Senator Obama Hate Mail

Senator Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. (D - IL)(Official Government Page)
There is e-mail circulating that is hateful toward Senator Barack Obama. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not a member of Team Obama, but I received an e-mail this week with a seemingly harmless picture of him that was negatively interpreted by the sender. It appears that it is being forwarded into infinity.

I prepared this for posting last night, but decided to wait until tonight. Just before I was ready to post, I saw an article about this picture and the accompanying e-mail. According to Senator Obama the picture was taken in September during Iowa Senator Tom Harkin's annual Democratic fundraiser, and Obama says the national anthem was playing.

Senator Obama, Governor Richardson and Senator Clinton

The e-mail included the above picture. Obama is the only one who does not have his hand over his heart. The text under it indicated that Obama refused to put his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag at a political rally.

I hasten to state that putting ones hand over ones heart is not mandatory while the National Anthem is playing, nor for the Pledge. Putting ones hand over ones heart under those circumstances is a voluntary sign of respect. The last time I checked there are no "hand over heart" police in the U.S.A.

In the same e-mail, the sender immediately pointed out that, " . . . his full name is Barack Hussein Obama. Yes, Hussein." By associating Obama with that bad guy Saddam Hussein who used to live in Iraq, it implied that Obama is evil, although Obama was named for his father. Hence, the Jr., but the person so quick to misjudge him didn't know that.

The name Hussein is Arabic, it means good, small, handsome. Hussein is usually associated with a prominent person in Islam and can denote royalty in Jordan. Saddam Hussein was a prominent person in Islam and handsome when he was young, but he was neither small nor good. So much for the meaning of names.

Deriders also love to point out that Barack Obama's name sounds like Osama, as in Bin Laden, too. Making associations such as these name associations is a propaganda technique called "inference by association."

More about the picture. In today's world where digital photography is growing ever more sophisticated, anyone can manufacture a picture about anything. A picture may have been worth a thousand words years ago, but today a picture is not always what it seems to be.

Today, anyone can literally "make" a picture out of anything without ever "taking" a picture. It's called "photo schlocking". I considered that this picture might be photo schlock, but the senator says it is genuine.

Remember the picture of O.J. Simpson as the third Beltway sniper that flew around the Web? There are photo schlocks of Obama. One shows him with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. The original black and white picture was made before Obama was born. Here is an example of a photo schlock someone made using Senator Obama:

The next e-mail I received stated that Obama is Muslim, going on to say, "I for one do not want a Muslim president." This is blatantly incorrect. Obama is a Christian and a member of the United Church of Christ. Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, to be specific. His name may be a common one among Muslim men, and his father was a Muslim, but Obama was raised by his Christian American mother.

Please, never believe any e-mail that someone forwards to you, especially if it comes from someone you do not know. If you receive e-mail that goes down the slippery slope towards ignorance, misinformation and possibly hatred, please analyze it carefully before reacting to it, and especially before forwarding it to someone else.

I definitely analyze such e-mail. Then, I fire right back to the person (sometimes everyone that forwarded the junk), dispute the accusations in the e-mail, and tell them that I do not wish to receive such junk, derogatory and/or hate mail. I do that even when I know the person who sent it to me. It's amazing how much less e-mail I now receive. Halleluiah!

AL GORE WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

The Nobel Committee awarded their 2007 Peace Prize to former Vice President Albert Gore, Jr., and cited his, "strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, [that] has strengthened the struggle against climate change. . . [he is] probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted" to combat climate change. The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was named as a joint winner of the prize.

Gore plans to donate his half of the $1.5 million prize money to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan nonprofit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion worldwide about the urgency of solving the climate crisis. The last American to win the Nobel Peace Prize, or share it, was former President Jimmy Carter, who received it in 2002.

Gore won an Academy Award® (Oscar®) earlier this year for the documentary, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, a warning about global warming and what can be done about it. See my Universal Mind Warp blog blog.

I don't think G.W. Bush will ever win a the Nobel Peace Prize, and certainly he will never win an Oscar. He may have gotten the title of President of the United States through dubious means, but I do not think any educated person will ever use his name and peace in the same sentence, unless the connotation is negative!

So, what words of congratulations did G.W. offer the man who was once considered the next President of the U.S.? None. Instead, according to ABC News, he issued a terse statement, "Obviously it is an important recognition, and we're sure the Vice President is thrilled." Sour grapes?

0 - -* * - - 0

NEW ADDITION: After I posted this, I watched "Saturday Night Live" (NBC). One of the segments I try not to miss is "Weekend Update." Last night, Amy Poehler said, "Yesterday, Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the environment. The Supreme Court immediately reversed that decision and awarded it to G. W. Bush."

Also, they did a sketch about Gore's awards, and I realized I had forgotten to write here that Gore was awarded an Emmy last month in a new category, "Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Television" for founding and implementing the first Internet interactive online network, Current TV, which he co-founded with businessman Joel Hyatt. Actually, the award was awarded to Current Network, but everyone knew it was for Gore and Hyatt who accepted on behalf of the network.

However, Current is suspended for improvements and will have a re-launch 16 October, it will be known only as Current.com, losing TV in the name. It is headquartered in San Francisco. G.W. never responded to this Emmy win.

I doubt G.W. even knows how to turn on a computer. Had Al Gore been able to assume the office of president to which the majority of American's voted he do in 2000, there is no doubt in my mind that I, living in a rural area, would now be able to access the Internet using a better connection than 45 kpbs dial-up. Yep. I'm bitter.

ROVE, PART III - ROVE GONE BUT NOT LEGAL PROBLEMS

FINAL - PART 3 OF 3 - ROVE'S LEGAL PROBLEMS

Three posts on the subject of Karl Rove preceded this one, Part I of III; Part II, A; and Part II, B. You might want to read them in order by scrolling down to Part I of III (Part One).

Where are all those supposed "experts" who pontificate on television and those crack-shot investigative reporters? What do they know about Karl Rove? Why don't they "sick" their crack investigative teams, or at least a few German Shepherds, on Rove and find truthful answers about his past?

Perhaps, Rove will eventually reveal all with easily checked authentic information, not speculations on the Internet. However, probably not until he publishes that yet undisclosed book for which he will sign a multi-million dollar deal. Can we trust him to write the truth? More importantly, does he even know the truth? Or, as my grandmother would say, "If truth was a snake, it would have bitten him by now." Maybe not, Grandma.

Now, we learn Karl Rove has a family of his own and, glory be, it includes one child at least, a son with his second wife Darby Tara Hickson, whom Rove married in 1986. Wikipedia is not the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and you can't quote it even in a first grade paper but, often as not, the information there is correct. According to Wikipedia, the son Andrew Madison Rove was born in 1989 [same year Rove's mother committed suicide], and Andrew is currently an undergraduate at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

That son is Rove's primary excuse for leaving his good buddy George standing in a pile of political rubble now that the fictional land of "Bushoz," which Rove so painstakingly created for Bush, has collapsed. Rove is leaving the White House for his family? Bull shards!

Here's something else I found on Wikipedia. Rove left Texas in late 2000 after Bush was illegaly elected president. Rove now owns a house in DC that is valued at $1.1 million. Rove sold his long-time home in Austin in 2003. After that, Rove registered to vote in Kerr County, Texas, about 80 miles west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country.

The residence that Rove claims on Texas voter registration rolls consists of two small rental cottages, the largest of which is 814 square feet. There had been a lodge on the property, but the Rove's sold that. Darby T. Rove, his wife, is listed as a director of Estadio Partners, LLC., the new owner of the lodge.

In early October 2005, a resident of Kerr County filed a complaint with the District Attorney of the county, requesting an investigation into whether Rove and his wife violated Texas state law by illegally registering as voters in Kerr County, since neither had ever lived there, and they have a residence in D.C. Texas law defines a residence, for voting purposes, as "one's home and fixed place of habitation to which one intends to return after any temporary absence."

On November 3, 2005, Rex Emerson, the District Attorney, announced that he had determined there was insufficient evidence to prosecute either Rove or his wife, and that his office would close the case without further action. Well, what did you expect? I am writing about Texas afterall.

Concurrent with this, the Roves have also claimed a homestead exemption on the house in DC, although it is illegal to do that if one is registered to vote elsewhere. He got caught and paid back almost $4,000 in taxes he had not paid. No other legal penalty extracted.

Rove, only a high school graduate, made up his life and doctored resumes in order to teach a course at a Texas university and sit in the White House West Wing next door to a president of the United States. What is the harm in a little doctoring of one's resume and stretching the point in voter registration, homestead exemption, or condemning those so-called hanging chads? It's a wonder the didn't incarcerate those chads and throw away the key!

One would think that Rove, at the very least, would be branded a liar. Not Rove. Surrounded by a den of liars, he waltzes through his lies. Of course, he has told so many, and written so many for Bush, that he may be on the verge of a nervous breakdown because he can no longer determine what his truth is. That last statement relates back to the previous question, . . . does he even know the truth?

It gets worse. Rove has apparently broken at least one Federal law, one of the worst anyone can break. He may have revealed the name of a CIA covert spy, and doing so could result in the death penalty, if convicted. However, since the spy in this case was a woman, and a woman married to a man who revealed the truth that Saddam Hussein was NOT buying nuclear material in Africa thereby removing the reason to invade Iraq . . . . Quick guys, sweep guys, sweep it under the rug. And they did, but they hung the Albatross around Scooter Libby's neck.

"Poor Scooter," as Ann Richards, late former Governor of Texas, might have said, "He had his prison sentence commuted by the president, and his fine paid by his rich Republican cronies." Poor Scooter, indeed!

Rove must think he got away with all the lies. However, it is not over. "Tricky Dickey" Nixon thought he had gotten away with what he did, too. He didn't. Rove will not, either.

Goebbels went mad when he realized the war was lost. In the same bunker under Berlin where Hitler shot his lover Ava Braun and then himself, Goebbels poisoned his six children, shot his wife and himself.

One day, perhaps soon, some little birdie who had his/her wings clipped by the Nazi-like hatchet man for Bush will eventually sing. Some in the U.S. Justice Department pricked up their ears the day Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation. There's always hope as long as we protect our Democracy against power grabbers unless the devils we knew, Rove & Gonzales, turn our to be better than the devil we get, their replacements.

BYE, BYE, KARL ROVE!

ROVE, Part II, B -- COMPARING ROVE AND GOEBBELS

Rove and Bush -- Best Buds
NOTE: See below for previous posts about Karl Rove (PART I, and PART II, A)

Karl Christian Rove has been called "Bush's Brain." Joseph Goebbels is still called "The man behind Hitler". A comparison between these two men can be made.

Although no one knows for sure about anything connected to Rove, many incidents and his family connections are widely reported on the Internet. One is that in the 1990s when G.W. Bush was going to make a run at a gubernatorial race in Texas, he needed someone with a heart full of hate for Democrats to act out what G.W. wanted done without implicating himself. It's called transference. Transfer the bad thoughts and actions to someone else and keep thyself looking lily white. Richard Nixon was a master practitioner of transference and G.W. is as well. So, who best for G.W. to take onboard but lying, conniving Karl Rove?

When G.W. met Rove he had spent a little time working for the Democratic organization in Texas. Just enough time to steal documents from their office that would help the Republicans win elections -- think Watergate. Rove has never hidden his hatred of Democrats in general, as well as the then Texas Governor Ann Richards and those pesky Clintons of Arkansas in particular.

In 1942, Hitler said: "Dr. Goebbels was gifted with the two things without which the situation in Berlin [taking over Parliament and seizing complete power] could not have been mastered: verbal facility and intellect.

Hitler had good reason to praise his colleague, for it was Goebbels who had created the "führer myth," orchestrating a pseudo-religious worship of Hitler as the savior of Germany from Jews, profiteers, and Marxists. Hitler and Goebbels were best buds. Goebbels was always at Hitler's side. They practically lived together. Hu-u-u-um.

Now, let's do a transference of Goebbels to Rove the man, who in his role as chief spin doctor, created the 'God has chosen and blessed G.W. to be president of the United States myth,' orchestrating a pseudo-religious worship of G.W. as the savior of America from terrorists, abortionists, homosexuals, and Muslims. Hu-u-u-um.

Got the creeps yet? At any rate, you must admit that Rove is a master of "verbal facility". I am not so sure about the "intellect" part of this comparison, although Republicans are always touting how intelligent he is.

Joseph Goebbels was a short man, with one foot crippled from Polio. He walked with a limp and often used a cane [think Herr Flick on Allo' Allo']. Goebbels was a devout Roman Catholic consumed with hatred for Jews [think Mel Gibson], Marxists, and the then elected democratic Weimar Republic of Germany [think Francisco Franco of Spain].

Goebbels said in 1932, "We are entering the Reichstag [Parliament], in order that we may arm ourselves with the weapons of democracy from its arsenal. We shall become Reichstag deputies in order that the Weimar ideology should itself help us to destroy it." [Think neo-cons.]

The White House staff, along with other governmental agencies may have hidden many unsavory truths about Rove, because to reveal certain facts would curry the disfavor of Bush supporters. There are members of the American media who have gathered snippets about Rove's life, but all have failed to investigate the who, what, when, where and whys of Karl Rove. If they have unfavorable information about Rove, they, too, are not revealing it for the same reason as the White House. The media want those one-on-one interviews with the prez and are not about to risk any offense by tattling on Herr Rove.

Americans have been told relatively nothing about the man using the last name of Rove, which now is alleged not really to be his last name, because if his birth name is Rove, changed from the German Rover, Rovener, or Rovener when father Rove immigrated to the U.S., dear cherished Karl has direct genetic ties to a family in Germany who were not only Hitler supporters and built tanks and jeeps for his army, they were openly anti-Semitic, helping to build at least one concentration camp. Mission: Must get rid of that connection, so enter an unnamed man who deserted his family.

I have read that Rove has a dual citizenship with Germany, and I have read that his mother and "Rove" father did, too. What is the truth? When will it be revealed. Who is going to reveal it?

Again, mainly from the Internet, one will quickly surmise that there is nothing simple about Rove, nee Rover, nee Rovner, nee Rovener, or nee whatever the name of that new guy who has recently been revealed. New guy? Well, you see, the new guy is the last "father fact" to surface only a couple of years ago. Rove now says that the mysterious guy is his birth father. That's right. Rove is not Karl's birth name, according to this latest information.

He and his siblings were adopted by his mother's German-born second husband. There is a man, by an unrevealed name supposedly living in California, who is really Karl's birth father. Legally, Karl's last name is Rove.

Wikipedia [Okay, it's not the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and you can't quote it even in a first grade paper but, often as not, the information there is correct.] the son, Andrew Madison Rove was born in 1989 [same year Rove's mother committed suicide], has posted that Rove's biological father [name not given] abandoned the family early on and his mother remarried. The "name not given father" abandoned not only Rove's mother, Reba Wood, but an older brother Eric and younger sister Reba as well.

Rove's adoptive father [the one whose family has the Nazi past], Louis Claude Rove Jr., was a geologist and his mother, Reba Wood, was a gift shop manager. Karl's mother committed suicide in 1989 in Reno, Nevada. Gee, I can't imagine why.

As the soap opera continues to roll, Americans still don't known who Karl Rove REALLY is. [Think BOYS FROM BRAZIL].

More about Karl Rove (1), (2).

NEXT: PART III of III, Rove's Legal Problems and a not so fond final farewell [we can only hope about "final"].

ROVE, PART II, A - - LAST DAY FOR G.W.'S SPINMEISTER

You might want to read Part I of this four-part posting on Karl Rove first. Scroll down to Part I of III (Part One). Or, if you have already done that, now scroll up to Part II, B.

Today is Karl Christian Rove's last day at the White House as G.W. Bush's appointed "Secretary of Propaganda". Rove returned from Texas and traveling with his buddy G.W. a couple of days ago to find his Jaguar, parked in the lot adjacent to the West Wing, covered with plastic wrap. Two stuffed eagle toys were mounted on the trunk, and post-it notes on the car read "King Karl" and "I love Obama." The prank was apparently carried out by insiders as the parking area is heavily patrolled by the Secret Service.
See the video at CBS News.

Will Rove actually be gone? Hardly. A couple of weeks ago after he made his resignation statement 21 August, he immediately made the rounds on the Sunday political talk shows before flying off with G.W. Of course, he aimed his venom directly at Hillary Clinton. Rove is good with hate, and he has a lot of it pent up inside him.

G.W. Bush saw this over 16 years ago and immediately realized he could use Karl Rove. G.W. is good at using people for his own aggrandizement and power grabs. You see, G.W. needed a hatchet man knowledgeable in the propaganda techniques of Adolf Hitler's Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, and a man who hated democrats, homosexuals, abortionist as much as Goebbels hated Jews and Marxists. Rove was G.W.'s man.

Listen to Rove when he speaks and listen to what he writes for G. W., and it is easy to surmise that Rove despises all democrats and liberals. He constanly strings the two together in his rhetoric, the aim being to evoke in the mind of the listener negative images of both. He is very good at what he does, and he learned by studying the master, which brings us back to Joseph Goebbels.

Rove relishes making speeches in which he slurs democrats. He never says "the majority of . . ., many . . ., or most democrats." No he says all democrats collectively -- the Goebbels propaganda principal of picking a group (racial, political, intellectual, religious) and telling many defaming lies about them, over and over. At the same time, Goebbels sent others out to repeat exactly what he was saying. In propaganda it is called "the bandwagon effect." It works because, eventually, everyone seems to believe the same thing. Therefore, an individual hears it often from different sources and begins to think, "Everyone else must be right, and I better join them. Now!"

If someone keeps saying over and over that democrats are bad, liberals are bad, all democrats are liberals, all liberals are democrats, and saying it long enough and loud enough, over and over, while getting others to do the same, a listener is indoctrinated without consent and comes to believe all democrats are liberals, and all liberals are bad, or vice versa, therefore, democrats and liberals are bad, evil people. Thus comes hate and division and ultimately, chaos within society. Think, red v. blue states.

Here is the scenario. The general population is anxious and fearful, and some charismatic individual, preferably a male, steps forward and keeps saying, "I, and I alone, can run democrats and liberals out of office and end the chaos." Others are pointing to that individual saying, "He, and he alone, can run democrats and liberals out of office and end the chaos." Ironically, "the chaos" is never defined, but there must be chaos because everyone is talking about it.

Result? That individual, anointed by a few powerful people as the savior of all, wins the election, or in the worse case scenario becomes a dictator and, as was the case with the Nazis, implements the final solution -- physical extermination of all opposition.

Rove used many of Goebbels' propaganda techniques in order to steal elections from the residents of Texas as well as all Americans in the national elections. Many of the same techniques Hitler's guards in his Storm Section (Sturm Abteilung), or popularly known in English as (1) storm troopers and (2) SA Brown Shirts used to take control of the Parliament (Reichstag in Berlin) in 1933, Rove used in Texas and in the presidential elections, especially in the State of Florida. Remember the mobs that assaulted the polling places there in 2000?

Rove officially leaves the White House today, and today Tony Snow announced he is leaving his post as White House Press Secretary in two weeks. He will be replaced by deputy press secretary Dana Perino. Snow, who is battling colon cancer, says he's leaving to make more money.

Now, why couldn't Rove have said that. It would have been more honest than the usual mantra chanted by those departing government service, "I'm leaving to spend more time with my family." Of course, there's an unsung coda to that mantra where Rove is concerned, " Which is what I shall do as soon as I write that million-dollar-plus tell-all book."

MORE ABOUT GOEBBELS: (1) (2) MORE ABOUT NAZI GERMANY

TO BE CONTINUED . . . .

NEXT POST - ROVE, PART II, B - - In the next post, more about similarities between Karl Rove and the Joseph Goebbels propaganda machine. In later posts, what is Karl Rove's birth name and why is he now distancing himself from the Rove family?

GONZALES GONE

Alberto Gonzales, the nation's first Hispanic attorney general who served for a little over two years, announced his resignation this morning. This finally ends a nasty standoff between Gonzales and members of Congress over his honesty and competence at the helm of the Justice Department.

Republicans and Democrats alike have demanded his resignation over the botched handling of FBI terror investigations and the firings of U.S. attorneys, but President Bush defiantly stood by his Texas friend until accepting his resignation Friday. Bush was not by Gonzales' side when he made the formal announcement in D.C. this morning, as he was when Rove made his resignation statement.

Solicitor General Paul Clement will be acting attorney general until a replacement is found, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the announcement. Rumors are that Bush has no idea what name he will put forth for a confirmed appointment.

As attorney general and earlier as White House counsel, Gonzales pushed for expanded presidential powers, including authority to eavesdrop on American citizens. He drafted controversial rules for military war tribunals and sought to limit the legal rights of detainees at Guantanamo Bay — prompting lawsuits by civil libertarians who said the government was violating the Constitution in its pursuit of terrorists.

Then, there is the continuing flap over the fired prosecutors that proved to be the final straw for Gonzales, whose truthfulness in testimony to Congress was questioned. Some lawmakers said the dismissals of the federal prosecutors appeared to be politically motivated.

Thousands of documents released by the Justice Department show a White House plot, hatched shortly after the 2004 elections, to replace U.S. attorneys. At one point, senior White House officials, including Rove, suggested replacing all 93 prosecutors. In several House and Senate hearings into the firings, Gonzales and other Justice Department officials failed to fully explain the ousters without contradicting each other.

Gonzales, whom Bush once considered for appointment to the Supreme Court, is the fourth top-ranking administration official to leave since November 2006. Donald Rumsfeld, an architect of the failed Iraqi incursion, resigned as defense secretary one day after the November elections. Paul Wolfowitz, also a proponent of invading Iraq, agreed in May to step down as president of the World Bank after an ethics inquiry. Top Bush adviser Rove -- no doubt about where he came down about Iraq -- announced earlier this month that he was stepping down to spend more time with his family. Who among you believe that last one -- about the family, I mean?

Only Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice remains untouched and is scheduled to remain until Bush boards Air Force One for the last time. I guess that's because she's such a damn good crossword puzzle player with Bush, or it could be because she's done so damn little as secretary of state that, unlike Rumsfeld, Rove and Gonzales, she's managed to not get Congress in a flutter. Anyway, Gonzalez and Rove will officially, and hopefully, physically leave D.C. in September. Back to Texas both of you! Hooray!!

Some information for this post taken from an Associated Press Article. Read the complete article, without my comments and edits, at the Associated Press Web site, and read the one from Reuters.

KARL ROVE BYE-BYE? Part I of III

Karl Rove, the chief neo-conservative (a.k.a., neo-con) choked back tears as he made his final speech on the White House lawn before boarding the presidential helicopter for a free ride back to Texas last week with his good buddy G.W. Bush. Rove was, as usual, freeloading at U.S. taxpayers' expense. That's what he has been doing for years. Never elected to an office. Never a Senate-confirmed appointee. Nah. He's simply a good ole buddy of his boss G.W. who needs him 24-7. Yeah. Right.

Rove said he was leaving the White House because of his family, especially his son. Who knew? Karl Rove has a family? A son? Whoa. What rock have they been hiding under and why is Rove acknowledging them now?

So, what could be the real reason Karl Rove is leaving. I posture two reasons that would cause him to leave now:

1. Rove is, to borrow the elder Bush's phrase, in "deep doo doo," and could face prosecution due to his role in the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. It is best that he leave now and hope that if he is found guilty, a conviction that could carry the death penalty, G.W. will still be in office to give him a quick pardon before January 20, 2009. Can you say Scooter Libby?

2. Rove got full credit for G.W.'s elections as governor of Texas (twice) and as president of the United States (twice). However, Rove's despicable tactics of fostering hate and derision didn't work in 2006. Both the Democrats and many Americans (Democrats plus a few wise Republicans) finally got what he is about. Rove failed, and rather than acknowledge his defeat outright, he uses his family as an excuse to make a quick exit. Who will heap upon his head the blame he so rightly deserves for this failure? Obviously, not G.W.

Please ponder the above a couple of minutes before reading onward.

Tom Toles is an editorial cartoonist with The Washington Post. He is also Pulitzer Prize winner. From time to time, I post one of his cartoons on Tolerance's Page. I particularly like this one, and wish to share it with you:

WHO IS TOM TOLES?

NEXT in Karl Rove Bye-Bye. Part II, A: What is Rove's real last name? What does he have in common with the late Adolf Hitler's Minister of Propaganda, the late Joseph Goebbels. Does Rove have a dual citizenship U.S. and Germany? Why is Rove so filled with hate. Is it because Rove is secretly in love with Hillary Clinton and hates Bill because Bill has her and Karl never will? Perhaps, he also hates Hillary because she stands a good chance of being president of the U.S.A. in 2009, and Rove stands none, ever?

Will we see and hear more from Rove? You bet your biffy. The political soap opera continues . . . . .

MIMI'S NEW BLOG

I'm searching for the Baghdad Blogger, Salam Pax. I've added a new blog, WHERE IS SALAM PAX. Perhaps, you can help me find his current whereabouts. Click the title of this post to view the blog.

More later.

HERE COMES SUMMER!

Okay, so I didn't make it back in March. I apologize. There have been so many things going on with Iraq, in politics, violence and crime everywhere, that I could spend hours ranting on this blog. I have chosen not to do that. So, sue me.

The film festival season is now on hiatus since Cannes wrapped today. Not much will happen on that scene until the end of August. I'm not following the summer movie season, which officially kicked off this weekend with PIRATES 3. I am over 24 years old, and from what I can tell about the movies coming out this summer, I can wait for the DVD, thank you. Therefore, I have taken a hiatus from my Mimi at the Movies blog as of today, and unless something interesting strikes me, I'll be back there around the first of September.

I'm not taking a hiatus from this blog, but I can't promise when I'll post again this summer.

HAVE A HAPPY SUMMER!

SORRY. BEEN BUSY!

I've been very busy with the movie awards, growing ever more frantic as the Academy Awards® approach. I'll be back to this blog in March.

Meanwhile, visit my "Mimi at the Movies" blog. Click the link on the right sidebar, or click title of this post. When you get to the "movies" blog, also click the links to my film festivals and film awards pages, and much more.

The Academy Awards for outstanding motion picture achievements of 2006 will be presented Sunday, 25 February, at the Kodak Theatre, Hollywood & Highland Center®. The Oscars® will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST).

The evening begins with a half-hour arrivals segment, “The Road to the Oscars®,” before the start of the presentation ceremony at 5 p.m., PST. Film historian, television host, and Hollywood Reporter columnist Robert Osborne will once again serve as the Academy's red carpet celebrity greeter. Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley will be the voice of fashion, and Allyson Waterman will interview the various celebrities.

Evangelical Faith Suffocates Reason?

Article in the Hollywood Reported written by Barry Garron, as supplied by Reuters, "Born-again crowd a scary bunch of 'Friends'," refers to an interview with Alexandra Pelosi speaking about her new HBO documentary FRIENDS OF GOD profiling red-state evangelicals. Garron writes, "Pelosi, daughter of House speaker Nancy Pelosi, traveled the Bible Belt to bring back footage of fundamentalist worshipers, as well as Christian miniature golf courses, wrestling federations, car clubs and theme parks.

"Her guide for much of the journey was Ted Haggard, president of the 30 million-member National Association of evangelicals until he resigned in November after evidence of his gay relationships and drug use came to light. The film was completed a week or so before that happened, and Pelosi chose not to revisit the interviews to make points on evangelical hypocrisy, though she might have.

"Still, the parts of the film that were most troubling were not about abortion or gay marriage or even the incredibly pathetic attacks on evolution. Rather, it was the willingness of evangelicals, young and old, to accept as figurative and literal gospel anything and everything fed to them by authority figures. They appear as automatons, unable or unwilling to question the pronouncements of their leaders.

"Also difficult to watch were those who, despite having elected a born-again president and established giant radio and TV networks and a political power base second to none, still feel they are a persecuted minority. If Pelosi's intent is to show that evangelical faith suffocates reason, the point is well-made.

"She said it's possible for everyone to get along if we can get past the hot-button issues of abortion and gay marriage. She may be overly optimistic."

Yet, in another interview for ABC, Pelosi said she believes everyone can learn something from evangelicals, even if the lesson is not religious. The group's dedication to church and its cause impressed her. Other films by Pelosi are, DIARY OF A POLITICAL TOURIST (2004) (TV) and Journey with George (2002). For more, see the IMDB.

HAPPY NEW YEAR?

Today, 70 more people were killed, or maimed, in Iraq. G. W.'s new strategy of sending over 20,000 more Americans to fight there is not what the majority of the American people seem to want. I, and many others, are concerned because that strategy involves more death and maiming of human beings, and there was not a single mention in the strategy for a political solution. Meantime, the only solution is to throw bodies and money at Iraq. G. W. ignored the Baker-Hamilton report and turned to the American Enterprise Institute.

American Enterprise Institute was founded to make sure that G. W. Bush was installed in the White House. I say "installed" because, as far as I am concerned, he was not elected in 2000. He was put there through chicanery, instigated by Karl Rove and validated by the U. S. Supreme Court. The Institute is Republican and hawkish. So, of course G. W. listens to this gang of unelected neocons.

Anyway, Saddam is dead, but his ghost will forever haunt us, all Americans. Have a Happy New Year? I do not think any of us will.