And now back to the War on Terror, Already in Progress

Report Calls U.S. Intelligence 'Dead Wrong' on Iraq Weapons

The American intelligence community was "dead wrong" about Iraq's weapons arsenal in large part because of an outdated Cold War mentality and a vast, lumbering bureaucracy that continues to shackle dedicated and capable people, a presidential commission said today.

"The intelligence community must be transformed - a goal that would be difficult to meet even in the best of all possible worlds," the commission said in its report to President Bush. "And we do not live in the best of worlds." [...]

The report, several hundred pages long, contains portions that are classified and were not made public.

Senator Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was pleased by the report. "I don't think there should be any doubt that we have now heard it all regarding prewar intelligence," Mr. Roberts told The Associated Press.

Representative Ike Skelton of Missouri, leading Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told The A.P. that the faults were obviously widespread. "I don't think you can blame any one person, although the buck does stop at the top of every one of these agencies," Mr. Skelton said.

Ok so they were wrong about the reason for going to war and killing thousands upon thousand of people. Ooops! But things in Iraq are improving right? ... Right?!

U.N.: Iraq kids suffer from malnutrition

Almost twice as many Iraqi children are suffering from malnutrition since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, a U.N. monitor said Monday.

Four% of Iraqis under age 5 went hungry in the months after Saddam's ouster in April 2003, and the rate nearly doubled to 7.7% last year, said Jean Ziegler, the U.N. Human Rights Commission's special expert on the right to food.

The situation is "a result of the war led by coalition forces," he said.

Double ooops!

Mission accomplished?

- Jordan

Terri Schiavo: RIP

Terri Schiavo has passed away.

My heart goes out to the family and the husband of Terri Schiavo. My heart also goes out to the families of the other 30,000 Americans who goes through this same tragic situation but do so without the media circus that surrounds Terri Schiavo. Where is congress for them? Where are the Republicans when those other 29,999 people have their feeding tubes removed?

Well Terri has finally found some peace. Make no mistake, Terri is now where she should be. With her God. All the misguided folks on the religious right were so far off base on this issue. These religious folks would claim that Terri's husband is killing her. That God wants her to live.

Let me just say this. If God had a choice, Terri would have dies 15 years ago. This is very simple. Without the intervention of technology and the work of humans, Terri would have passed away 15 years ago. How can the religious right claim God wanted Terri to live, when Without science and technology she would have passed long ago?
The Republicans who were against letting Terri Pass away in peace were so far off base on this one. It pains me to see so many people so misguided. They just need to look at the facts. But the Pundits wont look the facts in the face. They never do.

Check out this great clip from Media Matters of MSNBC's Joe Scarborough getting blasted by those pesky facts:

On the March 28 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, host Joe Scarborough interviewed Dr. Ronald Cranford, one of the two neurologists selected by Michael Schiavo to examine Terri Schiavo pursuant to an October 2001 appellate court mandate. As part of that duty, Cranford "reviewed her medical records and personally conducted a neurological examination of Mrs. Schiavo," according to the June 2003 Florida appeals court review of that hearing.

Lets go now to the Video:

Quicktime
Windows Media

That piece is worth passing around. There we see a Doctor, one who has actually treated Terri, with the facts on the case. Dr. Ronal Cranford tells it just like it is and calls Scarborough out for being what he is. An idiot.

If Republicans wanted Terri to live, why not actually do something constructive and fund Medicare? Why not help the Democrats when they try to build a better Medical system for everyone? Why kick and scream and fight against Democrats who want a better medical system? Why fight us when we ask for funding for medical research? Why not stand by our side as we demand better medical care for ALL Americans? Where is the Right on these issues? It was medicare that was keeping Terri alive. Yet Republicans don't seem to care one bit about the failing medicare system. Why doesn't the Right care about all this? What will they do when the autopsy is complete and supports everything Terri's husband claimed? This issue has hurt the Republicans where they hoped to use it to unify their cause. Well it bit them right in the ass. And its going to bite them again before all is said and done.

Rest in peace Terri.

- Jordan

Indeed

- Jordan

Too Little Too Late

Colin Polwel was used. They put him out there and fed him lies. They used him as the sacraficial lamb.

They gave him evidence of WMD that they knew was false. I do not believe for one second that they ever actually believed Saddam had the WMD they claimed that he had. Why else would the reasons for the war keep changing? Well now Colin seems a bit bitter. And Rightly so.

Not as bitter as these folks though...

Powell Says U.S. Was 'Too Loud' Over Iraq -Magazine
The United States made errors in presenting its case for war against Iraq, but Saddam Hussein had to be removed, former Secretary of State Colin Powell told a German magazine. "We were sometimes too loud, too direct, perhaps we made too much noise," Powell told Stern magazine in an interview released on Wednesday. "That certainly shocked the Europeans sometimes."

He said terms like "Old Europe," the expression coined by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to describe countries such as France and Germany which opposed the war, had not helped ease European concerns about Washington's policies. [...]

Powell said he had argued for a diplomatic solution against cabinet colleagues such as Vice President Dick Cheney, who did not believe that diplomacy would work.

"The situation with Saddam Hussein had to be resolved, either by taming him or by removing him by military means," he said. "I'm sure that the Vice President's view from the very beginning was: we'll never solve this through diplomatic means."

Powell said he was "furious and angry" that he had been misinformed about Iraq's stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction when he laid out the case for war before the United Nations Security Council in February, 2003. [...]

"Hundreds of millions followed it on television. I will always be the one who presented it. I have to live with that."

Powell got a raw deal.

- Jordan

We Get Mail

A friend sent this to me. She is correct. This is very important. Please pass the word to the left.

This is important!

I'm writing to tell you about the anti-choice movement's latest--and most insidious--attack on a woman's right to choose. Here's what's happening:

In as many as 20 states, pharmacies are able to refuse to fill women's prescriptions for contraception, including the morning-after pill. It's truly outrageous.

When a woman and her doctor decide that a prescription for contraception is in the woman's best interest, a third party has no right to override that decision. Pharmacies must ensure that patients get their doctor-prescribed medication without delay or inconvenience. Join me in taking action at NARAL Pro-Choice America to stop them. Click here to tell our nation's biggest pharmacies (Wal-Mart, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, and Eckerd) not to stand between a woman and her physician.

If they can refuse service based on their beliefs couldn't they be fired for not doing their job? I mean if you job is to fill prescriptions and you are refusing to do that, then you are not qualified for the position you hold. If I am your boss your fired. Not on religious grounds, rather on the grounds that you refuse to do your job. Anyway its an interesting issue.

Pharmacists' Rights at Front Of New Debate

Some pharmacists across the country are refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control and morning-after pills, saying that dispensing the medications violates their personal moral or religious beliefs.

The trend has opened a new front in the nation's battle over reproductive rights, sparking an intense debate over the competing rights of pharmacists to refuse to participate in something they consider repugnant and a woman's right to get medications her doctor has prescribed. It has also triggered pitched political battles in statehouses across the nation as politicians seek to pass laws either to protect pharmacists from being penalized -- or force them to carry out their duties. [...]

"There are pharmacists who will only give birth control pills to a woman if she's married. There are pharmacists who mistakenly believe contraception is a form of abortion and refuse to prescribe it to anyone," said Adam Sonfield of the Alan Guttmacher Institute in New York, which tracks reproductive issues. "There are even cases of pharmacists holding prescriptions hostage, where they won't even transfer it to another pharmacy when time is of the essence."

These people are in the wrong line of work.

- Jordan

Pope on feeding tube

So the pope is now on a feeding tube. I wonder if he has a living will.

Pope Being Fed Through Nasal Tube
Pope John Paul is being fed through a nasal tube to boost his strength, the Vatican said Wednesday, casting a dramatic new light on the Pontiff's struggle to recover from throat surgery.

Doctors inserted the tube after the 84-year-old Pope failed in efforts to speak in public for the second time in four days. He has not been heard in public since an emergency operation on Feb. 24 inserted a tube into his windpipe to help him breathe.

This man must be so tired by now. It will be quite sad to see this man wither away before our eyes. He seems to have no intention to step down from his post. The pope suffers from Parkinson's Disease, and has been in the hospital recovering from throat surgery. In a little side note of irony, Parkinson's Disease is one of many ailments that could possible be cured through stem cell research. The catholic Church, of course, does not condone such research.

- Jordan

Living Will

Saw this and thought it was a very spot-on rant on the whole Shiavo Issue.

Living will is the best revenge

Like many of you, I have been compelled by recent events to prepare a more detailed advance directive dealing with end-of-life issues. Here's what mine says:

* In the event I lapse into a persistent vegetative state, I want medical authorities to resort to extraordinary means to prolong my hellish semiexistence. Fifteen years wouldn't be long enough for me.

* I want my wife and my parents to compound their misery by engaging in a bitter and protracted feud that depletes their emotions and their bank accounts.

* I want my wife to ruin the rest of her life by maintaining an interminable vigil at my bedside. I'd be really jealous if she waited less than a decade to start dating again or otherwise rebuilding a semblance of a normal life.

* I want my case to be turned into a circus by losers and crackpots from around the country who hope to bring meaning to their empty lives by investing the same transient emotion in me that they once reserved for Laci Peterson, Chandra Levy and that little girl who got stuck in a well.

* I want those crackpots to spread vicious lies about my wife.

* I want to be placed in a hospice where protesters can gather to bring further grief and disruption to the lives of dozens of dying patients and families whose stories are sadder than my own.

* I want the people who attach themselves to my case because of their deep devotion to the sanctity of life to make death threats against any judges, elected officials or health care professionals who disagree with them.

* I want the medical geniuses and philosopher kings who populate the Florida Legislature to ignore me for more than a decade and then turn my case into a forum for weeks of politically calculated bloviation.

* I want total strangers - oily politicians, maudlin news anchors, ersatz friars and all other hangers-on - to start calling me "Bobby," as if they had known me since childhood.

* I'm not insisting on this as part of my directive, but it would be nice if Congress passed a "Bobby's Law" that applied only to me and ignored the medical needs of tens of millions of other Americans without adequate health coverage.

* Even if the "Bobby's Law" idea doesn't work out, I want Congress - especially all those self-described conservatives who claim to believe in "less government and more freedom" - to trample on the decisions of doctors, judges and other experts who actually know something about my case. And I want members of Congress to launch into an extended debate that gives them another excuse to avoid pesky issues such as national security and the economy.

The rest is found here

- Jordan

Arnold Is Breaking the Law

This report is brought to you With help from Zack kaldveer. Zack is a member of the 'Anti Arnold Media Task Force, and can be reached at kaldveer- at - yahoo.com

Last week  I mentioned the story of Erica, who encountered  an angry mob of people who she encountered as she was standing outside of a Target wearing a sign that read, "I'm a teacher against Arnold's special election. Ask me why."

However this is just the beginning of the unwrapping of this story. There is much more below the surface. What if those signature gatherers hired by Arnold were hired illegally? What if Target stores had, as part of their store policy, a policy of not allowing ANY signature gatherers outside of their store? What if we found out that Target, was a major contributer to the Arnold Campaign, and that Target had made an exception to their own anti-petition gathering policy to allow only Arnold's people to petition outside their doors. Time to do a little digging......

  Got your shovel?

First, check out the actual California laws on signature gatherers. Its ILLEGAL TO HIRE OUT OF STATE PETITIONERS! Even more astounding is the fact that Target, the store  where the incident occurred just gave a huge donation to Arnold's campaign, is a big back of his,  and in their OWN RULEBOOK it says signature gatherers ARE NOT allowed.

Here is the Law in question:

Declaration of Circulator

Each section shall have attached thereto a declaration signed and dated  by the circulator of the petition setting forth, in the circulator's own hand, the following (§§ 104, 9022):
    *      The printed name of the circulator.
    *      The residence address of the circulator, giving street and number, or if no street or number exists, adequate designation of residence so that the location may be readily ascertained.
    *      A statement that the circulator is a voter or is qualified to  register to vote in the State of California.
    *     The dates between which all the signatures affixed to the petition were obtained.

  Each declaration submitted pursuant to this section shall also set forth the following (§§ 104, 9022):
    *      That the circulator circulated the petition section and witnessed the appended signatures being written.
    *      That according to the best information and belief of the circulator, each signature is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be.
    *      That the declaration is true and correct under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California.

Petition Circulators

The proponent(s) of an initiative measure are required to ensure that any person, company, or other organization who solicits signatures to qualify the proposed initiative measure, whether they are paid or  volunteer, receives instruction on the requirements and prohibitions  imposed by state law with respect to the circulation of petitions and the gathering of signatures. Such instructions must emphasize the  prohibition of the use of signatures on an initiative petition for a  purpose other than qualification of the proposed measure for the  ballot. (§ 9607) The petition may be circulated by a number of  individuals carrying separate, identical parts of the petition called  sections. Each petition circulator who obtains signatures must complete  the attached declaration to the petition. Preprinted dates or generalized dates, other than the particular range of dates during  which the petition section was actually circulated, are not allowed  (Assembly v. Deukmejian (1982) 30 Cal.3d 638, 180 Cal.Rptr. 297). The  declaration must be signed under penalty of perjury. It need not be  sworn before a notary public or other officer authorized to administer  oaths, but must include the circulator's signature, date, and place of  signing (Code Civ. Proc. § 2015.5). Prior to allowing a person to circulate an initiative petition for signatures, the person, company  official, or other organizational officer who is in charge of signature  gathering shall execute and submit to the proponent(s) a signed statement that reads as follows (§ 9609):

  I,___________

, acknowledge that it is a misdemeanor under state law (Section 18650 of the Elections Code) to knowingly or willfully allow  the signatures on an initiative petition to be used for any purpose  other than qualification of the proposed measure for the ballot. I  certify that I will not knowingly or willfully allow the signatures for this initiative to be used for any purpose other than qualification of the measure for the ballot.

  _____________

  (Signature of Circulator)

  Dated this ____ day of ____, 20__

Let us dig deeper still.

Target Donates $100,000 to Support Schwarzenegger's Initiatives

As Lisa Vorderbrueggen reports in the Contra Costa Times, signature gatherers for Citizens to Save California got in a dust-up with an opposing group as they canvassed for signatures at Target.

Target? Didn't they bar the Salvation Army from collecting money for charity in the parking lots and grounds outside Target stores? Yep.

Target Bans Salvation Army Ringers
Donation collectors for the Salvation Army have been a familiar sight and sound for years outside retail outlets during the holiday season. The bell ringers, though, will be absent from some major North Texas stores this year.

Target stores have informed Salvation Army officials they no longer can set up the donation sites outside Target stores. Officials with the retail giant said they had to cancel the Salvation Army's exempt status to the retailer's no-solicitation policy.

"Target Corporation restricts the use of its parking lots and facilities to only business use. Target does not permit individuals (including political candidates and/or their campaign organizations) or nonprofit organizations to solicit donations, distribute literature, sell merchandise or hold events on our premises."

Huh. That's weird. Why would Target go against its own company policy to allow Citizens to Save California to collect signatures in support of the Governor's agenda?

 Maybe for the same reason that Target Corporation gave $100,000 to Citizens to Save California two weeks ago .

Maybe Target didn't know CSC was going to be out there collecting signatures. I doubt CSC's signature-gatherers are ringing bells after all.

Regardless, it sure strikes me as strange that a store would kick a charitable organization off its grounds but not a big-business backed ballot committee with close ties to the Governor.

If you still have room for some more information here are 2 great articles from the past that provide information on Arnold's shady dealings, conflicts of interest, and the truth behind Arnold's "man of the corporations" Governing style.

Pathological Peas in a Pod
ike most everyone in and around Hollywood, I spent part of this past weekend devouring DisneyWar, James Stewart's 572-page vivisection of Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Throughout the chilling read, I couldn't shake the feeling that Eisner reminded me of someone.

The answer came when I got to the epilogue. "Eisner's most glaring defect," writes Stewart, is "his dishonesty." Stewart goes on to describe Eisner's "tendency to distort, embellish or forget the truth" until he becomes incapable of distinguishing reality from his own fabrications.

That's when it hit me: Eisner is the Disneyland doppelganger of Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's all right there: the unremitting duplicity; the penchant for saying one thing, then doing another; the gift for irrational invective; the way both men forge personal bonds with others, then turn around and stab them in the back – often just hours later.
more

The truth about Arnold (Watch the ad for entry)
The movie star poses as a corruption-fighting moderate. But since taking office, he's pursued a blatantly right-wing agenda while raking in big bucks from special interests -- and ignoring his own financial conflicts.

Titillated by the star power of his populist coup in California, the national media has swooned in Arnold Schwarzenegger's muscular embrace for over a year. The New Yorker profiled him as "Supermoderate!" Wired found him to be "surprisingly effective." The editors of the New York Times proclaimed, "The last action hero can seemingly do no wrong." On the cover of its January 2005 issue, Vanity Fair featured the leather-jacketed Schwarzenegger posing atop a Harley with his silken spouse, Maria Shriver. The story, like so many others, portrayed the glam couple as the future of American politics: bipartisan, moderate, effective ... presidential.
More

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 For more information: http://www.therestofus.org

ARNOLD, PLEASE PLAY BY THE RULES!
On February 7, 2005, TheRestofUs.org filed a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission that asked them to investigate Arnold Schwarzenegger's illegal fundraising for his so-called Citizens to Save California ballot committee. Please add your name to the following petition  that asks Arnold to abide by the laws of California.

http://www.ContestTheVote.org/ is also quite anxious to get publicity for our petition drive: the same petition Erica was getting signed when she was assaulted by Arnold's thugs.
http://www.ContestTheVote.org/

Report Arnold Hotline
If you know of a signature gathering effort by Schwarzeneggers' backers, please report it at the following number or email address.  Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley will do our best to try to get local folks out there to counter these despicable efforts to destroy the Californian community.
http://www.dfasv.org/node/view/1365
Report Arnold's Signature Gatherers
Call: 1-206-666lead
reportarnold@dfasv.org

- Jordan & Zack

Bread and Circuses

Burger King to offer 'enormous' sandwich

That is what I saw when I went to CNN this morning to see what was going on in the 'real world'. Our media system is seriously fu*@ed up when a sandwich gets more press time than any story about how our own government lied and deceived us to start a war for profit.

I sometimes wonder how it is that such huge stories seem to break at just the right times. Both the steroids story and the Michael Jackson story came at such a time as to be very convenient for directing attention away from the failures of the Bush administration. I remember during Bush's State of the Union Address, when he started speaking about steroids. I was thinking "what the heck is he going on about. Steroids? How is that relevant?" This was of course before the steroids thing became an issue. So did Bush know this issue was about to go mainstream? Or did the story go mainstream because Bush needed a distraction? The whole Iowa vote fraud was just trying to get some legs right at that time. The 'salvador option' was just getting press. There was all kinds of bad press about the Gonzales confirmation. Etc, etc.

Then you have the issue of  documents that should be secret (in the steroids case or Gannon/Guckert having classified information regarding Valerie Plame) being leaked to blow the story open at just the right time. IIs the government releasing classified information to certain people top nudge a story to break at an appropriate moment?

Michael Rains, Bonds’s lawyer, implied that the Government had leaked the documents to smear Bonds. “My view has always been this case has been the US versus Bonds and I think the Government has moved in certain ways in a concerted effort to indict my client,” he said.

I hear ya Michael. I hear ya.

When some seemingly obscure news story is highlighted for months at a time (as in the Scot Peterson) you just have to wonder who is pulling the strings. How hard is it to pull those strings when all media is owned by 5 corporations? To put that in perspective, in 1983, about 50 corporations owned most of the media. Now it is just 5. I wonder of those 5 corporations even give huge donations to any political party? Gee I wonder....

NBC is owned by General Electric, one of the largest corporations in the entire world. GE, a major contributor to the Republican Party, has substantial financial interests in weapons manufacturing, finance, nuclear power and many other industries. ABC is owned by the Disney Corp., which produces toys and products in developing countries where they provide their workers atrocious wages and working conditions. CBS is owned by Viacom, yet another enormous media conglomerate that also owns, MTV, Showtime, Nickelodeon, VH1, TNN, CMT, 39 broadcast television stations, 184 radio stations, Paramount Pictures and Blockbuster Inc. Etc. Rinse and repeat.

Well the best way to control people is to control what they believe. Control the messenger and you control the message. This is the very reason Blogging is such a threat to them. All of a sudden people are getting their information from sources they do not control.

Its all just distraction. Bread and Circuses.

The American Heritage dictionary defines bread and circuses as “Offerings, such as benefits or entertainments, intended to placate discontent or distract attention from a policy or situation.” The term was used by the ancient Romans to describe how their rulers kept the population in the dark at politically opportune moments. [...]

The corporate media make sure that Michael Jackson’s pajama clad appearance in court was known to anyone not living under a rock. On the other hand, very few Americans know that their government is now responsible for kidnapping terror suspects and sending them to countries that routinely engage in torture. In one instance a German national was kidnapped in Europe and sent to Afghanistan where he was tortured not by vicious foreigners but by Americans. The tactics used by Chile under Pinochet or Argentina during its dirty war are now routinely used by the U.S. government. [...]

When celebrity crime or juiced up athletes don’t provide enough distraction, the corrupt government and their media side kicks return to the old standbys of fear and paranoia. [..]

What a coincidence. As the anniversary of the Iraq occupation brings annual protests and renewed questions from a skeptical public we are given new reasons to fear, keep our mouths shut, and put our faith in Dubya and his team.

More

Distractions.

Mars bitches!

- Jordan

Kos sighting

Just got back from lunch at my local cafe. Same cafe I eat at almost every day. Which is why I was so surprised to see none other than Markos Moulitas. Thats the man behind the Daily Kos for those who don't know the name. I felt bad interrupting the interview but I had to say hi. I just shook his hand and said I was a big fan and thanked him for all the work he has done. It was short and sweet.

I think the woman interviewing him was a bit surprised that I had recognized him. He doesn't seem to put his face out there too much.

He came by after the interview and asked if I was a registered user. Yes I am. he knew my handle, which was cool. (He had front posted my social security artwork a few weeks back). He was very nice and obviously was making a point of coming back to say hi to his fan after his work at the cafe was done. Anyway I thought I would share that with ya.

Wish I had had my camera with me.

- Jordan

Stop Arnold Petition

The Gropenator is naked. The emporor weares no clothes.

Zack, the man on the inside sends me this. Pass it on:

We are quite anxious to get publicity for our petition drive: the same petition Erica was getting signed when she was assaulted by Arnold's thugs.

It's accessible at www.ContestTheVote.org for on-line signing.

This STOP THE SPECIAL ELECTION petition gives folks a chance to tell the Gov, "Hey, we see the emperor has no clothes!" Californians don't want this special election; polls show they don't want to spend up to $70 million dollars on an election that could be held in seven months--in June 2006. And, once we inform them, they also prefer an election in 2006 because of security:

there will be a mandated voter verified paper audit trail in the electronic machines next year.

The average, everyday folks we talk to at the Target in Concord (and at the other stores in Contra Costa County that Arnold's petition companies have "targeted"), don't like the thought of public employees being under attack. These moms and dads tend to like the teachers at their neighborhood schools, and see firefighters and police officers as folks who protect them.

Especially hard to take is a bullying, wealthy Gov trying to take away death and disability benefits from firefighters and police.

Indeed. Sign this thing and pass the word on to the left. Here are some more links on the subject:

http://www.arnoldwatch.org (click on "Get Involved")
http://www.speakoutca.org (click on "Join Now")
http://www.calnurses.org (click on "Patient Advocacy Action Center" under "Get Involved")
http://www.cta.org/ PoliticsandLegislation/PAL.htm

Heres some recent numbers for the Gropenator:

Field Poll (PDF). 2/8-17. MoE 3.5% (September 2004)

Schwartzenegger's Job Approval ratings

Approve 54 (65)
Disapprove 35 (22)

Among Democrats

Approve 34 (46)
Disapprove 54 (34)

Among Republicans

Approve 84 (88)
Disapprove 11 (6)

After you have signed the petition think about joining some fellow Californians here:

On April 5 at 6 p.m., nurses, students, teachers, parents, firefighters and people who care about public health, education and justice will rally at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco (600 Stockton at California) outside one of Schwarzenegger's fund raisers for fat cats. YOU ARE INVITED!

- Jordan

Behind enemy lines

Got this in an e-mail today. It is an e-mauil from Dr. Lucido who I had mentioned the other day.

Just found out this past Friday, that I am scheduled to be on Bill O'Reilly's , O'Reilly Factor on Monday 3/28/05.

Per google search of "bill o'reilly" AND "medical marijuana" and got this quote of his:

'"...i believe Montel Williams when he says , "Look, medical marijuana helps me, helps me cope with this disease, cope with my suffering. There's no reason why I should be denied it." And I agree that if this is the case, if a doctor -- a doctor -- says he needs it for his MS, he should have it." 7/7/04

So at least we have some common ground. The assistant producer, Owen Rounds, today, and they/he were impressed with my article on my practice standards for medical cannabis consultations on by MedicalBoardWatch.com website.

Owen indicated that part of what will be asked is "what a patient looks for in a medical cannabis doctor or recommendation" That is one of my fortes, but I do know he is against legalization, but in favor of decriminalization in some way. Any advice or warnings are welcome. Sounds bites to remember safe and effective medicine (again my forte or Ambush questions to anticipate "isn't this really about legalization?" "what about kids getting this stuff?"Thanks! peace and health,

Frank

Good luck with that Frank. You are a braver man than I. Just don't expect the man to play fair and you should do OK. You should also know the man has no problem with flat out lies. Heres a fun O' Reilly blast from the past:

"I said on my program, if, if the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again."

- Bill O'Reilly, on ABC's Good Morning America, 03-18-03

- Jordan

BREAKING STORY - More intimidation from the Right

Special thanks to Zack kaldveer (who you all know from his great 'Link Roundups') for this story.

UPDATE: Zack has just informed me that Phil Angelides ( California State Treasurer) & Assemblyman Mark Leno are holding a dual Press Conference on this story TODAY. More information when it becomes available.

More intimidation and scare tactic from the Right. This time it is Arnold cronies who are doing their best to make sure the opposition is stiffled. Below is the personal account of a woman engaging in her first ammendment rights when she was confronted in a rather frightening manner by those who wish her message would never be heard.

Zack kaldveer, who regular readers know from his fantastic Link Roundups, has brought to my attention this breaking story. This story is already being covered in the Contra Costa Times and on KPFA Radio. There will be a press release in the near future so stay tuned.

Here is a message straight from Zack on this breaking story:

"The question to ask is why is the "peoples' governor" hiring out of state signature gatherers, some of which are allegedly felons, to intimidate and threaten young teachers out of standing up to his attempt to reduce their job security (as if teachers don't have it bad enough in our society...why not go after Ken Lay Arnold...oh yeah....you guys are allies)? Strange that this "man of the people" picks teachers and nurses as his enemies (and calls them "special interests") as he raises record sums of money from giant corporations that depend on his anti-consumer, pro-corporate agenda (see chart of where his $$ come from here).

Could this former steroid using body builder, turned shitty actor and serial woman groper, turned two-faced poltical con-artist, not be the "People's Governor" he claims to be? I'm inclined to say "yes". This man needs to be exposed for what he is, and this is one more story that does this, now it depends on us to get the truth to the people".

- Zack

Below is the letter sent by Erica to Assemblyman Mark Leno, regarding her frightening experiences trying to have her voice heard. This story needs to get out fast as this is a shocking foul bit of play by Arnold supporters.

My name is Erica and I am a graduate student at San Francisco State. I am student teaching in Berkeley, specializing in Deaf/hard-of-hearing Education. In brief, I decided to go out alone and stand near a man who was collecting initiative signatures in front of the store. I was wearing a laminated, hand-made sign that read, "I am a teacher against Arnold's special election......ask me why".

I was shocked to encounter his immediate intimidation and threatening language. Within the first five minutes he said the following, "I'm going to call and get thirty guys down here. You won't be here long. There isn't a problem too big I can't handle. You won't last long". And from there it became completely out of control. Fifteen people arrived and attempted to surround me, hurling abrasive insults with aggressive voices. I was afraid for my safety. My husband and four other people drove down to protect me. I called the police.

The tactics were unbelievable. I stayed there four five hours in the rain under those conditions. I left with purple lips, shivering and all of us were followed to our cars. They wrote down license plate numbers. It was awful.
What is worse, they are all from Michigan!! They are paid by the signature and they have no vested interest in the welfare of California. It is ironic that Arnold claims to protect Californian's jobs, yet people are being flown in from other states to support his initiatives.

The story is much richer than I can explain in brief. I was interviewed my KPFA and the Contra Costa Times today. KPFA will air the story at 6:00pm tonight.

Please do not hesitate to discus this story with anyone. However, my husband and I would prefer to release my first name only at this time. We have reason to believe these people have criminal records. In fact one women admitted to being a felon. Feel free to contact me for more detailed information.

Thank you for you time!

This kind of intimidation is unacceptable in my opinion. The fact that the intimidation thugs used for this nonsense are not even from California is a clear indication of the kind of morals and mind set that is being used by the opposition in this matter.

The Contra Costa Times has more on the story (Registration required):

Petitioners claim foes play dirty

Dueling signature-gatherers squaring off on the sidewalks of California's shopping centers create a potentially explosive mix that has already ignited in Pleasant Hill.

Members of California for Democracy, the state arm of Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean's grass-roots political network, accuse petition workers for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reforms of using intimidation tactics as both sides appealed to Target shoppers Tuesday night.

Two Democratic activists said their opponents made inappropriate comments and followed them to their cars, where they took pictures of or wrote down their license plate numbers.

The battle is over the governor's reform package, which would replace public pensions with private accounts, enact budget reforms, pay teachers based on performance and change how the state draws its political boundaries. [...]

A spokesman for Citizens to Save California, which hired the petition workers, said late Wednesday that he had no details of the Target incident and would investigate the allegations.

"What I do know is that union bosses have told their rank-and-file members to harass our signature-gatherers and disrupt the process," Reed Dickens said. [...]

The dust-up began when Erika arrived Tuesday afternoon at Target, wearing a sign that read, "I'm a teacher against Arnold's special election. Ask me why." [...]

A man already stationed at the store, where he was gathering signatures for the governor's petitions, accused her of interfering with his job and "told me 'I'm going to call and get 30 of my guys here. You won't last,' " Erika said.

"Slowly, people started to gather," Erika said. "They surrounded me. Some tried to pretend they were regular citizens and tried to goad me into a confrontation. They were doing everything they could to intimidate me to leave."

Erika called the police and her political activist colleagues, telling them that she feared for her safety. [...]

During the next few hours, Erika and Klein said, the signature-gatherers for the governor repeatedly positioned themselves close to their opponents, then yelled out in a theatrical manner, "Stop shoving me!"

One man pounded his fist on one petition and said, "This job, petitioning, can be very dangerous," Klein recounted.

More
(name in above article changed to "Erika", as I was told she did not want her last name involved).

Arnold, who ran on the promise of improving California is now seeing his worst nightmare come true. His promises to work for the people can only bee seen as a smoke screen with this kind of intimidation tactics being used against the very people he would claim to be protecting.

- Jordan

Daily Show

Great bit on the Chiavo situation on the Daily Show the other night. This whole situation is out of hand. tens of thousands of feeding tubes are pulled every year. Chiavo is being used by the Right for nothing more than political advantage and it makes me sick. Furthermore the people in congress who are making a medical diagnoses based on a video tape is utterly disgraceful, not to mention illegal. As usual the hypocrisy is in full swing. Bush has written laws that allow for hospitals to pull the plug on comatose patients who are unable to pay for care so the whole "Right to Life" argument is transparent. If they really cared they would be passing laws for better health care, for better prenatal care for infants, for things that actually help people live a better life. Instead they argue in congress about a matter that should be settled privately by those close to her.

Check out John Stewart at his best.

- Jordan

- Zack

A Free Speech Zone Challenge

So I was reading a Diary over at Kos about a young Democrat who wanted to hear first hand what Bush had to say about Social Security, but was kicked out of the event. Imagine my surprise. He was caught blue handed committing the ultimate crime. He wore a shirt proclaiming he was a Democrat. Funny thing is, at the event, Senator McCain was quoted as saying something like:

"The door is open for the Democrats to talk to us about Social Security ... but they won't!".

Classic. No Senator, we have plenty to say, but Republicans just won't let us in the door.

So this got me thinking. This is a fantastic chance to get this kind of thing more attention. I am just sick and tired of the Bush team talking about how bipartisan they will be, and then throwing everyone out the door who wears anything resembling a Democratic T-shirt. It is as if the peace sign is like cryptonite to them. And that is how my idea was born.

Here is my challenge. Bush uses the word "peace" in his speeches liberally. Now he may not favor it as much as he does words like "freedom" and "liberty" but "peace" is always there. (Only Bush can make a sentence with the word "peace" in it seem menacing). So Bush will use "peace" as a term when it suits him politically to do so. He is always going on about peace and spreading peace throughout the world. Ok then. Bush endorses peace. Perfect. So I have designed a Tshirt (Side note: I am making no money off of the sales of this particular shirt) with the classic Free Speech Zone patriotic Peace sign, and a Bush quote below it:

" The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world ".
- President Bush 1/20/05

My challenge is this. Wear this shirt to any Bush event where they seem to be screening folks to keep anyone anyone to the left of Strom Thurmond from having a say. (In other words wear it to any Bush event). They of course will not let you in. Because you have a Peace sign on your shirt you must be a criminal or something. When you go to do this it would be best to have at the very least a camera with you. At best someone from the press. Because it is going to be a great moment when you shout out to the stern man dragging you away from the event that the shirt you are wearing is a PRO BUSH shirt! Point out the quote and make sure they see that it is their fearless leader who has inspired the peaceful shirt you now wear. Make sure the cameras zoom in for the close up as the security team is now forced to confront their own hypocrisy. Do they throw you out for wearing the vile and hated symbol of the left? Or do they kiss your ass and treat you as "one of them" since the peace sign on the shirt is referring to King Bush's own desire to spread peace in this world. If they throw you out be sure to let everyone watching the drama unfold how disillusioned you are to discover that Bush does not mean the things he said in his inspired speech.

If cameras catch this it just might expose this hypocrisy to the world. It has the effect of bringing to the forefront the idiocy of the pre-screened Bush events as well as showing Bush's use of the word peace for what it really is. A political tool. If the security guard throws you out you can tell the press, rightly so, that Bush does not believe in peace. If they let you in, then even better. You now have created a precedent for Bush actually believing the words he says when he speaks of peace.

Either way we win.

If you manage to do this let me know. I want to tell your story.

Please check the store for more shirts

- Jordan

Raich v. Ashcroft & Schiavo V. Bush

The Republicans might be shocked to find out that some of their values are out of the main stream. Since the Republicans are always saying that Democrats are so out of touch this little bit of irony is a delicious tid bit bit that I would like to point out to you. I am of course taling about the Schiavo case and the questionable role Congress has decided to play. It seems like the people disagree with some of what the GOP and Congress is doing in regards to the Schiavo case. Heres the numbers from a recent ABC poll. (PDF)

- 70% of Americans say it is inappropriate for Congress to involve itself in the Schiavo case.