[LAAMN] Congress and Libya
http://hnn.us/node/141466 -- *Congress and Libya * Submitted by rjohnson on Thu, 2011-08-25 18:29 - rjohnsons blog http://hnn.us/hnn-b-type/7 - Working in a field long dominated by the 30-year rule (in which key documents dont become available in the *Foreign Relations of the United States *series until 30, or often more, years after the fact), its remarkable to see how the internet has increased access to more recent foreign policy documents. On some occasions, its through established sites, such as the National Security Archive or the Cold War International History Project. But in other instances, its more haphazard, as in two documents released in the past few days regarding Congress and U.S. foreign policy toward Libya. The first, which has received some attention, came from WikiLeakshttp://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/08/09TRIPOLI677.html, and involved a 2009 meeting between the Qaddafi regime and Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Lindsay Graham. Lieberman mused about how we never would have guessed ten years ago that we would be sitting in Tripoli, being welcomed by a son of Muammar al-Qadhafi, while McCain promised to push for increased U.S. arms shipments to Libya. The latter revelation proved embarrassing to McCain given his criticism (and then churlish acknowledgementhttp://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-washington-dc/sens-mccain-and-graham-praise-fall-of-qaddafi-criticize-obama-s-libya-policy) of Pres. Obamas Libya policy. The second document was referenced a few hours ago in the *Guardian live-blog of Libyan eventshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/aug/25/libya-rebels-hunt-gaddafi-live-updates#block-49 *. The papers reporter on the ground, Luke Harding, has been going through foreign policy documents recovered from the Qaddafi compound. Harding discovered a strange Libyan effort to broker a Libyan-U.S. cease-fire . . . by working through Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich. (It would be hard to imagine a less influential member of Congress in spring 2011.) The Libyans wanted Kucinich to come to the country as part of an all-expenses paid peace mission, but the congressman demurred, citing concerns for his personal safety. Then, in yet another bizarre misreading of Congress, a Libyan filmmaker named Sufyan Omeish informed the regime, in a highly important and strictly confidential document, that Senate support for Obamas policy was at such an extent to make likely a future ground invasion in either late September or October of this year. This, of course, was the same Congress that featured members of both parties, in both houses, complaining that Obama had committed U.S. air forces to battle without congressional authorization. It was absurd to even consider a U.S. ground invasion ever was possible. Omeishnonetheless informed Libyan officials that a high-profile US Congressman would lead the fight against a U.S. invasion. In the past decade, diplomatic history has increasingly redefined itself as international historyfor practical reasons perhaps a good idea, since doing so extracts the field from U.S. history, and the preference of hiring committees for U.S. specialists in race, class, and gender. But the McCain and Kucinich documents provide a reminder that, even if the profession would like to believe otherwise, its hard to divorce domestic politics and Congress from an analysis of U.S. foreign policy. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this
[LAAMN] Congress person missing ?
Looking for your Congress person ? Try Jerusalem ! http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/us/politics/16congress.html?_r=1 I've known for decades that they weren't my Congressperson/Senator, and who they worked for, AIPAC being only one of the largest money and power flows that controls even who gets to run for office much less whether they get media or bank funding to be able to run a campaign. Did you know that 5 candidates made it to the primaries last pResidential sElection season without ANY Party support OR Banker or MSM (Main Stream Media) support? 3 Were Democrats and 2 were Republican. Some people heard a little about Ron Paul or Dennis Kucinich, but though their own parties or the MSM, it was only to belittle them, yet their voting records are so dissimilar to those who get the attention of AIPAC and the International Bankers and International Corporations funding, you'd think it was a completely different Countries Political process altogether. Unless your looking for who is running, instead of sitting at home expecting the information to be delivered to you via one of the Corporate Political Parties or the MSM, you'd never know that we actually had candidates who actual voting record (not the lying claims PAID Political Talking heads made) showed that they represented us. Of course, it is easier to just sElect between the choices offered you, neither one is going to pay you 1/1000 the attention or representation, they'll give a foreign Government. Feel free to share. Input your Zip code, and your representatives will show up, click on them, and then click on their voting record. I consider their political compass the most important of all, as that tells you where their stance is on the issues, and I no longer vote for anyone that doesn't want us to know where they stand. http://www.votesmart.org/index.htm Here's a little help separating fact from fiction. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/ This is still set up from the last pResidential sElection process, I call it as such, due to... well tell me when you've finished filling out the survey if you even know the candidates that ran, and they all paid for advertising at the same rate as those who got the nod/funding from AIPAC. http://www.dehp.net/candidate/index.php Here's another good one. Are you as Liberal, or Conservative as you think? http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz http://www.politicalcompass.org/ A little work on your part, and you won't have have to rely on the Government of Israel or AIPAC to make the best choices for you, in your country. And if all else fails, take a look at what the political cartoonists are saying. They rarely support anyone, as they are noted for caricature of those who are 'off enough' to aid them in making a living. (How many wouldn't have been able to feed the kids if Sara Palin/Clinton/Coulter/Pelosi/Bush/Obama/Cheney hadn't been as forth coming with materiel for them to write about?) caricature Scott [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com
[LAAMN] Congress
/The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.* - Patrick Henry -*/ *I have totally cleaned this e-mail from all other names, sending it to you in hopes you will keep it going and keep it clean. This is something I will fight for and I hope you all read it all the way through. You will be glad you did. * * The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure. * * I'm asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around. Congressional Reform Act of 2011 1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office. 2. Congress (past, present future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.* * 3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do. * * 4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%. * * 5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people. * * 6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people. * * 7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. * * If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people, it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Maybe it is time. * * THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!* *If you agree with the above, pass it on. If not, just delete. You are one of my 20+. Please keep it going.* [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com --- Subscribe: mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com --- Digest: mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com --- Help: mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn --- Post: mailto:la...@egroups.com --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] Congress Votes this Week to Cut Funding to the School of the Americas! Call and email today! I did both. Message from the School of the Americas Watch
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Original message sent by: [EMAIL PROTECTED] School of the Americas Watch http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=133373172url_num=1; url=http://www.soaw.org/new/ www.SOAW.org | 202-234-3440 | http://soaw.live.radicaldesigns.org/modinput4.php?modin=52 Click to subscribe Please forward this email widely! June 6, 2006 Congress Votes this Week to Cut Funding to the School of the Americas/ WHINSEC SOA Watch has received confirmation that this week Congress will vote on an amendment to close the School of the Americas, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA/ WHINSEC). Rep. McGovern of Massachusetts will introduce an amendment to the Foreign Operations appropriations bill to cut funding for the school! Send an email and fax to your Representative: http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=96 http://www.soaw.org/legislative. (Be sure to click the Send a Fax box to have the fax sent). National Call-in Days to Close the SOA/WHINSEC Tuesday, June 6 and Wednesday, June 7: Call Congress at 202-224-3121 or toll free at 888-355-3588. The School of the Americas is a military training facility for Latin American security personnel located at Fort Benning, Georgia that catapulted into the headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. Despite this shocking admission and hundreds of documented human rights abuses connected to soldiers trained at the school, no independent investigation into the training facility has ever taken place. Read more at http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=133373172url_num=2; url=http://www.SOAW.org http://www.SOAW.org. We expect a close vote in the House this week, and we need as many people as possible flooding the offices of Members of Congress with calls in support of a YES vote on the amendment! We need you to call, email and fax Congress every day until the vote happens. It's been six years since our last vote in Congress, and the work of thousands of you and people across the Americas who care about justice has gotten us to where we are today. Let's make this final push together! Visit the http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=96 Legislative Action Index for more information: http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=96 http://www.soaw.org/legislative. Please take the time to call the DC office of your Representative through the Capitol Hill Switchboard at 202-224-3121 or toll free at 1-888-355-3588. Ask to speak with the foreign affairs legislative assistant. Here is a suggested message for you to convey: I am calling Congressman/woman to urge him/her to vote YES on the McGovern amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. This amendment is a cut in funding for the School of the Americas/ WHINSEC. New information indicates that WHINSEC has allowed known human rights abusers to instruct and receive training at the school. Argentina and Uruguay are two more countries that have made public announcements they will no longer send students to the school, citing the negative image and history of this institution. Voting YES on this amendment sends a positive human rights message to Latin America and will help to improve the U.S. image abroad. As an elected official in Washington D.C., I hope you will represent me and vote YES on any amendment in the House that would cut funding for the school. Send an email and fax to your Representative: http://www.soaw.org/legislative http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=96 . (Don't forget to click the Send a Fax box to have the fax sent). For more information,, visit the SOA Watch website at http://www.soaw.org http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=133373172url_num=3; url=http://www.soaw.org and the Legislative Action http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=96 Index at http://www.soaw.org/legislative http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=96 . Enter your email below to receive email alerts: _ Our postal address is PO Box 4566, Washington, DC 20017. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/TrackImage?key=133373172 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Home is just a click away. Make Yahoo! your home page now. http://us.click.yahoo.com/DHchtC/3FxNAA/yQLSAA/7gSolB/TM ~- --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Digest: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[LAAMN] Congress is selling out the Internet
From www.MoveOn.org The free and open Internet is under siege! Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an Ipod? These activities will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law that gives giant corporations more control over the Internet. Internet providers like ATT and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment. Net Neutrality prevents ATT from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays ATT more. Amazon.com doesn't have to outbid Barnes Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer. Politicians don't think we are paying attention to this issue. Many of them take campaign checks from big telecom companies and are on the verge of selling out to people like ATT's CEO, who openly says, The internet can't be free. The free and open Internet is under siege--can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here: http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internethttp://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internethttp://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet A list of all the ways you might be affected by Net Neutrality is located on the bottom of this link: http://civic.moveon.org/alerts/savetheinternet.htmlhttp://civic.moveon.org/alerts/savetheinternet.htmlhttp://civic.moveon.org/alerts/savetheinternet.html Thanks! John Johnson Change-Links Progressive Newspaper [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.change-links.orghttp://www.change-links.org Subscribe to our list server. Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (818) 782-1412 Cell (818) 681-7448. === Change Links Progressive Newspaper. Act. Act in Love and Spirit. SPONSORED LINKS http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=msk=Issue+managementw1=Issue+managementw2=Money+issuew3=Cause+rheumatoid+arthritisw4=Cause+of+hair+lossw5=Event+in+los+angelesw6=Causes+of+joint+painc=6s=147.sig=g1A0Z_BOl7byzi6X5mbg9wIssue management http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=msk=Money+issuew1=Issue+managementw2=Money+issuew3=Cause+rheumatoid+arthritisw4=Cause+of+hair+lossw5=Event+in+los+angelesw6=Causes+of+joint+painc=6s=147.sig=d5iamKD4ULSvBRbfP8UX6QMoney issue http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=msk=Cause+rheumatoid+arthritisw1=Issue+managementw2=Money+issuew3=Cause+rheumatoid+arthritisw4=Cause+of+hair+lossw5=Event+in+los+angelesw6=Causes+of+joint+painc=6s=147.sig=ElmBDtvO6aY4x4lBpLUwsQCause rheumatoid arthritis http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=msk=Cause+of+hair+lossw1=Issue+managementw2=Money+issuew3=Cause+rheumatoid+arthritisw4=Cause+of+hair+lossw5=Event+in+los+angelesw6=Causes+of+joint+painc=6s=147.sig=WVhG01mXKjWKMClntRgh2wCause of hair loss http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=msk=Event+in+los+angelesw1=Issue+managementw2=Money+issuew3=Cause+rheumatoid+arthritisw4=Cause+of+hair+lossw5=Event+in+los+angelesw6=Causes+of+joint+painc=6s=147.sig=AXtLlwbpMfdfe2wlp6TSRwEvent in los angeles http://groups.yahoo.com/gads?t=msk=Causes+of+joint+painw1=Issue+managementw2=Money+issuew3=Cause+rheumatoid+arthritisw4=Cause+of+hair+lossw5=Event+in+los+angelesw6=Causes+of+joint+painc=6s=147.sig=OCSZoipdwRcRZxs9ONigjwCauses of joint pain -- YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS * Visit your group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/change-linkschange-links on the web. * * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/Yahoo! Terms of Service. -- John Johnson Change-Links Progressive Newspaper [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.change-links.org Subscribe to our list server. Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (818) 782-1412 Cell (818) 681-7448. === [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Digest: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Help: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Post: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
[LAAMN] Congress pauses . . . now tell them what to do about Rice and Gonzales
Your emails and other acts of speaking out have already had an impact. Why else would the nominations of both Condoleezza Rice and Alberto Gonzales be on hold for a week? Whether the ultimate vote will be affected or not, what matters is who will stand up for justice and what is right. With each vote in the direction of truth the movement grows stronger. So if you have not already had your say, perhaps that is the only reason your views are not being enacted. What do you think Congress should do? These are both easy one-click forms you can use make your voice heard. They automatically look up your senators and house representative and send them your personal message all at the same time: http://www.usalone.com/rice.htm http://www.usalone.com/gonzales.htm Do you want our representatives in Washington to stand up for you more often? We must back them up with our vocal support if we expect them to fight for us on this or any issue. The People's Email Network encourages you to speak out and keep speaking out, regardless of your political position, until our representatives truly hear you. And now you can have your own custom Issue Action Center featuring any issue of interest to you for you for no charge. It's an amazingly small block of HTML code you can drop into any web page anywhere for an instant dynamic action menu effect. And we will set up a corresponding issue action page on The People's Email Network for you too. Pursue your own policy initiative! See the code in action at http://www.usalone.com/action_center.html Please post these links everywhere you can to everyone you know. Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ~-- Give the gift of life to a sick child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/lGEjbB/6WnJAA/E2hLAA/7gSolB/TM ~- --- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --- Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Digest: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Help: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Post: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Archive1: http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn --- Archive2: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[LAAMN] Congress Slouches Home, Just Cut Out Their Tongues
- Congress Slouches Toward Home The New York Times | Editorial Friday 24 September 2004 The Republican-controlled Congress is shambling to the end of one of the lightest workloads in decades without a hint of embarrassment, concentrating on the defense of the flag, tax cuts and marriage while failing at the most demanding obligations of government. When the lawmakers get back home, voters should ask them how they could quit their posts while leaving a dozen basic spending bills in next year's budget unfinished - hung up once more in back-room feuds about pork and logrolling. The assault weapons ban was allowed to lapse to appease the gun lobby. A simple $5 billion corporate-tax plan to satisfy a violation of tariff laws remains mired in a $150 billion pork fest, while American products suffer retaliatory sanctions in the billions. As for fully financing and enforcing the No Child Left Behind Act, voters have to settle for lawmakers' posing tenderly with schoolchildren. Equally disturbing is how our elected representatives have been spending their time. Eager to help the middle class, a goal no one can argue with, they threw moderation to the winds this week on a $145 billion extension of existing tax cuts benefiting families. They hoped voters would not notice that they had not bothered to find budget savings to offset the costs of this program, and that these tax cuts will spawn a borrowing binge by the government from banks around the world. The loans will come due for America's children and grandchildren, whose earnings may just as well be stamped Payable to the Bank of China. Republican leaders did find the fiscal constraint to brush aside proposals to extend minimal credits for millions of children in working-poor families, only to add a $13 billion dollop of tax boons to corporations. The House began its work on the decades-delayed reform of the American intelligence agencies by announcing that its kudzu patch of competing committees, one of the central points of criticism by the 9/11 commission, was too sacred to touch. Beyond that, House Republican leaders' most enthusiastic response to the call for reform seemed to be in trying to tack on a Patriot Act postscript that would grant law enforcement even more powers that could curtail civil liberties. Republican leaders have also been chipping away at the Constitution by proposing to deny judges jurisdiction to review selected acts of Congress. The House passed a measure yesterday retaining the Pledge of Allegiance's under God phrase and prohibiting any federal court - including, outrageously, the Supreme Court - from judging the law's constitutionality. In essence, the House proposed to protect a patriotic ritual by trashing the constitutional system it celebrates. This measure was spurred by discontent over a 2002 federal appeals court ruling that invalidated the recitation at public schools of the pledge with the under God phrase in it, and the Supreme Court's recent choice to dismiss the case on technical grounds rather than addressing the merits. It echoed the mean-spirited and unconstitutional Marriage Protection Act, which the House approved in July to bar federal courts from reviewing the legal definition of marriage. The other day, Congressional Republicans celebrated the 10th anniversary of their ascendancy to power with the Contract With America, somehow failing to mention that their fervid conversion to unchecked deficits was not exactly part of that contract. Once upon a time, gridlock was considered the ultimate problem with Congress. That looks better than what we're getting right now. *** Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Rich Winkel (activ-l) Scoop New - Sept 22, 2004 http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0409/S00237.htm Just Cut Out Their Tongues by Thom Hartmann The CBS/Rather/Bush/Guard affair - regardless of how it ultimately turns out - has brilliantly deflected the issue of George W. Bush having strings pulled to get him into the Guard, and then not fulfilling his service requirements. Anytime the issue is raised in the future - regardless of facts or context - partisan Republicans will simply dismiss it by saying, Those documents were forged. That four-word sound byte will be remembered long after the details of Bush's failures have dimmed from popular memory. Politically, it was a masterstroke. And not only does it hurt Bush family enemy Kerry, but also gets back at Bush family enemy Dan Rather, against whom they've nursed a 16-year grudge. The Bush family's hostility to Rather first broke the surface of public attention back in 1988, when Vice President George H.W. Bush was confronted on network television about his various roles in the criminal affair now known as Iran/Contra. At the time, rumors were flying that in the fall of 1980 then-VP-candidate Bush had negotiated with Iran to hold the American
