destruction

Not all Bush supporters are like that. Just the hard up ones like you and igloo. It is clear that the same hardcores who say we dishonor our troops are the same ones who, like that asshole in the pickup truck would go to the extreme of mowing down a memorial commerating and honoring those who have fallen while serving our country like you and igloo. It's people like him who truely dishonor our fallen soldiers. Like you and igloo.

God Bless America. Land that I love Stand beside her, and guide her Thru the night with a light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies , To the oceans, white with foam God bless America My home sweet home. No wonder the Yankees got owned by the WORLD CHAMPION Red Sox last year. Having to put up with God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch at Yankee Stadium must have taken a toll on Jeter and the rest of the pin-striped pansies. They should be playing this poem by Cindy Sheehan's daughter instead:

LONDON - A Brazilian shot to death a day after botched bombings in London had walked casually onto a train before being gunned down by undercover officers, according to leaked footage that appeared to contradict earlier police reports that said the man disobeyed police orders. Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician, was shot eight times last month in front of terrified commuters on a subway train, after undercover police tailed him from a house under surveillance. Police first said the shooting was related to the failed bombings on the London transit system July 21 — two weeks after four suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up in three Underground stations and aboard one double-decker bus. Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, called the death regrettable, but said it appeared "the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions." Citing security footage, a British television station reported Tuesday that Menezes entered the Stockwell subway station at a normal walking pace, stopping to pick up a newspaper before boarding a train and taking a seat. The ITV News broadcast, citing an investigation report into the shooting, also said Menezes was wearing a light denim jacket when he was shot seven times in the head and once in the shoulder. Witness reports described a terrifying scene of the man — wearing a bulky jacket on a warm July day — running through the train station, being tackled by a group of undercover police officers, then being shot several times at close range. The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating the shooting, refused Wednesday to comment on the veracity of the documents cited by ITV News. A police spokeswoman also refused to explain what Blair meant when he said it appeared Menezes disobeyed orders. She noted, however, that police never said Menezes had tried to vault the barriers at the Underground station or tried to run from police. Lawyer Harriet Wistrich, acting for the Brazilian's family, said police had no reason to suspect Menezes was a bomber. "He was not carrying a rucksack. He simply had a denim jacket," Wistrich told British Broadcasting Corp. TV. "Was it necessary to shoot him dead as opposed to trying to confront him at an earlier stage? There was no indication he was about to blow himself up at all." ITV News said that, according to the IPCC report, a member of the team that tailed Menezes into the subway train said he heard shouting including the word "police" before turning to face the Brazilian. "He immediately stood up and advanced towards me and the ... officers ... I grabbed the male in the denim jacket by wrapping both my arms around his torso, pinning his arms to his side," the unidentified officer was quoted as saying. "I then pushed him back on to the seat where he had been previously sitting. ... I then heard a gun shot very close to my left ear and was dragged away onto the floor of the carriage." A man sitting opposite Menezes saw a man boarding and firing his first shot from a handgun at the Brazilian's head from 12 inches away, according to the report obtained by ITV. The report also said that, while Menezes was shot eight times, three other bullets were fired but missed. http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/london_bombings

The kind of people who support Bush and the criminal things they do to show their support.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8972147/

It's going to get worse for Bush. Trust me. This time there is no recovery.

So you admit what that asshole in the pickup truck did is a good thing? And that trashing grieving mothers is a good thing too?

I hope more sponsors back out. I smell a concert going bust.

http://www.pollingreport.com

Say that to her. Say that to these people. http://websrvr20.audiovideoweb.com/avwebdswebsrvr2143/news_video/pressconf512K.mov Do you like trashing grieving mothers? What do you think of that jerkoff in a pickup truck ran down the crosses they stuck on the side of the road? Like that asshole in a pickup truck, people like you disrespect grieving parents and their dead military sons and daughters the way you sheep get your rocks off trashing a grieving mother. It's sick. You and igloo (like that asshole in that pickup) support this war only to support Bush and nothing more. For the record, even Fox News is acknowledging the fact that Bush's job approval rating as well as his approval of the war in Iraq is going south... to the deep south and not to mention, in the latest polls, people who still support this war are now saying the deaths of American soldiers in this war is not worth it. I noticed you slipped into moron mode in that thread. By the way, all the publicity is well worth it. http://websrvr20.audiovideoweb.com/avwebdswebsrvr2143/news_video/CindySheehanAd512K.mov

It's protesting. Texas style.

I was just gonna say that. I can't believe these red WHITE and brainwashed neocon extremists would step so low as to trash a grieving mother. They have no respect for grieving mothers of dead soldiers obviously. I watched Fox News and they said some imbecile drove his pickup truck along the road where "Camp Casey" is and ran down some of the crosses that bare the names of the dead soldiers. He was arrested. The kind of people who support Bush and his illegal war and the sick desperate things they would do. Even if their act is criminal. These right wing nutter people have no respect for grieving parents of dead soldiers and no respect for their dead sons and daughters who were killed on the count of Bush's lies. Not only their actions dishonor the grieving parents, their sons and daughters who fought and died, they dishonor the ones who are currently fighting and dying on the count of Bush's lies and they don't care. Like that piece of shit in the pick-up truck doesn't care. It's disturbing. They support the war only to support Bush and nothing more than that. O' well.

Saddam's germ war plot is traced back to one Oxford cow Times Online UK ^ | August 9, 2005 | Dominic Kennedy Posted on 08/08/2005 5:50:05 PM PDT by Shermy A BRITISH cow that died in an Oxfordshire field in 1937 has emerged as the source of Saddam Hussain’s “weapons of mass destruction†programme that led to the Iraq war. An ear from the cow was sent to an English laboratory, where scientists discovered anthrax spores that were later used in secret biological warfare tests by Winston Churchill. The culture was sent to the United States, which exported samples to Iraq during Saddam’s war against Iran in the 1980s. Inspectors have found that this batch of anthrax was the dictator’s choice in his attempts to create biological weapons. The discovery has angered some British politicians. Austin Mitchell, the Labour MP for Great Grimsby, has renewed his call, supported by 126 MPs in the last Parliament, for a UN investigation into whether Washington broke a weapons control agreement. “It just makes them look more hypocritical than ever,†he said. The odyssey of the Iraqi anthrax was unravelled by Geoffrey Holland, a politics student and antiwar campaigner at the University of Sussex. The exact batch chosen by Saddam was disclosed in the CIA report by Charles Duelfer, the former UN weapons inspector, last autumn. “Iraq declared researching different strains of B. anthracis, but settled on the American Type Culture Collection strain 14578 as the exclusive strain for use as a BW,†Mr Duelfer said. A congressional investigation into Gulf War syndrome by Don Riegle had already uncovered invoices showing that this batch was shipped from the United States between 1986 and 1988. The ATCC is a private, non-profit-making collection of cultures of living micro-organisms, viruses, plants and human and animal cells, stored in Virginia. Its catalogue shows that batch 14578 consists of “bovine anthraxâ€, isolated by R. L. Vollum, a professor of bacteriology at Oxford University during the 1930s. It is named after him. Martin Hugh-Jones, who co-ordinates the World Health Organisation’s Working Group on Anthrax Research and Control, said: “We have traced it back and it would have come in on some contaminated bones from Southern Rhodesia. “England was importing sun-dried bones from dead animals in the colonies. They would be shipped to London and used to make soap. When they got the fat out, (the bones) were meant to be sterilised and ground as bone meal and fed to cattle. The sterilisation was not always complete. It was the major cause of anthrax for almost 100 years.†The Vollum anthrax was used in biological weapons tests on the Scottish island of Gruinard in 1942, which had to be quarantined for 48 years. “It killed any number of sheep in Gruinard,†Professor Hugh-Jones said. “(Saddam) obviously at one point had a programme because he was buying the laboratory’s cultures to underwrite a programme. Why would he want peaceful research with Vollum? Come on!†DEADLY SPORES # Anthrax is caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis # The spores can survive in soil for years # Herbivores are most vulnerable. Humans get it from contaminated flesh # The word comes from the Greek for “coal†because victims develop black skin lesions # Contaminated mail was used to attack US Congress in 2001. Two postal workers died. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1726745,00.html

Published on Monday, August 15, 2005 by CommonDreams.org Jefferson Would Have Stood With Cindy Sheehan by Thom Hartmann Nationally, it was clearly a phenomenon when several truckers called into a radio show on Sirius Satellite to say that they were interrupting trips through central parts of the USA to head to Crawford, Texas. One even reported live as he experienced a (friendly) reception by the local sheriff, who helped him find a place to park his rig. Locally here in Oregon, it's not unusual to see cars with signs taped to their rear windows - printed in inch-high letters on an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper - that say variations on: "We're With Cindy!" or "Answer Her Questions!" Ambassador Joe Wilson represented a political threat to Bush by credibly exposing part of Bush's lie and its methodology, and so Wilson had to be taken out by destroying his wife's career. Cindy Sheehan now represents a similar political threat, and for this job right-wing hate radio, Drudge, and extremist bloggers have zeroed in on her. Meanwhile, thousands of patriotic Americans, tired of being lied to by the Bush regime, are heading to Crawford, or visiting www.meetwithcindy.com or www.crawfordpeacehouse.org. Often history tells us how the future may turn out: Bush Junior isn't the first president to have lied to us about foreign affairs and war, or to use lies to justify eviscerating the Constitution. For example, Lyndon Johnson lied about a non-existent attack on the US warship Maddox in the Vietnamese Gulf of Tonkin. William McKinley (the presidency after which Karl Rove has said he's modeling the Bush presidency) lied about an attack on the USS Maine to get us into the Spanish-American war in The Philippines and Cuba. But most relevant to today's situation were John Adams' version of Bush's Saddam stories when Adams sent three emissaries to France and criminals soliciting bribes approached them late one evening. Adams referred to these three unidentified Frenchmen as "Mr. X, Mr. Y, and Mr. Z," and made them out to represent such an insult and a threat against America that it may presage war. Adams' use of "The XYZ Affair" to gain political capital nearly led us to war with France and helped him carve a large (although temporary) hole in the Constitution. Similarly, much like Bush's corralling of protesters at gunpoint into so-called "Free Speech Zones," and saying he has the power to lock up Americans (like Jose Padilla) without charges and without access to a lawyer, John Adams jailed newspaper editors and average citizens alike who spoke out against him and his policies. At that time in the late 1790s, Adams was President and Jefferson was Vice President. Adams led the Federalist Party (which today could be said to have reincarnated as the Republican Party - thus the attempts by Republican historians to rehabilitate Adams' legacy and trash Jefferson), and Jefferson had just brought together two Anti-Federalist parties - the Democrats and the Republicans - into one party called The Democratic Republicans. (Today they're known as the Democratic Party, the longest-lasting political party in history. They dropped "Republican" from their name in the 1820-1830 era). Adams and his Federalist cronies, using war hysteria with France as a wedge issue, were pushing the Alien & Sedition Acts through Congress, and even threw into prison Democratic Congressman Matthew Lyon of Vermont for speaking out against the Federalists on the floor of the House of Representatives. Adams was leading the United States in the direction of a fascistic state with a spectacularly successful strategy of vilifying Jefferson and his Party as anti-American and pro-French. Adams rhetoric was described as "manly" by the Federalist newspapers, which admiringly published dozens of his threatening rants against France, suggesting that Jefferson's Democratic Republicans were less than patriots and perhaps even traitors because of their opposition to the unnecessary war with France that Adams was simultaneously trying to gin up and saying he was working to avoid. On June 1, 1798 - two weeks before the Alien & Sedition Acts passed Congress by a single vote - Jefferson wrote a thoughtful letter to his old friend John Taylor. "This is not new," Jefferson said. "It is the old practice of despots; to use a part of the people to keep the rest in order. And those who have once got an ascendancy and possessed themselves of all the resources of the nation, their revenues and offices, have immense means for retaining their advantage. "But," he added, "our present situation is not a natural one." Jefferson knew that Adams' Federalists did not represent the true heart and soul of America, and commented to Taylor about how Adams had been using divide-and-conquer politics, and fear-mongering about war with France (the "XYZ Affair") with some success. "But still I repeat it," he wrote again to Taylor, "this is not the natural state." Jefferson did everything he could to stop that generation's version of the PATRIOT Act, but Adams had the Federalists in control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and pushed through the Alien and Sedition Acts. Jefferson left town the day they were signed in protest. Jefferson later wrote in his diary, "Their usurpations and violations of the Constitution at that period, and their majority in both Houses of Congress, were so great, so decided, and so daring, that after combating their aggressions, inch by inch, without being able in the least to check their career, the [Democratic] Republican leaders thought it would be best for them to give up their useless efforts there, go home, get into their respective legislatures, embody whatever of resistance they could be formed into, and if ineffectual, to perish there as in the last ditch." Democratic Republican Congressman Albert Gallatin submitted legislation that would repeal the Alien & Sedition Acts, and the Federalist majority in the House refused to even consider the motion, while informing Gallatin that he would be the next to be imprisoned if he kept speaking out against "the national security." But a new force arose. When Adams shut down the Democratic Republican newspapers, pamphleteers - like those who had helped stir up the American Revolution - went to work, papering towns from New Hampshire to Georgia with posters and leaflets decrying Adams' power grab and encouraging people to stand tall with Thomas Jefferson. One of the best was a short screed by George Nicholas of Kentucky, "Justifying the Kentucky Resolution against the Alien & Sedition Laws" and " Correcting Certain False Statements, Which Have Been Made in the Different States" by Adams' Federalists. On February 13, 1799, then-Vice President Jefferson sent a copy of Nicholas' pamphlet to his old friend Archibald Stuart (a Virginia legislator, fighter in the War of Independence, and leader of Jefferson's Democratic Republicans). "I avoid writing to my friends because the fidelity of the post office is very much doubted," he opened his letter to Stuart, concerned that Adams was having his mail inspected because of his anti-war activities. Jefferson pointed out that "France is sincerely anxious for reconciliation, willing to give us a liberal treaty," and that even with the Democratic newspapers shut down by Adams and the Federalist-controlled media being unwilling to speak of Adams' war lies, word was getting out to the people. Jefferson noted, "All these things are working on the public mind. They are getting back to the point where they were when the X. Y. Z. story was passed off on them. A wonderful and rapid change is taking place in Pennsylvania, Jersey, and New York. Congress is daily plied with petitions against the alien and sedition laws and standing armies." Jefferson then turned to the need for the pamphleteers' materials to be widely distributed. "The materials now bearing on the public mind will infallibly restore it to its republican soundness in the course of the present summer," he wrote, "if the knowledge of facts can only be disseminated among the people. Under separate cover you will receive some pamphlets written by George Nicholas on the acts of the last session. These I would wish you to distribute...." The pamphleteer - today he would have been called a blogger - was James Bradford, and he reprinted tens of thousands of copies of Nicholas' pamphlet and distributed it far and wide. Hand to hand, as Jefferson did with his by-courier letter to Stuart - was how what would be today's postings to progressive websites were distributed. In the face of the pamphleteering and protests, the Federalists fought back with startling venom. Vicious personal attacks were launched in the Federalist press against Jefferson, Madison, and others, and President Adams and Vice President Jefferson were scarcely on speaking terms. Adams' goal was nothing short of the complete destruction of Jefferson's Democratic Party, and he had scared many of them into silence or submission. "All [Democratic Republicans], therefore, retired," Jefferson wrote in his diary, "leaving Mr. Gallatin alone in the House of Representatives, and myself in the Senate, where I then presided as Vice-President. Remaining at our posts, and bidding defiance to the brow-beatings and insults by which they endeavored to drive us off also, we kept the mass of [Democratic] Republicans in phalanx together, until the legislature could be brought up to the charge; and nothing on earth is more certain, than that if myself particularly, placed by my office of Vice-President at the head of the [Democratic] Republicans, had given way and withdrawn from my post, the [Democratic] Republicans throughout the Union would have given up in despair; and the cause would have been lost forever." But Jefferson and Gallatin held their posts, and fought back fiercely against Adams, thus saving - quite literally - American democracy. Jefferson and Madison also secretly helped legislators in Virginia and Kentucky submit resolutions in those states' legislatures decrying the Alien & Sedition Acts. The bill in Virginia, in particular, gained traction. As Jefferson noted in his diary, "By holding on, we obtained time for the legislatures to come up with their weight; and those of Virginia and Kentucky particularly, but more especially the former, by their celebrated resolutions, saved the Constitution at its last gasp. No person who was not a witness of the scenes of that gloomy period, can form any idea of the afflicting persecutions and personal indignities we had to brook. They saved our country however. The spirits of the people were so much subdued and reduced to despair by the X Y Z imposture, and other stratagems and machinations, that they would have sunk into apathy and monarchy, as the only form of government which could maintain itself." The efforts of average people like that century's Cindy Sheehans, and fearless politicians like today's Howard Dean, John Conyers, and Bernie Sanders, made great gains. As Jefferson noted in a February 14, 1799 letter to Virginia's Edmund Pendleton, "The violations of the Constitution, propensities to war, to expense, and to a particular foreign connection, which we have lately seen, are becoming evident to the people, and are dispelling that mist which X. Y. Z. had spread before their eyes. This State is coming forward with a boldness not yet seen. Even the German counties of York and Lancaster, hitherto the most devoted [to Adams], have come about, and by petitions with four thousand signers remonstrate against the alien and sedition laws, standing armies, and discretionary powers in the President." Americans were so angry with Adams, Jefferson noted, that the challenge was to prevent people from taking up arms against Adams' Federalists. "New York and Jersey are also getting into great agitation. In this State [of Pennsylvania], we fear that the ill-designing may produce insurrection. Nothing could be so fatal. Anything like force would check the progress of the public opinion and rally them round the government. This is not the kind of opposition the American people will permit." Like Cindy Sheehan, Jefferson knew that peaceful protests had greater power than violence or threats. "But keep away all show of force," he wrote to Pendleton, "and they will bear down the evil propensities of the government, by the constitutional means of election and petition. If we can keep quiet, therefore, the tide now turning will take a steady and proper direction." A week later, February 21, 1799, Jefferson wrote to the great Polish general who had fought in the American Revolution, Thaddeus Kosciusko, a close friend who was then living in Russia. War was the great enemy of democracy, Jefferson noted, and peace was its champion. And the American people were increasingly siding with peace and rejecting Adams' call for war. "The wonderful irritation produced in the minds of our citizens by the X. Y. Z. story, has in a great measure subsided," he noted. "They begin to suspect and to see it coolly in its true light." But Adams was still President, and for him and his Federalist Party war would have helped tremendously with the upcoming election of 1800. In France some leaders wanted war with America for similar reasons. Jefferson continued, "What course the government will pursue, I know not. But if we are left in peace, I have no doubt the wonderful turn in the public opinion now manifestly taking place and rapidly increasing, will, in the course of this' summer, become so universal and so weighty, that friendship abroad and freedom at home will be firmly established by the influence and constitutional powers of the people at large." And if Adams' rhetoric led to an attack on America by France? "If we are forced into war," Jefferson noted, "we must give up political differences of opinion, and unite as one man to defend our country. But whether at the close of such a war, we should be as free as we are now, God knows." The tide was turned, to use Jefferson's phrase, by the election of 1800. The abuses of the Federalists were so burned into the people's minds when Jefferson's party came to power, and he freed the imprisoned newspaper editors so reform-minded newspapers were started back up again, that the Federalists disintegrated altogether as a party over the next two decades. All because average citizens and pamphleteers stood up and challenged the lies of a war-mongering president, and politicians of principle were willing to lead. Cindy Sheehan is the George Nicholas or Rusticus of our age. Jefferson would have stood with her. America has been burdened by lying presidents before, and even one who tried to destroy our Constitution. But in our era - like in Jefferson's - we are fortunate to have radical truth-tellers like Cindy Sheehan and Joseph Wilson to warn us of treasonous acts for political gain, and bloggers and progressive websites to carry the truth. If we stand in solidarity with today's truth-tellers, and politicians step forward to take a leadership role, then its entirely possible that with the elections of 2006 and 2008 American democracy can once again prevail. Thom Hartmann (thom at thomhartmann.com) is a Project Censored Award-winning best-selling author, and host of a nationally syndicated daily progressive talk show and a morning progressive talk show on KPOJ in Portland, Oregon. www.thomhartmann.com His most recent books are "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight," "Unequal Protection," "We The People," "The Edison Gene", and "What Would Jefferson Do?" http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0815-21.htm

Is that all you got?

It goes to show how ineffective the no fly list truely is when even babies can be "terrorists". It's sick. A baby has no concept of what a terrorist or even terrorism is. The no fly list needs to go.

Bush is Not an American By DOUG THOMPSON Jul 26, 2005, 07:15 Email this article Printer friendly page Some of the die-hard, rabid right-wingers who still support George W. Bush’s immoral and illegal actions tried recently to overload my email system by flooding it with bitches and moans over recent columns about their poster boy for destruction of the Constitution. Their grand plan didn’t work. My anti-spam filter caught most of them because it quite properly considers GOP-generated mail spam (as it does for Democratic-generated mail). The handful of messages that got through cried about the language I use to describe their President. “Your crude, obscene language destroys your credibility,†one said. “Why not just shut up and go away?†Gotta wonder who writes these missives for Bushites since most of the right-wing morons who clutter up bulletin boards like FreeRepublic can’t string together a simple declarative sentence. Probably computer-generated. They’re not the only ones who get upset at my language when it comes to describing the pukefest called the Bush administration. Hell, my mother complains and she’s no fan of Bush. Too damn bad. I really don’t give a flying fuck who gets bent out of shape. That’s their problem. With Bush and his gang of goons at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue so hell-bent at destroying the Constitution and America, I don’t have time to be polite. Bush is a heartless bastard who doesn’t play by the rules so why should those of us who still love this country too much to see it destroyed by this madman? This is no longer an issue of differing political opinions or philosophies. This is war, a fight for survival of a once-great nation called America and war calls for street rules. In other words: No rules. Bush, in my opinion, is criminally insane, a pill-popping dry drunk whose erratic behavior and reckless actions threaten world peace and the future of this nation far more than any Islam-spouting religious fanatic. He is an enemy of the state, a mood-swinging despot who threatens the very freedoms that form the foundation for this country. He has created a police state where basic American freedoms have vanished under an politically-exaggerated threat to national scrutiny, milked the human tragedy of 9/11 for his personal agenda and ripped the Constitution to shreds through the USA Patriot Act, a rights-robbing piece of legislation put together by his former attorney general, the bible-thumping John Ashcroft, an inept former Senator who couldn’t even win an election against a dead man. George W. Bush is also not an American. He and his daddy sold their souls and their loyaltiy long ago to Saudi oil interests, particularly the bin Laden family (yes, the same bin Ladens whose relative masterminded the 9/11 attacks). The bin Ladens, laundering money through Dubya’s old Texas Air Guard buddy James Bath (the North American representative for the bin Laden family bank), bailed out Bush on his failed business adventures and then bankrolled his first run for Texas governor. According to Craig Unger, author of House of Bush, House of Saud, the Bush family has, over the years, received some $480 million from the Saudi business interests, including the bin Laden family. Bush is a politician and politicians are, by rote, for sale to the highest bidder so you tell us: Has anyone outbid the Saudis and the bin Ladens for Bush’s loyalty? Having a President on the payroll of the family of the man who killed 3,000 plus Americans on September 11, 2001, raises a very real concern that Bush’s illegal and immoral actions are a lot more than just politics as usual. It may explain the decision to all-but-abandon the search for bin Laden in Afghanistan and move American military resources to the ill-conceived invasion of Iraq. It took less than a year to capture Saddam Hussein yet bin Laden is still at large nearly four years after the September 11 attacks. All this suggests to me that the President of the United States owes a lot more to his Saudi money boys than he does to the country he has sworn to serve. It tells me the President of the United States is a traitor. Traitors should not be President. They should be arrested, tried and, upon conviction, punished for their crimes against their country. And, as far as I’m concerned, anyone who continues to support this traitor to America is equally guilty of treason. Don’t like those characterizations? Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn if it pisses you off because I do give a damn about my country. It's just too fucking bad that you don't. http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7102.shtml

^^THis is something that ran for a short time, then died quickly. Though it's dated last January, I thought I post it anyhow to remind Igloo and the rest of the clueless right of the financial mess this war has made.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1549614,00.html

Cenk Uygur: 'What Fox News Channel would have done to Rosa Parks' Posted on Monday, August 15 @ 09:48:45 EDT This article has been read 538 times. y Cenk Uygur, The Huffington Post Cindy Sheehan - in case you've been living in a box or you only watch the mainstream media - is the mom of slain Iraq War veteran Casey Sheehan. She is protesting in front of George Bush's Crawford ranch this month. This grieving mom has been characterized as a flip-flopper, accused of putting on a public circus, lambasted as a publicity seeking grandstander and criticized for not truly speaking for her family since an aunt and a godmother Matt Drudge found somewhere in the Sheehan family disagrees with her. The conservative attack machine is in high gear in the efforts to tear this woman down. That made me think of how it would have been in the Civil Rights era if Fox News Channel, Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge and the rest of the gang were around back then. O'Reilly: "Rosa Parks claims she speaks for all of the African-Americans in the South, but in fact, we have found two African-Americans who say they disagree with her. They say she's just trying to gain publicity and doesn't speak for anyone in her race. They would know, they're black." Hannity: "Could Rosa Parks be angling for a Senate run? What does she have to gain from her public stand? Coming up next, the incredible story of how this woman might be deceiving the whole country!" Drudge: "We have found three members of the Parks family who say that Rosa doesn't speak for them. That, in fact, they are very happy with the government of the state of Alabama. The uncle, step-brother-in-law and niece three-times removed all agree that the better route is a dignified, respectful silent deference to authority. Developing ..." Limbaugh: "We have just found information that before Rosa Parks sat in the front of the bus, there were numerous times, she sat in the back of the bus! Ah ha! A flip-flopper!" Drudge: "More stories on Rosa Parks scandalous history of consistently sitting in the back of the bus before she changed her position and insisted she would only sit in the front of the bus. Developing ..." Malkin: "I think I speak for the entire Parks family, and especially her children, when I say that they are so embarrassed by their mother who is making a public spectacle of herself." Hannity: "Rosa Parks has turned this whole so-called civil rights issue into a public circus. We have information that Ted Kennedy might have put her up to this. That amazing story when we come back!" Colmes: "You're right, Sean. I'm sorry." O'Reilly: "To question the government of Alabama and implicitly the entire United States government by defying the political order like this has to be considered treasonous. Civil disobedience is a code word for I hate America. These people are criminals, simple criminals. It's ridiculous that they think they don't have to live by the same rules as the rest of us." Scarborough: "Yeah, whatever they just said on Fox News Channel! Well ... I mostly agree with it." Kaplan: "Can we hire Shep Smith to cover this? Maybe give him his own show?" Limbaugh: "What did I tell you folks? These libs like Parks would rather live in France where they can sit anywhere they want on the bus. They hate America. They want special privileges to be able to sit anywhere they want. They hide behind the color of their skin to try to undermine this country." Coulter: "Rosa Parks is a dyke!" Blitzer: "Dr. King, is it true that you support the liberal agitator Rosa Parks in her defiance of America? Can you confirm whether she has in fact sat in the back of the bus before? Do you think this makes her a flip-flopper? If she has been so inconsistent on this, how can we trust her on anything?" Drudge: "MY SOURCES TELL ME THAT THIS MIGHT BE THE FIRST TIME ROSA PARKS HAS EVER SAT IN THE FRONT OF THE BUS. A whole life of sitting in the back of the bus and now this woman claims all of a sudden she wants to sit in the front of the bus. Developing ..." O'Reilly: "Unbelievable, just unbelievable. Ridiculous!" Hannity: "Incredible!" Scarborough: "What did they just say?" In Unison: "Flip-flopper! Flip-flopper! Flip-flopper!" Blitzer: "Ms. Parks left the bus in disgrace today after it was confirmed that some members of her family did not agree with her, she had ruined her credibility by working for the NAACP before the bus incident, and she had in fact sat in the back of the bus on previous occasions. Now back to the emotionally wrenching story of the girl missing in ..." © 2005 TheHuffingtonPost.com, LLC Reprinted from The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/ cenk-uygur/what-fox-news-channel-wou_5514.html

Decorated Marine opened fire on noisy crowd By Associated Press Sunday, August 14, 2005 - Updated: 04:55 PM EST LAWRENCE, Mass. - A Lawrence man who was named ``Marine of the Year'' last month is charged with firing a shotgun at a crowd of revelers outside his second-floor apartment, wounding two people. Thirty-three-year-old Daniel Cotnoir allegedly fired a bullet at the crowd only minutes after he called police to complain about the noise they were making as they left a nearby nightclub and restaurant early Saturday. The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune reports that a 15-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man were injured by bullet fragments from the shooting. Cotnoir was arrested and held on $100,000 bail. He was to be arraigned tomorrow on attempted murder charges. Last month, the Marine Corps Times presented Cotnoir with its annual Marine of the Year award. He beat out 180,000 other candidates for the honor. Cotnoir, now a Marine reservist, was a military mortician in Iraq. During his deployment last year, he was responsible for preparing soldiers for open-casket funerals. http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=98031

Audit: U.S. lost track of $9 billion in Iraq funds Pentagon, Bremer dispute inspector general's report Monday, January 31, 2005 Posted: 0412 GMT (1212 HKT) WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Nearly $9 billion of money spent on Iraqi reconstruction is unaccounted for because of inefficiencies and bad management, according to a watchdog report published Sunday. An inspector general's report said the U.S.-led administration that ran Iraq until June 2004 is unable to account for the funds. "Severe inefficiencies and poor management" by the Coalition Provisional Authority has left auditors with no guarantee the money was properly used," the report said. "The CPA did not establish or implement sufficient managerial, financial and contractual controls to ensure that [Development Fund for Iraq] funds were used in a transparent manner," said Stuart W. Bowen Jr., director of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. The $8.8 billion was reported to have been spent on salaries, operating and capital expenditures, and reconstruction projects between October 2003 and June 2004, Bowen's report concluded. The money came from revenues from the United Nations' former oil-for-food program, oil sales and seized assets -- all Iraqi money. The audit did not examine the use of U.S. funds appropriated for reconstruction. (Full story) Auditors were unable to verify that the Iraqi money was spent for its intended purpose. In one case, they raised the possibility that thousands of "ghost employees" were on an unnamed ministry's payroll. "CPA staff identified at one ministry that although 8,206 guards were on the payroll, only 602 guards could be validated," the audit report states. "Consequently, there was no assurance funds were not provided for ghost employees." The Defense Department, which was in charge of the reconstruction effort, and former Iraq civil administrator Paul Bremer have disputed the findings. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told CNN that the provisional authority was operating under "extraordinary conditions" and relied on Iraqi ministries to manage development money that was transferred to them. "We simply disagree with the audit's conclusion that the CPA provided less-than-adequate controls over Iraqi funds that were provided to Iraqi ministries through the national budget process for hundreds of projects, essential services, Iraqi salaries and security forces," Whitman said. The occupation government established "major reforms" in Iraq's budgeting system, setting up a transparent mechanism for decision-making and beginning efforts to fight corruption, Whitman said. Under a U.N. Security Council resolution, the Development Fund for Iraq was to be used for humanitarian needs, economic reconstruction and repair of infrastructure, continued disarmament, costs of civilian administration and other programs benefiting Iraqis. Bremer, in a written response included in the report, said Bowen's report failed to recognize the difficulties of operating in wartime. "The IG auditors presume that the coalition could achieve a standard of budgetary transparency and execution that even peaceful Western nations would have trouble meeting within a year, especially in the midst of a war," Bremer wrote. Bremer, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in December for his work in Iraq, stated that auditors did not interview him, any of his budget directors or deputies in preparing their draft report. "On the whole, the office has done excellent work," he wrote. "But I do believe my colleagues at the CPA have a right to expect a level of professional judgment and awareness, which seems to be missing in the current draft report." Bowen's report, which was prepared for Congress, acknowledged that the insurgency in Iraq poses "the most difficult challenge" to reconstruction. "Even under the most favorable of conditions, rebuilding Iraq would be a job of daunting proportions," he wrote. But the provisional authority did not clearly assign managerial responsibility, and its rules lacked clear guidance on procedures and controls for dispersing funds, he concluded. Staffing shortages and turnover also resulted in inadequate oversight of budget execution by Iraqi ministries, he found -- and allegations of corruption in the oil-for-food program should have raised concerns about the Iraqi government's ability to manage the reconstruction funds. http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/30/iraq.audit/

http://win20ca.audiovideoweb.com/ca20win15004/speechpt2512K.wmv

Monday, August 15th, 2005 The Peaceful Occupation of Crawford (Day 9); Hope -- a message from Cindy Sheehan, Crawford, TX The ninth day ended in the most awesome way. We were out at Camp Casey and it was sprinkling a little bit and it really looked like the rain was going to start pouring down anytime. We looked over into the next cow pasture and there was a full rainbow. If that wasn't a sign from the universe then I don't know what is. I was being interviewed by Alex Jones and he asked me what I thought the rainbow signified. I told Alex that I was positive that it means we are going to be victorious. Rainbows are supposedly God's sign of hope. When Casey was killed on 04/04/04, I thought that all of my hope was killed, too. Being involved in the peaceful occupation of Crawford and meeting hundreds of people from all over the world who are willing to put their money where their mouths are has given me so much hope for the future. We won't let George Bush and his evil neocon cabal ruin our world anymore. John Lennon sang: "Power to the people." We are the people and we have the power. We had a lovely interfaith prayer service this morning. It was truly beautiful and we were all weeping while we were singing "Amazing Grace." But, during the service, one of our neighbors fired off a shot gun. He said he was shooting at birds, but he is tired of us being there and he wants us to leave. I didn't get to talk to him, but I told the media that if he wanted us to leave so badly, why doesn't he tell his other neighbor, George, to talk to me. We are good neighbors and we are cooperating with everyone. By the way, in case I forgot to blog it last night, the Sheriff has requested that I stay down in Crawford during the night, because he is afraid for my safety after he leaves. He said he would "sleep better" himself at night if I came into town to sleep. Judging from the shooting guns, I guess he was right. I would just like to warn anyone who comes to Camp Casey, though, that we are deep in the heart of Bush country. However, we have had absolutely no problems so far. Speaking of George, I understand that he was riding his bike yesterday out at the ranch. (I hope no London Bobbies got in his way). He took a 2 hour bike ride and when he got back, he was asked how he could go for a two hour bike ride when he doesn't have time to meet with me, and he said: "I have to go on with my life." (Austin Statesman, August 14) WHAT!!!!!????? He has to get on with his life!!! I am so offended by that statement. Every person, war fan or not, who has had a child killed in this mistake of an occupation should be highly offended by that remark. Who does he think he is? I wish I could EVER be able to get on with my life. Getting on with my life means a life without my dear, sweet boy. Getting on with my life means learning to live with a pain that is so intense that sometimes I feel like throwing up, or screaming until I pass out from sorrow. I wish a little bike ride could help me get on with my life. I can't believe that someone who is the figurehead of an administration that has killed tens of thousands of innocent people doesn't spend his days hiding under his bed in shame, let alone riding his bike. I need to focus on the positive, though, and there is so much. I had so many amazing things happen today. I couldn't walk through Camp Casey or the Crawford Peace House today without hugging people and getting my picture taken. Now I know how Mickey Mouse feels at Disneyland. I had a soldier from Ft. Hood come out today and he brought me a small stone with a First Cavalry insignia painted on it and the pictures of three of his beautiful buddies who were murdered there by George's reckless policies. It was such an incredible moment for me when he said: "Keep on doing what you are doing. We are so proud of you. Casey would be so proud of you." My dear friend and fellow peace warrior, Maxine Waters, came to visit us military families and Gold Star Families today at Camp Casey. She brought us some supplies and some encouragement. I asked her how I was supposed to handle the rightwing smear campaign against me and she told me "they can't touch you, be strong." After Maxine left, we came down to the Peace House and we had a luncheon for several Iraqi people who wanted to express their thanks to us for working for peace. It was quite incredible and hundreds of people crowded into the backyard of the Crawford Peace House. I am so humbled by all of the support. I just wish George had as much courage in his entire body as Casey had in his little pinky, then he would meet with me. Crawford, TX is beautiful prairie land, but I could think of dozens of other places I would rather be right now. However, if George or anybody else thinks I am leaving before my mission is "accomplished" they have another think coming. I will stay the course. I will finish the mission. I will take no prisoners. By the way, we had about 7 counter protesters today and hundreds at Camp Casey...don't let the mainstream media say differently.

Bush Neighbor Suffers Protest Fatigue Sunday, August 14, 2005 CRAWFORD, Texas — Protesters outside President Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch were starting their second week of demonstrations Sunday, leading one neighbor to demonstrate the first signs of protest fatigue. Larry Mattlage (search) created quite a stir earlier in the day when he fired his shotgun over his property. The Crawford rancher told reporters he was practicing for dove season. Mattlage expressed frustration about the ongoing anti-war protest taking place near his property, and said other neighbors are also getting aggravated by all of the protest activity on their quiet country road. "You want something like this in your backyard? Huh, or your front yard? This is our yard right here. We just happen to, in Texas, have a bigger yard than they do in Maryland," Mattlage told reporters. "I mean, would you like somebody invading your house for a long time and blocking your view and blocking your road? I wake up every morning [with] this crowd, and I go to bed every night with this campground down here on a public road, which I'm paying taxes to, the middle of this road," he said. Mattlage has been watching throughout the past week as more and more protesters join Cindy Sheehan (search) outside the president's 1,500-acre ranch. Sheehan's son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004. She says she wants U.S. troops to pull out of Iraq, and she will stay here until Bush speaks with her. Bush has defended his decision not to meet with Sheehan, with whom he met once before. ''Whether it be here or in Washington or anywhere else, there's somebody who has got something to say to the president, that's part of the job. And I think it's important for me to be thoughtful and sensitive to those who have got something to say. But I think it's also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life," Bush told Cox News Service during a bicycle ride on Saturday. On Sunday, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean (search) said Bush should meet with Sheehan. "Because the president sent her son to Iraq, her son lost his life. I think the president should meet with any parent who has sacrificed their son or daughter for the defense of the United States of America," Dean told a Sunday morning network talk show. In 2004, Bush met with Sheehan and other grieving families. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who traveled with Bush the day he met with the families, described the president's mood afterward. "I have seen him, I have seen his care, and I've seen him grieve. And I'm sure he wouldn't like to hear me say this, but I have seen him afterwards. He was very, very grieved," McCain told "FOX News Sunday." After Sheehan was joined by other anti-war protesters, pro-Bush demonstrators also traveled to Crawford. One pro-Iraq policy demonstrator said those against the president are not from Texas. Others said if the anti-war protesters succeed in altering U.S. policy, it would put more troops in harm's way. The increased traffic in Crawford did not affect Bush, first lady Laura Bush or Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as they traveled Saturday night from the ranch to the Baylor University campus in nearby Waco, where the three attended the Little League Southwest Regional championship game. But Mattlage said he is frustrated by the traffic — and subsequent side effects of it — in his neighborhood. "We got a battle of the port-a-potties. They first started going to the bathroom in a five-gallon bucket, then they moved a port-a-pottie and then they got two port-a-potties, and now we got three and if this keeps up they will be all the way down the road," he said. "The only people winning here is the person who cleans the port-a-potties." Mattlage said he sympathizes with Sheehan, but the crowd that has developed is akin to guests that won't leave. "When they first came out here, I was sympathetic to their cause, all right. They as American citizens have a right to march, to protest, but it's like company. If you had your brother-in-law in your house for five days, wouldn't it start stinking after a while? You're ready for them to go home." Mattlage said he respects the anti-war protesters and he respects President Bush, but he is frustrated because both federal and county law enforcement told him they can do nothing to end the anti-war protest. U.S. Secret Service and McLennan County sheriff's deputies went to Mattlage's home on Sunday afternoon to urge restraint, and the situation appeared to calm down a bit after Mattlage spoke with law enforcement and vented to reporters. McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch said Mattlage didn't violate any law by firing his shotgun on Sunday. "He's on his own property. He's getting ready for dove season he says," Lynch said adding that had Mattlage shot across the road rather than on his own land, he would have broken state and county laws. "Everybody needs to use restraint in this situation out here. This is a situation that's taken all these folks by storm and impacted a lot of businesses out here. But so far everybody's been compliant and that's what we are here for, the deputies are here to make sure that this continues on in a peaceful manner. Folks need to comply with all the rules and regulations in the state of Texas and county and that's what we are here for this morning," the sheriff added. Mattlage said he loves Bush because the Bible tells people to love their neighbors. But he said he is not a politician and is not interested in the president's business. "All I know, when he gets done with his presidency, he is our neighbor and all of you all and all of this protest is out of here," he said. FOX News' Mike Emanuel contributed to this report. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,165683,00.html