David’s Christmas card to the world:

http://home.earthlink.net/~galvestonleague/id2.html

I took a week off and would’ve taken longer, but the news just won't stop!  Listening to Tom Ridge speak now, trying to make us believe that he and his cohorts are the only thing standing between us and chaos...  No one asked why his department is being used for mundane law enforcement tasks.  Since they aired that TV commercial claiming that buying pot helps terrorists, then they assume that: 1) no one will ever ask why the CIA was running cocaine out of Columbia to finance an illegal war in Nicaragua; and, b) no one will realize that using the Department of Homeland Security to track down potheads may not be a helpful use of our formerly valuable tax-payer dollars.

The following may seem like a list of websites, and it primarily is.  My aim in looking up the sites myself is to provide a reference aid.  Please forward any or all of this to anyone who might be interested, but not to an enemy. 

For the future, I'm working on some brief mini-essays on a few various topics, and it won't be merely a list; but I thought I'd better mail this list out now before the holiday season has completely passed because it's only going to get longer...

HOWARD DEAN'S SPEECH, MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2003

http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=10993&JServSessionIdr004=5yzs4nryr1.app193a
After everyone from some Democrats to all Republicans jumped on him for daring to suggest that "the capture of Saddam has not made America safer," isn't it interesting that within less than a week the Terror Alert was raised to Orange (http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/)?  It shows Doctor Dean as both prescient and having the kind of vision we need in a leader, something beyond mere 20-20.  And not long after that, Air France cancelled flights to Los Angeles --

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=428354&section=news.  Evidently no one on the other side knew abt the threat or just refused to share it with us until those “blasted French” forced their hands. 

This group occupying our White House operates on a "need to know" basis, but what they don't know (or fail to ackowledge) is that we NEED TO KNOW!  And instead of "soldiers killed since the end of major hostilities," it won’t be long before we'll be seeing reports on "soldiers killed since Saddam was captured." 

Apparently, even the Army knew more than the Ruling Class:
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/7506939.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

THE NEW ELECTABLE HOWARD DEAN from The Village Voice, which has many other interesting links to current concerns.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0351/fahim.php

As you may recall, Herbert Hoover defeated the original "YELLOW DOG" AL SMITH less than a year before the Stock Market Crash of '29.  If they had tried blaming it on the previous Administration, then the Crash was Calvin Coolidge's fault.

JOHN EDWARDS, in his mail-outs, is having the top 13 wishes of GW -- they're very clever, and I will post them when I've collected all (or many) of them.

BUSINESS AS USUAL

This past November, Wisconsin gave the presiding officer of its Senate the power to remove anyone for a day:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/nov03/182559.asp?format=print

SPECIAL TOPIC - IRAQ & THE ENVIRONMENT

WORLD MONUMENTS FUND

http://www.wmf.org/
2004 WATCH LIST - 100 MOST ENDANGERED SITES

http://www.wmf.org/html/programs/watchlist2004.html
NINEVEH AND NIMRUD PALACES NEAR MOSUL, IRAQ

http://wmf.org/2000list.html?sid=1742&year=2004
"2,700 years ago, two Assyrian kings — Sennacherib (704–681 BC) and Assurnasirpal II (883–859 BC) — recorded their successful military campaigns on the walls of their palaces at the ancient sites of Nineveh (modern Mosul) and nearby Nimrud."

ERBIL CITADEL, ERBIL, KURDISH AUTONOMOUS REGION, IRAQ

http://wmf.org/2000list.html?sid=2267&year=2004
"Settled more than 8,000 years ago, Erbil Citadel is one of the longest continuously inhabited sites in the world."

UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE LIST

http://whc.unesco.org/nwhc/pages/doc/mainf3.htm
PROPERTIES INSCRIBED ON THE WORLD HERITAGE LIST (published August 2003)

http://whc.unesco.org/archive/WHList03-ENG.pdf
HATRA - MOSUL, IRAQ 35̊ 34' N, 42̊ 42' E

http://whc.unesco.org/sites/277.htm
"A large fortified city under the influence of the Parthian Empire and capital of the first Arab Kingdom, Hatra withstood invasions by the Romans in AD 116 and 198 thanks to its high, thick walls reinforced by towers. The remains of the city, especially the temples where Hellenistic and Roman architecture blend with Eastern decorative features, attest to the greatness of its civilization."

ASHUR (QAL'AT SHERQAT)- SALAH ADDIN PROVINCE N35 28 00.0 E43 14 00.0

http://whc.unesco.org/sites/1130.htm
"Founded in the 3rd millennium BCE, the most important role of Ashur was from the 14th to 9th century BCE when it was the first capital of the Assyrian empire. Ashur was also the religious capital of Assyrians, and the place for crowning and burial of its kings."

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION FINES ASHCROFT'S SENATE BID FOR BREACH

"The Federal Election Commission has determined that Attorney General John D. Ashcroft's unsuccessful 2000 Senate reelection campaign violated election laws by accepting $110,000 in illegal contributions from a committee Ashcroft had established to explore running for president."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6339-2003Dec16.html?referrer=email

CHALLENGING 'PRE-EMPTION' by SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD
http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20031229&s=byrd
ALFRED LORD TENNYSON - "ULYSSES"

http://dandalf.com/dandalf/ulysses.html

LEGAL REPRIEVE FOR GUANTANAMO PRISONERS

http://www.theage.com.au/cgi-bin/common/popupPrintArticle.pl?path=/articles/2003/12/19/1071337129725.html

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APPROVES BILL TO CENSOR AMERICAN CITIZENS FROM VOICING OPPOSITION TO U.S. WAR ON DRUGS

http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/1209-03.htm

HU [who?], PUTIN AGREE ON MILITARY RELATION

"’The military cooperation between China and Russia is conducive to foster international and regional peace and stability,’ Chinese President Hu Jintao said yesterday."

At least we took care of Iraq, and apparently Libya -- I guess Iran and North Korea are all we have to worry about now.  I'm certain that a joint Russian-Chinese military pact poses absolutely no threat to any American interests, aren't you?

http://english.eastday.com/epublish/gb/paper1/1122/class000100022/hwz174070.htm

HALIBURTON WITHHELD PAPERS [so what else is new?]

In addition to keeping Saddam alive, our American military is further thwarting the will of this Administration by investigating Halliburton.  The USA is showing the world an odd form of the much-lamented former system of checks and balances, as the military serves as a counterweight to the civilian government -- the "military-industrial complex" (Eisenhower’s words) being tempered by those who actually have to do the fighting, killing, and dying.

http://www.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20031218-001459-1819

BREAKING NEWS: FRENCH NEWS AGENCIES SAY GORE NEXT PRESIDENT, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2000 5:40 PM EST

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2000/11/7/133555.shtml

WHITE HOUSE WEB SCRUBBING

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A9821-2003Dec17?language=printer

1984, BY GEORGE ORWELL

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451524934/qid=1072653494/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-4064209-8584109

PAX -- TRUFFULAUT