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___.COMPOSITION______In This Issue_______________________________
Anti-Bush Protests
Send a Letter to Congress Calling for the Censure of the Felonious Five!
Florida Voters: This Time We'll Be Organized BEFORE the Election
To Take Back our Democracy, We Must Take Back the Media
The Public Cause Network Reports on 'A Systematic Deception of the American Voter'
Once Again, Bu$h Lies About HIS Deficits
'My Way, the High Way' by Senator Jim Jeffords
Bush Photo Op Advance Team Injures 4 Firefighters in Brookline, MA
Republicans Owe Clinton A Big-Time Apology for 'Wag-the-Dog' Accusations in 1998
Fascinating Interview with Greg Palast, One of the Few Remaining Investigative
Journalists
The Enron Quid Pro Quo's Keep Stacking Up
More on the Report of the 3,767 Civilians Killed in Afghanistan
25 Things We've Learned Since 9/11
Helen Thomas: 'It's Time to Speak Up'
John Ashcroft, Draft Dodger
Pat Robertson Launches Campaign for a Law Enabling Churches to Endorse Political
Candidates
Flying under the Radar: Bush's Stealth Moves on the Faith-based Front
Far-Right Recruiting Drive
__Anti-Bush Protests
On January 8, protest Bush in Boston at the Boston Latin School at 3:30 p.m. On
January 9, protest George & Jeb together in Washington DC.
http://www.legitgov.org/action.html
__Send a Letter to Congress Calling for the Censure of the Felonious Five!
"A Draft Resolution of Congressional Censure Against United States Supreme Court
Justices Kennedy, O'Connor, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas for Their Betrayal of the
American People and the United States Constitution Displayed in the Decisions of Bush
v. Gore...Add your own personal thoughts about the Bush v. Gore outrage to the
following letter, print it out, sign, and send to your members of Congress. It's that
easy." Send the letter drafted by Eric C. Jacobson and David Harnden-Warwick at
Censure the Five. Also, you can read Mr. Jacobsen's recent article that was published
in the Los Angeles Daily News by clicking on the 'Media' link on the lower left hand
side of the page. http://www.censurethefive.org/sendletter.html
__Florida Voters: This Time We'll Be Organized BEFORE the Election
A distinguished panel of leaders -- including Rev. Jesse Jackson, Congressman Alcee
Hastings, Civil Rights Commission Chair Mary Francis Berry, and others -- headline a
community meeting in Ft. Lauderdale on Wednesday January 9th. The event will build
support for pre-emptive actions to ensure that the discriminatory actions used in 2000
to disenfranchise Florida voters will not be able to be used in 2002. If you are in
south Florida bring 5 people with you and go!
http://www.democrats.com/display.cfm?id=254
__To Take Back our Democracy, We Must Take Back the Media
"Against the daily combination of those corporate tendencies--conflict of interest,
endless cutbacks, endless trivial pursuits, class bias, deference to the king and all
his men--the public interest doesn't stand a chance. Despite the stubborn fiction of
their 'liberal' prejudice, the corporate media have helped deliver a stupendous
one-two punch to this democracy... Last year, they helped subvert the presidential
race, first by prematurely calling it for Bush, regardless of the vote--a move begun
by Fox, then seconded by NBC, at the personal insistence of Jack Welch, CEO of General
Electric. Since the coup, the corporate media have hidden or misrepresented the true
story of the theft of that election." So writes Mark Crispin Miller in The Nation.
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020107&s=miller
__The Public Cause Network Reports on 'A Systematic Deception of the American Voter'
Writes Wm Wilgus: "The REAL story of the Election 2000 Presidential Race is about the
media deceiving large numbers of voters, how the media was manipulated into deceiving
those voters, why the media was manipulated into the deception, who did the
manipulating, where the money that enabled the manipulation came from, and who the
manipulator's accessories were. The deception was about one candidate being a liar,
unscrupulous [oblivious to or contemptuous of what is right or honorable], and the
flunky of another person...The candidate on whose behalf all of this was done is
George W. Bush and the persons who did it were the 'back room boys' in his campaign
organization. Every campaign has them, of course, and they're referred to as the
'Oppo', short for the 'opposition research department'. Dubya's Oppo (headed by
Barbara Comstock and her deputy, Tim Griffin) was very well financed."
http://www.thepubliccause.net/TheRealStory.html
__Once Again, Bu$h Lies About HIS Deficits
Bu$h "mocked Democrats on Saturday for allegedly arguing that Mr. Bush's expensive,
long-term tax cuts caused the recession. But that isn't the argument. The real
allegation, which Mr. Bush did not parry because he cannot, is that the tax cuts have
pushed the federal budget from surplus back into deficit, thereby squeezing the
government's ability to beef up military spending and homeland defense while taking
care of the nation's other needs -- notably, the long-term shortfalls in Social
Security and Medicare and the immediate gaps in health insurance for more than 40
million Americans. Many of the Bush tax cuts have yet to take effect and could be
postponed or canceled, yet Mr. Bush, in an interesting twist of language, now insists
that any such postponement would amount to a tax increase... [Bu$h] assured the nation
that it could afford the tax cuts... 'Not over my dead body' is memorable and
dramatic. It won't change the math."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6397-2002Jan6.html
__'My Way, the High Way' by Senator Jim Jeffords
"As we began 2001, I was hopeful. With a 50-50 U.S. Senate, I expected that moderates
would be a strong force and that bipartisanship would prevail. At first, this seemed
true. Moderate senators from both parties worked together to make significant changes
to the president's budget when it was considered in early April. We were able to
reduce the size of the tax cut from $1.6 trillion to $1.25 trillion and to add $450
billion for education. But when we sent that bill to the House-Senate conference
committee, all our work, including the $450 billion for education, was stripped out of
the final compromise. There were no moderates on the conference committee; it was
totally controlled by the Republican leadership and the White House. More than simply
disappointing, the events were a clear signal to me that the Republican leadership had
no intention of working with the moderate wing of the party. Something radical needed
to happen." http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-000103093dec30.story
__Bush Photo Op Advance Team Injures 4 Firefighters in Brookline, MA
Remember the media furors over Bill Clinton's haircut at LAX airport, and the
helicopter trips to play golf? Now just IMAGINE the furor if an advance team for a
Clinton photo op had had an accident that sent 4 firefighters to the hospital! That's
EXACTLY what happened in Brookline Massachusetts on Sunday, but did you hear one word
about it? Of course not! It's one more Republican media scrub!
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/006/metro/Helicopter_incident_injures_4_firefighters+.shtml
__Republicans Owe Clinton A Big-Time Apology for 'Wag-the-Dog' Accusations in 1998
On August 20, 1998, our last democratically elected President, Bill Clinton, ordered a
cruise missile attack on Afghanistan in an attempt to hit Osama Bin Laden. (Clinton
missed by a few hours, the time it took for the missiles to reach Afghanistan from the
Indian Ocean.) Two prominent Republican Senators - Arlen Specter (PA) and Dan Coats
(IN) immediately suggested that Clinton was "wagging the dog" to distract the nation's
attention from Monicagate. These accusations were immediately trumpeted by right-wing
commentators on on radio and TV. Obviously these traitors were so obsessed with
President Clinton's private life that they were paying NO attention to Bin Laden's
terrorist attacks on US targets in the middle east and Africa. We demand an apology!
http://www.salon.com/news/1998/08/21newsc.html
__Fascinating Interview with Greg Palast, One of the Few Remaining Investigative
Journalists
"But I got particulars of a meeting in which Saudi billionaires up who would be
responsible to paying what to Osama. And apparently around the time of the meeting is
when Osama blew up the Kohbar Towers in Saudi Arabia killing 19 American servicemen.
It was seen by the group as not so much a political or emotional point, but as a
reminder 'to make your darn payment.' Osama is often compared to Hitler but he should
be seen as John Gotti times one hundred. He is running a massive international
protection racket: Pay me or I will blow you up. The fact these payments are made is
one of the things the Bush administration is trying very hard to cover-up. Now whether
these payments were paid because they want to or it is coercion the Bush
administration does not want to make a point of it." Palast also discusses the Bushes'
CIA-based ties to the bin Laden family, Carlyle, the Bush-Barrick Gold Mine scam, the
corruption of the Media and the stolen election.
http://www.guerrillanews.com/counter_intelligence/doc233.htm
__The Enron Quid Pro Quo's Keep Stacking Up
>From Texans for Public Justice: "In the Bush White House, Enron Chair Ken Lay
>reportedly is the only executive who got a private audience to discuss the
>administration's energy policy with Vice President Dick Cheney. Federal Energy
>Regulatory Commission Chair Curt Hebert also resigned shortly after he said that Lay
>told him that he would lose Enron's support in the White House if he kept opposing
>open access to privately owned power lines. Bush promptly replaced Hebert with Texas
>Public Utility Commissioner Pat Wood, who had Enron's blessing. Governor Rick Perry,
>who received the next largest chunk of Enron money, appointed former Enron de Mexico
>President Mario Max Yzaguirre as Public Utility Commission chair in June 2001." The
>Houston Chronicle reported on Dec. 19 that Perry defended his choice of Yzaguirre
>against charges that he was ineligible. He also denied that the appointment was a
>quid pro quo for a $25,000 political contribution made by Ken Lay the next day.
>http://www.tpj.org/Lobby_Watch/enron.html
__More on the Report of the 3,767 Civilians Killed in Afghanistan
"A new report released by Professor Marc W. Herold of University of New Hampshire
found that the Bush administration has overseen the killing of at least 3,767
civilians in Afghanistan between the dates of October 7, 2001 and December 6, 2001; an
average of 62 civilians killed per day...The failure of the Pentagon to admit to their
actions, along with the frequent statements by mainstream U.S. news sources that
civilian death reports could not 'be independently verified,' inspired Mr. Herold to
come up with an in-depth report on the number of civilians in Afghanistan using
references from news reporters who visited the aftermath of U.S. bombing incidents,
eyewitness and survivor accounts, distinguished non-governmental organizations, and
news articles published in mainstream reputable national newspapers. Mr. Herold found
that the Pentagon frequently shrouded the truth and even directly lied to the American
people." So writes Christopher Reilly for Yellow Times.
http://yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=67
__25 Things We've Learned Since 9/11
As we look back on the first year in the new millenium , it might help us to sort out
what happened in the past four months -- and thus how to respond -- by compiling a
summary list of What We Know. http://www.democrats.com/view.cfm?id=5449
__Helen Thomas: 'It's Time to Speak Up'
"If there ever was a time when Americans should speak up on behalf of people in this
country whose rights are being abridged, that time is now. I remember with tremendous
sadness the statement of Martin Niemoller, a Lutheran minister in Berlin, after World
War II as a warning of what can happen when people do not come to the defense of
others whose civil liberties have been taken away. Niemoller said, 'In Germany they
came first for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then
they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came
for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then
they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then
they came for me-- and by that time, no was left to speak up.'"
http://www.truthout.com/12.15E.Thomas.Speak.Up.htm
__John Ashcroft, Draft Dodger
>From the New Republic: "Ashcroft, you see, is the last person who should be accusing
>others of undermining a war effort, given his own sorry performance during the
>Vietnam War. While attending Yale and then the University of Chicago Law School in
>the 1960s, Ashcroft repeatedly sought and received student deferments from his local
>draft board in Springfield, Missouri. In this, Ashcroft was hardly unique. But, as
>The Boston Globe reported last January, when Ashcroft graduated from law school in
>1967 he took the far less common step of seeking an occupational deferment granted to
>those who hold critical civilian jobs. (Out of 35 million men registered with the
>Selective Service in 1967, only 264,000 received occupational deferments.) The
>'critical' job in question? Teaching business law to undergrads at Southwest Missouri
>State University--an assignment he lined up with the help of a family friend."
>http://www.thenewrepublic.com/122401/notebook122401.html
__Pat Robertson Launches Campaign for a Law Enabling Churches to Endorse Political
Candidates
Pat Robertson left his post with the Christian Coalition only a month ago, promising
to devote himself to spiritual leadership. Instead, he used his Christian
Broadcasting Network today to mobilize conservatives to support legislation recently
introduced that would further tear down the wall the Founders set up between church
and state, which ranks as one of the great achievements of the American revolution.
Robertson and the bill's more than 100 co-sponsors -- almost all Republicans -- are
helping the Bush White House prepare itself for this Fall's congressional races, since
Bush & Company think that legislation designed to stir up the far-right is their
ticket to victory. http://www.au.org/press/pr010702.htm
__Flying under the Radar: Bush's Stealth Moves on the Faith-based Front
"In a little-noticed move, the White House recently agreed to drop the most
controversial feature of Bush's faith-based legislation, the so-called charitable
choice proposal that would channel federal money to religious organizations. That left
the bill in Congress consisting chiefly of popular tax incentives for charitable
giving. But...the administration quietly took steps to implement it by means of
federal regulation. The strategy was hinted at in the fine print of the
administration's August report on faith-based charities, which blamed 'not Congress'
but 'overly restrictive Agency rules' that 'improperly limit the participation of
faith-based organizations.' Now, according to OMB Watch, a watchdog group that
monitors those mind-numbing little entries in the Federal Register, a new $10 million
Justice Department program to combat juvenile delinquency would be allowed to give
grants directly to houses of worship." Jefferson's wall falls brick by brick.
http://www.thenewrepublic.com/122401/lizza122401.html
__Far-Right Recruiting Drive
Writes Yigal Schleifer: "Experts and movement members alike agree that many of
America's tiny but energetic far-right groups are seizing on the terror attacks to
boost recruitment and help spread their messages of hate. 'Their information campaign
is being stepped up, not only stepped up but altered to use the Sept. 11 attacks as a
lever to change people's opinion in order to get them to come aboard,' says Mark
Pitcavage, national director of fact-finding for the Anti-Defamation League, a New
York-based organization which monitors the activity of hate groups. In the days after
the attacks in New York and Washington, hate groups attempted to take advantage of
anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiment. Members of the World Church of the Creator, an
Illinois-based white supremacist group, sought new recruits at a demonstration in the
Chicago suburb of Bridgeview at which police prevented a crowd of several hundred from
attacking a local mosque."
http://www.motherjones.com/web_exclusives/features/news/rightrecruit.html
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