Category Archives: inthenews

Sheila Jackson Lee & Middle East peace

I think Jackson Lee is an excellent US Representative, and an excellent leader.  I am proud that she’s my Rep.  Go Sheila…

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Jackson Lee calls on Bush to name Middle East envoy

By ROSANNA RUIZ
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle, June 15, 2003, 9:42PM

Upon her return from a summit in Norway involving Palestinian and Israeli women leaders, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said here Sunday that she will call on President Bush to name a special envoy to monitor the peace process in the Middle East.

She proposed former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, and former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton or George Bush as ideal candidates for the job.

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I question the destruction.

Destruction in war to be expected

The military incursion in Iraq, for brevity lets term it a war (though the Congress hasn’t declared it such, they did give President Bush the blank check to act as such) can be expected to cause much destruction. Much of the munitions being used are very good at minimizing collateral damage to both human life and property. But when a 1000 pound bomb explodes in your neighborhood, you have to expect a bit of damage. It’s war, that happens, lets get some oil money in there to fix it.

What I don’t understand is the mindless need for destruction. Not by looting hoards, which, as distressing as it may be, is typical human behavior. The mindless destruction that is bothering me is that being performed by our troops.

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Cheney v Clark

Today Vice President Dick Cheney, addressed American Society of Newspaper Editors. (full text) He said some things I agree with and several I don’t, and definitely implied some things that are questionable, which seems de rigueur for the administration. However, right now I’ll only address one part of his comments. Going off topic he threw a personal jab, “In the early days of the war the plan was criticized by some retired military officers embedded in TV studios.”
I feel certain he was referring to retired general and former NATO commander Wesley Clark who is working currently for CNN. Clark has expressed reservations about the current military incursion, expressing the opinion that the diplomacy prior to the action should have been more resolute. He has also expressed questions about certain operational military details in Iraq. The Slate and others have opined that Clark may have an interest in running for president (as a Democrat) in 2004.

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REM Song – Bandwagon

This song was wafting in and out of my head several weeks ago. I really need to dial it up on the CD player and get it out of my system. I think it’s particularly apropos (oh no, did I use a French word? The horror.), but I’ll leave my personal feeling of its interpretation to myself. That’s the beauty of music, it can mean different things to different people, all correct.

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>REM – Dead Letter Office – Bandwagon

Bandwagon

Come on aboard, I promise you you won’t hurt the horse
We treat him well, we feed him well.
There’s lots of room for you on the bandwagon,
The road may be rough, the weather may forget us
But won’t we all parade around and sing our songs,
a magic kingdom, open-armed

Greet us hello, bravo, name in lights
Passing on the word to fellow passengers and players, passing in,
Until you’re tired looking at all the flags
And all the banners waving
This is some parade, yesiree Bob.
Could we have known?
Yesiree Bob, could we have known?

Look at all the flags and all the banners waving.
Open up our arms, a magic kingdom, open-armed and greet us all

Come on aboard I promise you you won’t hurt the horse
We treat him well, we feed him well
There’s lots of room for you on the bandwagon
The road may be rough, the weather may forget us
But won’t we all parade around and sing our songs and wave our flags.
A magic kingdom, greet us all hello, greet us hello, greet us hello.

Scorecard for the War

This opinion piece was published in the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday. It is by Thomas L. Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, working for The New York Times. He has been working on a documentary entitled “Searching for the Roots of 9/11” for The New York Times and the Discovery Channel. It will be broadcast April 1 on the Discovery Times Channel at 8, Eastern time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/26/opinion/26FRIE.html

Scorecard for the War

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

I was in a restaurant at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on Sunday, and it had an NCAA basketball game playing on the TV at one end of the bar and the Iraq war on the other. Most people were watching the basketball game — probably because it’s so much easier to keep score. How will we know if we are winning in Iraq? Here are six things I am watching for:

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Bush to Middle East: quiet abandonment

This was a small article on the Bush administration abandoning a promise to push forward the Peace Process in Israel/Palestine. With all the other Iraq stirrings, this tidbit will fly under the radar. Unfortunately, I think it will come back to haunt us.

Israel, North Korea,… it’s much easier to ignore the sticky problems. We’ve got Saddam, we’ll deal with that, because we think we can solve it.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/world/1810704



March 9, 2003, 10:31AM
Bush refuses to offer plan for Mideast

By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
New York Times

In a sharp rebuff to European allies, Russia and the United Nations, the Bush administration has decided not to put forth a plan for a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians until after the crisis in Iraq is resolved, administration officials say.

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