A Farewell to Justice. Know the book? It's by Joan Mellen. It's not named but noted, in the negative, by Max Blumenthal's "The JFK Lawyer's Conspiracy." The Nation has never been eager to veer from the official line on the assassination of JFK. C.I. rightly compared this to your friend with a food allergy. You accept that they're allergic to it and move on.
That's the magazine. Blumenthal's made his calling to go around screaming "conspiracy theorist" whenever questions are asked. We won't say he's debunked, because he can't debunk and doesn't really try to. What he does is toss out his own witnesses and say, "Those other people can't be trusted!"
If there's nothing new to see, if that's the thrust of the article, we'd kindly suggest that the magazine find something else to write about. The position of The Nation is and has always been one of supporting the Warren Commission. As readers of The Nation (eight of us are subscribers, some, like Elaine purchase each issue at the bookstore), we don't think we're paying for repeats. We also don't think that if the magazine's position is "Nothing to see here" they should waste pages on the subject. There are too many things going on today that need coverage.
A Farewell to Justice, by Joan Mellen, is a book that we've now all read. Ruth noted Mellen's appearence on Law and Disorder back in November:
There were many topics discussed but I will note the one that holds everyone's interest when I mention it, author Joan Mellen about her forthcoming book A Farewell to Justice: Jim Garrison, JFK's Assassination, and the Case That Should Have Changed History. [C.I. note: This book will be released Tuesday, November the 15th.] Utilizing documents from the National Archives, Mellen explores new data on the JFK assassination. The discussion included noting that the late Hale Boggs, House Majority Leader and father of Cokie Roberts, was the one who first steered Jim Garrison to questions regarding the Warren Report. Ms. Mellen draws strong conclusions and if you are interested in them, you should listen to the broadcast. [Dallas note: Again, click here and scroll down to November 7th.]
Mellen's making an argument and she's doing it the way you should, she's utilizing witnesses and documents. If you don't buy her argument, you don't buy it.
But you don't get a sense of argument in Blumenthal's article. He's not interested in her book, just in discouraging any questions of the official narrative.
This week, C.I. wrote about the article and the result was a lost link. Jess and Ava wanted an "on the record statement" regarding that.
C.I.: Someone was bothered by Mellen's book and my recommending it. I'm not surprised. The easiest thing in the world to write about is what everyone else is going to write about. If you're going to take the easy road, why even write anything? That might be an argument Mellen would make for the book, for writing the book. When the e-mails started coming in that day complaining about Blumenthal's article, Jess and Ava had advised me of it over the phone before I started dictating that entry to a friend. There was a way to address visiters complaints that I hadn't addressed an advertisement The Nation had run with that article and to get it across to the community that The Nation will never question the official narrative. I don't think it crossed my mind at that point that Mellen's book itself would make some uncomfortable. I think I was too busy trying to dictate the entry so it could go up on the site. When the link to The Common Ills was pulled, that's probably the first time I thought about it and my attitude then was, "No loss." I'd rather talk about something that some people are too uncomfortable to touch. There is a group think that goes on and I think it's important to buck that.
Ava: What did you think of the book?
C.I.: I couldn't put it down. I was very worried, I read it straight through, as the end approached because I'd read Joan Mellen's Hammett & Hellman and the last chapter of that had disappointed me. I felt like there was a bit more to tell about [Lillian] Hellman. I didn't think it was a bad book, but I felt like it ended too quickly. A "problem," possibly, more books should suffer from. But Ruth had recommended the book strongly and when you read it, if you read it, we've all read it here, you see why that is. And the ending worked perfectly in this book. I thought Mellen wrote a fascinating book from start to finish.
We agree that it's important to avoid group think. (As our roundtables and book discussions attest, we do not practice group think and aren't afraid to disagree with one another.) We've all read the book and can't imagine why it would frighten Max Blumenthal so. But it did. When a book frightens, we think you should consider reading it.
When people start screaming "conspiracy nut!" we feel the response is to step back. The mainstream press tarred and feathered Cynthia McKinney falsely (see Greg Palast's The Best Democracy Money Can Buy) as a "conspiracy nut!" They had to invent a quote for her to do that, but it didn't stop them from doing it.
We're aware of the way Gary Webb was savaged, including by some on the left or "left," as a "conspiracy nut" and aware that his argument was backed up later by a CIA report. When the attacks come from the left or "left" you can look at them and think CIA loyalist or worse. Or you can just see it, as we do, as the result of group think.
We're sure your familiar with group think. Maybe you see it in the classroom, where someone's afraid to offer an alternate opinion and everyone nods along in agreement instead. Or maybe you see it at your job where no one dares question the boss? Group think is all around us.
Step out of line and you might be slapped with a ruler. If you're a reporter, step out of line and you might lose access. Maybe NPR won't put you on the air? Maybe Cokie Roberts will say something bad about you? Maybe Newsweek reporters will openly mock you?
It takes bravery to take a stand that's outside of the norm. We think Mellen wrote a brave book. We think it's one worth reading. We feel that needs to be stated because if anyone linking to us has a problem with that, they should know it upfront. That's this site and all the community sites. We're not all in the position C.I. is where links don't matter. Some of the rest of us would love to increase our readers. (The Common Ills has members and visiters, no readers, and Jim is typing this before C.I. can state that.)
But we're not going to go along to get along. We're not going to play "the game" so that we can get back pats and shout outs. At this site, our readers know that about us. They know we'll speak our mind. That's true of the entire community and, true, we're lucky because we've never had to suck up to "players" because we've ridden the community coat tails. A lot of sites don't have that option. They've got to do shout outs constantly and prostrate themselves before their designated blog gods for a morsel of attention that might steer a little traffic there way. We consider those embarrassing sites. They tend to write things like, "We don't need to make fun of James Dobson, we need to try to find a way to get along with him." (Yes, someone really wrote that nonsense and considers himself to be a left blogger.)
We're not sure where the web is headed but we're troubled by a lot of signals that seem to be flashing these days. You'll hear the need for a code of ethics. Excuse us? We'd assume you'd follow your own ethical guidelines not require that a set of guidelines you never wrote be imposed upon you. That's how newspapers function. Each has their own guidelines. But there's a need to turn blogging into some sort of a "profession."
C.I., due to family history, knows quite well how "professionalism" was used to water down reporting. We've noted it here before but we try to be professional without being a professional (phrase stolen from Michelle Phillips). We're also bothered by the emegence of gatekeepers, the net's own Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldsons, Gwen Ifells . . . A lot of net space has been wasted with talk of "tone." People rushed to give props to a New Republican who felt the "tone" was shocking. That would be The New Republican that cheerleaded the war. (Which one? As Marty points out, every one.) It was sites like BuzzFlash and Bartcop, with their attitude (which we don't consider a bad word) that led the online challenges to this administration. They didn't do it by fretting about "tone."
And as C.I. can tell you from family history, those letters to the editors composed with careful thought out "tone" don't do a bit of good. We honestly wonder if the writers of them send them in thinking, "Bill Keller's going to be so impressed with my good manners I'm going to change his mind!" or "Bill Keller's going to be so impressed with my good manners, he's going to offer me a job!" Maybe it's something else entirely. But C.I. can tell you that the letters that bother a publisher or an editor aren't the ones minding their "tone." The letters that state their opinion in a to the point manner do linger. A publisher can spend the whole weekend fuming about an angry letter. You're carefully worded, on-the-one-hand-but-on-the-other letter is forgotten as soon as the assistant reads it.
When that was explained to us, the weekend we started this site, we thought, "Interesting." If someone else needs proof, all you have to do is look at Bill Keller's public statements. When he whines to the press, it's about the angry letters. Keller's never given out a quote about the "reasoned arm chair critics." But he's publicly blasted the arm chair critics who've taken him to task. He had a meltdown with FAIR readers not all that long ago.
What's happened with the web is that a multitude of voices have come along to critique. Now a New Republican, who frequently contributes to the paper of record, wants to whine about "tone."
Of course he does. He writes for The Times. He writes for The New Republican. Those aren't brave voices of the left. The New Republican produced a lot of gasbags for the right. It also produced a lot of weak "left" types who go on the chat and chews and conceed this point and conceed that point. (The good writers, Murray Waas for example, left the rag and can and have spoken of how un-left it is.)
"Where's the spine in the party?" is a question you hear about the Democratic Party quite often. It's in the grass roots. The leaders are too busy worrying about "tone" and how to make nice that they can't focus on spine. There are many ways the Republicans set the terms of any debate. One way is not worrying about "tone" or what The New York Times might write about them. The press loves it and follows along meekly.
"Tone" is not an "issue" we worry about. We worry about the war. We worry about the Patriot Act. We worry about our democracy and the state of the union. About the poor. Go down the list. "Tone" it's somewhere down below the humidity on our lists. There are too many battles to be fought for us to play Miss Manners.
Some of us are apt to word more kindly than others, but none of us have a problem calling a liar a "liar" or calling a fool a "fool." Those are our judgements and our opinions. We'll assume anyone reading anything we write will grasp that and that those who can't have problems that go far beyond our "tone."
When Rebecca took on a foolish group that wants to privatize Social Security and prides itself on how bipartisan it is (Dem-lites square dance with Republicans), one of the fools took issue with the fact that his hair had been made fun of. He told her that if she wanted to discuss him, she should stick to his policies. (As Rebecca noted, that wasn't even possible because the organization does not allow you to quote from their policy papers -- quote from, quote -- without permission.) He had a dorky haircut. (He may still have.) He wanted to whine to Rebecca about all the things that were going on in his life the day his professional photo was taken. Well, here's an answer for the fool, take another picture. Don't post the picture online.
(As Rebecca noted, he wasn't at all worried about what she had said about the haircuts and clothes of his presumed friends in the organization.) Rebecca can and will criticize whatever she wants. That's her right. (Need we add "as an American"?)
You don't impose a "tone" on others. You don't set the terms for debate. If you are an adult male professional with a chili bowl haircut, we all think that's worth commenting on. On Roseanne, even DJ dropped that dorky haircut as he entered his teen years. That a middle-aged man still wants to sport it . . . We say, "Go for it, Rebecca." And go for anything you want.
You saw a meltdown online this week (or maybe you saw it, no one really visits that site) where a scold felt the need to scream at the left that they were awful for their Cheney jokes. Awful?
Cheney shot a man. That's news. The jokes? They've lowered Cheney's image. He's not the tough spoken v.p. He's the man who shot a hunting buddy. That's his freeze frame now. Short of embarrassing himself more, that's how he is now remembered.
C.I. spoke at The Common Ills recently of Hillary Clinton and how the Republicans and press attempts to paint her as "too angry" would never go over. Her freeze frame comes from the Monica months where America saw her as a woman who held her head high in a very difficult time. Angry? It's not going to play to anyone but the extreme right that's been rabid on her for years.
If you think Bob Dylan, you think of him in the sixties. There's a moment in time that every public figure is frozen in. Some get more than one, so you end up with dueling postage stamps of Thin Elvis and Fat Elvis. Or you get Tina Turner with the long, straight wig and Tina Turner of the comeback eighties. But most people have one freeze frame, one image that will follow them throughout their lives. For Cheney, it's now the hunting accident.
Anytime he wants to try to strike fear in the public again, a sizeable portion of the audience will be listening with one ear as they crack jokes about his hunting trip. Don't knock the mock, C.I. has often pointed out. Never rule out the power of humor. Political humor (printed, spoken or drawn) has a long history in this country. That's why the Republicans use terms like "Ozone Man." They know it's effective.
None of us last week heard the man shot made fun of. We heard Cheney made fun of. A scold wanted to scream, "It's shameful!" It wasn't at all. It was funny. We're sorry you didn't think so but we thought it was funny (especially Wally's posts at The Daily Jot) and we laughed. The nation laughed.
The Republican talking points right now are that he's recovered from it. He hasn't. He will never recover from that moment. That moment is his freeze frame, his defining moment (unless he embarrasses himself further) and we say "Good for you" to everyone who took part in the jokes. He's gone from Darth Cheney to the laughingstock of a nation. We think that's a good thing. He can mutter "mushroom cloud" in that sinister, soft spoken tone all he wants but he's about as threatening now as Dr. Evil. He's not taken seriously. Talking points aside, he's not taken seriously.
If the scold was in charge of the net, a number of voices would be banished and banned right now. Fortunately the scold's not in charge. But no one should be. Ideas and expressions should be able to get a fair hearing. Gatekeepers don't like that. They want to say, "Don't talk about that! Don't talk about it and don't talk it about that way!" Or, "You can talk about this subject but you have to do it in this manner." We must be missing that subsection of the First Amendment because we can't find it.
Here's the way we read it:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free excercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assmelbe, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
We don't see a damn thing in there about "tone" or a list of subjects which can and cannot be discussed. Free speech is free speech. Sometimes it's beautiful, sometimes it's ugly, most of the time it's messy. That's the beauty of a democracy.
Joan Mellen's written a book we recommend strongly. We think it has far more value than anything Blumenthal's written (either a single article or the entire body of his work). A Farewell to Justice: Jim Garrison, JFK's Assassination, and the Case That Should Have Changed History is worth reading. If you've already got a list of books to read or you need more convincing, we'll steer you to two online items. First, Rebecca had an amazing dream when she read the book, who knows what influence it will have on you. Second, especially if you're thinking "That was so long ago," you can check out the text to the speech Joan Mellen gave entitled "HOW THE FAILURE TO IDENTIFY, PROSECUTE AND CONVICT PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S ASSASSINS HAS LED TO TODAY'S CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY." We think most of our readers will be interested in A Farewell to Justice.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Musings on the service economy
Saturday on RadioNation with Laura Flanders found Flanders in Nevada. (She's there for today's show as well.) With a variety of guests, she covered a variety of issues. (And people who blog at her site got a special treat when blogger Cujo turned out to be in the audience.) The issues that stood out to us the most were discussions of the economy.
"Laura Flanders" and "living wage" go together like "Laura Flanders" and "Stop the war" because it's a topic that she's long spoken of (including as the host of Your Call). So we weren't expecting to be shocked but we were. A male guest stated that manufacturing jobs were gone and not coming back.
We don't dispute that. And we've heard it for many years. Bruce Springsteen sang of it in "My Hometown" ("Foreman says these jobs are going, boys/ And they ain't coming back . . ."). But it was a shock none the less. We all fell silent. (We're usually listening and discussing the edition at the same time. If we're really lucky and on schedule, we're working on our first piece and listening at the same time.)
Again, we don't dispute it. We've heard it before. We've heard it sung, we've heard it loudly, but there was something so plain spoken and calm in the voice of the man who said. On national radio, no less. Spoke the truth simply and plainly and maybe that what was so shocking?
Can a nation succeed on a service economy? The destruction of the manufacturing base happened first in the inner cities. Now it's across the nation. We no longer build things. (The entertainment industry being one of the few exceptions.)
As a service economy, Flanders and her guests pointed out, the unioniziation of the industry is very important if workers are going to earn a living wage. But what does it mean for the nation?
We started brainstorming on how a nation could make money when they have no goods to sell?
One way is tourism. But we're a nation whose actions have hardly said, "Welcome" to visiters.
Not in the last few years. Certainly any Muslims who worried about the way they'd be treated at airports and elsewhere would have a valid reason to be concerned. As our ambassador to the world, Bully Boy's made it clear that his administration is keen on exporting oppression (disgusied as "fair trade") and war. Are those calling cards?
We can think of Paris, we can think of London . . . a host of cities throughout the world that have images that play in your mind. We're just not seeing D.C. on par with Rome. There is the entertainment industry in California and the amusement parks in California and Florida. Those might be travel destinations to the rest of the world. There's NYC. Possibly Las Vegas. But of the forty-eight mainland states, we're not getting the feeling that there are a lot of hot spots, must sees, for the rest of the world. Maybe we're too used to our surroundings? Or maybe Witness had a massive impact in other countries and people are dying to come to America and visit Amish country?
Maybe Roswell could be opened up and we could dub it our Stonehenge?
Us, we could vacation in any state and have a great time. But we're not hopping an international flight. And we're not seeing a lot of drawing cards. Probably Nahsville would popular with foreign tourists. Nashville's unique to America. Dallas for those interested in the JFK assassination. But otherwise . . .
(If Detroit would truly honor Motown, it could probably pull in a large number of the English.)
But Bully Boy's sullied our world image. And we're not seeing mythic places that could pull in people from all over the world. Yes, we get immigrants all the time who come here to make a home in the land of the free. As a travel destination, with or without the Bully Boy, land of the free strikes us as about as marketable as Switzerland: Land of the Neutral!
"Mommy, this summer, can we go to the land of the free?"
We're not hearing it. We have some nice slopes in Utah and Colorado but Europes ski destinations are better known. Does that mean we'll be everyone's fall back destination? If they can't book in the Swiss Alps, they'll end up in Aspen?
We're being a bit flippant. (A bit? Hey, we've got a smart ass attitude at this site. Didn't you ever notice?) But we are serious about this. How does money come into a country that exports no manufacturing?
Which raised our second issue: revenues. How does the government pay the bills? Corporations already pay token fees at best. The burden is pushed onto the individual citizen. A trend that's been going on for sometime. If Bully Boy gets his wish and destroy's the estate tax while providing additional tax breaks to the rich, exactly how much of every working American's check will be needed for the government to run in some form? (Bare minimum, we're assuming.)
The service economy is here. Congress could step in and stop rewarding those who manufacture overseas but we don't see that happening. So the service economy is here and the manufacturing is gone. What will that mean for America and Americans?
Here's what we do know:
SUNDAY, Feb 19, 2006
RadioNation with Laura Flanders will broadcast live from:
the offices of PLAN
(the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada)
821 Riverside Drive
Reno, Nevada 89503
www.planevada.org.
"Laura Flanders" and "living wage" go together like "Laura Flanders" and "Stop the war" because it's a topic that she's long spoken of (including as the host of Your Call). So we weren't expecting to be shocked but we were. A male guest stated that manufacturing jobs were gone and not coming back.
We don't dispute that. And we've heard it for many years. Bruce Springsteen sang of it in "My Hometown" ("Foreman says these jobs are going, boys/ And they ain't coming back . . ."). But it was a shock none the less. We all fell silent. (We're usually listening and discussing the edition at the same time. If we're really lucky and on schedule, we're working on our first piece and listening at the same time.)
Again, we don't dispute it. We've heard it before. We've heard it sung, we've heard it loudly, but there was something so plain spoken and calm in the voice of the man who said. On national radio, no less. Spoke the truth simply and plainly and maybe that what was so shocking?
Can a nation succeed on a service economy? The destruction of the manufacturing base happened first in the inner cities. Now it's across the nation. We no longer build things. (The entertainment industry being one of the few exceptions.)
As a service economy, Flanders and her guests pointed out, the unioniziation of the industry is very important if workers are going to earn a living wage. But what does it mean for the nation?
We started brainstorming on how a nation could make money when they have no goods to sell?
One way is tourism. But we're a nation whose actions have hardly said, "Welcome" to visiters.
Not in the last few years. Certainly any Muslims who worried about the way they'd be treated at airports and elsewhere would have a valid reason to be concerned. As our ambassador to the world, Bully Boy's made it clear that his administration is keen on exporting oppression (disgusied as "fair trade") and war. Are those calling cards?
We can think of Paris, we can think of London . . . a host of cities throughout the world that have images that play in your mind. We're just not seeing D.C. on par with Rome. There is the entertainment industry in California and the amusement parks in California and Florida. Those might be travel destinations to the rest of the world. There's NYC. Possibly Las Vegas. But of the forty-eight mainland states, we're not getting the feeling that there are a lot of hot spots, must sees, for the rest of the world. Maybe we're too used to our surroundings? Or maybe Witness had a massive impact in other countries and people are dying to come to America and visit Amish country?
Maybe Roswell could be opened up and we could dub it our Stonehenge?
Us, we could vacation in any state and have a great time. But we're not hopping an international flight. And we're not seeing a lot of drawing cards. Probably Nahsville would popular with foreign tourists. Nashville's unique to America. Dallas for those interested in the JFK assassination. But otherwise . . .
(If Detroit would truly honor Motown, it could probably pull in a large number of the English.)
But Bully Boy's sullied our world image. And we're not seeing mythic places that could pull in people from all over the world. Yes, we get immigrants all the time who come here to make a home in the land of the free. As a travel destination, with or without the Bully Boy, land of the free strikes us as about as marketable as Switzerland: Land of the Neutral!
"Mommy, this summer, can we go to the land of the free?"
We're not hearing it. We have some nice slopes in Utah and Colorado but Europes ski destinations are better known. Does that mean we'll be everyone's fall back destination? If they can't book in the Swiss Alps, they'll end up in Aspen?
We're being a bit flippant. (A bit? Hey, we've got a smart ass attitude at this site. Didn't you ever notice?) But we are serious about this. How does money come into a country that exports no manufacturing?
Which raised our second issue: revenues. How does the government pay the bills? Corporations already pay token fees at best. The burden is pushed onto the individual citizen. A trend that's been going on for sometime. If Bully Boy gets his wish and destroy's the estate tax while providing additional tax breaks to the rich, exactly how much of every working American's check will be needed for the government to run in some form? (Bare minimum, we're assuming.)
The service economy is here. Congress could step in and stop rewarding those who manufacture overseas but we don't see that happening. So the service economy is here and the manufacturing is gone. What will that mean for America and Americans?
Here's what we do know:
SUNDAY, Feb 19, 2006
RadioNation with Laura Flanders will broadcast live from:
the offices of PLAN
(the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada)
821 Riverside Drive
Reno, Nevada 89503
www.planevada.org.
Senadores republicanos bloquean investigacion sobre espionaje de la NSA
Senadores republicanos bloquean investigacion sobre espionaje de la NSA
Maria: Buenos dias. De parte de "Democracy Now!" diez cosas que vale hacer notar este fin de semana. Paz.
Senadores republicanos bloquean investigación sobre espionaje de la NSA
Actualizamos información de la controversia sobre el programa de espionaje interno, del presidente Bush. En Capitol Hill, los senadores republicanos obstruyeron una propuesta de investigar la operación.
El republicano Pat Roberts, presidente del Comité de Inteligencia, dijo el jueves que su panel había decidido no llevar a cabo la investigación. Roberts manifestó que había llegado a un acuerdo con la Casa Blanca para que considerara la legislación y proporcionara más información al Congreso sobre el programa de espionaje de conversaciones privadas.
El senador demócrata de más alto rango del comité, John Rockefeller, dijo: "Hoy, el Comité de Inteligencia del Senado una vez más renunció a su responsabilidad de supervisar las actividades de inteligencia de Estados Unidos".
Juez ordena a Departamento de Justicia que publique documentos de la NSA
Mientras tanto, un juez federal ordenó al Departamento de Justicia que publique los documentos sobre el programa de la Agencia de Seguridad Nacional (NSA, por sus siglas en inglés) en un plazo de 20 días. Esta orden surgió como respuesta a un pedido de libertad de información realizado por el Centro de Privacidad de la Información Electrónica (EPIC, por sus siglas en inglés).
Senadores republicanos bloquean investigación sobre espionaje de la NSA
Actualizamos información de la controversia sobre el programa de espionaje interno, del presidente Bush. En Capitol Hill, los senadores republicanos obstruyeron una propuesta de investigar la operación.
El republicano Pat Roberts, presidente del Comité de Inteligencia, dijo el jueves que su panel había decidido no llevar a cabo la investigación. Roberts manifestó que había llegado a un acuerdo con la Casa Blanca para que considerara la legislación y proporcionara más información al Congreso sobre el programa de espionaje de conversaciones privadas.
El senador demócrata de más alto rango del comité, John Rockefeller, dijo: "Hoy, el Comité de Inteligencia del Senado una vez más renunció a su responsabilidad de supervisar las actividades de inteligencia de Estados Unidos".
Juez ordena a Departamento de Justicia que publique documentos de la NSA
Mientras tanto, un juez federal ordenó al Departamento de Justicia que publique los documentos sobre el programa de la Agencia de Seguridad Nacional (NSA, por sus siglas en inglés) en un plazo de 20 días. Esta orden surgió como respuesta a un pedido de libertad de información realizado por el Centro de Privacidad de la Información Electrónica (EPIC, por sus siglas en inglés).
Investigadores de la ONU dijeron a Estados Unidos: Clausuren Guantánamo
En otras noticias, investigadores de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas exhortaron al gobierno de Bush a que cierre inmediatamente la prisión de la Bahía de Guantánamo, en Cuba. El informe de la ONU insta al gobierno estadounidense a "abstenerse de cualquier práctica equivalente a la tortura o al trato o castigo cruel, inhumano o degradante".
En otras noticias, investigadores de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas exhortaron al gobierno de Bush a que cierre inmediatamente la prisión de la Bahía de Guantánamo, en Cuba. El informe de la ONU insta al gobierno estadounidense a "abstenerse de cualquier práctica equivalente a la tortura o al trato o castigo cruel, inhumano o degradante".
El informe también dice: "En el caso de los detenidos de la Bahía de Guantánamo, el presidente de Estados Unidos opera como juez, fiscal, y abogado defensor: esto constituye serias violaciones de diversas garantías del derecho a un juicio justo ante un tribunal independiente". Hay aproximadamente 500 hombres detenidos en ese lugar. No se presentaron cargos en contra de la mayoría de ellos. El portavoz del Departamento de Estado Sean McCormack, desestimó el informe. McCormack dijo que la información de la ONU estaba basada en "rumores".
Iraquíes indignados por nuevas fotos de Abu Ghraib
En Irak, la publicación de nuevas fotografías que muestran a detenidos iraquíes siendo torturados en la prisión de Abu Ghraib, dirigida por Estados Unidos, provocó indignación. La cadena televisiva australiana SBS mostró estas fotos por primera vez el miércoles y varias de las imágenes fueron reproducidas en periódicos iraquíes y en medios televisivos. Un ciudadano iraquí, Abd Al-Awadh, dice que las fotos demostraron que Estados Unidos estaba violando el derecho internacional.
Abd Al-Awadh dijo: "Estamos muy apenados por las fotos que vimos ayer. Vimos como humillaban a los iraquíes y que en este país no hay respeto por la dignidad del pueblo iraquí, en el país donde éramos amos ahora somos esclavos y los amos son extranjeros. Además de las fotos de abusos en Abu Ghraib, vimos a iraquíes siendo golpeados en Basora por las fuerzas británicas. Esto es una violación de las leyes internacionales, las que ellos usaron como pretexto para invadir Irak". Y agregó: "Sentimos mucho que estos actos se repitan diariamente en las calles iraquíes. Las fuerzas estadounidenses matan injustificadamente. La opinión de la población es tergiversada y lamentablemente el prisionero iraquí fue tratado de forma bárbara y salvaje por las fuerzas estadounidenses".
Iraquíes indignados por nuevas fotos de Abu Ghraib
En Irak, la publicación de nuevas fotografías que muestran a detenidos iraquíes siendo torturados en la prisión de Abu Ghraib, dirigida por Estados Unidos, provocó indignación. La cadena televisiva australiana SBS mostró estas fotos por primera vez el miércoles y varias de las imágenes fueron reproducidas en periódicos iraquíes y en medios televisivos. Un ciudadano iraquí, Abd Al-Awadh, dice que las fotos demostraron que Estados Unidos estaba violando el derecho internacional.
Abd Al-Awadh dijo: "Estamos muy apenados por las fotos que vimos ayer. Vimos como humillaban a los iraquíes y que en este país no hay respeto por la dignidad del pueblo iraquí, en el país donde éramos amos ahora somos esclavos y los amos son extranjeros. Además de las fotos de abusos en Abu Ghraib, vimos a iraquíes siendo golpeados en Basora por las fuerzas británicas. Esto es una violación de las leyes internacionales, las que ellos usaron como pretexto para invadir Irak". Y agregó: "Sentimos mucho que estos actos se repitan diariamente en las calles iraquíes. Las fuerzas estadounidenses matan injustificadamente. La opinión de la población es tergiversada y lamentablemente el prisionero iraquí fue tratado de forma bárbara y salvaje por las fuerzas estadounidenses".
Fotografías muestran cadáveres, tortura y hombres desnudos
Una de las fotografías mostraba a un hombre muerto, tirado desnudo sobre el polvo con sangre saliéndole de la cabeza. Otra foto mostraba a un hombre desnudo colgado de una cama, sujetado de las rodillas. Otro prisionero estaba cubierto de heces. Las fotografías también muestran a hombres desnudos en posiciones sexuales humillantes. Los prisioneros fueron fotografiados usando capuchas. También fotografiaron a hombres que mostraban lo que parecen ser marcas de quemaduras y torturas.
Y la protesta suscitada por las fotos podría intesificarse. Hoy temprano, "Salon.com" publicó mas fotos de Abu Ghraib. La publicación en Internet obtuvo archivos y otros documentos electrónicos de una investigación interna del ejército. El material incluye más de 1.000 fotografías, videos y documentos probatorios. Según "Salon.com", algunos de los documentos se refieren a los funcionarios de la CIA como interrogadores de los prisioneros en Abu Ghraib. Hasta la fecha, ningún oficial de la CIA ha sido procesado por ningún crimen ocurrido dentro de la prisión, a pesar de que al menos un iraquí murió allí durante un interrogatorio de la CIA.
El miércoles, la Unión Estadounidense por las Libertades Civiles (ACLU, por sus siglas en inglés), Amnistía Internacional y otros grupos pidieron una investigación realmente independiente que indague en todos los niveles de la cadena de mando militar, así como también la vinculación de otros organismos del gobierno como la CIA y los contratistas militares privados que estuvieron implicados en abusos.
Cinco mujeres arrestadas en protesta contra la guerra cerca de Washington DC
Y en las afueras de Washington DC, cinco mujeres del grupo contra la guerra Raging Grannies (Abuelas Furiosas) fueron arrestadas el martes en una protesta frente a una oficina de reclutamiento militar. Las mujeres fueron arrestadas luego de anunciar que pretendían enlistarse. Coreaban: "si alguien debe morir en Irak, que sean los viejos". Más tarde fueron liberadas sin cargos en su contra. El martes se realizaron protestas similares en todo el país, incluyendo los estados de Florida, California y Nueva York.
Y en las afueras de Washington DC, cinco mujeres del grupo contra la guerra Raging Grannies (Abuelas Furiosas) fueron arrestadas el martes en una protesta frente a una oficina de reclutamiento militar. Las mujeres fueron arrestadas luego de anunciar que pretendían enlistarse. Coreaban: "si alguien debe morir en Irak, que sean los viejos". Más tarde fueron liberadas sin cargos en su contra. El martes se realizaron protestas similares en todo el país, incluyendo los estados de Florida, California y Nueva York.
Más de mil personas protestan por video que muestra a soldados británicos golpeando a jóvenes iraquíes
En Irak, más de mil personas protestaron el martes en Basora por un video dado a conocer recientemente que muestra a soldados británicos golpeando a jóvenes iraquíes. Se cree que el video fue grabado luego de una protesta en la ciudad de Amarah, a principios de 2004. Cientos de personas asistieron a la protesta para exigir empleo. En el video, cuatro manifestantes jóvenes son arrastrados desde una calle a un recinto del ejército británico donde recibieron puñetazos, puntapiés y porrazos. También se escucha la voz de una persona, que no aparece en la grabación, que elogia los ataques. El martes, el jefe de la fuerza policial de Basora dijo que las fuerzas de seguridad iraquíes suspenderán los patrullajes conjuntos con las Fuerzas Armadas británicas en la provincia, como medida de protesta. Mientras tanto, el gobierno británico dice que hasta el momento arrestó a tres personas vinculadas con el incidente.
En Irak, más de mil personas protestaron el martes en Basora por un video dado a conocer recientemente que muestra a soldados británicos golpeando a jóvenes iraquíes. Se cree que el video fue grabado luego de una protesta en la ciudad de Amarah, a principios de 2004. Cientos de personas asistieron a la protesta para exigir empleo. En el video, cuatro manifestantes jóvenes son arrastrados desde una calle a un recinto del ejército británico donde recibieron puñetazos, puntapiés y porrazos. También se escucha la voz de una persona, que no aparece en la grabación, que elogia los ataques. El martes, el jefe de la fuerza policial de Basora dijo que las fuerzas de seguridad iraquíes suspenderán los patrullajes conjuntos con las Fuerzas Armadas británicas en la provincia, como medida de protesta. Mientras tanto, el gobierno británico dice que hasta el momento arrestó a tres personas vinculadas con el incidente.
Senado rechaza por 93 votos contra 3 el intento del senador Feingold de detener la renovación de la Ley Patriota
En otras noticias de Capitol Hill, el Senado va en camino a renovar la Ley Patriota. El senador demócrata Russ Feingold, de Wisconsin, lidera el esfuerzo para bloquear la renovación, pero está recibiendo poco apoyo, incluso de sus compañeros demócratas. Feingold quiere establecer una fecha de caducidad de cuatro años para las disposiciones de la Ley que permiten a los agentes del gobierno obligar a bancos, bibliotecas, compañías proveedoras de servicios de Internet y otras instituciones a entregar registros privados sin una orden judicial. El jueves, el senado aprobó con 93 votos a favor y 3 en contra rechazar el intento de Feingold de detener la legislación. Sólo el senador independiente Jim Jeffords y el demócrata Robert Byrd apoyaron a Feingold.
En otras noticias de Capitol Hill, el Senado va en camino a renovar la Ley Patriota. El senador demócrata Russ Feingold, de Wisconsin, lidera el esfuerzo para bloquear la renovación, pero está recibiendo poco apoyo, incluso de sus compañeros demócratas. Feingold quiere establecer una fecha de caducidad de cuatro años para las disposiciones de la Ley que permiten a los agentes del gobierno obligar a bancos, bibliotecas, compañías proveedoras de servicios de Internet y otras instituciones a entregar registros privados sin una orden judicial. El jueves, el senado aprobó con 93 votos a favor y 3 en contra rechazar el intento de Feingold de detener la legislación. Sólo el senador independiente Jim Jeffords y el demócrata Robert Byrd apoyaron a Feingold.
FBI realiza redadas en casas de activistas independentistas en Puerto Rico
En Washington, varios miembros del Congreso están pidiendo una investigación sobre recientes redadas llevadas a cabo por el FBI contra activistas independentistas en Puerto Rico.
En Washington, varios miembros del Congreso están pidiendo una investigación sobre recientes redadas llevadas a cabo por el FBI contra activistas independentistas en Puerto Rico.
La semana pasada, cientos de miembros de la unidad antiterrorista del FBI llevaron a cabo seis redadas simultáneas en las casas a integrantes del grupo independentista conocido como Macheteros.
El FBI dijo que estaba intentando impedir un posible ataque terrorista a nivel nacional.
En una de las redadas, agentes del FBI golpearon y lanzaron gas de pimienta a los periodistas que intentaban realizar entrevistas.
Las redadas ocurrieron menos de seis meses después de que el FBI mató a balazos al líder independentista puertorriqueño Filiberto Ojeda Rios.
En Irán, el gobierno afirma que reanudó el enriquecimiento de uranio a pequeña escala, desafiando el esfuerzo internacional para limitar su actividad nuclear. La noticia surge en medio de recientes especulaciones sobre un posible ataque de Estados Unidos a Irán. Durante el fin de semana, el "Sunday Telegraph" informó que el Pentágono trazó un plan de ataque como último recurso para impedir que Irán desarrolle armas nucleares. Un funcionario de alto rango del Pentágono, que no reveló su identidad, dijo: "Esto es más que un plan estándar de contingencia militar...El problema adquirió mayor urgencia en los últimos meses".
Maria: Now in English, here are ten headlines from Democracy Now! Peace.
Senate Republicans Block Investigation Into NSA Spying
This update on the controversy over President Bush's warrant-less domestic spying program - on Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans have blocked a proposed investigation into the operation. On Thursday, Republican Senator Pat Roberts, chair of the Intelligence Committee said, his panel decided not to conduct an investigation. Roberts said he reached an agreement with the White House to consider legislation and provide more information to Congress on the eavesdropping program. The ranking Democrat on the committee -- Sen. John Rockefeller -- said "Today, the Senate Intelligence Committee once again abdicated its responsibility to oversee the intelligence activities of the United States."
This update on the controversy over President Bush's warrant-less domestic spying program - on Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans have blocked a proposed investigation into the operation. On Thursday, Republican Senator Pat Roberts, chair of the Intelligence Committee said, his panel decided not to conduct an investigation. Roberts said he reached an agreement with the White House to consider legislation and provide more information to Congress on the eavesdropping program. The ranking Democrat on the committee -- Sen. John Rockefeller -- said "Today, the Senate Intelligence Committee once again abdicated its responsibility to oversee the intelligence activities of the United States."
Judge Orders Justice Dept To Release NSA Documents
Meanwhile, a federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to release documents about the NSA program within 20 days. The order comes in response to a Freedom Of Information request filed by EPIC - the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Meanwhile, a federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to release documents about the NSA program within 20 days. The order comes in response to a Freedom Of Information request filed by EPIC - the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
UN Investigators Call on U.S. to Close Guantanamo
In other news, United Nations investigators have called on the Bush administration to immediately close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba. The UN report urges the US government to "refrain from any practice amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." The report goes on to state "In the case of the Guantanamo Bay detainees, the U.S. executive operates as judge, as prosecutor, and as defense council: this constitutes serious violations of various guarantees of the right to a fair trial before an independent tribunal." About 500 men are being held at the site. Charges have never been filed against most of them. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed the report. He said the U.N. information was based on "hearsay."
In other news, United Nations investigators have called on the Bush administration to immediately close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba. The UN report urges the US government to "refrain from any practice amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." The report goes on to state "In the case of the Guantanamo Bay detainees, the U.S. executive operates as judge, as prosecutor, and as defense council: this constitutes serious violations of various guarantees of the right to a fair trial before an independent tribunal." About 500 men are being held at the site. Charges have never been filed against most of them. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed the report. He said the U.N. information was based on "hearsay."
UN Investigators Call on U.S. to Close Guantanamo
In other news, United Nations investigators have called on the Bush administration to immediately close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba. The UN report urges the US government to "refrain from any practice amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." The report goes on to state "In the case of the Guantanamo Bay detainees, the U.S. executive operates as judge, as prosecutor, and as defense council: this constitutes serious violations of various guarantees of the right to a fair trial before an independent tribunal." About 500 men are being held at the site. Charges have never been filed against most of them. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed the report. He said the U.N. information was based on "hearsay."
In other news, United Nations investigators have called on the Bush administration to immediately close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba. The UN report urges the US government to "refrain from any practice amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." The report goes on to state "In the case of the Guantanamo Bay detainees, the U.S. executive operates as judge, as prosecutor, and as defense council: this constitutes serious violations of various guarantees of the right to a fair trial before an independent tribunal." About 500 men are being held at the site. Charges have never been filed against most of them. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed the report. He said the U.N. information was based on "hearsay."
Iraqis Outraged Over New Abu Ghraib Photos
In Iraq, the publication of new photographs showing Iraqi detainees being tortured inside the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison is being met by outrage. The Australian broadcaster SBS first aired the photographs on Wednesday and many of the images have been reprinted in Iraqi newspapers and aired on television. One Iraqi citizen, Abd Al-Awadh, says the photos proved the United States was acting in violation of international law. "We feel sorry about the photos we saw yesterday. We saw humiliation to the Iraqis and we saw that there is no respect to the dignity of the Iraqi people in this country, the country where we were masters we are now slaves and the masters come from abroad. In addition to Abu Ghraib abuse photos, we saw Iraqis being beaten in Basra by the British forces. This is a violation of international laws, which they used as a pretext to invade Iraq," said Abd Al-Awadh. "We feel sorry that such acts are being repeated on a daily basis at the Iraqi streets. There is unjustified killings by the U.S. force. The public opinion is misled and regrettably enough the Iraqi prisoner was treated in a barbaric and savage way at the hands of the American forces."
In Iraq, the publication of new photographs showing Iraqi detainees being tortured inside the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison is being met by outrage. The Australian broadcaster SBS first aired the photographs on Wednesday and many of the images have been reprinted in Iraqi newspapers and aired on television. One Iraqi citizen, Abd Al-Awadh, says the photos proved the United States was acting in violation of international law. "We feel sorry about the photos we saw yesterday. We saw humiliation to the Iraqis and we saw that there is no respect to the dignity of the Iraqi people in this country, the country where we were masters we are now slaves and the masters come from abroad. In addition to Abu Ghraib abuse photos, we saw Iraqis being beaten in Basra by the British forces. This is a violation of international laws, which they used as a pretext to invade Iraq," said Abd Al-Awadh. "We feel sorry that such acts are being repeated on a daily basis at the Iraqi streets. There is unjustified killings by the U.S. force. The public opinion is misled and regrettably enough the Iraqi prisoner was treated in a barbaric and savage way at the hands of the American forces."
Photographs Depict Corpses, Torture, Naked Men
One photograph showed a man lying dead in the dirt with blood coming out of his head. Another showed a naked man hanging from a bed by his knees. Another prisoner is shown covered in feces. Naked men are also shown in sexually humiliating positions. Prisoners were photographed wearing hoods. Men were also photographed showing what appears to be burn and torture marks. And the outcry over the photos may only intensify. Earlier today Salon.com published even more photographs from Abu Ghraib. The online publication obtained files and other electronic documents from an internal Army investigation. The material includes more than 1,000 photographs, videos and supporting documents. According to Salon.com some of the documents refer to CIA personnel as interrogators of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. To date, no CIA officers have been prosecuted for any crimes that occurred within the prison, despite the death of at least one Iraqi during a CIA interrogation there. On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and other groups called for a truly independent investigation to look at all levels of the military chain of command, as well as involvement from other government agencies like the CIA and private military contractors who have been implicated in abuses.
One photograph showed a man lying dead in the dirt with blood coming out of his head. Another showed a naked man hanging from a bed by his knees. Another prisoner is shown covered in feces. Naked men are also shown in sexually humiliating positions. Prisoners were photographed wearing hoods. Men were also photographed showing what appears to be burn and torture marks. And the outcry over the photos may only intensify. Earlier today Salon.com published even more photographs from Abu Ghraib. The online publication obtained files and other electronic documents from an internal Army investigation. The material includes more than 1,000 photographs, videos and supporting documents. According to Salon.com some of the documents refer to CIA personnel as interrogators of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. To date, no CIA officers have been prosecuted for any crimes that occurred within the prison, despite the death of at least one Iraqi during a CIA interrogation there. On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and other groups called for a truly independent investigation to look at all levels of the military chain of command, as well as involvement from other government agencies like the CIA and private military contractors who have been implicated in abuses.
5 "Raging Grannies" Arrested at Anti-War Protest Near DC
And just outside of Washington, DC, five women with the anti-war group the Raging Grannies were arrested Tuesday at a protest outside a military recruitment office. The women were arrested after announcing they intended to enlist. They chanted: "if someone must die in Iraq, let it be the old." They were later released without charge. The protest was one of several held across the country Tuesday, including in Florida, California, and New York.
And just outside of Washington, DC, five women with the anti-war group the Raging Grannies were arrested Tuesday at a protest outside a military recruitment office. The women were arrested after announcing they intended to enlist. They chanted: "if someone must die in Iraq, let it be the old." They were later released without charge. The protest was one of several held across the country Tuesday, including in Florida, California, and New York.
Over 1,000 Protest Video Showing British Troops Beating Iraqi Youths
In Iraq, more than 1,000 people rallied in Basra Tuesday over a recent video showing British soldiers beating Iraqi youths. The video is believed be from the aftermath of a protest in the city of Amarah in early 2004. Hundreds of people attended the rally to demand employment. On the video, four young protesters are pulled off of a street and into a British army compound where they are punched, kicked and hit with batons. An off-camera voice can also be heard praising the attacks. On Tuesday, the chief of the Basra police force said Iraqi security forces would cease joint patrols with the British military in the province in protest. Meanwhile, the British government says it has arrested three people so far in connection to the beatings.
In Iraq, more than 1,000 people rallied in Basra Tuesday over a recent video showing British soldiers beating Iraqi youths. The video is believed be from the aftermath of a protest in the city of Amarah in early 2004. Hundreds of people attended the rally to demand employment. On the video, four young protesters are pulled off of a street and into a British army compound where they are punched, kicked and hit with batons. An off-camera voice can also be heard praising the attacks. On Tuesday, the chief of the Basra police force said Iraqi security forces would cease joint patrols with the British military in the province in protest. Meanwhile, the British government says it has arrested three people so far in connection to the beatings.
Senate Votes 96-3 to Reject Sen. Feingold's Effort to Stall Patriot Act Renewal
In other news from Capitol Hill, the Senate is moving closer to renewing the Patriot Act. Democratic Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin is leading the effort to block renewal but he is receiving little support even from fellow Democrats. Feingold wants to set a four-year expiration date on provisions within the Act that allows government agents to force banks, libraries, Internet providers and others to hand over private records without a warrant. On Thursday, the Senate voted 96 to 3 to reject Feingold's efforts to stall the legislation. Only independent Senator Jim Jeffords and Democrat Robert Byrd backed Feingold.
In other news from Capitol Hill, the Senate is moving closer to renewing the Patriot Act. Democratic Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin is leading the effort to block renewal but he is receiving little support even from fellow Democrats. Feingold wants to set a four-year expiration date on provisions within the Act that allows government agents to force banks, libraries, Internet providers and others to hand over private records without a warrant. On Thursday, the Senate voted 96 to 3 to reject Feingold's efforts to stall the legislation. Only independent Senator Jim Jeffords and Democrat Robert Byrd backed Feingold.
FBI Raids Homes of Pro-Independence Activists in Puerto Rico
In Washington, several members of Congress are calling for an investigation into recent raids conducted by the FBI targeting pro-independence activists in Puerto Rico. Last week hundreds of members of the FBI's counterterrorism unit conducted six simultaneous raids targeting members of the pro-independence group known as the Macheteros. The FBI claimed it was attempting to thwart a possible domestic terrorism attack. At one of the raids, FBI agents beat and pepper sprayed journalists who attempted to conduct interviews. The raids come less than six months after the FBI shot dead Puerto Rican independence leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios.
In Washington, several members of Congress are calling for an investigation into recent raids conducted by the FBI targeting pro-independence activists in Puerto Rico. Last week hundreds of members of the FBI's counterterrorism unit conducted six simultaneous raids targeting members of the pro-independence group known as the Macheteros. The FBI claimed it was attempting to thwart a possible domestic terrorism attack. At one of the raids, FBI agents beat and pepper sprayed journalists who attempted to conduct interviews. The raids come less than six months after the FBI shot dead Puerto Rican independence leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios.
Report: US Drawing Up Plans For Iran Attack
In Iran, the government says it has resumed small-scale enrichment of uranium, defying an international effort to limit its nuclear activity. The news comes amid fresh speculation over a possible US attack on Iran. Over the weekend, the Sunday Telegraph reported the Pentagon has drawn up an attack plan as a last resort to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. An anonymous senior Pentagon official said: "This is more than just the standard military contingency assessment. This has taken on much greater urgency in recent months."
In Iran, the government says it has resumed small-scale enrichment of uranium, defying an international effort to limit its nuclear activity. The news comes amid fresh speculation over a possible US attack on Iran. Over the weekend, the Sunday Telegraph reported the Pentagon has drawn up an attack plan as a last resort to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. An anonymous senior Pentagon official said: "This is more than just the standard military contingency assessment. This has taken on much greater urgency in recent months."
Humor Spotlight: Wally's "This Just In! Things Go Wack When Cheney Plays Jacks!"
Wally's been on a hot streak for two weeks now. We think it's great. He worries what happens Monday when he posts next. We're sure The Daily Jot will be just as funny. Here's one of our favorites from last week.
THIS JUST IN! THINGS GO WACK WHEN CHENEY PLAYS JACKS!
BULLY BOY PRESS - DC.
THIS JUST IN!
MONDAY NIGHT, VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY DISLODGED THE LEFT EYE BALL OF LABOR SECRETARY ELAINE CHAO IN WHAT IS BEING DESCRIBED AS "A NASTY GAME OF JACKS."
WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS WERE FIRST INFORMED OF LAST NIGHT'S GAME AT APPROXIMATELY 4:40 PM TODAY.
WHITE HOUSE LAP DOG SCOTT MCCLELLAN TOLD REPORTERS, "HEY, THE DICKSTER PLAYS TO WIN. WHAT CAN I SAY?"
DETAILS KNOWN AT THIS TIME INDICATE THAT THE GAME BEGAN ON FRIENDLY TERMS BUT SOON TURNED VIOLENT AS BOTH PLAYERS ADVANCED TO "TWO-SIES."
AS VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY TOSSED THE BALL INTO THE AIR, SECRETARY CHAO WAS HEARD TO SAY, "I'M GOING TO CREAM YOUR ASS. I WAS THE FIRST GRADE JACKS CHAMPION."
EMITTING A BEASTLY GROWL, DICK CHENEY USED HIS RIGHT THUMB TO GOUGE OUT CHAO'S LEFT EYE.
WHITE HOUSE MARKATEER ANDREW CARD IS CALLING THE CONFRONTATION "A TRIUMPH FOR THE RIGHT" AND SPINNING THE INCIDENT AS A BATTLE BETWEEN RIGHT (THUMB) AND LEFT (EYE).
SECRETARY CHAO COULD NOT BE REACHED FOR COMMENT. WHEN HER OFFICE WAS CONTACTED, THE PRESS WAS TOLD SHE HAD LEFT THE COUNTRY FOR A "RETREAT" WHICH SOME WAGS ARE SAYING WILL TAKE PLACE AT GUANTANAMO BAY.
EARLY REPORTS HAVE VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY MOUNTING THE EYE ON A PLAQUE WHICH WAS THEN HUNG IN HIS OFFICE. THE BULLY BOY WAS OBSERVED GIGGLING AND POINTING AT IT SHORTLY AROUND NOON TODAY.
Related: "NYT and their ever changing 'Once on a hunting trip . . ' tale (Anne E. Kornblut and Ralph Blumenthal"
"Reality check via Monica Benderman"
dick cheney
scott mcclellan
bully boy
the common ills
like maria said paz
THIS JUST IN!
MONDAY NIGHT, VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY DISLODGED THE LEFT EYE BALL OF LABOR SECRETARY ELAINE CHAO IN WHAT IS BEING DESCRIBED AS "A NASTY GAME OF JACKS."
WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS WERE FIRST INFORMED OF LAST NIGHT'S GAME AT APPROXIMATELY 4:40 PM TODAY.
WHITE HOUSE LAP DOG SCOTT MCCLELLAN TOLD REPORTERS, "HEY, THE DICKSTER PLAYS TO WIN. WHAT CAN I SAY?"
DETAILS KNOWN AT THIS TIME INDICATE THAT THE GAME BEGAN ON FRIENDLY TERMS BUT SOON TURNED VIOLENT AS BOTH PLAYERS ADVANCED TO "TWO-SIES."
AS VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY TOSSED THE BALL INTO THE AIR, SECRETARY CHAO WAS HEARD TO SAY, "I'M GOING TO CREAM YOUR ASS. I WAS THE FIRST GRADE JACKS CHAMPION."
EMITTING A BEASTLY GROWL, DICK CHENEY USED HIS RIGHT THUMB TO GOUGE OUT CHAO'S LEFT EYE.
WHITE HOUSE MARKATEER ANDREW CARD IS CALLING THE CONFRONTATION "A TRIUMPH FOR THE RIGHT" AND SPINNING THE INCIDENT AS A BATTLE BETWEEN RIGHT (THUMB) AND LEFT (EYE).
SECRETARY CHAO COULD NOT BE REACHED FOR COMMENT. WHEN HER OFFICE WAS CONTACTED, THE PRESS WAS TOLD SHE HAD LEFT THE COUNTRY FOR A "RETREAT" WHICH SOME WAGS ARE SAYING WILL TAKE PLACE AT GUANTANAMO BAY.
EARLY REPORTS HAVE VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY MOUNTING THE EYE ON A PLAQUE WHICH WAS THEN HUNG IN HIS OFFICE. THE BULLY BOY WAS OBSERVED GIGGLING AND POINTING AT IT SHORTLY AROUND NOON TODAY.
Related: "NYT and their ever changing 'Once on a hunting trip . . ' tale (Anne E. Kornblut and Ralph Blumenthal"
"Reality check via Monica Benderman"
dick cheney
scott mcclellan
bully boy
the common ills
like maria said paz
Blog Spotlight: Rebecca on music and prisoners
Rebecca had two entries we went back and forth on (and Rebecca said only use one). We finally picked this one. Both were strong.
cowboy junkies and guantanamo prisoners
the amazing cedric has what should be the last word on 'no-manners.' i had a heads up to it and was waiting for it to go up before blogging tonight. it's called 'You drop the Trash at the curb and let it go.' well said.
i'm listening to the cowboy junkies right now. i mention that because i had 2 e-mails from people who went out and bought hair. great, it's a wonderful musical. now make a point to check out the cowboy junkies' early 21st century blues.
this is what kat wrote about the cd in her year-in-music-review:
Early 21st Century Blues. This Cowboy Junkies CD actually got national exposure . . . via The Laura Flanders Show. If others had followed Flanders' lead, this might have been one of the more talked about albums of 2005. The album features two original songs and nine covers. Among the covers are songs by Bob Dylan, from his pre-brand days. I have to be in the mood for their version of John Lennon's "I Don't Want To Be A Solider." Wally enjoyed this but Cedric and I felt that the combination of the Junkies' understated approach and Rebel's rap were an uneasy mix. The album ends on a high note, a cover of U2's "One." Unlike on Mary J. Blige's latest album, you don't wait for Bono to shut up and get out the way so that Blige can work her magic. That's because he's not featured. Margo Timmins' voice is haunting on this song and the covers of Bruce Springsteen's "You're Missing" and "Brothers Under The Bridge" should have resulted in saturation airplay. If you missed this CD, locate a copy and listen.
the link in the title takes you to a piece we all worked on.
i think most of my readers know that elaine has to take off thursday nights because she does group on that night. she called this afternoon and asked if i could note something for her. she said, 'if you can't, don't worry, and i'll try to find time to do it myself tonight.' i told her not to be silly, i'd be happy to do it. this is from democracy now.
UN Investigators Call on U.S. to Close Guantanamo
In other news, United Nations investigators have called on the Bush administration to immediately close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba. The UN report urges the US government to "refrain from any practice amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." The report goes on to state "In the case of the Guantanamo Bay detainees, the U.S. executive operates as judge, as prosecutor, and as defense council: this constitutes serious violations of various guarantees of the right to a fair trial before an independent tribunal." About 500 men are being held at the site. Charges have never been filed against most of them. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed the report. He said the U.N. information was based on "hearsay."
elaine and c.i. have both hit on hard this issue repeatedly. they don't think 'detainees' is a term that should be used. as c.i. said once, 'detainee? that makes it sound like you got stopped in customs for not declaring a taxable item.' they are prisoners. they have been held for years and years now. when does the outrage set in? we've all addressed the topic together at the third estate sunday review.
this is something you'll have to answer for. children in a generation or 2 will ask you, 'how were you able to just stay silent and look the other way?' so if that's your plan to keep on ignoring this, you might use that looking away time to come up with a good excuse. this is a sad thing, this is a tragedy.
being scared senseless immediately after 9-11 might have been understandable for some, goodness knows the bully boy was working overtime - the only time he ever works - to scare the nation. and you may have been grieving and felt like 'who cares?'
well it's past time to care. want to make money in afghanistan? kidnap some 1 and turn him over to the authorities telling them you've captured a terrorist.
some of them were children. they've spent 4 years locked away. if they had any information, it was old long ago. in the meantime, as many of the prisoners realize that they are never getting out, they go on a hunger strike. so we brutalize them. we force feed them in spite of the fact that every patient has the right to refuse treatment.
but we can't have them dying on us, not while the world's condemning us even if our own press isn't paying attention.
this is nonsense and it should have been addressed a long time ago. your children will study in this history classes, their children will study it. the matt dillon of the future will star in a film where he falls in love with 1 of the prisoners or the family of a prisoner (like golden gate). it's a travesty and we willingly tossed aside our own principles to feel 'safe'. then we left our principles in the trash can because it was too messy to deal with.
let me skate on c.i.'s coattails and recommend that you read danny schechter's 'JACK ABRAMOFF'S WHITE MAN'S BURDEN: How the Sleazy Republican Lobbyist Boosted Apartheid:'
Last week, pictures of Abramoff and President Bush, photos whose existence was first denied by the White House, turned up on the internet. Yes, they knew each other and met several times. Ambramoff claims Karl Rove was his buddy.
Still to come are images of Abramoff on his African "liberation" safari taking up the white man’s burden in the name of discrediting Nelson Mandela. The African National Congress leader's freedom was demanded by millions at the time, with the exception of politicians like then Congressman Dick Cheney who voted against a Congressional resolution calling for Mandela's release from prison. (Cheney also opposed overturning Ronald Reagan's ban on sanctions against South Africa, a ban Jack Abramoff personally worked in Hollywood to support as a Pretoria funded agent.)
Don't you think there must be a photo somewhere of young Jack with South Africa’s apartheid-era President, P.W. "The Crocodile" Botha. Putting those two presidential trophy shots side by side, Botha on one side, Bush on the other, will complete this connection between the ongoing fight for truth and racial justice and the Bush Administration's commitment to "Abramoff Family Values" (AFW) designed to enrich "just us." (The LA Times has since reported that Ambramoff considered Karl Rove a friend.)
this is a complicated story, jack abramoff and danny really is one of the few i've read (echoing c.i. here) who has written an easy to follow story on this that engages you as a reader.
lastly read this by wally for laughs and, remember, it is okay to laugh. humorless scolds may tell you otherwise, but it is okay to laugh. (love the martha mitchell appearance - wonder who she is based upon? i don't.)
danny schechter
the common ills
the third estate sunday review
like maria said paz
cedrics big mix
democracy now
kats korner
the cowboy junkies
i'm listening to the cowboy junkies right now. i mention that because i had 2 e-mails from people who went out and bought hair. great, it's a wonderful musical. now make a point to check out the cowboy junkies' early 21st century blues.
this is what kat wrote about the cd in her year-in-music-review:
Early 21st Century Blues. This Cowboy Junkies CD actually got national exposure . . . via The Laura Flanders Show. If others had followed Flanders' lead, this might have been one of the more talked about albums of 2005. The album features two original songs and nine covers. Among the covers are songs by Bob Dylan, from his pre-brand days. I have to be in the mood for their version of John Lennon's "I Don't Want To Be A Solider." Wally enjoyed this but Cedric and I felt that the combination of the Junkies' understated approach and Rebel's rap were an uneasy mix. The album ends on a high note, a cover of U2's "One." Unlike on Mary J. Blige's latest album, you don't wait for Bono to shut up and get out the way so that Blige can work her magic. That's because he's not featured. Margo Timmins' voice is haunting on this song and the covers of Bruce Springsteen's "You're Missing" and "Brothers Under The Bridge" should have resulted in saturation airplay. If you missed this CD, locate a copy and listen.
the link in the title takes you to a piece we all worked on.
i think most of my readers know that elaine has to take off thursday nights because she does group on that night. she called this afternoon and asked if i could note something for her. she said, 'if you can't, don't worry, and i'll try to find time to do it myself tonight.' i told her not to be silly, i'd be happy to do it. this is from democracy now.
UN Investigators Call on U.S. to Close Guantanamo
In other news, United Nations investigators have called on the Bush administration to immediately close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba. The UN report urges the US government to "refrain from any practice amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." The report goes on to state "In the case of the Guantanamo Bay detainees, the U.S. executive operates as judge, as prosecutor, and as defense council: this constitutes serious violations of various guarantees of the right to a fair trial before an independent tribunal." About 500 men are being held at the site. Charges have never been filed against most of them. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed the report. He said the U.N. information was based on "hearsay."
elaine and c.i. have both hit on hard this issue repeatedly. they don't think 'detainees' is a term that should be used. as c.i. said once, 'detainee? that makes it sound like you got stopped in customs for not declaring a taxable item.' they are prisoners. they have been held for years and years now. when does the outrage set in? we've all addressed the topic together at the third estate sunday review.
this is something you'll have to answer for. children in a generation or 2 will ask you, 'how were you able to just stay silent and look the other way?' so if that's your plan to keep on ignoring this, you might use that looking away time to come up with a good excuse. this is a sad thing, this is a tragedy.
being scared senseless immediately after 9-11 might have been understandable for some, goodness knows the bully boy was working overtime - the only time he ever works - to scare the nation. and you may have been grieving and felt like 'who cares?'
well it's past time to care. want to make money in afghanistan? kidnap some 1 and turn him over to the authorities telling them you've captured a terrorist.
some of them were children. they've spent 4 years locked away. if they had any information, it was old long ago. in the meantime, as many of the prisoners realize that they are never getting out, they go on a hunger strike. so we brutalize them. we force feed them in spite of the fact that every patient has the right to refuse treatment.
but we can't have them dying on us, not while the world's condemning us even if our own press isn't paying attention.
this is nonsense and it should have been addressed a long time ago. your children will study in this history classes, their children will study it. the matt dillon of the future will star in a film where he falls in love with 1 of the prisoners or the family of a prisoner (like golden gate). it's a travesty and we willingly tossed aside our own principles to feel 'safe'. then we left our principles in the trash can because it was too messy to deal with.
let me skate on c.i.'s coattails and recommend that you read danny schechter's 'JACK ABRAMOFF'S WHITE MAN'S BURDEN: How the Sleazy Republican Lobbyist Boosted Apartheid:'
Last week, pictures of Abramoff and President Bush, photos whose existence was first denied by the White House, turned up on the internet. Yes, they knew each other and met several times. Ambramoff claims Karl Rove was his buddy.
Still to come are images of Abramoff on his African "liberation" safari taking up the white man’s burden in the name of discrediting Nelson Mandela. The African National Congress leader's freedom was demanded by millions at the time, with the exception of politicians like then Congressman Dick Cheney who voted against a Congressional resolution calling for Mandela's release from prison. (Cheney also opposed overturning Ronald Reagan's ban on sanctions against South Africa, a ban Jack Abramoff personally worked in Hollywood to support as a Pretoria funded agent.)
Don't you think there must be a photo somewhere of young Jack with South Africa’s apartheid-era President, P.W. "The Crocodile" Botha. Putting those two presidential trophy shots side by side, Botha on one side, Bush on the other, will complete this connection between the ongoing fight for truth and racial justice and the Bush Administration's commitment to "Abramoff Family Values" (AFW) designed to enrich "just us." (The LA Times has since reported that Ambramoff considered Karl Rove a friend.)
this is a complicated story, jack abramoff and danny really is one of the few i've read (echoing c.i. here) who has written an easy to follow story on this that engages you as a reader.
lastly read this by wally for laughs and, remember, it is okay to laugh. humorless scolds may tell you otherwise, but it is okay to laugh. (love the martha mitchell appearance - wonder who she is based upon? i don't.)
danny schechter
the common ills
the third estate sunday review
like maria said paz
cedrics big mix
democracy now
kats korner
the cowboy junkies
"And the war drags on . . ." (The Common Ills)
As usual, we had several choices of things written by C.I. As usual, the approval stage was the hardest part. This one passed. We can live with that. It's one of our favorites.
And the war drags on . . . (Indymedia Roundup)
Last week, EW reported on the case of Perry Patterson, who was arrested for trespassing after shouting "no" at a campaign rally featuring Vice President Dick Cheney in September 2004 (see cover story 2/9). On Feb. 14, Patterson and her attorney, Lauren Regan of the Civil Liberties Defense Center, decided to file a civil suit against the men who forced her out of the rally. The only problem is, they're not sure yet who those men are.
Patterson testifies that after her outburst, a pair of "men in black" came up behind her, took her by the elbows and led her out of the Monaco airport hangar where the rally was staged, delivering her to Eugene police. When Patterson refused to leave the property, the police arrested her and charged her with trespassing. Municipal Court Judge Alan Leiman dismissed the case after a pre-trial hearing last fall, but city prosecutor Mark Haight appealed the ruling to the circuit court. A new hearing was scheduled for Feb. 16, but that date has been postponed.
Who were the "men in black"? Process of elimination makes the question perplexing.
"It's definitely not the Eugene police," Regan said. "Everyone agrees at this point that they are denying it." EPD Lieutenant Pete Kerns, who was the officer in charge at the event, declined to comment.
They couldn't have been Monaco representatives, Regan said, because Monaco's "person in charge" wasn't even contacted until Patterson was already outside. Monaco spokesman Craig Wanichek said that "Eugene police came and escorted her out."
Haight originally assumed that the "men in black" were Secret Service agents, but Oregon Secret Service Agent in Charge Ronald Wampole denied that claim in an interview with EW.
Wampole offered another explanation. "It may have been VP staff people who dress just like the SS, complete with ear piece," he wrote in a Feb. 6 e-mail. "They are usually the ones who would take action if someone was arrested for trespassing."
In other words, the vice president's staff may have impersonated Secret Service agents to force Patterson and other protesters out of the rally. Cheney's spokespeople declined to comment.
According to Center for Constitutional Rights Director Bill Goodman, White House staff have no legal authority to remove protesters from political events. "They are public officials and act under color of law," he wrote via e-mail. "As such they can and did violate the First Amendment."
The above is from Kera Abraham's "White House Brownshirts? Perry Patterson plans to sue the 'men in black'" (Eugene Weekly) and was noted by Portland. If you missed it, the newest spin the administration's been working on for the last few weeks is a new name to the so-called war on terror. Now one of the names being floated is "the long war." Well it does drag on. And on.
The indymedia is always based upon what members are submitting in e-mails and the theme in the e-mails this week appears to be the war on all fronts. The war on dissent, obviously, we led that with that. The war on free speech, the war on America, Bully Boy's started so many wars that it's hard to keep track of them all. (You sort of picture future historians using tables and graphs to illustrate his actions.)
But always there is the invasion/occupation of Iraq. Already this month, the official count for the American military fatalities is 32. In England, they've measured another toll. Gary notes Kim Sengupta and Terri Judd's "Iraq: the Forgotten Victims: Military under fire for 'abandoning' more than 1,000 veterans with mental problems" (The Independent via Common Dreams):
Dramatic figures have been released revealing that at least 1,333 servicemen and women - almost 1.5 per cent of those who served in the Iraq war - have returned from the Middle East with serious psychiatric problems.
The official statistics, which have been passed to The Independent, identify those who were diagnosed with mental health problems while on duty. Many Iraq veterans are now receiving little or no treatment for a variety of mental health problems.
Questions have also been raised about the level of care being given to regular soldiers, reservists and members of the TA, some of whose symptoms emerged after ending active service. Many are not included in the figure of 1,333. Many claim they have been abandoned by the military establishment.
The government figures, compiled between January 2003 and September 2005, emerged in an answer by Don Touhig, minister for veterans' affairs, in response to a question by Mark Harper MP.
Out of the 1,333 diagnosed as suffering from mental health problems, 182 have been found to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder while 601 are judged to have adjustment disorder or, in laymen's terms, " combat stress".
Also highlighting Common Dreams is Cindy who notes David Michael Green's "See No Evil, Become That Evil: Supporting the War As An Act of Unpatriotic Cowardice:"
People are dying in Iraq by the tens of thousands, and that destructive project is entirely dependent on the acquiescence of the American people in allowing it to continue in their name, and financed by their tax dollars (or, more accurately, by their children's tax dollars which will be used to pay back the massive loans we are racking up in China and Japan).
No one who is a true patriot can support such a grave policy decision until they have seriously examined it. No one who really supports the troops can put them in harm’s way without studying and analyzing carefully the justification for doing so.
Anyone who does otherwise is, in fact, an unpatriotic coward.
For what could be more unpatriotic than to support a war -- the most serious decision a government can make -- without learning the facts? What could be less supportive of the troops than to allow them to go kill, to die and get maimed without being sure there is a good justification for doing so? And if the reasons for thoughtlessly sending people off to war are either laziness or fear of one's own inadequacies, what could be more despicable?
Let's note the song that's becoming a staple of these entries:
They're just there to try and make the people free,
But the way that they're doing it, it don't seem like that to me.
Just more blood-letting and misery and tears
That this poor country's known for the last twenty years,
And the war drags on.
-- words and lyrics by Mick Softly (available on Donovan's Fairytale)
The war drags on . . . as long as we let it. As long as we see ourselves as peasants to be ruled or too ill informed to participate in our democracy. Or how about this, because quite a few are still spouting this nonsense, as long as we think we can "fix" what we broke. On the radio earlier tonight (on Pacifica), it was noted that the Iraqi government, in wake of the most recent Abu Ghraib pictures, was asking that all prisoners in US custody be turned over to the Iraqi government. But some well intentioned ones (or "well intentioned" ones) still think our government can "fix" things. As though if we just give Karen Hughes enough time to work out her spin-charms, Iraqis will forget all about the raids, the arrests, the bombings, the tag-sale on their industries and public goods . . . Elaine long ago compared this attitude to a jerk who spilled red wine on her white rug. If you missed that story, it was years ago. Elaine had her first "adult" apartment that she could furnish as she wanted and she thought the most adult thing in the world would be a white rug (white couch, white was the theme of that living room). As soon as she had the entire apartment decorated to her taste, she threw a party. As I remember the jerk, he was drunk off his rear. He was loud and annoying and staggering. At any rate, he spills not a drop of red wine but the entire glass on her carpet. The color drained from Elaine's face. I'll never forget that. I made no attempt to go over because I knew how much Elaine loved that rug (although I think it may have been carpet, check with her). The jerk insisted upon helping and was only spreading the stain (possibly because he was drunk but maybe just because he didn't know what he was doing). Elaine kept telling him to get out of her way and let her clean up the mess. (That's when I went over.) But apparently, the well intent set can't grasp that when you destroy something, people aren't waiting for you to fix it -- they just want you to go. They want you to leave.
As noted in The Third Estate Sunday Review's "Editorial: Time to Head On Home:"
There's been no shake up at the top. Bully Boy still occupies the oval office just as sure as the US occupies Iraq. Iraqis aren't children and they're not stupid. They're an advanced, educated people. They have no reason to believe that the same set of people who have had almost three years (next month marks the third year) to do something worthwhile but didn't will suddenly spring to the challenge.
Iraq had no WMD. It was not a threat to us ("mushroom cloud," Condi?). Someone lied us into war. They took us off course. It's time to get back to what America's all about and it's time to realize that drunk slurring his words and telling us he knows another bar that's still open isn't anyone we want to get a car in with. We're ready to head on home and return to the lives we should be leading. Lives that don't involve wars built on lies. Lives that don't involve trying to impose a system on a people who didn't ask for us to be there. Lives that don't involve falling for the latest Operation Happy Talk. Lives that are reality-based. Bar's closing, let's all head on home. At least the ones who still have that option, the ones who didn't give their lives to a war of choice, one that should have been avoided.
Now the well intended set needs to stop deluding themselves that Iraqis are children. Imagine that Germany, in 2003, invaded the United States because they saw Bully Boy as a terrorist threat and they stayed on that year, in 2004, in 2005 and in 2006. How would you feel? Or, if you're a right wing visiter, drop the clock back to 1998 and Germany invades to take out Bill Clinton. After three years, wouldn't you think it was past time that you were allowed to run your country and that foreign soldiers left?
And that's just on the issue of an occuyping power, that's not factoring in the damage that's been done to Iraq's hospitals, homes, lives. But still we stay, so all (on all sides) can pay the price of the Bully Boy's illegal war of choice.
And back in the United States? Well if you live in or around Austin, Texas, Howard Zinn's coming to town. That may be the only good news in this post. Freedom of expression, it takes a hit everywhere. But let's start with Ray's highlight, Nicholas Collias' "Red State, Meet Police State" (Boise Weekly):
Dwight Scarbrough's idea of political dissent is one that rubs some people the wrong way. He likes to blame his compulsion for peaceful troublemaking on his birthday: October 2, the same as Ghandi. However, a few of Scarbrough's techniques are all his own--especially when it comes to his truck.
For instance, when the Iraq War was looking imminent, not long after September 11, Dwight attached a garbage bag to the back of his truck bed. He splattered the bag and the truck with ketchup and added a sign reading, "This veteran knows that our children are worth more than a $6.95 body bag." When he drove down the freeway, the bag would inflate and appear occupied.
"That one was a little in-your-face and on-the-edge," Scarbrough recalls. "It got a lot of response."
Scarbrough wasn't always so anti-military. During the waning years of the Cold War, he even served five years on a nuclear submarine for the U.S. Navy. But now, instead of trying to stop the spread of "red" states like China and the USSR, Dwight lives in a red state--Idaho. He's the founder and head of Boise's local branch of Veterans for Peace, he leads seminars exposing military recruitment practices in schools, and he--and his truck--are fixtures at nearly every Democratic, antiwar or pro-peace event in town.
While no longer smeared with ketchup, his ride is still hard to ignore. On the back, he tapes weekly updates of the number of U.S. soldiers killed and wounded in Iraq. Beneath that, on a large, white (and also taped-on) placard: "Support our returning troops and their families when they need help: Give them this number: GI RIGHTS HOTLINE: 1-800-394-9544." On both doors, in bold capital letters: "DEATH IN IRAQ IS NOT A CAREER OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUNG AMERICANS." Taking up nearly half of the back window: "Veterans for Peace Chapter 117, Idaho." On the driver's side wheel well, also in all caps: "PERHAPS GOD BLESSES EVERY NATION, NOT JUST THE USA." And interspersed between them all, he places a variety of purchased bumper stickers and magnetic ribbons reading, among other sentiments, "Support our Troops: Bring them Home Now," "Support Diversity" and "Honor Vets, Wage Peace."
Scarbrough gets his share of negative attention--including plenty of people "flying the bald eagle," as he likes to call it--but he savors such attention. He likes to call his truck a "sociological experiment on wheels," and whether you like the message of that experiment or not, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that Scarbrough is the type of extreme voice that the First Amendment--that one about free speech--is intended to protect.
Or at least it seemed that way until last Tuesday.
What happens next? Use the link (Homeland Security comes a visiting). Homeland Security, the National Security Agency. Lots of agencies with securities in the title, not a lot of security for Americans or their liberties. Michael notes C.J. Janovy's "Caller ID: Sprint helps George W. Bush and his spies" (Kansas City Pitch Weekly):
A cold wind was blowing outside the Sprint store in Westport last week, but I couldn't wait any longer. I needed some answers, and the only way to get them was old-fashioned, man-on-the-street-type interviews.
I'd wondered about Sprint since December, when The New York Times broke the story that George W. Bush had allowed spooks from the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on people without bothering to get the warrants required by federal law. I'd been obsessing about a single line in a story the Times ran on Christmas Day: "Current and former government officials say that the security agency, as part of its domestic surveillance program, has gained the cooperation of some of the country's biggest telecommunications companies...."
The nation's biggest telecommunications companies? Did our hometown telecom giant help out the president's G-men? Did Sprint cooperate in an effort that has weirded out not just Bush haters who are calling for impeachment but also big-time Republicans such as Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter?
I put in a call to Sprint's director of public affairs, Leigh Horner, who handles media inquiries about "legislative, regulatory and issues management" from the East Coast. Sprint's Web site goes on and on about how it handles its customers' sensitive information -- like, say, when it gives it to other companies -- but doesn't say much about government spies.
You never know, after all. You won't get in trouble because you're not a terrorist and you're not blabbing on your cell phone about anything illegal. Besides, you never discuss anything remotely damaging -- nasty gossip about your brother, agony over your finances, gripes about your boss -- that might just embarrass you if it fell into the wrong hands. You have nothing to hide, right?
Sprint's Leigh Horner apparently had something to hide. Just after the first of the year, I left a message on her voice mail. I didn't hear anything, so I left a couple more messages. On January 12, I e-mailed my questions to her. I know the government spy program is all about top-secret information, and anything anyone says could compromise national security, but I figured Sprint's director of public affairs might at least give Kansas Citians the courtesy of some sort of reply. Horner's silence continued. I began to fear the worst about Sprint. Then, as of last Monday, I didn't need Leigh Horner to confirm it anymore. USA Today reported that seven anonymous telecom execs from AT&T, MCI and Sprint said that the companies were cooperating with the feds.
There actually is more good news in this entry than just Howard Zinn. There's the fact that citizens are saying no to war and no to intimidation. Zach notes Claudette Langley's "Grandmothers Offer Their Lives as Valentines' Gift" (San Francisco Bay Indymedia):
It wasn't chocolate and roses the crowd of nearly 300 came bearing to downtown Oakland Valentines' Day it was the offer to trade places with young soldiers in Iraq. Gathering outside the Army recruiting office at 2116 Broadway the mostly gray-haired women called out that they were there to enlist, so that the young people could come home from the war.
"Bring them home. Take us instead," they called out in unison.
"This is our Valentines' gift."
The noon-time demonstration organized by the Bay Area Chapter of Grandmothers for Peace drew not only the matriarchs but a bevy of supporters young and old and male, as well. With a twist on something usually found in male dominated organizations a man stood in the crowd wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with "Grandmothers for Peace - Men's Auxiliary."
"If I was Grandmother I would have one of the other shirts on," said John Ellis, from El Cerrito. The crowd many dressed in black and the traditional Valentine red, spread out for nearly a block walking slowly and carrying signs calling for an end to the war and to "Stop Mad Cowboy Disease." Passersby were handed small leaflets explaining the women's mission.
"We are grandmothers heartbroken over the enormous loss of life and limb in Iraq. We are appalled by our leaders who make war with other people's children-a war and occupation that our leaders justify with lies and deceit," their leaflet declared.
The Oakland demonstration was one of eight similar actions held around the country on the day normally reserved for romance. Marge Lasky, the Bay Area Grandmothers for Peace spokesperson said that women in New York City, Rochester and Albany New York, Tucson, Arizona, Lake Worth and Sarasota, Florida, Montpelier, Vermont and Fresno, California also headed to their local recruiting offices to enlist as a Valentine gift. Despite the crowd of potential recruits ready to rush the doors. The Oakland recruiting office was dark and the doors locked during the action.
The doors locked? Don't underestimate the power of a group of grandmothers banding together to speak out. I'll stop teasing about the Zinn item. Eddie noted Diana Welch's "Who We Are: Howard Zinn on the uses of history" (The Austin Chronicle) and the information on the conference is included before the excerpt:
On Feb. 17-19, Austin will be host to hundreds of historians and activists who will gather in UT's Thompson Conference Center to raise some serious questions, most prominently: 1) What has brought us to the war in Iraq; 2) What are we supposed to do now? Among the scholars convening in the name of informed resistance will be Rashid Khalidi, director of Columbia University's Middle East Institute and author of Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East; Andrea Smith, Native American activist and scholar and co-founder of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence; and Howard Zinn, the historian, activist, and author best known for his ground-breaking retelling of American history from the bottom up, A People's History of the United States. The veteran of both World War II and the fight for civil rights talked with the Chronicle from his home in Massachusetts – about the power of context, America's potential to be truly great, and the truth of human nature.
Empire, Resistance, and the War in Iraq: A Conference for Historians and Activists, Feb 17-19, UT-Austin. For a full list of speakers and a detailed schedule, see www.historiansagainstwar.org.
[. . .]
AC: Have we caught on?
HZ: Well, it takes time to break through the fog of propaganda. The power of that propaganda and the control of the media having become so close to absolute, you have to break through so many layers of falsehood before you get to the truth. Eventually people do, but it takes time. I mean, look at what's happening with the war in Iraq, and look at the 80% support for Bush when the war started and the less than 50% support now.
AC: It's a pity the time it takes.
HZ: Yeah, and the lives it takes.
AC: You said, in that speech on civil disobedience that is in your book: "The world is topsy-turvy. … The wrong people are in jail, and the wrong people are out of jail. The wrong people are in power and the wrong people are out of power." That was 1970. Now, 36 years later, what's changed?
HZ: Well, it's still true. I was thinking about that just this morning when I got the news that the St. Patrick Four were being sentenced (www.commondreams.org/views05/0317-32.htm). They are getting basically six-month sentences. It could have been worse, but the jury did not find them guilty of a felony, they found them guilty of misdemeanors. Their first trial, the jury could not come to a decision. In fact, nine out of the 12 jurors were going to acquit them. There, too, is an instance where people are befogged by what they get from the news and what they get from the authorities. This is true of these jurors who were prevented, by the judge, from hearing the context of what the defendants have done. And when the judge will not allow testimony that can tell the juries why these people committed this act of civil disobedience, then the juries will convict. But, in the first trial, where the juries were allowed to hear arguments of international law, the jury could not convict them. I saw this during the Vietnam War, I testified many times in trials of people who had committed civil disobedience. The outcome of the trial really depended on what the jury was allowed to hear by the judge. Talk about human nature: It gives you a little bit of faith in human nature to know that when people learn the truth, or when people have a chance to hear the other side, they will vote their consciences.
Grandmothers against war, historians against it, this is the people. This isn't the Bully Boy or Clear Channel orchestrating psuedo rallies, this is the people doing the people's business which is participating in their lives, not sitting back and waiting for something to happen or for someone to speak out or for the 'right time' to take to stand. And maybe that's why they lock the doors at a recuriter station or why they resort to the tactics in the highlight the Hilda notes, "The Line Has Crossed Us All: 'Aiding and Abetting' Conviction Brings Six-Month Prison Sentence against DC activist in SOA Trials" (DC Indymedia);
Thirty four peaceful protesters arrested during the November 20, 2005, vigil at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, faced trial before Federal Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth on January 30 and 31st. All defendants were found guilty and sentenced to prison or probation. This year, prosecutors charged one activist with "Aiding and Abetting." According to the U.S. Criminal Code, "Whoever aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures the commission of an offense, is punishable as a principal."
"It seems possible that others in our movement could receive similar charges," SOA Watch Events and Outreach Coordinator Eric LeCompte commented after the convictions. "Now the government knows they can use this charge against us and the judge will give the maximum prison sentence. We sensed for some time that the government has attempted to piece together a Conspiracy case against SOA Watch, but the Aiding and Abetting charge doesn't seem to carry the burden of proof that a Conspiracy charge would carry."According to the law, "Mere encouragement or assistance is sufficient participation in the criminal act" for a defendant to be prosecuted for aiding and abetting.
Will the crackdown on liberty silence the people? Probably not. Historically not. And you're seeing groups come together to share stories and experiences as with Lyle's highlight, ChaCha's "Resisting Repression - Black Panthers and animal defenders unite to counter attacks" (Boston IMC):
Last Saturday, February 11, at a community gathering in Roxbury Community College’s cafeteria, John Bowman relived the darkest events of his life. Over a period of several days in 1973, in the custody of New Orleans police interrogators, Bowman and two other Black Panther Party members suspected in a 1971 San Francisco police shooting were subjected to severe torture, the kind of torture we are trained to associate with dictatorships or drug mafias. In separate rooms, and supervised by inspectors Ed Erdelatz and Frank McCoy of the San Francisco police department, the police stripped them and alternately beat them with batons, applied electric cattle prods to their genitals and other sensitive areas, sodomized them with the cattle prods, slammed them into walls while blindfolded, stuck needles into their bodies, threatened execution with guns to their heads, and smothered them with wool blankets soaked in boiling water. This went on for days until the police got the ‘confession’ they wanted.
The case against them was dropped some years later when the extent of the abuse became clear, and the government’s 'evidence' of confessions extracted under torture was voided. Nothing was ever done to hold the police accountable, and Bowman and the others were left to cope with the permanent physical and psychological post-traumatic scars.
Until the day in 2003 when the same two San Francisco detectives showed up at Bowman's home in Oklahoma, smiling, "Do you remember us?"
"How could I ever forget them?" Bowman asked the silent audience.
They had come out of retirement to be deputized as federal marshals, and had reopened the same case the prosecution was forced to drop 30 years back. This time the tactics were different; the government relied on grand juries to intimidate four Panther veterans into implicating each other, but they resisted and refused to cooperate, and they were all imprisoned indefinitely. However, they were finally released without indictments when the grand jury expired in November 2005, exposing the flimsiness of the government's case.
They have been touring the country since then with the help of lawyers like Soffiyah Elijah at Harvard University and community groups like the coalition which hosted them in Roxbury, in an effort to raise awareness among political activists of the tactics being used by the government to throttle popular dissent.
Their new organization, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, is aimed at "drawing attention to the human rights abuses perpetrated by the government of the United States and law enforcement authorities, which were carried out in an attempt to destroy progressive organizations and individuals."
They have been busy building solidarity among many community groups across the country by sharing their experiences and addressing the growing climate of fear in the country. As part of their presentation last weekend, the men assisted Bowman in demonstrating his torture with electric cattle prods and a blanket soaked in boiling water. The crowd seemed stunned, especially to find out it was only his second time speaking about this in public.
"This is very difficult for me to discuss in public."
Ray Boudreaux, one of the Panthers in town for the event, is a Vietnam veteran and electrician in Los Angeles. He remembered how the Panthers were stigmatized in a coordinated FBI campaign aimed at destroying community support for the nascent movement. "Once upon a time, they called me a terrorist too," said Boudreaux. This label allowed the government a much freer hand to use outrageous and frequently illegal tactics in its notorious COINTELPRO campaign against popular movements in the 1960s and 1970s. ( http://thetalkingdrum.com/cointelpro.html )
Will repression and implication work to silence voices? My guess is no. Marcus notes an event that Rachel noted earlier this week, "Support Lynne Stewart" (Big Muddy IMC):
Come to Chicago! Saturday, February 18, 1-3 p.m., DePaul law school, downtown Loop campusStudents, activists, and members of the Carbondale community are invited to join the National Lawyers Guild in Chicago on Saturday, February 18, for a "Day of Outrage" on the upcoming sentencing of attorney Lynne Stewart.
The event features NYC attorney and talk-radio host Michael Smith, "the angriest lawyer on the radio!"
Michael Smith, Esq., Lynne Smith Defense Committee, NYC
"You Can't Tell Lawyers How to Do Their Job"
Saturday, February 18, 2006
1 p.m. SHARP! till 3 p.m.
DePaul University College of Law
Downtown Loop Campus
25 E. Jackson Blvd.
-- Classroom 803
Lynne Stewart, age 66, mother of 3, step mom of 4, and grandmother of 7, was a children's librarian before becoming an attorney. Since 1975, while showing that an "older" woman could go back to school, change careers, and be successful, Lynne has also lived up to the ethical canon of her profession: To provide competent, zealous representation to all her clients, regardless of how unpopular they were.
She did such a good job that the New York bar honored her as criminal defense attorney of the year.
She and famous former attorney general Ramsey Clark represented Omar Abdel Rahman, the so-called "Blind Sheik," who was convicted of plotting to blow up New York landmarks. They visited him in jail many times. They followed well-settled benchmarks of competent representation in high-profile cases. They tried to put their case forward in public.
Long after trial, after the infamous 2000 presidential election, the government indicted Lynne -- but not Clark -- for conspiracy, providing material support to terrorists, and defrauding the U.S. government. Attorney general John Ashcroft flew to NYC to brag about the indictment.
Clark testified at Lynne's trial, "I don’t know of anything that Lynne did that I didn't do."
The National Conference of Black Lawyers called it a "legal lynching," but Lynne was convicted on all counts. Her sentencing is March 10, 2006. She's looking at 35 to 45 years.
Check out:
http://www.lynnestewart.org/
http://www.nlgchicago.org/
contactnlgchicago (at) yahoo.com
NLG Chicago: 312-913-0039
See also:
http://www.nlgchicago.org
http://www.lynnestewart.org
Marcus wondered what show Michael Smith was on? Law & Disorder broadcast on WBAI.
More historical figures come forward to speak to the power of the people in Ted's highlight, Anna Thompson's "Freedom Riders Reunite at Nashville Public Library" (Tennessee Independent Media Center):
Nashville, TN: On the 45th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides from Nashville to New Orleans, the Freedom Riders from Nashville reunited at the Nashville Public Library to discuss the legacy of the Freedom Rides and their impact on the Civil Rights movement and on their lives personally. The panelists, which included CT Vivian, Hank Thomas, Bernard Lafayette and William Harbour among others discussed having their buses firebombed, being attacked by angry white mobs and the solidarity and affinity to the philosophy of non-violence which guided their movement. John Seigenthaler was also in attendance, and discussed his role as a go-between the Kennedy administration, the Governor of Birmingham and Diane Nash, the leader of the Freedom Riders.
The panel, which was free, was held at the Nashville Public Library in honor of Black History Month. William Harbour, whose writings analyzed the movement as a liberation movement, was imprisoned for his role in the Freedom Rides. He helped to restart the Freedom Rides and was John Lews' cellmate at Parchman Penitentiary.
Harbour said that, "I am certain of this, if we had not responded non-violently to those who brutalized us, then many many more people would have died."
In Nashville he also helped to integrate movie theaters and grocery stores. John Seigenthaler, who is perhaps best known for his nationally televised program on PBS, 'A Word on Words' is also the executive director of the First Amendment Center and the former editor and publisher of the Tennessean.
During the Civil Rights era Seigenthaler was the assistant to Attorney General Robert Kennedy and was commissioned to negotiate safe passage of the Freedom Riders through Alabama. While in passage the bus, which had been guaranteed safe protection by the Governor of Alabama, was met by Ku Klux Klansmen, who attacked the bus, beat the Freedom Riders, and set the bus on fire. Seigenthaler, who tried to rescue two women who were being violently beaten, was himself beaten with a lead pipe in the incident.
Though you wouldn't know it to watch the big broadcast and cable channels, free speech is fighting back even when some try to impose restraints. Sabina notes Bob Fitch (photographs) and Josh Sonnefield (text)'s "UCSC Military Recruitment Debate Reportback" (Santa Cruz IMC):
On Wednesday, Feb. 8, UCSC's Colleges 9 and 10 hosted a tightly-controlled debate on the issue of military recruitment. The two speakers were William Griffin, in charge of Army recruitment for the Monterey Bay area, and Mario Ramirez Hardy, a long-time counter-recruitment organizer and GI Rights Hotline counselor.
he issue of military recruitment at UC Santa Cruz and in the community as a whole has been prominent for years. Due to creative student protests, all branch of the military have been prevented from any form of recruiting on campus for more than a year. After multiple successful local campaigns, the majority of Santa Cruz County high school parents have opted their children out of contact lists sent to recruiters. Santa Cruz County now has the lowest recruitment rate in the state of California. On Wednesday night, Colleges 9 and 10 organized a debate on the issue of military recruitment.
William Griffin, the top dog for Army recruitment in the area, faced off against Mario Ramirez Hardy, who has been helping GIs get out of the military for over a decade, in addition to a wide array of counter-recruitment activities. The night was very tightly controlled by Colleges 9 and 10 (c9/10) staff, headed by Wendy Baxter, and moderated by Professor Paul Roth. There were fears of protests from students, possibly by Students Against War (SAW), as military recruiters are known not to be welcome. Due to these fears, c9/10 staff taped a 'do not cross' line on the ground outside the Multi-Purpose Room, where the debate was held. Protesters and leafletters were not to cross the line.
Nonetheless, important flyers found their way in the hands of almost all the student attendees. No protests were planned, as no military recruitment was to take place. During the debate, Mario Ramirez Hardy and William Griffin calmly answered a few questions that they had received before hand. Students with questions were asked to write them on cards, which Roth and Baxter screened. No questions relating to foreign policy were allowed. Due to all these restrictions, the debate wasn't overly exciting, although there was a good deal of information presented. Mario Ramirez Hardy systematically dispelled the myths about military recruitment - using facts provided from military or governmental sources.
He spoke about how military recruiters, under the enlistment agreement (see: http://quakerhouse.org/documents/enlist.html) can change anything at any time, with or without notice to the enlistee (i.e. recruiters can't make any promises). He noted that 57% of enlistees don't get a dime for college, that 90% of women in the military reported harassment (1/3 of which were raped), the high rates of discrimination against people of color, and the violent heterosexism and homophobia of the military, seen by their 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy and the consistent harassment of enlistees found to be queer. These statistics were backed up by more than a decade of personal experiences counseling GIs.
Need more protest? Mia notes "Presidents' Day IMPEACH BUSH Demo! Richard Nixon Library, Yorba Linda, 2/20/06" (LA Indymedia):
PRESIDENTS' DAY FEBRUARY 20, 2006
IMPEACH GEORGE W. BUSH DEMONSTRATION!
RICHARD NIXON LIBRARY
Both Richard Nixon and George W. Bush carried out an ILLEGAL wiretapping program against people in the United States. George W. Bush LIED to the people and Congress about the justifications for going to war on Iraq! These are serious offenses which constitute High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Support the IMPEACHMENT OF George Walker Bush!
When: President's Day, Monday, February 20, 2006 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Where: Richard Nixon Museum 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd. Yorba Linda, CA 92886 Demonstration at the corners of Yorba Linda Blvd. and Eureka Ave.
Save Our Freedoms! Save our Constitution! Orange County Peace Coalition http://www.ocpeace.org
Earlier today, we provided a link to the latest round of Abu Ghraib photos at Salon. If you used the link and weren't a paid subscriber of Salon, you may have had to watch a commercial to view the photos and I know that some members have computers with very old versions of Windows so they'll freeze if they visit Salon and attempt to watch a commercial. So here's an alternative if you want to view the photos, Dahr Jamail has them up at Iraq Dispatches and you can view them by clicking here (no commercials to watch, just click here).
Brady asked if we could close with an item from today's Democracy Now! because he wants to be sure everyone noticed it:
U.S. Denies Entry To Iraqi Widows
In other Iraq news, the human rights group Global Exchange and anti-war group CodePink are criticizing the Bush administration for refusing to allow two Iraqi women into the United States. The women had been scheduled to take part in a speaking tour and to participate in the March 8th Women Say No to War march in Washington Both women are widows whose husbands and children were killed by U.S. troops. According to the groups the State Department rejected the visas because the women didn't have enough family in Iraq to prove that they'll return to the country and not emigrate to the United States. Organizer Medea Benjamin said "It's appalling that the US military killed these women's families and then the US government rejects their visas on the grounds that they have no family to return to in Iraq."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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Patterson testifies that after her outburst, a pair of "men in black" came up behind her, took her by the elbows and led her out of the Monaco airport hangar where the rally was staged, delivering her to Eugene police. When Patterson refused to leave the property, the police arrested her and charged her with trespassing. Municipal Court Judge Alan Leiman dismissed the case after a pre-trial hearing last fall, but city prosecutor Mark Haight appealed the ruling to the circuit court. A new hearing was scheduled for Feb. 16, but that date has been postponed.
Who were the "men in black"? Process of elimination makes the question perplexing.
"It's definitely not the Eugene police," Regan said. "Everyone agrees at this point that they are denying it." EPD Lieutenant Pete Kerns, who was the officer in charge at the event, declined to comment.
They couldn't have been Monaco representatives, Regan said, because Monaco's "person in charge" wasn't even contacted until Patterson was already outside. Monaco spokesman Craig Wanichek said that "Eugene police came and escorted her out."
Haight originally assumed that the "men in black" were Secret Service agents, but Oregon Secret Service Agent in Charge Ronald Wampole denied that claim in an interview with EW.
Wampole offered another explanation. "It may have been VP staff people who dress just like the SS, complete with ear piece," he wrote in a Feb. 6 e-mail. "They are usually the ones who would take action if someone was arrested for trespassing."
In other words, the vice president's staff may have impersonated Secret Service agents to force Patterson and other protesters out of the rally. Cheney's spokespeople declined to comment.
According to Center for Constitutional Rights Director Bill Goodman, White House staff have no legal authority to remove protesters from political events. "They are public officials and act under color of law," he wrote via e-mail. "As such they can and did violate the First Amendment."
The above is from Kera Abraham's "White House Brownshirts? Perry Patterson plans to sue the 'men in black'" (Eugene Weekly) and was noted by Portland. If you missed it, the newest spin the administration's been working on for the last few weeks is a new name to the so-called war on terror. Now one of the names being floated is "the long war." Well it does drag on. And on.
The indymedia is always based upon what members are submitting in e-mails and the theme in the e-mails this week appears to be the war on all fronts. The war on dissent, obviously, we led that with that. The war on free speech, the war on America, Bully Boy's started so many wars that it's hard to keep track of them all. (You sort of picture future historians using tables and graphs to illustrate his actions.)
But always there is the invasion/occupation of Iraq. Already this month, the official count for the American military fatalities is 32. In England, they've measured another toll. Gary notes Kim Sengupta and Terri Judd's "Iraq: the Forgotten Victims: Military under fire for 'abandoning' more than 1,000 veterans with mental problems" (The Independent via Common Dreams):
Dramatic figures have been released revealing that at least 1,333 servicemen and women - almost 1.5 per cent of those who served in the Iraq war - have returned from the Middle East with serious psychiatric problems.
The official statistics, which have been passed to The Independent, identify those who were diagnosed with mental health problems while on duty. Many Iraq veterans are now receiving little or no treatment for a variety of mental health problems.
Questions have also been raised about the level of care being given to regular soldiers, reservists and members of the TA, some of whose symptoms emerged after ending active service. Many are not included in the figure of 1,333. Many claim they have been abandoned by the military establishment.
The government figures, compiled between January 2003 and September 2005, emerged in an answer by Don Touhig, minister for veterans' affairs, in response to a question by Mark Harper MP.
Out of the 1,333 diagnosed as suffering from mental health problems, 182 have been found to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder while 601 are judged to have adjustment disorder or, in laymen's terms, " combat stress".
Also highlighting Common Dreams is Cindy who notes David Michael Green's "See No Evil, Become That Evil: Supporting the War As An Act of Unpatriotic Cowardice:"
People are dying in Iraq by the tens of thousands, and that destructive project is entirely dependent on the acquiescence of the American people in allowing it to continue in their name, and financed by their tax dollars (or, more accurately, by their children's tax dollars which will be used to pay back the massive loans we are racking up in China and Japan).
No one who is a true patriot can support such a grave policy decision until they have seriously examined it. No one who really supports the troops can put them in harm’s way without studying and analyzing carefully the justification for doing so.
Anyone who does otherwise is, in fact, an unpatriotic coward.
For what could be more unpatriotic than to support a war -- the most serious decision a government can make -- without learning the facts? What could be less supportive of the troops than to allow them to go kill, to die and get maimed without being sure there is a good justification for doing so? And if the reasons for thoughtlessly sending people off to war are either laziness or fear of one's own inadequacies, what could be more despicable?
Let's note the song that's becoming a staple of these entries:
They're just there to try and make the people free,
But the way that they're doing it, it don't seem like that to me.
Just more blood-letting and misery and tears
That this poor country's known for the last twenty years,
And the war drags on.
-- words and lyrics by Mick Softly (available on Donovan's Fairytale)
The war drags on . . . as long as we let it. As long as we see ourselves as peasants to be ruled or too ill informed to participate in our democracy. Or how about this, because quite a few are still spouting this nonsense, as long as we think we can "fix" what we broke. On the radio earlier tonight (on Pacifica), it was noted that the Iraqi government, in wake of the most recent Abu Ghraib pictures, was asking that all prisoners in US custody be turned over to the Iraqi government. But some well intentioned ones (or "well intentioned" ones) still think our government can "fix" things. As though if we just give Karen Hughes enough time to work out her spin-charms, Iraqis will forget all about the raids, the arrests, the bombings, the tag-sale on their industries and public goods . . . Elaine long ago compared this attitude to a jerk who spilled red wine on her white rug. If you missed that story, it was years ago. Elaine had her first "adult" apartment that she could furnish as she wanted and she thought the most adult thing in the world would be a white rug (white couch, white was the theme of that living room). As soon as she had the entire apartment decorated to her taste, she threw a party. As I remember the jerk, he was drunk off his rear. He was loud and annoying and staggering. At any rate, he spills not a drop of red wine but the entire glass on her carpet. The color drained from Elaine's face. I'll never forget that. I made no attempt to go over because I knew how much Elaine loved that rug (although I think it may have been carpet, check with her). The jerk insisted upon helping and was only spreading the stain (possibly because he was drunk but maybe just because he didn't know what he was doing). Elaine kept telling him to get out of her way and let her clean up the mess. (That's when I went over.) But apparently, the well intent set can't grasp that when you destroy something, people aren't waiting for you to fix it -- they just want you to go. They want you to leave.
As noted in The Third Estate Sunday Review's "Editorial: Time to Head On Home:"
There's been no shake up at the top. Bully Boy still occupies the oval office just as sure as the US occupies Iraq. Iraqis aren't children and they're not stupid. They're an advanced, educated people. They have no reason to believe that the same set of people who have had almost three years (next month marks the third year) to do something worthwhile but didn't will suddenly spring to the challenge.
Iraq had no WMD. It was not a threat to us ("mushroom cloud," Condi?). Someone lied us into war. They took us off course. It's time to get back to what America's all about and it's time to realize that drunk slurring his words and telling us he knows another bar that's still open isn't anyone we want to get a car in with. We're ready to head on home and return to the lives we should be leading. Lives that don't involve wars built on lies. Lives that don't involve trying to impose a system on a people who didn't ask for us to be there. Lives that don't involve falling for the latest Operation Happy Talk. Lives that are reality-based. Bar's closing, let's all head on home. At least the ones who still have that option, the ones who didn't give their lives to a war of choice, one that should have been avoided.
Now the well intended set needs to stop deluding themselves that Iraqis are children. Imagine that Germany, in 2003, invaded the United States because they saw Bully Boy as a terrorist threat and they stayed on that year, in 2004, in 2005 and in 2006. How would you feel? Or, if you're a right wing visiter, drop the clock back to 1998 and Germany invades to take out Bill Clinton. After three years, wouldn't you think it was past time that you were allowed to run your country and that foreign soldiers left?
And that's just on the issue of an occuyping power, that's not factoring in the damage that's been done to Iraq's hospitals, homes, lives. But still we stay, so all (on all sides) can pay the price of the Bully Boy's illegal war of choice.
And back in the United States? Well if you live in or around Austin, Texas, Howard Zinn's coming to town. That may be the only good news in this post. Freedom of expression, it takes a hit everywhere. But let's start with Ray's highlight, Nicholas Collias' "Red State, Meet Police State" (Boise Weekly):
Dwight Scarbrough's idea of political dissent is one that rubs some people the wrong way. He likes to blame his compulsion for peaceful troublemaking on his birthday: October 2, the same as Ghandi. However, a few of Scarbrough's techniques are all his own--especially when it comes to his truck.
For instance, when the Iraq War was looking imminent, not long after September 11, Dwight attached a garbage bag to the back of his truck bed. He splattered the bag and the truck with ketchup and added a sign reading, "This veteran knows that our children are worth more than a $6.95 body bag." When he drove down the freeway, the bag would inflate and appear occupied.
"That one was a little in-your-face and on-the-edge," Scarbrough recalls. "It got a lot of response."
Scarbrough wasn't always so anti-military. During the waning years of the Cold War, he even served five years on a nuclear submarine for the U.S. Navy. But now, instead of trying to stop the spread of "red" states like China and the USSR, Dwight lives in a red state--Idaho. He's the founder and head of Boise's local branch of Veterans for Peace, he leads seminars exposing military recruitment practices in schools, and he--and his truck--are fixtures at nearly every Democratic, antiwar or pro-peace event in town.
While no longer smeared with ketchup, his ride is still hard to ignore. On the back, he tapes weekly updates of the number of U.S. soldiers killed and wounded in Iraq. Beneath that, on a large, white (and also taped-on) placard: "Support our returning troops and their families when they need help: Give them this number: GI RIGHTS HOTLINE: 1-800-394-9544." On both doors, in bold capital letters: "DEATH IN IRAQ IS NOT A CAREER OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUNG AMERICANS." Taking up nearly half of the back window: "Veterans for Peace Chapter 117, Idaho." On the driver's side wheel well, also in all caps: "PERHAPS GOD BLESSES EVERY NATION, NOT JUST THE USA." And interspersed between them all, he places a variety of purchased bumper stickers and magnetic ribbons reading, among other sentiments, "Support our Troops: Bring them Home Now," "Support Diversity" and "Honor Vets, Wage Peace."
Scarbrough gets his share of negative attention--including plenty of people "flying the bald eagle," as he likes to call it--but he savors such attention. He likes to call his truck a "sociological experiment on wheels," and whether you like the message of that experiment or not, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that Scarbrough is the type of extreme voice that the First Amendment--that one about free speech--is intended to protect.
Or at least it seemed that way until last Tuesday.
What happens next? Use the link (Homeland Security comes a visiting). Homeland Security, the National Security Agency. Lots of agencies with securities in the title, not a lot of security for Americans or their liberties. Michael notes C.J. Janovy's "Caller ID: Sprint helps George W. Bush and his spies" (Kansas City Pitch Weekly):
A cold wind was blowing outside the Sprint store in Westport last week, but I couldn't wait any longer. I needed some answers, and the only way to get them was old-fashioned, man-on-the-street-type interviews.
I'd wondered about Sprint since December, when The New York Times broke the story that George W. Bush had allowed spooks from the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on people without bothering to get the warrants required by federal law. I'd been obsessing about a single line in a story the Times ran on Christmas Day: "Current and former government officials say that the security agency, as part of its domestic surveillance program, has gained the cooperation of some of the country's biggest telecommunications companies...."
The nation's biggest telecommunications companies? Did our hometown telecom giant help out the president's G-men? Did Sprint cooperate in an effort that has weirded out not just Bush haters who are calling for impeachment but also big-time Republicans such as Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter?
I put in a call to Sprint's director of public affairs, Leigh Horner, who handles media inquiries about "legislative, regulatory and issues management" from the East Coast. Sprint's Web site goes on and on about how it handles its customers' sensitive information -- like, say, when it gives it to other companies -- but doesn't say much about government spies.
You never know, after all. You won't get in trouble because you're not a terrorist and you're not blabbing on your cell phone about anything illegal. Besides, you never discuss anything remotely damaging -- nasty gossip about your brother, agony over your finances, gripes about your boss -- that might just embarrass you if it fell into the wrong hands. You have nothing to hide, right?
Sprint's Leigh Horner apparently had something to hide. Just after the first of the year, I left a message on her voice mail. I didn't hear anything, so I left a couple more messages. On January 12, I e-mailed my questions to her. I know the government spy program is all about top-secret information, and anything anyone says could compromise national security, but I figured Sprint's director of public affairs might at least give Kansas Citians the courtesy of some sort of reply. Horner's silence continued. I began to fear the worst about Sprint. Then, as of last Monday, I didn't need Leigh Horner to confirm it anymore. USA Today reported that seven anonymous telecom execs from AT&T, MCI and Sprint said that the companies were cooperating with the feds.
There actually is more good news in this entry than just Howard Zinn. There's the fact that citizens are saying no to war and no to intimidation. Zach notes Claudette Langley's "Grandmothers Offer Their Lives as Valentines' Gift" (San Francisco Bay Indymedia):
It wasn't chocolate and roses the crowd of nearly 300 came bearing to downtown Oakland Valentines' Day it was the offer to trade places with young soldiers in Iraq. Gathering outside the Army recruiting office at 2116 Broadway the mostly gray-haired women called out that they were there to enlist, so that the young people could come home from the war.
"Bring them home. Take us instead," they called out in unison.
"This is our Valentines' gift."
The noon-time demonstration organized by the Bay Area Chapter of Grandmothers for Peace drew not only the matriarchs but a bevy of supporters young and old and male, as well. With a twist on something usually found in male dominated organizations a man stood in the crowd wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with "Grandmothers for Peace - Men's Auxiliary."
"If I was Grandmother I would have one of the other shirts on," said John Ellis, from El Cerrito. The crowd many dressed in black and the traditional Valentine red, spread out for nearly a block walking slowly and carrying signs calling for an end to the war and to "Stop Mad Cowboy Disease." Passersby were handed small leaflets explaining the women's mission.
"We are grandmothers heartbroken over the enormous loss of life and limb in Iraq. We are appalled by our leaders who make war with other people's children-a war and occupation that our leaders justify with lies and deceit," their leaflet declared.
The Oakland demonstration was one of eight similar actions held around the country on the day normally reserved for romance. Marge Lasky, the Bay Area Grandmothers for Peace spokesperson said that women in New York City, Rochester and Albany New York, Tucson, Arizona, Lake Worth and Sarasota, Florida, Montpelier, Vermont and Fresno, California also headed to their local recruiting offices to enlist as a Valentine gift. Despite the crowd of potential recruits ready to rush the doors. The Oakland recruiting office was dark and the doors locked during the action.
The doors locked? Don't underestimate the power of a group of grandmothers banding together to speak out. I'll stop teasing about the Zinn item. Eddie noted Diana Welch's "Who We Are: Howard Zinn on the uses of history" (The Austin Chronicle) and the information on the conference is included before the excerpt:
On Feb. 17-19, Austin will be host to hundreds of historians and activists who will gather in UT's Thompson Conference Center to raise some serious questions, most prominently: 1) What has brought us to the war in Iraq; 2) What are we supposed to do now? Among the scholars convening in the name of informed resistance will be Rashid Khalidi, director of Columbia University's Middle East Institute and author of Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East; Andrea Smith, Native American activist and scholar and co-founder of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence; and Howard Zinn, the historian, activist, and author best known for his ground-breaking retelling of American history from the bottom up, A People's History of the United States. The veteran of both World War II and the fight for civil rights talked with the Chronicle from his home in Massachusetts – about the power of context, America's potential to be truly great, and the truth of human nature.
Empire, Resistance, and the War in Iraq: A Conference for Historians and Activists, Feb 17-19, UT-Austin. For a full list of speakers and a detailed schedule, see www.historiansagainstwar.org.
[. . .]
AC: Have we caught on?
HZ: Well, it takes time to break through the fog of propaganda. The power of that propaganda and the control of the media having become so close to absolute, you have to break through so many layers of falsehood before you get to the truth. Eventually people do, but it takes time. I mean, look at what's happening with the war in Iraq, and look at the 80% support for Bush when the war started and the less than 50% support now.
AC: It's a pity the time it takes.
HZ: Yeah, and the lives it takes.
AC: You said, in that speech on civil disobedience that is in your book: "The world is topsy-turvy. … The wrong people are in jail, and the wrong people are out of jail. The wrong people are in power and the wrong people are out of power." That was 1970. Now, 36 years later, what's changed?
HZ: Well, it's still true. I was thinking about that just this morning when I got the news that the St. Patrick Four were being sentenced (www.commondreams.org/views05/0317-32.htm). They are getting basically six-month sentences. It could have been worse, but the jury did not find them guilty of a felony, they found them guilty of misdemeanors. Their first trial, the jury could not come to a decision. In fact, nine out of the 12 jurors were going to acquit them. There, too, is an instance where people are befogged by what they get from the news and what they get from the authorities. This is true of these jurors who were prevented, by the judge, from hearing the context of what the defendants have done. And when the judge will not allow testimony that can tell the juries why these people committed this act of civil disobedience, then the juries will convict. But, in the first trial, where the juries were allowed to hear arguments of international law, the jury could not convict them. I saw this during the Vietnam War, I testified many times in trials of people who had committed civil disobedience. The outcome of the trial really depended on what the jury was allowed to hear by the judge. Talk about human nature: It gives you a little bit of faith in human nature to know that when people learn the truth, or when people have a chance to hear the other side, they will vote their consciences.
Grandmothers against war, historians against it, this is the people. This isn't the Bully Boy or Clear Channel orchestrating psuedo rallies, this is the people doing the people's business which is participating in their lives, not sitting back and waiting for something to happen or for someone to speak out or for the 'right time' to take to stand. And maybe that's why they lock the doors at a recuriter station or why they resort to the tactics in the highlight the Hilda notes, "The Line Has Crossed Us All: 'Aiding and Abetting' Conviction Brings Six-Month Prison Sentence against DC activist in SOA Trials" (DC Indymedia);
Thirty four peaceful protesters arrested during the November 20, 2005, vigil at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, faced trial before Federal Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth on January 30 and 31st. All defendants were found guilty and sentenced to prison or probation. This year, prosecutors charged one activist with "Aiding and Abetting." According to the U.S. Criminal Code, "Whoever aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures the commission of an offense, is punishable as a principal."
"It seems possible that others in our movement could receive similar charges," SOA Watch Events and Outreach Coordinator Eric LeCompte commented after the convictions. "Now the government knows they can use this charge against us and the judge will give the maximum prison sentence. We sensed for some time that the government has attempted to piece together a Conspiracy case against SOA Watch, but the Aiding and Abetting charge doesn't seem to carry the burden of proof that a Conspiracy charge would carry."According to the law, "Mere encouragement or assistance is sufficient participation in the criminal act" for a defendant to be prosecuted for aiding and abetting.
Will the crackdown on liberty silence the people? Probably not. Historically not. And you're seeing groups come together to share stories and experiences as with Lyle's highlight, ChaCha's "Resisting Repression - Black Panthers and animal defenders unite to counter attacks" (Boston IMC):
Last Saturday, February 11, at a community gathering in Roxbury Community College’s cafeteria, John Bowman relived the darkest events of his life. Over a period of several days in 1973, in the custody of New Orleans police interrogators, Bowman and two other Black Panther Party members suspected in a 1971 San Francisco police shooting were subjected to severe torture, the kind of torture we are trained to associate with dictatorships or drug mafias. In separate rooms, and supervised by inspectors Ed Erdelatz and Frank McCoy of the San Francisco police department, the police stripped them and alternately beat them with batons, applied electric cattle prods to their genitals and other sensitive areas, sodomized them with the cattle prods, slammed them into walls while blindfolded, stuck needles into their bodies, threatened execution with guns to their heads, and smothered them with wool blankets soaked in boiling water. This went on for days until the police got the ‘confession’ they wanted.
The case against them was dropped some years later when the extent of the abuse became clear, and the government’s 'evidence' of confessions extracted under torture was voided. Nothing was ever done to hold the police accountable, and Bowman and the others were left to cope with the permanent physical and psychological post-traumatic scars.
Until the day in 2003 when the same two San Francisco detectives showed up at Bowman's home in Oklahoma, smiling, "Do you remember us?"
"How could I ever forget them?" Bowman asked the silent audience.
They had come out of retirement to be deputized as federal marshals, and had reopened the same case the prosecution was forced to drop 30 years back. This time the tactics were different; the government relied on grand juries to intimidate four Panther veterans into implicating each other, but they resisted and refused to cooperate, and they were all imprisoned indefinitely. However, they were finally released without indictments when the grand jury expired in November 2005, exposing the flimsiness of the government's case.
They have been touring the country since then with the help of lawyers like Soffiyah Elijah at Harvard University and community groups like the coalition which hosted them in Roxbury, in an effort to raise awareness among political activists of the tactics being used by the government to throttle popular dissent.
Their new organization, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, is aimed at "drawing attention to the human rights abuses perpetrated by the government of the United States and law enforcement authorities, which were carried out in an attempt to destroy progressive organizations and individuals."
They have been busy building solidarity among many community groups across the country by sharing their experiences and addressing the growing climate of fear in the country. As part of their presentation last weekend, the men assisted Bowman in demonstrating his torture with electric cattle prods and a blanket soaked in boiling water. The crowd seemed stunned, especially to find out it was only his second time speaking about this in public.
"This is very difficult for me to discuss in public."
Ray Boudreaux, one of the Panthers in town for the event, is a Vietnam veteran and electrician in Los Angeles. He remembered how the Panthers were stigmatized in a coordinated FBI campaign aimed at destroying community support for the nascent movement. "Once upon a time, they called me a terrorist too," said Boudreaux. This label allowed the government a much freer hand to use outrageous and frequently illegal tactics in its notorious COINTELPRO campaign against popular movements in the 1960s and 1970s. ( http://thetalkingdrum.com/cointelpro.html )
Will repression and implication work to silence voices? My guess is no. Marcus notes an event that Rachel noted earlier this week, "Support Lynne Stewart" (Big Muddy IMC):
Come to Chicago! Saturday, February 18, 1-3 p.m., DePaul law school, downtown Loop campusStudents, activists, and members of the Carbondale community are invited to join the National Lawyers Guild in Chicago on Saturday, February 18, for a "Day of Outrage" on the upcoming sentencing of attorney Lynne Stewart.
The event features NYC attorney and talk-radio host Michael Smith, "the angriest lawyer on the radio!"
Michael Smith, Esq., Lynne Smith Defense Committee, NYC
"You Can't Tell Lawyers How to Do Their Job"
Saturday, February 18, 2006
1 p.m. SHARP! till 3 p.m.
DePaul University College of Law
Downtown Loop Campus
25 E. Jackson Blvd.
-- Classroom 803
Lynne Stewart, age 66, mother of 3, step mom of 4, and grandmother of 7, was a children's librarian before becoming an attorney. Since 1975, while showing that an "older" woman could go back to school, change careers, and be successful, Lynne has also lived up to the ethical canon of her profession: To provide competent, zealous representation to all her clients, regardless of how unpopular they were.
She did such a good job that the New York bar honored her as criminal defense attorney of the year.
She and famous former attorney general Ramsey Clark represented Omar Abdel Rahman, the so-called "Blind Sheik," who was convicted of plotting to blow up New York landmarks. They visited him in jail many times. They followed well-settled benchmarks of competent representation in high-profile cases. They tried to put their case forward in public.
Long after trial, after the infamous 2000 presidential election, the government indicted Lynne -- but not Clark -- for conspiracy, providing material support to terrorists, and defrauding the U.S. government. Attorney general John Ashcroft flew to NYC to brag about the indictment.
Clark testified at Lynne's trial, "I don’t know of anything that Lynne did that I didn't do."
The National Conference of Black Lawyers called it a "legal lynching," but Lynne was convicted on all counts. Her sentencing is March 10, 2006. She's looking at 35 to 45 years.
Check out:
http://www.lynnestewart.org/
http://www.nlgchicago.org/
contactnlgchicago (at) yahoo.com
NLG Chicago: 312-913-0039
See also:
http://www.nlgchicago.org
http://www.lynnestewart.org
Marcus wondered what show Michael Smith was on? Law & Disorder broadcast on WBAI.
More historical figures come forward to speak to the power of the people in Ted's highlight, Anna Thompson's "Freedom Riders Reunite at Nashville Public Library" (Tennessee Independent Media Center):
Nashville, TN: On the 45th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides from Nashville to New Orleans, the Freedom Riders from Nashville reunited at the Nashville Public Library to discuss the legacy of the Freedom Rides and their impact on the Civil Rights movement and on their lives personally. The panelists, which included CT Vivian, Hank Thomas, Bernard Lafayette and William Harbour among others discussed having their buses firebombed, being attacked by angry white mobs and the solidarity and affinity to the philosophy of non-violence which guided their movement. John Seigenthaler was also in attendance, and discussed his role as a go-between the Kennedy administration, the Governor of Birmingham and Diane Nash, the leader of the Freedom Riders.
The panel, which was free, was held at the Nashville Public Library in honor of Black History Month. William Harbour, whose writings analyzed the movement as a liberation movement, was imprisoned for his role in the Freedom Rides. He helped to restart the Freedom Rides and was John Lews' cellmate at Parchman Penitentiary.
Harbour said that, "I am certain of this, if we had not responded non-violently to those who brutalized us, then many many more people would have died."
In Nashville he also helped to integrate movie theaters and grocery stores. John Seigenthaler, who is perhaps best known for his nationally televised program on PBS, 'A Word on Words' is also the executive director of the First Amendment Center and the former editor and publisher of the Tennessean.
During the Civil Rights era Seigenthaler was the assistant to Attorney General Robert Kennedy and was commissioned to negotiate safe passage of the Freedom Riders through Alabama. While in passage the bus, which had been guaranteed safe protection by the Governor of Alabama, was met by Ku Klux Klansmen, who attacked the bus, beat the Freedom Riders, and set the bus on fire. Seigenthaler, who tried to rescue two women who were being violently beaten, was himself beaten with a lead pipe in the incident.
Though you wouldn't know it to watch the big broadcast and cable channels, free speech is fighting back even when some try to impose restraints. Sabina notes Bob Fitch (photographs) and Josh Sonnefield (text)'s "UCSC Military Recruitment Debate Reportback" (Santa Cruz IMC):
On Wednesday, Feb. 8, UCSC's Colleges 9 and 10 hosted a tightly-controlled debate on the issue of military recruitment. The two speakers were William Griffin, in charge of Army recruitment for the Monterey Bay area, and Mario Ramirez Hardy, a long-time counter-recruitment organizer and GI Rights Hotline counselor.
he issue of military recruitment at UC Santa Cruz and in the community as a whole has been prominent for years. Due to creative student protests, all branch of the military have been prevented from any form of recruiting on campus for more than a year. After multiple successful local campaigns, the majority of Santa Cruz County high school parents have opted their children out of contact lists sent to recruiters. Santa Cruz County now has the lowest recruitment rate in the state of California. On Wednesday night, Colleges 9 and 10 organized a debate on the issue of military recruitment.
William Griffin, the top dog for Army recruitment in the area, faced off against Mario Ramirez Hardy, who has been helping GIs get out of the military for over a decade, in addition to a wide array of counter-recruitment activities. The night was very tightly controlled by Colleges 9 and 10 (c9/10) staff, headed by Wendy Baxter, and moderated by Professor Paul Roth. There were fears of protests from students, possibly by Students Against War (SAW), as military recruiters are known not to be welcome. Due to these fears, c9/10 staff taped a 'do not cross' line on the ground outside the Multi-Purpose Room, where the debate was held. Protesters and leafletters were not to cross the line.
Nonetheless, important flyers found their way in the hands of almost all the student attendees. No protests were planned, as no military recruitment was to take place. During the debate, Mario Ramirez Hardy and William Griffin calmly answered a few questions that they had received before hand. Students with questions were asked to write them on cards, which Roth and Baxter screened. No questions relating to foreign policy were allowed. Due to all these restrictions, the debate wasn't overly exciting, although there was a good deal of information presented. Mario Ramirez Hardy systematically dispelled the myths about military recruitment - using facts provided from military or governmental sources.
He spoke about how military recruiters, under the enlistment agreement (see: http://quakerhouse.org/documents/enlist.html) can change anything at any time, with or without notice to the enlistee (i.e. recruiters can't make any promises). He noted that 57% of enlistees don't get a dime for college, that 90% of women in the military reported harassment (1/3 of which were raped), the high rates of discrimination against people of color, and the violent heterosexism and homophobia of the military, seen by their 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy and the consistent harassment of enlistees found to be queer. These statistics were backed up by more than a decade of personal experiences counseling GIs.
Need more protest? Mia notes "Presidents' Day IMPEACH BUSH Demo! Richard Nixon Library, Yorba Linda, 2/20/06" (LA Indymedia):
PRESIDENTS' DAY FEBRUARY 20, 2006
IMPEACH GEORGE W. BUSH DEMONSTRATION!
RICHARD NIXON LIBRARY
Both Richard Nixon and George W. Bush carried out an ILLEGAL wiretapping program against people in the United States. George W. Bush LIED to the people and Congress about the justifications for going to war on Iraq! These are serious offenses which constitute High Crimes and Misdemeanors. Support the IMPEACHMENT OF George Walker Bush!
When: President's Day, Monday, February 20, 2006 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Where: Richard Nixon Museum 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd. Yorba Linda, CA 92886 Demonstration at the corners of Yorba Linda Blvd. and Eureka Ave.
Save Our Freedoms! Save our Constitution! Orange County Peace Coalition http://www.ocpeace.org
Earlier today, we provided a link to the latest round of Abu Ghraib photos at Salon. If you used the link and weren't a paid subscriber of Salon, you may have had to watch a commercial to view the photos and I know that some members have computers with very old versions of Windows so they'll freeze if they visit Salon and attempt to watch a commercial. So here's an alternative if you want to view the photos, Dahr Jamail has them up at Iraq Dispatches and you can view them by clicking here (no commercials to watch, just click here).
Brady asked if we could close with an item from today's Democracy Now! because he wants to be sure everyone noticed it:
U.S. Denies Entry To Iraqi Widows
In other Iraq news, the human rights group Global Exchange and anti-war group CodePink are criticizing the Bush administration for refusing to allow two Iraqi women into the United States. The women had been scheduled to take part in a speaking tour and to participate in the March 8th Women Say No to War march in Washington Both women are widows whose husbands and children were killed by U.S. troops. According to the groups the State Department rejected the visas because the women didn't have enough family in Iraq to prove that they'll return to the country and not emigrate to the United States. Organizer Medea Benjamin said "It's appalling that the US military killed these women's families and then the US government rejects their visas on the grounds that they have no family to return to in Iraq."
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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