Bhutto's Murder

Aggregate of links:

Raw video

Photos

World Leaders Condemn Bhutto murder

I just want to point out that when I first read more, they stated that Bhutto and the Opposition leaders had asked for additional protection and Musharraf refused.

Sparrow

It's probably a long-standing conflict, as she was Prime Minister of Pakistan twice and went into exile and recently returned. She was in office both before and after the first Gulf War. She was American educated and is about my age. I remember thinking it was strange that Pakistan had a woman leader in the late '80s (as did UK, Israel, India etc) and we didn't. & a woman elected to lead a Muslim state, at that. She was accused of corruption twice but then granted amnesty.

A "combined suicide bomb attack and shooting" will have more permutations than the JFK assassination because how in the world to sort it all out? If it was during a political rally then extremism could be high but it could also provide good cover for a lone agent or one backed by nebulous forces.

I agree with you that our focus on Iraq has allowed extremism a safe haven in Pakistan/Afghanistan. We were warned about this many times by Wesley Clark, John Kerry and many active military. We heard time and time again, even with our corporate-White House-screened media that the eye was off this region and that Musharraf wasn't doing much to help matters (besides being widely unpopular as well as dictatorial.

NMP,

I will be honored to paint it.

What a sad day. She was very lovely.

Who killed Benazir Bhutto? The main suspects

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3100052.ece

When the attempt was made on her life on day 1, I assumed she would have more protection. But of course she didn't. At least not much more. She's been a thorn in Musharaf's side for a very long time.

NMP, look at this pic of her

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article1698475.ece

Christy
Yes she was beautiful. When my sister was in a mental hospital in South Dakota, she had a psychologist from Pakistan who was probably the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I just remembered to go to my FaceBook and MySpace accounts because I have some Pakistani penpals, more or less, the age of my son. Told them I hoped some day we'd see peace in this world.

Here is Benazir Bhutto's Huffington Post blog about why she was returning to politics.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/benazir-bhutto/why-im-returning-to-paki_b_62792.html

Also we had a post awhile back from Michele in Colorado, the young woman who organized the Kerry scrapbook and who is with the Richardson campaign. She had a project r/t Bhutto. I imagine this is a huge shock to her.

Already riots in many cities by her supporters and we already know that one of the reasons Musharraf was becoming even more unpopular was because he had pretty much replaced the Supreme Court.

Here is what happens:

Pakistan's Missing Are Doubly Lost
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122707O.shtml
Bruce Wallace reports for the Los Angeles Times, "With a Supreme Court installed by Musharraf, hundreds allegedly picked up by security forces have no champion in the judiciary."

Bert/Kayakbiker says Bhutto was only 16 when she enrolled in Harvard.
Hers isn't the side she supported.

I wrote she for we.

Bush didn't talk about her accomplishments or focus on democracy. He just talked about "killers" and "extremists" and "Al Quaida" and as someone said on DKos, "should just go back to clearing brush." The Times article already had commenters saying this is just proof Al Quaida is out to get us. Predictable.

Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2007
10. Myth: The US public no longer sees Iraq as a central issue in the 2008 presidential campaign.
In a recent ABC News/ Washington Post poll, Iraq and the economy were virtually tied among voters nationally, with nearly a quarter of voters in each case saying it was their number one issue. The economy had become more important to them than in previous months (in November only 14% said it was their most pressing concern), but Iraq still rivals it as an issue!
http://www.juancole.com/2007/12/top-ten-myths-about-iraq-2007.html

Iraq = economy deficits

The fight goes on - the ignorance spreads. There is a mailer going out already about "Islamofascism awareness week" on campuses in April - they have distributed over 400,000 copies of their literature & their objective is to get rid of radical leftists (in the US) and raise awareness of Jihad - affiliated with Coulter and her book clubs but an advertiser - David Horowitz etc.

woz said:
Iraq = economy deficits

You are right, and I think also

oil/consumption/greed = global warming
War & environment are not separate issues

This is false thinking to underestimate the ability of people to connect the dots and I suspect the goal is that people will not be able to.

NMP

The Mann needs to be given the Sharia (or its Christian equivalent) treatment.

As for the murder of Bhutto, I am so disgusted by the state of affairs in Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries, that I don't know what to say.

All I can say is that extremist cults - whether Islamic or Christian in origin - all stink.

nmp
I watched a DVD yesterday - it's an American documentary called The Future of Food. This not only explains what has happened to almost all farmers over the past decade but unstopped, will wipe out farms completely. The day the Supreme Court ruled that a seed could be patented was a very sad day for the growers of food. And in particular for those who want to grow organic food.

The website is at:
http://www.thefutureoffood.com

I recommend this to everyone because no one is safe from this food and depreciating nutrition and allergies to the contents.

Our involvement via the Christianized ideology of the EXTREME rightwing of American politics has made the state of affairs in Middle Eastern countries absolutely TOXIC!

They found a sucker in Dubya to join the fight, with his PNAC envy et al, and this unrest with American involvement will go on now ad infinitum, all the while bankrupting America financially, leaving us with little to no allies going forward through our governments repugnant actions over the last 6 years.

Talk about triangulation, the EXTREME agenda of the Bush administration since 9/11 has boxed this nation into a corner that it may never be able to fight it's way out of... and it all happened right in front of our very eyes.

Tell THAT to your grandkids if we're still around...

(CNN) – Mike Huckabee – whose foreign policy credentials have been under a microscope since he admitted to journalists that he was unaware of a major report on Iran’s nuclear weapons program – appeared to make another minor gaffe Thursday when he seemed to suggest incorrectly that Pakistan was currently under martial law.

At an Orlando press conference, the former Arkansas governor told reporters that the United States’ first priority should be to find the responsible parties. “But the most urgent thing to do is to offer our sincere sympathies and concerns to the family and to the people of Pakistan, and that’s the first thing we would be doing other than, again, trying to ascertain who’s behind it, and what impact does it have on whether or not there’s going to be martial law continued in Pakistan, suspension of the constitution,” said Huckabee. “Those are concerns that the United States certainly should have

Critics immediately pointed out that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf lifted the country’s state of martial law roughly two weeks ago.

The Huckabee campaign has not yet responded to a CNN request for comment.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

Well Bhutto like Musharraf had both followers and detractors, with allegations of corruption and so on, and she is also from a familial dynasty with history of assassinations in the past, but now she will be a martyr and the US has no plan in place should Musharraf be driven out of office and there is no Bhutto to replace him. Now that he is not military dictator the military is under a general that is one of his closest associates. Bhutto, when in office, did alot to keep the peace between Pakistan and India over Kashmir, but she also had the mistaken idea at one time the the Taleban could be gotten to behave themselves and stick to themselves. They were, of course, co-opted for the purposes of Al Quaida and infiltrated so as to allow a safe haven and hiding place in the mountains. Musharraf did little in the way of containing terror to justify the help, money and arms he received from the US and Bin Laden is still, of course, on the loose and probably pretty happy about recent turns of events.

The news recently has made it sound like Iraq is turning around, "the surge is working" (whatever that is supposed to mean) etc. Yet any decrease in fatalities and suicide bombins and border infiltration of weapons and fighters is at the cost of 16 billion per week, which includes Afghanistan too, actually. I didn't see the full breakdown but have noticed alot of bad news coming out of Afghanistan lately, supporting the contention of those who say we pretty much barked up the wrong tree. Canada has sent troops to Afghanistan and has talked about pulling some out. France was going to send in more.

Can't imagine the new wrench in the works because something like this assassination will send shockwaves immediately through Pakistan itself but will also resonate outward to places like Malaysia and the Philipines. Already the stock market is down and oil is up, because that's the reaction with any added instability. It isn't even a new year and we have this awful incident to wrap up 2007 with, assuming there won't be worse horror before the year turns.

monkey

Any nation that has enough money for the fanciest weapons of the world, but no money for healthcare, education, or other real priorities, will not get any credibility in the global community, period.

I got this from Islamabad so the government probably read it.

Nothing much has happened in Islamabad, in the rest of the country people are burning cars and breaking things. I live in islamabad. People are staying in doors. I hope things improve too.

There will be a cover-up. Bush and Huckabee can talk about finding the evildoers but will never focus on the lack of protection and friendship with the current dictator and possibility of what is seen in these comments from the Daily Kos diary on the subject (I'll provide that link below).

CNN has email/txt msg from Bhutto
This email, from October, was forwarded to Wolf Blitzer but embargoed until after her death. In it she expresses concern that she's not getting proper protection and that if she were to die, Musharref would be to blame.

No link. Not yet on CNNs web. Being reported on Situation Room which is now in HD.

by PBCliberal
Was Bhutto whacked juuust in time to ensure Musharraf's unfettered political control of Pakistan? Judging by the way in which the assassination was carried out--suicide bombing provides major distraction/chaos/cover for the professional assassin to carry out his assignment--there is likely little doubt that one or more operatives of Pakistan's internal security apparatus played roles in her death. It is to be noted that she died while under government "protection". Sort of how our Constitutional civil liberties are being "preserved" by the cheney shaministration.

1078 more comments & growing at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/27/8441/4080/377/426773 & throughout the blogosphere all over the planet

On - Juan Cole: Condi's Pakistan plan in tatters

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/27/131851/65/263/426879

I keep reading that Rice developed a Pakistan plan that had bipartisan support and Cheney undermined it.

I thought this was an interesting link on Bhutto:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/27/AR2007122701479.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

He's a fairly inside-the-beltway guy but I think that is part of the "Pinky" story (I work with a lot of people that worked in Pakistan over the years and apparently "Pinky" was a nickname of Benazir Bhutto).
Also, NMP, on the list of "Muslim" countries that have had female heads-of-state you left off Yale-educated Tansu Ciller in Turkey and Sukharno's daughter Megawati in Indonesia.

Chuck in Houston

Christy:

Soviet Union -- Baku specifically.

Chuck in Houston

More on Baku:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6vCaNgP4N4

This is satire, by the way, so it doesn't translate too well.

Then it gets so weird when you click on all this Armenia vs. Azerbaijan stuff.

Chuck
That reminds me - Sacha Baron Cohen is killing his Borat and Ali G characters. Borat was the movie subject and he was supposed to be kind a dork from Khazhakistan (sp?) and Ali G was on his tv program and imagined himself to be this funky rapper, though he was from London's west end, which is very gentrified.

Luckily he kept the Austrian gay guy character alive and he's my favorite so I'm hoping he'll make another movie. He's Bruno. That one infiltrates fashion shows and stuff and he's hilarious.

Here he takes on the neoNazis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU8nhHYlQ-I

Here he reveals the idiocy of fashion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzoRD1Qvm10

Which is very real, by the way, for all its intrinsic wierdness and except for teh phoney part. Many lives are destroyed and some fortunes made in the course of all of that.

Had to see what the Guardian had to say. I thought they did a good job
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,2232615,00.html

So, I wonder who the Bhutto people will target for revenge? In that part of the world, you can't let a killing like that stand unchallenged or you loose your power. Net-roots -- real-world style.

Chuck in Houston

PS: NMP -- I'll click on those links in a bit....

Long Road Out of Eden, title track from the Eagles excellent new two-disc set.

Haunting lyrics (not the greatest slide show, but it was all I could find)

Would someone please give me Dubya's definition of democracy?

Frankly I don't like the democracy I've lived in for the past 10 years and I don't see the major things changing - like illegal treatment of *suspected* terrorists and other such hysteria-inducing bad folks.

NMP:

I think Sasha Cohen is Russian.

Chuck in Houston

Oops -- Just wikipedia'ed that and apparently he is from England, which explains the lack of insight into Kazakhstan and the good insight into Austria.

Chuck in Houston

Chuck

As Juan Cole said, the Bhuttos are kind of like the Kennedys of Pakistan.

There appears to be a new opposition leader, and he blames Musharraf, and pledges that his party will boycott the election. It always confuses me what that does - seems like the opposite of GOTV - but maybe it's different with a coalition government. Though Musharraf had seemed to amass alot of power recently, and though he was stepping down from being head of the military in addition to being head of the civilian government, he had been able to get rid of anyone in the federal court who tried to stop him.

Sounds so familiar that I"m not sure who was getting ideas from whom.

I am still curious about the ideological rift recently between Rice and Cheney. Rice always seems to follow the neocon ideology whereas Cheney always seems to go straight for the oil.

I too am curious by what Bush means when he says "democracy." I thought it meant government by the people, not signing statements whenever there is an attempt at balancing the executive branch with the legislative or judicial branch.

Bush has called Democracy the antidote to terror. He has talked about spreading freedom, ending tyranny, liberating Iraq and so on but what does he in fact mean? I mean, compared to what most of us would mean?

Here is a lofty-sounding speech he gave in 2003:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031106-2.html
I would like to know who wrote it and what their actual agenda was.

In 2005 he talks about "expanding freedom to all the world" - but what does he actually mean by that?
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/20/bush.inauguration/index.html

I have always wondered.

Chuck
Sacha Baron Cohen is Jewish and a Brit but his characters are kind of amalgams - stereotypes and self-creations - kind of like the Wild and Crazy Guys from Czechoslovakia on Saturday Night Live played by Dan Akroyd and Steve Martin. I've failed to find much of that preserved on YouTube but it was brilliant comedy.

I've heard Cohen out of character on Terri Gross "Fresh Air" and also read a long interview with him in Rolling Stone. He took flak for being cruel and making fun of people and for having them in a film in a way they never anticipated, much as Michael Moore did.

The thing is though, people do not like to be caught revealing their true character when it something they would and should be embarrassed by, such as their sexism, racism, exploitation. His characters befriend these people and no one makes them reveal themselves - they are more or less seduced by the chance for attention. He came upon the technique quite by accident as he once encountered some skateboarders when the cameras were still rolling so he stayed in character and realized that they didn't know!

When I documented the zombie march for YouTube I came across some people who got pretty deep into their characters. It was hilarious seeing them surround cars, peek into the windows of Starbucks etc. The funniest part was when a guy yelled "What do we want?" and others answered "brains." Then he yelled, "When do we want it?" and they yelled "brains." I also liked the sign a guy had that said "No brains for oil" and my photo ended up on a French website.

By the way, in reading Bush's speeches, he attributes so much to Reagan (who went on about "Evil Empire" and Star Wars missile defense shield) and glosses over anything to do with Democratic leaders. He also has tried repeatedly to make comparisons with the Iraq war and World War II, acting as though the Vietnam War never happened.

Then we know that he to this day gets in something to "link" 9/11 with Iraq, if he possibly can, even though that was ludicrous from the first.

Finally a more in-depth analysis of the situation in Pakistan as r/t the US world image etc. and just up, so not yet a "recommended" diary or anything, but has to compete with all the candidate diaries and so on.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/27/194418/67/129/427005

NMP:

I was at the rodeo in Sisters Oregon a year or so ago (last summer?) and the local high-school kids were yelling out stuff about drinking the blood of their children when the announcer started out the usual rodeo red-white-and-blue stuff which I understood to derive from Borat somehow. My understanding was Borat did OK and the local 16-year-olds got it. Hope I wrote taht right....

Chuck in Houston

Are you serious?! That is hilarious! My brother lives a few miles from Sisters as does a good blogger friend.

In "Borat," he sings the Khazistan national anthem (probably fake) at a rodeo at the top of his lungs and makes comments about drinking the blood of their children, so the kids were making a nice inside cultural reference.

I did drive my Beetle with all its subversive bumper stickers through the nearby town of Redmond and it was predicted I'd be attacked. Instead, some of the local cowboys gave me alot of honking and thumbs-up. Some may agree but it probably don't display, not with the sheet-size American flags flying off some of the local ranches.

I was just reading a local column about TSA reading facial expressions at airports, including a discussion of racial profiling. By & large, those wanting MORE surveillance, police state tactics and especially racial profiling were those of a rightwing political bent. There were so many on there that I thought maybe they'd been directed there by the one local rightwing talk radio AM station, or maybe they are just attracted to the "be more secure by having less civil liberties" topic.

NMP

And those right wingers are the ones with the "Vote Freedom First" bumper stickers on their SUVs.

Freedom is to American right-wingers what egalitarianism was to the Communists. An ideal to be exalted and propagated, but never practiced.

NMP:

About the Sisters Rodeo -- yes that is right and I have the T-Shirts to prove it. I used to spend a lot of time up there back in the day. I climbed the South and Middle Sisters and did the John Craig ski race several times.

Chuck

NMP

When I was in San Jose this past weekend, I attended Body Worlds 2 exhibit - with its actual human bodies and body parts. Among the displays was a brain suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.

Next to that brain was a letter from Ronald Reagan, when he disclosed his Alzheimer's Disease. The letter attributed Christian beliefs and Reagan himself to the greatness of America, and Reagan assured that even after the Lord called him home, America would continue to be great thanks to him.

Well, as we all know, it was thanks to him that America got trashed - and the two Bushes have continued his destructive policies to much detriment.

I really hated reading that garbage! And that reminder of Red California was the last thing I needed, during my stay in Blue California.

NMP:

On that Red/Blue East/West theme back in the old POTUS 2004 blog -- that's what I was talking about: "local cowboys gave me alot of honking and thumbs-up...."

Chuck in Houston

And I am back in Red California, between Korean housewives in their BC '04 sticker-adorned Hondas, Latin Americans with their homophobic bumper stickers, and WASPs with their "Not Of This World" antisocial crap.

Did I already say I hate Reagan Country?

Next to that brain was a letter from Ronald Reagan, when he disclosed his Alzheimer's Disease. The letter attributed Christian beliefs and Reagan himself to the greatness of America, and Reagan assured that even after the Lord called him home, America would continue to be great thanks to him.

@@@@@@@@

This reminds me of the strange role that religion is playing in this election. Ron Paul had an interesting kind of Freudian slip that was brought up by Russert on Meet the Press last Sunday. Paul said, in response to the Huckabee advertisement with the "floating cross", that if fascism came to America it would come in the form of "a cross wrapped in an American flag" (quoting Sinclair Lewis). Russert asked Paul about his comment. Instead of sticking to his guns (and saying something like, "I agree with this great American writer" etc..), Paul backed off the comment; he said rather lamely that he had been "caught cold".

Russert had a bunch of these hot-button issue, zingers that he flung at Paul. Religion; immigration; dismantling government - FBI and CIA and the IRS; pork barrel spending on Paul's district. And Russert just wore Paul down, question after question, for almost an entire 1/2 hour segment saving the most difficult questions for the end of the interview when Paul was at his most confused and tired.

I almost think that Paul was given all this time because all the rest of the candidates were busy campaigning in Iowa or New Hampshire, while Paul was talking to Russert in D.C.

Although I guess it doesn't take too much time to go from DC to Iowa by jet but still..

Paul should learn a lesson from Bush and Hillary: only give the press 10 or 15 minutes to ask questions and then say you have to leave...

Monkey,

You doing photoshop now?

Ralpheh
I think it would completely suck to run for President. I am sticking to my pledge so far to remain much more detached during the primary season than in 2004. For myself, there are pros & cons to all the candidates and I am not following very closely because at this stage of the game they are all about strategy.

Chuck
I used to live in rural South Dakota for awhile, and I moved from the eastern farming region to the western ranching region. I was freaked out by all the Republicans and cowboys. However, I noticed that after awhile, some of the cowboys got tape players in their trucks and would play the entire full-side Iron Butterfly In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida drum solo full blast with their windows down. It was then that I realized they were probably stoned.

Meanwhile, on a whole other planet,

Freedom is on the March, and maybe we should run in the other direction if it looks like this.

Press Freedom in Iraq on Trial
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122707R.shtml
Scott Horton for Harper's provides an update on the trial of Pulitzer
Prize-winning Associated Press photojournalist Bilal Hussein.

Iraqi Kurds Delay Kirkuk Vote
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122707S.shtml
Tina Susman and Asso Ahmed, The Los Angeles Times: "Kurdish lawmakers agreed Wednesday to a six-month delay of a referendum on whether the oil-rich city of Kirkuk should join the semiautonomous region of Kurdistan or remain under Iraqi central government control."

Sharif's Party to Boycott Elections
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122707T.shtml
The Associated Press: "Pakistani opposition leader Nawaz Sharif announced Thursday his party was boycotting next month's elections following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. He demanded that President Pervez Musharraf resign immediately."

For Your Entertainment:

A heated exchange between Chris Matthews and Michelle Malkin on whether John Kerry had a "self-inflicted" wound to get a purple heart

Ralpheh
I think it would completely suck to run for President. I am sticking to my pledge so far to remain much more detached during the primary season than in 2004. For myself, there are pros & cons to all the candidates and I am not following very closely because at this stage of the game they are all about strategy.

@@@@@@

Of this I am certain: Hillary's vote in 2002 on Iraq was wrong, and most probably immoral and politically calculated. She has yet to explain this huge blunder or apologize for it.

Another thing; Hillary has the highest negatives of any Democratic candidates.

I have no desire to suffer through 4 years of a triangulating, calculating, cackling Hillary presidency NONE...

Ralpheh

I get it. You don't like HIllary Clinton. I will vote for the Democratic nominee against the Republican nominee in the general election. Period.

I would not watch the video because I can't stand Michelle Malkin & anything Swift Boat related is a sore topic with me. Maybe Matthews grills her. Fine. I can't stand television and almost never watch it, including via YouTube, and the fact that they put crap like this on only reinforces the position I've held since 1991.

USA Today/Gallup Poll

Most Admired Woman and Man

1 Hillary Clinton
2 Oprah Winfrey
3 Condoleezza Rice
4 Angelina Jolie
5 Laura Bush
6 Margaret Thatcher
7 Benazir Bhutto
8 Nancy Pelosi
9 Maya Angelou
10 Queen Elizabeth

1 George W. Bush
2 Bill Clinton
3 Al Gore
4 Barack Obama
5 Billy Graham
6 Nelson Mandela
7 George H. W. Bush
tie 8 Bill Gates
tie 8 Pope Benedict
tie 8 Jimmy Carter

You see, American is polarized and also votes on the basis of fame.

Yes, David Hicks should be left in peace, but our Australian Federal Police have a lot of *face* to make up. They completely fouled the arrest and incarceration of a supposed terrorist linked to the latest bombing in London and the foiled attempt at Glasgow airport.

Now the AFP has put the extremely dangerous David Hicks on a Control Order when he leaves prison this week - you know - like you do to your outside dog when you tie him up at night. Hicks is more controlled than your dog. In fact he's more controlled than any of our child rapists.

He is terrified to leave jail. He has been deliberately "institutionalised" in order to ensure that he can never again do anything questionable. He's a wreck. As you'd expect after more than 5 years in Guantanamo. The last 2 years spent in constant electric light in a tiny room isolated from sound other than the loud heavy metal banging music piped into his small space. One hour out - in the dark - every 3 days.

Yeah. I can just see this shuddering wreck piloting a plane into a building someplace. Our AFP needs to let us know how they are protecting us. The AFP is a joke.

Prosecutor says Hicks should be left in peace
Miki Perkins
December 28, 2007 - 3:00PM

David Hicks should apologise for his actions and be allowed to fade into obscurity, his former US military prosecutor, Colonel Morris Davis says.

Colonel Davis, who recently resigned as the Guantanamo military commission's chief prosecutor, also said the public furore over Hicks' incarceration affected the result of the Australian election and could impact on the future US election.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/prosecutor-says-hicks-should-be-left-in-peace/2007/12/28/1198778680602.html

Party With Saddam

Millions of times the earth has spun
We must get dizzy going 'round the sun
It ain't no wonder why minds are gone
Can we help them understand

It's like I need a place to run
And jump off buildings just for fun
Serve up my flesh before it's done
Politicians need a hand

We won't see the end
If we party till our colors blend
Party till Saddam's your friend
Never drop a bomb again
All right
We can break the chains
If we party like our blood's the same
Party till we lose our aim
Never shoot a gun again

The monsters live and children die
The blanket snatched from over their eyes
We're all to blame when we stand by
But we don't know what to say
They want a fight and dare us to try
And in result the whole world dies
Then who'll be left to answer why
There's got to be a better way

We won't see the end
If we party till our colors blend
'cause the Bush's and Bin Laden's are friends
Never drop a bomb again
All right
We can break the chains
If we party like our blood's the same
Party till we lose our aim
Never shoot a gun again

Millions of dollars are spent on a piece
Of what I don't know,
but it sure ain't peace of mind

If we keep fighting then war won't cease
Until all have died they'll fight back every time
We'll get together and have some fun then life is won
In that there is no crime
Real peace don't cost a dime

Too mucha blood them a spilling
Too mucha life them a stealing
They come together for a deal
Super power, super money, super killing
A time for true emancipation
Don't want no pseudo-liberation
A time for evil get replaced
So we love and make it push in outer space

Hey, we won't see the end
P-P-P-Party till our colors blend
Party till Saddam's your friend
Never drop a bomb again

Can ya imagine Arnie partying with Tookie
Smoking and drinking till they lose their cookies
Crips are cousins, Bloods are brothers
Family can love one another
We're gonna party with Pinochet
He gonna sing the karaoke
We're gonna party with Mobutu
He's a lindy hopping dancing fool
Party with Condaleeza Rice, now
She like to shake it all night y'all
Party up with Tony Blair
Throw your hands up in the air
Party with Fidel Castro
He like to do it real low and slow
Party with Vladimir Putin
He like to breakdance and headspin
Party with Kim Jong-Il
He got the North Korean down-home feel
But let's not forget Hitler
We gonna pull up Rwanda
We gonna bring 'em all for dinner
To meet mama and papa
Ma ma ma you gotta gotta gotta party
Party with Saddam y'all
Party to the end y'all
You gotta party
Oh yeah, all right
© Fishbone

Today's murder only illustrates how little the fires of ideological insanity and religious extremism have been dampened by six years of an alleged war on terror. We will likely never know to what degree attitudes in Pakistan were radicalized by the images from Abu Ghraib, or the vaunted "Shock and Awe" campaign, or the Iraq occupation. Perhaps their impact was minimal; or perhaps it was dramatic. As Donald Rumsfeld admitted: "we have no metrics".

What we know is that events appear to be spinning ever more out of control in a nation with forty nuclear weapons; and that the Bush Administration has failed miserably in their attempt to use the sword to ultimately triumph in a war of ideas. Ideological extremism and machismo run amok continue to fuel ideological extremism and machismo run amok.

My thoughts and prayers today are with the Pakistani people.

That's for sure Matthew. What a hard time it is for Pakistan. Well, even harder than it was yesterday.

You make some good points. How to stop this accelerating madness is the problem.

Long Road Out of Eden - Eagles

Moon shining down through the palms
Shadows moving on the sand
Somebody whispering the twenty-third Psalm
Dusty rifle in his trembling hands
Somebody trying just to stay alive
He got promises to keep
Over the ocean in America
Far away and fast asleep.

Silent stars blinking in the blackness of an endless sky
Cold silver satellites, ghostly caravans passing by
Galaxies unfolding; new worlds being born
Pilgrims and prodigals creeping toward the dawn
But it's a long road out of Eden.

Music blasting from an SUV
On a bright and sunny day
Rolling down the interstate
In the good ol' USA
Having lunch at the petroleum club
Smoking fine cigars and swapping lies
"Gimme 'nother slice of that barbecued brisket!"
"Gimme 'nother piece of that pecan pie"

Freeways flickering, cell phones chiming a tune
We're riding to Utopia; road map says we'll be arriving soon
Captains of the old order clinging to the reins
Assuring us these aches inside are only growing pains
But it's a long road out of Eden

Back home, I was so certain; the path was very clear
But now I have to wonder - what are we doing here?
I'm not counting on tomorrow and I can't tell wrong from right
But I'd give anything to be there in your arms tonight

Weaving down the American highway
Through the litter and the wreckage, and the cultural junk
Bloated with entitlement, loaded on propaganda
Now we're driving dazed and drunk

Went down the road to Damascus, the road to Mandalay
Met the ghost of Caesar on the Appian Way
He said, "It's hard to stop this binging once you get a taste
But the road to empire is a bloody, stupid waste"

Behold the bitten apple - the power of the tools
But all the knowledge in the world is of no use to fools
And it's a long road out of Eden

How to stop the accelerating madness?

Well, the American people apparently haven't demanded it be stopped by their leaders, especially those who claim to be "Christian" leaders, who failed miserably at any biblical test of what to to when challenged.

I am disgusted by the endless display of candidates claiming to be the MOST Christian, especially disgusted by THIS PRESIDENT who somehow got masses of bleievers to follow him just because he was "brave" enough to say out loud, "I'm a Christian"... apparently, that's enough for them, apparently, the teachings of the bible become irrelevant when you just state, "I'm a Chistian".

Now, imagine if the so-called leaders with their so-called morals and biblical ways and guidance from a Higher Power had actaully reacted in THIS way after 9/11 (and before):

In Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says:

You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

—Matthew 5:38-42, NIV

A parallel version is offered in the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke:

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

—Luke 6:27-31. NIV

That is where the madness ends, when TRUE BELIEVERS drop their hypocrisy and thirst for revenge and blood, and actually follow the teachings of the one they revere as most high.

Christian Americans, with so much influence, must DEMAND this from their leaders, and they must do it NOW!

Good Friday to you all....

U.S. brokered Bhutto’s return to Pakistan
Secret diplomacy yielded deal seen as only way to save ally against terror

ANALYSIS
By Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler
washingtonpost.com
Fri., Dec. 28, 2007

For Benazir Bhutto, the decision to return to Pakistan was sealed during a telephone call from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just a week before Bhutto flew home in October. The call culminated more than a year of secret diplomacy — and came only when it became clear that the heir to Pakistan's most powerful political dynasty was the only one who could bail out Washington's key ally in the battle against terrorism.

It was a stunning turnaround for Bhutto, a former prime minister who was forced from power in 1996 amid corruption charges. She was suddenly visiting with top State Department officials, dining with U.N. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and conferring with members of the National Security Council. As President Pervez Musharraf's political future began to unravel this year, Bhutto became the only politician who might help keep him in power.

"The U.S. came to understand that Bhutto was not a threat to stability but was instead the only possible way that we could guarantee stability and keep the presidency of Musharraf intact," said Mark Siegel, who lobbied for Bhutto in Washington and witnessed much of the behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

But the diplomacy that ended abruptly with Bhutto's assassination yesterday was always an enormous gamble, according to current and former U.S. policymakers, intelligence officials and outside analysts. By entering into the legendary "Great Game" of South Asia, the United States also made its goals and allies more vulnerable — in a country where more than 70 percent of the population already looked unfavorably upon Washington.

Bhutto's assassination leaves Pakistan's future — and Musharraf's — in doubt, some experts said. "U.S. policy is in tatters. The administration was relying on Benazir Bhutto's participation in elections to legitimate Musharraf's continued power as president," said Barnett R. Rubin of New York University. "Now Musharraf is finished."

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22414361/

Ralpheh

I get it. You don't like HIllary Clinton. I will vote for the Democratic nominee against the Republican nominee in the general election. Period.

@@@@@

Yeah, not only don't I like Hillary,

Hillary has blood on her hands just like Bush, Cheney and Condi Rice. And I don't like those people either.

pretty sad

Wexler petition update:

148,234
signed up
and counting...

Raw story is reporting musharrifs police abandoned their posts right before she was killed.

Police abandoned security posts before Bhutto assassination

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Police_abandoned_security_posts_before_Bhutto_1228.html

MSNBC BREAKING NEWS: Pakistan says it has 'intelligence intercepts' that al-Qaida is behind Bhutto killing

CNN: Benazir Bhutto died from a fractured skull after hitting her head on a lever -- not from a bullet or shrapnel, Pakistan's Interior Ministry says.

My thoughts on Bhutto.

She was very, very courageous. She went into those crowds, in that region, knowing how dangerous it was. But she did this because she really cared about democracy and improving Pakistan.

Now think about Dubya. He never did anything even 1/100th as courageous. He flies into Iraq in the middle of the night, unannounced to serve turkey to the troops. He stood in NOLA protected by the National Guard and performed a fake miracle over NOLA. You have to sign a loyalty oath to see him.

To me this says a lot about who the real freedom fighter was and who was just playing games at being Commander in Chief.

My thought on Bhutto...

I think the 'corruption' charges against her were probably bullsh*t meant to shut her up.

She was indeed very very brave.

She is more dangerous dead than alive.

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."
— James Madison, Speech in the Virginia Convention

Rival priests brawl inside Bethlehem church
Greek Orthodox and Armenians scuffle inside Jesus' birthplace

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) - Robed Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests went at each other with brooms and stones inside the Church of the Nativity on Thursday as long-standing rivalries erupted in violence during holiday cleaning.

The basilica, built over the grotto in Bethlehem where Christians believe Jesus was born, is administered jointly by Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic authorities. Any perceived encroachment on one group's turf can set off vicious feuds.

On Thursday, dozens of priests and cleaners came to the fortress-like church to scrub and sweep the floors, walls and rafters ahead of the Armenian and Orthodox Christmas, celebrated in the first week of January. Thousands of tourists visited the church this week for Christmas celebrations.

But the cleanup turned ugly after some of the Orthodox faithful stepped inside the Armenian church's section, touching off a scuffle between about 50 Greek Orthodox and 30 Armenians.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22419654/

The teacher and the teachings have taught them nothing.

How Pathetic Monkey.

How tragic and pathetic.

One
by U2

Is it getting better?
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you now
You got someone to blame
You say...

One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don't care for it

Did I disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's...

Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One...

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head

Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers

One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

One... life

One

Bush to veto defense spending bill

CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- President Bush plans to veto a defense spending bill that Congress passed this month, the White House said Friday.

The president has concerns over a provision that would let victims of Saddam Hussein's regime with legal claims in U.S. courts seek compensation from the Iraqi government.

If enacted, the White House said, the act "would permit plaintiff's lawyers immediately to freeze Iraqi funds and would expose Iraq to massive liability in lawsuits concerning the misdeeds of the Saddam Hussein regime.

"The new democratic government of Iraq, during this crucial period of reconstruction, cannot afford to have its funds entangled in such lawsuits in the United States."

A veto would block a pay raise for members of the U.S. armed forces. It also would block more money for veterans' health care.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, criticized the president's decision.

"The defense bill passed both houses of Congress by overwhelming bipartisan margins and addresses urgent national security priorities," including the pay raise and money for veterans' health care, Pelosi and Reid said in a written statement. "It is unfortunate that the president will not sign this critical legislation."

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, also expressed dismay at the president's decision.

"This bill is important to our men and women in uniform," Levin said. "It is unfortunate that the administration failed to identify the concerns upon which this veto is based until after the bill had passed both houses on Congress and was sent to the president for signature.

"I am deeply disappointed that our troops and veterans may have to pay for their mistake and for the confusion and uncertainty caused by their snafu."

more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/28/bush.veto/index.html

So, after months of Bush/Cheney threating Congress to pass a bill to fully fund the troops, and after threatening that the Pentagon would have to lay people off, and after negotiating the bill with Congress to arrive at a "compromise" where Democrats acquiesced to the White Houses every whim, NOW Bush/Cheney are gonna veto the spending bill??????

Ofcourse they are Monkey.

They don't f*cking CARE about this bill or that bill.

They are using the log-jam theory. Distort, delay, stall, and run out the clock.

Right now they do not freaking care about ANYTHING other than walking away scott free from the biggest theft and war crimes ever committed.

If you are trying to get the hell out of a log jam, you won't have time to catch up and foil their escape.

You know, the 'incompetence theory' annoys me to no end.

These people are not 'failures'. They have accomplished every single evil goal they have set out to obtain.

The only way to fail 100% of the time, is to DELIBERATELY do so. To make personal PROFIT off of every single failure, THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT. IT CAN NOT HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT.

The complete and utter failure of our government agencies and infrastructure was NOT... I repeat NOT just the unfortunate side effect of some poor dumb bastard that just don't have a clue.

They are DELIBERATELY COLLAPSING our infrastructure. Anti Constitution hell, these people are dismantling an EMPIRE.

You know, the best way to cover your tracks after say, committing a mass murder and a grand theft, is to BURN THE JOINT DOWN.

By the time the flames are doused and the ashes interpreted, you can be LONG GONE.

They have already committed the WAR CRIMES and the WAR PROFITEERING... now the only thing left for them to do is burn US down.

Any lawyers in here wanna have some fun?

Draw up an indictment, or a lawsuit, against pelosi, reid and conyers for the AIDING AND ABETTING of High Crimes, including treason and WAR CRIMES. Torture, War profiteering, and the most ghastly CONSPIRACY to rob Iraqis of their freedom, wealth, and indeed, even their LIVES.

Aiding and abetting MILLIONS of felonies, by helping to ensure ILLEGAL domestic spying would not be revealed or stopped.

georgie can insulate himself by collapsing their power, but...they are only slightly less guilty than he, and they are still answerable to Us, like it or not.

I am sick of playing with these evil and disgusting people.

Let's do the All American Thing.

Let's SUE their asses.

Little NANCY abdicated her most sacred and awsome power. She REFUSES to uphold her duties. And her oath.

Let's find out why she did that, because it EFFECTIVELY aidded and abbetted every High Crime committed by bush. It ensured his escape from accountability.

It EFFECTIVELY dismantled every Constitutional check on unmitigated presidential authority.

Let's get our damn Constitution BACK!

And hurry, before they completely dismantle our legal system.

We've been sold down the river for sure... except due to global warming, the riverbed is bone dry.

Senator Kerry: Veto of Defense Authorization Bill a "Disgrace"

Regarding President Bush's expected veto of H.R. 1585, the fiscal year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act:

"ONLY GEORGE BUSH COULD BE FOR SUPPORTING THE TROOPS BEFORE HE WAS AGAINST IT,” said Kerry.

“We fought against this White House to provide our men and women in uniform a decent pay raise and now three days after Christmas George Bush says he'll veto it. What a disgrace. This fight has just begun and it won't end until we do right by those who sacrifice for our country."

Senator Kerry had previously written to President Bush asking him to stop opposing a 3.5 percent increase in military pay and also introduced a resolution in support of a 3.5 percent pay raise. That pay raise was included in the bill President Bush now threatens to veto.

Trouble.

Row breaks out over Benazir Bhutto's death

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/28/nosplit/wbhutto1228.xml

It's interesting reading chat on social networking sites (FaceBook, MySpace) to see what commenters are saying about the aftermath of the Bhutto assassination. Fortunately, many Pakistani students write in English, as do many Indian students.

For example:

Someone posts the UK Times link that Al Quaida accepts responsibility.

Next person says to take it as a news item, not a confession, and that a radical group from India is involved.

Next person says the government did it and that BBC interview says evidence was removed shortly after the incident and no postmortem conducted.

Next person says that author is a mouthpiece of the CIA and neocons.

Another person thinks blame is shifted to Al Quaida to deflect focus from the group from India, especially citing that blame goes onto Al Quaida without actual evidence and any other attribution by Pakistani intelligence is deemed "conspiracy theory." Al Quaida is thus "big bad wolf" and "scapegoat."

Next person also says it's propaganda that Al Quaida accepts responsibility for Bhutto's murder. Person blames military establishment.

Next person condemns the Taliban and accuses critics of loving them.

Another thinks government is blaming Al Quaida to wash hands from own mistakes and possible involvement.

Another says it cannot be done by a lone gunman and that Al Quaida is excuse used by CIA as bogeyman for countries to achieve their own political and economic ends.

-- From reading this, what might people in that country be thinking about the US of A? That we are in cahoots with their government, that the CIA is often involved behind the scenes, and that Al Quaida and terrorism are frequently used as a scapegoat or bogeyman or big bad wolf, to shift focus from other nefarious goings on.

MySpace has a nonintelligent Forum with mostly American white macho guys who took it at face value that Al Quaida had assassinated Bhutto and they were ready to hunt them down (but would never help, of course, except writing about it from behind their computers). Anyway, one of them has this signature line:

"I will follow Osama Bin Laden to the gates of hell and I will shoot him with your products,"
- John McCain (speaking to gun factory workers)

That's about the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

Great statement by Kerry.

Ok. so I'm assuming people have seen this by now.

Now someone help me, 'cuz I'm mighting confused. But didn't OBL make a pre-election visit via video in October 04. Just days before the electioN?

NOW...how could that happen IF that is true?

Make sure you watch the video.

Watched the video but not sure why you are confused, sparrow. The video does not say WHEN OBL was killed.

I don't know if this site is reliable.

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/osama_dead.html

Karen--according to an interview with Bhutta, he was murder in 02 by Omar Sheikh.

Wexler's petition now at:
151567

Though it's going well, personally, I think Wexler made a mistake when he went from asking for 50,000 signers up to 250,000 signers. Where's the reward for making it anywhere in between? What if he doesn't get 250,000, does that mean it's a failure? If he had put reasonable expectations, like 100,000, then 125,000, then 150,000 then each 25,000 people becomes a reward instead of a breathless wait to see if we will make it to 250,000 and be successful or fall short and be a failure.

Dumb planning whoever helped him with that! Just plain dumb!

I don't think there is any way to prove when a "UBL tape" is made .. unless he were actually holding up something that didn't exist until said date, like the latest Queens of the Stone Age CD or something.

The backdrop (cave etc) can be fake, he can dye his beard, he could have multiple look-a-likes like Saddam, and he could be photoshopped. Even in motion, it can be done.

He could be a very superb Pixil animation.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if OBL is dead and has been for some time. We will never know the true story, and he has hardly been the reason why the Bush administration has kept the "war on terror" going. No efforts have been made in some years to go after him, which says to me he is already dead or at least out of commission. I bet there are not 30 al Qaeda members left.

The terrorists in Iraq are resistors. Who knows who killed Bhutto? We certainly never will.

The terrorists we have always had to worry about are Cheney, Rumsfield, Wolfowitz, etc. The ones with the dead eyes and the cold blood.

(from Joe-Ks.com, where someone had the bad taste to publish it in Oct. of 2001 - happened to come across it after hearing some discussion about how no one knows .. )

Wexler's numbers:
156563

nmp said

-- From reading this, what might people in that country be thinking about the US of A? That we are in cahoots with their government, that the CIA is often involved behind the scenes, and that Al Quaida and terrorism are frequently used as a scapegoat or bogeyman or big bad wolf, to shift focus from other nefarious goings on.

I don't know about what Pakistanis think, nmp. I think this way.

December 28, 2007 9:12 AM
monkey said:

The irony of the "Christian" response to 9/11 is that it was, of course, a refutation of everything that Jesus taught. Now, I no longer consider myself a Christian - and hence consider myself utterly free to seek solutions outside of the Bible or any church teaching. And yet I am forced to wonder if that teaching in this specific case would not have produced a superior outcome.

Has not an American orgy of rage and machismo not simply incited an orgy of rage and machismo in the Muslim world? Was America not seen as the victim after 9/11? Was not that the ideal moment for an American President to begin to forge a new human center, an alliance of men and women of good will across the globe, to stand against the extremists. Instead, he acted in a fashion that has painted him and his supporters as cut from the same cloth as the people who attacked us - both here in his own country and around the world.

Imagine instead if he had actually taken the Sermon on the Mount to heart - and at least acted out of spirit of just war, in contrast to vengence and revenge and delusion?

Religion has become dangerous because its adherents too often prefer to employ it in a pathetic attempt to raise themselves in their own eyes above their fellow men and women, instead of as mirror for ruthless self-transformation. I don't particularly buy into that model anymore, but if you're call yourself a Christian, I'd argue that you owe Jesus nothing less.