fletcher's folly



November 12, 2004 "Girl Blog from Iraq... let's talk war, politics and occupation." Young Iraqi woman living in Baghdad. "These last few days have been explosive- literally. The sounds seem to be coming from everywhere. I've gotten tired of running upstairs and out on to the roof to find out where it's coming from. It feels like the first days of the war sometimes- planes, explosions, bullets, smoke... roads cut off. We haven't attempted to leave the house but an uncle who was supposed to visit called to say he wouldn't be able to come because so many roads were blocked. Many people were told not to go to work and students stopped going to college yesterday. It's one of those weeks. Some areas in Baghdad seem to be cut off by armed gangs. ....more November 11, 2004 Statement of the Center for American Progress On the nomination of Alberto Gonzales to be Attorney General We had hoped that the president would nominate a new attorney general who would respect the rule of law and restore the honor, integrity, and good name of the Department of Justice. Unfortunately, the existing record raises grave doubts as to whether Mr. Gonzalez is the person to do that. By condoning the use of torture, seeking to evade U.S. obligations under the Geneva Conventions, and disregarding the constitutional rights of detainees, he has contributed to a climate that has placed U.S. soldiers at greater risk and brought the American system of justice into disrepute. The Senate should insist on complete access to the memoranda he has written on these subjects and a full accounting of his role in these critical decisions. *** A Note On The Presidential Election in Ohio by Congressman Dennis Kucinich I believe we must pursue every lead which raises questions about the integrity of the electoral process. Our work may not change the outcome, but it will demonstrate that beyond our commitment to our candidates, we have a higher commitment to our democracy. November 10, 2004 Voting fraud is very much a live issue. There is virtually nothing in the news. I received an email today asserting that the media is in a "lock-down" and that there is to be no TV coverage of the real problems with voting on Nov. 2nd Bev Harris' book, Black Box Voting, is available free from blackboxvoting.com, in several pdf files, or for only $3.95, if you order the whole book. On the net, there is a plethora of articles on the whole fraud issue. There is a large collection of links at Scoop, out of New Zealand. Amy Goodman had an excellent report on her show this morning. You can hear it online later today. * Companies Sue Union Retirees To Cut Promised Health Benefits Many companies have already cut back company-paid health-care coverage for retirees from their salaried staffs. But until recently, employers generally were barred from touching unionized retirees' benefits because they are spelled out in labor contracts. Now, some are taking aggressive steps to pare those benefits as well, including going to court. November 9, 2004 The United Health Foundation, has just released the 2004 edition of America's Health: State Health Rankings 2004. The good news is that overall healthiness has increased by 17.5 percent since 1990. The bad news is that the rate of improvement is slowing as evidenced by only a 0.6 percent increase since last year's report. Today, 28 countries have healthy life expectancies that exceed the United States, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and Japan. The highest, Japan, exceeds the United States by more than five years, meaning that the average newborn child in Japan can expect to have more than five additional years in which to enjoy a healthy, active life. * Atrios has this to say, ..."irregularities and questionable results are not necessarily "proof" of "fraud" and "proof" that the "election was stolen." If people want this issue to be taken seriously they need to stop thinking that any of the information floating around right now - and yes, I've seen it all multiple times - provides proof of any such thing. Yes, legitimate questions have been raised, but I fear people on "our side" have started to confuse the legitimate questions with the answers to those questions they've imagined. I'm fully ready to believe that everything was corrupt in Florida, Ohio, and elsewhere, but thinking and knowing are different things entirely. It is entirely true that there are a sufficient number of either weird or clearly unacceptable things which happened during this election. It's entirely true that the media should be following up more of these stories; the integrity of our democracy is seriously at stake. But, the cause is not helped by touting inconclusive statistical studies as "proof" or screaming "kerry won! kerry won!" every five seconds." November 8, 2004 Itâs far from a promising sign that Sen. Harry Reid is poised to take the reins of the highest elected office available to the Democratic Party ÷ Senate Minority Leader. George Bush may have the chance to nominate as many as three Justices to the Supreme Court. How could Harry Reid, an anti-choice Mormon, who voted for the ãpartial birth abortionä ban be expected to do the best job of making sure that womenâs rights are protected? How can Harry Reid be credibly expected to voice the kind of needed opposition to the new terrible Iraq war policies when he voted for the war in the first place? * Michael Scheuer, the former chief of the C.I.A.'s Osama bin Laden unit and the author of a best-selling book critical of the administration's handling of the fight against terrorism, said in an interview with The New York Times this weekend that the government "doesn't respect the threat" because most officials still regard Al Qaeda as a terrorist organization that can be defeated by arresting or killing its operatives one at a time. November 7, 2004 KERRY WON. HERE ARE THE FACTS. by Greg Palast. "I know you don't want to hear it. You can't face one more hung chad.Ê But I don't have a choice. As a journalist examining that messy sausage called American democracy, it's my job to tell you who got the most votes in the deciding states. Tuesday, in Ohio and New Mexico, it was John Kerry." *** My friend, Amy, forwarded AMERICAN COASTOPIA to me. This is an idea whose time has come. "We are tired of rednecks in Oklahoma picking the leader who will determine if it is safe for us to cross the Brooklyn Bridge. We are sick of homophobic knuckle-draggers in Wyoming contributing to the national debate on our gay marriages. So we have done the only thing we could. We seceded." Included are Washington, Oregon and California on one coast, and all of New England. In the middle of the country, are Iowa and Illinois. November 6, 2004 Check out Michael Moore's, 17 Reasons Not to Slit Your Wrists. "Ok, it sucks. Really sucks. But before you go and cash it all in, let's, in the words of Monty Python, ãalways look on the bright side of life!ä There IS some good news from Tuesday's election."	November 12, 2004 November 11, 2004 November 10, 2004 November 9, 2004 November 8, 2004 November 7, 2004 November 6, 2004	Archives August 21, 2004 - August 27, 2004 August 28, 2004 - September 3, 2004 September 4, 2004 - September 10, 2004 September 11, 2004 - September 17, 2004 September 18, 2004 - September 24, 2004 September 24, 2004 - October 1, 2004 September 2, 2004 - October 8, 2004 October 9, 2004 - October 15, 2004 October 16, 2004 - October 22, 2004 October 23, 2004 - October 29, 2004 October 30, 2004 - November 5, 2004 No War in Iraq march. San Francisco, Ca., January 18, 2003 San Francisco, Ca., February 16, 2003 Home Contact photoblogring \| Join \| Random \| List