Below the fold: Gorgeous George – An Open Letter to U.S. Democratic Elected Officials, from Stan Goff.
Jerry just sent this to me from The Brad Blog:
Chairman Coleman’s Office Passes Buck for Explanation!
The stunning testimony given by British MP George Galloway before the U.S. Senate subcommittee on Investigations is apparently so hot that it seems to have “gone AWOL” from the subcommittee’s website according to the British newsite VNU Network.
The BRAD BLOG can confirm that all witness testimony — except that of Galloway’s — from last Tuesday’s extraordinary hearings is available in PDF format on the subcommittee’s webpage … More below:
The Brad Blog rant continues below. First, from Stan Goff’s blog:
Gorgeous George – An Open Letter to U.S. Democratic Elected Officials
Filed under: General, Repression & Resistance, Class — Stan @ 1:23 pm
Dear Democratic Elected Officials of the United States (with damn few exceptions),
I am writing this open letter to call your attention to the remarks made yesterday, May 17, 2005, to the United States Senate, by British MP George Galloway of the independent Respect Party. I do this because he serves as an example of why your party should be abandoned by the U.S. working class, by U.S. women, by oppressed nationalities in the United States, and by anyone who professes to be a progressive or a leftist.
George Galloway did that for which you have proven incapable; he spoke as an opposition. Since there seems to be a great dark space in the middle of your heads where the notion of opposition should be – a void filled by parliamentary molasses and the pusillanimous inabilty to tell simple truths – I suggest you all review the recordings of Galloway’s confrontation with Republican Senator Norm “Twit” Coleman to see exactly how effortless it is to stand up to these cheap political bullies. While you are at it, you can watch your colleague Carl Levin demonstrate exactly what I mean about most of you and your party, as he alternately hurls petulant cream-puff insults at Galloway and kisses Coleman’s stunned, clueless ass to give that toothy dipshit some comfort in the wake of Galloway’s verbal drubbing.
Galloway didn’t have to walk up to the docket and slap the cowboy shit out of Coleman – though I admit I still struggle with my own secret urges to do just that with most of the air-brushed, combed-over, Stepford meat-puppets who now people the United States Congress. No, all Galloway had to do was tell the unvarnished truth, and it had exactly the same effect. If Democrats had half the spine that Galloway does… if you would stop chasing your creepy little careers through the caviar and chicken-salad circuits of duck-and-cover American political double-speak, then not only would people like me not be calling for all to abandon the Democratic Party and take their fight to the streets like good Bolivians… not only that, but you’d have won the last election. … Read all.
More from The Brad Blog:
That testimony can be read and/or viewed here.
We have been unable to receive a statement from Senate spokesmen as yet as to why Galloway’s testimony is now unavailable on the website.
A staffer in Coleman’s office referred us to the subcommittee staff when we asked for the reasons for “the removal of the testimony”. Her reply: “That’s a question for the subcommittee. Senator Coleman is the chairman, but the committee makes their own decisions about what goes on the website.”
We were forwarded to the subcommittee’s voice mail where we left a message. If we receive a call back, we will let you know.
A screenshot just taken from the subcommittee’s website showing the missing Galloway testimony is below.
UPDATE: As of 2:30pm PT, the subcommittee’s webpage has now been updated to include, “Mr Galloway did not submit a statement” underneath his missing testimony.
As a Capitol Hill source familiar with such testimony emailed us moments ago: “I’d find it strange if they simply published the prepared remarks of these other people as submitted instead of transcribing them especially since nowehere does it say ‘as prepared.’ That might be a good question to ask them if you call back.”
We have still been unable to reach anybody at the subcommittee willing to give comment on the matter as of this time.
Norma wrote about 20 minutes ago: The McLaughin Group is currently showing clips of Galloway’s testimony…and, an hour or so ago, he was replaying on C-Span!…Good find, Jerry!…Norma
If someone who testifies doesn’t submit a statement, is no statement customarily placed on the site? I.e., no one transcribes the testimony?
If so, I think this may not be a big deal.
I don’t quite get this. There must be a statute or regulation requiring that all testimony be recorded and submitted for inclusion in what? the Congressional Record? Showing my ignorance here. So the only record of the hearing shows the interlocutors interlocuting with themselves? Or communing telepathically with a ghost? Typically ludicrous. And I’m more than disappointed in Levin. Or did you say the whole thing was scrubbed? How can they legally do that? Clouds of witnesses.
I’d like to hear and see the whole wild and wonderful thing. The experience must have been nearly orgasmic for more than a few.
Don’t know if I would want to take it as far as visiting Galloway’s website. Anticlimatic. (sorry)
thing is available at the Senate Committee’s website. Look at the copy of the page above and note the ” Click here to view archived hearing (Real Player format)” link.
I just listened to all of Galloway’s testimony – it starts just before the 2 hour mark.
There probably was a rule or regulation at one time but in the land of BushCo there are no rules/laws unless they need them. They continually rewrite according to the days latest developments. Look what they just did to Newsweak(sp on purpose). So much for freedom of the press. One law down and thousands to go. Next week the filibuster will be dismantle unless we really get lucky. Geneva Convention you say? Nah…that is so out dated<snark> Roe vs Wade..they can take care of that given a little more time. Research and development to provide a better life for the human race such as stem cell research…will be Vetoed and Bush already promised that yesterday. Right to protest..nah…just bring in the Horse cops and they’ll run/ride you down(taking anumal rights with them). Right to a speedy trial? Phtttt…just render that lawbreaker to Egypt. Must I go on? They are dismantling our country one little bit at a time only they have been at it behind the scenes for thirty years. Gotta go throw up now. Later!
Jerry wrote to my little list:
The key to this story is that is a minority report issued by the Democrats on the committee. The Republicans, led by Norm Coleman, have not only studiously ignored this aspect of the oil for food scandal, but have instead focused their attention on trying to smear the UN the French, Galloway, and other high-profile Neocon targets. And who was their number one messenger? Why Judith Miller and The New York Times. Imagine that!
Mr. Galloway’s website in Britain. He’s listed an e-mail and phone for anyone who wants to chase it that far.
Just what was that open letter intended to achieve? Other than relief for the writer.
Catharsis. Nothing wrong with that. It was informative as well.
It’s a constant source of frustration that most of our Democratic elected officials do not stand up to Bush et al. Yes, a few do — like John Conyers. But, except for people like us, nobody pays attention to Conyers. Further, it was an incredibly positive culture shock for us to hear Galloway speak like he did last week. I know you’ve got problems with Galloway and probably for good reason. But he’s almost the only person — ever — who’s spoken like that in the U.S. Senate. It was startling, revelatory, refreshing, revolutionary.
If I could, I’d give Stan Goff a “4” for pusillanimous. Stepford meat-puppets is pretty good, too.
British MP: Iraq war was for oil
Labour MP and former UK environment minister Michael Meacher slammed Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush for starting a war he said was to secure oil interests. “The reason they [US and UK] attacked Iraq is nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction, it was nothing to do with democracy in Iraq, it was nothing to do with the human rights abuses of Saddam Hussein,” he said on Friday at the sidelines of the Fourth International Workshop on Oil & Gas Depletion in Lisbon, Portugal.