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Polly Sigh to Finance New "Non-Religious Only" City
AP - 7 minutes ago.
Washington, D.C.
March 3, 2006
Polly Sigh, noted political activist and healer, has unveiled plans to build an exclusive urban development catering strictly to a non-religious population.
"We're just trying to get back to the American idea of personal freedom and small government. We won't be catering to the zealots out there. If you're a religious wacko, and you want to be told what you can watch, who you can sleep with, who you can marry, or how to live your life in any way, don't move here."
The city, tentatively named "New Renaissance," will be constructed around a large town square complex. One building will house representative art and artifacts from cultures all over the globe. Other parts of the complex will include live performance venues for music, dance, and theater, a gigantic movie house, restaurants, and retail facilities including 24-hour pharmacies, clothing shops, video stores, and specialty food and wine shops.
The town will be without churches, temples, mosques, or any other organized religious structure. Members of the community are of course free to practice the religion of their choice, but they will meet privately in their homes to do so. Polly explains, "You know we thought about having one of each kind of religious facility, but in the end, we decided we just don't want the tax burden on the working people of New Renaissance. If the citizens want them, we'll build them, but then we'll tax them so the community isn't expected to support them with public or private funds."
The concept has drawn fire from some quarters, who believe the town will become a hotbed of activities like live jazz performance, liquor consumption, sexual activity, entrepeneurship and the arts. Polly addressed this concern in a recent news conference.
"Well, we don't want to shoot for the stars right away. For now, we're just looking for a city government that stays out of everyone's business."
We asked her how city leadership will deal with national security issues. She said, "The city administration will take all appropriate measures, but we will not sacrifice our citizens' freedoms in order to convince them they're safe. We're thinking that most of the people who are terrified all the time will move to that city in Florida, and those of us who still remember freedom will move here."
Sorry Polly Sigh, I'm OT again. Steamed though. Yet again we're getting the short end of the budget stick. And don't have enough billets to go around (in the neighborhood of 1000+ billets moved from support to operations in order to try and band-aid the problem). That means 1000 more people to support and 1000 less people to provide that support with. We are asking, Which missions will we not perform any more? We are already terribly short-handed and our boats are falling apart so badly we have to cut missions short so they can limp back to port for emergency drydocks. Boats that were supposed to be replaced in the next few years now have to last an additional TWENTY-FIVE years. Meanwhile our missions expand exponentially. Our brave MCPOCG tries to put a good face on it by repeating our tired mantra "we are used to doing more with less".
Garbage.
Veritas, that's HORRIBLE!
And to think they called the liberals "loose with your tax dollars."
They've blown every penny on crap and then they want us to believe we didn't need this stuff anyway.
Man...it doesn't end.
Move to Seattle!! As Act-Up used to say when people accused them of "recruiting" gays, "10 percent is not enough .. recruit, recruit, recruit!" (That was an actual chant!)
I love my city-state. Hail Cascadia!!
Polly,
Is Missouri leading the way to a theocracy?
http://tinyurl.com/r3oxq (progressiveu) (Some people have made some great points there.)
Seattle International Sister Cities
* Beer Sheva, Israel
* Bergen, Norway
* Cebu, Philippines
* Chongqing, China
* Christchurch, New Zealand
* Galway, Ireland
* Gdynia, Poland
* Haiphong, Vietnam
* Kaohsiung, Taiwan
* Kobe, Japan
* Limbe, Cameroon
* Mazatlan, Mexico
* Mombasa, Kenya
* Nantes, France
* Pecs, Hungary
* Perugia, Italy
* Reykjavik, Iceland
* Sihanoukville, Cambodia
* Surabaya, Indonesia
* Taejon, Korea
* Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Now that cunningham has been sentenced, judged guilty of accepting bribes from defense contractors....
Who are the defense contractors, and isnt a crime to offer bribes..? why is there no followup ?
Polly,
This seems like an excellent time for:
Imagine - John Lennon
Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...
Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...
You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
and the world will be as one.
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
Hey, Polly -
Where is this town going to be? Because I've been really cold for a few weeks, and I'll be moving to your town if it is someplace warm! I might move there even if it isn't - but warm is good!
Hey Polly! Sign me up for an apartment that also accepts one or two (at most) cat companions, and I'll move wherever you build New Renaissance! :-)
I am serious about people moving to Portland, Seattle, Vancouver BC and if preferred, the beach communities. The weather is mild, the people are progressive, we need to retain and expand our strong core of "blue" representatives, keep our environmental focus and our hope.
I heard about this yesterday and am glad it came out. Props to the ACLU!
FOCUS | Pentagon Reveals Guantanamo Identities
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030406Y.shtml
Offering a glimpse into the top-secret world of Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon has released the names and home countries of many detainees who have been held at the isolated military prison for up to four years.
Blair Invokes God in Decision to Send British Troops to Iraq
Some of this is making more sense now eh?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/04/international/europe/04blair.html?ex=1142139600&en=ad75f5130999dfb8&ei=5059&partner=AOL
Posted by: DiAnne/James at March 4, 2006 10:13 AM
I saw part of that interview on BBC, couldn't believe my eyes or my ears.... Blair did have enough of a conscience to look away, shamefacedly, at a couple of places during the interview, so I knew it was a sham, but I did wonder why he was doing a dog and pony show.
And, no.... nothing - however remotely connected to The Cretin's administration - makes sense. It never has, and never will....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060304/en_afp/afpentertainmentus_060304163118
US writer Norman Mailer wins top France prize
NEW YORK (AFP) - US writer Norman Mailer, 83, was decorated with France's highest award, the Legion of Honor, on Friday, and recalled his ties to France and love for its tongue, which he "never could master."
(More on link.)
Pentagon Reveals Guantanamo Identities
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030406Y.shtml
Offering a glimpse into the top-secret world of Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon has released the names and home countries of many detainees who have been held at the isolated military prison for up to four years.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been seeing links to this story for two days now. While I think releasing the prisoners' names is great..., my tin foil hat tells me these names are being released for a reason, and that someone somewhere will benefit from the release of the names (maybe higher poll ratings for the Resident Twit and/or Rummy?).
The names being released wouldn't be done without some "good reason" for The Cretin or Vice Cretin behind it... like a diversion away from other stories? Who hasn't been in the news recently that should have been watched for a new scandal, or more info on an old scandal??? (Or do I need a new tin foil hat? This one is pretty wrinkled and battered....)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060304/wl_mideast_afp/irangascompanytender_060304150608
Iran invites foreign bids for offshore gas field
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has invited foreign companies to develop its offshore South Pars gas field, the first such call since hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took power in August.
Excerpt:
As an alternative, Iran had worked out the buy-back formula -- under which foreign companies are repaid development costs and given an agreed rate of return from initial production.
So far, only phases one to five are operational. Phases six to 10 are under construction by joint venture firms and the rest are in the negotiation phase.
Last month, Iran said that Anglo-Dutch energy giant Shell, France's Total and Spanish firm Repsol would "soon" sign contracts to develop phases 11 and 13.
Investment for each phase has been estimated at between 1.2 and 1.5 billion dollars.
Veritas,
You need a boat? Here, take mine.
Well not exactly my boat, per se. My county's boat. Or maybe it's one of my local fire department's boat. I'm not quite sure. There was a lot of back-and-forth about who had to finally accept delivery of and agree to operate the darn thing. So I'm not sure who lost the final coin toss at this point.
Anyway, it's brand new, and it's and it's a really bitchin' boat, too -- one of those very fast, very seaworthy huge-engined search and rescue boats. You know the ones I'm talking about -- they're what the Coast Guard uses in environments like the one I live in.
In fact, the Coast Guard *does* use just that kind of boat in the environment I live in. They've got a station right out at the end of the peninsula, have had for, oh, I don't know, somewhere well over a century now. And the Coasties already have one of those really bitchin' boats that lives here full time, probably to keep their other 47-footer company so it doesn't get too lonely in its off hours or anything.
And the Border Patrol has one that lives here, too. So does the local commercial boat service & towing company, though theirs is a little smaller and is differently equipped in the, um, extra hardware department. You just gotta love them huge-engined rigid-inflatable-hulled boats. They're really bitchin'.
Which must be why we have yet another one here now, I guess. I seem to recall that it was originally slated to be used somewhere else nearby, on some much smaller lake than the one I live on the edge of. But there was no way to justify that in the long run. So it ended up here instead. I mean, it was custom-built to spec, and already bought and paid for, so *somebody* had to take it eventually, one way or another.
And it really is a really bitchin' boat, they tell me. Good. For a tad over a quarter of a million dollars worth of the taxpayers' money, I should certainly hope so. Of course, that's just what it cost to drive the thing off the lot. Crewing and fueling and maintenance and operational costs aren't included in the sticker price. And, V., I think you already know those things don't exactly come cheap these days.
But, hey, that's the Department of Homeland Security for ya. Somebody had already stuck it in the budget, so somebody had to spend the money on something eventually, so somebody had to get the damn boat sooner or later. And so it ended up here instead.
Altrhough I can't even tell you who got stuck with it right now. I remember reading about it in the papers at the time, back near the end of last year. I'm pretty sure the county sheriff's department ended up with it. But I could be wrong about that. And now I haven't been able to google up the particulars to be more specific about them for purposes of this discussion. Which probably says something right there, too.
But, anyway, here we are with this boat. Bright and shiny, and fast as hell, and very seaworthy, and very expensive to buy and operate -- and, oh yeah, just about totally redundant.
But, ya know... it really *is* a very bitchin' boat.
over the bounding waves,
Otter
NonnyO
The Pentagon is releasing Guantanamo names and countries of origin because of the Freedom of Information Act. Associated Press went to court to get them to do it. That is the only reason.
It is a small victory though!
No Iraq Trip for Legislator Who Opposed Deal on Ports The New York Times
Washington - Representative Peter T. King's prominent opposition to a proposal to allow a Dubai company to take over some terminal operations at American ports may have earned him some punishment from the Bush administration: He has been grounded.
Mr. King, the New York Republican who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, confirmed Friday that a few days after he first threatened legislation to hold up the port deal, the Pentagon informed him that it could not provide an aircraft for his planned March Congressional delegation to Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.
(read rest of reprint at http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030406X.shtml)
They claim it is a "coincidence."
Venezuela Aims for Biggest Military Reserve in the Americas
http://www.guardian.co.uk/venezuela/story/0,,1723274,00.html
This world is crazy!
This is what I was referring to last night:
Congressional Progressive Caucus “62 Strong and Growing”
MEDIA ADVISORY --- NEWS CONFERENCE
Progressive Caucus Leaders, CEOs, and Military Experts to Hold Press Conference on “Common Sense Budget Act”
Would Transfer $60 Billion in “Cold War Era” Pentagon Programs into Urgent Domestic Needs such as Homeland Security, Education, and Health Care
________________________________________________________
Who: Progressive Caucus Co-Chairwomen Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee and additional Caucus Members, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, Ben Cohen and other leaders of 650-Member Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, Dr. Larry Korb – Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration, Admiral Stansfield Turner – CIA Director in the Carter Administration, and additional military and intelligence experts
What: Announcing and detailing new legislation – “The Common Sense Budget Act” --- and related nationwide grassroots campaign to shift $60 billion starting with FY07 budget from wasteful, holdover programs in the Pentagon budget from Cold War era into homeland security improvements, education, health care, renewable energy development, and other urgent domestic needs, humanitarian assistance, and deficit reduction
When: March 8th from 10:00 – 10:30 A.M.
Where: 121 Cannon House Office Building
This is a major effort by Members to address all the concerns we have been discussing here. The one missing area is voting reform and we need to encourage these folks to address that issue--to the extent it can be addressed at the federal level. They need our voices on these issues.
Meanwhile, let your lists and other blogs know about the press conference and the legislation. It has more teeth if many others are helping to provide focus and attention.
Posted by: NonnyO at March 4, 2006 01:42 PM
NonnyO,
Maybe the names are being released for the safe return of Jill Carroll, unless I have missed something in the news. Anyone heard anything more about her?
Woops, sorry DiAnne,
That's what I get for starting at the top of the thread, and answering someone before I read the whole thread.
Posted by: Veritas at March 4, 2006 11:34 AM
That's going on with our funding, too. We're expected to serve more people with less, and sometimes to try to do the impossible.
It's frustrating, and unreasonable, when huge corps like Halliburton are wasting billions.
Management is fed up, dropping like flies.
We know what even one of those billions could do for the poor we serve, don't we?
Truth Shall Prevail
Last I heard, Jill Carroll was thought to be alive. I didn't think the Guantanamo names had to do with her, but there was an actual release of several hundred Iraqi prisoners - I thought maybe that might have.
More on my Move to Seattle campaign:
You're Safer Than You Think
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/261753_seattlecrime04.html
Today's top headline - 40% fewer homicides than a decade ago, only 25 last year which makes it a safe city for its size. I presently don't even know anyone in the city who owns a gun. I am not afraid to walk or drive alone at night.
Karen
This is from Bill Moyer at Backbone Campaign, which is local, but very involved in progressive platform development here. As you can see, he is offering a "tool" that other locales can use.
From Backbone Campaign:
As many of you will be engaged in platform building activities, we'd like to invite you to visit our Progressive Platform page to add your comments and rate the comments of others. We will update our platform for 2006 in the next couple weeks and it will benefit from the activism and inquiry that you have been engaged in over the last couple years.
We will then use, and invite you to use this platform as a resource to enhance local and state party platforms. You can easily view and print the entire document by clicking Full Display Version (HTML) or Full Text Display (text only) at the bottom of the main Platform page.
Oh and my thought on the port deal:
War in Iraq = $1 billion/week
Dubai deal = $6.8 billion = a little under 7 weeks of war
Government bills for Katrina relief = $52 billion and counting
US Arms Sales, 2004 (last year for which data was available) = $18.5 billion = a little over 1/3 of Katrina's government relief bills cost
Since only the struggling middle class pays income taxes now, is this how we fund our government?
In re DiAnne's last post:
...which, of course, can be found at http://www.backbonecampaign.org/
hope this helps,
Otter
Veritas
Grover Norquist wants to "starve the beast" - government will no longer be able to afford social or humanitarian programs, only the military. Government will be so small he can drown it in the bathtub.
Meanwhile, the stock market jumped over 11,000 for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. How many of us have the discretionary income to invest other than retirement mutual funds etc.? Not many.
The Dubai and India deals will be great for the rich of US, UK, Dubai, India etc. but not for the middle classes. Bush says the Indian middle class is growing (true), as is the Chinese middle class - we need to make things they'll want to buy. I don't think that's happening though. & both economies have millions more employed in farming. They aren't getting rich. & our middle class is shrinking.
Bush is the tool of the corporations, nothing more nor less. For anyone who isn't a multimillionaire, better do what he says and find out a way to provide your own health care & retirement & send your kids to school. The government isn't going to do it. That's why he goes on about "ownership" - he wants to dump us.
By the way, is anyone participating in local caucusses to select platform positions and delegates for district, county, etc.? Are people volunteering for local candidates for 2006?
Ours is 15 minutes so I'd better get over there.
DiAnne, it's one thing to cut all government programs but the military.
It's another thing to fund even your military with money gained from selling off your country's assets.
Here's the headline as I see it:
"Bush Selling Off US Ports to Fund Iraq War"
Otter
Thank you very much for posting the Backbone Campaign link. I didn't doublecheck my entry yet and neglected to remember that the highlighted links on what I was sent would not be "clickable" when shown on here.
Thanks again!
That's http://www.backbonecampaign.org.
Moyer also needs help. You might not even have to live around here if you have a computer. Details on there.
They did provide input into the national platform in 2004 and the state platform in 2004. For those who say the Democrats are too far to the middle, here is your opportunity to push from the left.
Veritas
W is a ho.
Boy that saying about the capitalists selling the rope to hang themselves must be true then!
Posted by: DiAnne at March 4, 2006 04:45 PM
Yep, and dumping us he is. As fast as they can.
What are the elderly, and infirm going to do? And, it couldn't come at a worse time, the baby boomers are hitting retirement age.
I sure am glad I paid into all that social security all my working life. Wonder what they did with the excess after they took care of the elderly in those days? Surely, there must have been some excess, after all, we are the baby boomers.
DiAnne,
(After you get back.)
We've got to stop meeting like this.
Posted by: NonnyO at March 4, 2006 01:22 PM
Is Tony Blair nuts? Has he not seen that Shrub's ratings are down the toliet?
he's gotta be kidding....
Posted by: DiAnne at March 4, 2006 04:51 PM
LOL!!! I've never heard it put that way, but it appears to be true!!!!
"Bush Selling Off US Ports to Fund Iraq War"
Posted by: Veritas at March 4, 2006 04:48 PM
Veritas,
We are in such deep financial doo-doo they'll probably have to try to keep us in war interminably or we'll all be learning Chinese. Maybe they aren't as foolish as we think. Maybe this was what they had planned for the long term from the get-go.
Get us in insurmountable debt, then make money off the wars. That sure would explain sniffing up to some countries, and threatening others for the same thing.
If I am just now getting this, and the rest of you knew it all along, forgive me.
he's gotta be kidding....
Posted by: Carol at March 4, 2006 05:00 PM
Ho hos?
Going for groceries then cooking a roast beef dinner. Later, gators.
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at March 4, 2006 05:02 PM
TSP - you funny!
Veritas,
Accurate headline. You could even call it a campaign slogan too. Some people who have always approved of small gov't may approve; however, the majority who believe in responsible gov't and controlling their own destiny probably wouldn't.
What is wrong with this campaign email letter?
===========
Dear Friend,
At the cusp of this election, we are counting on your help. You have accompanied us -– and boosted us -– to many victories in the past eight years. Now, we need you more than ever.
For more than two hundred years, the Democratic Party has worked to protect the interests of America's families –- fighting for equal liberties and equal opportunities for all citizens. I promise to continue that tradition, maintaining a strong commitment to the values that best represent our society.
A Strong Economy -- Every American should have the opportunity to work and succeed. I believe that our nation is stronger when we create jobs here, not ship them overseas. I believe in rewarding the middle-class with tax breaks rather than ever-expanding credit-card bills. We can work together to create the jobs of tomorrow -– to fulfill the promise of the American Dream.
A Secure Nation -- America was born of a far-flung idea: that truly free people could and would govern themselves with peace. Today, America works to promote that same ideal around the world. I will strive to preserve a strong and safe country, one that leads but also lends a hand to neighbors in need. We can accomplish this by building a strong military and maintaining an even stronger sense of diplomacy.
A Better Education -- Education is the foundation of our country's future, and I believe that every child should be given the chance to flourish in our schools. Every school should have access to necessary resources; every classroom should be guided by a great teacher. From the availability of Head Start and after-school programs to the affordability of college, our children should be able to make the most of their potential.
Throughout the campaign, you've heard me talking to the country about my optimistic vision for a better America. Now, you can support me by reaching out to share this vision with a neighbor or a friend. You control the incredible momentum of this campaign -– please forward this e-mail to everyone you know who wants a new direction for this country.
===========
Only one thing: it's signed by Matthew Santos, who is a fictional character. And that's a really sad thing... because if we had the chance, we'd all vote for him in a heartbeat.
http://tinyurl.com/zzer3
if wishes were donkeys,
Otter
UK, US to withdraw Iraq forces by early '07: papers
Sat Mar 4, 2006
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States and Britain are planning to pull all their troops out of Iraq by the spring of 2007, two British newspapers reported in their Sunday editions, quoting unnamed senior defense ministry sources.
The Sunday Telegraph said the planned pull-out followed an acceptance by the two governments that the presence of foreign troops in Iraq was now a large obstacle to securing peace.
"The British government is understood to be the driving force behind the withdrawal plan but all 24 coalition members are likely to welcome the move, given the growing international unpopularity of the war," the Telegraph said.
There are currently about 135,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines and about 8,500 British troops in Iraq. The full U.S.-led coalition numbers around 160,000. Italy, which has the fourth largest contingent in Iraq, has said it plans to pull out this year.
Britain's Sunday Mirror newspaper also reported on the planned withdrawal saying it would happen within 12 months.
more... http://tinyurl.com/oc74y
Moving Tributes...
http://www.legacy.com/Soldiers.asp?Page=FSMovingTributes
Posted by: monkey at March 4, 2006 08:23 PM
And don't forget by 08, they're hoping the memories of the sheep are short!
Posted by: sparrow at March 4, 2006 08:31 PM
Republicans... where men are men and the sheep walk backwards.
Posted by: monkey at March 4, 2006 08:23 PM
Monkey I'd love to believe it but...haven't seen any hint of it in the deployment/redeployment orders still streaming along. The Mirror's a bit of a tabloid too I'm afraid.
Posted by: monkey at March 4, 2006 08:34 PM
I thought they walked in circles with blindfolds on and their hands stuck in all sort of jars looking for handouts.
Posted by: sparrow at March 4, 2006 08:38 PM
No, I just think they like sheep WAAAAY too much...
Posted by: monkey at March 4, 2006 08:39 PM
Gives new meaning to pulling the wool over someone's eyes.
BAAAAAAh
Back on topic...
Proposed House resolution on religion irks some here
By Tim Townsend and Matt Franck
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/03/2006
Some religious leaders on Friday blasted a proposed Missouri House resolution that supports prayer in schools and recognizes a "Christian God," saying legislators are pushing Christianity as a state religion.
"It's an atrocity," said the Rev. Timothy L. Carson, senior minister at Webster Groves Christian Church. "Thomas Jefferson would be rolling in his grave. It's indicative of a movement within one segment of activist Christianity that wants to dominate the rest with their views."
Some lawmakers blamed the backlash on a misunderstanding of the purpose of such resolutions.
The proposed resolution states that "voluntary prayer in public schools, religious displays on public property, and the recognition of a Christian God are not a coalition of church and state."
more... http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/religion/story/0512B034CC655212862571270019240C?OpenDocument
TILLMAN'S DEATH IN AFGHANISTAN TO BE INVESTIGATED AS HOMICIDE:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060305/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/army_tillman_investigation
ROBERT BURNS and LOLITA BALDOR, Associated Press Writers
20 minutes ago
The Army said Saturday it will launch a criminal investigation into the April 2004 death of Pat Tillman, the former professional football player who was shot to death by fellow soldiers in Afghanistan in what previous Army reviews had concluded was an accidental shooting.
Col. Joseph Curtin, an Army spokesman, said the Defense Department office of inspector general had reviewed the matter at the Army's request and concluded that a criminal probe was warranted.
Members of the Tillman family were notified on Friday, Curtin said. In the past, Tillman's father, Patrick Tillman, and other family members have criticized the Army and its investigations.
"We are obligated to answer the family's questions, as we are with all grieving families," Curtin said.
Curtin said the scope of the new investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Command had not yet been determined in detail.
A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the new investigation has not been formally begun, said it would focus on possible charges of negligent homicide.
A second Pentagon official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said no specific soldier is under investigation at this point. He said the CID will conduct an overall death investigation and "let the facts take them where they may."
The official said that the CID's probe — the fifth formal investigation into the incident — will focus on the cause of Tillman's death, not necessarily on whether the previous investigations were done correctly. It is the first criminal probe.
Tillman's mother, Mary, told the Washington Post Saturday that the criminal investigation should have been launched at the onset. "The military has had every opportunity to do the right thing and they haven't," she said. "They knew all along that something was seriously wrong and they just wanted to cover it up."
In the past, Tillman's father, Patrick Tillman, and other family members have criticized the Army and its investigations.
"We are obligated to answer the family's questions, as we are with all grieving families," Curtin said.
Posted by: ralpheh at March 4, 2006 09:56 PM
So why not answer Cindy Sheehans questions?
Mike agrees with me on Kerry's stange "non-positions" on major issues - like Iraq:
The Kerry for Duckworth thing is a mess. I know how it happened - Max
Cleland and Duckworth bonded over their shared tragic war experiences -
understandably - and Kerry and Cleland are extremely close personally.
That said, Christine Cegelis is the choice for Congress. She has the
experience, the ability, the strength on the key issues - all across
the
board. She's the one progressives should and do support. She's the best
candidate for Democrats who want to win. As Cindy Sheehan says,
Christine Cegelis is Exactly the kind of candidate the Democratic Party
needs.
Here's a flyer I made to publicize Cindy Sheehan's, DFA's and PDA's
endorsements of Cegelis. Please use!
Find online here if the files don't go through:
http://tinyurl.com/km75q
Mike Hersh
- MikeHersh.com - http://www.mikehersh.com
- Coordinator, Progressive Democrats of America
http://www.pdamerica.org
- Chair, Montgomery County Progressive Alliance
http://www.mc-progressivealliance.com
- Organizer, Democracy for America / Maryland
http://www.democracyforamerica.com
- Become a Sustaining PDA Donor: https://www.pdamerica.org/donate.php
- The After Downing Street Coalition -
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org
- Convict Bush and Cheney - http://www.convictbushcheney.org
- The Media Watch Project - http://www.democrats.com/media
- Support Cindy Sheehan - http://www.meetwithcindy.org/
- BushOccupation.com - http://www.bushoccupation.com
And remember, here at the DCP we don't endorse any specific candidates, due to our non-profit status. It is important for all of us to investigate the candidates and make our own conclusions.
I have made my investigation and have concluded that Mike is right - Kerry is making a huge mistake - and damaging the party by supporting Duckworth. Cegilis is a good candidate, a credible candidate and serious candidate.
Duckworth already gets a "Spineless Citation" for failing to mention Iraq on her homepage. She is making the same mistake the Kerry made in 2004.
The Army covered up the circumstances of Pat Tillman's death (so what else is new???)
@@@@
Tillman, 27, died on April 22, 2004, when he was struck by gunfire during a firefight along a canyon road near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The Army said at the time that the barrage of bullets came from enemy fire.
A report by the Army later found that troops with Tillman knew at the time that friendly fire had killed the football star. Officers destroyed critical evidence and concealed the truth from Tillman's brother, also an Army Ranger, who was nearby, the report found.
White House Trains Efforts on Media Leaks
Sources, Reporters Could Be Prosecuted
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 5, 2006; A01
The Bush administration, seeking to limit leaks of classified information, has launched initiatives targeting journalists and their possible government sources. The efforts include several FBI probes, a polygraph investigation inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws.
more... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/04/AR2006030400867_pf.html
More from the WaPost article...
Some media watchers, lawyers and editors say that, taken together, the incidents represent perhaps the most extensive and overt campaign against leaks in a generation, and that they have worsened the already-tense relationship between mainstream news organizations and the White House.
"There's a tone of gleeful relish in the way they talk about dragging reporters before grand juries, their appetite for withholding information, and the hints that reporters who look too hard into the public's business risk being branded traitors," said New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller, in a statement responding to questions from The Washington Post. "I don't know how far action will follow rhetoric, but some days it sounds like the administration is declaring war at home on the values it professes to be promoting abroad."
"White House Trains Efforts on Media Leaks
Sources, Reporters Could Be Prosecuted"
Good !
Now the media will be in the same boat as everyone else. maybe now they will start to dig a bit deeper, ask more questions, and DO THEIR JOB.
Ralpheh, I know we've tangled more than a bit by your reflexive anything Kerry is bad, or how one-dimensional the Iraq solution you promote, but Kerry has said reployment, no permanent bases, and his position made last October (and sure to change) is the PDA position. Mike Hersh is PDA, and a great guy. Had a photo taken with him while overweight I'd rather forget.
The 06 elections are coming, what we must win, and like it, or not, the media starved electorate still favor the GOP on terrorism. Even if not true, the manipulative polls keep trying to convince true. No matter how the GOP has created more terrorism worldwide.
Guess I'd still like a little less of the one dimension stridency, with your appreciated and justified passion.
Thanks for posting and sharing, though.
I've been absent on 24/7 election reform and NYS non-compliance with DOJ over the bad machines they seem to want us to buy. The state made bad law as a cave-in to vendors, and now the DOJ is forcing us to rush, haste making waste. It's an unfunded mandate, by forcing us to spend more than we get on electronic touch screens.
Any way, that's my life.
Religion belongs in religious schools, or the public schools will be the Christian equivalent of Islamic madrasas.
What is happening in Kentucky (born-again pledge), South Carolina (Christian state), Florida (Catholic town) and Missouri (official Christian public school religion) is shocking to me.
I went to my local caucus and it was in a Seattle Elementary School. I went throughout the school, photographing beautiful drawings of dreams of peace and end of war, loving depictions of whales and penguins. The children recognize the styles of the world's artists, they know about global warming and they know about the war. The schools are ethnically and culturally diverse. The children have beautiful values and never a word about religion or nationalism need be said. Our children learn nonviolent conflict resolution and they do not play war games.
It has not changed since my son who will soon be 24 attended the public schools here.
http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/0609/fiore.php
The Thriving Business of Long War, Inc.
Posted by: monkey at March 4, 2006 10:36 PM
The White House has been controlling the media since inauguration day 2001, but the neoCon propaganda started before that. Sounds like at least one reporter is trying to warn other members of the press that their First Amendment rights are threatened by the fascist administration in power. (Gee, ya think?!? Maybe Lamestream Media should have paid attention to bloggers who have been ranting about the excessive secrecy of the administration and White House propaganda since this administration was given its office by SCOTUS in 2000!) I wonder if Lamestream Media will wake up and realize that the First Amendment actually means something and it's not just meaningless drivel written some 230 years ago? The five rights given to us in the First Amendment have been increasingly whittled away at an alarming rate, not to mention the Fourth Amendment, and, when torture is applied, Fifth Amendment - I can barely believe those idiots are now claiming information gathered from a torture victim may now be admissible as evidence in a court of law - which is just illogical and insane!
If our democratic republican form of government is really 'of the people and by the people' of this nation, then transparency in government is REQUIRED for the sake of the people of this nation - and media ought to live up to its responsiblity and demand their First Amendment rights - and they need to start reporting the facts about the fascist government we now have, thanks to SCOTUS and a rigged election....
IMHO, the people giving this "classified" info to the press ought to be given medals for trying to inform the public via the media. Obviously, I don't believe every piece of info is truly "classified" - there are just too many secret deals and too much secret crap going on behind closed doors that ought to be made public so people know just how pervasive the criminal behavior of this administration actually is, not just the surface stuff we see that hardly anyone drunk on kool-aid ever complains about even when Lamestream Media actually reports the few facts they do know. No reporter/journalist with one ounce of conscience will reveal truly classified info. But, reclassifying previously declassified documents is another one of those bogus things that makes no sense whatsoever - especially since some of it is just dry statistical data that should never have been classified in the first place.
IF - IF - we are ever to get back to some form of a normally functioning government 'of the people, by the people, for the people' we will need media to once again reassert their First Amendment rights ... and start reporting the FACTS and the TRUTH. IF - IF - those in Lamestream Media figure out just how much they have been compromised since this Criminal Cabal came into existence, and IF they start waking up to just how much they stand to lose in all of this, then MAYBE we stand a chance of going back to normal.
Just got off the phone with my 88 yr. old dad, who says Bush is getting bitten in the butt at every turn. CNN and MSNBC aren't avoiding and sugar coating nearly as much as they used to.
It's hard for me to believe that the media starved electorate still favors the GOP on security and terrorism.
Oh, yeah, Osama's right hand man (you know one of his one thousand right hand men, the one they haven't caught yet) just released a new tape on Al Jazeera. It wasn't translated on the late news. Check early a.m. for translation.
Al Qaeda's Zawahri calls for strikes against West
Sun Mar 5, 2006am ET
By Firouz Sedarat
DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri called on Muslims to attack the West in an audio tape posted on the Internet on Saturday, urging similar strikes as those against New York, London and Madrid in recent years.
In a video of his remarks aired by Al Jazeera television, Zawahri also urged the Islamist militant group Hamas not to recognize peace deals signed by the Palestinian Authority with Israel.
He also called on Muslims to boycott countries where satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad had been published, including Denmark, Norway, France and Germany, and said that Muslims should prevent the West from "stealing Muslims' oil".
"(Muslims have to) inflict losses on the crusader West, especially to its economic infrastructure with strikes that would make it bleed for years," said Zawahri, an Egyptian.
"The strikes on New York, Washington, Madrid and London are the best examples," he said.
"We have to prevent the crusader West from stealing the Muslims' oil which is being drained in the biggest robbery in history," he added. It was not clear if the tape was made before the failed al Qaeda attack last month on a major Saudi oil facility.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-03-
Al Qaeda tape urges boycotts over cartoons
05.03.06 4.00pm
A new video has been broadcast by the Arabic television channel, Al-Jazeera, showing Al Qaeda's deputy leader speaking at an undisclosed location.
In the broadcast, Ayman al-Zawahiri says offences against the Prophet Mohammed were part of a crusader campaign led by the United States.
He urges Muslims to boycott Denmark, Norway, France, Germany and others that have "insulted the Prophet Mohammed" by printing cartoons depicting him.
"We consider the publication of the caricatures to be part of a crusade against Muslims led by the United States," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10371148
Was over at Correntewire, and happened upon a song MJS wrote a few months back.
Nothing new has happened since then, except more has been revealed.
The song is still very relevant, so here it is:
O-bloody, O blood ah!
Georgie had a future in the United States
Rummy was leftover from his dad
Georgie says to Rummy: let's invade that place
And Rummy said this as he took him by the hand
O-bloody, o-blood-ah, death goes on, ja!
Ga-ga, how this death goes on
O-bloody, o-blood-ah, death goes on, ja!
Ga-ga, how this death goes on
Georgie took a tour of The Big Easy
Poses for a photo-op, touching
Stops to look at Karl waiting at the door
And waits to feel the pull of all those puppet strings
O-bloody, o-blood-ah, death goes on, ja!
Ga-ga, how this death goes on
O-bloody, o-blood-ah, death goes on, ja!
Ga-ga, how this death goes on
In under two terms they have broken
Everything
Just a couple more years with them in charge
There'll be nothing left but bones
Happy never after in the dying light
Rummy stares at blood that stains the sand
Georgie stays at home and starts to clear his brush
And in the evening waits for shit to hit the fan
Yes,
O-bloody, o-blood-ah, death goes on, ja!
Ga-ga, how this death goes on
O-bloody, o-blood-ah, death goes on, ja!
Ga-ga, how this death goes on
http://www.correntewire.com/o_bloody_o_blood_ah
Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at March 5, 2006 02:08 AM
Familiar pattern, eh?
The Cretin's poll numbers take a nose dive, up pops another tape ... designed to scare the witless sheeple back to complacent fear with the same ol' "terra" tactic.
Hoo-ah...! Nothing like the smell of fear in the morning...!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060305/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/secret_justice
AP: Many Defendants' Cases Kept Secret
WASHINGTON - Despite the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of public trials, nearly all records are being kept secret for more than 5,000 defendants who completed their journey through the federal courts over the last three years. Instances of such secrecy more than doubled from 2003 to 2005.
An Associated Press investigation found, and court observers agree, that most of these defendants are cooperating government witnesses, but the secrecy surrounding their records prevents the public from knowing details of their plea bargains with the government.
Most of these defendants are involved in drug gangs, though lately a very small number come from terrorism cases. Some of these cooperating witnesses are among the most unsavory characters in America's courts — multiple murderers and drug dealers — but the public cannot learn whether their testimony against confederates won them drastically reduced prison sentences or even freedom.
In the nation's capital, which has had a serious problem with drug gangs murdering government witnesses, the secrecy has reached another level — the use of secret dockets. For hundreds of such defendants over the past few years in this city, should someone acquire the actual case number for them and enter it in the U.S. District Court's computerized record system, the computer will falsely reply, "no such case" — rather than acknowledging that it is a sealed case.
At the request of the AP, the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts conducted its first tally of secrecy in federal criminal cases. The nationwide data it provided the AP showed 5,116 defendants whose cases were completed in 2003, 2004 and 2005, but the bulk of their records remain secret.
"The constitutional presumption is for openness in the courts, but we have to ask whether we are really honoring that," said Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and now law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "What are the reasons for so many cases remaining under seal?"
"What makes the American criminal justice system different from so many others in the world is our willingness to cast some sunshine on the process, but if you can't see it, you can't really criticize it," Levenson said.
The courts' administrative office and the Justice Department declined to comment on the numbers.
The data show a sharp increase in secret case files over time as the Bush administration's well-documented reliance on secrecy in the executive branch has crept into the federal courts through the war on drugs, anti-terrorism efforts and other criminal matters.
"This follows the pattern of this administration," said John Wesley Hall, an Arkansas defense attorney and second vice president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "I am astonished and shocked that this many criminal proceedings in federal court escape public scrutiny or become buried."
{{{More on link....}}}
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060305/ap_on_re_as/india_bush_dogs
Priests Purify Shrine After Bush Visit
NEW DELHI - Hindu priests who look after the memorial of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi conducted a purification ceremony at the shrine after a visit from President Bush. But it wasn't the president who offended them, it was the sniffer-dogs who scoured the area ahead of his visit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The dogs, flown in from the U.S., were part of the intense security surrounding the president, but the Hindu priests believe they tainted the site.
Letting dogs into the memorial also drew sharp protest from Hindu politicians and Gandhi's great grandson, Tushar Gandhi, who called the incident a "national shame," the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
{{{More on link.}}}
And well they should cleanse the shrine to Ghandi... a man as unlike The Cretin as anyone I can think of off the top of my head....
India: Another covert deal, sans brouhaha:
When President Bush announced on Friday that Americans would soon be eating India’s famed mangoes, he failed to explain why.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1641453,001302100000.htm
In pictures: Anti-Bush rallies in India
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4763502.stm
Brazil President Wants Bush, Chavez Chat
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030406E.shtml
Brazil's president Lula da Silva says he'd like to get President Bush and ardent US critic Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to sit down together and talk out their differences.
{{{Someone is daydreaming, IMHO (funny daydream, too). The Cretin would never listen, but he would do all the demanding he would be allowed to get away with... and likely start a war instantly.}}}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
U.S. Opens Iran Propaganda office:
New US focus on promoting democracy in Iran:
The US State Department has created an office dedicated to Iran to reflect the Bush administration’s new focus on promoting democracy in the Islamic republic, officials said on Thursday.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12175.htm
{{{Is this one of Karen Hughes' projects?}}}
U.S. Isolated in Opposing Plan for a New U.N. Rights Council :
The United States has found itself isolated in its opposition to a proposal to replace the discredited Human Rights Commission, and its pledge to vote against adoption of the plan has thrown the United Nations into turmoil.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12183.htm
U.S. Cites Exception in Torture Ban:
Bush administration lawyers, fighting a claim of torture by a Guantanamo Bay detainee, yesterday argued that the new law that bans cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody does not apply to people held at the military prison.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12174.htm
This Inquiring Mind wants to know: When someone leases property, it becomes "theirs" (like when one rents or leases property from a landlord - or like when embassies are technically 'property' of the country leasing the building and adjoining land surrounding it), yes? People who lease/rent that land are then responsible for whatever happens on that property they've paid money to use as their own, yes? (If I committed a crime in a rented apartment, I would still be liable for criminal prosecution for any wrongdoing inside my rented domicile.)
Why or how can US law or international treaties not apply to what the US does in the concentration camps on Gitmo? Or anywhere else in the world where the US leases/rents property??? It's not "no man's land" on Gitmo, yet the Bu$h administration treats the whole subject of torture at Guantánamo like the place doesn't exist except in the dementia states of the feeble-minded, and that he and his administration are not responsible for the torture and abuse going on there (or at Abu Ghraib or anywhere else the administration has inflicted US military presence on those who do not want us there).
Odd: I've never heard a legislator claim that the US is responsible for what happens on the property the US has leased from Cuba for all these years, nor have I heard an "investigative journalist" (I use the term loosely) ask why the Bu$h administration, starting from the top down, isn't liable for criminal prosecution for war crimes for torturing people at Guantánamo, property the US has leased from Cuba....
"Following orders" is not a just defense for committing war crimes. That was established at Nuremberg.
Also established at Nuremberg:
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12100.htm
Quote from the article:
"In 1946, the Nuremburg Tribunal rejected the German defense of pre-emption when it came to the invasion of Denmark and Norway in 1940. The Germans had cited the imminent occupation of these two nations by the armed forces of France and Great Britain, which would have threatened the German northern front, as just cause. This defense was rebuked by the tribunal, led by US Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, who instead identified the German action as constituting a "war of aggression." Judge Jackson went on to say that "To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.""
Still, since I first heard that lame "justification" that Gitmo was exempt from international treaties and laws, and US laws, I've wondered WHY it's exempt and HOW they could arrive at that rationalization. The US leases the property. The Bu$h administration authorized and condones torture and abuse of people on Gitmo. That (in my mind) means the Bu$h administration is liable for the crimes committed there (and for the war crime of illegally invading another country, per US Justice Jackson's words at Nuremberg
China will soon have a form of national health care
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a124ab22-ac48-11da-8226-0000779e2340.html
China is preparing a "walk in space"
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-03/05/content_526741.htm
Bush got much higher poll ratings in India than in US
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/05/news/letter.php
If you like the Iraq War, you'll love the Indian nuke deal
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/hines/3700453.html (from Houston Texas!)
Al Quaida guy prays for Mohammed and Jesus
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=335032006
What will the Fundies think?
Bush possibly 100 miles from Bin Laden, in Pakistan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,1723935,00.html
Incredible security, comments
Ethnic war and thousands dead over oil - not Iraq - Nigeria
http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,,1723943,00.html
Guy at Guantanamo was an apple seller, kidnapped by Taleban
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5664333,00.html
Iran refuses to stop enriching Uranium. Next they will be referred to the UN Security Council. Then one article even tlks about a US plan to impose a period of days, like 30 or 60 before consequences happen. We all know how that works.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5664333,00.html
The world's most powerful woman flexed a muscle this week in what deserves an Oscar for most bizarre exercise video ever. Condoleezza Rice invited NBC cameras to her gym to see how she manages to be fitter and leaner than your average Secretary of State. Even more startling than Condi with toned limbs flailing was the revelation that she gets up at 4.30am to do it.
A report published last week suggests the rivers of Africa face a dramatic disruption which could plunge a quarter of the continent into drought by the end of the century. The study, by Cape Town University academics, says global warming will trigger a surge of 'water refugees': people forced to uproot and move to find water. The UN is already making dire predictions about the fate of 11 million people living in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania over the worst drought in many years across East Africa. Oxfam is warning that only a third of the requested international food aid has materialised.
Maybe it's time for politicians such as Rice get up even earlier.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1723908,00.html
Another bloody week of sectarian slaughter in Iraq culminated in a curfew imposed, lifted and reimposed across Baghdad and a vehicle ban on Friday. This meant many Muslims were unable to get to a mosque for Friday prayers but it probably saved a few souls from joining the grim tally of nearly 500 citizens who have died in the 12 days since the bombing of the Samarra Shia mosque. The political scene was edgy too, as the great hopes for a government of national unity were shaken by Sunni and Kurd politicians who rejected the majority Shia choice that interim prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari should continue in the post.
Jaafari's career looks shaky as he faces the blame for failing to bring the past week's mayhem under control. His competence after nearly a year has been widely questioned. He responded to calls for him to go by cancelling a meeting aimed at reviving the stalled talks to form the new government.
On a lighter note the Foreign Office was forced to admit shamefacedly that the British taxpayer had, for 17 months, been footing the bill for a sex chatline being run from one of two FO satellite phones that nobody realised had been lost. Some Baghdad entrepreneur had run up a £594,000 phone bill.
Wow - look what they do in SOME countries!!
Thousands of opponents of the _______ prime minister have gathered to protest in _______, vowing not to disperse until ________ resigns. The demonstrators plan to march to the Democracy Monument, marshalled by about _____ police officers
(This is not so very off-topic a quote after all, then, since the first of the two stories DiAnne posted for us just upthread makes mention of the very same globe-trotting clotheshorse that the following gentleman does...)
Spike Lee, the well-known African-American film director, has this to say about Condoleeza Rice in the April issue of 'Stuff' magazine:
"People say, 'She's so successful' and 'Look at her position as a black woman.' She is a black woman who grew up in Birmingham, Ala., and said that she never experienced a day of racism in her life.
"Condi, stop smoking that crack!
"I know you love your Ferragamo shoes, but come on. While people were drowning in New Orleans, she was going up and down Madison Ave. buying Ferragamo shoes. Then she went to see 'Spamalot.'"
(Thnx and a tip of the ol' topfur to Liza Sabater over at http://www.culturekitchen.com for bringing that particular quote to my attention this morning.)
if they have no clothes then let them wear gowns,
Otter
Wow - people fleeing tribal areas in Pakistan right after Bush visits Musharaf, because fighting has broken out between military and Taleban. A major offensive has been launched right as Bush visits, in tribal regions. Bush must have put a new bounty on Bin Laden's head.
Otter
Nothing is so off-topic it can't be related to the whole big mess! Making the connections is what makes the picture emerge.
Just got this from a lawyer, who had a comment: "Yikes!"
This is not Guantanamo cases, these are Americans in prison.
AP: Many Defendants' Cases Kept Secret
otterlink: http://tinyurl.com/gv7zw (Sierra Times)
WASHINGTON - Despite the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of public trials, nearly all records are being kept secret for more than 5,000 defendants who completed their journey through the federal courts over the last three years.
(snip)
An Associated Press investigation found, and court observers agree, that most of these defendants are cooperating government witnesses, but the secrecy surrounding their records prevents the public from knowing details of their plea bargains with the government.
(snip)
For hundreds of such defendants over the past few years in this city (DC), should someone acquire the actual case number for them and enter it in the U.S. District Court's computerized record system, the computer will falsely reply, "no such case" — rather than acknowledging that it is a sealed case.
Posted by: nmp at March 5, 2006 10:47 AM
I posted a link to that same story above with an excerpt:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060305/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/secret_justice
Frightening, isn't it?!? I think the story about secrecy in our court system is as alarming as the torture and abuse in the concentration camp at Gitmo and the secret military tribunals the prisoners there have to go through....
The more things like this that happen that echo Germany under Hitler, the more I wonder WHY sheeple don't 'get' that The Cretin and his Criminal Cabal NEED to be IMPEACHED! Maybe this all goes back to the public school system and the failure to teach children critical thinking skills from grade school forward...?
I don't pretend to know the answer. Maybe it's a combination of reasons. The results are that there are a lot of adults running around that haven't a clue about how they're being brainwashed, only know how to spew propaganda they hear, and sheeple don't THINK about what they are actually saying.... Very disturbing....
A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read: Mark Twain
I found that quote on the last Information Clearinghouse e-newsletter. It seems particularly apt.
John Cory | Twilight's Last Gleaming
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/030506Z.shtml
John Cory examines the "lie - Republicans" who wear morality like cheap suits pilfered from the collection plate of decency and observe their pockets which are lined with the lives of fallen soldiers and Iraqis.
{{{Wonderful article....}}}
Ralpheh, I know we've tangled more than a bit by your reflexive anything Kerry is bad, or how one-dimensional the Iraq solution you promote, but Kerry has said reployment, no permanent bases, and his position made last October (and sure to change) is the PDA position. Mike Hersh is PDA, and a great guy. Had a photo taken with him while overweight I'd rather forget.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Yes, we have tangled and we will tangle again: your reflexive, one dimensional, unquestioning support of Kerry is very troublesome, if not greatly disturbing and unhealthy. BTW - Kerry LOST in 2004 to an unpopular dunce of a president, Dumbya Bu$h (I guess I will have to keep reminding of this sad, sad fact since it still has not seemed to register with you). If the Dems nominate another wishy-washy, Republican-lite candidate for president in 2008 (like Hillary or Biden or Kerry), I am GONE; NO MONEY SUPPORT; NO VOLUNTEERING. So to, will be gone, the peace groups, independents and Republicans who have opposed the war since the beginning.
With regard to Iraq, I eagerly await - as does the nation - your complex, intricate, meticulously planned and thought-out solution to the Iraq disaster (and please give your solution, immediately, to the Senate Democrats - they don't have one yet).
BTW #2 You better scold Mike H. for - daring - to criticize Kerry, too.
So doth the cookie crumble
independents and Republicans who have opposed the war since the beginning.
Huh?
NonnyO
Yeah - somehow I kept thinking the secrecy meant at Guantanamo, not in the regular federal courts!
& soon they will have mostly rightwing judges!
Religious tribunals (secret).
NonnyO
Let's just say South Dakota moved last week from ... oh, 48th on our list of college-shopping states to 50th.
(young person at Kos)
I got a plea for money from my Alma Mater yesterday and threw it in the garbage - I actually should write and say why.
Ralph, I just mentioned that PDA's plan is the same as Kerry's plan. You don't have to like him, but still realize he had a plan. The solution is tough, although we have to keep saying leave, because this cabal won't, unless we remind every day.
Thinking must always reflect where we have to go, as well as reality on the ground. That's not wishy-washy, just realizing the whole country isn't totally with us. May never. Thank you, media. A good movie to see, Why We Fight, about misplaced defense dollars and misplaced patriotism.
You just keep saying, every day, that Kerry doesn't have a plan. Harping on it. He's busy trying to elect Dems, because we need success in 06, for more accountability clout and committee chairs. We are in the worst shape since the Founding Fathers. Worse than rhetoric matching our anger.
Posted by: nmp at March 5, 2006 11:30 AM
Actually that's true, nmp. There are independents and republicans out there who also were not in favor of the war. Were any of them elected officials in the US Congress? That I can't attest to. But the dems and greens don't get to take all the credit for anti-war stance.
The South Dakota legislature's waving-the-bloody-hanger posturing over these last weeks has appalled me to the core, and has raised my levels of both disgust for and distrust in people who think and act like they do back to levels that I haven't felt since the Randall Terry and 'Operation (so-called) Rescue' days.
The Supreme Court's reversing two decades' worth of progress last week by legally accepting their vigilante actions is a real hot-button issue for me, and not just because I was volunteering to escort frightened and shattered women past the abusive, violent gauntlet put up by those self-proclaimed "pro-life" radicals and outside agitators who descended on our city back then.
And then when that whack job Eric Rudolph started blowing up our clinics with the full blessing of Terry and his wingnut cohorts, well... let's just say that by that point, my pro-choice stance wasn't just political anymore. Those out-of-control self-righteous zealots had made it personal for me, too. And it for damn sure still is.
I'm pro-life. And I'm pro-choice. And I don't see a discrepancy between those two statements. Like the Clintons said, I strongly believe that abortion should be "safe, legal... and rare."
I don't know any single person that is "pro-abortion" -- and that *especially* includes all those women I helped to stand by and protect during their most difficult choices while Terry and Rudolph and that bastard James Charles Kopp were busy proving what a complete lie their so-called "pro-life" stance really is.
I'm pro-choice. And I'm pro-life. And I vote. And I know how to act on my beliefs, too.
So look out, you right-wing extremist fascist nutburgers, because I'll be *damned* if I am going to let even one more woman have to die from a back-alley abortion while there is anything that I can possibly do to prevent it.
sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now,
Otter
Ralph, I just mentioned that PDA's plan is the same as Kerry's plan. You don't have to like him, but still realize he had a plan. The solution is tough, although we have to keep saying leave, because this cabal won't, unless we remind every day.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Good for John!!!!
Perhaps Big John should introduce his plan in the form of a bill!!! In The Senate, no less!!! At present, there doesn't seem to be any bill dealing with Iraq by Kerry before the Senate.
(from UFPJ site)
Legislation to Stop the War:
In the Senate, there is one lone bill:
S.Res.171, introduced by Russ Feingold (D-WI), only one co-sponsor: Sen. Barbara Boxer
Calls on the President to submit a report to Congress within 30 days describing the remaining mission of the Armed Forces in Iraq, a current estimate of the timeframe required to accomplish that mission, and a timeframe for the subsequent withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
@@@@@@
It is equally sad that Kerry has thrown his big support behind a Dem candidate for Congress in Illinois who is as wishy-washy on Iraq as he was in 2004. This fact leads me to believe that Kerry is Still wishy-washy in Iraq (i.e. No Plan Whatsoever) and merely posturing.
Otter
Good rant!
Now I know more where you are coming from.
We have tangled with some of the same people!
Otter -
I'm with you, brother. And I'll be right by your side helping those women find safe and rare abortions, even if we lose the legal part!
Some Baghdad entrepreneur had run up a £594,000 phone bill.
Posted by: nmp at March 5, 2006 10:17 AM
His phone bill would be lower if he just phoned O'Lielly.
Posted by: Otter at March 5, 2006 12:53 PM
Otter, I know where you are coming from, and I know you are angry.
I want us all to remember, however, that that's how The Rovians want us to react. The louder we holler for legal abortions the more they frame us into baby killers. The anger isn't a bad thing, but what we do with it may feed in to the right's plans, and help them more than it helps us if we handle it in a way that gives them that opportunity.
I say, again, that I think we need to start plastering our phrases all over the place. "Reality and compassion, instead of lies and corruption." Simple words, really.
Truth, you made an excellent point about our reaction and the framing.
Truth,
The reality is that they've framed ourside into the "promiscuous 'baby-killer'" side, even though the facts don't fit. Hense they're constant baying about, "You did it so deal with the consequences!" Yet at the same time, they have taken away birth control, solid sex education, and family planning. (Seriously! There's a poster on Nolie's blog who brags about not using birthcontrol when she marries as if that will be a good thing. I homeschooled with these same people, and though they are good people, they also had a minimum of 6 kids in their family. But that was their choice.)
The compassion part, they only show for the growing fetus but not for the women and not for the baby after birth. They don't see this in all their ranting.
And frankly, I'm totally clueless in how S.D. or any Christian person can force a rape victim or incest victim to have to carry the seed of that rape without any sense of compassion towards the victim. It sickens me!
"...the more they frame us into baby killers..."
Right. Just like we're supposedly on the same page as *real* killers like Eric Rudolph and James Charles Kopp and their ilk (Google and/or Wikipedia search for those two names if you don't get the references, and search also for "Army of God" while you're at it, too.)
I repeat myself -- I am *not* "pro-abortion", and I don't know anyone who is -- even and especially those who have had to make the truly hard and soul-crushing choice to have one.
I *am* pro-choice, though -- just as I am very strongly pro-life. Screw all those right-wing bastids who dared to steal that label as though it meant they were somehow cloaked in the flag with haloes on their heads!
If they're so gosh-darned "pro-life," then where were they in New Orleans? Where are they in Darfur? Where are they in Harlem, or in Cleveland, or in Des Moines, or in Bozeman, or in East Bumblefuzz when it really matters? Where are they when they cut every possible dollar out of health care and education and every other kind of social support for kids, huh?
AWOL, that's where. Absent With Outrageous Lies. Like slimy things crawling out from under rocks, they only reappear when the crisis is over and the TV cameras are turned back on.
"Pro-life", my asterisk! If they're really so holy and anointedly pro-life, then let each one of them save at least one child from poverty and ignorance and premature death from disease by their very own personal actions.
Oh, what's that? You're sorry, you're too busy right now and that sort of thing would be too inconvenient for you to squeeze in between your DeLay fundraisers and your guest appearances on Faux News?
Well, bite me. Come out from under your rocks and put your actions where your blabbers are. Otherwise, just shut your pompous pieholes and get the hell out of my face, you dishonest self-righteous windbags. And take your bogus 'W' decals with you when you go.
You wanna talk about babykillers, you wingnuts? Try looking in the mirror. I can only hope that your stomachs turn as much when you look at yourselves as ours do when we look at you.
not that I feel strongly about this or anything you understand,
Otter
I think it is high time for a male birth-control pill. One that makes them feel dizzy, nauseous, and gives them spotty bleeding when they least expect it.
And BTW I think the Athenian women in Lysistrata had the right idea.
Veritas,
Yes we are going to do that play soon. Want to read for it???
I know, Otter.
There are men mascarading around as pious, but they are (a) silly because they don't know or don't want to know the facts, or (b) shills for the War Machine and corporations for whatever reasons (fame, fortune, maybe even to save their own arses), or (c) deluded into thinking they are supporting something good, although it fails me as to how they could think that especially with all the truth that is beginning to surface this year ~ the Downing St. memos (too bad that got swept under the rug), the war in Iraq, the torture of human beings, the abuse and neglect in New Orleans, and the sabatoge of people's health and welfare by any and every means that doesn't out them properly. I think one way they get away with it is they do their crimes COVERTLY.
Then they get on the bandwagon and get people all stirred up about the abortion issue so that the anger comes spewing from some so violently that it sounds pro-abortion. I understand there is a difference, between being pro-choice and pro-abortion, and I climbed that hill last year and I'm on the other side.
All I am saying is that They commit another covert act, another covert crime, when they sit back and look all pious in their flags and halos, after stirring up the abortion nest, and pro-safe and rare and pro-choice people are angry, and the media and the right gets ALOT of mileage out of that.
If we could somehow agree that yes, they are neglectful, and abusive, and liars, and killers ~ and smug ones. But somehow, SOMEHOW, we have to get our message out there that WE are the humane answer to this destruction. We should have our slogans plastered all over the air waves by now, on billboards, in the streets. Our leaders should be shouting from the rooftops that WE have the moral answers and that They are imposters and frauds.
Is there something I can do to make that happen?
P.S. Please don't anybody tell me to shut my pie-hole and get out on the street.
I am willing to plaster posters all over the place, if I knew where to get some......
Spring has sprung, us chickens get out of the coops and need to fly ~ time is short 'till Nov.
I dunno, Truth. I've got the wrong set of chromosomes to have true credibility in a lot of quarters when it comes to this stuff. (I can't help it, I was born this way, it's not my fault.)
I can recommend one pretty good place to start, though -- it's hardly unique in the blogosphere per se, but its overall trenchant attitude and indomitable spirit leave me no doubt that my all my aunts, my granny, and both my great-grannies would have rushed out to be part of it too, had the Internets only existed back in their day:
http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/
(Never underestimate the sheer power of short, tough, hard-as-baked-clay Tennessee mountain wimmins when it counts. They could any of 'em kick all of our collective butts any day of the week, even now. Bless their hearts.)
(alas, not) in my tennessee mountain home,
Otter
Karen, sign me up! (Provided I'm free...)
Veritas,
Excellent points.
Otter,
That IS satire, right?
Truth,
Judging by the link on their site to the Nashville newspaper, that would be no, it is not satire. Here's the link to the Nashvillescene.com...
http://tinyurl.com/gmh2f
Pretty unbelievable what people will worry about and decide they must regulate with a law or two.
In response to that particular Tennessee statute as cited -- which is not why I recommended the TGW website, but which I now realize was the story at the top of its thread queue when y'all checked it out -- it is *so* very difficult not to give into the temptation to stand here and stridently chant "Up With..."
Oh, never mind.
:::ducking and running:::,
Otter
Posted by: Otter at March 5, 2006 07:49 PM
Oh, Otter, that is funny!!!!
(I wondered, is he trying to tell me something???)
LOL!!!!
And so it is, my friends, a perfect ending to this thread.....albeit not contrived!!!!