BENTLEY KILLMON: They say Homeland Security, it’s homeland suppression. This is not America.

KATHLEEN HUGHES [NOW Correspondent]: At least 234 people were arrested, and before it was over, police had fired over a thousand rounds of rubber bullets and other projectiles. …

Miami’s Chief of Police John Timoney says police face a new reality in confronting dissent as a result America’s War on Terror. … Timoney, is proud of what his force accomplished at the FTAA protests [Free Trade Area of the Americas, November 20, 2003]. …

CHIEF TIMONEY: And so, this was the first big event for Homeland Security which includes a whole host of federal agencies including Coast Guard and Customs and things like that. It really was the first real, realistic, if you will, run-through to see how it would work. And it worked pretty well. …

KATHLEEN HUGHES: Miami Police Chief John Timoney, remains convinced the actions of the anarchists, on balance, justified the police response.

CHIEF TIMONEY: These are not your father’s protesters. They’re pretty smart. They’re well organized. They’re trained. They have a game plan. They have a pre game plan. They have a game plan. They have a post game plan. You’re part of the post game plan.

KATHLEEN HUGHES: In other words you’re saying they’re manipulating–

CHIEF TIMONEY: Oh, of course. Without a doubt. Without a doubt. Without a doubt. Cause I could tell by the questions and the stuff you’re asking that you’re another pawn in the post game show. That’s all.

KATHLEEN HUGHES: So– in other words by questioning what happened–

CHIEF TIMONEY: No. No. You’re allowed to question. But it’s the type of questions– what you’re alleging– you’re alleging things that didn’t happen. But you– you know you– you– you’re doing the bidding. You’re looking for sound bytes. You’ll get all that and that’s fine.

KATHLEEN HUGHES: Timoney charges that a journalist’s questions are part of a plot against the police. …

Remember that 87 billion dollar emergency appropriations bill for the rebuilding of Afghanistan and Iraq? It included eight and a half million dollars for security at the Miami FTAA meeting.

JIM DEFEDE [columnist at the MIAMI HERALD]: We spent you know, in a bill designed to provide billions of dollars to bring democracy and ordering stability to Iraq, we were able to funnel off eight and a half million dollars to do just the opposite in Miami.

The government’s growing crackdown on dissent NOW with Bill Moyers.

You should see and hear Miami Police Chief John Timoney. His is the bland face of American Fascism. Self-righteous and paranoid. mjh

Relatives condemn Bush 9/11 ads BBC NEWS

The four television advertisements, which began showing on Thursday across the US, marked the beginning of the Bush administration’s campaign for the 2004 presidential elections.

”I’m optimistic about America because I believe in the people of America.”

Among the images shown in two of the advertisements are images of firefighters carrying a body, draped in a US flag, from the rubble at Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center once stood. …

[R]elatives said they felt their loved ones were being used to score political points.

”Families are enraged,” victims’ advocate Bill Doyle, who lost his 25-year-old son in the attacks, told Reuters news agency.

”What I think is distasteful is that the president is trying to use 9/11 as a springboard for his re-election.”

”It’s entirely wrong. He’s had 3,500 deaths on his watch, including Iraq.”

‘Dishonest Dubya’ Lying Action Figure Doll – George W. Bush
(Thanks, cko!)

BushCartoon.com
(Thanks, sro!)

Bush ‘Welcomes’ Kerry into Race for Office By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

On Thursday, the Bush campaign was launching a $10 million television advertising blitz even as the president headed to Silicon Valley to gather more cash for a re-election operation that has already raised more than $153 million.

Bush, facing re-election in November, is trailing Kerry in opinion polls. …

”[W]e will win on the second of November,” Bush told the crowd of 600 at the Shrine Auditorium that added $800,000 to his campaign coffers.

The president’s comments came on the first day of a two-day swing through California scooping up millions for his campaign and those of fellow Republicans.

”He seems to be against every idea that gives Americans more authority, more choices, and more control over our own lives,” Bush said. ”It’s the same old Washington mind-set: They’ll give the orders, and you will pay the bills.” …

Bush later attended a private event at the fine art-bedecked home of A. Jerrold Perenchio, the chairman and chief executive of the Spanish-language media giant Univision.

Note Bush’s astonishing accusation that Kerry opposes choice and freedom. Are you more FREE under Bush? Free from debt? Free from oppression? Free from fear? Free to choose anything? mjh

Kerry lags far behind Bush in fund raising

Sen. John Kerry is a whopping $100 million behind President Bush in ready cash as he embarks on the next phase of his White House campaign, and dependent on outside groups he can’t legally control to help close the gap. …

Bush’s campaign committee reported cash on hand of $104 million as of Feb. 1, with no debt. The president continues to raise money, scheduling three fund-raisers in a little more than 24 hours in California on Wednesday. …

The two candidates are limited to spending $74.4 million apiece after receiving the nominations, meaning that Kerry must make his money last longer than Bush does.

Bush’s fundraising figures are interesting. He has raised $154 million but only has $104 million. Hmmm, it has cost him $50 million to raise $104 million — yet another failed business venture for Bush.

If the candiates are limited to $74.4 million after their conventions, Bush needs to spend no less than $30 million (possibly $80 million) before August.

You’d think the incumbent president wouldn’t need to buy the election.

Howard Dean taught us one very important message: the candidate with the most money can lose. As Bush will learn in Novemeber. mjh

Op-Ed Columnist: Maestro of Chutzpah by Paul Krugman, NYTimes

[T]he reason Social Security is in fairly good shape is that during the 1980’s the Greenspan commission persuaded Congress to increase the payroll tax, which supports the program.

The payroll tax is regressive: it falls much more heavily on middle- and lower-income families than it does on the rich. In fact, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, families near the middle of the income distribution pay almost twice as much in payroll taxes as in income taxes. Yet people were willing to accept a regressive tax increase to sustain Social Security.

Now the joke’s on them. Mr. Greenspan pushed through an increase in taxes on working Americans, generating a Social Security surplus. Then he used that surplus to argue for tax cuts that deliver very little relief to most people, but are worth a lot to those making more than $300,000 a year. And now that those tax cuts have contributed to a soaring deficit, he wants to cut Social Security benefits.

The point, of course, is that if anyone had tried to sell this package honestly — “Let’s raise taxes and cut benefits for working families so we can give big tax cuts to the rich!” — voters would have been outraged. So the class warriors of the right engaged in bait-and-switch.

James writes:

I just wanted to be sure you caught the Krugman article today. This clear explanation of why Greenspan is the ultra-rich’s class warfare foot-soldier should be REQUIRED READING for all Americans. Krugman is THE man! (even though he once was an economist in the Reagan administration)

How many millions of dollars do you think someone like Bill Gates has saved since Duhbya assumed office? Now your retirement will be delayed AND your benefits — the money you contributed — will be cut. Because of the Radical Right’s insane mission to destroy the Federal government. mjh