Thursday, February 01, 2007

THIS JUST IN! AND THAT'S AS GOOD AS IT'S GOING TO GET, JOE!

 
JOE BIDEN MAY IT OFFICIAL YESTERDAY: EVEN THOUGH NO ONE WANTS HIM TO, HE IS RUNNING FOR THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION IN THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.
 
ALREADY HE'S DEMONSTRATED THAT HE INTENDS TO JUST BE 'BIDEN' HIS TIME AS HE WAITS TO TANK. 
 
YESTERDAY'S ANNOUNCEMENT WAS LOST IN THE STORM CREATED BY HIS GRAND DRAGON LIKE COMMENTS ABOUT BARACK OBAMA: "I MEAN, YOU GOT THE FIRST MAINSTREAM AFRICAN-AMERICAN WHO IS ARTICULATE AND BRIGHT AND CLEAN AND A NICE-LOOKING GUY.  I MEAN, THAT'S A STORYBOOK, MAN."
 
THE COMMENT READ LIKE HE'S LIFTED UP THE WHITE SHEET LONG ENOUGH TO TAKE A BONG HIT, MAN.
 
ALREADY SOME, SUCH AS CANDY PERFUME BOY, ARE HELPING TO GET OUT THE MESSAGE THAT IT WAS A "GOOD" THING -- AKIN TO BILL CLINTON TRYING TO PROVE HIS MANHOOD BY GETTING NASTY WITH A RAPPER.
 
MEANWHILE BIDEN INTENDS TO NEXT OFFER HIS THOUGHTS ON OTHER GROUPS.
"IT'S MY WAY OF REACHING OUT," HE EXPLAINED TO THESE REPORTERS.
 
 
 
In June of last year, Ehren Watada became the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq.In four days, he faces a court-martial in Fort Lewis, Washington where, if convicted of all the charges, he could face four years in prison.  "You can jail the resisters but you can't jail the resistance," reminds Amy Goodman (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) before asking, of Watada and other war resisters, "Without Congress taking decisive action, these soldiers are left to fend for themselves.  How many must die, how many must be sent to prison or flee to Canada, before Congress ends this war?" 
 
Ehren Watada spoke at the South Puget Sound Community College in Washington yesterday.  Christian Hill (The Olympian) reports that Watada "was greeted as a hero" with the audience providing him "several times with standing ovations."  Hill reports: "Concluding his speech, Watada said that in the years ahead, Americans will look back and recognize 'the criminality of this current administration.' People then will ask who stood up against it, he said.  He ticked off a several names: Women in Black, the local chapter that holds weekly silent vigils in downtown Olympia, and Veterans for Peace, an anti-war group that has been a key supporter of Watada. 'And Ehren Watada,' someone in the audience yelled out."
 
The court-martial is scheduled for Monday.  Ehren Watada will not be able to present any defense, 'Judge' Head has ensured that will not happen.  Paul Rockwell (Baltimore Sun) notes that with "the outcome of the hearing Monday . . . all but pre-determined, Lieutenant Watada's attorneys are prepared for appeals.  Eventually, the Supreme Court may be called upon to reject the Machiavellian doctrine that 'in war, the laws are silent'."  Events will be taking place around the country and Courage to Resist has more information on that.
 
 
Watada is a part of a movement of resistance with the military that includes others such as Agustin Aguayo (whose court-martial is currently set to begin on March
6th), Kyle Snyder, Darrell Anderson, Ivan Brobeck, Ricky Clousing, Aidan Delgado, Mark Wilkerson, Joshua Key, Camilo Meija, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Jeremy Hinzman, Corey Glass, Patrick Hart, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
 
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.
 
[. . .]
 
Finally, author, journalist, columinist, humorist and valued voice for democracy Molly Ivins passed away yesterday (1944-2007).  Ivins wrote for many publications over the years.  Of national magazines, she is most identified with The Progressive (most identified with by anyone with a functioning brain).  Matthew Rothschild remembers her twenty years of contributions with "Molly Ivins, In Memoriam" "She was, far and away, the readers' favorite.  Even my sister told me she read Molly first.  She was the favorite not only because of her humor and her style.  She was the favorite because she never lost hope in the promise of America."  Along with remembering Ivins, Rothschild also provides a cutting from some of her columns over the years.  Strange that the New York Times couldn't remember Ivins association with the magazine when one of the paper's columnists (Nicky K) distorted what Ivins said (apparently Nicky K only reads headlines -- how very Cokie Roberts of him).  "Enough of the D.C. Dems" (The Progressive) was one of the 2006 most popular columns in the magazine and online -- resulting in a huge outpouring to the magazine because readers recognized the honesty in the writing (a hallmark of Ivins' work).  Another magazine the mainstream media ignores in their write ups is Ms. magazine.  Ivins work was featured there as well (especially in 1988).  The Feminist Wire Daily notes Ivins' passing due to breast cancer and reminds: "In her last column, 'Stand Up Against the Surge,' Ivins urged Americans to be active in their opposition to the war in Iraq, writing, 'We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous.'" Margie Burns remembers Ivins here ("best way to praise her is to quote her writing"). Thomas P. Healy (CounterPunch) remembers asking her about the efforts to silence voices against the war and Ivins responded: "People asked me during the Iraq war if I was afraid to speak out.  I said no.  During World War I parades of patriots used to go around kicking dachshunds on the grounds that they were German dogs.  But you'll notice people like that never kick German Shepherds."  Anthony Zurcher, who edited her newspaper columns, notes: "Even as Molly fought her last battle with cancer, she continued to make public appearances.  When she was too weak to write, she dictated her final two columns.  Although her body was failing, she still had so much to say.  Last fall, before an audience at the Univiersity of Texas, her voice began as barely a whisper.  But as she went on, she drew strength from the standing-room-only crowd until, at the end of the hour, she was forecefully imploring the students to get involved and make a difference."  And on today's Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez offered Molly Ivins in her own words via a 2004 interview Goodman conducted with Ivins.  In response to Goodman's point that Republican pollster Frank Luntz had "advised Republicans to explain 'the policy of pre-emption and the war in Iraq' by recommending that 'no speech about....Iraq should begin without a reference to 9-11," Ivins noted:
:
 
Well that's it. You keep making that connection, and that's why something like 70% of the American people thought, when we went into Iraq, that Saddam Hussein was directly linked to 9/11. And the Bush people just made that connection over and over and over and over and over. And it's phony. I mean, it's just not there. The interesting thing to me about politics these days -- and that Luntz piece reminds me of it -- he was explaining how, for example, a Republican candidate would deal with working women. Now, you're going to be amazed, Amy. But by dint of a shrewd professional questioning in focus groups, Frank Luntz determined that what working mothers need most is more time in their lives. We were all so astonished to hear this. And so, what he suggests is the Republican candidates say to a group, you know, when he's campaigning, "Now, I'll bet I know what it is you ladies need most. I bet -- I think you need more free time." And the ladies will nod, and they'll raise their hands and agree, and you've bonded with them, and you've shown empathy toward their major problem in life.
Well, yeah, you've shown empathy toward their major problem in life, but look at the record. The record is, you cut programs to early childhood education, you cut Head Start, you cut after school, you cut K-12, you cut housing vouchers. You're going to change your overtime. They have done everything they can to make this poor woman's life more harried and frantic than ever. That's the record. But what we call politics now and what most political writers write about is the empathy and the bonding and the word choice and the horse rights, and it has nothing to do with what's really happening to people's lives.
 
Words some should especially pay close attention to.  Kat and Rebecca and Elaine have all written of Ivins recently.
 
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
 

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