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March 24, 2007
Weekend OT
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Muzzle watch
is a project of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).
Tracking efforts to stifle open debate about US-Israeli foreign policy.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 24 2007 6:58 utc | 1
Though this has been covered and seen by many MOA’s , it is very much worth looking at the updates as well as different angles…
GwB43: The White House, vote theft, and the email trail
CREW has learned that to fulfill its statutory obligations under the PRA, the White House email system automatically copies all messages created by staff and sends them to the White House Office of Records Management for archiving. It appears that the White House deliberately bypassed the automatic archiving function of its own email system that was designed to ensure compliance with the PRA.
So why are White House personnel using private email addresses to bypass this system?
Wanna guess?
here’s some more…
Dubya’s stated reasoning for not entering the computer age is both disconcerting and hilariously inarticulate:
“I tend not to e-mail – not only tend not to e-mail, I don’t e-mail, uh, because of, uh, the different record requests that could happen to a president. I don’t want to receive e-mails, ’cause, you know, there’s no telling what somebody would e-mail me and it would show up as, uh, you know, part of some kind of a story that – and I wouldn’t be able to say, ‘Well, I didn’t read the e-mail’ – ‘But I sent it your address; how can you say you didn’t?’ So, in other words, I’m very cautious about e-mailing.”
Also see my post from , Nov 15, 2006 in which, well…*
“Former President Bush Blames ‘Bloggers’ for ‘Ugly’ Political Climate Last night on Fox News, former President George H.W. Bush said the current political climate has “gotten so adversarial that it’s ugly.” Asked to offer an explanation for why there is this “incivility,” Bush pinned the blame on bloggers. “It’s probably a little worse now given electronic media and the bloggers and all these kinds of things,” he said. Watch it:
Also, Bush revealed that he enjoys using “the email” but lamented that his son, President George W. Bush, cannot for fear that the emails would get subpoenaed. Bush worried that presidents who used email would be forced to prove “that you were telling the truth and all this stuff.”
Digg It!
Transcript:
GRETA: You are a letter writer. Tons of letters.
H.W. BUSH: Not anymore. Because now I use the email. And the computer. And I find that I don’t do near as much writing as I used to, letters as I used to. I don’t save them. And I am worried about that a little bit not that I have that much more to say, but I think it’s too bad in a way that email will detract from the historical record of presidents. I don’t think that the President Bush uses email.
BARBARA BUSH: He doesn’t.
H.W. BUSH: You worry about it. People are going to subpoena the email records and we are going to, you know, you’ve gotta prove that you were telling the truth and all this stuff. I mean, it’s gotten so adversarial that it’s ugly.
*Let’s call it what it is…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 24 2007 11:45 utc | 3
Floyd (quoting Gore Vidal)
This year marks the anniversary of this coup d’etat: the 1947 “National Security Act.” Writing on the 50th anniversary of this supplanting of the Republic, Gore Vidal wrote:
Fifty years ago, Harry Truman replaced the old republic with a national-security state whose sole purpose is to wage perpetual wars, hot, cold, and tepid. Exact date of replacement? February 27, 1947. Place: The White House Cabinet Room. Cast: Truman, Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson, a handful of congressional leaders. Republican senator Arthur Vandenberg told Truman that he could have his militarized economy only IF he first “scared the hell out of the American people” that the Russians were coming. Truman obliged. The perpetual war began. Representative government of, by, and for the people is now a faded memory. Only corporate America enjoys representation by the Congress and presidents that it pays for in an arrangement where no one is entirely accountable because those who have bought the government also own the media. Now, with the revolt of the Praetorian Guard at the Pentagon, we are entering a new and dangerous phase. Although we regularly stigmatize other societies as rogue states, we ourselves have become the largest rogue state of all. We honor no treaties. We spurn international courts. We strike unilaterally wherever we choose. We give orders to the United Nations but do not pay our dues…we bomb, invade, subvert other states. Although We the People of the United States are the sole source of legitimate authority in this land, we are no longer represented in Congress Assembled. Our Congress has been hijacked by corporate America and its enforcer, the imperial military machine…”
Posted by: DM | Mar 24 2007 13:07 utc | 4
America the Beautiful.
Lock ‘Em Up, Cut ‘Em Up, RAWHIDE!
Welcome my friends, Welcome to the slaughterhouse.
Here in the “The New Colossus,” new Amerikan abattoir, we can still hear her singing, however, the words are a bit different, (Note: Emma Lazarus rolling in grave):
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,…” so we can eat them… as we do our own…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 24 2007 13:56 utc | 5
It took so long to remember just what happened.
I was so young and vestal then,
you know it hurt me,
but I’m breathing so I guess I’m still alive
even if signs seem to tell me otherwise.
I’ve got my hands bound,
my head down, my eyes closed,
and my throat wide open.
Do unto others what has been done to me,
Do unto others what has been done to you.
I’m treading water,
I need to sleep a while.
My lamb and martyr, you look so precious.
Won’t you come a bit closer,
close enough so I can smell you.
I need you to feel this,
I can’t stand to burn too long.
Release inside of me.
For one sweet moment I am whole.
Do unto me now what has been done to me,
Do unto me now what has been done.
You’re breathing so I guess you’re still alive
even if signs seem to tell me otherwise.
Won’t you come on a bit closer,
close enough so I can smell you.
I need you to feel this.
I need this to make me whole.
Release inside of me.
For I am your witness and
blood and flesh can be trusted.(X2)
And only this one holy medium brings me peace of mind.
Got your hands bound, your head down,
your eyes closed.
You look so precious now.
( Show me something
Thought I could make it end
Thought I could wash the stains away
Thought I could break the circle if I
Slipped right into your skin
So sweet was your surrender
We have become one
I have become my terror
And you my precious lamb and martyr.) *
I have found some kind of temporary sanity in this
shit, blood, and cum on my hands.
I’ve come round full circle.
My lamb and martyr, this will be over soon.
You look so precious.(X6)
~Prison Sex Lyrics
Artist(Band):Tool
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 24 2007 14:29 utc | 6
The guy certainly has his agenda which I do not agree with, but he has some points:
Zbigniew Brzezinski: Terrorized by ‘War on Terror’
The “war on terror” has created a culture of fear in America. The Bush administration’s elevation of these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious impact on American democracy, on America’s psyche and on U.S. standing in the world. Using this phrase has actually undermined our ability to effectively confront the real challenges we face from fanatics who may use terrorism against us.
…
the vagueness of the phrase was deliberately (or instinctively) calculated by its sponsors. Constant reference to a “war on terror” did accomplish one major objective: It stimulated the emergence of a culture of fear. Fear obscures reason, intensifies emotions and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue.
…
fear-mongering, reinforced by security entrepreneurs, the mass media and the entertainment industry, generates its own momentum. The terror entrepreneurs, usually described as experts on terrorism, are necessarily engaged in competition to justify their existence. Hence their task is to convince the public that it faces new threats. That puts a premium on the presentation of credible scenarios of ever-more-horrifying acts of violence, sometimes even with blueprints for their implementation.
…
Where is the U.S. leader ready to say, “Enough of this hysteria, stop this paranoia”? Even in the face of future terrorist attacks, the likelihood of which cannot be denied, let us show some sense. Let us be true to our traditions.
DM:
There’s another 50th anniversary being celebrated, perhaps as ominous.
EU leaders ring in 50th birthday with call for reforms
BERLIN (AFP) – European Union leaders kicked off 50th birthday celebrations for the bloc Saturday as German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to seize the party spirit to relaunch urgently needed reforms.
With its recent cheerful acquiescence to the US/Israeli plans for Palestinian genocide, its gleeful imposition of sanctions against Iran, and with a resurgent Germany now demanding that the Iranians release the British provocateurs apprehended in Iranian waters… or else?
I begin to wonder of the EU isn’t just another brutal, imperial power block? One that Germany would like to whip into shape, to really “make something of”?
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Mar 24 2007 23:34 utc | 8
General says U.S. Army has lost 130 helicopters in Afghanistan and Iraq
The U.S. Army has lost 130 helicopters in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, about a third to shoot-downs, its aviation director said. He complained that industry is not replacing them fast enough.
“While the military may be on a war footing, our nation’s industry is not on a war footing,” said Brig. Gen. Stephen Mundt.
(snip)
Posted by: Alamet | Mar 25 2007 0:34 utc | 9
jfl@ 8
”
With its recent cheerful acquiescence to the US/Israeli plans for Palestinian genocide, its gleeful imposition of sanctions against Iran, and with a resurgent Germany now demanding that the Iranians release the British provocateurs apprehended in Iranian waters… or else?
I begin to wonder of the EU isn’t just another brutal, imperial power block? One that Germany would like to whip into shape, to really “make something of”?”
Just how is European foreign policy formed? At least in America the majority were “for the war before they were against it”. Has Europe always backed “regime change” and allowed US to forcefully accomplish it, hoping they would destroy themselves in the process?
What is happening now with Iran? The SC has backed a somewhat weakened resolution, but the resolution allows the US to dictate and change the terms of a treaty (NPT) signed by Iran and increased the pressure on the regime. The quartet has allowed the sanctions on Palestine to stand until the Hamas faction recognize an undefined Israel and renounce their right to defend against Israeli encroachment and theft of their land.
Too many times here we have talked of a US weakened by the war in Iraq, losing its status in the world. But they still seem to be calling the shots for “the new world order”. No opposition of any consequence except among “the people”, the inconsequential and impotent people.
US foreign policy is determined by AEI, AIPAC and their corporate sponsors, but who determines European foreign policy, if not these same people? What is the mechanism?
Has Europe bought in or is it thinking-we’ll play along with the proactive Amis because they will self-destruct and we’ll pick up the pieces?
Posted by: ww | Mar 25 2007 5:22 utc | 10
US foreign policy is determined by AEI, AIPAC and their corporate sponsors, but who determines European foreign policy, if not these same people? What is the mechanism?
Has Europe bought in or is it thinking-we’ll play along with the proactive Amis because they will self-destruct and we’ll pick up the pieces?
Hmm – in Germany some 80-90% were against sending reconaissance jets to Afghanistan. But a majority in parliament did vote to send them anyway. All the eastern countries are more or less US stoges, from a near facist Poland on. Merkel is a former GDR propagnada official – neoconed and neolib as can be. Britain in the hands of the poodle and France with a lame duck Saudi payed criminal as the head show.
Very sad story …
City Police Spied Broadly Before G.O.P. Convention
For at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, teams of undercover New York City police officers traveled to cities across the country, Canada and Europe to conduct covert observations of people who planned to protest at the convention, according to police records and interviews.
…
But potential troublemakers were hardly the only ones to end up in the files. In hundreds of reports stamped “N.Y.P.D. Secret,” the Intelligence Division chronicled the views and plans of people who had no apparent intention of breaking the law, the records show.
These included members of street theater companies, church groups and antiwar organizations, as well as environmentalists and people opposed to the death penalty, globalization and other government policies. Three New York City elected officials were cited in the reports.
Fitting, the NYT has an OpEd on Poland by a Polish author: Waiting for Freedom, Messing It Up
Rather than seize on its European Union membership to catapult the country forward, Poland’s coalition government finds itself looking, and moving, backward. In a speech in the European Parliament, a politician from one of the coalition parties praised the dictatorships of António Salazar of Portugal and Francisco Franco of Spain; he also published an openly anti-Semitic booklet. During a dry summer, a group of coalition legislators called upon the Parliament to pray for rain. A similar group proposed that the Parliament vote to declare Jesus Christ the King of Poland. Polish bishops sternly criticized this peculiar act of devotion.
…
I am writing about Poland, but what I say applies as well to many countries of post-Yalta Europe. Everywhere, the phenomenon of populism has appeared. Slovakia is ruled by an ethnic populist coalition every bit as exotic as the Polish government, including a party that proposed expelling the Hungarian minority.
In Hungary, the prime minister admitted that in order to respond to demands the government could not fulfill, “We lied day and night.” The right-wing populist opposition replied, “Traitor, Communist pig!”
In Lithuania, the former president, impeached for corruption, has made himself increasingly popular with an abundance of empty promises in his campaign for mayor of Vilnius. The president of the Czech Republic has made declaration after declaration against the European Union.
…
Feinstein Resigns
Senator exits MILCON following Metro exposé, vet-care scandal
Senator Dianne Feinstein has resigned from the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee.
As previously and extensively reviewed in these pages, Feinstein was chairperson and ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee for six years, during which time she had a conflict of interest due to her husband Richard C. Blum’s ownership of two major defense contractors, who were awarded billions of dollars for military construction projects approved by Feinstein.
As MILCON Chairperson, Feinstein relished the details of military construction, even micromanaging one project at the level of its sewer design.
She regularly took junkets to military bases around the world to inspect construction projects, some of which were contracted to her husband’s companies, Perini Corp. and URS Corp.
Perhaps she resigned from MILCON because she could not take the heat generated by Metro’s expose of her ethics (which was partially funded by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute).
Or was her work on the subcommittee finished because Blum divested ownership of his military construction and advanced weapons manufacturing firms in late 2005?
The MILCON subcommittee is not only in charge of supervising military construction, it also oversees “quality of life” issues for veterans, which includes building housing for military families and operating hospitals and clinics for wounded soldiers.
Perhaps Feinstein is trying to disassociate herself from MILCON’s incredible failure to provide decent medical care for wounded soldiers.
Two years ago, before the Washington Post became belatedly involved, the online magazine Salon.com exposed the horrors of deficient medical care for Iraq war veterans. While leading MILCON, Feinstein had ample warning of the medical-care meltdown. But she was not proactive on veteran’s affairs.
Feinstein abandoned MILCON as her ethical problems were surfacing in the media, and as it was becoming clear that her subcommittee left grievously wounded veterans to rot while her family was profiting from the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
It turns out that Blum also holds large investments in companies that were selling medical equipment and supplies and real estate leases—often without the benefit of competitive bidding—to the Department of Veterans Affairs, even as the system of medical care for veterans collapsed on his wife’s watch.
As of December 2006, according to SEC filings and fedspending.org/ , three corporations in which Blum’s financial entities own a total of $1 billion in stock won considerable favor from the budgets of the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs:
* Boston Scientific Corporation: $17.8 million for medical equipment and supplies; 85 percent of contracts awarded without benefit of competition.
*
* Kinetic Concepts Inc.: $12 million, medical equipment and supplies; 28 percent noncompetitively awarded.
*
* CB Richard Ellis: The Blum-controlled international real estate firm holds congressionally funded contracts to lease office space to the Department of Veterans Affairs. It also is involved in redeveloping military bases turned over to the private sector.
You would think that, considering all the money Feinstein’s family has pocketed by waging global warfare while ignoring the plight of wounded American soldiers, she would show a smidgeon of shame and resign from the entire Senate, not just a subcommittee. Conversely, you’d think she might stick around MILCON to try and fix the medical-care disaster she helped to engineer for the vets who were suckered into fighting her and Bush’s panoply of unjust wars.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 25 2007 10:45 utc | 14
So it seems that EU foreign policy is determined by a fealty to the US by separate powerful segments of the union. Public opinion, which is against it (except possibly in the east), has not seemed to have shifted wrt Israel, Iraq, Iran,over the last year but leadership opinion has, if I understand correctly.
Eastern countries have always supported US, Italy and Spain have moved away, France has moved more neutral because of the election, Britain is the same, which leaves Germany as moving the whole toward the US position.
And this shift is because of the agreement of correctness of US policy? or seeing US as guarantor of SA and other energy sources? or the belief that US will ultimately self-destruct? But it seems US position is much stronger than it was four years ago, unless the last is correct.
BTW
Just saw Ban Qi Moon from Ramallah live say “this is my first visit…as sec gen of the United St..Nations”
BTW 2 for what it is worth
Ulrich Tilgner, ME reporter, stated on Swiss TV that the Swiss embassy, that acts as rep for Iran-America, told him that visa for Iranian president was not issued in time for him to travel.
Posted by: ww | Mar 25 2007 11:13 utc | 15
A little Sunday reading…
The always pertinent Strike The Root:
The Controlled Demolition of the American Republic
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 25 2007 11:43 utc | 16
These comments are from ‘Times Online’ (re the Iran situation).
I think that we (here) forget how effective the MSM really is, and how quickly they could whip up the required hysteria.
Oh well, if the hoi polloi really want WWIII – fuck ’em.
We might just as well write the 15 off. They are as good as dead.
Kenneth, Columbus, USA
To be like Chamberlain or to be like Churchill, that is the question.
Ted, Baltimore , Maryland
Iran really DOES want to start the Last World War, don’t they?
Christopher Calandro, Atlanta, United States
The test is now upon our great friends and allies in the UK? Are you going to let this rouge government take your troops without a reaction. If you do, count on it; it won’t be the last. They will continue until you either stand your ground or tuck your tales like the Spanish and the French.
I am an American of English / Irish / Scottish decent. I trust that we still share many of the same genes.
Herschel Kilgore, Cooper City, Florida, USA
Where was the frigate? Asking Mother, may I ? – while her hands were captured?
M. Chandler, Rochester, MI/US
To the Iranians
Stock up on water and canned food.
Robert, Haskell, NJ
Will some country please squash this BUG!!!!
linda barnett, whittier, california
So let’s get it on!!!…
Richard, Dayton / Ohio,
If the Crown decides to declare war on Iran, thier Yankee brothers will stand firmly with our brothers across the “Big Lake”. I think it is high time to teach the Iranian thugs a lesson they will never forget!
Shawn, Colton, Washington, USA
I want to know the name of the merchant ship, and l want to
know why the media has not interviewed the crew.
ron, Delta, Canada
Iran for too long has been a irritant to say the least. At some point the fanatics who run Iran will bring utter destruction to there country, just like the Nazis did to Germany. People of Iran wake up and get rid of these Islamic facists before your country is destroyed. Iranian have an intelligent and beautiful culture, where are all the great statesman to lead it?
Tony, Austin, USA Texas
Thank you, Brits, for supporting us in Iraq. I would hope that you leaders will act upon this offense and that we’d be right behind you.
Tim, FRIDAY HARBOR , wa
This will only add fire to an already bad situation. Iran is on its way to destruction.
mike, east islip,new york, USA, NY
Least said the better; though one can question the wisdom of placing our servicemen and women in such a dangerous situation for the second time.
Let’s hope and pray they all are very quickly returned unharmed.
Brian Charles Seals, Scarborough,
If it’s a war they want, give them war. Give them a few days to think good and hard, then to release them. Failing that, start breaking things from the air. Iran has gotten a free ride for decades now, with no repercussions for abominable behavior.
They need to be made to fear us once again.
Jacksonian, Austin, TX
If the sailors are harmed, it’s time for the UK to take immediate, unilateral, and devastating action.
jdan, tri-city, USA,
Its nice to know that Iranian fishing boats are the first line of defence for their coastal area. If the Brits were indeed with in the Iranian territorial waters, surely there must be radar evidence to back this up.
Ron Smith, Kingston, Canada
I hope the Britts send in the SAS and retrieve them ASAP.
jason, huntington beach, USA/ CA
Do the Iranians really want to push their luck at this point? They’re losing out in the UN, the Russians are backing away from support on nuclear plants, and the US isn’t backing down in Iraq. This seems stupid and provocative.
Brian, Houston, USA
you think hed be put on notice after Saddam….lets get him
steve, cape cod, ma
Maybe the UK should take a lesson from former PM Thatcher and kick some butts like they did in the Falklands.
Mark Evdemon, Irwin, PA. USA
Is this another gulf of tonkin incident?
simon , warrington, united kingdom
Is this the Archduke Ferdinand event!!! If the Brits actually get tried. I think so!
Steve, Edmond, OK/USA
How can England put up with this? Where’s Jimmy Carter when you need him? He’d put a stop to this. Oh wait, he’d put up with it too. Nevermind.
Ron, Orlando,
Without diplomacy this could escalate into a very dangerous situation but the trouble is i don’t think we are in a good position to negotiate we probably need some outside help which we should not be afraid to ask for as the saying goes jaw jaw is better than war war.But the question begs what the hell were we doing there in the first place.
TOM, DUNDEE, SCOTLAND
Posted by: DM | Mar 25 2007 12:02 utc | 17
DM, I still want to believe that most of those idiots listed above are on someone’s payroll. I really want to believe that.
can it really be that easy to start yet another war?
Posted by: dan of steele | Mar 25 2007 12:09 utc | 18
@DM – interesting how all the commentators are from the US urging the Brits to fight. The same is usally seen on Israeli message boards. US wingnuts urging others to kill …
—
Some report from the Pashtuns: Behind enemy lines with the Taliban of Helmand
The insurgents’ description of life in their home province was far removed from the version Downing Street and Nato officials are keen to promote. As far as these men are concerned, any soldier with a white face is a “foreigner”. There are no differences between the various countries that make up the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).
They spoke of villagers too scared to switch on their lights at night in case their homes are bombed in air strikes; troops deliberately shooting civilians; and members of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance using their new roles in the Afghan army to persecute the Pashtun population.
…
In Kandahar people usually associate the former Taliban regime with security, while blaming the international troops for causing widespread civilian casualties in bombing raids and firefights. Even women long for the pre-invasion days, when they could at least walk the streets without the threat of being killed at any moment.
Ghulam is 60 or 70 years old – he’s not sure exactly. He is from Lashkar Gah, Helmand, and, like the other two Talibs, he describes the situation in the province as unbearable.
“The worst time I have experienced in my life is now,” he said. “It’s worse than when the Russians were here. The Russians treated us well, they never went into our houses. Now the foreigners go into houses, disturb the women and kill innocent people.
“Do you see my white beard? Do you see I have no teeth left? Still, even I am fighting against them.”
DM :
You know, I’m beginning to think that it IS the American people that want war.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Mar 25 2007 13:17 utc | 20
LAT: Colombia army chief linked to outlaw militias
The CIA has obtained new intelligence alleging that the head of Colombia’s U.S.-backed army collaborated extensively with right-wing militias that Washington considers terrorist organizations, including a militia headed by one of the country’s leading drug traffickers.
…
The intelligence about Montoya is contained in a report recently circulated within the CIA. It says that Montoya and a paramilitary group jointly planned and conducted a military operation in 2002 to eliminate Marxist guerrillas from poor areas around Medellin, a city in northwestern Colombia that has been a center of the drug trade.
At least 14 people were killed during the operation, and opponents of Uribe allege that dozens more disappeared in its aftermath.
…
In addition to his close cooperation with U.S. officials on Plan Colombia, Montoya has served as an instructor at the U.S.-sponsored military training center formerly called the School of the Americas. The Colombian general was praised by U.S. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when Pace directed the regional military command for Latin America, and Montoya has been organizing a new Colombian counternarcotics task force with U.S. funds.
…
Already, eight members of the Colombian Congress have been jailed in the scandal, and the foreign minister, a close Uribe ally, has been forced to resign. Colombia’s former secret police chief, Jorge Noguera, was arrested last month for allegedly giving paramilitary leaders information on left-wing labor organizers, some of them later killed. He was released Friday on a procedural issue but is subject to rearrest, government officials said.
At a news conference in Bogota, the capital, during his visit this month, Bush expressed confidence that Uribe’s government could carry out a thorough investigation of the ties between officials and the paramilitaries.
“I support a plan that says that there be an independent judiciary analyzing every charge brought forth, and when someone is found guilty, there’s punishment,” Bush said.
Bush and independent judiciary …
Probably already been covered, but…
Terror Database Has Quadrupled In Four Years
Just a small sample from this WaPo article:
Ballooning from fewer than 100,000 files in 2003 to about 435,000, the growing database threatens to overwhelm the people who manage it. “The single biggest worry that I have is long-term quality control,” said Russ Travers, in charge of TIDE at the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean. “Where am I going to be, where is my successor going to be, five years down the road?”
TIDE has also created concerns about secrecy, errors and privacy. The list marks the first time foreigners and U.S. citizens are combined in an intelligence database. The bar for inclusion is low, and once someone is on the list, it is virtually impossible to get off it. At any stage, the process can lead to “horror stories” of mixed-up names and unconfirmed information, Travers acknowledged.
Posted by: Monolycus | Mar 25 2007 15:52 utc | 22
JFL and ww, this might interest you…
Joschka Fischer calls for European great power politics under German leadership
The World Socialist Website author thinks this is about rivalry:
German capitalism cannot allow the US to control the most important energy resources in the Middle East, dictate the allocation and price of oil and gas, and deprive the German economy of its lucrative business interests in Iran. At the same time, it can tolerate neither a political and military disaster for the US and its allies in Iraq nor a military attack on Iran, both of which would have catastrophic consequences for the entire region. So far, however, the government in Berlin has dared not challenge the US in fear of the economic, political and military consequences.
Now a new approach is being encouraged, and Fischer is banging the drum in favour of German interests.
Me, I suspect the rivalry is just a façade. The route Fischer is calling for will only lead to Europe “shouldering its fair burden” instead of piggybacking on US power.
Posted by: Alamet | Mar 25 2007 17:20 utc | 23
More WaPo today…
Some See Impeachment As Option
Unfortunately, the US Constitution does not provide recourse for citizen’s arrest because those “some” referred to in that headline sure as hell aren’t in any position to do anything about it. That is, unless you’re a US senator or congress… um… person… who is trying to shore up support for a 2008 bid by stating the rutting obvious with no intent to pursue it to its conclusion.
Oh, and Brzezinski is also in WaPo demonstrating a firm, yet impotent, grasp of the obvious:
Terrorized by ‘War on Terror’
That is the result of five years of almost continuous national brainwashing on the subject of terror, quite unlike the more muted reactions of several other nations (Britain, Spain, Italy, Germany, Japan, to mention just a few) that also have suffered painful terrorist acts. In his latest justification for his war in Iraq, President Bush even claims absurdly that he has to continue waging it lest al-Qaeda cross the Atlantic to launch a war of terror here in the United States.
Such fear-mongering, reinforced by security entrepreneurs, the mass media and the entertainment industry, generates its own momentum. The terror entrepreneurs, usually described as experts on terrorism, are necessarily engaged in competition to justify their existence. Hence their task is to convince the public that it faces new threats. That puts a premium on the presentation of credible scenarios of ever-more-horrifying acts of violence, sometimes even with blueprints for their implementation.
Did you work that out all by yourself, Zbig? It would be interesting to see how hysterical and self-destructive the USA would become if there actually was a genuine and plausible enemy that didn’t have a mailing address on Pennsylvania Avenue.
They’ll be telling this tale in a few hundred years if we don’t manage to kill ourselves off in the meanwhile… the shysters sold the Empire an enemy, but told them that only very, very smart people could see this enemy. When the Emperor paraded down the street to show off his grand new enemy, the people squinted and lavished praise, but nobody would admit that they could not see it. After awhile, a callow young boy who was too youthful to know better announced that the emperor had no enemy. The young boy’s name was immediatley added to a no-fly list and he was spirited away to Guantanamo Bay for emboldening the imaginary terrorists under everyone’s bed. Halliburton and Bechtel lived happily ever after.
Posted by: Monolycus | Mar 26 2007 4:19 utc | 24
Alamet :
Thanks for the link. The Greens as the European (German) National Party. Who’da thunk it? At least they’re not Socialists, right? That would make for a really scary moniker.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Mar 26 2007 6:08 utc | 25
Between DM’s comments from the Times Online and b’s from his Ynet I’m getting the impression that the populations of Israel the UK and the US are licking their chops, can’t wait for war to break out against the Iranians. That Bush and his Neocons are right. The population is nostalgic for the days of “shock and awe” when US/UK/Israeli death rained down from the sky, like the judgement of god, onto the arrogant infidels sitting on our oil.
The human race is definitely not what it’s cracked up to be.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Mar 26 2007 6:15 utc | 26
A New School for Orphans
damn, this one really hurts.
phans
Iraqi education ministry established a new school for orphans who lost both parents through violence in Baghdad, Radio Sawa reported this morning. The radio station’s website quoted the director of the Rusafa Education Directorate saying that the idea of establishing this school came “due to the increasing number of [the orphans] because of the violence that targets civilians.”
The director added that this school, which includes 1000 female and male students, is the first of its kind to be established in the country. It aims to prevent these orphans from falling in the trap of becoming tramps.
Posted by: annie | Mar 26 2007 7:01 utc | 27
IMPORTANT FOR EVERY ONE WHO HAS DOGS!!!!!
I know someone recently posted about the rat poison recall in many dog foods of late, I didn’t comment because I feed my dog a mixture of canidae dog food w/chunks of Pedigree wet canned. Well, it looks like Pedigree is now suspect too. I have heard the death rate is in the thousands regardless of what the media says. And we know about how reliable our media is, so, beware.
Pedigree brand dog food recalled in Asia
Pedigree recall
My dog hasn’t shown any signs of sickness, thank goddess, however, if anyone else gets any more info, please post. Sorry I didn’t get on this when it was first posted about.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 26 2007 8:28 utc | 28
Uncle, if you love your dog there is One MUST READ BOOK ON DOG FOOD.
Ann Martin is our one student of the Pet Food Industry. She got into this after a dog she had died from too much iron dumped in dog food. She sued the Pet Food Co. to merely reclaim her costs in small claims court (canada). They flew in their Big Guns to defend them. She got curious quickly, and as been studying the industry for the last decade. If you email her there she will get back to you w/in 24rs. answering yr. concerns.
Canidae is one of the ~4 she recommends, but use their cans as well. DEFINNITELY NOT PEDIGREE. Notice it has “meat” in it. “Meat” is the output of rendering plants. The input into rendering plants is, or was, large roadkill, euthanized zoo animals & the euthanized pets from vet hospitals. Possibly also the diseased animals from cow, chicken etc. farms, though those may go back into large animal feed. It has gotten a bit more complicated since she wrote the first ed. of Food Pets Die For, as outrage has driven some states to outlaw putting our beloved dead dogs back into dog food.
When reading dog food labels, however, be aware that as we get more educated the subterfuge just gets more devious. For ex. they got a law passed saying that if they buy garbage from an outside source they don’t have to itemize all the toxins that co. uses on their label. Hence if subcontractor uses BHA, which causes bladder cancer, as a preservative you wouldn’t nec. see it on the label.
The key concept is if something is human grade or not. They made it illegal to put that on packaging – surprise. But if you read websites carefully, you can usually figure it out.
But Ann’s key discovery was working w/her own dogs. She discovered that if she fed them fresh food – oatmeal/yogurt/cottage cheese & fruit for breakfast, meats, veggies & grains for dinner – her dogs lived 16 yrs. w/ZERO VET BILLS. (Just be sure to keep protein intake ~35%. More than that you risk kidney damage.) The other key thing that’s come out recently – & I think can be googled up – is a study they did in which they discovered that feeding dogs diets rich in veggies, fruits & anti-oxidants REVERSED aging in the brains & joints of dogs. (Of course, if one goes overboard on the fruits, dogs will get diabetes – just don’t let them eat all the fruit that falls to the ground from under yr. apple tree.)
Key thing to understand about Pet Food Industry is that Human Food Processors buy Pet Food Cos. so they can convert the Waste from processing Human Food into a profit source. Once that is understood, decoding labels becomes easier. For ex., consider “Avoderm” w/all that marketing shit about avocado being so good for their coats. Prob. true, but what part are they using – say the waste from making avocado oil…etc…etc…if it says apples, it;’s probably the cores & peels from making applesauce…and so on…
Posted by: jj | Mar 26 2007 8:54 utc | 29
Uncle, there’s one bullshitty aspect of this whole deal. Just because dogs don’t drop dead on the spot, it does not follow that commercial dog food doesn’t routinely sicken them. In fact, it approximately cuts their life expectancy in ~1/2. A top vet practice in town recommends feeding dogs Iams & I think, Science Diet; then says dogs are old @7. Only if you feed them toxic waste such as those brands; if you feed as Ann recommends, they’re elderly @14.
Dogs getting ill from dogfood is the norm, not the exception. It simply isn’t recognized by vets, as Pet Food Cos. bought up the nutrtition chairs at vet schools as people got more interested in the subject & give Vet Students free food. Also, if Ann’s experience is any indication, vets have a conflict of interest in learning about dog food – it would put ~75% of them out of business, if people started cooking for their pets & they stopped getting sick.
Virtually every dog I’ve known on non-human grade dog food was ill. All the symptoms were different – though pulling out their fur is a very common symptom – & in no case was it properly diagnosed. The worst I saw was a dog that had golf ball sized lump on her snout. It came & went continuously every few days. The day she was switched from Iams to human grade food, it disappeared & never returned – as did all the other problems. (The vet suggested insect bite, bacterial infection, cancer.)
Posted by: jj | Mar 26 2007 9:06 utc | 30
Thanks jj…
Damn, is everything a goddamn $cam? I had a friend whom worked for Purina and told me years ago, that food such as Purina and Proplan and others put sawdust (wood bits)in their food as a means of cutting it and making it go further. No nutritional value whatsoever. He was high up in management and knew of what he spoke. Hell, he didn’t even feed his own dogs the stuff, and he worked for them.
Anyway, yeah, I use dry Canidae, and will halt the added pedigree wet canned chunks asap, i.e as of now.
Anybody else, just get overwhelmed with the mindfuck everything seems to have become? Or maybe it has always been thus. But it seems the entropy has become exacerrated in the last decade. No wonder I struggle with feeling so Empty.
She lifts her skirt up to her knees
Walks through the garden rows with her bare feet, laughing
I never learned to count my blessings
I choose instead to dwell in my disasters
Walk on down the hill
Through the grass grown tall and brown
And still it’s hard somehow to let go of my pain
On past the busted back
Of that old and rusted Cadillac
That sinks into this field collecting rain
Will I always feel this way
So empty, so estranged
Of these cutthroat busted sunsets
These cold and damp white mornings I have grown weary
If through my cracked and dusty dimestore lips
I spoke these words out loud would no one hear me
Lay your blouse across the chair
Let fall the flowers from your hair
And kiss me with that country mouth so plain
Outside the rain is tapping on the leaves
To me it sounds like they’re applauding us
The quiet love we make
Will I always feel this way
So empty, so estranged
Well I looked my demons in the eye
Laid bare my chest said do your best destroy me
See I’ve been to hell and back so many times
I must admit you kinda bore me
There’s a lot of things that can kill a man
There’s a lot of ways to die
Yes and some already dead who walk beside you
There’s a lot of things I don’t understand
Why so many people lie
Well it’s the hurt you hide that fuels the fires inside you
~Ray LaMontagne – Empty
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 26 2007 9:52 utc | 31
The Pet Connection database is now up to nearly 2,000 *Dead* Pets
Death count reaches 1,716
The Associated Press continues to report 16 dead pets, without even mentioning the possibility that there are hundreds if not thousands more. So, does Newsweek, in this otherwise excellent piece on how to feed pets, featuring the esteemed Dr. Tony Buffington of the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
So far, both the Animal Medical Center (the “Mayo Clinic” of veterinary hospitals) and Banfield The Pet Hospital, with more than 600 locations all connected by a central database, have both gone on the record saying there could be thousands of pets sickened or killed by recalled food.
So what’s up, AP?
This afternoon, we got an e-mail from a person in the news department of a radio station, who pointed out to his boss that other media — such as USA Today and ABC News — have been reporting a potentially much higher death rate, and asked to change the AP’s “rip-and-read” radio copy. He was told he could not, and until the AP decides to do more than parrot the FDA line, the story will remain largely under-reported. That means it will soon die.
…
Our self-reported database, by the way, is now reporting 1,716 dead pets as of 9 p.m. PT.
I honestly have to wonder: Would the Associated Press accept only official government information if the deaths were people? Is this because these are “just pets”?
As long as the AP continues to report only 15 dead pets, the story will not be taken seriously. And that means there will be little interest in changes.
Report your pet’s loss to the FDA. Also, ask your veterinarian to report your pet’s loss to the state veterinarian for reporting to the FDA. Additionally, if your pet has eaten one of the recalled foods and become sick, add your pet to our database.
“Would the Associated Press accept only official government information if the deaths were people?”
Yes — yes, the AP would. The dead and mutilated from W’s war of choice are vastly under-reported. We never had the right number of people dead from Katrina EITHER.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 26 2007 10:58 utc | 32
The great GWB43 update
cannonfire update on the “secret” White House communication system that I posted about a few days ago…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Mar 26 2007 11:26 utc | 33
re Alamet at no. 23: and JFL at 25:
I read German political parties as practically empty of content. A masquerade, like in the US. Germany is flexing its muscles, after its great success: ie. the break up of Yugoslavia, the bashing of the Serbs (with the US as the main actor…), the permission to re-arm, etc. Europe is just another venue of power for them. They hope to instrumentalise (with the US) some of the ex USSR countries.
However, in the rest of Europe, Green political stances and agendas are more or less identical with ‘socialist’ ones (in Switzerland, they are strictly identical, in France pretty much as well), all that differs is the target public, the image, the language, etc. In this way, the Greens contribute enormously to splitting the ‘left’ and they know it.
Posted by: Noirette | Mar 26 2007 16:49 utc | 34
This was inevitable: Ordinary Customers Flagged as Terrorists
Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.
The Office of Foreign Asset Control’s list of “specially designated nationals” has long been used by banks and other financial institutions to block financial transactions of drug dealers and other criminals. But an executive order issued by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has expanded the list and its consequences in unforeseen ways. Businesses have used it to screen applicants for home and car loans, apartments and even exercise equipment, according to interviews and a report by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area to be issued today.
…
Why would the Israeli government allow 2000 settlers to “reoccupy” the West Bank?
Thousands of Settlers Return to West Bank Town
Despite initial warnings to participants that their attempts to reach Homesh would be considered illegal, the government did not order security forces to stop the group from making its way there by foot. Instead, the forces provided security for a six-mile stretch of winding road on which the activists made their way to the site.
Welcome to Settler Nation. Now, obey!
In other words, the settlers will do what the army should be doing. The settlers will save us. The settlers will block compromise for peace with their very bodies. With their very children. There will never be compromise, G-d willing. We will make sure that the Palestinians get none of what they are seeking. We will make sure that we dictate what everyone gets and what everyone is denied.
…
Former Homesh resident Menora Hazani was quoted as saying Monday that the settlers were guided by a higher law, Jewish law, which took precedence over government decisions.
Monbiot: If we want to save the planet, we need a five-year freeze on biofuels
Since the beginning of last year, the price of maize has doubled. The price of wheat has also reached a 10-year high, while global stockpiles of both grains have reached 25-year lows. Already there have been food riots in Mexico and reports that the poor are feeling the strain all over the world. The US department of agriculture warns that “if we have a drought or a very poor harvest, we could see the sort of volatility we saw in the 1970s, and if it does not happen this year, we are also forecasting lower stockpiles next year”. According to the UN food and agriculture organisation, the main reason is the demand for ethanol: the alcohol used for motor fuel, which can be made from maize and wheat.
Farmers will respond to better prices by planting more, but it is not clear that they can overtake the booming demand for biofuel. Even if they do, they will catch up only by ploughing virgin habitat.
Already we know that biofuel is worse for the planet than petroleum. The UN has just published a report suggesting that 98% of the natural rainforest in Indonesia will be degraded or gone by 2022. Just five years ago, the same agencies predicted that this wouldn’t happen until 2032. But they reckoned without the planting of palm oil to turn into biodiesel for the European market. This is now the main cause of deforestation there and it is likely soon to become responsible for the extinction of the orang-utan in the wild.
Time magazine title picture international: Talibanistan
Time magazine title picture united states: Why We Should Teach The Bible in Public School
Now, what country does Time think is “Talibanistan”???
winning hardon’s & mindlessness…
pr watch: Israel: Where the Women Are, ’07
“All the surveys we have done shows that the biggest hasbara,” or public diplomacy, “problem that Israel has is with males from the age of 18 – 35,” said David Saranga, Israel’s media and public affairs point person at its New York consulate. “In order to change their perception of Israel as only a land of conflict, we want to present to them an Israel that interests them,” he added. So the “beer ‘n’ babes magazine Maxim” is sending photographers to Israel, for a photo shoot of attractive Israeli women. Saranga called the Israeli women models a “Trojan horse,” to show Israel as “a modern country with nice beaches.” The magazine will also include information on each of the seven models, “to show the diversity of Israeli society.” Israel’s consul-general in New York said his country “is a vibrant and vivid place, and capturing this on the pages of America’s biggest male magazine helps us reaffirm our brand in an important way.”
Posted by: b real | Mar 27 2007 14:02 utc | 40
Hidden US hand in Philippine election
AMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – A highly anticipated gubernatorial election in the southern Philippines’ insurgency-prone Sulu province set for mid-May is being viewed as a rare democratic referendum on the US-led “war on terror” in Southeast Asia.
The polls will pit US-linked incumbent Governor Ben Loong against a prominent rebel leader, Nur Misuari, founding chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), an insurgent group created in the early 1970s with the aim of establishing an independent ethnic Moro state from minority Muslim areas in the region.
The MNLF signed a ceasefire with the government in 1996 and loosely controls territories included in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. However, there is one crucial catch that some contend gives Loong a competitive edge over his rebel rival: Misuari is under house arrest in faraway Manila.
Posted by: b real | Mar 27 2007 18:36 utc | 41
narcosphere: Emails link Johnny “House of Death” Sutton to DOJ firing scandal
The U.S. Attorney who spearheaded a cover-up of a U.S. government informant’s role in the House of Death mass murder also appears to have played a leadership role in the recent U.S. Attorney firing scandal.
That U.S. Attorney, Johnny Sutton, is the lead federal prosecutor for the Western District of Texas (based in San Antonio) and serves as chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys (AGAC), which has major influence in developing Department of Justice (DOJ) policies.
It is in the context of that latter role that Sutton’s name shows up in some of the e-mails turned over to Congress to date by DOJ concerning the Bush administration’s controversial move to fire eight U.S. Attorneys (USAs) — allegedly, according to some critics, in retaliation for their failure to pursue prosecutorial strategies deemed to be in the administration’s political interests.
According to the emails, it is clear Sutton was in the loop on the firings. How big a role he played, if any, in initiating or orchestrating those terminations behind the scenes is not clear from the electronic missives. But given his favored status within the Bush administration, and his long-time ties to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and to President Bush, it seems that someone in Congress should be asking that question.
Posted by: b real | Mar 27 2007 19:01 utc | 42
Live in Gaza, get drowned in shit – no joke; Sewage Pond Ruptures, Floods Gaza Strip Village; 4 Killed
The earthen wall of a sewage pond in the northern Gaza Strip ruptured Tuesday, flooding a nearby village and killing at least four Palestinians.
The dead in the village of Um el-Nasser included a 70-year-old woman, a teenage girl, a five year-old boy, and 2-year-old Jamal Abu Safra, whose mother watched him sink beneath the foul brown water as she struggled to remain afloat.
Gaza is completly cut off from the rest of the world by Israel.
israel israel israel, there is just no end to the madness. last night i spent way too much time following the comments on the #37 link. i got sucked into commenting over at muzzle watch. boy, they sure do monitor their own. part of me just can’t help but think there is going to be a backlash, how could there not be.
okey dokey, i have been pretty silent lately but still madly appreciating all the fine discourse and links, sometimes it just feels like “what can i say?”
here is another must read from the newyorker..
Betrayed
The Iraqis who trusted America the most.
Posted by: annie | Mar 27 2007 19:25 utc | 44
b
whether the palestinian or the arab people die in a sea of shit or a sea of blood is of absolutely no concern to the empire
the empire’s history in africa has shown itself revealed as b real has painstakingly exposed here, & those of us born in the 50’s or 60’s have witnessed the carnage that the empire has sown in south east asia & latin & central america
they do not care, not at all
there is no sense in appealing to their humanism because they possess none
as the indians of north america covered the earth in their tears & blood – so too it is now the middle east’s turn to experience the concrete contempt of the united states – which is told not only in body counts, but of culters dismantled & demolished & desires & dreams completely destroyed
the sea of shit in gaza is both real & a metaphor for how the other is actually considered by those who whisper their will in washington
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Mar 27 2007 19:34 utc | 45
March 25, 2007 — In a small Connecticut town, a big controversy erupted when a principal canceled a play written by high school students about the war in Iraq.
Theatre students at Wilton High School in Wilton, Conn., fear they’ll never perform their play “Voices in Conflict,” which they developed from first-person stories of soldiers serving in Iraq.
“We thought it would be a good way to inform students in an unbiased way what was going on with the war and open their eyes,” Wilton senior Afton Fleming told “Good Morning America Weekend Edition.
Senior Seth Koproski said the play is not about politics.
“We didn’t want to spew propaganda,” Koproski said. “We wanted to create a discussion.”
They certainly did that. The first draft included the story of 19-year-old Pvt. Nicholas Madaras, a Wilton native who was killed in Iraq at the start of the school year. Madaras’ sister still attends Wilton High.
When Gabby Alessi-Friedlander, whose brother Zach is in Iraq now, read the script, she thought it insulted American soldiers, including her brother.
“I at least view educating people as showing all sides to a story, not just just reciting word for word all the negative,” she said. “[It’s] about showing all sides … but not just one.”
so this is the new standard for creating ‘fair and balanced’ art? something tells me if the play had been pro war they would not have had to present a different side to the story.
Posted by: annie | Mar 27 2007 19:46 utc | 46
Oh, don’t worry, this headline from Haaretz sums it up.
Abbas: Arab plan offers Israel chance to live in ‘sea of peace’
of shit
Posted by: Cloned Poster | Mar 27 2007 20:23 utc | 47
An interesting fight at DKos – number one diary for a while today has been:
Our Prayers Go Out to Tony Snow and Family dripping with whatever but it smells greasy …
Now number one is: I Don’t Care About Tony Snow – now that is what I call a statement – and it’s wwell argued.
So Tony Snow has cancer or whatever. If Goebbels had had cancer would I have prayed for him? Definitly not – so fuck Snow!
b:
Oh b… Tony Snow is just another poor human. Deplore his politics… but Jesus, don’t be so small spirited. “Fuck Tony Snow” advances nothing.
I’m sure you’re reacting against the “suffering is ennobling” myth that crops up at times such as these.
Suffering is not ennobling. It can be embittering. Most often is. Look at Israel.
So maybe “To hell with the ‘suffering is ennobling’ myth!”?
I’m sorry to hear of any fellow human’s pain and suffering. Tony Snow, for whatever reason, has been on the wrong side of history. I hope he dies without too much pain. I hope I die without too much pain.
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Mar 28 2007 4:49 utc | 50
@JFL – the Snowman has argued for, lied for and justified the killing of 100,000s as Fox news agitator and White House big mouth.
He was not somehow mysterically on the wrong side of history. It was he who decided where to be.
I’ll save my regrets for those killed by his words.
You know the Wall St. Propaganda System is nothing but a blanket of lies when you find this story – in the most Repug. state in the Union, @a U. that is prob. 99% Repug, a Shitstorm has broken out over invitation to cheney to speak @Graduation:
At BYU — in the heart of what has been called the reddest county in the nation — the mere possibility of Vice President Dick Cheney coming to campus is getting some blue blood boiling.
Cheney is scheduled to be Brigham Young University’s keynote speaker at this year’s graduation ceremonies. While it is a day of celebration for many, some BYU administrators and faculty, alongside parents and students, are expressing displeasure with the VP’s visit.
Despite the opposition, BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said that there are currently no plans to eliminate Cheney as a part of the graduation ceremonies.
BYU Marriott School professor Warner Woodworth said that he has received e-mails from all over the world expressing dismay over Cheney’s visit.
Woodworth said that some of those e-mails came from parents and LDS stake presidents, particularly in Latin America, expressing anger that Cheney — whom they called a “warmonger” — will be representing their children and their church.
Woodworth said that administrators, faculty and even some students and parents are refusing to attend graduation ceremonies if Cheney is speaking. Pickets and other forms of protest are also being planned, he said.
Nephi Henry, a BYU student who will be graduating next month, is working with other students in organizing opposition to Cheney’s visit.
Henry said his group felt that it was not appropriate for someone of such an “inflammatory” nature to be at BYU. Henry criticized the move to have Cheney because the vice president does not meet the university’s policy on speakers having “a good public reputation and a moral private life.” Additionally, he said the invitation violated BYU’s policy of political neutrality.
“It certainly looks like the church is endorsing someone of a highly patrician political nature,” he said.
Woodworth also expressed concern over Cheney’s fitness to speak to graduates at commencement ceremonies. He said that Cheney’s moral values were not in line with what BYU represents.
“Cheney’s coming here is a contradiction of what we’re trying to do,” he said. “We represent an institution of peace, he represents an institution of war … an institution of deception and outright lies.” he said. link
Posted by: jj | Mar 28 2007 8:20 utc | 52
b:
OK… how about
‘ I’m sorry to hear of any fellow human’s pain and suffering. Tony Snow, for whatever reason, has argued for, lied for and justified the killing of 100,000s as Fox news agitator and White House big mouth. I hope he dies without too much pain. I hope I die without too much pain. ‘
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Mar 28 2007 10:25 utc | 53
b:
At #43
‘ Gaza is completely cut off from the rest of the world by Israel… the United States of America, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. ‘ ?
The ganging up of practically all the large nations on earth against a people that has suffered decades of their previous indifference, in the case of the EU, Russia and the UN; and hostility and oppression in the case of the US and Israel is truly shameful.
Why are these forces so determined to punish a whole people for having the temerity to continue to exist, to not just give up and die?
How can these hypocrites talk of “genocide” here and “genocide” there while they are the active proponents of genocide in Palestine?
Posted by: John Francis Lee | Mar 28 2007 10:46 utc | 54
b
have read the faux morality discourse(s) at dkos over the cancer of the apparatachik, tony snow
these people who offer their prayers & tears for a man who is the propagandist for the murder of 1 million people in iraq is chilling to read – how many of them consider a ‘celebrity’ more worthy of living than a village in iraq, or a family in tal afar
their false concern for this swine, tony snow – turns morality on its head
i was taught very simply – we are responsible for our actions & in very clear terms – mr snow is a perpetrator – his false concern of the death of his own soldiers & their ending up returning to america in pieces stretches indecency so far – that it creates from sadism a form of sophism
personally i couldn’t give a flying fuck one way or another – he is nothing to me but what concerns me – is this so called ‘humanism’ at dkos which is nothing other than a televisual form of morality in the same way that firedoglake is a televisual form of jurisprudence, law & rights – in the end it reveals more about the emptiness at the core of american culture than it says of anything concrete
& in all their false humanisms – there is the one man view of history (fitzgerald, conyers, pelosi), there is the absolute absence of the other – whether they are the population of three million american prisoners or the gulag the u s empire has created all over the world, there is the false belief in the idea of genius & culture when we all witness nothing but stupidity & barbarism
they also have in coimmen with a false humanism – that the cavalry will come & save us from the criminality of tyrants like bush but the reality has always been otherwise
it is the people, & the people only who are the determinating factors in human society & history
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Mar 28 2007 13:37 utc | 55
the world will be a (slightly) better place w/o tony snow
Posted by: b real | Mar 28 2007 14:04 utc | 56