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The Activism Page 2003
June 27, 2008 Thank you so much! This page has been linked in a couple of places for various reasons so, not that this should be needed, let me just state .. the comments on this website are mine and mine alone (unless I have quoted someone) and not the opinions of anyone else. <sigh>.
December 15, 2003 From the San Francisco Chronicle
Dubya, now that you've got your dime-store thug, can you stop the warmongering and death? By Mark Morford
Well gosh golly it took only upward of 500 dead U.S. soldiers (and counting) and more than 2,500 U.S. wounded (and counting) and more than 10,000 dead innocent Iraqi citizens (and counting) and countless tens of thousands of hapless dead Iraqi soldiers (and counting).
And it'll only cost U.S. taxpayers at least a staggering $350 billion along with the complete gutting of our foreign policy and our national treasury and the appalling blood sacrifice of our national pride and our international status and global sense of self-respect.
Oh, and the truth is, it turns out Saddam actually did have some old stashes of weaponry, a bit of rusty, small-scale WMDs, after all -- because we sold them to him, 20 years ago. But they were never any sort of direct danger to America -- or anyone else, for that matter -- and, besides, all evidence points to the fact that the stash was completely destroyed more than a decade ago.
Remember that time? Right about when the U.S. hushed up all those sales of biological weapons and computer technology to Iraq? Right about when all those American corporations, from Bechtel to Kodak to AT&T, from Dow Chemical to Hewlett-Packard to IBM and at least 100 more, decided it might be best to begin shredding their records detailing all their Iraq business deals? Hey, why is Donny Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam and smiling in this photo? Shhh.
And now, long after his political usefulness to us has expired, we up and invade his unhappy nation and lay waste to the entire region for no justifiable reason, and we inflate his global stature into this massive inhuman Hitler-esque monster when in fact he was really just an old, tired, small-time thug, and now finally Saddam Hussein, the brutal pip-squeak dictator/former beloved U.S. ally who had nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11, has been captured alive. Yay yay go team.
It was a proud moment in American history. Almost as proud as when Dubya secretly flew to Iraq a few weeks back to spend 2.5 hours pretending to serve a fake, inedible plastic turkey to that handful of carefully selected, prescreened soldiers for that Thanksgiving PR stunt that will forever embarrass anyone with any sense of decency and pride -- which is, according to Bush's instant surge in the polls after the photo op, fewer and fewer of us.
As if this changes a single thing. As if Saddam's capture suddenly means BushCo is some sort of nimble or subtly intelligent leader, and that nine months of brutal ongoing gut-busting war was all worth it. As if we are safer from terrorism. As if we are safer from Karl Rove and John Ashcroft. As if the nation can now stand proud.
Think again. Even Bush himself is not quite so stupid as to go that far. Note how just after Saddam's capture, his army of handlers rushed in to make sure Americans don't expect any lessening of U.S. casualties in Iraq, no slowdown in the number of dead American soldiers or the killing of innocent Iraqis who just happen to be trying to get some clean water or a gallon of fuel when U.S. forces blow another building apart while they're looking for guerrilla insurgents.
Oh yes, Saddam needed to be captured. Oh yes, his capture is a swell thing for the world. Oh yes, Bush desperately needed the ratings boost. But we as a nation have been utterly pulverized with the lie that this war was the only way. We have been slammed for more than two years with relentless hammer of fear and inflated terrorist threats and bogus Orange Alerts, until we all just give in and our resistance crumbles and we say, fine.
Fine, just get it over with, Dubya, go slaughter yet another nearly defenseless nation and catch your impotent bad guy and eviscerate your own country's economy and embarrass us the world over and protect your oil cronies and your military portfolio. Get it over with.
By the way, from Bush Sr. forward (and, yes, that includes Clinton), the U.S. has to date killed far, far more Iraqi civilians than Saddam ever could. Along with the United Kingdom, we've been bombing Iraq almost nonstop for the past decade. Not to mention the more than half a million Iraqi children who've died from lack of medicine or decent health care since the brutal, U.S.-backed U.N. sanctions were imposed 12 years ago. Shhh.
The capture does not justify the savagery, nor the humiliation. Not by a long shot. The ends do not justify the means. Nor do they justify the staggering, steaming pile of BushCo lies about why we went to war in the first place.
Remember those? Remember how not one single motive BushCo gave for launching this insane war has actually been proven true? Does this even matter anymore, the string of falsehoods and treasonous fabrications? Apparently not. This is America's biggest wonder, and its ugliest flaw: a nasty short-term memory.
But whatever. Most lockstep Americans do not care that Saddam was never a threat. Most do not care about how many Iraqi children have died, or that in just the first days of the war, U.S. forces killed far more innocent civilians than were killed by those non-Iraqi terrorists in the WTC (4,300, to be more specific). Most do not care that the other 25 despotic heads of state out there right now who are far worse than Saddam are not, apparently, quaking in their dictatorial boots.
Most Americans do not care that somewhere, Osama is probably cheering (hey, he hated Saddam, too). They do not care that, what with our outward display of savagery, new America-loathing terrorists are being spawned faster than BushCo's war machine can possibly keep up with them.
They care only for waving the bloody flag. They care only for the jingoistic PR spin and the hollow sophomoric neocon punditry of Fox News and enough oil to fuel the Expedition for another year. This is what matters most. Kill 'em all, let Halliburton sort 'em out.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Saddam's capture really will mean an earlier end to this tragic and painful war. Maybe it will mean we can get our soldiers home sooner. Maybe it will mean we can get the U.N. and NATO and our international allies involved in setting up a reasonably stable, noncorrupt government in Iraq, one not so obviously in the back pocket of ExxonMobil and Shell. Whoops, too late.
Maybe now that Saddam's captured, we can begin to focus on what's really important: the mandatory and deliberate ouster of another truly ruinous global threat, a shockingly disastrous political puppet.
After all, Saddam's not the only dreadful world leader who's abused his allies, ravaged his economy, launched two blood-drenched wars in as many years, authorized the bombing of tens of thousands, allowed hundreds of U.S. soldiers to die, cut the benefits of war veterans, poisoned the environment, invoked the name of God to justify it all and smirked away every notion of his obvious ineptitude. Can we send Special Forces to the Oval Office now? "
November 21 , 2003 My father sent me this <grin>.
Things you have to believe to be a Republican today
o Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a
conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for
your recovery.
o The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest
national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.
o Government should relax regulation of Big Business and Big Money but crack
down on individuals who use marijuana to relieve the pain of illness.
o "Standing Tall for America" means firing your workers and moving their
jobs to India.
o A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but
multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without
regulation.
o Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary
Clinton.
o The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in
speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.
o Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for
governor of California as a Republican.
o If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.
o A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then
demand their cooperation and money.
o HMOs and insurance companies have the interest of the public at heart.
o Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care
to all Americans is socialism.
o Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but
creationism should be taught in schools.
o Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy
made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy
when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
o A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense.
A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is
solid defense policy.
o Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution,
which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
o The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George
Bush's driving record is none of our business.
o You support states' rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can
tell states what local voter initiatives they have a right to adopt.
o What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what
Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.
o Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with
China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
November 10 , 2003 George wants my help in being re-elected! Somehow I am all of these right wing mailing lists. This is great! As I have a huge pile of cinderblocks just sitting around and as these idiots keep sending postage paid envelopes, I am now responding by saying that I am sorry I cant help with a financial donation but, in the case of Dubya, here is a brick to help rebuild Iraq. I then tape the postage-paid envelope to the brick and mail it. It costs them a fortune and is, I think, a generous donation on my part <grin>. Ain't life grand!
October 23 , 2003 Finally some truth from the administration! So finally the truth of this administrations foreign policy is articulated by newly promoted General Boykin who, among other things stated that "Satan wants to destroy this nation" and that "Our God reigns supreme" (not that we are waging war on Islam of course!). Coupled with Dubya giggling and smirking in line while being received by the King of Thailand and his parting comment "Bet you are glad to see us go!" we can see how deft the US is in foreign policy these days. The Russians particulary liked the film of Dubya spitting his gum into his hand. Guess he is following in the footsteps of his father although he hasn't physically vomited on a head of state yet.
October 23 , 2003 George H. W. and watermelons! Yesterdays Post had too much to even go into here but the best was former president Bush's comment that he knows that to get media attention one must make vicious attacks against him and that he "didn't ride in here on a watermelon cart - (he) know(s) how it works." My letter to the editor is as follows:
"Dear Sir: I read with some bemusement the comment of President Bush regarding the candidates for the Democratic Presidential Nominee. Perhaps he could explain exactly what riding on a watermelon truck has to do with one's knowledge or intelligence. Is this yet another example of safety issues being ignored and disregarded by this administration?" <grin>
October 22 , 2003 Ian's Presidential thoughts - so far! Most of the candidates are pretty good on the issues. I wouldn't mind Dean, Edwards, Kerry or Gephardt at the end of the day. (There again, Atilla the Hun would be better than Dubya as at least we would know where he stood!) so........ my thoughts are:
Clark - We don't know much about him and there are reports that he is more conservative than shown and tends to go off half cocked. Some of his judgement calls ain't been that great either! I don't think he is interested in the Presidential nomination - he is running for the vice presidential slot!
Kerry - Good but is viewed as a perennial runner and not great on LGBT issues.
Edwards - Very Good but will be crucified on his trial lawyers connections.
Lieberman is a loser.
Mosely-Braun - no way
Sharpton - no way too but he kicked ass in the HRC debate and is pushing the party to the left. (He is also hilarious!)
Kusinich - shrill, noisy and really irritating.
Gephardt - again, I like the guy but he is also seen as a perennial candidate - always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
so the winner is....... Dean - Great on issues, got the whole doctor thing going for him, has a decent warchest, is getting good press but he needs to mobilize and suck up to big business, major donors and the vested interests soon. An amazing grass roots campaign will only get him so far and he needs to play the game or he will end up like Carter. Dean with Hilary as the vp would kick ass and really piss off the right! <grin> Dean with Clark could go the distance.
October 21 , 2003 Rush Limbaugh is not just a big fat idiot, he is also a hypocritical lying pillpopping druggie! - Woohoo!! I know it is terrible and I shouldn't gloat but after that sanctimonious right-wing gasbag has spent the last ten years brutalizing our rights, shoving his holier-than-thou, my shit don't stink, the poor are only poor because they don't apply themselves, Republican dogma down our throats, we find he's a pill popping druggie criminal. Where was your compassion for addicts previously you fat fucking hypocrite? Now watch as he, just like Jeb Bush's daughter and our coke sniffing President, doesn't get prosecuted while hundreds of thousands of African Americans are rotting in prison for much less severe drug related crimes. There's compassionate conservatism for you! (Anyone remember Bill Bennett's "Slouching towards Gomorrah" and now we find he gambled hundreds of thousands of dollars away - When are the American people going to wake up to the hypocrisy on the right?) One other thought - of the seven deadly sins how many has Rush already broken - hmmm - Gluttony certainly! Greed - a $250 million contract doesn't hurt, Sloth - he admits to prefer to lay around watching football and doing nothing, Pride - well anyone who pulls his crap in front of 20 million dittoheads certainly has this one in abundance, Lust - he is on wife number three!, Anger - listen to the show! and finally .. Envy - this one I'm not sure of but 6 out of 7 ain't bad. Nice score Mr. Traditional Family Values!!!
October 17 , 2003 Aaahnold is the Governor of California! Do I need to even comment on this one?
September 26, 2003 One Million For Marriage! There are over 1,000 legal rights and protections that come with marriage. It doesnt matter what you call it but the fact remains that anyone in a committed partnership should be eligible for these rights. Please sign the linked petition to get One Million Signatures to send to Congress: HRC's Million For Marriage
September 25, 2003 Join the call now! Call on your congressfolks to hold Bush and Rummies feet to the fire. How many more lies and Orwellian revisionism can we take before our elected officials say "ENOUGH!" Please click this link: Fire Rummie
September 23 , 2003 It just gets worse and worse! One of the reasons that I have not put anything out in a couple of months is that it is simply so damn depressing looking at the state of the nation. We spent 8 years being vilified and screwed over by the Republicans, who eventually managed to prove nothing on Whitewater, Vince Foster and Travelgate and only managed to finally get Bill on the fact that he got a blowjob. Give me a fucking break. Dole had a mistress, Bush Sr had a mistress and Dubya???? Well, quite apart from Where is Osama?, Where is Saddam?, Where are the WMD's? there is the following:
Guess who...
.. has attacked and taken over two countries.
.. has spent the U.S. surplus and bankrupted the US Treasury.
.. has shattered the record for the biggest annual deficit in history (not easy!).
.. has set an economic record for the most personal bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
.. has set all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
.. has in his first year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history. After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, he presided over the worst security failure in US history.
.. has set the record for most campaign fund raising trips by any president in US history.
.. has cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in US history.
.. has set the all-time record for most real estate foreclosures in a 12-month period.
.. has appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.
.. has set the record for the fewest press conferences of any president, since the advent of TV.
.. has signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any other US president in history.
.. has presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
.. has cut health care benefits for war veterans.
.. has set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest him (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
.. has dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
.. has made his presidency the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history.
.. has members of his cabinet who are the richest of any administration in US history. (The poorest multimillionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.)
.. is the first president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously struggle against bankruptcy and has presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud in any market in any country in the history of the world.
.. is the first president in US history to order a US attack AND military occupation of a sovereign nation, and did so against the will of the United Nations and the vast majority of the international community.
.. has set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any other president in US history (Ronnie was tough to beat, but he did it!!).
.. is the first president in US history to compel the United Nations remove the US from the Human Rights Commission and is the first president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Elections Monitoring Board.
.. has removed more checks and balances, and has the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.
.. has rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
.. withdrew from the World Court of Law.
.. refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abides by the Geneva Conventions.
.. is the first president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors access during the 2002 US elections.
.. is the all-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations. The biggest lifetime contributor to his campaign, who is also one of his best friends, presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).
.. has spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
.. is the first president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied, saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)
.. is the first US president to establish a secret shadow government.
.. took the world's sympathy for the US after 9/11, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
.. is the first US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view his presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
.. changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
.. set the all-time record for the number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling their huge investments in corporations bidding for gov't contracts.
.. removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
.. entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.
RECORDS AND REFERENCES:
He has at least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available).
He was AWOL from the National Guard and deserted the military during time of war.
He refused to take a drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
All records of his tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to his fathers library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
All records of any SEC investigations into his insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
All minutes of meetings of any public corporation for which he served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
Any records or minutes from meetings he (or Dick Cheney) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.
Of course this is Dubya.
AREN'T YOU TERRIFIED? IF NOT, WHY NOT?????
Folks, sign up for MoveOn.Org, we have to stop this presidency from doing more damage. I'm gonna put up some stuff in the next few weeks on who I am going to support for President but in the meantime, check all this out. Another great site is Misleader.Org and this is where you can be notified by email of the lies Dubya tells each and every day! Tell your friends!!! Please!!!!!!!!
July 3, 2003 Fix the damn tax code! Another argument for gay marriage, and something that need fixing, is that the US Tax Code means that straight married couples do not get taxed on the costs of health insurance provided to spouses. Gay couples and unmarried straight couples receiving dometic partner health benefits are taxed on the value of those benefits. This can cost thousands of dollars a year. (It also means that the employer pays higher payroll taxes on their portion!) Senator Bob Graham (D-Fl) and Senator Gordon Smith (D-Or) are about to introduce a bill to remove this injustice. They need more senators to sign on as co-sponsors. Email your Senator asking him or her to sign on to the bill.
Email your Congressman http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
July 2, 2003 Scalia was actually mostly right (gasp)! Scalia the scumbag's dissent last week on the Lawrence case (Woohoo!!!!) cited the possibility that the following laws might collapse. What I find fascinating is that these are, in fact, nearly all laws that probably will collape. The thing is, in most cases, they should collapse! He cited the following:
Laws prohibiting the sale of sex toys. Um, I don't think too many people have been bludgeoned to death with a dildo. Handguns are usually sufficent.
Adultery. Isn't that a personal, albeit unfortunate, choice?
Fornication (sex outside marriage). Woohoo!!!
Adult incest. Ick, but it was more a biblical injunction to prevent inbreeding. (Kind of like not eating pork before refrigeration.) Probably couldn't be overturned from Lawrence due to health and coercion concerns.
Public indecency. These laws should be rewritten anyway as they are often used unfairly to discriminate.
Bigamy. That, again, is a personal choice.
Masturbation. Woohoo (This one might explain why Scalia is such an uptight asshole though!)
Bestiality. I don't see how the above precedent applies to bestiality.
Obscenity. See Fornication and masturbation!
Same Sex Marriage. About fucking time!
July 1, 2003 Which commandment was that again! I won't comment on the intelligence of anyone who chooses to be a fundy christian (ick!) but Newsweek reports this week that while sales of secular music are down 8%, Christian music sales are down 11%. This is all believed due to downloaded, ie, illegally stolen music. Does this mean that evangelicals are more larcenous than the rest of the population?? Hmmmm.
June 30, 2003 Food for thought on gender identity! Another decent Op-Ed piece in the Advocate this week (on top of their usual "People" magazine "let's put a straight person on the cover and say how they're nice to homo's", make's you puke, sychophantic drivel) on gender identity! Really worth reading (but dont bother subscribing!)
Read the story: Advocate
June 29, 2003 Why has the press been so easy on Dubya! Micheal Wolff writing in New York magazine this week makes the speculation that the reason the press has been so easy on Dubya (umm, where's Osama?, where's Saddam?, where are the WMD's?, If the war is over, why are soldiers still dying?, what about Cheney's energy commission?, Halliburton? etc) is because the quid pro quo was the relaxation on media ownership by the FCC! Makes ya wonder doesn't it? Guess Rupert Murdoch and his cabal of right wing talking heads are going to dominate the landscape for some time to come. (James Cramer's column discusses how the government is remaining WorldCom's biggest customer, in spite of the fact that these lying bastards should be in jail, because it wouldn't be politically expedient in an election cycle to put 60,000 people out of work even though the whole company should be shut down!)
Read the story: New York Magazine
June 26, 2003 We're no longer criminals! Hooray!!! The Supreme Court overturned the Texas sodomy law this morning! This is an historic day for LGBT people in America! Send the Supremes a note thanking them for finally dumping this (and thus all the other states) antiquated and discriminatory law! Write to: Public Information Officer, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, DC 20543.
June 26, 2003 Our Education President! Ok, so this is an older one but it is still good! On May 28, 2002 Bush met with Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Not far into their first conversation ever, Bush asked the 71 year old statesman: "Do you have blacks too?" Condoleezza Rice jumped in to save President Cardoso from the embarrassment of having to answer such a stupid question, informing President Bush that Brazil was home to more blacks than any country in the world outside Africa. Though the White House press corps observed the exchange, they exhibited exemplary self-censorship by completely ignoring the incident. The story has only appeared in the prestigious German news magazine Der Spiegel, but not in any U.S. publications. If this story had appeared in the U.S. press it would have exposed the President's 2nd grade level of general knowledge of the world. For this we want to say, "Thank you American journalists!" (Cribbed from Whitehouse.org)
Email the chinless moron in the White House Dubya
June 25, 2003 Sex Ed for kids! The Bushies and Congress have managed to hijack sex ed in almost all of the states by ensuring that the states can receive no federal funding unless the education is scientifically disproven Christy bullshit that allows your kids to be taught graphic details of incredibly rare and unusual abortion procedures but keeps talk of contraception and condoms to their failings only and emphasises such lies as "sexual activity outside of marriage is likely to have harmful phsychological and physical side effects". You are far better off talking to your kids (or nephews and nieces) and using websites such as Planned Parenthood's http://www.teenwire.com
Email your Congressman http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
Email the chinless moron in the White House Dubya
June 25, 2003 Stopping AIDS without mentioning sex. The New York Times has reported that scientists who study AIDS have been warned by federal health officials to avoid using certain words and phrases in their grant proposals; among them "homosexual", "sex workers", "needle exchange" and "anal sex". They have devised a secret code for referring to concepts such as "gay" in their proposals to avoid triggering alarms and are starting to use this code in phone conversations and electronic communications in case their lines are bugged, a startling possibility that many scientists are now taking seriously. Times op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristoff concluded "assume you are living in Stalinist Russia when communicating with the US government". Lets all hear it for the "Land of the Free"!
Email your Congressman http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
June 23 , 2003 America, Human Rights allies of North Korea and the Islamic States. Never mind about the fact that Saudi Arabia is still absent from the list of State Department countries with human rights issues, now the US has decided to abstain in a UN vote on human rights that would condemn discrimination based on sexual orientation, in effect joining a coalition led by the Islamic states to scuttle the resolution. Supported by the rest of the civilized world, the US has ducked the issue. The reason, of course, is that Dubya has stacked the advisory boards for UN policy with his Christian fundamentalist buddies. Why did we bother with the Taliban in Afghanistan? They are alive and well here running our theocracy!
Email your Congressman http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
June 17, 2003, America's "War" on Terror? From the NY Times, today (thanks Chris!) Dereliction Of Duty By Paul Krugman
Last Thursday a House subcommittee met to finalize next year's homeland security appropriation. The ranking Democrat announced that he would introduce an amendment adding roughly $1 billion for areas like port security and border security that, according to just about every expert, have been severely neglected since Sept. 11. He proposed to pay for the additions by slightly scaling back tax cuts for people making more than $1 million per year. The subcommittee's chairman promptly closed the meeting to the public, citing national security — though no classified material was under discussion. And the bill that emerged from the closed meeting did not contain the extra funding. It was a perfect symbol of the reality of the Bush administration's "war on terror." Behind the rhetoric — and behind the veil of secrecy, invoked in the name of national security but actually used to prevent public scrutiny — lies a pattern of neglect, of refusal to take crucial actions to protect us from terrorists. Actual counterterrorism, it seems, doesn't fit the administration's agenda. Yesterday The Washington Post printed an interview with Rand Beers, a top White House counterterrorism adviser who resigned in March. "They're making us less secure, not more secure," he said of the Bush administration. "As an insider, I saw the things that weren't being done." Among the problem areas he cited were homeland security, where he says the administration has "only a rhetorical policy"; failure to press Saudi Arabia (the home of most of the Sept. 11 terrorists) to take action; and, of course, the way we allowed Afghanistan to relapse into chaos. Some of this pattern of neglect involves penny-pinching. Back in February, even George W. Bush in effect admitted that not enough money had been allocated to domestic security — though (to the fury of Republican legislators) he blamed Congress. Yet according to Fred Kaplan in Slate, the administration's latest budget proposal for homeland security actually contains less money than was spent last year. Meanwhile, urgent priorities remain unmet. For example, port security, identified as a top concern from the very beginning, has so far received only one-tenth as much money as the Coast Guard says is needed. But it's not just a matter of money. For one thing, it's hard to claim now that the Bush administration is trying to hold down domestic spending to make room for tax cuts. With the budget deficit projected at more than $400 billion this year, a few billion more for homeland security wouldn't make much difference to the tax-cutting agenda. Moreover, Congress isn't pinching pennies across the board: last week the Senate voted to provide $15 billion in loan guarantees for the construction of nuclear power plants. Furthermore, even on the military front the administration has been weirdly reluctant to come to grips with terrorism. It refused to provide Afghanistan's new government with an adequate security umbrella, with the predictable result that warlords are running rampant and the Taliban are making a comeback. The squandered victory in Afghanistan was one reason people like myself had a bad feeling about the invasion of Iraq — and sure enough, the administration was bizarrely lackadaisical about providing postwar security. Even nuclear waste dumps were left unguarded for weeks. So what's the explanation? The answer, one suspects, is that key figures — above all, Donald Rumsfeld — just didn't feel like dealing with the real problem. Real counterterrorism mainly involves police work and precautionary measures; it doesn't look impressive on TV, and it doesn't provide many occasions for victory celebrations. A conventional war, on the other hand, is a lot more fun: you get stirring pictures of tanks rolling across the desert, and you get to do a victory landing on an aircraft carrier. And more and more it seems that that was what the war was all about. After all, the supposed reasons for fighting that war have turned out to be false — there were no links to Al Qaeda, there wasn't a big arsenal of W.M.D.'s. But never mind — we won, didn't we? Maybe not. About half of the U.S. Army's combat strength is now tied down in Iraq, facing what looks increasingly like a guerrilla war — and like a perfect recruiting device for Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, the real war on terror has been neglected, and we've antagonized the allies we need to fight that war. One of these days we'll end up paying the price.
June 6, 2003 John Ashcroft, Bigoted, lying sack of shit! John Ashcroft, defender of civil liberties, was asked during his Senate confirmation hearings if he would permit DOJ Pride, the voluntary organization of gay, lesbian and bisexual DOJ employees that plan the annual gay pride event at the Department of Justice, (as is done in almost every Federal agency), to continue to use Justice Department facilities on the same basis as other voluntary employee groups or other minority employees. "I would not tolerate discrimination against any employee at the Department of Justice based on sexual preference," said Ashcroft. "I have no intent to … treat this group differently than any other." Guess what! The lying, bigoted, intolerant Nazi fuck has just banned gay pride at the Department of Justice.
Story: Yahoo News
Email Ashcroft: Department of Justice
June 3, 2003 Thomas Martin, Republican!? Ok, The Evita Peron of Bel-Air, Nancy Reagan (or one of her minions) just sent a letter asking Thomas Martin to donate to the Ronald Reagan Foundation. I love this stuff! <grin>, so my response was as follows: " Dear Sir or Madam:
How frightfully ironic that you should write to Thomas Martin, asking him to donate the the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. You should know that Mr. Martin died of AIDS on November 13, 2000. Mr. Martin died partly as a result of the failure of Ronald "I can't remember a thing Mommy" Reagan and his rather unpleasant wife's failure to even mention the word "AIDS", never mind do anything about it during the first 7 years of his presidency. His corrupt and venal administration, his craven pandering to the right wing, his militaristic aggression, his insane spending and his total and utter lack of compassion will ensure that he is eventually assigned to the scrap heap of history, where his presidency rightfully belongs. You must be insane to think that Mr. Martin would have even considered donating to any cause to do with the Reagans other than that which would result in their discredit. Wishing you failure in all your endeavors, Ian Gibson-Smith, Husband (In spite of your bigoted attempts to stop us marrying!) to the late Mr. Martin."
The website (ick!) is http://www.Reaganfoundation.org
June 1, 2003 Fundraiser for CASA! Val (my mom) volunteers for and has helped form CASA in the Eastern Panhandle. CASA is the Court Appointed Special Advocate for Children program. What this means is that in cases where a father or mother is in trouble with the law, she is responsible for going in, talking to everyone involved (parents, relatives, neighbours, teachers etc) and making the recommendation to the court as to what is the best thing to do for the children. The litany of horrors she hears every day is mindblowing (the least of which is parents selling their children for drugs, sexual molestation, prostitution etc) so this is a great program. Unfortunately the state has cut all funding so they have to raise the money for this themselves. She is holding a Beach party on June 21st in Shepherdstown. Tickets are only $20. Everyone is invited to attend, or, if not, please can you consider making a donation! Send payments to CASA of the Eastern Panhandle, c/o Ian Gibson-Smith, 39 Stagshead Court, Martinsburg, WV 25401 or email me for information. Thank You!!!
May 29, 2003 Come out, Come out whereever you are! Someone needs to inform Congressman Foley that no heterosexual to my knowledge has ever said in an interview that their sexual orientation is a private matter. The only time that line is ever used seems to be when some big ole homo closet case who doesn't want to come out is trying to duck the issue. HELLO Congressman Foley, do yourself a favor, come out of the closet!
Email: Congressman Mark Foley
May 14, 2003 Patriot Act or Prisoner Act? Under an infamous provision in the USA PATRIOT Act, the FBI has the power to search your library and book-buying records by simply telling a secret court that the records are "sought for" an intelligence investigation. Furthermore, if the librarian or bookseller tells you that they turned your records over to the government, they could be imprisoned. Proposed legislation before the U.S. House of Representatives -- the "Freedom to Read Protection Act" -- would remove this power to search your records without a warrant or probable cause. It is a much-needed fix to the USA PATRIOT Act, the controversial and sweeping anti-terrorism law rushed through Congress just after September 11.
http://www.aclu.org/NationalSecurity/NationalSecurity.cfm?ID=12607&c=110
May 10, 2003 People in Glass Houses! This is great. Eugene Delgaudio, friend of Ollie North, anti-gay piece of shit, right wing hatemonger and homophobic trouble maker in Loudon County who has consistently preached hate and intolerance for gay people, including the age old lie that we are child molesters etc has a brother. Guess what? The brother just got convicted for straight child pornography. (Washington Post, April 24, B2) Clean up your own family before you start attacking us, Eugene! Contact poor misguided Eugene and tell him how you feel.
http://www.eugene2003.com/who.php
May 8, 2003 No Support for the Egyptian Government. The Egyptian government is still waging it's war against gay men. In May 2001, 52 men were arrested just for attending a gay disco. They were jailed and tried by a religious court and 21 men were sentenced to 2 years in prison, just for being gay. President Mubarek last year ordered them to be retried by a secular court. All 21 were resentenced to 3 years in prison. In addition, the other 29 found not guilty may well be retried. As usual world opinion and pressure is being brought to bear but the US is doing nothing. Send an email demanding that the US stop all aid to Egypt until they stop human rights abuses.
Story http://www.advocate.com/new_news.asp?id=3050&sd=02/12/02
Email your Congressman http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
May 7, 2003 Murders of gender-queer youth Crime against transgendered teens is alive and well. Read the story and see what you can do!
Story http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/889/889_wilchins.asp
Support GenderPac http://www.gpac.org/
May 1, 2003 More Bush Censorship? Photographer Subhnakar Banarjee had an exhibit of wildlife at the Smithsonian. His photographs were used during the debate on drilling in Alaska's Artic National Wildlife Refuge and mysteriously, days later, his exhibit was changed and moved to a crappy location. Hmmmm! This link is the email of the Smithsonian Info@si.edu
April 28, 2003 Bush Administration bans EPA discussion of Perchlorate Pollution This is a good one! As public awareness (and debate) grows about perchlorate contamination across the country, the Bush administration has imposed a gag order on Environmental Protection Agency staff from publicly discussing the toxic chemical. The order came last month, as the White House Office of Management and Budget barred any federal regulation on perchlorate -- the main ingredient in solid rocket fuel -- until the National Academy of Sciences completes its own review, which could take another six to 18 months.