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Senate Panel Approves Tougher Media Rules
By Frank Ahrens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 20, 2003; Page E01
A key Senate committee voted yesterday to tighten some of the Federal Communications Commission's recently adopted media ownership restrictions, out of concern that the new rules would allow too much media consolidation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14327-2003Jun19.html
Freddie likely tripped on derivatives accounting
Thu June 19, 2003 01:22 PM ET
By Eric Burroughs
http://reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=governmentFilingsNews&storyID=2957210
The problem with derivative accounting and oversight in general is that few people understand complex accounting for derivative transactions and positions, and few people understand the complex derivative markets....
Talk about Easy Al growing the money supply with minimal inflation in the price of goods....
A good chunk of Al's paper may be winding up in derivative contracts?..
A "House of Cards"??... To go with Iraq's "Deck of Cards"??
Isn't that "Deck of Cards" is the dumbest thing you've seen in a long time! But trading cards are hot with kids these days.
Fear the day we see our kids trading the Iraqi Deck!!...
Freddie Mac derivative position grew to $700 bln-report
Fri June 20, 2003 12:00 AM ET
NEW YORK, June 19 (Reuters) - Freddie Mac FRE.N , the U.S. government-sponsored mortgage financier under investigation for its accounting, grew its derivatives-trading positions at the end of September to nearly $700 billion, up 46 percent from 2000, The Wall Street Journal Online reported late on Thursday.
Citing company documents, the newspaper said the magnitude of Freddie Mac's derivatives position -- financial contracts that protect it against changes such as interest rate swings -- is even greater than that of its larger rival, Fannie Mae, whose position is valued at $657 billion.
A representative of Freddie Mac did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Earlier, The Journal reported that Freddie Mac may restate earnings for the past few years higher by between $1 billion and $3 billion, with a corresponding drop in future years, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. The company declined to comment on the report, saying it would be speculative to give an estimate of its restatement.
Freddie Mac said in January it planned a three-year restatement of earnings in part because of its use of derivatives.
Lautenberg, "only in America"....
http://www.lautenbergforsenate2002.com/about.html
"The phrase "only in America" has a special meaning for Senator Frank R. Lautenberg"...
In all seriousness, I knew Lautenberg would win. He just "looked" better. Issues were irrelevant....
And now Abby has her very own Senator, former GS CEO Jon Corzine (D-NJ)... "Only in America"!! :))
You are probably not familiar with the Lautenberg/Hytitian (sp?) election?... Lautenberg was hardly popular at the time, he was under a cloud of corruption suspicion. Former State Senator Hytitian should have been a shoe-in for that Senate seat but Lautenberg was better looking... I know - it's hard to believe that Frank Lautenberg is be better looking than ANYONE. But Hytitian had a fat nose and wore chunky gold. Next to Hytitian, Lautenberg looked "distinguished"... And Lautenberg's campaign fully exploited the nose and the gold thing, accentuating both in every ad...
That Senate race became a "beauty contest" between 2 homely guys... Only in America!! :)
And Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life... If Bush makes 2 appointments before the 2004 election, the justices are in regardless if Bush wins or loses the election. We are stuck and we WILL be effected by their extremist agenda for years to come...
Think about it... Who is waging war on "our way of life"??
Pryor opposes Separation of Church and State, opposes reproductive rights, opposes campaign finance reform, holds view favorable to big business, is in favor of anti-gay legislation, etc... Might we assume Pryor opposes democracy as well, or is democracy a matter of subjective opinion in the US today??
The right-wing extremists who dominate DC are scary people!
Supreme Court Battle of a Lifetime
By Kari Lydersen, AlterNet
June 17, 2003
Reproductive rights, environmental protections and civil liberties could all be in danger if the one or two rumored vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court this summer are filled by right-wing Bush nominees
With many Supreme Court decisions on key issues in the pipeline, and many decisions that could be overturned, conservative and progressive groups are already in high gear preparing for the likely vacancies, after hearing of the impending retirements of Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, 73, and/or William Rehnquist, 78.
On the left, a coalition of groups including the Alliance for Justice, People for the American Way, Naral Pro-Choice America Foundation and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights have started lobbying, grassroots mobilizing, fundraising and public awareness campaigns to make sure they and their constituents have a say in who is appointed to the Supreme Court.
The Loss of Choice
On June 8, Naral launched a national TV ad campaign. The 30-second spot depicts a woman reading a newspaper with the headline, "Abortion Outlawed! – Court Overturns Right to Choose," and then goes back in time through the political events leading up to the decision. The ad ends with a voiceover saying, "There's still time to protect your right to choose."
Naral hopes that the ads, part of a multi-million dollar campaign called Choice for America, will help prevent the storyline in the commercial from becoming reality. Naral is also launching an internet campaign and will begin running shorter statewide TV spots in Oregon, Wisconsin and Iowa in mid-June. Naral notes that the Supreme Court and Congress are already teetering on the brink as far as supporting reproductive choice, and that 300 anti-choice laws have been passed in states in the past few years.
"The likelihood that there will be vacancies on the Supreme Court in a matter of weeks is extremely high," said Naral president Kate Michelman in a statement. "The moment is upon pro-choice America to come together to save our liberties and our constitutional freedoms.'"
Respect for the Environment
The Alliance for Justice, a D.C.-based group with the specific mission of examining judicial nominees, has hired extra staff to work on the Supreme Court issue and has compiled dossiers of background information on eight potential nominees.
The Sierra Club is also running an intense lobbying campaign of its own, aimed at ensuring that justices friendly to the environment – or at the very least moderate on environmental issues – fill any Supreme Court vacancies.
"The court is so divided right now, the biggest impact would come if Sandra Day O'Connor retires," noted Sierra Club senior attorney David Bookbinder. "She's one of two swing votes. If Rehnquist retired it wouldn't really matter because he's so conservative anyway, it would be hard for Bush to find someone more conservative. But then that could be an opportunity to get someone better on."
Bookbinder noted that while it may be unrealistic to get a real pro-environment nominee on the court, the Sierra Club hopes to prevent the nomination of hard-line conservative candidates with no respect for the environment. "We approve the president's nominees most of the time; we are very flexible," said Bookbinder. "It's the real crazies we have a problem with. We have had some big battles."
Stepping Down
The last time a justice retired was 1994, when Stephen Breyer stepped down. This nine-year interval between appointees is the longest since 1823.
Day O'Connor and Rehnquist, both Republicans, would be likely to step down during Bush's presidency rather than after it so he can appoint a Republican in their places.
The Bush administration has reported that while there are dozens of potential nominees to fill the vacancies, there are under 10 likely candidates so far. There is a 51-48 Republican majority in the Senate (along with one independent), but on several lower court nominations Democrats have filibustered to block votes on at least two right-wing Bush nominees. Conservative groups are afraid Democrats will do the same thing with right-wing Supreme Court nominees, so they are trying to change filibuster rules, saying the potential to filibuster means there is a de facto need for a 60-vote majority (enough to break a filibuster) for a win.
Progressive groups note that Bush previously stated he would be looking for new Supreme Court justices along the lines of conservatives Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia – both strong opponents of reproductive choice and other progressive causes.
Big Battles Ahead
The groups are combining their campaigns aimed at the Supreme Court with campaigns to influence nominations on the lower courts. Among other things, People for the American Way, a 600,000-member social justice organization, has been spearheading a campaign to prevent the confirmation of William Pryor, the former Alabama attorney general, for the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Alabama. Pryor's record as attorney general included undermining Congress's authority to prohibit discrimination, protect separation of church and state and protect the environment, according to People for the American Way. Pryor called Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion, "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history." Pryor has also filed a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold Texas's Homosexual Conduct Law, which permits gays and lesbians to be arrested for having sex in their own homes.
"We're definitely preparing for a Supreme Court vacancy or two," said Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way. "We're working in coalition with dozens of organizations representing reproductive choice, defending and promoting constitutional rights and liberties. We're researching all the possible nominees mentioned over the past year or so, doing exhaustive examinations of their backgrounds, looking at their records and what they'd likely do in court."
Neas noted that in 2000, People for the American Way did a series of TV and print ads relating to the Supreme Court, and now they are running an internet campaign including a web page with information on all the possible appeals court and Supreme Court nominees.
"We want to be ready," Neas said. "We have to be prepared for the worst. If he names someone like Thomas or Scalia, a lot of things could be overturned. There are over 100 Supreme Court decisions that could be overturned, having to do with rights and privacy, liberty issues, campaign finance reform, economic justice, the right to choose. It's really important for all organizations and individuals to articulate what's really at stake and acknowledge the court has a daily impact on every aspect of our lives. This will have an impact on the country for decades to come."
He noted that justices normally serve six to seven judicial terms, or 25 to 40 years, with their reach extending far beyond the term of the president who nominated them.
Not Fit to Judge
The Sierra Club has also been preparing for the Supreme Court battle with campaigns aimed at lower federal courts. "We're working with a lot of other groups to oppose extreme lower court nominees, partly on their merits and partly as a way to organize and galvanize people, to get the Senate prepared for what will be bigger vacancies on the Supreme Court," said Bookbinder. "We have a massive grassroots effort to get all our members to contact their Senators."
For example, Bookbinder said California Senator Dianne Feinstein voted against conservative Ninth Circuit appointee Carolyn Kuhl "because she had gotten 30,000 emails saying this person is not fit to be a federal judge," he said. "Senators respond when their constituents start getting massively upset. If we can do that for a Circuit Court nominee, we can do even more for the Supreme Court."
Neas noted that along with lobbying senators, progressive groups need to remind the general public how crucial the Supreme Court is. "We don't want people waking up two years from now to find that the fundamental rights and freedoms they thought were theirs forever are gone overnight because of a Supreme Court decision," he said. "We need to educate the American public about precisely what's at stake."
Kari Lydersen writes for the Washington Post and is an instructor for the Urban Youth International Journalism Program in Chicago.
© 2003 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved. Reproduction by Syndication Service only.
The Axis of Retro-Conservatives Threatens to Poison the Federal Judiciary for Decades
ED WEATHERS
BACKWARD, HO!
The Bush-Ashcroft-Hatch Axis is going to control your life for the next thirty years--probably longer.
http://www.memphisflyer.com/onthefly/onthefly_new.asp?ID=2416
"Pryor, the attorney general of Alabama, has been nominated by George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Pryor is a hugely dangerous man--not so much in himself, but because of what he represents. He does not believe in the separation of church and state. He does not believe in a woman’s right to choose. He does not believe in federal anti-discrimination laws. He solicits money from businesses whom he may later be called on to prosecute--and he sees no problem with that. What makes Pryor so dangerous is that he is not alone. There are swarms of Pryors out there, and pretty soon they will be controlling your life"
Bush Rejects Collaboration on Judicial Appointments
President Won't Consult Democrats on Supreme Court Vacancies
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 18, 2003; 1:13 PM
President Bush today rejected an overture from Democratic senators who offered to head off a bitter fight over a future Supreme Court vacancy with a collaboration between the White House and Capitol Hill.
Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) wrote to Bush on Tuesday to say Democrats want any vacancies "filled by nominees who unite all Americans," and he suggested a bipartisan meeting of Senate leaders.
This morning, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer called the idea "a novel new approach to how the Constitution guides the appointment process." The Constitution gives the president sole power to nominate Supreme Court justices, who then need to be confirmed by the Senate.
Bush is declining to meet with Democrats on the topic. Fleischer said at a briefing that White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales "is always happy to meet and talk with these individual senators and of course he will, if they want to do that."
"But the Constitution is clear, the Constitution will be followed," Fleischer added. "We always welcome thoughts, but certainly no one wants to suggest that the Constitution be altered."
Fleischer brushed off questions about why Bush himself will not consult with the senators and about why Bush would not seize the opportunity to avoid a divisive process. "Unless and until there is a vacancy, this is idle chit-chat and I'd just leave it at chit-chat," Fleischer said.
A twist is that Gonzales, a former justice of the Texas Supreme Court, is one of Bush's most obvious potential nominees. Fleischer laughed off an inquiry about that. "Nice try, very clever," he said. "Good, direct front door effort to speculate--on a position that's not even open."
On Tuesday, Gonzales sent a two-paragraph response to Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a Judiciary Committee member who wrote to the White House a week ago, suggesting several potential consensus nominees.
"If a Supreme Court vacancy arises during his Presidency," Gonzales replied, "President Bush will nominate an individual of high integrity, intellect, and experience. The Senate will have an opportunity to assess the President's nominee and exercise its constitutional responsibility to vote up or down on the nominee."
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
"Homogeneous" is a myth. "Homogeneous" doesn't exist.
No matter how "homogeneous" a group may be or how very similar the groups members are, humans will always find some reason or superficial difference to divide them.
"Race, color, creed" are extremely superficial differences - the most superficial differences. Humans are a "homogeneous" group because we are more similar than different. And look at the divisiveness among the human species....
White House edits global warming report
Thursday, June 19, 2003 Posted: 9:36 PM EDT (0136 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House directed a major rewrite of an assessment of climate change, removing references to health and environmental risks posed by rising global temperatures, according to internal draft documents made public Thursday.
Several Senate Democrats, including some running for president, accused the White House of "doctoring" the Environmental Protection Agency report to suit President Bush's skeptical views on global warming.
The report on the state of the environment has been an agency priority. It is to be released next week before the agency chief Christie Whitman departs on June 27.
According to EPA officials and internal documents obtained Thursday, most of the original section on climate change was scrapped after the White House directed significant changes and deletions that emphasized the uncertainties surrounding the climate change debate.
The changes demanded by the White House were so extensive that the climate section "no longer accurately represents scientific consensus on climate change," according to an April 29 EPA staff memo. It characterized the revised draft as an embarrassment to the agency.
After months of negotiations with the White House, senior EPA officials decided to remove most of the climate-related language. That would allow publication of the rest of the report -- on environmental concerns from air pollution to the state of drinking water supplies -- to go forward.
Copies of the draft documents and the EPA memo were made public by the National Wildlife Federation, which obtained it through a former EPA employee. The changes initially were reported in Thursday's New York Times.
EPA spokesman Joe Martyak said the agency "didn't want to hold up the rest of the report" because of the disagreement over the climate language and because there remains no clear "consensus on the science and conclusions" on global warming.
Whitman told the Times she was "perfectly comfortable" with the edited version.
James Connaughton, chairman of White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the editing amounted largely to removing redundancies or inaccuracies that did not reflect what other reports had said. He said it was wrong to say "that somehow we're trying to remove information about climate. In the last year alone we've produced hundreds of pages on this very subject."
According to the EPA papers, the White House deleted from a summary under the heading of "global issues" the sentence, "Climate change has global consequences for human health and the environment."
A number of scientific reports have raised those concerns.
The edited version inserted that climate change "may have potentially profound consequences" but otherwise emphasized great uncertainties.
"The complexity of the earth system and the interconnections among its components make it a scientific challenge to document change, document its cause and develop useful projections on how natural variability and human actions may affect the global environment in the future," said the revision.
Connaughton said the original phrase misstated what the National Academy of Science report on climate change had said.
The revised draft also:
-Removed a reference -- and a graphic -- to a 1999 study showing global temperatures had risen sharply in the past decade compared with the previous 1,000 years. Instead it cites a study, partly sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, that disputed those findings. Connaughton said the second study was reputable and the most recent on the subject.
-Deleted a National Research Council finding that various studies have suggested that recent warming was unusual and likely due to human activities, although the same 2001 NRC report had been commissioned by the White House.
Democratic Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bob Graham of Florida, both running for president, urged Bush to take action against "those responsible for doctoring this report." They were joined by Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vermont, the ranking minority member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, in requesting copies of the various report drafts.
"It brings into question the ability and authority of the EPA ... to publish unbiased scientific reports," the senators said.
Mark VanPutten, president of the National Wildlife Federation, said the matter "provides disturbing evidence of the administration's readiness to reject or spin scientific findings on crucial environmental issues that do not suit the White House's political agenda."
If the changes are accepted, the EPA staff memo said, the agency "will take severe criticism from the science and environmental communities for poorly representing the science" of climate change.
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
© 2003 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
Yep.. You know what they say about Satan in Shepherds Cloth.... But what has happened to thousands of kids is nothing short of tragic...
I told you where my little guy goes for remediation?.. College - there's no clergy involved, but I can honestly say I have the utmost respect for the instructors and students involved with the program... A polar contrast to what is all over the news today...
I think the clergy problem is a "closed society" problem... In a closed society anything is possible,
and such situations will attract weirdos... Right??.. Kids were horribly victimized.
Through Kansas parishes, a trail of suicide
Families blame deaths on ex-priest
By Thomas Farragher, Globe Staff, 7/18/2002
http://www.snapnetwork.org/psych_effects/kansas_parishes_trail.htm
As a society we are not doing our best to protect children, and crimes against children must be treated as the most serious crimes - with the most severe punishment, obviously... Every year literally thousands of children are abused in various situations - in the US, and their lives are usually ruined. Society as a whole has to insist on a "zero tolerance policy" regarding child abuse.
=======================
Enjoy your afternoon...
I bought Pelzer's "The Lost Boy" and flipped thru it, but have not read it. The story picks up after he is removed from the home of his biological mother, and takes him thru the teen years. It too is supposed to be excellent. I'll be good summer reading! Pelzer lectures all over the country too... :)
Sara, I read the book too! Pelzer's story is truly remarkable, and so moving. There are two sequels now.
You wonder what could drive a person to such profound cruelty, and how a child could not only survive physically and emotionally, but could go on to do something very positive with such cruelty...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1558743669/103-2761372-9848622?vi=glance
Pelzer is a truly gifted and remarkable individual.
That type of intolerance and fanaticism is too common in our society and in the world today. And I'm not sure why...
Those victims must have support groups. Such support would be essential to recovery, I'm sure. Maureen Kanka's work has done so much to protect other children - so her own child's death was not in vain. Kanka is a remarkable woman. It takes courage and strength to do what she did while grieving the loss of her child.
But, as usual, you don't respond to the Constitution legal issue...
Why direct funding rather than indirect funding thru favorable tax treatment??...
No one argues that "such organizations well rooted in a community are well equipped to offer this assitence to the truly needy." And no one disputes the vital, beneficial role that such organizations play in our society.
The RCC and thousands of dedicated members provide essential social and community services. And many decent people do wonderful work, but look what's going on with the organization today... Does the gov want to be directly involved? Besides, direct funding presents important Constitutional challenges. But I'm not surprised the Bush Bunch is advocating it....
Just another day in Baghdad
The demonstrating Iraqis have no work, no money and are desperate. Two are shot dead. Nearby, an American soldier guarding a gas station is casually killed
Rory McCarthy in Baghdad
Thursday June 19, 2003
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,980453,00.html
There was a pedophile in Rumson in the 80's. The congregation was outraged. The alleged sicko was shuffled off somewhere else and successfully avoided prosecution. There was another one in Atlantic Highlands who also avoided prosecution, but the church gave him the boot - according to the Asbury Park Press... The heirarchy seems grossly
guilty of enabling. And there are lifestyle issues, I think.
Every group has their sickos. And pedophiles are drawn to situations where children are present. But with clergy the breech of trust issue makes the crimes even more perverse, and devastating, I assume. Fwiw, the rabbi formerly of the nearest Hillel is now doing jail time for molesting female students. He was unable to avoid prosecution... That story was plastered all over the Asbury Park Press for months... Quite sensational, and damaging to the reputation of what is actually a very good school. And when he is released from prison, he will be subject to Megan's Law.
It's all gross, and very sad!
Fox Kids Makes War Fun for Children of All Ages
NEW YORK (DPI) - The Fox News network is working together with its affiliate FoxBox TV to transfer the horrific images of war into a more accessible cartoon format. "Obviously we need to show coverage of the war in Iraq on all our channels 24 hours a day, and we think urban gunfights and prisoners of war are concepts best explained to children through animation," said program director Pete Klein. "According to the art directors, the images from Fox News will be directly converted into cartoon format, with the American-led coalition forces replaced by smart-but-playful chimpanzees and the Iraqi army becoming a cold and uncaring troop of robots. Any Iraqi child being used as a human shield will be portrayed as a puppy with the voice of Michael J Fox."
(Reported by Mark Schmidt)
http://dailyprobe.com/arcs/032503/index.shtml
Little Megan Kanka (9yo Manalapan victim) lived locally too. And certain civil libertarians are outrage at the resulting Megan's Law. But there are crimes so vile and horrific that they do warrant lifetime branding, and warning of the citizenry. Crimes against children are obviously such crimes.
JBennett was very instrumental in advancing Megan's Law, and was very supportive to the Kanka family. I saw Maureen Kanka speak at a local elementary school. She's moving, articulate, and very knowlegable. Well worth attending if she's in your area.
POLICE MUST NOTIFY RESIDENTS WHEN
CATHOLIC CHURCH MOVES INTO NEIGHBORHOOD
Controversial "Egan's Law" Expected to Gain Widespread Support
http://www.satirewire.com/news/march02/egan.shtml
Trenton, N.J. (SatireWire.com) — Under a new law designed to protect minors, local police departments will now be required to inform residents any time a known Roman Catholic church moves into their neighborhood.
The law also mandates that Catholic churches register with authorities, wear electronic monitoring devices, and be prohibited from moving to within a half-mile radius of a school.
A follow-up to Megan's Law, enacted by New Jersey in 1994, the so-called "Egan's Law" is named for Cardinal Edward Egan of New York and Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, who are both accused of covering up sexual abuse by priests under their authority. Like Megan's Law, Egan's Law is expected to spread quickly to other states, but for parents in towns across New Jersey, it's on the books none too soon.
"Last year, we discovered that a Catholic Church had been in our neighborhood for 30 years! And nobody told us!" said Ruth Harper of Redbrook, N.J. "My sons used to walk by that church every day on their way to school. Even now I shudder to think of what might have happened."
"I always told my kids to steer clear of that place," added neighbor Scott Carlyle. "But that's because there were a lot of strange people going in and out at odd hours, even at midnight on Saturdays. I was worried it was some kind of druggie hangout.
"To think the whole time it was a Roman Catholic Church. Now I know why they had all those stained glass windows —. so nobody could look in."
Critics, however, charge that Egan's Law is unconstitutional, specifically because it relies on religious profiling and is intended to safeguard only one segment of the population: young males. But State Sen. Carmela Truto, a Catholic who co-sponsored the bill, used church doctrine itself to prove only one segment needs protection.
"In the Catholic Church, after 2,000 years, Mary is still a Virgin," she said. "So clearly, they're not interested in girls."
That statement, however, angered Vatican spokesman Edgar Palowski, who said it propagated a common misconception about the church. "This doesn't get reported enough," he said, "but it's a fact that our priests abuse just as many girls as boys."
"Oh. Oh dear..." he added.
Copyright © 2002, SatireWire.
.."a Taliban role in the Kabul government".. ???
U.S. Reaches Out to the Taliban
By Syed Saleem Shahzad, Pacific News Service
June 18, 2003
KARACHI, Pakistan – U.S. and Pakistani intelligence officials have reportedly met with Taliban leaders in an effort to devise a political solution to an escalating guerrilla war in Afghanistan.
According to a Pakistani jihadi leader who played a role in setting up the communication, a recent meeting took place between representatives of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Taliban leaders at the Pakistan Air Force base of Samungli, near Quetta.
The source told Asia Times Online that four conditions were put to the Taliban before any form of reconciliation could take place that could potentially lead to a Taliban role in the Kabul government:
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16202
Good for Gingrich! It is not easy to stand up to the ruling cabal. I may not agree with Gingrich's political ideology, but I respect his courage and willingness to speak out. For the Admin to ignore global sentiment is not only arrogant,
it's foolish and dangerous.
At least someone has some guts!!
HUFFINGTON: WMDs and the Psychology of Fanaticism
By Arianna Huffington, AlterNet
June 18, 2003
By all accounts, the behind-the-scenes battle within the Bush administration over just what information should be used, or spun, or hidden, to make the case that Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat to America and the rest of the world was a knockdown, drag-out fight between the facts and a zealous, highly politicized, "who needs proof?" mindset. And, at the end of the day, the truth was left writhing on the floor.
Hey, why let the facts get in the way of a perfectly good war?
This pathological pattern of disregarding inconvenient reality is not just troubling – it's deadly. And it's threatening to drag us into a Sisyphean struggle against evildoers in Syria, Iran, North Korea, or whatever locale Karl Rove thinks would best advance "Operation Avoid 41's Fate."
Since I'm not a psychiatrist, I consulted the work of various experts in the field in order to get a better understanding of the fanatical mindset that is driving the Bush administration's agenda – and scaring the living daylights out of a growing number of observers.
Dr. Norman Doidge, professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, has identified among the telltale symptoms of fanatics: an intolerance of dissent, a doctrine that is riddled with contradictions, the belief that one's cause has been blessed or even commanded by God, and the use of reinforcement techniques such as repetition to spread one's message.
Sound like anyone you know? George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle... come on down!
According to Doidge, one of the essential features of fanatics is their certainty that not only is their cause good "but that it is the only good, an absolute good." Or as President Bush famously declared: "There is no in-between, as far as I'm concerned. Either you're with us, or you're against us."
This absolute intolerance of dissent, says Doidge, often extends beyond the fanatics' enemies – frequently leading to a "campaign of terror" against those within their own ranks. If you're wondering what this has to do with the Bush administration, you might want to give a call to Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and George Voinovich.
After having the temerity to question the wisdom of the president's massive tax cut plan, the senatorial pair became the targets of withering TV attack ads, sponsored by allies of the White House, that portrayed them as "so-called Republicans" and compared their opposition to the latest round of tax cuts to France's opposition to the war in Iraq. It was a Night of the Long Knives, GOP-style.
Another crucial element of a fanatic's faith, according to Professor Dixon Sutherland, who teaches religion at Stetson University, is that he "sees himself as acting for God... You have a circular logic that is very powerful that combines God's authority – through the Bible – with a messenger who carries out that authority."
Tom DeLay, for example, saw the 2000 election as a choice between a "biblical worldview" and the worldview of "humanism, materialism, sexism, naturalism, post-modernism or any of the other -isms." And the Republican Party, of course, represented the biblical worldview, God and all things good.
Gustav le Bon, a social scientist known for his crowd psychology theories, has stressed the importance of repetition as a weapon in the fanatic's arsenal. Repetition breeds blind acceptance and contagion.
"Ideas, sentiments, emotions and beliefs," writes le Bon, "possess in crowds a contagious power as intense as that of microbes." As James Moore, co-author of "Bush's Brain," says, "If the president says it over and over enough, people will believe it, just as Karl Rove got him to say over and over that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11."
The technique was so successful that a poll taken by the Pew Center in 2002 showed that 66 percent of Americans believed that Hussein and bin Laden were both behind the attacks. In the words of that giant banner that Rove had placed behind the president following his Top Gun landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln: "Mission Accomplished."
Wonder why the WMD are MIA? The answer may lie in the DSM – the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. I know it can sound a bit cheap to call people you disagree with nuts, which is why I refer you to the psychiatric literature. And keep an open mind, something the Bushies stopped doing a long time ago.
Arianna Huffington is the author of "Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption are Undermining America."
© 2003 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
Harrys return sure to upset zealots
Fri, Jun 13, 2003
AS the publication of the new Harry Potter novel approaches, I suppose the anti-Potter zealots will emerge from the woodwork and step on to their soapboxes, bleating and wailing about the evildoer and his ability to damage delicate psyches.
As a mother I have found my own children to be enchanted and bemused by Harry and in my capacity as educator, my students enthralled by him, eagerly anticipating Harry Potter quizzes and the computer wizardry of the movies.
Yes, I do reward them with Harry Potter pens and paraphernalia, but they love that too. There was more violence in Batman and Superman movies, but did the fundamentalists rail against them? No. Witches and wizards are bad: Lex Luther, Penguin, Catwoman and Joker are what? A walk in the park?
Of course I have tried the Hermione spell: “Wingardium Leviosa” on them but found the wand I bought from Ollivanders to be less than effective. Many have tried to turn their little brothers and sisters into frogs but to no avail.
Of course children have the capacity to know staircases dont spontaneously shift, owls dont deliver letters and getting to school on a Nimbus 2001 broomstick is not a viable means of transport.
These railing critics have denounced the Harry stories as depicting adults in a bad light. Havent they noticed the innate goodness of Dumbledore, Prof McGonagall and Snapes attempts to save Harry from the evil Quirrell? The world is made up of good and bad adults, witness the many despots through history: for every Hitler there is a Churchill.
They also claim the children dare to be smarter than the adults. This of course is a crime! How dare they disturb the natural order of things; children should know their place.
I know innumerable smart children, smarter than many adults I know, and find this reassuring rather than threatening. Dont we want the future of the planet in the hands of smart people? Children thinking for themselves is an anachronism to closed minds.
Many experts have spoken up on the matter: Michael Carr Gregg, distinguished psychologist says: “There is always a tiny, screeching minority of right-wing conservatives stomping their feet and declaring that our young people are in deep danger from just about any event, concert, book, movie or other hunk of entertainment,” while Mike Carlton from the Sydney Morning Herald says: “Hogwarts versus Hogwash”, denouncing Bishop Harry Westcotts anti-Potter rantings as “claptrap”.
Wheres the Christian ethic in all this carping?
Poor Harry is an orphan after all, brought up by his wretched relatives, the dastardly Dursleys. Doesnt he deserve all the help and Christian sympathy he can get? He does, after all, show children the value of belonging and loyalty, how important friends are and how valuable a mothers love is to a child. Sounds like pretty un-Christian values to me.
You cant beat a ritualistic book- burning, though you would need a big bonfire for the 50 million copies Rowling has sold.
Perhaps we should lead children back to the good old days, when books were charming and unlikely to be allied with the Dark Side. Enid Blyton and Noddy spring to mind. Oh, I forgot, they were riddled with homosexuality and paedophilia, once the zealots had a good look at them.
What is wrong with Harry again?
A CONCERNED TEACHER
Tomorrow in Weekend Pulse: Wild about Harry the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
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..'Cartoon character Homer SImpson topped the poll of the greatest Americans,
beating Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King to the top spot'...
YOU'RE NOT PARANOID, GEORGE
Jun 17 2003
By Neil Roberts
A survey published today has found nearly two-thirds of the world doesn't like US president George W Bush.
The survey - carried out for the BBC - asked people from eleven countries what they thought of America.
It revealed 60% of non-Americans had a very unfavourable, or fairly unfavourable attitude towards Bush.
ICM and other international pollsters asked people in Australia, Canada, Brazil, France, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Russia, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States for their opinions.
Americans as a whole did better, however, with 50% of respondents expressing fairly or very favourable views of people from the US.
Cartoon character Homer SImpson topped the poll of the greatest Americans, beating Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King to the top spot.
Mirror.co.uk
Newspaper of the year
I agree with you, and didn't misunderstand. I was venting.
Best regards & thanks for sharing your thoughts, as always. :)
Judge asked Arab-American woman if she was a terrorist.... :)
This is what is meant by "racial profiling"? And they said things were rough on the NJ Turnpike!.... :)
NY Judge Resigns Over 'Terrorist' Remark to Arab-American Woman
Justice Claims He Was 'Probably Kidding'
POSTED: 11:40 p.m. EDT June 17, 2003
UPDATED: 11:41 p.m. EDT June 17, 2003
TARRYTOWN, N.Y. -- A Tarrytown, N.Y., judge who admitted asking an Arab-American woman in court if she was a terrorist has stepped down.
Village Justice William Crosbie resigned in a letter Monday to the mayor. The incident led the woman to file a complaint.
Anissa Khoder, a Lebanese woman who has lived in the United States 14 years, had gone to court to challenge one of two parking tickets she had received.
Khoder said Crosbie asked if she was a terrorist, then said "something like, 'You have money to support the terrorists, but you don't want to pay the ticket."'
Khoder then fainted; both tickets were dismissed.
Crosbie said he was "probably kidding" when he made the terrorist remark. He denied accusing Khoder of financially supporting terrorism.
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
If it matters not what they do, but what they believe, does it matter if they are "right", or "religious",
or anything else for that matter??... Profound, I know... :)
"Well at least we have integrity back in the oval office. :>)"
That's what they told us when Bush was elected, and I was so relieved..... :)
In volatile Iraq, US curbs press
US issues an order against inciting attacks on minorities or US troops.
By Ilene R. Prusher / Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0619/p01s01-woiq.html
I guess there's no "free press" in the New Iraqi Democracy either....
Sox, Forgive me. Sex is bad. War is righteous.
I forgot! :)
It's not about "condemnation", or "scandal", or institutionalism, or whatever... It's about one's most basic morality. You absolutely do not violate a child! And an entire group or society has to advocate for a child's rights. Crimes against children are the highest crimes, and such crimes can not be tolerated by any group or society. A society or group who would protect the perpetrator over the child victim is a very sick society or group - regardless of that groups original intent or purpose. Agree, disagree....
If someone were to break the Watergate scandal today, I have no doubt the right-wing media would be screaming "treason"....But Watergate would never have been known without the investigative journalism of a free press without fear of intimidation or reprocussions...Shock & Awe-gate may actually be a more serious Constitutional/legal matter than Watergate or Monica-gate, but without free press we will never know, and democracy will eventually fail...
U.S. Portrayed As Arrogant in Global Poll
By AUDREY WOODS
Associated Press Writer
June 18, 2003, 1:40 PM EDT
LONDON -- A sampling of public opinion in 11 nations finds many see the United States as an arrogant superpower that poses a greater danger to world peace than North Korea.
President Bush failed to impress 58 percent of those questioned by pollsters for a British Broadcasting Corp. broadcast Tuesday night. They said they had a fairly unfavorable or very unfavorable view of the American president. If the American respondents were removed from the sample, the number rose to 60 percent.
The poll questioned 11,000 people in May and June in 11 nations: Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. The poll was conducted by pollsters including ICM in Britain and IPSOS Reid in the United States. The BBC did not estimate a margin of error.
Not all the news was bad for the United States.
Even though 67 percent said they wouldn't want their countries to copy U.S. economic policies, 67 percent would aspire to U.S. gains in science and technology, and 56 percent to the opportunities for advancement available to people in the United States. Forty percent aspired to U.S. freedom of expression.
But the way the United States wields its power worried many of those questioned for the program, "What the World Thinks of America."
Only 25 percent -- excluding Americans -- said U.S. military might was making the world a safer place.
Forty-one percent agreed with Prime Minister Tony Blair's opinion that the United States is a force for good in the world, and 55 disagreed.
Sixty-five percent overall -- and a majority in every country, including the United States -- said America is arrogant. Forty-seven percent said America is friendly, and 33 percent find the United States antagonistic.
Fifty-six percent said the United States was wrong to attack Iraq. That number reached 81 percent in Russia and 63 percent in France, two nations that led world opposition to the war. Overall, 37 percent said the war was right -- 54 percent in Britain, 74 percent in the United States and 79 percent in Israel.
The al-Qaida terrorist organization was ranked more dangerous than the United States, but the Americans were judged to be a greater threat than Russia, China, Syria and two members of Bush's Axis of Evil -- Iran and North Korea.
Even in South Korea, where tensions along the Demilitarized Zone run high, 48 percent of respondents judged the United States to be a greater threat to world peace than the communist neighbors to the north, with their nuclear program.
In a studio panel of commentators, former British Cabinet member Clare Short, who quit her post to protest the invasion of Iraq, said post-Sept. 11 America was "a wounded giant, full of anger ... that feels it's got to exercise its power all over the world; I think that's becoming a frightening America."
Fifty percent of the poll respondents said they had a fairly positive or very positive view of the United States, compared with 40 percent who had unfavorable views. Those figures excluded Americans.
Many said their own countries were becoming more like America -- 81 percent of Australians agreed with that statement, as did 64 percent of Britons and 63 percent of Israelis.
* __
On the Net: http://www.bbc.co.uk/
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press
Fox is having a "field day" with the BBC today, calling them biased for reporting results of their poll! Heaven forbid anyone should learn something from other, or consider the opinion of others... One can only wonder why the BBC reports that many respond the US and Americans are "arrogant"...
Their apparent disregard for the US Constitution is startling, isn't it??... Disregard for the UN, for the international community, and our Constitution... A freightening pattern, while average Americans are either unwilling, or unable to THINK about what's going on..... They get their "thoughts" and opinions from the new right media and spin machines in this country. But one would have thought they would have learned something from CNBC and that giant fleecing.. I guess not!...