The Guerrilla Campaign

by Richard L. Franklin 4/30/08 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' Thomas Jefferson, who was a true son of the Enlightenment, made sure these sacred truths were given a prominent spot in the great Declaration. He placed them first among human rights because they are axiomatic for the building of a true democracy. As you know, an axiom is a self-evident truth that requires no proof or evidence to be accepted as true. Axioms are truths we can embrace without reflection or reasoning. If you had geometry in high school, you will recall having first learned a number of axioms that were givens. You then learned how to prove a variety of assertions that could always be traced back to the axioms. The Enlightenment held that certain assertions are sacred, axiomatic, and meant to be permanently built into the foun...

by Mary Pitt 4/29/08 I am constantly amazed at the obscure details that politicians will dig up to cast aspersions upon the personal lives of their opponents in order to keep the people from looking at the issues. Lately we are being exposed to the "Preacher Scandal" where each candidate is expected to tell their pastor to just shut up! The good Rev. Wright is drawing fire, much of which is singeing Senator Barack Obama, because he is a prime example of what a black pastor is expected to be, an oratorical firebrand who inspires his people to hope for freedom and equality. In return, people are looking askance at Senator John McCain for accepting the endorsement of the radical fundamentalist ministers who are cheering on our wasteful Middle East war in the hope for Armageddon The mainstream media is having a field day with this minutia while parading "experts" on both politics and religion across our screen. Hours of air time are spent on this trivia while the soldie...

I watched the NBC news tonight. these were the stories as best as I can remember. Tax rebate; Price of gas; Rev Wright & Obama; Hannah Montana; Crumbling infrastructure; Gorillas. This is what you missed. 4 US soldiers killed; militants shell Green Zone Slobodan Lekic, AP News Apr 28, 2008 15:35 EST Bombardments by suspected militants killed four U.S. soldiers Monday as troops tried to push Shiite fighters farther from the U.S.-protected Green Zone and out of range of their rockets and mortars. At least 44 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq in April, making it the deadliest month for U.S. forces since September... http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=146286 The “mainstream media”, or more appropriately, the Consolidated Corporate Media of America, (CCMA) is doing its job. Its “job”, its assignment if you will, is to do whatever it can to keep the corporatists in power. The dollar is crumbling, so the price of oil is galloping, which causes food prices, and everything else to ri...

by Mary Pitt 4/23/08 Liberals, can you read the writing on the wall? The American people are being set up again. Hillary Clinton, with the assistance of the same old political tactics and the same old political mainstream media pundits has become the Come-Back Kid! Watch her march to the White House in triumph as she and her husband retaliate for the humiliation of having left it in shame. She will persuade the super-delegates of her party to end the Obama challenge and then walk all over poor old John McCain to once again take control of the government. And, once again, we will see the famous Clinton "compromise and coalition". But Hillary is not Bill. We must bear in mind the Republican roots of Senator Clinton. She still carries the thought processes of the Goldwater Girl of the 1960's and she easily slides into compliance with the Republican mindset. Early in the campaign, when the true Liberals were discussing the health crisis and pushing for universal single-payer ...

Crime Without Punishment, War Without End Sunday, 13 April 2008 http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1485/135/ The President of the United States has openly, proudly admitted that he approved the use of interrogation methods that are by every measure -- including the measure of United States law -- criminal acts of torture. It is one of the most brazen and scandalous confessions of wrongdoing ever uttered by an American leader -- and it has had no impact whatsoever. No scandal, no outcry, no protest, no prosecution. This pattern has recurred over and over throughout the Bush Administration. Bush and his minions commit crimes and atrocities in secret; they move heaven and earth to conceal their filthy deeds; they squirm and squeal like panicked rats when their some small portion of their evil comes to light; they belch forth a relentless series of self-contradictory lies to cover up, obfuscate or explain away the crimes; and when at last their malefactions can no longer be denied, th...

By Mary Pitt 4/12/08 The mainstream media is making of about the remark by Senator Barrack Obama about the residents of small-town America being "bitter". Actually, I believe that most Americans are "bitter" by now and with good reason. We can begin with the fact that the last two presidential elections have not been decided by the good common sense of the voting public but by the arcane machinations and dirty tricks of the political party machinery. First, let's explore the term, "bitter". On the scale of unhappiness, it is to be found somewhere beyond "disappointment", "disillusionment" and "desperation". Those terms have been common in recent years and with very good reason. However, as the situation of working America continues to deteriorate, we have certainly become "desperate" as nobody in government appears to truly know or care. However, being bitter does not denote surrender. In the elections of 2000, t...

Written by Chris Floyd Thursday, 10 April 2008 http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1480/135/ From ABC : In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News.... Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects -- whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding. The high-level discussions about these "enhanced interrogation techniques" were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed -- down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic... At the time, the Principals Committee included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defens...

- by Stephen Lendman 4/7/08 http://tmars.iwarp.com/theMagazine/archive/08/lendman080408.html Diogenes called education "the foundation of every state." Education reformer and "father of American education" Horace Mann went even further. He said: "The common school (meaning public ones) is the greatest discovery ever made by man." He called it the "great equalizer" that was "common" to all, and as Massachusetts Secretary of Education founded the first board of education and teacher training college in the state where the first (1635) public school was established. Throughout the country today, privatization schemes target them and threaten to end a 373 year tradition…. full article

- by Stephen Lendman 4/3/08 On April 9, 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft made a symbolic visit to "Ground Zero." While in New York, he held a well-publicized press conference at the US Attorney's Office and used the occasion for an indictment. Four individuals were named on charges of conspiracy and materially aiding a terrorist organization. One of them was long-time civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart. On the same day, FBI agents arrested her at her home and illegally seized documents there and from her office that are protected by attorney-client privilege. In July 2003, Federal District Court Judge John Koeltl (a 1994 Clinton appointee) dismissed the original charges for being "unconstitutionally void for vagueness" and because they "revealed a lack of prosecutorial standards." Nonetheless, Stewart was symbolically re-indicted on November 22, 2003 (the 40th year anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination) on five counts of aiding and abe...

by Mary Pitt 4/1/08 As we watch and listen to the candidates for President, we find ourselves befuddled by what they say from week to week. Senator Clinton wants to be thought the best leader for the Democratic Party while she has repeatedly compromises her democratic principles in an effort to gain the votes of dissatisfied Republicans. The only issue on which she has spoken clearly and unequivocally is the management of the health care crises. There again, she appears to be wary of alienating any stray Republicans by recommending requirement for everybody to buy insurance rather than by suggesting ways to either lower the cost or to set up a program for the poor that will really work. At the same time, Senator Obama can only second the Clinton plan with a bit of softening around the harsh edges. Of course, Senator McCain has not even addressed the problem since he "prefers to concentrate on national security" by becoming a virtual echo chamber for the Bush/Cheney propaganda...

- by Stephen Lendman 4/1/08 Carly Simon's theme song from the 1977 James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me" says it all about The New York Times' agitprop skill - "Nobody Does It Better" nor have others in the media been at it longer. Most important is The Times influence and reach and what media critic Norman Solomon says about its front page. He calls it "the most valuable square inches of media real estate in the USA." It's read by government, business leaders and opinion-makers everywhere and for that reason is hugely important. Hugo Chavez is its frequent target, and Simon Romero has the assignment as The Times' man in Caracas. His latest March 30 offering is headlined "Files Suggest Venezuela Bid to Aid Columbia Rebels," and it relates to the spurious claim that captured FARC-EP computers contained potentially smoking-gun evidence "tying Venezuela's government to efforts to secure arms for Colombia's largest insur...