Guest blogged by Winter Patriot
According to this story from the Star Tribune:
State Sen. Becky Lourey, whose son, Matt, was killed piloting an Army helicopter earlier this year, and FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley [see photo], a recently declared DFL [Democratic] candidate for Congress who spoke out early against invading Iraq, said they will join the stakeout at “Camp Casey” — named in memory of Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, 24, who was killed more than a year ago.
Star Tribune writers Dane Smith and Greg Gordon make the de rigeur attempt at balance, and inadvertently throw a bright light on the sleaze-mongers and spin-meisters who support this war and the chickenhawks who started it.
Honestly, I don’t understand why the opinions of “a Republican state leader” are necessary to the telling of this essentially news story. But then again how would we know what a crass hypocrite he is unless we hear his “side” of the “story”?
Which, not surprisingly, goes like this:
Walsh was less kind to Rowley. “You can’t ignore the fact that Coleen Rowley is running for Congress right now,” he said. “It’s really unfortunate that she has to join the MoveOn.orgs, the Michael Moores and the left-wingers who are exploiting this circus for political gain.”
I don’t imagine we should expect Walsh to explain why he doesn’t “think you should question the president’s motives”, which to all indications are highly questionable, if not outright criminal, and in my opinion Walsh would have a very difficult time proving that Bush is “fully aware of the ramifications of sending people’s children into battle”. Maybe Walsh is clairvoyant. But according to all the signs we ordinary humans can see, Bush is entirely unaware of said ramifications.
Still less do I understand what difference it makes if a pro-war politician accuses an anti-war politician of having “a political agenda”. Do the pro-war “people” not have an agenda of their own? And is it not political?
I have always had a problem with people who pluralize the names of individuals and organizations, as if to imply that there are many of them. Who are all the other “Michael Moores” and why haven’t we heard of them? Where are all the other “MoveOn.orgs” and how do they differ from the original? You won’t find any answers to questions like these in the remainder of the article, but you can click on the photo to read the rest of it anyway.
But please be careful. The pro-war spin is enough to make you dizzy, especially early in the morning.
On the other hand, you can do your part to resist the media spin by clicking here and taking some unspun truths to the streets. Being The Media has never been easier, or more fun. Which is a damned good thing because it has never been more necessary, either.
Knowledge Is Power! Pass It On!!
And many thanks to regular BRAD BLOG commenter, Valley Girl, for the pointer to this article among other things. Keep up the good work, VG. You’re fascinating!
UPDATE: The Star Tribune article I’ve been quoting, which was freely available just a few minutes ago, now seems to be available via registration only. I hate when that happens.
by Dane Smith and Greg Gordon, Star Tribune
August 17, 2005
Two Minnesota moms at the forefront of the anti-Iraq war movement, one of whom recently lost a son in the fighting, are flying to Crawford, Texas, on Thursday to join Californian Cindy Sheehan’s expanding, and increasingly controversial, protest near President Bush’s ranch.
State Sen. Becky Lourey, whose son, Matt, was killed piloting an Army helicopter earlier this year, and FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley, a recently declared DFL candidate for Congress who spoke out early against invading Iraq, said they will join the stakeout at “Camp Casey” — named in memory of Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, 24, who was killed more than a year ago.
The Sheehan vigil is becoming a lightning rod and rallying point for opposition to the war, Lourey and Rowley said, while a Republican state leader described Sheehan’s expanding vigil as a media circus.
“I just want to go down there and tell her that her voice is necessary and that she is doing it for the right reasons,” Lourey said. “I’m doing it as Matt’s mother but also because I’m upset by our country. I’m an American, I’m a patriot, I love the Army, but I don’t like what our country and our commander-in-chief are doing.”
Rowley said she is going to “show solidarity with that cause,” but that she intends to stay “in the background, for moral support” for Lourey. Rowley, who is running against Republican U.S. Rep. John Kline in the suburban Third District south of the Twin Cities, has a daughter in the Navy ROTC program at the University of St. Thomas.
A top Minnesota GOP official said the sacrifices of parents like Sheehan and Lourey should be respected, but that Rowley’s motives appear to be purely political.
“You have to have compassion for folks like Becky Lourey and Cindy Sheehan, who have lost sons in the war,” said Bill Walsh, the state party’s executive director. “I don’t need to question their motives, but I don’t think you should question the president’s motives either. He’s fully aware of the ramifications of sending people’s children into battle, but he has to balance that with the question of how do we best address the serious problems facing our world.”
Walsh was less kind to Rowley. “You can’t ignore the fact that Coleen Rowley is running for Congress right now,” he said. “It’s really unfortunate that she has to join the MoveOn.orgs, the Michael Moores and the left-wingers who are exploiting this circus for political gain.”
Rowley said her decision to go to Texas “has nothing to do with campaigning or politics … I’m doing this as an individual.”
Rowley said she spoke at a Veterans for Peace conference in Dallas earlier this month and heard Sheehan present her protest plans. She said she would have gone straight to Crawford if her schedule had allowed it.
Rowley, a former Twin Cities-based FBI agent, gained fame in early 2002 while still serving as counsel to the Minneapolis division, when she publicly castigated FBI headquarters for impeding her office’s pre-Sept. 11 investigation of jailed terrorism suspect Zacarias Moussaoui.
She contended that Minneapolis agents were denied access to clues that might have unraveled the suicide hijacking plot. She later was named one of Time Magazine’s “Persons of the Year.”
Warned the FBI
Then, weeks before U.S. troops invaded Iraq in March 2003, Rowley made public a letter she had sent to FBI Director Robert Mueller warning against a preemptive strike. In it, she argued that a U.S. occupation would fan terrorism on a scale the bureau was not prepared to handle.
In Kline, Rowley is challenging a second-term Republican who also has impressive national security credentials. He’s a retired Marine Corps colonel who carried the bag containing nuclear weapons codes for Presidents Carter and Reagan, and he has been a staunch supporter of Bush and the war. Neither Kline nor his aides could be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Lourey, a DFLer from Kerrick who represents a district just south of Duluth, authored a Senate resolution in 2003 opposing the war. It failed, but she also has been supportive of and has expressed pride in her son’s career.
The Washington Post reported that at a Democratic Party campaign rally last year, as her son, was preparing to return voluntarily for a second tour of duty in Iraq, she railed against President Bush: “I don’t want any more chicken hawks making these decisions, lying to us about the reasons.”
Tensions rise
Meanwhile, there were signs Tuesday that tensions were escalating at the high-profile vigil in Crawford.
A man from nearby Waco drove to the protest camp in his pickup truck and deliberately ran over small crosses with the names of war dead planted by protesters along the road. Larry Northern, 46, was arrested and charged with criminal mischief.
On Tuesday, activist leaders agreed to move “Camp Casey” to another spot even closer to the president’s ranch.
“It makes it easier on the neighbors,” acknowledged one organizer, who requested anonymity because of the tense relationship between the community’s 705 permanent inhabitants and what may be approaching an equal number of temporary residents.
Some of those inhabitants asked county leaders Tuesday to prevent large gatherings near the Crawford ranch. Several residents have complained of blocked roads and traffic jams near the two-lane road leading to Bush’s ranch.
The petition with more than 60 signatures was submitted to the McLennan County Commission, asking the board to expand a no-parking zone that now bans cars within a few hundred feet of the ranch. If the ordinance passes, demonstrators might have to stay in Crawford, which is 7 miles away.
MoveOn.org, the liberal website, is organizing vigils across the nation, many of them to be held today, to back Sheehan. About 20 sites in the Twin Cities were listed on the group’s website Tuesday night.
The Los Angeles Times and Associated Press contributed to this report.
Are we dizzy yet? No? Good! Keep making noise! It’s helping.
The Star Tribune contributed to this report.
Winter – you are on it, I came to post about Coleen Rowley and Becky Lourey joining Cindy, but stopped to read your blog "An Extreme Version of Asymmetrical Warfare" and when I returned to the home page I found you had already posted the story.
I will be at the candleilght vigil tonight in Sacramento in support of Cindy.
I like the way the media has to add a Repulican politician’s comments, for "equal time"…but when CNN promotes the Iran War with Bush, Rumsfeld, and Ken Timmerman comments, CNN doesn’t say, "But on the other hand, the Washington Post has recently printed an article debunking the White House’s claims of Iran’s nuclear capability."
Ever notice that? When there’s a media story that makes Republicans look bad, they go out of their way to get someone from "the other point of view" for comments? But when they have stories about Iran-scare that are totally false, they don’t bother to get "the other point of view" on the story??? Even if it’s GOP lies???
Start taking notice of that on TV or newspapers.
They absolutely cannot do a Cindy Sheehan story, without some comments by some Republican for "the other side". They’re "fair" when it comes to giving Republicans equal time.
FAIR did a study, and over 90% of pre-Iraq War stories and interviews were pro-war, even though there an even split in pro-war and anti-war citizens. The MSM unabashedly is just as responsible for the Iraq War, as the Bush administration!
Thanks Winter and Valley Girl!!
Ran across this article from June 2005 — perhaps you very astute Brad Blog readers have seen this already! You are all amazing!!
Big Media Interlocks with Corporate America
Wishing Becky and Coleen well as they journey on over to Camp Casey. Glad to see things are continuing to build there in support of Cindy!!
Don’t know if this has been posted on some other thread, but more good news.
Bush Neighbor Lets War Protesters Use Land
Wahey!
A little evidence to support the idea that Truth is stronger than Lies (no matter how they are packaged).
Look at these approval ratings.
People are finally coming around.
Here is an idea for a t-shirt that would be cool to see.
Attention Young Republicans:
Rush Limbaugh couldn’t serve his country because he was crippled by an ingrown butthair.
What’s your excuse?
By the way, I just got back from Minnesota… where, among other things, the conservative governor Tim Pawlenty is causing pawlenty of problems…. cutting all the social programs that have kept Minnesota from becoming like South Dakota.
Rowley is a breath of fresh air and a reminder of what Minnesota-style grassroots politics is all about–and it scares the bejeebers out of the crooks.
OT: My small investigation (just a few questions to a local pol who’s faced his last election) has filled in a few gaps about West Virginia politics and elections.
First, each county’s county clerk decides, within state & federal guidelines, what voting system to use. I don’t think it’s that way in Ohio. I wonder if it’s that way in other states. That means they might be susceptible to payola or simple partisanship.
Second, with the new federal laws the regulations will require in the future that electronic voting systems have a paper trail. I was surprised to hear that and I wonder if that’s actually true. Does anyone know for certain?
Third, this well-liked pol said that if I didn’t know cheating was already going on then I hadn’t been paying attention. And, that when the new electronic voting systems are in place it would probably only take them one or two elections to find ways to cheat with that too.
Incidentally, he said the current voting system used in my county (one of the two biggest in the state) was non-compliant with the new federal law, meaning it has no paper trail. It’ll have to be replaced and several companies have already responded to the RFP for new voting systems.
Add to that the prior information that each county tallies separately and that there’s no state-wide electronic tabulations and you end up with very small-time politicians (county clerks) being the thin blue line between fair elections and vote fraud. How much would it cost to pay off a few key county clerks?
Will they be able to electronically stuff the ballot boxes and print forged paper trails with new machines?
I wonder if the story of voting systems and so on is very differrent from my state to others across the nation. Any of you 6 or 7 who want to tell your story (especially if you were in a battleground state where the polls predicted a Kerry win, but Bush ‘won’), should say what’s going on there.
I hope Brad won’t be too unhappy with this OT discussion going on sub rosa.
re #8. It’s ok, Mark. Brad’s in a tent someplace. He doesn’t even know about the sub rosa OT discussion. And I’m not gonna tell him! 😉
MarkH — Nice work! It’s important we all get as familiar as we can with the process of our elections. Very empowering stuff.
I think each county is typically responsible for choosing voting methods, although the secretary of state has much input depending on state voting laws. The clerks work with the county commissioners who approve the funding. These officials are susceptible to being swayed by pro-industry e-voting corporation hucksters especially because the machines have been mandated by federal legislation for use by voters with disabilities.
E-voting corporations have been ‘wining and dining’ these officials for years now, so it’s no wonder our public elections are fast becoming privatized.
With centralized voter registration lists and vote tabulators maintained by private companies, there’s much to be concerned about. Do you know who your state contracted with to handle the centralized registration lists that must be in place in January 2006? Some states are opting out of handing over management of the lists to private companies. Find out if you can and watch this issue very closely.
I spoke with Brad yesterday — he’s sounding pretty relaxed!! 😉 I told him you were all holding down the fort wonderfully, and he was pleased to hear it.
re #2 Yes, Big Dan, I notice it all the time. It used to tick me off that during the presidential campaign, it seemed as though every article about a successful Kerry rally gave the final word to Karl Rove. But guess who got the last word on stories about Bush? Haha! Karl Rove. Funny coincidence, no?
No! Not funny at all!
(caption) Army Captain Lisa Lourey breaks down. To her right is Minnesota State Senator Becky Lourey and Eugene D. Lourey
This is from an article about Lourey’s son, Matthew S. Lourey. He died May 27, 2001. The article also contains information about Sen. Becky Lourey, including this:
snip——-
Becky Lourey walked the nearly two miles in the sweltering heat of the afternoon yesterday from the Old Post Chapel at Arlington National Cemetery to the freshly dug grave in Section 60, Number 8,187, where her son, Matthew, was to be buried.
Lourey, one of the most liberal state senators in Minnesota, had been one of the most outspoken critics of the war in Iraq. She circulated a petition opposing the U.S. decision to go to war unilaterally. She publicly sparred with Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.
And at a Democratic campaign rally last year, as Matthew was preparing to return voluntarily for a second tour of duty in Iraq, she railed against President Bush. "I don’t want any more chicken hawks making these decisions, lying to us about the reasons," she said.
———more at article
To my knowledge, GW Bush has not attended a single funeral for military killed in Iraq (nor anyone else killed in Iraq, needless to say).
Re: my post #12.
Matthew S. Lourey died May 27, *2005*. Sorry for the typo.
Also, the photo shows up when using IE (which I used to post), but came up as a blank box when I looked at using the Firefox browser. However, it is in the article about Matthew Lourey (#12). Don’t know what’s going on…. sorry Winter, if this screws up formatting and makes more work for you! Next time I won’t try to get so fancy.
I was interested in Coleen Rowley in part because of her recent appearance on The Brad Show.
Contrary to what Walsh (Minnesota GOP executive director) says, there is no evidence that she is "exploiting this circus for political gain." Guess he kinda tipped his hand on that one anyway, inasmuch as he called it a circus. Could say more on that, but probably don’t need to, except to note that he’s lookin’ at the wrong tent.
The Rowley campaign site is worth checking out, for sure. She was professional and very serious during her Brad Show interview, but this link from her site, on DU, here, shows what I can only describe as an endearingly whacky sense of humor. The DU post is an interview with Coleen Rowley, Ann Wright, and Jesselyn Radack.
—–snip—-
CR: … if I was Lakoff, he always says you connote certain visual images with certain words. What do you connote with ‘whistleblower’?
Remember ‘Bewitched’? The nosy neighbor who used to peek in the window and when she saw Samantha doing witchcraft she actually blew a whistle?
Mrs. Kravitz! That’s it! The nosy neighbor. Obnoxious.
JR: A tattletale!
CR: “I see her! Abner, come here!” That’s the image that ‘whistleblower’ connotes. My neural pathways immediately connect to Mrs. Kravitz.
Ok, so it’s like; ‘Truthtellers of Conscience Who Are Bringing to Light True Concerns, Issues or Illegalities!’
———–
By the way, Ann Wright, aka Mary E. Wright, resigned from the Foreign Service because of US policies. Her letter of resignation, March 19, 2003, is here. She has been with Cindy Sheehan from the get-go.
AND, Coleen Rowley’s campaign site has a link to her interview on The Brad Show!!!!! Hey, Brad!!!!!
——
The Brad Show Interview
(7-30-05)
Coleen Rowley appeared recently on Raw Radio’s The Brad Show, discussing her candidacy and her views on various topics.
(download mp3)
WP asks "Who are all the other "Michael Moores" and why haven’t we heard of them?" – It’s "Michael Moores" because "liberals" is loosing its impact due to proud liberals standing up and to the fact that the cavemen have used the "liberal" bludgeon so indiscriminately and stupidly that there is nothing left of it.
So, they are looking for another club to be used in their endless quest to avoid answering tough questions and exposing their reeking dishonesty and hypocrisy.
#15 Arry,
Bingo!!! What a great insight. VG
re #15, #16 … it’s not only in politics … I hear the same thing in sportscasts … Guys say things like "he’s got a chance to be right up there with the Willie Mayses, the Mickey Mantles, and the Babe Ruths" … which makes no sense either …
We know the names of these people because they are unique! that means one of a kind … there are no other "Babe Ruths" in the same way as there are no other "Michael Moores" … and although I agree with your point in #15, Arry, I also have to say that in my opinion people talk like this because they are basically STUPID, intellectually DISHONEST and linguistically LAZY …
Please try to remember this the next time you hear somebody talking about what a shame it is that Cindy Sheehan has got all tangled up with the Michael Moores of the world … or the MoveOn.Orgs … Bill Walsh! What a putz!
WP – I see your point. It is a very stupid and thoughtless way to talk (and think). The Bill Walshes of the world (just joking, sorry – couldn’t resist – but maybe he’s not one-of-a-kind – I suspect not), however, would love to demonize Cindy and us as species Michael Moorensis – a bunch of Michael Moore clones to be dismissed . I see this phenomenon lately so much I think it is pretty obviously a campaign. Trashing Michael Moore because…well, because he is Michael Moore and then associating anyone on our side who makes a stir with this "obviously" malignant — what? Misfit? So, we are all malignant misfits, merging into a mean and unpatriotic and troublemaking cloud of "Michael Moore" where we can safely dissipate and be dismissed. (Hah, have they got another think comin’, as my grandpa used to say!) The busheviks are up to their old tricks.
I’m just running on here. I think the characteristics you list –
"basically STUPID, intellectually DISHONEST and linguistically LAZY …" describe the mental and "stylistic" condition of many who look to bu$h as our dear "leader". (Not to mention dear leader himself. Maybe it’s a top-down cultural phenomenon.)
Media circus??? Isn’t that the perfect description of FAUX News??? They seem to rule the art of the three-ring circus, and the magic act of disappearing truths.
RE: #12
I know this an old blog, but this needs to go up. I was at Matt’s funeral. I’m glad Pres. Bush wasn’t there, not because I dislike him, because I actually support him. I wouldn’t have wanted all the military members to be on edge because the Commander in Chief was there. CPT Lourey didn’t need that, neither did any of those there grieving. It is appropriate the Pres. stays away. His presence would make an already difficult situation impossible.