The Daily Jot: THIS JUST IN! MCCAIN PICKS UP SPARE CHANGE IN BAGHDAD!

Monday, April 02, 2007

THIS JUST IN! MCCAIN PICKS UP SPARE CHANGE IN BAGHDAD!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.

DID ANYTHING HAPPEN IN DOMESTIC POLITICS TODAY, OR IS ALL PUT YOUR MONEY DOWN ON THE HORSE OF YOUR CHOICE?

AT THE O.T.B., THESE REPORTERS BUMPED INTO CRAZY JOHN MCCAIN WHO, CARRYING BRICKS OF CASH, EXPLAINED "The John McCain Showboat Express " HAD JUST RETURNED FROM IRAQ "WHERE THINGS ARE BETTER. I FOUND THIS CASH IN THE U.S. EMBASSY THERE. I THINK THE TALK OF THINGS NOT GOING SO WELL IS A LOT OF NAY SAYERS. OH, GOTTA GO BET ON MY NAG -- AND I DON'T MEAN JOE LIEBERMAN!"

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Starting with war resistance. Randy Richmond (London Free Press) reports on the United in Song, United in Peace event in Canada yesterday where US war resister Tim Richard sang (Richard self-checked out in 2005) and US war resister Dean Walcott spoke about his "two tours of Iraq" and his decision to self-check out in Decemeber. Walcott has applied for refugee status. Friday, US war resister Corey Glass appeared before the Canadian Immigration and Refugee board to plead his case. Unlike during the Vietnam era, no war resister has yet been granted refugee status. Today, 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. PST, Chris Cook's Gorilla Radio will feature War Resisters Support Campaign's Lee Zaslofsky discussing "treatment of a more sinister nature" such as the US military's harassment of Kyle Snyder via a supposedly Canadian police force.

Glass, Key, Snyder and Johnson are part of a movement of resistance within the military that also includes Ehren Watada, Darrell Anderson, Joshua Key, Ryan Johnson, Ricky Clousing, Mark Wilkerson, Agustin Aguayo, Camilo Mejia, Patrick Hart, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake and Kevin Benderman. In total, thirty-eight US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at Center on Conscience & War, The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters.

Resistance takes place outside the military and the Grandmothers Against the War were interviewed by Janet Coleman today on WBAI's CAT RADIO CAFE about peace, the war and their arrest October 17, 2005 at Times Square Recruiting Center in NYC. They group described this activism in a 2005 statement as: "We are grandmothers heartbroken over the huge loss of life and limb in Iraq. We feel it is our patriotic duty to enlist in the United States military today in orders to replace our grandchildren who have been deployed there far too long and are anxious to come home now while they are still alive and whole. By this action, we are not supporting the use of military force in Iraq -- in fact, we are totally against it. But inasmuch as it exits, our goal in joining up is only to protect young people from further death and maiming." Call, call, call, was one point, and tell your legislatures to vote for peace by stopping funding of the illegal war. (AP's Mike Glover reports that Senator Barack Obama says if Bully Boy vetoes the proposed Congressional bill, "quickly" -- like whipped puppies -- Congress "will provide the money without the withdrawal timeline". Obama would stand if he wasn't on all fours.) The Congressional switchboard is (202) 224-3121.

Meanwhile, US Senator Russ Feingold announces he's teamed up with the Majority Leader Harry Reid for a piece of legislation that, as described, is honestly disappointing coming from Feingold. The way it will be reported -- by KPFA and others -- is "The bill ends funding for the war"! The reality is the same escape clauses built into the House and Senate measures (House measure passed two weeks ago, Senate measure passed last week) that still need to be reconciled. As with those measures, the bill, as described, says, "War is over . . . except for" and these are the exceptions:

(d) Exception for Limited Purposes -- The prohibition under subsection (c) shall not apply to the obligation or expenditure of funds for the limited purposes as follows:

(1) To conduct targeted operations, limited in duration and scope, against members of al Qaeda and other international terrorist organizations.

(2) To provide security for United States infrastructure and personnel.

(3) To train and equip Iraqi securit services.

If it all seems familiar, we're back to the age-old issue, "Are you a soldier or are you an adviser?" As Robert Knight noted last Monday on Flashpoints, "This would leave an equal or greater number of US troops in Iraq under the vague but permanent classifications of counter-insurgency, security and training for what New York Senator Hillary Clinton calls 'remaining vital national security interests in the heart of the oil region.' The rhetorical flourish of referring only to the withdrawal of combat troops recalls the tactic by which earlier administrations once referred to US soldiers in Vietnam as advisers rather than troops." (Those unable to utilize or benefit from the archived broadcast can click here for a text version -- with typos I'm sure.) Lisa Goddard (CNN) asserts this proposed bill, if passed, "would end the majority of Iraq war funding after March 31, 2008".

Staying with politics and Iraq, US House Rep and 2008 presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich spoke to over 200 people in Olympia, Oregon. Brad Shannon (The Olympian) reports that Kucinich stated, "We have to remember that Democrats are expected to stand for peace, to balance the power of this administration, to stand for the truth, to stand for social justice, and to stand for a domestic agenda instead of a military build-up. . . . Congress should be using its power now to pull the plug on the war and to stop this war and to stop the bloodshed and take a new direction. And Congress has the power to do it."