BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIX MIX -- DC.
U.S. SENATOR LARRY CRAIG WILL APPEAR WITH THE BALDING MATT LAUER WHO DID GOLF WITH POPPY BUSH THOUGH HE TRIED TO LIE ABOUT IT BUT THAT'S ANOTHER STORY.
IN THE INTERVIEW, REPUBLICAN SENATOR CRAIG IS EXPECTED TO EXPLAIN HIS ARREST AT AN AIRPORT'S MEN'S ROOM FOR ATTEMPTING -- HE PLEADED GUILTY -- TO INITIATE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH A MAN IN THE NEXT STALL.
BUT THESE REPORTERS HAVE LEARNED SENATOR CRAIG'S OTHER STATEMENTS MAY GARNER MORE ATTENTION.
SPEAKING OF 2008 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MITT ROMNEY, CRAIG DISHES TO MATT THAT MITT "THREW ME UNDER A BUS." WELL . . . WHATEVER YOU'RE IN TO.
APPARENTLY THAT'S THE LATEST LINGO FOR "I HEARD BELLS" OR "I SAW STARS."
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Starting war resistance. Iraq Veterans Against the War's Liam Madden has written a must-read essay entitled "Moving Forward Together: Common Orientation" that looks toward future actions for IVAW: "During the National Strategy sessions held earlier this year, members analyzed why the war in Iraq was being fought and the institutions that enabled the U.S. government to continue the illegal occupation of Iraq. Clearly, the U.S. military is the single most important entity to the U.S. government's capacity to wage war and extend the occupation. We acknowledged that IVAW was in a unique position to remove the support of the military by utilizing three primary methods: 1. Organizing Active Duty resistance. 2. Truth in Recruiting. 3. Counter-Retention. . . . The U.S. is perpetuating the occupation of Iraq to dominate world energy supplies and to project military power into the Middle East, ie, the war is being fought for neo-imperialism. It is important to note that this is not a problem that rests solely on the doorstep of the Bush administration, as we have seen from the prevailing position of ALL presidential front runners, no major candidate or party is calling for an end to occupation. This is not because the democrats simply don't have the votes; in fact, they are basing their presidential campaigns on the grounds of a continued, albeit modified, occupation that perpetuates the same policy of controlling oil and projecting power. Even if they did promise to 'Redeploy,' it would be foolish to disregard the lesson taught to the people of 1968 when Richard Nixon was elected on promises of 'peace with honor.' As history reveals, politician's empty promises often provide little more than broken hearts and shattered lives." That is an excerpt of Madden's essay. Read it in full by clicking here.
Iraq War resister Ehren Watada went public with his refusal to deploy to Iraq in June of 2006. In February of this year, a rigged court proceeding still didn't seem a sure thing leading Judge Toilet (aka John Head) to call a mistrial over defense objection. Ignoring the Constitutional ban on double-jeopary, a second court-martial was to begin last week. A US district judge issued a stay (through at least October 26th) last week. In a wide ranging article, Peter J. Swing (New America Media) examines Watada's life and the lives of his parents Bob Watada and Carolyn Ho [the link also provides video]. Watada began studying up on Iraq and the Iraq War, at the suggestion of his superiors, when he learned he would be deployed there. Swing reveals that Watada felt there was little he could do when he heard a man call into a radio program about his brother being shipped to Iraq and wonder why people weren't working to end the illegal war. Watada tells King, "I just snsapped. I said, 'I can do something about it.' Though I may suffer for it, though it may just be a blip on the radar, at least I know that I can do something about it."
War resister Camilo Mejia is the chair of IVAW and he spoke in Wayland, Massachusetts on Friday. Gabriel Leiner (The Milford Daily News) reports that he spoke of how, even now, he "hasn't found a single answer as to why we invaded the country. . . . To this day I still don't believe we found any reason worth invading for." Mejia also advised, "There are so many ways people can protest the war in their daily lives. It can be something as simple as holding signs or wearing T-shirts, or as drastic as squirting blood on a recruiter's desk." Mejia tells his story Road from Ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Mejia (New Press) published in May.
September 26th, Iraq veteran Josh Gaines publicly shipped his Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medla and National Defense Service Medal to former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declaring that chemical weapons had been used (white phosphorus and "incindeary projectiles"), the contractors are "all about contracts and the profits are made by civilians who did not volunteer for this war but promote the very idea of occupation" and "I'm returning my National Defense Medal because I truly believe that I did not help defend my nation and I'm returning my Global War on Terrorism Medal because I do not believe that I helped defeat terrorism in Iraq." Wisconsin Radio Network has audio of the speech in full. Gaines is no longer the only one to return his medals. Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) reports: "An Iraq war veteran has returned all of his war medals to protest what he describes as the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. Specialist Mike Sanger returned the medals on Friday to the office of Democratic Congressman Dennis Moore of Kansas. Sanger said he choose to target Moore's office because the Democrat has supported the continued funding of the war. Since returning from Iraq, Sanger has become a vocal war critic and now serves as president of Iraq Veterans Against the War in Kansas City. During the war Sanger received the National Defense medal, the War on Terror medal and a combat medal." At Moore's office, Sanger read off the names of the service members from Kansas who had died in the illegal war and cited his two sons (the oldest is three-years-old) and not wanting them to ever participate in an illegal war as among his reasons for returning the medals. Last week, Mike Belt (Lawrence Journal-World) profiled Sanger and details why Sanger turned against the illegal war (began in Iraq with what he saw first hand), notes that he suffers from PTSD and that his wife Danielle and he have "two sons, ages 3 and 1."
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.
The National Lawyers Guild's convention begins shortly: The Military Law Task Force and the Center on Conscience & War are sponsoring a Continuing Legal Education seminar -- Representing Conscientious Objectors in Habeas Corpus Proceedings -- as part of the National Lawyers Guild National Convention in Washington, D.C. The half-day seminar will be held on Thursday, November 1st, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the convention site, the Holiday Inn on the Hill in D.C. This is a must-attend seminar, with excelent speakers and a wealth of information. The seminar will be moderated by the Military Law Task Force's co-chair Kathleen Gilberd and scheduled speakers are NYC Bar Association's Committee on Military Affairs and Justice's Deborah Karpatkin, the Center on Conscience & War's J.E. McNeil, the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee's Peter Goldberger, Louis Font who has represented Camilo Mejia, Dr. Mary Hanna and others, and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objector's James Feldman. The fee is $60 for attorneys; $25 for non-profit attorneys, students and legal workers; and you can also enquire about scholarships or reduced fees. The convention itself will run from October 31st through November 4th and it's full circle on the 70th anniversary of NLG since they "began in Washington, D.C." where "the founding convention took place in the District at the height of the New Deal in 1937, Activist, progressive lawyers, tired of butting heads with the reactionary white male lawyers then comprising the American Bar Association, formed the nucleus of the Guild."
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