This blog consists primarily of links to news stories, columns, or other items I've found interesting.

 

Celebrate and Think on July 4

I won't be adding anything to this blog for the next couple of weeks. I plan to celebrate July 4 with hope that the damage the current U.S. administration is doing to the country can be contained, with hope that American voters will put an end to the terrible turn this country has taken by ousting the deceitful and dangerous leaders. Serious damage has surely been done. After four years of the Bush administration, getting this country back on the right track won't be easy. But it can be done. After eight years, it might be impossible. I urge you to celebrate July 4 by thinking of ways to help turn things around.

Peace Is Patriotic.

posted by Natalie at 6:27 PM

 

"Cheney, Forgery and the CIA":

"Did the president himself know that the information used to secure congressional approval for war was based on a forgery? We don't know. But which would be worse--that he knew or that he didn't?" -- Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst

http://www.counterpunch.org/mcgovern06272003.html

Interview with McGovern:

http://truthout.org/docs_03/062603B.shtml



posted by Natalie at 4:24 PM

 

Lies:

Why do many people still not seem to care about the lies?

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16274


posted by Natalie at 4:19 PM

 

Dean Gets 43.87%:

Although I had hoped that Dean would win more than 50% of the votes and thus receive the endorsement/support of MoveOn.org, I was happy to see that he was the leader:

http://moveonpac.org/moveonpac/release.html

posted by Natalie at 11:25 AM

 

"The Israelization of American policy":

Parallels between Israel and the U.S.:

http://www.iht.com/articles/100893.html

posted by Natalie at 7:27 AM

 

A Possible Explanation of the Slanted U.S. War Coverage?

"Michael Wolff, the media commentator and New York Magazine columnist, has accused American television networks of 'kissing ass' in their coverage of the Iraq war in return for a relaxation of media ownership rules in the US."

from: http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,984897,00.html

posted by Natalie at 4:57 PM

 

Tax Cuts:

Bob Herbert on some of the "tax cut casualties":

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/26/opinion/26HERB.html

posted by Natalie at 9:06 AM

 

More on the Media:

"What's new is the acquiescence of the media in the lies and distortions by government." -- David Lindorff

from: http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff06242003.html

posted by Natalie at 7:23 AM

 

Bush's Language as Political Tool:

Renana Brooks, clinical psychologist and head of the Sommet Institute for the Study of Power and Persuasion, describes Bush's "dependency-creating" language:

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030630&c=1&s=brooks

posted by Natalie at 7:11 AM

 

Lies, the Press, and Passivity:

"More distressing even than the president's lies, though, is the public's apparent passivity. Bush just seems to get away with it. The post-9/11 effect and the Iraq war distract attention, but there's more to it. Are we finally paying the price for three decades of steadily eroding democracy? Is Bush benefiting from the echo chamber of a right-wing press that repeats the White House line until it starts sounding like the truth? Or does the complicity of the press help to lull the public and reinforce the president's lies?"

-- Drake Bennett and Heidi Pauken

from: http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/8200


"George W. Bush and his administration owe an explanation to the family of Brandon Sloan, and to the families of all the other troops who have fallen and will fall in this war. They owe an explanation to the American people and to the world for the carnage they caused with their lies and exaggerations. There must be a reckoning."

-- William Rivers Pitt

from: http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/8195

posted by Natalie at 6:23 PM

 

On Revisionist History:

"The suppression of revisionist history has generally been a mark of dictatorships -- from Hitler to Stalin to Saddam Hussein himself. Or have we forgotten that?"

-- Alexander Keyssar, The Washington Post

from: http://tinyurl.com/f49q

posted by Natalie at 7:54 AM

 

"Denial and Deception":

Paul Krugman asks, "So why are so many people making excuses for Mr. Bush and his officials?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/24/opinion/24KRUG.html

posted by Natalie at 7:48 AM

 

Attitudes in Iraq:

"I don't like America. They hurt us." -- a seven-year old Iraqi

from: http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0620/p25s04-woiq.html

posted by Natalie at 9:23 AM