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May 27, 2004

Curiosity Overcomes Fear

The NY Times is reporting on the release of 20,000 pages of telephone transcripts from when Kissinger was Secretary of State. I fear what ludicrous crimes might be documented in here that our country is responsible for. But curiosity will always prevail (and a certain need to know):

The telephone transcripts show how frustrated Nixon was becoming with the Vietnam War and his failing effort to withdraw American troops from Vietnam by expanding the war into Cambodia.

He became especially angry on Dec. 9, 1970, with what he considered the lackluster bombing campaign by the United States Air Force against targets in Cambodia.

"They're not only not imaginative but they are just running these things — bombing jungles," Nixon said. "They have got to go in there and I mean really go in."

Mr. Kissinger then cautioned: "The Air Force is designed to fight an air battle against the Soviet Union. They are not designed for this war."

But the president persisted, suggesting that the bombing campaign could be disguised as an airlift of supplies.

"I want them to hit everything," he said. "I want them to use the big planes, the small planes, everything they can that will help out there, and let's start giving them a little shock."

He ended by saying, "Right now there is a chance to win this goddamn war, and that's probably what we are going to have to do because we are not going to do anything at the conference table."

Mr. Kissinger immediately relayed the order: "A massive bombing campaign in Cambodia. Anything that flies on anything that moves."


For more juicy war crimes info go to the National Archives. And remember, this stuff must be good when Kissinger himself opposed its release.

Posted by seamus at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2004

Billionaires for Bush

Another reason to vote against Bush - Get the Billionaires out of the White House!

As Bush "Pioneers" who had raised at least $100,000 each for the president's reelection campaign, or "Rangers" who had raised $200,000 each, the men and women who shot skeet with Cheney, played golf with pros Ben Crenshaw and Fuzzy Zoeller and laughed at the jokes of comedian Dennis Miller are the heart of the most successful political money operation in the nation's history. Since 1998, Bush has raised a record $296.3 million in campaign funds, giving him an overwhelming advantage in running against Vice President Al Gore and now Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). At least a third of the total -- many sources believe more than half -- was raised by 631 people.

That is right - 631 people are running our country and are getting special favors from President Cheney in return. Read the whole article in the Washington Post. It is worth the read.

Posted by seamus at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)

Expectations

This doesn't surprise me at all but the NY Times is reporting this morning on how conservatives have been "disappointed" with the lack of anti-gay support from the Christian community:

ust four months after an alliance of conservative Christians was threatening a churchgoer revolt unless President Bush championed an amendment banning same-sex marriage, members say they have been surprised and disappointed by what they call a tepid response from the pews.

Most of the groups supporting the proposed federal constitutional amendment concede that it appears all but dead in Congress for this election year.

As Massachusetts prepares to become the first state in the nation to allow same-sex marriage on Monday, several high-profile conservatives say they are now pinning their hopes mainly on reaction to events there, betting that scenes of gay weddings in Provincetown may set off a public outcry.


Why does this surprise them? I think that although there is a lot of anti-gay fear remaining in America I believe that these conservatives assumed that therefore their message of hate (not all opponents of gay marriage do so based oon hate but quite a few of the most vocal do) against the gay community had broader appeal than it does.

In either case, pinning their hopes on Massachussetts will be in vain. Just as with other social reforms legal acceptance will lead to public acceptance. In the short term there will be prejudiced Americans who will be susceptible to those images. But as time goes by and people get to have friends and family who are married homosexuals and they learn that these are real loving people who can provide happy, loving homes feelings will change for the better. Prejudice is based on false fears and defeating those fears with reality will ultimately defeat the prejudice.

Posted by seamus at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)

What was that?

I am casually watching Meet the Press. I am a political junkie but I have been occupied with other things hence the slow blog rate and all. So I'm literally only three-quarters watching the show. Tim Russert is intervueing Collin Powell and suddenly the camera swings and starts peering out at the ocean. I could hear the coffee percolating on the stove. I ran down to turn off the gas and quickly returned to see what was going on. Apparently Colin Powell's aide was trying to "end" the interview. Powell fortunately didn't play along and completed the interview. Most of all that should have been embarassing to Powell. In that situation I would hope that he'd send that aide packing but my guess is that its a loyal aid who has been with him a long time.

But I think it was a significant action Powell's embarassment aside. I wonder how much of Bush's team is feeling this threatened that they would act in such a stupid fashion. This aide's action may seem isolated and unimportant. But it isn't. It couldn't be more obvious that with Bush's poll numbers bottoming out across the board the administration is panicked. They fear the questions. They fear having to answer the questions.

Posted by seamus at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)

May 06, 2004

Kerry Finally Steps Up

I've been frustrated for some time with Kerry's failure to forcefully establish himself as a leader and by contrast demostrate why Bush is a failure as Commander In Chief (and he truly as as he passes the buck from event to event). Anyhow, this quote today is just a quote but if Kerry can get aggressive on this I think he wins in November hands down:

"When I was in the Navy, the captain of the boat was in charge and the captain always took responsibility," Kerry told teachers and students at Colton High School. "Today I have a message for the men and women of our Armed forces ... I will take responsibility for the bad as well as the good."

Of course a quote is just that - a quote. We need to see a pattern of this in substantive form.

Posted by seamus at 04:01 PM | Comments (1)

Rumsfeld Gotta Go

It isn't rationale to look at the prisoner abuse in Iraq and believe its not systemic given the stories that have been filtering out of Afghanistan and Iraq for some time. And while I don't agree with everything in there the Post has a good op-ed on the subject:

THE HORRIFIC abuses by American interrogators and guards at the Abu Ghraib prison and at other facilities maintained by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan can be traced, in part, to policy decisions and public statements of Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. Beginning more than two years ago, Mr. Rumsfeld decided to overturn decades of previous practice by the U.S. military in its handling of detainees in foreign countries. His Pentagon ruled that the United States would no longer be bound by the Geneva Conventions; that Army regulations on the interrogation of prisoners would not be observed; and that many detainees would be held incommunicado and without any independent mechanism of review. Abuses will take place in any prison system. But Mr. Rumsfeld's decisions helped create a lawless regime in which prisoners in both Iraq and Afghanistan have been humiliated, beaten, tortured and murdered -- and in which, until recently, no one has been held accountable.

The lawlessness began in January 2002 when Mr. Rumsfeld publicly declared that hundreds of people detained by U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan "do not have any rights" under the Geneva Conventions. That was not the case: At a minimum, all those arrested in the war zone were entitled under the conventions to a formal hearing to determine whether they were prisoners of war or unlawful combatants. No such hearings were held, but then Mr. Rumsfeld made clear that U.S. observance of the convention was now optional. Prisoners, he said, would be treated "for the most part" in "a manner that is reasonably consistent" with the conventions -- which, the secretary breezily suggested, was outdated.


And I know I haven't been around in a while. I'm back! All of this pain and suffering in the world had me a bit depressed I think.

Posted by seamus at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)