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?

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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.

A BUSH JOKE

A G. W. Bush joke posted today by Niki on her blog, "Another Irani Online" (see link on right sidebar), and I must share:

"Bush Staff member: Mr. President, today's developments in Iraq included the death of two Brazilian soldiers.

Mr. Bush: OH MY GOD! Nooooo. Two Brazilian soldiers!!! This is unbelievable. Now exactly how many million are in a Brazilian?"

Seriously, the Iranian blogger predicts that the current American Government will see to it that Saddam Hussein is executed when the number of American military deaths in Iraq hits 3,000. I think she may be correct. The word today from the media is that Iraqis want to execute Saddam before the new year.

I also agree with her and Raed ("Raed in the Middle," link on right sidebar) that the current American Government wants to bury Saddam quickly along with all the secrets he holds about the decades of support he has been given by the American Government. We have a saying in American, "He may be a dictator, but he is our dictator."

Saddam was our dictator as was the late Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah (King) of Iran, as was the self-appointed dictator of Panama, Manuel Noriega. I honestly believe that Saddam, like the other two, thought that the American Government would never "sell him down the river."

In December 1989, the first President Bush ordered U. S. troops to Panama. They captured Noriega, who is still in prison in Miami, and all for "democracy for Panama."

When the Shah Pahlavi was overthrown (1979) by the Iranian Islamic revolution, the U. S. Government lifted not one finger to save him. He quickly became persona non grata in the U.S.

Saddam is a much bigger threat than either Noriega or Pahlava were because Saddam knows all about America's "dirty laundry." He must die and as soon as possible. However, like the late former U. S. President Gerald Ford, Saddam may have hidden a tell-all recorded interview, or a written diary. Did Bob Woodward of the Washington Post ever interview Saddam?

One irony here: September 1, 2004, then Secretary of State Colin Powell met the newly-installed elected President of the Republic of Panama, Martin Torrijos, a son of the dictator whom Noriega overthrew (see picture proudly displayed on the U. S. State Department's Web site).

PENTAGON NAMES SADR ARMY TOP THREAT

A new Department of Defense (DoD) report released by the Pentagon cites the danger of the Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtqada al-Sadr's armed militiamen, as reported in the Los Angeles Times by Julian E. Barnes. He writes the report claims that Sadr's Al Mahdi army poses "the gravest danger to the security and stability of Iraq, surpassing Sunni Arab insurgents and Al Qaeda terrorists."

The Pentagon assessment says, "In the last three months, the number of attacks on U.S. and Iraqi troops and Iraqi civilians rose 22%, and the number of U.S. casualties grew 32% . . . As attacks have risen, the confidence of the Iraqi people has fallen, with fewer saying in surveys that they thought their government could protect them and more agreeing that civil war was likely."

The report acknowledges that U.S. military has complained for months that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite, has been unable to address armed Shiite groups and has obstructed American efforts to confront Sadr, and acknowledges the deteriorating situation that President Bush continues to blame on Al Qaeda.

Although there are many armed groups, the report verifies that the most powerful is the Al Mahdi army militia loyal to Sadr. The dour Pentagon report came hours after Robert M. Gates was sworn in as the 22nd Secretary of Defense with a pledge to extract frank assessments from military leaders and deliver plain advice to the president.

To read more, click title of this post, or go to the Los Angeles Times.

Newsweek Names Al-Sadr Most Dangerous

Okay, I may be a "know nothing" to some, but Newsweek has confirmed what I have been writing on this blog about Moqtada al-Sadr. Want to know? Read the article. Click the title of this post.

MAHDI ARMY SEIZES AMARA, IRAQ

Last month I posted a plea for disbanding the various militias in Iraq (2 September), and left it on the blog as a warning of what was to come if the militias were not disarmed immediately. Today, the ugly side of radical Islam reared its head as the strongest militia made its move.

The Shiite militia, known as the Mahdi Army/Militia, run by anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, seized total control of the southern Iraqi city of Amarah. Hundreds, if not thousands of black-clad heavily-armed militia invaded the city in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by one of the country's powerful, unofficial armies, according to the Associated Press.The report also stated that, " Mahdi Army fighters stormed three main police stations Friday morning, ... planting explosives that flattened the buildings in Amarah, a city just 30 miles from the Iranian border that was under British command until August, when it was returned to Iraqi government control."

According to the AP, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki dispatched an emergency security delegation that included the Minister of State for Security Affairs and top officials from the Interior and Defense ministries. Just great! Both of these ministries have been infiltrated by the Mahdi, and al-Maliki announced last week that he MIGHT approach the militias about disbanding after the first of the year. Mind boggling, indeed!

Muqtada al-Sadr

However, when I was posting on my Tolerance Blog, "America and War," I called Muqtada al-Sadr the most dangerous man in Iraq. The specific post was Monday, 27 October 2003, where I quoted the Baghdad blogger Riverbend, "Al-Sadr has been making waves in the south and Baghdad, having over a million followers (some say it’s up to 4 million) and they revere him. While the majority of the middle and upper class Iraqis want a secular government, Al-Sadr seems to resonate with the impoverished currently jobless men in the south and in some of Baghdad’s slums. . . . For the last few months he has been building an armed militia known as the 'Imam Mahdi's Army'. The majority of this militia are young, and very angry."

In that post about parallel governments in Iraq, I wrote further, ". . . many consider Al-Sadr the most dangerous man in Iraq. However, I doubt that he would defane Ramadan, the holy month of Islam, like the terrorists are doing, as they are nothing but hooligans and criminals."

Today, 20 October 2006, this year's Ramadan observance is about to close. Was I ever wrong in that statement made in October 2003. Defane Ramadan? He just did.

However, even before that post, I also posted three years ago,13 October 2003, "The Biggest Threat to Iraqi Stability -- The Parallel Government of Moqtada Al-Sadr". I wrote about the cleric, "He's the son of a cleric who was murdered by Saddam. He has strong ties to the extreme ruling government in Iran. The American Press is walking very light on this with only slight mentions about this cleric, but he is probably more scary than even Saddam himself, especially to the moderate citizens of Iraq."

Al-Sadr should have been taken out three years ago. Today's action by the militia proves that Al-Sadr is not a cleric to be revered by the Shia in Iraq. He is a common criminal who should have been arrested, jailed and/or deported three years ago. Now, he MUST BE ARRESTED, and tried on war crimes. In my opinion, he is no better, and far more dangerous, than Saddam ever was.

Will the Bush Bunch do it? I sincerely doubt it. They talk and spin propaganda, but they have no balls!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE! 21 October: Yesterday, members of the Iraqi Army stepped up to the plate and routed the hoodlums from Amara as British forces stood by. That's exactly the way it should be. However, the militias still must go and as soon as possible!

MILITIAS MUST BE DISARMED

Just when I was ready to ease into a lovely lazy summer, an armed rogue militia group in Lebanon called Hezbollah ("The Party of God") invaded Israel, killed one or two soldiers, and kidnapped two. That was about the same time an armed rogue militia group in Gaza called Hamas ("Islamic Resistance Movement") did the same, and snatched one soldier.

Hamas' charter (written in 1988 and still in force) calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. There went the summer planned to be restive, contenplative, and just plain lazy.

Israel didn't wait around for the appeasement crap, they bombed the Hades out of Southern Lebanon, including oil tanks. They also bombed the electric plants and water supply in Gaza, and killed some militants in both places.

Hezbollah has its main roots in Syria, and does not want an independent Lebanon. The civilians in South Lebanon who stood staunchly by the Hezbollah gangsters paid the price with their lost lives, broken bodies, shattered homes, and lost livelihoods. What did their fearless leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah say afterwards? "We didn't think Israel would react like that." Surprise! Surprise!

You see, herein lies the problem in Iraq and the entire Middle East. The outlaw militias must be stopped, disabled, completely disarmed, and disbanded. We must start in Iraq. NOW! Of what, or who, is the current U. S. Government afraid?

The Shi'ite sect of Islam is basically Persian by ethnicity, the same as Iranian Muslims, and about half of the Syrians. The Arab States are Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, plus smaller states that are members of the United Arab Emirates, and are basically Arab in ethnicity and Sunni in sect.

Arizona Republican Senator John McCain said last Sunday that the Arabs need to step up and help us. The Arabs will not lift a finger to help the Shi'a in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, or Syria, so the U. S. Government need not fear that. On the other hand, they will not help the U. S., either. Why? Because the Arab States are Sunni.

Saddam may have been a bad dictator, but he was a Sunni dictator. The Arabs supported us when we supported him. Surely, they must now be thinking, "The U. S. turned against Saddam without provocation, might they not do the same with Arab States (Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia) and members of the United Arab Emirates?"

Not all Muslims are lumped in one big pot, and not all are Islamic fundamentalist, much less Islamic fascist (A Karl Rove term, not mine). Of course, the words Karl Rove puts into G.W.'s mouth, and the mouths of the rest of the Bush Bunch are figments of the Rove/Rover family's Nazi-past mentality, and his lack of higher education. Oh, how little the stupid ones in Washington really know.

Hezballah (Lebanon) and Hamas (Palestine) are Shi'a. So is the Al Mahdi Militia, also known as the Mahdi Army. This gangster militia was created by the Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, living in Baghdad with roots in Iran. These Islamist gangsters rose to international prominence in 2004 when the Mahdi Melitia spearheaded the first major armed confrontation against the occupation forces in Iraq.

Both the Mahdi Melitia, mostly active in Baghdad, and the Badr Brigade, mostly active in Southern Iraq, have the same agenda. No matter how one classifies these militias, the Mahdi Militia/Army, Badr Brigade, Hezbollah, and Hamas receive their financial support and marching orders from the Mullahs in Iran.

The Mahdi Mlitia and the Badr Brigade in Iraq are armed gangster militias, acting contrary to the elected governments of the countries in which they live and operate, as are Hamas and Hezbollah. Would we tolerate that in the U. S.? Absolutely not! Then, why are we tolerating it in an area where we are getting our pants beat off of us? Does someone in Washington secretly really want to lose the Middle East? That's what we are doing, and that is not a secret.

What about Al Qaeda? Osama and his followers are Sunni Wahhabist, strict fundamentalist Islamist dominant in the United Arab Emirates, especially Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Simply think, women have no rights, and no religious tolerance exists. The only law is fundamentalist Islamic Law, or Sharia.

Saddam is a secularist, but comes from a Sunni background, a less fundamentalist Sunni sect than extreme Wahhabism. Think before Saddam was toppled: All faiths tolerated, many women and men wore western dress, all females were allowed to go to school as far as their intelligence could take them, hold important jobs, and might even drive a car if their father or husband approved. Wow! That was big for a Muslim country.

Well, it's all gone now. Islamic law is being strickly and often harshly enforced. Approximately 1,500 Iraqi's are murdered every month, and that's just an estimate, because no one makes an official count.

For thirty years, Saddam Hussein was the buffer, the strong arm that kept the peace between sectarian factions through secularism. We supported him to keep the Shi'a down in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and Syria. He was a bad tyrant, but he was our tyrant, and he did his job well.

Then, all of a sudden some idiots in Washington decided it would be good for their election in 2004 if Saddam were taken out. (Remember, they were never technically elected in 2000.) Anyway, the word went out with zest, "He's a bad, yea evil, man." And, so they took him down. They played big macho, cowboy bullies and, yes, Rove relished playing his hand of Nazi propaganda cue cards for the words his little puppets spoke. The media in America played the pre-edited visuals the U.S. Goverment supplied them ad infinitum.

Iraq, a breathtakingly beautiful country, the cradle of many religions, art, philosophy, and keeper of priceless historical artifacts is now destroyed. It will never be again no matter how much money is spent on "reconstruction." Saddam is down but, perhaps, not out. Just ponder that for a moment.

Meanwhile, the Shi'a see their dream to rule Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria growing ever closer to realization. Instead of hating G. W. Bush, they should kiss his feet and the feet of all those in the Bunch, because the entire stupid Bunch has now facilitated the strengthening of the Shi'a fundamentalists, and its militias.

The seesaw continues: Sunni up there/ Shi'ite down there - Sunni down here/Shi'ite up here-- Sunni down . . . . So it goes, and so it shall. I think you get the picture.

However, as long as the militias are functioning there will be no peace in the Middle East, or anywhere else, no matter who is up or down on the seesaw. Why can't the big boys who are calling all the moves from the U. S. through the U. N. and all around the globe, pull their heads out from between their legs, see the problem, and solve it? Why can't both political parties in America get together, put America first, and fix this thing?

Bottom line? To stop the terrorism, win the "war" on terrorism, bring peace to Iraq, and eventually to the Middle East, the militias must be shut down one country at a time, starting with Iraq! Starting right now!!

All the politicians harp that we need a plan, well there it is, Mimi's Roadmap to Peace in Iraq and the Middle East.

IRAQI HORRORSCOPES

Examples posted by Zeyad, 1 June, on his blog, "Healing Iraq":

Gemini: Your parents have been nagging you to lay low and leave the country. Yet you are worried about an imminent death squad attack against your area. Plan your escape route carefully and keep a spare grenade for emergencies. Attack day: Thursday. Grenade No.: 5

Leo: A tip from one of your friends wrongfully ends you up in an occupation detention camp. Learn to distinguish friend from foe. Avoid female American jail wardens, unless you like to explorethe arts of exhibitionism and BDSM. Arrest day: Friday. Prison cell No.: 26

Libra: Things are slowing down in your neighborhood. Your fellow watch-team members have nothing to do but smoke and trade mobile ring tones all night. It would probably not be a bad idea to take some time off from your guard duties and pay more attention to your love life. Lucky day: Monday. Street No.: 27

A READER TAKES ISSUE

I received a comment by e-mail from Voloras in France regarding my post 10 May, "CARDINALS SAY IGNORANCE FUELS 'DA VINCI CODE'.

Voloras wrote, "Your comment regarding the Cardinals and ignorance was really rather unfair. To trot out an old chestnut, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Ignorance is such a fine wide spread human tradition, yet you seem to imply that Catholics are some how more imbued with the quality. "I at least know well Jesus's comment about the rich person's chances of getting into heaven, the camel the the eye of the needle; so why the #^$%# did so many US citizens look to a rich Texan politician for "moral leadership"? I think Catholics do a little better theology-wise than the evangelical born agains who swear every word in the Bible is absolute truth yet do not keep a kosher household. They eat pork, ignore that whole post-menses tent-cloistered cleansing, and have totally failed on the sacrifices offered on uncut stones command (Leviticus is full of rules they conveniently ignore, while digging deep for reasons to hate gays). Catholics at least recognize that not every word of the Bible is literal truth. "Give the Popes some credit for embracing (however belatedly) science and evolution. But even the Pope can't make all Catholics learn Darwin's theory."

Here's my reply:

I asked the question, "If Christians, especially Roman Catholics, are ignorant about the precepts of their faith, whose fault is that?" I answered the question, "The fault, dear sirs, is yours!" This upset Voloras.

I was referring to this statement in the article: "Cardinal Paul Poupard, said the book seriously twisted Church history but most laymen did not have enough religious knowledge to separate fact from fiction." My point was that if laypeople don't have enough religious knowledge, it is the fault of those who teach the laypeople. I was not knocking Roman Catholics. I merely pointed in particular to Roman Catholics because this article discussed the RC Cardinals bemoaning that laypeople might not have enough knowledge about church history to keep them from believing what they read in books or see on the screen.

As to the comment about the rich Texan, I and 49% of the American people did not vote for him either time. Therefore, most of us do not look to him for moral guidance, or any other kind of guidance.

For your information, I never made any reference to the rich Texan, about evolution, born-again Christians, or the literal interpretation of The Bible in my post. The next time you object to a statement made by anyone, I suggest you stick to the subject at hand. Jumping to conclusions based on remarks not made in what you are evauating shows a lapse in logic. I do, however, thank you for your comment.

CARDINALS SAY IGNORANCE FUELS "DA VINCI CODE"

Thanks to Salam Pax, also a member of Newsvine, I am learning some new Internet communication skills, and I just "seeded" my first article. You will find the article(s) on the sidebar at right, at the very bottom under MIMI'S NEWSVINE LINKS. Also, you may click the title of this post for this particular article, but links to most articles may be linked independently of posts.

Anyway, my first article seeded is about Roman Catholic Cardinals bemoaning the religious ignorance they say fuels worldwide interest in the best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code," now a film that will premiere May 17 at the Cannes Film Festival. This begs the question. If Christians, especially Roman Catholics, are ignorant about the precepts of their faith, whose fault is that?

Answer: The fault, dear sirs, is yours!

Iraqi Police Kill 14-Year-Old For Being Homosexual

"Human rights groups have condemned the 'barbaric' murder of a 14-year-old boy who, according to witnesses, was shot on his doorstep by Iraqi police for the apparent crime of being homosexual." The original article used the term "gay," but I never use that term, so I changed it for this post. I hate euphemisms. The proper designation is homosexual both for male and female. Period.

The article was "seeded" on Newsvine today by Salam Pax. It was originally published in The Independent Online Edition. [Read Article]

At least Salam has finally posted something. You can check his blog -- link on sidebar at right -- for his Newsvine posts, or his Newsvine Home Page.

G. W. and Saddam Never Imagined This!

G. W. Bush and Saddam Hussein both made serious miscalculations concerning America's invasion of Iraq. No, it wasn't the number of boots on the ground, or the "shock and awe," but the Iraqi bloggers posting their Web logs day after day. The Karl Rove propaganda machine planned to control all the news from Iraq, but the bloggers messed up his plans, big time.

I came to know some of them even before I became a member of the Blog Sphere. I read their blogs almost daily and exchange e-mail with a few. I believe these guys and gals in Iraq -- well, some have had to leave for their own protection, yet they still blog -- are making heroic statements now, which will become historic statements for posterity. Links to most of their blogs are listed in the sidebar on the right.

Most use pseudonyms, again for their protection. They go by Zeyad (Healing Iraq), Riverbend (Baghdad Burning), Hammorabi (Hammorabi), The Mesopotamian (The Mesopotamian), and Salam Pax (latest: Shut Up You Fat Whiner). Salam's original blog (Where is Raed?) was the first one I found. He now writes mostly for The Guardian Unlimited, UK. There are many others, including the Family Jarrar (A Family in Baghdad) who were not mentioned in the article, "Iraqi Bloggers Weigh in on Changing Nation" published in The Redbluff Daily News.

Salam Pax's original blog and Riverbend's blog have been published as books, and there is a campaign to bring Zeyad to New York City, because he has been accepted at the CUNY New School of Journalism's graduate school. That's City University of New York. Read his blog and you will see what an excellent writer he is.

However, there is a problem. He must show financial ability, and his dental practice is all but destroyed. We bloggers, led by Jeff Jarvis (The Buzz Machine) are trying to raise $45,000 (tax deductible) for him. Here's how you can help Zeyad.

IRAQI FEMALE BLOGGER WINS PRIZE

A young Iraqi woman began publishing a blog from Baghdad shortly after America invaded Iraq called ”Baghdad Burning," which it was doing as she wrote. She uses the pseudonym of Riverbend.

Like the blog "Where is Raed?" of her "virtual brother" Salam Pax (another pseudonym), her blog was bought by a small British literary publisher in Riverbend's case, Marion Boyars, and they classified the work under biography and memoir. Boyars knows Riverbend's identity but respects her wish to remain anonymous.

The last of March, Riverbend became the first blog author to be nominated for a big literary prize for a book published in hard cover, in this case the Samuel Johnson award of $55,000 (£30,000), having already placed third in the Lettre Ulysses prize for Reportage, winning $25,000 (£14,000). For the Samuel Johnson award she is up against 18 other books from around the world.

University-educated Riverbend worked as a computer programmer before the invasion which began on March 20, 2003. She wrote that she lost her job when it became too dangerous for Iraqi women to travel to work alone. She began her blog with, "I'm female, Iraqi and 24. I survived the war. That's all you need to know. It's all that matters these days anyway."

I have read Riverbend's blog from the first day and encouraged her to continue writing no matter what because, as with Salam, I recognized the historical value and the literary quality in her work. Of course, that's what we English teachers do, especially those of us who teach literature and cinema. [Guardian Article] [Riverbend's Baghdad Burning]

"... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend..."

IS AMERICA GOING MAD?

Is America going mad? That's the title of a comment in The Guardian (UK), by Richard Adams and published yesterday. Adams maintains that there is evidence in the books currently being published that America is split in two, right down the middle, and that the fights between factions may be driving Americans mad, literally, as in coo-coo.

Here's a portion of the last paragraph:

"A new non-fiction offering from Barnes & Noble is a new cartoon series by Marvel Comics, to be called Civil War. In it the US government demands that superheroes be registered as living weapons of mass destruction - which divides the superheroes into pros and antis. 'Along the way, Marvel will unveil its version of Guantánamo Bay, enemy combatants, embedded reporters and more,' reported the New York Times. So anyone looking for a sign of the times, here it is: even Spider-Man and Captain America are fighting with each other. All that's missing is a book. Get me HarperCollins. I want to tell them about The 101 Dangerous Superheroes Who Are Screwing Up America.”

Adams also references books by the likes of David Horowitz and Bernard Goldberg on the extreme right, and he mentions some "lefties" too. On Goldberg's list of hate, for example, "is veteran TV journalist Bill Moyers - who exhibits his hatred of America (according to Goldberg) by eating brie and drinking Chablis. According to Horowitz, the 101 dangerous academics 'spew violent anti-Americanism, preach anti- Semitism and cheer on the killing of American soldiers and civilians - all the while collecting tax dollars ... to indoctrinate our children'." What an insane thing to write!

Of course, a sane person sees evidence of general populace insanity each time he/she turns on the TV, too. The antidote to TV used to be the advice, "Read a book instead." Well, not anymore! So, what can a sane person do in an insane country to keep one's sanity? My advice is to listen to National Public Radio and/or watch the Public Broadcasting Company.

One final caution. Beware of the theology wonks. The instanity bug has infected some of them also.

LEAVE IRAQ TO THE IRAQIS

"Leave Iraq to the Iraqis," was the topic of Faiza Al-Araji's speech March 21, in Davis, CA. I communicate with Faiza and her family, so here I shall call her Faiza. She is a civil engineer, a blogger (A Family in Baghdad), an activist for women (Women Say No to War), a religious Shia with a Sunni husband, and a mother of three sons. After her middle son Khalid (see July 2005 Archive link at right) was held as a political prisoner by the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior, the family fled to Jordan. Her oldest son Raed now lives in Northern California.

Read article about the speech. Also, a film was shown, a portion of which appeared in Michael Moore’s film “FAHRENHEIT 9-11.

You can read the son's blogs: Khalid, Majed, Raed.

APOLOGIES

Sorry. I have been busy following this year's Oscar race, and publishing on my "Mimi at the Movies" blog. However, yesterday I took at look at Riverbend's "Baghdad Burning" blog. That was the title she gave it when she started it at the time of the U. S. invasion of Iraq. Now, three years on, the title is still relevant. So sad. The current U. S. administration has accomplished nothing there except death and destruction. Whatever they themselves claim to have accomplished is being unraveled thread by thread every single day.

Riverbend's post "And the Oscar Goes to...," posted March 6 is very creative. I think you might find it interesting, if your brain isn't too stuffed with ideologically bad theology. Check it out. You will either not understand it, be upset by it, or shout, "Right on!" You will, however, be better informed about the situation in Iraq.

CONGRESSMAN BLUNT RECEIVES A BLUNT, "NO!"

Today, House Republicans elected Rep. John Boehner (Bay-ner) of Ohio as their new majority leader choosing a self-proclaimed reform candidate to replace indicted Rep. Tom DeLay as the party struggles with an ethics scandal, although Rep. Roy Blunt was serving in the position temporarily. I was afraid they might elect Roy Blunt of Missouri (7th district) to replace DeLay. Blunt's the father of the current Missouri governor, and many consider "Baby" Matt Blunt a "Pompas A." Furthermore, one of Blunt's sons is a lobbyist, and so is Roy Blunt's wife.

"Papa" Blunt pulled all the strings he had to get Matt elected governor, including money from Roy's second wife. In 2003, Roy Blunt divorced his wife of 31 years to marry Philip Morris (now Altria) lobbyist Abigail Perlman. Before it was known publicly that Blunt and Ms. Perlman were dating – and only hours after Blunt assumed the role of Majority Whip – he tried to secretly insert a provision into Homeland Security legislation that would have benefited Philip Morris at the expense of competitors. In addition, Rep. Roy Blunt's son Andrew lobbies on behalf of Philip Morris.

Oh, and one more thing, in 1999, two years after taking office, Roy Blunt was handpicked by then-Whip Tom DeLay to serve as Chief Deputy Whip. Blunt assumed the role of Whip in 2003, when DeLay became the Majority Leader. People in Washington call Tom DeLay Blunt's mentor.

Rep. John Boehner has no ties to DeLay or any lobbyist. Rep. Blunt has more than one, and his ethics issues stem from his misuse of his position for the benefit of his family. Roy Blunt lost today, another mind-boggle avoided, and I am a happy camper!

Authoritarians Can't Silence Koppel

First, the far right extremist in this country pushed Bill Moyers off the PBS program NOW. Moyers "retired" at the end of 2004. NOW's on-air time was cut in half. David Brancaccio makes a valiant effort, but what can he accomplish in 20 minutes of actual air time?

Next, ABC pushed Ted Koppel out of NIGHTLINE, because some higherups maintained his appearance is "too mature" to draw the younger set. Plus, they wanted to make radical changes in the format of the show. Koppel felt such changes would be detrimental to the show. The rumor is the brass made his job as difficult as possible in order to push him out. Koppel "retired," and they changed the format of NIGHTLINE from a single-topic highly influential and informative program to another almost mindless, slick TV magazine similar to a couple of dozen others on TV. Yawn. Koppel was right!

However, Moyers has not gone quietly into the night. He is writing and speaking out about the state of media today. I predict that NOW may eventually get its dignity back.

Koppel has not gone, either. First, he was hired to produce and host new town-hall format documentary specials for cable's Discovery Channel. Today, it was announced that NPR has hired him to provide commentary about 50 times a year on "Morning Edition," the afternoon, "All Things Considered," and a new mid-day program "Day to Day."

Well, it's something, but 50 comments a year are not enough!

NOW: http://www.pbs.org/now/

National Public Radio (NPR): http://www.npr.org/

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

At midnight wherever you are, out goes this year. I has been one of the most horrendous our battered old planet has know, and no one will dispute that our planet was battered this year - - physically, mentally, and emotionally. So, what's coming? Only God knows.

I hope it is a MUCH more peaceful, happy, and tolerant time. If I could, I would make everyone's dreams come true in 2006! I can't. All I can do is wish you and yours a happier and more prosperous year than perhaps you, I, and most of the people around us had this year. Being the eternal optimist, I see better times coming. I hope they come to all and last all year through!

Free Copy of the Koran

Received a complimentary copy of the Qur’an (Koran) today from CAIR – The Council on American-Islamic Relations. It’s big, heavy, and beautifully printed in English, Arabic script, as well as the alphabetic-version of the script, with extensive notes. It’s official title is The Message of the Qur’an: Translated and Explained by Muhammad Asad. Dubai: Oriental Press, 2003. However it is copyrighted by The Book Foundation, Bristol, England: http://www.thebook.org.

I requested it over seven months ago, but they had so many requests that the supply was exhausted by early summer, and I was placed on the waiting list. It has been worth the wait. CAIR is still giving them out for no cost, and you can click the title above the access their Web site, or here: http://www.cair-net.org.

Meanwhile, I’m so far behind in my snail mail, e-mail, Web-page updates, personal business, etc., that I estimate the first chance I will be able to start reading it will be between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Well, it will make a good start for 2006, don’t you think?

Mimi's home, and Khalid is a year older

Back in the central U.S. of A. and just in time for fall. Halloween was fun. The leaves have turned, some are falling, and yards are decorated with pumpkins and bails of hay now that the witches, ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, giant spider webs, etc., have been retired. Visit a friend, and the senses are tickled with the aromas of baking sweet potatoes, frying apples, commingling with cinnamon, allspice, and so-o-o-o many wonderful good smells of autumn. Thanksgiving is quickly approaching.

Khalid? He celebrated his 23rd birthday the last part of October. How thankful we are for that, especially after his ordeal in July. Many, many, many more birthdays, Khalid, and may they all be happy ones!