« Travel As A Political Act | Main | The House of Wisdom »
Buckets of Blood
Last week I wrote about the problems that the antiwar movement has had in generating sustained pressure on members of Congress, citing a story by a Washington Post reporter who traveled around Georgia for three days over the August recess with Republican Senator Jimmy Isaacson and did hear a single comment critical of the war.
In today's Post, there is a story of a different kind, about a recent campaign that worked, paid for by the health insurance industry, and based on mobilizing people at the grassroots. The campaign was led by Karen M. Ignagni.
Ignagni's group, with the help of its members, has been building a list of senior citizen activists since 1999. Known as the Coalition for Medicare Choices, the network is managed by association employees who regularly keep in touch with the seniors who sign up and spur them to action when they are needed.The network is currently 400,000 strong. In recent months, every senator and nearly 100 congressmen were contacted by multiple seniors in the system. Over the August recess alone, the association clocked about 20,000 calls to congressional offices.
Ignagni supplemented this deluge with a national advertising campaign. Its targeted TV commercials were designed to thank some lawmakers for supporting the industry's position and to remind others who are on the fence that seniors would not be happy if Medicare Advantage were trimmed.
The association also bought newspaper ads to praise the overall legislation, which at its heart expands the popular State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. The ad pointedly recommended the Senate's version, which pays for the SCHIP expansion with an increase in tobacco taxes, not a cut in Medicare Advantage.
The effect has been impressive. Congressional aides say they have heard the association's point of view even above the din created by two of Washington's most powerful interests: the American Medical Association and AARP.
Just to complete the story, there's also a nasty little revolving door here. Ignagni learned about the power of grassroots lobbying during her 11 years at the AFL-CIO.
My point is that this kind of coordinated campaign, in which members of Congress are getting hammered by their constituents, backed up with tailored messages in traditional media rewarding friends and threatening enemies, is what it takes to get things done in DC.
Half-assed lobbying campaigns are never going to work, given the intensity of competition, not only over the course of the war itself, but the thousands of other lobbyists who are screaming for attention to their issues.
And half-assed protest campaigns aren't going to work either.
A march here, a march there, another email petition, it's just not enough. I can't even count how many disjointed, disconnected marches, rallies, and events against the war are taking place in DC this fall. You don't need a crystal ball to know that with such a fractured movement, none of these events are going to achieve any kind of critical mass.
I would like to see a coordinated campaign to put daily pressure on every single member of Congress.
And I'd like to see what I will call a "real" march come to Washington with the express purpose to shut down the city. As far as I can tell, everyone knows that Bush doesn't give a damn about people marching as along as they stay within all the rules. Even a huge march, as long as all that happened was that people went up or down the Mall, would no longer mean much.
But shutting down the city, people who were bored with ineffective marches might decide that such a march was not so boring after all. And what could be more disruptive, more subversive, than interfering with the warocrats God-given freedom to drive wherever they want? I remember the city being completely freaked out in a 1971 demo because some of the protestors had announced their intention to interfere with traffic.
Think about it. In Baghad, when you get up to go to work in the morning, what do you worry about? What's the worst thing that could happen to you? That you get blown up by a suicide bomber? That Bush decides you're an "enemy combatant" and you disappear into the hellhole of our black illegal prison and torture system?
And the worst we're threatening here at home is some nonviolent interference with the flow of traffic? "You won't believe how awful my day was, those nasty protesters were out in the street and I had to park 20 blocks away from work!"
Anyone who's ever driven inside the Beltway knows that even a few tens of thousands of dedicated people could create havoc on the roadways
But I'd like to see a million people get up in the morning in and around Washington and converge on downtown with a detailed plan to isolate those parts of the city where the people who are most complicit in starting the war, and keeping the war going, are located. Every person should have a bucket of blood, or just good old red paint, to make the streets of Washington run with red like the marketplaces and neighborhoods of Iraq. The White House, the Pentagon, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the Justice Department, all the institutions that have betrayed the Constitution and the American people, each surrounded by 100,000 people or more, the fronts and sidewalks of each of these buildings dripping with red goo to show our solidarity with the thousands of American dead, the tens of thousands of American wounded, the million or more Iraqis who have been killed or wounded, and the millions more who are in internal or external exile.
Why should these war criminals be allowed to go to work as if they were just going to another day at the office? Why should the pristine marble landscapes of Washington not be marred by a reminder of the foul, evil business that the people in those buildings are carrying out in our names?
90 Comments
Leave a comment
Not registered? Click on 'Sign-in' above and then select 'Sign up' in the lower right corner. Don't forget to click on the link in the confirmation email that will be sent to your email address.
I'd settle for virtually ANY massive show of civil disapproval, ANYWHERE in this country.
Power Outrage
Times Select is No More!
Times to Stop Charging for Parts of Its Web Site \
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
The New York Times will stop charging for access to parts of its Web site, effective at midnight Tuesday night, reflecting a growing view in the industry that subscription fees cannot outweigh the potential ad revenue from increased traffic on a free site.
The move comes two years to the day after The Times began the subscription program, TimesSelect, which has charged $49.95 a year, or $7.95 a month, for online access to its columnists’ work and to the newspaper’s archives. TimesSelect has been free to print subscribers to The Times, and to some students and educators.
In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain.
The newspaper said the TimesSelect project had met expectations, drawing 227,000 paying subscribers — out of 787,000 over all — and generating about $10 million a year in revenue.
“But our projections for growth on that paid subscriber base were low, compared to the growth of online advertising,” said Vivian L. Schiller, senior vice president and general manager of the site, NYTimes.com.
What changed, The Times said, was that many more readers started coming to the site from search engines and links on other sites instead of coming directly to NYtimes.com. These indirect readers, unable to gain access to articles behind the pay wall and less likely to pay subscription fees than the more loyal direct users, were seen as opportunities for more page views and increased advertising revenue.
“What wasn’t anticipated was the explosion in how much of our traffic would be generated by Google, by Yahoo and some others,” Ms. Schiller said.
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/business/media/18times.html
STUDENT TASERED AT KERRY SPEECH AFTER ASKING SOME INTERESTING QUESTIONS:
This is one of the most popular You Tube videos of the last two days:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqAVvlyVbag
1430 ratings
Save to Favorites Save to Favorites
Add to Groups Add to Groups
Share This Video Share Video
Post Video
Flag as Inappropriate Flag as Inappropriate
Views: 204,391
|
Comments: 3752
|
Favorited: 690 times
Honors: 22Links: 0Responses: 58
Here is the most popular video response:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jkgv2E8NWs
Enjoyed this just now, as I am trying to get through the last week before a long-awaited vacation:
I am passing this on to you because it definitely works and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives. By following simple advice I heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace. Dr. Philproclaimed "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and never finished." So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off 8 cans of Miller Lite, a bottle of Absolut, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos and a box of chocolates. You have no idea how freaking good I feel. Please pass this on to those you feel might be in need of inner peace.
JK: "A good healthy discussion was interrupted"
Senator Kerry made the following statement in response to the arrest of a student at the University of Florida:
In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way.
I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but again I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention.
I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of answering him when he was taken into custody.
I was not aware that a taser was used until after I left the building. I hope that neither the student nor any of the police were injured.
I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted.
-------------------------------------------------
Last year when I attended John & Teresa Kerry's book signing and talk, a Larouche follower got up to the mike and went on an extended rant and John handled it just fine.
I haven't seen the video and can't watch it from here but there was no conceivable reason for the police to use a taser on someone who was surrounded by an audience and unarmed.
I have seen police behavior escalate greatly over the past few years.
More from DailyKos:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/9/18/125041/427
Looks to me like the kid got tasered because he said "blowjob" in Florida.
from the Telegraph:
students at the university instead demanded that the police be suspended and that Tasers never again be used on campus.
THAT is what needs to happen. When I saw Kerry handle a situation like that, he reached over from the stage after awhile and picked up the microphone physically. He is really tall & it was a very cool approach. The person had already admitted being a Larouchie and he started by saying "Larouche is nuts." I agree with Larouche that Cheney should be impeached but I don't agree that we should build bridges between all the continents or nuclear power plants everywhere. & the Larouchie was contending that global warming was a lie and Al Gore was a charlatan.
Police in a Jeb Bush state tend to overreact.
Here is the most popular video response:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jkgv2E8NWs
Posted by: Ralpheh at September 18, 2007 02:44 PM
Just listening to Randy Rhodes, she is on a tirade about JK not having told the cops to lay of, and frankly I agree with her,I did here yesterday, and I do today.
It was 666000 yesterday. I was just talking to my students about it yesterday, How amazing youtube was.
YouTube Politicians, Police, GOP deviates beware.
I found a way to watch the video. Kerry was ready to handle that guy. I have seen him more than a dozen times with all kinds of crowds and he's been around the block. The kid was kind of on a rant but it was easy to see where he was going. I don't think he was all that out of line except for asking multiple questions.
The police had no business intervening. It is outrageous.
Randi Rhodes isn't an authority on anything.
Police in a Jeb Bush state tend to overreact.
Posted by: not my president at September 18, 2007 03:27 PM
Beat me to the punch.
By following simple advice I heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace. Dr. Philproclaimed "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and never finished." So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off 8 cans of Miller Lite, a bottle of Absolut, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos and a box of chocolates. You have no idea how freaking good I feel. Please pass this on to those you feel might be in need of inner peace.
Posted by: not my president at September 18, 2007 03:05 PM
Ahahahahaha,He is another one that I just cannot stand, he annoys the shit out of me, My Mum watches him. I was saying to her yesterday, what the hell is he sitting there making a friking fortune telling everyone how to run their lives, and I walk into a shop a day or two ago, and here he is with Oprah on front of a magazine headlined Dr Phil marriage nightmare, and he's telling someone else how to live their lives.
I dont't think so.
I think I will start looking now nmp, sound good to me
This is all very strange. There were (at least) four police waiting behind the kid before he even started to ask his question. Like they were already going to pounce on him. And there were cameras all over the place - I have seen at least three difference angles of this arrest and it does not look pretty.
The police very nearly caused a riot; the kid was screaming in the back of the room, getting tasered, the audience was screaming - a fight could have easily broken out and people could have started to stampede.
The police could have said, "we are NOT arresting you; we just want you to leave the room", etc.. de-escalate the situation; it was mishandled; the use of a taser is really bizarre and uncalled for.
I am reading some other eyewitness reports and getting some context and realize that the YouTube and other videos only showed part of the story.
Tasers should be outlawed. Period. They are more and more widespread and over overused.
It's an important story because of the police brutality angle. Watch extremists on both sides of the spectrum try to put the blame on Kerry.
Let's get back to what's going on in Iraq and forget about OJ.
Ralpeh
I agree - the police were totally bizarre - beyond the pale.
When I protested Bush, some police had loaded guns aimed right at peaceful protesters.
Police state.
It also is not on canvas but it is 6 foot tall.
HEHEHE.
Posted by: Christy at September 18, 2007 10:04 AM
As long as it is not a portrait of Georgie, that I can have target practice on. Kev would just have to shake his head at you, and say one hell of a lot more Hail Marys for me, to get me upstairs whenever.
By the way got to have a house to put it in, got offered 800,000 for mine yesterday, told them to come back to me when it was a million, she said she will ring me next Wednesday. now if she offers me that I will have to think about it, not thinking about it now though.
Tom Nolan, a criminal-justice professor and former cop who teaches at Boston University, has his own views of the incident which were e-mailed to reporters by the university's media-relations office. Nolan doesn't side with the campus police.
“The deployment of an immobilizing, less-lethal weapon in an auditorium crowded with students to bring an unruly student (who was being arrested for a misdemeanor charge) under control, by no fewer than six police officers, is a shocking and dangerous breach of police protocol. Aside from the obvious fact that a university campus is no place for such weapons, and that campus police officers should not have such weapons at their disposal (and no, it would have done little good at Virginia Tech), this incident constitutes an outrageous display of overreaction brought about by inexperience and a complete lack of oversight and control. The cops were more out of control than the unruly student here and six cops should easily have been able to take this student into custody. Looks like another scandal for the U of F campus PD (remember the botched frat boy rape case of 1999)”
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2007/09/kerry_didnt_know_cops_were_tas.html
The less training police officers have the more dangerous they are.
When the WTO were in Seattle, the problem was not our local cops but the paranoid extras from the suburbs who are not trained as well in crowd management and tend to overreact. They also tend to have more conservative political agendas.
Rent-a-cops are not cops and should not be able to carry guns but now they are, just like Blackwater mercenaries. I was shocked to see an armed one in the Trader Joe parking lot, getting all bent out of shape because someone had loud music in his car.
As for campus police, they are not real city police either. They are security guards for the campus and are not trained for all situations. I have seen them overreact at political events, with complete overkill. I was also called in as a witness after I saw them bash a guy's skull on the ground and twist his arm. He was unarmed.
We have more and more police with less and less training. & less peace & less order. Something is badly wrong.
Randi Rhodes isn't an authority on anything.
Posted by: not my president at September 18, 2007 03:35 PM
I know nmp, but she has the same rights as everyone else has, in the land of LIBERTY to ask the question, and in this instance I think she is right, the kid asks an inconvenient question, and the students sit there and cheer when the cop grab this kid, did not respond to help the kid until they saw him tasered.
First They Came for the Jews
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller
We have more and more police with less and less training. & less peace & less order. Something is badly wrong.
Posted by: not my president at September 18, 2007 03:57 PM
Amen
NMP,
Changing the subject. This is about Sarko's pension "reform."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7000095.stm
As for the police state, I agree with you wholeheartedly. It's all about downsizing the government, Grover Norquist style, and replacing it with unaccountable private sweetheart contractors.
More from Europe...
Poland says "no anti-death penalty day" unless abortion and euthanasia are also addressed.
Poland also wants to re-introduce the death penalty in the EU.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7001538.stm
Needless to say, this is one European country I want NOTHING to do with, ever.
Grover Norquist can bake in Aych E Double Hockey Sticks.
And ever wonder why W and Rummy have been praising Poland as the "New Europe"?
Rossian
Randi asked why the KIDS did not do anything? That is a good question. I suppose that is how people get in Jeb Bush's state.
Ally
Thanks for changing the subjects, All the wrong people are going to make hay with the JK thing. It is the new diversion, after the MoveOn Petraeus thing. By the way, I heard radio versions of the MoveOn (Lakoff-mentored) ad and the Ari Fleischer fronted response. They are two sides of the same coin - expensive propaganda ads. My friend who used to be in advertising is encouraging me to boycott political ads and I am. Last time I didn't listen to them as I can't stand the "gossip woman" and "authority man" that both parties use. Pure propaganda, manipulative and encourages people not to be factually-minded.
She pointed out that millions are spent on them which could go to clothe and feed people, build schools, pay for presentation of REAL facts about policy, etc. We are not going to play that game. We are not going to donate for stupid pointless ephemeral wasteful incendiary ads any longer.
Poland. The Bible Belt of Europe.
It was 666000 yesterday.
Posted by: rossiann at September 18, 2007 03:31 PM
Whooops got to be correct, added an extra 0, it should have been 66600 yesterday.
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at September 18, 2007 04:21 PM
Christski!
She pointed out that millions are spent on them which could go to clothe and feed people, build schools, pay for presentation of REAL facts about policy, etc. We are not going to play that game. We are not going to donate for stupid pointless ephemeral wasteful incendiary ads any longer.
Posted by: not my president at September 18, 2007 04:20 PM
NMP, my mother has been telling me the same thing - do NOT donate to political propaganda of any stripe, no matter how much I agree with it, and donate the money to charities or other worthy causes instead. And more and more, I agree with her.
Honestly, I'd rather give to the likes of Amnesty International, which do real good work worldwide (especially against barbarian regimes like Nicaragua), than to political propaganda. Plus, nonprofit donations are tax deductible, political ones are not.
She pointed out that millions are spent on them which could go to clothe and feed people, build schools, pay for presentation of REAL facts about policy, etc. We are not going to play that game. We are not going to donate for stupid pointless ephemeral wasteful incendiary ads any longer.
Posted by: not my president at September 18, 2007 04:20 PM
I sit here and read what your Democratic Presidential Candidates, have made in the last year just Hilliary 26 odd million, Obama nearly 30 odd million and Edwards 15 odd million, that is past being shamefull, it is offensive, and that is only 3. think of New Orleans, think of the Homeless, think of Children without Health Insurance, think of your countries structures falling to the sea?
Rossian
Randi asked why the KIDS did not do anything?
Yes
Wow. My husband woke up this morning with a serious attitude!
I am back from Florida, where I saw the JK incident repeated on CNN and the rest all evening last night. I knew that some would be ready to jump on top of JK, and Daily Kos proved me right. Here is what I wrote over there:
As someone who got a faceful of tear gas while protesting the Vietnam War back in 1972, on the campus of Boston University, I will only add what I say to all the protesters of today.
Police WILL get carried away at times. They have their orders too. There are particular things one can do to make sure one is not arrested, or sprayed with toxins, or handcuffed by six cops jumping on top of your ankle, but those things do not always work.
One thing that usually DOES work, however, is that once you have expressed your opinion, listen to the answers. After all, protest is also a form of information-sharing, and information-seeking is equally important.
Too often lately, people are just screaming at each other, and that almost always ends badly.
Sen. Kerry does not scream, by the way. He remains calm. I remember an incident in the 2003 primary season when a cantankerous vet from Iowa was completely disarmed by the Senator's willingness to truly listen and hear him out, and then calmly answer his questions.
I also remember that after the tear gas incident in 1972, we held a 24-hour teach-in at BU, and a young vet spoke calmly but clearly about the war and why it was wrong. He held the room then. I would not have called it droning; I called it calm wisdom.
by karendc on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 03:30:42 PM
Bravo Karen
karen: there were several student witnesses at the JK event calling into Air America this morning's Lionel show who felt that the kid was totally out of control, wasn't there to listen to JK, was a conspiracy person intent on drawing attention to himself. Probably could have been quietly asked to leave but those of us tear gassed in the 70s(in front of the LBJ Library) did so because we were not be listend to by Nixon/Agnew but were being insulted especially by Agnew. Don't understand why these things keep happening to JK. He was there to give a speech and intelligently answer questions, sounds almost like they are blaming JK which seems nuts. Its one thing to be a distraction when not being listened to but to drown out JK violates his free speech to respond and visually makes the left appear out of control. To me it seemed self serving and counterproductive and can't understand why Rhodes won't just let it go, there are too many other issues to deal with.
I called it calm wisdom.
by karendc on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 03:30:42 PM
That is it entirely Karen, that is what dissappointed me, He could have said calmly to the police, unhand the young man, he had done nothing wrong, He should have been the one in charge of the situation,
It reminded me, of when those gop thugs, swift boated him in the Presidential Election and nothing was done about it until to late, they did so much damage to him then, as I think this will now, It is sad that he was not quick enough to control the situation, or allow himself to be in this situation again, where they could lay into him 24 hours a day for a week or two, while the GOP thugs go on their merry way, with their corruption, blacked out on cable news
Ralpeh
I agree - the police were totally bizarre - beyond the pale.
When I protested Bush, some police had loaded guns aimed right at peaceful protesters.
Police state.
Posted by: not my president at September 18, 2007 03:46 PM
@@@@@
I was at a protest of a Bush Cheney political event in 2004. And it was strange as well - in the amount of security that the local police brought out. They had a whole unit of riot police with helmets, billy clubs all wearing these big boots. Later they brought in mounted police. I thought that the horses was really going the extra mile for Bush. I think they had 6 horses or maybe 8, I can't remember now. The police kept yelling at us with a bull-horn that we would be arrested if we stepped into the street off the side walk etc..
Bush's campaign bus passed right in front of us - I would have loved to throw an egg or something at it...
A march here, a march there, another email petition, it's just not enough. I can't even count how many disjointed, disconnected marches, rallies, and events against the war are taking place in DC this fall. You don't need a crystal ball to know that with such a fractured movement, none of these events are going to achieve any kind of critical mass.
I would like to see a coordinated campaign to put daily pressure on every single member of Congress.
And I'd like to see what I will call a "real" march come to Washington with the express purpose to shut down the city.
Dick Bell
OK - my excuse is that I am at work and I got distracted by the latest distraction. What Dick Bell wrote has to do with my very livelihood! & what we're seeing today (such as reponses at DailyKos that Karen mentioned) is a great example of the famous "fragmented left," which is not a new thing. Pressure on Congress has to be "concerted" or it will be ineffective. We are more likely to see disjointed if earnest efforts, which sometimes end up undermining the causes they purport to push.
Bravo Dick too!
Rossian
Easy to say if we weren't there .. can't tell much from a video or even newspaper stories.
Rossian
Also read what you said about the earnings of our presidential candidates. Without true campaign finance reform, they literally have to practically buy their way in. It's all about connections (lobbyists etc). It's a little like the Mafia. This is America, even though we ostensibly have two parties. I kind of have to laugh anymore when I hear a "leader" from here talking about spreading democracy or liberating another nation.
People continue to act surprised about the system here. It's rigged and I myself take crap because I usually support the Dem I think has the most electability, though moreso if I like he or she at least somewhat. Voting on principles? Working for a candidate on strictly his merit? I worked for Eugene McCarthy & George McGovern & got that out of my system. If I were to do that, it would be Kucinich or Gravel probably. Even 2nd tier candidates (so called) like Biden or Richardson or Dodd, all of whom I liked - they seemed to have been written off by the power-mongers and media early on.
Ralpheh
Yes - I protested him in Minnesota & they brought out a bomb squad to test the road before his limo passed. He had to drive past some guys re-enacting the electrocution from Abu Graib (with the hood).
& in Bellevue Washington they had everything roped off and helicopters overhead, the complete airspace closed off for miles and miles - and still there were units and units of local police with full tactical gear - plexiglass facial shields, jackboots, fully armed, handcuffs at the ready. Complete intimidation and overkill.
2nd anniversay of the WTO and they had squads and squads out in full tactical gear. Even their horses were wearing Plexigass headgear, pepper spray at the read. They spent days preparing. Then about 200 of the "usual suspects" showed up - a motley crew with peace signs, etc.
Remember the photos from the 60s of people putting flowers into the guns of police? Try that nowdays and you'd get your face blown off.
Thing is Karen I am listening, to hours of people calling in saying they remember, the young JKs speech to the Senate in 1971, how strong he was. Why did he not calmly act and stop the police.
Ho many more people, are going to be thinking the same thing, sadly.
Below are Kerry’s remarks as prepared for delivery:
Senator John Kerry
“Dissent”
Faneuil Hall
April 22, 2006
Thirty-five years ago today, I testified before the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate, and called for an end to the war I had returned from fighting not long before.
It was 1971 – twelve years after the first American died in what was then South Vietnam, seven years after Lyndon Johnson seized on a small and contrived incident in the Tonkin Gulf to launch a full-scale war—and three years after Richard Nixon was elected president on the promise of a secret plan for peace. We didn’t know it at the time, but four more years of the War in Vietnam still lay ahead. These were years in which the Nixon administration lied and broke the law—and claimed it was prolonging war to protect our troops as they withdrew—years that ultimately ended only when politicians in Washington decided they would settle for a “decent interval” between the departure of our forces and the inevitable fall of Saigon.
I know that some active duty service members, some veterans, and certainly some politicians scorned those of us who spoke out, suggesting our actions failed to “support the troops”—which to them meant continuing to support the war, or at least keeping our mouths shut. Indeed, some of those critics said the same thing just two years ago during the presidential campaign.
I have come here today to reaffirm that it was right to dissent in 1971 from a war that was wrong. And to affirm that it is both a right and an obligation for Americans today to disagree with a President who is wrong, a policy that is wrong, and a war in Iraq that weakens the nation.
I believed then, just as I believe now, that the best way to support the troops is to oppose a course that squanders their lives, dishonors their sacrifice, and disserves our people and our principles. When brave patriots suffer and die on the altar of stubborn pride, because of the incompetence and self-deception of mere politicians, then the only patriotic choice is to reclaim the moral authority misused by those entrusted with high office.
I believed then, just as I believe now, that it is profoundly wrong to think that fighting for your country overseas and fighting for your country’s ideals at home are contradictory or even separate duties. They are, in fact, two sides of the very same patriotic coin. And that’s certainly what I felt when I came home from Vietnam convinced that our political leaders were waging war simply to avoid responsibility for the mistakes that doomed our mission in the first place. Indeed, one of the architects of the war, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, confessed in a recent book that he knew victory was no longer a possibility far earlier than 1971.
Sorry it was his situation to control.
Now I will shut my big mouth.
I would like to remind us once again that we cannot be myopic when talking about who is being propagandized in this country.
Fascism will stop at nothing. You can be just as sure that they will pour out their propaganda to appeal to ANY interest group or sect of society they can think of.
One way they do it with the left is to keep them divided over one or two issues. While the left is focusing and complaining about gays vs. Christians, the right is carrying your country into the abyss.
Let us please remember to try to not be myopic. Propaganda goes out to ALL. Even Dems.
I think some on the left perpetuate what the right starts. All the right has to do is put an inflammatory ad out there that riles up the Christians, or the gays, or the left. The left will be so busy obsessing about it that nothing will ever get done about it.
IMO, we are handing them our freedom on a plate every time we get myopic and bigoted, and I don't care which side of the aisle, they both do it. One could be myopic when they concentrate on one sect of society as being more easily brainwashed than the others. If we are human, they are trying to feed us propaganda, no matter who we are.
Every time someone misses a beat because they are complaining about a certain sect of people over and over, they are succeeding in letting the neocons win by default.
Fear and division stagnate. Reacting with hate assures your enemy victory.
Yes, they feed propaganda to Christians. And to everyone else they can think of 24/7.
In fact, it is kind of taking a superior attitude that judges but does nothing positive about a situation when critiquing is all that gets done.
IMO.
State Department Under Hill Scrutiny
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A congressional committee has launched an investigation of the State Department's inspector general, alleging he blocked fraud investigations in Afghanistan and Iraq, including potential security lapses at the newly built U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
Also under scrutiny is whether Blackwater USA, the private security firm banned this week from working in Iraq for the alleged killing of eight civilians, was "illegally smuggling weapons into Iraq," according to a letter to IG Howard J. Krongard obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
The Democrat-led investigation accused Krongard of trying to protect the White House and the State Department, telling him in the letter, "your partisan political ties have led you to halt investigations, censor reports, and refuse to cooperate with law enforcement agencies."
Based on charges from a number of current and former senior investigators who worked for Krongard, the letter from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee also questioned whether he adequately investigated illegal labor trafficking allegations involving the Kuwaiti company that was building the Baghdad embassy.
Ralph McNamara, the former deputy assistant inspector general for investigations, said in an Associated Press interview Tuesday that he came forward with the allegations against his former boss because he was concerned that State Department employees would be at risk when working in the new embassy.
"A rocket - an unexploded munition - went through a portion of a cement ceiling there, and it was supposed to be an area able to withstand a direct hit from a missile that did explode," said McNamara. He said investigators wanted to look into charges that the walls were not built to the required thickness or concrete consistency, but they were blocked from pursuing it.
U.S. workers, he said, "were putting their lives on the line and assuming that the facility they were going into was going to provide them all the protection they needed, and that's not true ... With all these allegations coming in, we need to make sure these folks were being protected."
Krongard's office said the inspector general was traveling Tuesday and unavailable to comment.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/STATE_DEPARTMENT_FRAUD_PROBE?SITE=OHCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
The situation went out of control beyond his control, Rossi. I'm sorry, but saying it is his fault this young man was hurt by the police is like blaming the faculty back at BU for our being tear-gassed.
Sure a few were there that day in front of the library, and they tried to negotiate with us. But it was the POLICE who became incensed, and the faculty members were appalled as well.
You know that I go into Congress and watch hearings, and I go into offices and deliver messages from the truly concerned citizens. It is so deeply clear exactly WHO is listening and working for peace and justice, day after day after day.
I have never witnessed John Kerry bully any of us, nor has he ever failed to stop and listen and put a hand on a shoulder and offer encouragement.
As for the Swift Boats asses, you must know how frustrated he was that his campaign failed him at that time. We on the blog fought back, and we managed to push back at the stupid flip-flop meme, as well as the outright lies about his service. Not a day goes by that I do not resent those-who-will-not-be-named for their passivity.
Please do not fall for the frames that get put out there about him. No one, NO ONE is fighting this war more fiercely than JK.
Karen
I agree about JK as one who has witnessed alot of this fake crap. I have also had the privilege of personally discussing the media w/JK and THK and will never forget it as long as I live.
TSP
I also agree totally about myopia and propaganda. I can see that you understand that it works regardless of where it is used on the political spectrum. My ideals haven't changed alot over the decades but my strategy has, because of the manipulations.
I am totally convinced that right-wing shills (aka "googling monkeys", apologies to our own simian here) wait for the mere mention of John Kerry's name and are paid to throw up crap. One of the driving forces behind the DCP was the fact that so many of us saw the media manipulation and revisionist crap in 2004.
We are here to be empowered researchers and truthtellers, and I hope we all have enough collective memory left to recall the lies and obfuscations.
We have the experience, that's for sure.
Public's view of Iraq War Barely Budges
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0919/p02s01-woiq.html
That's after all the PR blitz w/Bush, Petraeus etc.
I listened to some analysis this morning (Lakoff & others) about how the use of the word "betray" had been very powerful. It obviously scares the right because we HAVE been betrayed. There is no denying it. It is a trust issue. Our trust was violated when we were lied to. To come right out and say it shows the "spine" that people have been asking for. That's why it got a big reaction from cowards like Giuliani. He's afraid people will sense that he's a fraud.
Please do not fall for the frames that get put out there about him. No one, NO ONE is fighting this war more fiercely than JK.
Posted by: karen at September 18, 2007 06:23 PM
I totally believe you Karen, no one ever puts anything into my mind, no one, He would be my choice again for President and Leader of the Free World, above them all running today with Edwards as Vice President again, He stands for what I believe in The war, Womens Rights, and Global Warming and the enviroment. I Like Teresa, and Elizabeth they are terrific, they would speak their minds and not take any shit at all, but it seems that the majority of Americans, for some reason do not like strong women, Just look at the women on the arms of the deviate GOP hopefuls fluff 1/4 of their age, prouncing around like they have a brain or more important a thought in their heads.
But because of the State of the cable and media today in America, JK needs to be more on the ball, otherwise they will crucify him, and like for the last seven years ligitimise Georgie and his thugs, corruption and lies.
Earth to Congress...
Public distaste for Iraq war largely unchanged
Polls: Bush's televised address, Petraeus' report had little impact on opinion
WASHINGTON - (AP) Gen. David Petraeus’ report to Congress and President Bush’s nationally televised address have had little impact on Americans’ distaste for the Iraq war and their desire to withdraw U.S. troops, polls show.
Fifty-four percent still favor bringing the troops home as soon as possible, a measurement that has not changed in months, according to a poll released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. And despite slight improvements in peoples’ views of military progress, more said the U.S. will likely fail in Iraq than succeed by 47 percent to 42 percent, about the same margin as in July.
Nearly half, or 49 percent, said Bush should remove more troops than he announced he would last week, when he said he would withdraw some forces but leave at least 130,000 in Iraq at least until next summer. Thirty-eight percent said Bush’s plan goes far enough.
Overall, two out of three said their views on the war had not been changed by presentations last week by Bush and Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
In a separate survey by CBS News, fewer than a third said the roughly 30,000 additional troops Bush sent to the war zone this year have made things better, while the rest said they have had no impact or made things worse. That was similar to the findings of a CBS News-New York Times poll taken days before the remarks by Petraeus and Bush.
Only 22 percent said they are willing to keep large numbers of U.S. troops in Iraq longer than two more years, largely unchanged from the previous survey. Nearly half, or 49 percent, said they should stay less than a year while 23 percent said they should remain for a year or two.
Even so, people expect the troops to stay longer than they would like. Only a third said they believe large U.S. forces will be in Iraq for two years or less.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20843299/
Spy chief seeks more eavesdropping power
McConnell says aggressive China and Russia spying near Cold War levels
WASHINGTON - (AP) The top U.S. intelligence official asked Congress Tuesday for even more changes to a law that he says has limited the government's ability to eavesdrop - not just on terrorists but also on more traditional potential adversaries.
Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, said China and Russia are aggressively spying on sensitive U.S. facilities, intelligence systems and development projects, and their efforts are approaching Cold War levels.
"Foreign intelligence information concerning the plans, activities and intentions of foreign powers and their agents is critical to protect the nation and preserve our security," McConnell told the House Judiciary Committee.
Privacy versus intelligence gap
McConnell is seeking changes to the Protect America Act, which Congressed passed to effectively supersede or modify the Foreign Intelligence Surveilliance Act - a law that administration officials have said tied their hands in combating terrorism.
Congress hastily adopted the successor law - the Protect America Act - just before going on vacation in August. They took that action based in part on McConnell's warnings of a dire gap in U.S. intelligence. Some senior Democrats were hesitant, however.
"The right to privacy is too important to be sacrificed in a last-minute rush before a congressional recess, which is what happened," said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the panel's chairman, said Tuesday.
Democrats worry that the law could open business records, library files, personal mail, and homes to searches by intelligence and law enforcement officers without a court order.
'Myth and facts'
Bush administration officials say that is an overly broad, even strained reading of the law, which they contend only allows the government to target foreigners for surveillance without a warrant. The law also allows the government to listen in on calls and e-mails that have an American on one end of the communication without a warrant as long as the American is not the intended "target" of the surveillance.
Addressing the controversy over the law, the Justice Department and the White House Tuesday issued a "myth and facts" paper meant to allay the concerns of civil liberties advocates and privacy groups that believe it gives the government broader powers than intended.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, the chairman of the subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, called the effort a troubling "charm offensive."
"Let's have some truth in advertising, the act gives the president almost unfettered power to spy, without judicial approval, not only on foreigners but on Americans," Nadler said.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20839993/
I haven't read any of the comments because I'm responding first of all to the header. And I have to leave for a few hours. dickbell, I want to go on such a march.
It could be called, "one day in bagdad"; or Fallujah; or any other warring place. You could find out from those in the movies what they use for special effects when a person is blown to bits. And how they make the blood spatter. Over cars and windscreens. Especially the cars with the little flags on them.
Maybe that, or red paint on the roads, can be called vandalism. We need to create some fear in Bush. Not some election stuff. Real fear - like a huge explosion and limbs and blood spatter. Get the Mythbusters involved. They'd have some brilliant ideas. Each celebrity of whatever age, who wants to participate should know about it. Trusted, documentary makers should be brought to film it. And then it needs to be shown in cinemas around the world.
Ok. Getting carried away here.
OJ is back on top of Comcast news header, along with the new headline, "Armless Man Delivers Fatal Head Butt." Things are returning to normal.
I want to go on such a march.
It could be called, "one day in bagdad";
I would be first in line. n
Now I going to Rebelle to post, poor baby I have been neglecting her.
Senate Republicans Kill DC Voting Rights Bill
WASHINGTON — A bill that would have given District of Columbia residents their first-ever member of Congress died in the Senate on Tuesday, dashing hopes of full voting rights in the nation's capital after a 206-year wait.
Senators voted 57-42, just three votes short of the 60 needed to move the measure forward. The bill would have created two new House seats: One for the city of about 600,000 people and one for Utah, which narrowly missed out on a fourth seat after the last census.
The procedural vote, against moving on with the debate, effectively killed the best chance in decades to win the District a full-fledged House member. The city has been denied voting rights in Congress since 1801, making it the only major capital city in the world where citizens are denied a vote in the nation's representative body of government.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070918/dc-vote/
I am actually being riveted by an interview with a Republican - Allen Greenspan - his views from 18 years as a regulator even though he's a Libertarian Republican who believes in minimal regulation by the government, yet his belief in Democracy and the rule of law (including those laws with which he disagreed). Terry Gross is asking good questions. Robert Reich also taped a question to ask him having to do with lack of oversight on unscrupulous lenders after interest rates were lowered. I guess everything revolves around economics, so therefore it's interesting.
He worries about the failure of both parties to think ahead re funding Social Security and Medicare. He mentions that the deficit r/t the war and overspending is still a relatively small part of the GDP but he does not really address the interest on the debt.
He is talking about how the central bank stabilized the country when we were on the Gold standard (rather than printing money as we need it and borrowing). It is really tying in with something I heard earlier about FHA loans as something that protected people who wanted to buy housing but didn't have huge incomes. (I bought my house via FHA)
The FHA was a NEW DEAL program from FDR. & it occurs to me that Bush is now having to revive parts of it and expand it. Bush is being forced by circumstances to REVIVE AND EXPAND an FDR New Deal program. He is not admitting it, of course!
Posted by: rossiann at September 18, 2007 08:04 PM
Yes, we are shocked, SHOCKED to find racism so rampant in the U.S Congress...............
I just got back from the Code Pink house--when we (my friend Linda is staying with us for the month) walked in, with Lori Perdue, Betsy Rose was singing, so we joined right in--very powerful, singing is.
(http://www.betsyrosemusic.org/)
Leah Bolger was arrested today, mostly for speaking out at a right wing rally. It seems the Freepers have gathered and they have already badgered the women at the Code Pink house and revealed their ugly cores to many of the activists.
In fact the activists have said that there is such a treak of meanness running thru the Capitol Police and the rightwing--
almost like they got a bonus for making things worse.
Common Dreams reprinted,
Annotate This…
President Bush’s Sept 13 Speech to the Nation on Iraq by FPIF Middle East Editor Stephen Zunes and FPIF's Erik Leaver.
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4545
Personally I think that if a march was organized by ex military that might get somewhere but other than that...I'd just as soon protest locally where it might actually have an effect.....
The killers were robots
Death at a Distance: The U.S. Air War
According to the residents of Datta Khel, a town in Pakistan's North Waziristan, three missiles streaked out of Afghanistan's Pakitka Province and slammed into a Madrassa, or Islamic school, this past June. When the smoke cleared, the Asia Times reported, 30 people were dead.
The killers were robots, General Atomics MQ-1 Predators. The AGM-114 Hellfire missiles they used in the attack were directed from a base deep in the southern Nevada desert.
It was not the first time Predators had struck. The previous year a CIA Predator took a shot at al-Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, but missed. The missile, however, killed 18 people. According to the Asia Times piece, at least one other suspected al-Qaeda member was assassinated by a Predator in Pakistan's northern frontier area, and in 2002 a Predator killed six "suspected al-Qaeda" members in Yemen.
These assaults are part of what may be the best kept secret of the Iraq-Afghanistan conflicts: an enormous intensification of US bombardments in these and other countries in the region, the increasing number of civilian casualties such a strategy entails, and the growing role of pilot-less killers in the conflict.
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4511
Posted by: karen at September 18, 2007 11:06 PM
Thanks for the updates from Code Pink.
Racism IS rampant in US Congress - what do you expect when (1) 1/3 of the members have never been overseas and have no intention of ever going, and (2) these people are writing foreign policies and immigration laws. They love/hate certain countries and their nationalities, for all the wrong reasons.
The Problem with Building an Embassy Fit for an Empire
Baltimore Sun
By Adil Shamoo | March 20, 2007
Foreign Policy In Focus www.fpif.org
The headline reads: "Thousands of angry Iraqis pillage billion-dollar U.S. Embassy in Baghdad." The article details the ransacking of the grandiose American Embassy by Iraqi mobs.
This is the story I expect to read one day within the next decade.
In the 1950s, when I was in high school in Baghdad, my friends and I admired the technological advances of America and the West. But we resented the colonial tendencies of the West (especially, at the time, those of the British). Many demonstrations were held in front of the British and American embassies. The Iraqis are a proud people, and they resented foreigners meddling in their affairs. And the British were, in reality, running the country through a puppet regime.
You may call it false pride; you may call it a preoccupation with dignity; or you may simply call it an honest concern about sovereignty. In any case, this is what the culture of the region dictates.
So, with this in mind, why has Washington never taken the cultural context of the Iraqis into consideration? Instead, Congress has appropriated nearly $1 billion to build the largest embassy in the world. A significant portion of that money is for security infrastructure. This future "fortress" is housed in Saddam Hussein's former palace - providing more bad symbolism to the Iraqis.
Why are we building such a mammoth embassy in the heart of Baghdad? The embassy complex is on 104 acres, with 21 buildings and facilities. It will eventually house a U.S. staff of 5,000. According to a recent report in The Washington Post, it has more than twice the staff and 20 times the budget of our Beijing embassy. The embassy will surpass all others in terms of size and staffing.
One would think that we would be more clever than that in camouflaging our occupation. Are we to believe that Iraqis will not take notice of this massive complex in the heart of Baghdad?
We will be attempting to legitimize our presence with a "negotiated" agreement with the government of Iraq. If that happens, the people of Iraq will know that their elected government no longer is representing them but rather has become another puppet government. More Iraqis will become radicalized and join foes of the government.
American forces left Saudi Arabia in order to reduce hostilities toward us and to prevent further recruitment by groups opposing the United States and the Saudi royal family. Why would our officials think that the same will not happen in Iraq?
The Roman Empire, which (depending on your definition) lasted from 1,000 to 1,500 years, was the longest-lasting empire in history. Empires are destined to decline. Despite our intentions to stay in Iraq for a long time, Iraqis will not allow their country to be an extension of the American empire.
Adil E. Shamoo, who was born and raised in Baghdad, is a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus. His e-mail is ashamoo@umaryland.edu.
Posted by: not my president at September 18, 2007 03:05 PM
I can certainly live with that. Not sure how calm I'd be after that lot though.
Racism IS rampant in US Congress - what do you expect when (1) 1/3 of the members have never been overseas and have no intention of ever going, and (2) these people are writing foreign policies and immigration laws. They love/hate certain countries and their nationalities, for all the wrong reasons.
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at September 19, 2007 12:43 AM
I agree, Ally. But worse than that are the people who have gone overseas and stayed in $10,000/night hotels and come along with their own contingent of more than 300 servants.
Those who travel in these conditions - learn absolutely nothing. In fact they just reinforce their own inflated view of their own importance in the world.
I wonder why assassins only kill the good leaders, musicians, artists. The answer is probably pretty simple really.
I did exaggerate about the cost of a hotel room. But only by $7000.
I wonder why assassins only kill the good leaders, musicians, artists. The answer is probably pretty simple really.
Posted by: woz at September 19, 2007 03:30 AM
Yeah I wonder to, sucks doesn't it.
How dare they the BASTARDS, they desecrate their Country, mosques, museums, their art, they kill their citizens, they steal their resources, and now they want to take their religion, anything else you want? are you going to torture them also?
makes me want to puke
U.S. Begins "Religious Enlightenment" Programs For Iraqi Detainees To "Bend Them Back To Our Will"
Washington Post | September 19, 2007 02:51 AM
The U.S. military has introduced "religious enlightenment" and other education programs for Iraqi detainees, some of whom are as young as 11, Marine Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, the commander of U.S. detention facilities in Iraq, said yesterday.
Stone said such efforts, aimed mainly at Iraqis who have been held for more than a year, are intended to "bend them back to our will" and are part of waging war in what he called "the battlefield of the mind."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/18/AR2007091802203.html?nav=rss_nation
U.S. halts civilian convoys in Iraq
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. government has halted civilian ground traffic out of Baghdad's Green Zone after a weekend gun battle between insurgents and private security contractors that Iraqi officials said left eight civilians dead.
The deaths sparked anger in Iraq and prompted officials there to order security firm Blackwater USA to halt operations in the country, though the U.S. State Department said the company remains active.
A State Department warden's message advises that the U.S. Embassy "has suspended official U.S. government civilian ground movements outside the International Zone" -- the formal name of the central Baghdad district that houses the embassy -- "and throughout Iraq."
The suspension is because of "a serious security incident involving a U.S. Embassy protective detail in the Mansour District of Baghdad," the statement said. It went on to say the suspension will allow assessment of security and of "a possible increased threat to personnel traveling with security details outside the International Zone."
Blackwater said its employees "acted lawfully and appropriately in response to a hostile attack," when a State Department convoy came under attack, but many Iraqis, who have long viewed security contractors as mercenaries, dismissed this contention.
"We see the security firms ... doing whatever they want in the streets. They beat citizens and scorn them," one Baghdad resident, Halim Mashkoor, told AP Television News.
"If such a thing happened in America or Britain, would the American president or American citizens accept it?"
En route to the Middle East for talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described as "cordial" her Monday conversation with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, regarding the Blackwater incident. Watch why Iraq's Interior Ministry wants to suspend Blackwater's license »
Rice said she expressed Washington's "regret" over the loss of life and "committed to him that we were as interested as the Iraqi government in having a full investigation, a transparent investigation."
She also said the United States was working with the Iraqi government to ensure nothing like this happened again.
Earlier, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack had said he was confident "our people can do their jobs" in Iraq. But he also said the United States did not have the ability to protect its people without contractors such as Blackwater.
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/19/blackwater.iraq/index.html
Things not so good at home Christy?
Louisiana Braces As Jena Becomes Racial Bias Flashpoint
New York Times | September 19, 2007 02:13 AM
They called it the White Tree. Not because of the color of its leaves or tint of its bark, but because of the kind of people who typically sat beneath its shade here at Jena High School.
And when a black student tried to defy that tradition by sitting under the tree last September, it set off a series of events that have turned this town of 3,000 in central Louisiana's timber country into a flashpoint over the issue of racial...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/us/19jena.html?ei=5088&en=1729e7264c3c2045&ex=1347854400&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1190196589-jseSoi5XxP/qWg+4PXyNjQ
Already? It's not even played out yet.
Blanchett, Crowe tipped for Madeleine movie
September 18, 2007
Australian actors Cate Blanchett and Russell Crowe have been tipped to star in a movie about missing English toddler Madeleine McCann.
At least two movie studios are believed to be planning dramatisations of the saga surrounding the four-year-old's disappearance from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal in May.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/bfilmb-cate-blanchett-russell-crowe-tipped-for-mccann-movie/2007/09/18/1189881549887.html
Nebraska State Senator Sues God »
AP | September 18, 2007 10:47 AM
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha during debate in the legislative chamber in Lincoln, Neb. Saying that God has caused "fearsome floods ... horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes," Nebraska's longest-serving state senator says he is suing the Almighty to make a legal point.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070917/odd-suing-god/
At least two movie studios are believed to be planning dramatisations of the saga surrounding the four-year-old's disappearance from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal in May.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/bfilmb-cate-blanchett-russell-crowe-tipped-for-mccann-movie/2007/09/18/1189881549887.html
Posted by: woz at September 19, 2007 06:20 AM
DEPLORABLE
She also said the United States was working with the Iraqi government to ensure nothing like this happened again.
Posted by: monkey at September 19, 2007 06:04 AM
Untill it happens again, what and Iraqi life worth today $2000, imagine, we in the West being told the lives of our families are worth $2000, no wonder we wern't welcomed with flowers strewn at the feet of their liberators.
What have inhabitants of elsewhere in the cosmos got against Peru?
Peru meteor illness deepens
September 18, 2007
About 200 villagers have fallen ill from mysterious gases that spewed from a crater after a meteorite crashed in southeastern Peru, but no radiation has been detected, officials and scientists say.
Scores of residents of the farming village of Carancas began vomiting and complaining of headaches and dizziness after the space object struck the area Saturday, creating an eight metre deep, 20 metre-wide crater.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/peru-meteor-illness-deepens/2007/09/18/1189881490291.html
Posted by: rossiann at September 19, 2007 04:47 AM
That is really sinister. It sounds like an incredible psychodrama. And since the psychopathic sociopath King of the WhiteHouse no doubt endorses such practice, it is definitely sinister.
"Things not so good at home Christy?
Louisiana Braces As Jena Becomes Racial Bias Flashpoint"
I would comment on it but, really, I would have to scream it before it makes sense.
"I wonder why assassins only kill the good leaders, musicians, artists. The answer is probably pretty simple really.
Posted by: woz at September 19, 2007 03:30 AM
When I caught my son in here reading about Gandhi, we were talking about it, killing peacemakers, and as I said it to him I remembered just how powerful it is.
I told him to think about it, Jesus, Martin, Gandhi, all of them said the same thing, love one another but keep your hands to yourself. And all of them were murdered for it.
I told him to think of how powerful these concepts must be, peace, pacifisim, if they will literally murder you in public to shut it up.
Run Red Run
by The Coasters
(#36 Pop Chart, #29 R&B - Nov. 1959)
Oh, Red went and bought himself a monkey
Got him from a pawn shop broker
Taught that monkey how to guzzle beer
And he taught him out to play stud poker
Last night when they were gambling in the kitchen
The monkey he was taking a beating
The monkey said Red, "I'm going to shoot you dead
Because I know that well, you been a cheating."
Well, run Red run, because he's got your gun
And he's aiming it at your head.
Run Red run, because he's got your gun,
And he's aiming it at your head.
You better get up and wail,
You better move your tail before he fills it full of lead.
Oh, Red jumped up and started to move like a P80-Saber Jet.
He zoomed around the corner, and he disappeared
And everybody started to stare.
The race was on, you know the chase was on
And Red he was all shook up
But, let me tell you sport, don't sell that monkey short,
Because he's a travelling son of a gun.
Well, run Red run, because he's got your gun
And he's aiming it at your head.
Run Red run, because he's got your gun,
And he's aiming it at your head.
You better get up and wail,
You better move your tail before he fills it full of lead.
(Saxaphone playing)
Monkey trapped Red in a parking alot.
Down along the Avenue,
Monkey said, "Red, you've made a man out of me,
Now I'm going to make a monkey out of you.
Give me your car keys, give me your wallet
Give it to me here, or I'll shoot
Going to put on your brand new Stetson hat
And go to town in your new brown suit."
Well, run Red run, because he's got your gun
And he's aiming it at your head.
Run Red run, because he's got your gun,
And he's aiming it at your head.
You better get up and wail,
You better move your tail before he fills it full of lead.
Monkey...
I have been thinking about your monkey request all night. Ummmmm, how shall I put this..?
Are you sure you want a monkey?
Man I produced one great work for Ally. Once I figured out how to put olive green and baby blue together, it turned out AWSOME.
It is not one work, but 4 in one. It is very very cool.
Posted by: Christy at September 19, 2007 07:47 AM
I know it ain't easy, but a hard monkey is good to find... or sumfin like that.
How about something soft and pretty for your wife instead?
Speaking of Buckets of Blood:
Carlos Arredondo Beaten by asshats on Saturday:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/26864
...As Carlos passed counter protesters, one man ripped a picture of Alex from the memorial. Carlos leaped on the man to retrieve the picture. It was at that point that approximately five others all began to attack Carlos by kicking him in the head, legs, stomach and back.
The Capitol police bicycle patrol then appeared to break up the fight. Several officers including a female officer were engaged in breaking up the fight and were able to stop any further injuries from occurring. Hannah Jones who was walking with Carlos was also assaulted.
A bystander named Ramesh witnessed the whole encounter and also retrieved the picture of Alex for Carlos. He was quite distressed at how he watched the men follow Carlos as he pulled the memorial, purposefully yelling epiphets and eventually taking Alex's photograph. Soon, an ambulance showed up as well as many concerned activists. The paramedics provided first aid to Carlos but he did not seek further medical attention. Carlos sustained bloody cuts on his shins. He also reported bruises all over his torso and head where he was kicked...
On the radio here they are playing the tape of the guy getting tasered.
They are making fun of him while repeatedly playing the audio of him screaming.
As I write this, they are laughing at his screams.
http://www.art-books.com/artbooks/images/items/04-1165.jpg
Posted by: karen at September 19, 2007 08:12 AM
Disgusting... and all encouraged by The Uniter.
OMG Monkey!
Could you have picked something with less symbolisim?
Oh Lord, I don't even know where to begin except by saying 'NO!"
Bad Monkey!
International Talk Like a Pirate Day
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
International Talk Like a Pirate Day (ITLAPD) is a parodic holiday invented in 1995 by John Baur ("Ol' Chumbucket") and Mark Summers ("Cap'n Slappy"), of the United States, who proclaimed September 19 each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like a pirate.[1] For example, an observer of this holiday would greet friends not with "Hello," but with "Ahoy, me hearty!" The date was selected because it was the birthday of Summers's ex-wife and consequently would be easy for him to remember.[1]
more...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day
Arggg, Dubya is a Plankity - Plank!
You may want to recommend this story at Kos about Carlos.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/19/72827/0265
I am trying to find a ride to Jena for tommorrow, (my car has a clutch problem) and every white person I know has told me to 'Stay the hell out of Jena tommorrow'.
Wierd rumors. I am sick of people saying 'I heard they deserved it'.
Maybe they just made me paraniod, but all the sudden... something don't feel right.
I do not think there has ever been a march this large about anything anywhere near here, much less a direct confrontation of our racial problems.
My teeth hurt.
This is good news not only as a stand against the war but from a political perspective. The more nuanced position that was proposed was hopeful that it might attract enough cowardly Republicans to help override a veto.I still support the Webb proposal but it still would never reach 67 votes. It takes 60 votes for cloture and 67 votes to override which would mean it would take 11 and 18 Republican votes to suceed and make this bill sucessful. That is never going to happen and it would merely enable the cowardly Republicans, and I emphasize the word "Cowardly Republicans" since it seems so fashionable to beat up on Democrats and give Republican so called moderates a free pass. What that other legislation would have provided is cover for Gordon Smith, Susan Collins,Norm Coleman and John Sanunu to put in their commercials, see I supported ending the war its not my fault the other Republicans weren't as wise, knowing full well that there would never be another 14 votes to override a certain veto. I am not in to providing political cover(enabling) endangered Repulican Senators, and I am thrilled that Harry Reid finally figured this out.
Per ABC's Jake Tapper, "Senate Democrats announced Tuesday afternoon that they were forgoing any softer language in their bills and would introduce Iraq-related legislation as aggressive as that in previous bills -- including two that called for withdrawing U.S. combat troops."
by karendc on Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 03:30:42 PM
Posted by: karen at September 18, 2007 04:51 PM
Please do not fall for the frames that get put out there about him. No one, NO ONE is fighting this war more fiercely than JK.
Posted by: karen at September 18, 2007 06:23 PM
I am totally convinced that right-wing shills (aka "googling monkeys", apologies to our own simian here) wait for the mere mention of John Kerry's name and are paid to throw up crap. One of the driving forces behind the DCP was the fact that so many of us saw the media manipulation and revisionist crap in 2004.
We are here to be empowered researchers and truthtellers, and I hope we all have enough collective memory left to recall the lies and obfuscations. . . .
Posted by: karen at September 18, 2007 06:49 PM
BRAVO, KAREN. . and thanks.