those who regarded him as the archetypal American citizen who had somehow turned upon Americanism itself."

What Mark Twain had to say is all too relevant to what's happening these days. But policymakers in Washington can rest easy. Twain's most inflammatory writings are smoldering in his grave -- while few opportunities exist for the general public to hear similar views expounded today.

"None but the dead are permitted to speak truth," Twain remarked. Even then, evidently, their voices tend to be muffled.

Norman Solomon is co-author of the new book "Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You." For an excerpt and other information, go to: www.contextbooks.com/new.html#target


David Duke driven to prison - in a pink jeep! Oh, the irony!!

Former Ku Klux Klan leader and Louisiana State Republican David Duke turned himself in to a federal prison in Big Spring, Texas, yesterday to begin serving a 15-month sentence for mail and tax fraud. Duke - who is known for his bigotry against blacks, jews, hispanics and homosexuals - was driven to the West Texas prison in a pink Jeep.

Lott, Reagan and Republican Racism

Here's some advice for Republicans eager to attract more African-American supporters: don't stop with Trent Lott. Blacks won't take their commitment to expanding the party seriously until they admit that the GOP's wrongheadedness about race goes way beyond Lott and infects their entire party. The sad truth is that many Republican leaders remain in a massive state of denial about the party's four-decade-long addiction to race-baiting. They won't make any headway with blacks by bashing Lott if they persist in giving Ronald Reagan a pass for his racial policies.

The same could be said, of course, about such Republican heroes as, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon or George Bush the elder, all of whom used coded racial messages to lure disaffected blue collar and Southern white voters away from the Democrats. Yet it's with Reagan, who set a standard for exploiting white anger and resentment rarely seen since George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door, that the Republican's selective memory about its race-baiting habit really stands out.

Space doesn't permit a complete list of the Gipper's signals to angry white folks that Republicans prefer to ignore, so two incidents in which Lott was deeply involved will have to suffice. As a young congressman, Lott was among those who urged Reagan to deliver his first major campaign speech in Philadelphia, Mississippi, where three civil rights workers were murdered in one of the 1960s' ugliest cases of racist violence. It was a ringing declaration of his support for "states' rights" — a code word for resistance to black advances clearly understood by white Southern voters.

Then there was Reagan's attempt, once he reached the White House in 1981, to reverse a long-standing policy of denying tax-exempt status to private schools that practice racial discrimination and grant an exemption to Bob Jones University. Lott's conservative critics, quite rightly, made a big fuss about his filing of a brief arguing that BJU should get the exemption despite its racist ban on interracial dating. But true to their pattern of white-washing Reagan's record on race, not one of Lott's conservative critics said a mumblin' word about the Gipper's deep personal involvement. They don't care to recall that when Lott suggested that Reagan's regime take BJU's side in a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, Reagan responded, "We ought to do it." Two years later the U.S. Supreme Court in a resounding 8-to-1 decision ruled that Reagan was dead wrong and reinstated the IRS's power to deny BJU's exemption. Time Online

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Republican Lawmaker Calls for Apology From Kerry. Kerry Responds: "Kiss My Ass, You Nazi Scum!"

You might recall that Vietnam war hero and Democratic Presidential Candidate Senator John Kerry recently made a few remarks about our Imperial leader that didn't set well with the republican drones in Congress. In a speech recently Kerry said President Bush so alienated allies prior to the U.S.-led war against Iraq that only a new president can rebuild damaged relationships with other countries.

"What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States," said Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran.

Those comments drew an angry rebuke from the top Republicans in the House and Senate. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Kerry’s statement amounted to "petty, partisan insults launched solely for personal political gain" and were inappropriate with U.S. troops fighting in Iraq.

Of course, Frist has forgotten the "petty, partisan insults launched solely for personal political gain" the Republicans launched at our last legally elected President Bill Clinton during his military actions in Kosovo. For the rest of us, here is a reminder:

George W. Bush
"Bush, in Austin, criticized President Clinton's administration for not doing enough to enunciate a goal for the Kosovo military action and indicated the bombing campaign might not be a tough enough response. 'Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is,' Bush said." [Houston Chronicle, 4/9/99]

Attorney General (then-Senator) John Ashcroft
"A lackluster air campaign has given the Serb dictator Milosevic time to achieve most of his strategic goals in Kosovo." [New York Times, 4/8/99]

House Majority Leader (then-Whip) Tom DeLay
"I cannot support a failed foreign policy... "


Senator Richard Lugar
"This is President Clinton's war, and when he falls flat on his face, that's his problem." [New York Times, 5/4/99]

Of course, there is MUCH more. Download the report on Republican Hypocrisy during war here

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, responded to GOP criticism of his remarks by saying, ""The Republicans have tried to make a practice of attacking anybody who speaks out strongly by questioning their patriotism," Kerry said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press Friday. "I refuse to have my patriotism or right to speak out questioned. I fought for and earned the right to express my views in this country."

That statement seemded to shut the reTHUGlicans up for a while, but now South Carolina State House Judiciary Chairman Jim Harrison is calling on Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and war hero, to apologize.

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and hero, is standing by his remarks and has even added to them now - saying Bush has hurt some international relationships that will be difficult to repair.



At a time of war, how dare we reduce veterans' benefits?

Late into the night of March 20, the U.S. House heard speech after passionate speech in favor of a resolution proclaiming support for U.S. troops in Iraq, but offering them nothing substantive.

Minutes after passing that symbolic resolution, Republicans passed their budget calling for a $28 billion cut in veterans' benefits and health care, with Republicans providing all but one vote.

Democrats in Congress are now fighting the president's proposal and are working to restore cuts in veterans' benefits and veterans' health care for the sake of our troops fighting in Iraq and the millions of veterans across the country. But this fight cannot be won unless veterans let the president and the Republican-controlled Congress know that they will not stand for these cuts.

Despite all the enthusiastic and well-deserved praise of our troops coming from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Bush administration has failed to put its money where its mouth is. more | Also see Crippled Home Front

News on Janeane Garafolo

You might recall the story posted here a few days back about Bush supporters who have been flooding ABC with calls and e-mails, whining about a sitcom the network is developing starring outspoken war protester Janeane Garofalo. The pro-war protesters (wouldn't you hate to be known as "pro war?") are threatening to organize a major campaign against ABC, including a boycott of advertisers, if the network airs the show.

"Captain Midnight" over at the DU Board has been in e-mail contact with Ms. Garafolo who has this to say: Actually this is all working out very well. The publicity surrounding my show has been very helpful. It seems my career at the age of 38 is enjoying a bit of a revival. I have been getting twice as many scripts and offers to write a book and do public speaking engagements. So I say boycott away!!!!!

Speaking of conservative Boycotts of Pro-Peace/ Anti-Bush Celebrities...

You've probably already heard what effects the ongoing boycotts of Michael Moore and the Dixie Chicks have had on their careers. On the day after Moore criticized Bush and the war at the Academy Awards, attendance at "Bowling for Columbine" in theaters around the country went up 110% (source: Daily Variety/BoxOfficeMojo.com). The following weekend, the box office gross was up 73% (Variety). It is now the longest-running consecutive commercial release in America, 26 weeks in a row and still thriving. The number of theaters showing the film since the Oscars has INCREASED, and it has now bested the previous box office record for a documentary by nearly 300%.

Further, "Stupid White Men" shot back to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, marking its fourth return to the top position, something that virtually never happens. In the two days following the Oscars, more people pre-ordered the video for "Bowling for Columbine" on Amazon.com than the video for the Oscar winner for Best Picture, "Chicago." (sources: Variety/BoxOfficeMojo.com, michaelmoore.com)

In regards to the Dixie Chicks, sales did NOT go down after their anti-bush remarks. Their album went back to #1 on the Billboard country charts and, according to Entertainment Weekly, they ROSE from #6 to #4.

BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Hey, and on the topic of Michael Moore, FOX News is STILL trying to convince their drone viewers there is a Michael Moore backlash! Witness the FOX News ticker on Sixth Avenue, New York, recently that flashed the "news" headline: "Attention protesters: the Michael Moore Fan Club meets Thursday at a phone booth at Sixth Avenue and 50th Street." Number 1 documentary of all time? Number 1 book on the NYT's Bestsellers list? Number 1 nonfiction book of the past year? Sorry, FOX! It's going to take more than a phone booth!

I'm not trying to turn today's update into a John Kerry/Michael Moore tribute, but I've just got to mention this....

Great quote in the article Bowling for Kennebunkport by New York Times writer Frank Rich concerning Moore's next film:

His next film, titled "Fahrenheit 911," is scheduled for release in the two months before Election Day. It tells "in part the story of twin errant sons of different oilmen," he says, and will stir together the pre-9/11 intersection of Bush and bin Laden family business interests when both had ties to the Carlyle Group. Such connections "may mean nothing," Mr. Moore concedes. But then he recalls Jane Mayer's article in the November 2001 New Yorker about the private Saudi jet that the Bush administration permitted to fly 24 members of the bin Laden family out of the country after 9/11, before they could be questioned in detail by the F.B.I. "Here's one question I want to pose," he says. "What if on the day after Oklahoma City, Bill Clinton, suddenly worried about the safety of the McVeigh family up in Buffalo, allowed a jet to pick them all up and take them out of the country, not to return?" You can already fantasize how Mr. Moore, once he is turned away from the White House, might travel to Kennebunkport to pursue the first President Bush in retirement much as he did Charlton Heston in "Bowling for Columbine."

This may sound unfair, but is it any more so than the rhetorical grenades that right-wing performers like Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter lob at liberal targets? In America, at least, all is fair not only in love and war but also in entertainment... if [Moore] ambushes America with humor 16 months from now, he may be more of a factor in the next election cycle than all the other, more glamorous Oscar attendees now lining up at fund-raisers for Howard Dean.

Now, of course, you understand why the Bush administration is so worried Michael Moore may soon pay Bush a visit April 26 at the Washington Hilton

Political Happennings...

Republican Sen. Trent Lott is a little worried about his Republican cohorts. In one of those frank moments he's now famous for, Lott says lawmakers have stupidly blown off terrorism evacuation briefings and now don't know what to do if the alarm sounds. "The problem," he says, "is us." At issue: The big egos are skipping sessions with police experts and sending aides instead.

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With Republicans expecting President Bush to roll to reelection in 2004, their focus is fast turning to 2008 and whom the GOP will run against expected Democratic nominee Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Their Choice? Jeb Bush. Polls suggest Ms. Clinton will would win easily.

Short update... out!

Lawrence Eagleburger, US Secretary of State under George Bush Senior: If George W. Bush invades Syria "he ought to be impeached."

Lawrence Eagleburger, who was US Secretary of State under George Bush Snr, told the BBC: "If George Bush [Jnr] decided he was going to turn the troops loose on Syria and Iran after that he would last in office for about 15 minutes.In fact if President Bush were to try that now even I would think that he ought to be impeached. You can't get away with that sort of thing in this democracy." more

Mr. Eagleburger, the democracy you mention died when the rightwing supreme court handed George W. Bush the White House. THIS democracy is little more than a shadow of it's former self.

Of course, Georgy isn't going to listen to you...

US tells Syria to co-operate or risk conflict

This weekend George W. Bush accused Syria of having chemical weapons. (Reminder: Iraq's supposed chemical and biological weapons still haven't been found.) While stopping short of threatening war, Bush told Syria that the example of Iraq shows “we’re serious about stopping weapons of mass destruction”. more



Ronald Reagan, Jr. on the Bush Administration: "Don't trust these people!"

The Bush inner circle would like to think of George W.'s presidency as more of an extension of Ronald Reagan's than of his one-term father's. Reagan himself, who has long suffered from Alzheimer's disease, is unable to comment on those who lay claim to his political legacy. But his son, Ron Jr., is -- and he's not pleased with the association.

"The Bush people have no right to speak for my father, particularly because of the position he's in now," he said during a recent interview with Salon. "Yes, some of the current policies are an extension of the '80s. But the overall thrust of this administration is not my father's -- these people are overly reaching, overly aggressive, overly secretive, and just plain corrupt. I don't trust these people."

Reagan took a swipe at Bush during the 2000 GOP convention in Philadelphia, which featured a tribute to his father, telling the Washington Post's Lloyd Grove, "The big elephant sitting in the corner is that George W. Bush is simply unqualified for the job... What's his accomplishment? That he's no longer an obnoxious drunk?" Since then he's been quiet about the current occupant of the White House -- until now.

But Reagan has strong feelings about Bush's policies, including the war in Iraq, which he ardently opposes. "Nine-11 gave the Bush people carte blanche to carry out their extreme agenda -- and they didn't hesitate for a moment to use it. I mean, by 9/12 Rumsfeld was saying, 'Let's hit Iraq.' They've used the war on terror to justify everything from tax cuts to Alaska oil drilling."

"And the weapons of mass destruction? Whatever happened to them? I'm sure we'll find some," he laughs. "They're being flown in right now in a C-130." more

How America Lost the War

We need, first of all, to get our terms straight so as to achieve a sense of clarity regarding the issue of America's moral standing on the matter. Saddam Hussein was not defeated. He was not overthrown, bested, beaten or destroyed. Saddam Hussein was fired, relieved of his position by a nation that hired him for a dirty job way back in 1979.

Saddam Hussein was such a valued employee that the Reagan administration sent a high level envoy to Iraq to ensure the relationship was on steady ground. That envoy was Donald Rumsfeld, who was filmed by CNN on September 20, 1983, warmly shaking hands with Hussein. Although Rumsfeld said during a September 21, 2002 CNN interview, "In that visit, I cautioned him about the use of chemical weapons, as a matter of fact, and discussed a host of other things," documents pertaining to that September 1983 meeting from the National Security Archive clearly demonstrate that there was no mention of chemical weapons between the two men.

Bush's bloviating sermons on morality in this matter fail in the face of the facts. Saddam Hussein would not have existed were it not for the energetic support of the United States. We didn't defeat Hussein. We fired him. The fact that he was a valued employee for so long, the fact that we averted our eyes as late as 1988 to his use of chemical weapons, the fact that we gave him vital intelligence data so he could more accurately and effectively use those weapons, and the fact that we gave material assistance via government and private institutions for the creation and promulgation of said weapons, all burst the bubble of righteousness the entire debate has been contained in. Bush can talk all he wants about the evil Saddam Hussein. There is little argument with the appellation of that adjective to that name. Yet it was America who allowed him to become so, and the moral arguments surrounding his firing are indelibly tainted by these sad facts. The Kurds in Halabja who were gassed to death in March of 1988 can level a damning finger of blame as much at America as at Hussein. more | See the video of Rumsfeld meeting Saddam here

Held Over From Sunday's Update: Who Is Barbara Bodine? Why Has Bush Appointed Her "Mayor Of Baghdad?" And Why Is The Pentegon AGAINST This Appointment?

Veteran foreign-service officer Barbara Bodine's appointment as a key player in Iraq's transitional government has angered Defense Department officials and federal law-enforcement authorities. Working through a number of channels, including the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the Senate, several high-ranking federal authorities are very angry and are demanding Bush rescind the appointment.

Miss Bodine, a "diplomat in residence" at the University of California at Santa Barbara, was named last month by Mr. Bush as director of relief and reconstruction for central Iraq, based in Baghdad.

"The State Department has successfully imposed Barbara Bodine on the Defense Department team dealing with a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq," said one former high-ranking Senate official close to the Pentagon. "She is to be the mayor of Baghdad, in essence. The Defense Department is livid, but there seems nothing they can do."

Why the hostility? Many Defense Department officials and federal law-enforcement authorities believe that as U.S. ambassador to Yemen, she blocked an FBI investigation into the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.

A Pentagon official, who asked not to be identified, said Miss Bodine dismissed warnings of terrorist attacks in Yemen against U.S. ships and allowed the Cole to enter port at a reduced security level because she felt the value of showing a U.S. presence in Yemen outweighed the risks.

"But she's never said she was sorry or that she made a mistake," said the official.

FBI executives and agents familiar with the Cole probe said Miss Bodine, as ambassador in Yemen, prevented the bureau from advancing its investigation into the bombing at a time when agents were beginning to focus on Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden.

The bureau's top terrorist hunter, John O'Neill, headed the Cole probe and was laying the groundwork for a conspiracy case against al Qaeda more than a year before the September 11 attacks. He had been sent by FBI Director Louis J. Freeh to Yemen with a force of 100 agents, laboratory experts and forensics specialists.

But FBI officials said the Cole investigation was stymied by Miss Bodine and that she made little effort to encourage Yemeni authorities to cooperate. Despite a number of death threats against agents by Islamic terrorists, she refused to allow investigators to carry the weapons Mr. O'Neill considered necessary for their protection.

After Mr. O'Neill left Yemen in August 2001 for New York, Miss Bodine refused to authorize his re-entry visa back into Yemen. His colleagues said he was told by Miss Bodine his investigative techniques were too aggressive and undiplomatic, and it was important for the United States to get along with foreign governments. George W. Bush refused to intercede and O'Neill resigned that month in frustration at what he considered Bush's hinderance of his bin Laden investigations. more

Throughout her career, Barbara Bodine has served primarily under rightwing old boys and in areas where the oil interests of said old boys are being furthered. Under Reagan, she served as Deputy Principle Officer in Baghdad, Iraq. Under Bush, Sr., she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Kuwait and was there during the Gulf War. She has also worked for Bob Dole, and far more ominously, for Henry Kissinger. So, in 2000 we find her in Yemen impeding the Clinton administration's efforts to conduct an investigation of a crime of terrorism in which the chief suspect is the son of a Bush family business associate.

The Clinton administration intervened in the investigation, and an arrangement was made that at least made it possible for agents to question suspects (thanks to Bodine, even this had been impossible before). O'Neill returned to the States for the holidays. By that time, Bush had succeeded in pulling off the theft of the presidency and O'Neill was barred from returning to Yemen to continue his investigation. more

O'Neill resigned in protest at the Bush administration's actions. He took a job as chief of security at the World Trade Center where, ironically, he dies in the attacks of 9/11.

Also see: The 9/11 Evidence that May Hang George W. Bush

Is The United States Harboring War Criminals From The Iraqi Conflict?



Wanted For The Murder of 1,400 Iraqi Civilians, Violation of The US Constitution, Article VI, Clause 2; UN Charter, Article 2, Section 4; UN Charter, Article 33; UN Charter, Article 37; UN Charter, Article 51 more

Poll Finds Opposition to More Tax Cuts

With the country at war and facing budget deficits, six in 10 Americans say this is not the time for more tax cuts, an Associated Press poll finds. The poll, taken in the days before Tuesday's tax-filing deadline, found that 61 percent say it would be better to hold off on additional tax cuts now to avoid making budget deficits worse... more

Reader Thinks I'm A Chicken-Shit Draft Dodger Who Needs To Be Strung Up By The Balls!

Your site is amazingly disqusting. People like you should be strung up by the balls. I think you have been awarded more constitutional rights than you deserve or ever will. You must be one of those chicken-shit draft dodgers.

Let's get a few things straight. I have not been awarded constitutional rights. As an American citizen, they are my birthright. if you don't like the constitutional rights
I have go live in China where the government controls what people can say or write.

The draft has never been in force since I've been old enough to serve so I haven't dodged anything. However, if you want to talk draft dodgers, here are a few people you might recognize who actually did dodge the draft: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Paul Wolfowitz, John Ashcroft, Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, Bob Barr, Tom DeLay, Trent Lott, Ronald Reagan, Bill O'Reilly, and many more of your dumbass rightwing warmongering heroes who were too scared to be drafted but think nothing of sending our children to die.

You're nothing but a dumbass conservative drone who has already been strung up by the balls by George W. Bush.



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Who Is Barbara Bodine? Why Has Bush Appointed Her "Mayor Of Baghdad?" And Why Is The Pentegon AGAINST This Appointment?

Veteran foreign-service officer Barbara Bodine's appointment as a key player in Iraq's transitional government has angered Defense Department officials and federal law-enforcement authorities. Working through a number of channels, including the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the Senate, several high-ranking federal authorities are very angry and are demanding Bush rescind the appointment.

Miss Bodine, a "diplomat in residence" at the University of California at Santa Barbara, was named last month by Mr. Bush as director of relief and reconstruction for central Iraq, based in Baghdad.

"The State Department has successfully imposed Barbara Bodine on the Defense Department team dealing with a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq," said one former high-ranking Senate official close to the Pentagon. "She is to be the mayor of Baghdad, in essence. The Defense Department is livid, but there seems nothing they can do."

Why the hostility? Many Defense Department officials and federal law-enforcement authorities believe that as U.S. ambassador to Yemen, she blocked an FBI investigation into the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.

A Pentagon official, who asked not to be identified, said Miss Bodine dismissed warnings of terrorist attacks in Yemen against U.S. ships and allowed the Cole to enter port at a reduced security level because she felt the value of showing a U.S. presence in Yemen outweighed the risks.

"But she's never said she was sorry or that she made a mistake," said the official.

FBI executives and agents familiar with the Cole probe said Miss Bodine, as ambassador in Yemen, prevented the bureau from advancing its investigation into the bombing at a time when agents were beginning to focus on Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden.

The bureau's top terrorist hunter, John O'Neill, headed the Cole probe and was laying the groundwork for a conspiracy case against al Qaeda more than a year before the September 11 attacks. He had been sent by FBI Director Louis J. Freeh to Yemen with a force of 100 agents, laboratory experts and forensics specialists.

But FBI officials said the Cole investigation was stymied by Miss Bodine and that she made little effort to encourage Yemeni authorities to cooperate. Despite a number of death threats against agents by Islamic terrorists, she refused to allow investigators to carry the weapons Mr. O'Neill considered necessary for their protection.

After Mr. O'Neill left Yemen in August 2001 for New York, Miss Bodine refused to authorize his re-entry visa back into Yemen. His colleagues said he was told by Miss Bodine his investigative techniques were too aggressive and undiplomatic, and it was important for the United States to get along with foreign governments. George W. Bush refused to intercede and O'Neill resigned that month in frustration at what he considered Bush's hinderance of his bin Laden investigations. more

Throughout her career, Barbara Bodine has served primarily under rightwing old boys and in areas where the oil interests of said old boys are being furthered. Under Reagan, she served as Deputy Principle Officer in Baghdad, Iraq. Under Bush, Sr., she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Kuwait and was there during the Gulf War. She has also worked for Bob Dole, and far more ominously, for Henry Kissinger. So, in 2000 we find her in Yemen impeding the Clinton administration's efforts to conduct an investigation of a crime of terrorism in which the chief suspect is the son of a Bush family business associate.

The Clinton administration intervened in the investigation, and an arrangement was made that at least made it possible for agents to question suspects (thanks to Bodine, even this had been impossible before). O'Neill returned to the States for the holidays. By that time, Bush had succeeded in pulling off the theft of the presidency and O'Neill was barred from returning to Yemen to continue his investigation. more

O'Neill resigned in protest at the Bush administration's actions. He took a job as chief of security at the World Trade Center where, ironically, he dies in the attacks of 9/11.

Also see: The 9/11 Evidence that May Hang George W. Bush

'Our Heritage Is Finished' : Bush Is Responsible For 7,000 Years Of History Lost In 48 Hours!

At the National Museum of Antiquities, where priceless artifacts had been wrapped in foam and secured in windowless storage rooms to protect them against U.S. bombs, an army of looters perpetrated what war did not: They smashed hundreds of irreplaceable treasures, including Sumerian clay pots, Assyrian marble carvings, Babylonian statues and a massive stone tablet with intricate cuneiform writing.

As employees returned today to survey the damage at one of the world's greatest repositories of artifacts, they encountered devastation that defied their worst expectations. The floor was covered with shards of broken pottery. An extensive card catalog of every item the museum owns, some of which date back 5,000 years, was destroyed. A cavernous storeroom housing thousands of unclassified pieces was ransacked so badly that an archaeologist predicted it would be impossible to repair many of the items.

"Our heritage is finished," lamented Nabhal Amin, the museum's deputy director, as she surveyed a Sumerian tablet that had been cracked in two. "Why did they do this? Why? Why?"

Don't you know? Without this war, this would never had happened. more

The Bush Legacy: Pre-emptive War Is Now Fashionable! India Prepares To Attack Pakistan!

Both Countries Have Nukes; India Will Act On Bush's Iraq Example

Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes reiterated Indian warnings that Pakistan was a prime case for pre-emptive strikes.

"There are enough reasons to launch such strikes against Pakistan, but I cannot make public statements on whatever action that may be taken," Fernandes told a meeting of ex-soldiers in the northern Indian desert city of Jodhpur on Friday.

Fernandes said he endorsed Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha's recent comments that India had "a much better case to go for pre-emptive action against Pakistan than the United States has in Iraq."

Sinha also argued that Pakistan was "a fit case" for US military action, because it had weapons of mass destruction and terrorists. more

Kim Jong-Il visited China, won nuclear crisis backing -- report

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il paid a secret visit to China last month, shortly after the start of the war in Iraq, according to a US-based global intelligence consultancy citing Russian intelligence sources.

During his visit, the reclusive Kim met new Chinese President Hu Jintao, who said China would not "stand idle" if relations deteriorated further between Pyongyang and Washington, according to Strategic Forecasts. more

In other words, my fellow Americans, if Bush picks a fight with North Korea he picks a fight with China, too. And THAT is a completely different animal altogether!

Are tyrants shocked, awed or stocking up on nukes?
The US wants to intimidate 'axis of evil' countries, but the plan could backfire

So what conclusion will the "evil-doers" draw from the display they have just witnessed? Washington reckons they will realise they have to change and knuckle under - or else get a dose of the Saddam treatment. Donald Rumsfeld was surely sending that message when he accused Syria of "hostile acts" a fortnight ago, as was undersecretary of state John Bolton on Thursday, when he urged Iran, North Korea and Syria to "draw the appropriate lesson from Iraq". Loose translation: "You've seen what happened to Baghdad, so behave - or you're next. You know we're crazy enough to do it."

The trouble is, it would be perfectly rational to come to the opposite conclusion. For the past month has been like a round-the-clock, slickly produced infomercial for acquisition of weapons of mass destruction. Can't you just picture the North Korean leader, well-lit in a TV armchair, saying: "Hi, my name's Kim Jong-Il. My friend Saddam didn't have nuclear weapons, and look at the price he paid. I do have nukes - and America backed off. If you're a rogue state, call one of our operators now - and get nuked-up. The US won't touch you. I guarantee it."

That logic - what one former Clinton official calls "pre-empting the pre-emption" - might appeal to Iran and the newest member of the axis club, Syria. Both countries can now feel America's hot breath on their necks, with US forces right on their borders. Iran in particular has reason to feel jumpy: it's all but encircled, with a US presence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and all along the Persian Gulf waterway. more

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'Hitler' Exec Producer Fired Over Remarks

The executive producer of a CBS miniseries about Adolf Hitler's rise to power has been fired after giving an interview in which he compared the current mood of Americans to that of the Germans who helped Hitler rise to power.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ed Gernon was fired Sunday (April 6) from Alliance Atlantis, the production company making "Hitler: The Rise of Evil" for CBS. He had worked there 11 years and was head of the firm's long-form programming division.

Neither Gernon nor Alliance Atlantis is commenting on the matter.

"Hitler" has caused controversy ever since CBS announced its intentions last summer. In an interview with TV Guide about the four-hour film, scheduled for May, Gernon compares many Americans' acceptance of a war in Iraq to the fearful climate in post-World War I Germany, of which Hitler took advantage to become its ruler.

"It basically boils down to an entire nation gripped by fear, who ultimately chose to give up their civil rights and plunged the whole nation into war," Gernon said in the interview. "I can't think of a better time to examine this history than now."

Protesters attack Garofalo show

In a shameful display of modern McCarthyism, Bush supporters have been flooding ABC with calls and e-mails, whining about a sitcom the network is developing starring outspoken war protester Janeane Garofalo. The pro-war protesters (wouldn't you hate to be known as "pro war?") are threatening to organize a major campaign against ABC, including a boycott of advertisers, if the network airs the show.

College suspends Political Science instructor for giving extra credit to students for peace protest attendance

North Central Texas College have suspended political science instructor Peggy Connally because of her extra-credit assignment to students to attend a peace rally in Dallas - one of several opportunities for extra credit she offered the class. To the administration of North Central Texas College: Think, you dumbasses! Protests are and have been a major part of this country's political history! This is a political science class, right? Or has it now become a political science class from only the warmongering Bush drone point of view?

How did it come to this, one may ask? Reminiscent of Hitler Youth in Nazi Germany, several rightwing kids got their tender little feelings hurt, ran to the Dean, and accused the instructor of "not being a good citizen." So, in violation of the college's policy, they suspended the intructor.

According to the college's policy for student complaints, when a student has a complaint about a professor, they should discuss the issue with that professor before going to the department chair.

The next step in that process is for the student to "request a conference with the department chair, student services counselor, or provost, whichever would be most appropriate for the occasion, who shall schedule and hold a conference with the student."

Ms. Connally said she didn't know about the complaint until the meeting last week when she was suspended.

Ms. Connally's immediate supervisor, Jane England, chairwoman of the college's social sciences department, said she also was left out of the process.

AHHHH! The sweet smell of fascism!
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Where's the Outrage? ANOTHER Republican Makes Offensive Racist Remarks! "Rich Whites Only" GOP Now Even More Exclusive!

Four months ago Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott lost his job as majority leader, and deservedly so, after praising the segregationist presidential campaign of Strom Thurmond. Now another lawmaker, Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin of Wyoming, has out-Lotted Mr. Lott. Mrs. Cubin's remarks came not in a birthday tribute to a centenarian but on the floor of the House of Representatives, in the midst of a serious debate on a gun measure. No historical memory is needed to adequately appreciate their bald racism. And unlike in the case of Mr. Lott, Mrs. Cubin's remarks seem to have provoked barely a word of protest from her Republican colleagues. For fear that some may think they are taken out of context, we reprint the offending part here in its entirety: "My sons are 25 and 30. They are blond-haired and blue-eyed. One amendment today said we could not sell guns to anybody under drug treatment. So does that mean if you go into a black community, you cannot sell a gun to any black person, or does that mean because my -- "

At this point, Rep. Melvin Watt (D-N.C.) demanded that her words be stricken from the record as inappropriate. You might think that Mrs. Cubin then would have realized she had equated African Americans with drug addicts and apologized as profusely as possible. Instead, she told Mr. Watt, who is African American, that she wanted "to apologize to my colleague for his sensitivities." When Mr. Watt noted, correctly, that it was not a matter of whether his feelings were hurt but of "using words that are insulting to the entire African American race," Mrs. Cubin declined the opportunity to back down. "Mr. Chairman," she said, "I do not withdraw my words."

Afterward, not a word of criticism came from House Republican leaders. more



Harkin: Iraq war ousted paper tiger

The relatively quick fall of Baghdad shows that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was a "paper tiger" rather than a major threat to world peace, Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa said Thursday.

"What we were told and what you saw in the press last fall and earlier this year is that he had a massive war machine," said Harkin, the most outspoken critic of the war in Iraq among members of the Iowa congressional delegation.

"It looks now like this was just a Third World country - there were people fighting with tennis shoes on, on the Iraqi side," Harkin told reporters. "I don't know what else we're going to find, but they didn't fly even one airplane in the air. They had almost nothing.

"So if they were that weak, where we could just roll over them like that, tell me again how he was such a big threat in the past?" the senator added. more

Axis Of Evil: China, Iran and United States Top Executioners, Amnesty Says

At least 1,526 people were executed worldwide last year, with 80 percent of all known executions carried out in China, Iran and the United States, Amnesty International said on Friday. The London-based human rights group also expressed concern that U.S. military tribunals which will prosecute "terrorist" suspects will have the power to impose death sentences which cannot be appealed. more

Jokes aside, this corner of America wants Dubya impeached!

George Bush joke: The president goes into a library. "I would like a cheeseburger and fries," he says in a loud, clear voice."

"But sir," says the assistant, "this is a library."

"Gee, I'm sorry," says Bush, and whispers very quietly, "I'd like a cheeseburger and fries."

They really don't like Bush here, which is typical for a campus town - very liberal indeed - but unusual for America. Just about the kindest description I heard of him this week was "Reagan Lite". And of course some people are terrified of what he might do. The pulling down of the Saddam statue seems to offer the vivid visual image which Americans like, and - some say - will lead to the invasion of Syria, quite soon. "Fear Bush" buttons are selling well.

I went to one panel discussion at which three people - academics and thinktankers - spoke very rationally and calmly about the president, his achievements, his plans and his failures. Then the fourth speaker began: "It is a matter of supreme urgency that the president is impeached, now!" and the whole place erupted. The whooping and cheering and clapping went on for ages. more

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Halliburton's Clean-up Contract In Iraq Worth $7 Billion! Vice pResident Cheney - Former CEO - Says He Will Not Profit... Yeah Right!

Senior Lawmakers Demand Inquiry... European Union To Investigate US Contracts for World Trade Organization Violations

The Pentagon contract given without competition to a Halliburton subsidiary to fight oil well fires in Iraq is worth as much as $7 billion over two years, according to a letter from the Army Corps of Engineers that was released today. The contract also allows Kellogg Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary, to earn as much as 7 percent profit. That could amount to $490 million.

The corps released these new details in a letter to Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California and one of the two senior lawmakers who asked the General Accounting Office to investigate how the Bush administration is awarding contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq.

The contract to Kellogg Brown & Root was cited in the lawmakers' request to the G.A.O., the investigative arm of Congress. Mr. Waxman and Representative John D. Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, asked that special attention be paid to "allegations that Halliburton has received special treatment from the administration."

Vice President Dick Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive from 1995 until 2000. When he left the company to run for vice president, Mr. Cheney received over $30 million in compensation, Mr. Waxman said. Since the war with Iraq began, Mr. Cheney has been repeatedly questioned about his ties to his old employer and the oil industry.

The European Commission is examining these contracts awarded by the US for reconstruction work in Iraq to find out whether they breach World Trade Organization rules and discriminate unfairly against European companies. The EU insists that the US abide by the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement, which states that contracts awarded by national governments or their agencies must be open to businesses from abroad. more and more

Rightwing Radio Host Phil Hendrie: "My Pro-War Views May Cost Me My TV Gig." Rightwing Slayer: "Well It's About Damn Time!"

Poor Phil Hendrie! Last night he charged that his passionate pro-war views may cost him a TV show that has been in development at NBC. Boo hoo! A conservative media personality is getting the shaft! Perhaps it will soon become open season on rightwing warmongering media whores? Yeah, I know, wishful thinking. Actually, I would rather see these haters beaten at their own game but the corporate controlled media is scared shitless to level the playing field.

Examples you say? Take Randi Rhodes, a liberal radio talkshow host on Clear Channel Radio's WJNO in West Palm Beach, Florida. She hosts the top-rated show on her station, garnering more listeners than conservative Rush Limbaugh, whose program airs before hers every day. Knowing what a ratings winner she is you would expect the business savvy fat cats at Clear Channel to syndicate her show and air it across the country, right? Wrong! Limbaugh has threatened to leave Clear Channel if they ever syndicate the Randi Rhodes show.

The most famous case of corporate media supressing liberal views is MSNBC's recent firing of Phil Donahue.
The official reason cited was poor ratings. In reality, though, Donahue was MSNBC's highest rated program. The real reason it was cancelled was based on an study commissioned by NBC News executives that said, "Donahue presented a difficult public face for NBC in a time of war... He seems to delight in presenting guests who are anti-war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the administration's motives." The report went on to outline a possible nightmare scenario where the show becomes "a home for the liberal antiwar agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity."

In other words Donahue, despite being MSNBC's highest rated program, got axed because he is a liberal.

So the next time some dumbass conservative claims no one would listen to or watch a liberal program, remind them of Phil Donahue and Randi Rhodes - two liberal ratings winners who the rightwing corporate media is scared of. Scared shitless.

Pardon me while I applaud NBC for reconsidering giving a rightwing warmonger another forum to preach his hate.

Iraq Is Sliding Towards Anarchy: Widespread looting of hospitals and homes, 200 Iraqis storm their embassy in Iran denouncing U.S. occupation

Iraq's slide into violent anarchy will trigger a humanitarian disaster if US and British troops are unable to fill the power vacuum and reassert order quickly, UN and other aid officials warned yesterday. The warning came as looting in Baghdad spread from government buildings to hospitals, embassies and private businesses, and the growing lawlessness in the capital prevented the few remaining aid workers there from delivering badly needed medical supplies and water to hospitals.

A wave of lawlessness across the country illustrated the potential for the unravelling situation to turn a successful military campaign into postwar disaster in a matter of days as a result of the total collapse of government services. more

Meanwhile, about 200 Iraqis stormed their embassy in the Iranian capital Friday morning, shouting against both the missing Iraqi leader and the possibility the United States would run the government that replaces him.

"... No U.S. puppet regime! We want freedom!" the crowd chanted. more



What happens when a liberal and a conservative debate in a controlled environment? The Conservative topples like a statue of Saddam Hussein!

Damn! Is this the best the republicans have? As I'm writing this I'm watching a debate on CSPAN with liberal Amy Goodman, Pacifica Radio host of "Democracy Now!" and
conservative John Podhoretz, a New York Post columnist.

This isn't a rightwing radio show controlled by the conservative so he can't cut her off or mute her mic whenever he doesn't like what she is saying or doesn't want the audience to hear what she is saying. It is a controlled environment and the CSPAN host is making sure the rules are abided by.

I'm sure Amy Goodman would never condone my language but she is KICKING PODHORETZ'S ASS! She mentions the U.S.'s record of arming Saddam with weapons of mass destruction and even cites the article where Donald Rumsfeld shook hands with Saddam days after Hussein allegedly gassed the Kurds. Podhoretz smirks and claims Rumsfeld's meeting with Saddam had nothing to do with the U.S. propping up Hussein even though the article cited by Goodman claims it did! Podhoretz cites no sources yet expects us to believe he is right because he says so?

Podhoretz goes on to claim that since 1970, the U.S. is only 14th on the list of countries who have exported arms to Iraq. However, what he doesn't say is that the list he mentions only takes into account conventional arms - guns, tanks, etc. Why won't he admit the U.S. was Iraq's chief supplier of chemical and biological weapons?

Podhoretz then spouts the same old lie that Iraq had ties to Al Queda because a similar terrorist group exists in Northern Iraq! Goodman accurately called him on this by stating that Hussein didn't control Northern Iraq - so there were no ties to Hussein - and a terrorist group similar to Al Queda is not Al Queda!

Essentially, every weak excuse for this war Podhoretz set up Goodman knocked down decisively. It was hysterical to see Podhoretz with his "deer in the headlights" look.
Weren't prepared were you, John?

Even the callers were like night and day. The liberal callers were articulate while the conservative callers were insulting. THIS is why the corporate media doesn't want liberal voices on the air. They know conservatives would soon look like screaming chimpanzees if they had to contend with the competition.

Why Do Conservatives Deny The Facts?

How do conservatives handle the facts that dispell their beliefs? They deny the facts exist! I base this on the e-mail I've been getting in response to some of the stories I've reported here.

Here are a few examples. A few weeks back I posted a story from WBAL in which the father of one of our fallen soldiers blamed Bush for his death. WBAL even had a video on their site where they interviewed this father.

I also reported that the U.S. is using napalm on Iraqis based on a story from the Sydney Morning Herald and I compared the arrest of protestors with the First Amendment.

So I get an e-mail from Dwayne Gallia that said, "This site is trash & you should become a human sheild as well as those who sponsor this trash. You don't even have the insight to see truth much less make an attempt to publish it, which is at best a weak attempt."

See, because these two media outlets (Sydney Morning Herald and WBAL) reported something he didn't want to hear, he lashed out and essentially denied the reports were true.

Same thing on a few days later. Scott and Elizabeth Trunk obviously took offense at a story I reported so their reaction was this: "Go to Europe and live you socialist! Why do you think those countries are so f...up? You liberals are either ignorant or stupid."

Once again, no challenge of the facts. No oppossing sources. They just called me ignorant - as though they had some insight that proved the stories false yet couldn't bring himself to reveal it.

Today, a coward writes me, uses a fake e-mail address, and merely asks what planet I'm from.

What a dumbass!

Hey, reTHUGlicans reading: WISHING something isn't true does not make it so. Denying a fact exists doesn't make that fact go away.

Readers mad that SF Chronicle ran ad to impeach Bush

A full-page ad Monday calling for the impeachment of President Bush sparked dozens of calls, letters and e-mails from readers angered that it would appear in The Chronicle.

"We consider it an outrage that you accepted the advertisement to impeach our United States President," said one letter faxed to Dick Rogers, readers' representative for the paper. "I find this type of advertising anti-American and in poor taste," complained another reader. more

Dozens of calls, letters, and e-mails? The SF Chronicle has a very LARGE circulation - it being the largest paper in one of the America's largest cities. So they're supposed to cower over dozens of complaints? These are probably the same dozens of readers who complain when Dear Abby counsels readers to use condoms. These dozens are just conservative whiners who preach free enterprise yet want to repeal the First Amendment anytime they hear or read something they don't like.

And how much is dozens? 24? 36? A whopping 48?

U.S. Nuke Find Claim in Iraq Critiqued

American troops who suggested they uncovered evidence of an active nuclear weapons program in Iraq unwittingly may have stumbled across known stocks of low-grade uranium, officials said Thursday. They said the U.S. troops may have broken U.N. seals meant to keep control of the radioactive material.

So essentially, in their zeal to find evidence of nukes in Iraq, the troops "discovered" something that had already been discovered. more

PRESS RELEASE

Bush Economic Policies Lead to Yet Another Month of Growing Job Loss

Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement about the job losses announced today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

"President Bush inherited the strongest economy in a generation and squandered it. Today's announcement by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that more than 108,000 jobs were lost in March shows yet again that the President's misguided economic plan has simply not worked. This is in addition to the 357,000 jobs lost in February -- revised up from the 308,000 reported last month.

"In the two years that President Bush has been in office, his Administration has lost an astounding 2.6 million private sector jobs, the worst record on job creation of any President in nearly 60 years.

"The unemployment remains at 5.8 percent, with 8.4 million Americans out of work. And growing job loss is not the only grim economic news this week. In February, factory orders suffered the biggest decline in five months; manufacturing dropped sharply in March; and retailers are predicting that sales this year will grow at the slowest pace in a decade.

"Despite these appalling economic conditions, President Bush is proposing more of the same -- massive tax cuts that largely benefit the wealthy. The Administration has put forward this plan even though their own economic advisors say it won't create enough jobs to make up for those lost in the past two months, let alone the past two years.

"We need to create jobs, and experience has shown that a reckless tax cut that explodes the deficit even further, drains resources from veterans, health care, and education, and gives most Americans less than two dollars a week is not the answer."



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Bravo, Mr. Bush! Bravo!

Just as you promised, Mr. Bush, you have liberated the oppressed Iraq people! Even though it cost us billions of dollars and could quite possibly obliterate our already weak economy, after seeing the overjoyed Iraqi people on TV, I finally understand why it had to be done! I'm also very excited about the opportunity this now presents to our great country! We can now become the world's superheroes because there are A LOT of oppressed people left in the world - people more oppressed than even the Iraqis were.

Look, don't stop me, I'm on a roll! This is how I figure it. If we can convince every American to ration food and gas, donate money to the Republican party, and go to church every Sunday, we'll build the moral and economic support we need for the job ahead of us! And what a job it is!

Let's start with Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus. Lukashenko has the distinction of being Europe's last dictator. 14 European nations are so disgusted with his human rights violations they have banned him from their countries. An admirer of Stalin, he paved over the graves of 250,000 victims of the Soviet dictator.

Moving on we have Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. His government has committed severe human rights abuses including the creation of rape camps where girls as young as 8 years old are raped by the country's government and their guests. Mugabe has actively repressed the press and the judiciary and is largely responsible for the famine that is currently gripping Zimbabwe.

Next up on our tour of contries Bush should take out is Liberia. Charles Taylor, the countrie's president, is responsible for torture, forced labor, and the use of rape as a war tactic to instill terror.

I'd also like to point out the country of Burma. Under the dictator Than Shwe, the country has been accused of allowing slavery by the International Labor Organization and has the world's largest number of child soldiers - with involuntary recruits as young as 11!

The list goes on and on. In fact, there are so many countries with human rights abuses worse than Iraq's one has to wonder why Iraq was chosen first. But it doesn't matter as long as our hero George W. Bush wages perpetual war and liberates the world. If he doesn't, he could be called hypocritical by those who question his motives. After all, Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the world and if he stops with Iraq (or makes another Middle Eastern country his next target), he'll add credance to the widespread believe that oil is his motive.

So impress me, Mr. Bush, the way Clinton did with Kosovo - a poor war torn country victimized by attempted genocide. We went in, took care of business, and were through. No dark agendas. No secret oil deals. Impress me, Mr. Bush. Liberate a country where the humanitarian need for such an action is the sole purpose. For that, you'd get my support. For Iraq, I still condemn you.

Britain admits there may be no WMD's in Iraq

Well into the war that was supposed to rid Iraq of its alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, a senior British official admitted on Saturday that no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons of mass destruction may after all be found.

Making the startling confession in a radio interview, British Home Secretary, David Blunkett, added in the same breath that he would in any case rejoice the “fall” of Saddam Hussein and his regime — regardless of whether any weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq or not.

The confession reconfirms the worst fears of opponents of the war that “weapons of mass destruction” is only a ruse for the US and the British to go to war against Iraq.

At the very least the admission certainly deals a serious blow to the moral legitimacy that the US and the British have been seeking in prosecuting the war. more

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Principal pulls plug on Bowling For Columbine; Movie doesn't send the "right message."

A 12th grade teacher at English High School was forced to stop classroom screenings of the Oscar-winning documentary "Bowling for Columbine" on Friday because Principal Andrew Fila said the movie contains anti-war messages.

According to English Department Head Jane Baletsa, teacher Jeremy McKeen began showing the film about gun-violence to open up a dialogue among his 17- and 18-year-old students.

When Fila heard about the screenings, he decided it wasn't sending the right message while the country is at war.

"I just pulled it," he said Friday morning. "This is not the time or the place to be showing something like that. The producer is also an anti-war person as well. more

Typical rightwinger, huh? Hey dumbass! The movie is not an anti-war movie. It is an anti-gun violence movie. You have a problem with that? You think showing kids the dangers of glorifying guns and violence is sending them the wrong message? Or do you just want to make sure they're not exposed to something that runs contrary to your personal beliefs?

Students punished for refusing to stand for Pledge

Morning announcements at Bellingham High School have been a little more interesting since a handful of students decided recently to protest the war in Iraq by refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. The move has distressed school administrators, who said it was their obligation to notify the students' parents. The administrators' decision attracted unwanted media attention and drew the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union, which sent the high school a letter objecting to how it dealt with the display of protest.

''The question has to be, why are they notifying the parents of this?'' asked Sarah Wunsch, a staff attorney at the ACLU. ''Are they reporting to parents every time a kid expresses a point of view? The answer is no. They're only notifying parents if the point of view is disfavored. The fact that they've done it here suggests they're trying to coerce these kids, and that would violate their constitutional rights.'' more
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Republicans Want Terror Law Made Permanent

Working with the Bush administration, Congressional Republicans are maneuvering to make permanent the sweeping antiterrorism powers granted to federal law enforcement agents after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, officials said today.

The move is likely to touch off strong objections from many Democrats and Republicans in Congress who believe that the Patriot Act, as the legislation that grew out of the attacks is known, has already given the government too much power to spy on Americans.

The landmark legislation expanded the government's power to use eavesdropping, surveillance, access to financial and computer records and other tools to track terrorist suspects.

When it passed in October 2001, moderates and civil libertarians in Congress agreed to support it only by making many critical provisions temporary. Those provisions will expire, or "sunset," at the end of 2005 unless Congress re-authorizes them.

But Republicans in the Senate in recent days have discussed a proposal, written by Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, that would repeal the sunset provisions and make the law's new powers permanent, officials said. more

You can just bet I'll be watching this story. If any reTHUGlicans reading this support this act, you're a dumbass of the highest order.

Whether the Bush war council likes it or not, two events must result from this war against Saddam Hussein's regime for it to be deemed successful.

For the Iraqi people to be truly free, they must know for certain that Saddam is dead. Even after Saddam's cutthroat Fedayeen were dispatched by British troops from Basra, many citizens in that southern Iraqi city remained wary. Might Saddam still slip the Anglo-American noose and return to terrorize them? Only absolute evidence that the dictator has been deposed will liberate Iraqis in a real sense.

The same holds true for President Bush regarding Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. Bush will be liberated from accusations of having launched an unnecessary war only if soldiers turn up evidence of those weapons Bush insisted he possessed. We haven't seen them yet. more

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HE'S BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Next Update - April 10!

Make Sure You Read "The Road To Hell" Near The End Of Today's Update. It is a MUST READ!

Bush Economy Continues To Sink: Jobless Claims Highest in Nearly a Year more

Government Tries First of 80 Dissidents!

In a time when anyone that disagrees with the government, like Peter Arnett, the Dixie Chicks, and Michael Moore, is being branded a traitor and accused of treason, the Associated Press is reporting that the government tried the first of 80 dissidents in hearings that stretched late into the night, moving forward with a campaign to steamroll a growing opposition movement. While the relatives of those tried on Thursday anxiously awaited word on sentences, more trials were scheduled for Friday as authorities pressed its harshest crackdown on opposition in recent times.

Prosecutors were seeking life sentences for at least 12 of the defendants in the trials, which local human rights activists predicted would be wrapped up by the end of Monday. Although sentences here generally are issued two weeks after trial, the defendants' relatives said they believed the sentences would be announced within days.

International media and foreign diplomats were kept out of the hearings.

"This is a judicial Tiananmen," said an opposition, referring to the 1989 Chinese military assault on pro-democracy student protesters in Tiananmen Square.

Leaders of independent labor unions and other political parties, as well as activists, were among those rounded up over five days beginning March 18. Authorities accuse them of working to subvert the government.

Jose Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch, said the crackdown seemed aimed to coincide with the war in Iraq.

"It is truly shameful that this government is opportunistically exploiting the world's inattention to try to crush domestic dissent," Vivanco said in a statement from New York.

Scary, huh? Everyday on talk radio the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity scream that those who vocally oppose pResident Bush are traitors. Average republicans on the street agree. In fact, I'll bet if you ask any number of republicans you know personally, they'd agree with these round ups of dissenters and their trials. So, as you relay this story to gleeful and approving conservatives today, tell them it isn't happenning here but rather in Cuba. And if that is how they think things should be, Cuba is just a short boat ride off the coast of Florida!

Read the story here

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For in a republic, who is "the Country"? Is it the Government which is for the moment in the saddle? Why, the Government is merely a servant- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. Who, then, is "the Country"? Is it the newspaper? is it the pulpit? Is it the school superintendent? Why, these are mere parts of the country, not the whole of it; they have not command, they have only their little share in the command. They are but one in a thousand; it is in the thousand that command is lodged; they must determine what is right and what is wrong; they must decide who is a patriot and who isn't.

Who are the thousand--that is to say, who are "the Country"? In a monarchy, the king and his family are the country; in a republic it is the common voice of the people. Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press, government, or the empty catch-phrases of politicians. Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide it against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may. If you alone of all the nation shall decide on way, and that way be the right way accordng to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your country--hold up your head. You have nothing to be ashamed of. - That Damn Socialist Mark Twain
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Democratic Presidential contender John Kerry: US needs its own 'regime change'

If John Kerry keeps talking like this, he might get my vote! Senator John F. Kerry said yesterday that President Bush committed a ''breach of trust'' in the eyes of many United Nations members by going to war with Iraq, creating a diplomatic chasm that will not be bridged as long as Bush remains in office.

''What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States,'' Kerry said in a speech at the Peterborough Town Library. more

Republicans rip Kerry for his comments - story Of course they did! I wouldn't expect anything less from that bunch of dumbass crybabies.

HEY REPUBLICANS! Guess Who Is #1 On The Billboard Country Albums Charts? Bwaaahaaahaaahaaa!



Bush Administration 'Grasping at Staws': CIA has no evidence Syria gave night-vision goggles and other military equipment to Iraq

The CIA has no credible evidence that the government of Syria has had a role in the shipment of night-vision goggles and other military equipment to Iraq, according to an administration official familiar with U.S. intelligence in the region. And the administration official yesterday said that while military goods, including goggles, have been smuggled through Syria into Iraq for many years, "It's not necessarily with the knowledge, consent or approval of the Syrian government."

At the same time, he said, military goods also have been shipped into Iraq, in violation of UN sanctions, from border countries much more aligned with the U.S. government, including Turkey and Jordan.

The administration official also disputed a claim made by Rumsfeld on Fox TV Sunday that an alleged Hussein bodyguard viewed on Iraqi TV standing next to the Iraqi defense minister "may be an indication that Saddam Hussein is not moving around much" and perhaps is dead. The man was not one of Hussein's personal bodyguards, the administration official said. more

March Towards Fascism: States Defy Constitution, Freedom of Information Act; Suppress Information

In direct defiance of Freedomof Information laws, nearly half the states are closing meetings, sealing records and restricting the flow of information to the public, all in the name of homeland security.

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dozens of state legislatures have taken cues from the Bush adminstration by considered, and in many cases passing, exemptions to their freedom-of-information laws. Taken together, the measures passed in the states and in Washington represent the biggest rollback of open-government laws since they were passed in the 1960s and '70s.

Opponents say the exemptions are too broad. They say sealing information prevents the media and the public from assessing whether the government is adequately protecting citizens. Keeping information provided by businesses secret, they say, could help companies hide incriminating evidence about lax security, environmental contamination, and crimes. "They're using the excuse of terrorism to shield information," says Timothy Edgar of the American Civil Liberties Union. more



Guest Editorial: The Road to Hell - Written and translated by Daniel Patrick Welch

It is a sad time in my country, as it is around the world. A few days ago I went with a few friends to see the Costa-Garvas film "Amen." Set in the second world war, the action centers around an officer in the hated SS and a Jesuit priest who try to convince the Vatican, Allied governments and the Germans themselves to intervene against the slaughter of Jews and others in the camps.

An American, watching this film in the times we are currently living,cannot avoid seeing the parallels with the current situation. With all our might, millions of us are fighting to convince our fellow citizens of the terror of this criminal war, not only for the victims in Iraq, but also for what it implies for our future and that of the world at large.

Mideast correspondent Robert Fisk recently wrote a piece on the need for anti- and prowar forces to "talk to each other." While I have great respect for Fisk's work, I was terribly disappointed in the piece, implying as it did a sort of calm, reasonable conversation over coffee. Along with the whole world, we have all but given up on the prospect of arguing rationally with people who don't seem to want to know the truth.

And throughout the world, momentum is building to "talk" with these people in the only language they will understand. I share below a discussion with an Argentine friend--and my response--as she asks questions from a world without hope, questions of a people on the road to hell who, from all appearances, don't want to stop the train.

Letter from Argentina

Tell me, Danny: Do the people of the United States really know what is going on in Iraq and the reasons for it? Are they aware that the U.S. population represents a mere 6% of the world population?

Are they aware that participation in presidential elections in the U.S. barely reaches 30%? This means that 30% of this 6% of humanity, U.S. citizens, has placed a madman, puppet of the monopolies, at the head of a genocide which, if allowed to continue, might well reach the dimensions of the Jewish holocaust--another Hitler.

Are they aware of the illegitimacy of the action taken and the consequences that this rage and anti-American feeling, exploding all over the world, can have on their people and their economy?

Here people are talking seriously about boycotting U.S. goods, a sort of economic embargo. Yesterday over lunch with my family, we were thinking and discussing, that maybe the U.S. public knows all these things and simply doesn't care. Maybe their comfort and economic benefits are simply more important than the blood of innocents shed the world over to sustain these priveleges.

Danny, forgive me for being so harsh, but I am a Latin American woman, and our countries have been victims many times, through local traitors (as was president Menem), of the policies of the U.S. government, which have led us to the depths of misery.

But governments depend on people to survive, and what I want to know is can we, the oppressed of the world, trust that one day the conscience of the U.S. people will awaken, and understand the responsibilty they have to put the brakes on the irrationality and economic greed of their leaders? There is no other hope for the world. Otherwise there can be no thought of a "viable" future for our planet. Will solidarity and empathy some day be stronger than a full refrigerator, a football game, a new car, and a fancy house? Do Americans even think of these things? Please tell me.

Cordially and respectfully,
Indiana

Letter from America

Indiana: I can't dispute, nor can I describe with complete clarity, the profound ignorance of my people. Everything you say is correct: that is, the answer to all your questions can be yes, even though that may seem self-contradictory in places. The situation is so complex, so messed up, that it can't be characterized by a single formula. It has taken fifty years to get to this place in history, a historical moment where many evil forces are converging.

Your figure of 30% has become something much worse. In the past, the so-called democracies have prided themselves on being able to say that at least the candidate who won the "majority" got the most votes. We may well know that this is a false pride, but still--it can't be denied that it is even worse when the "winner" didn't really win.

It is difficult to exaggerate the arrogance and cynicism of a government "elected" in this manner. Add to the mix the religious fundamentalism, complicated by the insanity (frankly, there is no other term for it) of a right-wing junta who sees nothing beyond their "vision" of a world remade in their image, the support and influence of fanatical Likudniks, and you have a very explosive recipe.

But I still haven't addressed the people. The consolidation of the media in the last twenty years--and its control by corporations who more often than not are allied with right wing political forces--has also helped in the creation of this special historical moment. An economy based almost completely on consumption has dumbed down the people perhaps more than any other influence. But this of course doesn't win sympathy for what I call a criminal, "voluntary stupidity." According to statistics, over 70% of U.S. households have access to the internet at home. From this figure alone we can conclude that this ignorance is more or less a problem of volition--but also one complicated by a culture of political alienation and a complete lack of a culture of analysis and critical thought. The people simply no longer "know how" to think.

Indiana: you must understand that there are millions of us working, struggling and trying to tell the truth to our fellow citizens. Maintaining contact with foreign friends (which describes almost all of my cirlce of friends lately, it seems) is to confront an embarassment almost beyond words. I remember being in Nicaragua in 1990, where I was fortunate enough to meet a Panamian, another "Sandalista" like myself. This was shortly after the 1989 massacre in Panama by the U.S. "surgical strike." And in the midst of the current war, few Americans even know about the escalating war in Colombia.

I find the analogy with Germans in the second world war apt and instructive, but I would add also even a little more dangerous. Nazism, at least at the level of state power, was destroyed by the war. The suppression of German nationalism was perhaps one of the most important and necessary results of the war--except, of course that it strengthened the concept of nationalism in general by this singular example. In contrast to the fall of the Germans, there is no force large or willing enough to punish the U.S. with the same effect. It also seems that there may be no war crimes trials, now that Belgium has changed its own laws to appease the Americans.

Along this line of thinking, we recently saw the movie "Amen," by Costa-Garvas. It is a stunning film, and one that all Americans should see. Many will be moved to tears (as my wife was, even though she is technically African, not American), not just by the sheer weight of the story, but the eerie resonance it should have for us at this time in history, the overwhelming anger and sadness it raises in the conscience. I don't know how, when, or if we can awaken these people.

But in the long term, I have a sort of grim hope, ironically more than I have had perhaps ever before. I have been active in struggles, popular and political, all my adult life, and always with a conviction that our work may someday benefit our granchildren, or theirs. Never in my life would I see the fundamental changes we were all striving for. But this current crisis strikes me as so deep, so enormous, that I can now permit myself to imagine it. Notwithstanding my point above about
immediate punishment, this war marks the beginning of end of the U.S. as a dominant world power.

Boycotts, sanctions, embargos, trials and counterattacks will all start to work their effects. Maybe the U.S. won't be conquered in the military sense. But if, for example, OPEC decided to peg its oil to the euro instead of the dollar, the dollar would be devalued by 40% almost overnight. In any event the euro is gaining ground and converts, and even today represents a consolidated market bigger than the U.S. Given that the U.S. economy is so heavily reliant on conspicuous consumption, it will slowly be replaced by those of Europe, India, and China. This economic strangulation is in my view both inevitable and the only means of bringing the U.S. war machine finally under control.

There is much work to be done to reach this point, and I don't mean in any way to downplay the necessity of struggle against this criminal and illegal war in particular, as well as all the misery spawned by this system. Who knows? It may be the wishful thinking of one who just wants this nightmare to end. But in some secret corner of my heart I allow myself a moment of calm, a convinction that evil will be defeated.

Rightwing Slayer Goes On Vacation...

Starting tomorrow, I'll be on vacation! Whoo hoooooo! No updates until Thursday! BUT I want everyone to e-mail me stories you find interesting so I can get caught up when I come back! THANKS!

out...