A Response to TIME's "Person of the Year" Pick

TomPaine.com has printed this letter to the editors of TIME magazine. It was written by the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq.

Dear Time Editors:

My son, Spc. Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq on 04/04/04 . This has been an extraordinary couple of weeks of "slaps in the faces" to us families of fallen heroes.

First, the Secretary of Defense—Donald Rumsfeld—admits to the world something that we as military families already know: The United States was not prepared for nor had any plan for the assault on Iraq . Our children were sent to fight an ill-conceived and badly prosecuted war. Our troops were sent with the wrong type of training, bad equipment, inferior protection and thin supply lines. Our children have been killed and we have made the ultimate sacrifice for this fiasco of a war, then we find out this week that Rumsfeld doesn't even have the courtesy or compassion to sign the "death letters"—as they are so callously called. Besides the upcoming holidays and the fact we miss our children desperately, what else can go wrong this holiday season?

Well let's see. Oh yes. George W. Bush awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to three more architects of the quagmire that is Iraq . Thousands of people are dead and Bremer, Tenet and Franks are given our country's highest civilian award. What's next?

To top everything off—after it has been proven that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, there were no ties between Saddam and 9/11 and over 1,300 brave young people in this country are dead and Iraq lies in ruins— what does Time Magazine do? Names George W. Bush as its "Man of the Year." The person who betrayed this country into a needless war and whom I hold ultimately responsible for my son's death and who was questionably elected, again, to a second term, is honored this way by your magazine.

I hope we finally find peace in our world and that our troops who remain in Iraq are brought home speedily—after all, there was no reason for our troops to be there in the first place. No reason for my son and over 1,300 others to have been taken from their families. No reason for the infrastructure of Iraq to be demolished and thousands of Iraqis being killed. No reason for the notion of a "happy" holiday to be robbed from my family forever. I hope that our "leaders" don't invade any other countries which pose no serious threat to the United States . I hope there is no draft. I hope that the five people mentioned here (and many others) will finally be held responsible for the horrible mistake they got our country into. I hope that competence is finally rewarded and incompetence is appropriately punished. These are my wishes for 2005.

This isn't the first time your magazine has selected a questionable man for this honor—but it's the first time it affected my family so personally and so sorrowfully.

Cindy Sheehan

Jesse Jackson Speaks Dramatically, People Kind of Listen

I'm not going to bother summing this up for people. Please just read this article. I'm sure there is a lot more to come.

Kerry Joins Ohio Lawsuit; Other Shoe, Balls Finally Drop

That's right boys and girls, good ol' John L. Kerry has finally decided to jump aboard the lawsuit that the Green and Libertarian Parties have filed regarding possible voter fraud in Ohio. As far as I know, Truthout.org broke the news, so I think you guys should hit them up for the info. On top of that, they have a great video and story that basically tells exactly how one company, TriAd Systems, knowlingly and purposely tampered with the election results. You check it out here.

New York Electoral Votes Go To: John L. Kerry

That's right, John L. Kerry. I'm not sure who that is, maybe they meant John F. Kerry, the guy who ran for President? From WNBC:

Even John Q. Public knows the middle initial of losing presidential candidate John F. Kerry. But New York's 31 electoral college votes are currently on the books for some guy named John L. Kerry.

State officials acknowledged the mistake Tuesday after the official certificate of vote appeared on the website of the National Archives.

The document was sent to officials and archivists in Washington and Albany, as well as Columbia University in New York, before the error was spotted.

"The ballots were correct, but for some reason with this document when it was typed up, nobody caught it in the proofing, including myself," said New York Department of State spokesman Peter Constantakes.

Maybe the "L" stands for "Loser."

Bowlmor Lanes and Arafat: The Inside Story

It has come to light that the recently deceased Yasser Arafat was an investor in none other than Bowlmor Lanes. For those of you not privileged enough to live in New York, Bowlmor Lanes is a trendy/hip/lame bowling place downtown. I know a kid who had a Bar Mitzvah there. And a briss. From Bloomberg News (via Gawker):

Arafat used a holding company to buy stakes that ranged from $285 million in Egyptian mobile-phone company Orascom Telecom Holding SAE and its affiliates to some $30 million in private equity, mostly in the U.S. These included $3.2 million in Herndon, Virginia-based Simplexity Inc., which makes electronic-commerce software, $2.1 million in New York- and Boston-based Vaultus Inc., which makes software for wireless computers, and $1.3 million in New York-based Strike Holdings LLC, which owns the Bowlmor Lanes bowling alley in Manhattan's Greenwich Village.

Arafat, who died on Nov. 11 at age 75, disclosed $799 million of investments in documents the Palestinian Authority has released over the past two years that show he didn't just invest in building basic services in the West Bank and Gaza.

At a time when the authority was starved for funds, Arafat's money managers placed bets from Tel Aviv to Silicon Valley on venture capital funds, software startups and telecommunications companies.

Bowlmor Lanes does brisk business with Wall Street, boasting a client list on its Web site that includes Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Credit Suisse First Boston, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bear Stearns Cos. and Citigroup's Salomon Smith Barney unit. Bowlmor also promotes bar mitzvah parties and offers a kosher caterer.

Washington Gubernatorial Race Finally Over?

Washington state Democrats seem to think so. They are touting an 8 vote victory for Christine Gregoire over Republican Dino Rossi. Considering Gregoire lost the first two counts (the initial count by 261 votes, and the original machine recount by 42) this would be a pretty amazing story. It would also prove once again that something seriously needs to be done about our voting process and machines. We can't keep having hand recounts after every election.

By the way

If anyone wants to link to my site or wants me to link theirs, tell me. Or if you want to suggest a site I should link or try to be linked from, tell me as well. Hopefully tomorrow I will finally get around to setting up my links list.

Thanks,

David

More C-SPAN Watching. . .

Has lead me to this site, verifiedvoting.com. Check it out, if you dare.

P.S.
C-SPAN rocks!

Speaking of Donations

I've heard this before, but I think it's more pressing now. We blue-staters love to talk ourselves up, but there's no denying a problem here. From the CS Monitor:

At this time of the year, charities of every shape and size are hunting for the most generous donors. To find them, the Catalogue for Philanthropy has a counterintuitive suggestion: Look in the nation's poorest states. That's because the Catalogue's Generosity Index for 2004 shows that giving as a percentage of income is highest in states where folks have the least to give. Mississippi - the nation's poorest in terms of average household income - ranks No. 1 in generosity, followed by Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.

By contrast, residents of the nation's richest states appear downright Scrooge-like. Connecticut claims the highest average household income but ranks 44th in terms of percentage of income donated to charity. New Jersey and Massachusetts seem even stingier, ranking 47th and 49th respectively in giving, despite their second- and third-place rankings in income.

Why is this the case? Well, religion, obviously.

"The reason low-income states give a lot is religion," said George McCully, president of Massachusetts-based Catalogue for Philanthropy, whose index uses 2002 IRS tax return data to compare each state's average itemized charitable deduction with its average adjusted gross income.

"They are tithing, evangelical Protestants, and they are giving in proportion to their income," he says. "Up here [in the Northeast], religion doesn't help our giving. I wouldn't say it hurts, but it doesn't help, either."

Few dispute such a connection between religious faith and giving; American religious institutions depend almost entirely on gifts from members. But even so, other factors - including race and denomination - also appear to influence giving.

See, this is where I find faul with this article. Unlike in blue states where I imagine most people who are donating are giving to AIDS groups and the John Doe Fund and the like, red-staters more often give through their churches. But, church donations predominantly go towards the upkeep of the church. Therfore, while perhaps blue-states give less, it is in a way more altruistic because those charities receiving the donations do not return anything to the donater. Church donations, on the other hand, inherently help those who give because it helps keep the church the donaters attend in business. Do I make any sense?

This is still not an excuse for the lack of funds charities receive today, especially in the wealthy, blue states.

Here's a neat little map showing you why you suck.

More Donation Opportunities

I imagine a bunch of you would be interested in this.

A number of Planned Parenthood affiliates have created different versions of this scenario. Here's how it works at Planned Parenthood of Central Texas (PPCT) in Waco, where the Pledge-a-Picket program is going strong: Each time a protester shows up at the clinic, a donation is made to PPCT. This campaign makes lemonade out of lemons by allowing Planned Parenthood supporters to pledge between 25 cents and one dollar per protester.

Despite the low pledge cap, which is designed to encourage donations, the money adds up, especially since the picketers never go away. Every month, participating donors get a short update on activities and a monthly billing for their pledge. It's like sponsoring a runner in a charity marathon.

Once a week, PPCT puts a sign outside its clinic that says, "Even Our Protesters Support Planned Parenthood." To date, the Pledge-a-Picket program has raised $18,000 for PPCT. While not a significant chunk of its overall revenues, Pledge-a-Picket contributes greatly to PPCT's patient assistance fund, which helps clients who don't have resources get the care they need.

I don't normally like to be so clear about where I stand on certain subjects (or at least go as far as to plug groups' websites), but I think the cleverness of this allows it.

Semi-Semi-Semite-Daily Statistic

In light of my recent meeting with Larry Kramer, I decided to throw up some very real AIDS statistics. From Avert.org:

Total number of AIDS deaths between 1981 and the end of 2003: 20 million.

Number of children orphaned by AIDS living in Sub-Saharan Africa at the end of 2003: 12 million.

By December 2004 women accounted for 47% of all people living with HIV worldwide, and for 57% in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2003, young people (15-24 years old) accounted for half of all new HIV infections worldwide, more than 6,000 became infected with HIV every day.

In this giving season (I hate that line), please remember those who are not on your gift list. And if you can't think of a good gift for someone, why not donate money to an AIDS charity or other type of charity in their name?

Sign of the Apocolypse

I was just watching the press conference for the "Inaugural Demonstration Permit for Conservatives " at the National Press Club on C-SPAN (I'm a loser, I know), and Larry Bailey, the head of Vietnam Vets for Truth ended the press conference jokingly saying "Peace out, man." I don't know what to say.

Some Good, Interesting News from Chile

Apparently the front-runners in the presidential election in Chile are both women. This is something that I was completely unaware of until about two minutes ago, and I have to say, it's really nice to hear. I just hope Hillary doesn't look to this for inspiration. From the CS Monitor:

Former Defense Minister Michelle Bachelet, a virtual unknown before 2000, who once ran for a municipal council seat and got 2 percent of the vote, officially announced her intention to run for president of Chile last month. She is favored to win both her coalition party's nomination and the general election a year from now.

Nipping at her high heels is Soledad Alvear, the hard-working, tightly wound former foreign minster, who belongs to Ms. Bachelet's coalition - the center-left Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia, which has governed Chile for the past 15 years. She is less popular but might yet snag the nomination.

Either one, according to polls, would trounce the right-wing candidate, Santiago mayor Joaquín Lavín, if the election were held today. The latest numbers from Foundation Futuro show Bachelet winning 59 percent to 33 percent when pitted against Mr. Lavín; Ms. Alvear would win 50 percent to 36 percent.

"During the 17 years of [Gen. Augusto] Pinochet's dictatorship [1973-90], typical South American machista tendencies were magnified, and advances for women were frozen," says Ricardo Méndez, a pollster and commentator here. "But since then, there has been a pendulum effect, and people's attitudes are changing rapidly to make up for lost time. Women candidates are the latest manifestation of this process."

UPDATE:
How condescending are my above comments? They're not meant to be, just came out that way

Someone At the Baltimore Sun Must Be Reading My Blog

From The Baltimore Sun:

In a horrifying way, the explosion that tore apart the giant tent that served as a dining hall at an American military base near Mosul, Iraq, was neither unusual nor unexpected.

Soldiers at Forward Operating Base Marez south of Mosul had already described in e-mails to their families their unease about the safety of the dining hall -- a long, high tent pitched atop a concrete pad -- and the ability of Iraqi insurgents to target the base.

Easter Sunday was particularly bad, as Adam Szafarn, a 23-year-old specialist with the Maine National Guard, told his family.

"There was just round after round after round," his mother, Sheila Szafarn, said Tuesday in a telephone interview from South Portland, Maine, recall ing that her son and other soldiers spent much of that day in concrete bomb shelters. "They couldn't go anywhere. They were just riding it out."

Her son e-mailed her after Tuesday's attack to say he was safe, but his mother remembered earlier messages about the dining tent. "He doesn't like going to the dining hall, because of the lack of safety," she said. "It's a soft building."

Thanks to a plentiful supply of mortars and rocket-propelled grenades and a lack of American troops to patrol the perimeter of forward bases, Iraqi insurgents are able to strike with relative ease.

Mortars rained down on the chow hall more than 30 times this year, according to a report by the Richmond Times-Dispatch , which has a reporter embedded with soldiers there. One round killed a soldier last summer as she scrambled for cover, the paper's Web site said.

Just hours before the mess hall blast, a soldier from a Virginia National Guard unit was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds she suffered in a mortar attack in October targeting another part of the base.

Riggs, the retired Army general, said the attack precisely on a mess hall at lunch time would likely indicate more than luck. Perhaps a sympathizer inside the base was able to "walk off" the distance to the mess hall. "That almost has to be a physical survey," he said.

While soldiers were caring for the dead and wounded Tuesday at Marez, workers down a dusty road at the base were constructing a new steel and concrete chow hall for the soldiers.

The only difference is that this article goes on to say that more man power is needed to protect the bases and root out those who are attacking them. I agree. Like I always say, the quickest way to end this war is to reinstate the draft, for sending all of our young men and women over to Iraq will either ensure a victory, or it will scare America so much that we will be forced to completely pull out.

Don't Worry About Anything, We're Gonna Be A-OK

Forget the deaths in Iraq, all of our problems are solved for the DOW IS UP! WOOOOOOOO! GO MONEY!

From the Financial Times:

Wall Street steamed ahead on Tuesday, boosted by strong gains in transportation stocks and an upbeat report from the chip sector. Pharmaceuticals were also in the spotlight after a new study raised fresh questions about painkiller safety.

By the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.9 per cent to 10,759.43 - a 3½-year high - while the S&P 500 was up 0.9 per cent at 1,205.45. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1 per cent to 2,150.91.

A strong rally in October and November has left shares in the leading US indices hovering near their highest levels since 2001, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq touching 3½-year highs last week. The strong gains that came in the wake of the US presidential election have given way this month to slower progress on Wall Street, however, leaving stocks trading mostly flat in spite of a slew of year-end merger and acquisition activity.

MONEY!

The Death of 19 Soldiers Could Have Been Prevented

As the news keeps coming in (and changing, for that matter) about the "rocket attack" (now believed to be a suicide or planted bomb attack) on a mess hall tent in Mosul, one thing is glaringly obvious to me: it could have been prevented. From CNN:

CNN personnel who have visited the base said the dining area is a tent-like facility with no hardened protection -- and that soldiers had specifically raised concerns that they could be targeted by insurgents at meal time.

One had told CNN it was only a matter of time before there was an attack on the mess hall.

"There is a level of vulnerability when you go in there, and you don't feel like there's a hard roof over your head," said Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, an officer at Camp Marez.

Overall the base has good protection, Hastings said, and a new dining facility is being built.

Bill Nemitz, a reporter with the Press-Herald newspaper of Portland, Maine, who was embedded at the base, said the new facility is made of concrete and was originally set to be completed by Christmas, but construction had slowed and the building is not near completion.

Nemitz said the base's chief medical officer in April expressed concern about the mess hall being targeted and was charged with drawing up a "mass casualty" plan.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of the military in general. We just don't have a lot in common. But you better believe that I respect it, and that I respect the men and women who serve in it. I also respect their opinions and their voices. When they say they need something for protection, I'll take their word for it. So how come Rummy and his boys refuse to listen to the people he sent to war? As Trent Lott said (and it pains me to quote him for my argument), "I don't think he listens enough to his uniformed officers." There was clearly concern about something like this happening, and yet, nothing was done. I'm not necessarily arguing that Rumsfeld was abreast of the mess hall situation in Mosul, or that he is personally to blame for there not being more protection there, but I do feel that he sets a bad example for the rest of the chain of command with his hands-off approach to the war.

By the way, had that new facility been completed on time, 22 people, including 19 soldiers, would still be alive today, and 66 others would not be wounded. And guess whose job it was to get that new facility finished? That's right, good old Haliburton.

New Anti-Smoking Ads?

Hmmm. . . so new evidence shows that the US tortures prisoners? Well at least we're doing it in as humane a way as possible, right? Right?
From the NY Times:

The documents, released Monday in connection with a lawsuit accusing the government of being complicit in torture, also include accounts by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents who said they had seen detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, being chained in uncomfortable positions for up to 24 hours and left to urinate and defecate on themselves. An agent wrote that in one case a detainee who was nearly unconscious had pulled out much of his hair during the night.

One of the memorandums released Monday was addressed to Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director, and other senior bureau officials, and it provided the account of someone "who observed serious physical abuses of civilian detainees" in Iraq. The memorandum, dated June 24 this year, was an "Urgent Report," meaning that the sender regarded it as a priority. It said the witness "described that such abuses included strangulation, beatings, placement of lit cigarettes into the detainees' ear openings and unauthorized interrogations."

You know, I don't think putting a cigarette out on someone's brain is really doing wonders for the whole "winning the hearts and minds" thang.

That Karl Rove

What a trickster he is. Oh boy. But seriously, his intellect/slyness never ceases to amaze me. Check this out, oddly reported by Rush & Molloy from the NY Daily News:

As Rudy begins to distance himself from the ethically challenged, briefly nominated Homeland Security chief wanna-be Bernard Kerik, some right-wing hardliners claim White House strategist Karl Rove devised the Kerik debacle to hurt Giuliani's presidential chances in '08.

"Rove used Rudy and Kerik to tout Bush as the anti-terrorism candidate," says one Republican party player. "But Rudy is too socially liberal for the true-believers. So they let him shoot himself in the foot. Rove knew about Kerik's baggage - and that he could never be confirmed. But he went along with the nomination, betting that the heat would come down on Rudy, which it has."

If this is true, I will be thoroughly impressed. And kind of happy, too. Giuliani sold out on his principles when he backed Bush (Rudy lived with a fucking gay couple at one point, I mean come on). And now he's realizing that maybe the Bushies were only using him (which they were). Giuliani deserves everything he's got coming to him. That being said, I'd rather see him in the WH in '08 than Bush and Rove's pick: Jeb Bush.

I Swear I Thought This Was Bob Dylan at First Glance. . .

What a scary thought. From Reuters (via Wonkette):

Something to Relax Me

I don't know, I just think this picture is really cool. Space rocks!



This was taken by the Cassini spacecraft which has now pierced the rings of Saturn. How cool!

My Brush with Fame

So yesterday I spent a five hour flight sitting and talking to none other than AIDS activist and playwright/writer Larry Kramer. Very nice and interesting guy. The really funny part about the whole thing is that two days before, on Friday, he was the answer to one of the questions on my Religion final. No joke. Kramer flipped when I told him.

Anyway, here's a pretty interesting speech on the state of gay rights that he gave at Cooper Union soon after the election this year

Thousands of Bodies Simultaneously Roll Over in Their Graves

Democratics have begun the process of shredding what little dignity they have left. From the Boston Glizobe:

Leading Democrats, stung by election losses, are signaling they want the party to embrace antiabortion voters and candidates, softening the image of the party from one fiercely defensive of abortion rights to one that acknowledges the moral and religious qualms some Americans have about the issue.

No prominent Democrat has suggested that the party change its long-held stance that a woman should have the right to an abortion if she chooses. But as Democrats assess what went wrong for them in November, some are urging a "big tent" approach that is more welcoming to those who oppose abortion. Democrats say that attitude might be especially useful with Hispanics, a critical constituency that tends to be Roman Catholic and whose majority support for Democrats has slipped in recent elections.

Abortion rights activists are alarmed at the potential shift in the party's approach to the issue as they look warily ahead to Supreme Court nomination fights and efforts in Congress to restrict abortion. But Democratic leaders say they can reach out to voters in the "red states," which voted Republican in November, without compromising their party platform on abortion.

"All Democrats are united around the idea that we should make abortion safe, legal, and rare," but "we also have to be open to people who are pro-life," said Simon Rosenberg, the president of the New Democratic Network who is mulling a run for the DNC chairmanship.

Former Vermont governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean, who supports abortion rights, said the Democrats should "embrace" antiabortion voters and expand the term "pro-life" to such social issues as providing for children's medical care. "I have long believed that we ought to make a home for pro-life Democrats. . . . We can have a respectful dialogue, and we have to stop demagoguing this issue," Dean, another potential candidate for DNC chairman, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" earlier this month.

UPDATE:
Ok, after thinking about this for a bit, I somewhat temper my outrage. I think Dean is right in wanting to expand the idea of "pro-life" to cover children because that's where Dems can hit the GOP hard. But I still loathe the idea of fielding candidates who are staunch abortion foes.

"I Have No Confidence in Rumsfeld"

It seems to be catch phrase du jour (first time I've ever used that phrase when not talking about soup, I swear). First Democratic leaders uttered it, then McCain said it, then even Trent Lott said it, and now Chuck Hagel has dropped the "no confidence" bomb.

And they're all right. Rumsfeld is a joke. No, he's not a joke, he's a bastard. His hands-off approach to this war is misguided and appalling. How dare he lie to the men who are getting shot at everyday for his mistakes. How dare he refuse to sign the death letters to GI families and instead have an automatic printer do it for him. Even Bush, who I'm sure has a lot more things to do with his time, signs each and every one.

What pisses me off is the lack balls here. All these people question Rumsfeld's leadership, yet come short of actually calling for his head. For instance, despite McCain's choice quote of saying he has zero confidence in Rummy, when questioned if he thought he should be removed, McCain responded with a weak "Bush can have the people he wants around him." Give me a break! Stop this partisan bullshit and actually stand up for what you believe, or rather what you know. Every lawmaker in Congress knows what a mess this administration, and more specifically Donald Rumsfeld, has made in Iraq. It's time they put away their red and blue pins and start acting like real representatives of the people, not just party players.

Anyone House Hunting?

Here's a great 16-room apartment, including 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, a library and a ballroom, and it's only $70 million. What a steal!

TIME's Man of the Year

Personally I would've picked Karl Rove, or at least had him in the background of the cover shot with a smirk on his face.

HOWDY!

Well, I'm back. School's done for now, so I will have more free time than I will know what to do with (which is good for you blogging fans). There is a chance I won't be able to update for a week while I'm out of town, but I think I should be able to get internet where I'm going. So yeah, keep coming back, it's about to get good.

HOWDY!

Well, I'm back. School's done for now, so I will have more free time than I will know what to do with (which is good for you blogging fans). There is a chance I won't be able to update for a week while I'm out of town, but I think I should be able to get internet where I'm going. So yeah, keep coming back, it's about to get good.