If not Camejo, then Flynt! The death of the lesser of two evils

I gave a talk about current politics at Diesel, a fine Oakland independent bookstore, late last week. No one in the leftish crowd seemed notably put out when I declared myself dubious of the proposition, espoused by many in the store, that the only element of mystery about 9/11 was whether George W. Bush had ordered the attacks on the World Trade Center on his own initiative or was merely acting as the cats-paw of Dick Cheney.

            Nor was there any outcry when I denounced Ariel Sharon as a war criminal and his U.S. claque as a bunch of unconscionable rogues.

            But as soon as I said I couldn't see much reason to get excited about Howard Dean as a candidate for the Democratic nomination and he seemed to me to be a thoroughly conventional right winger, there was an audible ripple of irritation in the crowd. In the course of an angry denunciation of my unsparing comments about Dean, a woman said that the left should be rallying not only to the standard of the former governor of Vermont, but of Governor Gray Davis of California, now facing a recall vote in early October.

One overwhelming impression: deception

AUSTIN, Texas -- There are messy-desk people and there are clean-desk people. I'm a major messy. About every six months, I am seized by a desire to Get Organized, so I start doing archaeological excavations into the midden heap on my desk. The result this time was a sort of time-lapse photography of where the country is headed.

            Going through stacks of old newspaper articles, speeches, reports, studies and press releases at a high rate of speed left one overwhelming impression: deception ... government by deception. I'd like pass along some of what I found without the usual journalistic standards of sourcing because I want to recreate the impression it all left -- rather like leafing through a book rapidly, catching sentence here and there. Leaving aside the missing weapons of mass destruction (hey, we found the oil), I found so many little things that fit the same pattern.

            -- Administration announces with great fanfare new regs to control listeria, a deadly bacteria that can contaminate certain foods. Great, they put in new regs, but first they eviscerated them so they have no real impact.

THREE GREAT SUMMER MOVIES: "Spellbound," "Whale Rider" and "Winged Migration"

It's easy to bash the movies we've been fed this summer.  ANGELS2, MATRIX 2, X2, BLONDE 2, T3... so many of them mere shadows of their mediocre predecessors.  Boring boring boring.  Of the mainstream summer stuff, only PIRATES seems to have some zip.  And, to put it in perspective, PIRATES is based on something in a Disney theme park.  

But in reality, summer theater goers have no reason to complain.  There are three---THREE---world-class winners to be seen on the silver screen right now.   They're all kid-friendly.  They've all been at one theater---the Drexel East---though SPELLBOUND has moved to the Arena Grand.

SPELLBOUND was rightfully nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.  It lost to BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, which gratefully gave Michael Moore his 45 seconds to blast the Bush Administration in front of the entire world.   Thank you, Michael.  We needed that, and we hope you get the chance again next year, and for many years to come.  .

Sadly for me, I've yet to see BOWLING.  But there are those who believe SPELLBOUND may be the better movie.  In tracking the progress of eight contestants

SATIRE: 'We kicked their butts in Vietnam' Leaked White House Transcript (7)

Bush, Cheney, Rove, Ridge, Ashcroft

PRESIDENT BUSH: Get your asses in here, gentlemen. I've had about enough, goddammit.

KARL ROVE: Calm down, George. You handled things well enough. I see no real problems here.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Karl, how many times do I have to tell you these goddam press conferences are a waste of my time. I could've been lifting weights or jogging, for chrissakes. Who the hell are these little wimps to be asking me questions. There's only One that asks me questions and One I answer to. Now, you've had me stand up in front of these media creeps nine times now. Why don't we just have them all shot.

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: I assure you, George, over the coming months many of them WILL be shot, or at least otherwise disposed of. But we need these press conferences to smoke them out, to see who's going to be troublesome and who seems to be a threat.

PRESIDENT BUSH: How about that asshole Bill Plante, the one that yelled out about having the damn conference in the first place. Why don't you send him to visit Paul Wellstone, the sonofabitch.

July issue

Hello Free Press,

I just finished reading the most recent FP issue.  I am a supporter of Howard Dean for President.  While your paper gave some mention of Dean, I don't understand why the coverage he receives there is no better than in the Dispatch.

You say (p. 7 by C. Arnebaeck) that Dean has made the greatest use of the internet.  It is true that his campaign is using this medium well as a tool, but people are supporting Dean because of who his is and what he stands for.  All of the campaigns have websites.  

Beacon responds to Bush attack on Gays

Beacon Fellowship is shocked and appalled over the comments and intentions of President Bush regarding same-sex marriage.

During a press conference yesterday, Bush made it very clear that he opposes same-sex marriage and that he has government lawyers working to ensure that the only legal definition of marriage is between a man and a woman.

"Clearly, Bush and his religious taliban supporters are determined to make gays and lesbians into third-class citizens, despite the fact that gays and lesbians are also taxpayers, are employed by the government, and serve proudly in the military" says Perry Slone, Director of Beacon Fellowship.

"The same type of hate and rhetoric was used against African-Americans 30-40 years ago, just take out the word "homosexual" and replace it with "black" or "colored" and its the same thing" says Mr Slone.

Free to be Slaves

You try to tell us that we are free
Free to be slaves of your regime

You try to tell us that we are free
Free to be slaves of your regime

It’s mighty funny how the eagle flies
It’s time to check the pockets were the eagle hides

It’s mighty funny how the eagle flies
It’s time to check the pockets were the eagle hides

All the lies you keep trying to sell
Eat your words and go to hell

Even though we’re not free we won’t be used for your dirty schemes
Even though we’re not free you can’t take away our dignity ,yeah

What they want is a peaceful change
So the pockets of the pharaohs remains the same
They’ll declare war as a slick diversion
eliminate the problem continue the perversion

Even though we’re not free we won’t be used for your dirty schemes
Even though we’re not free you can’t take away our dignity ,yeah

May 19, 2003
www.theproudliberal.com/slaves.html

On Election Day 2004, how will you know if your vote is properly counted? Answer: You won’t!

Voter machine paper trail legislation for free and fair elections Our most basic civil right is under assault on many fronts. Voting.

Rep. Rush Holt has introduced legislation to require all voting machines to produce a voter-verified paper trail. Holt today responded to the growing chorus of concern from election reform specialists and computer security experts about the integrity of future elections by introducing reform legislation, The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003. The measure would require that by 2004 all voting machines produce an actual paper record voters can view to check the accuracy of their votes and that election officials can use to verify votes in the event of a computer malfunction, hacking, or other irregularity. Experts often refer to this paper record as a “voter-verified paper trail.”

Campaign finance alone is not enough!

Taxpayer protection & campaign finance: You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours

Progressives know that in our system, access to government and to elected officials is bought and paid for by campaign contributions. Most citizens of Columbus know this, regardless of their political leanings.
Conflicts-of-Interest

But it is rare, if ever, that Campaign Finance initiatives contain conflict-of-interest provisions. Of the 48 tax abatements granted by the city from 1998 to 2000, almost half were to entities that contributed to Columbus City Council members or the two Mayors. If you include money from those entities that received TIFs, (Tax-Increment Financing) “Economic Development Subsidies,” and unbid contracts, the vast majority of campaign funds come from those doing business with the city. So what can be done?

The Iraq War, continued...

The invasion of Iraq – a country severely weakened by 12 ½ years of genocidal sanctions and disarmed by the U.N. at the insistence of the attackers – was not a war. It was a war crime. It appears now that the real problem wasn’t bad intelligence, but rather the “misrepresentation” of intelligence on weapons of mass destruction to the U.S. public and the rest of the world. (Washington Post, June 7, 2003) In the rush to implement the vision of total world domination by U.S. military force rooted in the “Defense Planning Guidance” written by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in 1992, a constant barrage of lies about connections to terrorism and weapons of mass destruction were hurled at the United Nations and at the U.S. public through the corporation-controlled media to justify an illegal “preventive” war.

Pages

Subscribe to ColumbusFreePress.com RSS