General Hot Topics

[Tenarke]

Whazzup?

The lead in-to this board tells me that Wyndham entered a post 5/13 following my 5/11 above. However, when I go in to take a look I don’t see it; just my own last.

Actor-like I have been caught talking to myself from time to time, but this will not do. Assuming that Wyndham’s was in response to my last I am teased intolerably to know what he said.

[wordswordswords]

I'd like to help out with your question but haven't yet been able to find out what the "lead in" is. I looked around for the post you mentioned but couldn't find it either.

[Wyndham]

No mystery Tenarke. I posted on the wrong thread, and deleted the post!

I haven't been here as much as I'd like recently, but will get back, by and by.

[Tenarke]

Thank you Wyndham; I no longer find myself intolerably teased and have yet again returned to my usual placid, composed self.

Forgive me Wx3, I have not yet mastered cyber speak. By “lead in” I meant the directories leading down to this “General Hot Topics” board. The pathway we take to get in – so to speak.

Meanwhile; if any of you are interested in smoking guns:

www.downingstreetmemo.com/

I think that this is consistent with other separate “leaks” we have been hearing from 2002 on down to date. I notice that this is hitting the print press, but so far I’ve seen nothing on our TV network news.

[RobertGraves]

Torture is in the news. More specifically, the sugestion that torture is acceptable.

www.smh.com.au/news/Opinion/When-democracy-is-corrupted/2005/05/17/1116095962380.html

[Tenarke]

I think that the bottom line is that torture just doesn’t work. It only produces the answers that the victim supposes that his tormenter is waiting to hear; true or not.

Now that I think of it, that is just the sort of Intel that this administration prefers; that which supports its already established preconceptions. Maybe that explains why Bush & Co. does seem to be a teensy bit permissive regarding abuse.

[Tenarke]

In what for many of us has been a pretty glum year, this article does add a bit of cheer.

www.nytimes.com/2005/05/28/opinion/28tierney.html?th&emc=th

In the very long term we may be headed toward a better future. Though we do definitely now seem to be working our way through a particularly nasty patch.

[RobertGraves]

That is good news...anyone claimed credit for it yet?

[Tenarke]

Nope. Probably just evolution. But don't nobody tell the preacher I said so!

[Tenarke]

I’ve just had an interesting three hours.

I was reviewing some of our past posts here on Viewpoint and clicked the link I posted on the 16th of last month, regarding the Downing Street memo:

www.downingstreetmemo.com/

It had been updated with a lot more current information now and suddenly things are happening. I had been worried that this smoking gun, like so many others before it, would be swept under the rug and spun away like all those others.

However earlier this week Move On.org circulated a petition (which I signed) urging Congress to require the President to respond to the memo’s assertion that his administration had made a prior decision to invade Iraq and that the intelligence had been “fixed” to conform to this policy. This is a politic way of saying that the President took us to war based on a pack of lies, which he knew to be lies.

This petition garnered 560,000 signatures, and was presented to Congressman John Conyers, the ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, where impeachments start.

Conyers responded by convening a hearing, which due to Majority resistance had to be held in a small basement room of the Capitol at a very inconvenient time. However this was broadcast on CSPAN2 and I have just now finished watching it.

Nevertheless 18 representatives heard testimony and questioned 4 witnesses. These were ex-Ambassador Joseph Wilson who testified how his report on the Nigerian “yellowcake” hoax had been “fixed”to support the poicy, and how his wife, Valerie Plaime had her CIA covert status blown to punish him for whistle blowing and to discourage other CIA personnel from reporting facts not in agreement with policy.

Testimony was heard from Ray McGovern, a retired CIA veteran of 17 years, confirming his own experience with White House interference with intelligence gathering and analysis. He especially sited interference by Vice President Cheney. He reported that the praise and promotion of political hacks at the expense of CIA intelligence pros burdened with the desire to discover and disclose the truth has destroyed the morale and effectiveness of this agency.

A third witness was a Mrs. Cindy Sheehan who has formed a group who have lost family members in the Iraq war. She expressed how she felt about the loss of her son for the sake of a Presidential lie.

Lastly was a very sharp lawyer, John Bonifaz, who has started an organization, After Downing Street.org.

I tried signing on to this just now, but it is apparently having temporary (I hope) problems.

Bonifaz presented a well prepared argument based on Constitutional law and backed by precedent and interpretation going back to Madison, that if the Downing Street memo is in fact true, then the President has deliberately mislead the Congress and brought the nation into an unnecessary and illegal war. This, he argued, would fall within the definition of high crimes and misdemeanors and would be grounds for impeachment.

He stated that though arguments could be made that the memo might be a false document, that since its publication in the London Times May 1st, no one in the Blair government has denied it and our own administration has made no definitive response at all.

He called upon Representative Conyers to introduce a Resolution of Inquiry in the House so that the matter could be officially investigated by them with subpoena power, and the works.

A Resolution of Inquiry by the House Judiciary Committee is the first step in an impeachment and several of the representatives hearing this testimony pronounced those very words.

This is a very long way from a majority and if the existing Republican majority remains loyal and closes ranks behind their man, hasn’t much hope of success. However the President’s approval rating is slipping, he is continuing to insist on programs that lack much public support and, no doubt by virtue of supporting these, Congress’s approval ratings are even poorer than his.

And most of them would like to be reelected.

Hey; it’s a beginning!

[Tenarke]

Looking at my very long post of yesterday, written in some heat and excitement, I am a little let down today. I had expected some print and media reaction but there is little to none.

I saw nothing on TV newscasts or on the usual Sunday morning news talk shows, “Meet the Press”, “Face the Nation”, etc. There was some print coverage, but mainly back page stuff. I suppose some journalists are publishing CYA articles, just in case it takes off and becomes a real story.

It may be that since the Conyers event took place on a Friday that nothing further and newsworthy will happen until tomorrow.

Or it may be that our press has now become so thoroughly cowed that no one is in the business of investigative reporting anymore.

Oh Lord; say it isn’t so.

John Bonifaz’s group has their blog up and running today:

www.afterdowningstreet.org/

[wordswordswords]

Tenarke, I signed the MoveOn.org petition too. In fact, I've been signing quite a few petitions lately. Bonifaz's efforts are getting quite a bit of attention at THE NATION ONLINE (June 17) in case you weren't aware of it.

A person can feel powerless knowing that the present administration has ever so much money pouring in and available to it. The least I can do is put my name on petitions just in case it will help in the effort to dislodge this bunch of power-hungry warlords... (I'll stop now before I stoop to the level of sordid name-calling).

[Aravis]

Count me in as another long-time member of MoveOn. I like the illusion at least that I am able to do something to put an end to this administration's insanity, even when I'm not. But sometimes these petitions do make a difference, so I'll keep signing them!

[Tenarke]

It may have something to do with the fact that I am staring my 75th birthday in the face – next week. As time goes by I think that impotence bothers me more than death.

Yes I sign petitions, as do you, but as to results I have to content myself with some good words from the basement of the Capitol, said during an extracurricular “forum” on CSPAN 2 and not on prime time. So far nothing to speak of in the front of the paper or on the media.

The sex life of a septuagenarian has been likened to trying to play billiards with a rope. I am beginning to have the same feelings about politics. Where the hell is the leadership?

I have said before that I liked Howard Dean because he sounded as P/O’ed as I am. Our Democratic leadership (so called), however busily distances itself from him rebuking him for his intemperate behavior.

I suppose that taking any effective action would interfere with our hand wringing.

Bah!

[Aravis]

Many years ago, a friend of mine on the ambulance squad responded to a call which came over as "a 91 year old man, unknown medical." My friend and the other crew members expected to be dealing with something like a fall, a heart attack, a stroke.

Instead, they were confronted by a very concerned man. He explained that he had called the ambulance because he had been trying to make love to his wife, and for the first time in his life he was unable to get an erection. Naturally this must mean something was seriously wrong!

My friend felt that if there's something wrong with that old gentleman, then he hopes he catches it too!

Oh, and this was before Viagra.

So there's always hope, whether you're a septuagenarion or merely a politically aware and opinionated person.

And Many Happy Returns of the Day, when that day arrives next week!