Just hearsay, or the new Watergate tapes?

[RedEarth]

David Paul Kuhn
Friday June 17, 2005

Guardian Unlimited

Forced to the basement of the US Capitol and prevented from holding an official hearing, Michigan representative John Conyers defied Republicans and held a forum on Thursday calling for a congressional inquiry into the infamous British document known as the "Downing Street memo".

Three dozen Democratic representatives shuffled in and out of a small room to join Mr Conyers in declaring that the Downing Street memo was the first "primary source" document to report that prewar intelligence was intentionally manipulated in order make a case for invading Iraq.

Not only did Republican leaders consign the Democrats to the basement, but Democrats also claimed that the House scheduled 11 votes concurrent with the forum to maximise the difficulty of attending it. Because the forum wasn't an official hearing, it won't become a part of the Congressional record - but members worked to make sure that the attending media and activists captured their words for posterity.

The Downing Street memo, so far disputed by Washington and London in some of its details, but not its authenticity, reports on minutes of a meeting between the British prime minister, Tony Blair, and his national security team on July 23 2002.

First reported by the London Sunday Times on May 1 this year, the internal memo states that, in the opinion of "C" (Sir Richard Dearlove, the head of the British secret intelligence service), "intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy". The author of the memo added that it "seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5218598-113898,00.html

[bpilgrim]

1. we hit the BIG-TIME the meme is spreading

WATERGATE

peace

[wryter2000]

3. I sure hope so

But it'll have to make it into our "press" before I'll be absolutely sure.

[bpilgrim]

12. it's been ALL-OVER 'our' press the past week and it's only getting BIGGER

all the time but you are wise to be cautious because of what we have witnessed from the M$MWs over the years sadly and to their DISGRACE.

thank GORE he 'invented' the INTERNETs ;->

peace

[Kikosexy2]

2. Gotta...

keep pushing DSM and not relent...haunt them to death with it.

[Independent_Liberal]

4. We have the power to make it the next Watergate...

We have to keep pushing it. We can't let up now.

[whistle]

5. The republican majority is about to re-impose separate drinking...

...fountains, washrooms and back-of-the room seating for minority legislators it seems. Jim Crow laws are about to be resurrected. Only now it will be about anyone who is not a republican or who opposes the republican will.

Just a reminder of what it was like in America 100 years ago and in much of the south up until 45 years ago.

<snip>

"Jim Crow" Laws
Click to see larger image. ( K) From the 1880s into the 1960s, a majority of American states enforced segregation through "Jim Crow" laws (so called after a black character in minstrel shows). From Delaware to California, and from North Dakota to Texas, many states (and cities, too) could impose legal punishments on people for consorting with members of another race. The most common types of laws forbade intermarriage and ordered business owners and public institutions to keep their black and white clientele separated.
Here is a sampling of laws from various states.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nurses No person or corporation shall require any white female nurse to nurse in wards or rooms in hospitals, either public or private, in which negro men are placed. Alabama
Buses All passenger stations in this state operated by any motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket windows for the white and colored races. Alabama

Railroads The conductor of each passenger train is authorized and required to assign each passenger to the car or the division of the car, when it is divided by a partition, designated for the race to which such passenger belongs. Alabama

Restaurants It shall be unlawful to conduct a restaurant or other place for the serving of food in the city, at which white and colored people are served in the same room, unless such white and colored persons are effectually separated by a solid partition extending from the floor upward to a distance of seven feet or higher, and unless a separate entrance from the street is provided for each compartment. Alabama

<more>
<link> http://www.nps.gov/malu/documents/jim_crow_laws.htm

[DoYouEverWonder]

7. Too bad

there not enough of them any more. Their reign of terror will soon be over.



Here's Bu$h's support. All 8 of them.

[KoKo]

6. All over the world the "meme" is spreading throughout the "Underground."

And the Mainstream Republican Controlled Media" is "sore afraid."

[oldtime dfl_er]

9. I'm hoping the Brits will lead the way

Maybe we will gain hope if they kick Blair out. And they could, although they don't have the impeachment process there, do they?

http://www.cafepress.com/scarebaby/665903

[BlueIris]

8. No addtional comments really, just a kick. nt.

[Daphne08]

10. Another Kick

:kick:

[KharmaTrain]

11. Watergate Didn't Really Roll Until Some Blood Spilled...

A trip down memory lane...it took Watergate 2 years from break-in to resignation...and the first 6 months was all but the Woodward/Bernstein WAPO stories that were more a local than a national story.

Things broke when Nixon thought he could "nip this thing in the bud" by serving up John Dean, Erlichman and Halderman. Instead, this really got the ball rolling. This is when CBS did the hour long prime time special to educate the country on what had been learned up to that point...and from there on out Watergate dominated the news for the next 18 months.

What's needed here is to force for the head/heads of this regime...not big fish like Rummy, but lessers, like a Feith or Scooter Libby or another aparachnik that can be better known publicly...put a face on this scandal...and then hope he or someone else within this regime (ala Paul O'Neill) comes forward to "clear the air" about this regime. With a White House official going public, then the story hops from London to Washington and the fun really begins.