Things that make you go hmm....

From Yahoo News:

Bush says bin Laden tape aided re-election: report
Tue Feb 28, 9:47 AM ET

U.S. President George W. Bush said his 2004 re-election victory over Sen. John Kerry was inadvertently aided by Osama bin Laden, who issued a taped diatribe against him the Friday before Americans went to the polls, The Examiner newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Bush said there were "enormous amounts of discussion" inside his campaign about the 15-minute tape, which he called "an interesting entry by our enemy" into the presidential race.

Bush's comments in the Washington newspaper were excerpts from the new book "Strategery" by Bill Sammon, a long-time White House correspondent.

"What does it mean? Is it going to help? Is it going to hurt?" Bush told Sammon of the bin Laden tapes. "Anything that drops in at the end of a campaign that is not already decided creates all kinds of anxieties, because you're not sure of the effect.

"I thought it was going to help," Bush said. "I thought it would help remind people that if bin Laden doesn't want Bush to be the president, something must be right with Bush."

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

Proposed Democratic Platform

I came across this quote a while back, and thought it was really neat then – but I wasn’t blogging yet, so I never got to share it. Since it came back up in discussion lately – why not share it now?

I’m on the Progressive Delaware Democrats mailing list – and Tom Vincent posted it again as follows:

And I *still* think the Democratic Party should adopt FDR's proposed Second Bill of Rights as their official platform:

·The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation.
·The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation.
·The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living.
·The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad.
·The right of every family to a decent home.
·The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.
·The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment.
·The right to a good education.

I totally agree. The democrats should adopt this long-waiting promise as their platform… “The Promise for the Future”, maybe?

Whatever you want to call it, we need to use this to reframe the political arguments in this country.

The current administration has lost sight of the individual American; Her hopes and dreams, his needs and wants. It is up to the Democrats to use this time in our political history to lay claim to the values of the everyday American.

There is a great interchange in one of my favorite movies – The American President – where the president is talking to one of his staff, and they are arguing over the American populace looking for leadership. They use the imagery of an oasis. The staff member says that the people are so thirsty for leadership that in its absence they will come to an oasis and drink the sand. The president replies that they don’t drink the sand because they are thirsty – they drink the sand because they don’t know the difference.

The Values Voters are voting for Republicans because the Republicans have defined for our country what “values” the average American should have.

We need to redefine what real American values are – and lead the charge on behalf of the NEW Values Voters!

-Emily

From behind enemy lines…

Okay – so, I’m on the e-mail list of the Family Research Council… no, I haven’t suddenly gone insane… I’m actually on the mailing lists for a number of groups that would surprise you… it happens when you want to view some report on their website and they require you to register to be able to view it…

So – I wanted to view the FRC’s congressional scorecard – and, because I had to give them an e-mail address to register, I ended up on their mailing list.

Interesting vitriol from time to time – so I decided not to unsubscribe… It is sometimes important to know what the enemy are coming up with before the “fit hits the sham” as they say…

So – In an e-mail dated 2/10/06, Tony Perkins has a little write-up about the relaxed guidelines for religious observance at the Air Force Academy:

A Wing and a Prayer

The U.S. Air Force has relaxed its guidelines on prayer. No longer will Christians who serve as Air Force chaplains be cautioned against praying in the name of Jesus at military ceremonies. (Praying in Jesus' name at military worship services had never been affected.) The latest guidelines continue to urge commanders to be "sensitive to the potential" that personal statements of faith may be interpreted as government endorsement of religion. The new guidelines affirm the Constitution's free exercise and free speech guarantees and advance the idea that expressions of faith--barring any evidence of coercion--are fully protected. The Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), welcomed the new Air Force guidelines. Dr. Haggard's New Life Church is a neighbor to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. Dr. Haggard sees the new Air Force policy as fully respectful of minority rights while not infringing on the rights of majorities. Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), however, said the Air Force needs to move further to assure that chaplains can pray in the name of Jesus. Air Force Academy graduate Mikey Weinstein is not happy. He said the requirement that senior officers must make it "reasonably clear" they are not coercing their subordinates when they share their personal faith does not go far enough. "Get out of my face, sir, is not an option," Weinstein said. Mr. Weinstein, a lawyer, is suing the Air Force. That is his right. But we will continue to defend our rights. And praying in the name of Jesus is surely one of them.

Additional Resources
Air Force Revises Guidelines on Religion

For those of you who need a little backgrounder on the issue – check out Talk2Action’s Lorie Johnson, and an early diary of hers.

What really bothers me is a quote from Ted Haggard:

"Dr. Haggard sees the new Air Force policy as fully respectful of minority rights while not infringing on the rights of majorities."

Umm… the majority and minority have different rights in this country??

And here I thought I lived in America, where everyone has equal rights…

-Emily

The Quotable Emily

The Ubiquitous Flying Blue Blog - one of my new favorite writers...

Les Aaron has a great response to all this domestic spying nonsense:
http://lesaaron.blogspot.com/2006/02/cranking-up-lying-machine.html

My brief response:

It's a rule of thumb. In anything, if you have to make an argument that the ends justify the means, then you definitely are not taking the moral high ground.


-Emily

Cool Website

I found this randomly while looking for something totally different... but isn't it cool?

http://extrasolar.spaceart.org

Thought I would share...

-Emily