MORE ON THE WORLD’S TAKE ON IRAQ

“My vacation has been remarkably eye-opening. Now, when travelers say things like that, they usually are talking about being introduced to new cultures, different foods, singular settings... but in my case, I'm talking about war. Specifically, how shockingly different the coverage of the war in Iraq is here in Europe compared to what we get back home.” —Huffington (July 20, 2005)


PAIN ASYMBOLIA

What do you make of people who laugh at pain? Of course, in movies, we sometimes think we are watching people who laugh at pain and chortle at danger, but in reality, laughing when in excruciating pain is a whole 'nother kettle of molasses altogether. But, believe it or not, some people, because of brain damage can laugh hysterical while they suffer real pain. Read the following paragraph.

"So perhaps in this patient the insular cortex was normal, so he could feel the pain, but the wire that goes from the insula to the rest of the limbic system and the anterior cingulate was cut: a disconnection similar to that seen in the Capgras patient. Such a situation would produce the two key ingredients required for laughter and humor: one part of the brain signals a potential danger but the very next instant another part—the anterior cingulate—does not receive a confirmatory signal, thereby leading to the conclusion 'it's a false alarm.' Hence the patient [in pain] starts laughing and giggling uncontrollably." (From Ramachandran's A BRIEF TOUR OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS, pp. 22-23)


TOM DELAY—WILL HE PLAY THE JESUS CARD?

Maybe you’ve forgotten Tom Delay. The Republican administration is so full of corruption and sham that he is being forgotten in the general stampede of Republican duplicity. In fact, I hear that the Republican strategy for covering up bad politicians is to give us so many corrupt, dishonest and treasonous characters that our memories fail us or that we get to the point that we can’t recognize liars and lying anymore because all Republicans do it and corruption becomes the norm.

And of course Tom Delay will play the Jesus card. All crooked Republicans do, from Spokane’s mayor, Jim West, to Tom Delay and Kenneth Lay. Once caught, these men and women sure know how to pull the Jesus trick and, of course, fool their gullible Christian base of fundamentalists.

The following information comes to me by way of MoveOn.org. They were circulating a petition awhile back and I’m passing on the full text of their communication:

[Open quote] After you sign the petition please help us spread the word. Pass it on to your friends, family and colleagues and ask them to help fire Tom DeLay. If they need some information about DeLay here is a good summary.

FULL TEXT OF THE PETITION

TO: (Your Representative)
FROM: (Your Name and Email)
SUBJECT: Fire Tom DeLay
__________

Dear (Your Representative),

Republicans in Congress should fire Tom DeLay as Majority Leader because of repeated and flagrant ethical misconduct.

(Your Personal Note)

Among his offenses, Tom DeLay:

*****Accepted trips from corporations and later helped kill legislation they opposed

*****Accepted trips from the lobbyist for a foreign government in violation of House rules

*****Paid family members more than $500,000 out of campaign contributions

*****Helped sweatshops in the Mariana Islands at the behest of a lobbyist.

*****Promised a role in drafting legislation to a corporate donor

*****Tried to coerce a Congressman for a vote on Medicare

*****Allegedly used corporate money given to his PAC to finance Texas campaigns in violation of state law

*****Used Homeland Security resources in a dispute with Democrats in Texas

*****Diverted funds from a children's charity for lavish celebrations at the Republican convention

*****Threatened retaliation against interest groups that don't support Republicans

*****Stacked the House Ethics Committee with representatives who have contributed to his legal defense fund

*****Crippled the effectiveness of the House Ethics Committee by purging members who had rebuked him

*****Pushed for a rules change for the House Ethics process that paralyzed the panel

*****Sought a rule change that would have no longer "required leaders to step aside temporarily if indicted"

This sort of abuse of power needs to be stopped. Please act today.
____________________________________________________________

“The reason there are so few female Republicans is that it is too much trouble to put makeup on two faces.” —Me (with the huge support of Maureen Murphy whose original statement I altered by one word to make better sense of the matter)