Crossing the Boundaries of Change -- UPDATED

WOW!!! THE DEMS HAVE CAVED ON IRAQ AGAIN:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2cMue48pA4

Clinton, Obama, Edwards all say, during the New Hampshire debate (see link above), that we will have troops in Iraq until 2013.

Lots to stop me-as well as many people, Karen. First, money. Second, fatigue. Third, poor planning. Fourth, the sense that nobody in DC is listening anyway. Fifth, well, I can't think of that right now.

Anyway, very nice thread header this morning.

I just sent Army Dude's post to many people. (Mostly family and a few off-the-blog-friends.)

But between that post and yours, and seeing the Spanish Downing Street Memos, and seeing this document from 1928 about propaganda( http://tinyurl.com/35rqkt ), I just feel kicked in the gut. How can we keep battling right and wrong when those in power refuse to take a stand for what's right?

Might make some feel better if Kucinich follows through on his threat to force a vote on Impeachment.

http://rawstory.com//news/2007/Kucinich_seriously_thinking_about_forcing_vote_0928.html

My two acts showing my disgust with the Dem presidential candidates on Iraq:

I unsubscribed of Barack Obama email listserv. When I went to the link it asked me why. I wrote "keeping troops in Iraq until 2013".

This week a got a fund-raising letter from HIllary Clinton. I sent back, in the return envelope, an impeach Cheney post card. In a seperate piece of mail, I sent an anti-war postcard to HIllary's campaign office.

BTW: If you want to send anti-war stuff to the presumptive Democratic nominee, here is HRC's address:

HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT
P.O. BOX 40370
ARLINGTON, VA. 22204

I have three new videos up on You Tube:

CALLING CLINTON:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv2R-h-UCmQ

BLACKWATER PHOTO MONTAGE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UE2stVoalI

WILL GATES TESTIFY:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwGYC2_ga2Q

This article hitting mainstream media may give people hope too.

"John Dean From Nixon to Bush to Guiliani"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20070928/cm_thenation/15237916

Is Yahoo considered mainstream?

Posted by: Ralpheh at September 29, 2007 11:15 AM

Good idea Ralph.

Source: BRAD BLOG, LA TimesBREAKING: GOP's CA Electoral College Initiative/Scam Dead,
Says LA TimesLA Times is reporting tonight that the good guys may have won one for a change...

BREAKING NEWS:
Electoral initiative backers give up
Plagued by a lack of money, supporters of a statewide initiative drive to change the way California's 55 electoral votes are apportioned, first revealed here by Top of the Ticket in July, are pulling the plug on that effort.
In an exclusive report to appear on this website late tonight and in Friday's print editions, The Times' Dan Morain reports that the proposal to change the winner-take-all electoral vote allocation to one by congressional district is virtually dead with the resignation of key supporters, internal disputes and a lack of funds.

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5110

Pentagon Gives Blackwater New Contract

by Ali Gharib
A U.S.-based private security firm received a contract worth up to 92 million dollars from the Department of Defense amid hard questions about its involvement in two separate violent incidents in Iraq.
"Blackwater has been a contractor in the past with the department and could certainly be in the future," said the U.S.’s top-ranking military officer, General Peter Pace, at an afternoon press conference here.
The future arrived just two hours later when the Pentagon released a new list of contracts – Presidential Airways, the aviation unit of parent company Blackwater, was awarded the contract to fly Department of Defense passengers and cargo between locations around central Asia.
The announcement comes as a cloud of suspicion is gathering around the "professional military" firm for its actions as a State Department security contractor in Iraq in which at least eight Iraqis and possibly as many as 28 were killed, including a woman and child.
Last week, the Iraqi government announced that it had revoked Blackwater's license to operate in the country.
http://www.antiwar.com/ips/gharib.php?articleid=11690

Thanks Dwah, it is great now I am in, the site is excellent.

Keith Olbermann: Is Bill O'Reilly mentally ill?

Hell Yeah, You Betcha, out of this world, 'SICK WANKER'

Nick Langewis and Mike AivazPublished: Friday September 28, 2007
"These people aren't gonna get away with this. I'm gonna go right where they live. Every corrupt media person in this country is on notice right now. I'm coming after you. I'm gonna hunt you down. And I mean it. Smear stops here. You're all on notice out there. I'm comin' for ya."--Bill O'Reilly, The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly
"Tonight," opens MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, "as in the past few days, Bill O'Reilly has devoted large sections of his shows to defending himself against critics who pointed out the racism in his surprise that people in a black-owned restaurant know how to order iced tea without cursing about somebody's mother."
Though "an argument can be made" for a parallel between racism and mental deficiency, says Olbermann, he seeks to take a serious look into the possibility of real psychological problems plaguing the host of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor in light of recent remarks, construed racist, following a visit to a predominantly black restaurant.
O'Reilly, says Olbermann, is showing signs of paranoia stemming from a disconnect between the outside world "and his own head."
"Americans should be very skeptical of the news media. No longer can it be trusted." --Bill O'Reilly
"We haven't trusted you in ten years," quips Olbermann.

VIDEO LINK http://rawstory.com//news/2007/Keith_Olbermann_ask_is_Bill_OReilly_0928.html

CBS: Sy Hersh To Report U.S. Planning Iran Military Action

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/28/cbs-sy-hersh-to-report-u_n_66408.html

hey kangaroo... did you go read the Open Thread yet? Click on the link at the top. You can be the very first person to post in the new space.

Certain Americans
Posted 28 September 2007
C ertain Americans chose a president no smarter than themselves, an illiterate who, in the seventh year of his presidency, still mangles the English language with such sentences as "Childrens do learn." Far worse, however, certain Americans chose a president who then lied to them about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaeda, in order to send their sons and daughters (along with our sons and daughters) to kill Iraqis and, perhaps, die in an illegal, immoral invasion - now considered the worst strategic disaster in US history.

Even so, certain Americans either shrugged their shoulders or rationalized away the evil behavior of their president when, for example, on the eve of announcing the invasion of Iraq, he "pumped his fist as though instead of initiating a war he had kicked a winning field goal or hit a home run. 'Feels good,' he said." [Paul Waldman, Fraud, p. 8]

Certain Americans cheered him when he proclaimed "Mission Accomplished," more than four years and thousands of lives ago. Certain Americans basked in his phony bravado, when, from the safety of his White House, their coward-in-chief said "Bring 'em on" to the Iraqis just beginning to develop their deadly insurgency. And certain Americans raised few questions when, in 2007, their president falsely told Australia's deputy prime minister that "We're kicking ass" in Iraq.

We know roughly who these certain Americans are. Many are Southern whites, "62 percent of whom voted Republican in House races." [Paul Krugman, "Politics in Black and White," New York Times, Sept. 24, 2007] Many are poorly educated and possess a stupidity fueled by racism. And that explains why the main G.O.P. candidates for president have refused to participate in "a long-scheduled, national debate focusing on issues important to minorities." [Bob Herbert, The Ugly Side of the GOP, New York Times, Sept. 25, 2007] They can't get themselves elected without the electoral support of certain stupid racist white Southern Americans.

Certain Americans love Bill O'Reilly and don't understand the outrage sparked by his observations about dining at Sylvia's in Harlem. O'Reilly reported that he "couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship…There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more iced tea.' "

Certain Americans seem incapable of understanding how ridiculous Rush Limbaugh sounded when he asserted that service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq are "phony soldiers." They never thought to ask: "How could he possibly know? He's never served in the US military."

Certain Americans found themselves more outraged by MoveOn.org's ad about General Betray Us than by the illegal, immoral, murderous war that renders our country less secure and earns all Americans the well-deserved hatred of much of the world. Unfortunately, feckless congressional Democrats - put into office, in order to end the war - have found it easier to pander to the moral turpitude of certain Americans than achieve the goal for which they were elected. Moreover, when it comes to dealing thoughtfully with Iran, these feckless Democrats proved themselves no more judicious than certain xenophobic Americans.

I saw certain Americans during my jury duty two days ago. It wasn't pretty. Yet, I took great delight in listening to Judge Defino call them to account for their sorry-ass lives. >>>CONT
http://www.walter-c-uhler.com/Reviews/oceania.html
http://www.rebellenation.blogspot.com/

Whoooops sorry about my link last post, comments are not remembering my personal info

Rossi... the new Open Thread is for miscellaneous news items now. We're going to try to keep the front page blog to an on-topic discussion of the blog post itself.

Click here and try posting on the open thread.

Blackwater Review to Focus on Five Fatal Cases

Anne Gearan of The Associated Press says, "Five cases this year in which private Blackwater USA security guards killed Iraqi civilians are at the core of a US review of how the hired protection forces guard diplomats in Iraq, officials said Friday."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092907C.shtml

Okay Dwah you can wipe them all, I posted them on the open thread

Ralpheh said on September 29, 2007 11:15 AM
My two acts showing my disgust with the Dem presidential candidates on Iraq:

Way to go Ralpheh, that's telling them, wish another few million of their constituents would do the same thing.

I've always lived my life from the perspective that I had to first become the change that I wanted to see manifest in the world. If I wanted peace, I had to first cultivate peace, and do what I could to avoid conflict where conflict was unnecessary or unproductive.

For me, the great problem of democracy in the modern era is that we assume "the people" are somehow a finished product. But it strikes me that in a democracy, you get exactly the kind of government that a people have earned in consciousness.

Hi all --

For anyone having difficulty with the sign-in / registration, I just want to let you know you're not alone. It's a little bump in the road.

If you go to the bottom of the Open Thread and check there you should be able to sign in.

If you had admin privileges on the old DCP MT, then check your email.

I'm in the DCP Lounge in the IRC as usual. That doesn't require registration so pop in and say hi and let me know if you're still having difficulty.

Thanks, DW, for all the long hours and hard work you put in rebuilding the old DCP site into this delicious new full-of-demmy-goodness DCP 2.0 version. It has flava!

(And yes, I do grok just how many long hours and how much hard work it takes to pull off this particular stunt, so let me say this with cavil and sans equivocation: you rock, DW -- you totally, as opposed to hapless-toadally, *rock*.)

That having been said, and in the spirit of being (Goddess forbid!) on-topic in a topic-based thread, I've found myself ruminating quite a bit in recent months on the fragile, fungible nature of the interface between art & politics.

Frank Zappa was fond of pointing out that "writing about music is like dancing for architecture." Okay, then singing for politics ought to be a pretty disconnected thing too, right?

But then take a second to hum a few bars of this old spiritual to yourself: "We shall overcome, we shall overcome someday..." and then try to tell me that nothing political comes to mind.

If that's dancing for architecture, then I say we need a hell of a lot more of it. Bring, y'all, bring it! And bring your Woody Guthries and your Pete Seegers and your CSN&Y's with you while you're at it.

The overlap between art & politics may be fragile and fungible, but it's also as powerful as it can sometimes be dangerous. Don't think so? Go up there to the top navbar and click on the 'Fear Up' link. Then come back here and tell me that's just so much more dancing for architecture, too.

Back in the day, we used to say that killing for peace in Vietnam was like screwing for virginity. Maybe so. But what we're talking about here is a whole 'nother kettle of fish of a different color. (Yes, kids, it's the 21st century, metaphor-mashups are all the rage these days. *ahem*)

Singing (acting, writing, drawing, painting) for peace is not the same thing as dancing for architecture. Making peace in the face of war is as pure and real a reason for making art as you could ever ask for.

Robots can kill without feeling pain -- what do you think those Predator drones are doing in Iraq? -- and humans can kill without thinking. But creating peace by creating art is as pure and real an expression of what makes us more than mere meatpuppets as you could ever ask for, too.

Make peace, not war. Make love, not hate. Make art, not propaganda.

When you look at it that way, being a creative artist is, or at least can be, on the same plane as being a political subversive.

In which case... I am bloody damn well proud to stand up and proclaim myself an artist, too.

ars gratia pacem,
Otter

Being someone who has worked with Rhodessa and Idris now for close to twenty years, I have come to appreciate that making change is as much about the openness of one's heart, and taking the rage you feel and make it into something beautiful, meaningful.

I can't recall when I've been asked to make such a choice between my personal safety and the Higher Good, but I know I've taken risks: to understand what it is to be in someone else's shoes when they are down and to speak for them. To be there when someone else needs help and perhaps the voice to shout out to those who need to hear them the most. To give them their megaphone, their right to express themselves because they have not be heard.

In the story of the Albanians, Rho and Idris exemplify this courage drawing from one of the most seminal and critically important cores of our country's history--the American Era of slavery. In many ways, we are still getting over the effects, and in many ways, the same instinct of institutions and governments to treat humans as second-class citizens has not died.

Will we ever be able to overcome exploitation of others for greed? Will be ever be able to end the borders that define and vilify others?

There are many examples in history that can guide us through. We're not inventing the wheel. The thing is, are we willing to take the risk, each and every one of us, to take those courageous steps and stand up for what is right?

Otter said on September 30, 2007 3:36 PM

And speaking of that Otter, have you heard Springteen's new song, which seems to be a tribute to a certain tall guy:

Last to Die

We took the highway till the road went black
We marked Truth Or Consequences on our map*
A voice drifted up from the radio
We saw the voice from long ago

Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake

The kids asleep in the backseat
We're just countin' the miles you and me
We don't measure the blood we've drawn anymore
We just stack the bodies outside the door

Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake

The wise men were all fools
What to do

The sun sets in flames as the city burns
Another day gone down as the night turns
And I hold you here in my heart
As things fall apart

A downtown window flushed with light
Faces of the dead at five (faces of the dead at five)
A martyr's silent eyes
Petition the drivers as we pass by

Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die

Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Darlin' your tyrants and kings form the same fate
Strung up at your city gates
And you're the last to die for a mistake