Lebanon

Lebanon

Scores of Lebanese soldiers and riot police deployed around the U.S. embassy near Beirut on Tuesday ahead of a planned anti-American march called by pro-Syrian student groups.


The people make a stand over the lies of Lebanon

Now all await the United Nations’ detailed report on Hariri’s killing. Who did it? That was the question they were asking yesterday in their tens of thousands. And still Mr Lahoud remains silent.

"Syria, Out!" (Reuters photo)


UN finds evidence of official cover-up in Hariri assassination

What the Lebanese fear most is not Syria’s army but a power vacuum. Assad’s troops are pulling back, but who will replace them in Lebanon?

Inside Lebanon: Marc Cooper interviews Boston University Professor Augustus Richard Norton (AudioBlog) at The Nation.

Augustus Richard Norton also blogs at Speaking Truth to Power. He has recently showcased NPR's Changing Face of Lebanon.



The smartest thing Tom Friedman has said lately:

"If democracy in Lebanon is going to re-emerge in a reasonably stable way, Lebanese democratic forces have to constantly be inviting Hezbollah to join them. After all, Hezbollah represents an important and powerful trend among Lebanon’s Shiites, most of whom are patriots eager to see Lebanon independent and united.

At the same time, though, the Lebanese democrats need to constantly and loudly ask Hezbollah — and get the United Nations and the European Union to constantly and loudly ask Hezbollah — "Why are you waving the picture of the Syrian president? Whose side are you on?"

Bush should stay in the background and keep focused on defusing the Arab-Israeli conflict, which will deprive Hezbollah of all its excuses to remain armed. The impact on Hezbollah will be much more powerful if it’s the Lebanese democrats and the Saudis and the Europeans who ask Hezbollah over and over, "Do you have a real vision for a modern, progressive and pluralistic Lebanon? If so, why are you waving the picture of the Syrian president?"

If Hezbollah puts down Assad’s picture and comes up with an answer to that question, that would be a big deal. If not, it could spell big trouble..."

John Zogby says:

"...a Syrian withdrawal by itself doesn’t solve the Lebanon puzzle. Intense US pressure to implement the other half of 1559 may provoke counter demonstrations that fragile Lebanon may not be able to easily digest.

A cautionary note: before we begin celebrating falling dominos and claiming credit for them, it is important to know where they might fall and what might come after they land.."

Jimmy Massey-The Healing of One Man's Soul

Q: Your feelings changed during the invasion. What was your state of mind before the invasion?

A: I was like every other troop. My president told me they got weapons of mass destruction, that Saddam threatened the free world, that he had all this might and could reach us anywhere. I just bought into the whole thing.



Q: What changed you?

A: The civilian casualties taking place. That was what made the difference. That was when I changed.

Jimmy Massey
The Healing of One Man's Soul

Jimmy Massey is a young man of Irish-American heritage, tall, fit, and straight. His eyes are clear and his voice is strong. A proud son of the mountains of western North Carolina, his twelve years as a Marine are still apparent in his physical appearance.

...How do I show you a man who has found his conscience while, at the same time, is a walking casualty of the Iraq war?

When he tells you his story, you begin to understand that he is wounded in a way that your eyes could never readily detect.

You may have heard some of his story in other reports. He's been telling audiences about his experiences for a while now. I'd decided, out of curiosity, to attend the engagement showcasing Jimmy as the featured speaker, which was sponsored by the Syracuse Peace Council. As I sat in the audience of about forty concerned citizens on a frigid late winter's night at South Presbyterian Church in Syracuse, I asked myself what I could say that was different from the others who have told you about Jimmy.

How do I show you a man who has found his conscience while, at the same time, is a walking casualty of the Iraq war?

He'll tell you what he believes without hesitation. Jimmy believes that the Iraq war has amounted to little more than genocide. That's a strong statement in today's heavily-guarded, right-wing-sentried arena of public debate, and if that statement wouldn't raise a so-called patriotic activist's defensive feathers, I am not sure what would.



Sure enough, a very small gaggle of so-called patriotic geese holding signs with predictable "Benedict Arnold" slogans (four or five individuals) was standing outside the church as the crowd came in to hear what Jimmy actually had to say last Thursday night. Not a one of those "geese" ever flew south down the stairs to actually hear what Jimmy Massey had to say. I suppose they were merely hoping that a TV camera or newspaper photographer would happen by. To my knowledge, that did not happen.


Economic Conscript

Jimmy's father was a truck driver who was shot and killed during a confrontation with the Florida State Police when Jimmy was still in his early teens. Jimmy had been lying in the sleeping cab of the truck at the time it happened. Not long after his father's death, he moved with his mother to a suburb of Houston, Texas. There were times when there was very little money and even less to eat. His mother eventually remarried.

Jimmy joined the Marines when he was down and out. As far as he was concerned, he was little more than an economic conscript. A college education, the promise of the development of the intangible traits associated with being part of the Marine Corps - self-discipline, poise, self-reliance, and honor - all these were reasons that led Jimmy to enlist, much to his mother's chagrin. He'd already learned a lot about self-reliance from his mother, who was a prison-based detox nurse. Many were the nights she would tell her son how she'd been threatened within an inch of her life by an unsettled addict. A hard worker, it must have broken her heart to have to tell her son, when he was 19, that his stepfather had lost his job and that they could no longer promise Jimmy the college education they had wanted to provide for him. Jimmy's dreams of being a dairy farmer, like his grandfather, were dashed when the Biltmore in Asheville, NC went from dairy to winery interests and, unable to come up with the costs to update the farm to code, the farm was lost.

He'd been attending community college, but had to drop out. Jimmy could have languished in New Orleans, where he'd hurled himself after he'd gotten the bad news about his family's economic troubles. A proud young man, he had a not-so-chance meeting with a Marine recruiter at a Fat City gas station ( Jimmy wanted to beg a meal off of him for the trade-off of giving the recruiter a few moments to 'do his thing' ). The recruiter convinced him that the Marines was his best option. He eventually enlisted.


The Dark Side of Recruiting

His disillusionment with the military began while he was acting as a recruiter, where he learned about the darker side of the methods used by the Marines in preying on young people from economically depressed areas.

Jimmy has been quoted as saying, "A lot of the kids joining the military are from the ‘barrios’ and ‘hoods,’ or the poor parts of the Appalachian Mountains. Appalachia has some of the poorest counties in the country—so they’re sweeping them up."

...I thought to myself,This is no disloyal American...
this is a man who is powerfully connected to the hills that he calls his American home and the people who have shared it with him.

One of my strongest recollections about seeing Jimmy last Thursday night was seeing tears well up in his eyes when he spoke about how he believes, in many ways, that as a recruiter for the Marines, he betrayed his own Appalachian people...his own blood. I thought to myself: This is no disloyal American. To the contrary, this is a man who is powerfully connected to the hills that he calls his American home and the people who have shared it with him.

Jimmy will tell you that it’s very hard to break away from the "family" of the Corps and that you have to reach down deep in your soul for answers to questions that began to come up. He began to question the recruiting methods of the Marines. He got very vocal about it, and his life was "made a living hell" for it.

There was one account of a young man named Tim Queen, who Jimmy says that he deeply regrets having recruited under pressure. Tim Queen was a mentally and physically handicapped man from Murphy, NC. Ordered by his gunnery sergeant to recruit Queen, Jimmy talked him into enlisting and going to boot camp, knowing he'd never make it in the Marines. Tim Queen is reported to have said, "I told them I had a twitch but they said not to worry about it. I spent three or four days in boot camp but they decided to kick me out."

...He said that there had been something fraudulent on nearly every one of the enlistment forms he'd ever processed.

Tim shaved his eyebrows in boot camp after dreaming a drill instructor told him to do so. Jimmy was investigated after Tim Queen's family intervened, but was exonerated by both the Marine Corps and a congressional investigation. Queen was discharged for "fraudulent enlistment." Congressman Charles Taylor's [R-NC] press office said they had been "strictly advised not to make any comment on the case.

The memory of an e-mailed photo of Tim Queen with his missing eyebrows replaced by colored-in bandaids over his eyes, covering the heinous thing he'd dreamt that he'd been ordered to do was a memory that clearly raises a feeling of guilt in Jimmy to this day. He is also haunted by all the ways he manipulated recruitment forms to promote the enlistement of many other young men who he knew would otherwise be disqualified. He said that there had been something fraudulent on nearly every one of the enlistment forms he'd ever processed.

In January of 2003, Jimmy found himself in the desert of Kuwait, waiting to move into Iraq.


The Last Straw -
The End of a 12-year Relationship



Safwan

In the southern Iraq village of Safwan, just as U.S. troops had begun their march into Iraq, villagers would bring the 7th Marine Weapons Company food, tea, and flowers. Carefree children would run through fields of land mines, playfully swerving and weaving around them. A Lieutenant named Alba lost his leg in that field one day, and in doing so, gained the dubious honor of being the first casualty of the war.

...In the southern Iraq village of Safwan, just as U.S. troops had begun their march into Iraq, villagers would bring the 7th Marine Weapons Company food, tea, and flowers. Carefree children would run through fields of land mines, playfully swerving and weaving around them.

Jimmy only got shot at once. "Make no mistake," he said, "I saw my life flash before my eyes. Bullets were bouncing off the ground all around me." He was in the forward lines most of the time. His job was to scout out the enemy and provide security for the log train.

There were no actual "firefights", at least not the kind they show on cable news networks. Jimmy was shocked when he came home and saw the media's version of the so-called "firefights". It was more like "spray and pray" - if they took a shot from somewhere, they'd fire off all they could in every direction. (And when you do that, you kill innocent people, and in turn, get a lot more people angry with you.)

The Marines would give it all they had in firepower - and then would proceed to enter into an urban area, "guns-a-blazing" - like cowboys in a Western flick. Civilian cars were often targets hit by Marine air. Jimmy spoke of how, after he'd gotten back to the States, he'd heard about a recording of military pilots laughing while hitting a civilian target and it had struck a chord all too familiar in line with his own experiences.


Al-Rashid

Jimmy soon found himself at the Al-Rashid Military Complex, five miles from Baghdad's airport, where he one day observed a tank on the side of the road. About 200 meters down the road, he could see that there was a public demonstration in process. People were holding up signs and there was a presence of a Muslim cleric. They were chanting. There was no appearance of any weapons. He thought to himself, as long as they are not armed, they can say and do whatever they please. Suddenly, he heard a gunshot and does not know where it came from, but the next thing he knew all hell had broken loose. He picked up his gun and, along with other Marines, began to systematically put the demonstrators in his sights and he picked them off, one by one. He says he killed at least three of them in a matter of moments. He recalls their white jelibahs (traditonial robes) turning to blood-red.

On reconaissance, Jimmy approached the silent group of dead bodies, most of them piled on top of one another as if they had been shielding one another from the gunfire.

There were no weapons. Not one. They had killed a group of demonstrating civilians in cold blood. Most of the people were of the average age of 30, and one was a 6-year old girl.

...He is haunted to this day with the knowledge that he'd taken innocent lives.

In a previous interview, Jimmy had told a reporter that he'd noticed that there were some RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] about 200 metres away from the protestors - and that they might have come from the military compound. The demonstrators had had the ability to fire at them or at the tank, but they didn't. There was one survivor who was hiding behind a column about 150 metres away from them. Jimmy says he pointed at him and waved his weapon to tell him to get away. Half of his foot had been cut off. He went away dragging his foot. The soldeirs were all laughing and cheering.

He is haunted to this day with the knowledge that he'd taken innocent lives.


Checkpoint - The Road to Baghdad Stadium

Shortly after the al-Rashid incident, Jimmy was responsible for manning a checkpoint on the road to Baghdad stadium, where Red Zone meets Green. He knew the rules of engagement and followed them. There were hand signals given to drivers and drivers were expected to know and abide by the signals. If a driver failed to slow down, a bullet was put into the engine block to force the vehicle to stop. Jimmy recalls a red Kia Spectra with four Iraqis approaching the checkpoint.

What happened that day tortures Jimmy's conscience.

Jimmy explained that the Kia Spectra sped toward the checkpoint at about 45mph. They'd fired a warning volley above it but the car kept coming. Then they aimed at the car and fired with full force. The Kia came to a stop right in front of Jimmy, three of the four men fatally wounded and expiring rapidly, the fourth man was unscathed, but covered in blood.

The three fatally wounded men were only barely alive at the time the soldiers removed them from the Kia and placed their bodies alongside the road - without calling a medic to administer morphine for their final human pain. There were no weapons found in the Kia. Not one.

"...Why did you kill my brother?We are not terrorists. We did nothing to you.Why? Why did you kill him?"

The driver approached Jimmy. He was dressed in Western-style clothing. He had a fresh hair-cut and neatly trimmed beard. He asked Jimmy, "Why did you kill my brother? We are not terrorists. We did nothing to you. Why? Why did you kill him?" Jimmy observed the man returning to the brother he'd just lost. He saw him take his dying brother into his arms and rock him with pitiful cries of "Why? Why?"

This is the point where Jimmy says he "lost it.".

In six weeks, Jimmy had been a participant in what he classifies as his company's killing of at least 30 civilians.

Jimmy realized that, when he shot to kill most of the time, he was killing civilians. He says this knowledge is something he lives with every day.

Shortly after the checkpoint incident with the Red Kia, Jimmy was relieved of his command, slipped some Zoloft and Ambien, and was medevaced back to the U.S.

Having seven years to go before retirement with the Marine Corps, he was offered a stateside desk job. Jimmy says he didn't want their money anymore. His deep remorse had ended his days as an economic conscript.

The Marines sent him to a shrink and they tried to label him a conscientious objector. Jimmy asked them in wonder, "Conscientious objector?! Just what are you smoking?" He had been a Marine for 12 years. He had willingly gone to war for his country, no questions asked. He says that he'd supported his president, who'd told him that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat to the free world.

It was only when he voiced his concern that he no longer felt right about killing innocent civilians that they suddenly wished to label him as a "conscientious objector". Unwilling to accept the label, knowing it could have landed him in jail, Jimmy secured Gary Myers (of My Lai trial fame) as his attorney. Jimmy says the military quickly "changed their tune" when Myers came on board.

Jimmy was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD) and was given, by the VA, 100% disability with no retirement benefits.

Jimmy's writing a book, not for fame or fortune, but to simply document what he considers to be war crimes and to keep track of the places in Iraq that he knows had been directly affected by depleted uranium.

In conclusion, this is what I can tell you that may be different than some of the other stories you've read about Jimmy Massey:

Jimmy Massey believes that he sold his soul when he became an economic conscript, and now he wants his soul back. That soul has taken on the heavy-duty shrapnel of guilt and remorse. With every talk he gives to concerned Americans, Jimmy Massey says we help him to heal his soul..
bit by bit..
one day, one night at a time.


_________________________

On Line Reference:

Michele Mandel
Veterans For Peace
Natasha Sulnier
Information Clearinghouse

Stuff

Stuff

Kate is enchanting. I think so, anyhow.

Eels have a new CD called Blinking Lights and Other Revelations. I love the song "Railroad Man". You can hear it (and a few other songs) at the link.

Meet Bobby Jr - click on photo to see who he is

Last Thursday, Rush Hour, NYC - Snoopy Survives Major Deegan

I want to get Yann Tiersen and Shannon Wright's CD.

Nathan Larson is once again collaberating with Todd Solondz on his latest film Palindromes. The music has been put up for free download in mp3 format on his website, nathanlarson.com.

Ladies - feeling overwhelmed? Perhaps Beatrice Eudora W. can help you.

Sampava will also show you the way to a peaceful day.

I Got Einstein as my result---What famous leader are you? I answered 45 questions.

*personality tests by similarminds.com
Other Leader possibilities: Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Bill Clinton, Che Guevara, Hitler, JFK, Saddam Hussein, Abe Lincoln.

John Edwards - The Internet is Buzzing

John Edwards - The Internet is Buzzing

The Kerry-Edwards campaign pulled out of Missouri just three weeks before last year's election. John Edwards is being seen as making a thinly veiled criticism of ex-running mate John Kerry by stating that it wasn't his decision. A former Kerry strategist told NBC that campaign officials worked overtime to make sure all key players were on board when decisions to pull out of states were made. An Edwards aide insisted that it didn't work that way.

MSNBC: The urge is to compare Edwards to [Joe] Lieberman, who waited until after [Al] Gore bowed out to announce and organize his 2004 bid. One difference, though, is that Lieberman was deferring to the winner of the popular vote. Asked recently on ABC whether or not he would wait for Kerry as Lieberman did for Gore, Edwards said, "I have enormous respect for [Kerry], but I'll decide what's the right thing to do based on what's going on with my own family."

On ABC on February 20, Edwards said he wanted to fight back against the Swift Boat Vets "the day it started," but that "the decision was made not to do it, and I did not agree with that decision."

"Loyalty" is a subjective term in politics. Democratic strategist Donna Brazile sees John Edwards' efforts as politically smart, noting that when you campaign as the running mate, "You lose your voice, you lose your standing." Brazile adds, "That was the problem with Joe Lieberman." And after Lieberman courted Gore, she notes, Gore turned around and endorsed Dean for the nomination. "Edwards passed the loyalty test when he got on the ticket," she says.

Some are saying that Edwards didn't "help the ticket win any Southern states" in the 2004 Presidential election. One e-mail now circulating notes that Kerry-Edwards lost to Bush-Cheney in Wake County, NC -- i.e., Raleigh, where Edwards lives -- while the party's candidates for governor and US Senate won there. I don't think it's really all that hard to understand that the front runner, John Kerry, was tagged and framed as a "Massachusetts liberal" by extremely persuasive and successful GOP strategists, and that this had a direct effect on the North Carolina ballot.

Karen Hughes selected as undersecretary of State

Karen Hughes selected as undersecretary of State

President Bush has selected Karen Hughes to be undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs.

World News Headlines

World News Headlines

Israel has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear program.

US trade deficit widened by $2.6bn to $58.3bn, the second-highest monthly gap on record,despite a reduction in the cost of oil imports. With oil prices pushing towards record highs, the US deficit could soon climb above $60bn a month.

Iran has responded to combined pressure from the US and Europe by offering to halt development of most of its nuclear fuel cycle facilities while retaining the ability to enrich small amounts of uranium.

Pakistan made its first public admission this week that the smuggling network centered on Abdul-Qadeer Khan supplied Iran with centrifuges, ruling out that it supplied other, even more incriminating, technologies.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan is heading to the Middle East for talks on boosting the peace process.

The United States is calculating how to respond to China's emergence as a strategic power.

US tycoon Robert Herring has offered $1m to Michael Schiavo, the husband of badly brain-damaged Terry Schiavo, to stop him from removing her feeding-tube next week.

Women in Political Blogging (update)

"Male bloggers predominate, as do male TV shouters. Men I know and men who read The Times write me constantly, asking me to read the opinion pieces they've written. Sometimes they'll e-mail or fax me their thoughts to read right before I have lunch with them. Women hardly ever send their own rants.

There's been a dearth of women writing serious opinion pieces for top news organizations, even as there's been growth in female sex columnists for college newspapers. Going from Tess Harding to Carrie Bradshaw, Dorothy Thompson to Candace Bushnell, is not progress.

This job has not come easily to me. But I have no doubt there are plenty of brilliant women who would bring grace and guts to our nation's op-ed pages, just as, Lawrence Summers notwithstanding, there are plenty of brilliant women out there who are great at math and science. We just need to find and nurture them."

- Maureen Dowd

Women in Political Blogging
Compiled by Jude Nagurney Camwell

I am compiling a list of women who blog about political issues. I'm amazed at how many there are.


al-Muhajabah-Laura Poyneer
Alarming News-Karol
Karen Alston
Ann Althouse
An Old Soul-Shari
The Anchoress
Annika's Journal
Apophenia-Danah Boyd
Athena at Terrorism Unveiled
Sapere Aude-I Am the Hermit
Available Light-Lynda B
Ayn Clouter

Backup Brain-Dori's half
Baghdad Burning-Riverbend
Baldilocks-Juliette Ochieng
Banana Republican-Rachel Jurado
LaShawn Barber
Betsy's Page-Betsy Newmark
Bitch. Ph.D.
Bittershack-Brooke Biggs
Black Feminism-Tiffany
Blaugustine
Blog Amy
Blog or Not
Blog Sisters
Blogslut
BlondeSense
Body and Soul- Jeanne
Book of Days-Chris
Bouillabaisse-Dianne Maire
Danah Boyd-Lakoff-Language of Politics
Martha Bridegam-Demisemiblog
Breaching the Web
Summer Brooks
Burningbird

Marla Caldwell
Elisa Camahort-WorkerBeesBlog
Barbara Camwell-Abuse Sanctuary
Jude Nagurney Camwell
Avedon Carol
Cathie From Canada
Chandrasutra
Natasha Chart-Pacific Views
Citizen's Rent
Collective Sigh
Code Pink
The Corner-Kathryn Lopez, Barbara Comstock
Crescat Sententia

Gail Davis
Natalie Davis
Democracy for California-Diana
Democracy for Virginia-Maura
Jory Des Jardins
Different Strings-Kryselda Jarnsaxa
Dissent Channel-AE
Diva Geek
Divinest Sense
The Duchess-Charlene Barker
Dummocrats-Kris

e-Robin
Echidne
Dawn Eden
Enlightenment Project-HE Baber
Eve Tushnet

Fact-esque
Fantasy Life
Fatshadow
Feministe-Lauren
Feisty Repartee-Christine
Fishbucket
Flamingo Jones
For The Record-Jessica Wilson
FrizzyLogic
Fusion Reaction

Amy Gahran
Jane Galt-Assymetrical Information
Girlhacker
Laura Gjovaag
Sally Greene
Jenny Greenleaf

Half-Changed World
Halley's Comment
Heretik
Mary Hodder

Inkwell

Jane-LipSticking
Janet For Fairfax
Jessica's Well
Joanne Jacobs

Kalilily Time-Elaine
Veronica Khokhlova-Neeka's Backlog
Amy Khoudari-Blog,blog,blog

Ladida
Laila Lalami
Late Night Thoughts-Emma
Left Coaster-Mary Ratcliff
Left2Right-Elizabeth Anderson
Liberty Street-Kathy
Lifting the Fog-Barbara Sehr
Little Miss Attila

Rebecca MacKinnon
Madeleine Begun Kane
Madison Women for Peace
Mahablog-Barbara O'Brien
Majikthise
Marine Corps Moms
"Michele"
Michelle Malkin
Making Light-Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Irshad Manji
Jen Martinez
Maru Soze
Melanie Mattson-Just a Bump in the Beltway
Megnut
Mind of Mog
Misbehaving
Mixter
Diana Moon
Mousemusings-Cyndy Roy
Moxie
Ms. Musings

Netwoman

Maud Newton
Nitpicker-CJ Finis
Chris Nolan
NYCO
Ambra Nykol

Obsidian Wings-Hilzoy
Rosie O'Donnell
One Woman Wrecking Crew-Mary

PG
PalmTree Pundit
Pam's House Blend-Pam Spaulding
Parenthetically Speaking
Patriette-Kelly
Jaqueline Passey
Pen Elayne-Elayne Riggs
Philobiblon
Melanie Phillips
Pinko Feminist Hellcat
Plunky Punk-Vanessa
Podunt Post-Wanda
Polipundit-Lorie Byrd
Political Monitor-Lindy Baumann
Virginia Postrel
Pourquoi pas?-Dianne Maire
Pratie Place-Jane
Preemptive Karma-Carla
Professor Kim's Notes-Kim Pearson
Pseudo-Adrienne

Random Thoughts-Susan
Rebecca's Pocket
Reportette-Yvette Stafford
Respectful of Otters-Rivka
Rhetoric 101
Lis Riba
Emmanuelle Richard
Amy Ridenour
Riggsveda-It's My Country Too
Lindsay Robertson
Evelyn Rodriguez
Rox Populi
Ruminate This-Lisa English

Saheli:Musings and Observations-Saheli Datta
Julie Saltman
Santa Clara CtyDemPty-Elisa Camahort
Scribblingwoman
Cathy Seipp
Jeneane Sessum
Sgt. Lizzie
Shameless Agitator-Andrea
Shakespeare's Sister
Julien Sharp
Ruby Sinreich
Sisyphus Shrugged-Julia
Lizzie Skurnick-Old Hag
Patty Ann Smith
So What Can I Do?
Natalie Solent
Lizzy Spiers
Strangechord-Emily
Suburban Guerrilla-Susan Madrak
Suddenly Routine-Rebecca
Amy Sullivan
Dawn Summers
Surfette

Talk Left-Jerralyn Merritt
Tara Sue
Think Pink
Thoughts of an Average Woman-CE Petro
Tild
Kelly Jane Torrance
Trailer Park Girl
Tsuredzuregusa-Shaula Evans
Tulip Girl
Turnpike Feminist
12 Frogs

Uncommon Thought
Under The Same Sun
Urban Grind
Utopian Hell

ValueJudgment-J's half
Villanous Company-Cassandra

Vivid Pieces- Erin Notebloom

VDARE-Bryanna Bevens,Brenda Walker
Veracity or Mendacity-Melanie
Veralynne-ACT
View From The Left-Chris D'Arcy

Waiting For Nat-LilySea
Wampum-Mary Beth Williams
War And Piece-Laura Rozen
Belle Waring
Diane Warth-Karmalised
Watermark-SB Poet
We Are Not Sheep
What Do I Know
WhatIsPastIsPrologue-Sarah
What She Said
Who Is Sylvia
Wicked Muse
Sissy Willis
Willow Tree-Rachel Ann
Winds of Change-Robin Burk
Rebecca Winters
Amy Wohl
Wonkette-Ana Marie
World O'Crap
World Turning-Jennifer
Worshipping/Altar of Mediocrity

Xeney
XX

You Will Anyway
Yourish

Anne Zook

Democracy Now: Juan Cole & Juan Cole & Osama Siblani

Democracy Now: Juan Cole & Juan Cole & Osama Siblani

Earlier today, Amy Goodmantalked with Professor Juan Cole and Osama Siblani, editor of The Arab-American News, about issues surrounding the Middle East, both in terms of U.S. foreign policy as well as here at home and how Arab Americans and Arab immigrants have been affected by the Bush administration's so-called war on terror.

Juan Cole:

"The Lebanese have been having parliamentary elections for decades and were among the few to have fairly upright such elections at some points in the 20th century in the Arab world. So, they haven't learned anything from the Iraqi elections. In fact, . the elections in Iraq were a mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous.. I mean, it was a wonderful thing, people came out and risked their lives to vote, but they didn't know the names of the candidates that they were voting for because of the poor security conditions, and the country had to be locked down for three days. No vehicular traffic at all in the entire country in order to prevent car bombings, so that the elections could be held.

So I think most urbane, sophisticated Beirutis would have looked upon this process in Iraq with a little bit of pity, and . there's nothing inspiring there for them.. They already had the elections in their country scheduled for May. What happened in Lebanon was local.

I think we're going to see a lot of this -- everything that happens in the Middle East from now on is going to be pegged to the Bush administration regardless of whether the Bush administration had anything to do with it, but there's now, I think, a political struggle inside Lebanon, between those groups, especially the Christian Maronites, the Druze, and a section of the Sunnis who want an early end to the Syrian military occupation and an end to over-weaning Syrian influence in Lebanese politics on the one hand, and then Hezbollah and the generality of the Shiite community, I think, as well as another section of the Sunni community that actually wants the Syrians to continue to play a role."

Osama Siblani:

"He [ George W. Bush ] told me just straight to my face, among 12 or maybe 13 republicans at that time here in Michigan at the hotel. I think it was on May 17, 2000, even before he became the nominee for the Republicans. He told me that he was going to take him out, when we talked about Saddam Hussein in Iraq. And I said, ‘Well, you know, I totally disagree with you. You just can’t go around taking leaders out of their countries, you know. Let the Iraqi people do it. They can't do it on empty stomachs. Lift sanctions. Keep the pressure on Saddam Hussein, but lift the sanctions on the Iraqi people. People can't make moves on an empty stomach. Once they start establishing, you know, a connection with the United States and helping democracy inside, they will overthrow him.’ And then he said, ‘We have to talk about it later.’ But at that time he was not privy to any intelligence, and the democrats had occupied the White House for the previous eight years. So, . he was not privy to any intelligence whatsoever. He was not the official nominee of the Republican Party, so he didn't know what kind of situation the weapons of mass destruction was at that time.. But what I am saying now is the President is trying to claim credit for something that really had nothing to do with him."

U.S. Ex-Im Supporting Nuclear Advances in China

U.S. Ex-Im Supporting Nuclear Advances in China
Chinese Corporation Has Dubious Business Ties to 'Rogue Nations'

The Ex-Im [U.S. Export-Import Bank] is overseen by the House Financial Services Committee, and they are failing to respond to public concern about the U.S. government's commitment of $5 billion in financing for the China National Nuclear Corporation. A spokesman for Chairman Michael Oxley (R.-Ohio) said Oxley would not comment on the deal.

U.S. intelligence has found China National Nuclear Corporation, on four occasions, providing technology to Iran and Pakistan that would help those countries weaponize uranium and plutonium.

The Westinghouse Corporation stands to economically gain, but what do Americans citizens stand to gain, in National Security, from such hypocritical policy?

It's just another dreadful case of the government supporting corporate profit over National Security interests.

Senate Whitewash on Pre-War Intelligence on Iraq

Senate Whitewash on Pre-War Intelligence on Iraq

Senator Pat Roberts has shut down the Intelligence Committee's probe into the pre-war intelligence on Iraq.

Roberts has said:

"The bottom line was they believed the intelligence, and intelligence was wrong."

Bush administration officials distorted the available intelligence to win public support for the war, and the majority of Americans are not fooled by Pat Roberts' whitewashing statement.


It looks like they're already planning to put the blame on outgoing OSP defense undersecretary Douglas Feith.

"..the committee agreed to examine whether public statements by US officials were substantiated by intelligence information, and whether the Pentagon Office of Special Plans (OSP), which reported to Douglas Feith, the defence undersecretary, had played a significant role in pushing the intelligence community to take a harder line on Iraq."

This, of course, is a joke. The White House is still taking plenty of Neocon advice. Nothing has changed. Feith is just one of their fallen sons.

The shutdown of the Senate committee investigation will effectively leave all blame for the failures with the professional intelligence community, rather than with political appointees, where it actually belongs.

This whitewashing has the stench of Jeff Gannon's dubious reporting career all over it. He was used - and used advantageously - by the likes of GOP Intelligence Committee members. I suggest that, with this Committee activity, not only does the GOP faction of the Committee wish to protect their own from political damage, they want to shield someone from taking a direct hit on the Valerie Plame outing.

From my blogpost of 2-19-05:

From Gannon's Talon article July 13, 2004:

"..the Senate Intelligence Committee discovered a memo from Plame dated February 12, 2002 to the Deputy Chief of the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) that "offered up his name." It was also revealed that Wilson traveled to Niger for the CIA in 1999 on a mission whose details are redacted from the report.

In October 2003, Talon News reported on an internal government memo prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel that detailed a meeting where Plame suggested Wilson be sent to Niger. Wilson claimed to have never been in a meeting with his wife, but a State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) analyst's notes indicated that a meeting was "apparently convened" by Plame who had proposed her husband go on the mission. Plame told the committee that she only attended the meeting to introduce her husband and left after about three minutes.

A CIA source told the Washington Post in December 2003 that the INR memo was still classified and disputed its contents. As a result of asking Wilson about the memo during an October 2003 interview, FBI agents questioned Talon News under the guise of the leak probe to discover the source of the memo that refuted the assertions of the agency and Wilson about the circumstances by which he was chosen for the trip.

The Senate Intelligence Committee report may have a significant impact on the leak probe. Loss of confidence in the agency and its attempts to discredit evidence that suggests alternate motivations by sub-groups within it may serve to undermine the case. The INR memorandum may have revealed Plame's identity prior to Novak's column and therefore any statements by the administration might only qualify as simple gossip.

Even if that is not the case, the federal statute requires that the exposure of Plame would have had to be deliberate and malicious, a threshold that may not be reached by the investigation, particularly in light of new information revealed by the Committee report."

- Jeff Gannon

Pentagon Report on Abu Ghraib=Whitewash

Pentagon Report on Abu Ghraib = Whitewash

Democrats are disgusted with the Pentagon's latest report, absolving themselves for their own involvement and accountability for the Abu Ghraib torture.

They aren't alone. Sen. John McCain says this is all going to come back to haunt our troops, and I can't imagine there's many others who would know better about being tortured than Senator McCain.

It's a scapegoating of the lower ranks and an arrogant denial of responsibility. I have to say I'm not surprised.

It's also no wonder recruitment numbers for the Armed Services is below expectation. If I could predict that no one would have my back in the toughest times, I'd never sign up in the first place.

Link - Financial Times

Jimmy Massey Speaks in Syracuse

Jimmy Massey Speaks in Syracuse

I saw Jimmy Massey tell his powerful story tonight in Syracuse.
I plan to share it with you tomorrow.

UPDATE:

I'm almost finished with the story.
For those of you in Syracuse who saw Jimmy speak, this is my question:

How do I show you a man who his found his conscience while he, at the same time, is a walking casualty of the Iraq war?


I'm going to try to do just that.

I am Woman - Celebrate Me

I am Woman - Celebrate Me
By Rachel Raza

From the ashes of Afghanistan
Where you bombed my home and trapped me in a tomb of dust I am the woman who has risen up like the phoenix
Protected by my burqa - which you see as a symbol of oppression
This tattered cloak - is my only protection
from the mortar and shells
that you gift to my land – as you turn it into a living hell
I shatter the bonds, reach out my hand and
gather the wounded and weeping women of my nation,
Stepping over the blood of our children as I teach them to say “no more”
No more - will we be pawns in the games of political power
No more will we cower
We’ll find ways to alleviate our ignorance
I AM WOMAN – EDUCATE ME


I am the woman from a village in Pakistan
where they threw acid in my face because their honour was at stake
Battered, bullied and bruised – I suffered great pain
But the damage they have done has only fired my resolve
to never let them make MY honour, THEIR gain;
I forced the courts to hear my case and took others like me
Caught in the vicious circle of male violence and frenzy
in trying to dehumanize us
My disfigured face has empowered me;
the cries of my sisters have given me strength in my own strength
I won’t be cowed down by cowardly acts
I have found my path and will never return to the fetters of slavery
I ask for no accolades for my bravery
I AM WOMAN – CELEBRATE ME

I am a mother from the Middle East
Step-by-step trying to build bridges of peace
Surrounded by bloody hell
where every shell
has the name of an innocent bystander;
I am Christian, Muslim and Jew
I bleed the same as you
I am wife, sister, friend and daughter
But our lives are devoid of any laughter
When our children leave home,
we are uncertain if they will ever return
I AM WOMAN – VALIDATE ME



I am a woman of the street where I’m forced to sell my body
part by part to the highest bidder – like a commodity
to those masters of the flesh trade who don’t know
that we are women – we have a heart
and a soul that is torn apart
when we are used and abused like pieces of flotsam
set afloat on the sea of time with no end in sight
We’re just a statistic on the pages of her-story
Not for the unequal wages we were paid
Or fighting the laws that are man-made
But - for being the principal victims of AIDS
I AM WOMAN – DON’T HUMILIATE ME

I am the Muslim woman who came to this land
many moons ago
I couldn’t speak the language, I’d never seen snow
I was alone and afraid with no where to go
for help, for advice about my woes
they scoffed at my head-scarf, my faith
my accent and the colour of my skin –
I felt forsaken
Yet I weathered all this on my own
I cried but I survived – thankful to be alive
In this land of the free
But are we ever truly free?
Today I am a victim again –after the terror of 9/11
My windows shattered, my mosque desecrated
It’s ironical - but I am told this turmoil is created
by the very people who wish to liberate me
I AM WOMAN – LIBERATE ME



Most of all I am a woman like the rest of you
Privileged for the chance to share in solidarity
As I build the courage to stand up and speak out
against atrocities heaped upon us
Breaking the bonds of cultural and social fanaticism to forge
a special bond with my sisters
In breaking the silence, I reach out across barriers of
Race and religion – in the one cause that binds us together
Our feminine souls intertwined with the souls of many others
They were women - therefore they died
WE ARE WOMEN – COMMEMORATE US

Elizabeth Edwards Recovering From Surgery

Elizabeth Edwards Recovering From Surgery

This past Monday, Elizabeth Edwards had a lumpectomy to remove the cancer from her breast at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston . She is resting comfortably and her doctors believe that the surgery was a success.

This message from John Edwards came in an e-mail today:

Since the day we learned about the cancer, we have felt your prayers and good wishes. Every note, every email, every kind word we have received has held us up and given us strength. And we are blessed to be surrounded by a loving family, supportive friends, and the best health care in the world. I want to especially thank all of you who actively participate in the One America Blog. Your kind posts and concerns have truly helped us through these trying times.

Elizabeth, the kids and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your well wishes and prayers.

So many people have asked us, "What can we do to help?" And today, I am asking you to join the fight against cancer by visiting the sites listed below, getting involved, making your friends aware by forwarding this email to them and asking them to get involved , or by supporting any of the many wonderful groups dedicated to fighting this terrible disease.

American Cancer Society
Breast Cancer Action
Avon Breast Cancer Crusade

Over 1.2 million cases of cancer are diagnosed every year. These organizations need our help. Their work gives hope to the men and women and children who are battling this terrible disease. And I know that they would embrace all of your support.

For anyone who is battling cancer or has a loved one or a friend with the disease , I saw this and thought I'd share it with you:

What Cancer Can't Do
- Author unknown

Cancer is so limited.
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot quench the spirit

I'm glad to hear Mrs. Edwards is on the road to recovery and wish her and the Edwards family the best.

MSM Finally Talks About Irshad Manji

MSM Finally Talks About Irshad Manji

Where have they been?
Thomas Friedman is finally talking about someone I wrote about almost a year ago. I guess he figures now is the time to spread the word. Why was no one in the MSM talking about this while we were dropping bombs over Baghdad neighborhoods? (NPR and WSJ excepted). I guess it's because we were looking so hard for those imminently-threatening mushroom-cloud-producing WMD, Nigerian-bought yellow-cake, and aluminum tubes that it took a while for us to realize we were really there to spread freedom. (After every other manufactured reason failed the test of truth).

To establish a balance to Tom Friedman's enthusiatic cheerleading ( Sorry, Tom lost me with his public display of being embarrassingly hoodwinked into supporting the Iraq war ), Z-Mag reviewed Irshad's work in 2003 and commented:

"...citing the reports of mainstream human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International on Muslim countries but not on Israel or the United States, this is to be understood as the focus of a moral agent on her own community...Manji's own words suggest otherwise. Late in her book, she talks about reasoning being "entirely compatible with the ideals I hold as a Westerner." (pg. 229) Describing her visit to Israel, she describes the moment of her visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem: "As I spend time in search of an unused crack that will clasp my prayer, I realize I'm holding up the Jews behind me. Still, I don't feel like an interloper. I feel at home. More viscerally than ever, I know who my family is." (pg. 93). Reading her book, it becomes clear that it is not the work of a self-critical individual trying to hold the Muslim community accountable, but a self-congratulatory Westerner, cheering for powerful states and whitewashing the crimes of her "family".

It's unfortunate that Manji has been made the darling of the Likudnik-likes of Daniel Pipes because of her positions on Israel. While Israel is a Western-style democracy, we understand that it is their religious-based tribal nature, similar to the tribal nature of the radical segments of the Arab world, that causes division. If I were writing a book to bring my religion and my people out of their tribal mindset and to convince them of the benefits of belonging to Western society, the Wailing Wall would be the last frame of reference I would use to convince them.

Guess Where I Am

Can you guess where I am?
*If you took the photo, your guess doesn't count!*

Bolton Mania

Condi Rice introduces John R. Boltonto a dismayed planet


"There is no such thing as the United Nations..if the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference."

"It is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law even when it may seem in our short-term interest to do so ­ because, over the long term, the goal of those who think that international law really means anything are those who want to constrict the United States."

"...most skilled diplomat...."
"....I am honored...."

...honored........honored..........I am honored?..........................honored??
................................honored?????


HONORED?!?

Federal funding cuts limit options for chemo patients

Federal funding cuts limit options for chemo patients

I want to share this story with you because the subject directly affects my own family.

My mother, a senior citizen, has been having chemotherapy at a fine clinic here in Syracuse. Her doctor and the chemo nurses are wonderful, and the room where she'd been having chemotherapy is bright with plenty of sun coming through the many windows that line the room. Plush, comfortable chairs are provided for the patient's comfort and ease. It makes the necessary routine more pleasant than it might be under other circumstances.

Catherine Miller's experience sounds familiar:

It's been three years since the 69-year-old was diagnosed with abdominal cancer, a strain of the disease that can't be cured. Someday, she knows, it will take her life. For now, she's beating the odds.

Miller has had plenty of time to learn the ins-and-outs of local cancer centers. Last year, she settled on ACT Medical Group, a small east-side clinic with hardwood floors and big, sunny windows.

It's hard enough having cancer. To have your government cut away a senior citizen's opportunity to have some form of comfort while battling a terminal illness is an abandonment of respect for and responsibility to our family members in their senior years.

My mother's doctor wants to continue providing chemotherapy to my mother, but the price Medicare pays him for the drugs my mother needs has been reduced by 80% as of January 1st. (A move federal officials have deemed "appropriate.) Her doctor cannot afford to provide extended coverage on a charity basis for his Medicare patients.

What's happening is that senior citizens are being forced to go into a hospital to have chemotherapy while only those (mostly younger patients) who have private insurance are getting the compassion, ease, and personalized attention afforded by the modern clinics. The hospital takes a very lengthy amount of time and the chemotherapy patient, who is no longer immune to disease because of the effect of the drugs on the body, has to be exposed to God-knows-what diseases while at the hospital for that period of time. The patient is placed in a hospital bed and in a room with another patient with who-knows-what illness. There is the admission process, the parking garages, the walk, and all the other inconveniences that come with hospital treatment.

How could our Congress have allowed this to happen? I keep asking myself that question.

As John Edwards recently said regarding more Americans struggling financially and falling deeper into debt - and how that trend is not an accident:

"It is by design because our Republican leaders value one thing: wealth. We see it in everything they do."

This cut in Medicare coverage for chemotherapy drugs is no different.

"Prodded by her doctor, Miller sent out letters to three federal legislators -- senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama, and Rep. Don Manzullo -- to share the story of her chemotherapy treatments.
ACT's Edwards, hoping to inspire change and improve Medicare payments, asked her to do it.
"I don't imagine it will do much good," Miller said. "But I did it anyway. For him."

I'm going to have my mother do the same thing. It may not make a difference in time to get her back into the clinic that was a comfort to her in these hard times, but it may help me someday. My Mom loves me enough to act. I know she respects her doctor enough to try to help him and his clinic. I love her, and it breaks my heart to see her have to go through this.

Perhaps, if you see this, you will copy my words and put them in an e-mail to your own Representatives.


Our Senior citizens deserve so much better than this.

- Jude

Exploding Dog

Exploding Dog

Check out Exploding Dog.
It's sam's great interactive creation.

I particularly like "the glass is half full".


*Tip of the hat to Nick.

Cut Lindsay Graham Some Slack

"We don't do Lincoln Day Dinners in South Carolina. It's nothing personal, but it takes awhile to get over things."

-Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC)

Cut Lindsay Graham Some Slack

That's my opinion.
I suppose I mean it in a tongue-in-cheek way.
Yet - I think Senator Graham's being truthful, albeit blunt.
Not an easy thing to be in Washington DC.

He's telling us that there is still a hell of a lot of bitterness over the outcome of the Civil War in South Carolina.

Hello?
And you are surprised?

Let him clarify his comments, but I don't think we should go crazy over what he said as if the idea has come from some alien planet.

If the people of South Carolina demand an apology from their Senator, then he should apologize - without hesitation. However, if most of them do feel that way, then Senator Graham can only be accused of "representing". (I'll bet the black population there is none too happy. There goes any scarce African American support the Republicans ever had in South Carolina! Hear the sucking sound?)

Perhaps many South Carolinians do not want to see us as ONE AMERICA?

Does their Confederate heritage mean more to them than their allegiance to a united nation? I think these are fair questions to ask, since Senator Graham decided to bring up the subject.

I think it's time for a national conversation rather than a chastisement of Lindsay Graham. There are divisions in this land that can no longer be overlooked by a sense of false/forced civility.

Frankly, I have more of a problem with Senator Graham cheering President Bush's decision to invade Iraq. President Bush permanently lost half a nation's trust over that gross political misleading, and he has shown, time and time again, that he doesn't value the voice of that particular half of the American population who saw the misleadings for exactly what they were. He's created an American democratic black-out while his administration plots more wars for their cheerleading mob who hypocritically claim to seek "democracy" for nations that they barely understand.

We are polarized. It's eerily chilly where we stand in America today.
Sounds like a civil war all over again.

Will some be terribly skeptical about throwing Bush Day dinners in another 150 years?

Where we stand, here and now, we have a choice to move forward as one nation or languish in our foolish, unfounded hatred for one another and continue on the current path to being a democracy-sick and disrespected nation who gets their way in the world only because others fear our naked wrath.

That's not the America I want to leave behind for our children.

So, let's talk. Blunt honesty is going to be necessary, even if it borders upon incivility. If we want a stronger nation, our leaders are going to need to seek out the policies that are consistent with values that are common to all Americans.

Cut Lindsay Graham some slack.
He's just exposing the cracks in the ever-weakening cultural floor beneath our American feet.

I just wish he'd decided to inspire with his words rather than to serve to divide with them.