Quick hit for the afternoon
Singer Harry Belafonte, an outspoken opponent of President Bush and the Iraq war, has been swinging away lately. This from a report on the AP:
NEW YORK (AP) - Entertainer Harry Belafonte, one of the Bush administration's harshest critics, compared the national Homeland Security department to the Gestapo and attacked the president as a liar during a fiery Saturday speech.
"We've come to this dark time in which the Gestapo of Homeland Security lurks here, where citizens are having their rights suspended," Belafonte told thousands of people at the annual meeting of the Arts Presenters Members Conference.
"You can be arrested and not charged, you can be arrested and have no right to counsel," said Belafonte, who called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world" during a trip to Venezuela two weeks ago. Belafonte, 78, made that comment after a meeting with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
The Harlem-born Belafonte, who was raised in Jamaica, said his activism was inspired by an impoverished mother "who imbued in me that we should never capitulate to oppression."
He acknowledged that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks demanded a reaction by the United States, but charged that the policies of the Bush administration were not the right response
Bush, he said, was a president "who has risen to power somewhat dubiously and ... then lies to the people of this nation, misleads them, misinstructs, and then sends off hundreds of thousands of our own boys and girls to a foreign land that has not aggressed against us."
Pretty harsh words, but not undeserved. I will get into this more later.
And in this week's Democratic response to the president's weekly radio address, Nevada Senator Harry Reid made the ongoing scandals in Washington the topic. Where Karl Rove says the GOP should use "post-9/11 mentality" (oooh, and the potential play on words is delicious!!), the key word for the Democrats will be "honesty".
Again, more later. Now it's off to work.
lies Belafonte Bush Homeland Security Gestapo
NEW YORK (AP) - Entertainer Harry Belafonte, one of the Bush administration's harshest critics, compared the national Homeland Security department to the Gestapo and attacked the president as a liar during a fiery Saturday speech.
"We've come to this dark time in which the Gestapo of Homeland Security lurks here, where citizens are having their rights suspended," Belafonte told thousands of people at the annual meeting of the Arts Presenters Members Conference.
"You can be arrested and not charged, you can be arrested and have no right to counsel," said Belafonte, who called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world" during a trip to Venezuela two weeks ago. Belafonte, 78, made that comment after a meeting with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
The Harlem-born Belafonte, who was raised in Jamaica, said his activism was inspired by an impoverished mother "who imbued in me that we should never capitulate to oppression."
He acknowledged that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks demanded a reaction by the United States, but charged that the policies of the Bush administration were not the right response
Bush, he said, was a president "who has risen to power somewhat dubiously and ... then lies to the people of this nation, misleads them, misinstructs, and then sends off hundreds of thousands of our own boys and girls to a foreign land that has not aggressed against us."
Pretty harsh words, but not undeserved. I will get into this more later.
And in this week's Democratic response to the president's weekly radio address, Nevada Senator Harry Reid made the ongoing scandals in Washington the topic. Where Karl Rove says the GOP should use "post-9/11 mentality" (oooh, and the potential play on words is delicious!!), the key word for the Democrats will be "honesty".
Again, more later. Now it's off to work.
lies Belafonte Bush Homeland Security Gestapo
posted by Stevie Z at 4:18 PM
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