Lynne Glasner writes about our esteemed Vice President:

“Did anyone else hear a report on Cheney’s health? WINS (AM in NYC) on Friday or Saturday reported that Cheney was ill and no one seems to know of his whereabouts. Nothing but Silence since then, either on WINS or other. No mention at all in Google to suggest it’s been picked up, denied, confirmed or other. Even if it was an ‘error’ it seems awfully strange.

“Another buried item that should raise hairs: Cheney’s daughter Elizabeth has quite a job in the Bush administration. Buried, of course, in their coverage on the Iraqi constitution, today’s NY Times quotes her:

“You have a real constitution that protects freedom of religion, freedom of association, freedom of speech and freedom of conscience,” said Elizabeth Cheney, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. “These protections are among the most far-reaching of any in the region and probably around the world.”

“At least the Times injected this: ‘But it was notable that on a day when many Iraqis expressed concern that the document could limit women’s rights by empowering Shiite clerics, the administration made little or no reference to that issue.’

“Apparently the whole Cheney family has carved itself a comfortable niche in Bushworld. With a little digging I came up with this on Elizabeth, from an editorial in the Claremore Progress, Ap. 8, 05, apparently a small town Oklahoma daily:

“‘The nomination of Vice President Dick Cheney‚s son-in-law as top lawyer at the Department of Homeland Security, coupled with the appointment of Cheney‚s daughter to a senior State Department post, are a strain of nepotism not usually seen in American government…

“‘Last week [April 2005] President Bush nominated Philip J. Perry, Elizabeth Cheney‚s husband, to be general counsel at Homeland Security.

“‘… Elizabeth Cheney also feeds at the government trough. She is currently principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs and coordinator for broader Middle East and North Africa initiatives. She was appointed to that post in February by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.’

Apparently hubby Phil is a former lobbyist for Lockheed Martin. The doors just keep turning. Elizabeth, meanwhile, apparently held that position earlier, left to work on the election campaign, and then returned to her former job. (No penalties here of course for taking a leave of absence. Only American soldiers lose their civilian jobs when they are shipped out to Iraq ) According to Wikipedia, the position was created just for her - how convenient. And just how are these neocons trying to shrink the federal government, again?”

Steve Souza writes on climate change — with a resource:

“Re: Global climate change has always been talked about from — Dr. Glen Barry below. I received his email before the storm hit. He’s always on it. Thanks for ALL that YOU do!

Hurricane Katrina and Catastrophic Climate Change
Deadly Storm Provides Vision of the Human Family’s Future

“Earth Meanders by Dr. Glen Barry
August 28, 2005

“Extraordinary storm events such as Hurricane Katrina now battering theUnited States’ Gulf Coast are becoming more commonplace in an Earthundergoing climate change. This historic event foreshadows globalecological collapse and suggests we are at or near the tipping point of abrupt climate change…”

http://earthmeanders.blogspot.com/

Joe Dunphy adds:

“Another topic not covered by mainstream media is how the intelligent design crowd failed to provide meaningful warning data before the storm, in order that all people could be properly evacuated. The science-based community provided plenty of warning.”

HELP NEEDED: CREDIT STORIES

Yesterday, I made this request to readers: “I am doing a new film project on credit. If you have had serious credit card problems or worked for a credit card company and have a story to tell, please get in touch.” A few of you have written, including one man whose name I won’t use now:

“I am a ‘professional’ (software developer), and am –Hallelujah!–more-or-less free of debt now (we have one auto payment, and that’s it).

“However, time was when we had *many* credit card payments, totalling THOUSANDS of dollars a month. Silly me, I had thought that 12% interest meant that if we borrowed $1,000, we would pay back $1,120.

“I learned the reality of credit math (’userer’s voodoo’) the hard way. To make a long story somewhat short, we got to a point where we could no longer pay several hundred dollars per month on each of several credit card bills, while only seeing a small fraction of those bills reduced with each payment. Sometimes we would pay $800, and only $80 or so went toward the principle!

“In the year 2000, we finally filed bankruptcy. There really was no other choice at the time. In fact, we probably should have done so earlier. We felt terrible about it, but I’m sure each one of those companies got their money’s worth out of us even as it was.

“The only thing we’ve purchased on credit since then has been the truck my wife drives–and even that I want to pay off as soon as possible. I now try to live by the mantra ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be.’”

CONFLICT OVER CINDY

Nancy Morgan, writes about coverage of Cindy Sheehan:

“Yes, I did notice how the MSM latched on to the ‘conflict’ generated by the pro-war caravan in Crawford. The telling thing, however, is this fact: Cindy Sheehan has been in Crawford for about 3 weeks, and there have been no violent outbursts from thousands of people, er… peacemakers. But let the pro-war people roll into town, and we get violence, among themselves!!! Yup, these people love violence as a way to get their message across, but hey, doesn’t Bush also love violence and bullying? Listen to his words, look at his snicker, watch his stiffened body as he talks about it….he loves it.”

MOVIE TIME

Other Cinema DVD releases Russ Forster’s SO WRONG THEY’RE RIGHT: This award-winning documentary chronicles a 10,000 mile journey around the U.S. in search of “trackers” — fanatical collectors of 8-track tapes, those funky clunky pre-recorded plastic cartridges from the 70s.

VIA Dahr Jamail: New on DVD: Falluja 2004

*A film by Japanese independent journalist Toshikuni Doi*

“Falluja, April 2004. A documentary by Japanese independent journalist Toshikuni Doi Fallujah has become a symbol of the resistance movement against the U.S. occupation of Iraq. In April 2004, the U.S. forces invaded Fallujah with severalthousand soldiers. Why did Fallujah become a base of the resistance against the occupation? How did the U.S. forces attack? Who fought against them? And what damages and injuries did people suffer? Ten days after the siege of Falluja was lifted, Toshikuni Doi, a Japanese independent journalist, went into Fallujah. His documentary investigates the causes of, the conditions during, and damages from the siege. The documentary is primarily in Arabic, with English subtitles. DVD, 55 minutes.”

http://www.progressiveportal.org/store/

That’s it for now.

Keep your letters coming. Still need help on my Microsoft Word refusal-to-launch problem. Received one tip that was promising, but I think it was for a PC, not a MAC. Sorry to trouble you with all these minor woes given what else is going on…

Comments to: Dissector@mediachannel.org