A GENERAL ENTERS THE FRAY Wesley Clark - the short story.

Thirty four years of service in the United States Army,
4-star general
NATO Supreme Allied Commander.
Commander in Chief of the United States European Command.
Commanded Operation Allied Force, NATO’s first major combat action
Commander in Chief of the United States Southern Command, Panama,
Director for Strategic Plans and Policy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff
1966 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point
First in his class.
Master’s Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University
Rhodes Scholar.
Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
Knighthoods from the British and Dutch
Commander of the French Legion of Honor.
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Commentator for CNN,
Author of the best-selling Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and
The Future of Combat
Licensed as an investment banker.
Managing Director – Merchant Banking of Stephens Group, Inc.
Chairman of Wesley K. Clark & Associates, a strategic advisory and consulting firm.
He and his wife Gert live in Little Rock, Arkansas

That is a serious resume' that spells big trouble for the misleaders who have destroyed our National Security.

Read Jay Bullock and John Williams stories on OSP

SALVADOR ALLENDE was killed in a US backed fascist coup in Chile on September 11, 1973. If I were Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson I would probably make the connection. Thirty years ago this month Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon in their imperial arrogance decided to replace a democratically elected President of a sovereign nation with a military fascist and brought down a 17 year reign of terror on a free people.

Would it not be cool if a "whirlwind" could be made to be politically selective.
This whirlwind Isabel now driving toward our nation's capitol could then be considered just deserts for the Republican Rightwingers who infest the place. Think of the irony involved in the name as 30 years later Allende's revenge through a whirlwind named for his famous author cousin would blow the progeny of American imperialism from D. C. to Hell or Texas from whence they came leaving only good Democrats to run the government.

Hurricane Isabel is on a path that could bring it ashore near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and north along the Chesapeake Bay near Washington D.C., through Virginia, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.



Isabel is the cousin of Salvadore Allende

This document recently released from the White House confirms our opinion that oil may have play a role in the attack on IRAQ.



by way of President Moron
Pay them a visit

Go rent BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE if you can find a copy.

Bowling for Columbine flash movie

After 3 weeks of daily visits I was finally able to find one of the three copies of BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE on the shelf at my local Blockbuster .......... get the complete story at Open Source Politics

Remember how the World was with us 9-11-2001 visit:

WHEN WORDS FAIL US
A lot has happened in the two years since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. America's friendships throughout the world have been strained to the breaking point and it's too easy to feel as if we are isolated and alone. This site was revived because it's important to remember, no matter what has happened since, how the world shared our grief and wept with us on that day.


The face of the President of France and this Moscow Embassy scene are among many moving images on the site.

Open Source Politics has three "personal experience" posts on 9-11 that are worth reading

If this doen't crack you up you are way too stressed:
Bush the Bird tries one last time to crap all over our European friends

Final Bird.mpg

The Current Crisis of Conscience

NO DROPOUTS JUST PAPERDOLLS
Leave No Child Behind has become a sad joke for anyone with the ability and the will to read except the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Is C student Bush so ignorant of the tempest surrounding his education statistics in Texas that he innocently bandies the “leave no child behind” BS about on his latest visit to Tennessee? Or is the man a twisted psychopath without any embarrassment or qualms of conscience?

Is the Texas Miracle now the fact that our misleader has gotten away with one of the biggest deceptions of all time? Would the former Governor of Texas have us believe that he and his staff found nothing worth investigating in the reports of ZERO dropout rates in school systems that only the year before reported up to 40% dropouts? Does he expect us to believe that this incredible shift in statistics was simply a matter of revising standards and regulating testing and measurement?

At a Nashville fund raiser yesterday ZERO Dropout Miracleman Bush collected 1.2 million Tennessee dollars for telling feckless Tennessee Republicans that he has a plan to improve education.

“I've heard every excuse in the book why not to measure," the president said. "My attitude is that in order to know, in order to diagnose a problem, you have to measure it in the first place. You cannot solve a problem until you measure it in the first place."

Yeah right George just like you “measured” your “success” in Texas education on the basis of ZERO dropout data that any fool could see was impossible.

Our misleader is a man of so little conscience that he can appear in public and spout this bushshit without the slightest hint of embarrassment at what has been revealed in his home state. That behavior is clearly psychopathic. We are in deep deep trouble. With a misleader as willing to cut corners and cook books as this one who is surprised when cheating runs rampant in our schools from both the administration and the students. Read Mark Kleiman's No Child Left Behind for a clear thorough look at the Bush incentives.

pReznit New World Vision looks into his future before his address to the Nation



"I can see IRAQ from here and it looks good to me"
"You might want to remove those lens covers sir."

Tip for the image to Steve Robbins

Bush trumpets economic gain despite job losses


JOBKILLA-the-Hut fails to find real people for his backdrop
"The agenda that I've got . . . has one thing in mind," the president said, "to make sure that people can find a job." Bush spoke against a television backdrop illustrated with the words "jobs" and "growth" in bold letters. And he outlined a six-point economic plan described in briefing materials as "a full agenda for the creation of jobs in America."
There were no new elements in the plan. There are measures currently before Congress to ease environmental restrictions on oil drilling, limit payouts in medical malpractice and class action suits, make temporary tax cuts permanent, and creation a sub-Cabinet position “Job Czar”. These are designed to please the corporate contributors to the Bush re-selection campaign and will do little to create jobs.
He credited his tax cut program with preventing a much deeper downturn. "Had we not taken action, this economy would have been in a deeper recession," Bush said. “Instead of hiring additional workers to meet rising demand, employers have been squeezing more productivity out of their existing staffs.”
“Economic growth will also cut the federal budget deficit in half”, Bush said. Although all sides agree that the Federal Reserve's policy of low interest rates probably did more to boost the economy than anything that came out of the White House.
Not counted in the unemployment rate were 1.7 million jobless people who were described as marginal or discouraged workers because they did not search for work in the past four weeks. The number of discouraged or marginal workers was 209,000 higher than August 2002.
U.S. Employers Shed 93,000 Jobs in August
The number of payroll jobs fell by another 93,000 last month, bringing the total job loss since January to almost 600,000, the Labor Department reported today.
Employers Slashed Jobs in August
U.S. employers cut jobs in August at the fastest pace since March.

A New Deck of Cards that really makes sense is out with detailed dossiers on
THE WAR PROFITEERS

This new Economic Policy Institute report by senior economist Jared Bernstein and EPI President Lawrence Mishel covers in great detail the worst hiring slump since the Great Depression. There is no issue of greater importance to workers in these United States in the battle for balance between owners and workers, management and labor, wealth and wages, haves and have-nots, individuals and the good of the community, and, yes, Republicans and Democrats.

In LABOR MARKET LEFT BEHIND the current data are analyzed and problems hidden behind the numbers are discussed. “For too many working families, the current recovery is indistinguishable from the recession,” Bernstein said. “Recent signals suggest growth will improve in the second half of the year, but even optimistic forecasts for unemployment hover around 6%. In other words, we’re looking at little if any improvement in unemployment for at least the rest of this year.”
Among the findings Bernstein and Mishel discuss are these:

1) In terms of employment growth, the current recovery is the worst on record since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking employment in 1939. Employment is down over one million since the recovery began. Adding in the job losses from the actual recession, payrolls are down by 2.7 million overall—3.2 million in the private sector—making this the worst hiring slump since the Great Depression.
2) Even if predictions of stronger growth in the second half of 2003 prove accurate, unemployment will stay near 6% through most of 2004.
3) During this recovery, unemployment has risen 0.6 percentage points overall and 1.3 points among African Americans.
4) Real wages of the typical (median-wage) worker, which grew about 2% more than inflation through 2001, stopped growing entirely in 2002.
5) This is only the second recovery since World War II in which unemployment has not yet started to fall this many months into recovery.
6) Employment opportunities have declined more for college graduates than for high school dropouts.
7) Underemployed workers – those working fewer hours that they want to or in a job for which they are overqualified – reached double digits (10.2%) in July 2003.

Although the recent recession was officially declared over as of November 2001, on Labor Day 2003 the job market remains decidedly weak. Unemployment is high and, instead of coming down in the nascent recovery, it has climbed from 5.6% at the recession’s end to 6.2% in July 2003 (the most recent data available). Tracking the nation’s payrolls reveals the worst hiring slump since the Great Depression. And the weak labor market is not just a problem for those without jobs—wages have been growing more slowly for most workers and even falling in real terms for some.

How could it be that the nation’s economy is supposedly in recovery, yet the job market is much weaker now than when the recession ended? The explanation has something to do with the criteria used to determine when a recession ends, but the main point is that, although the economy is expanding, it is doing so at too slow a rate to lower unemployment quickly or to generate the needed job growth.



Over the past few years, the Bush Administration and Congress have passed numerous tax cuts purportedly intended to stimulate the weak economy and restart the engine of job creation that was delivering 241,000 jobs per month, on average, between 1995 and 2000, a stark contrast to an average loss of 93,000 jobs a month since March 2001. Thus far, these tax cuts have failed to lower unemployment, much less stimulate private sector job growth. In fact, hundreds of economists, including 10 Nobel laureates, argued that these cuts were poorly structured as a stimulus. George A. Akerlof Nobel Laureate in Economics is one of those ten.

OPEN SOURCE POLITICS has some great reading today. Part II of the Progressive Prescription continues Jeff Alworth's excellent essay on the history of Liberals V. Conservatives during the Reagan years. Lilith C. Devlin's LABOR DAY'S FORGOTTEN ONES remembers that over 150,000 Americans spent August in the sand but not on the beach or golfing in Texas. Jeremy Puma shows us the new face of unions in The Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, and if you don't get enough of me here the Rush Limbaughtomy entry is Cooked with Gas and Boiled in Oil

At first glance these images have nothing in common - they represent the CNN stories of the day


On the occassion when I can stomach a little "cable nuze" I let CNN do the background as I work. Today's fare was surreal in it's own right without the fact that soldiers are dying, Iraq is in chaos, the oil companies are ripping us off, and Halliburton is picking our pockets yet CNN ignors it in favor of this compelling fare.

First we have Tucker Carlson unearthing the political leanings of Ms. Britney Spears in an enlightening interview about her "FAMOUS KISS" with Madonna at the MTV music awards. This stellar Carlson performance rivaled the work of Barbara Walters. There was Tucker eyes wide watching Ms Spears try to talk through a massive wad of Hubba Bubba. Between lip smacks the 21 going on 13yearold said Madonna was the only woman she ever kissed. Tucker sensing a scoop asked the politically astute songbird if she held the same views on the war as the Dixie Chicks. "we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens." (smack, smack, smile) she opined. "We should trust our Presidents to do what is best." Tucker sensing a Conservative entertainment coup asked: "And do you trust this President?" "Yes, yes I do." Later Ms Spears indicated she wanted to live in England because life is simple there. "They still have milkmen who deliver milk right to your door" she sighed "I like that." One is left to wonder if America will suffer a talent gap with Europe after losing both Spears and Johnny Depp to Europe in one afternoon.

On the opposite side of the spectrum is (or was) Paul Hill who went to his reward today at Stark Penetentiary in Florida on the signed order of Jeb Bush. We know the brothers Bush have no qualms about signing the death warrents of inmates, but Paul Hill must have given Pro Life supporter Jeb a moment's pause given the flack he is enduring from the Army of God. Presbyterian Minister Hill is a "True American Hero" to the Army of God and his final words in a television interview in which he expressed no remorse were "I believe in the short and long term, more and more people will act on the principles for which I started." (Hill was understandably nervous) Hill told reporters that he is a martyr in the anti-abortion cause and hoped his death would inspire more clinic attacks. This Pro-Life plea for more death from the soon to be dead will find no shortage of nut cases to heed the call for Abortionist Jihad. "Abortion doctors commit premeditated, cold-blooded murder 10 or 20 times a day,'' said the Rev. David Trosch, a Catholic priest from Mobile, Ala. "What Paul Hill did was absolutely justified. It was not murder. It was taking the life of a murderer who intended to commit further murders.'' Jesus wept as another Minister opined that Hill was now sitting with the Saints and Angels on the right hand of God.
In the end these two have only one thing in common - both are supporters of the Republican Right. At least Hill was before conviction lost him the right to vote and Spears is when she is not in England. I guess that made it easier for Jeb to sign that execution order. It was a good day to be a Democrat in support of the right to choose.

OPEN SOURCE POLITICS a metablog of progressive thought is now available for your reading pleasure. Today's edition features posts on a variety of subjects from a wide variety of authors. Be sure to visit and see the result of some very hard work by a wonderful group. Today Allen Brill of THE RIGHT CHRISTIANS leads with a visit to the John Kerry Campaign Kickoff in South Carolina Kevin Hayden charts the Jobkilla the Hut on his latest of many Ohio trips trying to save his own job while pretending to care about Ohioans. Lilith C. Devlin thinks Someone to Watch Over Me is way off key in this mis-administration. Jeff Alworth's Progressive Prescription reminds us that LIBERAL is not a four letter word and this is only Part 1.
The Rush Limbaughtomy contribution for today can be found with the Worst Hiring Slump Since the Great Depression Mark Kleiman's piece on the Valerie Plame Affair is incendiary. Heed the Call to Arms by Kenneth Quinnell and State of the Union by Paul Heller and get Trapped by Laura Poyneer while Reclaiming Labor Day with Joe Flaherty


JOHN KERRY SHAKES HAND OF SENATOR MAX CLELAND
The launch of Senator Kerry's Campaign with it's soldier/statesman theme in South Carolina was a welcome site yesterday. Regardless of the primary outcome his strong voice in opposition to AWOL Dubya Dumpjobs is a welcome relief. This writer is torn at this time between Kerry, Dean, and Kucinich, and a desire to see Al Gore in the White House. Rush Limbaughtomy will fence straddle until the saddle sores are too many to bear. There is support here for the "anybody but Bonzo the Chimp" campaign. Kerry made a very positive opening yesterday. All Democrats and Bush-Booters should be very happy about that. This fine man is a real warrior and veteran who puts Capt. Codpiece 'Bring em On' Chickenhawk - Air Warrior Of Legend in true perspective.

OPEN SOURCE POLITICS a metablog of progressive thought is now available for your reading pleasure.

Something is terribly wrong in the White House. Something far more twisted and un-natural than interns and cigars. This country is going to the dogs from the top down. Puppy McScrewed-the-pooch is obviously in love. Is Barney a Bitch or is the pReznt involved in a Dog on Man relationship? Where is Senator Santorum? Is Laura in the doghouse? Has Barney raised a leg on the head Bush? Stay tuned as this canine scandal sheds all over the place.

Labor Day Weekend update:
SouthKnoxBubba featured a typically entertaining yet unusually caustic post on IRAQ and ROLL - and the attention deficit disorder of the so-called media.
SICK OF BUSH is sick of Bill O'reilly and catches him in another 'whopper of the week'. We agree with SOB - Stick a sock in it Bill.
LEAN LEFT puts the heat on what's hot - all that hot air from O'Reilly, the Press, and the White House may have much to do with the latest global warming report.
RESONANCE and GRANNY RANT both boost the BAGHDAD BURNING bit on BUILDING BRIDGES ballyhooed in Bubba's rant.
DEMOCRATIC VETERAN is on the trail of the totals of wounded in smirky the play pReznit's mission accomplished. He finds the number at 10 a day but you really have to look
LONG PAUSES fullfills an obligation for all RTB East members in his post on the first of 13 Volunteer Victories on the way to the Sugar Bowl and NC 3 in 2003!
TREASON ONLINE fans the flame of the widely spread rumour that Annthrax Coulter is a burning bush - this event is noted by the Peoples Republic of Seabrook and Newsweek Online.
TO THE BARRICADES! Labor Day post suggests a more appropriate name "Corporate Profits Day"
FANATICAL APATHY congratulates the USA workforce as "The most productive in the World" and that must count for something? Right?