Rebuilding New Orleans: Whites Only
Thu Sep 08, 2005 at 09:37:35 AM PDT
Two pieces today make the case that Republicans will do all they can to create a rebuilt "whites only" city.
While catastrophe was unfolding in New Orleans, Dennis Hastert said out loud what many Republicans were undoubtedly thinking: why rebuild at all? John Nichols makes a persuasive case that Hastert was not talking about the city's location at all, but about the political power of African-American voters there:
(More after the jump.)
Drown Government...and Whoever's In the Way
Sun Sep 04, 2005 at 08:38:46 AM PDT
Nick Coleman of the
Star Tribune wrote a
great column today comparing the flood in Grand Forks, ND in 1997 with this week's tragedy in New Orleans.
He aptly notes that the reason no one died in Grand Forks was not that it's smaller or whiter or more middle class (though he acknowledges these factors). The reason why the residents of Grand Forks escaped relatively unscathed is simple:
Bush: Bloodshed in Iraq Is 'Worth It'
Tue Jun 28, 2005 at 04:18:45 PM PDT
Yes indeed, that's the
title on the story that some pyschic at the AP has written about the speech that Bush will give tonight.
How very special of an AWOL National Guardsman to tell our soldiers, Iraqi citizens and their families that their deaths and severe injuries are "worth it" to carry out his neocon delusions.
Sorry for the short diary, but I must go take lots of aspirin now in an attempt to stop my head from exploding.
Iraq and Vietnam: "There Isn't Any Comparison"
Sun Jun 26, 2005 at 04:52:16 PM PDT
Those are the not-so-wise words of Michael Deaver, former aide to St. Ronnie Reagan. Deaver, speaking from the Republicans' home base on Pluto,
opined to the LA Times:
There aren't student demonstrators all over the country. There aren't National Guardsmen tear-gassing people.... We're a long way from that.
Ah, now I get it! The fact that more Americans now oppose the Iraq war than probably ever opposed Vietnam is irrelevant. The fact that more people now blame George Bush than Saddam Hussein for starting the war is immaterial.
Iraq isn't like Vietnam because there aren't rioting students in the street (which is lucky because all the National Guard are in Iraq and unavailable to quell traitorous liberals).
My actual, fact-free point after the jump.
Rev Up Our Noise Machine - No Bush Mandate
Thu Nov 04, 2004 at 07:17:44 AM PDT
Forget the values (or morals, or bigotry or whatever it is) for a day or so and write a letter to the editor pointing out that Bush's victory was not "sweeping" -- it was about 2% to 5% of a record turnout based on various estimates.
He does not not have a "mandate," especially for radical proposals such as privatizing Social Security or appointing Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade.
If the Rethuglicans had lost a record turnout by 2-5%, they would be screeching that the new Dem president had no mandate or legitimacy.
Tell everyone in a LTE that the 49% of us living in the reality-based world are passionate, committed and vocal, and we aren't going to sit down and shut up.
Go to it!
Funnier than Stewart: Hannity the Comedian
Tue Oct 26, 2004 at 01:46:32 PM PDT
For everyone who needs a good laugh today, John Nichols dissects Sean Hannity's comedy technique:
No, Hannity does not fashion himself a comic. He doesn't even know he's funny.
It is that unintended quality that makes Hannity's "interviews" so remarkably ridiculous that it is impossible not to laugh...
There will be those who suggest that it is unfair to pick on Hannity because, as a Fox host, he is not supposed to be concerned about his credibility as a television interviewer. But Hannity's "interviews" are not Fox bad, they are William Shatner singing "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" bad.
A new Dem Party has been summoned into existence
Thu Oct 21, 2004 at 10:17:41 AM PDT
Sidney Blumenthal has a great column in the
Guardian that covers a lot of ground, from the The Civil Rights Record of the George W. Bush Administration which (surprise!) has been suppressed, to several reasons for optimism that with a good GOTV effort Kerry will prevail.
Worth a read for anyone who watches the polls too closely and is feeling anxious or who needs even more motivation to get out there and hit the streets.
Choice excerpt:
...Bush whined that Kerry was practising "the politics of fear". The next day Dick Cheney projected terrorists exploding nuclear weapons within the US, and offered Bush as saviour from looming apocalypse.
"No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as terror," wrote Edmund Burke. But not even the eve of destruction will stifle turnout.
Full article here.
WI GOP Lied to Get Nader on Ballot
Sun Oct 17, 2004 at 09:22:15 AM PDT
We're all shocked, shocked that happened, right? The
Wisconsin State Journal, the conservative newspaper in Madison, laid out the dirty tricks:
At least 16 Republican Party officers and volunteers from across Wisconsin were involved in a secretive signature drive to get presidential candidate Ralph Nader on the ballot by claiming to be supporters and keeping quiet about their GOP affiliations.
Organizers of the covert drive gathered an estimated 3,228 signatures - far more than the 2,000 required to put Nader, an independent, on the Nov. 2 ballot.
But their work, submitted to Nader's campaign by a GOP activist, ultimately didn't count. Nader got on the ballot with no help from the Republicans.
Repub Former Governor Slams Bush, Endorses Kerry
Tue Oct 12, 2004 at 06:41:38 PM PDT
Former Minnesota governor Elmer Andersen, self described as a "liberal" Republican, has harsh words for George Bush:
This imperialistic, stubborn adherence to wrongful policies and known untruths by the Cheney-Bush administration -- and that's the accurate order -- has simply become more than I can stand.
That sums up a scathing review by Andersen of Cheney/Bush's lies and fiascoes and the cost to (gasp!) children and working folk.
The entire editorial is well worth a read.
Guardian: How Edwards Dissected Cheney
Thu Oct 07, 2004 at 10:45:54 AM PDT
Sidney Blumenthal writes another
great column, this time on the vice presidential debate.
He points out what most Kossacks know by now--that Cheney lied about everything under the sun, from never meeting Edwards before to the justification for going to Iraq.
But the column also has a great analysis of something I haven't seen discussed too much on Kos (though it's tough to keep up with 400+ diaries a day, so apologies if someone has already written on this): the political seismic waves created among the wingnuts when Edwards praised Cheney's support for his gay daughter.
Bush in Iraq: "Whistling in the Dark"
Thu Sep 09, 2004 at 10:17:48 AM PDT
While channel surfing during commercials on
The Daily Show, I came upon a fascinating segment on PBS'
Newshour. It featured a retired Colonel and General who agreed that things in Iraq are bad and getting worse.
It was a good example of what happens when the press goes after the truth by interviewing experts instead of refereeing a he said/she said argument in which the Bush lies are presented as just another viewpoint. We need to push as hard as we can to insist that other TV outlets start practicing real journalism like this again.
Full transcript here.
Essential, though scary, reading for anyone who wants military insight on what's really happening in Iraq.
Robert Scheer: Iraqi Soccer, Bush's Fantasy Life and Kerry's Courage
Tue Aug 24, 2004 at 04:05:54 PM PDT
Robert Scheer is the best kind of "angry liberal". Back in late 2001 and 2002, when the rest of the media was kowtowing to Shrub, Scheer was asking tough questions about the rush to war and misguided national priorities.
This week's column is even better than usual. Scheer elegantly ties together the Iraqi soccer team's well deserved bitch slap of Shrub with Kerry's Vietnam testimony in 1971.
Choice excerpt:
Those who attack Kerry for speaking out in 1971 against the Vietnam War don't understand that it was an enormous public service for returning American veterans to expose the cynicism of their leaders, as Kerry did in testifying before the U.S. Senate.
The young Kerry was speaking truth to power, facing a reality that presidents Richard Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson had admitted in private, as
records made public later revealed.
Shrub & Kerry Wrong on Iraq War
Mon Aug 16, 2004 at 07:53:40 PM PDT
This
editorial from the
Capital Times, Madison, WI makes an excellent point, noted in other ways in other Kos diaries, that Kerry has really blown it on his statements about the war in Iraq.
Choice excerpt:
Kerry should pay attention to a point made by U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. Feingold says that Democrats make a mistake by assuming that so-called "swing" voters are centrists who support the war. A lot of undecided voters, Feingold suggests, are Americans who believe this war is a terrible mistake and who want a leader who recognizes that fact and will bring it to an end.
Similarly, Paul Wellstone was in a tight battle with Norm Coleman until Wellstone voted against the Iraq war resolution. Wellstone then opened a lead on Coleman. Kerry needs to learn a lesson from the progressives and stop his Republican Lite war posturing.
Kerry and Iran-Contra
Thu Jul 22, 2004 at 07:15:19 AM PDT
Promoted from the diaries -- Trapper.
Clinton adviser Sidney Blumenthal reviews John Kerry's history of uncovering Iran-Contra and other big government messes.
Though I consider myself relatively well informed, this is stuff I've never heard. Of course the Republicans have every incentive not to publicize Kerry's investigations and the SCLM just plays along with the Repubs. No surprise that Blumenthal's column is published in the Guardian, not any U.S. paper.
Full link.
Choice excerpt:
"From Vietnam onwards, Kerry has probed the inner recesses of government, pursuing a persistent and cumulative investigation into the underside of national security and terrorism. If the Democrats had held the Senate for a sustained period of time, his proposal to regulate the netherworld of money laundering, which was not enacted, might even have helped stymie al-Qaida."
If only...sigh.
Will the SCLM Follow Suit?
Wed Jul 14, 2004 at 09:23:09 AM PDT
Okay, I cannot resist making this into a diary entry:
Al-Jazeera Pledges Honest News Coverage
Wed Jul 14, 8:15 AM ET Add World - AP to My Yahoo!
DOHA, Qatar - The popular Arab news channel Al-Jazeera, which the United States has accused of bias, has issued a code of ethics, vowing to "uphold journalistic values" and to be sensitive to the victims of the wars and disasters it covers.
The code, issued in a statement at the end of a two-day international media forum that concluded Tuesday, said the station will "strive to reach and deliver the truth, respect our audience."
Full link to story
Iraqi Liberation, British Empire Style
Tue Jun 29, 2004 at 09:30:16 AM PDT
The Guardian (is it on
your favorite bookmark list yet?) keeps pointing out that correct parallel for what's happening in Iraq today is not Vietnam, but what happened in Iraq circa 1920, when the British Empire "liberated" the country.
Another fine article recounting this history today, written by an actual Iraqi (the nerve--don't they know that only rich, powerful white U.S. men can talk authoritatively about Iraq?).
Local Theater Manager's Perspective on F9/11
Sat Jun 26, 2004 at 02:53:42 PM PDT
Tidbit from a local theater manager on F9/11:
"This thing's going to run until Election Day," said Hugh Wronski, manager of the Lagoon Theater in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood, where it was showing on three screens. "The timing couldn't be better, politically."
He marveled at the approximately 100 patrons who had lined up on the sidewalk when the box office opened at 11:30 a.m., in addition to "thousands and thousands" of advance tickets already sold online.
Great Article--How Miller was Duped (and still won't admit it)
Sat May 29, 2004 at 11:12:30 AM PDT
Wonderful piece from the Guardian--why exactly is it that we have to go to the British media to get this level of truth?
How Chalabi and the White House held the front page: The New York Times has burned its reputation on a pyre of lies about Iraq
A choice excerpt:
"The White House had a perfect deal with Miller," (a CIA analyst) said. "Chalabi is providing the Bush people with the information they need to support their political objectives, and he is supplying the same material to Judy Miller. Chalabi tips her on something and then she goes to the White House, which has already heard the same thing from Chalabi, and she gets it corroborated. She also got the Pentagon to confirm things for her, which made sense, since they were working so closely with Chalabi. Too bad Judy didn't spend a little more time talking to those of us who had information that contradicted almost everything Chalabi said."
