HAVING ENTERED A GUILTY PLEA IN OCTOBER, U.S. SENATOR LARRY CRAIG IS BACK IN COURT AGAIN. NOW THE IDAHO REPUBLICAN WANTS A "DO OVER" AND TO BE ALLOWED TO WITHDRAW HIS GUILTY PLEA.
WHAT CHANGED?
WORD GOT OUT ON HIS GUILTY PLEA.
CRAIG WAS APPARENTLY LOOKING FOR A SAME-SEX HOOK UP FOR SOME SAME-SEX ACTION IN A PUBLIC TOILET AT AN AIRPORT.
APPARENTLY ATTRACTED TO POLICE OFFICERS, HE MADE THE POINT OF TAPPING AND PLAYING FOOTSIE WITH AN UNDERCOVER OFFICER IN THE NEXT STALL.
AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE AFTER THE HEARING, SENATOR CRAIG EXPLAINED, "I AM FIGHTING TO MAKE THE COUNTRY SAFE FOR ALL OF US TO ENGAGE IN SEX IN PUBLIC RESTROOMS BE IT AN AIRPORT, BE IT A CHURCH, BE IT A CHUCK E. CHEESE. I DREAM OF A WORLD WHERE SEX IS AS READILY AVAILABLE IN ALL TOILETS AS A ROLL OF PAPER AND URINE STAINS ON THE BOWL."
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Starting with war resistance. In Canada the focus is on getting the Canadian Parliament to act when the judicial branch has thus far failed. November 15th, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the appeals of war resisters Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Parliament is the solution.Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. Both War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist are calling for actions from January 24-26.
The War Resisters Support Campaign has more on the action in Canada:
The War Resisters Support Campaign has called a pan-Canadian mobilization on Saturday, January 26th, 2008 to ensure :
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], 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. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
1) that deportation proceedings against U.S. war resisters currently in Canada cease immediately; and
2) that a provision be enacted by Parliament ensuring that U.S. war resisters refusing to fight in Iraq have a means to gain status in Canada.
2) that a provision be enacted by Parliament ensuring that U.S. war resisters refusing to fight in Iraq have a means to gain status in Canada.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, 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, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, 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, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty 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 [(877) 447-4487], 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. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
Meanwhile IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC event:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
March 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
Don't you hate it when the right-wing puts out the false talking point that the US press and the US military are at odds? Does it go down any easier for you when it comes from the mainstream? Monday, Thom Shanker (New York Times) slimed journalists (his peers -- at least before he wrote the piece) with one lie after another such as this one: "At the start of the Iraq war, decades of open hostilities between the military and news media dating from Vietnam were forgotten". Decades, Shanker says in his best Ann Coulter. Decades? When has the press and the military not been in bed? When April Oliver was kicked off CNN (she would later be vindicated in a court of law) where did the pressure come from? The military. Now a truly "hostile" media wouldn't have given a damn. They would have noted Oliver's reporting stood up and that would be the end of that, no matter how many times Collie Powell came calling. But that's not what happened because -- and there are many more examples -- when the US military brass wants something, the US mainstream press puts on the red light and gets the money up front. Shanks the Clown may not bring in a lot of money, but he works the corner come rain or shine. Shanks tells readers that the US military is pleased as punch these days with the coverage. And why wouldn't they be? Flashing back to November when Project for Excellence in Journalism's report (PDF format here, our summary here) survey was released -- a survey of 111 US journalists (mainstream media) who have covered Iraq and found that 62 percent of respondents stated their "editors back home" had lost interest in reports of day-to-day violence. And the 'coverage' reflects that message sent down the chain. Which may be why Shank's reach-around-pals in the brass are so tickled these days. (Or maybe Shanks just has a light touch.) Shanks fails his now-former peers by refusing to ever note the point of journalism. Or maybe he just never learned it? Reporters are not public relations flacks. They are supposed to root around and unearth the truth. Reporters are not supposed to make the powerful comfortable. Shanks (maybe it's that light touch) seems bound and determined to make them comfortable and, in doing so, feeds right-wing lies from the news pages of the New York Times. He really worked for those five dollars.
Staying with the Times, Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Mudhafer al-Husaini notice that the US collabortors ("Awakening" Council) are being targeted now. Now? Now they're being targeted? As noted in the June 25th snapshot, Baghdad's al-Mansour Melia was bombed and the targets were? The Sunni tribal leaders who were "Awakening" and collaborating. CNN reports that 8 of the 'Awakening' Council were kidnapped in Baghdad in an attack today that also led to 14 other people being killed: "The Shiite Awakening Council members were kidnapped Monday night in the northeastern Shiite neighborhood of Shaab, one of Baghdad's most dangerous areas and a center for outlawed Shiite Muslim fighters, the official said. Gunmen in at least three vehicles surrounded a checkpoint controlled by the Shiite Awakening Council in Shaab and seized their victims, said the official."
In other reality based news today, Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) notes the p.r. push on the Iraqi army and reminds that "relying on Iraqi security forces has proved risky. In February, when Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. handed off command of U.S. troops in Iraq to Gen. David H. Petraeus, he predicted that Iraqi forces would be in charge of security nationwide by fall." Didn't happen, now did it? But they presumably run the checkpoints where a kidnapping took place today.
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
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