Originally appeared 12/13/05

"You play...to win...the game!" Herman Edwards

     Wow, another good week for me.  Just letting the final seconds tick away on the Monday night game and all is going very well so far.   The season in my free league is over for me, I managed to get myself to 6-8, which given how poorly I started is about all I can expect. 

     Myfantasyleague.com was the first week of the playoffs.  I had a bye, so I didn't play this week, I just got to sit back and taunt people with some good natured ribs on the message board of the website.  I can't complain no matter what happens there, having alrerady won $227.50.

    EASports I had moved into the 4th and final playoff slot last week with a win, and none of the teams that could qualify for the playoffs played each other, which in itself was a little odd.  So I was basically stuck witha win and I am in scenario, or lose and hope the guy behind me also lost.  Well, I snuck out a win, so I will be winning more money in that league, it just depends on whether I win or not next week how much I may win.  Considering that I started off so poorly, going 0-2-1, I was very happy with my final 9-4-1 record, including ending the season on a 6 game winning streak.

 

      I saw something stupid today.  It is a new political group called World Can't Wait and it seems that they aren't too happy with George Bush.  Here is some of there agenda from their website.

  Make your plans now to participate in drowning out Bush's lies:

1) On the night of Bush’s State of the Union address: In large cities and small towns all across the country - join in rallies to make the demand that "Bush Step Down" the news & message of the day. At 9pm EST - just as Bush starts to speak we will bring on the noise and drown out his address - bring your voice, and make a commitment to the world that not another year will be lived under this criminal regime.

2) Demonstrate the following Saturday in Washington DC to deliver the people's verdict on Bush’s criminal regime - "Bush Step down and take your program with you!" Contact your local chapter to purchase your plane or bus ticket now.

 

     Now let me say this, the idea that you will drown out an address being given in the closed doors of Congress by making noise in your home is the epitome of lunacy.  This comes across as more of a temper tantrum than an actual movement.  The notion that the sitting president would step down from office just because a group that includes:

Endorsers Include

ACT UP, New York City Mumia Abu-Jamal, political prisoner, journalist Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid, mosque of Islamic Brotherhood; Justice Committee, Majlis Ash-Shura, NY Pam Africa,Move Organization and International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal After Downing Street Coalition "Alberto Lovera" Bolivian Circle, New York Aimee Allison, army conscientious objector (Gulf War 90)/counter-Recruiter Tom Ammiano, San Francisco Board of Supervisors Aris Anagnos, Los Angeles Anti-Flag Carlos Arango, director of Casa Aztlan* Edward Asner Axis of Justice Rosa Ayala, Justice for Janitors* William Ayers, professor and author Russell Banks, writer Father Luis Barrios, Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas, New York Rev. Willie Barrow, Women Connecting* Dave Berenson, Cleveland, OH, U.S. Green Party Michael Berg, anti-war activist Jessica Blank, writer, actor Blase Bonpane, author Bob Bossie, SCJ, 8th Day Center for Justice* Elombe Brath, Patrice Lumumba Coalition, NYC Carol Brightman, author, "Total Insecurity: The Myth of American Omnipotence" Dennis Brutus Gabriel Byrne, Actor Campus Anti-War Network(CAN) Tim Carpenter, Director, Progressive Democrats of America Chicago ADAPT Ward Churchill Citizens For Legitimate Government Kate Clinton, humorist Clothing of American Mind David Cobb, 2004 Green Party Presidential Candidate Code Pink: Women for Peace Steve Colman, poet Barry Crimmins, writer/ correspondent, Air America Radio  Culture Clash Chris Daly, San Francisco Board of Supervisors DC Anti-War Network Democrats.com Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party Dominican Women's Development Center, New York Tom Duane, NY State Senator Michael Eric Dyson, author, "Is Bill Cosby Right?" Steve Earle, musician Edwin Ellis, President of Veterans for Peace, LA* Eve Ensler Michelle Esrick, actress, poet, filmmaker Donelle Estey, artist, Artists Against the War Christian Ettinger, exec. prod. of film "The Weather Underground" Jodie Evans, Code Pink Nina Felshin, curator, writer Rev. John Fife Jane Fonda Michael Franti, musician Aaron Freeman, comdian Samina Faheem Fundas, American Muslim Voice* reg e. gaines, poet, playwright Deborah Glick, NY State Assemblywoman Global Justice and Peace Ministries, Riverside Church, New York Francis Goldin, literary agent Sam Greenlee, poet André Gregory, theater director Andy Griggs, US Labor Against the War, Exec. Board of United Teachers of LA* Jose Guerrero, artist and muralist, Chicago Paul Haggis, Director/Writer of Crash, screenwriter of Million Dollar Baby Haitian Coalition for Justice Suheir Hammad, poet Sam Hamill, Poets Against War Kathleen Hanna, Le Tigre David Harris, founder of The Resistance*, writer Jon Hendricks, jazz singer/lyricist Jon Hendricks, artist Hermandad Mexicana Warren M. Hern, MD, MPH, PhD, Director, Boulder Abortion Clinic Hip Hop Caucus Marie Howe, poet and writer Impeach Bush Coalition Mesha Monge Irizarry, Idriss StelleyFoundation Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA Relief USA) Islamic Association of America Abdeen Jabara, past president, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee* Ron Jacobs, writer Alan Jones, Dean of Faculty at Pitzer College* Bill T. Jones, dancer Sarah Jones, poet and actor Rickie Lee Jones, musician Esther Kaplan, author of With God On Their Side Casey Kasem M. Ali Khan, American Muslim Council C. Clark Kissinger Frances Kissling, President, Catholics for a Free Choice* Yuri Kochiyama Ron Kovic, author, Vietnam Veteran Jonathan Kozol Joyce Kozloff, artist Ray Laforest, organizer, DC 1707, AFSCME*; member, Pacifica National Board* Beth Lamont Martha Lavey, Chicago Mark Leno, California Assemblyman Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine James Levin, co-director of Cleveland Festival of Arts & Technology (Ingenuity) Simon Levy, director, "What I Heard About Iraq" at Fountain St. Theatre Bruce Lincoln, professor, History of Religions, University of Chicago Margarita Lopez, New York City Council Member Haki R. Madhubuti, chairman, publisher, Third World Press Gregory Maguire, author, "Wicked" Make the Road by Walking, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY Lucinda Marshall, Founder Feminist Peace Network* Bill Martin, philosopher Allen Michann, owner, Grand Lake Theater, Oakland, CA Ellen McLaughlin, actress and playwright Camilo Mejia, conscientious objector Dave Meserve, Arcata California city council member Carol Migden, CA State Senator Carly Miller, Clothing of the American Mind Millions More Movement, Pittsburg /Antioch CA organizing committee Bill Mitchell, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace* Leon Mobley, musician Tom Morello, Audioslave Tracie Morris, poet Andrew Muñana, Images Salón, East Los Angeles National Lawyers Guild Armando Navarro, chair and professor, Ethnic Studies, UC Riverside Bill Nevins, teacher, Albuquerque Not in Our Name Mike and Julie Nussbaum Efia Nwangaza, director, African American Institute for Policy Studies, Greenville, SC Brian O'Leary, PhD., author, former astronaut Bertell Ollman, prof. Dept. of Politics, NYU R. Tomás Olmos, President, Mexican American Bar Foundation, Los Angeles County*, Dean Emeritus, People's College of Law* Outernational Ozomatli Jose Padilla*, executive director, California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) Grace Paley, writer Patrick Henry Democratic Club Rosalind Petchesky, prof., Hunter College & Grad. Center, CUNY The Network in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines Peter Phillips PhD, Project Censored, Sociology Dept Sonoma State University Jeremy Pikser, screenwriter, Bulworth Harold Pinter, Nobel Prize winning playwright Frances Fox Piven Sterling Plumpp, poet Kevin Powell, writer Progressive Democrats of America Queers for Economic Justice Jerry Quickley, poet and playwright Malik Rahim, New Orleans Community Organizer Michael Ratner, Center for Constitutional Rights* Reach Hip Hop Coalition Raghava Reddy, stem cell biologist, biomedical scientist, film maker Eric Resnick, Gay People's Chronicle* reporter, peace activist, one time candidate for US Congress Allan Rich, screenwriter/actor Boots Riley, The Coup Walter Riley, lawyer Douglas Rushkoff, author Kalamu ya Salaam, Listen to the People JD Samson, Le Tigre Sonia Sanchez Rev. Henry Sanders, Fountain of Life Missionary Baptist Church, Watts, CA San Francisco Bayview Newspaper Sapphire, poet, writer Rinku Sen, Colorlines* Richard Serra, artist Lou Shaw, writer, creator of Quincy MD Cindy Sheehan Martin Sheen Stanley Sheinbaum, economist, LA Nancy Spero, artist Dona Spring, Berkeley Council member Sunsara Taylor, Revolution newspaper Studs Terkel Marianne Torres, Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane* Dwight Trible, jazz vocalist Gore Vidal, writer Kurt Vonnegut Alice Walker Wavy Gravy Leonard Weinglass, lawyer Rev. Dave Weissbard, senior minister, The Unitarian Universalist Church, Rockford, IL Cornel West, Princeton University Rev. Phil Wheaton, Episcopal Co-pastor, Community of Christ, Washington DC Saul Williams, poet Standish E. Willis, National Conference of Black Lawyers Krzysztof Wodiczko, artist Ann Wright, former US diplomat, resigned in protest of Iraq war Leland Y. Yee, Speaker pro Tem, California State Assembly Juanita Young, courageous resister, leader in October 22nd Coalition* Dave Zeiger, filmmaker, "Sir, No, Sir!" Zephyr, graffiti artist, writer Robert Zevin, Robert Brooke Zevin Associates, Inc. Howard Zinn, historian, "A Peoples' History of the United States" David Zirin, author, "What's My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States"

isn't all that likely.  Many are the same old  people trotted out on another useless cause, others will use an event like this to springboard their own agenda.  Among the list, some names do stand out such as Mumia Abu Jamal, who is labeled here as a political prisoner, but is actually in jail for killing a cop,  Cindy Sheehan who claims her son died for Israel because he died in the Iraq war, Jane Fonda, whose efforts during the Vietnam war include posing at an anti aircraft battery used against American pilots by the North Vietnamese,  Ward Churchill, whose blames the United States for the events of 9/11 and referring to the people who worked at the World Trade Center as Little Eichmann's,  just to name a few. 

     It is no wonder that as Bush's popularity numbers continue to drop, Democrats don't see their favorables going up.  When hawkish Democrats such as Rep John Murtha say that the US needs to leave Iraq, it means something.  When an assortment of characters such as these seek to hijack that effort and call for something  beyond just ending the war in Iraq, but the resignation of the President of the United States and do so in full page ads in one of the largest circulated papers in the US, the New York Times, they do very little to end the war, rather they aid in continuing it by having those people that may be against the war less willing to say so for fear of being lumped in with a group whose philosophy brings forth such lunacy as this,

Comparing Bush to Hitler

"People look at all this and think of Hitler — and they are right to do so. The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come. We must act now; the future is in the balance."

 

     Taking the efforts of the President and somehow comparing them to a man that exterminated 6 million people is a lack of understanding history of epic proportions.  It's one thing to be against the war, it's another to think that we are all the way back to the Reichstagg and it is stupidity such as this that keeps sincere debate about what should or shouldn't be done in Iraq from occurring.