Rayne Today

Rayne Today
Searching for dharma, in spite of the weather...

Thursday, July 17, 2003

Shortie Sorties -- Little things that flew under the radar

A minor thang…

Did anybody else catch that General Abizaid (Tommy Frank’s heir) used the phrase, “guerrilla war” when he spoke of the recent action against U.S. troops in Iraq?

Didn’t Abizaid get the memo, “Mission Accomplished”, complete with a picture of Dubya and his roll of quarters dressed in a flight suit on a flight deck back in may; yeah, the memo that says the war is over?

Oh, damn, Dubya only meant that “major operations” were over. I guess we better explain the difference to the families of the troops who were killed since the flight deck victory dance; it was just a minor thang, just a little war, not like it’s major operation or anything…

Just for the sake of comparison…

Did you catch these in the last two issues of Harper’s Index?

Value of assets and monies spent for which the Defense Department cannot account: $1,000,000,000,000+ [U.S. Defense Department Inspector General’s report year 2000]

Chance that a U.S. senior citizen reports having skipped medications or not filled prescriptions because of cost: 1 in 5 [Kaiser Family Foundation, Menlo Park CA]

Hmmm.

10:04:21 PM

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FOUND IT: A biological weapon A picture named Zuklear071703.jpg

Damn, who planted this bio-lab in my yard?

Complete with a zuke-lear warhead, too!

This pic might make 26 Things under "Food".

4:09:40 PM

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Stuck in my head

Ever had a song stuck in your head that won’t quit playing? Gee, I wonder why I’m stuck with this one in particular…

Lie to me
and tell me everything is all right
Lie to me
and tell me that you're stayin’ the night
Tell me that you'll never leave
Oh and I'll just try to make believe
That everything
everything you're tellin’ me is true

Come on baby won't you just
Lie to me
Go ahead and lie to me
Lie to me
Go ahead and lie to me

Lie to me
and it don't matter anymore
It could never be
the way it was before
If I can't hold onto you
leave me somethin I can hold on to
For just a little while won't you
won't you let me dream

Oh anyone can see
that you love him more than me
But right now baby
let me pretend
That our love will never end

Lie to me
Come on baby
Go ahead and lie to me
You know just what I'm talkin’ about
Lie to me
Go ahead and lie to me

I just want you to lie to me

-- Jonny Lang

As if I couldn’t guess the reason.

Lying scumbags.

2:20:24 PM

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Build-A-Meme Project: Process of justice thwarted

This is why I’m in the dumps: a minority of people in this country have somehow taken possession of a majority in the Senate, and now seek to obstruct the pursuit of truth and justice. The lies this Senate majority supports may have resulted in the deaths of American troops and Iraqi civilians. Yet one more reason why building a better meme is important -- more so now than ever before.

If you have a Democratic Senator, call and thank them for their efforts. (I’ve already called mine, thanked them for their vote, and thanked Senators Stabenow and Corzine for supporting the amendment.)

If you have a Republican Senator, call and tell them the American public, our troops in Iraq, deserve to have the truth and they deserve it out in the open where it will get fresh air and lots of sun. Fascism grows in the dark.

Regardless of your Senator, call Senator Frist and tell him you expect the truth and you want it now, that half-hearted mea culpas from a man who’s not responsible for the State of The Union address behind closed doors is simply not acceptable. Lies presented to Congress are an impeachable offense and Senator Frist should be angry about being used.

We got far more disclosure for a blow job in the White House.

We deserve, demand far more than we’re getting for 141 dead American troops and thousands of dead Iraqi civilians. Four billion a month should buy a lot of open air debate and the truth.

---

Received this morning from MoveOn.org:

Dear MoveOn member,

Yesterday, we sent on a letter from Senators Jon Corzine and Debbie
Stabenow, asking you to help the Senate create an independent
commission to investigate the Bush administration's distortion of
evidence around Iraq. In only a few hours, you made over 10,000 phone
calls -- enough to set phones in every Senate office ringing off the
hook.

At 7pm last night, the Senate voted on Senator Corzine's amendment to
the Defense Appropriations Act. The bad news is that the amendment
was defeated -- 51 to 45. But the good news is that the Democratic
caucus held strong: every single Democrat in attendance voted for the
commission.

It's becoming increasingly clear that Republicans want to bury this
issue. In doing so, they're placing their own partisan interests
ahead of the safety and security of the country. It appears they'd
rather protect their leader than know whether our Commander in Chief
took us to war on a lie.

That's why I'm hoping you can make one more phone call -- this time,
to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Frist is the leader of the
Republican caucus in the Senate, and he calls these shots. Give him a
call, and tell him how disappointed and upset you are that Republicans
in the Senate chose to place their party's well-being over the
nation's security.

You can reach Majority Leader Frist at:

(202) 224-3344

Once you've called, please let us know at:
http://www.moveon.org/callmade3.html?id=1522-3069701-oASj9QtQ5G4HEwOoc5SgmA

With such powerful Republican obstruction, it may take a long campaign
before a commission is established and the truth comes out. But we're
making great headway, and thanks in part to our calls the Democrats
are sticking together and demanding accountability. Let's keep
moving.

Sincerely,
--Eli Pariser
MoveOn.org
June 17th, 2003

P.S. Here's an article from today's New York Times that describes the
debate and the vote:

SENATE REJECTS PANEL ON PREWAR IRAQ DATA
By Carl Hulse, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/17/politics/17DEMS.html?tntemail1
"The Republican-led Senate defeated an effort tonight to establish a
bipartisan panel to examine the use of intelligence in the prelude to
the Iraq war. The vote came as Democrats pressed the Bush
administration on the rationale for the war as well as on the
long-term costs of military operations."