Daily Show On The Ten Commandments Monument In The Alabama State Supreme Court

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This is from the November 17, 2003 program.
Jon provides some nice commentary and news clips regarding the controversy over at the Alabama Supreme Court where Chief Justice Roy Moore was removed from office by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary (Vote 9-0) after he refused to remove the ten commandments monument from the State Supreme Court.

Ten Commandments In Alabama Supreme Court (Small – 5 MB)



The Daily Show (The best news on television.)

See Al Franken, Paul Krugman, Kevin Phillips and Amy Goodman At A Benefit for KPFA Free Speech Radio 94.1 FM and Global Exchange

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Benefit for KPFA Free Speech Radio 94.1 FM and Global Exchange
Al Franken, Paul Krugman, Kevin Phillips and Amy Goodman:
“Unraveling the Lying Liars of the Bush Dynasty”
Sunday February 18th, 7pm
Berkeley Community Theatre
$15 advance/$20 door
http://www.cityboxoffice.com
Al Franken: Author of “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look At The Right”
Paul Krugman: “The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way In The New Century”
Kevin Phillips: “American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit In The House Of Bush” (Viking Press)
Amy Goodman: Democracy Now! Radio Program

Feds Ready To Nail Cheney Staff Members Hannah and Libby For Outing Joseph Wilson’s Wife

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Cheney’s Staff Focus of Probe
By Richard Sale for Insight.
The Feds have announced that they’ve got hard evidence against Cheney staff employees John Hannah and Lewis “Scooter” Libby that they were involved in the leak that outed Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s CIA operative wife.
About time! Hip hip hooray and all that kinda thing!
But wait a minute! They were undoubtedly just following Cheney’s orders. How come he’s not being held responsible for the actions of his personal staff?
Bogus.

Federal law-enforcement officials said that they have developed hard evidence of possible criminal misconduct by two employees of Vice President Dick Cheney’s office related to the unlawful exposure of a CIA officer’s identity last year. The investigation, which is continuing, could lead to indictments, a Justice Department official said.
According to these sources, John Hannah and Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, were the two Cheney employees. “We believe that Hannah was the major player in this,” one federal law-enforcement officer said. Calls to the vice president’s office were not returned, nor did Hannah and Libby return calls.
The strategy of the FBI is to make clear to Hannah “that he faces a real possibility of doing jail time” as a way to pressure him to name superiors, one federal law-enforcement official said.

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Just A Few More Adjustments…

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A few people have written me to make sure I was OK. So I thought I’d better put up a few words and let everyone know that all is well and I’ve just been really, really busy lately. (I’m in sort of a transitional phase right now in my life, finishing up old projects, and taking on new ones 🙂
Also, alas, my camera is off getting fixed (finally). But rest assured, I ran that thing into the ground these last two months. — I haven’t been entirely asleep at the wheel. I managed to grab some good stuff. But it was all I could do to keep capturing shows while I was (am still) working on my graduate projects.
I was really trying to get a lot of work done in a short time in the end stretch there, and there was really no time to generate the files or write anything up about anything I felt like linking to. So I decided to just wait until I had time to do things right, and I just haven’t had time.
I also took advantage of this month’s static nature to change hosting and upgrade and reconfigure my blog at bit (including implementing some comment spam solutions — some of which I still can’t tell if they’re working or not).
I’ve also been writing and collaborating a lot on music lately — which can really burn up the time! But when you hear the new stuff, perhaps you will agree that it’s worth a little less blogging. (But certainly a month off is over-doing it 🙂
So that’s it. Just wanted to check in and let you know all is well and I’ll be back soon 🙂
Peace.

Alright, Alright, The Comments Will Stay

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After receiving numerous letters and offers of solutions and technical expertise, I’ve decided to implement a few technical solutions rather than taking comments down completely.
Apparently, my blog without comments is a completely unacceptable scenario for most of you. This warms my heart, for it is indeed a cornerstone of this community that anyone can post and contribute to the discussion.
So this week I’ll be implementing the MT-Blacklist module, among other techniques that have been passed on to me. I’m going to document the process from beginning to end — even though doing so my help the spammers try to beat it. We’ve all got to work together and learn from each other on this one.
Talk soon…
lisa
ps. I’m still getting my act together in general this month, but the Daily Show Clips, Bill Moyers Clips, and other goodies will be up soon!

Newly-Released Documents Reveal Rummy Supported Saddam Even After 1988 Chemical Weapons Attacks

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Rumsfeld backed Saddam even after chemical attacks
By Andrew Buncombe for the Independent U.K.

The formerly secret documents reveal the Defence Secretary travelled to Baghdad 20 years ago to assure Iraq that America’s condemnation of its use of chemical weapons was made “strictly” in principle.
The criticism in no way changed Washington’s wish to support Iraq in its war against Iran and “to improve bi-lateral relations … at a pace of Iraq’s choosing”.
Earlier this year, Mr Rumsfeld and other members of the Bush administration regularly cited Saddam’s willingness to use chemical weapons against his own people as evidence of the threat presented to the rest of the world.
Senior officials presented the attacks against the Kurds – particularly the notorious attack in Halabja in 1988 – as a justification for the invasion and the ousting of Saddam.
But the newly declassified documents reveal that 20 years ago America’s position was different and that the administration of President Ronald Reagan was concerned about maintaining good relations with Iraq despite evidence of Saddam’s “almost daily” use of chemical weapons against Iranian troops and Kurdish rebels.
In March 1984, under international pressure, America condemned Iraq’s use of such chemical weapons. But realising that Baghdad had been upset, Secretary of State George Schultz asked Mr Rumsfeld to travel to Iraq as a special envoy to meet Saddam’s Foreign Minister, Tariq Aziz, and smooth matters over.
In a briefing memo to Mr Rumsfeld, Mr Shultz wrote that he had met Iraqi officials in Washington to stress that America’s interests remained “in (1) preventing an Iranian victory and (2) continuing to improve bilateral relations with Iraq”.
The memo adds: “This message bears reinforcing during your discussions.”
Exactly what Mr Rumsfeld, who at the time did not hold government office, told Mr Aziz on 26 March 1984, remains unclear and minutes from the meeting remain classified. No one from Mr Rumsfeld’s office was available to comment yesterday.

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Derrick Z. Jackson: Against The War, For The Soldiers

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Against the war, for the soldiers
By Derrick Z. Jackson for the Boston Globe.

On this eve of the Christian celebration of a baby, I celebrate you. In June, I wrote a column that said our soldiers must be dying for oil, since we found no weapons of mass destruction. I wrote, “Nearly another 50 soldiers have died in nebulous situations that range from justifiable self-defense to dubious overreactions more reminiscent of the shootings of American students and rioters by National Guardsmen in the 1960s.”
That column sparked a letter from the father of a 20-year-old soldier who died a month after President Bush declared major combat operations to be over. The father wrote: “The use of the word `nebulous’ is insulting to all who do their duty every day and especially to those who lose their lives. My son died doing what he volunteered for, doing something he loved and was exceptional at.
“You insult his intelligence by intimating that he was some sort of dupe in this grand power play for the world’s oil. If you have a point, then make it, but do not invoke the memory of my son to justify your political point of view. . . . My son willingly followed the orders of his commander in chief to accomplish a mission.
“During his time in Iraq, he grew to like and respect the people there. On missions (prior to his death) he earned the Bronze Star, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Meritorious Service Medal. All this from a 20-year-old Airborne infantryman. Do not dare to insult his memory by equating him with a barrel of oil.”
I wrote the father back: “I am very sorry that your son was killed serving this country. . . . I certainly and sincerely understand how reading my column during this time could inflame your feelings.
“What I want you to know is that while you and I have strong, differing feelings about the political purpose of the war itself and the decisions and actions of world leaders that led to it, I have no doubt that at the individual level, young men and women went off genuinely believing they were furthering the cause of peace and democracy and helping to create a better world.
“If it is of any solace to you, despite the anger my column caused you, I salute your son as he died in the service of freedom, with one of those freedoms being freedom of speech and the freedom to dissent without fear of retribution.”

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Appeals Court Postpones New Crummy EPA Rules From Taking Effect

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Weaker Clean Air Rules Blocked
By the Associate Press for Wired.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked new Bush administration changes to the Clean Air Act from going into effect, in a challenge from state attorneys general and cities that argued the changes would harm the environment and public health.
The Environmental Protection Agency rule would have made it easier for utilities, refineries and other industrial facilities to make repairs in the name of routine maintenance without installing additional pollution controls.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued an order that blocks the rules from going into effect until the legal challenge from the states and cities is heard, a process likely to last months.
The court’s decision stops, at least temporarily, one of the Bush administration’s major environmental decisions. The court’s justices said the challengers “demonstrated the irreparable harm and likelihood of success” of their case, which are required to stop the rule from taking effect.
The EPA proposed the rule a year ago December, the then-acting administrator signed it in August, and it was made final in October. It was due to have gone into effect this week.
Bringing suit were attorneys general for 12 states — Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin — and legal officers for New York City, Washington, San Francisco, New Haven and a host of other cities in Connecticut.

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