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Hey, thanks Michael Moore: Not only have you legitimized an industry-- we could sure use the jobs—but, more importantly, you have galvanized a movement. And I love your market niche, Real News, who would have thought. The Saudi angle was good, a nice wedge-in.

Not one senator stepping up, at the invitation of the minority house members on behalf of at least 50% of the voting population of America: In protest to what may have been a hostile takeover of the US Government. This same group of elected officals passed the Patriot Act-- without reading it—a document that is attempting to restructure the economic/political/social landscape of this country: At least, it wasn’t intentional negligence. And then, again [same guys], unconstitutionally abdicating their war power authorities to George W. Bush. What the fuck! Who needs an “Outside Enemy” when you’re got representatives like these?

Are these guys “out cold on the wheel house floor”, or is something going down? These congressmen were elected and committed by constitutional law to act responsively and professionally on our behalf
According to Israeli sources (Arutz news), Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated that the Israeli court's decision to ask for rerouting segments of the wall near Jerusalem "strengthens Israel's position ahead of the expected verdict by the International Court of Justice in The Hague which will be announcing its verdict regarding Israel's right to construct the fence. " When taken with the attempts at distraction by talk of future withdrawal from Gaza and combined with the court's earlier ruling that Israel has a right to confiscate Palestinian lands and create hardships for them as long as Israeli military commanders indicate it is related to security, this statement from Sharon uggests that Israel will proceed with its apartheid wall since it now has the stamp of approval from both George Bush, John Kerry, and congress. This monstrous project to impoverish and isolate the Palestinians in several Ghettos is a war crime and a crime against humanity. All people of conscience must protest and raise their voice. Pericles (430 B.C.) observed that "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. " Indeed
Recently I had the pleasure of attending a family reunion in a small town in the Northwest corner of Arkansas. Being in the Ozarks allows one to appreciate some of America’s natural beauty. We were in the retirement community of Bella Vista, just north of Bentonville. Never heard of it? Bentonville is the world headquarters of Wal-Mart. That’s right, I was in the belly of the beast.

One evening my vegan brother-in-law and my vegetarian wife decided it was time to purchase some food for our rented townhouse. We were told the only place to go would be the community market. Thinking a community market, like our very own in Clintonville, Ohio. As we pull in my wife quickly points out that it is in fact, a “Wal-Mart Community Market.”

After reluctantly entering and shopping, we went to the checkout line. The other two quickly said, “We’ll be outside.” Alone with the cashier, I was saddened and distraught by feeling forced to give money to Wal-Mart- not unlike the feeling of a progressive voting for John Kerry.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Happy birthday, America! Ye Olde Fourth of July rolls around again and finds the Great Nation in, frankly, a somewhat pissy mood. Lots of blame game, name-slinging and general unpleasantness. But there's always an upside. The vice president reports that if you go ahead and let fly with the f-word, it makes you feel better. Anything to get that fun Dick Cheney back to his usual sunny self, I always say.

        True, we seem to have had more halcyon national natal days, but if we ignore I--q for the day, we should be able to celebrate our national heritage without punching each other in the eye.

Fahrenheit 9-11 reminds me of Howard Dean. Both were wildly promoted by the media in a manner not carefully thought through by media bigwigs, and then both were savaged by the media just before opening day.

The size of the audiences seeing this movie was guaranteed by the media hype, and the notion that the audiences consist mainly of liberal activists is disproved by the size of them. More people have already seen this movie than subscribe to progressive magazines or participate in political primary MeetUps. The question is what will happen in the heads of people who had never heard any of this stuff before.

What if you had never been told that U.S. soldiers come from poor families, that U.S. presidents launch wars for corporate profits, or that governments use fear to manipulate people? Will two hours be enough to get you thinking like this movie? Or will you have to go back and read all the books that I had to read before I thought this way? Will your reaction be a troubled uncertainty that you are able to maintain or will you be immediately converted? Or will you steadfastly resist the notion
The Green Party of the United States recognizes that our greatest contribution to peace in the Middle East will come through our impact on U.S. policy in the region. Our commitments to ecological wisdom, social justice, grass-roots democracy, and non-violence compel us to oppose U.S. government support for "friendly" regimes, both in Israel and in the Arab world, whenever those regimes violate human rights, international law, and existing treaties. Those same values compel us to support popular movements for peace and demilitarization, especially those which reach across the lines of conflict to engage both Palestinians and Israelis of good will.

1. We reaffirm the right of self-determination for both Palestinians and Israelis, whichprecludes the self-determination of one at the expense of the other. We recognize the historical and contemporary cultural diversity of Israeli-Palestinian society, including the religious heritage of Jews, Christians, Muslims and others. This is a significant part of the rich cultural legacy of all these peoples and must be respected. To ensure this, we supportequality before
Bush sent his soldiers solving the world's disorder,
organized by the top dog of big business domain,
absolving crimes they've done inside our border,
then created Homeland Security to brashly arraign
each traitorous fool who might dare complain.
George is brilliant say his powerful friends,
who bank-rolled the Bush election campaign,
and wait for gross tax cuts Bush blithely extends.


Our tax surplus, which Bush so militant spends
will finance a kingdom for Saddam's elite corps
while our Bill of rights, he blithely suspends.
Crusaders for God or Oil, wage virtuous war,
but worse than wars fought for that God or greed
are wars engineered just for Bush reelection need.
Michigan State University received national notoriety as a result of a 1966 Ramparts magazine cover article that described it as a "University on the Make." The Ramparts cover depicted the wife of South Vietnam's dictator/President Diem, as an MSU cheerleader, with green garb and white pompoms.

When MSU invited Iraqi war strategist Condoleeza Rice to deliver its commencement address on May 7, the cheerleader image was resurrected. The cover of Lansing's popular alternative weekly City Pulse featured Condi Rice as a giddy MSU cheerleader on May 5th.

Throughout the past half century, MSU has continued the work of empire, in a manner as profound and arrogant as ever. Between 1955-62 MSU provided academic cover to CIA agents and provided police training and weapons to Diem's regime. Until a few months ago, the MSU president, who once was a minion to those pressing the Iran-Contra affair in the Reagan White House, was directly helping to run an imperial war in Iraq.

In May 2003, after President Bush came calling, the MSU Board of Trustees released McPherson to serve 130 days, to "oversee the economic
Dear Harvey and Bob (if I may),

Thank you for the HONEST article on the "alleged" Ohio Mall attack. It's too bad the major corrupt media in this country refuses to tell the whole truth.

Every time there's real news about the Bush Administration's lies and deceit, "Asscroft" or some other crony comes out with a "major" discovery regarding terrorist activity. Man that "Asscroft" is really on top of things.

How dare these bastards call themselves Christians. I can only hope God strikes them down for what they have done to the innocent and this country.

What a bunch of hypocrites!!! Unfortunately, there are many, many more in this country to deal with. The likes of Rush "Limpballs" and Bill "O'Really?" to name a couple.

I hope and pray they are all seated side by side in Hell some day soon.

Thank you both for your honest and forward thinking journalism. Maybe one day you will represent the mainstream media in this country. If not, God help us all.

Perry Stigall
Dallas, TX.

It's funny. I'd seen all this stuff before--I mean it isn't as if there was anything really new here for anyone who's been paying attention for the past few years. And yet, I cried. Maybe it's the deprogramming of having at least some of what we've seen replayed with any decent focus for One Brief Shining Moment, beyond the self-imposed straitjacket of a docile and dangerously inept US press. Maybe it's just the oxygen given to all those impulses so many of us have kept in check, all those shoots of anger, sadness and embarrassment blossoming into full blown consciousness.

My own thought process in response to Michael Moore's new film reminded me of one of those dessicated sponges you put in water-a few hours later and voila: your tiny piece of foam has bloated into a full blown fish, or frog, or palm tree ten times its original size. Or maybe like opening an archive, unzipping a million saved files at once. My brain fairly exploded with repressed anger going back to the Florida recount disaster: things I had known in much more detail before Moore scratched the surface again and brought it all flooding back..

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