If you miss Donald Rumsfeld at the Republican National Convention, you can still listen to "His" music; Rummy's "Poetic" language makes sweet music on new CD... The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld

Others missing in action: Secretary of State Colin Powell, Attorney General John Ashcroft and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas.

Peter Schurman of MoveOn.org says, "Tom DeLay of Texas was kept out of sight, and for good reason. DeLay's in charge of ramming the right wing's agenda through Congress, as the Republican leader in the House. Nicknamed "The Hammer" for his ruthless style, DeLay is nearly as central to right-wing control in Washington as Bush, Cheney, and Karl Rove."

"DeLay was the mastermind behind last year's outrageous redistricting in Texas; he refuses to allow a vote in the House on limiting media consolidation, because it will win; and when other Congresspeople question Bush's war policy, he accuses them of undermining our troopsand surrendering to terrorists. DeLay has literally locked House Democrats out of negotiations on major bills like Medicare, and held votes open for hours while arms are twisted with threats and bribe offers -- and that's according to fellow Republicans."

Schurman says it's time to stop him. "In Texas, DeLay's immersed in a campaign finance scandal that could get him indicted. And meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, he's facing the first formal ethics complaint in seven years, which could force him to resign his post as Majority Leader. The problem is, four of the Ethics Committee's five Republican members have received campaign contributions from DeLay.

Please call your Representative now to "demand an outside counsel to investigate Tom DeLay."

Call Congressman Mark Green:
Washington, DC: 202-225-5665
Local phone: 920-437-1954

Other topics never mentioned at the recent GOP convention... the Crisis in Sudan or the connection between Sadam and 9/11.

Kid's Quotes...
"Since we've graduated from college, we're looking around for something to do for the next few years. Kind of like dad," - Barbara Bush, 1/2 of The First Twins.

"We don't need Mr. Bush to teach us a lesson in democracy... It's funny to Arabs to listen to the President talking about democracy, and at the same time half the population in America still has doubts about his legitimacy as a President."
- Seif Khadafy, 32-year-old son of Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy

Comentators on the radio this morning say Bush is popular with some folks because he's the kind of a guy you might pick when asked, "Who do you want to have a beer with?"

My response is to ask those same folks, "And after you've had those beers, who do you want to drive home?"

"It's Time for a Change" vs. "You've Never Had It So Good" "You've Never Been So Safe" opens today in NYC, in hopes of capitalizing on memories of 9/11. But on Thursday Sept. 2, the night GWB is set to make his acceptance speech, British TV will be airing "The Hamburg Cell", the first major documentary dramatization of the 9/11 plot specifically from the perpetrators' perspective. It will indeed stir controversy because it reveals the hijackers as regular, ordinary, educated, middle class guys who were somehow motivated to strike at the US.

"The central figure in the two-hour long film is Ziad Jarrah, who was at the controls of United Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed in Pennsylvania. It shows him being transformed from a moderate Muslim into a suicide hijacker in the months before the attacks," says Malcolm Fitzwilliams and Anthony Barnes of the Independant.

"It is difficult to watch and to hear these facts come out," says David Potorti, whose older brother Jim died in the World Trade Centre. "But the only way to prevent 9/11 from happening again is to face the facts courageously."

Potorti is co-director of Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, an international peace campaign set up after 9/11... "As family members of September 11th victims, we know how it feels to experience "shock and awe," and we do not want other innocent families to suffer the trauma and grief that we have endured. While we also condemn the brutality of Saddam Hussein's regime, it does not justify the brutality, death and destruction being visited upon Iraq and its citizens by our own government."

"The Hamburg Cell" was one of a plethora of films focusing on Sept. 11 that premiered at the recent Edinburgh Film Festival.