Saturday, August 11, 2007

THIS JUST IN! WHAT TO WEAR! WHAT TO WEAR!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- KENNEBUNKPORT.
 
BULLY BOY AND BULLY MAMA BIG BABS BUSH GOT INTO A NASTY ARGUMENT THIS MORNING WHEN BULLY BOY REPEATEDLY WHINED THAT HE DIDN'T HAVE A THING TO WEAR.
 
"HOW ABOUT YOUR G.I. JOE COSTUME?" ASKED BIG BABS TRYING TO BE HELPFUL.
 
"NO!" SNARLED BULLY BOY.
 
"OKAY," SAID BIG BABS SCRATCHING HER BUTT, "HOW ABOUT YOUR COWBOY COSTUME?"
 
"I'VE WORN IT, MOMMY!  I'VE WORN THEM ALL!"
 
"WELL, LOOKEY HERE, LITTLE MISTER," BIG BABS SAID WAVING A CORPULENT, SAUSAGE LIKE  FINGER, "IT IS A CASUAL LUNCH.  DON'T GO GETTING ALL FANCY PANTS ON EVERYBODY.  SARKOZY IS THE PRIME MINISTER OF FRANCE, HE PROBABLY EATS SNAILS, FOR GOODNESS SAKE!  SO YOU JUST CALM YOURSELF DOWN."
 
BULLY BOY SIGHED DRAMATICALLY AND WONDERED IF IT WAS TOO LATE TO SWING BY SEARS FOR A SNAZZY NEW SUIT?
 
 
Starting with war resisters.  Agustin Aguayo served as a medic in Iraq and refused to load his weapon.  He had applied for CO status but was told he'd have to wait until after deploying to Iraq to find out the status.  His CO status was denied and he took the issue to the civilian courts.  After serving one tour in Iraq and while his case was working through the courts, the military expected him to deploy a second time.  Aguayo self-checked out and was gone for less than thirty days before turning himself in.  Despite being gone less than thirty days (September 2nd through September 26th) and turning himself in, the US military prosecuted Aguayo for desertion (the general rule is that you have to be gone 30 or more days for desertion). Aguayo and his wife Helga Aguayo are now telling his story and how it effected their family.  Rosalino Munoz (People's Weekly World) reports that Agustin and Helga are attempting to decide what to do with regards to the civilian case and must decide by September 5th whether or not to appeal to the Supreme court.  Munoz notes, " At issue is whether a soldier's conscienctious objection to war can develop after enlistment and outside of an organized religion, as well as whether the Army can deny a soldier's claim to conscientious objection without a response to the soldier's arguments."
 
Were the military to follow their own stated policies, there would be no questions as to what qualifies for a CO but they don't, as Aguayo, John A. Rogowsky Jr. and many others have discovered.  From the US military's  "Selective Service System: Fast Facts:"  "Beliefs which qualify a registrant for CO status may be religious in nature, but don't have to be."  Despite that basic reality, Aguayo, Rogowsky and others have been told that they're not religious enough, that their religion is not recognized, when religion really is NOT required for CO status.  In Aguayo's case, the military refused to recognize that time in Iraq deepened Aguayo's faith (already present when he enlisted).
 
Munoz notes that Aguayo's attorneys believe he has a strong case but Aguayo wants to review the strengths with them before going further with the case due to a concern that a loss in the Supreme Court could reverse the gains that service members had made during Vietnam.  Aguayo is a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and another IVAW member, provides an update on war resister Marc Train. Adamo Kokesh (Sgt. Kokesh Goes to Washington) reports that Train has been charged "under Article 15 of the UCMJ for being AWOL for 114 days . . . They are now in the process of kicking him out under Chapter 12-14. . . . So a little soft time at Fort Stewart and he should be home free."  Train self-checked out after taking part in the DC actions to end the illegal war in March of this year.  Kokesh also reposts Eli Israel (the first service member to publicy refuse to continue serving in the illegal war while stationed in Iraq) story, told in Israel's own words.  Sarah Olson (Political Affairs) reported on Train in June and quoted him stating, "Just because we volunteered, doesn't mean we volunteered to throw our lives away for nothing.  You can only push human beings so far.  Soldiers are going to Iraq multiple times.  The reasons we're there are obviously lies.  We're reaching a breaking point, and I believe you're going to see a lot more resistance inside the military."  Tran is a member of IVAW (and was on his way to being discharged from the military -- by mutual agreement between him and the brass -- until he signed on to Appeal for Redress) and, like other IVAW members, has posted about his experiences and observations there.  At the end of April, he wrote, "This Administartion has been emboldened by the lack of effective mass outrage.  Now, what I mean by that is that our country as a whole has not effectively demonstrated its outrage about the policies of this Administration; the workers are still going to their jobs, the traffic is still flowing; products are still being consumed.  As long as this is all functioning and every measure of control is in place, and as long as Congress continues to nervously shift about and take no determined action, the Administration does not feel threatened by the anger of its opposition."
 
 

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee,  Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell,  Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.        


Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. IVAW and others will be joining Veterans For Peace's conference in St. Louis, Missouri August 15th to 19th.
 
Meanwhile, the US military is trumpeting the news that the Army met its targeted recruitment goals for the month of July . . . while hoping no reporters note that the target was brought down some time ago both in terms of numbers and qualifications. And hoping no one notices how much money is being spent on a still non-existant draft in the US.  In an indication of things being explored and floated, if not yet on the way,  Bully Boy's assistant and deptuty National Security Director on Iraq and Afghanistan Lt. General Douglas Lute spoke with Michelle Norris on NPR's All Things Considered today where he pushed the draft
("a national policy decision point that we have not yet reached, Michelle" -- note, "not yet reached") and declared of the draft, "I think it makes sense to certainly consider it and I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table, but ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another."  While "one means or another" may be a nicer way of saying "by all means necessary," there's no denying that draft boards have been set up, that tax payer monies are being spent on them and that Bully Boy's assistant is now floating the option which -- pay attention, Nancy Pelosi -- unlike impeachment is not 'off the table.'   Returning to the issue of the qualifications waived to meet the targets, Stephen D. Green, fingered as the ring leader by others who participated in the war crimes against 14-year-old Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and her family (Abeer was gang-raped while her parents and five-year-old sister were murdered in the next room, then she was murdered and her body set on fire to destroy any evidence) is an example of the lowering standards since he went from jail to the military via a 'moral waiver' that overlooked not only his most recent arrest but his prior arrests. In other military crime news, Feminist Wire Daily reports that Cassandra Hernandez' rape by "three of her malecounterparts" in the US Air Force has led not to punishment for the alleged rapists, but instead to charges against Hernandez with the three alleged rapists being "granted immunity from the sexual assault charges" for agreeing to testify against Hernandez.   This assault on Cassandra Hernandez is only a surprise to those who have looked the other way while the US military brass has regularly and repeatedly excused and ignored the assualts on women serving in the military. The assault by the brass on Suzanne Swift is only one of the more recent public disgraces.  The US military brass has repeatedly and consistently refused to address the assaults on women (and on gay male victims of assualt) and Congress has repeatedly and consistently refused to excercise their oversight obligations.
 
On a related crime note, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted today: "In other news on Iraq, the U.S. military has dropped all charges against two Marines connected to the shooting deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha. Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt had been charged with three counts of premeditated murder and Capt. Randy Stone with dereliction of duty for failing to properly report the civilian deaths. Five Marines still face charges for shooting dead two dozen unarmed men, women and children in Haditha on November 19, 2005."
 
Goodman also notes Joe Biden's nosies with regards to punishments for the Bully Boy (we'll get back to that) but that's not really the big news regarding US Senator and 2008 Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden.  Appearing yesterday on PBS' The Charlie Rose Show, Biden discussed the upcoming September 'progress' reports to Congress and noted that there has been no military progress in Iraq though he understood why Gen. David Petraeus would attempt to finesse that bit of reality.  Biden then went on to offer his take on the administration's political attempts (which have failed, as Biden noted) in Iraq and identified Dick Cheney as the one blocking progress.  (I'm not endorsing that, or endorsing Biden's kind words for US Secretary of State and Anger Condi Rice, et al.)  Rose questioned whether Cheney could really be against progress and Biden utilized the oil revenue sharing 'benchmark'.  We've heard that utilized before by all Dem candidates for president except Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich in a manner that lumps the oil revenue sharing and the theft of Iraqi oil into one provision.  Biden didn't lump them together -- a possible sign that other candidates may also join Kucinich and Gravel in calling out the theft of Iraqi oil.  Biden delcared, "Look at what we keept trying to write into the law: privatization.  Who are we to tell them to privatize?"
 
 

Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. Join Yahoo!'s user panel and lay it on us.
Posted by at

Thursday, August 09, 2007

THIS JUST IN! IT WAS BULLY BOY!

 
 
DURING A LIVE WEBCAST OF LOLLAPALOOZA, EDDIE VEDDER BEGAN IMPROVISING LYRICS TO PINK FLOYD'S "ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL" AS PEARL JAM PLAYED THE SONG.  NEW LYRICS INCLUDED "GEORGE BUSH, LEAVE THE WORLD ALONE" AND "GEORGE BUSH, FIND YOURSELF ANOTHER HOME."
 
WEB VIEWERS DIDN'T GET TO SEE IT BECAUSE THE PERFORMANCE WAS CENSORED. 
 
 
BUT AFTER BEING TIPPED OFF, THESE REPORTERS WENT IN SEARCH OF THE BULLY BOY WHO CONFESSED TO US THAT INDEED HE WAS THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CENSORSHIP.
 
"I CAN'T HELP IT," CONFESSED THE BULLY BOY, "I LOVE PLAYING DRESS UP!"
 
 
 
 
 
 
Starting with war resisters.  Camilo Mejia is the first known Iraq War veteran to become a war resister.  At the end of last month, Maria Hinojosa of NOW with David Brancaccio interviewed Mejia (transcript, audio, excerpt) about his time in Iraq, his determining that the war was illegal and his book  Road from Ar Ramaid: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia (The New Press) which was published in May.  "When you join the military," Mejia declared, "you think that you're going to do it to protect freedom to fight for democracy.  And finding yourself in a war that's not legitimate by international law standards, where you're abusing prisoners in a war that's being fought in the streets, and you see that the bulk of the human loss, it's civilian, it's very difficult to conciliate your participation in that war and what you're doing in that war with the reasons that led you to -- to sign a military contract."  And in Mejia's case (and many others), a contract  that  is worthless for the signee because the US military isn't bound by it.  (Mejia, a non US citizen, had reached the end of the 8 year contract but was the victim of 'stop loss' despite the fact that, as a non citizen, this was not allowed under prior or existing policies.)  Noting that Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience (following his was court-martialed and sentencing), Hinojosa asks him where he see his "place now in the year 2007 in these United States?"  Mejia responds, "I see myself as part of a movment.  And the number of people -- deserting the military when I returned from Iraq was 22.  And I believe the number is up to nine -- 9,000 or more soldiers who have deserted or gone AWOL since the beginning of the Iraq war.  And I see a l-long way ahead of us.  I see a long struggle.  And I see myself as part of that struggle."  

Amnesty International also supported Abdullah Webster who was court-martialed in June 2004 after he refused to serve in Iraq citing religious reasons (Webster is Muslim) for refusing to serve in the illegal war.  Webster joined the US military in 1985 and was set to retire in 2005.  The came the illegal war.  Webster had served in the first Gulf War but had converted to Islam (1994).  Webster first attempted (September 2003) to be granted CO status and then followed that with a request for assignment to non-combat services.  Instead, the US military said he would deploy to Iraq (Feb. 2004).  His wife Sue spoke of the June 3, 2004 court-martial and his being sentenced to 14 months noting, "An abiding memory I have is of him being led off back to his cell as I watched distraught, in tears, holding our 22-month-old daughter in my arms."  In April of 2005, Webster was released from military prison.     

There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee,  Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell,  Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.        


Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. IVAW and others will be joining Veterans For Peace's conference in St. Louis, Missouri August 15th to 19th.

To stay on PBS' NOW with David Brancaccio for a moment before moving on, this week's show will feature David Cay Johnston (New York Times) and Beth Shuman discussing with Brancaccio "the state of our country's vast income divide and how it's hurting those just trying to make ends meet."  The program begins airing Friday on most PBS stations, check your local listings.

[. . .]
 
In activism news, members of Military Families Speak Out were among those arrested at the Garden Grove office of US House Rep. Loretta Sanchez yesterday, Jennifer Delson (Los Angeles Times) reports, after Sanchez refused to agree not to vote for the $145 billion funding bill for the Iraq war noting that "$2.1 billion for C-17 production" -- pork she steered her own way via her spot on the House Armed Services committee -- was too important to her, more important than any deaths in Iraq.  "Funding the war is killing the troops!" cry Iraq Veterans Against the War and Tina Richards and Military Families Speak Out while Sanchez plays Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie!  How proud she must be and how untroubled her sleep.
 
In news of other cowardice, St. John Conyers, burned at the stake of his own words, is the Congress member who could start impeachment.  He refuses to.  He refuses a great deal.  Ken Silverstein (Harper's magazine) reports that he was supposed to interview Conyers back in May and, as requested, he did it via e-mailed questions.  Despite following up repeatedly, Conyers still hasn't replied.  Possibly questions about whether "leading the country into the war in Iraq" constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors and why impeachment isn't "on the table" are questions St. Conyers prefers to avoid?  The topic of impeachment wasn't avoided on PBS where Bill Moyers examined it seriously last month.  That one hour look (including guests such as John Nichols) at impeachment on Bill Moyers Journal  is repeating and can also be viewed, listened to or read online currently.
 
 

Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.
Posted by at

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

THIS JUST IN! BARACK OBAMA IS SAMMY POWER IN DRAG!

 
YESTERDAY THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES FOR THE PARTY'S PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION IN 2008 PLAYED PATTY CAKES EXCEPT FOR MIKE GRAVEL WHO DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE SIDE SHOW.
 
THOUGH CHRIS DODD AND BARACK OBAMA EXCHANGED WORDS AND THE MODERATOR ALLOWED OBAMA TO REBUT DODD AND THEN TO REBUT HIS OWN REBUTTAL AND BASICALLY TO HOG THE WHOLE DAMN DOG AND PONY SHOW, THE PRESS MEMO SAYS ALL MEMBERS OF THE PRESS CORPS MUST BILL YESTERDAY'S NONSENSE AS A "FIGHT BETWEEN BARACK OBAMA AND HILLARY CLINTON."
 
THIS IS SIMILAR TO THE YOUTUBE SILLYNESS WHERE JOHN EDWARDS LANDED SEVERAL STRONG BLOWS TO BARACK OBAMA'S BAMBI IMAGE BUT ALL THE CHATTERING CLASS WANTED TO OFFER WAS "OBAMA V. CLINTON."
 
NEWSDAY GOT THE MEMO.  THE WASHINGTON POST GOT THE MEMO.  THE LIST IS ENDLESS.  WHEN WE INTERVIEWED OUR PEERS THEY EXPLAINED THAT THEY JUST WANTED TO SEE A QUOTE "CAT FIGHT."  SINCE BARACK OBAMA OBVIOUSLY WANTS TO SOUND LIKE A WHITE, IRISH WOMAN (LOONY TOON SAMANTHA POWER), THE PRESS WANTS TO SEE HOW SAMANTHA STANDS UP TO HILLARY?
 
MEANWHILE THERE WAS MUCH SOBBING IN THE LAND OF KOO KOO KATRINA.  THE PEACE RESISTER KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL HAS REPEATEDLY PROPPED UP OBAMA AND DEFENDED HIM ONLY TO SEE HIM GO INTO WACK-JOB MODE ON PAKISTAN LAST WEEK (REMEMBER, SAMANTHA POWER WRITES ALL THE WORDS THAT POP OUT OF OBAMA'S MOUTH).  WHILE SOME STILL DEFEND OBAMA PIPING OFF LIKE OUR MODERN DAY CARRIE NATION, OBAMA HIMSELF IS BACK TRACKING (AGAIN) ON HIS PAKISTAN REMARKS.  AND HE'S HOPING NO ONE NOTICES HE CALLED THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA A "PRESIDENT." 
 
POOR BAMBI OBAMA.  HE THOUGHT GOING IN DRAG AS SAMANTHA POWER WOULD BE A WINNING STRATEGY.  INSTEAD HER ODOR CONTINUES TO DESTROY HIS CAMPAIGN WHILE HE PLAYS THE ONLY CARD HE HAS LEFT: BLAME THE PRESS.
 
MORAL: NEVER HIRE A NUTSO AS AN ADVISOR.
 
 
 
Starting with war resisters.  Camilo Mejia is the first war resister to return to the US and refuse to return to the US.  Stephen Funk is the first war resister to refuse to to Iraq period.  Eli Israel is the first known war resister to refuse while serving in Iraq.  At Courage to Resist, Eli Isreal tells his story.  He writes of growing up "in the custody of state of Kentucky," living on the streets, attempting to join the Marines at 16 but having no diploma and no GED so being turned down.  Israel got his GED, took some college courses and, at 18, enlisted in the military.  After leaving the military, he re-enlisted in 2004.  In Iraq he was "a JVB Agent -- the JVB (Joint Visitors Bureau) served as protective service for 'three star generals and above' and their 'civilian equivalents'.  This included the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," etc. and "when we didn't have any missions at JVB, it was common for us to be called on for 'search and cordon' operations and other infantry assignements".  Israel writes:      


I claimed like many that my actions during these missions were justified in the name of "self-defense."  However, I came to realize it was that my perception was wrong.  I was in a country that I had no right to be in, violating the lives of people, and doing so without regard to the same standards of dignity and respect that we as Americans hold our own homes and our lives to.              
I had taken and/or destroyed the lives of people who were defending their families from being the "collateral damage" of the day.  Iraqi boys are joining groups like "Al Qaeda" for the same reason street kids in the U.S. join the "Crypts" and the Bloods".  It's about self protection, a sense of dignity, and a way of making a stand.                            
The young man whose father and cousin we "accidentally" killed, and whose mother and siblings cry every time the tank rolls through the neighborhood, doesn't care about who Osama Bin Laden is.        
 
 


Israel writes of the destuction of Iraq, the daily deaths of Iraqis, martial law, the denial of basic services, and more leading to a realization: "The day I saw myself in the hateful eyes of a young Iraqi boy who stared at me was the day I realized I could no longer justify my role in the occupation."  So Eli Israel attempted to become a CO but when he informed his superios of that decision, he was immediately isolated and placed under military guard for two weeks after which he was sent to Camp Arifjan for 30 days in prison which became 25 and he's now  discharged and "scheduled to be out-processed from the Army within the month and plan on joining forces with anti-Iraq-War movements, such as Courage to Resist and Iraq Veterans Against the War."  That's a synopsis and, again, you can read his story in his own words at Courage to Resist.  He concludes, "Objecting to the war and standing up to the miliary was without question, one of the best decisions I have ever made.  I made a stand that was the right one, and I have my freedom back as a bonus.  Maybe ten years from now those of us resisting from within the military today will be seen as some of the first few to speak the truth and to follow up with action.  Even now I have many to remind me that I'm not alone in my thinking, even a majority of Americans who know that all the pieces of this conflict simply don't add up."      
 



There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee,  Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.   
 



Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. IVAW and others will be joining Veterans For Peace's conference in St. Louis, Missouri August 15th to 19th.    
 


Turning to Iraq where the air war continues.  CBS and AP report that a dawn attack on the Sadr City section of Baghdad, a US helicopter attack, has left at least 9 civilians dead (2 women included in the fatalties).  Reuters says the number, according to hospital officials, is 13 and note: "Hundres of angry mourners later marched chanting through the streets of the slum after the raid on the eve of a major Shi'ite holy day."  BBC offers a series of photos of the mourners which include (a) a man seated on the ground holding his head while a small boy cries next to him, three boys and a man slumped over a table while two women cry, and a photo of marchers which numbers over a thousand -- not the "hundreds" billed -- taking to the treets, walking around buses, clutching their chests and their heads.  BBC reports eye witnesses stating children were also killed and that the US military does conceed the point that women and children were present -- obvious point, this is a residential area that was bombed at dawn -- they assert none died.  Later the US military is expected to also issue assertions that the Easter Bunny exists. Jaime Tarabay (NPR) notes that officials in "Sadr City say that there were no 30  terrorist killed  there were acutally 9 civilians killed and among those were women and children and there were also six people that were injured."

 
 

Be a better Heartthrob. Get better relationship answers from someone who knows.
Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.
Posted by at

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

THIS JUST IN! HOW MUCH TRUTH WILL THEY LET HIM TELL!

 
FORMER U.S. SENATOR, 2004 DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE AND 2008 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL JOHN EDWARDS DELIVERED A SPEEH IN CEDAR RAPIDS YESTERDAY THAT DROPPED A FEW JAWS.
 
 
THE NAFTA BALL GOT ROLLING UNDER POPPY BUSH BUT BILL CLINTON STEERED IT FROM THE WHITE HOUSE AFTER HE BECAME PRESIDENT.
 
WHINED 2008 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL WANNA-BE BARACK OBAMA, "NO!  IF WE HAVE TO START TRUTH TELLING, I WON'T BE ABLE TO DELIVER THE WARM FUZZIES I'VE BECOME SO FAMOUS FOR!  DEEPAK CHOPRA AND OPRAH'S LIFE COACH HAVE BEEN HELPING ME FIGURE OUT HOW TO WORK KITTEN WHISKERS AND SNOW FLAKES INTO MY SPEECH ON CAMPAIGN REFORM!"
 
 
 
Goldie Goes To Africa.  FAIR has issued a "Media Advisory" and whatever they're hoping to accomplish falls apart in the opening paragraph, in the opening sentence in fact, when they bill the overly praised Nation magazine article as an "investigation into the U.S. occupation's impact on Iraqi civilians".  As Rebecca noted last night, it is no such thing.  Not only is it no such thing, FAIR really flirts with xenophobia when they make that hyperbolic assertion.  The Nation's bad (really, really bad) article did not present a single Iraqi voice.  Iraqis can speak for themselves.  Not only can they speak for themselves it is shocking that a media watchdog would  ever claim that OCCUPYING FORCES in a country CAN OR SHOULD TELL the story of the people in an invaded country.  The Nation's article is a piece of crap (and a journalistic laugh) but FAIR can praise (or pass on) whatever it wants.  However, it cannot make XENOPHOBIC statements that betray the very reason FAIR was created without being called out.


If it's unclear to anyone how offensive the opening statement (echoed throughout the piece) is, ask whether or not members of the Israeli army should be hailed as tellers of the Palestinians' story, or whether the slaughter and genocide of  Native Americans should be told from the point of view of the US military?


That is what we're talking about.  In Robert Altman's The Player, there's a pitch for a project set in a foreign country and a backforth of dialogue ensues: "Goldie Goes To Africa!" "She's found by this tribe --" "Of small people!"  "She's found and they worship her."  "It's like The Gods Must Be Crazy except the Coke bottle is an actress."  That scene (script by Michael Tolkin) sends up the "fish out of water" concept --  travelogue movies can only hold an American audience if they have an American front and center.  The story of the Iraqi people is not and will not be told by non-Iraqis.


The very bad Nation article may do many things; however, it does not and cannot tell the story of what life is like for Iraqis today.  It can't because it speaks to no Iraqis.  It is their story to be told, it cannot be told for them.  FAIR hopefully rushed that advisory out quickly.  But the reality is that the wording is offensive and it shouldn't take Rebecca or myself to point out that very obvious fact.  "The Nation's investigation into the U.S. occupation's impact on Iraqi civilians" has never been published because it's never been researched.  To suggest otherwise is insulting.  The US didn't sent the Red Cross into Iraq, it sent in a professional military (and a private one was sent also).  Only Iraqis can tell their story, only they should and to suggest otherwise is a grave insult. (I'm referring to the insult to the Iraqis but it's also true that suggesting otherwise is also an insult to the fine work FAIR has consistently done for many years.)


Turning to war resistance.  In April, we noted Terri Johnson who signed up and realized she couldn't support the illegal war so she droppsed out in basic training.  Johnson explained, "All you got to do is leave.  Throw the towel in.  They cannot stop you.  Stay gone for thirty-one days.  Get your two-way ticket to Lousiville, Kentucky.  The MPs will meet you there and pat you down.  You will be there for four days and eat this horrible food.  The only thing you cannot do is get a federal job.  Okay, I wasn't that interested in working for the federal government anyway.  The other thing you can't do is re-enlist in another branch of the military."


Terri Johson is a war resister.  So is Carla Gomez.  Gomez' story is told in Peter Laufer's Mission Rejected: U.S. Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq. Gomez was a 17-year-old high school student in Santa Cruz, Calif. when her new 'BFF' Sgt. Daniel Lopez entered her life.  After forcing his way into the Gomez family, Lopez wants her to take a physical.  Gomez was already having doubts.  He takes her to San Jose for a physical but what happens is she's forced -- by one man after another -- to sign enlistment papers.  A 17-year-old surrounded by adults, an hour from home, no way to get home, facing the equivalent of time-share sales people.
What saved Carla Gomez was knowledge that she didn't have to join.  No matter what she signed.  If you sign up on a delayed entry, you don't have to go.  You can write a letter stating you've changed your mind.  That should be all the contact you have with them.  Gomez tells Laufer her letter stated, "My parents and I were coerced by Sergeant Lopez.  The real reason why I ended up signing was because I was exhuasted.  I thought the only way to go home was by signing.  I feel I was not in my five senses at the time and I feel that I was pushed to sign the contract."  [Gomez' story appears on pages 78-85 of Laufer's book.]

We're focusing on this aspect of war resistance today for a number of reasons including Tony Allen-Mills (Times of London) reporting Sunday that new things were being imposed by the Pentagon including that drill sgts. may no longer use the words "maggot" or "worm"  as a result of what Allen-Mills describes as "a desperate bid to lower the fall-out rate among the dwindling numbers of young Americans ready to sign up".  So the answer is to provide "calm authority" and not derision.  Aimee Allison and David Solnit, in their book Army of None, detail the branding and marketing efforts to trick and deceive young people.  They also note the success of counterrecruiting and how the military's response was to drop "Be All That You Can Be" (sounded like a lecture from a parent, polling groups determined) and go with "There's strong, and then there's Army Strong."  (Which honestly sounds like one of those "Made for a man, but I like it too" advertisements.)  The advretising budget for "Army Strong" is 1.35 billion over five years. (Ads began airing in Oct. 2006.)  (Army of None, pages 45-66 which can be found at bookstores, online and via Courage to Resist).

Today, Prensa Latina reports: "Sectors from the Puerto Rican society will start a campaign next week against military recruitment in schools to enter the US Army, said activists from the Independentista Party of Puerto Rico (PIP) Monday."  You can't vote in the presidential elections, the US won't allow you your independence but your children can die in an illegal war started by the US.  And it's not just Puerto Rico and the US fighting military recruiters.  Matthew Holehouse (New Statesman) reports on Students Against the War's protest in Camden at the Kids Connections' offices last week.  What were they protesting Kids Connection was creating classroom modules (paid for by the UK Ministry of Defence) that propagandize about the illegal war.    Matthew Holehouse notes that, in the United Kingdom, the failure to meet targets "was forcing the military recruiters to target children as young as 14".  Returning to the US where, as Jorge Mariscal (Black Agenda Report) notes, "8,000 premanent resident aliens already enlist in the U.S. military every year".  In the land where 'bi-partisanship' so frequently translates as "screwed twice over," US Senators Edward Kennedy and Arlen Specter can reach across the aisle and, as Mariscal points out, use the DREAM Act of 2007 to tie documented residency in the US with military service.

And as students return to classes in Phoeniz, Arizona, activists are there to inform.  KVOA reports the citizens "are part of the Arizona Advocacy Network Foundation, the Arizona Counter Recruitment Coalition, Parents Against Violence in Education and the End the War Coalition" who fan out with postcards that the student and the parent can complete to opt out of the automatic data mining done by military recruiters (thanks to the "bi-partasian" nonsense that was the so-called No Child Left Behind).  Andy Harvey (KPNX) gives the background on this and also a report  on the protests (link contains text as well as streaming video).   Adam Loveless, military recruiter, looks ridiculous in the new military uniform (everyone does) and attempts to liken targeting high schoolers with targeting college students.  As Donna Winchester (St. Petersburg Times) points out, the opt-out forms must be filled out at the start of each school year.  The Vallejo Times-Herald notes that high schoolers  Aliesha Balde, Doris Le, Perla Pasayes and Shamar Theus are on the road through next Sunday working with the ACLU and other students "to scrutinize the military's recruitment campaign aimed at youth".  The student activists have entitled their project "The Truth Behind the Camouflage: A Youth Investigation into the Myths & Truths of Military Recruitment & Military Service."

Those are only some of the stories of resistance with war.  Carla Gomez is a war resister and there is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.


Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. IVAW and others will be joining Veterans For Peace's conference in St. Louis, Missouri August 15th to 19th.


RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
"Other Items"
"The walkout"
"fair gets it wrong"
"Jane Mayer, Pelosi's office can't explain the 'woopsie' moment"
"Ira Chernus and Hawks who pose as Doves"
"Third"
"Hoyers explains the drawbacks to Congress"
"THIS JUST IN! HOYER LOVES CONGRESS, HATES VOTERS!"

Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story.
Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games.
Posted by at

Monday, August 06, 2007

THIS JUST IN! HOYER LOVES CONGRESS, HATES VOTERS!

 
"WE'RE GIVERS," HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER STENY HOYER TOLD THESE REPORTERS EXPLAINING SATURDAY'S VOTE.
 
ALONG WITH MAKING ILLEGAL SPYING LEGAL, HOUSE DEMOCRATS HAD ANOTHER KNIFE TO PUT IN THE PEOPLE'S BACK.
 
WHILE POSING AS AGAINST -- OR AT LEAST TROUBLE BY -- THE ILLEGAL WAR, HOUSE DEMS WERE PART OF THE 395 MEMBERS VOTING TO APPROVE A $459.6 BILLION GIVE AWAY FOR MILITARY SPENDING.
 
WHEN HOUSE REP. HOYER NOTICED THESE REPORTERS WEREN'T LAUGHING, HE MUTTERED SOMETHING TO THE EFFECT OF "THIS WOULD BE A GREAT JOB IF IT WEREN'T FOR THOSE DAMN VOTERS."
 
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance. "Justice is justified by what the elite want to justify." So said Bob Watada, father of Ehren Watada, yesterday. Ehren Watada is the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq (June 2006) and whose court-martial (February 2007) ended in a mistrial, over defense objection, when the defense was clearly leading. The next court-martial is scheduled for October. It may or may not take place. Issues involving the first court-martial are working their way through the appeals court. Bob Watada was speaking in Eugene, Oregon yesterday at Alton Baker Park. Andrea Damewood (The Register-Guard) reports approximately 150 gathered to "remember the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Jagasaki, Japan, . . . to remind that the weapons that unleashed such horror 62 years ago are more plentiful today. . . . With dusk approaching, peace activists moved to the duck pond where they lit tea candles and placed them in paper bags. The bags glowed orange as they caught the wind and set out as small beacons of hope, before slowly extinguish-ing. Koto zither music tinkled softly, and traditional Butoh dancers, painted entirely white, were silhouetted against the darkening sky."

On a similar horror scale, in the illegal Iraq War, torture has taken place repeatedly, most infamously at Abu Ghraibl In Aidan Delgado's The Sutras Of Abu Ghraib: Notes From A Conscientious Objector In Iraq, he recounts his own journey which does include a stint at Abu Ghraib (beginning in November of 2003) when a prison uprising took place. From pages 150 to 152 of Delgado's book:

"Did y'all hear about the riot?"
This is how I learn what happened on the other side of the camp during the prisoner demonstration. Sergeant McCullough tells the story with quiet enthusiasm, nodding and gesturing for emphasis. Just after one o'clock, the prisoners in the Ganci compounds -- the eight razor-wire enclosures outside the prison wall, where most of the detainees are held -- began to riot, or at least that's what the Army called it, though I learn later they were mostly just marching and chanting. In essence, the prisoners were upset about their living conditions: cold weather and the lack of blankets, jackets, and warm clothing. They were also complaining about the food, which they claimed was often served spoiled or infested with vermin, and was generally inadequate. On top of this, the representative protested the confiscation of the prisoners' tobacco and not being able to smoke. They had been marching and demonstrating for several days in a row. The demonstration got out of control and turned violent. The prisoners started throwing stones and pieces of wood from the tent floor. The MPs on duty responded with nonlethal rounds: rubber bullets, beanbags, and tear gas. In Sergeant McCullough's telling, one of the prisoners threw a rock and hit a soldier in our company, Specialist Pitts, in his face.
Sergeant McCullough expresses his anger at seeing one of his soldiers' faces bloodied. At some point during the demonstration, he can't say exactly when, they get the order to use lethal force. He tells us that he knelt down behind a barrier, loaded his weapon, said a prayer, then stood up and fired. He says he thinks he hit three prisoners and he knows he killed one. In total, twelve prisoners are shot and three of those die of their wounds. He says one of the prisoners was shot in the head and his face split open like in the movie Terminator 2. Another prisoner had been hit in the groin, and according to this account, the guards left him on the ground and he bled to death. He says they took pictures of the bodies after the shooting. They got copies in the TOC.
[. . .]
At first I don't know what to think or say. I only know that I am bothered. It takes a few minutes to process. Then I think, This is a little f**ked-up. He shot an unarmed prisoner on the other side of a barbed-wire fence for throwing a stone. Four people are dead for throwing stones in protest of their living conditions. Don't judge, I remind myself, you weren't there, you didn't see it. Maybe the action was necessary. They were probably afraid for their lives. Then I look to my left and right and see the young guys in my unit: laughing, smiling, talking about how much they wished they had "gotten one" too. I reconsider. This is f**ked up.

Speaking on Democracy Now! today, Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild, answered Amy Goodman's question as to what "a body of lawyers" can do in terms of dealing with the illegal war: "We [National Lawyers Guild] have a new joint anti-war task force which is cooridinating our work, the Military Law Task Force which counsels thousands of GIs every month who are disenchanted, who don't want to go back to Iraq, who want to file for consientious objection status, some of them go to Canada. We have Mass, a huge Mass Defense Project where we do legal observing at anti-war demonstrations and we have an international committee that deals with these issues as well. We are putting out literature to try to convince members of Congress who don't think that high crimes and misdemeanors have been committed by the Bush administration that in the fact the war is illegal, it's not a mistake. And so we've been cooridinating all of our work and really focusing the major part of our work on ending the occupation." Among the literature NLG has released is (hot off the presses last week) Punishing Protest written by Heidi Boghosian (available online in PDF format for free and avaible in book format for $3 at the National Lawyers Guild website). The accounts from legal observers at demonstrations (on Iraq, on WTC and more) provide a strong *spine* to Boghosian's report.



There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Joshua Key, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Jeremy Hinzman, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.


Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. IVAW and others will be joining Veterans For Peace's conference in St. Louis, Missouri August 15th to 19th.

Bob Watada wasn't the only one taking part in Sunday's Peace day. David Collins (The New Mexican) reports that IVAW's Adam Kokesh took part in the Sante Fe action and spoke of how he'd be willing to return to Iraq: "I'd like to organize some nonviolent resistance to the occupation. If the Iraqi people can get as many millions of protesters as they can when Sadr (Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr) says get in the streets, imagine what they could do if they just sat in around the bases there, prevented convoys from leaving the bases." Staying with IVAW, A.N.S.W.E.R. notes "Iraq War Veterans to Lead Mass 'Die-In' During September 15 Antiwar Demonstration to Coincide with Congressional War Debate" which will take place in DC; however, those with DC burnout, don't tune out yet, the mass "die-in" does demonstrate this will not be reheated left-overs. A.N.S.W.E.R. notes: "Those organizing for the September 15th demonstration include the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition; Ramsey Clark, United States Labor Against the War, Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation; Mounzer Sleiman, Vice Chair, National Council of Arab Americans; Cindy Sheehan, Cynthia McKinney; Veterans for Peace (National); Iraq Veterans Against the War; Tina Richards, CEO of Grassroots America; Rev. Lenox Yearwood, CEO of Hip Hop Caucus; Code Pink; Father Roy Bourgeois and Eric LeCompte, School of Americas Watch; Kevin Zeese, Democracy Rising; Navy Petty Officer Jonathan Hutto, co-founder Appeal for Redress; Liam Madden, Pres. Boston Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War and co-founder of Appeal for Redress; Malik Rahim, founder of Common Ground Collective, New Orleans; Howard Zinn, Author and Historian; Carolos & Melida Arredondo, Gold Star Families for Peace. . . . To make arrangements for interviews with antiwar leaders, organizers, activists and military families, call Sarah Sloan at 202-904-7949." A.N.S.W.E.R. also notes CODEPINK will stage a September 17th "Peoples March Inside Congress." Saturday is the 15th, Monday is the 17th. There will be other actions in DC but the two may bring a new excitement to 2007 (and September 17th isn't that far away so CODEPINK will hopefully put some information up specifically about the "People March Inside Congress"). While we're noting actions (and being fully aware of what a downer DC is seen as on most campus currently -- hopefully the above actions will build some excitement) let's not that Congress is out of session until September 4th and United for Peace and Justice encourages you to think globaly by acting locally -- meet with your representatives and senators who should be in their home districts (reps) and in their home states (senators). Since they are home, today also is the re-launch for the Occupation Project -- where nonviolent menas are used to occupy congressional offices. SDS -- Students for a Democratic Society -- is one week away from their action camps to be held in Lancaster, Penn (August 13-16th). SDS just finished their National Convention in Detroit. James Neshewat (CounterPunch) reports the convention addressed the theory of oppression.

World Can't Wait has their Orange Summer where each Friday, they're asking people to wear the color orange to show that the time is past due to "Drive Out the Bush Regime!" Orange because "the color that has been assigned to those detained and tortured with no due process". [Scott Horton (Harper's magazine) addresses new realities with "The Boot is Descending" as does Robert Parry (Consortium News) in "Bush Gets a Spying Blank Check."]

And of course Iraq Veterans Against the War and Tina Richards and Military Families Speak Out continue to get the word out: "Funding the war is Killing Our Troops." It's a message boiled down to the basics. One that will help destroy the nonsense pushed by the administration and some members of Congress that funding the illegal war is offering 'protection' to anyone.

At Military Families Against the War (UK), Tracy Hughes writes of having a son is in the Royal Engineers and how the wars (Iraq and Afghanistan) "are using our brave children as political pawns. The people who are responsible for them being there, (Tony Blair and George Bush) have the blood of hundreds of troops on their hands, we can only pray that our new prime minister will see what a fiasco Iraq and Afghanistan are and get our troops out of there asap."
 

Sick sense of humor? Visit Yahoo! TV's Comedy with an Edge to see what's on, when.
Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)