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Military Shuts Down 1st Amendment
Greetings from Camp Democracy's main tent on the Mall in Washington, DC, 4 blocks down from the west front of the Capitol. This morning got off with a bang-up press conference featuring four Iraqi vets and one of their supporters were arrested at the Pentagon yesterday. Their crime? They went over to see the new 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon. In a chapel, they found Gideon New Testaments bound in camouflage, and a DVD on how to live in the military as a Christian. The vets were carrying a one page document on the health impact from the radioactive depleted uranium weapons which the U.S. is using in Iraq.
(Depleted uranium is a waste product from the production of uranium for nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons. The material is the densest naturally occurring mineral, a property which makes it the best available material for penetrating armor. A depleted uranium shell fired into a tank cuts through the armor and explodes inside the tank, with the uranium vaporizing and bursting into flame. Untold numbers of American troops and Iraqi civilians are being exposed to the resulting radioactive dust. The U.S. claims that depleted uranium is not dangerous. There are numerous reports from Iraq that areas heavily contaminated with depleted uranium also have much higher levels of unusual birth defects. And many Iraqi veterans suffering from a variety of ailments suspect that depleted uranium is responsible for many of their symptoms.
Officials at the Pentagon arrested the vets after they put some of this depleted uranium document next to the religious literature. At the press conference this morning, the arrested vets attacked their arrests as an attack on their 1st amendment rights, and promised to mount a strong attack on their arrests.
Yesterday's arrests were another sign of the military's efforts to prevent opponents of the war from distributing information at military installations that challenge the war on Iraq. Ann Wright, one of only three State Department officials who resigned in protest over the start of the Iraq War, spoke about her experience earlier this summer at Fort McNair, where she left some postcards about the movie "Sir, No Sir". She was detained, shackled to a chair, and then several weeks later got a letter from the commanding officer of Fort Myer and Fort McNair telling her she was banned from both bases for a year. She appealed this decision, and just got a letter rejecting her appeal last week.
For more information on Camp Democracy and the schedule of events and speakers over the next two weeks, go to the Camp Democracy web site.
We are living in the big lie and we have lost. The mid terms really won't mean a thing if the Democrats don't investigate, prosecute and impeach those guilty of breaking the nation's laws. Will they do it? No they will not. Some will cry for investigations, but "cooler heads" will prevail and we will have certainly have lost. That is *if* the Democrats take back the Congress. I am not so sure they will even take one part of Congress as I witness what is happening, and know that previous elections have been stolen.
Sorry for the grammar errors. I get too worked up and hit the post button before I proofread.
From last thread
Posted by: oncall at September 10, 2006 01:11 PM
His name was Hans Blitz and the Administration crusified him.
Hans Blix was from Norway, and yes he was crucified in Lamestream McMedia.
There were other inspectors, I think one was from the US, and if memory serves... I used to watch TV "news" back in those days before the lead-up to the '04 election. Before they were taken off TV entirely as 'opposing' voices to the war build-up, they had the only genuine facts about lack of WMD before DumDum's war started.
We are having a conversation about what folks CAN do and it is hard, hard, hard.
We can refuse to pay taxes, either by not making much money or by refusing to pay a small amount or 26%. Some take to the streets with militant acts. Some work with a variety of organizations and try to to organize, reorganize, re-reorganize, etc. Some become martyrs; some take respites.
Cindy Sheehan just called in to see how it is going. She is torn, I am sure, between respite and action. But both are essential.
It is personal, says Simin Royanian. Every discussion is a political one. We have no answers here, but it is a beautiful day and we are talking with each other, and with all of you.
That's what we can do now.
Hanz Blix was the U.N's representative and was severly and mercilessly mocked by Bushco. Yet, that didn't stop him from calling the administration "bastards".
After my comment on the previous thread, I looked for the guy I was talking about. Scott Ritter is his name. He is an American citizen but worked for UNSCOM After he started protesting Bushco's policies, his prior problems with the law regarding pedophile charges resurfaced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Ritter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Blix#Weapons_of_Mass_Destruction_Commission
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/06/12/blix.interview.cnna/
Now we are talking about the paradigm of demonstrations. Would 1,000,000 people in the streets be a good thing? Is it even a possibility?
Is the movement growing?
And are there other ways we have not thought of?
Posted by dickbell at September 10, 2006 02:02 PM
The only "authorized" opinions now come from the White House and the Pentagon... all others are rendered invalid or marginalized and they are ridiculed (ridicule is a very potent weapon, as is the 'shame' card when opponents are accused of being unpatriotic). If military personnel are "fighting for our rights," that means freedom of speech, too. Military personnel deserve to hear the truth so they can judge for themselves whether or not they want to do any fighting. According to the judgment at Nuremberg, soldiers do not have to follow illegal or immoral orders; they have a duty to refuse to do so. "I was only following orders" is not a justifiable defense for war crimes.
Of course, the ultimate weapon in free speech is that the opposing opinions, or even slightly differing opinions, maybe not even opposing, are never broadcast. The sin of omission. Deadly silence.
Right now the only lifelines to information (necessary and truthful information, whether we like the truth or not) are progressive web sites and blogs, here and/or overseas. Without them, there would be a total blackout of anything but White House or Pentagon propaganda in American Lamestream McMedia. I do see the situation as that dire, especially now that the ABC mocumentary is going to be aired, on top of the daily dose of propaganda shown on "nightly news" shows.
I may not like the truth much, but it's reality, and reality and truth I can deal with.
It's the lies - lies, lies, and more lies - coming from the McAdministration that just make me scream and rant and rave....
Oh, and for the record: I refuse to watch ABC's mocumentary. In a free country they have the right to make garbage and broadcast garbage, but I have the right to refuse to up their ratings by not even turning on my TV those evenings. Besides which, my memory is still intact, I'm not senile, so I don't need a mocumentary to rewrite my memories....
http://www.empirenotes.org/
Read Rahul
A Gideon Bible in camouflage. If'n that don't sum up this entire neocon regime on so many different levels all at once, I don't know what.
This is Suz. I'm going to go out to the White House dressed up in the backbone campaign's chain gang set. I get to be Condi.
There's so much that has happened and so many incredible people I've met. Perhaps later, I will have time to share.
~~Suz
Posted by: karen at September 10, 2006 03:12 PM
1. Be the Government
2. Be the Media
3. Rebuild our Unions (in the queue)
Use the 4GW playbook to beat them at their own game.
Karen,
That is an amazing story about the vets. I went to Camp Democracy's site and read it there as well. I have linked it to other blogs with hopes of getting others interested in Camp Democracy. I have been reviewing my schedule and it looks like the best I can do is only make it for one day without an overnight stay. I know that is weak and that is one of the things that probably frustrates me most.
The Backbone Campaign has been busy making many banners for freeway blogging. "Lying Spying..Bush Step down!"
"War is not Pro-Life"
They're currently making a new one that says, "We will not be silent!"
And they've made one for Camp Democracy as well.
Posted by: karen at September 10, 2006 03:12 PM
One million people would be a good thing. It would be better if those one million got news coverage. Maybe if the one million protested in front of ABC, then there would be coverage.
This is similar to Christy's recommendation that there be mass protests in front of and against the major Bushco Propaganda offices.
I guess there is a problem with putting things places?
I put alot of "Know who controls your reproductive rights" in lingerie sections lately.
My inspiration Banksy replaced alot of Paris Hilton albums with his own music and comments in stores.
& look now!
http://www.woostercollective.com/2006/09/breaking_the_story_disneyland_doesnt_wa
n.html
Families visiting Disneyland on their holiday this week saw a
life-size Guantanamo bay inmate standing inside the Rocky Mountain Railroad ride at Disneyland in Anaheim California.
I plan as well to march in the World Can't Wait rally in Chicago on October 5.
http://worldcantwait.net/
Posted by: karen at September 10, 2006 03:07 PM
I'm really good at passive-aggressive "action."
When there was the boycott of advertisers for that piece of trash from the Swiftboaters in the lead-up to the '04 election, I didn't stop then. I've continued to boycott. I saw no reason to stop. True, I can't afford big ticket items like cars. Actually, I wouldn't buy a big car anyway; it's impractical for an older person with short legs and back problems to climb up into a big car like a child - and I insist cars must be practical and get good gas mileage above and beyond everything else. If I buy another car, it will be the size of a VW bug.
However, whatever few pennies corporations might have made from me with any impulse buying before I started my personal boycott, they aren't making now. If something is not on my grocery list, or the much shorter list of things like paper or ink for my computer printer, I just do not buy it. It sounds simple, but it actually works remarkably well.
My 'passive-aggressive action' doesn't come with any banners or parades, nor does it garner any attention, but if I can keep big corporations from profiting even one or two pennies from me, I'm satisfied.
Karen Condi Backbone - how exciting!!!
VIDEO | Congress Comes to Camp Democracy
A Report by Geoffrey Millard and Scott Galindez
http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm
The second day of Camp Democracy was sponsored by Progressive Democrats of America and was marked by visits to the camp by several members of Congress. One of those members was Congressman Jim McDermott, who has proposed legislation to cut off funding for the war in Iraq. Geoffrey Millard spoke with him and other members of Congress about that legislation.
Viva McDermott - I just voted for him on my ballot.
Conservatives will do 2 months of smear campaigns. attacking on local and national small points they blow out of proportion.
Their big weakness is Guantanamo so Rove is actually using it as a STRENGTH, by bringing in suspects that were detained in secret CIA prisons and chatting about how they required "alternative" interrogation techniques.
Maybe Disney will open a Waterboarding thrill ride.
Karen and Suz,
Thanks for the updates from camp democracy. Suz, we want pictures!
And, off topic, why was I not so surprised to see that Patricia Heaton was one of the actors in the ABC/Disney schlockumentary? She's a huge Bush supporter.
Wait - is Karen or Suz Condi Backbone?
Is Bill Moyer there? If so tell him hi from DiAnne in Seattle.
He is really into freeway blogging.
NonnyO
I've done the same thing - just kept the boycotts going - not two weeks or whatever. Once they mess up, no more business. That & trying to keep up the "blue" business thing - esp. for things that mount up, like food. Even petrol we try to be conscious about - use less, use a source that we have less disagreement with. We use Citgo or get it thru Costco. Pretty frustrated at BP now, after they didn't clean corrosion out of their pipeline for 14 years. As if they don't profit. No wonder Britain is in Iraq.
My friend who is immigrating from Orlando to BC told me Canada will probably pull all troops out of Afghanistan because it is an occupation, not a peacekeeping mission. The assumption the west can always win is an illusion. A Republican triumph of any kind will just be a last gasp, in the great scheme of things. The new Atlantic Monthly is on Jong Il Kim & how his collapse could be worse than Iraq, and be America's nightmare & China's dream.
Glad to see discussion of Ritter and Blix. Love those guys. I have read Blix' book and done alot of reading on him. They hate him because of his biography.
Blix is almost 80 years old, a Swedish diplomat and son of Norwegian nobles. He was weapons inspector in Iraq til about 3 months after the war started, and in the run-up. He was head of the international atomic energy agency for through most of the 80s and 90s. He studied and taught international law.
He worked for disarmament in Geneva in the 60s and 70s and was at the UN. He was Swedish foreign minister in the late 70s and worked for the Liberals Party in the 80s as expert on nuclear energy.
He inspected the Iraqi reactor numerous times that the Israelis destroyed in 1981 (which was against UN rules). Reagan even took Iraq off the "sponsors of terror" list after that. After the Iran-Iraq war, US and other developed countries collaborated with Saddam pretty much, and the inspectors like Blix weren't called on much. Saddam wasn't considered a threat.
Before the war in 2003, Blix was called out of retirement by Kofi Annan, to inspect in Iraq. He reminded them that Iraq hadn't cooperated well in 1991 and this had led to sanctions for a decade. His statements contradicted those of the Bush administration so supporters of the Iraq invasion were critical of him. He accused US and UK of dramatizing the WMDs and did it publically on BBC.
Gingrich regretted that Blix had ever been called back. In the Guardian, Blix said, "I have my detractors in Washington. There are bastards who spread things around, of course, who planted nasty things in the media." But no stockpiles of WMD were ever found, so Iraq was invaded on a false basis.
Now Blix heads Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, in Stockholm. He has gotten many awards, honors. In Team America: World Police, he is fed to sharks by Kim Jong-Il.
(info from my notes)
Hey, Karen & Suz & Co. -- Liza Sabater of www.culturekitchen.com, one of my favoritest BlogSheroes, will be holding court at CampDem tomorrow from 10:30 til noon. If you get the chance, will you please give her a big warm DCP-style howdy-hug from M. Loutre? Thanks!
Posted by: karen at September 10, 2006 03:29 PM
I especially like "War is NOT Pro-Life." That needs to be pushed among the religious reich who continue to drink the kool-aid. It points out the hypocrisy in their anti-choice stand.
Seriously, if children raised to adulthood will only end up as cannon fodder for the oil corporations in wars funded by our tax dollars and fought with *our* kids... better to abort them before investing love, time, and money to pay for doctor bills, education, clothing, music lessons (or whatever). The grief in losing a fetus (whether by spontaneous or deliberate abortion) before it's a viable life might not be as great as losing a child in stupid wars for someone else's profit after loving them for 18-20 years....
I remember interviews with Hans Blix before DumDum illegally and unconstitutionally ordered the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
I believed him then, and everything he's said has proved true. And Blix's body language didn't lie to me; his body language and his words matched.
DimWit, on the other hand, and the other members of the McAdministration, all had body language that told me they lied, and their body language is still the same all these years later. They're lying every time they open their mouths.... If any one of them told me the sky is blue, I'd insist on independent verification from second, third, and fourth sources before I believed them....
Rockefeller: Bush Duped Public On Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091006X.shtml
After 2 1/2 years of reviewing pre-war intelligence behind closed doors, the lead Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Senator John Rockefeller of West Virginia, who voted for the Iraq War, says the Bush administration pulled the wool over everyone's eyes.
FBI Protests CIA Interrogation Tactics
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091006Y.shtml
Abu Zubaydah, the first Osama bin Laden henchman captured by the United States after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, was bloodied and feverish when a CIA security team delivered him to a secret safe house in Thailand for interrogation in the early spring of 2002. The events that unfolded at the safe house over the next few weeks proved to be fateful for the Bush administration.
Desperate to Remain in Control, GOP Resorts to Attack Ads
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091006Z.shtml
Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.
The admin d/n like Blix because he was right about Iraq.
He'll be right about Iran too. El-Baradai, his partner, has
been awesome too.
I think the admin is pissed at Blix now becaues he wrote a report that US is reigniting the nuke arms race. Rumsfeld predicted Blix would be wrong. Blix was right. Rumsfeld was wrong.
Paranoids "project." If this admin accuses a country of something, we need to remember that. Cheney used to accuse Saddam of wanting to dominate the middle east and to control most of the oil. Now US has 10,000 nukes and accuses Iran of threatening world peace. Bush accused Saddam of working with Bin Laden. This has been exposed as false. It's not Iran and Iraq who are threatening with nukes. We have at least 700 bases in 130 countries and are heavily nuclear-armed.
DiAnne: Tomorrow belongs, tomorrow belongs...
What to watch instead of ABCsleaze' bogus dreckudrama tonight:
Koppel: The Price of Security
The Discovery Channel
Sunday, September 10 8:00 PM
Special, Politics, Public affairs, Documentary
Ted Koppel explores the tension of needing to provide security and needing to protect individual liberties.
What to watch instead of ABCsleaze' bogus dreckudrama tonight:
Posted by: Otter at September 10, 2006 07:00 PM
There is also a football game.
"There has not been another attack on the United States," Cheney said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "And that's not an accident."
Note to DICK: Even the terrorists are smart enough to know that they haven't had to lift a finger since 9.11... they just flicked Dumbo's nose and watched him dismantle this country in a way they could only dream of.
P.S. We WERE attacked on YOUR watch, largest attack on American soil EVER. THAT WAS NO ACCIDENT EITHER!
Bush's Approval Ratings Slumping Further in Europe
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091006B.shtml
Annual survey shows that 77 percent of Europeans disapprove of the way Bush has handled international affairs, as compared with 56 percent who felt that way in a similar survey in 2002.
{{{Or, to put it another way, Bush's "approval" rating in Europe is 23%....}}}
"There has not been another attack on the United States," Cheney said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "And that's not an accident."
We WERE attacked on YOUR watch, largest attack on American soil EVER. THAT WAS NO ACCIDENT EITHER!
Posted by: monkey at September 10, 2006 07:30 PM
Your answer is the BEST.... and that point needs to be whacked over the heads of the morons who keep insisting "we're-safe-because-Republicans-are-in-charge." As you so aptly pointed out, the people who were behind the 9/11 criminal hijackers don't have to lift a finger now to watch this country destroy itself from within. Likely Bu$hCo has done an even more spectacular job of destroying the USA than the hijackers could have ever dreamt of in their wildest wet dreams about how to bring the USA down.
I think we need to send your retort to Chinkster's assertions to our Dem reps and senators....
Little Dick will go to bed hungry tonight -- unless you help.
===============
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday he expects fellow Republicans to rally and keep control of Congress in the November 7 election -- and offered to bet on it.
Although polls show unhappy voters may turn over the U.S. House of Representatives and possibly the Senate to Democrats, Cheney said: "I think we're doing very well out there."
Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Cheney told moderator Tim Russert, "I'll even bet you a dinner that we hold both houses."
"I don't bet," replied Russert.
===============
Eleanor Clift | How Dems Can Win the Midterm Elections
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091006D.shtml
Eleanor Clift details "What the Democrats should do to win the midterms — and the '08 race for the White House."
{{{The only sensible thing Clift wrote is: "Democrats have no power. It's not up to them to draft the exit strategy." She didn't actually say what Dems should do, only what they shouldn't do. But it's also true that it's not up to the Dems to draft an exit strategy from Iraq. The ones Dems did propose were shot down by the McAdministration and nothing was ever done about the Dem proposals. Period. As I see it, Dems must, however, demand an exit strategy, and failing to get a definitive response (which no one would expect), then they could criticize the WH for their lack of an exit strategy. The last half of Clift's piece is more about Giuliani in '08 than anything remotely about Dems.}}}
No, really, I kid you not:
WHY MOMMY IS A DEMOCRAT
A Different Kind of Children's Book
http://www.littledemocrats.net
My friend who is immigrating from Orlando to BC told me Canada will probably pull all troops out of Afghanistan because it is an occupation, not a peacekeeping mission. The assumption the west can always win is an illusion. A Republican triumph of any kind will just be a last gasp, in the great scheme of things. The new Atlantic Monthly is on Jong Il Kim & how his collapse could be worse than Iraq, and be America's nightmare & China's dream.
Posted by: DiAnne at September 10, 2006 04:00 PM
DiAnne,
Five Canadians died in Afghanistan during my short weekend in Vancouver. It was front page news on all the papers. Four died in a Taliban ambush, and one from American friendly fire.
Very few Canadians seemed to be supporting the war anyway, and even fewer support W.
As for North Korea, we must shut the Korean-American community up first, if we want to see ANY reasonable solution out of the current mess.
Support NYC tonight. Watch the football Giants, not the propaganda piece.
Likely Bu$hCo has done an even more spectacular job of destroying the USA than the hijackers could have ever dreamt of in their wildest wet dreams about how to bring the USA down.
Posted by: NonnyO at September 10, 2006 07:42 PM
Completely agreed. And the Christian extremists have remade the USA in the same image of the 'Islamofascists" they claim to hate so much.
Support NYC tonight.
Posted by: Matthew Carnicelli at September 10, 2006 08:19 PM
Or any other city with a strong history of progressive politics and activism.
This does NOT include bleeding red Los Angeles. (I have no NFL team here anyway.)
Posted by: Otter at September 10, 2006 07:00 PM
Oh great... Discovery is another pro-W propaganda channel, and if Discovery is being named as a sensible alternative to the ABC "docudrama" propaganda, we are truly f*cked.
This is the best cartoon - Ted Assmussen, Bad Reporter
http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/asmussen/
To save time, they merge Clinton with Bin Laden
Things to do during the propaganda show:
Go for Thai
Read Noam Chomsky book from library
Things to do during second segment tomorrow,
especially when the monkey in a suit speaks
Go to Tacoma and see The Melvins.
Dale Crover has got to be one of the best drummers
in the world.
Yeah, too bad Bumbershoot was last weekend.
Me, tonight I'm steeping myself in hard-hitting social truth programming that really underscores the honest realities that create the American dream.
Since 'The Simpsons' is over now, I've just switched channels and am watching 'The Birdcage' instead.
P.S. -- Waddaya got against Koppel, Ally? Is it the hair?
Look, at this point, my only true hope is that this country has run it's course of abject stupidity and will not fall for the banana in the tailpipe trick yet again.
Path The Buck
Is that a banana in your tailpipe or are you just glad to flee me?
Families visiting Disneyland on their holiday this week saw a
life-size Guantanamo bay inmate standing inside the Rocky Mountain Railroad ride at Disneyland in Anaheim California.
Posted by: not my president at September 10, 2006 03:35 PM
WHAT?!?!!!!
Posted by: Otter at September 10, 2006 08:40 PM
LOL!
Posted by: Otter at September 10, 2006 08:40 PM
I'm just so tired of all the hot air.
Exhausted.
Posted by: DiAnne at September 10, 2006 08:30 PM
"especially when the monkey in a suit speaks".
I love you guys.
****
Thanks Dick and Karen, and Suz - you go girl!!!
Keep on keeping on, everybody, I'm back on graveyard but will catch up tomorrow!!!!
YOU ROCK!!!!
Truth Shall Prevail
Banksy is a bad boy.
http://www.banksy.co.uk/
Haven't had time to be here much; working a local district campaign that is going very well.
Had to share this small but telling incident with you...
Today, a gentleman whom I know for fact is a Republican (always angry & humorless -- definitely a Republican) stopped by our outdoor event (in the rain) to say that he wanted to meet our candidate but couldn't stay because he had to watch the Bears game. (I know...don't get me started...) But he said, "I'm so angry at the Republicans! I'll vote for your candidate for sure. Hell, I'll even put a yard sign up!"
Moments like this give me hope.
They're melting, they're meeelllllllltinnnngggggg.....
Posted by: Otter at September 10, 2006 08:51 PM
Flying Monkeys at the ready.
Wizzer on Odds
(aka Follow The Yellow Prick Road)
If they only had a brain...
"If I Only Had A Brain. The Bush Remix." Parody by Jeff Wilder
White House Press Secretary: Ladies and gentlemen. George W. Bush.
Bush: I could while away the hours
In my power driven towers
Being head of state and main
Instead I drop the napalm
Maybe I'll drop an A-bomb
If I only had a brain
I'd unravel every riddle
Such as where did Saddamy hiddle
The WMDs
With the thoughts I'd be thinkin
I could be the next Abe Lincoln
If I only had a brain
Oh I could tell you why
I started this unnecessary war
I could think of things I'd never thunk before
Such as why I should've voted for Gore!
I would not be a bran muffin
A turkey full of stuffin
Or more likely champagne
I would be even more scary
Of my dictatorial powers you should be wary
But I don't need no brain. (Spoken) Now watch this drive.
P.S. -- Waddaya got against Koppel, Ally? Is it the hair?
Posted by: Otter at September 10, 2006 08:37 PM
Koppel used to work for ABC... wait, didn't they kick him out?
Seriously, I don't doubt Koppel, but I do strongly doubt Discovery.
By the way, CBS tonight is showing an ACTUAL documentary filmed on 911 by some guys documenting the experiences of a rookie firefighter. I don't know what it's called, but it is truth, and it's hard to watch.
But it makes ABC look totally stupid.
And it makes it totally clear (although this is not it's intent) that BushCo has wasted time, money and lives on this stupid war in Iraq when they should have been looking for that asshole bin laden.
THEY are the traitors. They are a disgrace.
Just watched Jk at Fanuiel Hall. What guts and character he has. Besides..he's right on!
We thought "they" were melting in 04',yet they won by hook and crook. Be on your guard and sign up and on at every polling station. Matthews is already playing the card:"who's the regular guy you could have a beer with?" He's in luv with Rudy,but Rudy won't stand a chance with the Right Wing.
YES,"they" are ALL traitors,and they have made us less safe; we continue to live in the iron age of weapons and guns,very dangerous times.
I wrote this out to start things off in Red River tommorrow. Holy crap this is getting creepy. I am so scared I could just throw up.
It is like one of those crappy French films where nothing relates to anything else and the context is comically distorted to make sure nothing makes sense. I can not believe I am really doing this.
"Dear Sheriff Norman,
We would like to re-iterate again, as we did in a fax we never received a reply to, that we understand this situation is not your fault. We do not blame you, nor believe you had any personal involvement in the long series of events that has brought us here.
However, simply by your position alone you have not only fallen into the path of this case, but you alone bear a responsibility like no other. We pray you are a man who can finally answer our questions and lay these matters to rest.
By now, every one is aware that both the families of Faye Aline, and Wanda Hudson has made serious accusations. We would like to assure you that these are the exact same accusations that have been flying about for all these long 23 years. These accusations have been completely ignored up to this point. It has been hard not to be bitter about it.
Strangely enough we are grateful that they are not only at long last being heard, but being understood to be having a serious impact on a case that has gone completely out of control. We can not tell you the horror that has been ours to live with for so long.
We can never make anyone understand the impact one bright soul had on all of our lives. It has been a tragedy of monumental proportions for so many. Our family only has one objective, to bring her home.
That singular objective is the only thing we ever wanted or asked for.
All of this boils down to only two questions, where is Faye Aline Self?
And… What happened to her 23 years ago?
The questions we have today are the same questions that have remained unanswered for all this time. The confession of Robert Charles Browne does not clear up anything, it only leaves more questions.
These questions come from not just one family member, but several. They are the questions that haunted her parents into their graves. They are the questions of her siblings, her children, and others who can never forget her. We only want to lay her to rest in a decent place.
At long last, it is time to find Aline. Her children have waited now for far too long for their momma to come home.
Together we can make sure that actually happens this time.
Sincerely,
The Family of Faye Aline Self
"911," the documentary Carol mentioned that CBS is showing tonight, is astoundingly excellent. It was originally broadcast a couple or three months after the initial attacks, and it was updated and expanded somewhat prior to tonight's re-airing.
The core of "911" is an asolutely gripping, gritty first-hand look at the experiences of a rookie firefighter who gets swept up in the events of that terrible day. A documentary team led by French brothers Gedeon and Jules Naudet had been following him through his training and initial posting to NYC's Engine 7 company, and they got swept right along with him into the very belly of the beast.
Fake 'docu-drama' re-eneactments, or even earnest after-the-fact news studies of what happened that day, can't even begin to come close to the raw, honest truth of "911". CBS deserves kudos for choosing to re-air it in its expanded form tonight. Perhaps they did so deliberately to provide counter-programming to ABC's embarassing belly-crawling mockumentary, perhaps not.
But either way, I hope that we can all take a moment away from emailing brickbats to ABC and its advertisers and send some heartfelt messages of appreciation to CBS for doing what the Mouse network doesn't have the stones to do -- show and tell honest human truths about what happened on a day that changed all our lives forever.
Posted by: Otter at September 10, 2006 10:39 PM
yeah - what that furry widdle otter said!
Send your thanks to CBS for this. I thought the firefighter's closing words said it all - "the legacy of 9-11 should be life, and humanity".
I'm at a point where I refuse to dwell on 9/11 in a state of morbid grief. I won't watch anything about it now, factual or otherwise. DimWit has beat us all over the head with the whole event to the point that I'm sick and tired of hearing about 9/11 because he's using the deaths of all those people for political exploitation, and - worst of all - to tell us that because of 9/11 we're supposed to be scared sh!tless of the bogeyman under our beds - oh, but don't forget to vote for Repubs and corporate America because we're keeping you safer... heh, heh, heh. So, being a good passive-aggressive (sometimes), I just refuse to listen to any of it any longer. Period.
So, I've been doing household tasks and research all night and listening to some good music (Neil Diamond, Enya, Celtic music). Not even the local PBS station has anything worthwhile online (fundraising drive - some things are good, others aren't), so the TV is, indeed, off....
http://www.911digitalarchive.org/
Posted by: Carol at September 10, 2006 10:46 PM
I watched CBS's production tonight as well. For those who did watch it, I am sure it was impossible to stop wondering how our government could so miserably fail this country.
The past several weeks of events superimposed on the stark reality of 9/11 is empowering. We Americans will not be denied the purity and honest emotions of 9/11. We will not be denied the right to accuse our government of total failure to its citizens and the Constitution. We will not be denied the right to find them guilty of high crimes against the Constitution. We shall overcome our treacherous and murderous government. They will be replaced by people who have the same honest emotions of anger and disgust that we all share with the current leaders. The new leaders will recognize the simple power of hope for a better America, and they will be the ones to lead this great country back from the abyss and towards legacy of 9/11, life and humanity.
Selected clips - especially mendacious and offenseive - from the PATH TO 9-11>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc1J41TzhyQ
Phone Number's for ABC Executives:
212-456-7819 Patrick Prelick
818-460-7016 Jonathan Hogan
818-460-6642 Erin Felentzer
http://www.thesoapboxroadshow.com
I'm watching an incredibly good French movie called "Monsieur Ibrahim" - with Omar Sharif. He runs a little grocery & he's a Sufi - befriends a Jewish boy. It's a "coming of age" movie and a very good one. Great soundtrack, most of which sounds familiar. Looks to take place in the '60s - kind of La Dolce Vita. I can recognize alot of the places in Paris. Looks like it's 2003 & did well at the Venice Film Festival. It's from the library.
Posted by: Otter at September 10, 2006 10:39 PM
The CBS documentary was a good watch. Thanks for letting me know.
Posted by: ralpheh at September 10, 2006 11:56 PM
Actually, ABC/Disney is a product of Southern California's reactionary Republican culture, one cultivated by the aerospace and automotive industries, the white supremacists in Orange County, and conservative immigrants.
I strongly suggest a boycott of all SoCal-based businesses (except ones KNOWN to be progressive). This region deserves to be starved to death. Please take your money to NorCal or elsewhere.
This is official notice that I am dropping my "Ally McLesbian" nickname from now on, as a form of protest against ABC/Disney, Fox, and Calista Flockhart.
I will continue to occasionally use "Ally McRepuke" as a sign of displeasure against these entities. But down the road, Ally McAnything will have to go eventually.
Ally McRepuke is used like Not My President, I think. I started the "Not My" business one Mother's Day when I was especially pissed about something. It is especially useful for bashing you know who (who is Not My Prez). Losing My Religion is for getting especially frustrated with the dominionists and taleban.
I finished my movie - I suspect it was not a hit in US because it was too Muslim-friendly and controversial in some ways. Very good though. Ended with "Let's All Live Together"
by Timmy Thompson, a one-hit-wonder from 1973. I had to watch the credits, then find it on iTunes. Seems I find the best old R&B (obscure American) and jazz via French movies & at http://www.novaplanet.com radio. It's from back in the day when American culture ruled.
Ally
I liked San Diego - the proximity to Mexico, the colors, the weather. I have a feeling it's a little heavy on military though. When I've been to LA - I felt overwhelmed because of the
vast expanse - the need to drive. I stayed also with people I knew and I liked it in downtown LA but certainly not in the San Fernando Valley. That was one of the most depressing places I've ever been. I had a boyfriend in the midwest who wasn't racist til he moved to LA. When I saw him in LA (we had broken up), he had turned very racist. He could only get jobs like cleaning swimming pools or working in a carwash (drop out) so he scapegoated people of other races. That was disgusting and I need to try NOT to associate that with LA.
More about the movie - the Muslim guy adopts the Jewish kid after the kid's father kills himself. They end up in Turkey. I was in tears in that part because I've been in Turkey & it brought it back. I love on-location movies for that reason. The old guy was kind of religious, but Sufi - so he read the Koran but was more directed by his "inner religion." Had whirling dervishes & he took the kid to Temple, Church, Mosque but the spirituality had to come from within. There was alot of philosophy and commentary about all rivers leading to one ocean, etc. Alot of wisdom & Sharif is a great actor, of course - and Persian not Arab! (This is a distinction many fail to make, which drives Iranians nuts.)
I think this movie did alot more for me as far as ideas for peace and bringing people and parts of myself together than if I'd watched any sort of thing on 9/11. That's just personal. It even had a whore with a heart of gold and a girlfriend who rebuked the adolescant for not being conventionally religious (Jewish in her case) enough. Very French movie, in a good sense. & no violence.
Posted by: DiAnne at September 11, 2006 02:40 AM
Yes, that's the idea - I got my idea for Ally McRepuke from your alternative nicks. In fact, NMP works really well for you.
Thanks for sharing the details of your movie. It seemed like you had a good way to detract yourself from the propaganda machine. I better hit IMDB.com and check it out.
As for SoCal - the Republicans control a territory that's called the "fishing hook." It runs down the interior of the state, turns west to San Diego at the Mexican border, then goes back up to Orange County and Los Angeles. San Diego is very Navy/Marines heavy (in fact, I do some business with the Navy there), and as long as it's Rummy's policy to suppress anti-W views, San Diego will stay in reactionary column. (And the Gray Davis recall movement got its spark from Congressman Darrell Issa, who is from the San Diego area.) And Los Angeles has some blue spots (Santa Monica, West Hollywood), but even those places are nowhere near as progressive as San Fran or Seattle, and the suburbs are bleeding red. San Fernando Valley is horrible, but at least it's purple; San Gabriel Valley, to the east of Los Angeles, is bleeding red, once you pass Pasadena.
Our own Otter, a former Californian himself, can definitely fill you in with some choice words about SoCal, or what he calls "Baja."
Baja, humbug.
Posted by: Christy at September 10, 2006 10:29 PM
Christy,
Such an eloquent letter -- I hope it brings the response your family deserves.
dw
I was nosey and kind of wanted to see what the ABC docudrama was like, so I turned it on but turned the sound off and glanced at it once in a while.
They had the Al Qaeda guys and all arabs basically looking dark, mean, wrinkled. They even showed a booger in one guy's nose (they did, really!) The screen was very dark when on them, and then, ta da, lighter when on others. You know, the old dark like night and death and bright like day, hope, and life.
At a quarter to eleven they had a brief "news snippet" from ABC saying that because of CIA Director George Tenet pulling the plug every time they had bin Laden in the cross-hairs, we didn't get him when we could. They said the 9-ll Commission states that our best shot to get him was while Clinton was in office, showed the page from the Commission's report stating that date and place, then stated that:
The Clinton administration and the Bush administration both failed to get bin Laden before 9-11.
Tweety is on MSNBC giving the Neocons hell. He said: All these words about the war in Iraq being about terrorism is pure political propoganda from the Neoconservatives and is a bunch of crap. Everybody knows the war in Iraq was preplanned before 9-ll, and was partly a personal vendetta, and had nothing to do with "terrorists, or Al Qaeda.
P.S.
Re: the Path to 9-ll part one airing last night:
It was "brought to you uninterupted". I didn't see any commercials.