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That Media... Six Years Behind the Times
Report: Exams prove abuse, torture in Iraq, Gitmo
That's the headline at the A.P. indicating that torture has been happening at Gitmo and in Iraq for the last six years.
When reports and pictures of torture first surfaced, the media followed the White House's spin: it was only a few bad apples and the person (people) who revealed the tortured were smeared in the media in a nasty, ugly way.
Jesselyn Radack and Tom Fiscus were the first to reveal the torture policies by our government. Both revealed pictures, memorandums, emails, etc... to the media. Both mysteriously witnessed public emails and notes being recertified as "secret or top secret" or simply disappear.
Nonetheless, the media refused to dig deeper into the information that Radack and Fiscus brought to them. And instead, the media filled the airwaves and cyberspace with hit pieces against Radack and Fiscus. While at the same time, respected journalists had their phones illegally wiretapped as a way to prevent future leakings of truth to the public.
Yet, in the meantime, they allowed our citizens to believe that it was only a few rotten apples who tortured in Iraq or Gitmo and they catapulted the propaganda for the White House.
Take a look at what the medical reports are saying happened according to the A.P. article.
Physicians for Human Rights had doctors and mental health professionals examine 11 former prisoners. The group alleges finding evidence of U.S. torture and war crimes and accuses U.S. military health professionals of allowing the abuse of detainees, denying them medical care and providing confidential medical information to interrogators that they then exploited.
...One Iraqi prisoner, identified only as Yasser, reported being subjected to electric shocks three times and being sodomized with a stick. His thumbs bore round scars consistent with shocking, according to the report obtained by The Associated Press. He would not allow a full rectal exam.
Another Iraqi, identified only as Rahman, reported he was humiliated by being forced to wear women's underwear, stripped naked and paraded in front of female guards, and was shown pictures of other naked detainees. The psychological exam found that Rahman suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and had sexual problems related to his humiliation, the report said.
...All 11 former detainees reported being subjected to:
_Stress positions, including being suspended for hours by the arms or tightly shackled for days.
_Prolonged isolation and hooding or blindfolding, a form of sensory deprivation.
_Extreme heat or cold. _Threats against themselves, their families or friends from interrogators or guards.
Ten said they were forced to be naked, some for days or weeks. Nine said they were subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation. At least six said they were threatened with military working dogs, often while naked. Four reported being sodomized, subjected to anal probing, or threatened with rape.
The patients underwent intensive, two-day long exams following standards and methods used worldwide to document torture.
"We found clear physical and psychological evidence of torture and abuse, often causing lasting suffering," he said. "
America has long ago been convicted by other nations of performing torture. International treaties have been broken. We're no longer a member of Amnesty International and are in fact listed as one of their nations who tortures and break human rights.
I remember when I first discovered the John Kerry blog in 2004. I saw some pleas for help from posters who were from Iraq or knew people in Iraq. One consistent post was about the torture happening in the prisons and how the screams could be heard outside by the mothers and wives of the men and children.
Those posts stay with me to this day. I often wonder why the media didn't follow up on those posts. Why they didn't feel an obligation, a moral obligation, to step in and find out who was raping those men, women, and children.
So today, as we have more media coverage of another impeachable crime, we're somewhat left thinking, "Ah HA! We were right! We told you so! Why didn't you LISTEN and REPORT back then?"
Yet, self-congratulation isn't what we need to do.
What we can not do is right the terrible wrong. But what we can do is at least try. A good start would be impeachment; the next place would be indictment; and the next place would be prison--for each and every war criminal in this Bush administration and any Congressmen who knowingly allowed it to happen.
I saw it was confirmed now we hid detainees from the Red Cross.
Screw this We crap. Georgies buttboy torturers hid them from the Red Cross. I never would have done such a thing.
"Why they didn't feel an obligation, a moral obligation,..."
Because the bastards helped SELL the war, they know they were being used as propaganda tools and therefore they are complicit in the raping, torturing and murder.
And, they can not admit it, nor can they apologize, because somewhere along the line they are LEGALLY LIABLE for it and they know it.
If anyone ever sues foe news, the ny times or the WaPo for malfesence and the WRONGFUL DEATH of over 4000 US soldiers, there is really no way any of them could get out of it.
There are laws against propaganda, and no one can say they were 'following orders'. Not only that, but you can demonstrate time and time again that countless people were killed as a DIRECT RESULT of their abuse of their positions as 'journalists' AND you can also prove the corporate practices of these entities instigated and even helped the administration to CONCEAL WAR CRIMES.
The laws protecting journalists are void when those journalists can easily be proven to have abandoned any journalistic standard at all and instead became part of a conspiracy to engage in government propaganda. When journalists get people killed, they are just as liable as anyone else that participates in ensuring mass murder.
If our legal system ever starts working again, every single person who works in the MSM that did not demonstrably dissent had better be worried.
THE WORST PRESIDENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY... and he was never impeached and barely got any bad press at all.
We will not let that pass into history unanswered.
Clear Evidence of War Crimes: Stern Letters to Come?
Read that Main Diary at Daily Kos. It's much more thorough than my thead head. (Obviously, Meteor Blades has a lot more information than I have.)
Massachusetts School of Law Organizing Bush War Crimes Trial
Support Rep. Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment
Rep. Dennis Kucinich performed a heroic service for our Nation by introducing 35 Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush.
Rep. Kucinich thoroughly researched and documented every single article. Any one Article would be sufficient grounds for impeaching Bush and removing him from office; taken together, the case for impeachment is overwhelming and urgent.
I thank Rep. Kucinich for his true patriotism and I urge you, my Representative and Senators, to fully support all of his Articles of Impeachment.
http://www.democrats.com/35-articles-of-impeachment
Impeach because he LIED
Kucinich Presents 35 Articles Of Impeachment Against Bush
On CNN
Starr: One thing perhaps worth noting in this report, heidi, is the forward, the preface to the report was written by retired major general Anthony Teguba. He’s the army general that led the investigation into the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. in this report the general says, “there is no longer any doubt that the current administration committed war crimes.”
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/06/18/gen-taguba-on-torture-there-is-no-longer-any-doubt-that-the-current-administration-committed-war-crimes/
Christy,
All of this is just soooo depressing! There is a discussion at KOS asking whether Bush will be prosecuted CRIMINALLY after we leave office, since Impeachment is really just political.
My brother and I were discussing IF anyone could even CATCH BUSH or his mafia co-horts after he leaves office.
How would that happen? What will Bush do to prevent is? Will he get away? Would secret service become his keeper instead of his safety net?
What do all of you think?
Did anyone hear Bush's tortured speech on why he isn't going to "bail out" the victims of the Mid-weast flood?
Looks like only Wall Street gets a bail out in this country.
F*** HIM! and f*** those greedy pigs!
Sparrow,
I didn't hear Bush's speech on why he isn't going to "bail out" the victims of the Midwest flood. I don't even want to hear it.
Fact is, the infrastructure of this country is archaic, to say the least. We should have been reinvesting in America, in our infrastructure, in our peoples these last eight long years. Seems we can only go in to debt to China if we are bailing out banks and Wall Street, and anyone or anything "less worthy" than those "elite?" institutions can just "tread water". I find myself more and more disgusted with this administration as this week wears on, along with all the news of death and destruction caused by the most recent onslaught of storms and flooding in the midwest.
If it weren't so tragic; if it weren't so pathetic, if it weren't so gruesome and unfair, it would almost be laughable. The fact that someone, somewhere, is intent on exposing this administration and this President for what he IS. Mother Nature isn't holding back her hand in this game to the finish, and she has shown the entire world what happens when the grasshopper plays while the ants work. Only what is so pitiful in this case is that the ants are going to suffer for the grasshopper's greed and shortsightedness.
It's really just......disgusting....I feel like we are witnessing Katrina all over again.
Why doesn't he just tell the truth about why he isn't going to bail out the midwest? Because they are just ordinary folks who pay taxes, not the Wall Street croneys (and believe me, there is something smelly there), and he already borrowed to the hilt for the war and reconstruction to the benefit of Halliburton, et. al. Then had to borrow again to bail out the VERY CROOKED MORTGAGE brokers (back to Wall St. again). Let's face it, folks. We just don't have the MONEY to bail out the kind people in the midwest. "WE" "squandered" it all on a legacy of a President who at best should IMO, go down in history as an egomaniac who was more obsessed with his legacy than he was with serving his country. And, a President who was so far in to the River of Denial that it would take a good shrink 40 years to bring him to some sort of reality. Some people never change. We also don't have the manpower (the Guard) to fill the demand of this multi-state flood.
Scotty's book:
One review: http://www.ajc.com/meetro/content/news/stories/2008/05/27/mcclellanbook_0527.html
I could be wrong, but somehow I sense this is Scotty's last fifteen minutes of fame.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-36612
Bush has a spread in Paraguay, where some of the Nazis fled and disappeared without being prosecuted. It's right next to the spread that belongs to Reverend Moon, & they are both right on an important aqueduct that will be important in the coming Water Wars. I don't think they can be exttradited.
I doubt there is money left to bail out the midwest. Rush Limbaugh was trying to make a comparison about the Midwest flood and Hurricane Katrina disaster and that was really sickening. That's all I'm going to say other than that it was incredibly racist and nothing but lies. His listeners will ditto it though.
The Feds just arrested the CEOs of Bear Stearns.
OMFG!
Dubya doesn't believe in non-daddy based bailouts.
Yeah, silly me, that's the only kind he recognizes.
Did Bear Stearns bail out Citi-Corp? Be back in a bit - I have to look that up...
Did everybody forget Bush cut the levee maintenance funds?
by martinweiss
Before Katrina hit New Orleans, Bush cut the budget of the Army Corps of Engineers for levee maintenance. So once again we have a disaster carefully engineered to cost billions which could have been prevented at a cost of millions.
The Bush cabal profits from suffering and death. They employ it to take control of resources, as Naomi Klein has demonstrated in her book. I keep thinking the book is called "Shock Economics", but that could be wrong.
The Iraq debacle is no mistake. Every move made by Bush generates crisis, catastrophe, and conflict on purpose. Cynical? Yes. But terribly acute.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Did-everybody-forget-Bush--by-martinweiss-080619-294.html
Hey Sparrow. Your commission is done.
Hey TSP. Look what Sparrow got for you.
http://christysartblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/from-sparrow-to-tsp.html
If you like it, send me a mailing addy.
XOXO!
Christy,
I LOVE IT!!! It is going in my entrance hallway until the election is over, then it will lend it's delightful presence to my office downstairs.
Very nice. That was fast, girlfriend.
Sparrow, thank you!!! Christy, thank you!!!
The more I thought about it, the more I was hoping you would create an Obama one for me.
Sending you my physical address via email.
China Stocks Tumble on Inflation Concern; Citic Leads Decline
By Zhang Shidong
June 19 (Bloomberg) -- China's stocks plunged, resuming a decline that's wiped out $1.2 trillion of market value, on renewed concerns the government will concentrate on measures to curb consumer prices rather than bolster equities.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=akwT4J0sLwtI&refer=asia
Oh, what a wicked web we weave........
World Economy
Bear Stearns bail-out
A new stage of the crisis
The failure of the investment bank Bear Stearns marks a new stage of the banking crisis, as the liquidity-solvency spiral continues its downward course. At the same time, the Fed-financed bailout, together with calls for a wider state rescue of failing banks, is opening up an ideological crisis for ultra-free-market capitalism.
http://socialistworld.net/eng/2008/04/03worlda.html
June 19, 2008 6:00 PM
kangaroo said:
Did everybody forget Bush cut the levee maintenance funds?
by martinweiss
Before Katrina hit New Orleans, Bush cut the budget of the Army Corps of Engineers for levee maintenance. So once again we have a disaster carefully engineered to cost billions which could have been prevented at a cost of millions.
****
Yes, I did forget that. Good point.
Christy,
I am very glad you decided on the Obama picture instead of the Tuscan landscape. It is more personal and meaningful to me. It's a piece of history in the making!!!
(You should do another Obama, it will be worth alot of money some day.) NOBODY is getting mine except my son someday.
from a friend:
When I created my fundraising page, I came up with an interesting experiment. I only send donation letters to conservatives. From a fundraising perspective, this is probably not the most useful tack. But it has yielded unexpected dividends.
All of us probably know people in our lives, decent people in every regard, who are hard workers, good parents, and excellent role models. And they also happen to be conservatives. Most of my friends who are this way couldn't conceive of voting for a "tax and spend liberal" or a "soft on terrorism" and "idealistic, unrealistic wuss". Those of us who are progressives know these are not terms that accurately describe us, but recognize on some level that what they say either used to be true, or in some cases still are. Just as there are some evil, murdering, torturing, lawbreaking conservatives.
So I filled my donation solicitation list with all of the people I know who are conservative, voted for Bush, are considering voting for McCain, but are deeply dissapointed with Bush's time in the White House. I started my letter with: "I don't expect you to donate to Barak Obama. That would be asking for quite alot. Instead, I want to ask you for a small gift of intellectual fairness. Please take 10 minutes of your time to read the Father's Day speech by Senator Obama and while you do, please ask yourself, Do I really disagree with him?..."
The results so far are this. I am still at 0 dollars on my thermometer, but I have sparked two conversations which yielded two things. An admission that he is saying what "conservatives have been saying for years, so yes I agree with him", and "Of the two, he seems the most honest and forthright." These are qualities that they admire in general, and see in Obama.
We found a way to agree and I think they will vote for him. I made two donations to Obama myself in their stead. My thermometer still reads 0, but Senator Obama now has access to $50 that he didn't have before, and possibly two votes as well.
Now try http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com for something about Republican obsession with time clocks that count various shit down when the only thing that really matters is the Bush countdown clock - can we speed it up somehow?
& then the BRILLIANT letter to send to all your friends and relatives, which came from Seattle for Obama & I'd post it here but with the pictures it would fill up too much space - so must click.
THE PROBLEM
____________________________________________________________________
FISA: Jonathan Turley says, Dems are protecting THEMSELVES.
by BonzoDogBand at DailyKos
I just saw Jonathan Turley on Countdown, who concluded to Keith Olbermann that the FISA immunity compromise is happening most likely as a result of top Dems who themselves fear retribution for their complicity in Bush's illegal spying activities.
Jonathan Turley makes the point that several years ago, certain top Dems were intimidated by Bush into quietly going along with Bush's illegal spying activities, and now those same Dems are afraid that they themselves could be held liable for any illegal spying committed by Bush and the Telecomm companies (Turley used the word "collusion".)
Keith Olbermann then concluded by saying that the Dems are thus "covering their own asses here".
So, this is all starting to make sense now; Jay Rockefeller is likely one of those Dems would could be found complicit in Bush's illegal spying activities.
Think about it; what else would make Rockefeller fight so hard for the FISA immunity provision? Money can do a lot of things, but not buy oneself out of prison.
So, for Rockefeller, this is not about loving the Telecomm companies or their financial campaign contributions; this is about Rockefeller wanting to avoid prison time for himself.
The same idea applies to the entire gang of eight who knew about Bush's illegal spying activities, and that gang includes Pelosi.
___________________________________________________________________
THE DOCUMENTATION
(as my friend Glenda sent out virally)
Please take the time to be informed: if you have not seen this on Countdown, it is a must see! It will explain the high price of a barrel of oil, and the many lobbyists that work for McCain's campaign that have a hand in his economic policies and the oil prices.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#25252591
____________________________________________________________________
THE ACTION .. these people DO want to be in office, do they not?!
Obama Staff "Literally Reviewing FISA as we speak"
by thereisnospoon at Daily Kos
I just called Senator Obama's office. A very courteous staffer answered the phone immediately.
I mentioned that I was a precinct captain for the Obama campaign in California, that I was a caucus captain in Nevada who broke the story about the caucus shenanigans by the Clinton campaign.
I explained that I was extremely concerned about the FISA compromise currently being rammed through the House, and that it was very, very important to me that Senator Obama use his leverage to make a public stand against this capitulation.
The response was somewhat heartening:
"We hear you loud and clear. The staff are literally reviewing the FISA issue as we speak. You'll be hearing from us soon."
thereisnospoon's diary :: ::
Hopefully, this means good news and that the cavalry is on the way. If anyone else wants to call and put more pressure on, the number is (202) 224-2854.
If Senator Obama does take a strong, public stand and stop this debacle in its tracks, I'm in for another $100 to his campaign.
Who's with me?
Update: it also occurred to me that Senator Clinton earned not a few votes from committed supporters, and wields more than a smidgen of influence. If you wish to contact her, her numbers are 212.688.6262 (NY) and 202.224.4451 (DC).
June 20, 2008 12:28 AM
Not My President said:
THE PROBLEM
____________________________________________________________________
FISA: Jonathan Turley says, Dems are protecting THEMSELVES.
Now that's just plain SAD. And a bit demoralizing, if I would let it get to me. I refuse to do so, however.
Every single Republican Lite Dem that has been voting to appease Bush this past 7 years should get the boot when it is time for their re-election. I have one in my state. I consider Conrad to be a Republican Lite Extraordinare. Dorgan, however, is a true Democrat. He is devoted to his constituency, and votes as best for his people. I got to meet him and was very impressed with his demeanor and caring, and his forthright comments about the current administration.
Conrad strikes me as someone who might sell the panties off his grandma. It's funny how once one of your Congressmen sides with the other side for any reason (especially to cover their butt) all trust is g.o.n.e. No matter what, Dobson, Rove, etc. Dorgan has been true to his party and true to his people.
I wrote to Conrad several times, and told him I did not agree with some of his votes, naming them specifically at each time he voted the way he did. I got back letters saying "We can't just pull out of Iraq and leave the country in chaos", "I believe everyone should pay their bills" (ummmm, so do I Pardner, but unfortunately the deck is stacked against many working people without insurance), and when they have an accident or unexpected (who expects it?) illness, the absolutely ridiculous price of medical care and services in this country puts them into hopeless debt, even for a two week stay in a hospital. (Re: the bankruptcy bill.)
I would love to see the Dems take control of Congress and the Executive Branch, and start ousting the bums who caved in and compromised their constituents' futures.
They took full advantage and took us for a ride while Bush was in office. Now let's take them for a ride....right out of office!
NMP,
I received the email today with the video in it by Obama explaining how we are going to fund his campaign (grass roots supporters) instead of him relying on public funds, including any special interest or PAC monies.
If that doesn't wake people up I don't know what will.
I have sent money in the past, and I am getting ready to send more this month; more next month; and the next; etc.
You are welcome TSP. I am glad you like it and I hope Sparrow isn't too mad that I changed midstride. You gave me a choice and I could not resist Obama.
My landscapes never were as strong as my portraits, so...it probably works out for the best. If I ever get serious about landscapes and produce a good Tuscan piece, I'll make sure you get first look.
I was thinking that too when I saw the dems caved. AGAIN. They are obviously complicit, there is no longer any doubt about it.
Something is very, very, very wrong here.
Good
morningmiddle of the nightmorning, everyone. Seems I'm the one not sleeping this time.Christy, I love the portrait you did for TSP and am thrilled to see how much TSP likes it! You rock!!!
Looks so good that I bet a digital photo can be taken of it and then made into a silkscreen for a t'shirt.
I would love to watch you and TSP meandering about town in your personalized Obama t's.
That would be very cool to see him on a t- shirt!
Man this FISA thing has me feeling like I have a nasty hangover.
I will miss the 4th Amendment. It was a really good thing while it lasted.
Where is everyone? I need updates on McClellan's testimony!
I'm in and out. So will most likely visit later this evening if anyone's around.
Sparrow,
Yes, it will be interesting... I haven't checked in to it yet today, and am on my way back to work. Maybe we'll know more by tonight.
The storyline for an unlikely McCain resurgence? This is the kind of story that you can expect to see spun between now and November.
In Iraq’s Successes, the Seeds of Vulnerability
By STEPHEN FARRELL and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
BAGHDAD — What’s going right? And can it last?
Violence in all of Iraq is the lowest since March 2004. Its two largest cities, Baghdad and Basra, are calmer than they have been for years. The third largest, Mosul, is in the midst of a major security operation. On Thursday, Iraqi forces swept unopposed through the southern city of Amara, which has been controlled by Shia militias. There is a sense that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government has more political traction than any of its predecessors.
Consider the latest caricatures of Mr. Maliki put up on posters by the followers of Moktada al-Sadr, the fiery cleric who commands deep loyalty among poor Shiites. They show the prime minister’s face split in two — half his own, half Saddam Hussein’s. The comparison is, of course, intended as a searing criticism. But only three months ago the same Sadr City pamphleteers were lampooning Mr. Maliki as half-man, half-parrot, merely echoing the words of his more powerful Shiite and American backers. It is a notable swing from mocking an opponent perceived to be weak, to denouncing one feared to be strong.
For Hatem al-Bachary, a Basra businessman, the turnabout has been “a miracle,” the first tentative signs of normal life returning.
“I don’t think the militias have disappeared, and maybe there are sleeper cells which will try to revive themselves again,” he said. “But the first time they try to come back they will have to show themselves, and the government, army and police are doing very well.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/world/middleeast/21security.html?hp
June 18, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
Yes, We Will Have No Bananas
By DAN KOEPPEL
Los Angeles
ONCE you become accustomed to gas at $4 a gallon, brace yourself for the next shocking retail threshold: bananas reaching $1 a pound. At that price, Americans may stop thinking of bananas as a cheap staple, and then a strategy that has served the big banana companies for more than a century — enabling them to turn an exotic, tropical fruit into an everyday favorite — will begin to unravel.
The immediate reasons for the price increase are the rising cost of oil and reduced supply caused by floods in Ecuador, the world’s biggest banana exporter. But something larger is going on that will affect prices for years to come.
That bananas have long been the cheapest fruit at the grocery store is astonishing. They’re grown thousands of miles away, they must be transported in cooled containers and even then they survive no more than two weeks after they’re cut off the tree. Apples, in contrast, are typically grown within a few hundred miles of the store and keep for months in a basket out in the garage. Yet apples traditionally have cost at least twice as much per pound as bananas.
Americans eat as many bananas as apples and oranges combined, which is especially amazing when you consider that not so long ago, bananas were virtually unknown here. They became a staple only after the men who in the late 19th century founded the United Fruit Company (today’s Chiquita) figured out how to get bananas to American tables quickly — by clearing rainforest in Latin America, building railroads and communication networks and inventing refrigeration techniques to control ripening. The banana barons also marketed their product in ways that had never occurred to farmers or grocers before, by offering discount coupons, writing jingles and placing bananas in schoolbooks and on picture postcards. They even hired doctors to convince mothers that bananas were good for children.
Once bananas had become widely popular, the companies kept costs low by exercising iron-fisted control over the Latin American countries where the fruit was grown. Workers could not be allowed such basic rights as health care, decent wages or the right to congregate. (In 1929, Colombian troops shot down banana workers and their families who were gathered in a town square after church.) Governments could not be anything but utterly pliable. Over and over, banana companies, aided by the American military, intervened whenever there was a chance that any “banana republic” might end its cooperation. (In 1954, United Fruit helped arrange the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Guatemala.) Labor is still cheap in these countries, and growers still resort to heavy-handed tactics.
- more -
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/opinion/18koeppel.html?
Do we not understand how Congress works or do they hate us?
Good for Bloomberg.
Barack Obama is not Muslim, Bloomberg tells Jewish voters
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Friday, June 20th 2008, 10:47 AM
Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged Jewish voters to denounce the whisper campaign that for months has pushed the false rumor that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim.
Bloomberg warned a Jewish group in Boca Raton, Fla., on Friday that the attempt to portray Obama as a shadowy Muslim with a hidden agenda often targets Jewish voters online and with e-mails.
The deceptive campaign against Obama, who is Christian, "threatens to undo the enormous strides that Jews and Muslims have made together in this country," the New York mayor said.
The lies are "cloaked in concern for Israel, but the real concern is about partisan politics," said Bloomberg, who is Jewish. "This is wedge politics at its worst, and we've got to reject it— loudly, clearly and unequivocally."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/06/20/2008-06-20_barack_obama_is_not_muslim_bloomberg_tel.html
Came out of the grocery market last night with a bit of shell shock.
BBQ sauce is close to $2.00 per bottle. And a jar of baby Kosher dills was over $4.00!!!
I decided I didn't need dills that bad.
"Country I Love" TV Ad
"They" are busy sending partisan political wedge issue screamer emails to anyone who can read. Religious themes to the religious, patriotic themes to the laborers and country dwellers; however didn't realize the Muslim smears about Obama were targeted at the Jewish community. Jewish, Christian, or anyone who is afraid of terrorism sucks that stuff up fast. I mean, I have had to tell more than one relative, and more than one friend that Obama is NOT MUSLIM.
For something good to send them, his call to renewal address is very good.
http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060628-call_to_renewal/
Favor time Guys,
Can anyone send me some excellent Obama Car Stickers, and some Down with MCBush Car stickers, and definitely Down with Bush cannot find anything here Down Under anywhere.
If possible I will forward money to you, will forward my address.
Denial of Care: Is This What It Means to Support Our Troops?
By Donna Smith, American SiCKO, communications specialist for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee
This isn’t such a day of honor for Michael Baranik of Jennings, LA. His nation doesn’t seem very grateful for his service. He is dying. And he is being denied the medical care that could save his life.
Here’s what Michael wrote in as he told his story on the guaranteedhealthcare.org website: “In January 2007, on the worst day of my life, I sat in a doctor's office and was told I had terminal cancer, and then in the next breath he told me my insurance was not good enough to cover reimbursement of the chemotherapy.
“Now I am a retired military veteran, I spent 24 years in the United States Navy, I served my country for 24 years, now my country is giving up on me.”
Many Americans think that veterans always have access to quality healthcare through the Veterans Administration system. Many Americans think that when our leaders espouse loyalty and admiration for our military personnel that it means these men and women are adequately taken care of as the heroes we all know they must be on our behalf when our nation calls. But as Michael tells us, quality care for our service men and women is often not the reality.
“I have no choice of my insurance. I thought my military insurance was good coverage and was accepted by most doctors. What I found out was most doctors are not accepting military insurance. I had to go and beg doctors to give me a chance to live,” Michael wrote.
He had to beg. A 24-year veteran of the United State Navy was left begging for care. Not exactly the picture of honor and glory we paint as we place wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknowns or place flags on every corner. Michael begged.
“I was shocked at the unpatriotic sense these people have. I will never in my life recommend any person join our armed services. Why should they? So they can get sick and be told, sorry, we know you fought for our country, and this is how we repay you,” he said. “It is insane and un-American.”
While it is true that our VA system is leaps and bounds ahead of what millions of uninsured and under-insured Americans can access, veterans’ healthcare is grossly underfunded in this nation, and those service members and veterans who are covered under Tri-Care (and do not receive their healthcare through the VA) often find themselves victim to the same insurance denials that the general population suffers.
Michael kept trying. “Luckily I begged and begged a doctor who said he would only give me seven treatments, because of insurance. Insurance was his primary concern, he even told me, ‘Tri-Care just doesn't cover enough’ ...like I have anything to do with that. This is what I get for serving my country for 24 years. If I had known this when I joined, I would have never joined, I would have left this country, given up my citizenship and lived in a country where they respect the men and women that protect their freedom.”
Wow. On Memorial Day 2008, this is what we gave Michael. We did not give him honor or glory or blessings or peace. We gave him sorrow and regret and longing for compassion.
If our nation had in place single payer, universal health care, Michael would have a chance to live. With access to the treatments that might abate his cancer, Michael would not spend his days feeling as though his sacrifice was dishonored. With adequate healthcare through publicly funded, privately delivered single payer care, all veterans of this nation – and all the citizens they fought to protect -- would enjoy the peace of mind they truly deserve.
HR676, The National Health Insurance Act, now has 90 Congressional co-sponsors who believe that a single payer system is the right way to address our healthcare crisis. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan is the chief co-sponsor of the bill, and the 80,000 member strong California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee supports this bill and is actively working to encourage its passage. Nurses know that veterans deserve healthcare and that they do not always get that care.
Still, in spite of how his nation is treating him, Michael said, “Thank you for letting me share.”
Isn’t it we who should be thanking him?
I will protest for him in San Francisco tomorrow, June 19th, at noon, 4th and Howard. It’s time to tell the private insurance companies that Michael is a patient not a profit, Michael is a veteran not a bottom line, Michael is a hero not a revenue liability. I will thank him by standing up for him as he stood for me.
To see all the venues for protest of the private health insurance industry, check out:
http://www.healthcare-now.org/june19.html
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/blog/2008/06/denial-of-care-is-this-what-it-means-to.html
McCain: I 'Didn't Love America' Until Held Prisoner (VIDEO)
"What is good for the Goose is good for the Gander."
Republicans have hammered Michelle Obama for her remarks in February that she was proud of America "for the first time in my adult life." Tonight, however, Dan Abrams showed footage he uncovered of a Fox News interview with John McCain on March 13, 2008, in which McCain said, "I didn't really love America until I was deprived of her company."
Abrams thinks McCain's comments could undermine the "right wing's steady attacks
against Michelle Obama."
Watch
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/19/watch-mccain-didnt-love-a_n_108191.html
Maybe the House & Senate are afraid of looking "weak on terror" before they go on vacation.
Here is a press release from Obama though:
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today released the following statement on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Earlier today, Senator Obama voted in favor of the Dodd-Feingold amendment to repeal retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies (S. Amdt. 3907). He also supported other amendments to improve the bill, including the Feingold-Webb-Tester amendment to protect Americans from unwarranted surveillance (S. Amdt. 3979), and the Feingold amendment to protect Americans from the bulk collection of communications (S. Amdt. 3912).
"I am proud to stand with Senator Dodd, Senator Feingold and a grassroots movement of Americans who are refusing to let President Bush put protections for special interests ahead of our security and our liberty. There is no reason why telephone companies should be given blanket immunity to cover violations of the rights of the American people - we must reaffirm that no one in this country is above the law.
"We can give our intelligence and law enforcement community the powers they need to track down and take out terrorists without undermining our commitment to the rule of law, or our basic rights and liberties. That is why I am proud to cosponsor several amendments that protect our privacy while making sure we have the power to track down and take out terrorists.
"This Administration continues to use a politics of fear to advance a political agenda. It is time for this politics of fear to end. We are trying to protect the American people, not special interests like the telecommunications industry. We are trying to ensure that we don't sacrifice our liberty in pursuit of security, and it is past time for the Administration to join us in that effort."
----- & for Kangaroo -----------
I can send you some Obama stickers from the campaign and more of them from MoveOn and will also find you some good antiBush ones if you let me know your address. You could email it to me directly. Then if you can get anyone to photograph them in situ, I would be very happy!
----- & for Kangaroo -----------
I can send you some Obama stickers from the campaign and more of them from MoveOn and will also find you some good antiBush ones if you let me know your address. You could email it to me directly. Then if you can get anyone to photograph them in situ, I would be very happy!
You Rock NMP thank you so much for that, will let you know when I have pics up on my site.
Is that you email on Silent Majority Portal
Christy:
Another little lie for you: I'll go public financing, I promise. Oops, looks like I'll do better the other way, so I'll take that route instead. Love those pure people! But eveything I say is a lie so disregard it. Welcome to the "Pak" in "Pakistan."
Chuck in Houston
The sad part is I still have no option but to vote straight ticket Democrat. I don't believe in the party like I used to but I don't have any other option, except not to vote (and here in Texas, that's about the same thing -- sad to say in th state of LBJ). Not that I expect any difference, mind you....
Chuck
I am not happy about FISA. I will vote straight Democrat also though. I always do.
As for McCain, he had a "fake" Town Hall meeting today in St. Paul. Kayakbiker's friend tried to go and was arrested for trespassing. It was just like a Bush event - totally screened and fake.
See the arrest citation at http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com.
We may not be happy with our candidates totally or with how they got along or with how their supporters acted or how they were funded or how the media acted or much of anything, but
..we just can't have McCain! He is so awful I even stuck up for his wife a little (see a couple posts down.)
I am listening to Chaka Khan.
By the way, I hope to be live blogging from NW Blogger's Conference in Tacoma this weekend. I hope to be able to not miss all of the Naked Bike Riders at the Solstice so it's going to be a busy weekend!!
NMP:
I am OK with BO, and always was. I just think he's a bit green (age-wise, not policy-wise). I don't like having my people trashed (Clinton's), but in the bigger picture it doesn't matter to me. But it doesn't mean I'm have tingle going down my leg, if you get my drift. I'll vote right (I mean Dem) in November, even if it means voting with a lot of folks that hate people like me.
Chuck in Houston
NMP: By the way, in saying that I am OK with BO, that doesn't mean that I consider him on a par with Parson Weem's Washington that never told a lie. Chuck in Houston.
Not that I think that Washington was that way either.
And I would actually hate to think of him as a naked bike-rider at the solstice.
Man, now that I don't smoke, I am going to all the same have to go some where and completely replace that image in my mind somehow.
Chuck
The naked bike riders wear alot of body paint. They don't seem so naked. The one with the George Bush mask who has his suit painted on is somehow offensive though. The visuals are something that one can get pretty desensitized to pretty fast. I have more tactiles than visuals, as I start to imagine how uncomfortable a bicycle seat must feel to a male with a painted on suit, though I can't really imagine.
Please don't have a visual of McCain on a bike with a painted on suit - that would traumatize most people.
NMP:
I am at heart a Burkean conservative: I believe in the utility of the decent draperies of civilization, in most circumstances....
Chuck in Houston
ex-SE Portland Hosford GS 1975 Cleveland HS 1979
Barack’s Bounce
The latest NEWSWEEK Poll shows the Democrat with a 15-point lead over McCain.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/142465
NMP:
Unless, of course, you really push me, in which case I am a redneck, like Grandma and Grandpa and those few folks I still count as friends, as some things die slow.
Chuck in Houston
NMP Is that you email addy on Silent Majority Portal.
Thanks Kangaroo
Chuck
I don't think the decent drapery needs to go so far as Ashcroft made it, covering up the nude statue at the Justice Department. I intend to post all the candidates naked so people can have stronger visuals, but not tonight (& Photoshop is fair, as I have found the classic one from the '90s where Clinton and Gore and leathermen - it was a popular postcard) - but remember, in Bush's case "The Emperor Has No Clothes" and also "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" are the operative myths.
I am not a redneck but I did live in a trailer and can clean fish.
Kangaroo
That is Kayakbiker's email address at SMP but if you leave your address there and tell him what it's for, he'll forward it to me.
Government Warning 32,000 Vets That They Are Using Suicide-Linked Drug
ABC News/Washington Times Investigation Leads To Action
By BRIAN ROSS and VIC WALTER
June 19, 2008
SHARE Responding to an ABC News/Washington Times investigation, the Veterans Administration plans to inform 32,000 veterans that they are using a drug linked to suicide or violent behavior.
The investigation revealed that the VA waited three months to notify veterans in a VA experiment of the possible side effects from the anti-smoking drug Chantix.
All of the veterans enrolled in the Chantix study suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and had been recruited, with monthly $30 payments, for a behavioral study with the drug.
Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake told Washington Times reporter Audrey Hudson Thursday that he was personally sending new warning letters to the 940 veterans in the study and some 31,000 other veterans who have been prescribed Chantix by the VA.
"Our first responsibility is to our veterans," said Peake, who said he has asked VA doctors to review "the communications process" involving all VA studies using veterans who are suffering from PTSD. Some 400,000 veterans are being treated for PTSD.
The Bush White House had initially defended the VA's handling of the Chantix experiment.
"The VA is doing everything they can to be mindful of the safety of these veterans in all their programs and try to help them." said Deputy White House Press Secretary Tony Fratto at a briefing on Tuesday after the ABC News report aired.
"This is the Veterans Administration, under wonderful leadership by Secretary Peake, who is interested in the health and safety of these veterans that are under his care, and every other member of that VA system is the same," said Fratto.
In contrast, Secretary Peake said he "wished" the VA had not taken so long to warn veterans being used in the Chantix test.
One of the veterans in the Chantix study, James Elliott, of suburban Washington, suffered a mental breakdown and near-lethal confrontation with police which he blames on Chantix.
VA doctors say there is no evidence Chantix was responsible.
Elliott's incident with police occurred in February, after the VA knew of the possible risks, but before it had notified veterans.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5206386&page=1
NMP: By the way, it's your fault! I meant decent draperies in the pure Burkean sense, then you went and referenced Ashcroft and the statues, then I thought of ... well, suffice it to say I am quitting now that I am well behind.
Chuck in Houston
I emailed it to Kayakbiker NMP thanking you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaMzgA2V7Gk
Back in the day, High Rocks on the Clackamas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl_h586Ep9M
Survived that, come to think on it!
Chuck in Houston
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9txBYBwLTew&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9txBYBwLTew
Back on the chain gang
A O Way to Go Ohio:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb9dFs0KaXA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pWnZFrdQFE
Bill Monroe Blue Moon of KEntucky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffhqOy_A8KM&feature=related
Elvis and Moon Walk Blue Moon of Kentucky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upxstc776V0&feature=related
And here is a Beatle doing it, and that boy can sing OK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXxuQleHKi8&feature=related
Finally, Tom Petty does "Blue Moon":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HyVzMDywNY&feature=related
Chuck
eeeuuuuwwww
Chuck
That was destined for Ashcroft
Christy:
Another little lie for you: I'll go public financing, I promise. Oops, looks like I'll do better the other way, so I'll take that route instead. Love those pure people! But eveything I say is a lie so disregard it. Welcome to the "Pak" in "Pakistan."
Chuck in Houston
Already disregarded. Most certainly since it is your whiny words and YET AGAIN no actual proof Obama 'lied'.
But, that was hardly the point. Even if you can 'prove' he lied even once, it still does not explain how it is you came to be perfectly ok with her lies, yet somehow his supposed 'lies' are supposed to mean something else.
See, it never was so much that you are a liar. It is you being a hypocrite I find totally disgusting. I tried to tell you that repeatedly, but I guess you just have yet to grasp the concept.
BTW, can you prove yet either I am a liar, or that Obama is a liar, or are you just going to keep slandering people with no actual proof at all?
Here is who is hoping to Swift Boat this year.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/us/politics/21ads.html?ei=5087&em=&en=225a0e17d0bd0e85&ex=1214193600&pagewanted=print
Christy, Chuck
In politics it's like "white lies" - it's called PANDERING. They all do it. David Brooks is a conservative but at least smart. He reveals what he thinks is the Obama side of it and compares him to Bill Clinton for being able to triangulate and that is a political compliment. (Politics may be inherently unethical.)
I worked for the most humane, compassionate, ethical human being I think I ever met - Eugene McCarthy - when I was only fifteen years old and yet even he pandered. I saw it first hand and learned to participate in it (one slant for the teachers, one slant for the farmers etc.) It's politics.
The "flip flop" - they think only about strategy - what will WORK. There is not one out there who doesn't or didn't do it. Probably someone like Kucinich is the cleanest and he remains symbolic though politically correct, probably (maybe unrealistic in this cruel world.)
When I was at YearlyKos in Chicago last August I heard the candidates speak. Out of all of them (Richardson, Obama, Clinton, Edwards etc.) I was most impressed with Mike Gravel, who said never to believe a politician because they'll say whatever it takes to get elected and then will not necessarily do anything they said they would.
In his breakout session (which had the fewest attendees), he arranged chairs in a circle and gave a tutorial on the Constitution.
Soon Obama and H Clinton will make an appearance together as they are on the side of lesser of two evils, but the fact is that this country is SO FAR ON THE WRONG TRACK that I am at the least going to vote against McCain and at the most, vote for people that I respect in the aggregate (but disagree with on some quite major issues.)
Mike Gravel spoke this truth and see how far he got (symbolic candidate):
The entire deaths of Vietnam died in vain. And they're dying in vain right this very second. And you know what's worse than a soldier dying in vain? It's more soldiers dying in vain. That's what's worse.
Here is my voting record:
Carter
1976 Jimmy Carter
1980 Jimmy Carter
1984 Walter F. Mondale
1988 Michael S. Dukakis
1992 William J. Clinton
1996 William J. Clinton
2000 Albert A. Gore
2004 John F. Kerry
2008 Barack Obama
I used to just vote, but learned that we end up with people like Reagan and the Bush dynasty if we don't do more.
NMP, these are not 'white lies'. They are big fat whopping slanderous lies, and the last place such lies should be tolerated is in politics.
As far as assuming Obama lies, I would first like anyone to actually PROVE he lied before I consider him as a liar.
It is just this thing I have about ACTUAL FACTS being the issue. Instead there is no actual fact of Obamas 'lies' on the table, there is just some slimy made up manufactured slander that a bitter clinton supporter hopes and prays we are dumb enough to mistake for actual proof.
Christy
There is a whole continuum of lying - from skirting issues to knowingly telling whoppers.
That's one reason I like to go to somewhere like http://www.ontheissues.org to see records and positions rather than hardly ever watching tv, listening to political speeches or watching political commercials.
Records don't lie as much.
By the way, the AFL-CIO is touring the country and headed this way with their "Bush Legacy Bush." That should be a whole bus full of documentation of lies & their results.
There are the lies that led us to war and then there are the flip flops on positions of McCain, Obama and all the rest. Those are not necessarily lies but changing promises they make to win or to get money or whatever.
I will support Obama but am under no illusions about what it takes to win in this country.
I think lies have been tolerated in politics, and even encouraged, since time immemorial. You're right. They shouldn't be.
I am really upset at Obama today. This FISA thing is a nightmare and he should know better.
As far as 'lies' goes... This is the thing. When someone steps up and calls someone a 'liar' either they can prove he is a 'liar' or they need to STFU until they can.
Do you know what I actually expected chuck to do the first time I challenged him to prove it?
I expected him to directly quote Obama, then do it again, to show us what a big fat liar Obama was. If he lied, it should have been simple enough to PROVE.
But, instead of offering up anything even close to proof, instead he calls me Tom Delay, evil, and all kinds of assorted other 3rd grade insults, only to wind up trying to also slander me as a liar with ZERO proof. All to distract from his lack of proof that Obama is what he says he is.
How many opportunities exactly am I required to give him to prove it? Because I can think of 4 chances he had so far and he failed beautifully every time. 100% failure to prove it in any way.
So, until he CAN back up what he says about others, I am not the one who needs to be reminded of the nature of political lies. Because I can back up everything I say. And I am damn sick of other people who can't, not even when given repeated opportunities to do so.
chuck can either prove Obama is a liar, using Obamas own words, or, it is obvious he is still engaged in a slander campaign that should have ended the moment it was known hillary could not win.
Oh, and one more thing, let us not forget that when chuck tried to set up an 'Obama is no friend of the Jew' conversation, it is already well known clintons people were outright engaged in a plan to exploit the tension between Jews and blacks.
So.., even though her campaign is dead, her tactics live on among us.
Enough already.
If Obama, or McCain, were shown to have used words that said the exact opposite thing, would it mean they were liars, opportunitists, panderers or what? The whole argument that's been going on here may never be settled.
I'm off to photograph Obama bake sales, regardless of his position on telecom immunity, because it was my original plan. Then I want to catch some of the Fremont Solstice (with naked bikers.) Then I'm headed to Tacoma for the PNW Blogger's Conference, which NW Progressive Institute is sponsoring. One event will be lunch with Darcy Burner, candidate for Congress in a purple district. She was a Microsoft employee who became disgusted with the world she was bringing her children into.
Here is her position on telecom immunity. There is nothing wrong with supporting progressive candidates but also voting for middle-of-the-road pandering candidates against much-more-evil other-party candidates in the general election. I intend to do both. I just spoke with my mom and her boyfriend says he never votes because "I can't do anything about it." I understand how he feels, totally, but I will vote and more, even if it seems like an uphill climb I've made for more than four decades. I have a son too and he'll have to live with it longer than I will. Interestingly (to me), my mother was "up to speed" about telecom immunity (former Republican with no internet, living in ND.)
Tsunami Interrupted
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/21/11035/3463/472/539565
I don't think we will ever be privy to what goes on behind the scenes in Washington.
Obama claims he'll fight to strip telecom immunity from revised FISA bill next week in the Senate
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/06/21/politics/horserace/entry4200105.shtml
We'll see. What went wrong in the House? Dems outnumber Repubs far more there. John Dean was on Olbermann and lended some insight.
An important detail lost in all of the post-9-11 chatter is that the Bush admin requested this authority BEFORE the attacks on September 11...
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/nsa-asked-for-p.html
So the "we need this immunity because of 9-11" argument is crap.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/us/politics/21ads.html?em&ex=1214193600&en=225a0e17d0bd0e85&ei=5087%0A
Story on people who want to Swift Boat Obama, especially if someone sends them some money. I found out the main guy is from WA state.
Christy
Bloomberg's timing was good on "Obama and the Jew" -
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gUtv0lOI3pqeCl7M8PUuRIRH02egD91E1JV00
Hillary has to get her fundraisers together with Obama's because her campaign is 22 million in debt and his only raised 21 million in May, compared with 55 million in February, and McCain raised 20 million in May. They have to figure out a "strategy."
(A "strategy" is something we don't know about, designed to win - as a team they should be formidable, but so are the Republicans. She needs her debts paid, so attacks are not in order. He needs her people, so they have to work together. Their actual positions are both hard to gauge, as both have a "liberal" history but are willing to go to the middle to get the "swing voters.")
I still don't understand what ever happened to Pelosi. I guess she also was a "liberal" from San Francisco, who went to the "middle" because of the "swinging" United States.
In the end, I sort of have to blame the general mentality of this country. "Interview" magazine actually did kind of a patriotic issue about why people (well, celebrities, not people like us) like America, or want to, and my upshot from reading it in the jacuzzi at the gym was that we are a YOUNG, IMMATURE, ADOLESCENT country with many of the expected characteristics. Didn't Karen write about that once?
Bottom line: Progressives are like gays - the politicians pander to us during the primaries when they need activist labor. In the general, it's "wink- wink-nod-nod."
There is a big difference between saying mccrazy is a liar and Obama is a liar.
One of those men can easily be proven a liar. In his own words, in moments, and on many, many different issues.
The proof against the other seems ever elusive. So elusive, I have yet to see a single example of any lie he actually told. Not one single undeniable example.
To assume Obama is a liar, simply because he is a politician, seems like a safe bet. Yet without any evidence at all of his assumed 'lies', then how unfair is it to believe he would lie if you never see any proof he actually has lied or is lying now?
I would not be surprised to find out Obama is actually a 'liar', what does surprise me though is how every single person who calls him that is utterly without a single example of actual proof that he is one, yet still they insist he must be one, because they believe he is.
A belief completely unfounded on actual proof, yet still here they are, calling him a liar even while admitting they can not PROVE he lied.
Another one bites the Dust
Donna Edwards Wins Maryland Congressional Seat
http://www.truthout.org/article/donna-edwards-wins-maryland-congressional-seat
Michael Teitelbaum for The Congressional Quarterly: "Democrat Donna Edwards, best known for defeating incumbent Rep. Albert R. Wynn in a February primary, defeated Republican Peter James in Tuesday's special election in Maryland's 4th District."