Charley Reese: Fooled Once, Not Again

Americans should realize that if they vote for President Bush's re-election, they are really voting for the architects of war — Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and the rest of that cabal of neoconservative ideologues and their corporate backers.

This morning after church I talked with a young boy, age 11, whom I first met in Kindermusik class when he was three years old. His name is Matthew. He is worried about his future. He has heard that there might be a draft and that he will have to register with the Draft Board in a few years. He doesn't want to grow up to be a soldier. The only thing I could say to him is that we are doing everything we can to change our government and change directions away from war and toward peace.

Matthew represents thousands of young boys who should not be made to worry about their future. It is up to us, the grownups, to do everything we can to make Matthew's future prosperous and fulfilling.

Charley Reese wrote an excellent article in May 2004 which tells why he is voting for John Kerry. One of the most compelling things he says is this:

"People who think of themselves as conservatives will really display their stupidity, as I did in the last election, by voting for Bush. Bush is as far from being a conservative as you can get. Well, he fooled me once, but he won't fool me twice."

Click on the blog title to go to the full article. Find out why Charley Reese thinks Bush is anything but conservative. He tells it like it is.

"I will swallow a lot of petty policy differences with Kerry to get a man in the White House with brains enough not to blow up the world and us with it."

Are the Trees Republican?

It won't be long before Christmas decorations will be appearing. Not too many years ago, someone came up with the idea of a talking, moving Christmas tree. I think they became quite popular. What if trees and other living things could really talk? What would they be saying to us?

Robert F. Kennedy, senior attorney for Natural Resources Defense Council and author of "Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy," wrote a commentary this week in the Orlando Sentinel. In the article, Kennedy writes, "...there's no such thing as Democratic or Republican children and it would be tragic if the environment becomes the province of one political party."

Kennedy accuses Bush of being THE worst environmental president in American history. Healthy Forests Act turns our national forests over to the timber industry. Clear Skies dismantles our clean air laws. Polluters are put in charge of agencies that are supposed to protect Americans from pollution. For example, a famously rapacious timber industry lobbyist now runs the forest service. Our public lands are administered by a mining industry lobbyist who believes that public lands are unconstitutional. A utility lobbyist runs the EPA's air division. To run Superfund, Bush appointed a woman whose last job was advising polluters how to evade Superfund. Bush named a Monsanto lobbyist as second in command of the EPA. In all the government regulatory agencies in the Departments of Agriculture, Interior, Justice and the EPA, the same tactics have been used.

The foxes are guarding the henhouses.

Superfund has gone bankrupt. Our waterways have gotten more polluted for the first time in over 30 years. Acid rain is increasing. In 19 states, all freshwater fish are now unsafe to eat regularly due to mercury contamination. (The mercury problem could easily be solved by improving 1,100 old coal-burning power plants.) The implications of mercury levels for our unborn future generations are grim.

The White House is allowing industry cronies to poison America's air and waterways and to plunder our public lands. American corporations are underwriting Bush's campaign in hopes that he will win and provide them with more loopholes and increased profits at our expense.

GOTV.....GOTV.....GOTV.....GOTV.....GOTV.....GOTV.....GOTV!!

[Click on the blog title to fo to Kennedy's article.]

The End Is Near: Mother Goose and Grimm

Click on the blog title to see the cartoon. Mother Goose and Grimm 10/17/04 I think the January cartoon appears initially. Just scroll down to 10/17/04 where you see the date in the upper right corner.

Quite funny!

Punch line: I try to put the "fun" in fundamentalism.

Galbraith on Iraq: Eyewitness Account

Peter Galbraith is a former US ambassador to Croatia and now serves as a fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. In the 80's, he documented Iraqi atrocities against the Kurds for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

On Wednesday, October 27th, the Boston Globe contained an article by Galbraith: Eyewitness to a failure in Iraq. In the article, Galbraith tells of a meeting he had with Paul Wolfowitz in 2003 in which he told Wolfowitz of the catastrophic aftermath of the invasion: the unchecked looting of every public institution in Baghdad, the devastation of Iraq's cultural heritage, the anger of ordinary Iraqis who couldn't understand why the world's only superpower was letting this happen. On the Al Franken Show Friday (Oct. 29), Galbraith said that, during this 2003 meeting, Wolfowitz became angrier and angrier as he told him of the situation in Iraq. At first Galbraith thought Wolfowitz was upset about what was going on in Iraq, but Galbraith soon realized that Wolfowitz was furious with Galbraith for telling him these things.

Galbraith witnessed an extremely alarming incident on April 16, 2003. A mob attacked and looted the Iraqi equivalent of the Centers for Disease Control, taking live HIV and black fever virus among other potentially lethal materials. US troops were stationed across the street but did not intervene because they didn't know the building was important. When the young American lieutenant in charge found out, he was devastated. He shook his head and said, "I hope I am not responsible for Armageddon." About the same time, looters entered the warehouses at Iraq's sprawling nuclear facilities at Tuwaitha on Baghdad's outskirts. They took barrels of yellowcake (raw uranium), apparently dumping the uranium and using the barrels to hold water. US troops were there but did not interfere.

Galbraith pointed out to Wolfowitz that, as long as these sites remained unprotected, their deadly materials could end up not with ill-educated slum dwellers but with those who knew exactly what they were doing. This is apparently what actually happened. According to the IAEA report this month, there was "widespread and apparently systematic dismantlement that has taken place at sites previously relevant to Iraq's nuclear program." This includes the 380 tons of explosives that have disappeared and have been in the headlines this week. Organized gangs simply dismantled entire buildings that housed high-precision equipment, using heavy machinery. A piece of cake with George Bush in the White House.

Galbraith thinks it is a good bet that this equipment is now in Iran.

Galbraith says, "This was a preventable disaster." Of course, it was.

Remember that Peter Galbraith supported Bush's decision to overthrow Saddam Hussein. He helped advance the case for war at Wolfowitz' request. He is simply pointing out that there was no competent postwar strategy, and the US is now much more unsafe than if we had not gone to war at all.

George Bush has made our country and the entire world less safe. He cannot truthfully claim to have made us safer. This flies in the face of reality.

[Click on the blog title to go to the Globe article.]

The GOP Specializes in Fraud

When the GOP is running scared, their only choice is to discourage voters from going to the polls. Here is a letter sent out this past week to newly registered voters in Ohio claiming erroneously that these voters will not be eligible to vote. The letter claims that the voter registration efforts by the NAACP, America Coming Together, and others, were illegal. It goes on to say that this unfortunate occurence undermines the process of democracy!

Who is undermining the process of democracy? The NAACP? America Coming Together? No. The Republican Party is trying to sabotage the democratic process. And they are doing this IN BROAD DAYLIGHT! What do you call a person or group that tells a lie to purposely deceive a voter in hopes that the voter will stay home on election day? And this is not just a matter of telling a lie. This lie is in actual letter form, looking official, and delivered to the homes of new voters who have registered and are eligible to vote. It doesn't get much worse than this.

This is it, possums! GOTV! GOTV! GOTV!

(Click on the link below or on the blog title to see the letter.)

http://lawgeek.typepad.com/Lake%20County%20Suppression%20letter.jpg

A Born-Again Christian's Reasons for Supporting Kerry

A resident of the Tidewater area by the name of Natalie Grayson attended a Kerry Meet-up last night in Norfolk, VA, and spoke to the group about a recent conversation she had with a neighbor who was supporting Bush. The neighbor believes that her Christian faith requires her to vote for Bush. Natalie composed a letter in response to this conversation. Tell me what you think after reading the letter below. (Click on Comment. You can post anonymously.)

Dear ____,

I am an unashamedly, unapologetically, born-again Christian woman. Given this fact, I would like to tell you why a born-again Christian is voting for John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential Election, with scriptural references to support my decision.

Before I begin, please let me clarify that I believe government and religion should be kept separate. I am a person of faith who encourages others to believe in God and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, but I also don’t think any person should force his or her specific religious beliefs on others. Jesus did not demand that the people follow him, but he said “whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). That is why God gives us free will. I am not trying to change who you vote for, but I want you to understand the many reasons (not just one or two) why I support John Kerry. My support for John Kerry is based on Matthew 25:44-46 which states, “When Lord did we see you hungry or thirsty, naked, or sick or in prison, and not help? And he will answer, I assure you, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters; you were refusing to help me. And they will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

How does this apply to John Kerry?

It applies on the issue of Education. The “No Child Left Behind” program is a wonderful initiative for Public School Education. I support its concept, particularly as a long-time public school educator, to require teachers, principals and administrators to be accountable to the government about how our children are taught. Did you know George Bush and the Republican-majority Congress underfunded the bill by 27 million dollars? Consequently, how can schools provide the services they are mandated to provide without the funds to resource the program? Did you know that many states are opposing out of the law? Why is that? Conversely, I believe John Kerry will fully fund the No Child Left Behind Program.

Jobs are another reason why I support John Kerry. Under the current Administration and the Republican-majority Congress, we have lost over a million jobs. Those job losses I believe are the direct result of the Administration and Republican-controlled Congress’s tax cut philosophy that is clearly targeted to the more wealthy members of our society, which in turn requires cutting funds for federal programs designed to provide jobs for the less privileged. Furthermore, the Administration and Congress appear to support companies who outsource jobs overseas to get cheaper labor and off-shore tax breaks. I realize that no Administration can totally eliminate unemployment, but I strongly believe that the current policies have exacerbated what is already a challenging and very important issue for our country, i.e. improving the quality of life for all Americans, not just the privileged few.

Another reason I support John Kerry is that I believe we need new leadership to address the issue of Health Care. Under the current Administration, an astounding number of Americans, many of whom do work but are in the lower tier economically, either have limited or no health care coverage for themselves and/or their families. I do not expect our President to totally eradicate the Health Care problem just like I don’t expect the President to totally solve the unemployment problem, but he or she should at least have a clear, specific, logical plan that he or she can articulate to the American people as to how he or she plans to address the problem. Can you tell me what President Bush’s plan is, in clear, specific logical terms, to increase health care coverage for those Americans who have very little or no coverage?

An even more specific health care issue that I believe the current Administration has not handled well is Medicare. It is great to have a prescription drug card for senior citizens, but did you know that the administrators of the Medicare system cannot negotiate with drug companies to try to get a cheaper price on medication? If given the option as a consumer, wouldn’t you like the ability to able to shop around to find the best price on something as important as medicine, especially when you are economically underprivileged and have to choose between buying badly needed medicine and food? Therefore, why can’t the administrators of the Medicare system have the ability to shop around to help senior citizens?

I also have a serious issue with the current Administration’s approach to combating terrorism at the cost of basic Civil Rights. The Patriot Act is a fanatic bill to fight terrorism. Did you know that you could be wiretapped if the government believes you might be involved in terrorism? Did you know that your medical records can be released to the government without probable cause? I understand that we live in an era where we have to be more vigilant because terrorism is a global threat, but I also believe we can be vigilant without imposing martial law or the federal government exercising control over individual citizen’s lives that mirrors the Communist philosophy, which former President Reagan, who Mr. Bush has tried to compare himself to, dedicated his life to ending. Do you see a contradiction here?

I also take issue with the current Administration’s policy on Gun Control. I hate guns, but I believe people have the right to bear arms. I believe the Brady Bill requires gun buyers to get a background check and to wait 2 days before getting a gun. However, George Bush is about to let the Brady Bill expire. The majority of the public wants this bill to pass and the Republican Speaker of the House will not even bring it to the floor for vote.

Probably one of the most contentious issues I have with this Administration is the way they handled and are still handling the situation with Iraq, in the name of fighting the war on terrorism. They have tried to scare us into thinking that the war in Iraq and the current post-war situation in Iraq were unavoidable. Iraq did not attack us. We were told that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). We now know definitively that no WMD has ever been found and that there was no definitive proof at the time our President made the decision to go to war in Iraq. Since he made that critical decision, we have now lost over 1,000 American lives in Iraq, not to mention the lives of citizens from our closest allied countries. No wonder the rest of the world hates us! It was not worth the death toll. I do not have family members that have been killed, although Roger was scheduled to go to Iraq. He has taken a government civil service job instead, but what if one of your family members were assigned to go to Iraq right now? I understand, being married to a military man, that there will always be situations where we have to send our loved ones who choose to serve in the military into harm’s way, but it is also the President’s job to determine whether the goals that will be achieved by military action will be worth the possible economic as well as personal costs (i.e., American lives) that most likely will be incurred. If I am not mistaken, the genesis of the war on terrorism was the tragic event of 9/11, which we are now commemorating three years after that tragic event. If I am not mistaken, I also believe we do have definitive proof that the perpetrator of that horrible act was Osama Bin Laden, which led our President, for which I give him due credit, to launch the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). However, since then, it seems like he has lost sight of why we started the GWOT. When was the last time you heard or read anything about what the President or the Administration is actively doing to find Osama Bin Laden, who perhaps should more appropriately be referred to these days as “Osama Been Forgotten,” and bring him to justice. As long as he is alive and well, even though we may be finding, capturing and killing little Al-Qaeda cells here and there, it’s like we are trying to kill individual hornets to keep people from being stung when we should be focusing our time and effort on trying to find the hornet’s nest. Does the Administration have any clue where Bin Laden is or could be?

Allow me to share with you another point of departure I have with the current Administration, and this goes right to the heart of the Christian argument, abortion and gay marriage. Regarding abortion, the Sixth Commandment, found in Exodus 20:13, states “Thou shall not kill”, which is what Christians use as a basis for opposing abortion and I agree with. This is squarely, in my opinion, a religious or moral issue, and the Body of Christ, i.e. all churches who preach and teach Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, should be preaching and teaching the gospel. However, I also believe that if our churches and so-called religious people really wanted to stop abortion, they need to do what I believe Jesus Himself would do, that is, minister love to the person that will convict or convince them to change, not condemn them. Are you familiar with the event in the Gospel of John Chapter 8, verses 3-11, where the Pharisees wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery, and how Jesus handled the situation? My point here is that if Christians, who by definition are followers of Jesus Christ, would do what I believe Jesus would do, which is to minister through actionable (key word) love to the women who find themselves in situations that lead to them to have abortions, I believe we as Christians could make a significant impact on reducing the number of abortion cases. The way to reduce if not eliminate abortion, in my opinion, is through showing these women the love of Christ and putting the word of God into action, not by making laws that restrict a woman’s right to choose, which treats the symptom but not the root cause, which like treatment of any disease, will not cure it.

As for gay marriage, I am totally against that also. However, just as with my view on how to reduce if not eliminate abortion, I believe the church’s responsibility is to minister agape love to those who are caught up in the homosexual lifestyle and show them a better way, not discriminate against them or enact laws that divide “us and them”, which I believe is a Pharisee-like approach versus what Jesus would do. Don’t we have enough division in our country today, e.g. race, religion, socioeconomic status, that is not supported by law, that we need to enact legislation that formally institutionalizes more division?

Now that I’ve articulated to you my views on the issues that influence my voting decision, let me talk to you about my views regarding John Kerry, the individual. I strongly believe that our President should be a person with strong leadership qualifications who has good grasp of both domestic and foreign policy issues. This does not mean, by the way, that the President, nor the person the President chooses as his Vice President, must have years of experience in both foreign and domestic policy making to run our country well (Bill Clinton and Al Gore proved that decisively for 8 years), but certainly having a President with both credentials is a great advantage and I believe is very much needed in these perilous times we live in, both in our own country and throughout the world. John Kerry undisputedly has those credentials. He is a proven leader as a Vietnam combat veteran who fought for our country when he could have easily avoided it because of his privileged upbringing. Then, after returning from Vietnam he had the moral courage, as well as the knowledge, to take on the highest levels of government leadership at the time to bring to light the inherent flaws in government foreign policy that influenced the Vietnam conflict, even at the risk of demonizing and consequently alienating some of his fellow veterans, which I truly believe, as he himself said, was never his intention to do. That to me is true leadership and shows understanding of how an Administration’s foreign policy decision affects our country. His 20+ years of service as a Senator working on the Foreign Relations Committee further adds to his foreign policy qualifications. Moreover, he has been a Lieutenant Governor with experience in domestic policy at the state level, so he understands issues like education, jobs and health care. Given these qualifications, I believe he will fully fund No Child Left Behind Program, give tax cuts to the working middle class versus just the privileged upper class, provide healthcare to more people, help to increase jobs, restore our reputation around the world, and has a plan to get us out of the Vietnam-like mess we currently are seeing in Iraq.

Now let me give you my thoughts on Mr. Bush, using the same criteria I use to evaluate John Kerry as a presidential candidate. Back in 2000 when he ran for President, he had the opportunity to show his integrity and his political “calling card,” i.e., his strong Christian convictions, by allowing all of the votes in the entire state of Florida to be recounted. Instead, he went to the Supreme Court to stop what was up until then the foundation of the democratic process, i.e., the way we elect our President, that has made the United States throughout our history the standard-bearer for democracy throughout the world. All he had to do was wait for the results of the recount, and if the results revealed that he had won, then to me it would have shown real character. Even if I did not vote for him, which I did not, I could then respect the fact that he was elected by the people. Since the Supreme Court appointed him, in my opinion, as well as thousands of voters in the state of Florida whose votes were not counted, he is not a legitimate President.

I also find it interesting that Mr. Bush and the Republican Party’s contention on why Mr. Bush is the better choice for President is that John Kerry is indecisive, that he “flip-flops” on his views when it is convenient and advantageous to him. I certainly could understand why that might be a concern if indeed that were based on fact versus political sound byte. With that being said, let’s look at some “facts” regarding Mr. Bush’s leadership and decision making record:

Mr. Bush originally stated, and it is public record, that he said he did not want a commission appointed to look at the events that led up 9/11. It took the persistent voice of 9/11 victim families to go public and force the issue that led to him eventually “give in” and endorse the 9/11 Commission Study. If he was so strong in his convictions that there was no need for a 9/11 Commission, why could he not stand his ground and articulate to the 9/11 victims’ families why he opposed the 9/11 Commission Study?

The 9/11 Commission is just one example of what I perceive to be “flip-flopping” on Mr. Bush’s part. Here are some others:

· Mr. Bush originally said he did not want an Intelligence Director, but then after he was pressured to do so, agreed to appoint a Republican to the post.

· Senator Joe Lieberman, a Democrat who supported much of the Bush Administration’s policies regarding the war on terrorism, recommended the development of a Department of Homeland Security, and Mr. Bush was initially totally against it. However, he later, with some pressure from the media and the public, changed his mind and appointed Tom Ridge.

· In his first presidential campaign he said we would not use our military for nation-building. What are we doing in Iraq today then? I understand that our world has changed since the 2000 election and circumstances often require flexibility in adapting to those changes, but if the circumstances don’t justify the need for that change, then to me the person with the decision-making power that makes such changes appears to be “flip-flopping”.

The punch line I would like to leave you with, as I conclude this letter, goes to the heart of where this conversation started, that is, with the notion that Christians should not be voting for John Kerry and should instead vote for George Bush. The Bible says in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 12, Verse 48, “To whom much is given, much is required”. In this case, we the American people (or actually the Supreme Court) gave George Bush the chance to make good on his promises that got him elected (excuse me, selected) as our President, with all the privileges that go along with being the President. Mr. Bush said his tax cuts would provide more jobs, yet we have lost more jobs under this Mr. Bush’s leadership than we have since the Herbert Hoover Administration, and while supposedly jobs have been created in the last six months, economists have overwhelmingly agreed that we still have a net job loss since Mr. Bush took office. Therefore I ask you, where are the jobs? He promised in his first campaign that he would enact policies that would make healthcare more affordable and consequently more readily available to more Americans, yet facts and statistics show that fewer Americans, particularly senior citizens and the working poor, can barely afford healthcare or have no healthcare at all. I could go on but hopefully I have articulated well enough to you why I, a born-again Christian, am not voting for George Bush.

I hope our differences of opinion on this matter do not affect our friendship. However, just as you appear to be very strong in your convictions regarding who is best qualified to lead our country, I also have very strong convictions, and even if you feel that my convictions are so wrong that we cannot remain friends, I truly hope and pray that you can at least respect my convictions, as I respect yours.

Yours In Christ,

Natalie

Here's the Daily Gossip: The Truth Comes Out

Ghost writer for both Bush 41 and Bush 43, Mickey Herskowitz, has revealed startling information about both men. Herskowitz had extensive candid conversations with them and told about the conversations when he interviewed with reporter Russ Baker. These interviews were taped.

1.Bush 41 disagreed with Dubya about invading Iraq.

2. George W. Bush admitted that he did not attend any Alabama National Guard drills at all, contrary to his public statements that he did attend.

3. George W. Bush admitted that he wanted to attack Iraq long before September 11, 2001. Bush told Herskowitz that his dad had wasted all the political capital he had built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait. In 1999, he said, "If I have a chance to invade....if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it."

So there you have it. So much for the lies we've been told. Now can we please get rid of this man?

[Click on the blog title for more.]

Silence Is Betrayal

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Matt.5:9

The words of Jesus often afflict the comfortable. So how many times have we sat in church and listened to a sermon that challenges us and seeks to make us think outside our comfort zone? Do preachers see themselves in the role of afflicter? In my experience, except for my father, now retired, you would be hard pressed to hear a sermon these days which really addresses the world we live in. Aren't we fed sermons that let us off the hook? Don't preachers stay in the safe zone much of the time? When Stewardship Sunday draws near in the fall, what pastor would take the chance of upsetting someone? Churches more often than not seek to maintain the status quo. Social concerns are avoided at all costs. Clergy and parishioners alike want Sundays to be pleasant respites from the stress of life.

Then a lay reader stands at the lectern and reads: Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you." (Matt. 5:44) Where do those words go after they are spoken? Do some of us rationalize that Jesus would make an exception for us in Iraq? Would Jesus excuse the actions of the United States of America: pre-emptive wars, unspeakable torture, killing tens of thousands of innocent civilians?

The Christian confesses Christ. Are militarism and nationalism seeping into our hearts? Do we accept a "theology of war?" Are we slowly beginning to see ourselves as the Righteous? Our current president uses dangerous language which is seducing us: American "mission," "divine appointment," to "rid the world of evil."

The danger today is political idolatry exacerbated by the politics of fear.

These words were written in a statement put together by a group from Sojourners and signed by 218 clergy, scholars, professors, educators and others who share a deep concern about the world situation and, in particular, the roles of God, church, and nation in finding solutions in this time of crisis.

The group has put forth a new confession of Christ which contains 5 precepts.

1. Jesus Christ knows no boundaries. Our allegiance to Christ takes priority over national identity.

2. Christ commits Christians to a strong presumption against war. We are committed to international cooperation rather than unilateral policies.

3. Christ commands us to see not only the splinter in our adversary's eye, but also the beam in our own. The distinction between good and evil does not run between one nation and another, or one group and another. It runs straight through every human heart.

4. Christ shows us that enemy-love is the heart of the gospel...[This] means refusing to demonize any human being created in God's image.

5. Christ teaches us that humility is the virtue befitting forgiven sinners.

We reject the false teaching that America is a "Christian nation," representing only virtue, while its adversaries are nothing but vicious. We reject the belief that America has nothing to repent of...

Jesus' words may not be distorted for propaganistic purposes. No nation-state may usurp the place of God.

If applied to George Bush, we find a troubling dissonance. I think he would say these words and never see a discrepency between his religious beliefs and his record on foreign and domestic policy, even though we can plainly see it. Perhaps many of us would somewhat humbly admit how difficult it would be to hold ourselves to such a standard. Wouldn't many of us find ourselves way out of our comfort zones if we were asked to live by these things? However, Bush has described himself as a Christian and made his religion a campaign issue. In his Orwellian world, this makes sense, but in our reality-based world, it is not possible. Bush cannot claim to be a Christian and do what he has done. Not unless war is peace and love is hate.

I want to see the Christian community rise up and be heard. Silence is betrayal.


[Click on the title of this blog to take you to the Sojourners article.]

Abortion Rates Up Under Bush

When "President" Bush was appointed president in 2000, the nation's abortion rates were at a 24-year low. Under his leadership, the decade-long trend of declining abortion rates appears to have reversed. 52,000 more abortions occurred in the U.S. in 2002 than would have been expected.

Why?

1. Two thirds of women who have abortions cite "inablility to afford a child" as their primary reason.

2. Half of all women who choose abortion say they do not have a reliable mate.

3. Women often do not have health care for themselves and their children. This factor increases the number of abortions.

The Bush administration has presided over an abyssmal loss of jobs. Average real incomes have decreased. The minimum wage has not been increased for 7 years. Costs of everything are increasing. Prospective mothers fear another mouth to feed.

Men who are jobless usually do not marry. As male unemployment increases, marriages fall and abortion rises. Single moms often hold down two jobs just to survive. Does this not lead to an increase in abortion rates? With a decrease in after school programs, these moms face stress, knowing their kids are going home to empty houses every day. Can we stand in judgement that they cannot cope with another child to care for?

With poor or no health care available to them, women and their children suffer more untreated illness. Women of childbearing age are overrepresented in the 5.2 million with no health insurance. Abortion rates increase in this group. Many of these women may likely have already experienced high risk pregnancies and may not dare to risk another.

Without health care, insurance, jobs, child care, and a living wage, Bush rhetoric is hollow. In Bush's world, women are damned no matter how you look at it.

[Read the Houston Chronicle article in full by clicking on the blog title above.]

Ode to Teresa

With sincere apologies for some rather "strong" words, I bring you a very interesting article about Teresa and Laura and our gender hang-ups. I for one can hardly wait for Teresa Heinz Kerry to begin her role as our First Lady. We need her.

[Click on the blog title to take you to the srticle.]

Follow the Money?

You know the old saying "Follow the money." In the Bush administration, we can't even do that. The money is missing. Read today's Iraq blunder:


TODAY'S IRAQ BLUNDER:
Billions in Reconstruction Funds Missing
October 22, 2004

Roughly half of the $5 billion in reconstruction funds distributed by the U.S.-managed Development Fund for Iraq cannot be accounted for, according to an audit commissioned by the United Nations. Auditors documented numerous reconstruction projects for which U.S. authorities had either no contracts on file, no evidence that bids were obtained through competition, no purchase invoices, or no payment vouchers. More than $1 billion purportedly used to fund hundreds of large and small projects simply could not be tracked. An additional $1.4 billion was deposited into a local bank by Kurdish leaders, and though auditors were shown a deposit slip, they could find no additional records to explain how the money was used or to prove that it remains in the bank.

Would this be tolerated in the business world? No.

Let us tell Bush: Here's the road. Follow it back to Texas. And don't come back.



For positive and pragmatic alternatives to the administration's failed policies, visit the Center for American Progress.

The Emperor Has No Church- or Scruples

George W. Bush has emphasized his Christian faith during his presidency more than most, if not all, of his predecessors. He depends heavily on the fundamentalist vote for his winning a second term. (I purposely do not refer to a re-election for obvious reasons.) Amy Sullivan, editor of "The Washington Monthly," has written an article about Bush's religious practice as it pertains to church attendance. Bush, she says, does not go to church. Though he has used religion to appeal emotionally to voters, he has chosen not to attend church himself.

Jimmy Carter not only attended church regularly while in the White House, he found the time to teach a Sunday school class. The Clintons were members of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington and attended often. Chelsea sang in the choir and participated in the youth group there. (I attended that church whenever I visited my grandparents who lived in D.C., but it was before the Clintons. It is a large vibrant downtown church.)

The two reasons given for a president not attending a church are 1) no time for church and 2) security measures put a burden on the church. Certainly Bush cannot claim a lack of time, since he has spent one third of his presidency on vacation. And the security excuse, according to Ms. Sullivan, does not hold water either. She attended Foundry Church while the Clintons were members. She described the security measure as a simple 10-second walk through a metal detector which did not make a particle of difference to any parishioner.

It shouldn't matter what church, if any, a president attends. However, Bush has staked his political reputation on being a devout man of faith. His faith-based policy agenda would give one the impression that Bush values church membership. Polls indicate that Republicans attend church more frequently than Democrats. The Republican Party has made political hay with that research.

Now in the last days of the campaign, conservatives have a new election strategy: political advertisements starring "Jesus." The right-wing has hired actor Jim Caviezel of "The Passion of Christ" fame to film ads pushing conservatives to go to the polls. This is to remind Christians that Mr. Bush shares their opposition to abortion, judicial activism and homosexual marriage.

Can we just put the cards on the table? George Bush is using Jesus to get votes. Is this a good idea? Okay. It is a good idea, but is it ethical? No! It is pandering. It is manipulation of the highest degree. The people who will cast their votes for Bush are being led down the rosy path to their own demise.

Jesus, please help us!

Health Is a Congressional Perk

If we are to believe our "president," and that is a big "if," he will not get his flu shot this year. And he has urged all Americans to just not get excited and not get flu shots so that those who really need them can have them. There's one place in the United States, however, that isn't experiencing a flu vaccine shortage: the Congress. "Directly contravening the instruction being given by the government's executive branch," Senator Majority Leader Bill, "Should Have Stayed a Heart Surgeon" Frist (Republican, of course) and the Capitol's attending physician are urging "all 535 lawmakers to get the vaccines even if they are young and healthy." Despite the shortage, many lawmakers were quick to comply, making sure to get their flu shots before they headed home to campaign this month. You see, they are worried that there might be some nasty germs out there amonst the people they represent. You know, the common people who are usually no threat to the Congress. But on the rare occasion that congressional members actually do go out and visit their constituents, there is that danger of contamination. And after all, if thousands die this year from flu, someone has to survive to run the country!

Bill Frist actually sent letters urging his 99 colleagues to get the shots because
"they mingle and shake hands with so many people."

Imagine all that mingling and hand shaking with the germ-ridden public- those people who are clamoring for health insurance, food, education, and security. What nuisances! But you have to go out there every once in a while to make an appearance. After all, this is an election year.

PS On a personal note, my niece Bonnie just received a heart transplant a month ago. Thankfully, her family members will be getting their flu shots, but not without some effort. When Bonnie received her new heart, none of us even dreamed that a simple flu shot would become an issue. This is a matter of life and death for them, as it is for many thousands of American citizens. Our president has not looked out for us. We cannot depend on him now or ever. Remember: George Bush has everything he needs for life. He does not have the capacity to see the needs of others. He has never known hardship or need, nor will he ever.


[To go to the WaPo article, click on the blog title.]

Social Security Increase: The Whole Truth

The Washington Post yesterday reported that Social Security payments will increase next year by 2.7 percent. This is the largest increase since January 2001 and will affect more than 47 million retired and disabled workers. That sounds wonderful. And are we expecting Bush to repeat this good news many times a day between now and the election? Of course, we are. $25 more a month! Goody! Maybe we can all go out to eat at Appleby's! But wait. That's not all, you say? Oh, no.....

For senior citizens enrolled in Medicare, nearly half that increase will be consumed by rising health insurance premiums. The premiums, which are deducted from Social Security checks, will rise 17.5 percent next year, an average $11.60 per month. Oh, and there's the little problem of increases in the cost of transportation, medical care, recreation, education, food, and energy. Well, cheer up! Maybe we can still go to Appleby's, but we'll have to get the small salad. And we can always order water. So far there's no charge for that. We just have to hope there's not too much arsenic in it.

P. S. Please vote for Kerry and Edwards so that we can survive at least the next 25 years. Or am I being too optimistic?

[For the full story, click on the title of this blog.]

The Third Debate

Quote from the third presidential debate:

Bush: Is my time up yet?

Our answer: We certainly hope so, Mr. "President."

The ABCs of Operation American Quagmire

"Yet we were wrong, terribly wrong. We owe it to future generations to explain why." Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara on the Vietnam War. (1995)

"It's just wrong what we're doing. It's morally wrong, it's politically wrong, it's economically wrong." Robert McNamara on the war in Iraq (2004)

"If the Bush administration remains in power, failure in Iraq is a virual certainty." Retired Air Force Col. Mike Turner (2004)

Writer and media consultant Maureen Farrell has written an article, using the alphabet, choosing words from A-Z, to comment on what she calls "Operation American Quagmire." Click on the title of this blog to go to the article from BuzzFlash.com.

The first five words are AGENDA, BEGINNING (as in Bush's crash course during the campaign in 2000), CHALABI, DEMOCRACY, and ENERGY TASK FORCE.

Ms. Farrell finds crucial words and writes a short paragraph on each, followed by an Update paragraph. She ends with XENOPHOBIA, YEARNING, and ZINNI.

This is a clever, yet very thought-provoking piece. Highly recommended.

A Message to Senator Chafee

Dear Senator Chafee,
It is okay to stop being a Republican. I hope you will do it. You will be our hero. Please use your courage to do it. America needs you.

Sincerely,
Carol Manuel and many friends

[Click on the blog title to go to a WaPo article about Sen. Chafee and his struggle.]

A Tired Bush Needs a Break

The first presidential debate turned out to be a trial and tribulation for our president. Bush tried to explain how hard his job is, as if to gain our sympathy and understanding. He looked weary and put out. He smirked and pursed his lips as if sucking on a lemon. You know the look.

I think we need to thank George Bush for his service and let him off the hook. He's obviously had enough. Let him retire and rest on his laurels. That's a plan where we all win.

Read the article entitled "Whiner-in-Chief" which appears in The Nation magazine. Click on the blog title to take you there.

Going Upriver

Do we really know who John Forbes Kerry is? We know some things about him. But probably few of us know everything we should know, especially since he will be our next president come January 2005. This afternoon I went to see the film "Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry" which was released just yesterday. This feature length documentary about Kerry's character and moral leadership during a time of national crisis examines the story of John Kerry and the key events that made him a national figure and the man he is today. The film places particular emphasis on his bravery during the Vietnam War and his courageous opposition to the war upon his return.

These are just words: bravery, courage, moral leadership, character. Kerry embodied these attributes. Seeing this film stirred up emotions in me that I didn't really think were still there after having lived through the sixties. Sure enough, they were still there for me, and I suspect they are there for many of us. And I never came even close to losing a friend or to combat itself. Can we imagine what the emotions must be for those who did?

John Kerry didn't have to do anything. He didn't have to go to Vietnam. He didn't have to volunteer to lead a swift boat crew in the Mekong Delta. Did you know that those who served on those boats faced a 95% casualty rate? Did you realize that? And Kerry didn't have to be concerned with the vets that came back from that war. He could have blended in and gone on to pursue his career. In fact, he apparently did have political aspirations early in his life. Doing what he did as part of Vietnam Veterans Against the War could have cost him his entire political career. Some advised him against it, but he did it anyway. I believe he truly cared about his fellow vets and wanted to help them and himself heal from the life-changing experience they all shared. When they got back from Vietnam, as we all recall, they were not honored for their service. They became the brunt of public opinion and were in effect blamed for the war. John Kerry slowly but surely emerged as a leader and did what he could to help the vets and to convince congress of the lessons that we must learn as a nation. He showed his true character. In some ways, the bravery he showed after he got home from Vietnam matched his bravery in Vietnam. What young man would knowingly jeopardize a promising career like he did?

The film powerfully shows footage from that time in our history and the events that took place. President Johnson is shown declaring that the U.S. would do what it took to come to the rescue of the little countries of Southeast Asia, lest they be overtaken by the Communists. One could not escape the parallels of our involvement in Iraq today. And there were the brave women, Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisolm, who spoke in support of the veterans and against the war. We have forgotten the feelings of the vets. We have forgotten the message that they brought to us. There was nothing self-serving about them. They had been to hell and back, and they wanted to be recognized for that. And they wanted their comrades who did not come back alive to be remembered. They saw life in a new way. Those of us back home were very slow to understand them. Seeing the film brought it back for me and even showed things I had not been aware of at the time.

I admire and respect John Kerry even more than before. It is clear that his years during and after the war had a profound impact on him and shaped him. He emerged a stronger human being and then chose to serve his country in public office. He will make a superb president. I am full of hope.

Encourage anyone who is undecided about the election to see this film and then ask: Which man has the qualifications and the character to serve as our 44th president?

Democracy: Bush Style

There is nothing quite as hypocritical as a politian preaching the virtues of democracy while doing everything he can to destroy it. But as Election Day appraoches, that is exactly what is happening....the president has deployed his operatives to rig the outcome on November 2.
-David Sirota
In These Times

Former President Jimmy Carter said this week in a WaPo article( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52800-2004Sep26.html) that it is probably too late now to expect a fair election in Florida next month. His explanation shows that this predicament was completely avoidable. Carter and former President Gerald Ford led a commission after the debacle that was the 2000 "election." The commission recommended changes in the American electoral process. The government responded with the Help America Vote Act of October 2002. But as is the case with so many good-sounding acts and edicts, many of the key provisions have not been implemented because of inadequate funding or political disputes. This is the methodology of the Bush administration when they do not want something to happen. Don't fund it, or create a problem that requires a delay. Either trick is easy. Funding is provided by a Republican congress which is almost always in lockstep with George Bush. And problems can always be made up out of nothing. Karl Rove and Frank Luntz are always at the ready.

Carter and his organization at the Carter Center specialize in monitoring elections all over the world. However, this group is able to monitor about 5 elections each year. Florida is not one of them since they concentrate on the crucial needs of other nations as a rule. Who would think that our own elections would be so suspect that we would need Jimmy Carter to police them? It is a sad commentary.

The most significant requirements of a fair election have not been met in Florida: 1) a nonpartisan electoral commission or nonpartisan official and 2) uniformity in voting procedures, including paper ballot printouts to insure the integrity of the process.

These basic standards were not met in the 2000 debacle in Florida, and there are disturbing signs that once again some of the state's leading officials hold strong political biases that prevent necessary reforms. Katherine Harris' dastardly deeds are well-documented. Her successor, Glenda Hood, holds the same strong bias. For example, several thousand ballots of African Americans were thrown out on technicalities in 2000. This time attempts have been made to disqualify 22,000 African Americans (likely Democrats), but only 61 Hispanics (likely Republicans) as alleged felons. There has also been a major effort to get Nader on the ballot, since it is believed he helped get George Bush appointed as president in 2000. Ms. Hood saw to it that Nader's name was put on the absentee ballots even before the state Supreme Court had ruled on the issue. Shame on her! Florida's Governor Jeb Bush has, perhaps understandably, taken no steps to correct the problems that ocurred in 2000 or to prevent them reocurring this year. Shame on him!

On a number of occasions during his presidency, President Bush has preached about the need for democracy to be preserved and elections to be fair. (Can it be any more ironic that he himself got into the White House by spurious means?) But, as a new report shows, Bush and his party are doing everything they can to reduce democracy as the election approaches.

Here are a few of the tactics accomplished to prevent or impede American voters from exercising their constitutional rights. In August 2003, the CEO of one of the manufacturers of new voting machines wrote a fundraising letter saying that he was committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president! How blatant can it get? Just a few months ago, Jeb Bush tried to remove 48,000 traditionally Democratic voters from the Florida voter rolls, a move that prompted the U. S. Commission on Civil Rights to demand an investigation. (And let us not delude ourselves. This is racism in America. Racism promoted by government officials. Will we be outraged?) In July, a top GOP official in Michigan indicated that his party intended to reduce minority voter turnout, saying that the GOP will have "a tough time if we do not suppress the Detroit vote." Then, back to the infamous presidential brother Jeb. Just last August, his political appointee tried to hire two top Bush fundraisers to represent the election office in Broward County in case of a recount.

Dear Gov. Bush,
Just a reminder. The definition of nonpartisan is: not supporting any of the established or regular parties; objective, not partial to a specific party, unbiased.
Has it occurred to you that you may have a teensy tinesy bias when it comes to your brother being elected in November? Just asking.

Sincerely,

The voters of America

[click on the blog title to go to The Daily Mislead article and links to the supporting documents.]

Mixed Messages

George Bush made "mixed messages" one of his mantras on Thursday night at the first debate. He hammered away with "You can't be a leader if you send mixed messages." He would do well to find another catch phrase, one that he does not embody himself.

As we all know by now, Mr. Bush is the master of mixed messages. He is the supreme flip-flopper. More flop than flip. Today's Misleader post reminds us of the statements Bush has made in regard to Osama bin Laden and the "war on terrorism." His mixed messages have been whoppers. What Bush terms as Kerry's "mixed messages" are really part of Bush's misleading ways. Kerry has not changed his basic position on the war. However, Kerry has been a thinking man who is able to make adjustments as needed. This is a very important character trait which America needs in a president. In addition, Kerry has not forgotten about Osama bin Laden, something which Bush seems to have done. Even during the debate this week, Bush wanted to talk about Saddam Hussein and had to be reminded by his opponent that it was bin Laden who attacked America on 9-11.

It was so obvious when Bush turned Osama bin Laden into Saddam Hussein almost overnight. The attacks of 9-11 were a gift to the neocons who saw that tragedy as a golden opportunity to further their agenda to spread US influence into the Middle East, one of their primary goals for more than a decade. Check out www.newamericancentury.org if you doubt this. It must have been difficult for these men to wait out the Clinton years. But now it must seem as if the wait was worth it. They are getting what they wanted now. They must be stopped.

We are tired of mixed messages and accusations of mixed messages which do not exist. The only thing we can do now is to elect John Kerry in 4 weeks. He can help us out of this nightmare. And we can help him to become one of the great presidents in our history. We must hold him accountable and support him.

[Click on the blog title to go to the Daily Mislead article.]