With all of the noise about intercepting bank records, a powerful anti-war photo slipped by unnoticed. This picture will make you cry, smile, weep, shudder, wretch, and ultimately wonder why this wasn't on the first page of every paper in the country
I'm lucky enough to know Joe and Shirley Wershba as neighbors and friends. My family has been following the creation of Good Night and Good Luck and are thrilled with the great buzz and reception its getting. I recently forwarded a diary and comments from Daily Kos to Shirley so she and Joe could read Kossacks comments. Her reply to me is posted below.
THE British military officer in charge of all investigations against troops serving in Iraq has been found dead in his accommodation block in Basra. He is believed to have taken his own life.
I'm speechless. What happens to that investigation now? Is there an investigation of the investigator. Is there anyone left on the planet that we can believe when it comes to Iraq and the terrible things have have gone on?
Seems the expression of free speech in Crawford was just too much for the locals to bear. So the powers that be (with no help from their friends, I'm sure) decided that banning parking on roads - that would keep protestors about 23 miles away from the ranch, was in order.
How about four foot high snow fences with barbed wire. And don't forget; No cameras! No stories.
Have you made your reservations for DC on the 24th yet?
I was just looking for news about the Freedom Walk. The Department of Defense put out a press release that "thousands" took part. This was echoed by many news stories.
One other story said several thousand. That could be two.
Thousands dead could be 10,000 - or it could be less. Did more die than marched? How many actually marched? So little that we're talking in non-specifics?
Could anyone comment on what really happened without all the DOD blather?
Nancy Pelosi stated last week after a meeting with Bush that Bush was "oblivious, in denial, dangerous." Scotty, of course, denied that was the case.
Scotty was right. Bush was just in his usual bubble. No one had told him what was happening. And they must have taken all of the TVS out of the White House, too.
Excerpt from NYT's description of Bush on Thursday. THURSDAY! (EMPHASIS MINE)
This from the Washington Post today as a coda to an article on blame shifting:
"Bush, who typically works a fairly set schedule, has been working longer hours, getting in earlier than his usual 7 a.m. start and working as late as 9 p.m., at least two hours past his normal quitting time."
Now, if that isn't an example of hard work, I don't know what is!?!?!!? But I guess this fits with his statement about bike riding when Cindy Sheehan was at the front door - I've got to get on with my life,now, don't I?? Gee, thanks, Mr. President.
I don't get it. After 9/11 baseball games stopped, flags were flown at half-mast, idiotic commericals for the usual crap were taken off the air for awhile. Why hasn't the same respect been shown to the victims of Hurricane Katrina?
Rod Nordland, the Baghdad bureau chief for Newsweek , wrote a scathing farewell article that was covered in one diary I posted on June 5 (Iraq better off under Saddam) and a main article by kos (The turning point)
Nordland was on Morning Sedition very early this morning and seemed to be candid about the train wreck that is Iraq.
This administration is clearly adept at the Friday late afternoon news dump. What I want to know is 1)why an important story can't be repeated on the front page on Sunday or Monday 2)how we go about breaking the "rule" that Saturday's headline can't be repeated. After all, they do it with dead people.
Update [2005-6-5 20:30:26 by compass rose]: At the suggestion of a longtime Kossack, I have changed the title in hopes that more people will find it intriguing enough to read the Newsweek article.
I was one of those who was very unhappy with Newsweek's apparent capitulation to the administration. But an article in this week's edition by Rod Nordland - who originally went to Iraq two years ago as a cheerleader in support of getting rid of Saddam, has written a swan song that tells a very different tale.
Republicans want to make your kids sick!
As most Connecticut residents probably know, Connecticut is leading the way in the fight against childhood obesity by kicking sugary soft drinks - soda- and other junk foods out of schools. But! Some nasty Republican fancy footwork is aimed at killing the bill unless you help! See how below.
Yesterday there were at least two diaries and several theories about the evacuation of 35,000 people in varied states of frenzy (or not) while President Bush continued his bike ride uninterrupted.
Today the drama continues - with interviews of one of the pilots sent to keep an eye on/shoot down the Cessna and other officials who claimed pleasure at the smooth working of the system and protocol.
The international press is making sure that President Bush's bikus uninterruptus is known. See below for samples:
Update [2005-5-12 21:18:58 by compass rose]:
Officials Discussed Shooting Down Air Scare Plane
CBS New York - 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) As a wayward Cessna flew deep in restricted airspace, national security officials were on the phone discussing whether to implement the last line of defense: shooting it down.
The White House press core finally wouldn't let McClellan off the hook for an absurd explanation of a seemingly absurd protocol. Apparently, the president's bike ride wasn't interupted even though the work day of 35,000 people was.
This is the last question:
Q: Right, but there seems to be so many disconnects here. You've got a plane that was assessed as not being a threat, you've got 35,000 people evacuated, you've got a person who you claim is a hands-on commander in chief who is left to go ride his bicycle through the rural wildlands of Maryland while his wife is in some secure location somewhere, it's just not adding up.
According to this story in today's WaPo, the Washington DC Metro system is so strapped for funds that it has sold advertising rights on the outside of the trains. Today, the first train car fully wrapped in advertising - for McDonald's - rolled out on the Orange Line. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/09/AR2005050901101.html
This is our nation's capitol. We can spend billions upon billions in Iraq, give Halliburton a $72 million bonus (and that's just what comes immediately to mind) but there isn't enough money for public transit without prostituting for corporations?
People have been questioning if Guckertgate has died. No way - it's slowly but surely seeping into the populace. As I check Google, and not just the headlines, I've been finding more and more commentary on university/student blogs and newspapers that explains the story and then points out that they heard it on the blogs. There's a terrific example from The Shorthorn on Line from the University of Texas at Arlington.There have been others, too. If it takes one campus at a time, so be it. But the story must stay alive on the blogs and on the web.
The credit for the information and idea for this diary belongs to drifter 12, who posted it yesterday at the end of of diary about Joe Biden's appearance on the Bill Maher show. Biden opined that there should be an investigation into the whole Gannon/Guckert mess, but that the rules would prevent that.
Well, to heck with the rules. How about some grass-roots pressure. I was so heartened by how everyone supported Barbara Boxer's efforts. We should show the same support for Louise Slaughter's demands for answers! There was a diary earlier today about the death of the Guckert story. It's up to us to keep it alive. Here's a good avenue to pursue.
Letters! E-mails! Phone calls! (Wait until tomorrow, if you must, when the offices will be fully staffed. But put this on your to-do list now!)
