1) OIL: Ms. Rice used to have an oil tanker named after her. And she used to be on the corporate board of Chevron...so she knows the importance Iraq plays in terms of access to oil. And she knows what the oil companies stand to gain if we get rid of Saddam.

2) DISTRACTION: The War on Terrorism has not been as successful as President Bush has stated, and he is feeling pressure to do something, even if that something has nothing to do with actually fighting terrorism! The Bush administration thinks they can fool us into thinking they have the terrorism situation under control by going after Saddam, when all they are doing is exacerbating the problem by creating more outrage against the United States from potential terrorists.

How cynical is this? Last year, Bush held a major signing ceremony where he took full credit for his own No Child Left Behind Act. And then, just a few days ago, on the anniversary of the act, Bush again praised himself for what he called "the most meaningful education reform, probably ever." What he failed to point out at that press conference is that his new budget strips the bill of nearly all of its authorized increases for education spending to help children, especially the low-income children forced to attend low-performing schools that need the money the most. While the signing of the bill got front page coverage in every major newspaper for the gains made in education spending and policy, Bush's recent cuts have been buried in small articles in the back pages. It is this cynical strategy that Bush has repeatedly employed - he is counting on us not to notice the details, the substance and the truth behind the rhetoric. The truth is that Bush's proposed budget for this fiscal year cuts $7.1 billion from the No Child Left Behind Act, all of that coming out of the program designed to help children from low-income homes. So in fact, low-income children will not actually be helped by this "significant and meaningful legislation" after all. So why doesn't the press talk about the details?

And where is that $7.1 billion that was supposed to be spent on education for low-income children going? To tax cuts for the rich...Under Bush's costly 2001 tax cut, over a ten year period more than half of the $1.3 trillion cuts will be pocketed by the richest 1% - that's almost half a trillion dollars! And now, taking advantage of the public's desire for the president to do something about our country's economic problems, Bush not only proposes to make that tax cut permanent, but to create an additional tax cut for stockholders that will cost $600 billion over a period of time, with few immediate benefits to help people struggling through a recession. Undoubtedly, it's poor families and children that will have to take the burden of these benefits so clearly targeted to the wealthy, as state and federal social programs continue to be cut due to a rising deficit and a seemingly inevitable war.

Why should we be surprised? As governor of Texas, Bush took the state's largest surplus and turned it into a budget shortfall by giving tax breaks to his rich friends and supporters. Meanwhile, he left one million children without school lunches by simply failing to implement the $33 million federal school nutrition program. A leopard doesn't change his spots. Though he may put on a good show, Bush as president, like Bush as governor, just wants to reward his rich contributors and doesn't care about the children he's leaving behind.

In a case that highlights the layers of conflicts of interest inherent in the Bush administration, Judge John Bates, appointed by President Bush to the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, ruled that the General Accounting Office, the Congressional investigative arm, does not have the right to access information about Vice President Dick Cheney's secret meetings that formulated the president's energy plan. We already know that the energy plan, which called for expanding oil and gas drilling on public land and easing regulatory barriers to build nuclear power plants, came directly out of conversations with leading officials in the energy and oil industries, including representatives of Enron. What was said at those secret meetings, however, we may now never know.

This ruling is a clear effort on the part of a Bush judicial appointee to protect the vice-president and the president from any appearance of wrong-doing. Now that the Republicans are in control, there is little hope that, for the next few years anyway, we can rely on our Congress to prevent appointments of such judges who will forgo judicial fairness to protect the president's interests.

Judge John Bates wrote that the lawsuit filed by the Comptroller General David Walker on behalf of the GAO was an "unprecedented act." Talk about unprecedented: The ruling from the conservative Supreme Court that unfairly gave us this president was certainly unprecedented! And let's look at what anti-environmental actions that president has taken most recently:

- After refusing to sign the Kyoto Treaty to prevent global warming, the president now seems willing to admit that global warming may actually exist. Well ... duh! 20 years worth of scientific research isn't enough for him? Apparently not, for President Bush is now calling for five more years of research into the causes of global warming and possible responses - an obvious stalling tactic. The only thing five more years of research will give us is more polluting cars and power plants that contribute to the problem of global warming.

- The Bush administration went to court in California recently to support a lawsuit by car companies to strike down California's new law that requires car companies to develop and sell zero emission vehicles (hybrids, fuel cell and electric-powered cars). This lawsuit shows that the Bush administration will go to any length to defend corporate interests over environmental protection and human health.

I don't like giving speeches. First, I don't know what to say. Then I want to say too much. ButI'm here tonight for one reason: I'm a sucker for Jesse.

Jesse represents meaning to me because he doesn't duck the hard case. Against segregation in theSouth. Against racial profiling in the North. Against apartheid in South Africa. For a livingwage. For opening locked doors and lifting glass ceilings. For voting rights - and for countingevery vote - even in Florida. For this, he's been vilified and scalded in the press. But he'sstood up, made his case, marched and protested with passion and poetry - and one thing for sure,he's made America better.

So...

When I was making Yentl, I learned that the wise men who wrote the Talmud believed it was ok toargue with God ...be angry with God ...wrestle with God. What they didn't want you to be wasindifferent to God. Indifference was unacceptable then. And indifference is unacceptable now.

This is certainly true as our nation wrestles with serious issues that can no longer be ignored -even in wartime. Across the country, Americans have come together in the face of the tragedy ofSeptember 11th. In responding to that horror, we all became brothers and sisters, where there wasno discrimination, no racial or national divides. That day, ironically, brought out the best inpeople. With lives on the line, people understood that the soul has no color...that inside we're allthe same. We saw the possibility, as one rabbi put it, of the "Re-United States of America."

Today, the country stands united behind our president because we need him to succeed. We all praythat President Bush gets good advice and makes wise decisions. But heartfelt patriotism does notmean silence.

Yet, we already see efforts to stifle independent thought and free speech. I've even heard thatcertain right-wing commentators and editors have announced that they were forming an organization topolice the press. Bill Maher was threatened as host of Politically Incorrect for being...politicallyincorrect. Professors and journalists' jobs are under review simply for criticizing U.S. policy.

White House press spokesman Ari Fleisher first warned that "We should watch what we say," as ifdemocratic debate were a threat to the war on terrorism. But Fleisher had it backwards: We wagethe war on terrorism precisely to defend the right to democratic debate.

And now it's particularly important to speak out, because the sudden shift from peace and prosperityto war and recession raises fundamental questions about the direction of our country.

Consider this: Over 800,000 people have lost their jobs since September 11 and only one-third ofthem are eligible for unemployment insurance.

In recessions, the federal government usually steps in, extends unemployment benefits, and helps putpeople back to work. But in today's Washington, the Republican-controlled House passed a stimulusbill that contains almost nothing for the unemployed, yet includes 25 billion in retroactive taxcuts for big corporations. It's the reverse Robin Hood theory - take from the poor and give to therich. IBM would get $1.4 billion... GM, $833 million ... and Enron, whose executives are among thepresident's leading donors, would get $254 million - if it stays in business long enough to collectit. That isn't a stimulus, it's a scandal.

It doesn't make sense. We're spending a billion dollars a month on the war. We've got realdomestic security needs that have to be met. We passed the last set of tax cuts, and now thePresident's own budget director says we're looking at deficits for as long as the eye can see, asthe Democrats predicted, I might add! The country can't afford these tax cuts. And it can't affordindifference either.

After September 11th, a lot of us took down articles and ads critical of the president. Congressional Democrats embraced bipartisan unity. Yet, only 10 days later, the Wall Street Journalurged the president to use the crisis to force through the entire conservative agenda - upper endtax cuts, oil drilling in ANWR, fast track, even conservative judges - the full catastrophe. Sincethen, the Republican Congress has tried to do just that. Attorney General Ashcroft has gone evenfurther, claiming unprecedented police powers in the name of national security.

Hell, he's even got Bill Safire scared! All of us want this nation to be safer. But you can'tdefend America by attacking the very rights and liberties that we're fighting for.

And isn't it a little hypocritical to suspend people's rights, yet not allow the FBI to checkwhether suspected terrorists have purchased guns? It doesn't make sense!

And why is this administration cloaked in secrecy...from the Cheney energy task force meetings, toissuing an executive order locking up historical presidential papers that, by law, were set to bereleased to the public? What is there to hide?

I say it's time for our representatives in Congress - even those afraid of not being re-elected -and for our citizen leaders, for each and everyone one of us to stand up and speak out. This is nota question of party, but of principle.

What's worrisome is that too many people of conscience are biting their tongues, fearing they'll beperceived as unpatriotic. In fact, we need to forcefully engage the argument about what makesAmerica ... America, the country we all love. Do we want corporate tax giveaways, or help for theunemployed. Opening public lands to oil companies and logging interests, or renewable energy andconservation. An America where elections end up in the courts, or where election reform insuresthat every vote is counted. A justice department and judiciary that threatens a woman's right tochoose and the elderly's right to a dignified exit, or a renewed commitment to the freedom of choiceand liberty in a time of crisis.

Let's have the debate. We can argue about this, wrestle with this...but we can't be indifferent tothis. I know it's difficult to criticize the administration in a time of war. But this is aboutour future...about protecting the very essence of our democracy...freedom of speech. Our leadersshouldn't be afraid to speak the truth, even if it is temporarily unpopular. As Dr. King said,"Truth crushed to the earth will rise again." Truth works. Truth has its own force. Trutheventually wins out.

And that's another reason I'm a sucker for Jesse. All of his life, he's acted with the faith thatif Americans heard the truth, they would choose the right path. And there's no better time to testthat belief than now.

Happy belated birthday, Jesse. You're a giant of our times. Thank you, and Rainbow Push, for thishonor, and thank you all for being here.