Wounded to the soul

"The question that remains is: Are we who want the killing to stop as committed to peace as those who are committed to war?"

Ouch, this is a devilishly tough question, unless you're content to answer it in the negative. Then, of course, no problem. A bitter grimace and a stiff drink or whatever (name your poison) will get you through the day. Watch the opinion polls plummet - Gallup this week finds two-thirds of Americans opposed to the war in Iraq - and shrug in wonder that it doesn't seem to matter, but exercise patience. When three-quarters of Americans oppose the war, then the politicians - surely the Democrats at least, surely Hillary - will lip-sync a different tune . . .

Or you can scream.

One recent e-mail correspondent, after reciting the familiar litany of insanity about this war, from the lies to the slaughter to the cynicism, signed off her letter: "Wounded to the soul."

Pentagon calling up military reservists who are ill

Last week the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative unit of Congress, released a report indicating that the Pentagon has been calling up reserve soldiers who are ill or medically unfit to serve. The reservists are serving primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness is responsible for managing medical and physical fitness policy and procedures, the report determined that this office has no way to determine if reserve soldiers are fit to serve or have pre-existing medical conditions prior to deployment.

Consequently, the GAO found that the Pentagon couldn’t confirm to the Secretary of Defense or Congress that reserve forces are medically and physically fit when they are called to active duty. Yet under federal law reserve forces are required to have a medical exam every five years and an annual review of their medical status.

Kansas Attorney General is Bush’s kind of guy

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline isn’t a household name yet, but he may be soon. In recent months Mr. Kline has shown that he is the type of judicial nominee that President Bush is looking for. Mr. Kline has that most valuable of assets that right-wing Republicans require of a nominee: a “conservative judicial philosophy.” In recent months he has sought to deny poor women of the right to an abortion, despite federal law to the contrary. And he supported handing out a much harsher sentence to a gay teenager who engaged in consensual sex than to heterosexual adolescents.

In August Mr. Kline filed a lawsuit against Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. The lawsuit alleges that by using Medicaid funds to provide abortions the state is depriving citizens, to include fetuses, of the right to life without due process of law. In his civil suit Mr. Kline defined conception as the beginning of life in order to bolster the argument that abortion violates an individual’s right to life. The suit claims that, “At the very moment of fertilization, a new, unique and genetically distinct human being is formed, distinct from its host while dependent upon her.”

Resolution of no confidence in current U.S. elections

Whereas an election is the legal process by which We, the People, transfer power to our governmental representatives; and

Whereas, current electronic voting technologies have been shown to be unreliable, insecure and unverifiable; and

Whereas, electronic voting technologies which do not include a permanent paper ballot of record provide no means to verify results reported by elections officials, through recounts or other legal means; and

Whereas, citizens are denied oversight of the software used in electronic voting and counting machines; and

Whereas, the use of proprietary (secret) software in our elections amounts to a secret vote count; and

Whereas, publicly-funded testing and certification of software and hardware of electronic voting systems is shrouded from public oversight; and

Whereas, current election procedures violate "chain of custody" laws thru the use of removable and/or remotely accessible memory cards, which now constitute the official ballot box; and,

Therefore, Be It Resolved that there is no basis for confidence in any election held under these conditions; and

Why Democrats don't count: lessons from the un-Gore of Mexico

The Exit polls said he won, but the "official" tally took his victory away.  His supporters found they were scrubbed off voter rolls.  Violence and intimidation kept even more of his voters away from the polls.  Hundreds of thousands of ballots supposedly showed no choice for president -- like ballots with hanging chads.

And the officials in charge of this suspect election refused to re-count those votes in public.  Everyone knew full well a fair count would certainly change the outcome.

You've heard this story before:  Gore 2000.  Kerry 2004.

But Lopez Obrador 2006 is made out of very different stuff than the scarecrow candidates who, oddly, call themselves "Democrats."

For six years now, I've had this crazy fantasy in my head.  In it, an election is stolen and the guy who's declared the loser stands up in front of the White House and says three magic words:  "Count the votes."

More atomic bomb balm from the New York Times

The New York Times Sunday Magazine has chimed in for the "bring back nukes" crowd with an ill-conceived screed that completely ignores the reality that the world's power must ultimately come from clean, safe renewable energy and increased efficiency.

Entitled "Atomic Balm," the lengthy Sunday magazine piece tries to portray a nuke industry on its way back. But hidden throughout the article are trap after trap that will doom atomic power, and that show the Bush Administration's attempt to revive it to be ever more futile and corrupt.

To begin with, this very long article fails to mention that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has issued a draft report showing that between 99% and 124% of the nation's electricity can be supplied by renewable means by the year 2020. Since nuclear power supplies only electricity, this simple fact makes complete mincemeat of any pretext for bringing it back. If we can get the juice cheaper, safer, cleaner and more quickly from nature, why build sitting ducks for terrorists that have only 50 years of failure to show for a trillion dollars invested?

Bush letters

BANGKOK, Thailand -- The surprise publication of a secretive letter to U.S. President George W. Bush from Thailand's distraught prime minister, warning of a "threat to democracy in Thailand," has provoked outrage, satirical abuse, and loud indignation.

In a 544-word letter, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said his political opponents are trying to "provoke violence" through "chaos" in the streets.

Hoping to rescue this Buddhist-majority Southeast Asian nation, he told Bush "our on-going war on terror" would continue, and Thaksin's victory in the next election "will have an important impact on the future course of democracy in Asia."

After mulling over Thaksin's June 23 epistle, Bush sent a 138-word reply on July 3 which said: "I appreciate your assurance that our good cooperation on issues of vital importance to us both will continue."

Bush told his beleaguered colleague, "Free and open political systems can be unpredictable."

"It is just a letter one national leader wrote to another," Thaksin told reporters, shrugging off attempts to embarrass him after failing to keep the notes from public scrutiny.

Republican Congressman says Bush should be removed from office

A radio show reported yesterday that Republican Texas Congressman Ron Paul said the following:

"I would have trouble arguing that he's been a Constitutional President, and once you violate the Constitution and be proven to do that I think these people should be removed from office."  

And this: "Congress has generously ignored the Constitution while the President flaunts it, the courts have ignored it and they get in the business of legislating so there's no respect for the rule of law."

And this: "When the President signs all these bills and then adds statements after saying I have no intention of following it - he's in a way signing it and vetoing - so in his mind he's vetoing a lot of bills, in our mind under the rule of law he hasn't vetoed a thing."

And Paul said the United States had entered a period of "soft fascism." 

An open letter from Ohio to the people of Mexico

The patterns are much too familar to ignore. Those of us who saw first-hand how the U.S. presidential election of 2004 was stolen here in Ohio cannot avoid the conclusion that Mexico's presidential election is also on the brink of being stolen. Too much of what happened in Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004 is being repeated in Mexico 2006 to believe otherwise.

To those in Mexico who still believe in democracy, we urge you to avoid the mistakes made here. Do not doubt for one minute that fraud, intimidation and outright theft are the tell-tale trademarks of the Bush junta and its overseas minions.

Above all, DO NOT GIVE IN.

The most crucial difference between the United States in 2000 and 2004 versus Mexico 2006 is that in Mexico, there is a candidate willing to stand up to this outrageous theft. Perhaps you will ultimately get the recount that was so thoroughly denied here.

But make no mistake: to allow this election to be stolen is to welcome the death of what is left of your democracy. Those who think they can somehow go on with their daily lives and avoid the fallout of such a theft are engaging in delusional folly.

How Venice is dying

VENICE -- A few moments after Italy dashed French hopes with that disappointing coda of penalty kicks, Alya and I took a five-minute stroll to the Piazza San Marco to see the locals celebrate their nation's capture of the World Cup for soccer. As we left, the TV in our hotel was showing Rome, Naples and Milan exploding in triumph. Alya's niece, staying in Milan, told her the next day that sleep had been impossible. The racket of cheers and honking horns had lasted all night.

In Venice, looking east across the vast expanse of the Piazza San Marco, we could see a knot of maybe 300 people down the far end, near the Basilica. As we drew nearer, they turned out to be tourists leveling their digital cameras at a knot of maybe 50 Italians lofting the national flag and dancing round in a circle. Things weren't much livelier in front of the Doge's Palace facing the Grand Canal.

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