From Letters to the Editor: New York Times:
Journalism on Fox
T o the Editor:

"Cable's War Coverage Suggests a New 'Fox Effect' on Television Journalism" (news article, April 16) illustrates a paradox in American society.

Constitutional protection of free speech is a necessary but insufficient condition for its exercise in daily life. Rights can become paper rights: constitutionally protected but seldom exercised by a people fearful of speaking one's mind.

If dissenting opinions are publicly vilified by the news media, the conditions that make free speech and dissent possible will wither. People will not speak out against war or other unpopular policies, irrespective of their constitutional right, for fear that they will be demonized or punished financially or socially.

In modern societies, it is unnecessary to resort to crude methods like imprisonment or torture to silence dissenters. It is sufficient simply to question their integrity, their values and their patriotism.

KAKOLI BANERJEE
San Jose, Calif., April 16, 2003

The loss of aniquities in Baghdad is just another in the long count of crimes that must be attributed to George W. Bush. The simple posting at a few doors leading into the museum of American troops would have insured that the world's treasures remain inside. The haunting question remains; If we could secure the oil ministry why not the museum? One more charge for dubbie to answer when the World Court tries him for war crimes. Sad day America, when our leadership has been stolen by the Supreme Court and handed to an little band of criminals that include Wolfowitz and Perle. I believe it is time to impeach the whole bunch. Go to: http://www.votetoimpeach.org/#notes

If you haven't been to http://www.votetoimpeach.org/ yet. do so now. Could be that we can get rid of the worst President in the history of this great country, along with his henchmen Chaney and Rumsfeld. Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark has drawn up the proposed reasons for impeachment. Read it and then sign up. I have.

Some remarks by Bill Clinton: Here's an AFP report on Yahoo News about Clinton's remarks:



"Former President Bill Clinton blasted U.S. foreign policy adopted in the wake of the September 11 attacks, arguing the United States cannot kill, jail or occupy all of its adversaries.



"'Our paradigm now seems to be: something terrible happened to us on September 11, and that gives us the right to interpret all future events in a way that everyone else in the world must agree with us,' said Clinton, who spoke at a seminar of governance organized by Conference Board.



"'And if they don't, they can go straight to hell.'



"The Democratic former president, who preceded George W. Bush at the White House, said that sooner or later the United States had to find a way to cooperate with the world at large.



"'We can't run,' Clinton pointed out. 'If you got an interdependent world, and you cannot kill, jail or occupy all your adversaries, sooner or later you have to make a deal.'



"He said he believed Washington overreacted to German and French opposition to U.S. plans for military action against Iraq and suggested that the current administration had trouble juggling foreign and domestic issues.



"'Since September 11, it looks like we can't hold two guns at the same time,' Clinton said. 'If you fight terrorism, you can't make America a better place to be.'"

I aplolgize for the mis-spelling and poor grammar. Damn, I hate that I cannot edit this thing with any ease. Guess I will have to start paying and get all the good features.

Copied without permission from Tribune Media Services.
For release 4/9/03

CLINTON MILITARY TRIUMPHS IN IRAQ!

By Matthew Miller

Tribune Media Services

With that indelible image of Saddam's toppling statue forever banishing the doubts of the armchair generals, and with the amazing achievements of the United States armed forces coming into sharper relief, it's time for all honest observers - and especially conservatives - to confront a simple fact:

The remarkable feats in Iraq are being performed by Bill Clinton's military.

I have been watching C-Span's presentation of the American Enterprize Institute's press spin of the war in Iraq. Resident Fellow, Richard Perle, famously just resigned as its leader due to the discovery of some very damaging conflict of interests, held forth about the wonders of "our" war and expounded vociferously on how "we" were going to rebuild Iraq cheaply and easily without the help of those states who held veto over "our" desires to kill and maim in Iraq in our quest to manage the hordes in the mid-east. Did I mention Richard is Jewish in his religious beliefs? Yes, indeed, he sees a middle east dominated by Likud like strong men. Joshua Murvchik is listed as a Resident Scholar on his little name plate. He is embarassingly NOT any kind of scholar. These are the people who are telling dubbie what to do. I see David Corn, with The Nation is in attendance. At least David will tell us the truth of this Right Wing Group's meedting in his next issue.

Syria??? My god, Dubbie, have you lost your mind? Look at your poor wife, yesterday she looked like she had seen a ghost, like she was as ashamed of you as I am. Look at the children in Iraq who you have burned, who you have maimed, who you killed. Have you lost your mind? If you are a Christian, as you so proudly brag, what will you say to your god when he asks you why you did these things? If you are a Christian you make everyone else hate Christians. You are a disgrace to your country and to your relegion.

This may need fixing...

From Kuro5hin:
America now has in excess of two million of its own citizens in jail, from a population of 286 million (0.7 %). For comparison China ,which most would consider to be an authoritarian police state, has a prison population of 1.4 million from a population of about 1.3 billion (0.1%).

I don't know what your opinion of how close we are as a people living in a so-called "free" country, is, or if you agree with me that we are very close to losing our ability to live free, but my opinion is, as shallow as my thinking is and as un-read as I am and as poorly educated as I am, that we may lose our personal freedom to follow our desires very soon. Maybe in a couple of years, or less. The current regime in power in Washington is enjoying almost absolute power. They have carefully cultivated a group, you might even call it a cult, of "true-believers" who exercise extreme power and influence over certain very large groups in our country. They own the Supreme Court, they own the Senate, they own the White House and they certainly own the slavish House of Representatives. They have all the power, enough to intimidate the timid Democrats who say they are the "opposition party". There is no Democrat who has the ability to lead and the guts to speak out for our rights, mine and yours. Do you know of one? Name him/her. Certainly not Daschle, not Pelosi, not Gephardt.

The cult that is bent on taking away our rights, yours and mine, have so meticulously planned and executed the takeover, most of the citizens in this country are not even aware of it. True, some have vague feelings of unrest, thinking that something must be wrong with our government letting people like Clarence Thomas and the rest of the Supremes shove a jerk like Bush down our throat. I thought, "Well, that is just horrible, but we will certainly throw out all his henchmen in the House and Senate in 2002 and cripple his chances of taking absolute power". So few of us cared that we were about to lose our rights to control power that some did not even go vote! And so, by not voting those people have brought us to this, America's lowest point since its taking of freedom from the Imperialist British. And now, the King, sitting in the oval office, is the new Imperialist... the hegemon, and most people in this country are ready and happy to give up their precious rights to please HIM... His Majesty King George Bush.

Is it over? When you die, will you be known as the last of the free? Will you trade your rights and mine for a false feeling of security? Are you such a coward that you will not speak out to others about this cult that call themselves Christians? However you decide, that is do nothing or speak out to your friends and neighbors, freedom is yours to keep or to surrender.