| PRAWN Philadelphia Regional Anti-War Network |
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| PRAWN Philadelphia Regional Anti-War Network |
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| Next meeting: May 27th At Local 47, AFSCME, 1606 Walnut St, 6:30PM-9:00PM People have asked about parking near where we meet, there is no parking in the immediate vicinity. Folks can park at nearby Septa stations and take the train or subway in or Larry Petkov at 215-563-6357 can obtain a parking space for you in a nearby parking garage. Contacting us: Sign up for our RiseUp unmoderated discussion/events list serve. It also has archives so you can also check up on discussions. Non-members can post to this list, but those posts will be moderated. Or sign up for our Yahoo events-only list serve. This is also unmoderated, so we depend on discretion being used when posting. Webmaster & miscellaneous questions. May 18, Peace Event Northwest Greens and 24 other peace groups will demonstrate from 2:00 until 4:00 p.m. near Senator Arlen Specter's home on West Schoolhouse Lane (between Henry Avenue and Gypsy Lane) in East Falls. They want Specter to cut off funding for the U.S. occupation of Iraq and to bring the troops home now. Twenty-four peace groups will demonstrate from 2:00 until 4:00 p.m. near Senator Arlen Specter's home on West Schoolhouse Lane (between Henry Avenue and Gypsy Lane) in East Falls. We want Specter to cut off funding for the U.S. occupation of Iraq and to bring the troops home, now. For more information, please contact 215-307-7980 and info2506@prawnworks.net. It's
going
to take place
upon the third Sunday of the month 2pm
to 4pm at the intersection of Timber Lane and Schoolhouse Lane near the
West Chestnut Hill stop on
the R8 train line or by the 32 bus line. For people using
MapQuest
or some other online map search program, the search terms are:
Our view of the current war in Iraq:
It's time to withdraw. The war was a crime against humanity to begin with and the alternative is to go through what happened in Vietnam in 1975, a panicked helicopter exodus from the rooftops. PRAWN's mission is to:
Local Resource Organizations
National Organizations Marlene
Santoyo's
Political
Allies Newsletter
20 Apr 08 23 Mar 08 15 Mar 08 6 Mar 08 28 Feb 08 18 Jan 08 9 Jan 08 17 Dec 07 15 Nov 07 5 Sep 07 30 Aug 07 15 Aug 07 2 Aug 07 24 Jun 07 24 Apr 07 20 Apr 07 15 Apr 07 12 Apr 07 21 Mar 07 16 Mar 07 21 Feb 07 16 Jan 07 8 Jan 07 28 Dec 06 13 Dec 06 8 Dec 06 28 Nov 06 17 Nov 06 10 Nov 06 24 Oct 06 13 Oct 06 7 Oct 06 29 Sep 06 19 Sep 06 13 Sep 06 23 Aug 06 11 Aug 06 1 Aug 06 26 Jul 06 7 Jul 06 2 Jul 06 20 Jun 06 6 Jun 06 1 Jun 06 23 May 06 13 May 06 2 May 06 "Political Allies Newsletter" email listserve which is sent out a few times a month. There are actions you may want to support & local, national & international articles, most of which are not printed in the Phila Inquirer or NY Times. Topic titles are listed. You may read any portion, file away for another time or delete any or all. To subscribe, if in the Philadelphia area: send a blank message to this address. To subscribe If OUTSIDE the Philadelphia area then send a blank message to this address. |
Upcoming Events Tombstone Memorial Schedule See http://arlington-libertybell.net/ for details
Folks are needed @ all of these days Actual Display is 4 days
There are 4,051 KIA, as of
28Apr08
PLEASE RESPOND,
so we can plan
THANKS
Be
Well, RAISE HELL ! Bill Perry 215-945-3350, 215-945-1269 Delaware Valley Veterans For America Disabled American Veteran, VVAW, VFP, VFW, VVA Body of WarNow showing at theRitz at the Bourse 400
Ranstead St Philadelphia,
PA 19106 (215) 925-7900
showtimes"...it is the very powerful story of Tomas Young a soldier who was shot and paraylzed in early April 2004. It follows his struggle, family and eventual decision to bravely speak out, along with his Mom. Since this is a real story, many in our peace organizations are featured, with scenes from Crawford and Washington." Celeste Zappala, Mother of Sgt Sherwood Baker, KIA 4/26/04 Brandywine Peace Community review 5th Annual Interfaith Walk for
Peace &
Reconciliation Sunday, May 18, 2:00 p.m. Meet
at Masjid
Muhammad, The Future of Philadelphia's Wireless Internet Initiative: A Public Forum When: Tuesday, June 3,
6:30 p.m.
DetailsWhere: Tuttleman Learning Center, Room 105, Corner of 13th St. and Montgomery Ave. Temple University School
of Communications &
Theater
Media Mobilizing Project
334 Annenberg Hall 4134 Lancaster Avenue 2020 North 13th Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 Philadelphia, PA 19122-6080 215.990.3702 Phone: 215-204-8422 mediamobilizing@gmail.com Fax: 215-204-4811 www.mediamobilizing.org SCT@temple.edu Call to organize an Iraq Town Hall by Democrats.com Democrats.com has 500,000 members, roughly 1,000 in each district. That's more than enough to fill 435 Iraq Town Halls, if just two committed activists in each district will take the lead in organizing one. Will you help us organize an Iraq Town Hall? Everything you
need to get started is here: Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) did a study of the Iraq War (60 page PDF), concluding that it is a “major debacle,” a “classic case of failure,” and a conflict that may not be winnable. Update: Contains lots of points of agreement with Bush Administration (i.e., that Saddam Hussein attempted to assassinate the elder George Bush, among many others) but these can be seen as tactical agreements, made so that other points have more credibility (i.e., "This is not a DFH screed!"). 
Database of 935 Bush Admnistration lies that preceded the Iraq War  Not many people are even aware of death toll.  Post-"Surge,"
casualties in Iraq
start climbing back up
Icasualties "Casualty Trends" shows that US military fatalities reached an average of 30 per week in Jun 07, declined to around 5 a week by Jan 08, but have remained consistent at around 8 per week since then. Update: Apr 08 is the deadliest month on record since Sep 07. And what's the current status on attacks on US forces in Iraq? 
Caption: Enemy initiated attacks against Coalition and Iraqis each month from May 2003 to May 2006 It AIN'T a pretty picture and it's rapidly getting worse!  Seems the
plans made for the Iraq War fall into the category of what we
call
"wishful thinking." The idea here was that the occupation
force
in Iraq was going to fall to 5000 by December 2006.
Oops!
Cool Protest Idea!! Obtain toy plastic soldier, add a label "Bring me home!", leave in bookstores, libraries, coffee shops, etc. and The Freeway Blogger strikes again! Media
Tank says
FCC is considering
reviewing rules for media ownership This may pave the way for further concentration of the already-overconcentrated mediaMedia Tank and other Philadelphia groups ran a public hearing with FCC Commissioner Michael Copps here in Philadelphia on January 18th, 2007. Archive of presentation.PhillyIMC story Status of Public Access TV Philadelphia
is about America's
only major city without public access TV. This
means that
noncommercial groups can't get airtime to explain their point of view
on any issue. They must depend on commercial media to do that
and
we have seen with the United
Church of Christ ads how willing they are to do that.
Thanks to the Adelphia company no longer being a player (PDF on Adelphia's sale of its assets.) in the cable TV business, Time-Warner and Comcast are now divvying up its assets. Adelphia used to own a substantial chunk of Philly's cable TV market and those assets are now slated for Comcast, which currently owns the other three-quarters of the city. Comcast has been legally obligated to provide free access to community groups since 1983 and the reason it has not done so is the subject of a long-running feud between the cable giant and the city. PCAC opposes allowing Comcast to swallow up that last portion "until Comcast make a public commitment to fully fund public access." The Philadelphia Grassroots Cable Coalition also points out that "Cable rates have risen more than three times the rate of inflation, with rate hikes in Philadelphia of 5% or more annually." PCAC
has a series of action
recommendations.
PGCC has a series of links to other groups. Also
important
news on low-power Community FM radio!
Especially noteworthy Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think: Book Review Essay. A relatively thin book (135 pages) that covers many issues with Muslims and how the West deals with them. No, there is no "clash of civilizations." What most Muslims hate about the US is the failure of the neoconservative movement to live up to the best ideals of our forefathers. They hate the fact that the neocons appear to have dragged the rest of America down into the sewer with them. The fellows behind Media Matters write Free Ride: John McCain and the Media, which examines how the media just loves John McCain and how they cover for him at every opportunity. Firedoglake discussed this book on March 29th. McCain had 135 appearances on high-profile talk shows between 1997 and 2006. One of his more infamous appearances (But that indicts the media more than it does McCain) was his November 12th appearance on Meet the Press. That's right, he appeared shortly after the Democratic sweep of the House & Senate to deliver an anti-Democratic message! Naomi Klein writes The Shock Doctrine. The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, that presents a very frightening picture of how modern capitalism makes profits off of disasters. It's a story of privatization via shock therapy run amuck. Klein's theory is discussed in the context of the California wildfires of late October 2007 and Grover Norquist's expressed desire to annihilate government's role in society. Susan Faludi writes The Terror Dream. Fear And Fantasy in Post-9/11 America, about how gender roles were shaped and twisted and bent to serve political ends. Faludi probably pays more attention to what the right wing was saying at the time than most folks were aware of, which may explain why some consider the book overheated. Faludi talks about how the "cult of the codpiece" was going to save us all from the "Islamofacist Menace" in the "War On Terror." Naom
Wolf's book The
End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot has
been very enthusiastically reviewed by a member of PRAWN.
Author Naomi Wolf wrote Fascist
America in 10 easy steps for The (UK) Guardian and has also
written
extensively on Blackwater, doing two
blog posts for firedoglake.
YouTube speech
by Naom Wolf on her book.
Juan Cole's book Napoleon’s Egypt: Invading the Middle East is a look at how a former would-be conqueror of the Middle East fared. Answer: Not so hot and not as many differences as one would like to see between 1798-1800 and the younger George Bush's Iraq War 2003-? Update: Kewl marketing scheme for the book which doubles as a way to make important documents of the time available: The Napoleon's Egypt Blog Buzzflash is offering preview copies (3 DVD set) of Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke" for a minimum donation of $35. Lawyer & blogger Glenn Greenwald's book, How Would a Patriot Act? hasn't been reviewed by many people, hasn't gotten any big buzz outside the blogs and it's already going to hit number 11 on the NY Times bestseller list! The News Blog reviews James Risen's book (The book that allegedly prompted the NY Times to reveal their knowledge of the NSA spying case.) Smirking Chimp reprints an NYRB review of Risen's book. Book is available from Powells and from Buzzflash (Which also includes another review.) Copied
the PDF of the
Congressional Research
Service's examination of whether it was legal for Bush to have the NSA
spying
for him without FISA warrants.
Short answer: NO! DailyKos describes it as a subtle, polite, well-worded "smackdown". Also, letter sent by "14 law professors and former federal government officials. [in which they] critique the Department of Justice's legal argument in support of the lawfulness of the secret NSA surveillance program." Other meetings/protests
In front of the Recruiting Office at Broad & Cherry Streets last Friday of each month from 5:00pm to 6:00pm. September 07 The Northwest Peace Coalition has been holding weekly candlelight vigils at 7:30 pm each Wednesday at the intersection of Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike (near Borders Books) in Chestnut Hill. Northwest Peace and Justice Movement and the Unitarian Society of Germantown will begin on December 8 to hold a peace vigil every Wednesday at 5:00 pm, outside the Unitarian Society, 6511 Lincoln Drive (just north of Wayne DelCo Drinkng Liberally meets at John Harvard's Brew House, 1001 Baltimore Pike #1B (Springfield Square South) (map) monthly starting February 5th 6:30pm-8:30pm Archive of Action Items
Oh,
and just how DO Iraqis
feel about the "liberation" of their country?
 Did we gain a victory? Did the Armed
Forces Recruiting Station move away because we were protesting in front
of it once a month? Hey, ya never know!
 Photos
from demonstration observing 4,000th US serviceperson's death
in
Iraq. YouTube
of Celeste Zappala interview. Brandywine Peace Community describes the
event.
Activists are proposing Iraq
Town hall meetings in
response.
 IVAW Winter
Soldier event, A 25-mile march from the Constitution Center to Valley
Forge.
 March on Congressman Joe Sestak's office  Human Chain Event - took place in coordination with 10 other American cities all on the same day. Other demonstrations.  NW Greens collect articles on ANSWER's 15 Sep march in Wash DC  Cindy
Sheehan
visits Philly as part of her campaign to push the Democrats
harder
to end the war.
 Parade for Peace - Chestnut Hill/Mt Airy/Germantown Concerned both violence here at home and violence abroad in Iraq Photos by Hal Sawyer PhillyIMC article Photos & story by Sandy Monique's photos of vigil in West Philly  March in Washington DC 27 Jan 07 Video from PhillyIMC Link to PhillyIMC article (Which has links to lots of pieces)  Active duty soldiers deliver Appeal for Redress  "Last Friday" Protest Photos covering March & April 07 Story by Del Val Vets and by PRAWN   Yet another Tombstones display!  Celeste Zappala with Iraq War vets behind her  We decided to start up yet another regular monthly protest! Sept07  
We were concerned that we might have a sparse demonstration in August. Code Pink saved us by showing up at our monthly rally near Senator Specter's home!!    Declaration of Peace rally in Philly 
One of the Grannies for Peace outside the recruiting station on June 28th.  Combination of pictures from Rich and Monique during march in NYC on 29 April 06      Easter Peace Event    Protest - Break the Silence  
 Observing third anniversary of beginning of Iraq War by picketing near Senator Specter's home.    Cindy Sheehan, Monique Frugier, Bill Perry  Winter Solstice Event near Senator Specter's house Photos by Monique  The
main, serious, essential
question
  Bush comes to speak in Philadelphia 
These five pictures by Monique   
Gold Star Mother Celeste Zappala 
|
Info, articles, etc. A reminder of some long-ago history: The Bush Administration was adamantly opposed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) long before the Iraq war began. According to the records, President Bush signed the Executive Order authorizing torture in February 2002 and then officially pulled out of the ICC in May 2002. The House Judiciary Committee is preparing to question several Bush Administration members on policies concerning torture. The ACLU has a page set up for citizens to contribute questions the House can ask. Committee discovers that there is no "ticking time bomb" that justifies torture. The Burmese / Myanmar government defends itself against Laura Bush's criticisms: "Ye Htut, a Burmese
government spokesman, also accused the first lady
of politicizing the tragedy. 'I would like to say that what we are
doing is better than the Bush administration response to the Katrina
storm in 2005, if you compare the resources of the two countries,' he
told reporters."
The link where one can contribute to the relief effort is here. Is Laura playing the part of GeeDubya Bush's beard? The Inky presents a very incomplete and sanitized version of First Lady Laura Bush's remarks on the Myanmar junta's moral failings that led to the deaths of over 10,000 citizens (As of 11:50pm on 7 May, the official toll was 22,500, but that number could grow to as high as 100,000). Dan Froomkin of the WaPo gives us the complete version. Hooo-weee! If I were a member of that junta, I'd be SO annoyed at having this moralistic scold lecturing me from several thousand miles away!! Ooh! Would that tick me off!!! And for her to immedately switch over to talking about her daughter's wedding...wooo! I have nothing good to say about Myanmar's junta, but there's a way to get influence and leverage and instead, the Bushes demonstrate all the grace and subtlety of a charging rhinoceros! Michael Gordon of the NY Times charges that Iran is killing American soldiers in Iraq by training Iraqi insurgents, using Hezbollah personnel as trainers. Problem: ALL of the information is second-hand, NONE of the information is verified by non-deeply-compromised sources. Yeesh! Even Joe Lieberman is unable to find out what the governmen is up to concerning their plans for the internet. Apparently, the government wants to: ...be
able to turn the net into a controllable, monitorable and trackable
pre-internet AOL-type service...
Seriously, the fact that Republicans lost a seat in Louisiana, a seat they've held since 1974, and that they had poured about $1 million into scary, scary ads that screamed about how Cazayoux was "too liberal" and how he "supported higher taxes" and how he was connected to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama, means that it looks like that dog just don't hunt no more. In fact, linking candidates to President Bush seems to be the kiss of death for them. The 50+ year old* Star Wars/Missile Defense/ABM/Whatever program proceeds merrily along with spokespeople refusing to answer questions about whether or not the program actually works. "…. I'm sure, Mr.
Chairman, you would not want us to transmit in an
open hearing to enemies around the world – Iran and North Korea – any
kind of data that they could take advantage of in trying to overcome
the system for the future," Gen. Obering replied. "I know you wouldn't
want to do that."
*This is assuming that the period from the 1972 ABM Treaty to Reagan's 1983 revival of "Star Wars" can be counted as an "on spec" period, where private companies kept spending on the program, anticipating a revival of it. Well, well, well! One of the George Bushes, either te elder or the younger, purchased a 100,000 acre ranch down in Paraguay in 2006. Insurance, perhaps? Someplace to go if people suggested holding the younger Bush accountable for his many crimes? In any event, it seems the Bushes may not be as safe from the international community as Klaus Barbie, Josef Mengele and Adolf Eichmann were. Paraguay is now being run by "a former Roman Catholic Bishop with leftist, populist tendencies, Fernando Lugo." Yup, must be a lot of unhappiness and panicking in the White House! On 24 Apr, it was reported that the networks used retired generals as on-air military analysts without admitting that they were still working for the Pentagon. On 7 May, the black-out continues. Amazingly enough, FISA appears to be an issue again, no thanks to the Blue Dog Democrats. Blogs are busy raising money to run ads in the districts of the worst of them. Aw now, this is truly sad. Nelson Mandela of South Africa found out he was on the terrorist watch list and had to appeal to SecState Rice to get permission to enter the US. Apparently, the designation is based on 20-25 year old information and the list hasn't been adjustd to reflect political reality. The really bad part of the story is that AIPAC is concerned that getting onto the list should be a permanent designation as they don't want members of Hamas ever getting taken off the list. Seems former Governor Don Siegelman is also on a watch list and also has restricted travel privileges. The author used a list for determining whether a person in Russia is suffering corrupt political persecution and Siegelman's rating is off the charts. Wow! Hard to believe that a government lawyer could put forth such an utterly corrupt and administration-serving argument. Legal analysis that demands careful reading in full. Fierce fighting in Baghdad. TEHRAN,
April 30 (Xinhua) -- Iran had totally removed
U.S. dollars in the country's oil transactions, an Oil Ministry
official said on Wednesday.
Very questionable piece on the Iranian general who commands the Quds Force (A group that was denounced by Bush in February 2007. Bush's very first accusation was that Iran is supplying IEDs to Iraqi insurgents, a highly questionable charge.) that starts off reasonably enough but quickly descends info flat-out disinformation. Concerning Russ Feingold's (D-WI) hearing on secret laws, specifically John Yoo's memo on torture: J. WILLIAM LEONARD:
Would like to focus most of his testimony of the
OLC memo that was discussed earlier. Classification of this document
was the worst abuse of classification that he can recall in his long
career -- it had no impact on sources, methods or other national
security concerns, it was pure legal analysis. Classifying this was an
abuse of power, and it was appallingly done by the Deputy at the OLC
who has the power within the government to make those sorts of
decisions.
Republican rebuttal: DAVID RIVKIN: I want
to put the so-called "secret law" into its proper
context. Blah blah blah long-term war with scary terrorists booga booga
booga.
Initial reactions on Supreme Court's voter suppression approval - C&L01 C&L02 Marvelous piece by Elizabeth Edwards on presidential campaign and how journalists have covered it (Very poorly). At the White House Correspondents Association dinner, Bush takes a "victory lap." But what is the victory he's celebrating? A Wall St Journal editorial tries to argue that John Yoo's legal torture opinion is inconsistent with international law, but not with US domestic law. Wrong answer! Torture violates all kinds of laws going back many centuries. Very interesting sentence: Criminal
investigators may well conclude that this act joined John Yoo
in a joint criminal enterprise
with the persons who devised and pushed
implementation of the torture policies. [emphasis added]
John McCain is not just breaking one pledge, he's breaking two! He pledged not to use corporate jets (He uses one belonging to his wife's company) and he pledged to pay the full going rate (He pays first-class regular airline fare, about half as much as his private-jet airfare actually costs). Very interestingly, he's been using a private jet since last summer for his campaign travel and nobody from the traditional media has noticed?!?!? "Informed reader" examines the case that the alleged Syrian nuclear reactor was "nearly complete." The verdict: Not very likely. Lot's of choices out there! Six-term Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is running for president on the Green Party ticket and Cindy Sheehan is running for Speaker Nancy Pelosi's seat. Good piece on the slightly -below-the-surface qualities that separate Barack Obama from Hillary Clinton. I especially agreed with the first distinction, that Clinton is a creature of the DLC, whereas Obama is strongly committed to the Howard Dean 50-state strategy. About two & a half years after a combination of Hurricane Katrina and official neglect devastated New Orleans, John McCain has no idea what to do about the city. "I really don't
know," he finally said. "That's why I am going ... We
need to go back to have a conversation about what to do: rebuild it,
tear it down, you know, whatever it is."
[emphasis added]
Many questions as to why the Bush Administration is now, after several months, talking about the Israeli bombing of a site in Syria. Representative Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) felt the Intelligence Committee (of which he is the Senior Republican) was "used" by the White House in finally making public the "evidence" that North Korea was assisting Syria in building a nuclear power plant, just in time to "scuttle the six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program." Of course, VP Cheney and former UN representative John Bolton are absolutely delighted that the "North Korea 3.0" policy has failed. Back in February, Seymour Hersh contributed real reporting on the story (As opposed to what the rest of the press corps usually does). Former Attorney General John Ashcroft goes absolutely bonkers over a student who dares, dares, I tell you, to confront the man with (gasp, shudder) facts and logic! According to the Fmr Atty Gen, there is a vitally important distinction between "forcing" water down someone's throat and between "pouring" water down their throat (while the subject is physically restrained and their mouth is held open). Question: Did the Bush tax cuts of 2001 ever pay for themselves? Did they spark enough productivity in the economy to stimulate earnings enough so that the extra tax receipts made up for cutting the tax rate in the first place? Nope. The tax cuts cost the government over $1.1 trillion. Bush aides' argument that the tax cuts aided the economy is composed of sheer wishful thinking. Oh hey, didya know that we're not in a recession? No, y'see, we're in a slowdown. Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket! Editor & Publisher covers the NY Times story about retired military personnel appearing on news shows and giving "objective" and "knowledgable" testimony on the war that, strangely enough, mirrored Bush Administration propaganda more or less word for word. The Pentagon’s military/media cabal placed "at least" nine op-eds in the NY Times and they served as frequent sources for quotes. The whole operation has been described as classic "psyops." The question remains: Is the NY Times doing penance? Update: Doesn't seem to
be much interest in the story. Most
media outlets very, very quiet on their role in it.
Distinguished contributor to reporting the tale: Comedy
Central! Amy Goodman's Democracy
Now has also contributed a report. Gotta say, Hillary
Clinton just keeps digging herself a bigger and bigger hole. Now she's
insulted the members of MoveOn, an organization that
was created to defend her husband back in 1998. If not the "best quote ever," well, it's a pretty strong contender. Commentary on the Obama-Clinton "debate." Absolutely disgraceful exhibition by ABC. Clinton doesn't come off very well, either. Glenn Greenwald and Digby explain why our press is so shallow and frivilous. Chris Matthews "gets tough" with John McCain: ...we've had enough
softball, Senator. It's
time for the show to start here." Matthews continued: "Let me ask
you a tough one here. We've done the Abu Ghraib stuff. We're
getting to the domestic Abu Ghraib here. Is [Sen.] Barack Obama an
elitist?"
Excellent post from Juan Cole today. Too much to try and summarize. Pope says Iraq War is without justification. It is perhaps paradoxical that in this grave international crisis the Holy See finds itself in a diplomatic and political position closer to the Social-Democratic Germany of Schroeder and the orthodox Russia of Putin than to the America of George W. Bush. But this is precisely the situation. Summary of the left blogospher's reaction to the 16 April debate in Philadelphia: Hated it! Firedoglake and Digby get together to get folks to send still more letters about the top Bush people all approving of torture. NY Times Book Review prints a very disturbing review that treats al Qaeda in an eerily similar manner to how the Nazis wrote about the Jews (Acknowledging that, unlike the Jews, al Qaeda is a real and serious threat). I agree, whoever won the Clinton-Obama debate, ABC News most definitely lost it. Talking about 60s radicals who were active 40 years ago was clearly not worth even two minutes, let alone the 10 or so they actually spent on them. It took 53 minutes into the debate to actually get into policy! Yup! That's the truth. We love Mary Matalin! That Republican spokesperson is the most wunnerful spokesperson for the Democrats since JFK! Please keep her on! MR. RUSSERT: Is Condi Rice relevant? MS. MATALIN: Con--you know, what people don't know about Dr. Rice is that she weighed in on every domestic issue before the president when... Um, that's supposed to help!?!?! To be attached at the waist with Mr 28% (as of 14Apr) while the economy is tanking? Gotta love it! ACLU and Crooks & Liars blog combine to demand an Independent Counsel for Bush's casual admission that his administration has engaged in torture. Traditional media is still extremely quiet about this! Yes, the WaPo did have a story similar to this in January 2005, but it only named officials as high as former AG Alberto Gonzales, before he was named as AG. An examination of just what resulted from torture discussions. Side note: Alberto Gonzales is having difficulty finding a job. Let's hear it now: "Awwwww!" I initially included Presdent Bush in among the "principals" who had approved specific torture techniques, then realized he wasn't specifically named. Well, now that's changed and he's admitted to knowing all about it. Update: Media reaction the next day was underwhelming. NY Times wasn't featuring the story by 9:00am, WaPo put it on page A3 and ABC News placed the story fourth underneath a picture of cute puppies. Kewl! Pope Benedict XVI apparently doesn't want to enjoy a state dinner with an admitted torturer! Interesting to hear that the Bush Administration feels that Jimmy Carter shouldn't meet with Hamas (The legitimately -elected leaders of the Palestinian people) because "Hamas is a terrorist organization." An analysis of Bush's April 10th speech on Iraq. The main question was apparently whether Bush instructed his speechwriters to be "mendacious or merely shallow." "Fifteen months ago," Bush said today, "extremists were sowing sectarian violence; today, many mainstream Sunni and Shia are actively confronting the extremists." This is all very fine and well, but what exactly do the very loaded and highly emotional words extremists and mainstream mean? Remember, both Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's army and the rival Shiite militia of Muqtada Sadr are given financing by and have good relations with Iran. So who's who? Further analysis. Not looking good here. An especially worrisome statement from Bill Kristol: "I think people are overdoing how much of a lame duck the president is." Reminds me uncomfortably of the 1989 "Wimp factor" that the elder George Bush exorcised by invading Panama! Senator James Webb (D-VA) tries to pin down an Administration spokesperson on exactly what a "permanent base" is (As the Bush Administration has pledged not to seek "permanent bases" in Iraq) and hey, guess what? It's not at all clear what the term means! Well, it seems that VP Cheney, [then] NatSec Advisor Rice, SecState Powell, SecDef Don Rumsfeld, Atty Gen John Ashcroft and CIA Dir George Tenet not only approved of torture, they approved torture techniques in detail. Rice reportedly didn't care. She told the CIA, after the Yoo memo was made inoperative "This is your baby. Go do it." And it wasn't just once: "Tenet, seeking to protect his agents, regularly sought confirmation from the NSC principals that specific interrogation plans were legal. . . ." Hey Rapture-seekers, guess what? You're too late!!! Bwah, ha, ha ....oh, that report was a fake? D'oh! AP photographer Bilal Hussein has been held by the US military in Iraq for nearly two years. Pretty much as soon as Iraq had the right to decide whether or not to keep Hussein in custody, an Iraqi judicial committee decided to release him. No word yet on whether he'll actually be released as the US military still has physical custody of him. There are 24,000 other Iraqis in custody. Muqtada al-Sadr calls off million-man march scheduled for today (Anniversary of the day Baghdad fell to the Americans). Examination of John McCain's "100 year war" comment. Is it really inaccurate to say that McCain wants 100 years of fighting and/or occupation in Iraq? 'Cause it sure looks like he does indeed want that. Crooks & Liars has lots of good scenes from the General Petraeus / Ambassador Crocker report, but it sounds here like Keith Olbermann got the best summary of it. And why is Joe Lieberman's question time counted against the Democrat's time? I mean, considering he's moved steadily to the Republican view of things, why isn't his time counted against that side of the aisle? Will the Mahdi Army (The militia that's under Muqtada al-Sadr) be disbanded? Those familiar with the situation say: "Hell will freeze over first." BTW, there are 28 separate militias in Iraq. New National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) presented to Congress. Democrats highly suspicious about why it doesn't say anything about recent disastrous Basra offensive and why the Bush Administration doesn't appear to be in any hurry to release a complete unclassified version as opposed to just quoting the "good news" sections of it. Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr calls for million-man march in Baghdad. To take place on the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to American forces. Former Presidential Press Secretary Tony Snow insists that black is white and that up is actually down. Snow tries to make believe that the recent fighting in Basra, the place in which Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr's troops delivered a butt-whupping to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's troops, was actually a Maliki victory. Commentary on all-too-clever "gaffes" that all-too-conveniently serve the political purposes of the speaker. The commentary on Attorney General Michael Mukasey is one that's especially worth following up on. Thank you ACLU!! American citizens can finally view the 2003 John Yoo torture memo. Sure would have been nice to have viewed them in 2003, when they could have made a real political difference. Lawyer/blogger Marty Lederman has a whole series of observations, the first of which is: The classification of this memo was entirely unjustifiable. And it's fairly outrageous that Congress didn't release it when they received it. The classification and oversight systems are hopelessly broken. Another lawyer/bloger Christ Hardin Smith wonders about why she can't seem to find any references to the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer case, as this IS a rather important Supreme Court decision concerning presidential authority. The memo in PDF format: Part One, Part Two It's 81 pages long. It's crystal clear that the campaign to clear the Iraqi city of Basra of "lawless elements" i.e., Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army, has miserably failed. Prime Minister al-Maliki has come out greatly weakened and al-Sadr plus his Iranian allies have come out much stronger. By
the time the cease-fire was called, al-Maliki had been
bloodied
after days of ineffective fighting and welcomed a way back from the
precipice.
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has put out a report on contracts with the Department of Defense. Money spent on those contracts since 2000 has gone from $790 billion to $1.6 trillion. "but acquisition outcomes in terms of cost and schedule have not improved." Please contact the Foriegn Relations Committee to urge them to have the recently-relieved-of-duty Admiral Fallon testify on the need to avoid war with Iran. March
We've heard ad infinitum, ad nauseum, about how President Bush compares himself to Harry Truman, who left office as an unpopular President, but later became quite popular. The Toronto Globe & Mail comes up with a really devastating reply to that claim. Well, it's not quite Lam Son 719, the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) invasion of Laos that was beat back by the North Vietnamese in 1971, but it must have been humiliating for Bush & Cheney to see their puppets in Iraq be defeated by Moqtada al-Sadr. Very interestingly, Sadr directed that his people stop attacking the HQs of rival political parties. Guess his forces were doing lots and lots of damage. Bush gets booed throwing out the first pitch of the season. At a campaign speech, Bill Clinton said: And I think it would
be a great
thing if we had an election year where you had two people who love this
country and were
devoted to the interests of the
country, and people could actually ask themselves, who's
right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always
seems to
intrude itself on our politics.
Why, whatever could Bill mean by "all this other stuff"? Well, he was probably referring to things like: MSNBC then played a
short excerpt of Clinton's comments, while an on-screen
graphic read: "RACE & THE RACE."
What did Clinton's speech have to do with race? Absolutely nothing. It was just something MSNBC threw in there. This is precisely what Clinton meant by "all this other stuff!" Sadrists open New fronts throughout Shiite South Former Governor Don Siegelman of Alabama, released from prison today on bond in a bribery case, said he was as convinced as ever that politics played a leading role in his prosecution. Siegelman smells Karl Rove behind his prosecution. Iran called on Saturday for an end to fighting between Iraqi government forces and Shi'ite Muslim militants to remove any "pretext" for U.S. troops to stay in Iraq. Doesn't look like things are going too well for the offensive into Basra: Three days into a U.S.-backed government offensive, however, the Mahdi Army retained control of key neighborhoods of the southern port city of Basra and was able to prevent Iraqi soldiers and police from penetrating its strongholds. Also, Iraq's government has extended by 10 days a deadline for Shia militiamen fighting troops in the southern city of Basra to hand over their weapons. Erm, since when does one extend an ultimatum? One gives an ultimatum and then one delivers the "or else!!" Extending it is an admission of failure. Update on the Hillary Clinton "I remember landing under sniper fire...we ran with our heads down" story: Clinton admits she "misspoke." Blogger uncovers other episodes of Clinton "misspeaking." Veterans who have actually been under sniper fire are very, very upset at Clinton's fanciful stories: She has no sense of
what a
statement like that does to soldiers...She
is insulting the command in its entirety...Believe me, heads would have
rolled all over if the military put the then-first lady at unacceptable
risk... So why did she fib? As first lady, she
did not attend
National Security Council meetings,
did not receive the presidential daily briefing on terrorism and other
threats and did not have a top level security clearance. Her foreign
trips were glorified goodwill tours, a collection of photo
opportunities and sightseeing trips.
Clinton is trying far too hard to make her experience into something it wasn't. Update: CJR points out that McCain
was treated very differently concerning his Iran/al Qaeda
gaffe.
Clinton's gaffe was treated properly, criticism came from reporters and
it was a matter of easily-checked facts and her claims as to her
qualifications to be President. McCain's criticism was portrayed as a
partisan dispute and reporters never did any fact-checking and made
excuses for him. "The cease-fire is
over; we have
been told to fight the Americans," said one Mahdi Army militiaman
Well, the relative peace created by many factors, not just the "Surge," was nice while it lasted. Sure, "Saint" John McCain "The Maverick" agrees with both General David Petraeus and Osama bin Laden that Iraq is the "central front," but is he basing that conclusion on real knowledge or on ideology? Howard Kurtz gives several reasons as to why McCain is so knowledgable. Just how valid are these reasons? Well, "Teh Awesome Surge" is drawing to an entirely predictable close. Improved security in
Iraq in
recent months has been attributed to a
combination of the surge, the truce observed by Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi
army, and the effectiveness and commitment of the [Awakening] councils,
which are
drawn from Sunni Arabs and probably the most significant factor,
according to most analysts.
The Awakening Councils were sustained by payments to individual former insurgents of $10 a day to not fight Americans. For some unknown reason, the payments have stopped and the former insurgents now feel ripped off. They are going on strike. As there are 80,000 of them as compared to 140,000 US soldiers, this is not a small problem. This is just too ridiculous not to comment on. Hillary Clinton is claiming that she landed in Tuzla, Bosnia in 1996: I remember landing
under sniper
fire... there was no
greeting ceremony... we ran with our heads down, we basically were told
to run to our cars...
Nuh-uh, no way, ain't gonna happen!! There is no frikkin' WAY that ANY President is going to send ANY First Lady into ANY zone where she's going to be exposed to ANY physical danger! This story is not the SLIGHTEST bit credible! Lebanon's Daily Star looks over the past five years and decides that they're really not sure what our president is trying to say. NY Times publishes timeline of Iraq War. The "ghost of Judy Miller" shows up in a highly slanted, misleading entry on Hans Blix and his report to the UN on 27 Jan 03 concerning how cooperative Saddam Hussein was being with the UN weapons inspectors. The entry doesn't exactly lie, but it simplifies the incident in such a way as to favor the Bush Administration's case for war. It makes the Bush Administration appear positively reasonable when we know full well they were not. Summary of items and events because so much happened yesterday. From firedoglake: Darcy Burner, Donna Edwards (who both need to be cloned a couple hundred times) and several other progressive House candidates, along with some ex-military/DoD honchos, unveil Responsible Plan To End The War In Iraq, which also emphasizes ending the war on the Constitution and the war on media independence. Well, it looks as though the "Bush Recession" is well and truly started, with Bush sounding an awful lot like Herbert Hoover, Bush touting his administration's economic performanc |
