outside the constitution
no resolution

israeli nukes? can't comment
ok, i think they got 'em

single payer's great
but won't ask for an estimate

For more Hampton quotes, see "The Revolutionary Love of Fred Hampton, Sr." A sample:

"Without education, people will accept anything. Without education, what you'll have is neo-colonialism instead of the colonialism like you have now. Without education, people don't know why they're doing what they're doing, you know what I mean? You might get people caught up in an emotionalist movement, might get them because they're poor and they want something and then if they're not educated, they'll want more and before you know it, we'll have Negro imperialism."

In the Democracy Now segment, Bobby Rush is shown eulogizing Hampton. Democracy Now noted that he's currently a congressman, but didn't note that a certain Barack Obama attempted to oust him in 2000. Rush had said of Obama: "He went to Harvard and became an educated fool."

That would be a good start, but perhaps not very likely given that Hasan has now apparently killed so many.

A little over ten years ago Zeynep, whom I would later befriend, was vacationing in her native Turkey. An earthquake hit, killing thousands. For weeks she helped with the rescue efforts, digging for survivors amid the devastation and stench of death.

When she got back to the U.S., she was traumatized, literally smelling the bodies at times. Her doctor recommended she see a post-trauma specialist.

After a time the therapist kept telling her it "wasn't her fault" -- Zeynep kept saying she knew that -- it was an earthquake. This happened over and over. It turned out the therapist worked with alot of Vietnam War veterans and would tell them of their war experiences "It's not your fault". Zeynep would later write:

I pointed out that people who are truly not at fault often know that and do not need to hear it 30 years later. If a man is having crying fits and nightmares three decades after a war, there is a possibility that something really was his fault and that the last thing he needs to hear is "it's not your fault." Maybe he needs to say he was indeed at fault, that he was guilty. Is there a way to redemption without acknowledgment of guilt?

The right and much of the establishment typically derides therapy as engaging in moral relativism. But now you have much of the establishment, Schieffer is but a tiny example, engaging in a massive moral relativism.

Killing is bad -- at home. It's good in Iraq and Afghanistan.

People should not kill. Except when we tell them to.

People should feel bad about killing. Except when we say they shouldn't.

And: We need to look forward when it comes to crimes by U.S. officials. But we must ensure prosecution when it comes to the 9/11 attacks.

This system cannot stand, because it can't stand its self.

My friend Elisa Salasin (on my suggestion) plugged audio of Truman's claim that Hiroshima was a "military base" into OMD's Enola Gay (Sash remix). She overlaid it with video and stills resulting in the final video:

(About the Sash remix: Enola Gay was name of the U.S. plane that dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. It was named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the plane's pilot, Paul Tibbets; Little Boy was the codename of the bomb itself, hence the line "Enola Gay, is mother proud of little boy today?" This song is from OMD (Orchestral Manuvers in the Dark) and remixed by Sash to include audio such as Robert Oppenheimer saying "Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds," quoting the Bhagavad Gita.)

They played from his speech at the gay rights rally:

But of all those things that are worth fighting for, love is worth fighting for. Love is worth it. Love is worth it. ... We love our country, even when our country refuses to acknowledge our love. But we continue to defend it, and we continue to protect it, because love is worth it. Love is worth it!

If you believe it, say it with me. Love is worth it! Love is worth it! Love is worth it! Love is worth it!

Like so many others, I joined the military because my country beckoned me. "Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country."

All told he used the word "love" 21 times in the Dem Now segment. (My friend Windy remarks that maybe it's actually who in your country you can do that's the issue.)

It's sad that the hosts of Dem Now didn't (as I should say I suggested) ask him how waging war is consistent with this "love" he is screaming about.

As such, they fail. They fail as representatives of a network founded by pacifists, as liberals dedicated in open inquiry and as journalists capable of asking real questions to their guests.

Presumably if the "left" has its way there will be no one in the military except gays -- we'll have an all-gay army.

Reminds me of an old Bill Murray bit after the Soviets invaded, of all places, Afghanistan:

President Carter has proposed the drafting of women, and everybody's all worked up about it. Personally, I don't see what they're complaining about. Women in the armed forces could be the best thing that ever happened to this country.

Let's say we have a war with Russia and the women fight. If we win, that's OK. And if we lose, we can say to the Russians: "Wow, you beat a bunch of girls. You must be really proud of yourselves. You Russians are real tough guys, yeah." Can you imagine how embarrassed the Russians would be?

As a basis, in 2003, just before the Iraq invasion, the Institute for Public Accuracy (where I work) did this in text form for Bush's State of the Union address. I should note, parenthetically, that this is one of many documents that shows how absured a notion it is for people to claim that we know Bush lied only after the invasion of Iraq; infact, anyone who cared to knew that Bush was lying before the war.

In 2003, it took sleepless days to assemble the crit online. This week, IPA did it in real time with Obama's healthcare -- or sickcare as my friend Jabari Zakiya likes to call it -- speech.

Contemporaneous crits should be done via audio and video by media outlets purporting authentic independence, rather like Colbert's "The Word" segments, or even the comments on Mystery Science Theater or pop-up videos. Entertainment TV has produced alot of things to try to pack more dubious "substance" into less time -- authentic news (as opposed to phony corporate news) needs to go far beyond to get real substance to people in a factual, concise, witty fashion.

In the case of presidential speeches it is made easier since there's the lengthy, vacuous applause providing the air time -- and the White House frequently release partial text shortly before the speeches, giving the analysts a head start.

It seems like a good question. Until one considers the source of the complaint -- and that rather helps answer the question.

Maybe the "liberal protests" are where the American Prospect's cover story of the "Baucus 13" is.

Or the where the American Prospect's lengthy piece on Linda Allision's exchange with Obama is.

Read up on the "Baucus 13" and Linda Allison's questioning of Obama.

If "liberal" mags like the American Prospect were serious about reform, wouldn't they have relentlessly plugged the "Baucus 13" and Linda Allison? Just like if Democratic politicians who claim to be "for" single payer actually were, wouldn't they have gotten the Congressional Budget Office to do an estimate on single payer this year?

Obama claimed they have a "common birthday wish" -- for a "real healthcare reform bill" -- but Thomas is not in favor of Obama's plan, she's for single payer.

Last week I bumped into Helen Thomas at her stopping ground, Mama Ayesha's restaurant in Washington, D.C. and she stressed the single payer failure on the part of Obama.

I asked her if I was right, that Obama hadn't called on her since his first news conference. Yes, she confirmed. He's had five news conferences since and not a single question from her.

At his first news conference, she asked about Obama's buildup in Afghanistan and Pakistan and about Israel's nuclear weapons arsenal. Obama declined to "speculate" about the existence of such an arsenal. Video here.

People should be asking Obama: Why are you refusing to take Thomas' questions? Why are you refusing to acknowledge the existence of Israel's nuclear weapons arsenal?

Outside Mama Ayesha's is a new mural which features Mama Ayesha, the founder of the restaurant, flanked by every president from Eisenhower to Obama. Everyone is smiling and getting along cheerfully. I told Thomas the "mural was ridiculous and the mural should feature you and Mama Ayesha not any of these jokers."

Later I chatted with the owners of the restaurant, the Mama Ayesha's nephew and his son. They basically said that the DC Arts Commission funded and called the shots on the mural. This is the collapse of art -- where government entities in an alleged democracy decide what art gets funded for the greater glory of our esteemed leaders.

Art -- especially murals -- should not be honoring politicians whose legacies are war, inequality, scandal and corruption. If anyone, it should be honoring folk heroes like Thomas.

Appropriately, Mama Ayesha is depicted behind bars, though most of the men around her should have been. None of the victims of their wars and bombings are depicted below their feet.

Those who advocate for a pure single payer with no choice for America are most likely correct in terms of the inefficiency of the system, but they don't fully understand the American psyche. Americans what to choose.

To the Editor:

Contrary to your report on the brouhaha in France stirred by medical aid for George Habash (news article, Jan. 31), Mr. Habash's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was not "the first group to hijack aircraft in the late 1960's." Israel originated the practice in 1954.

On Dec. 8 of that year, five Israeli soldiers were captured in Syria, apparently retrieving eavesdropping equipment. On Dec. 12, Israeli jet fighters intercepted a Syrian civilian aircraft flying from Damascus to Egypt, claiming that the plane had violated Israeli airspace.

The following day you reported that this "development appears to have given Israel an unexpected position of strength for negotiating the release of Syria's prisoners."

Gen. Moshe Dayan was then Israeli Chief of Staff. The Israeli Prime Minister, Moshe Sharett, wrote in his diary, "It is clear that Dayan's intention . . . is to get hostages in order to obtain the release of our prisoners in Damascus."

Contrary to General Dayan's hopes, no exchange took place. Prime Minister Sharett added that the United States State Department complained that "our action was without precedent in the history of international practice."

SAM HUSSEINI
Associate, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
New York, Feb. 18, 1992

Forbes: "Scheiner, 71, was Obama's doctor from 1987 until he entered the White House. ... 'Obama's wonderful, but on this one I'm not sure if he's getting the right input.'"

Meanwhile, experts on finance, the death penalty, foreign policy, energy policy, etc are saying the same thing.