tom delay indictment

What will this do to the GOP Leadership? Will Democrats seize on this case?

MY MODEST SUGGESTION FOR GUSH KATIF

Begin by reading http://www.livejournal.com/users/mishkaegli2/344.html

This is one of the better appeals for money for the Gush Katif refugees. Don't give them a nickel! It is money down the drain. Worse, by providing succor to the homeless, a network is being built which will allow the government to uproot many thousands more Jews. Whoever is responsible for these people's suffering must pay and no one else.

One must ask, why are the refugees agreeing to live like what you just saw? Once again, they are living on false hope. The government has promised them new homes and villages within 2-3 years. The naive refugees can't see this is a lie. The government doesn't want to pay and is stalling. Within two or three years it figures that all the charity workers will have settled the Gush Katif homeless and they'll be let off the hook.

And the activists are falling into the trap. They don't see the permanent damage they are inflicting on Gush Katif and all of Yesha. Isn't it amazing how quickly the refugees have organized for charity, yet they can't organize for their own justice. For that, there is no will. Permit me to suggest what should be done instead.

THE CHAMISH PLAN FOR GUSH KATIF Why should the architects of the Gush Katif expulsion sleep soundly in their homes when they have made 10,000 innocent people, mostly children, homeless? They deserve not a moment's peace so long as even one of their victims remains without a just and complete compensation for his misery.

And that is why the refugees will get out of their caravans and hotels and set up tent residences opposite the homes of the architects of their expulsion. They will begin by moving a few dozen families to Sde Eliahu where the government's expulsion director, Yonathan Bassi lives. They will make his home a prison, just as theirs are.

Then the tent villages will spread to the homes of every bureaucrat, politician, army and police officer responsible for Gush Katif and Northern Samaria's abandonment. It is a small country and finding the addresses will be no problem. Every night, those responsible for the tragedy will be awoken from their sleep. Every morning their children will be reminded of what their fathers caused the children of Gush Katif.

It will be a long struggle with lots of police harassment, but it will be far more dignified than sleeping helplessly in hotels and caravans. And it will make the government a great deal more reluctant to try "disengaging" Jews again.

The refugees will take their children out of school and prepare for a long struggle. It may be many months, perhaps years, until the government relents. That will require supplies and lots of them. I will empty my wallet for this and join the refugees in their tents. And I won't be alone.

However, if Gush Katif refuses to fight back, they will get nothing from me. And I won't be alone.

Nobody admires a beggar for long.end Next, the political front. In barely a month, the country will commemorate the tenth anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's murder. Those responsible for the murder are equally responsible for the withdrawal from Gush Katif and Northern Samaria. And they will be be at the forefront of the "roadmap" which will see all of Yesha and half of Jerusalem emptied of Jews.

Nothing terrifies this gang so much as the truth of the Rabin murder being exposed. We are going to be at Rabin's two memorial services, in Rabin Square and Mt. Herzl, this year to make sure it happens. The movement is growing with Nadia Matar committing the Women In Green to join in.

Now it's your turn. Don't ignore this opportunity. Show up in force at Rabin's Memorial Services this year. Drive the truth to the surface! If you are interested in helping out in any way, call David 052 6694999. Long Distance; 011 972 526694999.Or write me and tell me how you'd like to help.Available at chamish@netvision.net.ilare my English books; Shabtai Tzvi, Labor Zionism And The Holocaust; Save Israel!; Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin; Israel Betrayed; The Last Days of Israel;

by Barry Chamish

Katrina Exodus Could Change Political Mix

Population shifts caused by the exodus of hurricane victims from the Gulf Coast could have ripple effects for years to come in Louisiana political races and perhaps beyond.

How big depends on how many people stay away, which ones stay away and where they end up putting down roots.

The early thinking is that the evacuees least likely to return to their homes in Louisiana may be the poorest — and thus, Democrats for the most part. That would hurt the party in a state where Republicans already were making inroads.

If the lion's share of those leaving settle in Texas, that could work to the advantage of Democrats in President Bush's home state.

"I'm believing that the greatest displacement occurs among those who are traditionally Democratic voters," said Elliott Stonecipher, an independent political consultant from Shreveport, La.

"Based on sheer demographics, those who are Republican voters have the wherewithal and, we believe, the will to go home and rebuild," he said.
Stonecipher sees the New Orleans area losing Democratic voters and a political network that was of great benefit to Sen. Mary Landrieu and other Democrats.

"On Election Day there is a well-oiled machine that knows how to turn those votes out from specific neighborhoods and in specific ways," Stonecipher said.
Landrieu was elected in a 2002 runoff by a 52-48 margin, a difference of just 42,000 votes. New Orleans was the base of her support.

"If that's compromised, that could be a problem for her," said John Maginnis, who publishes a political newsletter in Louisiana.

Landrieu is not up for re-election until 2008. Kathleen Blanco, the Democratic governor, who also won by a 52-48 margin, faces re-election in 2007.

Ray Nagin, the Democratic mayor of New Orleans, is up for re-election in February. No one knows if the city could even hold an election by then.

Overall, said Maginnis, Republicans have made gains in Louisiana in recent years and "the effects of the storm aftermath probably will help them." President Bush carried the state in 2000 and 2004; Democrat Bill Clinton did so in the previous two presidential elections.
Still, demographic shifts within the state could work to the Democrats' advantage in some cases, Maginnis said.

For example, if the sizable evacuee population now in Baton Rouge, the capital, decides to settle in, that could make the 6th Congressional District, a politically competitive one now held by GOP Rep. Richard Baker, more Democratic.

In Texas, which stands to gain the largest number of evacuees, analysts do not expect much impact on statewide races. But local races — for everything from school boards to legislative seats and perhaps even congressional districts — could be affected.

The place to watch is Houston, which has taken in the most evacuees, at least temporarily.
Richard Murray, director of the Center for Public Policy at the University of Houston, said Republicans hold every elective office in Harris County, which takes in most of Houston, but do not win by much.

"This could accelerate the tipping of the county, which was expected to happen in the next four to six years," he said.

While politics is taking a back seat for now to the urgent needs of the hurricane victims, "my Democratic friends are smiling," Murray said.

Bob Stein, professor of political science at Rice University in Houston, said the political impact on Texas depends in large part on how concentrated or widely dispersed the evacuees are.
He noted that sprawling Houston is one of the nation's least segregated big cities because it has no zoning laws, so hurricane victims could well be broadly scattered, diluting their impact in any particular race.

In any event, though, with Texas' Hispanic population surging and its black population growing faster than the white population, demographic shifts already are pushing the state toward the Democrats. Katrina could help hasten the trend.

"Our politics may be Republican," Stein said, "but that's just a temporary condition."

The thought is echoed by David Bositis, a senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank focused on black issues. He said adding a substantial number of blacks to the state could "potentially make Texas more competitive in the not-too-distant future."

As for Louisiana, Bositis said, "If proportionally more whites come back than blacks, it'll make Louisiana somewhat whiter, which would statewide be to the advantage of the Republicans." But he, like other political analysts, said it will take time to see where evacuees end up settling and how many ultimately return home.

NANCY BENAC, AP

Hurricane Katrina

The U.S. States is vulnerable! There seems to be a lot of different places we could shift responsibility to for the horrific planning and response by local, state and federal authorities. But this is not the time to blame or play politics about who should've and could've.

As a nation, we need to remain focus of how we can help millions of people piece back their lives. It will be a tough road ahead. America must learn the lessons of this tragedy! If we don't, the War on Terrorism will visit us again and we will be in a lot worse condition than we are today.

My father always said, "some things happen for a reason." Even with all of the pain and hurt along the Gulf Coast, this will hopefully turn out to be a blessing for the United States. If September 11, 2001, was a wake-up call, then Katrina must kick us out of BED! America better wake up and get its Homeland Security Act together!

http://www.purepolitics.com/Hurricanekatrina2005.htm