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   Issue #3 - September 2001 - Bush II: War and Recession 4:54 PM 9/28/01 Self-described 'Army brat' Barbara Lee explains why she cast Congress' only vote against giving the president a free hand to attack suspected terrorists. By: Bill Hogan "It was a vote of conscience", says California Democratic Representative Barbara Lee. "I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States", Lee said on the House floor on Sept. 15th. "There must be some of us who say, 'Let's step back for a moment and think through the implications of our actions today - let us more fully understand the consequences'." 2:17 PM 9/28/01 By: Bev Conover ...in the wake of September 11, with the major media beating the war drum and sucking up every fanciful tale and lie that comes out of the White House, the Bush administration wants us to wage war on we know not whom and give up our civil rights in the process. We even are expected to rally to the illegitimate administration that occupies the White House, forgetting that George W. Bush stole the election and five members of the U.S. Supreme Court blessed his theft. Not to do so is to be called un-American, un-patriotic or worse. 1:30 PM 9/28/01 Looking for Work At an international medical conference four doctors were discussing modern medical procedures. The Israeli doctor says, "Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one man put it in another and have him looking for work in six weeks". The German doctor says, "That's nothing, we can take a lung out of one person put it in another and have him looking for work in four weeks". The Russian doctor says, "In my country medicine is so advanced we can take half a heart out of one person put it in another and have them both looking for work in two weeks". The American doctor, not to be outdone, says, "You guys are way behind. We just took a man with no brains out of Texas, put him in the White House and now half the country is looking for work". 1:03 PM 9/28/01 Do the feds need more power to fight terrorism? By: Richard Lacayo When Attorney General John Ashcroft proposed new antiterrorist legislation last week, he wanted Congress to approve it within days. At the White House, there was some annoyance that he set the deadline without consulting first. But maybe Ashcroft was right to think he had to act fast, and not only because he needs to crack terrorist networks before they can strike again. He also needs to head off resistance from people across the political spectrum who think the Justice Department already has all the power it needs. The things that Ashcroft wants - expanded power to tap phones, sift through e-mail and detain or deport foreigners - don't just offend the ACLU. Cynicism about government power is now the folk culture of the American right. In Congress, one of the first members to question Ashcroft's plans was Georgia's state-of-the-art conservative Representative Bob Barr. "We cannot and must not", he said, "allow our constitutional freedoms to become victims of these violent attacks". 12:48 PM 9/28/01 By: Ted Rall Bush and Company's Grab for a Blank Check We've been treated to some astonishingly vile images over the last two weeks: office workers hurling themselves into a hundred-floor-high abyss. A gaping, smouldering hole in the financial center of our greatest city. George W. Bush passing himself off as a patriot, even as he disassembles the Constitution with the voracious glee of piranha skeletonizing a cow. 12:15 PM 9/28/01 "Ignorance is not innocence but sin." 1:15 PM 9/27/01 "There are reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do, and this is not a time for remarks like that; there never is." 10:01 AM 9/27/01 * Right Wing Conservative Republican The RWCR's must be overjoyed at the unintended consequences of the the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The WTC attack is the "reichstag fire" for the RWCR minority in this country. They have exploited a tragedy to achieve many of their aims in one fell swoop.
8:52 AM 9/27/01
7:48 PM 9/26/01 Points to Ponder About the Attacks By: William Cooper So who benefits? The answer is obvious and very disturbing. Everyone in the oil business will benefit, especially the Bush family and their business partners. Everyone in the defense industrial complex will benefit. The United Nations will benefit. The State of Israel will benefit big time. Tyranny in the name of security will benefit and rule over the American People. And don't be surprised if many Patriots and politically incorrect Americans begin to disappear overnight like the Jews and Gypsies in Nazi Germany. 11:50 AM 9/26/01 From: Doug in California Subject: WTC Attack Suspects Who benefits most? I wish it wasn't true. 9:23 AM 9/26/01 By: John Emerson During this crisis we've been hearing a lot about "unity" and supporting the President. So okay, let's have unity. Who are the enemies of unity? When Bin Laden or whoever it was wanted to hit America where it hurt, they attacked New York City. The constituents of Jesse Helms, Trent Lott, Dick Armey, and Helen Chenoweth were safe. That's why President Bush was sent to Nebraska. The Republicans talk a lot bout the "Heartland" and "real Americans" - in contrast to "you people" (Democrats). Our little friend Andrew Sullivan just suggested that the "blue areas" form a disloyal fifth column in the war against terrorism. 8:08 AM 9/26/01 'Air Force One' was never a target!
...nor was the White House!
Does this administration EVER tell the truth? 7:33 PM 9/25/01 By: Howard Gleckman President Bush has made a breathtaking promise. "Our war on terrorism", he told a joint session of Congress on Sept. 20, "will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated". And, repeating a theme he has sounded since the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Bush grimly warned that "any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime". These are powerful words of extraordinary importance. And they appear to have enormous support within the U.S. Polls show more than 90% of Americans back the President's efforts. Unfortunately, these are vows that the President cannot keep. More troubling, U.S. diplomatic actions since his impassioned speech suggest the White House has no intention of even trying. 7:15 PM 9/25/01 "Through his tears, he sees opportunity." 8:23 AM 9/25/01 By: Bryan Zepp Jamieson There's something about the right-wing mentality that can be unbelievably tawdry and petty and vicious. Nearly everyone knows of Jerry Falwell taking advantage of the catastrophe in New York to try and pin blame on gays, liberals and the ACLU. Here in northern California, in the town of Redding, some of the local anti-abortionists thought that the spontaneous memorial to those killed in the attacks would be a dandy place to put up pictures of chopped up fetuses and propaganda. I mean, people were paying attention to the memorial, right? Why not take advantage of that to promote their cause? If it was limited to that sort of thing, you could write it off as the sort of sickening tackiness that so often accompanies right wing sanctimony and ignorance. Unfortunately, it isn't limited to the trashiest lower reaches of the right. While Democrats in the House and Senate were setting differences aside - even the matter of the fact that Putsch stole the election - Republicans, with a whoop, were taking advantage of the war fever, patriotism, and confusion to push as hard as they could for their various pet projects. 12:54 PM 9/24/01 "If Bush can't even prevent his own daughters from getting bombed, what hope is there for the rest of us?" 6:33 PM 9/22/01 By: John Balzar A stranger walked through my neighborhood and planted American flags in the yards of every house on my block. The feeling of our community closing ranks didn't last long, though. The next thing I knew, these and other flags across the nation were being mocked by a loathsome group that for too long has held esteem in our country and purported to define its national purpose. I am speaking of Wall Street and its disciples: that grim gambler's den that rushed to bet against us. The profiteers failed the first test of patriotism in 2001. They short-sold their country. Cowards, they ran. 1:06 PM 9/22/01 By: Adam Entous In sharp contrast to the airline industry's high-profile campaign for a multibillion-dollar bailout, insurance companies are quietly pressing Congress for tax relief in the aftermath of last week's devastating hijack attacks. Congressional sources said the legislation under consideration would remove hurdles to industry consolidation and give some insurers a break on their income taxes by allowing them to use their losses in one subsidiary, such as property-casualty, to offset gains in another. Since companies pay taxes on their gains, the shift could yield substantial tax savings - $1 billion or more over 10 years, according to some estimates. 12:45 PM 9/22/01 "If I see someone come in and he's got a diaper on his head and a fan belt around that diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over and checked." 12:30 PM 9/22/01 On one of his photo-op tours, W. went to an elementary school and watched the first grade class as they were studying words. The teacher asked W. if he'd like to help her teach the kids about words, and he replied "sure". "Children, today's word is 'Tragedy'. Can anybody tell me what Tragedy means?" One little girl raised her hand and said "If a kid gets hit by a car that would be a Tragedy". W. looked at her and said, "No, I am sorry, you are wrong. That would be an Accident. A terrible Accident, but that would not be a Tragedy". A little boy raised his hand and said "What if a whole school bus of little kids went over the cliff and crashed? Surely that would be a Tragedy". Again W. shook his head. "No, I am sorry, you are wrong. That would be a Great Loss, but that would not be a Tragedy." Finally another little boy raised his hand and said, "I know, Mr. Bush. If you were flying on Air Force One and got shot down by a terrorist, that would be a Tragedy". "Very good, young man, that would be a Tragedy", W. said. "And how did you arrive at that answer?" "Well", said the little boy, "because it wouldn't be an accident and it sure wouldn't be no Great Loss". 2:08 PM 9/21/01 Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the airlines private companies that take risks when they do business, and if they fail for whatever reason, that's the breaks? Now, I understand that air travel is 'part-and-parcel' of our economy and necessary for its continued health, so... Don't bail 'em out - BUY 'EM OUT! Then 'we the people' have something to show for that $17,500,000,000. Nuf' said. 12:36 PM 9/21/01 By: Nicholas von Hoffman In the early winter of 1933, Franklin Roosevelt took a fishing vacation off the coast of Florida. After returning to Miami, he went to a park, where, seated in the back of an open touring car, he spoke to some thousands of people, one of whom was Anton Cermak, the Mayor of Chicago. Cermak stood close to the President-elect and thus was in the direct line of fire when an assassin took aim at Roosevelt. As the Mayor fell to the ground, grievously wounded, the Secret Service shouted at the driver to get the President-elect the hell out of there, but F.D.R. stopped them. And then Roosevelt – a man who could not walk, let alone run, unassisted – swung open the touring-car door and, with arms made strong from years of crutches, took hold of Cermak, pulled him into the car and then, cradling the wounded man, ordered the driver to go to the nearest hospital. Courage. 5:36 PM 9/20/01 By: Johnny Angel In the orgy of examination of who and what is to blame for the events of September 11, we must have heard every conceivable explanation... Yet for all the noise generated by partisans and centrists alike, no one is willing to accept the blatantly obvious, the real underlying factor behind America's involvement in the byzantine labyrinth of Middle East politics. What could possibly motivate the propping up of repressive non-democracies like the Saudi and Kuwaiti royal families, or murderous regimes like that of Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran? Or pouring billions into the coffers of Saddam Hussein in the '80s, or even creating the monster that is possibly the mastermind of these attacks, Osama bin Laden, beneficiary of CIA lucre and training? 4:08 PM 9/20/01 No one is arguing that the federal government needs to provide for increased airport security. The fed's also must invest in more 'human inteligence' to combat terrorism. Can these tasks be accomplished without additional expenditure? I beleive the answer is yes, and I have the solution: Stop the WOD and redirect the misdirected, ineffectual DEA to those tasks, after renaming the agency to the 'Terror Interdiction Team' (TIT). Nuf' said. 9:37 AM 9/20/01 "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty." 8:15 PM 9/19/01 I wish someone would explain to me how cutting - or eliminating - tax on capital gains would invigorate the economy. Since the tax is on 'profits taken', it seems to me you're just giving investors the excuse to pull out of the stock market, the last thing we should be doing right now. The 'theory', that this will infuse more money into the economy, is pure BUSHIT! Those who would reap the largest benefit won't spend more, they don't have to. They already have more 'disposable income' than they could possibly need. It's pure insanity - or GREED. Nuf' said. 2:05 PM 9/19/01 By: Burt Worm R.W. Apple and the New York Times are at it again: trying to bestow legitimacy on a president whom many people in the United States and around the world sincerely - and reasonably - believe was not legitimately elected. By seeking to "lift the spirits of the American people - to console the bereaved, comfort the wounded, encourage the heroic, calm the fearful and, by no means incidentally, rally the country for the times ahead", Mr. Apple writes in the Sunday, September 16 Times, George W. Bush "made significant progress toward easing the doubts about his capacity for the job and the legitimacy of his election that have clung stubbornly to him during his eight difficult months in the Oval Office. You could almost see him growing into the clothes of the presidency". From the perspective of this New Yorker - and I'm certain I'm far from being the only one - Mr. Bush is wearing no clothes. 1:40 PM 9/19/01 From: The former president held the woman tightly in his arms and let her pound out all the tears and the rage on his shoulder. Another woman approached and collapsed in a wailing heap on to his chest. He clutched her to him, lowered his head, and whispered words of comfort in her ear. A small boy stood beside him, looked up in awe, and the big man pulled him towards his stomach. He patted his head, looked down with pity in his eyes and gave the lad a look which said he represented all that mattered now. The future. 1:44 AM 9/19/01 "I seen a wanted poster in the Old West said 'Dead or Alive' when I was a kid." 12:46 PM 9/17/01 By: Lisa Singhania Scared investors sent stocks reeling Monday as Wall Street resumed trading after its longest shutdown since the Great Depression. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 720 points, below 9,000 for the first time since December 1998. The Dow's drop of 721.56 was its biggest intraday decline, topping the 721.32 it fell on April 14, 2000. The heavy selling was widely expected in a market already fragile because of poor corporate profits and outlooks. And since the attacks, which shut the nation's stock market for four days, the major airlines have announced cutbacks and reduced schedules, adding to investors' nervousness about the future. 11:50 AM 9/17/01 By: Terry Kliewer and Claudia Feldman The pastor of Houston's largest church joined national conservative Christians Friday in blaming this week's catastrophic terrorist attacks on faithlessness in America, saying the nation has lost God's protection because of it. The Rev. Ed Young, pastor of Second Baptist Church, made his comments in front of an overflow crowd of more than 2,300 people who joined millions nationwide in observing the National Day of Prayer and Rememberance for the victims of Tuesday's tragedies in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. "We, as Americans, have forgotten that to whom much is given, much is required," Young said. "We, as a people, have not been faithful to God, and it is time for repentance. The hedge (of divine protection) that God put around America is not there anymore. That's what this is all about." 7:50 AM 9/16/01 By: Richard Dawkins What we need, in a nutshell, is a human who doesn't mind being blown up. He'd make the perfect on-board guidance system. But suicide enthusiasts are hard to find. Even terminal cancer patients might lose their nerve when the crash was actually looming. Could we get some otherwise normal humans and somehow persuade them that they are not going to die as a consequence of flying a plane smack into a skyscraper? If only! Nobody is that stupid, but how about this - it's a long shot, but it just might work. Given that they are certainly going to die, couldn't we sucker them into believing that they are going to come to life again afterwards? Don't be daft! No, listen, it might work. Offer them a fast track to a Great Oasis in the Sky, cooled by everlasting fountains. Harps and wings wouldn't appeal to the sort of young men we need, so tell them there's a special martyr's reward of 72 virgin brides, guaranteed eager and exclusive. Would they fall for it? Yes, testosterone-sodden young men too unattractive to get a woman in this world might be desperate enough to go for 72 private virgins in the next. It's a tall story, but worth a try. You'd have to get them young, though. Feed them a complete and self-consistent background mythology to make the big lie sound plausible when it comes. Give them a holy book and make them learn it by heart. Do you know, I really think it might work. As luck would have it, we have just the thing to hand: a ready-made system of mind-control which has been honed over centuries, handed down through generations. Millions of people have been brought up in it. It is called religion...     - except wherein noted.All rights reserved. |
