Wednesday, October 08, 2003

Second Superpower

The Second Superpower

James F. Moore
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Harvard Law School


"..the collective wisdom of the second superpower is grounded in the individual wisdom within each of us..."



Sen. Conyers of House Judiciary Committee asks for Rove's Resignation

Congressman Conyers of House Judiciary Committee
asks for Rove's Resignation



October 7, 2003

Dear Mr. Rove:

I write to ask you to resign from the White House staff. Recent press reports have indicated that, while you may or may not have been the source of the Robert Novak column which revealed the status and name of a covert operative, the wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson, you were involved in a subsequent effort to push this classified information to other reporters and give it even wider currency. This itself may be a federal crime, but regardless of that fact, your actions are morally indefensible......

see entire letter here at Buzzflash



Dreadful Dismal Doleful Dolorous Dollar-Less

Sometimes the Olde Times Feel Like the Now Times




From : The Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser
1765


Newspaper of William Bradford, then-age 24...the leading printer in Philadelphia. On the day preceding the one in which the Stamp Act was to go in force, the newspaper contained the emblematic head and "doleful" communication seen in this engraving.


Main Entry: dole·ful
Pronunciation: 'dOl-f&l
Function: adjective
Date: 13th century
1 : causing grief or affliction a doleful loss
2 : full of grief : CHEERLESS a doleful face
3 : expressing grief : SAD a doleful melody


Main Entry: do·lor·ous
Pronunciation: 'dO-l&-r&s also 'dä-
Function: adjective
Date: 15th century
: causing, marked by, or expressing misery or grief


Rep McDermott endorses Howard Dean

Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington is endorsing Howard Dean in the Democratic presidential primary, the ninth member of Congress to back the former Vermont governor.

Pakistan Holds Second Missile Test in a Week With Rocket That Can Reach Most Targets in Rival India

Pakistan Holds Second Missile Test in a Week With Rocket That Can Reach Most Targets in Rival India
By Paul Haven Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 8, 2003


Four days ago, after the last Pakistani missle test, this was U.S. official reaction:

"...we have continued to urge both Pakistan and India to take steps to restrain their nuclear weapons and their missile programs, including no operational deployment of nuclear-armed ballistic missiles."

State Dept. spokesman Richard Boucher


SOME RESTRAINT!

Dniel Pipes on WMDs

Pipes Makes Apology and Excuse for Lack of WMD Discovery--
Furthers Story of Saddam Playing the U.S. for Complete Saps


"......If no WMDs exist, the real mystery is not how the Bush administration made the same mistake everyone else did; the mystery is why Saddam purposefully created the false impression he had WMDs. Why did he put himself into the bizarre position of simultaneously pretending to build WMDs and pretending to hide his non-existent weapons?"

In other words, Bush scratches his head....can't believe he was duped into becoming attack dog..and it's Clinton's fault as usual...(note the "everyone else" reference)


Colin Powell Speaks..

Colin Powell Speaks..
I Have Questions


I am using some of Colin Powell's quotes from this week's Washington Post letter:

POWELL: "What the world knew last November about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs was enough to justify the threat of serious consequences under Resolution 1441. "

--Enough?
What DID the world "know", General Powell?
Obviously not what you THINK you knew.
I watched you at the U.N. before this war began.
You aren't fooling anyone, Sir.

Was it enough to justify all the war dead?




Was it enough to justify so much of this?
I say NO.



POWELL: "In the interim report, Kay and his team record the chilling fact that they "found people, technical information and illicit procurement networks that if allowed to flow to other countries and regions could accelerate global proliferation."
Having put an end to that harrowing possibility alone justifies our coalition's action against Hussein's regime. But that is not the only achievement of our brave men and women in uniform and their coalition partners."

--How can you say you have put an end to the possibility of the outflow of procurement when you don't even know where these weapons or plans for weapons are..if they ever existed....or if you don't know whether or not these
ghost-weapons have already made their way across borders while we lost control of Iraq during our unilateral strike?

It's strange, General Powell, that you completely fail to mention the Kuwaiti foiling of an attempt to smuggle $60 million worth of chemical weapons and biological warheads from Iraq to an unnamed European country last week. Do you not wish to expose how vulnerable you have made Americans?
No.


POWELL: "Three weeks ago I paid my respects at a mass grave in the northern city of Halabja, where on a Friday morning in March 1988, Hussein's forces murdered 5,000 men, women and children with chemical weapons. Saddam Hussein can cause no more Halabjas. His "Republic of Fear" no longer holds sway over the people of Iraq. For the first time in three decades, the Iraqi people have reason to hope for the future.

President Bush was right: This was an evil regime, lethal to its own people, in deepening material breach of its Security Council obligations, and a threat to international peace and security. Hussein would have stopped at nothing until something stopped him. It's a good thing that we did."

--Question for you, General Powell....
We don't have one weapon of mass destruction to date.
Not a one.
I see that Saddam Hussein was a horrific leader.
Terrible things happened under his rule.
That said....
WAS WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN IRAQ SUFFICIENT REASON TO GO INTO IRAQ WITHOUT INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT?

My answer is a resounding NO, General Powell.

NO!

French 9/11 provocateur loses libel case

French 9/11 provocateur loses libel case

PARIS, Oct 3 (AFP) - Thierry Meyssan, the French author of a book that claimed the September 11 attacks were organised by the United States and that no plane crashed into the Pentagon, has lost a defamation case against a newspaper that accused him of being a profiteering fabulist.

The Paris court Wednesday struck down Meyssan's EUR 25,000 (USD 30,000) claim against the daily Liberation, saying its articles criticising his theory and character were protected by freedom of the press and the right of journalists and the public to challenge the author's controversial position.

Liberation printed three stories in March and May last year rubbishing Meyssan's assertion in his best-selling book "L'Effroyable Imposture" (printed in English as "9/11: The Big Lie") that the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon was carried out with a bomb planted by US authorities, not a hijacked plane, and that it was "a conspiracy ordered by a militaro-industrial group close to President Bush to justify the war in Iraq.... Meyssan has continued to taunt the US government, and his association has started selling a deck of playing cards featuring the faces of President George W. Bush and his aides with captions alleging they waged war on Iraq for reasons of greed."

Vivendi and General Electric

French Soundly Beaten by U.S. Military Complex
...or...

Vivendi and General Electric Sign Definitive Agreement on New Entertainment Company
By Jamey Keaten Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 8, 2003


Now..to crush Disney....

One can never get enough military media concentration, can one?
Two sides of a story?
BAH!

HOWARD DEAN GRAFFITI ARTIST ARRESTED

Republicans Strike Again-
Anyone Aiding TerroristsDemocrats Will Be Hunted Down


GLOBE and MAIL:

"....Artist who spray-painted backdrop at political rally arrested
New York — The graffiti artist whose backdrop at a rally for Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean caused a brouhaha among New York City Republicans was arraigned on a charge related to a 1999 spray-painting incident, officials said...."


"....New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Staten Island Councilman James Oddo, both Republicans, spoke out against Mr. Dean's decision to have Mr. Lethem spray-paint a graffiti-inspired mural at his Bryant Park rally, saying it promoted a type of vandalism New York has fought to eliminate.
A spokesman for the Dean campaign said the presidential hopeful was merely giving an artist the space to
express himself..."




NY POST:

DEAN GRAFFITI 'ARTIST' BUSTED

October 8, 2003 -- Howard Dean's graffiti scrawler has been nabbed for practicing his "art" on subway cars in 1999.
Blake Lethem, 36, known as "KEO," was hired by the Democratic presidential wannabe to spray-paint a backdrop at a Bryant Park rally in August. And that proved his undoing.

Lethem's photo had been published when Dean was sandblasted by City Hall for glorifying graffiti.

Cops pounced on him at his Lower East Side apartment Monday after matching the photo with a home video showing seven graffiti vandals defacing subway cars in Manhattan.

He was charged with criminal mischief and arraigned in Manhattan criminal court.


Syria to Israel: War is coming with new attacks

Syria to Israel: War is coming with new attacks....

"Syria's ambassador to Spain said on Wednesday Damascus would respond militarily against Israel if the Jewish state carried out new attacks on Syrian territory....."

Bush eggs them on....

"...Sharon has been buoyed by support from President Bush. Washington has accused Syria of being a state sponsor of terrorism.
"The decisions that he (Sharon) makes to defend her people are valid decisions. We would be doing the same thing," Bush said on Tuesday. {talking out of the other side of his face...}-> He added that it was "important for the prime minister to avoid escalation."


Arnold Wins California

Arnold Wins California


"YEE HA! I VON!"

The World Toasts the Governor

"....From an Internet chatroom in China to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s boyhood home in Austria, the world marvelled today at a uniquely American political triumph with more suspense than a Hollywood script..."


Failing GOP Dinosaur Bush to Campaign with a "new" Republican--
pro-gay, pro-abortion, pro-gun-control,

and
Clan-of-Kennedy...


Yes...the same Kennedy..as in the George Bush Award recipient Kennedy..

How will this win politically translate in 2004?


STUPERMAN


SUPERMAN

Arnold's win boosts GOP odds in state for 2004

~~~~~~~~~~~~~


RESULTS
VOTE TO RECALL GOV. DAVIS (as of 09:52 a.m.)
Precincts Reporting: 97%
Votes

Yes 4,092,412
No 3,438,424

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CANDIDATE TO SUCCEED
GOV. DAVIS (as of 09:52 a.m.)


Precincts Reporting: 97%
Candidate Votes
X - Arnold Schwarzenegger 3,475,671
Cruz M. Bustamante 2,354,159
Tom McClintock 958,274
Peter Miguel Camejo 205,225

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Latest From Drudge:

"FRANK RICH: I'LL MISS THE RECALL CIRCUS
Tue Oct 07 2003 17:59:55 ET


"Forgive me for mourning the passing of the recall election in California," NY TIMES columnist Frank Rich is planning to write in a coming essay.

"Maybe it wasn't the greatest show on earth, but in its lasting impact it may prove one of the more transformative cultural events of our young century."

Newsroom sources tell DRUDGE that Rich will lament: "Eastern snobs who airily condescended to the spectacle as merely another example of left-coast madness just didn't get it. As goes California, so goes the nation.

"It's Disneyland, not Colonial Williamsburg, that prefigures our future, and the action-packed recall ride was nothing if not the apotheosis of the Magic Kingdom. It was fun, it was instructive, it was expensive, it was hawked relentlessly on television, it starred an Audio-Animatronic action figure. "

"It even had product placement for its leading man's vehicle of choice, the Hummer. And it will set off a chain of unanticipated consequences whose full meaning will become apparent only with time."

Developing... "


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Political News Analysis from AP- -
Recall Lesson: Incumbents Not Safe Unless They Address Voter Discontent