Houston Democrats - December 2005

Raw Story has links to the PDF versions of Conyers resolutions:

Resolution to create investigative body to determine if offenses are impeachable (click here); Resolution to censure President George W. Bush (click here); Resolution to censure Vice President Dick Cheney (click here).

Posted by Lyn Wall at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Eight House Republicans still need challengers

From kos.

These DeLay robots are currently unchallenged for the November ballot. Several of them are only in office today because The Hammer redrew their districts. Since we're going to take out the boss, let's knock off a few of his lickspittles while we're at it:

Louis Gohmert (TX-1: East Texas, including Tyler, Longview, Marshall, and Lufkin)
Ted Poe (TX-2: Southeast Texas, including Kingwood, Beaumont, and Port Arthur)
Mike Conaway (TX-11: West Texas, including Midland, Odessa, San Angelo, and Brownwood)
Kay Granger (TX-12: NW Fort Worth suburbs, including White Settlement, Aledo, and Weatherford)
Mac Thornberry (TX-13: the Panhandle, from Wichita Falls and Mineral Wells all the way to Amarillo)
Henry Bonilla (TX-23: Big Bend, from Laredo and Kerrville all the way out to Fort Stockton and Pecos)
Michael Burgess (TX-26: a middle slice of the Metroplex, from Fort Worth north through H-E-B to Denton and Gainesville)
Pete Sessions (TX-32: north and west Dallas suburbs, including Irving, University Park, and Richardson)

Go here, find the district's number in the list, and click on "preview map" to see the part of Texas each of these GOP rubberstamps represents.

Of course, if you'd rather serve the public a little closer to home, or in Austin, there are many other positions availble for filing at the county and statehouse level. Thinking about running for office? Check out this page from the Texas Democratic Party. It's a list of all the things you need to do to get on the ballot. For Congressional candidates, the main requirement is either a filing fee of $3,125 or 500 signatures.

People, this is the People's Party, and we need more people. Like you.

Posted by Perry Dorrell at 06:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack

December 19, 2005

AG Candidate David Van Os on Domestic Spying

CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS

George W. Bush has plunged the country into the kind of Constitutional crisis that was resolved in 1974 by the issuance of articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon and Nixon’s subsequent resignation. Make no mistake about it – the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution covers telephone communications, and warrants are required for wiretaps. (See for example, Berger v. New York, 388 U.S. 41 <1967>*). Federal judges can and do quickly issue warrants authorizing wiretaps whenever the government shows the need. George W. Bush cannot and does not claim that the judges have been stingy with such warrants; rather he claims that the legal and constitutional requirements simply do not apply to him. As if that were not bad enough, he also claims the authority to spy on peaceable American citizens who are engaging in traditional American freedom of speech and assembly. Make no mistake about this – Bush’s claim of the authority to wiretap Americans’ telephones without warrants and to spy on peaceful First Amendment activities is in brazen defiance of the Constitution.

George W. Bush’s arrogant claim that the "executive power" referenced in Article II of the Constitution authorizes him to override the First and Fourth Amendments is a declaration of war against the very notion of a Constitution, because if his claim wins out, then there are no longer any limits on what the chief executive can do, and we will be living under dictatorship instead of in a democracy. To George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Alberto Gonzalez, the Constitutional rights and liberties of Americans can be wiped away by a president’s executive decree – my dear friends and fellow Texans, a Bill of Rights that exists only at the sufferance of executive power is not a Bill of Rights at all, and an executive who claims such power is no longer the executor of Constitutional government, but has become by such actions an unconstitutional usurper. My words are provocative, because the situation is provocative when the U.S. president makes open war on the Bill of Rights that so many fearless American patriots sacrificed so much to preserve, protect and defend.

If Bush’s claim of the power to wiretap the telephone communications of Americans without warrants and to spy on peaceful American citizens is not blocked now, he will have prevailed in claiming that he can overrule our Bill of Rights by executive decree. There is no tomorrow on this one. There is no middle ground on this, no room for normal protocols. George W. Bush has declared that he has been wiretapping Americans without warrants, that he has the power to do so, and that he is going to continue to do so. He has declared that he is going to continue to spy on Americans’ freedom of speech and assembly. Bush has thrown down the gauntlet, and he has dared the people to pick it up.

A Texas Attorney General who understood that his job was to be the people’s lawyer would pick up that gauntlet. The Bill of Rights belongs just as much to the people of Texas as it does to anyone else in America. As Texas Attorney General I will fulfill my duty to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, by fighting on behalf of Texans with every means and resource at my disposal against any and all such anti-constitutional federal usurpations. For example, I would move swiftly into the courts as the lawyer for the people of Texas to challenge the Bushite government’s defiance of the Bill of Rights and have their actions declared unconstitutional. The current Texas Attorney General clearly will not challenge them, since he is a Bushite mouthpiece and will not bite the hand of the master who appointed him to statewide Texas public office. Probably no other Texas public official will challenge them either; but under the Texas Constitution it is the Attorney General, more than other state office-holder, whom the people of Texas most depend upon to fight for their Constitutional rights and liberties; and I will do so against all comers.

_________________________________________

*United States Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark in Berger v. New York (1967): "They found ‘conversation’ was within the Fourth Amendment’s protections, and that the use of electronic devices to capture it was a ‘search’ within the meaning of the Amendment, and we so hold. …The purpose of the probable cause requirement of the Fourth Amendment to keep the state out of constitutionally protected areas until it has reason to believe that a specific crime has been or is being committed." (Justice Tom Clark was from Texas.) Justice Louis Brandeis, 77 years ago in Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928): "The progress of science in furnishing the government with means of espionage is not likely to stop with wire tapping. Ways may some day be developed by which the government, without removing papers from secret drawers, can reproduce them in court, and by which it will be enabled to expose to a jury the most intimate occurrences of the home. …As means of espionage, writs of assistance and general warrants are but puny instruments of tyranny and oppression when compared with wire tapping. …The makers of our Constitution…conferred, as against the government, the right to be left alone – the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment."

The Harris County Democratic Party supports and promotes all Democrats. The HCDP encourages and welcomes all Democratic candidates, even those with opponents in the March primary, to send HCDP news and events for posting.

Posted by Lyn Wall at 09:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack

President Bush Looked Desperate

"It is becoming very clear that the war in Iraq based upon false information that has killed 2100+ of our soldiers, cost $300 billion, and has no end in sight is taking a toll on the Presidents polls and his demeanor. Waving his hands is not Bush's forte. Smirking, leaning on the desk, and making caustic ill advised statements like "Being em on" is Bush's strong points and yet he did neither."

Continue reading the complete review at: http://bayareahouston.blogspot.com/

Posted by John Cobarruvias at 09:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

New Barbara Radnofsky Blogad

Happy Hanukkah,
Bill O'Reilly!


Barbara Ann Radnofsky,
Texan for U.S. Senate 2006
No lyin'
No cheatin'
No stealin'
Read More...

See the add at the following sites:
http://americablog.blogspot.com/

http://www.newshounds.us/

http://politics1.com/

http://talkleft.com/

The Harris County Democratic Party supports and promotes all Democrats. The HCDP encourages and welcomes all Democratic candidates, even those with opponents in the March primary, to send HCDP news and events for posting.

Posted by Lyn Wall at 09:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 18, 2005

Rick Perry heckled by students

Houston Tx. What was suppose to be a pre-campaign announcement at a local school, turned into a nasty heckling situation for the Governor. Faced with years of ineffective leadership in the area of education, which has resulted in starving of the Texas education system, Governor Perry was looking for a positive outcome when announcing new initiatives designed to improve student retention.

Instead parents, teachers and even students began asking the Governor hard questions which clearly put Perry on the defensive. "Why did you meet on a yacht with your business buddies but wont meet with our teachers on education issues?" asked Ima Broak, a teacher in the audience. "If you lower property taxes how will you raise money for education?" asked a parent in the audience and "Why don't you cut funding for football instead of orchestra?" from a student, were just some of the questions being asked from the floor.

Perry attempted to answer, but the audience continued shouting questions and the event turned into nothing more than an ugly heckling situation. Perry began getting hit with questions as fast as hungy kids at a pinata hitting contest, requiring a security escort out of the building. According to one teacher heckling the Governor as he quickly left the building, Perry shouted "Adios MoFos".

As the police escorted Governor Perry out of the parking lot, students from the homemaking class pelted his caravan with eggs, lightly seasoned with paprika and a pinch of salt.

Posted by John Cobarruvias at 07:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Sunday Funnies (super-sized Season's Greetings edition)

I like saying "Season's Greetings" because it's so annoyingly secular. =)

More toons on the flip ...

Posted by Perry Dorrell at 05:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 17, 2005

Conservative talk show hosts squirms to support Bush

Local talk show conservative host, Chris Baker on KTRH, was heard squirming on Thursday afternoon, attempting to find excuse ofter excuse for the President after he finally admitted the intelligence used to justify a war in Iraq was flawed, but the President continued to say that he would have done the same thing even if he knew then that the intelligence was flawed.

Uh....note to President....If Congress had known the true intelligence, there would have NEVER been a vote to use force against Iraq.

But to hear Chris Baker make every excuse known to man to continue supporting his failed President, his failed Iraq policy, and his failed leadership, was like eating spoiled Chinese food, sweet and sickening. Chris Baker stooped to new lows in defending the President, not once demanding accountability from the President for "taking responsibiliy" for the $300B cost of the war and the 2100+ killed soldiers, but on a number occasions calling for the head of the CIA, George Tenet. (That I agree with)

Nothing like listening to a conservative talk show host try to back away from the President while his lips are sew tightly to his ass.

Posted by John Cobarruvias at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

The first poll in the Texas Governor's race

is posted here. Go vote in it (if you're registered).

The overnight results are somewhat intriguing:

Who will you vote for in the March primary?

Felix Alvarado
4%

Chris Bell
30%

Bob Gammage
30%

Not voting -- signing Kinky's petition
30%

Other
2%

Votes: 42

Posted by Perry Dorrell at 06:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

December 16, 2005

Van Os applies the smackdown to Abbott

When he got the news that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear arguments in the Texas redistricting case, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott quickly issued a press release blithely stating that it was "not surprising" for the Supreme Court to hear arguments on the case and that he expects the Court will find the Texas redistricting plan to be "wholly constitutional."

First of all, every lawyer worth his salt knows that the U.S. Supreme Court rarely grants review in cases appealed to it. Putting aside the fact that his statement is misleading, one must wonder why Greg Abbott felt it necessary to editorialize at all. Is he perhaps feeling defensive about the role he played as Texas Attorney General in giving his legal blessing to Tom DeLay's power grab?

Could he be hurt about the fact that he was unsuccessful in trying to persuade the Supreme Court to summarily affirm the lower court's decision without hearing argument? Or is he embarrassed because the professional legal staff in the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that the Texas redistricting was illegal?

Remember, this is the same Greg Abbott who tried to convince the Texas courts they had no authority to take action over an unconstitutional school finance system. Even the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court had no stomach for that stellar argument.

A Texas Attorney General who understood that his job was to be the People's Lawyer would have long ago sided with the people rather than with the Republican Party political bosses when it came to Texas redistricting. Greg Abbott may be concerned that Texans will learn the truth about their Attorney General's complicity with the rest of the Republican Party's power-grabbing political hacks in their arrogant pursuit of one-party rule -- and well he should be.

David Van Os, Democrat for Attorney General of Texas

Posted by Perry Dorrell at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Texan Wins Russ Feingold's Progressive Patriot Award!

I am excited to announce that you have chosen John Courage to be our first Progressive Patriot. John is a terrific candidate running in the Texas 21st. He's running to protect social security from privatization, to bring affordable health care to all Americans, and to make our country a leader in alternative energy. He's a veteran who wants to bring our troops home safely, and a teacher who will work to improve public education. I'm proud to call John Courage a Progressive Patriot, and based on your recommendation we will contribute $5,000 to his campaign for Congress. You can find out more about John at his website, http://www.courageforcongress.org.

With so many deserving candidates competing in this online voting event, it is difficult to support only the candidates receiving the most votes, so we have also decided to make smaller contributions to each of the other ten candidates. I hope that you will also consider financially supporting these great candidates in the future.

Because of the overwhelming response to this event, we hope to do similar events several times over the coming year. There are many other strong democratic candidates running in 2006 who deserve our support. I am committed to doing everything I can to help elect more democrats across the country, but I need your financial help if we are to be effective. Please consider making a contribution today, so that we may continue to help to support these candidates through the Progressive Patriots Fund.

http://www.progressivepatriotsfund.com/morepatriots

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

Posted by Lyn Wall at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

HCDP Holiday Party a Huge Success

Last night's HCDP holiday party was a huge success. It was held at the CWA Hall and sponsored by Senator Rodney Ellis (left, pictured with Gerry Birnberg, HCDP chair).

Many Democratic candidates and activists attended. See below the fold for more photos.

Posted by Lyn Wall at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Governor AMF at Carver HS today to reveal another education charade

We ought to consider Rick Perry an absolute master of prestidigitation.

He is a magician at hoodwinking the MSM into thinking he's had a breakthrough, when his record reveals one breakdown after another.

Today -- at 1:30 p.m., to be precise -- our illustrious Goodhaired Governor will appear at our every own Carver High School to announce a grant and an 'initiative'.

Chris Bell called for this months ago.

I suppose it's a compliment that the sitting Governor follows the advice of the future one, but "MoFo" won't save his job this way.

I want our state to answer Bill Gates' call for a fundamental redesign of the high school curriculum to adequately prepare children for the 21st century economy.

... Perry continues to back an Enron-style accountability system that holds kids back to keep them out of the test pool. This "ninth-grade bulge," which education researchers say is a result of high-stakes testing, has pushed the state's effective dropout rate to nearly 40 percent, tops in the country.

The sad fact is that most residents of our prison system lack high school degrees. The perverse incentive to encourage kids to drop out of school has created a school-to-prison pipeline that is a silent moral crisis in Texas. Incredibly, Mr. Perry was one of only three governors not to sign a national agreement by the National Governors Association to accurately track dropouts. We can't keep using the prison system to hide our failures like Enron used offshore dummy corporations to hide its debt.

Another unfortunate, if avoidable, byproduct of Enron-style accountability is the silent crisis of teacher dropouts. We have a shortage of qualified, certified teachers because 60 percent of all teachers quit within their first five years.

Texas pays its teachers $6,100 less than the national average, but it costs more than $13,000 to replace each teacher. This is perhaps the best example of Enron-style accounting. Consequently, we have more certified teachers not teaching in Texas than are working in the classrooms. We need to bring their salaries up to the national average and then empower them to teach our kids something more important than how to take yet another standardized test.

Rick Perry can't steal Chris Bell's ideas, call them his, and pretend he's accomplished something for Texas public schools.

That's more than just magic; it's plain old BS.

Posted by Perry Dorrell at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 15, 2005

He's got MOLD on his mind!

In the "I didn't see that coming" category the Texas Hospital Association has endorsed Moldy Joe Nixon for Senate. Although Moldy Joe is not near my district, I have a very BIG interest in his anti-consumer witch hunts. I invite you to read "Say it aint Mold Joe!" that I wrote on Joe Nixon getting his home remodeled after having it was remediated for toxic mold for $300,000 paid by the insurance company. To call Texas State Representative Joe Nixon a hypocrite would be an insult to the true hypocrites of the Republican party.

Of course Joe Nixon is father of tort reform and limiting the lawsuits for medical malpractice which resulted in squat for consumers. This endorsement is clearly his payback.

Say it aint mold! Joe!

During the summer of 2001 hundreds of homeowners across Texas testified on the subject of mold contamination of their homes. Many recalled months of strange rashes, nosebleeds, and upper respiratory illnesses. Some lost their memory. Others lost their homes. And others such as the insurance lobbyists, lawyers, and tort reformers claimed, "mold is gold", and mold claims were "frivolous" based upon hysteria not scientific facts.

And then there were those who stood watching homeowners in tears pleading for help from the State, while quietly collecting their own share of the gold and conveniently ignoring the hysteria, and claims of frivolity. Such was the case of State Representative Joe Nixon (R) Houston now running for State Senator.

In 2001 while hearings and legislation was being crafted to address mold claims, Rep Nixon received over $300,000 for his own mold claim. Like many mold victims, his life was disrupted while his family spent a year in a crowded apartment during his mold remediation. But unlike many victims, he kept silent about the dangers of toxic mold, the cost of remediation, the horrible stress upon the family, and the urgent need to address mold contamination.

Rep Nixon had an opportunity, as an elected official, to address the Texas Department of Insurance during one of many historic mold hearings held across the state. His position, as a Texas Representative, would have validated the claims by other homeowners. His own experience of having his family life disrupted, his financial situation threatened, and his emotions stretched to the end would have put a halt to the false claims of "hysteria", "frivolous" and "mold is gold".

But instead he stood silently collecting his pot of gold, while others were foreclosing and struggling to keep their children in good health as well as struggling with their insurance companies.

Later in the 2003 Legislation Session, Rep Nixon sponsored the tort reform bill on behalf of the insurance industry and the tort reform groups. These were the same organizations that were claiming toxic mold was based upon hysteria and had driven up the cost of insurance forcing companies out of business. Members of these organizations testified at the mold hearings, and some were appointed to the Department of Insurance Mold Task Force. All while Rep Nixon was collecting $300,000 on his own "legitimate" claim and crafting an insurance welfare bill, House Bill 4.

To call Joe Nixon a hypocrite would be an insult to true hypocrites. How could an elected leader stand idle, with his hands buried in the pot of gold, while his people in his state are in financial ruin, poor health, and pleading for help? How could Rep Nixon ignore the hearings and families who have been ravaged financially, physically, and mentally by mold contamination while he collects on his own claim and crafts legislation on behalf of those who provided his gold?

John R. Cobarruvias.

Mr. Cobarruvias is a consumer activist as the President of Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings Texas and has testified at many hearings concerning mold contamination, insurance, tort reform and new home construction. HADDs website can be found at http://www.hadd.com/states/texas.php

Posted by John Cobarruvias at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

December 14, 2005

Troll Impersonating Houston Chronicle Reader Representative

Recently, we have received several caustic comments from a reader calling himself James, using an email address from the Houston Chronicle. Today I received the following note, from the real James, after responding to one of the comments.

I’m glad you e-mailed. I’m James T. Campbell, Readers’ Representative for the Houston Chronicle. I received an e-mail yesterday alerting me that someone has been posting comments using James and this email address. Please post that it is not me sending comments to your blog.

Regards,

James T. Campbell, Readers' Representative

Thank you Mr. Campbell for clearing this up. I have deleted all comments from this imposter.

Posted by Lyn Wall at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack

December 13, 2005

Marguerite Reed - Great Activist and Friend

As some of you know, early last month, we lost one of our bloggers, Marguerite Reed (left, pictured with Leah Burris) to illness. In addition to leading the reading club on the blog, she was active on the steering committees of Democracy for Houston and the HCDP Communications group.

She contributed to Democratic and Progressive causes in many ways. She was always available to help plan events, work party and DFH tables and take on just about any task. If you have picked up any buttons from HCDP or DFH, they are probably her handiwork.

Marguerite was a very private person and went out of her way to avoid sharing the seriousness of her illness with family and friends, so her passing was very sudden. She insisted there would be no memorial service or obituary.

Those of us who were fortunate enough to have her touch our lives and hearts will never forget Marguerite. I invite you to share your thoughts about Marguerite here.

Posted by Lyn Wall at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack

December 12, 2005

An American Nightmare Part I

Friends, this is my gift to you, a little bedtime story that is still a work in progress. Let's call it a fantasy inspired by the story of Scrooge. I don't know, maybe it's our last hope of any kind of freedom from a President who is an idiot.

An American Nightmare
Pseudofiction by Amy Branham

PART I – THE WOMAN
George climbed into bed beside Laura, tired from the long day of work. Running a nation isn't easy. It's really hard work. The war in Iraq wasn't going well and disapproval by the American people was growing by the day. His economic policies were awash. You have to make hard decisions when you are President of a country, he told himself. I'm the President and I can do what I want. The people elected me, and that gave me the freedom to do what needs to be done.
George drifted off to sleep with that thought running through his mind.
In the night he was awakened by a sound. He opened his eyes and scanned the room but saw nothing. Laura was still peacefully sleeping, undisturbed. Unconcerned, George closed his eyes. The White House was teeming with security at all hours of the day and night. He was safe. Nothing could happen to him here.
Just as he began to drift back into dreamland, he heard the sound again, louder this time. It seemed to be coming from the far corner of the bedroom. This time George sat up in bed and looked around. The sound continued to grow steadily louder. Crying, someone was crying. Who would be in his room crying at this time of night?
George sat there in his bed for a moment, not able to decide what to do. Where were those Secret Services agents that were supposed to be protecting him, he thought to himself. George rolled out of bed, slipped his feet into slippers on and grabbed his robe from the back of a nearby chair as he headed for the door, intending to find out where his guards were. As he did so, he looked back to the corner where the noise was coming from and stopped.
In the corner stood a woman, her head covered. She was weeping and moaning, a sound that came from the depths of her soul, eerily ghost-like that almost gave George a chill. He turned to face the woman.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" George demanded of the woman.
The woman said nothing, but took a step toward George. He stood his ground.
"How did you get in here?" George demanded of the woman.
The woman still did not answer him. She continued to advanced toward him, her cries growing louder and more shrill with each step. George looked to the bed for help from Laura, but Laura was still sound asleep, her chest rising and falling gently with each breath. How could she not hear this?
The woman was now just a few steps away from George. He found himself backing away from her. One step. Two steps. Three steps. His back was now against a wall and he looked around, panic stricken, trying to find a way out. The door, there was the door that led out of the room, he thought to himself. Just get to the door and you can get out, call security.
There was no escape for George on this night. He was caught in a nightmare of his own making.
As he tried to inch his way along, back against the wall, the woman spoke to him.
"Mr. Bush, you killed me."
"What? I haven't killed anyone," George replied.
"Mr. Bush, you are responsible for my death. You killed me with your bombs. I was in my home, sleeping in my bed. Your bombs came and hit my house. I died."
"I'm dreaming. This is a nightmare. I didn't kill anyone." George said to himself as he began pinching himself on the arm trying to wake himself up. "Wake up, George, wake up!"
The woman continued, taking a step closer to George, "Mr. Bush, you invaded my country. You killed me. My children are now without a mother, my husband without his wife. They cry every day, Mr. Bush. My country is a war zone and an unsafe place to live. This, Mr. Bush, you have done."
"No, no, I am bringing Democracy and freedom to your country! I have freed you from a tyrannical leader! I have killed no one!"
The woman's hand reached out from under her robes, her skin the color of death. With her hand she pushed back the cover on her head, revealing a terrible gash that almost made her face look inhuman, unrecognizable.
"Mr. Bush, your bombs did this to me."
George looked with fascinated horror at the woman's face, his stomach feeling queasy. Then he looked away from the woman, unwilling to accept what he was seeing with his own eyes. "This is only a nightmare, a really bad dream. This isn't real."
"This is real. Now, you are coming with me." The woman's hand reached for George and he pulled away. Her cold hand touched his arm and instantly he was gone from his bedroom, transported to a cold, dark deserted road in the blink of an eye.
George was still pinching himself. The pain from the pinches was getting stronger each time, but he still was not waking up. George was confused. He looked down and saw the slippers on his feet, his blue terry cloth robe on his body, the red and white striped pajamas he remembered putting on just before climbing into bed with Laura.
"Follow me," the woman said simply as she opened the door to a building off the road. George had no intention of following this woman and he stood there in the road, looking for a way out.
"Help me!" he shouted, hoping someone would hear him. "I'm the President of the United States and I've been kidnapped! Help!" George yelled. No one came out of the buildings. The street was deserted. George looked around and saw buildings made of stone and dirt all around him, buildings that seemed only slightly familiar, but he could not quite place where he had seen them before.
The woman motioned for him to follow as she stepped through the doorway of the nearest building. "Come, Mr. Bush."
George had no intention of following that woman. His mind was filled only with thoughts of escape, of somehow getting back to his bedroom at the White House where he would be safe. How can I do that? He thought to himself. I don't know where I am. I don't know how I got here. This is a dream, a really, really bad dream.
The woman came back out into the road. "Mr. Bush, you must come with me. I have much to show you this night." She turned around and walked back into the building.
Reluctantly, George followed the woman through the door. Inside, he found a spacious room lit with the soft light from candles. One of the first things he noticed was that the room was cold, as his body shivered. George closed his robe more tightly to keep out the chill and wrapped his arms around himself in an attempt to get warm. As his eyes adjusted to the light he was able to look around the sparsely decorated and furnished room. There was a table in the center of the room, at which a man was sitting, staring off into the night. In his hands he held a picture.
George took a step towards the man. "Hey, you, you gotta help me! I've been kidnapped! I'm the President of the United States!"
The man didn't so much as twitch. He continued to stare off into space, unaware of his guests.
"He cannot hear you." The woman said. She was standing next to George.
"This man is my husband, Abdul. The woman in the picture is me, before I died."
"Hey, you!" George called out to the man, unbelieving, desperate to escape.
"Mr. Bush, listen to me. Abdul cannot hear you. He cannot see you. We are invisible to his eyes and ears.
George walked over to the man. He looked over the man's shoulder at the picture in his hands. It was of a beautiful woman. Her long, dark hair framed her face beautifully and her dark eyes seemed to pierce his soul as she looked back from the picture. George placed his hand on the man's shoulder, but his hand went right through the man's flesh. The man shuddered, not aware of what just happened to him.
"Whaaa -----?" George exclaimed.
"You are not really here, Mr. Bush. Your body is back at home, lying next to your wife in your bed. It is your spirit, your soul that is here tonight with me, Mr. Bush." The woman told him.
She went on. "Mr. Bush, tonight you are to see some of the death and destruction you have wrought upon my people, my country. For this you are responsible. Tonight you will see the sorrow and despair of my people, my family. You will begin to rethink the occupation of my country that you call a liberation."
With that, George was once again transported from the room he was standing in to another place he did not know. He found himself standing in a pile of rubble. There were people shrieking and screaming all around him, running in different directions. Smoke billowed up into the air and dust was falling all around him. In the distance he could hear sirens blaring, coming closer.
"Another bomb just exploded here, Mr. Bush. I want you to watch closely. Pay attention to everything." The ghostly woman next to him whispered in his ear.
As George watched, a man somehow climbed out of the rubble, covered in dirt and blood. Other men saw him and scrambled to help him. The man stumbled as he tried to take a step and the others nearest him caught him before he fell.
"My wife! My children! They are in there! Please, Allah, help them!" The man cried.
A swarm of men, young and old, descended on the rubble, pulling it away with their bare hands, piece by piece, calling the names of the family members stuck in the rubble. Shortly a body was pulled from the rubble, a young boy. A man silently and with tears running down his cheeks, carried the lifeless body to the father.
Others were pulled from the rubble, some lifeless, covered with blood and dust. A young girl was rescued, barely alive, with a broken arm. George watched as the rubble was pulled from the body of a woman, her body curled around the form of a baby as though to protect it from harm. The baby was alive. The woman was not.
"No. No. NO! This is a dream. I am not awake. This isn't real!" George said of the carnage before him. "In a little while I will wake up and forget all about this terrible nightmare!" George insisted.
"This is not a dream, Mr. Bush. It is very real and you will remember it when you awaken in the morning," said the woman next to him.
George looked away, turned his back on the horror and destruction he was witnessing. "Take me away from this," he begged the woman. "Let me go back to my bed, back to my sleep…"
With a start, George awakened from his sleep and sat up in bed. "Wow." He thought to himself, "that was quite a dream I had last night. What a nightmare!"
George got up and began to dress for the day. He went down to breakfast where he found Laura finishing her first cup of coffee.
"Good morning, dear," Laura said as he entered the room. "Did you rest well last night?"
"Yes," George answered, the dreams of the night already gone from his little mind.
As George poured a cup of coffee one of his aides came bustling into the room.
"Mr. President," said the aide, "there has been an incident. If you will follow me, Sir, we will brief you. This needs your immediate attention."
"It can wait a few minutes." Responded George.
"Sir, with all due respect, this needs your attention immediately. It cannot wait," the aide insisted.
"What in the world could be so important that it can't wait five minutes for me to have my breakfast?" The President asked grouchily.
"Sir, about two hours ago civilian homes in Baghdad were bombed. There are hundreds dead. There's a huge outcry from around the world. You must come now, Sir."
"I'll be there after I finish my breakfast. You are dismissed." The President took a swig of his orange juice and dug into the pile of biscuits and gravy on the plate in front of him.
The aide stood stubbornly in the middle of the room, staring at the President.
"I thought I dismissed you." Said George.
"Sir, I was ordered to bring you to the Briefing Room immediately. I'm not leaving until you come with me. I don't think you understand, Mr. President. This incident is all over the news. It is imperative that you come with me now, Sir," responded the aide.
Finally, with one last swig of his orange juice and a last bite of his breakfast, George wiped his mouth on a napkin and got up from his chair.
"This had better be good," he told the aide as they hurried down the corridor. "Otherwise, your ass is fired." By this time George was thoroughly irritated.
"Yes, Sir."
The aide opened the door to the Briefing Room and stepped aside for George to walk through. As George entered the room, he noted that most of his highest level aides and cabinet members were already seated, discussing the events. All immediately stopped talking as he entered the room, standing up from their chairs to greet him.
"Mr. President," they said in unison.
"All right, what's so goddamn important that I had to be dragged away from my breakfast this morning? It had better be good!" snarled George as he took his seat in the empty chair at the head of the table.
"Mr. President," began his Security Advisor, "there has been an incident in Baghdad."
"Yeah, so I've heard. Get on with it. I have a busy morning."
"I suggest you rearrange your schedule for the day, Mr. President. This one is big," replied another advisor.
"Just how damn bad could it be?" The President replied.
"Just watch." With that, the Security Advisor pushed the button of a remote control and the TV at the end of the room, came on. George watched as a sense of déjà vu descended upon him. He absent-mindedly rubbed his arm and sensed a touch of soreness as he did so. He watched as the events on the television screen played out, exactly as he saw them in his dream the previous night. Rubble everywhere, men scrambling through rubble as far as the camera could see, pulling broken bodies out. A man being pulled through the rubble covered in dust and blood, his friends catching him as he stumbled. Another man carrying the body of a dead child to him. A little girl was pulled from the rubble, alive, her arm twisted and distorted.
"Enough!" shouted George. "Turn it off!"
"Mr. President, last night numerous homes in this neighborhood of Baghdad were bombed. We received intelligence saying this was where some of the masterminds of Al Qaeda were staying, planning suicide bombing missions. We called in an air strike," Donald Rumsfeld told him.
"Did you get them?" Asked George.
"Sir, we don't know. I don't believe they were ever there at all. We are receiving reports that there are at least 25-30 dead Iraqi civilians, Sir, many of them women and children," another aide continued.
"Leaders of nations across the world are furious, calling for a statement from the United States, an explanation of what happened, the events of the night." Mr. Rumsfeld stated.
"What do we tell them? What do we do?" The question hung in the air.
George sat there, trembling, not believing what he saw on the television screen. "No, no," he thought to himself. "It was only a dream, only a dream." He sat in silence, unable to answer the question.
"Mr. President," Ms. Rice said, interrupting his thoughts, "We need to make a statement, say something, do something."
"Yes, yes. Continue the course. We are fighting terrorism and sometimes civilians get hurt. This is a war and these things happen. We are sorry for the loss of life. We are bringing Democracy and Freedom to Iraq. Stay the course. Stay the course…" George rambled.
He had to escape this room, go somewhere and be alone, gather his thoughts. "It was only a dream, only a dream. I'm still dreaming. This isn't real." George repeated over and over silently to himself.
"Excuse me, Mr. President? What did you say?" asked the gentleman sitting next to him.
"What? Oh, I must have been thinking out loud. Y'all take care of this. You know what to say. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to." With that, George got up and left the room, leaving the attendees of the meeting in mute shock.
Somehow, George got himself out of the room and ran down the hall to the nearest washroom. Once inside, he locked the door. He went to the sink and splashed cold water on his face in an effort to wake himself up. "Only a dream" he muttered to himself as he looked at his face in the mirror. "Just a dream. Not real." He rubbed his arm once again, realizing it was a little sore. Quickly he unbuttoned the cuffs of the sleeve and pushed the sleeve up. He was surprised to see bruises up and down the length of his arm. "What the hell," George muttered.
There was a knock at the door.
"Mr. President, are you all right, Sir?" a voice on the other side of the door asked.
"Yeah. I'll be out in a minute," George replied. He took another minute or two to pull himself together.
George emerged from the washroom feeling shaky. He rubbed his arm as he walked down the hall on his way to the Oval Office.
In his office he found Condi and Rummy waiting for him, talking quietly.
"Mr. President." They acknowledged as he walked into the room.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Mr. President, we have got to deal with this situation in Baghdad. Already this morning the switchboard has been deluged with calls from around the world." Rummy stated.
"Handle it." George said.
"Mr. President, we need a statement from you," stated Condi.
"What the hell do you want me to say? Oh, I'm sorry. We had bad information. We bombed your homes and killed your families. This is war, a war on terror. These things are going to happen in a war. It isn't pretty. What the hell am I supposed to do about it?" George exclaimed.
"Sir, this has become an international incident. I advise you to not make light of it. This is a disaster for us – for you politically. Now we have to do some kind of damage control. You have to appear before the American people and the world, come across as being sympathetic and apologetic. You have got to say something," Rummy told him.
"Screw them. Screw them all! We are bringing Democracy and Freedom to the Iraqi people. We took Saddam Hussein out. We are fighting a war on terror!"
Condi took a deep breath. "Sir," she said, "Members of the United Nations are holding an emergency session tomorrow. They are calling for a vote regarding America's so-called occupation of Iraq. Before this incident our numbers were falling, our support from the American people and nations around the world was already plummeting. This is a P.R. disaster for you and for the United States. In order to even begin to turn this around, you, as President of the United States of America, are going to have to appear on television, give a speech. Make a statement about this. You can't just ignore this situation. It's not going to go away."
George stood at the window, looking out across the lawn as he rubbed his arm absentmindedly. Turning away from the window he said, "We have to stay the course in order to honor our commitments and the loss of life."
Condi and Rummy looked at each other, eyebrows raised in question.
"George," Rummy said, "what are we going to do? What are you going to say?"
"I'm not going to say or do anything right now. One of you can prepare a statement and send it out. I'm going to go finish my breakfast." With that, George left the room.

Posted by Amy Branham at 04:25 PM</