"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills)
Chaos and violence continues but the media's more interested in seeing if al-Maliki will give Bully Boy class and if Bully Boy will give al-Maliki . . .
Bombs?
Reuters reports a bomb ("car driven") in Mosul left eleven wounded, "rocket-propelled grenades" fired "on the main road between Kirkuk and Baghdad" at "two fuel trucks" killed two drivers -- a third was kidnapped; a roadside bomb in Mosul wounded three Iraqi soldiers; and, in Baghdad, a road side bomb took the life of one police officer and left three wounded. AFP reports three bombs going off in Baghdad "killing two civilians and a policeman wnd wounding many bystanders." Allowing for the police officer in Baghdad noted by AFP and Reuters to be the same person, that leaves five dead.
Shootings?
Reuters reports a shooting death in Ishaqi which took the life of a police officer, a drive-by that killed a police officer in Baghdad, four wounded in Daquq ("working for a private Iraqi company which deals with the U.S. military") and two dead ("gunned down inside their car") in Baghdad. The "inside their car" noted by Reuters appears to be "a family of Shiite civilians" who had been threatened and were attempting to flee but were killed with another family members wounded (AFP).
Corpses?
Reuters reports six corpses were discovered in Baghdad, seven in Suwayra ("shot dead . . . blindfolded), and two near Falluja ("gunshot wounds").
That's all the media has to spare for events in Iraq as the rush is to DC to note the new romantic comedy When Bully Met Puppet . . .
Here's the set up. An obnoxious, paunchy post-middle-age male decides to invade Iraq. He and his flunkies make a lot of false claims and assertions that are generally known to be false in real time. For example, Michael Ratner, Jennie Green and Barbara Olshanksy will write in 2002: "Despite the pervasive use of the phrase 'weapons of mass destruction' in many of the Bush Administration's speeches discussing Saddam Hussein throughout 2002, there is no evidence of a developed nuclear weapon program in Iraq. Indeed, all reliable, detailed evidence from independent experts reveals that the current weapons capacity in Iraq is small -- smaller and far less advanced than that of other counries around the world that are actively threatening peace in their respective regions" (Against War With Iraq). But out of some desire to let the lifelong loser make yet another stab at 'success' in some form, in any forum, the mainstream media largely either stays silent or cheerleads.
The spoiled playboy gets his hobby (and many die). He toys with and discards Ibrahim al-Jaafari (the cad!) and along comes Nouri al-Maliki. Cue love theme on the soundtrack. Puppet is Bully Boy's favorite kind of Iraqi -- one that's spent over two decades out of the country.
Now after long distance exchanges and one brief (shining) moment, they're face to face and the question for the audience is: "Are their sparks?"
Don't expect sparks to fly but expect the Puppet to get a lesson in who pulls the strings.
The BBC offers this recap: "When the two leaders met in Baghdad last month . . . The mood then was unusually positive, reports the BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington -- but this latest meeting comes on the back of a failed security operation in Baghdad." The AFP reminds: "Baghdad's descent into chaos has claimed more victims as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki arrived in Washington under pressure to restore order and pave the way for the departure of US forces. As gunshots and bomb blasts echoed around the capital, the Iraqi leader went into talks with US President George W. Bush knowing that both the Americans and his own supporters are disappointed with his handling of the situation."
A meeting of two leaders? Sounds more like a performance review.
Getting far less attention is the reconciliation meetings going on Cairo with (AP): "Some 30 delegates representing Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and other smaller minorities are participating in the discussions sponsored by the Cario-based Arab League."
In peace news, the Latin American News Agency reported Friday: "Costa Rican filmmaker Daniel Ross . . . won the prize of the screenplay contest called by the Program for the Promotion of Production and TV Coverage of the Ibero American Documentary (DOCTV-IB)." Ross will now have $100,000 for the budget of his film, Dear Camilo, which "will portray the story of [Camilo] Mejias, from the perspective of two Costa Rican friends, former classmates he meets after 10 years." On the subject of activist and war resister Camilo Mejia, he is not 24 years-old. Those who've noted coverage of an accident in Florida involving a 24 year-old Camilo Mejia and wondered, it's not the same Camilo Mejia (the activist Mejia was born in 1976).
After serving in Iraq, Mejia returned to the US and went AWOL, surfacing in March of 2004 at a news conference held at the Sherborn Peace Abbey Alison O'Leary Murray (Boston Globe) reports that Sherborn Peace Abbey, "founded in 1988," is in need of funding. Along with being the setting for Meija's news conference, the abbey also "was involved in a protest by a group calling itself the Peace Chain 18, who chained themselves togeter at Natick's Army Labs to protest military intervention in Iraq."
Writing for The Huffington Post, Michael Brune notes that he and others with the Rainforest Action Network "are joining Code Pink and thousands of others around the world who are fasting to end the war in Iraq and to bring our troops home now." Brune writes: "Each day we wake up, rush to work, get together with friends, get caught in traffic, get caught in office politics, get caught in emails . . . and each day so many time zones away, another family is terrorized at gunpoint, another young soldier is killed, a home is destroyed, a child is killed while her sister is raped. And if you live in America, it's being done in your name."
YubaNet notes: "hunger strikers who started fasting against the war on July 4 will set up 'Camp Al-Maliki' across from the Iraqi Embassy to await response to a letter sent by the group to Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki." Today is DAY 22 of the Troops Home Fast action -- at least 4,350 people from around the world are participating. The fast is ongoing and people wishing to grab a one-day fast to show their support can do so at any point. If you missed the July 4th start, you haven't missed out on the protest. Information can be found online at CODEPINK.
Finally, in Australia, the inquiry into the April 21st death in Baghdad of Jake Kovco continues with "Soldier Two" (Kovco's platoon sergeant by most accounts) testifying. Malcom Brown (Sydney Morning Herald) reports that Soldier Two testified that he "had heard the commotion in Private Kovco's room on the night of April 21 and found the private's room-mates, Soldiers 17 and 19, kneeling beside the body. He saw the nine-millimetre pistol on the floor and shifted it aside with his hands in case someone accidentally discharged it." Ben Doherty (The Age) reports that "Kovco's platoon sergeant did not want to look again" at Kovco's body. This is presented as the reason why the body of Bosnian Juso Sinanovic ended up arriving in Melbourne and not the body of Jake Kovco. Soldier Two is quoted saying: "I was devastated and am still upset by the mix-up." Australia's ABC notes that Soldier Two was flown in from Baghdad to testify and that he "said he was not given detailed instructions of his role as escort, and was not told that he had sole responsibility for identifying the body during the repatriation process." Doherty notes that Soldier Two's DNA was tested and "neither Soldier 2 nor three military police officers involved in the initial investigation" match the DNA found on the gun ("its slide, handgrip and trigger"). Doherty concludes with: "The two soldiers who were in barracks room eight with Private Kovco when he died will be DNA-tested when they arrive back in Australia later this week."
Note that this is the inquiry's stated goal/action today and that another turnaround wouldn't be surprising at this point considering its past history.
What can you add to that? I found one thing in the paper.
"Military towns giving rise to Iraq war critics" (Kathy Kiely, USA Today):
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. -- Cupped in a dark green hollow of the Allegheny Mountains, this hard-luck city is far more familiar with floods than the desert. Yet, in a way, it's a crucial battleground of the Iraq war.
Southwestern Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District is a fiercely patriotic area, where storeowners still decorate their windows for Memorial Day and hang banners to welcome home returning soldiers. Military veterans account for more than 15% of the population.
So it has come as something of a shock, both to his neighbors here and colleagues in Washington, that Rep. John Murtha is leading the charge for a pullout from Iraq. A plain-spoken former Marine who has represented this district for 32 years, Murtha says it's his closeness to the troops that motivated him.
"I felt like I had to speak out," he says. "I go to the hospitals every week and see kids blown apart. ... There's times you've got to realize it isn't getting any better."
Some of the most pointed critiques of the administration's policy in Iraq are coming from lawmakers who represent constituencies with close ties to the military. Their criticism underscores how widespread concerns about the war have become, even in areas where support has been strong for President Bush or the troops.
To me, what's great about this article is that it demonstrates how wide the opposition is. You know it, I know it, but most of the time the press acts like it's not happening or hasn't happened. America wants this war over now. That's the only thing that probably worried Bully Boy. He can't have Iran as easy as he had Iraq. He's the little boy who cried WMD wolf and it's not going to be as easy to fool people this time. Like he says, "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice . . . uh, Won't get fooled again!"
You hear that and it's hard not to think, "What an idiot." He's not someone who didn't have every break. When you realize he went to good schools it just underscores how he has always refused to apply himself. He never wanted to be "better." If he'd been checked at any point before this, he might not be such as bully.
But if he got through school talking like that, you know he was never held to any academic standards. He didn't get checked in the Guard or he would have been sent to Vietnam after he stopped doing his agreed to hours. He didn't get checked in business because Daddy's buddies always rushed in to fix things for him. So we all suffer today from someone who never grasped that you can't always have your way, that everything can't be "fixed" for you.
(Though he got the 2000 election fixed for him.)
So that's what we're dealing with and what we're looking at now -- someone's who's lived without emotional gravity who is convinced he can make something happen just by saying it will and that, if it doesn't, someone will come along and save his butt.
I don't think he gives a damn about the soldiers who die. I don't think he gave a damn about Carla Faye Tucker. The only thing that matters in his world is him. Everything else can wait or can be forgotten.
So the body count doesn't bother him. The fact that the country wants out of Iraq doesn't bother him.
He may be getting a little nervous, wondering where Daddy's friends are to bail him out on this? He's going to be left owning this one. He can't push it off on anyone else and it happened in front of the whole world so everyone knows. He can pretend like they don't, or that he doesn't care, but he's humilated himself in front of the whole world.
And that's a reality he'll have to face. He may just do it by himself, one on one, but it's reality and no one can smooth it over for him.
iraq
jacob bruce kovco
jake kovco
michael ratner
the center for constitutional rights
barbara olshansky
codepink
troops home fast
camilo mejia
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Friday, July 21, 2006
A Bully Boy Press and Cedric's Big Mix Exclusive! (Humor)
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX - TAMPA & KNOXVILLE
THIS JUST IN!
VOTE G.O.P. OR THE TERRORIST . . . MIGHT DO . . . SOMETHING!
MUST CREDIT BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX!
VICE PRESIDENT, YOU GOTTA GET THE "VICE" IN THERE, DICK CHENEY TOLD AN AUDIENCE TODAY, "THIS CONFLICT IS A LONG WAY FROM OVER. IT'S GOING TO BE A BATTLE THAT WILL LAST FOR A VERY LONG TIME."
SADLY, HE WASN'T SPEAKING ABOUT THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE THOUGH HIS BELLY CONTINUES TO HANG OVER HIS BELT SO PROMINENTLY THAT IT COULD BE TURNED INTO A CAR PORT.
WHAT WAS HE TALKING OF?
NO ONE IS REALLY SURE.
HE MIGHT BE SPEAKING OF THE ARMED AGGRESSION OF ISRAEL BUT, IF SO, THE U.S. HAS OFFICIALLY SAT THAT BATTLE OUT.
ORIGINAL GANSTA CHENEY THEN STATED, "IT IS VITAL THAT WE KEEP ISSUES OF NATIONAL SECURITY AT THE TOP OF THE AGENDA" WHICH SHOULD HAVE LED TO HECKLES OF "WHAT ABOUT 9-11!"
BUT HE WAS SPEAKING TO A REPUBLICAN AUDIENCE, AT A REPUBLICAN FUNDRAISER IN TAMPA SO, MAINLY, PEOPLE JUST SCRATCHED THEIR HEADS AND ONE WOMAN WAS OVERHEARD TO SAY, "DICK CHENEY HAS A FAT ASS."
HOMELAND SECURITY QUICKLY ESCORTED HER OUT OF THE BUILDING AND SOMEONE, NOT CONNECTED TO DICK CHENEY WE ARE SURE, ANNOUNCED THAT THE WOMAN'S HUSBAND WAS SECRETLY "GARMENT INSPECTOR NUMBER 9" WHOSE WORK IS WIDELY KNOWN BUT WHO HAS NEVER BEEN PUBLICLY IDENTIFIED PREVIOUSLY.
SOMEONE WHO LOOKED LIKE CHENEY, BUT TONY SNOW INSISTS WAS NOT CHENEY, STATED TO THE AUDIENCE THAT GARMET INSPECTOR NUMBER 9'S REAL NAME WAS "VICTOR BANE."
REACHED AT HIS TAMPA HOME, MR. BANE WONDERED WHERE HIS WIFE WAS AND ADMITTED THAT, DUE TO THE OUTING, HE WOULD NO LONGER BE ABLE TO CONTINUE HIS WORK AS GARMENT INSPECTOR NUMBER 9.
DICK CHENEY WAS HEARD TO CHUCKLE AND DECLARE, "ALL IN A DAY'S WORK. WHO NEEDS F**KING KARL ROVE? YOU FEEL ME? YOU FEEL ME?"
WHILE CHENEY WAS CHUCKELING, HIS PARTY WAS DEALT A BLOW IN TENNESSEE WHERE G.O.P. CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR MARK ALBERTINI, SOON TO BE KNOWN AS MARK MARTINI, WAS ARRESTED, FOLLOWING A FUNDRAISER, FOR PUBLIC INTOXIFICATION.
IN HIS CAR, POLICE REPORTEDLY FOUND A BOTTLE OF WINE AND A GUN.
"STUPID F**KING FOOL!" SNARLED VICE DICK, "DOESN'T HE KNOW YOU ONLY GET DRUNK BEFORE YOU GO HUNTING! STUPID F**KING, P**CK A** G***AMN S**T F**KER!"
NOTING A FAMILY OF THREE STARING AT HIM IN SHOCK, DICK CHENEY THREW BACK HIS HEAD, RUBBED HIS PORTLY BELLY AND LAUGHED, "GOD BLESS HIM. GOD BLESS US ALL."
Recommended: "Iraq snapshot"
"And the war drags on"
"Other Items"
"NYT: 'Sects' Strife Takes a Toll on Baghdad's Daily Bread' (Sabrina Tavernise)"
"All over the place "
"Tired (and tired of the not-so-brave) "
"THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY DISCOVERS RACISM! NEXT UP: GRAVITY! "
"Summer's here and the time is right for . . . sweating in the heat "
THIS JUST IN!
VOTE G.O.P. OR THE TERRORIST . . . MIGHT DO . . . SOMETHING!
MUST CREDIT BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX!
VICE PRESIDENT, YOU GOTTA GET THE "VICE" IN THERE, DICK CHENEY TOLD AN AUDIENCE TODAY, "THIS CONFLICT IS A LONG WAY FROM OVER. IT'S GOING TO BE A BATTLE THAT WILL LAST FOR A VERY LONG TIME."
SADLY, HE WASN'T SPEAKING ABOUT THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE THOUGH HIS BELLY CONTINUES TO HANG OVER HIS BELT SO PROMINENTLY THAT IT COULD BE TURNED INTO A CAR PORT.
WHAT WAS HE TALKING OF?
NO ONE IS REALLY SURE.
HE MIGHT BE SPEAKING OF THE ARMED AGGRESSION OF ISRAEL BUT, IF SO, THE U.S. HAS OFFICIALLY SAT THAT BATTLE OUT.
ORIGINAL GANSTA CHENEY THEN STATED, "IT IS VITAL THAT WE KEEP ISSUES OF NATIONAL SECURITY AT THE TOP OF THE AGENDA" WHICH SHOULD HAVE LED TO HECKLES OF "WHAT ABOUT 9-11!"
BUT HE WAS SPEAKING TO A REPUBLICAN AUDIENCE, AT A REPUBLICAN FUNDRAISER IN TAMPA SO, MAINLY, PEOPLE JUST SCRATCHED THEIR HEADS AND ONE WOMAN WAS OVERHEARD TO SAY, "DICK CHENEY HAS A FAT ASS."
HOMELAND SECURITY QUICKLY ESCORTED HER OUT OF THE BUILDING AND SOMEONE, NOT CONNECTED TO DICK CHENEY WE ARE SURE, ANNOUNCED THAT THE WOMAN'S HUSBAND WAS SECRETLY "GARMENT INSPECTOR NUMBER 9" WHOSE WORK IS WIDELY KNOWN BUT WHO HAS NEVER BEEN PUBLICLY IDENTIFIED PREVIOUSLY.
SOMEONE WHO LOOKED LIKE CHENEY, BUT TONY SNOW INSISTS WAS NOT CHENEY, STATED TO THE AUDIENCE THAT GARMET INSPECTOR NUMBER 9'S REAL NAME WAS "VICTOR BANE."
REACHED AT HIS TAMPA HOME, MR. BANE WONDERED WHERE HIS WIFE WAS AND ADMITTED THAT, DUE TO THE OUTING, HE WOULD NO LONGER BE ABLE TO CONTINUE HIS WORK AS GARMENT INSPECTOR NUMBER 9.
DICK CHENEY WAS HEARD TO CHUCKLE AND DECLARE, "ALL IN A DAY'S WORK. WHO NEEDS F**KING KARL ROVE? YOU FEEL ME? YOU FEEL ME?"
WHILE CHENEY WAS CHUCKELING, HIS PARTY WAS DEALT A BLOW IN TENNESSEE WHERE G.O.P. CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR MARK ALBERTINI, SOON TO BE KNOWN AS MARK MARTINI, WAS ARRESTED, FOLLOWING A FUNDRAISER, FOR PUBLIC INTOXIFICATION.
IN HIS CAR, POLICE REPORTEDLY FOUND A BOTTLE OF WINE AND A GUN.
"STUPID F**KING FOOL!" SNARLED VICE DICK, "DOESN'T HE KNOW YOU ONLY GET DRUNK BEFORE YOU GO HUNTING! STUPID F**KING, P**CK A** G***AMN S**T F**KER!"
NOTING A FAMILY OF THREE STARING AT HIM IN SHOCK, DICK CHENEY THREW BACK HIS HEAD, RUBBED HIS PORTLY BELLY AND LAUGHED, "GOD BLESS HIM. GOD BLESS US ALL."
Recommended: "Iraq snapshot"
"And the war drags on"
"Other Items"
"NYT: 'Sects' Strife Takes a Toll on Baghdad's Daily Bread' (Sabrina Tavernise)"
"All over the place "
"Tired (and tired of the not-so-brave) "
"THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY DISCOVERS RACISM! NEXT UP: GRAVITY! "
"Summer's here and the time is right for . . . sweating in the heat "
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Summer's here and the time is right for . . . sweating in the heat
"Iraq Snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Chaos and violence continue.
At least five bombs went off in Iraq today, according to Reuters. But don't fret for the Operation Happy Talkers, the military is pushing "Operation Baghdad is Beautiful" wherein the "trash, debris and barrier materials" are being removed. While it is true that Lady Bird Johnson had a beautification program in the United States, she didn't try to implement it in Vietnam. This as William Caldwell (US major general) announces that attacks in the "Bahgdad area" have incresed 40% this month. Is that 'beautiful' as well? Maybe they can slap some blue bonnets on it? Meanwhile the BBC notes: "But the US military admitted on Thursday the massive security clampdown that followed the killing of al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had achieved only a 'slight downtick' in violence." Or, as Adnan Dulaimi told Borzou Daragahi (LA Times), "What is happening in Iraq is a disaster and a tragedy."
Bombings?
The Associated Press notes that ten are dead as a result of a car bombing near a gas station in Beiji and one dead (and seven wounded) from a car bomb in Kirkuk. Reuters reports five were wounded near Karbala from a roadside bomb; a bomb that exploded near a police patrol in Baghdad killed two (wounded 11 including 5 police officers); while another bomb in Baghdad (the third for the day) killed three; ten people were wounded from a roadside bomb near Najaf; and one person was wounded from a bomb near Diwaniya.
Shootings?
Reuters notes the shooting death of a cab driver in Diwaniya; three oil engineers in Baiji; police officers in Tikrit and Falluja (one in each city); and one in Baghdad.
Corpses?
CBS and the AP report that four corpses were found in Baghdad. The AFP notes that Iraqi police are saying the number is 38 corpses discovered in Baghdad "in the last 24 hours." Reuters reports that Baghdad morgues' figures for July, thus far, are "about 1,000 corpses." Reuters notes a cab driver whose corpse was found in his taxi in Numaniya; two corpses discovered near Balad; and the corpse of a translator who had been kidnapped Tuesday was discovered near Tikrit.
Centcom announced "A Marine assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division died due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province today."
Reporting on Iraq yesterday Aaron Glantz (The KPFA Evening News, Free Speech Radio News) explored the security situation speaking with a number of people including one Iraq male, Ali, in charge of investigating the Tuesday bombing in KUFA who delcared, "The police doesn't have any information about anything. They're just kids. They don't really check anything at checkpoints, they just ask people where they are from and let them go without checking anything. Until recently you didn't any kind of diploma to get into the police. Now they have changed it so that you have to have graduated from middle school to apply to be a police officer." Glantz also spoke with an Iraqi professor, Shakir Mustafa of Boston University, in the US who is attempting to get his family out of Iraq. The professor explained how neighboring countries are growing less welcoming to those who flee from Iraq with Glantz noting the UN predictions of how things would grow increaingly worse for Iraqi refugees (child labor, sex traficcing, malnutrition and poverty).
Meanwhile, Ahmed Rasheed (Reuters) reports on a refugee camp in Baghdad which Um Abdullah says was attacked with gunfire and that this and other events have caused all but five of thirty-four families to leave the camp. Reuters estimates that over 30,000 Iraqis have fled their homes and become refugess in the last three weeks.In Australia, the inquiry into the April death of Jake Kovco continues. Australia's ABC reports that Judy Kovco walked out on the inquiry when Wayne Hoffman gave testimony that the wounds that killed her son were self-inflicted. Hoffman's testimony included a twelve-point presentation and flies in the face of the testimony given by Detective Inspector Wayne Hayes which found DNA other than Jake Kovco's on the gun believed to be the weapon. Hayes wants "up to thirty" of Kovco's fellow troops in Iraq to submit to DNA tests and homocide detectives have left for Baghdad to begin testing. Belinda Tasker (Courier-Mail) reports that attorneys for Judy and Martin Kovco, Lt Col Frank Holles, and for the solider's widow Shelley Kovco, Lt Col Tom Berkley, objected to Hoffman's arguments noting "There are a number of assertions in there ... which aren't conclusive of the findings they purport to reach," and "at the end of the day you can't say whether the firing of the firearm was intentional or unintentional, it's all predicated on the fact that it was Jake."
Yesterday in Iraq, an attack in Basra indicated the level of hostility some Iraqis feel towards the occupation. As Daveed Mandel noted on The KPFA Evening News: "Today, assailants slit the throats of a mother and her three children in southern Iraq where the family had fled to escape threats stemming from accusations that they cooperated with Americans. The mother's sister was also slain in the southern city of Basara. Five other family members were rescued but they almost bled to death."
And yesterday in the United States, the AP reports, an Article 28 hearing was held to determine whether or there is evidence to warrant a trial of Nathan B. Lynn and Milton Ortiz Jr. for alleged actions in Ramadi where they are accused of killing an Iraqi man on February 15 of this year and then planting a gun by him to make him look like an "insurgent." The AP notes: "Ortiz also faces one count of assault and one count of communicating a threat for a separate incident on March 8, when he allegedly put an unloaded weapon against the head of an Iraqi man and threatened to send him to prison, the military said."
Finally, the body of Abeer Qassim Hamza will not be exhumed reports Reuters. The family is refusing the request and Reuters quotes Muayyad Fadhil as saying, "It is disgraceful to remove a body after burial." Abeer Qassim Hamza and three members of her family were murdered in March. Six US soldiers have been charged in the incident (one with failure to report the incident) and five with rape and murder. Of the five, four are currently serving in the military. Steven D. Green is the only one charged (with rape and with murder) who has left the military. Reuters notes: "U.S. court documents in the case of Green indicate that other defendants say he killed three family members then raped Abeer al-Janabi and killed her too. They accuse one other soldier of raping the girl and a further two of being in the house during the killings." The five others charged are Paul E. Cortez, Anthony W. Yribe, James P. Barker, Jesse V. Spielman, and Bryan L. Howard (Yribe is the one charged with dereliction of duty for failing to report the incident).
Okay, let's all give it up for C.I. on day 16 of the fast and still tracking events in Iraq. C.I. finally wrote about the fast in "Ani DiFranco and fasting (C.I. guesting for Kat)" -- wrote about it in personal terms. There was a reluctance on that because C.I. thought it should be a group piece since we all did the Fourth fast and also because C.I. doesn't want to seem like, "Everybody do this! Do it now!" (and worries about anyone with a health condition going on a fast without medical advice). I really enjoyed reading about that. C.I. really underplays it in conversations. (You can get Iraq talk and why the fast is important but you don't get much about the reality of the fast.) And if you start saying something like, "I wish I had that kind of willpower" or anything that's like (or seems like) a bit of praise (for C.I.), C.I. immediately changes the topic. So I was glad to read "Ani DiFranco and fasting (C.I. guesting for Kat)" which was just a really personal way of talking about the fast. The Third Estate Sunday Review gang (Ava, Jess, Ty, Jim and Dona -- C.I.'s a part of that too) are all staying with C.I. (I think for the rest of the summer) as house guests and I know some details from them but C.I. talks about it in terms of Iraq (which is good because that is the focus of the fast) but, yeah, I've been curious about the day to day effects. So I really enjoyed reading that.
If you're not familiar with the fast, you can find out more information by going to CODEPINK or TROOPS HOME FAST!.
Turning to the heat in this country, I thought I had it bad. I e-mailed Dallas and Billie, two community members who live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas, to check on how things were heat wise. They were up to 104 degrees today. 104 degrees. And, get this, that's their tenth day in a row where the temp has been over a hundred degrees. I can't imagine that. The heat's kicing my rear as it is and I don't have anything like that to put up with.
That's really going to be it for me tonight. I've got people coming over tomorrow because my cousin really wants to follow Mike's lead and have a regular get together every Friday night where we discuss the war. And, no surprise, he wants to have it here and not at his place. So I've got people coming over tomorrow and the place is a mess. I was wiped out from the heat all week and I don't think I've ever let the apartment go like this. I mean, I need to pick up dirty clothes (and do the wash), take some dishes out of the fridge and wash them (I've talked about that before but, if someone's dropping by for the first time, my apartment doesn't have a dishwasher -- other than me! -- and when I'm too tired to do dishes, I put the dirty ones in the fridge so I don't end up with a roach problem), I should probably run the vacuum and do some dusting (but I'll probably pass on the dusting if I get the other stuff done) and I need to clean the bathroom and scrub the toilet. So that's it for tonight.
Chaos and violence continue.
At least five bombs went off in Iraq today, according to Reuters. But don't fret for the Operation Happy Talkers, the military is pushing "Operation Baghdad is Beautiful" wherein the "trash, debris and barrier materials" are being removed. While it is true that Lady Bird Johnson had a beautification program in the United States, she didn't try to implement it in Vietnam. This as William Caldwell (US major general) announces that attacks in the "Bahgdad area" have incresed 40% this month. Is that 'beautiful' as well? Maybe they can slap some blue bonnets on it? Meanwhile the BBC notes: "But the US military admitted on Thursday the massive security clampdown that followed the killing of al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had achieved only a 'slight downtick' in violence." Or, as Adnan Dulaimi told Borzou Daragahi (LA Times), "What is happening in Iraq is a disaster and a tragedy."
Bombings?
The Associated Press notes that ten are dead as a result of a car bombing near a gas station in Beiji and one dead (and seven wounded) from a car bomb in Kirkuk. Reuters reports five were wounded near Karbala from a roadside bomb; a bomb that exploded near a police patrol in Baghdad killed two (wounded 11 including 5 police officers); while another bomb in Baghdad (the third for the day) killed three; ten people were wounded from a roadside bomb near Najaf; and one person was wounded from a bomb near Diwaniya.
Shootings?
Reuters notes the shooting death of a cab driver in Diwaniya; three oil engineers in Baiji; police officers in Tikrit and Falluja (one in each city); and one in Baghdad.
Corpses?
CBS and the AP report that four corpses were found in Baghdad. The AFP notes that Iraqi police are saying the number is 38 corpses discovered in Baghdad "in the last 24 hours." Reuters reports that Baghdad morgues' figures for July, thus far, are "about 1,000 corpses." Reuters notes a cab driver whose corpse was found in his taxi in Numaniya; two corpses discovered near Balad; and the corpse of a translator who had been kidnapped Tuesday was discovered near Tikrit.
Centcom announced "A Marine assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division died due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province today."
Reporting on Iraq yesterday Aaron Glantz (The KPFA Evening News, Free Speech Radio News) explored the security situation speaking with a number of people including one Iraq male, Ali, in charge of investigating the Tuesday bombing in KUFA who delcared, "The police doesn't have any information about anything. They're just kids. They don't really check anything at checkpoints, they just ask people where they are from and let them go without checking anything. Until recently you didn't any kind of diploma to get into the police. Now they have changed it so that you have to have graduated from middle school to apply to be a police officer." Glantz also spoke with an Iraqi professor, Shakir Mustafa of Boston University, in the US who is attempting to get his family out of Iraq. The professor explained how neighboring countries are growing less welcoming to those who flee from Iraq with Glantz noting the UN predictions of how things would grow increaingly worse for Iraqi refugees (child labor, sex traficcing, malnutrition and poverty).
Meanwhile, Ahmed Rasheed (Reuters) reports on a refugee camp in Baghdad which Um Abdullah says was attacked with gunfire and that this and other events have caused all but five of thirty-four families to leave the camp. Reuters estimates that over 30,000 Iraqis have fled their homes and become refugess in the last three weeks.In Australia, the inquiry into the April death of Jake Kovco continues. Australia's ABC reports that Judy Kovco walked out on the inquiry when Wayne Hoffman gave testimony that the wounds that killed her son were self-inflicted. Hoffman's testimony included a twelve-point presentation and flies in the face of the testimony given by Detective Inspector Wayne Hayes which found DNA other than Jake Kovco's on the gun believed to be the weapon. Hayes wants "up to thirty" of Kovco's fellow troops in Iraq to submit to DNA tests and homocide detectives have left for Baghdad to begin testing. Belinda Tasker (Courier-Mail) reports that attorneys for Judy and Martin Kovco, Lt Col Frank Holles, and for the solider's widow Shelley Kovco, Lt Col Tom Berkley, objected to Hoffman's arguments noting "There are a number of assertions in there ... which aren't conclusive of the findings they purport to reach," and "at the end of the day you can't say whether the firing of the firearm was intentional or unintentional, it's all predicated on the fact that it was Jake."
Yesterday in Iraq, an attack in Basra indicated the level of hostility some Iraqis feel towards the occupation. As Daveed Mandel noted on The KPFA Evening News: "Today, assailants slit the throats of a mother and her three children in southern Iraq where the family had fled to escape threats stemming from accusations that they cooperated with Americans. The mother's sister was also slain in the southern city of Basara. Five other family members were rescued but they almost bled to death."
And yesterday in the United States, the AP reports, an Article 28 hearing was held to determine whether or there is evidence to warrant a trial of Nathan B. Lynn and Milton Ortiz Jr. for alleged actions in Ramadi where they are accused of killing an Iraqi man on February 15 of this year and then planting a gun by him to make him look like an "insurgent." The AP notes: "Ortiz also faces one count of assault and one count of communicating a threat for a separate incident on March 8, when he allegedly put an unloaded weapon against the head of an Iraqi man and threatened to send him to prison, the military said."
Finally, the body of Abeer Qassim Hamza will not be exhumed reports Reuters. The family is refusing the request and Reuters quotes Muayyad Fadhil as saying, "It is disgraceful to remove a body after burial." Abeer Qassim Hamza and three members of her family were murdered in March. Six US soldiers have been charged in the incident (one with failure to report the incident) and five with rape and murder. Of the five, four are currently serving in the military. Steven D. Green is the only one charged (with rape and with murder) who has left the military. Reuters notes: "U.S. court documents in the case of Green indicate that other defendants say he killed three family members then raped Abeer al-Janabi and killed her too. They accuse one other soldier of raping the girl and a further two of being in the house during the killings." The five others charged are Paul E. Cortez, Anthony W. Yribe, James P. Barker, Jesse V. Spielman, and Bryan L. Howard (Yribe is the one charged with dereliction of duty for failing to report the incident).
Okay, let's all give it up for C.I. on day 16 of the fast and still tracking events in Iraq. C.I. finally wrote about the fast in "Ani DiFranco and fasting (C.I. guesting for Kat)" -- wrote about it in personal terms. There was a reluctance on that because C.I. thought it should be a group piece since we all did the Fourth fast and also because C.I. doesn't want to seem like, "Everybody do this! Do it now!" (and worries about anyone with a health condition going on a fast without medical advice). I really enjoyed reading about that. C.I. really underplays it in conversations. (You can get Iraq talk and why the fast is important but you don't get much about the reality of the fast.) And if you start saying something like, "I wish I had that kind of willpower" or anything that's like (or seems like) a bit of praise (for C.I.), C.I. immediately changes the topic. So I was glad to read "Ani DiFranco and fasting (C.I. guesting for Kat)" which was just a really personal way of talking about the fast. The Third Estate Sunday Review gang (Ava, Jess, Ty, Jim and Dona -- C.I.'s a part of that too) are all staying with C.I. (I think for the rest of the summer) as house guests and I know some details from them but C.I. talks about it in terms of Iraq (which is good because that is the focus of the fast) but, yeah, I've been curious about the day to day effects. So I really enjoyed reading that.
If you're not familiar with the fast, you can find out more information by going to CODEPINK or TROOPS HOME FAST!.
Turning to the heat in this country, I thought I had it bad. I e-mailed Dallas and Billie, two community members who live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas, to check on how things were heat wise. They were up to 104 degrees today. 104 degrees. And, get this, that's their tenth day in a row where the temp has been over a hundred degrees. I can't imagine that. The heat's kicing my rear as it is and I don't have anything like that to put up with.
That's really going to be it for me tonight. I've got people coming over tomorrow because my cousin really wants to follow Mike's lead and have a regular get together every Friday night where we discuss the war. And, no surprise, he wants to have it here and not at his place. So I've got people coming over tomorrow and the place is a mess. I was wiped out from the heat all week and I don't think I've ever let the apartment go like this. I mean, I need to pick up dirty clothes (and do the wash), take some dishes out of the fridge and wash them (I've talked about that before but, if someone's dropping by for the first time, my apartment doesn't have a dishwasher -- other than me! -- and when I'm too tired to do dishes, I put the dirty ones in the fridge so I don't end up with a roach problem), I should probably run the vacuum and do some dusting (but I'll probably pass on the dusting if I get the other stuff done) and I need to clean the bathroom and scrub the toilet. So that's it for tonight.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
The heat is killing me
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills)
More deaths in Iraq today, the UN issues a body count for Iraqi civilians, questions emerge in the inquiry into the death of Australian soldier Jake Kovco, and news on war resisters and peace demonstrators.
Reuters reports that 59 people died after a bomber drove "his minivan into a busy market on Tuesday, lured labourers onboard with the promise of jobs and then blew himself" and those gathered up. The attack took place in Kufa and police "were pelted with rocks by angry crowds, many of whom demanded that militias loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr take over security". The Associated Press skips that but does note that the explosion took place "across the street from Kufa's gold-dome mosque". Reuters reports that some chants at the police included: "You are traitors!", "Your are not doing your job!" and "American agents!"
When even violence as the sort that took place in Kufa this morning can't get attention, one wonders how many are registering Katrina vanden Heuvel's "Don't Forget the Bloodletting in Iraq" (Editor's Cut, The Nation)? Will we grow used to that violence? Will only larger numbers register in the future? As Howard Zinn wrote (in Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal) "The only way we can stop the mass killing of civilians -- of women and children -- is to stop the war itself." Along with news of Kufa, other news took place as well. The BBC notes that "at least four members of a Shia militia" were killed by British troops. CBS and the AP note that, "near Hawija," a bombing took the lives of seven Iraqi police officers and left two wounded. The AFP reports "a gruesome incident, one sheep seller was killed in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, when a bomb hidden under a girl's severed head exploded as he lifted it". Reuters notes the following: in Baghdad, Abu Ali al-Garawi ("head of Badr in Diwaniya) was shot to death; in Mosul four people died and two were wounded in a bombing; in Habaniya an Iraqi soldier was killed by mortar rounds; in Falluja a "police major" was shot to death; and, in Haditha, three translators working for the US military were shot to death.
In addition to the severed head noted above, Reuters reports that 14 corpses were discovered in Mahmudiya ("blindfolded . . . shot at close range").
AFP reports that the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq places the Iraqi civilian death toll at 5,818 for May and June alone (with most of the victims losing their lives in Baghdad).
Speaking today with Andrea Lewis on KPFA's The Morning Show, Ruth Rosen discussed her recent article, "The Hidden War on Women in Iraq." Rosen explained what led her to focus on the violence targeting Iraqi women and, in one example, explained: "And I also wanted to find out the story behind Abu Ghraib. We never heard. We heard many men sexually humilitaed but if they were humilitated it stood to reason that women would have been at least as humilitated if not more". Rosen and Lewis discussed many topics including women who were held in Abu Ghraib and tortured. Rosen explained, "It does appear that women have been on other bases held as prisoners."
(More on this topic can be found in CODEPINK's "Iraqi Women Under Siege" -- pdf. format.)The war drags on. Some, wisely, leave the so-called coaliton. Others get called back in. While Japan has withdrawn troops, the BBC reports that Scotland's The Black Watch will be deploying for Iraq for the third time since the start of the illegal war.
Turning to Australia, there are more developments in the case of Jake Kovco who died on April 21st while serving in Iraq. Conor Duffy discussed with Eleanor Hall (Australia's ABC) the fact that "the military officer is Sergeant Stephen Hession. . . . And he's told the board of inquiry that the pistol that show Private Kovco was in a different postion to what it was just before the room was sealed." Dan Box (The Australian) notes the testimony of two military police officers which revealed: "The room where Jake Kovco died was cleaned, stripped of equipment and repeatedly traisped through by fellow soldiers before inverstigators could gather evidence that might have proved crucial in determing the cause of his death." Belindea Tasker (The Courier-Mail) notes that, in addition to the above, "his clothes [were] destroyed before forensic experts could carry out any tests". Reporting on the program PM (Australia's ABC) Conor Duffy reported more events from the inquiry including the fact that including the fact that a letter from Jake Kovco's wife Shelley and two short stories by Jake Kovco were read to the board for "a glimpse into Private Kovco's state of mind". As noted yesterday, Judy and Martin Kovco, Jake's parents, want soldiers serving with their late son to be called to testify before the inquiry.
On Monday's The KPFA Evening News, Wendell Harper reported on the peace movement. Demonstrators, CODEPINK activists, Daneil Ellsberg, labor activists and others came together in Oakland to make their voices heard, many taking part in the Troops Home Fast. What follows are some of the voices (selected by Zach, Marisa and myself) featured in Harper's report:
Protestor 1: "Ehren Watada needs support finacially, because of legal fees, and, of course, the rallies like we're having today."
Protestor 2: "If you're familiar with Suzanne Swift, she's the 21-year-old who just turned 22 on Saturday who was abused by her commanding officer in Iraq, came over here and then refused to go back when she found out she would have to go back to her old unit. She was arrested, put in the brig and is currently in the brig, and her mother is started a campaign to get an honorable discharge for her."
Labor activist: "Two-thirds of the American people say get the troops out now. 80% of the Iraqi people say get the troops out now. 72% of our troops in Iraq say they want to be home by the end of the year and 29% of those say: 'Out now.' What part of 'out now' doesn't this Congress understand."
"I'm Sara and I'm participating in a fast because I'm hoping that it will speak loud enough to people that it will stop this war and stop violence."
"I'm Jane Jackson and I'm hungry for peace."
"I'm Sam Joi and I'm with CODEPINK Women for Peace and we have to be determined that this war is going to end by the end of 2006 no matter what anybody says."
Kurdish-Iraqi woman: "I've been fasting in San Francisco actually for our homeless. These wars are causing refugess around the world. I personally know what it is to stay in refugee camp and not have a meal, to be infected with a meal, they give it to you. I have had that experience, my friends dying, because they gave them wrong food to eat."
Those were some of the voices featured in Wendell Harper's report. (Brian Edwards-Tiekert highlighted some of the voices on KPFA's The Morning Show second hour news break this morning.)
Troops Home Fast reports that "4,117 people are engaging in solidarity fasts around the nation and in 22 other countries" today.
Meanwhile, in Hawaii, KHNL reports a protest in support of Ehren Watada which drew "[a]bout two dozen people rallied in Honolulu" yesterday for 90 minutes on behalf of "a half dozen organizations and churches that believe the war in Iraq is illegal." Watada has refused to deploy to Iraq and engage in the illegal war. Watada has stated: "I felt that going into a war waged out of decption, the administration had lied by manipulating intelligence and deceiving the people, I thought there could be no greater crime."
Another Hawaiian, Maui's Chris Magaoay, is interviewed by Ana Radelat (Gannett News Service) who takes a look at war resistors who leave the armed service. Magaoay enlisted in 2004 and "[l]ess than two years later, Magaoay became on of thousands of military deserters who have chosen a lifetime of exile or possible court-martial rather than fight in Iraq or Afghanistan." Magaoay, who went to Candad this year, tells Radelat, "It wasn't something I did on the spur of the moment. It took me a long time to realize what was going on. The war is illegal."
Turning to Canada, we noted war reister Patrick Hart for the first time on March 9th when Lewis steered us to Peter Koch's "Brave Hart." Koch has provided an update noting that, the first week of this month, Patrick & Jill Hart (along with their son Rian) appeared before Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board. There has been no verdict yet but, as Koch notes, "everyone who has received a decision has been denied."
So that's a lot of news. A lot more than you probably heard or saw. Hopefully, you read that much (maybe more) online and will in some newspapers tomorrow. But I'm not sure.
I'm yawning. The heat is killing me. I don't know how people hold up. And don't give me that El Nino or anything else -- this is global warming. Which means if we don't get serious about the environment, we can expect a lot more of this.
It is just too hot. I take the bus to work. I did that even when gas was lower. Only time I take my car is if we're having an office party and I've got to bring something, ice or whatever. But if there's anything worse than burning up in the heat (and I was this evening), it's stepping into the ice cold bus. It's just too much of a shock to my system.
I remember when temperatures first started climbing around here during the summer at the end of the nineties. Year after year, you'd hear "El Nino." I wonder if people still say that and, if not, what excuse they're using now?
Another thing I notice while I'm waiting outside, at the bus stop, after work -- cars put off a lot of heat. The sidewalk's narrow there and you've got the street right on you so when the light changes and cars are piled up, you can just feel this wave of heat from them.
Sunday night, after church, we were standing outside talking and the sun had been down for some time but it was still like you were standing in an oven. I finally had to go (I do drive to church, I also pick up Three Cool Old Guys and take them to church in the morning and, after we grab something to eat, back to the retirement home). (They don't go to church in the evening because it's so hot.) But I said I was either going to have to start wearing shorts or cutting out right after. I'm one of those people who can stand in the parking lot talking for an hour but it was just too hot.
So those are my heat inspired thoughts tonight.
More deaths in Iraq today, the UN issues a body count for Iraqi civilians, questions emerge in the inquiry into the death of Australian soldier Jake Kovco, and news on war resisters and peace demonstrators.
Reuters reports that 59 people died after a bomber drove "his minivan into a busy market on Tuesday, lured labourers onboard with the promise of jobs and then blew himself" and those gathered up. The attack took place in Kufa and police "were pelted with rocks by angry crowds, many of whom demanded that militias loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr take over security". The Associated Press skips that but does note that the explosion took place "across the street from Kufa's gold-dome mosque". Reuters reports that some chants at the police included: "You are traitors!", "Your are not doing your job!" and "American agents!"
When even violence as the sort that took place in Kufa this morning can't get attention, one wonders how many are registering Katrina vanden Heuvel's "Don't Forget the Bloodletting in Iraq" (Editor's Cut, The Nation)? Will we grow used to that violence? Will only larger numbers register in the future? As Howard Zinn wrote (in Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal) "The only way we can stop the mass killing of civilians -- of women and children -- is to stop the war itself." Along with news of Kufa, other news took place as well. The BBC notes that "at least four members of a Shia militia" were killed by British troops. CBS and the AP note that, "near Hawija," a bombing took the lives of seven Iraqi police officers and left two wounded. The AFP reports "a gruesome incident, one sheep seller was killed in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, when a bomb hidden under a girl's severed head exploded as he lifted it". Reuters notes the following: in Baghdad, Abu Ali al-Garawi ("head of Badr in Diwaniya) was shot to death; in Mosul four people died and two were wounded in a bombing; in Habaniya an Iraqi soldier was killed by mortar rounds; in Falluja a "police major" was shot to death; and, in Haditha, three translators working for the US military were shot to death.
In addition to the severed head noted above, Reuters reports that 14 corpses were discovered in Mahmudiya ("blindfolded . . . shot at close range").
AFP reports that the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq places the Iraqi civilian death toll at 5,818 for May and June alone (with most of the victims losing their lives in Baghdad).
Speaking today with Andrea Lewis on KPFA's The Morning Show, Ruth Rosen discussed her recent article, "The Hidden War on Women in Iraq." Rosen explained what led her to focus on the violence targeting Iraqi women and, in one example, explained: "And I also wanted to find out the story behind Abu Ghraib. We never heard. We heard many men sexually humilitaed but if they were humilitated it stood to reason that women would have been at least as humilitated if not more". Rosen and Lewis discussed many topics including women who were held in Abu Ghraib and tortured. Rosen explained, "It does appear that women have been on other bases held as prisoners."
(More on this topic can be found in CODEPINK's "Iraqi Women Under Siege" -- pdf. format.)The war drags on. Some, wisely, leave the so-called coaliton. Others get called back in. While Japan has withdrawn troops, the BBC reports that Scotland's The Black Watch will be deploying for Iraq for the third time since the start of the illegal war.
Turning to Australia, there are more developments in the case of Jake Kovco who died on April 21st while serving in Iraq. Conor Duffy discussed with Eleanor Hall (Australia's ABC) the fact that "the military officer is Sergeant Stephen Hession. . . . And he's told the board of inquiry that the pistol that show Private Kovco was in a different postion to what it was just before the room was sealed." Dan Box (The Australian) notes the testimony of two military police officers which revealed: "The room where Jake Kovco died was cleaned, stripped of equipment and repeatedly traisped through by fellow soldiers before inverstigators could gather evidence that might have proved crucial in determing the cause of his death." Belindea Tasker (The Courier-Mail) notes that, in addition to the above, "his clothes [were] destroyed before forensic experts could carry out any tests". Reporting on the program PM (Australia's ABC) Conor Duffy reported more events from the inquiry including the fact that including the fact that a letter from Jake Kovco's wife Shelley and two short stories by Jake Kovco were read to the board for "a glimpse into Private Kovco's state of mind". As noted yesterday, Judy and Martin Kovco, Jake's parents, want soldiers serving with their late son to be called to testify before the inquiry.
On Monday's The KPFA Evening News, Wendell Harper reported on the peace movement. Demonstrators, CODEPINK activists, Daneil Ellsberg, labor activists and others came together in Oakland to make their voices heard, many taking part in the Troops Home Fast. What follows are some of the voices (selected by Zach, Marisa and myself) featured in Harper's report:
Protestor 1: "Ehren Watada needs support finacially, because of legal fees, and, of course, the rallies like we're having today."
Protestor 2: "If you're familiar with Suzanne Swift, she's the 21-year-old who just turned 22 on Saturday who was abused by her commanding officer in Iraq, came over here and then refused to go back when she found out she would have to go back to her old unit. She was arrested, put in the brig and is currently in the brig, and her mother is started a campaign to get an honorable discharge for her."
Labor activist: "Two-thirds of the American people say get the troops out now. 80% of the Iraqi people say get the troops out now. 72% of our troops in Iraq say they want to be home by the end of the year and 29% of those say: 'Out now.' What part of 'out now' doesn't this Congress understand."
"I'm Sara and I'm participating in a fast because I'm hoping that it will speak loud enough to people that it will stop this war and stop violence."
"I'm Jane Jackson and I'm hungry for peace."
"I'm Sam Joi and I'm with CODEPINK Women for Peace and we have to be determined that this war is going to end by the end of 2006 no matter what anybody says."
Kurdish-Iraqi woman: "I've been fasting in San Francisco actually for our homeless. These wars are causing refugess around the world. I personally know what it is to stay in refugee camp and not have a meal, to be infected with a meal, they give it to you. I have had that experience, my friends dying, because they gave them wrong food to eat."
Those were some of the voices featured in Wendell Harper's report. (Brian Edwards-Tiekert highlighted some of the voices on KPFA's The Morning Show second hour news break this morning.)
Troops Home Fast reports that "4,117 people are engaging in solidarity fasts around the nation and in 22 other countries" today.
Meanwhile, in Hawaii, KHNL reports a protest in support of Ehren Watada which drew "[a]bout two dozen people rallied in Honolulu" yesterday for 90 minutes on behalf of "a half dozen organizations and churches that believe the war in Iraq is illegal." Watada has refused to deploy to Iraq and engage in the illegal war. Watada has stated: "I felt that going into a war waged out of decption, the administration had lied by manipulating intelligence and deceiving the people, I thought there could be no greater crime."
Another Hawaiian, Maui's Chris Magaoay, is interviewed by Ana Radelat (Gannett News Service) who takes a look at war resistors who leave the armed service. Magaoay enlisted in 2004 and "[l]ess than two years later, Magaoay became on of thousands of military deserters who have chosen a lifetime of exile or possible court-martial rather than fight in Iraq or Afghanistan." Magaoay, who went to Candad this year, tells Radelat, "It wasn't something I did on the spur of the moment. It took me a long time to realize what was going on. The war is illegal."
Turning to Canada, we noted war reister Patrick Hart for the first time on March 9th when Lewis steered us to Peter Koch's "Brave Hart." Koch has provided an update noting that, the first week of this month, Patrick & Jill Hart (along with their son Rian) appeared before Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board. There has been no verdict yet but, as Koch notes, "everyone who has received a decision has been denied."
So that's a lot of news. A lot more than you probably heard or saw. Hopefully, you read that much (maybe more) online and will in some newspapers tomorrow. But I'm not sure.
I'm yawning. The heat is killing me. I don't know how people hold up. And don't give me that El Nino or anything else -- this is global warming. Which means if we don't get serious about the environment, we can expect a lot more of this.
It is just too hot. I take the bus to work. I did that even when gas was lower. Only time I take my car is if we're having an office party and I've got to bring something, ice or whatever. But if there's anything worse than burning up in the heat (and I was this evening), it's stepping into the ice cold bus. It's just too much of a shock to my system.
I remember when temperatures first started climbing around here during the summer at the end of the nineties. Year after year, you'd hear "El Nino." I wonder if people still say that and, if not, what excuse they're using now?
Another thing I notice while I'm waiting outside, at the bus stop, after work -- cars put off a lot of heat. The sidewalk's narrow there and you've got the street right on you so when the light changes and cars are piled up, you can just feel this wave of heat from them.
Sunday night, after church, we were standing outside talking and the sun had been down for some time but it was still like you were standing in an oven. I finally had to go (I do drive to church, I also pick up Three Cool Old Guys and take them to church in the morning and, after we grab something to eat, back to the retirement home). (They don't go to church in the evening because it's so hot.) But I said I was either going to have to start wearing shorts or cutting out right after. I'm one of those people who can stand in the parking lot talking for an hour but it was just too hot.
So those are my heat inspired thoughts tonight.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Some thoughts on Iraq
Kat's on vacation so I'll be doing a little at her site Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills). Mike will too. Kat was just going to leave it dead while she's in Ireland but Mike and both told her no and that we'd be happy to post there for her. She agreed as long as we don't post something every day. She said that would "shock" her readers into a heart attack.
My first post is already up.
Since I posted that, I've been thinking about how Elaine and Mike are attempting how to figure out what to emphasize at their site. I know they're already emphasizing C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" but I had an idea they may not have thought of and I'm going to use it here tonight.
"Iraq Snapshot" (The Common Ills)
The US tries to firm up a commerce deal in Iraq, Jake Kovco's family learns more details and despite all the happy talk, chaos and violence continue with one single event that is being called the "bloodiest" by many.
A US soldier was "fatally wounded" in Baghdad today, the AP notes pointing out that since Saturday four US soldiers have died "in the Baghdad area." Baghdad, location of the month-plus security 'crackdown.' Sunday, in Basra, a British soldier died and the BBC reports that he was John Johnston Cosby. Also on Sunday, Reuters reports that Laith al-Rawi ("local leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party") was killed in Haditha.
Since the snapshot went up, they're saying three American soldiers died today. I thought the mainstream media was calling it calm in Iraq because the US deaths were down? You know that's all they care about.
Today, the AFP notes that six died in Baquba. The biggest attack (AFP calls it the "deadliest since the July 9 bloodbath") took place in southern Iraq. Reuters notes that, in Mahmudiya, "[g]unmen stormed a crowded market" and at least 56 are dead with at least 67 wounded according to "a local hospital" (Ministry of Defence says 42 dead). James Hider (Times of London) reports that along with attempting to downgrade the number of those killed "a Defence Ministry spokesman tried to convince reporters that the deaths had been the result of two car bombs, insisting that no gunmen had been involved. That statement was flatly contradicted by the testimony of survivors."
Alastair Macdonald (Reuters) explores the events and notes Muayyad Fadhil, mayor of Mahmudiya, stating: "There was a mortar attack. Then gunmen came from . . . the eastern side of town. They came into the market and opened fire at raondom on the people shopping." The AFP notes the attack was "a coordinated assualt of car bombs, mortar attacks and rampaging masked gunmen". One victim, Muzzaffar Jassem, tells AFP: "About six cars with at least 20 masked gunmen blocked the market road from two sides, got out of the car and opened fire randomly on women, children and elderly people in the market".
I heard on the news this evening (radio) that American forces and Iraqi forces were yards away during this and didn't move in until after the attacksers fled. They just stood and watched. Were they on stand down? Were they scared? Were they thinking they would make it worse? I don't know. My cousin, who comes over whenever he's got no food in his own place, was listening with me and he said they didn't do anything because this is part of a US plan to create a civil war.
As the violence heats up, the so-called coalition gets smaller. Reuters reports that Japan has pulled "[t]he last contingent" of their troops out of Iraq today.
In Australia, some feel answers are arriving as to the death of Jake Kovco; however, his family wants more answers. As Bruce Scates (Sydney Morning Herald) notes: "It has been almost three months since Private Jake Kovco's body was finally returned to Australia." Australia's ABC reports that Dr. Johan Duflou, who performed the autoposy on Kovco, told an inquiry board that "his opinion was the death was the result of an accidental discharge of a weapon." Kovco's parents are requesting that "several soldiers" in Iraq give testimony to the board about the events of April 21st when Kovco became "the first Australian soldier" to die in the current Iraq war. Members will remember the Judy and Martin Kovco as well as the parents of Jake Kovco's widow Shelley (David and Lorraine Small) were bothered, not only by the fact that Kovco's body was lost when it should have been returning to Australia, but also angered by what they saw as an attempt to smear Kovco with baseless rumors.
(Kovco died on April 21st but, due to mix ups on the part of the military, wasn't buried until May 2nd.)
If there's a community member who doesn't know about Jake Kovco, they must be brand new.
This is one of those things that makes me proud to be a member of The Common Ills community. You can toss out, "Hey remember when they shipped the wrong coffin to Australia?" and people will ask you what you're talking about? If you were following the coverage on The Common Ills (don't believe our 'brave' indymedia journalist ever made time for this story), you knew who Kovco was long before they sent the wrong coffin (and body) back to Australia.
Yesterday on KPFA's Sunday Salon with Larry Bensky, Bensky and Aaron Glantz discussed Iraq and Glantz noted, "The Iraqi paliament is on the verge of putting together a referendum demanding a timetable for the US withdrawal from Iraq and when they put forward that proposal, I think it will become a little bit more difficult for the Bush adminstration to say that we are there to help the Iraqi people when the Iraqi people say very clearly that they want the US military out within a specific amount of time."
Despite Dexy Filkins' 'reporting' for the New York Times, the issue Glantz outlined was one of "the Bush administration [. . .] rounding up these supporters of this idea including some people who are very high ranking in many of the political parties and this is the latest thing that we've been covering, the political crackdown by the US military of the people who want a timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. "
[Saturday, we linked to a recent Glantz article on this topic.]
That's an incredible hour that covers so much. Another guest is an Iraqi who's an intern at Pacifica now and the third guest is a Canadian journalist. Any three of them would have had a lot to say but all three together, they probably hit on every issue that you can in one hour.
In other parliament news, as noted by Brian Edwards-Tiekert on KPFA's The Morning Show today, Shi'ites stormed out today in protest over the Mahmudiya killings.
In commerce news, Australia and Iraq have reached an agreement over the June 21st death of Abdul Falah al-Sudany's bodyguard by Australian soldiers. Reuters reports that compensation will be paid to al-Sudany (trade minister) and that al-Sudany has stated: "We don't have any vetoes on importing Australian wheat and we hope to go back to a normal relationship with Australia."
Also in commerce news from Iraq, CBS and AP report that: "U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Guiterrez arrived in the Iraqi capital for meetings aimed at jump-starting the economy." Though the US press is seeing this as some sort of 'big win,' the AFP reports Abdel Falah-al Sudany (the same trade minister noted in the pervious item) is much more cautious and declared that privatization would not happen "for at least five to 10 years."
Possibly the excitement stems not from a lack of caution but a desire to turn the topic away from William Lash III -- the topic Gutierrez was addressing this weekend: "Bill was a passionate, committed and hard working individual . . ." following the news that former assistant commerce secretary Lash had apparently killed himself after killing his 12-year-old autistic son.
What does it take for the administration to get covered? You've got someone who was a part of the administration four around four years. Now he's shot himself and his kid (or that's what the police think) and where are the reporters?
In peace news, Eric Seitz, attorney for Ehren Watada, states that there is a date scheduled "tentatively" for "Watada's Article 32 hearing . . . Aug. 17 or 18." Seits tells Gregg K. Kakesako (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) that this hearing would "determine whether sufficient grounds exist to warrant a court-martial" and that the maximum punishment for Watada's refusal to serve in the illegal war could be 7 and one-half years in prison.
We need to be sure Watada's case is being talked up. We can't count on the media. The only thing that will keep him from the maximum penalty is everyone knows the world is watching Watada.
Finally, Tommy Witherspoon (Waco Tribune-Herald) reports that the county of McLennan (where Bully Boy's ranch-ette is) is attempting to move Cindy Sheehan's lawsuit against the county into the federal court. The issue is whether or not Camp Casey can return to the activities and protests that first took place last summer or whether the county can now "ban parking and camping along roads leading to" Bully Boy's ranch-ette.
I thought Bully Boy was hitting the road for that "hard work" where he raises money for GOP candidates? They're running scared, you know they are. Last summer, Cindy Sheehan woke up the country up to the reality of war. Now the country's turned against the illegal war. You know the administration's scared to death over another summer protest.
ADDED: The Legal Defense Network reports that Rhonda Davis participation in a June 3rd rally in support of sam-sex marriage has resulted in the US Navy bringing "discharge proceedings against a 10-year veteran." Davis states: "I am a proud, patriotic American who happens to be gay. My sexual orientation has never stood in the way of getting my job done, and I was looking forward to continuing my Navy career. Unfortunately, federal law places discrimination ahead of national security and gay service members are caught in the crossfire. It is past time for our leaders in Washington to repeal this senseless law and allow gay Americans who want to serve, like me, the opportunity to do just that."
And that tells you the priorities. They can't get enough people to sign up for the military but they're fine with drumming out anyone they do have if it's someone gay. She's served for ten years. If there was a real problem with her service, it should have come up before and it should have been on a real issue. Don't Ask, Don't Tell is nonsense. What it does it make every gay and lesbian soldier in a 90 day probation period . . . for the entire time they serve. If it comes out that they're gay, they can be kicked out immediately. That's so ignorant and it's so disrespectful.
It's disrespectful not just in terms of demonizing gays and lesbians, but also in terms of what it says which is this: "You can be a half-assed soldier if you're straight but if you're gay, you can be the best and still lose your job at any point." It says that the service of soldiers doesn't matter. It says that their work isn't respected. That's all of them, gay or straight. Because when one person can be kicked out because they are gay or lesbian, it devalues the work everyone does.
So that's it for me tonight. I really am tired. I know people who love the heat and love the summer. I like the in-between season, fall and spring. Summer's too hot for me.
Check out Wally's "THIS JUST IN! EVAN BLAH ATTACKS HIS OWN! TRIES TO EAT 'EM!" and Trina's "Rosemary Roasted Potatoes in the Kitchen" -- you'll laugh and learn.
My first post is already up.
Since I posted that, I've been thinking about how Elaine and Mike are attempting how to figure out what to emphasize at their site. I know they're already emphasizing C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" but I had an idea they may not have thought of and I'm going to use it here tonight.
"Iraq Snapshot" (The Common Ills)
The US tries to firm up a commerce deal in Iraq, Jake Kovco's family learns more details and despite all the happy talk, chaos and violence continue with one single event that is being called the "bloodiest" by many.
A US soldier was "fatally wounded" in Baghdad today, the AP notes pointing out that since Saturday four US soldiers have died "in the Baghdad area." Baghdad, location of the month-plus security 'crackdown.' Sunday, in Basra, a British soldier died and the BBC reports that he was John Johnston Cosby. Also on Sunday, Reuters reports that Laith al-Rawi ("local leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party") was killed in Haditha.
Since the snapshot went up, they're saying three American soldiers died today. I thought the mainstream media was calling it calm in Iraq because the US deaths were down? You know that's all they care about.
Today, the AFP notes that six died in Baquba. The biggest attack (AFP calls it the "deadliest since the July 9 bloodbath") took place in southern Iraq. Reuters notes that, in Mahmudiya, "[g]unmen stormed a crowded market" and at least 56 are dead with at least 67 wounded according to "a local hospital" (Ministry of Defence says 42 dead). James Hider (Times of London) reports that along with attempting to downgrade the number of those killed "a Defence Ministry spokesman tried to convince reporters that the deaths had been the result of two car bombs, insisting that no gunmen had been involved. That statement was flatly contradicted by the testimony of survivors."
Alastair Macdonald (Reuters) explores the events and notes Muayyad Fadhil, mayor of Mahmudiya, stating: "There was a mortar attack. Then gunmen came from . . . the eastern side of town. They came into the market and opened fire at raondom on the people shopping." The AFP notes the attack was "a coordinated assualt of car bombs, mortar attacks and rampaging masked gunmen". One victim, Muzzaffar Jassem, tells AFP: "About six cars with at least 20 masked gunmen blocked the market road from two sides, got out of the car and opened fire randomly on women, children and elderly people in the market".
I heard on the news this evening (radio) that American forces and Iraqi forces were yards away during this and didn't move in until after the attacksers fled. They just stood and watched. Were they on stand down? Were they scared? Were they thinking they would make it worse? I don't know. My cousin, who comes over whenever he's got no food in his own place, was listening with me and he said they didn't do anything because this is part of a US plan to create a civil war.
As the violence heats up, the so-called coalition gets smaller. Reuters reports that Japan has pulled "[t]he last contingent" of their troops out of Iraq today.
In Australia, some feel answers are arriving as to the death of Jake Kovco; however, his family wants more answers. As Bruce Scates (Sydney Morning Herald) notes: "It has been almost three months since Private Jake Kovco's body was finally returned to Australia." Australia's ABC reports that Dr. Johan Duflou, who performed the autoposy on Kovco, told an inquiry board that "his opinion was the death was the result of an accidental discharge of a weapon." Kovco's parents are requesting that "several soldiers" in Iraq give testimony to the board about the events of April 21st when Kovco became "the first Australian soldier" to die in the current Iraq war. Members will remember the Judy and Martin Kovco as well as the parents of Jake Kovco's widow Shelley (David and Lorraine Small) were bothered, not only by the fact that Kovco's body was lost when it should have been returning to Australia, but also angered by what they saw as an attempt to smear Kovco with baseless rumors.
(Kovco died on April 21st but, due to mix ups on the part of the military, wasn't buried until May 2nd.)
If there's a community member who doesn't know about Jake Kovco, they must be brand new.
This is one of those things that makes me proud to be a member of The Common Ills community. You can toss out, "Hey remember when they shipped the wrong coffin to Australia?" and people will ask you what you're talking about? If you were following the coverage on The Common Ills (don't believe our 'brave' indymedia journalist ever made time for this story), you knew who Kovco was long before they sent the wrong coffin (and body) back to Australia.
Yesterday on KPFA's Sunday Salon with Larry Bensky, Bensky and Aaron Glantz discussed Iraq and Glantz noted, "The Iraqi paliament is on the verge of putting together a referendum demanding a timetable for the US withdrawal from Iraq and when they put forward that proposal, I think it will become a little bit more difficult for the Bush adminstration to say that we are there to help the Iraqi people when the Iraqi people say very clearly that they want the US military out within a specific amount of time."
Despite Dexy Filkins' 'reporting' for the New York Times, the issue Glantz outlined was one of "the Bush administration [. . .] rounding up these supporters of this idea including some people who are very high ranking in many of the political parties and this is the latest thing that we've been covering, the political crackdown by the US military of the people who want a timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. "
[Saturday, we linked to a recent Glantz article on this topic.]
That's an incredible hour that covers so much. Another guest is an Iraqi who's an intern at Pacifica now and the third guest is a Canadian journalist. Any three of them would have had a lot to say but all three together, they probably hit on every issue that you can in one hour.
In other parliament news, as noted by Brian Edwards-Tiekert on KPFA's The Morning Show today, Shi'ites stormed out today in protest over the Mahmudiya killings.
In commerce news, Australia and Iraq have reached an agreement over the June 21st death of Abdul Falah al-Sudany's bodyguard by Australian soldiers. Reuters reports that compensation will be paid to al-Sudany (trade minister) and that al-Sudany has stated: "We don't have any vetoes on importing Australian wheat and we hope to go back to a normal relationship with Australia."
Also in commerce news from Iraq, CBS and AP report that: "U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Guiterrez arrived in the Iraqi capital for meetings aimed at jump-starting the economy." Though the US press is seeing this as some sort of 'big win,' the AFP reports Abdel Falah-al Sudany (the same trade minister noted in the pervious item) is much more cautious and declared that privatization would not happen "for at least five to 10 years."
Possibly the excitement stems not from a lack of caution but a desire to turn the topic away from William Lash III -- the topic Gutierrez was addressing this weekend: "Bill was a passionate, committed and hard working individual . . ." following the news that former assistant commerce secretary Lash had apparently killed himself after killing his 12-year-old autistic son.
What does it take for the administration to get covered? You've got someone who was a part of the administration four around four years. Now he's shot himself and his kid (or that's what the police think) and where are the reporters?
In peace news, Eric Seitz, attorney for Ehren Watada, states that there is a date scheduled "tentatively" for "Watada's Article 32 hearing . . . Aug. 17 or 18." Seits tells Gregg K. Kakesako (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) that this hearing would "determine whether sufficient grounds exist to warrant a court-martial" and that the maximum punishment for Watada's refusal to serve in the illegal war could be 7 and one-half years in prison.
We need to be sure Watada's case is being talked up. We can't count on the media. The only thing that will keep him from the maximum penalty is everyone knows the world is watching Watada.
Finally, Tommy Witherspoon (Waco Tribune-Herald) reports that the county of McLennan (where Bully Boy's ranch-ette is) is attempting to move Cindy Sheehan's lawsuit against the county into the federal court. The issue is whether or not Camp Casey can return to the activities and protests that first took place last summer or whether the county can now "ban parking and camping along roads leading to" Bully Boy's ranch-ette.
I thought Bully Boy was hitting the road for that "hard work" where he raises money for GOP candidates? They're running scared, you know they are. Last summer, Cindy Sheehan woke up the country up to the reality of war. Now the country's turned against the illegal war. You know the administration's scared to death over another summer protest.
ADDED: The Legal Defense Network reports that Rhonda Davis participation in a June 3rd rally in support of sam-sex marriage has resulted in the US Navy bringing "discharge proceedings against a 10-year veteran." Davis states: "I am a proud, patriotic American who happens to be gay. My sexual orientation has never stood in the way of getting my job done, and I was looking forward to continuing my Navy career. Unfortunately, federal law places discrimination ahead of national security and gay service members are caught in the crossfire. It is past time for our leaders in Washington to repeal this senseless law and allow gay Americans who want to serve, like me, the opportunity to do just that."
And that tells you the priorities. They can't get enough people to sign up for the military but they're fine with drumming out anyone they do have if it's someone gay. She's served for ten years. If there was a real problem with her service, it should have come up before and it should have been on a real issue. Don't Ask, Don't Tell is nonsense. What it does it make every gay and lesbian soldier in a 90 day probation period . . . for the entire time they serve. If it comes out that they're gay, they can be kicked out immediately. That's so ignorant and it's so disrespectful.
It's disrespectful not just in terms of demonizing gays and lesbians, but also in terms of what it says which is this: "You can be a half-assed soldier if you're straight but if you're gay, you can be the best and still lose your job at any point." It says that the service of soldiers doesn't matter. It says that their work isn't respected. That's all of them, gay or straight. Because when one person can be kicked out because they are gay or lesbian, it devalues the work everyone does.
So that's it for me tonight. I really am tired. I know people who love the heat and love the summer. I like the in-between season, fall and spring. Summer's too hot for me.
Check out Wally's "THIS JUST IN! EVAN BLAH ATTACKS HIS OWN! TRIES TO EAT 'EM!" and Trina's "Rosemary Roasted Potatoes in the Kitchen" -- you'll laugh and learn.
Friday, July 14, 2006
What to call it? I'm too tired to figure that out
"Iraq Snapshot" (The Common Ills)
The Operation Happy Talk goes on.
Sean McFarland becomes the biggest doofus outside the administration by delcaring, "I think we have turned a corner her in Ramadi." MacFarland is both an Army Col. and a Happy Talker.
In news that's a little harder to Happy Talk, Antonio Castaneda (AP) reports that of the 1000 Sunni soldiers who made up the May 2006 graduating class "only about 300 of them have reported for duty".
In other news from the real world, Reuters reports that the US Congressional Budget Office predicts: "The Iraq war could cost U.S. taxpayers between $202 billion and $406 billion more over the next 10 years".
These projections come at a time when, as Martha Burk has pointed out (Ms.), the US government has cut "[d]omestic-violence prevention by $35 million, Medicaid by $17 billion over five years and child care programs by 1.03 billion over five years."
In other costs paid, Reuters reports 12 corpses were discovered in Tal Afar. CBS and the AP note a corpse ("shot in the chest . . . signs of torture") discovered in Azizyah".
Bombings?
As noted earlier this morning, seven people were killed ("after Friday prayers") when a Sunni mosque in Baghdad was bombed. Meanwhile Reuters reports that a mosque in Balad Ruz was hit by mortar rounds leaving at least two dead and four wounded while a car bomber in Mosul who killed himself and five others. The AFP covers a mortar attack in Baghdad that left one person dead and nine wounded.
Shooting deaths?
Reuters notes that two policeman were killed by a sniper in Tal Afar while a minibus near Kut was attacked "with machine gun fire" resulting in five dead ("including a wwoman and a child"). Meanwhile, the AFP reports attacks in two cities: a car was "ambushed" in Tikrit by assailants who shot the father dead and wounded the son; and, in Mosul, two different attacks left a police officer dead as well as the bodyguard of a judge. And the Associated Press reports a drive-by in Baghdad that killed a taxi driver.
The BBC noted the death of several Iraqi soldiers (12 at that point) in Kirkuk when they were attacked with "rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns". AFX raised the number dead to 13 (citing "colonel Mahmud Abdulla").
Meanwhile, following yesterday's kidnapping attempt that left wrestling coach Mohammed Karim Abid Sahib dead, the AP reports that: "Iraq's national wrestling team [has] pulled out of a tournament in the United Arab Emirates".
In the United States, Saturday July 15th is a day of action calling for Suzanne Swift to receive an honorable discharge including a protest, "at the gates of Ft. Lewis (exit 119) beginning at 12 pm with a press converence at 3 pm" in Washington state -- while in Eugen, Oregon there will be a demonstration outside the Federal Building at noon.
In DC (and across the globe -- over 22 countries), the fast led by CODEPINK and others continues. As Thursday's The KPFA Evening News reported some Congressional members, including Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney and Lynne Woolsey took part in a one-day fast on Thursday. Ann Wright, who ressigned from the State Department on May 19, 2003 and is taking part in the actions stated: "The only reason we fast is to force us to remember what's going on here. That innocent Iraqis are dying every day, Americans are dying every day. We need to get this war ended. So, yeah, we're going to up the ante".
Lastly, Wednesday July 19th, San Antonio, TX will be the location for a "public hearing held by the the independent Commission on the National Guard and Reserves" -- "in the Iberia Ballroom of the La Mansion Del Rio Hotel, 112 College Street, San Antonio."
There will be two panels with the first lasting from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and focused on "roles and missions to funding requirements" and the second, lasting from 2:00 pm to 4 pm, focusing on how reserves were "involuntarily mobilized after September 11, 2001".
I started this thing a lot earlier but was wondering around checking out sites. I have to say Betty's doing a wonderful job filling in for Rebecca at Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude. I enjoy hearing her talk. She'll always apologize and say, "I'm going on too much." But she really doesn't. I think she's pretty wonderful. Tonight, among other things, she wrote about Wally. I wished I'd thought to do that because we do those joint posts pretty regularly and I should have written to explain that, if nothing else.
I think Betty's captured Wally perfectly so I won't talk about that but I will say that he usually calls up and asks if I want to post. I'm always up for it if I've got the time. (I had to turn him down once due to a church thing.) It's fun working with him. When I'm not working with him, he'll run his posts by C.I. and ask, "Where am I losing it?" He really does work on those things. They're funny and sometimes you might think, "Oh, he dashed that off." That was what he hoped to do but sometimes, he'll work on that for an hour when he's working on them by himself. Then he'll read it to a friend or go straight to C.I. and say, "Help!" C.I. will tell you he doesn't need help, but Wally's not the best judge of his humor. Fridays are usually the worst for Wally because he really would like to be done with it fairly early but on Fridays, big news tend to come later in the day.
I should add that when Wally and I are doing a joint post and have "Must credit . . ." -- that's not serious. We're making fun of Wonkette when the Cox woman was doing it. She seemed to use that all the time. She'd write about some news she'd just read at the AP or something and it would seem like she'd even tag those "Must credit Wonkette." So that's just a joke.
Something else I can add is that Wally and Mike are like C.I.'s kids. I'm serious, C.I. is very protective of them. C.I.'s protective of all of us but those two, and they know it (you can ask them), C.I. is just super protective of them. That's true of anyone who starts up a site but it's also because they are the youngest. I'll leave it at that but Mike's written about it and he knows just what I'm talking about. With the rest of us, to give an example, if someone told C.I. they didn't care for our sites, the response would be, "Well that's your problem." But if they said that about Mike or Wally, C.I. would get ticked off. "They are young college students! Who are you?" (I've actually heard C.I. say to that someone and it should be noted that C.I.'s very protective of college activists period.)
Kat's "My thoughts" is a really good post and one I strongly recommend. She spoke to me about and I believe she did that with everyone. I wish I could say I was thinking, "Hmmm. Someone's on a fast right now. Is this the best time for this?" But I didn't. She makes some strong points and her biggest point is that that's over, it can't be changed. But if something similar happens next time, maybe we could all think (me included, I don't exempt myself) is this really the best time for this?
My cousin showed up tonight with about four friends. I had just fixed a pizza (Trina gave me a recipe, seriously, I did the whole thing myself) and was thinking, "Great. One pizza, six people."
(I put out some pretzels while the pizza was cooking and also opened up a can of black eyed peas, that's really all I had in the apartment. I haven't had time for grocery shopping this week and plan to go in the morning.)
But he reads Mikey Likes It! and was thinking about Mike's group and he thought that we could do something like that. (Mike and his friends put together a group that meets every Friday night to talk about Iraq. That group started off bigger than they planned and has just gotten huge.) Great idea and my only complaint is, next time let me know ahead of time.
So we were talking about Iraq and one point we made that I want to make here is that we don't think you'd be seeing what's going on right now, with Israel bombing this and striking that, if it wasn't for the Bully Boy.
If the Bully Boy hadn't illegally invaded Iraq and started a 'pre-emptive' war, Israel wouldn't have the cover to do what it's doing. There would be a lot of outrage over it. (There is outrage but I don't think it's enough outrage myself.)
When one player in the system disregards the rules, no one else has to follow them. I think we'll see more of this. I think we already have seen it in other ways.
Take Bully Boy's so-called 'war on terror' and the way it's played out in other countries which is basically, if you're a brutal regime and you want to take out some people, you call them 'terrorists.' Maybe they're drug dealers or runners (or maybe you just say they were), well that's a 'terrorist' so kill them.
We are going to be paying for the Bully Boy's actions for years. In this country, we're going to have to deal with all the hatred he's brought on our country. But in terms of conflicts where people might have been encouraged to talk, they don't need to now. If Bully Boy can act alone and do what he wants just because he wants to, if he doesn't have to justify a war (just grab one because he wants one), then none of the other players are going to feel that they have to justify it. They can do what they want as well.
I know a lot of people worry about North Korea, but I'm more worried Israel will use a nuclear bomb. If they did, that's it. There is no hope of peace in the Middle East, in my opinion. If they use one of their nuclear weapons, there will be so much outrage (even if our journalists bend over backwards to justify it -- which is what they do with Israel in every other situation), Egypt, Jordan, you're just going to see a never ending war.
I feel sorry for the Israeli people because I can imagine how they're about to be tarred and feathered world wide for the actions of the idiot in charge of their country. I can relate to that. They've got their own Bully Boy and he's out to do as much damage as he can.
Actions have consequences but they also influence other actions and Bully Boy's war on Iraq has given every other bully the excuse they need to destroy whoever and whatever they want. (I think Michael Ratner's talked about how that would happen on Law and Disorder, to give credit. I don't mean just once. I think he's warned about it repeatedly.)
That's it for me, but be sure to read Betty's "The War Paint Council" (that's her latest Betinna chapter).
iraq
martha burk
ms.
ms. magazine
suzanne swift
ann wright
codepink
the kpfa evening news
The Operation Happy Talk goes on.
Sean McFarland becomes the biggest doofus outside the administration by delcaring, "I think we have turned a corner her in Ramadi." MacFarland is both an Army Col. and a Happy Talker.
In news that's a little harder to Happy Talk, Antonio Castaneda (AP) reports that of the 1000 Sunni soldiers who made up the May 2006 graduating class "only about 300 of them have reported for duty".
In other news from the real world, Reuters reports that the US Congressional Budget Office predicts: "The Iraq war could cost U.S. taxpayers between $202 billion and $406 billion more over the next 10 years".
These projections come at a time when, as Martha Burk has pointed out (Ms.), the US government has cut "[d]omestic-violence prevention by $35 million, Medicaid by $17 billion over five years and child care programs by 1.03 billion over five years."
In other costs paid, Reuters reports 12 corpses were discovered in Tal Afar. CBS and the AP note a corpse ("shot in the chest . . . signs of torture") discovered in Azizyah".
Bombings?
As noted earlier this morning, seven people were killed ("after Friday prayers") when a Sunni mosque in Baghdad was bombed. Meanwhile Reuters reports that a mosque in Balad Ruz was hit by mortar rounds leaving at least two dead and four wounded while a car bomber in Mosul who killed himself and five others. The AFP covers a mortar attack in Baghdad that left one person dead and nine wounded.
Shooting deaths?
Reuters notes that two policeman were killed by a sniper in Tal Afar while a minibus near Kut was attacked "with machine gun fire" resulting in five dead ("including a wwoman and a child"). Meanwhile, the AFP reports attacks in two cities: a car was "ambushed" in Tikrit by assailants who shot the father dead and wounded the son; and, in Mosul, two different attacks left a police officer dead as well as the bodyguard of a judge. And the Associated Press reports a drive-by in Baghdad that killed a taxi driver.
The BBC noted the death of several Iraqi soldiers (12 at that point) in Kirkuk when they were attacked with "rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns". AFX raised the number dead to 13 (citing "colonel Mahmud Abdulla").
Meanwhile, following yesterday's kidnapping attempt that left wrestling coach Mohammed Karim Abid Sahib dead, the AP reports that: "Iraq's national wrestling team [has] pulled out of a tournament in the United Arab Emirates".
In the United States, Saturday July 15th is a day of action calling for Suzanne Swift to receive an honorable discharge including a protest, "at the gates of Ft. Lewis (exit 119) beginning at 12 pm with a press converence at 3 pm" in Washington state -- while in Eugen, Oregon there will be a demonstration outside the Federal Building at noon.
In DC (and across the globe -- over 22 countries), the fast led by CODEPINK and others continues. As Thursday's The KPFA Evening News reported some Congressional members, including Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters, Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney and Lynne Woolsey took part in a one-day fast on Thursday. Ann Wright, who ressigned from the State Department on May 19, 2003 and is taking part in the actions stated: "The only reason we fast is to force us to remember what's going on here. That innocent Iraqis are dying every day, Americans are dying every day. We need to get this war ended. So, yeah, we're going to up the ante".
Lastly, Wednesday July 19th, San Antonio, TX will be the location for a "public hearing held by the the independent Commission on the National Guard and Reserves" -- "in the Iberia Ballroom of the La Mansion Del Rio Hotel, 112 College Street, San Antonio."
There will be two panels with the first lasting from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and focused on "roles and missions to funding requirements" and the second, lasting from 2:00 pm to 4 pm, focusing on how reserves were "involuntarily mobilized after September 11, 2001".
I started this thing a lot earlier but was wondering around checking out sites. I have to say Betty's doing a wonderful job filling in for Rebecca at Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude. I enjoy hearing her talk. She'll always apologize and say, "I'm going on too much." But she really doesn't. I think she's pretty wonderful. Tonight, among other things, she wrote about Wally. I wished I'd thought to do that because we do those joint posts pretty regularly and I should have written to explain that, if nothing else.
I think Betty's captured Wally perfectly so I won't talk about that but I will say that he usually calls up and asks if I want to post. I'm always up for it if I've got the time. (I had to turn him down once due to a church thing.) It's fun working with him. When I'm not working with him, he'll run his posts by C.I. and ask, "Where am I losing it?" He really does work on those things. They're funny and sometimes you might think, "Oh, he dashed that off." That was what he hoped to do but sometimes, he'll work on that for an hour when he's working on them by himself. Then he'll read it to a friend or go straight to C.I. and say, "Help!" C.I. will tell you he doesn't need help, but Wally's not the best judge of his humor. Fridays are usually the worst for Wally because he really would like to be done with it fairly early but on Fridays, big news tend to come later in the day.
I should add that when Wally and I are doing a joint post and have "Must credit . . ." -- that's not serious. We're making fun of Wonkette when the Cox woman was doing it. She seemed to use that all the time. She'd write about some news she'd just read at the AP or something and it would seem like she'd even tag those "Must credit Wonkette." So that's just a joke.
Something else I can add is that Wally and Mike are like C.I.'s kids. I'm serious, C.I. is very protective of them. C.I.'s protective of all of us but those two, and they know it (you can ask them), C.I. is just super protective of them. That's true of anyone who starts up a site but it's also because they are the youngest. I'll leave it at that but Mike's written about it and he knows just what I'm talking about. With the rest of us, to give an example, if someone told C.I. they didn't care for our sites, the response would be, "Well that's your problem." But if they said that about Mike or Wally, C.I. would get ticked off. "They are young college students! Who are you?" (I've actually heard C.I. say to that someone and it should be noted that C.I.'s very protective of college activists period.)
Kat's "My thoughts" is a really good post and one I strongly recommend. She spoke to me about and I believe she did that with everyone. I wish I could say I was thinking, "Hmmm. Someone's on a fast right now. Is this the best time for this?" But I didn't. She makes some strong points and her biggest point is that that's over, it can't be changed. But if something similar happens next time, maybe we could all think (me included, I don't exempt myself) is this really the best time for this?
My cousin showed up tonight with about four friends. I had just fixed a pizza (Trina gave me a recipe, seriously, I did the whole thing myself) and was thinking, "Great. One pizza, six people."
(I put out some pretzels while the pizza was cooking and also opened up a can of black eyed peas, that's really all I had in the apartment. I haven't had time for grocery shopping this week and plan to go in the morning.)
But he reads Mikey Likes It! and was thinking about Mike's group and he thought that we could do something like that. (Mike and his friends put together a group that meets every Friday night to talk about Iraq. That group started off bigger than they planned and has just gotten huge.) Great idea and my only complaint is, next time let me know ahead of time.
So we were talking about Iraq and one point we made that I want to make here is that we don't think you'd be seeing what's going on right now, with Israel bombing this and striking that, if it wasn't for the Bully Boy.
If the Bully Boy hadn't illegally invaded Iraq and started a 'pre-emptive' war, Israel wouldn't have the cover to do what it's doing. There would be a lot of outrage over it. (There is outrage but I don't think it's enough outrage myself.)
When one player in the system disregards the rules, no one else has to follow them. I think we'll see more of this. I think we already have seen it in other ways.
Take Bully Boy's so-called 'war on terror' and the way it's played out in other countries which is basically, if you're a brutal regime and you want to take out some people, you call them 'terrorists.' Maybe they're drug dealers or runners (or maybe you just say they were), well that's a 'terrorist' so kill them.
We are going to be paying for the Bully Boy's actions for years. In this country, we're going to have to deal with all the hatred he's brought on our country. But in terms of conflicts where people might have been encouraged to talk, they don't need to now. If Bully Boy can act alone and do what he wants just because he wants to, if he doesn't have to justify a war (just grab one because he wants one), then none of the other players are going to feel that they have to justify it. They can do what they want as well.
I know a lot of people worry about North Korea, but I'm more worried Israel will use a nuclear bomb. If they did, that's it. There is no hope of peace in the Middle East, in my opinion. If they use one of their nuclear weapons, there will be so much outrage (even if our journalists bend over backwards to justify it -- which is what they do with Israel in every other situation), Egypt, Jordan, you're just going to see a never ending war.
I feel sorry for the Israeli people because I can imagine how they're about to be tarred and feathered world wide for the actions of the idiot in charge of their country. I can relate to that. They've got their own Bully Boy and he's out to do as much damage as he can.
Actions have consequences but they also influence other actions and Bully Boy's war on Iraq has given every other bully the excuse they need to destroy whoever and whatever they want. (I think Michael Ratner's talked about how that would happen on Law and Disorder, to give credit. I don't mean just once. I think he's warned about it repeatedly.)
That's it for me, but be sure to read Betty's "The War Paint Council" (that's her latest Betinna chapter).
iraq
martha burk
ms.
ms. magazine
suzanne swift
ann wright
codepink
the kpfa evening news
Thursday, July 13, 2006
CHENEY SWEARS AGAIN
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX - DC.
THIS JUST IN!
HE'S A 'SPECIAL' KIND OF FLAG WAVER.
MUST CREDIT CEDRIC'S BIG MIX & BULLY BOY PRESS.
MUSIC AND GLOBAL GANGSTA AND THE ORIGINAL O.D.B., BEFORE RUSSELL T. JONES EVEN THOUGHT OF THE NAME, VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY LOVES HIS SOME RED, WHITE AND BLUE.
IT'S A SPECIAL KIND OF LOVE, A GREEDY KIND OF LOVE.
IN FACT, BULLY BOY PRESS AND CEDRIC'S BIG MIX HAVE LEARNED THAT THE O.D.B. IN D.C. ESCHEWED THE NORMAL OATH OF OFFICE WHEN SWORN IN TO, IN THE WORDS OF CHENEY, "KEEP IT REAL, KEEP IT DOWN LOW AND KEEP DA BLING-BLING."
MUST CREDIT CEDRIC'S BIG MIX AND BULLY BOY PRESS!
HERE IS THE OATH THE DIRTY V.P. LAID DOWN, FREE STYLE:
I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR
YOU MOTHER F**KERS,
YOU DIRTY DAMN F**KERS,
THAT I WILL SUPPORT
AND DEFEND
ME
AND ONLY ME --
YOU BETTER GET OUT MY WAY
YOU BETTER GET OUT MY WAY.
THAT I WILL PUT ME FIRST
AND FOREMOST
AND THAT ANY PEEP
WHO DON'T GIVE ME MY PROPS
IS AN ENEMY
FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC
THAT I WILL TAKE OUT
WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE
BE THEY A CRITIC
OR THE WIFE OF A CRITIC
NAMED OR UNNAMED
MESS WITH MEA
ND THEY GET PLAMED.
AIN'T NOBODY
NOT DA JOHNNY FED
NOT DA PO-PO
BETTER GET IN MY WAY
'LESS THEY WANT DA BOLO
UPSIDE DA' HEAD.
NO DISRESPEZZY
GOT DA FO-FOS
AND THE YAK YAK
ON MY RIDE
ON DA SIDE
AS I PULL UPAND DO DA' BRINX
I'LL DO WHAT I WANNA
COZ DA REAL SCORE
IS I THINK THAT
THIS COUNTRY STINKS.
WORD!
Related: "Former CIA officer sues Cheney over leak"
Recommended: "Paying attention?"
"Community note"
"Iraq snapshot"
"NYT: 'More Troops May Be Needed in Baghdad, U.S. General Says' (von Zielbauer and Cloud)"
"Yeah, that site's gone. "
"Return from vacation "
"is there a price tag on your ass?"
THIS JUST IN!
HE'S A 'SPECIAL' KIND OF FLAG WAVER.
MUST CREDIT CEDRIC'S BIG MIX & BULLY BOY PRESS.
MUSIC AND GLOBAL GANGSTA AND THE ORIGINAL O.D.B., BEFORE RUSSELL T. JONES EVEN THOUGHT OF THE NAME, VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY LOVES HIS SOME RED, WHITE AND BLUE.
IT'S A SPECIAL KIND OF LOVE, A GREEDY KIND OF LOVE.
IN FACT, BULLY BOY PRESS AND CEDRIC'S BIG MIX HAVE LEARNED THAT THE O.D.B. IN D.C. ESCHEWED THE NORMAL OATH OF OFFICE WHEN SWORN IN TO, IN THE WORDS OF CHENEY, "KEEP IT REAL, KEEP IT DOWN LOW AND KEEP DA BLING-BLING."
MUST CREDIT CEDRIC'S BIG MIX AND BULLY BOY PRESS!
HERE IS THE OATH THE DIRTY V.P. LAID DOWN, FREE STYLE:
I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR
YOU MOTHER F**KERS,
YOU DIRTY DAMN F**KERS,
THAT I WILL SUPPORT
AND DEFEND
ME
AND ONLY ME --
YOU BETTER GET OUT MY WAY
YOU BETTER GET OUT MY WAY.
THAT I WILL PUT ME FIRST
AND FOREMOST
AND THAT ANY PEEP
WHO DON'T GIVE ME MY PROPS
IS AN ENEMY
FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC
THAT I WILL TAKE OUT
WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE
BE THEY A CRITIC
OR THE WIFE OF A CRITIC
NAMED OR UNNAMED
MESS WITH MEA
ND THEY GET PLAMED.
AIN'T NOBODY
NOT DA JOHNNY FED
NOT DA PO-PO
BETTER GET IN MY WAY
'LESS THEY WANT DA BOLO
UPSIDE DA' HEAD.
NO DISRESPEZZY
GOT DA FO-FOS
AND THE YAK YAK
ON MY RIDE
ON DA SIDE
AS I PULL UPAND DO DA' BRINX
I'LL DO WHAT I WANNA
COZ DA REAL SCORE
IS I THINK THAT
THIS COUNTRY STINKS.
WORD!
Related: "Former CIA officer sues Cheney over leak"
Recommended: "Paying attention?"
"Community note"
"Iraq snapshot"
"NYT: 'More Troops May Be Needed in Baghdad, U.S. General Says' (von Zielbauer and Cloud)"
"Yeah, that site's gone. "
"Return from vacation "
"is there a price tag on your ass?"
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Quick thoughts
"Iraq snapshot" (The Common Ills):
Iraq snapshot.
Chaos and violence continue . . . to continue.
And are we surprised? The usual Hawsk strut and pander while the violence claims more lives.Bombings?
As Sandra Lupien noted on today's KPFA's The Morning Show, 2 bombers blew themselves up "outside the so-called Geen Zone." Along with being home to various embedded reporters and their bodygaurds, the Green Zone also houses Iraq's parliament, Defense Ministry, High Criminal Court and the US embassy -- a huge complex, as the AP noted in April, with "21 buildings on 103 acres" which makes it "six times larger than the United Nations compound in New York, and two-thirds the acreage of Washington's National Mall."
The 'grandness' of it all suggests to some that the United States has no intent of handing over power or leaving. On the latter, Robert MacPherson (Mail & Guardian) reports that today, in England, Tony Blair announced England wasn't withdrawing anytime soon and that his wife, Cherie Booth, explained that he wasn't ready to step down. England's prime minister demonstrated what long ago led to him being dubbed the Bully Boy's poodle as he took slams at two nations in a single sentence: "Not for us the malaise of France or the angst of Germany."
In other nonsense, Gulf Times reports the William McCoy (US Army Corps of Engineers, "Major General") believes that, by the end of summer, electricity in Baghdad might be available for eleven hours. That's apparently "eleven hours" on some sort of Operation Happy Talk Clock since McCoy notes that right now electricity is available for six to eight hours -- a claim most media reports dismiss and note the figure is closer to between two and four hours a day.More nonsense comes from Angel Ortiz (the Army Corps seems to have hacks and flacks all over today issuing press releases) who maintains that by the end of the year Falluja will have "clean water" in 80 percent of all homes as well as "an $8 million wireless telecommunications project". Falluja was reduced to rubble in November 2004 (the article notes the need to more "laborers to haul away seemingly endless piles of rubble) and there's been little done to assist or help with many residents of Falluja who fled as the US forces began their attacks nearly two years ago, still homeless. Expect both inflated predictions to be forgotten as the deadlines draw near.
Meanwhile back in the real word, Sunni parliamentarian Ayad al-Samaraie has asked that the United Nations supply peace keepers immediately due to the fact that: "the occupation forces cannot protect the people." This as the Associated Press estimates the chaos and the violence in Iraq today claimed the lives of "at least 47 people nationwide." (Look for the New York Times to pooh-pah that number as they've done with press reports for the last two days -- today with Edward Wong, yesterday with Kirk Semple. If you thought it was hard work selling an illegal war, step back and watch the paper of no record really get down to the business of selling the illegal occupation.)
Early on, the BBC estimated that the bombings in the Green Zone resulted in five deaths and ten injured. Reuters woud place the fatalities at 15 as the day wore on. Al Jazeera notes that in addition to the two bombers who blew themselves up, there was also a car bomb. The BBC notes that police assume the target was "a restaurant frequented by police" while the AP reports that Gufran al-Saadi (female Shi'ite parliamentarian) states that she believes she was the target. The car bomb went of near the restaurant, according to Al Jazeera, while "[a]n Aljazeera witness" place one of the bombers "in front of the governmental compound in the Green Zone".
The BBC reports the kidnapping of Wissam Jabr in Baghdad "an Iraqi foreign ministry official who had been serving as a diplomat in neighbouring Iran." Reuters reports his name as Wissam Abdulla al-Awadi.
Also in Baghdad, Reuters notes that "eight employees of an Iarqge contracting company" were killed when their office was stormed by "gunmen" while the Associated Press notes two bakery workers were shot dead while on the job. CBS and the AP report two more bombs in Baghdad (one under a fuel tanker, the other a car bomb) that resulted in the death of at least four and and twenty-four wounded).
Outside of Baghdad, CBS and the AP report that "an engineer with Iraq's North Oil Co. and his driver" were ambushed and killed in Kirkuk. Reuters reports the shooting deaths of 19 in Baquba and of nine (Iraq soldiers) in Al-Shirqat. And the AP reports that, in Tikrit, three people were wounded when a bomb went off near a "private clinic." Later the three wounded would become two wounded and one dead. Dr. Amira Qassim al-Rubaie died, "the wife of the governor of the dangerous Salahuddin province".
Reuters notes the end of the Sunni boycott of parliament following the kidnapping of Taiseer Najah al-Mashhadani. (No, al-Mashhadani has not been released.) The Associated Press quotes Adnan al-Dulaimi: "We have decied to attend the meetings as of tomorrow in response to the call Muqtada al-Sadr." Various reports note that those holding al-Mashhadani have stated they are treating her as "a guest" and that she will be released in the next few days. Reuters notes that the Iraqi Accordance Front (the Sunni bloc in parliament with 44 seats) has been in contact with the kidnappers.
[. . .]
On July 15th, a rally will be held "at the gates of Ft. Lewis in Tacoma, WA." Courage to Resist is getting the word on that event [and on Suzanne Swift]. Kevin Zeese recently spoke with Max Diorio who explained "resisters need to feel that they are being upheld and supported by people in their communities. To take such a large step into the unknown, it is invaluable for resisters to feel that they'll have people to rely on when they are being persecuted by the US military."
I'm following Mike's lead as many of you may note. I told Mike, leave me my Law and Disorder with real radicals and I'm fine. Anything else I can lose.
I'll operate under the assumption everyone knows what I'm talking about. If not, oh well.
As an African-American male, I have no use for the site noted in the now infamous e-mail. I got a call from Keesha, Martha, Brenda, Charlie and then I lost track. By the time Mike called me, I said, "People are outraged."
He replied with something I won't post here.
He said it was his Irish temper but, hey, call it my "African-American temper" if you want but I'm offended as well. I don't know what the hell that e-mail was about and I really don't think sites should be plugged it in to begin with and certainly not that whole Las Vegas crowd.
Like Keesha said, "If they want to play Whiter Than White, play on homey." That's just so insulting on a whole other level (I had to explain it to Mike) to African-Americans. It's like giving a shout out to a Nazi group or something. African-Americans aren't welcome there and there's no a brother or sister I know who doesn't know that.
Sorry to bust any bubbles but the "Deaniacs" was largely a White crowd and that's their claim to fame, creating the "Deaniacs." There's a reason they can't get African-Americans to visit, we're not included, we're not welcome. It's not a surprise to anyone I know. They've all had their horror stories of deleted comments and being told they're a "troll" or something else for raising issues of race. And I'm talking two years ago.
So this isn't going to cause me to lose any sweat if we're not noting it anymore. Leave me my Law & Disorder and I'm fine. I feel bad for C.I. because I'm sure C.I.'s catching all the ___ on this. I'll also be real honest and say I think it's especially a slap in the face to C.I. I'll say it because no one else will. But come on, not even Mike, who really supported that show, gave it the kind of links C.I. did.
When people were griping last week, C.I. had to beg to get the weekend highlight because the attitude of the three who usually do it was, "I'm not doing it." Then Francisco finally did because C.I. called and asked personally.
So I'm sure some anger from the community is over that. The Common Ills Google Rank is 6/10. I wonder what that site's rank is. It's 8/10.
And The Common Ills mirror site is 4/10. So, if we add the two together, by Google rank, C.I.'s got a ten. That's not counting the copy and paste e-mails for those who can't access it directly outside the US.
So it's nonsense on that level and I'll be the only one to say it but that's fine.
I can live with that.
I wouldn't have known about the show if it weren't for C.I. I'll take a breather from the show now that may end up a permanent vacation. (I'll go with what C.I. decides. I'd call but I'm sure C.I.'s dealt with enough ___ tonight.)
But like I was telling Mike, "You're mad but you really need to talk some members who are African-American." That's who's really mad. Billie is furious and she sent me a blistering e-mail about how once again we're supposed to do, "What's right for White and treat ourselves like second class citizens."
That's what it feels like and, thing is, they probably don't even grasp that (e-mail senders). They never do. "It's big! Everyone must love it!"
But there's no African-American presence and the biggest person of any color is a corporate attorney, come on. Use your brains, people.
If you're left, you're left. If they'd linked to a left site, I wouldn't have cared. But to link to a non-left site that's not welcoming to people with my skin color? Yeah, it bothers me.
What really bothers me is how C.I. will handle it. I know last week was a ___-storm of e-mails and C.I. kept linking and taking ___ for it.
Well, we've got other things to focus on and like we realized the hard way at Third, we're not here to cheerlead. You think someone's worth listening because they're anti-war then they toss on two propagandist for a full hour and trash the caller who complains (rightly) that the whole thing is biased. That was my wake up call.
Give me the radicals who don't hide it or try to act all "Miss Daisy, I's uh so sorry."
But I am offended for C.I. I know how much time C.I. put into promoting that show and how many people did pick it up. So just because someone rights, "Hey guys, why don't we note ___ more" at a dopey website, they decide they're going to link to it?
C.I.'s not going to care on that level because The Common Ills isn't "a life." If I had C.I.'s money, I wouldn't care either. (Rebecca calls it the "F-you money.") But Gina wrote about that nasty trashing C.I. got and that seemed pretty obvious. (C.I. didn't hear it. The one time C.I.'s not listening! That still makes me laugh. I picture the guy planning that out and thinking, "I'll offer my two-cents worth.") C.I.'s attitude was, "Well, I guess they don't want my money anymore. No problem." (The issue was a lot more complicated than it was made out to be on that interview. Rebecca was planning to post on the fifth before she left but I ended up going, "Hey, Gina called me, what's going on?" and I got the 411 and then some.)
But on another level, and this is why I say it's part of the anger, we are all The Common Ills. It really isn't "what I want to write about" there. So consider it a gob of spit on all of us. (Mike kept calling it a gob of a spit on the phone.)
The fact of that matter is that on most issues, it's C.I.'s calling it out and putting it out there. The left (not the radicals) wants to be liked and mainstreamed. So they avoid Dexter Filkins day after day. They avoid that he lied about Falluja. They don't take him on.
It's easy to beat up on Judy Miller and some people are still doing that. But reality is that there's no excuse for Filkins and after Falluja, he should be called to the carpet. If we had a real left, he would be. People would say, "Forget Judy Miller, let's talk Filkins."
So that's my attitude on it. Send me to a place that basically says "Whites Only" says to me you're not too concerned about me. (If C.I. reads this: I know they do good work. I know that everyone makes a mistake. I'm being nice by not naming them. Let me just call this "a Black thing." You don't have to be fair to everyone.)
But after last week, I'm pretty much 'disenchanted' already.
Then you had that pro-war thing on another program and then last week's kiss my ass (because that's what it was) to C.I. and I'm really not interested in 'helping' a lot of people these days.
On that kiss my ass, maybe the guy should consider that it's C.I.'s money so it's C.I.'s decision how to spend it, how to contribute it and no one else's?
I know he got his digs in but I think he came off like a begger. And I mean, I do give to the homeless. Not a lot, I don't have a lot. But if I give a buck, the man or woman I'm giving it to is grateful for it. They don't say, "A buck? I can't live on a buck." That guy just came off like an idiot who seems to think it's C.I.'s job to be a bankroll.
So my attitude is screw 'em all.
C.I.'s only comment on that was, "Well that's one more way I can use my donations for causes and not organizations."
I really did think that guy came off like a greedy jerk. It's not my place to tell C.I. who to donate to and who not to but I hope a lot of stuff that's going down means some strong re-evaluating.
Nobody should say, "Thank you, let me kiss your ass." But they shouldn't be disrespectful either. That's just basic. I have to wonder how that guy was raised.
The really sad thing, and Ty was talking about this, is that this should be a time for the left but instead of trying to get their ideas across, they water them down and try to get weak ideas across. They then accuse the Democrats of doing that (which they are) but they're doing the same thing. It's like they don't really believe in their ideas (shades of Fraudan). All you hear is how unfair the media is and you can't get a free exchange of ideas then they get a spot and they do the same thing.
Screw 'em all. If I was C.I., I'd never mention any of those cowards again. Hell, if I was C.I., I probably wouldn't do anything but sit out by the pool day after day. Which C.I. won't do so it goes therefore that the first thing won't be done either.
But they hurt themselves. Not just because of money but because when they pull that sort of nonsense, they show that they're not really any better than the people they criticize. They'll do anything for a little attention. It's like the Democratic Party. They're not interested in inspiring new voters, they want the swing voters.
That's why the left can't get off the ground still, even after six years of the Bully Boy. They'll sell out their beliefs in a minute. And tell themselves it's just this one time and they'll still be the same and then they end up just like the people they criticize.
Mike asked me what I thought and all I could think was, "Thank God that Rebecca's on vacation." She was already furious before she left.
Iraq snapshot.
Chaos and violence continue . . . to continue.
And are we surprised? The usual Hawsk strut and pander while the violence claims more lives.Bombings?
As Sandra Lupien noted on today's KPFA's The Morning Show, 2 bombers blew themselves up "outside the so-called Geen Zone." Along with being home to various embedded reporters and their bodygaurds, the Green Zone also houses Iraq's parliament, Defense Ministry, High Criminal Court and the US embassy -- a huge complex, as the AP noted in April, with "21 buildings on 103 acres" which makes it "six times larger than the United Nations compound in New York, and two-thirds the acreage of Washington's National Mall."
The 'grandness' of it all suggests to some that the United States has no intent of handing over power or leaving. On the latter, Robert MacPherson (Mail & Guardian) reports that today, in England, Tony Blair announced England wasn't withdrawing anytime soon and that his wife, Cherie Booth, explained that he wasn't ready to step down. England's prime minister demonstrated what long ago led to him being dubbed the Bully Boy's poodle as he took slams at two nations in a single sentence: "Not for us the malaise of France or the angst of Germany."
In other nonsense, Gulf Times reports the William McCoy (US Army Corps of Engineers, "Major General") believes that, by the end of summer, electricity in Baghdad might be available for eleven hours. That's apparently "eleven hours" on some sort of Operation Happy Talk Clock since McCoy notes that right now electricity is available for six to eight hours -- a claim most media reports dismiss and note the figure is closer to between two and four hours a day.More nonsense comes from Angel Ortiz (the Army Corps seems to have hacks and flacks all over today issuing press releases) who maintains that by the end of the year Falluja will have "clean water" in 80 percent of all homes as well as "an $8 million wireless telecommunications project". Falluja was reduced to rubble in November 2004 (the article notes the need to more "laborers to haul away seemingly endless piles of rubble) and there's been little done to assist or help with many residents of Falluja who fled as the US forces began their attacks nearly two years ago, still homeless. Expect both inflated predictions to be forgotten as the deadlines draw near.
Meanwhile back in the real word, Sunni parliamentarian Ayad al-Samaraie has asked that the United Nations supply peace keepers immediately due to the fact that: "the occupation forces cannot protect the people." This as the Associated Press estimates the chaos and the violence in Iraq today claimed the lives of "at least 47 people nationwide." (Look for the New York Times to pooh-pah that number as they've done with press reports for the last two days -- today with Edward Wong, yesterday with Kirk Semple. If you thought it was hard work selling an illegal war, step back and watch the paper of no record really get down to the business of selling the illegal occupation.)
Early on, the BBC estimated that the bombings in the Green Zone resulted in five deaths and ten injured. Reuters woud place the fatalities at 15 as the day wore on. Al Jazeera notes that in addition to the two bombers who blew themselves up, there was also a car bomb. The BBC notes that police assume the target was "a restaurant frequented by police" while the AP reports that Gufran al-Saadi (female Shi'ite parliamentarian) states that she believes she was the target. The car bomb went of near the restaurant, according to Al Jazeera, while "[a]n Aljazeera witness" place one of the bombers "in front of the governmental compound in the Green Zone".
The BBC reports the kidnapping of Wissam Jabr in Baghdad "an Iraqi foreign ministry official who had been serving as a diplomat in neighbouring Iran." Reuters reports his name as Wissam Abdulla al-Awadi.
Also in Baghdad, Reuters notes that "eight employees of an Iarqge contracting company" were killed when their office was stormed by "gunmen" while the Associated Press notes two bakery workers were shot dead while on the job. CBS and the AP report two more bombs in Baghdad (one under a fuel tanker, the other a car bomb) that resulted in the death of at least four and and twenty-four wounded).
Outside of Baghdad, CBS and the AP report that "an engineer with Iraq's North Oil Co. and his driver" were ambushed and killed in Kirkuk. Reuters reports the shooting deaths of 19 in Baquba and of nine (Iraq soldiers) in Al-Shirqat. And the AP reports that, in Tikrit, three people were wounded when a bomb went off near a "private clinic." Later the three wounded would become two wounded and one dead. Dr. Amira Qassim al-Rubaie died, "the wife of the governor of the dangerous Salahuddin province".
Reuters notes the end of the Sunni boycott of parliament following the kidnapping of Taiseer Najah al-Mashhadani. (No, al-Mashhadani has not been released.) The Associated Press quotes Adnan al-Dulaimi: "We have decied to attend the meetings as of tomorrow in response to the call Muqtada al-Sadr." Various reports note that those holding al-Mashhadani have stated they are treating her as "a guest" and that she will be released in the next few days. Reuters notes that the Iraqi Accordance Front (the Sunni bloc in parliament with 44 seats) has been in contact with the kidnappers.
[. . .]
On July 15th, a rally will be held "at the gates of Ft. Lewis in Tacoma, WA." Courage to Resist is getting the word on that event [and on Suzanne Swift]. Kevin Zeese recently spoke with Max Diorio who explained "resisters need to feel that they are being upheld and supported by people in their communities. To take such a large step into the unknown, it is invaluable for resisters to feel that they'll have people to rely on when they are being persecuted by the US military."
I'm following Mike's lead as many of you may note. I told Mike, leave me my Law and Disorder with real radicals and I'm fine. Anything else I can lose.
I'll operate under the assumption everyone knows what I'm talking about. If not, oh well.
As an African-American male, I have no use for the site noted in the now infamous e-mail. I got a call from Keesha, Martha, Brenda, Charlie and then I lost track. By the time Mike called me, I said, "People are outraged."
He replied with something I won't post here.
He said it was his Irish temper but, hey, call it my "African-American temper" if you want but I'm offended as well. I don't know what the hell that e-mail was about and I really don't think sites should be plugged it in to begin with and certainly not that whole Las Vegas crowd.
Like Keesha said, "If they want to play Whiter Than White, play on homey." That's just so insulting on a whole other level (I had to explain it to Mike) to African-Americans. It's like giving a shout out to a Nazi group or something. African-Americans aren't welcome there and there's no a brother or sister I know who doesn't know that.
Sorry to bust any bubbles but the "Deaniacs" was largely a White crowd and that's their claim to fame, creating the "Deaniacs." There's a reason they can't get African-Americans to visit, we're not included, we're not welcome. It's not a surprise to anyone I know. They've all had their horror stories of deleted comments and being told they're a "troll" or something else for raising issues of race. And I'm talking two years ago.
So this isn't going to cause me to lose any sweat if we're not noting it anymore. Leave me my Law & Disorder and I'm fine. I feel bad for C.I. because I'm sure C.I.'s catching all the ___ on this. I'll also be real honest and say I think it's especially a slap in the face to C.I. I'll say it because no one else will. But come on, not even Mike, who really supported that show, gave it the kind of links C.I. did.
When people were griping last week, C.I. had to beg to get the weekend highlight because the attitude of the three who usually do it was, "I'm not doing it." Then Francisco finally did because C.I. called and asked personally.
So I'm sure some anger from the community is over that. The Common Ills Google Rank is 6/10. I wonder what that site's rank is. It's 8/10.
And The Common Ills mirror site is 4/10. So, if we add the two together, by Google rank, C.I.'s got a ten. That's not counting the copy and paste e-mails for those who can't access it directly outside the US.
So it's nonsense on that level and I'll be the only one to say it but that's fine.
I can live with that.
I wouldn't have known about the show if it weren't for C.I. I'll take a breather from the show now that may end up a permanent vacation. (I'll go with what C.I. decides. I'd call but I'm sure C.I.'s dealt with enough ___ tonight.)
But like I was telling Mike, "You're mad but you really need to talk some members who are African-American." That's who's really mad. Billie is furious and she sent me a blistering e-mail about how once again we're supposed to do, "What's right for White and treat ourselves like second class citizens."
That's what it feels like and, thing is, they probably don't even grasp that (e-mail senders). They never do. "It's big! Everyone must love it!"
But there's no African-American presence and the biggest person of any color is a corporate attorney, come on. Use your brains, people.
If you're left, you're left. If they'd linked to a left site, I wouldn't have cared. But to link to a non-left site that's not welcoming to people with my skin color? Yeah, it bothers me.
What really bothers me is how C.I. will handle it. I know last week was a ___-storm of e-mails and C.I. kept linking and taking ___ for it.
Well, we've got other things to focus on and like we realized the hard way at Third, we're not here to cheerlead. You think someone's worth listening because they're anti-war then they toss on two propagandist for a full hour and trash the caller who complains (rightly) that the whole thing is biased. That was my wake up call.
Give me the radicals who don't hide it or try to act all "Miss Daisy, I's uh so sorry."
But I am offended for C.I. I know how much time C.I. put into promoting that show and how many people did pick it up. So just because someone rights, "Hey guys, why don't we note ___ more" at a dopey website, they decide they're going to link to it?
C.I.'s not going to care on that level because The Common Ills isn't "a life." If I had C.I.'s money, I wouldn't care either. (Rebecca calls it the "F-you money.") But Gina wrote about that nasty trashing C.I. got and that seemed pretty obvious. (C.I. didn't hear it. The one time C.I.'s not listening! That still makes me laugh. I picture the guy planning that out and thinking, "I'll offer my two-cents worth.") C.I.'s attitude was, "Well, I guess they don't want my money anymore. No problem." (The issue was a lot more complicated than it was made out to be on that interview. Rebecca was planning to post on the fifth before she left but I ended up going, "Hey, Gina called me, what's going on?" and I got the 411 and then some.)
But on another level, and this is why I say it's part of the anger, we are all The Common Ills. It really isn't "what I want to write about" there. So consider it a gob of spit on all of us. (Mike kept calling it a gob of a spit on the phone.)
The fact of that matter is that on most issues, it's C.I.'s calling it out and putting it out there. The left (not the radicals) wants to be liked and mainstreamed. So they avoid Dexter Filkins day after day. They avoid that he lied about Falluja. They don't take him on.
It's easy to beat up on Judy Miller and some people are still doing that. But reality is that there's no excuse for Filkins and after Falluja, he should be called to the carpet. If we had a real left, he would be. People would say, "Forget Judy Miller, let's talk Filkins."
So that's my attitude on it. Send me to a place that basically says "Whites Only" says to me you're not too concerned about me. (If C.I. reads this: I know they do good work. I know that everyone makes a mistake. I'm being nice by not naming them. Let me just call this "a Black thing." You don't have to be fair to everyone.)
But after last week, I'm pretty much 'disenchanted' already.
Then you had that pro-war thing on another program and then last week's kiss my ass (because that's what it was) to C.I. and I'm really not interested in 'helping' a lot of people these days.
On that kiss my ass, maybe the guy should consider that it's C.I.'s money so it's C.I.'s decision how to spend it, how to contribute it and no one else's?
I know he got his digs in but I think he came off like a begger. And I mean, I do give to the homeless. Not a lot, I don't have a lot. But if I give a buck, the man or woman I'm giving it to is grateful for it. They don't say, "A buck? I can't live on a buck." That guy just came off like an idiot who seems to think it's C.I.'s job to be a bankroll.
So my attitude is screw 'em all.
C.I.'s only comment on that was, "Well that's one more way I can use my donations for causes and not organizations."
I really did think that guy came off like a greedy jerk. It's not my place to tell C.I. who to donate to and who not to but I hope a lot of stuff that's going down means some strong re-evaluating.
Nobody should say, "Thank you, let me kiss your ass." But they shouldn't be disrespectful either. That's just basic. I have to wonder how that guy was raised.
The really sad thing, and Ty was talking about this, is that this should be a time for the left but instead of trying to get their ideas across, they water them down and try to get weak ideas across. They then accuse the Democrats of doing that (which they are) but they're doing the same thing. It's like they don't really believe in their ideas (shades of Fraudan). All you hear is how unfair the media is and you can't get a free exchange of ideas then they get a spot and they do the same thing.
Screw 'em all. If I was C.I., I'd never mention any of those cowards again. Hell, if I was C.I., I probably wouldn't do anything but sit out by the pool day after day. Which C.I. won't do so it goes therefore that the first thing won't be done either.
But they hurt themselves. Not just because of money but because when they pull that sort of nonsense, they show that they're not really any better than the people they criticize. They'll do anything for a little attention. It's like the Democratic Party. They're not interested in inspiring new voters, they want the swing voters.
That's why the left can't get off the ground still, even after six years of the Bully Boy. They'll sell out their beliefs in a minute. And tell themselves it's just this one time and they'll still be the same and then they end up just like the people they criticize.
Mike asked me what I thought and all I could think was, "Thank God that Rebecca's on vacation." She was already furious before she left.
Monday, July 10, 2006
ANOTHER BULLY BOY PRESS & BIG MIX (HUMOROUS) EXCLUSIVE
BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX - DC.
THIS JUST IN!
ASSOCIATED PRESS BREAKS CHILD LABOR LAW!
MUST CREDIT CEDRIC'S BIG MIX & BULLY BOY PRESS!
REMINDER:
The minimum age for employment is 14 years old. There are some exceptions such as newspaper delivery; performing in radio, television, movie, or theatrical productions; and work for parents in their solely-owned nonfarm business (except in manufacturing or in hazardous jobs).
THAT IS THE LAW. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS IN VIOLATION.
MUST CREDIT CEDRIC'S BIG MIX & BULLY BOY PRESS!
A CHILD UNDER 10 IS WRITING FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS!
THE LITTLE BOY'S NAME IS GEORGE GEDDA.
TODAY HE ACCIDENTALLY OUTS HIS AGE WHEN HE WRITES:
There are still disagreements over such issues as global warming, the death penalty and the U.S.-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, but it is still hard to remember a time when U.S.-German relations were on a sounder footing.
PROVING THAT HE HAS NO MEMORY OF U.S. AND GERMAN RELATIONS PRIOR TO THE BULLY BOY'S OCCUPATION OF THE OVAL OFFICE, GEORGE GEDDA OUTS HIMSELF AS UNDER 10 SINCE ANYONE OLDER WOULD BE ABLE TO REMEMBER A TIME WHEN RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES "WERE ON A SOUNDER FOOTING."
MOST RECENTLY THAT TIME WAS CALLED "THE CLINTON ERA."
Recommended: "And the war drags on . . ."
"Democracy Now: Medea Benjamin, Robert Scheer"
"NYT: Worth reports, Dexy role plays"
"War as an after thought"
"About Rebecca"
"Music, movies and Andrea Lewis"
"Law and Disorder on the Green Scare"
"NYT: 'Baghdad Erupts in Mob Violence' (Kirk Semple)"
"Ruth's Public Radio Report Pt. I""Ruth's Public Radio Report Pt. II"
"NYT: What's covered, what's not"
"Other Items (Robert Scheer on Democracy Now! today)"
"RadioNation with Laura Flanders: Sat. Ann Wright, Kris Delmhorst; Sunday: Robert Scheer, Dr. Mona"
"Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts 'Freudian Slip the World's Waiting On'"
A Note to Our Readers
Editorial: American wants the war over now
TV: Supernatural -- a tale of bad TV
Things to Ponder This Summer
Ehren Watada
Ehren Watada in song form
Thoughts on a Saturday Times column
Little Liars Lie Dirt Cheap
The Damage Done?
Iraq coverage for today through last Monday
THIS JUST IN!
ASSOCIATED PRESS BREAKS CHILD LABOR LAW!
MUST CREDIT CEDRIC'S BIG MIX & BULLY BOY PRESS!
REMINDER:
The minimum age for employment is 14 years old. There are some exceptions such as newspaper delivery; performing in radio, television, movie, or theatrical productions; and work for parents in their solely-owned nonfarm business (except in manufacturing or in hazardous jobs).
THAT IS THE LAW. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS IN VIOLATION.
MUST CREDIT CEDRIC'S BIG MIX & BULLY BOY PRESS!
A CHILD UNDER 10 IS WRITING FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS!
THE LITTLE BOY'S NAME IS GEORGE GEDDA.
TODAY HE ACCIDENTALLY OUTS HIS AGE WHEN HE WRITES:
There are still disagreements over such issues as global warming, the death penalty and the U.S.-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, but it is still hard to remember a time when U.S.-German relations were on a sounder footing.
PROVING THAT HE HAS NO MEMORY OF U.S. AND GERMAN RELATIONS PRIOR TO THE BULLY BOY'S OCCUPATION OF THE OVAL OFFICE, GEORGE GEDDA OUTS HIMSELF AS UNDER 10 SINCE ANYONE OLDER WOULD BE ABLE TO REMEMBER A TIME WHEN RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES "WERE ON A SOUNDER FOOTING."
MOST RECENTLY THAT TIME WAS CALLED "THE CLINTON ERA."
Recommended: "And the war drags on . . ."
"Democracy Now: Medea Benjamin, Robert Scheer"
"NYT: Worth reports, Dexy role plays"
"War as an after thought"
"About Rebecca"
"Music, movies and Andrea Lewis"
"Law and Disorder on the Green Scare"
"NYT: 'Baghdad Erupts in Mob Violence' (Kirk Semple)"
"Ruth's Public Radio Report Pt. I""Ruth's Public Radio Report Pt. II"
"NYT: What's covered, what's not"
"Other Items (Robert Scheer on Democracy Now! today)"
"RadioNation with Laura Flanders: Sat. Ann Wright, Kris Delmhorst; Sunday: Robert Scheer, Dr. Mona"
"Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts 'Freudian Slip the World's Waiting On'"
A Note to Our Readers
Editorial: American wants the war over now
TV: Supernatural -- a tale of bad TV
Things to Ponder This Summer
Ehren Watada
Ehren Watada in song form
Thoughts on a Saturday Times column
Little Liars Lie Dirt Cheap
The Damage Done?
Iraq coverage for today through last Monday
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