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___.COMPOSITION______In This Issue_______________________________
Democrats.com Will Host Online Chat with Paul Begala on Wednesday 9-10 pm EST
Warning! Bush Wants to Scrub the Truth About 9-11
Bush Is Considering Resumption of Nuclear Testing - Send Letters That This is Not an
Option!
Bush's SOTU 2002: 8 Million Unemployed, Budget Busted, Social Security Surplus Raided
Bush's Budget Means America Will Get 'Enroned'
Despite GOP Propaganda, Americans See Enrongate as BUSH's Scandal
Revisiting 'Honesty and Integrity in the White House'
Jeb's Daughter Noelle Is Busted for 3rd Degree Felony - Will She Be the First Member
of the Bush Crime Family To Serve Time in Prison?
Democrats.com Exclusive: Noelle Bush's Arrest Report
It Took Bush Just One Month to Betray the Women of Afghanistan
Increasing Evidence that the Afghan War was Really About Oil
For Bu$h, Central Asia is 'Pipelineistan'
Carlyle Group, Employer of Bush Sr., Profits from Massive Weapons Program Signed by Jr.
Republicans Set Trap for Themselves with Global Crossing Charges
Bu$h Allows Criminal Corporations to Win Federal Contracts
College Freshmen Are Becoming Increasingly Liberal
Bu$h Seizes California Youth-Run Web Site for Promoting 'Terrorism'
Does the Mere Thought of Another Bush Speech Make You Ill? Here's An Inspired Vision
of the Speech Bush SHOULD Give!
Scoop from PresidentMoron.com: Bush's 24th Revision of the SOTU (Humor)
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__Democrats.com Will Host Online Chat with Paul Begala on Wednesday 9-10 pm EST
Democrats.com is proud to announce our FIRST online chat! Our guest will be Paul
Begala, co-author (with James Carville) of the brand new book, "Buck Up, Suck Up...
and Come Back When You Foul Up." Begala was one of our most exciting speakers at our
December 12 "Rising from the Ashes" forum in New York City, and we are delighted to
have him as our guest. To participate, you must join our online community through the
link below, and then follow the "chat" link to "General Chat Channels" and then
"Democrats.com Chat". To submit a question, e-mail it in advance to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject "Begala Question" - we will sort them and
present as many as we can to Begala during the hour. Be sure to include your full name
and community login. This should be fun, but please be patient if we encounter those
inevitable "technical difficulties" on our maiden voyage.
http://community.democrats.com
__Warning! Bush Wants to Scrub the Truth About 9-11
According to CNN, "Bush personally asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle Tuesday to
limit the congressional investigation into the events of September 11, congressional
and White House sources told CNN. The request was made at a private meeting with
congressional leaders Tuesday morning. Sources said Bush initiated the conversation...
Daschle said, he has not agreed to limit the investigation... 'Clearly, I think the
American people are entitled to know what happened and why,' he said... Privately
Democrats questioned why the White House feared a broader investigation to determine
possible culpability. 'We will take a look at the allocation of resources. Ten
thousand federal agents -- where were they? How many assets were used, and what
signals were missed?' a Democratic senator told CNN."
http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/01/29/inv.terror.probe/index.html
__Bush Is Considering Resumption of Nuclear Testing - Send Letters That This is Not an
Option!
>From Greenpeace: "The Bush Administration is considering an expedited plan to resume
>nuclear weapons testing. A return to testing nuclear weapons would not only defy U.S.
>obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but experts say it could
>bring about a new nuclear arms race and destroy the fragile nuclear disarmament and
>non-proliferation agreements negotiated in the last decade. Please send a letter to
>your Congressional members encouraging them to support an effort that is underway,
>led by Representative Markey from Massachusetts, to let President [sic] Bush know
>that a resumption of nuclear testing is not an option. Encourage your Congressional
>members to tell President [sic] Bush that at this crucial time in world history, our
>nation needs a leader who will work diligently to help eliminate, not encourage, the
>threat of nuclear weapons."
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/save/alerts/testing-direct.htm
__Bush's SOTU 2002: 8 Million Unemployed, Budget Busted, Social Security Surplus Raided
"When George W. Bush took office in January 2001 he inherited record budget surpluses
from the Clinton Administration. Over the course of his first year, Bush promised
Americans that they could have it all: tax cuts, spending on key priorities,
protecting Social Security and paying down the debt, all in the framework of a
balanced budget, even if the economy weakened. However, this prediction, like many of
Bush's promises, proved not to be true. The economy is in recession, the tax cut has
depleted the federal surplus and the Bush administration is facing a return to deficit
spending." Get the facts about the Bush economy, about the impact in your state, and
how a year of the Bush Administration has hurt working families, women, minorities,
and the environment.
http://web.democrats.org/sotu/
__Bush's Budget Means America Will Get 'Enroned'
"Bush's reaction to the dwindling surplus is kind of a 'What, me worry?' strategy.
Sure, we can keep cutting taxes, heap on the spending for the military and homeland
defense, pay off the debt and save Social Security all at the same time. It just
defies arithmetic and at least one strand of the party's heritage. And as his pal Ken
Lay should have taught Mr. Bush, the fat lady eventually sings. We should not kid
ourselves that the lessons of Enron apply solely to business. The vanishing $4
trillion and continued precariousness of Social Security and Medicare should set off
alarms. Otherwise, the taxpayers may be the ones getting Enroned." So writes
CBSNews.com's Dick Meyer.
http://cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,325583-412,00.shtml
__Despite GOP Propaganda, Americans See Enrongate as BUSH's Scandal
"Americans perceive Republicans as far more entangled in the Enron debacle than
Democrats, and their suspicions are growing that the Bush administration is hiding
something or lying about its own dealings with the Enron Corporation before the
company filed for bankruptcy protection, the latest New York Times/ CBS News Poll
shows." 45% said Enron executives had closer ties to the GOP, while 10% said
Democrats. "Republican Congressional candidates begin this midterm election year with
the albatross of being considered far more tied to Enron than their Democratic
rivals." As the abominable Chris Matthews declared, Democrats should "shoot to kill"
on Enrongate, because the public supports us.
http://http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/27/business/27POLL.html
__Revisiting 'Honesty and Integrity in the White House'
A year ago, in an office of the White House, America's first court-appointed president
held a little meeting. He had campaigned on a catch phrase about "restoring integrity
and honesty" to the White House. One of the remarks he made to his flock was there
would be no tolerance of even a hint of scandal or impropriety during his watch. Of
course, anybody who had paid attention to or researched this guy's history as governor
of Texas or a rich, spoiled party animal could recognize the irony of his remark. But
he said it. "No tolerance for even a hint of scandal." So what I want to know is: what
happened to that rule?
http://www.democrats.com/view.cfm?id=5694
__Jeb's Daughter Noelle Is Busted for 3rd Degree Felony - Will She Be the First Member
of the Bush Crime Family To Serve Time in Prison?
Noelle Bush, daughter of Jeb & Columba Bush, was busted for prescription fraud
involving the anti-anxiety drug Xanax. Noelle, 24, is the governor's middle child.
Both of her brothers also have arrest records. In 1994, George got caught sneaking
into his ex-girlfriend's window at 4 am by her dad, got into an argument, got into his
Ford Explorer, and drove in circles on the lawn, leaving big holes. Jeb Jr., then 16,
was caught in flagrante inside a Jeep Cherokee in a Tallahassee mall. Columba was
busted also, for trying to smuggle $19,000 in goods past US Customs. No one knows if
Jeb himself has been busted, since the Bush family makes a habit of scrubbing anything
incriminating from their files. Of course Noelle's cousins, Jenna and Barbara, have
been arrested, as has Uncle George - a 3-time arrestee. Noelle's crime is a 3rd degree
felony, with a maximum prison term of 5 years. The $64,000 question is: will Noelle be
the first Bush to serve time in prison - and lose her right to vote???
http://http://orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-bush01292002.story
__Democrats.com Exclusive: Noelle Bush's Arrest Report
In order to prevent further scrubbing, Democrats.com has obtained 3 of the 4 pages of
Noelle Bush's arrest report. In addition, we have obtained the relevant sections of
the Florida criminal code which make her actions a 3rd degree felony, punishable with
up to 5 years in prison. We will be watching her trial VERY carefully, to make sure
she is treated EXACTLY the way Jeb would treat anyone else - especially a poor black
Floridian - charged with a felony like this. (Note: this is a 6-page .tif file which
may require special software to view.)
http://democrats.com/images/misc/noellebusharrest.tif
__It Took Bush Just One Month to Betray the Women of Afghanistan
Do you remember a few weeks ago when Bush condemned the Taliban's "barbaric ...
indefensible ... brutality toward women" and pledged "educational and medical
assistance to Afghan women"? Unfortunately, Bush only keeps his promises to oil
companies - and the religious right. "Last week, Bush decided to withhold the $45
million that both houses of Congress had agreed to give to the United Nations
Population Fund... The president's [sic] sudden decision - a political sop to the
extremist right wing of his party - is already having a dramatic impact on programs to
help women around the world, but the impact will be especially 'barbaric, indefensible
and brutal' in Afghanistan... How many of those poster girls for the war on terrorism
will now bleed to death, terrified and in pain, while giving birth? How many will die
of raging infections, leaving another family of motherless children to the harsh
mercies of that ravaged country?" So writes Toronto Star columnist Michele Landsberg.
http://torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1011835832781
__Increasing Evidence that the Afghan War was Really About Oil
"The Afghan War was decided long before September 11. September 11 merely precipitated
events. Plans to destroy the Taliban had been the subject of international diplomatic
and not-so-diplomatic discussions for months [including] a crucial meeting in Geneva
in May 2001 between US State Department, Iranian, German and Italian officials, where
the main topic was a strategy to topple the Taliban and replace the theocracy with a
'broad-based government'... at the Group of Eight (G-8) summit in Genoa, Italy, in
July 2001 when India... also contributed its own plans... [and] in secret negotiations
in a Berlin hotel a few days after the G-8 summit, between American, Russian, German
and Pakistani officials. And Pakistani high officials... have extensively described a
plan set up by the end of July 2001 by American advisers, consisting of military
strikes against the Taliban from bases in Tajikistan, to be launched before
mid-October." So reports the Asia Times.
http://atimes.com/c-asia/DA25Ag01.html
__For Bu$h, Central Asia is 'Pipelineistan'
"Enron, together with Amoco, Chevron, Mobil, UNOCAL and British Petroleum, were all
spending billions of dollars to pump the reserves of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and
Turkmenistan... But Pipelineistan is not an end in itself. Oil and gas by themselves
are not the US's ultimate aim. It's all about control. In Monopoly, Belgian writer
Michel Collon wrote: 'If you want to rule the world, you need to control oil. All the
oil. Anywhere.' If the US controls the sources of energy of its rivals - Europe,
Japan, China and other nations aspiring to be more independent - they win. This
explains why pipelines from the Caucasus to the West have to be America-friendly - ie
Turkish or Macedonian - and not 'unreliable', meaning Russian-controled. Washington,
always, has to control everything: that's what Brzezinski and Henry Kissinger always
said. The same goes for the military bases in Saudi Arabia, and now in Pakistan and
Afghanistan." So writes Pepe Escobar in the Asia Times.
http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/DA26Ag01.html
__Carlyle Group, Employer of Bush Sr., Profits from Massive Weapons Program Signed by
Jr.
"Last September, the Army signed a $665 million contract to develop the Crusader
Advanced Field Artillery System, a $12 billion weapons programme being built by United
Defense Industries (UDI)…Mr Bush signed a defence appropriation bill which included
$487 million for the programme. This has helped Carlyle Group, the well-connected
Washington-based investment group, which controls UDI, to float the defence contractor
on the New York stock exchange. Last month Carlyle sold $225 million of shares in UDI
in the flotation, retaining a 54 per cent stake worth $560 million. But questions are
being asked on Capitol Hill because of close links between Carlyle and the Bush
administration, and because a Pentagon advisory panel recommended canceling the
Crusader…An adviser to Carlyle in Asia is George Bush Sr, the former president and
father of the current president."
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=114163
__Republicans Set Trap for Themselves with Global Crossing Charges
Republicans are going ballistic over the bankruptcy of Global Crossing, another
overvalued 90's telecomm company. Matt Drudge singled out "Chairman Gary Winnick, a
top Democrat [sic] donor who helped DNC head Terry McAuliffe turn a $100,000 stock
investment - into $18,000,000!" In fact, Global Crossing gave George Bush Sr. $80,000
worth of stock options in lieu of cash for a speech, which grew to a value of $14.4
million. In fact, Global Crossing's top executives - Winnick, co-chair Lodwrick Cook,
and former CEO Leo Hindery - were just as generous to Republicans as Democrats. Cook
was even a Trustee of the Bush Sr. Presidential Library. GC executives also gave over
$23,000 to John McCain. So let the Republicans investigate Global Crossing - the more
the public is exposed to corporate corruption of politics, the more they will demand
that Bu$h and the Republicans enact a strict ban on soft money, full public financing
of Federal elections, and real regulation of corporate greed!
http://drudgereport.com/mattgcc.htm
__Bu$h Allows Criminal Corporations to Win Federal Contracts
"The Bush administration has revoked regulations that directed federal contracting
officers to consider a company's record of compliance with labor, environmental,
antitrust and consumer protection laws before awarding government contracts... Unions
argued that the regulations were necessary to ensure that companies that break federal
laws do not receive federal contracts. They pointed to General Accounting Office
studies that showed that 261 companies that had been fined $15,000 or more for safety
violations had received $38 billion in federal contracts in fiscal 1994, and that 80
companies that had violated the National Labor Relations Act had received $23 billion
in federal contracts in fiscal 1993. 'By overturning these contractor responsibility
rules, the Bush administration has made it easier for more corporate lawbreakers to
rake in lucrative federal contracts in the future,' the AFL-CIO says." So reports the
Sacramento Business Journal.
http://sacramento.bcentral.com/sacramento/stories/2002/01/14/smallb2.html
__College Freshmen Are Becoming Increasingly Liberal
The LA Times reports, "More college freshmen today describe themselves as politically
liberal than at any time since the Vietnam War, a nationwide survey by UCLA
researchers has found... "It's a real change, a broad-based trend toward greater
liberalism on almost every issue we look at," said Alexander W. Astin, a UCLA
education professor who started the survey, the nation's largest, in 1966...
29.9%--the highest figure since 1975--say they are liberal or 'far left.' The latter
figure has risen steadily since 1996, said Linda Sax, an education professor and
director of the 36th annual survey. But it pales compared with the peak year in 1971,
at the height of the anti-Vietnam War fervor, when 40.9% of those polled called
themselves liberal... A record 47.5%--three times greater than when the question was
first asked in 1966--said they participated in organized demonstrations in the
previous year." There's definitely hope for the future of American politics!
http://latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-012802frosh.story
__Bu$h Seizes California Youth-Run Web Site for Promoting 'Terrorism'
According to Kuro5hin.org, "Prominent LA-based website RaiseTheFist.com was raided and
shutdown by the local Joint Terrorism Task Force on Jan. 24, as reported by LA and SF
Indymedia. The FBI, Secret Service, and LAPD served the search warrant Thursday
afternoon based on charges of "computer fraud and abuse" as well as "distribution of
information related to explosives, destructive devices, and/or weapons of mass
destruction." LA FBI spokesperson Cheryl Mimura declined to release the name of the
individual(s) under investigation, since no one has yet been arrested. Concerned Los
Angeles activists are mobilizing support for RaiseTheFist.com." RaiseTheFist was a
left-leaning discussion site run by a kid on his own server, with no other sites
hosted there. This appears to be a stark act of suppression of Free Speech on the
Internet - which must be exposed and condemned!
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/1/26/112847/742
__Does the Mere Thought of Another Bush Speech Make You Ill? Here's An Inspired Vision
of the Speech Bush SHOULD Give!
"How many of you will watch the State of the Union? After all, you already have a good
idea of what President Bush will say, don't you? Yup. He'll call for major increases
in military spending and vast sums to promote homeland security. He probably won't
address how he plans to fix the budget deficit - red ink that threatens to wipe out
any new investments in job training, education, health care and other pressing needs
at home for working families. Perhaps you will watch it, and imagine all the things
you wish he'd say. Our friend Ben Cohen, of ice cream fame, has already done that.
He's put together a fun video of The State of The Union We Won't See - one that's full
of common sense ideas. Check it out, and then if you choose, plug into a new network
of good folks and good groups who hope that someday someone will say what you'd really
like to hear - and then do something about it." So write our friends at
ProgressiveMajority.org.
http://www.contractwiththeplanet.org\sotu\sotu1.html
__Scoop from PresidentMoron.com: Bush's 24th Revision of the SOTU (Humor)
"Mr. President Pro-Tempore, Mr. Speaker, Senators, Congresspeople, Colluders in the
Supreme Court, distinguished Guests, my bar-hoppin' offspring, and My Fellow
Americans, the State of the Union is strong. In these short twelve months, we have
managed to completely dismantle the form of government our forefathers took two
hundred twenty-six years to build. After eight years of unbridled prosperity, we
managed to drive the economy into recession in just two short months. After years of
fiscal responsibility, we have raided the treasury, handed out huge payoffs to our
contributors, and squeezed the middle class even further. We are back to deficit
spendin' and we will never be held responsible. We have gone from the lowest
unemployment rate in a generation, to the highest." So read the 24th draft of Bush's
speech, according to PresidentMoron.com.
http://presidentmoron.com
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