“The commander in chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.”
On July 4th, 2008, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War came together at Independence Hall in Philadelphia to mark the 232nd birthday of the United States of America, and remind fellow patriots of the values upon which our country was founded. It should be very clear to all partriotic Americans, that when in the course of human events, an oppression so revolts those subject to it, it becomes necessary to dissolve the political bands that are the means of that tyranny. We must, as a nation, once again, embrace defiance, rebellion, and resistance!
Happy Independence Day - Let's put the
Constitution back on the table!
"As we once again celebrate our Independence as a nation, let us celebrate freedom from fear and pledge that government 'of the people' will survive in this land that we love."
- Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Rep. Ron Paul Assails Congress's "Virtual Iran War Resolution"03/07/08 "ICH" -- 01/07/08 - Today the Dow Jones Average was down 350-some points, gold was up $32, and oil was up another $5. There is a lot of chaos out there and everyone is worried about $4 gasoline. But I don't think there is a clear understanding [of] exactly why that has occurred.
A Declaration Of Independence From The Government Of The USA
By Anonymous
This article is from an anonymous woman now living in South Africa. It was sent to me by a third party, and I have no reason to believe that it's bogus. In any case, I believe its relevance to the present moment is stunning.--Carolyn Baker
03/07/08 "Carolyn Baker" -- - Through my signature below I hereby withdraw my consent to be ruled by the organization that has called itself the Government of the United States of America.
Dramatically misleading accounts of comments made by retired general Wesley Clark concerning Republican nominee John McCain have dominated corporate media campaign coverage for days.
Clark's statement on CBS's Face the Nation (6/29/08) that "I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president" has been distorted and taken dramatically out of context. Media have portrayed Clark's comment as an attack on McCain's military record, with some journalists even likening it to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign to smear John Kerry's service record (FAIR Media Advisory, 8/30/04).
Clark's comment was made after Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer asked the former general about his previous statement that McCain was "untested and untried." In his response, Clark declared:
Author, Activist and Former California State Senator Tom Hayden talks in depth with the author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein, about the state of the fourth branch of government: journalists. Both Hayden and Klein became serious journalists in college, and it was during that time that both experienced their defining moment. When Tom Hayden interviewed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr at the 1960 DNC in Los Angeles, he asked questions while imagining the headline, "Tom Hayden Interviews MLK," but by the time he wrote the article he knew there were more important things in the world than personal glory. Naomi Klein rebelled from her liberal, feminist mother until Mark Lepine gunned down fourteen women in what became known as the Montreal Massacre. It was then she realized people were dying for the beliefs her mother fought for, and that realization awakened the activist within her. After both events, Hayden and Klein dedicated their lives to telling the truth about the world, and doing everything in their power to not use subjects like "they," but use "we" instead. It is that distinction that defines their journalism to this day.
US presidential candidate Barack Obama has said Israel's recent military maneuvers are justified in view of the threat posed by Iran, reported PressTV.
This month, Israel carried out a large military exercise that, according to New York Times, appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
When asked about Israel's recent military exercises Obama said that Israel is always justified in making decisions that will provide for its security, describing Iran as "an extraordinary threat to Israel.
Though Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the exercises, the New York Times has quoted Pentagon officials as saying 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters took part in the maneuvers over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece in the first week of June.
The Israeli jets focused on long-range strikes, allegedly in preparation to respond to the threat Israel feels over Iran's nuclear program.Tehran has asserted on many occasions that its goal in acquiring nuclear technology is to generate electricity as well as using it for agricultural, industrial and medical purposes.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nation's nuclear watchdog, is on record to have said that if a military strike were carried out on Iran he would resign from his post as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), adding that such an act would turn the region "into a fireball".
FOUR NEW ABU GHRAIB TORTURE LAWSUITS TARGET MILITARY CONTRACTORS IN U.S. COURTS
CONTACT: Erin Powers, Powers MediaWorks LLC, for Burke O’Neil LLC and Akeel & Valentine, PLC, (281) 703-6000 or (281) 362-1411; Jen Nessel, Center for Constitutional Rights, (212) 614-6449 OR jnessel@ccrjustice.org; and David Lerner, Riptide Communications, for the Center for Constitutional Rights, (212) 260-5000.
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL - The RNC Welcoming Committee (RNC-WC), an anarchist and anti-authoritarian organizing body based in the Twin Cities, announced today that it has ordered tasers for each of its members and friends. The announcement comes on the heels of last month's St. Paul City Council approval of a St. Paul Police Department (SPPD) request for 234 tasers. Due to a unique corporate-anarchist confidentiality agreement, the exact number of tasers or documentable evidence of this new order will not be disclosed.
Both the SPPD and RNC-WC taser orders are scheduled to arrive before the September 1 so-called Republican National Convention (RNC) in St. Paul. However, "The RNC Welcoming Committee's order of tasers has absolutely nothing to do with the upcoming Republican convention," said Ann O' Nymmity of the RNC-WC. "These deadly, yet humane, weapons are needed simply to protect the safety of members of our community on a day-to-day basis. The timing is purely a coincidence."
Last month, St. Paul police spokesperson Tom Walsh made similar statements to the Associated Press, saying that in regards to the RNC, his department's purchase is "in no way related [to the timing of the RNC in St. Paul]. It simply isn't."
During scheduled protests of the RNC, local police and federal agents are likely to get violent. In Minneapolis last August, police used tasers and pepper spray to attack a nonviolent Critical Mass bike ride which coincided with the "pReNC", a weekend of radical organizing in preparation for the RNC.
The RNC-WC does not have state-approved funding revenues. O' Nymmity explained: "Our plan is to finance the purchase through raids on local WMD manufacturers, such as Alliant Techsystems." The SPPD is funding their taser purchase through $210,000 from drug raids. O' Nymmity added:
"Through their website, the RNC Welcoming Committee is also accepting contributions from the public."
Oh, no, they told us, Iraq isn't a war about oil. That's cynical and simplistic, they said. It's about terror and al-Qaeda and toppling a dictator and spreading democracy and protecting ourselves from weapons of mass destruction. But one by one, these concocted rationales went up in smoke, fire and ashes. And now the bottom line turns out to be ... the bottom line. It is about oil.
Reid and the Democrats gave the White House everything it wanted and more.(Photo: Brendan Smialowski / NYT)
Washington - The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved $161.8 billion in new funds to continue fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the next year, without timetables for withdrawing combat troops.
The House of Representatives passed an identical bill last week. President George W. Bush is expected to promptly sign the measure into law once he receives it from Congress.
The Senate's 92-6 vote to pass the war-funding bill marked a victory for Bush, who has vigorously opposed any move by Congress to impose timetables for ending the Iraq war, now in its sixth year.
Democrats, who are the majority party in Congress, repeatedly had tried to set such dates, most recently with a House vote in May calling for troop withdrawals to be completed by December 31, 2009.
The new war money could last through mid-2009, well past Bush's departure from office on January 20.
With this legislation, Democrats can claim victory in winning passage of a significant expansion of veterans' education benefits and domestic unemployment benefits.
Rabbi Weiss, a spokesman for Karta International, was sharply critical of AIPAC, the Zionists and Zionism in his remarks
Rabbi Weiss Criticizes Zionist Occupation of Palestine
On Tuesday, June 3, 2008, the American Israel Political Affairs Committee, (AIPAC), the cutting edge of the powerful Israel Lobby, held its annual parley in Washington, D.C. Activists were outside the downtown Convention Center expressing their strong vocal opposition to the event. One of the protesters was Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss. He is associated with Neturei Karta International, an Orthodox Jewish organization, which is adamantly opposed to the political ideology of Zionism. Rabbi Weiss, a spokesman for Karta International, was sharply critical of AIPAC, the Zionists and Zionism in his remarks. He was also supportive of the cause of Palestine and of the Palestinian people. Rabbi Weiss ripped Zionist Israel for its occupation of Palestine and its harsh treatment of the Palestinian people. For background, please see: http://www.nkusa.org/.
Michael Ratner : New bill extends powers of president and grants immunity for past wrongs
The US Senate is poised to pass the FISA bill at the end of this week, following its passage by Congress last week. It sets new electronic surveillance rules that shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits arising from the government's warrantless wiretapping after 9/11. Civil Libertarians remain outraged by the bill. Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights believes that "warrant-less wiretapping is not necessary for us to be safe."
"to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the Earth."
Massachusetts School of Law to Plan Bush War Crimes Prosecution
A conference to plan the prosecution of President Bush and other high administration officials for war crimes will be held September 13-14 at the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover .
"This is not intended to be a mere discussion of violations of law that have occurred," said convener Lawrence Velvel, dean and cofounder of the school. "It is, rather, intended to be a planning conference at which plans will be laid and necessary organizational structures set up, to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the Earth."
"We must try to hold Bush administration leaders accountable in courts of justice," Velvel said. "And we must insist on appropriate punishments, including, if guilt is found, the hangings visited upon top German and Japanese war-criminals in the 1940s."
Velvel said past practice has been to allow U.S. officials responsible for war crimes in Viet Nam and elsewhere to enjoy immunity from prosecution upon leaving office. "President Johnson retired to his Texas ranch and his Defense Secretary Robert McNamara was named to head the World Bank; Richard Nixon retired to San Clemente and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was allowed to grow richer and richer," Velvel said.
26/06/08 "Antiwar" -- - Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, is a collaborator with the his peoples' chief tormentors, Israel and the United States. Without Israeli and American support, Abbas would be gone in an instant. The general commanding Israeli forces on the West Bank, Gadi Shamni, put it best: "He's a joke, a nothing. We are the only force propping him up. Should we withdraw from the cities, Hamas will sweep him and his men away as they did in Gaza."
Joe Lieberman is a war hawk, plain and simple. He staunchly supports George Bush's War in Iraq and John McCain's plan to stay in Iraq for 100 years. But Lieberman's new alliance with the Republican Party runs even deeper. He has endorsed and stumped for McCain, wants to be the star of the Republican National Convention, and has even served on a 527 group that smeared Barack Obama with a nasty attack ad. And yet Lieberman still holds a top rank within the Senate Democratic Caucus as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The Senate Democratic Steering Committee needs to know just how much of a conflict of interest this is. That's why we created Lieberman Must Go. Here's what you can do: Sign our petition today and tell the Senate Democratic Steering Committee to strip Lieberman of his leadership role in Congress. Then, e-mail this video to everyone you know. Recently in Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall suggested that the best way to limit Lieberman is by encouraging the Steering Committee to render him powerless in 2009. Lieberman must go, sign the petition now: http://liebermanmustgo.com
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 Contact: David Swanson, david@davidswanson.org 434-296-4228
A coalition of environmental and whistleblower organizations has launched a campaign that will include lobbying, public education, protests, and nonviolent civil disobedience, aimed at forcing Stephen Johnson to resign as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. The Johnson Must Go Coalition, which includes the No Fear Coalition, AfterDowningStreet.org, Democrats.com, Friends of the Earth, Black Leadership Roundtable, Hip Hop Caucus, Federally Employed Legal Defense Fund, Congress Against Racism and Corruption in Law Enforcement, Backbone Campaign, OpEd News, World Prout Assembly, Code Pink, Why Not News, The Black Commentator, The Urban Journal, National Whistleblower Center, Velvet Revolution, Justice Through Music, and the Semmelweis Society has created a website and an online petition at http://johnsonmustgo.org
The groups seeking Johnson's resignation charge that he has severely damaged the environment, stonewalled Congressional investigations, and punished whistleblowers.
