From Talking Points by Joshua Michah Marshall, the sidebar link to a political cartoon strip, Thadeus and Weez, was most interesting. How often do you find cartoonists that provide background information for each topic of a strip? Since the link given above to the strip represents the newest cartoon, I am providing a sample strip for today, Friday April 30, with the site background information and credit below. On the Patriot Act, the xResident definitely talks out both side of his mouth - what a conundrum. To avow firm belief in a policy and concept "freedom", let's just say (!) and then do everthing possible to control freedom (the Patriot Act) well that take's a mighty big effort to partition one's belief system.

Oh, I forgot! The ENDS justify the MEANS, in this case Bush MEANS that we all accept his partition of belief on what "freedom" is....

"Notes: George W. Bush said in his speech and news conference on April 13, 2004: "I also have this belief, strong belief, that freedom is not this country's gift to the world; freedom is the Almighty's gift to every man and woman in this world. And as the greatest power on the face of the Earth, we have an obligation to help the spread of freedom."

Having said this grand-sounding passage about spreading freedom -- a sort of "Manifest Destiny" and "little brown brother" redux -- Dubya went on this past week to call for passage of a permanent version of the Patriot Act. (Philosophical self-contradiction never seems to bother this guy.) The Patriot Act, of course, was passed in October, 2001, during the emotional fervor following 9/11. But, what Bush calls "key provisions" of the Act are set to expire on December 31, 2005.

Both conservatives and liberals criticize the Patriot Act as giving too much power to the federal government. The fact that John Ashcroft -- a man who is tone-deaf on civil liberties -- likes the Act is practically an endorsement for its extinction. Dubya should begin his crusade for freedom at home right here in the United States by letting the Patriot Act expire. 04.25.04"

Thanks Talking Points and thanks Thadeus and Weez.

Subversive Harmony's site has a gallery of photos from her participation in the March for Women's Lives! If you missed my earlier posts on this, see Resource.full article and alternatively, look at the Datacloud link in the sidebar for this week's stories about the Bush administration quietlly erasing factsheets and webpages on women's issues this very week. The extensive article on this from Salon may not be available in a complete view this many days later, but that story was titled "Don't Worry Your Pretty Little Head".

From Information Clearing House today:
Information Clearing House

An article written by Jennifer Sellers is concise and her title is what I've been thinking is prophecy foretold. Information Clearing House offers daily emails of daily entries and a multitude of links to provide a wealth of resources for alternative news sources to counter the "official line" and Bush administration spin. From her article, I've taken the bolded quotation within to use for my email signature at present. Kinda sums up the whole shebang.

04/27/04 "ICH" -- I once heard a German woman discussing how she felt during the Hitler regime. She watched it happen with the will of the people, and she couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe the propaganda that the people bought into. It was surreal she explained.

It is surreal now.

What we have is a President who created a war on false premises, an uninformed public wrapped up in ass kicking and feeling real good about it, and a world filled with hatred for us. Only a fool would feel empowered.

With Iraq a manufactured, blatantly unnecessary war, America's death wish is coming true. We nurtured the hate of Al Qaeda, practically in a greenhouse we built with love, and with foolish, negligent choices, have helped them grow into a massive, ripe, and more treacherous danger. We are living in our own twilight zone episode.

The attacks on Kerry are transparent. We know his war record and it's an admirable one. His anti war activities following his return from Viet Nam are admirable as well. Whether one agrees or not, it takes courage to stand up for your beliefs. This administration has a lot of nerve resorting to this kind of attack considering President Bush's miserable Vietnam aversion and inability to verify his whereabouts in the National Guard. Maybe nerve is all it takes to snow us these days.

I heard the word semantics used in describing Kerry's interchange of the word ribbons and medals in the latest Republican attack dog rhetoric. It would be generous to use the word semantics in describing the media's take on this administration's disastrous choices. Take the word mislead? Can we be frank? How about the word lied? Resolve? How about say like it really is. Inability to learn and stubborn to boot.

One thing is certain. This administration has its finger on America's pulse. We love to hate; someone, something. Hell, we hated the ruskies for years and it felt good. Keep us confused. Switch and bait. Talk up freedom as we watch it fade away. Keep us so cloaked in the illusion of patriotism that we can't see the stars for the stripes. Whatever happens, we don't want to see the truth if it means ignoring all facts, ignoring all whistleblowers whose reputations are without question, and ignoring history.

With our impotent media, the Republicans have got the field. And they want to run the touchdown all the way to the end of the world as we know it.

It appears clear to me. Either vote for the unknown who possesses maturity and intelligence and the ability to analyze, or vote for the known, a war coward, a documented liar and one who has proven himself lacking in judgment and is taking us so far down a murky road where we'll never find our way home. Oh yeah, that's 'leadership' in our vernacular."