Fake News better than Real News

Again, Jon Stewart and the Daily Show have done a better job of holding the administration accountable for their lies and deceptions. If you didn't see them skewer Cheney and Rumsfeld for the recent remarks about the Iraqi insurgency being in its last throes, check out the following link. By the way, "Crooks and Liars" is an intersting blog site.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/06/27.html#a3668

Death in Iraq, State of Denial in D.C.

Sadly, the Bush administration continues its campaign of propaganda about the war on terror and the war in Iraq. In recent days, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush have tried to paint a picture of positive momentum and an insurgency in Iraq that is in its "final throes". Unfortunately, the news out of Iraq doesn't give us any reason to believe them. Actually, the assesments of our own military commanders betrays the falsehoods spouted by our top elected officials:

"Yesterday, the top American commander in the Persian Gulf told Congress the Iraqi insurgency has not grown weaker in the past six months. 'I believe there are more foreign fighters coming into Iraq than there were six months ago,' Gen. John Abizaid said.

This on a day when many Americans were killed in Iraq. Also at the same time Bush refused an Iraqi request to set a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq while meeting with an Iraqi leader in D.C. Funny how we can set timetables for Iraqi elections and constitution writing, but they can't ask us to set timetables for ourselves.

A lot of this is detailed in the Seattle Times.

The New York Times published a stong editorial about the dishonest nature of the Bush administration in the war on terror. The article said three facts need to be acknowledged about Iraq:

1) The war has nothing to do with Sept. 11.
2) The war has not made the world, or this nation, safer from terrorism.
3) If the war is going according to plan, someone needs to rethink the plan.

Meanwhile, the U.S. policy of extraordinary rendition has come under fire from one of our biggest allies in the war in Iraq: Italy. The Italian Justice department has issued arrest warrants for CIA officers who arrested a terrorist in Italy and sent him to Egypt where he was tortured. It turns out that Italy had been building a case against the terrorist for a long time and was ready to make an arrest. But now the whereabouts of this terrorist is unknown. See the article in the Seattle Times.

End of the School Year!

Oh, the end of the school year!

It's sad to say good-bye to the seniors, but I feel confident that the class of 2005 will be good about staying in touch, so I'm hopeful about that.

Not much time to stay on top of current events lately, although I'm in total agreement with the Bush administration in their opposition to a bill the U.S. House of Representatives just passed that threatens to cut our funding of the United Nations in half. It is a really stupid idea for our security, our policies, and the world as a whole.

Cheney Lies More About Guantanamo Bay

How stupid does the Vice-President think the American people are? How short does he think our memory is?

At a recent news conference, Cheney was answering questions about Guantanamo Bay and talked about how "essential" the base is to our "strategy," and how much the rest of the world DOESN'T have a problem with it. But as Newsweek points out, he is choosing to forget some important facts. From their article:

As early as January 2002, the Secretary of State Colin Powell wrote to President
George Bush urging him to apply the Geneva Conventions to all detainees.

That same month, his British counterpart, Jack Straw, told the BBC he wanted to see British detainees returned home to face justice in the United Kingdom, not Guantanamo Bay, after photos of shackled detainees sparked widespread
condemnation across the political spectrum in Britain. The British government
opposed the Gitmo process so deeply that it eventually negotiated the return of
its detainees earlier this year, when they were set free after initial questioning.

In 2003, after a lengthy series of exchanges between Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the administration agreed to speed up the processing of detainees at the camp (who numbered around 660 at the time, compared to around 540 today). Rumsfeld himself acknowledged that Powell—and the administration—were responding to international opinion.

And these are just actions of the administration and our ally in the Iraq war, Great Britain. Let's not even talk about the rest of Europe and the Muslim world.

Will someone please tell the Vice-President to tell the truth or keep his mouth shut?

Opposition to Iraq War is Growing

Over half of those surveyed in a recent poll don't think that the war in Iraq is making Americans more secure at home. The Washington Post poll also found that the Americans are very down on Bush's handling of security in general. According to MSNBC:

Nearly three-quarters of Americans say the number of casualties in Iraq is unacceptable, while two-thirds say the U.S. military there is bogged down and
nearly six in 10 say the war was not worth fighting -- in all three cases matching or exceeding the highest levels of pessimism yet recorded. More than four in 10 believe the U.S. presence in Iraq is becoming analogous to the experience in Vietnam.

Perhaps most ominous for President Bush, 52 percent said war in Iraq has not contributed to the long-term security of the United States, while 47 percent said it has.

The real question is when does this disaffection turn into activism? How long will it take for people to realize we were all lied to about this war and hold these people responsible? For some of us, opposition to the war has been an on-going campaign, but how can we mobilize others who have come to agree with us about the Iraq war?

These are my thoughts. We need lots of informed debate and action on important issues in this natino. I read a call to action on behalf of our basic principles with a "new American spirit" by a guest editorialist in the Christian Science Monitor today. Check it out for some inspiration!

Gregoire!

It is finally over. Rossi conceeded. There is no way both parties are going to feel good about this decision, but the judge made a sensible ruling based on WA state election law. What else could be done? There is no proof anyone tried to steal this election, just that there were screw-ups by election workers. I hope that Republicans who supported Rossi can accept the decision and move on. Gregoire has already shown herself to be a competent governor.

Maria Cantwell's Senate seat is the next big contest in 2006. Rossi has already said he won't run for the spot.

Court Says No to Medical Marijuana

Big decision.

Most people will probably focus on the issue of whether marijuana should be legalized or not, but this was a case that tried dealt with an important issue of federalism. This 6-3 decision upheld the right of the federal government to enforce laws against illegal substances, even if that substance is marijuana being used in a state that has made it legal for medicinal purposes.

People should also realize that the court emphasized that it was up to Congress not the Courts to legalize medical marijuana. You can bet this Republican controlled Congress won't do that, but we might see it happen a few years down the road.

Let's Talk Seriously About Impeachment

Ralph Nader has joined those who are calling for a serious national discussion on impeaching Bush and Cheney.

"President Clinton was impeached for perjury about his sexual relationships. Comparing Clinton's misbehavior to a destructive and costly war occupation launched in March 2003 under false pretenses in violation of domestic and international law certainly merits introduction of an impeachment resolution."

The recent Downing Street Memo has been called the smoking gun by many -- it is a reliable, respected source of what most of us have known for a long time from so many other sources: that Bush/Cheney had planned to invade Iraq long before they admitted this to the public and that they manufactured evidence and intelligence to justify their actions. If you haven't read the memo or you don't know much about it, a group pressuring the President on this has posted a website where you can get more information: www.downingstreetmemo.com. You can also simply Google the term to look for a variety of commentaries on it.

We need to seriously consider the benefit to our nation of removing these dishonest, power-hungry demogogues from office. U.S. Rep. John Conyers is leading a petition effort to demand the truth from Bush on these issues. Check it out!

Bush Tries to Discredit Amnesty International

They smeared John McCain in the 2000 Republican primaries. They smeared Al Gore in the general election. They got the Swiftboat Veterans for the truth to smear John Kerry's war record. Now they are trying to smear Amnesty International.

I hate them. Bush, Cheney, Rove, Karen Hughes, and all of the rest. They are engaging in an effort to control the damage from stories and reports about our torture of detainees by attacking the messengers. Newsweek made a mistake when it reported a Koran had been flushed down a toilet. It retracted the story. So now they are trying to use the reflected embarassment from the Newsweek affair to bring into question Amnesty International's credibility.

In case you didn't know, Amnesty International issued it's annual report last week. They deliver a well-documented, thoroughly researched report on human rights in every country of the world. This year the United States was faulted for abuses at Guantanamo Bay, and selectively criticizing torture by other nations. AI faulted the U.S. for not upholding a leadership role on the issue of human rights

Bush called AI's report absurd.

Bush is absurd. And pathetic. And an embarassment to every honest American. We need to impeach him. We cannot continue as a nation with an ideological zealot in the White House making a mockery of our nation's most treasured principles.

If you need a reminder of the magnitude of Bush's lies, check out this compilation provided by th progressive website, American Progress. It has cataloged the lies and distortions of the Bush Administration with regard to the Iraq War. An amazing and disturbing list.

Addendum on June 1: If you aren't aware of the "Downing Street Memo" that detailed the plans of the Bush Administration to go to war in Iraq regardless of the evidence, you can read it for yourself here.

More lies by Cheney

Dick Cheney has no regard for the truth or the American people. Yesterday, he sought to discredit the Amnesty International report criticizing the United States treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. He claims that he was "OFFENDED" by the report!

In the face of all the evidence given not only by prisoners released from the facility, but organizations such as Amnesty, the Red Cross, as well as a former member of the military translator that recently released a major book about what he witnessed, Cheney denies it all, claiming in one broad stroke that all of this evidence has been fabricated:

“Occasionally there are allegations of mistreatment,” Cheney said. “But if you trace those back, in nearly every case, it turns out to come from somebody who had been inside and released to their home country and now are peddling lies about how they were treated.”

He neglects to mention that these reports also come from the International Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, members of the F.B.I. and our own military. He neglects to mention that even the members of the “coalition of the willing”, Britain and Australia, are upset with what we are doing in Guantanamo Bay.
Of course, Cheney had no problem citing AI's reports on Saddam in trying to justify our "pre-emptive" war against Iraq. But now, I guess, the people at AI are a bunch of left-wing extremists that want the terrorists to win.

The contempt for the truth from these men in the White House is unforgivable.

I cannot believe we have not begun to draw up impeachment papers.

For more on Cheney's hypocrisy check out this posting Daily Koz, a Democratic website.

Vets of War in Iraq Deserve Praise and an Apology

A mainstream newspaper had a very telling editorial on this memorial day. In part, it read:

In exchange for our uniformed young people's willingness to offer the gift of their lives, civilian Americans owe them something important: It is our duty to ensure that they never are called to make that sacrifice unless it is truly necessary for the security of the country. In the case of Iraq, the American public has failed them; we did not prevent the Bush administration from spending their blood in an unnecessary war based on contrived concerns about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. President Bush and those around him lied, and the
rest of us let them. Harsh? Yes. True? Also yes. Perhaps it happened because Americans, understandably, don't expect untruths from those in power. But that works better as an explanation than as an excuse.

It is sad but true that these men were asked to die to defend our nation from another nation (Iraq) which presented no credible threat to us. It would have been nice to have leveled with the men and women of our military about their mission before asking them to put their lives on the line. The best that the Bush administration can say now is that this war was to bring down a dictator and to attempt to reform the politics of the Mideast. Whether these men and women were willing to lay down their lives for that was something they should have been able to decide.

Filibuster Bluster

The Senate has reached an agreement on this issue on the eve of the votes scheduled for some of Bush's most controversial Appeals Court nominees. If you are wondering about the filibuster, check out this MSNBC article. Aside from the politics of this, it is an excellent opportunity to learn more about how the Senate actually does business. Many Senators have reflected on this in recent days and political scientists are being tapped for their expertise as journalists grapple with this story involving arcane procedural rules and traditions. The New York Times has an interesting article trying to put all of this into perspective.

Little Action on Darfur

It is hard to say that there is good news on the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, but at least the African Union is promising to increase their troop strength in the region. Hopefully this will happen quickly. Sudan is still languishing in a horrible predicament, and more action is needed as quickly as possible to save lives.

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times points out how little has been done on the tragedy in Darfur in the last 100 days. Did anyone see Nightline last night? Darfur was the topic and I missed it!

Mounting Evidence of U.S. Torture

Evidence continues to pile up that paints an overall picture of the United States disregarding the most basic standards of decency and fairness. A report surfaced in today's news with new allegations of torture and humiliation being used on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The report isn't due out for several weeks, but sources spoke to the New York Times about the sexual and psychological abuse that was witnessed and reported to the military.

It is time that Donald Rumsfeld, Ricardo Sanchez, and other top officials be made to face more intense invesitgations. Too much of this has gone on under their watch for them to continue to evade a large scale investigation any longer. These things happened on their watch, and they must be held accountable. Our national reputation and the standards for international decency stand in the balance.

Human Rights Abuses in the War on Terror

The news about these matters continues to appear in the press. I thought I'd try to catch all of you up on a few of the things out there. Below are some recent articles to help understand this issue. I describe the oldest ones first.

The U.S. has been making statements in response to the pressure that is being put on them about detainees being mistreated. In March, this story got headlines around the country: U.S. Is Examining a Plan to Bolster the Rights of Detainees

What has been disappointing to many of us is that the military continues to maintain that no one of a high level is reponsible for the things that went on at Abu Ghraib prison. A military tribunal cleared a bunch of officers of wrong-doing in a trial last month. The trial seems to have left a lot of unanswered questions. Military tribunal ignored evidence on detainee March 28, 2005
Evidence that the U.S. sent detainees abroad to be tortured is out there. One of the stories that has gotten a lot of attention is that of Maher Arar. From the New York Times:

Maher Arar, a 35-year-old Canadian engineer, is suing the United States,
saying American officials grabbed him in 2002 as he changed planes in New York
and transported him to Syria where, he says, he was held for 10 months in a
dank, tiny cell and brutally beaten with a metal cable.

Now federal aviation records examined by The New York Times appear to
corroborate Mr. Arar's account of his flight, during which, he says, he sat
chained on the leather seats of a luxury executive jet as his American guards
watched movies and ignored his protests.

Meanwhile, the fight overt the Patriot Act continues. Gonzales urges renewal of Patriot Act April 6, 2005.

There was an excellent article in the Seattle Times that described some evidence uncovered about detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. It reminded us:

The government is holding about 550 people at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba.
An additional 214 have been released since the facility opened in January 2002 —
some into the custody of their home governments, others freed outright.

Little information about those held at Guantánamo has been released
through official government channels. But stories of 60 or more prisoners are
spelled out in detail in thousands of pages of transcripts filed in U.S.
District Court in Washington, where lawsuits challenging their detentions have
been filed.

The military released a report saying that they have reviewed the cases of all of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay, and are justified in keeping all of them in detention as "enemy combatents". There are still lawyers fighting to have their cases heard in U.S. Courts. Read this article here.
The U.S. has only convicted low-ranking members of the military in connection with the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison. In a recent article, a human rights attorney explains why she believes Donald Rumsfeld and other high-ranking officials should be invesigated more closely.

A few days ago, news came out that the army is writing a new manual on how to interrogate prisoners (without torturing them). One Senator pointed out that the fact that is had to be re-written is an indication that not enough was being done to train people not to torture prisoners.
Yesterday's paper included a headline that, "Lynndie England to plead guilty to Abu Ghraib abuses." She was in some of the more shocking photos we saw from Abu Ghraib.

Finally, Amnesty International released a press release a few days ago, Abuses Continue One Year After Abu Ghraib.

Tom DeLay Must Go

Tom DeLay has been the Republican Majority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives for several years and is undeserving of this position. This Texan has repeatedly used cynical, unethical methods of winning political battles by bending rules and intimidating junior representatives shows Congress at its worst. Only the latest of these was the manipulation of the Terry Shiavo tragedy for political gain.

Tom DeLay has brought dishonor and divisiveness to an already highly partisan Congress. We cannot allow a man with such an ethical cloud over his head to continue to wield such power in the House. He is a liability to the Congress, the Republican Party and the United States of America. Today the newest allegations surfaced when it was discovered that he has paid his wife and another family members over half a million dollars since 2001 for political advice according to an article in the New York Times. Please support all efforts to remove Tom DeLay from his position as House Majority Leader. MoveOn.org is currently asking people to sign petitions on-line calling on Congress to remove him from his leadership position. They provide the following damning list of reasons to remove him from power:

Among his offenses, Tom DeLay:
*Promised a role in drafting legislation to a corporate donor
*Tried to coerce a Congressman for a vote on Medicare
*Allegedly used corporate money given to his PAC to finance Texas campaigns in violation of state law
*Used Homeland Security resources in a dispute with Democrats in Texas
*Diverted funds from a children's charity for lavish celebrations at the Republican convention
*Threatened retaliation against interest groups that don't support Republicans
*Stacked the House Ethics committee with representatives who have contributed to his legal defense fund
*Accepted trips from corporations and later helped kill legislation they opposed
*Accepted trips from the lobbyist for a foreign government in violation of House rules
*Crippled the effectiveness of the House Ethics Committee by purging members who had rebuked him
*Pushed for a rules change for the House Ethics process that paralyzed the panel
*Sought a rule change that would have no longer "required leaders to step aside temporarily if indicted"
*Paid family members more than $500,000 out of campaign contributions

Secret Detentions at Guantanamo Bay

While the news of the Pope's death, Terri Schiavo's death, and natural disasters have been grabbing most of the headlines, the troubling practice of evading our Constitution's protections for those accused of crimes continues in the Bush administration. Guantanamo Bay has been symbolic of this problem, a place where "the C.I.A. detention effort has been classified as a "special access program," a category that puts it off limits even to most of those with top secret security clearances. "

It makes a lot of us uncomfortable that the same administration that has displayed so much arrogance and incompetance in prosecuting the war on terror is getting away with gross violations of our Constitution. The New York Times reported that "the White House is maintaining extraordinary restrictions on information about the detention of high-level terror suspects, permitting only a small number of members of Congress to be briefed on how and where the prisoners are being held and interrogated."

More oversight is clearly needed. This administration has not earned enough trust to be allowed such incredible powers without sufficient checks. The American people need to demand their government back.

Iraqi Democracy?

Almost a month has passed since the excitement and euphoria over the elections in Iraq. Now, Iraqis are attempting something even harder, putting together a government.

No one should expect that this will go especially smoothly. There are real and wide differences among the various factions in Iraq. Many hoped, as the Christian Science Monitor pointed out today, that there would not be a need for 150,000 troops to still be in Iraq keeping the peace. As was the case when Saddam was toppled, many in the U.S. proclaimed victory too soon after the election at the end of January.

As we approach the two year anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, the doubts of many Americans about our involvement remain. The CS Monitor also
summarized some recent polling data:

Still, many Americans, when asked, express uneasiness with - if not opposition to - the war. As reported this week in a Washington Post-ABC News Poll, 53 percent of Americans feel the war was not worth fighting, 57 percent say they disapprove of the Mr. Bush's handling of Iraq, and 70 percent think the number of US casualties is an unacceptable price to have paid. A plurality of Americans (41 percent) also believe the war has damaged this country's standing abroad, particularly as they see much of the "coalition of the willing" heading home from Iraq, leaving Americans to carry more and more of the burden there.

Where do we go from here? Many in the anti-war movement are still calling for an immediate withdrawal. The Bush Administration has refused to set a timetable for U.S. withdrawal, and on the first day of the Iraqi National Assembly, the wide disagreements among the delegates was evident.

10,000 dying each month in Darfur, U.N. says

Never again.

This is what the world says each and every time an act of genocide or mass killings occur. But the promise and the pledge have fallen through yet again in Africa.

The United Nations has just confirmed what many who have been studying the problem in the Darfur region of Sudan have been saying in recent months, that the death toll is much higher than the official toll of 70,000 that is most commonly reported.

Since last March, it is estimated that 180,000 have died from disease and starvation alone. That number does not include those killed outright by the armed militia or janjaweed that prowl the Darfur, Sudan.

Call our Senators today and ask them to vote in favor of the Darfur Accountability Act. There are many other things you can do by making our representatives in government put this tragedy on the agenda. See Amnesty International's Sudan page for information and its "Sudan Action" page for letters you can sign and send today.

Let's do more than just sit by, watch and repeat the phrase "never again".

Awesome Book by Leading American Thinker

I spent a nice part of this sunny afternoon reading the first 50 pages of this outstanding book. Democracy Matters is a book I would have liked to have written if I were more intelligent and well educated. In it, West dissects the dysfunctional currents in our political system, and uses an amazing array of philosophy, history, literature, music and current events to make his point that America needs to return to a deep democratic tradition that we have inherited to fight the racist and imperialist traditions we have also inherited.

An inspiring call to think, discuss, and work together to bring about an improvement in the human condition in our nation and in our world. If you want something more substantial than the Bush-bashing you get from Michael Moore or Al Franken, check out Cornell West.