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Monday, August 30
Behind The Scenes in New York
by
Linda Thieman
on Mon 30 Aug 2004 04:28 PM CDT
Behind The Scenes in New York
A Message from ACT
The
Republican National Convention kicked off in New York City just a few
hours ago. As President Clinton said yesterday, "It's time for
the Republicans to put on their compassionate face."
If you
can handle the hypocrisy of it all, you'll see a parade of moderate
Republican all-stars - McCain and Giuliani tonight, Schwarzenegger
tomorrow. Their rhetoric will be of patriotism and compassion, praising
George Bush's "resolve" and "leadership" and reminding us all that we
are a nation at war.
But something far more important is going on behind the scenes this week. Republican strategists are planning a systematic campaign of voter intimidation and repression. It's something they freely admit is key to GOP victories in November.
This ghastly plan needs to be fought by each of us - and everyone we can tell.
Ask 5 friends to join the fight for truth today. Ask them to sign this petition.
This isn't spin or hearsay,
this is documented fact. Over the past few years, Republican-led
campaigns of voter repression and intimidation have affected countless
federal, state and local races. Here are just a few of the most
blatant recent examples:
Philadelphia, PA, 2003:
Voters in African-American neighborhoods were systematically challenged
by men carrying clipboards, driving a fleet of some 300 sedans with
magnetic signs designed to look like law enforcement insignia.
[NAACP/PFAW 2004].
Michigan, 2004:
One of Bush's Michigan advisors, State Rep. John Pappageorge (R-Troy)
was quoted as saying "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're
going to have a tough time in this election." [Detroit Free
Press, 7/16/04]
Louisiana, 2003:
Flyers were posted in public housing projects which read "Vote!!! Bad
Weather? No problem!!! If the weather is uncomfortable on Election Day
(Saturday December 7th) Remember you can wait and cast your ballot on
Tuesday December 10th." [Times-Picayune (New Orleans), 12/12/02]
Through your active support, you are leading the fight against these dirty tricks. We need you to stand up today and take ACTion. Help uncover this important story now before it's too late.
Start fighting back now. Reveal these shocking stories to everyone you know. Sign the pledge
and forward it on to at least 5 of your friends. Get this
story out! Republicans have used these tactics for far too
long. They are despicable and must be stopped. We fight
back not by picketing or protesting but by educating voters and getting
them out to the polls. This is what ACT is all about.
http://actforvictory.org/act.php/home/petitions/intimidation
We have just 63 days to go. Let's get to work!
Ellen Malcolm
President
America Coming Together
More Shocking Stories
NAACP and People for the American Way
A powerful report from the NAACP and People for the American Way was
released on Friday that highlighted these and other shocking
stories. Read it now for more information:
http://www.naacp.org/news/releases/jimcrow.pdf
Sunday's Protests in Manhattan
AlterNet.org
...A
police spokeswoman told AlterNet at 8:30 pm on Sunday night that 200
arrests were made, a relatively small amount considering the sheer
number of protestors – at press time, organizers estimated 450,000
according to news reports while the police have not yet released a
figure – and there were no immediate reports of violence.
...Virtually
all those in attendance were donned in brightly-hued t-shirts, holding
an equally colorful sign, or wearing a politically charged button, many
of them laden with the sort of sardonic slogans that have become
symbolic of the left's criticism of the Bush administration.
One man
wore a shirt that read "I'll Mess With Texas." A woman held a sign
which said 'Yee-ha Is Not Foreign Policy.' One elderly man raised a
placard asking "Whose Taxes Would Jesus Cut?" A young woman grinned as
she hoisted a cardboard poster which demanded "Pull Out Like Your
Father Should Have!" [Oops! Excuse me for that one. My bad. That's a little racy for this tame blog!]
(more)
Come back to Blog for Iowa in a couple of hours to read two first-hand accounts of yesterday's protest in NYC.
Sunday, August 29
THE CASE AGAINST GEORGE W. BUSH by Ron Reagan
by
Linda Thieman
on Sun 29 Aug 2004 05:11 PM CDT
THE CASE AGAINST GEORGE W. BUSH by Ron Reagan
Esquire
How The Media Let Bush Get Away With Lie After Lie
...There
is a surreal quality to all this: Occupation is liberation; Iraq is
sovereign, but we're in control; Saddam is in Iraqi custody, but we've
got him; we'll get out as soon as an elected Iraqi government asks us,
but we'll be there for years to come. Which is what we counted on in
the first place, only with rose petals and easy coochie.
...All
Administrations will dissemble, distort, or outright lie when their
backs are against the wall, when honesty begins to look like political
suicide. But this administration seems to lie reflexively, as if it
were simply the easiest option for busy folks with a lot on their
minds. While the big lies are more damning and of immeasurably greater
import to the nation, it is the small, unnecessary prevarications that
may be diagnostic. Who lies when they don't have to? When the simple
truth, though perhaps embarrassing in the short run, is nevertheless in
one's long-term self-interest? Why would a pResident whose calling card
is his alleged rock-solid integrity waste his chief asset for
penny-ante stakes? Habit, perhaps. Or an inability to admit even small
mistakes.
Mr.
Bush's tendency to meander beyond the bounds of truth was evident
during the 2000 campaign but was largely ignored by the mainstream
media. His untruths simply didn't fit the agreed-upon narrative. While
generally acknowledged to be lacking in experience, depth, and other
qualifications typically considered useful in a leader of the free
world, Bush was portrayed as a decent fellow nonetheless, one whose
straightforwardness was a given. None of that "what the meaning of is
is" business for him....Al Gore, on the other hand, was depicted as a
dubious self-reinventor, stained like a certain blue dress by Bill
Clinton's prurient transgressions. He would spend valuable weeks
explaining away statements—"I invented the Internet"—that he never made
in the first place. All this left the coast pretty clear for Bush.
Scenario
typical of the 2000 campaign: While debating Al Gore, Bush tells two
obvious — if not exactly earth-shattering — lies and is not challenged.
First, he claims to have supported a patient's bill of rights while
governor of Texas. This is untrue. He, in fact, vigorously resisted
such a measure, only reluctantly bowing to political reality and
allowing it to become law without his signature. Second, he announces
that Gore has outspent him during the campaign. The opposite is true:
Bush has outspent Gore. These misstatements are briefly acknowledged in
major press outlets, which then quickly return to the more germane
issues of Gore's pancake makeup and whether a certain feminist author
has counseled him to be more of an "alpha male."
Having
gotten away with such witless falsities, perhaps Mr. Bush and his team
felt somehow above day-to-day truth. In any case, once ensconced in the
White House, they picked up where they left off.”
To read the complete article, click here.
Esquire, September 2004, Volume 142, Issue 3
Thanks to Darrell Lewis for turning this in.
Zogby Says Junta Is On The Ropes
by
Linda Thieman
on Sun 29 Aug 2004 01:28 PM CDT
Zogby Says Junta Is On The Ropes
by Linda Thieman
Q: How many journalists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A:
None. They wait for a Republican mouthpiece to tell them it's in, and
then they repeat it ad infinitum as fact without ever verifying it.
One of
our favorite (non-Republican mouthpiece) journalists, Eleanor Clift,
has a couple of articles out in Newsweek in which she discusses a
recent Zogby poll. The analysis is quite interesting.
In “Fighting a Phony War: Is The Real Aim of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (sic) to Divert Attention from Iraq,” (August 20) Clift concludes with this remark:
Questioning
Kerry’s heroism fires up the GOP base, but it leaves “solid undecideds”
cold. They’re not paying attention. Zogby says among this very narrow 5
percent of the electorate, 16 percent say Bush deserves to be
re-[s]elected; 39 percent say it’s time for somebody new. “You can’t
help but look at those numbers and conclude they’ve made up their mind
about one side,” says Zogby. But Kerry hasn’t been able to close the
deal. Zogby has him stuck at 47 percent, which isn’t good. But Bush is
stuck at 43 percent, which is worse. “It’s still the phony war period,”
says Zogby. For an incumbent pResident in as much trouble as Bush,
fighting a war that’s been over for nearly 30 years takes voters’ minds
off Iraq.
So,
according to Clift, the “solid undecideds” are not paying attention,
although it looks like 39% of “undecideds” are leaning Kerry and 16%
are leaning towards the junta. Plus, she makes the assertion that
the GOP smear tactics “fire up the GOP base,” but mentions nothing
about how these tactics also seem to be firing up the Democratic
base. I mean, if my own reaction and that of Iowa’s own Rapid Response team is any indication, this thing is going to backfire big time on junta-meister Karl Rove and his boy-toy puppet.
The following week (August 27), in Clift’s piece called “Bush’s Sleeper Cells: All it takes is a wink and a nod from the White House, and this network springs into action,” she does discuss the possible “boomerang” effect:
My
Republican mole on Capitol Hill says the green light has gone out to
Republicans to do whatever it takes to get Bush elected. “This is the
way we hold onto power,” he says with disgust. Pollster John Zogby’s
survey of battleground states taken last week as the Swift Boat
controversy raged shows no fundamental change in the race. “It’s
running its course, and it may boomerang,” he says of the attack on
Kerry’s heroism.
But here’s the point that Clift made that really struck me:
The
fact that the sleeper network has gone nuclear is evidence of Bush’s
weakness, not his strength, says Zogby. “If [the Bush team] weren’t
seeing serious damage, they wouldn’t be hitting so hard so early. The
pResident is on the ropes; there’s no other way of looking at it.”
Kind of
reminds me of this dog we had when I was a kid. Ordinarily, she
just loved my dad, but one day, she tried to jump up onto the back of a
chair and fell and broke her leg. She was wounded and in
excruciating pain, so when my dad lifted her to take her to the vet,
she attacked him, the first bite going all the way through his thumb,
then followed by traveling bites all the way up his arm, just like
Gomez kissing Morticia when she speaks French. Both dog and dad
survived, until a year later when a bread truck smashed the dog flat in
front of my eyes. May we wish a similar fate for the junta.
But, in the meantime, the junta survives, and as Clift points out, the
nation’s attention has been successfully diverted from the real news: Bush’s failed
Iraq war and the announcement of 1.3 million more Americans living in
poverty.
Saturday, August 21
Sinclair Broadcasting Foreshadows the Death of Local News
by
Linda Thieman
on Sat 21 Aug 2004 04:46 AM CDT
Sinclair Broadcasting Foreshadows the Death of Local News
The Business Journal
For two weeks now, Blog for Iowa has been running a weekly column by Iowa's Ted Remington called "The Counterpoint."
Remington started writing "The Counterpoint" in response to the faux
journalism and slanted commentary being forced on Iowans by Sinclair
Broadcasting. In this article from The Business Journal, the true
depth of the destructive nature of what Sinclair Broadcasting is
perpetrating on the American public is revealed.
MINNEAPOLIS - Tune into the evening news
on the Fox TV affiliate in Madison, Wis.,and behold the future of local
news. In the program's concluding segment, "The Point," Mark Hyman
rants against peace activists ("wack-jobs"), the French ("cheese-eating
surrender monkeys"), progressives ("loony left") and the so-called
liberal media, usually referred to as the "hate-America crowd" or the
"Axis of Drivel." Colorful, if creatively anemic, this is TV's version
of talk radio, with the precisely tanned Hyman playing a second-string
Limbaugh.
Fox 47's
right-wing rants may be the future of hometown news, but - believe it
or not - it's not the program's blatant ideological bias that is most
worrisome. Here's the real problem: Hyman isn't the station manager, a
local crank, or even a journalist. He is the Vice President of
Corporate Communications for the station's owner, the Sinclair
Broadcast Group. And this segment of the local news isn't exactly
local. Hyman's commentary is piped in from the home office in
Baltimore, and mixed in with locally-produced news. Sinclair aptly
calls its innovative strategy "NewsCentral" - it is very likely to
spell the demise of local news as we know it.
To read the full report, click here.
Wednesday, August 18
Queerer Alert
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 18 Aug 2004 10:02 AM CDT
 Queerer Alert
by Cam Lindquist, 365gay.com
A dash of humor with some good sharp points thrown in
...I am
one to err on the side of caution nine out of ten times, but these
constant terror alerts have to make you wonder if they are just blowing
smoke in our faces to keep us wondering.
So
between this terror issue and the attack on the gay community through
legislation I think it is time for us, the GLBTI & Friends
community, to fight back! And of course, I have a plan.
Just for a refresher, here are the government's five levels of terror alerts:
* Low (Green) - low risks of terrorist attacks
* Guarded (Blue) - general risk of terrorist attacks
* Elevated (Yellow) - significant risks of terrorist attacks
* High (Orange) - high risks of terrorist attacks
* Severe (Red) - severe risk of terrorist attacks
I think
that the gay community, in response to attacks on us, should issue the
Queerer Alerts. Alerts which will let the conservative community know
what they should expect to see in their streets and on their TV's
should they continue to viciously attack GLBTI American Citizens.
* Low (Metallic Emerald) - low risks of queer uproar
* Guarded (Slate) - general risk of queer uproar
* Elevated (Sunflower) - significant risks of queer uproar
* High (Rust) - high risks of queer uproar
* Severe (Magenta) - severe risk of queer uproar
* Extreme (Fuchsia) - extreme risk of queer uproar
You may
have noticed two things about our list in comparison to theirs. First,
I made our list as vague as theirs. After all why should they have an
advantage over the rest of us when dealing with alerts? If GW can
arbitrarily increase the level because no real definition exists, so
can we!
...For
our clarification here within the community, here are some examples of
what I see as situations that might call for levels of Queerer Alert. I
am going to leave you with this list as my final thought. Because if
you think my list is ridiculous, just consider where I got the idea
from - Good ole GW.
* Low
(Metallic Emerald) - Massachusetts, home of the Democratic National
Convention and currently the exclusive state (actually they are a
commonwealth) that provides marital rights to gay couples, would be
under low risk of queer uproar. They should expect an influx of gay
people to pour revenue into their state through the tourist industry
and local GLBTI people spending money at home instead of abroad.
Read the whole essay here.
Monday, August 16
Bush to Screen Every American for Mental Illness
by
Linda Thieman
on Mon 16 Aug 2004 03:24 PM CDT
Bush to Screen Every American for Mental Illness
A frightening article made the rounds of Rapid Response - Iowa
this weekend and set off warning bells all around. After checking
and double checking sources and doing further research, the good folks
at Rapid Response - Iowa
determined that this plan does indeed exist and has already been funded
to the tune of $20 million. Oh, and Bush is going to start the national evaluation by
testing and medicating (for mental illness) our teachers and school
children first.
Christina Butts of Des Moines describes why this is so alarming:
"The
people pushing for this have an agenda not to help the truly mentally
ill but to start on an invasive government program to start requiring
testing, diagnosis, and then medication for increased labeling of
behaviors NOT presently listed by American Psychiatric Associations, but
to start falsely labeling enemies, and the public in general for
coercion, control, manipulation, and conditioning - for the benefit of
the powerful corporations in control of the present administration.
[For
people who suffer from mental illness or who have some kind of brain
injury,] the fear and terror that are involved when they are aware that
their every move and response is what can be used to deny them rights
and liberty is barely imaginable by the normal public. To think that a
slow, insidious move like this is trying to be implemented to get the
US citizenry literally addicted and dependant on 'Soma'-type
pharmaceutical drugs, for mood enhancement or combating mislabeled
ADHD or other 'mental illness', is horrendous. No more protests or
wrong-thinking voters will ever be a problem again for the extreme
conservative rightwing. Why try to solve the problems of society when
they can make money and medicate the public to accept and forget.
No more competing with 'illegal' drugs, because now the government and
business can feed the good stuff to us at a market-valued profit."
Here's the article that set off the flurry of concern, and below, you will find links to further reports corroborating this information.
Now Bush wants to test every American for mental illness--including you! And guess who will create the tests?
By Jordanne Graham, InterventionMag.org
Next
month, George W. Bush plans to unveil a broad new mental health plan
called the “New Freedom Initiative.” Never mind that it couldn’t have
less to do with freedom; if you’re a thinking American, this initiative
should scare the hell out of you.
The New
Freedom Initiative proposes to screen every American, including you,
for mental illness. To this end, the pResident established a New
Freedom Commission on Mental Health, to study the nation’s mental
health delivery service and make a report. It’s interesting to note
that many on the staff appointed to the Commission have served on the
advisory boards of some of the nation’s largest drug companies.
The
commission reported that “despite their prevalence, mental disorders
often go undiagnosed,” so it recommended comprehensive mental health
screening for “consumers of all ages,” including preschool children
because “each year, young children are expelled from preschools and
childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors and emotional
disorders.”
Children
and school personnel will be the first to be screened. The panel
concluded that schools are in “key positions” to screen the 52 million
students and six million adults who work at the schools. By doing this,
the commission expects to flush out another six million persons not now
receiving treatment. But who will decide the screening criteria? Bush
and his people? The drug companies? What are their qualifications?
...The Texas Medication Algorithm Project, or TMAP, was named by the commission as
a “model” medication treatment plan that “illustrates an evidence-based practice
that results in better consumer outcomes.” Medical algorithms are a
decision-tree approach to treatment. If symptoms A, B, and C are evident, use
treatment X. In 1995, TMAP began as an alliance of individuals from the
University of Texas, the pharmaceutical industry, and the mental health and
corrections systems of Texas.
...In an article in the British Medical Journal, Jones shows that many
companies who helped launch TMAP are also major contributors to Bush’s
re-[s]election funds. For example, Eli Lilly manufactures olanzapine. This
is one of the drugs recommended in the New Freedom plan. Lilly has
numerous ties to the Bush administration according to the British
Medical Journal. It says George Herbert Walker Bush was once a member
of Lilly’s board of directors. Our current [pseudo-]pResident Bush appointed
Lilly’s chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, as a member of the
Homeland Security Council. Eighty-two percent of Lilly’s $1.6 million
in political contributions in 2000 went to Bush and the Republican
Party.
Read the rest of the article here.
Here are a couple of links to corroborating reports:
Bush to screen population for mental illness
The New Freedom Initiative (US): Ready To Be Tested?
Sunday, August 15
Harkin calls Cheney a 'Coward' and Criticizes 'Backdoor Draft'
by
Linda Thieman
on Sun 15 Aug 2004 10:04 AM CDT
Harkin calls Cheney a 'Coward' and Criticizes 'Backdoor Draft'
Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier
DES
MOINES -- Sen. Tom Harkin called Dick Cheney a "coward" for avoiding
service in Vietnam and called on George W. Bush to end the "backdoor
draft."
The Iowa
Democrat was responding Friday to the call-up of a Des Moines police
officer who has already completed his eight-year military commitment.
Harkin
echoed comments earlier this week by Des Moines Police Chief William
McCarthy, who said the military's treatment of Des Moines Police
Officer Rodell Nydam was "evil."
...Harkin
also shot back at Cheney, who said in a visit to Iowa on Tuesday that
presidential candidate John Kerry lacks a basic understanding of the
war on terrorism and cannot make America safer.
[Harkin] noted that Cheney had several student deferments that allowed him to skip serving in Vietnam.
"When I
hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not
serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil," Harkin said.
"Those of us who served and those of us who went in the military don't
like it when someone like a Dick Cheney comes out and he wants to be
tough. Yeah, he'll be tough. He'll be tough with somebody else's blood,
somebody else's kids. But not when it was his turn to go."
(more)
Saturday, August 14
Bush 'Needs a Miracle' to Win
by
Linda Thieman
on Sat 14 Aug 2004 11:26 AM CDT
Bush 'Needs a Miracle' to Win
Capitol Hill Blue
George W. Bush bet his presidency on Iraq and is losing the bet, political analyst Larry Sabato said over the weekend.
"He
really will need a miracle to win, and the last miracle was for Harry
S. Truman," Sabato said, referring to Truman's upset presidential
victory in 1948.
"He bet
his [pseudo-]presidency on Iraq. But he's this close to losing the bet," said
Sabato, holding a finger and thumb about an inch apart.
He said polls show support for the Iraq war has dropped from about 70 percent of Americans to about 45 percent or less.
"Kerry would win very handily if the election were held today," Sabato told a meeting of the Business Council of Alabama.
...Sabato
said Bush also must deal with a mediocre economy and a sour mood among
voters who see the economic glass as half empty, not half full.
(more)
The New Swingers
The American Prospect
George W. Bush is losing voters he once took for granted. He's got no one to blame but himself.
...Imbrogno is a tried-and-true
Republican, too, but even so, he says, "I won't vote for Bush. I won't
necessarily vote for Kerry; I have trouble with his positions on some
issues other than economics." But he supports John Kerry's proposal to
end tax breaks for companies that have moved their jobs overseas.
Imbrogno is not alone. He's active
in the Northeast Ohio Coalition for American Manufacturing (NEOCAM), a
group of corporate executives who Imbrogno estimates to be roughly 80
percent Republican. And among his fellow NEOCAM members, he says, "I
know I'm not exceptional" in breaking with Bush.
(more)
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