Mind Vomit by the ikss ~ a journal
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Wednesday, Jun. 30, 2004it's also Mike Tyson's birthday, but I wish him happy nothing
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�Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead�
-Lucille Ball
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
--Theodore Roosevelt, 1918
REGISTER TO VOTE
"The time is always right to do what is right"
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
"The "seven social sins": Knowledge without character,
Science without humanity,
Wealth without work,
Commerce without morality,
Politics without principles,
Pleasure without conscience,
Worship without self-sacrifice."
--Gandhi
"We have not inherited the world from our forfathers -
We have borrowed it from our children."
--Kashmiri, proverb
So someone rather pointedly asked me why I hadn�t yet written about the fact that the U.S. �turned Iraq over� to the Iraqis yesterday (you know, like I was wrong about something...as if).
I hadn�t written about it because we�re all stupid if we think the U.S. has �turned over� anything.
I thought that was pretty much a given.
Then I found the following in my In Box this morning, which pretty much proves my point, so here ya go.
BUSH MISLEADS ABOUT TRANSFER OF POWER IN IRAQ
Speaking at the NATO conference in Turkey yesterday, President Bush said, "15 months after the liberation of Iraq...the world witnessed the arrival of a free and sovereign Iraqi government." [1] The reality, however, is much different.
The same day that U.S. administrator Paul Bremer officially ended the occupation, U.S. prosecutors refused to abide by an Iraqi judge's order acquitting Iraqi citizen Iyad Akmush Kanum of attempted murder of coalition troops. [2] Instead, the prosecutors returned Kanum to the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, claiming that "they were not bound by Iraqi law."
In the days leading up to his departure, Bremer "issued a raft of edicts" in an effort to "exert U.S. control over the country after the transfer of political authority."[3] Specifically, Bremer empowered a seven-member appointed commission "to disqualify political parties and any of the candidates they support." Bremer also "appointed Iraqis handpicked by his aides to influential positions in the interim government" with multi-year terms to "promote his concepts of governance" after the handover.
Iraq remains plagued by violence and "the primary military responsibility for fighting the insurgency remains as much in American hands as it did yesterday."[4] As a result, the New York Times concludes it is "ludicrous for administration officials to suggest that America's occupation of Iraq has now somehow ended."
SOURCES:
1. "Remarks by President Bush and Prime Minister Blair," Whitehouse.gov, 6/28/04
2. "Prisoner 27075 learns limits of sovereignty�, Financial Times, 6/29/04,
3. ""U.S. Edicts Curb Power Of Iraq's Leadership," Washington Post, 6/27/04,
4. "A Secretive Transfer in Iraq," New York Times, 6/29/04,
~~~
And while we�re talking about Bush Administration lies�
BUSH ADMINISTRATION LIED ABOUT SECRET SAUDI FLIGHT
The Bush administration and its right-wing allies are launching an all-out assault on Michael Moore and his new movie, attempting to discredit the film before it is even public. Last month, White House communications director Dan Bartlett said the movie is "so outrageously false, it's not even worth comment" [1] - a comment made despite the fact that the movie was not yet public and Bartlett had not seen the film. Now the smear campaign is focused on creating the public illusion that Moore lied about a secret Saudi flight that was permitted after 9/11 when most U.S. airspace was closed. But, according to one new report, the Tampa International Airport "confirmed that the flight did take place" -- despite three years of Bush administration denials.
According to the St. Petersburg Times, "two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, with most of the nation's air traffic still grounded, a small jet landed at Tampa International Airport, picked up three young Saudi men (including one thought to be a member of the Saudi royal family) and flew to Lexington, Kentucky. From Kentucky "the Saudis then took another flight out of the country." As the newspaper reported, "for nearly three years, White House, aviation and law enforcement officials have insisted the flight never took place and have denied published reports" about the flight. But now, at the request of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks (9/11 Commission), the Tampa International Airport acknowledged the flights happened. For its part, the Bush administration "is still not talking about the flights." [2]
According to the St. Petersburg Times, the Commission has now sent a formal letter to the Tampa International Airport asking for more information about "a chartered flight with six people, including a Saudi prince, that flew from Tampa, Florida on or about Sept. 13, 2001" The commission "appears concerned with the handling of the Tampa flight." Meanwhile, former FBI agent Manuel Perez, who accompanied the formerly-secret flight, said the order to allow the flights "must have come from the highest levels of government." [3]
In all, the New York Times notes it is "safe to say that central assertions of fact in Fahrenheit 9/11 are supported by the public record." [4]
For more on Bush administration distortion, visit Misleader.org
SOURCES:
1. "Michael Moore's Candid Camera" New York Times, 5/23/04 (Republished online in Common Dreams)
2. "TIA now verifies flight of Saudis" St. Petersburg Times, 6/9/04
3. Ibid.
4. Moore's assertions supported by record; But '9/11' director may have to defend rapid-fire statistics," San Francisco Chronicle, 6/24/04
~~~
Urge Your Senators to Vote Against Anti-Choice Judicial Nominee Leon Holmes
On July 6, your U.S. senators will vote on the federal district court nomination of J. Leon Holmes, who has been a zealous opponent of reproductive freedom and women's equality. Holmes' views are so extreme, in fact, that we have a real opportunity to defeat his confirmation on an up-or-down vote.*
Today, we're asking you to take the first action in a two-step activist effort on Holmes: e-mail letters to your senators and urge them both to vote against the confirmation of J. Leon Holmes to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
View, edit and e-mail your letter here
The second action will be a call-in day to the Senate on Tuesday, July 6. Look for an e-mail alert with the toll-free call-in number that morning.
Holmes' stated beliefs on a woman's right to choose and on women's roles in society call into grave question his understanding of and commitment to principles of constitutional law. Indeed, Holmes' record on these subjects would make it impossible for many to believe that they will receive a fair hearing in his court.
Holmes' record of anti-choice, anti-equality activism includes:
� Served as president of Arkansas Right to Life and in leadership positions of other anti-choice groups that openly call for a complete reversal of Roe v. Wade.
� Acted as legal counsel for anti-choice groups in several cases and defended an anti-choice activist accused of trespassing at a physician's clinic, arguing that his client was justified because he was trying to inform clinic visitors of the alleged harmful effects of abortion.
� Co-authored an article claiming that "the wife is to subordinate herself to her husband" and that "to the extent we adopt the feminist principle that the distinction between the sexes is of no consequence...we are contributing to the culture of death."
Adding more doubt about his ability to be a fair and impartial federal judge, Holmes frequently expresses his deep ideological hostility to women's rights and equality with inflammatory exaggerations. For instance, he has:
� Compared pro-choice advocates to Nazis.
� Written that abortion is "...the simplest issue this country has faced since slavery was made unconstitutional. And it deserves the same response."
� Argued against rape exceptions to abortion bans by stating that "[C]oncern for rape victims is a red herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami." (To the contrary, studies estimate that between 25,000 and 32,000 women each year become pregnant as a result of rape in the U.S.)
After three-and-a-half years of unanimous, Republican rubber-stamp support for President Bush's court-packing plan, a few pro-choice Republican senators appear to have finally found a nominee worth closer scrutiny in Holmes. Even Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee - usually the most ardent defenders of Bush's nominees - were not unanimous in endorsing Holmes' confirmation. Instead, the nomination went to the floor without recommendation.
Write your senators and then spread the word to your friends. With your help today and next week, we can make Holmes' nomination another important milestone in our campaign against Bush's slate of right-wing ideologues - the first Bush judicial nominee rejected by a bipartisan Senate majority.
* In May, Senate Democrats agreed to an up-or-down vote on Holmes and 24 other Bush judicial nominees in exchange for Bush's promise to stop using recess appointments for the remainder of his term. Therefore, there is no possibility of a filibuster to block Holmes' confirmation.
PFAW � 2004 | Circulate until July 5, 2004
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