texansagainstbushunite

New Campaign Kicks Off With TV Ad Spotlighting Bush Absence From Alabama National Guard

2004-09-29T12:54:00.000-07:00

Alabama Air National Guard Veteran Says President Wasn’t There: Texans for Truth Seeks to Reopen Scrutiny of President’s Service Record

(AUSTIN, TEXAS)— Texans for Truth launched a campaign this week seeking to uncover the answers to persistent questions surrounding President George W. Bush’s absence from his National Guard service while in Alabama. According to a new television commercial unveiled by the campaign on Wednesday, September 8, Bush was not to be found at the Alabama air base where he claims to have served in 1972.

"It would have been impossible to be unseen in a unit of that size," said Bob Mintz, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Alabama Air National Guard, who served at the Montgomery, Alabama air base and in the same unit as Bush allegedly served in 1972. Mintz is featured in a TV ad that helped kick off the campaign. The ad, paid for by online donations, will begin airing Monday in swing state communities who’ve sustained the most losses in Iraq.

"Yesterday, America lost its thousandth soldier in Iraq," said Glenn Smith, Executive Director of Texans for Truth. "We have a commander in chief who dodged his own military duty during Vietnam. We think the husbands, wives, mothers and fathers of these soldiers deserve to know the truth about George W. Bush.

According to Mintz, who was only one of a handful of young, unmarried men in his unit, he searched actively for Bush because he was eager to make friends. Bush would have been one of a few junior lieutenants at the base, which had a total of 50 to 60 pilots. Yet for the entire year that Bush claims he was on the base, Mintz never saw nor heard of Bush, nor did any other veterans interviewed by the press. This was highly unusual given that all the pilots on the base knew each other, most pilots trained together for at least two weeks out of the year and it was a small base.

"Was George W. Bush AWOL in Alabama? America deserves to know," said Smith. "None of his superiors remember him. Bush himself has said he has no specific recollections of serving. His military records have suspiciously disappeared and dozens of veterans from his unit say they’ve never seen hide nor hair of him. The evidence suggests he may have dodged his military responsibilities during Vietnam. We’re urging him to stop dodging the truth."

The TV ad and campaign come just days ahead of a “60 Minutes” exposé featuring Former Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes admitting he helped President Bush evade service in Vietnam by getting into the Texas Air National Guard.

Mintz joins 16 retired officers, pilots and senior enlisted men who served in Bush’s unit in 1972 who say they simply do not recall seeing Bush at the air base, according to a The New York Times story published earlier this year. The ad campaign and Mintz’s public appearances promise to spur renewed scrutiny of Bush’s Vietnam era service record.

Texans for Truth announced an initial ad buy of $110,000—raised primarily by online donations from Drive Democracy and Texas MoveOn.org members. The ad buy will take place in the following markets:

* Harrisburg, PN. 52 soldiers from Pennsylvania have lost their lives in Iraq.
* Columbus, OH. 33 soldiers from Ohio have lost their lives in Iraq.
* Detroit, MI. 30 soldiers from Michigan have lost their lives in Iraq.
* Portland, OR. 22 soldiers from Oregon have lost their lives in Iraq.
* Phoenix, AZ. 21 soldiers from Arizona have lost their lives in Iraq.

Starting Monday, the ad will appear on the following cable stations in these markets:

* CNN
* FOX News
* MSNBC
* A&E
* Discovery
* Lifetime
* TLC
* USA
* History
* TBS

Texans for Truth is the 527 arm of DriveDemocracy, a 20,000-member Texas-based grassroots organization that seeks to increase political participation by helping ordinary people make their voices heard in politics.

TABU events

2004-09-29T12:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some upcoming events at THE ARTERY, at the corner of Jackson and Prospect:

Thursday SEPTEMBER 30 8pm 5-10$ suggested donation
Debate viewing party and guest speakers

The Harris County Young Democrats are sponsoring a fundraiser and presidential debate watch party. Candidates Jim Dougherty and John Martinez are in tight races in gerrymandered districts. After the debate they will speak about their campaigns, as well as national politics. We will view the debate on the big screen outdoors among fellow concerned citizens.
More events of interest at THE ARTERY:

Saturday OCTOBER 2 8pm 5-10$ suggested donation (for HCYD)
Voter registration party, speaker and CONCERT
(Last chance if you or someone you know still needs to get registered to vote, deputies will be on hand to make this possible.)

8pm guest speaker: state representative Garnett Coleman

Wednesday OCTOBER 13 8pm
Debate viewing party and guest speakers
Viewing party for last presidential debate with guest speaker, candidate David VanOs

Thursday OCTOBER 14 8pm
Reading and book signing, and jazz concert
guest author ROBERT BRYCE to speak on the subject of his new book, "CRONIES: Oil, the Bushes, and the Rise of Texas, America's Superstate"

For more information: arteryhouston.org.
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TABU hosted a small gathering that watched UNPRECEDENTED this weekend. UNPRECEDENTED is a Greenwald film (also the producer of OUTFOXED) about the 2000 presidential election. It's excellent and mind-opening, if not mind-blowing. The DVD is available from amazon and other major retailers. If anyone wants to borrow the DVD and organize a showing, let us know.

Bush's home town endorses Kerry

2004-09-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - The newspaper in President Bush's adopted hometown of Crawford threw its support on Tuesday behind Bush's Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry.

The weekly Lone Star Iconoclast criticized Bush's handling of the war in Iraq and for turning budget surpluses into record deficits. The editorial also criticized Bush's proposals on Social Security and Medicare.

"The publishers of The Iconoclast endorsed Bush four years ago, based on the things he promised, not on this smoke-screened agenda," the newspaper said in its editorial. "Today, we are endorsing his opponent, John Kerry."

It urged "Texans not to rate the candidate by his hometown or even his political party, but instead by where he intends to take the country."

Bush spends many of his weekends and holidays at his Crawford, Texas, ranch.

The Iconoclast's publisher and editor-in-chief, W. Leon Smith, said the newspaper is sent to Bush's ranch each week. "But I don't know if he reads it," Smith said.

The Kerry campaign welcomed the endorsement in an email to reporters.

Why conservatives must not vote for Bush

2004-09-28T15:07:00.000-07:00

A Reaganite argues that Bush is a dangerous, profligate, moralizing radical -- and that his reelection would be catastrophic both for the right and for America. (Excerpeted from Salon. For full article, click link).

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Doug Bandow

Sept. 10, 2004 | George W. Bush presents conservatives with a fundamental challenge: Do they believe in anything other than power? Are they serious about their rhetoric on limited, constitutionally restrained government?

... A few high-octane speeches cannot disguise the catastrophic failure of the Bush administration in both its domestic and its foreign policies. Mounting deficits are likely to force eventual tax increases, reversing perhaps President Bush's most important economic legacy. The administration's foreign policy is an even greater shambles, with Iraq aflame and America increasingly reviled by friend and foe alike.

Quite simply, the president, despite his well-choreographed posturing, does not represent traditional conservatism -- a commitment to individual liberty, limited government, constitutional restraint and fiscal responsibility. ..Even Bush's conservative sycophants have trouble finding policies to praise. Certainly it cannot be federal spending. In 2000 candidate Bush complained that Al Gore would "throw the budget out of balance." But the big-spending Bush administration and GOP Congress have turned a 10-year budget surplus once estimated at $5.6 trillion into an estimated $5 trillion flood of red ink. This year's deficit will run about $445 billion, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation reports that in 2003 "government spending exceeded $20,000 per household for the first time since World War II." There are few programs at which the president has not thrown money; he has supported massive farm subsidies, an expensive new Medicare drug benefit, thousands of pork barrel projects, dubious homeland security grants, an expansion of Bill Clinton's AmeriCorps, and new foreign aid programs. What's more, says former conservative Republican Rep. Bob Barr, "in the midst of the war on terror and $500 billion deficits, [Bush] proposes sending spaceships to Mars."

Unfortunately, even the official spending numbers understate the problem. The Bush administration is pushing military proposals that may understate defense costs by $500 billion over the coming decade. The administration lied about the likely cost of the Medicare drug benefit, which added $8 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Moreover, it declined to include in budget proposals any numbers for maintaining the occupation of Iraq or underwriting the war on terrorism. Those funds will come through supplemental appropriation bills. Never mind that Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz had promised that reconstruction of Iraq could be paid for with Iraqi resources. (Yet, despite the Bush administration's generosity, it could not find the money to expeditiously equip U.S. soldiers in Iraq with body armor.)

Nor would a second Bush term ikely be different. Nothing in his convention speech suggested a new willingness by Bush to make tough choices. Indeed, when discussing their domestic agenda, administration officials complained that the media had ignored their proposals, such as $250 million in aid to community colleges for job training. Not mentioned was that Washington runs a plethora of job training programs, few of which have demonstrated lasting benefits. This is the hallmark of a limited-government conservative?

Jonah Goldberg, a regular contributor to NRO, one of Bush's strongest bastions, complains that the president has "asked for a major new commitment by the federal government to insert itself into everything from religious charities to marriage counseling." Indeed, Bush seems to aspire to be America's moralizer in chief. He would use the federal government to micromanage education, combat the scourge of steroid use, push drug testing of high school kids, encourage character education, promote marriage, hire mentors for children of prisoners and provide coaches for ex-cons.

Conservative pundit Andrew Sullivan worries that Bush "is fusing Big Government liberalism with religious right moralism. It's the nanny state with more cash." Kevin Fobbs and Lisa Sarrach of the National Urban Policy Action Council opine that Bush is "a strong leader, a comforter in chief." A comforter in chief?

....
Iraq, already in chaos, is no conservative triumph. The endeavor is social engineering on a grand scale, a war of choice launched on erroneous grounds that has turned into a disastrously expensive neocolonial burden.

Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, contrary to administration claims, and no operational relationship with al-Qaida, contrary to administration insinuations. U.S. officials bungled the occupation, misjudging everything from the financial cost to the troop requirements.

Particularly shocking is the administration's ineptitude with regard to Iraq. Fareed Zakaria writes in Newsweek, "On almost every issue involving postwar Iraq -- troop strength, international support, the credibility of exiles, de-Baathification, handling Ayatollah Ali Sistani -- Washington's assumptions and policies have been wrong. By now most have been reversed, often too late to have much effect. This strange combination of arrogance and incompetence has not only destroyed the hopes for a new Iraq. It has had the much broader effect of turning the United States into an international outlaw in the eyes of much of the world."

Sadly, the Iraq debacle has undercut the fight against terrorism. The International Institute for Strategic Studies in its most recent study warns that the Iraq occupation has spurred recruiting by smaller terrorist groups around the world. And acting CIA Director John McLaughlin worries that terrorists are plotting "something big" against the United States. For a time the Pentagon considered closing its child care center, lest it become the target of an attack. NRO columnist Goldberg observes that the president's contention that the war in Iraq has made America safer "is absurd." Goldberg backs the war for other reasons, but says it was probably "the risky thing in the short run."

Bush -- not even sure himself whether the war on terrorism is winnable -- has been unable to demonstrate how Iraq has reduced the threat of terrorism against America. Instead, he says: "I need four more years to complete the work. There's more work to do to make America a safer place. There's more work to do to make the world a more peaceful place." Alas, there's more work, far more work, to do because of Bush's misguided policies.

Resume: Applicant seeks executive position

2004-09-23T16:54:00.000-07:00

GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20520

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
Law Enforcement:
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the
influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's
license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been "lost" and
is not available.

Military:
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a
drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas
Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.

College:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:
I ran for U.S. Congress and lost. I began my career in the oil business in
Midland, Texas, in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any
oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took
land using taxpayer money. With the help of my father and our friends in
the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of
Texas.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS:
- I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making
Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston
replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.

- I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in
borrowed money.

- I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American
history.

- With the help of my brother, the governor of Florida, and my father's
appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing by over
500,000 votes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:
- I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal
record.

- I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one
billion dollars per week.

- I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.

- I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.

- I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any
12-month period.

- I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.

- I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the
U.S. stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans
lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.

- I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any
administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleeza Rice,
has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

- I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S.
President.

- I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most
corporate campaign donations.

- My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends,
Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S.
History, Enron.

- My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to
assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.

- I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against
investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating
the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the
biggest corporate rip-offs in history.

-I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to
intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.

- I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.

- I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded
government contracts.

- I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any
President in U.S. history.

- I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in
the history of the United States government.

- I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S.
history.

- I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations
remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.

- I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.

- I refused to allow inspectors' access to U.S. "prisoners of war"
detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.

- I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election
inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).

- I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any
President since the advent of television.

- I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year
period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the
worst security failure in U.S. history.

- I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World Trade
Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated
country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.

- I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to
simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering
the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.

- I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked,
pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I
did so against the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S.
citizens, and the world community.

- I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in
duty benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime! .

- In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking
Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.

- I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans
(71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.

- I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD.

- I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to
justice.

RECORDS AND REFERENCES:
-All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's
library, sealed and unavailable for public view.

- All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my
bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.

- All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President,
attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and
unavailable for public review.

PLEASE CONSIDER MY EXPERIENCE WHEN VOTING IN 2004!

Ashcroft and His Allies in Congress Seek New Powers by Expanding Patriot Act

2004-09-23T16:43:00.000-07:00

Attorney General Ashcroft and his allies in Congress are taking advantage of the 9/11 Commission report to push an expansion of the powers of the Department of Justice and erode key checks and balances that prevent government abuse. Many of their earlier proposals met with defeat, but now they are pushing new legislation that would dramatically expand on the Patriot Act and even further restrict our freedom.

"Across the nation, people are demanding that lost freedoms be restored," said Timothy Edgar, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "Liberals and conservatives alike do not want the government to further expand upon the Patriot Act without a thorough review of its effectiveness."

The new bill, called the "Tools to Fight Terrorism Act of 2004", would increase the government's powers to secretly obtain personal records without judicial review, limit judicial discretion over the use of secret evidence in criminal cases, eliminate important foreign intelligence wiretapping safeguards and allow the use of secret intelligence wiretaps in immigration cases without notice or an opportunity to suppress illegally acquired evidence.

For information and to take action:

www.aclu.org.

How Bush supports our troops

2004-09-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

Dual mission puts strain on National Guard

By CHRISTINA ALMEIDA, Associated Press

LAS VEGAS - The National Guard soldiers were upbeat and their sense of mission strong at their annual convention. But they were also painfully aware that their mission no longer involves being mere "weekend warriors."

The National Guard - long viewed as an emergency backup to the U.S. military - now looks more like another full-fledged branch of the armed forces, making up 40 percent of those fighting in Iraq. Nearly one of every five U.S. casualties in Iraq has been a National Guardsman or reservist. The turmoil has stretched the Guard thin as it carries out a dual mission of fighting a bloody insurgent war while also protecting airports and nuclear power plants from terrorists....

There have been mounting complaints that Guardsmen have not been properly trained and equipped for the new responsibilities, and the discord was evident outside the convention hall. Members of the organization Military Families Speak Out said they had to buy walkie-talkies and global-positioning satellite devices for their loved ones overseas.

Bush "did not give them training and equipment. He has never given them a good reason why they are fighting and dying for him," said Karma Kumlin, whose husband is deployed with the Minnesota National Guard....

While the citizen-soldiers of the National Guard and the Reserve have played a role in virtually every U.S. conflict, rarely have they sustained such casualties. Guard troops were primarily the bench players who occasionally were called up but more likely served a weekend a month in their home states.

That changed with the Sept. 11 attacks.

Tens of thousands of National Guard members were called to duty to Afghanistan and later to the front lines of Iraq to supplement a military that had been downsized in recent decades....While Air National Guard recruiting is up, indications are the Army National Guard will fall about 4,000 short of its authorized force of 350,000 soldiers, Blum said. Most of the 122,000 or so deployed Guardsmen are overseas; of the more than 1,000 casualties since the start of the war, nearly 200 of them have been Guardsmen or reservists.

Guard officials blame the shortfall on active duty soldiers - traditionally a consistent source for the National Guard ranks - who are not enlisting because of recent deployments.

"It defies common sense to believe that the kind of people who used to sign up for the Guard will continue signing up in equal numbers given how the job has changed," Thompson said.

At U.N., Bush Cites Headway in Iraq: 'I Am Optimistic We'll Succeed,' He Says

2004-09-22T17:33:00.000-07:00

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 21 -- President Bush brushed aside concerns about violence and disorder in Iraq and told world leaders assembled here on Tuesday that the country is making progress against insurgents.....

Bush spoke a day after terrorists in Iraq posted a gruesome video of an American being beheaded and before the group said it had slain a second U.S. hostage. More than 30 car-bomb attacks have occurred in Iraq this month, as the number of U.S. troops dead in the Iraq conflict has recently exceeded 1,000. Large parts of Iraq remain under the control of insurgents.

BAGHDAD, Sept. 22 Bombings and skirmishes across Iraq claimed more than two dozen lives and left more than 150 people wounded Wednesday. Meanwhile, authorities recovered a decapitated body in Baghdad, later identified as American hostage Jack Hensley, and a British man who had been taken captive with Hensley was shown on a video pleading for his life after being threatened with execution by an Islamic militant group.

BAGHDAD, Sept. 22 An estimated 300 people have been killed and hundreds injured here during the past two weeks, as a deteriorating security situation has hampered reconstruction efforts and threatened to derail the process of establishing democratic rule in Iraq, starting with nationwide elections planned before the end of January.

The "Top 10 Bush Tax Proposals" are:

2004-09-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

10. No estate tax for families with at least two U.S. presidents.

9. W-2 Form is now Dubya-2 Form.

8. Under the simplified tax code, your refund check goes directly to
Halliburton.

7. The reduced earned income tax credit is so unfair, it just makes me
want to tear out my lustrous, finely groomed hair.

6. Attorney General (John) Ashcroft gets to write off the entire U.S.
Constitution.

5. Texas Rangers can take a business loss for trading Sammy Sosa.

4. Eliminate all income taxes; just ask Teresa (Heinz Kerry) to cover
the whole damn thing.

3. Cheney can claim Bush as a dependent.

2. Hundred-dollar penalty if you pronounce it "nuclear" instead of
"nucular."

1. George W. Bush gets a deduction for mortgaging our entire future.

Voting for mammals: "A season in Heck" by Art Spiegelman

2004-09-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

(Graphic artist Art Spiegelman writes about /draws about his experience marching in the protest march in New York at the Republican National Convention)

Spiegelman is marching with Billionaires for Bush, an ironic "protest theater" group. He muses,

"At first the Republicans actually looked human...sorta."

(A man in a cowboy hat says "We got God in the Whitehouse. God!" A bizarre lizard wearing a Bush-Cheney button says, "Yew New Yorkers are LUCKY we took out Saddam!")

Spiegelman continues, "But they quickly morphed into cold-blooded reptiles. That 19th-century elephant symbol is woefully out of date! ....It's not like I'm a Kerry fan... In better times I'd want a more liberal candidate-- a member of my own species. It's just that, out of biological class loyalty, we need to at least have a mammal in the white house.

On my way to The Garden on Tuesday I saw aggressive cops arresting peaceful kids near Bryant Park... So when I heard Arnie talk about defending the Homeland in his cheerful Teutonic accent...I fled! I guess I'm just a girlieman. (Sigh).

Wednesday, I tried to watch Cheney on TV, but had to turn to a DVD movie for escape. Didja ever see Godzilla (1998)? The monster lays its eggs in Madison Square Garden and spawns a horde of little Godzillas to overrun humanity."

(In horror, Spiegelman looks at a thin-lipped, laughing godzilla-lizard looking not unlike GWB, with an angry Cheney-looking egg cracking up behind him).

Damn! I've GOTTA Remember to vote this November!"

(Taken from the graphic art piece in this week's New Yorker, 9/20/04, Art Spiegelman. Art Spiegelman is the author of the graphic novels "Maus" and the recent "In the Shadow of No Towers."

To learn more about Spiegelman, click the link in the title).

The Chronicle covers Run Against Bush-- and others.

2004-09-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

Sept. 17, 2004, 10:35PM

Running for a cause: Bush, Kerry supporters hit jogging trail
By MARY VUONG
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle (Click title for full link)

THE RUN

This election season has unveiled a quiet but highly visible style of campaigning for your presidential pick: running.
But you'll need more than the right shoes to make a statement. Help re-elect President Bush with a $13.95 "Run for Bush" T-shirt. Send Sen. John Kerry to the White House with a $25 donation, which will snag you a "Running Against Bush" shirt.

This is where the campaign trail meets the running trail. In Houston and across the nation, thousands of politically minded citizens are exercising their bodies and democracy. They walk, jog or run while sporting shirts that make their politics clear.
Today, Kerry supporters will meet in cities all over the country for a National Run Against Bush Day in which thousands are expected. In Houston, they'll run the three-mile loop at Memorial Park starting at 9 a.m.
"They serve as human billboards," says Marc Laitin, director of Running for Change, a Washington-based political action committee that oversees the Run Against Bush campaign.

Patrick Brown, founder of Run For Bush, believes T-shirt-clad campaigners are effective. "It's not a rally or someone standing on a street corner with a sign," he says. "It kind of catches people at a point where they're willing to think about it."
The two organizations differ in size and structure. Houston-area members of Run Against Bush jog alone and in groups that meet Wednesday evenings at Rice University and Saturday mornings at Memorial Park. Denver-based Run For Bush is smaller and loosely organized.

No matter whom you support, responses vary. Some runners forget about the political statement on their chest, only to be reminded when a stranger asks where they got the shirt, gives a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, boos, smiles, hisses, honks, waves. Others actively campaign, passing small fliers to anyone with a positive vibe.

Emily Lawson, a Run Against Bush member, vigilantly watches the faces of passers-by. The 23-year-old Houston teacher didn't regularly run until about six weeks ago. "I normally start out running and end up walking," she said Wednesday while walking at Rice. The group that day also included dogs and a baby in a stroller.

Lawson had cut off the sleeves and collar of her T-shirt because "it was too hot," she says. Despite the muggy heat, she continued to trek the tree-lined path for her candidate. "We need to get Bush out of there, and you can quote me on that," Lawson says. Her eyes brighten as she spots a John Kerry sign in a house window across from the university. "That's good."

National "Run Against Bush" Day!

2004-09-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

Meet the Houston chapter of "Run Against Bush" this Saturday at 9:00 am near the tennis courts at Memorial park. There will be opportunities to assist with voter registration, to buy nifty T-shirts, and to assist a worthy cause!

Saturday, September 18th is National Run Against Bush Day! So join the team and let's show Bush that we mean business!

We will have 10,000 runners, walkers and bicyclists in over 100 cities across the country all exercising democracy together on the 18th. We'll tally more than 100,000 miles in one day to show that come November 2nd, we'll mobilize even more people and run to the polls to voice our opinions of this administration!

"Run Against Bush" is a national effort to create a fun, healthy, visible way to make an important statement. Our goal is to have at least 100 runners, walkers, bicyclists, etc. You can wear any appropriate political T-shirt you might have, or buy one at the event. "Run Against Bush" T-shirts are 25 dollars (the price supports the organization). "Texans Against Bush, Unite" T-shirts are $10. Buy both if you can't decide! For more details, email us at tabunite@aol.com, or just show up at Memorial Park and look for the blue "Run Against Bush" T-shirts!

Paranoid or realistic? You be the judge!

2004-09-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

Pre-emptive Paranoia
By MAUREEN DOWD
9/16/2004

....In this vast left-wing conspiracy theory, Mr. Rove takes real evidence on W.'s shirking and transfers it to documents doomed to be exposed as phony (thereby undermining the real goods), then funnels it through third parties to Dan Rather, Bush 41's nemesis on Iran-contra. A perfect bank shot.

The secretary for W.'s squadron commander in the Texas Guard told The Times that the information in the disputed memos is correct - it's just the memos that seem fake.

"It looks like someone may have read the originals and put that together,'' said a lucid 86-year-old Marian Carr Knox, who was flown up to New York yesterday by beleaguered CBS News executives.

She told Mr. Rather that her boss, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, wrote a "cover-your-back file,'' a "personal journal'' to keep a record about the politically connected Bush in his charge. She said the contents of that mirrored the CBS documents, but she said those documents were not on the right forms and contained Army terms rather than Air National Guard argot. She confirmed that young Bush had disobeyed a direct order from Colonel Killian to take a physical.

"It was a big no-no to not follow orders,'' she said, adding that the Bush scion's above-the-rules attitude caused some snickers and resentment among fellow officers.

Those who suspect Mr. Rove note that when he was Bill Clements's campaign strategist in a 1986 governor's race in Texas, he was accused of bugging his own office to distract from a debate, according to James Moore and Wayne Slater, authors of "Bush's Brain.'' They said it turned the election because after that, the Democrat could not get any attention.

Was the same scenario playing out yesterday evening on CNN? After a five-minute report on the CBS memo controversy, CNN spent about 30 seconds reporting that two more marines had been killed in Iraq.

House Republicans started clamoring for a Congressional inquiry into the documents used by "60 Minutes,'' saying it might be an attempt to manipulate the election. (Isn't that what the Democrats are scared the Republicans are doing?)

These same Republicans never wanted investigations into missing W.M.D., why Congress passed a Medicare bill based on faulty figures, Abu Ghraib or even whether those Swiftie guys were lying, for Pete's sake.

The Democratic paranoia is a measure of the intimidation the West Wing is wielding in a race where John Kerry can't seem to take advantage of any of the Bush administration's increasingly calamitous blunders.

The administration has been so dazzling in misleading the public with audacious, mendacious malarkey that the Democrats fear the Bushies are capable of any level of deceit.

Iraq is a vision of hell, and the Republicans act as if it's a model kitchen. The president and vice president brag about liberating Iraqis and reassure us that they are stopping terrorist violence at its source and inspiring democracy in the region by bringing it to blood-drenched Iraq.

But what they haven't mentioned is that they have known since July that their rosy scenarios are as bogus as their W.M.D. That's when the president received a national intelligence estimate that spelled out "a dark assessment of prospects" for stability and governance in Iraq in the next 18 months, as Douglas Jehl wrote in today's Times. Worst-case estimates include civil war or anarchy.

Unlike the president, the young men and women trying to stay alive in the unraveling chaos of Iraq can't count on their daddies to get them out of the line of fire.

Mr. Bush's Glass House By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

2004-09-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

Published: September 15, 2004
The New York Times

President Bush's paramount problem with his National Guard years is not that he took shortcuts in 1972. The problem is that he still refuses to come clean about it.

So as we get caught up in the furor over the CBS documents showing favoritism in President Bush's National Guard career, let's bear a couple of points in mind.

First, there's reason to be suspicious of some of those CBS documents. For starters, a Guard veteran who worked with the supposed author, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, tells me that abbreviations in the documents are wrong. He says group should be "GP" rather than "GRP," there should be no period after "Lt," and Mr. Bush's Social Security number should have been used rather than his old service number.

Second, we shouldn't be distracted by our doubts about the CBS documents. There's no doubt that Mr. Bush benefited from favoritism. The speaker of the Texas House has acknowledged making the call to get Mr. Bush into the National Guard.

Does any of this matter? What troubles me is less Mr. Bush's advantage three decades ago and more his denial today. Mr. Bush's own route to avoid the draft underscores the disparities in America, yet his policies seem based on a kind of social Darwinism in which the successful make their own opportunities. His tax cuts and entire outlook seem rooted in ideas not of noblesse oblige, but of noblesse entitlement.

One fall day in 1973, when Mr. Bush was a new student at Harvard Business School, he was wearing a Guard jacket when he ran into one of his professors. The professor, Yoshi Tsurumi, says he asked Mr. Bush how he wangled a spot in the Guard.

"He said his daddy had good friends who got him in despite the long waiting list," recalls Professor Tsurumi, who is now at Baruch College, part of the City University of New York. Professor Tsurumi says he next asked Mr. Bush how he could have already finished his National Guard commitment. "He said he'd gotten an early honorable discharge," Professor Tsurumi recalls. "I said, 'How did you manage that?' "

"He said, oh, his daddy had a good friend," Mr. Tsurumi said. "Then we started talking about the Vietnam War. He was all for fighting it."

Professor Tsurumi says he remembers Mr. Bush so vividly because he was always making outrageous statements: denouncing the New Deal as socialist, calling the S.E.C. an impediment to business, referring to the civil rights movement as "socialist/communist" and declaring that "people are poor because they're lazy." (Dan Bartlett, an aide to Mr. Bush, denies that the president ever made these statements.)

So in this muddle of competing witnesses and suspect documents, what do we actually know about Mr. Bush and the Air National Guard?

It's pretty clear that Mr. Bush got into the Guard because of his name but did a fine job in his first few years. "He was rock-solid as a pilot," Dean Roome, a pilot in the same unit who was briefly Mr. Bush's roommate, told me. Mr. Roome adds that Mr. Bush inquired in 1970 about the possibility of transferring to Vietnam but was turned down - and, if so, that's a credit to him.

Then, in 1972, something went badly wrong. My hunch is that Mr. Bush went through personal difficulties that he's embarrassed to talk about today. In addition, Mr. Roome suggests that changes at the Texas air base were making it more difficult for junior pilots, so sometimes Mr. Bush's only chance to fly was as a target for student pilots - not the most thrilling duty.

For whatever reason, Mr. Bush's performance ratings deteriorated, he skipped his flight physical, he stopped flying military planes forever, he transferred to Alabama, and he did not report to certain drills there as ordered. The pilots I interviewed who were in Alabama then are pretty sure that Mr. Bush was a no-show at required drills.

The next year Mr. Bush skipped off to Harvard Business School. He still had almost another year in the Guard he had promised to serve, but he drifted away, after taxpayers had spent $1 million training him, and he never entirely fulfilled his obligations.

More than three decades later, that shouldn't be a big deal. What worries me more is the lack of honesty today about that past - and the way Mr. Bush is hurling stones without the self-awareness to realize that he's living in a glass house.

"What Ownership Society?"-- Essay by Robert Reich

2004-09-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

September 02, 2004

(The idea of an ownership society—where everyone has private retirement and investment accounts, rather than Social Security—is great, if you've got extra money to invest for your future. Problem is, most Americans don't. Robert Reich shares ideas on what a real ownership society would require. Robert B. Reich is the Maurice B. Hexter Professor of Social and Economic Policy at Brandeis University, and was the secretary of labor under former President Bill Clinton.)

"You won’t be hearing much at the Republican Convention about jobs and wages, because job growth has stalled and wages are stagnant. But you will hear about something Republicans are now calling the "Ownership Society." The notion is to expand private ownership through more tax cuts on capital investments, tax credits for saving and privatized Social Security.

Sounds nice, but here’s the problem: The Republican rhetoric assumes most Americans can save and invest. The reality is, most Americans are deep in debt. Before they can join the "Ownership Society" they’ve got to pay their credit card bills, their rising variable-rate mortgages and their auto loans. After that, there’s no money left because jobs are in short supply and wages are stuck in the mud.

The Commerce Department reported this week that personal incomes rose a measly one-tenth of one percent in July, the lowest rise in almost two years. And—given rising prices for food, fuel and health insurance—consumers spent more than they earned. So last month, Americans went even deeper into debt. The result: Less ownership, not more.

It’s true that more than half of American households now own stocks in corporations. But for most, it’s just a few thousand dollars worth. And the total value of their current portfolio is less than they invested. They got lured into the stock market during the late '90s when stock prices were pumped up with accounting steroids.

The fact is, an Ownership Society based on the stock market would be a casino. The Bush administration would like you to put your Social Security payments into the stock market, but beware. If your timing is bad, you could find yourself retiring in a bear market. It’s happened before. That’s one of the reasons Social Security—as social insurance—was invented.

Face it: The Republican "Ownership Society" is hokum. Ownership of America is now more concentrated than since the days of the Robber Barons of the 19th century. The richest 1 percent of America owns more than the the bottom 90 percent put together.

There are only two ways to reverse this trend, neither of which the Bush administration will support. The first is to enact a progressive tax on wealth—say, one-tenth of 1 percent per year, on those who own the most. Right now, the only wealth that's taxed is real property. The property tax is often regressive because poor and working-class families tend to cluster in their own communities, which means they pay through their noses for schools and local services.

A fairer system would tax total wealth, and it would be administered nationally. Revenues could be distributed to communities on the basis of population—enabling poor communities to have good schools and better services. If George Bush suggests this Thursday night, I’ll eat my spinach.

The second way to reverse the concentration of wealth in America is with an educational system that assures that every American can make the most of his or her God-given talents and abilities, and become rich one day if that’s what she wants. But that's not what Bush has done. The administration has left the "No Child Left Behind Act" woefully underfunded, so states don’t have enough money to respond to children who are left behind in lousy schools. And the administration has cut funds for job training, making it even harder for today’s workers to get the skills they need to get ahead.

I’m all in favor of a real Ownership Society. But that’s not at all what Republicans are selling."

George W. Bush: Words speak louder than actions

2004-09-15T09:39:00.000-07:00

Comedy Central's news program, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," calls itself "fake news" but seems to have more real news than CNN. Click the title for a link to a George Bush video.

Faces of the Fallen

2004-09-14T03:48:00.000-07:00

The Bush Administration has paid scant attention to those who have died in the Iraq war, and the mainstream media has followed the Administration's lead in giving little attention to the lives, deaths and families of dead veterans of this war.

The title of this post is a link to a Washington Post site that has pictures and brief bios of every one of the 1012 (at this count) U.S. service members who have died in this war. Click this link to spend a moment in their memory.

$3 Trillion Price Tag Left Out As Bush Details His Agenda

2004-09-14T03:45:00.000-07:00

By Mike Allen
Washington Post, Tuesday, September 14, 2004; Page A01

The expansive agenda President Bush laid out at the Republican National Convention was missing a price tag, but administration figures show the total is likely to be well in excess of $3 trillion over a decade.

A staple of Bush's stump speech is his claim that his Democratic challenger, John F. Kerry, has proposed $2 trillion in long-term spending, a figure the Massachusetts senator's campaign calls exaggerated. But the cost of the new tax breaks and spending outlined by Bush at the GOP convention far eclipses that of the Kerry plan.

Bush's pledge to make permanent his tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of 2010 or before, would reduce government revenue by about $1 trillion over 10 years, according to administration estimates. His proposed changes in Social Security to allow younger workers to invest part of their payroll taxes in stocks and bonds could cost the government $2 trillion over the coming decade, according to the calculations of independent domestic policy experts.

And Bush's agenda has many costs the administration has not publicly estimated. For instance, Bush said in his speech that he would continue to try to stabilize Iraq and wage war on terrorism. The war in Iraq alone costs $4 billion a month, but the president's annual budget does not reflect that cost.

Bush's platform highlights the challenge for both presidential candidates in trying to lure voters with attractive government initiatives at a time of mounting budget deficits. This year's federal budget deficit will reach a record $422 billion, and the government is expected to accumulate $2.3 trillion in new debt over the next 10 years, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported last week.

(click title to link to full story)

Candlelight vigil marks war's toll-- By LA MONICA and EVERETT-HAYNES Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

2004-09-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

Nine hundred U.S. soldiers had died in the war with Iraq when Melissa Patrick began paying attention to the death toll.
Patrick wished the death of the 1,000th soldier would never come. However, Friday night, she and about 1,500 others recognized that milestone death in a candlelight vigil in Montrose, some shedding tears and others praying for an end to the war.

"I wasn't here around the time of Vietnam, and I know it was a much larger number, but to me in my lifetime, 1,000 is just a huge number," said Patrick, a member of Mothers for World Peace and Mama Brigade.

The Pentagon announced the 1,000th death Tuesday, prompting nationwide vigils to mark the deaths and protest the Iraq war. The death toll, which includes Pentagon civilian employees, continues to increase. As of Friday, 1,005 U.S. soldiers involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom had died since fighting began in March 2003, according to the Pentagon's Web-based casualty report.

In Houston, Patrick asked 10 groups of people to each light up 100 luminarias along Main Street near the Mecom Fountain.

Participants gathered around the perimeter of the fountain, some carrying signs that read, "Bush lies, people die," "No war for Israel" and "The GOP is the new Third Reich." G. Arnold was holding a sign that read "1,000 dead" in big, black block letters.
"I'm here to honor the 1,000 dead and the 11,000 Iraqi people who died," said Arnold, 22, a Houston Community College environmental science major. "I want to be quiet and respectful." The words on the flag that Judith Hoffhien was holding read "peace" in Latin, Vietnamese, Spanish and Italian.

We’re Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore

2004-09-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

by Garrison Keiller

(posted in www.inthesetimes.com.)

How did the Party of Lincoln and Liberty transmogrify into the party of Newt Gingrich’s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk?....

This year, as in the past, Republicans will portray us Democrats as embittered academics, desiccated Unitarians, whacked-out hippies and communards, people who talk to telephone poles, the party of the Deadheads. They will wave enormous flags and wow over and over the footage of firemen in the wreckage of the World Trade Center and bodies being carried out and they will lie about their economic policies with astonishing enthusiasm.

The Union is what needs defending this year. Government of Enron and by Halliburton and for the Southern Baptists is not the same as what Lincoln spoke of. This gang of Pithecanthropus Republicanii has humbugged us to death on terrorism and tax cuts for the comfy and school prayer and flag burning and claimed the right to know what books we read and to dump their sewage upstream from the town and clear-cut the forests and gut the IRS and mark up the constitution on behalf of intolerance and promote the corporate takeover of the public airwaves and to hell with anybody who opposes them.

This is a great country, and it wasn’t made so by angry people. We have a sacred duty to bequeath it to our grandchildren in better shape than however we found it. We have a long way to go and we’re not getting any younger.

Dante said that the hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who in time of crisis remain neutral, so I have spoken my piece, and thank you, dear reader. It’s a beautiful world, rain or shine, and there is more to life than winning.

(And Elizabeth, writing for TABU, gives a big thanks to Garrison Keiller for writing so beautifully and saying what needs to be said).

How Fido can help

2004-09-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

DEMOCRATIC DOG SHOW!!

SUNDAY,
OCT. 12, 2003
2:00-5:00 PM
4:00 PM DOG SHOW JUDGING
KARL YOUNG PARK
STELLA LINK AT TARTAN LANE

It’s time for everyone’s four-legged friend to shine! The Braeswood Democrats are holding their third annual dog show this October 12, from 2-5pm at Karl Young Park, 7800 Stella Link. This Fun Day in the Park is fun for the whole family, with dog judging starting at 4 pm, games for the kids, speeches by the candidates, a blood drive sponsored by MD Anderson, a bake sale, eSlate demonstrations, snow cones, balloons, information on the upcoming election issues, vendors...something for everyone.

All activities are open and free to the general public - the only charge is for entering your dog. There is a $6.00 charge for entries in each of the following categories: mixed-up breed; pure breed – any breed will do; best in cute; owner look-alike; and costumed canine. Ribbons are awarded for all winners. Over twenty-five dogs entered last year and over 150 people attended what was described as a true neighborhood celebration.

Our esteemed panel of judges will be drawn from the slate of candidates in the upcoming November elections.

All proceeds go to the Braeswood Democrats to be able to continue to support our democratic process. It is truly an enjoyable opportunity to meet your neighbors and your candidates.

Contact:
Sandy Steigerwald
713-664-8083

SUPPORT THE PROCESS!

A very sad observance

2004-09-08T18:14:00.000-07:00

1000th Soldier Candlelight Memorial for Peace

This Friday, September 10th, a Candlelight Memorial for Peace will be
held in memory of the over 1,000 U.S. service members that have been killed
in Iraq, and the many other casualties caused by this war.

The announcement below is not sponsored or endorsed by AI23. It is
supported by the Houston Peace and Justice Center, of which AI23 is a
member. While the count of American military personnel killed in Iraq
differs from different sources, most will reach/ have reached 1000
this week. This message is sent to you in the event that you may, as an
individual, wish to participate, or to be informed.
_________________________________
What: A candlelight vigil, a brief memorial ceremony led by Cardinal
Aswad Walker of the Shrine of the Black Madonna, and 1000 luminarias
representing the U.S. troops killed in Iraq.

Where: Mecom Fountain, located at the intersection of Main and
Montrose.

When: Gathering for the vigil begins at 7:30pm, ceremony held at
8:30,
concluding with a symbolic extinguishing of the luminarias beginning
at
9:00.

Please join us as we come together to show our sorrow for those killed,
our
heartache for those maimed, and our opposition to this unjust war.

This event is being held by a partnership of peace groups, churches,
and
concerned individuals.

For more information contact Melissa Patrick at
anothermotherforpeace@earthlink.net or visit
www.mamabrigade.org/1000soldiers.

Houston "Bush on the Couch" booksigning

2004-09-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

Thursday SEPTEMBER 16

11am Borders Bookstore, 3025 Kirby across from Whole Foods on Alabama

8pm the ARTERY, no charge
(Artery is at 5401 Jackson, corner of Jackson and Prospect near the Children's Museum, enter on Prospect. )

reading and book signing

Dr. Justin Frank, M.D., author, will speak on the topic of his book.

BUSH ON THE COUCH, Inside the Mind of the President
Harper Collins

Bush on the Couch could well be subtitled, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. Author, Justin Frank, M.D., highly respected Washington, D.C., psychiatrist, dares to examine the psychological fitness of our nation’s president. This just-published page-turner is studded with stunning revelations: “The more closely we look at George W. Bush, the more clearly we see a man who cannot live within the constraints of his own ascending power.”

“After reading this book, you’ll understand why the Bushes are so afraid of psychoanalysis. The exploration of the president’s persona will set your hair on fire—and probably land its brilliant author in the federal witness protection program.”

- Kitty Kelley, author of the forthcoming "The Family: The Real Story ---Behind the Bush Dynasty"

"A penetrating account of the psychological make-up of the most powerful man in the world, it is compelling and persuasive and downright frightening. Most readers will end this book stunned, asking themselves how it has come about that we have chosen a leader so ill-equipped for the job."

- Irv Yalom, MD Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Stanford University.

The liberal fight, Texas style

2004-09-06T19:26:00.000-07:00

By Brian Halley| RAW STORY COLUMNIST

(The following comes from a fun online political site, "The Raw Story," a "liberal answer to the Drudge report." Click the title of the post to get the link).

...I'm from Texas, I lived there from the ages of 8 to 22, and I feel this election is all set to dismiss the state as a giant Bush-loving nightmare, a massive chunk of land unified by its mix of frighteningly conservative politics and blatant ignorance on all national issues. Howard Dean, more than once, shouted that we should send Bush back to Texas - but I'm here to say that plenty in Texas don't want him. This attitude amongst Democrats and liberals overlooks the strength and immense creative energy pouring out of Texas - the progressives living there know how to fight.

...This is how I made my peace with Texas, by noting these good ol' fashioned liberals still fighting the good fight. There are plenty of other examples - Austin is full of them, obviously, and their presence online stretches from the Burnt Orange Report, an influential blog produced by a few University of Texas Democrats, to writings by Robert Jensen, a UT journalism professor who was nearly fired after writing an Op-Ed in the Houston Chronicle about 9/11 just days after the attack with the headline, "US just as guilty of committing own violent acts."

I don't live there, and I'm not ready to move back due to the endless heat, but Texas is a big place. Regardless of its status as a "red state," I think liberals around the country should remember our friends in the Lone Star State, and give them the credit they deserve. Liberal in Massachusetts? It's not a struggle. But mouthing off about gun control in a state where a person can legally carry a handgun on their person while walking through the mall is a serious risk. Driving down US 59 through East Texas with an HRC sticker on your car takes more cajones than flying a rainbow flag in San Francisco. And campaigning against an elected judge who opposes abortion in Abilene is worthy of more applause than protesters in New York City marching against the war.

All are worthy activities, all deserve attention and support, but Texas liberals are getting discounted for geographical reasons alone. Let's count on their support in the fight against Bush and the neo-cons, and let's return the favor. Republicans, led by Bush, want to assume the state is their own. It's a given. Well there are plenty of individuals in Texas who think otherwise, and we must remember that every vote against Bush, regardless of the outcome in our antiquated electoral college system, means something. In fact, a vote against Bush in Texas could mean quite a bit.
Don't let their polite manner fool you, our Texans will come out swinging when the time is right. They are not Republican lapdogs, they are not all blind Bush supporters, and they are not, I can tell you, fools.

More about voting rights in Florida

2004-09-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

Katherine Harris calls Greg Palast, 'Twisted."
The White House says, "We hate that sonovabitch."
But Michael Moore calls his reporting for BBC Television 'courageous.' In England, Tribune Magazine calls him," the most important investigative reporter of our time."

Greg Palast is the author of the book, The Best Democracy Money can Buy - six months on the New York Times Best Seller List.

"Visualize a Fair Election in 2004"
from YES! Magazine
Friday, August 22, 2003
by Greg Palast and Ina Howard

MAY 4. BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA. At the dais, Martin Luther King spoke with the marchers who had crossed the bridge into Birmingham, the women and men who had faced down Bull Connor’s police dogs and fire hoses: “We ask a simple question. Do African Americans have the right to vote in the United States of America?”

We had to blink. Speaking was Martin Luther King the Third, son of the late Nobel Laureate—and the year was 2003. The elderly foot soldiers of the legendary civil rights march of 1963 had gathered to commemorate their peaceful invasion of the city 40 years earlier.

They were invited by Birmingham’s new mayor and police chief, both African Americans. Counterpoint to the toasts to such stunning progress, King called attention to a cloud on the political horizon, no bigger than a man’s hand, threatening to grow into a storm—the racial fix of the presidential election of 2000 in the state of Florida.

The civil rights activists knew in detail what most Americans today have yet to learn: In the five months leading to the 2000 presidential election, political appointees working for Florida Governor Jeb Bush and his Secretary of State Katherine Harris ordered the removal of 57,700 voters from Florida’s vote registries.

The official reason? Those they targeted were felons, ex-cons who had illegally registered to vote. The truth? Virtually every voter they “scrubbed” from the voter rolls was innocent of any crime—except the crime of Voting While Black. There’s no guessing about this—Florida’s voter registration roles include each citizen’s race.

King had invited us to the 40th anniversary of the march on Birmingham because we uncovered this racial “cleansing” of the Florida voter rosters. We do investigative reports for BBC Television and the Guardan papers of Britain. It didn’t take much investigating, however, to note something funny about the voter purge once we got my hands on Katherine Harris’ computer files. One criminal, Thomas Cooper, was listed as convicted of a felony on “January 30, 2007.” The whole list was rotten with these whacky faux felony convictions—and loaded with the tag line “BLA”—black voter.

The purge of black voters in Florida was the herald of an ugly new development in our democracy. Where once African Americans had to fear night-riders in white sheets, the new threat to their civil rights comes from politicians armed with computer programs—“lynching by laptop” one called it. And now, King warns, America faces “Florida-tion of the nation”—the system that disenfranchised tens of thousands of blacks in Florida would now be imposed by a new federal law upon all 50 states.

In 2002, with little public notice, Congress passed and the president signed the “Help America Vote Act.”Hidden behind the apple-pie-and-motherhood name lies a nasty civil rights time-bomb. Every state must, by the 2004 elections, imitate Florida’s system of computerizing voter files; the law empowers 50 secretaries of state to purge these lists of suspect voters. And King knew darn well the probable color of those who will be wrongly purged.

The new law is a radical change in our democracy. Until now, with the notable exception of Florida, voter rolls throughout America have been maintained by county officials watched over by bi-partisan committees. Now the job of deciding who can and can’t vote will fall to a single official —the ‘Katherine Harris’ of each state.

Secretaries of states are notoriously partisan officials. Besides the well-known Ms. Harris (who directed the vote count in Florida while holding the title state chair for the Bush for President campaign), there’s Illinois’ office of secretary of state; whose former director was convicted thismonth of running what prosecutors called “one of the most corrupt constitutional offices in Illinois history.”

King and the civil rights activists knew the spread of the Florida system—computerizing and centralizing voter files—could only harm black and Hispanic voters whose voting pattern (solidly Democratic) makes them an obvious target for abuses of voter-list “cleansing.”....

In 2002, Comal County, Texas, tried out new computer voting machines—and three Republican candidates each won their respective offices, each with exactly 18,181 votes. “Isn’t that the weirdest thing?” County Clerk Joy Treater asked at the time. “We noticed it right away, but it is just a big coincidence.”

Just down the road in Scurry County, Texas, two unexpected landslide wins for Republican candidates struck election clerks as just one coincidence too many. Joan Bunch, the county’s clerk, investigated and found that a faulty computer chip had caused the county’s optical scanner to record Democratic votes as Republican. After two manual recounts and one electronic recount using a replacement chip in the scanner, the Democratic candidates won by large margins and the original results were overturned.

King is not so naïve as to believe vote-count errors are race-neutral. In the presidential election of 2000, 1.9 million ballots cast were never counted by tally machines—“spoiled,” in the language of elections officials. But the spoilage rate has a distinctly “color”: The massive Harvard University Civil Rights Project study released last year found that it was 50% more likely fr a black vote to be “spoiled” than a white vote. In Florida, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission found that a black vote was nearly 10 times as likely as a white vote to be rejected.

Machinery, computerized or otherwise, has made the racial bend of lost votes worse. In our investigations in Florida for the BBC, we found that in 2000 paper ballots read by optical scanners in the county with the highest black population were 25 times as likely to be rejected as those cast in the neighboring majority white county, using the same paper ballots—but a different automated counting system.

Does the situation sound grim to you? Heck, no. Most of us have become lazy about civil rights. But the old lions of the 60’s marches have remained vigilant. The road they have traveled is long and the sacrifices too many to let down their guard. The new challenge is invigorating. I stayed up with King and Dick Gregory past midnight, plannng the next maneuvers on this new civil rghts battlefront.

For them, the ethnic cleansing of black voters from the Florida registries is the wake-up call for a new activism that must be fought in the Birminghams and Selmas of cyberspace. Now it’s your turn. Click in, sign on … to ML King’s voting rights petition at http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/petition.cfm?itemid=14993 .

Bush and the "black" vote

2004-09-06T14:02:00.000-07:00

MSNBC-- Bush Seeks Support From Urban League

DETROIT - President Bush acknowledged on Friday that “the Republican Party has got a lot of work to do” to gain the support of black voters and suggested that the Democratic Party is taking them for granted....
The president’s speech followed his refusal to address the NAACP, whose chairman, Julian Bond, has condemned the administration’s policies on education, the economy and the war in Iraq and has urged high black voter turnout to defeat Bush.

Bush pointed to the fact that blacks such as national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell are key members of his administration. To periodic smatterings of applause from the black audience, he asserted that his prescription of tax relief, education reform and compassionate conservatism is doing far more than the traditional programs of Democrats to address the nation’s ills that hit particularly hard at blacks....
“I know, I know, I know,” Bush added. “The Republican Party has got a lot of work to do. I understand that,” prompting laughter and louder applause and apparently provoking a vigorous nod of the head from the Rev. Jesse Jackson who was sitting in the crowd.

“You didn’t need to nod your head that hard, Jesse,” Bush said, triggering more laughter.

After the speech, Jackson said that Bush “has done some gestures, but he talked to us, not with us.”

July 23, 2004
Associated Press
(Full story at msnbc.com.
***********************************

Civil Rights Commission Approves Report Assailing Florida Vote
June 8, 2001

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights approved Friday a controversial investigative report that found the 2000 presidential race in Florida was marred by "injustice, ineptitude and inefficiency" that disenfranchised minority voters. ...
Among the practices criticized in the report was an effort to purge convicted felons and other ineligible voters from registration roles. Lists of ineligible voters, compiled by a private firm, had an error rate of at least 14 percent, and black voters had a "significantly greater chance" of appearing on the inaccurate lists than white voters, the report said.

Also, the report found that black voters were nine times more likely than white voters to have their ballots rejected during the counting process. Faulty voting systems were more likely to be used in areas with higher percentages of minority voters, but even in counties where the voting systems were the same, black voters still had a higher rejection rate than white voters, the report said.

(Full story at cnn.com).

Register voters !! (Houston, Alief)

2004-09-06T13:09:00.000-07:00

HUGE Voter Registration Effort at Wal-Mart: Many Volunteers Needed

October 2 and 3 are the last possible days to register new voters! Here are some events, if you're looking:

The Alief Democrats are sponsoring voter registration at:

Wal-Mart Supercenter
3506 S. HighWay 6
(HW 6 & Westpark, if heading south, just before the Alief-Clodine overpass)
Houston, TX 77082

For three weekends starting in September! All you folks who have been
wanting a big voter registration drive on the weekend, here is your chance!
Weekend 1: Sept 4 & 5
Weekend 2: Sept 18 & 19
Weekend 3: Oct 2 & 3 (This will be the LAST weekend to register voters
before the deadline)
You are NOT required to be a voter registrar to help, but we do need plenty of voter registrars too!

Each weekend we'll be working both Saturday & Sunday, from 7:00AM to 7:00PM, and asking folks to sign up for 4-hour shifts (7-11AM, 11AM-4PM, 4PM-7PM) You're welcome to sign up for more than 1 shift!

We need lots of people to help with this so we can position registrars at
both doors! To volunteer, send an email to dmarcotte@hcdp.org or call Harris County Democratic Party at 713-802-0085.
Please give your name, email address, phone number, and the dates & shifts that you want to work.

IMPORTANT: Planning Meeting before Weekend 1 - Planning meeting as follows:
Wednesday, Sept 1, 2004, 7:00PM
WEST SIDE: Harris County Democratic Party HQ
140777 Westheimer
Houston, TX 77077-5360
(On the south side of Westheimer in the strip mall near Babies R Us, Big
Lots & Neals Unfinished Furniture)
281-759-5061

If you plan to work at any of these Wal-Mart voter registrations, please
plan to attend this meeting. (We'll send an email reminder to all those who sign up to work.)
Thanks,

Susan Gates
Executive Director
Harris County Democratic Party
1445 North Loop West, Ste. 110
Houston, TX 77008
713.802.0085/ 713.802.2082(fax)
email: hcdp@hcdp.org
.
*********************************************************************************
And, from "Sam, the voter man" of the League of Women Voters:

Wednesday, September 8 UH-Downtown 9AM-1PM and 5PM - 8PM

Thursday, September 9 UH-Downtown 9AM-1PM and 5PM - 8PM

Thursday, September 9 Pat Neff Elementary School, 8200 Carvel, open house, 6 to 7:30

Saturday, September 11: Fiestas Patrias Parade. Some Spanish speakers will be needed. We'll assemble at the corner of Texas and Crawford, where the parade starts at at 10 a.m,.

Saturday, September 11: Almeda Mall, Gulf Freeway at Almeda Genoa Road 10-4

Saturday, September 11: Baybrook Mall, Gulf Freeway at Bay Area Blvd. 10-4

Saturday, September 11: Deerbook Mall, 20131 Highway 59 North, Humble 10-4

Saturday, September 11: Greenspoint Mall 10-4

Sunday, September 12: Half Price Books Montrose store, 1011 Westheimer , noon to 5

Tuesday, September 14; Gross Elementary School, 12583 S. Gessner, register at open house, 6:30 -7:45

Tuesday, September 14 Pat Neff Elementary School, 8200 Carvel, open house, 6 to 7:30

I'm putting heaviest emphasis on the malls. We'll be demonstrating voting machines as well as registering at them.

If you can help on any of those, let me know. As you know, usually we break the longer assignments into shifts, like 3 hours at the malls.

Sam Keeper
Voter Registration Chair
League of Women Voters - Houston Area
2929 Buffalo Speedway #203
Houston, TX 77098
713/963-0221
Cell: 713/829-7291
skeeper@houston.rr.com.

The voice of a Texan against Bush

2004-09-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

Richard Linklater, the Austin-based director of movies such as "Slacker" and "Dazed and Confused," has written a television spot featuring a "real West Texan" speaking out against Bush.

Click the title of this post to see the commercial

"Run Against Bush" news from New York

2004-09-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

September 02, 2004

Here's an excerpt about the "Run Against Bush" activities at the Republican convention in New York, taken from the MTV website, "choose or lose."

Four More Miles, Four More Miles
On Wednesday evening, around 200 people gathered at New York City performance space The Tank to take off on what might have been the most peaceful, healthy protest of the week – the "Run for Liberty, Run for Truth, Run Against Bush" event.

The members and new recruits of Run Against Bush - a grassroots volunteer organization, formed to motivate people to get involved in races and casual runs across the country to express their disappointment in the Bush administration - took to the streets from 4 pm to 12 am in groups of 10-20, proudly sporting t-shirts that read "Run Against Bush" on the front and "I'm Running for Change" on the back. They were covered in pins, dog tags that read "Vote Bush out of Our House," "Republicans for Kerry," and the like, and carrying flyers and stickers to hand out to interested passerby.

"As an organizer," said Run Against Bush coordinator Tim Haft, "your worst fear is that nobody will turn up for your event. Initially I was hoping that 50 people would sign up for the Run Against Bush Relay…. So imagine my surprise when come event day nearly 200 runners show up with the most amazing energy and spirit. I couldn't have asked for a better result. The runners had a great time, there were no ugly incidents, and most importantly our message was welcomed and embraced by most New Yorkers and tourists."

Bush on-- and off-- the couch

2004-09-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

A recent letter to the New York Times comments on Bush's capacity for self reflection

"Bush 'on the Couch'"

Published: September 3, 2004

To the Editor:

In "Bush Dismisses Idea That Kerry Lied on Vietnam" (front page, Aug. 27), President Bush said he would resist going "on the couch" to rethink his decisions about the occupation of Iraq.

While he uses this figure of speech to disclaim any interest in learning from his mistakes or, for that matter, from history, he's also making a backhanded stab at psychoanalysis, as if to say that not understanding oneself is a matter of pride.

Forget analysis; his lack of curiosity and empathy makes him unsuitable for it. But his apparent incapacity for even the slightest degree of self-awareness and self-inquiry is his most troubling - and dangerous - quality.

Kerry J. Sulkowicz, M.D.
New York, Aug. 29, 2004
The writer is a clinical professor of psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine.

Kerry's response

2004-09-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

The following are excerpts from remarks Kerry is expected to make at a rally tonight in response to the speeches of the Republican convention.

"The election comes down to this. If you believe this country is heading in the right direction, you should support George Bush. But if you believe America needs to move in a new direction, join with us. John and I offer a better plan that will make us stronger at home and more respected in the world. And we need your help to do that.

For three days in New York, instead of talking about jobs and the economy, we heard anger and insults from the Republicans. And I'll tell you why. It's because they can't talk about the real issues facing Americans. They can't talk about their record because it's a record of failure.

We all saw the anger and distortion of the Republican Convention. For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief. Well, here's my answer. I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq.

The vice president even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty.

Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty. Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without health care makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting the Saudi royal family control our energy costs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Handing out billions of government contracts to Halliburton while you're still on their payroll makes you unfit. That's the record of George Bush and Dick Cheney. And it's not going to change. I believe it's time to move America in a new direction; I believe it's time to set a new course for America.

And we have a specific plan to do just that. So tomorrow morning, John and Elizabeth and Teresa and I are hitting the road across America's heartland. From here, we'll go out and talk with Americans in towns across Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. And because a stronger America begins at home, we'll talk about our plan to create jobs, cut taxes for the middle class, lower health care costs, and make America safer and more secure."

Those listening to the speeches of the Republican convention...

2004-09-03T07:33:00.000-07:00

are well aware of the distortions of Kerry's record in many of the speeches. Cheney and Bush, in particular, used their speeches as weapons meant to weaken the Democratic candidate. Particularly disturbing are some of the flagrant distortions of Kerry's record, in which votes and speeches are taken entirely out of context.

Political enthusiasts will enjoy this thoughtful analysis, from The Washington Post,
GOP Prism Distorts Some Kerry Positions
By Glenn Kessler and Dan Morgan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 3, 2004; Page A01

"...Kerry's vote last year against the administration's $87 billion proposal to fund troops in Iraq and pay for Iraqi reconstruction has also been the focus of Republican attacks. "My opponent and his running mate voted against this money for bullets, and fuel, and vehicles, and body armor," Bush said last night.

Kerry actually supported all those things, but as part of a different version of the bill opposed by the administration. At the time, many Republicans were uncomfortable with the administration's plans and the White House had to threaten a veto against the congressional version to bring reluctant lawmakers in line.

In a floor statement explaining his vote, Kerry said he favored the $67 billion for the troops on the ground -- "I support our troops in Iraq and their mission" -- but faulted the administration's $20 billion request for reconstruction. He complained that administration "has only given us a set of goals and vague timetables, not a detailed plan."

Yesterday, the State Department said that only $1 billion of that money has been spent in the 11 months since the bill was passed."

Get Out the Vote

2004-08-31T16:57:00.000-07:00

The kerryevents website has many events listed for the coming week. This one seemed easy to get to and caught my attention:

GET OUT THE VOTE RALLY - 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm Tuesday- Thursday night, August 31 through September 2.

Location:
Central Market Parking Lot
Corner of Westheimer and Weslayan
Houston TX

"During this week of the Republican convention let's get out and show support for the Democrats. Bring out your Kerry, Martinez, Dougherty and other political signs. We are meeting at 5:00 in order to catch the traffic heading home from work."

Contact Information:
Ken Martinez
832-868-4804

Blogmania II !

2004-08-31T13:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a real treat, some thoughts from the often lighthearted and always enlightening blog , yellowdoggeraldemocrat, posted by my friend Steve Bates. Enjoy!

GOP Offensive

The title pun is very much intended. This TNR blog post by Michael Crowley recounts Republican behavior that is deeply offensive to me:

Soon after Hagel spoke, the acting state Republican chair--an African-American man in a white cowboy hat named Leon Mosley--urged his delegates, "Let's remember what's paramount in our life: God ... This is the GOP: God's Official Party." At that, the room burst into sustained applause. Behold, the Republican base.

Emphasis mine. Offensiveness theirs. And never forget that Bush considers the war on terror a "crusade," that he said (to an Amish group, if I recall correctly) that he trusts God speaks through him, and that he began his response to a woman's remark that "God is in the White House" with the words, "Thank you."

....I have run across (and neglected to bookmark) many fine sites devoted to the promotion of progressive or liberal religious thought. Some of these sites assert that Democrats and other political liberals must "take back" the language of religion in the public arena. That is OK with me, for one reason only: for many liberals, as surely as for conservatives, the language of their religion or other spiritual pursuit is a natural expression of their calling, their motivation to good works; deprived of that language, they are largely deprived of their legitimate sociopolitical voice. I would never say that people of any political persuasion should not speak in the language that best expresses their political views.

But that is not what is going on at the GOP convention, and this one quotation of Mr. Mosley crystallizes for me the manner in which many Republicans differ from me: They believe God is, quite literally, on their side in politics. I believe virtuous sociopolitical action transcends religious affiliation.

There was a time when I believed that virtuous action transcended political affiliation as well. People like Mr. Mosley make it difficult for me to sustain that belief. To Republicans, I say this: If you want my positive attention in the political arena, if you want me to work with you rather than against you after the election, if you want an American future not riven by religious division in the houses of government as surely as the houses of worship... then stop claiming to own God.

Besides, I spoke to God this morning, and Her/His Transgendered Rainbow of Universal Lightness is gonna be really pissed off at you if you don't knock off this nonsense,,,

(TNR post Found on so many blogs I can't list them all here.)

Steve
Mon 8/30/2004

Here it is again: Cool Kerry Clothing!

2004-08-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

Those who missed it the first time around, may want to use this link, www.kerrytshirts.net, to get fun, flattering T-shirts. I particularly like their sleevless options, which are cool even when I am Running Against Bush! They will even donate a portion of the price to the organization of your choice!

Dean campaigns for Texas Democrats

2004-08-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

By Justin Gest, from the Houston Chronicle

Former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean told a group of party activists in Houston to stay persistent and not lose hope even if they believe they are outnumbered in their home state.

"People think Texas is George W. Bush country," Dean told hundreds packed into the Houston International Theatre School on Saturday. "But right now, 40 percent of Texans would vote for a yellow dog before they place a vote for George W. Bush."

Criticizing the Bush administration for failures in education, health care, job creation and national security, the former Vermont governor said his visit was part of his grass-roots "Democracy For America" campaign to promote progressive activism to challenge Republicans in office.

"This is about ordinary people running for office, because politics is too important to be left to professional politicians," Dean said. "Even in the most conservative county in Texas."

***********************************************************
Dean's organization "Democracy for America" is seeking to support Democratic candidates across the country. Not all of us will agree with his emphasis--he explicitly supports "fiscally conservative" democrats, for instance. Nevertheless, I think we all might want to look at his local activities (see www.democracyfortexas.org). Here is one Houston-area activity to look for:

"Texas Rangers - Houston
Next to W, the person we most want to see back in Texas is Tom DeLay. (Wow, talk about the ultimate sacrifice!) Here’s your chance to help - it’s like Iowa but warmer. September 11-12, people from all over Texas will come together in Houston to block walk for Richard Morrison.

The Morrison campaign has planned a full weekend, but you can take part in whatever part you can make. Meet in Houston at 11:00 on Saturday, get trained, have lunch, then hit the streets! After talking to all those Morrison supporters, you’ll enjoy an evening event. If you can stay on Sunday, brunch and more block walking is scheduled for the afternoon.

Housing will be provided by volunteers in Houston, or you can make your own arrangements. However you want to do it - be there! Contact Melissa Taylor, volunteer coordinator at melissa@morrisonfor22.com.

Texan 'Ashamed' on Bush Role

2004-08-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: August 28, 2004

HOUSTON, Aug. 27 - Ben Barnes, a former speaker of the Texas House who has said he got George W. Bush into the National Guard in 1968, told an audience of John Kerry supporters in Austin on May 27 that he was ashamed of his role.

"I walked through the Vietnam Memorial the other day," Mr. Barnes said, according to a videoclip posted on the Internet this summer, "and I looked at the names of people who died in Vietnam and I became more ashamed of myself than I've ever been because the worst thing I did was get a lot of wealthy supporters and a lot of people who had family names of importance into the Guard and I'm very sorry about that and I apologize to you and the voters of Texas."

A 45-second video of his remarks, which were not reported at the time, was posted June 25 on a Web site, Austin4Kerry.com, that crashed on Friday from overuse after Jim Moore, an Austin author of books on Mr. Bush, sent out e-mail messages calling attention to it. The video was then shifted to another site: 69.59.167.160/.

Mr. Barnes, a Democrat, did not return calls for comment.

President Bush is on record as denying that family influence got him into the Guard.

Abu Ghraib and Rumsfeld: Implausible deniability

2004-08-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

"At the extremes were the death of a detainee in O.G.A. custody, an alleged rape committed by a U.S. translator and observed by a female soldier, and the alleged sexual assault of a female detainee. [O.G.A. stands for 'Other Covernment Agencies', usually referring to the CIA, according to this report] .
These abuses are, without question, criminal... The environment created at Abu Ghraib contributed to the occurrence of such abuse and the fact that it remained undiscovered by higher authority for a long period of time. What started as nakedness and humiliation, stress and physical training (exercise), carried over into sexual and physical assaults by a small group of morally corrupt and unsupervised soldiers and civillians....
The use of nudity as an interrogation technique or incentive...was not a technique develped at Abu Ghraib, but rather a technique which was imported and can be traced through Afghanistan and GTMO [Guantanamo naval base]. It likely contributed to an escalating 'de-humanization' of the detainees and set the stage for additional and more severe abuses to occur...."

(excerpts from the executive summary of the "Investigation of the Abu Ghraib Detention Facility and the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade," also known as the Fay Report. A full text version of this report can be found at www.nytimes.com. These excerpts are taken from The New York Times 8/26/04).

....on Thursday, in an interview with a radio station in Phoenix, Mr. Rumsfeld, who was traveling outside Washington this week, said, "I have not seen anything thus far that says that the people abused were abused in the process of interrogating them."
(The New York Times, 8/28/04)

The Great American Shoutout

2004-08-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

"Run Against Bush" had a productive and informative meeting last night. Some of us (including this writer) were deputized to register voters. We also shared resources and ideas. Two of my favorite were the candlelight vigil planned on the occasion of the announcing of the death of the 1000th U.S. service person (see entry below) and the following interesting event brought to us by Charisse Hines from the Kerry campaign. I can't wait!

Charisse writes:
" Under the coordination of Al Franken's movement, The
Great American Shoutout, I will be hosting one of several convention
watching parties nationwide to view George W. Bush's speech at 7:00 pm on
Thursday, September 2nd.

Location:
Pappas Bar-B-Q
7007 Highway 59 South (@ Bellaire Blvd)
Houston, TX

Franken is urging Kerry Supporters, Democrats, Liberals, and anyone opposing
Bush to particpate. Program details are listed below. If this party is
anything like the one we had for Kerry it'll be a blast. Also, the laughs
are guaranteed to keep coming! Please RSVP (and urge your friends to do the
same) at one of the following sites:

http://volunteer.johnkerry.com/member/273897.
http://www.thegreatamericanshoutout.org/modules/event/index.php

Event Description:

On September 2nd, 2004, at approximately 10 pm, George W. Bush will appear
on television screens nationwide. For some of our fellow citizens, this will
be a moment of joy. But for most of us, it will be the low point of an
incredibly exasperating week.

Until now, there have been only two options: miss the speech (either by
screaming at the television or turning it off), or bottle up the frustration
within us, causing irreparable psychological harm. The first option is
unbecoming of citizens in a democracy. The second option is just terrible.
But now, for the first time, we have a better way. At the moment we see the
president on our television screens, we will rise. We will throw open our
windows. And, as George W. Bush moves to the podium in New York City, we
will send him a message about his bid for reelection: we will yell,
“fuggedaboudit!”

This will be a peaceful, non-disruptive protest. We will stop yelling before
the president starts speaking. Our goal is not to drown him out, but to
communicate. (And vent.)

We will do it in groups. If “fuggedaboudit” doesn’t feel right—for example,
if you aren’t in New York City—we urge you to customize your shout. But no
obscenities. You’ll be addressing the president of the United States. And we
will be broadcasting the shout-outs live, from several locations, on Air
America Radio."

Charisse

"AMERICA CAN DO BETTER, AND HELP IS ON THE WAY!" - John Kerry

Visit www.kerryevents.com RIGHT NOW to get involved locally!

Candlelight Memorial for the 1000th Soldier

2004-08-26T05:56:00.000-07:00

CONTACT: Melissa Patrick (281-756-9663) anothermotherforpeace@earthlink.net

WHAT: One thousand luminarias will be lit along Main Street from Mecom Fountain to MacGregor, followed by a candlelight vigil and solemn ceremony at Mecom Fountain

WHEN: 7:30PM on the Friday following the announcement of the 1000th U.S. service member killed in Iraq. If the announcement comes on a Thursday or Friday, the event will be held on Friday of the following week

Where: Mecom Fountain at the intersection of Main and Montrose, and along Main Street to McGregor

At 7:30 PM on the Friday following the announcement of the 1000th U.S. service member killed in Iraq, a candlelight memorial service will be held at Mecom Fountain. 1,000 luminarias will line both sides of Main Street from Mecom Fountain to MacGregor. Each luminaria will be labeled with the photo, name, rank and hometown of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. A brief memorial service led by Cardinal Aswad Walker of the Shrine of the Black Madonna will be held at 8:30 PM. The service will include a laying of flowers for the soldiers killed in Iraq, the soldiers killed in Afghanistan, and the victims of war in both of those countries. The evening will conclude with a symbolic extinguishing of the luminarias.

If the announcement comes on a Thursday or Friday, the memorial will be held the following Friday.

For more information contact Melissa Patrick at 281-756-9663, anothermotherforpeace@earthlink.net or visit www.mamabrigade.org/1000soldiers.

Rally Against Bush!

2004-08-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

Protest Bush, the Republican Party, and Capitalism - Sunday, August 29

A protest against Bush, the Republican Party, and capitalism will be held in connection with the Republican National Convention. Progressive Workers Organizing Committee, the lead organizer, lists the issues as an end to war, repression, racism, exploitation, and the capitalist social system which produces them. 2 p.m. in front of the Harris County Republican Party headquarters, 3311 Richmond. Additional organizational endorsements are welcome. For more information, visit www.pwoc.org, or contact David and Rona Smith, 832/692-2306, 281/534-7638.

"Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War" - Monday, August 30

The film "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War" will be screened. Produced by Robert Greenwald, the 87 minute documentary features an impressive roster of experts who provide a generally withering commentary on the quality of evidence and possible motivations of the Neo-conservatives who successfully promoted a preemptive war. The fig leaf of "an honest mistake" on the matter of WMDs is stripped away, leaving a stark and disturbing anatomy of deliberate deceit. $5.

Listings for these events and others can be found at the website for the Houston Peace and Justice Center .

Our President Speaks

2004-08-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

See Will Ferrell in his inimitable impersonation of GWB. Click title for link and enjoy!

In the News

2004-08-24T13:34:00.000-07:00

Some Stories from the Center for American Progress:

"Stones from Glass Houses: Bush-Cheney's Intelligence and National Security Record"

President Bush and Vice President Cheney have repeatedly accused their opponents of trying to slash intelligence, defense, and national security spending in the lead up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In fact, the record shows that it is top members of the Bush administration who are guilty of the very charges they are now hurling.

CIA NOMINEE LED EFFORT TO GUT INTELLIGENCE: "President Bush's nominee to be the director of central intelligence, Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-FL), sponsored legislation that would have cut intelligence personnel by 20 percent in the late 1990s. [Source: Washington Post, 8/24/04]

CHENEY LED EFFORT TO BLOCK KEY INTELLIGENCE REFORMS: The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) reported that in a March 1992 letter to Congress, then Defense Secretary Dick Cheney "defended the status quo and objected to proposed intelligence reform legislation, particularly the Director of National Intelligence position." [Sources: FAS, 8/5/04; Cheney letter, 3/17/92]

BUSH ADMINISTRATION TOOK FOCUS OFF BIN LADEN: Reversing efforts in the fight against terrorism, a senior Bush administration official in April 2001 told CNN, "the U.S. government made a mistake in focusing so much energy on bin Laden." Similarly, AP reported in 2002 that the Bush administration's "national security leadership met formally nearly 100 times in the months prior to the Sept. 11 attacks yet terrorism was the topic during only two of those sessions." [Source: CNN, 4/30/01; AP, 6/29/02]

BUSH ADMINISTRATION TERMINATED PROGRAM THAT TRACKED AL QAEDA: "In the months before 9/11, the Justice Department curtailed a highly classified program called 'Catcher's Mitt' to monitor Al Qaeda suspects in the United States." [Source: Newsweek, 3/21/04]

BUSH ADMINISTRATION BEGAN EFFORT TO CUT COUNTERTERRORISM PROGRAMS: The Washington Post reported that in its first budget, the White House left "gaps" between "what military commanders said they needed to combat terrorists and what they got." When Congress tried to fill those gaps, the administration threatened a veto. [Source: NY Times, 2/28/02; Washington Post, 1/20/02; Newsweek, 5/27/02]
__________________________________________

In Other News...

"Bush Team Lacks Clear Economic Plan, Critics Say"

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post
Tuesday, August 24, 2004; Page E01

High oil prices, a stagnant labor market -- and the lack of a more forceful response from the Bush campaign -- have sparked worry among White House allies that the administration's economic team has been too content cheerleading in defense of past policies instead of setting more detailed plans for a second term....

In February, after the economy added a disappointing 83,000 jobs, Snow told an audience at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a prominent private, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Washington, "The president's tax cuts have worked."

In April, with jobs rising smartly but record trade and budget deficits weighing on bond traders' minds, he told the Bond Market Association in New York, "We're on very solid footing, our upward trend is strong, and there can be no doubt that President Bush's leadership on tax cuts has made a decisive difference."

In May, when the unemployment rate of 20- to 24-year-olds had risen to 9.7 percent, from 9.2 percent the month before, he told graduates at Kenyon College in Ohio, "The job market is ripe for you right now."

On Thursday, Snow told employees of a ventilation company in Springfield, Mo., "The tax cuts . . . are a critical part of the reason why I am able to report that our national economy has found its footing." Meanwhile, in New York, the Conference Board, a business research firm, reported a second straight monthly decline in its index of leading economic indicators.

Upcoming Houston events

2004-08-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

CELEBRATION BEFORE THE ELECTION--Hear the FREE RADICALS and get an update from Harris County Young Democrats at THE ARTERY, www.arteryhouston.org, one of Houston's most unique and enjoyable outdoor venues on Wednesday, August 25, 7:15-9:30. HCYD has invited state and local Democrats to come and give a 3-4 minute update on their campaigns. There's no entrance fee but donations will be accepted by the band and HCYD. Hopefully Betty Baer's son will be appearing with his former band, the Free Radicals. Their music is guaranteed to thrill you.

MORE ABOUT RUN AGAINST BUSH-- September 18 is national "Run Against Bush Day." The Houston Chapter is hoping to have a strong showing. Get more information at www.runagainstbush.org, or email Bob Levy.

"RUN AGAINST BUSH" ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING:
Time: Wednesday, August 25 @ 7:00 PM

Place: Ziggy's Healthy Grill
2202 W. Alabama
Houston, TX 77098

At this meeting we will describe the Run Against Bush organization and its successes, get input on preferred locations and times for Houston area walks/jogs, have signups for participation, ask for volunteers to help with leading the walks and/or jogs, and discuss plans for getting media coverage. Please come and bring your friends.

For information, call Bob at 281-468-6745 or email Bob Levy here.

T-SHIRTS ALMOST READY-- TABU (Texans Against Bush, Unite!) Has designed a T-shirt that we think is both attractive and sends a message. If you want to order one, contact us at tabunite@aol.com.

UNCOVERED and OUTFOXED-- These two films, widely praised but so far not shown by any national distributor, are by the same director and make strong points about the way the current administration has undermined the democratic process. We are hoping to have one or more intimate viewings in the home of one of our members or supporters. Please email us at tabunite@aol.com if you are interested, have suggestions, or would like to host a showing.

A very odd link

2004-08-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a link by someone who REALLY doesn't like Bush. Click at your own risk.
i.neilrogers.com/images/carlos/dishonestdubya.swf

We couldn't have said it better

2004-08-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

For a fun view of our president and a pleasing musical interlude, click
here !

(:

"Run Against Bush" Blog

2004-08-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

!Remember, Saturday September 18 is national "Run Against Bush" Day!

If you live in Houston, meet the "run against Bush" folks Saturday, 9:00 am by the tennis courts at Memorial Park. If you live elsewhere, contact the "run against Bush" website to arrange your own group's day! Of course, you don't have to run-- you can bike, walk or yodel against Bush. It's all in the style and conviction you have doing it.

Go to this website to find the official "run against Bush" blog.

How Bush undermines national health, occupational and environmental safety

2004-08-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

POLITICS
Bush Forces a Shift in Regulatory Thrust
The administration has employed a subtle aspect of presidential power to implement far-reaching policy changes. Most of the decisions are made without the public attention that accompanies congressional debate.
(By Amy Goldstein and Sarah Cohen, The Washington Post)

In this story, read how Bush and his administration have systematically dismantled or failed to complete effective regulations begun or established in previous administrations. The overall effect is an environment that favors business interests, while failing to take measures that could save lives.

Calvin Trillin's muse slams Bush: Poetry for our times

2004-08-14T11:26:00.000-07:00

"Nanny's Fairy Tales"

CONCERNING NANNY DICK
CHENEY'S CONTINUED
STATEMENTS ABOUT IRAQ'S
ROLE IN 9/11

The commission's report starts anew
Nanny's fairy tales, worthy of Pooh
For the contrary facts that accrue
Can do nothing to change Cheney's view.
He believes, from what we can construe,
If you say it enough, then it's true.

-- by Calvin Trillin

"We're Still in Charge"

THE UNITED STATES
DESCRIBES THE WONDERS
OF SOVEREIGNTY TO
THE IRAQI PEOPLE

You'll have a government real soon.
You'll see democracy writ large.
We promised sovereignty. It's yours.
And worry not: We're still in charge

-- by Calvin Trillin

Julia, we miss you

2004-08-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

And, in news completely unrelated to any political issues, we are sad to note that Julia Child, the French chef of our childhood, died yesterday at age 91. For a full story, click here. She will be remembered fondly by all those who believe that everything tastes better with a little more butter.

Cool Kerry T-Shirts

2004-08-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

Fed up with run-of-the mill campaign fashion? This website, www.kerrytshirts.net, has some really imaginative T-shirts. They will even donate a portion of the price to the organization of your choice!

September 18 is National "Run Against Bush" Day! (click title for link)

2004-08-12T13:47:00.000-07:00

Across the country, runners (and walkers) will be getting the word out! The Houston group meets at 9:00 by Memorial Park. Email boblevy@hal-pc.org or tabunite@aol.com for more information about Houston activities.

According to the "Run Against Bush" website, Houston is the only Texan city with a September 18 event. Austin and San Antonio, get moving!

We can no longer remain silent...(click for link)

2004-08-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

We can no longer remain silent.

Join Terry Allen, John Alexander, Marcia Ball, Rick Bass, Karen Bernstein, Sarah Bird, William Broyles, Jr., Gary Cartwright, Sandra Cisneros, Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Nanci Griffith, Butch Hancock, Deborah Hay, Larry L. King, David Lindsey, Richard Linklater, Lloyd Maines, Naomi Shihab Nye, Dan Rizzie, Jan Reid, Bud Shrake, James Surls, Marion Winik, and others in the Texas arts community to speak out, with a single united voice, against the abuses of the Bush administration and in support of preventing another Bush presidential term.

This message, from the Texas Community Arts Project, is part of a grassroots effort to raise money for a full-page add in the New York Times opposing a Bush re-election.

Please join us in supporting this important effort. Click the title, above, to a link to their webpage for information and to give a donation.

Republican attacks on a decorated war hero

2004-08-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

If you listen to political campaign adds, you've probably heard the "Swift Boat Veterans for Bush" denouncing Kerry's military service and calling him a traitor for his past criticism of the war in Vietnam. The "Wall Street Journal" editorial page, usually a firmly conservative, pro-Bush opinion site, has an editorial today that confronts these attacks. Jim Rassman, who served with the U.S. Army 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam 1968-69, writes :

"I worked with him on many operations and saw firsthand his leadership, courage and decision-making ability under fire. On March 13, 1969, John Kerry's courage and leadership saved my life."

Rassman goes on to describe his underwater escape through the Bay Hap River in Vietnam under incoming fire. Kerry, already wounded in the gunfire, risked his life to save Rassman. Kerry won a Bronze Star for his courage. Rassman, a life-long Republican, has been volunteering for Kerry out of admiration for the man whose courage saved his life. Of the ad featuring the "Swift Boat Veterans," who claim that they served with Kerry and that he has falsified his service, Rassman adds, "Their lies cut deep and are directed not just at John Kerry, but at me and each of his crewmates as well. This hate-filled ad asserts that I was not under fire;it questions my words and military records." John McCain, the subject of a similar smear campaign in 2000, has called on Bush to denounce the Swift Boat adds. Bush has not done so. In fact, this ad campaign is financed by Spaeth Communications, the same group that financed the ads against McCain. This group, Rassman says, is financed by Texas Republican donors with strong ties to Bush.

Jon Stewart, whose "fake news program" the "Daily Show" probably has the best real news on TV these days, skewered these Swift Boat adds last night. As he says, the statements from the Republican-financed veterans, which state that they served with Kerry and that Kerry has lied about his service, would be impressive --- IF any of the veterans had served with Kerry. Apparently, what they mean by "with" is that they served in Vietnam and that Kerry was also in Vietnam, although they had no direct contact. As Stewart said, this is serving "with" Kerry in the same sense that Snoopy served with the Red Baron.

So, does it bother anyone that Bush and the Republican Party claim to support the military and American values while they are slandering a decorated war hero? Well, I guess no one said politics is pretty.

A good day for TABU (click title for a link to story)

2004-08-08T14:03:00.000-07:00

The members of Tabu (at this point, Jana, Betty and Elizabeth), got together with the Run Against Bush people yesterday at Memorial Park. It was a lot of fun-- we would have been more effective, though, if more of us had T-shirts. We're working on that.

Last evening, Jana and Elizabeth went to see Outfoxed at the Rice Media Center. The room was completely full. We saw some old friends, and made some plans for projects for the future. We agreed that we were very depressed after this movie, but plan to move forward and hope for change.

The movie, by Robert Greenwald, makes a strong case that Rupert Murdoch's Fox Network is serving as an unofficial propaganda stream for the Republican Party and the Bush administration. This might not matter to those who don't watch Fox news, except that it's been setting precedents for the other networks. In particular, Greenwald suggests that Fox news determined the outcome of the 2000 election by calling the results before any reasonable analysis had been prepared. The Fox employee responsible for this call was a Bush relative (I think his cousin). Immediately afterwards, the other networks followed suit. When all the networks reported Bush to be the winner of the Florida election, the public accepted this outcome, although the actual tally was far from certain.

Greenwald shows interviews with media experts and ex-employees of Fox describe their experiences of the network. According to these interviews, Fox news has a far-from-secret policy of favoring conservative viewpoints. The network, which calls itself "fair and balanced," goes out of its way to show Republicans and conservatives in a positive light. Far from attempting objectivity, its anchors openly look forward to Bush's reelection. Disturbingly, Fox viewers show evidence of significantly distorted knowledge of current events. Significantly more Fox viewers than PBS viewers believe that "weapons of mass destruction" were found in Iraq and that most European nations supported the war.

After the movie, speakers from the Independent Media Center led a brief discussion, encouraging the audience to become informed about the financial and political interests affecting the news we receive.

"Outfoxed" is easily available online for about $10. We encourage everyone to see it. I thought Greenwald backed up his arguments well. If you disagree, please feel free to argue with us! That's what the "comment" field is for at the end of the posts! TABU is acquiring a video and plans to show it for a small group shortly. Email us if you'd like to be included.

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REVIEWS WANTED!

Read any good political books, seen any consciousness-raising movies? Please email us with a brief review describing the book, movie, or other information source. Tell us if you liked it, why or why not, and give a brief summary of the main points and arguments. We may not be able to accomodate all posts, but we'd love to hear from you. Email us at the TABU link just above.

Sign the pledge

2004-08-07T16:28:00.000-07:00

"I pledge to help defeat George Bush and take our country back."

If you want to join the folks from moveon in their fight against GWB, click here

MoveOn is a great political action committee that organizes anti-Bush activities. Check out the series of rock concerts listed at their web site, including performances by REM, Pearl Jam, The Dave Matthews Band and others.

Outfoxed?

2004-08-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

Outfoxed, a well-regarded documentary about the Fox TV network, is showing tonight (8/7) at 7:30 at the Rice Media Center at entrance 8 from University Blvd in Houston. This movie, which has never been shown by a national cinema, has won a strong following for its biting depiction of the political bias behind Fox's "fair and balanced" reporting.

"Outfoxed" examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know. The film explores Murdoch's burgeoning kingdom and the impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person.

This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it's like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a "right-wing" point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said "There's no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can't be crossed."

Director/Producer Robert Greenwald has produced and/or directed 53 television movies, miniseries and features. He is the director of Uncovered and the Executive Producer of the UN series - Unprecedented, Uncovered and the soon to be released Unconstitutional."

Running Time: 77 minutes

If you missed this showing, or would just like to see the movie in a more personal venue, email us at tabunite@aol.com. "Outfoxed" is available at DVD from Amazon and other sources, and TABU is considering organizing a viewing if interest is sufficient.

HARNESSING THE ARTS TO A POLITICAL CAUSE http://theater.nytimes.com/pages/theater/index.html

2004-08-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

Check out the article "The Dead and Dostoyevsky, in a War With Bush," www.nytimes.com, 8/4/04. Randy Kennedy reviews a benefit performance of scenes by playwright Tony Kushner described as a "backdrop for a kind of joyous cultural pep rally for those who want to see Mr. Bush turned out of office." The benefit was sponsored by MoveOn.org, a liberal activist group that continually comes up with creative ideas too "harness the arts more firmly to its political cause and to mend...the rift between populist politics and popular culture." Kennedy goes on to say "the night had the feel of preaching to the converted," but kudos to MoveOn. org. May their vision inspire us.

Blogmania

2004-08-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

For those who can't get enough, here's the link for the official Kerry campaign blog.

http://blog.johnkerry.com/

Enjoy!

For Shame....

2004-08-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

Copied from a progressive news website for the Center for American Progress, some more news stories. You can get the full detail at this link. The story is "No Oversight, No Shame."

BAD AIR: After 9/11, the White House intervened to force the EPA to downplay toxic dangers at Ground Zero, explicitly ignoring a top federal scientist who warned in a memo against the re-occupation of buildings in lower Manhattan because of dangers from asbestos and other toxins. [Sources: New York Daily News, 10/28/03; Knight Ridder, 9/12/03; NYT, 10/28/03]

BAD HEALTH: An internal investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that top Medicare official Thomas Scully threatened to fire chief actuary Richard Foster if he told Congress that drug benefits would probably cost much more than the White House acknowledged. [Sources: NYT, 7/7/04; WP, 3/19/04; Kaiser, 3/18/04]

BAD ENERGY: Vice President Cheney acknowledges meeting with Enron executives and other energy industry officials in creating the White House's energy proposal. Similarly, the Bush administration's budget director, Commerce Secretary, Treasury Secretary and Energy Secretary at the time all admit to taking phone calls from now-indicted Enron CEO Ken Lay. [Sources: ABC, 1/9/02; Washington Post, 1/10/02, 1/11/02; Wall Street Journal, 1/15/02; Washington Post, 8/26/03]

BAD SCIENCE: Most recently, the White House actually prevented U.S. government scientists from communicating with officials from the World Health Organization. The Union of Concerned Scientist, a nonpartisan group of over 4,000 prominent scientists, including 48 Nobel laureates, have signed a letter stating the Bush administration ignores and manipulates scientific knowledge in order to advance a political agenda. [Source: House Government Reform Committee website; Union of Concerned Scientists, 7/04]

AND FILE THIS ONE UNDER 'DIDN'T BUSH SAY HE'D SUPPORT OUR TROOPS?' : According to NBC News, in late 2003, "the Pentagon repeatedly warned contractor Halliburton-KBR that the food it served to US troops in Iraq was 'dirty,' as were the kitchens it was served in." ...The Pentagon reported finding "blood all over the floor," "dirty pans," "dirty grills," "dirty salad bars" and "rotting meats ... and vegetables" in four of the military messes the company operates in Iraq. The company feeds 110,000 US and coalition troops daily at a cost of $28 per troop per day. [Source: Agence France Press, 12/14/03]

Run for president!

2004-08-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

Look at this!

"Run Against Bush"
09:00 AM Saturday, Duration: 1:30
This is a nation-wide organization that was started in Washington. The members express their displeasure with the current administration by gathering for walks, runs or jogs while wearing a distinctive T-shirt that says "Run Against Bush" and "I'm running for change".This group meets every Saturday morning at 9 AM in Memorial Park at the 3-mile trail at the benches in front of the tennis courts. Everyone is welcome - there are plenty of people who just walk, so no athletic skill is required. In fact, there is more impact when walking, because it allows for better interaction with the passers-by.
Location:
Memorial Park
6501 Memorial Drive
Houston Texas 77001

Contact Information:
Bob Levy
281-468-6745
boblevy@hal-pc.org
www.runagainstblush.org

I plan to be there this Saturday! How about you, TABU folks?

GREAT CALENDAR OF EVENTS AT THIS SITE!

2004-08-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

Check out www.kerryevents.com to find upcoming events and meetings. If you want to help people register to vote, you'll find plenty of opportunities here.

An event to put in your PDA!

2004-08-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

THURSDAY August 5    8pm
        guest speaker and documentary short films
                                BEENA SEHWAR
          Pakistani journalist, filmmaker and peace activist
topic:          "Dissenting Voices in Pakistan"

Beena Sarwar, based in Karachi Pakistan, has served as a keynote speaker at a variety of conferences including the North American Conference on Peace and Human Rights in Pakistan and India, and the Gender, Culture and Human Rights seminar, Copenhagen. She is a Board Member of South Asia Foundation started by UNESCO, Council member for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and an active member of the Pakistan-India Forum for Peace and Democracy.

for more information: 713.524.7821

www.voicesbreakingboundaries.org

And for more cool events, stay in touch with www.arteryhouston.org

another reason to worry about Bush...

2004-08-01T06:53:00.000-07:00

"The Bush administration has been just as brazen about misusing its powers over state secrecy. While the White House has restricted access to vast swathes of material-- even classifying decades-old documents that had never previously been classified--it has been extravagantly liberal in releasing information that suits Bush's partisan interests... In 2002, Bush embarrassed his prececessor by declassifying portions of the transcript of a conversation in which Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak asked Bill Clinton to pardon fugitive tax-evader Marc Rich. When Clinton asked Bush to declassify the rest of the transcript, arguing that additional context would make him look better, the White House refused. This spring, the administration declassified a steady stream of memos and briefings all for the purpose of rebutting criticisms raised by the 9/11 Commission. (For instance, it declassified a 1995 memo by Commission member and former Clinton Justice Department official Jamie Gorelick in an attempt to embarrass her.) 'Bush is the first president since Richard Nixon to try to brandish declassification as a political weapon,' concluded John Prados, an analyst with the National Security Archive, in an article for TNR ONLINE."

From "Power From the People" by Jonathan Chait in The New Republic, July 26 2004.

And some more information about the political use of misinformation in Bush's administration-- Dana Milbank, in the June 29 edition of "The Washington Post", writes about the administration's dissemination of inaccurate information:

"The most embarrassing are cases in which good-news reports by the administration turn out to be based on errors, omissions or wishful thinking. As Powell did this month with the global terrorism report, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson earlier this year distanced himself from a report by his agency that played down inequalities in health care for minorities. The original version was edited to remove many uses of the word "disparity" and the description of the inequality as a national problem. "I think people just wanted this to be a more positive report and made that editorial position known," Thompson said in congressional testimony. "It was a mistake."

Likewise, just nine days after the White House Council of Economic Advisers predicted that the economy would add 2.6 million jobs this year -- an extraordinarily rosy forecast -- Bush declined to back his own economists. "People can debate the numbers all they want," spokesman Scott McClellan said.

In other cases, top Bush officials have dismissed as insignificant administration documents with embarrassing conclusions, such as the interrogation memos. For example, when the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo to agencies calling for spending cuts in 2006 in education, homeland security and other high-profile domestic priorities, the White House belittled the importance of the memo, saying it was a "process document" and did not represent administration plans."

--but wait, there's more! Milbank continues:

"President Bush seems to have inordinate difficulty pronouncing the name of Abu Ghraib, the infamous prison in Iraq that has been home to Saddam Hussein's atrocities and U.S.-sanctioned abuse. Though the correct pronunciation is "abu grayb," with a slightly guttural g, Bush last week referred to the prison as "Abu Gareff." At a speech this spring at the Army War College, Bush pronounced Abu Ghraib three ways. Reuters described them as "abugah-rayp," "abu-garon" and "abu-garah," but your correspondent distinctly heard "abu-garom."

Didn't Get the Memo?

"The country's culture is changing from one that has said, 'If it feels good, do it.' "

-- President Bush, May 14.

"I expressed myself rather forcefully, felt better after I had done it."

-- Vice President Cheney, on his bracing Senate-floor language, June 25."

© 2004 The Washington Post Company

register to vote

2004-07-31T13:58:00.000-07:00

To oppose Bush, you have to vote. If you're not registered, try

www.YourVoteMatters.org

This is a link to a site sponsored by Working Assets (which, by the way, is a cool long-distance telephone company). You can register on line, and include your friends!

check this out!

2004-07-31T13:39:00.000-07:00

A website that amused us--

www.bushyoga.com

See the leader of the free world show his asana!

Texans Against Bush, Unite!

2004-07-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

"Children, everybody, here's what to do during a war:
In a time of destruction, create something.
A poem, a community, a school, a vow. A moral principle.
One peaceful moment."

--Maxine Hong Kingston, The Fifth Book of Peace

We are deeply disturbed in this time of war and destruction. The violence of this moment demands a response. We want to contribute to peace in as many ways as possible.
Each of us, in our own way, is horrified by the violence and dishonesty of this administration. While we are starting from this position of anger, our hope is to move towards peace. If Texas can mobilize against Bush, we have a hope of changing the dangerous events we see happening in this country.

We hope to use this blog creatively, to publicize ideas and local events, to inspire other Texans to contribute and create.