"These radicals are doing things that God is against... Muslims do not believe in violence. If the culprits are Muslim, they have twisted the teachings of Islam. Whoever performed, or is behind, the terrorist attacks in the United States of America does not represent Islam. As an American Muslim, I want to express my deep sadness and anguish at the tremendous loss of life."

- Muhammad Ali

"Although we in America need to come together and deal with this crisis, I don't see where it helps to rally around a weak and stupid president who stole the election. We criticized Clinton for faking emotion in times of crisis. Now we have an illegitimate president who has no emotions and isn't even capable of faking it, or even reading his pre-written script. What a horrible day it is today in America. We are under attack and our leader is a fucking moron!"

- Marc Perkel

"What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."

- Robert Kennedy

By: Joe Conason  

Despite our crisis, we shouldn't automatically give up our constitutional rights.

Anyone who travels frequently by air, particularly within the borders of the United States, has observed the underpaid and poorly trained "security staff" whose job is to prevent the kind of incidents that occurred on Tuesday. They receive the minimum wage, and in turn provide minimum service, all because the private companies that hire them are seeking maximum profits. Not incidentally, this episode represents the most glaring failure of "privatization" - at an extraordinary cost of life and property - in the short history of that ideological fad. Consider the contrast between the remarkable performance of the unionized civil servants of New York's police and fire departments with the daily ineptitude of airport security firms.

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I watched the one minute speeches in the House today (9/12). You can imagine. Besides the word "cowards" the most repeated refrain was that this was an even more despicable act against humanity than the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The most horrendous bombings in [recent] history were:

Nagasaki - 30,000 civilians in about a minute.

Hiroshima - 50,000 civilians in about a minute.

Dresden - 200,000 in a couple nights.

Which were all executed by...

Best not go there hey?

We don't like hearing what we don't like hearing, especially when we are mad.

Article from:  

Over now familiar refrains of "that's unreal", and "I can't believe it", and pregnant moans of "wow", a spectacle of a different kind captured unblinking New Yorkers this afternoon. Out of Manhattan's Union Square came a welcome and commanding sight: former President Bill Clinton, surrounded by a growing mass of people.

He immediately drew a crowd, most of whom just happened to be walking by. Others emerged from stores and apartments. Many snapped pictures or waved flags in a spontaneous moment of patriotism and giddiness over a celebrity. For his part, Clinton restrained himself from returning smiles, greeting people instead with earnest expressions of concern.

"God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve... The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked, and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way - all of them who have tried to secularize America - I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen'."

- Jerry Falwell, one of our own brand of religious nuts

"We have imagined ourselves invulnerable and have been consumed by the pursuit of... health, wealth, material pleasures and sexuality. [Terrorism] is happening because God Almighty is lifting his protection from us."

- Pat Robertson, another one of our own brand of religious nuts

"We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

- Ann Coulter, in her syndicated column, stoking the flames of religious hatred

By: David Podvin  

This should be a time for nonpartisanship and national unity. It should be a time to temporarily set aside important differences and unite against a common foe. Yet so far today, I have seen three Republicans on television and heard three more on radio blame President Clinton for the terrorist bombings. Conservative websites are bashing him and other Democrats for the deaths of thousands American terrorism victims.

"There are no partisans today, only patriots."

- Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the DNC

"We see terrorists. We see people who don't believe in democracy. They can destroy buildings, they can kill people, and we will be saddened by this tragedy but they will never be allowed to kill the spirit of democracy. They cannot destroy our society, they cannot destroy our belief in the democratic way."

- Secretary of State Colin Powell

By: Tom Perry  

As Congressman Mark Green and other ardent Republicans continue to bask in the afterglow of Monday's presidential visit, I continue to be troubled by one aspect of the event.

The fact that no one was allowed to bring signs to the edge of the tarmac infringed on the rights of free expression that we are guaranteed by the Constitution.

The fact that protesters were forbidden to go anywhere near Monday's event trampled on the rights of Americans to free and peaceful assembly.

By: David A. Kaplan  

The vote in Bush v. Gore was, like all decisions at the High Court, arrived at in secret conference. But this one determined who would be president. We didn't know just how close it was - until now.

By: Naftali Bendavid  

For eight years, Republicans lambasted and even ridiculed President Bill Clinton for alleged legal hair-splitting as he tried to avoid releasing internal information, citing everything from executive privilege to the Secret Service's need for confidentiality.

But just a few months into his administration, President Bush is finding himself in similarly pitched battles with Congress and embroiled in what has become a routine activity of the modern presidency: fashioning legal shields to keep secret a variety of documents about his decision-making process.

"No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions."

- Thomas Jefferson

Market Feels Labor Pains

By: Jerry Knight  

The stock market dove into uncharted territory today (9/7), dropping below several of the statistical landmarks that until now marked the bottom of this down cycle in the stock market.

U.S. Unemployment Jumps

From:  

The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to its highest point in four years in August, the government said Friday, as employers cut far more jobs than private economists had expected, pointing to more weakness in the world's largest economy.

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Editorial from:  

Washington, D.C. is a city of monuments. Now, a new monument is going up in the nation's capital; not to commemorate heroism, but to concede failure.

It is a fence - 9 feet high, 2 1/2 miles long. It will enclose 220 acres, including the White House, chain link topped with razor wire and costing $2 million. The purpose of this dreary installation will be to keep globalization protesters away from globalization promoters during the Sept. 29-30 meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. What the fence doesn't stop, meeting organizers hope the 6,600 police officers - about half being brought in from outside the district - with their $29 million security bankroll, will.

"Family values don't stop at the Rio Bravo!"

- President Weak & Stupid, refering to the Rio Grande - the river that defines the border between Mexico and his 'home' state of Texas

By: Thomas L. Friedman  

I'm the last person who should be giving President Bush political advice. As his father used to say to Jim Baker, "If you're so smart, why am I president?". But Mr. Bush might want to study the parallels between himself and the former British Conservative Party leader William Hague, who recently lost in a landslide to Tony Blair.

If politics were math, I would reduce my advice to this equation: George W. Bush won the presidency because he persuaded enough swing voters that he would rule as "Clinton-minus". He would give them Clinton-like policies on key issues, which a majority of Americans favored, without Clinton the man. That was what "compassionate conservative" was supposed to signal. But once in power, Mr. Bush has ruled not as "Clinton-minus" but as "Reagan-squared", not as a compassionate conservative but as a radical conservative.

"The problem is the deficit is... or should I say... wait a minute... the spending, I should say, of gross national product, forgive me... the spending is roughly 23 to 24 per cent. So that it is in... it what is increasing while the revenues are staying proportionately the same and what would be the proper amount they should, that we should be taking from the private sector."

- Ronald (lost his mind) Reagan, last press conference, October '87

"There are two kinds of conservatives; those who don't got it and blame liberals and minorities for it, and those who got it and care only about keeping it that way."

- Rack Jite

By: Arianna Huffington  

To make the world safer. That's the justification by the Bush administration for its missile defense shield. But, as is often the case with the Bushies, once they have a goal, they let no facts or logic stand in their way, even if they contradict the original motivation. So just how far is the White House willing to go to build support across the globe for its missile defense shield obsession? Further than any sane person would imagine.

According to reports published over the weekend, the administration is prepared to wink at a Chinese nuclear buildup in exchange for China's acquiescence to Bush's Star Wars fantasy. So, to recap, to make the world more 'safe', we're going to make the world less safe.

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The "stately" Bush, speaking in Spanish, has told the news media to "shut up". Of course, he said it in Spanish - "Callate" was the word - while he and Mexican President Vicente Fox refused to speak to reporters during Fox's state visit.

Can the Whores lip-read Spanish? Will they run out and buy a Berlitz phrase book? Do they recognize contempt when they see it?

When will they ever learn?

Arf, arf, git along little doggies!

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The only member of the media invited to Bush's state diner for Mexican president Vicente Fox was from Faux - old reliable wingnut Brit Hume. Unlike at state dinners past, going all the way back into time, including the previous Bush and Reagan administrations, the entire rest of the press corps was excluded, kept off the list, no media need apply. Will the Media Whores get the message? Bush and his gang of high-priced lobbyists don't even think you cut it as hired help. Upstairs, Downstairs, Further Downstairs.

Media Whores, Bush has put you in the sub-basement. Now here's a biscuit, wag your tails and roll over for him. Good doggies!

"As people do better, they start voting like Republicans... unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing."

- Karl Rove

By: Sean Wilentz  

"The check is in the mail."

Guffaws usually follow this preeminent example of universal Great Lies. Only the lie surrounding these particular checks in the mail would have made George Orwell wince.

1626: First patent in American history, for device to restrain natives, to W. Claiborne, Jamestown, Virginia.

1639: U.S.'s first prohibition law, outlawing the drinking of toasts, passed in Massachusetts. The law was repealed in 1645 as unenforceable.

1886: Geronimo surrenders at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona, ending the last major U.S.-Indian conflict. Geronimo had led a small band of Apache men, women, and children out of forced internment on the San Carlos reservation, evading thousands of U.S. and Mexican troops for over 18 months.

1894: Twelve thousand tailors strike in New York.

1957: Little Rock, Arkansas: nine Negro students try to attend Central High; Governor Orval Faubus orders National Guard to prevent them.

1966: National Guard confronts white supremacist mobs in Cicero, Illinois, outside Chicago.

1978: Simultaneous demonstrations against nuclear weapons and power in Red Square, Moscow, and on White House lawn, Washington D.C.

1982: 10,000 dance on nuclear reactor site, Gorleben, West Germany.

1995: U.N.'s 4th World Conference on Women convenes in Beijing, China.

1996: Eight are arrested for dumping buckets of rubble on the White House lawn to protest the latest gratuitous U.S. bombing of Iraq.

By: Dave Barry

Today we present a "Q and A" on President Bush's plan for a national missile defense, so that you, as a citizen, can decide whether to support it, or oppose it, or (this is our recommendation) not think about it ever again.

"Come the millennium, month 12, in the home of greatest power, the village idiot will come forth to be acclaimed the leader."

- Nostradamus, 1555

""Sometimes we agree. Sometimes we don't. But I tell you we'll always answer his phone."

- President Weak & Stupid, Speaking to a Labor Day crowd in Kaukauna, Wis., about the Carpenters' Union president

By: Chris Floyd  

Hey, remember that wacky joyride the U.S. Navy gave last February to a bunch of Texas oil men and big contributors to a foundation chaired by former President George Bush Sr.? Remember how the submarine, with the fat cats playing around at the controls, surfaced into a Japanese fishing boat and killed nine people, including four teenagers? Well, little George was really sorry about his and Daddy's pals killing those Japanese kids and all, so he promised to salvage the boat from the bottom of the sea and send the bodies home to Japan at last. Little George was so sorry, in fact, he put aside $40 million for the project, Reuters reports. So guess which private company got the big contract to haul the boat away? The Halliburton Corporation! You remember, that's where little George's bestest buddy, Bang-Bang Cheney, used to work, the place that paid Cheney $36 million last year as a going-away present for manipulating his old contacts from Daddy's administration to land great big government contracts for the company. Now guess what? The salvage project has hit a few glitches, so it looks like it will cost even more than $40 million now, and that means lots more federal money in Halliburton's coffers! Ah yes, friends and family, that's all that really matters, isn't it?

By: Bryan Zepp Jamieson  

It's Labor Day weekend, and once again our corporate media is talking about issues that it ignores the rest of the year - the plight of the American worker. Once a year, over the howls and protests of the right wing, they talk about how many hours an average worker puts in, how much is produced in each hour of work, and how much of it goes back to the worker.

By: Bill Press  

Which would you rather have, a president who lies about sex?
Or a president who lies about the budget?

We know Bill Clinton lied about his personal sex life: He said he didn't have an affair with Monica Lewinsky when in fact he did, sort of. At the time, that was considered the worst thing any president could do. Americans were shocked. He was even impeached for it. And now we know George Bush is lying about the budget. And that's pretty shocking, too.

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