By Joseph L. Galloway McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2008
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/galloway/story/31672.html
This week, the Iraq war claimed its 4,000th American killed in action, but that sad and tragic milestone came as the war seems to have slipped off the evening news, off the front pages and from the minds of the American people.
I suppose this benign neglect of so important and damaging an event is combat fatigue on the part of the public. No doubt the White House is happy to see Iraq shoved to a back burner, just as all three presidential candidates are relieved to talk about something else, anything else, but their half-baked ideas about the war.
Shame on them, and shame on us, for such callous indifference to the service, sacrifice and suffering of the families of the dead, wounded and injured troops who’ve given so much for so little in return.
Vice President Cheney again stuck both feet in his mouth by saying and then repeating that we should remember that our military is composed entirely of volunteers; that our troops all volunteered for this duty, this burden, this sacrifice.
What’s your point, Mr. Vice President? That because they volunteered to serve our country in uniform it’s okay to squander their lives in a war of choice, your choice and your president’s, and that it somehow matters less than if they’d been dragooned into service by press gangs or a draft like the one you dodged with five deferments during the Vietnam War because, you said, you had “better things to do”?
The 58,249 Americans who were killed in the war of your youth had better things to do than rest under their white marble, government-issue tombstones. I’m certain, too, that the 4,000 Americans who’ve died in the war that you and President Bush launched five years ago for no good reason and several that weren’t true had better things to do than die under your command.
No sooner did you and your boss begin celebrating “victory” in the surge in Iraq than new problems erupted in one of the most critical parts of the country, the southern Shiite Muslim city of Basra and nearby oilfields and ports.
Iraq government soldiers are fighting it out with the Mahdi Army of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr for control of Basra, and the truce that’s helped keep a fragile peace in Baghdad’s toughest neighborhoods began to unravel. Sadr’s militiamen rained mortars and rockets on the Green Zone - the headquarters of the Iraqi government and American diplomats and military commanders - as a pointed reminder of who still holds some good cards in this game.
Sadr turned off his murderous militia for reasons of his own last August, and casualty figures for American forces began falling sharply because Shiite militias were responsible for as much as 65 percent of U.S. casualties. If Sadr now turns his war back on, our casualty figures could rise as swiftly as they fell.
We’ll get a good idea from the fighting in Basra about how strong the American-trained Iraqi Army really is as it goes up against Sadr’s militiamen. The Iraqi police - American-trained but heavily infiltrated by another militia, the Iranian-backed Badr Organization - ran for their lives early in the fighting.
By the time the U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David Petraeus, arrives in Washington during the second week of April to report to the president and the Congress on the achievements of the surge, he may have less good news to report.
But none of this makes a damn bit of difference if most Americans don’t care and don’t want to know anything, good or bad, about Iraq, the war and our troops.
That’s the sort of apathy and know-nothingness that elected and then re-elected Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. They’re what happens when fewer than half the eligible voters in this great experiment in democracy and freedom even care enough to vote on Election Day.
Meantime, our volunteer troops - who comprise about one-half of 1 percent of our population of 300 million - soldier on, bearing the burden and making all the sacrifices on behalf of all the rest of us.
The war that Americans don’t want to know about drags on because its authors don’t care what you think or even if you think. In fact, they’d prefer that you didn’t think or ask any pesky questions that they can’t answer without lying.
Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq - Wednesday 26 March 2008
By Laith Hammoudi McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/212/story/31661.html
The daily Iraqi violence report is compiled by McClatchy Newspapers Special Correspondents in Baghdad from police, military and medical reports. This is not a comprehensive list of all violence in Iraq, much of which goes unreported. It’s posted without editing as transmitted to McClatchy’s Washington Bureau.
Baghdad
At least 20 people were killed and 115 wounded in clashes that broke out on Tuesday evening and lasted until Wednesday morning between Mahdi army militia and the Iraqis security forces supported by the American forces in Sadr city in east Baghdad.
US embassy in Iraqi said that three US officials were wounded seriously in one of the attacks that targeted the green zone on Wednesday morning.
Around 5:30 a.m. three mortar shells hit the green zone. No reports about casualties.
Around 8:00 a.m. the US forces left Sadr city after clashing with Mahdi army. The final toll of the casualties is 20 people killed and 115 wounded.
Five people were injured when members of Mahdi army opened fire targeting civilians in al Kifah neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 8:30 a.m.
Six people were injured when members of Mahdi army opened fire targeting civilians in Sadoun Street in downtown Baghdad around 9:00 a.m.
Around 9:15 a.m. three mortar shells hit the green zone. A fourth shell hit one of the buildings in Salhiyah street near the green zone. One civilians was killed and 6 others wounded.
Two civilians were wounded in an IED explosion in al Fallah intersection in Sadr city in East Baghdad around 11:00 a.m.
Three civilians were killed and fifteen others were wounded when four mortar shells hit different parts in Karrada neighborhood.
Three civilians were killed and twelve others were wounded when threemortar shells hit Risala neighborhood southeast Baghdad around 12:00 p.m.
Around 1:00 p.m. mortar shells hit the green zone in downtown Baghdad. No reports about Casualties.
Two civilians were killed and five others were wounded when two mortar shells hit Sayd Idrees shrine and the social car house in Karrada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 1;30 p.m.
Four civilians were inured in clashes between insurgents and the Iraqi national police in Shaab neighborhood in north Baghdad around 1:30 p.m.
Around 2:00 p.m. clashes broke out between the Iraqi army and members of Mahdi army in Kadhemiyah neighborhood in North Baghdad. No casualties were reported.
Around 3:00 p.m. mortar shells hit the green zone. No casualties reported.
Four civilians were wounded when a mortar shell hit Beirut intersection in east Baghdad around 3:00 p.m.
Three civilians were wounded in an IED explosion in Darwish intersection in Saidiyah neighborhood in South Baghdad around 3:00 p.m.
Around 5:30 p.m. a mortar shell hit Kadhemiyah neighborhood in north Baghdad. No Casualties reported.
Clashes broke out between the US army and Mahdi army militia in jisr Diyala area south of Baghdad. No news about casualties reported. . .
Police found three unidentified bodies . . .
Tikrit
A source in Tikrit hospital said that a patrol from the 1st battalion the 14 brigade brought the body of Mohammed Shakir Mahmoud who died after being tortured by a US sponsored militia near al Mamlaha village east of Samara on Wednesday morning.
Eight people were killed including Judge Munaf al Azawi a court judge and his two sons, two women, a child and a man when U.S. soldiers raided two houses in al Qadisiyah neighborhood north of Tikrit, Iraqi police said. The US military said that the Coalition Forces were targeting an Al Qaida member suspected of organizing car bombs for the group. During the targeted raid they came under fire and responded. . . .
Basra
Medical source in Basra province south of Baghdad said that 33 people were killed and 150 others were wounded in the clashes that took place between the Iraqi security forces and Mahdi army in different neighborhoods of the province.
Four policemen were killed when their vehicle was targeted with RBG7 rocket near Basra police directorate on Wednesday afternoon. . .
At least seven detainees were wounded when mortar shells hit the detainees affairs department in downtown Basra on Wednesday afternoon.
Najaf
A mortar shell hit al Mujtaba police station in downtown Najaf city south of Baghdad around 8:15 p.m. causing casualties among the staff of the police station, police said. The police of Najaf announced a curfew in the city until further notice. . .
Two policemen were wounded when gunmen opened fire targeting al Mujtaba police station in downtown Najaf city on Wednesday evening
Babil
At least 60 people were killed and wounded when the MNF helicopters bombed the neighborhoods of al Askari and Nadir in Babil province south of Baghdad, the spokesman the Iraqi police in Babil province Muthanna Ahmed said. The MNF couldn’t immediately confirm the strike. '
Dozens Dead in Basra Clashes;
Mahdi Army Occupies Kut
by Juan Cole
Thursday, March 27, 2008
http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/dozens-dead-in-basra-clashes-mahdi-army.html
Gunmen blew up an oil pipeline in Basra province. Such sabotage of the pipelines down there is rare, in contrast to the situation in the north around Kirkuk. But if the Sadrists feel unfairly attacked by the government, they clearly are willing to play spoiler, just as some Sunni Arabs have in the north.As it is, if the fighting goes on a few more days, the next shift of oil workers won't be able to reach the fields, which will shut down some production. Basra fields produce between 1.8 million b/d and 2 mn b/d, and export 1.5 mn b/d. The Iraqi government is heavily dependent on that income.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
What It's All About...
By Sheila Samples
3/24/08
Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number.
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you--
Ye are many, they are few.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
My friend Bernie says he can't believe the American people haven't figured out what it's all about. "The whole damn political scene is nothing but a corporate media freak show," he said. "There's no breathing room between elections -- no time nor interest in investigating, or even addressing, issues that are critical to our survival as a nation. The minute every last dollar is sucked out of the competition, the candidate who bought the most attack ads -- the most face time -- wins, and the election is over. Then," Bernie said with disgust, "it's time to start raising money for the next election, because the media is already out there campaigning."
"I hadn't thought of it that way," I said. "But, surely electing a president is more important than the media, or who can raise the most money --"
"It doesn't matter what you think," Bernie said flatly. The mainstream media, both print and electronic, are as important as the American people allow them to be. And we've allowed them total control over our thoughts, our beliefs. They're freaks -- actors whose role is to divert national attention, manipulate public opinion, and keep the public in a state of suspended paralysis. They're bullhorns for corporate Boss Hogs and administration creeps who are determined to seize power and keep the military industrial complex rolling in dough."
Bernie's right. With each presidential campaign, the list of candidates -- serious candidates -- grows shorter, and the media grow more brazen in either trashing or ostracizing those who pose a threat to the corporate status quo. The media is determined to choose the president no matter what voters want. Little by little, the media has inserted itself into the process until elections are no longer about candidates or issues. They're about the media and what the media thinks about candidates and issues.
If you doubt that, check out CNN's 24/7 "Ballot Bowl 08" with Wolf Blitzer and "the best political team in television," stumble into America's Election Headquarters over at the Foxhole's "Strategy Room," spend a rollicking evening in MSNBC, "The Place for Politics," where you can watch Chris Matthews throw his hard balls at Hillary, listen to Keith Olbermann scold all those who disagree with him, or just relax and let M.C. Rove's dancing partner, David Gregory, decide the winner in his new "Race for the White House" show...
The One World Order criminals who seized power in the 2000 election coup will not exit peacefully if defeated in November. They have ruled through brutality and fear and, with the eager help of the media, stoked that fear into seven long years of shameful "patriotic" panic. Their eyes are on the prize -- total US dominion and control of the world and its resources. They're in too deep to back off now, and will not willingly accept defeat. The person taking over the reins of leadership from Bush must be one of their own, regardless of party. That is why the media relentlessly ambushed, weeded out, and tossed six of the eight Democratic presidential wannabes unceremoniously aside.
From the outset, the only two Democratic candidates in the media race were Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The media and their corporate masters knew the hokey soap opera between a white woman and a black man would keep the masses panting for more "American Idol" drama and their attention diverted from more pressing matters, such as a landscape strewn with body parts, a desert stained red with innocent blood, dead and suffering children, grieving, horror-shocked parents on the one side -- and a smirking idiot madman on the other who chants mindlessly about "completing the mission...spreading freedom throughout the world..."
In their critical "George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography," Webster Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin warned that we are immersed in times of moral and cultural degradation wherein "rulers of great evil have inflicted incalculable suffering on humanity."
The book is less about Bush 41 or the Bush family than it is "an unveiling of the abuse and misuse of power, the shenanigans of egotism running rampant in high places." The authors strip aside the "curtain of secrecy, myopic journalism, and the illusion of a 'free' press," and stress that we must be "fully aware of the propaganda of the 'spin doctors' and the manipulations that benefit a few at the expense of the many." Tarpley and Chaitkin say we "are not to condone or advance this egoistic behavior, but to stand tall and say no to those who claim power."
Many more of us than the media will admit are doing just that -- from the courageous "Winter Soldiers" who stood up against the war machine last week, to the masses whose protests and arrests are blacked out by the media, to the growing numbers who speak truth to power on the Internet and on progressive radio. Fortunately, there are far too many to list, but if you're just waking up, and it's sheer, raw truth you're after, check out Chris Floyd anytime, or listen to Nova M Radio's Mike Malloy week nights from 9-midnight (EST).
Nebraska's Republican Senator Chuck Hagel says in his new book, "America: Our Next Chapter," that it's time for independent leadership and, perhaps, even for another political party. I agree. Those like Dick Cheney who have a death grip on power, and who will only tighten that grip if they remain in power, do not care what the American people think. White House press secretary Dana Perino echoed Cheney's sentiments last week when she told a reporter the American people have a right to speak only once every four years. After that, they can just shut up and follow the leader...
The current election is possibly the most important in US history. Yet, ironically, thanks to the media, few of us in either party have a horse in this race. We have one last chance to change that. We must stand together and support a candidate whose love for country overshadows party loyalty and media sound bites -- a candidate who will fight for the freedoms and rights bestowed upon us by the founding fathers -- who will work to restore our infrastructure and our environment. That candidate is former Vice President Al Gore, the man legally elected President of the United States in 2000. It's time to heal the wound and move on to the Inauguration.
Together, we must ask Al Gore to answer the call one last time. If it takes a new party, so be it. Because saving our republic, repairing our Constitution, and returning the power to the people is what it's all about.
Sheila Samples http://sheilastuff.blogspot.com/ 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@wichitaonline.net
3/24/08
Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number.
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you--
Ye are many, they are few.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
My friend Bernie says he can't believe the American people haven't figured out what it's all about. "The whole damn political scene is nothing but a corporate media freak show," he said. "There's no breathing room between elections -- no time nor interest in investigating, or even addressing, issues that are critical to our survival as a nation. The minute every last dollar is sucked out of the competition, the candidate who bought the most attack ads -- the most face time -- wins, and the election is over. Then," Bernie said with disgust, "it's time to start raising money for the next election, because the media is already out there campaigning."
"I hadn't thought of it that way," I said. "But, surely electing a president is more important than the media, or who can raise the most money --"
"It doesn't matter what you think," Bernie said flatly. The mainstream media, both print and electronic, are as important as the American people allow them to be. And we've allowed them total control over our thoughts, our beliefs. They're freaks -- actors whose role is to divert national attention, manipulate public opinion, and keep the public in a state of suspended paralysis. They're bullhorns for corporate Boss Hogs and administration creeps who are determined to seize power and keep the military industrial complex rolling in dough."
Bernie's right. With each presidential campaign, the list of candidates -- serious candidates -- grows shorter, and the media grow more brazen in either trashing or ostracizing those who pose a threat to the corporate status quo. The media is determined to choose the president no matter what voters want. Little by little, the media has inserted itself into the process until elections are no longer about candidates or issues. They're about the media and what the media thinks about candidates and issues.
If you doubt that, check out CNN's 24/7 "Ballot Bowl 08" with Wolf Blitzer and "the best political team in television," stumble into America's Election Headquarters over at the Foxhole's "Strategy Room," spend a rollicking evening in MSNBC, "The Place for Politics," where you can watch Chris Matthews throw his hard balls at Hillary, listen to Keith Olbermann scold all those who disagree with him, or just relax and let M.C. Rove's dancing partner, David Gregory, decide the winner in his new "Race for the White House" show...
The One World Order criminals who seized power in the 2000 election coup will not exit peacefully if defeated in November. They have ruled through brutality and fear and, with the eager help of the media, stoked that fear into seven long years of shameful "patriotic" panic. Their eyes are on the prize -- total US dominion and control of the world and its resources. They're in too deep to back off now, and will not willingly accept defeat. The person taking over the reins of leadership from Bush must be one of their own, regardless of party. That is why the media relentlessly ambushed, weeded out, and tossed six of the eight Democratic presidential wannabes unceremoniously aside.
From the outset, the only two Democratic candidates in the media race were Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The media and their corporate masters knew the hokey soap opera between a white woman and a black man would keep the masses panting for more "American Idol" drama and their attention diverted from more pressing matters, such as a landscape strewn with body parts, a desert stained red with innocent blood, dead and suffering children, grieving, horror-shocked parents on the one side -- and a smirking idiot madman on the other who chants mindlessly about "completing the mission...spreading freedom throughout the world..."
In their critical "George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography," Webster Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin warned that we are immersed in times of moral and cultural degradation wherein "rulers of great evil have inflicted incalculable suffering on humanity."
The book is less about Bush 41 or the Bush family than it is "an unveiling of the abuse and misuse of power, the shenanigans of egotism running rampant in high places." The authors strip aside the "curtain of secrecy, myopic journalism, and the illusion of a 'free' press," and stress that we must be "fully aware of the propaganda of the 'spin doctors' and the manipulations that benefit a few at the expense of the many." Tarpley and Chaitkin say we "are not to condone or advance this egoistic behavior, but to stand tall and say no to those who claim power."
Many more of us than the media will admit are doing just that -- from the courageous "Winter Soldiers" who stood up against the war machine last week, to the masses whose protests and arrests are blacked out by the media, to the growing numbers who speak truth to power on the Internet and on progressive radio. Fortunately, there are far too many to list, but if you're just waking up, and it's sheer, raw truth you're after, check out Chris Floyd anytime, or listen to Nova M Radio's Mike Malloy week nights from 9-midnight (EST).
Nebraska's Republican Senator Chuck Hagel says in his new book, "America: Our Next Chapter," that it's time for independent leadership and, perhaps, even for another political party. I agree. Those like Dick Cheney who have a death grip on power, and who will only tighten that grip if they remain in power, do not care what the American people think. White House press secretary Dana Perino echoed Cheney's sentiments last week when she told a reporter the American people have a right to speak only once every four years. After that, they can just shut up and follow the leader...
The current election is possibly the most important in US history. Yet, ironically, thanks to the media, few of us in either party have a horse in this race. We have one last chance to change that. We must stand together and support a candidate whose love for country overshadows party loyalty and media sound bites -- a candidate who will fight for the freedoms and rights bestowed upon us by the founding fathers -- who will work to restore our infrastructure and our environment. That candidate is former Vice President Al Gore, the man legally elected President of the United States in 2000. It's time to heal the wound and move on to the Inauguration.
Together, we must ask Al Gore to answer the call one last time. If it takes a new party, so be it. Because saving our republic, repairing our Constitution, and returning the power to the people is what it's all about.
Sheila Samples http://sheilastuff.blogspot.com/ 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@wichitaonline.net
Sami Al-Arian's Long Ordeal
- by Stephen Lendman
3/24/08
Sami Al-Arian is a political prisoner in Police State America. This article reviews his case briefly and updates it to the present.
Because of his faith, ethnicity and political activism, the Bush administration targeted Al-Arian for supporting "terrorism." In fact, he's a Palestinian refugee, distinguished professor and scholar, community leader and civil activist.
Nonetheless, the FBI harassed him for 11 years, arrested him on February 20, 2003, and falsely accused him of backing organizations fronting for Palestinian Islamic Jihad - a 1997 State Department-designated "Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)."
A week later, in spite of his many awards, impeccable credentials and tenured status, University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft fired him under right wing pressure.
Since February 20, 2003, Al-Arian has been imprisoned - first at Tampa, Florida's Orient Road jail, then on to more than a dozen different maximum and other federal prison facilities. He's currently on hunger strike at Warsaw, Virginia's Northern Neck Regional jail after being transferred back March 18 from Butner, North Carolina's medical prison.
Al-Arian's trial began in June 2005 and was a travesty. It lasted six months, cost an estimated $50 million, and the prosecution called 80 witnesses, including Israeli intelligence agents and victims of suicide bombings to prejudice the jury. It introduced portions of hundreds of wiretapped phone calls from over a half million recorded; "evidence" from faxes, emails and what was seized from his home; quotes from his speeches and lectures; conferences, events and rallies he attended; articles he wrote; books he owned; magazines he edited; and various publications he read - all legal and in no way incriminating unless falsely twisted to appear that way.
After years of effort and millions spent, Al-Arian was exonerated. On December 6, 2005 after 13 days of deliberation, the jury acquitted him of all (eight) "terrorism" charges. They were deadlocked 10 - 2 for acquittal on nine others. All of them were false and unjust.
Nonetheless, within days, the Justice Department said it would re-try him on the lesser charges. His lawyers called it legal but a highly unusual move. At the same time and in secret, a plea bargain deal was struck. It stipulated:
- Al-Arian neither engaged in or had any knowledge of violent acts;
- that he would not be required to cooperate further with prosecutors; and
- that he would be released on time served and deported voluntarily to his country of choice.
In the meantime, Al-Arian remained in custody pending sentencing and deportation on May 1, 2006. He expected to be free and his ordeal ended. Instead, the presiding judge changed the deal. He sentenced Al-Arian to the maximum 57 months, gave him credit for time served, and ordered him held for the remaining 11 months, after which an April 2007 deportation would follow. Now it's extended as explained below.
In October 2006, assistant prosecutor Gordon Kromberg violated plea bargain terms by subpoenaing Al-Arian before a grand jury. His defense attorneys tried to block it by citing his "no-grand jury cooperation" provision to prevent DOJ from springing a perjury-obstruction trap. Defense's motion was denied, and on November 16 Al-Arian refused to testify and was held in contempt.
A month later, the grand jury expired, a new one was convened, and Al-Arian was again subpoenaed to testify. He continued to refuse, was held in contempt, and had his sentence increased without mitigation to April 7, 2008.
On March 3, 2008 Kromberg ordered Al-Arian before still another March 19 grand jury, three weeks before his scheduled release and deportation. On the same day, Al-Arian began a hunger strike against the government's continued harassment. It's his third one but is life-threatening for a man in his condition. He's diabetic and needs regular sustenance to avoid serious health problems. His January through March, 2007 strike depleted one-fourth of his body weight, gravely harmed him, and ended only at the urging of his family.
He's now 20 days into his latest fast, lost 30 pounds, is weakening, and his life is endangered. On March 12, Al-Arian was transferred to the Butner, North Carolina medical facility where treatment is poor, the staff indifferent, and in Al-Arian's case hostile to a designated enemy of the state. On March 18, he was returned to Warsaw, Virginia's Northern Neck Regional jail ahead of his third grand jury appearance. Again, he refused to testify, so he'll likely face new contempt charges and continued confinement.
George Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley heads up Al-Arian's legal team. On March 3, he released the following statement:
"On behalf of Mr. Olson and Mr. Meitl and the entire legal team, (we are greatly disappointed by) the Justice Department('s) continu(ing)....effort to mete out punishment that it could not secure from a jury. Having lost (its) case (it's) openly sought to extend (Al-Arian's) confinement by daisy-chaining grand juries. As in other cases, the government has given Dr. Al-Arian the choice of an obvious perjury trap or a contempt sanction. (Either way assures his imprisonment. This) choice....is obnoxious to our legal system and contrary to any standard of decency. The mistreatment of Dr. Al-Arian remains an international symbol of how the Bush Administration has discarded fundamental principles of fairness in a blind pursuit of retribution against this political activist. We stand committed to fighting this great injustice and hopefully reuniting Dr. Al-Arian with his family and friends."
In the meantime, his long ordeal continues at a time lawlessness prevails over justice, and we're all Sami-Al-Arians in America's "war on terrorism."
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his web site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM to 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8407
3/24/08
Sami Al-Arian is a political prisoner in Police State America. This article reviews his case briefly and updates it to the present.
Because of his faith, ethnicity and political activism, the Bush administration targeted Al-Arian for supporting "terrorism." In fact, he's a Palestinian refugee, distinguished professor and scholar, community leader and civil activist.
Nonetheless, the FBI harassed him for 11 years, arrested him on February 20, 2003, and falsely accused him of backing organizations fronting for Palestinian Islamic Jihad - a 1997 State Department-designated "Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)."
A week later, in spite of his many awards, impeccable credentials and tenured status, University of South Florida president Judy Genshaft fired him under right wing pressure.
Since February 20, 2003, Al-Arian has been imprisoned - first at Tampa, Florida's Orient Road jail, then on to more than a dozen different maximum and other federal prison facilities. He's currently on hunger strike at Warsaw, Virginia's Northern Neck Regional jail after being transferred back March 18 from Butner, North Carolina's medical prison.
Al-Arian's trial began in June 2005 and was a travesty. It lasted six months, cost an estimated $50 million, and the prosecution called 80 witnesses, including Israeli intelligence agents and victims of suicide bombings to prejudice the jury. It introduced portions of hundreds of wiretapped phone calls from over a half million recorded; "evidence" from faxes, emails and what was seized from his home; quotes from his speeches and lectures; conferences, events and rallies he attended; articles he wrote; books he owned; magazines he edited; and various publications he read - all legal and in no way incriminating unless falsely twisted to appear that way.
After years of effort and millions spent, Al-Arian was exonerated. On December 6, 2005 after 13 days of deliberation, the jury acquitted him of all (eight) "terrorism" charges. They were deadlocked 10 - 2 for acquittal on nine others. All of them were false and unjust.
Nonetheless, within days, the Justice Department said it would re-try him on the lesser charges. His lawyers called it legal but a highly unusual move. At the same time and in secret, a plea bargain deal was struck. It stipulated:
- Al-Arian neither engaged in or had any knowledge of violent acts;
- that he would not be required to cooperate further with prosecutors; and
- that he would be released on time served and deported voluntarily to his country of choice.
In the meantime, Al-Arian remained in custody pending sentencing and deportation on May 1, 2006. He expected to be free and his ordeal ended. Instead, the presiding judge changed the deal. He sentenced Al-Arian to the maximum 57 months, gave him credit for time served, and ordered him held for the remaining 11 months, after which an April 2007 deportation would follow. Now it's extended as explained below.
In October 2006, assistant prosecutor Gordon Kromberg violated plea bargain terms by subpoenaing Al-Arian before a grand jury. His defense attorneys tried to block it by citing his "no-grand jury cooperation" provision to prevent DOJ from springing a perjury-obstruction trap. Defense's motion was denied, and on November 16 Al-Arian refused to testify and was held in contempt.
A month later, the grand jury expired, a new one was convened, and Al-Arian was again subpoenaed to testify. He continued to refuse, was held in contempt, and had his sentence increased without mitigation to April 7, 2008.
On March 3, 2008 Kromberg ordered Al-Arian before still another March 19 grand jury, three weeks before his scheduled release and deportation. On the same day, Al-Arian began a hunger strike against the government's continued harassment. It's his third one but is life-threatening for a man in his condition. He's diabetic and needs regular sustenance to avoid serious health problems. His January through March, 2007 strike depleted one-fourth of his body weight, gravely harmed him, and ended only at the urging of his family.
He's now 20 days into his latest fast, lost 30 pounds, is weakening, and his life is endangered. On March 12, Al-Arian was transferred to the Butner, North Carolina medical facility where treatment is poor, the staff indifferent, and in Al-Arian's case hostile to a designated enemy of the state. On March 18, he was returned to Warsaw, Virginia's Northern Neck Regional jail ahead of his third grand jury appearance. Again, he refused to testify, so he'll likely face new contempt charges and continued confinement.
George Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley heads up Al-Arian's legal team. On March 3, he released the following statement:
"On behalf of Mr. Olson and Mr. Meitl and the entire legal team, (we are greatly disappointed by) the Justice Department('s) continu(ing)....effort to mete out punishment that it could not secure from a jury. Having lost (its) case (it's) openly sought to extend (Al-Arian's) confinement by daisy-chaining grand juries. As in other cases, the government has given Dr. Al-Arian the choice of an obvious perjury trap or a contempt sanction. (Either way assures his imprisonment. This) choice....is obnoxious to our legal system and contrary to any standard of decency. The mistreatment of Dr. Al-Arian remains an international symbol of how the Bush Administration has discarded fundamental principles of fairness in a blind pursuit of retribution against this political activist. We stand committed to fighting this great injustice and hopefully reuniting Dr. Al-Arian with his family and friends."
In the meantime, his long ordeal continues at a time lawlessness prevails over justice, and we're all Sami-Al-Arians in America's "war on terrorism."
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his web site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM to 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8407
Saturday, March 22, 2008
The John McCain Crane Collapses Every Time!
John Mccain: Biggest Fag In War History
By Vlad Kalashnikov
22.03.2008
http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=17922&IBLOCK_ID=35&PAGE=1
I recently became a private scholar of The Decline And Fall of The American Empire. I use the famous Gibbon title very sarcastically, because a specialist like me knows what a historical obscenity it is comparing a laughable Chinese-sweatshop-manufactured American Empire, that lasted only from say 1991 until 2004, to the great 500-year-long Roman Empire (or Russian Empire, or many great empires, a class where Americans don’t belong). History will not even remember this laughable American empire, which today disappears before our eyes.
Actually today’s American Empire collapse happens so fast, it is like that construction crane in New York City that just collapsed into another building last week, because dumbfuck Americans don’t even know how to build cranes these days.
For me as outsider scholar coolly observing this process, what is really pathetic is that collapsing imperial America has made a racist old pus-cheeks freak named John McCain into a "war hero." What did this ugly old pus-cheeks do in wartime to make him an American "hero"?
Let’s look at John McCain’s war record, because if we do, then you see a cowardly war criminal loser who cannot fly a plane, and who broke down and turned against his Motherland.
In the Vietnam War, John McCain was the very worst kind of murderer, spoiled son of a powerful daddy (sounding familiar?) flying modern jets over primitive, defenseless Vietnam, and dropping bombs on women and children from the safety of his little cushioned seat. Probably comes back to the airdeck, gives high fives and "hoo-ah!"s to his fascist little friends, they all laugh, drink their shitty Coors beer,listen to their country music, not even caring about the suffering they cause to poor peasant families.
One day, some fucking Vietnamese guy shot "hero" John McCain down! How the fuck did a Vietnamese guy, primitive, backwards, in pajamas, shoot down a modern A-4 jet? He used a fucking slingshot? Bow and arrow? What it proves is John McCain was a shitty pilot, a loser, that is all. On October 26, 1967, "war hero" McCain’s A-4 given a nice Russian surprise over Hanoi — he was hit by Russian surface-to-air missile (score: Russia 1, McCain 0). McCain’s jet fell into a lake called Truc Bach Lake on the outskirts of Hanoi.
McCain almost drowned in that lake. But a Vietnamese man, 50-year-old Mai Van On, ran out of his air raid shelter, took a bamboo pole, swam out to McCain, and pulled American "war hero" from the plane wreckage. Vietnamese people were pissed off, they gathered around McCain in a mob and tried to kill him, understandably. This is a guy who just tried to kill them! But Mai Van On saved John McCain from the mob too. This old Vietnamese guy is the real "war hero" because he took a real dangerous risk! McCain, "war loser," was rescued by his enemy who he tried to kill! That is the most pathetic war story I, a Russian, ever heard in my life.
After he was saved, Vietnamese guards took McCain to a prison for interrogation. There, McCain proved to be as soft as those pus-cheeks of his.
Vietnamese naturally beat McCain up. That’s not nice, but it is normal, you see what Americans do in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay just because of 3,000 dead Americans, imagine how they behave if Arabs killed 3 millions like USA did to Vietnam. So, how does an American "war hero" behave when he is getting beaten up by his enemy captors for confessions? In every culture in history, a "hero" in this situation does one of two things: either suffers horribly and doesn’t break (like a Braveheart), or the hero kills himself first. That, to every culture, is what a "war hero" does.
But for Americans, weak-willed, a loser collapsing empire, a "war hero" means a crying fag who breaks down. McCain did not kill himself like real hero should. He later claimed he almost killed himself, he even had his head in a noose, but he was "too slow," that his Vietnamese guards grabbed him before he hung himself. Yeah, sure. It’s like a guy who doesn’t want to fight, so he yells, "Hold me back! Hold me back!" in the American comedy movies. That is McCain’s brave suicide attempt: "Guards! Take my rope away or I swear I hang myself! I give you 1 more hour, or I swear I do it! My voice starts to hurt, man! You listening? Hello?"
John McCain was no fucking war hero. He was a war traitor, according to all countries’ martial cultures. He broke under beatings, confessed, he named names, he even denounced America over prison loudspeaker, to demoralize his fellow American prisoners, for Vietnamese propaganda and psychological purposes. Here is some things that he said, it is all on the internet, for any brainwashed American dumbfuck who cares to know some truth:
"I am a black criminal and I have performed the deeds of an air pirate. I almost died and the Vietnamese people saved my life, thanks to the doctors."
What is cool is that Vietnamese made him say a "confession" that really is just the truth. But they fucked with John McCain like he’s a pussy that they can play with. They probably had some fun too, thought that up as a joke, right there: "Now, you say ‘I am a black criminal.’ ‘Ok! I am a black criminal! Anything else you want me to say, sir?’" To a white fascist American guy in a racist Republican party, it’s really eating shit to say to your fellow soldiers, over loudspeakers, "I am a black criminal." Vietnamese have a pretty good sense of humor!
McCain broke many times. When he was injured, he promised to give more names, if they take him to a hospital. Why? Because he was "afraid he might die."
This is your American "war hero." A pussy, very worst kind of pussy: he kills defenseless people when it is easy and safe, then, when he faces trouble, he breaks like that crane in New York City last week, collapses, takes down a lot of people with him crumbles, betrays his country like a pussy, then cries about it.
THE JOHN MCCAIN CRANE: COLLAPSES EVERY TIME!
And to America, this guy, traitor and coward, loser of all-time losers, shot down by a Vietnamese slingshot because he doesn’t know how to fly a fucking jet, and so fucking incompetent McCain don’t even know how to swim away after he crashed, can't pull a fucking parachute, doesn't even know how to kill himself. He is a loser pilot and a traitor prisoner in a war he fucking lost, only thing he did well was betraying his motherland – This is a fucking "war hero"?
In Russia, if a soldier was taken prisoner, whatever the reason, he came back to the Motherland in shame, usually arrested by authorities when he returns, then maybe shot, maybe put into a camp for five years or so. That is cruel shit, sure, but that’s how a real martial culture is. For America, if you are so fucking incompetent and weak-willed fag as McCain, you are a "war hero."
That is why I call you pussies "Amerifags"! The empire has no clothes, and underneath, you have no balls, just eunuchs!
In a real country, not to mention a real empire, a war hero is a guy who conquered nations, crushed enemies, brought glory to his people and riches to empire, raised the pride and power of the empire. He is often not a good man, probably responsible for huge numbers of deaths, probably genocide if you look at history of "war heroes" in Romans, Greeks, English, French, Spanish, Chinese empires, you name it (Russian and Soviet too). A "war hero" not supposed to be the guy who makes you cry, like it’s a shit Hollywood movie, or an appointment with your shrink, that every mentally sick fucked-up American requires, because they all suffer from mental disease and collapse, as well as sick perversions and sexual diseases.
Vlad Kalashnikov writes the "Vlad’s Daily Gloat" blog on The eXile site
By Vlad Kalashnikov
22.03.2008
http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=17922&IBLOCK_ID=35&PAGE=1
I recently became a private scholar of The Decline And Fall of The American Empire. I use the famous Gibbon title very sarcastically, because a specialist like me knows what a historical obscenity it is comparing a laughable Chinese-sweatshop-manufactured American Empire, that lasted only from say 1991 until 2004, to the great 500-year-long Roman Empire (or Russian Empire, or many great empires, a class where Americans don’t belong). History will not even remember this laughable American empire, which today disappears before our eyes.
Actually today’s American Empire collapse happens so fast, it is like that construction crane in New York City that just collapsed into another building last week, because dumbfuck Americans don’t even know how to build cranes these days.
For me as outsider scholar coolly observing this process, what is really pathetic is that collapsing imperial America has made a racist old pus-cheeks freak named John McCain into a "war hero." What did this ugly old pus-cheeks do in wartime to make him an American "hero"?
Let’s look at John McCain’s war record, because if we do, then you see a cowardly war criminal loser who cannot fly a plane, and who broke down and turned against his Motherland.
In the Vietnam War, John McCain was the very worst kind of murderer, spoiled son of a powerful daddy (sounding familiar?) flying modern jets over primitive, defenseless Vietnam, and dropping bombs on women and children from the safety of his little cushioned seat. Probably comes back to the airdeck, gives high fives and "hoo-ah!"s to his fascist little friends, they all laugh, drink their shitty Coors beer,listen to their country music, not even caring about the suffering they cause to poor peasant families.
One day, some fucking Vietnamese guy shot "hero" John McCain down! How the fuck did a Vietnamese guy, primitive, backwards, in pajamas, shoot down a modern A-4 jet? He used a fucking slingshot? Bow and arrow? What it proves is John McCain was a shitty pilot, a loser, that is all. On October 26, 1967, "war hero" McCain’s A-4 given a nice Russian surprise over Hanoi — he was hit by Russian surface-to-air missile (score: Russia 1, McCain 0). McCain’s jet fell into a lake called Truc Bach Lake on the outskirts of Hanoi.
McCain almost drowned in that lake. But a Vietnamese man, 50-year-old Mai Van On, ran out of his air raid shelter, took a bamboo pole, swam out to McCain, and pulled American "war hero" from the plane wreckage. Vietnamese people were pissed off, they gathered around McCain in a mob and tried to kill him, understandably. This is a guy who just tried to kill them! But Mai Van On saved John McCain from the mob too. This old Vietnamese guy is the real "war hero" because he took a real dangerous risk! McCain, "war loser," was rescued by his enemy who he tried to kill! That is the most pathetic war story I, a Russian, ever heard in my life.
After he was saved, Vietnamese guards took McCain to a prison for interrogation. There, McCain proved to be as soft as those pus-cheeks of his.
Vietnamese naturally beat McCain up. That’s not nice, but it is normal, you see what Americans do in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay just because of 3,000 dead Americans, imagine how they behave if Arabs killed 3 millions like USA did to Vietnam. So, how does an American "war hero" behave when he is getting beaten up by his enemy captors for confessions? In every culture in history, a "hero" in this situation does one of two things: either suffers horribly and doesn’t break (like a Braveheart), or the hero kills himself first. That, to every culture, is what a "war hero" does.
But for Americans, weak-willed, a loser collapsing empire, a "war hero" means a crying fag who breaks down. McCain did not kill himself like real hero should. He later claimed he almost killed himself, he even had his head in a noose, but he was "too slow," that his Vietnamese guards grabbed him before he hung himself. Yeah, sure. It’s like a guy who doesn’t want to fight, so he yells, "Hold me back! Hold me back!" in the American comedy movies. That is McCain’s brave suicide attempt: "Guards! Take my rope away or I swear I hang myself! I give you 1 more hour, or I swear I do it! My voice starts to hurt, man! You listening? Hello?"
John McCain was no fucking war hero. He was a war traitor, according to all countries’ martial cultures. He broke under beatings, confessed, he named names, he even denounced America over prison loudspeaker, to demoralize his fellow American prisoners, for Vietnamese propaganda and psychological purposes. Here is some things that he said, it is all on the internet, for any brainwashed American dumbfuck who cares to know some truth:
"I am a black criminal and I have performed the deeds of an air pirate. I almost died and the Vietnamese people saved my life, thanks to the doctors."
What is cool is that Vietnamese made him say a "confession" that really is just the truth. But they fucked with John McCain like he’s a pussy that they can play with. They probably had some fun too, thought that up as a joke, right there: "Now, you say ‘I am a black criminal.’ ‘Ok! I am a black criminal! Anything else you want me to say, sir?’" To a white fascist American guy in a racist Republican party, it’s really eating shit to say to your fellow soldiers, over loudspeakers, "I am a black criminal." Vietnamese have a pretty good sense of humor!
McCain broke many times. When he was injured, he promised to give more names, if they take him to a hospital. Why? Because he was "afraid he might die."
This is your American "war hero." A pussy, very worst kind of pussy: he kills defenseless people when it is easy and safe, then, when he faces trouble, he breaks like that crane in New York City last week, collapses, takes down a lot of people with him crumbles, betrays his country like a pussy, then cries about it.
THE JOHN MCCAIN CRANE: COLLAPSES EVERY TIME!
And to America, this guy, traitor and coward, loser of all-time losers, shot down by a Vietnamese slingshot because he doesn’t know how to fly a fucking jet, and so fucking incompetent McCain don’t even know how to swim away after he crashed, can't pull a fucking parachute, doesn't even know how to kill himself. He is a loser pilot and a traitor prisoner in a war he fucking lost, only thing he did well was betraying his motherland – This is a fucking "war hero"?
In Russia, if a soldier was taken prisoner, whatever the reason, he came back to the Motherland in shame, usually arrested by authorities when he returns, then maybe shot, maybe put into a camp for five years or so. That is cruel shit, sure, but that’s how a real martial culture is. For America, if you are so fucking incompetent and weak-willed fag as McCain, you are a "war hero."
That is why I call you pussies "Amerifags"! The empire has no clothes, and underneath, you have no balls, just eunuchs!
In a real country, not to mention a real empire, a war hero is a guy who conquered nations, crushed enemies, brought glory to his people and riches to empire, raised the pride and power of the empire. He is often not a good man, probably responsible for huge numbers of deaths, probably genocide if you look at history of "war heroes" in Romans, Greeks, English, French, Spanish, Chinese empires, you name it (Russian and Soviet too). A "war hero" not supposed to be the guy who makes you cry, like it’s a shit Hollywood movie, or an appointment with your shrink, that every mentally sick fucked-up American requires, because they all suffer from mental disease and collapse, as well as sick perversions and sexual diseases.
Vlad Kalashnikov writes the "Vlad’s Daily Gloat" blog on The eXile site
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
It Ain't About Race, Baby
by Mary Pitt
3/19/08
The speech by Barrack Obama was expected to be about race. It turned out to be much, much more than that, regardless of what you would learn from the evening news. Of course, we know that the evening news and the "pundits" that you will find there always go for the more sensational aspects of any story, looking only at the surface without any effort to look for deeper meanings. While they rail that Obama did not denounce his pastor or get up in the middle of the sermon and walk out the door at some of the pastor's "inflammatory" statements, a bit of thought will cause you to wonder if they are not asking a bit too much. Or perhaps that is the reason so many churches are empty on Sunday morning, leaving the preacher shouting at the empty rafters.
On the other hand, if you really listened to the words of the man, a different perspective would emerge. He spoke not only about being a black man running for the American presidency but about a back-and-white man attempting to reconcile both sides of his heritage and getting them to live together in peace, united by a common determination to establish the equality for which the Founding Fathers and many other generations of our ancestors willingly gave their lives. He spoke briefly of the conflicts with his own family, specifically stating that his white grandmother confessed to discomfort in the presence of black men and alluded to the fact that the black voters queried whether he was sufficiently black for their own comfort.
But, over all, it was not just a speech about race. It was a speech about HOPE! You remember what hope feels like, don't you? It was the feeling that we had when Bill Clinton was elected to the presidency, and before we learned how easily he adapted to playing the game of politics, dealing away his promised advocacy for the working people in order to gain the cooperation of the proponents of the Contract With/On America. The promised welfare "reform" was passed but half-formed with the supportive measures lying on the cutting-room floor. We continued to hope while Mrs. Clinton labored in secret on the "universal health care plan" only to have it die a-borning without ever seeing the light of day. After that, it was merely business as usual while the Neo-Con cabal continued to nibble at our freedoms and our futures.
Hope arose again when it appeared that our next President would be Al Gore whom many of us thought should have been heading the ticket eight years before. But a little hocus-pocus in Florida and we found ourselves with another Bush in the White House and hope disappeared again in the fog of war as our youth trooped off to spend their lives fighting and dying in the desert sands.
Now we are sick and tired of war and we want to hope again. There is no hope in the prospect of a "hundred-year war". Senator McCain promises us at least another lifetime of more of the same, never for our children or, possibly, their children to know the blessings of peace. I see no hope in the prospect of the plans of Senator Clinton with her proposal of mandatory health insurance, further taxing our poor pocketbooks for the enrichment of the greedy insurance companies. Her theory of leaving troops in Iraq indefinitely to "protect our embassy" is similarly distasteful. In light of the recent disappointment of a Clinton presidency, I see little hope in repeating it.
I have not been, and still am not, an advocate for the election of Barrack Obama for all the reasons that others have expressed. I would prefer that he be more experienced but many before him have been inexperienced and I believe he will be a quick learner. I do not feel that he is the "cream of the crop" and the very best choice for the job. However, those whom I might have preferred have all been eliminated by the electoral system and the choices have dwindled.
And so I prefer to HOPE. Living in a state that has no primaries and only titular caucuses, I have had no chance to vote for the Democratic candidate. But I will HOPE that the media will not discourage Obama's supporters and he will be able to continue his winning path to the White House. And unless a "white knight" appears in a successful third party, I will be at the polls in November, casting my vote for a black white man or a white black man with HOPE to lead my beloved nation into the future.
The author is a very "with-it" old lady who aspires to bring a bit of truth, justice, and common sense to a nation that has lost touch with its humanity in the search for "societal perfection".
3/19/08
The speech by Barrack Obama was expected to be about race. It turned out to be much, much more than that, regardless of what you would learn from the evening news. Of course, we know that the evening news and the "pundits" that you will find there always go for the more sensational aspects of any story, looking only at the surface without any effort to look for deeper meanings. While they rail that Obama did not denounce his pastor or get up in the middle of the sermon and walk out the door at some of the pastor's "inflammatory" statements, a bit of thought will cause you to wonder if they are not asking a bit too much. Or perhaps that is the reason so many churches are empty on Sunday morning, leaving the preacher shouting at the empty rafters.
On the other hand, if you really listened to the words of the man, a different perspective would emerge. He spoke not only about being a black man running for the American presidency but about a back-and-white man attempting to reconcile both sides of his heritage and getting them to live together in peace, united by a common determination to establish the equality for which the Founding Fathers and many other generations of our ancestors willingly gave their lives. He spoke briefly of the conflicts with his own family, specifically stating that his white grandmother confessed to discomfort in the presence of black men and alluded to the fact that the black voters queried whether he was sufficiently black for their own comfort.
But, over all, it was not just a speech about race. It was a speech about HOPE! You remember what hope feels like, don't you? It was the feeling that we had when Bill Clinton was elected to the presidency, and before we learned how easily he adapted to playing the game of politics, dealing away his promised advocacy for the working people in order to gain the cooperation of the proponents of the Contract With/On America. The promised welfare "reform" was passed but half-formed with the supportive measures lying on the cutting-room floor. We continued to hope while Mrs. Clinton labored in secret on the "universal health care plan" only to have it die a-borning without ever seeing the light of day. After that, it was merely business as usual while the Neo-Con cabal continued to nibble at our freedoms and our futures.
Hope arose again when it appeared that our next President would be Al Gore whom many of us thought should have been heading the ticket eight years before. But a little hocus-pocus in Florida and we found ourselves with another Bush in the White House and hope disappeared again in the fog of war as our youth trooped off to spend their lives fighting and dying in the desert sands.
Now we are sick and tired of war and we want to hope again. There is no hope in the prospect of a "hundred-year war". Senator McCain promises us at least another lifetime of more of the same, never for our children or, possibly, their children to know the blessings of peace. I see no hope in the prospect of the plans of Senator Clinton with her proposal of mandatory health insurance, further taxing our poor pocketbooks for the enrichment of the greedy insurance companies. Her theory of leaving troops in Iraq indefinitely to "protect our embassy" is similarly distasteful. In light of the recent disappointment of a Clinton presidency, I see little hope in repeating it.
I have not been, and still am not, an advocate for the election of Barrack Obama for all the reasons that others have expressed. I would prefer that he be more experienced but many before him have been inexperienced and I believe he will be a quick learner. I do not feel that he is the "cream of the crop" and the very best choice for the job. However, those whom I might have preferred have all been eliminated by the electoral system and the choices have dwindled.
And so I prefer to HOPE. Living in a state that has no primaries and only titular caucuses, I have had no chance to vote for the Democratic candidate. But I will HOPE that the media will not discourage Obama's supporters and he will be able to continue his winning path to the White House. And unless a "white knight" appears in a successful third party, I will be at the polls in November, casting my vote for a black white man or a white black man with HOPE to lead my beloved nation into the future.
The author is a very "with-it" old lady who aspires to bring a bit of truth, justice, and common sense to a nation that has lost touch with its humanity in the search for "societal perfection".
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Friday, March 07, 2008
a history 080207
We have a F--- Constitutional Crisis!
by Larisa Alexandrovna on March 07, 2008
http://www.atlargely.com/2008/03/we-have-a-f---.html
This is called an impeachable offense, another one - one of many ignored by Congress:
"President Bush quietly has claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant.
Bush asserted the new authority Dec. 20 after signing legislation that overhauls some postal regulations. He then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open mail under emergency conditions, contrary to existing law and contradicting the bill he had just signed, according to experts who have reviewed it."
I just want Congress to collectively answer two questions: Is the president above the law? Or is it that only George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are above the law? Just think of this as a civics lesson and try to explain your reasons for violating your oath of office, turning your back on the Constitution and country alike to the future, to your grandkids, to history itself really.
Congress may as well just save us the pretense. We don't need the insult to go along with the injury - really an ocean of injuries to go along with an ocean of insults. Just save us the spin, Dearest Congress, and declare your abdication formally, because we are in a Constitutional crisis and we need to know what pieces are left on the board before we - the people - proceed. I don't know what options are left to us as all avenues have been shut. The president is above the law and there is no justice for all.
If I sound angry, then you have read this dead on. I left the Soviet Union only to find myself back where I came from. The label might say America, but it is clear that America is a long forgotten dream and the government now only plays the role of official embezzler as it moves public funds - our money - into the hands of private corporations. There is no system of checks and balances. There is no Constitutional democracy. There is just a void, a big, fat ground zero filled with dead bodies, greed, and treachery.
by Larisa Alexandrovna on March 07, 2008
http://www.atlargely.com/2008/03/we-have-a-f---.html
This is called an impeachable offense, another one - one of many ignored by Congress:
"President Bush quietly has claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant.
Bush asserted the new authority Dec. 20 after signing legislation that overhauls some postal regulations. He then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open mail under emergency conditions, contrary to existing law and contradicting the bill he had just signed, according to experts who have reviewed it."
I just want Congress to collectively answer two questions: Is the president above the law? Or is it that only George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are above the law? Just think of this as a civics lesson and try to explain your reasons for violating your oath of office, turning your back on the Constitution and country alike to the future, to your grandkids, to history itself really.
Congress may as well just save us the pretense. We don't need the insult to go along with the injury - really an ocean of injuries to go along with an ocean of insults. Just save us the spin, Dearest Congress, and declare your abdication formally, because we are in a Constitutional crisis and we need to know what pieces are left on the board before we - the people - proceed. I don't know what options are left to us as all avenues have been shut. The president is above the law and there is no justice for all.
If I sound angry, then you have read this dead on. I left the Soviet Union only to find myself back where I came from. The label might say America, but it is clear that America is a long forgotten dream and the government now only plays the role of official embezzler as it moves public funds - our money - into the hands of private corporations. There is no system of checks and balances. There is no Constitutional democracy. There is just a void, a big, fat ground zero filled with dead bodies, greed, and treachery.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Israeli Extra-Judicial Executions
- by Stephen Lendman
3/3/08
[…]
On March 1, Hamas reported that Israelis killed 91 Palestinians in February, 83 in Gaza and eight in West Bank, and the killing continues to escalate. The International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) said eyewitnesses confirmed that IDF troops and tanks invaded Jabalyia (in Gaza) before dawn on Saturday. They targeted the refugee camp, struck at resident homes, attacked medical relief workers, fired missiles at cars and in residential areas, and killed at least 37 Palestinians (mostly civilians) and injured 120 others by midday. IMEMC later on Saturday raised the toll to 56 dead and updated it again Sunday AM to 98 as IDF forces continued rampaging without letup.
Haaretz first reported 34 deaths on Saturday, including five children and three women. Later in the day, it upped the total to 50, then 59 and by Sunday noon the total known killed was "more than 70." AP first indicated 33 deaths, then raised it to 45, then 50 late in the day and 66 by Sunday morning (plus about 200 wounded) and nearly 100 deaths since February 27.
[...]
full article
3/3/08
[…]
On March 1, Hamas reported that Israelis killed 91 Palestinians in February, 83 in Gaza and eight in West Bank, and the killing continues to escalate. The International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) said eyewitnesses confirmed that IDF troops and tanks invaded Jabalyia (in Gaza) before dawn on Saturday. They targeted the refugee camp, struck at resident homes, attacked medical relief workers, fired missiles at cars and in residential areas, and killed at least 37 Palestinians (mostly civilians) and injured 120 others by midday. IMEMC later on Saturday raised the toll to 56 dead and updated it again Sunday AM to 98 as IDF forces continued rampaging without letup.
Haaretz first reported 34 deaths on Saturday, including five children and three women. Later in the day, it upped the total to 50, then 59 and by Sunday noon the total known killed was "more than 70." AP first indicated 33 deaths, then raised it to 45, then 50 late in the day and 66 by Sunday morning (plus about 200 wounded) and nearly 100 deaths since February 27.
[...]
full article
Saturday, March 01, 2008
The McCain/Gitmo Connection
by Mary Pitt
3/1/08
When I first heard the stories that have been circulating as to whether John McCain is eligible for the presidency due to not having been born on "American soil", it seemed to be a bit of a tempest in a teapot. Of course, Senator McCain is as American as anybody! His father was a military officer in the service of his country when the good senator was born at a Panama military base. But, if we expand on that thought of precisely what constitutes the national territory and, thus, the jurisdiction of the American legal system, it gives rise to other considerations.
At the beginning of the Afghanistan conflict, there arose the problem of how and where to confine those who were taken prisoner. The administration did not want to bring them to the United States and thus allow them the protections of the Constitution by treating them as common criminals. Therefore, they were taken to our military base at Guantanamo, Cuba, in which case it would be "legal" to abuse and torture them in the effort to collect strategic information as to the activities of the enemy.
Therein lies the connection and the conundrum. Are American military bases to be considered a part of the United States and thus inhabitants thereof considered to be in American territory and subject to the same protections of the Constitution and the legal rights provided to all persons "within the jurisdiction of the United States"? The "Military Tribunals" are now underway under conditions that would be neither legal nor tolerated in an American court since none of the rights accorded to defendants by the Constitution are accorded to the man being tried there.
Those defendants are "represented" by military attorneys who, in some cases, have had little or no contact with their "clients", are not being presented with the evidence against them, are limited in their ability to call defense witnesses and are precluded from the privilege of appealing any decision to higher courts. In short, those tribunals are nothing more than the kangaroo courts that are held in totalitarian nations all over the world. Are they legal under our Constitution or are they exempt due to their off-shore location?
This gives rise to the troubling questions: If Senator John McCain is a "natural-born" American citizen due to his birth on a military base of the United States in a foreign nation, then Guantanamo, being a U.S. military base should be governed by the Constitution of the United States and the military tribunals are as illegal as they would be if they were held in Cleveland, However, if the U.S. military courts in Guanatano are legal under the Constitution, then John McCain cannot be deemed to be a "natural-born" citizen and is ineligible to run for the office of President.
Perhaps somebody shoud ask for an opinion of the Supreme Court. They're impartial and rule strictly according the the requirements of the Constitution........don't they?
The author is a very "with-it" old lady who aspires to bring a bit of truth, justice, and common sense to a nation that has lost touch with its humanity in the search for societal "perfection."
3/1/08
When I first heard the stories that have been circulating as to whether John McCain is eligible for the presidency due to not having been born on "American soil", it seemed to be a bit of a tempest in a teapot. Of course, Senator McCain is as American as anybody! His father was a military officer in the service of his country when the good senator was born at a Panama military base. But, if we expand on that thought of precisely what constitutes the national territory and, thus, the jurisdiction of the American legal system, it gives rise to other considerations.
At the beginning of the Afghanistan conflict, there arose the problem of how and where to confine those who were taken prisoner. The administration did not want to bring them to the United States and thus allow them the protections of the Constitution by treating them as common criminals. Therefore, they were taken to our military base at Guantanamo, Cuba, in which case it would be "legal" to abuse and torture them in the effort to collect strategic information as to the activities of the enemy.
Therein lies the connection and the conundrum. Are American military bases to be considered a part of the United States and thus inhabitants thereof considered to be in American territory and subject to the same protections of the Constitution and the legal rights provided to all persons "within the jurisdiction of the United States"? The "Military Tribunals" are now underway under conditions that would be neither legal nor tolerated in an American court since none of the rights accorded to defendants by the Constitution are accorded to the man being tried there.
Those defendants are "represented" by military attorneys who, in some cases, have had little or no contact with their "clients", are not being presented with the evidence against them, are limited in their ability to call defense witnesses and are precluded from the privilege of appealing any decision to higher courts. In short, those tribunals are nothing more than the kangaroo courts that are held in totalitarian nations all over the world. Are they legal under our Constitution or are they exempt due to their off-shore location?
This gives rise to the troubling questions: If Senator John McCain is a "natural-born" American citizen due to his birth on a military base of the United States in a foreign nation, then Guantanamo, being a U.S. military base should be governed by the Constitution of the United States and the military tribunals are as illegal as they would be if they were held in Cleveland, However, if the U.S. military courts in Guanatano are legal under the Constitution, then John McCain cannot be deemed to be a "natural-born" citizen and is ineligible to run for the office of President.
Perhaps somebody shoud ask for an opinion of the Supreme Court. They're impartial and rule strictly according the the requirements of the Constitution........don't they?
The author is a very "with-it" old lady who aspires to bring a bit of truth, justice, and common sense to a nation that has lost touch with its humanity in the search for societal "perfection."
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