Hope

I'm sorry to be off topic. BUT...I'm listening to Jesselyn Radack on the Bob Edwards Show on xm right now!

She sounds great and is telling her story.

He's asking great questions too.

That is great news, Suz. I hope people will get her book and understand that it is citizen action that makes the difference.

Here is a list of upcoming actions across the country for the next few months (courtesy David Swanson):
David writes:

The coming weeks and months are our window of opportunity to end the war and impeach Bush and Cheney. Our best moments for action may be improvised in response to changing events. But planning out our schedule will help. You can find local events in your area, or post them yourself for others to sign up and attend at:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/event

Here are some national events to plan for:

Jan. 9 or 10: Bush to announce escalation of occupation of Iraq

Jan. 10: Michael O'Hanlan and others to testify on Iraq before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee

Jan. 11: 10 a.m. Condoleeza Rice to testify on Iraq before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Jan. 11: 2 p.m. Condoleeza Rice to testify on Iraq before the House International Relations Committee

Jan 11: Washington, D.C., and local events to close Guantanamo - to include lobbying of Congress as well as a protest at the Supreme Court, a forum at Georgetown Law School, and a press conference with peace activists returned from trip to Cuba
http://www.witnesstorture.org

Jan. 12: 9:30-11:30 a.m. Former Senator George McGovern and Dr. William Polk present a plan to withdraw from Iraq at an event hosted by Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee in 345 Cannon House Office Building.

Jan. 12: 12:30 p.m. Former Senator George McGovern to Speak at National Press Club About How to End the War

Jan. 12: 9:30 a.m. Robert Gates and Peter Pace to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee

Jan. 15-16: Martin Luther King Jr. events

Jan. 18-19: Raging Grannies to demand peace in Washington, D.C.

Jan. 23: Bush to deliver State of the Union

Jan. 25: House Republican Retreat

Jan. 28: Congressman Henry Waxman to hold a town hall meeting in his district.

Jan. 27-29: march for peace and impeachment, workshops, lobbying for defunding and investigating
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/january27

January: Resolution votes in Arizona Democratic Party, and Delegate elections in California Democratic Party

Feb. 1-2: House Democratic Retreat

Feb. 5: Bush expected to submit budget

Feb. 5: Lt. Ehren Watada to face Court Martial

Feb. 5: Occupation Project Begins, set to last 8 weeks
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/occupationproject

Feb. 15: Four-Year Anniversary of the World's Largest Protest

Feb. 16-26 Congress to recess

March 4: March Forth
http://www.wethepeoplemarch4th.org

Mar 6: Vermont towns to vote on Bush impeachment resolutions

March 15: Idea of March forum in Charlottesville, Virginia

March 17-19: Peace Demonstrations everywhere to mark four years of Iraq War
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/march17

March 30: Congress to recess

April 10: Senate returns

April 16: House returns

April: Resolution votes in California Democratic Party

Ongoing: Cities for Peace
http://www.citiesforpeace.org

Ongoing: Cities and States for Impeachment
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/resolutions

________________

Newly Updated Flyer to Print, Copy, Distribute

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/2007-1-flyer.doc

________________

March and Lobby in Washington on January 27th, 28th, and 29th

Come to Washington, D.C., on January 27. Join in the march for peace being organized by United for Peace and Justice,

and impeachment events on January 28th being planned by Progressive Democrats of America.

Make appointments now to meet with your Congress Member on January 29th if you want to ask for impeachment and peace. Get organized with others in your Congressional District.

_________

Sign Up for Lobby Day Now

Register now for the UFPJ Congressional Advocacy Day (lobby day) January 29, 2007

March to the Capitol on J27 -- march into your Rep. and Senators' offices on J29!

Register Here:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/modinput4.php?modin=121

Plan to spend three days in D.C. On Saturday, march. On Sunday, take part in workshops and training sessions on peace and impeachment. Meet with fellow activists from your state and congressional district and prepare for Monday. On Monday, lobby your Congress Member and Senators for two things:
1. No more funding for this war.
2. Investigations of the justification for and conduct of this war.

_________

"Hope is like a bird that senses dawn and carefully starts to sing while it is still dark."
~~Unknown

Stay-Low Alert Issued For Pennsylvania...

Vice President Dick Cheney is expected to arrive in Westmoreland County, PA this morning for a day of hunting at the Rolling Rock Club in Ligonier Township....

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_487539.html

Justice?

Court drops Kurd charges against Saddam

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 26 minutes ago

Saddam Hussein's trial for the killing of 180,000 Kurds in the 1980s resumed Monday with the late dictator's seat empty, nine days after he went to the gallows. The court's first order of business was to drop all charges against Saddam.

Six co-defendants still face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from a military campaign code-named Operation Anfal during the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war.

Shortly after the court reconvened Monday, a bailiff called out the names of the accused and the six men walked silently into the courtroom one after another.

Chief Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa said the court decided to stop all legal action against the former president, since "the death of defendant Saddam was confirmed."

All seven defendants in the Anfal case, including Saddam, had pleaded innocent to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Saddam and one other man also pleaded innocent to the additional charge of genocide.

Saddam was sentenced to death for the killing of 148 Shiites and hanged on Dec. 30 in a chaotic execution that has drawn global criticism for the Shiite-dominated government. An illicit video from inside the former leader's execution chamber showed him being taunted on the gallows.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair believed the manner in which Saddam was executed was "completely wrong," his office said Sunday.

- more -

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070108/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_070107184024

They have made a killing

The US has spent a million dollars for every dead Iraqi - is that what they mean by value for money?

Terry Jones

Early this year the Bush administration is to ask Congress to approve an additional $100bn for the onerous task of making life intolerable for the Iraqis. This will bring the total spent on the White House's current obsession with war to almost $500bn - enough to have given every US citizen $1,600 each. I wonder which the voters would have gone for if given the choice: shall we (a) give every American $1,600 or (b) spend the money on bombing a country in the Middle East that doesn't use lavatory paper?

Of course, there's another thing that George Bush could have done with the money: he could have given every Iraqi $18,700. I imagine that would have reduced the threat of international terrorism somewhat. Call me old-fashioned, but I can't help thinking that giving someone $18,700 brings them round to your side more quickly than bombing the hell out of them. They could certainly buy a lot of lavatory paper with it.

In 2002 the house budget committee and the congressional budget office both guesstimated the cost of invading Iraq at approximately $50bn; $500bn seems a bit wide of the mark. What's more, with over half a million dead, it means that the world's greatest military superpower has spent a million dollars for every Iraqi killed. That can't be value for money!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1983863,00.html

Karen
Thanks for the calendar!

Last night we watched "People of the Wind," made in Iran in 1976. It was transferred from 16 mm to DVD in 1999 but is rare and I've been trying to get a copy in some form for 3 decades now.

It's about an Iranian tribe that lives nomadically and takes their pack animals, sheep herds and children over mountains higher than Mt. Rainier here (15,000 feet or so) from their winter to summer grazing lands.

It was a documentary and the people were not so different from the Iraqi and Afghan refugees my friend from Iran and I have met who have come to this country in this decade. Some of them would have difficulty adapting to cities like Kabul or Isfahan, let alone urban America.

Bush announces to escalate troops on my birthday. Not a gift I'll appreciate.

Posted by: Marjorie G at January 8, 2007 12:24 PM

Under Bush, don't wait for your birthday to celebrate, treat every day is a gift as he cattledrives this stagefrightcoach straight towards Armageddon.

Fool On The Hill

Kayakbiker says there will be plenty of orange jumpsuits downtown in Mpls on Thurs.

Marjorie - Happy birthday! Well MoveOn just sent out a mailing regarding giving Congress some feedback about Bush's plan. I also saw a headline about Al-Maliki pre-empting Bush's message with his own but still have to read it.

Here are some things I hope to attend at least some of:

MONDAY 1/8: Discussion of Carter's 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid'

SATURDAY 1/13 TOWN MEETING WITH REPRESENTATIVE MCDERMOTT who visitedAmman, Jordan in November 2006 and met with delegations from Palestine Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan He will share his impressions from the trip, show a video documentary of the trip produced by Dal LaMagna of the Progressive Government Institute, and as always, he will engage the community in a frank and lively discussion on how best to
move towards peace in the region.

MONDAY 1/15 MARTIN LUTHER KING MARCH
Lt. Ehren Watada, who faces up to 6 years imprisonment for refusing to return to Iraq to fight in a war he considers illegal and immoral will speak.

SATURDAY 1/20 & SUNDAY 1/21 CITIZENS HEARINGS ON IRAQ:
ONGOING VIGILS AND MEETINGS

We also have enough weekly peace vigils to cover every neighborhood and so people are out there seven days a week.
This has been the case for 5-1/2 years but can't stop.

THE PATTERN is there for all to see, but, unless you are aware of it, you see no pattern.

There was ALOT of hype on MSM before Christmas about how Iran poses this super threat to the West, and one program had the PM of Israel on to say that Iran is not interested particularly in Israel, but rather the West.

I expect there to be MUCH MORE HYPE about this type of thing in the next two weeks.

Armegeddon?

Karen,

Hope is the spring in the human spirit. Reminds me of Anne Frank in her book, as she was hiding she said she still had hope in the goodness of human beings.

Every election cycle we here that Dems are going to raise your taxes. This study shows that it is fact Republicans who have been raising taxes:

"Families earning more than $1 million a year saw their federal tax rates drop more sharply than any group in the country as a result of President Bush's tax cuts, according to a new Congressional study," writes the New York Times' Edmund Andrews, who Notes the report provides a little something for everyone.

"The study, by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, also shows that tax rates for middle-income earners edged up in 2004, the most recent year for which data was available,

Bubba
I can vouch for that personally as a middle income earner!!
I have had to write a check to the IRS each year Bush has been in office and have made less money and had less vacation time than when Clinton was in office & also our travel dollar has shrunk 40 percent, should be ever want to go to Europe.

Bingo:

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/01/05/cant_tell_a_koran_by_its_cover.php

Admirers and accommodationists—including President Bush—have agreed with many Muslims in calling Islam “a religion of peace.” Adherents and fans of Buddhism, though, haven’t found it necessary to similarly define that faith. At this point, Americans equate Islam with angry mobs, and Buddhism—to the extent they think if it at all—with meditation, serenity and the Dalai Lama.

That probably accounts for the lack of controversy, and lack of interest, in the congressional swearing in of two Buddhists. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Hank Johnson of Georgia became members of Congress with a minimum of attention. For the record, Johnson used a Bible and Hirono used no book at all. Google News reported 56 stories on Hirono and 23 on Johnson.

On the same day, Keith Ellison was the subject of 2643 stories. It wasn’t because he was a proclaimed progressive, or the fact that he’s African American. It’s because he’s a Muslim, and took his oath on a Koran. And that we’re in some kind of war with some kind of Islam. It’s evident that the media, like the population at large, knows very little about Islam—other than it appears to be a threat—and even less about Buddhism

The truth is, Islam is not a religion of peace, nor, for that matter is Buddhism or any faith. All religions are what their practitioners make of them. Pretty much all of them extol peace somewhere in their teachings, but also celebrate bloody victories elsewhere. And you can find examples of each in history, and in current events.

(read the rest at the link)

Crazed old white men Joe Lieberman and John McCain, the twin faces of "moderation" in the eyes of the mainstream media, are facing off against the unreasonable extremists that compose 70 percent of America. You know, the 70 percent that's in favor of getting out of Iraq.

McCain and Lieberman, along with those friendly modeates at the American Enterprise Institute (like Fred Kagan) instead want us to send MORE troops to Iraq—a "last push" to "go big" or "surge" if you will. Or perhaps you could just call it what it is: escalation.

Protestors from MoveOn.org and the Friends Committee for National Legislation let Joe and John know their plans weren't welcome.

Of course, Kagan, one of the prime neocon "intellectual architects" of the war, has always, consistently been saying we needed more troops. You remember how frequently the neocons loudly protested Rumsfeld and Bush's plan for only 150,000 troops (or even Rumsfeld's initial predictions that we would only need around 30,000 troops one year after the invasion). You remember how they rallied around Gen. Eric Shinseki, who was fired for requesting more troops back in 2003?

Oh, right, that didn't happen. Never mind.

As it turns out, the Army only has 9,000 troops it can offer to send right now to Iraq.

read the rest at
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/01/05/escalate_the_protests_not_the_war.php

General Says War Could Last Years

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/world/middleeast/08iraq.html?pagewanted=print

Preview of what Bush might say on Weds. - meeting of the Generals in the Green Zone.

You know those gun afficionadoes who always cite the 4th amendment and right to bear arms and even form militias - who want to hold on to their guns til their cold dead arms are pried off them - who fear the government making door-to-door searches and confiscating the guns of citizens? Well those people might be feeling a little uncomfortable if they lived in Bagdad, where we are "spreading democracy" and "making the people safe."

Saddam and the Great White Whale--Bush's Un-magnificent Obsession
by Don Williams

"Call me Ishmael."

So begins one of the world's great books about obsession--the one Miss Elders tried to make you read in high school--"Moby-Dick" by Herman Melville.

Lately, I'm thinking we should all call ourselves Ishmael.

Like that edgy, storm-tossed storyteller, we've borne witness to our own national tale of obsession, destiny and ruin. For years we've watched George W. Bush threaten, mislead and browbeat others into following him through uncharted waters, like some latter day Captain Ahab.

In the end, Bush handled the killing of Saddam Hussein about like Ahab handled killing that whale.
He bungled it.

Taunts and curses on one of the holiest days of the Muslim year, crude gestures and death imagery, and last insults against ancestors of enemies. Such marked the final moments of that monster-turned-martyr, Saddam Hussein. He lives yet in a million re-enactments on the Internet. Sightings occur daily.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_don_will_070105_saddam_and_the_great.htm

MSNBC: Bomb squad investigating positive test for explosives at Port of Miami

... when the fear is near.

Oh baby
Here comes the fear again
The end is near again
If you ever get that chimp off your back
If you ever find the thing that you lack
But you know you're only having a laugh
And here we go again
Until the end

fear the pulp and vice versa,
Otter

Posted by: monkey at January 8, 2007 11:00 AM

Duck and RUN!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070108/ap_on_re_us/miami_bomb_threat
Authorities: Miami package was harmless
13 minutes ago

MIAMI - The Port of Miami was hit by its second terrorism scare in two days Monday when a package that was to be loaded onto a cruise ship tested positive for plastic explosives. Authorities later determined it was harmless.

The package was initially tested six times, and each time it came back positive for the military-grade explosive known as C4, the Coast Guard said.

The package was destroyed, and a Miami-Dade County police bomb squad determined it held sprinkler parts, which contained a substance that "closely resembles" plastic explosives, said police spokesman Bobby Williams.

Williams said the instruments used to test the package sometimes give false positives.

"We still need to check it out," Williams said.

~~~~~

After a bomb squad search, authorities concluded that the men were carrying automotive parts and that the scare stemmed from miscommunication.

{{{More on link. Gee, I wonder which version will make the evening snooze? The one where the explosive residue was found, or the one where the tests sometimes give a false positive reading and the package was harmless, and that there was an initial miscommunication and no charges were filed against the men and they are no longer being detained....? Hmmmm....?}}}

New York Times | Imperial Presidency 2.0
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010807J.shtml
The New York Times says: "The Democratic majority in Congress has a moral responsibility to address all these issues: fixing the profound flaws in the military tribunals act, restoring the rule of law over Mr. Bush's rogue intelligence operations and restoring the balance of powers between Congress and the executive branch. So far, key Democrats, including Mr. Leahy and Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, chairman of a new subcommittee on human rights, have said these issues are high priorities for them."

Excerpt, and more on link (Wow, the NYT editorials have recently blasted the immoral activities of the administration...! I wonder how long that's going to last....?)

We would lend such efforts our enthusiastic backing and hope Mr. Leahy, Mr. Durbin and other Democratic leaders are not swayed by the absurd notion circulating in Washington that the Democrats should now "look ahead" rather than use their new majority to right the dangerous wrongs of the last six years of Mr. Bush's one-party rule.

This is a false choice. Dealing with these issues is not about the past. The administration's assault on some of the nation's founding principles continues unabated. If the Democrats were to shirk their responsibility to stop it, that would make them no better than the Republicans who formed and enabled these policies in the first place.

"The study, by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, also shows that tax rates for middle-income earners edged up in 2004, the most recent year for which data was available,

Posted by: Bubba at January 8, 2007 12:58 PM

My tax withholding went down slightly this year, but this is the first tax cut I think I've seen in a long time.

BTW, happy b-day Marjorie!

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/01/05/cant_tell_a_koran_by_its_cover.php

The truth is, Islam is not a religion of peace, nor, for that matter is Buddhism or any faith. All religions are what their practitioners make of them. Pretty much all of them extol peace somewhere in their teachings, but also celebrate bloody victories elsewhere. And you can find examples of each in history, and in current events.

(read the rest at the link)

Posted by: DiAnne at January 8, 2007 01:08 PM

Strongly agreed!

Irc tonight anyone? I'll try to be there now until 8ish.

Karen, great quote, motivating thoughts, amazing calendar.

Brown to break with Blair on terror

Julia May, London
January 9, 2007

BRITAIN'S prime minister in waiting has vowed to take on President George Bush over foreign policy as he spells out plans to break from Tony Blair's approach to the war on terror.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, who is on course to succeed Mr Blair as prime minister this year, wants to put Britain's interest above the relationship with Washington.

Mr Brown forced Mr Blair, his long-term rival, to authorise the Prime Minister's office at No. 10 Downing Street to issue its first statement denouncing the execution of Saddam Hussein.

Mr Blair had declined to make any public comment after video footage emerged of guards haranguing former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as he waited on the scaffold.

But after Mr Brown told BBC1 that No. 10 was obliged to issue a statement, Mr Blair rapidly let it be known that he thought the handling of the execution was unacceptable.

Signalling a shift in Britain's so-called special relationship with the US under his leadership, Mr Brown told the BBC he would be frank when dealing with the US, and that Britain's national interest was what he and his colleagues were about.

Criticism had been mounting of Mr Blair's refusal to censure the illicit filming and haranging of Saddam in his final moments. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott last week described the events as deplorable while Mr Blair holidayed in Florida.

After Mr Brown's interview, Mr Blair's spokesman said: "The manner of the execution was completely wrong, but that should not lead us to forget the crimes that Saddam Hussein committed, including the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis."

The spokesman said Mr Blair had planned to comment on the execution this week.

The Iraqi Government has begun an inquiry into the manner of Saddam's execution. Mr Blair's spokesman said the Prime Minister supported the inquiry.

The public tension between Mr Blair and Mr Brown, and the distinction in their foreign policy approach, comes as President George Bush is expected to announce plans this week to increase US combat troops in Iraq by 20,000, despite last month's recommendations by the Iraq Study Group of a phased withdrawal.

In Sunday's interview, Mr Brown said Britain would continue its policy of retraining Iraqi troops and pursuing the reconstruction of Iraq, but that by the end of the year "there may be thousands less (British troops) in Iraq than there are now".

When asked whether as prime minister he would commission an inquiry into the post-war management of Iraq, he said: "There will always be reviews into what happened. The lessons we have got to learn are two-fold. One is that the passage of authority to the local population should have begun a lot earlier."

Mr Brown said his government would involve the talents of the wider community.

"The idea of the state being an overbearing state, which a lot of people have associated with the governments of the past, that cannot be the government of the future," he said.

■More than 17,000 Iraqis died violently in the second half of last year, The Washington Post has reported. Citing confidential Iraqi Health Ministry statistics, the newspaper said in the first six months of last year 5640 civilians and police were killed. This more than tripled to 17,310 in the second half.

With TELEGRAPH and AGENCIES

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/brown-to-break-with-blair-on-terror/2007/01/08/1168104921624.html

..nothing in Miami.. but what is that wierd gas smell in NYC..

Ummmm.....

MSNBC has breaking news at the bottom of the screen that we just made airstrikes on al Qaeda targets in Somalia, and then is says something about being in retaliation for 1998.

What the hell are we doing?????

The Decider again, Carol. Quickly, before he is stopped, he has to order death and despair, and to generate fear before his toys are all taken away from him.

Gotta remind everyone about the terror before we tell them we're escalating in Iraq.

Think so.

What do you bet we missed Fazul, the guy who was the target, but we got the #2 guy?

There is, after all, an endless supply of #2 guys.

Finally - a link is up at msnbc:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16531987/

This is going around locally. I have no idea whether it will ever happen but it's scaring people. More articles are being printed speculating about such a thing. We need to nip this in the bud, if we can. I didn't write this and I don't necessarily agree with all the logical progression, but it's from a practical, common-sense everyday person who is concerned, who knows alot of people in the military, who used to be a Republican:

Subject: Please notify your Senators and Representatives

We presently have two naval warships near Iran. Then yesterday the New York Times printed an article about Israel attacking Iran. Today Scott Ritter came out and stated that March 2007 is the predicted date that this will happen.

Israel will not be able to sustain the war without the help of the United States. This is probably why they are requesting a troop increase in Iraq. I have heard rumors that we already have some troops in Iran at the present working reconnaissance missions.

Iran signed and is in total compliance with the U.N. nuclear proliferation treaty. Iran has been discussing trading their oil in Euros because they are stronger than the dollar. Iraq was also discussing this before Bush and company attack Iraq.

I would not be surprised if Saudi Arabia is total agreement with using Israel to start the war with Iran. Remember Cheney just got back from his trip to Saudi Arabia after being summoned there by the Saudi Arabian leader.

We can not afford another war. We cannot afford any more deficits. We cannot afford any more loss of life or injured soldiers. We need to get our deficits under control so that our dollar will not devalue any more. If we raise the value of our dollar other countries would not be thinking of trading in anything but dollars.

Bush and company also feel that if our deficit so so huge we will have to cut back on programs for the less fortunate, student loans, etc.Maybe because of Bush's ignorance he believes the rest of us are too. That is why he doesn't believe in education and has put road blocks in to further our educational right. The dumber the U.S. citizens are the more power he believes he will have.

Please make an effort to call or e-mail your senators and congressperson. Thank you! Peace!

Carol
That's really wierd - Somalia? I knew we supported the Ethiopians against the Islamic government. The USS Cole was hit back then and a couple of our embassies (in Kenya?) - didn't we already retaliate and hit a baby formula factory or something back then?!

This is out of control.

Crying Shame - Jack Johnson

It's such a tired game
Will it ever stop?
How will this all play
Out of sight out of my mouth.

By now we should know how to communicate
Instead of coming to blows, We're on a roll
And there ain't no stopping us now
We're burning under control
Isn't it strange how we're all
Burning under the same sun?

By now and save, it's a war for peace
It's the same old game
But do we really want to play?
We could close our eyes it's still there

We could say it's us against them
We could try but nobody wins

Gravity has got a hold on us all
We could try to put it out

But it's a growing flame
Using fear as fuel
Burning down our name
And it won't take too long
Cause words all burn the same
And who are we going to blame now?

It's such a crying, crying, crying shame
It's such a crying, crying, crying shame
It's such a crying, crying, crying shame

By now it's beginning to show
A number of people are numbers that ain't coming home
I could close my eyes it's still there
Close my mind be alone
I could close my heart and not care
But gravity has got a hold on us all

It's a terrific price to pay
But in the true sense of the word
Are we using what we've learned?
In the true sense of the word
Are we losing what we were?

It's such a tired game
Will it ever stop?
It's not for me to say
And is it in our blood
Or is it just our fate?
And how will this all play
out of sight, out of mind
Who are we going to blame all in all?

It's such a crying, crying, crying shame
It's such a crying, crying, crying shame
It's such a crying, crying, crying shame

another photo of Bush with Abramoff

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6331634,00.html

Carol! How was NOLA?

More Vaclav Havel:

I really do inhabit a system in which words are capable of shaking the entire structure of government, where words can prove mightier than ten military divisions.

If we are to change our world view, images have to change. The artist now has a very important job to do. He's not a little peripheral figure entertaining rich people, he's really needed.

Isn't it the moment of most profound doubt that gives birth to new certainties? Perhaps hopelessness is the very soil that nourishes human hope; perhaps one could never find sense in life without first experiencing its absurdity.

Lying can never save us from another lie.

None of us know all the potentialities that slumber in the spirit of the population, or all the ways in which that population can surprise us when there is the right interplay of events.

People who live in the post-totalitarian system know only too well that the question of whether one or several political parties are in power, and how these parties define and label themselves, is of far less importance than the question of whether or not it is possible to live like a human being.

The exercise of power is determined by thousands of interactions between the world of the powerful and that of the powerless, all the more so because these worlds are never divided by a sharp line: everyone has a small part of himself in both.

The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.

True enough, the country is calm. Calm as a morgue or a grave, would you not say?

Without free, self-respecting, and autonomous citizens there can be no free and independent nations. Without internal peace, that is, peace among citizens and between the citizens and the state, there can be no guarantee of external peace.

Posted by: karen at January 8, 2007 08:47 PM

Hey!

It was amazing, exhausting, infuriating, a very little bit hopeful, and there there might just be a thread coming soon with photos and commentary!

NOLA is a beautiful place that has been left in the dust by the administration. Unbelieveable - the devastation that still exists there. Shameful.

just stopped by to say- da, ta da da da da, go GATORS.
And that I've signed up on John Edwards website to help him become the next POTUS in any way I can.
Now, back to that halftime show.

Hey Linda,

As a Nittany Lion, I couldn't possible bring myself to root for Ohio State (even tho they have a great band), so what the heck - go Gators!

Carol- then you have had the great fortune to have had the classiest coach in the history of college football for a zillion years now. No coach except Don Shula has ever had my respect like Joe Paterno. Penn State is the only dang yankee team I've ever rooted for, ever, and Joe Paterno is the reason for that. Congrats. (I would not, by the way, be rooting for Florida if Steve Spurrier were still their coach.) Now, back to that game.

Here is the message I sent to Ron Wyden:

So now I am hearing there are plans to attack Iran. Do you have plans to stop this insanity? It seems like the course to WW3.
With the endless assault on constitutional rights from snooping in your mail to snooping in your phone conversations to God only knows what every day we are barraged by another plan to totally destroy the constitution. Its total destruction of the country we grew up to believe we had.

(sort of brief and to the point)

A Little Light Reading
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/08/opinion/edcarroll.php

The lynching of Iraq

BOSTON: The hanging of Saddam Hussein on Dec. 30 offered a view into the grotesque reality of what America has sponsored in Iraq, and what Americans saw should inform their response to President George W. Bush's escalation of the war.

The deposed tyrant was mercilessly taunted. As he stood on the threshold of the afterlife and was told to go to hell, the world witnessed a chilling elevation of the ancient curse, making an absolute villain an object of pity.

And then, in chanting the name of Moktada al-Sadr, whose family had been a particular target of Hussein's, his executioners made clear that the execution was an act of tribal revenge, not of national restoration, much less justice. It was a lynching.

This Shiite brutality is guaranteed to spawn Sunni savagery. Iraq itself is hell.

Officials of the United States, from military commanders in Baghdad to members of the Bush administration in Washington, sought to distance themselves from the bedlam, but they are essential to what happened at the last moments of Saddam's life. Decorum would have been the main note of his death if Americans had managed it, but the execution would have been no less an act of false justice.

The harsh fact is that the Shiite dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, in its contemptible treatment of a man about to die, laid bare the dark truth of Bush's war. This is what revenge looks like, and revenge (not weapons of mass destruction, not democracy) drove the initial U.S. attack on Saddam Hussein every bit as much as it snuffed out his life at the end. The hooded executioners took their cue from Bush.

And why should they not have? Let's remember who this man is. As governor of Texas, he presided over the executions of 152 people, including the first woman put to death in Texas in a century.

Her name was Karla Faye Tucker. Bush's response to the world-wide plea raised in her behalf was an astounding display of cruelty, a mocking imitation of the woman begging not to be killed.

Bush rejected appeals for clemency in every death penalty case that came before him. The Texas death chamber, with its lethal injection gurney, is a place of decorum. And savagery. That executions defined the main public distinction that Bush brought to the U.S. presidency sums up the national disgrace, while suggesting also how little surprise there should be that America is presided over now by an executioner-in-chief.

Capital punishment is to individuals what aggressive war is to nations. The 20th century, for all its brutality (or because of it), marked the watershed era when world opinion shifted against both. Once, princes exercised life-and- death power over subjects with unchallenged authority. Once, the only check on a state's freedom to attack another state was its power to do so.

These two absolutes of realpolitik have changed. From the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 to principles laid down at the Nuremberg tribunals to the United Nations itself, wars of aggression stand condemned. The force of state violence is to be exercised only in self-defense or in defense of a victim people, in circumstances defined by international agreement.

Similarly, nation after nation has abolished the death penalty, understanding the absurdity of defending human life by destroying human life. If killing can ever be justified, individually or communally, it is only as an absolute last resort. In sum, an international moral consensus has taken shape against unnecessary violence, whether targeting a criminal or a rogue state.

Bush is the impresario of unnecessary violence. America has followed him into the death chamber of this war, and now he wants us to believe that the way out is through more death.

Iraqi loss of life remains mostly unimagined, but every evening on the television news, Americans see the sweet faces of young soldiers who have died in Bush's war. They were heroes, not criminals, yet Bush dragged each one of them up onto a gallows. He positioned them on the trap door, hardly wincing as they then fell through. And now, in perhaps the greatest outrage of all, Bush claims that the way to justify the unnecessary deaths he has caused is to add to them. Escalation is his way of saying, go to hell.

With his lies at the beginning of this war, and his fantasy now that an honorable outcome remains possible, the president is a taunting killer, caught in the act. He lacks nothing but the black hood. Stop this man.

My friend who is moving to Canada just wrote this:

The U.S. could learn from Canada's example

Re: A child indeed can have three parents -- if that's what's best for the child, Jan. 4

I was amazed to read your editorial about the child who was allowed to have three legal parents in Ontario. It made me think about how there is just no way an issue like this could be raised in the United States, much less for it to have any chance of a positive outcome.

What is especially intriguing to me is that while I suspect most Canadians would be personally uncomfortable with the decision, it was probably the right thing for the child involved to trump the laws in place.

All countries have to make hard decisions, but it seems that Canada tries harder than most to make the right ones.

Was it just chance, for instance, that Canada stayed out of Vietnam and Iraq? I think the U.S. could learn a lot about making better choices by studying Canadian history.

James Alton
Titusville, Fla.

"This might warm the cockles of your hearts"

Happy New Year!

Attached please find the NM Impeachment Resolution as drafted by State Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino. He's waiting to hear from us to encourage him to sponsor it. He can be reached at (505) 250-1280. Feel free to forward to interested parties.

John

(& he sends the pdf of the resolution - what a great card!!)

impeach cobbler... enjoy every bite.

Eisenhower was right.

Bush still appears to have the power to set the course.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/09/MNGPMNF71U1.DTL

Nationwide protests this Thursday - find or start an event:
http://www.AmericaSaysNo.org/lead

US Nuclear Sub in the Straits of Hormuz:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070109/ap_on_re_as/japan_us_submarine_11

Posted by: DiAnne at January 9, 2007 09:00 AM

Bush still has the power the screw up the course.

Here's an excerpt from the latest draft of Ted Kennedy's speech to the press club:

The American people sent a clear message in November that we must change course in Iraq and begin to withdraw our troops, not escalate their presence. The way to start is by acting on the President's new plan. An escalation, whether it is called a surge or any other name, is still an escalation, and I believe it would be an immense new mistake. It would compound the original misguided decision to invade Iraq. We cannot simply speak out against an escalation of troops in Iraq. We must act to prevent it.

Today I am introducing legislation to reclaim the rightful role of Congress and the people's right to a full voice in the President's plan to send more troops to Iraq. My bill will say that no additional troops can be sent and no additional dollars can be spent on such an escalation, unless and until Congress approves the President's plan.

My proposal will not diminish our support for the forces we already have in Iraq. We will continue to do everything we can to make sure they have all the support they truly need. Even more important, we will continue to do all we can to bring them safely home. The best immediate way to support our troops is by refusing to inject more and more of them into the cauldron of a civil war that can be resolved only by the people and government of Iraq.

This bill will give all Americans -- from Maine to Florida to California to Alaska and Hawaii -- an opportunity to hold the President accountable for his actions. The President's speech must be the beginning -- not the end -- of a new national discussion of our policy in Iraq. Congress must have a genuine debate over the wisdom of the President's plan. Let us hear the arguments for it and against it. Then let us vote on it in the light of day. Let the American people hear -- yes or no -- where their elected representatives stand on one of the greatest challenges of our time.

Until now, a rubber stamp Republican Congress has refused to hold the White House accountable on Iraq. But the November election has dramatically changed all that. Over the past two years, Democrats reached for their roots as true members of our Party. We listened to the hopes and dreams of everyday Americans. We rejected the politics of fear and division. We embraced a vision of hope and shared purpose. And the American people voted for change.

Many of us felt the authorization to go to war was a grave mistake at the time. I've said that my vote against the war in Iraq is the best vote I've cast in my 44 years in the United States Senate.

But no matter what any of us thought then, the Iraq War resolution is obviously obsolete today. It authorized a war to destroy weapons of mass destruction. But there were no WMDs to destroy. It authorized a war with Saddam Hussein. But today, Saddam is no more. It authorized a war because Saddam was allied with al Qaeda. But there was no alliance.

The mission of our armed forces today in Iraq bears no resemblance whatever to the mission authorized by Congress. President Bush should not be permitted to escalate the war further, and send an even larger number of our troops into harm's way, without a clear and specific new authorization from Congress.

Our history makes clear that a new escalation in our forces will not advance our national security. It will not move Iraq toward self-government, and it will needlessly endanger our troops by injecting more of them into the middle of a civil war.

... Comparisons from history resonate painfully in today's debate on Iraq. In Vietnam, the White House grew increasingly obsessed with victory, and increasingly divorced from the will of the people and any rational policy. The Department of Defense kept assuring us that each new escalation in Vietnam would be the last. Instead, each one led only to the next.

There was no military solution to that war. But we kept trying to find one anyway. In the end, 58,000 Americans died in the search for it.

Echoes of that disaster are all around us today. Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam.

As with Vietnam, the only rational solution to the crisis is political, not military. Injecting more troops into a civil war is not the answer. Our men and women in uniform cannot force the Iraqi people to reconcile their differences.

The President may deny the plain truth. But the truth speaks loudly and tragically. Congress must no longer follow him deeper into the quagmire in Iraq.

Posted by: DiAnne at January 9, 2007 11:45 AM

Thanks for sharing... I'm sick and tired of the US having to babysit Iraq and other countries, and for those countries' politics to be utterly dependent on the US (or rather, its right wing).

Posted by: DiAnne at January 9, 2007 11:45 AM

GO Teddy!!!

Bush Iraq Plan Faces Democratic Challenge
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010907K.shtml
President Bush is telling lawmakers that he will send thousands more US troops to Iraq's two most troubled regions, but before he can unveil the plan it is facing stiff challenges from Congress's majority Democrats.
Excerpt:
A day before Bush's nationally televised speech describing his proposal, Sen. Edward Kennedy, a longtime critic of Bush and the war, will propose legislation denying him the billions needed to send more troops to war unless Congress agrees first. Though it was unclear whether the bill would ever reach the full Senate, it could at least serve as a rallying point for the most insistent foes of the Iraq conflict.
{{{GO, Teddy!!!}}}

Posted by: Chris at January 9, 2007 12:52 AM

Regarding the death penalty, I need to add this:

While many nations have indeed abolished capital punishment (including all of the EU), there is hardly a consensus, as nations with death penalty still outnumber those without.

Moreover, American exceptionism still exists in this arena. While mass executions in China and Iran are considered barbaric and uncalled for, most people - American and otherwise - believe American death sentences to be fair and just, even though we know better than that.

The death penalty enjoys strong support in the US. Especially in California, immigrants - even those from countries that have abolished the death penalty, such as Mexico - strongly support the death penalty, and wish to one day reinstate it in their home countries. They are incensed that Mexico won't extradite American criminals back to the US due to American capital punishment. Remember that in 2002, Gray Davis won re-election as California's governor by painting himself as pro-death penalty (and one of his opponents, Dick Riordan, as an anti-capital punishment Catholic).

Do I think this trend is wrong? Certainly. But it's a trend that the progressive community can't afford to bury in political correctness.

First Impression of the Somalia attack, as seen from my little corner of the world, tied in with the prime time speech tomorrow night:

"Seems Like" all DimWit has had to to do is utter boogey man words like: 'Saddam,' '9/11,' 'al Qaeda,' 'ter-rist,' and 'fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here'... and in the past the rubber stamp Congress Critters have given him everything he's demanded.

Saddam is dead; the former dictator-ally of the US is no longer a threat. Some people have awakened to the knowledge that whoever the terrorists are, by whatever name, they are STILL not an organized army representing any nation, the actual number of any criminals who commit terrorist attacks is very few compared to the rest of the population of the world (there are more of 'us' than there are of 'them') and really, law enforcement should be going after them, not armies that blow everything to smithereens in hopes of catching some #2 or #3 or some "potential terrorist" somewhere. That's overkill at it's worst, and it makes us the terrorists who kill innocent people in the quest for these boogey man terrorists who are so few in number. It's an insane policy!

Enter the attack on Somalia to go after two or three 'suspected' al Qaeda members who may or may not have been there. WTF? That's a bit of an over-reaction, isn't it? Many innocents died - more than one article quoted a man whose four-year-old son was killed in the attack, among other innocent people killed. If DimWit was setting out to escalate his war to a world war, he's got a good head start, just in time for his policy speech tomorrow evening in prime time.

With Saddam gone, a new boogey man needs to be invented so DimWit can - once AGAIN - RUSH a supplemental spending bill through Congress for his war, and get "approval" for his "surge" in troop numbers to escalate his war in Iraq which has now apparently spilled over to Somalia. [Bin Laden is still missing, but I notice DimWit hasn't mentioned him as the boogey man terrorist recently.] The implied threat is that if he doesn't get money and increased troop numbers that his already-failed "mission" in Iraq will be blamed on the Dems.

So... Will the sheeple fall for the same propaganda and lies - again? Or not? We know Lamestream Media will fall for his lies again, hook, line, and sinker. Will our Congress Critters fall for the same lies and threats and blackmail again? Or not?

Meanwhile, people are still dying for lies and oil.

Will someone puh-leeze pull me out of this surreal painting?!?!?

The U.S. could learn from Canada's example
James Alton
Titusville, Fla.

Posted by: DiAnne at January 9, 2007 12:55 AM

Unfortunately, we won't. We decided to take the worst of selfish individualism that we've already had, and combine it with the "sacrifice individuality at all costs so that the society will be better" communalism from Latin America and Asia.

So we won't care if a neighbor goes hungry. And we live in a society where one must insure his/her car, but often cannot insure him/herself due to "preexisting conditions" (selfish materialism at work). But we will care and intervene if a child needs three parents (or a male neighbor wants to marry another man). This picture is so wrong.

Michael T. Klare | Ominous Sign of a Wider War
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010907L.shtml
"The recent replacement of General Abizaid by Admiral Fallon, along with other recent moves announced by the defense secretary, should give deep pause to anyone concerned about the prospect of escalation in the Iraq War. Contrary to the advice given by the Iraq Study Group, Bush appears to be planning for a wider war - with much higher risk of catastrophic failure - not a gradual and dignified withdrawal from the region," writes Michael T. Klare.
Excerpt:
The recent replacement of General Abizaid by Admiral Fallon, along with other recent moves announced by the Defense Secretary, should give deep pause to anyone concerned about the prospect of escalation in the Iraq War. Contrary to the advice given by the Iraq Study Group, Bush appears to be planning for a wider war - with much higher risk of catastrophic failure - not a gradual and dignified withdrawal from the region.

Bush Senior Early CIA Ties Revealed
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010907P.shtml
Newly released internal CIA documents assert that former president George Herbert Walker Bush's oil company emerged from a 1950s collaboration with a covert CIA officer.
{{{"Must Read." Several topics covered in this one article....}}}

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/watching-the-presidents-_b_38131.html
Watching the President's Iraq Speech: A Diagnostic Guide

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/01/08/snow-bush-can-increase-t_n_38142.html
Snow: Bush Can Increase Troop Levels Even If Congress Cuts Off Funding...
Excerpt:
Snow admitted congress had funding control but also pointed out that the president could ultimately do what he wants. "You know, Congress has the power of the purse," Snow said, then added: "The President has the ability to exercise his own authority if he thinks Congress has voted the wrong way."

{{{Funny, but I don't remember reading that in the US Constitution.... MCA '06, yes, but not the US Constitution.}}}

{{{Funny, but I don't remember reading that in the US Constitution.... MCA '06, yes, but not the US Constitution.}}}

Posted by: NonnyO at January 9, 2007 12:27 PM

I think the US Constitution has been supplanted by the constitution of one of our fascist banana republics.

It's no secret that Reverend Moon has wanted the 1970s fascist constitution of South Korea (which, btw, is no more, even at home) to replace the US Constitution.

Posted by: Ally McRepuke at January 9, 2007 12:36 PM

When the Moon spits in your eye, like a big fascist lie, that's annoying.

Meanwhile, people are still dying for lies and oil.

Posted by: NonnyO at January 9, 2007 12:22 PM

Not just on the battlefield, but also on the domestic front - mostly when insurance companies deny healthcare for "pre-existing conditions." Politicians (especially Dems) think most uninsureds are just too poor to afford insurance - they are DEAD wrong on that, most lack insurance because of pre-existing conditions.

We are the only country that lacks healthcare NOT because we can't afford it, but because fighting for oil is more important than saving lives.

I'm in the midst of shopping for health insurance myself, and it'll be a battle to say the least.

monkey,
That is one of your all time winners.

I am off to Boston today for work, but back Thursday in time to grab the camera and the laptop and blog about stopping the next war and ending torture. There are events popping up all over; to find one (or create one) go HERE:

http://tinyurl.com/y7nz3x

Next time someone ask you if your efforts in the electoral process(phone banking, contributing, knocking on doors, voter registration, etc.) matters, direct them to this story today:

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a concession to the Senate's new Democratic majority, four of President Bush's appeals court appointees have asked to have their nominations withdrawn, Republican officials said Tuesday.

"These officials said that William Haynes, William Myers and Terrence Boyle had all decided to abandon their quest for confirmation. Another nominee, Michael Wallace, let it be known last month that he, too, had asked Bush to withdraw his nomination."

Hope is on the way. You can almost here the screech of the Titanic righting itself and turning around. Its a long voyage but it happening..

Bubba,

Thanks for that and for reminding us that the ship turns slowly. We're all pulling hard!

I fully expect to hear alot of rhetoric on the "news" coming from the Republicans in the next couple of weeks that in order to support our troops we must give the spoiled frat boy the funding he desires to escalate his war without asking for or demanding accountability in the spending of those funds.

Rove seems bent on ensnaring Dems in no wins in order to castrate them. Already hearing rhetoric in MSM on Dems being responsible for the "loss" of the war if we don't agree to Sonny's demands.

I am with some others in wondering if we shouldn't just go for impeachment, and the jugular, and pin these mangy muts to the mat right away. We very much might risk losing credibility any other way. I can just see Rove salivating.

"Never fight with a pig. You just make the pig angry, and dirty yourself."

Rove is the master of no wins.

Ted Kennedy diary:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/9/11283/45767

If Bush is impeached, can he still make decisions to up the troops and go after victory (whatever that means)? I mean, before he's tried? Is he suspended from the big decisions until the outcome of the impeachment? And Cheney? He'd make the same decisions as his autocratic leader. If he's impeached too and suspended from duty pending the outcome, who will that leave in charge?

In any case. Let's get this show on the road. There are recently crafted laws to break and old ones to reinstate.

In mourning ..

The guy who invented Ramen noodles died.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/opinion/09tue3.html?ex=1169010000&en=5e51688a8
96a4fea&ei=5070&emc=eta1

If Bush/Cheney could not make decisions by law, Nancy Pelosi would be in charge, right?

The hearings go on & on though. Nixon fought like a pitbull to stay in power, was suicidal and drinking.

Ally, with regard to capital punishment. There are more countries with the death penalty yes. Counting America and the developing and third world countries there are more. It was revenge that got us into Iraq.

No matter how fair your capital punishment system is, you have put innocents to death on more than one occasion - even in the last 20 years. One in a hundred years is too many. And I really think now is not the time to bring this fairness issue up. Not after the last debacle when the lethal injection, administered by a prison guard, was stuck into tissue and not the vein. 45 minutes, two full syringes, and much agony before you got this guy dead. Yep, much more humane than the instant snap of a neck!

There is no such thing as fair and just killing. In Indonesia right now, Indonesia can shoot by firing squad, or hang. There's possibly a smorgasbord of options. A Bali Bomber walks free. A convicted (first-offence) drug mule should hang?

Christians quote the bible. Jesus said, "An eye for an eye." And they leave it at that. No, he didn't. Jesus said, "Some say unto you, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, when someone strikes your right cheek, turn the left cheek to him so that he might smite that also." Forgive imperfect quoting, it was 40 years ago that I debated capital punishment at High School.

And Ally, do you really think death is a punishment? Do you think that death was a punishment to Saddam? I believe he would have happily gone to his death so that he no longer has to live as a captured nobody. Alive and incarcerated, Saddam had to be confronted by his sins every moment. A very long, very dull period of nothing stretched in front of him. But now he has been killed. I have a view of Godship and Goddessship. They are not vengeful. Humans create their own myths and practices on power, greed, wrath and vengeance.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/exguantanamo-detainees-in-anniversary-protest/2007/01/10/1168104992321.html

Ex-Guantanamo detainees in anniversary protest

January 10, 2007

Three British former detainees of Guantanamo Bay will take part in protests to mark the fifth anniversary of the setting up of the US camp, including one outside its gates in Cuba, campaigners said today.

London-based Amnesty International said Ruhel Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul were to attend a screening in Japan tomorrow of a docu-drama on their experiences and that of a third Briton, Asif Iqbal, "The Road to Guantanamo".

Iqbal himself was to take part in a protest outside the camp in Cuba, lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith, who has represented many of the Guantanamo detainees, said.

The British press dubbed Ahmed, Rasul and Iqbal the "Tipton Taliban" after their home town in the English West Midlands. They were among nine Britons held at the camp but later released without charge.

The trio have been among the most vocal of former prisoners, campaigning for the camp's closure and seeking damages at the US Supreme Court with a fourth Briton, Jamal Al-Harith, from Manchester, northwest England.

As part of a series of protests planned for tomorrow around the world, Amnesty said a Guantanamo Bay "camp" will be recreated outside the heavily-guarded US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, central London.

It would involve hundreds of people in orange boiler suits like those worn by Guantanamo detainees kneeling in the "stress" position, patrolled by uniform-clad "US guards" with large dogs on leads, the group added.

Other protests will be held in the US, Spain, Italy and Israel.

One British newspaper today used its front page to print a hand-written letter by the nine-year-old son of a Guantanamo detainee, asking Prime Minister Tony Blair why his father was not home for Christmas.

"Why is my dad in prison? Why is he far away in that place called Guantanamo Bay?" wrote Anas Elbanna, whose father Jamil is one of eight British inmates still in the camp, in the letter published by the daily Independent.

"I miss my dad. I have not seen my dad for three years ... Your children spent Christmas with you but me and my brothers and sisters have spent Eid alone without our dad for three years.

"What do you think about that?"

AFP

Hmmm. I've been feeling pretty plutoed for about 6 years now. Ever since the Terrible Three (Bush, Blair, Howard) dragged us kicking and screaming into a war in the middle east. I'll bet all Iraqis are feeling a lot more than a little plutoed. Bulldozed perhaps.

Feeling devalued? You've been plutoed

New York
January 10, 2007

THE word "plutoed" — inspired by the downgrading of the former planet — has been voted the word of the year for 2006.

The American Dialect Society said the expression, defined as "to demote or devalue someone or something", showed how strong the public's emotional reaction had been to Pluto's fate.

Article: http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/feeling-devalued-youve-been-plutoed/2007/01/09/1168104983941.html

I oppose capital punishment. It's barbaric.

My dear Linda Enterkin,
Congratulations on your stupendous victory over my beloved Buckeyes.It was somehow sadly appropriate that TBDBITL formed the Titanic and played My Heart Will Go On! Oy vey, I have never seen the Buckeyes look so bad. I hope you had a wonderful victory celebration.
Kay

The hearings go on & on though. Nixon fought like a pitbull to stay in power, was suicidal and drinking.

Posted by: DiAnne at January 9, 2007 07:00 PM

Likewise with the weed. He'd fight like a pitbull - as long as no one could hurt him, like smack his hand or something. However, Nixon wasn't impeached for making catastrophic decisions which caused the deaths of thousands of young Americans.

I want to know if the decisions for which he is impeached are the same as the ones he still wants to make - surely the impeachment process, no matter how long it takes, can bring in a suspension of his power for all such decisions as those being investigated. Phew. Punctuator needed.

And if Pelosi is next in line of succession to this throne after the Dreadful Duo have been impeached - then what are we waiting for?

This is from Stars & Stripes, man!

On Tuesday, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., introduced legislation to require congressional approval of any decision to send more troops into Iraq.

“The vast majority of Americans oppose the war in Iraq, and an even greater number oppose sending even more troops to Iraq today,” he said. “The president is the commander in chief, but in our democracy he is still accountable to the people.

“The president may deny the plain truth, but the truth speaks loudly and tragically. Congress must no longer follow him deeper into the quagmire of Iraq.”

Video of Kennedy speech is up:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-edward-m-kennedy-/escalation-its-not-his-_b_38216.html

A little levity perhaps, but the "talk at" rather than "talk to" in the context of Bush behaviour is rather apt.

These are my views. I'm not interested in yours

Joel Stein
January 10, 2007

DON'T email me. That address on the bottom of this column? That is the pathetic, confused death knell of the once-proud newspaper industry, and I want nothing to do with it.

Sending an email to that address is about as useful as sending your study group report about Iraq to the US President.

Article: http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/these-are-my-views-im-not-interested-in-yours/2007/01/09/1168104980195.html

This article, "Democrats Rush To Frame Political Debate Over Troops" was written out on Google as "Democrats Surge to Frame Political Debate Over Troops" - was this a willful error or attempt at a joke, perhaps by a smart computer?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/washington/10surge.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

The article talks about how the Democrats have used the term "escalate" to describe what is obviously an escalation.

& I just listened to a Republican pollster on Terry Gross/NPR "Fresh Air" and he did admit that "surge" was not a good term for Bush to choose - it does not have the right connotation for America.

Hopefully, Americans are not stupid and will see through all the linguistic games.

The article ends with Tony Snow saying Bush will not use the word "surge" in his speech tomorrow night, as it implies a "rush hour approach" to policy.

Perhaps they had another focus group and realized they had been hasty.

Bubba:

Posted by: Bubba at January 9, 2007 01:43 PM

I second that proposition. As the proverb goes, the longest journey starts with one step. People sometimes argue about where we need to be one-thousand miles down the road, but that doesn't mean we can't take the first steps and re-evaluate and adjust as we go. Reminds me of a guy fighting Bush in Texas.

Chuck in Houston

PS to Linda: As a Wolverines fan (long story), all I can say is "GO GATORS!"

Hope. Hope is that my daughter will have a fighting chance to make this world a better place. That's what hope is to me.

Chuck in Houston

I have a view of Godship and Goddessship. They are not vengeful. Humans create their own myths and practices on power, greed, wrath and vengeance.

Posted by: woz at January 9, 2007 07:20 PM

Agreed with you there.

And read my post again. I was NOT arguing in favor of capital punishment. What I was sharing was the prevailing "wisdom" of the American society.

And I'll say this again and again - immigrants are far more socially conservative than we liberals like to give them credit for. On death penalty, on abortion, on gay marriage, on school vouchers, on many other topics.

Ally:

There's room at the top they are telling you still

But first you must learn how to smile as you kill

If you want to live like the folks on the hill...

Chuck in Houston

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/bush-pm-in-war-council/2007/01/10/1168105025710.html

Bush, PM in war council

January 10, 2007 - 12:12PM

The United States hasn't asked Australia to send extra troops to Iraq but President George W Bush has briefed Prime Minister John Howard on his plans to bolster forces in the war-ravaged nation.

-snip

Well, that would be silly. We're a nation of fewer than 21 million people - we've got regional issues requiring troops and assistance. Our troop contribution inside Iraq is 800. 800 too many mind, but 800. At that number we are stretched.

They shouldn't be there because they are needed here in our own region. Our neighbours are sinking as sea levels rise. John Howard's assessment of that situation is to send in some swimming instructors, as if they weren't already expert swimmers. Only kidding. But he did say, it's not up to Australia to relocate them.

So I guess he's happy for them to sink with their home island. Fewer people to be bothered with I guess.

Airstrikes continue in Somalia, and the excuse was ostensibly to get a couple of Al Quaida that were trying to escape by sea. In fact, we are probably supporting Ethiopia in installing a government in Somalia that is not Islamic. That also means Somalia will once again be over run by raping, plundering militias. Is that an improvement?

Meanwhile we're "surging" into Bagdad in three weeks. It occurs to me that it would have been smarter to leave Saddam Hussein in control of Iraq, had Bush II not had a personal vendetta against him for threatening Bush I. Saddam Hussein did two things we can't do. He kept sectarian violence under control, with Iraq under Sunni control like most of the more moderate, more secular middle eastern governments. He kept Iran in check and if both had developed weapons of mass destruction, they might have provided a checkmate against each other in a Mutually Assured Destruction fashion - much as the US and Soviet Union had for so many years, and which Indian and Pakistan continue to do.

I wake up with these thoughts and I don't appreciate it. I thought maybe it was time to get up (6 AM). Hell no - it's 3 AM. I have to work a 12 hour day tomorrow.

I did a Lamestream omission on Sunday and failed to post an article written by our Attorney General, Philip Ruddock. I didn't post it because the article was as crappy as the AG and the PM. If you're interested, which I doubt, you can find the link at the location of the following article.

Today there's criticism of the Australian Government's position on the plight of David Hicks in Gitmo, from one of our actual experts at law, Lex Lasry.

Negligent or just ineffective

Lex Lasry
January 10, 2007
ON JANUARY 7, 2007, federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock mounted a defence of the Australian Government in the case of David Hicks. The defence, in The Sunday Age, fails. It fails as much for what it does not say as for what it does.

The credibility of the Australian Government is drained by the fact that it apparently never considered that the original military commission process might have been unfair. Hicks was left to the mercy of that process.

Continued......
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/negligent-or-just-ineffective/2007/01/09/1168104980192.html

You too, DiAnne? It is not good to sleep this stuff is it?

Hicks'(s) Prosecutor Speaks
I can't actually watch the Age Videos so I haven't seen this unfortunately.
It's available at http://www.theage.com.au/

Who Can It Be Now?
by Men At Work

Who can it be knocking at my door?
Go 'way, don't come 'round here no more.
Can't you see that it's late at night?
I'm very tired, and I'm not feeling right.
All I wish is to be alone;
Stay away, don't you invade my home.
Best off if you hang outside,
Don't come in - I'll only run and hide.

Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?

Who can it be knocking at my door?
Make no sound, tip-toe across the floor.
If he hears, he'll knock all day,
I'll be trapped, and here I'll have to stay.
I've done no harm, I keep to myself;
There's nothing wrong with my state of mental health.
I like it here with my childhood friend;
Here they come, those feelings again!

Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?
Who can it be now?

Is it the man come to take me away?
Why do they follow me?
It's not the future that I can see,
It's just my fantasy

Oh...Who can it be now?
Oh...Who can it...Who can it...
Oh-Yeah, yeah, yeahhhhhhhh

‘Surge’ becomes nation’s latest catchword
Vagueness makes it the politically perfect word for policy shift in Iraq

By Paul Farhi
The Washington Post
Jan 10, 2007

It's one of those words -- like "chad" or "blog" or "waterboarding" -- that's suddenly become the go-to phrase to describe a contemporary phenomenon.

"Surge," the country's latest catchword, is what President Bush intends to propose tonight in a prime-time speech -- a "surge" of troops, perhaps 20,000, to bolster the American military presence in Iraq.

A surge. It conjures: the rush of the ocean tides. Or what a young person feels upon the first blush of love. Or what a sports team does late in the game. Among its definitions, "any sudden, strong increase, as of energy, enthusiasm, etc.," according to Webster's New World College Dictionary.

What we have here is shorthand for a very long debate.

The very vagueness of "surge" might make it the politically perfect word for what is likely to be a controversial policy. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the new House speaker, framed her apparent opposition to sending more troops to Iraq by using a more freighted substitute: "escalation."

In that context, surge is a euphemism for a euphemism. "Escalation" was variously ascribed to both President Lyndon Johnson's policy of increased military aid to Vietnam, and the U.S. "incursion" -- yet more euphemisms! -- into Laos and Cambodia in 1970 under President Richard Nixon. Perhaps to avoid echoes of that war, "surge" is the Pentagon and White House's preferred coinage.

"Surge," though, has no real history or meaning as a military construct -- unlike, say, "tank" or "M-16." It doesn't appear in reference books such as the Oxford Companion to Military History, the Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War or the Encyclopedia of the U.S. Military. Nor does it show up in the Department of Defense's official Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms.

"It just seems to be a term that cropped up that seemed useful," says Lewis Sorley, a retired Army officer and prominent military historian.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16532978/

Surge, surge, surge
Surge Is The Word
I said-uh, surge, surge, surge
Surge Is The Word

Humor Injection du Jour...

Ok, I swear this came right off the AP wire, true story... but if you don't laugh as hard as I just did at the attorneys comment, well, then yer just flat out not funny.....

RICHMOND, Va. - An art teacher whose off-hours work as a so-called “butt-printing artist” became widely circulated among high school students has been fired.

The Chesterfield County School Board, in a unanimous voice vote, fired Stephen Murmer at a meeting Tuesday night, spokeswoman Debra Marlow said.

In its decision, the board reasoned that students have a right to receive their education in an environment free from distractions and disruptions, Marlow said. The decision also is in keeping with court rulings that hold that teachers are expected to lead by example and be role models, she said.

Jason Anthony, Murmer’s attorney, called the vote “a bad day for the First Amendment.”

“Chesterfield lost a tremendous asset today,” he said.

Murmer, a teacher at Monacan High School, was suspended in December after objections were raised about his private abstract artwork, much of which includes smearing his posterior and genitals with paint and pressing them against canvas.

His paintings sell for as much as $900 each on his Web site.

The unique app