Friday, March 31, 2006
The Mad Hatters
By John H. St. John
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Mar 28, 2006
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_636.shtml
In July I will be 85, if I live that long, and never in my life have I felt more like Lewis Caroll’s Alice as she stepped into the mirror and entered Wonderland.
It is not just that the corporations stole an election and gave us a mental defective for a president. It is a population that, pro or con, accepts the absurd idea that we are at war in Iraq. Even the bloody battles in Korea against Chinese and North Korean tanks were called a “police action.” The bloody attack shown to the world on television and proudly called “Shock and Awe” was done without any declaration of war. The present illegal occupation of Iraq is called a war and the moronic president is assuming all of the powers, and more, of a wartime president while Congress refuses his challenge to the Constitution.
There have been other illegal incursions and undeclared wars, Vietnam for example; but at least they were fighting a well-organized military organization.
Another example of Wonderland’s juggling of semantics is calling Iraqis who are resisting the occupation and punishing collaborators “insurgents.” When Boston and Philadelphia were occupied by British Redcoats and France was occupied by the Nazis we did not call those heroes who fought in the underground insurgents; we called them patriots.
Everyone from the war lovers to the peaceniks preface their remarks with “Our brave troops,” completely disregarding the reality that they are fighting civilians with AK-47s and no body armor with helicopter gunships and fighter planes. These are highly paid mercenaries promised college educations who do not have to dig slit trenches or do KP. When they come back in coffins or wheelchairs and with post traumatic stress syndrome even they are betrayed by this government run by our sociopath Mad Hatter president.
On the other side of the looking glass, the country of the slithy sloves is $9 trillion in debt. Over half of our tax money goes to the military industrial complex and we have 12 aircraft carrier groups roaming the oceans when there is no possible adversary.
Our kindly Jimmy Carter, (Peace Nobelist) has proudly helped launch another nuclear submarine called, what else? The Jimmy Carter. The war on terror desperately needs these weapons because if they happen to run across a terrorist, they have to nuke him or her. Like the westerner sentenced by Roy Bean to be hanged: “This will sure be a lesson to me, judge.”
When I was a teen-ager my father sarcastically said that “everyone else is crazy except you.” That was 70 years ago and I am even more convinced that is the case. After WWII I saw a psychiatrist for what is now called post traumatic stress syndrome. I quit him with the words: I don’t want to be adjusted to live in a world that is obviously crazier than I am. You do not have to look far to confirm my opinion. The headlines in this morning's paper should convince anyone: FBI terror boss never read Moussaoui memo. Patent case poses broader question for Supreme Court. Abu Ghraib dog handler guilty of tormenting. Documents reveal Hussein tried in ‘90s to show WMD gone. Bush says presence in Iraq will outlast his presidency. Conservatives get a turn at federal grants under Bush. False negatives seen in widely used genetic test for breast cancer risk. Bottled water slaking thirst of world’s poor. Court overturns conviction in stolen rock art case. Chemical plants may decide own security. Iraqi official, paid by CIA, raised questions on weapons program,
The only reason I get the newspaper is for the New York Times' crossword puzzle. I am suffering from information overload -- all of it wacko.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Rubber Stamp Republicans
by eriposte
Tuesday :: Mar 28, 2006
Fraud and Perjury? Or at least that is what appears to be the case here.
Anonymous Liberal (emphasis mine):
Today the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. The Court will be called upon to determine--among other things--whether a provision in last year's Detainee Treatment Act ("DTA") effectively strips the Court of jurisdiction to hear Hamdan's case. The Government contends that it does and in support of this position, Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and John Kyl have filed an amicus brief with the Court.
This amicus brief argues that the legislative history of the DTA supports the Government's position. Specifically, the brief cites a lengthy colloquy between Senators Kyl and Graham themselves which purportly took place during a Senate floor debate just prior to passage of the bill.
Sounds harmless, huh? Here's the catch:
Apparently this entire 8 page colloquy--which is scripted to read as if it were delivered live on the floor of the Senate, complete with random interruptions from other Senators--never took place.
A.L. points out the Emily Bazelon at Slate was the one who first confirmed this after lawyers for Hamdan pointed this out in their brief (emphasis mine):
read the entire article: http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/007218.php
Sunday, March 19, 2006
progress in Afghanistan too
Making progress in Afghanistan too, I see. I wonder what the whacko ‘christians’ are going to feel about this. Another bush success story, or so we’re told. Just another country collaterally damaged on our way to world domination.
Afghan Christian convert could face death
March 19 2006
Independent Online (South Africa)
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw1142776621938B212#
Kabul - An Afghan man detained for converting to Christianity could face the death penalty if he refuses to become Muslim again, police and a judge said on Sunday.
Abdul Rahman was detained two weeks ago after his relatives reported to the police about his conversion which is forbidden under Islamic Sharia law.
"Yes that's true, a man has converted to Christianity. He's being tried in one of our courts," Supreme Court judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada said, adding that his trial began early last week.
He said the man could face the death penalty if he refused to revert to Islam as Sharia law proposes capital punishment for any Muslim who converts to another religion.
'No law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam' Afghanistan's constitution states: "No law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam."
If sentenced, the man will be the first to be punished for conversion since the ouster of the Taliban who introduced and implemented tough Sharia law.
The hardline Taliban regime was toppled by a US-led invasion in late 2001 for not handing over Al-Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, wanted for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
- Sapa-AFP
the war
Unleashing the military power of the United States of America on March 19, 2003, the president bush turned them to invading Iraq. I don’t think the understanding of the enormity of that crime has settled yet on America. The crime is more than mass-murder. He has destroyed a nation. He has poisoned that’s nation’s people and environment with depleted uranium ammunition. He has raped their women and children. He has destroyed their homes and towns. He has stolen their treasure. It was all accepted. After all, the bush was ‘re-elected’.
Why?
Perpetual war, and an improvement on Orwell’s model: they’ll never have to change the ‘enemy’.
With the ‘nation at war’, cover is provided for all kinds of atrocities, and the loss of civil rights. Cowed by fear, America has accepted what would have been unthinkable, and unacceptable at the end of the twentieth century. The ‘opposition’ has become cowed by fear of being called ‘un-American’.
Look how easily the country has accepted the fact of the torture at Abu Graib and Guantanamo, as well as the concept of “extraordinary renditions”. For that matter, look how easily we accepted the government holding onto thousands of people indefinitely, without any rights to review. For that matter, look how easily we accepted the government holding American citizens indefinitely, without any rights to review. The militarization of society has moved along so far that it is acceptable for the military to put on their dog and pony shows in front of elementary school children.
The human and financial costs of the war are incalculable. Our children’s grandchildren will still be paying the cost. We have squandered our treasure, the dream of the USA, held for years by peoples around the world, and the legacy our forefathers left us, the Constitution. We have emptied our Treasury.
The country has changed. The working classes are being squeezed dry. The poor are losing whatever protections they once had, and their chances of lifting themselves out of poverty are disappearing. Soon the working classes will be joining their daily struggle for the resources they need to survive another day. As those resources become scarcer, society breaks down into individual competition for them. And it will become cut-throat competition. That is the reality behind the president bush’s “ownership society”.
When the competition for daily survival becomes paramount, people have less time and energy for dissent and oppositional activism. The daily fear of being denounced, or losing a job, becomes all-consuming, and keeps the people muted. Already, people with permanent resident status are afraid to speak out, or even to be seen associating with dissent. This was brought home to me a couple of months ago by a woman I’ve known for years. She told me that she had to be careful, and she wasn’t sure who she could trust. A very sad state of affairs.
And, today, even after three years of war, the bush is still the ‘president’, and people are still dying in Iraq. A very sad state of affairs.
Well, I’m pissed. And I’m vocal. And I’m blatant. Anybody who meets me knows where I stand. And I don’t apologize.
cross posted at http://kikoshouse.blogspot.com/2006/03/well-im-pissed-and-i-dont-apologize.html.
the Kiko's House blogspot asked for postings on how America has been changed by the Iraq war. He has posted the submissions at:
http://kikoshouse.blogspot.com/2006/03/iraq-three-years-on-voices-from.html
see also http://tmars.iwarp.com/guerrilla_campaign/newsletter/theMagazine/060319-theMagazine.html at the Guerrilla Campaign
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Iraq War Protests
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031606S.shtml
March to New Orleans to Protest Iraq War
The Associated Press
Tuesday 14 March 2006
Mobile, Alabama - Hurricane victims and war veterans set out Tuesday on a march to New Orleans to protest the war in Iraq and what they view as a lack of relief aid for storm victims.
Paul Robinson, the local chapter president of Veterans for Peace, said the 140-mile "Walkin' to New Orleans" march is scheduled to end Saturday.
He said marchers, including several victims of Hurricane Katrina, are demanding not only an end to the war but also a large increase in resources to help hurricane victims rebuild their lives. He expected about 300 marchers to join in, some walking the entire distance and other joining at the end.
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, who spent a month protesting outside President Bush's ranch last summer, was expected to join the marchers in New Orleans, her sister, Dede Miller, said Monday.
"I'm marching because this will bring attention to the war and what's going on here in the South. It's outrageous," Miller said.
Military Families to Oppose War Throughout US This Weekend
t r u t h o u t Press Release
Thursday 16 March 2006
Military families in 26 states and Puerto Rico commemorate third anniversary of Iraq War.
Washington, DC - This weekend, military families in at least 26 states and Puerto Rico will be participating in over 50 events including vigils, rallies, teach-ins, press conferences, marches and demonstrations commemorating the 3rd anniversary of a war that should never have happened.
Military families with loved ones currently in Iraq, those with loved ones who may deploy or redeploy, those with loved ones who have returned with physical and psychological wounds, and families with loved ones who died as the result of the war in Iraq, will be speaking out and calling on members of Congress and Senators to show some leadership, end the war in Iraq, bring our troops home now and take care of them when they get here.
Speaking out through tears, fear and pain, families with loved ones who are serving, have served or may serve in Iraq will pay tribute to the over 2,300 US service men and women and the tens of thousands of Iraqi children, women and men who have lost their lives as a result of a war based on lies. Military families will speak about their loved ones and all who remain in harm's way because of the continued US occupation of Iraq. In many of the upcoming events families will be joining Iraq War Veterans and Veterans of other eras to tell the 'ground truth' of this war. These families, service members and former service men and women will speak about the human cost of the war - a cost that the Bush Administration still seeks to keep hidden, as it continues to ban the photographing of the flag-draped coffins returning to Dover Air Force Base.
Events involving Military Families Speak Out members are now scheduled to take place in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Washington DC, Wisconsin and Puerto Rico. Events in additional states may be added. To see a complete list (updated regularly) and details of events, see www.mfso.org.
Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) was founded in November 2002, by two military families speaking out to try to prevent a US invasion of Iraq. The membership of MFSO now includes over 3,000 military families speaking out to end the war, bring our troops home now and take care of them when they get here. It is the largest organization of military families opposing a war in the history of the United States.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Hungering For Justice At My First Congressional Testimony
By Mike Ferner
Washington, March 14 -- Last Wednesday evening, the House Appropriations Committee voted to throw another $67,000,000,000 at the murderous work in Iraq and Afghanistan. That night members of the committee, righteously indignant and nearly unanimous, gave President "Bring ‘Em On" Bush a loud slap in the face.
Whoa! You mean the most powerful committee in Congress voted 62-2 to stop funding our national war crimes orgy? Of course they did…and then we all lived happily ever after.
No, the killing will proceed as planned, with no congressional intervention, although chances are you heard absolutely zip about the 67 Billion Dollar Question, thanks to the Guardians of Reality who insured the news from that hearing was the Dubai Port deal, not the unimaginable sum of our money Congress voted for war, nor the voices raised against it.
That news must come from places like the internet site you’re now reading, not the corporate press. And I’m here to tell you the story.
More than an hour before the start of the hearing on the "supplemental" spending bill for the war, five of us from Voices for Creative Nonviolence’s "Winter of Our Discontent" campaign lined up outside the Appropriations Committee Hearing Room in the Rayburn House Office Building. Ed Kinane, Cynthia Banas, Lorie Blanding, Jeff Leys, and yours truly were prepared to shine a light of reality, however briefly, into one of Disneyland’s darkest corners. Two of our crew had banners that said, "STOP THE KILLING," ready to open them when we began, in turn, to read names of U.S. soldiers and Iraqis killed in the war.
We’d been in line early enough to be among the first 15 people admitted, but by the time the hearing room was changed from it’s assigned grand room to a much smaller venue, 60-plus representatives, their staffs, AND a few dozen lobbyist-regulars were shown in, the general public was shown an overflow room a few doors away.
Moments after entering the overflow, we realized we’d just been cut out of the actual hearings and would not be able to say what we had prepared. We regrouped in the hallway outside of where the hearing had just begun.
Three members of the D.C. Antiwar Network, Malachy Kilbride, Pete Perry, and David Barrows reacted to the switcheroo faster than we did. They barged into the hearing room, forcefully told the Members of Congress they all had the war’s blood on their hands, and got promptly ejected by the Sergeant at Arms deputies.
Fortuitously, a couple minutes later, my hometown Congressperson and Appropriations Committee member from Toledo, Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), arrived. I greeted her and we chatted briefly, and then she asked if I was going to attend the hearing.
"No, it seems to be pretty filled up with staff and lobbyists," I replied.
Walking up to the Sergeant of Arms guarding the double doors, she informed him she wanted to find a seat for her constituent. What was I to do but go in and take what seemed to be the last chair in the room?
By then, Committee Chair Jerry (not the one they love in France) Lewis (R-CA), had opened the first agenda item, an amendment to prevent the administration from completing its plans to hand over operations at a strategically located Middle Eastern port to a Dubai-run company. Discussion was lively, including one comment from Rep. Jim Moran (D–VA), who, trying to slow the rush to snub Dubai, actually said, "If we want to Americanize and Westernize the Arab world," the U.S. needs to continue doing business with nations like Dubai that are "run by a staunchly pro-American, pro-business person."
At this time, a goodly number of reporters were attentively in attendance. I was, unfortunately, about to make a serious mistake in activist judgment.
As the only one of our merry band able to get into the hearing, I knew I’d be flying solo at my first Congressional testimony, and decided to wait until the hearing progressed beyond the amendments, to the $67 Billion war appropriation itself.
My heart sank as I watched half the reporters abandon ship right after the Dubai Port amendment sailed through. A second amendment quickly passed. A few more reporters left. Then Lewis announced a recess so members could return to the House floor for a series of votes.
Not wanting to relinquish my serendipitously-won seat, I stayed put, surprised in a few minutes as Ed Kinane slipped through the relaxed security at the door. We quickly exchanged notes, decided we’d stay until the committee reconvened, and then watched as a half-dozen Capitol Police appeared. The stage was set.
The committee returned about an hour later, sans TV cameras, photogs or any reporters as best I could tell. Luckily, the one cameraperson operating the video unit on a tripod was back at his post – for about 5 minutes – until he began breaking down his equipment. As innocuously as possible, I zipped over to what I learned was no less than the network pool camera operator, and whispered to him he may want to stick around a bit.
"Why, is there going to be a protest," he asked loudly enough for the immediate world to hear?
"Yes, there is," I replied, not knowing why I bothered whispering again.
"Well, we saw the one already," he returned, "and besides, the networks said we can call it a day."
Nothing else I said would deter him so I returned to my seat.
Hoping that C-Span might still record our protest, I sat for a short while longer near Ed who noted that his own representative, James Walsh (R-NY), had just risen to offer an amendment. Walsh wanted to shift some Veterans Administration funds from future hospital construction to ongoing operational needs. The Congressman who, like the vast majority of his colleagues consistently voted to fund the war, wanted to be sure the hospitals could keep up with the results.
No one wanted to oppose that idea, especially when it didn’t require any new money. Walsh’s amendment passed quickly. Although it looked like I’d be speaking only to those in the hearing room, there would never be better timing. I rose to my feet, wearing a Navy pea coat with my third class Petty Officer insignia, and my Veterans For Peace cap.
"My name is Mike Ferner, from Ohio. I served as a Navy Hospital Corpsman during the Viet Nam war," I began, "And if you really want to do something about the numbers of wounded and disabled veterans coming back to our VA hospitals, the best thing you can do is STOP THIS WAR!"
Introducing Ed as he scrambled to unfold the banner, I told a now-attentive Appropriations Committee that we were on day 22 of a 34-day fast against the war, and that "…speaking for the majority of Americans who are now against this war, we say, STOP THE KILLING!"
"Listen to just a few names of the victims of our government’s war," I demanded, and was able to announce two Marines, Daniel Bubb, 19, and Christopher Poston, 20, and two Iraqi citizens, Ahmed Khalaf, and Hamza Khuzai, before two Capitol Police officers grabbed me and ripped the paper out of my hands.
Refusing to go quietly into the night as I was hustled from the chamber, I looked several representatives in the eye and said, "Those are the names of dead veterans from this war. You are violating international laws…you are committing war cri…" and then it was face down on the hallway floor.
Next came the traditional "up against the wall" routine for handcuffing, and we began the trip to the Capitol Police booking facility. On the way out of the Rayburn Building, we passed a couple very posh dinners held in different hearing rooms. As I nodded and said hello to the food service workers in the hallway, I was glad I’d asked my arresting officer to leave my VFP cap on my head.
We were charged with disrupting a Congressional committee hearing and cited into D.C. Superior Court on March 28. The Capitol cops relieved us of belts, money, I.D., shoelaces, everything in our pockets, and took us to D.C. city jail for electronic fingerprinting and face scanning. After those pleasantries, the D.C. cops drove us about four blocks from the police station to a corner somewhere in the district around 2:00 a.m.
I bummed 50 cents from a passing cop for a pay phone call so we could contact our support team, Carmelite Sister Maureen Foltz, and my wife, Sue Carter, who plucked the two of us off the street.
Ed and I were assigned a court date only eight days after the scheduled end of our fast on March 20, so we’ve decided not to incur the additional expense of going home to Syracuse and Toledo respectively, and stay in Washington.
And – you heard it here first – we also decided to extend the fast until March 28 for a total of 42 days.
But PLEASE do us a favor: if you’re thinking of a "thank you" or some other gracious response, DON’T. We don’t need your thanks. The Iraqi people and our soldiers need your action to stop this damnable war. Think about it and determine one big step you can take that’s more than anything you’ve yet done. Do it right there, in your hometown, before Ed and I go to court on March 28. Before the full House and Senate vote $67,000,000,000 more for the war. Get your friends together and sit-in at your local congressional offices. Demand they STOP THE KILLING.
Then we can thank you.
In addition to fasting with Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Ferner is a freelance writer. His book based on trips to Iraq before and after the U.S. invasion, "Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran For Peace Reports from Iraq" is due out in August.
Washington, March 14 -- Last Wednesday evening, the House Appropriations Committee voted to throw another $67,000,000,000 at the murderous work in Iraq and Afghanistan. That night members of the committee, righteously indignant and nearly unanimous, gave President "Bring ‘Em On" Bush a loud slap in the face.
Whoa! You mean the most powerful committee in Congress voted 62-2 to stop funding our national war crimes orgy? Of course they did…and then we all lived happily ever after.
No, the killing will proceed as planned, with no congressional intervention, although chances are you heard absolutely zip about the 67 Billion Dollar Question, thanks to the Guardians of Reality who insured the news from that hearing was the Dubai Port deal, not the unimaginable sum of our money Congress voted for war, nor the voices raised against it.
That news must come from places like the internet site you’re now reading, not the corporate press. And I’m here to tell you the story.
More than an hour before the start of the hearing on the "supplemental" spending bill for the war, five of us from Voices for Creative Nonviolence’s "Winter of Our Discontent" campaign lined up outside the Appropriations Committee Hearing Room in the Rayburn House Office Building. Ed Kinane, Cynthia Banas, Lorie Blanding, Jeff Leys, and yours truly were prepared to shine a light of reality, however briefly, into one of Disneyland’s darkest corners. Two of our crew had banners that said, "STOP THE KILLING," ready to open them when we began, in turn, to read names of U.S. soldiers and Iraqis killed in the war.
We’d been in line early enough to be among the first 15 people admitted, but by the time the hearing room was changed from it’s assigned grand room to a much smaller venue, 60-plus representatives, their staffs, AND a few dozen lobbyist-regulars were shown in, the general public was shown an overflow room a few doors away.
Moments after entering the overflow, we realized we’d just been cut out of the actual hearings and would not be able to say what we had prepared. We regrouped in the hallway outside of where the hearing had just begun.
Three members of the D.C. Antiwar Network, Malachy Kilbride, Pete Perry, and David Barrows reacted to the switcheroo faster than we did. They barged into the hearing room, forcefully told the Members of Congress they all had the war’s blood on their hands, and got promptly ejected by the Sergeant at Arms deputies.
Fortuitously, a couple minutes later, my hometown Congressperson and Appropriations Committee member from Toledo, Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), arrived. I greeted her and we chatted briefly, and then she asked if I was going to attend the hearing.
"No, it seems to be pretty filled up with staff and lobbyists," I replied.
Walking up to the Sergeant of Arms guarding the double doors, she informed him she wanted to find a seat for her constituent. What was I to do but go in and take what seemed to be the last chair in the room?
By then, Committee Chair Jerry (not the one they love in France) Lewis (R-CA), had opened the first agenda item, an amendment to prevent the administration from completing its plans to hand over operations at a strategically located Middle Eastern port to a Dubai-run company. Discussion was lively, including one comment from Rep. Jim Moran (D–VA), who, trying to slow the rush to snub Dubai, actually said, "If we want to Americanize and Westernize the Arab world," the U.S. needs to continue doing business with nations like Dubai that are "run by a staunchly pro-American, pro-business person."
At this time, a goodly number of reporters were attentively in attendance. I was, unfortunately, about to make a serious mistake in activist judgment.
As the only one of our merry band able to get into the hearing, I knew I’d be flying solo at my first Congressional testimony, and decided to wait until the hearing progressed beyond the amendments, to the $67 Billion war appropriation itself.
My heart sank as I watched half the reporters abandon ship right after the Dubai Port amendment sailed through. A second amendment quickly passed. A few more reporters left. Then Lewis announced a recess so members could return to the House floor for a series of votes.
Not wanting to relinquish my serendipitously-won seat, I stayed put, surprised in a few minutes as Ed Kinane slipped through the relaxed security at the door. We quickly exchanged notes, decided we’d stay until the committee reconvened, and then watched as a half-dozen Capitol Police appeared. The stage was set.
The committee returned about an hour later, sans TV cameras, photogs or any reporters as best I could tell. Luckily, the one cameraperson operating the video unit on a tripod was back at his post – for about 5 minutes – until he began breaking down his equipment. As innocuously as possible, I zipped over to what I learned was no less than the network pool camera operator, and whispered to him he may want to stick around a bit.
"Why, is there going to be a protest," he asked loudly enough for the immediate world to hear?
"Yes, there is," I replied, not knowing why I bothered whispering again.
"Well, we saw the one already," he returned, "and besides, the networks said we can call it a day."
Nothing else I said would deter him so I returned to my seat.
Hoping that C-Span might still record our protest, I sat for a short while longer near Ed who noted that his own representative, James Walsh (R-NY), had just risen to offer an amendment. Walsh wanted to shift some Veterans Administration funds from future hospital construction to ongoing operational needs. The Congressman who, like the vast majority of his colleagues consistently voted to fund the war, wanted to be sure the hospitals could keep up with the results.
No one wanted to oppose that idea, especially when it didn’t require any new money. Walsh’s amendment passed quickly. Although it looked like I’d be speaking only to those in the hearing room, there would never be better timing. I rose to my feet, wearing a Navy pea coat with my third class Petty Officer insignia, and my Veterans For Peace cap.
"My name is Mike Ferner, from Ohio. I served as a Navy Hospital Corpsman during the Viet Nam war," I began, "And if you really want to do something about the numbers of wounded and disabled veterans coming back to our VA hospitals, the best thing you can do is STOP THIS WAR!"
Introducing Ed as he scrambled to unfold the banner, I told a now-attentive Appropriations Committee that we were on day 22 of a 34-day fast against the war, and that "…speaking for the majority of Americans who are now against this war, we say, STOP THE KILLING!"
"Listen to just a few names of the victims of our government’s war," I demanded, and was able to announce two Marines, Daniel Bubb, 19, and Christopher Poston, 20, and two Iraqi citizens, Ahmed Khalaf, and Hamza Khuzai, before two Capitol Police officers grabbed me and ripped the paper out of my hands.
Refusing to go quietly into the night as I was hustled from the chamber, I looked several representatives in the eye and said, "Those are the names of dead veterans from this war. You are violating international laws…you are committing war cri…" and then it was face down on the hallway floor.
Next came the traditional "up against the wall" routine for handcuffing, and we began the trip to the Capitol Police booking facility. On the way out of the Rayburn Building, we passed a couple very posh dinners held in different hearing rooms. As I nodded and said hello to the food service workers in the hallway, I was glad I’d asked my arresting officer to leave my VFP cap on my head.
We were charged with disrupting a Congressional committee hearing and cited into D.C. Superior Court on March 28. The Capitol cops relieved us of belts, money, I.D., shoelaces, everything in our pockets, and took us to D.C. city jail for electronic fingerprinting and face scanning. After those pleasantries, the D.C. cops drove us about four blocks from the police station to a corner somewhere in the district around 2:00 a.m.
I bummed 50 cents from a passing cop for a pay phone call so we could contact our support team, Carmelite Sister Maureen Foltz, and my wife, Sue Carter, who plucked the two of us off the street.
Ed and I were assigned a court date only eight days after the scheduled end of our fast on March 20, so we’ve decided not to incur the additional expense of going home to Syracuse and Toledo respectively, and stay in Washington.
And – you heard it here first – we also decided to extend the fast until March 28 for a total of 42 days.
But PLEASE do us a favor: if you’re thinking of a "thank you" or some other gracious response, DON’T. We don’t need your thanks. The Iraqi people and our soldiers need your action to stop this damnable war. Think about it and determine one big step you can take that’s more than anything you’ve yet done. Do it right there, in your hometown, before Ed and I go to court on March 28. Before the full House and Senate vote $67,000,000,000 more for the war. Get your friends together and sit-in at your local congressional offices. Demand they STOP THE KILLING.
Then we can thank you.
In addition to fasting with Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Ferner is a freelance writer. His book based on trips to Iraq before and after the U.S. invasion, "Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran For Peace Reports from Iraq" is due out in August.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
To Our Republican Congress
by Mary Pitt
3/12/06
WOW!!! That felt good, didn't it? You sent the message to Little George, loud and clear, "The security of America is NOT for sale!" At long last, the lion of the American Congress found its hind legs, stood up and roared! This, the first truly bipartisan act since the Bush cabal took over, stomped into the White House, locked the door, pulled the shades, and gave the true governing body of the people the proverbial finger, is historic and little less than heroic. For this we thank you! As a life-long Republican who cannot be comfortable in the Democratic Party, this writer felt that the early years of party loyalty were at last, in some small measure, vindicated. For just a little while there we were pleased, gratified, and elated that Congress was, at last, acting as an independent branch of government with power equal to the administrative in upholding the will of the people.
Unfortunately, this euphoria was dampened with the renewal of the hated Patriot Act regarding which Congress regressed into the, "Anything you want, Boss", mode of the past five years. However, the determination to continue with the promulgation of a measure to enact into law the principle of American control of all installations essential to American security would indicate that the change in attitude may continue. It will take a long while to correct the errors that have been made during the last five years but, if Congress has truly regained their sense of equal power, there will be time. We have lived for too long under the yoke of the fear that has been generated largely by the propaganda that has been perpetrated by this administration. We have sacrificed the blood of our children in a campaign of aggression which was inflicted upon us by the lies and manipulation of a gang who are experts at spreading fear and dissension.
When the Republican Party chose Little George as their standard-bearer in 2000, we were aghast. Surely there was somewhere in this party of accomplished executives and "king-makers" a better and more accomplished person who could have become the President! This man, who has done nothing spectacular in his own life without the help if his father and and his friends, was the most unlikely executive you could have found. Was there no war-weary soldier desiring nothing more that peace upon the earth like Eisenhower? Were there no diplomats like General Marshall, no successful businessmen who had grown up poor and thus related to the common people, no men with real vision for the future of the nation other than world conquest, or no public relations experts like Ronald Reagan? Was there nobody who had truly, by his own accomplishments, earned the honor of holding the highest office in the land? Nobdy with a vision of a "shining city on a hill" or even a "kinder, gentler nation"?
True, this man, with his financial backing already in place and with his cabal of determined power-grabbers behind him, came in like a whirlwind, bombarded the voters with his message of Christian "compassionate-conservatism", and flummoxed everybody, including you! But it was immediately evident, once he took office, that he had absolutely no respect for the power of Congress or for the niceties of political life. While you were lining up obediently, according to protocol, practicing the customary lock-step down the aisle and the "honeymoon" with your new President, he was already beating you over the head with "executive orders" All the regulations which you had passed over the years were negated regarding all presidential papers, effectively hiding them from the view of historians forever. You simply smiled and said, "Okay, honey, if it makes you happy."
After this initial "slapping around" had accustomed you to the pain, it continued as, while failing to actually veto any of your legislation, he signed with annotated "exceptions" stating that the law applied to everybody else but not to his minions in the Executive Branch. He persuaded you to enact legislate permission for him to "use his own judgement" in response to the emergency created by the dastardly attack on the World Trade Center. It was SO easy just to crawl under your desks and allow the "macho man" to take over the task of protecting you and the American people. Then you found that the initial "authorization" that you gave to allow him to deal with Osama Bin Laden was stretched into the authority to preemptively attack another sovereign nation, Iraq. It was not until after as many Americans had died or been maimed for life as were harmed in the World Trade Center attack that you began to learn that, not only were there no WMD's in Iraq, but the people of Iraq did not want us to invade them and destroy their homes and their children, and we were certainly not greeted with "flowers and candy". And now your "leader" wants to attack another nation, based upon those same suppositions and innuendo!
Meanwhile, having been reared steeped in the philosophy of lower taxes and reduced spending, you went along with the tax cuts for the rich as a stimulant to the economy while almost destroying all the social safety nets that had been instituted during the previous century. It was "for our own good", he said, and would "stimulate our economy". At the same time, he told us that "off-shoring is good for American industry" while factory after factory moved overseas and Americans were reduced to holding multiple minimum-wage jobs in order to survive. In the meantime, your "leader" was going on a spending binge, tossing money into the pockets, not only of his re-tread criminals from Watergate and Iran-Contra, but to his business-buddies via no-bid contracts for "rebuilding" Iraq. The knowledge has arrived, too late, I fear, that your errors have led you and the nation to the very brink of bankruptcy.
As with the typical very-abused wife, you now find yourself at the crossroads. There are very few options for you. You cannot go on as you have been or you will share the blame for the consequences, the voters will revolt, and you will lose your vaunted status and somebody else will take your place. The most severe available option would be "divorce" or impeachment which you would certainly not like to consider for all the obvious reasons. The second would be to continue to roar, to let this man know, in no uncertain terms, that this behavior will no longer be tolerated, that he may have mortgaged the nation and its future but you will not allow him to forfeit it completely. He must be told that he has had five years in which he has wrought disaster after disaster upon the normal working arrangements and that now he has three years left in which to correct it, (it will take him that long to find and negate all those "executive orders" which he has been creating behind your back). Tell him that you will not allow him to claim an "executive exception" to the measures that you pass or you will pull them back and pass them by veto-proof majorities to which he cannot claim an exception. Tell him that you are accepting his "personal responsibiliy" mantra and insist that he do the same.
You have taken a stand on the national security as regards the Dubai ports deal and that is a good step. But, as we who have worked with battered women know, you cannot go back! If you allow him to bully you one more time, you are lost again! You must follow your conscience and the dictates of your constituents, (as you are sworn to do), and reconstitute, as much as you can, the democracy of which we have all been so proud for all of our lives. Tell him in no uncertain terms that there will be no more tax cuts for the rich at the expense of the working class, that his agenda of world aggression will no longer be tolerated, and from now until the end of the Republic, the United States of America will stand for peace and the brotherhood of mankind, on a truly solid financial basis, and with three EQUAL branches of government who will all be equally considerate of the welfare of the electorate. Time is running out and your future, and ours, depends upon it.
Mary Pitt is a septuagenarian Kansan who is active in the field of service to the handicapped and dedicated to the pursuit of freedom and the preservation of the United States as a compassionate and democratic nation.
3/12/06
WOW!!! That felt good, didn't it? You sent the message to Little George, loud and clear, "The security of America is NOT for sale!" At long last, the lion of the American Congress found its hind legs, stood up and roared! This, the first truly bipartisan act since the Bush cabal took over, stomped into the White House, locked the door, pulled the shades, and gave the true governing body of the people the proverbial finger, is historic and little less than heroic. For this we thank you! As a life-long Republican who cannot be comfortable in the Democratic Party, this writer felt that the early years of party loyalty were at last, in some small measure, vindicated. For just a little while there we were pleased, gratified, and elated that Congress was, at last, acting as an independent branch of government with power equal to the administrative in upholding the will of the people.
Unfortunately, this euphoria was dampened with the renewal of the hated Patriot Act regarding which Congress regressed into the, "Anything you want, Boss", mode of the past five years. However, the determination to continue with the promulgation of a measure to enact into law the principle of American control of all installations essential to American security would indicate that the change in attitude may continue. It will take a long while to correct the errors that have been made during the last five years but, if Congress has truly regained their sense of equal power, there will be time. We have lived for too long under the yoke of the fear that has been generated largely by the propaganda that has been perpetrated by this administration. We have sacrificed the blood of our children in a campaign of aggression which was inflicted upon us by the lies and manipulation of a gang who are experts at spreading fear and dissension.
When the Republican Party chose Little George as their standard-bearer in 2000, we were aghast. Surely there was somewhere in this party of accomplished executives and "king-makers" a better and more accomplished person who could have become the President! This man, who has done nothing spectacular in his own life without the help if his father and and his friends, was the most unlikely executive you could have found. Was there no war-weary soldier desiring nothing more that peace upon the earth like Eisenhower? Were there no diplomats like General Marshall, no successful businessmen who had grown up poor and thus related to the common people, no men with real vision for the future of the nation other than world conquest, or no public relations experts like Ronald Reagan? Was there nobody who had truly, by his own accomplishments, earned the honor of holding the highest office in the land? Nobdy with a vision of a "shining city on a hill" or even a "kinder, gentler nation"?
True, this man, with his financial backing already in place and with his cabal of determined power-grabbers behind him, came in like a whirlwind, bombarded the voters with his message of Christian "compassionate-conservatism", and flummoxed everybody, including you! But it was immediately evident, once he took office, that he had absolutely no respect for the power of Congress or for the niceties of political life. While you were lining up obediently, according to protocol, practicing the customary lock-step down the aisle and the "honeymoon" with your new President, he was already beating you over the head with "executive orders" All the regulations which you had passed over the years were negated regarding all presidential papers, effectively hiding them from the view of historians forever. You simply smiled and said, "Okay, honey, if it makes you happy."
After this initial "slapping around" had accustomed you to the pain, it continued as, while failing to actually veto any of your legislation, he signed with annotated "exceptions" stating that the law applied to everybody else but not to his minions in the Executive Branch. He persuaded you to enact legislate permission for him to "use his own judgement" in response to the emergency created by the dastardly attack on the World Trade Center. It was SO easy just to crawl under your desks and allow the "macho man" to take over the task of protecting you and the American people. Then you found that the initial "authorization" that you gave to allow him to deal with Osama Bin Laden was stretched into the authority to preemptively attack another sovereign nation, Iraq. It was not until after as many Americans had died or been maimed for life as were harmed in the World Trade Center attack that you began to learn that, not only were there no WMD's in Iraq, but the people of Iraq did not want us to invade them and destroy their homes and their children, and we were certainly not greeted with "flowers and candy". And now your "leader" wants to attack another nation, based upon those same suppositions and innuendo!
Meanwhile, having been reared steeped in the philosophy of lower taxes and reduced spending, you went along with the tax cuts for the rich as a stimulant to the economy while almost destroying all the social safety nets that had been instituted during the previous century. It was "for our own good", he said, and would "stimulate our economy". At the same time, he told us that "off-shoring is good for American industry" while factory after factory moved overseas and Americans were reduced to holding multiple minimum-wage jobs in order to survive. In the meantime, your "leader" was going on a spending binge, tossing money into the pockets, not only of his re-tread criminals from Watergate and Iran-Contra, but to his business-buddies via no-bid contracts for "rebuilding" Iraq. The knowledge has arrived, too late, I fear, that your errors have led you and the nation to the very brink of bankruptcy.
As with the typical very-abused wife, you now find yourself at the crossroads. There are very few options for you. You cannot go on as you have been or you will share the blame for the consequences, the voters will revolt, and you will lose your vaunted status and somebody else will take your place. The most severe available option would be "divorce" or impeachment which you would certainly not like to consider for all the obvious reasons. The second would be to continue to roar, to let this man know, in no uncertain terms, that this behavior will no longer be tolerated, that he may have mortgaged the nation and its future but you will not allow him to forfeit it completely. He must be told that he has had five years in which he has wrought disaster after disaster upon the normal working arrangements and that now he has three years left in which to correct it, (it will take him that long to find and negate all those "executive orders" which he has been creating behind your back). Tell him that you will not allow him to claim an "executive exception" to the measures that you pass or you will pull them back and pass them by veto-proof majorities to which he cannot claim an exception. Tell him that you are accepting his "personal responsibiliy" mantra and insist that he do the same.
You have taken a stand on the national security as regards the Dubai ports deal and that is a good step. But, as we who have worked with battered women know, you cannot go back! If you allow him to bully you one more time, you are lost again! You must follow your conscience and the dictates of your constituents, (as you are sworn to do), and reconstitute, as much as you can, the democracy of which we have all been so proud for all of our lives. Tell him in no uncertain terms that there will be no more tax cuts for the rich at the expense of the working class, that his agenda of world aggression will no longer be tolerated, and from now until the end of the Republic, the United States of America will stand for peace and the brotherhood of mankind, on a truly solid financial basis, and with three EQUAL branches of government who will all be equally considerate of the welfare of the electorate. Time is running out and your future, and ours, depends upon it.
Mary Pitt is a septuagenarian Kansan who is active in the field of service to the handicapped and dedicated to the pursuit of freedom and the preservation of the United States as a compassionate and democratic nation.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Antiwar Activists Arrested At House Appropriations Committee
News
Voices for Creative Nonviolence:
WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT campaign
March 8, 2006
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Leys -773-573-5380
Antiwar Activists Arrested At House Appropriations Committee Hearing
Washington, D.C. - March 8 - Two activists were arrested tonight after disrupting the hearing of the House Appropriations Committee. The Committee is considering approving nearly $65 billion in supplemental spending to fund the war in Iraq. The two were arrested as they read the names of Iraqi citizens and U.S. soldiers who have died in this war. The action was part of the "Winter of Our Discontent" campaign organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence. Waiting outside the doors were supporting members from Voices for Creative Nonviolence and the general public who could not gain access to the full Committee because the hearing room was packed by House members and their staff.
"We act today to stop the death and suffering this war is causing in Iraq, and to urge others in the peace movement to raise the ante," said Mike Ferner, a member of Veterans for Peace and Voices for Creative Nonviolence. "Over 2300 U.S. soldiers and well over 100,000 Iraqi citizens have died in this war. It is time to end the occupation; bring our troops home; and pay so Iraqis can rebuild their country after 15 years of brutal economic and military warfare waged by the U.S."
Since February 15, VCNV members have participated in a liquids-only fast and vigil at the U.S. Capitol. Four have gone without food as an act of solidarity with Iraqi citizens and as a call to the U.S. government and citizens to end the war against Iraq. This is the second action of civil resistance carried out during the Winter of Our Discontent campaign. The first occurred on February 27 in which 7 people were arrested at the White House.
Key demands of the campaign include: 1) an immediate end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq; 2) full funding of the reconstruction of Iraq by the U.S.; 3) cancellation of the odious debt incurred by Saddam Hussein’s regime, without any International Monetary Fund conditions; and 4) cancellation of the war reparations charges imposed against Iraq by the U.N. for Hussein’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait in 1990-91.
Currently in custody are Mike Ferner, member of Veterans for Peace, and Ed Kinane. Both are members of Voices For Creative Non-Violence (VCNV).
Voices for Creative Nonviolence:
WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT campaign
March 8, 2006
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeff Leys -773-573-5380
Antiwar Activists Arrested At House Appropriations Committee Hearing
Washington, D.C. - March 8 - Two activists were arrested tonight after disrupting the hearing of the House Appropriations Committee. The Committee is considering approving nearly $65 billion in supplemental spending to fund the war in Iraq. The two were arrested as they read the names of Iraqi citizens and U.S. soldiers who have died in this war. The action was part of the "Winter of Our Discontent" campaign organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence. Waiting outside the doors were supporting members from Voices for Creative Nonviolence and the general public who could not gain access to the full Committee because the hearing room was packed by House members and their staff.
"We act today to stop the death and suffering this war is causing in Iraq, and to urge others in the peace movement to raise the ante," said Mike Ferner, a member of Veterans for Peace and Voices for Creative Nonviolence. "Over 2300 U.S. soldiers and well over 100,000 Iraqi citizens have died in this war. It is time to end the occupation; bring our troops home; and pay so Iraqis can rebuild their country after 15 years of brutal economic and military warfare waged by the U.S."
Since February 15, VCNV members have participated in a liquids-only fast and vigil at the U.S. Capitol. Four have gone without food as an act of solidarity with Iraqi citizens and as a call to the U.S. government and citizens to end the war against Iraq. This is the second action of civil resistance carried out during the Winter of Our Discontent campaign. The first occurred on February 27 in which 7 people were arrested at the White House.
Key demands of the campaign include: 1) an immediate end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq; 2) full funding of the reconstruction of Iraq by the U.S.; 3) cancellation of the odious debt incurred by Saddam Hussein’s regime, without any International Monetary Fund conditions; and 4) cancellation of the war reparations charges imposed against Iraq by the U.N. for Hussein’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait in 1990-91.
Currently in custody are Mike Ferner, member of Veterans for Peace, and Ed Kinane. Both are members of Voices For Creative Non-Violence (VCNV).
Monday, March 06, 2006
Planned Media Gag May Save America
by Mary Pitt
3/6/06
Senator Pat Roberts, (R-KS), has announced that he is working on a bill that. if passed, will criminalize the publication of any "classified" information by the media. This would make the reporter who writes, and the news media for whom they work, equally liable under the anti-spy regulations with any whistle-blower who dares to try to get the truth out regarding the misfeasance and malfeasance of this administration. However, the very suggestion of the revocation of the First Amendment may be the one thing that will wake up our sleeping media to the truth of what has been and is being done to our democracy. Now the test for publish-ability will not be truth and verifiability but permission from the White House on pain of spending a long vacation in Halliburton's new Camp Northwoods.
For much too long the media, like most of the citizenry, have viewed the ultimate takeover of our nation by the Neo-Cons as "just politics", a simple little game where we choose sides and cheer for our favorite team. Much of the failure of the media as the watchdog of our liberty may be blamed on the revolution in the culture that causes most people to receive their news from their television sets. In that setting, much of the "news" is merely read by some young person who is chosen for looks, personality and ability to "perform" before the cameras. We no longer have the Walter Crockite or the Edward R. Murrow who will really go out and report on the news first-hand. Now, the second-generation television reporters like Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings have gone on to greener pastures and we have been left with the "readers".
We were spoon-fed the story about the "heroism" and the "rescue" of Jessica Lynch in Iraq when the truth was something quite different. We were regaled with tales of the valiant death of Pat Tillman who, with all due respect, was not the hero that they told us he was but a victim of "friendly fire". The stories were written as propaganda by "media consultants" before it was ever presented to the reporters. For the past five years, the "news" on television, radio, and too often, in the written media has consisted of plants, press releases, and political hype. However, some few reporters have remembered their legacy and have actually reported independent news that is really important to the American people. We have learned of the manipulations of Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff, the perfidy of I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby and "other un-named sources" in exposing the identity of a CIA operative, the warrantless tapping of our telephone lines, the loss of control of our seaports, and the constant invasion of our nation by some millions of illegal immigrants across our Southern border, many of them armed and dangerous. The alarm has been sounded. This independent streak in the press must be stopped and it will be criminalized!
In the "news commentary", we have had the rabid partisans like Bill O'Reilly and Tucker Carlson and the Republicrats like Chris Matthews who try to walk on both sides of the street at the same time. These are not "reporters" of whom we have far too few. Recently we have had the right to be proud of those reporters who were on the scene in New Orleans, apparently before the White House realized there was a problem and who made live reports that were complete and truthful. If they had been allowed to do this at the onset of the "War on Terror", it is entirely possible that Afghanistan would be pacified and Iran would not have been attacked in the first place! We would have known that the infamous World Trade Center bombers were from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Dubai and their only connection with Afghanistan was that it was the place where Osma bin Laden had taken up temporary residence. We would have known that there was a lot of doubt about Saddam's possession of the infamous WMD and his ties to Osama Bin Laden. We would have been aware that we were being lied to and we would have made this a one-term presidency.
But this administration "took office" on a claim of "openness and transparency" and promptly locked the door and pulled the shades! Reporters were instantly reduced to the status of stenographers as they dutifully wrote down the words of Scott McClellan to be parroted by the "commentators" on the nighly news. In turn, those commentators with their pre-arranged guests spouting the "party line" spent a mesmerizing few minutes smoothing out the edges of the real news and reassuring us that this was still the same good ole U S of A. A few managed to come close to criticism of the president and his hired flunkies, but then they felt the big bulge in their pants and backed off. No, not that bulge, silly! It was their fat Republican wallets!
We saw the spectacle of Judy Miller being trucked off to jail for refusing to divulge which administration official revealed the identity of Valerie Plame while others were threatened with the same. However heroic this may seem, the fact is that the investigation was by an independent prosecutor investigating malfeasance by the adminstration! The gist of that story is that it is all right for the administration to break the law and require confidentiality from the press but that a "whistle-blower" will not be accorded the same rights. Even the vaunted "Gray Lady", The New York Times was so intimidated that they sat on the story that the government was eavesdropping on the telephones of American citizens for a year at the request of the administration.
Will the members of the press realize that they have been used like a two-dollar whore and are being put back on the street? Now that the "freedom of the press" is being threatened, will we see a burst of real reportorial zeal? Now that they are face-to-face with a gag, will they dig harder for the truth and actually tell it to the public? Will they, after all, become the public interest organ which has brought down such tyrants as Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon? Or have they lost their fire and become, as have so many Americans, afraid to take the scab off the festering sore that has invaded our democratic government and allow it to be treated by the disinfectant of the ballot box?
Stay tuned.
3/6/06
Senator Pat Roberts, (R-KS), has announced that he is working on a bill that. if passed, will criminalize the publication of any "classified" information by the media. This would make the reporter who writes, and the news media for whom they work, equally liable under the anti-spy regulations with any whistle-blower who dares to try to get the truth out regarding the misfeasance and malfeasance of this administration. However, the very suggestion of the revocation of the First Amendment may be the one thing that will wake up our sleeping media to the truth of what has been and is being done to our democracy. Now the test for publish-ability will not be truth and verifiability but permission from the White House on pain of spending a long vacation in Halliburton's new Camp Northwoods.
For much too long the media, like most of the citizenry, have viewed the ultimate takeover of our nation by the Neo-Cons as "just politics", a simple little game where we choose sides and cheer for our favorite team. Much of the failure of the media as the watchdog of our liberty may be blamed on the revolution in the culture that causes most people to receive their news from their television sets. In that setting, much of the "news" is merely read by some young person who is chosen for looks, personality and ability to "perform" before the cameras. We no longer have the Walter Crockite or the Edward R. Murrow who will really go out and report on the news first-hand. Now, the second-generation television reporters like Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings have gone on to greener pastures and we have been left with the "readers".
We were spoon-fed the story about the "heroism" and the "rescue" of Jessica Lynch in Iraq when the truth was something quite different. We were regaled with tales of the valiant death of Pat Tillman who, with all due respect, was not the hero that they told us he was but a victim of "friendly fire". The stories were written as propaganda by "media consultants" before it was ever presented to the reporters. For the past five years, the "news" on television, radio, and too often, in the written media has consisted of plants, press releases, and political hype. However, some few reporters have remembered their legacy and have actually reported independent news that is really important to the American people. We have learned of the manipulations of Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff, the perfidy of I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby and "other un-named sources" in exposing the identity of a CIA operative, the warrantless tapping of our telephone lines, the loss of control of our seaports, and the constant invasion of our nation by some millions of illegal immigrants across our Southern border, many of them armed and dangerous. The alarm has been sounded. This independent streak in the press must be stopped and it will be criminalized!
In the "news commentary", we have had the rabid partisans like Bill O'Reilly and Tucker Carlson and the Republicrats like Chris Matthews who try to walk on both sides of the street at the same time. These are not "reporters" of whom we have far too few. Recently we have had the right to be proud of those reporters who were on the scene in New Orleans, apparently before the White House realized there was a problem and who made live reports that were complete and truthful. If they had been allowed to do this at the onset of the "War on Terror", it is entirely possible that Afghanistan would be pacified and Iran would not have been attacked in the first place! We would have known that the infamous World Trade Center bombers were from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Dubai and their only connection with Afghanistan was that it was the place where Osma bin Laden had taken up temporary residence. We would have known that there was a lot of doubt about Saddam's possession of the infamous WMD and his ties to Osama Bin Laden. We would have been aware that we were being lied to and we would have made this a one-term presidency.
But this administration "took office" on a claim of "openness and transparency" and promptly locked the door and pulled the shades! Reporters were instantly reduced to the status of stenographers as they dutifully wrote down the words of Scott McClellan to be parroted by the "commentators" on the nighly news. In turn, those commentators with their pre-arranged guests spouting the "party line" spent a mesmerizing few minutes smoothing out the edges of the real news and reassuring us that this was still the same good ole U S of A. A few managed to come close to criticism of the president and his hired flunkies, but then they felt the big bulge in their pants and backed off. No, not that bulge, silly! It was their fat Republican wallets!
We saw the spectacle of Judy Miller being trucked off to jail for refusing to divulge which administration official revealed the identity of Valerie Plame while others were threatened with the same. However heroic this may seem, the fact is that the investigation was by an independent prosecutor investigating malfeasance by the adminstration! The gist of that story is that it is all right for the administration to break the law and require confidentiality from the press but that a "whistle-blower" will not be accorded the same rights. Even the vaunted "Gray Lady", The New York Times was so intimidated that they sat on the story that the government was eavesdropping on the telephones of American citizens for a year at the request of the administration.
Will the members of the press realize that they have been used like a two-dollar whore and are being put back on the street? Now that the "freedom of the press" is being threatened, will we see a burst of real reportorial zeal? Now that they are face-to-face with a gag, will they dig harder for the truth and actually tell it to the public? Will they, after all, become the public interest organ which has brought down such tyrants as Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon? Or have they lost their fire and become, as have so many Americans, afraid to take the scab off the festering sore that has invaded our democratic government and allow it to be treated by the disinfectant of the ballot box?
Stay tuned.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Congress, Shape the Hell Up
Congress, Shape the Hell Up or Get the Hell Out!
By Chuck Wilson
The media is reporting that lawmakers are still angry about the Dubai port deal. Both Republicans and Democratics balked when they learned last month that the Bushies approved a $6.8 billion deal for a company in the United Arab Emirates to take over six of our ports with no investigation and without telling Congress about it. It was a "done deal."
It's still a done deal because after their little circus acts for public consumption, we're now hearing that our elected officials are feeling "powerless to prevent the sale from going forward, and their only hope is an 11th-hour intervention by Bush
Hey -- you spineless wonders! You make the laws! We're not paying you to cringe in the corner and hope that George Bush will take pity on you! This is not Bush's country -- it's not your country, even though both of you are feverishly trying to sell it off to the highest bidder. It's our country -- we the people. You need to get your greedy hands out of the till -- quit dreaming of the millions you can screw us out of, and start doing what we hired you to do -- protect the US Constitution and protect this country from enemies, not only from without, but from within!
You fell down on the job after 9-11 when you saw the evidence that proved conclusively that it was an inside job. You should be tried for treason, along with the murderers in the administration, for blocking investigation after investigation -- for lying about the worst attack on the people in this country's history. Your response to 9-11 was to sign away our freedoms with the destructive Patriot Act -- and those freedoms were so unimportant to you that you didn't even read it beforehand!
We have to wonder what you were promised to so easily betray your country and the people who elected you! Now, with this Dubai port deal you are setting us up for another attack while feeding billions into the pockets of the lying, evil SOBs who are determined to take over not only this country but the world!
We're giving you fair warning -- shape the hell up or get the hell out. You will either represent the people who elected you to protect this country -- or we will ensure that in November, you will be forced to pack up and go home in disgrace!
By Chuck Wilson
The media is reporting that lawmakers are still angry about the Dubai port deal. Both Republicans and Democratics balked when they learned last month that the Bushies approved a $6.8 billion deal for a company in the United Arab Emirates to take over six of our ports with no investigation and without telling Congress about it. It was a "done deal."
It's still a done deal because after their little circus acts for public consumption, we're now hearing that our elected officials are feeling "powerless to prevent the sale from going forward, and their only hope is an 11th-hour intervention by Bush
Hey -- you spineless wonders! You make the laws! We're not paying you to cringe in the corner and hope that George Bush will take pity on you! This is not Bush's country -- it's not your country, even though both of you are feverishly trying to sell it off to the highest bidder. It's our country -- we the people. You need to get your greedy hands out of the till -- quit dreaming of the millions you can screw us out of, and start doing what we hired you to do -- protect the US Constitution and protect this country from enemies, not only from without, but from within!
You fell down on the job after 9-11 when you saw the evidence that proved conclusively that it was an inside job. You should be tried for treason, along with the murderers in the administration, for blocking investigation after investigation -- for lying about the worst attack on the people in this country's history. Your response to 9-11 was to sign away our freedoms with the destructive Patriot Act -- and those freedoms were so unimportant to you that you didn't even read it beforehand!
We have to wonder what you were promised to so easily betray your country and the people who elected you! Now, with this Dubai port deal you are setting us up for another attack while feeding billions into the pockets of the lying, evil SOBs who are determined to take over not only this country but the world!
We're giving you fair warning -- shape the hell up or get the hell out. You will either represent the people who elected you to protect this country -- or we will ensure that in November, you will be forced to pack up and go home in disgrace!
Protesting US Torture Practices
15 Arrested At White House Protesting US Torture Practices
By Mike Ferner
March 2, 2006
Washington – Fifteen people were arrested yesterday in front of the White House after winding their way for two hours through the streets of the nation’s capital, demanding the U.S. stop torturing detainees in military prisons.
Members of Witness Against Torture began their protest at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, continuing to the Capitol and the Department of Justice, and ending at the White House where U.S. Park Police carried out the arrests. Speakers called on officials in each of the buildings to cease planning and executing policies that have injured and killed people in prisons such as Guantanamo Bay, Bagram in Afghanistan, and Abu Ghraib in Iraq.
Arrested were Art Laffin, of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House in Washington, Amanda and Matt Dalaisio, and Tania Theriault of the Catholic Worker’s Mary House in New York, Susan Crane from Jonah House in Baltimore, Matt Vogel, Mark Colville, Brian Kavanaugh, Carmen Trotta, Jacqueline Allen-Doucot, Alice Gerard, Bill Streit, Tom Feagley, Edith Tetaz and Jordan Manuel.
The march took place on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, an annual period when Catholics pray and fast to repent for sins. Speakers included many Biblical references in their remarks.
At the Department of Justice, Bill Streit used passages from the Book of Isaiah to condemn the DOJ’s role in torturing prisoners. “Your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt; Your lips speak falsehood, and your tongue utters deceit…Right is repelled and justice stands far off; for truth stumbles in the public square. Honesty is lacking, and the man who turns from evil is despoiled.”
Following Streit, Kristine Huskey, an attorney just back from Guantanamo where she represents a detainee, described torture methods prisoners have reported to her and other attorneys.
The 38 year-old attorney from the firm of Shearman and Sterling explained that some 30 detainees had been on a hunger strike since late last summer to protest their treatment. Despite being roughly force-fed, several others joined the strike on Christmas Day. At that point, military officials at Guantanamo ordered even harsher methods.
“Soldiers would strap a prisoner to one of several specially-purchased metal chairs with six-point restraints, insert an oversized tube through his nose and purposely overfeed him, causing him to vomit, defecate and urinate all over himself, and then leave him strapped in the chair for hours like that,” Huskey stated.
Describing what happened when the military “got serious about ending the hunger strike after Christmas, she said, “They stopped using lubricant to help the tubes go down, and began using tubes with metal tips.”
Despite the tortuous forced feedings, she reported, four prisoners remain on hunger strike at Guantanamo. Other speakers, citing reports from Amnesty International, corroborated Huskey’s statements and added that prisoners reported many instances of injuries, bleeding, and unconsciousness from the torture-feeding methods, plus numerous physical and mental injuries from torture techniques such as sensory deprivation, beatings, and burning with lighted cigarettes.
She told the protesters and a small knot of bystanders who stopped to listen, that “One of the most important things you can do is keep this issue alive and not let the world forget. I was just in Guantanamo and I can tell you that your actions provide a glimmer of hope to these prisoners – something they’ve not had before. They are aware of your actions and express their thanks.”
Escorting six fellow protesters dressed in bright orange jumpsuits, hands tied and hoods over their heads, the marchers proceeded along busy sidewalks to the White House, carrying signs that read, “You can deny it’s torture, but the world knows,” “Torture is killing a person without them dying,” and “Ban all torture – no exception for Bush.”
Asked for an opinion of the procession that had just passed her, one woman replied tersely, “I’m not interested.” A second, referring to a reporter’s notebook, said, “I don’t do that..” A block later, a third person claimed, “I didn’t even notice it.”
Several blocks further, an employee of the National Association of Manufacturers, standing in front of its headquarters, answered, “At first I thought it was against the death penalty and then I saw what it was about. Torture? Sure, I disapprove. This war is a lie. It’s a fake that’s costing people’s lives. It’s terrible what’s going on. I lost two brothers in Viet Nam. I know war is profitable, but it’s wrong.”
Arriving at the White House, the march was greeted by two patrol cars and a paddy wagon, quickly augmented by another wagon and dozens of uniformed and plainclothes U.S. Park Police and Secret Service agents.
Tourists stopped to watch and take pictures as the activists drew crosses made of ashes from the wood stove at Jonah House, on the White House sidewalk. Some of the tourists entered into conversation with the protesters, most stood quietly.
A 17 year-old student from California, asked what he thought about the event, said, “Torture is still bad, but it’s sometimes necessary to save other lives.” A passing youth slowed to inquire, “Are the people being tortured American citizens?” When answered, “No,” he replied, “then what’ve we got to do with it?” One young man was overheard telling a woman he was with, “stick around here, honey, and your face will wind up in a database.”
Francis Gabby, in Washington from Maryland’s Eastern Shore for his job, began his comments carefully. “They have every right to be here. I happen to agree with the majority of what they say. I don’t believe we should be torturing people.”
Asked to respond to the California student’s assertion that torture is bad but sometimes necessary, the 57-year old building management worker replied, “It’s like the death penalty where innocent people have been executed, and besides, it just doesn’t serve any purpose – in fact, it’s doing the opposite. It seems like we’re getting bad information anyway. I don’t have answers, but I don’t think this is the way.”
Anne Montgomery, 79, a participant in the march, said she had been to Iraq many times with Voices in the Wilderness and Christian Peacemaker Teams. She said, “The U.S. is exporting a tremendous escalation of violence, feeding more violence in the world. Actions like this are important so that people will know that not all Americans are behind the war. Every action that says we disapprove of what our government is doing helps.”
Referring to the four CPT members still held hostage in Iraq, Montgomery said yesterday’s demonstration and others like it may well be helping them stay alive and contribute to their release.
Finished drawing the ashen crosses, 15 people stood with banners and signs in the “no protest” zone along one section of the White House fence and waited to be arrested. In the hour it took the Park Police to begin that process, several of the soon-to-be-arrested spoke.
Her back to the fence, Theriault stated for all to hear, “Torture and indefinite detention do not represent us and do not make us secure.”
In a voice fit for a theatrical production, Trotta boomed, “I’m thinkin’ about lunch counter sit-ins – deliberate, deliberate breaking of the law. I’m thinkin’ about Martin Luther King, and the Catonsville 9. I’m even thinkin’ about the Boston Tea Party – that was deliberate law-breaking.”
The police officers arrested each person, methodically tying their hands behind their back with plastic handcuffs. Three of the arrestees were sitting on the sidewalk in orange jumpsuits, hooded, with their hands tied in front of them. Officers removed the hoods and had to unwrap the electrical cord binding their hands before placing them in handcuffs.
With the arrestees in the wagons, the police drove them to a federal booking facility in Anacostia, charged them with demonstrating without a permit, cited them into court at a later date, and released them.
After the action was over, a safety officer wearing a haz-mat hood and gloves took samples of the wood ashes on the sidewalk. As people left the area, a motorized street sweeper cleaned the sidewalk of ash.
###
Note: Protest organizers said that four days prior to the demonstration they sent out approximately 1000 news releases, 100 to news media outlets in the D.C. area. Reuters was the only news media outlet seen covering any part of the actions yesterday.
Ferner is a freelance writer from Ohio
By Mike Ferner
March 2, 2006
Washington – Fifteen people were arrested yesterday in front of the White House after winding their way for two hours through the streets of the nation’s capital, demanding the U.S. stop torturing detainees in military prisons.
Members of Witness Against Torture began their protest at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, continuing to the Capitol and the Department of Justice, and ending at the White House where U.S. Park Police carried out the arrests. Speakers called on officials in each of the buildings to cease planning and executing policies that have injured and killed people in prisons such as Guantanamo Bay, Bagram in Afghanistan, and Abu Ghraib in Iraq.
Arrested were Art Laffin, of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House in Washington, Amanda and Matt Dalaisio, and Tania Theriault of the Catholic Worker’s Mary House in New York, Susan Crane from Jonah House in Baltimore, Matt Vogel, Mark Colville, Brian Kavanaugh, Carmen Trotta, Jacqueline Allen-Doucot, Alice Gerard, Bill Streit, Tom Feagley, Edith Tetaz and Jordan Manuel.
The march took place on Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, an annual period when Catholics pray and fast to repent for sins. Speakers included many Biblical references in their remarks.
At the Department of Justice, Bill Streit used passages from the Book of Isaiah to condemn the DOJ’s role in torturing prisoners. “Your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt; Your lips speak falsehood, and your tongue utters deceit…Right is repelled and justice stands far off; for truth stumbles in the public square. Honesty is lacking, and the man who turns from evil is despoiled.”
Following Streit, Kristine Huskey, an attorney just back from Guantanamo where she represents a detainee, described torture methods prisoners have reported to her and other attorneys.
The 38 year-old attorney from the firm of Shearman and Sterling explained that some 30 detainees had been on a hunger strike since late last summer to protest their treatment. Despite being roughly force-fed, several others joined the strike on Christmas Day. At that point, military officials at Guantanamo ordered even harsher methods.
“Soldiers would strap a prisoner to one of several specially-purchased metal chairs with six-point restraints, insert an oversized tube through his nose and purposely overfeed him, causing him to vomit, defecate and urinate all over himself, and then leave him strapped in the chair for hours like that,” Huskey stated.
Describing what happened when the military “got serious about ending the hunger strike after Christmas, she said, “They stopped using lubricant to help the tubes go down, and began using tubes with metal tips.”
Despite the tortuous forced feedings, she reported, four prisoners remain on hunger strike at Guantanamo. Other speakers, citing reports from Amnesty International, corroborated Huskey’s statements and added that prisoners reported many instances of injuries, bleeding, and unconsciousness from the torture-feeding methods, plus numerous physical and mental injuries from torture techniques such as sensory deprivation, beatings, and burning with lighted cigarettes.
She told the protesters and a small knot of bystanders who stopped to listen, that “One of the most important things you can do is keep this issue alive and not let the world forget. I was just in Guantanamo and I can tell you that your actions provide a glimmer of hope to these prisoners – something they’ve not had before. They are aware of your actions and express their thanks.”
Escorting six fellow protesters dressed in bright orange jumpsuits, hands tied and hoods over their heads, the marchers proceeded along busy sidewalks to the White House, carrying signs that read, “You can deny it’s torture, but the world knows,” “Torture is killing a person without them dying,” and “Ban all torture – no exception for Bush.”
Asked for an opinion of the procession that had just passed her, one woman replied tersely, “I’m not interested.” A second, referring to a reporter’s notebook, said, “I don’t do that..” A block later, a third person claimed, “I didn’t even notice it.”
Several blocks further, an employee of the National Association of Manufacturers, standing in front of its headquarters, answered, “At first I thought it was against the death penalty and then I saw what it was about. Torture? Sure, I disapprove. This war is a lie. It’s a fake that’s costing people’s lives. It’s terrible what’s going on. I lost two brothers in Viet Nam. I know war is profitable, but it’s wrong.”
Arriving at the White House, the march was greeted by two patrol cars and a paddy wagon, quickly augmented by another wagon and dozens of uniformed and plainclothes U.S. Park Police and Secret Service agents.
Tourists stopped to watch and take pictures as the activists drew crosses made of ashes from the wood stove at Jonah House, on the White House sidewalk. Some of the tourists entered into conversation with the protesters, most stood quietly.
A 17 year-old student from California, asked what he thought about the event, said, “Torture is still bad, but it’s sometimes necessary to save other lives.” A passing youth slowed to inquire, “Are the people being tortured American citizens?” When answered, “No,” he replied, “then what’ve we got to do with it?” One young man was overheard telling a woman he was with, “stick around here, honey, and your face will wind up in a database.”
Francis Gabby, in Washington from Maryland’s Eastern Shore for his job, began his comments carefully. “They have every right to be here. I happen to agree with the majority of what they say. I don’t believe we should be torturing people.”
Asked to respond to the California student’s assertion that torture is bad but sometimes necessary, the 57-year old building management worker replied, “It’s like the death penalty where innocent people have been executed, and besides, it just doesn’t serve any purpose – in fact, it’s doing the opposite. It seems like we’re getting bad information anyway. I don’t have answers, but I don’t think this is the way.”
Anne Montgomery, 79, a participant in the march, said she had been to Iraq many times with Voices in the Wilderness and Christian Peacemaker Teams. She said, “The U.S. is exporting a tremendous escalation of violence, feeding more violence in the world. Actions like this are important so that people will know that not all Americans are behind the war. Every action that says we disapprove of what our government is doing helps.”
Referring to the four CPT members still held hostage in Iraq, Montgomery said yesterday’s demonstration and others like it may well be helping them stay alive and contribute to their release.
Finished drawing the ashen crosses, 15 people stood with banners and signs in the “no protest” zone along one section of the White House fence and waited to be arrested. In the hour it took the Park Police to begin that process, several of the soon-to-be-arrested spoke.
Her back to the fence, Theriault stated for all to hear, “Torture and indefinite detention do not represent us and do not make us secure.”
In a voice fit for a theatrical production, Trotta boomed, “I’m thinkin’ about lunch counter sit-ins – deliberate, deliberate breaking of the law. I’m thinkin’ about Martin Luther King, and the Catonsville 9. I’m even thinkin’ about the Boston Tea Party – that was deliberate law-breaking.”
The police officers arrested each person, methodically tying their hands behind their back with plastic handcuffs. Three of the arrestees were sitting on the sidewalk in orange jumpsuits, hooded, with their hands tied in front of them. Officers removed the hoods and had to unwrap the electrical cord binding their hands before placing them in handcuffs.
With the arrestees in the wagons, the police drove them to a federal booking facility in Anacostia, charged them with demonstrating without a permit, cited them into court at a later date, and released them.
After the action was over, a safety officer wearing a haz-mat hood and gloves took samples of the wood ashes on the sidewalk. As people left the area, a motorized street sweeper cleaned the sidewalk of ash.
###
Note: Protest organizers said that four days prior to the demonstration they sent out approximately 1000 news releases, 100 to news media outlets in the D.C. area. Reuters was the only news media outlet seen covering any part of the actions yesterday.
Ferner is a freelance writer from Ohio
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