Mon 25 September '06

Thom's latest article: Republicans Give In To Bush, Betray America. Selling out their principles, they have turned their backs on habeas corpus.

Guest: Daniel W. Merrick, "Instructions to Money: From Welfare to Millionaire".

Bumper Music: Have You Had Enough?, Rickie Lee Jones, Tom Maxwell and Ken Mosher.

Article: U.S. Foreign Debt Shows Its Teeth As Rates Climb , "Over the past several years, Americans and their government enjoyed one of the best deals in international finance: They borrowed trillions of dollars from abroad to buy flat-panel TVs, build homes and fight wars, but as those borrowings mounted, the nation's payments on its net foreign debt barely budged. Now, however, the easy money is coming to an end. As interest rates rise, America's debt payments are starting to climb -- so much so that for the first time in at least 90 years, the U.S. is paying noticeably more to its foreign creditors than it receives from its investments abroad...

Economists have been warning about this for so long that people have gotten bored, but now we're starting to see the deterioration ... In effect, the US made a quarterly debt payment of about $22 for each American household, a turnaround from the $31 in net investment income per household it received a year earlier." Ronald Reagan sold us down the tubes... If the trend persists, it could also raise concerns about the nation's creditworthiness, putting pressure on the US currency... Since the end of 2001, when the current economic expansion began, the nation's consumption, investment and other outlays have exceeded income by a cumulative $2.9 trillion -- the largest gap on record. That current-account deficit contributes directly to the nation's total foreign debt, the value of all the US stocks, bonds, real estate, businesses and other assets owned by non_U.S. residents. As of the end of 2005, total US foreign debt stood at $13.6 trillion -- or about $119,000 per household. ... "Your standard of living is going to be reduced unless you work much harder," says Nouriel Roubini, chairman of Roubini Global Economics... Among economists' biggest concerns, though, is the fast pace at which the US is accumulating new debt... Foreigners' willingness to lend at low rates has also encouraged Americans and their government to borrow and spend. By buying US Treasurys, foreign investors put up more than four-fifths of the $1.3 trillion the federal government has borrowed since 2001 to help pay for tax breaks, the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Bumper Music: Chimes of Freedom, the Byrds (Bob Dylan).

Inheritance tax. Quote: "If the overgrown wealth of an individual be deemed dangerous to the State, the best corrective is the law of equal inheritance...")", Thomas Jefferson.

Book Signings: September 30, 2006: Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, CA - 4pm, The Bodhi Tree, Hollywood, CA - 8pm.

Quote: "Third, I think it's possible to gain a seven hundred million to a billion dollars through tax changes which I believe would close up loof- loopholes on dividend withholding, on expense accounts... So in my judgment we would spend more money in this Administration on aid to education, we'd spend more money on housing, we'd spend more money and I hope more wisely on defense than this Administration has. But I believe that the next Administration should work for a balanced budget, and that would be my intention. Mr. Nixon misstates my figures constantly, which uh - is of course his right, but the fact of the matter is: here is where I stand and I just want to have it on the public record." President John F. Kennedy, Third Kennedy-Nixon Presidential Debate, October 13th, 1960.

Article: Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat, Mark Mazzetti. The classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) is a consensus of 16 different spy agencies. It was completed in April. Thom called President Bush a bully and a punk (he wouldn't normally speak that way but he lacks any other way to describe U.S. foreign policy).

Article: Cheney ‘Can’t Buy’ Idea That Iraq War Is Creating More Terrorists.

Bumper Music: Let's Get It started In Here, Black Eyed Peas.

In October of 2000 the USS Cole was bombed. Bill Clinton thought it was Osama bin Laden, he gets the Joint Chiefs of Staff to put together a military to invade Afghanistan and take out bin Laden so he can be tried for war crimes. Republicans said he was going to try and wag the Monica. But the CIA and FBI would not sign off on it being bin Laden until 3 months later, just after Clinton left office. George Bush did absolutely nothing before September 2001.

Ariana Huffington spoke on Fox to Howard Kurtz about President Bill Clinton's interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.

Clip:

"Howard Kurtz: That was quite an answer. We saw just a part of that. Clinton was also talking about Richard Clarke, a former counterterrorism official, and why supposedly Chris Wallace hadn't asked Republicans about that. Ariana Huffington, was it unfair for Chris Wallace to ask about Clinton's record on terrorism? And why did he fly off the handle like that?

Ariana Huffington: Well, I don't know what the private arrangements were about what he could talk about and he could not. But frankly, once you go on the television show, you should know, if you're the president of the United States, or the former president, or me, or anybody else, that you can be asked anything at all.

What this may lead to, which could be good news, is that Bill Clinton may wake up to the fact that there is a real battle going on to define who is going to keep America safer, and for him to try to have it both ways, to have Laura Bush do the keynote during his conference, as though we're all in this together, to have Rupert Murdoch, Chris Wallace's ultimate boss, do a fundraiser for his wife, all that stuff is simply not making it as clear and as distinct as it to needs to be for the American people.

There are two very different views, and there should be, leading up to the '06 election, about who is going to keep America safer. And Bill Clinton needs to decide if he's just a former president or a former Democratic president helping his party define what is at stake in the upcoming election. So, this may be a good wake-up call for him." (Kurtz highlighted Clinton's "finger-wagging" Fox interview, ignored substance of his response to Wallace).

Article: Full Transcript: Clinton Takes On Fox News.

Clip:
ChrisWallace: …Why didn’t you do more to put Bin Laden and al Qaeda out of business when you were President? There’s a new book out which I suspect you’ve read called the Looming Tower. And it talks about how the fact that when you pulled troops out of Somalia in 1993, Bin Laden said “I have seen the frailty and the weakness and the cowardice of US troops.” Then there was the bombing of the embassies in Africa and the attack on the [USS] Cole.

Bill Clinton: OK.

ChrisWallace: …may I just finish the question sir. And after the attack, the book says, Bin Laden separated his leaders because he expected an attack and there was no response. I understand that hindsight is always 20/20...

Bill Clinton: No let’s talk about..

ChrisWallace: ...but the question is why didn’t you do more, connect the dots and put them out of business?

Bill Clinton: OK, let’s talk about it. I will answer all of those things on the merits but I want to talk about the context of which this arises. I’m being asked this on the FOX network. ABC just had a right wing conservative on their little Pathway to 9/11 falsely claiming that it was based on the 9/11 Commission report with three things asserted against me directly contradicted by the 9/11 Commission report. And I think it’s very interesting that all the conservative Republicans who now say I didn’t do enough, claimed that I was too obsessed with Bin Laden. All of President Bush’s neocons thought I was too obsessed with Bin Laden; they had no meetings on Bin Laden for nine months after I left office.[/i]

Clip:

Bill Clinton: All the right wingers who now say I didn’t do enough said I did too much. Same people. They were all trying to get me to withdraw from Somalia in 1993 the next day after we were involved in Black Hawk down, and I refused to do it and stayed six months and had an orderly transfer to the United Nations. OK, now let’s look at all the criticisms: Black Hawk down, Somalia. There is not a living soul in the world who thought that Osama bin Laden had anything to do with Black Hawk down or was paying any attention to it or even knew Al Qaida was a going concern in October of ‘93.

Chris Wallace: I understand, and I…

Bill Clinton: No, wait. No, wait. Don’t tell me this — you asked me why didn’t I do more to bin Laden. There was not a living soul. All the people who now criticize me wanted to leave the next day. You brought this up, so you’ll get an answer, but you can’t…

Chris Wallace: I’m perfectly happy to.

Bill Clinton: All right, secondly…

Chris Wallace: Bin Laden says…

Bill Clinton: Bin Laden may have said…

Chris Wallace: … bin Laden says that it showed the weakness of the United States.

Bill Clinton: But it would’ve shown the weakness if we’d left right away, but he wasn’t involved in that. That’s just a bunch of bull. That was about Mohammed Adid, a Muslim warlord, murdering 22 Pakistani Muslim troops. We were all there on a humanitarian mission. We had no mission, none, to establish a certain kind of Somali government or to keep anybody out. He was not a religious fanatic…

Chris Wallace: But, Mr. President…

Bill Clinton: … there was no Al Qaida…

Chris Wallace: … with respect, if I may...

Behind enemy lines: Article: The Bill Clinton Anti-Terror Myth Fact, GOP, which quotes: Guy Gugliotta and Juliet Eilperin, "Tough Response Appeals To Critics Of President," The Washington Post, 8/21/98). Go back and look at actual speeches on the floor: Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas: "I supported our original mission, which was humanitarian in nature and limited in scope. I can no longer support a continued United States presence in Somalia because the nature of the mission is now unrealistic and because the scope of our mission is now limitless... Mr. President, it is no small feat for a superpower to accept setback on the world stage, but a step backward is sometimes the wisest course. I believe that withdrawal is now the more prudent option." Dirk Kempthorne on the Senate floor October 6, 1993: "If the Somalis are now healthy enough to be fighting us, then it's absolutely time that we go home." GOP minority leader Robert Dole on the Senate floor October 5, 1993: "I think it is clear to say that the meeting we had earlier with, I don't know how many members there were, 45, 50 senators and half the house of representatives, the administration is going to be under great pressure to bring the actions in Somalia to a close." Jesse Helms on the Senate floor: "The time to get out is now."

Clip:

Chris Wallace: ... Instead of going through ‘93 and…

Bill Clinton: No, no. You asked it. You brought it up. You brought it up.

Chris Wallace: May I ask a general question and then you can answer?

Bill Clinton: Yes.

Chris Wallace: The 9/11 Commission, which you’ve talked about — and this is what they did say, not what ABC pretended they said…

Bill Clinton: Yes, what did they say?

Chris Wallace: … they said about you and President Bush, and I quote, "The U.S. government took the threat seriously, but not in the sense of mustering anything like the kind of effort that would be gathered to confront an enemy of the first, second or even third rank".

Bill Clinton: First of all, that’s not true with us and bin Laden.

Chris Wallace: Well, I’m telling you that’s what the 9/11 Commission says.

Bill Clinton: All right. Let’s look at what Richard Clarke said. Do you think Richard Clarke has a vigorous attitude about bin Laden?

Chris Wallace: Yes, I do.

Bill Clinton: You do, don’t you?

Chris Wallace: I think he has a variety of opinions and loyalties, but yes, he has a vigorous…

Bill Clinton: He has a variety of opinion and loyalties now, but let’s look at the facts: He worked for Ronald Reagan; he was loyal to him. He worked for George H. W. Bush; he was loyal to him. He worked for me, and he was loyal to me. He worked for President Bush; he was loyal to him. They downgraded him and the terrorist operation. Now, look what he said, read his book and read his factual assertions — not opinions — assertions. He said we took vigorous action after the African embassies. We probably nearly got bin Laden.

Chris Wallace: But…

Bill Clinton: No, wait a minute...

Chris Wallace: … cruise missiles...

Bill Clinton: No, no. I authorized the CIA to get groups together to try to kill him. The CIA was run by George Tenet, that President Bush gave the Medal of Freedom to, he said, he did a good job setting up all these counterterrorism things. The country never had a comprehensive anti-terror operation until I came there. Now, if you want to criticize me for one thing, you can criticize me for this: after the Cole, I had battle plans drawn to go into Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban, and launch a full-scale attack search for bin Laden. But we needed basing rights in Uzbekistan, which we got after 9/11. The CIA and the FBI refused to certify that bin Laden was responsible while I was there. They refused to certify. So that meant I would’ve had to send a few hundred Special Forces in in helicopters and refuel at night. Even the 9/11 Commission didn’t do that. Now, the 9/11 Commission was a political document, too. All I’m asking is, anybody who wants to say I didn’t do enough, you read Richard Clarke’s book.

Chris Wallace: Do you think you did enough, sir?

Bill Clinton: No, because I didn’t get him.

Chris Wallace: Right.

Bill Clinton: But at least I tried. That’s the difference in me and some, including all the right-wingers who are attacking me now. They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try. They did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed. When I failed, I left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy and the best guy in the country, Dick Clarke, who got demoted. So you did Fox’s bidding on this show. You did your nice little conservative hit job on me. What I want to know is…

Chris Wallace: Well, wait a minute, sir.

Bill Clinton: No, wait. No, no…

Chris Wallace: I want to ask a question. You don’t think that’s a legitimate question?

Bill Clinton: It was a perfectly legitimate question, but I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked this question of. I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked, Why didn’t you do anything about the Cole? I want to know how many you asked, Why did you fire Dick Clarke? I want to know how many people you asked…

Chris Wallace: We asked — we asked…

Bill Clinton: I don’t…

Chris Wallace: Do you ever watch Fox News Sunday, sir?

Bill Clinton: I don’t believe you asked them that.

Chris Wallace: We ask plenty of questions of…

Bill Clinton: You didn’t ask that, did you? Tell the truth, Chris.

Chris Wallace: About the USS Cole?

Bill Clinton: Tell the truth, Chris.

Chris Wallace: With Iraq and Afghanistan, there’s plenty of stuff to ask.

Bill Clinton: Did you ever ask that? You set this meeting up because you were going to get a lot of criticism from your viewers because Rupert Murdoch’s supporting my work on climate change. And you came here under false pretenses and said that you’d spend half the time talking about — you said you’d spend half the time talking about what we did out there to raise $7-billion-plus in three days from 215 different commitments. And you don’t care.

Victoria Jones of Talk Radio News. Clinton interview. Callers. Democrats being cautious. RNC reasearch briefing. Clinton displayed righteous indignation and anger.

Clip: "We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world." John F. Kennedy.

The number of subpoenas that were issued by congress to the White House 95-2000 was 1,050; more than one a day when congres in session. Between 2000 - 2005 there were zero. This is absolutely abnormal, and not just because the same party holds both houses and the presidency - Thom gave examples such as the Tea Pot Dome, Albert Fell, Vietnam War hearings

Article: Newsweek’s latest cover, by geographical region.

Iraq occupation update.

Guest: Clara Jeffery, Mother Jones magazine. Emerald city. Key construction jobs go to GOP supporters. NEI report. Habeas corpus. Bush clip "before we started the terrorism agenda in the middle east". NEI report.

Clip: "You know, I've heard this theory about everything was just fine until we arrived, and kind of "we're going to stir up the hornet's nest" theory. It just doesn't hold water, as far as I'm concerned. The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East.", Press Conference by the President.

Guest: Alec Dubro, International Labor Communications Association, AFL-CIO. Congratulations on Thom's article "Needed: Workplace Democracy", an excerpt from "Screwed". Thom's latest article. Habeas corpus. Lyndon B Johnson invited labor to the White House, as did other Republican presidents. Lyndon B Johnson voted for Taft-Hartley. Is labor making a comeback? Yes and no.

Tue 26 September '06

On this day in history 1960 John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, First Televised Presidential Debate. Those who watched it thought Kennedy won, whereas those who listened on the radio thought Nixon won. Nixon wore no make up and was sweaty. Integration - history, difference in world views.

Clip: "I have talked to Negro mothers. I've heard them explain - try to explain - how they tell their children how they can go into a store and buy a loaf of bread but then can't go into that store and sit at the counter and get a Coca Cola. This is wrong, and we have to do something about it. So, under the circumstances, what do we do? Well what we do is what the Attorney-General of the United States did under the direction of the President: call in the owners of chain stores and get them to take action.", Richard Nixon, Second Kennedy-Nixon Presidential Debate, October 7th, 1960 - Washington, DC.

Clip: "Well, Mr. Nixon hasn't discussed the two basic questions: what is going to be done and what will be his policy on implementing the Supreme Court decision of 1954? Giving aid to schools technically that are trying to carry out the decision is not the great question. Secondly, what's he going to do to provide fair employment? He's been the head of the Committee on Government Contracts that's carried out two cases, both in the District of Columbia. He has not indicated his support of an attempt to provide fair employment practices around the country, so that everyone can get a job regardless of their race or color. Nor has he indicated that he will support Title Three, which would give the Attorney General additional powers to protect Constitutional rights. These are the great questions: equality of education in school. About two percent of our population of white people are - is illiterate, ten per cent of our colored population. Sixty to seventy percent of our colored children do not finish high school. These are the questions in these areas that the North and South, East and West are entitled to know. What will be the leadership of the president in these areas to provide equality of opportunity for employment? Equality of opportunity in the field of housing, which could be done on all federal supported housing by a stroke of the president's pen. What will be done to provide equality of education in all sections of the United States? Those are the questions to which the president must establish a moral tone and moral leadership. And I can assure you that if I'm elected president we will do so.", John F. Kennedy, Second Kennedy-Nixon Presidential Debate, October 7th, 1960 - Washington, DC.

Article: No Relief in Sight for Health Costs.

Bumper Music: New American Century, Sputnik Weazel .

Guest: Michael Medved, talk show host, Townhall. Thom was on his show twice, for an hour. Article: "Why seek 'proportional' warfare?". Straw man argument. Torture. It takes a lot to get Thom speechless, but he was shocked to hear Michael say that because Saddam said 9/11 was a good thing, we should invade him. Unfortunately Michael didn't stay for another segment.

Bumper Music: Talkin John Birch Blues, Bob Dylan.

Enter Thom's October surprise competition.

Right wing spin machine. Fox set up Bill Clinton. He fought back. The New York post does an hour long interview with Condoleezza Rice right after 60 minutes fluff piece. Article: Rice Falsely Claims Bush’s Pre-9/11 Anti-Terror Efforts Were ‘At Least As Aggressive’ As Clinton’s. "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday accused Bill Clinton of making 'flatly false' claims that the Bush administration didn’t lift a finger to stop terrorism before the 9/11 attacks.… 'What we did in the eight months was at least as aggressive as what the Clinton administration did in the preceding years,' Rice added."

Bumper Music: Me & Bobby McGee, Janis Joplin (Kris Kristofferson, Fred Foster).

Article: Rice Boils Over at Bubba. "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday accused Bill Clinton of making "flatly false" claims that the Bush administration didn't lift a finger to stop terrorism before the 9/11 attacks."

Federal bank.

What are you doing for the elections, which are in less than 2 months? Just voting is not enough.

Caught you doing something right: Clip: Cafferty: "Sometimes Politicians Say Really Dumb Things". "Jack Cafferty just had some real choice words about Bush summing up Iraq as a "comma" during his interview with Wolf Blitzer. Jack hits the nail on the head when he puts the tally of lives, security and money on the cost of this "comma". I wonder how the families of the 2,700 soldiers lost in Iraq feel about their sacrifices being reduced to a portion of a "comma" according to the commander in chief? Considering the fact that Iraq has been a major part of Bush’s presidency, does that mean his legacy will be a "comma"?"

This week could be the last opportunity to talk to your representatives before Congress goes on recess until after the elections, to ask them if they are going to give George Bush a pass on torture, habeas corpus, illegal wiretapping: "the compromise". This is a really urgent issue so call your representative and 2 senators toll free at 1 866 808 0065 (or, not free, 202 225 3121)and tell them not to give the Bush administration a pass.

Banking could become a big issue after the election as the economy unravels. History Andrew Jackson, central bank. Panics. Greenbacks. "The Money masters" film.

Quote: "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies." Thomas Jefferson. Fractional banking. Aaron has a new film coming out, "America: Freedom to Fascism, which criticizes the Federal Reserve System and the Internal Revenue Service. The largest Chinese Bank is doing an IPO. Prescott Bush was a banker. Thom would like people to educate him.

Bumper Music: One Piece At A Time, Johnny Cash.

Bumper Music: A Working Man's Wage, Trace Adkins.

Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News. Federal Reserve. President Bush Welcomes President Karzai of Afghanistan to the White House. He's going to release the NEI report. Conservatives are saying that the Democrats were upset at the leaking of Valerie Plame's name but not at the leaking of the NEI report.

Article: The GOP’S Top Ten 'Voter Qualifications'..

The Democrats, who don't have subpoena power, held a Democratic Policy Committee hearing to which the retired generals came.

Clip: Bottom line, our nation is in peril, our Department of Defense’s leadership is extraordinarily bad, and our Congress is only today, more than five years into this war, beginning to exercise its oversight responsibilities. This is all about accountability and setting our nation on the path to victory. There is no substitute for victory and I believe we must complete what we started in Iraq and Afghanistan. Donald Rumsfeld is not a competent wartime leader. He knows everything,

except “how to win.”...

Secretary Rumsfeld’s dismal strategic decisions resulted in the unnecessary deaths of American servicemen and women, our allies, and the good people of Iraq. He was responsible for America and her allies going to war with the wrong plan and a strategy that did not address the realities of fighting an insurgency.

...

Secretary Rumsfeld built his team by systematically removing dissension. America went to war with “his plan” and to say that he listens to his generals is disingenuous. We are fighting with his strategy. He reduced force levels to unacceptable levels, micromanaged the war, and caused delays in the approval of troop requirements and the deployment process, which tied the hands of commanders while our troops were in contact with the enemy. At critical junctures, commanders were forced to focus on managing shortages rather than leading, planning, and anticipating opportunity. Through all of this, our Congressional oversight committees were all but silent and not asking the tough questions, as was done routinely during both World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam. Our Congress shares responsibility for what is and is not happening in Iraq and Afghanistan." Major General John Batiste, former commander of the Army's 1st Infantry Division in Iraq.

Clip: I briefed this plan, second phase essentially the operation given me, a requirement to adapt. Mr. Rumsfeld received this briefing on 5 September, 2003, and got his approval to proceed with an accelerated adapted plan that would produce an army of 27 battalions, essentially 40,000 personnel, and associated command and control, from national to squad, start the Navy, start the Air Force, the logistic systems, and a budget of $2.2 Billion. We laid out the basing strategy for the Iraqi Armed Forces. He approved this plan but he put his finger in my chest and said, “Just don’t make this look like the American Army.”

...

Mr. Rumsfeld came in to transform the U.S. Military; to turn the military into a lighter, more lethal armed force. In fact, Rumsfeld’s vision is a force designed to meet a Warsaw Pact type force more effectively. But we are not fighting the Warsaw Pact. We are fighting an insurgency, a distributed low-tech, high-concept war that demands greater numbers of ground forces, not fewer. Mr. Rumsfeld won’t acknowledge this fact and has failed to adapt to the current situation. He has tried and continues to fight this war on the cheap." Major General Paul Eaton.

Easing of rules concerning taking liquids on planes. Replay of Thom reading instructions of how to make a bomb with liquids on a plane.

Bumper Music: Coup d'etat, coup d'etat, Yikes McGee’s (mp3).

Bumper Music: Shelter from the storm, Bob Dylan.

Wed 27 September '06

There's a new Gallop poll just out; 53% blame President Bush for Osama bin Laden not having been caught.

David Thibault, Cybercast News Service. He's had chemotherapy, is feeling better, and waiting for a bone marrow transplant. He's had well wishers from listeners. David is honest. Michael lied to Thom yesterday - Saddam was not celebrating 9/11 - he condemned it. National Intelligence Estimate. Bill Clinton, how well the 2 presidents dealt with Al Qaeda, attacks. Condi Rice spoke to the New York Post saying they were just aggressive. David said that Bush was more interested in the economy.

Clip:

Tim Russert: Q It's interesting. Here's what the American people said in a recent poll: Is the U.S. involvement in Iraq or Afghanistan creating more terrorists or eliminating terrorists. And look at that, overwhelmingly, 54 percent, a clear majority, believe we are creating more terrorists.

Dick Cheney: I can't buy that.
Interview of the Vice President by Tim Russert, NBC News, Meet the Press. Focus on whether it was Bush or Clinton who was more responsible is my team-your team, but there are larger stakes. Americans need to understand their own history. There's a campaign to rewrite it.

Bumper Music: I've always been crazy, Waylon Jennings.

Quote: George Washington "often reminded his men that they were an army of liberty and freedom, and that the rights of humanity for which they were fighting should extend even to their enemies." Washington's Crossing (Pivotal Moments in American History) , David Hackett Fischer. To another officer with 221 Hessian prisoners of war, George Washington said, "Treat them with humanity, and Let them have no reason to Complain of our Copying the brutal example of the British army in their Treatment of our unfortunate brethren." As historian Edmund Morgan says, Washington had "made the war itself an example of what the Revolution meant."

Clip:

Q: You said, first of all, that al Qaeda has been degraded. Actually, the report said al Qaeda's leadership has been degraded, but that its ranks have increased. You also just --

Tony Snow: But operational -- okay.

Q: Let me just finish and go through here. You also said that -- you're talking about things the administration has done and, yet, the intelligence estimate is taking this into account and coming up with this conclusion that the factors fueling this growth of the movement, they report, outweigh the vulnerability of the movement and will do so for some time. That's not "we're safer."

Tony Snow: No. It talks about jihadism.

Q: It's also not "we're winning."

Tony Snow: Well, it doesn't draw judgments like that. You've read the National Intelligence Estimate.

Q: I'm practically quoting verbatim from the report. I could read it.

Tony Snow: I know, but -- look for "we're not winning." Please show me --

Q: The President has said, we're not winning -- we're winning.

Tony Snow: The President says we're winning...

Press Briefing by Tony Snow.

Article: Tony Snow’s Challenge: ‘Please Show Me’ Where The NIE Says ‘We’re Not Winning’.

This is all about the NIE report from April, before Zarqawi was killed, and it said things would get better if he was killed. There's a more recent report since which is even worse for the administration, which we will not be allowed to see until after the elections. Congresswoman Jane Harmon has written a letter to Negroponte demanding its earlier release. Fran Townsend said the work would not be complete until January.

Article: Beware the NIE: Careful, Democrats: The Notion that the Iraq War is Creating More Terrorists May be False., Robert Dreyfuss.

Bumper Music: I Won't Back Down , Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

Book Signings: September 30, 2006: Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, CA - 4pm, The Bodhi Tree, Hollywood, CA - 8pm.

Bumper Music: Big Boss Man, Elvis Presley.

Clip: Condoleeza Rice testimony before the 9/11 Commission, April 8, 2004:

Condoleeza Rice: I remember very well that the president was aware that there were issues inside the United States, he talked to people about this, but I don't remember the al Qaeda cells as being something that we were told we needed to do something about.

Richard Ben-Veniste: Isn't it a fact, Dr. Rice, that the August 6 PDB warned against possible attacks in this country? And I ask you whether you recall the title of that PDB.

Condoleeza Rice: I believe the title was bin Laden determined to attack inside the United States.

Clip:

George Stephanopoulos: How do you answer Administration critics who say that the Administration's actions have unleashed, have helped unleash, the very hostilities you hoped to contain?

Condoleeza Rice: Well, first of all, those hostilities were not very well contained, as we found out on September 11th.

Interview on ABC This Week With George Stephanopoulos, July 16, 2006.

Clip: "I think my husband did a great job in demonstrating that Democrats are not going to take these attacks. All you have to do is to read the 9-11 Commission to know what he and his administration did to protect Americans and prevent terrorist attacks against our country. I’m certain that if my husband and his national security team had been shown a classified report entitled ‘Bin Laden determined to attack inside the United States’ he would have taken it more seriously than history suggests it was taken by our current president and his national security team." Hillary Clinton.

Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News. She's at the Senate where they are discussing senate bill 3930, the compromise military commissions bill. It was altered in conference. Senator Levin went through it blow by blow. This bill is so bad that they can take a green card resident and declare them an enemy combatant and put them in prison for the rest of their lives without taking them to court. What Washington said (see above). The democrats are not going to filibuster. It's the end of America.

Guest Larry C Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism. A friend in CIA told him they had been saying what the NEI report said for 3 years. He wrote about it, looked at statistics a year ago. There were 175 "significant attacks" in 2003; this has risen to 651; a record. He's never known any folks so out of touch with reality. Clip of Bush in full rant mode (below).

Clip: "You know, I've heard this theory about everything was just fine until we arrived, and kind of "we're going to stir up the hornet's nest" theory. It just doesn't hold water, as far as I'm concerned. The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East.", Press Conference by the President.

Guest: Larry Scott: VA Watchdog.

Articles: AGENT ORANGE STUDY FINDINGS CALLED FLAWED. Study called "ranch hand": the control group were also in Vietnam and exposed, so saying that the small differences in cancer rates means agent doesn't cause it is wrong. You have to be tested for depleted uranium in less than 3 months.

Bumper Music: My World, 3 Doors Down.

Iraq occupation update.

Jude Wanniski's Two Santa Claus Theory. Since civil war Republicans have wanted to cut programs. Quote: "When Jack Kemp, New Gingrich, Vin Weber, Connie Mack and the rest discovered Jude Wanniski and Art Laffer, they thought they'd died and gone to heaven. In supply-side economics they found a philosophy that gave them a free pass out of the debate over the proper role of government. Just cut taxes and grow the economy: government will shrink as a percentage of GDP, even if you don't cut spending. That's why you rarely, if ever, heard Kemp or Gingrich call for spending cuts, much less the elimination of programs and departments." - Cato Institute President Ed Crane, 1999. Today's Wall Street Journal article, page A4. Article: Why Some Republicans Want to Lose, Yochi J. Dreazen.

Article: Bring on Pelosi. "Every Republican I know thinks Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are the best things they have going for them. Giving these inept leaders higher profiles would be a gift to conservatives everywhere.", Bruce Bartlett.

Thu 28 September '06

Rape as a legal technique of interrogation?

Article: Rushing Off a Cliff - you must read this. "Here’s what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans’ fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make American troops less safe and do lasting damage to our 217-year-old nation of laws — while actually doing nothing to protect the nation from terrorists. Democrats betray their principles to avoid last-minute attack ads. Our democracy is the big loser... They’ll know that in 2006, Congress passed a tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generation’s version of the Alien and Sedition Acts.". This is not even the "compromise" bill. Max Cleland story. Anthrax, Patriot Act. Article: Will The Next Election Be Hacked?, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Thom wrote articles 3 years ago. Senator Carl Levin spoke out against it, but did not say he would filibuster it. Constitution being shredded. Oath of president and senators and representatives to protect the constitution. Long rants. "These guys must be on acid". Could Snowe and Collins, republicans of Maine, be swing votes? Call your senators on 866 808 0065 and tell them to filibuster it. Some of the toll free numbers are being disconnected. The non-free number is 202 225 3121. Get out of jail free card for Bush, etc. and private contractors in Iraq. It does not immunize the military. Let us know what they say. This is treason.

Bumper Music: No Sugar Tonight, The Guess Who.

Quote for the day: "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." Theodore Roosevelt, Republican.

Bumper Music: Hand Me Down World, The Guess Who.

A lot of people called in and told of their experiences contacting their senators.

Lena called, she's a Moslem who was overjoyed when she arrived in America. Many coming here are fleeing torture. This is very sad. Bush always got free pass. This too shall pass.

Thom: "Welcome back to the radio support group of, by and for we the people of the United States of America and we citizens of a planet that we would like see living in peace and with people having respect for each other. No, this is not wussie. This is actually the strongest position that one can take; that peace and co-operation and harmony is a good and desirable thing among humans. The guys who are running around going, 'Ah, we need more war, we need to kick buts, shoot them', they're the weak ones. They are the cowards. They are the fearful ones. The George W. Bushes of the world."

Guest: Michael Ratner, Center for Constitutional Rights. He's been focused on the habeas stripping - removal of habeas corpus issue in the military commissions act. Tyranny coming to America today. Legal residents and undocumented workers will be able to be arrested and detained and won't be able to go to a court. What's to stop other countries to descend to this new level, and kidnap Americans and hold them forever? The habeas corpus measure he supported lost 48-51. They thought they had senators Hagel and Collins but lost them at the last minute. The Republicans allowed the Democrats to put in 5 amendments. The main bill is being debated and should be voted on soon.

Taking my Country Back: Patricia Madrid, Attorney General for New Mexico, running for 1st district. Opponent Heather Wilson. Both have been serving 8 years.

Bumper Music: I'm the Decider, Paul Hipp.

Clip of Carl Levin who asked for regular reports of detentions and interrogations. When told that they had only to ask, he gave details of other information that he had asked for in the pat and not received.

Bumper Music: Clinton is to Blame-O, The Freedom Toast.

Victoria Jones of Talk Radio News. New book: State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III, Bob Woodward. He seems to have developed spine, uncovering the cover-ups of the Bush administration to the mass market. Quote from 60 Minutes: "According to Woodward, insurgent attacks against coalition troops occur, on average, every 15 minutes, a shocking fact the administration has kept secret. "It’s getting to the point now where there are eight-, nine-hundred attacks a week. That's more than 100 a day. That is four an hour attacking our forces," says Woodward. The situation is getting much worse, says Woodward, despite what the White House and the Pentagon are saying in public. "The truth is that the assessment by intelligence experts is that next year, 2007, is going to get worse and, in public, you have the president and you have the Pentagon [saying], 'Oh, no, things are going to get better,'" he tells Wallace. "Now there’s public, and then there’s private. But what did they do with the private? They stamp it secret. No one is supposed to know," says Woodward. Senate Bill 3930 is going to go through, Democrats are afraid of being portrayed as being weak on terror during the run up to the election.

Hillary Clinton gave a great speech about Senate Bill 3930, but unfortunately did not end it with, "And therefore I am putting a hold on this bill". She quoted from "Washington's Crossing (Pivotal Moments in American History) , David Hackett Fischer. Quote: George Washington "often reminded his men that they were an army of liberty and freedom, and that the rights of humanity for which they were fighting should extend even to their enemies." To another officer with 221 Hessian prisoners of war, George Washington said, "Treat them with humanity, and Let them have no reason to Complain of our Copying the brutal example of the British army in their Treatment of our unfortunate brethren." As historian Edmund Morgan says, Washington had "made the war itself an example of what the Revolution meant."

Guest: Jumana Musa, Advocacy Director, Amnesty International USA. Very concerned about the legislation senate is discussing. Ill-advised, will cause more problems that solutions. Hillary Clinton said, "We must hold on to our values and set an example that we can point to with pride, not shame. Those captured, for example, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, are going nowhere. They are imprisoned now." They aren't getting tried tomorrow. The membership has been mobilized. Not sure that they have 40 votes to filibuster. It does not specify non-Americans. Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen, was picked up in O'Hare airport, not on the battlefield. Habeas Corpus. There are only about 200 Guantanamo cases, so they are not clogging up the courts. Coerced evidence will be permissible. Definitions before the act v. after the Act.

Bumper Music: Livin on the Edge, Aerosmith.

Quote: "When General Washington lead his soldiers across the Delaware River and onto victory in the Battle of Trenton, he captured nearly 1000 foreign mercenaries and he faced a crucial choice. How would General Washington treat these prisoners? The British had already committed atrocities against Americans, including torture. As David Hackett Fischer describes in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, Washington's Crossing, thousands of American prisoners of war were 'treated with extreme cruelty by British captors.' There are accounts of injured soldiers who surrendered being murdered instead of quartered, countless Americans dying in prison hulks in New York harbor, starvation and other acts of inhumanity perpetrated against Americans confined to churches in New York City.

Well, you can imagine, the light of our ideals shone dimly in those early dark days, years from an end to the conflict, years before our improbable triumph and the birth of our democracy. General Washington announced a decision unique in human history, sending the following order for handling prisoners: 'Treat them with humanity, and Let them have no reason to Complain of our Copying the brutal example of the British army in their Treatment of our unfortunate brethren.' George Washington understood that how you treat enemy combatants can reverberate around the world. We must convict and punish the guilty in a way that reinforces their guilt before the world and does not undermine our values." Hillary Clinton.

Bumper Music: When the Ship Comes In, Bob Dylan

Fri 29 September '06

The first hour of this Friday was devoted, as usual, to "Brunch with Bernie" with Congressman Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont. Senate Bill 3930 passed 65-34. Habeas corpus vote. NEI report. Abramoff had more than 400 contacts with the White House during 2001-2004. There's never been such a rubber stamp congress. Most Republican members are less right wing than the Bush administration, and more fiscally responsible. Big government is getting into our homes. Fighting terrorism. Voting machines. Bernie does not know why there was no hold yesterday. We've got to get people out to vote. Reason for going into Iraq.

Book Signings: September 30, 2006: Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, CA - 4pm, The Bodhi Tree, Hollywood, CA - 8pm, Annie Bloom's Books, Portland, Oregon. 7:30pm October 5, Elliot Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA. 7:30pm October 6.

Bumper Music: Democracy is coming to the USA, Leonard Cohen.

Article: Chance at Osama pre 9/11, sez book . According to State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III by Bob Woodward, "The CIA'S top counterterrorism officials felt they could have killed Osama Bin Laden in the months before 9/11, but got the 'brushoff' when they went to the Bush White House seeking the money and authorization."

Guest: Conservative David Bossie, Citizens United. Book: Intelligence Failure: How Bill Clinton's Natonal Security Policy Set the Stage for 9/11. Movie: Border War: The Battle over Illegal Immigration. He kept trying to keep the focus on Bill Clinton rather than George Bush.

Bumper Music: You May be Right, Billy Joel.

Upcoming Event: When Thom was in San Francisco recently, Thom recorded an interview for Link TV. It will form part of their 4 hour special, Rich and Poor - Inequality in America. It will air on October 6 at 5pm PST (see link for other dates and times). "A special that explores the widening gulf between the haves and have-nots in the US. The evening features a stirring address by Bill Moyers in which he calls for people to rise up and demand equality and examines the challenges to democracy when wealth, power, and income are in the hands of the few. Also included are the Link TV premiere of Poverty Outlaw, a first-person account of one woman's struggle to live on and off welfare; a selection of scenes from the powerful documentary Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price, which uncovers the retail giant's assault on families and American values; and a report on the outsourcing of jobs that shows how employers around the world are waging a race to the bottom." It also features Will Durst (satirist and humorist).

Bumper Music: We Can't Make It Here Any More, James McMurtry

Class, economic warfare, end of democracy - a cartoon democracy.

Bush said yesterday that the party of FDR and Truman has become the cut and run party.

Quote: Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance., Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, about the Republican Great Depression.

Quote: A Rendezvous With Destiny", Speech to the Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 27 June 1936, Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Private enterprise, indeed, became too private. It became privileged enterprise, not free enterprise...The royalists I have spoken of, the royalists of the economic order have conceded that political freedom was the business of the government, but they have maintained that economic slavery was nobody's business. They granted that the government could protect the citizen in his right to vote, but they denied that the government could do anything to protect the citizen in his right to work and his right to live.

These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind the flag and the Constitution. But in their blindness they forget what the flag and the Constitution stand for. Now, as always, for over a century and a half, the flag, the constitution, stand against a dictatorship by mob rule and the over-privileged alike. And the flag and the constitution stand for democracy and not tyranny; for freedom, not subjection."

Quote: Harry S Truman, March 29, 1952 "Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner" speech (mp3 ftp):

"And where have the Republicans been in this fight for morality in Government? Do they come out and vote with us to keep the special interests from robbing the public? Not at all. Most of them are on the other side. It's the same thing when you come to the question of the conduct of Government officials. The Republicans make a great whoop and holler about the honesty of Federal employees, but they are usually the first to show up in a Government office asking for special favors for private interests, and in raising cain if they don't get them. These Republican gentlemen can't have it both ways--they can't be for morality on Tuesday and Thursday, and then be for special privileges for their clients on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I don't think the "black is white" campaign of the Republican Party is going to succeed. I think the voters are going to see through this holier-than-thou disguise that our Republican friends are putting on. All the tricks of Republican propaganda cannot make the people forget that the Democratic Party has been working for their welfare."

Thom: So, if Bush wants to use Truman and Roosevelt, hey! We'll do that, we'll go there. No problem.

Wendy Wang of Talk Radio News. Just back from Guantanamo Bay. Very solemn place. Barbed wire, guards. Saw very little of daily life of detainees. Saw only a few detainees walking around. Internees not detainees. They had no idea when the conflict will end so they could be three a long time. The Right Wing talk show hosts with her were horrified that detainees had Korans and there were black arrows painted pointing towards Mecca. There was a parker lounger in an interrogation room, as well as a shackle fixed to the floor. They thought it was too luxurious.

Guest: Robert Greenwald. Movie: Iraq for Sale. Thom saw the screening in Portland last week. The best documentary on the issue behind the issue of Iraq, investigative reporting. People are buying the movie from the web site then arranging screenings, a way to be active. CACI corporations provided over half of the interrograters at Abu Graib. The people at the top made millions.

Bumper Music: Around the Sun, REM.

Guest: Joshua Casteel was an interrogator at Abu Graib, and was featured in the film "Iraq for Sale". His unit went in after the torture had been made public. The torture simply went elsewhere. He wrote reports about the torture he saw for the military. Contractors worked there, made up at least 40-40% of personnel at menial and analyst levels.

Iraq occupation update.

Article: After Burst of Violence, as Many as 60 Bodies Are Found in Baghdad.

Article: Iraq Contractor's Work Is Further Criticized. Quote: "This is the lens through which Iraqis will now see America," Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said. "Incompetence. Profiteering. Arrogance. And human waste oozing out of ceilings as a result."

Article: Congressmen say Iraq war weakens military response to other crises.

Ann called: Congress never declared a war on terror, but the bill just passed says that Bush can determine the right to freedom until the war ended. Bush wrote to Congress saying he was going to war in Iraq because of 9/11, but that was a lie. War on poverty, etc., were rhetorical wars.

We heard about Jose Padilla because it was leaked. The administration won't say if there are any others.

Bumper Music: What a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong.

Billy Sunshine from Santa Cruz, California called. Upcoming Event: Thom will be on Billy's 3 - 5pm show on KRXA on Sunday at 3:15pm. This is banned books week. We the People is probably the most subversive book that Thom has written.

Foringo? in NYC had an idea for a cartoon, if there is anyone out there who can draw. Three elephants stampeding away in terror from a mouse. A man with a document - Uncle Sam holding the constitution - getting trampled. The mouse should look like bin Laden. The elephants would be labeled the House, the White House and the Senate. He'd like to see it on Daily Kos or some place.

Gordon Smith said they would pass the bill and wait for courts to decide on the legality of the habeas corpus stripping provision. That buys them 2 years. And another moderate justice could be replaced by a right winger in that time. Watch the court races.

We need to double efforts and contributions before the elections.

Mon 02 October '06

Article: Excerpt from ‘State of Denial’, Bob Woodward.

Guest: Alykhan Velshi, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, who, with Clifford D. May, wrote Myths of War. "The ten most widely believed distortions about the global conflict now underway." (subscription)

The main stream media and the Republicans will use the Congressman Mark Foley (R-Fla.) scandal (he resigned Friday after accusations that he sent inappropriate emails and IMs to teenage boys) as a sex story to distract from news such as Condoleezza Rice having been warned by the director of the CIA and by Richard Clark on July 10 2001 the Al Qaeda was coming to get us (from Woodward's book). If she had taken action, 9/11 might have been stopped. Foley trumped a video of Mohammed Atta as a distraction. A gift from heaven for Newt Gingrich. Some Republicans are conflating pedophilia with homosexuality, which have nothing to do with each other.

Article: Bush 'kept Blair in the dark over Iraq'.

Article: Focus: Chilling message of the 9/11 pilots. January 8, 2000 video of Mohammed Atta and Ziad Jarrah.

Clip: Rep. Harman, Newt Gingrich on 'FNS'.

Chris Wallace: But during all those months, they left Foley in the House Republican leadership. They left him as the head of the congressional caucus dealing with exploited children. No second thoughts about that?

Newt Gingrich: Well, you can have second thoughts about it, but I think, had they overly aggressively reacted to the initial round, they would have also been accused of gay bashing. I mean, the original notes had no sexual innuendo, and the parents did not want any action taken.

Chris Wallace: Well, how would it have been gay bashing?

Newt Gingrich: Because it was a male-male relationship. And they had no — there was no proof, there was nothing that I know of in that initial round that would have led you to say in a normal circumstance that this is a predatory person.

Clip: CNN's America Morning

Soledad O’Brien: Whoa, over-friendly? Any communication between a 16-year-old and a congressman why doesn't that raise red flags, major, massive red flags?

Tony Snow: Look, I hate to tell you, but it's not always pretty up there on Capitol Hill and there have been other scandals as you know that have been more than simply naughty e-mails.

Clip: Stephanopoulos failed to challenge Bartlett with reports of Foley cover-up.

George Stephanopoulos: One final quick question on this Mark Foley situation in the House. Number one, was the president aware of any these allegations? Number two, The Washington Post is calling for an independent investigation. Do you think that's appropriate?

Dan Bartlett: The president was not aware of this. It is a shocking revelation to see this type of allegation. The members of the House of Representatives, the leadership, appear to be very aggressive in pursuing this investigation, and I think that's the best place, is for the leadership to determine the way forward.

Clip: Hume compared Foley scandal to those involving Clinton, Frank, ignoring key difference. Brit Hume: "Inappropriate behavior towards subordinates didn't cost Gerry Studds his Democratic seat in Massachussetts, nor Barney Frank his. Nor did inappropriate behavior toward a subordinate even cost Bill Clinton his standing within the Democratic Party, even though indirectly, at least, he was impeached for it. Mark Foley found out about this, was found out to have done this, and he's out of office and in total disgrace in his party."

Clip: "You said we're headed to war in Iraq -- I don't know why you say that. I hope we're not headed to war in Iraq. I'm the person who gets to decide, not you.", George W. Bush, December 31, 2002.

Clip: "I hear the voices, and I read the front page, and I know the speculation. But I'm the decider, and I decide what is best.", George W. Bush, April 18, 2006.

Bush administration pushing the envelope, accusing others of what they are doing themselves, terrifying press: clip: "In it, bin Laden says that al Qaeda intends to '[launch],' in his words, 'a media campaign… to create a wedge between the American people and their government.' This media campaign, bin Laden says, will send the American people a number of messages, including 'that their government [will] bring them more losses, in finances and casualties.' ", George W. Bush, September 5, 2006.

Thom's Buzzflash book of the month:

Messages To The World, By Osama bin Laden. How Hitler sued to get an unauthorized full translation of Mein Kampf taken from American bookshelves. The authorized version had references to Jews stripped out - about a third of the book. The book is insanely anti-Semitic. Know your enemy. It took 2 months for Thom to read bin Laden's writings, and what President Bush said that bin Laden said is not there.

Quote: "I say: Know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle.", Sun Tzu, "Art Of War" (Fifth Century BCE).

Quote: "Those who excel in war first cultivate their own humanity and justice and maintain their laws and institutions. By these means they make their governments invincible.", Sun Tzu, "Art Of War" (Fifth Century BCE).

Article: The CIA met Bin Laden while undergoing treatment at an American Hospital last July in Dubai. According to Le Figaro, "Dubai... was the backdrop of a secret meeting between Osama bin Laden and the local CIA agent in July [2001]... Having taken off from the Quetta airport in Pakistan, bin Laden was transferred to the hospital upon his arrival at Dubai airport. He was accompanied by his personal physician and faithful lieutenant, who could be Ayman al-Zawahari--but on this sources are not entirely certain--, four bodyguards, as well as a male Algerian nurse, and admitted to the American Hospital, a glass and marble building situated between the Al-Garhoud and Al-Maktoum bridges. Each floor of the hospital has two "VIP" suites and fifteen rooms. The Saudi billionaire was admitted to the well-respected urology department run by Terry Callaway, gallstone and infertility specialist. Dr Callaway declined to respond to our questions despite several phone calls."

Tom described the amazing process that carried his voice to us.

Clip: "The energy crisis is real. It is worldwide. It is a clear and present danger to our nation. These are facts and we simply must face them... Moreover, I will soon submit legislation to Congress calling for the creation of this nation's first solar bank, which will help us achieve the crucial goal of 20 percent of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000." Jimmy Carter.

Enter Thom's October surprise competition.

Thom: So, if Bush wants to use Truman and Roosevelt, hey! We'll do that, we'll go there. No problem.

Wendy Wang of Talk Radio News. DC is supposed to be quiet, but there are Woodward's book and the Foley scandal (it's on Drudge, so there's something they don't want discussed). Hastert was told by Reynolds and Bohner, and he did nothing - so is he in trouble? It got into the press because the parents broke it. Disturbing patterns of Democrats having to sort out the Republicans' messes. Carter suffered from the previous administration.

Guest: David Callahan - "The Moral Center: How We Can Reclaim Our Country from Die-Hard Extremists, Rogue Corporations, Hollywood Hacks, and Pretend Patriots". Co-founder of Demos. moral.com. Selfishness, consumerism. Reframe debate about values. Focus on the family. The working poor tend to divorce more because of financial stress.

Iraq occupation update.

Guest: Jim Motavalli, editor, E Magazine. His brother is an Earth scientist, as is Thom's son. Article: The Scoop On Dirt: Why We Should all Worship the Ground We Walk On, Tamsyn Jones.

Book: Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man, Susan Faludi.

Article: UPDATE: Woodward's 9/11 Bombshell Suggests 'Coverup', Greg Mitchell.

Tue 03 October '06

The Conservatives are eating their own. John Boehner said of the Foley scandal, "I believe I talked to the speaker and he told me it had been taken care of. My position is it’s in his corner, it’s his responsibility. The clerk of the House who runs the page program, the Page Board — all report to the speaker. And I believe it had been dealt with." Denny Hastert is under pressure. The story about Condi Rice being told on 9/10 disappeared off of Google news tops stories.

ABC News (owned by Disney, ran the factually challenged, slanted "Path to 9/11" blaming Bill Clinton for 9/11) promoted the Foley story.

Bob Woodward wrote his book which says that 9/11 happened because Condoleezza Rice, Bush and Cheney chose to ignore bin Laden, the warnings.

Bob Woodward's book was scheduled to come out the week before elections, but he had it brought forward so it would not influence the elections (conservatives would have the chance to rebut it).

Woodward schedules interview with CBS's 60 minutes (CBS can charge other networks for clips).

The book's galleys are produced.

ABC gets wind of the story that Woodward will give the lie to their documentary.

By outing Foley, ABC wins the ratings war and gets money for the clips and knocks CBS Woodward story down in the ratings and pleases the Republicans - one congressman is sacrificed for the entire administration.

This is so sad. Clip of Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council (FRC) on the October 2 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

John King: As we speak, sir, John Shimkus is still the chairman of the Page Board. Will you send your child to Washington to be a page?

Tony Perkins: Oh, I -- there's no defense of this behavior. It's outrageous; it's shocking. But it shouldn't be totally surprising when we hold up tolerance and diversity as the guidepost for public life, this is what you end up getting. A congressman chasing 16-year-old boys down the halls of Congress; it's a shame. It's a tragedy and it does need to be addressed but not just the symptoms here. We need to go to the source of the problem. And if the leadership was negligent, it should be dealt with and it should be dealt with in the most severe way possible. But what prevented the leadership from acting? Were they fearful of acting because they would be seen as homophobic or gay bashing?

Book Signings: Annie Bloom's Books, Portland, Oregon. 7:30pm October 5; Elliot Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA. 7:30pm October 6 (at the Town Hall, $5).

CBS is getting more conservative under Katie Couric, as displayed by its coverage of the Amish school shooting. Clip: CBS Turns Over News Broadcast To Man Who Blames School Shootings on Teaching Evolution and Abortion. "I’m saddened and shaken by the shooting at an Amish school today, and last week’s school murders. When my son Dan was murdered on the sidewalk at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, I hoped that would be the last school shooting. Since that day, I’ve tried to answer the question, “Why did this happen?”

This country is in a moral free-fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value. We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children. Suicide has become an acceptable action and has further emboldened these criminals. And we are seeing an epidemic increase in murder-suicide attacks on our children. Sadly, our schools are not safe. In fact, we now witness that within our schools, our children have become a target of terrorists from within the United States."

Thom: Yeah, there is moral decay in the United States. I'll tell you, there's some serious moral decay going on in the United States right now. And it is fundamentally happening among the Conservatives and within the Republican Party, although in the Democratic Party as well among most people who say, "We're not all in this together. It's every man for himself. We were not really a nation of barn gathering and barn raising communities. We were instead a nation of independent people who went out all by themselves and built this nation." I'm sorry, they're wrong. They'd say, "No, a chain is not as strong as its weakest link. You're only a link, and stand along on your own two feet." We are community. That's the history in this country, is the idea that we are community. And the moral decay is the Conservative idea that we can just, you know, to hell with community. We don't need social security, let's privatize it. We don't need a national health care program, let's keep this private program where people like Bill Frist's daddy can become multi-billionaires and 45, 46 million people have no access to health care because they are completely uninsured, or very limited and very exp