Celebrating Genocide on Columbus Day
“Christopher Columbus is a
symbol, not of a man, but of imperialism. ...
Imperialism and colonialism are not something that happened decades
ago or generations ago, but they are still happening now with the
exploitation
of people. ... The kind of thing that took place long ago in which
people were
dispossessed from their land and forced out of subsistence economies
and into
market economies—those processes are still happening today.”
– John
Mohawk,
Seneca, 1992
The Indians, Columbus reported, “are so naive and so free with their
possessions
that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask
for
something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to
share
with anyone….”
From his base on Haiti,
Columbus sent expedition after expedition into the
interior. They found no gold fields, but had to fill up the ships
returning to
Spain with some kind of dividend. In the year 1495, they went on a
great slave
raid, rounded up fifteen hundred Arawak men, women, and children, put
them in
pens guarded by Spaniards and dogs, then picked the five hundred best
specimens
to load onto ships. Of those five hundred, two hundred died en route.
The rest
arrived alive in Spain and were put up for sale by the archdeacon of
the town,
who reported that, although the slaves were “naked as the day they were
born,”
they showed “no more embarrassment than animals.” Columbus later wrote:
“Let us
in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can
be sold.”
Excerpted from a People’s
History of the United States : by Howard Zinn
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/Columbus_PeoplesHx.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Posada_Carriles
Relatives walk with photos and place flowers on the graves of the victims, at the Colon cemetery in Havana, Cuba on Friday, Oct. 6, 2006, during a ceremony in memory of the Cubana Airlines plane that exploded in midair while traveling from Barbados to Havana on Oct. 6, 1976. Cubans marked the 30th anniversary of the airliner bombing that killed 73 people.(AP Photo/ Javier Galeano) (Javier Galeano - AP)
Cubans Remember Airliner Bombing Victims
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
The Associated Press
Friday, October 6, 2006; 11:28 PM
HAVANA -- Ondina Perez grew teary Friday as she recalled the day 30 years ago when a Cuban airliner exploded in flight over the island of Barbados, killing her pilot brother and the other 72 people aboard. Three decades later, Perez and other family members of those killed want the man sought for masterminding the explosion, Luis Posada Carriles, to face trial.
"It is sad to see all these children, grandchildren, parents, without their loved ones today," said Perez, who was among the victims' relatives who made a pilgrimage to Havana's Colon Cemetery, some hoisting large posters with black-and-white photographs of their dead loved ones.
Posada, a former CIA operative and opponent of Fidel Castro who denies involvement in the bombing, is being held in the United States on unrelated immigration charges. U.S. officials on Thursday blocked a federal magistrate's ruling that Posada be set free pending his deportation from the United States.
White House aide to Rove resigns
WASHINGTON - The latest casualty in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal was a key aide to presidential political strategist Karl Rove who once worked for the disgraced influence-peddler.
Susan Ralston stepped down
Friday from her post as a special
assistant to
President Bush. A congressional report showed she had extensive
contacts with Abramoff and had accepted tickets to sporting events and
concerts from him.
Corruption and scandal are major issues going into the Nov. 7 elections. Ralston’s resignation followed accusations that her contacts with Abramoff showed he was closer to Rove and Bush than the White House has been willing to acknowledge.
“She recognized
that a protracted discussion of these matters
would be a distraction to the White House and she’s chosen to step
down,” deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siikYCO3Zbc
Iraq Pipeline Watch
Attacks on Iraqi pipelines, oil installations, and oil personnel:
http://www.iags.org/iraqpipelinewatch.htm
Congressman Mark Foley, Republican of Florida, is off to rehab, the last hiding place for the scoundrel.
“Do I make you a little horny?” he had inquired of a young man in an email sent from his log-in name Maf54 – a young man who was 16 and who was serving under a hallowed high school programme as a Congressional page boy.
“A little,” answered the boy.
“Cool,” replied Maf54.
The feds are investigating. Paedophilia really is a no-no and Foley is on very thin ice.
He’s the latest politico to join the Tumescent Blooper Club of Wilbur Mills (Dem) caught with stripper Fanne Fox, Gary Hart (Dem presidential candidate) snapped betraying his family values on a yacht called Monkey Business, and Bill Clinton (Dem Pres) doing his thing with That Woman and a cigar.
From Marine Corps Major General Smedley D. Butler, who is the most decorated American serviceman in history…and WHY are the NEOCONS afraid of his legacy.
Butler was the most decorated America serviceman in HISTORY that CONSERVATIVES tried to recruit to ASSASSINATE a liberal president and set up FASCISM in America. The people behind it???
J P Morgan
Prescott BUSH
the Robber Baron conservatives
“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902�1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. ”
Major General Smedley D. Butler
02 October 2006
ALGIERS: Fifty years ago a young blonde woman hid a bomb in Algiers’ fashionable Milk Bar cafe where French colonial youths were relaxing after a day at the beach.
The woman, Zohra Drif, knew there would be victims as she left, unnoticed thanks to her European looks, to take refuge in the Casbah old quarter minutes before the early evening blast.
What she could not have known was that her actions and those of her colleagues in the 1954-62 independence war, instead of fading into history, are the subject of unprecedented scrutiny among counter-terror specialists around the world.
The renewed interest is thanks to a decision by the US military in 2003 to screen the classic 1965 film about the war, The Battle of Algiers, for officers preparing for duty in Iraq.
“How to win a battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas,” read a flyer for the film, a dramatized reconstruction of episodes in one of the world’s bloodiest post-colonial wars.
By Mike Blair
The Bush administration and the British government are under increasing pressure from the Israelis to conduct an illegal air strike against Iran�s nuclear facilities, according to a number of reports in Europe�s largest newspapers.
In London, The Sunday Telegraph and the daily Telegraph have reported that war clouds are spreading as Iran continues its nuclear development and Israel reacts to it.
According to The Sunday Telegraph Israel has appointed Maj. Gen. Elyezer Shkedy, commander of the Israeli air force, to direct military action against Tehran. Meanwhile, the Telegraph reports that Britain is holding secret talks �at which senior defense chiefs and government officials will consider the consequences of an attack on Iran.�
The Pentagon is also drawing up plans for an attack. U.S. military ground forces are already bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in dozens of other deployments abroad.
Still, irresponsible air strikes against Iran�s nuclear sites, which would inevitably result in massive, insoluble geopolitical, military, energy and economic problems, are planned by Bush administration numbskulls.
Israel, as usual, is counting on U.S. backing�and it is making it obvious that if there is no strike on Iran it will act on its own.
In a recent visit to the United States, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned �friend and foe alike� that Israel is prepared to �take on any country or combination of countries� to protect itself.
The Israelis refer to the �Iran Front,� The Sunday Telegraph reports. �Israel is becoming extremely concerned now with what they see as Iran�s delaying tactics,� an Israeli-Iran analyst told the newspaper. �The [Israeli] planners think negotiations are going nowhere, and Iran is becoming a major danger for Israel. Now they are getting ready for living with a nuclear Iran or letting the military take care of it.�
According to the British publication �Gen. Shkedy will coordinate the intelligence gathered by Israel�s foreign spy agency Mossad and military sources, in order to draw up battle plans. . . . He will command the campaign from a �hot seat� in the Israeli army�s headquarters in Tel Aviv.�
Uri Dromi, a former air force colonel and analyst, told The Sunday Telegraph: �It�s natural that Shkedy is nominated in this role, because the air force is Israel�s only force that can reach and sustain a military operation against Iran. . . .Everyone is playing with dates and time frames . . . but the list of options is becoming shorter. I think we have one year open [to launch military action].�
Israel reportedly has an arsenal of at least 200 nuclear warheads and as many as 400.
The Telegraph reported wishfully:
[It is] believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran�s ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is �inevitable� if Tehran�s leaders fail to comply with United Nations� demands to freeze their uranium enrichment program..
Tactical Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from U.S. Navy ships and submarines in the gulf would, it is believed, target Iran�s air defense systems at the nuclear installations.
That would enable attacks by B2 Stealth bombers equipped with eight 4,500-pound enhanced BLU-28 satellite-guided bunker busting bombs, flying from Diego Garcia, the isolated U.S. Navy base in the Indian Ocean, RAF [Royal Air Force] base Fairford in Gloucestershire and Whiteman USAF base in Missouri.
It is understood that any direct British involvement in an attack would be limited but may extend to the use of the RAF�s highly secret airborne warning aircraft. The belief in some areas of Whitehall is that an attack is now all but inevitable.
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/israel_pushing_u_s_.html
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower, From a speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16, 1953
US general & Republican politician (1890 – 1969)
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1813589.ece
When you are not using it. Or
maybe you LIKE global warming!
Bush’s objective is to control Iraq, it’s oil resources, trade routes, and the permanent military bases he is constructing there.
Bush’s strategy is to create a weakened, and divided Iraq, which can be controlled in the same manner as the British Raj in India. The idea is to leave the Iraqi colonial government deadlocked between the competing factions, and unable to act decisively, except when decisive action is desired by the US government. An Iraqi colonial army has been configured without any real air force and almost no armoured forces or artillery support. Iraqi soldiers and police are essentially infantry, without logistics or fire support, totally dependant on US forces to provide those essentials.
The largest embassy on Earth, is being constructed in Baghdad, to serve as the de facto seat of colonial government, although the grunt work of filling potholes in pavement and providing utilities and the like will be done by the puppet government, real decisions affecting policy will be made in the embassy, and the satellite government will be told what they must do.
Bush has absolutely no intention of withdrawing US troops from Iraq, other than that he would like to be able to control the country with a permanent garrison of about 50,000.
This is the reason Bush has never had an exit strategy. It is not because of bad planning, (although there was plenty of bad planning in this colonial adventure), it is because Bush has NEVER intended to exit US troops from Iraq, from the very beginning.
Unfortunately for Bush’s designs, he is finding what the British, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Russians, and other colonial powers found out in the last century: Colonialism is an outmoded and unworkable system that can no longer be profitably sustained. Those former colonial powers did not give up their empires out of altruism; they found that the colonies were a drag on their own resources, and were ultimately unprofitable.
In an age of global communication, it is no longer possible to keep colonial populations ignorant, oppressed and docile. Rebellions and wars of liberation, usually waged by guerrilla warfare inevitably begin, and simmer on for years, sapping the resources of the dominant colonial power, to the point that the colony becomes unprofitable.
Guerrilla warfare, sometimes called asymetrical warfare, or also called “terrorism” is a highly developed system of fighting, that has stood the test of time. The occupying power usually considers it to be “fighting dirty” and calls it “terrorism”, rather than guerrilla warfare, but by whatever name, the method of fighting is quite effective, and almost impossible to defeat.
Bush’s war against Iraq has followed a fairly predictable pattern. US troops readily defeated Iraq’s conventional forces; followed by the inevitable “insurgency” period, which will last as long as US troops remain in Iraq, and, after however many years it takes, will be followed by the inevitable retreat of US forces, which will have won every battle, but will have failed to defeat the enemy.
Exiles peddling back-channel intelligence, upstart advocacy groups pressing for regime change, administration hawks intent on remaking the Middle East—the scene in Washington is looking eerily familiar as the Iran standoff grows more tense. Instead of Ahmad Chalabi, we have the likes of Iran-Contra arms-dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar. A new Iran directorate inside the Pentagon features some of the same people who brought you the Iraq intel-cherrypicking operation at the Office of Special Plans. Whether calling for outright regime change or pushing “democracy promotion” initiatives to undermine the Iranian government, an expanding cast of characters has emerged to promote confrontation between the U.S. and Iran. What follows is an abridged list of the individuals and organizations agitating to bring down the mullahs.
SEE WHO’S WHO:
http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2006/09/iran.html
Moreover, more than half of the uninsured adults said they were having problems paying their medical bills or had incurred debt to cover their expenses, according to a report by the Commonwealth Fund, a private health care policy foundation. The study of 4,350 adults also found that people without insurance were more likely to forgo recommended health screenings such as mammograms than those with coverage, and were less likely to have a regular doctor than their insured counterparts.
The report paints a bleak health care picture for the uninsured. “It represents an explosion of the insurance crisis into those with moderate incomes,” said Sara Collins, a senior program officer at the Commonwealth Fund.
Collins said the study also illustrates how more employers are dropping coverage or are offering plans that are just too expensive for many people.
About 45.8 million Americans did not have health insurance in 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The percentage of individuals earning less than $20,000 a year without insurance rose to 53%, up from 49% in 2001. Overall, the percentage of people without insurance rose to 28% in 2005 from 24% in 2001.
The study also found that 59% of uninsured with chronic conditions such as asthma or diabetes either skipped a dose of their medicine or went without it because it was too expensive.
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.
Seneca the Younger 4 b.c.- 65 a.d.:
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful
Blaise Pascal:
Men never commit evil so fully and joyfuly as when they do it for religious convictions
“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country… corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”
U.S. President
Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864
letter to Col. William F.
Elkins
Ref: The Lincoln
Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw, Macmillan, 1950, NY
and
Torture is Okay
Secret Foreign Prisons Are Good
Pollution is Not So Bad
Lobbyist Graft is Normal
Pedophilia Does Not Exist
You Can Handle Your Own Medical Needs
Social Security is Bad
We Will Do Better If You Earn Less
Oil Companies and Pharmaceuticals Need Our Help
Insurance Companies Do Better When You Pay Your Own Damages
Gas Prices Are Down (until November 8)
Terrorists Are Going To Get You
Thank God There Were No Hurricane Katrinas This Season
—Theodore Roosevelt
Thomas Paine, The Crisis ( 1776 )
RESIST-RESIST-RESIST-RESIST-RESIST-RESIST
SHOW SOME GODDAMN CAJONES, PEOPLE!
By Molly Ivins
I’d like those supporting
this evil bill to spare me one
affliction: Do not,
please, pretend to be shocked by the consequences of this legislation.
And do
not pretend to be shocked when the world begins comparing us to the
Nazis.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15163.htm
We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. . . . I think it will go relatively quickly… (in) weeks rather than months.� � Vice President Cheney [3/16/03]
�The notion that it would take several hundred thousand American troops just seems outlandish.� -Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, [3/4/03]
�There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more�Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. That is enough agent to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets.� � Colin Powell, 2/5/03
�Saddam has amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of biological weapons, including Anthrax, botulism, toxins and possibly smallpox. He’s amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons, including VX, Sarin and mustard gas.� – Don Rumsfeld, 9/19/02
�Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.� – Vice President Cheney, 8/26/02
�The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons�And according to the British government, the Iraqi regime could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes.� � President Bush, 9/26/02
�Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.� � President Bush, 1/28/03
�We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories.� -President Bush, on locating the mobile biological weapons labs, 5/29/03
�We know where the [WMD] are.� – Don Rumsfeld, 3/30/03
�I’m absolutely sure that there are weapons of mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming. We’re just getting it now.� – Colin Powell, 5/4/03
�Evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program�Iraq could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year.� – President Bush, 10/7/02
�Saddam is actively pursuing nuclear weapons at this time.� – V.P. Cheney, 3/24/02
�We do know that Saddam is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon.� – National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, 9/10/02
�The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.� � President Bush, 1/28/03
�We found the weapons of mass destruction.� � President Bush, 5/29/03
“We know where the WMDs are.� � Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 3/30/03
�The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.� � President Bush, 3/19/03
There’s overwhelming evidence there was a connection between al Qaeda and the Iraqi government. I am very confident that there was an established relationship there.” – Vice President Cheney, 1/22/04
�The regime of Saddam Hussein cultivated ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction.� – President Bush’s UN speech, 9/23/03
�Iraq [is] the central front in the war on terror.� -President Bush’s UN speech, 9/23/03
�You can’t distinguish between al-Qaida and Saddam.� President Bush, 9/25/02
�There’s no
question that Saddam Hussein had al Qaeda ties.� �
President Bush, 9/17/03
Our men . . . have killed to
exterminate men, women, children,
prisoners and
captives, active insurgents and suspected people from lads of 10 up….
Our
soldiers have pumped salt water into men to “make them talk,” and have
taken
prisoners people who held up their hands and peacefully surrendered,
and an hour
later. . . stood them on a bridge and shot them down one by one, to
drop into
the water below and float down, as examples to those who found their
bullet-loaded corpses.”:
Philadelphia Ledger newspaper in 1901, from its Manila
[Philippines] correspondent
during the US war with Spain for the
control of the
Philippines
I
never submitted the whole
system of my opinions to the creed
of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics
or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such
an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I
could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there
at all.
This George has my vote.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=935607276
The Washington Post
Dana Priest
November 2, 2005: CIA Holds
Terror Suspects
in Secret Prisons
July 3, 2005: Help From
France Key In
Covert Operations
November 18, 2005: Foreign
Network at Front
of CIA’s Terror Fight
December 4, 2005: Wrongful
Imprisonment:
Anatomy of a CIA Mistake
March 3, 2005: CIA Avoids
Scrutiny of
Detainee Treatment
June 30, 2005: CIA Officials
Cite
Briefing in 2003
March 17, 2005 CIA’s
Assurances On
Transferred Suspects Doubted
January 2, 2005: Long-Term
Plan Sought
For Terror Suspects
December 30, 2005: Covert CIA Program
Withstands New Furor
A: None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb. Its conditions are improving every day. Any reports of its lack of incandescence are a delusional spin from the liberal media. That light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?
Q: How many Republicans does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Four hundred and seventy
one:
12 to investigate Clinton’s involvement in the failure of the old bulb;
23 to deregulate the light bulb industry;
16 to cut funding for alternative lighting R&D;
34 to cut the marginal tax rate on high-wattage light bulbs;
9 to threaten trade sanctions if Germany and Japan don’t start buying
more 110-volt bulbs;
53 to design a block grant so the states can change the bulb;
41 to chat with defence contractors about equipping everyone in the
building with night-vision gear instead;
And 283 to pass a law making it illegal to discuss naked bulbs, or screwing anything, on the Internet.
http://patriotsquestion911.com/
Senior Military, Intelligence,
and Government Critics of
9/11 Commission Report
Many well known and respected senior members of the U.S. intelligence services, military, and government have publicly expressed significant criticism of the 9/11 Commission Report. Several even allege government complicity in the terrible acts of 9/11.
This web site is an effort to collect and summarize these public statements and make them easily accessible. It should be made clear that none of these individuals are associated with this website.
Listed below are highly critical statements about the 9/11 Commission Report and/or calls for a new 9/11 investigation publicly made by 53 of these individuals. Their collective voices give credibility to the claim that the 9/11 Commission Report is tragically flawed. These individuals cannot be simply dismissed as irresponsible believers in some 9/11 conspiracy theory. Their sincere concern, backed by their decades of service to their country, demonstrate that criticism of the Report is not irresponsible, illogical, nor disloyal, per se. In fact, it can be just the opposite.
9/11 is unquestionably the most important event in American history since December 7, 1941, when Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor. The magnitude of its impact on America and the world cannot be overstated. The terrible acts of 9/11 and the events leading up to them deserve a thorough and unimpeachable investigation to learn the facts. And if some rogue element within the U.S. government is responsible for the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 9/11, as several of these individuals allege, it is critical that that be disclosed and forcefully dealt with.
For the sake of those who died on 9/11, their families, the American people, and for the sake of peace in the world, please continue to seek the truth about 9/11. Demand a thorough and impartial reinvestigation of 9/11.
Latin: "Bush, if Caesar were alive today, he'd have you behind an oar
on a slave galley!"
—Turning Back the Clock on Rape
The New York Times 23 Sep 2006
Rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse are mentioned twice in the bill [as crimes and war crimes]. But in each case, the wording creates new and disturbing loopholes. In the bill, rape is narrowly defined as forced or coerced genital or anal penetration. It utterly leaves out other acts, as well as the notion that sex without consent is also rape, as defined by numerous state laws and federal law. That is the more likely case in a prison, where a helpless inmate would be unlikely to resist the sexual overtures of a guard or interrogator.
POLL: The percentage of Iraqis who said they would not want to have Americans as neighbors rose from 87 percent in 2004 to 90 percent in 2006. When asked what they thought were the three main reasons why the United States invaded Iraq, 76 percent gave “to control Iraqi oil” as their first choice.
http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2006/Jun06/r061406a
Supporters of A.C.L.U. Call
for the Ouster of Its Leaders
Article Tools Sponsored By
By STEPHANIE STROM
Published: September 26, 2006
More than 30 longtime supporters of the American Civil Liberties Union are calling for the ouster of the organization’s leadership, saying it has failed to adhere to the principles it demands of others and thus jeopardized the organization’s effectiveness.
Anthony D. Romero, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the organization had never violated its principles.
The new group is made up of donors, former board and staff members, and the lawyer who won what was perhaps the A.C.L.U.’s most famous legal battle, its defense of the right of Nazis to march through a predominantly Jewish suburb of Chicago.
“We come together now, reluctantly but resolutely, not to injure the A.C.L.U. but to restore its integrity and its consistency of principle,’’ the group said in a mission statement to be posted on its Web site, www.savetheaclu.org, which is to go live today.
The statement does not name individual officials that the group wants to see removed, but in the past, criticism has been focused on Anthony D. Romero, the executive director, and Nadine Strossen, the board president, as well as members of the executive committee.
The Web site, which was first reported in The New York Sun in June, initially will feature letters from members and donors who have joined the effort, lists of articles about the A.C.L.U. and ways for readers to join the effort.
“It’s a home for A.C.L.U. loyalists who have been shut out of the organization,” said Ira Glasser, who was executive director of the organization from 1978 to 2001 and has signed the statement.
Mr. Glasser emphasized that the group, conceived by Alan Kahn, a retired Wall Street executive and longtime A.C.L.U. member, was an informal one.
“We’re not starting a new organization,” he said. “We’re a protest group, trying to get the board to exercise its fiduciary and governing responsibility in a way that it has not. We’re loyal to the existing organization and above all to the principles it is intended to advance.”
Emily Whitfield, an A.C.L.U. spokeswoman, defended the organization, saying it continued to fight aggressively for the principles of free speech.
“Our programs, both legal and legislative, have never been stronger,” Ms. Whitfield said. “And then there’s the phenomenal growth of the A.C.L.U., where we’ve nearly doubled staff, our revenues are higher, membership and donations are higher, and that, to us, tell us where we are right now, in terms of our organization. We’re proud of it.”
She added, “We’re proud to be the leading organization fighting for freedom of speech on the Internet.”
Ms. Whitfield noted that the A.C.L.U. would go to court next month to argue that federal efforts to limit access to certain content on the Web to protect children violated the free speech protection in the Constitution.
And she pointed out that other independent Web sites already reported and commented on the A.C.L.U., including acluprocon.org and stoptheaclu.com, among others.
In interviews, some members of the group behind the Web site pointed to internal controversies that have been made public, starting with an agreement that obligated the A.C.L.U. to check its staff against government lists of suspected terrorists to participate in the federal employees’ annual fund-raising drive known as the Combined Federal Campaign at the same time it was criticizing the lists.
Since then, controversies have developed over other matters, including questions about the A.C.L.U.’s use of data mining to profile donors, a plan to monitor its employees’ e-mail messages and efforts to control board members’ access to staff and information.
Donors have confronted the organization over proposals that would have discouraged its board members from publicly criticizing the organization’s policies and internal administration.
“Any one of those things by itself is unacceptable, but you could say it was an error in judgment and let it go,” said David Goldberger, a law professor at Ohio State University, who defended the Nazis’ right to march in Skokie, Ill., when he worked at the A.C.L.U.’s Illinois affiliate. “But when you start to see more than one of these kinds of things emerge, then it’s clear that the organization’s leadership has let it drift away from its core principles, and without those principles, it has no value.”
The A.C.L.U. has backtracked several times in response to public criticism, withdrawing from the federal fund-raising effort, filing a lawsuit to get the requirements changed and returning some grant money, among other things.
Mr. Romero, the executive director, has apologized for “mistakes” but said the organization had never violated its principles. Controversial proposals, like the one to monitor employee e-mail, have been withdrawn for further consideration.
Members of the new group and others, however, say such issues should have never arisen.
“It does something wrong, then it retracts it after it gets bad publicity, which is no way to operate,” said Anna Switzer, a longtime A.C.L.U. member from New York who said she signed onto the mission statement reluctantly. “The problem is that some of these things should never have been proposed at all.”
John C. Brittain, chief counsel of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, was an A.C.L.U. board member and a member of the executive committee until he was voted out of office last month in what he and others contended was an election manipulated by the leadership. A.C.L.U. leaders denied the accusation.
“I agreed to sign on to this effort because I have been inside the A.C.L.U. for the past five years, nearly, and I’ve tried to address some of the concerns from within and been rebuffed,” Mr. Brittain said. He said that he did not know about the opposition effort until after the election and that his support for it had nothing to do with his ouster from the board.
“I am truly
troubled by the direction and governance of the
organization,” he said.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10907.htm (FALLUJAH MASSACRE)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haditha_massacre (HADITHA MASSACRE)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12379.htm
(ISHAQI MURDERS)
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Graphic_photographs_show_bodies_of_civilians_0
602.html
http://www.salon.com/news/abu_ghraib/2006/03/14/introduction/ (ABU GHRAIB)
http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/iraqis_tortured/ (ABU GHRAIB)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_sites (CIA BLACK SITES)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_prisoner_abuse (WIKIPEDIA ABU GHRAIB)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture (WHAT IS TORTURE?)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_crime (WHAT IS A WAR-CRIME?)
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2006/090106torturechildren.htm
(U.S. SAYS OK TO TORTURE CHILDREN)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_Against_Torture
(UNITED NATIONS AGREEMENTS)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_against_peace
(INTERNATIONAL CRIME AGAINST PEACE)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder (WHAT IS �MURDER�?)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights
(UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_war (THE LAWS OF WAR)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner_of_war (P.O.W.�S)
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/february2006/140206bbeating_vid.htm
(U.K. MILITARY BEATING STONE THROWING
CHILDREN)
By GONZALO
SOLANO
The Associated Press
Monday, September 25, 2006; 9:00 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/25/AR2006092501191.html
QUITO,
Ecuador—A
tough-talking leftist economist and presidential
front-runner who rattles foreign investors said Monday he is proud to
call
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez his friend.
Rafael Correa also said he
would not extend the U.S.
military’s use of the
Pacific coast Manta air base as an operational site for drug
surveillance
flights when the treaty runs out in 2009.
“A symbol of sovereignty is
to not have foreign soldiers on
national soil,”
he said. The only way the U.S. military presence would continue in
Ecuador
was if Washington allowed “an Ecuadorean military base in Miami,” he
said.
Correa said he does not see
what the problem is in his
friendship with
Chavez, Latin America’s leading anti-U.S. crusader who called President
Bush
“the devil” at the U.N. last week.
“I am honored by the
friendship,” he said. “If I am a friend
of Chavez,
‘What a mistake!’ If I were a friend of George Bush, they would have
elected
me man of the year,” Correa, 43, told foreign correspondents.
But Correa denied
accusations from conservative political
rivals that Chavez
is financing his presidential run in a field of 13 candidates ahead of
the
Oct. 15 election.
“How is he going to help me?
First of all it’s prohibited
under election
law, and second our campaign is the most austere,” he said even though
Correa’s image on billboards and T-shirts is everywhere. He said his
supporters are downloading campaign propaganda from his Web site and
reproducing it on their own.
Chavez has been accused of
meddling in elections this year in
Peru, Mexico
and Nicaragua to boost leftist candidates. He already counts Cuba’s
Fidel
Castro and Bolivian President Evo Morales as his allies in the region.
Correa, a U.S.-trained
economist with a doctorate from the
University of
Illinois, leads his closest challenger Leon Roldos, a center-left former
vice president, in the polls.
The results of a simulated
ballot, released on Saturday by
independent firm
Market, gave Correa 26.4 percent support, as opposed to 19.5 percent for
Roldos. It surveyed 1,280 people who took part. The poll had a margin of
error of 3 percentage points.
Those results have spooked foreign investors.
On Monday, Correa said he
would seek to renegotiate Ecuador’s
foreign debt
service, but would not rule out a moratorium on payments to
international
lenders “if there isn’t openness on the part of the markets,
multinationals
and governments.”
“The world is recognizing
that the (International) Monetary
Fund and World
Bank have not been a part of the solution, but rather the problem,” he
said.
“Life and national commitments come first, before the pockets of
creditors
and supposed international commitments.”
He said Ecuador cannot
afford its current $2 billion debt
service,
representing 7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. “Ecuador
cannot pay more than 3 percent,” he said.
Correa said he would
overhaul contracts with foreign oil firms
for Ecuador
to retain a greater share of petroleum wealth and expressed hope that
Ecuador could eventually abandon the U.S. dollar as its official
currency.
Correa served for four
months as outgoing President Alfredo
Palacio’s
economy minister. Palacio demanded his resignation in August 2005 for
failing to consult him before publicly lambasting the World Bank over
its
denial of a $100 million loan.
If no candidate wins more
than 50 percent of the ballot
or at least 40
percent with a 10-percentage point advantage over the nearest
challenger a
runoff will be held on Nov. 26 between the two top finishers.
© 2006 The Associated Press
Speaking of Israeli War Crimes....
“In Lebanon, we covered entire villages with cluster bombs, what we did there was crazy and monstrous,” testifies a commander in the Israel Defense Forces’ MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) unit. Quoting his battalion commander, he said the IDF fired some 1,800 cluster rockets on Lebanon during the war and they contained over 1.2 million cluster bombs. The IDF also used cluster shells fired by 155 mm artillery cannons, so the number of cluster bombs fired on Lebanon is even higher. At the same time, soldiers in the artillery corps testified that the IDF used phosphorous shells, which many experts say is prohibited by international law. According to the claims, the overwhelming majority of the weapons mentioned were fired during the last ten days of the war.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/761910.html
In November of 2005, Seven & I Holdings Co. completed the purchase of 7-Eleven, Inc., turning the American publicly-traded conglomerate into a publicly-traded Japanese conglomerate. Seven-Eleven Japan is itself a subsidiary of Seven & i Holdings, which also owns the Japanese Denny’s chain of restaurants.
You right wing MORONS crack me up!
Yea go and shop
at you patriotic Japanese 7/11
store LOL
bwaaahaahhhhhhhhaaaaaa
“9/11: Press for Truth”
The Story
�We felt the country was at risk from terrorists and from incompetence�and maybe worse.� �Lorie Van Auken, September 11th Widow
Following the attacks of September 11th, a small group of grieving families waged a tenacious battle against those who sought to bury the truth about the event�including, to their amazement, President Bush. In �9/11 PRESS FOR TRUTH�, six of them, including three of the famous �Jersey Girls�, tell for the first time the powerful story of how they took on the greatest powers in Washington�and won!�compelling an investigation, only to subsequently watch the 9/11 Commission fail in answering most of their questions.
Adapting Paul Thompson�s definitive Complete 9/11 Timeline (published by HarperCollins as �The Terror Timeline�), the filmmakers collaborate with documentary veterans Globalvision (�WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception�, �Beyond JFK�) to stitch together rare overlooked news clips, buried stories, and government press conferences, revealing a pattern of official lies, deception and spin. As a result, a very different picture of 9/11 emerges, one that raises new and more pressing questions.
What actions were taken by top government officials who received dozens of specific warnings before the attack? Was Osama Bin Laden and his top al Qaeda leadership allowed to escape U.S. forces in Afghanistan? And what has been the reason for the deliberate obscuring of evidence for state sponsorship? Perhaps the most important one of all: Why, five years later, are so many of the families� questions still unanswered?
Watch the trailer for this film at the official website (2 minute running time)
http://www.911pressfortruth.com/
Watch the entire film at Google video (1 hour 24 minute running time):
More About Israeli War Crimes
The Sabra and Shatila Massacre
“The debate in Europe erupted following a BBC documentary on the SABRA and SHATILLA MASSACRE, which was aired in the United Kingdom on June 17. The day after, survivors of the massacre lodged a complaint against Sharon in a Belgian court.
“During the BBC program, Morris Draper, the U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East at the time, said that U.S. officials were HORRIFIED when told Sharon had ALLOWED Phalange militias into West Beirut and the camps “because it would be a massacre.” He told the BBC that after the killings began he cabled Defense Minister Sharon, telling him, “You must stop the slaughter”. The situation is absolutely appalling. They are killing children. YOU HAVE THE FIELD COMPLETELY UNDER YOUR CONTROL AND ARE THEREFORE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT AREA.”
“The Kahan Commission (named after the President of the Israeli Supreme Court) that investigated the massacre in 1983 concluded that “Minister of Defense [Sharon] bears PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY” and should “draw the appropriate personal conclusions arising out of the defects revealed with regard to the manner in which he discharged the duties of his office.” The commission recommended that Prime Minister Menachem Begin REMOVE Sharon from office if he did not resign.”
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/06/isr0622.htm
http://www.israelipalestinianprocon.org/populationpalestine.html#graph1
ALL of Israel is
built upon a lie.
“And when you freeze that process,” Weisglass added, “you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem.
“Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. And all this with authority and permission. All with a presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses of Congress.”
FOLEY:
Use of the Internet to Coerce and Entice a Minor for Sexual Activity, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2422 (b).
The maximum sentence for a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2422 (b) is a minimum of five (5) years imprisonment and a maximum of thirty (30) years imprisonment, followed by up to a life term of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and a $100 special assessment.
HASTERT, REYNOLDS, et al.
Aiding and Abetting/Accessory
A criminal charge of aiding and abetting or accessory can usually be brought against anyone who helps in the commission of a crime, though legal distinctions vary by state. A person charged with aiding and abetting or accessory is usually not present when the crime itself is committed, but he or she has knowledge of the crime before or after the fact, and may assist in its commission through advice, actions, or financial support. Depending on the degree of involvement, the offender’s participation in the crime may rise to the level of conspiracy.
Conspiracy
A criminal conspiracy exists when two or more people agree to commit almost any unlawful act, then take some action toward its completion. The action taken need not itself be a crime, but it must indicate that those involved in the conspiracy knew of the plan and intended to break the law. One person may be charged with and convicted of both conspiracy and the underlying crime based on the same circumstances.
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Brazilian? Got Bush? |
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Canadian! |
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German: Shave that Bush! |
Russian: Bush, you [fine] Cowboy! |
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Danish: Bush, go back to hell! |
Hungary Strike! lmao. BASZD MEG, BUSH! |
Telegu |
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Slap Bush around in half a dozen Balkan languages. |
Bush looked pretty cool on that unicycle, just wish we had a better picture. |
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Smells like sulpher around here! |
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Viva la France! |
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Latin: “Bush! If Caesar were alive today, you’d be rowing a slave galley!” |
Uzbek |
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Foley gives impressionable young man a “Freedom Fondle” |
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