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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (60498)	12/7/2002 9:10:05 PM
From: KLP	Respond to of 281500

OT~Here info on the $50,000 NYT ad....have been looking for Falwell and Robertsons groups' here....Lots of others, but haven't seen theirs as yet...... Ad Urges Bush to Let `Jesus Change Your Mind' on Iraq Kevin Eckstrom 12-06-02 WASHINGTON (RNS) More than 125 Christians and Jews urged President Bush to allow Jesus to "change your mind" on war with Iraq in a full-page New York Times advertisement. The ad, paid for by Religious Leaders for Sensible Priorities, warned of a "strong faith-based revolt against war in Iraq" and said the president should listen to religious leaders. "If Jesus Christ truly `changed your heart' as you have said, let him change your mind," said the ad, which featured a large photo of Bush praying. The ad carried the names of more than 125 clergy, nuns and parishioners who oppose a preemptive strike against Saddam Hussein. The ad said the war would be "an unprovoked, preemptive attack on a nation which is not threatening the United States." The Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches and a former Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania, spearheaded the ad as chairman of the looseknit Sensible Priorities group. Edgar, like Bush, is a United Methodist. The ad noted that the war is opposed by United Methodist bishops, and attempts for a meeting with Bush have "been denied." "You've proclaimed the crucial role of faith in your life, and you've said that people of faith are often `our nation's voice of conscience.' Listen to our voices now." Edgar said similar ads may appear in smaller publications in the coming weeks as he mounts a "season of peacemaking" against the war. Donations are expected to cover the $50,000 cost for the ad. Also signing the statement were Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert, noted anti-war Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, Dave Robinson, national director of Pax Christi USA, and Jim Wallis, executive director of Sojourners. Mercy Viana, a White House spokeswoman, said there was no specific response to the ad, but said Bush has pledged to "seek peace" and "war is the last option for confronting threats." baptists4ethics.com

To: JohnM who wrote (60498)	12/8/2002 12:19:45 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

~OT~....Maureen Dowd's Wicked Sense Of Humor <G>... Cheneyville Christmas By MAUREEN DOWD Columnist The New York Times December 8, 2002 WASHINGTON — On TV this weekend, George Bush tells the story of George and the bush. "George stares down at the empty robe, then picks it up, looking puzzled," the former president says. "Mary's eyes peer out of a large, flowering bush. George starts to toss the robe, then reconsiders, eyeing the robe slyly." "It's a Wonderful Life" was on NBC, and the visually impaired could tune in to a version in which Bush père charmingly narrated the action, including the scene where Donna Reed loses her bathrobe and jumps into a hydrangea bush so Jimmy Stewart can't see her. Poppy Bush did the voice-over as a favor for a blind woman from California who is an advocate of TV audio description for the blind. The Christmas classic has special resonance for the Bushes this year. Just as George Bailey reverses his life to see how things would have been different, the younger George Bush is reversing his father's life to see how things would have been different. (Rather than Pottersville, W. goes to Cheneyville, a grim, secretive place where the poor are squeezed and the environment is scrooged.) If 41 hadn't been president, 43 would have nothing to do, since the kid spends all his time doing U-turns on the highway of Pop's presidency. His father let Saddam stay and raised taxes to cut the deficit; the son has to get rid of Saddam and cut taxes, raising the deficit. The son is determined to get the second term that the father didn't; the father lost his job because he did not appear to care about Americans' economic woes, so the son will make sure that he appears to care. Thus, the Thursday night massacre of Paul O'Neill and Larry Lindsey. As heartless as Lionel Barrymore, Dick Cheney initiated the firings, brutally axing his old pal and fellow C.E.O., Mr. O'Neill, after assuring him that he had the president's confidence and could stay two more years. Andy Card pushed Mr. Lindsey off the sled of state. Signaling its approval, the stock market shot up at news that the former head of Alcoa had been canned. Before the elections, the White House distracted us from its muddled policy on the economy by fussing about Iraq. Now it distracts us from its muddled policy on Iraq by fussing about the economy. The C.E.O. Administration has given way to the Mayberry Machiavellis, as a former Bush official calls the politically obsessed West Wing in a Karl Rove profile in Esquire. Now that the Republicans have control of Congress, the Bush team can stop pretending that it has an economic policy and can try to develop one in the 20 minutes before the 2004 campaign starts up. Next time around, they're not going to be able to whine that the meanie Tom Daschle and his Democratic Senate were to blame. By sending a forlorn Mr. O'Neill driving back to Pittsburgh, the White House offered only a counterfeit reckoning. In a genuine reckoning, they would have admitted the tax cuts aren't cutting it. If the Bushies want their fiscal policy, they can't have their national security policy. And if they want their national security policy, they can't have their fiscal policy. The war on Iraq will cost up to $200 billion, as Mr. Lindsey blurted out, and there is no numerical figure to represent the cost for the war on terrorism or the Department of Homeland Security or the beefing up of the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. Just as the administration is having a hard time finding an economic strategy — beyond lifting a tax on dividends for those who play the stock market — they're having a hard time finding a casus belli. President Bush thought he had Saddam boxed in, but he has been stymied by the Iraqi scheme of cooperating but not complying. Dropping an 11,000-page declaration of their arms programs, Iraqis showed they had learned the art of the document dump from U.S. administrations, which have figured out that the way to confound investigators and the press is to hit them with a paper blizzard. By the time the Arabic diary of obfuscation is deciphered, it will be summer again and too hot to fight. In a costly reversal of his father's presidency, W. will have to pay for his war against Saddam. The allies and gulf states put billions in James Baker's hat the last time. But it is unlikely that George Bush's friends, like George Bailey's, will bail him out with a shower of cash at the end. nytimes.com