I know I missed talking to a number of you last night. That wasn't my intention. See, I had taken a nap in the afternoon and everything, I was good to go until at least 2-3am.
So last night I was watching House Hunters on the cable channel HGTV. A family from California was looking at homes to buy in La Paz (I think that was the town) Mexico. At 11pm I switched over to MSNBC to watch To Catch A Predator with Chris Hansen. Did you know he used to be a reporter for the Detroit local ABC affiliate?
But intsead of his show it was BREAKING NEWS. Saddam Hussein had been executed.
I switched over to one of the local Detroit stations. It ws time for the 11pm news and, sure enough, Hussein's execution was the lead story.
By now everybody in America must know that the metro Detroit area's city of Dearborn has the largest concentration of Arabs living outside of the Arab nations.
So the news cameras were in Dearborn, along Warren Avenue, and there was dancing in the streets. Arab men, their women nowhere in sight, were dancing and singing and laughing and having one hell of a good time, all celebrating the death of the man who used to run the country of Iraq.
I can't think of his name, one of the Imans (the leader of a mosque) from Dearborn, who is on the local news every time they want the Muslim/Arab opinion, was shown dancing and celebrating too. He was interviewed and he said things like it was such a joyous time now that Saddam Hussein was dead.
Silly me, silly silly me, but I don't care if the person who died was the most heinous individual ever to roam the earth. It doesn't matter. A human life is a human life. What kind of person who (supposedly) works for God would ever rejoice at the death of one of God's children?
I am horrified by the way people are reacting to this man's death. I'm horrified by the footage of him being walked to the gallows, of the rope being placed around his neck, and of the photo showing him dead and in a white shroud.
Hell, I'm still horrified at the way the USA forces laid out the dead bodies of his two sons several years ago and it was shown on the news.
This is not a good time in the world.
May God have mercy on us all.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
I hadn't planned to write about this until January but I've changed my mind.
Okay, so you're aware that the economy here in the USA isn't doing so good, right? Lots and lots of people out of work. Here in Michigan it's really tough because our economy relies heavily on the automotive industry and manufacturing jobs, both of which have taken direct hits as of late.
For some monthes I have been working with a band of good hearted folks who are trying to feed the poor and the homeless. We routinely make our way to the inner city of Detroit, set up tables with food and warm clothing, and try, at least for that afternoon, to make a difference in as many lives as we can.
Unlike a number of other do-gooder groups, we receive no funding from anyone but ourselves. That's right. We all dig into our own pockets to purchase food, clothing, whatever we think the good folks we're trying to help can use.
Each year from early November until December 26th the poor and the homeless are very popular. People find it it so cool and hip to dish up holiday meals at the shelter and donate toys for Christmas.
And it's a nice thing for people to do, don't get me wrong, but people are still poor and still homeless, still hungry and needy the other eleven monthes of the year.
I truly believe in my heart of hearts that people want to help the less fortunate and needy year round but they don't know how to do it. The newspapers are full of articles and exposes about charities that use 98% of their donated monies for administrative costs and, understandably, that makes people not want to give to groups for fear that they may be wasting funds.
So what I'm proposing is that you help us help the poor. That's right, you read me right.
We're just a bunch of regular folks. No organization behind us, no office or telephone or website. Just regular folks, men and women who go to work everyday, some with school age children, families of their own. All of us trying to aide and assist our sisters and brothers who need help.
Several people who use my phone service have been kind enough to send a few dollars this way for our work and we are ever so grateful for their contributions.
Each time we go to Detroit we pass out bag lunches. Sandwich, potato chips, candy, granola bar. We have clothes--warm jackets, shoes, socks, gloves, etc.--whatever we can come up with because there is always a need. Hygiene kits that we assemble ourselves with a full size bar of soap, washcloth, toothbrush and toothpaste.
And we're doing okay, don't get me wrong. But we could help so many more if we had a few more dollars to work with.
If you'd like to help us help those who need help, donations may be sent to:
TMC
POBox 191
Farmington, MI 48332
Put a note in your envelope saying for the homeless and we will use every penny you send to feed and clothe them. I guarantee it.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Okay, so you're aware that the economy here in the USA isn't doing so good, right? Lots and lots of people out of work. Here in Michigan it's really tough because our economy relies heavily on the automotive industry and manufacturing jobs, both of which have taken direct hits as of late.
For some monthes I have been working with a band of good hearted folks who are trying to feed the poor and the homeless. We routinely make our way to the inner city of Detroit, set up tables with food and warm clothing, and try, at least for that afternoon, to make a difference in as many lives as we can.
Unlike a number of other do-gooder groups, we receive no funding from anyone but ourselves. That's right. We all dig into our own pockets to purchase food, clothing, whatever we think the good folks we're trying to help can use.
Each year from early November until December 26th the poor and the homeless are very popular. People find it it so cool and hip to dish up holiday meals at the shelter and donate toys for Christmas.
And it's a nice thing for people to do, don't get me wrong, but people are still poor and still homeless, still hungry and needy the other eleven monthes of the year.
I truly believe in my heart of hearts that people want to help the less fortunate and needy year round but they don't know how to do it. The newspapers are full of articles and exposes about charities that use 98% of their donated monies for administrative costs and, understandably, that makes people not want to give to groups for fear that they may be wasting funds.
So what I'm proposing is that you help us help the poor. That's right, you read me right.
We're just a bunch of regular folks. No organization behind us, no office or telephone or website. Just regular folks, men and women who go to work everyday, some with school age children, families of their own. All of us trying to aide and assist our sisters and brothers who need help.
Several people who use my phone service have been kind enough to send a few dollars this way for our work and we are ever so grateful for their contributions.
Each time we go to Detroit we pass out bag lunches. Sandwich, potato chips, candy, granola bar. We have clothes--warm jackets, shoes, socks, gloves, etc.--whatever we can come up with because there is always a need. Hygiene kits that we assemble ourselves with a full size bar of soap, washcloth, toothbrush and toothpaste.
And we're doing okay, don't get me wrong. But we could help so many more if we had a few more dollars to work with.
If you'd like to help us help those who need help, donations may be sent to:
TMC
POBox 191
Farmington, MI 48332
Put a note in your envelope saying for the homeless and we will use every penny you send to feed and clothe them. I guarantee it.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
I've written about this magazine before, Sojourners (www.sojo.net), and how much I like it. Well, the January 2007 issue arrived this morning and I really wish you would get a copy of it, either by purchasing a subscription or finding it at your local newstand/bookdealer.
There's one article in particular, The Innocent Victims, page 9, written by Tom Davis. You need to read it.
One of the things Mr. Davis says in this piece is that the war in Iraq has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and 2,800-plus American soldiers lives.
Also, some 551,00 adult Iraqis have been killed since the war began three years.
But even more shockingly, approximately 54,000 Iraqi children have been killed since the war began. 54,000 innocent children dead!
Even if you support the war in Iraq, how in the world can you justify or live with the fact that 54,000 innocent children have been casualties? Their blood is on our hands.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
There's one article in particular, The Innocent Victims, page 9, written by Tom Davis. You need to read it.
One of the things Mr. Davis says in this piece is that the war in Iraq has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and 2,800-plus American soldiers lives.
Also, some 551,00 adult Iraqis have been killed since the war began three years.
But even more shockingly, approximately 54,000 Iraqi children have been killed since the war began. 54,000 innocent children dead!
Even if you support the war in Iraq, how in the world can you justify or live with the fact that 54,000 innocent children have been casualties? Their blood is on our hands.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
Monday, December 11, 2006
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Seems like everyone is always asking me what's new. Well, I'll tell you what's new---my back door!
My garage is attached to my house. The door leading from my kitchen to the garage was as old as my house and my house was built sometime in the mid-60's. 40 some years later, even when the door was closed, you could see light from the garage around the edges. And if you cranked up the lawnmower or the snowblower in the garage, well, you could smell it all through my house.
So I called the place here in town where I'd bought the new garage door a couple of years earlier and they came out and installed a really nice new door for me. It probably sounds crazy to get all excited over a door, but it is so nice. It shuts with a vacuum-like seal and not only does it keep garage smells out, but it keeps the house's heat in.
I should have done this years ago.
Tawny
My garage is attached to my house. The door leading from my kitchen to the garage was as old as my house and my house was built sometime in the mid-60's. 40 some years later, even when the door was closed, you could see light from the garage around the edges. And if you cranked up the lawnmower or the snowblower in the garage, well, you could smell it all through my house.
So I called the place here in town where I'd bought the new garage door a couple of years earlier and they came out and installed a really nice new door for me. It probably sounds crazy to get all excited over a door, but it is so nice. It shuts with a vacuum-like seal and not only does it keep garage smells out, but it keeps the house's heat in.
I should have done this years ago.
Tawny
Saturday, December 09, 2006
I ran into one of my cousins the other day at the meat market. She was just coming from the beauty shop and had ducked in the doorway of the market to get out of the cold while she waited for the bus. I was there to buy some ox tails to cook for that night's dinner.
Her hair was fixed real pretty. Probably a hundred skinny little braids all going this way and that.
Turns out she gets her hair fixed twice a month and it takes a minimum of five hours each time for the beautician to undo the old braids, wash her hair, braid in new extensions, etc. Five hours??? I told her I could never sit still for five hours while someone fiddled with my hair. Turns out it costs her $225 each time! I told her I would never spend $450 a month for something like that. And she told me that's why my hair 'looks like that' and not nice like hers.
So I start walking out to my truck to head home and she says she sure wished she had a car, one of those new Durangos. And I told her she did, it was on her head. For $450 a month she could be making a car payment on a new Durango and not be standing out on the street to catch a bus every time she wanted to go someplace.
It's priorities. We all spend our money based on what we feel to be a priority in our lives.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Her hair was fixed real pretty. Probably a hundred skinny little braids all going this way and that.
Turns out she gets her hair fixed twice a month and it takes a minimum of five hours each time for the beautician to undo the old braids, wash her hair, braid in new extensions, etc. Five hours??? I told her I could never sit still for five hours while someone fiddled with my hair. Turns out it costs her $225 each time! I told her I would never spend $450 a month for something like that. And she told me that's why my hair 'looks like that' and not nice like hers.
So I start walking out to my truck to head home and she says she sure wished she had a car, one of those new Durangos. And I told her she did, it was on her head. For $450 a month she could be making a car payment on a new Durango and not be standing out on the street to catch a bus every time she wanted to go someplace.
It's priorities. We all spend our money based on what we feel to be a priority in our lives.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Friday, December 08, 2006
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
A Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives
November 14th, 2006
To My Conservative Brothers and Sisters,
I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week's election. You're worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don't want it to go. Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.
Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.
Thus, here is our Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives:
Dear Conservatives and Republicans,
I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:
1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.
2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.
3. We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.
4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.
5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.
6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water.
7. Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.
8. We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.
9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.
10. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you -- and your employees -- that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage, too.
11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.
12. We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.
I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans -- and for the rest of the world.
Signed,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
(Click here to sign the pledge)
www.michaelmoore.com
P.S. Please feel free to pass this on.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
November 14th, 2006
To My Conservative Brothers and Sisters,
I know you are dismayed and disheartened at the results of last week's election. You're worried that the country is heading toward a very bad place you don't want it to go. Your 12-year Republican Revolution has ended with so much yet to do, so many promises left unfulfilled. You are in a funk, and I understand.
Well, cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.
Thus, here is our Liberal's Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives:
Dear Conservatives and Republicans,
I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you:
1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you "unpatriotic" simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.
2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be "different" or "immoral." Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love -- it's a wonderful gift.
3. We will not spend your grandchildren's money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It's your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.
4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.
5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we'll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.
6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water.
7. Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.
8. We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.
9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren't much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.
10. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you -- and your employees -- that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage, too.
11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don't put those beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs ("Blessed are the poor," "Blessed are the peacemakers," "Love your enemies," "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God," and "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn't just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism -- starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.
12. We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.
I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans -- and for the rest of the world.
Signed,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
(Click here to sign the pledge)
www.michaelmoore.com
P.S. Please feel free to pass this on.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
Monday, November 13, 2006
I feel as if I should rename my blog 'Days Of Our Lives' or 'As The World Turns', all soap opera titles, because when I write about my family it always feels like I'm writing a soap opera episode.
My family has decided that this year they're going to hold an 'all family invited' Thanksgiving Day celebration at a hall in the city of Detroit. They've asked all adult family members to kick in $25 each to cover the rent on the hall, as well as sign up to bring food for the meal.
Every year that I can remember since I've been grown and on my own I've cooked Thanksgiving dinner. My best friend and her husband (and now kids) always came, plus assorted other friends, a few family members, and an excon or parolee or two that had nowhere else to spend the day.
I've always cooked a huge dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes + gravy, dressing, etc., a traditional Thanksgiving feast, with an assortment of pies. It was my plan to do it again this year, until my best friend volunteered to cook. Be still my beating heart! Dinner without the work! So that's my plan for this year. Turkey with all the trimmings at her house.
As for my family, well, I kicked in the $25 to help them rent the hall. I'm not sending food down there because I'm not going to eat with them. But I will, more than likely, stop at the hall after I've had my dinner, stay for an hour or so, just to say hi.
One of my uncles is coming in from Minnesota, or maybe it's Michigan City, he moves around so much it's hard to remember where he lives. Despite the fact that he works as a welder and makes decent money, he's notoriously cheap. He won't kick in for the hall, he won't bring any food to the meal, and he'll stay with whatever family member will put him up so he can beat the cost of a motel. He'll also tell a made-up sob story to anyone who'll listen about how he brought x-amount of money with him but when he stopped at his grown son's house he emptied his wallet out to him because he needed money. The truth is, and it's always the same, my uncle will have hooked up with his old girlfriend Debbie in Detroit and he'll have squandered his money on crack and gambling with her at the Motor City Casino.
Now when he asks for help he always calls it a loan. Says he just needs about a hundred so he can get back home. But he never pays it back. And nobody ever calls him on it, they just complain about his ways.
The last time he hit me with his sob story I handed him a hundred dollars and a stamped self-addressed envelope. Told him it was a loan, not a gift, and I expected it back his first paycheck. He was pissed, but he sent it back, and he never asked me again.
I don't know about you but I don't mind helping people that are truly in need. But I'm not bankrolling trips to the crack dealer and the casino.
So like I said, if it's not too late when I get done with dinner, I'm heading over to the hall for a little while. It's in a particularly nasty area of Detroit so I'm hoping the parking lot is fenced in and guarded. And I'm hoping to get in and out before family members are too drunk, drugged out and disorderly.
The only thing that's going to be wierd about not cooking dinner at my house is--NO LEFTOVERS! But I can rectify that by cooking a small turkey or maybe a turkey breast, some dressing, whatever, a day or so later.
I'm looking forward to Turkey Day. Hope you are too.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
My family has decided that this year they're going to hold an 'all family invited' Thanksgiving Day celebration at a hall in the city of Detroit. They've asked all adult family members to kick in $25 each to cover the rent on the hall, as well as sign up to bring food for the meal.
Every year that I can remember since I've been grown and on my own I've cooked Thanksgiving dinner. My best friend and her husband (and now kids) always came, plus assorted other friends, a few family members, and an excon or parolee or two that had nowhere else to spend the day.
I've always cooked a huge dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes + gravy, dressing, etc., a traditional Thanksgiving feast, with an assortment of pies. It was my plan to do it again this year, until my best friend volunteered to cook. Be still my beating heart! Dinner without the work! So that's my plan for this year. Turkey with all the trimmings at her house.
As for my family, well, I kicked in the $25 to help them rent the hall. I'm not sending food down there because I'm not going to eat with them. But I will, more than likely, stop at the hall after I've had my dinner, stay for an hour or so, just to say hi.
One of my uncles is coming in from Minnesota, or maybe it's Michigan City, he moves around so much it's hard to remember where he lives. Despite the fact that he works as a welder and makes decent money, he's notoriously cheap. He won't kick in for the hall, he won't bring any food to the meal, and he'll stay with whatever family member will put him up so he can beat the cost of a motel. He'll also tell a made-up sob story to anyone who'll listen about how he brought x-amount of money with him but when he stopped at his grown son's house he emptied his wallet out to him because he needed money. The truth is, and it's always the same, my uncle will have hooked up with his old girlfriend Debbie in Detroit and he'll have squandered his money on crack and gambling with her at the Motor City Casino.
Now when he asks for help he always calls it a loan. Says he just needs about a hundred so he can get back home. But he never pays it back. And nobody ever calls him on it, they just complain about his ways.
The last time he hit me with his sob story I handed him a hundred dollars and a stamped self-addressed envelope. Told him it was a loan, not a gift, and I expected it back his first paycheck. He was pissed, but he sent it back, and he never asked me again.
I don't know about you but I don't mind helping people that are truly in need. But I'm not bankrolling trips to the crack dealer and the casino.
So like I said, if it's not too late when I get done with dinner, I'm heading over to the hall for a little while. It's in a particularly nasty area of Detroit so I'm hoping the parking lot is fenced in and guarded. And I'm hoping to get in and out before family members are too drunk, drugged out and disorderly.
The only thing that's going to be wierd about not cooking dinner at my house is--NO LEFTOVERS! But I can rectify that by cooking a small turkey or maybe a turkey breast, some dressing, whatever, a day or so later.
I'm looking forward to Turkey Day. Hope you are too.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
November 8th, 2006
Friends,
You did it! We did it! The impossible has happened: A majority of Americans have soundly and forcefully removed Bush's party from control of the House of Representatives. And, sometime today perhaps, we may learn that the same miracle has happened in the Senate. Whatever the outcome, the American people have made two things crystal clear: End this war, and stop Mr. Bush from doing any more damage to this country we love. That is what this election was about. Nothing else. Just that. And it's a message that has sent shock waves throughout Washington -- and a note of hope around this troubled world.
Now the real work begins. Unless we stay on top of these Democrats to do the right thing, they will do what they've always done: Screw it up. Big Time. They helped Bush start this war, and now they should make amends.
But let's take a day to rejoice and revel in a rare victory for our side -- the side that doesn't believe in unprovoked invasions of other countries. This is your day, my friends. You have worked hard for it. I can't tell you how proud I am to count all of you as part of the greater American mainstream we now occupy. Thank you for all the time you gave this week to get out the vote. Some of you have been at this since the large demonstrations of February 2003 when we tried to stop the war before it started. Only 10-20% of the country agreed with us at that time. Remember how lonely that was? Some people were even booed! Now, 60% of the country agrees with our position. They are us and we are them. What a nice, strange, hopeful feeling.
A woman, for the first time in our history, will be Speaker of the House. The attempt to ban all abortion in the conservative state of South Dakota was defeated. Laws to raise the minimum wage were passed. Democrats were elected to fill Tom DeLay's and Mark Foley's seats. Detroit's John Conyers, Jr. is going to be the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. The Democratic governor of Michigan beat the CEO from Amway. The little township next to where I live in Michigan voted Democratic for the first time since... ever. And on and on and on. The good news will continue throughout today. Let's enjoy it. Savor it. And use it to get Congress to finally listen to the majority.
If you want to do one thing today, send an email or a letter to both of your senators and your member of Congress and tell them, in no uncertain terms, what this election means: End the war -- and don't let George W. Bush get away with any more of his bright ideas.
Congratulations, again! Now let's go find a spine for the Dems to do the job we've sent them there to do.
Yours in victory (for once!),
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com
P.S. Thanks for all those photos you sent me of you with your brooms at your polling places. They're still coming in and we're posting them here throughout the day. And for those of you who asked how "Sicko" is coming along, the answer is: better than we ever expected! We're hard at work in the edit room and it will be in theaters in June. Thanks again, everyone, for your support.
Friends,
You did it! We did it! The impossible has happened: A majority of Americans have soundly and forcefully removed Bush's party from control of the House of Representatives. And, sometime today perhaps, we may learn that the same miracle has happened in the Senate. Whatever the outcome, the American people have made two things crystal clear: End this war, and stop Mr. Bush from doing any more damage to this country we love. That is what this election was about. Nothing else. Just that. And it's a message that has sent shock waves throughout Washington -- and a note of hope around this troubled world.
Now the real work begins. Unless we stay on top of these Democrats to do the right thing, they will do what they've always done: Screw it up. Big Time. They helped Bush start this war, and now they should make amends.
But let's take a day to rejoice and revel in a rare victory for our side -- the side that doesn't believe in unprovoked invasions of other countries. This is your day, my friends. You have worked hard for it. I can't tell you how proud I am to count all of you as part of the greater American mainstream we now occupy. Thank you for all the time you gave this week to get out the vote. Some of you have been at this since the large demonstrations of February 2003 when we tried to stop the war before it started. Only 10-20% of the country agreed with us at that time. Remember how lonely that was? Some people were even booed! Now, 60% of the country agrees with our position. They are us and we are them. What a nice, strange, hopeful feeling.
A woman, for the first time in our history, will be Speaker of the House. The attempt to ban all abortion in the conservative state of South Dakota was defeated. Laws to raise the minimum wage were passed. Democrats were elected to fill Tom DeLay's and Mark Foley's seats. Detroit's John Conyers, Jr. is going to be the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. The Democratic governor of Michigan beat the CEO from Amway. The little township next to where I live in Michigan voted Democratic for the first time since... ever. And on and on and on. The good news will continue throughout today. Let's enjoy it. Savor it. And use it to get Congress to finally listen to the majority.
If you want to do one thing today, send an email or a letter to both of your senators and your member of Congress and tell them, in no uncertain terms, what this election means: End the war -- and don't let George W. Bush get away with any more of his bright ideas.
Congratulations, again! Now let's go find a spine for the Dems to do the job we've sent them there to do.
Yours in victory (for once!),
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com
P.S. Thanks for all those photos you sent me of you with your brooms at your polling places. They're still coming in and we're posting them here throughout the day. And for those of you who asked how "Sicko" is coming along, the answer is: better than we ever expected! We're hard at work in the edit room and it will be in theaters in June. Thanks again, everyone, for your support.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
This showed up in my email late yesterday, after I'd already written and
posted the blog entry. Thought I'd share it with you anyway. I like
Michael Moore.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friends,
Tomorrow night, those who sent 2,800 of our soldiers to their deaths -- all because of a lie the president concocted -- will find out if America chooses to reward them -- or remove them.
As good as things look for the Democrats, do not pop the corks and start the partying yet. Do not believe for a second that the Republicans plan on losing. They will fight like dogs for the next 24 hours -- relentless, unforgiving, nonstop action to squeeze every last conservative voter out of the house on election day. While the rest of us go about our day today, tens of thousands of Republican volunteers are knocking on doors, making phone calls, and lining up rides to the polls. They're not sleeping, they're not eating, they're not even watching Fox News. A day without Fox News? That's right, that's how insanely dedicated they are.
But the reason they have to work so hard is that, before they can get the vote out, they first have to completely turn around the massive public opinion against them. Almost 60% disapprove of Bush. Over 60% are opposed to the war. Those are landslide numbers. And the American people are not going to turn pro-war or into Bush-lovers by tomorrow morning. So it should be easy for us, right?
Yup. Just like it was when we won the popular vote in 2000 and when we were ahead in the exit polls all day long in 2004. You know the deal -- the other side takes no prisoners. And just when it seems like things are going our way, the Republicans suddenly, mysteriously win the election.
Well, it's not really that mysterious. They're out there busting their asses this very minute, right down the street from you. What are YOU doing? You're on a computer reading my cranky letter! Stop reading this! We have only a few hours left to wrestle control of the Congress away from these "representatives" who, if returned, will continue shipping our young men and women over there to die.
Here's what I'm imploring you to do right now:
1. Go through your address book on your cell phone and computer and call/e-mail everyone you know. Tell them how much it would mean to you if they vote on Tuesday. If they don't know where to vote, help them find their polling place.
2. Contact MoveOn.org ASAP. They will connect you to the folks who need you to make calls.
3. Contact your local Democratic Party headquarters. There are close races in nearly every state. They'll put you to work -- on the ground or on the phones. Or go to the local HQ for the Dem candidate running for the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate and say, "Put me to work!"
OK, turn off the computer -- and I will, too. There's serious work to do. The good news? There's more of us than there are of them. Let's prove that, once and for all.
Is there anything more important that you have to do today? Nothing less than the rest of the world is depending on us.
Yours,
Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
posted the blog entry. Thought I'd share it with you anyway. I like
Michael Moore.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friends,
Tomorrow night, those who sent 2,800 of our soldiers to their deaths -- all because of a lie the president concocted -- will find out if America chooses to reward them -- or remove them.
As good as things look for the Democrats, do not pop the corks and start the partying yet. Do not believe for a second that the Republicans plan on losing. They will fight like dogs for the next 24 hours -- relentless, unforgiving, nonstop action to squeeze every last conservative voter out of the house on election day. While the rest of us go about our day today, tens of thousands of Republican volunteers are knocking on doors, making phone calls, and lining up rides to the polls. They're not sleeping, they're not eating, they're not even watching Fox News. A day without Fox News? That's right, that's how insanely dedicated they are.
But the reason they have to work so hard is that, before they can get the vote out, they first have to completely turn around the massive public opinion against them. Almost 60% disapprove of Bush. Over 60% are opposed to the war. Those are landslide numbers. And the American people are not going to turn pro-war or into Bush-lovers by tomorrow morning. So it should be easy for us, right?
Yup. Just like it was when we won the popular vote in 2000 and when we were ahead in the exit polls all day long in 2004. You know the deal -- the other side takes no prisoners. And just when it seems like things are going our way, the Republicans suddenly, mysteriously win the election.
Well, it's not really that mysterious. They're out there busting their asses this very minute, right down the street from you. What are YOU doing? You're on a computer reading my cranky letter! Stop reading this! We have only a few hours left to wrestle control of the Congress away from these "representatives" who, if returned, will continue shipping our young men and women over there to die.
Here's what I'm imploring you to do right now:
1. Go through your address book on your cell phone and computer and call/e-mail everyone you know. Tell them how much it would mean to you if they vote on Tuesday. If they don't know where to vote, help them find their polling place.
2. Contact MoveOn.org ASAP. They will connect you to the folks who need you to make calls.
3. Contact your local Democratic Party headquarters. There are close races in nearly every state. They'll put you to work -- on the ground or on the phones. Or go to the local HQ for the Dem candidate running for the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate and say, "Put me to work!"
OK, turn off the computer -- and I will, too. There's serious work to do. The good news? There's more of us than there are of them. Let's prove that, once and for all.
Is there anything more important that you have to do today? Nothing less than the rest of the world is depending on us.
Yours,
Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
Monday, November 06, 2006
Remember me telling you about my cousin last month, the one that got shot?
Well, this morning his woman had their baby, a boy. That's her second child, both boys, both with my cousin. He's got so many kids with so many different women I have trouble getting the count right.
This baby's mama, she is something else, and I mean it in a really good way. I hate to have to put it like this but she is much too good for my cousin.
She's young, 22, to my cousin's 35. She's pretty and smart and has a heart as big as Texas. She stayed here at my house for a week a while back, her and her first baby, a sweet little guy of 13 monthes. You know how sometimes it's really awkward and uncomfortable to have house guests, especially when you don't know them very well? She was a pleasure to have around the house.
Her Mom came and got her about two weeks ago and took her back home. Home is out in the middle of the midwest, in corn country. I was sorry to see her go because she and the baby were so much fun to have around, but it's better for them, I do believe, to be back with her people and away from my no good cousin.
If I were a betting woman I would place a wager that she is going to raise her children to be fine people. Assets to this world. People we all will be proud to say we know. It's going to be hard work, raising children isn't easy, but if anyone can do it, she can. My money is on her.
Tawny
Well, this morning his woman had their baby, a boy. That's her second child, both boys, both with my cousin. He's got so many kids with so many different women I have trouble getting the count right.
This baby's mama, she is something else, and I mean it in a really good way. I hate to have to put it like this but she is much too good for my cousin.
She's young, 22, to my cousin's 35. She's pretty and smart and has a heart as big as Texas. She stayed here at my house for a week a while back, her and her first baby, a sweet little guy of 13 monthes. You know how sometimes it's really awkward and uncomfortable to have house guests, especially when you don't know them very well? She was a pleasure to have around the house.
Her Mom came and got her about two weeks ago and took her back home. Home is out in the middle of the midwest, in corn country. I was sorry to see her go because she and the baby were so much fun to have around, but it's better for them, I do believe, to be back with her people and away from my no good cousin.
If I were a betting woman I would place a wager that she is going to raise her children to be fine people. Assets to this world. People we all will be proud to say we know. It's going to be hard work, raising children isn't easy, but if anyone can do it, she can. My money is on her.
Tawny
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Were you glued to the tube today overdosing on football games? I thought that might be why I didn't hear from you (smile).
The only tv I watched was at 10pm, HBO, The Wire. That show is so good!
Too bad HBO doesn't have a special channel where all they show are their own series, you know? They've got special HBO channels for everything else.
So who is your favorite character on the Wire? I like Omar. He played it so good that one episode a few weeks ago when he was in jail and the cop opened his door to let those two guys in. He didn't know who they were, he thought they'd come to kill him. He didn't pussy out and cry. He stood his ground, put his fists up and was ready to do battle to the end. When he realized his buddy sent them to help him you could see the relief all over his face. The actor who plays Omar should get an Emmy for that performance. He was great!
Tawny
The only tv I watched was at 10pm, HBO, The Wire. That show is so good!
Too bad HBO doesn't have a special channel where all they show are their own series, you know? They've got special HBO channels for everything else.
So who is your favorite character on the Wire? I like Omar. He played it so good that one episode a few weeks ago when he was in jail and the cop opened his door to let those two guys in. He didn't know who they were, he thought they'd come to kill him. He didn't pussy out and cry. He stood his ground, put his fists up and was ready to do battle to the end. When he realized his buddy sent them to help him you could see the relief all over his face. The actor who plays Omar should get an Emmy for that performance. He was great!
Tawny
Saturday, November 04, 2006
The last time I wrote something for the blog was a month ago. It seems to go like that for me. I write up a storm for a few monthes and then I fall silent. And as soon as something strikes my fancy, well, then I'm off and blogging again!
Are you receiving a lot of catalogs in the mail? I sure am. Everybody and their brother is pitching their wares for the December shopping rush.
One of the best I've received so far has been from The Wisconsin Cheeseman (www.wisconsincheeseman.com).
What I like about this catalog is they have a pretty good selection of beef sausages. All the other ones are pork pushers and since I don't eat pork, well, I never order from them.
So if you're looking for food gifts to send to your non-pork eating friends, this just may be the place for you. It looks promsing.
Tawny
Are you receiving a lot of catalogs in the mail? I sure am. Everybody and their brother is pitching their wares for the December shopping rush.
One of the best I've received so far has been from The Wisconsin Cheeseman (www.wisconsincheeseman.com).
What I like about this catalog is they have a pretty good selection of beef sausages. All the other ones are pork pushers and since I don't eat pork, well, I never order from them.
So if you're looking for food gifts to send to your non-pork eating friends, this just may be the place for you. It looks promsing.
Tawny
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Remember me writing a few monthes back about my cousin that got shot? He took two bullets, one in the arm and one in the leg. The crackheads that broke in and shot him intended to kill him. His arm deflected the shot that was meant for his stomach and, had the crackheads not been high, more than likely they would have put another one in him to finish him off.
The family hoped and prayed that this would be my cousin's wake-up call. He has seven children and a new one on the way any day now.
At first he said all the right things, got us all to thinking that his wild days were over with. But that must have just been the shock of the bullets and the what-if's running through his head.
Because he's back to living his old gangster/thug life. He talked all that talk about going back to school, finally learning how to read (he's 35), getting a job, getting out of the life...Now he's back to his 'job' as a pharmacuetical salesman, packing a pistol, and thugging it.
I don't know how many wake-up calls we're allotted, but I think when we get one we ought to heed it because it may be our last.
I hope and I pray that my cousin turns himself around before it's too late.
Just like I hope and I pray that all of us, each and every one of us, lives a good life and remembers that tomorrow is not promised to us.
Tawny
The family hoped and prayed that this would be my cousin's wake-up call. He has seven children and a new one on the way any day now.
At first he said all the right things, got us all to thinking that his wild days were over with. But that must have just been the shock of the bullets and the what-if's running through his head.
Because he's back to living his old gangster/thug life. He talked all that talk about going back to school, finally learning how to read (he's 35), getting a job, getting out of the life...Now he's back to his 'job' as a pharmacuetical salesman, packing a pistol, and thugging it.
I don't know how many wake-up calls we're allotted, but I think when we get one we ought to heed it because it may be our last.
I hope and I pray that my cousin turns himself around before it's too late.
Just like I hope and I pray that all of us, each and every one of us, lives a good life and remembers that tomorrow is not promised to us.
Tawny
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Today the weather was absolutely beautiful here in Farmington Hills, Michigan. It was sunny and warm and a perfect fall day. Kathleen (my cat) and I spent the bulk of the day out in the backyard, lolling about on the patio, reading (me), napping (Kathleen) and feeding peanuts to the squirrels and the BlueJays.
Odds are good that this was one of the last, if not the very last, warm day till next spring. As much as I love living where there are four distinctly different seasons, it grieves me to realize that for the next five monthes I won't be able to throw open the windows and air the house out, or go barefoot in the yard.
I'm going to miss interacting with the squirrels too. While I feed four of them regularly, one of them has become so tame that he walks right up to me to get his share of the peanuts, whereas the others want theirs in a pile over by the tree.
I guess I've got the end of summer blues.
Tawny
Odds are good that this was one of the last, if not the very last, warm day till next spring. As much as I love living where there are four distinctly different seasons, it grieves me to realize that for the next five monthes I won't be able to throw open the windows and air the house out, or go barefoot in the yard.
I'm going to miss interacting with the squirrels too. While I feed four of them regularly, one of them has become so tame that he walks right up to me to get his share of the peanuts, whereas the others want theirs in a pile over by the tree.
I guess I've got the end of summer blues.
Tawny
Monday, October 02, 2006
Are you familiar with Adrienne Torf? If not, she is a pianist. A very fine pianist. I have her newest cd, Brooklyn From The Roof, and it is absoutely wonderful. I'm sure there must be other places to purchase it, but I bought my copy at www.goldenrod.com. I don't think you'll be disappointed with her cd, the music is quite beautiful.
Tawny
Tawny
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
I think I may have mentioned this cute little Bavarian look-a-like town in central Michigan to you before, Frankenmuth (www.Frankenmuth.org) is it's name. It's a darling little town with all sorts of cute buildings that look like they should be nestled in the midst of the Swiss Alps.
Amongst it's many attractions, Frankenmuth boasts a humongous Christmas store, Bronners, where it's Christmas 365 days of the year. The store is truly huge and you will find Christmas decorations from all over the world, as well as those big display ones like you see at the local shopping mall.
Another thing that Frankenmuth is famous for is it's chicken dinners served homestyle. People drive from all around the state to partake, and have for over 50 years.
I was plannig to take a couple of days off a few weeks ago and head up to Frankenmuth for a little mini-vacation. Eat some chicken, shop at Birch Run, the outlet mall, etc. Rainy weather had me cancelling my plans.
Well, imagine my surprise last night when I saw on the local news that Frankenmuth has, for the past few weeks, been suffering from a nanovirus! Nanovirus is what those poor unfortunate cruise ship attendees have been known to come down with---vomiting, fever, diarhea, lifelong kidney problems in some cases, etc. Apparently the town didn't let the media know (until it slipped out) because they didn't want to affect tourism
I am so thankful that I didn't go to Frankenmuth like I'd wanted to.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
Amongst it's many attractions, Frankenmuth boasts a humongous Christmas store, Bronners, where it's Christmas 365 days of the year. The store is truly huge and you will find Christmas decorations from all over the world, as well as those big display ones like you see at the local shopping mall.
Another thing that Frankenmuth is famous for is it's chicken dinners served homestyle. People drive from all around the state to partake, and have for over 50 years.
I was plannig to take a couple of days off a few weeks ago and head up to Frankenmuth for a little mini-vacation. Eat some chicken, shop at Birch Run, the outlet mall, etc. Rainy weather had me cancelling my plans.
Well, imagine my surprise last night when I saw on the local news that Frankenmuth has, for the past few weeks, been suffering from a nanovirus! Nanovirus is what those poor unfortunate cruise ship attendees have been known to come down with---vomiting, fever, diarhea, lifelong kidney problems in some cases, etc. Apparently the town didn't let the media know (until it slipped out) because they didn't want to affect tourism
I am so thankful that I didn't go to Frankenmuth like I'd wanted to.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
If you can handle reading one more 9/11 article--this is one you won't want to miss.
It's from this week's MetroTimes (www.metrotimes.com).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What September 11 really meant
by Jack Lessenberry
9/13/2006
You've been sold a vast amount of nonsense about what the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 really meant. That is to say, why they happened, what caused them, how we should have reacted, and what really changed.
Like most empires in decline, we increasingly love anniversaries. This was the fifth, and unless you've been in a mineshaft in the Malagasy Republic, you can't help but have noticed that our politicians and media have been indulging in an orgy of wallowing in the memories of Sept. 11, 2001.
Every last relative of every last victim spent the week in grave danger of being dragged before some camera. Dubya desperately seized the opportunity to try to restore his plummeting popularity, visiting crash sites, wrapping himself in the flag, hoping people overlook the fact that he never managed to deliver on his promise to bring Osama bin Laden to justice.
Hoping, especially, that they wouldn't figure out that he has made the world a much more dangerous place for us, especially in the long run, than it was. He may be a divider and a dyslexic, but he ain't a quitter: Gamely, Bush minor tried once again to convince the folks that the insane war he plunged us into in Iraq is necessary and justified by his great mystical war on terror.
Alas, the polls show they increasingly ain't buying it. And humiliatingly, his fellow Republicans are starting to mostly avoid their president like the plague.
This is, after all, an election year, and President Bush is slightly less popular these days than Kaposi's sarcoma. When the Shrub showed up in Michigan last week, the only prominent GOPster who wanted to be near him was the man he was raising funds for, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, the underdog challenger to U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
Privately, Republicans think control of the House of Representatives is probably gone. One GOP congressman told me he expected a loss of 30 seats. For the first time, even losing the U.S. Senate is starting to seem a possibility.
Back, however, to Sept. 11 itself.
Five years after the terrorist attacks, the media, especially the broadcast media, and especially the cable news networks — went utterly bananas.
Documentary after documentary, interview after interview. The newspapers were more restrained, but still ground out vapid stories about the Day That Changed Everything. In one of the more bizarre of these, Mitch Albom even appeared to be channeling the corpse of Bob Talbert at his worst.
"We miss when toothpaste was not considered a weapon ... we miss simplicity," Mitch wept. Brush 'em anyway, big guy, and suit up.
There were major exceptions, such as Frank Rich's brilliant piece in Sunday's New York Times. And then there was the piece that did say it all.
That is the September/October Foreign Policy magazine cover story, "The Day Nothing Much Changed," written by its managing editor, William J. Dobson. In four illustrated pages there is more truth than you could find in four years of TV news. Dobson demonstrates "what is remarkable is how little the world has changed," since Sept. 10, 2001. "The forces of globalization continue unabated; indeed, if anything, they have accelerated. The issues of the day that we were debating on that morning in September are largely the same."
The global economy was little affected; the U.S. economy bounced back fast. Americans are now traveling abroad more often than they were in 2001. Our government is issuing the same numbers of student visas; letting in almost as many immigrants. As the newspaper headlines just before the towers fell indicate, our national preoccupations, stem cell research, Israel-Arab confrontations, worrying about Iran's nuclear capability — are much the same.
Yes, it was "theatrical terrorism of the worst kind." Nobody over the age of 6 or so on Sept. 11 will ever forget those images. Yet as Frank Rich noted, "the new normal lasted about 10 minutes, except in airport check-ins."
But there indeed was a day which changed everything — a day which we have now forgotten, didn't pay enough attention to at the time, and without which the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, could never have happened.
That day was Dec. 31, 1991.
For what happened on that day was far more significant. Quietly, without fanfare, the Soviet Union finished dissolving itself, going out of business and upsetting the world order that had existed since the end of World War II.
From that moment on, the United States was the sole superpower ... "and from that moment on, the world was out of balance — and it still is," Dobson, a lawyer and longtime journalist covering international relations, writes.
That is why the United States was a target — there was no other game in town. Prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, Osama bin Laden had been far more concerned with Moscow than with Washington. Then, in the 1990s, Osama and his al Qaeda tried to overthrow various Arab regimes in the Middle East.
Those efforts were all colossal failures. So, "unable to accomplish his objectives in the Arab world, Osama bin Laden plotted to strike at the faraway enemy, the United States ... the colossus that for decades had helped shore up the bedrock of Arab regimes," the editor added.
That is what happened on Sept. 11, 2001.
Today, the international system is even more out of whack than ever. There was one major effect of the terrorist attacks — a soaring Pentagon budget, a budget that was already huge before the first plane hit on that horrible day.
Before the towers fell, the United States spent as much on military stuff as the nations with the 14 next biggest military establishments — combined.
Last year, we outspent those countries by $116 billion. In part, that is due to our colossal failure of a war and occupation in Iraq, and to a lesser extent in Afghanistan.
Communism and dictatorship are ghastly things. But in terms of loss of life and sheer misery, Yugoslavia, for example, was far better off under Marshal Tito than in the wars and genocide that replaced Communism in the 1990s.
And it is perfectly clear that Iraq — and the United States — would have been better off had Saddam remained in power.
The biggest tragedy of Sept. 11 is that it gave a narrow, ignorant, accidental president an excuse to attack the wrong enemy in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some other president, including the one the people wanted to win the 2000 election, would have wiped out the Taliban, caught or killed the maniac bin Laden, and brought at least partial closure to the mess he began.
The tragedy, in the end, was far greater than the dead of the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Flight 93 tragedies. The tragedy was that when the attacks came, our country needed a statesman. What we got instead was a Bush.
Jack Lessenberry opines weekly for Metro Times. Contact him at letters@metrotimes.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tawny
It's from this week's MetroTimes (www.metrotimes.com).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What September 11 really meant
by Jack Lessenberry
9/13/2006
You've been sold a vast amount of nonsense about what the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 really meant. That is to say, why they happened, what caused them, how we should have reacted, and what really changed.
Like most empires in decline, we increasingly love anniversaries. This was the fifth, and unless you've been in a mineshaft in the Malagasy Republic, you can't help but have noticed that our politicians and media have been indulging in an orgy of wallowing in the memories of Sept. 11, 2001.
Every last relative of every last victim spent the week in grave danger of being dragged before some camera. Dubya desperately seized the opportunity to try to restore his plummeting popularity, visiting crash sites, wrapping himself in the flag, hoping people overlook the fact that he never managed to deliver on his promise to bring Osama bin Laden to justice.
Hoping, especially, that they wouldn't figure out that he has made the world a much more dangerous place for us, especially in the long run, than it was. He may be a divider and a dyslexic, but he ain't a quitter: Gamely, Bush minor tried once again to convince the folks that the insane war he plunged us into in Iraq is necessary and justified by his great mystical war on terror.
Alas, the polls show they increasingly ain't buying it. And humiliatingly, his fellow Republicans are starting to mostly avoid their president like the plague.
This is, after all, an election year, and President Bush is slightly less popular these days than Kaposi's sarcoma. When the Shrub showed up in Michigan last week, the only prominent GOPster who wanted to be near him was the man he was raising funds for, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, the underdog challenger to U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
Privately, Republicans think control of the House of Representatives is probably gone. One GOP congressman told me he expected a loss of 30 seats. For the first time, even losing the U.S. Senate is starting to seem a possibility.
Back, however, to Sept. 11 itself.
Five years after the terrorist attacks, the media, especially the broadcast media, and especially the cable news networks — went utterly bananas.
Documentary after documentary, interview after interview. The newspapers were more restrained, but still ground out vapid stories about the Day That Changed Everything. In one of the more bizarre of these, Mitch Albom even appeared to be channeling the corpse of Bob Talbert at his worst.
"We miss when toothpaste was not considered a weapon ... we miss simplicity," Mitch wept. Brush 'em anyway, big guy, and suit up.
There were major exceptions, such as Frank Rich's brilliant piece in Sunday's New York Times. And then there was the piece that did say it all.
That is the September/October Foreign Policy magazine cover story, "The Day Nothing Much Changed," written by its managing editor, William J. Dobson. In four illustrated pages there is more truth than you could find in four years of TV news. Dobson demonstrates "what is remarkable is how little the world has changed," since Sept. 10, 2001. "The forces of globalization continue unabated; indeed, if anything, they have accelerated. The issues of the day that we were debating on that morning in September are largely the same."
The global economy was little affected; the U.S. economy bounced back fast. Americans are now traveling abroad more often than they were in 2001. Our government is issuing the same numbers of student visas; letting in almost as many immigrants. As the newspaper headlines just before the towers fell indicate, our national preoccupations, stem cell research, Israel-Arab confrontations, worrying about Iran's nuclear capability — are much the same.
Yes, it was "theatrical terrorism of the worst kind." Nobody over the age of 6 or so on Sept. 11 will ever forget those images. Yet as Frank Rich noted, "the new normal lasted about 10 minutes, except in airport check-ins."
But there indeed was a day which changed everything — a day which we have now forgotten, didn't pay enough attention to at the time, and without which the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, could never have happened.
That day was Dec. 31, 1991.
For what happened on that day was far more significant. Quietly, without fanfare, the Soviet Union finished dissolving itself, going out of business and upsetting the world order that had existed since the end of World War II.
From that moment on, the United States was the sole superpower ... "and from that moment on, the world was out of balance — and it still is," Dobson, a lawyer and longtime journalist covering international relations, writes.
That is why the United States was a target — there was no other game in town. Prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, Osama bin Laden had been far more concerned with Moscow than with Washington. Then, in the 1990s, Osama and his al Qaeda tried to overthrow various Arab regimes in the Middle East.
Those efforts were all colossal failures. So, "unable to accomplish his objectives in the Arab world, Osama bin Laden plotted to strike at the faraway enemy, the United States ... the colossus that for decades had helped shore up the bedrock of Arab regimes," the editor added.
That is what happened on Sept. 11, 2001.
Today, the international system is even more out of whack than ever. There was one major effect of the terrorist attacks — a soaring Pentagon budget, a budget that was already huge before the first plane hit on that horrible day.
Before the towers fell, the United States spent as much on military stuff as the nations with the 14 next biggest military establishments — combined.
Last year, we outspent those countries by $116 billion. In part, that is due to our colossal failure of a war and occupation in Iraq, and to a lesser extent in Afghanistan.
Communism and dictatorship are ghastly things. But in terms of loss of life and sheer misery, Yugoslavia, for example, was far better off under Marshal Tito than in the wars and genocide that replaced Communism in the 1990s.
And it is perfectly clear that Iraq — and the United States — would have been better off had Saddam remained in power.
The biggest tragedy of Sept. 11 is that it gave a narrow, ignorant, accidental president an excuse to attack the wrong enemy in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some other president, including the one the people wanted to win the 2000 election, would have wiped out the Taliban, caught or killed the maniac bin Laden, and brought at least partial closure to the mess he began.
The tragedy, in the end, was far greater than the dead of the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Flight 93 tragedies. The tragedy was that when the attacks came, our country needed a statesman. What we got instead was a Bush.
Jack Lessenberry opines weekly for Metro Times. Contact him at letters@metrotimes.com.
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Tawny
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Monday, September 11, 2006
Sunday, September 10, 2006
This week's issue of the Metro Times, the free alternative weekly newspaper of the metro Detroit area, has a very interesting article that I think you should read. Normally I would cut 'n paste this article into my blog but this time you'r going to have to go their site to read it.
It's the lead story for this issue, In Her Son's Name. This is the story of a woman whose son was killed in the 9/11 bombing(s) and her attempt to come to an understanding of that day.
www.metrotimes.com
You won't be disappointed.
Tawny
It's the lead story for this issue, In Her Son's Name. This is the story of a woman whose son was killed in the 9/11 bombing(s) and her attempt to come to an understanding of that day.
www.metrotimes.com
You won't be disappointed.
Tawny
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Seems like just about every year I get an end of the summer cold. This year it hit me the week before last. I had the sneeze, the cough, the fever and I hated it. And, for the better part of a week, I was unable to work because I sounded really awful.
Well, I am pleased as punch to announce that I am almost 100% recoverd!
All that's left is the cough and even that is almost gone.
Life is good again!
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Well, I am pleased as punch to announce that I am almost 100% recoverd!
All that's left is the cough and even that is almost gone.
Life is good again!
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
I've received a few emails and phone calls regarding yesterday's blog post. Comments have ranged from 'shame on you, where's your compassion?' to 'what you said, that's the truth'.
Now the difference here with me, as opposed to those national celebrity types, is that I don't give a hoot if you agree with me or not. If you do, swell. If you don't, swell.
In my book, and that's what counts to me, as long as I tell the truth then I'm doing the right thing. The truth may not be pretty, the truth may not be pleasant, truth is what it is.
New Orleans, and all the other areas of the USA that were beat down by the hurricanes of last year, those places need to be rebuilt. Those people who had their whole lives destroyed and all of their possessions ripped from them, those folks need help. They are US citizens, taxpayers, childen of the one God, and they deserve to be aided and assisted by us, we the people, the government of the USA.
Do you realize that we--the USA--are spending billions, that's right, billions of dollars per month bombing the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan?
According to the Congressional Research Service, in 2004 we spent $5.5 billion per month on military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. And in 2005, we spent $7.5 billion per month. And so far in 2006, we're spending $9.5 billion per month.
Add it up, I can't, my brain can't grasp spending that kind of money on death and destruction.
If the US can spend that kind of money to kill, why can't it spend that kind of money to rebuild the towns and lives of those folks in the hurricane ravaged areas?
If the US can spend that kind of money to kill overseas, why can't they use the funds instead to provide jobs, healthcare, decent educations, etc.for our citizens?
And don't, whatever you do, do not tell me that we're spending billions and billions in Iraq and Afghanistan to preserve democracy in the US because I'll laugh so hard at you and your ignorance that I'll end up wetting my pants.
Look at the money, no matter where it's coming from, that's going to be spent on a monument to the dead of 9/11.
What better monument to those who have died than to help those who are alive.
Instead of getting our panties in a twist over the "sacred ground"/hole in the ground where the twin towers once stood, let's put that money and that energy into helping those who are still alive and who are in need. Let's stop worshiping the dead and do something for the living.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Now the difference here with me, as opposed to those national celebrity types, is that I don't give a hoot if you agree with me or not. If you do, swell. If you don't, swell.
In my book, and that's what counts to me, as long as I tell the truth then I'm doing the right thing. The truth may not be pretty, the truth may not be pleasant, truth is what it is.
New Orleans, and all the other areas of the USA that were beat down by the hurricanes of last year, those places need to be rebuilt. Those people who had their whole lives destroyed and all of their possessions ripped from them, those folks need help. They are US citizens, taxpayers, childen of the one God, and they deserve to be aided and assisted by us, we the people, the government of the USA.
Do you realize that we--the USA--are spending billions, that's right, billions of dollars per month bombing the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan?
According to the Congressional Research Service, in 2004 we spent $5.5 billion per month on military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. And in 2005, we spent $7.5 billion per month. And so far in 2006, we're spending $9.5 billion per month.
Add it up, I can't, my brain can't grasp spending that kind of money on death and destruction.
If the US can spend that kind of money to kill, why can't it spend that kind of money to rebuild the towns and lives of those folks in the hurricane ravaged areas?
If the US can spend that kind of money to kill overseas, why can't they use the funds instead to provide jobs, healthcare, decent educations, etc.for our citizens?
And don't, whatever you do, do not tell me that we're spending billions and billions in Iraq and Afghanistan to preserve democracy in the US because I'll laugh so hard at you and your ignorance that I'll end up wetting my pants.
Look at the money, no matter where it's coming from, that's going to be spent on a monument to the dead of 9/11.
What better monument to those who have died than to help those who are alive.
Instead of getting our panties in a twist over the "sacred ground"/hole in the ground where the twin towers once stood, let's put that money and that energy into helping those who are still alive and who are in need. Let's stop worshiping the dead and do something for the living.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Monday, August 28, 2006
Yesterday, while watching one of the many cable news network talk shows, I heard one of the hosts--Tim Russert, maybe, middleaged white man with dark hair (yeah, like that really narrowed it down!)--getting after the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, regarding some remarks he'd made a few days earlier.
Now here's where you had better sit yourself down and get a grip because odds are good I'm going to offend the hell out of some folks with what I'm saying next.
Mayor Nagin had referred to the site of the 9/11 bombing in New York as a "hole in the ground". I believe it was in the context of New Orleans was a city that needed to be rebuilt and that site in New York was a hole in the ground, but don't quote me. Google it for yourself.
So the uproar was Nagin saying it was a hole in the ground, while the official term appears to be "sacred ground".
Nagin took a whole lot of heat for his remark. And, in fact, treaded water when called on it by the host of yesterday's show.
What gets me is this: Why is that spot of ground in New York city considered sacred ground? Because people died there? Is that it?
Then out in Oklahoma where that bombing took place, that's sacred ground too, right? And in Colorado, at Columbine high school, that's sacred ground, right? And in Philadelphia, where the government bombed the hell out of MOVE, that's sacred ground, right?
And in Lebanon, where the Israelis have bombed the shit out of te area and hundreds have died. And in Iraq, from one end of the country to the other, sacred ground.
And New Orleans, and all of the other cities and towns that were hit by the hurricans last year and their citizens died, sacred ground.
And every other spot of ground on this entire earth, all of it must be sacred ground because in all of the gazillion years that the earth has been populated odds are good that someone(s) died on every square inch of the planet.
It's a damn shame that what happened on 9/11 happened. Undeniably.
But that spot of land is no more sacred than any other spot of land on this earth.
And that's a fact.
Tawny
tawnfyord@webtv.net
Now here's where you had better sit yourself down and get a grip because odds are good I'm going to offend the hell out of some folks with what I'm saying next.
Mayor Nagin had referred to the site of the 9/11 bombing in New York as a "hole in the ground". I believe it was in the context of New Orleans was a city that needed to be rebuilt and that site in New York was a hole in the ground, but don't quote me. Google it for yourself.
So the uproar was Nagin saying it was a hole in the ground, while the official term appears to be "sacred ground".
Nagin took a whole lot of heat for his remark. And, in fact, treaded water when called on it by the host of yesterday's show.
What gets me is this: Why is that spot of ground in New York city considered sacred ground? Because people died there? Is that it?
Then out in Oklahoma where that bombing took place, that's sacred ground too, right? And in Colorado, at Columbine high school, that's sacred ground, right? And in Philadelphia, where the government bombed the hell out of MOVE, that's sacred ground, right?
And in Lebanon, where the Israelis have bombed the shit out of te area and hundreds have died. And in Iraq, from one end of the country to the other, sacred ground.
And New Orleans, and all of the other cities and towns that were hit by the hurricans last year and their citizens died, sacred ground.
And every other spot of ground on this entire earth, all of it must be sacred ground because in all of the gazillion years that the earth has been populated odds are good that someone(s) died on every square inch of the planet.
It's a damn shame that what happened on 9/11 happened. Undeniably.
But that spot of land is no more sacred than any other spot of land on this earth.
And that's a fact.
Tawny
tawnfyord@webtv.net
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Okay, gear heads, who's coming to the metro Detroit area this week for the Woodward Dream Cruise? (www.woodwarddreamcruise.com)
While the Dream Cruise is officially this coming Saturday, the 19th, from 9a to 9p, fact is, cruisers began arriving this past weekend.
If you don't know what the Cruise is, check out the website. And if you do know, check it out anyway, there's always something else to learn about it.
In a nutshell, the Woodward Dream Cruise was this little local car event conceived to raise money for a charity. It became so popular with the baby boomers and car afficionados that, well, now it's this huge corporate sponsored event that draws a gazllion people from all over the world.
Perhaps I'll see you there.
Tawny
While the Dream Cruise is officially this coming Saturday, the 19th, from 9a to 9p, fact is, cruisers began arriving this past weekend.
If you don't know what the Cruise is, check out the website. And if you do know, check it out anyway, there's always something else to learn about it.
In a nutshell, the Woodward Dream Cruise was this little local car event conceived to raise money for a charity. It became so popular with the baby boomers and car afficionados that, well, now it's this huge corporate sponsored event that draws a gazllion people from all over the world.
Perhaps I'll see you there.
Tawny
Sunday, August 13, 2006
I'm betting that unless you have a wife or a live-in girlfriend you never get your hands on a copy of Woman's World. I never buy it, but I like to thumb through it while I'm waiting in the check-out line at the grocery store. This past week it got me--there was an article 'Best-ever s'mores! Make 'em in your microwave!'--and I tossed the magazine onto the conveyor belt. If there's one thing I love it's s'mores!
Since that issue is mine, I own it now, I started looking through the whole thing, page by page, and found some good stuff to share with you:
http://space.about.com/library/weekly/biskymaps.htm
Download a free sky map at this site to help you locate stars and constellations.
www.goalsetting1.com
People worldwide post their goals and track them online.
www.couponcabin.com
www.couponmountain.com
Every Moday online sites like the two above ome out with new coupons + promotions which can save you up to 50% at online stores.
------
Contests-Enter to try and win:
www.foxhome.com/ww
An HDTV.
www.collegebedlofts.com/ww.html
A loft bed.
www.vitabath.com
A vitabath gift basket.
www.clubmom.com
A Dodge Durango.
www.mortongirlsweepstakes.com
$10,00 grand prize.
----
www.K7.net
You'll get your own phone number that folks can use to leave you voicemails or send you faxes, and they get automatically emailed to you for free.
www.telefip.com
Send an email from your computer to any cellphone for free.
www.gotvoice.com
Save important voicemail to email and share it with family + friends for
free.
www.freeconference.com
You can create a free conference call for 24 of your friends + loved ones. You pay only what your phone company charges for the call.
800-FREE-411
800-411-METRO
Get free directory assistance from any phone.
If you're interested in the recipes, well, you're going to have to buy your own copy!
hugs, Tawny
Since that issue is mine, I own it now, I started looking through the whole thing, page by page, and found some good stuff to share with you:
http://space.about.com/library/weekly/biskymaps.htm
Download a free sky map at this site to help you locate stars and constellations.
www.goalsetting1.com
People worldwide post their goals and track them online.
www.couponcabin.com
www.couponmountain.com
Every Moday online sites like the two above ome out with new coupons + promotions which can save you up to 50% at online stores.
------
Contests-Enter to try and win:
www.foxhome.com/ww
An HDTV.
www.collegebedlofts.com/ww.html
A loft bed.
www.vitabath.com
A vitabath gift basket.
www.clubmom.com
A Dodge Durango.
www.mortongirlsweepstakes.com
$10,00 grand prize.
----
www.K7.net
You'll get your own phone number that folks can use to leave you voicemails or send you faxes, and they get automatically emailed to you for free.
www.telefip.com
Send an email from your computer to any cellphone for free.
www.gotvoice.com
Save important voicemail to email and share it with family + friends for
free.
www.freeconference.com
You can create a free conference call for 24 of your friends + loved ones. You pay only what your phone company charges for the call.
800-FREE-411
800-411-METRO
Get free directory assistance from any phone.
If you're interested in the recipes, well, you're going to have to buy your own copy!
hugs, Tawny
Thursday, August 10, 2006
I know I've suggested, at least a few times, that you should read Juan Cole's blog. In case you've been too busy, or too lazy, or whatever......here's his entry from yesterday. It comes to you fom the pages of the Metro Times (www.metrotimes.com).
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Perilous times
Lebanon’s strife and the danger to U.S. forces in Iraq
by Juan Cole
8/9/2006
Editor's note: While many pundits paint Middle Eastern conflicts in broad strokes, University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole, on his blog Informed Comment, is more of a pointillist, offering analysis steeped in detail. This piece, which examines how the fighting in Lebanon could affect the U.S. position in Iraq, is a prime example of the importance he places on nuances that others often overlook.
The U.S. punditocracy and ruling elite is fixated on Hizbullah as a "terrorist group" even though the organization hasn't engaged in international terror against American civilians in many years. What they forget about Hizbullah is that it is also a Shiite religious party, and that that is how it is perceived for the most part by Iraqi Shiites. Some 45 percent of Lebanese are probably Shiites.
The other thing to remember is that the United States is now a Shiite power in part, insofar as it semi-rules a Shiite-majority country, Iraq.
The Associated Press last week carried the story that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani [the most senior Shia cleric in Iraq] has demanded an immediate cease-fire in Israel's war on Lebanon, in the wake of the Qana massacre:
"Islamic nations will not forgive the entities that hinder a cease-fire," al-Sistani said in a clear reference to the United States.
"It is not possible to stand helpless in front of this Israeli aggression on Lebanon,'' he added. "If an immediate cease-fire in this Israeli aggression is not imposed, dire consequences will befall the region.''
Sistani had earlier condemned Israeli air raids on Lebanon but had confined himself to ordering the Iraqi Shiite religious establishment to provide aid to victims of the war in Lebanon.
Sistani's statements of early Monday morning (which are not yet reflected at his Web site in Arabic) go substantially beyond his earlier statement.
Several questions arise: 1) Why is Sistani speaking like this? 2) What can he do about it all? and 3) What are the possible consequences if he turns anti-American in practice, not just in rhetoric, as in the past?
Sistani is taking such a hard line on this issue not only because he feels strongly about it (his fatwa against the Jenin operation of 2002 was vehement) but also because he is in danger of being outflanked by Muqtada al-Sadr. Sadr's Mahdi Army is said to be "boiling" over the Israeli war on Hizbullah, since, after all, the Sadrists are also fundamentalist Shiites and they identify with the Lebanese Hizbullah. There have already been big demonstrations in Baghdad against the Israeli attacks, to which Sadrists flocked but probably also other Shiites.
Sistani cannot allow Muqtada to monopolize this issue, or the young cleric's legitimacy will grow among the angry Shiite masses at the expense of Sistani's.
Sistani is not linked to Hizbullah, which is strongly Khomeinist in orientation. Sistani largely rejects Khomeinism [government ruled by Islamic clerics]. He told an Iraqi acquaintance of mine, "Even if I must be wiped out, I will not allow Iraq to repeat the Iranian experience." When Sistani had his heart problems in summer 2004, he flew to London via Beirut. He stopped in Beirut for several hours, and Nabih Berri came out to the airport to consult with him. Berri is the speaker of the Lebanese parliament and the leader of the Amal Party. Amal is the party of the secularizing, moderate Lebanese Shiites. It was more militant in the 1980s but it mellowed.
So Sistani's political ties in Lebanon go to Amal much more than to Hizbullah. Sistani has many followers or "emulators" (muqallidun) among the Lebanese Shiites, though the hardcore Hizbullahis tend to follow Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei of Iran instead. Some Lebanese Shiites follow the Lebanese grand ayatollah, Husain Fadlullah.
Note that Amal is allied with Hizbullah in parliament, and some Amal fighters have been killed in clashes with Israelis in the deep south. Amal abandoned its paramilitary during the 1990s, but seems to have kept some units active down near the Israeli border.
So Berri would have been in a position to implore Sistani to intervene. Sistani is hoping for something like a moderate Amal party to coalesce in Iraq and would want to help Berri any way he could.
Sistani has issued a warning to the United States. He wants Bush to intervene to arrange a cease-fire, i.e. the cessation of Israeli air raids on Lebanon in general.
What could he do if he were ignored? Sistani could call massive anti-U.S. and anti-Israel demonstrations. Given Iraq's profound political instability, this development could be extremely dangerous. U.S. troops in Baghdad and elsewhere are planning offensives against Shiite paramilitary groups, so tensions are likely to rise in the Shiite areas anyway. But big demonstrations could easily boil over into actual attacks on U.S. and British troops. Both depend heavily on fuel that is transported through the Shiite south. Were the Shiites actively to turn on the United States for its wholehearted support of continued Israeli air raids, the U.S. military could be cut off from fuel and supplies. The British only have around 8,000 troops in Iraq, and they would be in profound danger if Iraq's Shiites became militantly anti-occupation.
Since the Israeli treatment of Arabs is an issue on which Sunnis and Shiites agree, there is also a possibility that Sistani could finally get some respect from the Sunni community if he led such a campaign. That development would be more dangerous to the continued U.S. military presence in Iraq than any other I can think of.
The United States is already not winning against a Sunni Arab insurgency, backed by around 5 million Iraqis. If 16 million Shiites turned on the United States because of its wholehearted support for Israel's actions in Lebanon, the U.S. military mission in Iraq could quickly become completely and urgently untenable. In this case, the British troops in particular would be lucky to escape the country with their lives.
Sistani does not issue threats lightly, and he has repeatedly shown a willingness to back them up with action. Bush and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad will ignore him to their peril.
Other views
If anyone wonders why the UN has rendered itself worse than irrelevant in the Arab-Israeli conflict, all he or she need do is read UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's July 20 statement. Annan goes to great pains to suggest equal fault and moral equivalence between the rockets of Hezbollah and Hamas that specifically target innocent civilians and the self-defense efforts by Israel, which tries desperately, though not always successfully, to avoid causing civilian casualties. In his statement, Annan never condemns, or even mentions, terrorism, which is a root cause and precipitator of the conflict. ... Annan knows better than to suggest a moral equivalence. He is fully aware of the tactic employed by terrorists of launching their rockets from, and hiding behind, civilian shields, so as to make democracies have to kill some civilians to get at the terrorists.
... If a space alien from a distant planet were to land at the UN, he would come away with the impression that Israel is not only the sole offender in the Middle East, but the worst offender in the entire world. He would single out Israel for condemnation and exclude it from membership on many UN bodies, on which Syria, Lebanon and Iran serve in positions of honor.
—Alan M. Dershowitz,,Harvard Law School professor, defense attorney and author, JewishWorldReview.com
It is inarguable that Israel has a right to defend itself against attacks on its citizens, but it is inhumane and counterproductive to punish civilian populations in the illogical hope that somehow they will blame Hamas and Hezbollah for provoking the devastating response. The result instead has been that broad Arab and worldwide support has been rallied for these groups, while condemnation of both Israel and the United States has intensified.
—Jimmy Carter,former U.S. president,The Washington Post op-ed
Before he launched his democracy project, Bush was warned that free elections would advance the fortunes of Islamic militants. At his insistence, the elections were held. Results:
In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood won 60 percent of the seats it contested. Hezbollah swept south Lebanon. Hamas recorded a stunning victory on the West Bank and Gaza. These were the freest and fairest elections ever held in those nations. But Bush refused to engage the winners.
The painful truth is that, in the Middle East, democracy will produce, as it does in the West, two dominant parties. One will be a state party, and the other is going to be a party rooted in the Islamic faith.
Time to recognize reality — and stop isolating America.
—Pat Buchanan,syndicated conservative newspaper columnist, former Nixon speechwriter
This could produce a thousand new bin Ladens. The level of anger and frustration in the Arab world is extremely dangerous. It could easily turn toward the United States, which is blindly supporting Israel.
—Diaa Rashwan,a leading expert on militants at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, quoted in Newsday
The Israeli government's brutal retaliation against Palestinian civilians constitutes a form of collective punishment specifically prohibited by several international treaties and regulations. As Marjorie Cohn, president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild and U.S. representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists, has indicated, collective punishment violates Article 50 of the Hague Regulations and is also prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Is there a way out of this present escalation of violence that threatens to engulf the whole Middle East? There is, but it requires a balanced outside intervention that is presently lacking, particularly by the U.S., which has maintained its unwavering support for the actions carried out by the Israeli government.
Peace now is as elusive as ever in the Middle East. And it will continue to be so as long as innocent civilians, on both sides, are made to be pawns in a larger political game.
—Dr. César Chelal,international public-health consultant who writes extensively on public health and human-rights issues, The Seattle Times
What is most extraordinary in this story is that the Israelis, although the best informed in their region, should have made the same error in Lebanon as the Americans in Iraq: underestimating the terrorist tactics of their adversaries and planning to replace a bad government with men to their liking, thanks to handy opponents.
Especially, like the Americans at the time of the war in Iraq, they didn't bother with the Lebanese because they thought that they, out of fear of Hezbollah and respect for strength, would want only to unite with a victorious Israel.
Some Israelis fear today, rightly, that Hezbollah will appear to emerge victorious from no matter what international arrangement. You would have to be blind, in fact, not to recognize that a certain Hezbollah victory is already gained and that the threat today is the tipping over of the entire moderate Arab world: The Sunni rallying to the Shiite Hezbollah fight heralds the promotion of its Iranian sponsor to the status of a great regional power.
—Jean Daniel,co-founder and director of the Nouvel Observateur, a Paris-based newsweekly that covers political, business and economic issues
It's an amazing figure: Almost 15,000 shells were fired by the Israeli armed forces in the last six weeks. Not on Lebanon, but in the Gaza strip. The number of Palestinians killed in that period is close to 300. No wonder Palestinian leaders are screaming for a halt to the "aggression" and feeling forgotten by the world as the war in Lebanon keeps moving from one "worst attack thus far" to yet another even worse assault.
But the Palestinians will have one thing to celebrate as the Lebanon war nears its final act of violence. On the diplomatic front, they might be the winners of this war, or, at least, the main beneficiary. And this achievement, more than many others, reflects Israel's failure to win the propaganda battle with its enemies.
—Shmuel Rosnerchief U.S. correspondent for the Israeli paper Haaretz, Slate
Hizbullah is proving to be something altogether new, an Arab guerrilla army with sophisticated weaponry and remarkable discipline. Its soldiers have the jihadist rhetoric of fighting to the death, but wear body armor and use satcoms to coordinate their attacks. Their tactics may be from Che, but their arms are from Iran, and not just AK-47s and RPGs. They've reportedly destroyed three of Israel's advanced Merkava tanks with wire-guided missiles and powerful mines, crippled an Israeli warship with a surface-to-sea missile, sent up drones on reconnaissance missions, implanted listening devices along the border and set up their ambushes using night-vision goggles.
Newsweek has learned from a source briefed in recent weeks by Israel's top leaders and military brass that Hizbullah even managed to eavesdrop successfully on Israel's military communications as its Lebanese incursion began.
—Kevin Peraino, Babak Dehghanpisheh and Christopher Dickey, staff writers in Newsweek
The invasion itself is a serious breach of international law, and major war crimes are being committed as it proceeds. There is no legal justification.
The "moral justification" is supposed to be that capturing soldiers in a cross-border raid, and killing others, is an outrageous crime. We know, for certain, that Israel, the United States and other Western governments, as well as the mainstream of articulate Western opinion, do not believe a word of that. Sufficient evidence is their tolerance for many years of U.S.-backed Israeli crimes in Lebanon, including four invasions before this one, occupation in violation of Security Council orders for 22 years, and regular killings and abductions
To mention just one question that every journal should be answering: When did [Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan] Nasrallah assume a leadership role? Answer: When the Rabin government escalated its crimes in Lebanon, murdering Sheikh Abbas Mussawi and his wife and child with missiles fired from a U.S. helicopter. Nasrallah was chosen as his successor. Only one of innumerable cases. There is, after all, a good reason why last February, 70 percent of Lebanese called for the capture of Israeli soldiers for prisoner exchange
—Noam ChomskyMIT linguistics professors and leftist intellectual, interview with Global Interfaith Peace
Send comments to letters@metrotimes.com. Juan Cole’s blog, Informed Comment, can be found at juancole.com.
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Perilous times
Lebanon’s strife and the danger to U.S. forces in Iraq
by Juan Cole
8/9/2006
Editor's note: While many pundits paint Middle Eastern conflicts in broad strokes, University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole, on his blog Informed Comment, is more of a pointillist, offering analysis steeped in detail. This piece, which examines how the fighting in Lebanon could affect the U.S. position in Iraq, is a prime example of the importance he places on nuances that others often overlook.
The U.S. punditocracy and ruling elite is fixated on Hizbullah as a "terrorist group" even though the organization hasn't engaged in international terror against American civilians in many years. What they forget about Hizbullah is that it is also a Shiite religious party, and that that is how it is perceived for the most part by Iraqi Shiites. Some 45 percent of Lebanese are probably Shiites.
The other thing to remember is that the United States is now a Shiite power in part, insofar as it semi-rules a Shiite-majority country, Iraq.
The Associated Press last week carried the story that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani [the most senior Shia cleric in Iraq] has demanded an immediate cease-fire in Israel's war on Lebanon, in the wake of the Qana massacre:
"Islamic nations will not forgive the entities that hinder a cease-fire," al-Sistani said in a clear reference to the United States.
"It is not possible to stand helpless in front of this Israeli aggression on Lebanon,'' he added. "If an immediate cease-fire in this Israeli aggression is not imposed, dire consequences will befall the region.''
Sistani had earlier condemned Israeli air raids on Lebanon but had confined himself to ordering the Iraqi Shiite religious establishment to provide aid to victims of the war in Lebanon.
Sistani's statements of early Monday morning (which are not yet reflected at his Web site in Arabic) go substantially beyond his earlier statement.
Several questions arise: 1) Why is Sistani speaking like this? 2) What can he do about it all? and 3) What are the possible consequences if he turns anti-American in practice, not just in rhetoric, as in the past?
Sistani is taking such a hard line on this issue not only because he feels strongly about it (his fatwa against the Jenin operation of 2002 was vehement) but also because he is in danger of being outflanked by Muqtada al-Sadr. Sadr's Mahdi Army is said to be "boiling" over the Israeli war on Hizbullah, since, after all, the Sadrists are also fundamentalist Shiites and they identify with the Lebanese Hizbullah. There have already been big demonstrations in Baghdad against the Israeli attacks, to which Sadrists flocked but probably also other Shiites.
Sistani cannot allow Muqtada to monopolize this issue, or the young cleric's legitimacy will grow among the angry Shiite masses at the expense of Sistani's.
Sistani is not linked to Hizbullah, which is strongly Khomeinist in orientation. Sistani largely rejects Khomeinism [government ruled by Islamic clerics]. He told an Iraqi acquaintance of mine, "Even if I must be wiped out, I will not allow Iraq to repeat the Iranian experience." When Sistani had his heart problems in summer 2004, he flew to London via Beirut. He stopped in Beirut for several hours, and Nabih Berri came out to the airport to consult with him. Berri is the speaker of the Lebanese parliament and the leader of the Amal Party. Amal is the party of the secularizing, moderate Lebanese Shiites. It was more militant in the 1980s but it mellowed.
So Sistani's political ties in Lebanon go to Amal much more than to Hizbullah. Sistani has many followers or "emulators" (muqallidun) among the Lebanese Shiites, though the hardcore Hizbullahis tend to follow Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei of Iran instead. Some Lebanese Shiites follow the Lebanese grand ayatollah, Husain Fadlullah.
Note that Amal is allied with Hizbullah in parliament, and some Amal fighters have been killed in clashes with Israelis in the deep south. Amal abandoned its paramilitary during the 1990s, but seems to have kept some units active down near the Israeli border.
So Berri would have been in a position to implore Sistani to intervene. Sistani is hoping for something like a moderate Amal party to coalesce in Iraq and would want to help Berri any way he could.
Sistani has issued a warning to the United States. He wants Bush to intervene to arrange a cease-fire, i.e. the cessation of Israeli air raids on Lebanon in general.
What could he do if he were ignored? Sistani could call massive anti-U.S. and anti-Israel demonstrations. Given Iraq's profound political instability, this development could be extremely dangerous. U.S. troops in Baghdad and elsewhere are planning offensives against Shiite paramilitary groups, so tensions are likely to rise in the Shiite areas anyway. But big demonstrations could easily boil over into actual attacks on U.S. and British troops. Both depend heavily on fuel that is transported through the Shiite south. Were the Shiites actively to turn on the United States for its wholehearted support of continued Israeli air raids, the U.S. military could be cut off from fuel and supplies. The British only have around 8,000 troops in Iraq, and they would be in profound danger if Iraq's Shiites became militantly anti-occupation.
Since the Israeli treatment of Arabs is an issue on which Sunnis and Shiites agree, there is also a possibility that Sistani could finally get some respect from the Sunni community if he led such a campaign. That development would be more dangerous to the continued U.S. military presence in Iraq than any other I can think of.
The United States is already not winning against a Sunni Arab insurgency, backed by around 5 million Iraqis. If 16 million Shiites turned on the United States because of its wholehearted support for Israel's actions in Lebanon, the U.S. military mission in Iraq could quickly become completely and urgently untenable. In this case, the British troops in particular would be lucky to escape the country with their lives.
Sistani does not issue threats lightly, and he has repeatedly shown a willingness to back them up with action. Bush and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad will ignore him to their peril.
Other views
If anyone wonders why the UN has rendered itself worse than irrelevant in the Arab-Israeli conflict, all he or she need do is read UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's July 20 statement. Annan goes to great pains to suggest equal fault and moral equivalence between the rockets of Hezbollah and Hamas that specifically target innocent civilians and the self-defense efforts by Israel, which tries desperately, though not always successfully, to avoid causing civilian casualties. In his statement, Annan never condemns, or even mentions, terrorism, which is a root cause and precipitator of the conflict. ... Annan knows better than to suggest a moral equivalence. He is fully aware of the tactic employed by terrorists of launching their rockets from, and hiding behind, civilian shields, so as to make democracies have to kill some civilians to get at the terrorists.
... If a space alien from a distant planet were to land at the UN, he would come away with the impression that Israel is not only the sole offender in the Middle East, but the worst offender in the entire world. He would single out Israel for condemnation and exclude it from membership on many UN bodies, on which Syria, Lebanon and Iran serve in positions of honor.
—Alan M. Dershowitz,,Harvard Law School professor, defense attorney and author, JewishWorldReview.com
It is inarguable that Israel has a right to defend itself against attacks on its citizens, but it is inhumane and counterproductive to punish civilian populations in the illogical hope that somehow they will blame Hamas and Hezbollah for provoking the devastating response. The result instead has been that broad Arab and worldwide support has been rallied for these groups, while condemnation of both Israel and the United States has intensified.
—Jimmy Carter,former U.S. president,The Washington Post op-ed
Before he launched his democracy project, Bush was warned that free elections would advance the fortunes of Islamic militants. At his insistence, the elections were held. Results:
In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood won 60 percent of the seats it contested. Hezbollah swept south Lebanon. Hamas recorded a stunning victory on the West Bank and Gaza. These were the freest and fairest elections ever held in those nations. But Bush refused to engage the winners.
The painful truth is that, in the Middle East, democracy will produce, as it does in the West, two dominant parties. One will be a state party, and the other is going to be a party rooted in the Islamic faith.
Time to recognize reality — and stop isolating America.
—Pat Buchanan,syndicated conservative newspaper columnist, former Nixon speechwriter
This could produce a thousand new bin Ladens. The level of anger and frustration in the Arab world is extremely dangerous. It could easily turn toward the United States, which is blindly supporting Israel.
—Diaa Rashwan,a leading expert on militants at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, quoted in Newsday
The Israeli government's brutal retaliation against Palestinian civilians constitutes a form of collective punishment specifically prohibited by several international treaties and regulations. As Marjorie Cohn, president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild and U.S. representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists, has indicated, collective punishment violates Article 50 of the Hague Regulations and is also prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Is there a way out of this present escalation of violence that threatens to engulf the whole Middle East? There is, but it requires a balanced outside intervention that is presently lacking, particularly by the U.S., which has maintained its unwavering support for the actions carried out by the Israeli government.
Peace now is as elusive as ever in the Middle East. And it will continue to be so as long as innocent civilians, on both sides, are made to be pawns in a larger political game.
—Dr. César Chelal,international public-health consultant who writes extensively on public health and human-rights issues, The Seattle Times
What is most extraordinary in this story is that the Israelis, although the best informed in their region, should have made the same error in Lebanon as the Americans in Iraq: underestimating the terrorist tactics of their adversaries and planning to replace a bad government with men to their liking, thanks to handy opponents.
Especially, like the Americans at the time of the war in Iraq, they didn't bother with the Lebanese because they thought that they, out of fear of Hezbollah and respect for strength, would want only to unite with a victorious Israel.
Some Israelis fear today, rightly, that Hezbollah will appear to emerge victorious from no matter what international arrangement. You would have to be blind, in fact, not to recognize that a certain Hezbollah victory is already gained and that the threat today is the tipping over of the entire moderate Arab world: The Sunni rallying to the Shiite Hezbollah fight heralds the promotion of its Iranian sponsor to the status of a great regional power.
—Jean Daniel,co-founder and director of the Nouvel Observateur, a Paris-based newsweekly that covers political, business and economic issues
It's an amazing figure: Almost 15,000 shells were fired by the Israeli armed forces in the last six weeks. Not on Lebanon, but in the Gaza strip. The number of Palestinians killed in that period is close to 300. No wonder Palestinian leaders are screaming for a halt to the "aggression" and feeling forgotten by the world as the war in Lebanon keeps moving from one "worst attack thus far" to yet another even worse assault.
But the Palestinians will have one thing to celebrate as the Lebanon war nears its final act of violence. On the diplomatic front, they might be the winners of this war, or, at least, the main beneficiary. And this achievement, more than many others, reflects Israel's failure to win the propaganda battle with its enemies.
—Shmuel Rosnerchief U.S. correspondent for the Israeli paper Haaretz, Slate
Hizbullah is proving to be something altogether new, an Arab guerrilla army with sophisticated weaponry and remarkable discipline. Its soldiers have the jihadist rhetoric of fighting to the death, but wear body armor and use satcoms to coordinate their attacks. Their tactics may be from Che, but their arms are from Iran, and not just AK-47s and RPGs. They've reportedly destroyed three of Israel's advanced Merkava tanks with wire-guided missiles and powerful mines, crippled an Israeli warship with a surface-to-sea missile, sent up drones on reconnaissance missions, implanted listening devices along the border and set up their ambushes using night-vision goggles.
Newsweek has learned from a source briefed in recent weeks by Israel's top leaders and military brass that Hizbullah even managed to eavesdrop successfully on Israel's military communications as its Lebanese incursion began.
—Kevin Peraino, Babak Dehghanpisheh and Christopher Dickey, staff writers in Newsweek
The invasion itself is a serious breach of international law, and major war crimes are being committed as it proceeds. There is no legal justification.
The "moral justification" is supposed to be that capturing soldiers in a cross-border raid, and killing others, is an outrageous crime. We know, for certain, that Israel, the United States and other Western governments, as well as the mainstream of articulate Western opinion, do not believe a word of that. Sufficient evidence is their tolerance for many years of U.S.-backed Israeli crimes in Lebanon, including four invasions before this one, occupation in violation of Security Council orders for 22 years, and regular killings and abductions
To mention just one question that every journal should be answering: When did [Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan] Nasrallah assume a leadership role? Answer: When the Rabin government escalated its crimes in Lebanon, murdering Sheikh Abbas Mussawi and his wife and child with missiles fired from a U.S. helicopter. Nasrallah was chosen as his successor. Only one of innumerable cases. There is, after all, a good reason why last February, 70 percent of Lebanese called for the capture of Israeli soldiers for prisoner exchange
—Noam ChomskyMIT linguistics professors and leftist intellectual, interview with Global Interfaith Peace
Send comments to letters@metrotimes.com. Juan Cole’s blog, Informed Comment, can be found at juancole.com.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
I've been quiet for a little over a week, no new posts at all. The horrendously hot weather, the wars, just too much going on for me to make sense of anything.
But today I found this in my email mail box from Michael Moore and I want to share it with you.
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Friends,
Let the resounding defeat of Senator Joe Lieberman send a cold shiver down the spine of every Democrat who supported the invasion of Iraq and who continues to support, in any way, this senseless, immoral, unwinnable war. Make no mistake about it: We, the majority of Americans, want this war ended -- and we will actively work to defeat each and every one of you who does not support an immediate end to this war.
Nearly every Democrat set to run for president in 2008 is responsible for this war. They voted for it or they supported it. That single, stupid decision has cost us 2,592 American lives and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives. Lieberman and Company made a colossal mistake -- and we are going to make sure they pay for that mistake. Payback time started last night.
I realize that there are those like Kerry and Edwards who have now changed their position and are strongly anti-war. Perhaps that switch will be enough for some to support them. For others, like me -- while I'm glad they've seen the light -- their massive error in judgment is, sadly, proof that they are not fit for the job. They sided with Bush, and for that, they may never enter the promised land.
To Hillary, our first best hope for a woman to become president, I cannot for the life of me figure out why you continue to support Bush and his war. I'm sure someone has advised you that a woman can't be elected unless she proves she can kick ass just as crazy as any man. I'm here to tell you that you will never make it through the Democratic primaries unless you start now by strongly opposing the war. It is your only hope. You and Joe have been Bush's biggest Democratic supporters of the war. Last night's voter revolt took place just a few miles from your home in Chappaqua. Did you hear the noise? Can you read the writing on the wall?
To every Democratic Senator and Congressman who continues to back Bush's War, allow me to inform you that your days in elective office are now numbered. Myself and tens of millions of citizens are going to work hard to actively remove you from any position of power.
If you don't believe us, give Joe a call.
Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com
P.S. Republicans -- sorry to leave you out of this letter. It's just that our side has a little housecleaning to do. We'll take care of you this November.
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hugs, Tawny
But today I found this in my email mail box from Michael Moore and I want to share it with you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friends,
Let the resounding defeat of Senator Joe Lieberman send a cold shiver down the spine of every Democrat who supported the invasion of Iraq and who continues to support, in any way, this senseless, immoral, unwinnable war. Make no mistake about it: We, the majority of Americans, want this war ended -- and we will actively work to defeat each and every one of you who does not support an immediate end to this war.
Nearly every Democrat set to run for president in 2008 is responsible for this war. They voted for it or they supported it. That single, stupid decision has cost us 2,592 American lives and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives. Lieberman and Company made a colossal mistake -- and we are going to make sure they pay for that mistake. Payback time started last night.
I realize that there are those like Kerry and Edwards who have now changed their position and are strongly anti-war. Perhaps that switch will be enough for some to support them. For others, like me -- while I'm glad they've seen the light -- their massive error in judgment is, sadly, proof that they are not fit for the job. They sided with Bush, and for that, they may never enter the promised land.
To Hillary, our first best hope for a woman to become president, I cannot for the life of me figure out why you continue to support Bush and his war. I'm sure someone has advised you that a woman can't be elected unless she proves she can kick ass just as crazy as any man. I'm here to tell you that you will never make it through the Democratic primaries unless you start now by strongly opposing the war. It is your only hope. You and Joe have been Bush's biggest Democratic supporters of the war. Last night's voter revolt took place just a few miles from your home in Chappaqua. Did you hear the noise? Can you read the writing on the wall?
To every Democratic Senator and Congressman who continues to back Bush's War, allow me to inform you that your days in elective office are now numbered. Myself and tens of millions of citizens are going to work hard to actively remove you from any position of power.
If you don't believe us, give Joe a call.
Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com
P.S. Republicans -- sorry to leave you out of this letter. It's just that our side has a little housecleaning to do. We'll take care of you this November.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
Monday, July 31, 2006
The other day I gave you some links to check out but, knowing how I am, sometimes I mean to check out sites and then, what? I guess I just get lazy and never do it. So I'm guessing that maybe you get like that too sometimes.
So.......here's the information from one of the links. It's worth a read.
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Theology Thursdays: Where are the Christians? by Pat Buchanan
When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert unleashed his navy and air force on Lebanon, accusing that tiny nation of an "act of war," the last pillar of Bush's Middle East policy collapsed.
First came capitulation on the Bush Doctrine, as Pyongyang and Tehran defied Bush's dictum: The world's worst regimes will not be allowed to acquire the world's worst weapons. Then came suspension of the democracy crusade as Islamic militants exploited free elections to advance to power in Egypt, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Iraq and Iran.
Now Israel's rampage against a defenseless Lebanon -- smashing airport runways, fuel tanks, power plants, gas stations, lighthouses, bridges and roads -- has exposed Bush's folly in subcontracting U.S. policy out to Tel Aviv, making Israel the custodian of our interests in the Middle East.
Lebanon has a pro-American government, heretofore considered a shining example of his democracy crusade. Yet, asked in St. Petersburg if he would urge Israel to use restraint in its airstrikes, Bush sounded less like the leader of the free world than some bellicose city councilman from Brooklyn Heights.
Olmert seized upon Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers to unleash the IDF in a preplanned attack to make the Lebanese people suffer until the Lebanese government disarms Hezbollah, a task the Israeli army could not accomplish in 18 years of occupation.
Israel is doing the same to the Palestinians. To punish these people for the crime of electing Hamas, Olmert imposed an economic blockade of Gaza and the West Bank and withheld the $50 million in monthly tax and customs receipts due the Palestinians.
Then Israel instructed the U.S. to terminate all aid to the Palestinian Authority, though Bush himself had called for elections and the participation of Hamas. Our Crawford cowboy meekly complied.
The predictable result: Fatah and Hamas fell to fratricidal fighting and Hamas militants began launching rockets into Israel. Hamas then tunneled into Israel, killed two soldiers, captured one, took him back into Gaza and demanded a prisoner exchange.
Israel's response was to abduct half of the Palestinian Cabinet and parliament and blow up a $50 million U.S.-insured power plant. That cut off electricity for half a million Palestinians. Their food spoiled, their water could not be purified, and their families sweltered in the summer heat.
Let it be said: Israel has a right to defend herself, a right to counter-attack against Hezbollah and Hamas. But what Israel is doing is imposing deliberate suffering on civilians, to force them to do something they are powerless to do: disarm the gunmen among them. Such a policy violates international law and is un-American and un-Christian.
But where are the Christians? Why is Pope Benedict virtually alone among Christian leaders to have spoken out against what is being done to Lebanese Christians and Muslims?
When al-Qaida captured two U.S. soldiers and butchered them, the U.S. Army did not smash power plants across the Sunni Triangle. Why, then, is Bush not only silent but openly supportive when Israelis do this? Why are Democrats, too, silent when Israel pursues a policy of collective punishment of innocent peoples?
Israel appears determined to expand the Iraq war into Syria and Iran, and have America fight and finish all of Israel's enemies. That Tel Aviv is maneuvering us to fight its wars is understandable. That Americans are ignorant of, or complicit in, this is deplorable.
Who is whispering in Bush's ear? The same people who told him Iraq was maybe months away from an atom bomb, that an invasion would be a "cakewalk," that democracy would break out across the region, that Palestinians and Israelis would then sit down and make peace?
How much must America pay for the education of this man?
Pat Buchanan edits The American Conservative magazine.
Patrick J. Buchanan
Thursday, July 20, 2006
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Kind of scarey when Pat Buchannan makes sense, huh?
Tawny
So.......here's the information from one of the links. It's worth a read.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Theology Thursdays: Where are the Christians? by Pat Buchanan
When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert unleashed his navy and air force on Lebanon, accusing that tiny nation of an "act of war," the last pillar of Bush's Middle East policy collapsed.
First came capitulation on the Bush Doctrine, as Pyongyang and Tehran defied Bush's dictum: The world's worst regimes will not be allowed to acquire the world's worst weapons. Then came suspension of the democracy crusade as Islamic militants exploited free elections to advance to power in Egypt, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Iraq and Iran.
Now Israel's rampage against a defenseless Lebanon -- smashing airport runways, fuel tanks, power plants, gas stations, lighthouses, bridges and roads -- has exposed Bush's folly in subcontracting U.S. policy out to Tel Aviv, making Israel the custodian of our interests in the Middle East.
Lebanon has a pro-American government, heretofore considered a shining example of his democracy crusade. Yet, asked in St. Petersburg if he would urge Israel to use restraint in its airstrikes, Bush sounded less like the leader of the free world than some bellicose city councilman from Brooklyn Heights.
Olmert seized upon Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers to unleash the IDF in a preplanned attack to make the Lebanese people suffer until the Lebanese government disarms Hezbollah, a task the Israeli army could not accomplish in 18 years of occupation.
Israel is doing the same to the Palestinians. To punish these people for the crime of electing Hamas, Olmert imposed an economic blockade of Gaza and the West Bank and withheld the $50 million in monthly tax and customs receipts due the Palestinians.
Then Israel instructed the U.S. to terminate all aid to the Palestinian Authority, though Bush himself had called for elections and the participation of Hamas. Our Crawford cowboy meekly complied.
The predictable result: Fatah and Hamas fell to fratricidal fighting and Hamas militants began launching rockets into Israel. Hamas then tunneled into Israel, killed two soldiers, captured one, took him back into Gaza and demanded a prisoner exchange.
Israel's response was to abduct half of the Palestinian Cabinet and parliament and blow up a $50 million U.S.-insured power plant. That cut off electricity for half a million Palestinians. Their food spoiled, their water could not be purified, and their families sweltered in the summer heat.
Let it be said: Israel has a right to defend herself, a right to counter-attack against Hezbollah and Hamas. But what Israel is doing is imposing deliberate suffering on civilians, to force them to do something they are powerless to do: disarm the gunmen among them. Such a policy violates international law and is un-American and un-Christian.
But where are the Christians? Why is Pope Benedict virtually alone among Christian leaders to have spoken out against what is being done to Lebanese Christians and Muslims?
When al-Qaida captured two U.S. soldiers and butchered them, the U.S. Army did not smash power plants across the Sunni Triangle. Why, then, is Bush not only silent but openly supportive when Israelis do this? Why are Democrats, too, silent when Israel pursues a policy of collective punishment of innocent peoples?
Israel appears determined to expand the Iraq war into Syria and Iran, and have America fight and finish all of Israel's enemies. That Tel Aviv is maneuvering us to fight its wars is understandable. That Americans are ignorant of, or complicit in, this is deplorable.
Who is whispering in Bush's ear? The same people who told him Iraq was maybe months away from an atom bomb, that an invasion would be a "cakewalk," that democracy would break out across the region, that Palestinians and Israelis would then sit down and make peace?
How much must America pay for the education of this man?
Pat Buchanan edits The American Conservative magazine.
Patrick J. Buchanan
Thursday, July 20, 2006
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Kind of scarey when Pat Buchannan makes sense, huh?
Tawny
Sunday, July 30, 2006
I'm sure I've mentioned before that my all-time favorite siger is Holly Near. Odds are good you may have never heard of her. She's not on mainstream radio. Public radio, yes, sometimes. Mainstream never.
I want you to go to her website (www.hollynear.com). Then I want you to click on the link regarding opposing the wars.
Check out the links. You'll find some really informative stuff.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
I want you to go to her website (www.hollynear.com). Then I want you to click on the link regarding opposing the wars.
Check out the links. You'll find some really informative stuff.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Saturday, July 29, 2006
I don't know about you but I don't wear shoes much in the summer. I'm always barefoot. In and out of the house to the backyard, out front to fetch the mail, to the driveway to get something out of my truck, overto the neighbors house to deliver a message....no shoes for me. It feels good to be unencumbered by footwear.
Until I'm heading out to the store, or to the library, or somewhere you have to have shoes on. And I forget to put them on.
I can't tell you the number of times this summer I've gotten to town, crawled out of my truck, and realized OH NO! and back home I go to grab them.
It happened again today. This time I was a good ten miles from home when I realized something--my sandals--was missing.
So now I'm thinking an extra pair of shoes might not be a bad thing to have in my truck. Tucked behind my seat by the umbrella and my jacket. Just in case.
Tawny
Until I'm heading out to the store, or to the library, or somewhere you have to have shoes on. And I forget to put them on.
I can't tell you the number of times this summer I've gotten to town, crawled out of my truck, and realized OH NO! and back home I go to grab them.
It happened again today. This time I was a good ten miles from home when I realized something--my sandals--was missing.
So now I'm thinking an extra pair of shoes might not be a bad thing to have in my truck. Tucked behind my seat by the umbrella and my jacket. Just in case.
Tawny
Friday, July 28, 2006
This article is from this week's edition of the MetroTimes (www.metrotimes.com).
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Chicken Littles and voting rights
by Keith A. Owens
7/26/2006
Sometimes people forget.
When President Lyndon Johnson won passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it was because it had become painfully obvious by then that black Americans, particularly black Americans in the South, didn't stand a chance of being afforded the most basic and elemental American right — the right to vote — without heavy-handed assistance from the highest levels of government. Johnson, who had grown up dirt-poor in the Texas hill country, was good at being heavy-handed. Given his background it isn't exactly shocking that he had some racist attitudes of his own to wrestle with and overcome. But as someone who never forgot what poverty and degradation could do to a human being, he was probably better equipped than any president since to recognize what those ills could do to the nation.
After the Civil War, African-Americans in the former Confederacy voted in record numbers. Naturally this made white folks nervous because they knew the power of the vote, and, with the withdrawal of federal troops in 1876, they set about putting black folk back in their place — as close to their former condition of slavery and as far from the ballot box as possible.
Poll taxes and literary tests were among the gentler barriers to keep blacks from voting; when those failed there were lynchings and other forms of violence.
Only after the civil rights movement of the 1960s did those barriers fall. Even with the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, years remained before black people could vote in the South without unreasonable fear of being harassed or intimidated. But vote they did, resulting in the election of record numbers of black officials.
Some might say those days of intimidation aren't over yet. Poll taxes, literacy tests and thugs at the polling place may be a thing of the past, but where there's a will there's a way. The powers that be can still try to disenfranchise black voters when they want to. For example, some Southern Republican legislators angrily protested that renewal of the Voting Rights Act unfairly punishes their states for long-remedied past crimes committed by folks who have long since left the scene. But Georgia offers proof that the so-called "New South" isn't necessarily as new as some would like to believe.
Renewal of the Voting Rights Act "is blatant discrimination ... and unconstitutional," Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., is quoted as saying in several news reports. "Georgia now outperforms the nation in every area of black voting — turnout, registration and the success rate of black candidates. Clearly, by all measurable standards, the injustices targeted under the Voting Rights Act have been remedied."
Well, we still have injustices to worry about.
Georgia passed a law last year that bars people from voting without government-issued photo identification, which causes far more problems for black — and elderly — voters in that state than for anyone else.
"According to census data, black Georgians are far less likely to have access to a car than white Georgians, so they are at a distinct disadvantage when driver's licenses have an important role in proving people's eligibility to vote," The New York Times countered in an editorial.
"Under the Voting Rights Act, Georgia's law must be cleared by the Justice Department before it can take effect," the Times contended. "There can be little doubt that the law would have 'the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race,' and it therefore must be rejected. But in the current Justice Department, there is a real danger that this decision will be based on politics rather than law.
"Georgia's new identification requirement is part of a nationwide drive to erect barriers at the polls. Indiana also recently passed a new photo-identification requirement, and several other states, including Ohio, are considering the addition of such requirements."
At the time of the editorial, the Justice Department was deciding whether Georgia's new law violated the Voting Rights Act. The department has since decided that it does not, and so the law stands. And, of course, we know that so-called voting "irregularities" were so pervasive during the 2000 presidential election in Florida that they may have cost Al Gore the presidency — and the disenfranchisement of black voters in the state had a lot to do with those "irregularities."
For example, in Florida's Gadsden County, which has the highest percentage of black voters in the state, one in eight votes cast during the 2000 election was never counted. Many voters wrote in "Al Gore," but the optical reading machines rejected them because "Al" was considered a "stray mark." In majority white Tallahassee, however, the vote spoilage was nearly nonexistent. In Tallahassee, voters placed their ballots directly into optical scanners, and if they added a stray mark, they were given another ballot with instructions showing how to correct it.
When Bush was re-elected in 2004, voting problems were documented in Ohio, though not quite so blatantly or extensively. And there is a troubling debate over whether that election was indeed stolen.
So two weeks ago, the House voted 390-33 to renew the Voting Rights Act, and without any of the troubling amendments pushed by some Republicans who ultimately backed down on a promised floor debate. And in the Senate, the bill passed 98-0 with President George Bush's promise to sign it.
The notion that the Voting Rights Act was imperiled and might expire in 2007 has been swirling around in the black civil rights community for years. Initially those who warned that the Congress could not be trusted to restore the act without considerable pressure were dismissed as being a little too paranoid. Of course Congress would renew it.
But just when it was starting to look like those folks could be written off as Chicken Littles, legislators like Norwood started exercising their lungs complaining that the act was unfair and needed to be altered. Then the Democrats — and supportive Republicans — started exercising their lungs saying that they wouldn't agree to any weakened version of the act. Suddenly the Chicken Littles were thrusting their chests out, pointing to the dispute as proof positive that African-Americans were on the verge of losing their right to vote.
So much for Chicken Little. The sky is still up there and black folks can still vote down here. Personally, I don't think the Voting Rights Act was ever in much danger. Only the craziest right-wing Republicans want to get saddled with trashing something like that, especially when the party is working overtime reaching out to black voters who feel the Democratic Party has been taking them for granted for too long. Hell, just last week Bush spoke to the NAACP for the first time since he became president. His speech went over like a lead balloon, but nothing compared to what would have happened if he had to stand in front of the nation's oldest civil rights organization trying to explain why his party figured it was time to scrap the Voting Rights Act.
But black folks in Gadsden County had their voting privileges messed with six years ago with the act in full force. The biggest threat to the black vote isn't Southern states itching to turn back the clock. The biggest threat is black folks who don't vote, and black folks who fail to realize we will always have to fight to protect that vote. I'm glad the Voting Rights Act is in the clear, but that hardly means we are.
Let's not forget this.
Keith A. Owens is a Detroit writer, editor and musician. Send comments to letters@metrotimes.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think all of this is sad, as well as incredibly pathetic. There shouldn't have to be a re-signing of the Voting Rights Acts. We should all have the right to vote, act or no act. For as far as this country has come, we still have a loooong way yet to go.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicken Littles and voting rights
by Keith A. Owens
7/26/2006
Sometimes people forget.
When President Lyndon Johnson won passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it was because it had become painfully obvious by then that black Americans, particularly black Americans in the South, didn't stand a chance of being afforded the most basic and elemental American right — the right to vote — without heavy-handed assistance from the highest levels of government. Johnson, who had grown up dirt-poor in the Texas hill country, was good at being heavy-handed. Given his background it isn't exactly shocking that he had some racist attitudes of his own to wrestle with and overcome. But as someone who never forgot what poverty and degradation could do to a human being, he was probably better equipped than any president since to recognize what those ills could do to the nation.
After the Civil War, African-Americans in the former Confederacy voted in record numbers. Naturally this made white folks nervous because they knew the power of the vote, and, with the withdrawal of federal troops in 1876, they set about putting black folk back in their place — as close to their former condition of slavery and as far from the ballot box as possible.
Poll taxes and literary tests were among the gentler barriers to keep blacks from voting; when those failed there were lynchings and other forms of violence.
Only after the civil rights movement of the 1960s did those barriers fall. Even with the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, years remained before black people could vote in the South without unreasonable fear of being harassed or intimidated. But vote they did, resulting in the election of record numbers of black officials.
Some might say those days of intimidation aren't over yet. Poll taxes, literacy tests and thugs at the polling place may be a thing of the past, but where there's a will there's a way. The powers that be can still try to disenfranchise black voters when they want to. For example, some Southern Republican legislators angrily protested that renewal of the Voting Rights Act unfairly punishes their states for long-remedied past crimes committed by folks who have long since left the scene. But Georgia offers proof that the so-called "New South" isn't necessarily as new as some would like to believe.
Renewal of the Voting Rights Act "is blatant discrimination ... and unconstitutional," Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., is quoted as saying in several news reports. "Georgia now outperforms the nation in every area of black voting — turnout, registration and the success rate of black candidates. Clearly, by all measurable standards, the injustices targeted under the Voting Rights Act have been remedied."
Well, we still have injustices to worry about.
Georgia passed a law last year that bars people from voting without government-issued photo identification, which causes far more problems for black — and elderly — voters in that state than for anyone else.
"According to census data, black Georgians are far less likely to have access to a car than white Georgians, so they are at a distinct disadvantage when driver's licenses have an important role in proving people's eligibility to vote," The New York Times countered in an editorial.
"Under the Voting Rights Act, Georgia's law must be cleared by the Justice Department before it can take effect," the Times contended. "There can be little doubt that the law would have 'the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race,' and it therefore must be rejected. But in the current Justice Department, there is a real danger that this decision will be based on politics rather than law.
"Georgia's new identification requirement is part of a nationwide drive to erect barriers at the polls. Indiana also recently passed a new photo-identification requirement, and several other states, including Ohio, are considering the addition of such requirements."
At the time of the editorial, the Justice Department was deciding whether Georgia's new law violated the Voting Rights Act. The department has since decided that it does not, and so the law stands. And, of course, we know that so-called voting "irregularities" were so pervasive during the 2000 presidential election in Florida that they may have cost Al Gore the presidency — and the disenfranchisement of black voters in the state had a lot to do with those "irregularities."
For example, in Florida's Gadsden County, which has the highest percentage of black voters in the state, one in eight votes cast during the 2000 election was never counted. Many voters wrote in "Al Gore," but the optical reading machines rejected them because "Al" was considered a "stray mark." In majority white Tallahassee, however, the vote spoilage was nearly nonexistent. In Tallahassee, voters placed their ballots directly into optical scanners, and if they added a stray mark, they were given another ballot with instructions showing how to correct it.
When Bush was re-elected in 2004, voting problems were documented in Ohio, though not quite so blatantly or extensively. And there is a troubling debate over whether that election was indeed stolen.
So two weeks ago, the House voted 390-33 to renew the Voting Rights Act, and without any of the troubling amendments pushed by some Republicans who ultimately backed down on a promised floor debate. And in the Senate, the bill passed 98-0 with President George Bush's promise to sign it.
The notion that the Voting Rights Act was imperiled and might expire in 2007 has been swirling around in the black civil rights community for years. Initially those who warned that the Congress could not be trusted to restore the act without considerable pressure were dismissed as being a little too paranoid. Of course Congress would renew it.
But just when it was starting to look like those folks could be written off as Chicken Littles, legislators like Norwood started exercising their lungs complaining that the act was unfair and needed to be altered. Then the Democrats — and supportive Republicans — started exercising their lungs saying that they wouldn't agree to any weakened version of the act. Suddenly the Chicken Littles were thrusting their chests out, pointing to the dispute as proof positive that African-Americans were on the verge of losing their right to vote.
So much for Chicken Little. The sky is still up there and black folks can still vote down here. Personally, I don't think the Voting Rights Act was ever in much danger. Only the craziest right-wing Republicans want to get saddled with trashing something like that, especially when the party is working overtime reaching out to black voters who feel the Democratic Party has been taking them for granted for too long. Hell, just last week Bush spoke to the NAACP for the first time since he became president. His speech went over like a lead balloon, but nothing compared to what would have happened if he had to stand in front of the nation's oldest civil rights organization trying to explain why his party figured it was time to scrap the Voting Rights Act.
But black folks in Gadsden County had their voting privileges messed with six years ago with the act in full force. The biggest threat to the black vote isn't Southern states itching to turn back the clock. The biggest threat is black folks who don't vote, and black folks who fail to realize we will always have to fight to protect that vote. I'm glad the Voting Rights Act is in the clear, but that hardly means we are.
Let's not forget this.
Keith A. Owens is a Detroit writer, editor and musician. Send comments to letters@metrotimes.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think all of this is sad, as well as incredibly pathetic. There shouldn't have to be a re-signing of the Voting Rights Acts. We should all have the right to vote, act or no act. For as far as this country has come, we still have a loooong way yet to go.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Are you watching the news on tv about the war between Israel and Lebanon? Are you following news accounts on the internet from foreign press sources?
If you're not, well, you should be.
Here are some links for you to check out:
This should look famiiar to you. It's what Israel did in 1993, and they're doing it again.
http://hrw.org/reports/1996/israel.htm
--
White phosphorous they used then
www.uruknet.info/?p=17629
--
White phosphorous now
www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/newsdesknst/0/OECB74B32C97055CC22571AD00526087
--
Israel is accused of using humanshields in Gaza.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5212870.stm
--
Israel ignored the fact that they were UN peacekeepers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/12/hi/middle_east/5217176.stm
--
If all you read is the American press and all you watch is the US tv news, well, then you're getting a skewered view of what's going on in the world. And that's a shame since you have access to the internet and numerous reliable foreign news sources.
hugs, Tawny
If you're not, well, you should be.
Here are some links for you to check out:
This should look famiiar to you. It's what Israel did in 1993, and they're doing it again.
http://hrw.org/reports/1996/israel.htm
--
White phosphorous they used then
www.uruknet.info/?p=17629
--
White phosphorous now
www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/newsdesknst/0/OECB74B32C97055CC22571AD00526087
--
Israel is accused of using humanshields in Gaza.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5212870.stm
--
Israel ignored the fact that they were UN peacekeepers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/12/hi/middle_east/5217176.stm
--
If all you read is the American press and all you watch is the US tv news, well, then you're getting a skewered view of what's going on in the world. And that's a shame since you have access to the internet and numerous reliable foreign news sources.
hugs, Tawny
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Found this interesting article in this week's edition of the MetroTimes (www.metrotimes.com) and thought you should read it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The biggest story in America today is one most people don't know much about, one which seriously threatens to destroy this nation.
And no, it is not the war in Iraq. That is only damaging our economy, killing tens of thousands and making enemies of much of the world.
What's much more dangerous to us at home is the vast transfer of the nation's wealth now going on. A transfer, that is, from the poor and the middle classes, not only to the rich but to the super-rich.
That's a story the mainstream media has indeed largely ignored. Last week an excellent, richly documented account of what is happening and why did appear — but only on the Internet. Even then, it was only available to an exclusive group of New York Times customers. That's a shame, because it needs to be read by everyone in this country. The article, "The Rise of the Super-Rich," was written by editorial board member Teresa Tritch, a longtime financial writer and bureau chief for Money Magazine before joining the Times.
"In the United States today, there's a new twist to the familiar plot," she says. "Income inequality used to be about rich versus poor, but now it's increasingly a matter of the ultra-rich versus everyone else."
What she then does is prove it, with a vast array of official statistics. The author is not some little left-wing theorist, but a hard-eyed analyst who understands the economy. What she shows is how the gap between rich and poor is widening, dangerously and catastrophically — as a direct result of the Bush administration's deliberate policies.
"In 2006, the average tax cut for households with incomes of more than $1 million — the top two-tenths of 1 percent — is $112,000, which works out to a boost of 5.7 percent in after-tax income."
The poorest one-fifth of us? They get three-tenths of 1 percent. That means, if you make $25,000 a year, you get another $75 or so. Meanwhile, you are going to lose way more than $75 worth of social services. As Tritch notes, "Earlier this year, President Bush signed into law a measure that will cut $99.3 billion over the next nine years from domestic programs like Medicaid and food stamps."
What this means is that the richest 1 percent of the population is getting richer — the people making at least $316,000 a year. Everybody else is treading water or worse.
Wonder why you don't seem to be doing any better even when the White House keeps talking about "the return of prosperity?" This is why: Back in 1989, the poorest half of the population had only 3 percent of all the nation's wealth.
Now, that's down to an even stingier 2.5 percent. Half the population, in other words, gets 97.5 percent of all the stuff. The rest get the sweat off the back of George Bush's faithful Christian hand.
But the real winners are the wealthiest 1 percent, who account for exactly a third of all the nation's net worth, a figure that is growing. Every year they get a little more of it; the rest of America, a little less.
That wasn't always the case. From 1947 to the 1970s, "all income groups shared in the nation's economic growth— and poor families actually had a higher growth rate in real annual income."
Unions helped then. But then that trend started to reverse — a pattern that is now continuing with a vengeance. And the policies of George W. Bush are guaranteed to keep things this way.
"The best-off Americans are not only winning by an extraordinary margin right now — they are the only ones winning at all," Tritch writes.
"President Bush has yet to acknowledge the true state of affairs ... but the growing income gap — and the rise of the super-rich — demands attention. It is making America a less fair society, and a less stable one."
Amen. Think about what that might mean, especially when that half of the population decides they no longer have any stake in this system.
Jack Lessenberry opines weekly for Metro Times. Send comments to letters@metrotimes.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The biggest story in America today is one most people don't know much about, one which seriously threatens to destroy this nation.
And no, it is not the war in Iraq. That is only damaging our economy, killing tens of thousands and making enemies of much of the world.
What's much more dangerous to us at home is the vast transfer of the nation's wealth now going on. A transfer, that is, from the poor and the middle classes, not only to the rich but to the super-rich.
That's a story the mainstream media has indeed largely ignored. Last week an excellent, richly documented account of what is happening and why did appear — but only on the Internet. Even then, it was only available to an exclusive group of New York Times customers. That's a shame, because it needs to be read by everyone in this country. The article, "The Rise of the Super-Rich," was written by editorial board member Teresa Tritch, a longtime financial writer and bureau chief for Money Magazine before joining the Times.
"In the United States today, there's a new twist to the familiar plot," she says. "Income inequality used to be about rich versus poor, but now it's increasingly a matter of the ultra-rich versus everyone else."
What she then does is prove it, with a vast array of official statistics. The author is not some little left-wing theorist, but a hard-eyed analyst who understands the economy. What she shows is how the gap between rich and poor is widening, dangerously and catastrophically — as a direct result of the Bush administration's deliberate policies.
"In 2006, the average tax cut for households with incomes of more than $1 million — the top two-tenths of 1 percent — is $112,000, which works out to a boost of 5.7 percent in after-tax income."
The poorest one-fifth of us? They get three-tenths of 1 percent. That means, if you make $25,000 a year, you get another $75 or so. Meanwhile, you are going to lose way more than $75 worth of social services. As Tritch notes, "Earlier this year, President Bush signed into law a measure that will cut $99.3 billion over the next nine years from domestic programs like Medicaid and food stamps."
What this means is that the richest 1 percent of the population is getting richer — the people making at least $316,000 a year. Everybody else is treading water or worse.
Wonder why you don't seem to be doing any better even when the White House keeps talking about "the return of prosperity?" This is why: Back in 1989, the poorest half of the population had only 3 percent of all the nation's wealth.
Now, that's down to an even stingier 2.5 percent. Half the population, in other words, gets 97.5 percent of all the stuff. The rest get the sweat off the back of George Bush's faithful Christian hand.
But the real winners are the wealthiest 1 percent, who account for exactly a third of all the nation's net worth, a figure that is growing. Every year they get a little more of it; the rest of America, a little less.
That wasn't always the case. From 1947 to the 1970s, "all income groups shared in the nation's economic growth— and poor families actually had a higher growth rate in real annual income."
Unions helped then. But then that trend started to reverse — a pattern that is now continuing with a vengeance. And the policies of George W. Bush are guaranteed to keep things this way.
"The best-off Americans are not only winning by an extraordinary margin right now — they are the only ones winning at all," Tritch writes.
"President Bush has yet to acknowledge the true state of affairs ... but the growing income gap — and the rise of the super-rich — demands attention. It is making America a less fair society, and a less stable one."
Amen. Think about what that might mean, especially when that half of the population decides they no longer have any stake in this system.
Jack Lessenberry opines weekly for Metro Times. Send comments to letters@metrotimes.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Don't dismiss this interesting information just because you may (or may not) have a problem with the source--The Final Call, Louis Farrakhan's publication.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FinalCall.com News: War in the Middle East
July, 2006
(FinalCall.com) - As of Sunday, July 23, 2006, the world watches as the 12th day of war in the 'Middle East' between Israel and Lebanon continues unabated and threatens to spill over into a possible regional and even world war. So far, the Lebanese health ministry has reported over 360 civilian deaths and over 500,000 displaced by Israeli bombing raids while Israeli officials have reported over 30 civilian and military deaths from retaliatory attacks by the Lebanese militia, Hezbollah.
The latest conflict began on July 12, 2006 when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers who were part of an Israeli unit that was ambushed after crossing the border into Lebanese territory. Hezbollah's stated goal for capturing the soldiers was to negotiate a prisoner swap with Israel which currently holds over 9,000 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Although Hezbollah and Israel had negotiated prisoner swaps in the past and according to Lebanese police officials, the Israeli soldiers were captured after crossing into Lebanese territory, the Israeli President, Ehud Omert declared that the incident was an "act of war" and promptly proceeded to implement what many observers believe to have been a well in advance preplanned war by ordering bombing raids on the entire infrastructure of Lebanon.
In an effort to deliver updated news as well as background information on various perspectives on the conflict, we are presenting a number of web links including articles, links to maps and Internet-based audio/video features.
Lebanon, with its Capital city Beirut, covers approxmiately 3,950 sqare miles and lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea north of Israel and west of Syria. It is four-fifths the size of Connecticut.
See map: http://www.finalcall.com/absolutenl/t.aspx?n=35&l=62
Lebanon's estimated population of 3.8 million people speak Arabic (official), French, English and Armenian. It is made up of 95% Arab, 4% Armenian and 1% other. Is main religions are 60% Muslim and 39% Christian.
News and Analysis
Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, its causes and consequences
Perspective by Dr. Abbas Bakhtiar
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2776.shtml
The two Israeli soldiers were captured after infiltrating Lebanon territory
http://www.finalcall.com/absolutenl/t.aspx?n=35&l=63
In U.S. Mainstream Media's eyes, not all casualties are equal
News analysis of America's 'mainstream' media coverage
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2785.shtml
Hillary Clinton and "anti-war" Democrats celebrate Israeli war crimes (WSWS)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jul2006/clin-j19.shtml
The U.S. Congress and the Israeli Attack on Lebanon: A Critical Reading
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3381
Patrick Buchanan: Where are the Christians?
http://www.blackelectorate.com/print_article.asp?ID=1692
Fact File: What is Hezbollah?
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/27EDF072-1581-48CE-812D-A34D7C89A333.htm
Audio/Video (Highly Reccomended Viewing)
Bypass the narrow one-sided reporting of MSNBC, FOX, CNN, NPR, BBC and conservative Talk Radio. Visit LinkTV for news from the Direct perspectives of Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Israel, etc.
(Requires QuickTime Media Player)
http://www.finalcall.com/absolutenl/t.aspx?n=35&l=64
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan Press Conference:
"Guidance to America and the World In a Time of Trouble"
http://www.finalcall.com/pressconference/
Related 'Middle East' Based Websites (English Versions)
Lebanon-based Future TV
http://www.futuretvnetwork.com/
Lebanon-based Dar Al-Hayat News
http://english.daralhayat.com/
Isreali-based News Service Haaretz
http://www.haaretz.com/
Iran-based News Service IRIB
http://www.irib.ir/worldservice/englishRADIO/
Syrian-based News Agency SANA
http://www.sana.org/index_eng.html
Lebanon based Al-Manar TV's English Website (Affiliated with Hezbollah)
http://www.almanar.com.lb/news.aspx?Language=en
Note: The U.S. Government has attempted to censor Al-Manar TV from the public therefore satellite transmission of the station is not easily available in America and its website is not always accessible.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FinalCall.com News: War in the Middle East
July, 2006
(FinalCall.com) - As of Sunday, July 23, 2006, the world watches as the 12th day of war in the 'Middle East' between Israel and Lebanon continues unabated and threatens to spill over into a possible regional and even world war. So far, the Lebanese health ministry has reported over 360 civilian deaths and over 500,000 displaced by Israeli bombing raids while Israeli officials have reported over 30 civilian and military deaths from retaliatory attacks by the Lebanese militia, Hezbollah.
The latest conflict began on July 12, 2006 when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers who were part of an Israeli unit that was ambushed after crossing the border into Lebanese territory. Hezbollah's stated goal for capturing the soldiers was to negotiate a prisoner swap with Israel which currently holds over 9,000 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Although Hezbollah and Israel had negotiated prisoner swaps in the past and according to Lebanese police officials, the Israeli soldiers were captured after crossing into Lebanese territory, the Israeli President, Ehud Omert declared that the incident was an "act of war" and promptly proceeded to implement what many observers believe to have been a well in advance preplanned war by ordering bombing raids on the entire infrastructure of Lebanon.
In an effort to deliver updated news as well as background information on various perspectives on the conflict, we are presenting a number of web links including articles, links to maps and Internet-based audio/video features.
Lebanon, with its Capital city Beirut, covers approxmiately 3,950 sqare miles and lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea north of Israel and west of Syria. It is four-fifths the size of Connecticut.
See map: http://www.finalcall.com/absolutenl/t.aspx?n=35&l=62
Lebanon's estimated population of 3.8 million people speak Arabic (official), French, English and Armenian. It is made up of 95% Arab, 4% Armenian and 1% other. Is main religions are 60% Muslim and 39% Christian.
News and Analysis
Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, its causes and consequences
Perspective by Dr. Abbas Bakhtiar
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2776.shtml
The two Israeli soldiers were captured after infiltrating Lebanon territory
http://www.finalcall.com/absolutenl/t.aspx?n=35&l=63
In U.S. Mainstream Media's eyes, not all casualties are equal
News analysis of America's 'mainstream' media coverage
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2785.shtml
Hillary Clinton and "anti-war" Democrats celebrate Israeli war crimes (WSWS)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/jul2006/clin-j19.shtml
The U.S. Congress and the Israeli Attack on Lebanon: A Critical Reading
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3381
Patrick Buchanan: Where are the Christians?
http://www.blackelectorate.com/print_article.asp?ID=1692
Fact File: What is Hezbollah?
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/27EDF072-1581-48CE-812D-A34D7C89A333.htm
Audio/Video (Highly Reccomended Viewing)
Bypass the narrow one-sided reporting of MSNBC, FOX, CNN, NPR, BBC and conservative Talk Radio. Visit LinkTV for news from the Direct perspectives of Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Israel, etc.
(Requires QuickTime Media Player)
http://www.finalcall.com/absolutenl/t.aspx?n=35&l=64
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan Press Conference:
"Guidance to America and the World In a Time of Trouble"
http://www.finalcall.com/pressconference/
Related 'Middle East' Based Websites (English Versions)
Lebanon-based Future TV
http://www.futuretvnetwork.com/
Lebanon-based Dar Al-Hayat News
http://english.daralhayat.com/
Isreali-based News Service Haaretz
http://www.haaretz.com/
Iran-based News Service IRIB
http://www.irib.ir/worldservice/englishRADIO/
Syrian-based News Agency SANA
http://www.sana.org/index_eng.html
Lebanon based Al-Manar TV's English Website (Affiliated with Hezbollah)
http://www.almanar.com.lb/news.aspx?Language=en
Note: The U.S. Government has attempted to censor Al-Manar TV from the public therefore satellite transmission of the station is not easily available in America and its website is not always accessible.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
Monday, July 24, 2006
Are you a parent? Are you living in the same household as your
child(ren)? Or are you divorced and required to pay child support? If
so, do you pay your child support?
I ask because there are numerous scoundrels (men and women) out there who
have been orderred by the courts to pay child support and they don't.
A friend of mine is 35 years old, married and the mother of four sons.
Her parents divorced back in the early 1970's. Her mother was given
custody of her. Her father was given visitation rights and orderred to
pay child support.
He told her mother that if she made him pay child support he would
'take' her child and she would never see her again. Preferring to starve
rather than run the risk of having her baby kidnapped by him, she never
pursued the support.
In the early years he was hauled in to court a few times for
non-payment, but only when someone down at the Friend of the Court
offices noticed he wasn't paying.
One time he asked the mother to come to court and tell the judge that
she didn't want his money, and she did, anything to keep him from
following through on his threat to kidnap her child. The judge told her
that she may not want the money but it was for her child and refused to
terminate the father's monetary obligation.
The only time they heard from him was when the courts were after him. He
never came to see their child. Never.
The last time the mother heard from her exhusband was when their child
was 18. He called and asked her to come to court, Friend of the Court
was after him again for nonpayment. He said he had fled the state to
avoid paying child support, only coming back now, 18 years later. He
said he didn't see why he "had to pay for some thing that happened 18
years ago". She refused to help him.
Three years ago, when her daughter was 32 years old, she read an article
in the newspaper about how the state was going after people who owed
child support.
She sat down and wrote the Friend of the Court a long letter. She said
she knew there were thousands of children who needed the support money
now, but if the office ever had a free minute.....and then she proceeded
to tell them how he had threatened her all those many years before and
that's why she never pursued the money that was rightfully owed to her
and her daughter.......
Six monthes later she got an envelope from the court with a copy of a
judgement levied against him for back owed child support! And then the
checks started coming in weekly!
It wasn't much money, but it was the principle.
Last year she received notice that the checks were going to stop because
the father was out of work and applying for SSI.
Come to find out he had quit his job and applied for social security
benefits in order to get out of paying child support (again).
Two days ago she received another child support check. Apparently he was
back to work and the court was after him again for back child support.
The whole point of this story is to let you know that your 'bill' for
child support isn't terminated/erased when your child turns 18. You owe
what you owe until you pay it off.
If you owe child support and you think you're being so cool by not
paying it, if you think it's all going to go away when he/she has their
eighteenth birthday--HAHAHA on you!
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
child(ren)? Or are you divorced and required to pay child support? If
so, do you pay your child support?
I ask because there are numerous scoundrels (men and women) out there who
have been orderred by the courts to pay child support and they don't.
A friend of mine is 35 years old, married and the mother of four sons.
Her parents divorced back in the early 1970's. Her mother was given
custody of her. Her father was given visitation rights and orderred to
pay child support.
He told her mother that if she made him pay child support he would
'take' her child and she would never see her again. Preferring to starve
rather than run the risk of having her baby kidnapped by him, she never
pursued the support.
In the early years he was hauled in to court a few times for
non-payment, but only when someone down at the Friend of the Court
offices noticed he wasn't paying.
One time he asked the mother to come to court and tell the judge that
she didn't want his money, and she did, anything to keep him from
following through on his threat to kidnap her child. The judge told her
that she may not want the money but it was for her child and refused to
terminate the father's monetary obligation.
The only time they heard from him was when the courts were after him. He
never came to see their child. Never.
The last time the mother heard from her exhusband was when their child
was 18. He called and asked her to come to court, Friend of the Court
was after him again for nonpayment. He said he had fled the state to
avoid paying child support, only coming back now, 18 years later. He
said he didn't see why he "had to pay for some thing that happened 18
years ago". She refused to help him.
Three years ago, when her daughter was 32 years old, she read an article
in the newspaper about how the state was going after people who owed
child support.
She sat down and wrote the Friend of the Court a long letter. She said
she knew there were thousands of children who needed the support money
now, but if the office ever had a free minute.....and then she proceeded
to tell them how he had threatened her all those many years before and
that's why she never pursued the money that was rightfully owed to her
and her daughter.......
Six monthes later she got an envelope from the court with a copy of a
judgement levied against him for back owed child support! And then the
checks started coming in weekly!
It wasn't much money, but it was the principle.
Last year she received notice that the checks were going to stop because
the father was out of work and applying for SSI.
Come to find out he had quit his job and applied for social security
benefits in order to get out of paying child support (again).
Two days ago she received another child support check. Apparently he was
back to work and the court was after him again for back child support.
The whole point of this story is to let you know that your 'bill' for
child support isn't terminated/erased when your child turns 18. You owe
what you owe until you pay it off.
If you owe child support and you think you're being so cool by not
paying it, if you think it's all going to go away when he/she has their
eighteenth birthday--HAHAHA on you!
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Sunday, July 23, 2006
If you called me any time last night from about 7:30pm until nearly midnight, well, I am really sorry I missed talking with you. I was in downtown Farmington at the Founders Festival. (www.foundersfestival.com) The festival is a yearly event to celebrate the town's heritage as the first Quaker settlement in Michigan.
There are a gazillion things to do at the week-long festival. One of my favorites is the Saturday night music in the downtown square.
I was in town in time to hear two bands: Tracy Maree + Robyn Lee, a country duo, and Funkeestation (www.fnkeestation.com), a jazz/Motown/R+B band. The country duo wasn't all that, but Funkeestation was great!
The sign of a good festival band is if they can get the crowd out of their seats and dancing. Funkeestation had people dancing their feet off!
If you have festivals in your town or your area, you should check them out. I have never had a bad time at a festival.
Tawny
There are a gazillion things to do at the week-long festival. One of my favorites is the Saturday night music in the downtown square.
I was in town in time to hear two bands: Tracy Maree + Robyn Lee, a country duo, and Funkeestation (www.fnkeestation.com), a jazz/Motown/R+B band. The country duo wasn't all that, but Funkeestation was great!
The sign of a good festival band is if they can get the crowd out of their seats and dancing. Funkeestation had people dancing their feet off!
If you have festivals in your town or your area, you should check them out. I have never had a bad time at a festival.
Tawny
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Friday, July 14, 2006
I can't remember if I ever told you about my Uncle Jamal. He's my second favorite uncle.
Uncle Jamal has always been the picture of health. Talk about a workhorse? His photo should be in the dictionary as part of the definition! If he wasn't working at a job, then he was working out. The man was always in motion.
And then he had a stroke.
Took everybody by surprise. The man had never been sick with more than a minor cold his entire life. Blood pressure was good, cholesterol too.
The stroke hit him hard. It affected his talking. It paralyzed one leg and one arm. The doctors didn't think he'd recover.
Uncle Jamal refused to believe the doctors. He pushed for physical rehab classes. And when he wasn't working at the rehab center as an out patient, he was walking, slowly and dragging his bad leg, around and around his daughter's backyard. From there he progressed to more rehab classes and to stair climbing. Not on a stair stepper, oh no. Uncle Jamal was walking flights of stairs at the communty center, still dragging his bad leg, still unable to use his paralyzed arm, but climbing up and down flights of stairs over and over and over again each day.
A few monthes ago Uncle Jamal went down south. He's staying in an itty bitty town, population maybe 300, and he's related to almost every single one of the town's residents. He's taking some new kind of rehab at a special place and he doesn't have to drag his leg anymore! It's working!
I guess what I'm trying to say here is--Don't give up! They told Uncle Jamal he was never going to get better. That he ought to just accept it and plan his life accordingly. They said he would be an invalid forever.
Uncle Jamal refused to accept that. He fought it. And he's making incredible progress.
Don't give up. Don't ever give up.
hugs, Tawny
Uncle Jamal has always been the picture of health. Talk about a workhorse? His photo should be in the dictionary as part of the definition! If he wasn't working at a job, then he was working out. The man was always in motion.
And then he had a stroke.
Took everybody by surprise. The man had never been sick with more than a minor cold his entire life. Blood pressure was good, cholesterol too.
The stroke hit him hard. It affected his talking. It paralyzed one leg and one arm. The doctors didn't think he'd recover.
Uncle Jamal refused to believe the doctors. He pushed for physical rehab classes. And when he wasn't working at the rehab center as an out patient, he was walking, slowly and dragging his bad leg, around and around his daughter's backyard. From there he progressed to more rehab classes and to stair climbing. Not on a stair stepper, oh no. Uncle Jamal was walking flights of stairs at the communty center, still dragging his bad leg, still unable to use his paralyzed arm, but climbing up and down flights of stairs over and over and over again each day.
A few monthes ago Uncle Jamal went down south. He's staying in an itty bitty town, population maybe 300, and he's related to almost every single one of the town's residents. He's taking some new kind of rehab at a special place and he doesn't have to drag his leg anymore! It's working!
I guess what I'm trying to say here is--Don't give up! They told Uncle Jamal he was never going to get better. That he ought to just accept it and plan his life accordingly. They said he would be an invalid forever.
Uncle Jamal refused to accept that. He fought it. And he's making incredible progress.
Don't give up. Don't ever give up.
hugs, Tawny
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