Michael Moore Today
"This is not a monarchy. There are ways to deal with it. And I would hope the president understands that."-- Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel
March 25th, 2007 5:59 pm
Hagel: Some See Impeachment As Option
GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel: Some Lawmakers See Impeachment As Option if Bush Continues Iraq Strategy
By Hope Yen / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - With his go-it-alone approach on Iraq, President Bush is flouting Congress and the public, so angering lawmakers that some consider impeachment an option over his war policy, a senator from Bush's own party said Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Senate's No. 2 Republican leader harshly criticized House Democrats for setting an "artificial date" for withdrawing troops from Iraq and said he believes Republicans have enough votes to prevent passage of a similar bill in the Senate.
"We need to put that kind of decision in the hands of our commanders who are there on the ground with the men and women," said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. "For Congress to impose an artificial date of any kind is totally irresponsible."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9488
"Get 'em both! A twofer!"
March 25th, 2007 5:44 pm
Larson Is Told: Impeach Bush
By Matthew Kauffman / Hartford Courant
WEST HARTFORD -- U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, promoted his views on Iraq to a mostly friendly audience in West Hartford Saturday, but nearly lost the crowd briefly when he stopped short of endorsing the impeachment of President Bush.
In a two-hour town meeting at the Elmwood Community Center, Larson praised House colleagues who joined him in narrowly passing legislation Friday requiring an end to combat in Iraq no later than September 2008. But Bush has promised to veto the legislation, prompting John L. Cochran of Manchester to suggest an alternate tack.
"As long as Bush is going to veto everything you try to do, it kind of cuts your options," Cochran, 82, said in a slow, even voice. "Maybe you'll be able to get a few more Republicans to vote on your side, but that doesn't sound too promising as far as really having enough to overcome a veto.
"From my viewpoint, I think the only option left is impeachment."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9486
March 25th, 2007 6:25 pm
2 bombs kill 5 U.S. soliders in Iraq
By Kim Gamel / Associated Press
BAGHDAD - Roadside bombs killed five U.S. soldiers in Iraq Sunday, including four in a single strike in a volatile province northeast of the capital, the military said.
In Baghdad, gunmen on rooftops opened fire on Iraqi soldiers, prompting fierce fighting in the narrow streets and alleys of one of the capital's oldest neighborhoods, a Sunni insurgent stronghold and a haven for criminals on the east side of the Tigris River. At least two civilians were killed and four others were wounded in the clashes, police said, as U.S. attack helicopters buzzed overhead.
Four U.S. soldiers were killed and two others were wounded, according to a statement, when an explosion struck their patrol in Diyala province, a religiously mixed area that has seen fierce fighting in recent months.
A roadside bomb also killed a soldier and wounded two others as they were checking for bombs on a road in northwestern Baghdad, the military said.
Thousands of U.S. reinforcements have been sent to the capital and surrounding areas to help the Iraqis tame the spiraling sectarian violence that flared after the bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra more than a year ago.
Sunday's deaths raise to at least 3,239 the members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003 — 114 of those since the security operation started on Feb. 14, according to an Associated Press count. In comparison, 123 U.S. troops deaths were reported in the 40 days preceding the start of the plan.
The clashes between gunmen and Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad's Fadhil neighborhood started about 1:30 p.m. when an attack on Iraqi army positions forced soldiers to call for U.S. assistance, Iraqi officials said. The U.S. military said it had no immediate reports about the fighting.
An Iraqi army colonel from the brigade in charge of the area said the gunmen were firing at army checkpoints and patrols from rooftops and the soldiers returned fire. He said the situation had largely calmed by late afternoon, but sporadic clashes continued.
"The soldiers raided some houses believed to be used by the gunmen today. Several suspects were arrested and they are being interrogated," the colonel said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The military sealed off all roads leading to the area, causing traffic jams, according to witnesses and police. Stores closed their doors as the streets emptied of people fleeing the fighting.
"The gunmen were shooting at every moving object. The streets were deserted and all shops closed," said Ghaith Jassim, the 37-year-old owner of a textile store in the area. "These frequent clashes have affected our work. We cannot earn our living. People and traders are afraid of coming to our area."
Jassim said the arrival of U.S. troops in the area briefly stopped the clashes but the fighting resumed when the Americans left.
Fadhil, one of Baghdad's oldest and poorest areas, is ridden with Sunni insurgents and common criminals and its narrow streets and alleys have been the site of frequent clashes.
A helicopter owned by the private security company Blackwater USA crashed in heavy gunfire in the area on Jan. 23, killing four civilian contractors. A fifth contractor in a second helicopter died of gunshot wounds.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, raised the death toll in a suicide truck bombing against a police station in Baghdad on Saturday to 33 police officers, saying 20 other policemen and 24 civilians were wounded. Iraqi police said 20 people were killed in the strike, which was the deadliest of a series of suicide bombings nationwide.
The new toll would raise to 87 the number of people killed or found dead in Iraq on Saturday — 60 in suicide bombings.
Suspected Shiite militants attacked a Sunni mosque on Sunday in apparent retaliation for one of those attacks — a suicide truck bombing against a Shiite mosque that killed 11 people in Haswa, 30 miles south of Baghdad.
The explosion on Sunday blew a hole in the roof of the mosque's minaret but caused no injuries, although two people were wounded after clashes erupted in the area following the blast. Local authorities imposed a curfew after gunmen opened fire on a funeral procession for the victims killed in Saturday's blast, raising fresh concerns about sectarian violence.
The number of execution-style killings in the capital has declined since the operation started on Feb. 14 — a development officials say is due to an agreement keeping Shiite militias off the street. Sunday's attack in Haswa highlighted concerns that militia factions are angry about being sidelined while the bombings continue.
On March 14, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William C. Caldwell expressed optimism about the Baghdad security plan, but urged patience and cautioned that "high-profile" car bombings, which rose to a high of 77 in February, could "start the whole cycle of violence again."
The Islamic State in Iraq, an insurgent umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, purportedly claimed responsibility for three other suicide bombings Saturday near the Anbar province city of Qaim, near the Syrian border, saying in an Internet statement that 45 policemen were killed and 48 were wounded.
The statement could not be independently verified, and police said only six people had been killed, including five policemen, and 19 other people wounded in the three attacks against checkpoints and a police station.
At least 31 people were killed or found dead elsewhere in Iraq, including two soldiers who died after a suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi army checkpoint in Baqouba and 22 bullet-riddled bodies of apparent victims of so-called sectarian death squads — most in Baghdad.
March 25th, 2007 7:35 pm
Iraq costs include the dear and ordinary moments of a life
By Beth Bragg / Anchorage Daily News
In the minutes before Spc. Abel Alejandro helped carry the flag-draped coffin of his friend and infantry team leader, he couldn't help but laugh while sharing a story about Daniel Woodcock, the Glennallen soldier killed this month in Iraq.
Woodcock, 25, was the kind of sergeant who put his soldiers ahead of himself, Alejandro said. "He would literally take his shirt off for you.''
Alejandro wasn't kidding. One cold day in Iraq -- and there are cold days in Iraq, Alejandro said -- Woodcock noticed that one of his soldiers wasn't dressed for the weather.
"He took off his Gore-Tex top and gave it to one of his privates because the private forgot to pack his,'' Alejandro said, grinning at the memory.
And then Alejandro was off to perform a duty he's drawn too many times in a nine-year Army career that's just about over: serve as a pallbearer. He and five other members of Woodcock's 82nd Airborne Division carried the casket at memorial and funeral services Friday at Ford Richardson.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9490
March 25th, 2007 7:41 pm
Americans keep Iraq war memorials up-to-date
By Scott Lindlaw / Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — The names of America’s war dead are etched in black marble with military precision, 46 to a column. Name, service branch, date of death in Iraq or Afghanistan — 3,217 so far, with another 300 going up next week.
Families of dead service members come here from around the country to visit the memorial built and maintained by the Marines’ Memorial Club. Resembling the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, it is one of many markers, both public and private, that have sprung up across the country to honor fallen soldiers in real time.
It took the nation seven years of recrimination and reconciliation to dedicate the Vietnam wall, but this time around, Americans aren’t waiting for the shooting to stop. From beaches to bases, town squares to veterans’ clubs, they are building their monuments as fast as they can, even as the wars grind on.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9491
"They lie to you when they tell you time heals." -- Vietnam vet
Alberto Gonzales cuts and runs after taking just three questions from reporters
March 28th, 2007 6:09 pm
Gonzales ducks questions
News conference cut short after he's asked about firings
By Natasha Korecki / Chicago Sun-Times
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales rushed out of a Chicago news conference after just 2½ minutes Tuesday, avoiding questions about how his office gave U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald an undistinguished rating.
Gonzales, who is increasingly facing calls for his resignation, visited Chicago to promote a new ad campaign and had planned to spend 15 minutes with reporters. He left after taking just three questions about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, a move that has drawn a firestorm of criticism.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9504
March 28th, 2007 6:31 pm
Lawmakers prod White House about Rove
By Laurie Kellman / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Lawmakers prodded the White House Wednesday for a new answer on whether President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove, will testify about the firings of federal prosecutors.
"We have not heard from you," Patrick Leahy of Vermont and John Conyers of Michigan, the Senate and House Judiciary committees' chairmen, wrote to President Bush's counsel, Fred Fielding.
The White House has indicated no willingness to move beyond Bush's initial offer to let Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and their deputies to speak to committee members, but only in private, without being sworn and off the record.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9505
"...we did not take into consideration we could be in a long war."
March 28th, 2007 7:06 pm
Worries grow over mental health of soldiers
Up to 20 percent of Iraq vets may have post-traumatic stress disorder
Reuters
WASHINGTON - Retired U.S. Navy medic Charlie Anderson twice thought about committing suicide: once when he feared he would be sent back to Iraq in 2004 and again last year when a friend and fellow veteran killed himself.
“I can’t say that I can’t go because we don’t do that, I also can’t go because I’m putting people in danger if I do,” he said of his first brush with suicidal thoughts, which came while he was awaiting his second deployment.
In the end, Anderson was not deployed but it sparked a two-year effort to get help for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), one of thousands of soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan facing a battle to re-enter everyday life.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9507
March 28th, 2007 7:06 pm
Worries grow over mental health of soldiers
Up to 20 percent of Iraq vets may have post-traumatic stress disorder
Reuters
WASHINGTON - Retired U.S. Navy medic Charlie Anderson twice thought about committing suicide: once when he feared he would be sent back to Iraq in 2004 and again last year when a friend and fellow veteran killed himself.
“I can’t say that I can’t go because we don’t do that, I also can’t go because I’m putting people in danger if I do,” he said of his first brush with suicidal thoughts, which came while he was awaiting his second deployment.
In the end, Anderson was not deployed but it sparked a two-year effort to get help for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), one of thousands of soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan facing a battle to re-enter everyday life.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9507
March 28th, 2007 2:04 am
Horror follows troops home
By Tom Roeder and Cary Leider Vogrin / Colorado Springs Gazette
FORT CARSON, CO - “Imagine you’re home in bed, sound asleep, then you wake up and hear glass breaking in your children’s room.
“Now imagine feeling that way for a year.”
The waking nightmare has followed Fort Carson Sgt. Christopher Cain and more than 1,500 other local soldiers home from Iraq.
Most of the mental health problems faced by homecoming troops are mild, Fort Carson officials say. Up to a third report a little sleeplessness here or paranoia there, the post’s top doctor said. These symptoms will disappear after a month or so at home for all but a few.
But a growing number of cases are more severe, like Cain’s. Nearly 600 Fort Carson soldiers were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder last year, up from 102 cases in 2003 when soldiers started returning from their first tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was the fourth straight year with a significant increase in the number of soldiers being diagnosed with PTSD.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9501
March 27th, 2007 1:24 am
Parents and Peace Activists To Press School Officials
ABC-7
ROCKVILLE, Md. - A Montgomery County parents' group is joining peace activists in raising questions about military recruiting efforts on high school campuses.
The parents have formed a group called Montgomery Coalition on Recruitment Issues which claims 180 members. They'll join members of Peace Action Montgomery at a meeting of the county's school board Monday night.
Some peace activists claim military recruiters have more access to public school students than recruiters from other groups. But Montgomery school officials say they comply with a federal law granting military recruiters equal access.
The groups contend recruiters have access to school lunchrooms and Junior ROTC programs and can bring military recruiting vans to school property. While other recruiters are must limit their activities to guidance offices.
March 28th, 2007 12:47 pm
Wounded vets look to life after military at job fairs
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO, TX - The booths with colorful posters, logo-bearing trinkets and enthusiastic recruiters are like those at most jobs fairs, but here at Fort Sam Houston on Tuesday, many of the job seekers come on crutches, missing limbs or with bandages, their fatigues and dark suits covering severe burns or other battle wounds.
The job fair, the ninth in a series sponsored by the Department of Defense, is designed to help wounded veterans -- especially those with the most severe injuries -- build a civilian life after their military career ends. Fort Sam houses the Army's only burn unit and new high-tech rehabilitation facility for amputees, so many of the wounded here will not return to active duty.
More than 23,000 military servicemembers have been wounded in action in Iraq, and because of advances in battlefield medicine, some of the most severe wounds including burns and limb losses are increasingly survivable. But once the medical care and rehabilitation are over, many veterans are uncertain what to do next, said Patricia Bradshaw, the DOD deputy undersecretary of civilian personnel.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9503
March 28th, 2007 11:17 am
Bush family hedges its bets for 2008
By Alexander Bolton / The Hill
George’s and Jeb’s followers are lining up against each other in the 2008 presidential election.
Many prominent GOP operatives close to President Bush have joined Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) while a majority of those close to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) are lining up behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R).
It is clear that the Bush family is hedging its 2008 bets, said one political scientist. Or the divergence could signal a schism between the two brothers’ politics. Or, as one fundraiser close to the Bush family argued, it may just be happenstance.
McCain’s campaign has signed the lion’s share of the best known lieutenants of the president’s election campaigns. Terry Nelson, Mark McKinnon, and Steve Schmidt, who worked on Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign, now serve McCain. Nelson served as Bush’s political director, McKinnon and Schmidt handled media strategy. Matt David, who handled rapid response, also works for McCain.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9502
October 7th, 2006 6:55 pm
Jeb Bush gets rude welcome
Police disperse angry protesters in Downtown T-station
By Ervin Dyer / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, in town for a fund-raiser for Sen. Rick Santorum, had a close encounter with a large group of anti-Republican protesters as he was making his way to the Duquesne Club, Downtown.
It was about 4:15 yesterday when Mr. Bush met up with the protesters near the corner of Liberty and Sixth avenues. The protesters were marching to join other pickets already gathered in front of the exclusive club, a little more than a block away at 325 Sixth Ave.
Protesters said Gov. Bush blew them a kiss, acknowledging the crowd of about 30 chanting pickets that was made up of United Steelworkers and members of Uprise Counter Recruitment, a tour traveling through 22 cities to support anti-war efforts.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/the06fix/index.php?id=260
"Bring the troops home."
Paint the White House Pink; CODEpink for impeachment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1HWW8xsp4c
Code Pink : Women for Peace
http://www.codepink4peace.org/
Alberto Gonzales cuts and runs after taking just three questions from reporters
March 29th, 2007 6:01 pm
E-Mail Shows Rove’s Role in Fate of Prosecutors
By David D. Kirkpatrick and Jim Rutenberg / New York Times
WASHINGTON, March 28 — Almost every Wednesday afternoon, advisers to President Bush gather to strategize about putting his stamp on the federal courts and the United States attorneys’ offices.
The group meets in the Roosevelt Room and includes aides to the White House counsel, the chief of staff, the attorney general and Karl Rove, who also sometimes attends himself. Each of them signs off on every nomination.
Mr. Rove, a top adviser to the president, takes charge of the politics. As caretaker to the administration’s conservative allies, Mr. Rove relays their concerns, according to several participants in the Wednesday meetings. And especially for appointments of United States attorneys, he manages the horse trading.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9510
March 28th, 2007 6:09 pm
Gonzales ducks questions
News conference cut short after he's asked about firings
By Natasha Korecki / Chicago Sun-Times
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales rushed out of a Chicago news conference after just 2½ minutes Tuesday, avoiding questions about how his office gave U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald an undistinguished rating.
Gonzales, who is increasingly facing calls for his resignation, visited Chicago to promote a new ad campaign and had planned to spend 15 minutes with reporters. He left after taking just three questions about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, a move that has drawn a firestorm of criticism.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9504
March 28th, 2007 6:31 pm
Lawmakers prod White House about Rove
By Laurie Kellman / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Lawmakers prodded the White House Wednesday for a new answer on whether President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove, will testify about the firings of federal prosecutors.
"We have not heard from you," Patrick Leahy of Vermont and John Conyers of Michigan, the Senate and House Judiciary committees' chairmen, wrote to President Bush's counsel, Fred Fielding.
The White House has indicated no willingness to move beyond Bush's initial offer to let Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and their deputies to speak to committee members, but only in private, without being sworn and off the record.
Those terms — particularly Fielding's insistence on there being no transcript — have been dismissed by lawmakers.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9505
"...we did not take into consideration we could be in a long war."
March 28th, 2007 6:59 pm
Army Officer: Long-Term Morale a Concern
By Hope Yen / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Army's new acting surgeon general said Tuesday she is concerned about long-term morale because the military lacks money to hire enough nurses and mental health specialists to treat thousands of troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"When the original plans were made, we did not take into consideration we could be in a long war," said Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock. She became surgeon general earlier this month after Kevin Kiley was forced to resign in a scandal over poor treatment of war-wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
"We have not been able to do the hiring," Pollock told a House Armed Services subcommittee.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9506
"I have triggers every day, but I'm learning how to deal with them."
March 28th, 2007 7:06 pm
Worries grow over mental health of soldiers
Up to 20 percent of Iraq vets may have post-traumatic stress disorder
Reuters
WASHINGTON - Retired U.S. Navy medic Charlie Anderson twice thought about committing suicide: once when he feared he would be sent back to Iraq in 2004 and again last year when a friend and fellow veteran killed himself.
“I can’t say that I can’t go because we don’t do that, I also can’t go because I’m putting people in danger if I do,” he said of his first brush with suicidal thoughts, which came while he was awaiting his second deployment.
In the end, Anderson was not deployed but it sparked a two-year effort to get help for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), one of thousands of soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan facing a battle to re-enter everyday life.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9507
Tuesday, March 27th, 2007
'Go See Air Guitar Nation!' ...by Björn Turöque
Air Guitar Nation has received rave reviews from nearly every media outlet! But we still need your love!
Tickets are available here
If you’ve seen the film, you know it rocks. Please forward this info to friends in NY and LA. If you haven’t seen it, please check it out. It’s a well made, hilarious movie that will make you laugh out loud and actually get sucked in to the story, as the New York Times notes:
http://michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=850
Air Guitar Nation
http://www.airguitarnation.com/new/
"Those organizers do not violate a single city code."
Town Ordinance Doesn't Stop the War Memorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Lb9S9uNTM
"It was a twist in life they hadn't counted on."
March 28th, 2007 12:47 pm
Wounded vets look to life after military at job fairs
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO, TX - The booths with colorful posters, logo-bearing trinkets and enthusiastic recruiters are like those at most jobs fairs, but here at Fort Sam Houston on Tuesday, many of the job seekers come on crutches, missing limbs or with bandages, their fatigues and dark suits covering severe burns or other battle wounds.
The job fair, the ninth in a series sponsored by the Department of Defense, is designed to help wounded veterans -- especially those with the most severe injuries -- build a civilian life after their military career ends. Fort Sam houses the Army's only burn unit and new high-tech rehabilitation facility for amputees, so many of the wounded here will not return to active duty.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9503
Defund the war - Rebuild the Gulf Coast
http://veteransforpeace.org/Rebuilding_the_gulf_coast.vp.html
The Occupation Project
http://vcnv.org/project/the-occupation-project
Impeach the President
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=622
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