Flyby News
"News Fit to Transmit in the Post Cassini Flyby Era"
Losing America * MoorePraise * Kerry&Kucinich
21 July 2004
"A standing army is one of the greatest mischief that can possibly happen."
– James Madison
(US fourth president, 1751-1836)
"Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious
to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty."
– George W. Washington
"The love of liberty is the love of others;
the love of power is the love of ourselves."
– William Hazlitt
1) Sen. Byrd on Meet the Press and on "Losing America"- - Progress Report: More Proof They Knew
- - Iraq is not improving, it's a disaster
- - Torturing Children [in Iraq]
- - Is Iraq's new Prime Minster a war criminal?
- - Halliburton Iran deals under fire
- - Coup D'Etat in America?
2) Even Republicans and military members applaud ‘Fahrenheit 9/11'- - Linda Ronstadt, Las Vegas, and Michael Moore - Desperadoes
3) Kucinich ~ On the Wings of a Dove
"I hate it when they say, 'He gave his life for his country.'
Nobody gives their life for anything. We steal the lives of these kids.
We take it away from them. They don't die for the honor and glory
of their country. We kill them."
- Admiral Gene LaRocque
Editor's Notes:We are quickly approaching the 5th anniversary since the Cassini-Earth flyby, 17/18 August 2004. In 1999 the planet just missed a horrendous collision with a speeding NASA probe with 400,000 curies of plutonium radiation. But instead of cooling off, things keep heating up in respect to threats of life and democracy. Item 1 contains powerful excerpts in the Meet the Press interview with Senator Robert Byrd on his book: "Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency." Senator Byrd said he wrote it to help save the US Constitution. The consequences of the bastardization of our Constitution is happening now in Iraq. See subtitles in item 1 for links and resources that expose a war for terror, not against terror. The second item returns to a story that won't go away -- Michael Moore. And while Linda Ronstadt gets thrown out in Las Vegas for praising Moore's 9/11 movie, two skull and bones members are running for president, and all this is suppose to make sense?. Some find it too much to vote for Kerry, but let's put efforts to convincing them otherwise – four years of a corporate-representative is much better than four more years of Bush NeoCon agenda.
Flyby News (FN) has tried to stay ahead of the curve of destruction since about a year and a half before the Cassini-Earth flyby. FN posted an endorsement for Dennis Kucinich for US President 2004 nine months before his announcement. Kucinich missed an opportunity in 2004 to win in New Hampshire. Yet any great leader must learn from one's mistakes, and his work has exemplified the qualities of a great leader. If Kerry doesn't deliver peace and justice, then we must be ready to win New Hampshire in the Primaries in 2008, and with Kucinich it's possible, as well as his current efforts to steer the Democratic Party for peace and a just resolution in the needless-bloody conflict in Iraq. Fear has too long led us down a path of deceit and ignorance, degrading life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Happiness
Happiness comes from a large garden
full of the fruits of the most sacred things..
The delicate flowers unfold a fragrance
to behold the image worth living.
O' purple majesty, violet rays of God's tranquility,
tell us about compassion, and the green depth of grass and pines do heal,
swirling leaves in the wind say, "Come out into the sun and feel."
And air currents carry the moisture, in its core the life force,
absolutely pure, and we bathe in light and color and learn to see
the positive behind everything.. and the backdrop of blue, blue sky,
brings the heavens closer to the real world of dreams and visions that one can fly..
and to understand the shapes of clouds creates an artistic eye . . .
to know the spiritual wonders of illumination, to be on Earth and reach out ever so high!I wrote this above poem on 24 July 1980.
Many thanks to
Information Clearinghouse for supplying many of the quotes used above in this issue.
United We Stand - Divided We Fall
1) Sen. Byrd on Meet the Press and on "Losing America"- - Progress Report: More Proof They Knew
- - Iraq is not improving, it's a disaster :
- - Torturing Children [in Iraq]
- - Is Iraq's new Prime Minster a war criminal?
- - Halliburton Iran deals under fire:
- - Coup D'Etat in America?
MEET THE PRESS - - Transcript for July 18
Guest: Senator Robert Byrd, D-WVA, Author,
"Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency"
Please credit any quotes or excerpts to:
"NBC NEWS' MEET THE PRESS"
Moderator/Panelist: Tim Russert, NBC News
[Excerpts]
MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: The longest-serving current member of the United States Senate has written a blistering critique of George W. Bush, "Losing America: Confronting A Reckless And Arrogant Presidency." With us, Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia. . . Robert C. Byrd has been a senator for 45 years, serving with 11 presidents and now says our current president is "...a dangerous leader in a dangerous time."
Senator Byrd, welcome.
SEN. ROBERT BYRD, (D-WV)
Thank you.
MR. RUSSERT: In the midst of the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, what message do you think it sends to the world when someone like you says that President Bush is dangerous, reckless and arrogant?
SEN. BYRD: I hope that the world will listen. This book constitutes a wake-up call, a wake-up call not only to our own people but to the world.
MR. RUSSERT: Let me show you what you also say in the book. Back in October of 2002, only 23 senators opposed a resolution authorizing the president to go to war. "In the end, only 22 other members voted to oppose this despicable grant of authority. ...Never in my half century of congressional service had the United States Senate proved unworthy of its great name. What would the framers have thought? In this terrible show of weakness, the Senate left an indelible stain upon its own escutcheon. Having revered the Senate during my service for more than forty years, I was never pained so much."
You say that the 22 senators who joined with you were profiles in courage, and those who didn't vote that way had shown weakness. John Kerry, candidate for president, John Edwards, candidate for vice president, your Democratic Party, voted for the war. Are they weak?
SEN. BYRD: They were misled. I'm confident of that. And I have a feeling that that is why they voted as they did.
MR. RUSSERT: Misled by whom?
SEN. BYRD: Misled by this administration, misled by this president, misled by Mr. Rumsfeld, misled by the CIA. Mostly, though, however...
MR. RUSSERT: Intentional?
SEN. BYRD: I can't say it was the intention, but it was what caused many senators, I'm sure, to vote as they did. And we have to remember that this was in an atmosphere where to vote against it and to speak out against this administration took courage. And many senators were fearful that they would be called unpatriotic if they did not vote with the administration.
MR. RUSSERT: Let me show you another excerpt from your book: "We keep hearing the refrain, `Stay the course.' What is the course? Is it that we continue sending American troops to be used as sitting ducks in an Iraqi shooting gallery? How long are we going to be fed the pap that fighting the terrorists on the streets of Baghdad saves us from fighting terrorists on the streets of New York City or Washington, D.C.?" What would you do, pull all the American troops out immediately?
SEN. BYRD: No. No, we made a mistake. It was wrong to enter this war. There were two wars going on: one in Afghanistan, which I fully supported. That was a war that was begun by the--those who destructed the world towers. That was an attack on America. I was 100 percent behind the president in his reaction to that war.
But then a second war has come along, in which another country did not attack us, there was not an imminent danger from Iraq. This was Mr. Bush's war. I was against it. It was a mistake, I said at the time. I say now that it is a mistake. I'd never say that we should pull our troops out. I think we should work, having entered into this, to bring about an honorable way to bring our troops home.
MR. RUSSERT: Would that, however, make Iraq a haven for terrorists if we were to abandon it?
SEN. BYRD: It is already a haven for terrorists. It was not before Mr. Bush attacked this country that had not provoked this country by an attack. We attacked Iraq. We've never done that. This was part of the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive attack. It was wrong. That's a dangerous doctrine. And I simply say that we have to do what we have to do, and we have to have a plan to bring our men home with honor, but it's very hard because the Bush administration insulted some of our friends and referred to old Europe, and they turned the back of their hands to the U.N. And so we have to go it alone, almost, because we're losing the support that we have over there with other countries.
MR. RUSSERT: Let me show you another excerpt from the book: "Bush's power has been wielded with arrogance, calculation, and disdain for dissenting views. The Constitution's careful separation of powers has been breached, and its checks and balances circumvented. Behind closed doors, schemes have been hatched, with information denied to the legislative branch and policy makers shielded from informing the people or Congress. In fact, there appears to be little respect for the role of Congress. There is virtually no attempt to build consensus through the hard work of reaching across the aisle to find common ground. Real consultation does not exist."
You've worked with 11 presidents. Is that any different than with the previous 10 presidents?
SEN. BYRD: It's very different. I have never seen such secrecy. I've not--I have never experienced such a feeling of disdain for the Congress by this administration. And this is what I've been talking about. We saw it--I see it in the Appropriations Committee, where the administration continues to try to seek more power, grasp more power. This administration does not like oversight by the Congress. And it is exceedingly dangerous. I've never seen anything like that in my experience.
MR. RUSSERT: Nixon had secrecy.
SEN. BYRD...had secrecy. And some of his people are in this administration: the vice president, the secretary of defense, former secretary of the Treasury, Mr. O'Neill.
MR. RUSSERT: And this is worse?
SEN. BYRD: Far worse. I've never experienced anything like this. I've never felt as afraid of what-- where we're headed as I feel now.
MR. RUSSERT: Aren't the Democrats also responsible, however, for the gridlock and for the excessive partisanship?
SEN. BYRD: There's no question about it. It isn't the president and this administration alone. Our own Congress lost its backbone when it voted to shift the constitutional power to declare war to this president, to this one man. The framers must have been spinning in their graves because they intended for such a decision to be cast by--not just by one house of Congress but by both houses of Congress. And now we have--we shifted. Congress was weak, and I was ashamed of the Senate for the first time in my 45 years, that it would shift this power and remove itself and take away its voice. It turned over to this one man the decision to use our military forces as he would, when he would, where he would, and there's no sunset provision in that. There was at least a sunset provision in Tonkin Gulf resolution. There's no sunset provision in this power. I said to myself and to my colleagues, "Look, if we're going to be silly enough and unsensible enough to shift this power to this president, let's at least put a sunset provision in it." I offered an amendment, got 31 votes, including my own. I could hardly believe it. I was ashamed. But not only has the Congress failed, the American people have been unthinking and they've not asked questions. And finally, the press, the media itself, bought into this once the president's drums of war started. I call it his drums and I don't mean his individually alone, but his administration. But in particular, this leader, when he loosed the dogs of war, the press fell in line and the press failed to ask the questions that it should have asked. So there are a lot of people at fault here.
MR. RUSSERT: Before you go, West Virginia, five electoral votes, went for George W. Bush in 2000 rather than Al Gore. You had advised Al Gore to temper some of his environmental comments so as to not lose West Virginia. On the John Kerry for President Web site, he refers to coal as a dirty energy source, which President Bush alluded to when he was in West Virginia recently. Can John Kerry carry West Virginia if he continues to call coal a dirty energy source?
SEN. BYRD: Look, I'm the son of a coal miner. I married a coal miner's daughter. I know a lot about coal. I know a lot about the Depression. Yes, coal is a dirty energy source. But look what we're trying to do. We're trying to clean it up. I've appropriated moneys over the years for coal research to make it cleaner. So, yes, he can carry West Virginia. He will carry West Virginia if he continues to stand up for the liberties of the people. And we've got to remember that, it's the people back home who are to be remembered. And this Constitution, John Kerry believes in this Constitution. I've talked with him. I've told him he should go to West Virginia. He should shake hands with the people. He should be at their level and get a little coal dust on his hands, get some of that dirty dust on his hands and on his face and live in spirit with the working people of this country, the coal miners, and always remember that sovereignty rests, John Kerry, sovereignty rests with the people of this country. And it's this book here--why I wrote "Losing America" was to help save this book, the Constitution.
MR. RUSSERT: Senator Robert C. Byrd, we thank you for sharing your views.
SEN. BYRD: Thank you.
For the complete transcript, see:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5458209= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Progress Report: More Proof They KnewJuly 15, 2004
INTELLIGENCE
This morning's Los Angeles Times uncovers an explosive document buried at the end of the recent Senate Intelligence report. It shows that before Colin Powell's now-discredited U.N. speech justifying war in Iraq, State Department analysts told Powell and top administration officials about "dozens of factual problems" in the address (which was written by Vice President Cheney's staff). According to the Jan. 31, 2003 memo, there were problems with 38 of the claims made in the speech draft, which was crafted at the behest of the White House. (It was "intended to be the Bush administration's most compelling case" for war in Iraq.) In response, 28 were either "removed from the draft or altered" but the others were left in. Powell was reportedly irate when first given the speech: According to the 9/3/03 U.S. News & World Report, Powell threw the speech in the air, yelling, "I'm not reading this. This is bulls--t." This past May, he reiterated his displeasure with the speech, saying, "It turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong, and in some cases deliberately misleading."
For more information on The Progress Report, see:
americanprogressaction.org= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Iraq is not improving, it's a disasterAttacks on US troops are running at dozens a day, frequently accompanied by looting, burning and stoning. It is generally believed in Baghdad that around 1,000 Iraqis leave the country every day for Jordan and Syria because the security situation is intolerable.
www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1264789,00.html= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Torturing Children [in Iraq]by William Rivers Pitt
The biggest story of the Iraq war has not enjoyed any coverage in America, though it has been exploding across the international news media for several weeks now.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/072004A.shtml= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Is Iraq's new Prime Minster a war criminal?The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported Monday that Iraq's Human Rights Minister Bakhtiyar Amin said he will investigate claims that Iraq's new Prime Minister Iyad Allawi killed six prisoners just days before he took office. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age of Melbourne, two of Australia's top newspapers, ran the story about the alleged incident on Saturday, prompting a furious round of denials from Mr. Allawi's office.
For the complete Christian Science Monitor [US] article of 19 July 2004, see:
www.csmonitor.com/2004/0719/dailyUpdate.html= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Halliburton Iran deals under fireHalliburton, in trouble over alleged over-charging for Iraq contracts, is being probed for its deals in Iran.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3908753.stm= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Coup D'Etat in America?by Michel Chossudovsky
13 July 2004
[This article is a follow-up on an earlier text entitled:
Bush Administration "Guidelines" for Postponing or Canceling
the November Presidential Elections, by Michel Chossudovsky
For this recent article, Coup d'Etat in America?, see:
globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO407B.html
2) Even Republicans and military members applaud ‘Fahrenheit 9/11'- - Linda Ronstadt, Las Vegas, and Michael Moore - Desperadoes
Even Republicans and military members applaud ‘Fahrenheit 9/11'
By Kevin J. Shay / OpEdNews
[Excerpts]
"There's a warnin' sign on the road ahead,
There's a lot of people sayin' we'd be better off dead,
Don't feel like Satan, but I am to them,
So I try to forget it, any way I can."
- Neil Young, "Rockin' in the Free World"
I recently saw Michael Moore's film, "Fahrenheit 9/11," which even reviewers for conservative media outlets like Fox News have praised. I knew I would like the documentary, based on reviews I read. But still, I can't remember seeing a movie that has affected me as much. I can't remember ever seeing a movie where the audience gave it a standing ovation when it ended, which occurred in many more theaters across the country than just the Maryland one I attended.
"Fahrenheit 9/11" made me laugh, made me sad, made me angry, made me optimistic. But most of all, it made me think and want to do even more than I am doing to help get Bush-Cheney out of the White House.
Before you dismiss Moore's latest film as one that only appeals to people who didn't like Bush-Cheney much in the first place, consider the reaction of some Bush-Cheney supporters, military veterans and family members who saw it.
Natalie Sorton, a 25-year-old moderate Republican and wife of an infantryman who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, told The Fayetteville Observer in North Carolina, where Fort Bragg is, that the movie changed her opinion of the war in Iraq. "All this movie did was open my eyes a little more to what's really going on," she said. "I think this is definitely going to have an impact on the election. I'm glad I'm a voter."
"We got a thousand points of light for the homeless man,
We got a kinder, gentler, machine gun hand….
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world…."
Kevin J. Shay, a Washington, D.C.-area writer, won a 2002 International Peacewriting Award for Walking Through the Wall, an electronic book about a transcontinental march for peace and justice he joined. The latest book to which he contributed, Big Bush Lies, was recently released by RiverWood Books and is available in bookstores across the country.
The complete article is posted at:
opednews.com/shay_071404_fahrenheit911.htm= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
- - Linda Ronstadt, Las Vegas, and Michael Moore - DesperadoesDesperadoes
July 21st, 2004 2:04 pm
Desperadoes
New York Times
Something went awry at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas last Saturday night. Linda Ronstadt did what she has done at several concerts across the country this summer. She dedicated the song "Desperado"- an encore - to Michael Moore and urged members of the audience to go see his new movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Elsewhere, audiences have reacted to the mention of Mr. Moore by cheering, booing, walking out and sometimes glaring at one another in parking lots. At the Aladdin, a few audience members tore down posters, threw drinks and demanded their money back. According to one person who was present - William Timmins, the Aladdin's president - it was "a very ugly scene." Mr. Timmins promptly made it even uglier. He had Ms. Ronstadt ejected from the premises.
This behavior assumes that Ms. Ronstadt had no right to express a political opinion from the stage. It implies - for some members of the audience at least - that there is a philosophical contract that says an artist must entertain an audience only in the ways that audience sees fit. It argues, in fact, that an artist like Ms. Ronstadt does not have the same rights as everyone else.
Perhaps her praise for Mr. Moore, even at the very end of her show, did ruin the performance for some people. They have a right to voice their disapproval - to express their opinion as Ms. Ronstadt expressed hers and to ask for a refund. But if their intemperate behavior began to worry the management, then they were the ones who should have been thrown out and told never to return, not Ms. Ronstadt, who threatened, after all, only to sing.
This article was posted:
www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php
3) Kucinich ~ On the Wings of a DoveOn the Wings of a Dove
Village Voice, 7/14/04
Mondo Washington
by James Ridgeway
On the Wings of a Dove
Kucinich fights the good anti-fight
July 14th, 2004 4:50
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Cleveland Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich, the last standing opponent of John Kerry for the Democratic presidential nomination, is going to Boston next week with high hopes that Kerry will ask him to address the party's convention later this month. In the meantime, Kucinich is planning a full week of alternative events for his supporters. The question is whether Kerry will be willing to stomach Kucinich's flat-out campaign to get the U.S. to leave Iraq when Kerry's own position is so nuanced you need an interpreter to figure out what's going on.
"I'm going to continue my opposition to the war and occupation," Kucinich told the "Voice" in an interview this morning.
Howard Dean has already been asked to speak the first night of the convention (July 26), along with former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. In all likelihood, Dean's speech will have to go through a Kerry cleansing process before the former Vermont governor will be allowed on stage. Despite the antagonism of the primaries, Dean has been campaigning hard for Kerry and recently took on the thankless job of debating Ralph Nader.
Kucinich, while technically still an opponent of Kerry, announced last spring his intention to back Kerry, and he came out for John Edwards on July 6, saying, "John Edwards is a friend and a colleague. He is an excellent choice and will be a tremendous asset to Democrats from the top of the ticket on down."
Despite that show of harmony, there's no doubt that Kucinich and Kerry are far apart on Iraq. According to published reports, the party adopted a platform amendment last week calling for the U.S. to reduce its military presence in Iraq and push for NATO and other countries to take on more duties there. Depending on where you are coming from, this might be taken to indicate a slight softening of Kerry's hawkish position on Iraq, a stance that on paper isn't all that different from that of President Bush. Kucinich said his forces at the platform meetings couldn't get enough votes to put out a minority report that certainly would've been more dovish; his website reports that he could only count eight hard votes for the Kucinich position. Fifteen were needed for a debate and 38 to write a minority report.
Kucinich said his main goal in running for president was to create an "alternative" core within the party. In his campaign, he said, people were mostly interested in health care, (he's for universal health care), trade (he's against NAFTA), the Patriot Act (against), and the war, which he has been against from the beginning.
Kucinich won 31 percent of the delegate vote in Hawaii and 26.5 percent in Alaska. States in which he got 10 percent or more of the vote include Colorado, Oregon, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, and Kansas, as well as America Samoa.
The Cleveland congressman is in the enviable position of having established a national political organization as the result of his presidential run. When it comes to Kerry's campaign, Kucinich, as the former mayor of Cleveland, should be of considerable help in a crucial state like Ohio.
To print Village Voice article, URL link:
www.villagevoice.com/print/issues/0428/mondo5.php
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