a texas sage

Big plans: DeLay's next mission is in God's hands

2006-04-13T13:05:00.000-05:00

Disgraced congressman has a wholly holy agenda
By PETER PERL

Tom DeLay may look as though he's finished because he is quitting Congress, facing a trial on felony political corruption charges in Texas and being targeted by federal prosecutors in the Jack Abramoff scandal. But that would be dead wrong: DeLay recently told one of his pastors that God wanted him to leave Congress in part because He has bigger plans for DeLay.

That pastor, the Rev. Rick Scarborough, introduced DeLay to a Christian conference just last week, saying, "This is a man, I believe, God has appointed ... to represent righteousness in government."

So mark those words. DeLay may be leaving Congress, but he will be back with a vengeance, in a new and potentially more powerful role, because he is a ferociously determined man who believes he is on a politico-religious mission from God.

I say this as the only journalist whom the former Republican House majority leader allowed to profile him in depth during his triumphant years after the GOP took control of all three branches of American government. In an intense series of interviews at his suburban Houston home, at his church and at his office during the spring of 2001, DeLay shared with me his hope to "drive the president" to a more conservative agenda that would result in a "permanent realignment" of American politics.

DeLay spoke with a passion about his goal to make us all into one "God-centered" nation. "Our entire system is built on the Judeo-Christian ethic, but it fell apart when we started denying God. If you stand up today and acknowledge God," he said, "they will try to destroy you." Five years later, that is also the argument DeLay is deploying to portray himself as the victim of prosecutorial persecution. He is suggesting that his legal salvation is linked to the salvation of the Republican Party, of Christianity itself.

And DeLay's crusade will not be sidetracked by the acts of mortals such as states' attorneys, crooked lobbyists and disgraced former staffers who are poised to testify against him. In DeLay's world he answers only to a higher power, and his personal Armageddon has only just begun. He will artfully squeeze a load of money from the Christian Right as he makes his thunderous argument from multiple pulpits in the weeks and months ahead. The new Tom DeLay will combine aspects of the Revs. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, and Lee Atwater, the late right-wing political consultant with the legendary killer instinct.

Looking back, I see DeLay as a somewhat pathetic figure. He'd started his professional life as a pest exterminator in Houston. His business eventually went under, but not before the IRS had sued him three times for not paying income and payroll taxes, and he twice lost court judgments to ex-partners who claimed he'd cheated them. From that base, he launched his unlikely political career in Sugar Land in 1978 as part of the Reagan revolution. As a professional pest-killer, DeLay came to believe that government threatened the very existence of small businesses and made a career of speaking for the little guy; he likened the Environmental Protection Agency to "the Gestapo." As a state legislator, he did little of note, except develop a reputation for partying that earned him the nickname "Hot Tub Tom."

What struck me as truly pathetic, though, was his shambles of a family life. His late father and two brothers were alcoholics; DeLay himself, when first elected to Congress in 1985, "would stay out all night drinking till the bars closed," he told me. He swore off hard liquor after he was "reborn" as a Christian, he said.
The scars of family dysfunction cut deep. When I profiled Delay, he was touting his commitment to "family values," but had ceased attending family functions and had not spoken to his mother in two years, even though she lived 10 miles from him.
DeLay dates his Christian rebirth to his alcohol-hazed first year in Congress, when he saw a video by James Dobson, the Christian family guru, on the dangers of putting career ahead of family. "I started crying because I had missed my daughter's whole childhood," he said. "It was me, me, me, me. It was golf or my business or politics that came first. It told me what a jerk I really was."

In the next 20 years, DeLay came to develop a single-minded vision of how America should be. DeLay's America would acknowledge that the Constitution was inspired by the Bible; it would promote prayer and worship, and would stop gun control, outlaw abortion, limit the rights of gays, curb contraception, end the constitutional separation of church and state, and adopt the Ten Commandments as guiding principles for public schools.

One Sunday in Sugar Land, I knelt alongside DeLay as we prayed at the First Baptist Church, then listened to the fiery preaching of DeLay's friend and minister, whose name was Rambo. I went to Bible study and the Sunday school class DeLay taught. Afterward, I told DeLay I was somewhat troubled by the idea that he essentially wanted to remold the government to meet his fundamentalist Christian worldview. I told him I thought a good many Americans would share my reaction.

He looked me squarely in the eyes and shook his head sadly at the fate of us nonbelievers. "When faced with the truth, the truth hurts. It is human nature not to face that," he said. "People hate the messenger. That's why they killed Christ."

And now, DeLay says he prayed long and hard before God made clear to him that He no longer wants DeLay to represent Texas's 22nd Congressional District. Instead, DeLay says, his God wants him to be a messenger — on a much broader scale. And we will see DeLay constantly smiling as he delivers his message because in his heart he knows that we hopeless sinners will always hate the messenger.

Perl, director of professional development for The Post, profiled Tom DeLay in The Washington Post Magazine in 2001. This article originally appeared in The Washington Post.

The New Yorker: Fact

2006-04-12T16:36:00.000-05:00

The New Yorker: Fact: "THE IRAN PLANS
Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb?
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
Issue of 2006-04-17
Posted 2006-04-08

The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack. Current and former American military and intelligence officials said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups. The officials say that President Bush is determined to deny the Iranian regime the opportunity to begin a pilot program, planned for this spring, to enrich uranium."

Message to White House co-pilot: Eject now

2006-03-23T11:05:00.000-06:00

Garrison Keillor, Tribune Media Services
Published March 22, 2006

A peacock walked past the window as I ate breakfast last Saturday at an old country inn in Albuquerque, his great fan of bejeweled feathers open wide, following a peahen that was pecking around the gravel as if he didn't exist. The peacock appeared to be infatuated, shuffling around, waggling his rump, craning his bright-blue neck, the little doodads on his head bouncing around rather fetchingly, and the peahen kept scratching in the dirt, looking for grubs. Think of Elvis in a silver jumpsuit doing "One Night" at the Sands and the audience studying the dinner menu and trying to decide between the salmon and the baby ribs. Finally he got her cornered up against the window and then he stretched the great fan open to the max and he strutted and stuck out his chest and waved the tail feathers. The lady appeared interested for a while, and then she slipped past him and he deflated in about three seconds.

It was painful for a man to watch this. The peacock's great fan of iridescent blue-green beauty, when it deflates, becomes a feather duster, a street sweeper. You go from Waldemar the Magnificent to Bobo the Groundskeeper.

He reminded you of the president trying to win hearts and minds in Ohio this week, except Mr. Bush's tail feathers have been pecked practically clean by events. It was likewise painful for anyone to watch. As painful as seeing Henry Kissinger at a recent conference on Vietnam say he had no regrets. No president in your lifetime or mine has seen his fundamental competence--his ability to think clearly and manage the government--so doubted by the voting public as Mr. Bush has. This is humiliation of a rare sort.

If Mr. Bush wanted to reverse his slide, he could do it with a phone call to his vice president. Tell him, "Hey, Gunner, I'm sending over your resignation. Sign it and leave the building immediately, and don't take any floppies with you." Mr. Cheney would have a grand mal seizure right there, and be taken away to a sanitarium, and then Mr. Bush could get (1) Newt Gingrich, (2) John McCain, (3) Jeb Bush, (4) Rudolph Giuliani--take his pick. America needs a No. 2 who wouldn't give Americans a coronary if he became No. 1. The top story on the news that night is "Gunner dumped as veep," and a fresh breeze blows through Washington, and the American people perk up and imagine that the Current Occupant is in charge and able to connect the dots.

"Cheney resigns" is the headline for two days, and anonymous White House sources say that Gunner was cut loose because he was blind, deaf and demented on the subject of Iraq. The suspense of Who Will The New Prince Be? occupies us for a week. The pundits and bloggers puff and blow and when finally the new man is confirmed by the Senate and gives a ringing speech about the need to put our differences behind us and all pull together, lo and behold the Subject Has Been Changed and America is no longer standing around the coffee machine talking about what a dope the president is. Nobody uses the I-word (incompetent). We're still buzzed from the big news.

Defeat is inevitable in life, and every cock is bound to meet a hen who isn't interested, and eventually we all go shuffling off to the Old Soldiers Home and plop down in front of the TV set and doze through the shows. We're all destined to fall apart. But you don't have to do it in your 50s when everybody is looking at you. You can fall apart gently and privately. Don't go down hard like former chief executives Dennis Kozlowski or Bernie Ebbers or Kenneth Lay.

I once saw an old Hollywood star eating breakfast in a hotel dining room in Dublin. He was touring in a play that had been reviewed rather gently and compassionately, and here he was with his famous face, grinning at a couple of tourists who came over to ask him to autograph their placemat. Once he was an icon and sex symbol, and now he was 80, an old trouper enjoying his breakfast and smiling at the world. Gerry got to that place, and Jimmy and Ronnie, I think, and George H.W. and for sure Bill has gotten there. People see Bill in public, grinning, and they can't help it, they grin back.

If you want to be beloved, don't wait too long.

March for a New Christianity

2006-03-22T14:21:00.000-06:00

CrossWalkAmerica: Are You Ready to March for a New Christianity?
On Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006, a group of people will begin in Phoenix a 2500 mile, 141 day, 5,000,000-step walk across America. Their destination is Washington, D.C., where a public celebration will be held on September 3, 2006. Their purpose is to arouse public consciousness to the misuse of Christianity in American life today. They are Christians who want to reclaim their faith from what they believe are the distortions of the 'Religious Right,' that so often appears to interpret Christianity in narrow, prejudiced and even hate-filled ways.
The organizers of this march are grieved that fundamentalism has become the dominant, sometimes the sole religious voice in the media. They seek to raise awareness to the fact that fundamentalists, in both Catholic and Protestant forms, do not by themselves define American Christianity. They are embarrassed by the present alliance of political conservatives with fundamentalist Christians, who seek to impose a sectarian and moralistic religious mentality upon our population. They are offended that negativity to homosexual persons and opposition to the century long quest by women for equality and the right to define their own life choices, are now in the public mind, the defining essence of their faith. This enterprise, known as CrossWalkAmerica, is the vehicle through which they seek to educate America.
The organizers of this march began by adopting something called "The Phoenix Affirmations," in which they state their claim to a different Christian mentality. The preamble of that declaration states: "The public face of Christianity in America today bears little connection to the historic faith of our ancestors. It represents even less our own faith as Christians, who continue to celebrate the gifts of our Creator, revealed and embodied in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Heartened by the transforming presence of Christ's Holy Spirit in our world, we find ourselves in a time and place where we will be silent no longer. We hereby mark an end to our silence by making the following affirmations: As people who are joyfully and unapologetically Christian, we pledge ourselves completely to the way of love. We work to express our love as Jesus teaches us by loving God, neighbor and self." They then go on to spell out in very specific ways what each of these kinds of love is all about.
Loving God, they say, means that people do not treat the legitimacy of their own spiritual path as a sign that every other spiritual path is somehow illegitimate. They call for a mutuality of respect for other religions that they define as paths that God has provided for humanity. Loving God also means treasuring the sacred scriptures as a source of truth but never using that conviction to close one's mind to the activity of God that leads to new truth in every generation. They say loving God means caring for God's world, including our ecosystem. It means loving things sacred and secular, Christian and non-Christian, human and non-human.
Loving your neighbor, they say, means treating all people as holy, as having been made in God's image. They do not exclude the current victims of our prejudiced humanity, believing we are to love regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, nationality, ethnicity or economic class. They say loving your neighbor means standing as Jesus did at the side of the outcast and oppressed of our world and working for peace with or without the support of others. It means preserving religious freedom as well as the Church's ability to speak prophetically to government without co-mingling Church and State. It also means facing our own shortcomings and working for what is best for all people, including those who consider us their enemies.
Loving ourselves, this document says, means basing our lives on the faith that in Christ all things are made new and all people are loved by God. Christianity therefore, cannot justify prejudice based on ignorance or fear, nor does it ever allow us to call those who oppose us 'the enemies of God.' We love ourselves, they proclaim, when we treat both our heads and our hearts as sacred, acknowledging that science and doubt are not the enemies of faith and belief, since each is a means through which the truth of God is pursued. It also means caring for the health of our own bodies and acting on the assumption that we were made with meaning and purpose, which they define as strengthening and extending God's realm of love throughout the world.
The Charter of 'CrossWalkAmerica' constitutes a stirring call to the Christians of this nation, who are open to the present and the future, to stand up and reclaim a place in America for a loving, progressive, courageous understanding of what it means to be disciples of Jesus. It finally lights a candle in this dark age of religious close-mindedness. It expresses the hope that the religious imperialism of our time, based on fear and cultivated by our politicians as a pathway to power, must be publicly challenged until it recedes from its place of domination in our national life. I welcome this new religious initiative and pledge my support to their efforts.
The powers behind both 'The Phoenix Affirmations and the walk across America are the Rev. Dr. Eric Elnes, the Senior Pastor at the Scottsdale Congregational United Church of Christ in Arizona, and a lay member of that church, Rebecca Glenn. These two, who serve as co-Presidents are joined by a band of visionaries who have worked tirelessly to bring the walk into being. Dr. Elnes, a noted biblical scholar who holds a Ph.D. from The Princeton Theological Seminary as well as his co-workers believe that a small group, totally dedicated, can dream dreams and do things that will change the world. They are convinced that the pain caused by fundamentalists has reached new levels that require the priorities of our nation to be reevaluated. They believe that the nationalism, materialism and intolerance that are encouraged or, at least, not challenged by the Religious Right have led to injustices too alarming to be ignored. They believe that the Christian Church has allowed its Lord, its language and even the word 'Christian' to be co-opted by the Religious Right, which means that these words have for many become so negative that they are thought of as evil and eminently rejectable. To counter this, Dr. Elnes says, we need a way to hold before the nation a vision of a vibrant and renewed Christianity that can call America back to tolerance, to inclusiveness and to that power of love that is the essence of this faith system. That is what CrossWalk America is designed to do.
In 'CrossWalkAmerica,' Dr. Elnes and his partners seek to call progressive Christians out of both their isolation and their bunker mentality to reclaim their places as a force for good inside this diverse and pluralistic nation. They hope this walk and its concluding rally will stop the present direction of this country that seems to be moving inexorably toward a religiously supported totalitarianism. 'CrossWalkAmerica' invites all religious people and those with no religious affiliation to join in this consciousness-raising effort.
The path of this walk will weave its way from Arizona through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio Pennsylvania, Baltimore and finally to our nation's capital. People in each of these areas are invited to join the march for as many miles as they can. Public rallies will be held along the course of the route so that people in all areas can participate. It is the hope of the organizers that thousands will join them in walking some part of that journey and that tens of thousands will be part of the public rally in Washington.
Would you like to be involved? Would your congregation like to become one of this Walk's sponsors? If you do, the organizers provide some practical suggestions. First, speak to your priest, minister or pastor about designating one of the Sundays before Easter to present 'CrossWalkAmerica' to your congregation. Material to assist in this presentation can be found on its Website: www.CrossWalkAmerica.org. Ask your minister to preach that Sunday on the 'Three Great Loves,' God, neighbor and self as the way to raise this challenge. Churches across this land are ready for this challenge. You will be surprised at the response you will receive.
Second, join the walk yourself, all or part of it. Ask individuals in your church to support your participation or that of other walkers by pledging from one cent to $1.00 per mile. For more details about what this means and what you might do to help, again please visit that Website. The organizers, eager to expand the impact of their cause, suggest that all funds raised in this way by a local church may be divided equally between the Walk and a designated ministry of that church working on the same themes. All walkers, sponsored or not, are welcome.
Third, individual congregations are invited to join this effort by becoming official sponsors of the Walk, promoting it in local communities across America. 'Pace-Setter' and 'Companion' Congregations will be listed on their Website, allowing them to begin to embrace the idea that they are not alone in a fundamentalist sea that seems ready to engulf this nation.
If thousands of congregations answer this call, by joining this effort with both people and financial support, the results will be heard in every corner of this land. It will create the birth of hope as the people of this nation open their eyes to see and hear a new Christian voice, silent for far too long, speaking with new power, new vision and a new dedication.
Dr. James Forbes, Senior Pastor of the Riverside Church in New York City has called this march "The next great awakening" of the spirit. I join him in endorsing this initiative. Whenever the world seems to be lost in its own darkness, a light always appears in a new place. Some Phoenix Christians have now lit a candle in our darkness. If the Christians of this nation are drawn to this light in sufficient numbers, that candle will turn into a mighty flame. Then a new America will arise dedicated to a way of life in which openness, respect, love and an unfettered search for truth will come to be the new marks of an aroused and purified Christianity.
John Shelby Spong

Al Gore, Sundance's Leading Man

2006-03-20T11:10:00.000-06:00

Al Gore, Sundance's Leading Man: "PARK CITY, Utah -- Has ever a little indie film faced a greater hurdle? Imagine this sales pitch: Babe, it's a movie about global warming. Starring Al Gore. Doing a slide show.

With charts.

Secret Service agents say Cheney was drunk when he shot lawyer

2006-02-24T10:21:00.000-06:00

Secret Service agents say Cheney was drunk when he shot lawyer: "Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Dick Cheney when he shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington on a hunting outing two weeks ago say Cheney was 'clearly inebriated' at the time of the shooting.

Agents observed several members of the hunting party, including the Vice President, consuming alcohol before and during the hunting expedition, the report notes, and Cheney exhibited 'visible signs' of impairment, including slurred speech and erratic actions.
According to those who have talked with the agents and others present at the outing, Cheney was drunk when he gunned down his friend and the day-and-a-half delay in allowing Texas law enforcement officials on the ranch where the shooting occurred gave all members of the hunting party time to sober up.

We talked with a number of administration officials who are privy to inside information on the Vice President's shooting 'accident' and all admit Secret Service agents and others say they saw Cheney consume far more than the 'one beer' he claimed he drank at lunch earlier that day.

'This was a South Texas hunt,' says one White House aide. 'Of course there was drinking. There's always drinking. Lots of it.'

One agent at the scene has been placed on administrative leave and another requested reassignment this week. A memo reportedly written by one agent has been destroyed, sources said Wednesday afternoon.

Cheney has a long history of alcohol abuse, including two convictions of driving under the influence when he was younger. Doctors tell me that someone like Cheney, who is taking blood thinners because of his history of heart attacks, could get legally drunk now after consuming just one drink.

If Cheney was legally drunk at the time of the shooting, he could be guilty of a felony under Texas law and the shooting, ruled an accident by a compliant Kenedy County Sheriff, would be a prosecutable offense."

WorkingForChange-Dick Cheney goes hunting

2006-02-15T10:43:00.000-06:00

WorkingForChange-Dick Cheney goes hunting: "Accident or not, Cheney's responsible

AUSTIN, Texas — Of course the jokes are flying all over Texas — what's the fine for shooting a lawyer? — and so forth. Dick-Cheney-shooting-Harry-Whittington is fraught, as they say, with irony. It's not as though the ground in Texas is littered with liberal Republicans. I think the vice president winged the only one we've got."

Ted Kennedy | Who Authorized the Leaks?

2006-02-10T10:24:00.000-06:00

Ted Kennedy | Who Authorized the Leaks?: "The National Journal’s Murray Waas is reporting that I. Lewis Libby testified that he was authorized to share classified information with reporters by his superiors. The article goes on to point out that one of those superiors is likely to be Vice President Cheney. This would mean that the Plame Leak might extend far beyond what has been previously reported."

The Randi Rhodes Show on Air America Radio

2006-02-03T09:59:00.000-06:00

The Randi Rhodes Show on Air America Radio: "Fourteen Defining
Characteristics Of Fascism
By Dr. Lawrence Britt
Source Free Inquiry.co
5-28-3

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each: 1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays."

Cindy Sheehan's Account of her arrest:

2006-02-01T15:37:00.000-06:00

MichaelMoore.com! : Must Read: "Dear Friends,

As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union Address tonight.

I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country.

There have been lies from the police and distortions by the press. (Shocker) So this is what really happened:

This afternoon at the People's State of the Union Address in DC where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh. Lynn brought me a ticket to the State of the Union Address. At that time, I was wearing the shirt that said: 2,245 Dead. How many more?

After the PSOTU press conference, I was having second thoughts about going to the SOTU at the Capitol. I didn't feel comfortable going. I knew George Bush would say things that would hurt me and anger me and I knew that I couldn't disrupt the address because Lynn had given me the ticket and I didn't want to be disruptive out of respect for her. I, in fact, had given the ticket to John Bruhns who is in Iraq Veterans Against the War. However, Lynn's office had already called the media and everyone knew I was going to be there so I sucked it up and went.

I got the ticket back from John, and I met one of Congresswoman Barbara Lee's staffers in the Longworth Congressional Office building and we went to the Capitol via the underground tunnel. I went through security once, then had to use the rest room and went through security again."

John Shelby Spong

2006-02-01T15:23:00.000-06:00

Doug from Texas writes:
"I'm 56 years old. My mother and I are at opposite political poles. The only thing I can say in her favor is that she is not a fundamentalist "Christian" but she espouses nearly all the hate rhetoric of neo-con/neo fascists. When she told me that her favorite Fox "newscaster" was Bill O'Reilly, I told her that that was more than I ever wanted to know about her. I am ashamed of her, I don't like her, and I don't like talking with her. We have nothing in common by way of beliefs or even taste. In short, I don't know how I could be related to her and, in fact, wish I weren't! On the other hand, I'm sure that somewhere inside I must have some love for her since this whole thing bothers me so. My godfather, a wonderful retired Episcopal priest, keeps saying, "She is your mother," and that resonates but honestly, I just can't bring myself to talk to her. She lives in Kansas, I'm in Texas and the most I can do is to send a card on Mother's Day and on her birthday. I even find the cards difficult to sign, "Love, Doug." Do you have any suggestions? I love my godfather and my godmother but I have my obvious limitations. Can you help? "

Dear Doug,

Parent-child relationships are fraught with peril and pain and especially when adolescent rebellion stretches, as it appears to have done into your case, into the sixth decade of life. Your letter reminded me of a person I once knew, who had plastic surgery done over his navel to remove the last vestige of his relationship with his mother. Or, of a statement a therapist once made to me that "psychotherapy is the process through which one goes to enable one to say, "son of a b----" in front of his M-o-t-h-e-r. So the first thing I urge you to do is to get some professional help to assist you in separating delayed adolescent rebellion from the content of the issues that now separate you from your mother. They are two different things.

Mature people can and do live together in mutual respect without agreeing on lots of things. You refer to Bill O'Reilly of Fox News Television, for example. I do not know of a single major issue that Bill O'Reilly and I agree on, yet I not only like him, but also have been on his program about eight times. Of course, he is a right-wing opinionated ideologue. That is why people watch him. He articulates their anger and validates their prejudices, and he does it with style and the kind of cocksure authority that people assume he cannot possibly be wrong. Of course, Bill also does not believe that he can ever be wrong. When I am a guest on his program I have no need to try to convert him to anything. I do not think leopards can change their spots. I only seek to establish the credibility of a contrasting point of view and to assert that he does not speak for me or for many in this country. He clearly does speak for some. Bill O'Reilly will roll over his guests if his guests allow him to do so. When his guest holds his own and articulates a counter argument well I find that Bill will listen. When he interrupts as he frequently does, I think he needs to be called on it. I have never felt abused by him but I have always felt I have been in a battle.

Despite this kind of relationship, Bill O'Reilly actually endorsed my last book, even though I told him that his endorsement would hurt his reputation and mine! He also asked my publisher for the chance to have my book introduced on television first on his national Fox program. One can be civil and even enjoy the company of one with whom you are in total disagreement. It does help, however to realize that no human mind can ever embrace all truth. That is terribly complicated when the person with whom your disagreement is so intense is your parent. It is not easy to be a parent. The role of a parent is to raise your children to be free of their parents, to grow into being independent thinking people. The separation is frequently not easy for either parent or child, no matter how old the child might be.

My best,

-- John Shelby Spong

Molly Ivins - Not. Backing. Hillary.

2006-01-23T11:33:00.000-06:00

Equivocation in Democratic party has gone on far too long -- time for real leadership

AUSTIN, Texas — I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president.

Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone. This is not a Dick Morris election. Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges.

The recent death of Gene McCarthy reminded me of a lesson I spent a long, long time unlearning, so now I have to re-learn it. It's about political courage and heroes, and when a country is desperate for leadership. There are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times. There are times a country is so tired of bull that only the truth can provide relief.

If no one in conventional-wisdom politics has the courage to speak up and say what needs to be said, then you go out and find some obscure junior senator from Minnesota with the guts to do it. In 1968, Gene McCarthy was the little boy who said out loud, "Look, the emperor isn't wearing any clothes." Bobby Kennedy — rough, tough Bobby Kennedy — didn't do it. Just this quiet man trained by Benedictines who liked to quote poetry.

What kind of courage does it take, for mercy's sake? The majority of the American people (55 percent) think the war in Iraq is a mistake and that we should get out. The majority (65 percent) of the American people want single-payer health care and are willing to pay more taxes to get it. The majority (86 percent) of the American people favor raising the minimum wage. The majority of the American people (60 percent) favor repealing Bush's tax cuts, or at least those that go only to the rich. The majority (66 percent) wants to reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending, but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.

The majority (77 percent) thinks we should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment. The majority (87 percent) thinks big oil companies are gouging consumers and would support a windfall profits tax. That is the center, you fools. WHO ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

I listen to people like Rahm Emanuel superciliously explaining elementary politics to us clueless naifs outside the Beltway ("First, you have to win elections.") Can't you even read the damn polls?

Here's a prize example by someone named Barry Casselman, who writes, "There is an invisible civil war in the Democratic Party, and it is between those who are attempting to satisfy the defeatist and pacifist left base of the party and those who are attempting to prepare the party for successful elections in 2006 and 2008."

This supposedly pits Howard Dean, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, emboldened by "a string of bad news from the Middle East ... into calling for premature retreat from Iraq," versus those pragmatic folk like Steny Hoyer, Rahm Emmanuel, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Joe Lieberman.

Oh come on, people — get a grip on the concept of leadership. Look at this war — from the lies that led us into it, to the lies they continue to dump on us daily.

You sit there in Washington so frightened of the big, bad Republican machine you have no idea what people are thinking. I'm telling you right now, Tom DeLay is going to lose in his district. If Democrats in Washington haven't got enough sense to OWN the issue of political reform, I give up on them entirely.

Do it all, go long, go for public campaign financing for Congress. I'm serious as a stroke about this — that is the only reform that will work, and you know it, as well as everyone else who's ever studied this. Do all the goo-goo stuff everybody has made fun of all these years: embrace redistricting reform, electoral reform, House rules changes, the whole package. Put up, or shut up. Own this issue, or let Jack Abramoff politics continue to run your town.

Bush, Cheney and Co. will continue to play the patriotic bully card just as long as you let them. I've said it before: War brings out the patriotic bullies. In World War I, they went around kicking dachshunds on the grounds that dachshunds were "German dogs." They did not, however, go around kicking German shepherds. The MINUTE someone impugns your patriotism for opposing this war, turn on them like a snarling dog and explain what loving your country really means. That, or you could just piss on them elegantly, as Rep. John Murtha did. Or eviscerate them with wit (look up Mark Twain on the war in the Philippines). Or point out the latest in the endless "string of bad news."

Do not sit there cowering and pretending the only way to win is as Republican-lite. If the Washington-based party can't get up and fight, we'll find someone who can. Read more in the Molly Ivins archive .

Molly Ivins is the former editor of the liberal monthly The Texas Observer. She is the bestselling author of several books including Who Let the Dogs In?

What's Condi Measuring?

2005-12-23T10:01:00.000-06:00

Dvorak Uncensored � Attempt to Kill TiVO/Recording and Time Switching by Congressional Legislation

2005-12-22T20:03:00.000-06:00

Dvorak Uncensored

A frightening bit of legislation was introduced to the US House Judiciary Committee on Friday. The Digital Transition Content Security Act of 2005 (PDF) is sponsored by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) (PDF) and would close that pesky analog hole that poses such a dire threat to the survival of the music and movie industries. The bill was originally planned for introduction in early November, but was tabled after hearings held by the House Subcomittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property.

Calling the ability to convert analog video content to a digital format a “significant technical weakness in content protection,” H.R. 4569 would require all consumer electronics video devices manufactured more than 12 months after the DTCSA is passed to be able to detect and obey a “rights signaling system” that would be used to limit how content is viewed and used. That rights signaling system would consist of two DRM technologies, Video Encoded Invisible Light (VEIL) and Content Generation Management SystemAnalog (CGMS-A), which would be embedded in broadcasts and other analog video content.

Under the legislation, all devices sold in the US would fall under the auspices of the DTCSA: it would be illegal to “manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide or otherwise traffic” in such products. It’s a dream-come-true for Hollywood, and in combination with a new broadcast flag legislation (not yet introduced) would strike a near-fatal blow to the long-established right of Fair Use.

George Clooney about Bill O'Reilly

2005-12-08T18:47:00.000-06:00

Quicktime Movie

Texas Judge Lets Stand 2 of 3 Charges Against DeLay - New York Times

2005-12-05T22:55:00.000-06:00

Texas Judge Lets Stand 2 of 3 Charges Against DeLay - New York Times: "Texas Judge Lets Stand 2 of 3 Charges Against DeLay
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By RALPH BLUMENTHAL and CARL HULSE
Published: December 6, 2005

HOUSTON, Dec. 5 - A Texas judge dismissed one charge against Representative Tom Delay on Monday but let stand two more serious charges, complicating Mr. DeLay's hopes of regaining his post as House majority leader when Congress resumes in January."

Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal

2005-12-02T17:23:00.000-06:00

Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal: "Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan."

WMD the Film

2005-10-30T20:12:00.000-06:00

wmdthefilm: "WMD, a 100 minute non-fiction film, explores this story with the findings of a gutsy, media insider-turned-outsider, former network journalist, Danny Schechter, who is one of America's most prolific media critics. Schechter says he 'self-embedded' himself in his living room to monitor media coverage, by fastidiously tracking the TV coverage on a daily basis. He wrote thousands of words daily about the coverage for Mediachannel.org, the world's largest online media issues network, and then collected his columns, blogs and articles in a recently published book, EMBEDDED: Weapons of Mass Deception (Prometheus Books) . He has continued his one-man investigation with WMD, a two-hour indie non-fiction film that asks the questions that his media colleagues refused to confront before, during and after the war. Featuring footage from inside Iraq, and inside the media, WMD tracks the media war through February 2004."

Louisiana Governor's Office - Kathleen Babineaux Blanco

2005-09-27T20:52:00.000-05:00

Louisiana Governor's Office - Kathleen Babineaux Blanco: "Press Release
Date: 8/27/2005

Governor Blanco asks President to Declare an Emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina

BATON ROUGE—Today Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco forwarded a letter to President Bush requesting that he declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina. The full text of the letter follows:

August 27, 2005

The President
The White House
Washington, D. C.

Through:
Regional Director
FEMA Region VI
800 North Loop 288
Denton, Texas 76209

Dear Mr. President:

Under the provisions of Section 501 (a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. �� 5121-5206 (Stafford Act), and implemented by 44 CFR � 206.35, I request that you declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period beginning August 26, 2005, and continuing. The affected areas are all the southeastern parishes including the New Orleans Metropolitan area and the mid state Interstate I-49 corridor and northern parishes along the I-20 corridor that are accepting the thousands of citizens evacuating from the areas expecting to be flooded as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

In response to the situation I have taken appropriate action under State law and directed the execution of the State Emergency Plan on August 26, 2005 in accordance with Section 501 (a) of the Stafford Act. A State of Emergency has been issued for the State in order to support the evacuations of the coastal areas in accordance with our State Evacuation Plan and the remainder of the state to support the State Special Needs and Sheltering Plan.

Pursuant to 44 CFR � 206.35, I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster. I am specifically requesting emergency protective measures, direct Federal Assistance, Individual and Household Program (IHP) assistance, Special Needs Program assistance, and debris removal.

Preliminary estimates of the types and amount of emergency assistance needed under the Stafford Act, and emergency assistance from certain Federal agencies under other statutory authorities are tabulated in Enclosure A.

The following information is furnished on the nature and amount of State and local resources that have been or will be used to alleviate the conditions of this emergency:
• Department of Social Services (DSS): Opening (3) Special Need Shelters (SNS) and establishing (3) on Standby.
• Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH): Opening (3) Shelters and establishing (3) on Standby.
• Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (OHSEP): Providing generators and support staff for SNS and Public Shelters.
• Louisiana State Police (LSP): Providing support for the phased evacuation of the coastal areas.
• Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (WLF): Supporting the evacuation of the affected population and preparing for Search and Rescue Missions."

More on web site... click link above

AMERICAblog: Because a great nation deserves the truth

2005-09-24T15:12:00.000-05:00

AMERICAblog: Because a great nation deserves the truth: "Saturday, September 24, 2005

Texas trip cancelled because it was...too sunny
by Joe in DC - 9/24/2005 09:51:00 AM

Interfering with on-going storm preparations wasn't the reason Bush ditched going to San Antonio yesterday. No, that's not why. The reason was a bad visual:
It was too sunny.
Not kidding:
Another White House official involved in preparing Mr. Bush's way noted that with the sun shining so brightly in San Antonio, the images of Mr. Bush from here might not have made it clear to viewers that he was dealing with an approaching storm.
The White House is desperate."

United States of Shame - New York Times

2005-09-04T13:35:00.000-05:00

United States of Shame - New York Times: "Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.

Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: 'Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job.'"

A Can't-Do Government - New York Times

2005-09-04T13:27:00.000-05:00

A Can't-Do Government - New York Times: "At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice."

Bush's Obscene Tirades Rattle White House Aides

2005-08-28T09:34:00.000-05:00

Bush's Obscene Tirades Rattle White House Aides: "Bush's Obscene Tirades Rattle White House Aides
By DOUG THOMPSON
Aug 25, 2005, 06:19

While President George W. Bush travels around the country in a last-ditch effort to sell his Iraq war, White House aides scramble frantically behind the scenes to hide the dark mood of an increasingly angry leader who unleashes obscenity-filled outbursts at anyone who dares disagree with him.

“I’m not meeting again with that goddamned bitch,” Bush screamed at aides who suggested he meet again with Cindy Sheehan, the war-protesting mother whose son died in Iraq. “She can go to hell as far as I’m concerned!”"

Salon.com - War Room by Tom Grieve

2005-08-23T15:06:00.000-05:00

Salon.com - War Room: "Good tidings for Judith Miller

There's no news to report in the Valerie Plame case. But it seems, at least in some circles, that it's always a good day to say something nasty about Judith Miller. The New York Times reporter has been in jail in Virginia for a month and a half now, and today she gets a shout-out from the opposite coast. Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Robert Scheer says that Miller should be thinking less about protecting her sources and more about serving the public.

Scheer says 'the biggest problem with Miller is that her commitment to a biased and manipulative Bush administration and Iraqi exile sources clearly has been stronger than her commitment to reporting the truth.' As proof, he offers up a list of front-page headlines for pieces Miller wrote on Iraq: 'U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts'; 'Illicit Arms Kept Till Eve of War, an Iraqi Scientist Is Said to Assert'; 'U.S. Analysts Link Iraq Labs to Germ Arms'; 'Iraqi Tells of Renovations at Sites for Chemical and Nuclear Arms.'

'To be sure, Miller didn't make anything up, she just relayed whatever her anonymous sources told her -- nearly all of which turned out to be garbage,' Scheer writes. 'In this way, Miller and other reporters like her can pretend to follow the letter of journalistic protocol while flouting its spirit and purpose. What she should have done was challenge her sources and then stop protecting them when she found out their information was false.'

-- T.G."

Salon.com - War Room

2005-08-15T17:15:00.000-05:00

Salon.com - War Room: "Bush vs. Sheehan: The race to the bottom

When John McCain had George W. Bush on the ropes in South Carolina in 2000, he quickly found himself subject to smears about his mental condition and family. When Richard Clarke criticized Bush after 9/11, Dick Cheney tried to discredit him as someone who 'wasn't in the loop.' When Paul O'Neill said that Bush used 9/11 as a pretext to invade Iraq, the White House said that he was ignored when he worked for the administration and should be ignored afterward, too. When Joseph Wilson said Bush had misled the nation in the run-up to the war, the White House called him a liar and outed his wife."