meta-roj

you have to read between the lines and slip a little off to one side or another for my perspective on this whole thing… the news is that the bush-cheney ’04 campaign has sent out an instruction sheet to church-going supporters with a list of 22 things to do before the election.

Churchgoers Get Direction From Bush Campaign [washington post, june 30/july 1, 2004]

The Bush-Cheney reelection campaign has sent a detailed plan of action to religious volunteers across the country asking them to turn over church directories to the campaign, distribute issue guides in their churches and persuade their pastors to hold voter registration drives.

Campaign officials said the instructions are part of an accelerating effort to mobilize President Bush’s base of religious supporters. They said the suggested activities are intended to help churchgoers rally support for Bush without violating tax rules that prohibit churches from engaging in partisan activity.

the difficulty here is, of course, the church-state separation issue, but i think this is a long-term plan from the bush administration to close the huge budget deficit. allow me to elaborate…

a month ago, we had some news about the bush campaign seeking 1600 “friendly congregations” in pennsylvania to build “the most sophisticated grass-roots presidential campaign in the country’s history” –

Bush Campaign Seeks Help From Congregations [new york times, june 3, 2004]

In the message, dated early Tuesday [june 1] afternoon, Luke Bernstein, coalitions coordinator for the Bush campaign in Pennsylvania, wrote: “The Bush-Cheney ’04 national headquarters in Virginia has asked us to identify 1,600 `Friendly Congregations’ in Pennsylvania where voters friendly to President Bush might gather on a regular basis.”

in response the irs sent out a letter clarifying the sorts of political activities that churches might engage in without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status…

Churchgoers Get Direction From Bush Campaign [washington post, june 30/july 1, 2004]

The IRS letter noted that religious organizations are allowed to sponsor debates, distribute voter guides and conduct voter registration drives. But if those efforts show “a preference for or against a certain candidate or party . . . it becomes a prohibited activity,” the letter said.

a month later, the bush-cheney campaign sends out a list of 22 items for the faithful to do to help get bush re-elected. presumably, this is because bush is a religious man himself, and he’s saying that religious people should support him on that basis. but therein lies the rub… if this new effort (the to-do list) compromises the tax-exempt status of all these churches, that opens a huge revenue stream that would help the bush administration close the huge deficit gap that they’ve built over the past few years. and remember, fiscal responsibility is a republican ideal.

Party Appeal to Churches for Help Raises Doubts [new york times, july 2, 2004 – yes, that’s tomorrow]

A spokesman for President Bush’s campaign, Steve Schmidt, confirmed that it had distributed the document. Mr. Schmidt said the church program, including the collection of registries, was proper.

i’m certainly not a tax expert, and i have no idea how much revenue this might generate, but every bit counts…. so we have a new fiscal policy proposal from the bush administration. it’ll be interesting to see how this goes over.

Republicans Plan ‘Catholic Outreach Tour’ [beliefnet, july 1]

Tax experts and a church-state separationist group questioned the effort. “Injecting partisan politics into our nation’s sanctuaries is a desecration of sacred space,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, in a statement. “Politicizing churches is morally wrong and legally dubious. The Bush campaign should repent of this reckless scheme.”

i’m not the only one that thinks this stinks… on july 1, rabbi david saperstein, director of the religious action center of reform judaism, issued the following statement:

In this current initiative, the Bush-Cheney campaign is pursuing a strategy that risks politicizing religion for partisan gain by encouraging churchgoers to participate in campaign activities through their church networks. According to today’s Washington Post, the President’s reelection team has begun circulating an “instruction sheet” to religious volunteers across the country asking them to recruit campaign supporters amongst other churchgoers, to turn over church directories to the campaign, and to distribute issue guides in their churches. Without knowing more, it is unclear whether following any or all of the 22 campaign “duties” listed would affect the house of worship tax exemption. While technically legal, the effect of these efforts clearly violates the spirit of the IRS’s rules aimed at keeping houses of worship out of partisan electoral activity. This renewed effort to politicize churches and synagogues encourages partisan activities to be conducted or undertaken at official church events or by church leaders acting as individuals at church events, bringing them close to the edge of permissible activity. Coming just weeks after an entreaty for campaign support among 1,600 “friendly congregations” in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, efforts aimed at transforming houses of worship into political campaign offices stink to high heaven.

emphasis is mine. the rest of rabbi saperstein’s statement is available from that link up there.

imagine, if the irs starts using the same sort of creative law-interpreting approaches that the rest of the bush administration is using… we could wind up with huge revenue from the new church taxes. so maybe iraq can’t pay for it’s own reconstruction, but the american catholics will cover it….

this is, after all, what promoters are supposed to do…. 🙂

NY Promoter Wants Springsteen to Upstage Bush

An online petition at www.draftbruce.com has been signed by about 50,000 people in 10 days since it was launched, Rasiej said, adding he had also reached out to acts such as REM, The Dave Matthews Band, Bob Dylan and Carlos Santana.

“When it gets to half a million or so I would formally try to deliver the petition to Bruce’s people directly,” he said.

unfortunately, the site seems to be down at the moment.

update: web has a count of 8339 now.

one thing the bush administration apparently hasn’t learned from previous republican adminitrations is how much trouble a little lying can cause…

i draw your attention to the “9/11 commission vs. bush administration” prize fight on the subject of the iraq-al qaida connection.

the prize is the truth.

to refresh your memory a bit, the bush administration has made many efforts, both bold and covert, to prevent the commission from doing its job – all the way back to opposing the formation of the commission in the first place.

Bush Opposes 9/11 Query Panel [cbs news, may 23, 2002]

President Bush took a few minutes during his trip to Europe Thursday to voice his opposition to establishing a special commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before Sept. 11

Cheney Rejects Broader Access to Terror Brief [new york times, may 20, 2002]

Vice President Dick Cheney said today that he would advise President Bush not to turn over to Congress the August intelligence briefing that warned that terrorists were interested in hijacking airplanes, and he insisted that the investigation into Sept. 11 should be handled by the Congressional intelligence committees, not an independent commission.

cheney himself was apparently point-man to block formation of the commission, exerting influence even after the administration’s public endorsement.

Cheney: Investigators, Keep Out [newsweek, 21 october, 2002]

Dick Cheney played a behind-the-scenes role last week in derailing an agreement to create an independent commission to investigate the 9-11 attacks. Last month the White House endorsed the formation of the panel. But on Thursday, hours after congressional negotiators hailed a final deal over the scope and powers of a 9-11 panel, Cheney called House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Porter Goss, sources told Newsweek.

Later that day Goss told a closed-door conference committee he couldn’t accept the deal, citing instructions from “above my pay grade,” sources say. Goss later said he was referring to other House leaders, not Cheney. Goss wouldn’t discuss his call from the VP but said it wasn’t the “determining factor” in his stand.

and after waffling (ahem) on that, it’s worth noting that the chair of the commission is a presidential appointment, one thomas h kean, which makes this not a strictly congressional endeavour. in any case, kean was the second choice for the chair, but henry kissinger wouldn’t disclose his client list to take the job.

anyway, we eventually got a commission, and i won’t bore you with quotes for all the other obstructions, but there’s news about the administration blocking funding, withholding documents, delaying security clearances for commission members and a myraid of other delaying and obstructionist tactics – even sending condoleeza rice out on the talk-show circuit to make the administration case while claiming that she couldn’t address the same questions under oath.

and these backfired, it would seem, with the administration being backed into supporting an extension for the commission, which pushes the report release date further into the election year – july 26. that leaves about three months for the administration to re-spin the report.

since then, bush and cheney testified together (odd, that – everyone knows you separate the witnesses so they can’t influence each other, and so you can find contradictions in their stories). there’s also some questions about chain-of-command that this joint-testimony brings up (the vice president is specifically not in the chain of command, yet he apparently gave shoot-down orders on september 11), but that’s something for another day. even with that testimony, the commission has come forward suggesting it has found no connection between iraq and al qaida. and then it really starts to hit the fan.

A vice president unbound [us news and world report, 6/28/2004 (!)]

“Do you know some things that the commission does not know?” I asked Cheney. “Probably,” he said.

excuse me? you’ve been asked to provide all relevant documents and given testimony, in private, to a group of people tasked with determining the facts of the events surrounding september 11 – people who were scrutinized for months and ultimately given the highest security clearances – operating under a chair picked by the administration, and you’ve still withheld information?

flop around on this for a moment – either the iraq-al qaida connection is relevant to the events of 9/11, and thus within the purview of the commission, or it’s not part of the story, in which case you shouldn’t be out making the case.

ok, you can stop flopping. isn’t that sort of statement just begging for a reponse?

9/11 Panel Wants Evidence From Cheney [ap via abc news, june 20, 2004]

“We would certainly welcome any information bearing on the issue of assistance or collaboration with al-Qaida by any government including Iraq,” said commission member Richard Ben-Veniste. Commission chairman Thomas Kean and vice chairman Lee Hamilton made similar comments to The New York Times.

the bluff has been called, time to show the cards, gentlemen.

i thought i’d finally bring margaret cho to the meta-roj blog… i was going to write some elaborate piece on how intelligence and integrity are becoming endagered species, and i wanted to hook it in with her concurring view that they are minorities and make some bold assertions, but i guess she and i have smething else in common: we’re lazy.

so, instead of a big philosophical piece about integrity and honesty and diebold and christie key and 97 radio and honesty in general, i think i’m just going to make some passing comments on politics for now and give ejovi a hot tip – get margaret booked for the stadium. she’s got some things to say.

Indignant, Ignant Rumsfeld, margaret cho

I do not want to be anyone’s captor, nor anyone’s torturer.

have the principles of america been compromised to the point where these events crop up at random, and the best we can do is disavow our own government?

They Turned off the Mic, margaret cho

They passed me, looking apologetic. “We wish we didn’t have to do this,” they all said with their eyes as they launched in to a rousing rendition of “Sweet Home Alabama.”

sometimes you gotta make the scene instead of apologizing for the circumstances… and there’s a scene planned for new york in a few months. margaret, andrew… andrew, margaret. margaret’s upcoming tour schedule isn’t posted yet, but someone should hook that up for september 1 if at all possible.

a republican

That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

welcome to the new world….

draft bruce [ejovi]

A friend of mine, Andrew Rasiej has put Giants Stadium on hold on the very same day of the convention. The goal is simple, to sell out Giants Stadium and attract enough coverage to overshadow the Republican Convention on the very same day.

in the same vein as building social capital for the spirit of america, ejovi is a good guy. his friends are good guys. andrew is a good guy (and not just because of the music and education work). bruce is a good guy. i can’t really say much about the people at giants stadium, but… no matter. it’s an interesting approach to politics, so you are encouraged to help draft bruce.

and, thanks to the glory of the hyperlink, you don’t have to take my word for it (although you should, of course)… you can find a little more on each of these people just one click down the net….

update: [joi’s on board, too – even faster than me]

from the san francisco chronicle, but originally broken by the washington post (which requires registration, so we avoid it when possible), today we have some more information on the relative merits of science in the formulation of bush administration policy. in this case, we’re talking about the health of americans and the fda, as opposed to, for example, the department of defense and a missile shield.

to refresh the story, the fda denied approval for over-the-counter access to a morning-after contraceptive in early may. the actual letter is here [pdf], and a q&a page is available here.

FDA Issues Not Approvable Letter to Barr Labs; Outlines Pathway for Future Approval [fda]

FDA’s letter to the sponsor notes that the application does not provide adequate data to support use of Plan B by young adolescent women without the intervention of a physician.

the new information suggests that this is a new approach to the health issue:

Experts not behind reversal on Plan B FDA bowed to politics, critics say [san francisco chronicle, june 18]

“The agency has not (previously) distinguished the safety and efficacy of Plan B and other forms of hormonal contraception among different ages of women of childbearing potential, and I am not aware of any compelling scientific reason for such a distinction in this case,” wrote John Jenkins, director of the FDA’s Office of New Drugs, which oversees all drug reviews for the agency.

yet-another-leaked-memo and yet-another-agenda-over-science-policy-criticism. is the bush administration in for death by a thousand pricks?

several months ago, in meatspace (unfortunately), i made a comment that the bush administration had so polarized the world that everyone now had a vested interest in the upcoming election – and i said something to the effect that i thought we’d see a large number of “october surprises” probably starting well before october.

it’s hard to draw a line in the moving political sands, but the breaking news this morning is that Russia ‘warned U.S. about Saddam’ [cnn]. the story is that saddam was planning terrorist attacks on united states interests both in the united states and abroad.

maybe that’s the first surprise. maybe we’ve already seen a few from interested parties around the world. anyway, since i was just reminded that i made the comment, i thought i should dump it here too. i expect all kinds of interesting developments this year as individuals and groups with influence and resources push for or against a particular outcome in november.

update (2004.08.27): links to the swift boats website have been removed from this post, and all further discussion on this issue is closed. this action is taken because someone acting on behalf of the swift boat veterans for the truth has decided to spam weblogs around the world with links to their forum. this behavior is unacceptable from any group, for any purpose, and will not be tolerated. the swift vets are no longer welcome on my server. i gave you guys a post, a link and a fair shot to air your opinions and engage in the conversation here, and you abused me. we’re done.

it seems that there’s a pretty significant group of veterans that have some pretty significant concerns about kerry as a future commander-in-chief.

check out their letter to kerry and the media section of their site for press conference audio and video.

let the record show that the meta-roj blog stands in support of anyone bringing forth the truth.

update: for the other side of the military perspective on the presidential campaign, general mcpeak rips bush

update (2004.08.20): maybe there isn’t much truth here after all. we picked up on this group back in june, because it was a different, personal perspective. it seems that that might not be the case.

following the british and an american effort, another group of retired ambassadors and military officers have picked up the pen in an effort to effect “regime change” here in america.

the group is not technically backing kerry, but this is on the record:

Former Officials to Criticize Bush Foreign Policy [reuters, june 13, 2004]

Harrop said the group was not aligned with Bush’s Democratic challenger in the November election, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. “But we want an alternative and that’s the alternative,” Harrop said.

the official release is wednesday at the national press club –

Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change to Hold Press Conference June 16 in Washington [us newswire, june 7, 2004]

The topic will be “The Need for Change in U.S. Foreign and Defense Policy.”

The group includes former ambassadors Jeffrey Davidow, William DePree, Charles Freeman Jr., William Harrop, Arthur Hartman, H. Allen Holmes, Samuel Lewis, Princeton Lyman, Jack Matlock Jr., Donald McHenry, Richard Murphy, David Newsom, Phyllis Oakley, John Reinhardt, Ronald Spiers, Nicholas Veliotes and Alexander Watson; and Adm. William Crowe, Gen. Joseph Hoar and Adm. Stansfield Turner.

links are mine, since you probably don’t know these people that well… i’ll try to come back and fill in the blanks later…

in the news section of the boss’s site, you’ll find a copy of the speech al gore gave at nyu on may 26 – with this introduction:

A few weeks ago at N.Y.U. Al Gore gave one of the most important speeches I’ve heard in a long time. The issues it raises need to be considered by every American concerned with the direction our country is headed in. It’s my pleasure to reprint it here for my fans.

kinda odd that bruce springsteen would make the meta-roj blog on politics and not as part of the music business tirades… but, hey… rock on, bruce.