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So what's the big deal?
Turns out that
there should have been a flurry of paperwork generated by *w's failure to take his annual flight physical in 1972:
President Bush's August 1972 suspension from flight status in the Texas Air National Guard -- triggered by his failure to take a required annual flight physical -- should have prompted an investigation by his commander, a written acknowledgement by Bush, and perhaps a written report to senior Air Force officials, according to Air Force regulations in effect at the time.
Funny, the paperwork doesn't seem to be in his record. Then again, nothing about *w's Honorable National Guard Service seems to have gone exactly the way it was supposed to, n'est ce pas?
From the Orwellian doublethink department:
ON Meet The Press the other morning I'm sure I heard *w say
something like "We have given extraordinary cooperation with Chairmen Kean and Hamilton. As you know, we made an agreement on what's called "Presidential Daily Briefs," so they could see the information the CIA provided me..."
But today we find that those "Presidential Daily Briefs" are
still causing problems:
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 — Members of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks warned the White House on Monday that it could face a politically damaging subpoena this week if it refused to turn over information from the highly classified Oval Office intelligence reports given to President Bush before 9/11.
This Administration has gotten away with saying black is white, up is down, war is peace, for
years, They are still doing it even though people are starting to pay attention. The ability to lie with a straight face has taken *w and his crew a long way. I wonder how much longer the American public is going to keep swallowing such brazen hooey?
The Center for American Progress does it again
Here's a link to a comprehensive analysis of Sunday morning's Meet the Press interview with w.
Well, what do you know...
Turns out that Ricin attack in Bill Frist's office was
much ado about nearly nothing:
"...the powder found in Frist's mail room was mostly paper dust, with traces of ricin so minute, they can't even be evaluated for particle size or purity. No envelope or note has been found, and no other piece of mail from the Senate has even a trace of ricin on it. Neither do any door sills, doorknobs, railings or surfaces anywhere in the building. Same goes for air filters, which should catch floating particles..."
Funny how that kind of stuff happens when w's poll numbers are down.
Not such a good day for the First Amendment, folks.
Our
first example of speech repression comes from w's hometown, Crawford Texas:
"... arrested after Crawford Police Chief Donnie Tidmore warned everyone to leave.
The trial, held at the Crawford Community Center, is set to continue at 9 a.m. Feb. 16 because lawyers only had time to bring three out of about 11 witnesses to the stand on Saturday.
One of those witnesses, Tidmore, said during cross-examination that a person wearing political buttons without a permit could violate a city ordinance that requires prior notice before a protest or parade.
The chief was asked whether one of the defendants would have violated the ordinance by sporting political buttons, such as those that read "No Nukes" and "Peace," without the permit.
"It could be a sign of demonstration," Tidmore said...",
Wow, Donnie. Guess you slept through Civics class, eh?
Next comes
a blast from the past that probably brings back memories for all of the Vietnam era war protesters out there:
"...In what may be the first subpoena of its kind in decades, a federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a gathering of anti-war activists."
Here's a letter from one of the affected individuals (
from the Daily Kos):
Yesterday, February 3, Detective Jeff Warford of the Polk County Sheriff's Office-FBI-Joint Terrorism Task Force came to Catholic Peace Ministry's office here in Des Moines with a subpoena for me to testify before a Federal Grand Jury next Tuesday, February 10. Mr. Warford also served papers on Elton Davis at the Catholic Worker House and Patti McKee, who was coordinator of Iowa Peace Network until last month. The Grand Jury process is shrouded in secrecy. We do not know who or what the object of this investigation may be, beyond "possible violations of federal criminal law in the Southern District of Iowa."
The proceeding will be behind closed doors. We may not have an attorney present. We have the right to plead the Fifth Amendment, refusing the answer questions that might incriminate us. The government, then, can offer us immunity from prosecution, in which case we will obliged to answer under threat of contempt of court and could be imprisoned for the length of the Grand Jury session, 18 months, should we continue to refuse to answer. This immunity would be limited to our own testimony and anything any of us say could be used against the others.
Whatever is going on, this is definitely an escalation on the part of the government's war on dissent and clamp down on civil liberties. The fact that anything that we three and the peacemaking communities we represent could possibly attract the notice of a "Terrorism Task Force" is reprehensible. Please spread the word, express concerns you have with Federal and Polk County authorities. Keep us in mind and prayer.
Brian Terrell
Executive Director
Catholic Peace Ministry
Gee, there's nothing like reviving those grand old traditions. Reminds me of Nixon, J Edgar Hoover, Mitchell...all brought to you courtesy of the Patriot Act.
