Friday, September 24, 2004
Thoughts about people, places and events
According to reports, the long drawn out struggle for Terry Schiavo's right to continue receiving life support went through another court battle. By unanimous vote, the Florida Supreme Court said that "the law that keep Terry Schiavo alive violated the separation of powers between the judicial branch and legislative and executive branches". Although called Terry's Law, it was Governor Jeb Bush who pushed this through a Republican dominated Florida Legislature. His motives are questionable.
It is to be seen whether this means the end of the bitter dispute between the various parties involved. Terry Schiavo is in a "persistent vegetative state". For her, it began in 1990! One thing the Schiavo case highlights is the need for execution of a living will by all who wish to avoid being hooked up to tubes when living ceases to be meaningful.
Well, the Bush administration failed to persuade Tony Blair to come to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor before the presidential election. The award was voted in the summer of 2003 during the heighth of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The political undertone and the timing of it is fully understood by Mr. Blair, and he prudently declined despite a lot of pressure from Washington. So, Iyad Allawi came instead for a mutual backslapping session. Allawi was described in a recent BBC report as being "equally mistrusted by everyone in Iraq's multifarious" population" . Reported to be on CIA's payroll during Saddam's regime, Allawi catapulted to power when Ahmed Chalabi, one time favorite of the Bush Administration, fell from grace. And so it goes.
The numbers don't add up. Every day there are reports about "insurgents and terrorists" killed by coalition forces in Iraq. The "coalition" is a misnomer; it consists primarily of American and British soldiers. The Bush administration officials keep saying that the resistance is from a scattered few. Yet, hundreds of them are being killed every week and they keep coming! Something is very much out of whack. Either a large number of innocent civilians, including women and children, are being killed and reported as "insurgents and terrorists" or the number of those who are actual fighters is much larger. Strange that the high number of dead civilians receives little or no attention by mainstream media.
About six more weeks before the presidential election, John Kerry's campaign seems to have lost momentum. Although the methodology of some polls makes the results somewhat suspect, when most of them are reporting growing support for Bush one cannot entirely disregard them. Even more and more women (soccer moms) feel that Bush is the better person to keep them safe. It is baffling. With all the issues out there--- the economy; high unemployment; the unprecedented deficit; the targeted tax cuts for the top 1%; anti-environmental policies; the very real threat of the loss of women's right to choose; and the lies resorted to for involving the nation in an unjust war---the president is ahead because of the threat of terrorism! 9/11 was so masterfully exploited by Bush that it could serve as a model for future strategists. The color coded warnings kept coming, veiled hints were given about imminent attacks and a fearful populace became clay. Remember the advice to buy duct tape to keep poison gas out ? Many people did just that. Another plus for Bush is his so called "religiosity". John Kerry cannot match the pious, evangelical allusions to god that Bush is so adept at. And projecting a macho image, landing on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in a flight suit. Then you see him in the movie "Fahrenheit 9/11', sitting in the Florida classroom looking befuddled, beady eyes darting around.
Dan Rather in troubled waters. Hard to understand how an organization like CBS and Dan Rather failed to do due diligence on the fraudulent memo about Bush's National Guard service. They deserve the criticism. The harm, however, is not limited to CBS but all who question what
George Bush did during the Vietnam war. The NY Times report (Portrait of George Bush in 72: Unanchored in turbulent times) published on Sept.20, 2004, made it clear that there are significant, unexplained gaps in Bush's service records.
Saw a cartoon in a recent issue of the New Yorker that had a placard reading "Fush Buck". Good for a laugh.
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"War is not good for children and other little things"
It is to be seen whether this means the end of the bitter dispute between the various parties involved. Terry Schiavo is in a "persistent vegetative state". For her, it began in 1990! One thing the Schiavo case highlights is the need for execution of a living will by all who wish to avoid being hooked up to tubes when living ceases to be meaningful.
Well, the Bush administration failed to persuade Tony Blair to come to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor before the presidential election. The award was voted in the summer of 2003 during the heighth of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The political undertone and the timing of it is fully understood by Mr. Blair, and he prudently declined despite a lot of pressure from Washington. So, Iyad Allawi came instead for a mutual backslapping session. Allawi was described in a recent BBC report as being "equally mistrusted by everyone in Iraq's multifarious" population" . Reported to be on CIA's payroll during Saddam's regime, Allawi catapulted to power when Ahmed Chalabi, one time favorite of the Bush Administration, fell from grace. And so it goes.
The numbers don't add up. Every day there are reports about "insurgents and terrorists" killed by coalition forces in Iraq. The "coalition" is a misnomer; it consists primarily of American and British soldiers. The Bush administration officials keep saying that the resistance is from a scattered few. Yet, hundreds of them are being killed every week and they keep coming! Something is very much out of whack. Either a large number of innocent civilians, including women and children, are being killed and reported as "insurgents and terrorists" or the number of those who are actual fighters is much larger. Strange that the high number of dead civilians receives little or no attention by mainstream media.
About six more weeks before the presidential election, John Kerry's campaign seems to have lost momentum. Although the methodology of some polls makes the results somewhat suspect, when most of them are reporting growing support for Bush one cannot entirely disregard them. Even more and more women (soccer moms) feel that Bush is the better person to keep them safe. It is baffling. With all the issues out there--- the economy; high unemployment; the unprecedented deficit; the targeted tax cuts for the top 1%; anti-environmental policies; the very real threat of the loss of women's right to choose; and the lies resorted to for involving the nation in an unjust war---the president is ahead because of the threat of terrorism! 9/11 was so masterfully exploited by Bush that it could serve as a model for future strategists. The color coded warnings kept coming, veiled hints were given about imminent attacks and a fearful populace became clay. Remember the advice to buy duct tape to keep poison gas out ? Many people did just that. Another plus for Bush is his so called "religiosity". John Kerry cannot match the pious, evangelical allusions to god that Bush is so adept at. And projecting a macho image, landing on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in a flight suit. Then you see him in the movie "Fahrenheit 9/11', sitting in the Florida classroom looking befuddled, beady eyes darting around.
Dan Rather in troubled waters. Hard to understand how an organization like CBS and Dan Rather failed to do due diligence on the fraudulent memo about Bush's National Guard service. They deserve the criticism. The harm, however, is not limited to CBS but all who question what
George Bush did during the Vietnam war. The NY Times report (Portrait of George Bush in 72: Unanchored in turbulent times) published on Sept.20, 2004, made it clear that there are significant, unexplained gaps in Bush's service records.
Saw a cartoon in a recent issue of the New Yorker that had a placard reading "Fush Buck". Good for a laugh.
**********************************
"War is not good for children and other little things"
