Signs of Spring

I have 5 crocuses. Now I'm jealous!

The New York Times: The Endgame in Iraq

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040206Z.shtml
Iraq is becoming a country that America should be ashamed to support, let alone occupy, according to the New York Times. The nation as a whole is sliding closer to open civil war. In its capital, thugs kidnap and torture innocent civilians with impunity, then murder them for their religious beliefs.

We do have daffodils and cherry blossoms.

This is from 3 years ago. I'm sorry everything keeps seeming ironic.

Spring Time in Iraq

by HAMMOND GUTHRIE

One million marched to mourn ancient death in Karbala
rejoicing, chanting, dancing and slashing their bodies
frenzied blood ritual homage to Mohammed's grandson
adding prayers that their "liberators" might disappear

The great Communicator in Chief of the "liberators"
was astounded--flabbergasted--and surprised
that Arab Democratic Republicanism is not on the rise
now that faith-based missals have cauterized the air

The great "liberator" has misplaced his copy of the Koran,
his astonished surprise casts an illiterate shadow
over the broken hearts and minds in Iraq and all of Islam
by consistently ignoring the teachings of Mohammed

It's Spring time in Iraq--and flowers are hard to find

(go here to see photo)
http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal

More Springtime in Iraq Irony

Condi Rice was protested heavily in Britain, but her counterpart/equivalent Jack Straw was not nearly as well known in US when he visited a few days before. I was commenting on that to my friend Bert and he just sent me this.

Could it be PhotoShop - oh my - I have to check.
Bert wrote "Don't know who Straw Is? You Will Soon." Well he is a partner in crime.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/2/8228/07878

Neocon Cabal Blocked 2003 Nuclear Talks
(that would have prevented the nuclear buildup in Iran)

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HC30Ak01.html

So we were ready to negotiate about nukes - Iran had met the conditions to do so. Powell was blocked by neocons and here we are.

Casey,

I agree with you that a year ago we were in a long, deep, dark winter instead of spring. But now, spring is here in terms of politics. A new beginning.

The campaign season has started with people out getting the petitions signed to get on the ballot and with people thinking about getting involved.

I've encouraged friends and family to find a person or cause they support and 'go for it.' Two years ago, most people left politics for the professionals, but now, we're pushing the average person to get involved and it's working. Sure the other side has it too, but the difference is that for two years people have been drowing, trying to stay afloat, and those that voted for Bush or an "R" have given them a chance to improve their lives. They fell for the blaming Clinton lines, but now they know...it wasn't Clinton per se...the responsibility rests with the whole group. Sure you need to dig deep and make sure any congressman (d or r) isn't on the take, but people see behind the curtain now.

(Of course, I have had doors slammed in my face by Republicans who were against raising the minimum wage, but overall, the message that the democratic party was fighting for the little guy got out to the majority.)

Sparrow
Move On is having people make calls.
I'm doing it for a California candidate.
This is something that could be done by anyone in any state and would link internet activism to the ground, such as people who don't spend alot of time on the internet. The elderly, for example, are the most reliable voters and most likely to still use land lines.

nmp,

Yes, there are many situations for activism. My daughter said there are people on campus getting signatures and registering people to vote.

Sparrow
Everybody just needs to keep on doing it like there's no tomorrow!

US Helicopter Shot Down Over Baghdad
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040206X.shtml

An Apache helicopter that crashed southwest of Baghdad is believed to have been shot down and the two crew members are presumed dead.

nmp,

Remember when the DCP first got started and Oncall sent out letters to begin his own group? Well, I'm thinking that now is a great time for people to do that. Sure if moveon or something is around, they could start there, but the benefit of forming your own group is that you can do what needs to be done without having the negative connotations associated with moveon. The neoCONS have successfully created that frame.

Thought for today:

A religious expert once asked Jesus how to get eternal life.

Jesus asked him what the Bible taught.

"Love the Lord with all my heart, and my neighbor as myself," the expert replied.

"That is how you get eternal life," Jesus said.

The expert looked for a loophole. "But how do I know who my neighbor is?" [Surely, he thought, most people aren't my neighbors.]

Jesus responded, "An American's car broke down and he had to walk several miles to get back home. He went through a bad part of town, and he was attacked by a gang, who robbed him, beat him, and left him for dead.

"A minister walked by. When he saw the half-dead man, he hurried to the the other side of the street to stay safe.

"A self-righteous politician walked by. When he saw the half-dead man, he too hurried to the other side of the street and walked a little faster to get the nasty sight out of his mind.

"Then a couple guys came by, walking in the shadows: a Muslim and an illegal immigrant. They only spoke broken English, and had never even met each other until that moment, but when they saw the guy lying in a pool of his own blood, they went over to see what they could do. To their surprise, the man was still breathing, raggedly. The men took their shirts off to help mop up the blood. They got the injured man in a fireman's carry and took him to a hotel a few blocks away. The Muslim took out his wallet and told the concierge to put up the man for a few days, or until he got better. "I'll cover all the costs," he assured the hotel manager. The illegal immigrant's wife came by daily to help tend the injured man's wounds and nurse him back to health.

"Now," said Jesus to the religious expert, "which of these men could the injured American call his neighbor?"

The expert replied, "The ones who took care of him when he needed it the most."

Jesus said, "Go and do the same."

[Luke 10:25-37, paraphrased]

Well (re)spoken, V.

we are none of us natives here anyways,
Otter

Sparrow
I agree. I know some people in rural or suburban areas around here who have formed small groups.

I went downtown for awhile. When I got home, I was not pleased to see the following TruthOut article in my box. It was so depressing I decided to read it later, but it said:

Government in Secret Talks About Strike Against Iran
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040206A.shtml
The British government is to hold secret talks with defense chiefs tomorrow to discuss possible military strikes against Iran.

I decided to read the next email first, since it was personal and I thought it would be a diversion, as I had a stick feeling in my stomach (and still do). I opened that email and it said:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=Q33LSY3YK4EWDQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2006/04/02/wiran02.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/04/02/ixportaltop.html

Government in secret talks about strike against Iran
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 02/04/2006)

The Government is to hold secret talks with defence chiefs tomorrow to discuss possible military strikes against Iran.

A high-level meeting will take place in the Ministry of Defence at which senior defence chiefs and government officials will consider the consequences of an attack on Iran.

It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is "inevitable" if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme.
 
A high-level meeting will take place in the Ministry of Defence

Tomorrow's meeting will be attended by Gen Sir Michael Walker, the chief of the defence staff, Lt Gen Andrew Ridgway, the chief of defence intelligence and Maj Gen Bill Rollo, the assistant chief of the general staff, together with officials from the Foreign Office and Downing Street.

Yikes! No escape!!

On the other hand, it's impossible to predict events from the computer. Reading news articles, I find that the powers that be deny there will be the type of meeting reported above, that Rice says the US is committed to diplomacy, but also that Iran has just tested the world's fastest underwater missile.

Who knows?! Living with this chronic uncertainly is maddening.
I suppose that's why some people just zone out and ignore the whole thing, but we're also pretty close to $3.00/gallon around her for gasoline!

Tick.

Tock.

Click.

Boom.

Any questions?

always the optimist,
Otter

Tonight Dick and I drove over to the Anacostia to see the sunset and think about what to do next. There were trains...Dick loves trains going by.

All of a sudden, we looked up--the helicopters were there and we knew....

He's baaaack!

Karen
It's so sad because when Dennis Kucinich came here once to speak, Representative Jay Inslee was with him. He told what a great joy it was to see the helicopters leave DC with Bush I on board when he left office. He was really looking forward to the same experience with Bush II. Ah well ..

Our Thai friend just returned. It's in turmoil there. He said since Thailand started to have elections (rather than just being a hardcore monarchy), no one seems to serve out their four year term. There is a coup every time. The guy they have now has become unpopular because he owns half of a big media company and sold it for $1.9 billion tax-free. That is typical corruption, in a country that is developing and there are alot of poor. He also said gas prices shocked him when he got home, but they also shocked him in Bangkok (where it is horribly polluted) and more people were taking mass transit.

Bangkok has a monorail now, but Seattle's is not going to be built. We voted for it and they were supposed to build it, and in fact we're paying for the land they bought to build it on, which will be sold. A big developer is also forcing a 1907 church ot of the downtown - it has beautiful domes.

This is for the developers, war profiteers and polluters.
You know who you are.

Piggies

Have you seen the little piggies
Crawling in the dirt?
And for all the little piggies
Life is getting worse
Always having dirt to play around in

Have you seen the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts?
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt
Always have clean shirts to play around in

In their styes with all their backing
They don't care what goes on around
In their eyes there's something lacking
What they need's a damn good whacking

Everywhere there's lots of piggies
Living piggy lives
You can see them out for dinner
With their piggy wives
Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon

[One more time...]

THE BEATLES

Big Bang Baby
by Stone Temple Pilots

I got a picture of a photograph
Of a wedding and a shell
It’s just a burning aching memory
I never kiss and tell

So turn it up and burn it
There’s a hole in your head
There’s a hole in your head
Where the birds can’t sing along

Does anybody know how the story really goes
Or should we all just hum along
Sell your sole and sign an autograph
Big bang baby, it’s a crash, crash, crash

I wanna die but I gotta laugh
Orange crush mama is a laugh, laugh, laugh

Spin me up, spin me, spin me out
Station love station send me up and out
Is this what life and love is all about
I think I think so

We used to see in color
Now it’s only black and white
It’s only black and white
Cause the world is color blind

Nothing’s for free, nothing’s for free

I got a picture of a photograph
Of a wedding and a shell
It’s just a burning aching memory
I never kiss and tell

Posted by: monkey at April 2, 2006 09:39 PM

The thread was just so perfect I didn't want to screw it up with words, but what I feel is so profound.........

Those words tell the story of the depth of the human cost in suffering and death and ruined lives this administration and those in power have caused. When you look at Cindy Sheehan you see it. Times that times thousands.

It's more than just politics, baby.

Posted by: not my president at April 2, 2006 07:46 PM

Last night I saw the WaPo subject line that said terrorist acts would "likely" to increase if Iran is invaded. I couldn't bear to open it and read the story. "No $h*t Sherlock; what gave you the first clue?!?" was my snarky thought.

Then I saw those headlines that you posted and read the same thing in the TO newsletter. First, my brain said "Well, if it made the news headlines, then the talks aren't very "secret" now are they?" My mind has been attempting to block 'what if...' thoughts ever since.

I have appointments to keep and errands to run first thing this morning, but when I get home I'll be phoning and/or emailing my senator and rep and demanding (not asking politely this time; my patience level has hit zero and can only go into minus numbers from here on out) that they stop the warmongers in charge of this government from even thinking about illegally invading Iran (and it would be illegal, a war crime by Nuremberg standards, just like the invasion of Iraq was illegal by Nuremberg standards and by later world & UN agreements).

We've heard all the SAME LIES before about investigations, sanctions, demands to stop doing this, that, and the other because of some IMAGINARY THREAT to the US, connected with Iraq before, now Iran, and some of us knew in advance it was a bunch of LIES because we could read the body language of the LIARS who told the LIES, and now everyone around the world knows the illegal invasion of Iraq was a pack of LIES based on documents they've seen.

If the TWITS in charge of this government succeed in talking people into illegally attacking Iran by arbitrarily ordering another illegal invasion or an illegal attack, the rest of the world would likely form a coalition and invade us, no matter how many danged bombs we have that could destroy them. They have bombs, too, and if they adopt The Cretin's standards and see the US as more of a threat to them than it already is, they could also do a pre-emptive strike against the US and bomb the h-e-double toothpicks out of this nation (it is what The Cretin and Vice Cretin and Rummy and Condisleazy and whomever else are planning for Iran, I assume, just like they did for Iraq).

Dumbya's invasion of Iraq shut down their chances of opening the Iraqi Oil Bourse, and the last thing I saw about the Iranian Oil Bourse is that the opening has been delayed (it had been set to open Mar. 20). At this point, the oil corporations' profits are so obscene, they deserve to lose money....

The Cretin's demands for Iran are unreasonable, Iran won't have nuclear bomb capability for at least ten years, and every person around the world with one ounce of common sense and two gray cells to rub together knows it. The Cretin must be stopped, censured and/or impeached, and Congress must take back it's Constitutional powers and obligations, and the sooner the better. Then the people at The Hague need to check out the lease the US has for Gitmo, find out that the US controls that piece of land, and between the illegal invasion of Iraq and illegally holding prisoners at a concentration camp at Gitmo and torturing people there and wherever else, they need to file war crimes charges against all of them... and we need to ship them off to The Hague to be tried for those war crimes.

The only outcome of more war is more lives lost, more destruction, more debt.... and all for the sake of controlling oil and making corporate bastards richer by shutting down the chances of an Iranian Oil Bourse.

WHY has no one since Carter emphasized (not merely mentioned in passing) finding alternative sources of energy??? (Rhetorical question, I know. The answer is that it wouldn't profit a corporation....)

Collectively, the US has lost whatever shred of common sense we used to have, and with the lack of attention by a watchdog media who has done nothing but spew party line propaganda, the only possible outcome to The Cretin's paranoia is yet another war while the attention of at least half this nation is being directed at things like reality TV or whatever else they think they can give us in the way of bread and circuses or non-issues to talk about.

CENSURE AND/OR IMPEACH THEM ALL FOR LIES, HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, & TRY THEM ALL FOR WAR CRIMES AT THE HAGUE!!!!!

Then, repeal every danged stupid law made since those idiots were put in office, and let's go forward from there....

Libby's Lawyers Want Fitzgerald to Step Down
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040206Y.shtml
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is narrowing the description of his powers in an effort to counter calls for dismissal of the criminal case he brought against Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff.

{{{My snarky thought: Is this a joke? How desperate can cornered weasels get??? The defense counsel is clearly directing attention away from their client and shining a spotlight on someone else. I believe that is some kind of ad hominem attack.... I've noticed The Cretin's administration is particularly good at ad hominem attacks - and because of the sheeple mentality of so many people, it works.}}}

I've seen either this one, or one like it before:

The 23rd Qualm

Bush is my shepard, I dwell in want
He maketh logs to be cut down in national forests
He leadeth trucks into the still wilderness
He restoreth my fears
He leadeth me into paths of international disgracefor his ego's sake
Yea, though I walk through the valley of pollution and war
I will find no exit, for thou art in office
Thy tax cuts for the rich and thy media control, they discomfort me
Thou preparest an agenda of deception in they presence of thy religion
Thou anointest my head with foreign oil
My health insurance runneth out
Surely, megalomania and false patriotism shall follow me all the days of thy term,
And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever.

April showers here in the nation's capital, and that seems appropriate, given the return of the President last evening.

But the cherry blossoms are still moving and dancing with the wind, we are all still breathing, and therefore we can all get active today. NonnyO is right to be calling her representatives; as we need to remind ourselves CONSTANTLY, they work for us.

Let's share that information with others today as well. We are all too often weary and jaded, and that is how they win. period.

NonnyO
So by now you must have seen this. I have no idea how to interpet it. I mean, is anyone going to be busted down or not?!
They knew the identity in 2003, the "election" was in 2004, the midterm "election" is in 2006, the trial will be in 2007. What's going on?!!

Jason Leopold: Fitzgerald Knew Identity of Leaker From Start
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040306Z.shtml

The special counsel appointed in late December 2003 to investigate the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson found out the identity of the Bush administration official who disclosed her undercover status to syndicated columnist Robert Novak just two months after the probe began.