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The Wrong Side of History

We were all lied to. We're used to it. If Westmoreland's body counts and Watergate and Iran Contra and the Savings and Loan and the first Gulf War didn't teach some of us, then I guess some of us were never meant to learn. The fact is that some of us bought it, and some of us didn't. It's a big, glaring, important distinction, one that, without indulging hyperbole, divides the whole of history and places us on one side or the other.

Thank You!

Mr Wasserman, you have no idea how very much my family, friends and I appreciate your February 16th article: "Bush wins Triple Trifecta as the worst president ever". With misinformation [and disinformation] running rampant in the media today, reporters like you are a breath of fresh air! Please know how invaluable you are to so many that hunger for the truth!

Sincerely,
Moriah Mattingly Jones
Cumberland, Maryland

Thanks Harvey

Many thanks to Harvey for the "Bush wins Triple Trifecta as worst president ever" article.

"Bush's "No Tree Left Standing" attack on Mother Earth..." in every sense of the words that make up that statement, is the literal truth. We live in Northern New Mexico. Behind our house and all around this part of the State there used to be many stands of beautiful Pinion Pines. Now all that is left is mostly dead Pinion Pines, the result of an ongoing multi-year long attack and onslaught brought on by millions of Pine Bark Beetle's, and these beetle's continue to multiply and spread at an 'unchecked' and 'unchallenged' rate that is no less than catastrophic. These beetle's are literal terrorists and a deadly menacing threat to all species of Pine, including valuable stands of Pine used for timber that is logged.

So, what is the Bush Administration doing about these terrorists? Letting them go unchallenged.

Both the BLM and the US Forest Service have been approached to help stop the spread of this pestilence. The answer from both of those agencies is that they have 'no money' or 'funds' available to them, with which to combat the spread of the beetle.

Heads Up: You Must Act Now to Stop an Appalling CAFTA, FTAA Sneak Attack on State Purchasing Policy!

A leaked letter from the Bush Administration to state governors reveals a sneaky attempt now underway to get governors to 'voluntarily' commit their states to comply with draconian constraints on domestic procurement (purchasing) policy included in the recently completed CAFTA and proposed for FTAA. Unbelievably, the leaked documents show that the U.S. Trade Representative's Office is seeking blanket permission from governors to sign states on to the procurement provisions of ALL trade agreements under negotiation - including the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the South African Customs Union and a raft of bilateral deals with Australia, Morocco, Columbia, Thailand and more nations.

Behind every Bush there's a scandal

So, Kevin Phillips’ thesis in his new book American Dynasty, is that the Bush family are long-standing war profiteers, Machiavellians and a WASP clan of financial hustlers. To be fair to the Bush family and to test Phillips’ thesis, the Free Press decided to investigate what a lesser-known Bush brother was up to recently. Neil Bush was our choice, since we figured he would be repentant after his embarrassing involvement as a director of the defunct Silverado Savings and Loan in Denver during the 1980s.

Recall that Neil, as a bank director, had a conflict of interest problem after voting to approve loans totaling $132 million from Silverado to his business partners. His partners, in turn, loaned him hundreds of thousands of dollars, which he only had to pay back if he made a profit. His punishment was banishment from investment banking for life. Of course, he did have that little problem after Silverado. According to the Dayton Daily News, he got a $2 million loan from the Small Business Association and “walked on it.”

On not believing in John Kerry

Rolling toward the Democratic nomination, the Kerry campaign has the enduring benefit of the vast fortune of Mrs. Kerry, the former Teresa Heinz, lovely relict of the Portuguese empire. Mrs. Kerry can use her money to run issue ads. Her interest in environmental issues has been mostly expressed through her Heinz Foundation, whose board until very recently was adorned by that hero of free-market enviros, Ken Lay of Enron.

            The Heinz Foundation put Ken Lay in charge of their global-warming initiative. When Enron went belly up, the Foundation stuck by their man: "Whatever troubles he had at Enron, Ken Lay had a good reputation in the environmental community for being a business man who was environmentally sensitive. When someone does wrong in one part of their life, it doesn't mean they can't do good in another part of their life."

            It's the kind of sublime indifference to the messy realities of politics and life that is now inspiring Democrats to rally behind Kerry, under the vacant banner, Anybody But Bush.

The hypocracy of National Sanctity of Human Life Day, 2004

"As Americans, we are led by the power of our conscience and the history of our country to defend and promote the dignity and rights of all people. Each person, however frail or defenseless, has a place and a purpose in this world. On National Sanctity of Human Life Day, we celebrate the gift of life and our commitment to building a society of compassion and humanity..."

"NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Sunday, January 18, 2004, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call upon all Americans to recognize this day with appropriate ceremonies in our homes and places of worship and to reaffirm our commitment to respecting the life and dignity of every human being."

Re: Bush can be beaten

Mr. Wasserman: I started reading your "online" newsletter-rant" (I'm not sure what you call it), last year after you were interviewed on the "Jefferson Exchange" with Jeff Golden, from Ashland, Oregon,  a public radio station.  Nonetheless, thank you! I find a lot of comfort aand encouragement from you. I hope that you might reprise yourself, and make an encore appreance on the exchange before the upcoming election.  I agree that the "Dubya" (or maybe DUD'ya) can be beaten in the fall. Is it really true that the GOP has rigged the "House" so as not to ever lose control again? I think that if there was a real, concerted "movement" to register a whole lot of new democrats from the 50% of the people who do not bother to exercise their franchise, there might be a possible change.  Is this possible? I'm afraid that otherwise, we are left with a hollow, ghost of a republic, and America will then reveal itself to be the"Amerika" of Mr. Orwell, or Cheney, or Citizen Ashcroft, or Minister Rumsfield, or any other modern Fascist/Plutocrat that might stand  before us, waiting for our supplication.

An open letter from Ramsey Clark to the U.N. and George W. Bush

Dear Secretary General Annan,

U.S. President George W. Bush again confirmed his intention to continue waging wars of aggression in his State of the Union message on January 20, 2004.

He began his address: " As we gather tonight, hundreds of thousands of American service men and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice to the violent, they are making America more secure."

He proclaimed: " Our greatest responsibility is the active defense of the American people... America is on the offensive against the terrorists..."

Continuing, he said: " ...our coalition is leading aggressive raids against the surviving members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.... Men who ran away from our troops in battle are now dispersed and attack from the shadows."

In Iraq, he reported: " Of the top 55 officials of the former regime, we have captured or killed 45. Our forces are on the offensive, leading over 1,600 patrols a day, and conducting an average of 180 raids a week...."

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