2005年6月30日星期四
Widow tells Bush to stay the course in Iraq war
Widow tells Bush to stay the course in Iraq war -- The Washington Times
"I said: 'I know people are pushing you, but please don't pull the guys out of Iraq too soon,' " said Crystal Owen, whose husband, Staff Sgt. Mike Owen, was killed in Iraq last year.
"Don't let my husband -- and 1,700-plus other deaths -- be in vain," she added during a private meeting with Mr. Bush at the North Carolina base. "They were over there, fighting for a democratic nation, and I hope you'll keep our service members over there until the mission can be accomplished."
Mrs. Owen gave the president a stainless steel bracelet engraved with the names of her husband and another soldier, Cpl. John Santos, both of whom were killed on Oct. 15.
The president slipped the bracelet on his left wrist and wore it throughout his 28-minute prime-time address to the nation, becoming visibly emotional at times.
"We have lost good men and women who left our shores to defend freedom and did not live to make the journey home," he said as his eyes turned glassy. "I've met with families grieving the loss of loved ones who were taken from us too soon."
"I said: 'I know people are pushing you, but please don't pull the guys out of Iraq too soon,' " said Crystal Owen, whose husband, Staff Sgt. Mike Owen, was killed in Iraq last year.
"Don't let my husband -- and 1,700-plus other deaths -- be in vain," she added during a private meeting with Mr. Bush at the North Carolina base. "They were over there, fighting for a democratic nation, and I hope you'll keep our service members over there until the mission can be accomplished."
Mrs. Owen gave the president a stainless steel bracelet engraved with the names of her husband and another soldier, Cpl. John Santos, both of whom were killed on Oct. 15.
The president slipped the bracelet on his left wrist and wore it throughout his 28-minute prime-time address to the nation, becoming visibly emotional at times.
"We have lost good men and women who left our shores to defend freedom and did not live to make the journey home," he said as his eyes turned glassy. "I've met with families grieving the loss of loved ones who were taken from us too soon."
FEC says Web Blogs might be a threat to democracy
Federal Election Commission says Web Blogs might be a threat to democracy
The issue, being discussed during FEC hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday, is whether some Web sites actually provide unregulated benefits to specific political campaigns. The famously free-spirited Web community is fighting back.....
==================
The Federal Elections Commission has proved itself, time and time again, to be a threat to democracy and freedom in America.
They should be eliminated.
The issue, being discussed during FEC hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday, is whether some Web sites actually provide unregulated benefits to specific political campaigns. The famously free-spirited Web community is fighting back.....
==================
The Federal Elections Commission has proved itself, time and time again, to be a threat to democracy and freedom in America.
They should be eliminated.
2005年6月29日星期三
September 11 Commission report: Links between Saddam and AQ
September 11 Commission report (p. 61)
With the Sudanese regime acting as intermediary, Bin Ladin himself met with senior Iraqi intelligence officer in Khartoum in late 1994 or early 1995. Bin Ladin is said to have asked for space to establish training camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but there is no evidence that Iraq responded to this request . . . [but] the ensuing years saw additional efforts to establish connections.
September 11 Commission report (p. 66)
In March 1998, after Bin Ladin's public fatwa against the United States, two al Qaeda members reportedly went to Iraq to meet with Iraqi intelligence. In July, an Iraqi delegation traveled to Afghanistan to meet first with the Taliban and then with Bin Ladin. Sources reported that one, or perhaps both, of these meetings was apparently arranged through Bin Ladin's Egyptian deputy, Zawahiri, who had ties of his own to the Iraqis.
September 11 Commission report (p. 66)
Similar meetings between Iraqi officials and Bin Ladin or his aides may have occurred in 1999 during a period of some reported strains with the Taliban. According to the reporting, Iraqi officials offered Bin Ladin a safe haven in Iraq. Bin Ladin declined, apparently judging that his circumstances in Afghanistan remained more favorable than the Iraqi alternative. The reports describe friendly contacts and indicate some common themes in both sides' hatred of the United States. But to date we have seen no evidence that these or the earlier contacts ever developed into a collaborative operational relationship. Nor have we seen evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States.
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (Conclusion 92, p. 345)
The Central Intelligence Agency's examination of contacts, training, safehaven and operational cooperation as indicators of a possible Iraq-al Qaida relationship was a reasonable and objective approach to the question.
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (Conclusion 93, p. 346)
The Central Intelligence Agency reasonably assessed that there were likely several instances of contacts between Iraq and al-Qaida throughout the 1990s, but that these contacts did not add up to an established formal relationship.
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (Conclusion 94, p. 346)
The Central Intelligence Agency reasonably and objectively assessed in Iraqi Support for Terrorism that the most problematic area of contact between Iraq and al-Qaida were the reports of training in the use of non-conventional weapons, specifically chemical and biological weapons.
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (Conclusion 95, p. 347)
The Central Intelligence Agency's assessment on safehaven--that al-Qaida or associated operatives were present in Baghdad and in northeastern Iraq in an area under Kurdish control--was reasonable.
With the Sudanese regime acting as intermediary, Bin Ladin himself met with senior Iraqi intelligence officer in Khartoum in late 1994 or early 1995. Bin Ladin is said to have asked for space to establish training camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but there is no evidence that Iraq responded to this request . . . [but] the ensuing years saw additional efforts to establish connections.
September 11 Commission report (p. 66)
In March 1998, after Bin Ladin's public fatwa against the United States, two al Qaeda members reportedly went to Iraq to meet with Iraqi intelligence. In July, an Iraqi delegation traveled to Afghanistan to meet first with the Taliban and then with Bin Ladin. Sources reported that one, or perhaps both, of these meetings was apparently arranged through Bin Ladin's Egyptian deputy, Zawahiri, who had ties of his own to the Iraqis.
September 11 Commission report (p. 66)
Similar meetings between Iraqi officials and Bin Ladin or his aides may have occurred in 1999 during a period of some reported strains with the Taliban. According to the reporting, Iraqi officials offered Bin Ladin a safe haven in Iraq. Bin Ladin declined, apparently judging that his circumstances in Afghanistan remained more favorable than the Iraqi alternative. The reports describe friendly contacts and indicate some common themes in both sides' hatred of the United States. But to date we have seen no evidence that these or the earlier contacts ever developed into a collaborative operational relationship. Nor have we seen evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States.
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (Conclusion 92, p. 345)
The Central Intelligence Agency's examination of contacts, training, safehaven and operational cooperation as indicators of a possible Iraq-al Qaida relationship was a reasonable and objective approach to the question.
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (Conclusion 93, p. 346)
The Central Intelligence Agency reasonably assessed that there were likely several instances of contacts between Iraq and al-Qaida throughout the 1990s, but that these contacts did not add up to an established formal relationship.
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (Conclusion 94, p. 346)
The Central Intelligence Agency reasonably and objectively assessed in Iraqi Support for Terrorism that the most problematic area of contact between Iraq and al-Qaida were the reports of training in the use of non-conventional weapons, specifically chemical and biological weapons.
Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee Report (Conclusion 95, p. 347)
The Central Intelligence Agency's assessment on safehaven--that al-Qaida or associated operatives were present in Baghdad and in northeastern Iraq in an area under Kurdish control--was reasonable.
Chicom's Cops At Work (interesting story)
If you're a Foreign Affairs Office cop, smile next time
The plain-clothed Foreign Affairs cops in Qinhuangdao, the city where the Great Wall crumbles into the polluted Bohai Bay, erased this photo from our bureau photographer's camera last week.
The cops pictured here initially let a Japanese-language writer, the shooter and I take photos of our grilling because they were doing the same to us...more...
今日评论-第一个中文保守派博客
Saddam's relationship with AQ.
READ this first: Detailed excerpts of the official September 11 Commission report with page numbers
>>to justify a war in a country that had nothing to do with terrorists.
Don't let the MSM or e-mail friends get away with believing the Democrat's absolute lies that Saddam didn't have a relationship with AQ.
This is the Clinton Department federal indictment against OBL which states specifically his working with Iraq.
1999: Newsweek reports Saddam reaching out to OBL
ABC news reports on the Osama/Saddam connections January 14, 1999. ABC News
Western Nightmare: Saddam and OBL versus the World. Iraq recruited OBL. February 6, 1999. The Guardian
Saddam's Link to OBL February 6, 1999. The Guardian
Saddam offered asylum to bin Laden February 13, 1999. AP
Son of Saddam coordinates with OBL. Iraqi Special Ops coordinates with Bin Laden's terrorist activities. August 6, 1999. Yossef Bodansky, National Press Club
That and more here.
Oh, and it looks like Iraq had advance notice of 9/11:
Less than two months before 9/11/01, the state-controlled Iraqi newspaper “Al-Nasiriya” carried a column headlined, “American, an Obsession called Osama Bin Ladin.” (July 21, 2001)
In the piece, Baath Party writer Naeem Abd Muhalhal predicted that bin Laden would attack the US “with the seriousness of the Bedouin of the desert about the way he will try to bomb the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.”
The same state-approved column also insisted that bin Laden “will strike America on the arm that is already hurting,” and that the US “will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every time he hears his songs” ? an apparent reference to the Sinatra classic, “New York, New York”. March 28, 2004, NewsMax
>>to justify a war in a country that had nothing to do with terrorists.
Don't let the MSM or e-mail friends get away with believing the Democrat's absolute lies that Saddam didn't have a relationship with AQ.
This is the Clinton Department federal indictment against OBL which states specifically his working with Iraq.
1999: Newsweek reports Saddam reaching out to OBL
ABC news reports on the Osama/Saddam connections January 14, 1999. ABC News
Western Nightmare: Saddam and OBL versus the World. Iraq recruited OBL. February 6, 1999. The Guardian
Saddam's Link to OBL February 6, 1999. The Guardian
Saddam offered asylum to bin Laden February 13, 1999. AP
Son of Saddam coordinates with OBL. Iraqi Special Ops coordinates with Bin Laden's terrorist activities. August 6, 1999. Yossef Bodansky, National Press Club
That and more here.
Oh, and it looks like Iraq had advance notice of 9/11:
Less than two months before 9/11/01, the state-controlled Iraqi newspaper “Al-Nasiriya” carried a column headlined, “American, an Obsession called Osama Bin Ladin.” (July 21, 2001)
In the piece, Baath Party writer Naeem Abd Muhalhal predicted that bin Laden would attack the US “with the seriousness of the Bedouin of the desert about the way he will try to bomb the Pentagon after he destroys the White House.”
The same state-approved column also insisted that bin Laden “will strike America on the arm that is already hurting,” and that the US “will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra every time he hears his songs” ? an apparent reference to the Sinatra classic, “New York, New York”. March 28, 2004, NewsMax
2005年6月28日星期二
June Ratings: FNC More Than Doubles CNN In Total Day & Prime
June Ratings: FNC More Than Doubles CNN In Total Day & Prime (Fox News romps)
It's going to be a long day of ratings. Quoting Fox's press release: "FOX News Channel continued its cable news dominance for the 14th consecutive quarter and achieved its highest rated month in 2005, according to Nielsen Media Research."
"FNC more than doubled CNN's Prime Time average in June, averaging 1,723,000 viewers, up 14% compared to June 2004. CNN lost more than a quarter of its Prime Time audience with an average of 688,000 viewers (down 27%), while MSNBC averaged 307,000 viewers (down 18%) vs. 2004."
"In Total Day, FNC again more than doubled CNN's June average, with 896,000 viewers, up 6% over June '04. CNN averaged 385,000 viewers (down 20%) in Total Day followed by MSNBC with 198,000 viewers (down 14%)."
It's going to be a long day of ratings. Quoting Fox's press release: "FOX News Channel continued its cable news dominance for the 14th consecutive quarter and achieved its highest rated month in 2005, according to Nielsen Media Research."
"FNC more than doubled CNN's Prime Time average in June, averaging 1,723,000 viewers, up 14% compared to June 2004. CNN lost more than a quarter of its Prime Time audience with an average of 688,000 viewers (down 27%), while MSNBC averaged 307,000 viewers (down 18%) vs. 2004."
"In Total Day, FNC again more than doubled CNN's June average, with 896,000 viewers, up 6% over June '04. CNN averaged 385,000 viewers (down 20%) in Total Day followed by MSNBC with 198,000 viewers (down 14%)."
2005年6月27日星期一
Thefts of U.S. technology boost China's weaponry
China's government also uses influence operations designed to advance pro-Chinese policies in the United States and to prevent the U.S. government from taking tough action or adopting policies against Beijing's interests, FBI officials said.
Rudy Guerin, a senior FBI counterintelligence official in charge of China affairs, said the Chinese aggressively exploit their connections to U.S. corporations doing business in China.
"They go straight to the companies themselves," he said.
Many U.S. firms doing business in China, including such giants as Coca-Cola, Boeing and General Motors, use their lobbyists on behalf of Beijing.
"We see the Chinese going to these companies to ask them to lobby on their behalf on certain issues," Mr. Guerin said, "whether it's most-favored-nation trade status, [World Health Organization], Falun Gong or other matters."
The Chinese government also appeals directly to members of Congress and congressional staff.
Rudy Guerin, a senior FBI counterintelligence official in charge of China affairs, said the Chinese aggressively exploit their connections to U.S. corporations doing business in China.
"They go straight to the companies themselves," he said.
Many U.S. firms doing business in China, including such giants as Coca-Cola, Boeing and General Motors, use their lobbyists on behalf of Beijing.
"We see the Chinese going to these companies to ask them to lobby on their behalf on certain issues," Mr. Guerin said, "whether it's most-favored-nation trade status, [World Health Organization], Falun Gong or other matters."
The Chinese government also appeals directly to members of Congress and congressional staff.
CNN, BBC to air ChiCom's Propaganda TV Show
CNN, BBC to air Beijing TV shows
BEIJING, June 24 -- CNN and BBC will air Beijing TV shows for four years in a row, featuring the modern Beijing and its glorious history as well as its sci-tech and artistic develepment.
As is learned from the "Market Promotion Conference on Olympic Tourism", Cable News Network (CNN) and British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) will air Beijing TV shows for four years in a row, featuring "modern Beijing", "glorious Beijing", "sci-tech Beijing", "artistic Beijing" as well as "humanistic Beijing".
According to Yu Debin, deputy director with Beijing Tourism Administration, the TV shows to be on CNN and BBC will be divided into four chapters, namely scenery, culture, cuisine and shopping, all-directionally and multi-anglely illustrating Beijing's achievements to the rest of world. In 2003, Beijing broadcasted its own advertising shows directed and designed by well-known director Zhang Yimou via CNN world channel for 116 times, reaching more than 200 countries and regions.
It is said that the year of 2005 is acknowledged as the Beijing Olympic tourism year, and 2006 humanistic Olympic appreciation year, 2007 green Olympic demonstration year and 2008 sci-tech Olympic impression year. Government demands that starting from this year on, all domestic and international promotion activities must highlight the concept of "sci-tech Olympic, green Olympic and people's Olympic", making it the theme of Beijing's image advertising.
The official estimation shows that under the positive influence of CNN's and BBC's propaganda and promotion activities in various regions, Beijing is expected to welcome 3.5 million overseas tourists in 2005, who will bring along a total tourism revenue of 3.5 billion US dollars. It is estimated that Beijing will embrace 4.6 million overseas tourists in 2008, bringing 4.6 billion US dollars in tourism revenue to the Chinese capital.
BEIJING, June 24 -- CNN and BBC will air Beijing TV shows for four years in a row, featuring the modern Beijing and its glorious history as well as its sci-tech and artistic develepment.
As is learned from the "Market Promotion Conference on Olympic Tourism", Cable News Network (CNN) and British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) will air Beijing TV shows for four years in a row, featuring "modern Beijing", "glorious Beijing", "sci-tech Beijing", "artistic Beijing" as well as "humanistic Beijing".
According to Yu Debin, deputy director with Beijing Tourism Administration, the TV shows to be on CNN and BBC will be divided into four chapters, namely scenery, culture, cuisine and shopping, all-directionally and multi-anglely illustrating Beijing's achievements to the rest of world. In 2003, Beijing broadcasted its own advertising shows directed and designed by well-known director Zhang Yimou via CNN world channel for 116 times, reaching more than 200 countries and regions.
It is said that the year of 2005 is acknowledged as the Beijing Olympic tourism year, and 2006 humanistic Olympic appreciation year, 2007 green Olympic demonstration year and 2008 sci-tech Olympic impression year. Government demands that starting from this year on, all domestic and international promotion activities must highlight the concept of "sci-tech Olympic, green Olympic and people's Olympic", making it the theme of Beijing's image advertising.
The official estimation shows that under the positive influence of CNN's and BBC's propaganda and promotion activities in various regions, Beijing is expected to welcome 3.5 million overseas tourists in 2005, who will bring along a total tourism revenue of 3.5 billion US dollars. It is estimated that Beijing will embrace 4.6 million overseas tourists in 2008, bringing 4.6 billion US dollars in tourism revenue to the Chinese capital.
Hillary Pressures Networks to Cancel Klein (The Truth About Hillary)
In what may be an unprecedented act of media censorship, several major TV and cable networks ? including NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, Fox and CNN -- have cancelled planned appearances of the author of the new, red hot book on Hillary Clinton.
Edward Klein's sizzling new biography "The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It and How Far She'll Go to Become President" has caused a storm of controversy after Sen. Clinton lashed out at it. Her aide called the book "full of blatant and vicious fabrications contrived by someone who writes trash for cash." [Editor's Note: Get our FREE Offer for this book Go Here Now.
Hillary's top aides and supporters have also launched a major effort to stop any discussion of the book over the TV airwaves. So far, their censorship effort has been a huge success in stopping Klein from appearing on television.
Though the celebrated author was scheduled to appear on more than a half dozen major TV network shows, all have cancelled except one, Fox's "Hannity & Colmes."
However, conservative host Sean Hannity did reveal that he was under immense pressure to cancel the program.
"I've had more political pressure than I've ever had in all my years in radio," Hannity said to Klein during a radio interview. "Do you know the number of requests I've had to cancel you and not have you on this program? I've never in the history of this program had more demands to cancel the guest."
.....more
Edward Klein's sizzling new biography "The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It and How Far She'll Go to Become President" has caused a storm of controversy after Sen. Clinton lashed out at it. Her aide called the book "full of blatant and vicious fabrications contrived by someone who writes trash for cash." [Editor's Note: Get our FREE Offer for this book Go Here Now.
Hillary's top aides and supporters have also launched a major effort to stop any discussion of the book over the TV airwaves. So far, their censorship effort has been a huge success in stopping Klein from appearing on television.
Though the celebrated author was scheduled to appear on more than a half dozen major TV network shows, all have cancelled except one, Fox's "Hannity & Colmes."
However, conservative host Sean Hannity did reveal that he was under immense pressure to cancel the program.
"I've had more political pressure than I've ever had in all my years in radio," Hannity said to Klein during a radio interview. "Do you know the number of requests I've had to cancel you and not have you on this program? I've never in the history of this program had more demands to cancel the guest."
.....more
2005年6月23日星期四
2005年6月19日星期日
2005年6月18日星期六
2005年6月17日星期五
PETA Workers Charged With Animal Cruelty
PETA Workers Charged With Animal Cruelty
Friday, June 17, 2005
AHOSKIE, N.C. ? Two employees of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (search) have been charged with animal cruelty after dumping dead dogs and cats in a shopping center garbage bin, police said.
Investigators staked out the bin after discovering that dead animals had been dumped there every Wednesday for the past four weeks, Ahoskie police said in a prepared statement Thursday.
PETA has scheduled a news conference for Friday in Norfolk, Va., where the group is based.
Police found 18 dead animals in the bin and 13 more in a van registered to PETA. The animals were from animal shelters in Northampton and Bertie counties, police said.
More
Friday, June 17, 2005
AHOSKIE, N.C. ? Two employees of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (search) have been charged with animal cruelty after dumping dead dogs and cats in a shopping center garbage bin, police said.
Investigators staked out the bin after discovering that dead animals had been dumped there every Wednesday for the past four weeks, Ahoskie police said in a prepared statement Thursday.
PETA has scheduled a news conference for Friday in Norfolk, Va., where the group is based.
Police found 18 dead animals in the bin and 13 more in a van registered to PETA. The animals were from animal shelters in Northampton and Bertie counties, police said.
More
A List Of Some Of The Most Embarrassing Quotes To The MSM
It's no secret that the public's confidence in the mainstream media has been steadily dropping over the past few years. Just to give you an idea of how bad it has gotten, according to a Gallup Poll in May, only 28% of the general public had either "A Great Deal" or "Quite A Lot" of confidence in Television News and Newspapers.
There are a myriad of good reasons to be suspicious of the mainstream media, starting with things said by members of the MSM over the last few years. Here are just a few examples that help explain why the public is losing faith in the press:
"Clearly, the American war planners misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces...And I personally do not understand how that happened, because I've been here many times and in my commentaries on television I would tell the Americans about the determination of the Iraqi forces, the determination of the government, and the willingness to fight for their country. But me, and others who felt the same way were not listened to by the Bush administration...That is why now America is re-appraising the battlefield, delaying the war, maybe a week, and re-writing the war plan. The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance now they are trying to write another war plan." -- CNN's Peter Arnett in an interview with Iraqi TV on March 30, 2003, during the invasion of Iraq
"Here we will have possibly a bunch of tax dodgers deciding the election." ? Time's Margaret Carlson on Florida absentee ballots from military personnel, on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, Nov. 8. Florida does not have a state income tax.
"So now the question is, basically, right now, how will (the Osama Bin Laden tape) affect the election? And I have a feeling that it could tilt the election a bit. In fact, I'm a little inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, that he probably set up bin Laden to this thing." -- Walter Cronkite, former CBS anchor, once known as the "Most Trusted Man in America," on the Bin Laden tape that showed up right before the 2004 election.
"We have lost touch with the essence of war. Following our defeat in Vietnam we became a better nation. We were humbled, even humiliated. We asked questions about ourselves we had not asked before.
We were forced to see ourselves as others saw us and the sight was not always a pretty one. We were forced to confront our own capacity for a atrocity -- for evil -- and in this we understood not only war but more about ourselves. But that humility is gone." -- New York Times reporter Chris Hedges, who "was booed off the stage Saturday at Rockford College’s graduation because he gave an antiwar speech"
"The New York Times (Nagourney/Stevenson) and Howard Fineman on the web both make the same point today: the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done.
Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win.
We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides "equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that." -- in a memo leaked to the Drudge Report, explains that there is no need to hold both Kerry and Bush equally accountable
“Like every other institution, the Washington and political press corps operate with a good number of biases and predilections. They include, but are not limited to, a near-universal shared sense that liberal political positions on social issues like gun control, homosexuality, abortion, and religion are the default, while more conservative positions are ‘conservative positions.’...”
“The press, by and large, does not accept President Bush’s justifications for the Iraq war....It does not accept the proposition that the Bush tax cuts helped the economy....It remains fixated on the unemployment rate....”
“The worldview of the dominant media can be seen in every frame of video and every print word choice that is currently being produced about the presidential race....On the strength of all the negative coverage of the President and all his own positive coverage, Senator Kerry heads into today’s twin primaries on a roll.“ -? ABCNEWS Political Director Mark Halperin.
"(T)he fact of the matter is that the United States has got itself in a terrible bind here without regional allies” and suggested that “without UN legitimacy -- forget it, never work, Vietnam quagmire next stop." -- Arthur Kent, NBC's former "scud stud" on the invasion of Iraq
"Barely a week into the war, with coalition forces sweeping through Iraq, ABC's Peter Jennings and CBS's Lesley Stahl decided to raise the ghost of the Vietnam quagmire. Jennings teased Wednesday's World News Tonight by hyping how “one Marine” told an ABC reporter that given the landscape, weather and guerrilla tactics, “sometimes” Iraq “feels like Vietnam.” The night before, on CBS's 48 Hours, Lesley Stahl asked a Vietnam vet: “You fought in Vietnam. Are you getting any feelings of deja vu?” -- Peter Jennings And Leslie Stahl on March 26 & 27, 2003.
"Just one last thing. We are always looking for signs that the country is behaving like its old self again. Tonight at the World Series, if the Yankee fans boo the President, it won't mean necessarily they are unhappy with his leadership, but he did say that he would cheer for anyone but the Yankees in the series. So if New York fans give him the business it just means they're acting like their old selves. And that's probably a good sign." -- Peter Jennings on the World Series in October of 2001
"Over the last dozen years I made 13 trips to Baghdad to lobby the government to keep CNN's Baghdad bureau open and to arrange interviews with Iraqi leaders. Each time I visited, I became more distressed by what I saw and heard, awful things that could not be reported because doing so would have jeopardized the lives of Iraqis, particularly those on our Baghdad staff.
...I felt awful having these stories bottled up inside me. Now that Saddam Hussein's regime is gone, I suspect we will hear many, many more gut-wrenching tales from Iraqis about the decades of torment. At last, these stories can be told freely." -- CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan in a New York Times column, admitting that CNN often didn't report newsworthy events in Iraq out of fear of what the regime might do
"We all know that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter and that Reuters upholds the principle that we do not use the word terrorist....To be frank, it adds little to call the attack on the World Trade Center a terrorist attack." -? Steven Jukes, global head of news for Reuters News Service, in an internal memo
"Lucky though he was, Bill Clinton never had his shot at greatness. He could lower the jobless rate, balance the budget, console us after the Oklahoma City bombing. But he never got the opportunity George W. Bush was given this Tuesday: the historic chance to lead. Our American spirit, power and enterprise now stand ready for orders. Only the president can give them." -- Chris Matthews after 9/11
"There is, Hugh, I agree with you, a deep anti-military bias in the media. One that begins from the premise that the military must be lying, and that American projection of power around the world must be wrong. I think that that is a hangover from Vietnam, and I think it's very dangerous. That's different from the media doing it's job of challenging the exercise of power without fear or favor." -- ABC's Terry Moran
“When I see flags sprouting on official lapels, I think of the time in China when I saw Mao’s Little Red Book on every official’s desk, omnipresent and unread. -- Bill Moyers on PBS’s Now
"I think if Kerry were to win this in a tight race, I think there would be an effort to mount a coup, quite frankly." -- Bill Moyers from PBS's Now show
"Times journalists have so far uncovered new problems in at least 36 of the 73 articles Mr. Blair wrote since he started getting national reporting assignments late last October. In the final months the audacity of the deceptions grew by the week, suggesting the work of a troubled young man veering toward professional self-destruction." -- The New York Times on their reporter Jayson Blair
"Is The New York Times a Liberal Newspaper? OF course it is.
The fattest file on my hard drive is jammed with letters from the disappointed, the dismayed and the irate who find in this newspaper a liberal bias that infects not just political coverage but a range of issues from abortion to zoology to the appointment of an admitted Democrat to be its watchdog. (That would be me.) By contrast, readers who attack The Times from the left -- and there are plenty -- generally confine their complaints to the paper's coverage of electoral politics and foreign policy.
I'll get to the politics-and-policy issues this fall (I want to watch the campaign coverage before I conclude anything), but for now my concern is the flammable stuff that ignites the right. These are the social issues: gay rights, gun control, abortion and environmental regulation, among others. And if you think The Times plays it down the middle on any of them, you've been reading the paper with your eyes closed.
But if you're examining the paper's coverage of these subjects from a perspective that is neither urban nor Northeastern nor culturally seen-it-all; if you are among the groups The Times treats as strange objects to be examined on a laboratory slide (devout Catholics, gun owners, Orthodox Jews, Texans); if your value system wouldn't wear well on a composite New York Times journalist, then a walk through this paper can make you feel you're traveling in a strange and forbidding world." -- Daniel Okrent, the New York Times Public Editor
"As I watched Tuesday night's network coverage of the unrelenting political propaganda hour known as the Republican National Convention, the first thought that came to mind was of old newsreels of those self-congratulatory Nazi rallies held in Germany during the reign of Adolf Hitler." -- Hugh Pearson, Newsday
“I think the fact that someone has told a lie, even a big lie or maybe several big lies over a lifetime, does not mean that they’re an inherently dishonest person....I believe in redemption and that Bill Clinton ? is he an honest person? I think he is an honest person. Did he lie? Yes, he lied, and on those occasions he was dishonest.” -- CBS anchor Dan Rather
"The story is true. The story is true....I appreciate the sources who took risks to authenticate our story. So, one, there is no internal investigation. Two, somebody may be shell-shocked, but it is not I, and it is not anybody at CBS News. Now, you can tell who is shell-shocked by the ferocity of the people who are spreading these rumors.” -- CBS anchor Dan Rather on the fake memos related to George Bush's National Guard
"U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly rejected advice from Pentagon planners that substantially more troops and armor would be needed to fight a war in Iraq, New Yorker Magazine reported.
..."They've got no resources. He was so focused on proving his point -- that the Iraqis were going to fall apart," the article, by veteran journalist Seymour Hersh, cited an unnamed former high-level intelligence official as saying.
...Hersh, however, quoted the former intelligence official as saying the war was now a stalemate.
Much of the supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles has been expended, aircraft carriers were going to run out of precision guided bombs and there were serious maintenance problems with tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment, the article said.
"The only hope is that they can hold out until reinforcements arrive," the former official said." -- Reuters on March 29, 2003, during the invasion of Iraq, quoting from an article that was to be released in the April 7th edition of Newsweek
“I don’t think history has any reason to be kind to him.” -- CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer recalling Ronald Reagan
Then there’s Sy. He’s the public speaker, the pundit. On the podium, Sy is willing to tell a story that’s not quite right, in order to convey a Larger Truth. “Sometimes I change events, dates, and places in a certain way to protect people,” Hersh told me. “I can’t fudge what I write. But I can certainly fudge what I say.”
...Seymour Hersh has always had a rather loose relationship with literal truth. He seems to share with many of the people he writes about the belief that in certain circumstances, the end justifies the means. When Hersh was pursuing the My Lai story, he tracked down the lawyer of William Calley Jr., the man later convicted of participating in the 1968 massacre of Vietnamese civilians. Hersh intentionally inflated the number of deaths for which Calley was charged, in order to get the attorney to tell him the correct number, 109. A few years ago, Hersh told a crowd at Duke, “a word for what I did?an actual word, it has three letters?it’s called ‘lie.’” -- Chris Suellentrop
The media, I think, wants Kerry to win. And I think they’re going to portray Kerry and Edwards -- I’m talking about the establishment media, not Fox, but -- they’re going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and dynamic and optimistic and all, there’s going to be this glow about them that some, is going to be worth, collectively, the two of them, that’s going to be worth maybe 15 points.” -- Evan Thomas, Assistant Managing Editor of Newsweek
"Seven weeks into an examination of former USA TODAY reporter Jack Kelley’s work, a team of journalists has found strong evidence that Kelley fabricated substantial portions of at least eight major stories, lifted nearly two dozen quotes or other material from competing publications, lied in speeches he gave for the newspaper and conspired to mislead those investigating his work." -- USA Today
“This is not, in my estimation, a good war....I don’t know how we got into a position where our present Commander-in-Chief and the people around him had the guts to take our kids and send them on what seems to be ? it sure is not a noble enterprise.” -- CBS’s Mike Wallace on the war in Iraq
"Newsweek apologized yesterday for an inaccurate report on the treatment of detainees that triggered several days of rioting in Afghanistan and other countries in which at least 15 people died.
Editor Mark Whitaker expressed regret over the item in the magazine's "Periscope" section, saying it was based on a confidential source -- a "senior U.S. government official" -- who now says he is not sure whether the story is true." -- The Washington Post
"The Pentagon as a legitimate target? I actually don’t have an opinion on that and it’s important I not have an opinion on that as I sit here in my capacity right now. The way I conceive my job running a news organization, and the way I would like all the journalists at ABC News to perceive it, is there is a big difference between a normative position and a positive position. Our job is to determine what is, not what ought to be and when we get into the job of what ought to be I think we’re not doing a service to the American people. I can say the Pentagon got hit, I can say this is what their position is, this is what our position is, but for me to take a position this was right or wrong, I mean, that’s perhaps for me in my private life, perhaps it’s for me dealing with my loved ones, perhaps it’s for my minister at church. But as a journalist I feel strongly that’s something that I should not be taking a position on. I’m supposed to figure out what is and what is not, not what ought to be." -- ABC News President David Westin
"Seven years ago, when the last referendum took place, Saddam Hussein won 99.96 percent of the vote. Of course, it is impossible to say whether that’s a true measure of the Iraqi people’s feelings.” -? ABC’s David Wright, World News Tonight
"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime--Pol Pot or others--that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners."-- Senator Dick Durbin, June 14, 2005
There are a myriad of good reasons to be suspicious of the mainstream media, starting with things said by members of the MSM over the last few years. Here are just a few examples that help explain why the public is losing faith in the press:
"Clearly, the American war planners misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces...And I personally do not understand how that happened, because I've been here many times and in my commentaries on television I would tell the Americans about the determination of the Iraqi forces, the determination of the government, and the willingness to fight for their country. But me, and others who felt the same way were not listened to by the Bush administration...That is why now America is re-appraising the battlefield, delaying the war, maybe a week, and re-writing the war plan. The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance now they are trying to write another war plan." -- CNN's Peter Arnett in an interview with Iraqi TV on March 30, 2003, during the invasion of Iraq
"Here we will have possibly a bunch of tax dodgers deciding the election." ? Time's Margaret Carlson on Florida absentee ballots from military personnel, on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, Nov. 8. Florida does not have a state income tax.
"So now the question is, basically, right now, how will (the Osama Bin Laden tape) affect the election? And I have a feeling that it could tilt the election a bit. In fact, I'm a little inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, that he probably set up bin Laden to this thing." -- Walter Cronkite, former CBS anchor, once known as the "Most Trusted Man in America," on the Bin Laden tape that showed up right before the 2004 election.
"We have lost touch with the essence of war. Following our defeat in Vietnam we became a better nation. We were humbled, even humiliated. We asked questions about ourselves we had not asked before.
We were forced to see ourselves as others saw us and the sight was not always a pretty one. We were forced to confront our own capacity for a atrocity -- for evil -- and in this we understood not only war but more about ourselves. But that humility is gone." -- New York Times reporter Chris Hedges, who "was booed off the stage Saturday at Rockford College’s graduation because he gave an antiwar speech"
"The New York Times (Nagourney/Stevenson) and Howard Fineman on the web both make the same point today: the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done.
Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win.
We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides "equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that." -- in a memo leaked to the Drudge Report, explains that there is no need to hold both Kerry and Bush equally accountable
“Like every other institution, the Washington and political press corps operate with a good number of biases and predilections. They include, but are not limited to, a near-universal shared sense that liberal political positions on social issues like gun control, homosexuality, abortion, and religion are the default, while more conservative positions are ‘conservative positions.’...”
“The press, by and large, does not accept President Bush’s justifications for the Iraq war....It does not accept the proposition that the Bush tax cuts helped the economy....It remains fixated on the unemployment rate....”
“The worldview of the dominant media can be seen in every frame of video and every print word choice that is currently being produced about the presidential race....On the strength of all the negative coverage of the President and all his own positive coverage, Senator Kerry heads into today’s twin primaries on a roll.“ -? ABCNEWS Political Director Mark Halperin.
"(T)he fact of the matter is that the United States has got itself in a terrible bind here without regional allies” and suggested that “without UN legitimacy -- forget it, never work, Vietnam quagmire next stop." -- Arthur Kent, NBC's former "scud stud" on the invasion of Iraq
"Barely a week into the war, with coalition forces sweeping through Iraq, ABC's Peter Jennings and CBS's Lesley Stahl decided to raise the ghost of the Vietnam quagmire. Jennings teased Wednesday's World News Tonight by hyping how “one Marine” told an ABC reporter that given the landscape, weather and guerrilla tactics, “sometimes” Iraq “feels like Vietnam.” The night before, on CBS's 48 Hours, Lesley Stahl asked a Vietnam vet: “You fought in Vietnam. Are you getting any feelings of deja vu?” -- Peter Jennings And Leslie Stahl on March 26 & 27, 2003.
"Just one last thing. We are always looking for signs that the country is behaving like its old self again. Tonight at the World Series, if the Yankee fans boo the President, it won't mean necessarily they are unhappy with his leadership, but he did say that he would cheer for anyone but the Yankees in the series. So if New York fans give him the business it just means they're acting like their old selves. And that's probably a good sign." -- Peter Jennings on the World Series in October of 2001
"Over the last dozen years I made 13 trips to Baghdad to lobby the government to keep CNN's Baghdad bureau open and to arrange interviews with Iraqi leaders. Each time I visited, I became more distressed by what I saw and heard, awful things that could not be reported because doing so would have jeopardized the lives of Iraqis, particularly those on our Baghdad staff.
...I felt awful having these stories bottled up inside me. Now that Saddam Hussein's regime is gone, I suspect we will hear many, many more gut-wrenching tales from Iraqis about the decades of torment. At last, these stories can be told freely." -- CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan in a New York Times column, admitting that CNN often didn't report newsworthy events in Iraq out of fear of what the regime might do
"We all know that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter and that Reuters upholds the principle that we do not use the word terrorist....To be frank, it adds little to call the attack on the World Trade Center a terrorist attack." -? Steven Jukes, global head of news for Reuters News Service, in an internal memo
"Lucky though he was, Bill Clinton never had his shot at greatness. He could lower the jobless rate, balance the budget, console us after the Oklahoma City bombing. But he never got the opportunity George W. Bush was given this Tuesday: the historic chance to lead. Our American spirit, power and enterprise now stand ready for orders. Only the president can give them." -- Chris Matthews after 9/11
"There is, Hugh, I agree with you, a deep anti-military bias in the media. One that begins from the premise that the military must be lying, and that American projection of power around the world must be wrong. I think that that is a hangover from Vietnam, and I think it's very dangerous. That's different from the media doing it's job of challenging the exercise of power without fear or favor." -- ABC's Terry Moran
“When I see flags sprouting on official lapels, I think of the time in China when I saw Mao’s Little Red Book on every official’s desk, omnipresent and unread. -- Bill Moyers on PBS’s Now
"I think if Kerry were to win this in a tight race, I think there would be an effort to mount a coup, quite frankly." -- Bill Moyers from PBS's Now show
"Times journalists have so far uncovered new problems in at least 36 of the 73 articles Mr. Blair wrote since he started getting national reporting assignments late last October. In the final months the audacity of the deceptions grew by the week, suggesting the work of a troubled young man veering toward professional self-destruction." -- The New York Times on their reporter Jayson Blair
"Is The New York Times a Liberal Newspaper? OF course it is.
The fattest file on my hard drive is jammed with letters from the disappointed, the dismayed and the irate who find in this newspaper a liberal bias that infects not just political coverage but a range of issues from abortion to zoology to the appointment of an admitted Democrat to be its watchdog. (That would be me.) By contrast, readers who attack The Times from the left -- and there are plenty -- generally confine their complaints to the paper's coverage of electoral politics and foreign policy.
I'll get to the politics-and-policy issues this fall (I want to watch the campaign coverage before I conclude anything), but for now my concern is the flammable stuff that ignites the right. These are the social issues: gay rights, gun control, abortion and environmental regulation, among others. And if you think The Times plays it down the middle on any of them, you've been reading the paper with your eyes closed.
But if you're examining the paper's coverage of these subjects from a perspective that is neither urban nor Northeastern nor culturally seen-it-all; if you are among the groups The Times treats as strange objects to be examined on a laboratory slide (devout Catholics, gun owners, Orthodox Jews, Texans); if your value system wouldn't wear well on a composite New York Times journalist, then a walk through this paper can make you feel you're traveling in a strange and forbidding world." -- Daniel Okrent, the New York Times Public Editor
"As I watched Tuesday night's network coverage of the unrelenting political propaganda hour known as the Republican National Convention, the first thought that came to mind was of old newsreels of those self-congratulatory Nazi rallies held in Germany during the reign of Adolf Hitler." -- Hugh Pearson, Newsday
“I think the fact that someone has told a lie, even a big lie or maybe several big lies over a lifetime, does not mean that they’re an inherently dishonest person....I believe in redemption and that Bill Clinton ? is he an honest person? I think he is an honest person. Did he lie? Yes, he lied, and on those occasions he was dishonest.” -- CBS anchor Dan Rather
"The story is true. The story is true....I appreciate the sources who took risks to authenticate our story. So, one, there is no internal investigation. Two, somebody may be shell-shocked, but it is not I, and it is not anybody at CBS News. Now, you can tell who is shell-shocked by the ferocity of the people who are spreading these rumors.” -- CBS anchor Dan Rather on the fake memos related to George Bush's National Guard
"U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly rejected advice from Pentagon planners that substantially more troops and armor would be needed to fight a war in Iraq, New Yorker Magazine reported.
..."They've got no resources. He was so focused on proving his point -- that the Iraqis were going to fall apart," the article, by veteran journalist Seymour Hersh, cited an unnamed former high-level intelligence official as saying.
...Hersh, however, quoted the former intelligence official as saying the war was now a stalemate.
Much of the supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles has been expended, aircraft carriers were going to run out of precision guided bombs and there were serious maintenance problems with tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment, the article said.
"The only hope is that they can hold out until reinforcements arrive," the former official said." -- Reuters on March 29, 2003, during the invasion of Iraq, quoting from an article that was to be released in the April 7th edition of Newsweek
“I don’t think history has any reason to be kind to him.” -- CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer recalling Ronald Reagan
Then there’s Sy. He’s the public speaker, the pundit. On the podium, Sy is willing to tell a story that’s not quite right, in order to convey a Larger Truth. “Sometimes I change events, dates, and places in a certain way to protect people,” Hersh told me. “I can’t fudge what I write. But I can certainly fudge what I say.”
...Seymour Hersh has always had a rather loose relationship with literal truth. He seems to share with many of the people he writes about the belief that in certain circumstances, the end justifies the means. When Hersh was pursuing the My Lai story, he tracked down the lawyer of William Calley Jr., the man later convicted of participating in the 1968 massacre of Vietnamese civilians. Hersh intentionally inflated the number of deaths for which Calley was charged, in order to get the attorney to tell him the correct number, 109. A few years ago, Hersh told a crowd at Duke, “a word for what I did?an actual word, it has three letters?it’s called ‘lie.’” -- Chris Suellentrop
The media, I think, wants Kerry to win. And I think they’re going to portray Kerry and Edwards -- I’m talking about the establishment media, not Fox, but -- they’re going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and dynamic and optimistic and all, there’s going to be this glow about them that some, is going to be worth, collectively, the two of them, that’s going to be worth maybe 15 points.” -- Evan Thomas, Assistant Managing Editor of Newsweek
"Seven weeks into an examination of former USA TODAY reporter Jack Kelley’s work, a team of journalists has found strong evidence that Kelley fabricated substantial portions of at least eight major stories, lifted nearly two dozen quotes or other material from competing publications, lied in speeches he gave for the newspaper and conspired to mislead those investigating his work." -- USA Today
“This is not, in my estimation, a good war....I don’t know how we got into a position where our present Commander-in-Chief and the people around him had the guts to take our kids and send them on what seems to be ? it sure is not a noble enterprise.” -- CBS’s Mike Wallace on the war in Iraq
"Newsweek apologized yesterday for an inaccurate report on the treatment of detainees that triggered several days of rioting in Afghanistan and other countries in which at least 15 people died.
Editor Mark Whitaker expressed regret over the item in the magazine's "Periscope" section, saying it was based on a confidential source -- a "senior U.S. government official" -- who now says he is not sure whether the story is true." -- The Washington Post
"The Pentagon as a legitimate target? I actually don’t have an opinion on that and it’s important I not have an opinion on that as I sit here in my capacity right now. The way I conceive my job running a news organization, and the way I would like all the journalists at ABC News to perceive it, is there is a big difference between a normative position and a positive position. Our job is to determine what is, not what ought to be and when we get into the job of what ought to be I think we’re not doing a service to the American people. I can say the Pentagon got hit, I can say this is what their position is, this is what our position is, but for me to take a position this was right or wrong, I mean, that’s perhaps for me in my private life, perhaps it’s for me dealing with my loved ones, perhaps it’s for my minister at church. But as a journalist I feel strongly that’s something that I should not be taking a position on. I’m supposed to figure out what is and what is not, not what ought to be." -- ABC News President David Westin
"Seven years ago, when the last referendum took place, Saddam Hussein won 99.96 percent of the vote. Of course, it is impossible to say whether that’s a true measure of the Iraqi people’s feelings.” -? ABC’s David Wright, World News Tonight
"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime--Pol Pot or others--that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners."-- Senator Dick Durbin, June 14, 2005
2005年6月15日星期三
10/7/1978--Amnesty International Hires Communist for Key Post
Amnesty International, the most influential group monitoring human rights conditions in various parts of the globe, has set off a storm of criticism within its own organization. The reason: In August of this year, AI’s nine-man international executive committee selected a prominent Communist party member in Australia to head its research division.
Named to the post was Prof. Derek Roebuck, dean of law at the University of Tasmania. A Christian for most of his life, but a Communist for “the last seven or eight years,” the 43-year old professor plans to move to AI’s international headquarters in London at the end of the academic year.
When asked why a Communist was chosen for this strategic position within the organization, an AI press spokesman in London suggested to HUMAN EVENTS that Roebuck had the best credentials from “a strong field of applicants.”
What makes this appointment so critical is that AI ? which has been supported by conservatives despite a left-wing bias ? has had a powerful impact on how various pro-Western governments, including the United States, decide to deal with various nations of the globe.
(Excerpt) Read more at humaneventsonline.com ...
Named to the post was Prof. Derek Roebuck, dean of law at the University of Tasmania. A Christian for most of his life, but a Communist for “the last seven or eight years,” the 43-year old professor plans to move to AI’s international headquarters in London at the end of the academic year.
When asked why a Communist was chosen for this strategic position within the organization, an AI press spokesman in London suggested to HUMAN EVENTS that Roebuck had the best credentials from “a strong field of applicants.”
What makes this appointment so critical is that AI ? which has been supported by conservatives despite a left-wing bias ? has had a powerful impact on how various pro-Western governments, including the United States, decide to deal with various nations of the globe.
(Excerpt) Read more at humaneventsonline.com ...
2005年6月13日星期一
WSJ: Real Tax Cuts Have Curves -- George Bush proves Art Laffer right -- again
As legend has it the famous Laffer Curve was first drawn by economist Arthur Laffer in 1974 on a cocktail napkin during a small dinner meeting... attended by the late Wall Street Journal editor Robert Bartley and such high-powered policy makers as Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. The Laffer Curve helped launch the Reaganomics Revolution here at home and a frenzy of tax rate cutting around the globe....
The theory is really one of the simplest concepts in economics. Yet its logic continues to elude the class-warfare lobby whose disbelief is unburdened by the multiple real-life examples which validate its conclusions. The idea is that lowering the tax rate on production, work, investment, and risk-taking will spur more of these activities and thereby will often lead to more tax revenue collections for the government rather than less....
Last week the Congressional Budget Office released its latest report on tax revenue collections. The numbers are an eye-popping vindication of the Laffer Curve and the Bush tax cut's real economic value. Federal tax revenues have surged in the first eight months of this fiscal year by $187 billion. This represents a 15.4% rise in federal tax receipts over 2004. Individual and corporate income tax receipts have exploded like a cap let off a geyser, up 30% in the two years since the tax cut. Once again, tax rate cuts have created a virtuous chain reaction of higher economic growth, more jobs, higher corporate profits, and finally more tax receipts.
This Laffer Curve effect has also created a revenue windfall for states and cities. As the economic expansion has plowed forward, and in some regions of the country accelerated, state tax receipts have climbed 7.5% this year already.... New York City... finds itself more than $3 billion IN SURPLUS....
The theory is really one of the simplest concepts in economics. Yet its logic continues to elude the class-warfare lobby whose disbelief is unburdened by the multiple real-life examples which validate its conclusions. The idea is that lowering the tax rate on production, work, investment, and risk-taking will spur more of these activities and thereby will often lead to more tax revenue collections for the government rather than less....
Last week the Congressional Budget Office released its latest report on tax revenue collections. The numbers are an eye-popping vindication of the Laffer Curve and the Bush tax cut's real economic value. Federal tax revenues have surged in the first eight months of this fiscal year by $187 billion. This represents a 15.4% rise in federal tax receipts over 2004. Individual and corporate income tax receipts have exploded like a cap let off a geyser, up 30% in the two years since the tax cut. Once again, tax rate cuts have created a virtuous chain reaction of higher economic growth, more jobs, higher corporate profits, and finally more tax receipts.
This Laffer Curve effect has also created a revenue windfall for states and cities. As the economic expansion has plowed forward, and in some regions of the country accelerated, state tax receipts have climbed 7.5% this year already.... New York City... finds itself more than $3 billion IN SURPLUS....
2005年6月11日星期六
2005年6月9日星期四
我所经历的“六四”--纪念为中国民主运动献身的勇士们
--星光--
一晃六四已过去了十六年，这十六年我走过了很多地方，经历了很多事情，但八九年六四那悲壮惨烈的一幕深深地刻在我的脑海里，让我久久不能忘怀。我愿意作为历史的见证人把我的亲身经历记录下来，献给那些英勇献身于中国民主事业的勇士们，纪念那些在血雨腥风之夜救死扶伤的白衣天使们。
一九八九年，我正在北京一所部队医院的研究生院学习。虽说我们这些研究生作为文职军人不能和北京其他高校的学生们一起罢课，绝食，直接参与到那轰轰烈烈的反腐败，要民主的运动中去，但我们研究生院的一百多位学生的心早已飞到了广场。我们密切地注视着民主运动的进展，真诚的希望政府能和学生对话，达到消除腐败，惩治官倒，开放新闻自由，加速民主和法制建设的目标。
为了支持广场上学生的绝食运动，我们研究生院的学生不顾各级领导的阻拦，自发地组织了一场到广场的游行。记得一路上，我们打出的军队院校的旗帜受到了北京市民和学生们的热烈欢迎，因为我们向他们传递了一个重要的信息，军队并不是铁板一块，军队中也有很多人象我们一样是支持民主改革的。据说我们的游行让总政及总后的领导们大为光火！
戒严令发出及军队进城后，北京市民在各路奋勇堵军车。西边一路就被堵在玉泉路及五棵松一带。记得当时我们医院的大院内也塞满了军车。医院内的医生和护士们苦口婆心的向戒严部队的战士们解释北京当时的情况及学生们的诉求，要求战士们不要受骗上当，不要向学生们开枪。记得一位德高望重的老教授专门穿上那笔挺的将校服，语重心长的对戒严部队的战士们说：“我的军衔比你们高，我的军龄比你们长。我以一个老军人的身份对你们说，我们是一支人民的军队，可千万不能把枪口对准人民呀！”看着戒严部队官兵那困惑的面孔我觉得心里很不是滋味。
六月三日傍晚，北京的天气异常的闷热。晚六时三十分，北京市人民政府和戒严部队指挥部发出《紧急通告》。《紧急通告》要求：＂全体市民要提高警惕，从现在起，请你们不要到街上去，不要到天安门广场去。广大职工要坚守岗位，市民要留在家里，以保证你们的生命安全。＂凭着北京人多年培养出的政治嗅觉，很多人预感着晚上要出事。
吃完晚饭后，我在宿舍里再也呆不住了。脑海里翻来覆去只有一个念头，如果今天部队会强制进城清场，如果今天会有流血冲突，我这个学医的就应当在那最前线救死扶伤。就这样我拿上我的白大褂，骑着车悄悄的遛出了医院。西长安街上，人群壅壅嚷嚷，很多人不理会紧急通告的要求，在街上打听议论戒严部队的最新动向。广场上，民主大学的开幕典礼刚刚结束，看不出什么特殊的迹象。我笑笑对自己说，但愿我是多虑了。九点多钟，我骑车离开了广场，沿着西长安街回医院。
骑到快到民族宫, 路就被堵住了，人们纷纷传说戒严部队已经开枪，在木墀地一带打的很惨，已逼近民族宫了，正说着戒严部队已到了眼前。只见前面由防暴战士开路，他们手拿警棍和盾牌，站成一排向前慢慢的推进。而街上民众的口号是坚决把他们堵住，绝不放他们到广场去。只见很多身手矫健的小伙子们爬上长安街南面的平房，将房上的瓦片揭下来摔碎，当作武器砸向戒严部队。但这种抵抗很快就被枪声和子弹压下去了，只见一排排子弹射向空中，前面有人倒下去了，鲜血染红了大地，人们被子弹压的卧倒在地上。但枪声一停，又会有人大骂着“打倒法西斯”，奋勇地冲上去。就这样，很多人一直尾随戒严部队推进，只要枪一响，就立即卧地。每次枪响后，总有流血、伤亡，而枪一停又有人奋不顾身的冲上去。在西单路口有人把点燃的公交车横在马路中间试图阻挡戒严部队坦克及车队的通过。那尖厉的枪声和火红的鲜血让双方都拚红了眼。真正上演了一场手无寸铁的老百姓用自己的血肉之躯去阻挡枪林弹雨，铁甲战车的人间惨剧。
随着大批伤员的出现，我和几个北医的学生一起利用西单路口的医疗用品商店成立了一个简易救护站。对送来的伤员我们用绷带作简单的止血固定包扎，再由市民们用平板或三轮车送到附近的邮电，复兴和人民医院去。有的人抬进来已经没救了。也有那重伤员让我们无从下手。老实讲，我虽然有急诊室抢救的经验，但从未经过战伤救护的训练，一下子面对这么多形形色色，伤势轻重不一的伤员，真有力不从心的感觉。记得有一个学生左胳膊上的动脉被打穿了，抬进来时几个人压着胳膊，那血还是象喷泉似的向外冒，一般的止血法根本止不住。我们只好从桌子上找到一个墨水瓶，压到出血口处再用力用纱布缠住，但那血还是很快就渗透了纱布。我知道这样耽误下去，仅仅是大量失血就会要了他的性命。赶紧叫人立刻把他送到最近的医院去。那天晚上街上到处跑着飞速救人的平板车。
可直到此时，还有市民问我。“大夫，这伤是被橡皮子弹打的吗”？我对着他们那困惑的眼睛不知该讲什么？死伤的人就在面前，但他们仍然对政府抱着希望，他们仍然不愿相信人民的子弟兵会对手无寸铁的人民开枪。看着我满身满手的鲜血，我只想向那苍天呼唤，天底下怎会有这样的政府？怎会有这样的子弟兵？
经过一段时间的拉锯战，戒严部队的车队终于冲过了西单路口，最后抵达天安门广场形成了对广场上学生的包围。部队过去后，大家都非常担心。如果在长安街上就打的如此惨烈，那么天安门清场将会是一个什么样的结局？我不敢想象下去，只是觉得作为一个白衣战士，绝不能在这最后关头当逃兵。就这样，我决定到广场去。
那天晚上虽说戒严部队在天安门广场的南北布下了包围，在东西面则留下了很多出口。凭着我对北京的了解，很容易我就从人民大会堂后面绕进了广场。此时已过午夜，广场上的高音喇叭在一遍遍播放《紧急通告》。《紧急通告》称：＂首都今晚发生了严重的反革命暴乱。暴徒们猖狂袭击解放军指战员，抢军火，烧军车，设路障，绑架解放军官兵，妄图颠覆中华人民共和国，推翻社会主义制度。人民解放军多日来保持了高度克制，现在必须坚决反击反革命暴乱。首都公民要遵守戒严令规定，并同解放军密切配合，坚决捍卫宪法，保卫伟大的社会主义祖国和首都的安全。凡在天安门广场的公民和学生，应立即离开，以保证戒严部队执行任务。凡不听劝告的，将无法保证其安全，一切后果完全由自己负责。＂这一遍遍播放的《紧急通告》在广场上造成了一种非常紧张压抑的气氛，很多人离开了广场。而在这样的时刻留在广场上的人，心里都很清楚，自己将会面临什么样的结局。
到广场后，我很快就找到了红十字会在广场上的急救中心。因为我身上的白大褂血迹斑斑，很多人围上来打听外面的情况。我告诉他们在西长安街上打的非常惨烈，死伤很多，希望他们做好最坏的准备。当时红十字会正尽量把广场上的医务人员召集在一起，准备在最后的时刻发挥我们的作用，尽可能的救护伤员。
凌晨三点多种，侯德健等人去和戒严部队谈判。谈判结果是：广场上的学生将有组织的自动撤出广场，戒严部队不能开枪，而处于中立地位的红十字会急救队将在这整个过程中不撤离，留在广场上，救护双方的伤员。我们及所有我们救护的伤员都应按国际惯例受到双方的保护。记得当时红十字会急救队的负责人把这一谈判结果告诉我们，让大家自愿选择是跟着学生撤离，还是冒着生命危险留在广场上。因为谁都不能保证一旦局面失控，留下来会面临什么样的结局。
我记得当时有将近百人愿意留下来，这样我们这一百多号人聚集在广场东部历史博物馆前，打起了红十字的会旗，大家尽量把白大褂穿上及红十字袖标戴上，等待着最后一刻的到来。当时广场急救站的帐篷内还有一些从长安街上下来的伤员，他们也将跟着我们走。我们当时的口号是人在伤员在，我们将不惜一切代价保护及救护伤员。
四时整，广场上的灯一下子全熄灭了。这些天一直人声鼎沸的广场突然变得死一般的寂静。恐惧和压抑象那漆黑的夜一样吞噬着每一个人。我想很多人在那一瞬间都想到了死亡。我也平生第一次感到了死的威胁。我的思续飞到了千里之外的家乡，我不敢想象如果我死在广场上，我的父母将怎样承受这样的打击，我的朋友和亲人们将会有什么样的反应。当时最大的懊悔是没能好好地珍惜生活的每一天，浪费了很多美好的光阴。以及自十几岁离家后，一直没能对父母好好尽一份女儿的孝心。我对自己暗暗发誓，如果我能侥幸活下来，我一定要加倍珍惜生活，认真过好每一天。我一定要多回家探亲好好陪陪我的父母。
突然寂静的广场上播出了戒严部队指挥部的＂清场通知＂：＂现在开始清场，同意同学们撤离广场的呼吁。＂随后，广播了北京市人民政府和戒严部队指挥部＂关于迅速恢复天安门广场的正常秩序的通告＂，＂通告＂要求：＂一，凡在广场上的所有人员，听到广播必须立即撤离现场；二，如果有人违抗和拒不执行此通知，仍继续滞留广场，戒严部队有权采取一切手段予以强行处置；三，清场后，天安门广场由戒严部队严格管理；四，希望一切有爱国之心，不愿意国家动乱的广大学生和群众，要积极配合戒严部队执行好清场任务。＂
有人带头唱起了《国际歌》，大家都象那走上刑场的勇士一样大声唱起了《国际歌》。突然，枪声和火光在人民英雄纪念碑的基座上响起。戒严部队的先头部队先用枪将＂高自联＂架设的两个喇叭打坏，接着手持冲锋枪从西边的台阶开始把学生往纪念碑下撵，清场开始了。学生们也做出了＂撤出广场＂的决定，开始逐步有秩序地撤离。
因为我们没有参加撤离，所以有机会综观了天安门广场的整个清场过程。只见广场上的灯一下子全亮了。一字排开的十几辆坦克和装甲车从长安街金水桥方向缓缓向广场驶来。学生面前，突然出现了许许多多端枪的士兵，向着学生一点一点靠近，驱赶他们走。随着几下沉闷的撞击声，位于广场北端的＂民主之神＂像轰然倒地。坦克和装甲车继续向前，广场上的帐篷等物被碾的粉碎，变成了一片平地。广场上的数千人队伍在学生纠察队手拉手的维护下，集体向广场的东南角退去。大多数学生都加入了撤离的队伍，但也有极少数坚持不走的学生。我记得有一个男生爬上帐篷顶，面对成排压过来的坦克挥舞着一面红旗。我们在一边急的大叫让他赶快撤离，他就那样坚持着挥舞着手中的旗帜直到那个帐篷被坦克碾碎。我永远也忘不了那个年轻的身影！
端枪及挥舞着棍棒的士兵加紧了对学生的驱离。有几个不知什么原因落在后面的学生在士兵的夹击下无路可退，突然向我们这边跑来。我们此时已手挽着手形成了一个保护圈。看到那几个学生躲到了我们的保护圈内，一些打红了眼睛的士兵挥舞着手中的大棒向我们扑来。我们大叫着我们是红十字会的，应当受到保护，同时把手挽的更紧，用自己的身体挡在士兵和学生之间。看到我们的红十字会旗和白大褂，那些士兵不情愿地停住了脚步。但坚持说那些躲进我们保护圈的是学生领袖，是闹事的暴徒，让我们交出来。而我们则坚持进了我们保护圈的，就受我们保护。我们绝不会交出任何人。就这样我们面对面的和戒严士兵形成了僵局。我曾和一个年轻的士兵这样面对面的互相怒视了半个多钟头。他已被那天晚上发生的一切冲昏了头，打红了眼，他的眼睛里充满了怒气和杀机。我想只要上级一句话，他手中的大棒会毫不犹豫的向我们挥来。
一个钟头以后，待广场的清场已基本结束后。才有人过来处理我们这批人。他们一开始提出的条件是我们可以走，但要把逃进来的学生和伤员留下来。这是我们万万不会答应的。我们的立场是，要抓就把我们一起抓起来，要放我们将一起走。同时正告他们我们属于红十字会，应当受到国际惯例的保护，希望他们慎重考虑怎样处理我们将会面临的后果。同时我们向他们提出，清场已经结束，我们红十字会应派人到广场各处巡查，看有无需要救护的伤员。
看样子怎样处理我们对他们是一个棘手的难题，几经商讨，他们最后不得不同意让我们集体撤离的要求。但我们提出的巡查广场的要求也被他们坚决地拒绝了。这时天已大亮，只见广场上是一片狼籍，到处是坦克碾过的痕迹。广场上有一个个火堆，不知戒严部队在烧什么。
为了防止撤离过程中他们会来抢伤员，我们手挽着手形成了两道人墙，让抬着伤员的人和学生走在最中间，大家一起慢慢的撤离广场。在我们撤离广场的整个过程中都有持枪的士兵在押解着我们，同时他们尽一切可能阻断我们观察广场的视线。走出广场后，街上的市民都夹道鼓掌欢迎我们。我们中的很多人再也忍不住而失声痛哭。我们先步行到前门西大街北京急救中心，把伤员妥善的做了安排。然后大家一致同意留下签名，待六四平反的那一天一起出庭作证。这么多年来我一直在想，这份宝贵的名单现在何处？
等我离开北京急救中心已是六四早晨八点多钟了。我留在广场上的自行车想必已被坦克碾成了铁片，而北京公共交通全部中断，我意识到我得步行半个北京城回医院了。我的一身血衣帮了我，长安街一路都有好心的骑车人搭我一程。此时很多一夜未眠的北京市民都来到了街上，街上人雍雍嚷嚷，议论纷纷。西长安街惨不忍睹，到处是被坦克压得凸凹不平的路面，冒着浓烟被烧毁的坦克、军车和公交车，横七扭八的人行道栏杆及一滩滩血迹。据老百姓说，这是北京城上百年来损失最惨重的一次。
等我回到医院已快中午，我们医院门前也有很多人，有两个焦急等待的同学一看到我就扑过来把我紧紧抱住，他们都以为我出事了。此时我也忍不住而痛哭失声。原来3日晚《紧急通告》公布后我们研究生队就清点了人数，当时只有三个人不在。而另外两个人也於4日早晨回到了医院，只有我到中午还未回来。他们都觉得我凶多吉少，不知该怎么办？看到我完好无损的回来，同学们都很高兴。同时围着我让我讲我所看到的实况。后来听说，六三晚上我们医院门口也打得很凶，坦克在医院门前还压死了一个航天部的职工。也有很多伤员送到我们医院抢救，而伤口的惨状让很多老教授们义愤填膺，后来联名给中央军委写信抗议！
虽说我们是部队医院，但当时医院的大多数医护人员和北京市民一样对六四镇压感到非常震惊和愤慨。对六四的受害者们表示了极大的同情。我的六四经历让我在医院里享受到了特殊的礼遇。当时我正处在研究生答辩的最后紧张时刻，不管我到复印室复制资料，还是到计算机中心算数据，我都受到了一切开绿灯的礼遇。很多人明确表示他们支持我，我做了他们想做的事。还有人主动找到我，告诉我他在京郊有亲戚，如果需要的话我可以到他们那去躲一躲。这一切都让我非常感动，让我看到了人心所向。
六四后，北京市一片萧条。街上见不到行人，到处是站岗的军人和巡逻的军车。我因答辩的缘故，要到北医和协和医院去送答辨邀请书，所以六月六号又不得不骑车上了长安街。街上几乎见不到人，少有的几个骑车人和我一样一有风吹草动或看到巡逻的军车就跳下车来，就地卧倒。因为实在担心已成惊弓之鸟的士兵会向我们开枪。而疾驰而过的军车上的士兵们也经常会无缘无故的开枪。
据说当时北京市有失去亲人的老百姓成立的复仇敢死队。我们旁边的部队大院里有人被半夜摸了哨。各总部发出了不要穿军服上街的通令。而军科院则忙于对地方送给戒严部队的副食品做防毒检验。军民关系降到了建国以后的最低点。
在我论文答辨结束后的午餐上，几个北医，协和的研究生导师都感叹万分。有个协和的老教授说：“以前我是坚决反对自己的学生一毕业就出国的，现在我对他们说你们还年轻，能出去就走吧，这个政府是没有希望了”。也是从那一刻，我动了出国的念头。不过总的说来，我们医院对当时六四牵扯的人和事处理的非常低调。出乎我意料的是，我不仅没有被处分，毕业分配时还按原计划留在了我们医院。
一晃十六年过去了，那长安街上迎着子弹冲上去的身影，那在清场时对着压上来的坦克挥舞着的红旗，那喷血的伤口还会时时出现在我的眼前，提醒着我不要忘记这中国民主运动史上惨烈的一页。
一晃六四已过去了十六年，这十六年我走过了很多地方，经历了很多事情，但八九年六四那悲壮惨烈的一幕深深地刻在我的脑海里，让我久久不能忘怀。我愿意作为历史的见证人把我的亲身经历记录下来，献给那些英勇献身于中国民主事业的勇士们，纪念那些在血雨腥风之夜救死扶伤的白衣天使们。
一九八九年，我正在北京一所部队医院的研究生院学习。虽说我们这些研究生作为文职军人不能和北京其他高校的学生们一起罢课，绝食，直接参与到那轰轰烈烈的反腐败，要民主的运动中去，但我们研究生院的一百多位学生的心早已飞到了广场。我们密切地注视着民主运动的进展，真诚的希望政府能和学生对话，达到消除腐败，惩治官倒，开放新闻自由，加速民主和法制建设的目标。
为了支持广场上学生的绝食运动，我们研究生院的学生不顾各级领导的阻拦，自发地组织了一场到广场的游行。记得一路上，我们打出的军队院校的旗帜受到了北京市民和学生们的热烈欢迎，因为我们向他们传递了一个重要的信息，军队并不是铁板一块，军队中也有很多人象我们一样是支持民主改革的。据说我们的游行让总政及总后的领导们大为光火！
戒严令发出及军队进城后，北京市民在各路奋勇堵军车。西边一路就被堵在玉泉路及五棵松一带。记得当时我们医院的大院内也塞满了军车。医院内的医生和护士们苦口婆心的向戒严部队的战士们解释北京当时的情况及学生们的诉求，要求战士们不要受骗上当，不要向学生们开枪。记得一位德高望重的老教授专门穿上那笔挺的将校服，语重心长的对戒严部队的战士们说：“我的军衔比你们高，我的军龄比你们长。我以一个老军人的身份对你们说，我们是一支人民的军队，可千万不能把枪口对准人民呀！”看着戒严部队官兵那困惑的面孔我觉得心里很不是滋味。
六月三日傍晚，北京的天气异常的闷热。晚六时三十分，北京市人民政府和戒严部队指挥部发出《紧急通告》。《紧急通告》要求：＂全体市民要提高警惕，从现在起，请你们不要到街上去，不要到天安门广场去。广大职工要坚守岗位，市民要留在家里，以保证你们的生命安全。＂凭着北京人多年培养出的政治嗅觉，很多人预感着晚上要出事。
吃完晚饭后，我在宿舍里再也呆不住了。脑海里翻来覆去只有一个念头，如果今天部队会强制进城清场，如果今天会有流血冲突，我这个学医的就应当在那最前线救死扶伤。就这样我拿上我的白大褂，骑着车悄悄的遛出了医院。西长安街上，人群壅壅嚷嚷，很多人不理会紧急通告的要求，在街上打听议论戒严部队的最新动向。广场上，民主大学的开幕典礼刚刚结束，看不出什么特殊的迹象。我笑笑对自己说，但愿我是多虑了。九点多钟，我骑车离开了广场，沿着西长安街回医院。
骑到快到民族宫, 路就被堵住了，人们纷纷传说戒严部队已经开枪，在木墀地一带打的很惨，已逼近民族宫了，正说着戒严部队已到了眼前。只见前面由防暴战士开路，他们手拿警棍和盾牌，站成一排向前慢慢的推进。而街上民众的口号是坚决把他们堵住，绝不放他们到广场去。只见很多身手矫健的小伙子们爬上长安街南面的平房，将房上的瓦片揭下来摔碎，当作武器砸向戒严部队。但这种抵抗很快就被枪声和子弹压下去了，只见一排排子弹射向空中，前面有人倒下去了，鲜血染红了大地，人们被子弹压的卧倒在地上。但枪声一停，又会有人大骂着“打倒法西斯”，奋勇地冲上去。就这样，很多人一直尾随戒严部队推进，只要枪一响，就立即卧地。每次枪响后，总有流血、伤亡，而枪一停又有人奋不顾身的冲上去。在西单路口有人把点燃的公交车横在马路中间试图阻挡戒严部队坦克及车队的通过。那尖厉的枪声和火红的鲜血让双方都拚红了眼。真正上演了一场手无寸铁的老百姓用自己的血肉之躯去阻挡枪林弹雨，铁甲战车的人间惨剧。
随着大批伤员的出现，我和几个北医的学生一起利用西单路口的医疗用品商店成立了一个简易救护站。对送来的伤员我们用绷带作简单的止血固定包扎，再由市民们用平板或三轮车送到附近的邮电，复兴和人民医院去。有的人抬进来已经没救了。也有那重伤员让我们无从下手。老实讲，我虽然有急诊室抢救的经验，但从未经过战伤救护的训练，一下子面对这么多形形色色，伤势轻重不一的伤员，真有力不从心的感觉。记得有一个学生左胳膊上的动脉被打穿了，抬进来时几个人压着胳膊，那血还是象喷泉似的向外冒，一般的止血法根本止不住。我们只好从桌子上找到一个墨水瓶，压到出血口处再用力用纱布缠住，但那血还是很快就渗透了纱布。我知道这样耽误下去，仅仅是大量失血就会要了他的性命。赶紧叫人立刻把他送到最近的医院去。那天晚上街上到处跑着飞速救人的平板车。
可直到此时，还有市民问我。“大夫，这伤是被橡皮子弹打的吗”？我对着他们那困惑的眼睛不知该讲什么？死伤的人就在面前，但他们仍然对政府抱着希望，他们仍然不愿相信人民的子弟兵会对手无寸铁的人民开枪。看着我满身满手的鲜血，我只想向那苍天呼唤，天底下怎会有这样的政府？怎会有这样的子弟兵？
经过一段时间的拉锯战，戒严部队的车队终于冲过了西单路口，最后抵达天安门广场形成了对广场上学生的包围。部队过去后，大家都非常担心。如果在长安街上就打的如此惨烈，那么天安门清场将会是一个什么样的结局？我不敢想象下去，只是觉得作为一个白衣战士，绝不能在这最后关头当逃兵。就这样，我决定到广场去。
那天晚上虽说戒严部队在天安门广场的南北布下了包围，在东西面则留下了很多出口。凭着我对北京的了解，很容易我就从人民大会堂后面绕进了广场。此时已过午夜，广场上的高音喇叭在一遍遍播放《紧急通告》。《紧急通告》称：＂首都今晚发生了严重的反革命暴乱。暴徒们猖狂袭击解放军指战员，抢军火，烧军车，设路障，绑架解放军官兵，妄图颠覆中华人民共和国，推翻社会主义制度。人民解放军多日来保持了高度克制，现在必须坚决反击反革命暴乱。首都公民要遵守戒严令规定，并同解放军密切配合，坚决捍卫宪法，保卫伟大的社会主义祖国和首都的安全。凡在天安门广场的公民和学生，应立即离开，以保证戒严部队执行任务。凡不听劝告的，将无法保证其安全，一切后果完全由自己负责。＂这一遍遍播放的《紧急通告》在广场上造成了一种非常紧张压抑的气氛，很多人离开了广场。而在这样的时刻留在广场上的人，心里都很清楚，自己将会面临什么样的结局。
到广场后，我很快就找到了红十字会在广场上的急救中心。因为我身上的白大褂血迹斑斑，很多人围上来打听外面的情况。我告诉他们在西长安街上打的非常惨烈，死伤很多，希望他们做好最坏的准备。当时红十字会正尽量把广场上的医务人员召集在一起，准备在最后的时刻发挥我们的作用，尽可能的救护伤员。
凌晨三点多种，侯德健等人去和戒严部队谈判。谈判结果是：广场上的学生将有组织的自动撤出广场，戒严部队不能开枪，而处于中立地位的红十字会急救队将在这整个过程中不撤离，留在广场上，救护双方的伤员。我们及所有我们救护的伤员都应按国际惯例受到双方的保护。记得当时红十字会急救队的负责人把这一谈判结果告诉我们，让大家自愿选择是跟着学生撤离，还是冒着生命危险留在广场上。因为谁都不能保证一旦局面失控，留下来会面临什么样的结局。
我记得当时有将近百人愿意留下来，这样我们这一百多号人聚集在广场东部历史博物馆前，打起了红十字的会旗，大家尽量把白大褂穿上及红十字袖标戴上，等待着最后一刻的到来。当时广场急救站的帐篷内还有一些从长安街上下来的伤员，他们也将跟着我们走。我们当时的口号是人在伤员在，我们将不惜一切代价保护及救护伤员。
四时整，广场上的灯一下子全熄灭了。这些天一直人声鼎沸的广场突然变得死一般的寂静。恐惧和压抑象那漆黑的夜一样吞噬着每一个人。我想很多人在那一瞬间都想到了死亡。我也平生第一次感到了死的威胁。我的思续飞到了千里之外的家乡，我不敢想象如果我死在广场上，我的父母将怎样承受这样的打击，我的朋友和亲人们将会有什么样的反应。当时最大的懊悔是没能好好地珍惜生活的每一天，浪费了很多美好的光阴。以及自十几岁离家后，一直没能对父母好好尽一份女儿的孝心。我对自己暗暗发誓，如果我能侥幸活下来，我一定要加倍珍惜生活，认真过好每一天。我一定要多回家探亲好好陪陪我的父母。
突然寂静的广场上播出了戒严部队指挥部的＂清场通知＂：＂现在开始清场，同意同学们撤离广场的呼吁。＂随后，广播了北京市人民政府和戒严部队指挥部＂关于迅速恢复天安门广场的正常秩序的通告＂，＂通告＂要求：＂一，凡在广场上的所有人员，听到广播必须立即撤离现场；二，如果有人违抗和拒不执行此通知，仍继续滞留广场，戒严部队有权采取一切手段予以强行处置；三，清场后，天安门广场由戒严部队严格管理；四，希望一切有爱国之心，不愿意国家动乱的广大学生和群众，要积极配合戒严部队执行好清场任务。＂
有人带头唱起了《国际歌》，大家都象那走上刑场的勇士一样大声唱起了《国际歌》。突然，枪声和火光在人民英雄纪念碑的基座上响起。戒严部队的先头部队先用枪将＂高自联＂架设的两个喇叭打坏，接着手持冲锋枪从西边的台阶开始把学生往纪念碑下撵，清场开始了。学生们也做出了＂撤出广场＂的决定，开始逐步有秩序地撤离。
因为我们没有参加撤离，所以有机会综观了天安门广场的整个清场过程。只见广场上的灯一下子全亮了。一字排开的十几辆坦克和装甲车从长安街金水桥方向缓缓向广场驶来。学生面前，突然出现了许许多多端枪的士兵，向着学生一点一点靠近，驱赶他们走。随着几下沉闷的撞击声，位于广场北端的＂民主之神＂像轰然倒地。坦克和装甲车继续向前，广场上的帐篷等物被碾的粉碎，变成了一片平地。广场上的数千人队伍在学生纠察队手拉手的维护下，集体向广场的东南角退去。大多数学生都加入了撤离的队伍，但也有极少数坚持不走的学生。我记得有一个男生爬上帐篷顶，面对成排压过来的坦克挥舞着一面红旗。我们在一边急的大叫让他赶快撤离，他就那样坚持着挥舞着手中的旗帜直到那个帐篷被坦克碾碎。我永远也忘不了那个年轻的身影！
端枪及挥舞着棍棒的士兵加紧了对学生的驱离。有几个不知什么原因落在后面的学生在士兵的夹击下无路可退，突然向我们这边跑来。我们此时已手挽着手形成了一个保护圈。看到那几个学生躲到了我们的保护圈内，一些打红了眼睛的士兵挥舞着手中的大棒向我们扑来。我们大叫着我们是红十字会的，应当受到保护，同时把手挽的更紧，用自己的身体挡在士兵和学生之间。看到我们的红十字会旗和白大褂，那些士兵不情愿地停住了脚步。但坚持说那些躲进我们保护圈的是学生领袖，是闹事的暴徒，让我们交出来。而我们则坚持进了我们保护圈的，就受我们保护。我们绝不会交出任何人。就这样我们面对面的和戒严士兵形成了僵局。我曾和一个年轻的士兵这样面对面的互相怒视了半个多钟头。他已被那天晚上发生的一切冲昏了头，打红了眼，他的眼睛里充满了怒气和杀机。我想只要上级一句话，他手中的大棒会毫不犹豫的向我们挥来。
一个钟头以后，待广场的清场已基本结束后。才有人过来处理我们这批人。他们一开始提出的条件是我们可以走，但要把逃进来的学生和伤员留下来。这是我们万万不会答应的。我们的立场是，要抓就把我们一起抓起来，要放我们将一起走。同时正告他们我们属于红十字会，应当受到国际惯例的保护，希望他们慎重考虑怎样处理我们将会面临的后果。同时我们向他们提出，清场已经结束，我们红十字会应派人到广场各处巡查，看有无需要救护的伤员。
看样子怎样处理我们对他们是一个棘手的难题，几经商讨，他们最后不得不同意让我们集体撤离的要求。但我们提出的巡查广场的要求也被他们坚决地拒绝了。这时天已大亮，只见广场上是一片狼籍，到处是坦克碾过的痕迹。广场上有一个个火堆，不知戒严部队在烧什么。
为了防止撤离过程中他们会来抢伤员，我们手挽着手形成了两道人墙，让抬着伤员的人和学生走在最中间，大家一起慢慢的撤离广场。在我们撤离广场的整个过程中都有持枪的士兵在押解着我们，同时他们尽一切可能阻断我们观察广场的视线。走出广场后，街上的市民都夹道鼓掌欢迎我们。我们中的很多人再也忍不住而失声痛哭。我们先步行到前门西大街北京急救中心，把伤员妥善的做了安排。然后大家一致同意留下签名，待六四平反的那一天一起出庭作证。这么多年来我一直在想，这份宝贵的名单现在何处？
等我离开北京急救中心已是六四早晨八点多钟了。我留在广场上的自行车想必已被坦克碾成了铁片，而北京公共交通全部中断，我意识到我得步行半个北京城回医院了。我的一身血衣帮了我，长安街一路都有好心的骑车人搭我一程。此时很多一夜未眠的北京市民都来到了街上，街上人雍雍嚷嚷，议论纷纷。西长安街惨不忍睹，到处是被坦克压得凸凹不平的路面，冒着浓烟被烧毁的坦克、军车和公交车，横七扭八的人行道栏杆及一滩滩血迹。据老百姓说，这是北京城上百年来损失最惨重的一次。
等我回到医院已快中午，我们医院门前也有很多人，有两个焦急等待的同学一看到我就扑过来把我紧紧抱住，他们都以为我出事了。此时我也忍不住而痛哭失声。原来3日晚《紧急通告》公布后我们研究生队就清点了人数，当时只有三个人不在。而另外两个人也於4日早晨回到了医院，只有我到中午还未回来。他们都觉得我凶多吉少，不知该怎么办？看到我完好无损的回来，同学们都很高兴。同时围着我让我讲我所看到的实况。后来听说，六三晚上我们医院门口也打得很凶，坦克在医院门前还压死了一个航天部的职工。也有很多伤员送到我们医院抢救，而伤口的惨状让很多老教授们义愤填膺，后来联名给中央军委写信抗议！
虽说我们是部队医院，但当时医院的大多数医护人员和北京市民一样对六四镇压感到非常震惊和愤慨。对六四的受害者们表示了极大的同情。我的六四经历让我在医院里享受到了特殊的礼遇。当时我正处在研究生答辩的最后紧张时刻，不管我到复印室复制资料，还是到计算机中心算数据，我都受到了一切开绿灯的礼遇。很多人明确表示他们支持我，我做了他们想做的事。还有人主动找到我，告诉我他在京郊有亲戚，如果需要的话我可以到他们那去躲一躲。这一切都让我非常感动，让我看到了人心所向。
六四后，北京市一片萧条。街上见不到行人，到处是站岗的军人和巡逻的军车。我因答辩的缘故，要到北医和协和医院去送答辨邀请书，所以六月六号又不得不骑车上了长安街。街上几乎见不到人，少有的几个骑车人和我一样一有风吹草动或看到巡逻的军车就跳下车来，就地卧倒。因为实在担心已成惊弓之鸟的士兵会向我们开枪。而疾驰而过的军车上的士兵们也经常会无缘无故的开枪。
据说当时北京市有失去亲人的老百姓成立的复仇敢死队。我们旁边的部队大院里有人被半夜摸了哨。各总部发出了不要穿军服上街的通令。而军科院则忙于对地方送给戒严部队的副食品做防毒检验。军民关系降到了建国以后的最低点。
在我论文答辨结束后的午餐上，几个北医，协和的研究生导师都感叹万分。有个协和的老教授说：“以前我是坚决反对自己的学生一毕业就出国的，现在我对他们说你们还年轻，能出去就走吧，这个政府是没有希望了”。也是从那一刻，我动了出国的念头。不过总的说来，我们医院对当时六四牵扯的人和事处理的非常低调。出乎我意料的是，我不仅没有被处分，毕业分配时还按原计划留在了我们医院。
一晃十六年过去了，那长安街上迎着子弹冲上去的身影，那在清场时对着压上来的坦克挥舞着的红旗，那喷血的伤口还会时时出现在我的眼前，提醒着我不要忘记这中国民主运动史上惨烈的一页。
2005年6月8日星期三
2005年6月6日星期一
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