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No mo money for war

The Democrats in Congress are doing less to oppose the war now that they have the majority than they did in the minority.  While in the minority, Democrats in a sizable and growing number voted against funding more war.  While in the minority, Democrats pushed hard for Resolutions of Inquiry into the lies that launched the war.  While in the minority, Democrats in significant numbers signed onto a bill to create a preliminary investigation into grounds for impeachment.  While in the minority, Democrats raised hell about the Republicans' failures to investigate or to stop the war, and Democrats campaigned for reelection and election of a majority, claiming they would have the powers to subpoena, to place under oath, and to end the war.

Election fraud, my ass

They just wanted to protect the sanctity of the vote. That’s the administration’s pious explanation for why they fired eight U.S. Attorneys who were Republican enough for Bush to have appointed them in the first place. "The president recalls hearing complaints about election fraud not being vigorously prosecuted and believes he may have informally mentioned it to the attorney general,” explained White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. How could you question such a laudable goal?

Of course the justifications keep shifting, as with the Iraqi war. First it was the general performance of the prosecutors. Then a preference for specific replacements..  Now it’s concern for the democratic process.

Impeachment may well be the only remedy

Remarks on the floor of the U.S. House, March 15, 2007

This House cannot avoid its Constitutionally authorized responsibility to restrain the abuse of Executive power.

The Administration has been preparing for an aggressive war against Iran.  There is no solid, direct evidence that Iran has the intention of attacking the United States or its allies.

The US is a signatory to the UN Charter, a constituent treaty among the nations of the world.   Article II, Section 4 of the UN Charter states, "all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or   political independence of any state. . ."   Even the threat of a war of aggression is illegal.

Article VI of the US Constitution makes such treaties the Supreme Law of the Land.  This Administration, has openly threatened aggression against Iran in violation of the US Constitution and the UN Charter.

Parts Missing

Parts missing,follow the signs.
Chickens,turkeys and game hens
marinating in cheap wines.
Shake and bake or barbeque
let the party begin,
no talk of war,
more vodka more gin.

A man kills his wife
and chops her to pieces,
not equated with war,lies
or humanity breaches.
The religious right
clucks their tongues and snort,
no excuse for parts missing,
for coming up short.

Shop 'til you drop
a presidential order.
There's chaos and killing
don't look over your shoulder.
Hide the flag draped caskets,
concentrate on filling up shopping baskets.

Support the troops
'til death do we part.
Parts missing replaced
by a cold Purple Heart.
Give them stitches,titanium and gold.
Put them in moldy,rat infested barracks until their story is told.

Vet, soldier,brave marine
brought to lasting peace under cemetery green. Parts missing implied by
the limp,black plastic bag.
Hands outstretched to receive
a folded American Flag.

Big Brother Sam

Order a signed print for $35

Federal judge orders first-ever moratorium on sale of genetically-altered seed

USDA approval of genetically engineered alfalfa is vacated, seed sales halted

San Francisco, CA, March 12, 2007 - A Federal judge ruled today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) 2005 approval of genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa is vacated and ordered an immediate halt to sales of the GE seed. The ruling follows a hearing last week in the case brought by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for approving GE alfalfa without conducting the required Environmental Impact Statement.

“We are pleased that the judge called for halt to sales of this potentially damaging crop,” said Will Rostov, a Senior Attorney for CFS. “Roundup Ready alfalfa poses threats to farmers, to our export markets, and to the environment. We expect the USDA to abide by the law and give these harmful effects of the crop full consideration.”

The Lives of Others: Artistic life under Stalinism

The Lives of Others (Der Leben der Anderen) is an account of East Berlin artists under surveillance by the Stasi, the German Democratic Republic's feared secret police, during the GDR's last years. The film brings to light the systematic destruction of cultural creativity under authoritarian communism, in this case, East Germany. After the fall of Nazism in the 1940s, Germany became an occupied country - the capitalist U.S., U.K., and France to the west (including West Berlin) and Stalinist U.S.S.R. to the east (as well as East Berlin). The GDR, modeled after the Soviet Union's totalitarian, bureaucratic regime, proved to be no better than the Nazis. It is the East German setting where the fight for artistic freedom against Stalinism takes place.

Obstruction of justice

Don't blame Kyle Sampson for the administration's decision to fire seven United States Attorneys in the middle of their terms. The Attorney General's chief of staff may be this week's fall guy in the investigation of the firing of the prosecutors, but he was only doing what he knows how to do: He was doing politics.

         Kyle Sampson never worked as a prosecutor. He was barely out of law school when he came to Washington in 1999 to work for Sen. Orrin Hatch on the Judiciary Committee as a junior aide. From there, it was just a short step to the transition staff, where he put his newly gained knowledge of the nomination process to work in screening candidates with far more experience than he for jobs in the judiciary and the Justice Department.

         Then it was on to the White House staff, then to the Justice Department under John Ashcroft, then to a job as a "senior" aide to the new Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales. Barely seven years after arriving in Washington with almost no experience, Mr. Sampson was the chief of staff to the Attorney General, and deep in the process of replacing federal prosecutors.

Sacrificing our children on the altar of corporate greed

Our children are being sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed in Iraq. As the purported rationale for the war has metamorphosed from protecting ourselves from weapons of mass destruction and the specter of a ''mushroom shaped cloud,'' to regime change, to fighting terrorists, to spreading democracy at the point of a gun, two constants remain. The children of the poor, the working class, and the lower half of what is left of the shrinking middle class return to us in coffins, or limbless, or brain damaged, and emotionally scarred. The children of the power elite, for whom they fight the war, secure in their corporate boardrooms or on their yachts, reap unconscionable profits as the nation''s treasure and blood is being stuffed down the rat-hole that is the Iraq war.

Open letter calling on Ohio House of Representatives to vote on Iraqi refugee resolution

The Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee [AFSC], a Quaker social action organization, calls on the Ohio House of Representatives to take up the recently-passed state Senate resolution welcoming Iraqi refugees to Ohio. This is a timely moment to address this humanitarian concern. Next Monday, March 19, 2007 marks the 4th anniversary of the launch of the war, invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The AFSC believes Ohio’s reputation in the eyes of the world can be enhanced by agreeing to accept people who have fled from the violence and destruction of their nation following 4 years of US military occupation. We believe it is, indeed, the responsibility of our nation to accept the responsibility for our actions. Therefore, the Northeast Ohio AFSC calls for the Ohio House of Representatives to pass the Ohio Senate resolution – but only after adding the following “Whereas” clauses.

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