Tragedy and Travesty at Annapolis

- by Stephen Lendman
11/26/07

November 27 at Annapolis kicks off the latest Israeli-Palestinian Middle East peace process round that may be an historic first. It's the first time in memory the legitimate government of one side is excluded, and that alone dooms it. Like previous rounds, it's more pretense than peace, and as Jonathan Steele puts it in his November 16 Guardian column "The Palestinian path to peace does not go via Annapolis....so what do....Palestinians do next....In their decades-long bid for justice, they have tried everything:" armed struggle to compromise, but nothing works and the reason is simple. Their sincerity isn't matched by Israel, the West, other Arab states and the US most of all with all the muscle in its hands to push or constrain Israelis to be serious and fair. That's the problem. How can one side negotiate in good faith without a willing partner.

Nothing new will be introduced this time; the conference is for one day; no peace negotiations will be held; Israeli Prime Minister Olmert calls the summit "a meeting, not a negotiating session;" respected Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk says Olmert "has no more interest in a Palestinian state than....Ariel Sharon;" no advance agreement of intentions or principles has been reached; and it's still not sure who's coming.

Further, Gaza remains under siege, the West Bank is also terrorized, settlements continue being built, Palestinian land keeps being taken, more lives in the Territories are being lost, suffering remains unbearable, and hope for the beleaguered people again will be dashed. Their message on the ground is clear, but no one's listening. They won't accept surrender for peace. They want nothing less than freedom and justice in their own unoccupied land. Israel won't give it to them, so the struggle continues.

full article

'Safe' uranium that left a town contaminated

David Rose in Colonie, New York
Sunday November 18, 2007
The Observer, UK

It is 50 years since Tony Ciarfello and his friends used the yard of a depleted uranium weapons factory as their playground in Colonie, a suburb of Albany in upstate New York state. 'There wasn't no fence at the back of the plant,' remembers Ciarfello. 'Inside was a big open ground and nobody would chase us away. We used to play baseball and hang by the stream running through it. We even used to fish in it - though we noticed the fish had big pink lumps on them.'

Today there are lumps on Ciarfello's chest - strange, round tumours that protrude about an inch. 'No one seems to know what they are,' he says. 'I've also had a brain aneurysm caused by a suspected tumour. I'm constantly fatigued and for years I've had terrible pains, deep inside my leg bones. I fall over without warning and I've got a heart condition.' Ciarfello's illnesses have rendered him unable to work for years. Aged 57 and a father of five, he looks much older.

The US federal government and the firm that ran the factory, National Lead (NL) Industries, have been assuring former workers and residents around the 18-acre site for decades that, although it is true that the plant used to produce unacceptable levels of radioactive pollution, it was not a serious health hazard.

Now, in a development with potentially devastating implications not only for Colonie but also for the future use of some of the West's most powerful weapon systems, that claim is being challenged. In a paper to be published in the next issue of the scientific journal Science of the Total Environment, a team led by Professor Randall Parrish of Leicester University reports the results of a three-year study of Colonie, funded by Britain's Ministry of Defence.

Parrish's team has found that DU contamination, which remains radioactive for millions of years, is in effect impossible to eradicate, not only from the environment but also from the bodies of humans. Twenty-three years after production ceased they tested the urine of five former workers. All are still contaminated with DU. So were 20 per cent of people tested who had spent at least 10 years living near the factory when it was still working, including Ciarfello.

full article

Thanksgiving Hypocrisy

- by Stephen Lendman
11/16/07

In the US, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November to give thanks for the year's blessings and bounty. At least that's how it began. It's not, however, the current practice. Most people defile the day's spirit in how they spend it over a full four day holiday weekend - with overindulgent eating, parades, "can't miss" football from Thursday through Sunday, and, key for merchants, the "official" start of the Christmas holiday shopping season. It begins Thanksgiving Friday, is now an orgy of holiday consumerism, continues through Christmas eve, ebbs for a day, then builds again for a final celebratory new year's welcome with more overindulgent eating, drinking, partying, and binge-shopping for nonessentials.

This holiday, like all others, is also replete with myths, and young minds are filled with them. They're taught the Pilgrims invited Native Indians to share their bounty in a show of brotherhood and friendship with an array of foods early settlers never heard of that were indigenous to the Americas and introduced to them by Native peoples. The Pilgrims had nothing to do with this tradition. It began with Eastern Indians observing fall harvest celebrations centuries before the first settlers arrived. After they did, there was no such observance as "Thanksgiving."…

full article

see also
Dominionist Bill Limits the Supreme Court's Jurisdiction

Coup D'Etat Rumblings in Venezuela

- by Stephen Lendman
11/1907

The Bush administration tried and failed three prior times to oust Hugo Chavez since its first aborted two-day coup attempt in April, 2002. Through FOIA requests, lawyer, activist and author Eva Golinger uncovered top secret CIA documents of US involvement that included an intricate financing scheme involving the quasi-governmental agency, National Endowment of Democracy (NED), and US Agency for International Development (USAID). The documents also showed the White House, State Department and National Security Agency had full knowledge of the scheme, had to have approved it, and there's little doubt of CIA involvement as it's always part of this kind of dirty business. What's worrying now is what went on then may be happening again in what looks like a prelude to a fourth made-in-Washington attempt to oust the Venezuelan leader that must be monitored closely as events develop….

full story

The Last Founder Standing

By Sheila Samples
11/17/07

"If you want to go quickly, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.
We need to go far -- quickly."
- Al Gore

No entity in this once-proud nation is more corrupt than its shallow, hubris-infested media. Any pricks of conscience the media may have felt for covering up the treasonous seizure of the 2000 election were swept away in the swirl of terror following the attack on 9-11. The "big story" to confront George Bush when he returned from his month-long vacation in September 2001, his approval numbers tanking, was that Al Gore got more votes than any Democrat in US history -- nearly a half-million more than Bush. It was that five conservative Supreme Court judges stopped the vote count that would prove Gore won because, in their unsigned decision, they wrote such a democratic win would cause "public acceptance," which would "cast a cloud over Bush's legitimacy" and thus harm "democratic stability."

Into the Abyss

The election coup was a shot across the bow of democracy, a power seizure orchestrated by the ever-present, hands-on man who leaves no fingerprints, James Baker III, and carried out by mob leader John Bolton. Luckily for Bush, he blundered into 9-11 and managed to hit the trifecta before the papers managed to hit the newsstands. And, thanks to the media and its burgeoning power to manipulate citizen opinion and form legislative attitudes, Bush demanded -- and was given -- a license to kill.

The beast was loosed.

The last seven years have been a hell of a ride for Bush, Dick Cheney and their toady media -- continuous, absurd politicking for the next election, blood-gushing adventure abroad and a Constitution-shredding free-for-all at home. Power is a heady thing, and they grow more powerful and immoral with each lie they tell, each freedom they destroy, each crime they cover up.

For the rest of us, those years have just been hell. Like our fellow Americans in New Orleans caught up in the despair of waiting for help that will never come, we remain mired in a Samuel Beckett wasteland, waiting for our own "Godot" to return and claim what is rightfully his. Rightfully ours. Our rights, our freedoms, our civil liberties -- our government.

Gore tested the water in 2004, and the media met him head-on, fangs bared, in a concerted effort to ridicule and destroy him and to keep their corporate benefactors and war profiteers in office. From the New York Times to the Washington Times to the Los Angeles Times the message to Gore was the same -- get lost.

Over at CNN, Paula Zahn and Judy Woodruff each did an "exclusive" interview with Gore. Each pointed out how popular and wonderful Bush is; each asked Gore virtually the same question -- "Do you really think YOU can win?" Each looked at Gore in stunned amazement, and Woodruff even added in her intensely oh-so-blonde bewildered way (eyes wide, hands spread) -- "People are saying that nobody out there likes you, even the leaders of your own party. Given that (you're such a ridiculously low lying slimeball) -- what makes you think you can win...?"

People are saying. Should anyone doubt who those "people" are, during the same period, CNN's Suzanne Malvoux opined to then morning anchor Soledad O'Brien, "There's a connection between Bush 43 and the public -- it's a comfort level...Bush has a glow about him." O'Brien announced a bit later, as if noticing it herself, "Bush seems to have a glow about him." Later, Woodruff credited Malvoux with reporting earlier that "Bush is so relaxed, he has a glow about him." Later in the day, Wolf Blitzer commented, "Some people are saying that Bush has a glow about him..."

Gore was determined that the election be more than some "media" people saying he is boring, he is fat, he is a liar. He knew that Bush, if forced to address the issues facing this country, if forced to explain the disconnect between his words and actions, explain to Americans why their civil rights were being desecrated in the name of freedom, explain how a "man of God" could morph so effortlessly into an "Angel of Death," he could not -- and should not -- survive. So Gore withdrew, hoping to set the stage if not for Bush's defeat, at least for him having to answer some critical questions about this nation's economy, its domestic chaos, and the pathological lies that took this nation into a bloody, senseless war.

Going Quickly, Alone

That didn't happen. So Gore set out to continue his lifelong quest of awakening the world's population to the reality of global warming. In spite of the media's vicious efforts to discredit him, Gore soared to new heights of credibility with his book, "An Inconvenient Truth," published concurrently in May 2006 with the documentary film of the same title. The film, by far the most popular at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, was mocked at home but received well-deserved acclaim in foreign media and captured not one, but two Academy Awards. It went on to become the fourth-highest-grossing documentary in US history.

The New York Times' Michiko Kakutani did review Gore's book, pointing out that it was "largely free of the New Age psychobabble and A-student grandiosity that rumbled through" his 1992 book, "Earth in the Balance." Kakutani reminded readers that Poppy Bush had earlier dismissed Gore as "Ozone Man," but conceded that Gore's "passionate warnings about climate change seem increasingly prescient," and that his "wonky fascination with policy minutiae has been tamed in these pages..." Finally, while noting that Gore wrote the Introduction for (1994 reprint) Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," Kakutani wrapped it up by sneering that Gore "isn't a scientist like Carson and doesn't possess her literary gifts," and accused Gore of writing "as a popularizer of other people's research and ideas."

Perhaps if Kakutani had known that, just 18 months later, Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about manmade climate change, and to lay the foundations ... to counteract such change," she might have mentioned that the premise of Gore's book was clearly that global warming is not just about science nor is it just a political issue. It is a moral issue and we -- all of us -- have a responsibility to do something about it. Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" is, as Kafka wrote, "the axe for the frozen sea inside us."

Al Gore is a "larger than party" guy, and stands head and shoulders above the hypocritical Bush clones in both parties who are flip-flopping all over the campaign trail. Since 2000, he has wielded that axe again and again via op-eds, speeches and face-to-face interaction with the people -- a wake-up call to resist the imposition of tyranny by the powerful. As early as 2003 Gore was ahead of the pack, warning Americans about the loss of civil liberties, unwarranted searches and seizures, and illegal surveillance.

In a September 2005 speech in San Francisco, a heartbroken Gore spoke of the morality -- or lack of it -- in the Bush administration's belated response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Don't point fingers -- don't hold us accountable -- appeared to be the only plan in place to deal with catastrophe.

However, "When the corpses of American citizens are floating in toxic floodwaters five days after a hurricane strikes," Gore said, "it is time not only to repond directly to the victims...but to hold the processes of our nation accountable, and the leaders of our nation accountable..."

Gore had personally responded to the tragedy by arranging to have 270 evacuees airlifted on two separate flights from New Orleans to Tennessee. He agreed to pay $50,000 for each flight, recruited doctors and cut through government red tape to allow the planes to land in New Orleans. The media did not mention this act of courage and compassion, perhaps because Bush had not yet arrived for his belated flyover and cathedral photo-op where spotlights cast a glow about him.

Going Far Together -- Quickly

For millions of us who wait for Gore, each day begins anew, with hope that he will return -- yet each night ends in despair because he did not. We have hope because we know that each step Gore has taken in his entire career -- representative, senator, vice president and, yes, president -- has been forward. The grassroots movement to draft Gore is spreading across the nation, and will continue unless Gore himself says "Stop!" To date, he has not done so. Perhaps that is because he knows -- as do we -- that both the earth and our democracy are teetering on the brink of disaster, and their restoration depends entirely upon the person occupying the Oval Office.

We have hope because we read his explosive new book, "The Assault on Reason," wherein he exposes the Bush administration for what it is -- traitorous. Gore wrote more than once in his book, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Gore shares the vision of the Founders that we are a government of laws, not of men. He warns that a "president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government."

Gore is a Tom Paine, a Paul Revere, who tells us -- "It is time now for us to recover our moral health in America and stand again for freedom, demand accountability for poor decisions, missed judgments, lack of planning, lack of preparation, and willful denial of the obvious truth about serious and imminent threats that are facing the American people."

Al Gore is for the people who are rising to the challenge of restoring democracy. He is of the people who long to "rekindle the true spirit of America." And Gore will be re-elected by the people -- because he is the last Founder standing.

Sheila Samples is an Oklahoma writer and a former civilian US Army Public Information Officer. She is a regular contributor for a variety of Internet sites. Contact her at rsamples@sirinet.net

Torturing Palestinian Detainees

- by Stephen Lendman
11/14/07

B'Tselem is the conservative Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories with a well-deserved reputation for accuracy. A group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists and Knesset members founded the organization in 1989 to "document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel" to convince government officials to respect human rights and comply with international law.

Its work covers a wide range of human rights issues that include detentions and torture. In May, 2007, it prepared a detailed 100 page report titled "Absolute Prohibition: The Torture and Ill-treatment of Palestinian Detainees" that's now available in print for those who request it. This article summarizes its findings that represent a joint effort by B'Tselem and HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual that was founded in 1988 to support Palestinian rights during the first intifada in the late 1980s.

Since the early 1990s, B'Tselem published more than ten reports on Israelis' use of torture and mistreatment of Palestinian detainees. This is the latest one in an effort to raise public awareness and help abolish these abhorrent practices. The findings are based on testimonies solicited from a small "unrepresentative" sample of 73 Palestinian West Bank residents who were arrested between July, 2005 and January, 2006, agreed to tell their stories, and who met predetermined criteria for the study….

full article

Sock Monkey 08
Position Paper 2
Health Insurance:
11/10/07

Me and Lumpy, oops, I mean, Lumpy and I, were having some beers and pretzels while watching the Ohio State game, and talking about health care. Of course, everybody cares about health. Who wouldn’t? It’s not a lot of fun to be around someone who’s got snot running out of their nose. Trust me, I know….

read more:
http://tmars.iwarp.com/sockmonkey08/position-papers.html

Veterans Day 2007

Punishing Gaza

- by Stephen Lendman
11/6/07

On September 20, Haaretz reported: "The security cabinet voted unanimously yesterday to increase sanctions against the Hamas-run Gaza Strip (and declare) the region a 'hostile entity.' " A further statement read: "We will reduce the amount of megawattage we provide to the Strip, and Hamas will have to decide whether to provide electricity to hospitals or weapons lathes." Israeli officials also decided to punish Gazans by restricting:

-- fuel as well as electricity from Israel to Gaza;
-- the passage of goods and people through border crossings that are already severely restricted; and
-- visits to prisoners even further than how limited they are already.

An increased monitoring of funds was also announced as well as stating border crossings would be closed for up to 48 hours in response to (crude small homemade) Qassam rocket fire, and that Israel would supply nothing further to Gaza residents "except for (whatever Israel considers) humanitarian needs." Hamas' response was swift and sharp. Spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called the cabinet's decision and sanctions a "declaration of war" and said "we must unite the ranks to come together in the conflict with the cruel enemy....This is another attempt to force us to surrender (our sovereignty)."

At first, the world community hardly blinked with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon acting as irresponsibly as his predecessor. He urged Israel to reconsider its decision but denounced Hamas for its "continued indiscriminate rocket fire....into Israel (and that he) understand(s) Israel's security concerns over this matter." Nothing in his statement mentioned Israel's daily attacks and killings of Palestinians or the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza after Israel closed its borders last June, isolated the Territory from the outside world, and cut off most essential supplies and services to its people....

full article

more about Sock Monkey

With a year to the elections, and support for his campaign coming in from all corners, Sock Monkey's campaign site has been upgraded. His first position paper has been posted, and a photo album has been added.

Keep up with most of his activities at Sock Monkey 08.

We're all torturers now