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Help Set A Deadline
This video montage featuring images from the past weekend's big peace march in Washington was made by GlobalVillage using music by McWorm and photos that she and her co-activist Island Blue took in D.C.
The "Set A Deadline" initiative that GV ended her montage with was launched by a certain senator from Massachusetts. This entry on his blog asks for input and suggestions on how that goal can best be met.
This is your chance to add your two cents to the discussion. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity, because all of us are pulling on the same end of the rope and all of us have good ideas to contribute. There are a number of suggestions posted on that site already, including the following -- but please feel free to add your own suggestions here, and we'll make sure they get passed on to the right people as well.
Ask Now, But Act Soon -- asking for input is great, it can help develop a sound strategy and it helps people become invested in the process as well. But every week that goes by is another week in which people are dying needlessly. Gather info rapidly, but then act on that info immediately. Don't let the initiative fall into the old paralysis-of-analysis trap. Set a deadline for setadeadline.com, and then stick to that deadline. Don't let the momentum get lost.
Coalition of the Unwilling -- this can't be just one more initiative among many others. Cohesion works, fragmentation doesn't. Get together with other senators and representatives, other anti-war groups, other organizations that are refusing to let this war go on and make it a united campaign rather than an individual effort. Cross-pollinate with them on strategy and tactics, include each others' names and URL's in what you present. Leave no doubt that this is the will of *all* the people being acted on here.
Put It On Paper -- don't just write about this initiative on the web or in press releases. Make up flyers, signs, bumper stickers -- downloadable, pre-printed, all of it. Send them out to anyone and anywhere they can be made use of. Most people still don't look at political stuff on computers, but they do see signs and they do read slogans when they see it in front of them. Wristbands and buttons are a great way to keep the message in front of peoples' eyes, too. But don't charge money for any of it, distribute it at no charge. That way it'll have twenty times the reach.
Make It Personal -- talking about 'our troops' is one thing, but talking about 'Brian Freeman' hits a lot closer to home. One thing that has kept this war seeming abstract rather than concrete to the folks in the heartland is that most of them don't have any faces or names attached to it that they can care about. Make it about individuals for them, not just about brigades and battalions. That way they'll feel the urgency along with the importance of doing this and doing it now. And don't forget the Iraqis who are caught in this quagmire with us. They're victims too.
Rock The Deadline -- don't just let this be politicians talking about strategies. Get activist celebrities like Sarandon, Robbins, Penn, Springsteen, et al to step up and add their star power to the power of ideas here. Put their faces on billboards and their voices on the air and their names in print. This has to be a popular movement, not just a policy-wonk initiative. Get everybody talking about it and place their names and likenesses anywhere there is a camera or a signpost.
Visualize and Viralize It -- add pictures and sound to your words. Make up catchy-looking ads, quick-hitting video spots, short soundbite stingers, and get them out where people can see them and pass them on. YouTube videos are great. So are clickable banners & promo spots that people can put on their own websites and pass around to their friends. Spend some money and buy ad space and air time, the promotional payoff will be more than worth the investment. Every time somebody turns around, they should be seeing and hearing something that says "Set A Deadline."
Re-Fund the Troops -- include the troops and their families in everything you say and do about this. Make it clear that you are not going to be depriving them of anything; in fact, you're going to be enhancing it. Restore veterans' benefits. Put money into services for service members' families. Make sure that those taking the risks are treated generously rather than penuriously. They've earned it, and don't let anybody take that away from them. And make sure everybody knows how strongly you're supporting those in harm's way and their loved ones at home.
Stay On Message -- acknowledge the nuances, sure. These are complicated issues, and there are an awful lot of angles to consider in any effort of this kind. But the core message has to be a simple, easily-remembered meme. "Set A Deadline" is great, it's less vague than just "Bring Our Troops Home". But you have to keep things simple, keep the messages short & punchy, make it so patently obvious that this is the right thing to do and the best way to do it that nobody can spin it sideways instead.
Take It To The Streets -- think outside the beltway and look beyond the blogs. This is a big country and very little of it actually happens onscreen or over a keyboard. Organize & empower every possible activity from big peace marches in Washington to small protests in Peoria. This has to be a national effort with everybody behind it from the grassroots on up. It won't work if it's just something happening somewhere else from the top down. People need to see it and feel it in real time where they live, not on CNN.
Make It So -- no matter what else happens, it is absolutely critical to turn ideas into action here. People hear way too much hot air from politicians and pundits as it is. If you're going to set a deadline and bring the troops home, then you have to really do it, not just talk about it. You have to do it emphatically and you have to do it sooner rather than later. Faith without works is dead... and so are more and more of our brave men and women every day that this is allowed to go on.
Rick, Thanks so much for putting this up. GV does beautiful work and she really captured the day.
My two cents: Defund and De-escalate--Diplomacy works better.
Posted by: karen at January 31, 2007 11:04 AM
True dat, but then, won't we need actual experienced, effective diplomats to conduct some semblance of responsible diplomacy, or will it be 2009 before that is even possible?
Sorry... baby steps to the esacalator... baby steps to the escalator...
Repost from end of last thread, since I didn't see a new one had begun....
~~~~~
&@$^!)$%&!$@*$!!!!!!
Posted by: monkey at January 31, 2007 11:25 AM
What monkey said... I agree with.
I keep remembering two speeches from the anti-war rally. The one from the vet's organization that put out the ad that says 'if you support the escalation, you don't support the troops' - and the mother of a young man in Iraq who said (with the support of her son) that she wants no more funding for the Iraq war.
The best way to support the troops is to bring them home... NOW...! It's what the majority of Americans want, it's what the majority of the troops want, since most now know they're only there because of lies for oil....
Right on cue...
WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama said Tuesday U.S. combat forces should be out of Iraq by spring 2008 to end “a foreign policy disaster,” but he stopped short of endorsing a cutoff in funds.
The Illinois senator introduced a bill to force the redeployment under law, but that’s unlikely while Bush is president. Still, Obama said he’s taking Bush up on his challenge to critics to offer alternatives.
“It is important at this point that Congress offer specific constructive approaches to what’s proven to be a foreign policy disaster,” Obama said in an interview with The Associated Press, “because we’ve got too much at stake to simply stand on the sidelines and criticize.”
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16896534/
Posted by: monkey at January 31, 2007 12:02 PM
But, how many thousands will be dead by 2008, just in time for the prez campaign...? Too late.
I suggest set a deadline for three months from Feb. 1 to have all the guard and reserve troops home and the regular military redeployed. They could all be out of Iraq by May 1, 2007.
Congress has already wasted a whole month flapping their gums about a NON-binding resolution. Better they make a binding resolution with a three month deadline, then cut off war funding, and only provide enough money to get the troops home.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070131/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/domestic_spying
Gonzales to release spy program details
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Wednesday he will turn over secret documents detailing the government's domestic spying program, ending a two-week standoff with the Senate Judiciary Committee over surveillance targeting terror suspects.
"It's never been the case where we said we would never provide the access," Gonzales told reporters.
"We'd obviously be concerned about (how) the public disclosure may jeopardize the national security of our country," he said. "But we're working with the Congress to provide the information that it needs."
The documents held by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court — including investigators' applications for permission to spy and judges' orders — will be given to some lawmakers as early as Wednesday.
Gonzales said the documents would not be released publicly. "We're talking about highly classified discussions about highly classified actions of the United States government," the attorney general said.
The records will be given to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), D-Vt., and the panel's top Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., who two weeks ago lambasted Gonzales for refusing to turn over documents that even the FISA Court's presiding judge had no objection to releasing.
{More on link. Funny how the beginning part of the article makes it seem like this was Gonzo's idea, when, in fact, Leahy ordered him to turn over papers - I remember watching the video about it....}
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/01/31/jon-stewart-explains-the-scooter-libby-trial/
Jon Stewart Explains the Scooter Libby Trial
I am gagging already from all the speeches and soundbites of politicians from both sides of the aisle. There sure is alot of tap dancing going around.
I am more concerned right now with the long term idea of Iran, and where I stand on the issues in the Middle East in reference to the role Iran will play in our troop levels as far as Iraq is concerned.
(I don't want to hijack this thread. Would the blogmeisters consider a thread header/article concerning the troop level in the Middle East and whether or not Iran is a legitimate threat to the U.S. and Israel? And if so/not, then where do we go from here? And, honestly, is Iran inflicting a strong presence in Iraq, and if so, do we want to contain Iraq with an established FUNCTIONING government before we pull out?
I agree that diplomacy is best. As far as experienced diplomats, how about Jimmy Carter?
The whole thing is escalating so rapidly, I am really concerned.
That's not entirely a digression, TSP.
There's a lot of evidence piling up that indicates that one of the prime goals of the Iraq invasion was to quickly take over its oil-rich areas near the border with Iran, to quickly establish a series of forward bases near the border with Iran, to quickly build up a large quantity of troops near the border with Iran... well, you get the picture.
Had the Turks not bailed out on the deal at the last minute and refused to let us use Turkey as a staging area for the original invasion, things might have worked out better in that regard. But they did bail at the last minute, tossing a major monkey wrench into the neocons' plans to use Iraq as a springboard from which to attack Iran.
And then, of course, there's the little matter of those ungrateful Iraqis refusing to allow us to roll over them like some arrogant yankee juggernaut trying to blitzkrieg its way through their sovereign borders en route to its neighboring state. Darn those pesky Iraqis, anyway!
So instead, four years later we're still all bogged down in a quagmire in Iraq, and Iran is a much more dangerous adversary than it was in the first place. But we're still massing even more troops and building more bases over there, and we're saber-rattling about Iran to draw attention away from what we're up to in Iraq, and even though things are already totally FUBAR now our dear neocon leaders are still determined to go ahead with their original agenda no matter what it costs.
Breaking up the PNAC's plans by removing and redeploying troops from Iraq into other places where they are not as conveniently placed for the pre-planned war against Iran is an extra side benefit of getting them the hell out of Iraq. But it wouldn't be an entirely unintended side effect on our bleeding-heart liberal peaceniks' part, either.
And that's why Darth Cheney and his Boy George are so damn determined to ignore every sign of citizen outrage and every lick of common sense and pile even more fuel into the tinder box that they've so carefully constructed, before the grownups take their matches away from them to prevent them from playing with fire and make them go stand in the corner for a two-term time-out.
So no, it's not a digression. The ill-advised surge of troops into Iraq is really about Iran. The neokonzertruppen hiding behind Bushco's stage curtain have been orchestrating this sad, sour symphony ever since the early 1990's. The fact that things turned out to be so badly out of key in Iraq annoys them, but it won't stop them -- not unless we the people force them to put down their batons and slink off back into the understage sub-basements where they belong.
(P.S. -- a man's speech must exceed his gasp, else what's a metaphor?)
Why immediate withdrawal of our troops is tricky:
"The fact is that we, through our invasion and our election, have given the Shia at the ballot box what they never could achieve all of those years, and the Sunni, who have continually been the dominant, more secular faction that managed the affairs of state, are suddenly finding themselves in the minority; many believe they were born to the right to rule and are determined to restore it. This is the civil conflict we have put ourselves in the middle of, with American troops who don't speak the language going door to door and house to house, attempting to somehow make sense of an alien environment they have been plunged into--from California, Kansas, Missouri, Massachusetts, and all of our States. We are doing precisely what Secretary Rumsfeld said we would not do--putting our troops in the middle of a civil war.
On my recent trip to the Middle East, I heard grave concerns expressed by Sunni leaders, Mubarak and others, about the Shia resurgence and Iran's growing influence in the region. Indeed, Iran's influence has grown, and we are partly responsible, if not significantly responsible, for that growth."
In other words, like Lebanon and Palestine, one outsider's arrogance has created a vacuum which another outsider is all too eager to fill. This is Iran's chance to get back for the Iran-Iraq war, now that we have conveniently removed the barriers for them. Can no one else see that we have been goading Iran into a confrontation with us since we invaded Iraq in 2003?
Were we to immediately and completely pull out of Iraq, the Sunnis (funded by Iran and royally pissed off that they lost their superiority at the ballot box) would quickly, bloodily, and violently regain control of Iraq. Iraq, which like Afghanistan we have left devoid of opportunities for legal commerce, would be all too eager for support from Iran...support that on one of its faces would undoubtedly bear the benign appearance of aid for the needy, education, food, etc. It does not matter how Iran supports a Sunni Iraq financially or whether military arms are part of the deal; the end result is the same: a Sunni Iraq becomes an Iranian puppet state.
And the Iranian president, who in personality so unnervingly echoes our own cowboy diplomat, would undoubtedly seize the opportunity for political grandstanding...and through the combined oil revenues, have gained enough financial clout to renegotiate existing military agreements with Russia and China.
This is the political future which we set in motion nearly four years ago, and in true Eastern fashion, our adversaries have carefully hemmed us in so that no matter what action we take, the result will be similar.
The way to solve this dilemma is not through troop increases OR troop reductions; it is not through a military approach that this issue will be resolved at all. Nor will it be resolved by Crusader preaching or even Carteresque diplomacy. Rather, this is an economic and social issue that could best be solved by, ironically, encouraging the creation and strengthening the existence of the small businesses that form the foundation of a capitalist society. It is not "freedom" or glasnost that won the Cold War; it was economics. And although we now face, on the surface, a very different species of warfare, the weapon of victory remains the same.
Why are we wasting time militarizing Iraq when we could be teaching Iraqis how to run businesses?
Stuck at work but just read as Breaking News at TruthOut that Bush is implicated in Cheney's notes introduced at evidence at the Libby trial.
Ruh roh ..
Well better go put my tv dinner in the microwave so I can check it out!
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013107Z.shtml
FireDogLake is down so read Libby liveblogging here.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/31/115545/291
Foreign papers are shocked at Cheney (Libby trial, Blitzer appearance, scoffing at Congress etc). Liberal/progressive blogs call for his impeachment, of course. As for the mainstream and the rest of government, time shall reveal whether anyone pays attention.
Woz,
Cheney's headed your way - first to Guam to meet the troops, then to Australia to try to drum up more support for matters in the middle east.
I am sitting in the hearing room of the Rayburn Bldg. where the Progressive Caucus is speaking to John Nichols of The Nation on radio. Barney Frank is talking about New Orleans and is kicking ass.
Dennis Kucinich just left after being quite clear that the Congress will have to deal with Iraq, followed by Bob Filner talking about returning Iraq vets returning--over 50% of whom have PTSD.
Tuesday Barney Frank and Maxine Waters are holding a hearing on New Orleans and will be leading a visit to NOLA during the Congressional recess in February.
Rep. Steve Cohen from Memphis is speaking now. He speaks about the influence of money on politics. He cites Jackson Brown's "Lives in the Balance"
A coordinating role for the Caucus: the Veteran's Hospital in NOLA has not been rebuilt and Filner is going to bring the Veteran's Affairs Committee down there too.
People: this is a VERY DIFFERENT CONGRESS.
Bush announces today that he has a plan to balance the federal budget by 2012. Its apparent that he now acknowledges that it will take a Democratic President to once again balance the budget, 4 years after he is out of office.
I don't trust Judy Miller, think she is a shill for the Administration and that protecting her sources had nothing to do with her time in the pokey. Anyone know when and if Cheney will testify and whether he was promised immunity?
That's great that it's a very different Congress. But will they stop Bush's war march?
Sheila Jackson Lee saying they may not be able to cover EVERYTHING but they are working hard to overcome the past twelve years in the desert. There will be more sunlight to come! They plan to stay in charge and cleaning up the mess for years to come.
She is asking to be called ChairWOMAN of the Transportation Subcommittee. Trains, buses, etc--what can they do?
New rage is investment over security--selling the toll booths etc to foreign corporations. She plans to correct this problem.
Karen, while the '08 Convention will be in Denver, might they be able to do a simulcast one night at the Convention maybe at some kind of town hall meeting, not at Jackson Square, but from a badly damaged location in New Orleans. Perhaps Sen Landrieu might be interested in doing something like that to highlight how the RNC has forgotten N.O.
John Nichols program is running at http://www.ips-dc.org. It's called "Defining the Issues"
Karen,
Thanks for keeping us informed.
I don't get it..why not Lieberman or Landrieu?
Bubba, Sounds good. We actually have folks in Congress now who listen to our ideas so it's possible to pass things along!
Dianne Watson speaking now. She is dealing with issues in the entertainment industry and is considered about an FCC ruling that allows corporate ownership of newspaper, radio, and television stations. "Localism is dead", she says. African-Americans own very few of these conglomerates.
She speaks about how hard it has been to make policy that is in the best interest of all Americans. She thanks us (the voters) for changing that.
Lynne Woolsey speaking now. She is speaking about the amendment she offered a few years ago that was voted positively by 128 Members. That was a watershed moment. Now she and Cong. Lee have co-sponsored HR 508 along with Cong. Maxine Waters: the TRIAD of righteous women!
Woolsey speaking about LISTENING TO THE IRAQIS, once the troops are home. What a concept!
HR 508 talks about contractors coming home too!
They have put together a statement on Iraq (the Progressive Caucus)
battery dying..........
Libby trial liveblogging back up at FireDogLake instead of Kos and an unemployed person is following it for me while I work. Ironic how the blogosphere works.
By the way, cheap registration for YearlyKos ends today. It's a blast whether you're really a "Kossack" or not.
OK, found an outlet. This is a progressive singles bar right now!
There are people talking about running for office on one side of me, the Rev. Yearwood is having a good time speaking into a video camera on the other side of me--getting warmed up for his usual thumping of the Bush Admin.
Suz--Ellen Ratner right here too!
ssshhhh....I will move into the room and try to give you all some sense of who is talking to whom and what about...
David Swanson: not enough about impeachment yet.
Bob Fertik opening his coat to reveal his IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY t-shirt...
Charles Rangel enters...
Code Pink, PDA, Progressive Majority, MoveOn, HipHop Caucus, and many other groups are collaborating with the Progressive Caucus as of today. We are working together, folks.
Katrina Vanden Heuvel of The Nation speaking about Molly Ivins, who is, according to her, failing...
Lynne Woolsey thanking us for Saturday's march.
Sounds fun, karen!
But..."Opening his coat to reveal...." sounded a little flashy at first. (Posted by: karen at January 31, 2007 06:03 PM)
And they allow that in DC?
Charlie Rangel thanking us too. Poverty is a threat to our nation's security and we have to get rid of it.
Karen,
While you've got their ears...please ask them to get Jesselyn Radack off the no fly list.
Ask them to stop Bush from going to war.
Ask them if they don't want to impeach, can they at least give Darth Vadar and the Chimp a new home in the Hague?
David Swanson livebloggesd the whole day:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/
Congressional Oversight--Rangel spreading it around. He said he felt embarrassed when Bush came to the House and explained the surge--and afraid for his country.
Karen,
Thanks so much for sharing all of this with us. You sound hopeful - and so does your news!!!
Maxine Waters just arrived. She thanks us for what we do on a daily basis and for being progressives who love our country.
"We had the BEST march on Saturday". "The chants just rang in my head all weekend."
No matter how the discussion goes from here, it cannot be swept under the rug, nor can we just say we disagree. We have to say NO MORE MONEY!!
Carol, There is a certain positive energy here, but we must not stop calling, writing, or blogging.
This is what democracy looks like...
(I know you are a patriot for peace and work hard every day!)
The Progressive Caucus members will be going to Iowa and New Hampshire to make sure the candidates cannot waffle or obfuscate on the issue of funding the war.
Maxine talking about STREET HEAT making the difference. Impeachment will ONLY happen from the bottom up.
GOD, I love Maxine Waters. What a pistol!
So the Dreamgirls are going on tour--Woolsey, Lee, and Waters. DO NOT miss the show!
NBC news just reported teh passing of Molly Ivins.
God rest her soul.
Karen,
Sounds like a great time over there. Do the dreamgirls sing and dance too or only legislate?
I remember I got to meet Maxine Waters at the Rainbow Push. She was definitely brought the house down.
Karen, just remind them that we're all counting on them to keep a stiff upper lip and to keep fighting for us. We need them.
Also, can you tell them to crack open the e-voting codes and eliminate corporate elections and corporate media?
Thanks!
Posted by: Carol at January 31, 2007 06:54 PM
Rest in Peace, Molly Ivans.
I'm posting this before reading all of the comments so far. I will go there very soon, but usually you have gone to bed by the time I get to it. I think this article applies to the thread because it gives me a much better understanding about Islam and Democracy. I agree with the author that a Muslim country cannot be bombed into democratic thinking and practice. The author cites a gallup poll of 10 majority Muslim countries and results show them firmly in favour of democracy. This article gives insight into our misunderstandings between the kinds of democracy available to the world. It shows that peaceful co-existence between these democracies would be possible.
Count the numbers and see: Islam and democracy do mix
February 1, 2007
The West needs to show that it is willing to abide by the popular will, writes Waleed Aly.
LET no one deny that George Bush is an optimist. Even as Iraq descends further into the quagmire of civil war, the United States President is celebrating small victories. The Iraqi people voted in three elections in 2005, he enthused in his State of the Union address last week. Yes, there have been setbacks, but "it is still within our power to shape the outcome of this battle". Let democracy triumph. Let freedom prevail. Et cetera.
Cont ....
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/islam-and-democracy-do-mix/2007/01/31/1169919400771.html
Good golly, Miss Molly.
Rest in peace, brave soul.
Thinking of Molly while we celebrate hope here. Bob Fertik: "She kept a lot of us going for years."
Cheney's headed your way - first to Guam to meet the troops, then to Australia to try to drum up more support for matters in the middle east.
Posted by: DiAnne at January 31, 2007 03:29 PM
Yikes! Just what the little ferret, Howard, needs to egg him on to ever more ridiculous statements and brave actions. Thanks for the warning DiAnne.
Karen, once again you leave me exhausted! Thank the cosmos that we have someone with your energy and vibrance and continued optimism to provide this instant commentary. You really are a remarkable woman. Thankyou.
It's up to us to keep the spirit of Molly & Ann Richards in us & carry on raising hell for them.
Namaste, Molly.
Bob Fertik opening his coat to reveal his IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY t-shirt...
Posted by: karen at January 31, 2007 06:03 PM
This reminds me of the Aussie who was put off a Qantas flight recently, because of his Tshirt. The writing said, "World's #1 Terrorist" below which was a picture of George W. Whatshisname. The ejected passenger threatened to sue Qantas.
Posted by: madame defarge at January 31, 2007 07:55 PM
You should write op-eds. You'd be great. Feisty style, funny, on-target on the issues (of course!). (And of course everyone would love you as much as we do.)
More Molly memories.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5aSqirIAXw
woz--I think generally that word is censored on planes.
However if he'd just warn "Dumbya" or something, it would have been fine.
Karen, I wish you could ask the Congressmen if they're pushing freshmen Dems to 'wait a few months'.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/01/31/freshman-dems-being-pressured-to-go-old-school/
Rest in peace, Molly.
You were a brave voice of conscience, and represented true Texas values.
Posted by: sparrow at January 31, 2007 08:55 PM
Two freshmen: Keith Ellison and Steve Cohen, stopped by the hearing and gave some of the most straight-up and clearest messaging ever heard. They won't be "waiting a few months" for anything.
Posted by: Otter at January 31, 2007 02:17 PM
Kudos!!! That's the shortest, most concise explanation of the situation I've ever read.
Two paws up...!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070201/ap_on_el_se/franken_senate
Comedian Al Franken to run for Senate
Hopefully, we'll get rid of that brown/snot-nosed Coleman in '08....
Why Congress Surrendered
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/30/AR2007013001652.html
good discusson of Congress abdicating powers such as authorizing force - to Executive Branch
A worry.
US judge shelves Guantanamo lawsuits
February 1, 2007 - 2:04PM
Sixteen lawsuits by Guantanamo Bay detainees have been put on hold by a US federal judge who said he may no longer have jurisdiction to hear the cases.
US District Judge Reggie Walton said the Military Commissions Act, signed into law in October, has left him unable to consider whether the detainees can challenge being held at the naval base in Cuba.
Australian terror suspect David Hicks, who was captured with the Taliban in Afghanistan five year ago, is among its detainees.
Cont .....
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/US-judge-shelves-Guantanamo-lawsuits/2007/02/01/1169919453275.html
Woz
Not sure if warrants in Italy and Germany for CIA members who kidnapped and imprisoned their citizens secretly will ever be served, but it should certainly make their travel more difficult.
It's said there is still a warrant in France for Henry Kissinger, for war crimes.
Blair's scandal
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/uk/features/article_1254058.php/Blair%60s_scandal
Once I called them a House of Cards.
Posted by: Otter at January 31, 2007 02:17 PM
Thanks, Otter. I try to make sense out of it all, but it really is complex because it is so covert. (At least to me.) Now, take a big breath!
Thanks to you, too, V.
And so the plot thickens every day, along with the spilled blood.
It sort of looks like the dye (die) is cast.
Posted by: DiAnne at January 31, 2007 02:52 PM
and....
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013107Z.shtml
Posted by: DiAnne at January 31, 2007 02:55 PM
Ruh roh ..
Last week, Libby's attorney Theodore Wells made a stunning pronouncement during opening statements of Libby's trial. He claimed that the White House had made Libby a scapegoat for the leak to protect Karl Rove - Bush's political adviser and "right-hand man."
I'm shocked. SHOCKED, I TELL YA. I'm sure everyone is.....
Molly Ivins, 1944-2007
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013107U.shtml
It is with great sadness that we received the news this afternoon that Molly Ivins has lost her struggle with cancer. The world will surely be less bright without her guiding light. Tomorrow we will have special coverage commemorating her career and the meaning she brought to our lives.
Excerpt:
To read more about Molly Ivins or to make a comment about her, go to Texas Observer. Tax-deductible contributions in her honor may be made to The Texas Observer, 307 West Seventh Street, Austin, TX 78701 or the American Civil Liberties Union, 127 Broad Street, 18th floor, New York, NY 10004.
~~~~~
Embedded link: http://www.texasobserver.org/
~~~~~
I have learned that there are certain authors one may not read, and videos one may not view, without first swallowing food and drink, or else I have to clean up the splutter from the computer monitor and keyboard... and Molly's writing was right there at the top five.
RIP, dear Molly. You don't know how sorely your insight and astute political observations will be missed....
These were apparently the last words written by Ms Ivins:
She continued to write her column and to make public appearances until shortly before her death. In her Jan. 11 column, she launched what she called an "old-fashioned newspaper crusade" against President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq. The trademark humor had drained away.
"We are the people who run this country," she wrote. "We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, 'Stop it, now!' "
It must have been tough for her to carry on without her friend Ann Richards. Texas(and the nation) have now suffered another great loss, Rest in Peace our warrior.
Well, I learned about Molly Ivans passing just now on this thread. No words, just thoughts.
Chuck in Houston
Bubba:
Can Molly Ivins say that?
Chuck in Hosuton
where will the voice to replace her come from? she could really turn a phrase without hedging, without nuance, she just said it the way it was.
Bubba:
That reminds me of the story about the football coach who on the first day of practice told the players that on the first game day, he could probably find ten teams in the stands that with the proper preparation could whoop them (e.g., the movie about the Philadelphia Eagle -- "Invincible" or something).
I'm sure Molly Ivins passed a torch.
Chuck in Houston
Maureen Dowd | Mama Hugs Iowa
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013107T.shtml
"When she was little, Hillary Rodham would sit on a basement bench and pretend she was flying a spaceship to Mars. Her younger brother Hugh, perched behind, would sometimes beg for a chance to be captain. No dice. 'She would always drive, and I would always have to sit in the back,' he once told me. Finally, in Iowa, she was once more behind the wheel," writes Maureen Dowd.
{After what seems like a glowing and positive tribute, Dowd zings (and BTW, I've never heard anyone call Hillary 'The Warrior' so I don't know where Dowd gets that)...}:
The Achilles' heel of "The Warrior," as she is known, is the war. She expressed outrage about Iraq, but ended up sounding like a mother whose teenage son has not cleaned up his room: "The president has said this is going to be left to his successor ... and I think it's the height of irresponsibility, and I really resent it."
She uttered the most irritating and disingenuous nine words in politics: "If we had known then what we know now...."
Jim Webb knew. Barack Obama knew. Even I knew, for Pete's sake. The administration's trickery was clear in real time.
Hillary didn't have the nerve to oppose a popular president on a national security issue after 9/11, and she feared being cast as an antiwar hippie when she ran. Now she feels she can't simply say she made a bad decision. And that makes her seem conniving - not a good mix with nurturing.
Lori just came in from the Code Pink house and meeting with news of a gunman holed up in the house across the street. At first they thought the crime scene tape was for them, but it turned out that there are some real criminals in DC.
More on Lori soon...
http://www.texasobserver.org/
So long as there are scoundrels in the state house, the Congress or the White House,
So long as the poor are left succorless,
So long as inequity lounges in board rooms,
So long as power is abused and trust is betrayed,
So long will Molly Ivins' spirit two-step across the land,
And laughter and hope will spring up as she passes.
Good work, Molly. Rest easy. We'll take it from here.
The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
~ Plato
Demagogue: one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.
~ H.L. Mencken
Journalist Sy Hersh Has Harsh Words for Bush
By Kat Schmidt
"The fact of the matter is we have a government that will do what it wants to do for the next two years," he said. "The worst is yet to come. It's sort of like we're essentially powerless [and] just play it out."
http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/229/52/
US Military Kept Hostage to Political Abuse of Power
By Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
The American nation is built on a capitalistic system where the big corporations control the entire economy, including the US government. Big corporations finance the political campaigns of every elected public official who in turn tends to protect corporate interests first and foremost.
http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/222/52/
The Failure of America as a Moral Force
Paul Craig Roberts
Everyone can see the US buildup of massive air and naval attack forces on Iran’s borders. Fox “News,” the Bush Regime’s main disinformation agency, is busy preparing its viewers for the US attack by whipping up fear and hysteria over Iran.
http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/220/52/
Excerpt:
The Democrats are damning Bush not for his monstrous crime but for failing at it!
Instead of holding Bush accountable for his crimes with impeachment proceedings, Hillary Clinton merely wants Bush to get rid of the problem so she will not be troubled with it on her watch: “We expect him to extricate our country from this before he leaves office.” Hillary says it would be “the height of irresponsibility” for Bush to pass the war along to the next president.
A moral, humane, decent, honest person would define “the height of irresponsibility” as the act of taking two countries to war on the basis of lies and deception.
Now that Bush and Cheney have lost their war due to their incompetence and faulty execution, the Democrats are going to pass a non-binding resolution against escalating the war in Iraq. While Congress negotiates a posture on the Iraq war, the Bush Regime moves forward with its plans to attack Iran.
Everyone can see the US buildup of massive air and naval attack forces on Iran’s borders. Fox “News,” the Bush Regime’s main disinformation agency, is busy preparing its viewers for the US attack by whipping up fear and hysteria over Iran. The Bush Regime suddenly changed its line and now blames Iran instead of al-Qaeda for its defeat in Iraq. The Israel Lobby is working around the clock for a US strike on Iran. On January 30 Bush again threatened that he will respond firmly if Tehran escalates its involvement in Iraq.
Bush’s threats are part of the propaganda that is creating an excuse that Bush can use to attack Iran.
Bush plans to bomb Iran. US war doctrine has been altered to allow Bush to use nuclear weapons to attack Iran. American neoconservatives and Israel’s right-wing have argued in behalf of attacking Iran with nuclear weapons, and a number of foreign experts are forecasting such an attack.
While Bush prepares in public view his war on Iran, the Democrats turn a blind eye. For the Democrats the only issue is whether or not Bush should send 21,500 more US troops to Iraq.
The issue is whether the war in Iraq can be quickly ended, or Bush and Cheney impeached, before the two war criminals create a more monstrous crime and a more dangerous situation for America and the world by attacking Iran.
The die may be cast, as TSP is worried about, and I fear she is likely correct, especially as regards Iran and an ever-escalating war. For years Dems sat around acting like powerless victims, wringing their hands, saying 'oh, golly, woe is me, we can't do anything because the neoCons are in charge of Congress.' The Dems can no longer use that excuse and they are still acting like powerless victims. (The only other choice is to think they've gone to the dark side completely, and they are just as committed to this war as Bush/Cheney for financial gain from corporate sources.)
The FACT that the Dems have not moved to impeach Bush & Cheney is the 'tell-tale heart,' so to speak. They've committed crime after crime after crime, and still the Dems have sat on their hands and done nothing since their majority win in Nov., which has been the most disheartening thing of all; our legislators didn't fight for our rights when the Cons were in power, and they gave up our rights, as well as their own, in the process; few even made a token vote against giving up our rights and privileges. If they continue to do so, continue not to reinstate the rights and privileges taken away from us, continue to leave the excess power acquired with the illegal and unethical and immoral legislation passed since 2000... without impeaching the bam dastards and turning them over to The Hague... then the Dems are, indeed, no better than the criminals who have gone unpunished and who started an illegal and unconstitutinal war. They are accessories to the war crimes and high crimes and misdemeanors of the administration.
As Paul Craig Roberts said in the above article: "The Democrats are damning Bush not for his monstrous crime but for failing at it!"
The 'culture of corruption' has crossed party lines as long as the Democrats continue to give their silent blessing to this administration to run amok, grab power never given to the legislative branch in the Constitution, and continue to commit war crimes by invading more countries. If the Dems are not part of the solution, they're part of the problem by continuing to act like powerless victims, which hurts this entire nation. The only way to succeed is to repeal all the bad legislation passed since 2000 and reinstate the constitutional balance of power.
I think Howard Zinn in the article I posted on the previous thread had it right. We The People are going to have to be more courageous than our legislators and impeach Bush ourselves.... From where I sit tonight, there doesn't seem to be any other choice.
Chalmers Johnson | Empire v. Democracy: Why Nemesis Is at Our Door
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013107H.shtml
Chalmers Johnson writes: "Whatever future developments may prove to be, my best guess is that the US will continue to maintain a facade of constitutional government and drift along until financial bankruptcy overtakes it. Of course, bankruptcy will not mean the literal end of the US any more than it did for Germany in 1923, China in 1948, or Argentina in 2001-2002. It might, in fact, open the way for an unexpected restoration of the American system - or for military rule, revolution, or simply some new development we cannot yet imagine.
In Iraq, Bush's Rent-an-Army
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013107C.shtml
As President Bush took the podium to deliver his State of the Union address last week, there were five American families receiving news that has become all too common: their loved ones had been killed in Iraq. But in this case, the slain were neither "civilians," as the news reports proclaimed, nor were they US soldiers. They were highly trained mercenaries deployed to Iraq by a secretive private military company based in North Carolina - Blackwater USA.
{{{One of the TV stations aired a piece about a year ago about a woman, widow of one of the DynCorp mercenaries, who was giving a dinner for 'all the heroes of the Iraq war' and I think the community was participating in that. I wrote the TV station and set them straight about the five figure monthly salary, asked if they knew the US was using mercenaries to fight this war; they did not do a follow-up story about the dinner. Both TV stations are carefully saying "the battle for Iraq" when they air Iraq stories. If any of them starts calling mercenaries 'heroes' I'll come unhinged.}}}
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2204096.ece
Labour 'falling apart' as MPs turn on Blair
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2204054.ece
The Big Question: Does the US intend to attack Iran, or is it only sabre-rattling?
http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article2204061.ece
Nods, winks and a lesson for the media worldwide
NonnyO:
I clicked on one of your links and there on the right hand side were some Editor's Choice articles. Never wanting conscription to be resurrected, I wondered at the editor's choice for this article. Not now. What an excellent article this is.
Johann Hari: Bring back conscription (even for me)
Would MPs have backed the war if they had known their kids would end up on the streets of Mosul?
Published: 01 February 2007
There is a surreal disconnection between the war Out There and the calm Back Here. As it waits for another of George Bush's futile "surges", Baghdad is melting ever faster into a sectarian Chernobyl. My friends there say that every street is being turned into an ad hoc fortress, with barricades at each end manned by impromptu militias to keep out the sectarian death-squads as best they can. One friend - a rational graduate of science from Oxford University - is muttering about the End of Days. British boys and girls are staggering through a similar implosion in the south of the country - but have we noticed?
The troops in Iraq are stuck in a paradox. A majority of the British people (62 per cent) want to bring the troops home now. A majority of the troops (72 per cent) - if they are like the recently polled American soldiers - want to come home now. And a majority of the Iraqi people (78 per cent) want the troops to go home now. So the unwilling are occupying the unwilling on behalf of the unwilling - in the putative name of democracy.
Cont ....
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/johann_hari/article2204057.ece
Gore's new nomination: Nobel Peace Prize
He 'has put climate change on the agenda,' two Norwegian sponsors say
Updated: 32 minutes ago
AP
OSLO, Norway - Former Vice President Al Gore was nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his wide-reaching efforts to draw the world’s attention to the dangers of global warming, a Norwegian lawmaker said Thursday.
“A prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is making a difference, and Al Gore has made a difference,” Conservative Member of Parliament Boerge Brende, a former minister of environment and then of trade, told The Associated Press.
Brende said he joined political opponent Heidi Soerensen of the Socialist Left Party to nominate Gore as well as Canadian Inuit activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier before the nomination deadline expired Thursday.
“Al Gore, like no other, has put climate change on the agenda. Gore uses his position to get politicians to understand, while Sheila works from the ground up,” Brende said.
"I think climate change is the biggest challenge we face in this century," Brende said.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16920923/from/RS.1/