Global
28 April 2007
Mr. George Tenet
c/o Harper Collins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street 8th Floor
New York City, New York 10022
ATTN: Ms. Tina Andredis
Dear Mr. Tenet:
We write to you on the occasion of the release of your book, At the Center of the Storm. You are on the record complaining about the “damage to your reputation”. In our view the damage to your reputation is inconsequential compared to the harm your actions have caused for the U.S. soldiers engaged in combat in Iraq and the national security of the United States. We believe you have a moral obligation to return the Medal of Freedom you received from President George Bush. We also call for you to dedicate a significant percentage of the royalties from your book to the U.S. soldiers and their families who have been killed and wounded in Iraq.
Mr. George Tenet
c/o Harper Collins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street 8th Floor
New York City, New York 10022
ATTN: Ms. Tina Andredis
Dear Mr. Tenet:
We write to you on the occasion of the release of your book, At the Center of the Storm. You are on the record complaining about the “damage to your reputation”. In our view the damage to your reputation is inconsequential compared to the harm your actions have caused for the U.S. soldiers engaged in combat in Iraq and the national security of the United States. We believe you have a moral obligation to return the Medal of Freedom you received from President George Bush. We also call for you to dedicate a significant percentage of the royalties from your book to the U.S. soldiers and their families who have been killed and wounded in Iraq.
Friends,
It's a wrap! My new film, "Sicko," is all done and will have its world premiere this Saturday night at the Cannes Film Festival. As with "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11," we are honored to have been chosen by this prestigious festival to screen our work there.
My intention was to keep "Sicko" under wraps and show it to virtually no one before its premiere in Cannes. That is what I have done and, as you may have noticed if you are a recipient of my infrequent Internet letters, I have been very silent about what I've been up to. In part, that's because I was working very hard to complete the film. But my silence was also because I knew that the health care industry -- an industry which makes up more than 15 percent of our GDP -- was not going to like much of what they were going to see in this movie and I thought it best not to upset them any sooner than need be.
It's a wrap! My new film, "Sicko," is all done and will have its world premiere this Saturday night at the Cannes Film Festival. As with "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11," we are honored to have been chosen by this prestigious festival to screen our work there.
My intention was to keep "Sicko" under wraps and show it to virtually no one before its premiere in Cannes. That is what I have done and, as you may have noticed if you are a recipient of my infrequent Internet letters, I have been very silent about what I've been up to. In part, that's because I was working very hard to complete the film. But my silence was also because I knew that the health care industry -- an industry which makes up more than 15 percent of our GDP -- was not going to like much of what they were going to see in this movie and I thought it best not to upset them any sooner than need be.
The John Edwards haircut won’t go away. The Republicans resurrected it most recently in their second debate, when former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckaby said, in a quote that the national wire service story called “the most memorable sound bite of the night,” “we’ve had a Congress that’s spent money like John Edwards at a beauty shop.” Republicans have been focusing on symbolic character attacks since Nixon branded George McGovern, who’d flown 35 B-24 bomber missions in World War II, “the candidate of acid, amnesty and abortion.” They’ve been branding their opponents as limousine liberals of questionable masculinity since Nixon’s Vice President, Spiro Agnew, called anti-war critics “an effete corps of impudent snobs.” If the attacks aren’t adequately answered, too often they work.
Al Gore has just made his second major contribution to our national political dialog.
His first, "An Inconvenient Truth," has helped make the perils of global warming real to the American mainstream.
Now his "Assault on Reason" is excerpted in Time Magazine. With it he paints a compelling portrait of a democracy being obliterated by money and television.
The content is very much on point. But the former Vice-President must finally face the huge personal responsibility he bears for much of the problem.
First, he was an important party to the complex but catastrophic Telecommunications Act of 1996. This Clinton-era corporate goodie bag enabled a huge spike in the monopolization of the electronic media Gore now decries.
To fight the problem, Gore should now become an active agent in reversing that horrific pro-monopoly give-away. He could fight to re-establish meaningful pluralistic media ownership and public access, and for reviving both the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time Provision, which once guaranteed balance in media content.
His first, "An Inconvenient Truth," has helped make the perils of global warming real to the American mainstream.
Now his "Assault on Reason" is excerpted in Time Magazine. With it he paints a compelling portrait of a democracy being obliterated by money and television.
The content is very much on point. But the former Vice-President must finally face the huge personal responsibility he bears for much of the problem.
First, he was an important party to the complex but catastrophic Telecommunications Act of 1996. This Clinton-era corporate goodie bag enabled a huge spike in the monopolization of the electronic media Gore now decries.
To fight the problem, Gore should now become an active agent in reversing that horrific pro-monopoly give-away. He could fight to re-establish meaningful pluralistic media ownership and public access, and for reviving both the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time Provision, which once guaranteed balance in media content.
Biography of Kathleen Parker excerpted from The Washington Post Writers Group page:
Now one of America's most popular opinion columnists, appearing in more than 350 newspapers, Parker is at home both inside and outside the Washington Beltway. But she came to column-writing the old-fashioned way, working her way up journalism’s ladder from smaller papers to larger ones. "I never set out to become a commentator – and do continue to resist the label 'pundit' – but I found that keeping my opinion out of my writing was impossible," says Parker. "One can only stand watching from the sidelines for so long without finally having to say, 'Um, excuse me, but you people are nuts.'"
Now one of America's most popular opinion columnists, appearing in more than 350 newspapers, Parker is at home both inside and outside the Washington Beltway. But she came to column-writing the old-fashioned way, working her way up journalism’s ladder from smaller papers to larger ones. "I never set out to become a commentator – and do continue to resist the label 'pundit' – but I found that keeping my opinion out of my writing was impossible," says Parker. "One can only stand watching from the sidelines for so long without finally having to say, 'Um, excuse me, but you people are nuts.'"
Detroit City Council approved 7-0 Wednesday a resolution sponsored by the wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers to impeach President George Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney.
Congressman Conyers is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, where any impeachment effort would commence, and a bitter opponent of the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. But he has said he does not intend to move forward with any impeachment effort -- following the lead of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Councilwoman Monica Conyers was unable to vote for her own resolution because she is in Hawaii for a national pension conference. Neither the congressman nor his wife, a first term councilwoman, could be reached Wednesday evening for comment.
The resolution says Bush and Cheney conspired to defraud the United States by "intentionally misleading Congress and the public regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify the war."
Congressman Conyers is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, where any impeachment effort would commence, and a bitter opponent of the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. But he has said he does not intend to move forward with any impeachment effort -- following the lead of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Councilwoman Monica Conyers was unable to vote for her own resolution because she is in Hawaii for a national pension conference. Neither the congressman nor his wife, a first term councilwoman, could be reached Wednesday evening for comment.
The resolution says Bush and Cheney conspired to defraud the United States by "intentionally misleading Congress and the public regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify the war."
Congressional Intent to Eliminate We the People from Our Own Elections --- Congressional Failure to Secure and Guarantee Basic Rights to All Americans
Americans Must Act Within Two Weeks to Restore Their Inalienable Right to Kick the Bums Out of Office
"The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them . . ." —Patrick Henry
"Give me Liberty, or Give me Death." ---Patrick Henry
WARNING: a bipartisan Congress will, in the next few days, attempt to violate your #1 Inalienable Right. Having talked to many folks, I've not yet found an American who says this warning is not well taken. Although each person I've talked to understands they're being cheated by this; they just tend to think that other Americans won't listen, or think Americans too busy to preserve their own most basic rights.
Americans Must Act Within Two Weeks to Restore Their Inalienable Right to Kick the Bums Out of Office
"The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them . . ." —Patrick Henry
"Give me Liberty, or Give me Death." ---Patrick Henry
WARNING: a bipartisan Congress will, in the next few days, attempt to violate your #1 Inalienable Right. Having talked to many folks, I've not yet found an American who says this warning is not well taken. Although each person I've talked to understands they're being cheated by this; they just tend to think that other Americans won't listen, or think Americans too busy to preserve their own most basic rights.
To the Editor
As a taxpayer, I have personally and publicly thanked Gov. Ted Strickland for his decision not to reapply for federal grants that support “abstinence-only” programs. According to a poll released earlier this week by Quinnipiac University, I am not alone. Fifty-three percent of respondents who have children in public school also support this decision.
We can all agree that any sex education curriculum should be abstinence based, but it cannot be abstinence only. When asked if sex education programs should focus “mainly on the value of abstinence,” “mainly on the value of condoms and contraception use,” or “on both equally” 71 percent said it should focus on both equally. Only 18 percent said “mainly on abstinence.”
Obviously, Ohioans realize that the best way to protect our teens from sexually transmitted disease and unintended pregnancy is to teach medically accurate, age appropriate information about contraception while encouraging them to remain abstinent.
As a taxpayer, I have personally and publicly thanked Gov. Ted Strickland for his decision not to reapply for federal grants that support “abstinence-only” programs. According to a poll released earlier this week by Quinnipiac University, I am not alone. Fifty-three percent of respondents who have children in public school also support this decision.
We can all agree that any sex education curriculum should be abstinence based, but it cannot be abstinence only. When asked if sex education programs should focus “mainly on the value of abstinence,” “mainly on the value of condoms and contraception use,” or “on both equally” 71 percent said it should focus on both equally. Only 18 percent said “mainly on abstinence.”
Obviously, Ohioans realize that the best way to protect our teens from sexually transmitted disease and unintended pregnancy is to teach medically accurate, age appropriate information about contraception while encouraging them to remain abstinent.