war news of the day for thanksgiving night - and, hey! pilgrims aren't puritans; don't put funny hats on 'em. nor on the turkeys, please.

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from the only surviving sermon preached to the plymouth pilgrims

http://members.aol.com/calebj/sermon.html

"The difference between a temperate good man, and a belly-god is this: A good man will not eat his morsels alone, especially, if he have better than others, but if by God's providence, he have gotten some meat which is better than ordinary, and better than his other brethren, he can have no rest in himself, except he make others partake with him. But a belly-god will stop all in his own throat, yea, though his neighbor come in and behold him eat, yet his gripple-gut shameth not to swallow all. And this may be done sometimes, as well in mean fare as in greater dainties, for all countries afford not alike.

"...What then must you do? May you live as retired Hermites? And look after no body? Nay, you must seek still the wealth of one another; And enquire as David, now liveth such a man? How is he clad? How is he fed? He is my brother, my associate; we ventured our lives together. Is his labor harder than mine? Surely I will ease him; hath he no bed to lie on? Why, I have two, I'll lend him one; hath he no apparel? Why, I have two suits, I'll give him one of them; eats he coarse fare, bread and water, and I have better, why, surely we will part stakes. He is as good a man as I, and we are bound each to other, so that his wants must be my wants, his sorrows my sorrows, his sickness my sickness, and his welfare my welfare, for I am as he is. And such a sweet sympathy were excellent, comfortable, yea, heavenly.

"...Lay away then all thought of former things and forget them and think upon the things that are, look not gapingly one upon another, pleading your goodness, your birth, your life you lived, your means you had and might have had; here you are by God's providence under difficulties, be thankful to God it is no worse, and take it in good part, that which is, and lift not up yourself because of former privileges... Above all, it shall go well with your souls, when that God of peace and unity shall come to visit you with death as he hath done many of your associates, you being found of him, not in murmurings, discontent and jars, but in brotherly love and peace may be translated from this wandering wilderness unto that joyful and heavenly Canaan. Amen." --Robert Cushman, Plymouth Church, December 12, 1621.

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last week's version

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/1121bush-chefs21-ON.html

George W. Bush has allegedly offended Queen Elizabeth II by bringing no fewer than five of his personal chefs to Buckingham Palace, reports the New York Daily News. "Her Majesty greeted the news that Bush was coming with his own chefs in absolute silence," a source told London's Daily Telegraph. "That's her general way of expressing disapproval... The Telegraph quoted one Bush source saying, "He's the president of the United States - maybe he needs a late-night snack."

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this week's version

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=540&u=/ap/20031127/ap_on_re_mi_ea/bush_iraq&printer=1

BAGHDAD, Iraq - President Bush flew to Iraq under extraordinary secrecy and security Thursday to spend Thanksgiving with U.S. troops... "You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq so we don't have to face them in our own country," Bush said.

...Wearing an exercise jacket with a 1st Armored Division patch, Bush then worked the entire room and dished out — but did not sit down to eat — sweet potatoes and corn from the chow line.

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http://www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=3425&R=79971E4D4

The most fashionable pre-fab rationalization to use when the news isn't going as swimmingly as we want it to, is to select a place in Iraq, then a corresponding place in America. If the two places start with the same letter, all the better. Next, state baldly that no matter how lousy things are going, you'd rather fight the terrorists / Baathists / whoever-it-is-we're-fighting in the first location, rather than the second. Lastly, sit back with a self-satisfied smile, as if that settles the matter.

...The Boston Herald, for instance, wants to fight in Baghdad, "rather than mopping up after mayhem in Boston." A Fox commentator prefers "the Middle East so you won't have to fight them in the Midwest." New York governor George Pataki wants our troops fighting the terrorists "on the streets of Baghdad," rather than our firefighters fighting them "on the streets of Brooklyn." Representative J.D. Hayworth would rather "see the fight in Tikrit than in Tucson or Tacoma." And Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld scores a fighting hat trick, since he'd prefer the fight to go down in Baghdad rather than "in Boston or in Baltimore or Boise." Senator Kit Bond does Rumsfeld one better, wishing the fight to commence in Baghdad, "rather than Boston or Boise or Baldwin, Missouri, or Belton, Missouri."

...A little practice, and you'll know exactly what to do if you find yourself down-wind on some Sunday morning gasbag show. Whenever the Iraq catastrophe of the day is brought up, just look the moderator in the eye, and tell him that you'd rather fight the terrorists in Salman Pak than in the Salmon River of Idaho. That you'd rather fight the terrorists in Safwan than San Antonio.

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cheery news from the joint chiefs

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=407356§ion=news

A senior U.S. general says that al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden had "taken himself out of the picture" and that his capture was not essential to winning the "war on terror". General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said... "It is not an individual that is as important as is the ongoing campaign of the coalition against terrorists."

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meanwhile back in london

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/content_objectid=13652625_method=full_siteid=106694_headline=-GROUND-FARCE-1-name_page.html

Royal officials are now in touch with the Queen's insurers and Prime Minister Tony Blair to find out who will pick up the massive repair bill. Palace staff said they had never seen the Queen so angry as when she saw how her perfectly-mantained lawns had been churned up after being turned into helipads with three giant H landing markings for the Bush visit. The rotors of the President's Marine Force One helicopter and two support Black Hawks damaged trees and shrubs that had survived since Queen Victoria's reign. And Bush's army of clod-hopping security service men trampled more precious and exotic plants... The Palace's head gardener, Mark Lane, was reported to be in tears when he saw the scale of the damage.

...The bill for repairing damage to the lawns and the structure of the Palace will probably have to be picked up by the Government.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A11572-2003Nov24?language=printer

Nov. 24 -- President Bush held a rare meeting Monday with families of fallen soldiers, spending close to two hours hugging and listening tearfully to survivors at a military base that has been among the nation's hardest hit by casualties in Iraq.

...The president has not attended any of the funerals of the 431 U.S. service members who have died since the invasion of Iraq. Bush's critics point out that 40 of those funerals were at Arlington National Cemetery, just four miles from the White House... A senior administration official said, "The president believes funerals are a time for grieving families to be together and mourn their loved ones and celebrate their lives, and he has not felt comfortable intruding on that."

...White House aides said the meeting was Bush's third with families of fallen soldiers since the war began... Over the same period, Bush has headlined 41 fundraising receptions.

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regarding the above event

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_2455047,00.html

November 25, 2003 - COLORADO SPRINGS - Before the press was herded into the giant hangar in advance of George W. Bush's pep rally/photo op with the Fort Carson troops, we were given the rules: No talking to the troops before the rally. No talking to the troops during the rally. No talking to the troops after the rally. In other words, if I've done the math right, that means no conversation at all - at least, while on base - with any soldiers. After all, who knows where that kind of thing could lead?

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oh by the way

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031125/ZNYT03/311250448

Confusion swirled Monday as a United States military official retracted his earlier report that the throats of two American soldiers had been slashed during an attack on Sunday in the northern city of Mosul... Contrary to initial accounts on Sunday from Mosul, he said the bodies of the men had not been mutilated or pummeled with rocks... The military official said the victims, both of the 101st Airborne Division, were not set upon by a mob... Nor were the bodies dragged through the streets, the official said. [holy shit! --mrs. h]

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just babies, man

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=3&u=/ap/20031126/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

TIKRIT, Iraq - The U.S. military on Wednesday arrested a wife and a daughter of a top Saddam Hussein deputy suspected of leading the anti-American insurgency... American forces have frequently arrested relatives of fugitives to interrogate them on their family member's whereabouts and as a way of putting pressure on the wanted men to surrender.

...Meanwhile, about a dozen U.S. military officers began preparing Thanksgiving turkey dinners with the help of Indian cooks... Eight truckloads of turkey meat, cranberry sauce and other ingredients were sent from the United States... said Sgt. 1st Class Juliet Palmer, one of the designated Army cooks. "We're going to make it as close to home as possible," she promised.

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http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm

[Fourth]Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War... Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.

To this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons: (a) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; (b) Taking of hostages; (c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment; (d) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.

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http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/411tdnon.asp

11/24/2003 - DURING THE LAST SEVEN MONTHS the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, D.C., could have blended in more easily on the streets of Baghdad than in the nation's capital... Weeds ran rampant over its grounds and the building was without power. The phrase, "The name of this chamber is Peace" once inscribed upon the second floor fireplace had faded beyond recognition. As U.S. forces began the liberation of Iraq, the embassy was abandoned and all but one of its employees deported. The man left behind is Achmed Alkaissy, a U.S. citizen since 1986 and assistant to the former Iraqi ambassador.

...For the last seven months he's been the sole contact for 300,000 Iraqi citizens living in the United States, attempting to manage the embassy's affairs from the confines of his Alexandria home. "I couldn't do anything," he says. "I didn't have authorization from the State Department. The Iraqi community wants passports. These people have visas that need to be renewed and I can't help them. They can't return to their families and they can't establish themselves here. They are stuck."

...Once his work at the Iraqi embassy is done, he plans to return to his native country and start his own political party. "It will be the Iraqi Republican party. These critics will say anything about George Bush. I don't care what they say. He's a good man. He made the tough decision and did the right thing." In the meantime, Washington's own patch of Iraqi soil and its lone representative await reconstruction.

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http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/7349825.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

UNITED NATIONS - Britain and France want to turn the U.N. inspection force that worked in Iraq before the war into a permanent agency authorized to investigate biological weapons and missile programs worldwide, The Associated Press has learned. The United States opposes the idea, diplomats and U.N. officials said... American officials said the United States won't formally discuss UNMOVIC until after the U.S. weapons search in Iraq is complete.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/25/politics/25ADS.html?ei=5062&en=a25f256a6476ca0f&ex=1070341200&partner=GOOGLE&pagewanted=print&position=

When President Bush laid out the potential threat that unconventional weapons posed in Saddam Hussein's hands last year in his State of the Union address last year, he became tongue-tied at an inopportune moment. The line read, "It would take one vial, one canister, one crate, slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known." But Mr. Bush stumbled between the words "one" and "vial." And when at the word vial, he pronounced the "v" as if it were a "w." Yet in a new Republican commercial that borrows excerpts from that speech, Mr. Bush delivers that line as smoothly as any other in the address, without a pause between "one" and "vial," and the v in "vial" sounds strong and sure.

Republican officials acknowledged yesterday that the change was a product of technology. The line, they said, was digitally enhanced in editing "to ensure the best clarity."

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transcript of the ad in question

http://slate.msn.com/id/2091666/sidebar/2091660/

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: "It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known."

CHYRON: Strong and Principled Leadership

BUSH: "Our war against terror is a contest of will in which perseverance is power."

CHYRON: Some are now attacking the President for attacking the terrorists.

BUSH: "Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike?"

CHYRON: Some call for us to retreat, putting our national security in the hands of others.

CHYRON: Call Congress Now

CHYRON: Tell them to support the President's policy of preemptive self-defense.

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what is this chyron? read on.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2091666/#sb2091660

When Republicans introduced this ad, they suggested that Democrats had twisted President Bush's national security record for months and that it was time to even the score. If so, mission accomplished. In 30 seconds, this ad distorts the Democrats' views and impugns their motives more crudely than the Democrats have done to Bush in two years.

The ad consists of video clips from Bush's most recent State of the Union address, backed by ominous music and interspersed with on-screen text messages known as chyrons... It's the chyrons that do the dirty work. The second says, "Some are now attacking the President for attacking the terrorists." Bull. Not one leading Democrat in Congress or in the presidential campaign has criticized Bush for attacking terrorists. They've criticized him for not attacking terrorists. Specifically, they've faulted him for attacking Iraq and pretending that this was a blow against terrorism... Don't even get me started on the vicious parallelism of saying Democrats "attacked the President for attacking the terrorists." That phrase blurs the difference between violence and criticism and all but implies that Democrats are on the side of terrorists.

...Every salient premise in the ad is false. Our national security wasn't in jeopardy. Our pre-emptive attack turned out not to be warranted self-defense. The regime Bush ousted wasn't particularly supportive of the terrorists who struck us, and leading Democrats who opposed the war did so for reasons precisely contrary to the reasons the ad attributes to them. Call the White House and the RNC now. Tell them to end the President's policy of lying about Iraq.

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the presidential unappointee chimes in

http://www.tennessean.com/government/archives/03/11/43164549.shtml?Element_ID=43164549

Former Vice President Al Gore told college students last night that... ''for the president of the United States to claim, in a television ad, that those who disagreed with the decision to go to war with Iraq, are against attacking terrorists, is a disgrace... It is a cheap and petty political tactic not worthy of the presidency. It is something you would find in a down-and-dirty sleazy campaign for city council,'' Gore added.

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http://www.menafn.com/qn_print.asp?StoryID=Cp72B0eidAxjHCs1ICMvTzxi

American's top man in Baghdad, L. Paul Bremer, last week fired 28,000 Iraqi teachers as political punishment for their former membership in the Saddam Hussein-dominated Baath Party, fueling anti-U.S. resistance on the ground, administration officials have told United Press International... According to several serving and former U.S. intelligence officials, the latest firings are only one of a series of what one State Department official called "disastrous misjudgments."

...In spite of steadily escalating attacks on U.S. forces, the desire of the IGC [Iraqi Governing Council] to enforce political correctness produced "incoherence, chaos and disorganization," one Pentagon official said. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld even moved to get rid of 16 of 20 State Department people because they were seen to be "Arabists" -- overly sympathetic to Iraqis, U.S. government officials said. A former Garner team member was quoted in last week's Newsweek as saying the vetting process for Iraqis "got so bad that even doctors sent to restore medical services had to be anti-abortion" -- an article of faith in the Bush administration. When Secretary of State Colin Powell protested directly to Rumsfeld, he ignored Powell, the Newsweek source said.

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has the above story been buried? let's do a google search and find out:

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&edition=us&q=%2228%2C000%22+Iraq+teachers&btnG=Search+News

"Searched news for "28,000" "Iraq teachers". Results: 2. Search took 0.35 seconds." The two results are "MENAFN, Middle East - Nov 21, 2003" and "Democracy Now - Nov 24, 2003".

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http://www.msnbc.com/news/997582.asp?0cv=CB10&cp1=1

Nov. 24 — One of the Middle East’s biggest television news networks agreed Monday to halt reports from Iraq after the U.S.-appointed government raided its offices, banned its broadcasts and threatened to imprison journalists. The government accused Al-Arabiya of “inciting murder” for broadcasting an audio tape a week ago of a voice it said belonged to Saddam Hussein.

...Earlier Monday, about 20 Iraqi police officers raided Al-Arabiya’s offices in Baghdad’s Mansour neighborhood, making lists of equipment to be seized... The officers also raided the Middle East Broadcasting Center, a mostly entertainment network that shares offices with Al-Arabiya and is owned by the same Saudi company. The correspondent said the officers told employees they were banned from broadcasting any reports from Iraq, and that they would be fined $1,000 and imprisoned for a year for each violation.

...In the audiotape purported to be Saddam, broadcast Nov. 16, the voice urged Iraqis to step up their resistance to the U.S.-led occupation... The CIA said the technical quality of the tape was too poor to reach any conclusions about the speaker’s identity. President Bush dismissed it as propaganda. The Paris-based media watchdog group, Reporters Without Borders, immediately denounced the action of the Governing Council.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12074-2003Nov24.html

In June, the FCC relaxed a number of media ownership regulations, among them one that would allow television networks to buy more stations, expanding a network's potential national audience from 35 percent of all viewers to 45 percent. Last night, congressional negotiators agreed to a 39 percent cap. In real terms, this means ABC and NBC will be able to buy a few more television stations. CBS and Fox, already reaching about 39 percent of the national audience, will not... If the cap had been returned to 35 percent, CBS and Fox could have been forced to sell stations.

"This is a backroom deal to let the two largest networks keep all of their stations," said Gene Kimmelman, public policy director for Consumers Union, which opposed the new media rules.

...Yesterday's deal addressed only one of the new FCC rules. A separate rule allows one company to own the top-rated television station and biggest newspaper in most cities, while another allows one company to own two television stations in many cities and three in the largest cities. Advocacy groups and some lawmakers have vowed to try to overturn the other rules, as well, in next year's Congress.

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http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34191.html

Just weeks after an antitrust suit was filed against the RIAA by webcasters, the music labels' lobby group, is, along with Hollywood, seeking a permanent exemption from similar litigation... It's buried away in a piece of legislation co-sponsored by Senator Orrin Hatch called the EnFORCE Act, or the Enhancing Federal Obscenity Reporting and Copyright Enforcement Act of 2003.

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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=509&u=/ap/20031124/ap_on_bi_ge/christmas_radio&printer=1

Nov 23 - It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but on radios nationwide it's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas. More than two dozen FM music stations ditched regular programing this month in favor of an all-Christmas-music format, with plans to keep the carols coming until Dec. 26. Somewhere between 200 to 300 more are expected to follow suit in the next few weeks.

...Tom Taylor, who edits the daily industry newsletter Inside Radio, said the trend may continue as long as people keep feeling the need for an emotional lift. "There's the economy. There's the war. A lot of people could probably use a little smile, and what gets people smiling more than Christmas?"

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i'll tell you what: cash.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5053-2003Nov21.html

More than three dozen of President Bush's major fundraisers are affiliated with companies that stand to benefit from the passage of two central pieces of the administration's legislative agenda: the energy and Medicare bills. The energy bill provides billions of dollars in benefits to companies run by at least 22 executives and their spouses who have qualified as either "Pioneers" or "Rangers," as well as to the clients of at least 15 lobbyists and their spouses who have achieved similar status as fundraisers. At least 24 Rangers and Pioneers could benefit from the Medicare bill as executives of companies or lobbyists working for them, including eight who have clients affected by both bills.

By its latest count, Bush's reelection campaign has designated more than 300 supporters as Pioneers or Rangers. The Pioneers were created by the Bush campaign in 2000 to reward supporters who brought in at least $100,000 in contributions. For his reelection campaign, Bush has set a goal of raising as much as $200 million, almost twice what he raised three years ago, and established the designation of Ranger for those who raise at least $200,000.

...The energy bill provides industry tax breaks worth $23.5 billion over 10 years aimed at increasing domestic oil and gas production, and $5.4 billion in subsidies and loan guarantees. The bill also grants legal protections to gas producers using the additive methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), whose manufacturers face a wave of lawsuits, and it repeals the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA), a mainstay of consumer protection that limits mergers of utilities.

...Among the major lobbying firms in Washington, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feldhas been one of the most successful collecting fees for work on the energy and Medicare bills. In the first six months of this year, Akin Gump, which has two partners who are Pioneers -- Bill Paxon and James C. Langdon Jr. -- received $1.6 million in fees from medical and energy interests... On Medicare issues, Aikin Gump represents the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories and Pfizer Inc. All would benefit from the expanded markets resulting from a key provision of the bill -- the first federal subsidies to help Medicare patients pay for prescriptions.

Hank McKinnell, chairman and CEO of Pfizer, has pledged to raise at least $200,000 for Bush's reelection, although he is not yet listed as a Pioneer or Ranger. Pioneer Munr Kazmir, who runs a direct-mail drug company called Direct Meds Inc., estimates that he has about 100,000 customers on Medicare who will have more money to buy drugs from his company. "We know the patients, we know how important this bill is," he said.

In addition to the prescription drugs provision, the Medicare bill is intended to encourage recipients to join preferred-provider organizations (PPOs) and other kinds of private health care, instead of receiving care through the traditional fee-for-service system in which they pick their doctors and generally get whatever care they request. The health industry has provided substantial support to the Bush campaign, and a number of officials whose companies and associations actively support the Medicare bill are Pioneers and Rangers .

...M. Keith Weikel, chief operating officer at HCR Manor Care, a chain of more than 500 nursing homes and other facilities serving the elderly, is another Pioneer. Weikel and Manor Care did not respond to requests for comment on the Medicare bill, but the major nursing home trade group, the American Health Care Association, strongly endorsed the bill, which, among other things, would continue to bar Medicare from capping the amount it covers for various therapies offered by health care providers such as nursing homes.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8790-2003Nov23.html

The Medicare legislation that passed the House near dawn on Saturday and is moving toward a final vote in the Senate would steer at least $125 billion over the next decade in extra assistance to the health care industry and U.S. businesses... The bill's generosity to employers and major sectors of the medical industry helps explain the aggressive lobbying campaigns for the legislation by groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Medical Association.

...The extra money to private health care companies is part of the reason many Democrats oppose the measure... The bill would create new funding rules to ensure that no private plan is paid less than the rates that Medicare pays for patients in the traditional, fee-for-service part of the program. It also would establish a special $12 billion fund to try to persuade health plans to enter -- or stay in -- parts of the country where they have been scarce.

...The bill [also] would give companies essentially the same amount of money per retiree that the government would provide in subsidies to individual Medicare patients... The employers would get $70 billion in direct payments and $16 billion more in new tax breaks over the next 10 years. Thomas A. Scully, administrator of the federal agency that runs Medicare, said employers "should be having a giant ticker-tape parade." Scully recalled that he and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson met in the spring with labor and corporate leaders -- including the chairmen of General Motors Corp., General Electric Co. and a major steel manufacturer. "Their joint plea was, retiree health costs are an unbelievable burden."

...The bill would cancel a planned decrease in Medicare's payments to physicians for the next two years, providing them a small increase instead. That would give doctors an extra $2.5 billion over the next five years. Donald J. Palmisano, a New Orleans surgeon who is the medical association's president, said the payments were important "to make sure physicians can stay in the practice of medicine."

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http://community.aarp.org/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=rp-legislative&msg=3442.1&ctx=1

AARP [American Assoc of Retired People] Rigs Its Own Poll. A tempestuous uproar greeted America’s leading retiree organization over AARP’s endorsement of the controversial GOP Medicare proposal and AARP’s promise to spend $7 million and more if needed to help get the bill passed. With its email system clogged with protests and resignation notices, AARP hurriedly asked its pollsters, Knowledge Networks, to conduct a survey in an obvious attempt to justify its actions... Now follow what happened closely because it is a fabulous record of how to get the answer you want in a “scientific poll.”

...62% of those polled said they were either completely unfamiliar with the Medicare Bill or were not very familiar with the specifics of the Bill. Only 2% felt they were very familiar with the Bill and 35% reported they were merely “somewhat familiar” and 1% refused to answer the question... So the pollsters proceeded to remind those being polled that Medicare does not presently cover prescription drugs. Then the pollster boiled the complex bill down to three sentences. They tossed in another four sentences describing the benefits to the poor and those with high drug costs. Thus the pollsters created the “knowledge-base” for 97% of those who were polled.

Then the pollster asked the following question: “Even if this plan won’t affect you personally either way, do you think it should be passed so that people with low-incomes or people with high drug costs can be helped?” Seventy-five percent answered “Yes.” The problem with the question is the question assumes the conclusion that the Medicare Bill will in fact help low-income people and people with high drug costs.

...They rigged their own poll, lied to their own members, and tried to cover up the fact that the management of an organization dedicated to helping their retired members—will actually place those members in harm’s way. It may well be more than a betrayal—it may be fraud.

...No wonder 85 members of Congress have canceled their AARP memberships in just two days time. And no wonder hundreds of thousands of members are in an uproar and AARP's email system is clogged with resignations.

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http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/9465/view/print

Bush aims to collect as much as $200 million before the Republican National Convention—more than four times the amount a candidate who remains in the public financing system can raise and spend. Even though the president faces no opposition from his own party, the campaign has now raised more money than it did during the entire 2000 presidential primaries. The 2004 Bush campaign now boasts 106 Rangers—those fundraisers who bundle $200,000 in individual contributions—and 203 Pioneers, who each have brought in $100,000. In addition, the campaign has named 24 Mavericks—the title given to fundraisers under age 40 who bring in at least $50,000... For more information on the Rangers and Pioneers and how to fix the presidential public financing system, visit www.WhiteHouseForSale.org.

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http://www.newarkadvocate.com/news/stories/20031123/localnews/696580.html

NEWARK, OHIO -- Diebold Inc. has sent letters to every member of the Licking County Chamber of Commerce to show its displeasure with the Licking County Board of Elections' intention to purchase the county's touch-screen voting machines from an out-of-state company. Canton-based Diebold mailed out approximately 700 letters asking members to support its effort to get the final contract... Mark Radke, director of voting industry at Diebold Election Systems Inc... said the company feels Licking County should be loyal to it because Diebold operates a plant in Newark, even though the Newark plant does not manufacture the voting machines.

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http://www.verifiedvoting.org/

Representative Rush Holt has already proposed a solution, in the form of a bill introduced into the House. The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (H.R. 2239) would mandate the necessary safeguards for U.S. elections in every state... When enacted, this federal law would require all states to use election equipment that provides a voter-verifiable paper audit trail.

This means that voters could check a paper ballot or paper record of the ballot for accuracy before casting the vote -- without having to trust the voting machine. Voter verification of ballots is crucial, because only the voter can check whether the ballot is accurate. A paper audit trail makes it possible to reconstruct the election results from the original voter-verified records, without having to trust the election equipment. In other words, it is possible to do a meaningful recount if an election is in dispute.

Working together with others across the nation, we must convince our Congress to pass H.R. 2239. [see site]

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yet another bright idea

http://www.fairvote.org/ChoicePlus/

In the interest of easing the burden of administering ranked-ballot elections and of ensuring the integrity and accuracy of election software, the Center for Voting and Democracy is partnering with Voting Solutions to release Voting Solution's Choice Plus software under an open license... The organizations are seeking programmers experienced in open source development projects to assist with the release.

We are making the code available for inspection purposes only, since we have not yet determined if all code and modules can be released with an open license. If any non-releasable code is found, the first step in this project will be re-writing the code to satisfy the open license. Download the code [from this website].

...We plan to release the software under the Gnu General Public License. If you are interested in assisting with this project, please contact: choiceplus@fairvote.org

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are we secure yet?

http://nydailynews.com/front/story/140371p-124478c.html

[New York City] Mayor Bloomberg helped launch a nationwide fund-raising campaign yesterday to raise $5 million to reopen the Statue of Liberty. The landmark has been closed because of security concerns since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks... Most of the money already has been pledged: American Express has agreed to donate a minimum of $3 million, and Folgers Coffee has pledged $1 million. That leaves only $1 million left to be collected. "It would have been great if the federal government would pay for it, but the reality is they aren't," said Ed Skyler, Bloomberg's press secretary.

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http://www.soaw.org/new/

Columbus, GA - Over ten thousand people gathered this weekend outside the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia in the most diverse demonstration yet of opposition to the School of the Americas, renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA/WHISC), a combat-training school for Latin American soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, "disappeared", massacred, and forced into refuge by SOA graduates.

The gathering culminated today with a solemn "funeral" procession. More than 30 people had been arrested after entering the base in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. They took this action despite knowing they likely face 3-6 months in federal prison... Since protests against SOA/WHISC began over ten years ago, 210 people have served or are now serving sentences of prison and probation for civil disobedience. SOA Watch activist have collectively served more than 75 years in federal prisons across the country. "Prison will not deter us," said Kathy Kelly [of Voices in the Wilderness], who was among those arrested today. "We intend to close this school and to change the foreign policy that this school represents."

...The Columbus convergence concludes a week of resistance to empire and corporate globalization. Thousands gathered in Miami to protest the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and 100,000 gathered in London-during Bush's visit-to protest the invasion and occupation of Iraq. SOA Watch organizers have been coordinating with organizers in Miami, and working in solidarity with organizers in England. The three mobilizations released a joint statement of solidarity (see http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=689).

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http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=14450&c=206

The American Civil Liberties Union today denounced a classified FBI intelligence memorandum, obtained by the New York Times, which gives police detailed instructions on how to target and monitor lawful political demonstrations under the rubric of fighting terrorism... According to a front-page story in today’s New York Times, the memorandum was circulated last month to local law enforcement agencies around the country in advance of mass marches and rallies in Washington, DC and San Francisco against the U.S. occupation in Iraq.

The memorandum, the Times reports, details how protesters have sometimes used “training camps” to rehearse for demonstrations, the Internet to raise money and gas masks to defend against tear gas. It describes lawful activities like recruiting demonstrators, as well as illegal activities like using fake documentation to get into a secured site.

...Of particular concern is one section warning law enforcement about protesters’ use of videotaping as an “intimidation” technique. Most mainstream demonstrators often use videotape during protests to document law enforcement activity and, more importantly, deter police from acting outside the law... News of the classified bulletin also comes on the heels of an ACLU lawsuit against the Secret Service for the continuing practice of allowing pro-Bush protesters to remain visible to cameras during presidential appearances, and corralling anti-Bush protesters into pens or designated areas far from the media.

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news from miami

http://ftaaimc.org/en/2003/11/2384.shtml

This is the latest confirmed update. There has been one (1) case of menengicoccal menengitis confirmed with a medic/activist. Thus far, there are NO OTHER confirmed cases... The doctors believe the person DID NOT contract the illness in Miami, due to the incubation period determined from blood tests and the time the person left for Miami from home. Any other speculations into possible chemical and/or biological agents possibly used by police in Miami and somehow associated with this case are premature. Others who were in close extended contact have thus far NOT manifested any symptoms of menengitis... Please, in the interests of solidarity with our comrade, refrain from spreading rumors. If you feel you may have menengitis or manifest the symptoms above, SEE A DOCTOR OR GO TO THE HOSPITAL. - Central Jersey Industrial Workers of the World.

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http://ftaaimc.org/en/index.shtml

11-27-2003 - Jordan, street medic, anti-fascist, humanitarian activist, died of meningitis at 2AM this morning. If you know anyone treated by him in Miami, get those people to a doctor.

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http://www.uswa.org/uswa/program/content/737.php

PITTSBURGH — The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) is calling for a Congressional investigation into "a massive police state," created in part with federal funds, to intimidate union members and others critical of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and limit their rights during FTAA meetings in Miami last week... "Last week, the fundamental rights of thousands of Americans were blatantly violated, sometimes violently, by the Miami police, who systematically repressed our Constitutional right to free assembly with massive force, riot gear and armaments," said Leo W. Gerard, USWA international president, in a letter to Congressional leaders.

...Citing "countless instances of humiliating repression in which the Miami police force disgraced itself," Gerard said that Miami police chief John Timoney should be fired, all charges against peaceful demonstrators should be dropped, and a Congressional investigation into the Miami police department's systematic repression should immediately be launched. "To do less would be to endorse homeland repression in the guise of homeland security," Gerard’s letter concluded.

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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami/sfl-drights21nov21,0,6658687,print.story?coll=sfla-news-miami

A Miami man is sitting in jail because police say he drove down the street with an open container of beer. His bail? $10,000.00. A teenager from New Jersey is locked up because police say he rode a bicycle through the streets of Miami in the middle of the night and refused to say what he was up to. Bail: $20,000.00. Such major bail was ordered for such minor crimes, the public defender says, because the defendants were FTAA protesters.

In an emergency appeal filed Thursday, Miami Dade Assistant Public Defender Carlos F. Gonzalez asked a higher court judge to lower the bail. "The bonds appear to be excessive and more in line with felony charges than the misdemeanors in question," said Public Defender Bennett H. Brummer, whose office filed the papers in the Third District Court of Appeal... Assistant Public Defender Elliott Snyder [also] said in court that stamping "FTAA" across the arrest affidavits violated the protesters' rights to equal protection. And, he said, they were the only defendants who were handcuffed behind their backs.

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http://www.ftaaimc.org/en/2003/11/1972.shtml

11.23.2003 - An updated comprehensive summary... Prior to the mass action there was a calculated campaign to intimidate protestors and legitimize forthcoming acts of violence against them, including outrageous city ordinances... unmerited harassment and detainment and repeated statements published in the local press vilifying the demonstrators and their political beliefs. The excessive show of state force, backed by $8.5 million in US Government funding as part of the recent Iraq spending bill, demonstrated the Bush administration's support of these tactics and encouraged Miami Police Commissioner John Timoney to orchestrate a massive, paramilitary assault.

...At approximately 4:20 pm on November 20, as union members, students, human rights and economic justice activists, religious leaders and other concerned citizens meandered in the open space in front of the permitted rally, they were attacked without warning in a violent display of police brutality. Police officers dressed in riot gear used batons, wooden poles, concussion grenades, tear gas, pepper spray, rubber, wooden, and plastic bullets and other chemical agents against the protestors indiscriminantly.

As many of the protestors fled the scene and helped each other out of harm's way, one officer targeted the "Wellness Center," a free clinic run by volunteer doctors. As medics ran to close the door to the harmful gas permeating the air outside, one policeman purposefully sprayed pepper spray directly into the building, contaminating the space... Eowyn Rieke, MD and family physician... reported that the center treated over 125 for injuries that day, among them serious facial lacerations, bone fractures, head wounds and exposure to chemical ailments. Twelve were hospitalized... At least 150 arrests were made during the attack, and other demonstrators were targeted later that evening.

...We are now receiving reports from people being released or calling from jail that there are cases of excessive brutality, sexual assault and torture inside. People of color, queer and transgender prisoners are particularly being targeted. Many are being subject to cavity searches. At least one Latino man is currently in Intensive Care for an injury he received after being beaten in the head by an arresting officer. One woman claims that while being processed, four male officers dressed in biohazard suits cut off all of her clothing. People have also been denied access to attorneys, visitation rights, vegetarian or vegan food, and access to essential medication and medical attention.

The state-sponsored violence and exaggerated police presence in Miami this week is consistent with the FTAA's history of attempting to forcefully silence dissent in Buenos Aires, Quebec, Sao Paulo and Bolivia in 2001, where two protestors were killed during an anti-FTAA demonstration... The US proved that it is willing to resort to the same policies of violent repression of dissent that it has supported for decades throughout the global south.

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witch the struggle

http://www.starhawk.org/activism/activism-writings/MiamiJournal09.html

Thursday, 11/20/03 - I wake up instantly at 5:00 a.m. when I hear others in the house moving around. The calm of the day before is gone, and my stomach is one big knot of tension. Quickly we eat, dress, grab our stuff for the day, and head to our other Pagan house to connect up with the others. We do a quick Tarot reading: Judgment reversed is the significator, the card of the dead reawakening. Lots of positive influences, but reversed, blunted.

...And the march heads off... We get within a block or two of the fence, and find lines of riot cops blocking the way. The high energy begins to dissipate as we discuss what to do... The fence is made of steel, in vertical sections mounted on a wide horizontal base so they cannot be easily tipped. Behind the fence, cherry pickers make elevated gun towers where armed police stand waiting to shoot at anyone who attempts to climb.

...I'm in a kind of duel consciousness, part of me alert and aware and scanning for danger and part of me watching the whole scene from somewhere deep below, seeing the energies and the spirits beneath the surface. We're right in the spot where two days ago I felt huge energies gathering, and now I feel nothing. It's as if the whole section is energetically dead, a blank spot in the universe. Of all the things that are to happen this day, this is probably the most frightening... Nevertheless, we form up a circle and begin singing and chanting. Some energy builds...

I am drumming in the center to help keep the drum corps and the chanting in synch, and the energy of the group bathes me. I decide to use it to investigate the weird deadness of the area, and drop down into trance. (This is a kids-don't-try-this-at-home technique...) What I see when I drop down are images of corpses, gray, bloated corpses, and a sense of an utter, soulless, hopeless lack of life. And I'm thinking about the Judgment card. Maybe our task is somehow to wake the dead. But there's a sickening feel to this energy. I start to cough and almost vomit, wondering if perhaps they are using some new neurotoxin on us or bombarding us with some sci-fi ray, but I feel more like I'm simply nauseated by contact with this energy. But I keep breathing it through, and releasing it, and calling on life energies to come in and cleanse it. There's an emptiness here so deep, like an energetic black hole, that I don't know what can fill it. I start invoking Oya, orisha of wind and fire, the sudden storm, and suddenly I feel power flooding through me and the energy of the drums and the chant begins to build and grow.

Next to us a small group of about six kids, masked and dressed in black, runs up and tosses grappling hooks tied to ropes at the fence. The hooks don't catch too well, the ropes are too thin to pull the fence over and too short to allow the pullers to stay out of firing range, and there is a cherry picker filled with cops right next to them, who immediately begin firing indiscriminately at the entire crowd. We hear loud explosions and the air is filled with smoke and an acrid, burning gas. Rubber bullets are flying and people start to run but a whole lot of us call out, "Walk, walk," and form up a line and move back slowly in a disciplined way.

...I'm talking to the cop in front of me, who is snarling back. The cop behind him is the one who has been out of control and beating people, and the crowd begins chanting his badge number. One of the cops has a small, mean-looking gun with a long snout and he aims it at me and shoots me directly in the eye with a stream of pepper spray. The stuff covers my face and hair and streams down my arm. I still have my contact lenses in and my hands are now soaked in pepper spray so I can't pull them out myself. We all fall back, move away from the cops who are shooting rubber bullets at us all... I'm not panicked, just concerned because lenses can trap the oil and cause permanent damage. Lisa comes over and pulls the lens out for me... Elizabeth has been badly sprayed as well and I tell her, "Fifteen minutes--just remember it's going to hurt for fifteen minutes and then it will be all right." ...After a few minutes the burning does diminish.

The street calms down. The AFL rally is beginning to assemble... We are told that if we go into the rally we won't be able to get out, so we decide instead to go to lunch... Nyx and some of the others are drumming and dancing in the street, and I eat someone's leftover quesadilla and feel some more energy. Suddenly I want to dance, too, and I jump up and begin whirling around, invoking Oya and praising the wind. I get my drum, and soon we have a street party, with passersby joining in the dance... We have banners and flags so we watch the contingents go by, steelworkers with their own river of blue flags, the Root Cause folks, the puppets... But the cops have held back some of the union busses. Something like 2000 people are prevented from getting to the rally or the march. And they don't allow the march to come near the fence, in spite of the permit and the agreement they've made with the unions.

...Another group leads a march back to the fence, and several hundred people follow... We are standing between the crowd and the police, very close. "Why are we doing this?" we ask each other... I'm asking myself the questions I do ask before placing myself in a dangerous situation: "Am I truly called to do this?" "Is there anything effective I can do?" "Am I the one who can do something here?" ...A cop comes out with a bullhorn and announces, "This demonstration will be allowed as long as it's peaceful, but if there's any violence, it will be stopped." He says this twice. I am surprised--I've never before seen them announce that a rally is legal, only illegal. And then, just down the line where the media are gathered, the cops attack.

...The cop in front of me starts shoving me with his baton, jabbing it into my chest. "You don't need to do that," I'm telling him. "We're moving back." He is truly snarling. Andy has turned around and the cop starts beating him on the back and shoulders. "Why are you doing that?" I'm asking. "You really don't need to do that." He shoves the baton in my face, then drops it again. We hear a shot and our eyes start to sting. Tear gas... Then out of nowhere there comes a burst, an absolute roar of wind like the breath of Oya herself blowing it straight back. We all stop for a moment, stunned by the pure magic of it--in the midst of the brutal onslaught the elements themselves are declaring solidarity and coming to our aid. We echo Oya's roar with an astonished cry of our own, raising our hands high to feel the power. Praise the wind!

...Why am I here? Perhaps because there is a strange intimacy, standing face to face with a snarling man who is angry and armed and who has the backing of all the state's power, should he wish to hurt you. Sometimes, many times, those eyes will soften, even just slightly, and become human. Sometimes they remain glazed and hard. And maybe I'm here because I feel drawn to stare deeply into that soulless hell, to know what we are facing even if I can't deflect it All day I've been in the zone of deadly calm, the place you go beyond fear or rage or grief, where you just deal with what's happening and don't try to comprehend why a brutal man would beat a lovely young woman to the ground. But underneath, simmering just below the surface, is a rage that dwarfs the whirlwind.

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http://atrios.blogspot.com/

Their numbers have more than doubled in a decade, to nearly 30 million. Organized as a religious denomination, they would trail only Catholics and Baptists in members. They are the "nones," named for their response to a question in public opinion polls: "What is your religion, if any?" ..."That makes nones the fastest-growing religious group in the United States, if you think about them as a religious group," said Patricia O'Connell Killen, a professor of religious history at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash.

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god and man don't believe in modern love. dug out of the archives

http://www.betterhumans.com/Features/Columns/Guests/column.aspx?articleID=2003-07-07-1

July 07, 2003 - As a graduate student, I've been to many seminars discussing topics surrounding cell signaling. One of the most exciting of these topics is RNA interference, a relatively new method of silencing the expression of genes.

...How does it work? Molecules called "short interfering RNA segments" are introduced into a cell where they meet with specific proteins. Something called a ribonucleoprotein complex is produced. This destroys messenger RNA in a very specific fashion. Messenger RNA uses instructions from a cell's DNA to construct proteins. But RNA interference prevents this from happening, and a protein that was to be assembled by messenger RNA is never created or malfunctions.

...A lot of the early work involving RNA interference assumed that this technique was only possible in plants. Most researchers were skeptical about the capability of using RNA interference in mammalian cells, but several studies -- including a seminal one by researchers in 2002 -- proved that it was possible.

RNA interference in mammalian cells is fairly new and not widely publicized, except in academic journals, but I'm quite surprised that this technique has not been touted by the media for its potential benefits in gene therapy. I'm also surprised that the mainstream media has not yet caught on to the possibility that RNA interference may be abused in some way or another... The technology for RNA interference is incredibly easy to use and acquire. Short interfering RNA segments are readily available from suppliers via the Internet.

...There are three big problems with trying to prevent an RNA interference attack. The first is that we currently do not have the technology to detect it. We simply do not have the capacity to assay the use of RNA interference... The computational power required to compare a person's genome, both before and after an attack, would be incredible.

...The second is that the gene of choice selected by a terrorist can be arbitrary. The third is that there is no "antidote" for such an attack. RNA interference is currently irreversible.

...For now, we can put some hope in the fact that access to academic journals is expensive, and your run-of-the-mill terrorist may therefore not have access to state-of-the-art molecular biology information. [see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA_interference]

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You know how it is when you're reading a book and falling asleep, you're reading, reading... and all of a sudden you notice your eyes are closed? I'm

like that all the time. -- Steven Wright

You know how it is when you decide to lie and say the check is in the mail, and then you remember it really is? I'm like that all the time. -- Steven Wright

You know how it is when you go to be the subject of a psychology experiment, and nobody else shows up, and you think maybe that's part of the experiment? I'm like that all the time. -- Steven Wright

I can't stop thinking like this. -- Steven Wright [mrs. henry is deeply sympathetic.]