A Welcoming Community
I’m BREAKING the 2 diaries per day rule. Uh oh. But, I think it’s worth BREAKING to get some really good dessert and jam/jelly recipes. Tomorrow is the first day of summer, so let’s have at it.
Oh – don’t forget your fav BBQ and salad recipes too!
And, for Buddha’s sake: don’t recommend this diary! 🙂
Small pics, people. Small pics!
Update [2005-6-20 16:7:20 by catnip]:: The cloture vote failed by a count of 54 ayes to 38 nays. 60 ayes were needed. The options now are to continue debating Bolton’s nomination in the senate or to have Bush make a recess appointment. Time is running out for the senate, so a recess appointment looks likely. There will definitely be a strong backlash against the administration if that action is taken.
Join us as we watch and listen to the senate debate the nomination of John Bolton as US ambassador to the UN, followed by a cloture vote at 6 pm ET.
You can watch it online now at C-SPAN 2.
The cloture motion requires 60 votes to succeed.
The roll call vote can be found here.
Please do not post any pics because they slow down the load time. Thank you.
It’s important to note that today’s vote really is about how much power the WH has over the senate since the administration has refused to release information crucial to the senate decision making process in this case. Therefore, a vote against cloture does not necessarily equal a vote against Bolton’s nomination.
Democrats Behaving Badly (voted in favour of cloture):
Landrieu
Nelson (NE)
Pryor
Final Count:
Ayes – 54
Nays – 38
WE WON!!
[promoted by BooMan]
Facing extreme pressure within the senate and the possibility that the appointment of John Bolton as new US ambassador to the UN will fail, the White House has announced that they are not ruling out a recess appointment. This is the way the Bush administration operates: if they can’t get what they want from a branch of the democratically elected government, they force their will by using strong arm tactics.
Condaleezza Rice and WH sock puppet, Scott McClellan are both parroting the “up or down vote” line through the press, while senate Republicans have scheduled a procedural vote for today, Monday, June 20, 2005.
(Note: I will be posting a live diary to follow that vote later on today when I find out the time of the vote. Update: C-SPAN has announced that the vote to limit debate will occur at 6 pm ET.)
A recess appointment would ensure that Bolton would serve as UN ambassador until January, 2007. This, following news last week that the administration’s idea of UN reform is to blackmail the UN by threatening to withhold dues if their demands are not met. Who better to be the public face of this bullying than John Bolton, whose history of unrestrained aggressiveness is very well documented?
As Joe Biden said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday: “If we give up on this, we might as well forget about oversight”.
From Harry Reid:
Republican officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press last week they were unlikely to prevail, barring a last-minute compromise.
And, if Bush can’t get what he wants, we all know that he has no qualms about grabbing it any way possible. Democracy? What’s that?
As Chrid Dodd points out:
Many of us would say that his reputation has already crippled him, but if he’s sent to the UN as the teacher’s pet, ignoring the will of the senate, that will send a clear message to other UN members: Bush will ignore any and all criticism from the people of America to further his agenda at the UN.
Democrats are still holding out for information about what Bolton did with the names revealed to him via the NSA intercepts and, if it is not forthcoming, Bolton will go to the UN under a huge cloud of suspicion. How can UN member countries be expected to trust a man or a government that refuses to be trustworthy and open? That is the function of a diplomat: to secure fruitful and trusting relationships in order to further cooperation. Bolton is not a diplomat and he is not the man for that delicate job. He will fail and the people of the US will pay for it. Those who oppose his nomination know that. Those who would be subject to his behaviour at the UN in the future if he is appointed during the recess will soon discover it.
Some days are just too much to handle. For me, this is one of them.
I can count my blessings. I can recognize that I’m exhausted. I can realize that after weeks of rain and flooding, the sun is shining and I can once again go outside for a while. I can go back to sleep. I can have a good breakfast. I can change the channel. I can take a day off from reading the news. I can turn off the TV. I can read a book. I can watch a movie.
What I can’t handle is that I have those choices, while so many millions of others must live through all of what’s going on and that they have no escape.
That is my sorrow.
Et tu, Howard Dean?
Ray McGovern, a career CIA analyst for 27 years and staunch critic of the Iraq war and Bush administration testified at Congressman Conyer’s hearings on the Downing Street Minutes on Thursday, June 16, 2005.
And Howard Dean has decided that portions of Mr McGovern’s testimony were “nothing but vile, anti-Semitic rhetoric”. I suppose he’d also see McGovern’s comments about the Israeli pressure on the US regarding a “nuclear” Iran in the same light.
Were they? You decide.
Here’s Dean’s WaPo quote:
One witness, former intelligence analyst Ray McGovern, told Conyers and other House Democrats that the war was part of an effort to allow the United States and Israel to “dominate that part of the world,” a statement Dean also condemned.
“As for any inferences that the United States went to war so Israel could ‘dominate’ the Middle East or that Israel was in any way behind the horrific September 11th attacks on America, let me say unequivocally that such statements are nothing but vile, anti-Semitic rhetoric,” Dean said.
“The inferences are destructive and counterproductive, and have taken away from the true purpose of the Judiciary Committee members’ meeting,” he said. “The entire Democratic Party remains committed to fighting against such bigotry.”
The topic of Israel is perhaps one of the most taboo in political circles today. Mr McGovern certainly did say that he believes the role of Israel in the Middle East and the fact that it is the US’s ally in the region were part of the rationale for the invasion of Iraq. He also spoke about Iraq’s oil. (I have yet to find a text of his comments, but you can view them online over at C-SPAN). For the record, McGovern did not raise anything about Israel having anything to do with the 9/11 attacks. Those rumours were apparently spread through pamphlets of unknown origin, as Dean said.
So, is it “vile, anti-Semitic rhetoric” to say that Israel wants to dominate the Middle East? Is it then vile, anti-American rhetoric to say that the US wants to dominate the globe?
I don’t think so. And, I think Dean is way off the mark with this reaction.
There is no doubt that Israel’s position in the Middle East is of great concern to this administartion. VP Cheney, in his August 26, 2002 speech declared that:
Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us. And there is no doubt that his aggressive regional ambitions will lead him into future confrontations with his neighbors — confrontations that will involve both the weapons he has today, and the ones he will continue to develop with his oil wealth.
It was during the same speech that he made this assertion:
Cheney’s words truly boggle the mind, however, although he does not refer to Israel as wanting to “dominate” the Middle East, the implications of these rationales for attacking Iraq were abdundantly clear and, as we all know, they certainly haven’t proven to be anywhere near prophetic.
However, can it truly be said that McGovern’s words were “vile” and “anti-Semitic”? And, why is Howard Dean attacking this man – a former CIA analyst with experience under several administrations who knows much more about the political pressure behind fixing intelligence than Dean could ever hope to? Mr McGovern even said during his testimony that he would be thusly attacked. To what end? What good does it do the political left to protect Israel from all criticism by cloaking it as being “anti-Semitic”? What has happened to free speech? What has happened to free opinions? Why is anything said about Israel still so taboo?
I’ve seen it on the left-wing blogosphere and now here it is coming forth from Howard Dean. And, who’s benefiting? The right-wing. PNAC. The neocons. The Republicans. All who like to label the left as kooks anytime we choose to even mention the name of Israel.
Mr Dean may not like McGovern’s comments or agree with his theory, but to label them as he has does nothing to further the discussion about US foreign policy as it relates to Israel. The conspiracy of silence has got to stop.
If you missed Congressman Conyer’s Downing Street Minutes (DSM) hearings on Thursday, you can watch the rebroadcast this evening at 8 pm ET on C-SPAN TV or catch it online on C-SPAN 2.
more…
By now, practically everyone in the left blogoshere has read or heard about the powerful testimony at the hearings by Cindy Sheehan, mother of a soldier son, Casey who was lost in the Iraq war, former ambassador Joe Wilson, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, afterdowningstreet.org attorney John Bonifaz and many more participants who held a no-holds barred discussion about the contents of the DSM.
Today on Daily Kos, Congressman Conyers called for media accountability, specifically targeting Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, who wrote a pathetically inaccurate article about the hearings. Ray McGovern also wrote a letter to Milbank to express his disappointment. (The link may not work right now because the site has been experiencing very heavy traffic – a good sign of much interest). Earlier today, I posted a comment in StevenD’s front page diary about FAIR’s (Fairness and Accuracy in Media) Action Alert aimed at Milbank for a previous story and Michael Kinsley of the LA Times for his recent “we already knew that” article. Hold their feet to the fire!
Congressman Conyers has his own blog in which he provides a summary of the day’s events. He ends his entry with:
And he should be exhausted! He’s worked tirelessly on this and many issues recently and deserves a great rest. He constantly reminded people during the hearings that he doesn’t consider himself a man of courage. That place is held by the troops who are still in harm’s way. We all display courage according to what’s placed in front of us and what we choose to do with it, so as much as I truly admire the man’s humility, I think we all agree that congressman’s courage in taking on this huge task has been worthy of a medal. The media should be treating he and his colleagues as such, instead of trying to tear them down.
The media need to be reminded that their purpose is to report facts and editorial/opinion writers also have a duty to present factual accounts of what they oppose. Anything less is an abrigation of integrity. From some, this is expected since they sold out a long time ago. For the rest, they need to be reminded forcefully and as often as possible that inaccuracies will not be tolerated. As well, we need to show our support to those who are getting it right and cajole those not covering the DSM to do so.
Back to the rebroadcast, those watching it are welcome to use this diary as a live discussion platform. Some of us transcribed the hearings live over two front page diaries here at BT yesterday. You’re welcome to read through those comments, although by now various other detailed accounts and videos of the testimony appear on different web sites. Thanks to everyone who joined in yesterday. I love those live discussions, so it’s always a pleasure to participate (kidney pain notwithstanding – we all must sacrifice!).
On with the show…
Just woke up to an e-mail from susanhu asking if I can diary this, so here goes:
Tonite on Nightline:
Witness To Hate – A Reporter’s Journal
Gardner used to think his command of Arabic in the Arab world was his flak jacket, a bulletproof vest, which would protect him from any danger.
After a trip to Saudi Arabia just over a year ago, he no longer thinks that way. Tonight in a three-part program, we learn why. His is an instructive story — not just for journalists who travel to places of danger every day, but for those who think they understand a place well — only to find out that there are certain unknowns that, despite understanding, cannot be reckoned with. It’s a remarkable tale of intrepid reporting, a love of learning and courage.
Over the weekend, Gardner was given a rare honor, the Order of the British Empire, bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II, for his service to journalism. Tonight you can see what that service is — and what price he has paid.
You can learn more about Frank on BBC’s site here. He is truly a journalist’s journalist.
(posted without much comment to get it up ASAP)
Since I haven’t been around BT much since I first signed up in March, there are many BTers that I haven’t met. The Welcome Wagon diaries will help me catch up on all of you. In the meantime, I’d like to expand our knowledge of each other by asking about your main political interests.
more…
I’ll begin. In a nutshell, my main concern is injustice, specifically human rights issues and more narrowly – poverty. In fact, I’ve had a book about poverty on the back burner for quite some time now, but will soon be launching a blog where I’ll be asking for some help in gathering information. I will also post a series of diaries here at BT to share my ideas and ask for input. The book will have two sections: the first will deal with personal coping strategies and the second will deal with the practical.
My life background is the catalyst for my interest in poverty. As a single parent of one child, who is now 27, I ran into many roadblocks along the way. I also worked in the addictions field as a supervisor and addictions counselor in a homeless shelter/non-medical detox facility. I’ve lobbied my provincial government and the media many times and managed to win a human rights complaint a few years ago that caused a change to a policy that was blatantly discriminatory towards the poor. (The government had been deducting $5/day from welfare cheques for those in the hospital, claiming it was a recovery of the cost of food. Health care is free here in Canada, so this was clearly a violation of human rights).
As a result of my advocacy and personal interest, I’ve gathered a wealth of knowledge about the system and the resources available. According to North American financial standards, I am currently poor since I live on a paltry government disability pension and am not able to work due to my illnesses. Through the years, I have learned how to cope, mentally, emotionally and in a practical sense, through the help of therapy, personal support, reading, learning, and my new found Buddhist beliefs. I don’t, however, have any sort of religious agenda in writing my book. It will focus on principles such as compassion, humility, living in each moment and so on – common sense values that everyone can understand.
One more thing, my book isn’t about making money. I’ll give it away if I have to and I’ll propose that agencies perhaps pay a certain amount for bulk orders. I haven’t worked out all of the details yet. The most important thing is to get it done. Once I’m feeling a bit better, I’ll be devoting a lot of time to the project.
Now, I would include a poll here to find out what your interests are, but I’ve found that many people have several areas of concern and activism and that poll choices are quite limiting. I look forward to knowing more about where you are all coming from and learning about your passions.
Have at it!
Okay. Booman Tribune has been inundated with new users this week, so I say it’s time for a MOJO FEST! Have at it. And, in a tribute to Carnacki, who posted “Got a Happy Story” diaries every Friday night at dKos, I’m asking that you earn your mojo by posting something happy. It can be about absolutely anything (no nudie pics though – okay??). If you’re happy along those lines, we don’t need to know about it. 🙂
I’m going to sleep off this kidney pain, so I expect this diary to be filled with stories and mojo while I’m gone. (Yes, I know most of you really, really care about me and your support has helped me get through this week – which is my happy story for today – but, don’t make this diary about me and my struggles. This is about you. Thanks!)
On with the happy stories…
Update [2005-6-12 17:34:26 by catnip]: Well, you certainly haven’t let me down! …yawn and very big stretch… I’m up from my nap and you’ve shared some great stories. Carnacki has posted a link to his See You All Soon diary on dKos – may he fare well in his journeys. Thanks guys and gals!
So much violence. So many people so poorly protected.
According to this BBC article:
The government described it as a failed bid to assassinate the prominent head of the Wolf Brigade commando unit, Abul Waleed, who escaped the blast unhurt.
Anyone who has even remotely followed the patterns of violence in Iraq since the beginning of this illegal war has seen story after story about attacks on Iraqi police and recruits. Time and time again, I have wondered out loud why these people are not better protected since they are such obvious targets. I don’t have the answer to that question and I doubt any of you do either, but I stand strong in believing that the so-called coalition forces are not taking this seriously.
Some say that it’s impossible to protect against suicide bombers and, in so many instances, that is the truth. But, the fact that a suicide bomber could “slip into the base along with the morning shift”, even given that he was a former commando, shows that Iraqi police headquarters security is obviously lacking. While Rumsfeld et al keep reminding the world that they want Iraqis to take care of their own security, his defense department is not exactly helping much in the transition.
The head of the brigade and target of the assassination is a man who should have had better protection:
The Iraqi version of “COPS”?
In other news from Iraq:
An Iraqi police officer in the city said that the two were security guards who were killed by mistake.
Just great. As if there isn’t enough animosity towards the Iraqi police…
And:
Seven men, three women and a child were killed, a police source said.
There is no end in sight…
Two cars pulled up and militants inside opened fire on the bus, which was coming from the town of Jbala, 70km (45 miles) south of the capital, police said.
Another three workers were injured in the attack, Reuters news agency reports.
And, if that’s not enough, check out this heartbreaking story on CNN’s site about patients fleeing a hospital in Tal Afar, described as the “the most dangerous area in Iraq now.”
A car bomb near the Slovak embassy on Saturday also wounded four people.
Such a horribly mismanaged war lies at the feet of Donald Rumsfeld and George W Bush. May the troops stay safe and may this end as soon as is humanly possible.
Is the American public even paying attention anymore?