Get your Rapture hats ready, kiddies! The sky is falling, and our wise gift of nuclear winter will propel us all into the loving arms of the all-knowing and all-everywhere G-d.

2006-06-17

bloodthirsty peacocks

   



"To occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition,
turning the whole Arab world against us and make a broken tyrant
into a latter-day hero ... assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt
for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight
in what would be an un-winnable urban guerilla war.
It could only plunge that part of the world into even greater instability."
A World Transformed (1998)
George Herbert Walker Bush

http://georgewalkerbush.net/

All The "Bush" News You Won't Find In Corporate Media



"He Is The Worst President In All Of American History"

The Book The Bushes Banned


Bush League
 
The state of Texas, under the leadership of
Governor George W. Bush, is ranked:

50th in spending for teachers' salaries

49th in spending on the environment

48th in per-capita funding for public health

47th in delivery of social services

42nd in child-support collections

41st in per-capita spending
on public education

and ...

5th in percentage of population
living in poverty

1st in air and water pollution

1st in percentage of poor working parents
without insurance

1st in percentage of children
without health insurance

1st in executions
(avg. 1 every 2 weeks for Bush's 5 years)

Just think of what he could do for
(to) the country if he were president!

http://georgewalkerbush.net/


Coverup of Cheney's Energy Task Force. Millions of people in the U.S. and abroad believe Bush invaded Iraq partly in order to steal its oil for the benefit of U.S. oil companies. If this is true, then the plans for this invasion may well have been discussed by Cheney's Energy Task Force, which included Bush's largest donors from the oil industry. Yet Bush refuses to provide Congress or journalists with documents from the Energy Task Force, and has responded to a series of defeats in court by filing further appeals, in order to delay the release of the documents for as long as possible.

The Hoaxes: Jessica Lynch, Mission Accomplished, the Air Force One Sighting, and the Decoration Turkey. These would be the most trivial of Bush's Iraq scandals, except that they demonstrated the Bush's administration's willingness to lie about absolutely anything - large or small - to get a few days of positive publicity during an election year.

Bush's Madness. It is unclear whether the war in Iraq has affected George Bush's actual sanity. He has made delusional claims, such as telling the Palestinian Prime Minister, "[God] instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did." In July, he told reporters "We gave [Saddam] a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in." Speaking at a fundraiser in NJ on December 1, Bush claimed he eliminated Weapons of Mass Destruction from Iraq. These statements suggest Bush may be insane or drugged.

Source: http://www.democrats.com/view2.cfm?id=18639


article |
posted January 18, 2001 (February 5, 2001 issue)

None Dare Call It Treason

Vincent Bugliosi








SUBSCRIBE TO THE NATION
In the December 12 ruling by the US Supreme Court handing the election to George Bush, the Court committed the unpardonable sin of being a knowing surrogate for the Republican Party instead of being an impartial arbiter of the law. If you doubt this, try to imagine Al Gore's and George Bush's roles being reversed and ask yourself if you can conceive of Justice Antonin Scalia and his four conservative brethren issuing an emergency order on December 9 stopping the counting of ballots (at a time when Gore's lead had shrunk to 154 votes) on the grounds that if it continued, Gore could suffer "irreparable harm," and then subsequently, on December 12, bequeathing the election to Gore on equal protection grounds. If you can, then I suppose you can also imagine seeing a man jumping away from his own shadow,


How To Cover Up The Stolen Election

I also very much enjoyed Senator John McCain (the Bush administration's supposed non-partisan heaviest hitter) going on the Tonight Show on Thursday, November 4, 2004 (the perfect day), to try to quell any talk of mischief in the Florida and Ohio exit polls vs. the final results. Bringing out McCain coupled with the perfect timing to try to cover up this stolen election is a dead give away of what truly happened.


1) http://www.exit-poll.net/faq.html#a15

2) http://tinyurl.com/4yx5g

3) http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=2519038

4) http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/FL

5) http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/OH

6) http://ustogether.org/Florida_Election.htm

7) http://blackboxvoting.org

8)
http://www.edisonresearch.com

9) http://www.mitofskyinternational.com

10) http://www.exit-poll.net/pool.html

11) http://www.exit-poll.net/election-night/subscribers.html

12) http://tinyurl.com/4ongn





Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try,
No hell below us, above us only sky,
Imagine all the people, living for today.
Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too,
Imagine all the people, living life in peace.
You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one,
I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one.
Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people, sharing all the world.
You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one,
I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one

http://John-Lennon.com | http://John-Lennon.net



Love Is The Answer
Mark R. Elsis


http://MarkElsis.com


http://www.counterpunch.org/cohen1228.html
All of this is concealed in a new HBO "behind-the-scenes true story" of the Gulf War, which is being released at this crucial political moment. As Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting writes, "HBO's version of history never makes clear that the incubator story was fraudulent, and in fact had been managed by an American PR firm, not Iraq. Curiously, however, the truth seems to have been clear to Robert Wiener, the former CNN producer who co-wrote 'Live from Baghdad.'As he explained to CNN's Wolf Blitzer (11/21/02), 'that story turned out to be false because those accusations were made by the daughter of the Kuwaiti minister of information and were never proven.' Unfortunately, HBO viewers won't know that when they see the film."(6)


Stacey Michael is a New Orleans-based journalist and the author of Religious Conceit. His most recent book is Weapons of Mass Dysfunction: The Art of "Faith-Based" Politics, due in early 2004.
He can be reached by email at: staceymichael@religiousconceit.com

Source:
http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_Bush_Nazi_2

Related Links:

Bush - Nazi Link Confirmed
by John Buchanan, The New Hampshire Gazette, October 10, 2003

http://www.nhgazette.com/cgi-bin/NHGstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=NN_Bush_Nazi%20Link


Bush's Grandfather Was Director Of Bank Affiliated With Hitler
by John Buchanan, The New Hampshire Gazette
http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20031019/frontpage/127827.shtml

Bush Grandfather Director Of Bank With Hitler Ties
by John Buchanan, October 17, 2003
http://www.canada.com/news/world/story.asp?id=B4991F07-2A7B-49BC-A470-D14A355D2C9A

Bush Ancestor's Bank Seized By Government
by Jonathan D. Salant, Associated Press Writer
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/ap/ap_story.html/National/AP.V8053.AP-Prescott-Bush-N.html

President's Family Had Links To Bank With Ties To Hitler Supporter
by Jonathan Salant, Washington D.C., October 21, 2003
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/20/1066631359649.html



Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Would a book have changed Hitler?

The Ecologist: Which one book would you give to every politician?

Derrick Jensen: One that explodes. Before you freak out, let’s change the question and see what you think: Which one book would you give to Hitler, Goering, Himmler, and Goebbels? Let’s ask this another way: Would a book have changed Hitler? I don’t think so. Unless it exploded.

Full Ecologist interview here.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

"Popular anger may be something to behold"

I first met Greg Elich more than two years when we were both speakers at the One Dance People’s Summit. We’ve since become friends and I was proud to write the afterword for his recently released book, Strange Liberators: Militarism, Mayhem, and the Pursuit of Profit.

Sample:

Mickey Z.: The phrase “Strange Liberators” certainly resonates with the current U.S. occupation of Iraq. Why did you choose this title?

Greg Elich: The phrase is taken from a speech given by the Rev. Martin Luther King in 1968 on the subject of the Vietnam War. Not much has changed since that time in at least one respect: U.S. leaders still use high-sounding phrases to cloak wars, interventions and aggressive policies that serve corporate interests. One of the book’s primary goals is to demonstrate the reality of those policies for those on the receiving end, hence the title.

To read the complete interview, you might wanna click here.

+++


Must see video: Frank Zappa on Crossfire in 1986.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Corporations


Posted on Thursday 8th June 2006, by Mickey Z..



You gotta think like a multi-national to earn like a multi-national

What do trans-national corporate giants know that we don’t? Do you ever wonder why CEOs have all that fun dwelling in decadent luxury while the rest of us live from paycheck to paycheck just to make ends meet? Of course you do.

Well, stop dreaming and read on...because here, for the first time ever, are the top seven secrets of America’s most dynamic and successful corporations:

1. Say no to unions. Avoid the annoying hassles and unnecessary costs of dealing with overtime pay, sick leave, OSHA rules, strike threats, and other labor related nuisances. Keep those union organizers away, hire temps, outsource jobs overseas; it’s the American Way.

2. Cut labor costs.
Sweatshop: How does 15 cents an hour sound to you? No lunch break. No bathroom breaks. Remember, if your company doesn’t hire that pre-teen girl in El Salvador, her family will starve. Have a heart.
Prisoners: Imagine a workforce that lives and sleeps at the work place. Think outside the box, but inside the cells. Prison labor...it’s not just license plates anymore.
Slaves: The ultimate choice for maximum profit. Never mind the touchy-feely human rights talk. It’s not our job to meddle in another sovereign nation’s business. After all, if there’s going to be indentured servitude, you can be damn sure your competitor won’t be squeamish abut cashing in.

3. Exploit corporate welfare. Here’s how the commies at Public Citizen explain it: "Each year, U.S. taxpayers subsidize U.S. businesses to the tune of almost $125 billion, the equivalent of all the income tax paid by 60 million individuals and families. These corporations receive a wide range of favors: special corporate tax breaks; direct government subsidies to pay for advertising, research and training costs; and incentives to pursue overseas production and sales." Well...what are you waiting for?

4. Disregard environmental regulations. Ask your shareholders how they feel about installing those expensive safeguards just to save a salamander or two. Besides, thanks to "greenwashing," it’s not like anyone notices. Just because you’re an oil company doesn’t mean you can’t sell yourself as a friend of the environment, right? Learn from Kraft. They creatively promoted their cereals as having "natural ingredients" when in fact, the corn they use is genetically engineered. Take-home message: Perception is reality.

5. Take advantage of the magic of public relations. Toxic sludge has become bio-solids. Used is now pre-owned. McDonald’s sells salads. Front groups, fake op-eds, third party testimonials...check out what PR Watch is bitching about if you’re not sure what to do.

6. Make strategic campaign contributions. Managing your bottom line is so much easier with a few members of Congress on your side. We live in a democracy; why not make it work for your company? Remember: Senators need vacations, too.

7. Donate lots of money to safe, generic charities. Nothing says "hero" like a big fat check ostensibly earmarked for needy kids in some godforsaken corner of the globe. Don’t forget to enlist a celebrity to keep the focus on your generosity and away from the conditions that create the need for charity in the first place.

As J. Paul Getty sez: "Formula for success: Rise early, work hard, strike oil." So what you are waiting for? This is truly the land of opportunity...

Mickey Z. is the author of several books, most recently 50 American Revolutions You’re Not Supposed to Know (Disinformation Books). He can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net.


While commenting on gun control:

"We’re supposed to have guns. It says so in the Bible; and the second greatest book ever written, the Texas State Constitution."

-
Wyoming Weekly Journal, Mar. 2000

http://weaselweek.com/

Beware This Sort of Government "Protection"!

by Milt Shook

 

When I was a kid, we made fun of the old Soviet Union.  We thought it was funny and pathetic that the Soviet government listened to the phone conversations of its citizens, monitored what they read and wrote, kept a close eye on whatever they listened to or watched on radio or television, and monitored communications between Soviets and people in other countries, to make sure they complied with their version of the law.  Back in the day, we even found it to be a major violation of human rights when they put people away in prisons and mental hospitals, or otherwise vilified them for having political views not in tune with what the government saw as a right and proper political view for a good Soviet citizen.

 

It was funny and pathetic when it was happening to other people.  Now, it's happening to us, and it's not so funny or pathetic; in fact, it's actually becoming scary, because we all know what happened to people in the Soviet Union when they didn't toe the party line. More...

 


Coming in July:

A New Novel by Milt Shook:

Talent on Loan

In the meantime, enjoy a couple of short stories

Creation, What a Concept!

by Milt Shook

Pat, Jerry & Jesus

by Milt Shook   http://weaselweek.com/  



http://www.crooksandliars.com/
Only on The Colbert Report:

Only on The Colbert Report:

Westmoreland co-sponsors bill on the Ten Commandments and can't even name them

Colbert was priceless last night. His guest was Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland and I guess he never heard of The Colbert Report before. He will now.

                                                  Video-WMP Video-QT (rough transcript)

Colbert: You have not introduced a single piece of legislation since you entered Congress.

Westmoreland: That's correct.

Colbert: This has been called a do nothing Congress. Is it safe to say you're the do nothingest?

Westmoreland: I, I, ..Well there's one other do nothiner. I don't know who that is, but they're a Democrat.

Colbert: What can we get rid of to balance the budget?

Westmoreland: The Dept. of Education.

Colbert: What are the Ten Commandments?

Westmoreland: You mean all of them?--Um... Don't murder. Don't lie. Don't steal Um... I can't name them all. emailer Ruth asks: Does this guy deserve a $3,300 pay raise?

The guy co-sponsors a bill about the Ten Commandments and doesn't even know them. Priceless. 

(h/t Vincent)

emailer Ruth asks: Does this guy deserve a $3,300 pay raise?

Mike's Blog Round Up

Mike's Blog Round Up

Whiskey Bar: Base Motives

NewsHog: Spot the neo-con story plant, part 54 (at least)

Booman Tribune: China's 13B Trade Surplus...just one of the many reasons to worry.

The Existentialist Cowboy: Bush had planned to attack and invade Iraq even before he stole the election of 2000. The public record is replete with direct, verifiable evidence of this as well as coincidences of the truly GOP kind

Scrutiny Hooligans: U.S. Nuclear Security Breach.  Don't you feel safer?

There can be no doubt that many U.S.
elections are being corrupted. The blatant cronyism and rampant criminality are not random events, but represent a calculated GOP strategy.



And again; what gives Ann Coulter more moral authority to inject herself into the public debate than people who actually understand first hand what the debate is about?

But it gets better...

Hillary Clinton heard what Coulter said about the "Jersey Girls," all of whom lost husbands in the terrorist attacks, and issued a statement (since she is the Senator from New York, after all) and called Coulter "heartless" for what she said about these widows. And Hannity gets her to respond by regurgitating every goddamned unsubstantiated rumor about Sen. Clinton's husband that has floated around Right Wing World in the last 15 years. Check it at youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTAAtTRk9bc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fweaselweek%2Ecom%2Fright%5Fboob%5Fof%5Fthe%5Fweek061106%2Ehtm

I mean, the eternally loony David Horowitz, whose main claim to fame has to do with his conversion from extremist leftwing loon to extremist right wing loon, without even experiencing a transition, actually called Coulter a "national treasure." It was amazing how many of them claimed that she had a point; as if losing a loved one takes away a person's First Amendment right to speak out...

The silence from Republicans was deafening. Except for George Pataki and Peter King, no one from the GOP stood up and said "enough!" Keith Olbermann discusses this phenomenon...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apJ9q082W0s&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fweaselweek%2Ecom%2Fright%5Fboob%5Fof%5Fthe%5Fweek061106%2Ehtm

Olbermann Covers Coulter Apologists

Blas1971 (3 days ago)
What's amazing is that people like you are still saying that they're exploiting their husbands' deaths after five years and not addressing their points.


but Annie wasn't done yet, oh no. The next night, speaking with Neil Cavuto, Coulter attacked the widows again, attacked liberalism in general again, and added in a few others. According to Coulter, in addition to wishing the 9/11 widows would just shut the hell up, she also suggested (again) that Max Cleland has no right to speak out because he's a victim, that Christopher Reeve should have kept his paralyzed mouth shut, and that Joe Wilson should just shut the hell up about his wife being outed. Again, watch video of this, if you can stop throwing up in your mouth long enough to get through it...




Recommended diaries at 9 pm, Monday, Nov 07, 2005 :

More on the Use of Napalm in Iraq - the story that won't die
by dbnkr

Italian Satellite TV to Broadcast Evidence of US Use of Chemical Weapons on Civilians
by paper tigress

Hardball Monday Eve. Pigs Fly.
by garbo

Vatican Rejects Intelligent Design
by wulfhere

Why I am running for Congress in 2006 - TX CD 6
by rgrdave

Fun With Kilgore Campaign
by Spider Stumbled

Get our peers to the polls + change the culture of politics
by janefleming

US Consumer: Sick As a Dog
by bonddad



Humans As Natural Selection's Guinea Pigs

Category: Evolution
Posted on: June 15, 2006 9:39 PM, by

A bunch of good reviews on natural selection in humans are coming out, reflecting the explosion of research on how evolution has shaped our genome. See here and here. Today in Science another good one is out. What sets this one apart from the others is that it comes with a slide show with audio from the authors. As far as I can tell, the show is free. And it's a pretty clear summary. Check it out.




Thomas Frank, in his new book, What's the Matter with Kansas? : How Conservatives Won the Heart of America, discusses why poor farmers and the working class have become conservative, Republican, supporters. Here is a discussion by him of the failure of liberalism: Red-State America Against Itself. See also an interview with Frank by Bill Moyers: Thomas Frank on NOW with Bill Moyers.


http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/WhereIsUSHeaded.htm

Overall Trends

Thomas Frank, in his new book, What's the Matter with Kansas? : How Conservatives Won the Heart of America, discusses why poor farmers and the working class have become conservative, Republican, supporters. Here is a discussion by him of the failure of liberalism: Red-State America Against Itself. See also an interview with Frank by Bill Moyers: Thomas Frank on NOW with Bill Moyers.

Susan Sontag recently won the Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels (the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade). Her acceptance speech, Susan Sontag on the great Atlantic divide eloquently discusses the origins of the current tension between Europe and America.

It is the genius of the United States, a profoundly conservative country in ways that Europeans find difficult to fathom, to have devised a form of conservative thinking that celebrates the new rather than the old. But this is also to say, that in the very ways in which the United States seems extremely conservative - for example, the extraordinary power of the consensus and the passivity and conformism of public opinion (as Tocqueville remarked in 1831) and the media – it is also radical, even revolutionary, in ways that Europeans find equally difficult to fathom....
The United States is a generically religious society. That is, in the United States it's not important which religion you adhere to, as long as you have one.... Whatever historic faiths the different American religious entities purport to represent, they all preach something similar: reform of personal behavior, the value of success, community cooperativeness, tolerance of other's choices. (All virtues that further and smooth the functioning of consumer capitalism.) The very fact of being religious ensures respectability, promotes order, and gives the guarantee of virtuous intentions to the mission of the United States to lead the world.
"Old" and "new" are the perennial poles of all feeling and sense of orientation in the world.... The inner life tends to mistrust the new. A strongly developed inner life will be particularly resistant to the new. We are told we must choose --- the old or the new. In fact, we must choose both. What is a life if not a series of negotiations between the old and the new? It seems to me that one should always be seeking to talk oneself out of these stark oppositions.

The Guardian (UK) US correspondent, Ed Vulliamy, wrote this eloquent good bye essay: Farewell America: After six years, The Observer's award-winning US correspondent Ed Vulliamy takes his leave from a wounded and belligerent nation with which, reluctantly, he has now fallen out of love

Sheldon S. Wolin, emeritus professor of politics at Princeton University, echoes others in drawing similarities between the US today and fascism: A Kind of Fascism Is Replacing Our Democracy

Paul Krugman argues that the US is well on its way to becoming a one-party state: Toward One-Party Rule

"If you want to play in our revolution," Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, once declared, "you have to live by our rules."... like Mr. DeLay, Republican leaders often talk of "revolution," and we should take them at their word.

Noam Chomsky has been one of the foremost critics of US foreign (and domestic) policy for decades. Here is one of many interviews Chomsky has given in recent months outlining his analysis of the current direction of the country: What's Happening? Atilio A.Boron Interviews Noam Chomsky

Here is a very clear summary of The New Right Wing Agenda by Steven E. Miller, formerly Board Chair of Grassroots International

Eliot Weinberger, writing originally in the German Vorwarts, produces one of best short descriptions of what is happening in Bush's America: What Is Happening in America?

It is very difficult to speak of what is happening in America without resorting to the hyperbolic cliches of anti-Americanism that have lost their meaning after so many decades, but that have now finally come true.... This is, quite simply, the most frightening American administration in modern times, one that is appalling both to the left and to traditional conservatives. This junta is unabashed in its imperialist ambitions; it is enacting an Orwellian state of Perpetual War; it is dismantling, or attempting to dismantle, some of the most fundamental tenets of American democracy; it is acting without opposition within the government, and is operating so quickly on so many fronts that it has overwhelmed and exhausted any popular opposition. Perhaps it cannot be stopped, but the first step toward slowing it down is the recognition that this is an American government unlike any other in this country's history, and one for whom democracy is an obstacle


http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/WhereIsUSHeaded.htm

Foreign Policy

James Meek of the British newspaper the Guardian provides a chilling detailed account of life in America's concentration camp in Guantanamo: People the law forgot. It makes clear that this country has abandoned any pretense of justice. Read it and weep.

Guantanamo is a bleak, dull, repressive place for its inmates. Yet there is something about it which may not be immediately apparent to Europeans dismayed by the level of security, the chains and the punitive, degrading way the prisoners are caged: it is not dissimilar to facilities in the harsh US civilian prison system. By focusing on physical conditions, there is a risk of missing the unique aspect of Guantanamo - the arbitrary, unprecedented and unfair way in which President Bush and his administration have confined hundreds of people without either any idea how long they are to be locked up, or any way to plead their case

Robert Higgs discusses the new permanent state of war, declared by our leaders: All War All The Time: The Battle On Terrorism Is An Excuse To Make Fighting Permanent

The folks in Washington are taking World Domination quite literally. The US National Reconnaissance Office, the nation's largest (by budget) intelligence agency, is talking of "actively denying the use of space for intelligence purposes to any other nation at any time, not just adversaries, but even longtime allies.... Teets (NRO Director) told Congress that what's already in place allows U.S. military dominance in any possible battle scenario." U.S. 'negation' policy in space raises concerns abroad

On the home front, the Hartford Courant reports that U.S. Diplomats Decry `Military Coup'

Eric Hobsbawm, great British social historian, puts the current situation in an historical context of the consequences for us, and for the rest of the world, of the unilateralist drive to empire: AFTER THE WINNING OF THE WAR - United States: wider still and wider

There is a genuine case to be made that there are governments that are so bad that their disappearance will be a net gain for the world. But this can never justify the danger of creating a world power that is not interested in a world that it does not understand, but is capable of intervening decisively with armed force whenever anybody does anything that Washington does not like.

Religion

I don't know what to make of this, but its an account of a terrifying: a world-wide secret Christian/political group, called the Family, with many congressman, among others, as members. Jesus Plus Nothing: Undercover Among America's Secret Theocrats from Harpers. "Yes," Doug said. "Yes, Hitler made a covenant. The Mafia makes a covenant. It is such a very powerful thing. Two, or three, agree." See also an interview with the aiuthor Jeffrey Sharlet: Meet 'The Family'

In April, the AP broke the story that six U.S. congressmen were paying the bargain rate of $600 a month each to live together in a swanky DC townhouse owned by a secretive fundamentalist Christian group known as the Fellowship or the Foundation. Many, understandably, were curious. Who is this organization, and what is its agenda?
The Fellowship is one of the most secretive, and most powerful, religious organizations in the country. Its connections reach to the highest levels of the U.S. government and include ties to the CIA and numerous current and past dictators around the world.

Role of the Media

"Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle..." -- Thomas Jefferson

Danny Schecter the news dissector has an excellent source on media censhorship and critique: mediachannel.org And another good source for media criticism is: tvnewslies.org .

FAIR, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, is an excellent source of analysis of media coverage.

Rigging Elections

Serious concerns are being raised regarding the switch to voting machines. Many people believe the winner is decided before the voting. Curiously, most of the companies making these machines have strong Republican ties. Here is one example: Offshore Company Captures Online Military Vote

Iraq War News in Perspective

Here are some alternative perspectives on war news published during the war. I will also document the post-war news "revising' the official propaganda promulgated during the war.

Reporter Peter Beaumont of the Guardian tells of his encounter with US troops during the war, the same troops who later admitted to killing many civilians: Dangerous liasons

The gunner apologised and told us that he had been about to kill us. He said he had his finger on the trigger. A second later, it would have been too late.
The world's biggest and most formidible army - the most technologically advanced - lacks discipline regarding its own rules of engagement and an ability - the critical ability - to properly identify targets before engagement.

Civilian Casualties: Latest Estimates: The Guardian (UK), supports the Iraq Body Count figures: War may have killed 10,000 civilians, researchers say
Even the mainstream press admits that there were significant civilian casualties in the war. AP, in first nationwide tally of civilian deaths in Iraq war, counts 3,240, but toll is certainly higher. How long will we wait till they tally the deaths from disease, starvation, unexploded ordinance, and depleted uranium after the war was "won"?
The Christian Science Monitor is reporting that between 5,000 and 10,000 Iraqi civilians died in the war, making "he Iraq war the deadliest campaign for noncombatants that US forces have fought since Vietnam." Surveys pointing to high civilian death toll in Iraq

US General Tommy Franks has been charged in a Belgium court with Crimes Against Humanity for attacks on civilians and the civilian infrastructure during the brilliant war. Here is a summary, through photos and video, of the evidence. It presents a grizzly account of this new kind of war: U.S. Charged With War Crimes: The Evidence File. Court case against General Franks in Brussels

The Los Angeles Times has conducted a careful survey of hospitals and morgues in Baghdad and reports "that at least 1,700 civilians were killed and more than 8,000 hurt in the battle for the Iraqi capital." Baghdad's Death Toll Assessed

Even the story of Private Lynch's rescue seems to be a made for TV fantasy: So who really did save Private Jessica?

Robert Fisk is one of the few jounalists willing to call a spade a spade: Did the U.S. murder these journalists?

The US continues lying and deception regarding the extent of civilian suffereing caused by its war, including its use of cluster bombs in civilian areas, as reported by Human rights Watch: U.S. Misleading on Cluster Munitions

In the wake of the surprising collapse of the baathist regime in Iraq, there are many conspiracy theories floating around about a deal between key elements of the regime and the Americans. Pepe Escobar in the Asian Times publishes an account that contains many of the elements of these theories, and claims to be based on solid reporting. For most of us, only long from now will we know how much truth there is in this account. It does tie together a number of otherwise confusing elements of what happened. for example, why the US allowed much of the city to be looted and destroyed: The Baghdad deal

US tried to discredit our work, says Blix

In regard to the great hunt for WMD: "Some of my colleagues are virtually certain that there will be some weapons of mass destruction found, even though they might have to be planted. I'm just as sure that some few will be found, but not in an amount that by any stretch would justify the charge of a threat against the US or anyone else" said retired CIA intelligence analyst Ray McGovern: US should be "embarrassed" over failure to find WMDs: ex-spies

Here is further details on the extent to which the US will go to create "justification" for its wars. Evidently,as reported by ABC News the Joint Chiefs of staff developed a plan, code named Operation Northwoods, to whip up support for an invasion of Cuba: Operation Northwoods: acts of terrorism that never happened. Here is the actual plan (pdf file): Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba , March 13, 1962, TOP SECRET, 15 pp.

Now that the war is over, more details are coming out about how it was fought: Embedded Photographer: "I Saw Marines Kill Civilians" . Originally published in Le Monde

And about it long-term dangers fgor civilians: Kari Huus MSNBC Cluster bombs likely to leave deadly legacy: Old-fashioned munitions undermine efforts to avoid civilian casualties

From Pravda comes this article analyzing the war on Iraq as free advertising for the Russian arms industry: Russian Weapons Make All Countries Feel Safe: This year might be a year of record sales for the Russian defense industry

Now that the war's over, more evidence about Anglo-American lies is coming out. The Washington Post reports that Basra rsidence give little credence to either reports of an uprising or to accounts of large numbers of residents being forced to take up arms. What the residents do report is many wounded by "coalition" bombs, despite the nonsense about "pinpoint accuracy". Basra contests official view of siege: Life was mostly normal after U.K. troops arrived, residents say

People expressed more dismay at the looting and general lawlessness that followed the British entry into the city on April 6 than at the behavior of the Iraqi militiamen.... However, many residents inside the city disputed whether the coalition strikes had any effect in loosening the government’s control. Instead, they described a city that functioned relatively normally until the British entered and many said the main fear was of artillery and airstrikes.

Robert Fisk a witness to the killing of two of the three jornalists killed by the US on Tuesday, April 8, raises the question Were these deaths mishap, or murder? Are they a deliberate attempt to kill the independent press, or simply an indication of how freely the troops fire at anything whatsoever?

Further discussion of the US's deliberate killing of independent journalists in Iraq. Freedom of speech obvioiusly dosn't apply to anyone not "embedded" and controlled by the "coalition". Is Killing Part of Pentagon Press Policy?

And Peter Arnett in The Mirror reports that the so-called attempt on Sadam destroyed a restauraunt popular with foreigners: Bombs Blast Homes Instead Of Saddam .

Meanwhile, in Asia, China steps up preparation for U.S. conflict: America's war in Iraq seen as precursor to Asia conquest "Of more concern, as People's Daily commentator Huang Peizhao pointed out, is the view that U.S. moves in the Middle East 'have served the goal of seeking worldwide domination.' Chinese strategists think if the U.S. can score a relatively quick victory over Baghdad, it will soon turn to Asia." PUBLISHED and POSTED: )

Jay Garner, the retited General who has been apointed to oversee humanitarian relief and reconstruction in postwar Iraq is President of an arms company ,SY Coleman, involved in aspects of the Patriot missile, The Guardian of London reports: US arms trader to run Iraq . More details on Garner and his right-wing connections is available in: Man who would be 'king' of Iraq . Among other things, Garner was evidently part of the cover-up of the failure Patriot misiles to work during Gulf War I. He has also demonstrated his impartiality by signing the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) Flag and General Officers Statement on Palestinian Violence in Octoer 2000 stating that "Israel had exercised remarkable restraint in the face of lethal violence orchestrated by the leadership of a Palestinian Authority." The best guess I can come up with as to why such a person would be chosen to run Iraq, a largely-Arab country, is that the US wants to make it clear to the Arab world that they defeated Iraq and can do anything they want, Arab opinion be damned. Call Bin Laden and give him the good news!

The lies of the US and UK continue, as revealed in this pair of articles from the British paper The Independent. Robert Fisk has seen evidence that the bomb that killed 50+ at a Baghdad market friday was indeed American, despite the Pentagon attempts to claim that it was Iraqi: In Baghdad, blood and bandages for the innocent (March 30, 2003). And a Leading Article in the same paper, describes the continuous stream of lies arising from UK and US leaders: They do not know what they are doing or why they are doing it. If only some US papers were as forthright as the British press in revealing our leaders' deception.

Al Naser Market After Bombing Al Naser Market Blood

The British paper The Independent reports definitive evidence that the deaths in the Shu'ale district of Baghdad Friday (March 28) was indeed caused by a US missile, despite increasinly strident denials by US and UK officials. Following up on Robert Fisk's finding of the serial numbers (see above article), they have traced the actual missile, as reported in this story by Cahal Milmo: The proof: marketplace deaths were caused by a US missile (April, 2, 2003). Of course, the main lesson, taught over and over again, is that the more insistent "coalition" officials are, the more we should doubt them. Unfortunately as Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, reports, no major US news source has reported the Independent's and Robert Fisk's evidence: Media Should Follow Up On Civilian Deaths: Journalist's evidence that U.S. bombed market ignored by U.S. press (April 4, 2003). In war time, what the rest of the world knows isn't News Fit to Print

Several sources have raised concerns that the US may fabricate evidence regarding weapons of mass destruction, as they did during the lead-up to the war. Among these are former California State Assembyman Tom Hayden and a Russian official. Do not trust any claims until independently verified! (Note: Raising the possibility of fabricated evidence is to say that no government can be trusted to tell the truth when at war or when its vital interests are at stake, not that the Iraqi regime is incapable of having or using WMD.)

The US/UK use of depleted uranium is described as a "war crime" by ex-director of the Pentagon's depleted uranium project Professor Doug Rokke, former professor of environmental science at Jacksonville University and onetime US army colonel, according to this article in the The Sunday Herald from Scotland: US Forces' Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons is 'Illegal' . Professor Rokke went on to say: "There is a moral point to be made here. This war was about Iraq possessing illegal weapons of mass destruction -- yet we are using weapons of mass destruction ourselves." He added: "Such double-standards are repellent."

This laudatory piece by Judy Keen in USA Today gives a rather frightening picture of President Bush: Strain of Iraq war showing on Bush, those who know him say Some quotes: "Bush believes he was called by God to lead the nation at this time, says Commerce Secretary Don Evan". Evans went on to say "He understands that he is the one person in the country, in this case really the one person in the world, who has a responsibility to protect and defend freedom." and "On March 17, before he delivered a 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam, Bush summoned congressional leaders to the White House. They expected a detailed briefing, but the president told them he was notifying them only because he was legally required to do so and then left the room. They were taken aback, and some were annoyed. They were just as surprised by his buoyant mood two days later at another White House meeting."

In addition to a President acting a little odd, other senior war planners are also. Seymour Hersch reports in the New Yorker on the ways in which Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld insisted the war planners go along with his fantasies as to how the war would go: Offense and Defense. We psychoanalysts are familiar with naricissism like this. We also know how dangerous it can be.

In case you still had any illusions that the war in Iraq was intended to "liberate" the Iraqis, and not to put the US in control of their country, here's a piece on a CIA threat to bomb Iraqi opposition forces stupid enough to think the US would let them act to liberate themselves: CIA Pushed Iraqi Opposition Out of Southern Town.

As in so many areas, the US refuses to play by the rules it demands for others. George Monbiot reports in the Guardian/UK that the US has authorized US troops to use chemical weapons banned by international treatry: Chemical Hypocrites: As It Struggles to Justify Its Invasion, The US is Getting Ready to Use Banned Weapons in Iraq by .

The story of one brave women, Angelica Amaya who's conscience told her to protest the war at a pro-war Rally for America in West Virginia. From the Globe & Mail/Canada (April 7, 2003) One Woman Enrages War Rally with Her Heartfelt Message: 'I Love My Country But...'. And, another brave woman, Alice Copeland -- the mother of a soldier from a proud military family, and a former Raytheon computer programmer -- who just can't sit by while her country rains death and destruction across the world: After Protest Arrest, Soldier's Mom says, 'I'm Doing What David is Doing. I'm Fighting a War' Associated Press, (April 7, 2003).

Many of us never thought that this war had anything to do with Iraq's supposed "Weapons of Mass Destruction", but that WMD was allways an excuse to justify war for other reasons. Now Time magazine publishes the acounts of three US Senators that President Bush told them in March 2002 "F--- Saddam. We’re taking him out." Meanwhile Hans Blix recently told a Spanish newspaper El Pais that Iraq war planned long in advance; banned arms not the priority "I think the Americans started the war thinking there were some. I think they now believe less in that possibility. But I don't know -- you ask yourself a lot of questions when you see the things they did to try and demonstrate that the Iraqis had nuclear weapons, like the fake contract with Niger," he explained.

Who Profits

I suspect this section will be getting bigger over the coming days and months. See also Scoundrel Time for more profiteering.

An important Defense Department memo showing that Halliburton was secretly tapped to run Iraq's oil long before it was made public. DoD Mission for Repair and Continuity of Operations Of the Iraqi Oil Infrastructure See also Defense Dept Secretly Tapped Halliburton Unit To Operate Iraq's Oil Industry In Nov. by Jason Leopold for background information, including the numerous fines levied against the company for illegal activity, including under Dick Cheney's leadership.

A detailing of Bush Administration scandals revealed during one week in May, most unreported in the US press: Just Another Week for The Bush Administration and the U.S. Media

Now its James Woolsey's, "ormer CIA boss and influential adviser to President George Bush" turn to make a profit: Bush ally set to profit from the war on terror. "The company was set up three months after the terrorist attacks on New York and sees the events and aftermath of September 11 as a business opportunity which 'offer[s] substantial promise for homeland security investment'." Woolsey has been making unsubstantiated claims about Iraqi bioweapons while his company while "$10.5m in AgION Technologies, a firm devising anti-germ technology that it hopes will 'be the leader in the fight against bacterial attacks initiated by terrorists on unsuspecting civilian and military personnel'."

Here is a key US Army corp of Engineers letter to Rep. Henry Waxman confirming that the US hid the extent of the contract to politically-connected Haliburton for "rebuilding Iraq". Hidden was that the contract was not just for putting out fires in the oil-fields, but for wxtracting and selling oil!

An excellent analysis of who's who in the US planners for Operation Occupy Iraq, and their big money connections. By Neil Mackay of the Glasgow Sunday Herald Carving Up The New Iraq , and part two. He goes far deeper than Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, detailing the sordid dealings of many characters, and firms such as William Eagleton or International Resources Group I've never even heard of.

The company awarded the no-bid sweetheart deal to put out the Iraqi oil fires, Haliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root, have a long history of doing business with so-called "terrorist states". They also paid $2 million to settle a fraud claim while Dick Cheney was CEO of parent Haliburton.

Bob Herbert in the New York Times elaborates on the multitude of involvements in firms that stand to make a killing rebuilding Iraq held by key decision makers and advisers behind this war. Clearly one of the main goals was to "liberate" their bank accounts: Spoils of War

In response to Bush and Cheney buddies getting big bucks out of the war, according to the Mew York Times, Two Democrats Call for Scrutiny of Bidding to Reconstruct Iraq .

A New York Times Money & Business section article by Diana B. Henriques discusses which companies were invited to bid on the contracts to "rebuild" Iraq: Which Companies Will Put Iraq Back Together? Not surprisingly, top of the list are companies closely tied to the Republican Administration including Halliburton and the Bechtel Group. Unfortunately for Tony Blair, no British companies were allowed to bid on these lucrative contracts. Also pointed out is that there are no protections against fraud and waste: A quote from one of their sources: "Anytime you have an emergency response driven by time, the opportunity for fraud, waste and abuse is huge, and when the opportunity is that great, it will occur."

Perhaps not acccidentally, Halliburton, the company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheyney (and which will continue to pay him handsomely for years to come), is aapparently already profiting from the Iraq war: Halliburton Makes a Killing on Iraq War

Iraq War Quiz

Stephen R. Shalom has prepared an Iraq War Quiz. Scores on this quiz should help readers to determine how desperately they need to study the materials on this site.

Given the tremendous response to his first Iraq Quiz, Stephen R. Shalom has created a second Post-War Iraq Quiz. Test your knowledge, and enjoy!

Seymour Melman provides details on the costs to our lives of the toys needed to fight their wars: Looting Our Lives

And here is a dialog in which a Warmonger attempts to explain to a Peacenik: Why We Invade Iraq?

Here is another quiz. The Shape of World War IV, By Number from the Toronto Star (April 5, 2003), a set of sobering numbers illuminating the present conflict: Iraq War Index.





http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30312

WND
HOMELAND INSECURITY
Terror alerts manufactured?
FBI agents say White House scripting 'hysterics' for political effect

Posted: January 4, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jon Dougherty
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Intelligence pros say the White House is manufacturing terrorist alerts to keep the issue alive in the minds of voters and to keep President Bush's approval ratings high, Capitol Hill Blue reports.

The Thursday report said that the administration is engaging in "hysterics" in issuing numerous terror alerts that have little to no basis in fact.


http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/iraqresources_resources2.htm#Resignations

Commentary and Op-Ed Pieces

A collection of interesting commentary and op ed pieces. Obviously a tiny selection from what's out there:

Arundhati Roy pre-recorded this talk for the May 31, 2003 United For Peace and Justice teach-in in Washington, DC. The Day of the Jackals

The US invasion of Iraq was perhaps the most cowardly war ever fought in history.... US and British troops had orders to kill people, but not to protect them. Their priorities were clear. The safety and security of Iraqi people was not their business. "
Those of us who belong to former colonies think of imperialism as rape. So you rape. Then you kill. Then you demand the right to rape the corpse. That's usually known as necrophilia.
Iraq is no longer a country. It's an asset. It's no longer ruled. It's owned.

Senator Robert Byrd, perhaps because he's too old to worry about political consequences, has made an impassioned speech regarding the lies behind the US attack and occupation of Iraq: "The Truth Will Emerge"

it is becoming all too clear that the smiling face of the U.S. as liberator is quickly assuming the scowl of an occupier. The image of the boot on the throat has replaced the beckoning hand of freedom.

Arundhati Roy made the following speech at the Riverside Church on May 13, 2003: Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy: (Buy One, Get One Free)

after making sure that most of its weapons had been destroyed, in an act of cowardice that must surely be unrivalled in history, the "Coalition of the Willing" (better known as the Coalition of the Bullied and Bought) - sent in an invading army! Operation Iraqi Freedom? I don't think so. It was more like Operation Let's Run a Race, but First Let Me Break Your Knees....
"Democracy, the modern world's holy cow, is in crisis. And the crisis is a profound one. Every kind of outrage is being committed in the name of democracy. It has become little more than a hollow word, a pretty shell, emptied of all content or meaning. It can be whatever you want it to be. Democracy is the Free World's whore, willing to dress up, dress down, willing to satisfy a whole range of taste, available to be used and abused at will.

Find out about the American hero, Charmaine Means, the Major who refused to shut down the tv station in Mosul to suppress free speech and was promptlt relieved of duty: Nonviolence is Starting to Matter in the Middle East by Ira Chernus.

Sidney Hall, Jr. a poet and publisher who lives in New Hampshire, and the owner of Hobblebush Books describes the nation we have become: A Nation of Cowards

A comment on the paternalistic ideology behind the occupation of Irq, by Ira Chernus Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Ideology is Key to Corporate Imperialism in Iraq

Paul Krugman's reflections on the meaning for American democracy of Bush's photo-op from the aircraft carrier. Man on Horseback

Daniel Pipes, leading neocon foreign policy adviser advocates dispensing with the fantasy of Iraqi democracry, in the short-run at least: A Strongman for Iraq? [From New York Post] "Iraq needs - and I write these words with some trepidation - a democratically-minded Iraqi strongman."

Robert Steinback in the Miami Herald discusses an obvious point: Most Americans know now that the President lied about Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction, but they don't care. Military victory with few US casualties is all that matters. Did our leaders lie to us? Do we even care?

[T]he agony of Sept. 11 has pushed us into an altogether new realm, where we don't even care if our rhetoric makes sense, as long as we're led to a feel-good conclusion. The joy of kicking butt obliterates the need to make an honest case for war.... Wasn't it just four years ago -- I reminded my acquaintance -- that a roiling posse of critics piously preached how utterly unacceptable it was for a president to be excused even for a piddling lie that had absolutely no impact on the lives of any non-Beltway American?... In a nation where hypocrisy is rewarded, expect more lies.

Norman Mailer: We went to war just to boost the white male ego

Revealed: How the road to war was paved with lies

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity , concerned about the possibility the US will plant weapons of mass destruction, have published a study of the history of US intelligence lies: The Stakes in the Search for Weapons of Mass Destruction See also their May 1, 2003 open Memorandum to President Bush: SUBJECT: Intelligence Fiasco(POSTED: May 2, 2003)

Iraqi expatriates Kamil Mahdi discusses The real significance of Kerbala:Religious leaders are legitimising Iraqi resistance to occupation

George Monbiot writes in the Guradian (UK) of the danger of having one superpower. He berlieves that the only way to counter this power is to shift the dominant world cuurrency from dollars to euros. The Bottom Dollar

Wallace Shawn in The Nation states the obvious: that the hawks are possessed by the opportunity to express their internal violence: Fragments From a Diary

Why are we being so ridiculously polite? It's as if there were some sort of gentlemen's agreement that prevents people from stating the obvious truth that Bush and his colleagues are exhilarated and thrilled by the thought of war, by the thought of the incredible power they will have over so many other people, by the thought of the immensity of what they will do, by the scale, the massiveness of the bombing they're planning, the violence, the killing, the blood, the deaths, the horror.
The love of killing is inside each one of us, and we can never be sure that it won't come out. We have to be grateful if it doesn't come out. In fact, it is utterly wrong for me to imagine that Bush is violent and I am not, that Bush is cruel and I am not. I am potentially just as much of a killer as he is, and I need the help of all the sages and poets and musicians and saints to guide me onto a better path, and I can only hope that the circumstances of my life will continue to be ones that help me to stay on that path. But we can't deny that Bush and his men, for whatever reason, are under the sway of the less peaceful side of their natures.

Philip Hensher used to support the war. Now he points out Crimes against culture are remembered for ever: The Muslim world will ask why US forces let the looting happen and produce a simple answer: they hate Islam

Jonathan Steele in The Guardian (UK) writes: This occupation is a disaster. The US must leave - and fast: Any gratitude for the removal of Saddam is now virtually exhausted

Jonathan Rabanargues in The greatest gulf that military intervention in Iraq ...represented a disastrous failure of imagination and a fatal inability to understand the role of history - and religion - in the region

John Pilger in The Independent (UK): The unthinkable is becoming normal. Do not forget the horror

Howard Zinn, in piiece from Newsdaypropses A Kinder, Gentler Patriotism that is clearly cognizant of the difference between troops dying for their counrry and dying for their government.

Ira Chernus discusses the peace movement's need to crete alternative stories to the official US account of Iraqi "liberation". He discusses characteristics of "good stories" that are more likely to be taken over by the populace. Next Task for Peace Movement: Let a Thousand Stories Bloom

Joan Smith in The Independent (UK) sees the war as a reflection of a failure of the US to successfully sell itself and its way of life to the rest of the world: The golden arches over Baghdad "The purpose is not to remake the world in America's image, a project that would require politically unacceptable levels of expenditure, but to make the world safe for the US. It is not about helping foreigners enjoy the American way of life think of the cost of providing clean water for six billion people, let alone all the labour-saving devices Americans rely upon – but removing threats to it, regionally and globally."

A facinating commentary from Aviad Kleinberg in Haaretz of the potential negative consequences, for Israel of the US invasion of Iraq: The war's implications for Israel

Israel's great strategic weight stemmed from its ability to act - or to constitute a potential threat - in a region in which the United States did not want to intervene directly. Israel was a regional mini-power through which it was possible to threaten the Soviet bloc and its satellites, or the Arab world.... American involvement becomes direct, there is no further need for mediators. The United States does the dirty work itself.... It will mean that American readiness to go on paying so as to extricate us from the morass in which we are mired will be diminished.

Andrew Gumbel asks in The Independent (UK) America targeted 14,000 sites. So where are the weapons of mass destruction? Perhaps they'll be recycled: "If the Bush administration should ever seek to turn its military wrath on Damascus, the weapons of mass destruction it is failing to find in Iraq might just provide the excuse once again. "

Roger Morris, Nixon biographer and former National Security Council member aanalyzes the rise of the new Imperial Presidency From republic to empire [from The Globe & Mail (Canada)]

Maureen Dowd has a rather scathing analysis of this war and its promoters: Perle's Plunder Blunder . This op-ed piece posed a problem. It could go here, or in Scoundrel Time.

Nicholas von Hoffman has a rather scathing analysis of this war in the context of the stealing of the 2000 election and the Christian right's influence on the Presidency: A Faith-Based War That Promises Disorder .

Arthur Schlesinger Jr., major figure in the Kennedy administration concludes: Today, It is We Americans Who Live in Infamy .

In case you weren't scared enough, Paul Krugman, in a New York Times op ed piece compares the present administration to the crazy Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny: George W. Queeg .

Another Paul Krugman New York Times op ed piece Things to Come expreses the fears of many of us that this war is just the beginning of horrors to come.

NPR's All Things Considered broadcast this commentary by Peter Freundlich on the Illogic of the Bush Administration's logic of war.

Resignations and Other Protest Letters

There are increasing numbers of resignations and other protest letters. These come not just from the usual suspects, but from former GOP Chairmen and CIA agents as well. Here are a sample:

Mary A. Wright Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia has resigned March 19, 2003 after 15 years as a diplomat and 26 years in the US Army/Army Reserves. She received the State Department's Award for Heroism as Charge d'Affaires during the evacuation of Sierra Leone in 1997. Here is her Resignation Letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Read Robin Cook's resignation speech to the House of Commons or watch.

John Brady Kiesling, a career diplomat in the U.S. embassy in Greece resigned effective March 7 sending this Letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell. taken from ZNet.. John Brady Kiesling, later gave this acoount of his reasons: Diplomatic Breakdown

Jack Walters,Columbia, Missouri GOP Chairman Resignation Letter.

The following Letter was signed by 1,000 war veterans and given to the President on March 10, 2003.

This is quite unusual. A memorandum from former and retired CIA professionals to the President complaining about the faking and misuse of intelligence information: Forgery, Hyperbole, Half-Truth: A Problem . You know there's something wrong when even CIA agents complain!

And here is a Letter from Henry A. Waxman, who voted for the war resolution, to President Bush complaining about the use of faked and unreliable intelligence data to convince Congress, the UN, and the public to support the war.

Comments by Famous People

Michael Moore - Academy Award Many famous people have made important comments on the war. Here are a selection. Inclusion does not mean an endorsement of any other opinions these individuals may express.

52 former diplomatic officials in Britain rebel, penning a letter condemning Blair's poodle-like foreign policy approach: Former ambassadors unite to condemn Blair's foreign policy. The actual letter: A letter to Blair: Your Middle East policy is doomed, say diplomats.

Jimmy Carter criticizes Bush and Blair for starting needless war: Jimmy Carter: Stirring up a hornet's nest, the president turned peacemaker: 'There was no need for that war' -- The Monday Interview: Former President of the United States.

"There was no reason for us to become involved in Iraq last year. That was a war based on lies and misinterpretations from London and Washington, claiming falsely that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11, claiming falsely that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. "President Bush and Prime Minister Blair probably knew that many of the allegations were based on uncertain intelligence and a decision was made to go to war [and then people said] 'lets find a reason to do so'."

As a sign of mainstream disquiet, former bush State Department official Richard N. Haass discusses the limits of Imperial war: Wars of Choice.

Jessica Lynch joins those denouncing the lies: Private Jessica says President is misusing her 'heroism'

Now Senator Fritz Hollings joins the attack: The War in Iraq, Its Parallels to Vietnam and Congress' Unwillingness to Pay for It

The latest broadside from Senator Robert Byrd: The Emperor Has No Clothes. At the end he quotes Hermann Goering to characterize the Senate's lac of responsibility in going along with the charade.

The mainstream political class continue their attack on the Bush revolution: Eyeless in Iraq by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr..

A new mainstream group of right-wingers and liberals, the Coalition for a Realistic Foreign Policy, has formed to oppose the current imperialist oreintation of contemporary US foreign policy. See the article: Thinkers Launch Anti-Empire Drive.

Senator Ted Kennedy's October 16, 2003 floor speech on the Iraq situation: On the Administration's Failure to Provide a Realistic, Specific Plan to Bring Stability to Iraq

Heartfelt comments on repression in America today by mystery novelist Sara Paretsky: For Those Who Wish to Dissent: Speech, Silence and Patriotism and by Walter Cronkite The new Inquisition

John Dean of Watergate fame discusses: Liberties disappearing before our eyes

Senator Robert Byrd seems to be only one with the courage to say how disgusting it was that the President dressed in a flight jacket and used an aircraft carrier for his made-for-campaing-2004 "victory " speech: A Troubling Speech "I do question the motives of a deskbound President who assumes the garb of a warrior for the purposes of a speech."

Here's George McGovern's commentary, comparing the injustice of the Iraq war to the injustice of the Vietnam war, from the Nation: (April 21, 2003 issue). The Reason Why. Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die. --Alfred, Lord Tennyson "The Charge of the Light Brigade"

Arundhati Roy the author of bestselling, and Booker Prize winning The God of Small Things comments on Mesopotamia. Babylon. The Tigris and Euphrates:. How many children, in how many classrooms, over how many centuries, have hang-glided through the past, transported on the wings of these words? And now the bombs are falling, incinerating and humiliating that ancient civilization. A quote: Operation Iraqi Freedom? I don't think so. It's more like Operation Let's Run a Race, but First Let Me Break Your Knees.

Documentary film-maker Michael Moore has released the following Letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush on the Eve of War . He also made antiwar comments at the Academy Awards. (See also this account.)

Here is the Statement of Senator Mark Dayton On The Senate Giving Up Its Constitutional Responsibility to Declare War .

The Pope told employees at a Catholic television station:

When war, like the current conflict in Iraq, threatens the fate of humanity, it becomes especially important to say in a strong and decisive voice that peace is the only way to build a more egalitarian and unified society. The threat of violence cannot solve man's problems. (Source.)

An animated analysis of the Bush Administrations idea of Dipl-uh-oh-macy (Click on Dipl-uh-oh-macy 3/12/03) by Mark Fiore. There are also many other interesting animations there. Try The Successful Dictator for one.

If you feel in a nasty mood, view the MoveOn parody: Bush in 41.2 Seconds.

To remind yourself of the cost in American lives of the war to enrich Bush's buddies, view the flash video at: http://www.ericblumrich.com/ma.html.

And a jigsaw puzzle! What's Missing?

G.W. Bush and the Whitehouse Neo-Con Choir Sings We'll meet again!

Here are some more chilling flash animation commentaries on the war and the current situation from: Bush Flash . Includes Dr. Bushlove, Terror, Democracy, and Liberation, and the first, Antiwar2 which points out that: All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.


Jokes (mostly anonymously spread via e-mail)

IQ (anon.)

How many members of the Bush administration does it take to change a lightbulb?

None, because "there's nothing wrong with that lightbulb. It has served us honorably. When you say it's burned out, you're giving encouragement to the forces of darkness. Once we install a lightbulb, we never ever change it. Real men don't need artificial light."

IQ (anon.)

A popular bar had a new robotic bartender installed.
A fellow came in for a drink and the robot asked him, "What's your IQ?"
The man replied, "150."
So the robot proceeded to make conversation about Quantum physics, String theory, Atomic chemistry, and so on.
The man listened intently and thought, "This is really cool."
The man decided to test the robot.
He walked out of the bar, turned around, came back in for another drink.
Again, the robot asked him, "What's your IQ?"
The man responded, "100." So the robot started talking about football, baseball, and so on.
The man thought to himself. "Wow, this is amazing!"
The man went out and came back in a third time. As before, the robot asked him ,"What's your I.Q.?
The man replied, "50."
The robot then said, "So, you gonna vote for Bush again?"

President Bush, 2005 (anon.)

One sunny day in 2005 an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Ave, where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the US Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush." The Marine looked at the man and said, "Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here." The old man said, "Okay" and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush." The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here."

The man thanked him and, again, just walked away. The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same US Marine, saying "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush." The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?"

The old man looked at the Marine and said, "Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it." The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow, Sir."

Subject: life or death decision (anon.)

Tell the truth!

With all your honor and dignity what would you do?

This test only has one question, but it's a very important one.

Please don't answer it without giving it some serious thought. By giving an honest answer you will be able to test where you stand morally.

The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation, where you will have to make a decision one way or the other. Remember that your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous.

Please scroll down slowly and consider each line - this is important for the test to work accurately.

You're in Florida...

In Miami, to be exact...

There is great chaos going on around you, caused by a hurricane and severe floods .......

You are a CNN photographer and you are in the middle of this great disaster. The situation is nearly hopeless. You're trying to shoot very impressive photos. There are houses and people floating around you, disappearing into the water. Nature is showing all its destroying power and is ripping everything away with it.....

Suddenly you see a man in the water, he is fighting for his life, trying not to be take away by the masses of water and mud.....

You move closer....

Somehow the man looks familiar......

Suddenly you know who it is - it's George W. Bush!

At the same time you notice that the raging waters are about to take him away...forever.

You have two options. You can save him or you can take the best photo of your life.

So you can save the life of George W. Bush, or you can shoot a Pulitzer prize winning photo. A unique photo displaying the death of one of the world's most powerful men.

And here's the question: (Please give an honest answer)

Would you select color film, or go with the simplicity of classic black and white?

Bush Stamp

The US Postal Service created a stamp with a picture of President Bush to honor his achievements. In daily use it was shown that the stamp was not sticking to envelopes. After a month's testing, a special presidential commission made the following findings:

  1. The stamp was in perfect order.
  2. There was nothing wrong with the applied adhesive.
  3. People were spitting on the wrong side.

On the Serious Side

Unmasked: The George W Bush the President Doesn't Want the World To See.

Bush Greenwatch "provides accurate and timely information on the Bush Administration's assault on our environment and public health.".

Paul Krugman wonders if Al Qaeda could find a better candidate than President Bush: The Arabian Candidate.

Bush listening to pet goat story after being told "The nation is under attack".


Complied by Stephen Soldz
http://soldzresearch.com/stephensoldz


Music and Musicians

John Fogerty sings: Deja Vu All Over Again, summing up the feelings of many of us. Tom Gallaghe says someone should play it for John Kerry: Turn on the Radio, John Kerry.

Our free country! If it ain’t pro-war, it ain’t on country radio: While Toby Keith gets airtime, Emmylou Harris gets ignored.

Kadim Alsahir & Brightman's song: The War Is Over (audio) or video.

Singer Stephan Smith has a new song: You Ain't A Cowboy available free online.

Willie Nelson has evidently written a new antiwar song, "Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth", only the second protest song of his career: New Willie Nelson song condemns Iraq war.

Pat Humphries and Sandy Opatow's song Peace Salaam Shalom.

PeaceSong has three songs freely available: Baghdad Road, Enemy Me, and Sudden Sound

Baghdad Road follows the aftermath of the Iraq War for a U.S. soldier-- PTSD. Enemy Me, based on an ACLU ad, takes on the Patriot Act. Sudden Sound explores the myth of 'precision' bombing.

Billy Bragg's song: The Price of Oil -- from his web site.

We Don't Want Your War -- from Lynx. See his web site. and his Video Slideshow.

Folk singer Iris DeMent told a Madison WI crowd of 600 people that she couldn't sing because she was profoundly sad because of the war.

The country music band The Dixie Chicks is drawing flack, including bulldozing of their records (sound familiar?), for the comments made about President Bush by singer Natalie Maines. Paul Krugman in the New York Times explains that these attacks were not sponataneous, but involve close Rebublican connections to the music industry: Channels of Influence. Maines originally said:"Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." On their web site they further explain:

"We've been overseas for several weeks and have been reading and following the news accounts of our governments' position. The anti-American sentiment that has unfolded here is astounding. While we support our troops, there is nothing more frightening than the notion of going to war with Iraq and the prospect of all the innocent lives that will be lost."
Maines further stated, "I feel the President is ignoring the opinions of many in the U.S. and alienating the rest of the world. My comments were made in frustration and one of the privileges of being an American is you are free to voice your own point of view."

And here's the lyrics to their song Travelin' Soldier . And here's a follow-up story on their fighting back against critcs: 'Dixie sluts' fight on with naked defiance (PUBLISHED and POSTED: April 25, 2003) And another article on antiwar sentiment in country music: Country of protest And the boss, Bruce Springsteen has come to their defense; The Dixie Chicks are Getting a Raw Deal...(PUBLISHED March 29 and POSTED: April 25, 2003) And yet another comment on what the treatment of the DC says about country music today: Another country. "Whereas country music used to celebrate people who bucked the system, recent criticism of the Dixie Chicks shows just how ossified and reactionary it has become, writes Duncan Campbell "

The Beastie Boys song In a World Gone Mad can be downloaded here. If you having streaming broadband, click here. The lyrics can be viewed here.

Iraqi singer Kathem El Saher and Lenny Kravitz has a new song We Want Peace which can be downloaded from the Rock the vote website.

John_Mellencamp's To Washington. The lyrics can be viewed on his web page.

Here is REM's Final Straw. The lyrics are also available there.

Here is Billy Joe Armostrong's (of bay Area punk band Green Day) Life During wartime.

The Peace Not War project has compiled a CD that can be obtained at deep discount by peace groups. The music can be heard via streaming audio at their web site as well.

Plege of Resistance and other songs are available from the Not in My Name Music Project

Boom Boom Boom Mr. Son of a Bush! Here are some lyrics from antiwar songs from the New York Times March 9, 2003.

Bush Recession Radio has an extensive collection of antiwar and other protest rock songs.

Protest Records is developing a large collection of free antiwar and other protest songs.

Video

Music video: Bombs Away! [Windows Media Player]

If you feel in a nasty mood, view the MoveOn parody: Bush in 41.2 Seconds.

To remind yourself of the cost in American lives of the war to enrich Bush's buddies, view the flash video at: http://www.ericblumrich.com/ma.html.

And a jigsaw puzzle! What's Missing?

Flash Video Welcome To The New World Order

G.W. Bush and the Whitehouse Neo-Con Choir Sings We'll meet again!

A beautiful video: Winning Peace!

Here are some more chilling flash animation commentaries on the war and the current situation from: Bush Flash . Includes Dr. Bushlove, Terror, Democracy, and Liberation, and the first, Antiwar2 which points out that: All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

In addition to media criticism, Take Back the Media also have many satiric flash videos for download. They are of unequal quality, but some are excellent. Try out the Chickenhawk Hall of Shame, Cities in the Dust, or the chilling Bush is not a Nazi,so stop saying that and pass them on!

Michael Moore and System of a Down have collaborated to create a new anti-war music video for the System song BOOM!

Scott Ritter video No Case Against War in Iraq presented in Vancouver, British Columbia in October 2002. "There is no case for war. It would not be justified in international law and it would be morally wrong" he explained. "Friends don't let friends drive drunk. We have a drunk as President of the United States."

A lecture of on the origins of the current war Stephen C. Pelletiere, a former CIA analyst during the Iran-Iraq war and former professor at the Army War College for 12 years: The Predicament Mr. Bush And The Pentagon Have Gotten US Into .
Compiled by Stephen Soldz
for Psychoanalysts for Peace and Justice
(Opinions expressed are those of Stephen Soldz only, and opposite to those of millioins  of VEGETATIVE, teevee TOOB-FED USians/ js)


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