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Ralph posted some suggestions about the Wexler tape. He said:
PLEASE PROMOTE AND SUPPORT THE WEXLER VIDEO BY:1) DOUBLE CLICKING ON IT AND WATCH IT @ YOU TUBE (not just here at DCP)
2) RATE THE VIDEO WITH FIVE STARS
3) LEAVE A TEXT COMMENT, SOMETHING yeah, impeach the bastard etc..
4) IF YOU HAVE A YOU TUBE ACCOUNT, FAVORITE THIS VIDEO; THEN THE VIDEO WILL APPEAR ON YOUR YOUTUBE homepage..
Listen, folks, we should do at least as well as the Paul folks do at promoting their stuff on You Tube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQDLyKGX268
So I followed Ralph's advice and commented and favorited it. Then I explored around Youtube a bit. Apparently, they have a "Most Popular" list. And you can get more views by getting on this list. There are also things like, most comments, most views, most favorites, etc...
It brought to mind other venues out there were we can get more coverage, such as Myspace, Facebook, and other social network sites like Meebo or Cupid.com
So give it a try and find some creative ways to get the information out there.
If Paul's supporters can do it, so can we!
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Here's the YouTube link to click on.
I forgot to embedd it.
And here is Myspace and Facebook and Deviantart.com
This is us dealing with the corporate Democrats and Republicans on torture, spying, illegal crimes, impeachment and so on...
December 14, 2007 11:20 PM
Christy said:
(this is a carry over from the last thread)
The Democrats would not have to be bullied if they were complicit.
However, I am not so naive to believe that many of the Washington politicians don't look for an opportunity to enrich themselves. Reid and his group are stupid, lousy politicians. They don't know how to mount an effective opposition. You contend they have no intention of mounting any opposition because their motives are no different than the Republicans. I suspect you are right in some respects, but I honestly believe that Reid and the rest of the Democratic leadership (and that includes Durbin, one of my Senators) are clueless. They are so inculcated by the Washington culture, they don't really have any understanding what most Americans are demanding.
Sooner or later, the Democrat Party will either be a thing of the past or the current isolated and insulated party leaders will be removed. I suspect the latter is more likely to happen.
oncall said
"the Washington culture" - oh yes - I think you are right. The leadership of the Democrats in both their houses has been impotent - but Pelosi announced that hers would be right at the very beginning. Democrats got what they asked for. And so did the Republicans who say at the end of every day - "thankyou Democrats". Democrats don't seem to have the steel of backbone the world was expecting.
I sure hope you're right - and very much sooner rather than later. It's very nearly too late altogether.
Thanks for this reminder sparrow. I meant to follow ralpheh's suggestions re the wexler video this morning but forgot. I'll do it now.
"The tsar of Washington". Almost as accurate a title as His Stupidness - eh monkey?
Al-Zawahri: Annapolis a 'betrayal'
The tape is yet to be independently verified [AFP]
Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda's second-in-command, has purportedly condemned Arab leaders who attended the recent US-sponsored Middle East conference in the US city of Annapolis.
In an audiotape posted on the internet, a voice said to be that of al-Zawahri labelled the talks a "betrayal" to Palestinians.
Al-Zawahri said: "The Annapolis meeting was held to turn Palestine into a Jewish state."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B7802883-A492-4658-9655-E3417EC15A74.htm
I have a friend who is moving to Canada. His family are big Bush backers. They finally asked why he is leaving. Her talked about corruption and torture. They said, "Why do you concern yourself with that if it doesn't affect you directly."
That mentality is a big problem.
parrow Author Profile Page said:
Here's the YouTube link to click on.
I forgot to embedd it.
And here is Myspace and Facebook and Deviantart.com
@@@@@@
THANKS FOR REPOSTING THIS, SPARROW!!
The Wexler video is doing quite well, it is one of the top 10 political videos of the last 2 days with over 10,000 views. That number of views for a political video is a success. When you get up to 50,000 or 100,000 views, you have a genuine hit on your hands...
Here is one of the most popular political videos recently:
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The latest on the Wexler video:
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My neoliberal family doesn't get it either.
They just don't understand that I am on W's list of subversives to be denied jobs at any opportunity, and to be exterminated.
NEOLIBERALISM IS WORSE THAN COMMUNISM
December 15, 2007 11:17 AM
not my president said:
________________________________________________________________________
Where I come from, people cocoon themselves with the "what me worry?" attitude. So many believe that they have no reason to be concerned that their phone conversations would ever be monitored because they don't communicate with Muslims. They have nothing to fear. The myopia gives me a pounding headache.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMCjnZyU1Lg&NR=1 (I am sorry, I don't know how to post the video so that it starts if you click on it.)
I just read the instructions:
nmp said
That mentality is a big problem.
How right you are nmp. And how scary it is that people have become so insulated against the entire world, that concern becomes so self-serving that humanitarian thoughts, feelings, actions or even accountability are an aberration of huge dimensions. Their consciences are appeased for those of our fellow humans who suffer greatly at the whims of sickos and psychos all over the planet.
And when those sickos and psychos operate legitimately and with legal immunity, amongst us, our slide to utter depravity has barely begun.
How many tortured people had absolutely no information worthy of note? 5%? 50% or 98%? The truth is most likely towards the highest end than the lowest.
Oops - sorry nmp - that 2nd sentence was supposed to be in the blockquote too.
I got an even better one.
Me, my mother, and two of my siblings were at breakfast recently.
They all three decided it was funny to bait me, and alllll three told me right there that they are so not worried about being illegally wiretapped... 'Because I don't have anything to hide!'
Get this, my two siblings ARE COPS.
And that is when I informed them that for two cops they were not very bright cops, since it was the federal government hiding something. Like millions of FELONIES. And how can anyone trust cops when cops sat there showing a totL LACK OF UNDERSTAND FOR the laws THEY ARE SUPPOSSED TO BE UPHOLDING...?
And... they spent the rest of our time together trying to say anything they could to personally insult me because I guess somehow that makes them being DUMB COPS ok as long as I feel horrible about being in their stupid presence.
And, that is one reason why I now consider myself an orphan who has no siblings anymore. I do not ever want to see them again.
Christy - I've just had a huge wakeup call. My eldest brother was estranged from most of us except we weren't really sure what it was all about. Within the last 4 or 5 years he and his wife restored contact with my mother and my eldest sister who lived with mum.
Mum died in October. Marlene died in November. We are now all speaking, have apologised "if there's something I've done" and have swept the crap aside. I know that most of them do NOT share much with me regarding politics, religion, social conscience ..... hell, nothing at all really. I think I was swapped at birth.
However - all that aside, I can live way down here in Tassie, very happily and avoid ALL subjects on the phone. There probably won't be much face to face. I can live with that. We are able at least to talk about the things we have in common - history. And when we meet, we can leave it at that.
I'll choose the stimulation of conversation and ideas elsewhere. I've been doing that for 40 years. My friends and I don't have to argue - one starts a topic and the other launches in with examples - and on it goes. I do have some relatives who share a social/political view with me. But we keep it to ourselves. To worry about convincing the folk who just don't have a clue, is a waste of my time and energy. They know where I stand - one still doesn't talk to me. That's ok. I talk to all of them - not about anything of world or historical importance - I choose the people for those discussions. And mostly they're not family in the blood sense, but family in the "what's important" sense.
Growing up in the kind of family in which dinner conversations consisted of contemporary issues, and sometimes loud arguments (we called them "discussions") was a great training ground for blogging. You had to learn to hold your own at that table, which my mother did by knowing a lot and speaking it and my father did with devastating statements of fact at the very moment you decided he had checked out.
(My parents and my sister do read this blog occasionally, so I have to be a BIT careful here!)
But the message was clear: tolerance and justice were important. I am grateful for that. But despite the warmth-by-friction nature of our household, we all were aware of the society-at-large's potential for torture and genocide. I was lucky not to become paranoid, but aware.
As I meet folks in DC and watch friends struggle with the challenges of living and working in a borderline society overrun with sociopaths, I am always happy to know this community here at the DCP exists, with its own nuttiness, of course, but with a shared experience of learning and understanding what makes peace possible: compassion and good listening. It reminds me of those family dinners, without the over-cooked vegetables, of course.
(Ducking from my mom, if she reads this!)
"That's ok. I talk to all of them - not about anything of world or historical importance -"
I was raised to believe women are the property of men and so are the kids, And if they didn't like it they could be beaten into silence.
My brothers and sisters, I am not ducking them. I just refuse to have a conversation where I can not speak of anything important or else I am attacked personally by people who seem to enjoy it endlessly.
40 years of their silence sounds good to me. Fifty sounds better.
I am finished being nice to people who never have given me any reason to be nice to them.
It is not really about george w bush, but hey, if they are ok being made TORTURERS and IDIOTS in his name, then they can lose family in his name too.
To hell with them.
But anyways Sparrow, all that crap that I was talking to you about, that is how it started....
TWO DUMB COPS AT BREAKFAST.
Enough to ruin anyones appetite.
Again Thank you for being there. I am so ok now it is kinda scary.
I swear I hate george w bush.
LETTER TO W. BUSH REGARDING THE HALT OF BULLDOZING OF PUBLIC HOUSING IN NEW ORLEANS FROM PELOSI AND REID:
December 14, 2007
The Honorable George W. Bush
President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We are writing to request an immediate 60-day moratorium on the demolition of New Orleans’ public housing developments: C.J. Peete, St. Bernard, Lafitte, and B.W. Cooper. The Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), currently under the control of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is demolishing these homes under executive authority. Although a temporary restraining order has delayed the demolition of these units to next week or possibly longer, we believe that additional time is needed in order to resolve several outstanding issues surrounding the City’s affordable housing needs, including the need for a comprehensive plan for replacement of any demolished public housing units.
We believe that New Orleans’ recovery requires a viable plan for its affordable housing needs. We are committed to working with you and the Department to execute such a plan for replacing affordable housing currently scheduled for demolition. The entire New Orleans metropolitan region is in dire need of the kind of affordable housing that will allow citizens to return and grow the workforce. The Department’s premature push for complete demolition impedes this goal. Given the poor condition of New Orleans’ rental housing stock, the rising levels of homelessness in the City, and the sound construction of some of these developments, these housing resources should not be demolished without a viable full replacement plan in place.
As you know, the area is still recovering from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the Federal levee breaks, which destroyed 67 percent of the housing stock in Orleans Parish and almost 100 percent in neighboring St. Bernard Parish. Much of this housing has yet to be rebuilt. The shortage of housing has pushed rents in the City, and surrounding metropolitan area, well above their normal levels, with rents rising 45 percent since the storm.
The lack of available and affordable housing is being felt acutely across the City and region. According to a January 2007 study by UNITY of New Orleans, since January of 2005, the number of homeless in the City has more than doubled to almost 12,000 individuals. Many of these homeless residents are living under Interstate 10 or in Duncan Plaza, next to New Orleans City Hall. Experts at the Brookings Institution cite a net 9,000 unit decrease in affordable housing for the City of New Orleans. According to an August study by the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps, 50 percent of families wanting to return to the City earn less than $20,000 a year. It is clear that affordable housing, including public housing, is essential for these families.
Given the City’s housing needs and the current availability of these affordable housing resources, we are extremely disappointed by the Department’s insistence on moving ahead with this demolition despite insufficient resources to make up the clear loss of affordable housing. For the Federal government to reduce affordable housing units at a time when the City is desperate for this very type of housing is a misuse of taxpayer funds and runs counter to the mission of the Department, not to mention the core values that we share. Additionally, HANO has not completed a promised survey of displaced residents and has indicated that this important document now will not be ready until late January at the earliest. HANO has also not provided meaningful opportunity for residents to collect their belongings. The additional sixty days would allow for the resolution of these and other essential issues, including the completion of a comprehensive plan for HANO redevelopment of all affordable units, and replacement of any units proposed for demolition.
As many in the country prepare to spend the holiday season at home with their families, we urge you to consider these New Orleans families and their homes. We strongly urge you to halt the demolition of these units.
Sincerely,
Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House
Harry Reid
Senate Majority Leader
Just the fact there is a 'debate' about torture to me is the most sickening thing. How can this be happening?
...So Bond goes on C-Span’s Washington Journal and tries to clarify his comment with increasing incoherence.
Apparently, he meant that there was as much variety in waterboarding techniques as there are swimming strokes....
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/12/15/washington-journal-kit-bond-tries-to-backpedal-from-waterboarding-comments/
Hey Ralph.... No one cares what Pelosi and Reid believe anymore.
THEY are the ones that could do something to allieve the suffering... THEY chose to be bush enablers. His lap dogs.
What makes ANYONE think Nancy cares anymore about the 'homeless' of New Orleans than she does the homeless she has arrested for loitering around her own fine and beautiful home?
Whatever Nancy. Try this.... do your freaking job and impeach the 'worst president in history'.
Then maybe someone will actually be able to STOP the bulldozers in New orleans, instead of just writing endless letters talking about it.
As long as georgie is president, New Orleans will never be safe. The opportunity of a lifetime and they will not just give it all back.
This might make some of us feel better:
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales no longer ABA 'Lawyer of the Year'
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Former_Justice_Department_head_Alberto_Gonzales_1215.html
Keith Olbermann on Bill Moyers Journal Part 1
Keith Olbermann on Bill Moyers Journal Part 2
Keith Olbermann on Bill Moyers Journal Part 3
Free hugs banned. Now that is just crazy.
NOW takes a closer look at the Ron Paul Revolution.
The following video is from PBS’s NOW, broadcast on November 14, 2007
Watch Video Here
http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/?p=283
Beware The Democratic Party watch your back, Don't ignore the wishes of the People
His Power is growing,
Land Of The Free
Bush administration: Back off CIA tape probe
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration wants a federal court and congressional committees not to pursue investigations into the destruction of videotapes showing CIA interrogations of two al Qaeda suspects.
It says the inquiries would interfere with an ongoing probe by the Justice Department in collaboration with the CIA.
Defense attorneys for some terror suspects have asked U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy to look into whether the tapes' destruction violated a June order.
The measure requires the government to preserve evidence and information regarding detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
But Friday night, the Bush administration urged Kennedy not to hold that inquiry, saying the tapes were not covered by the order because one of the detainees videotaped -- Osama bin Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah -- was not at Guantanamo Bay in June.
Also Friday, CIA Inspector General John Helgerson and assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein sent a letter to the top Democrat and Republican on the House Select Committee on Intelligence, urging the panel to abandon its investigation because of the inspector general and Justice Department probe.
"We cannot estimate how long this process will take or where it will lead, but pledge to advise you as soon as we conclude that our efforts are no longer at risk or that these requests can be fulfilled without jeopardizing our inquiry," says the letter to committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes and ranking Republican member Peter Hoekstra.
House Intelligence Committee leaders have said the executive branch cannot be trusted to oversee itself.
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/15/cia.tapes/index.html
Bush: 'A congressional promise does not pay the bills'
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush appealed to Congress on Saturday to give him real cash for the war, not a pledge to fund the troops
"A congressional promise -- even if enacted -- does not pay the bills," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "It is time for Congress to provide our troops with actual funding."
The broadcast is the president's latest shot in a battle the White House is having with Congress over spending bills.
The Senate on Friday passed a defense policy bill for the 2008 budget year. It authorizes $696 billion in military spending, including $189 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it does not actually send any money to the Pentagon.
"Congress has had plenty of time to consider the emergency funds our troops need," Bush said. "Time is running out, and Pentagon officials say that continued delay in funding our troops will soon begin to have a damaging impact on the operations of our military.
"Congress' responsibility is clear: They must deliver vital funds for our troops -- and they must do it before they leave for Christmas," Bush said.
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/15/radio.address.ap/index.html
... but billions of dollars in wasted and unaccounted for taxpayer money funneled through this illegal war that went to God knows where would probably pay the bills, eh Dumbass?
Abstinence programs face rejection
More states turning down federal money attached to zero-tolerance sex ed
washingtonpost.com
The number of states refusing federal money for "abstinence-only" sex education programs jumped sharply in the past year as evidence mounted that the approach is ineffective.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22277576/
Karen,
I loved that Free Hugs video. It made me cry!
December 16, 2007 1:46 AM
Kangaroo said
______________________________________________________________________________
Kangaroo,
Ron Paul is an intriguing candidate, but when people are reminded that he and his party do not believe that some of our social programs (Social Security, Medicare, etc) and certain government agencies (the FDA, the EPA) are unconstitutional, he will start to lose his luster among many of the undecided Democrats and Republicans.
Kanga,
Thanks for posting the Moyers/Olbermann interview. I had missed it.
Carol,
You can see all of Bill Moyers' interviews on PBS.org. I watched the interview uninterrupted at that site.
Keith Olbermann lifted the weight of fear which was bearing down on many Americans; a fear of speaking out against a government that was destroying civil rights, pursuing an illegal occupation, gutting our Justice Department and turning it into an arm of the Republican party. His Special Comments are heart felt and well documented. Those comments reflect what millions of Americans and other world citizens feel about this country. He has made statements as well about the ineptitude of the Democratic Party. Obviously, I am a fan.
Isn't Ron Paul the one who wants to do away with 'public schools'....? Seriously, I think he also says those are 'unconstitutional', too.
You would think the republicans would just LOVE that one. They have been starving them to death for years.
Do away with those pesky sick people and the pesky people checking our food, and the eviorment. Peel all those old people off the dole and shut down all public school funding....
No wonder Ron Paul has such a following. He is offering up their wet dreams.
December 16, 2007 11:33 AM
Christy said:
_____________________________________________________________________________
That's right Christy, Ron Paul bases his campaign on the "liberty" theme.
Paul would liberate Americans from the programs that are integral for the general welfare and survival of many Americans. His primary thesis is based on the 10th Amendment to the Constitution and a move to have the states themselves take on these social responsibilities. The problem with that approach is obvious. It is also obvious that many of the people who support Paul (Paul-bearers) would be the ones to actively work to destroy those programs in their own states. It is ironic that many of those people who believe creationism (not Ron Paul) are social darwinists.
Law to help wounded vets etc. Local connection is sponsorship by WA Senator Patty Murray. This is from A Castle, advocae for vets:
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=warriors15m&date=20071215&query=Act+to+improve+care+for+soldiers
Now is the time to contact the White House to urge President Bush to sign this into law. As you know, he and his administration have been the most veteran unfriendly ever, at least in the last 70 years or so.
Google White House and you will be able to send an email.
I didn't know Fox's Roger Ailes was a Nixon aid in 1968. Maybe everyone knew that.
THE AILES FACTOR: “The Selling of the President 1968” is notable, too, for introducing the world to Roger Ailes, now chairman of the Fox News Channel. At the time, Ailes was a Nixon aide,
(NYT book reviews... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/books/review/16tbr.html?ref=review
He actually has a speech writer, I sure as hell would not be broadcasting my name to the world as Georgies chief speechwriter, that would sure as hell lose you any consideration in the job market.
White House Exodus Continues: Chief Bush Speechwriter Out
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071214/bush-staff-departures/
WEXLER ON IMPEACHING CHENEY ON RANDI RHODES
The original Wexler Video is up to 30,000 views:
Rate:
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Views: 30,585
Comments: 199 Favorited: 79 times Honors: 4 Links: 5
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Recent Ratings:
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Kangaroo,
Ron Paul is an intriguing candidate, but when people are reminded that he and his party do not believe that some of our social programs (Social Security, Medicare, etc) and certain government agencies (the FDA, the EPA) are unconstitutional, he will start to lose his luster among many of the undecided Democrats and Republicans.
=========
He seems to be getting voters that never voted before Oncall, to me that is a big problem, don't count out the uneducated voter, the first time voter that is looking for change, and do not educate themselves on the voting practices of the person they are voting for, just follows the blimp, just like the faux brain dead.
Most Americans, as we can see are to lazy to educate themselves, they are followers as everyone here will adhere to.
The Democratic Party, should not forget Nader in 2000 he lost the election for them big time.
They had it in their power to reach the people that put them into power in 2006, and they have blown it big time, by just conceding to Georgie on each important vote, since they where given back their power.
People are angry, and angry people will fight back any way they can, even if it goes against the better interests, Just remember they have allowed Georgie to rule for 8 years against their better interests, to me that says it all.
Christy said:
Hey Ralph.... No one cares what Pelosi and Reid believe anymore.
THEY are the ones that could do something to allieve the suffering... THEY chose to be bush enablers. His lap dogs.
@@@@@@
Hey Christy....
Don't complain to me about it. Complain to Pelosi, Complain to Conyers, Complain to YOur Congressmember, contribute money to Kucinich, contribute money to Wexler etc..
5 million Iraqi orphans, anti-corruption board reveals
GEORGIES LIBERATION OF IRAQ
Voices of Iraq
Iraq's anti-corruption board revealed on Saturday that there were five million Iraqi orphans as reported by official government statistics, urging the government, parliament, and NGOs to be in constant contact with Iraq's parentless children. "The government should set up an institutional or legislative program to help the Iraqi orphans. Iraqi is an oil-rich country and it is not acceptable that its orphans remain groaning in this tragedy," the anti-corruption board chief, Moussa Faraj, said during a conference in Baghdad dedicated to orphans in Iraq. "The board on its own cannot meet the Iraqi orphans' needs, but there should be an organization or even a ministry to provide care for orphans," he said. The Iraqi parliament's women & family committee had proposed a draft law to set up a fund for the orphans....
http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m39245&hd=&size=1&l=e
Surprise! Mukasey Covers Up Torture
Robert Parry, consortiumnews.com
Last month, Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California joined Republicans to ensure Michael Mukasey’s confirmation as Attorney General, even though he refused to acknowledge that the simulated drowning of waterboarding was torture. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada helped the Bush administration, too, by rushing a floor vote on Mukasey before rank-and-file Democrats could get organized and push for a filibuster. To show thanks, Mukasey now is slapping the Democratic-controlled Congress in the face by demanding it back off any oversight investigations into how and why the CIA in late 2005 destroyed videotapes of the waterboarding of al-Qaeda suspects.
www.consortiumnews.com/2007/121507.html
Handover in Basra as killings go on
Today the British army formally transfers command in the province to the Iraqis, but the toll of factional warfare is still growing
Peter Beaumont, The Observer
After four years, eight months and 11 days, after the deaths of unknown thousands of Iraqis, after 174 British fallen, and billions expended on reconstruction and the cost of a military mission, today the British mission in Iraq takes a large step towards being wound up (...) The retreats and drawdowns of the past few months have been hailed by senior British officers as a symbol of their success in establishing a more secure Basra for Iraqi security forces to take over - a line being bought by almost no Iraqis in the province. Instead the city and province that the British occupied when paratroopers and marines marched into the city centre of Basra on 6 April, 2003, have traced a slow, bloody and fractious decline. The struggles between the different political factions within the city for control of hospital wards and university campuses, for the police and for local government, led to kidnapping, intimidation and assassination, and turned at the end into Shia-on-Shia factional warfare in which ordinary Iraqis were caught in the middle. Yesterday British officers stuck to their line. Major Mike Shearer said attacks had dropped dramatically since September as a result of the move. Attacks on British troops, he largely meant. No one denies that the city and the province that the British are handing over is plagued by violence between militias and criminal gangs. Or that women are murdered with impunity for not wearing the hijab...
www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2228283,00.html
Republicans Stop Bill To Ban Waterboarding
Senate Republicans blocked a bill Friday that would restrict the interrogation methods the CIA can use against terrorism suspects.
The bill would require the CIA to adhere to the Army's field manual on interrogation, which bans waterboarding, mock executions and other harsh interrogation methods.
The interrogation procedure, which is recognized as a form of torture by making the subject think he's drowning, is banned by international law. It has been used by CIA interrogators on terrorism suspects, or by those to whom U.S. prisoners have been sent via rendition flights.
A Senate bill which would prohibit the CIA from using waterboarding as an interrogation method was blocked by Republicans, who believed that banning the torture method would "destroy" the government's ability to combat terrorism. (CBS)
It was recently learned that the CIA ordered the destruction of videotapes of interrogations in which detainees were reportedly subjected to waterboarding and other harsh measures.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/14/national/main3621016.shtml
‘Sleeping with the boss’ common at KBR in Iraq
Source: By Jason Whitely / 11 News / TV Channel KVUE in Texas
Working in Iraq wasn't always an adventure for Linda Lindsey. "If you wanted to get a promotion you didn't necessarily have to have the qualifications,” remembered Lindsey, a former KBR contractor. “You just needed to be sleeping with the person who was doing the hiring.”
. . .
In a sworn affidavit for the Jones case, Lindsey said: “I saw rampant sexual harassment and discrimination."
“Well, first of all, a boss saying that he hired a woman because she told him that she puts out," she added.
Her affidavit also said: "When anyone would report an incident of abuse or harassment, they would be threatened with a transfer to a more dangerous location."
Lindsey said complaints made it back to KBR's Houston headquarters, but the people causing problems in Iraq were never removed. That left many women workers, Lindsey said, feeling helpless.
http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/121507kvuekbr-jj.1b453e28.html
USATODAY.com - Army probes soldier suicidesIn the past seven months, at least 11 soldiers and three Marines have committed suicide in Iraq, military officials say. That is an annual rate of 17 per ...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-10-13-army-suicides-usat_x.htm
Lieberman To Endorse McCain
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Conn.), who was on the national Democratic ticket in 2000, will cross the aisle to endorse Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) tomorrow, Republican sources said.
The two will appear together on NBC's "Today" show tomorrow, then at an 8 a.m. town hall meeting in Hillsborough, N.H. They will talk with reporters after the meeting.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7418.html
YOU DECIDE
Bush Reaction To NIE Reveals Him As World Warmonger No. 1
Bush's rejection of the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran is further proof he's hell-bent on war and must be stopped before he kills more.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_sherwood_071206_bush_reaction_to_nie.htm
Response to article from http://samsonblinded.org/blog/we-need-a-respite-from-%20peace.htm
We need a respite from peace
From Danny: The comments we receive are 95% spam, and of the balance the vast majority is hate mail. Probably related to the Annapolis, we experience a flood of hate mail from peaceniks. I delete it all, since talking to them is pointless. Here, however, is a short summary of our reasons to oppose the peace process.]
Peace process doesn’t lead to peace. Concessions to Arabs and imploring for peace only provoke them for the last-ditch fighting. That correlation is clear at least since the Oslo accords.
Peace process cannot lead to peace. If history is any lesson, peace is only achieved through crushing defeat of one’s enemy.
Peace process is highly unusual. Every other nation destroyed whatever aborigines happened to live on the land that nation chose to build a state.
Peace process is illegal. The original arrangement for the Jewish state included Transjordan, but the British illegally cut it off. Then the UN further partitioned Israel to accommodate Palestinian Arabs.
Peace process is immoral. Palestinian Arabs don’t constitute a nation. Offering them a state is a plot against Jews.
Peace process doesn’t offer safety. Jews need a secure state rather than a beach strip eight miles wide.
Peace process runs against Judaism and Jewish history. Jews are attached to the land which the peace process gives to Palestinians: Judea, Samaria, Hebron, Schem, and the Temple Mount. Coastal areas of the modern Israel are irrelevant to Jewish religion or history. Jews could as well settle in Uganda or Arizona.
Peace process is not for real. Israeli government employs the peace process for the sole objective of destroying Jewish religious and nationalist opposition to its rule. Neither security of the Jewish state, nor fulfillment of Jewish objectives are the peace process’ goals.
Peace process is pointless. Israel can settle with Palestinian government, but a sufficient number of Palestinian Arabs would always resent what they think is Jewish occupation of the land of their ancestors. A few thousand such Arabs would always be there, and will always attack Israel employing terrorist tactics.
Peace process fails to address the major issue of Israel’s Jewishness. Israeli Arabs already constitute more than a third of Israeli youth. Arabs constitute majority in many important areas of Israel. The area of Lod near Ben Gurion airport is as much hostile to Israel as Gaza. Israel’s real problem is not the Palestinian Authority, but the Israeli Arabs who can field the largest faction in the Knesset ten years from now.
Peace is not viable in our case. After the peace treaty with Egypt, Israel continues immense military spending. Egypt continues anti-Israeli propaganda and builds an army whose only target is Israel.
Peace is not a proper objective. Jews moved into Israel to fulfill religious and nationalist objectives. If peace and security are the utmost objectives, Israelis should move to Canada.
Sheehan: Impeach Pelosi over torture
Activist, running for Pelosi's seat, accuses Speaker of collaborating with Bush.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_abdus_sa_071215_cindy_sheehan_3a_impea.htm
a href="http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/12/16/12020715061.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href, '_blank', 'width=800,height=600,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false">
Friend of mine has been married for 37 years .. always trying to get her husband to hang Christmas lights and he won't do it. This year he came in and said he had.
Hey Ralph...
"Don't complain to me about it. Complain to Pelosi, Complain to Conyers, Complain to YOur Congressmember, "
I have complained to pelosi, and conyers both. Their people made it very clear my complaints would not even be considered.Or yours either.
And, MY congressman is a family values republican that likes to be diapered and spanked by hookers.
I will glady give Kucinich money... if I had any. I am sure it would at least make me feel better to give my money to someone with no chance in hell of winning.
But, either way, I wasn't complaining to you. I was just pointing out how UTTERLY RIDICULOUS nancy and harry and their strongly worded letters look.
The only thing missing from that letter was 'Oh Please? Oh please oh please oh please? Oh pretty please with sugar on top...?'
Not sure what it means but it sounds good.
"America is better when Republican Party is cracked "
> Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor during Clinton administration.
>
Christy,
You can stop your kabuchi-snow-frigid-cold weather dance now.
We've got at least 6 inches and it sucks around here.
Being snowed in though has its benefits. I have almost completed the term. But I got almost all of it done today while being trapped surrounded by White Hell and Freezing temps.
Sorry...but it's about at this time of year that I start to think that Global Warming is a cause for celebration.
...another cause for celebration and WORK... in two days over 60,000 to Wexler's and the judiciary committees impeachment petition. They asked for 50k in 24 hours.
Please sign it and forward it.
http://www.wexlerwantshearings.com/
Harman: 'We're in Constitutional crisis'
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Harman_sees_Constitutional_crisis_over_CIA_1216.html
Yeah We Are! Welcome to the freaking party lady!
re: Lieberman endorsing McCain...
When you play Beatle records backwards, it says "Lieberman is the devil, Lieberman is the devil".
I may have to look back at his performance in 2000 as Gore running mate and his answers to questions in debates, etc., cuz I think he may have been sleeping with the enemy even then.
Et tu, Liebershnitzel?
Jesus Christ. I don't even know what else to say except JESUS CHRIST!
Miller County, Arkansas) Two boy scout counselors, 17 year old Clayton Frady and 18 year old David litickabee [sic], the son of Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, have admitted to catching a stray dog during their summer session at Camp Pioneer in Hatfield, AR, and hanging the dog by his neck, slitting his throat and stoning him to death.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/12/16/huckabee-squashed-charges-against-his-son-for-stoning-hanging-dog/
No wonder he could pity a murdering rapist...
Oh man.
The Roots of Fear
The evolutionary primacy of the brain's fear circuitry makes it more powerful than reasoning circuits.
By Sharon Begley | NEWSWEEK
Dec 24, 2007 Issue
For the candidate whose slogans include "Got Hope?" the question was so perfect he might have dreamed it up himself. At an appearance this month at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, a foreign student asked Barack Obama about the fear that has gripped the American psyche since September 11, 2001, and which a number of politicians are hoping to ride to victory. A recent Mitt Romney mailing in New Hampshire, for instance, shows a chain-link fence and warns that the next president's "policies on illegal immigrants will define America for generations to come."
A new Tom Tancredo ad declares that Central American gangs "now on our soil" are "pushing drugs" and "raping kids." And Rudy Giuliani rarely misses a chance to evoke images of crashing planes, collapsing towers and 2,973 dead Americans.
So when the student asked about America's climate of fear, Obama pounced. "We have been operating under a politics of fear: fear of terrorists, fear of immigrants, fear of people of different religious beliefs, fears of gays that they might get married and that somehow that would affect us," he declared. "We have to break that fever of fear … Unfortunately what I've been seeing from the Republican debates is that they are going to perpetuate this fearmongering … Rudy gets up and says, 'They are trying to kill you' … It's absolutely true there are 30,000, 40,000 hard-core jihadists who would be happy to strap on a bomb right now, walk in here and blow us all up. You can't negotiate with those folks. All we can do is capture them, kill them, imprison them. And that is one of my pre-eminent jobs as president of the United States. Keep nuclear weapons out of their hands."
The fact that a candidate whose campaign is built on optimism and a positive message is not above evoking terrifying images of suicide bombers and nuclear bombs—and doing so two breaths after he denounces fearmongering—reveals the power of fear to sway voters. Half a century of research has shown that fear is one of the most politically powerful emotions a candidate can tap, especially when the fears have a basis in reality; jihadists, of course, are indeed bent on suicide bombings. Candidates who exploit voters' fears and anxieties grab attention in a way that other appeals, such as those to experience, competence, vision or even anger (a close second to fear in its power to move voters) do not. "In politics, the emotions that really sway voters are hate, hope and fear or anxiety," says political psychologist Drew Westen of Emory University, author of the recent book "The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation." "But the skillful use of fear is unmatched in leading to enthusiasm for one candidate and causing voters to turn away from another."
more...
http://www.newsweek.com/id/78178
So let me get this straight.... When a black man named Vick does it, it is a horrible crime and the bad bad black man goes to prison.... But a white boy named huckabee ....
Man this is so sick I am shocked I can still be shocked.
"The elder Huckabee said then that politics was behind the dog-killing accusation."
Snip
"...the son of Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, have admitted to catching a stray dog during their summer session at Camp Pioneer in Hatfield, AR, and hanging the dog by his neck, slitting his throat and stoning him to death."
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/thats-my-boy-by-digby-im-not-big-on.html
"However, no charges have been filed against the young men."
No, of course not. Even though they admitted to it....Hmmmm.
Christy...
Dang..that ticks me off! Send anyone who abuses an animal to some deep dark hole. That type of thing makes me hate people and wonder why God created scum like them.
Animals do icky things to survive.
Humans do it out of evilness.
Monkey
Yep. Our country has suffered from PTSD for the last 5 years. And PTSD, hyper-fear, is something that takes a lot of work and self-management to get over and allow logic to take hold.
Sadly...they want us to say in PTSD so that we're meed and malleable.
And, MY congressman is a family values republican that likes to be diapered and spanked by hookers.
I will glady give Kucinich money... if I had any. I am sure it would at least make me feel better to give my money to someone with no chance in hell of winning.
@@@@@@@@
SIGN THE WEXLER PETITION AND FORWARD THE WEXLER VIDEO AND WEBSITE TO OTHERS. There are new 3 Dems. on the Judiciary Committee that support hearings on impeaching Cheney: Reps Luis Gutierrez, Tammy Baldwin and Wexler.
Here are the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee - call them... go AROUND PELOSI:
Democrats (23)
Rep. Howard Berman (DEM-CA-28th)
Rep. Rick Boucher (DEM-VA-9th)
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (DEM-NY-8th)
Rep. Bobby Scott (DEM-VA-3rd)
Rep. Melvin Watt (DEM-NC-12th)
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (DEM-CA-16th)
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (DEM-TX-18th)
Rep. Maxine Waters (DEM-CA-35th)
Rep. William Delahunt (DEM-MA-10th)
Rep. Robert Wexler (DEM-FL-19th)
Rep. Linda Sanchez (DEM-CA-39th)
Rep. Stephen Cohen (DEM-TN-9th)
Rep. Hank Johnson (DEM-GA-4th)
Rep. Betty Sutton (DEM-OH-13th)
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (DEM-IL-4th)
Rep. Brad Sherman (DEM-CA-27th)
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (DEM-WI-2nd)
Rep. Anthony Weiner (DEM-NY-9th)
Rep. Adam Schiff (DEM-CA-29th)
Rep. Artur Davis (DEM-AL-7th)
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (DEM-FL-20th)
Rep. Keith Ellison (DEM-MN-5th)
sparrow said:
This is us dealing with the corporate Democrats and Republicans on torture, spying, illegal crimes, impeachment and so on...
sparrow that is so appropriate,I love it, just had to post on Rebelle for liberals to enjoy
Christy said
uh huh. And torture innocents.
Kangaroo and sparrow - and that little caption - with all that blood slipped my right back into a very gripping novel that I am reading - ask Christy if she knows what I'm talking about.
It certainly is a tell-tale nightmare clip sparrow!
new thread