...Carter, who is scheduled to arrive in Egypt later Wednesday, has drawn criticism from the US and Israel for meeting Hamas officials.
22 killed on day of bloodshed in Gaza (click here)
By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
Last Updated: 2:11am BST 17/04/2008
At least 19 Palestinians died in military operations in Gaza on Wednesday in a day of bloodshed sparked when militants ambushed and killed three Israeli soldiers....
Due to a fuel shortage, Palestinians use carts pulled by donkeys for transport in Gaza City, Monday, April 14, 2008. Israeli officials said Sunday that the fuel terminal that pipes the only fuel that reaches Gaza was closed to allow authorities to investigate last week's attack of the terminal by Gaza militants, that left two Israeli workers dead. Israel immediately shut down the terminal and launched raids that have killed 16 people since, including at least six civilians. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) - (click at title to entry)
Photo Credit: AP Photo
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
"America will not stand for a Secretary of State who approved torture and then misled Congress."
Condi Must Go: Groups Launch Campaign to Remove Secretary of State
New TV Ad to Air around Presidential Debate to Pressure Politicians to Join Call for Rice's Resignation
WASHINGTON — TrueMajority.org, Brave New Films, and Democracy for America are launching CondiMustGo.com and a new television ad campaign calling for the resignation of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. This week Americans were outraged by the news that Condoleezza Rice personally oversaw meetings where top Bush administration officials selected specific torture techniques.
The new site CondiMustGo.com will feature a petition demanding Secretary Rice's resignation and a new video by Brave New Films documenting her involvement in torture and how she lied to Congress and the nation. The petition reads, "America will not stand for a Secretary of State who approved torture and then misled Congress. We call on the Presidential candidates to ask Secretary of State Rice to resign."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=998
"They brought him to the doctor, and when he came back he had no fingers left."
From Inside a Cage at Guantanamo
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2008-04-16 15:19.
By David Swanson
The guards at Guantanamo are terrified. Even a man with no legs (amputated after being intentionally exposed to extreme cold by American guards in Afghanistan) is treated as a horrifying threat:
"The bandages wrapped around Abdul's stumps were never changed. When he took them off himself, they were full of blood and pus. He showed the bandage to the guards and pointed to his open wounds. The guards ignored him. Later I saw how he tried to wash the bandages in his bucket of drinking water. But he could hardly move his hands, so he wasn't able to. And even if he had, where would he have hung them up to dry? He wasn't allowed to touch the fence. He wrapped his stumps back up in the dirty bandages.
"When the guards came to take him to be interrogated, they ordered him to sit with his back to the door and put his hands on his head. When they opened the door, they stormed in as they did with every other prisoner. They hit him on the back and pushed him to the ground. Then they handcuffed and bound him so he could no longer move. Abdul howled in pain."
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/32784
Ask Senators Clinton, McCain and Obama to join us in calling on Secretary of State Rice to resign.
http://www.condimustgo.com/
April 16th, 2008 4:46 pm
People at Virginia Tech remember mass shooting of 1 year ago
By Kristen Gelineau / Associated Press
BLACKSBURG, Va. — A sea of people wearing orange and maroon flowed onto the main lawn at Virginia Tech on Wednesday, some clutching single roses, to remember the victims of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
They gathered on the same field where a white candle lit at midnight began a day of mourning for the 32 people killed a year ago by a student gunman who shot himself as police closed in.
"We remain deeply and profoundly saddened by the events of that tragic day," Virginia Tech President Charles Steger told the crowd. "Indeed, all our lives were changed on that day."
While this close-knit campus of 27,000 has worked hard to move on, the anniversary of the killings has left many struggling to cope. Some weren't sure how best to honor the dead.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11308
April 16th, 2008 2:28 am
Iraq vigils become monthly event
Candlelight displays urge council, others to action
By Meera Pal / Tri-Valley Herald
PLEASANTON, CA — Feeling as if their local, state and federal governments were not listening to their concerns about the Iraq war, a group of Pleasanton residents has decided to do something on their own.
That something has turned into a monthly candlelight vigil held in downtown Pleasanton in front of the Museum on Main, where people from all over the Tri-Valley first gathered March 19 to mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion.
On Wednesday, Pleasantonians 4 Peace will gather for their third vigil. They are planning to make it a standing event.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11305
April 15th, 2008 1:41 am
Lawmaker lobbies for bill to impeach Bush
Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. — To boost her campaign for a bill that would call for the impeachment of President Bush over the Iraq war, an 87-year-old great-grandmother drummed up support Monday from the whistleblower who leaked secret Pentagon documents during the Vietnam War.
It's unlikely that HR24 would pass, but Betty Hall, a Democrat and longtime representative from Brookline, is hopeful. Hall is the only sponsor of the bill, which is scheduled for debate on Wednesday.
"We are trying to make history by being the first Legislature to forward a petition to Congress under Section 603 of the Jefferson Manual," she said. "I'm feeling very good about it."
Hall was referring to the "Manual of Parliamentary Practice for the Use of the Senate of the United States," written by President Thomas Jefferson in 1801.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11296
April 15th, 2008 2:06 am200 flock to rally for impeachment
State representatives to vote on resolution
By Lauren R. Dorgan / Concord Monitor
Calling President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney "domestic enemies," Pentagon Papers icon Daniel Ellsberg headlined a rally in Concord last night calling for their impeachment.
The rally, which drew more than 200 people to the Capitol Center for the Arts, was aimed at the New Hampshire House, which is considering a resolution that would call on Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney. The resolution may come to a vote on the House floor tomorrow.
A pre-rally reception for the House members who will vote on the resolution drew a couple of dozen, among them a few who said they were on the fence about the resolution. Rep. Betty Hall, the 87-year-old Brookline Democrat who is the measure's lone sponsor, was bullish, pumping her arms at a press conference and saying: "I think it's gonna pass."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11297
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
New Hampshire Impeachment Efforts Get Final Boost Before Vote ...
by Dan DeWalt
On April 14, close to 500 legislators and citizens packed the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord NH and sat through more than three hours of words and music making the case for the N.H. House to send an impeachment investigation resolution to the U.S. Congress. The vote will take place in the state capital on March 16.
Speaking on behalf of representative Betty Hall's HR 24 was a plethora of informed and passionate advocates; Daniel Ellsberg, John Nichols, Granny D, Phil Burk, Bob Bowman, and Paul Noel Stookey joined Hall and other regional activists in making the case that not only is it not too late to impeach, but that the danger of not impeaching would bode ill for the last months remaining of the Bush administration as well as being a severe disservice to the future of the nation.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=997
TODAY! Help pass New Hampshire's HR-24, a bill to tell Congress to Impeach (Mail list & sample message included)
by John Kennedy
We must have Impeachment Hearings before the Election. HR-24, is a resolution that will be voted on in the New Hampshire House on Wednesday, April 16th and is probably our last chance this year to have a State Legislature send a directive to Congress telling them to get busy and Impeach.
Due to special rules
April 15th, 2008 8:58 pm
Money in the Military
KOMU 8
COLUMBIA - Members of Missouri-Pro Vote and Peaceworks met outside the post office to hand out pamphlets explaining and explain how much money is spent on the American military.
For every dollar collected from the federal income tax for 2007, 43 cents was used for the military. Only 20 cents of every dollar went to health care, including Medicaid and parts of Medicare. Other areas include responses to poverty, interest and governmental operations. Education, jobs, diplomacy and foreign aid fell at the bottom of the list.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11301
April 15th, 2008 9:00 pm
Anti-war groups take to St. Louis streets to mark Tax Day
By Jo Mannies / St. Louis Post-Dispatch
While the rest of us political junkies spend Tax Return Day contemplating who will report what in their campaign-donation reports also due today, some of opponents of the Iraq War plan to spend lunch time downtown conducting what they call a “penny poll.”
“As War and Occupation takes lives in Iraq and Iran and the Bush Administration Threatens Iran with War, St. Louisans are Joining the 2008 War Tax Boycott,” one group of protesters say in a release just sent out.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11302
April 15th, 2008 9:02 pm
Peace activists withhold taxes
By Elizabeth Ganga / Journal News
Two aspects of American foreign policy in the past few years pushed Ethan and Rima Vesely-Flad to step up their protests against the government's militarism.
One was the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006, when the Israelis used American-made cluster bombs in civilian areas, they said. Another was the continuing occupation of Iraq and their sense that there was no way to influence U.S. policy there.
"We've been out and marched and protested and contacted members of Congress, did all the things we were supposed to do as citizens of our democracy, and it wasn't having any effect," said Ethan Vesely-Flad, 40, who works at Fellowship of Reconciliation in Upper Nyack, a peace-and-justice group committed to nonviolence.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11303
April 15th, 2008 2:09 pm
Bush Defeats Truman
Tough But Familiar Numbers for Bush: High Disapproval on Job Performance, Iraq and Economy
By Gary Langer / ABC News
At 39 months in the doghouse, George W. Bush has surpassed Harry Truman's record as the postwar president to linger longest without majority public approval.
Bush hasn't received majority approval for his work in office in ABC News/Washington Post polls since Jan. 16, 2005 — three years and three months ago. The previous record was Truman's during his last 38 months in office.
Truman's problems included both economic recession and the war in Korea, which, in October 1952, 56 percent of Americans said was not worth fighting. Bush's approval, likewise, has suffered overwhelmingly because of the unpopular war in Iraq; his job rating correlates almost perfectly with views of the war.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11298
April 16th, 2008 2:19 pm
War and opinions collide at Inland peace vigil
By Julia Glick / Press-Enterprise
PALM SPRINGS, CA — Two groups of Vietnam-era veterans squared off at a peace vigil on the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, with bikers who support the war snatching an American flag from anti-war demonstrators in Palm Springs.
In the tumult, a war supporter stomped on the peace group's symbolic cardboard coffin and one peace activist says he was badly bruised. Both sides say they were verbally abused. And an older woman running across the street to intervene in the struggle for the flag was hit by a pickup truck. She was not seriously hurt.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11306
April 16th, 2008 2:22 am
HAFB investigating incident where F-16 fired on soldiers' SUV
By Matthew D. LaPlante / Salt Lake Tribune
Two Army soldiers, whose combat duties include working to prevent "friendly fire" mishaps, narrowly avoided harm when an F-16 fighter jet from Hill Air Force Base opened fire on their SUV while driving at the Utah Test and Training Range.
The incident occurred during a nighttime training mission April 8 in which the fighter pilot was practicing shooting at ground targets. The soldiers were not hit, but did suffer minor injuries "while exiting the vehicle in rough terrain," according to a statement from the base. The sport utility vehicle, a rental from Avis, was damaged in the incident, but base officials declined to say whether it was hit by the jet's 20mm cannon fire or crashed after the soldiers jumped out.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11304
April 15th, 2008 7:54 pm
Five Years On, Fallujah in Tatters
By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail* / IPS
FALLUJAH - Fallujah remains a crippled city years after the November 2004 U.S.-led assault.
Unemployment, and lack of medical care and safe drinking water in the city 60 km west of Baghdad remain a continuous problem. Freedom of movement is still curtailed.
Fallujah has suffered more perhaps than any other city through five years of occupation. But it got a great deal worse in 2004.
The city suffered two devastating U.S. military attacks during 2004. Many of the buildings were destroyed, or heavily damaged. Several collapsed under the heavy bombing, and were never rebuilt. The heaps of concrete slabs and piles of rubble remain where they were.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11299
Rock 'n' Recruiters Show Kids How Much the Military Rocks!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDDQuZnmHwQ&eurl=http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Monday, March 24th, 2008
So? ... A Note from Michael Moore
Friends,
It would have to happen on Easter Sunday, wouldn't it, that the 4,000th American soldier would die in Iraq. Play me that crazy preacher again, will you, about how maybe God, in all his infinite wisdom, may not exactly be blessing America these days. Is anyone surprised?
4,000 dead. Unofficial estimates are that there may be up to 100,000 wounded, injured, or mentally ruined by this war. And there could be up to a million Iraqi dead. We will pay the consequences of this for a long, long time. God will keep blessing America.
And where is Darth Vader in all this? A reporter from ABC News this week told Dick Cheney, in regards to Iraq, "two-thirds of Americans say it's not worth fighting." Cheney cut her off with a one word answer: "So?"
"So?" As in, "So what?" As in, "F*** you. I could care less."
I would like every American to see Cheney flip the virtual bird at the them, the American people. Click here and pass it around. Then ask yourself why we haven't risen up and thrown him and his puppet out of the White House.
The Democrats have had the power to literally pull the plug on this war for the past 15 months -- and they have refused to do so. What are we to do about that? Continue to sink into our despair? Or get creative? Real creative. I know there are many of you reading this who have the chutzpah and ingenuity to confront your local congressperson. Will you? For me?
Cheney spent Wednesday, the 5th anniversary of the war, not mourning the dead he killed, but fishing off the Sultan of Oman's royal yacht. So? Ask your favorite Republican what they think of that.
The Founding Fathers would never have uttered the presumptuous words, "God Bless America." That, to them, sounded like a command instead of a request, and one doesn't command God, even if they are America. In fact, they were worried God would punish America. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington feared that God would react unfavorably against his soldiers for the way they were behaving. John Adams wondered if God might punish America and cause it to lose the war, just to prove His point that America was not worthy. They and the others believed it would be arrogant on their part to assume that God would single out America for a blessing. What a long road we have traveled since then.
I see that Frontline on PBS this week has a documentary called "Bush's War." That's what I've been calling it for a long time. It's not the "Iraq War." Iraq did nothing. Iraq didn't plan 9/11. It didn't have weapons of mass destruction. It DID have movie theaters and bars and women wearing what they wanted and a significant Christian population and one of the few Arab capitals with an open synagogue.
But that's all gone now. Show a movie and you'll be shot in the head. Over a hundred women have been randomly executed for not wearing a scarf. I'm happy, as a blessed American, that I had a hand in all this. I just paid my taxes, so that means I helped to pay for this freedom we've brought to Baghdad. So? Will God bless me?
God bless all of you in this Easter Week as we begin the 6th year of Bush's War.
God help America. Please.
Michael MooreMMFlint@aol.comMichaelMoore.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=224
Register to Vote
http://www.credomobile.com/registertovote/?source=govote
State Presidential Primary and Caucus Dates
http://www.votesmart.org/election_president_state_primary_dates.php
SDS Call to Action: Endorse and Participate in Shutting Down the RNC
Friday, March 28 2008 @ 01:09 PM PDTContributed by: activateViews: 2,197
Over the past year, organizing against the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC)--which will take place from September 1 through 4 in St. Paul--has grown at a considerable pace. At our 2007 national convention, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) passed a proposal endorsing the work of groups organizing against the RNC and encouraging folks within SDS to organize against both the RNC and the DNC.
SDS Call to Action: Endorse and Participate in Shutting Down the RNC
Over the past year, organizing against the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC)--which will take place from September 1 through 4 in St. Paul--has grown at a considerable pace. At our 2007 national convention, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) passed a proposal endorsing the work of groups organizing against the RNC and encouraging folks within SDS to organize against both the RNC and the DNC.
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20080328130926247
Those opposed to war in Iraq invited to join vigil
04/15/2008
Ever since Feb. 15, 2003, local residents have stood on the Messalonskee Bridge on Kennedy Memorial Drive every Sunday as a way to publicly support a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Iraq.
The March 16 vigil was planned by Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice and Colby College League of Progressive Voters. It marked the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion and occupation.
It was also an opportunity to show support for the soldiers testifying at the "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan" hearings (www.ivaw.org) at which they shared their experiences in the field and after their return.
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/view/letters/4944269.html
Be It Resolved: You Can Impeach the President
Official State Impeachment Text
Impeachment Text for Cities & Towns
Impeachment Text for County Democratic Committees
Impeachment Text for State Assemblies and/or Legislatures
Jefferson's Manual, Section LIII, 603
You Can Impeach the President
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=622
The Impeachment Project
http://www.freewayblogger.com/impeachment_project2.htm
FOR THE RECORD: Charlton Heston in 'Bowling for Columbine'
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/wackoattacko/president_of_NRA.php
Michael Moore winning an Oscar® and blasting Bush
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Is43K6lrg
Gun control advocates hold lie-ins on Drillfield and at Richmond's Capitol Square
Updated 4:40 p.m.
BLACKSBURG — They lay down on the grass of the Drillfield, roughly halfway between the places where two groups of victims lay one year ago in Norris and West Ambler Johnston halls.
In silence, the 50-some protestors stayed down for three minutes, about the time they said it takes to buy a gun.
Unlike the other vigils and ceremonies held on campus and around the region to mark the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings, this one did more than commemorate the dead: It appealed to the living to do something about the ease with which guns are purchased in America.
“I have no fear of firearms,” said Peter Read, a U.S. Air Force veteran whose daughter, Mary, was one of the 32 victims of last year’s shootings on the Tech campus.
“But I am afraid of what can happen in this country when we don’t take the most simple, common sense precautions,” said Read, who spoke to about 100 people attending the protest.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/158419
On Virginia Tech anniversary, Saugus mom lobbies for changes
By Mike Gaffney/mgaffney@cnc.com
Wed Apr 16, 2008, 11:40 AM EDT
Saugus - A year after she tragically lost her son Ross in the Virginia Tech shootings, Lynnette Alameddine is fighting to support legislation that would require universities to issue campus emergency notifications in 30 minutes or less.
This Wednesday marked the first anniversary of the massacre at Virginia Tech. One of the 33 victims of the deadliest school shooting in this country’s history was Ross Alameddine, 20, a Saugus resident and college sophomore known for his sharp wit and uncanny ability to make people laugh.
In a recent interview with the Advertiser, Lynnette Alameddine declined to reflect upon Ross’s death and its affect on her family for personal reasons.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/saugus/news/x1632296582
US military deaths in Iraq at 4,036
By The Associated Press – 18 hours ago
As of Tuesday, April 15, 2008, at least 4,036 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,291 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is one higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT.
The British military has reported 176 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.
Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 29,780 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department's weekly tally.
___
The latest deaths reported by the military:
_ No deaths reported.
___
The latest identifications reported by the military:
_ Army Spc. Arturo Huerta-Cruz, 23, Clearwater, Fla., was killed Monday in Tuz from wounds sustained from an explosion; was assigned to the 10th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.
_ Army Sgt. Joseph A. Richard III, 27, Lafayette, La., was killed Monday in Baghdad of wounds sustained from an explosive; was assigned to the 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), located at Fort Polk, La.
_ Two Marines were killed Monday during combat in Anbar province. Both were assigned to the Marine Forces Reserve's 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Milwaukee.
Killed were Cpl. Richard J. Nelson, 23, Racine, Wis.; and Lance Cpl. Dean D. Opicka, 29, Waukesha, Wis.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqgQCcv26kB1dkgZRZNHmbn_1J8gD902MNM81
Explosions kill dozens in 2 cities
Attacks linked to al Qaeda in Iraq leave at least 40 dead in Baquba and 13 in Ramadi
Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
(04-16) 04:00 PDT Baghdad - --
Bombs in two provincial capitals killed more than 50 Iraqi civilians Tuesday, underscoring the continuing threat posed by Sunni Muslim insurgents as they try to regain power in former strongholds.
Coinciding with military efforts to curb the strength of Shiite militias in Baghdad and southern Iraq, the new attacks also portend the potential hurdles ahead for the Iraqi government as U.S. troop levels decrease through the summer. Iraqi troops will take on more responsibility for holding on to security gains made in the past year, and the challenge will be formidable if both Sunni and Shiite extremists are active.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/04/16/MN9G1066IF.DTL
Nearly 60 are killed in attacks; Al-Qaida in Iraq is suspected
By ERNESTO LONDONO, Washington Post
Last update: April 15, 2008 - 11:39 PM
BAGHDAD - Two bombings killed nearly 60 people Tuesday in parts of Iraq where U.S. and Iraqi forces have claimed significant success in combating Sunni insurgent groups.
A car bombing in central Baqouba, the capital of northeastern Diyala Province, killed at least 47 people, an Iraqi military spokesman said. A suicide bomber in Ramadi, west of Baghdad in Anbar Province, killed at least 10 people at a restaurant frequented by police, according to local officials. Bombs also exploded in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, but the U.S. command said those blasts did not cause fatalities.
http://www.startribune.com/world/17761944.html
20 Palestinians, 3 Israelis killed in Gaza clashes (click here)
Last update: April 16, 2008 - 7:26 PM
GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP - In a surge of fighting between Israeli forces and militants in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, 20 Palestinians, including a TV cameraman, and three Israeli soldiers were killed, medical officials and the Israeli army said.
The violence came after a relatively quiet month and threatened to unravel an Egyptian effort to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers.
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