|
"You get America out of Iraq and
Israel out of Palestine and you'll stop the terrorism."
- Cindy Sheehan
|
P I C T U R E
O F T H E D A Y
|
Cindy Sheehan,
left, begins to cry as Anishinabi elder Dennis Banks of
the American Indian Movement puts gold stars on her warrior
shawls presented to her at Camp Casey 2 near President
Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, Monday, Aug. 29, 2005.
Banks drove 1357 miles from northern
Minnesota to present Sheehan with the Native American
gift reserved for warriors. (AP Photo/LM Otero) |
For
the first time, the Signs Team's most popular and discerning
essays have been compiled into book form and thematically
organized.
These books contain hard hitting exposés into
human nature, propaganda, psyop activities and insights
into the world events that shape our future and our
understanding of the world.
The six new books, available now at our bookstore,
are entitled:
- 911 Conspiracy
- The Human Condition
- The Media
- Religion
- The Work
- U.S. Freedom
Read
them today - before the book burning starts! |
Journalist Wayne Madsen has
left Washington over death threats and William Rodriguez,
9/11 truth-seeker, had his apartment burglarized. Both
fit the description of the person supposedly targeted
by the government.
Coming on the heels of reports today that government
operatives are trying to assassinate someone highly
critical of the Bush administration, William Rodriguez,
the WTC janitor who has been speaking out across the
nation about a 9/11 government conspiracy, came home
to find his Jersey City apartment burglarized Saturday.
Rodriguez, who has damaging
eye-witness testimony that bombs exploded in the WTC
basement prior to the airplanes striking, said
today his apartment was burglarized between 12:30pm
and 7:50pm after retuning home and noticing his second-floor
apartment door wide-open.
Rodriguez immediately filed a police report with Jersey
City police, but there are no leads or suspects in the
case, as neighbors also reported seeing nothing while
Rodriguez was out.
"I came home to find my door open," said
Rodriguez in a telephone conversation Saturday night
from his apartment just after police left the crime
scene. "They didn't destroy
the place, but took my lap top with all my vital information,
as well as one of my video cameras and all of my girl
friend's jewelry, including an expensive engagement
ring."
Rodriguez expressed concern over the burglary since
earlier in the day he received a "warning email"
from contacts close to Washington investigative journalist
Wayne Madsen, who received credible information his
life may be in danger.
Rodriguez was notified because he
also fits the description of the potential government
target, as the inside intelligence source that leaked
the information to Madsen said the target was not specifically
mentioned by name, but fits the description of both
Madsen and Rodriguez.
"I just received this email this morning, warning
that someone who fits my description is going to be
targeted," said Rodriguez, concerning the communication
highly sensitve communication he received from John
Caylor, a friend of Madsen who is spreading the word
to others potentially in danger.
"Now, the robbery in my apartment is highly suspicious,
considering the timing of the email. I wonder just who
is being targeted? I notified police about it and everybody
needs to be careful."
Madsen, highly critical of the Bush administration,
left Washington for several days and is taking the warning
seriously while keeping his whereabouts secret.
"I am laying low for a few days," said Madsen
in an email Saturday from an undisclosed location. "The
threat, although not directly to me personally, was
credible enough to leave D.C. for awhile."
Madsen, a former National Security
Agency employee turned reporter, has been a thorn in
the side of the Bush administration for his inside reports,
revealing financial corruption linking the Bush administration
to major foreign and domestic scandals, including 9/11.
Rodriguez has also been highly critical of the Bush
administration lately, spreading his message across
the country in numerous public speeches about his story
about the 9/11 cover-up has been withheld from the American
people by a systematic censoring of his words by the
government and the media.
The long-time WTC head maintenance man holds key information
literally destroying the government's officials story
and theory about how jet fuel was solely responsible
for bringing own the WTC.
What makes his eye-witness testimony even more damaging
to the government is that it can be corroborated by
numerous eye-witnesses who have also been censored by
the government and media.
Although Rodriguez's story has been
told freely without censorship overseas in a number
of foreign markets, the American media as well as the
9/11 Commission has seen fit to suppress his story,
a story that very well could lead to pinning the Bush
administration with high-crimes related to the 9/11
cover-up.
The recent assassination threat coming from inside
Washington has also been taken seriously by Rodriguez,
who in the past has on numerous
occasions turned down government bribes to keep him
quiet.
Since 9/11, Rodriguez has remained steadfast in his
determination to tell the truth despite the enormous
odds, saying he owes it to all those who lost lives
at the WTC, including more than 200 personal friends
and acquaintances who perished on 9/11.
Rodriguez, the last survivor out of the North Tower
before it collapsed, was declared a National Hero for
his valiant efforts the morning of 9/11, saving hundreds
of lives as he possessed one of the few master keys
for the North Tower stairwell, using it to save many
lives just before the tower collapsed.
But after being courted at the White House, Rodriguez
quickly became a government target once officials realized
he could not be bribed or bought-off.
The intelligence report received by Madsen and forwarded
to Rodriguez this morning as a warning was sent to the
Arctic Beacon.
Although the target wasn't mentioned by name, the profile
fit both Madsen and Rodriguez as well as others who
have been recently very critical of the Bush administration.
The warning sent to Madsen, causing him to flee Washington
and perhaps linked to the Rodriguez burglary, reads
as follows:
We have reason to think that a "project"
will be undertaken against "someone" considered
problematic now...not next week but NOW. That person
is not specified but is in the US, in an apartment
setting and lives alone. It is a "he" and
he works via www. This information is specific to
an intent but not specific to a person. The source
is impeccable and you know my track record which have
parallel sourcing.
The "project" will be assigned to "parallel
contractors" who will make any action appear
random and witnesses would suggest Middle Eastern
in source. Actions would be carried out in or near
the home. We do not hear things like this often (almost
never) and so far every warning of this type has been
within 24 hours of action and these warnings have
proven 100% accurate in the past. We do not know of
any direct reason for someone to use this source to
provide wrong or misleading information or for use
by those who are "contracting" this action.
Your recent work and profile make us tell you this
directly.
Please respond with a note that all is normal there.
Please consider the warning we received as it can
be applied to many including your self. It is possible
that someone considers "us" linked in some
way and that this warning may be a "deterrent"
to work that some may not want completed. We have
no reason to think this but I want to consider every
possible angle and application to this warning.
Please consider what can be done while taking any
measures you think necessary to avoid this "project".
We consider this warning as coming with the highest
level "authenticity" and purity of motive,
but the subject and message subject and its specifications
were too unusual to be sure of intent.
Madsen, Rodriguez and Caylor also wanted the report
circulated in public since others who fit Madsen's similar
profile may also be in danger. |
In the days after federal agents
arrested five residents of Lodi in a terror investigation
in June, a clean-cut young man who had befriended the
suspects and had spent nights at their homes vanished.
He hasn't been seen in town since, and now members
of Lodi's Muslim community suspect they know why: The
man, who called himself Nasim Khan, was a government
mole, they believe, an informer whose surreptitious
tape recordings of one of the suspects are at the heart
of the federal probe.
Community members said Khan, who is
in his early 30s, sometimes spoke of "jihad"
in what they now believe was an attempt to get others
to express radical sentiments.
In his three years in Lodi, Khan -- who spoke fluent
Pashto, Urdu and English -- forged deep ties in the
Muslim community. He once lived in one of two apartments
that overlook Lodi's mosque, helped set up a Web site
for a Muslim school that was forming in the area and
took the teenage son of one of the suspects to ride
roller-coasters at Paramount's Great America in Santa
Clara.
"He got me -- he convinced me he was an average
guy," said a 23-year- old member of the Lodi mosque,
who like many other members spoke on condition that
he not be identified because he is afraid of drawing
FBI scrutiny. "I was thinking he was just somebody
who was interested in religion."
Federal prosecutors last week
revealed they had a "cooperating witness"
in Lodi. Without naming him, they said he had
recorded scores of conversations with Hamid Hayat, a
22-year-old man accused of lying when he denied participating
in a terrorist training camp in Pakistan. His father,
47-year- old Umer Hayat, is charged with lying about
the same thing.
Hamid Hayat's attorney, Wazhma Mojaddidi, earlier this
month received 47 audiotapes made by the "witness"
that go back as far as August 2002.
By all accounts, Hamid Hayat and the "witness"
were close friends. Several members of Lodi's Muslim
community now say that friend was Nasim Khan, and a
relative of the Hayats said Hamid Hayat identified the
"witness" as Khan after learning of the content
of the recordings.
The "witness" appears to be critical to the
case. Prosecutors are using him in an attempt to connect
Hamid Hayat to terrorism, while defense attorneys and
some community members -- who say he was an aggressive
provocateur in conversations -- are trying to find out
more about him. Whether he is
a civilian informant or an undercover agent could affect
what information the defense is entitled to receive.
[...]
The government portrays the "witness" in
court filings as connecting Hamid Hayat to terror. According
to an Aug. 19 court filing, Hamid Hayat "swore
that he would go to jihad" in conversations recorded
in March and April of 2003.
The filing alleges that Hamid Hayat, while on the phone
from Pakistan in 2003, "advised the (witness) that
he genuinely desired to attend a camp and strongly indicated
in his final conversation with the (witness) that he
had been accepted to 'training' and was going to attend
the same after Ramadan in 2003."
The Hayats' attorneys say the "witness" was
the aggressor in conversations, and some community members
say he expressed an interest in "jihad." Mojaddidi
said she expects that the tapes, when released in full,
will not implicate her client in anything illegal. [...]
The use of informants and undercover
agents in American mosques is not unusual, according
to experts and published reports.
An FBI informant named Khalid
Ibrahim Mostafa was a key witness in an investigation
of seven Portland residents accused in 2002 of conspiring
to join the Taliban in Afghanistan and fight
against U.S. troops after the terrorist attacks of Sept.
11, 2001. All but one pleaded guilty, and the seventh
was killed by Pakistani troops in 2003, authorities
said.
Mostafa, an Egyptian-born mechanic, became an informant
to avoid being charged in an unrelated case, according
to the Oregonian. The newspaper reported that Mostafa
presented himself as a fanatical Taliban supporter to
targets of the Portland probe. In an interview with
the newspaper, Mostafa said he did his patriotic duty.
"When an informant goes
in and talks about jihad, and that you will be at the
hand of Muhammad, and rattles sabers and builds up the
religious fervor, to me that's a form of entrapment
-- but legally it's not," John Ransom, a
Portland attorney who represented one of the defendants
who pleaded guilty in that case, told The Chronicle.
He added that the Portland and
Lodi cases, as well as others, "seem to be following
a pattern." [...] |
Not
One More
The Peaceful Occupation of Crawford |
By Cindy Sheehan
Sunday 28 August 2005 |
A photographer friend of mine went
down to Crawford to the Pro-War, Anti-Peace rally today.
There were about 1500 people there he said. He
also said that it was the most "third reich"
spectacle that he had ever seen in America.
My friend said that the speakers were whipping up the
crowd into a frenzy of hatred for me (like they already
didn't hate me?) and for the peace movement. My friend
said that the entire theme of the rally was: "Cindy
is killing American troops by her anti-American protest."
Oh really, isn't George Bush killing innocent Americans
and Iraqis by sending them to fight in an illegal and
immoral war for power and greed? I think the real culprit
is my neighbor: George.
I am really sad that there are still people in America
who think that someone exercising her freedom of speech
is anti-American. People who say
we DON'T have the right to dissent are un-patriotic
and un-American. My friend said that the rally
was really the scariest thing he had ever seen. Except
for one funny part when some people were walking through
the crowd with a "Say No to War---except when a
Democrat is President" (whatever that means???)
sign. I guess the people at the rally only read the
"Say No to War" part and they were ripping
up the signs and chasing the gentlemen out. The
unfortunate sign holders were trying to tell the counter-protesters
that they were on Bush's killing side, but the crowd
wouldn't hear them.
Our rally had about 2500 people jammed into the Camp
Casey II tent. The speakers and music were awesome.
Joan sang a few more songs. I told the crowd that I
totally understand George Bush's noble cause for continuing
the war: I have to kill more Americans because I have
already killed so many. Then I posed the question to
them that we will pose to Congress and the small minority
of Americans (38-40%) who still believe in George's
oil war. How many more lives are you willing to sacrifice
before you bring the troops home? I led the crowd in
a deafening chant of "Not One More," aimed
at George's vacation home.
I kind of feel sorry for George; holed
up in his ranch. Not being able to go out unless he
flies over in his helicopter. If he drove out of the
ranch, he would have to see people who disagree with
him. But every time he leaves the ranch now, he faces
people demanding answers to the question: What Noble
Cause?
George is going golfing in Arizona on Monday, then
to San Diego on Monday afternoon and Tuesday. Be sure
we will have people in those locations bird dogging
him. He deserves to be made uncomfortable:
he is making the entire world more than uncomfortable.
We are relaxing a little bit tonight after the rally.
A very nice young man who was wounded and put in a wheel
chair by Bush's war on the same day Casey was killed
came out tonight. He is spending his honeymoon with
his new bride here at Camp Casey. Which reminds me...we
are having 2 weddings here tomorrow: One at Camp Casey
I and one at Camp Casey II. We have had so many children
and babies come out too...it is the cycle of life.
I was visited by a 2nd Lt. from Casey's 2-5 Cavalry
that told me to keep up the good work and Casey's old
roommate came out from Ft. Hood to meet me. He may have
to go back to Iraq soon. He hopes he doesn't have to
since he will be out in 6 months, but he is pretty sure
he will be stop-lossed.
It was so hot today in Crawford. So hot, it seemed
like there wasn't enough air to breathe. Then a storm
came and gave us some blessed relief.
Update: Some pro-war
people came up to Camp Casey II around 10pm and Ann
Wright had to call the sheriff because they were getting
a little rowdy. |
DETROIT -- With George W. Bush,
a certifiable madman, in power, it shouldn't be surprising
that the rest of our republic is going bonkers. Bush,
our commander in sleep, has spread the virus of neo-fascist
fever and the bug is gripping our nation like the flu
in February. The evidence is compelling.
The national commander of the American Legion demands
an end to all "public protests" and "media
events" against the war. Commander Thomas Cadmus
declared, at the legion's convention in Honolulu, that
"it would be tragic if the freedoms our veterans
fought so valiantly to protect would be used against
their successors today."
I get it. Here's what's wrong with
America these days: freedom of speech, the freedom to
peaceably assemble, and the right of people to petition
the government for a redress of grievances.
Those items found in the Bill of Rights
are the scourges of our nation. Get rid of those damn
freedoms at home and the Iraqis will start tossing rose
petals at our troops.
The 4,000 American Legion delegates voted unanimously
for a resolution declaring, "The American Legion
fully supports the President of the United States"
and "our armed forces" engaged "in the
global war on terrorism" and "in protecting
our values and way of life."
They apparently believe the First Amendment no longer
reflects "our values," but the bloody, illegal
and futile occupation of Iraq does. I didn't know there
was that much beer in Hawaii.
But other veterans have a more sober and sane assessment
of George W. Bush. Last week, at the Veterans of Foreign
Wars convention in Salt Lake City, Bush repeated the
great lie of our times -- that the war in Iraq is linked
to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and that the imperial
war there makes us safer at home.
"The lesson of Sept. 11, 2001, is that we must
confront the threats before they materialize,"
Bush said in his speech.
Bush speaking to the VFW gathering is like an Orthodox
rabbi offering advice on pork recipes to a cooking class.
Joyfully, not all the delegates
were buying his fantasies. One of them, 73-year-old
Bill Moyer, wore cardboard covers over his ears labeled
"bullshit protectors."
Such irreverence sent Bush into an obscene tirade,
according to a report in Capitol Hill Blue, an online
journal that occasionally chronicles Bush's unhinged
behavior. Bush refers to those who protest his war as
"motherf---king traitors" and he was so enraged
when he heard reports about the "bullshit protectors"
that he screamed at his aides, "Tell those VFW
assholes that I'll never speak to them again if they
can't keep their members under control."
Capitol Hill Blue has long dealt with a topic that
the corporate media won't touch -- Bush's mental fitness
for the presidency and the behavior patterns associated
with his addiction-damaged personality. The journal
reports Bush's doctors are trying to control his dark
moods with anti-depressant drugs.
While the Busheviks have sold the myth that their man
is an affable "nice guy," the reality is that
he is often vile and profane. His explosive temper is
increasingly displayed. At a recent strategy session,
discussing polls showing most Americans are now against
the war and don't believe Bush, he reportedly bellowed
to his staff, "I'm the president and I'll do whatever
I goddamned please. They don't know shit."
George W. takes much more after his acerbic and vindictive
mother, Barbara, than his more even-tempered father.
The president's pattern of blame
and denial and his rattled response to the criticism
of his disastrous war are manifestations of his addiction-damaged
and dangerous personality, according to psychiatrist
Dr. Justin Frank, author of "Bush on the Couch:
Inside the Mind of the President." He sees Bush's
history of substance abuse shaping him into a fear-driven
bully. Confrontation -- like Cindy Sheehan's vigil --
unveils the real Bush.
"Actually confront him in a clear way, to bring
him out, so you would really see the bully, and you
would see the fear," Dr. Frank says.
When aides suggested Bush meet with Sheehan, whose
son died in Iraq, Bush screamed, "I'm not meeting
with that goddamned bitch. She can go to hell as far
as I'm concerned," Capitol Hill Blue reports.
No one from the White House press corps will dare raise
questions about the report. Most of them are content
to attend Bush's barbecue for the media at Crawford,
where all discussions are off the record.
None would dare mention passing Camp
Casey as vans spirited them into Rancho Wacko to enjoy
grilled catfish and potato salad with the president
and first lady. They won't risk expulsion by asking
questions about whether George W. is having reoccurring
episodes of that mysterious pretzel-choking phenomenon.
Certainly, NBC White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell
would never broach such a delicate topic. She's too
busy pimping for the Busheviks and repeating their talking
points. As the recent guest host of MSNBC's "Hardball
with Chris Matthews," O'Donnell referred to Sheehan
and the demonstrators outside Bush's Crawford ranch
as "anti-war extremists."
She made that characterization in an interview with
former FBI agent Coleen Rowley, who is a Democratic
congressional candidate in Minnesota. Rowley, unlike
nearly all other Democrats, had the guts to visit Crawford
and offer her support for Sheehan.
That prompted O'Donnell to question
Rowley's decision, saying, "It was reported that
Republican leaders in your state were thrilled that
you had decided to align yourself with anti-war extremists.
Do you think that will affect your race for Congress?"
Rowley didn't hesitate to put O'Donnell
in her place. "Well, I will quickly correct the
record that they are not anti-war extremists. The majority
of people I saw in Crawford were actually veterans'
groups," Rowley responded.
O'Donnell's pretty face looked perplexed, her vacuous
mind grappling for a rejoinder.
"But, Coleen, they do oppose
the war in Iraq, do they not?"
Rowley's 80-point IQ advantage over
O'Donnell was apparent as she explained opposition to
Bush's war does not make one an extremist. In fact,
she said, the demonstrators in Crawford are "reflective
of mainstream America in many ways."
Imagine the howl if O'Donnell referred to supporters
of the war in Iraq as "radical warmongers."
I'm sure General Electric, a major defense contractor
and NBC's owner, would frown on one of its employees
using such a characterization.
Remember, Coleen Rowley should have been given a medal
for her courageous but frustrated efforts in trying
to stop the 9/11 terrorists before they hijacked those
airliners. She alerted her supervisors in the FBI about
all those Saudi (not Iraqi) men taking lessons to learn
how to fly jets. Her superiors ignored her warnings
and the rest is tragic history.
The CIA's pre-9/11 intelligence failures are finally
getting a scolding and the agency's inspector general
has submitted a report to Congress on what went wrong
and who was responsible. Accountability, however, is
anathema in the Bush administration.
One of the big names targeted for
criticism is former CIA director George Tenet. He rivals
Condoleezza Rice as a slave to sycophancy and he was
more than willing to do anything to please George W.
Bush.
Tenet sold out his own agency when he took the rap
for the bogus story that Iraq was trying to buy enriched
uranium from Niger. Tenet famously told Bush that finding
evidence of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction would
be a "slam dunk." He fouled out on that one,
as he did in ignoring evidence al-Qaeda was planning
something big.
Tenet is frantically trying to keep the wraps on the
inspector general's report, so history will not note
his mistakes and his already-tarnished reputation won't
take another body blow.
The families of the 9/11 victims want the unvarnished
truth told. They're demanding the immediate declassification
and release of the report. They issued a statement saying,
"To shield CIA officials from accountability and
to continue to cover up deficiencies in that agency
puts the safety of our nation at risk."
For his intelligence failures and fabrications, but
most of all for unswerving loyalty to political policy-making,
George W. Bush presented Tenet with the Presidential
Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
I'm sure the apostle of assassination,
the Rev. Pat Robertson, must be in line for the same
honor.
CIA Director Porter Goss and the Republicans on Capitol
Hill will do their best to deep-six the report, bury
the truth and please the president.
The 9/11 cover-up, Cindy Sheehan's
valiant witness to the truth, the futility of "staying
the course" in Iraq, even Pat Robertson's insane
musing -- it's hard to find any prominent leaders in
the Democratic Party saying anything about those worthy
topics.
Would just one of them venture off of Martha's Vineyard
and their other summer haunts to express outrage, support
or indignation? We have the worst
president in American history and we hardly hear a peep
from the Democrats.
I can understand the neo-fascist, Christian fanatics
who dominate the modern Republican Party and form George
W. Bush's base. They worship power and the political
value of war. But what about people who know better?
Former Democratic senator Gary Hart wrote an eloquent
op-ed piece in the Washington Post last week urging
leaders of his party to stand for something. He chided
the "tongue-tied" Democrats, too meek to challenge
Bush.
"What will history say about an opposition party
that stands silent while all this goes on?" he
asked.
Where are senators Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer,
John Kerry, Joe Biden and Joe Lieberman? They all voted
for Bush's war.
As long as those gutless Democrats are the party's
"leaders," George W. Bush will continue his
senseless war. People with sense
are listening to Cindy Sheehan and following her admirable
leadership.
Bill Gallagher, a Peabody Award winner, is a former
Niagara Falls city councilman who now covers Detroit
for Fox2 News. His e-mail address is gallaghernewsman@sbcglobal.net.
|
The language Bush has used
in recent speeches about Iraq and Cindy Sheehan illustrates
why his message (and approval rating) is starting to
fail.
"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating
things over and over and over again for the truth
to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."
-- George Bush, "President Participates in Social
Security Conversation in New York," May 24, 2005.
Forced from his five-week vacation idyll in Crawford
by the mother of a dead boy he sent to war, the President
has recently given two major speeches defending his
war policies and, between biking and boating, held a
brief news conference at Tamarack Resort in Donnelly,
Idaho.
On August 22nd, he addressed the national convention
of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Salt Lake City for
30 minutes; on August 24th, he spoke for 43 minutes
to families of the Idaho National Guard in the farming
community of Nampa, Idaho.
As his poll figures continue
on a downward spiral, he has found it necessary to put
extra effort into "catapulting the propaganda."
Though he struck a new note or two in each speech,
these were exceedingly familiar, crush-the-terrorists,
stay-the-course, path-to-victory speeches. That's hardly
surprising, since his advisors and speechwriters have
been wizards of repetition.
No one has been publicly less spontaneous or more --
effectively -- repetitious than our President; but sometimes,
as he says, you "keep repeating things over and
over and over again" and what sinks in really is
the truth rather than the propaganda.
Sometimes, just that extra bit
of repetition under less than perfect circumstances,
and words that once struck fear or offered hope, that
once explained well enough for most the nature of the
world they faced, suddenly sound hollow. They
begin to sound… well, repetitious, and so, false.
Your message, which worked like a dream for so long,
goes off-message, and then what do you do?
This is, I suspect, exactly what growing numbers of
Americans are experiencing in relation to our President.
It's a mysterious process really -- like leaving a dream
world or perhaps deprogramming from a cult. Once you
step outside the bubble, statements that only yesterday
seemed heartfelt or powerful or fearful or resolute
truths suddenly look like themselves, threadbare and
impoverished.
In due course, because the repetitious worldview in
the President's speeches is clearly a believed one (for
him, if not all of his advisors) and because it increasingly
reads like a bad movie script for a fictional planet,
he himself is likely to look no less threadbare and
impoverished, no less -- to use a word not often associated
with him -- pathetic and out of touch with reality to
some of those who not so long ago supported him or his
policies.
Under these circumstances, it's worth taking a close
look at his recent speeches and comparing his linguistic
landscape with that of Cindy Sheehan, at the moment
a stand-in for the mute (and previously somewhat hidden)
American dead from his war as well as an encroaching
Iraqi catastrophe.
George's World of Words
George Bush's speech-world remains
anchored in the defining moment of his life: the attacks
of September 11th, 2001 (cited
5 times in his VFW speech, 4 times in Idaho).
It offers a landscape of overwhelming threat, but also
of remarkable neatness.
It paints a picture of a world embroiled in the first
war of the 21st century, a war on a global scale, a
war -- a word that peppers every statement he makes
-- with multiple theaters ("from the streets of
the Western capitals to the mountains of Afghanistan,
to the tribal regions of Pakistan, to the islands of
Southeast Asia and the Horn of Africa").
In his vision of our planet, a vast struggle on the
scale of the Cold War, if not World War II, is underway
- a Manichaean battle between two clear-cut sides, one
good, one evil, in which you are either for or against.
There can be no other choices between our mega-enemy,
the terrorists, and us. As he put the matter in Idaho
in reference to Iraq, the central theater in his global
war, "The battle lines… are now clearly drawn
for the world to see, and there is no middle ground."
The problem is that what the
President "sees" and what Americans are now
seeing seem to be diverging at a rapid rate.
For George, the details matter not at all. You won't
find any Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds at each other's
throats in the President's Iraq, or unable to agree
on a constitution, or at the edge of internecine warfare,
or living in a country lacking electricity, oil, and
jobs, or potentially installing an Islamic government
in Baghdad allied to the neighboring Iranian fundamentalist
regime, or any of the other obvious features of the
present situation, most of which can finally be caught
any night on the national news.
In his Salt Lake City and Idaho speeches, the only
"Iraqi" George even mentioned was a Jordanian,
"the terrorist Zarqawi," against whom, in
at least the President's fantasy life and in his recent
radio address, Sunni and Shia Iraqis actually come together
in mutual defense in a touching show of national unity.
In the President's world, there is just them, the enemy,
aka the terrorists, and us, the people who (in a nearly
copyrighted phrase) spread freedom to the rest of the
world. When you look, for instance,
at his speech in Idaho, the word terror (war on, sponsored,
will be defeated) is used 13 times; terrorist or terrorists
(threats, attack, murdered, harbor a, cells, defeat
the, converged on Iraq, defiance of the, have sworn
havoc, can kill the innocent, victory over, were to
win, will fail, Zarqawi), 33 times; and terrorism (safe
haven for), once -- for a total of 47 uses. (Now that's
repetition for you!)
However, in the remarkably equally
balanced linguistic struggle between good and evil that
weaves through the President's speeches, freedom (they
despise our, spreading, spread the hope of, advancing
the cause of, the march of) appears 37 times and, when
free is thrown in, a triumphant total of 48 times.
In addition, while the terrorists skulk in the shadows,
freedom is no passive thing. It confronts, defeats,
prevails, and conquers. No wonder they despise it so.
(In the shorter VFW speech, the linguistic balance remains
the same: terror and its cognates: 33; freedom with
its fleet of frees, 36.)
Add together the Idaho totals for the
struggle -- 95 -- and you're talking about 1 out of
every 48 words in that speech being either terror or
freedom, with us or against us.
Admittedly, the President's speeches do sometimes show
small signs of change at moments when reality forces
its way onto the premises. For obvious reasons, for
instance, weapons of mass destruction have disappeared
from his speeches when the focus is Iraq (though mention
Iran and…).
Recently, Cindy Sheehan made
herself such a thorn in the Presidential side that his
speechwriters were forced to let him acknowledge the
actual numbers of American dead. ("We have
lost 1,864 members of our Armed Forces in Operation
Iraqi Freedom, and 223 in Operation Enduring Freedom.")
And the growing debate about withdrawal from Iraq, which
began with unapproved statements from his own military,
has forced the President's speechwriters to create a
new jingle to describe our plan for the Iraqi future:
"As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down."
In speaking off-the-cuff, as to the reporters in Donnelly
last week, he repeats his usual words, phrases, and
lines, mix-and-match style; still, it's easier in such
a session (no matter how weak the questions lobbed at
him) to sense an edge of confusion about how to make
his world stand in some relation to reality.
For instance, in the Donnelly exchange, which lasted
12 minutes including the niceties -- "Q: Any fishing?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't know yet. I haven't made up my
mind yet. I'm kind of hanging loose, as they say. (Laughter.)"
-- he offered this strange, new explanation for the
development of terrorism in the Iraqi neck of the woods:
"[W]e had a policy that just said, let the dictator
[Saddam Hussein] stay there, don't worry about it. And
as a result of dictatorship, and as a result of tyranny,
resentment, hopelessness began to develop in that part
of the world, which became the -- gave the terrorists
capacity to recruit."
However, in his speeches, those perfect artifacts from
another universe, delivered only before the most receptive
audiences, usually under campaign-like conditions, everything
is as the President wants it to be.
There, at present, he inhabits a world that begins
with the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in
1787 -- imagine how a Democrat might be pilloried for
comparing the making of the already tattered "Islamic"
constitution of Iraq (just hailed by Iranian Ayatollah
Ahmad Jannati, who heads that country's ultra-conservative
Guardian Council) to ours -- passes through World War
II (where we successfully occupied two countries, Japan
and Germany) and more or less ends in the glory days
of the Cold War.
Missing, of course, is the one
"small" conflict that, right now, is on everyone's
mind all over Washington, not to say the U.S. -- Vietnam.
You won't find that name, nor words like "quagmire"
or "bogged down" either. The President's speech-world
is a world of the will in every sense. (The terrorists
typically try to break ours and get us to retreat.)
In Idaho, he used will, as in
"will of the majority," 6 times, but the will
of the willed act (we will not allow the terrorists,
America will not wait to be attacked again, will confront
emerging threats, will stay on the offensive, will fight,
will win, will be on the hunt, will prevail) 34 times.
There may never have been political speeches that used
the word in all its senses (except as a document of
bequeathment) so often.
In this tic, his speeches catch perhaps the most striking
aspect of his administration since September 11, 2001
-- its driving urge to impose a worldview by force on
the rest of the planet. In speeches like those in Utah
and Idaho, he offers up a warrior's world of words.
The word war itself appears in his Idaho speech 26 times,
along with attack, attacks, attacked (11), fight, fighters,
fighting (10) , battle lines, battlefronts (2), struggle
(2), strike (2), and one of his absolute favorites,
the phrase on the hunt or alternately hunt down (we
will stay on the, side by side with Iraqi forces, our
common enemies), used 3 times.
Of course, no war would be worth much if you didn't
win (the war on terror, in Iraq), used twice, for which
you need to defeat (the terrorists), wielded 9 times.
In the President's speeches, the world of "the
enemy" or "the terrorists" is imposingly
frightening, terrifying enough to fit the bill for any
Evil Empire.
Here is just a partial list of words associated with
it from the Idaho speech:
- Enemy (fight the, in our midst, across the globe,
on many fronts): 6
- Threat, threatened: 8
- Fail (what terrorists will do in the end)/failed
(as in, states -- what terrorists cause): 7
- Brutal, brutality: 5
- Violence (brutal, and extremism): 5
- Kill: 5
- Retreat (what they want us to do, back into the
shadows): 5
- Murder, murdered: murderous: 4
- Destroy/Destruction (our way of life, havoc and,
death and): 4
- Hateful, hate-filled: 3
- Dangerous (times, enemies): 2
- Plotted, plotting: 2
- Crushing/crushes (blow, all dissent): 2
- Havoc: 2
- Death: 2
- Assassination: 2
- Intimidation: 1
- Extremism: 1
- Evil (seen freedom conquer): 1.
Cindy's World of Words
For a long time, George had a knack for speaking to
audiences and seeming so personal, no matter how large
his crowds, impersonal the setting, or scripted his
performance. It was this sense of him that Cindy Sheehan
seems to have begun to crack open.
Put her words up against his -- she's willing to be
no less repetitious, no less fierce in her view of the
world -- and hers are the words
that now feel personal, that come from the heart and
cut to the bone, that connect. They
seem like telegrams sent directly from reality,
and from an irrefutable core of loss -- of lives, of
safety, of security, of well-being -- that ever more
Americans are beginning to fear is what George's world
is all about.
That's undoubtedly why the normal set of right-wing
attacks and smears launched against Sheehan, however
successful against others in the past, have simply not
penetrated. Who, after all, can deny the reality of
the individual world of the mother of a war-dead son?
And let's remember, we're talking about a woman who
most distinctly does not live on a fantasy planet.
Here's how she describes Bush's newest reason to stay
in Iraq -- to honor those who already died there: "Since
the Freedom and Democracy thing is not going so well
and the Iraqi parliament is having such a hard time
writing their constitution, since violence is mounting
against Iraqis and Americans, and since [George Bush's]
poll numbers are going down every day, he had to come
up with something."
Put that up against the President comparing the ethnic
and religious horse-trading inside Baghdad's Green Zone
to the American Constitutional Convention. To illustrate
her language, I've taken two brief, recent passages
she wrote around the time the President made his speeches
in Utah and Idaho. The first is a mere 225 words on
"Coming Back to Crawford"; the second, just
over 1,000 words and entitled "One Mother's Stand".
I've treated them as a single document. Place this set
of words against the President's above:
- Son/sons (my, their, have been killed): 6
- Daughters: 1
- [Her son] Casey (Camp, love of): 7
- Mother/mom (to feel the pain we feel, Gold Star,
regular): 8
- Parent/parents: 2
- Children (lose their, my other): 2
- Country (our, my, an innocent): 4
- Grief (unbearable): 1
- Pain (as much as I am, feel the, and heartache,
feel their): 4
- Heartache: 1
- Love/loved (of Casey, peace and, ones): 6
- War (senseless, George Bush's, his, insane): 4
- Invade (an innocent country): 1
- Monstrosity (of an occupation): 1
- Lies (his): 1
- Misuse and abuse (of power): 1
- Killed/killing (in George Bush's war, Americans,
continue the): 6
- Died (Americans have, my son, others who have):
5
- Death/deaths (sent him to, meaningless): 3
- Responsibility (the president's): 1
- Accountable (hold George Bush): 1
- Cojones (I do have the… to tell the world
that our "emperor" has no clothes): 1
It seems that George Bush was right: "You got
to keep repeating things over and over and over again
for the truth to sink in."
He (and his advisers and his speechwriters)
simply forgot that others might also do the repeating.
The Wordless Dead Offer Their Own Form of Testimony
Increasingly, the American, if not Iraqi, dead are
entering our world and, after a fashion, making themselves
heard. Their eloquence lies in their very names, which
appear daily in our papers, as they have for two years
now.
Here, for instance, are the names of the American
dead, all thirteen from Arcand, Elden to Seamans, Timothy,
reported by the Pentagon for the three days beginning
with the President's VFW speech and ending with his
Idaho speech.
These were presented in a little box on an inside
page of the New York Times with the following explanation:
"The Department of Defense has identified [number]
American service members who have died since the start
of the Iraq war. It confirmed the deaths of the following
Americans yesterday:"
August 23, 2005
BOUCHARD, Nathan K., 24, Sgt., Army; Wildomar, Calif.;
Third Infantry Division. DOYLE, Jeremy W., 24, Staff
Sgt., Army; Chesterton, Md.; Third Infantry Division.
FUHRMANN, Ray M. II, 28, Specialist, Army; Novato, Calif.;
Third Infantry Division. SEAMANS, Timothy J., 20, Pfc.,
Army; Jacksonville, Fla.; Third Infantry Division.
August 24, 2005
ARCAND, Elden D., 22, Pfc., Army; White Bear Lake,
Minn.; 360th Transportation Company, 68th Corps Support
Battalion, 43rd Area Support Group. CATHEY, James J.,
24, Second Lt., Marines; Reno, Nev.; Second Marine Division.
MORRIS, Brian L., 38, Staff Sgt., Army; Centreville,
Mich.; 360th Transportation Company, 68th Corps Support
Battalion, 43rd Area Support Group. NURRE, Joseph C.,
22, Specialist, Army Reserve; Wilton, Calif.; 463rd
Engineer Battalion. PARTRIDGE, Willard T., 35, Sgt.,
Army; Ferriday, La.; 170th Military Police Company,
504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police
Brigade. ROMERO, Ramon, 19, Pfc., Marines; Huntington
Park, Calif.; Second Marine Division.
August 25, 2005
DÍAZ, Carlos J., 27, First Lt., Army; Juana
Díaz, P.R., Third Infantry Division. HUNT, Joseph
D., 27, Sgt., Army National Guard; Sweetwater, Tenn.;
Third Squadron, 278th Armored Cavalry. LIEURANCE, Victoir
P., 34, Staff Sgt., Army National Guard; Seymour, Tenn.;
Third Squadron, 278th Armored Cavalry. |
Authorities along the shattered
Gulf Coast searched Tuesday for survivors and worked
to rescue residents stranded in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina, which is blamed for dozens of deaths and the
destruction of countless homes and businesses.
The storm ripped ashore in Louisiana Monday morning
with winds topping 140 mph before scourging Mississippi
and Alabama.
Katrina caused widespread flooding across the region,
and floodwaters were still rising Tuesday in New Orleans
after a hole opened in a levee protecting the city.
The storm is blamed for at least 68 deaths and that
toll is almost certain to rise.
"We know we've had some loss of life. We really
don't know how much. There are credible accounts of
50 to 80 in Harrison County. Those are not confirmed,
but they're credible," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour
said Tuesday.
"And I hate to say it, I think there are going
to be more."
A man in Biloxi told CNN affiliate WKRG-TV he believed
his wife was killed after she was ripped from his grasp
when their home split in half.
"She told me, 'You can't hold me,' ... take care
of the kids and the grandkids..."
While Louisiana officials have not confirmed any deaths
there, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said there have been
reports of bodies floating in the floodwaters. Two storm-related
traffic fatalities were reported in Alabama.
The storm killed 11 people last week when it made its
initial landfall in Florida.
'This is our tsunami'
In Mississippi, streets and homes were flooded as far
as six miles inland.
Barbour plans to make a helicopter tour of the hardest
hit areas today.
In Biloxi, a 25-foot storm surge crashed in from the
Gulf of Mexico on Monday and inundated structures there.
Up to 30 people are believed to have been killed when
one apartment complex on the beach collapsed in the
storm.
"This is our tsunami," Biloxi Mayor A.J.
Holloway told the Biloxi Sun Herald newspaper, referring
to the December 26, 2004, tsunami that killed more than
226,000 people in the Indian Ocean region.
In the daylight of Tuesday morning, the waters had
receded in Biloxi, but debris littered the streets and
the ground floors of several structures.
Cement trash cans used as barriers in front of buildings
were strewn about like cardboard boxes, and paper scraps
hung from the highest branches of the trees still standing.
CNN Correspondent Miles O'Brien, standing in front
of the once-luxurious Beau Rivage casino, said at least
a dozen gaming places were closed and damaged from Katrina
-- costing the state $500,000 a day in lost tax revenues.
Charles Curtis, a Biloxi resident who works in a casino
that is now split in half, said he and his wife stood
on top of their refrigerator as the water rose around
them.
"The Back Bay of Biloxi came through our front
door," he said, referring to the shallow, marshy
strip that borders the north of the city.
"We were ready to punch a hole through the ceiling
if we had to" escape, Curtis said.
Hotel worker Suzanne Rodgers returned to her beachfront
home near Biloxi, but, she told CNN, "there is
nothing there. There's debris hanging from trees."
"All I found that belonged to me was a shoe,"
she said. "There's nothing left."
Separately, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency
in Jackson confirmed five Katrina-related deaths, a
spokeswoman said.
Water poured into New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain
after a two-block-long breach opened overnight in a
section of a levee that protects the low-lying city.
Nagin had said that about 80 percent of the city was
flooded and that some areas were under 20 feet of water.
CNN's John Zarrella, in a hotel on Canal Street, said
the water level was "much higher" than it
had been during the height of Katrina's onslaught, rising
all morning Tuesday and topping the sandbags meant to
keep the water out of the building.
"Water has now filled the basement of the hotel,"
he said. "All of the entrances to our hotel are
completely surrounded, and the water is slowly creeping
up the side of the building.
"Yesterday during the hurricane,
the water was no where near this high."
In the city's 9th Ward neighborhood, rescue efforts
continued throughout the night, with authorities in
boats plucking residents from submerged homes after
water topped another levee.
CNN's Adaora Udoji, monitoring the rescue efforts,
said authorities had ferried at least 500 people from
their homes, flooded with as much as six feet of water.
Some residents reported water rose so fast they did
not have time to grab their shoes.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco told CNN Monday that
a 50-inch water main was severed during the storm, cutting
the supply of drinkable water.
In Mobile, Alabama, the storm pushed water from Mobile
Bay into downtown, submerging large sections of the
city, and officials imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
An oil drilling platform broke away
from its moorings and lodged under a bridge that carries
U.S. Highway 98 over the Mobile River.
The Alabama National Guard activated 450 troops to
secure Mobile. Two other Alabama battalions, or about
800 troops, were activated to assist in Mississippi.
When can I go home?
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is preparing
to house "at least tens of thousands of victims
... for literally months on end," the agency's
director, Michael Brown, said Monday night.
Veteran FEMA staffers who have surveyed
the destruction are reporting some of the worst damage
they have ever seen, he said.
Louisiana and Mississippi officials urged evacuees
as well as those stranded by flooding from the storm
to stay put.
"It's too dangerous to come home," said Blanco,
who ordered state police to block re-entry routes to
all but emergency workers.
The American Red Cross said it is launching the largest
relief operation in its history.
More than 75,000 people are being housed in nearly
240 shelters across the region, and Red Cross President
Marty Evans told CNN, "We expect that to grow"
as people who can't return home seek somewhere to stay.
More than 1.7 million homes and businesses in Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama and Florida were without electricity,
according to utility companies serving the region.
Katrina was downgraded to a tropical depression Tuesday.
As of the 11 a.m. ET update from the National Hurricane
Center, Katrina was about 25 miles south of Clarksville,
Tennessee, moving north-northeast at 21 mph.
On Katrina's way north Monday night through Mississippi,
its outer bands spawned tornados in Georgia. Three twisters
were reported there, one in central Peach County and
two in the northwest counties of Carroll and Paulding.
One person in Carroll County was critically injured. |
MIAMI - Hurricane Katrina may sting
U.S. economic growth by choking energy supplies even
as the damages caused by the storm spur massive rebuilding
and emergency government spending.
Economists, while emphasizing
that few concrete damage assessments have yet been made,
said the major hurricane that
struck the country's key Louisiana energy gateway would
help sustain high oil, gasoline and natural gas prices.
A seasonal downturn in demand expected after next weekend
and a higher-than-usual build-up in inventories ahead
of the North American winter had led to forecasts energy
prices might ease in coming months.
Some economists said U.S. gross domestic growth had
been already showing signs of easing and may now slow
more rapidly if fallout from Katrina boosts oil to $100
a barrel for a month, or U.S. gasoline prices to $3.50
a gallon, for a few months.
"The impact on the consumer spending in such a
scenario would be very dramatic, cutting the growth
rate by as much as 3 percent and push real GDP growth
in the fourth quarter closer to zero," Global Insight
said in a preliminary analysis.
The Lexington, Massachusetts, economics consultancy
said that, if oil stayed at the current $65 to $70 level
for a couple of more months because of energy flow disruptions,
GDP growth would be cut 0.3 percent to 0.5 percent in
the fourth quarter.
On Monday, at least two oil
rigs were adrift in the Gulf of Mexico, where Katrina
raged through offshore fields. Fearing the worst,
oil companies had shut rigs and closed refineries along
the coast. U.S. oil futures jumped nearly $5 a barrel
in opening trade to touch a peak of $70.80 before settling
back.
"It looks like the potential disruption has helped
to further boost gasoline prices and that could be some
additional headwind for the economy," said senior
economist Patrick Fearon at A.G. Edwards & Sons
Inc. in St. Louis.
Fearon said A.G. Edwards may later this week trim its
forecast of a 4 percent annualized GDP rise in the third
quarter.
The Economic Outlook Group in Princeton Junction, New
Jersey, said Katrina's effect on energy prices would
add to risks facing the U.S. economy and could prompt
the Federal Reserve to skip a widely expected interest
rate hike when it meets Sept 20.
"This is not to say they will not resume raising
rates in November and December. It's just that Fed officials
may want to evaluate the extent of Katrina's impact
on business activity, consumer demand and on inflation
pressures," Economic Outlook said.
Katrina, which last week hit south Florida, was expected
to cause a total of $10 billion to $26 billion in insured
damages, according to hurricane modeling firms. It
could be the most expensive storm to ever hit the United
States.
"There will be a lot of rebuilding that is going
to need to occur. These things do spur GDP growth,"
said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics in
Pepper Pike, Ohio.
Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial in
Chicago, said wages lost by workers and revenues missed
at shops and other businesses would be generally short-lived
and replaced by stepped-up demand for construction and
other workers and higher sales at home-supplies outlets.
The storm may also have damaged the
Port of Southern Louisiana, the world's fifth largest
port by tonnage and the biggest in the United States,
and may affect exports and imports of agricultural and
other products, according to Swonk.
"Depending on the extent
of damage, that will put pressure on other ports.
A drought in the Midwest has slowed some barges and
there could be some transitory impact on our GDP,"
Swonk said.
Freight railroads might pick up some of that transport
business if the port is hobbled, she said.
Travel, leisure and gambling businesses in Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama may lose some tourist visits
to other U.S. destinations, such as Las Vegas and Florida,
during the cleanup and rebuilding ahead, she said. |
Because hurricanes form over warm
ocean water, it is easy to assume that the recent rise
in their number and ferocity is because of global warming.
But that is not the case, scientists say. Instead,
the severity of hurricane seasons changes with cycles
of temperatures of several decades in the Atlantic Ocean.
The recent onslaught "is
very much natural," said William M. Gray, a professor
of atmospheric science at Colorado State University
who issues forecasts for the hurricane season.
From 1970 to 1994, the Atlantic was relatively quiet,
with no more than three major hurricanes in any year
and none at all in three of those years. Cooler water
in the North Atlantic strengthened wind shear, which
tends to tear storms apart before they turn into hurricanes.
In 1995, hurricane patterns reverted to the active
mode of the 1950's and 60's. From 1995 to 2003, 32 major
hurricanes, with sustained winds of 111 miles per hour
or greater, stormed across the Atlantic. It
was chance, Dr. Gray said, that only three of them struck
the United States at full strength.
Historically, the rate has been 1
in 3.
Then last year, three major hurricanes, half of the
six that formed during the season, hit the United States.
A fourth, Frances, weakened before striking Florida.
"We were very lucky in that eight-year
period, and the luck just ran out," Dr. Gray said.
Global warming may eventually intensify hurricanes
somewhat, though different climate models disagree.
In an article this month in the journal Nature, Kerry
A. Emanuel, a hurricane expert at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, wrote that global warming might
have already had some effect. The total power dissipated
by tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic and North
Pacific increased 70 to 80 percent in the last 30 years,
he wrote.
But even that seemingly large jump is not what has
been pushing the hurricanes of the last two years, Dr.
Emanuel said, adding, "What we see in the Atlantic
is mostly the natural swing." |
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Gov. Jeb Bush
warned Florida could see shortages of gasoline in coming
days as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
The hurricane roared through the nation's
major gas refineries and shut down production of thousands
of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Bush said Florida has worked with the U.S. Department
of Energy and the Petroleum Industry to bring significant
supplies of gasoline into the state's ports.
But David Mica of the Florida Petroleum Council said
it will take time before oil rigs and refineries are
operating again.
Bush blames oil companies for keeping lower inventories
than they have in the past and that makes shortages
more likely. But Mica says the oil industry has produced
record amounts of petroleum each of the last three years
and that global demand has also increased to record
levels. |
CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's
President Hugo Chavez said on Monday his government
plans to sell as much as 66,000 barrels per day of heating
fuel from its U.S. Citgo refinery to poor communities
in the United States.
The offer, made after populist Chavez held talks with
U.S. civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, would
represent 10 percent of the 660,000 bpd of refined products
processed by Citgo. The deals
would cut consumer costs by direct sales.
Venezuela's Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said officials
were still working on the details on how the oil would
be sold from Citgo, a unit of the state oil firm PDVSA.
"We are going to direct as much as 10 percent
of the production, that means 66,000 barrels, without
intermediaries, to poor communities, hospitals, religious
communities, schools," Chavez told reporters at
a press conference.
The world's No. 5 oil exporter, oil
cartel OPEC member Venezuela is a key supplier to the
United States, providing about 15 percent of all U.S.
energy imports.
But relations between Caracas and Washington have become
strained since left-winger Chavez was elected in 1998
promising social reforms.
Chavez, a former army officer
who survived a coup in 2002, frequently accuses the
U.S. of backing efforts to kill him or topple his government.
U.S. officials dismiss those charges but say Chavez
has become a threat to regional stability. |
CARACAS, Venezuela (CBS/AP) - President
Hugo Chavez said Sunday that his government may ask
the United States to extradite U.S. religious broadcaster
Pat Robertson to Venezuela for suggesting American agents
should kill him.
Earlier Sunday, Rev. Jesse Jackson offered support
for Chavez, saying the televangelist's call for the
Venezuelan leader's assassination was a criminal act.
The U.S. civil rights leader, who is on a four-day
visit to Venezuela, called Robertson's statements "immoral"
and "illegal." He urged
U.S. authorities to take action, and said the U.S. government
must choose "diplomacy over any threats of sabotage
or isolation or assassination."
Sunday, speaking to foreign delegations attending a
meeting of the Organization of American States in Caracas,
Chavez said Venezuela will "exercise legal action
in the United States" against Robertson.
"Calling for the assassination
of a head of state is a terrorist act," said Chavez,
an outspoken critic of President Bush who has forged
strong relations with communist-led Cuba.
"We could even request his extradition,"
he added.
Chavez told OAS delegates that Venezuela
would consider bringing the issue to United Nations
if the U.S. government failed to cooperate.
Robertson's comments last week have increased already
tense relations between Caracas and Washington. On his
TV show "The 700 Club," Robertson said Chavez
"is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling
a huge pool of oil that could hurt us very badly. We
have the ability to take him out, and I think the time
has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need
another 200-billion-dollar war to get rid of one strong-arm
dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the
covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."
Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America,
later issued an apology. "Is it right to call for
assassination?," said Robertson, in a statement
issued after an international furor over his remarks
earlier in the week. "No, and I apologize for that
statement. I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate
the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him."
Last Tuesday, the Bush administration swiftly distanced
itself from Robertson's comments. State Department spokesman
Sean McCormack called the remarks "inappropriate."
Venezuela has demanded a stronger condemnation of Robertson's
remarks.
"We could offer him free psychiatric
treatment ... but he could be a lost case" Chavez
said sarcastically of Robertson and controversial statements
the conservative commentator has made in the past.
Last year, Robertson said President
Bush told him before the Iraq invasion: "We're
not going to have any casualties," but that "the
Lord told me it was going to be (a) a disaster and (b)
messy." The White House issued denials. |
"ICH"
-- "For God so loved the world..." he returned
his only begotten son to the land where he shed his
grace on thee.
Vindication for the faithful, rejoicing for the true
believers, it was the second coming of Christ - and
he was coming to America. Not to bring Armageddon, but
to save mankind from Armageddon.
Jesus will make his first appearance at the intersection
of the streets appropriately named "Liberty"
and "Church" in New York City, located at
what has come to be known as "Ground Zero."
Lower Manhattan was virtually shut down as millions
of the faithful and curious flooded the streets to get
a glimpse of the second coming of their lord and savior.
Even the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading
as the crowds swelled from the Battery to midtown Manhattan.
The joy and hope that Christ was bringing was palpable
- breathtaking, you might say - in the near carnival-like
atmosphere that was created in lower Manhattan.
Songs like "Amazing Grace" and "Jesus
Christ Superstar" played from loudspeakers where
the Twin Towers had once stood. American flags and crosses
were everywhere.
Martin Luther King's "dream" was now a reality,
as black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants
and Catholics, young and old, "red staters"
and "blue staters," even atheists and agnostics,
all joined hands in love and friendship at this celebration
of the second coming of the Prince of Peace.
The media frenzy was unprecedented.
It was "all Jesus all the time": round-the-clock
coverage as priests, rabbis, and even an ayatollah appeared
as expert commentators to explain what this all meant
and what we should think.
Mel Gibson, who produced the film "The Passion
of the Christ," was interviewed on so many television
stations the joke was he must have a double. A female
CNN reporter facetiously asked if the handsome Gibson's
identical twin was married.
The night before, the new Pope, Benedict XVI, gave
a rare interview with Mike Wallace from the CBS News
show, "60 Minutes." And for good reason: This
was to be "the greatest story ever told."
On vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, President
Bush read a brief statement, calling the second coming
of Christ a "miracle of faith," and formally
welcoming him to America. Bush ended his remarks by
declaring, "Let freedom reign and God bless America."
Christ had chosen to begin speaking at 8:46 a.m., the
precise time when, on September 11, 2001, the first
plane smashed into the North Tower of the World Trade
Center.
The clock in the corner of the TV screen read "Countdown
to Jesus" as the minutes and seconds ticked away.
It looked a little like we were about to launch the
Space Shuttle, one reporter noted.
At exactly 8:46 a.m., there was a sudden, immediate,
"deafening" silence, almost as if the world
had ended. Then Jesus Christ appeared alone before a
massive bank of microphones, placed just two blocks
north of Ground Zero on a little street appropriately
named "Trinity Place."
Looking much as he did two thousand years ago, the
longhaired, bearded Jesus Christ, shabbily dressed in
a robe and sandals, began to speak in a soft voice.
"Shalom, salaam and may peace be with you,"
he offered.
"I, Jesus of Nazareth, use this sacred ground
to symbolize where nearly four years ago, at this exact
moment, man's inhumanity to man was broadcast live for
the entire world to bear witness to.
"Those who committed these barbaric acts thought
of themselves as 'believers,' but only a believer in
Satan could commit such a heinous act," said Christ.
The applause rang out like booming thunder, echoing
off the skyscrapers along the narrow streets of lower
Manhattan, and down the section of Broadway known as
the Canyon of Heroes. Shouts of "hallelujah, hallelujah"
sent goose bumps up people's arms. The faithful were
not crying; they were sobbing. Some people fainted.
For the viewers at home, in the corner of TV screens
a small woman provided sign language for the hearing
impaired.
Christ continued. "But I come
before America today, for she is the greatest danger
to world peace since Genesis.
"To suggest that God, our father, would ever be
on the side of an America - or any country, for that
matter - which attacks poor, defenseless, impoverished
people out of revenge, fear, ignorance or greed, contradicts
everything I stand for today and, more importantly,
died for two thousand years ago."
On the streets and watching at home and at work, the
American people were in "shock and awe" at
this blunt criticism from their lord and savior.
A few cheered, but Christ's condemnation of America's
response to the evils of 9/11 and of their President,
Bush - the born-again man of faith, leader of the greatest
country on earth - drew immediate and harsh disapproval.
Christian conservatives went on the
attack, charging that Christ was wrong to criticize
Bush while he was fighting the evil forces of Satan
in his divinely inspired worldwide crusade on the war
on terror. Christ, as one remarked, seemed to speak
with a French accent, and sounded a lot like a bleeding-heart
liberal.
Fearing that Christ's message might undermine troop
morale in Iraq and Afghanistan conservative Republicans
launched an urgent campaign to - as they term it - "swift-boat"
Christ.
"Swift-boat" is a new verb in the American
lexicon, meaning "to smear in the name of truth,
justice and freedom."
A Conservative evangelical group from the Bible Belt
was quickly formed, named "The Twelve Veteran Disciples
for Truth."
Using only their first names, Peter, Paul, James, John,
Andy, Phil, Bart, Matthew, Simon, Thad, Tom, along with
their spokesman, Judas, appeared together on Fox News
to, as they stated, "to set the record straight."
They all claimed to have ancestors
who served with Jesus back in the Middle East, and stated
that his message of "love your enemies" was
outdated and dangerous in these troubled times, when
terrorists and evildoers lurk around every corner and
can strike at any moment.
"George W. Bush is a strong and sincere proponent
of Christianity, a strong advocate of using military
force to attack - even pre-emptively attack - our enemies.
Notice that I say 'attack,' not 'love'," said Judas.
Vice President Dick Cheney, appearing with former Georgia
Senator Zell Miller before a uniformed military audience
in Texas, suggested that Jesus' "love your enemy"
message was a thinly veiled liberal euphemism that meant
Christ wants to cut the defense budget and reduce the
federal funding for the body armor badly needed by our
brave young men and women in harm's way.
"Let he without sin cast the first spitball,"
Cheney mocked, to a standing ovation from the troops.
The American media, which loves simple soundbites to
always entertain and sometimes inform, played Cheney's
clever spitball line over and over ad nauseum.
One enterprising young Republican trademarked the term
"Let he without sin cast the first spitball,"
embroidered it on t-shirts and is selling them on eBay,
along with a scowling "have you hugged a terrorist
today" teddy bear in a little turban.
On his daily radio program, Rush Limbaugh - the lord
of the airwaves, the voice of the people, his excellency
in broadcasting, revered by millions of "ditto
heads" - asked whether the wounds Jesus suffered
during his crucifixion had possibly been exaggerated.
According to Limbaugh: "Thorns are not lethal,
and nails in your hands and feet can only cause flesh
wounds."
Nails, Limbaugh went on with a chuckle, "should
be an occupational hazard for Jesus Christ, the carpenter
from Nazareth. "What's next, Christ building houses
for the poor, along with the second most annoying liberal,
that other bleeding heart carpenter, Jimmy Carter?"
Limbaugh mocked .
Immediately after the show, on sale at www.rushlimbaugh.com
were steel-toed workboots adorned with the American
flag, a pair of "thorn-resistant" "holy"
garden gloves (minus the holes), and a box of Band Aids
with tiny red crosses should the gloves fail.
On his program, radical preacher and
firebrand television evangelist Pat Robertson referred
to Christ's "meek shall inherit the earth"
remark as "communist infiltration and extremism."
He suggests, like Limbaugh, that the liberal Christ
is soft on the freedom-hating Islamic evildoers who
detest our values.
Robertson went so far as to say that
Christ was dangerous, and posed the question "perhaps
someone needs to take him out before he brings on Armageddon?"
President Bush, speaking to new Marine recruits at
Paris Island, praised the Lord Jesus and thanked him
for his sacrifices. The President, who speaks to God
regularly, insisted, however, that God also put him
on this earth during these dangerous times to do his
will.
"Christ is my brother," Bush emphasized,
"and brothers often have differences of opinion,
that's all. Christ believes in turning the other cheek;
I prefer an eye for and eye. Or, as we say in Texas
- dead or alive," he said to applause from his
troops.
"Semper fi," shouted Bush.
Bush declared, "Jesus has never been elected to
any public office. I come to work every day as your
Commander–in-Chief with war on my mind. Christ
speaks of peace this and love that... all kinds of dangerous
messages in the post 9/11 world, when we have been attacked
by the evildoers who can't stand our freedoms,"
Bush said, to a standing ovation.
Bush ended his speech by reciting his own version of
"The Lord's Prayer":
Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And never forgive the terrorists,
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into appeasement,
and deliver the U.S. from evil.
Amen.
The Democrats, eager to dispel rumors that they will
forever be irrelevant, have got into the act.
Fearing that the compassionate Christ might be pro-life,
they have set out to - as they term it - "Bork"
Jesus.
Like "swift-boat," "Bork," taken
from the name of the rejected Supreme Court nominee
Robert Bork, has also become a verb meaning "to
publicly destroy the character of those opposed to the
Democrats' single issue of abortion."
Teams of lawyers paid for by the Democrats, many of
whom, opponents allege, have never read a Bible, sworn
on a Bible or seen a Bible except in a cheap motel room,
are now scouring the Bible to determine whether Jesus,
two thousand years ago, may have had an inappropriate
relationship with Mary Magdalene and engaged in a sexual
relationship with a subordinate.
Former President Bill Clinton advising
the Democrats, as an expert in this area, stated emphatically,
"Jesus did not have sexual relations with that
women!"
With Clinton's declaration, Democrats ended the investigation
and went back to their fund raising.
The editorial page of the Wall Street Journal stepped
in and was sharply critical of Christ's message that
"the love of money is the root of all evil and
that it would be easier for a camel to fit through the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of heaven."
Greed, according to the Wall Street Journal is good;
greed works; greed is what made America great.
They added that "to render unto Caesar what is
Caesar's" suggests that Christ is in favor of raising
taxes to fund liberal social programs and increase handouts
to welfare mothers.
Jewish groups, fearing that Christ
- who was, after all, born in Bethlehem, Palestine -
would be sympathetic to Palestinian suffering and thus
would oppose increased military aid for Israel, labeled
him anti-Semitic.
When reminded Christ was born Jewish
they amended the label to "self-hating Jew."
Catholics, fearing that this time around not only would
Christ clear the temples, but the churches too, were
quietly distancing themselves from their lord and savior.
With sky-rocketing insurance premiums caused by the
lawsuits stemming from the church's sex scandal, Saturday
Night Bingo is needed now more than ever and must not
be interrupted.
President Bush's advisor and
brain, Karl Rove, has denied reports suggesting he was
the source of the leak that begs the question "when
did Christ stop beating his gay wife." A
defensive Rove vehemently denied he was the source and
offered proof by reminding everyone that the Bush administration
is clear in its opposition to gay marriage.
Sensing blood in the water, the Republican spin machine
revved up to full throttle.
Ann Coulter, the "angelic"-looking "Republican
Party Doll," appeared on The O'Reilly Factor in
a pure white dress with a Victorian collar, her Rapunzel-
like blond hair gleaming; under the set lighting. O'Reilly,
complimented Coulter saying she reminded him tonight
of "Glinda, the good witch of the north in the
Wizard of Oz." However, some critics suggested
she sounded more like the "wicked witch of the
west" when she said: "...with his sandals,
long hair and beard, Christ bore an eerie resemblance
to Osama bin Laden." O'Reilly said nothing but
nodded his approval.
But the coup de grace for Jesus was
when Judas, the spokesman for "The Twelve Veteran
Disciples for Truth," approached the Justice Department
with evidence that the Middle Eastern–born, bearded
Christ, who speaks Arabic and is in the US illegally,
is a card-carrying member of Al Qaeda.
Judas charged that Christ was not the son of God, but
rather the son of Allah.
With silver selling at about $6.80 an ounce (down 9.5
cents), thirty pieces of silver - about $200 - just
doesn't buy what it did two thousand years ago. So Judas
opted for "fifteen minutes of fame" instead.
He is scheduled to appear on "Oprah" tomorrow,
"Larry King Live" at night and "Good
Morning America" the next day.
President Bush has invited him to his State of the
Union address in January, where he will sit beside Laura
Bush.
All suggestions regarding book deals and movie rights
are referred to Judas's agent at International Creative
Management.
With Christ-approval numbers now in
the single digits, and with compelling evidence from
the "disciples for truth" that Christ is a
member of Al Qaeda, he was arrested under the provisions
of the US Patriot Act and whisked off to an undisclosed
location.
The indigent, penniless Christ was represented in court
by a public defender who appealed Christ's incarceration
all the way up to the US Supreme court.
Justice Antonin Scalia, who is of Italian ancestry
tracing back to ancient Rome, when speaking for the
court refused to hear the appeal. In a tersely worded
opinion for a unanimous court, he stated: "We wash
our hands of this matter."
The High Court, however, then overturned the twenty-five-year
sentence of convicted WorldCom (MCI) thief Bernard "Bernie"
Ebbers, declaring that his rights under the 8th Amendment,
prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment, were violated.
Ebbers was immediately released back into society and
received a hero's welcome in his hometown. Signs of
"Give us Bernard" appeared everywhere.
Outside the court at Christ's hearing, one lone supporter
of Christ held up a sign that read "crucify the
sinless, and set the guilty free." He was immediately
arrested.
Accompanied by his legal aid lawyer, Christ was returned
to the courtroom from his undisclosed location, along
with two other prisoners.
Dressed in an orange jumpsuit and shackled at the wrists
and ankles, he looked gaunt and sad at his circumstances.
His public defender angrily referred to this proceeding
as a "high-tech crucifixion." The public defender
was immediately cited for contempt of court.
"You judge, you will be judged," Christ's
lawyer reminded him.
Christ never spoke during the brief
hearing, except when the judge asked him if he had any
final words before sentencing. "Yes, your honor.
Father, forgive them, again, for they know not what
they do."
Amen.
Jerry Ghinelli writes essays exclusively for Information
Clearing House and contributes his time and efforts
as a private citizen, with the hope of encouraging readers
to think more broadly about the important issues that
threaten the peace and security of the world community.
He welcomes all intelligent feedback, whether positive
or negative, which should be sent to email@jerryghinelli.com,
or visit http://www.jerryghinelli.com.
Copyright: Jerry Ghinelli. All rights reserved.
You may republish under the following conditions: An
active link to the original publication must be provided.
You must not alter, edit or remove any text within the
article, including this copyright notice. |
Robertson's assassination call
not only created a PR headache for Bush, but a policy
one: it's now all the more difficult for the administration
to take Chávez out.
Pat Robertson has apologized, sort of, for his outrageous
comments encouraging the United States to assassinate
Hugo Chávez, the democratically elected president
of Venezuela. But those comments still pose a two-fold
problem for Bush.
First, he's got to distance himself
from this nut, even though Robertson and his bowl of
nuts are about the only allies Bush has got left. His
latest approval rating is down to 36 percent, the lowest
of his presidency, according to the American Research
Group.
And second, Robertson's remarks
handcuff Bush, making the overthrow of Chávez
more difficult to execute. Even before the reverend
said, "Thou Shall Kill," Chávez was
warning that Bush wanted to off him. So Robertson lent
credence to Chávez's claim and burnished Chávez's
reputation in Venezuela and beyond as a Latin American
David confronting the Goliath up north.
I've believed for a long time that getting rid of Chávez
is a priority for Bush and Cheney. After
all, they supported the coup attempt against him back
in 2002.
Here are some of the underlying issues: Venezuela is
a big supplier of oil to the United States, and Chávez
has threatened to cut off supplies. He's also seeking
back taxes from foreign oil companies, threatening to
boot them out if they don't pay up. He is an outspoken
critic of Bush and an admirer of Castro. And he has
expressed sympathy with guerrillas in Colombia and with
the nonviolent movement in Bolivia against globalization.
This year, Bush officials have steadily raised the
volume of rhetoric against him.
Condoleezza Rice, in her confirmation hearings as Secretary
of State, called him "a negative force." Echoing
Henry Kissinger's infamous line about Allende in Chile
("I don't see why we need to stand by and watch
a country go communist because of the irresponsibility
of its own people)," Rice said that "leaders
who do not govern democratically, even if they are democratically
elected," need to be held accountable.
CIA Director Porter testified in March that Chávez
was "very clearly causing mischief for us."
Rumsfeld denounced him for planning to buy 100,000
assault rifles from Russia.
One of Rumsfeld's aides recently called Chávez
"a menace."
And Roger Pardo-Maurer, deputy assistant secretary
of defense for Western Hemisphere affairs, accused him
of "downright subversion" in Latin America.
In June, the Bush Administration proposed
to the Organization of American States a new policy
that would have enabled that group to intervene militarily
to "promote democracy" in Latin America. But
many governments in the OAS balked at this, seeing it
as a transparent threat against sovereignty in general
and Venezuela, in particular.
Just last week, Rumsfeld, who
doesn't have enough to do fighting insurgencies in Iraq
and Afghanistan, took time out to go to Latin America
to try to isolate Chávez. The New York
Times headlined its story on this, "Rumsfeld's
Tour of South America Is Directed at Stability,"
when it may have been more focused on the destabilization
of Venezuela.
Given this context, Robertson seems to have just gotten
a little ahead of the curve, daring to say in public
what Cheney and Rumsfeld and Rice are probably muttering
under their breath.
When your crazed friends start getting
in the way of your crazed policy, it's a real shame.
Matthew Rothschild is the editor of The Progressive. |
A
snow job on 9/11? |
By JOHN BERKOWITZ
Brattleboro Reformer
Saturday, August 27, 2005 - 2:15:43 AM EST |
As we near the fourth anniversary
of the September 11 attacks, it's time for Vermonters
and all Americans to take a closer look at what happened
on that fateful day because so much has changed in our
country and our world. War and occupation in Iraq and
Afghanistan has killed and maimed tens of thousands
of Americans and 10 times as many Iraqis and Afghanis.
At home, we've lost important civil liberties, along
with hundreds of billions of our tax dollars -- due
to war costs and tax cuts mostly for the rich -- that
are needed to meet urgent needs like health care, housing,
veterans' programs, education, and environmental protection.
For two years after 9/11, I
accepted the official story by the Bush administration
and by the 9/11 Commission's report of a year ago. Nineteen
Arab hijackers pulled off one of the biggest sneak attacks
in history, while intelligence blunders beforehand,
as well as confusion and bad communication that day
by air defense officials, allowed it to succeed.
But now there are many, including
myself, who question whether we've been told the full
truth about what really happened. A Zogby poll
a year ago found that half of New York City residents
believed that the Bush administration knew about the
attacks ahead of time and didn't stop them. This was
not a partisan poll either -- half the respondents were
Republicans.
Then last fall, a group of 9/11 victim family members,
joined by prominent Americans, filed a complaint and
petition with New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer.
It called on him to open a new and independent investigation
of the crime to answer many of the lingering questions
about the events of that day.
Another critic of the official story is David Ray Griffin,
a retired professor of theology and an internationally
respected Christian theologian and author. Like me,
he was not inclined to believe in conspiracy theories.
But after doing extensive research, he wrote two books
on 9/11 in the past year and a half: "The New Pearl
Harbor: Unanswered Questions about the Bush Administration
and 9/11" and "The 9/11 Commission Report:
Omissions and Distortions".
Recently, he spoke at the National Press Club, and
a speech he made at the University of Wisconsin was
later broadcast nationally over C-Span.
He said the evidence has led him to conclude that the
Bush administration was complicit in the attacks.
Why? To rally public support for its agenda of keeping
the U.S. as the strongest world power in the 21st century,
specifically by military and economic control of oil
and gas reserves in the Mideast.
One of his key points is that the World Trade Center
towers could not have collapsed due to fire. Fire has
never, prior to or after 9/11, caused steel-frame buildings
to collapse, even when the fires have been much more
severe. In addition, the collapse of the towers exemplified
all the standard features of collapses deliberately
induced by explosives. For example, the collapses were
straight down and at virtually free-fall speed.
There's also the question about the nearby 47-story
building that collapsed about 5:30 p.m. It had not been
hit by a plane, it had very small fires, and yet it
also collapsed in the same manner. The Federal Emergency
Management Agency's report said they couldn't explain
this, and the 9/11 Commission failed to even mention
it.
Griffin says the evidence indicates that this building,
as well as the Twin Towers, was brought down by controlled
demolition. Recently, Morgan Reynolds, the top economist
in the Labor Department during Bush's first term, said
the same thing in a Washington Times article, as did
Kevin Ryan, a former executive at Underwriter Laboratories,
the product safety compliance company that certified
the fire-resistant steel used in the construction of
the Twin Towers.
Griffin also concludes there's no
way that our air defense system -- the best in the world
-- could have been so incompetent that it failed to
raise the alarm earlier about not just one but four
separate plane hijackings.
In 67 consecutive suspicious
incidents in the eight months prior to 9/11, interceptor
planes were scrambled every time within 10 minutes.
Some of his other unanswered questions include: Why
was Bush allowed to stay in the Florida elementary school
for 30 minutes after the attacks, placing himself and
hundreds of schoolchildren at risk, unless the Secret
Service knew that he wasn't a target? Why was the initial
damage to the Pentagon far less than what would be expected
from a Boeing 757?
And how could the alleged pilot, who could barely fly
a small airplane, fly a jet on a complicated path that
required a high degree of skill? It's
painful to say, or even think about, but Griffin and
I and many others are increasingly convinced that Bush
and his top aides have lied about 9/11 in the same way
that they have lied about weapons of mass destruction
and Iraq's role in the terrorist attacks and about Social
Security going bankrupt.
Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and others
were all charter members in the late 1990s of a think-tank
called the Project for the New American Century. One
year before 9/11, they wrote that their plans could
be more quickly realized if a "new Pearl Harbor"
were to occur.
It's time for a new and fully independent investigation.
If 9/11 was an inside job -- even partially -- then
high crimes and treason have been committed by our own
leaders, and they must be held accountable before many
more thousands of soldiers and civilians die abroad,
and our own country bleeds a slow death of unmet social
and environmental needs.
I urge Vermonters to look closely at Griffin's work,
and come hear him speak Oct. 11 and 12 in Brattleboro,
Manchester, Montpelier or Burlington. For more info,
contact SVFEEP at (802) 387-5127, svfeep@sover.net or
www.svfeep.net .
John Berkowitz is director of Southern Vermonters
for a Fair Economy and Environmental Protection. |
If there is one thing I have come
to know through all of my years working in politics.
it is that liberals will always accuse their opposition
of precisely the actions they are undertaking.
I suppose this could be viewed as some sort of convoluted
effort to inoculate the issue they are attempting to
manipulate, but the fact remains that if liberals are
accusing a group of doing something, chances are they
are doing it themselves; the louder they protest, the
more they are involved.
Recently, my sister -- a good hearted, open-minded
city-dweller -- forwarded an email to me she had received
from an acquaintance. This email cited a left-wing website
that called the "femanistas" to arms over
the "fact" that the new Iraqi government had
ceded all elements of women's rights to the rule of
Islam and that the Bush administration had endorsed
the move.
Of course, this propaganda is about as accurate and
truthful as Scott Peterson's story about going fishing.
The truth of the matter is that the new Iraqi government
is still struggling to achieve a draft of the new constitution,
so there haven't been any laws passed or any rights
rescinded.
In fact, one of the stumbling blocks keeping the new
Iraqi government from achieving the goal of a new draft
constitution is the role of Islam in the new government,
an issue directly related to women's rights in that
country.
The issue of whether Islamic law should be a component
of government is a contentious topic among the Shiite,
Sunni and Kurds, not to mention that there are quite
a few elected women sitting in the new Iraqi congress,
the very body creating the draft constitution.
I noted these facts when I replied
to my sister and added that if her "friend"
really wanted to help the women of Iraq preserve and
perhaps increase their rights under the new Iraqi system
of law, she would have a better chance of doing so if
she pried herself out of the couch at Starbucks, stopped
laying blame at the feet of our government for what
other sovereign governments are doing and started her
journey to Baghdad to protest outside of the Iraqi congress
where her mouthing off would be more apropos.
The reply I received to my comments was typical of
the liberal mindset. It completely ignored the truths
that were presented in rebuttal and ignored the fact
that not one statement posited in the initial email
was based in truth. Instead, it
addressed my "hateful tone."
The irony that a self-righteous demagogue armed with
half-truths and innuendo, who
was herself spreading what can only be described as
hate-filled speech about our country and our president,
was pointed.
It added credence to my theory about liberals accusing
their opponents of doing exactly as they are. The reality
of the situation is that this disingenuous and inaccurate
message is out there, adding to the misinformation that
is fueling the partisan atmosphere in which we currently
exist.
Until recently, I was fairly comfortable believing
that the disinformation campaign of the liberal left,
at its highest levels, was well organized and conceived
by a keen and intelligent, albeit deceitful foe.
Whether the target was the War on Terror, judicial
nominations, the economy or whether a fetus feels pain,
I felt confident that the assassination of the truth
for political gain being perpetrated by the Carvilles,
Begalas, Clintons, Exleys and Ickes and of the world
was a conflict that could be quelled by tactics of a
cerebral nature, a high-stakes game of political chess,
as it were.
Silly me; it looks like we're playing
checkers.
The radically leftist, femi-Nazi group Code Pink Women
for Peace -- the same group that supports the
inane shrieking of Cindy Sheehan -- has taken
to sponsoring anti-war protests directly outside the
front doors of the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington,
D.C.
Walter Reed is a primary destination for those who
have been wounded in battle and home to many soldiers
who have suffered life-altering injuries. It is a place
for healing and transition. At least, it was before
Code Pink decided to exploit wounded soldiers for political
gain.
The anti-war activists of Code Pink assemble every
week with their props and propaganda to literally harass
those who have given of themselves to provide the very
freedoms that those of Code Pink use to hate.
They assemble with signs that read "Maimed for
Lies" and "Enlist Here and Die for Halliburton."
They line up fake caskets draped with American flags
just outside the doors to the medical center tormenting
soldiers who have lost brothers in arms. They chant
slogans like "George Bush kills American soldiers,"
while recuperating soldiers and their families enter
and leave the facility.
One protester, too much of a
coward to give his real name, said to a Cybercast
News Service reporter: "We know most of the George
Bush supporters have never spent a day in uniform, have
never been closer to a battlefield than seeing it through
the television screen."
Evidently, this stunted intellect,
who probably has never worn a uniform except perhaps
that of the International Union of Socialist Youth,
hasn't the cognitive skills to recognize the
very real and overwhelming support for the president
that exists in the Armed Forces, both active and retired.
That a group of people can be
so narcissistic and narrow in their thinking
as to invade a medical facility to abuse and mentally
torture soldiers recuperating from the damages of war
is despicable. But even more
pathetic is the blind hatred that burns deep within
their souls.
The ruse that the liberal left is displaying anger
based in superior morality and intellect has been "outed"
as the hate-filled ignorance
it is. The tolerance of the left is dead.
So, if I had the chance to add one last thought to
the comments I offered my sister's "friend,"
it would be this: The glory of
freedom is not based in hate, it is based in opportunity.
If you want to change the world, here's your opportunity.
Don't waste it promulgating lies.
(Frank Salvato is managing editor of TheRant.us.) |
TEL AVIV - Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon's bitter rival, Benjamin Netanyahu, launched
a bid on Tuesday to topple him as Likud party leader
in a power struggle sparked by the evacuation of Gaza
settlers.
Likud polls show ex-finance
minister Netanyahu would rout Sharon in a primary if
it were held soon, stirring speculation Sharon
may break away from rightists and forge a new centrist
party to run in an election due before November 2006.
Likud's hardline Central Committee is expected to stage
a primary as early as November, a move that could reshuffle
Israel's political deck and lead to an early general
election. Sharon, 77, is aiming for a third term.
Netanyahu, 55, prime minister in 1996-99, resigned
in protest this month over Sharon's evacuation of all
21 Jewish settlements from Gaza and four of 120 in the
West Bank under a U.S.-backed plan to "disengage"
from conflict with Palestinians.
Netanyahu is the hero of hardline nationalists
in a split Likud, saying the pullout will imperil Israel
by turning Gaza into an "independent terrorist
base" rather than a model for Palestinian statehood
as U.S.-led peace mediators hope.
"Ariel Sharon has gone
a different way, the way of the left. Likud needs
leadership that will repair the damage ... to our state.
I believe I can do this and will stand for the Likud
leadership and premiership," Netanyahu told a news
conference.
The looming Likud showdown will be a culture clash
as well.
It pits Sharon, a stout former general known for hardnosed
leadership and distaste for messy debate, against Netanyahu,
a U.S.-educated master of the soundbite who revived
Israel's economy, although he is seen by some as prone
to posturing.
While many in Likud see Netanyahu as truer to party
principles than Sharon, cross-party polls have consistently
shown Sharon to be the most popular and respected Israeli
leader and more likely to win the next election at the
party's helm.
SHARON HAS POPULAR MAJORITY
Most Israelis favor Sharon's security strategy, which
entails ceding more West Bank settlements as part of
any final peace deal with Palestinians but keeping the
biggest settler blocs in the territory he sees as strategically
vital.
Sharon stole a march on Netanyahu's announcement by
lambasting his rightist rival on Monday as someone who
quickly "panics and loses his cool" under
pressure and calling him unfit to lead Israel in any
peace process with Palestinians.
Netanyahu hit back on Tuesday: "You can judge
by yourselves which one of us is under pressure, reacting
to pressure."
"What the public wants to know
is when will it get a prime minister who stops putting
wind in the sails of terrorists and begins to demand
things in return for concessions."
Sharon says his plan extracted isolated settlers from
land Israel would not keep under any peace deal and
won U.S. acquiescence in a permanent Israeli hold on
major West Bank settlements within the Israeli consensus.
The primary vote would mark the first
time an Israeli party has tried to topple a serving
prime minister as its chairman.
Maariv newspaper columnist Ben
Caspit said "bad blood was boiling" between
Sharon and Netanyahu and predicted "one of the
fiercest and dirtiest political battles Israel has ever
known." [...] |
Astronomers are debating what to
do about Earth's close encounter with an asteroid in
2029 and again in 2036 - passages that might be too
close for comfort.
Apophis, a 1,059-foot-wide asteroid, has excited astronomers
since it was spotted last year. After observing it for
a while, scientists concluded that it has only a 1-in-8,000
chance of ever smacking into Earth. But even that slim
chance has them talking and
NASA pondering how to keep track of it - just in case.
"The most likely turn of events is that it will
miss us," says Steve Chesley of NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., which has monitored
the asteroid since December as part of its normal watch
over "near-Earth" asteroids. "We are
prepared for the worst but certainly don't want to act
too hastily." [...] |
A series of rare engravings, believed
to date from the Mesolithic period, 10,000 years ago,
have been discovered in a cave in Somerset.
The three abstract squares, thought to have been made
with stone tools, were found in Long Hole cave in Cheddar
by the University of Bristol Speleological Society.
The find follows the discovery of ancient inscribed
crosses at nearby Aveline's Hole cave in February this
year.
Experts have not been able to determine the meaning
of the engravings yet, but say they are extremely important
and one of only three examples of this kind of art to
be discovered in Britain.
The society's team leader, Graham Mullan, said: "These
engravings are not awfully exciting if you're into high
art - they are three bunches of straight lines.
"But they are very important because we think
they were created just after the end of the Ice Age.
"This period was very interesting as the environment
was heating up and changing and this was affecting the
types of animals living in the area.
Aveline's Hole, close to the cave,
is believed to be the earliest scientifically dated
cemetery. Some 20 skeletons, dating back between 10,200
and 10,400 years, were taken from the cave by the society
in 1914. They were stored at Bristol
University, but destroyed during a second world war
raid.
Bob Smart, of Cheddar Caves, said: "We are delighted
by this new discovery which is an excellent example
of the importance Cheddar caves held for our ancestors."
The speleological society's research into the engravings
is being carried out with the British Museum's department
of prehistory and Europe.
Jill Cook, the deputy keeper in the department, said:
"The new engravings are clearly ancient and comparable
to early post glacial pattern panels found elsewhere
in Europe.
"Their discovery will help breathe new life into
this period." |
A secondary school is to allow
pupils to swear at teachers - as long as they don't
do so more than five times in a lesson. A
running tally of how many times the f-word has been
used will be kept on the board. If a class goes over
the limit, they will be 'spoken' to at the end of the
lesson.
The astonishing policy, which the school says will
improve the behaviour of pupils, was condemned by parents'
groups and MPs yesterday. They warned it would backfire.
Parents were advised of the plan, which comes into
effect when term starts next week, in a letter from
the Weavers School in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.
Assistant headmaster Richard White said the policy
was aimed at 15 and 16-year-olds in two classes which
are considered troublesome.
'Tolerate but not condone'
"Within each lesson the teacher will initially
tolerate (although not condone) the use of the f-word
(or derivatives) five times and these will be tallied
on the board so all students can see the running score,"
he wrote in the letter
"Over this number the class will be spoken to
by the teacher at the end of the lesson."
Parents called the rule 'wholly irresponsible
and ludicrous'.
"This appears to be a misguided attempt to speak
to kids on their own level," said the father of
one pupil.
Should have do's and don'ts
Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education,
said: "In these sort of situations teachers should
be setting clear principles of 'do and don't'.
"They should not be compromising
in an apparent attempt to please the pupils. This will
send out completely the wrong message."
"Youngsters will play up to this and ensure they
use their five goes, demeaning the authority of the
teacher."
Tory MP Ann Widdecombe said the policy was based on
'Alice in Wonderland reasoning'.
"What next?" she asked. "Do
we allow people to speed five times or burgle five times?
You don't improve something by allowing it, you improve
something by discouraging it."
'Praise postcards'
The 1,130-pupil school, which was criticised as 'not
effective' by Ofsted inspectors last November, also
plans to send 'praise postcards' to the parents of children
who do not swear and who turn up on time for lessons.
Headmaster Alan Large said he had received no complaints
about the policy. "The reality is that the fword
is part of these young adults' everyday language,"
he said.
"As a temporary policy we are giving them a bit
of leeway, but want them to think about the way they
talk and how they might do better." |
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