This morning I read a piece by David Brooks in the Times. In his usual manner Mr. Brooks tries to come off as gracious before dropping in to his standard patronizing “when will these liberals learn?” mode.

He starts out with an interesting bit, comparing Kerry to Shakespeare’s Henry V. I think Brooks must have been influenced by Anna DeaVere Smith’s Op-Ed from yesterday:

I couldn’t help myself and penned this response:
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Dear Editors;

David Brooks writes, in “All Things to All People” (column, July 31, 2004), “I almost expected John Kerry to mount the stage in full body armor and recite the war speech from `Henry V.'” While Mr. Brooks rightly reports the candidate’s, and the convention’s, focus on war, security and defense, he also notes the delegates’ countervailing beliefs.

Perhaps the delegates would have preferred the speech of William (act IV, sc. i), confiding to a disguised King Henry the soldiers’ true feelings:

But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath
a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and
arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join
together at the latter day and cry all ‘We died at
such a place;’ some swearing, some crying for a
surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind
them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their
children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die
well that die in a battle; for how can they
charitably dispose of any thing, when blood is their
argument? Now, if these men do not die well, it
will be a black matter for the king that led them to
it; whom to disobey were against all proportion of
subjection.

It feels to many of us, Democrats or otherwise, that the present administration behaves more like the counselors of war from another of Shakespeare’s plays; Richard III (act IV, sc iv):

Either be patient and entreat me fair,
Or with the clamorous report of war
Thus will I drown your exclamations.

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And another thing!

For those who thought that the Supreme Court had decided, in Hamdi vs. Rumsfeld, that Guantanamo Bay detainees have a right to due process, the Bush administration still doesn’t think so.

This has been simmering for a while:
http://www.fff.org/comment/com0407h.asp

but is now really bursting to the surface:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/31/politics/31gitmo.html?pagewanted=print&position=

Here is an excerpt from a briefing given yesterday by Navy Secretary
Gordon England:

Q: In this notification of the habeas corpus, it says that these
prisoners can have their, quote, personal representatives for
advice or explanation. But these personal representatives are not
legal people at all. In fact, the personal representatives in
these hearings are not legal representatives. How do they get
advice of any legal rights if these personal representatives have
no legal knowledge, military law and that kind of stuff?

SEC. ENGLAND: Well, this is not a legal proceeding. This is an
administrative proceeding. So, this is an administrative
proceeding, fact-based administrative proceeding to determine they
are or are not enemy combatants. So, this is an admini — this is
not a legal. This is not a trial. This is fact-based
determination of you’re an enemy combatant. Separate from that is
habeas corpus review.

Q: What if they have questions of their personal representatives on
the right to habeas corpus review? Is the Justice Department
moving to get these people legal representation?

SEC. ENGLAND: Charlie, I’ll have to refer you to the Justice
Department. I am in a very narrow — not necessarily narrow —
but in a very specific area. Two administrative reviews, annual
review, and the tribunal’s determination of enemy combatants.
Justice Department is handling the habeas because that’s a legal
aspect. I’m handling the administrative side.
(you may find the briefing in its entirety here:
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20040730-1064.html)

Perhaps this is what John Kerry had in mind when he claimed that “I will appoint an Attorney General who actually upholds the Constitution of the United States”

Here is some analysis of the actual decision
From Frontpage Magazine:
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14225
From FindLaw’s Marci A. Hamilton, at CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/07/01/hamilton.terror.cases/
And from PolitInfo.com:
http://www.politinfo.com/articles/article_2004_07_1_2321.html

“Field for Republican replacement is wide open” Writes Kevin McDermott of the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch:

Wanted: Candidate to lead a fractured, scandal-ridden party in a late-starting campaign against a strong, well-financed opponent. Prefer wealthy applicants willing to spend heavily with no return and little chance of victory. Boring sex life a must.

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Apparently this has Mike Ditka all lathered up. The Sun Times writes:

Ditka ‘getting excited‘ about Senate run:

He takes W’s dumb-is-beautiful approach to a new level: “In the WGN interview Ditka admitted, `I’m not a genius. I’m pretty common sense. I’m just a guy.'”

You too can get involved at http://www.draftditka.com

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This from the Boston Globe:
Ron Reagan to address Democrats at convention

This upsets Bob Novak (oh darn!):
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20040712.shtml

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Tom Oliphant exquisitely summarizes the obvious in a Boston Globe piece:

Dick Cheney is a net-negative for President Bush, which means that
while you will see Edwards wooing businessmen and fellow Southerners and
rural-ites, you won’t see Cheney in Harlem or in TV ads. That may not
mean everything, but it certainly means something.

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If you think Fahrenheit 9/11 will have an impact, Robert Greenwald (“Uncovered” and “Unprecedented” ) may have some more news for you. Here is a review of his newest film,
“OutFoxed: How Rupert Murdoch Is Destroying American Journalism”

http://alternet.org/stories/19199/

I heard an interview with Greenwald on PRI’s “On The Media” this week which grabbed my interest.

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Lastly, it seems as thought the heat may finally get turned up on the corrupt politics and finances of our favorite, Tom DeLay:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A43219-2004Jul11?language=printer

In May 2001, Enron’s top lobbyists in Washington advised the company chairman that then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was pressing for a $100,000 contribution to his political action committee, in addition to the $250,000 the company had already pledged to the Republican Party that year.

DeLay requested that the new donation come from ‘a combination of corporate and personal money from Enron’s executives,’ with the understanding that it would be partly spent on ‘the redistricting effort in Texas,’ said the e-mail to Kenneth L. Lay from lobbyists Rick Shapiro and Linda Robertson.

The e-mail, which surfaced in a subsequent federal probe of Houston-based Enron, is one of at least a dozen documents obtained by The Washington Post that show DeLay and his associates directed money from corporations and Washington lobbyists to Republican campaign coffers in Texas in 2001 and 2002 as part of a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts.

For those of you who love Dick Chaney so much that you want his words immortalized on your loved one’s chest, your dog’s back or your own crotch (suggested placements, your mileage may vary) check out this site:
http://www.cafeshops.com/vpquote

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Last night’s Kerry/Edwards fund raiser at Radio City Music Hall in New York City brought some interesting headlines. How’s this from the New York Post:
JERKY JOKESTER WHOOPI IN DIRTY DISS AT DUBYA:
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/24791.htm

Or this from ABC-News:

POTTY-MOUTHED KERRY/EDWARDS/DNC FUNDRAISER at Radio City Music Hall:
Whoopi Goldberg wins the award for making the remarks that could make a candidate or two squirm a bit. Other than repeatedly referring to John Edwards as “kid,” the comedian also played off of the President’s surname in a bawdy manner. Goldberg talked of how much pleasure “bush” has provided in her life and that her “bush is smarter” than the President. She went on to say that it is time to return “bush” to its “rightful place and it’s not in our government.”

Equally entertaining was this response from Bush/Chaney campaign
spokesman Steve Schmidt:

It is a great example of John Kerry’s priorities that on the day he said he did not have time to receive his intelligence briefing on threats to America, he found time to attend a Hollywood fundraiser, filled with enough hate and vitriol to make Michael Moore blush.

Leaving aside the fact that Radio City Music Hall is in New York, not Hollywood, I would think that given the Veep’s recent outburst on the Senate floor, the Red State party would think twice before condemning Whoopi Goldberg’s comments.

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Since “Homeland Security” Secretary Tom Ridge seems no longer allowed to actually raise the “Threat Level”:
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040709_412.html
It appears that he has taken to wearing color coded ties to telegraph to the American people what the real threat level is:

Prayers at the Republican Convention (Thanks Holly!)

The RNC recently released information on the opening prayers for the upcoming Republican Convention.

August 30:
OPENING PRAYER read by Mel Gibson, while being flogged with a spiked leather strap wielded by Ann Coulter, who will enjoy it a little.
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=15487#1

August 31
OPENING PRAYER read by Our Lord (The Passion Of) Jesus H. Christ, as channeled by Lt. General William G. “Jerry” Boykin, the man who first revealed that Mr. Bush was chosen by God to lead this country into war against the heathens. Mr. Boykin will then give a short, upbeat presentation on Islam called, “My God can Beat Up Your God.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/10/17/wboyk17.xml

SEPTEMBER 1
OPENING PRAYER by the REVEREND JERRY FALWELL who will demonstrate the spirit of Compassionate Conservatism(tm) and the eternal mercy of God by wishing a horrible fiery death and an eternity in the pit of hell for all non-white, non-male, non-Christian, non-heterosexual non-Republicans.
http://www.ethicalatheist.com/docs/falwell_bin_laden.html

SEPTEMBER 2 (nomination night)
OPENING PRAYER by ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN ASHCROFT, who will then sing “Let the Eagle Soar” and light the ceremonial “TORCH OF FREEDOM” with the (actual) Bill of Rights.
http://www.symbolman.com/corpabuse.html

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This from today’s New York Times, the EPA is releasing advertisements which belittle the idea that choices we make concerning our cars can positively impact energy use or the environment:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/25/business/media/25adco.html?8hpib

This reminds me of Dick Cheney commenting that “Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy.” Of course California then went on to conserve its way out of an energy shortage created by Bush friends,
supporters and indicted felons over at Enron.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0328-06.htm

It seems to me that the administration has suffered by sending all of their best spinners over to Iraq:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/8355466.ht

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Some more religion for y’all. This from yesterday’s Times Op-Ed page Thou-Shalt-See T.V. (this is a hoot!):
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/24/opinion/24KUTN.html

This from the AP wire (Thanks, Karina!).
(see attached picture)
“President Bush listens to the ‘Jazz in the New Generation’ students perform in the East Room of the White House during a reception to honor Black Music Month, Tuesday, June 22, 2004.”

Cheers,
-nic

PS – I realize that I never really finished explaining my hesitancy over linking to the two articles about Rep. Ill. Sen. candidate Jack Ryan that I sent out yesterday. I was uneasy because I don’t know how I feel about candidates divorce proceedings being unsealed during campaigns. I did think, however, that the fact that he was less than truthful about it to fellow Republicans was a significant story. Each of those articles discussed this aspect about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way
through. This aspect is further discussed here.

Check out this site, I love their poster! Thanks, Dennis!

On 22 Jun, Dennis wrote:
> Greetings Nic,
>
> I thought you’d be interested. Should be “a bit of a row” in the old
> homeland come the weekend.
>
> http://irishantiwar.org/index.adp
>
> YeeHa!
>
> Enjoy,
> Dennis

A short cut to the poster:
http://irishantiwar.org/images/mid_section_content/colstopbusha4.pdf

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Also, a fine Op-Ed piece by Michael Newdow from yesterday’s Times “Pledging Allegiance to My Daughter”:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/21/opinion/21NEWD.html?pagewanted=print&position=

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Bill Clinton lets loose on the British media (and media in general):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3829799.stm

Here’s a snippet:

Look, you made a decision to allocate your time in a certain way, you should take responsibility for that, you should say ‘yes, I care much more about this than whether the Bosnian people were saved, and whether he brought a million home from Kosovo’.

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And while I was hesitant to add this to my rant-mail, the Senate race in Illinois is just too important this year. Barack Obama is just about the best thing to happen to the Democratic party in a long time, and seeing Jack Ryan, his opponent for the US Senate seat being vacated by Republican Peter Fitzgerald, get knocked on his keister at this point in the campaign, is just too good to pass up.

“Ryan file a bombshell Ex-wife alleges GOP candidate took her to sex clubs” clucks the Chicago
Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0406220247jun22,1,7688140.story?coll=chi-news-hed

“Ex-wife says Ryan pushed sex clubs” crows the Sun Times:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-ryan22.html

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And, as a perfect counterweight to the Irish Stop Bush poster, we have this site:
http://www.cafeshops.com/stopnadernow/

Get your gear now!

I just read this great essay by Kurt Vonnegut, that wizened old man of letters. Here is an excerpt:

Eugene Debs, who died back in 1926, when I was only 4, ran 5 times as the Socialist Party candidate for president, winning 900,000 votes, 6 percent of the popular vote, in 1912, if you can imagine such a ballot. He had this to say while campaigning:

As long as there is a lower class, I am in it.
As long as there is a criminal element, I’m of it.
As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

Doesn’t anything socialistic make you want to throw up? Like great public schools or health insurance for all?

How about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes?

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. …

And so on.

Not exactly planks in a Republican platform. Not exactly Donald Rumsfeld or Dick Cheney stuff.

You can find the whole thing here:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/cold_turkey/

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And for those of you who: may have been beginning to think that you must have been asleep from January 20, 1981 to January 20 1989; Perhaps you didn’t notice it but were really out of the country for those 8 years;
Are really having a hard time reconciling your memories with the amazingly glowing recounting of those years in the press these past several days, you may want to read this:

“66 Things to Think About When Flying Into Reagan National Airport”
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=19980302&s=corn

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Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack” by Charles Osgood, a review by Nic:

The popular host of CBS News Sunday Morning reflects on 1942, the year that America was reeling from the first blows of WWII. At that time he was nine years old and living in Baltimore. Here’s his funny and nostalgic slice of American life

So read the capsule review of this book in the flyer from Schwartz Books. My take is a little less forgiving.

I bought the book because, while I do not watch his show every week I have watched it on occasion, and he is an affable enough guy. The title attracted me, as did the idea, of a kids eye view of the war – I thought ‘Hope and Glory’ what I got was ‘Grumpy old man.’

It is easy enough to calculate that someone who was nine years old in 1942 is 71 today, but the vision of Charles Osgood one gets from this book is in stark contrast to the friendly, jovial gent one sees on Sunday Morning. Here is a sample of his world view:

Those debates were the kind of mental discipline that seems to have almost disappeared from the American grammar school, where the teachers are tenderly concerned with whether their students feel good. In a forties grammar school, as long as you didn’t have scurvy, the way you felt was considerably less important than the way you thought. No mother ever said to a teacher, “You’ll have to make an allowance for Lori throwing that lunchbox at you. Her Prozac
isn’t blending well with her lithium right now and she’s been a bit more bipolar than usual this week”

In my school, bipolar described only the earth, and we were in one of its fourth grades had to know that Peary discovered the North Pole and Amundsen discovered the other, which even the most slaphappy kid knew was the South.

And no mother ever said to a teacher, “Please overlook Charles never doing any homework, removing his pants, and setting a fire or two. But he _does_ feel good about everything, so please don’t subject him to the pressure that calling the police sometimes brings.”

Of course such schools also forcibly separated white children from black, made all children pray to the majority god and taught that girls should be homemakers who forgo college. This is a guy that John
Ashcroft could love.

But the limitations of Osgood’s book go beyond his own stilted idea of what-was-good-but-has-gone-bad. His book is thick with poorly written comparisons between then and now, like these:

Nine-year-old boys today, to whom a Victrola would mean either nothing or Victoria’s Secret…

followed close on the heels by:

Everyone knows, of course, that Monte Carlo heads a crime family and the Azores are a skin disease.

Sometimes he just writes utter nonsense, apparently hoping (in vain) that the editor would patch things up:

For any boy who loved baseball as much as I did, and there was no such boy, the highlight of the year was the World Series, back in the time before it had become a wintry evening event.

Alas, it appears that Hyperion was in such as rush to get this book out in time for the decennial D-Day remembrances that they chose not to edit it.

There is much not to like in this book, but there is precious little to appreciate. It is short, for instance, at 137 pages with wide margins and spacing, allowing a middling reader such as myself to knock it off in an afternoon and still have time to rant about how bad it is before the evening news comes on.

You get to learn that Charles was well prepared to dote on the pretty girl from school, even though she was (to put it kinder than he does) a little dim, rather than the intelligent ones.

Okay, I’ll be fair, there are some good points. I enjoyed the far too brief sections when he actually does talk about things like saving rubber and metal for the war effort; savings stamps to purchase war bonds; the victory gardens. Surprisingly, he refrains from making the point that these days our leaders no longer call upon us to make any such sacrifice for the war effort — just as long as we shop. Such a contrast must have been too salient for him.

If you must read this book, let me know – you may have my copy. I would hate to see any more purchased than are absolutely necessary.

I just received this message, and it intrigued me enough to take a look at the URL. I am amazed that such a thing exists! Take a look for yourself. Now if only we can figure out if it is real or not… 🙂

Very strange!
-nic

—— Forwarded message ——
From: KEMPcool
Subject: Scary Technology Alert!
Date: Sun, 30 May 2004 13:57:51 -0500
To: nic@***

Hello-
My dad suggested that I send this to you. It’s quite frightening.
http://www.dancedanceresurrection.i12.com/

I was reading a story about a recent Kerry stump speech, and it referred to this as Kerry’s Langston Hughes line “I’m running for President because, abroad as well as at home, it’s time to let America be America again. By doing so, we can restore our place in the world and make America safer.”

The story then included a link to Hughes’ poem:
http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?prmID=1473

I nominate Jesse Jackson to read this poem from the podium at the Democratic convention this summer, do I have a second to that nomination?

I just read this wonderful piece in today’s Times by Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy, etc.) and really enjoyed it. It didn’t even bother me too much that the restaraunt I was in was playing an all 80’s set of music at the time:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/21/opinion/21HORN.html