Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Feature: Crossroads

This isn't the America I remember???

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

War Industry Regains Command

Not to stoke any of the inane conspiracy theories running wild on the Internet, but if Osama bin Laden weren't on the payroll of Lockheed-Martin or some other large defense contractor, then he deserves to have been. What a boondoggle 9-11 has been for the merchants of war, who this week announced yet another quarter of whopping profits made possible by George W. Bush's pretending to fight terrorism by throwing money at outdated Cold War-style weapons systems.

Lockheed-Martin, the nation's top weapons manufacturer, reaped a 22 percent increase in profits, while rivals for the defense buck, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics, increased profits by 62 percent and 22 percent, respectively. Boeing's profits jumped 61 percent, spiked this quarter by its commercial division. But Boeing's military division, like the others, has been doing very well indeed since the terrorist attacks.

Continue reading War Industry Regains Command »



Feature: Crossroads

Released: October 29, 2007 Zogby Poll:
52% Support U.S. Military Strike Against Iran
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1379

A majority of likely voters – 52% – would support a U.S. military strike to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, and 53% believe it is likely that the U.S. will be involved in a military strike against Iran before the next presidential election, a new Zogby America telephone poll shows. (is a bombing strike the only way to prevent a nuclear weapon from being built ??)

The survey results come at a time of increasing U.S. scrutiny of Iran. According to reports from the Associated Press, earlier this month Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Iran of "lying" about the aim of its nuclear program and Vice President Dick Cheney has raised the prospect of "serious consequences" if the U.S. were to discover Iran was attempting to develop a nuclear weapon. Last week, the Bush administration also announced new sanctions against Iran.

I remind myself---these are the same people who spoke about WMD's in Iraq and Mushroom clouds....these are the same people who assured us that we would be treated as liberators, that the oil revenues would pay for the War(to date tax payers have a bill of 5 trillion dollars) ....that we were bringing democracy....freedom....

5 years later---no electricity, no water, no food for the people of Iraq, last statistics 1.2 MILLION Dead Iraq civilians...3838 dead US military service people......the USA engages in torture, the US government has granted immunity to private armies that kill innocent civilians for sport....meanwhile, americans from all walks of life, lack basic health care, employment, civilian infrastructure, national guards, ect.....not to mention, our once exemplary image, smeared around the world.

These are the same people who told us our freedoms were at risk, that we need to fight them over there, that oceans no longer protected us, they even declared Mission Accomplished, many moons ago......

Dare we really BELIEVE these LIARS again......yes, no, maybe.....?????

When asked which presidential candidate would be best equipped to deal with Iran – regardless of whether or not they expected the U.S. to attack Iran – 21% would most like to see New York U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton leading the country.
Dare a Womyn lead us down another road of pure aggression and hate......maybe we should ask the children of war how "they feel about this" ?
These folks are war criminals.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest and WiserEarth

I sadly missed the Bioneers Conference in Detroit this October...as I was searching out information about it...I found this..
HOPE !!! I FOUND HOPE !

Meeting Resistance Trailer

ITS ABOUT PERSPECTIVE!!! Which side of the line you happen to be on, which thoughts you choose to adopt as your own....

Friday, October 26, 2007

Feature: Doorway

I wont be fooled again....................................?

The Trojan Horse, the symbol for being fooled by an outward show and appearance, letting down one's guard, and bringing the enemy inside. Not far from what the world is experiencing today with the rule of psychopaths: intraspecies predators who look like normal humans but are not.

Taking It To the Streets: sitdownfortheconstitution.org

By Naomi Wolf on Thu Oct 25, 2007 at 07:30 pm


"All right: Blackwater and other contractors have four BILLION dollars in US funds and, the New York Times reports today, almost no oversight in Iraq; wildfires are consuming acres of Southern California and many counties have been declared to be in a state of emergency — and nothing at all but a whisper of popular opposition and a prayer — nothing legal — would prevent Bush today from declaring that the National Guard is overstretched and that it is Blackwater’s torturers and murderers, recruited from Salvadoran, Ecuadoran and Nigerian paramilitaries, who will be `maintaining order’ in the `public emergency’ that is Southern California; and Mukasey has informed Congress that he has no idea what waterboarding is — which professed cluelessness alone should disqualify him from service — and that the President does not actually need to obey the law of the United States of America — which alone should alert us that if he is confirmed the game is over. Once Congress confirms someone to decide the law of the land who holds that the President is exempt from the law of the land (which assertion was, notably, an historic tipping point when Hitler asked his Reichstag to confirm a similar position about his powers in regard to the law and the constitution) it is open season on all of us."

Read more of Naomi Wolf--a brave american womyn.
http://www.firedoglake.com/index.php?author=466

Feature: Shifters


JIMMY CARTER.....MY HERO.

http://www.sonyclassics.com/jimmycartermanfromplains/

"The film, “Jimmy Carter Man From Plains,” was directed by Jonathan Demme and is a friendly, at times fawning, at times gaga 126-minute chronicle of the former president’s 2006 national book tour to promote and occasionally defend his best seller “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid.” Much like its subject, the film is approachable and tonally unmodulated. It delivers even its loudest, most contentious points in a quiet, measured, indoor voice. His choices speak volumes about what he would like us to know about Mr. Carter: the former president flies commercial, handles his own luggage (he even waves off the help of one hotel doorman) and reads the Bible daily with his wife, Rosalynn. He helps build houses for Habitat for Humanity and hugs children. He loves Israel. But he wants it to stop oppressing the Palestinian people because it’s the right thing to do and because it will lead to peace in the Mideast. It’s that simple."
http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/movies/26jimm.html?ref=arts

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Feature: Shifters


Welcome Moon----may this full moon time in Taurus/Scorpio bring the humans home.

PEACE NOW!

LETS START SINGING

Feature: Doorway

Its all conscious---- (Thanks for the link Kitty)

"We are living in an historic time in which we are witnesses to a shift in planetary consciousness. The old paradigms, which have prevailed for centuries of domination, power, and control, are giving way to new paradigms of cooperation, co-creation, and living in harmony with nature, instead of dominion over Her. As such all fields of study and walks of life are reflecting these changes. Breaking from the old rigid Patriarchical systems of control, and moving towards a more intuitive, Nature-based approach in which each and every person can "divine" from Nature directly how best to be in harmony with the Earth." http://www.earthtransitions.com/content/sacredspace/harmonywithnature.html

Feature: Shifters


I am back..........thanks to the kind, smart folks at "Google Help". Danish---should you check to see---MUCHO GRATZI TO YOU, I am soooooooo grateful.!!!!
Sunday night as I was trying to add a video to my blog, I deleted my blog instead....In one click, it was gone...i was trying to be Zen about it...you know, impermanence...I was miserable. and then, my plead to google help was answered..and with a few changes...poff now, its back....amazing...simply amazing!


Sunday, October 21, 2007

Feature: Doorway



Frank Rich, (right) a NYT Op-Ed Columnist, wrote a piece last week, titled "The ‘Good Germans’ Among Us" on torture, which I was unable to blog , because it was simply too painful, too shameful....too unbelievable to even allow space in my psyche.

This week, Mr. Rich gives us yet another in-depth, put your thinking cap on story..... Read with your eyes wide open....

The corruption and the cover-up are evil, do not doubt that. The destruction and the profiteering are impoverishing our nation as well as destroying Iraq. The continued shifting of power to private entities outside the control of the American people represents an undermining of all that we hold dear. http://teacherken.blogspot.com



Below is an excerpt from Mr. Rich's Op-Ep in the NYT October 21, 2007, please link and read in its entirety.

Suicide Is Not Painless

By FRANK RICH
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/opinion/21rich.html?_r=2&ref=opinion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Last week a man you’ve never heard of Charles D. Riechers, 47, the second-highest-ranking procurement officer in the United States Air Force — killed himself by running his car’s engine in his suburban Virginia garage.

Through his story you can see how America has routinely betrayed the very values of democratic governance that it hoped to export to Iraq. Look deeper and you can see how the wholesale corruption of government contracting sabotaged the crucial mission that might have enabled us to secure the country: the rebuilding of the Iraqi infrastructure, from electricity to hospitals. You can also see just why the heretofore press-shy Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater USA, staged a rapid-fire media blitz a week ago, sitting down with Charlie Rose, Lara Logan, Lisa Myers and Wolf Blitzer.

Mr. Prince wasn’t trying to save his employees from legal culpability in the deaths of 17 innocent Iraqis mowed down on Sept. 16 in Baghdad. He knows that the legal loopholes granted by Bremer back in 2004 amount to a get-out-of-jail-free card. He knows that Americans will forget about another 17 Iraqi casualties as soon as Blackwater gets some wrist-slapping punishment.

Instead, Mr. Prince is moving on, salivating over the next payday. As he told The Wall Street Journal last week, Blackwater no longer cares much about its security business; it is expanding into a “full spectrum” defense contractor offering a “one-stop shop” for everything from remotely piloted blimps to armored trucks. The point of his P.R. offensive was to smooth his quest for more billions of Pentagon loot.

Which brings us back to Mr. Riechers. As it happens, he was only about three degrees of separation from Blackwater. His Pentagon job, managing a $30 billion Air Force procurement budget, had been previously held by an officer named Darleen Druyun, who in 2004 was sentenced to nine months in prison for securing jobs for herself, her daughter and her son-in-law at Boeing while favoring the company with billions of dollars of contracts. Ms. Druyun’s Pentagon post remained vacant until Mr. Riechers was appointed. He was brought in to clean up the corruption.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Feature: Crossroads

THATS WHAT AMERICA NEEDS, MORE OF THE SAME!!!!!!

The ever famed ‘Military-Industrial Complex’ has picked their candidate of choice: Hillary Rodham Clinton. When Hillary takes office, do not be prepared to see an anti-war populist of any sort. She is as establishment as Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, ready to declare war on Iran at a moment’s notice. The defense industry sees this and, I think, has made a good investment. Well, good if you’re a defense contractor. The Huffington Post reported:
The defense industry this year abandoned its decade-long commitment to the Republican Party, funneling the lion share of its contributions to Democratic presidential candidates, especially to Hillary Clinton who far out-paced all her competitors.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Feature: Crossroads

The Great Forgetting

By Eunice Wong

The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, located on the Mall in Washington, D.C., is a monument to historical amnesia. The blond limestone building, surrounded by indigenous crops of corn, tobacco and squash, invites visitors on a guilt-free, theme park tour of Native American history, where acknowledgment of the American genocide is in extremely bad taste.

The beauty of the architecture and landscaping conceals the hollowness of the enterprise. The first two floors of the four-story building are turned over to gift shops and the cafeteria. The museum provides no information on the forced death marches, authorized by Congress, such as the Trail of Tears, the repeated treaty violations by the United States, reservations, infamous massacres such as Wounded Knee, or leaders such as Tatanka Iyotanka (Sitting Bull), Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekht (Chief Joseph), Tashunka Witko (Crazy Horse), or Goyathlay (Geronimo).

“If it does not talk about massive land theft—3 billion acres of stolen land in the continental United States; if it does not talk about broken treaties—over 400 treaties violated by the United States government and its European American citizenry; if it does not talk about genocide—16 million native peoples wiped out by the United States and its citizenry; if it does not talk about residential Christian boarding schools, about the suppression of our languages, our Indigenous spirituality and religious ceremonies, and on and on, it is literally a whitewashed history,” said Dr. Chris Mato Nunpa of the Dakota Nation, professor and head of the Indigenous Nations and Dakota Studies Program at Southwest Minnesota State University. “And then they get our colonized, Christianized Indian colleagues to tell the same story that has been told by the European Americans for generations.”

http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/20071005_the_great_forgetting/

Feature: Crossroads

Bush denies children health care

Remember these are the same folks who support "Pro-Life" legistlation...Save the fetus, Abort the child.....



One Congress person had the courage to speak his truth;

Thank you, Representative Pete Stark

"You don't have money to fund the war or children. But you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President's amusement. This bill would provide healthcare for 10 million children and unlike the President's own kids, these children can't see a doctor or receive necessary care.
But President Bush's statements about children's health shouldn't be taken any more seriously than his lies about the war in Iraq. The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up. In Iraq, in the United States and in Congress. "

Feature: Doorways

"The music and the writing is about making people think. I don't want people to agree or not agree with me, but to think about things. If I'm communicating with them at any level or degree, then maybe it will provoke some thinking." JTrudell

"Activate our thinking, that's what I think we need to do."

What are you thinking about? Please post your thoughts........

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Feature: Doorways

ARE US soldiers denied constitutional rights??

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/101607L.shtml

Lt. Ehren Watada has consistently maintained that the Iraq War is illegal under international law and the US Constitution, and that to participate in it would make him guilty of a war crime. At the video press conference on June 7, 2006, in which he first announced his refusal to go to Iraq, he explained, "It is my conclusion as an officer of the armed forces that the war in Iraq is not only morally wrong but a horrible breach of American law."
Watada was tried in a military court in February for failing to deploy and conduct unbecoming an officer for his statements opposing the war. After the prosecution had completed its case, the military judge, Lt. Col. John Head, intervened, declared a mistrial and ordered Watada to be retried. [See our report on that trial here.]
The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution states that no person shall be "subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb." As the Supreme Court explained in a seminal 1978 double jeopardy case, United States v. Scott, "The underlying idea, one that is deeply ingrained in at least the Anglo-American system of jurisprudence, is that the State with all its resources and power should not be allowed to make repeated attempts to convict an individual for an alleged offence."
Like the erosion of the right to habeas corpus, the denial of the protection against double jeopardy represents one more Bush-era encroachment of the all-powerful state on basic human rights and the rule of law.
While the legal arguments about double jeopardy are quite complicated, Watada's lawyers are convinced their arguments are strong. They wrote in their emergency motion, "This is a remarkably clear case of an egregious violation of the double-jeopardy clause." Judge Settle's opinion states, "The Court has not been presented any evidence showing that Petitioner's double jeopardy claim lacks merit. On the contrary, the record indicates that Petitioner's double jeopardy claim is meritorious."

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Feature: Shifters

Posted October 13, 2007 | 09:00 AM (EST)


The ability of Israeli-Palestinian conflict to sustain itself over time has been remarkable. Each time a new hope for an end to the conflict rises, violence and extremism raises its ugly head to subvert it. And because extremism and violence has defied optimism and triumphed over reason and restraint for decades upon decades, bringing an end the conflict seems wildly improbable. The disappointment suffered every time militant extremism claims victory by claiming lives desensitizes and blunts our very human instinct to support hope and a movement that might bring an end to the conflict.

2007-10-12-logo.jpg
But Israelis and Palestinians are incapable of being desensitized. This conflict is their reality. They can not casually turn off the television set or read a different story in the newspaper. However, in the midst of chaos, there is growing chorus of moderate Israeli and Palestinian voices who have had enough, and are demanding an end to the cycle of violence.


And it is the OneVoice Movement that is uniting them for this cause.

OneVoice Movement is a grassroots movement designed to amplify the voice of the people and to empower Israelis and Palestinians on the ground to achieve a consensus on core issues.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Feature: Shifters



"THE GODDESS IS ALIVE & MAGIC IS AFOOT."

Renegade Ex-Nuns Raise Hell In Poland
Posted by Zuzu on October 11, 2007 at 5:53 AM. This post, written by Zuzu, originally appeared on Feministe

You gotta love any story that involves the phrase "rebellious ex-nuns.

"KAZIMIERZ DOLNY, Poland (AP) -- Police evicted 65 rebellious ex-nuns Wednesday from a convent they illegally occupied for two years after defying a Vatican order to replace their mother superior, a charismatic leader who had religious visions.

The defeated nuns walked out in their black habits -- some carrying guitars, drums and tambourines -- after a locksmith opened the gate to the walled compound and police in riot gear rushed in and arrested the mother superior. A former Franciscan friar who had locked himself away with the nuns also was taken into custody.

Several nuns, many of whom appeared to be in their 20s, screamed at police, calling them ''servants of Satan," as they were escorted out and into waiting buses.

God forbid that a bunch of nuns might have some opinions on who to follow:

The women took over the convent in Kazmierz Dolny in eastern Poland in rebellion against a Vatican order in 2005 to replace Jadwiga Ligocka as mother superior.

"They were disobedient," said Mieczyslaw Puzewicz, a spokesman for the Lublin diocese of the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican formally expelled the women from their Sisters of Bethany order last year, but has revealed almost nothing about the dispute.

The problem, apparently, is that Ligocka has become a powerful figure to these nuns. Er, ex-nuns. Because once you start being disobedient, you have no place in the Catholic Church hierarchy.

Features: Doorways


"Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize today for his efforts to educate people about global warming.1 It's not only a testament to his important work on the issue, but it's also a great example of the kind of leadership it is going to take to lead us out of this mess.

But we'll only get that leadership if we demand it. And we're going to do exactly that. We're working with groups all over America to speak with one voice on November 3rd." http://www.truemajority.org

True Majority offers you a way to participate, especially if you, like me, are time challanged....

Work with the Nobel Peace Prize Winner (Al Gore) and make Global Warming/ Care of this wonder MotherEarth
a priority today......go to: http://act.truemajorityaction.org/t/53/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=27

and send your postcard.....



Feature: CrossRoads

AL GORE WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE...................
Former U.S. vice-president shares award with UN climate change panel

Al Gore, said he was honored to receive the prize. He indicated that his share of the $1.5 million award would be donated to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a non-profit organization that works to educate the public about climate change and seeks global participation for action.

Foot note: "The Supreme Court handed 2000's agonisingly close presidential election to George W Bush, who promptly abandoned US support for the international Kyoto pact on climate change.
Gore emerged from political hibernation with little bitterness over his electoral loss, joking to one audience: "I am Al Gore, and I used to be the next president of the United States of America."
" Some experts say Gore's campaign, the Oscar and now the Nobel Peace Prize could persuade him to make a new last-minute bid to secure the Democratic nomination for next year's US presidential election." http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22576473-661,00.html

http://www.draftgore.com/


Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Feature: Shifters



It is a dark moon of Autumn.... The darkest time of the calendar year, a time to journey inward for reflecting, imagining and connecting with the source.....
Happy Fertile Dark Moon to ya.

Features: Doorways



Peace Activists, those who adamantly oppose the illegal bombing and occupation of Iraq, a country who had never committed any atrocity against the United States....have been camping outside the home of of Nancy Pelosi for the last 4 months....Just yesterday, they erected a giant statue of Buddha; An image that speaks for itself...
below is a statement from Ms. Pelosi, the first women Speaker of the House, a women who also refuses to press for the Impeachment of a president for War Crimes.

From Roll Call's Heard on the Hill:/HuffingtonPost:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/10/protesters-building-large_n_67826.htm
"I've had four or five months of people sitting outside my home, going into my garden in San Francisco and angering my neighbors," Pelosi said at a gathering sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.

Pelosi added that the squatters have engaged in decidedly non-neighborly behavior like hanging their clothes from the trees; moving in sofas, chairs and other "permanent living facilities"; and, oddly, building a large Buddha on the sidewalk in front of her home. "You can just imagine my neighbors' reactions to all of this," she said. "And if they were poor, and they were sleeping on my sidewalk, they'd be arrested for loitering, but because they have 'impeach Bush' across their chest, it's the First Amendment." ( i wonder how Iraqi's feel)

A citizens reply: MarkKienan : Pelosi said "impeachment is off the table".
Miss Nancy is whining because average citizens have the audacity to speak up against her failure to fulfill her obligation under the constitution. They have the audacity to protest outside her multimillion dollar mansion in Pacific Heights, SF. Oh and her rich neighbors are perturbed too. Dear Miss Nancy. You're breaking my heart.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Feature: CrossRoads

Check out this link---try to imagine: as they mine the earth, they mine the soul of humanity, as they pollute the earth, they pollute the mind of humanity...

The Government Sanctioned Bombing of Appalachia
Antrim Caskey, AlterNet
Environment: Thanks to Bush, Big Coal uses 3 million pounds of explosives each day in West Virginia to fuel our addiction to dirty energy.
Coal mining dominates the lives of the people in the remote, coal-rich mountain communities of West Virginia, where coal operators like Massey Energy are waging a remorseless campaign to extract all the coal they can, as fast as they can, before coal is legislated into the past and President Bush is out of office.
Out-of-state coal operators reap billions in profits every year, while residents of southern West Virginia remain among the poorest in the nation. In the coal fields, the imbalance is amplified: while Boone county produces the most coal in the state, 20 percent of its residents languish below the poverty line without sufficient income to achieve an adequate standard of living.
Massey Energy Co., the largest coal producer in Appalachia, grossed $1.78 billion in revenue on coal sales of 42.3 million tons in 2005, while residents have toy drives for the kids around the holidays and often rely on free medical care administered by a global traveling clinic unit that comes around once a year.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Features: CrossRoads

Check this link out in Vanity Fair; Unbelievable
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/halliburton200711

The People vs. the Profiteers
: Americans working in Iraq for Halliburton spin-off KBR have been outraged by the massive fraud they saw there. Dozens are suing the giant military contractor, on the taxpayers' behalf. Whose side is the Justice Department on?

Vanity Fair Magazine by David Rose November 2007// Snapshots from the article:

The first logcap contract dates back to 1992, when Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney paid Brown and Root, as KBR was then known, to devise a contract for providing overseas support services to the military. Under federal law, a firm that designs a contract is prohibited from bidding for it, but this regulation was ignored, and B&R bid for and won logcap 1. (More than a decade later, the rules were breached again when Halliburton designed and then won the $2 billion contract to restore Iraq's oil industry.) Three years after logcap 1 was awarded, Cheney, who had no business experience, became C.E.O. of B&R's parent company, Halliburton, where he would collect some $44 million in earnings.

logcap 1 expired in 1997, and Halliburton lost its bid for logcap 2 to DynCorp. By this time, however, B&R was so deeply embedded in Bosnia and Kosovo, where U.S. forces were then concentrated, that the region was exempted from logcap 2 altogether. DynCorp was left fuming on the sidelines while Halliburton remained in the Balkans, reaping a harvest that eventually reached $2.2 billion.

In the April 2005 issue of this magazine, Michael Shnayerson wrote about BunnatineHalliburton the Iraqi-oil-industry contract. In the summer of 2001, she had led a team of Pentagon inspectors sent to Bosnia and Kosovo. The team, she says, found that KBR and its bills were "out of control." The General Accounting Office, now named the Government Accountability Office (G.A.O.), reached similar conclusions, reporting that KBR's Balkans operation was over-equipped and overstaffed to the point where "half of these crews had at least 40 percent of their members not engaged in work." Greenhouse, a former civilian procurement chief at the Army Corps of Engineers. Greenhouse had been demoted after protesting the decision to give

KBR's Iraq logistics contract was awarded in December 2001, almost a year and a half before the war started. By August 2007 the company had received about $25 billion from the D.O.D., and the funds continue to roll in at a rate of more than $400 million a month. KBR builds America's bases and trucks in soldiers' food, cooks their meals, washes their laundry, and provides their gyms and Internet connections. When the Pentagon decided to outsource the repair of military communications equipment, this too was assigned to KBR. Soon, as Grayson points out, there will be no one left in the U.S. Army who knows how to fix a radio. This profound shift of duties from the military to private companies was supposed to save the government money, and it is an uncomfortable political fact that it has instead triggered a free-for-all of fraud and waste.

At the same time, the Bush administration has special sensitivities to claims concerning KBR and its former parent company, Halliburton. Dick Cheney's deep connection with the firm is well established. It is less widely known that former attorney general Alberto Gonzales, the Cabinet member who headed the Justice Department until August, when he was forced to resign, also has long-standing links with both Halliburton and its legal counsel, the venerable Texas firm of Vinson & Elkins.

Features: CrossRoads

Why do we allow this Grief to go unchallanged? Why as a population of compassionate people do we allow our government to convince us that this is OK? Both the grief of the Iraqi's and the grief of the families of our soldiers....why?

October 8, 2007 | Iraqi relatives cry near a truck carrying bodies of the victims of a US air raid on the village of al-Jayzani, near Baquba, northeast of Baghdad.
(Photo: Ali Yussef / AFP)


Three US Troops Killed in Iraq Bombings
By Tina Susman ///The Los Angeles Times

Saturday 06 October 2007

Baghdad - Roadside bombs killed three American soldiers Friday, and U.S. and Iraqi forces differed in their accounts of an overnight raid on a suspected hide-out for Shiite Muslim militiamen.

The U.S. military said American forces backed by attack aircraft killed 25 militiamen in the assault on the village of Jizan Imam, about 40 miles northwest of Baghdad. Some Iraqi officials, though, said most of the dead were civilians mistaken for hostile forces.

The U.S. troop deaths brought to at least 3,813 the number of American forces killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, according to icasualties.org.

Two of the soldiers died when a bomb detonated near their vehicle in Baghdad, and the third was killed in a bombing in Salahuddin province, north of the capital.

According to the military account, men armed with assault rifles and grenade launchers opened fire on the U.S. troops. The Americans called in airstrikes and two buildings were destroyed, they said.

However, some Iraqi security forces in the area said the shooting erupted because of confusion over the arrival of the American forces at 1:30 a.m. They said some residents assumed that the troops were attackers and opened fire, sparking the gun battle.

An Iraqi army colonel said four houses were destroyed and that the dead were civilians. He said it was the fourth time the village had been hit by airstrikes.

It is common for U.S. and Iraqi officials to have conflicting accounts of military raids. U.S. military officials say they fire only on known or suspected threats, but Iraqis say the Americans often strafe buildings occupied by civilians, causing casualties.


Saturday, October 6, 2007

Feature: Crossroads

Ann Coulter's Idiotic Political Strategy: Taking Away Women's Right to Vote
This post, written by Page Gardner, originally appeared on Think Progress

Earlier this week, Ann Coulter told The New York Observer that she believes women shouldn't have the right to vote:

"If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president. It's kind of a pipe dream, it's a personal fantasy of mine, but I don't think it's going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women."
"It also makes the point, it is kind of embarrassing, the Democratic Party ought to be hanging its head in shame, that it has so much difficulty getting men to vote for it. I mean, you do see it's the party of women and "We'll pay for health care and tuition and day care -- and here, what else can we give you, soccer moms?"

Just this week, Ms. Coulter was a guest @ the Livingston Economic Club wearing a price tag of $30,000....to spew hate, division, and propaganda about liberals to a sell-out crowd. Tickets for this grand event went for $50-60.

Later that evening, Jonathan Cohn, an editor for the liberal New Republic magazine came to Howell and spoke at the Opera House about the health care crisis in America..with a price tag of $0.00 and free admission.....all donations went to establish a free dental clinic hoping to serve those in need.....

You decide.....is there anything wrong with this picture....please leave your comments.


Right wing in America---oh give me that Right wing of America. Those moral highgrounders, (who are all about themselves) those brave men and women (who are too busy to sign up for the War they support) those forward thinkers (who have brought America to her knees)
Give me that Brave New World.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Feature: Crossroads

Mercenaries Should Not Be Above the Law
An astounding 120,000 "private security contractors" are currently working in Iraq. And a couple of weeks ago, when Blackwater
mercenaries decided to open fire on innocent Iraqi civilians,
we learned that these contractors are above the law.

Just yesterday the House overwhelming passed a bill that would
make it clear that U.S. law applies to all armed contractors hired for overseas missions. Now it's up to the Senate to follow the House's
lead. Tell your Senators to support accountability for private security contractors in Iraq and send the letter below.

http://act.truemajorityaction.org/t/50/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1194


Feature: Doorways

Former Vice President Al Gore and other campaigners against climate change are choices for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize!!!

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS....


http://www.draftgore.com

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Features: Shifters


Women, young and old, working together

with mind, heart and spirit

to become confident with inner strength

to make wise decisions

with wisdom and intuition

to become more forgiving within a loving spirit

Women, young and old, sharing together

without hesitation

to support and reach out to others

to accept ourselves

to know who we are
Proud to be...

TEWA WOMEN, TEWA WOMEN, TEWA WOMEN

TEWA WOMEN UNITED

This gathering happened the w/e of the Equinox......a potent magical time....womyn gathering for peace, for future generations and this glorious, Mother Earth.....

Gathering for Mother Earth:

11th Annual Gathering of people from ALL cultures who want wellness of Mind, Heart, and Spirit. Come join us as we search holistic ways to secure a healthy future for our generations to come.


http://tewawomenunited.org/Gathering/Schedule.htm

Feature: Crossroads

Sometimes actions in small ways lead to big solutions....
join with those who believe in universal health care for children...

Follow this link to be part of the solution!! Kudos to True Majority... http://act.truemajorityaction.org/o/2/t/50/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1192

The gap between the President's priorities and your priorities has never been clearer. The President just decided that 3 million poor children shouldn't receive healthcare. It's crazy. At the same time he's asking Congress for $200 billion more to continue his war in Iraq, he's vetoing a healthcare program for needy kids here at home that cost just a small fraction of that.

But for the first time in seven years, the President might not get his way. Now it's up to Congress to stand up for their constituents and override the President's veto.

Feature: Doorways


The caption reads: "Here is to Good Women", may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them....

Profound...simple....truth...

check out more at: http://www.jordanmatter.com/exhibits/default.asp?name=nudes

Monday, October 1, 2007

Feature: Doorways

From love thorns become flowers...
From love vinegar becomes wine…
From love fury turns to mercy…

Gamble everything for love
if you’re a true human being.

I’ve heard it said there’s a window that opens
from one mind to another.

Jelaluddin Rumi, the 13th Century Sufi mystic

It was, and is, a love meant to dissolve what separates us from each other and from God — whatever our conception of God is. When Rumi died, on December 7th, 1273, his funeral procession included Christians, Jews, Moslems, and members of other faiths, all coming to honor the man who taught and so fully embodied universal love, a love that transcended religion, race, nationality and all the other artificial barriers humans put up between each other. This may be why, 800 years after his birth, he continues to inspire people all over the world — perhaps now more thanever — with a bright hope; that we can each live our lives in touch with our divine source, and from this core of our being, share with each other a profound vision of oneness. The Crazy Wisdom Community Journal • September - December 2007 • Page 16

Feature: Crossroads

Last week 190 million dollars were approved for the continued fighting in Iraq and Afganistan.......
Why we're against the war///http://www.ivaw.org/

Q: Why are veterans, active duty, and National Guard men and women opposed to the war in Iraq?

A: Here are 10 reasons we oppose this war:

  1. The Iraq war is based on lies and deception.
    The Bush Administration planned for an attack against Iraq before September 11th, 2001. They used the false pretense of an imminent nuclear, chemical and biological weapons threat to deceive Congress into rationalizing this unnecessary conflict. They hide our casualties of war by banning the filming of our fallen's caskets when they arrive home, and when they refuse to allow the media into Walter Reed Hospital and other Veterans Administration facilities which are overflowing with maimed and traumatized veterans.
    For further reading: www.motherjones.com/bush_war_timeline/index.html

  2. The Iraq war violates international law.
    The United States assaulted and occupied Iraq without the consent of the UN Security Council. In doing so they violated the same body of laws they accused Iraq of breaching.
    For further reading:
    http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/imtconst.htm
    http://www.westpointgradsagainstthewar.org/

  3. Corporate profiteering is driving the war in Iraq.
    From privately contracted soldiers and linguists to no-bid reconstruction contracts and multinational oil negotiations, those who benefit the most in this conflict are those who suffer the least. The United States has chosen a path that directly contradicts President Eisenhower's farewell warning regarding the military industrial complex. As long as those in power are not held accountable, they will continue...
    For further reading:
    http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0714-01.htm
    http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/

  4. Overwhelming civilian casualties are a daily occurrence in Iraq.
    Despite attempts in training and technological sophistication, large-scale civilian death is both a direct and indirect result of United States aggression in Iraq. Even the most conservative estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths number over 100,000. Currently over 100 civilians die every day in Baghdad alone.For further reading:
    http://www.nomorevictims.org/
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1338749,00.html
    http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70A1EF73C5A0C758DDDA10894DE404482

  5. Soldiers have the right to refuse illegal war.
    All in service to this country swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. However, they are prosecuted if they object to serve in a war they see as illegal under our Constitution. As such, our brothers and sisters are paying the price for political incompetence, forced to fight in a war instead of having been sufficiently trained to carry out the task of nation-building.
    For further reading:
    http://thankyoult.live.radicaldesigns.org/content/view/172/
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qa6ZHYcG_EM
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=1dAXQeH7y9g&mode=related&search=
    http://girights.objector.org

  6. Service members are facing serious health consequences due to our Government's negligence.
    Many of our troops have already been deployed to Iraq for two, three, and even four tours of duty averaging eleven months each. Combat stress, exhaustion, and bearing witness to the horrors of war contribute to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a serious set of symptoms that can lead to depression, illness, violent behavior, and even suicide. Additionally, depleted uranium, Lariam, insufficient body armor and infectious diseases are just a few of the health risks which accompany an immorally planned and incompetently executed war. Finally, upon a soldier's release, the Veterans Administration is far too under-funded to fully deal with the magnitude of veterans in need.
    For further reading:
    http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/
    http://www.vets4vets.us/

  7. The war in Iraq is tearing our families apart.
    The use of stop-loss on active duty troops and the unnecessarily lengthy and repeat active tours by Guard and Reserve troops place enough strain on our military families, even without being forced to sacrifice their loved ones for this ongoing political experiment in the Middle East.
    For further reading: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,FL_loss_092704,00.html

  8. The Iraq war is robbing us of funding sorely needed here at home.
    $5.8 billion per month is spent on a war which could have aided the victims of Hurricane Katrina, gone to impoverished schools, the construction of hospitals and health care systems, tax cut initiatives, and a host of domestic programs that have all been gutted in the wake of the war in Iraq.
    For further reading:
    http://www.costofwar.com

  9. The war dehumanizes Iraqis and denies them their right to self-determination.
    Iraqis are subjected to humiliating and violent checkpoints, searches and home raids on a daily basis. The current Iraqi government is in place solely because of the U.S. military occupation. The Iraqi government doesn’t have the popular support of the Iraqi people, nor does it have power or authority. For many Iraqis the current government is seen as a puppet regime for the U.S. occupation. It is undemocratic and in violation of Iraq’s own right to self-governance.
    For further reading:
  10. http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
  11. Our military is being exhausted by repeated deployments, involuntary extensions, and activations of the Reserve and National Guard.
    The majority of troops in Iraq right now are there for at least their second tour. Deployments to Iraq are becoming longer and many of our service members are facing involuntary extensions and recalls to active duty. Longstanding policies to limit the duration and frequency of deployments for our part-time National Guard troops are now being overturned to allow for repeated, back-to-back tours in Iraq. These repeated, extended combat tours are taking a huge toll on our troops, their families, and their communities.
    For further reading:
    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-military12jan12,0,7198945.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Q: Why do Iraq Veterans Against the War call for the immediate withdrawal from Iraq?

A: There are several reasons why immediate withdrawal is the critical first step toward solving the problems in Iraq.

  1. The reasons and rationale given for the invasion were fraudulent.
    There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq during the time of the invasion according to US officials and former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix. The idea that Al Qeada and the 9/11 terrorist attacks were connected to Saddam Hussein and the Baath party were proven false in the 9/11 Commission Report. Members of the Bush Administration have admitted that they “misspoke” in the run up to the war.

  2. The presence of the US military is not preventing sectarian violence.
    The US occupation of Iraq has proven to be unable to prevent sectarian violence and halt an escalation towards a civil war. Despite having an average of 140,000 troops in country since the occupation began, internal violence and attacks against civilians and Iraqi security forces have been on a steady incline.

  3. The occupation is a primary motivation for the insurgency and global religious extremism.
    The insurgency can be broken down into many individually named factions with various goals, beliefs, and techniques. However, our membership of veterans believe that the occupation of Iraq is the primary thing encouraging the insurgency and giving it legitimacy in the eyes of many Iraqis. Likewise, other people of the Islamic faith are encouraged to resist America ’s policies internationally based on how they perceive our military operations in the Middle East.

  4. We can no longer afford to fight this war of choice.
    The financial burden is destroying our domestic programs that could be used to protect us from natural disasters, provide medical programs, or help improve education. We are jeopardizing the US economy and putting strains on the budgets of important government agencies like the Veterans Affairs Department.

  5. National security is compromised.
    Funds that could be used to protect our ports and transportation are being stripped away while our National Guard units are on constant deployments instead of being used to protect and defend us here at home.

  6. The world is becoming more dangerous.
    International terrorist attacks have increased and it has become more dangerous for Americans to travel abroad. Approval for US policy has decreased and the dislike of Americans has increased.
  7. Our national “moral authority” is being undermined.
    The US has lost credibility to much of the world as the defender of liberty and freedom and our national identity is eroding. We can no longer deploy our armed forces for peace keeping measures with the good faith of the international community. We need to regain the respect and faith of the global community. This begins by withdrawing our troops from Iraq and helping the Iraqi people rebuild their country and society.

  8. The majority of American citizens, Iraqi citizens and US military would like to see an immediate end to the war in Iraq.
    If we are truly a democracy and we aim to create a democracy in Iraq our leaders will represent the will of the citizens and lead according to their wishes.

  9. The military is broken.
    We are abusing the small population of armed service members with multiple deployments while using inadequate vehicles and equipment. Less than one half of a percent of the American population is serving in the active armed forces, which is the least amount in the last century. Only 25% of the troops in Iraq are there for their first tour, while 50% are there on their second tour, and the remaining 25% are there three times or more. We continue to involuntarily extend soldiers with Stop-Loss, recall them repeatedly for additional service using the Individual Ready Reserve, and send soldiers with diagnosed medical problems into combat.