U.S. Soldiers Launch Campaign to Convert Iraqis to Christianity

So, it is not enough that we invade their country, rape their resources (and women and children), imprison, torture and kill their men, and desecrate their Holy Book and places of worship. It seems that we must also teach them the same mores that got our troops to this place of inhumanity by forcing Christianity down their throats as well. Who would'a thunk it?

U.S. Soldiers Launch Campaign to Convert Iraqis to Christianity

Some U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq appear to have launched a major initiative to convert thousands of Iraqi citizens to Christianity by distributing Bibles and other fundamentalist Christian literature translated into Arabic to Iraqi Muslims.

A recent article published on the website of Mission Network News reported that Bible Pathway Ministries, a fundamentalist Christian organization, has provided thousands of a special military edition of its Daily Devotional Bible study book to members of the 101st Airborne Division of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, currently stationed in Iraq, the project "came into being when a chaplain in Iraq (who has since finished his tour) requested some books from Bible Pathway Ministries (BPM)."

Chief Warrant Officer Rene Llanos of the 101st Airborne told Mission Network News, "the soldiers who are patrolling and walking the streets are taking along this copy, and they're using it to minister to the local residents."

"Our division is also getting ready to head toward Afghanistan, so there will be copies heading out with the soldiers," Llanos said. "We need to pray for protection for our soldiers as they patrol and pray that God would continue to open doors. The soldiers are being placed in strategic places with a purpose. They're continuing to spread the Word."

"The shocking actions revealed just last week of American soldiers in the combat zones of Iraq and Afghanistan callously using the Koran for automatic weapons "target practice" is absolutely connected to the same issues of national security breach wrought by our United States armed forces proselytizing the local populations via the distribution to them of fundamentalist Christian coins, bibles, tracts, comics and related religious materials written in Arabic," Weistein said.

"The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been acutely aware of such astonishing unconstitutional and illicit proselytizing in Iraq and Afghanistan for over three years now and knows how massively pervasive it really is. These proselytizing transgressions are all blatant violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and MRFF is now demanding that any and all responsible military personnel be immediately prosecuted under Article 92 of the UCMJ: Failure to Obey an Order or Regulation," Weinstein added.

Members of the U.S. military first started actively proselytizing Iraqi Muslims soon after the U.S. invaded Iraq in March 2003.

Each and every U.S. citizen in Iraq who has participated in this travesty should be hauled off in stocks and locked up for violating the First Amendment, and anything else that could be levied against them! But then, they should be in line behind the prosecution of the first sitting president... like that will happen!

Land of the Free? Do these cretins sound like they are spreading freedom?

Let me pass this along here as well:

May 28, 2008

On this day in 1830 President Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, leading to the Trail of Tears in which thousands died on the march to Oklahoma. In the language of the Cherokee it is "The trail where they cried."

Oh yeah! Real "Christian" Values, convert 'em or kill 'em... morons.

Disallusioned Soldiers are telling their stories - Let's Listen

I'd like to introduce 'Bryan', a soldier at Fort Hood, Texas and an active member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. He was 'jaded' by our government at the age of 18. Now, he is beginning to see the reality of the Imperial War Machine and is speaking out. He has a lot to say. I suggest that we listen to him.

See his blog here at Blogspot by clicking this link - Playing the College Lottery

The U.S. Uses Cluster Bombs, and intends to continue their use

Mothers seem to intuitively know things that some of us just can't get. And even in the face of tragedy, they continue to sound their warnings. Who will thank them for their contributions... and console them for their loss? How can they be consoled? They lost.

But with each person that dies due to the reckless actions of Imperialism, we all lose. If we do nothing to prevent these dastardly deeds, we lose our dignity, self-respect, and souls to the darkness that is coming.

Lynn Bradach tells the story of her son, Travis Bradach -Nall, who was killed
by a U.S. cluster submunition while serving in Iraq.

Tell your friends about the video.

Ban Cluster Bombs | FCNL

The U.S. Uses Cluster Bombs

In the last 10 years, the United States has used them in civilian-populated areas of the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

U.S. Cluster Bombs Kill Civilians and U.S. Soldiers

Cluster munitions pose a danger to civilians during and after conflict, as malfunctioning bomblets scattered over a wide swath of land become de facto landmines. And during the 1991 war against Iraq, U.S.-dropped cluster submunitions were the single most deadly weapon facing U.S. troops.

Bush Refuses to Read McClellan's Book

Andy Borowitz: Bush Refuses to Read McClellan's Book, Calling It 'A Book' - Politics on The Huffington Post

On a day when Washington was abuzz with the news that former White House spokesperson Scott McClellan had published a tell-all memoir, President George W. Bush offered his personal reason for not reading it.

"I have no intention of reading Scott McClellan's book," Mr. Bush told reporters, "because it's a book."

Mr. Bush said he was "surprised" that Mr. McClellan had written a book to criticize him because "if you're trying to communicate some criticism to me, a book is pretty much the last place you'd put it."

The president said that he thought the chances of his someday reading Mr. McClellan's book were "zero," adding, "If I didn't read the Iraq Study Group's report, I really don't think I'm about to read Scott McClellan's little book."

Beside the fact that there is a question as to the literacy of the Chimp.

For his part, Mr. Bush said that there was in fact a book published this week that had caught his eye: the new James Bond thrilled entitled "Devil May Care."

"Now, that book looks like it could be good," he said. "Maybe I'll have Laura read it to me."

And since he didn't read (or have read to him) the Iraq Study Group's report, why should he bother with little trivialities such as his perpetual campaign and war mongering propaganda?

I have always been concerned that a man that couldn't say the word had his finger on the "nucular" (sic!) button.

He honestly must think that if he (and his MSM propaganda organ) keeps repeating his lies that we will eventually believe it! That was the philosophy of his grandfathers' buddy, Hitler.

The main problem with Christians is that they refuse to believe the unthinkable and refuse to admit when they are wrong. Either can be fatal. Both suggests a foregone conclusion of fatality.

US bank failures loom

Still keep your money in a bank? You might want to read this whole article. If you don't take steps to secure your own money now, you might wake up one day soon without any.

US bank failures loom | Thought Criminal

By April, Gary Holloway was almost three years into retirement. He'd built a new home by a lake in Texas, bought a boat and was working on his golf game. While taking on some part-time work, Holloway also travelled for months across the US with his wife, from Seattle to Washington DC, catching up with old friends and family.

That life of leisure abruptly changed about six weeks ago when Holloway got a phone call from his former employer, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, or FDIC, which regulates US banks and insures deposits.

Earlier this year, the FDIC began trying to lure roughly 25 retirees like Holloway back to prepare for an increase in bank failures. It's also hiring about 75 new staff. Holloway quickly went back to work. ANB Financial NA, a bank in Bentonville, Ark with $2.1 billion in assets and $1.8 billion in customer deposits, was failing and an expert like Holloway was needed to value the assets and find a stronger institution to take them on.

On May 9, life for ANB ended when the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, another bank regulator, announced that the lender was closing. Only three banks have failed so far in 2008. But that number is set to surge as the credit crunch slows economic growth and hammers some lenders that grew too fast during the recent real-estate boom, experts say.

Things may get worse before they get better: At least 150 banks will fail in the US during the next two to three years, according to a projection by Gerard Cassidy and his colleagues at RBC Capital Markets.

If the current economic slowdown deteriorates into a recession on the scale of those from the 1980's and early 1990's, the number of failures will be much higher this time around - probably as high as 300 of them, by RBC's reckoning. That's a massive surge compared to the recent boom years of the credit and real estate markets. From the second half of 2004 through end of 2006 there were 10 consecutive quarters without a bank failure in the US - a record length of time, Cassidy notes.

Coffee can buried in the yard or garden (which you will need soon for sustinance) is becoming the only 'safe' bank. If the money itself holds any value at all into the future.

Personal investments of time and money for a ("Victory"? Anyone remember that?) garden and a flock of chickens and other small livestock may soon be the only security one may sustain. Those who are not moving to self-sufficiency may soon find themselves without the most basic of necessities nor the ability to procure them.

Unless you steal from those of us who are preparing for the worst.

Selling America to the Highest Bidder

"Safety and Security" or selling off America to the highest bidder? I would have to go with the later.

Your life's ambition being shipped overseas. Democracy in action? No. Democracy inaction.

Plan Mexico: Plan Colombia Heads for Mexico

The only problem that I see with this article, other than the outrageousness of the subject matter, is that when listing the "valuable resources" of Columbia that the U.S. seeks to control, cocaine is not listed. Though the author does note that Imperialist U.S. is "the nation most skilled in" drug trafficking.

Plan Mexico: Plan Colombia Heads for Mexico

It's called "Plan Mexico," or more formally the "Merida Initiative," and here's the scheme. It's to do for Mexicans what Plan Colombia has done to that nation since 1999, and, in fact, much earlier. Since then, billions have gone for the following:

-- to establish a US military foothold in the country;

-- mostly to fund US weapons, chemical and other corporate profiteers; it's a long-standing practice; in fact, a 1997 Pentagon document affirms that America's military will "protect US interests and investments;" in Colombia, it's to control its valuable resources; most importantly oil and natural gas but also coal, iron ore, nickel, gold, silver, emeralds, copper and more; it's also to crush worker resistance, eliminate unions, target human rights and peasant opposition groups, and make the country a "free market" paradise inhospitable to people;

-- it funds a brutish military as well; already, over 10,000 of its soldiers have been trained at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) - aka the School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Benning, Georgia; its graduates are infamous as human rights abusers, drugs traffickers, and death squad practitioners; they were well schooled in their "arts" by the nation most skilled in them;

-- it lets Colombia arm and support paramilitary death squads; they're known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC); for more than a decade, they've terrorized Colombians and are responsible for most killings and massacres in support of powerful western and local business interests;

-- it funds drug eradication efforts, but only in FARC-EP and ELN areas; government-controlled ones are exempt; trafficking is big business; laundering drugs money reaps huge profits for major US and regional banks; the CIA has also been linked to the trade for decades, especially since the 1980s; after Afghanistan's invasion and occupation, opium harvests set records - mostly from areas controlled by US-allied "warlords;" the Taliban's drug eradication program was one reason it was targeted; Colombia's drug eradication is horrific; it causes ecological devastation; crop and forest destruction; lives and livelihoods lost; large areas chemically contaminated; bottom line of the program - record amounts of Colombian cocaine reach US and world markets; trafficking is more profitable than ever; so is big business thanks to paramilitary terror;

-- it's to topple the FARC-EP and ELN resistance groups; Latin American expert James Petras calls the former the "longest standing (since 1964), largest peasant-based guerrilla (resistance) movement in the world;" it's also to weaken Hugo Chavez, other regional populist leaders and groups, and destabilize their countries; and

-- it supports the "Uribe doctrine;" it's in lockstep with Washington; its policies are hard right, corporate-friendly and militarized for enforcement.

Plan Colombia turned the country into a dependable, profitable narco-state. Business is better than ever. Violence is out of control and human rights abuses are appalling.

It gets worse. Two-thirds of Columbians are impoverished. Over 2.5 million peasant and urban slum dwellers have been displaced. Thousands of trade unionists have been murdered (more than anywhere else in the world), and many more thousands of peasants, rural teachers, and peasant and indigenous leaders have as well. Paramilitary land seizures are commonplace. Colombian latifundistas profit hugely. Wealth concentration is extreme and growing. Corruption infests the government. Many thousands in desperation are leaving. Colombia's "democracy" is a sham. So is Mexico's. Plan Mexico will make it worse. That's the whole idea, and it's part of the secretive Security and Prosperity Partnership - aka the North American Union.

It's planned behind closed doors - to militarize and annex the continent. Corporate giants are in charge, mostly US ones. The idea is for an unregulated open field for profit. The Bush administration, Canada and Mexico support it. Things are moving toward implementation. Three nations will become one. National sovereignty eliminated. Worker rights as well. Opposition is building, but moves are planned to quash it. That's the militarization part.

Business intends to win this one. People are to be exploited, not helped. That's why it's kept secret. The idea is to agree on plans, inform legislatures minimally about them, get SPP passed, then implement it with as few of its disturbing details known in hopes once they are they'll be too late to reverse.

Read the rest of this article here.

So, there you have it. North America, and much of South America as well, are soon to be militarized and run by and for the corporations.

Sweet. Not.

Bush 'plans Iran air strike by August'

I believe that I called this one in an earlier post. Just getting to apathetic to check. I do know that I have been saying for months that The Chimp and his Troop would start the war with Iran before November in hopes that he could help insure a Republican victory. If a Dem wins, he will simply declare martial law.

If you are interested in whether I have posted this prediction, you can use the 'search' box at the top of the page and search for "war with Iran", or something similar.

It is getting hard to care any more.

Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs

Bush 'plans Iran air strike by August'
By Muhammad Cohen

NEW YORK - The George W Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently.

Two key US senators briefed on the attack planned to go public with their opposition to the move, according to the source, but their projected New York Times op-ed piece has yet to appear.

The source, a retired US career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state still active in the foreign affairs community, speaking anonymously, said last week that the US plans an air strike against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The air strike would target the headquarters of the IRGC's elite Quds force. With an estimated strength of up to 90,000 fighters, the Quds' stated mission is to spread Iran's revolution of 1979 throughout the region.

Targets could include IRGC garrisons in southern and southwestern Iran, near the border with Iraq. US officials have repeatedly claimed Iran is aiding Iraqi insurgents. In January 2007, US forces raided the Iranian consulate general in Erbil, Iraq, arresting five staff members, including two Iranian diplomats it held until November. Last September, the US Senate approved a resolution by a vote of 76-22 urging President George W Bush to declare the IRGC a terrorist organization. Following this non-binding "sense of the senate" resolution, the White House declared sanctions against the Quds Force as a terrorist group in October. The Bush administration has also accused Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons program, though most intelligence analysts say the program has been abandoned.

Unless someone arrests the Chimp soon, I (and many of you as well) will be in torture prisons by the new year anyway.

Go ahead, tell me I'm crazy. I don't care any more.

McClellan 'disgruntled about his experience'

Why is it that any time someone gets a case of righteous indignation and speaks out in truth, those elites refer to them (me, us) as 'disgruntled'?

White House press secretary says McClellan 'disgruntled about his experience' - Democratic Underground

White House press secretary Dana Perino released this statement on Scott McClellan's critical book on the Bush White House:

"Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House. For those of us who fully supported him, before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad -- this is not the Scott we knew."

I think that it has been well proven that the Bush Administration lied... repeatedly... for years... about virtually everything. The Chimp and his minions are just pissed (disgruntled) because they are getting outed by 'their own'. The Chimp his self has said repeatedly that he holds loyalty above all else!

What a gas!

Let me pass a bit of 'convict' wisdom on to Washington: If you are going to commit a crime, don't tell anyone! Dip shits.

Socialist Party VP nominee calls McCain "reckless" on Iran

Do I hear someone speaking for the people? I can't tell for sure, as it has been so long since I've heard 'the truth' from a politician. But then, I have trouble considering Stewart Alexander a politician.

portland imc - 2008.05.28 - Socialist Party VP nominee calls McCain "reckless" on Iran

Stewart A. Alexander
Nominee for Vice President Socialist Party USA
Candidate for Vice President Peace and Freedom Party

May 28, 2008

As the Iraq War runs its bloody course, Iran has become a central focus in the 2008 presidential campaign. While not satisfied with Barack Obama's conditional plan for a much delayed disengagement from Iraq; Socialist Party Vice Presidential nominee Stewart A. Alexander says that he and his Presidential running mate Brian Moore are "greatly concerned" that comments being made by Republican presidential contender John McCain, regarding Iran "are reckless and irresponsible and will further escalate tensions in the Middle East and the international community."

Senator McCain recently directed a barrage of negative comments against Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic Party presidential frontrunner. According to the Associated Press, Senator Obama had stated, "Iran, Cuba and Venezuela, these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us." Senator McCain responded to Obama's statement saying "Such a statement betrays the depth of Senator Obama's inexperience and reckless judgment." Alexander says "It is amazing that the fellow who chanted 'Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran even knows the word 'reckless.' But he apparently doesn't know its meaning, as it could best be applied to him of all the candidates."

McCain is charging that the Iran government is a sponsor for terrorists in the Middle East and that Iran is attempting to develop an atomic bomb; McCain is also charging that Iran is committed to the destruction of Israel. However, recent intelligence has revealed no conclusive evidence that Iran is attempting to develop an atomic bomb and there is no indication that Iran has plans to take any hostile actions against Israel. Alexander points out that "the refusal to accept accurate intelligence, and a determination to whip up war fever against a Middle Eastern state that does not in fact threaten us, was exactly how the Bush administration misled our people into the lie-based aggression in Iraq."

These reckless statements by Senator McCain are another indication that the Republican presidential frontrunner is mapping a road to the White House by staying the course that has been paved by President Bush; a course that will continue to advance U.S. imperialism, a course that will continue to benefit the rich at the expense of working people, and a course that has spiraled the U.S. economy into the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Socialists are opposed to the domestic and foreign policies of both John McCain and Barack Obama because the two presidential contenders have expressed a clear determination to expand U.S. imperialism based upon more human sacrifice. The greatest sacrifice has been the 1.2 million Iraqis that are now dead as a result of the war, more than 4,000 U.S. dead, the tens of thousands of U.S. veterans that have been injured and emotionally scared, the 4.2 million Iraqis that are now living as refugees, and a U.S. economy that is crumbling under the escalating cost of the war. The continuing war in Afghanistan, that has also claimed so many dead and wounded, has been revealed now as an attempt to prop up an utterly corrupt coalition of warlords, some of whom treat women and workers even worse than did the Taliban.

The cost of the Iraq War is now being felt by most Americans from coast to coast as the war expenditures accompanied by huge tax cuts for the rich cheapens the dollar. The cost of gasoline is now over $4.00 per gallon and diesel is over $5.00 per gallon in some areas. The U.S. automobile industry is in a major slump creating job loses for tens of thousands, the U.S. housing market is in a major crisis; as many as 2 million homeowners may lose their homes in 2008. College students are feeling the cost of the war by having to pay higher college tuitions, and millions of seniors and working people are struggling daily just to keep pace with the rising cost of living and escalating food prices. The Iraq War is also making it difficult for most working people to keep up with the rising cost of health care; presently, more than 48 million Americans are without health care coverage and as the cost of living continues to rise, the numbers of the uninsured will continue to rise to even greater levels.

"Working people are beyond the empty promises and future timetables to end the Iraq War; Congress must end the war now. Millions of working people, and their unions, are saying with a loud voice "End this War and No War with Iran." Congress must discontinue the endless funding for the Iraq War and take a greater role to establish peace in the Middle East. Socialist Party USA and Peace and Freedom Party both demand an immediate end to the Iraq War and both socialist parties are opposed to the escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran."

I wouldn't mind an easing of tensions with our Latin American brothers and sisters, as well.

Healthcare NOT Warfare, Sign the Petition

Just passing this along...

Healthcare NOT Warfare, Sign the Petition

Sign the Petition here.



As Martin Luther King Jr. observed forty years ago, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." While the insurance and pharmaceutical industries post huge profits, the U.S. health care crisis grows steadily worse.

Today, nearly one in six Americans has no health insurance. Tens of millions of others are woefully under-insured. Meanwhile the war in Iraq drains our resources and overburdens our budget. Our government's duty is to protect us--security begins with our health and well-being at home. In 2008, we have an historic opportunity to turn from warfare to health care for all.

We call on the Democratic Party at all levels--in party platforms and resolutions- -to commit to redirecting wasteful and unnecessary military spending to meet human needs. This commitment must start with comprehensive, guaranteed health care--driven by the needs of patients and the judgment of doctors. We call on Democrats to support a plan that eliminates any financial barriers between the patient and healthcare providers, resulting in a patient not receiving medically necessary care.

We call on members of Congress to bring the troops home from Iraq and to pass H.R. 676, Rep. John Conyers' bill which guarantees comprehensive publicly-funded, privately-delivered health care for everyone in the U.S.

Prior to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, this petition will be delivered to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, DNC Chair Howard Dean and your member of Congress.

Jimmy Carter Says Israel Has 150 Nuclear Weapons

Mr. Insanity, Jimmy Carter, Speaks! Is He Out Of Line? at Desert Conservative

LONDON - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says Israel has a nuclear arsenal of 150 weapons, The Times of London reported Monday.

While experts have long maintained Israel has a nuclear arsenal, the Jewish state has refused to confirm or deny it.

Most estimates, many based on evidence leaked in 1986 by Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu, put the number of Israeli nuclear weapons at between 100 and 200. But other experts have said the number is as low as 60 or as high as 400.

It was unclear from the newspaper's account whether Carter was citing those estimates, offering his own independent assessment or drawing on U.S. intelligence he would have had access to as president.

U.S. officials have generally avoided the issue of Israel's nuclear status, although during a 2006 Senate confirmation hearing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates confirmed that Israel was a nuclear power.

The Times said Carter made the comment Sunday while at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival on the border between England and Wales. He was discussing Iran, and the difficulty it would have in building a secret nuclear arsenal, when he mentioned the Israeli weapons, the paper said.

Lee ADDS: If the "Peanut Farmer" is revealing Secrets he learned while in office he should be held responsible for his words. The man is insane with a need for personal recognition!

President Carter, "Mr. Insanity" as this columnist so quaintly refers to him, is only speaking truth to what the entire world seems to be afraid to speak of. Even our war hungry administration won't speak to it as they might alienate their bastard child, Israel.

Mr. Carter has shown more integrity (and more spine and fortitude) since he left office than he ever exhibited as the "leader of the free world". I applaud his honesty. Washington could use a little more of it... well, a lot more of it.

John McCain opens fire on Barack Obama

John McCain opens fire on Barack Obama over Iraq war, urges joint visit | The Australian

"For him to talk about dates for withdrawal, which basically is surrender in Iraq, after we're succeeding so well, is really inexcusable," said Senator McCain, who has been to Iraq eight times, most recently in March.

Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Senator McCain's top allies, laid the groundwork for his criticism in a television interview in which he noted Senator Obama's absence from Iraq. He floated the idea that the two men should go together to be briefed by General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

From what I can tell, the only people that I have ever heard use the term 'surrender' regarding Iraq have all been Republicans.

These guys really have a hard time admitting that they have made such a monumental screw up. The very idea of admitting that you were wrong to invade a country on false pretenses, costing both countries (and more) trillions of dollars and untold lives, is apparently inconceivable.

Did we 'surrender' in Viet Nam? Hell no. We packed our bags and got the hell out of the mess we made and let the Vietnamese clean it up (which they did a fine job of). And we now have 'normalized relations' with them.

Bush Engaging Sudan

The "Decider" has decided.

Bush Straddles His Hard Line in Engaging Sudan - washingtonpost.com

Sometime in the next few weeks, a special envoy of President Bush plans to meet with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, whose government sheltered Osama bin Laden and pursued a scorched-earth policy in southern Sudan that resulted in more than 2 million deaths.

Bashir's government has been accused by Bush of participating in a "genocide" in Darfur, the only U.S. government use of such a strong accusation. Yet Richard S. Williamson's visit to Khartoum follows a series of direct contacts by senior Bush administration officials with the Sudanese president, including Secretaries of State Colin L. Powell and Condoleezza Rice, Rice's deputies, and several special presidential envoys.

Bush has spoken to or exchanged letters with Bashir on numerous occasions, underscoring how White House policy has departed from his pointed public call to shun talks with radical tyrants and dictators. His appointees have also pursued aggressive diplomacy with North Korea and Libya and have even conducted limited business with Cuba, Syria and Iran.

In the case of Sudan, experts are deeply divided about how much the administration's engagement has improved conditions in a country beset for decades by mass violence and famine. It has at least provoked charges of hypocrisy, because Bush recently accused those advocating talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other radical figures of "appeasement."

So, lemme see... if I understand this correctly, anyone who would talk to "radical tyrants and dictators" is an "appeaser" (which is what I do every day to endure the radical Christian extremists who surround me), unless, of course, it is "the decider" who is doing the talking. Then it would be 'diplomacy' where "...they want better relations with the United States and we want to stop a genocide."

Hmmmm. Sounds a lot like hypocrisy to me. And I see a lot of that around here, so I know what that is.

How Bush's Allies Support Our Troops

"If we (Republicans) fight this bill we will be rewarded (in November)."

So, if I understand their logic (?), we cannot reward our troops by giving them an education. Because if we give them an education, they won't reenlist. Basically, we get them when they are dumb as rocks and will do whatever they are told, without question, and we cannot give them an education because they will no longer be dumb as rocks and will no longer do our bidding.

And this must be what was behind "No child left behind'. Our children are getting dumber and cannot 'compete' in the job market. So, they become killers for hire for the Oil Industry and other corporate concerns. And we MUST maintain the status quo.

Hell, we have wars to fight and people to kill. We simply cannot allow our soldiers the luxury of having an independent thought and perhaps understanding what is being done to them.

And WE will reelect them (Republicans) for taking this stand AGAINST our troops?

This makes me ill.

See what you can do about this by clicking here.

Oh, and FYI... as dead set against this new G.I. Bill as John McCain purports that to be, he couldn't find the time to go and vote against it. I guess that I should thank him for that. Nah.

PRISON MURDER in Amerika

Read horror stories of inmates who have died at the hands of prison guards and medical staff in prisons across the country. If you think that it can't happen to you, think again. They are practicing for mass incarceration as we speak. They are building human warehouses across the country at breakneck speed. They are building human cattle cars.

They don't build anything unless they plan to use it.

PRISON MURDER

America's prisons are guilty of hiring sadistic, brutish and racist monsters, then giving them free rein to torture and murder prisoners. They encourage racial disharmony and distrust, prisoner-against-prisoner assault, rape and murder, when they're too cowardly do it themselves.

No matter how nice and normal a prison guard or prison administrator may appear to be, EVERYONE who works inside a prison for years has something drastically wrong with the inside of their heads, and big holes in their souls.

I make this blanket condemnation of them because even the "good guards", who do not actively participate in harassment, torture and murder of prisoners WITNESS these things and do nothing, so they are also guilty.

If they do speak out, they find themselves outcasts among their co-workers. They suddenly find they have no one to "watch their back", or assist them if they get into an altercation with a prisoner. Their tires are slashed; their families are threatened, and they are usually fired shortly after reporting abuse of prisoners.

So, they turn a blind eye. The TRULY decent guards wind up quitting their jobs rather than give up a piece of their souls every day in order to support their families, leaving the helpless prisoners at the mercy of the evil and "the blind".

This site is a indictment of a system which is in desperate need of immediate and drastic reform.

One other point that I would like to make here about our society.

I have referred to my dwelling as 'my cell' for quite a long time now. I have lived as a 'free man' and I have lived in prison. I am nearing 50. Twelve plus in school, four in the Corps and nearly a decade in prison. The rest as a 'free' man. So, I know the differences between institutions and freedom. Folks, it feels like prison out here. There is no freedom left in this world, that I am aware of, save the freedom we will gain through passing from this world (been dead, too... twice).

I don't mean to sound depressing or depressed. I am simply speaking truth from the hip and from the heart. If we don't collectively do something, and I mean yesterday, there will be little point in continuing. 'Hope' is becoming an endangered species.

The Bush Legacy: Texas sets date to kill another innocent man

Cultural insanity. Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out.

Texas Death Row Inmate, Greg Wright Gets Execution Date of September 9, 2008 - Associated Content

Despite DNA testing that has cleared Wright of evidence found on a pair of jeans, and a polygraph test that Wright has passed which shows he has been telling the truth all along, as well as a written confession from codefendant John Wade Adams, the state of Texas has issued an execution date of September 9, 2008 for Gregory Wright.

Executions have resumed in Texas after The Supreme Court ruled that lethal injection is not cruel and unusual, and Texas has over 14 executions lined up for the summer months. After a 7 month hold on executions, Texas is wasting no time in executing their inmates, and it doesn't seem to matter to them if they are innocent or not.

However, anyone who has read about the case of Greg Wright has to admit that Wright is an innocent man, and should be removed from the death row unit and freed of all charges, or at least be given a new and fair trial. What more proof of innocence does Texas need to admit that Wright did no wrong doing in the murder of Donna Vick. Wright's codefendant has admitted that he murdered her, and he also sits on death row, waiting his turn to die.

Wright's wife Connie has been by his side throughout his imprisonment since 1997 and has created a website with facts about his case, and a petition for people to sign. She hopes to gather as many signatures as possible to present to the Texas board of parole and pardons. The facts about his case and the petition can be read here. She urges everyone to show their support for an innocent man and sign the petition.

This is not the first time an innocent man has been on Texas death row. In August of 2007, Texas Parole and Pardons voted to commute the sentence of then death row inmate Kenneth Foster. Governor Perry commuted his sentence to life without parole. Foster was sentenced under "The Law of Parties" which states that someone present at a murder scene can also be charged with Capital punishment. Foster was the get away driver, and never left the car. Much publicity was given to this case, as Foster's family and friends protested the execution.

We used to say in Arkansas of Bill Clinton, "We've had him long enough. It's everyone else's turn." But it seems that one of the least educated states in the union has more sense than the denizens of Texas. They pushed their killer off onto the rest of us, but continue with the same insane practices and traditions.

It must be in the water. Whatever the cause, I don't care to go to Texass to find out. In Missouri, we say "... come on vacation, leave on probation". Go to Texass, you're apt to leave in a body bag. Sorry, can't think of a quaint expression for that.

Aftermath of US slaughterhouse raid

As the ICE raid in Postville, Iowa fades into the black hole of American selective memory, the nightmare and assault on every US citizens' rights continues unabated and unreported.

Aftermath of US slaughterhouse raid: fear and repression grip Iowa town

Another Catholic nun who works with the immigrant families in the area traveled to Washington last Tuesday to testify at a Congressional hearing on immigration policy. Fighting back tears, Sister Kathy Thill told of families being "torn apart" by the raids, with fathers in detention and mothers left to care for their children with no income.

"I am also a United States citizen who grew up believing that this is a democratic country in which the dignity of all people is respected and their rights protected," she said at a news conference following the hearing. "This is not the country I experienced this past week."

War is a Racket

For those who may question my patriotism here at this blog, I would like to refer you to statements made by one of the greatest Marines that ever served our nation.

Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933 by General Smedley Butler, USMC

By General Smedley D. Butler

http://www.wanttoknow.info/warisaracket

That war is a racket has been told us by many, but rarely by one of this stature.

Though he died in 1940, the highly decorated General Butler (two Congressional Medals of Honor) deserves to be heralded for his timeless message, which rings true today more than ever.

His riveting 1935 book War is a Racket merits inclusion as required reading for every high school student, and for every member of our armed forces today. Below is a ten-page summary of the best of this powerful exposé.

For a concise, two-page version, click here: http://www.wanttoknow.info/warcoverup

Foreword

Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933 by General Smedley Butler, USMC

War is just a racket. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents...

... A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

So, the next time someone questions my loyalty and patriotism, I will remind them of Smedley Butler, American Hero, Patriot, and self-proclaimed Corporate Stooge and Mercenary. And I will suggest that one look long and hard at ones position before passing judgment on mine and those who may agree with me. Anything less may bring ones own patriotism in to question.

I highly recommend that you read this insightful speech in its entirety by following this link. I am patriotic and I do love my country. I just don't like some of the things that are done by and in the name of My Country.

"Unhappy events abroad have retaught us two simple truths about the liberty of a democratic people. The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of a private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power."

FDR: message to Congress proposing the monopoly investigation, 1938

And we forget time and again what we learn by experience. As they say, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome. Some call me crazy as I watch our nation succumb to a kind of 'mass insanity'.

Congress has no authority over state slavery laws

Let this be a reminder that 'resolutions' can be, and have been WRONG. And perhaps we should be reviewing some of the 'resolutions' that have been passed during the past couple of decades. We may find that we are repeating history. Same story, different cast(e).

On this day, May 26, 1835, A resolution was passed in the U.S. Congress stating that Congress has no authority over state slavery laws.

CPS shuffle, cut and deal

By Amy Joi O'Donoghue
Deseret News

Published: May 25, 2008

SAN ANGELO, Texas

Desperate to be reunited with their children, many Texas FLDS parents signed family service plans that concede child abuse and neglect.

It's an admission that may come back to haunt them if criminal charges are ever filed accusing them of being abusive parents.

With Thursday's appellate ruling, the civil case against the families appears to be unraveling, but the criminal probe continues. Results from DNA testing on the parents and children are anticipated in the next week and could potentially link adult men to children of underage girls.

That is why several attorneys this past week appearing in status hearings in the Tom Green County Courthouse advised their clients to refuse to sign.

Both Stephanie Goodman and Gonzalo Rios were adamant that the FLDS parents they represent steer clear of the family service plans drafted by the state Department of Family and Protective Services.

"It could be construed in a criminal case that it is an admission that those are the things that happened on the ranch," Goodman said.

The plans crafted for the more than 450 children taken into custody by the agency in April include several mandates the families were to have followed in order to get their children back.

All the plans were identical and included the requirement that parents get counseling as it relates to child abuse and child sexual abuse.

That requirement, Rios said, immediately concedes child abuse and sexual abuse took place - a concession that would jeopardize a parent's rights in criminal court.

So, it appears that Texas Child Protective Services is saying, "Though our warrant was not valid and we had no legal right to intervene in the first place, if you will just sign this 'admission of guilt' we can get your family reunited". Harrumph.

And even though they have the person who made the libelous, fraudulent, and illegal accusations in the first place, they are still moving at lightening speed to convict and punish the innocent while not doing much of anything to convict the one who started it. After all, the lies just confirmed what they already suspected.

Like the 'Made in Iran' weapons in Karbola that didn't exist... and the magic laptops recovered in Columbia. Oh, and the Weapons of Mass Destruction that we never found in Iraq!

Anybody vacationing in Texass this year?

If you still want to vote for McCain: "Memory Loopholes"

We tend to forget so much, so frequently. I can only think of it as apathy.

Keating Five - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The five senators, Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH), John McCain (R-AZ), Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), were accused of improperly aiding Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of an investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board.

After a lengthy investigation, the Senate Ethics Committee determined in 1991 that Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle had substantially and improperly interfered with the FHLBB in its investigation of Lincoln Savings. The Committee recommended censure for Cranston and criticized the other four for "questionable conduct."

All five of the senators involved served out their terms, but only Glenn and McCain ran for re-election (and were subsequently re-elected).

And you want to let this guy run the nation? You get what you pay for. But one would think that you might tire of paying.

"Revolutionary Latin America"

This is a brief, yet informative talk (app. 32 min) that reveals much of what is really happening in Venezuela due to oligarchical international (read: United States) interventions in America Latina.

Revolutionary Latin America - May 17th, 2008 - Minneapolis, MN (Jorge Martin)

Jorge Martin, International Secretary of the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign, speaks at "Revolutionary Latin America" at the Central Labor Union Council in Minneapolis, MN on the revolutionary process taking place in Venezuela. The event was held on May 17th, 2008 and was co-sponsored by Hands Off Venezuela and the Workers International League.

South African left, unions respond to xenophobic attacks

Ya know, perhaps every day should be memorial day until we can wake up in the morning and not have news like this assaulting our senses and sensibilities. It seems to me that Mother Nature can provide us with enough death and destruction all by herself without needing mankind to pitch in and add to the carnage.

`Our struggle knows no borders!'

May 21, 2008 -- According to the UN Integrated Regional Information Networks, as of May 19, 2008, the death toll in a wave of attacks targeting foreigners around South Africa's main city of Johannesburg has risen to at least 32, with an estimated 6000 people seeking shelter in police stations, churches and community halls. The violence has spread to Zandspruit, northwest of Johannesburg, and Tembisa, Primrose, Reiger Park and Thokoza, on the eastern perimeter of the city, as well as other working-class communities.

South African newspapers ran horrific images of people set alight by angry mobs, who roamed townships during the weekend looking for foreigners and looting their shops and homes. In the Troyville area, just east of the central business district and historically a migrant enclave, shops were closed and the usually busy streets were quiet. An estimated 2000 people had taken refuge in the nearby Jeppe Street police station after violence at the weekend.

President Thabo Mbeki announced on May 18 that a panel had been set up to investigate the attacks, but the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), a constitutionally mandated watchdog, accused the government of failing to take the threat of xenophobia seriously.

Below are some of the responses by South Africa's left organisations and trade unions. More will be posted as they become available.

Full: http://links. org.au/node/ 429

Subscribe free to /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ - at http://www.feedblit z.com/f/? Sub=343373

This Memorial Day, LET'S REMEMBER TO NOT START ANOTHER WAR!

LET'S REMEMBER TO NOT START ANOTHER WAR | Philadelphia Daily News | 05/23/2008

LET'S REMEMBER TO NOT START ANOTHER WAR
MEMORIAL DAY IS A SAD MILESTONE . . . AND A CROSSROADS

AS THE FLAGS are readied and the ceremonies rehearsed, no one is talking much anymore about how our soldiers have died in a "noble cause" in Iraq.

As the sixth Memorial Day of the Iraq War approaches, at least 4,070 American men and women have lost their lives in the fighting. Hundreds more have been killed in accidents, illnesses - and, yes, suicides.

All were poorly served by the nation to which they gave the last full measure of devotion: They were sent into battle under false pretenses, without proper planning or equipment, their sacrifice treated as a low-risk business opportunity for war profiteers, their flag-draped coffins hidden from public view.

So, as we approach this sad milestone, it is insane that the same people who were so disastrously wrong before miring us in Iraq are again beating the drums for an another unnecessary military action, this time against Iran.

They're even using the same tactics - inflating Iran's danger to the United States, comparing its leaders to Hitler, and referring vaguely to "evidence" of Iranian complicity in attacks on U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Something else has a too-familiar ring: often-uncritical news-media coverage and attacks on the patriotism of those who would try to avoid more unnecessary deaths.

In one of the most embarrassingly ignorant displays ever by a U.S. president, George W. Bush last week used an address to the Israeli Knesset to equate negotiating with one's enemies with appeasing Adolf Hitler. Bush was implying that Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a dead-ringer for the Nazi madman, but remember when that distinction was bestowed on Saddam Hussein?

Bush's target, of course, was Sen. Barack Obama, who has said he would meet with leaders of Iran with preparation but without pre-conditions. This is a wise policy. You can't make peace with your friends, only with your enemies, and you can't do that without talking with them. This truth was most recently demonstrated by, of all appeasers, the Israeli government, which yesterday announced secret talks with longtime enemy Syria, state sponsor of terrorism and all-star of the "axis of evil."

Following Bush's speech, Republican presidential candidate John McCain didn't miss a beat, suggesting that Iran is a threat akin to that posed by the Soviet Union. A National Intelligence Estimate last fall said that Iran has no nuclear button to push, while the Soviet Union not only had nukes but the missiles to deliver them.

This followed by a few weeks Democratic contender Hillary Clinton's threat to push the red button and "obliterate Iran" if provoked. And Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the so-called Independent Democrat and McCain BFF, said air strikes against Iran are a "distinct possibility," even though there is no concrete evidence that Iran poses a significant threat. Of course, if we "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran," as McCain tastelessly joked, that would change, just as it did in Iraq.

FOR THOUSANDS of Americans, Memorial Day will be a personal, intimate day of grief for loved ones who died in Iraq for a cause that was not deserving of them.

There is no more appropriate time for the rest of us to consider why so many didn't know then what they know now about Iraq. There is no more appropriate time to vow that, from now on, the United States will heed the words of President John F. Kennedy to "never negotiate out of fear but never fear to negotiate."

That is the best way to honor our war dead.

Folksinger, Storyteller, Railroad Tramp Utah Phillips Dead at 73

The offical Obituary as provided by the family. May 24,
2008

"Folksinger, Storyteller, Railroad Tramp Utah
Phillips Dead at 73"
Nevada City, California:

Utah Phillips, a seminal figure in American folk music who performed extensively and tirelessly for audiences on two continents for 38 years, died Friday of congestive heart failure in Nevada City, California a small town in the Sierra Nevada mountains where he lived for the last 21 years with his wife, Joanna Robinson, a freelance editor.

Born Bruce Duncan Phillips on May 15, 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio, he was the son of labor organizers. Whether through this early influence or an early life that was not always tranquil or easy, by his twenties Phillips emonstrated a lifelong concern with the living conditions of working people. He was a proud member of the Industrial Workers of the World, popularly known as "the Wobblies," an organizational artifact of early twentieth-century labor struggles that has seen renewed interest and growth in membership in the last decade, not in small part due to his efforts to popularize it.

Phillips served as an Army private during the Korean War, an experience he would later refer to as the turning point of his life. Deeply affected by the devastation and human misery he had witnessed, upon his return to the United States he began drifting, riding freight trains around the country. His struggle would be familiar today, when the difficulties of returning combat veterans are more widely understood, but in the late fifties Phillips was left to work them out for himself. Destitute and drinking, Phillips got off a freight train in Salt Lake City and wound up at the Joe Hill House, a homeless shelter operated by the anarchist Ammon Hennacy, a member of the Catholic Worker movement and associate of Dorothy Day.

Phillips credited Hennacy and other social reformers he referred to as his "elders" with having provided a philosophical framework around which he later constructed songs and stories he intended as a template his audiences could employ to understand their own political and working lives. They were often hilarious, sometimes sad, but never shallow.

"He made me understand that music must be more than cotton candy for the ears," said John McCutcheon, a nationally-known folksinger and close friend. In the creation of his performing persona and work, Phillips drew from influences as diverse as Borscht Belt comedian Myron Cohen, folksingers Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and Country stars Hank Williams and T. Texas Tyler.

A stint as an archivist for the State of Utah in the 1960s taught Phillips the discipline of historical research; beneath the simplest and most folksy of his songs was a rigorous attention to detail and a strong and carefully-crafted narrative structure. He was a voracious reader in a surprising variety of fields.

Meanwhile, Phillips was working at Hennacy's Joe Hill house. In 1968 he ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. The race was won by a Republican candidate, and Phillips was seen by some Democrats as having split the vote. He subsequently lost his job with the State of Utah, a process he described as "blacklisting."

Phillips left Utah for Saratoga Springs, New York, where he was welcomed into a lively community of folk performers centered at the Caffé Lena, operated by Lena Spencer. "It was the coffeehouse, the place to perform. Everybody went there. She fed everybody," said John "Che" Greenwood, a fellow performer and friend.

Over the span of the nearly four decades that followed, Phillips worked in what he referred to as "the Trade," developing an audience of hundreds of thousands and performing in large and small cities throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. His performing partners included Rosalie Sorrels, Kate Wolf, John McCutcheon and Ani DiFranco.

"He was like an alchemist," said Sorrels, "He took the stories of working people and railroad bums and he built them into work that was influenced by writers like Thomas Wolfe, but then he gave it back, he put it in language so the people whom the songs and stories were about still had them, still owned them. He didn't believe in stealing culture from the people it was about."

A single from Phillips's first record, "Moose Turd Pie," a rollicking story about working on a railroad track gang, saw extensive airplay in 1973. From then on, Phillips had work on the road. His extensive writing and recording career included two albums with Ani DiFranco which earned a Grammy nomination. Phillips's songs were performed and recorded by Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Tom Waits, Joe Ely and others. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Folk Alliance in 1997.

Phillips, something of a perfectionist, claimed that he never lost his stage fright before performances. He didn't want to lose it, he said; it kept him improving.

Phillips began suffering from the effects of chronic heart disease in 2004, and as his illness kept him off the road at times, he started a nationally syndicated folk-music radio show, "Loafer's Glory," produced at KVMR-FM and started a homeless shelter in his rural home county, where down-on-their-luck men and women were sleeping under the manzanita brush at the edge of town. Hospitality House opened in 2005 and continues to house 25 to 30 guests a night. In this way, Phillips returned to he work of his mentor Hennacy in the last four years of his life.

Phillips died at home, in bed, in his sleep, next to his wife. He is survived by his son Duncan and daughter-in-law Bobette of Salt Lake City, son Brendan of Olympia, Washington; daughter Morrigan Belle of Washington, D.C.; stepson Nicholas Tomb of Monterrey, California; stepson and daughter-in-law Ian Durfee and Mary Creasey of Davis, California; brothers David Phillips of Fairfield, California, Ed Phillips of Cleveland, Ohio and Stuart Cohen of Los Angeles; sister Deborah Cohen of Lisbon, Portugal; and a grandchild, Brendan. He was preceded in death by his father Edwin Phillips and mother Kathleen, and his stepfather, Syd Cohen.

The family requests memorial donations to Hospitality House, P.O. Box 3223, Grass Valley, California 95945 (530) 271-7144 www.hospitalityhouseshelter.org

Jordan Fisher Smith and Molly Fisk
Molly Fisk, 530.277.4686 molly@mollyfisk.com
Jordan Fisher Smith 530.277.3087 jordanfs@gv.net

The U. Utah Phillips Appreciation and Information site.

Word document here.
PDF version

Listen to "Moose Turd Pie" here. And "Stupids Pledge" here.

Vets for Peace Booted from National Memorial Day Parade

Vets for Peace Booted from National Memorial Day Parade - CommonDreams.org

There is one group of veterans that isn't allowed to march in the national memorial parade in Washington on Monday.

That's the Veterans for Peace, Delwin Anderson Memorial chapter, based in D.C. It's named after a World War II vet who fought in Italy and then worked for the VA for many years designing programs for injured veterans.

The group had applied to join the National Memorial Day parade.

And initially, anyway, it was accepted.

But then, late last month, the group was told that it didn't meet the criteria to participate.

The American Veterans Center, which runs the parade, told them "we cannot have elements in the parade that have any type of political message or wish to promote a point of view."

But other groups, like the American Legion, will be participating in the parade.

Its creed is to defend "God and country" and to "foster and perpetuate a 100 percent Americanism."

And check out the list of major sponsors for the parade. They include: Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, the nation of Kuwait, the U.S. Army, and even the NRA.

And this is incidentally one of the myriad of reasons that I quit the American Legion and never looked back. They will 'defend' their country from free speech and peace at all costs. Just like the Chimp.

How We Can Really Honor Our Veterans this Memorial Day

How We Can Really Honor Our Veterans - CommonDreams.org

Let's all pay lip service to Support Our Troops. But if we want to be honest, we should edit those yellow-ribbon bumper stickers to say Support Our Troops - As Long As It Doesn't Cost Anything.

Let's acknowledge that this new generation of soldiers and Marines is amazingly motivated and talented. They're expected to be good killers, good diplomats and ambassadors of American goodwill who operate under impossibly complex rules of engagement in impossibly dangerous and deadly environments.

But if they come home wounded, their brains rattled by the huge IEDs of the new way of war, and if they suffer the horrors of PTSD nightmares and flashbacks, let's dump them on the streets with the least amount of help and benefits possible, as cheaply as possible.

For sure we don't want to improve their chances, better their future prospects, by offering them the same college benefits we gave their grandfathers six decades ago. God help us if they all get college degrees and figure out what we've done to them.

I talk about it all the time. And few have ever listened.

But really, why should a veteran deserve more than each and every other American Citizen? Why should we even NEED soldiers, if we were truly devoted to peace and freedom?

Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare

This may sound a bit trite, but this is exactly what I have predicted since the mid 80's when I began carrying my "survival" gear in the trunk of my car. Of course, back then I was more concerned about nuclear fallout stopping everything in its tracks. Guns & amunition, camping gear, and at least two weeks of food and water were my usual fare. I also carried tools for various particular tasks, a shovel in particular.

Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare

"There's going to be things that happen when people can't get things that they need for themselves and their families," said Lynn-Marie, who believes cities could see a rise in violence as early as 2012.

(AP) Peter Laskowski plants vegetables at his remote home in Waitsfield, Vt., Friday, April 11, 2008....
Full Image
Lynn-Marie asked to be identified by her first name to protect her homestead in rural western Idaho. Many of these survivalists declined to speak to The Associated Press for similar reasons.

These survivalists believe in "peak oil," the idea that world oil production is set to hit a high point and then decline. Scientists who support idea say the amount of oil produced in the world each year has already or will soon begin a downward slide, even amid increased demand. But many scientists say such a scenario will be avoided as other sources of energy come in to fill the void.

On the PeakOil.com Web site, where upward of 800 people gathered on recent evenings, believers engage in a debate about what kind of world awaits.

Some members argue there will be no financial crash, but a slow slide into harder times. Some believe the federal government will respond to the loss of energy security with a clampdown on personal freedoms. Others simply don't trust that the government can maintain basic services in the face of an energy crisis.

The powers that be, they've determined, will be largely powerless to stop what is to come.

Determined to guard themselves from potentially harsh times ahead, Lynn-Marie and her husband have already planted an orchard of about 40 trees and built a greenhouse on their 7 1/2 acres. They have built their own irrigation system. They've begun to raise chickens and pigs, and they've learned to slaughter them.

The couple have gotten rid of their TV and instead have been reading dusty old books published in their grandparents' era, books that explain the simpler lifestyle they are trying to revive. Lynn-Marie has been teaching herself how to make soap. Her husband, concerned about one day being unable to get medications, has been training to become an herbalist.

By 2012, they expect to power their property with solar panels, and produce their own meat, milk and vegetables. When things start to fall apart, they expect their children and grandchildren will come back home and help them work the land. She envisions a day when the family may have to decide whether to turn needy people away from their door.

"People will be unprepared," she said. "And we can imagine marauding hordes."

And today the belief and practice is reported to be widespread by the AP. I feel... vindicated.

Veterans' burials nonstop at national cemeteries

Veterans' burials nonstop at national cemeteries

Despite handling burials at an assembly-line pace, the National Cemetery Administration has the highest customer satisfaction score of any federal government agency and any private sector company, according to the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index. It tops companies such as Heinz, Amazon.com, and Hershey's.

"We are ever-conscious of the fact that with each family we get one chance to get it right," Tuerk said.

Part of streamlining the process involved holding services at committal shelters - open-air, gazebo-like structures - instead of graveside. Calverton has seven shelters; Western Reserve has two.

After taps, two uniformed members of an Army honor guard, wearing white gloves, perform the third and final ritual - the folding of the flag. They make each of the traditional 13 folds with precision as mourners look on in silence.

The flag was presented to Hale's wife of 36 years. She was seated on a bench in the front row.

"I feel so blessed to be an American and that America has furnished something like this for our soldiers. It gives you such a wonderful feeling," she said. "I feel proud."

A cemetery employee politely asked the mourners to leave the shelter so the next service could begin.

Men and women in dark suits and dresses, some holding hands or with arms around one another for comfort, climbed into their Fords and Buicks and slowly drove away.

"...customer satisfaction"? I can't touch that!

"...we get one chance to get it right,"... for the relatives of the deceased. "...one chance to get it right,"... like we did with agent orange, and now depleted uranium poisoning from ordinance.

"...that America has furnished something like this for our soldiers". Yeah, I guess it gives ya a warm fuzzy feeling to bury soldiers. But we take what we can get.

Moles Wanted

If you still think that our government will not spy on it's own, here's a little more "persuasion".

Moles Wanted - City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul)

In preparation for the Republican National Convention, the FBI is soliciting informants to keep tabs on local protest groups
Moles Wanted

By Matt Snyders

They were looking for an informant to show up at "vegan potlucks" throughout the Twin Cities and rub shoulders with RNC protestors.

Paul Carroll was riding his bike when his cell phone vibrated.

Once he arrived home from the Hennepin County Courthouse, where hed been served a gross misdemeanor for spray-painting the interior of a campus elevator, the lanky, wavy-haired University of Minnesota sophomore flipped open his phone and checked his messages. He was greeted by a voice he recognized immediately. It belonged to U of M Police Sgt. Erik Swanson, the officer to whom Carroll had turned himself in just three weeks earlier. When Carroll called back, Swanson asked him to meet at a coffee shop later that day, going on to assure a wary Carroll that he wasn't in trouble.

Carroll, who requested that his real name not be used, showed up early and waited anxiously for Swanson's arrival. Ten minutes later, he says, a casually dressed Swanson showed up, flanked by a woman whom he introduced as FBI Special Agent Maureen E. Mazzola. For the next 20 minutes, Mazzola would do most of the talking.

"She told me that I had the perfect 'look,'" recalls Carroll. "And that I had the perfect personality"they kept saying I was friendly and personable"for what they were looking for."

What they were looking for, Carroll says, was an informant - someone to show up at 'vegan potlucks' throughout the Twin Cities and rub shoulders with RNC protestors, schmoozing his way into their inner circles, then reporting back to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, a partnership between multiple federal agencies and state and local law enforcement. The effort's primary mission, according to the Minneapolis division's website, is to "investigate terrorist acts carried out by groups or organizations which fall within the definition of terrorist groups as set forth in the current United States Attorney General Guidelines."

Carroll would be compensated for his efforts, but only if his involvement yielded an arrest. No exact dollar figure was offered.

"I'll pass," said Carroll.

For 10 more minutes, Mazzola and Swanson tried to sway him. He remained obstinate.

"Well, if you change your mind, call this number," said Mazzola, handing him her card with her cell phone number scribbled on the back.

(Mazzola, Swanson, and the FBI did not return numerous calls seeking comment.)

Brian Moore on Socialism: Ready to Move Country Out of Faltering Economy In Order to Improve Lives of All Citizens

Brian Moore to address how Socialism is Ready to Move Country Out of Faltering Economy In Order to Improve Lives of All Citizens

Spring Hill,
Florida, Thursday, May 22, 2008: Socialist Party USA presidential nominee, Brian Moore, will speak on "How America Can Change from Capitalism to Socialism" on Wednesday, June 4, 2008, from 12 noon to 2 PM, at the John F. Germany Library in downtown Tampa, 900 North Ashley Drive, Tampa, 33906 (near the University of Tampa Campus).

Moore will discuss the issue of socialism and how the country can move from a capitalistic economic system to a socialist economy. Brian will also spell out his campaign platform and how it radically differs from the two major party candidates, as well as from most alternative party candidates as well, who are running for President of the United States.

The talk will be held in the "Martin Luther King room" of the main Tampa library, located in the East Building on the 2nd floor, 2 East. (There is no suite number, and the room holds a maximum of 35 people).

Admission is free and open to the public.

This will be the first of many presentations on Socialism that Moore expects to make throughout Florida and the rest of the nation concurrent with his party's efforts to gain ballot access in 20 targeted states across the nation. The candidate says that because of the faltering economy, skyrocketing prices of food and gas, the Iraq war, disillusionment with the Administration and the Democrat and Republican parties, and subsequently the U.S. congress, "What better time to educate Americans about the benefits of Socialism." The Florida resident is intent on reeducating the public about the "rich heritage this party once contributed to the nation instead of the negative image it has been saddled with far too long" Moore stated.

The Socialist Party's Vice-President, Stewart Alexander, resides in California, and is campaigning in his home state to assist the ticket in winning the nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party whose California state convention will be August 2 and 3 in Sacramento.

For more information, please contact:

Brian Moore (352) 686-9936 -- cell (352)
585-2907

www.votebrianmoore.com

California marriage opponents seek 5-month delay

You know, I don't see what the problem is. Everyone should have the right to enter into a contractual agreement, thus ending their life and any hope of happiness if they so desire! And I have seen a lot more of these 'conservatives' end their agreements in divorce than I have seen gay relations go south. Perhaps the real fear is that if normal people are allowed to join in marriage, it will become obvious who the REAL perverts are. Maybe gay unions would cause a spontaneous outbreak of civil society.

California marriage opponents seek 5-month delay

A conservative legal group asked the California Supreme Court on Thursday to put off finalization of its decision legalizing same-sex marriage until voters got a chance to weigh in.

The Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund wants the ruling stayed until November, when voters will probably encounter a ballot measure that would amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage. That amendment would overturn the justices' ruling.

Congress enacts $290B farm bill over Bush veto

Congress enacts $290B farm bill over Bush veto

Congress enacted a massive farm bill Thursday with new and bigger subsidies for farmers, plus more food stamps for the poor...

Bush claimed the legislation was too expensive and too generous with subsidies for farmers who are enjoying record high prices and incomes. He had opposed the legislation from the start, threatening his first veto last July.

Nearly every farmer that I know is RICH! I agree that welfare for rich people should be abolished completely! But the Chimp is o.k. with subsidizing mass murder and genocide, private para-military forces and more profits for his oil buddies.

"It seems that the congressional debate on the pork-laden farm bill is coming to an inglorious conclusion," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

Yeah, and his boss will go down in history as the greatest American President of all time, too. Right! Boot licker.

Texas seizure of polygamist-sect kids thrown out

Another stick in the eye of the ever expanding "authority" of the jack booted thugs who are running this country and every aspect of each of our lives.

Child Protective Services in Missouri are the Ultra-Mafioso of the state, operating with impunity, in absolute secrecy, and with heavy handed, unrestrained power. And Missouri doesn't hold a candle to the fascism in Texas where the Chimp in Charge got his taste for killing.

"Oh, say does that scarred, mangled banner yet wave? For the land of the free, over every grave."

Texas seizure of polygamist-sect kids thrown out

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - In a ruling that could torpedo the case against the West Texas polygamist sect, a state appeals court Thursday said authorities had no right to seize more than 440 children in a raid on the splinter group's compound last month.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin said the state failed to show the youngsters were in any immediate danger, the only grounds in Texas law for taking children from their parents without court action.

It was not clear when the children - now scattered in foster homes across the state - might be returned to their parents. The ruling gave a lower-court judge 10 days to release the youngsters from custody, but the state could appeal to the Texas Supreme Court and block that.

The decision in one of the biggest child-custody cases in U.S. history was a humiliating defeat for the state Child Protective Services agency. It was hailed as vindication by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who claimed they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

My middle finger salute to the powers that be.

Senate reaches deal to advance Iraq funding

Senate reaches deal to advance Iraq funding

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate plans to vote Thursday on providing $165 billion to fund Pentagon operations in Iraq and Afghanistan until the new administration takes over next year.

A plan announced Wednesday night by Senate leaders would give great leverage to Republicans and would probably doom billions of dollars in domestic programs sought by Democrats, including 13 weeks of additional unemployment benefits for the jobless.

It would likely kill funding for heating subsidies, fighting Western wildfires and aid to rural schools, among many programs backed by senators in both parties despite a promised veto from President Bush.

In exchange, GOP leaders would allow a vote on a big expansion of education benefits for veterans under the GI Bill. It's favored to pass, but the White House has promised to veto it.

Is there any question who is still running the country? The impotent Dems couldn't stand up to a rain shower if their asses were on fire. Welcome to the New World Order.

Fahrenheit 451˚: Yet, more 'Holy Book' desecration

A few days ago I posted an article regarding Soldier's desecration of Koran. I told a story of some "jail house Christians" destroying a bible.

Stories like this never cease to amaze me!

Orthodox Jewish youths burn New Testaments in Israel - International Herald Tribune

JERUSALEM: Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land.

Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material.

After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it.

The books were dumped into a pile and set afire in a lot near a synagogue, he said.

The Israeli Maariv daily reported Tuesday that hundreds of Jewish religious school students took part in the book-burning. But Aharon told The Associated Press that only a few students were present, and that he was not there when the books were torched. Not all of the New Testaments that were collected were burned, but hundreds were, he said.

He said he regretted the burning of the books, but called it a "commandment" to burn materials that urge Jews to convert.

"I certainly don't denounce the burning of the booklets," he said. "I denounce those who distributed the booklets."

Jews worship from the Old Testament, including the Five Books of Moses and the writings of the ancient prophets. Christians revere the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, which contains the ministry of Jesus.

Calev Myers, an attorney who represents Messianic Jews, or Jews who accept Jesus as their savior, demanded in an interview with Army Radio that all those involved be put on trial. He estimated there were 10,000 Messianic Jews, who are also known as Jews for Jesus, in Israel.

Police had no immediate comment.

I have trouble commenting on it, too. A people who were nearly exterminated learned absolutely nothing from their own experiences and are perpetrating the same kind of atrocities against others that were visited upon them. And we are suppose to feel sorry for them?

I have a whole case of "The Teachings of Buddha" and can't find anyone that will take one even if I absorb the cost of shipping and/or delivery. Which in light of stories like these, doesn't really bother me. Other than the conviction that if they would just eek open those 'steel trap minds' a little bit, they might actually learn something.

The saying, "Knowledge is Power" has not been lost on the fascists of the world. They instill in their masses that even reading certain materials will pollute their mind, soul, and body forever.

So, the 'good soldiers' march ever onward in ignorance, hate, and intolerance. Good show!

Evo Morales' 10 Commandments to save the Planet

For those of you who may not be familiar with Bolivian President
Evo Morales, Wikipedia says the following about him:

Juan Evaristo Morales Ayma (born October 26, 1959 in Orinoca, Oruro), popularly known as Evo (pronounced [ˈeβ̞o]), is the President of Bolivia, and has been declared the country's first fully indigenous head of state in the 470 years since the Spanish Conquest. The latter claim is controversial, as several mestizo presidents preceded him.

You can read more of that entry about Evo Morales here.

Evo Morales' 10 Commandments to save the Planet

(PL and ABI New York, April 21, 2008).- (translation from Spanish courtesy Jubilee South/Americas)

Bolivian President Evo Morales said today that to save the planet requires putting an end to the capitalist model and for the North to pay its Ecological Debt. This was the first of 10 points presented by Morales at the inauguration of the UN's VII Indigenous Forum, in a long address acclaimed by participants at this annual gathering.

Morales Ayma proposed 10 commandment to save the world, life, and all of humanity, making reference to respect for the earth, renouncing war, bilateral relations without impositions, water and land as human rights, clean energy, no to biofuels, basic services, prioritizing what is produced locally, promoting cultural diversity, and the notion of "living well" through communitarian socialism and in harmony with mother Earth.

The president affirmed that there remain two paths toward saving humanity, life, and the plant Earth: either recovering a way of life in harmony with mother Earth and all of life, or following the path of capitalism and death.

Morales insisted that the only way to save the world is to put an end to this way of thinking that promotes individualist selfishness and a thirst for profits. He asked indigenous peoples, peasants and governments of the world to consume what is necessary, giving priority to what is produced locally and avoiding waste and luxury.

The head of state further expressed that "the huge impact of climate change is not a product of human beings in general, but of the dominant capitalist system with its unlimited industrial development; that is why I feel it is important to put an end to the exploitation of human beings and the plundering of natural resources".

TEN COMMANDMENTS TO SAVE THE PLANET

1. In order to save the planet, the capitalist model must be eradicated and the North pay its ecological debt, rather than the countries of the South and throughout the world continuing to pay their external debts.

2. Denounce and PUT AN END to war, which only brings profits for empires, transnationals, and a few families, but not for peoples. The million and millions of dollars destined to warfare should be invested in the Earth, which has been hurt as a result of misuse and overexploitation.

3. Develop relations of coexistence, rather than domination, among countries in a world without imperialism or colonialism. Bilateral and multilateral relations are important because we belong to a culture of dialogue and social coexistence, but those relationships should not be of submission of one country to another.

4. Water is a human right and a right for all living things on the planet. It is not possible that there be policies that permit the privatization of water.

5. Develop clean energies that are nature friendly; put an end to energy wastefulness. In 100 years we are doing away with the fossil fuels that have been created over millions of years. Avoid the promotion of agrofuels. It is incomprehensible that some governments and economic development models can set aside land in order to make luxury cars run, rather than using it to provide food for human beings. Promote debates with governments and create awareness that the earth must be used for the benefit of all human beings and not to produce agrofuels.

6. Respect for the mother Earth. Learn from the historic teachings of native and indigenous peoples with regard to the respect for the mother Earth. A collective social consciousness must be developed among all sectors of society, recognizing that the Earth is our mother.

7. Basic services, such as water, electricity, education, healthcare, communications, and collective transportation should all be considered human rights; they cannot be privatized but must rather be public services.

8. Consume what is necessary, give priority and consume what is produced locally, put an end to consumerism, waste, and luxury. It is incomprehensible that some families dedicate themselves to the search for luxury, when millions and millions of persons do not have the possibility to live well.

9. Promote cultural and economic diversity. We are very diverse and this is our nature. A plurinational state, in which everyone is included within that state - whites, browns, blacks, everyone.

10. We want everyone to be able to live well, which does not mean to live better at the expense of others. We must build a communitarian socialism that is in harmony with the mother Earth.

Just thought I'd pass this along. Heaven forbid anyone listen to the hysterical rants of a 'third worlder'. Heck, they don't count anyway, do they.

(Did I say, "heck"? I've lived in Hicksville way too long.)