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When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again
What does Johnny get after marching home from the Iraq Occupation?
Not my President directed us to the article about Lt. Jon Anderson and the other 2,600 Minnosota Guard Members ordered to Iraq for 729 days. Upon returning home, they discovered that though they honorably served their 729 days in Iraq, and they avoided road bombs, risked life and limb, and spread democracy,
it wasn’t good enough to get them the free education that they thought they had been promised—simply because, they were intentionally sent there one day short 
of the time required in the contract—730.
Recruiters across the land wave the carrot, “Enlist and get your college paid for…” They are able to do this as a result of one of the New Deal’s most successful programs, the G.I. Bill. The G.I. Bill has existed since 1944 and thousands of people have served and received a college education and been able to make a better life for themselves and their families….
until now.
Of course Conservatives have long clung to the dream of eliminating all the programs started in the New Deal. They have nibbled away at the edges for a long time but Bush has successfully eliminated most of these programs by hook or by crook.
Nonetheless, it’s a little crass, if you ask me, that our government is willing to allow a President and his appointees to break law after law and slipe slide over little rules here and there as if they don’t exist, and yet for the 2,600 guard members (and more) who served their country well and who are fortunate enough to return from the war, the government suddenly discovers the virtue in contracts and law.
The soldiers serving in Iraq and their families have a contract with our government but also with us too. We the people have a contract with those serving in office but also we have a contract to protect the soldiers who are protecting us. But the demise in Veterans’ health care, lack of funding for PTSD, the horrible conditions at Walter Reed Veteran’s Hospital, and the recent vote against the Webb Amendment shows a persistent disrespect towards the troops and the contracts that were signed by both parties. And now we hear about another empty promise!
Despite four years of hearing about the rule of law and the Constitution, and having the Constitution compared to a contract with the American people, today we stand on an abyss where we must decide how to enforce the contracts we all have with each other. (Even if unacknowledged.)
We must keep our contract with our soldiers and do something about this!
So I ask you: Is this situation with the soldiers cut and dried? The contract clearly stated the expectations from both sides. Should we (and our government) tell those soldiers, “Tough luck…the contract says…”? Should the government be acting like a business—crunching numbers? Should we the tax payers be asked to pay for the education of those who served even if they’re one day short? And what affect should the rule of law and contracts have upon our actions and those of our public servants?
You tell me.
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When Johnny comes marching home again,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We'll give him a hearty welcome then
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The men will cheer and the boys will shout
The ladies they will all turn out
And we'll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home.
The old church bell will peal with joy
Hurrah! Hurrah!
To welcome home our darling boy,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The village lads and lassies say
With roses they will strew the way,
And we'll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home.
Get ready for the Jubilee,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We'll give the hero three times three,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The laurel wreath is ready now
To place upon his loyal brow
And we'll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home.
Let love and friendship on that day,
Hurrah, hurrah!
Their choicest pleasures then display,
Hurrah, hurrah!
And let each one perform some part,
To fill with joy the warrior's heart,
And we'll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home
From TPM on the same subject:
And the MN delegation is fuming!
According to a poster at the balloon-juice site, the employer of National Guardsmen and women only need to hold the job open for 12 months. I haven't researched it yet to see if that is true.
Yet for those 2600 identified, they have served in Iraq longer than any other troops and the number 729 is too unusual to misconstrue the intentions of those who wrote their orders.
Another example of how Bush and the Repubs intend to hold the war on the cheap and yet still try to avoid a draft. I think they call it a "stop-loss"--someone correct me if I'm wrong.
US official: Blackwater hit car with kids to avoid traffic
"The kids in the back seat looked back in horror, mouths agape at the sight of the heavily armored Suburbans driven by large, armed men in dark sunglasses. The poor Iraqi driver frantically searched for a means of escape, but there was none. So the lead Blackwater vehicle smashed heedlessly into the car, pushing it into the barrier."
"Where do you all expect them to go?" she allegedly cried. "It was an old guy and a family, for goodness' sake. Was it necessary for them to destroy their poor old car?"
"Ma'am, we've been trained to view anyone as a potential threat," she says the driver, who she did not identify, replied. "You don't know who they might use as decoys or what the risks are. Terrorists could be disguised as anyone."
"Well, if they weren't terrorists before, they certainly are now!" she says she replied.
Submitted:
4 hr 20 min ago
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Former_US_official_breaks_silence_I_1006.html
sparrow said:
Another example of how Bush and the Repubs intend to hold the war on the cheap and yet still try to avoid a draft. I think they call it a "stop-loss"--someone correct me if I'm wrong.
****
Blackwater winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi Citizens.
Is there something wrong with this little scenario
Blackwater a Law unto themselves, above being charged for their criminal acts against innocent Iraqi Citizens, while Johnny is understandably suspicious that they were deliberately brought home after 729 days so the Pentagon could deny them GI Bill benefits, after they have served in Iraq longer than any other troops
Hell Yeah, Johnny is nothing more than a Lackey, to the rich and powerfuls illegal war and occupation. While the likes of Blackwater rakes in billions of dollars.
Rossi,
How many other ways have they short changed the soldiers and the Iraqi people? They keep grabbing from the poor--because that's the way a 'corporate president' runs the country--and gives to the rich.
New Video:
STATE DEPARTMENT HELPS BLACKWATER EMPLOYEE ACCUSED OF MURDER LEAVE IRAQ
Bush nominee helped mask FBI's pre-9/11 failures and kept al Qaeda's infiltration of US intelligence from view
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Author_Bush_nominee_helped_mask_FBIs_0925.html
WHITE HOUSE PRESS ALL OVER DANA PERINO ON THE DEFINITION OF TORTURE:
ralpheh said:
Drunken Blackwater Guard Who Killed Iraqi Is Back In Iraq Thanks To State Dept.
****
Drunken Blackwater Guard Who Killed Iraqi Is Back In Iraq Thanks To State Dept.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/05/fully-loaded-drunken-bla_n_67377.html
CNN COVERING THE SUCCESS OF THE RON PAUL CAMPAIGN (saying the things that should be said, which the Dems don't want Kucinich and Gravel to talk about)
Sorry Sparrow.
I had to refit the classic.
When Johnny marches home again,
He will find his home destroyed.
His father was deported,
And he will join the unemployed.
The people of his city,
Will all look different and the same.
He will see the fear in their eyes,
And wonder why he came.
When Johnny marches home again,
He shall be half alive.
No legs, no arms, no motive left,
To be grateful he survived.
His promised education,
Will be withheld on lame excuses.
While the kids he fought to save,
Go to schools with hanging nooses.
When Johnny comes marching home again.
He will see his mother fade.
Because she can not afford a doctor.
Nor keep the insurance companies paid.
There will be no Constitution,
Left to protect his rights.
The freedom that he fought for,
Was lost somewhere in the fight.
When Johnny comes marching home again,
There will be hell to pay.
The men who lied him into battle,
Live just up the way.
They will pretend not to see him,
For as long as they can.
They will forget what he is owed.
They will forget he is a man.
But this time when Johnny marches home,
It will not be like before.
He will limp off a distant battle field.
Only to march home to a war.
Edwards Slams Top Clinton Strategist's Ties to Blackwater
In a scathing attack, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards went after front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Friday, calling her a "corporate Democrat," comparing top Clinton campaign strategist Mark Penn to former Bush aide Karl Rove and assailing Penn's ties to Blackwater USA, the embattled private firm of military contractors accused by the Iraqi government of firing upon and killing 11 unarmed Iraqi civilians last month.
"Bush has been a perfect example of cronyism because Blackwater has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republicans and to President Bush," Edwards said in an interview with the Associated Press while campaigning in Iowa. "I also saw this morning that Sen. Clinton's primary adviser, Mark Penn, who is like her Karl Rove -- his firm is representing Blackwater."
...
In addition to his role as a top campaign consultant to the Clinton campaign, Mark Penn is the worldwide president and CEO of Burson-Marsteller. The firm's lobbying subsidiary BKSH helped Blackwater's top executive, Erik Prince, prepare for his congressional testimony this week.
Penn could not be reached for comment, but Burson-Marsteller spokesman Paul Cordasco said in a statement that "through a personal relationship, BKSH, a subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller, helped Blackwater prepare for their recent hearing before Congress. With the hearing over, BKSH's temporary engagement has ended."
The Clinton campaign had no comment.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=3694881&page=1
Christy, your poem is sad but true. Though the original poem was written after the Civil War, there seems to be more damage done overall this time than back then. I suppose it has to do with the overall attack against the poor (of all colors) and the illegal wars and torture. I can only imagine what Abe is thinking as he looks at NOLA now.
~~
On a different topic...
Bush is preparing for a Clinton White House.
http://novemberblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/more-signs-bush-people-are-preparing.html
New thread at main DCP blog, but it is completely related to THIS here thread.
Going to drink somewhat heavily now...
Christy,
I love your version of the poem. Very well done.
Open Thread?
So we can talk about anything?
Well I agree with this guy - some of the candidates are pretty much the same & the differences lie mostly in the branding.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/05/opinion/main3335825.shtml
I certainly don't know how to use all the "bells & whistles" of the site yet and what is this about "HTML tags"? Is that like something you put on your car license plate?
Yeh. Open thread=anything. Even your breakfast yesterday morning--but given how we are getting toxic food, maybe not such a good idea to discuss afterall.
War-Crimes Prosecutor Quits in Pentagon Clash
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/us/nationalspecial3/06gitmo.html?ex=1349323200&en=2faadd5fadcf7952&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
US Proposes to Sell $617 Million in Weapons to Australia
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22540401-5005961,00.html
OOHHH, kangaroo, I know about Moe Davis...this is getting very very strange.
GLOBAL ASSESSMENT OF THINGS IN WASHINGTON, D.C.:
LITTLE OR NO CHANGE!!!!!!!!
There is no new policy on Iraq - coming from the White House or Congress. There are no new diplomatic efforts in the Middle East region; no new pressure on the Iraqi government. Just keep the troops there until Bush leaves in 2009. The Dem front-running candidates for president, shockingly, are talking about being in Iraq until 2013.
The State Department is now "retro-actively" classifying embarrassing documents related to Iraq. Rep. Waxman's oversight committee held hearings on the rampant corruption in the Iraqi government. Nothing is getting done by the Iraqi government. Nothing is being rebuilt. Money is being stolen. Rep. Sarbanes, after hearing the grim testimony on the dysfunctional Iraqi government, said he was "reeling" that no progress was being made by the Iraqi government and that the State Department didn't seem to care (and was, in fact, enabling the government to fall into corrupt practices).
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071007/ap_on_sc/sea_ice_walrus
Melting ice pack displaces Alaska walrus
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/06/the-daily-show-banned-aid-bush-vetoes-schip/
The Daily Show: Banned Aid–Bush vetoes SCHIP
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/10/06/federal-prosecutor-caught-in-child-sex-sting-commits-suicide/
Federal Prosecutor Caught In Child Sex Sting Commits Suicide
Where is Monkey? Is he able to sign on?
Need input from more primate representatives.
nmp,
Monkey can post. He usually takes the weekend off though.
Thank you Carol.
And I am with Ralph on this one. These damn dem candidates are absolutely freaking me out too.
Why in the hell can't an Obama or a Clinton just say 'Hey, elect me and I will stop this without hesitation!'...? "Elect me and the war ends as soon as I take power.'
What should be real easy and straightforward they are trying to nuance and make it complicated for no real reason.
I went off about how no one ever asks georgie the tough questions to his face yesterday. Christian listened to me go on then he says, 'If I could ask georgie anything it would be 'What are you going to do when you get caught ?"
I just started giggling. In that moment... he would be caught. Like a rabbit gone tharn in the headlights of an oncoming Mac truck.
It is a damn shame when a 16 year old can hold and even higher moral standard than any democrat asking for my vote.
Someone here was not too long ago talking about how my 'purity standard' for candidates is just so unfair and unrealistic.
You know, that still sticks in my damn throat.
WTF IS WRONG WITH PURITY STANDARDS?
I have standards for the food I put in my mouth. I have purity standards for those I let have contact with my kids. We all have all kinds of 'purity' requirements for everything else, yet, somehow this illegal and immoral crime of a war is just something we should overlook in a candidate, lest we make our own party look bad.
This is becoming absolutely unbearable and UNFORGIVABLE.
How many more people is Clinton, Edwards and Obama willing to let die? Why are they WILLING TO LET THEM DIE???
How many of the dead will have had BETTER standards than our so called leaders? Probably all of them.
I swear DC has turned into the most well populated sewer on earth.
Wash. High Court: Campaign Lies Are Protected Speech
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003654541
I think my mother is right. They are deliberately promoting sexual deviants in the GOP to have 'controllable' people under their command.
This sexual perversion is all interconnected. The more you look the more connected it all is. No way these kind of deviants just all happen to know each other and it does not mean anything.
'Sen. Craig visited me' says escort who claimed relationship with Haggard
DENVER - The gay escort whose allegations forced the resignation of nationally renowned evangelist Ted Haggard now says he was also visited by Idaho Sen. Larry Craig.
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=78595
Good Morning DCP angels!
Christy, I think your mom is right too. It's what I've always said about why I agree with the Impeachment of Clinton. His escapades left him open for blackmail. In the Republicans case it's left the Congressmen open for blackmale from Rove and Bush and Cheney.
Christy, I think Karen would agree with you about your DC comments.
If we would have had some kind of 'purity standard' for politicians in this country in the first place...
NONE OF THIS would have been allowed to happen, nor come to pass to begin with.
October 6, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
Save the Gnostics
By NATHANIEL DEUTSCH
THE United States didn’t set out to eradicate the Mandeans, one of the oldest, smallest and least understood of the many minorities in Iraq. This extinction in the making has simply been another unfortunate and entirely unintended consequence of our invasion of Iraq — though that will be of little comfort to the Mandeans, whose 2,000-year-old culture is in grave danger of disappearing from the face of the earth.
The Mandeans are the only surviving Gnostics from antiquity, cousins of the people who produced the Nag Hammadi writings like the Gospel of Thomas, a work that sheds invaluable light on the many ways in which Jesus was perceived in the early Christian period. The Mandeans have their own language (Mandaic, a form of Aramaic close to the dialect of the Babylonian Talmud), an impressive body of literature, and a treasury of cultural and religious traditions amassed over two millennia of living in the southern marshes of present-day Iraq and Iran.
Practitioners of a religion at least as old as Christianity, the Mandeans have witnessed the rise of Islam; the Mongol invasion; the arrival of Europeans, who mistakenly identified them as “Christians of St. John,” because of their veneration of John the Baptist; and, most recently, the oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein, who drained the marshes after the first gulf war, an ecological catastrophe equivalent to destroying the Everglades. They have withstood everything — until now.
Like their ancestors, contemporary Mandeans were able to survive as a community because of the delicate balance achieved among Iraq’s many peoples over centuries of cohabitation. But our reckless prosecution of the war destroyed this balance, and the Mandeans, whose pacifist religion prohibits them from carrying weapons even for self-defense, found themselves victims of kidnappings, extortion, rapes, beatings, murders and forced conversions carried out by radical Islamic groups and common criminals.
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/06/opinion/06deutsch.html
You know what I think?
I think Jeff Gannon was a favored stable boy.
And I would bet real money, if you followed his tracks, you would find the stable on GOP property and all the ostlers will be republican operatives.
"Oh, senator, you don't want to lie for us...? How bout I give you a lovely boy and a free pass to be as perverted as you can be? Deal?"
'By the way, if we have no deal, the beautiful boys I already provided will emerge in public, with pics!'
Dead women or live boys. We all know how it goes.
Even now I am sitting here thinking HOW IN GODS' NAME was a PROSTITUTE running freely through the halls of the White House for two years...?
I would also bet that double murder/suicide in Florida, is DIRECTLY related to the stable of beautiful boys gannon came from. No wonder everyone is chewing off their own arms to get away from it and refusing to follow it.
Something is very, very, very wrong here. It is ALL relevent.
Someone did a study of the impeachment poll numbers. (source DU)
http://tinyurl.com/2crbve
Also, I am sick sick sick with shame for those DC people who are not impeaching. THEY KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON and they are COMPLICIT in crimes against humanity by NOT IMPEACHING, NOT HOLDING HEARINGS, and NOT STANDING UP TO THOSE CRIMINALS.
Shame on ALL OF THEM. And that includes the Presidential candidates except Gravel and Kucinich because they're the only ones telling the truth.
"It turns out that a day before Nixon resigned, his poll numbers were not that different from Bush's: 55% of Americans wanted him removed, and 64% thought there should at least be an impeachment trial in the Senate."
I feel a pelosi moment coming on.
Wonder what stables she let republicans catch her in?
And.... WHAT OTHER F*CKING PARTS OF THE US CONSTITUTION ARE YOU TAKING OFF THE TABLE!?
OMG. This is an unbelievable situation.
October 7, 2007
Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
BUKAVU, Congo — Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, cannot bear to listen to the stories his patients tell him anymore.
Every day, 10 new women and girls who have been raped show up at his hospital. Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair.
“We don’t know why these rapes are happening, but one thing is clear,” said Dr. Mukwege, who works in South Kivu Province, the epicenter of Congo’s rape epidemic. “They are done to destroy women.”
Eastern Congo is going through another one of its convulsions of violence, and this time it seems that women are being systematically attacked on a scale never before seen here. According to the United Nations, 27,000 sexual assaults were reported in 2006 in South Kivu Province alone, and that may be just a fraction of the total number across the country.
“The sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world,” said John Holmes, the United Nations under secretary general for humanitarian affairs. “The sheer numbers, the wholesale brutality, the culture of impunity — it’s appalling.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/world/africa/07congo.html
Do yall realize how long it has been since we have seen anything at all resembling good news or positive developments as relates to our countries fate?
Every damn day it is just getting worse and worse. It has been so long since we have seen an encouraging sign, I am really starting to feel sick.
I am begging God to send us a hero, but the air I utter it into just feels so damn empty and oppressive.
What is going to become of Us...? I am not sure we even want to know anymore.
Matthew.
Thank you for reminding me that as bad as it is here I am grateful not to live in Iraq or the Congo right now.
Man, that is just sick.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/07/pelosi-secret-memo
Gee can you now put impeachment on the table?
YOU Speaker Pelosi are complicit each and every day that passes. Shame on you!!!
Here's a partial list of the investigations currently in progress. Of course the most important one is 'off the table'. (Shame on all of them!)
Also, not sure which ones are 'locked up' due to the W.H.'s refusal to give documents or testimony. And not sure which hearings and bills are stymied because Republicans are not showing up for the hearings at all. Perhaps someone would like to investigate and add to that info.
Click on this link to get more details.
What planet is Guiliani on? Most conservatives I know don't want tax cuts right now. They want the war to END. They want the savings from that to be used to end our national depb. They are DEEPLY, DEEPLY ashamed of how these consevatives and the Republican party has squandered the money. And the ole' "Democrats will raise taxes" isn't selling out here.
article here
Conservative policies have ADDED to the welfare rolls by eliminating jobs and allowing corporations to export jobs to slave labor overseas.
Also, they've added to the corporate welfare by giving tax cuts and taxpayer money to corporations who are already rolling in record profits.
(More from the article)
(snip)
Giuliani also mocked three leading Democratic presidential candidates: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
Giuliani said all three of them would raise taxes if they won the presidency, and he offered a once unlikely model as a sharp contrast:
"Even France is considering tax cuts under (President Nicholas) Sarkozy," he said. "Even France!"
And on the subject of National heathcare Guiliani presented no plan. Only mocked Clinton and Canado--both of which I would argure are a hell of a lot better than what we've got or what he's presented.
Personally, I can't wait to hear the NYC firefighter's response to Guilianis remarks. They should be interesting especially those who Michael Moore took to Cuba to get medical care in his movie Sicko.
Interesting article in Seattle PI today about What Has Happened to the Democrats - do they love Bush or what - by good old Helen Thomas!
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/334324_thomas05.html
My husband is a card-carrying member of the ACLU and has already signed up to see her speak at their banquet on November 2, and wants to share what he hears with us.
If you want to see something that is an outgrowth of DailyKos but has more of a range of topics, and is more related to the ArtKos subgroup that Kayakbiker and I joined (I will be Slugbug) on here, you might find this interesting. Here I have written about children's toys.
http://www.docudharma.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1173
NMP,
Pick three colors.
Christy,
Are you serious?! It will be green, orange and black. Does that work?
Wow!
Here's what I came here to post:
only a tiny bit off-topic (Gabe is my son, Ken is my husband)
Gabe says master bathrooms are 50% bigger than in 1990.
Ken says the number of blacks in American prisons has quadrupled since 1980.
"I think those statistics are linked," says Gabe, "the widening gap between the rich and the poor."
Oh.
Crap.
CRANDON, Wis., Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A sheriff's deputy was being sought in northern Wisconsin Sunday after six people were shot to death at a house party.
A Town of Argonne official told WJTW-TV in Rhinelander, Wis., the suspect is Forest County Sheriff's Deputy Tyler Peterson. Authorities said he was still at large, and considered armed and dangerous, the TV station reported.
The newspaper said all six victims in the party shooting were between the ages of 16 and 21. There were believed to be 10 people in the house when the shootings occurred
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/10/07/report_wisconsin_gunman_still_atlarge/4654/
A federal prosecutor accused of flying to Detroit last month to have sex with a 5-year-old girl committed suicide Friday in his cell in a Milan federal prison.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3696275&page=1
Green, orange, and black.
Ok.
Not a prob.
"Shame on ALL OF THEM. And that includes the Presidential candidates except Gravel and Kucinich because they're the only ones telling the truth. "
sparrow
October 7, 2007 10:12 AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your words, my sentiments.
This whole thing about polls and frontrunners and all that CRAP involving no impeachment for what are OBVIOUS war crimes has me SO upset I'm ready to totally give up on politics entirely. Our Congress Critters no longer represent us as long as they continually enable the spoiled brat to have more and more power, all counter to the Constitution, and as long as they continue to finance those same crimes and give away our rights and privileges and even our responsibilities and continue to allow corporations to take over government functions.
I reserve the right to change my mind a year from now, however....
Barring Kucinich changing his campaign rhetoric and changing his mind on Iraq or withdrawing H. Res. 333, I think I may write in his name for president in '08. (Have you seen pix of his wife? She'd be a stunner for a first lady like we haven't seen since Jackie Kennedy.) Richardson has also vowed to end the Iraq war, so maybe him for VP.
The "frontrunner" Dem candidates all sound like RePuke neoCons in their stance on Iraq and on corporate medical insurance. *#@* them. We don't need any more Dickie's or Georgie's in Dem clothing.
More war insanity. The world has gone mad with wars!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071007/ap_on_re_af/congo_gorillas
Congo rebels seize gorillas habitat
October 7, 2007 11:45 AM
sparrow
Gee can you now put impeachment on the table?
YOU Speaker Pelosi are complicit each and every day that passes. Shame on you!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You're reading my mind sparrow!!!
African-American Enrollment Down 58 Percent Since 2000
Boston Globe | October 7, 2007 10:56 AM
African-Americans, whose longstanding relationship with the US military helped them prove their abilities and offered a way to get ahead, have turned away from the armed forces in record numbers since 2000, a period covering the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the start of the Iraq war.
Defense Department statistics show the number of young black enlistees has fallen by more than 58 percent since fiscal year 2000. The Army in particular has been hit hard: In fiscal year 2000,...
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/10/07/military_sees_big_decline_in_black_enlistees/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+National+News
Off subject
McDonald's employee gets $6.1 million for strip search hoax
Over the course of nearly four hours she was spanked and sexually humiliated at the direction of a man who called himself "Officer Scott" while she cried in the office of the restaurant. Her clothes and car keys were taken away from her.
http://digg.com/business_finance/McDonald_s_employee_gets_6_1_million_for_strip_search_hoax?OTC-widget
Justice in America? You Decide
Georgie and his band of thugs, kill 1.2 million and displace 4 million Iraqi Citizens with their Illegal War and Occupation, and are still not charged with war crimes.
Are you ready?
52? doughnut may cost man 30 years to life
By Todd C. Frankel — ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/07/2007
FARMINGTON, MO. — Shoplifters at Country Mart tend to favor cold medicines and packaged meats. They used to steal cigarettes, too, until tobacco was moved behind the counter. But the doughnuts were never a target for thieves.
Country Mart's doughnuts — fried fresh daily in the store — sell for just 52 cents each. That is why the "shoplifters will be prosecuted" signs are displayed in aisle 4 with the pricey pain and allergy pills, and not in aisle 5 beside the glass doughnut case with its tiger tails, jelly-filleds and eclairs.
Then one man's sweet tooth got the better of him. He stole a doughnut. A single doughnut.
Authorities called it strong-arm robbery. The "doughnut man," as the suspect is now known, faces five to 15 years in prison for his crime. And Farmington, a town of 14,000 people about 70 miles south of St. Louis, has been buzzing about it ever since.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/2F37838AFD546C9A8625736D000B589F?OpenDocument
Corruption Study, says that the Iraqi government "is not capable of even rudimentary enforcement of anti-corruption laws."
CNN: US-occupied Iraq crippled by rampant corruption
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Rice_faces_hard_question_on_corruption_1005.html
Judge Radhi Testifies on Iraqi Corruption; GOPers Attack
On Thursday, former Judge Radhi al-Radhi, Iraq's top anticorruption official until he was recently forced out by the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, appeared before the House government oversight committee and described what had become of people who had worked for him at the Commission on Public Integrity as they investigated crime and fraud within the Iraqi government:
Thirty-one employees have been killed as well as at least twelve family members. In a number of cases, my staff and their relatives have been kidnapped or detained and tortured prior to being killed. Many of these people were gunned down at close range. This includes my staff member Mohammed Abd Salif, who was gunned down with his seven-month pregnant wife. In one case of targeted death and torture, the security chief on my staff was threatened with death many times. His father was recently kidnapped and killed because of his son's work at CPI. His body hung on a meat hook. One of my staff members who performed clerical duties was protected by my security staff, but his 80-year-old father was kidnapped because his son worked at CPI. When his dead body was found, a power drill had been used to drill his body with holes. Waleed Kashmoula was the head of CPI's Mosul branch. In March 2005, a suicide bomber met with Waleed in his office...and then set off his vest [bomb], killing Waleed....My family's home has been attacked by rockets. I have had a sniper bullet striking near me as I was outside my office. We have learned the hard way that the corrupt will stop at nothing.
Minutes later, Republicans members of the committee were suggesting there was nothing unusual or shocking about corruption in Iraq. "Corruption is not a new phenomenon," remarked Representative Tom Davis, the senior GOPer on the panel. Another committee Republican, Representative Darrell Issa ☼, huffed, "We're not surprised a country that was run by a corrupt dictator...would have a pattern of corruption." And Republican Representative John Mica ☼ noted that corruption plagues many democratic countries, including the United States. Mica cited Watergate and the prosecution of Reagan administration officials, and he claimed that the Clinton administration had "the most number of witnesses to die suddenly."
Their spin: corruption in Iraq is no big deal.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?pid=240234
"It is a damn shame when a 16 year old can hold and even higher moral standard than any democrat asking for my vote." Christy
Christy
I listened to and watched Gravel (I think it was) and he said all the things I wanted to hear. All of them. He made so much more sense than anyone else who was trying to duckshove everything to the side. All the others, except maybe Kuchinich will keep forces in Iraq and Afghanistan for at least the next 10 years. All except Gravel want to make the US the most powerful military might in all corners of the globe. Howard and Bush have so far made Australia a target for attacks because we have NEVER been aggressors - responders yes - aggressors no.
Please start campaigning all over the place for one of these guys - my preference is Gravel. Once the pro peace lot catch onto him being the only one with decent things to say, he may become the nominated candidate. Dem membership needs to let Dems know how they feel about being impotent in doing their jobs. If enough people get behind someone like Gravel, he'll get the nomination. You all made a noise in 2006 and won! Please do it again.
YOU can make certain who is nominated, so please don't sit idly by while Hilary - who will leave the troops exactly where they are until you WIN. I'm not sure what you'll win, but the Mega Palace King George is building is one thing. And the Mega Gazillion dollar military presence being set up there is the other thing you'll win. And let's remember that this is why the US is there. The UK and Australia just made it a tiny bit more legitimate. Edwards is making small noises about it.
But mostly what I'm hearing is some long, drawn out nonsense about bringing home a couple of troops in small, prolonged stages, whilst maintaining an enormous military presence in the Middle East. This was always the intention - as well as owning and selling Iraqi oil to Iraqis at enormous prices; the US has become the self-appointed Police Protector of the masses. If you won't let us keep you locked up inside your houses, Iraqi people, then we'll shoot you and your family dead. Not unlike the setting up of the Gestapo really.
Gravel has been the only candidate I've heard to go against the mediocre, responses of the rest of the candidates. The very best you could do is to vote for a person who is not the best fundraiser; the one who doesn't have greedy friends in the corporate world who want a stronghold over their fully paid for, President. Gravel couldn't do it without you. But he sure as hell could do it with you.
Even the Republican Paul has shown more guts about Iraq than the Wishy Washy carry on of most Democratic reps running
Poland's Ambassador to Iraq in Serious Condition After Assassination Attempt in Baghdad
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/06/europe/EU-GEN-Poland-Iraq-Ambassador.php
woz said:
I listened to and watched Gravel (I think it was) and he said all the things I wanted to hear.
`Not a chance in hell Woz, they ignore him in the debates totally if they can, pass right by him, Ron Paul has much more of a chance for the Republicans, of beating out all the slimebags the republicans are putting up,
Then I would say it will be very interesting to see what will happen, if the Dems are up against Paul for President, He declaring he will pull the soldiers out if he becomes president.
Then you have the republicans maybe the independants and some very angry democration maybe voting in that direction
That is my way of thinking this Presidential Election is going to go, unless Gore gets the Noble Prize and enters the race then I think it would be Gore.
Woz
I heard Gravel when I was at YearlyKos in Chicago and he's great!
He would not make it in America because he would not get enough corporate and big business backing. He is too pro-union and populist.
It's the same reason certain other candidates have good ideas or charisma but may not get the nomination unless they can help the right people. The one who has a way to get the most money and connections will win out, especially if they are media-savvy.
I am not going to be so arrogant as to predict the nominees on-line but I've definitely been reading and have some ideas.
Things about Congress and lack of "spine" and all that do not surprise me that much because we are so engulfed in the military-industrial-congressional complex.
btw I got that graphic from One Pissed Off Liberal at Docudharma site.
You know, the original concept came from President Dwight Eisenhower, who warned us.
He said:
A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.
Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html
Gee can you now put impeachment on the table?
YOU Speaker Pelosi are complicit each and every day that passes. Shame on you!!!
October 7, 2007 12:12 PM
@@@@@@
MSM doesn't seem to want to go near impeachment. It is too unsettling. The MSM liked the Clinton impeachment, it was fun and good for ratings - it was all about sex, not about high crimes and misdemeanors or a constitutional crisis (as was the case in the Nixon impeachment).
There was quite a buzz about impeachment perhaps six months ago (or perhaps 9 months ago) when Lewis Lapham (of Harper's Magazine) and several others were talking it up.
But Pelosi has put a quash on all of that. And she is looking very much like a doormat for Bush to wipe his shoes on..
I agree Ralph.
I had such high hopes for her. I was so proud that day. But she doesn't seem to get it. Unless Christy is right - they have something on her.
She's making the dems look weak. I'm so disappointed. She might be doing other things, but Iraq is what it's all about. Nothing else matters.
On a different topic:
"Jena"
Written by John Mellencamp
An all white jury hides the executioner's face
See how we are, me and you?
Everyone here needs to know their place
Let's keep this blackbird hidden in the flue
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Take your nooses down
So what becomes of boys that cannot think straight
Particularly those with paper bag skin
Yes sir, no sir we'll wipe that smile right off your face
We've got our rules here and you must fit in
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Take your nooses down
Some day some way sanity will prevail
But who knows when that day might come
A shot in the dark, well it just might find its way
To the hearts of those that hold the keys to kingdom come
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Oh oh oh Jena
Take those nooses down
Oh oh hey Jena
Oh oh Jena
Oh oh Jena
Take your nooses down
Take those nooses all down
(c) 2007 John Mellencamp
Hear it here: http://www.mellencamp.com/
Much of the Amazon Basin burning, flights being cancelled and it's barely in the news.
http://www.docudharma.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1164
New story there also tells that three big American oil companies (such as Chevron) are doing business-as-usual in Burma/Myanmar, despite the violent crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy protesters. Bush even speaks out on it but then does nothing as far as the oil companies.
Them having something on Pelosi is the only thing that makes sense.
I wrote something a while back, and I still do not understand why it is not oart of the conversation, even here among us hard core political junkies.
Blackmail is one of the most EFFECTIVE tools there is for people like these freaks in our White House.
You can not be willing to go this far without ensuring you have the goods on those who can stop you.
Pelosis decision to scrap parts of the Constitution not only flies in the face of logic and reason but of human nature itself.
What kind of politician neuters themselves like that? I am almost speechless that it is even real and she did that.
She did not just say, 'That is no longer in my job description.'
She has excused herself from excersizing an authority so great, she alone could define the fate of our entire empire and future.
She could singlehandedly alter the course of history...But..She yawns and says 'Nope'.
"I'm here for the kids. I like kids. Talking about kids makes my poll numbers go up. Let's talk about kids instead. Kids...Awwww!'
It don't make any damn sense whatsoever and I just want to give Pelosi Shaken Baby Syndrome!
WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON?
This is not just a few members of congress completely turning a blind eye to what is happening, it is almost ALL OF THEM.
They can not all be bought. The law of averages says they can not ALL be bought. But the untouchables phones are being bugged and their mail read and God only knows what can be used to shut them up.
I really do think Koffi Annan was being blackmailed, and they used his son as the leverage.
I do not understand why we are not finally finally finally having a talk about blackmailed and extorted members of the House and Senate and BY GOD yes I am talking about democrats too.
Pelosi, Conyers, All of them who oppose yet manage to never get in the way, all of them are caught in the grips of something completely unseen, yet it is completely effecting their ability to govern us in any way.
They act like they are being blackmailed.
And considering what crimes georgie is willing to commit, blackmail almost seems like a balloon ride in the park.
I have a new question to ask Pelosis office.
"Can you tell me, did the Speaker take impeachment off the table because she is being bribed or extorted..?"
Why not just freaking ask?
I think I will.
Ooops.
I meant blackmailed. Not bribed.
Oh, look, Pelosi doing her job!
PELOSI: Of course I do. Of course. What a question. First of all, I pray for President Bush all the time, and I--prayed especially hard that he would sign the...children's health bill, because it's so important to America's children.
WALLACE: When you pray for President Bush, what do you pray for?
PELOSI: I pray that, that--well, at the same time as I pray for him, I pray for America's children, and that there can be some compatibility in their thinking. But I pray for his health; his well-being. I pray that he makes the right decisions for the American people, but, when I was--
WALLACE: --Do you ever pray for him to change his policies?
PELOSI: All the time! But--let me draw a line: When I was growing up in politics, we were always told that we shouldn't pray for a political outcome -- that we just pray that God's will would be done. We pray for the children, we pray for the poor people, we pray for people who need help; and we always, always, always pray for our men and women in uniform, who make our freedom to pray possible.
Oh. Wait.
That is not her freaking job.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLULceXtf5s
Pope Versus President
The Vatican's recent snub of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is only the latest salvo in the battle between Pope Benedict XVI and President George W. Bush. This tug of war has profound implications for both U.S. foreign policy and the critical Catholic vote in 2008's presidential race.
On issues ranging from the war in Iraq to global warming, the Vatican and Washington have not seen eye to eye. With the popularity of U.S. foreign policy at record lows around the world, however, the Vatican's diplomatic approach is more consistent with global public opinion.
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4610
Chevron's Pipeline
The Burmese Regime's Lifeline
By Amy Goodman
The barbarous military regime depends on revenue from the nation's gas reserves and partners such as Chevron, a detail ignored by the Bush administration.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18511.htm
Blackwater Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
The scandal surrounding the conduct of Blackwater contractors in Iraq is just the most recent example of contractors and criminals run amok in that ill-conceived war. Since the occupation began, the U.S. military and its contractors have relied on shady characters and even criminals to do the outsourced business of supplying the troops, delivering weapons and making sure the mail arrives.
One such wanted criminal, Viktor Bout, was paid tens of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars while illegally flying transport missions for the United States in Iraq. Bout is the notorious Russian weapons merchant whose fleet of aging Soviet aircraft rivals that of some NATO countries in its size and capacity. By marrying his access to Soviet bloc weapons with his airlift capacity, Bout established himself as the world's premiere purveyor of illicit weapons to the world's tyrants-- a one-stop shopping source for everyone from Charles Taylor and his armies of child soldiers of Sierra Leone and Liberia to the Taliban in Afghanistan, from Jonas Savimbi in Angola to the FARC rebels in Colombia.
As shown in the new book Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes and the Man Who Makes War Possible by former Washington Post correspondent Douglas Farah and the Los Angeles Times' Stephen Braun, Bout flew hundreds of flights for the Pentagon and its contractors in Iraq. He did so despite having been: 1) identified by U.S. and British intelligence as a supplier of weapons, ammunition and aircraft to the Taliban and, indirectly, to al Qaeda; 2) the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant at the request of the Belgian government; 3) named in almost a dozen U.N. public reports as the chief illegal provider of weapons to Africa's rogue regimes, and; 4) the subject of an executive order signed by George W. Bush in July 2004 making it illegal to do any business with Bout. The executive order was followed by an order from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in May 2005, freezing the assets of Bout, his senior partners and main companies, again making it illegal for U.S citizens or their government to do business with any of the named entities.
Yet the flights in Iraq went on, at the request of Halliburton, KBR and others, on behalf of the U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, until early 2006. Farah and Braun, based on flight and refueling records from Iraq, estimate Bout's companies may have flown up to 1,000 flights as a secondary contractor for the U.S. government. Each flight cost about $60,000 -- not a bad chunk of taxpayer dollars. Bout managed to up his profit margin considerably by having his pilots apply for and receive special refueling cards that allowed them to gas up for free when they landed in Iraq.>>>cont
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-rice/blackwater-is-just-the-ti_b_67379.html
October 7, 2007 11:42 PM
Christy said:
Them having something on Pelosi is the only thing that makes sense.
Christy, I too have said this. I think it pervades all of congress.
nmp - great graphic. But if enough people rallied behind someone like Gravel - the money shouldn't matter. It seems to me, that if your president is already known - pretty much - before the primaries have even begun - why bother? He deserves better. He appeals because he's into downsizing military bases overseas which have been massively over sized by the paranoia of the psycopathic cretin running the show.
He's into strengthening the military at home, and as peace keeping forces with other nations.
He's into restoring and renewing the respect of nations all around the world.
He doesn't believe that America can criticise any other country's abuse of civil rights until it cleans up its own practice. I agree.
He stands for fair pay for a days work. Without unions, corporate bosses engage in fewer people doing the same work in unsafe conditions. We follow the maxim "Fair Trade" applying it to the 3rd world and developing nations. And yet the United States does not operate Fair Trade at home for its own citizens - let alone in China or India.
He stands for universal health cover.
He stands for universal educational facilities, locations, buildings for all levels of study, from preschool to PhD level.
He stands by promises made to volunteer military personnel in terms of health and education.
He would not appoint America as the world's police to dictate how other countries and races operate their government.
One thing we've learned - our countries do not operate democracies and freedoms when a whole sector of our peers have no freedom to move or to speak.
And so on.
Woz,
I hate to say it but Rossi is right. No way in hell they are going to let Gravel in.
I mean, look at all the stuff you juat listed. The war profiteers that control this nation will find his plan cutting into their bottom line.
As for campiagning for him here, I can speak of him but without fair media coverage I may as well be talking to a wall.
Oncall actually gave me a name for it once. The information filtration effect.
The place where I am is the most dense part of the filter.
Now, whom ever did this, should be beaten.
Intruders Damage a Monet in Paris Museum
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-France-MonetDamaged.html?_r=2&ei=5088&en=5e74bd1246188105&ex=1349496000&oref=slogin&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print
Punched a 4 inch hole right through the center of it. Probably kids.
I bet whoever landed that punch felt real good for a moment, destroying a canvas worth millions of dollars, but I doubt the little son of a dog can even draw stick figures.
That is just sad.
Woz
The amount of money seems to matter because I've actually read that a couple of zip codes are crucial - upper west side NYC and some location in CA. I saw a diagram in an article on campaign funding and it had amounts of money generated shown on a US map, with amount per location shown vertically.
There were small donations all over the country, so little spots but then larger ones for "blue" cities. Then these two "big donor" places were these huge towers.
Then there are corporations and media, who have their own sneaky ways of getting into the picture, and all the organizations on both sides that find legal and paralegal ways of doing the same.
Money talks, in this country. Dog-eat-dog. To each his own. & so on. That's why all the guns. & "family values" - forget about the kids of other people. Build your own fortress, get a big truck and an arsenal. Pay for health and education for your family your own self.
Many here don't believe in biological Darwin (but Creationism) yet they strongly support social Darwinism, where the more vulnerable just fall out.
NMP,
How do you feel about female nudes?
I will tell you why I ask. I have a great idea for your colors, but honestly it would work best as a seminude.
The image I am playing with is from actual history. The partial nudity would be accurate to the story.
I could do it without the nudity, no prob, but that takes all the fun out of it.
The nudity I am reffering too is a breast or just the hint of it in the outline.
Sooo... with or without..? You can think about it a bit, I turned my son into art and still have it unfinished on my easel, I will start on yours as soon as I wrap him up, which shouldn't take long.