Walls of a defacto prison, not soliders keep the Baghdad "peace"

What you are not going to see from the corporate owned media that thinks truth, actual journalism and the 4th estate is subservient to entertainment and the almighty dollar.

part 1


part 2


part 3


Our lack of planning, our lack of understanding, our arrogance has created more who hate us. What will the future bring?

Without Comment

Fund US Infrastructure Not the Iraq War

Isn't it interesting that the same amount of money we are spending on Bush's misadventure in Iraq could be spent here in America to fix our highways, electrical system, water/steam/sewer pipes, and bridges.

When are the American people going to to say that our tax money should be spent here and not in a mis managed war we were lied into, that the president never wanted to win in the first place?

How many more dead on our own soil are we going to suffer? The republican's blew a budget surplus, sunk into trillions of dollars in debt (all held by China) and made us into a debtor nation. Which would you rather have your tax money go for?

Listen to those who've served, for a change!

Democrats.org has a post called "Veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Urges President Bush and Senate Republicans to Change Mission in Iraq".

The audio stream of the address and the text can be found at the link above. The address (Democratic Response) was given by Brandon Friedman, a former infantry officer in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was the Democratic radio address this week, and is a must read or must listen to .

You can also listen to the response here:


What is so sad is that it he and other veterans, who oppose this war, will be dismissed or told that they hate America. Just as these veterans at VoteVets.org have and the veterans at the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Any vet who opposes this war, whether they be WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, Gulf War I. or our current two wars hears this A charge made by persons who have never served no less.

This exchange between Cindy Sheehan, Chris Vucovich and Vietnam Veterans is very painful to watch. Mr. Vucovich, a man who has never seen the horrors of war with his own eyes, smelled it, or cleaned the remnants of his buddies off of him, launches and lashes out at those who have.



More:
Confrontation in Alabama with a 'True Chickenhawk' - DailyKOS and
here.
Y'all is Yella - OYE
Now It's President Bush's Turn: Urge Chris Vucovich to Be A Man! Enlist! - OYE
Cost of Iraq Occupation: $442B and counting; Cost of Shaming Clueless Chickenhawk: Priceless - C&L
Don’t Count Your Chickenhawks Before They Hatch" - Scrutiny Holligans
Updated 'Confrontation w/Chickhawk' - Never in Our Names

The shame of our unneccesaary illegal war. You need to know why.

No matter if you beleive, believed, or never believed in the Iraq War, this is a movie EVERY American needs to see. You can be damn sure the rest of the world will.

If any American ever asks why teh middle east is the way it is and why do *they* hate us (why does the world hate us), point them to this movie.

Bush wants war with EVERYONE

Afghanistan (justified, but we are failing at due to Bush’s Iraq quagmire), Iraq (illegal and unjustified), Iran, North Korea, Russia, etc. etc. etc. etc. Along with our loss of respect and standing in the world, earns Bush the title of “God of War.”

This is NOT a compliment. This is NOT a game.

A dose of guilt with your "free" Marine Windbreaker

This is a deck of 12 cards my son received from the Marines last week. As you read through them, partaking of all the emotional manipulation going on in them, please think of Andrew Madison Rove (son of Karl Rove), the 5 sons of Mitt Romney, Paris Hilton, Jenna and Barbara Bush (they could serve state side), any and all Young Republicans (especially those in college and there a lot of them) who have not and are not serving.

Doesn't the priviledged, upper class think that our way of life is worth protecting, that they need to do their part, or want to make a difference? They that benefit the most from this way of life.

The cards are presented in order (there is a number on the bottom right of the back of each card. To see the larger version, click on it. The band that held the cards has the directions.

Inside Paperboard Cover

Band

Card 1

Card 2

Card 3

Card 4

Card 5

Card 6

Card 7

Card 8

Card 9

Card 10

Cards 11 and 12 do not have a number on them so it is impossible to tell which order they belong in. Attached to each card is a perforated Business Reply card asking for name, address, phone number, cell number, date of birth, email address (you can check a box for them not to send you anything via email), name of school, last grade completed, and the size for your free windbreaker (offer expiring 7/31/2007).

Interestingly enough on this post card (which anyone can read as it is being handled) is a "Privacy Act Statement." All the information provided will be used for recruiting purposes only.

Card 11

Card 12


Look for more as we go into Bush's second surge to get us to 200,000 troops in Iraq and a plan for us to be there 5 to 10 more years. It is beginning to look enough like Viet Nam yet to you? Or do we need to get to 200 dead American service persons a day? We are now at 5 a day.

Update:Cheap skate Marine corps chose to let our Marines die from IEDs rather than give them the equipment they needed

President Bush, Fight Like You Mean It!

That's the message I would take back to the president after his veto of war funds.

Those of us who have been paying attention, know that at no time during the Iraq war have we had the number of troops in theater needed to win the war.

Those of us who have been paying attention, know that recruitment is down and that the military revised downward the yearly goal numbers for new recruits.

We also know that not only has the military resorted to "stop lossing," extended tours and many deployments of the same soldiers (decreasing the time at home between deployments that the military says a soldier needs to be able to fight), we are also recruiting those into the military who before we would have turned away (neo-nazis, militia, KKK, etc.) and keeping those on active duty that should be released (due to issues such as mental problems caused by this war).

Those of us who have been paying attention, know that at we sent troops to both Afghanistan and Iraq without the proper equipment and armor.

Those of us who have been paying attention, know that at we are sending new troops into Iraq without their full and necessary training.

Those of us who have been paying attention, know that we as a country, have never been placed on a war footing and as a result all the ordinance and equipment being used and used up in Iraq is not being replaced. We are weaker today than we were 9-11-2001.

The President and the White House are using the talking point that if Democrats really don’t like this war and thinks we shouldn’t be fighting it then we/they should just defund the war.

Democrats are smarter than to bite. They know that those who only watch Fox News, listen to only Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc. or who don’t really pay attention but lean to the right will believe that the Democrats are for leaving troops stranded and without bullets in Iraq. While those who are left of center, left leaning, progressive, liberal, etc. know that nothing is further from the truth, we know that Republicans are not above those despicable, untruthful and divisive tactics and talking points to stay in power.

So what should the answer be?

I believe the 30 second sound bite from Demcrats should be “If you believe the Iraq war is necessary then, President Bush, Fight Like You Mean It!”

But what does that mean?

• Give the troops the full rest they deserve before deploying them again.
  
• Give the new recruits the FULL training they need and deserve.
  
• End stop loss.
  
• Reinstate the draft.
  

Yes the draft.

How could I, who have never supported the war in Iraq, want the draft? Actually I don’t, but I do know 3 things.

1. Our troops are exhausted and our volunteer army doesn’t have enough recruits to replace those who need a rest.
   
   
   
2. By in large Americans have not been asked to be part of this war. As a result the war, it’s reasons and casualties happen to “someone else.” A draft will finally bring the realties home, once the majority of America has a loved one who will be put in harms way, they will pay attention.
   
   
   
3. Given number 2, the more attention paid the more chance it will bring an end to the war that much faster.
   

It’s sad, but it’s true. and the Bush administration knows it. That’s why this administration would rather abuse our service men and women and run them to pure exhaustion (and then refuse to deal with the life time physical and mental health issues that have and will happen because of this policy), then to fully fight this war. Instead of all Americans "in" this war and putting us on a war footing we've been told to “go shopping.”

It could be argued that I can be in favor of the draft because I know my 22 year old daughter, and 20 year old son will be somewhere around 4F in the call-up: My daughter due to a birth defect and my son due to an accident when he was 17 (but already an Army recruiter was ready to overlook the lifelong injury and get him into the uniform, so I'm not so sure about that). But you know what, I have two more sons (teen and pre-teen), and if this war lasts as long as Viet Nam (which I am afraid it will) they will be drafted.

The challenge issued in “President Bush, fight like you mean it!,” illustrates that Bush (Mr. Codpiece and Flight Suit) and his administration has NEVER fought this war to win.

They’ve gotten away with it because the majority of the American people aren’t really paying attention.

Americans need to, we must, and if the draft is the way to get it done, well it's what needs to be done. But more than that, if the Republicans REALLY support the troops than they must stop abusing them and reinstate the draft so that those who are fighting can rest, and those that are going to fight, have the time to be fully trained. The Bush administration and the Republicans will finally cease treating these Americans like facial tissue; something to be used (abused) and then thrown away - they will actually support the troops, by getting more men and women (maybe even finally their own children) serving.

An estimated 5,000 web sites are devoted to the spread of Islamic extremism.

But how many were there BEFORE we invaded Iraq? Jihad On-line



We alrady know that the war in Iraq and Bush's policies have increase terrorist attacks and increased recruitment. So it's not hard to to come to the conculsion (absent numbers) that they weren't even half. Infact Bush's War and Rehetoric might have been and continue to be the best thing that ever happened to and for Al Qaeda.








Read more. . .

iRack and iRan

My sons told me about this last night. My 14 year old even said, "It'll be on Youtube soon." How about less than 12 hours. . .

Sung 30 years ago, still true today

Edwin Starr-War (30 years ago)


Recently


Lyrics:
War! huh-yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh

War! huh-yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again y'all

War! huh good God
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me?

Ohhh? War! I despise
Because it means destruction?
Of innocent lives

War means tears
to thousands of mothers eyes
When their sons go to fight
and lose their lives

I said - War! Huh Good God y'all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again

War! Whoa, Lord ...
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me?

War! It ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War! Friend only to the undertaker
War! It's an enemy to all mankind
The thought of war blows my mind

War has caused unrest in the younger generation
Induction then destruction-
Who wants to die?

Ohhh? War Good God y'all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it, Say it, Say it

War! Uh-huh Yeah - Huh!
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me?

War! It ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War! It's got one friend, that's the undertaker
War has shattered many a young mans dreams
Made him disabled bitter and mean
Life is much to precious to spend fighting wars these days
War can't give life, it can only take it away

War! Huh Good God y'all
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Say it again

War! Whoa, Lord ...
What is it good for
Absolutely nothing
Listen to me?

War! It ain't nothing but a heartbreaker
War! Friend only to the undertaker
Peace Love and Understanding;
tell me, is there no place for them today?
They say we must fight to keep our freedom
But Lord knows there's got to be a better way

War! Huh Good God y'all
What is it good for?
You tell me
Say it, Say it, Say it

War! Huh Good God y'all
What is it good for?
Stand up and shout it.
Nothing!

The War on Eve and Women in General

Way back in the 1970's a fantastic book came on the scene. It was a book that caused the likes of Jerry Falwell and the “moral majority” tremble, to deride and speak of evil and caused feminists to cheer. It is sometimes hard to remember those days. We are so much more of an information rich, open and accessible society, but it’s important that those of us who remember those days impart those memories to a new generation. As the “faith based” anti-women screeds and organizations gain power, we seem to be returning to the “medieval” days of yore.

I shiver when I think about it. When just the suggestion of knowing what one’s own body looked like was enough to send Falwell and his ilk to the airwaves, denouncing the book. And it did too. In one passage the book directed women to place a mirror on the floor, stand over it/ sans panties, and look at themselves. Radical, that women should be encouraged to know what their genitalia looked like. According to the Moral Majority it threatened the very existence of the United States. Funny how anything promoting and encouraging female empowerment is viewed that way.

“Our Bodies, Ourselves” was frank, to the point, and it didn’t mince words. It was ground breaking, radical, hailed and denounced! It was scandalous! Imagine telling a woman that she was in charge of her own body and not to blindly accept what a doctor a pastor etc. told her, but to ask questions. It talked about relationships (straight and lesbian), the here-to fore-only-“bad”-girls-have-one; female orgasm, it encouraged sexual pleasure and sexual health, reproduction education, mental health, to ask questions and to know themselves, both physically and mentally.

Sex wasn’t just to be fun for men it said, it was supposed to be enjoyable for women too. In many places it was a banned book, so naturally I bought one.

It told us that we were not, to use Pseudo-Adrienne's term, “birthing chattel”. We had rights, we had a voice. The Seattle Times notes “under the prevailing medical wisdom in the late 1960s, nurses whisked newborns away from their mothers without giving them a chance to bond and doctors customarily banned fathers from delivery rooms.” Our essence, being and even our medicine was dominated and defined by men.

Unfortunately some things haven’t changed. But the anti-women, forced pregnancy organizations and those who support it, want to not only end abortion, but also end education about our sexual health and contraception, and even contraception all together. (I secretly wonder if they will force me to reverse my tubule legation. )

But while some see this as a war on sex, or even a war on fucking, it’s not. Sure, making contraception illegal removes sex for pleasure, even among married couples, but it does not seek to prohibit a man from enjoying sex. The very same people, churches, sects, organizations that want to end contraception are the very same that tell a woman that she cannot refuse her husband and be a “Godly wife.”

So while the result of this retrograde abomination may make condoms more difficult to get, the end results falls harder and squarely on a woman’s shoulders. Men can always walk away, and without strengthening and aggressively going after dead beat dads, it would seem to encourage this result.

Eve’s curse or man’s folly? Are we going to roll backward even more? With this current crowd in power and our guard let down, the answer may be "yes."

Before that happens we should make sure that every public library has books on women’s health, and that they are not removed by the anti-women abstinence only crowd, we should make sure it is translated in as many languages as are spoken in the United States, and we should educate the younger generation about what it was like way back then, when we were kept from knowledge, from controling our own bodies our own destinies.

For it seems history is want to repeat itself.

See also:

• New edition of "Our Bodies, Ourselves" updates the groundbreaking feminist book


• The War on Contraception and Women's Sexuality -- Pseudo-Adrienne


• The War on Peons Fucking -- Pandragon

aside:
I will take issue with the Seattle Times “Still, many pages in "Our Bodies," carry a vestige of its counterculture origin. For instance, the section on menstruation touts old flannel shirts and T-shirts as economical alternatives to tampons and pads” One wonders what the writer, Kyung M. Song, thinks women did at the turn of the last century. My grandmother, like her sisters and mother, used towels. She said it made them “waddle.”

Of Lower Standards, Urban Warfare and US Street Gangs in Iraq

Two years or so ago I commented on Americablog about my concern for US soldiers coming back from Iraq and their psychological welfare. As the ex-wife of a Vietnam veteran the issue is of interest to me.

Will these men and women who served our country receive the mental help they need for them to get through the horrors that they've seen and allow them to be fully functioning members of society? Or will the government once again cut the benefits these who've risked so much for this nation deserve in full?

Well we already know that the Bush government/administration, while risking no family members themselves, are cutting back and/or not fully funding necessary services for those who have served. The president who can afford to privately pay for his own medical insurance and doctors, receives the finest tax payer funded care. He always will.

What I did not think about when raising my concerns is that when the military lowered it standards to try and reach recruiting goals, that meant letting in gang members. These gang members are more than eager to "serve" their country.

All that training in urban warfare, house to house fighting, sniping, suppressive fire, kill zones, explosives, not to mention field medic training. Our modern paramedics came from the medics in Vietnam. So successful was it to have on the scene medical help, that more soldiers survived. Bring that lesson home and ambulance ride became more than just loading the injured into the back a converted station wagon. It became, in some cases, a fighting chance to live.

The medics in Vietnam brought back their training for use at home. What do you think gang members, learning urban combat tactics will bring back from operations in places like Fallujah, Du-jail, etc.?

Don't think a gate community will save you either. Ever see what towns/cities in Iraq look like? Here's Mosul:

So while this brewing problem goes under and un-reported (another case of our lap dog media) do you think a Republican controlled government will help pay for the domestic devastation these military trained gang members in an unnecessary war, will cause? (At any other time they'd be vetted out).

Me neither.


Video report from North Carolina
The News Blog
Training Terrorists for the Home Front HuffPo
Street Gangs: The New Urban Insurgency Strategic Studies Institute
United States Army War College
Violent gangs infiltrating US Military? -- Whatsakyer

Did we (the US) undermine the freedom movement in Iran

Because of the war in Iraq, our tough talk, and our own renegade posturing did we just undermine and betray all the moderate voices in Iran?

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's hard-line government said Wednesday it was removing 40 ambassadors and senior diplomats, including supporters of warmer ties with the West, from their posts in a shake-up that comes as the Islamic republic takes a more confrontational international stance.

I'm sure these indigenous freedom/democracy fighters will some day thank us for setting them back 25 years.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051102/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_ambassadors