Capitol Hill Blue's Doug Thompson, Another Compelling Witness to George Allen's Enduring Racism

This is the most damaging claim yet. And it's written by one who once was a contractor for the Republican Congressional Campaign. Read the article here.
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/content/2006/09/george_allens_r.html

NIE-Jerk Reaction," Says the Olbermann in his 9/26/06 Headline

Olbermann got that right. The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), asserting that the War in Iraq is making us less safe, fell on unintelligent and unhearing ears. And "Condi" Rice ditto-headed the Bushspeak. Condi can't specify a single thing she actually did to prevent 9-11. Rice's dissembling before the 9-11 Commission and over and over, before and since, is shameful. And she and Rummy should go. For more on the NIE report, read here.

Note that the administration will only release four pages of the latest NIE. But as Scooter Libby testified in the Fitzgerald investigation, Bush didn't mind authorizing the illegal leak of a previous NIE to manipulate the case for war. Read about that here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/world/middleeast/24terror.html?ref=todayspaper
http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/0406nj1.htm

Horrendous Allen Behavior

Three former teammates at UVA and political analyst and Prof. Larry Sabato of UVA joined the fray, confirming that George Felix Allen, Jr., indeed has racist tendencies, reaching all the way back to college. But there's more. From The Nation, we read:

Sabato's assertion came on the heels of accusations by Dr. Ken Shelton, a radiologist who was a tight end and wide receiver for the University of Virginia in the early 1970s when Allen was quarterback. He said Allen not only used the n-word frequently but also once stuffed a severed deer head into a black family's mailbox.

Read more at TheNation.com

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=124719

Saying What Needs to Be Said: Bloggerman Does it Again!

Here's what Keith Olbermann's latest commentary said, in part:

It is not important that the current President’s portable public chorus has described his predecessor’s tone as “crazed.”

Our tone should be crazed. The nation’s freedoms are under assault by an administration whose policies can do us as much damage as al Qaida; the nation’s marketplace of ideas is being poisoned by a propaganda company so blatant that Tokyo Rose would’ve quit.

Nonetheless. The headline is this:

Bill Clinton did what almost none of us have done in five years.

He has spoken the truth about 9/11, and the current presidential administration." (Keith Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC, Sept 25, 2006)

Read the rest here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15004160/#storyContinued

As Arianna Says, "It's Not the Economy, Stupid"

Arianna Huffington at http://www.huffingtonpost.com says Democrats may actually be snatching defeat from the mouth of victory. They actually think we should run as if it were 1992 (DLC redux). When do they ever learn? There are quite a few more important issues than than the economy, however important it is.

We need a new direction in this country. We need a government that respects its people and those of the world community. He (or she) must behave as a leader should in dealings with the rest of the world. We need to retake the government from the culture of corruption that's dominated Washington these past six years. We must end wars being waged to enrich the friends of Bush.

George W. Bush has led us into unnecessary war by deceiving Americans. He's bungled the war in Iraq, destabilized the Middle East, egged on our adversaries with his combative language, undermined the economy, (against thw sihes of the people and Congress) set in place the beginnings of privatizing Social Security, put 400,000 more children below the poverty line, pushed more children off teh rolls of teh insured, and hampered education with the nonsensical "No Child Left Behind." He's cost us our reputation in the world, bullies Americans, acts as our thought police, and push's the "terror" button every time he needs a bump in his polling. He's justified torture. (Why could other presidents live within the Geneva Conventions?) It's time to send this guy home from Washington. It's about so much more than the economy.

Democrats poll better on the issue of the Iraq war and should poll better on security. To paraphrase The Daily Shows, John Oliver (hear the video here), "We are safe, but not safe..." (Just who presided over this nation during 9-11 and who keeps pumping Americans to be afraid?)

Political consultants operate primarily y from superstitious behavior. They think that if their candidates won, as nearly all incumbents do, then the assume everything they did was on-target. They'll keep making the same mistakes until the elctroate convinces them otherwise. It is the people, after all, on whose behalf our leaders govern and not the other way around.

To read her article on this topic, go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/deja-vu-all-over-again_b_29977.html

"The Iran Desk" and "The Office of Special Plans"

"The Office of Special Plans" specializes in fixing the information to fit the plan. It did so for to facilitate the war in Iraq. And it's plan is to wage war upon war, no matter what the evidence or the morality of doing so. Its clumsy and easily detectible disinformation on Iraq has set the stage for a new upcoming effort in Iran.

The "desk" is all disinformation all the time. And it's role is to pave the the way for "markets" for friends of the administration in Iran, not for democracy. Instead, the Office of Special Plans is about the "freedom" of corporations, not the freedom of people.

A new ABC poll shows that 70% of Americans want negotiations and sanctions, should they be necessary. The Office of Special Plans does not care.

For a look at what The Office of Special Plans has in mind for us next, check the Diane Reehm show from Sept. 20, 2006. Read about it here.

http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/

Taliban Fighters Scoped, But Bush Administration Gave Them a Pass

While the White House wages war on American Senators, Congresspersons, American citizens, Democrats, and anyone else, even Republicans, who dissent, the administration plays fast and loose with those who really mean us harm. According to NBC Nightly News,

U.S. military officials tell NBC News they had “high-level” Taliban fighters in their gunsights during a July reconnaissance flight but decided not to fire. The decision to pass on the target angered some in the military, but commanders say they have “no regrets.”

Revisionists are out in force falsely saserting that the Clinton Administration had confirmed sightings of OBL, but here the administration refused to deal with fighters

Read more here.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14823099/

This Hole in the Ground by Keith Olberman

Sept. 11, 2006 | 8:32 p.m. ET

Half a lifetime ago, I worked in this now-empty space. And for 40 days after the attacks, I worked here again, trying to make sense of what happened, and was yet to happen, as a reporter.

All the time, I knew that the very air I breathed contained the remains of thousands of people, including four of my friends, two in the planes and -- as I discovered from those "missing posters" seared still into my soul -- two more in the Towers.

And I knew too, that this was the pyre for hundreds of New York policemen and firemen, of whom my family can claim half a dozen or more, as our ancestors.

I belabor this to emphasize that, for me this was, and is, and always shall be, personal.

And anyone who claims that I and others like me are "soft,"or have "forgotten" the lessons of what happened here is at best a grasping, opportunistic, dilettante and at worst, an idiot whether he is a commentator, or a Vice President, or a President.

Read the rest here.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/#060911

A Message Today from Howard Dean, DNC Chair

"Today we remember many things.

We remember where we were. We remember the scenes on television.

We remember the victims who were murdered. We remember the families and loved ones they left behind.

We remember the heroes who charged into danger to save lives.

We remember a moment of unity at home and around the world, where people rallied around a single mission and a common sense of justice that must be done.

Today we face many challenges at home and abroad. And too often it's too easy to be distracted by the politics, the pundits, and the posturing.

We must always remember that the dangers we face know no political party, and the solutions and leadership we need now go beyond ideology.

We must meet these challenges head-on -- remembering to stand together in action as we live together under threat. We are all Americans.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

We will not be silent.

Today we remember many things.

And tomorrow, back on the campaign trail, we will remember to take with us the plain truth and a commitment to true justice for all those whose lives were transformed on this day five years ago.

Thank you.

Governor Howard Dean, M.D."

Palast Charged with Journalism in the First Degree

September 11, 2006
by Greg Palast

It's true. It's weird. It's nuts. The Department of Homeland Security, after a five-year hunt for Osama, has finally brought charges against … Greg Palast. I kid you not. Send your cakes with files to the Air America wing at Guantanamo.

Though not just yet. Fatherland Security has informed me that television producer Matt Pascarella and I have been charged with unauthorized filming of a "critical national security structure" in Louisiana.

On August 22, for LinkTV and Democracy Now! we videotaped the thousands of Katrina evacuees still held behind a barbed wire in a trailer park encampment a hundred miles from New Orleans. It's been a year since the hurricane and 73,000 POW's (Prisoners of W) are still in this aluminum ghetto in the middle of nowhere. One resident, Pamela Lewis said, “It is a prison set-up" -- except there are no home furloughs for these inmates because they no longer have homes.

To give a sense of the full flavor and smell of the place, we wanted to show that this human parking lot, with kids and elderly, is nearly adjacent to the Exxon Oil refinery, the nation's second largest, a chemical-belching behemoth.

So we filmed it. Without Big Brother's authorization. Uh, oh. Apparently, the broadcast of these stinking smokestacks tipped off Osama that, if his assassins pose as poor Black folk, they can get a cramped Airstream right next to a "critical infrastructure" asset.

For more, go to the Palast website www.gregpalast.com

Media Matters Takes on Three Days of Misrepresentations and Distortions

Over at Media Matters (link here), you can find a list of recent media misrepresentations adn free passes to BUSHCO.

MSNBC Moves to Dump Another Pro-Democratic Commentator

Today comes word that one of the most published and famous among progressive bloggers was fired by MSNBCcom. That organization dropped Erick Alterman, whose "Altercation" blog and discussion at MSNBC have been fixtures since 1996. Among the many contributions by Alterman is the Book "What Liberal Bias?" Media specialist Alterman has written another entitled, "When Presidents Lie."

The timing of this decision makes one wonder whether indeed MSNBC is now in another round of purges of administration critics. Let's hope that isn't so. If it is, then MSNBC has lost sight of its reason for being in the news and commentary business, the reporting of news and giving forums for the exchange of ideas.

The good news is that Alterman will move his blog to http://mediamatters.org/Altercation. Additionally Alterman can still be seen at The Nation and The Center for AMerican Progress.

A stunning Absence of Leadership

[Note: A slightly different version of this commentary appears on RaisingKaine.com]

As only Republicans (George W. Bush, Rudy Guliani and Michael Bloomberg), have been invited to official NY ceremonies today, many are struck by the misappropriation of a tragedy for partisan purposes. A glaringly partisan and defamatory ABC attack on Democrats, who were not even in power at the time, goes on despite the fact that it was produced by radical "right" Republicans, and based in part on the writings of the White House Assistant Director of Public Affairs. So, today, we have national GOP figures who posture. But we have neither leadership nor honesty in those trying to lead.

Instead of doing the right thing and telling the truth, leading Americans in common purpose, the supposed leader uses every opportunity to exploit a tragedy, manipulate a populace, spend our assets to benefit his donor pool, and grab more power for himself. The good will of all Americans and people around the globe has been squandered. And after all that, he and his fellow chicken-hawks blame critics, who just want real solutions, real effort by the administration (instead of gussied-up pork), and leadership with integrity, not regurgitated revisionism. Now, even the NY Times blames Democrats, at least in part.

The administration and its drones tell us not to be partisan on 9-11, or ever, when the whole past five years, and especially today have been brutally appropriated by this administration as a campaign prop. They defile the lives lost on 9-11 and the sacrifice of those beloved soldiers who only try to serve their country with honor.

They day Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, and George W. Bush took to the airwaves to mislead, abuse, and even to terrorize Americans with their constant fear-mongering, was the day partisanship died. But worse, the day they used the tragic deaths of 2700 people and the four hundred or so who’ve died aroudn the world to terrorism in the past five years following 9-11, to exaggerate beyond recognition a threat, to portend it’s “World War III,” or war with no end is the day Demagoguery replaced republicanism (with a lower-case r).

Think about it. In the past five years, according to Nightly News on NBC this past July, 400 people have died internationally to terrorism (this obviously does not include the Iraq war, which isn’t and wasn’t ever about a terrorist threat or attack by Iraq against us.) That’s fewer than a 100 people a year world-wide. And Bush has the temerity to stake out and put in his crosshairs our Constitution, our system of laws, our right to dissent, our right to information that should be public, our right to a free and open press!

This cannot be called a bipartisan failing in the sense the NY Times means it. How can a minority, closed out from discussion, manipulated out of hearings and votes, disallowed to even read bills before votes be blamed for not being the solution? The Times must be kidding -- or throwing a line to the GOP.

What I do blame Democrats for is not being strong enough to stand up to Bush on Iraq. By so failing, they (at least some of them) also have made the situation worse. But they really had little say in the first place. The truth is also that the Democrats have had more productive solutions (contrasted with Bush with dismantling what truly characterizes this nation). They recommended Homeland Security, which Bush opposed --until he realized it wouldn't fly to oppose it). Bush also by then had figured out how to misuse DHS to enrich cronies. Democrats have proposed better container inspections and better funding of security means. Yet Bush hasn’t either budgeted or appropriated properly. Democrats have consistently called for full implementation of the 9-11 Commission Report recommendations. The Bush administration has no interest in this.

The truth is we are alone. We have no leadership. What poor excuse for it we have is more interested in its own consumption, greed, authoritarianism and raw power. Let’s hope that a true national leader emerges to bring us to a better path. Let’s pray it happens this fall and in 2008. Of all days we must think about the possibilities, how we can each make a difference, and how if only more than 2% of the most hard-core would be more informed, more resistant to revisionism, more attentive, more engaged, we would "have it made." We would be able to both more effectively deal with the real threat terrorism, which still exists, and tackle the other problems which confront us. America would be the participative union of millions all working in common purpose so our government is the best reflection of our best selves.

Webb Rocks! Now Leads in Virginia

Thanks to RaisingKaine.com (here) for this find. The Wall Street Journal reports today Zogby poll results indicating James Webb now has a 7.5 lead. Read about it here:
http://online.wsj.com/public/us

Max Blumental Traces the Origins of the Right Wing Cabal Behind the So-Called "Path to 9-11" on ABC

Read it here.

http://maxblumenthal.blogspot.com/2006/09/discover-secret-right-wing-network.html

Read other articles on the subject at:

www.dnc.org
www.thinkprogress.org
www.dailykos.com
www.huffingtonpost.com
www.truthout.org

Let the Boycott of ABC Begin

Apparently, ABC is going with the defamatory two-part movie, "The Path to 9-11." When all else fails, wrongfully blame Clinton for George W. Bush's failures. Apparently, the same network will even allow Bush to address Americans at 9:00 PM That night, right in the middle of the movie's airing.

Any moderate or progressive, indeed any conservative who values the truth, who continues to watch ABC after this is doing him or herself, and the nation, a real disservice.

New evidence revealed by The Democratic Underground and ThinkProgress.org finds that a right-wing fundamentalist cabal is behind this film. Additionally, Portions of the film are based on the work of the White House Deputy Director of Public Affairs. This is clearly, illegal propaganda geared toward one thing: rewriting history and hijacking an election.

If you watch the movie you provide ratings. Cable and satellite companies keep track. Let the boycott begin!

Path to 9-11 Hatched by Right-wing Fundamentalists as Political Ploy

From Thinkprogress.org:

The Path to 9/11 is a movie rife with historical inaccuracies that blames President Clinton while heaping praise on President Bush. The docudrama was written by avowed conservative Cyrus Nowrasteh, who once spoke on a panel entitled: “Rebels With A Cause: How Conservatives Can Lead Hollywood’s Next Paradigm Shift.” But the ideological slant behind this movie goes far deeper than Nowrasteh. Research conducted by a reader at Democratic Underground has revealed that the Path to 9/11 was the result of a project hatched out by a small group of evangelical activists who sought to “transform Hollywood from the inside out.” Here is what we know:

To read the rest, jump to the link.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/08/origin-of-pt911/

A Vote for George Allen is a Vote to Rubber Stamp Dereliction of Duty and Fraud Against the American People

Republicans love to falsely claim that Democrats are one-issue voters. If Dems were, waging needless, illegal wars of aggression, based on fabricated evidence would be reason enough for Dems -- or anyone -- to reject a candidate. But GOP attempts to trivialize the opposition masks a starker truth. As I'll illustrate in a moment, there isn't one, but rather dozens of reasons for throwing the rascals and warmongers out before they unleash more destruction and disintegration of American progress at home and abroad.

ElaineinRoanoke (on raisingkaine.com) has ably cited reasons why one shouldn't vote for Allen. Let me expand the list by extending reasons for souting from office the long (and incomplete) list of GWB's disastrous policies, which George Felix Allen, Jr., rubber-stamped 97% of the time:

--Abuse of power by dispatching administration figures (e.g., Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld) and prompting the media to claim that opposing Bush's policies is unpatriotic and caters to terrorists. Read here http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15&pid=111640 here: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/08/16/al-qaeda-candidate-redux/ here http://thinkprogress.org/2006/08/14/politicizing-london-plot/ and herehttp://thinkprogress.org/2006/08/11/headline-news-lamont/

--Making us less safe because of his and his administration's belligerence (Remember "Bring it on"? Terrorist attacks are up worldwide since Bush has come to office, according to Michale Scheuer, former head of the CIA Bin Laden task force.

--Failing to implement all the recommendations of the 9-11 Commission.
Using administration cronies to forge deals with known international scoundrels like Chalabi the infamous Ghorbanifar, of Iran-Contra fame. See 2004 Washington Monthly articler here: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0410.marshallrozen.html The US once bankrolled Osama Bin Laden. Does the nation's leadership ever learn?

--Manipulating terrorist warnings and the war on terrorism to control Americans. According to former US Ambassador (under George W. Bush) Craig Murray, Bush is at it again. Here's the link: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0815-36.htm Also read here: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060828/groundhog_day
(The administration) initially claiming an important role in breaking British terrorist plot, then later admitting it didn't really do much: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/08/11/bush-british/

--Not keeping us safe on 9/11, when he had enough information, including that OBL planned to attack tall US buildings with airplanes (August 4, 2001, PDB). Then using his failure to imply he's the only one who'll keep us safe.

--Increasing the risk of insurgency (regardless of claims to the contrary, the war is already lost): http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/060906A.shtml

--Waging the illegal war of aggression in Iraq based on lies (Iraq had no WMD and was no threat), which he and his administration told the American people, the Congress, and the world.

--Waging the war in violation of International Law, the US Constitution, and the Geneva Conventions. Or check out www.cooperativeresearch.org. There are excellent timelines with links to original articles there. For the House Judiciary Minority Report on the Case for Impeachment, documenting the misdeeds, look here:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0717-06.htm

--When the original excuse failed to persuade, lying about the war being "about democracy" in Iraq. It never was and now even Bush admits he considers non-democratic means-to-an-end): http://thinkprogress.org/2006/08/17/bush-iraq-democracy/.

--Despite the continued risk to US soldiers and to Americans by his war-mongering, refusing to change course in Iraq as long as he's in office. See video here: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/08/21/bush-not-leaving/

--Ignoring that "staying the course" will increase the budget deficit by $1.3 trillion.

--Waging the war against Lebanon behind the scenes, even, in May, prodding Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to ramp up hostilities to create a pretext for wider war (citation). Note even Olmert now has approval ratings at home of only 40%. But the Bush propaganda machine falsely labels anyone wishing restraint as anti-Semitic. Read coverage about Lebanon here: http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060821fa_fact Here: Also here: http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060807fa_fact

--Planning other wars against Syria and Iran with insufficient reason and failing to acknowledge how the US under his Reagan and Bush's father enabled Iran. Read about it in a William Rivers Pitt article here: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081506A.shtml Follow the link in the article to the original document. Documents here: http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf and http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.pdf reveal that the US planned this concept long before now. This is despite warning from experts of the riskiness and folly of doing so. Read evidence here: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/08/18/iran-letter-2/

--Waging wars for the enrichment of his cronies, thus causing the price of arms to double from before the war to the present time.

--Creating permissive oversight of accounting practices by war contractors and leaving us to conclude the war is really about enriching corporate cronies, not freedom.

--Unconstitutional and illegal domestic spying in violation of FISA and the Fourth Amendment and lying to justify the need for such misdeeds after the fact.
Illegal detentions in violation of the Fourth Amendment, International Law, and US Law.

--Building and maintaining secret prisons and extraordinary rendition, in violation of the Fourth Amendment, International Law, US Law.
Furthering secret law, so Americans can't even know what the law is.

--Expanding prisons for profit to incarcerate more people (we currently hold the world record for most in prison, 2 million people.

--Using illegal weapons on non-combatants including white phosphorous and depleted uranium.

--Ordering, condoning, and conducting the torture of human beings in violation of US Law, International Law, the UN Convention Against Torture, and the Geneva Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the illegal cover-up of these unprecedented actions.

--Illegal seizure of Iraqi oil to keep oil off the market and prop up prices (see Greg Palast's Armed Madhouse or www.gregpalast.com).

--Illegal targeting of civilians (including children), journalists, and hospitals.

--Illegal use of funds in Iraq that had been appropriated for Afghanistan.

--Illegal retribution against whistle blowers.

--Use of signing statements to illegally reverse 750 laws passed by Congress.

--Illegal production of false and/or propagandistic news reports at home and abroad, and corrupting and bribing the press. The White House Deputy Director of Public Affairs is even involved in "The Path to 9-11," purely propagandistic film designed to exploit 9-11 for the GOP.

--Attempted destruction of Social Security by diverting the surplus to off-budget wars of aggression. In flagrant contempt of Congress, Bush has also budgeted privitization of Social Security even though Congress rejected the idea.

--Budgetary malfeasance: Deceptive budgets and the worst budget deficit in US history.

--Neglecting global warming.
Neglecting New Orleans and mismanaging the response effort.

--Obstruction of justice by obstructing of investigations by Congress, the 9-11.

--Appropriating public documents and wrongfully reclassifying them in violation of the public's right to know about their own government (he works for us and not the other way around).

--Failing to provide Congress essential information it needs to conduct its constitutional responsibilities.

--Illegal theft of national elections and cover-up.
--Fanning hatred and contempt for our own citizens, as Dick Cheney has done throughout this administration, but especially last week Read about it here:

--Colluding with oil companies to rig oil, gas, and electricity markets and going easy on culprits.

--Accepting contributions from dubious sources.

--Permitting more media consolidation so a free press is further undermined.

--Undoing environmental regulations and standards for clean air and water.

--Massive giveaways of the nations' resources to cronies.

--Ignoring that nearly half of Middle Class families are having difficulty paying for their health care: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14384029/

--Undermining democracy at home in the guise of keeping us safe.

No doubt I've left off something really important. But you get the picture. Any friend of GWB is no friend to US voters. If the recent reminders of Allen's unsuitability for office aren't evidence enough, this certainly is. As for "Dumb" and "Dumbe"r, they will be relegated to the fools paradise of neo-con revisionism.

ABC Movie Based Partly on Spin from White House PR Official

MediaMatters.org reveals that White House Assistant Director of public affairs contributed to film. This is another indicator of the blatantly partisan effort and smear that ABC has produced. Said Media Matters:

Marc Platt, the executive producer of ABC's upcoming two-part miniseries set to air on September 10 and 11, titled The Path to 9/11, has said that "every scene" of the film "is based on information from either the 9/11 [Commission] Report ... or the books The Cell (co-written by the former ABC News correspondent John Miller) and Relentless Pursuit, written by Samuel Katz." However, in addition to co-writing The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It, Miller is also a member of the Bush administration, serving as the assistant director of public affairs for the FBI, as blogger Digby has noted.

For more, read the article here.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200609070004?src=other

White House Talking Points Pervasive in ABC Movie, "The Path to 9-11"

One the eve of the anniversary of 9-11, it seems ABC plans to stoop to depths so low they're even unworthy of ABC. A new 9-11 film set to air Sunday and Monday will be given to schools after airing. There were even Scholastic Company "study guides," which combined with the movie was designed to rewrite history, blaming Clinton for 9-11, which happened on George W. Bush's watch. Scholastic has come to its senses. Not ABC.

It is instructive to note that CBS pulled the network plug on a Reagan film because conservatives didn't think it painted Reagan and Nancy favorably enough. But here's a network more seriously blaming Bill Clinton for 9-11, when the record shows Bill Clinton focused far more on fighting terorism that Bush ever has. But when Bill Clinton did so, GOP members of Congress railed in protest, falsely alleging Clinton was "wagging the dog." Despite intelligence, warnings and the considerable effort of national security experts in the White House, Bush downplayed and underfunded terrorism in favor of furthering neocon hegemony. He thought we wouldn't notice.

But it's worse. Even when confronted with the news of 9-11, George Bush sat there for 7 minutes like a deer caught in headlights. Anyone who hasn't seen the movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11" owes it to him or herself to watch at least that portion of video footage taken by a local rreporter in Florida that day. Watch it and you'll know just how well Bush protected us. The footage speaks for itself. The man was frozen in place, eyes darting eratically. Meanwhile, Richard Clarke and Roger Cressey and others were the real heroes, even as Bush jetted here and there hididng and cowering like a a frightened animal. Americans stood strong. Bush didn't.

But ABC, like FOX, is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the White House. ABC shamelessly exploits the facts and memory of 9-11. They defile the memories of those who perished and forge a political wedge on a day no company should exploit. 9-11 united Americans. George W. Bush has driven a wedge between Americans and continues to do so in his marching orders to a monolithic, one-party system. He calls on Americans to relinquish all their freedoms, in short life as we've known it -- because HE FAILED to protect us!

ABC claims it follows the 9-11 Commission findings. That is blatantly untrue, despite Thomas Keane's absurd claim otherwise. It's notable that while this Republican partisan was allowed to consult, no Democratic counterpart was. Even Rush Limbaugh visited the set of this film, scripted by a conservative Republican. Limbaugh may have offered advice as well. Copies have been given to nunmerous conservative bloggers and dittoheads. But president Clinton was not permitted to see a copy of a film, which outrageously essentially blames him for most of what's happend on Bush's watch. George W. Bush has been in office for nearly six years and he's still blaming Clinton, Democrats (who don't run any house of Congress our court) for all that ails the country and the world.

And after all that, George W. Bush dares to claim he protects Americans more than Democrats. Presidential Daily Briefing clearly indicated an imminent threat of airplanes flying in9-11 happend on his watch. He did nothing to prevent it, even after the August 6, 2001to tall buildings (9-11 Commision Report). And yet, Thomas Keane goes before cameras to justify his obsene ratification and complicity in this despicable film.

Not only did Bush ignore all warnings of terrorism, but also he even objected to the Dept. of Homeland Security and has sabotaged it's effectiveness by permitting grants to localities and cronies for nonsense. It's pathetic to watch the GOP learn how to milk and exploit any program ever invented. For example, electric stand on scooters for campus police at Virginia Western Community College were funded by the Dept. of Homeland Security!!!!

The administration is using the Dept. for pork, not protection. Witness the Katrina giveaway to corporate friends while failing to address the real problems. Note every last housing project in New Orleans was closed. Many are habitable. But they are chained up and posted to keep residents out so they land can be given to developers. That makes all the really poor of New Orleans homeless, or displaced out of state and dumped on the laps of everyone else.

Bush ignored the warnings of planes attacking tall buildings even though the military engaged in war games for just such an eventuality in the spring of 2001. See Dick Clarke's book Against All Enemies or Roger Cressey's clarifications on the 9-11 film on the blog linked below).

Read more here and here:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200609060008
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/06/bush-official-blasts-abc/

Check out the front two pages of this website for extended discussion of this issue.
http://thinkprogress.org/

And let the boycott begin. Just say no to ABCs despicable revisionism and to any other network trying to exploit 9-11.

No Comment Necessary:

I link below the text of an on-air commentary by Keith Olberman last night on Countdown.

"Have You No Sense of Decency, Sir?"
By Keith Olbermann
MSNBC Countdown
Tuesday 05 September 2006

It is to our deep national shame-and ultimately it will be to the President's deep personal regret - that he has followed his Secretary of Defense down the path of trying to tie those loyal Americans who disagree with his policies - or even question their effectiveness or execution - to the Nazis of the past, and the al Qaeda of the present.

Today, in the same subtle terms in which Mr. Bush and his colleagues muddied the clear line separating Iraq and 9/11 - without ever actually saying so - the President quoted a purported Osama Bin Laden letter that spoke of launching, "a media campaign to create a wedge between the American people and their government."

Make no mistake here - the intent of that is to get us to confuse the psychotic scheming of an international terrorist, with that familiar bogeyman of the right, the "media."

The President and the Vice President and others have often attacked freedom of speech, and freedom of dissent, and freedom of the press.

Now, Mr. Bush has signaled that his unparalleled and unprincipled attack on reporting has a new and venomous side angle:

The attempt to link, by the simple expediency of one word - "media" - the honest, patriotic, and indeed vital questions and questioning from American reporters, with the evil of Al-Qaeda propaganda.

That linkage is more than just indefensible. It is un-American.

Read the commentary here.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/

George Felix Allen, Jr. No 2 on the Worst Person in the World List!

No-shame Senator George Allen Embarrassed Virginians Again. But in one sphere, at least, George Felix Allen Jr. got his just desserts. He made No. 2 on Keith Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World weekly list tonight.

The latest chapter in the remorseless life of George Felix Allen, Jr, is that he can't earn recognition for bills or any other real accomplishments. He's too busy wishing he'd been born in Iowa and could leapfrog into the presidency without actually earning it. So he sets up dummy accomplishments, perfect for a hollow man. Just this week, Allen stole an amendment and took credit for it. That's right. George Felix Allen Jr., got a copy of an already printed and distributed amendment Democrat Dick Durbin (D-IL) had circulated last week! Allen pushed ahead in the lineup of speakers and tried to claim the amendment as his own. Is this high school? Oh, Yeh. It's real like and our nation's business is too important for his imbecile hijinks. But I digress.

Asking to speak before Senator Durbin, Allen introduced an amendment to the Department of Defense appropriations bill that would provide $19 million in additional funding for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center program, which provides treatment care and research for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries.

Allen's amendment was identical in language to one that Senator Durbin was going to introduce immediately after Allen spoke with the exception of one word -- the word "will" was changed in Allen's amendment and replaced with the word "shall." Other than that, the amendments were identical -- Durbin's amendment had been printed and set to be formally introduced, Allen's bill had not been written or been placed on the docket to be introduced on the Senate floor.

George Allen has been AWOL in his useless search for the presidency. He'll never be president. Do nothing that he is, he even has to cheat to have a real record in the US Senate. On the other hand, Allen was all to happy to vote "No" on two veterans bills.

As noted on RaisingKaine.com Allen voted against a motion “to ensure that future funding for health care for former members of the Armed Forces takes into account changes in population and inflation.” Refer to 10/6/05, Vote Number 251.

Allen voted against an amendment to increase funding for the Veterans Affairs Department by $1.98 billion. It would stipulate that $840 million be used for veterans regional health networks; $610 million be used to address the needs of servicemembers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan; and $525 million be used to provide mental health care and treatment. Refer to 4/12/05, Vote Number 89.

He rubber stamps Bush's misleading Americans, warmongering, crony capitalism, and plundering of America's resources and finances. Allen is known for having a lynch noose in his office and his association with the white supremicist CCC. And now he can't even do his job in the Senate. How did anyone ever vote for the guy?

Headed in the Wrong Direction: More Kids are Uninsured

According to an article in the Washington Post, more children have joined the uninsured.

For the first time since 1998, the number of children younger than 18 without health coverage ticked upward last year by 361,000, along with the overall increase in the ranks of the uninsured, according to census figures released last week.

Read about it here.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090400958.html