Bolton Compromise

One of John R. Bolton's leading Republican backers, Senator John McCain of Arizona, signaled his support on Friday for a compromise in which the White House might allow Senate leaders access to highly classified documents in return for a final vote early next month on Mr. Bolton's nomination as United Nations ambassador.

Why do the Democrats have to "compromise" for their right to view relevant documents?

The Right vs. Moyers

Bill Moyers gave an historic speech last Sunday in St. Louis, a clarion defense of quality journalism and public broadcasting from the partisan attacks of the White House and its minions at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

The speech is ricocheting around the Internet and has been broadcast nationwide on TV and radio. The right-wing responded by going into attack mode. On Thursday, Rush Limbaugh went apoplectic, unleashing an on-air tirade against Moyers. Limbaugh had taken a break from his golf game to watch a few minutes of the hour-long speech on C-SPAN2 because he’d heard “my name was taken in vain so often.” (And Limbaugh accuses Moyers of having a God complex.)

Moyers’ speech didn’t mention Limbaugh once. But Rush may have recognized himself in a few of Moyers’ pronouncements. For instance: “The more compelling our journalism, the angrier the radical right of the Republican Party gets. That’s because the one thing they loathe more than liberals is the truth. And the quickest way to be damned as a liberal is to tell the truth.”

from :
Rush to JudgmentLimbaugh Leads the Echo Chamber’s Attack on Bill Moyers
by Craig Aaron and Timothy Karr

Infiltrating Bilderberg 2005

The annual secret meeting of the Bilderberg group determines many of the headlines and news developments you will read about in the coming months. But the Establishment media completely black it out. With the exception of half-a-dozen high ranking members of the press who are sworn to secrecy, few have ever heard of the exclusive and secretive group called The Bilderbergers.

President Rice?

US News & World Report:
Rice Wants It--But in Draft Form Political associates of Secretary of State Condi Rice are stirring the 2008 presidential pot on her behalf. While she takes the high road, they're pushing her name out there. "She definitely wants to be president," said one. But, the friend added, Rice isn't planning on quitting to run. "She wants to be drafted," he said.

Coulter vs. Moyers

Ann Coulter's columns are usually about attacking someone. This weeks target: Bill Moyers. Her charge: He's a liberal (of course, just about anyone is a liberal compared to Coulter).

Here's a comparison of the two "journalist's" public recognition:

Bill Moyers awards:
numerous Emmy Awards;
Ralph Lowell medal for contribution to public television;
George Peabody awards, 1976, 1980, 1985-86, 1988-90;
DuPont/Columbia Silver Baton award, 1979, 1986, 1988;
Gold Baton award, 1991;
George Polk awards, 1981, 1986.

Ann Coulter awards:
still looking...

Coulter wrote: "Moyers has clearly reached the next-to-last stage of the megalomaniac's life cycle: the persecution complex." But I don't think it was him that was still whining about pies being thrown at him half a year ago...

Coulter wrote: "If it were possible that he actually believed in God..." Hey Ann! Did you know he's an ordained Baptist Minister?

Coulter wrote: "In his lengthy diatribe against Rice, Moyers said she had cried wolf, intentionally misleading 'America and the world about the case for invading Iraq.'" Guess what Ann, she did. But I guess, since you watch Fox News, you haven't heard about the "Downing Street Memo."

And she goes on and on: "Moyers also said the agenda of the coming theocracy 'includes using the taxing power to transfer wealth from working people to the rich.'" Since non-partisan economists all across America (and the World) indicate that this is what is actually happening, it is understandable that the only response she could come up with was "And we'd appreciate it if you poor people would fold the bills a little more neatly before mailing them in next time."
Leave it to Ann Coulter to make a not-funny joke about a not-funny topic.

For the Oil...

I have heard the Right make this point many times: If we (the United States) attacked Iraq for the oil, why aren't gas prices cheaper?

Today, Ann Coulter made this point in her collumn: "But as regular viewers of PBS know, in fact, we invaded Iraq for oil. Yes, precisely. That's why U.S. forces seized Iraq's oil fields right after Baghdad fell, confiscated their vast oil reserves, and now we can buy all the gasoline we want here at home for just pennies a gallon any time we want. Sorry, we what? Folks, my switchboard is completely lit up and this isn't even a radio show. "

They keep acting like the Bush Administration does things for "the people." Meanwhile, as Coulter points out, gasoline prices are sky high. And who is making huge profits? The oil companies...

Has the Military Industrial Complex and the Oil companies made huge profits from the Iraq War? YES
Have the Iraqi people, the US people, and the Iraqi and US peacekeepers? NO

Check the Dates

In the furor last week over a Newsweek item, since retracted, saying that Americans at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, flushed the Koran down a toilet while interrogating Muslim detainees, it was noted that the Defense Department had issued instructions on the proper treatment of the Koran. The instructions were contained in a memo released by the Joint Detention Operation Group - JDOG - to all its personnel at Guantánamo in January 2003.

In the latest disclosure, declassified FBI reports showed that detainees at the U.S. naval prison in Cuba told FBI and military interrogators on a number of occasions as early as April 2002 three months after the first prisoners arrived at the makeshift prison that guards abused them and desecrated the Quran.

Women's Suffrage Update

Kuwait’s Parliament granted full voting rights women last week, a surprising reversal: two weeks earlier, a similar measure was defeated.
Women’s suffrage has been entwined with other struggles. Canadian women won the right to vote in 1917 — except for native Americans. They (and native men) were denied the vote until 1960. Likewise, Australia gave most women the vote in 1902, but its aboriginal population had to wait six more decades.
New Zealand led the way with universal suffrage in 1893.

Here is a timeline showing when some countries — from democracies to dictatorships — granted women the vote, and some others that have yet to do so.

CBS News Poll

Six in ten Americans say the president does not share their priorities, while just 34 percent say he does.

Overall, slightly more Americans (48 percent) disapprove of the job the president is doing than approve (46 percent).

Asked to name the most important problem facing the country, 19 percent of those polled cited the economy, 19 percent the war in Iraq, 7 percent terrorism and 5 percent Social Security.

Although he's spent months on the road campaigning for Social Security reform, Mr. Bush still gets only a 26 percent approval rating for his handling of the issue and the public remains skeptical about his signature plan for private Social Security accounts.

Although a slim majority of Americans, 52 percent, now say the economy is in good shape, Mr. Bush's approval rating on the economy is just 38 percent – a slight increase since last month. Approval of the president's handling of Iraq remained virtually unchanged at 38 percent. But after another violent month, a majority of Americans, 57 percent, again say things there are going badly for the U.S. in Iraq; 41 percent say things are going well.

LINK

Right-wing bloodlust

Radio hosts Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly continued the noble tradition of right-wing pundits fantasizing about death and destruction:

Glenn Beck, May 17: "Hang on, let me just tell you what I'm thinking. I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out -- is this wrong?"

Bill O'Reilly, May 17: "Go to LATimes.com. I want everybody in the country to read this editorial, 'cause it just -- I mean, you'll be sitting there pounding the table like I did. How can they -- how can they think this way? How can anyone think this way? You know, 'Shutting down Guantánamo and giving suspected terrorists legal protections would help restore our reputation abroad.' No, it wouldn't. I mean that's like saying, well, if we're nicer to the people who want to KILL US, then the other people who want to KILL US will like us more. Does that make any sense to you? Do you think Osama [bin Laden] is gonna be more favorably disposed to the U.S. if we give the Guantánamo people lawyers? I mean, but this is what they're saying. It is just -- you just sit there, you go, 'They'll never get it until they grab Michael Kinsley out of his little house and they cut his head off.' And maybe when the blade sinks in, he'll go, 'Perhaps O'Reilly was right.'"

The Right vs. PBS

Among the recent developments:

Media Matters detailed a series of misleading claims Tomlinson made during an interview on National Public Radio (NPR).

The New York Times and The Washington Post have both falsely claimed that Tomlinson hired two ombudsmen, one liberal and one conservative. In fact, one is a fellow at a right-wing think tank and endorsed the Republican candidate for governor of Indiana last year. And he's the "liberal."

Bill Moyers gave a speech at the National Conference for Media Reform in which he offered a devastating critique of Tomlinson's efforts to hijack public broadcasting: "I was naïve, I guess. I simply never imagined that any CPB chairman, Democrat or Republican, would cross the line from resisting White House pressure to carrying it out for the White House. But that's what Kenneth Tomlinson has done."

Free Press and Common Cause have launched petitions targeting Tomlinson.

Check out www.MediaMatters.org for more about public broadcasting in the coming days.

Newsweek Story was Old News

Declassified FBI reports showed that detainees at the U.S. naval prison in Cuba told FBI and military interrogators on a number of occasions as early as April 2002 three months after the first prisoners arrived at the makeshift prison that guards abused them and desecrated the Quran.

The Pentagon is conducting an internal investigation of reported abuse at the prison camp, but has declined to say what it has found.

According to the FBI documents, a detainee interviewed in August 2002 said guards had flushed the Koran in the toilet. Others reported the Koran being kicked, withheld as punishment, and thrown on the floor, and said they were mocked during prayers, the ACLU said on its Web site.

FCC Calls for Payola Crackdown

Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein :
"We see reports of video news releases masquerading as independent, legitimate news,"
"PR agents pushing political and commercial agendas that squeeze out real news coverage and local community concerns; product placements turning news and entertainment shows alike into undisclosed commercials; and well-trained marketers preying on the unsuspecting minds of our young children."
Such activities demonstrate "a shocking lack of awareness about our rules by broadcasters and on-air personalities alike," Adelstein said. "Both are required to disclose. Undisclosed promotions are not just wrong - they are payola, and they are illegal."

I strongly agree with his comments, but where was he when the Whitehouse was caught doing the same thing?

Jimmy Carter: Erosion of the Nonproliferation Treaty

Jimmy Carter writes an editorial about the Erosion of the Nonproliferation Treaty

Weekly Airspace Scare Time

A Little over a week ago, I questioned the rules of engagement concerning DC airspace (see Airspace scares become the norm and Order to Shoot). Today, there is confusion over whether Rumsfeld gave an order to shoot down a plane yesterday. The latest episode of airspace violations has done nothing to help me understand.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to talk about the military's specific rules of engagement involving incursions by aircraft into restricted air space around the U.S. capital region. But he said if the situation had reached a certain point, commanders with the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, would have asked for Rumsfeld's involvement.

I'm still trying to find out what the rules of engagement are for a plane flying over DC. Right after 9/11, the media made it sound like Bush had to give the order.

Yesterday, a U.S. Homeland Security official confirmed an Associated Press account that discussions are underway about transferring the duties of the customs aircraft to the U.S. Coast Guard. Airborne customs agents, as law enforcement officers, have discretion to use lethal force against pilots if lives are threatened. For the military to down a civilian aircraft, the order must come through a strict chain of command. The Coast Guard can follow rules of engagement similar to the military, officials said.

HEY - here's the answer! Except it's a non-answer:
Mr. Whitman said he could not go into details because the Pentagon does not divulge rules of engagement. Those rules, instituted after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which included a commercial jet crashing into the Pentagon, cover situations in which to shoot down unresponsive aircraft.

Chalabi Pardon???

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has asked Jordan's King Abdullah to absolve Ahmad Chalabi of crimes for which Jordan sentenced him, in absentia, to prison. Chalabi was sentenced in 1992 to 22 years in prison on charges of fraud and embezzlement. He was alleged to have been involved in the bankruptcy of a bank he ran in Amman, the Jordanian capital. Chalabi escaped from Jordan and never served any time.

Controversial Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi would not accept any pardon from Jordan in connection with his conviction for bank fraud, his spokesman said on Friday. Jordanian officials said in Amman on Thursday that the kingdom was considering a request by Iraq to pardon former Pentagon ally Chalabi, but would insist on the return of millions of dollars he was convicted of embezzling.

Bush In Greece (New York)

THE PRESIDENT: You are Audrey Ceglinski.
MRS. CEGLINSKI: That's right. I'm a 70-year-old widow.
THE PRESIDENT: Don't ever say your age. (Laughter.)
MRS. CEGLINSKI: Oh, that's -- I have no problem. Don't ask me my weight,though.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. (Laughter and applause.) Reminds me of my mother.(Laughter.)
(later)
THE PRESIDENT: Heading toward 80.
MRS. CEGLINSKI: That's right.
THE PRESIDENT: Right around the corner. You look great.
MRS. CEGLINSKI: Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: You look like 100 to me. That's where you're going to be.Thirty more years?
MRS. CEGLINSKI: I'll remind you of that. (Laughter.)
TEXT
NPR AUDIO

Zinn vs. Discouragement

In 1963, historian Howard Zinn was fired from Spelman College, where he was chair of the History Department, because of his civil rights activities. This year, he was invited back to give the commencement address. Here is the text of that speech, given on May 15, 2005.

Who is Ron Paul?

Ron Paul, 70, the unorthodox congressman from Lake Jackson, holds no top positions on Capitol Hill and rarely angles for dollars for roads and bridges for his reshaped 14th District.

ANTI-STEMCELL
The House on a 430-1 vote approved an alternate bill that would pay for research on stem cells extracted from umbilical-cord blood, with Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, a physician who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology, casting the only vote against the bill.

ANTI-WTO
U.S. law provides the opportunity for Congress to vote on the United States' participation in the WTO every five years. Rep. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, and Rep. Ron Paul, a Texas Republican, two long-time critics of the WTO, introduced legislation in March that would require Washington to quit the global trade body if approved.
A similar resolution offered five years ago by Paul was defeated 56-363 in a bipartisan vote.

ANTI-TROOP SPENDING
Ron Paul almost always goes against the grain. He recently cast one of the few votes against President Bush's emergency spending for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

PRO-SPYWARE
The Internet Spyware Prevention Act of 2005 would make it a crime to install software on a computer if that software will be used to break a law, transmit personal information or try to bypass the computer's security measures. Violators would face up to five years in prison. Although the bill passed overwhelmingly, there was a single Nay vote: Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas.

Franken vs. Coulter

Capitalism Magazine

Lies.com

The Ann Coulter and Al Franken Fan Club

Lyinglier.com

Thanks to Brenda for the idea

Rice gets Goebbels Award

May 19, 2005 (gregpalast.com)—"It's appalling that this story got out there," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on her way back from Iraq.
What's not appalling to Condi is that the US is holding prisoners at Guantanamo under conditions termed "torture" by the Red Cross. What's not appalling to Condi is that prisoners of the Afghan war are held in violation of international law after that conflict has supposedly ended. What is not appalling to Condi is that prisoner witnesses have reported several instances of the Koran's desecration.
What is appalling to her is that these things were reported. So to Condi goes to the Joseph Goebbels Ministry of Propaganda Iron Cross.

Limbaugh and Coulter think the NAACP is against Brown because she's black

LIMBAUGH: If there's a party that's out there slowly and surely becoming racist and bigoted, it's the Democrats, and you can see it simply and very concisely in their treatment of this nominee, Justice Brown.

COULTER: Democrats oppose Janice Rogers Brown because she's black.

HILARY SHELTON, DIRECTOR, NAACP WASHINGTON: Janice Rogers Brown has a record of hostility to fundamental civil and constitutional rights principles, and she is committed to using her power as a judge to twist the law in ways that undermine those principles.

Get Over It, Ann!

Ann Coulter's latest collumn once again is about........CLINTON. Can she ever write something that doesn't mention a Clinton???

Galloway's Words of Mass Destruction

"I met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is that Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns, and to give him maps the better to target those guns." --George Galloway, Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, 05/17/05

"I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims, did not have weapons of mass destruction," said Galloway. "I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to al-Qaeda. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11 2001. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning. Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong, and 100,000 people paid with their lives; 1600 of them American soldiers sent to their deaths on a pack of lies; 15,000 of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies."

LINK

Iraqi journalists 'disappear' in US army hands

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). is demanding an explanation from US and Iraqi military forces regarding the whereabouts of least eight Iraqi journalists who have been detained since March 2005.A US military spokesman told CPJ that the journalists pose a "security risk to the Iraqi people and coalition forces." No further details were given. All work for Western news organisations. None of the journalists have been formally charged. Two are thought to be missing employees of Agence France-Presse - reporter Ammar Daham Naef Khalaf, who was detained by U.S. troops on 11 April in Ramadi, and photographer Fares Nawaf al-Issaywi, who was arrested in Fallujah on 1 May. A third individual reportedly works for CBS News. Another detainee, Hassan al-Shummari, reports for the privately owned satellite station Diyar TV, says CPJ. He was detained in Diyala province in March or early April and remains in custody. US officials have often alleged that some Iraqi journalists collaborate with Iraqi insurgents. But the military have rarely tried to provided evidence to substantiate their claims.

Newsweek, Bush, and "got it wrong" Apologies

The White House on Wednesday suggested one way for Newsweek magazine to repair any damage from a story that outraged the Muslim world and triggered deadly anti-American protests in Afghanistan. Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan urged the magazine's editors to take their case straight to the Muslim community, by appearing on Arab television.

Oh really??? And is Bush going to go on Arab television and apologize for getting the whole WMD thing wrong?

Hypocrisy and Underwear

A British and an American newspaper published a full-page photograph of Saddam Hussein in his underwear and other pictures of him in his jail cell, sparking a US military inquiry and allegations from human rights advocates that the humiliating photos violate Geneva Conventions guidelines on the treatment of prisoners of war.

Trent Duffy, the White House spokesman, said Bush ''strongly supports the aggressive and thorough investigation that is already underway" by the military.

But where was the outrage when he was captured and the US Military released pictures just as humiliating?

How the White House hand-picks 'public' for fake 'town hall meetings'

The memo went on to solicit several types of people "who he would like to visit with" — including a young worker who "knows that [Social Security] could run out before they retire," a young couple with children who like "the idea of leaving something behind to the family" and a single parent who believes Bush's proposal for individual investment accounts "would provide more retirement options and security" than the current system.

The people solicited appeared to represent various arguments that Bush has been making for why Social Security should be overhauled. The memo requested an immediate response, because "we will need to get names to the White House."

from the Smirking Chimp

Eywitness Account of Galloway before the Senate

There should have been 13 senators present, but only two turned up. Perhaps the missing team knew better about what was to come than Norm Coleman and Carl Levin.

In the shadowy background was also Ahmed Chalabi, a man convicted of massive fraud in Jordan, whose machinations were crucial in moving President George W Bush to war. Chalabi had been in charge of the Iraqi oil ministry after the fall, was then raided by US forces and accused of corruption, but is now back in charge of the oil industry and is one of the top Iraqi officials running the country. The strong suspicion was that Chalabi had a hand in “finding” the documents.

Read the Story here

Oil for Food & Bush Political Friends and Family

Online Journal article

Tyranny of the Minority

"The moment draws closer when all 100 United States senators must decide a basic question of principle, whether to restore the precedent of an up or down vote...or to enshrine a new tyranny of the minority into the Senate rules,'' Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said on Monday.

I find this statement ridiculous and ironic. The fillibuster is designed to protect against a Tyranny of the Majority.

In his book First Democracy, Paul Woodruff explains why a tyranny of the majority, also known as "mob rule," can be such a problem:
"Mob rule is plainly a kind of tyranny; it frightens and excludes and puts the minority under the absolute power of the majority. And the tyranny of the majority kills freedom as dead as any other form of tyranny. It's not freedom if you have to join the majority in order to feel that you are free. Defenders of democracy say that it puts restraints on the power of majorities, primarily the rule of law. If the majority rises above the law, it is playing the part of tyrant. Also, in the interests of harmony, most democracies have devised practical methods of ensuring that the interests of minorities are not trampled. The effect of rule by a majority party is rarely democratic, whatever ideals the party claims to represent. When majority rule is absolute, as it is in safe voting districts, the party is able to keep many interests and issues out of discussion. "

TRIVIA: The record for the longest individual (fillibuster) speech goes to South Carolina's J. Strom Thurmond who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Iraq Numbers

21,795 to 24,735 civilians killed so far,
1,632 American soldiers killed, 12,111 plus wounded so far ,
14,522 American soldiers evacuated for non-combat injury or disease so far,
$ 171,354,009,173 borrowed and spent on war so far,

The Top 10 filibuster falsehoods

from Media Matters

Jeff Gannon

Counter Punch has a new article about Jeff Gannon and the lack of interest in the release of his White House logs.
The article also reprints Gannon's White House access logs with discrepencies and entries of interest noted.

Iraq interrogator gives details of Saddam jail conditions

LONDON: Saddam Hussein is being kept in a jail where the small, windowless cells have only a small ventilation flap from which to view the outside world, which can be locked as a punishment, a former interrogator said in an interview published late Saturday. Inmates spent 23 hours a day in their two-metre (6.7-foot) square cells at Camp Cropper, the top-secret Baghdad prison where Saddam and other former top members of his ousted Iraq regime are kept, he said. The revelations - two days after British and US newspapers printed photographs of a half-naked Saddam in his cell - came from Dr Rod Barton, an Australian who was once a senior weapons inspector in Iraq. There were around 100 prisoners kept at the “bleak” Camp Cropper, inside three rows of single-storey cell buildings, Barton, who conducted interrogations at the prison, told the Observer newspaper, published on Sunday. The only view to the outside from the cells was a ventilation flap about a metre (three feet) from the bottom of the steel doors, he said, giving no specific information about Saddam’s conditions. “Sometimes the prisoners would push the flap open to look out into the exercise yard or to get fresh air. The guards could lock the flap as punishment,” he told the paper. Exercise was on a rotation basis, and was half an hour per day before being increased to an hour following protests by the Red Cross, Barton added. afp

link to article

The Right Boycotts Star Wars

This article pointed me to PABAAH.com. On the site I found a list of actors to Boycott. They also have a petition to charge Michael Moore with treason.

Here is their boycott list:
The following celebrities have betrayed America during its time of need and are on a boycott list being circulated... Their products will not be purchased, we will support them no longer!
F. Murray Abraham Pedro Almodovar Robert Altman Jennifer Aniston Gillian Anderson Christina Applegate Ed Asner Kevin Bacon Marcia Ball Alec Baldwin The Barenaked Ladies Drew Barrymore Kim Basinger Kathy Bates The Beastie Boys Warren Beatty Harry Belafonte Eric Benet Sandra Bernhard Mary J Blige Bono Peter Boyle Beau Bridges Jackson Browne Gabriel Byrne Jim Carrey Stockard Channing Chevy Chase Cher Don Cheadle Margaret Cho Jill Clayburgh David Clennon George Clooney Glen Close Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Paula Cole Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs Chris Cooper Peter Coyote James Cromwell Sheryl Crowe Alan Cumming Joan Cusak John Cusak Matt Damon Tyne Daley Geena Davis Ossie Davis Rosario Dawson Jonathan Demme Judy Dench Johnny Depp Leonardo DiCaprio Ani DiFranco The Dixie Chicks Vincent D’Onofrio Ileana Douglas Richard Dreyfuss David Duchovny Olympia Dukakis Kirsten Dunst Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit Charles S. Dutton Steve Earle Roger Ebert Hector Elizondo Cary Elwes Eminem Mike Farrell Mia Farrow Laurence Fishburne Jane Fonda Harrison Ford Al Franken Brendan Fraser Peter Gabriel Janeane Garafalo Teri Garr Richard Gere Greg Germann Melissa Gilbert Danny Glover Elliott Gould Hugh Grant Melanie Griffith Robert Guillaume Jake Gyllenhaal Maggie Gyllenhaal Larry Hagman Marcia Gay Harden Woody Harrelson Ed Harris Ethan Hawke Selma Hayek Dustin Hoffman Ron Howard Helen Hunt Anjelica Huston Chrissy Hynde Natalie Imbruglia Jeremy Irons Peter Jackson Samuel L. Jackson Elton John Angelina Jolie Jane Kaczmarek Melina Kanakaredes Casey Kasem Maynard Keenan (Tool) Nicole Kidman Stephen King Ben Kingsley Sally Kirkland Nathan Lane Jessica Lange Anthony Lapaglia Queen Latifah Heath Ledger Spike Lee Annie Lennox Tea Leoni George Lucas Joana Lumley Kelly Lynch Madonna Wendie Malick Camryn Manheim Rob Marshall Chris Martin of the band Coldplay/Mr. Paltrow Marsha Mason Dave Matthews Sir Ian Mckellan John Cougar Mellencamp Natalie Merchant Moby Julianne Moore Esai Morales Alanis Morissette Shelly Morrison Viggo Mortensen Willie Nelson Randy Newman Nick Nolte Ed Norton Chris Noth Rosie O'Donnell Ed O'Neill Ozzy Osbourne Al Pacino Gwyneth Paltrow Sarah Jessica Parker Alexandra Paul Sean Penn Barry Pepper Jeremy Piven CCH Pounder Jonathan Pryce (REM)Peter Buck and Michael Stipe Bonnie Raitt Robert Redford Lou Reed Carl Reiner Rob Reiner Eric Roberts Julia Roberts Tim Robbins Chris Rock Linda Ronstadt Carlos Santana Susan Sarandon Anabella Sciorra Jane Seymour Martin Sheen Martin Scorsese Tony Shalhoub Will Smith Kevin Spacey Bruce Springsteen Howard Stern Sting Oliver Stone Sharon Stone Marcia Strassman Meryl Streep Barbara Streisand Loretta Swit Jay Thomas Heather Thomas Emma Thompson Uma Thurman Marisa Tomei Lily Tomlin Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam Andrew Lloyd Webber Will Wheaton Bradley Whitford James Whitmore Robin Williams Alfre Woodard Noah Wyle Michael York Neil Young Renee Zellweger Imports From: France
STUDIOS: Miramax Lions Gate
Theatres: AMC Canadia.n Multi-Cinema Inc. Regal Cinemas (UA, Hoyts) Loews Cineplex Corporation Landmark Theaters Cinemark USA Century Theatres Inc. Signature Theatres John Kerasotes Theaters

here's the link, but you will need to register. REMINDER: you can always open a new, free email address at yahoo or hotmail, etc. and then use that email account to register at websites you don't quite trust.

Here's their explanation for why to boycott Star Wars, though it mostly quotes a news article:

When will Hollywood learn? George Lucas and his intergalactic empire have now been added to our official boycott list. Sad...but necessary. A bigger Star Wars fan you'll never find...until now. Our country is at war and Lucas spouts off this crap?
Star Wars a cautionary tale about politics
Star Wars is a wakeup call to Americans about the erosion of democratic freedoms under George W. Bush, George Lucas said yesterday.
Lucas, at a Cannes film festival press conference yesterday, said he first wrote the framework of Star Wars in 1971 when reacting to then-U.S. president Richard Nixon and the events of the Vietnam War. But the story still has relevance today, he said, and is part of a pattern he has noticed in history.
"I didn't think it was going to get quite this close," he said of the parallels between the Nixon era and the Bush presidency, which has been sacrificing freedoms in the interests of national security.
"It is just one of those re-occuring things. I hope this doesn't come true in our country. Maybe the film will awaken people to the situation of how dangerous it is . . . The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we are doing now in Iraq are unbelievable."
In the latest film, the Palpatine character takes over as ruler of the universe with the co-operation of the other politicians.
"Because this is the back story (of the Star Wars saga), one of the main features of the back story was to tell how the Republic became the Empire," Lucas said.
"At the time I did that, it was during the Vietnam War and the Nixon era. The issue was: How does a democracy turn itself over to a dictator? Not how does a dictator take over, but how does a democracy and Senate give it away?"
Lucas cited the Roman empire in the wake of Caesar's death, France after the revolution and Hitler's rise in Germany as historical examples of countries giving themselves over to dictators.
"They all seem to happen in the same way with the same issues: Threats from the outside; they need more control; and a democratic body not being able to function properly because everybody's squabbling."
Lucas earned applause for his comments before joining actors Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman (who has shaved her head for a new role), Samuel L. Jackson, Ian McDiarmid and Anthony Daniels in a free-wheeling discussion of Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge Of The Sith, which made its world premiere last night out-of- competition.
This was before the Cannes brass presented Lucas with an honour called "the trophy of the festival." http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/Today/2005/05/16/1041465-sun.html

I find the line "when will Hollywood learn?" humorous. Learn what? Well, whatever it is, they probably won't learn it this time, now that the movie has broken box office records.

Patterns of Abuse

President Bush said the other day that the world should see his administration's handling of the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison as a model of transparency and accountability.

HA!

Here's an article from the NY Times