Mary Beth Cahill puts Ken Mehlman in his place

Mary Beth Cahill is John Kerry's campaign manager. Ken Mehlman is George W Bush's campaign manager. The Bush campaign is a bit miffed over some rude anti-Bush comments that Whoopi Goldberg apparently made at a Democratic fund-raiser. Ken Mehlman has asked Mary Beth Cahill to provide a tape of the event. Ms Cahill's response is quite reasonable: she will provide the tape if the Bush administration will be a bit more forthcoming with some information they've been requested many times to provide. Ms Cahill's response to Mr Mehlman is posted here. And for those too busy to click the extra link, I've copied it for you here:

July 13, 2004

Ken Mehlman

Campaign Manager

BUSH-CHENEY '04, Inc.

P.O. BOX 10648

Arlington, VA 22210

Dear Ken:

Over the past several months, allies of the President have questioned John Kerry’s patriotism while your staff has criticized his service in Vietnam. Republicans and their allies have gone so far as to launch attacks against his wife and your campaign has run $80 million in negative ads that have been called baseless, misleading and unfair by several independent observers.

Considering that the President has failed to even come close to keeping his promise to change the tone in Washington, we find your outrage over and paparazzi-like obsession with a fund-raising event to be misplaced. The fact is that the nation has a greater interest in seeing several documents made public relating to the President’s performance in office and personal veracity that the White House has steadfastly refused to release. As such, we will not consider your request until the Bush campaign and White House make public the documents/materials listed below:

● Military records: Any copies of the President’s military records that would actually prove he fulfilled the terms of his military service. For that matter, it would be comforting to the American people if the campaign or the White House could produce more than just a single person to verify that the President was in Alabama when said he was there. Many Americans find it odd that only one person out of an entire squadron can recall seeing Mr. Bush.

● Halliburton: All correspondence between the Defense Department and the White House regarding the no-bid contracts that have gone to the Vice-President’s former company. Some material has already been made public. Why not take a campaign issue off the table by making all of these materials public so the voters can see how Halliburton has benefited from Mr. Cheney serving as Vice-President?

● The Cheney Energy Task Force: For an Administration that claims to hate lawsuits, it’s ironic that the Bush White House is taking up the Courts’ time to keep the fact that Ken Lay and Enron wrote its energy policy in secret behind closed doors. Please release the documents so that the country can learn what lobbyists and special interests wrote the White House energy policy.

● Medicare Bill: Please release all White House correspondence between the pharmaceutical industry and the Administration regarding the Medicare Bill, which gave billions to some of the President’s biggest donors. In addition, please provide all written materials that directed the Medicare actuary to withhold information from Congress about the actual cost of the bill.

● Prison Abuse Documents: A few weeks ago, the White House released a selected number of documents regarding the White House’s involvement in laying the legal foundation for the interrogation methods that were used in Iraq. Please release the remaining documents.

We also wanted to wish you a happy anniversary. As we are sure you and the attorneys representing the President, Vice-President and other White House officials are aware, today marks one year since Administration sources leaked the identity of a covert CIA agent to Bob Novak in an effort to retaliate against a critic of the Administration.

In light of the fact that the Administration began gutting the laws protecting the nation’s forests yesterday, we hope you will accept the paper on which this letter is written as an anniversary gift. (The one year anniversary is known as the “paper anniversary.”)

Sincerely,

Mary Beth Cahill

Campaign Manager

Summer wardrobe arrived

A week or so ago I ordered my attire for the summer and fall - what I'll be wearing anytime I'm not at work. The main item (several of them, so I don't run out), and here I am modeling the full ensemble.

By the way, for those of you trying to get/stay educated about the positions of the candidates for the Presidential election, do have a look at the web sites for John Kerry and for George W Bush. Kerry's site has 28 specific categories, with more detail and subsections within. Bush's site has 7 categories (the tabs across the top of his site). They both have categories for Economy, Healthcare, Education, Homeland Security, and Environment. Bush has one for Compassion (this from the guy who lied to the world and is responsible for the deaths of 1,000 coalition - as of today :( ...and 11,000 Iraqi civilians ...not very compassionate!). Bush also has a category for National Security. Kerry has 23 other categories that are not listed specifically on Bush's site. OK, that in itself doesn't really mean much ...until you read the sites. For someone who the Bush campaign tries to label as "flip-flopping", I see Kerry as a man who has very specifically detailed his positions on many issues, and providing much more detail (much more)  than what I see on Bush's site.

Now with John Edwards on the ticket I'm even more psyched! Bush's days are numbered, even if he replaces Cheney with John McCain as some are speculating. That would just indicate flip-flopping :-)

Reading...

This weekend I read John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography By The Boston Globe Reporters Who Know Him Best. I came away knowing a lot more about our next president, and with even more respect for him. It seemed apparent to me that the authors were not big Kerry fans. They publicize the book as basically a series of facts - dates, events, etc - but their own editorial spin and mild digs at Kerry were inserted fairly regularly.

Regardless, it is not possible to learn of the man's life and accomplishments and not at least have a healthy respect for John Kerry.

My son Ben just finished Robert Reich's Reason, and after Ben's raves about how much sense Reich makes (and I've admired Reich for years anyway), this will be my next book.

Also on the coffee table in the living room is Craig Unger's House of Bush, House of Saud (Ben is currently reading this one), and John Kerry's A Call To Service, which my wife is currently reading.

We all plan to read all of these books, and to keep on getting educated throughout this election. There's way too much at stake to just sit back.

John Kerry ROCKS!

OK. No secret that I am a Kerry supporter. In an effort to make good use of this 4th of July weekend, I've been spending some time reading up on world affairs, and also learning more details about John Kerry's positions. I just finished watching a video clip of John Kerry speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations in December 2003. The clip is one hour long and worth every minute. I was already a Kerry supporter. I already had tremendous respect for the man and his ideas. I cannot be effusive enough in proclaiming how brilliant I believe Senator Kerry to be. About 5 minutes into watching the video, my wife sat down by the computer and joined me. She heard a little of what Kerry was saying and had to hear more. Our son (also a voter :-) arrived about 30 minutes into the video and was also drawn in by what he heard and sat down to watch and to listen.

Regardless of whether one likes or dislikes Kerry and his ideas, watch this video and one thing is evident: John Kerry is one hell of a good speaker, he presents his ideas with clarity and supporting detail, and responds to questions with refreshing direct precision.

Watch the video. When you follow that link you can also select to read about just specific topics from Kerry's foreign policy. We are talking about the future of the United States and of the planet. This deserves one hour of your time.

Sudan needs the world's attention

"One million Texans threatened with torture and death by roaming gangs" ...Got your attention? Yup, that would certainly hit the headlines if it were true. Yet when a million folks in a Texas-sized area of Sudan are terrorized - men being slaughtered and girls and women being raped - the world pretty much sits by and we scarcely hear a word.

You can get more news from the Dafur, Sudan news blog - or simply search the internet for news of Sudan. There is news coverage; it just somehow doesn't seem to hit the front pages of the newspapers or the TV news headlines. It's a bit of a mystery to me, really, as there is oil in Sudan, and that sadly seems to be what sometimes motivates us to get involved.

OK, so what can be done? Well, the Bush administration so far has done pretty much nothing. They did start talking about maybe considering sanctions if the attacks don't stop. Hey, that should work (not!) Come on, little threats mean nothing. Plop the sanctions on now, and remove them only after a verified period of peace. Kofi Annan, after ignoring the Rwanda genocide 10 years ago (the Clinton administration also sat idly by) - has just completed a trip to Sudan, and perhaps the UN will get involved this time. The rainy season is coming, so that means very serious health issues for the thousands of displaced Sudanese, on top of the worries about being killed or raped and having your homes torched.

The United States plans to spend US$150 million now through 2005 in aid to Sudan. Meanwhile, we have so far spent about US$120 billion on the Iraq War. Seems to me our priorities are rather messed up. If you can find it in your heart to donate to folks who are actually helping in Sudan, please consider supporting Oxfam International , or go directly to their secure donation page.