Sunday, June 29, 2003
There have been no posts for a few days...0 comments
since I've been tied up on two major projects. One has now wrapped, allowing me more time. Thanks for stopping back to see what we're doing.
Medicare is staring at fast becoming the next Iraq—complete with cheerleading, lies and deception. Looking at Friday's vote in the House on the White House's Medicare privatization first-step bill, however, unearths an interesting fact. While the vote was 216 - 215 (denying Bush any kind of mandate on the issue, especially when they had to browbeat a couple members of Congress to do it), a relatively decent number of House members crossed party lines.
Nine Democrats and seventeen Republicans broke with their leaderships and voted with the other side. Since the Democratic party is weak and hardly a monolith, that end of it is not all that remarkable. Even if some of the Republicans are among the most solidly far right members of the House who saw this as another hated entitlement program, 17 GOPers bolting from under Tom (BugMan) DeLay's iron fist on legislation the White House deperately wants—now, that's front page news!
For the record, these 17 people have put their political careers in danger by voting "No" to a very bad bill and crossing DeLay.
Seniors everywhere salute everyone who supported trying to kill this bill, even though it passed, ultimately. This bill will destroy the current right of senior citizens to have a workable, affordable Medicare program, while offering the candy of prescription benefits. Joining with the Democrats in trying to kill this bill were:
- ARIZONA - Jeff Flake
- ARIZONA - John Shadegg
- COLORADO - Marilyn Musgrave
- COLORADO - TomTancredo
- FLORIDA - Jeff Miller
- GEORGIA - Charlie Norwood
- INDIANA - Dan Burton
- INDIANA - Steve Buyer
- INDIANA - John Hostettler
- INDIANA - Mike Pence
- KANSAS - Jerry Moran
- MICHIGAN - Nick Smith
- MINNESOTA - Gil Gutknecht
- NORTH CAROLINA - Richard Burr
- NORTH CAROLINA - Walter Jones
- SOUTH CAROLINA - Jim DeMint
- WISCONSIN - F. James Sensenbrenner
It would be a nice gesture to write to these House members supporting their actions in the failed attempt to kill this bill.
posted by Gotham 1:47 AM
Saturday, June 21, 2003
0 commentsBurning Questions...
We're the most powerful country in the world, right? So:
- Where is Saddam Hussein?
- Where is Osama Bin Laden?
- Where is the Anthrax Guy?
- To find Saddam Hussein, just why are we using the same Army unit that faked the make-believe rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch?
- If you have a Republican Congressperson from your district, when exactly was the last time he/she voted opposite to the line set down by Tom DeLay? Does your Congressperson have your interests at heart? Or self-interest and intra-party political survival? It seems he/she should be showing a bit of courage and answering to you rather than the Bug Man.
- Why are so many Americans panicky about terrorist attacks when it appears obvious there are no desirable targets for non-Americans who hate us anywhere between the Hudson River and the Sierras? They just don't seem to be all that interested in your basic Wal-Mart in Nebraska or Piggly Wiggly in Indiana. There's no real ground swell in terrorist circles around the world for bringing Memphis, and its like, to its knees. Now, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Los Angeles—yes, the coasts are where the action is. You see, Osama Bin Laden hates New York and L.A. just as much as Orrin Hatch and Tom DeLay do. It's what makes us special.
And the ever popular:
"What did Cheney and Rumsfeld let the president know, and when did they let him know it?"
***
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posted by Gotham 11:00 AM
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
0 commentsIt's Beginning to Blur...
Basra ... Benton Harbor ... Belfast ... Beirut ...
We've seen too many people impoverished by callous men, with nothing left to them but the need to resist. Or else throw tantrums of frustration and rage. [See this riot coverage from CNN.]
And somehow the pictures always look the same.
And, with this economy, and this economic team in the White House, more of the same is on the way.
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posted by Gotham 10:09 PM
0 comments
Run, Wally, Run...!
Wayne Newton's wallaby escapes, blares CNN.
...Maybe Wayne suggested a makeover session with his stylist.
posted by Gotham 9:44 PM
0 comments
Here at Gotham Notes...
we bring you only the happy news of the day!
Really!
Today brings this wonderful news from Billboard magazine about two of our native New York sons.
posted by Gotham 9:16 PM
Monday, June 16, 2003
0 commentsThe Search for the Smoking Gun
Senate Hearings Coming on WMD.
As the Iraq War Scandals evolve, the framing question needs to be:
"What did Cheney and Rumsfeld let the president know, and
when did they let him know it?"
***
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posted by Gotham 8:20 AM
0 comments
"The Sky Is Rising!
... The Sky Is Rising!"
Economists: "We've been wrong for three years, but this time we're sure we're right!"
***
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posted by Gotham 8:08 AM
0 comments
Ashcroft's "Nick-At-Night" Strategy
Now, they're after TV icons from a time when America was America. In full, living Black & White.
Now, if they can go after poor David Nelson (after all he went through with his teen-idol brother, Ricky, geez...), how can any of us ever feel safe again?
***
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posted by Gotham 2:35 AM
Friday, June 13, 2003
0 commentsWhat the Embedded Guys Missed...
And why Bush's hands are soaked in blood...
***
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posted by Gotham 2:00 AM
Monday, June 09, 2003
0 comments"Ev'ryboddy Wants ta Get inta de Act!"
Another county heard from.
This Iraqi War Scandal is beginning to stink to high heaven.
Let's see...
We heard long ago from the CIA that there was no connection between Saddam and the Al-Queda Network, and therefore, no connection to the people who brought us 9/11.
Later, we heard from Saddam himself that there was no connection between Saddam and the Al-Queda Network.
Then, there were rumors during the late winter that Bin Laden wouldn't touch Saddam's regime of infidels with a fork, seeing them as just as bad, if not worse, than the devils in DC, so, no, there was no connection between Saddam and the Al-Queda Network.
This was all scoffed at and dismissed in the oh-so-certain briefings and speeches given by everyone connected to the Bush administration.
But now this rumor gains legs, courtesy of the CIA and The New York Times.
It turns out that our prized Al-Queda bigwigs, Abu Zubaydah, a Qaeda planner and recruiter, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Qaeda chief of operations, both of whom were captured and interrogated weeks before the administration invaded Iraq, independently corroborated the above rumor of no Saddam/Bin Laden alliance. This information was dutifully passed up the chain. And dutifully dismissed and buried, because it did not fit the party line.
Although these men gave this information in early March, and it has been known by the White House and the Pentagon since it was obtained, the administration has steadfastly insisted there was a connection. For the simple reason that they WANTED there to be a connection. And, as we have come to know now, what they believe to be true must be—or be made to come—true.
In response, the administration had this to say (from NY Times).A senior intelligence official played down the significance of their debriefings, explaining that everything Qaeda detainees say must be regarded with great skepticism.
I assume they were referring to the information we've obtained from these men since March which has led to the break-up of numerous terror cells around the world. That kind of skepticism.
Phew.
Think the book agents are sniffing around yet, trying to lobby for any future prison book deals?
***
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posted by Gotham 2:11 PM
Sunday, June 08, 2003
0 commentsLosing the Peace...
Get used to seeing this story. You'll be seeing it a lot.
And it will only continue to break your heart and make your stomach roil with anger.
The Bush administration's critics have said for months (long before the first platoon was sent anywhere near the Persian Gulf region) that we stood to face an increasingly hostile population who would see us as occupiers as much as liberators. That we would soon become the enemy. That our soldiers would be placed in harm's way between warring factions—at the mercy of hundreds, if not thousands, of newly minted guerrilla fighters.
The Future is now.
And, if the U.S. military could have major problems with Saddam's forces using guerrilla strategies while armored divisions were steamrolling across their country, it stands to reason that now, when we are standing still, we have little-to-no defense against individuals walking into a crowd of soldiers with munitions, or snipers sitting on hills or rooftops, or even aping your basic, Los Angeles drive-by. Every U.S. citizen in the entire Gulf region, in and out of uniform, is now a sitting duck. And soon may well become a dead duck.
We may not see sexy news accounts of battles here or there from which to take honor or glory. But the death toll will rise. The body bags will continue to come, in a very quiet, underreported drip, drip, drip. Until we wake up in a few months or years, horrified, to find that the numbers have reached hundreds, or thousands, of U.S. dead.
No matter what lies emerge from the Pentagon or White House, rest assured that the correct comparison today is not to post-war Japan or Germany; the correct comparison is to Russian-occupied Chesnya. With its steady stream of body bags airlifted home to questioning, disbelieving, grieving Russian parents. Airlifted home from a war that supposedly ended years ago.
The fact is that 42 American lives have been lost (to date) just since the president's preening, peacock strut around the deck of the U.S. carrier Abraham Lincoln off San Diego onMay 1— showing off his "tuff stuff" to the world and claiming the war was over. This clearly shows that members of this administration either:
- Have no conception whatsoever of what they're doing—at great peril to American lives; or,
- Could care less how their actions impact the lives of Americans who don't happen to be them.
Add to this the additional fact that 181 Americans have lost their lives (to date) on such a grand adventure—a thrill ride, if you will— manufactured merely to whet the appetites of red-blooded Neo-cons and campaign contributors everywhere, and you have an administration whose hubris has cost it its very soul. With a scandal that has dragged down our American soul with it.
For these people who so pride themselves on their values and their morals, that stone must weigh mightily upon their necks for eternity.
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posted by Gotham 2:57 PM
Friday, June 06, 2003
0 commentsTick...Tick...Tick...
Time Bomb.
This is the story I hoped would never come, yet subconsciously knew was just waiting there, prone to erupt at some moment or other when we least expected it. [Click here.]
Just when do the women start stepping forward?
Since I grew up as a religious, practising Catholic through the gray-tinged 1950s—and in light of the flood of accusations, the bad press and the court actions which the American Catholic Church has undergone over the last few years—I've had many chats with my peers about our memories of any ambient church homosexuality during that time.
No one I've spoken with about that era recalls any impropriety. Granted, this is a very small sample and the possibility of denial is great. More often, the reaction has been one of shocked reverence: "Could you imagine Father George when we were kids? No way! He was Father George!"
But the absence of personal experience did not preclude there being an active mythology surrounding the concept of groups of men living apart from women, in much the same way there is mythology involved with our homophobic fantasies of men living in prison or "on a battleship." In that atmosphere, it was difficult for us to believe that a seminary was not some sort of den of homosexual debauchery.
Of course, it wasn't. But the Twentieth-century mind was just as susceptible to fear-mongering as was the Twelfth.
One can only assume there was/is a percentage of priests who would describe their sexual orientation as homosexual. One can also assume that that percentage is most likely no greater than it is in the general population. Meaning that the preponderance of priests have a heterosexual orientation.
However, as it was explained to us as children, a priest's individual make-up is immaterial, since he vows both celibacy and chastity at ordination. Therefore, you should be able to deal with your priest with all comfort and freedom from sexual tension.
As we've seen recently, that has not always been the case for scores of young boys in parishes across the country; an ongoing story that still has legs.
But, throughout all of the reporting on the actions of homosexual priests, I've had a nagging dread. What of that majority of heterosexual priests? What of the unknown number of those men who have forsaken their vows as well?
Where, I wondered, were the women? If a man chooses to, or is compelled to, forsake his vows, does it really matter what his leanings are? Are straight men any stronger at keeping vows then gay men? The divorce courts would argue not.
Politicians who have charisma, standing, power and often good looks—and in the case of President Clinton, an empathetic mien—often have women attracted to them on a national scale. Is it implausible to assume those same qualities in a man would be attractive on a local scale as well? Or would be exploited on a local scale as well? Especially with the allure of the "Unattainable Man?" or the "Safe Man?"
When does this story come out, and how hard must the Church establishment be working to keep it from coming out? And how much more damaging would this be, and just how much more can this organization withstand and still survive?
When do we see the first rumblings from women who came to their priests for counselling; the thousands of women who volunteered to help with the upkeep of the church and altar; the high school and college students; the nuns who worked closely with the priests to keep the parish's community thriving? If The Sopranos can flirt with it as a fictional subplot, what is the degree to which it actually sits beneath the surface within that community?
I am hardpressed to believe that there is not a wider scandal brewing for the Catholic Church, and that it is thoroughly ill-prepared to handle it.
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posted by Gotham 12:21 PM
Thursday, June 05, 2003
0 comments"Hey, Rube!"
Boy, do they ever think you're stupid.
On the local level. [Click here.]
On the national level. [Click here.]
Today, you find yourselves awash in currents taking you to a land of politicians and agency types assuming full control over your very lives. They're rummaging through every aspect of your life, and taking anything they want away from you.
And they think you won't ever know. Or if you know, you won't understand. And if you understand, you really won't care.
So, they're free to do whatever they want. Steal whatever they want from you. Lie to you whenever they want about their "deficit," when it's actually a surplus—because they want that fare hike, and then they whine when you complain, knowing full well you'll stop.
Lie to you about how much cash and how many hundreds of trips to Las Vegas and New Orleans with hookers and booze they've been given by the five Media Corporations, since their decision to deregulate your radio, your TV and your newspaper was bought and paid for by these corporations three years ago. They can even cavalierly disregard over A HALF A MILLION E-MAILS you sent to their web site at the FCC, 97% of which objected to their actions. Because you're not gonna follow up. You're gonna let it ride. Because you're just gonna say, "It's the government. What can ya do, right?" Right?
And you won't put up a fight, or do anything to stop them, right?
That is what they think.
So, hit'em where it hurts.
Scream. Yell. Write anyone and everyone about how pissed off these guys make you. It's time to go on a mission. It's time to run down to your video store and rent the movie "Network" again. It's passed time, actually. It's time to hang your heads out the window and holler, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it, anymore!"
They can be stopped.
By you.
And only by you.
When you say, "Enough!"
Think back to when you were taught that these people were in those positions to represent and serve you, then use the link below to write and complain about thieving scum like the FCC's Michael Powell in Washington and his counterpart in your state (you know you have them, just like we do here in NYC) to put them on notice that Rube is awake, and alive and angry.
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posted by Gotham 12:38 PM
0 comments
Poor Ol' Douglas J. Feith.
**Positions Wanted**
Today, brothers and sisters, we pity poor ol' brother Douglas J. Feith. [Click here.]
In the near future, as other members of the Bush administration wrap up their cushy prison time and start their book tours after all the Iraqi War Scandal trials are over, ol' Feith will be wandering around lost, looking for any type of gainful Washington, DC employment. To no avail.
For poor ol' brother Douglas J. Feith, you see, now has "the Bad Resume."
As the under secretary of defense for policy, Douglas has been in a position to know intimate details of the inner workings of the administration and of the Dept. of Defense.
In a need-to-know operation, the under secretary of defense for policy has a very high need-to-know.
Few beings on this planet knew of his existence, outside of his family, the people he shared conference tables with and the one or two fanatics who track the footsteps of every member of the Bush administration.
But, today he did something astoundingly dopey. Whether he jumped or allowed himself to be pushed, he opened his mouth. For public consumption. To the press. Loudly. At his own self-called briefing. Bad move, Douglas.
He fired back at White House critics. Critics who have been speaking with increasing numbers of CIA pros happy to supply information about the administration's illegal subverting of their agency and the rest of the U.S. Intelligence community over Iraq for purely political reasons. [Click here.] Then, ol' Douglas went ahead and made the howling mistake of letting this quote hit the paper:"Mr. Feith told reporters. 'I know of nobody who pressured anybody.'"
Well, unfortunately for ol' Douglas, here, this can only mean two things, and neither are good to have on your resume in the arena he works in.
- He is a liar (uncomfortably beyond Washington, DC standards);
- Or even worse—he was out of the loop.
Hopefully for Douglas, it's only the former. That way he can take his sentence, work on his book, do his time along with the big boys, then hang with his convicted brethren afterwards at their Barnes & Noble signings.
If it's the latter, ol' Doug is in for more serious problems.
Ex-Administration Types only have value insofar as they have access. Power is seen as access. Note the many Ex-Administration Types heading up companies involved in the corporate raiding of Iraq. And now here comes this moron, screaming to the world, in essence, "They don't tell me anything." Doug, even if it's not true, it looks awfully bad. If it even looks like they won't tell you now, when your office is two doors down the hall, how ever will you be able to get appointments to see them later, in order to justify your high fee? Most corporations and contributors most likely will just smile and take a pass on you.
Plus, since one intelligence professional describes Douglas as one of "the browbeaters" at meetings, along with Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, this may point to a certain lack of grace or of style, both highly prized commodities in capitol employment circles. Be warned also, Douglas, since Wolfie, like J. Gordon Liddy before him, may well prove to be "the man whom everyone will go on record as denying they ever met" when this all goes down. So, you may not want to appear to have been too close.
So, best of luck out there, Douglas. Keep your head up. You will have support. The other two-to-four million people you and your bosses have helped throw out of work over the last three years will be happy to welcome you.
[I just saw that Joshua Marshall takes a very similar tack on this story in his Talking Points Memo blog, only with a great deal more reporting and an emphasis on the goodly amount of trouble our friend Douglas may find himself in in the short term. Well worth reading.]
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posted by Gotham 3:14 AM
Wednesday, June 04, 2003
0 commentsWe Steal; You Decide
"Network Technician Convicted," screams the Washington Post headline about the Fox News Channel reporter who looted goods from Baghdad and tried to smuggle them into the U.S.
There's been no confirmation as yet as to whether or not the stolen/smuggled goods included more of that prized heavy black eye liner for Bill O'Reilly.
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posted by Gotham 2:00 AM
0 comments
Let's put it this way:
Puerto Rico will achieve statehood before Palestine ever will. They will never let that happen. Period. I'm hard-pressed to believe that Sharon has had a conversion of his own on the road to Damascus. [Click here.]
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posted by Gotham 1:33 AM
Monday, June 02, 2003
0 commentsThe Neo-Cons Are Coming!
The Neo-Cons Are Coming!
Today, they've stolen how you get to perceive your world.
The old question of "Do you believe everything you read?" today officially becomes "You don't believe anything you read, see or hear anymore, do you?"
What if a story like the Holocaust was just too messy a story to run with; one that's feared might upset the American people? Or expose a campaign contributor? We can't have that, now, can we?
Thanks to Kevin Drum's blog, CalPundit, today I came upon this poll release from the Los Angeles Times of 4/2/03, taken during the invasion of Iraq. Its results reverberate today.
In reporting on the poll, Kevin focused on Americans' stated reasons for supporting the Iraq incursion. Since I was lucky enough to enjoy many years working with Lou Harris at The Harris Poll, other things caught my eye.
Today marks the death of the First Amendment as we know it. As Colin Powell's son, FCC Chairman Michael Powell, declares an end to media guidelines by fiat (a card-carrying Neo-Con, he has steadfastly insisted he would do this for the last two and a half years), it's interesting to see just where Americans were getting their daily information about the U.S. invasion.
The L.A. Times let respondents pick upwards of three information outlets. [I've included who controls the main players in each outlet. Look familiar?] The overall results were:
- Cable News shows - 69%
(CNN = AOL Time Warner; MSNBC = Microsoft/General Electric; FOX News Channel = Australian Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.)
- Newspapers - 30%
(Gannett; Knight-Ridder; The Tribune Company; The New York Times Company; The Washington Post Company; Australian Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.; Copley)
- Local news shows - 23%
(Mostly affiliates of Networks: ABC = The Disney Corporation; CBS = Viacom; NBC = General Electric; FOX = Australian Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.)
- Network news shows - 18%
(ABC = The Disney Corporation; CBS = Viacom; NBC = General Electric; FOX = Australian Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.)
- Internet - 13%
(Cable: AOL = AOL Time Warner; Road Runner = AOL Time Warner; Optimum = Cablevision; Comcast; Earthlink / DSL: Verizon; AT&T; Southwestern Bell; Quest / Satellite: Australian Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.)
- Radio news shows - 8%
(Clear Channel = close family friends with the Bushes; 1160 radio stations swallowed nationally since 1997; includes no liberal voices, stars Rush Limbaugh and other leading rightist commentators; started the Dixie Chicks censorship movement)
- Family and friends - 4%
("What did Uncle Mort hear from the barber this morning?")
- Other - 2%
(Includes "God's voice," where the president gets most of his information.)
What I find most striking about these numbers is how these break down into demographic groups. Most polling analysts can tell you that's where the interesting facts lie. That's where you find just how the populace fragments and polarizes, even if the sum of both sides balances the whole. Which is what happens mostly today in our fractured society.
Here, there are no fragments.
Stunningly, the numbers above represent the entire spectrum of Americans. The L.A. Times broke it down across every political division: Democrat, Republican, Independent, Liberal, Moderate, Conservative, Men, Women. Each and every group was within a few points up or down of the total number. Surprisingly, this is how we ALL get our news.
You and I, we are united as a country. You and I, all 250+ million strong of us, we are all going to the informational slaughter together. Because all we'll ever know from here on in is just what a few dozen men playing golf together decide they want us to know. Period.
That's how at-risk you and I are of falling prey to a politically well-connected, corporately controlled and financed propaganda machine.
Only now, Paul Revere will never get to see those lanterns, and Tom Paine will just be bought out and closed down.
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posted by Gotham 1:27 PM
0 comments"He said, Whaaaat..???"
Missouri Governor Bob Holden became an American patriot on Friday. He officially became one of the very few "Good Guys" left in U.S. politics.
Laura Meckler's Saturday AP piece on the Bush administration's dismantling of Medicaid contained this quote:
" 'I cannot in good conscience support a Medicaid reform proposal that does not include adequate protections for the population we serve,' Missouri Gov. Bob Holden, a Democrat, said Friday."
"Serve?"
When did politics become about "service" and representing constituents? When did it become about anything other than greed, corruption, self-interest and power?
This is just waaay too radical a notion.
Holden must be one of those "old school" guys. Not progressive, or forward-looking, like the rest of us.
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posted by Gotham 10:19 AM
