Paulie Sigh

stumbled accross this and thought of the folks here:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst,if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." Teddy Roosevelt

By 2005, 122 countries had abolished the death penalty in law or in practice

In 1977, only 16 countries were abolitionist.

1.... Country that still executed juvenile offenders in 2005.

Renditions are illegal under international treaties to which all European governments are party.

2005... year in which evidence was made public of involvement of European governments in US-led renditions.

1000... approximate number of secret flights directly linked to the CIA that used European airspace between 2001 and 2005, some of which may have carried prisoners.

100s... estimated number of persons who may have been subject to renditions around the world.

6... number of European countries implicated in the rendition of 14 individuals to countries where they were tortured.

1... number of European countries that has issued arrest warrants for CIA agents suspected of kidnapping prisoners for rendition.

141... countries party to the UN Convention against torture and other ill-treatment.

104... countries out of the 150 countries in AI's 2006 report that have tortured or ill-treated people.

2.2 million... number of refugees and people displaced by the conflict.

285,000... estimated number of deaths from starvation, disease and killings in Darfur since 2003.

7,000... number of African Union monitors deployed in Darfur.

13... number of UN Security Council resolutions adopted on Darfur.

Zero... number of United Nations peacekeepers deployed in Darfur.

100 million+... number of children who remain out of school.

300,000... estimated number of child soldiers.

46%... number of girls in the world's poorest countries with no access to primary education.

1592... number of days since the USA opened the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for 'war on terror' suspects on 11 January 2002.

759... total number of people who have been detained at Guantanamo Bay.

13... age of Mohammed Ismail Agha when taken into US custody in Afghanistan in late 2002 before later being transferred to Guantanamo.

0... the number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay who have been convicted of a criminal offence.

2 million girls... at risk of female genital mutilation each year. Only 9 countries have specific legislation outlawing female genital mutilation.

25 % ... of women experience sexual abuse by an intimate partner in their lifetime. 79 countries have no legislation against domestic violence.

5.3 % ... of rapes reported in England and Wales in 2003 resulted in a conviction.

2... bullets for every person on the planet and one gun for every ten.

1000... average number of people killed every day by small arms.

1 to 10... for every $1 spent on development assistance $10 is spent on military budgets.

88%... reported conventional arms exports are from the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council: China, France, Russia, UK and USA.

(excerpted from Yubanet.com)

Breaking Wind: Senate Intelligence Committee votes 12-3 in favor of the nomination of Gen. Michael Hayden for CIA director.

INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE???

Miss Knowmer

Iraq War Provoking Terror: Amnesty International
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052306A.shtml
"The war on terror and the way it has unfolded is actually premised on the principle that by eroding human rights you can reinforce security," said Amnesty International's Secretary-General Irene Khan. "And that is why as part of the war on terror we see restrictions being placed on civil liberties around the world."

Amnesty Group to U.S. - Shut Guantanamo

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5840637,00.html

Iraq War Provoking Terror: Amnesty International

Posted by: DiAnne at May 23, 2006 04:55 PM

Duh. But it's good for business.

Car Lie'll

Brian Haw's anti-war display in front of Parliament was removed earlier today by the police. Go here for photos and information:

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/05/340346.html?c=on#c148411

John Kerry Fights to Protect Veterans from Identity Theft

Kerry bill will provide free credit monitoring for veterans affected by stolen data

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) has introduced the Veterans Identity Protection Act of 2006, legislation that will provide free credit monitoring for all United States military veterans who have been affected by the recent theft of personal data.

The personal information – including birth date and social security number – of approximately 26.5 million veterans was recently stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs staffer who had taken the records out of the office inappropriately.

“Clearly the security at the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to be tightened up in a big way,” Kerry added. “This breach should not have happened in the first place, and someone needs to be fired for it. Veterans Affairs is supposed to be there to protect and help our veterans, not compromise their privacy.”

Kerry’s bill will offer free credit monitoring for one year for every American affected by the theft. Credit monitoring on average costs between $50.00 to $150.00 per person each year. Kerry’s bill will also provide a second free credit report to each veteran for the second and third years of the act, in addition to the free credit report available under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

“I’m deeply concerned that this theft happened May 3 and 26 million veterans are only finding out about it now. This stolen data is personal and private and there are grave implications if this information has gotten into the wrong hands,” said Kerry. “We need to protect these veterans and their spouses immediately, and offering this free credit monitoring will help make sure they don’t become the victims of identify theft. It’s the very least we can do.”

DiAnne, Casey - posted reply to the pet issue on the previous thread.

speaking here 2 nights from now, mostly to students

REFUSING TO SERVE:
Acts of Conscience and Stories of Resistance
 
STEPHEN FUNK----  First conscientious objector imprisoned for refusing to fight in the Iraq War. While in Marine boot camp at age 19, he realized that going to war went against his deepest convictions. Although gay, decided that he would not seek discharge under the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy.  For refusing to go to Iraq, Stephen served a five month sentence in military prison at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina.  Stephen is originally from Seattle and currently is a student at Stanford and a member of Iraq Vets Against the War.
 
DAN TSAHORUNK----  former soldier in the “Nahal” infantry regiment; refused to serve in the occupied territories, was imprisoned by Israel in 2003. Dan is a founding member of Combatants for Peace comprised of Israelis and Palestinians soldiers who were actively involved in the cycle of violence in Israel and Palestine and now struggle together to end the occupation through non-violent means. http://www.combatantsforpeace.org/

Activities for which there will be training at Folklife Festival:

 1. College Not Combat (CNC) - is a ballot initiative campaign that would put Seattle on record opposing military recruiters in public schools and colleges, advocating more money for students to go to college and demand the government provide real economic alternatives to the joining the military like job training.

2. Opt-Out Campaign – empowers high school students to exercise their right, by signing an opt-out form, which will prevent their school from handing over student’s names, phone numbers and address to military recruiters. 
.
3. Military recruiters out of our school – is a petition drive for people of all ages that urges Seattle School Board to remove military recruiters from our public high schools.
 

Pentagon urges China to explain military buildup
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=top...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's rapid military modernization has altered Asia-Pacific military balances and could pose threats to other forces, the Pentagon said on Tuesday in an annual report that repeated U.S. calls for the Chinese to explain the purpose of their build-up.
The 2006 China Military Power Report said China's military build-up retained its long-standing focus on rival Taiwan but that years of double-digit growth in arms spending gave it the ability to project power further afield.
"Long-term trends in China's strategic nuclear forces modernization, land- and sea-based access and denial capabilities, and emerging precision-strike weapons have the potential to pose credible threats to modern militaries operating in the region," said the report's executive summary.
The Pentagon has been raising alarms over China's military modernization for several years, and the United States has been joined by Japan in calling for China's communist rulers to be more open about military budgets and policy.
Earlier this year, the Pentagon in a new long-range strategy blueprint called China the rising power with the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States. It recommended new long-range weapons and a greater military presence in the Pacific.
...more...

If you like Bat Boy, you will love this.

BUSH'S NEW PLAN FOR HOMELESS: CLOWN CARS!

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Bush Administration has a daring new plan to house the growing number of homeless people in the country -- clown cars!

"Did you ever go to the circus and see how many clowns come out of a single car?" Bush asked his Cabinet at a meeting last month. "There's like, tons! From one little car! What if we got a bunch of these cars and let homeless people live in them. Wouldn't that be great?"

According to a Cabinet official, Bush went to the circus last month and was impressed with how the clowns looked when they emerged from the cars.

"The President said, 'They're healthy. Energetic. So it must be pretty comfortable in there. And what's more, they can all drive around together and look for jobs! Talk about car pooling!'

"When the President gets really excited about an idea like this, there's no point telling him that the clowns don't really live in the car, and that it has a false bottom," the official said.

"So now we have scientists working on how to build a normal sized car that can hold 27 people.

The aide said that Bush also ordered the Pentagon to experiment with shooting soldiers out of a cannon into Iraq.

http://wwwweeklyworldnews.com/features/chamber/61641

Consumer Confidence Sinks to a 2006 Low

By Claudia Deane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 23, 2006; 4:57 PM

Consumer confidence drooped for the fifth week in a row this week, marking an eight-point decline during the past month and reaching a new low for 2006, according to the latest release of The Washington Post-ABC News Consumer Comfort survey.

Overall, the index is at -19, down from -17 last week and -11 at this point in April. This puts the confidence measure in sight of last fall's gloomy, post-Katrina numbers, when the index hit -23.

The new rating comes amidst continued concern about fuel prices: the average price of gas stands at $2.93 per gallon, according to an Energy Information Administration estimate released yesterday. A recent Post-ABC News poll found that nearly six in 10 Americans said gas price increases had caused at least some financial hardship for their households, with three in 10 reporting serious impact.

The previous two weeks were also difficult ones for Wall Street, with inflation fears driving down the major stock market indices.

Of the three components that make up the consumer comfort index -- ratings of respondents' personal finances, the national economy and the buying climate -- it is views of the national economic picture that have sagged the most. In the current survey, 33 percent of Americans rated the economy as "excellent" or "good," while 67 percent said it was "not so good" or "poor." This is a 6-point drop in positive ratings over the month.

Consumers don't seem to see relief on the horizon: in mid-May, 56 percent said the country's economy was getting worse, 29 percent saw no change, and a small minority -- 14 percent -- said it was getting better. This was the most pessimistic monthly reading since last October.

Next up for confidence watchers: Friday's release of an updated University of Michigan consumer sentiment number for May. Also on Friday, the Commerce Department will release April data on personal income and spending.

The Post-ABC News Consumer Comfort Index is computed as a rolling average based on telephone interviews with 1,000 randomly selected adults over the previous four-week period. Across its 20-year history the index -- which is measured on a scale of -100 to 100 -- has averaged -9, ranging from a high of 38 in Jan. 2000 to a low of -50 in Feb. 1992.

The latest index is based on interviews conducted through May 21. Margin of sampling error for the results of individual questions is plus or minus three percentage points. The item measuring the perceived direction of the economy is based on 500 interviews and is reported monthly. The margin of error for this result is plus or minus 4 points.

http://tinyurl.com/pdnh8

"The Pentagon has been raising alarms over China's military modernization for several years, and the United States has been joined by Japan in calling for China's communist rulers to be more open about military budgets and policy"

This is from an administration that wraps itself in hysterical references to terror, creates fear and anxiety on a world class level, and refuses to divulge policy based on executive privelage.

This post is sent from China. Contrary to popular belief news is not filtered, the BBC is broadcast openly, as well as most latin, Asian and north American networks.
Americans are being fed a load of crap, and are too complacent to seek the truth.

German Companies and government are cultivating business relationships, and signing massive business deals. There are serious trade delegations from Europe, South America, Canada, Africa, and Russia. American trade delegations are either non existant or dog and pony shows.

America is missing out on the most dynamic economic engine the world has seen, because our President is delusional. Germany, Spain, England, Canada....they are pursuing bilateral trade and getting it.
Europe replaced the USA as China's largest trading partner in late 2005. We are being left behind in global trade, by a White House ignorant of world history.

China is arming itself...so is everyone else on the planet trying to understand the actions of this White House, not knowing what to expect...who knows what Mr. Peanut will bomb next.

Toolmaker
We also hear that we have free speech & human rights and China is so much more restricted & lacking.
Your post wasn't censored, so that's certainly a scam on the part of the propagandists.

NPR has been doing a series on rural China - very interesting!
Would love to go there. A friend just returned from Thailand and says soon rail will be built so it's possible to take a nice trip from Thailand to China. Would love to do it!

Have fun!

Posted by: Toolmaker at May 24, 2006 09:16 AM

Yep, and I heard Shrubby McMuffin is gonna be pushing today to build more and more nukular power plants across Amurka to break that pesky dependance on the very item that has made his family wealthy beyond belief and his backers even wealthier.

Soooo, no clean nukular raktors for evildoers, but a "peaceful" country like today's yahoo Amurka can build whatever they want whenever they want... and that's gonna be ok with our emenies?

A very sobering review of world affairs and how the US is being pushed out of the center of the sphere of influence in this diary on kos. Definitely worth reading.


Bush has lost the world

by NBBooks
Tue May 23, 2006 at 09:36:46 AM EST

A few nights ago I dined and wined with two old friends from Falls Church, Virginia, who keep close tabs on what's going on inside the State Dept. and the CIA. Sorry, that's all I can relate about them, but anyone "inside the beltway" of Washington DC knows that Falls Church is a favorite nesting ground of State and CIA employees. So it was that as the night progressed, and the second, third, and fourth bottles of wine were uncorked, I was treated to a tour de force review of the world situation.

Simply put, as one of my friends said, "Bush has lost the world." What my friends described was not a mere rise of anti-Americanism amongst the world's publics, such as was discussed here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...

No, what my friends sketched for me was much more profound and far more troubling: a reaction to the Bush regime's Iraq and Iran follies that is impelling Russia, China, and Germany into an unprecedented level of co-operation. Remember back in March and April, when Bush himself appeared in public for live, unrehearsed Q and A's for what we thought was part of an effort to halt his steep decline in public approval ratings? At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin was visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing for two days. The two leaders signed nearly 30 agreements, putting the finishing touches on a political, economic and technological alliance that is a historic shift in the geo-political alignment of the globe. But the summit between Putin and Hu Jintao received nary a mention in the U.S. news media.

You have to step back and think about this a minute (or have a long dinner and a few drinks with certain residents of Falls Church, Virginia) for the full weight to sink in. Two of the world's most powerful nations, which have historically been at each other's throats, have reacted to what the U.S. has done under Bush, by agreeing to settle their border disputes (full demarcation is slated for next year), AND by forging ahead with a framework for a solid alliance of cooperation and shared progress. In fact, Putin and Hu Jintao have met FIVE times in the past year. In July 2005, they issued a joint statement denouncing "the pursuit of monopoly or domination of world affairs," a remark clearly aimed at the U.S.

there's a lot more here...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/23/103646/740

Raising Funds but Not His Ratings
Despite his low approval numbers, the vice president attracts the party faithful to events across the state for three GOP House candidates.
By Mark Z. Barabak
Times Staff Writer

May 24, 2006

SAN DIEGO — His former top aide is under indictment in the CIA leak probe. His poll ratings fall somewhere between bad and atrocious. Still, Dick Cheney can pack in the faithful like few others in the Republican Party.

And so the vice president came to California on Monday and Tuesday for a series of fundraisers aimed at bucking up three GOP House candidates facing unexpectedly tough fights in this political season of scandal. Democrats were delighted.

Touching down in Sacramento, Stockton and San Diego, Cheney flew as far below the figurative radar as Air Force Two would allow. His appearances were either closed to the media and public, or conducted in lightning-strike fashion.

On Monday night in Stockton, at the Bob Hope Theatre, Cheney materialized from behind a dark curtain, then swiftly disappeared after delivering 15 minutes of workmanlike remarks on behalf of Rep. Richard W. Pombo of Tracy.

On Tuesday in San Diego, Cheney ducked in and out of a Brian Bilbray fundraising lunch without ever sitting down, much less eating.

But the vice president's furtive movements didn't stop protesters from gathering outside each appearance, or keep the state Democratic Party from issuing a series of snarky bulletins tracking Cheney's "Culture of Corruption Tour."

"It's sort of a trifecta of Washington's biggest ethics problems coming together," said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, referring to the Abramoff, Cunningham and Plame affairs, which served as the unheralded backdrop for Cheney's visit.

Pombo and Rep. John T. Doolittle of Roseville, the vice president's Sacramento host, each collected tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associates. Bilbray is vying on June 6 to fill the congressional seat vacated by Randy "Duke" Cunningham, now serving an eight-year prison stretch for taking bribes. Although still uphill for Democrats, the three congressional seats are considered the most likely in California to slip from the GOP's grasp.

Not surprisingly, the names Abramoff and Cunningham never passed the vice president's lips, nor did Valerie Plame's. (The unmasking of the former CIA operative is at the heart of an ongoing criminal investigation that has implicated Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.)

Instead, Cheney stuck to his practiced role as administration cheerleader and stiletto-wielding partisan. He lauded the economy's performance under President Bush and said the country had become a safer and stronger place thanks to Bush's "sound decisions" over the last five years. He called the administration's warrantless wiretapping program "absolutely vital in saving American lives."

And he all but accused Democrats of lending aid and comfort to terrorists, saying advocates of "a sudden withdrawal from Iraq are counseling the very kind of retreat that Osama bin Laden has been predicting and counting on."

The response was strikingly subdued, given the loyalties of his audiences. In Stockton, there were cheers and whoops as Cheney reeled off a tickertape of upbeat economic statistics. But his lengthy defense of the war in Iraq, his insistence that "we are on the offensive" and "have a clear plan for victory," was met with nearly complete silence.

more...
http://tinyurl.com/gc6qq

Dobbs: Bush, Congress tell working folk to go to hell
By Lou Dobbs
CNN

Wednesday, May 24, 2006; Posted: 9:46 a.m. EDT

NEW YORK (CNN) -- President Bush says that the installation of the new Iraqi government was a "watershed event," but at the same time warns Americans of the challenges and loss as we continue to prosecute the war against Iraqi insurgents. Sen. Harry Reid declares that legislation that would render English the national language is racist.

Thirty-seven Democrats vote for full amnesty for all illegal aliens in this country, even though nobody really knows whether the number is 11 million, 12 million or 20 million. The Senate Republican leadership demands that a "comprehensive immigration reform" plan must be passed before this Memorial Day weekend. And the president signs into law a tax cut that raises taxes on the educational funds of teenagers saving for college.

Never before in our country's history have both the president and Congress been so out of touch with most Americans. Never before have so few of our elected officials and corporate leaders been less willing to commit to the national interest. And never before has our nation's largest constituent group -- some 200 million middle-class Americans -- been without representation in our nation's capital.

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/23/dobbs.may24/index.html

Was Iraq Better Off Under Saddam?
Some Young Iraqis Tell Harry Smith Many Of Their Friends Think So

BAGHDAD, May 24, 2006

(CBS) Many Iraqis think conditions have gotten so bad in their country, they'd like to see Saddam Hussein back in power, according to some of the seven young Iraqi men who had a candid discussion with The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

All are college-educated and speak English.

"When the Americans started this whole war issue," said one, who will be referred to as person No. 1, "we started to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we walked toward it. But when the war happened, that light was the American train coming the other way that ran us over."

more...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/24/earlyshow/main1649689.shtml

Books by David L. Holmes, Peter R. Henriques and Jon Meacham
Keeping the Faith at Arm's Length
Review by ALAN WOLFE

Like most of his colleagues on the religious right, Tim LaHaye, a co-author of the best-selling "Left Behind" series, insists that "those who founded this nation" were "citizens who had a personal and abiding faith in the God of the Bible." If LaHaye means only to say that religion has played an important role in American history, he is surely correct. But if he is taken literally (as a believer in the inerrancy of the Bible should be), he is decidedly wrong. It is one of the oddities of our history that this very religious country was created by men who, for one brief but significant moment, had serious reservations about religion in general and Christianity in particular.

According to David L. Holmes's "Faiths of the Founding Fathers," none of the first five presidents were conventional Christians. All were influenced to one degree or another by Deism, the once-popular view that God set the world in motion and then abstained from human affairs. John Adams, a Unitarian, did not accept such Christian basics as "the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, total depravity and predestination." Thomas Jefferson cut and pasted his own Bible. Before he became president, James Madison wrote the "Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments," a classic text in the history of religious liberty. Our fifth president, James Monroe, gave his name to a doctrine, but it had nothing to do with faith; in fact, Monroe may have been the least religious of all our early presidents.

And then there was the first one. "Were George Washington living today," LaHaye has said, "he would freely identify with the Bible-believing branch of evangelical Christianity that is having such a positive influence on our nation." Yet as Peter R. Henriques documents in "Realistic Visionary," Washington never referred to Jesus in any of his letters. Not once during his death ordeal did he call for a minister, ask for forgiveness or express belief in an afterlife. Washington "is better understood as a man of honor than as a man of religion," Henriques concludes.

...

Religion is so important to our country, and the founding fathers were so unusual in their blending of statecraft and political philosophy, that no one treatment of faith and the founding will ever be definitive. Still, these three books present irrefutable evidence that our greatest leaders and thinkers knew where the work of God stopped and the need for human creativity began. We often want to believe that history moves forward. When we compare the role of religion in politics at our founding to its role today, we just might conclude otherwise.

- For the rest, go to -

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/books/review/07wolfe.html