Thursday, July 31, 2008

Feature: Shifters


This is so unbelievable....So wrong!!!! If your an American with any spiritual depth, with any conscious awareness, be advised. The Dark Ages are upon us. Ms. Mayer has numerous interviews on line if you would like to hear her story.
Editorial Reviews
"If you intend to vote in November and read only one book between now and then, this should be it.” —Los Angeles Times
“Some of “The Dark Side” seems right out of “The Final Days,” minus Nixon’s operatic boozing and weeping…. Nixon parallels take us only so far, however. “The Dark Side” is scarier than “The Final Days” because these final days aren’t over yet and because the stakes are much higher.” —Frank Rich, New York Times
“In The Dark Side, Jane Mayer, a staff writer for the New Yorker, documents some of the ugliest allegations of wrongdoing charged against the Bush administration. To dismiss these as wild, anti-American ravings will not do. They are facts, which Mayer substantiates in persuasive detail, citing the testimony not of noted liberals like Noam Chomsky or Keith Olbermann but of military officers, intelligence professionals, "hard-line law-and-order stalwarts in the criminal justice system" and impeccably conservative Bush appointees who resisted the conspiracy from within the administration.” —Washington Post Book World
“Whatever it takes to get those bastards. The true nature of our Faustian bargain would not become clear until later, and maybe it needed a journalist as steely and tenacious as Jane Mayer to give us the full picture. "The Dark Side" is about how the war on terror became "a war on American ideals," and Mayer gives this story all the weight and sorrow it deserves. Many books get tagged with the word "essential"; hers actually is.” —Salon.com

“In Jane Mayer's angry and important book ``The Dark Side,'' the tenacious New Yorker reporter takes us, step by step, through the process by which practices and methods we associate with tyrannies became official U.S. policy.” —Bloomberg

“(In) The Dark Side, Jane Mayer’s riveting and shocking new book, and not the least of the themes to emerge from it is that we’ve witnessed something new in American history: the imperial vice presidency.” —New York Observer

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Feature: Shifters


THROW THE BUMS OUT.

Below an excerpt Posted by http://www.paxamericana.net/ GREAT WORK

"Why is it so objectionable when a progressive group attempts to make a statement to one of those enablers (in this case, Speaker Pelosi) about her utter ineffectiveness? We progressives like to wave the Constitution around and say that we, unlike people on the Right, adhere to the values and ideals contained therein, yet there are some among us (I'm looking at you, Netroots Nation) who would restrict a group's freedom of expression for the sake of politeness?"

"I for one am tired of treating our piss-poor congressional leadership with kid gloves, like their shit doesn't stink. The fact is, Code Pink and those like them are right -- impeachment not only should be on the table, the hearings should have been underway for weeks or months by now. The Speaker has utterly failed to justify the faith that I, and so many of my progressive friends, placed in her upon her ascension to that lofty position. And now her apologists at Daily Kos still say that we have to be nice?"

Feature: Crossroads

Stefan Zaklin, a photographer who was working for the European Pressphoto Agency and embedded with a United States Army company photographed this soldier, who was shot and killed in Fallujah. After the photograph ran in several European publications Mr. Zaklin was banned from working with the US Army. (Photo: Stefan Zaklin / European Pressphoto Agency)

"NO ONE KNOWS WHAT IT LIKE...TO BE THE BAD MAN"

An excerpt from the blog :: http://calmbeforethesand.blogspot.com/
"My name is Seth, and I am twenty-five years old. I come from a small town in rural Michigan, on the shores of Lake Huron. I am an aspiring writer. I consider myself a follower of Zen Buddhist philosophy. I have a wife of three years, whom I love very much."
"And it only got worse. I deployed several months before the start of what we now call "The Surge," that extra boost of 30,000 troops intended to pacify the region. It was a joke, and we all knew it. Those extra troops were us, simply extended for another three months, on top of all we had already suffered. The blow to our collective morale was crushing. Meanwhile, the months wore on, and the situation outside the wire grew ever more stark. Mortar and small-arms attacks jumped, and soon insurgents began to target the very structures we were put in place to maintain: bridges. With only two companies in theater to deal with the offensive, and one of those handling 80 percent of the workload, our injury, illness, and mental collapse rates soon skyrocketed. Missions where we worked 70+ hours without sleep became routine. We were worked to the bone, and crushed into the dirt, and when we objected, we were scorned, or even punished. Leaders neglected our safety and health, even as injury and attrition rates skyrocketed to over thirty percent. Eventually, the job became more likely to kill us than the enemy." "I'll admit it--I was angry. I think anyone would be. This was not how I had imagined we would be used. But that was the truth of it: we WERE being used, used to wage a war that was pointless and cruel, and was only hurting my family and friends. We were being used to justify horrible things, and used as a symbol to silence dissent. So yes, I was angry. And with this journal, I vented my anger. I cried out my fear and bitterness, castigated the armchair warriors for glorifying what they didn't understand. I criticized the leaders who had forgotten us, and appealed to the American people for redress."

NOTHING WILL STOP THE MADNESS--UNTIL WE CAN SEE...UNTIL WE CAN SEE..

From our Friends at
www.truthout.org

OUR GOVERNMENT SEDUCES ITS CITIZENS....CITIZENS SWALLOW IT HOOK, LINE AND SINKER....OPEN YOUR EYES.

US Military Recruits Children: "America's Army" Video Game Violates International Law

by: Michael B. Reagan, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

photo
"America's Army" is a video game developed in part by the US Army to lure potential recruits. (Photo: techtarget.com)

" In May of 2002, the United States Army invaded E3, the annual video game convention held in Los Angeles. At the city's Convention Center, young game enthusiasts mixed with camouflaged soldiers, Humvees and a small tank parked near the entrance. Thundering helicopter sound effects drew the curious to the Army's interactive display, where a giant video screen flashed the words "Empower yourself. Defend America ... You will be a soldier."(1)

But behind the fun and games is an attempt, in the words of a military booklet on "America's Army," "to build a game for Army strategic communication in support of recruiting." The Army spent $6 million to develop the game at the Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation Institute (MOVES) before handing it over to private companies for adaptation to the console formats in 2004. As the name implies, the MOVES Institute is the military center for creating virtual training environments and simulators. A MOVES Institute booklet proclaims a later version of the game, "America's Army: Special Forces," was developed specifically to increase the number of Army Special Forces recruits. "The Department of Defense want[ed] to double the number of Special Forces Soldiers, so essential did they prove in Afghanistan and northern Iraq; consequently, orders ... trickled down the chain of command and found application in the current release of 'America's Army.'"(3) Yet, far from providing realism, "America's Army" offers a sanitized version of war to propagandize youth on the benefits of an Army career and prepare them for the battlefield. In the game, soldiers are not massacred in bloody fire typical of most video games, or for that matter, real combat. When hit, bullet wounds resemble puffs of red smoke, and players can take up to four hits before being killed. To further protect youth, concerned parents can turn on optional controls that sanitize the violence even more - shots produce no blood whatsoever and dead soldiers just sit down. This presentation of war contrasts to the much more grisly reality unfolding every day in Iraq and Afghanistan, like a June suicide attack on the Fallujah City Council in which three Marines, two interpreters and 20 Iraqis, including young children, were killed. Photos by American photojournalist Zoriah depict a horror scene in a small courtyard, dismembered body parts - ears, hands and pieces of skull - spot the ground; one Marine's head looks smeared into the pavement. Zoriah writes of the scene, "There are dying people strewn around like limp dolls along with lifeless bodies of all ages. People are screaming and crying and running as if they have something important to do, only they can't figure out what that important thing could possibly be ... people are literally frantic removing the dead, as if their pace may bring some of them back." It is this violent, realistic quality of combat that has been excised from the game."(5) AND WHO PROFITS.....AMERICAN PEOPLE?? THE SOLDIERS.???.NO SILLY ike so many aspects of contemporary military operations, the development of later versions of the game has been handed over to corporations for private profit. Some of the biggest game companies have worked on the console, arcade and cell phone versions of "America's Army." Ubisoft, the world's seventh largest video game company, is the game's exclusive producer and has recently publicized record profits for the first quarter of 2008. Ubisoft worked closely with San Francisco based Secret Level to develop the 2005 Xbox version. Global VR, in San Jose, California, is preparing the release of the arcade version, and Gameloft programmed a version available for download to cell phones. Getting in on the action are other more traditional military contractors, such as Digital Consulting Services (DSC), a multimillion-dollar military tech company based in Newbury Park, California. Among DCS's other projects are the Encore II Information Technology Solution for the innocuous sounding Global Information Grid, "an all encompassing communications project for the Department of Defense," worth $13 billion over five years. Or the Navy's Seaport-Enhanced - a $100 billion multicontract program to integrate Navy warfare operations. The Army worked closely with these and other companies to produce "America's Army," the first and only officially licensed Army game. It is this partnership and the close attention to technical detail that the Army and game companies claim gives "America's Army" its realistic quality. As Col. Casey Wardynski, director of the US Army's Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis (OEMA) and director of the game project proclaims, "America's Army" is "the most authentic console game about soldiering in the US Army."(4)

Feature: Doorways


Below: respectfully shared from this blog...
http://peacefullyprohibited.blogspot.com/2008/06/politics-triumph-science.html
take a look at This video...Do you see Hypocrisy...From a Nurses perspective....Opiates are profoundly more addictive and toxic to recovery from health issues than marijuana. The Federal Government approves dispensing "Speed" amphetamines; in the form of Aderal to our children, with minimal oversight; YET will spend thousands of tax payer $$ to raid, tether and imprison a man who dispense medical marijuana with a license to do so...WATCH THE VIDEO.
Do you see what I see..Black is White...War is Peace...CONTROL IT IS ALL ABOUT CONTROL.
BIG BROTHER IS REAL.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 Politics Triumph Science

Raiding California with commentary by Drew Carey:

The DEA seems to be hard at work fighting our "War on Drugs".

The Federal Trial for Charles C. Lynch is set for July 22, 2008 in Los Angeles, CA.
As you'll read below, Charles Lynch is a great man who's worked hard to bring relief to many suffering people. He did it with permission and blessings from local officials. He was raided by DEA and is now facing federal charges, and many years in prison. The Federal Government has successfully blocked the jury from knowing that Lynch was operating a business which was allowed by California State Law and sanctioned by the City of Morro Bay, California. The jury thinks he's a large scale drug kingpin, and no evidence is allowed in court to say otherwise.

THE TRUTH----

Charles C. Lynch was the owner and operator of a City Sanctioned
Medical Marijuana Dispensary in Morro Bay California. The Dispensary
opened in April 2006. The business license issued by the city clearly
stated 'Medical Marijuana Dispensary' as the business type. The city
also issued a Conditions of Business document which stated, "no person
under the age of 18 unless accompanied by a parent should be allowed
in the dispensary." The business was also a member of the Morro Bay
Chamber of Commerce. In July 2006, the dispensary was issued a Medical
Cannabis Nursery Permit after a lengthy conditional use permit
process.

The dispensary operated for nearly a year without incident until the
local Sheriff, Pat Hedges, called in the DEA to raid the dispensary on
March 29, 2007. Lynch was not arrested at that time and reopened the
business with the blessing of the Landlord and City Officials. The DEA
subsequently contacted the Landlord and threatened him with forfeiture
of his property and possible prosecution if he did not evict the
dispensary from his building. The dispensary closed on May 16, 2007.
On July 17, 2007 federal agents and the local sheriff arrested Charles
C. Lynch and charged him with a series of federal crimes including,
distributing to persons under 21 years of age. Lynch spent 4 days in
federal detention and was eventually released on a $400,000 bail
posted by his family. Lynch was placed under house arrest and was
required to wear an electronic monitor for 10 months while he waited
for his trial to begin.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Feature Shifters

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/workplace/#92799
CHECK THIS OUT....THANK GOOD THERE ARE PEOPLE LIKE BILL MOYERS.

Posted by Bill Moyers, Rick Karr, Bill Moyers Journal on July 25, 2008 at 12:51 PM.
"

Plus Naomi Klein's (author of The Shock Doctrine) has something to add::: Complete article can be found at http://www.alternet.org/workplace/91656/naomi_klein:_bush_sees_crises_in_fuel,_food,_housing_and_banking_as_chance_to_exploit_us_more/

"As the country and the world reel from crises ranging from skyrocketing oil prices and global food shortages to housing and climate change, how best to understand the government policies being pushed through? Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman interviewed Naomi Klein, author of 'The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism'.
Amy Goodman: President Bush has lifted an almost two-decade-old executive order banning offshore and natural gas drilling. With prices at the pump over $4 a gallon, Bush has been pushing to allow more drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf and the Arctic Wildlife National Refuge, amidst strong opposition from environmentalists.
The executive drilling ban was issued by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. His son's lifting of the ban yesterday is largely symbolic, because a separate congressional ban has prohibited offshore drilling since 1981. Speaking on the White House lawn Monday, the President urged lawmakers to lift the ban.
President George Bush: The failure to act is unacceptable. It's unacceptable to me, and it's unacceptable to the American people. So today I've issued a memorandum to lift the executive prohibition on oil exploration in the OCS. With this action, the executive branch's restrictions on this exploration have been cleared away. This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the US Congress. Now the ball is squarely in Congress's court.
Goodman: In President Bush's final months of office, the economy is at the top of the agenda. Oil prices now exceed $140 a barrel, more than double $70 a year ago. The high cost of oil has helped exacerbate the global food crisis that threatens to push over 100 million people below the poverty line due to rising food prices. This all comes amidst an ongoing housing crisis, with the US Treasury and Federal Reserve unveiling sweeping steps to possibly bail out the nation's two largest mortgage lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Amidst these multiple crises, how best to understand government policies being enacted? Naomi Klein is the author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. The book is out in paperback this month. It was first published in September, and in some ways, much of what Naomi writes about in the book is more relevant today. ... Food, fuel, housing, climate change -- talk about these crises. First, start with oil.
Klein: There really is a kind of a tsunami of shocks facing not just the economy but people's lives, people's real lives. They're all intersecting. They're making each other worse. And I think we really are seeing some very live examples of what a write about in the book, which is how there is a strategy. And this is what I mean by "the shock doctrine." There is a clear political strategy, and has been for several decades, to exploit these moments when people are desperate for quick-fix solutions and more inclined to believe in a kind of a magical cure, to push through very, very unpopular policies that don't actually solve the crisis at hand, that don't actually help people, but are incredibly profitable for multinational corporations.
And I think we are seeing a very vivid example of this with this speech from George Bush yesterday, where he is taking a very real crisis, which is demanding complex and profound changes in the way we live, in the way we organize our economy, but particularly in the need to diversify our energy sources. And I think there's a tremendous actual amount of support for this idea from the public. And he comes in -- and I call him in my recent column the "extortionist-in-chief." Basically what he's saying is he's holding the country ransom. He's not taking any of these long-term policy routes to dealing with climate change, to dealing with high oil prices. It's just let us drill, or, you know, nobody can go on summer vacation. And he's selling a myth, which is that by allowing drilling, the price at the pump is going to go down, which is really interesting, because just yesterday, in response to Bush's announcement, oil went up, and oil futures went up. And so, the price of oil is going to keep going up.
Goodman: What would -- how long would it take the oil drilled offshore, if he succeeds in getting his father's ban reversed, to get into the supply?
Klein: Well, first of all, I think it's really important for people to understand that we are being subjected to an incredibly aggressive media campaign sponsored by the oil and gas industry. And, you know, it's to the point where it really is impossible to tell the difference between the paid advertisements, which we're being bombarded with on cable news from the oil and gas industry, talking about how they can solve the problem of high prices with more drilling, and all of these commentators, from Larry Kudlow to Sean Hannity, repeating these talking points, and not to mention Dick Cheney, who just propagated a complete lie, saying that China was drilling off the coast of Cuba, and the Vice President's office actually had to retract that. It turns out his source was George Will, who also had to issue a correction. China is not drilling off of Cuba. And so, there's a very aggressive campaign going on.
"

Monday, July 21, 2008

Feature: Shifters


I found this article provocative especially written in todays world wide porn craze...compliments of the web and adult TV....found it sad and pathetic; disgusting from a feminists viewpoint..and couldnt agree with it more...I have been thinking this for along time, and everyone told me I was crazy....yeah well, guess I not the only one.
--I hope---maybe--- it speaks to what IS being called up---as feminine energy rises .... this energy again invites ...the sacred dance... between the feminine and the masculine.
thanks to the Ranger and to Mr. Fulford! http://www.rangeragainstwar.blogspot.com/

Bob Fulford wrote in this weekend's
National Post that Hugh Hefner's Playboy empire has served to mutilate male-female relations, arresting male development to the juvenile level of the forbidden gaze at the homogeneously perfect female form. Perhaps the attainment of that form will become his quest; perhaps, because he cannot attain or maintain it, he will become resentful and angry, and foist that resentment off on the actual mates he is able to bed. http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/07/18/robert-fulford-on-playboy-s-hugh-hefner-establishment-man.aspx

In any event, sex is the raison d'etre, which one could say is a sound biological approach. However, if we fancy we humans are capable of attaining a higher plane, bunny ears won't take you there.

Fulford mentions Dutch historian Dylan van Rijsbergen who argues for an anti-Hefner, Slow Sex movement — "focusing on sex as 'elusive, exciting, intense, playful, authentic, dynamic and sublime.' It would stretch sexuality 'beyond the single
moment of the orgasm.'" Van Rijsbergen argues widespread pornography degenerates into erotic boredom.

One needn't go either-or on the matter of pornography.
I'm a defender of Free Speech. Efforts to liberate body image are a good thing, though these models are highly airbrushed, and their perfection can serve to stunt a girl's self-image. The Naomi Kleins and Andrea Dworkins have already written extensively on the objectification of women.

Surely such objectification predates Playboy. But the men of Generation Playboy have been "liberated" to see the female body as a playground, but a playground for their entertainment, with pleasing the woman as a tack-on feature to buoy their own ego agenda and sense of proficiency. There is little more painful than standing on either side of the gulf separating the sexes and hoping that proper genital manipulation will release a torrent of passion. At best, what will be achieved is a momentary physical release.

Author Nick Hornby captures this tragedy a deux nicely in his How to Be Good when he talks about the estranged couple's bedtime antics as
"button pushing" sessions. Not psychological buttons, but anatomical buttons, like playing a game of pinball.

Not to knock the physiological benefit of getting off, but truly great sex isn't to be had through button pushing. There is a psychic gap between getting off and transcendent union, the latter which usually goes lacking. For the people in the former group, sex is masturbation with company.
The psyche in hiding is fragmented, split as it is from inhabiting the body at such moments.

One of the commenters to the piece, "TCtheTiger" expresses it thusly:

"There is fun, a lot of it, in sex. But that fun becomes truly erotic and transcendental ONLY when sex is used as an expression of love towards the spouse, a total gift of oneself, without any reservation, yes, ZERO reservation. This kind of reservation is sorely lacking in casual sex.

"I never depreciate the carnal nature - just [want] an atomic bomb to harness [its] energy.

"When the carnal, the heart, the mind, and the spirit converge, you're close to heaven, that's real erotic. The carnal alone is just not cutting it...."


What do you think?

Friday, July 18, 2008

Feature: Shifters


Red Full Moon Rising in Capricorn..... shall we pay attention...shall we choice action....shall we stand together as people of sane humanity and reject the state of war, poverty and greed... it is an individual choice....it is an individual call to action...it is a Group effort.


If not us, who? If not now, when? - Anonymous

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Feature: Crossroads


LIVE FROM DAILY KOS::: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/16/144137/459/664/552594

24 Republicans Vote for Impeachment Hearings

by Ralph Lopez Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 01:10:01 PM PDT

In a stunning development which fell with the silence of a feather yesterday, 24 Republicans broke with their iron-fisted party to put country first, and voted to send Rep. Dennis Kucinich's article of impeachment HR 1345 to the Judiciary, where Chairman John Conyers will hold a hearings on abuses of power by the Bush administration, according to the Congressional Quaterly's CQToday.

Those Republicans are (Yea 238 - Nay 180):

Congressman Kevin Brady (TX)
Congressman Wayne Gilchrest (MD)
Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC)
Representative Don Manzullo (IL)
U.S. Congressman Tim Murphy(PA)
Congressman Ron Paul (TX)
Congressman Dave Reichert (WA)
Congressman Christopher Shays (CT)
Representative Mike Turner (OH)

One of the Republicans, Walter Jones, represents Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, one of the largest Marine bases in the country, and one which has borne heavily the sacrifice of the Iraq War.

It is up to the blogosphere to spread this far and wide, and to manhandle the media. The hope of the Democratic leadership, which could no longer ignore relentless pressure to begin hearings, is that hearings will attract no notice and, with no one knowing or understanding the import of what is going on, the impeachment genie, which rises and stretches when the huge numbers of people who think Bush should be impeached, but who are hopeless that it will ever happen, are given hope that it can and start picking up phones and banners to make it so. Polls vary, but in none does the past sentiment for the impeachment of Clinton come close to that for the impeachment of Bush, and you all know I'm no fan of Slick Willie who perfected the Triangulation Machine.

Following is a list of the publicly listed emails of the editorial departments of some major American newspapers. Please ask them to cover.

Also included are the emails of some major media outlets, available at the Fairness in Accuracy and Reporting website. Finally, here is a link to easily email your local media.

letters@jackson.gannett.com,
theforum@usatoday.com,
oped@nytimes.com,
op-ed@latimes.com,
oped@phillynews.com,
ctc-COMMENT@tribune.com,
opinion@startribune.com,
letters@RockyMountainNews.com,
viewpoints@chron.com,
oped@newsday.com,
viewpoints@dallasnews.com,
shuntley@suntimes.com,
forum@sfchronicle.com,
my.turns@pni.com,
m_Pritchard@globe.com,
HeraldEd@herald.com,
oped@herald.com,
oped@starledger.com,
forum@plaind.com,
oped@news.oregonian.com,
editpg@freepress.com,
gailey@sptimes.com,
openforum@denverpost.com,
netaudr@abc.com,
nightline@abcnews.com,
2020@abc.com,
nightly@msnbc.com,
today@nbc.com,
dateline@nbc.com,
evening@cbsnews.com,
earlyshow@cbs.com,
hardball@msnbc.com,
msnbcreports@msnbc.com,
newshour@pbs.org,
ombudsman@npr.org

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Feature: Shifters

Soldier Made Famous By Photo Dies in Pinehurst
BY MATTHEW MORIARTY AND JOHN CHAPPELL
This photo shot by Warren Zinn shows Joseph Patrick Dwyer, 31 in full battle gear, and was splashed across the front page of USA Today and other newspapers and on television all over the world. Dwyer instantly became an American icon, a symbol of American fighting men and women in Iraq. Some compared the photo's impact to the World War II picture of Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima. He died in his home in Pinehurst Saturday, June 28th, 2008. An Army medic whose image made the nation's front pages in the early days of the war in Iraq died in Pinehurst Saturday.
Joseph Patrick Dwyer, 31, died of an apparent overdose in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. After breaking down the door to Dwyer's home, officers found him surrounded by empty cans of aerosol-gas dusters and prescription pills.
Capt. Floyd Thomas said that police believe Dwyer accidentally overdosed on inhalants and pills. He said he didn't know if an autopsy would be performed. Dwyer's wife, Matina, said he had sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. "He was a
very good and caring person," she said. "He signed up to fight for his country. He was originally from New York. When he saw what happened with the towers (in the 9/11 terrorist attacks), he felt like it was something he had to do."
Dwyer, a private first-class medic, became an image of the Iraq war after a picture showing him carrying an injured Iraqi boy away from a fire fight ran on the front page of several newspapers in 2003, just after the invasion of Iraq by coalition forces.
"He was just never the same when he came back, because of all the things he saw," Matina Dwyer said. "He tried to seek treatment, but it didn't work." According to the police report, Dwyer called a taxi company Saturday to take him to the hospital. When the driver from Southern Pines Transportation arrived, she found him lying on the floor, unable to come to the door. Southern Pines Transportation then called the Pinehurst Police Department. Officers arrived shortly after 7 p.m. The report says that Dwyer called from inside the house, "Help me, please! I'm dying. Help me. I can't breathe!" Officers asked Dwyer to come to the door, but he said he couldn't. They asked him if he wanted them to break in. He said, "Yes, please." They kicked the door down, and paramedics came to his aid. Officers helped lift Dwyer onto the stretcher and were pushing him into the back of the ambulance when one of them noticed that his eyes became "fixated and glassy," the report says. Paramedics started cardiopulmonary resuscitation as he was loaded into the ambulance. He was pronounced dead at 7:48 p.m.
"We know that Joseph is at peace now," Matina Dwyer said. "He doesn't have to deal with the awful pictures he would see in his mind." She said that she hoped that her husband's death would bring more attention to post-traumatic stress disorder. There should be more avenues and resources to help soldiers, especially in this area, she said. It's not just the soldiers who suffer, she said -- it's their families too.
"There are so many others suffering from the same thing," she said. "I wish there were a better way to deal with this. He was still a loving and caring person."
Army Times photographer Warren Zinn snapped the picture of Dwyer racing across the battlefield with the frightened Iraqi boy in his arms.

Feature: Shifters

Here is this month's cover of the prestigious magazine "The New Yorker".....what do you think...?
This is what Eleanor Smeal the president of the Feminist Majority has to say....
Let the New Yorker's editor-in-chief, David Remnick, know your outrage over the magazine's July 21 cover. Of course some will say that feminists have no sense of humor, but there is absolutely nothing satirical or funny about it. This is a vicious attack masquerading as satire.
By choosing to publish this artwork without context on its cover, the editors have created a visual representation of racial, ethnic, religious, and sexist fear-mongering. If the New Yorker wishes to condemn the myths, lies and prejudices being spread about Barack Obama, why not ridicule those who are perpetuating them, rather than furthering their cause.
As feminists we refuse to be silent. We who have been infuriated at the sexist media coverage of Hillary Clinton will not tolerate the racist and sexist coverage of Michelle and Barack Obama. Express your outrage to David Remnick and demand that the cover be pulled.
For Equality,
Eleanor Smeal
President
Feminist Majority

Friday, July 11, 2008

Feature: Doorways


The last hope for true democracy in America....is being stone walled....

"JOHN CONYERS, US CONGRESSMAN (D-MI): When will the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Richard B. Cheney commence? Answer: I don't know."

Not making a decision is a decision...it is a decision to do nothing. My first reaction was of disgust...anger...but I have always respected John Conyers. It has to be something quite ugly preventing Conyers from moving forward......Is the heavy hand of of the neocons... strangulating to death the entire house and senate....what do they have on them.... WATCH an interview AT REAL NEWS.......

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1862

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Feature: Crossroads

UNREAL---SURREAL---1984....BRAVE NEW WORLD
Someone please pinch me.....or...just give me some Soma...
(Photo: Whitaker / www.survivalarts.com)
From::: http://www.truthout.org/article/senate-accepts-retroactive-immunity-telecoms
"The Senate voted 68-29 on Wednesday to broaden the authority of the executive branch by approving changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (H.R.6304) was passed by the House on June 20.
"The president has said that American lives will be sacrificed if Congress does not change FISA. But he has also said that he will veto any FISA bill that does not grant retroactive immunity. No immunity, no new FISA bill. So if we take the president at his word, he is willing to let Americans die to protect the phone companies. The president's insistence on immunity as a precondition for any FISA reform is yet another example of his disrespect for honest dialogue and for the rule of law."



Grouped By Vote Position
YEAs ---69 (The Traders)
Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Inouye (D-HI)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCaskill (D-MO)
McConnell (R-KY)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)
NAYs ---28 (The Courageous)
Akaka (D-HI)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Clinton (D-NY)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Murray (D-WA)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Wyden (D-OR)
Not Voting - 3
Kennedy (D-MA)
McCain (R-AZ)
Sessions (R-AL)

Monday, July 7, 2008

Feature: Crossroads

Crazy Wisdom Monthly Book Discussion
July 11th at 7 p.m. at Crazy Wisdom Community Room
The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All by Peter Linebaugh
"This remarkable book shines a fierce light on the current state of liberty and shows how longstanding restraints against tyranny--and the rights of habeas corpus, trial by jury, and due process of law, and the prohibition of torture--are being abridged. In providing a sweeping history of Magna Carta, the source of these protections since 1215, this powerful book demonstrates how these ancient rights are repeatedly laid aside when the greed of privatization, the lust for power, and the ambition of empire seize a state. Peter Linebaugh draws on primary sources to construct a wholly original history of the Great Charter and its scarcely-known companion, the Charter of the Forest, which was created at the same time to protect the subsistence rights of the poor."

Feature: Doorways

The New Face of American War

"From the creator of The Wire comes Generation Kill, a seven-part miniseries focusing on the first 40 days of the Iraq war as seen through the eyes of a group of elite U.S.First Recon Marines who spearheaded the invasion. Starts July 13 at 9pm only on HBO."
http://www.hbo.com/generationkill/

The words from the mouths of the ones in the sand.

Feature: Shifters




Check out this video....compliments of the brave Bill Moyers.....reminds me of Ben Franklin....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDs57H3I6Oo&eurl=http://www.alternet.org/

The Iraq War Was About Oil, All Along

By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Bill Moyers Journal. Posted July 5, 2008.

"Perhaps those sweetheart deals in Iraq should be added to his proposed indictments. They have been purchased at a very high price. Four thousand American soldiers dead, tens of thousands permanently wounded, hundreds of thousands of dead and crippled Iraqis plus five million displaced, and a cost that will mount into trillions of dollars. The political analyst Kevin Phillips says America has become little more than an "energy protection force," doing anything to gain access to expensive fuel without regard to the lives of others or the earth itself."

Friday, July 4, 2008

Feature: Doorways

Happy 4th of July..... Independence Day....Described as the Birth day of America...Revolution against British Rule..... On July 4th, Americans celebrate with vigor..FREEDOM we shout from the rooftops.

Ironically, it was the beginning of the American Empire...the mirror image of exactly what was revolted against...Imperialism....Colonialism...Empire..

This is what America was destine to become….

It started... the first onslaught of imperialism.. shortly after the Revolutionary victory. The genocide of the original Indigenous inhabitants of the land they called America.
The Injustices imposed upon the Indigenous peoples of this land, go untold in most American elementary schools, go un noticed in most white universities. Go unremembered in the collective American consciousness. When dare to be spoken of, the typical eye-rolling, or general disinterest, or claim of anti- patriotism, all display the obvious ignorance of the truth; all display that the tactics and the rule of the British imperialists continue to exist in American mentality…we never achieved independence, we only achieved freedom to impose the same authoritarian, religious restriction and financial tyranny on to others. Hello Iraq, Afghanistan, & Iran for the current "others"!
The American Indian Removal Act 1830...(“The Indian Removal Act, part of a United States government policy known as Indian removal, was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 26, 1830.[1] The Removal Act was strongly supported in the South, where states were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the "Five Civilized Tribes". In particular, Georgia, the largest state at that time, was involved in a contentious jurisdictional dispute with the Cherokee nation.” ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Wars


The Trail of Tears 1831...(“The Trail of Tears was the forced relocation of Native Americans from their homelands to Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) in the Western United States. The removals were motivated by U.S. desire for expansion, the desire to "save" Native Americans from extinction, and to profit from the acquisition of their assets and resources.”) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Wars


Little Crow's War/Dakota War 1862 (“Throughout the late 1850s, treaty violations by the United States and late or unfair annuity payments by Indian agents caused increasing hunger and hardship among the Dakota. Continued battles between the Dakota against settlers and later, the United States Army, ended with the surrender of most of the Dakota forces. By late December, more than a thousand Dakota were interned in jails in Minnesota, and 38 Dakota were hanged in the largest one-day execution in American history on December 26, 1862.”) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Wars


Wounded Knee... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc7fZonjD1M


“In February 1890, the United States government broke a Lakota treaty by adjusting the Great Sioux Reservation of South Dakota, an area that formerly encompassed the majority of the state, into five relatively smaller reservations.[5] This was done to accommodate homesteaders from the east and was in accordance with the government’s policy of "breaking up tribal relationships"[6] and "conforming Indians to the white man’s ways, peaceably if they will, or forcibly if they must."[7] Once on the half-sized reservations, tribes were separated into family units on 320-acre (1.3 km²) plots, forced to farm, raise livestock, and send their children to boarding schools that forbade any inclusion of traditional Native American culture and language.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Wars

It was against American law; forbidden; for the indigenous to practice their religion, to speak their language or to live rightfully on their land. (in accordance with the right way they were Christianized)

(sounding quite like George Bush’s ridiculous comments about the Iraq people and now the Iranians…the similar tactics are nauseating at best to the conscious beings of the planet)

In a response to the Wounded Knee massacre, a young newspaper editor, L. Frank Baum (later known as the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), wrote in the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer on January 3, 1891: “The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth. In this lies future safety for our settlers and the soldiers who are under incompetent commands. Otherwise, we may expect future years to be as full of trouble with the redskins as those have been in the past.[13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre

So today….as described so elegantly by code pink….Again; America displays its British roots. Go to: http://www.codepinkalert.org/article.php?list=type&type=5

Directly from CODEPINK : “This nation was born out of a longing for freedom from domination by the British empire. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison all warned that the invasion and occupation of other lands would turn America into precisely the sort of occupying force they had rebelled against. "If there be one principle more deeply written than any other in the mind of every American," said Thomas Jefferson in 1791, "it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest."

Our founding fathers who fought against empire and foreign entanglements would be horrified that right before leaving for the July 4 break, Congress passed the largest funding bill ever--$165 billion--for the continued occupation of Iraq. They would also be horrified that instead of applying the diplomatic lessons of North Korea to the case of Iran, Congress and the Administration seem hell-bent on dragging us into another war.

Take a moment to read the appalling language of House Resolution 362, sponsored by "liberal" New York Congressman Gary Ackerman with over 200 cosponsors. It calls for imposing stringent inspection requirements "on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran." Do we really want to blockade Iran's borders? Wouldn't Iran be justified to view this as an act of war?