Global
I know, I know, Bush liberated the Iraqis. But when will we liberate them from Bush's liberation? Well, ideally, the American people will rise up tomorrow and force Congress to cease funding the occupation and to vote an immediate and complete withdrawal with a veto-overriding supermajority, not to mention impeaching Bush and Cheney. I raise that possibility not so much because I've been drinking as because long-term movements for systemic reform require awareness of what we're missing. If we ever replace a Congress dominated by money, media, and parties with one loyal to us the people, it will be because we tragically realize what so very easily could have been.
A Review of THE SUPERFERRY CHRONICLES: Hawaii's Uprising Against Militarism, Commercialism and the Desecration of the Earth
by Koohan Paik & Jerry Mander.
[Available from: http://www.koabooks.com/ ISBN13:978-0-9773338-9-9 ]
The sleek, aluminum mega-catamaran streaksacross the sea swells at forty miles an hour. Powered by jet engines, it rides high, skimming the surface on twin hulls that slice sharply through the water...and also, incidentally, accidentally through any dolphins, whale pups, sea turtles or, for that matter, human protesters that happen to get in the way.
Five stories high and a football field-and-a-half long, the superferry can carry 866 civilian or military personnel, 282 civilian cars and trucks...or an unknown quantity of Stryker Depleted Uranium-firing military tanks across the high seas and into shallow water on any island chain or continent. China, and other potential US rivals, please take note.
by Koohan Paik & Jerry Mander.
[Available from: http://www.koabooks.com/ ISBN13:978-0-9773338-9-9 ]
The sleek, aluminum mega-catamaran streaksacross the sea swells at forty miles an hour. Powered by jet engines, it rides high, skimming the surface on twin hulls that slice sharply through the water...and also, incidentally, accidentally through any dolphins, whale pups, sea turtles or, for that matter, human protesters that happen to get in the way.
Five stories high and a football field-and-a-half long, the superferry can carry 866 civilian or military personnel, 282 civilian cars and trucks...or an unknown quantity of Stryker Depleted Uranium-firing military tanks across the high seas and into shallow water on any island chain or continent. China, and other potential US rivals, please take note.
The debate among progressive activists and commentators in recent weeks has tended to range from the leave-Obama-alone-and-he'll-fix-everything position to the stage-a-protest-at-Obama's-house-for-the-next-month position, including numerous stances in between those extremes. What all these positions share is acceptance of the incredible shift of power from Congress to the White House that we have seen in just the last eight years. It is in these concluding moments of the Bush-Cheney era that Congress's coffin is being constructed just outside our window, and I'm afraid that the peace and justice movement is picking flowers to bring to the funeral.
The November presidential election was a historic landslide victory for Barack Obama. A closer election would have magnified some very troubling aspects of our election systems, despite the improvements made by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.
The Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism, in conjunction with the Ohio Green Party deployed a team of observers on Election Day. Observers monitored the opening of precincts, activities throughout the day, and the closing of polls. Other observers spent election night watching the activities at county board of elections (BOE) offices.
The Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism, in conjunction with the Ohio Green Party deployed a team of observers on Election Day. Observers monitored the opening of precincts, activities throughout the day, and the closing of polls. Other observers spent election night watching the activities at county board of elections (BOE) offices.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The victory by mobs wearing royalist yellow shirts, who easily seized Bangkok's glistening international airport and blocked thousands of arriving and departing passengers, is a calculated gamble to see who can provoke the most bloodshed or misery.
If Bangkok's Buddhist-dominated, elected government responds with violence, the protestors can continue to falsely portray themselves as non-violent martyrs suffering under a brutal regime.
If Thailand's U.S.-trained army unleashes another coup, the military would be cheered by the anti-government protestors, but condemned by many others for reviving the goals of a September 2006 coup which installed a stumbling junta for 15 months, wrecked the economy, and failed to obliterate their elected enemies.
The mobs have been looking for valuable, life-supporting targets to strangle, hoping their quasi-insurrection will cause mild-mannered Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's government to implode.
If Bangkok's Buddhist-dominated, elected government responds with violence, the protestors can continue to falsely portray themselves as non-violent martyrs suffering under a brutal regime.
If Thailand's U.S.-trained army unleashes another coup, the military would be cheered by the anti-government protestors, but condemned by many others for reviving the goals of a September 2006 coup which installed a stumbling junta for 15 months, wrecked the economy, and failed to obliterate their elected enemies.
The mobs have been looking for valuable, life-supporting targets to strangle, hoping their quasi-insurrection will cause mild-mannered Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's government to implode.
Barry Bonds is excited. “Really excited!” he exclaims. ”It’s awesome …
really gets your blood pumpin’!”
Ah, he must mean how it felt blasting those record-breaking 762 homeruns during his quarter-century as a Major League Baseball superstar. No, his baseball career behind him, Barry is finding his excitement elsewhere these days. He keeps the adrenalin flowing by shooting and killing animals for fun and profit as a spokesman for Christensen Arms, a Utah company specializing in high-powered hunting rifles.
You can see Barry at work in a new seven-minute online video, shot for his employer in the woods of Saskatchewan. He seems to be enjoying himself immensely, laughing, shouting gleefully, seemingly breathless with excitement, as dramatic background music pulses loudly.
Barry’s uniformed head to foot in camouflage gear and armed with one of Christensen Arms’ very best products – “a tremendous rifle …a no-kick baby, a beautiful gun…If you ever get a chance to get one, get one.”
Ah, he must mean how it felt blasting those record-breaking 762 homeruns during his quarter-century as a Major League Baseball superstar. No, his baseball career behind him, Barry is finding his excitement elsewhere these days. He keeps the adrenalin flowing by shooting and killing animals for fun and profit as a spokesman for Christensen Arms, a Utah company specializing in high-powered hunting rifles.
You can see Barry at work in a new seven-minute online video, shot for his employer in the woods of Saskatchewan. He seems to be enjoying himself immensely, laughing, shouting gleefully, seemingly breathless with excitement, as dramatic background music pulses loudly.
Barry’s uniformed head to foot in camouflage gear and armed with one of Christensen Arms’ very best products – “a tremendous rifle …a no-kick baby, a beautiful gun…If you ever get a chance to get one, get one.”
The Bush Administration's global gag rule denies U.S. family planning funds to foreign NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that use their own private, non-U.S. dollars to counsel women, make referrals for abortion, or perform abortions. The gag policy even denies U.S. funds to NGOs that express support for laws to make abortion safe and legal.
As a result, medical professionals in some of the world's poorest nations risk losing their ability to provide life-saving, legal, and medically acceptable services -- or even basic health information. End this detrimental policy that unnecessarily puts women's lives at risk!
It is appalling and dangerous to require health care providers that receive U.S. funds to withhold critical medical information and services from their patients.
When women can't get the information and services they need to make safe and informed decisions, the outcomes can be devastating. Every year, 20 million women around the world have unsafe abortions, and every year complications result in 70,000 deaths.
As a result, medical professionals in some of the world's poorest nations risk losing their ability to provide life-saving, legal, and medically acceptable services -- or even basic health information. End this detrimental policy that unnecessarily puts women's lives at risk!
It is appalling and dangerous to require health care providers that receive U.S. funds to withhold critical medical information and services from their patients.
When women can't get the information and services they need to make safe and informed decisions, the outcomes can be devastating. Every year, 20 million women around the world have unsafe abortions, and every year complications result in 70,000 deaths.
Seventeen years and three wars later, the ghosts of Operation Desert Storm — the cancers, the chronic headaches and dizziness, the fibromyalgia, the ALS and so much more that have stalked returning vets, whose medical claims have been denied, ignored, relegated to the paper shredder — have just gotten a reality upgrade.
“The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that Gulf War illness is real, that it is the result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time.”
Thus concludes the 452-page report of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses, presented last week to Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake. Suddenly the government has several hundred thousand medical claims emanating from a few months in 1991 it has to start taking seriously — and that’s the easy part.
“The extensive body of scientific research now available consistently indicates that Gulf War illness is real, that it is the result of neurotoxic exposures during Gulf War deployment, and that few veterans have recovered or substantially improved with time.”
Thus concludes the 452-page report of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses, presented last week to Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake. Suddenly the government has several hundred thousand medical claims emanating from a few months in 1991 it has to start taking seriously — and that’s the easy part.
Statement from the Steering Committee for the Prosecution for War Crimes of President Bush and His Subordinates
Never before has a president pardoned himself or his subordinates for crimes he authorized. The closest thing to this in U.S. history thus far has been Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence. Bush is widely expected to follow that commutation with a pardon. Not only did Libby work for the White House, but he was convicted of obstruction of justice in an investigation that was headed to the president. Evidence introduced in the trial, including a hand-written note by the vice president, implicated Bush, and former press secretary Scott McClellan has since testified that Bush authorized the exposure of an undercover agent, that being the crime that was under investigation.
Never before has a president pardoned himself or his subordinates for crimes he authorized. The closest thing to this in U.S. history thus far has been Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence. Bush is widely expected to follow that commutation with a pardon. Not only did Libby work for the White House, but he was convicted of obstruction of justice in an investigation that was headed to the president. Evidence introduced in the trial, including a hand-written note by the vice president, implicated Bush, and former press secretary Scott McClellan has since testified that Bush authorized the exposure of an undercover agent, that being the crime that was under investigation.