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- Attorney General Ashcroft will not proceed
with the extradition of James Kopp who is accused of killing Dr Barnett
Slepian at his Amherst, N.Y. home on October 1998. Kopp was finally tracked
down in France and we were promised that he would be returned to stand
trial. Not going to happen.
- The following is from the White House Daily Briefing of October 2, 2001, [asterisk emphasis ours]:
- Congress has already passed [very quietly]
some aspects of state funding for religious schools/charities.
- Fred Barnes, one of Fox News Beltway Boys
recently informed us that “God saw to it that George Bush became the president
as the one person who could lead us safely through the days ahead.” How
fascinating. God tells the media why, after telling the Supreme Court who
and how.
- For days we heard the White House ordering everyone to go to church, synagogue or mosque and pray. Not to do so would indicate that a person is not supporting their country and its government. What does that mean for agnostics and others who have chosen not to be obviously or conventionally religious?
- Just as with the orders to pray we were
told to fly flags on houses, cars and possessions. Again a house without
a flag becomes suspect.
- Opinions that are not sanctioned by the White House are condemned as being against the war effort. Dissent is being repressed by equating it with disloyalty.
- Congress is being pressured to pass laws
that would give Ashcroft and company the ability to cause great harm to
any citizen - all in the name of hunting down terrorists. With elections
coming up there will be nothing to prevent another Watergate. The antics
of the bad boys of Dick Nixon could pale in comparison beside the possibilities
of an old time Western Sheriff Ashcroft and his merry unfettered band of
fundamentalist Christians.
- White House spin ignores the patriotism
of the Democratic leadership that has backed the administration in the
war effort. It is claiming that the bi-partisanship is all one sided and
happened because Dubya brought a new climate to Washington. Just another
miracle by the cowboy messiah.
- In the present confusion, the Bushies
are trying to force the energy bill through Congress as being necessary
for the war effort. Bye, bye Alaskan wildlife. Hello more big oil billionaires.
- The same media reporters that were so critical of every pronouncement of the Clinton administration hardly turns a hair at the Bush administration’s outright lies. [to use Dubyaspeak, we’re not misunderestimating.]
- Pray and fly the flag if it floats your boat, but the horror and dismay are not just from the events of 9/11. It makes sense to be terrified that so much power lies in the hands of an inexperienced boychik and a plethora of 19th Century mentality-leftovers from Bush l. Women must face and overcome their fears by getting involved and educated in politics, supporting candidates and voting so women’s advances of the 20th Century do not disappear through the cracks in the 21st.
FALLING THROUGH THE CRACKS
With
the country’s attention focused on the aftermath of the terrorists attacks
many things important for women will fall through the cracks -- quietly
and without fanfare. The media is much too busy ogling Osama
and deifying Dubya to keep an eye on things so it’s up to every one of
us to be vigilant.
Equal protection under the law:
Q: Ari, the Washington Post reports this morning that the Bush administration has dropped a Clinton administration action that charged the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority with alleged civil rights violations, because 93 percent of all female applicants failed in its aerobics test, which test the Clinton people charged was overly rigorous. My question -- given this commendable Bush administration decision, Ari, am I entirely wrong to presume that what you said, the President regards the best armed forces in the world means that he will not succumb to the extremist-feminist demands for females in ground combat units, will he, Ari? [laughter.]
MR. FLEISCHER: Les, I've got to confess that I really haven't been keeping up with aerobics since September 11th.
Q: Well, it is the Washington Post. You read that paper.
MR. FLEISCHER: I have nothing to offer you on that topic.
This exchange between a reporter called Lester and Ari FLEISCHER, presidential press secretary, shows the extreme prejudice of the media. It appears that dropping of violation charges that affect women is just funny and not even considered worth talking about. A huge hole was dug for those women to drop through and thus be out of sight. How many more actions like this have been dropped that we don’t know about?
Separation of church and state:
Freedom of speech and expression
Excerpt from: We Love the Liberties They Hate - Maureen Dowd
“So I don't need instructions from Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary, on the conduct of a good American. Patriotism, it seems, is the last refuge of spinners. Even as the White House preaches tolerance toward Muslims and Sikhs, it is practicing intolerance, signaling that anyone who challenges the leaders of an embattled America is cynical, political and isn't this the subtext? unpatriotic. "The reminder is to all Americans, that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do, and that this is not a time for remarks like that," Mr. Fleischer said haughtily in dressing down Bill Maher, the host of "Politically Incorrect," for saying something politically incorrect.”
“Danger, danger Will Robinson!”
Administration officials when introducing Bush on TV endow him with the characteristics of a super hero. This administrative spin is to cover up a lie. Dubya, the titular head of the free world, flew around the country on Airforce One directly after the terrorists attacks on the pretext that he was a target. It was three weeks later that the Bushies admitted that they had flat out lied about that. There never was “a credible threat.” Dubya was just searching for his cajones.
