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Internet muse.
Daring, bold, never sold.
My daily weblog of politics, humor, philosophy...and a constant and nagging reminder of the existence of universal love....
Thursday, July 31, 2003
From DemocracyNow.org 30 July:
"Retired U.S. diplomat Joseph Wilson is accusing the White House of orchestrating a smear attack against him and his wife. Wilson gained headlines earlier this month when he revealed that he had personally traveled to Niger in 2002 in a CIA-financed trip to investigate any nuclear link between the African nation and Iraq. Wilson set off a firestorm of debate when he told the media, the White House and CIA were both warned in 2002 of his findings.
Wilson now says the White House deliberately leaked to the press that his wife, Valerie Plame, is a covert CIA operative thus damaging her career and compromising past missions.
Writing on the Nation website, David Corn points out that whoever within the Bush administration outted Wilson’s wife may have committed treason. Disclosing information that identifies covert agents violates the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. Plame’s identify was first revealed in a column by conservative Robert Novak who said government officials leaked him the information...."
Wilson Claims Bush May Start Another War in 2004 To Win The Election
"Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Joseph Wilson predicts the situation in Iraq will deteriorate so much over the next year Bush may resort to start another war in order to win the 2004 election. "
You can read about Wilson's prediction from 14 June 2003 during his speech to the Education for Peace in Iraq Center here.
The Nuclear Issue: Pugwash and the Bush Policies
by Sir Joseph Rotblat
President Emeritus, Pugwash Conferences
(co-recipient, with the Pugwash Conferences, of the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize)
Halifax and Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada
17-21 July 2003
Public Forum
Friday, July 18, 2003
Ondajtee Auditorium, Dalhousie University, Halifax
"It is imperative that Pugwash constantly remind the international community of the immorality, illegality, and peril inherent in nuclear weapons, and to propose concrete steps towards their elimination."
Excerpts:
- "...The prolonged squabbles over UN Resolutions and inspections, aiming at giving legitimacy to the war, seem to have been just a charade, intended to create the impression that it was not the USA alone but a coalition that was involved in the anti-Iraq campaign. The decision to overthrow the Saddam Hussein regime having been taken much earlier, it was only the time for its implementation that had to be chosen. This was probably dictated not by the outcome of the Hans Blix inspections, but by the need to assemble the necessary military strength...."
- "....Indeed, the official reason for the military attack on Iraq - the removal of weapons of mass destruction - has proven to be completely indefensible, since no such weapons have so far been found, despite the intense search carried out by large groups of experts appointed by the USA. As time goes on, and the WMDs are not found, there will be an attempt to play down the importance of finding them, but this will not alter the fact that the war was started on false premises...."
- "...Even if the Americans were less arrogant in pursuing that role than they are now, a system with a built-in inequality is bound to be unstable. It is bound to create resentment, a resentment that will find expression in various ways, including an increase in international terrorism. This in turn will force the "policemen" to take countermeasures, which will make the inequality even more acute. Democracy in the world, as we know it today, would be ended...."
- "...My main hope is that the opposition to it will come from within the United States itself. At present, Bush is very popular and carries a majority of public opinion: this is the usual wave of patriotism which comes with a military victory, but it is already decreasing significantly. I believe that the strong anti-war demonstrations that we saw earlier are a true reflection of the views of the majority of the American people. Somehow, I do not see the American people accepting the role assigned to them by the clique that has hijacked the Administration. Public opinion is bound to turn when the dangers associated with the current policies become apparent...."
- "....For the USA, the distinction between nuclear and conventional weapons has already been eroded, as was made clear in the Nuclear Posture Review, but the situation has become even more threatening with the additional disposition to act pre-emptively...."
- "...In a world armed with weapons of mass destruction, the use of which might bring the whole of civilization to an end, we cannot afford a polarized community, with its inherent threat of military confrontations. In this technological age, a global, equitable community, to which we all belong as world citizens, has become a vital necessity."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COMPANION ARTICLE:
US scraps nuclear weapons watchdog
Thursday July 31, 2003
The Guardian
"...A US department of energy panel of experts which provided independent oversight of the development of the US nuclear arsenal has been quietly disbanded by the Bush administration, it emerged yesterday.
The decision to close down the national nuclear security administration advisory committee - required by law to hold public hearings and issue public reports on nuclear weapons issues - has come just days before a closed-door meeting at a US air force base in Nebraska to discuss the development of a new generation of tactical "mini nukes" and "bunker buster" bombs, as well as an eventual resumption of nuclear testing...."
POINDY GONE AGAIN! 1986 REDUX
This is what happens when you reappoint Lucifers and Beelzebubs....who will these Republicans drag back into government next?
Satan Kissinger? (Oops..they tried THAT already, didn't they?)
How about replacing Ol' Poindy with Flea Gordon Liddy?
Better yet, dig up Nixon's corpse and let him loose.
credit: www.nationalcynical.com
Keep the sleazeball rollin'!
US Casualties on the Rise in Colombia
From the Daily Dystopian- 30 July
What are we doing in Columbia these days?
Are you aware?
Dystopia gives you an excellent reminder of who is wielding non-democratic US foreign policy and undue influence over our US President and Congress.
It really isn't the President who is in power, it seems. The war in Columbia is making business thrive.
Big business is actually ruling and contributing to who lives and who dies and has the power of the US military to do their bidding.
The media does not give us the full story (if they offer ANY story whatsoever).
When the number of kidnapped civilian American businessmen suddenly rises.. voila...you get some media coverage.
Go to Dystopia's blog and learn who some of these mercenary corporations are...who's been kidnapped....how the drug war has turned out to be a
twisted war on a post-9-11-configured "terror-basis".
A tangled web of secrecy and government corruption.
-------------------
"The world is nothing other than the projection of our souls."
-------------------
[ HEALING FROM WAR ]
Healing our Hearts
by Deepak Chopra
----------------------
"Just because we are part of a collective insanity, we must not assume it is normal. It is the psychopathology of the average."
----------------------
We have the deepest aspirations. We want to create a new mythology that says that peace and harmony and laughter and love are possible. That says that social justice and economic parity and ecological balance and a sense for the sacred and a universal spirituality irrespective of our origins are all part of the tangled hierarchy, the interdependency chorus.
Human beings have only existed for 200,000 years. For most of this time, we have been surrounded by predators. In order to survive, we have had a biological response, the flight/fight response. Because we have become so good at this flight/fight response, we have become the predator on this planet. We are the most dangerous animal.
That is not our whole history, however. Something very interesting happened to us about 4,000 years ago, when a few luminaries across the world appeared at once. They were the prophets of the Pentateuch, the great Greek philosophers, the sages of the Upanishads, the Eastern seers like Lao Tsu, Confucius and Buddha, and many others. They developed the ability to get in touch with the domain of awareness that is non-local, that transcends the space-time energy and everything that we can perceive with our senses.
The great English poet William Blake once wrote,
"We are led to believe a lie
when we see with and not through the eye
that was born in the night, to perish in the night,
while the souls slept in beams of light."
When we see beyond the physical we see into our souls.
We can go a whole lifetime without getting in touch with our souls. But once we get in touch with this presence, there is no going back. This soul place is one of knowingness, of light, of love, compassion, and understanding. Intention, imagination, insight, intuition, creativity, meaning, purpose, and decision-making are the attributes of this presence. When we get in touch with it, we have recourse to what is called the intuitive response, which is a form of intelligence that is contextual, relational, holistic, and nurturing. When I'm in this presence, and you are, we are in the same place.
We see that we are part of a great chain of being where we interdependently co-create each other. There is more that we share than what separates us. We all seek love, we all seek self-esteem, we all seek creative expression, we all seek self-actualization—these are the birthright of every human being.
There is no more important task at this moment in our history than to get in touch with the sacred core of our being that is common to all of us. Our practical proposals will be effective only when we get in touch with our souls, and feel this fundamental shift in our hearts. If we can feel that shift in our hearts, if we can join together and be living examples of this shift, then the world will transform, because the world is as we are. The world is nothing other than the projection of our souls.
Just because we are part of a collective insanity, we must not assume it is normal.
It is the psychopathology of the average.
I am committed to the vision Michael Lerner has expressed in Tikkun and elsewhere that we can emancipate ourselves from this psychopathology through the realm of spirit. Even though we have interesting scientific insights, the religious traditions of the world have access to universal truths.
A friend of mine sent me an English translation of an Egyptian papyrus discovered in the 1940s. The language is pre-Babylonian. We don't know who the author is, but he or she lived in the time of Solomon. The author is talking to God and he or she says:
"You split me and you tore my heart open and you filled me with love.
You poured your spirit into mine. I knew you as I knew myself.
My eyes are radiant with your light. My ears delight in your music.
My nostrils are filled with your fragrance. My face is covered with your dew.
You have made me see all things shining. You have made me see all things new.
You have granted me perfect ease. And I have become like Paradise.
And having become like Paradise, my soul is healed."
At this moment, there is a rift in our collective soul. But there is one part of our evolution that says this rift can be healed. And if we heal it, we will all move into that ecstasy which is nothing other than the exaltation of spirit.
From Tikkun.org
This is Norman Solomon's latest article which includes comments about yesterday's Bush Press Conference.
Our pliant, timid, and easily-placated media is doing a grave disservice to the people of America.
This one statement by Solomom could have been made about ANY of the questions that were asked of (and not actually ANSWERED by) Bush at yesterday's conference:
"... It was a classic politician non-response.
And, in the absence of strong media followup, the
meaningless answer rendered the question ineffectual...."
A to Z
___________________________
Text here.
A. AVOID
Bush did not answer many of the questions with direct answers to the questions asked. Often, the reply was nearly totally unrelated to the topic.
B. BUCK-PASSER
Bush says he takes responsibility for all his decisions, yet if you listened to his replies, he ducked accountability and responsibility at every turn.
C. CHILDISH CHIVYING
Bush still calls journalists those goofy and annoying nicknames. The journalist Bush calls "Super Stretch", in particular, did not look amused in the least.
D. DUMB
How about those rem-a-nants of Al Qaeda?
E. ECCENTRIC
Bush actually said (and I cannot believe he said this)...that he watched Ariel Sharon and Abu Mazen's BODY LANGUAGE at Akaba!
It reminded me of the INXS song: "Use your eyes and your face / Words have no place / Move your body in a way / So I will know what you say
Body Language / Body Language / Body Language yo o o o o o......" Oooo Ariel...OoooooAbu....
Preceding the groovy body language comment, Bush dared to pat himself on the back for actually doing virtually nothing in the "producing results" department by saying: "I think we're making pretty good progress in the Middle East".
Guess what? I DON'T!!!!!!! I'll bet most folks with half a brain don't think so, either.
F. FALSE
When asked about job losses in America and jobs being moved from our shores to places overseas, Bush simply blamed technology.
Darn that technology!
Earlier in the conference when defending his ridiculous tax-cuts, he was quick to blame corporate misdeeds for a shitty market and a numb economy..
yet when it came to the unemployed, he never mentioned America's corporations playing a role in tax-evasion and abandonment of American workers in American cities (choosing anyplace else where workers will sweat for far lower wages).
Oh, but he did offer the fabulous solution of sending the unemployed to Community College for retraining. He just didn't mention what the hell they'd be retraining FOR.
G. GUSHING
Speaking of FABULOUS, did you know Condi Rice is just one FABULOUS person...and therefore she should not be held responsible for the outright lies she has told the American public? Wow, I am SO relieved to hear she's FABULOUS!
H. HALF-TRUTHS
When journalist named Carl asked Bush what's happened to all that money he was promising to send to Africa for AIDS since it is desperately needed, Bush said they may not get it all just yet..because they don't know what to do with the money. I'd love to hear from the agencies who are just WAITING for that money. Something tells me they'd know what to do with it-- immediately. No surprise.
This is the typical polidicking around we'd expect from Bush.
I. IRAN
Bush laughed at journalist Hutchinson's question about Iran. Hutchinson had asked, since Bush had included Iran in the Axis of Evil, if we planned to
use American force in Iran at any time in the future. Bush's mocking tone rang hollow. He began by attacking the press for putting out speculation-chatter about our country attacking Iran (shortly after the Iraq combat was over last April).
THEN he went on, in the next sentence by saying ALL options were still on the table....
meaning it's still a possibility we would consider force. So why the mocking tone? Why the Chimpy laugh? Not too funny, Bush.
J. JOG and DOG
In the same question about Iran, Bush warned Berlusconi and the EU they'd best get involved..or else. Well, he didn't actually say it that way, but that's the way I'm sure he was hoping Berlusconi and the EU would TAKE it. To me, it sounded too close to pre-Iraq for comfort....
like the old 'IF YOU DON'T, THEN WE WILL' all over again. (As if Berlusconi doesn't have his OWN problems and priorities right now).
K. KAY
Quote: "David Kay came to see me yesterday."
Personally, I think David Kay is a creep. I have thought so for a long time now...ever since he turned on Scott Ritter. I believe Ritter when he
avowed that our Intelligence undermined the UN Weapons Inspections process in Iraq. I have no reason NOT to doubt him.
David Kay called Ritter's actions as "shifting the focus back to what he sees as the impact of U.S. policy and the U.S. intelligence community
undermining UNSCOM". Well, hello??? That focus was important in light of the fact that it was THE reason Iraq pulled their cooperation away from the UN. It had so much to do with our ultimate decision to make this preemptive strike....Ritter was right. Kay got on the wrong side of intelligence and history, it seems. What will he do now to assist this desparate, lying administration? He may be a loyal soul at his own peril.
L. LOSS
Here is who, when, and what is to blame for our crummy economy and our hell-canyon of projected deficits:
1- Bill Clinton, of course...after all, we began the downswing in 2000.
2- 2001 recession (we can blame Bill for that, too, I guess.
3- 9-11---
You'll see 9-11 used to take the blame for A LOT of Bush failures and you'll see 9-11 used to take credit for Bush successes
(although I'm really not sure what those "successes" might be ). Anyhow, you'll see 9-11 USED. Often.
4- Corporate Scandals Oh--and none of them happened on Dubya's watch. And Dubya really didn't know Ken Lay. It's all Clinton's fault.
5- DRUMBEAT TO WAR!!!! God, I really LOVED this one!
Bush actually had the nerve to blame the MEDIA for talking up the possibility of the upcoming Iraq war day in/day out...AS IF THEY HAD NO
REASON TO DO SO!!! To blame them for TALKING about it...and saying it caused a market slump is outrageous.....simply outrageous. This is a
typical Bush-method of tring to censor the media...as if they aren't already lame enough! If there was a Drumbeat to War, it was a TRUE drumbeat
and the drummer was none other than George Dubya Bush hisself.
6- Wars cost money. (Renmember this, Bush...you took us to war as an option. It was not necessary. As it turns out, they were not even a real
threat to us! Beside that fact, if you knew your elective war would cost so much, why the hell would you create FURTHER tax-cuts?
If you realized how much the war would cost, why is it that your Budget people cannot give us any reasonably foreseeable estimates?)
Notice TAX-CUTS were no where on that list.
Bush will not take any responsibility for them.
Period.
M. MONEYLESS
Hey, Congress....Bush says you'd better hold the line on spending. You only have -minus $475 billion- with which to work.
N. NABBING
Bush says he'll spend "most of his time" doing his job as Presidunce this year. The rest of the time, he'll be nabbing at least $2000 per person
for his campaign treasure-trove. If we don't like it, we can suck a lemon or something like that.
O. OMINOUS OUTLOOK
I noticed Bush loved bringing up that new story circulating the media about the possibility of new hijacking/terror attacks this summer.
Aaaah-there just ain't nothin' like scarin' people when you want to keep them frightened enough to be dependent upon government and needing "security", eh?
P. PLEAS--PLEASE!
Another new line from the Bush administartion is "Give us TIME to find WMDs....we need TIME...." In the next breath, Bush says he gave the WORLD a chance to find the weapons and they couldn't or they didn't. He says they had 12 years and many resolutions. Well, perhaps they did...but how are we any better off than the world community in uncovering and destroying these WMDs? If there weren't EVER any, then, in retrospect, how could Bush ever have expected the world to do any more than they were doing? It's time to admit we were dead wrong in going this alone. It's time for a new UN Resolution. We need a leader who is smart and humble enough to reach out to the world and get their good faith back again. Our troops could use the help and the peace-keeping experience from UN allies. Will Bush go back to the UN humbly? Can Bush do it? From what I am hearing today, I don't think he has it IN HIM.
Q- QUEERS
When asked the question about homosexuality, he said "We're all sinners."
I stopped listening to his reply to THAT question right then and there. That answer had NO PLACE in a U.S. Presidunce's public vocabulary.
R- ROUNDABOUT REASON
When asked about his administration's hypocritical-seeming multilateral/diplomatic hope for peace in North Korea, (while the North Koreans are making it unquestionably clear they're going 'nucular'), Bush replied that "trying to engage bilaterally didn't work." Well, if Bush was still Mr Tough Talkin' Texan (as he was about Iraq in his pre-war drumbeat), then it seems he should be all ready to attack them now. After all, they're an imminent threat and they've not fully cooperated in the last 40 years.
Bush's answer is to pass the buck this time....let Japan and South Korea and Russia do it.
S- SO MANY EXCUSES
When asked if the tax-cuts were really such a great idea, considering the projected deficits, Bush reiterated his list of excuses (see my refernece in "L").
He said "Look, we would have had deficits with or without tax cuts." (In other words, if the nation's budget is already all bungled up, why not mess it up some more while you have the control and the opportunity?)
He also replied "..we spent money on the war..." (THE war?? Which one? Afghanistan or Iraq? Why is Bush lumping them together as he so often does when talking about Saddam and Osama as if are the same people...the same war) Bush also said "And so part of the deficit, no question, was caused by taxes: about 25% of the deficit. The other 75: 50% caused by lack of revenues and 25% caused by additional spending on the war on terror." OK--so that's 25% on Afghanistan? Can Bush tell us what percent of our budget Iraq will be sucking away? I don't think he CAN....which makes his tax-cutting one of the most iressponsible decisions of his career as President. His answer was not based on any form of true knowlege.
T. TSK-TSK
The very fact that THIS question was aked:
"..there's a sense here in this country and a feeling around the world that the U.S. has lost credibility by building the case for Iraq upon sometimes flimsy or, some people have complained, nonexistent evidence.
And I'm just wondering, sir, why did you choose to take the world to war in that way?"
.......speaks for itself.
U. UNPRODUCTIVE
In Bush's line of work, it's best to produce results. That's what the man says. Look at our economy. Our States.
I don't see a whole lot of results. I saw the two dead bloated bodies of Saddam's sons nauseatingly paraded on the media every half-hour on the half-hour last week. I think "death" and "fear" and "war" are what Bush considers to be "results"...because it's all I hear and see being produced by him.
V. "Ramzi — (painful, painful silence and dumbfounded look)----- "Ramzi -----al Shibh"---(confused look)--- "or whatever the guy's name was. "
W. "Sorry, Ramzi, if I got it wrong."
X. (Someone prompts Chimpy with the right name)
Y. "Bin al Shibh."
Z. "Excuse me. "
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