O'Reilly in wonderland

Reading a Bill O'Reilly column is like entering another dimension. A dimension that might be called "O'Reilly's Wonderland." A wonderland characterized by two things: O'Reilly and his cohorts are always the victims. Who can forget his brave struggle against the infidels who wanted to violate the purity of Christmas by trying to include everyone in the holiday spirit by wishing people Seasons Greetings instead of the Christian-only narrower Merry Christmas.

The other is that any mistakes - no matter how deadly - made by O'Reilly and his cohorts are always someone else's fault. "... President Bush had no plan 'B' when the Iraqi people decided not to fight for their freedom after Saddam fell. That is the crux of the mess in Iraq" (NYP, 5/25/07) Heavens, we uninvited invaded a sovereign country to change regimes and the people of Iraq "...embraced ancient hatreds and corruption, and some even cooperated with al Qaeda. The ensuing chaos and death is heartbreaking to those of us who believe Iraq could be a free nation, if only the people had the will."

In other words, our crusade to turn the Middle East into a carbon copy of the U.S. was foiled by Iraqi's desire to be Iraqis.

Yesterday Bush claimed, "I'm credible because I read the intelligence."

But, according to the WP, "Months before the invasion of Iraq, U.S. intelligence agencies predicted that it would be likely to spark violent sectarian divides and provide al-Qaeda with new opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a report released yesterday by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence."

O'Reilly asks: "...is there a rational person on earth who believes Bush, Blair ... lied to the world in order to remove Saddam Hussein." Well Bill, some of us believe - without claiming to be rational - that the removal of Saddam Hussein was the first necessary step toward taking control of Iraq's vast oil wealth. It's interesting that the word "oil" never appears in your column.

Iraq Veterans Against the War Memorial Day action

Rally to support Iraq Veterans Against the War

Sunday, May 27th, 2007
12 Noon,
Union Square, South steps


"In an effort to illuminate the true reality of the conflict in Iraq, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) will engage in a series of street theater actions around the New York City area on Sunday, May 27.

This day coincides with our national remembrance of Memorial Day on Monday, May 28, which bears particular significance this year as we are in the midst of the fifth year of a war that has claimed the lives of over 3,300 American service members and over 655,000 Iraqis."

Congressional Democrats capitulate and abandon the American people, the troops and the Iraqi people

I don't claim to understand why the Democrats have aligned themselves with Bush on Iraq. Except to realize once again that there is really only one corporate party.

On Nov. 9th - electorally victorious - the Democrats marched into Washington promising to respond to the voters and end the occupation of Iraq. Today they capitulated and proved that they couldn't stand up to Bush and agreed to continue to finance his immoral war. It's clear that they did not have the votes to overturn a Bush veto of a real bill that would end the occupation and bring the troops home. But that's not the point of the Nov. 8th election. The voters were demanding that the Democrats stand up and be counted. It seems that they can't.

Bush, as usual, has been playing politics with the troops. He vetoed (rejected) the bill to finance the occupation. And then blamed the Democrats for not supporting the troops. This is what magicians call misdirection. It's how they fool their audience. It seems that he fooled the Democratic leadership even if he couldn't distract the American people from their determination to end the occupation and bring the troops home.

Among the current Democratic candidates Joe Biden and John Edwards basically agree with Conn. Senator Christopher Dodd who said:

"Half-measures and equivocations are not going to change our course in Iraq,"
"If we are serious about ending the war, Congress must stand up to this president's failed policy now -- with clarity and conviction. ..."

As of this writing Sens. Clinton and Obama haven't said how they will vote. I guess they are waiting for word from the weatherman as to which way the political wind is blowing.

Labor Chorus Benefit concert

Photo by Dan Cohen
8th GALA BENEFIT CONCERT
New York City Labor Chorus

Saturday June 16th - 7:30pm

Ethical Culture Society
2 West 64th Street (off Central Park West)


Celebrate the great tradition of labor and folk music through song.

TICKETS: $25
Seniors, Students, & Unemployed: $15
ORDER TICKETS NOW ONLINE!

Soap Opera humor:

"Renee Elise Goldsberry exits 'OLTL' ['One Life to Live'] May 21, when Evangeline slips into a contract-induced coma.

(from Soap Dish by Carolyn Hinsey in N.Y. Daily News)

May 8th second anniversary of Chelsea Stands Up Against the War

Tuesday, May 8Th, 6-7 p.m.
is the 104th consecutive week of the Stand Up against the war in Iraq.
Join with your fellow anti-war neighbors at the northwest corner of 8th Ave and 24th St to Stand Up Against The War in Iraq.
If you live in Chelsea (or not) and are against the war - be there!

With George Tenant for better or worse you get what you pay for

Tenant with his one time-White House
masters
One thing you have to say about former CIA director George Tenant is that he's consistant. Whoever pays him gets what they need.

When he worked for the current axis of evil in the white House (Cheney, Bush and Rove) he gave them whatever they needed to market a very lucrative war. Although it seems as if yesterday's "slam dunk" has turned into today's "air ball."

Now that he is working for HarperCollins he is providing them what they need to market his reportedly $4 million tome. I suspect that this shot may also turn into an air ball.

Evolution and the right wing: theater of the absurd

Many Americans wonder why a great nation has become the world's laughing stock. After last Thursday evening's Republican party presidential debate it should be fairly obvious.

Three contenders for the Republican presidential nomination - Kansas's senator sam Brownback, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Colorado House member Tom Tancredo - actually said they did not believe in evolution.

I can only assume that they also believe that if they sail far enough they will fall off the end of the earth. Wait a minute. Maybe that's not such a bad idea.

Not only do these people make the U.S. look bad, but they also demean whichever religion they espouse. No religion demands that you be an idiot.

Are we once again back to the imperial presidency?

Why is the U.S. the only democratic nation that treats its leaders as untouchable? Shouldn't the current events in Israel tell us something?

"[A] report, by an Israeli government commission, set off a furious debate in Israel on whether [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert should remain in office.

"The commission accused him of having decided hastily to go to war, neglecting to ask for a detailed military plan, refusing to consult outside the army and setting “over-ambitious and unobtainable goals.

"One result, the commission said, was that Mr. Olmert had been responsible for 'a severe failure in exercising judgment, responsibility and prudence.'" (N.Y. Times)

Doesn't all this sound familiar? Shouldn't the Bush administration be subjected to the same questions, only more so. The Bush administration has proven over and over again its historic self-indulgence and incompetence.

I don't know who is actually responsible for the disasters in New Orleans, Iraq, Walter Reade, for the politicization of every aspect of this administration, Justice, science, etc. Only history will tell us whether the real culprit is named Bush, Cheney, Rove, the ridiculous neo-cons, or maybe all of the co-conspirators, but since Bush claims to be the "decider," let's take him at his word. And investigate him for "a severe failure in exercising judgment, responsibility and prudence."

In the past it's been a two-bit robbery and cover-up (Nixon) and lying about blow jobs (Clinton) that has been grounds for impeachment (even if neither was ever convicted), these are penny ante "crimes and misdemeanors" compared to the behavior of Bush and his gang of war criminals.

Even arguments against challenging the Commander-in-chief in time of war pale before the Israeli situation. There they investigate the prime minister here we take impeachment off the table. The question is what's wrong with us? And what are we going to do about it?

8th GALA BENEFIT CONCERT
New York City Labor Chorus

Saturday June 16th - 7:30pm

Ethical Culture Society
2 West 64th Street (off Central Park West)


Celebrate the great tradition of labor and folk music through song.

TICKETS: $25
Seniors, Students, & Unemployed: $15
ORDER TICKETS NOW ONLINE!

Virginia Tech and gun control

Ever since the horrific events at Virginia Tech I have been thinking about the question of gun control.

I should say that I don't like guns, I don't think hunting defenseless animals is a sport and I think that most hunters substitute guns for penises. But none of this leads me to the conclusion that stricter gun controls would have prevented Cho Seung-Hui from gunning down 31 people and himself.

According to press reports it's not clear if any existing gun laws were broken. According to The coalition to Stop Gun Violence

"In December 2005 a Virginia district court ruled that Cho was 'an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness' and ordered that he be evaluated at a psychiatric facility. He was released the next day. Throughout this period, local police had at least three contacts with Cho.

"Although he passed a background check on two occasions, it is unclear whether Cho's handgun purchases were legal under federal law. Federal law prohibits individuals who have been 'adjudicated as a mental defective' or 'committed to any mental institution' from purchasing firearms. Virginia State Police maintain the sale was legal under state law and the Virginia attorney general's office has yet to comment on the case."

Of course, there have been commissions set up to study what happened and investigations are under way. But I don't think they will solve the problem of whether the massacre could have been prevented by stricter gun laws. In this society if someone wants something there will always be someone to sell it to him/her. If we haven't learned this from Prohibition and from the failure of anti-drug laws to effect their availability, we just don't want to acknowledge the limitations of passing laws to change human behavior.

One more word about Virginia Tech. Those people who argue that arming all (or most of) the students and faculty would have prevented some or all of the deaths of April 16 are promulgating very dangerous ideas.

But all this said, I think that if we wait to intervene until someone has reached the point of picking up a gun to solve their problems, we have totally failed as a society.

The availability of guns isn't the problem. It's that so many people from the President on down seem to believe that violence is the way to solve problems.

It takes a community to save a life, in this case 32 lives.

Cho was a part of a community at Virginia Tech and that community failed him in so many ways. Although some people realized from his writing how disturbed he was and tried to bring these problems to the attention of others who were professionally charged with dealing with them. But the professionals simply failed.

If we come across a wounded four-legged animal we are very likely to find a home for it or give it one ourselves. But with the two-legged variety we seem incapable of bringing outsiders into our midst. And until we can do that, there will always be another "deviant" who will pick up a gun to solve problems.

It's Guiliani time!

No one who lived through eight years of "one note" Rudy would be the least bit surprised that his conception of politics is ignorant confrontation. Most New Yorkers were thrilled when "One Note" became America's Mayor, because it meant he was no longer our mayor.

When criticized for his silly comments dxisparaging Democrats on the question of terrorism "One Note" said:

"They [Democrats] do not seem to get the fact that there are people, terrorists in this world, really dangerous people that want to come here and kill us," He said on The Sean Hannity Show, according to a transcript distributed by his campaign. "They want to take us back to not being as alert which to me will just extend this war much, much longer."

Is it really possible that anyone can possibly believe this nonsense? It's hardly surprising that he had to broadcast this foolishness on Sean Hannity's show. Who else (besides possibly Bill O'Reilly) would tolerate it?

It's quite ironic that the two people on who's watch 9/11 took place ("One Note" and the Bush) are the two who shout terrorism loudest. Perhaps there's some compensation going on.

The best thing we can do is to re-elect "One Note" as America's mayor - a job for which he seems ideally suited.

May 8-6PM: Second anniversary of Chelsea Stands up Against the War

From Chelsea Stands Up Against the War:

Invitation

2ND Anniversary of Chelsea Stands Up Against The War

Tuesday, May 8, 2007 6pm

Northwest corner of 8Th Avenue and 24Th Street

Anyone and everyone who participated in the first 103 weeks of the Stand Up and everyone who would like to participate to Stand Up Against the War in Iraq and
demand that the war end immediately and our troops be returned home safely can join this commemoration.

Because it is both a sad and glorious day.
Sad because the war continues, now it its fifth year, but glorious because the people of Chelsea promised that they would Stand Up each and every week as long as
the war in Iraq continues, and through rain, snow, freezing temperatures, sweltering summers and dark and dreary nights, Chelsea Neighbors have made good on their word.

Join with your friends and neighbors to say that you have had enough of the killing, enough of the torture, enough of the extraordinary waste of resources that is the war In Iraq.

Show support for your community and your neighbors while opposing this illegal and immoral war.

For further information call 212-726-1385
or go to www.chelseaneighborsunited.org

Chelsea Neighbors United To End The War
P.O. Box 821
JAF Station
New York, NY 10116-0821

The NYC Council saves us from pedicabs

We are faced with global warming, which may end the world as we know it.

According to the National Resources Defense Council,"The global warming crisis is at a tipping point. To stave off the worst effects of global warming, the United States must quickly pass strong legislation including a mandatory cap on emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping pollutants." In other words, the key to controlling (and maybe eventually reversing global warming) is to control the emission of greenhouse gasses. This would at the very least mean putting limits on automobiles and other gas emitting vehicles.


So what does the New York City Concil do?

They passed a bill controlling pedi-cabs, which emit no gasses. ("The pedicab bill caps the number of cabs at 325 and also adds new safety and insur- ance re- quirements.") And then to put a cap on this stupidity they overroad a mayoral veto. Could the taxi industry have had anything to do with this?

And we vote for these people.

April 14: Global warming action

***the BIG one*** Sea of People Mass Rally
New York, NY

April 14, 2007
12:00-3:00PM

MAIN LAWN at Battery Park

(SUBWAY: R/W to Whitehall Street, 4/5 to Bowling Green, 1 to South Ferry
BUS: M1, M6, M15 to South Ferry)

What is SEA OF PEOPLE? - visit www.seaofpeople.org for more info -

New York City's coastal location makes it particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels that will result from unabated warming. A ten-foot change could result from significant melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice shelves over the course of this century. Such a rise would greatly reconfigure the map of our city, sinking much of lower Manhattan beneath the water.

The SEA OF PEOPLE project combines the dynamics of a mass rally with the expressive power of an interactive artistic installation.

A noon rally at Battery Park (main lawn) will kick off the event. Then, thousands of participants, ideally dressed in blue, will stretch north in two columns along the projected eastern and western 10-foot waterlines that may one day redefine lower Manhattan under the ten-foot sea level rise scenario. Creating, in essence, a Sea of People!

We hope for this line to stretch a mile or more, winding up both sides of downtown Manhattan to create a visual and symbolic statement that our elected representatives can't possibly ignore!

Leave your home, wearing blue, as much blue as you can handle -- blue shirts, blue socks, blue underwear, blue shoes, blue pants, blue hats! Remember, the Sea Of People line is yours, so feel to put your stamp on it--GO NUTS!

We've heard through the grapevine that Papa Smurf and the Blue Man Group (or at least impersonators) will be making guest appearances! Others plan on coming dressed in blue speedos, complete with beach balls and umbrellas; there may even be some mermaids! And of course, please feel free to bring BANNERS, NOISEMAKERS, AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS!

Join us at Battery Park on the main lawn at 12 Noon on Saturday, April 14.
(The Battery is accessible from State Street and Battery Place. It is adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal
SUBWAY: 4/5 to Bowling Green, R/W to Whitehall Street, 1 to South Ferry. BUS: M1, M6, M15 to South Ferry)

Bush the trickster is at it again

Congress to their great credit finally stood up to the Dick and the Bush and passed two versions of a bill providing supplemental funds for the Iraq adventure. But,as the people demanded last Nov. 7Th they added certain very mild conditions with regard to ending the war and bringing the troops home. They still have to transform these two bills into one and send it to the president for his signature.

That's where the problem arises. Bush says that if the bill contains any conditions on his power to continue the war to his heart's content, he will veto it.

Now there are many roads he could take other than a veto. He could compromise with the Democratic controlled Congress, he could sign the bill and add one of his famous signing statements saying that he will not adhere to the conditions set out in the bill to control his behavior. But instead he has chosen the road of greatest confrontation rather than compromise. In other words, he is willing to place the troops at greater risk and to withhold money he claims is necessary from them to do their job. And now in pure Bushspeak he is blaming the Democrats, who passed the bill, for withholding the funding.

This is what magicians call the "turn" or the move that distracts your attention so that they can pull the rabbit out of the hat. The American people can't allow themselves to be distracted from the obvious: It's Bush who is withholding the money from the troops with his veto and not the Democratically controlled Congress who passed the bills in the first place.

"Mr. Bush told reporters April 3 that the funding delay would mean troops may have to stay in Iraq longer than planned.

"'That is unacceptable to me, and I believe it is unacceptable to the American people,' he said."

Then to undermine his own trick Bush sent "Defense Secretary Robert Gates [out to announce] Wednesday the Army would keep troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for 15-month tours instead of the yearlong stints that have become standard. The three-month extension [is necessary to] allow the Pentagon to maintain its 30,000-troop buildup in Baghdad for another year.

"The announcement 'just underscores the fact that the burden of the war in Iraq has fallen upon our troops and their families,' said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. 'The Bush administration has failed to create a plan to fully equip and train our troops, bring them home safely and soon, and provide our veterans with the quality care they deserve.'" (SignOnSanDiego.com)

One thing that Bush is right about is that the American people won't accept this latest Bush attempt to distract them from the task at hand: Bringing the troops home.

Greg Palast in New York City

Independent journalist Greg Palast will make two appearances in New York City (May 1 and May 2) while on tour to promote the new edition of his excellent book Armed Madhouse

An Evening with Greg Palast
Randi Rhodes and Robert Kennedy Jr
Tuesday MAY 1st — 7pm
Community Church of New York,
40 East 35th St. (Bt Park&Madison)

The official NYC Launch of Palast’s NEW updated and expanded Paperback edition of
Armed Madhouse
Palast, Rhodes and Kennedy talk about "From Baghdad to New Orleans"
Also featuring:
Palast’s film: Big Easy to Big Empty — The True Story of the Drowning of New Orleans

All Proceeds go in support of WBAI Pacifica Radio and The Palast Investigative Fund

Also the following evening:

Talk and Book Signing
Wed May 2 7pm - Wed May 2 9pm
Border's Books and Music,
10 Columbus Circle, Time Warner Center

Imus update

Update on Imus in the Hateful Morning post.

Although it's clear that CBS Radio and MSNBC are trying to get away with Imus' racist and sexist remarks the sponsors are not - so Imus may be in for more than a two-week suspension. According to Keith Olbermann

"recent comments on the show have caused [one sponsor] to discontinue its advertising on Imus in the Morning...the co-president of Bigalow Tea announced that her company, whose advertising contract with Imus in the Morning had just expired, had 'suspended our current advertising and may not resume it" [and] the nation's biggest marketer Proctor and Gamble had suspended its advertising commitments for the television simulcast and the media buying agency Carat USA says some of its clients have asked for their commercials to be pulled from the Imus program, though it would not identify those clients."

The abandonment of the show by advertisers will be far more damaging than anything CBS Radio and MSNBC seem willing to do at this point. But this will only happen if we keep the pressure on.

One further word: a number of people have raised the question: If all the Hip Hop artists and rappers call Black women hos, why is everyone picking on Imus? Doesn't their using these words make them part of the common language?

First, I don't listen to most Gangster Rap because I think much of it does demean women and is sexist and possibly racist. And many of the people who have been calling for Imus to be fired have previously been equally critical of Rap music.

But the simple fact is "Two wrongs don't make a right." If I commit murder that doesn't make it OK for you to go out and kill someone.

Each person has to take responsibility for their own actions.

Imus in the hateful morning

As John McEnroe used to say: "You can't be serious?"

Two weeks suspension for Don Imus. In other words, if you spew hate on MSNBC and CBS Radio you get a two-week vacation. "I think it's clearly not enough," Al Sharpton told CNN.

"This is a two-week cooling off period," The Rev. Jesse Jackson said, according to Gambling 911. "It does not challenge the character of the show, its political impact, or the impact that these comments have had on our society."

But there are other aspects of the Imus show that may change right away. For example, The Washington Times reports that "Hall of Famer Cal Ripken canceled an appearance on Don Imus' radio and television program scheduled for later this week because of comments the talk show host made about Rutgers' women's basketball team." A few more people with integrity, or those who just don't want to get involved in the controversy, could change the minds at CBS Radio and MSNBC.

Does the "I" in I-man really stand for Idiot? Or perhaps a better question is: Does Imus take us for idiots? Obviously he does and it seems he's right.

On April 4Th Imus and his executive producer were discussing the previous night's Rutgers/Tennessee women's title basketball game.

IMUS: "That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and --"

[The show's executive producer] McGUIRK: "Some hard-core hos."

IMUS: "That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -- I don't know."

Since then he has claimed to not be a racist, to have intended the comment to be funny, and today (Monday) he said:

"I'm not a bad person. I'm a good person who said something bad."

The simple fact is that good people don't think that something as hateful as "nappy-headed hos" is funny. What kind of audience listens/watches his show? A friend of mine commented that if he said something similar about the Israeli women's basketball team (I don't know if there is one) he'd already be suspended while this discussion is going on and probably never see the inside of a broadcast studio again.

I don't know if he should be fired outright or given a long suspension, but two weeks is less than a slap on the wrist. Monday on The View , Elizabeth Hasselback suggested he be suspended until Black History Month (February). That would be a good beginning.

Whether Imus is eventually fired or gets a meaningful suspension it has nothing to do with constitutionally protected speech. Unless the government enters the dispute. Given the current makeup of the Bush FCC hurtful speech is seen as much less dangerous than a nipple.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said that Imus' suspensions would not halt the protests that have taken place as a result of the comments. There should be demonstrations every day outside CBS and NBC (a moving demo) until there is a punishment that fits the crime. Imus is not the issue. Racism and sexism are.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that the headline of the Imus story on Fox News.com is "Two Sides to Imus Story?"

Cheney lurks in shrubs at Bush press conference

I have a weak stomach so I don't usually watch Bush press conferences, but I did last week. And watched an extraordinary Bush administration visual: Cheney lurking in the shrubs during the conference and then slinking into the White House after it ended.

It brought back memories of the wire under Bush's jacket in the first debate with Kerry. Only this time Cheney decided to make a personal appearance and work the puppet strings himself. Or maybe he was just there to step in if Bush needed backup.