Hi. I strongly recommend Tom Hayden's and Erin Aubrey Kaplan's op-ed's in today's LA Times, about Tookie and Pryor. Perceptive, heartfelt and compelling. Next to eachother on B-13. -Ed
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/12/14/opinion/14dowd.html?th&emc=th W. Won't Read This By MAUREEN DOWD Published: December 14, 2005 WASHINGTON Never ask a guy who's in a bubble if he's in a bubble. He can't answer. 'Cause he's in a bubble. But the NBC anchor Brian Williams gamely gave it a shot, showing the president the Newsweek cover picturing him trapped in a bubble. "This says you're in a bubble," Brian told W. "You have a very small circle of advisers now. Is that true? Do you feel in a bubble?" "No, I don't feel in a bubble," Bubble Boy replied, unable to see the bubble because he's in it. "I feel like I'm getting really good advice from very capable people and that people from all walks of life have informed me and informed those who advise me." He added, "I'm very aware of what's going on." He swiftly contradicted himself by admitting that "this is the first time I'm seeing this magazine" - his version of his dad's Newsweek "Wimp Factor" cover - and that he doesn't read newsmagazines. The anchor and the anchorite spent a few anodyne moments probing the depths of what it's like to be president. "I just talked to the president-elect of Honduras," W. said. "A lot of my job is foreign policy, and I spend an enormous amount of time with leaders from other countries." Brian struggled to learn whether W. read anything except one-page memos. Talking about his mom, Bubble Boy returned to the idea of the bubble: "If I'm in a bubble, well, if there is such thing as a bubble, she's the one who can penetrate it." "I'll tell the guys at Newsweek," the anchor said impishly. "Is that who put the bubble story?" W. asked. First he didn't know about it, and now he's forgotten it already? That's the alluring, memory-cleansing beauty of the bubble. The idea that W. is getting good advice from very capable people is silly - administration officials have blown it on everything from the occupation and natural disasters to torture. In the bubble, they can torture while saying they don't. They can pretend that Iraqi forces are stronger than they are. They can try to frighten people with talk of Al Qaeda's dream of a new Islamic caliphate - their latest attempt to scare Americans into supporting the war they ginned up. "Whether or not it needed to happen," the president told the anchor, "I'm still convinced it needed to happen." The Bubble Boy can even contradict himself and not notice. W.'s contention that he's informed by people from all walks of life is a joke, as is his wacky assertion that he can "reach out" to the public more than Abraham Lincoln because he has Air Force One. Lincoln actually went to the front in his war, with Minié balls whizzing by. No phony turkey for him. The president may fly over all walks of life in Air Force One or drive by them and hide behind dark-tinted windows. In his bubble, he floats through a comforting world of doting women, respectful military audiences, loyal Republican donors and screened partisan groups - with protesters, Democrats, journalists, critics and coffins of dead soldiers kept at bay. (He has probably even been shielded from the outrage of John and Stacey Holley, both Army veterans, who were shocked to learn that their only child, Matthew, killed in Iraq, would be arriving in San Diego as freight on a commercial airliner.) Jack Murtha, a hawkish Democrat close to the Pentagon who supported both wars against Iraq waged by the Bushes, has been braying against the Bush isolation. He told Newsweek that a letter he wrote to the president making suggestions about how to fight the Iraq war was ignored for seven months, then brushed off by a deputy under secretary of defense. Even after he went public, he still did not get a call from the White House. "If they talked to people," he said, "they wouldn't get these outbursts." Mr. Murtha told Rolling Stone that the administration's deafness had doomed Iraq: "Everything we did was mishandled. Plans that the military and the State Department had in place - they ignored 'em. The military tells me that when they were planning the invasion, the administration wouldn't let one of the primary three-star generals in the room." The president's bubble requires constant care. It's not easy to keep out huge tragedies like Katrina, or flawed policies like Iraq. As Newsweek noted, a foreign diplomat "was startled when Secretary of State Rice warned him not to lay bad news on the president. 'Don't upset him,' she said." Heaven forbid. Don't burst his bubble. *** Courtesy of Gilbert Achcar: chutzpah A noun 1 chutzpa, chutzpah, hutzpah (Yiddish) unbelievable gall; insolence; audacity "Recently, U.S. and Iraqi troops have discovered prisons in Iraq where mostly Sunni men were held, some of whom have appeared to have been beaten and tortured. This conduct is unacceptable... Those who committed these crimes must be held to account." George W. Bush, Dec. 12 in Philadelphia "Iraq is part of a regional environment where there is at least one predatory, hegemonic state, Iran, seeking to dominate the area. " US Ambassador to Iraq, Khalilzad, to CNN's Wolf Blitz Dec. 11 *** Commentaries are sent to Sustainer Donors of Z/ZNet To learn more, consult ZNet at http://www.zmag.org http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2005-12/11mokhiber-weissman.cfm ZNet Commentary All Things Bright And Beautiful December 12, 2005 By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman The first lady recently announced the theme for the 2005 holiday season at the White House. It is this: All things bright and beautiful. "This year's holiday decorations bring nature's beauty to the White House." White phosphorous. Bombs bursting in air. 2,100 American dead. "Simple, yet elegant, decorations highlight creations from the natural world." Exploding oil pipelines. Suicide bombers. Death and destruction. "Fresh greens, fruit and flowers awaken the sense of smell, taste and sight." Children screaming. Limbs severed. Blood and guts. Coffins. No cameras. "The color schemes of tangerine, lime green and hot pink boldly accent the traditional touches of the holiday decorations." Bright red. Gore. "The official White House Christmas tree occupies most of the Blue Room." Black and blue. Civil war. "The 18 1/2 foot Fraser fir was grown by Earl and Betsy Deal and their children, Meg and Buddy, of Laurel Springs, North Carolina." Cpl. John R. Stalvey, 22, of Conroe, Texas, died October 3 from an improvised explosive device. Spc. Jeremiah W. Robinson, 20, of Mesa, Arizona, died in Baghdad, Iraq, on October 6, of injuries sustained there on Oct. 5, when an improvised explosive device detonated. Spc. Joshua J. Kynoch, 23, of Santa Rosa, Calif., died in Bayji, Iraq, on Oct. 1, when an improvised explosive device detonated. ... and their children? "Fresh white lilies, crystal garland and white lights adorn the White House Christmas Tree." Thou shalt not kill. "Gingerbread White House: View of the North Portico, 100 pounds (34 sheets) of gingerbread, 150 pounds of white and dark chocolate, Clear, poured sugar windows, One strand of white lights inside the Gingerbread White House make it glow." A war of aggression is the supreme international crime -- Robert Jackson, former chief of the U.S. Supreme Court and Nuremberg prosecutor. Volunteers: 63 Garland: 580 feet Christmas Trees: 18 trees Wreaths: 204 Christmas Cookies: 30,000 Petit fors: 10,000 Truffles: 1,100 Sweet Potatoes: 2,100 pounds Guests touring the White House during the Holidays: 45,000 Guests attending receptions during the Holidays: 9,500 Countries receiving a Christmas card from the White House: 200 American dead: 2,100 and counting. Iraqi dead: Tens of thousands and counting. Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter, . Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor. *** "The death penalty is a negation of human dignity." http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/12/13/ap2389351.html Associated Press Update 1: Europeans Outraged at Schwarzenegger 12.13.2005, 03:36 PM The execution of convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams sparked outrage Tuesday throughout Europe, which has a deep aversion to capital punishment sustained by the painful memory of state-organized murder during the Nazi era. The disappointment was particularly strong in Austria, native country of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, where many had hoped the former bodybuilder and film star would spare the 51-year-old Williams. Leaders of Austria's opposition Green Party even called for Schwarzenegger to be stripped of his Austrian citizenship - a demand rejected by Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel as "absurd" despite his government's opposition to the death penalty. Capital punishment is illegal throughout the European Union, and the issue was amplified in Williams' case due to the remorse supporters believe the Crips gang co-founder showed by writing children's books about the dangers of gangs and violence. Schwarzenegger rejected that argument and allowed the execution to go ahead Tuesday, saying "without an apology and atonement for these senseless and brutal killings, there can be no redemption." Williams was convicted in connection with four killings during a pair of armed robberies in 1979. But he never wavered from his claim of innocence and refused to confess to crimes he did not commit, even if doing so would save his life. Six decades after World War II, opposition to the death penalty remains deeply entrenched in Germany and Austria, a stance resulting from remorse for the evils committed by these countries under Adolf Hitler and an attempt to prevent future state-sponsored killing. Volker Beck, a leading member of the opposition Greens party in Germany, expressed disappointment at the execution. "Schwarzenegger's decision is a cowardly decision," he told the Netzeitung online newspaper. In Graz, Schwarzenegger's hometown, local Greens said they would file a petition to remove the California governor's name from the city's Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium. A Christian political group suggested it be renamed for Williams. "Mr. Williams had converted and, unlike Mr. Schwarzenegger, opposed every form of violence," said Richard Schadauer, chairman of the Association of Christianity and Social Democracy. At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI's top official for justice matters denounced the execution. "We know the death penalty doesn't resolve anything," said Cardinal Renato Martino. "Even a criminal is worthy of respect because he is a human being. The death penalty is a negation of human dignity." Most of the outcry in Europe came from opposition political parties, city leaders, human rights groups and churches, with national leaders remaining silent. "Schwarzenegger has a lot of muscles, but apparently not much heart," French Socialist Party spokesman Julien Dray told RTL radio. In Italy, Franco Danieli, vice president of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized executions as an act of "dehumanization." "The execution of Tookie Williams is even more intolerable exactly because he had managed to transform the negative into the positive, violence into nonviolence," Danieli said. Amnesty International also condemned the execution. "Tookie Williams' violent past was well known, but he had become a textbook version of rehabilitation and his execution was a travesty of justice," said Kate Allen, the group's director in Britain. Rome's Colosseum, once the arena for deadly gladiator combat and executions, has become a symbol of Italy's anti-death penalty stance. Since 1999, the monument has been bathed in golden light every time a death sentence is commuted somewhere in the world or a country abolishes capital punishment. "I hope there will be such an occasion soon," Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said. "When it happens, we will do it with a special thought for Tookie." Associated Press writers Ariel David in Rome, David Rising in Berlin, Laurent Pirot in Paris and Paisley Dodds in London contributed to this report. ------------------------ Yahoo! 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