JULY 7 - 
pm results: 37 Dead Confirmed,
700 Wounded.
British Police have recovered two unexploded bombs
and parts of timing devices.
ABC
10:00am
here: Brits Under Attack.
The day after London's celebration, winning bid for
hosting Olympics. 3 bombs in the underground and 1
on a double decker bus. All explosions within 3 minutes of
each other. A shaken but determined Prime
Minister Blair calls terrorist bombings "barbaric," and that the attacks
were clearly designed to coincide with the G-8 in Scotland.
President Bush warns Americans to be "extra
vigilant."
AP
NYT
Londoners known for having endured The Blitz
of WWII and IRA bombings are again being severely tested.
Latest news: More bomb scares
around London. 10:30 am on CNN: Current injuries: amputations,
burns, fractures,shock. All buses being checked. "Rescue" site
changed into "crime scene." Officials say, had no intelligence previous
to attacks, that they are shocked but not surprised.
11:30 am: Alert will rise to orange
on US transit systems.
Cairo Egypt: "The secret
organization of Al-Qaeda in Europe" took credit for London Bombings, but
this could not be authenticated.
NYT
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JULY 6 - Brits Get The Olympics.
Also turn tables on French:
President Jacques Chirac lobbying in Singapore offered
"Unforgettable Olympics in 2012" to the committee. But before that
he said to Russia's Putin and Germany's Schroeder (about the
British), "The only thing they've ever done for European
agriculture is mad cow," and, "we can't trust people who have
such bad food." No doubt he made all those nice cows in the
English countryside very mad, and we all know that English jails
are bursting, the result of bad cooking, fostering a need for a study on
the English criminal mind and English puddings.
SAMMY
Read on.....
WP British
WP French
NYDN Food Fight
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JULY 5 - Justice
O'conner Is leaving.
How conservative is George W. Bush?
Bush's Brain, Karl Rove, identified the far right and religious
activists as key to Bush's re-election. Today these Bush
supporters are reminding their guy that he owes them an ultra
conservative Justice. Now shoot-from-the-hip cowpoke Dubbya is
gonna have to stop and think about it before he pulls the
trigger. So who's his target audience? Huh?
SAMMY Read on....
Some interesting thoughts on the subject at:
USAT
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JULY 5 - I really like this guy,
WILL DURST. Go to
Scoundrel City
to his June 23rd post at AlterNet. Speaks my
language, that's why.
SAMMY
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JULY 5 - Big deal! G-8 negotiations in Scotland
will result in a "recognition of the science behind global warming,"
while the rest of reasonably intelligent humanity has long recognized
the problem as real and dangerous. The world scientific community has
been brightening the sky with warning flares for years, but Bush and the
vast energy and auto lobbies have chosen not to see the light.
You probably knows this, but I'll print it out anyway: The
fingerprints of global warming problems are: heat waves, ocean
warming, glacier melting, Arctic & Antarctic warming; causing spreading
disease, early spring, plant and animal shifts, coral reef bleaching,
heavy rain and snow, flooding, droughts and fires. All of which
will increase, scientists predict, if emissions of heat trapping gases are
not controlled.
SAMMY read on....
For the story
WP
For Global
Warming
See the difference in the pics?
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JULY 4 -
We don't belong in Iraq, folks, but with all its faults, you gotta
love
America. The best to our great service men and women,
especially today. And remember the
tremendous risks our Founders took when they signed the
Declaration Of Independence
SAMMY
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JULY 1 -
The tragedy of war.
Our elite good guys are dead and missing. No further
comment. SAMMY Read
on....
AP
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JUNE 30 - Shoot the messenger?
Hell, Robert Novak did the dirty deed, not Cooper & Miller. AP says Time Magazine will hand over reporter Mat Cooper's
notes. NY Times says Time is considering it. The Supreme Court
refused to hear an appeal for Cooper and NY Times' reporter Judith
Miller, which would mean jail time for both if their notes are not
forthcoming. So what about columnist Robert Novak? And what
about the Bush administration rats who would remain mute while others go
to jail?
Back in July 2003, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. diplomat, having been
to Africa for the CIA, challenged President Bush's State Of The Union
claim about
Iraq's attempt to buy nuclear weapons materials in Africa. Soon
after, Novak wrote that two senior administration officials
revealed that Mr. Wilson's wife was a CIA operative on WMDs. Not
so nutsy, is it, to suggest the release of his wife's name was a way to
get back at Wilson for having the audacity to contradict Bush?
Don't think so. Apparently Novak gave names or notes to the
prosecutor since he's not threatened with jail. And regarding
Cooper and Miller--no crime has been committed!
Prosecutor Fitzgerald says Time has a moral obligation to cooperate.
On the other hand, what about the time honored obligation of reporters
to protect their sources? And what kind of a chill does this
create in the media when trying to expose outright lies, or corruption,
in government? It's threatening frost, folks. Brrr.
SAMMY Read on....
AP
NYT
And a cuter version: SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL by
WONKETTE,
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JUNE 29 - Same ol', same ol'. In
his Tuesday night (June 28) speech before our stalwart service men and
women at Fort Bragg, N. C., President Bush connected the 9/11 attacks to
Saddam's Iraq 5 times-- a literal falsehood. For the hundredth
time folks: 15 of the 19 attackers were our friends the Saudis,
and no Iraqis. the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rove philosophy is--say it
long enough and it becomes truth. But fewer and fewer are buying
it.
Senators McCain, Kerry, and Biden, say there are not enough troops on
the ground, though McCain is following the party line by saying, we have
to fight them in Iraq so as not to have to do so here. I say, we
should have poured all--not just some--of our troops into Afghanistan
where the Taliban were hosting Al Quaeda, and Germany and France and
others would have seen the justification for our actions, and given us
some help. The Associated Press covers the speech and
reactions. SAMMY
Read on....
Bush Criticized For Linking 9/11 And Iraq
AP
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JUNE 27 - About democracy, I refer you to the excellent essay by
Michael Ignatieff in Sunday's June 26 NY Times Magazine. But first my
own meddlesome comments:
Mr. Ignatieff starts with Thomas Jefferson's deathbed letter stating,
the democratic experiment would spread to the entire world-- "to some
parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all." He also
said that "all men are created equal," which was a slight exaggeration
since the poor are born equal to the poor, and the rich to the rich,
whereas it is the gift of opportunity that may provide the
American dream. I'm guessing
Jefferson assumed democracy would spread simply because of its fine
example in America. Or did he actually envision exporting it by
the imposition of force as is currently being attempted? To my
recollection no 20th century American president--all pretty conservative
by today's reckoning--ever set out to invade another country simply to
rescue it from tyranny, to bring to it our Jeffersonian democracy.
Within our own boundaries, in the 19th century our European ancestors
headed west with a brand of democracy that did not include the native
Americans. While beyond, in the 1940s, we invaded Africa,
Europe, the Pacific Islands and Japan, because we, in the simplest
terms, were attacked, and then only as victors did we impose democracy
on Germany and Japan--not so much out of the goodness of our hearts, but
rather because we could, and because of the need to create political
climates resistant to tyrants and to achieve compatibility with our
capital markets; which as it turned out, in addition to insuring our democracy, brought freedom and prosperity to our former
enemies. Of course, sadly, the downside was that close to 400,000 American
servicemen from my generation gave their lives, for which we are ever grateful.
Our world is always more practical than idealistic, yet in America,
whether real or imagined, idealism is often entwined, if not in
conflict, with the former. We envision a generosity of spirit and
greatness and sometimes fall short of the spirit while achieving the
latter, which might be interpreted by some as merely a firming up, if
not an expansion, of our national interests. As the current
administration attempts to bring democracy to Iraq and elsewhere in the
Middle East, Muslims may see a less than idealistic vision in the images
of our behavior toward Islamic detainees, guilty or innocent, and our
outsourcing of torture to places like Egypt.
Over the decades of the 20th century we have supported dictators and
undermined the elected, to maintain "stability." And now president
Bush has brought voting opportunities to Iraq and part of Afghanistan,
but at a high price for Iraqis and American military; and not, I
believe, for a Jeffersonian ideal, but rather for a family vendetta and
to extend more control over Iraqi oil -- the by-product democracy an
afterthought to justify the invasion. Do I sound too cynical?
Sorry. Bush sees all of this as part of God's plan, but I think
God has taken a good long look and run the other way.
The truth of it is, over time the western powers have tried to force
their will on the Middle East and elsewhere and have engendered the kind
of hatred of the "infidel" we so often see. Unlike communism in
the cold war there is more to Islam than politics. Theocratic
culture is deeply rooted. Muslim men may want to vote, and their
women, in defiance of culture, may want more options in general, but
based on history, neither gender fully trusts our motives, and perhaps
never will. Too often what we see as liberty, others see as imperialism.
I favored the invasion of Afghanistan where the bad guys were, but I
don't trust Bush in Iraq where the bad guys were not. But
considering the mess he's gotten us in, politics for moment aside and
for the sake of us all, I truly hope Bush is correct. America is
the best of the lot, with emancipation and freedom to express, but it is
not always right. Yet, as the smart Mr. Ignatieff asks: "Try
imagining the world without America." I can't.
SAMMY Read
on....
NY Times Sunday Magazine:
Who Are Americans To Think That Freedom Is Theirs
To Spread?
By Michael Ignatieff
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JUNE 23 - On Iraq. Aside from ethics, or lack
thereof, the following two differing points of view in the excellent May-June
Foreign Policy round table, highlight the skill of our military and the
ineptitude of the Bush Administration. In other words, no matter
how you slice it, we are in a mess that we wouldn't be in if we hadn't
been grievously misled, and continue to be lied to--except for the
senior officers on the scene in Iraq, who understandably will only reveal
the truth of our predicament, off the record, for fear of destroying
their careers.
SAMMY
Read on....
Foreign Policy Magazine:
In Get Out now
Writer
George A. Lopez says the U. S. should
announce a phased withdrawal of troops by February 06. Critics say
insurgents would simply plan ahead and that withdrawal would suggest
weakness to both friends and enemies. Mr. Lopez correctly points
to how mistaken the administration has been about the insurgency which
has "intensified and solidified," and that Iraqi polls favor a U.S.
pullout, and that our fears of doing this are exaggerated.
In A Job Half Done
On the opposing side, Writer
Kenneth R. Hines
points out that the U.S. has skillfully achieved an unjust invasion in
Iraq, followed by shoddy planning and mismanagement. He quotes St
Augustine who suggested: "peace is not simply the absence of war" --a
job half done. Mr. Hines goes on to explain the moral obligation
of the U.S. occupation to stay in place until Iraq is stable.
This smart magazine features two intelligent
writers to bring into relief the dilemma that Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld have
created. As I recall, their previous, more honest secretary of
State Powell, said, "If you break it, you own it." Was he
ever right--or
what?
For the entire round table:
FP
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JUN 19
- Leaked Downing Street memos have
questioned Bush/Cheney's motives for invading Iraq. Am I missing
something here? I mean did we have to wait for these leaks
to figure out what our gut instincts had already told us? Or, mere
common sense told us? An Iraq expert in London says the
documents show the case for WMDs was based on "thin intelligence" to
inflate the evidence, and the memos show Blair knew postwar instability
was likely. What else is new? The amazing thing is that both Blair
and Bush were reelected.
SAMMY Read on....
The Associated
Press heading says:
Memos show British Concern Over Iraq Plans
The lead
paragraph says that: Six months after 9/11, national security
advisor Rice, in a meeting with Blair's foreign policy advisor, said she
only wanted to discuss changing the regime in Iraq. Not
Osama bin Laden. Not al-Qaida. Interesting, considering it
wasn't Saddam's guys who flew the aircraft into American targets.
It was 15 Saudis & other non-Iraqis. Go figure.
For the rest:
AP
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JUN 17
- Is this a surprise--that
most Americans polled don't approve of Bush's wanting to hand over our
social security funds to his pals on Wall Street? And it boggles the
mind to try to understand how those polled can so strongly disapprove of
Bush's handling of Iraq, while approving his war on terrorism, when
terrorists in Iraq have been breeding exponentially like bacteria--where
they didn't exist until we invaded. White House Communications
Director, Nicolle Devenish says, Bush believes following polls is
equivalent to a dog chasing it's tail. To believe that Bush and his
staff don't scrutinize polls is to believe the tail can chase the dog.
SAMMY
Read on....
The NY Times heading says:
Bush's Support on Major Issues
Tumbles in Poll
:
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