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Dirty GOP Tactics
Ever wonder how Republicans raise so much money? Well, of course they sell their souls to (rich-people) interest groups and major corporations, but they even strongarm their way into more money. A Tennessean article from July 18, 2003 details how Republican state attourneys general in at least six states called corporations or trade groups that were in a lawsuit or under regulations and obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions. In exchange for this money, the company officials could meet with the attourneys general, participate in conference calls, and socialize with them. The Tennessean was running a Washington Post article.
Don't Mess With Bush
On July 6, 2003, the Tennessean ran a Washington Post article on Joseph C. Wilson. Mr. Wilson was a retired United States ambassador who went to Niger in early 2002 and debunked claims that Iraq had tried to obtain uranium for use in nuclear weapons. Wilson stated that Vice President Dick Cheney's office was interested in the truth of the allegations that Iraq was obtaining uranium. Wilson said, "It really comes down to the administration misrepresenting the facts on an issue that was a fundamental justification for going to war. It begs the question, what else are they lying about?" He reported his findings (no nuclear weapons or any attempt to obtain any) in 2002.
July 23, 2003, again in the Tennessean: A conservative Washington columnist cited "two senior administration officials" when he named Valerie Plame, Joseph Wilson's wife, as an undercover agent in the department on weapons of mass destruction issues. Her cover is now blown. This announcement will influence all her future assignments, compromise an entire career of networks, relationships, and operations, and put at risk Wilson, Plame and any or all of her contacts. Wilson said of the incident, "...what it really is is an attempt to keep anybody else from coming forward." He also said, "It's a shot across the bow to these people, that if you talk we'll take your family and drag them through the mud, as well." Robert Novak, the columnist that released Plame's name, said that his sources came to him with this information. "I didn't dig it out, it was given to me," he said. Novak also said that it was Plame that suggested sending her husband to Niger, according to the same "two senior administration officials" that gave him her name.
Too Scary for Words
The Tennessean carried a story from the Washington Post on Joseph C. Wilson, the retired US ambassador who debunked claims that Iraq was obtaining supplies for nuclear weapons in 2002. Wilson said, "It really comes down to the administration misrepresenting the facts on an issue that was a fundamental justification for going to war. It begs the question, what else are they lying about?" So no nuclear weapons in Iraq. For us, however... The Tennessean carried a different story July 7th on the Bush adminstration's mission to restart the nuclear arms testing program. Not only will they test the old nuclear weapons to make sure they are still usable, but the article says that they are planning on developing new nuclear weapons. They even intend to use these nuclear weapons in place of conventional weapons. Instead of using "bunker busters" (conventional bombs that dig into the ground before exploding), they could use nuclear bunker busters which contain a much stronger blast (and irradiate a massive area, the explosion would have to be 6 times as large as the one at Hiroshima to be effective). Darul Kimball, executive director the Arms Control Association in Washington, D.C., is warning that this could lead to a new era of nuclear arms competition. Bush Sr. placed a moratorium on US nuclear tests in 1992. Since then, America has used it's self-restraint as a model for other nations.
Even More Related News
Ashcroft wants more power. He wants the Patriot Act extended to give himself more power to read people's mail, infilitrate their lives, be suspicious of everyone, and generally ruin your day (imagine 8 months of being detained where your family has no contact with you and you have no contact with anyone, see "US abused rights post-9/11" for some more detail from another article). The Patriot Act never was a good idea, attacking the 1st and 4th amendments and stripping away human rights and civil liberties. Expect more if he gets his way.
In Related News
Palo Alto, California libraries are fighting back against the Patriot Act. They plan to shred paper records and delete computer data in order to keep government snoops from accessing a person's reading habits. The city is also considering a resolution that would keep their police from assisting federal agents without evidence of wrongdoing (see "US abused rights post-9/11"). I think that every city should support similar methods to keep the Constitution-wrecking Patriot Acts at bay.
US Abused Rights Post 9-11
The BBC reports that an inspection of the US Justice Department found that some people living in the US illegally were abused and held in harsh conditions. Only one of these people was found to be terrorists, but many were detained for more than a month before being interrogated or even charged with a crime. In New York, 84 detainees were locked up for 23 hours a day and were given only one phone call a week and wore hand-cuffs, leg-chains, and heavy chains. They also suffered physical and verbal abuse.
For more information, contact Thurston Smith, President of the Stewart County Democratic Party, at tlee@compu.net , or Grayson Hansard, web site administrator, at ghansard@DSTVI.com