More propaganda from a New York Times Op-Ed. Ask why? I'll tell you why.

To come to understand this set of pictures, one has to move past the music if it's distracting from the reality. Most of the Polar Bears in this pictorial are underweight. There is one female that has emerged from hiberation where she gave birth to her cubs that is grossly underweight and it is skeptical as to her ability to survive. Hence. Her cubs might not either. Most of the pictures show bears in normal activity, but, there is little to no snow. As a matter of fact the pictures that show sea ice, show melting sea ice.

Sarah Palin is first a Republican. What do Republicans love more than any other commodity on Earth?

Oil. What is Alaska dependant upon for income?

Oil.

Republican Governor Sarah Palin didn't tell you the reason she wrote the Op-Ed, but, I will.

January 5, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
Bearing Up
By SARAH PALIN
Juneau, Alaska
ABOUT the closest most Americans will ever get to a polar bear are those cute, cuddly animated images that smiled at us while dancing around, pitching soft drinks on TV and movie screens this holiday season.
This is unfortunate, because polar bears are magnificent animals, not cartoon characters. They are worthy of our utmost efforts to protect them and their Arctic habitat. But adding polar bears to the nation’s list of endangered species, as some are now proposing, should not be part of those efforts.
To help ensure that polar bears are around for centuries to come, Alaska (about a fifth of the world’s 25,000 polar bears roam in and around the state) has conducted research and worked closely with the federal government to protect them. We have a ban on most hunting — only Alaska Native subsistence families can hunt polar bears — and measures to protect denning areas and prevent harassment of the bears. We are also participating in international efforts aimed at preserving polar bear populations worldwide.
This month, the secretary of the interior is expected to rule on whether polar bears should be listed under the Endangered Species Act. I strongly believe that adding them to the list is the wrong move at this time. My decision is based on a comprehensive review by state wildlife officials of scientific information from a broad range of climate, ice and polar bear experts.
The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, has argued that global warming and the reduction of polar ice severely threatens the bears’ habitat and their existence. In fact, there is insufficient evidence that polar bears are in danger of becoming extinct within the foreseeable future — the trigger for protection under the Endangered Species Act. And there is no evidence that polar bears are being mismanaged through existing international agreements and the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The state takes very seriously its job of protecting polar bears and their habitat and is well aware of the problems caused by climate change. But we know our efforts will take more than protecting what we have — we must also learn what we don’t know. That’s why state biologists are studying the health of polar bear populations and their habitat.
As a result of these efforts, polar bears are more numerous now than they were 40 years ago. The polar bear population in the southern Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s North Slope has been relatively stable for 20 years, according to a federal analysis.
We’re not against protecting plants and animals under the Endangered Species Act. Alaska has supported listings of other species, like the Aleutian Canada goose. The law worked as it should — under its protection the population of the geese rebounded so much that they were taken off the list of endangered and threatened species in 2001.
Listing the goose — then taking it off — was based on science. The possible listing of a healthy species like the polar bear would be based on uncertain modeling of possible effects. This is simply not justified.
What is justified is worldwide concern over the proven effects of climate change.
The Center for Biological Diversity, which petitioned for the polar bear to be protected, wants the listing to force the government to either stop or severely limit any public or private action that produces, or even allows, the production of greenhouse gases. But the Endangered Species Act is not the correct tool to address climate change — the act itself actually prohibits any consideration of broader issues.
Such limits should be adopted through an open process in which environmental issues are weighed against economic and social needs, and where scientists debate and present information that policy makers need to make the best decisions.
Americans should become involved in the issue of climate change by offering suggestions for constructive action to their state governments. But listing the polar bear as threatened is the wrong way to get to the right answer.
Sarah Palin, a Republican, is the governor of Alaska.

The 2004 Democratic Platform stated "Stronger at Home, Respected in the World"

The Bush Years have weakened the USA domestically and internationally. When are Americans going to wake up to whom the real patriots are?

Bush, in his State of the Union address will propose legislation that is another spending bill. Yet. He can't see his way to fully fund SCHIP. That's leadership that works to support Americans and a strong economy? No. That is leadership that is reactionary. They don't do a darn thing unless there is a 'dire' need. The Republicans wouldn't know what it is to have a plan if their lives depended on it.

They never had a good war strategy, ended up abandoning Afghanistan, never stabilized Pakistan. Republican Reactionaries. It has been and continues to be the "W"rong way to go.


Michael Moore Today

GO VOTE - Register Now !

http://www.credomobile.com/registertovote/?source=govote


December 31st, 2007 3:23 pm
2007 deadliest for US troops in Iraq
By Bradley Brooks / Associated Press
BAGHDAD - The second half of 2007 saw violence drop dramatically in Iraq, but the progress came at a high price: The year was the deadliest for the U.S. military since the 2003 invasion, with 899 troops killed.
American commanders and diplomats, however, say the battlefield gains against insurgents such as al-Qaida in Iraq offer only a partial picture of where the country stands as the war moves toward its five-year mark in March.
Two critical shifts that boosted U.S.-led forces in 2007 — a self-imposed cease-fire by a main Shiite militia and a grassroots Sunni revolt against extremists — could still unravel unless serious unity efforts are made by the Iraqi government.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10624


City honored for forestry commitment
By Times Staff Writer
Published December 21, 2007
BROOKSVILLE
The Arbor Day Foundation has named Brooksville a Tree City USA community for its commitment to community forestry. This is the 14th year Brooksville has received this national recognition. To earn the recognition, Brooksville has met the four standards by having a tree board or department, a tree care ordinance, a comprehensive community forestry program and an Arbor Day observance. The Tree City USA program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters and the USDA Forest Service.

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/21/Hernando/City_honoredfor_fores.shtml


December 31st, 2007 3:51 pm
Iraq suicide attacks on the rise
By Tina Susman and Alexandra Zavis / Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD — Although overall violence in Iraq has dropped to levels not seen on a sustained basis since the summer of 2005, suicide bombings appear to be making a comeback, according to figures released Saturday by the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
Responsibility for such attacks typically is claimed by the Sunni militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq, which Gen. David H. Petraeus said remained the greatest threat in the country.
Underscoring the threat posed by the group, the U.S. military announced the discovery of three bodies at a site north of Baghdad that a resident said contained a mass grave.
The discovery Friday about eight miles northwest of Baqubah coincided with reports that Al Qaeda in Iraq had used a nearby shack to hold and torture kidnapped victims, said Lt. Col. Patrick Mackin, intelligence officer for the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10625


George: Saddam Hussein Has Weapons of Mass Destruction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMStCHtUNeY


See 'SiCKO' for Free:

three things to remember
December 27, 2007
1. "Love Letters", a play by A.R. Gurney, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Mundelein High School auditorium, 1350 W. Hawley. All proceeds from the benefit will be used to help cover the expenses for the school's theater troupe festival. Admission for the event is a donation to MHS Theatre. A reception at the school will be held immediately following the performance. For details, call (847) 949-2200, ext. 1407.
2. Enjoy a day outdoors with your dog while learning how your dog communicates at a Rover Romp from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Lakewood Preserve near Wauconda. Discover locations of dog-friendly places in the Lake County Forest Preserves. The cost is $5 for residents and $7 for non-residents. For ages 18 and older. Registration deadline is Dec. 28. For details, call (847) 968-3400.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/714306,5_1_WA27_3THINGS_S1.article



Vaughan to ring in new year with green film festival
Vaughan
Dec 17, 2007 03:51 PM
By: Sean Pearce, Staff Writer
Vaughan’s City Playhouse Theatre will roll out the green carpet in the new year with an environmentally themed sampling of eco-friendly films.
The 2008 Green Reel Environmental Film Festival runs Jan. 4 and Jan. 5 featuring a smattering of award-winning international documentaries, mainstream Hollywood movies and independent films.
The slate of films has grown to include more than 20 including several free screenings sponsored, in part, by the David Suzuki Foundation, the National Film Board of Canada, Joe Public Films and the CBC.

http://www.yorkregion.com/article/65272


Church seeks justice in health care at forums
By Coloradoan staff
Namaqua Unitarian Church, Seventh and Washington streets in Loveland, will host a series of forums on "Seeking Justice in Health Care."
The January forums will be held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. each Sunday starting this week.
The meetings are designed to provide background, stimulate thinking and offer paths for action.
> Sunday: "Sicko" - The 2007 Michael Moore documentary film. Following the film, Dr. Deanne Lembitz, a Fort Collins native and family physician in Windsor, will lead a discussion. She also is a member of the Larimer County Medical Society and Physicians for a National Health Program. This session will run until 7:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be provided.

http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071231/LIFESTYLE/712310303


'Sicko' showing benefits local snakebite victim
Published Sun, Dec 23, 2007 12:00 AM
By RENEE DUDLEY
rdudley@islandpacket.com
843-706-8138
BLUFFTON -- The Democratic Club South of the Broad will host in January a showing of "Sicko," Michael Moore's movie on problems with health care in America.

Pasted from <http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/119476.html>


Off The Stacks
The following is a calendar of events for Stamford's Ferguson Library. The Main Branch is at One Public Library Plaza, at the corner of Broad and Bedford streets. The South End Branch is located at 34 Woodland Ave. The Harry Bennett branch at Turn of River is at 115 Vince Road and the Weed Branch is at 1143 Hope St. For information, call 964-1000 or visit www.ferguson library.org.
Movies at the Main Branch
Enjoy recent hits, foreign language films, and compelling independents at the Ferguson Library's Third Floor Auditorium. The January movie schedule is as follows:
..."Sicko," Jan. 10 at 6:30 p.m. Filmmaker Michael Moore turns his critical eye on health care in the United States. USA. 2007. 123 minutes….

http://www.thestamfordtimes.com/stamford_templates/stamford_story/65025141555275.php



December 24th, 2007 11:41 pm
'SiCKO' in Stillwater, Oklahoma on January 11th, 2008
Reggie Cervantes, World Trade Center Survivor, American SiCKO, will introduce the film and take questions about her participation in it.
WHEN: January 11th, 2007 at 7:00 PM
WHERE: The Wesley Foundation, 823 West University Avenue, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10598



Paul Rolly: Utah tech savvy half of the time
By Paul Rolly
Tribune Columnist
Article Last Updated: 12/21/2007 01:33:44 AM MST
As Utah plows through the 21st century to establish itself as a technology leader, it still struggles to get the bugs out.
Take the state's electronic reporting system for political action committees and political information committees to declare online their contributions and expenditures during designated reporting periods.
It beats the old cumbersome paper filings, right?
Except Utah's system doesn't work in odd-numbered years. PICs and PACs can only file electronically in even-numbered years. In 2007, for example, they must file hard-copy reports.
"It's just another one of those things we have to fix from past years," said Joe Demme of the Lieutenant Governor's Office. "The system was installed sometime in the 1990s, before we got here, and it wasn't done right."
Demme said it will be fixed "when we have the money to do it."

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7776459



December 31st, 2007 4:26 pm
Family holds on tightly to memory of fallen Marine
By Elisabeth Kilpatrick / Beacon News
A sign on Jesse De La Torre's bedroom door at his father's house reads, "Lance Cpl. Jesse De La Torre; enter with respect." Inside, the walls are plastered with pictures: Jesse playing the saxophone as a teenager, Jesse posing with a llama in Iraq, Jesse looking serious and brave in his Marine blues. This is where Jesse's father, Aureliano, and siblings Juan, 14, and Brenda, 17, come now to spend time with the fallen Marine.
"Some people say, 'Oh, I know how you feel,'" Aureliano De La Torre said. "Not even close."
Jesse, a 1998 East Aurora High School graduate, joined the Marines in 2005. Last April, he was killed in Iraq after an improvised explosive device hit his Humvee. He was 29.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10626



December 31st, 2007 3:09 pm
Drug firms probed in Iraq scandal
LONDON, England (AP) -- Britain's Serious Fraud Office has demanded documents from three major drug makers in connection with allegations the companies paid bribes to secure lucrative contracts in Iraq while Saddam Hussein was in power, the companies said.
GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly and Co. Ltd. -- the British affiliate of Indianapolis, Indiana-based Eli Lilly and Co. -- are all accused of violating the U.N.'s oil-for-food program, established in the mid-1990s to ease the impact on Iraqis of sanctions imposed on Saddam's regime after his 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Under the program, money from Iraqi oil sales was to have been used for food and medicine.
All three companies have denied wrongdoing and said they were cooperating with the investigation.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10623



December 30th, 2007 1:19 pm
A new, younger jihadi threat emerges
Terrorism experts say radical groups are targeting teenagers as young as 14.
By Marc Perelman / Christian Science Monitor
Casablanca, Morocco -- With a greeting that was as telling as it was macabre, Imane Laghriss dropped her satchel on the table of a trendy coffee shop here recently.
"It's stuffed with explosives, watch out!" snapped the young woman, echoing the grim humor commonly heard among Moroccan teenagers. But Ms. Laghriss's remark carried with it a degree of stark reality.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10616



December 30th, 2007 1:24 pm
Military Recruits Eager Despite Wartime
Navy 'Deppers' Ready For Training
By Robin Mero / Morning News
BENTONVILLE, AR -- Lucretia Radloff used a fat black marker to pen the Navy's 11 General Orders of the Sentry across her pink bedroom walls.
When she leaves for basic training in June, the 17-year-old enlistee must be ready to recite them from memory -- anywhere, anytime, to anyone who asks.
A tiny brunette with delicate features, Radloff wanted to be a seaman since junior high school. She sat recently across a table from her mother in Starbucks, drinking a sugary coffee, shoulders draped with her boyfriend's letterman jacket.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10617



December 30th, 2007 3:57 pm
Army using video game as recruiting tool
By Dianna M. Náñez / Arizona Republic
CHANDLER, AZ - Military recruiters are becoming increasingly creative as they work to boost enlistment rates.
That's what's happening today in Chandler, where a local Army recruiting office is sponsoring a video-game tournament that is expected to draw more than 100 people. Recruiters will promote the benefits of the Army as video-game buffs play "America's Army," a role-playing game created by the Army in 2002. A Chandler business, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, is hosting the event from noon to 8 p.m.
The Army's emphasis on more individualized recruiting efforts allows recruiters to answer questions and address concerns about joining the military when thousands of troops are deployed in Iraq, said Staff Sgt. Morgan Self, a Chandler recruiting officer.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10620



December 30th, 2007 4:05 pm
Former Troops Guilty in Coke Sting
Arizona Daily Star
A former Marine recruiter who worked in Tucson and two former Arizona Army National Guard soldiers - one of whom served in Iraq - were sentenced Tuesday for their roles in smuggling cocaine as part of an undercover FBI sting.
Two other people who pretended to be military personnel to more easily transport the drugs also were sentenced Tuesday in connection with Operation Lively Green, a federal corruption investigation that led to the arrests of dozens of military personnel, U.S. Border Patrol agents and other federal and state officials.
Rocky D. Rios, a former guardsman, received the most prison time -- 51 months -- among the group.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10621



December 30th, 2007 3:03 pm
French Warship Delivers Books To New York City Children
Books Going To New Orleans School Children, Too
FOX-5
The French warship Jeanne D'Arc is expected to deliver 10,000 books to school children in the United States on Friday. Most of the texts will go to New York City public school students immersed in French classes, and the rest will go to children in New Orleans.
"This gives a new meaning to the expression turning swords into plowshares,'' said Fabrice Jaumont, the education attache at the French Embassy in Manhattan, the cultural branch of the main embassy in Washington.
The 10-ton helicopter carrier, which serves as a training vessel for French navy midshipmen, was to dock at Pier 92 in Manhattan at 6 a.m. Friday, Jaumont said.About 7,000 books -- dictionaries, textbooks, novels, even comic books -- are going to 180 children participating in the French-English dual-language program launched at some New York City public schools this year.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10619



December 29th, 2007 6:10 pm
Protests Expected at Rose Parade
By Solvej Schou / Associated Press
PASADENA, Calif. — There could be some discord during the Tournament of Roses Parade as demonstrators promise to raise issues during the holiday spectacle that has been going on for more than a century.
Human rights advocates plan to protest a float honoring the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and anti-war activists, including "Peace Mom" Cindy Sheehan, intend to rally for peace.
The theme of this year's New Year's Day parade is "Passport to the World's Celebrations." It will feature 46 floats, 21 marching bands and 18 equestrian units.
Volunteers have busy in Pasadena and nearby areas this past week decorating the floats with buckets of flowers and seeds.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10615


Anti-war protesters plan to rain on Rose Parade
Jason Rhyne
Published: Tuesday January 1, 2008
A contingent of activists calling for an end to US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney -- plan to do some uninvited marching during Tuesday's Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.
Calling themselves the White Rose Coalition, a name invoking the German resistance group that opposed Hitler during World War II, a convergence of protesters including anti-war icon Cindy Sheehan will "stage non-violent protests and demonstrations throughout the Rose Parade," according to a press release. Other activist organizations involved in the effort include the Los Angeles National Impeachment Center (LANIC), CODEPINK and ANSWER, among others.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Antiwar_protesters_plan_to_rain_on_0101.html



January 1, 2008 at 04:10:58
The White Rose and the Rose Parade
by Cindy Sheehan Page 1 of 1 page(s)
http://www.opednews.com
Since the conquest of Poland three hundred thousand Jews have been murdered in this country in the most bestial way ... The German people slumber on in their dull, stupid sleep and encourage these fascist criminals ... Each man wants to be exonerated of a guilt of this kind, each one continues on his way with the most placid, the calmest conscience. But he cannot be exonerated; he is guilty, guilty, guilty! — From the second leaflet of the White Rose. [5] ”
My first encounter with the White Rose Society (a small group of Munich University Students who were executed for their opposition to Hitler and the Third Reich) came on my way from Dallas to Crawford, Tx on August 6th, 2005.
I rode from the Veteran’s for Peace Convention in Dallas on the “White Rose,” a bus that had a huge ‘IMPEACH’ written on the side of it. On the bus was a picture of Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans and some of the quotes of the series of 5 leaflets that the Society spread denouncing Hitler from June 1942 to February 1943, when they were caught and executed. They were an obviously brave and moral group of wide awake Germans who sacrificed their lives to try and change the horrible direction that their nation was going in.
Gold Star Families for Peace and the Camp Casey Peace Institute has joined a group called the "White Rose Coalition" that will be carrying a large copy of the Constitution at the end of the parade and the Backbone Campaign’s Chain Gang will be following the parade. Many activists will tag along with our “Impeachment” banners, signs and other means of protest to call national attention to the accountability issue.
Being involved in this particular action has engendered the most hate mail for me since I left the Democratic Party! I am “ruining the parade.” I am the “representation of everything that is evil in the world today.” One woman named Carrie, was “sorry” that my son is dead, but he volunteered to “honor” this country with his service and even though Carrie is no “fan” of Bush (yeah sure), I have really “crossed the line” this time.
First of all, we are not protesting the parade at all, except that it is a symbol of corporate excess and it is my opinion it is not really moral to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on parade floats when people are still being killed in Iraq and suicide rates for our Veterans are skyrocketing because the VA system in under-funded and apparently not a priority for BushCo and Congress Inc
I can’t remember a time in my life where anyone protesting at a parade would have upset me at all, but since Casey was killed in Iraq and since I have faced and witnessed so much violence, oppression and hardship in the world, it is absolutely stunning to me that this protest would create so much vileness and venom. There are so many more important things in the world besides parades and football games. I have also tried to imagine an Iraqi happening to catch a glimpse of the Rose Parade on TV somehow and marveling how everything is so happy and beautiful in America when our nation has utterly devastated and destroyed theirs.
Since the “conquest” of Iraq, over one million Iraqis have been slaughtered or have died from the tragic, but unavoidable consequences of invasion and occupation. BushCo have desecrated our Constitution and the almost complete fascist take-over of our media and the blatant stealing of our freedoms here at home have bypassed many Americans while they are slumbering in our dull, stupid sleep.
As long as people like Carrie have their “circuses” to divert them, then they don’t have to bother their “beautiful minds” with the crimes of BushCo---but ignorance is not an excuse for being awash in the blood of nearly 4000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
I spend every second of every day mourning my son and longing for his future. I am sorry if someone wearing an “Impeach Bush and Cheney” t-shirt will ruin a parade for somebody, but we are trying to prevent many more people from having their entire lives ruined.
We cannot allow this criminal regime to continue as in the words of the first leaflet from the White Rose Society:
It is certain that today every honest German is ashamed of his government. Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes ... reach the light of day.

Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, who was KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04. She is a co-founder and President of Gold Star Families for Peace and the author of two books: Not One More Mother's Child and Dear President Bush.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_cindy_sh_080101_the_white_rose_and_t.htm



Huckabee campaign office occupied

Tuesday, January 1st, 2008
PEACE ACTIVISTS OCCUPY HUCKABEE'S IOWA CAMPAIGN OFFICE ...by Mike Ferner
Protesters ask former Baptist minister, “Who Would Jesus Bomb?”
Des Moines – With 40 percent of Iowa’s Republican caucus voters expected to come from the ranks of conservative Christians, peace activists occupied Mike Huckabee’s campaign headquarters in Iowa’s capital city Monday with signs asking the former Baptist minister, “Who Would Jesus Bomb?”
Eight members of the Iowa Occupation Project and Voices for Creative Nonviolence arrived at Huckabee’s Locust St. campaign office early Monday afternoon, waiting for the former Arkansas governor’s reply to a letter delivered two months ago that sought his pledge to completely withdraw from Iraq within 100 days of assuming office; halt all military actions against Iraq and Iran; fund the rebuilding of Iraq as well as health, education and infrastructure needs in the U.S.; and “…the highest quality health care, education and jobs training benefits for veterans of our country’s Armed Services.”

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=950



"We said if we didn't hear back we would be visiting..."

January 1st, 2008 6:41 pm
Protesters Arrested at Huckabee Office
By David Pitt / Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa — Three protesters seeking a commitment from Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee to end the Iraq war were arrested Monday for refusing to leave his office.
Police arrested Mona Shaw, 56, of Iowa City; Robert Braam, 51, Manhattan, Ill.; and Kathy Kelly, 55, of Chicago, around 1:20 p.m., Shaw said. They were charged with criminal trespass.
Des Moines police spokesman Vince Valdez said the three were taken into custody without violence and released.
The protest was part of a campaign called Seasons of Discontent: A Presidential Occupation Project, which goes by the acronym SODaPOP. According to its Web site, the project was organized by the Illinois-based activist group Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10627



DO SOMETHING:

Seasons of Discontent: A Presidential Occupation Project (SODaPOP)
send to friend
Categories: SODaPOP
By Jeff Leys and Brian Terrell
Campaign Resources
Nonviolent Civil Resistance During the Presidential Campaign
Hi Ho. Hi Ho. It’s off to Washington, D.C. we go. For another demonstration at the seat of power.
But hold on a minute. This fall and winter, the road to the seat of power goes through Iowa with its first in the nation presidential caucus.
Let’s journey to Iowa, together to bring nonviolent civil resistance and civil disobedience to the campaign offices and headquarters of Presidential candidates—both Republican and Democrat—who do not publicly pledge to take the necessary concrete steps to end the Iraq war, to rebuild Iraq, to forswear military attacks on other countries, and to fully fund the Common Good in the U.S.
Join this campaign: SODaPOP—Seasons of Discontent: A Presidential Occupation Project.

http://vcnv.org/sodapop



GO VOTE - Register Now !

http://www.credomobile.com/registertovote/?source=govote


January 2nd, 2008 12:52 am
Bhutto had "proof" state, spy agency rigging poll
By Simon Gardner / Reuters
KARACHI, Jan 1 - Benazir Bhutto was poised to reveal proof that Pakistan's election commission and shadowy spy agency were seeking to rig an upcoming general election the night she was assassinated, a top aide said on Tuesday.
Senator Latif Khosa, who authored a 160-page dossier with Bhutto documenting rigging tactics, said they ranged from intimidation to fake ballots, and were in some cases unwittingly funded by U.S. aid.
Bhutto had been due to give the report to two visiting U.S. lawmakers over dinner on Dec. 27, the day she was killed in a suicide bombing.
"The state agencies are manipulating the whole process," Khosa, a top Bhutto aide and head of her Pakistan People's Party election monitoring unit, told Reuters.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10630


January 2nd, 2008 12:42 am
US Senate Candidate Camps Out on Tower
ATLANTA (AP) — A television reporter turned political candidate said he plans to remain on a small scaffold near the top of a tower to focus attention on his long-shot bid to unseat a U.S. senator.
Dale Cardwell was hoisted more than 300 feet up the Corey Tower near downtown Atlanta on Tuesday morning. He said he expects to remain there "for days," sleeping in an insulated sleeping bag and eating military rations. A Webcam tracks his limited movements. Overnight temperatures are expected to drop into the 20s.
Cardwell, who hopes to unseat Republican Saxby Chambliss, said he thinks the publicity stunt won't hurt his credibility, but will make people curious about his message: that politicians should pay more attention to the concerns of working people and less to those of wealthy corporate interests.
Cardwell faces DeKalb County chief executive Vernon Jones in the Democratic primary July 15.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10629


Dale Cardwell goes to all extremes to stop government corruption, while offering himself as an alternative

http://www.dale08.com/


Dale says:
“For 23 years I've been going behind the lines of power and big government and bringing back the REAL STORY. Like you, I'm disgusted by what's going on in Washington . Democrats and Republicans unable to fix the problems that SEEM SO OBVIOUS… Health care, Immigration, addiction to foreign oil, our crazy tax system… But you know what? I've uncovered the reason WHY Washington won't fix those problems… It's because our government and most of our elected officials NO LONGER WORK FOR US. Instead, they work for the giant multi-national corporations that fund their campaigns and then tell them what they CAN AND CAN'T DO. Many of today's politicians mean well, but they don't dare oppose the entrenched, moneyed interests that demand the CURRENT STATE OF POLITICAL PARALYSIS… paralysis that ensures THEIR continued financial well being. The truth is, if you're not in that club, or among the handful who gives big bucks to so called political action committees, then THERE'S NO ONE IN WASHINGTON WORKING FOR YOU.
I plan to change that.”

http://www.dale08.com/towertext.html


Saxby's Insiders

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geinr5oOljk


Dale Cardwell For US Senate (D-GA)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYSdkY_M6UU


Dale Cardwell - US Senate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM_LSH7uduc


July 2000: DeKalb Sheriff Sid Dorsey's illegal misuse of county deputies.
Investigative journalist Dale Cardwell catches Sheriff Dorsey using on-duty county deputies staffing bank security jobs on behalf of the sheriff's private security company. The investigation leads to the exposure of multiple illegal acts by the sheriff, and the exposures are key to Dorsey's conviction on corruption charges.
March 2001: Derwin Brown Murder Investigation.
Dale Cardwell lands key interview with figure in the Derwin Brown murder investigation. The woman, who has refused to cooperate with authorities, tells Dale Cardwell that the shoot-out at Derwin Brown murder suspect Patrick Cuffy's home, was actually the result of a drug deal gone bad. Cardwell's exposure of Cuffy's drug dealing provides authorities the necessary leverage to jail Cuffy and create the pressure that eventually leads to Cuffy's cooperation with authorities. Cuffy admits that he carried out the murder of Derwin Brown on orders from his boss, Sheriff Sid Dorsey.

http://www.dale08.com/dc_journalist.html



January 4th, 2008 5:29 am
Three US soldiers killed in Iraq
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Three US soldiers have been killed in Iraq, the US military announced on Thursday, making them the first American casualties of the new year.
A military statement said two soldiers were killed in a small-arms fire attack while conducting operations in Diyala province on Thursday. Another soldier was wounded.
A separate statement said another soldier was killed when his foot patrol was struck by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad on Wednesday.
The latest deaths bring the total number of American soldiers killed since the 2003 US-led invasion to 3,905, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10648


January 4th, 2008 8:42 pm
Bush "Veto" Cancels Bonuses For Troops
But Congressional Critics Say Pocket Veto Is Invalid; Meanwhile, Troops Are Shortchanged
(CBS) Over the holidays, the White House made a surprising announcement: after months of negotiations and urgent demands from the president for passage of a Defense Department spending bill, the legislation - passed by wide margins in both the House and Senate - was being rejected by President Bush.
In announcing the move on Dec. 28, President Bush said that provisions in H.R. 1585 would have potentially frozen Iraqi assets in the U.S., and also made the government of Iraq vulnerable to litigation for crimes dating back to the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The move raised a couple of intriguing questions: one, since the president has already issued more than 1,100 signing statements in which he has selectively chosen which provisions of the law he will or will not enforce, why did he not sign one on this issue? (In fact, this week he issued another signing statement to preempt enforcement of a law that would make it easier for state and local governments, as well as private investors, to divest themselves of assets in Sudan, to protest the genocide in Darfur.) And two, is the veto even valid?
And in the wake of the controversy, a sad fact remains: a congressionally-backed pay raise for troops and bonuses for new recruits are on hold.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10655


January 4th, 2008 8:24 pm
Candidates back impeachment hearing
Portland Press Herald
PORTLAND — Two Democratic congressional candidates from southern Maine are applauding Rep. Mike Michaud for calling for impeachment hearings on Vice President Dick Cheney.
In a letter sent last month, Michaud, D-Maine, urged House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers to schedule impeachment hearings before the end of current congressional session. The letter cited “serious allegations” that the vice president played a role in mischaracterizing prewar intelligence, outing CIA agent Valerie Plame, and abusing detainees, among other issues.
Michaud’s call is being echoed by state Sen. Ethan Strimling and York County District Attorney Mark Lawrence, both of whom are Democratic candidates for Congress.
“We need an investigation into the abuses of this administration, and there are many of them,” Strimling said in a statement, “and impeachment hearings will provide an opportunity to get facts on the table.”

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10653



January 4th, 2008 6:11 pm
Impeachmentwalker closes in on his goal
By Evan Lehmann / Brattleboro Reformer
WASHINGTON -- John Nirenberg of Brattleboro closed in on the 400-mile mark Thursday in a long, sometimes treacherous, walk lasting more than a month that's meant to promote the impeachment of President Bush.
Trucks roared by the 60-year-old and his walking partner, Frank Enneking, 72, as they trudged along the shoulder of U.S. Route 1 in southern Pennsylvania, steadily moving toward the Maryland border, which they hoped to cross before dark.
Nirenberg is nearly within reach of his goal: shuffling into the Capitol office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in an attempt to spur her toward impeachment proceedings against Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The walk began on Dec. 1 in Boston.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10650


January 4th, 2008 5:18 am
The Women Vote
By Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times
DES MOINES — We just caught up with some numbers that you’ll want to see. Turns out Barack Obama did better among women than Hillary Rodham Clinton did.
Overall, Mr. Obama won 35 percent of women, while Mrs. Clinton won 30 percent and Mr. Edwards 23 percent.
She did well only with women over 65. While older women tend to vote in higher numbers than younger women, that’s still devastating news for her, since women were supposedly the backbone of her candidacy.
This weakness was forecast in the Des Moines Register poll, which showed Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton drawing equal numbers of women, at 32 percent each.
Here’s the breakdown from the entrance polls. Bear in mind that these percentages do not take into account the second ballots.
Mrs. Clinton did the worst with youngest women, getting only 11 percent of those under 24 years old; Mr. Obama won 51 percent of them. Mr. Edwards did better than she did among that age group, with 19 percent.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10647


January 4th, 2008 7:36 pm
Hillary Clinton Says She Is 'Most Innocent' on Campaign Trail
Senator Still Hopeful As She Arrives in New Hampshire
By Kate Snow / ABC News
Sen. Hillary Clinton went on the counterattack today, one day after a stinging defeat in the Iowa caucuses to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
She said New Hampshire voters need to take a hard look at Obama, suggesting that they shouldn't just buy into his message of "hope" without analyzing his policies.
Clinton said she wasn't suggesting anything in particular about Obama, but simply "drawing contrasts."
"I'm running on my record. … I'm running on my plans," Clinton told reporters. "I think everybody needs to be vetted and tested. That's the way elections are supposed to operate. The last thing the Democrats need is to just move quickly through this process."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10651


Friday, January 4th, 2008
9/11 Rescue Workers in New Hampshire to Demand Meeting with Rudy Giuliani
What: Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers tell reporters their stories of being abandoned by Rudy Giuliani, sidewalk screening of new Brave New Films video
When: Saturday, January 5th at 6pm
Where: Outside the Dana Humanities Center, Saint Anselm College, Manchester, New Hampshire
Visuals: People wearing television sandwich boards screening new video; 9/11 rescue and recovery workers available for on-site interviews and photographs
9/11 RESCUE AND RECOVERY WORKERS VISITING NEW HAMPSHIRE TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT RUDY GIULIANI
On Saturday, January 5th, Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers will visit New Hampshire to tell their story of the real Rudy Giuliani. Their visit will accompany the release of THE REAL RUDY: ABANDONED HEROES, a short, investigative documentary produced by Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films and premiering online at www.therealrudy.org. Ironworker John Sferazo, paramedic Marvin Bethea and janitorial worker Alex Sanchez, who have asked Giuliani to meet with them in Manchester, will show the video on portable DVD screens and talk to reporters.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=953



January 3rd, 2008 7:31 pm
Giuliani Keeps Campaign Focus on Terrorism
By Michael Cooper / New York Times
HOOKSET, N.H. — With the political world focused on Iowa, Rudolph W. Giuliani released a graphic new television advertisement here Wednesday in which scenes of Osama bin Laden firing a rifle segue to the smoking wreckage of the World Trade Center.
Mr. Giuliani, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, also gave a speech at a military museum in Wolfeboro, N.H., in which he called for a “surge” in Afghanistan.
“One of the things that we should do right now — I believe we should do it immediately — is, we should double the number of our troops who are American-led combat troops in Afghanistan,” he said, speaking in front of a giant American flag and beneath a display of mannequins of soldiers behind sandbags. “We need to bring a surge to Afghanistan and make it effective right now.”
But Mr. Giuliani seemed to soften his surge proposal as the day went on. Asked later in the day how he could increase the troops in Afghanistan without diverting troops from Iraq or sending troops returning from Iraq on extra tours of duty, Mr. Giuliani told reporters: “You wouldn’t have to do that all at once. You could do that gradually.”

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10643


Giuliani To Run For President Of 9/11
February 21, 2007 Issue 43•08
NEW YORK—At a well-attended rally in front of his new Ground Zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11.
"My fellow citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a promise," said Giuliani during his 18-minute announcement speech in front of a charred and torn American flag. "As president of 9/11, I will usher in a bold new 9/11 for all."
If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world's conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions.
"Let us all remember how we felt on that day, with the world watching our every move, waiting on our every word," said Giuliani, flanked by several firefighters, ex-New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, and Judith Nathan, his third wife. "With a campaign built on traditional 9/11 values, and with the help of every citizen who believes in the 9/11 dream, I want to make 9/11 great again."

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/giuliani_to_run_for_president_of_9


Join Congressman Wexler

The charges are too serious to ignore. There is credible evidence that the Vice President abused the power of his office, and not only brought us into an unneccesary war but violated the civil liberties and privacy of American citizens. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to hold impeachment hearings.

http://www.wexlerforcongress.com/cheney/


Friday, January 04, 2008
Chris Dodd leaves the presidential race with an important message for us, and his campaign folks also have a message for everyone out there
I expect I'm in the same position as a lot of readers with regard to the now-compacting Democratic presidential field. I didn't hate any of them, and quite liked a few. And the one who stood head and shoulders above the others always came with the qualifier: "Of course he could never get the nomination."
Until last night, some little voice inside me kept whispering, "Well, with that large a field, just maybe, you know, he could."

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2008/01/chris-dodd-leaves-campaign-with.html

continued...

How is the poor job creation of 2007 different from 2003? Housing collapse. This is huge. 2003 housing market and building was rising.

The country is currently in a recession. Did I recall a figure to the cost of oil at $100 per barrel? That is simply disregarded as 'growth' in some venues. It's not. Even by the definitions of Republicans, rising costs stunts 'Supply Side Economics.'

The USA may very well be heading into more than a recession. Supposedly, Bush is going to address still ANOTHER government spending program in his State of the Union address. If it doesn't cover new infrastructure for alternative energy, electric cars and hydrogen cars in a way that is a priority and a new transportation infrastructure which excludes the internal combustion engine at every turn, then I believe the House and Senate has to trash such a bill and propose one that makes sense and incorporates new ideas for all the problems the USA faces.

If Bush can't do what is best for this country then I guess we'll suffer a recession or worse until we have a new president that can provide for the infrastructure needs of this country while courting peace instead of inciting war. Doesn't seem as though Bush's War Economy has done anything for Americans. Nothing.

U.S. jobs growth stalls, fanning recession fears (click here)
JEANNINE AVERSA
The Associated Press
January 4, 2008 at 11:18 AM EST
WASHINGTON — Hiring practically stalled in December, driving the nation's unemployment rate up to a two-year high of 5 per cent and fanning fears of a recession.
Employers last month added the fewest new jobs to their payrolls in more than four years, according to the employment report released Friday by the Labor Department. The report showed that employment conditions are deteriorating, strained by a housing slump and credit crunch that are sapping economic strength.
“The economy is getting hit by some body blows. The big question is whether the economy can withstand it or will it take a fall,” said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.
The unemployment rate jumped from 4.7 per cent in November to 5 per cent in December, the highest since November 2005 after the Gulf Coast hurricanes dealt the country a mighty blow. Total payrolls — both private employers and government — grew by just 18,000 last month, the worst showing since August 2003, when the economy suffered job losses as it struggled to recover from the 2001 recession.
On Wall Street, the stocks tumbled. The Dow Jones industrials were down more than 150 points in morning trading....

I simply love this picture. It's from the NYTimes. They appear to be ethnic Pashtuns. Musharraf has to answer for lack of security.

Mourners still gathered at the site in Rawalpindi where Benazir Bhutto was killed last week in rawalpindi, Pakistan. A contingent from Scotland Yard arrived Friday to help investigate the killing, at the request of President Pervez Musharraf. More Photos >

British counterterrorism experts arrive in Pakistan (click here)

ISLAMABAD: British counterterrorism officers arrived in Pakistan on Friday to join the investigation into Benazir Bhutto's assassination a day after President Pervez Musharraf dismissed allegations that his government may have had a hand in the slaying.
The Scotland Yard team will provide forensic and technical expertise into the killing of the opposition leader but will not be allowed to go on a "wild goose chase and create a political disturbance," Musharraf said late Thursday.
Bhutto's killing on Dec. 27 plunged an already volatile Pakistan deeper into crisis as it battled a surge in violence by Al Qaeda and Taliban extremists. It also forced a six-week delay in parliamentary elections, now set for Feb. 18, which were seen as crucial to restoring stability and democracy....

Bhutto Assassination: PPP wants UN inquiry (click here)
Press Trust of India / Islamabad January 05, 2008

Slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan's People Party (PPP) has said it will co-operate with the Scotland Yard team probing the assassination of their leader but stuck to its demand for a UN inquiry."

The Scotland Yard team will only carry out a police-type investigation but we stick to our demand for probing the conspiracy of assassination of Benazir Bhutto through the United Nation Commission," party's information secretary Sheery Rahman told The News.

She said the party would co-operate with the Scotland Yard team, and rubbished claims that Bhutto was responsible for her death as she did not care for security. "This is an insult to the Shaheed leader and all those who lost their lives with her," she said."

The video footage clearly shows the absence of adequate security around the PPP leader just when she was leaving the Liaquat Bagh premises and after. None of us were scanned when we went in, and nobody was scanned as we left as well," Rahman said.She said rather than admitting its own failure, the regime was trying to tell people that "you will be responsible for the consequences if you try to exercise your fundamental rights.

"Rahman said the security lapses were so huge that Benazir Bhutto was left totally exposed to the assassins."

The Mohtarma was clearly shot at, and the blast happened minutes later. The October 18 blasts followed a similar pattern. There was firing first, followed by the blasts," she said.

Calif. faces Sierra blizzard, heavy rains in trio of storms

January 4, 2008
California
Photographer states :: The day after the major storm that hit the northern California coast last night. We've been in the middle of a power outage since 5 AM and only regained power about fifteen minutes ago (11:15 PM) The storm wholloped the coast last night with winds clocked in some places at 60-90 MPH along the coast, and on some of the ridgetops to the east, 145 MPH! Oregon and Washington were hit harder than we were. . .man, what a storm!


January 4, 2008
Weston, Oregon
Photographer states :: This is the result of high winds along the Blue Mountains


January 5, 2008
0730z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of North and West Hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop)

Basically, it's headed across the continent. California did very well in preparation though. I congratulate all. Nice job.


Sand bags and plastic sheeting cover the back a home at the edge of a hillside Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008, in Malibu, Calif. Homeowners still struggling to rebuild their lives after last fall's wildfires are preparing for downpours that could bring more than a foot of rain to some mudslide-prone mountain canyons. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)


Associated Press - January 4, 2008 3:04 AM ET
Rain, wind and snow have begun hitting California in the first of a trio of powerful storms.
Forecasters say the back-to-back storms could bring more than a foot of rain to mudslide-prone canyons, dump up to ten feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada and buffet the state with hurricane-force winds.
Snow began falling in the Sierra Nevada mountains Thursday afternoon. Forecasters have issued a rare blizzard warning for the Sierras, with up to 10 feet of snow expected in some areas above the 6,500-foot level.
Governor Schwarzenegger announced that officials will activate state emergency operations centers in Los Alamitos and Sacramento on Friday and have been coordinating with the California National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard and local authorities.


600K Without Power After Calif. Storm (click here)
Saturday January 5, 2008 11:01 AM
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press Writer
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A storm that pummeled California with gale-force winds and heavy rains was forecast to drop a thick blanket of snow on the Sierra Nevada on Saturday and keep thousands of people from their homes in mudslide-prone areas.
Flights were grounded and a major highway was closed as gusts reached 80 mph Friday during the second wave of an arctic storm that sent trees crashing onto houses, cars and roads and cut power from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Central Valley....


Blizzard conditions close Interstate 80 closed across Sierra (click here)
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 01/04/2008 05:16:21 PM PST
SACRAMENTO—Blizzard conditions prompted authorities to close Interstate 80 across the Sierra, the main east-west link between Northern California and Nevada.
The California Department of Transportation says the route is closed from Applegate, about 40 miles northeast of Sacramento, to the Nevada state line.
On Highway 50, another link between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, chains or snow tires are required from Pollock Pines to Meyers.
Avalanche danger closed Highway 88 from east of Silver Lake to the Kirkwood ski resort and from east of Kirkwood to west of Picketts Junction. Chains are required elsewhere on the highway.


Severe weather slams California; forecasters say more to come (click here)
January 5, 2008
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. -- Howling winds, pelting rain and heavy snow pummeled California on Friday, toppling trees, flipping big rigs and cutting power to more than a million people.
Flights were grounded in northern California as gusts reached 80 m.p.h., sending trees crashing onto houses, cars and roads. Fearing mudslides, authorities in Orange County urged residents of three fire-scarred canyons to flee....

Blatant lies of the NYT's Op-Ed - It only makes sense that Michael Powell is still lurking the halls somewhere and trying to divert the truth.

If only allowed to be a human being and a woman leader in Pakistan. The Pakistani candidates needs Popemobiles.

From the NYT's Op-Ed ...It was under Ms. Bhutto’s watch that the Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, first installed the Taliban in Afghanistan. It was also at that time that hundreds of young Islamic militants were recruited from the madrassas to do the agency’s dirty work in Indian Kashmir. It seems that, like some terrorist equivalent of Frankenstein’s monster, the extremists turned on both the person and the state that had helped bring them into being....

Little can be disputed about the origins of the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) or the fact the Bhuttos' opposed it's very existence. The ISI are blunderers. Very dangerous blunderers. The ISI has been in existence in Pakistan since the 1940s and has been the power broker of it's leadership, EXCEPT, for the Bhuttos. So to make the statement that Benazir was using them to instill the Taliban is an outrageous and blatant lie.

The ISI literally placed Musharraf in control of Pakistan.

The ISI was opposed by the once President of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir's father because of it's role in the hostilities that caused a division in East and West Pakistan resulting in the country of Bangledesh.

It is safe to say, it is the ISI which runs the country of Pakistan and not it's political leadership. It is also safe to say anytime the ISI has attempted to deploy Pakistani military power in any region of Pakistan it has failed and resulted in people/populous that are determined to lead themselves than be brutalized by the ISI forces or the political power structure that backs them. It is obvious that is what occurred with Bangledesh, now in Kashmir and with the Taliban in Pakistan re-establishing themselves in Afghanistan.

It is the ISI which saw the indictment of Former President Zulfikar Bhutto for his desire to see the ISI ended. He was eventually and wrongfully executed for his resistance of them. It was the ISI which lead an illegal war with India, called the Kargil War, which India over turned causing the most recent tensions between the two countries. The Kargil War having been lost by Pakistan, caused internal economic and political strife and placed Perez Musharraf in the position of General-President.

The ISI is an entity which needs to be resolved to it's influence and organization. It's nearly as bad as al Qaeda itself and no one can tell me they don't know where Osama bin Laden is living.

In a statement recently, Hillary Clinton stated it could have been the Pakistani government itself that was responsible for Benazir Bhutto's death. It was the ISI of which Senator Clinton referred. The ISI is located primarily in Rawalpindi, the very city Benazir was assassinated.

Musharraf Denies Agencies Had Role In Bhutto Death (click here)
...Musharraf told reporters authorities were not responsible for a security lapse that led to the killing of the opposition leader and former prime minister in a gun and suicide-bomb attack in Rawalpindi on December 27.
"In the last three months, there have been 19 suicide bombings, most of them against the military, against the intelligence," he said.
"If the same military and same intelligence is using the same people who are attacking them, it's a joke."
Musharraf said an al Qaeda-linked militant based on the Afghan border, Baitullah Mehsud, was behind most of the recent suicide bombings as well as the attack on Bhutto. Bhutto had spoken out about the need to tackle militancy.
Many Pakistanis believe other Bhutto enemies, perhaps in sections of the security agencies, were involved.
"No intelligence organization in Pakistan, I think, is capable of indoctrinating a man to blow himself up," Musharraf said....

Regardless, the ISI is a world level threat to stability in the region if not on a global scale. It has been mentioned in most of the regions violence as well as far flung estimates in supporting the attacks of September 11, 2001 on the USA. I sincerely believe the ISI needs to be dismantled and beheaded. It has such wide ranging power that it could easily be re-organized by mercenaries seeking the simple 'joy' of the hunt and the kill, no different than Blackwater, USA.

The New York Times should really have their Op-Eds based in reality rather than mysticism.

...and allow me to dance on your grave...

The turmoil of Pakistan is maintained. It is maintained by people served by it's violence.

When one blames those 'for trying' it is because they are unable to even try.

Benazir Bhutto was attempting to shift the paradyme of leadership in a place where al Qaeda calls home.

Would you try?

Would you attempt to shift power within a country corrupted by a coup?

I dare anyone, any world leader to render an answer to Pakistan now dominated by a man that has little answers except oppression that discards democracy.

Benazir tired. Musharraf assisted by al-Qaeda for still another coup, won this as well.

Why the Death of Benazir Matters
Rasheed Abou-Alsamh (click here)

The assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has sent shock waves around the world, and rightly so. She symbolized the struggle of all secular-minded Muslims who are fighting for democratic and non-religious rule in Muslim countries. Her opponents, Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Ladin and all of his followers, are fighting for a suffocating form of leadership where dissent is not allowed and where women are treated as second-class citizens.
This is why all democratically-minded people, including Filipinos, should be shocked by her violent death, and should be concerned about what happens next in Pakistan. That country is at a strategic crossroads between East and West, and the battle between tolerance and intolerance.
I found out about the tragic death of Benazir in a text message on the evening of Dec. 27 while in a taxi going home from a mall in Abu Dhabi.
I was shocked and saddened. I had always been a supporter of Benazir and of the whole Bhutto family. To me they, and the Pakistani People’s Party that Benazir’s father the late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto founded in 1967, represented progressive and secular ideals that would help propel Pakistan from the ranks of dysfunctional Third World countries to that of developing nations that were successful such as Brazil and Malaysia. This hope in a bright future for Pakistan perhaps reached its peak in me when Benazir was elected the first-ever female prime minister of a Muslim country in 1988.
Benazir ruled until 1990 when the president ousted her. She won re-election in 1993, but was again dismissed in 1996 for alleged incompetence and corruption.
Benazir unfortunately never really was a good leader while in office, due I think to her imperious attitude and a coalition of conservative Pakistanis, both in the government and military, who did not want to see a woman succeed in governing a Muslim nation. To them having Benazir lead them was both horrible and shameful.
In 1995 I went to Karachi for a week on assignment from Arab News to interview politicians and businessmen about the raging violence in that city that Benazir was not able to control. The resulting series was called “Karachi: City of Death.”
Two American employees of the US Consulate were shot dead at a traffic crossroads in Karachi when I was there. I remember rushing to the scene with Pakistani journalist colleagues and then attending a press conference given by Benazir to talk about what had happened. She literally sneered at the gathered press and it was quite clear that she was not being successful (nor was she happy) at governing Karachi and the rest of Pakistani.
That week, I visited the Bhutto family home at 70 Clifton in Karachi and met Benazir’s mother, Nusrat, and brother Murtaza, who had just launched a splinter group of the PPP. The house was steeped in the ghosts of Benazir’s father who had been hung by Gen. Zia ul-Haq in 1979, with pictures of him everywhere.
In the interview, which appeared in Arab News on March 16, 1995, Murtaza sharply criticized Benazir for failing to govern the country wisely, and most importantly, for surrounding herself with people who had helped bring their father down. Tragically, a year later in 1996, Murtaza was shot and killed outside the very same home where I had interviewed him.
When I asked him why Benazir was seemingly not doing anything for Karachi, he replied: “I don’t know. She doesn’t listen to people. She doesn’t listen to advice or any report that is contrary to her thinking. ...She forgot the only lesson that she learnt. She doesn’t ask, doesn’t seek advice.
“Her choice of people is bad, her judgment of people is wrong. Her policies are wrong. She’s surrounding herself with those people who opposed her father, who are responsible for his overthrow, who celebrated at his hanging. She’s just inept,” he said.
People who knew Benazir well have said that if she had been re-elected for a third time in the elections originally scheduled for Jan. 7, but which have now been postponed to the end of February, perhaps she would have been a better leader, having learned from her previous mistakes.
We will never know now that she is dead, but we can only hope that her son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, will be able to carry her on her legacy of trying to build a fairer and more democratic Pakistan for all of its citizens, both male and female.
* * *
Comments or questions? Email me at: rasheedaboualsamh@yahoo.com. Visit my blog at: http://rasheedsworld.blogspot.com.




Cold wave continues in Northern India, claims at least 90
New Delhi - The death toll in a cold wave sweeping across northern India rose to 90 Thursday with the weather office forecasting the harsh conditions were likely to continue for a couple of days, news reports said.
Most of the deaths occurred in Uttar Pradesh where at least 38 people were reported to have died over the past two weeks, while the rest of the deaths occurred in the eastern state of Jharkhand, northern Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir states, NDTV news channel and IANS news agency reported.
Schools in some cities like Agra, home to the famous Taj Mahal, were closed for the rest of the week.
Most of those who died were beggars and homeless people who spend the bitterly cold nights on the streets with little protection beyond plastic sheets and jute sacks, the reports said.
Temperatures dipped to between 2 and 3 degrees Celsius in several places in India's northern plains with the coldest temperature of minus 2.2 degrees recorded in the Punjab town of Adampur.
Jammu and Kashmir state capital Srinagar recorded a minimum temperature below minus seven degrees as water froze in taps and along the peripheries of the famous lakes in the picturesque city.
Residents of national capital Delhi continued to shiver with the mercury hovering at 2 degrees minimum, about 5 degrees below the normal temperature for this time of the year.
The Indian Meteorological Department said night temperatures may rise marginally over the next four to five days, but the cold wave conditions would continue over parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajsthan states as well as Uttar Pradesh.

One cannot address Kashmir without also addressing Jammu, where soldiers and police commit suicide in acts of desperation frequently, as a matter of fact one occurred immediately after the assassination of Bhutto. I don't know if it was connected to anything or not, it would appear not at first glance. Yet, the West chronically addresses only the issues of Kashmir because Jammu is a provice of India.

In reality, China really needs to reassess the region and take it back from two countries, namely Pakistan and India, which can't seem to establish a peaceful resolve.

...The region is divided among three countries in a territorial dispute: Pakistan controls the northwest portion (Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir), India controls the central and southern portion (Jammu and Kashmir) and Ladakh, and China controls the northeastern portion (Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract). India controls the majority of the Siachen Glacier area including the Saltoro Ridge passes), whereas Pakistan controls the lower territory just southwest of the Saltoro Ridge. India controls 101,387 km² of the disputed territory, Pakistan 85,846 km² and China, the remaining 37,555 km².
Though these regions are in practice administered by their respective claimants, neither India nor Pakistan has formally recognised the accession of the areas claimed by each other. India claims those areas, including the area "ceded" to China by Pakistan in the Trans-Karakoram Tract in 1963, are a part of its territory, while Pakistan claims the entire region, excluding Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract.
The two countries have fought several declared wars over the territory. The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 established the rough boundaries of today, with Pakistan holding roughly one-third of Kashmir, and India two-thirds, with a dividing line of control established by the United Nations. The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 resulted in a stalemate and a UN-negotiated ceasefire....



Benazir Bhutto

I have to take issue with the Op-Ed today in The New York Times by Dalrymple. It isn't difficult either. Like all historians Dalrymple is 'stuck in a time warp' and doesn't realize the changes that have occurred in Islam since the Former and Late Prime Minister was in leadership in Pakistan.

There was no war in Kashmir when she guided progress within Pakistan. There was a rise of the underclass, including women. Women were and still are a taboo in Islam when it comes to clout and leadership, Benazir created the only women's bank of Pakistan.

What Dalrymple trys to do in his very poor authorship of Benazir is to allow the imagination to create a monster, which he coins as Frankenstein. It's the furthest from the truth. When Benazir was displaced the country returned to disproportionate discrimination against the lower classes of Pakistan, today in Pakistan people are still enslaved by their heritage to work off debt created by their ancestors.

Before Benazir was displaced the underclasses learned they had power within consolidation of their common will. That is what ignited the region's extremists in a way that could not be contained. It was further fueled by Western interests that wanted, and still want to confront Russia. The West and primarily the USA armed the mujahedeen. It created al Qaeda along with an infusion of monies from Osama bin Laden himself.

In true right wing politics and an attempt to buoy Musharraf and Bush, Dalrymple begrudges 'the true history' of the region which ignited after Benazir was displaced, as if operating in a vacuum of Western influence and power. Her assassination occurred because she came back to recapture her country and bring into power the minorities and tribes she aligned with so long ago.

Dalrymple should be ashamed of his exuberance in trampling the name of a women dedicated to democracy. When one looks at the entire region of Islam during 'the time' of Bhutto, I doubt seriously there was one country, including India that didn't have a negative opinion of any human rights organization seeking to improve the circumstances of those most at risk, that's how change begins, with criticism. After all Mother Teresa's mission (click here) didn't exist for no reason.

If Dalrymple was so sure of his opinion, it should have existed before her death and not after. The New York Times editorial staff should be ashamed of this attempt to discredit the very words of a woman that dedicated her life to change the face of the people now victimized and suffering under a Western bolstered dictator. Honestly, to what extreme will the right wing go next? Do they believe in democracy at all or simply the manipulation of it to gain wealth?

Name recognition, if Obama can beat a Clinton and Edwards, he can beat a Huckabee.

Barak and Michelle Obama


Huckabee and favorite companions.

Mike's right !! Again !!

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

"It's the War," Says Iowa to Hillary -- And a "Happy Blue Year" To All! (click here)
..from Michael Moore

Friends,
There was no doubt about it. The message from Iowa tonight was simple, but deafening:
If you're a candidate for President, and you voted for the war, you lose. And if you voted and voted and voted for the war -- and never once showed any remorse -- you really lose.
In short, if you had something to do with keeping us in this war for four-plus years, you are not allowed to be the next president of the United States.
Over 70% of Iowan Democrats voted for candidates who either never voted for the invasion of Iraq (Obama, Richardson, Kucinich) or who have since admitted their mistake (Edwards, Biden, Dodd). I can't tell you how bad I feel for Senator Clinton tonight. I don't believe she was ever really for this war. But she did -- and continued to do -- what she thought was the politically expedient thing to eventually get elected. And she was wrong. And tonight she must go to sleep wondering what would have happened if she had voted her conscience instead of her calculator....