Day: July 12, 2005

literature

Quotes Meant To Inspire

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I received an email at work yesterday stating that “the tragic events in London late last week require a disruption of the ordinary” which included the 3 quotes below. If you can, take 5 minutes to read and reflect on what those men are really saying:

This is the duty of our generation as we enter the twenty-first century — solidarity with the weak, the persecuted, the lonely, the sick, and those in despair. It is expressed by the desire to give a noble and humanizing meaning to a community in which all members will define themselves not by their own identity but by that of others.
-Elie Weisel

Responsibility does not only lie with the leaders of our countries or with those who have been appointed or elected to do a particular job. It lies with each of us individually. Peace, for example, starts within each one of us. When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us.
– HH The Dali Lama

God grant, that not only the Love of Liberty, but a thorough Knowledge of the Rights of Man, may pervade all the Nations of the Earth, so that a Philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its Surface, and say, “This is my Country.”
– Ben Franklin

politics

“You Spin Me Right Round Baby Right Round…

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…like a record baby right round right round” by Dead or Alive should be the Bush White House’s anthem. Here’s a bit of history (courtesy of the NY Times) which says why:

  • In September 2003, White House Spokesman Scott McClellan said flatly that Karl Rove had not been involved in disclosing [at the time covert CIA agent and diplomat’s wife] Valerie Plame’s name [which is a federal offense].
  • Asked about the issue on Sept. 29, 2003, Mr. McClellan said he had “spoken with Karl Rove,” and that it was “simply not true” that Mr. Rove had a role in the disclosure of her identity. Two weeks earlier, he had called suggestions that Mr. Rove had been involved “totally ridiculous.”
  • On Oct. 10, 2003, after the Justice Department opened its formal investigation, Mr. McClellan told reporters that Mr. Rove, Mr. Abrams and Mr. Libby had nothing to do with the leak.
  • Mr. McClellan and Mr. Bush have both made clear that leaking Ms. Plame’s identity would be considered a firing offense by the White House. Mr. Bush was asked about that position most recently a little over a year ago, when he was asked whether he stood by his pledge to fire anyone found to have leaked the officer’s name. “Yes,” he replied, on June 10, 2004.
  • Yesterday, July 11, 2005, the White House refused to answer any questions about new evidence of Mr. Rove’s role in the matter. Terry Moran of ABC News prefaced his question by saying White House Spokesman Scott McClellan was “in a bad spot here” because he had spoken from the same podium in the White House briefing room on Oct. 10, 2003, after the Justice Department began its formal investigation into the leak, and specifically said that neither Mr. Rove nor two other officials – Elliot Abrams, a national security aide, and I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff – were involved. Mr. McClellan disputed the characterization of the question but did not directly address why the White House had appeared now to have adopted a new policy of not commenting on the matter.

I would believe this administration as far as I could throw a piano left handed.