The Friends of California Libre...

10 December 2003

And Who Fiddles While the Earth Burns?

Greetings, friends,
So much news this last week...not the least that the Governator joined the Liars' Club by denying the cities and counties of California the vehicle license fees promised us in the state constitution. Think it matters? If you live in California, wait until your libraries are closed and your fire department cut.

While the amount of madness swirling through my inbox would choke a normal human, I bring you the SUPER SCREED with both good and bad news.

First, if you didn't know:
Gore to Endorse Dean, Remaking Democratic Race
By Adam Nagouney and Jodi Wilgoren
New York Times
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/120903A.shtml
and:
USATODAY.com - Dean gains Gore's support

Anybody can make a mistake, right?
Vicar Distributes Porn Films by Mistake
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031208/od_nm/odd_germany_porn_dc

Just kidding. After toying with the idea of supporting Mr. Kucinich (who I think, frankly, is only slightly less flaky than Reverend Al) I've come to the conclusion that, yes, Howard Dean is not such a bad guy. I mean, he IS a doctor, right? And the kids love him:
You Have the Power
By Scott Galindez
t r u t h o u t Perspective
When Howard Dean stood on the Stage at the annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Iowa and pointed to the crowd shouting, "You have the power!" numerous times, I thought it was a good campaign theme. I did not realize that it was more than a theme. It was an accurate description of the Dean campaign.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/112803B.shtml

Besides, the enemy of your enemy is your friend, right?
Bush's Party Takes Direct Aim at Howard Dean
Reuters
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/120503A.shtml

And speaking of flakes, our friend from 2000 is thinking of dipping back into the race. No, Ralph Nader, not this time!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1100499,00.html

It also appears that the candidate I considered best qualified, Mr. Kerry, has flipped his wig (thanks, Monde):
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/43544.htm
December 6, 2003 -- Struggling 2004 Democratic wannabe John Kerry fires an X-rated attack at President Bush over Iraq and uses the f-word - highly unusual language for a presidential contender - in a stunning new interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

Touchy touchy...why are politicians so sensitive these days? Nic, I thought of you when I saw this:
Mayor Tells Deputy: 'Don't Call Me Dude'
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/
ap/20031209/ap_on_fe_st/mayor_dude


Okay, back to the present. The election is a year off, and we're still living in Weird Weird World of George W. Bush. For example, according to the New Scientist, racism is bad for you! Who would have thought? (Thanks, Josh):
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994388

And who planted this little trick in Google? It wouldn't be the Democrats by any chance? (Thanks, Miles):
http://www.google.com/search?q=miserable+failure

Yeah, secret plots and the rule of the cabal are in full effect. Take, for example, the Conspiracy Art of Mark Lombardi (thanks, Leo):


Not that artists are going to right the world:
Transvestite Potter Wins Turner Prize
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031207/ap_on_en_ot/britain_turner_prize

But they cheer me up during the holidays:
Christmas Tree Made of Beer Cans Removed
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/
ap/20031205/ap_on_fe_st/jingle_beers


While we're worrying about the holidays, though, I'm afraid the Feds are worrying about how to control you utterly. How about reversing the doctrine of Posse Comitatus, a Civil War-era idea that the Army shouldn't be enforcing law on US soil...like they would in a dictatorship. Oh my God! Is Joel going off half-baked that we're living in a DICTATORSHIP?
Mission Creep Hits Home
By William M. Arkin
Los Angeles Times
Preoccupied with the war in Iraq and still traumatized by Sept. 11, 2001, the American public has paid little attention to some of what is being done inside the United States in the name of anti-terrorism. Under the banner of "homeland security," the military and intelligence communities are implementing far-reaching changes that blur the lines between terrorism and other kinds of crises and will break down long-established barriers to military action and surveillance within the U.S.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/112503A.shtml

Think it hasn't started yet? Is the Earth burning yet?
America's Enemy Within
By Naomi Klein
The Guardian
Armed checkpoints, embedded reporters in flak jackets, brutal suppression of peaceful demonstrators. Baghdad? No, Miami
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/112703C.shtml

Even freedoms we took for granted (like making fun of our government) are being shoved in the toilet (thanks, Jennifer):
up your alley: "PUBLISHERS DEFEND RIGHT TO SATIRIZE PUBLIC OFFICIALS"
http://www.publishers.org/press/releases.cfm?PressReleaseArticleID=175

Every country on the planet will burn if we can't control our governments:
Riot in Sierra Leone Over Midget No-Show
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031206/ap_on_re_af/sierra_leone_stadium_riot

We don't know what's good for us. The Sixties are back...the bad side of the Sixties:
Ashcroft's Cointelpro
By Matthew Rothschild
The Progressive
The infamous FBI counterintelligence program of the 1960s and '70s, which spied on Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and disrupted the Panthers and the American Indian Movement, is being revived right now by Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/113003F.shtml
J. Edgar Hoover Back at the 'New' FBI
By Nat Hentoff
The Village Voice
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/120703D.shtml

To these Feds, everyone is a terrorist, citizen or not:
Show Me the Money
By Michael Isikoff
NEWSWEEK
Patriot Act helps the Feds in cases with no tie to terror
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/112903F.shtml

Even the top neo-conservatives think their friends have gone too far:
Patriot Act Author Has Concerns
By Richard B. Schmitt
Los Angeles Times
Detaining citizens as 'enemy combatants' -- a policy not spelled out in the act -- is flawed, the legal scholar says.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/120103E.shtml

If you think you're safe, take this test at the ACLU website (thanks, Mark); it'll open your eyes (and tighten your wig):
You will! ;-> http://www.aclu.org/Quizzes/QuizIntro.cfm?quizID=10&MX=1055&H=1

Meanwhile, the liars in the White House are getting off Scot-free:
The Uncompassionate Conservative
By Molly Ivins
Mother Jones
It's not that he's mean. It's just that when it comes to seeing how his policies affect people, George W. Bush doesn't have a clue.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/120203D.shtml

Even his friends think he's lost it:
The Conservative Case Against George W. Bush
By Doug Bandow
The American Conservative
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/120703A.shtml

Half the country think he's lost it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1097071,00.html

Shall we heap dirt upon our good Christian lying murdering leader?
Bush Brother Business Deals Detailed in Divorce
By Reuters
Neil Bush, younger brother of President Bush, detailed lucrative business deals and admitted to engaging in sex romps with women in Asia in a deposition taken in March as part of his divorce from now ex-wife Sharon Bush.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/112703A.shtml

George should have taken a page from Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton...their brothers were ALWAYS getting them in Dutch. But their answer was a shrug of embarrassment. George Bush's solution to questions? Smashing our democracy to bits (thanks, Ellen):
http://www.iht.com/articles/119933.html

They've already committed crimes that put Nixon out of the White House:
Senate Republican Staffer Put on Leave
By The Associated Press
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch said Tuesday he had put one of his staffers on administrative leave for improperly obtaining data from the secure computer networks of two Democratic senators.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/112703D.shtml

They're preparing to keep power at any cost...sound like a DICTATORSHIP yet?
Hack the Vote
By Paul Krugman
The New York Times
Inviting Bush supporters to a fund-raiser, the host wrote, "I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." No surprise there. But Walden O'Dell ­ who says that he wasn't talking about his business operations ­ happens to be the chief executive of Diebold Inc., whose touch-screen voting machines are in increasingly widespread use across the United States.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/120303A.shtml

Even jaded New York hipsters are savoring wine and cheese in the battle against Bush:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1097271,00.html

The cost of failure is all around us, with the supermarket strike, the budget deficits, the lies and the rosy reports from the far side of the world:
A New Kind Of Poverty
Anna Quindlen
Newsweek
America is a country that now sits atop the precarious latticework of myth. It is the myth that working people can support their families
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/120103F.shtml

Keep power however you can...take it from the elderly:
AARP Faces Rebellion Within on Medicare
By The Associated Press
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/112803E.shtml

Take it from our children:
Snowballing Debt Awaits Tomorrow's Taxpayers
By Ronald Brownstein
Los Angeles Times
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/120203J.shtml

Nope, we're not living in a dictatorship, but we'll all be working for it if we don't watch out. Keep reading the screed, and remember: Nearly every one of us will be dead in a hundred years, and a planet-load of our children will be cursing us if WE DON'T SUCCEED! Look for more angst in your next e-mail!

Thanks again for the goofy picture to Aunt Nona and Dana.
Vive le Screed!

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