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OT: BTW, Where in the World is jbennett??... :)
Rick, I HOPE! you are right!!...
The ultra wealthy have always been able to "eat cake"... That's nothing new...
It's kind of like the "Golden Rule"...
"He who has the Gold makes the Rules".....
Bush is a putz, a shill for those who are pulling the strings in gov. Yet I think he could be too gullible to
know what's really going on. Bush 43 could actually be very well intentioned, but those in control are not....
Or something like that.....
Rick, there's the hypocracy....
This Admin, and the Rep party in general, like to align themselves with the "religious right" or moral right, always claiming the moral high ground. But what is moral about advocating against children's rights and the environment while advocating for wealthy energy interests.... But the gov of this country was NEVER intended to become a big, bureaucratic "900 pound gorilla" taxing it's citizens into a form of gov slavery. So what's the answer?... More "libertarian" obviously, but how do we take care of everything, the poor, the enviro, etc?....
The Dems are not talking about Iraq's WMD because of the stigma attached to criticising gov. The Dems don't want to be condemned as "unpatriotic" or "un-American". They don't want to become the "Dixie Chicks"... They need strong leadership, willing and able to take on the establishment. We all do... Our complacency or fear is a dangerous thing. :)
Marcos, your post make for very interesting reading, an you are correct about many things but what is the point, today. Altho, history proves time and and again the necessity of learning from history, what can, or should we, white Americans, do about the atrocities of the past? Do we owe reparations?
Do you really believe we "hate" "people of color"?. Personally, I never "owned" another human being, nor did any of my friends relatives or ancestors. And I don't know of anyone who would condone the practice of slavery - but what do I know??..
So, serious, what's the point, beyond essential history? And I thank you for posting some great reads......
Why the Market Can't Police Itself
JUNE 2, 2003
FINANCE
By Paula Dwyer
Commentary: Why the Market Can't Police Itself
Now that 10 Wall Street firms have agreed to settle charges of biased research, Congress and the Securities & Exchange Commission are facing a new question: Does self-regulation by Wall Street work?
The answer is a resounding no. It's not just that the New York Stock Exchange failed to act on phony research. More proof came when Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill, chairman and CEO of Citigroup (C ) (whose Salomon Smith Barney (C ) unit was implicated in the research scandal), was invited to represent the public on the NYSE board. Weill withdrew after a storm of protest.
Reports that NYSE Chairman and CEO Richard A. Grasso's compensation totaled $10 million last year were another troubling sign. Grasso's pay is set by a board-compensation committee, but he regulates most of its members. Among them: the chairmen of Bear Stearns (BSC ), Goldman Sachs (GS ) and Merrill Lynch (MER ). And on May 20, Grasso was reelected to the Home Depot (HD ) Inc. board, putting him in the position of both serving on it and policing its conduct. Grasso declined to comment. Says New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer: "Fixing self-regulation is perhaps the most important policy issue facing the SEC."
Spitzer is right. Since 1934, the markets have policed themselves via self-regulatory organizations, or SROs. The NYSE is its own SRO, while the National Association of Securities Dealers performs the task for NASDAQ, which became independent in 2001. The SEC monitors them both. Says Annette L. Nazareth, who oversees the markets at the SEC: "Their job is to protect investors and ensure that their markets have integrity. They hold a sacred trust."
Periodically, they break that trust. The NASDAQ was remiss in the '90s, when it failed to see that its dealers were lining their pockets by keeping price quotes artificially wide. NASDAQ had to clean house and set up a separate regulatory group. Also, it wasn't until the SEC forced their hand, after a string of accounting failures, that the exchanges required companies to have a majority of independent board members.
Most experts agree that the NYSE and the NASD do certain chores well, such as overseeing day-to-day trading and rooting out insider trading. It was an NYSE analyst who triggered an investigation recently when he discovered that some floor specialists, who are charged with running an orderly market, were wrongly jumping between buyers and sellers to make a quick profit.
Too often, the SROs can't see the forest for the trees. "When the conduct is embedded in the mainstream firms, the SROs don't see it as abuse but as the way business is done," complains Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America.
The simplest solution would also be cheap and quick: The SROs should swallow the same medicine they are prescribing for public companies. By October, 2004, they want businesses to have a majority of independent board members, who are more prone to enforce the rules strictly, ask tough questions, and act in investors' best interests. Independents on exchange boards must not be either an exec at a listed company or employed in the securities industry. The NYSE would have to replace 10 of its current 27 directors; NASDAQ, 6 out of 21.
Unless the exchanges act voluntarily, they may find that other solutions now being discussed in Washington are far more distasteful. For instance, Congress could create a superregulator, similar to the oversight board that replaced the SRO functions of the accounting industry. But that might undermine the thing that markets do best: conducting day-to-day surveillance of members. Still, it's more attractive than turning over SRO duties to the SEC, an expensive option nobody seems to like but that Congress might consider implementing unless the SROs prove they can do the job.
It's urgent to put the "public" back in public markets. Exchanges were given quasi-governmental powers precisely because of the public function they serve -- not to protect their members' vested interests.
Miss Harris' 3rd Grade Class Discusses War in Iraq
Posted by Big Brother on 2003/4/9 1:28:25 (514 reads)
Tacoma, WA (NewsHax wire) Teacher Amanda Harris, with suggestions from other teachers, gathered her third grade class students to voice their observations and concerns about the topic on everyone's minds–The war in Iraq.
With only one question on the table, these 20 students began an hour-long discussion of the situation.
"Well Children," asked Miss Harris in a sweet tone of voice, "What are you feelings about the war?"
"I've waited a long time for a leader to stand up and show the world we mean business, we've been pussyfootin' around for too long. Those damned liberals always get in the way of real progress with their bleeding hearts," said Michael Diller, 8.
"But what about this, Michael Dillweed, control of Iraq could give the United States de facto control over the Persian Gulf area and two-thirds of the world's oil, which amounts to an unrivaled prize in the historic human struggle for power and wealth." countered Suzi Watkins, 8. (more...)
"But consider this then, twinkie-brain," said Daniel Vargas, 7, "The ouster of Saddam Hussein will allow the Iraqi people to establish a truly democratic government and serve as a beacon and inspiration for the spread of democracy throughout the Islamic world."
Amanda Beard immediately answered Daniel's views with "From what we know of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, the objective of Islamic extremists is to overthrow any government in the Islamic world that does not adhere to a fundamentalist version of Islam. The Baathist regime in Iraq does not qualify; thus, under al Qaeda doctrine, it must be swept away, along with the equally deficient governments in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. So there!"
"Amanda has cooties, who listens to her anyway" retorted Josh Witherspoon, 7.
"She ain't lying dude!" implored Jessie Jones, 8. "It only makes sense that a U.S. effort to oust Saddam Hussein and replace his regime with another secular government -- this one kept in place by American military power -- will not diminish the wrath of Islamic extremists, but rather fuel it! Do you want to see Saturday morning cartoons turn to news for another month if they strike again?"
"OK man," said Josh, "But it sure sounds alot like the same crap from the 60's."
"Yeah, it is alot of crap from the 60's," said Janey Evans, 8. "The reason for going to war with Iraq is to reduce the risk of a WMD attack on the United States. Such an attack would be devastating, and vigorous action is appropriate to prevent it, lest we be blacked out from cartoons again. It is said that Saddam's hostility toward the United States somehow sustains and invigorates the terrorist threat to America. Saddam's elimination would thus greatly weaken international terrorism and its capacity to attack the United States.
You have to be proactive on these things, dorkus."
Ronnie Parker disagreed though. "Look tweezer-lips. If the threat of WMD attack is, in fact, the primary concern, then we would surely pay the greatest attention to the greatest threat of WMD usage against the United States. But this is not what we are doing. North Korea and Pakistan, each with an unstable and potentially hostile populace towards the Unied States, already have weapons that far exceeds Iraq's relative backwoods arsenal. They have no method of delivery in any case, but the fact remains that they are many years behind several other, more powerful governments. The argument that they are our greatest threat rings hollow. It can also be argued that many other countries are currently suffering from far graver human rights disasters than Iraq has ever known, whose people are now..."
At 3:00 the final bell rang and Ronnie didn't bother to finish his sentence, instead running out the door with the other kids who had suddenly forgotten the war and were most concerned about the status of the haunted house on the way home.
When asked about the rather informed views her students had, Amanda Harris replied that, "Oh you have to learn to take the cute little things they say with a good dose of humor, kids will be kids."
http://www.newshax.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=147
Miss Harris' 3rd Grade Class Discusses War in Iraq
Posted by Big Brother on 2003/4/9 1:28:25 (514 reads)
Tacoma, WA (NewsHax wire) Teacher Amanda Harris, with suggestions from other teachers, gathered her third grade class students to voice their observations and concerns about the topic on everyone's minds–The war in Iraq.
With only one question on the table, these 20 students began an hour-long discussion of the situation.
"Well Children," asked Miss Harris in a sweet tone of voice, "What are you feelings about the war?"
"I've waited a long time for a leader to stand up and show the world we mean business, we've been pussyfootin' around for too long. Those damned liberals always get in the way of real progress with their bleeding hearts," said Michael Diller, 8.
"But what about this, Michael Dillweed, control of Iraq could give the United States de facto control over the Persian Gulf area and two-thirds of the world's oil, which amounts to an unrivaled prize in the historic human struggle for power and wealth." countered Suzi Watkins, 8. (more...)
"But consider this then, twinkie-brain," said Daniel Vargas, 7, "The ouster of Saddam Hussein will allow the Iraqi people to establish a truly democratic government and serve as a beacon and inspiration for the spread of democracy throughout the Islamic world."
Amanda Beard immediately answered Daniel's views with "From what we know of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, the objective of Islamic extremists is to overthrow any government in the Islamic world that does not adhere to a fundamentalist version of Islam. The Baathist regime in Iraq does not qualify; thus, under al Qaeda doctrine, it must be swept away, along with the equally deficient governments in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. So there!"
"Amanda has cooties, who listens to her anyway" retorted Josh Witherspoon, 7.
"She ain't lying dude!" implored Jessie Jones, 8. "It only makes sense that a U.S. effort to oust Saddam Hussein and replace his regime with another secular government -- this one kept in place by American military power -- will not diminish the wrath of Islamic extremists, but rather fuel it! Do you want to see Saturday morning cartoons turn to news for another month if they strike again?"
"OK man," said Josh, "But it sure sounds alot like the same crap from the 60's."
"Yeah, it is alot of crap from the 60's," said Janey Evans, 8. "The reason for going to war with Iraq is to reduce the risk of a WMD attack on the United States. Such an attack would be devastating, and vigorous action is appropriate to prevent it, lest we be blacked out from cartoons again. It is said that Saddam's hostility toward the United States somehow sustains and invigorates the terrorist threat to America. Saddam's elimination would thus greatly weaken international terrorism and its capacity to attack the United States.
You have to be proactive on these things, dorkus."
Ronnie Parker disagreed though. "Look tweezer-lips. If the threat of WMD attack is, in fact, the primary concern, then we would surely pay the greatest attention to the greatest threat of WMD usage against the United States. But this is not what we are doing. North Korea and Pakistan, each with an unstable and potentially hostile populace towards the Unied States, already have weapons that far exceeds Iraq's relative backwoods arsenal. They have no method of delivery in any case, but the fact remains that they are many years behind several other, more powerful governments. The argument that they are our greatest threat rings hollow. It can also be argued that many other countries are currently suffering from far graver human rights disasters than Iraq has ever known, whose people are now..."
At 3:00 the final bell rang and Ronnie didn't bother to finish his sentence, instead running out the door with the other kids who had suddenly forgotten the war and were most concerned about the status of the haunted house on the way home.
When asked about the rather informed views her students had, Amanda Harris replied that, "Oh you have to learn to take the cute little things they say with a good dose of humor, kids will be kids."
http://www.newshax.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=147
Saddam Hussein Killed for 4th Time
Posted by Big Brother on 2003/4/9 0:19:08 (1829 reads)
Baghdad, Iraq (NewsHax Wire) Saddam Hussein was once again targeted and killed by US missles in a Baghdad bunker, as intelligence reports indicated that Saddam and his two sons may be having lunch in that location.
I don't know how many times it will take, but we intend to finish the job," said Lance Corporal Jeremy Myers as his crew fired another round of munitions into the capital in search of Saddam. "Maybe next time he will stay dead. We'll keep trying."
Recent British Intelligence reports indicate however that once again, the intelligence agents were duped and the targets actually consisted of the homes of those whom the trusted informant owed gambling debts to, and one restauranteer whom he suspected of "eyeballing his wife" several months ago.
Smart Missles in Iraq had no comment.
http://www.newshax.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=145
Saddam Hussein Killed for 4th Time
Posted by Big Brother on 2003/4/9 0:19:08 (1829 reads)
Baghdad, Iraq (NewsHax Wire) Saddam Hussein was once again targeted and killed by US missles in a Baghdad bunker, as intelligence reports indicated that Saddam and his two sons may be having lunch in that location.
I don't know how many times it will take, but we intend to finish the job," said Lance Corporal Jeremy Myers as his crew fired another round of munitions into the capital in search of Saddam. "Maybe next time he will stay dead. We'll keep trying."
Recent British Intelligence reports indicate however that once again, the intelligence agents were duped and the targets actually consisted of the homes of those whom the trusted informant owed gambling debts to, and one restauranteer whom he suspected of "eyeballing his wife" several months ago.
Smart Missles in Iraq had no comment.
http://www.newshax.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=145
Archives -- some funny stuff...
http://www.newshax.com/modules/news/archive.php
What the new millennium may bring.....
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~kostas/media-pdfs/inq.philly.PDF
(Weird Science!!) 8^}
Let's have some monsterous spending cuts and gov downsizing!...
Nah! That'll never happen, but big bureaucratic gov is absolutely NOT what the framers had in mind.
It's positively "un-American", and "un-patriotic"! Having future generations finance today's fiscal irresponsibility
is probably not what the founding fathers had in mind either. But Bush seems rather unconcerned... The tax cut is for re-election purposes only. Bush doesn't want to become his father, a one term Pres.....
And yes, the US media is a joke - shills for the right. Just as CNBC was/is shills for Wallstreet. To get a better understanding, a variety of foreign media sources is needed.
BUSH TO PHASE OUT ENVIRONMENT BY 2004
All Species Under Review, President Says
http://www.borowitzreport.com/default.asp
http://www.borowitzreport.com/archive.asp
The War Planner
Plan Different
May 23rd, 2003 12:37 PM
Mark Fiore
http://www.villagevoice.com/fiore/
What the new millennium may bring.....
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~kostas/media-pdfs/inq.philly.PDF
(Weird Science!!)
Sara, the issue of male pregnancy would also seem to complicate the abortion debate,
especially for the far right...
Hypothetically, of course: If the life of the FATHER was threatened, would they still oppose abortion in all instances? Suppose it came to a choice, the life of the father or child, who's life do you think they would favor??...
I think we know the answer, don't we?....
Strange, we don't see that stuff reported by Fox or the other neocon outlets... Why is that?? :)
brain, Here's one for the sci-fi set.....
The question:...
If a pregnancy can attach to a woman's liver resulting in a live, viable birth, could a pregnancy be attached to a male's liver with the same results, ie a test tube (lab?) pregnancy is implanted to a males liver?... Is it possible such a (male!) pregnancy could go to term, or near term, resulting in a live birth??...
Thinking "outside the box", of course, but OH!, the possibilities..... :O}
Repost of my link, re: liver preg
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=1038427
=====================================================================================
Sara, Talk about "equal rights"!! Imagine the dialogue in homes all across America...
"I had the last one dear. It's YOUR turn"...
LOL!!! :)
From Business Week: An interesting article about boys & school. We've discussed this before... I have said many times before -- we need more male teachers in elementary school. The problem is the way we are teaching children, not the children....
The New Gender Gap
From kindergarten to grad school, boys are becoming the second sex
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_21/b3834001_mz001.htm
"...It may still be a man's world. But it is no longer, in any way, a boy's. From his first days in school, an average boy is already developmentally two years behind the girls in reading and writing. Yet he's often expected to learn the same things in the same way in the same amount of time. While every nerve in his body tells him to run, he has to sit still and listen for almost eight hours a day. Biologically, he needs about four recesses a day, but he's lucky if he gets one, since some lawsuit-leery schools have banned them altogether. Hug a girl, and he could be labeled a "toucher" and swiftly suspended -- a result of what some say is an increasingly anti-boy culture that pathologizes their behavior.
If he falls behind, he's apt to be shipped off to special ed, where he'll find that more than 70% of his classmates are also boys. Squirm, clown, or interrupt, and he is four times as likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. That often leads to being forced to take Ritalin or risk being expelled, sent to special ed, or having parents accused of negligence. One study of public schools in Fairfax County, Va., found that more than 20% of upper-middle-class white boys were taking Ritalin-like drugs by fifth grade...."
The Reps were their biggest fans during the Clinton era. Oddly, we don't hear them touting Judicial Watch anymore..... :)
Terror: Lessons from the Front
In a deadly cascade of coordinated suicide attacks — 15 bombings on three continents in the space of seven days — Islamic fundamentalists demonstrated with brutal clarity last week that whatever our leaders' claims about winning the war on terrorism, the terrorists haven't been beaten.
Far from it. While America and its allies have succeeded in driving Al Qaeda out of its main camps in Afghanistan and rounding up some of its top leaders, the terrorist network appears to have adapted, decentralized and rebuilt itself along new and nimbler lines. Indeed, there are growing signs, as Marc Perelman reports on Page 1, that Al Qaeda is expanding its reach by joining forces with local Islamic groups, from Bali and the Philippines to Morocco, Chechnya, Lebanon and the West Bank. The end result, if the trend continues, could be a sprawling entity with greatly expanded capacity for destruction and no clear head to cut off.
The pattern is not entirely new. The Al Qaeda that first announced itself to the world in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in August 1998 was actually a mutation born earlier that year, through a merger of the original Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden's jihad against the "infidels" of the Saudi regime, with the anti-Mubarak extremists of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. The combined entity, though commonly known as Al Qaeda, originally adopted a more cumbersome and chillingly revealing name: the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Crusaders and Jews.
http://www.forward.com/index.html
Civet: Source of SARS?
http://www.wildlifeeasyst.com/civet_photos.htm
In China the civet cat is a delicacy - and may have caused Sars
Ian Sample and John Gittings
Saturday May 24, 2003
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sars/story/0,13036,962744,00.html
Miracle baby 'grew in liver'
The baby developed outside the womb
A healthy baby has been born after developing in its mother's liver instead of in the womb.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2932608.stm
A very strange one... Have you ever heard of this?
Sounds like something out of the Natl Enquirer or the Realiens but it's real... :)
The character of George W. Bush
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=13243
...He talked about using military might to promote "our national interests" in foreign countries. Surely he knows that this involves the killing of innocent people. And for what? To further the "interests" of politically connected Americans. This might best be called murder, arrogance, or abuse of power....
...Does character matter? Unfortunately, it does now. If the government were still limited by "the chains of the Constitution" (as Thomas Jefferson put it), we wouldn't worry much about a politician's character -- because he wouldn't have the power to make us suffer for his weaknesses....
....In short, as Michael Cloud has put it, the problem isn't the abuse of power, it is the power to abuse. With so much power in political hands, abuse is inevitable -- and so you're reduced to trying to decide who will abuse that power in the way that will do you the least harm.
The quagmire of liberation gone sour
By Daniel Schorr
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0523/p11s02-cods.html
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico.... "There is a real chance that the victory we claim is not a victory at all."
The War Planner
Plan Different
May 23rd, 2003 12:37 PM
Mark Fiore
http://www.villagevoice.com/fiore/
MIDEAST TERROR WAR ADDS URGENCY TO CARLYLE GROUP CONTROVERSY
Former President Bush Works for International Investment Firm With Ties To Saudi Arabia
Company Had Bin Laden Family Connections
(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today pointed out that the recent spate of terror attacks on Israel has lent new urgency to the need for former President Bush to resign from the Carlyle Group, an international investment firm with close ties to the government of Saudi Arabia.
The former president, the father of President Bush, worked for the bin Laden family business in Saudi Arabia through the Carlyle Group, meeting with them at least twice. The terrorist leader Osama bin Laden had supposedly been “disowned” by his family, which runs a multi-billion dollar business in Saudi Arabia and was a major investor in the senior Bush’s firm. Other reports have stated his Saudi family have not truly cut off Osama bin Laden.
In the wake of Judicial Watch and other criticism of its ties to the bin Laden family business, the Carlyle Group reportedly no longer does business with the bin Laden conglomerate. Yet the Group, among other conflicts of interest, reportedly has a major business relationship with the Saudi Arabian government, which many have criticized for its lack of cooperation in America’s war on terrorism and its financial and other support for terrorist attacks on Israel and U.S. interests.
“It stands to reason, as noted in the David Sanger piece in The New York Times today, that President Bush consults with his father on issues of the day. In a normal situation, this would be appropriate, but with President Bush’s father being effectively an agent of the Saudi Arabian government, it raises, in the least, a conflict of interest problem. Questions can be raised, for instance, if the ‘kid gloves’ treatment of Saudi Arabia by the Bush Administration has anything to do with his father’s financial ties to the Saudi regime. Former President Bush would be doing his son and his country a favor by immediately resigning from the Carlyle Group,” stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/1685.shtml
info@judicialwatch.org • 1-888-JW-ETHIC
Site Hosting and Technology by Cory Consulting
© 1997-2003, Judicial Watch, Inc., All rights reserved.
FATAL NEGLECT
The inside story of the government neglect that allowed the World Trade Center and Pentagon tragedies to happen. Revealed to you by Larry Klayman, General Counsel and Chairman of Judicial Watch. Learn WHY 9/11 happened...Learn what you must know to prevent it from happening again!
http://www.judicialwatch.org/store/fatalneglect.shtml
Looks interesting - from the Judicial Watch site. I haven't read the book tho.
COURT MAKES CRIMINAL REFERRAL ON REPUBLICAN/BUSH ADMINISTRATION THREATS AGAINST JUDICIAL WATCH
VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY ORDERED TO TURN OVER ENERGY TASK FORCE DOCUMENTS BY NOVEMBER 29th REJECTS REQUEST FOR STAY PENDING APPEAL
http://www.judicialwatch.org/2721.shtml
Reps LOVED! Judicial Watch during the Clinton years! :)
Hypocrites! -- All of them!
Judicial Watch on Cheney:
http://www.judicialwatch.org/cgi-bin/hse/search.cgi
SCARY! eom
What Liberal Media?
By Eric Alterman, The Nation
February 14, 2003
Editor's Note: This article was adapted from Eric Alterman's newly released book, What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News (Basic), published in February.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15187
It's a SCARY phenomenon. FOX is scary, and grossly sexist!
Today, a Fox, "Fair & Balanced" segway...
"Up next, the gruesome details of the Lacy Peterson autopsy, a Fox Nexs exclusive. News you won't hear anywhere else"...
The question is: Can "Fair & Balanced" news stoop any lower than that??... And is the autopsy report really "news" or pure gore sensationalism??
And now it seems too many in the media have become the mouth piece of the far right -- total spin control!.. Remeber the media just prior to 9/11? It was 'All Chandra, All the Time!'... On the morning of 9/11, she was probably pre-empted for 'live coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks'. And Condit, undoubtedly a true scoundrel - of the highest order, was tried, convicted and nearly tared & feathered in the media -- with only sketchy indications that he might have been involved in Chandra's demise. Sounds a little like Iraq & WMD, doesn't it??..
And "We the People" watched the spectacle like a made for TV docu-drama. Talk about systemic failure of gov - from the Oval Office to Main Street. The latter 90s are a low period in American politics and history, to say the least...
As for Incyte Genomics, gov enabled that too by failing in their oversight and regulatory responsibilities.
But "We the People" didn't bother to question that either...
How 'bout a made for TV docu-drama:
"The Roaring 90s: Monica, the Market Mania
and, oh yeah, Osama too"....
Bush's 'Jesus Day' is called a....
- L. Goodstein, NYT 8/6/00
August 6, 2000
THE RELIGION ISSUE
Bush's 'Jesus Day' Is Called a First Amendment Violation
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Four months ago in Texas, Gov. George W. Bush signed a proclamation declaring June 10 to be Jesus Day, and urging all Texans to "follow Christ's example by performing good works in their communities and neighborhoods."
The proclamation received little attention at the time, except for some gratitude from a Christian organization that had asked many governors to issue proclamations supporting its annual day of charity, prayer and parades in Jesus' name.
Now what seemed purely ceremonial has turned into a controversy for Governor Bush. As word of Texas's Jesus Day has spread through e-mail, Jewish newspapers and church-state separationists, the Republican presidential nominee has come under criticism for insensitivity to people of non-Christian faiths and a disregard for the First Amendment.
"The assumption is that Christianity is the norm for America," said Phil Baum, executive director of the American Jewish Congress, "and that Jews and other minorities are here essentially as guests at the sufferance of our hosts, in a secondary position, which is an uncomfortable situation to be in."
Mr. Baum called the proclamation "an egregious and blatant violation of the spirit of the First Amendment." He added, "Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, members of other faith groups, and nonbelievers would have a hard time responding to the Governor's call to practice civic responsibility by following Christ's message on June 10."
Mr. Bush, who has put his Christian faith front and center in the campaign, has tried to project an image of inclusiveness to people of all ethnicities and religions. In the past, he has been put on the defensive for saying that the only way to heaven was through Christ, and for naming Jesus as his favorite political philosopher.
Now the governor's office has been receiving letters and e-mail messages from people outraged by the Jesus Day proclamation, or asking if it is true, said Linda Edwards, a spokeswoman for Mr. Bush in Texas.
"George Bush is sensitive to those concerns," Ms. Edwards said, "but is also mindful of the longstanding tradition of governors in both parties to honor individuals and organizations for their good works through greetings and proclamations." Governor Bush has also signed proclamations supporting Bahai centenary day, Holocaust Remembrance Day, and a Hanukkah celebration, in Austin, she said.
As to whether the proclamation caused offense, Ms. Edwards said, "I think everyone knows that Governor Bush is a religious person, and he believes that faith can play an important role in people's lives."
The proclamation, which Ms. Edwards said was written by the governor's staff, begins: "Throughout the world, people of all religions recognize Jesus Christ as an example of love, compassion, sacrifice and service. Reaching out to the poor, the suffering and the marginalized, he provided moral leadership that continues to inspire countless men, women and children today.
"To honor his life and teachings, Christians of all races and denominations have joined together to designate June 10 as Jesus Day," it reads. "Jesus Day challenges people to follow Christ's example by performing good works in their communities and neighborhoods."
The proclamation was sought by the "March for Jesus," an Atlanta group that organizes marches and assistance for the poor in about 500 cities on the same day each year. The group, which was formed in 1991, had previously sought proclamations commemorating "March for Jesus Day." This year, the group called the event Jesus Day. Ten governors agreed to issue proclamations or greetings, but some refused, the group said.
Tom Pelton, founder and organizer of the March for Jesus, said in an interview: "To me it would be a stretch to see that proclamation as being demeaning toward other religions. It's meant to point out that the things that Jesus taught are consistent with what many religions teach. Instead of Jesus being a divisive name in the community, we are hoping to establish his name as a point of unity among people."
Religious groups routinely seek governmental proclamations, and since such proclamations do not have the force of law, involve no money from taxpayers, and call for no particular action, they are very difficult to challenge in court, First Amendment experts said.
In 1997, a federal district judge did issue a temporary restraining order against the city of Redlands, Calif., for proclaiming a "March for Jesus Day," saying it violated the United States and California constitutions.
"A declaration of support for religion is not the same as declaring National Dairy Week," said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "Any time government embraces a particular religious viewpoint it violates the spirit of the Constitution." The phrase in the proclamation signed by Governor Bush that "people of all religions recognize Jesus" was proposed by the March for Jesus, said Mr. Pelton, particularly to avoid offense. But it is this assertion that seemed to most outrage observers.
"With the exception of Islam," said Bruce Lincoln, the Caroline E. Haskell Professor of History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School, "all the major religions emerged before Christianity, so there is no place for Jesus in their original foundations and scriptures.
"They carefully worded this thing to make it look like they've just got a good guy here, and so the state of Texas can have a party for him without running into church-state problems," Mr. Lincoln said. "It's patently fraudulent."
Civil Rights Groups Criticize Lieberman's Talk of Religion on the Campaign Trail
Source: Baltimore Sun
August 30, 2000
WASHINGTON, DC -- Liberal advocacy groups and civil libertarians criticized Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph I. Lieberman yesterday for what they saw as his overt and inappropriate use of religion on the campaign trail, the Baltimore Sun reported.
According to the Sun, conservatives had accused the groups of applying a double standard, criticizing Christian conservatives when they make religious references but keeping silent as Lieberman, the first Jewish candidate on a major national ticket, frequently evoked God.
But the Anti Defamation League publicly asked Lieberman on Monday to temper his religiosity, and the American Civil Liberties Union, People for the American Way, and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State also expressed their disaffection.
In a letter to sent to the The New York Times on Monday, Ira Glasser, executive director of the ACLU, wrote, "Vice Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman's claim, in his Detroit speech this past Sunday, that morality cannot be maintained without religion and a belief in God not only threatens the freedom of religion of atheists, it is also demonstrably untrue."
Glasser noted that many people who claim to be religious nonetheless mistreat others, whereas "many who worked tirelessly to end racial segregation did not believe in God or kept their religious beliefs to themselves."
He concluded, "There is no easy correlation between public piety and civic morality, and Mr. Lieberman does us all a disservice when he suggests otherwise."
Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, said, "This has gone way over the edge . . . It's time to stop telling us what you think about Deuteronomy and the parting of the Red Sea and tell us about your positions on economic policy and prescription drugs."
Vice President Al Gore and campaign aides have stressed publicly and privately to the Anti Defamation League that Lieberman has always been a defender of religious tolerance.
"He also believes, as I do, in separation of church and state," Gore said.
Ever since Lieberman was tapped for the ticket, he has evoked God and cited Scripture. At the Aug. 8 rally to announce his selection, he referred to God more than a dozen times.
But this weekend, Lieberman went even further when he told the congregation at a Detroit church that he hoped his candidacy would reinstate "a place of faith in America's public life."
On Monday, he told an interfaith breakfast in Chicago: "This is the most religious country in the world, and sometimes we try to stifle that fact or hide it. But... we are not only citizens of this blessed country, we are citizens of the same awesome God."
Lieberman said that the Democratic plan to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare was in keeping with the commandment to "Honor thy father and mother." He even tied Gore's proposal to preserve much of the federal budget surplus to Joseph's efforts in the Bible to save Egypt's surplus grain for a prophesied famine.
It was his Sunday call for a religious place in public life that prompted the Anti Defamation League - a unit of the Jewish service organization B'nai B'rith devoted to fighting bigotry - to formally lodge a protest late the next afternoon.
In an open letter to Lieberman, ADL National Chairman Howard P. Berkowitz and ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman wrote: "We feel very strongly, and we hope you would agree, that appealing along religious lines, or belief in God, is contrary to the American ideal." Religious themes and issues have arisen throughout the presidential campaign.
During the primaries, Texas Gov. George W. Bush asserted that Jesus not only was his savior but also the philosopher who had influenced him the most. When he joined nine other governors in signing a "Jesus Day" proclamation for his state, it caused a momentary but muffled protest.
Gore has called himself a "born-again" Christian, and evoked the popular phrase, "What Would Jesus Do?" And both major party nominees have advocated the channeling of taxpayer funds to religious-based organizations.
Yesterday, Republican vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney spoke before the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Kansas City, Missouri, advocating teaching tolerance "as Christ taught."
"There's become this kind of orthodoxy with all the campaigns, a comfort with these professions of public piety," ACLU executive director Ira Glasser said. "It's almost as if there's now a religious test for office."
To religious conservatives, the tone of Campaign 2000 has been a welcome change.
Gary L. Bauer, a leader of the Christian right, condemned the Anti-Defamation League letter to Lieberman as "outrageous" and "anti-Semitic."
"They're telling the most prominent Orthodox Jew in America he ought to hide his faith under a bushel basket," he said.
Foxman, of the ADL, said Lieberman aides contacted him to point to a 20-year public record that has been mindful of the separation of church and state and respectful of other faiths and traditions.
But neither that phone call nor that record could temper Foxman's criticism.
"Now he's a candidate for vice president, and he's saying, 'Vote for me, because I am a man of God,'" Foxman said.
http://www.aclu.org/ReligiousLiberty/ReligiousLiberty.cfm?ID=7680&c=29
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Without spending cuts (trimming the fat!) a tax cut policy is "half azzed" - both literally and figuratively.
I'm all for less gov and lower taxes. Correct me if I'm wrong but Bush & Co seems all for more gov and lower taxes... I'm not really sure how that works. If they were to seriously trim the fat, pork barrels, and special interest programs, I have no doubt they could cut taxes and provide aid to the States. Any fed'l tax cuts will be more than offset by rising State and local taxes.