craigcline

How Badly do You Want to Win?

Another stirring speach from the Take Back America Conference on June 4, 2003

Bush quietly retooling the White House

Bush quietly retooling the White House. Dear Friends:

It seems that Bush is quietly retooling his White House staff in
preparation for the upcoming reelection battle. He's looking for young
Republican loyalists, those who are still innocents in the political
process, and who still believe in The Great Cause. "He keeps promoting
people up from the farm club to jobs that once were reserved for giants,"
said professor of public service Paul C. Light, a specialist in
bureaucracy. "That means a relatively green team, but one that will take
direction from the coach. It could be interpreted as a sign of
extraordinary hubris."
________________________

Washington Post
May 29, 2003

Bush Fills Key Slots With Young Loyalists
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer

President Bush is quietly retooling the White House staff for his
reelection campaign by promoting a group of young loyalists to key
positions, further concentrating power with the handful of veteran advisers
closest to him.

Bush's inner circle, many with ties going back to his Texas days, has
stayed largely in place. But there has been substantial turnover in the
past few months in the next tier, including the nomination last week of
deputy chief of staff Joshua B. Bolten as budget director. Bolten is
trusted by Bush but is largely unknown outside the White House.

Similar changes have been made in the legislative affairs, personnel and
vice president's offices, and will be made soon in the press office. Bush's
reelection campaign will be staffed by young aides who take their cues from
officials in the West Wing, according to people planning the campaign.

"He keeps promoting people up from the farm club to jobs that once were
reserved for giants," said Paul C. Light, a specialist in bureaucracy who
is a New York University professor of public service. "That means a
relatively green team, but one that will take direction from the coach. It
could be interpreted as a sign of extraordinary hubris."

Aides said Bush's preference for promoting from within gives him a
hardworking, committed team beholden only to him, without their own
agendas. But other people close to Bush used the term "echo chamber" as
they described their worry that a culture so driven by "loyalty for
loyalty's sake" could produce a White House that was deaf to brewing
political or governing crises.

Chris Hedges heckled during speech

Re: Chris Hedges heckled during speech

Dear Friends:

Recently Chris Hedges, author of War Is the Force That Gives Us Meaning, spoke at Rockford College, delivering the commencement address to the graduates. This Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of exquisite words was greeted with catcalls, boos, and bullhorns. What was the force operating that gave them meaning?

_________________________________

Rockford Registrar Star May 20, 2003 Text of the Rockford College graduation speech by Chris Hedges [given May 17, 2003]

I want to speak to you today about war and empire. Killing, or at least the worst of it, is over in Iraq. Although blood will continue to spill -- theirs and ours -- be prepared for this. For we are embarking on an occupation that, if history is any guide, will be as damaging to our souls as it will be to our prestige, power, and security. But this will come later as our empire expands and in all this we become pariahs, tyrants to others weaker than ourselves. Isolation always impairs judgment and we are very isolated now. We have forfeited the good will, the empathy the world felt for us after 9-11.

We have folded in on ourselves, we have severely weakened the delicate international coalitions and alliances that are vital in maintaining and promoting peace and we are part now of a dubious troika in the war against terror with Vladimir Putin and Ariel Sharon, two leaders who do not shrink in Palestine or Chechnya from carrying out acts of gratuitous and senseless acts of violence. We have become the company we keep. The censure and perhaps the rage of much of the world, certainly one-fifth of the world's population which is Muslim, most of whom I'll remind you are not Arab, is upon us.

US pressure continues on Iran

Re: US pressure continues on Iran

Dear Friends:

The Bush administration continues to apply pressure on Iran, claiming that it is sheltering top level al Queda members, and that its nuclear capacity is intended for non-peaceful means. Sound familiar? The Washington Post reported Sunday that the US had broken off contact with Iran, suspecting that al Qaeda operatives in Iran had a role in the May 12 bombings. Iran, which is on President Bush's axis of evil list, is suspected of sponsoring terrorism, and is facing increasing pressure from Washington since the end of the war in Iraq.

_____________________

The Guardian May 27, 2003

Next Stop Tehran? By Simon Tisdall

With Iraq beaten, the US is now playing the same dangerous WMD game with Iran Imagine for a moment that you are a senior official in Iran's foreign ministry. It's hot outside on the dusty, congested streets of Tehran. But inside the ministry, despite the air-conditioning, it's getting stickier all the time. You have a big problem, a problem that Iran's president, Mohammad Khatami, admits is "huge and serious". The problem is the Bush administration and, specifically, its insistence that Iran is running "an alarming clandestine nuclear weapons programme". You fear that this, coupled with daily US claims that Iran is aiding al-Qaida, is leading in only one direction. US news reports reaching your desk indicate that the Pentagon is now advocating "regime change" in Iran.

America's new sweetheart

Re: America's new sweetheart

Dear Friends:

At 85, Robert Byrd has become an overnight Internet sensation and the Senate's unlikeliest liberal. Due to his fierce opposition to the Iraq war, elder statesman Byrd has become an icon of the information highway, with an avid following of young and liberal admirers. In January, Byrd's website had received 436,000 hits; by March, he was at 3.7 million. May his wings never be clipped.

_____________________________