via Drum, jonathon has more. EW, too.* Hubris (via atr):
"In October 2001, [Wayne] Downing, [Paul] Wolfowitz, and other proponents of a war with Iraq thought they had yet more ammunition for the case against Saddam. A series of deadly anthrax-laced letters had been sent to the Capitol Hill offices of Senator Daschle and Senator Patrick Leahy and to several newsrooms. Mylroie asserted that Saddam was behind the mailings. An early forensic test of the anthrax letters (which was later disputed) appeared to show that the anthrax spores were highly refined and "weaponized." To the Iraq hawks, the news was electric. "This is definitely Saddam!" Downing shouted to several White House aides. One of these aides later recalled overhearing Downing excitedly sharing the news over the phone with Wolfowitz and Feith. "I had the feeling they were high-five-ing each other," the White House official said."
* dreyfuss:
"Polls can be wrong, but polls that show overwhelming tilts in one direction or another are usually on the mark. In this case, it's the Rasmussen poll: It shows that Republicans believe that Iraq had ties to Al Qaeda before 9/11 by a stunning margin of 59 to 19. (Among Democrats, 46 per cent believe that there were no such ties - a view that was confirmed in spades last week by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence -- and 34 think there were such ties.)"stupid, stupid people. stupid media. stupid government.
* oldschool wants to know your top 5 testosterone-y movies.
8 comments:
From fabricated wars, to elections with voting machines which can't be trusted, to the military's desire to incinerate civilians with microwave weapons, when do we pass the point the authors of the Declaration of Independence described as the citizens' right and duty to "throw off such government," and what did they have in mind? I asked that the other day.
Federal courts have told Bush to stop illegal surveillance of Americans and close Guantanamo Bay, to which he responded, "up yours" and has stepped up those activities. That's so he can discover who opposes government spying, war and torture, and torture and microwave them.
I'd say we've passed the point of needing to throw it off and re-establish democracy. And, I'd say the Declaration's writers intended it to be done by force, if no other way works. Well, no other way works. Now what?
As you may have guessed, my devious little mind has constructed an evil scheme. It's bloody and frightening. We've arrived at the point of having that discussion, however; in fact, we're a million light years past.
heck - for years i've been saying that only a 'revolution' can save us. choose your poison.
Should we have this discussion? Australia has a new, fancy conservative government, doesn't it? Because, what I'm thinking about could get us both picked up by the secret police.
Still, I'm not afraid to say what I think. But, I'd want your permission to say it on your site. I could link to another site instead, if you'd prefer. The GOP leadership in the U.S. fears and expects a tooth-and-toenail revolution to erupt, and that's why there's all this talk about detention centers and microwaving civilians. But who scares who more?
I can be scary. We can be famous, but I don't need to be scary or famous. Whatya say, Luke?
we have an old scary govt here - they've been in power for nearly 2 decades - but the way the US operates these days, they can do what they want anywhere anyway.
if the repugs steal the election i november, i think we'll be a step closer to a revolution. perhaps the americans can (finally) learn something from the ukranians or the mexicans
Is that a "no?" Hee hee, I told my idea to Janet a while back and she didn't say anything. From that I inferred that talking about it is probably a bad idea.
But, what if the thugs steal the next election? I'll wager a crisp, new thousand dollar bill they will--and when they do, I'll be sorry the idea of revolution wasn't proposed as a real-life, practical cure for what ails us.
But that doesn't happen. I wonder why. Could it be people don't want to be marched off to jail for exercising their right to free speech? The founders said that, as a matter of course, it would eventually be necessary. How do we want history to remember us? The jury isn't out on this one.
No pressure! You can ponder these questions while enjoying all the pretty pictures here.
feel free to say whatever you like.
You are always the perfect host, and kind to me. If you look at the front page entries I've made, they all tend to be extreme. I hate to go too far. Did you see the 2 entries on that MSN blog? After reading for months, I haven't found any creative proposals for going about it. I was hoping for that. The best thing I found was a story or two about how progressive churches and individuals are working together in community outreach and local government action projects to compensate for and roll back cuts to federal programs relating to the poor, environmental issues and similar areas of public interest.
While that's very encouraging, and in the long run a legitimate way to change individuals and society for the better, we need so much more. People fought and died for liberties the Bush administration and Congress casually erase with the stroke of a pen. When I see articles like that one about the town in Georgia where federal agents (and I wonder what agency) are rounding up illegals and taking them far away, I wonder if they'll have due process. I wonder who will be next for apprehension and detention.
The more I read and the more time that passes, the more I think about the people who moved here in the seventeenth century, how England wouldn't leave them alone and what they had to do to make this a sovereign nation. Bush can say things have changed, but they haven't. And, maybe November will change things. I doubt it. But, even if it does, something is still missing.
What's happened is the GOP has seized every hall, rigged the law and fabricated a contrived, house-of-cards firewall they think insulates them from retribution for neglect of the public good and commonwealth. Until they feel pain, real pain, in their personal lives, why should they care? They shouldn't! And they don't care.
Americans should know better. History tells us how to fix it. But in today's oppressive environment, people draw the line far too early in the discussion of recovery. We face the threat of falling into the same rut in which Israel and Palestine find themselves: the discussion never reaches a resolution, and fighting becomes a habit.
One final word: you can't play nice with people who don't play nice. We've seen enough to know that. Nothing short of a certain rebuke, a harsh penalty, will bring this despotism to a halt. I want to think Americans can manage that, without an elaborate plan. But maybe I give them too much credit. Something has to give. This kind of thinking isn't for everyone.
Heaven knows, I enjoy being free, anonymous, obscure and inconsequential. I'm willing to suffer a LOT for that very simple life. I feel it's irresponsible to not at least TRY to propose a solution, even if it represents a great departure from conventional thinking. I could write a series. Any thoughts?
i agree that we are at a precipice - and I'm not sure November will provide the answer - whoever 'wins'
it's like we are sufferring from the slowly-boiling-frog syndrome. hopefully mexico can provide americans with a play-by-play map in the next 2 months. let's hope that the situation there, and in america, can be resolved peacefully.
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