Headlines


Seattle Post Intelligencer: Footage shown of slain Westerners in Iraq
Are the slain (alleged Americans) intelligence agents? Mercenaries? We really don't know. The article leads us to think they're probably "contractors". We are having to "pacify" Iraqi cities because of depraved killings of "contractors". Some of these "contractors" may not even be American citizens...they may be soldiers of (pretty decent) fortune. Our troops risk all for meager pay. What's happening, really?

Yahoo News: Iraqi Civilians Flee Falluja as Truce Takes Hold
Consider the contrasting information between the reported facts and the White House spin:

Grabbing their chance, desperate families fled battle zones in the town of 300,000. Sunni Muslim fighters, who have been battling U.S. Marines from street to street, remained inside. In Falluja, overnight clashes gave way to calm by dawn after intense efforts to arrange a cease-fire. International relief groups say 470 Iraqis have been killed there and 1,200 wounded, including 243 women and 200 children, in the past week.

Now information disseminated by the White House:

Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and the neo-conservatives maintain that this upsurge of violence was expected, and that the insurgents are a small minority.

Americans want to know why we are expending so much blood and treasure on something so illegitimate. Bush spent the Easter weekend on his Texas ranch and officials insisted there is "no major combat" in Iraq.

Charles Krauthammer says Hubert Humphrey was an over-idealistic schlump...the secret to curing hunger and poverty is capitalism and free trade. To hell with human rights, true democracy, UNICEF, the U.N. We see how the Iraqis love the idea of our bastardized gift of "democracy".

History Repeats


The Philadelphia Inquirer article begins:

It was fitting that Condoleezza Rice testified to the 9/11 commission on the day before the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

In both cases, information was available to the White House that might have prevented disaster - the attacks on the twin towers and Pentagon and the postwar chaos. In both cases, the information wasn't used.

We need to know why.

Could it be a willful rejection of inconvenient facts?

On Meet the Press:
John McCain states he supports re-election of Bush

Blah.
Just blah.

*Why has the DLC been dancing with this fellow? At the end of the ball, he's leaving with the village idiot.*

Here's the August 6, 2001 PDB Text

Do you think this document should have given Bush enough warning to push for more intelligence information about possible domestic hijackings? Read for yourself.

Related Stories:

MSNBC: White House releases intelligence memo

Washington Post: Bush seemed unworried in Aug. 2001

Whip It Good

Whip it good

Actors Whip Easter Bunny at Church Show

GLASSPORT, Pa. (AP)--First, the Passion of the Christ. Now, the torment of the Easter Bunny?

It may not have been as gruesome as Mel Gibson's movie, but many parents and children got upset when a church trying to teach about Jesus' crucifixion performed an Easter show with actors whipping the Easter bunny and breaking eggs.

People who attended Saturday's show at Glassport's memorial stadium quoted performers as saying, ``There is no Easter bunny,'' and described the show as being a demonstration of how Jesus was crucified.

Melissa Salzmann, who brought her 4-year-old son J.T., said the program was inappropriate for young children. ``He was crying and asking me why the bunny was being whipped,'' Salzmann said.

Patty Bickerton, the youth minister at Glassport Assembly of God, said the performance wasn't meant to be offensive. Bickerton portrayed the Easter rabbit and said she tried to act with a tone of irreverence.

``The program was for all ages, not just the kids. We wanted to convey that Easter is not just about the Easter bunny, it is about Jesus Christ,'' Bickerton said.

Performers broke eggs meant for an Easter egg hunt and also portrayed a drunken man and a self-mutilating woman, said Jennifer Norelli-Burke, another parent who saw the show in Glassport, a community about 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

``It was very disturbing,'' Norelli-Burke said. ``I could not believe what I saw. It wasn't anything I was expecting.''

Hearts and Minds: Colonel Pittard's job made tougher by insurgents' rage

Is this a recipe for another never-ending battle (like Israel/Palestine)? Colonel Dana J.H. Pittard sees places like eastern Diyala in Iraq becoming a "future battleground between Arabs and Kurds'' as the Kurds will try to regain land and homes snatched away by the former regime during its campaign of Arabization. The region harbors 53,000 displaced people, and serves as a corridor for illegal movements out of neighboring Iran. What on God's earth has Bush gotten our country into? I feel badly that most of the hard work Col. Pittard has done has been derailed by this Iraqi citizen uprising. I know people like the Colonel cannot or will not say it, but I blame the Pentagon and the Commander-in-Chief for rushing into this unnecessary and cruel war without a decent plan. I am not surprised it has turned out as it has. I pray for the safety of Col. Pittard's Brigade and hope he will truly be supported soon by his own Commander. My heart breaks for all of the people touched by this awful experiment.

What did I just say yesterday?


.....more important, many critics believe, Bush should have listened to former Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, who said a postwar occupying force in Iraq would have to number in the hundreds of thousands.....

Praying for the Miners


The dead, the trapped, the injured.



When that sun comes up each morning and I walk down into that cold dark mine
I say a prayer to my dear saviour, please let me see the sunshine one more time.

--Dwight Yoakam

Operation Hero Miles: The Troops Need Your Help

Operation Hero Miles provides a way for you to help our troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan by donating your unused frequent flyer miles. Efforts are underway to make the donated miles more broadly available to all U.S. military personnel.

Gurdjieff: The
Sunnite and the Shiite

This prescient wisdom was quoted in February by my guest-blogger Anonymoses:

Gurdjieff quote on psychic hatred and organic hatred...



"These two schools of the Mohammedan religion are called there the "Sunnite" and the "Shiite".
It is very interesting to note that the psychic hatred of each other formed in the psyche of the beings who belong to these two independent schools of one and the same religion has, on account of their frequent clashes, now been transformed completely into an organic hate.
Beings of certain European communities have during recent centuries greatly contributed to their incitement to the rise of this particular transformation on that strange being-function.
And they have employed and continue to employ this incitement in order that the animosity between the beings who follow these two independent schools of one and the same religion, should increase and that they should never unite, since if that were to happen, there might soon be an end there for those European communities.
...
And hence it is that accidentally arisen "newly baked" communities always rub their hands and rejoice when sparks fly between these Sunnites and Shiites, because they then count on a long and secure existence for themselves."
-G. Gurdjieff, "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" circa 1950

Fröhliche Ostern

The disquieting Iraq ruins won't ruin George's vacation

Speaking about the June 30 transfer of power in Iraq in relation to ongoing U.S. military support, Colin Powell said: "This will be a new government that is still getting its sea legs, that is still developing institutions of democracy, that has not yet finished a constitution and has not yet held an election to give it full legitimacy."

Sea legs? If it's a sea of blood, then sea legs it is, I suppose.

Powell says the growing casualties in Iraq are "disquieting", which means robbing one of peace/tranquility. Now he knows how the citizens of Iraq are feeling.

The Prez is back there again..on his 33rd visit to his Crawford ranch since becoming president. According to the Washington Post, he has spent all or part of 233 days on his Texas ranch since taking office, according to a tally by CBS News. Adding his 78 visits to Camp David and his five visits to Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush has spent all or part of 500 days in office at one of his three retreats, or more than 40 percent of his presidency. MUST BE NICE.

Bush was on his ranch on Aug. 6, 2001, when he ignored received a certain crucial intelligence briefing historical document called "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US". "Historical" my hot-cross buns! The Bush White House is saying the "historical document" primarily focused on recounting al Qaeda's past efforts to attack the United States. It is only the most ignorant, non-curious of leaders and advisors who would have missed so many obvious threats, especially about plane hijackings....assuming the hijackings would be just the "traditional kind" and leave it at that.

On the campaign trial, John Kerry recently quipped that when Bush 'takes days off he totally relaxes: He doesn't watch television, he doesn't read the newspapers, he doesn't make long-term plans'. I guess he doesn't read CIA briefings historical documents, either. Gosh, let's hope he doesn't get any important correspondence this week.

The President's Dan Bartllett made an astoundingly damaging political retort about Kerry (NOT) .....Bartlett said that Bush is "not skiing" in Texas, as Kerry did on a recent vacation in Idaho. Oooooooo, tough stuff there, Dan.

I just read today that the repulsive government of North Korea has said the standoff over its atomic ambitions has put them on the brink of nuclear war against the U.S. I do not want Bush at the helm when and if push comes to shove. He's the last one I'd trust to see America through without the possibility of a nuclear exchange. I think he's brought us to this brink and I'm sickened by the thought.

I am already convinced our President isn't a natural at being incredibly intelligent. I've seen his dull-witted statements at press-conferences and on shows like Meet the Press.

Now I'm beginning to wonder if he has a conscience.

Happy Easter

A teaching tale on love

Secularist friends, pardon the diversion. I wish to share a teaching tale on love from the book: A Teaching Story from The Unveiling of Love: Sufism and the Remembrance of God by Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak.

Jesus (a.s) and the young man



"Jesus, on him be peace, one day saw a young man watering the garden and he greeted him with peace. The young man recognized Jesus, on him be peace, and said:

'" 'O Messenger of God! Pray for me to the almighty that He may grant as my portion one atom of His love.'

"Jesus replied: 'Know for sure that you could not bear as much as the one atom of God's love you so desire.'

"But the young man insisted: 'In that case, let Him grant me just half an atom of His Love.'

"Jesus, the Spirit of God, raised his hands once in supplication to the Divine Unity: 'O Lord! Grant and bestow upon this youth just half an atom of Your love.' Then he went on his way.

"Sometime later, Jesus, on him be peace, passed that way again; he could not see the young man who had begged him for just half an atom of God's love, so he asked where he was. They said:

" 'O Prophet of God! That young man went away to the mountains and wandered into the deserts. We have no news of how he is and what has become of him.'

"Jesus, on him be peace, prayed to the Almighty and asked for that young man to be shown to him. By divine inspiration, Jesus, on him be peace, was told the young man's whereabouts and he went straight there. Seeing the youth sitting on a steep rock, immersed in contemplation, he called out to him. Far from responding, the young man did not even turn his head and look. Jesus, on him be peace, called out again, identifying himself this time, but again he got no response. It was then that God, the Lord of Majesty and Perfection, vouchsafed to Jesus, on him be peace, this inspiration:

" 'How can one with even half an atom of My love in his heart be expected to hear the voices of men? O Jesus! For the sake of My Might and Majesty, do not suppose that he heard your voice and yet gave you no answer. If they were to cut that young man up with a saw, he would feel no pain. If they threw him into the fire, the fire would not burn his body, and he would not even notice the heat of the flames.' "

Humorous Bloggers inspired by the Kos fiasco






Mad Kane's delightful Kos-ditty is linked here.

Headlines

Houston Chronicle- Former President Carter takes president Bush to task: "President Bush's war was ill-advised and unnecessary and based on erroneous statements, and has turned out to be a tragedy."

Yahoo News- British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says: "The lid of the pressure cooker has come off [in Iraq]. Some of the tensions and pressures which were there, and would have come out in any event, have to a degree been directed towards the coalition."
*My comment: To a degree!? How about the fullest degree? We knew this would come to pass..any fool would know. Why weren't we prepared? Why are we not involving the world community..the U.N? Who can look at the sutuation and truly say we have not been blunderous and foolish... with little regard for the lives and safety of coalition troops? We should have listened to General Shinseki.*

Russian Foreign Ministry report- Russia invoking Resolution 1483, adopted by the UN Security Council- They say the U.S.-led occupation forces should comply with international humanitarian law.

IF YOU'LL ONLY VOTE FOR US ONCE AGAIN.....



--Maybe we won't attack and take over more countries.
--Maybe we won't draft your kid into a chaotic mess of a war.
--Maybe we won't contribute more to the biggest deficit in history.
--Maybe we won't beat out an already-standing record for the most personal bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.
--Maybe Bush won't try to beat his standing all-time record for the most days on vacation by any president in US history.

--Maybe Bush won't beat the record for his own presiding over the worst security failire in US history.
--Maybe Bush won't beat his standing record for most campaign raising trips by an president in US history.
--Maybe we'll find the 2 million jobs Americans lost and stop the habit of cutting unemployment benefits (as we did for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in US history).
--Maybe Bush will allow press conferences freely (without Dick Cheney as a puppeteer).
--Maybe Bush will stop mocking the glorious strength of the U.S. Constitution and stop proposing unnecessary amendments to the Constitution (as he's done more than any other US president in history when there's a law he doesn't care for).


--Maybe we won't cut health-care benefits for war veterans.
--Maybe we won't give more reason for inciting people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest us. (Like those 15 million people in February, 2003)
--Maybe we won't dissolve more international treaties (are there any left, anyhow?)
--Maybe we won't continue the most secretive and unaccountable presidency of any in US history. What more do we have to prove? We've already "out-creeped" the Nixon presidency.
--Maybe we won't name another oil tanker after Condi.

--Maybe we won't directly bankrupt all 50 states.
--Maybe we won't listen to NeoCons and go off half-assed and order US attacks and military occupations of more sovereign nations.
--Maybe we'll stop rendering the entire U.N. irrelevant and actually show humility and respect toward other nations of the world. (you've got to admit, though, it was cool to have compelled the U.N. to remove the US from the Human Rights Commission and Elections Monitoring Board.)

--Maybe we'll admit we created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the U.S.
--Maybe we won't remove more checks and balances and stop the continuum of having the least congressional oversight of any presidential administration in US history.
--Maybe we'll recognize the World Court Of Law.
--Maybe we'll stop calling anti-war protesters "focus-groups" and recognize them as equals to monied lobbyists.
--Maybe, in the event we're attacked again, maybe Bush won't run and hide.

--Maybe we'll see how, even after the tragedy of 9-11, the U.S. got to be the most resented country in the
world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
--Maybe we'll reverse Bush's systematic removal of more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
--Maybe we'll truly heal our divided country because we see that as it stands now, we're the most divided since the Civil War.



THEN AGAIN.....MAYBE WE WON'T FEEL LIKE IT.
WE WON'T WORRY--WE HAVE DIEBOLD TO HELP US STEAL THE NEXT ELECTION.
SCREW YOU, LEFTIES AND LIBERTARIANS!

Arianna loves the blogosphere!

Excerpts:

I've got a confession to make. I've got a big-time crush. I'm talking weak-in-the-knees infatuation. But it's not Brad or Orlando or Colin or any of the cinematic hunks du jour who have set my heart aflutter. No, it's Atrios and Kos and Josh Micah Marshall and Kausfiles and Kevin Drum and Wonkette. Bloggers all. Yes, when it comes to the blogosphere, I'm a regular cyberslut. And I don't care who knows it. Bring on the fines, Michael Powell!

...........When bloggers decide that something matters, they chomp down hard and refuse to let go. They're the true pit bulls of reporting. The only way to get them off a story is to cut off their heads (and even then you'll need to pry their jaws open). They almost all work alone, but, ironically, it's their collective effort that makes them so effective. They share their work freely, feed off one another's work, argue with each other, and add to the story dialectically.

And because blogs are ongoing and daily, indeed sometimes hourly, bloggers will often start with a small story, or a piece of one -- a contradictory quote, an unearthed document, a detail that doesn't add up -- that the big outlets would deem too minor. But it's only minor until, well, it's not. Big media can't see the forest for the trees. Until it's assembled for them by the bloggers...............

.............I also love the open nature of the form -- the links, the research made visible, the democratic back and forth, the open archives, the big professorial messiness of it all. It reminds me of my schoolgirl days when providing the right answer wasn't enough for our teachers -- they demanded that we "show our work." Bloggers definitely show their work. It's why you don't just read blogs -- you experience them.

All of which has made the blogosphere such a vital news source in our country -- and has made me besotted with blogs. It's a crush that I'm betting will quickly progress to going steady.

-Arianna Huffington / Salon On Line

Democracy Now
Iraqi citizens confused and terrified in Sadr City

"... if you drive around Sadr City, you walk around Sadr City, you see posters everywhere......it would be almost difficult to imagine how many posters there are of Muqtada Sadr, and not just in Sadr City, in Shia neighborhoods all over Baghdad. I haven't been down south for a few weeks, but they're certainly also in the mostly Shia cells of Iraq. There's a considerable number of people who ...either support Muqtada... or they support Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the other senior religious leader here for the Shia, the most senior religious leader here for the Shia -- but they will say they condemn the [American] attacks which have been happening....and, you know, the Mehdi army has been -- people can see with their own eyes that they have been conducting exercises -- not with guns, mainly marching and -- because it's a religious festival here at the moment for 40 days, and they're often seen on the streets. We know they are well armed...."

--Michael Birmingham, currently in Iraq with the group Voices in the Wilderness

Major Events in Iraq since the beginning of the war

More bad news: Iraq's Interior Minister steps down

In an interview last month Iraqi Interior Minister Nuri Badran, who held one of the key internal security portfolios, had told Reuters he didn't believe his ministry was ready to take over responsibility for security after the 30 June handover in Iraq.

Today he quit.