Photo

After The Hurricane
photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell

Please Sign the Online Coalition Letter to FEC

Please Sign the Online Coalition Letter to FEC

I have signed on to what I consider to be a very important letter to which all concerned political bloggers should attend. The bipartisan letter is to the FEC from the blogging community at large. Michelle Malkin, Kos, Matthew Stoller, Kevin Aylward, and others have signed. There are currently close to 3000 signatures. Please go this THIS ADDRESS and sign the letter regarding the Upcoming FEC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking governing political activity on the internet.

Looking Toward 2008?

Looking toward 2008?

At JWR, Mugger has his doubts about certain political figures for 2008:

Rudy Giuliani -"way too socially liberal"

John McCain - "too old, cranky and contradictory"

Condi Rice - "black, female, single, ambiguous about abortion and has never run for office"

Hillary - Bill's baggage ("Marc Rich, Monica, his inattention to Islamic terrorists")

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


In the Boston Herald, Hillary's top advisor Ann Lewis talks about Kerry's 2004 campaign in non-glowing terms:

".... top adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton thinks fellow Democrat John Kerry "ran what was basically an inconsistent campaign" for president last year..

..The Kerry campaign had "a different message every two or three weeks," Ann Lewis, director of communications for Clinton's political action committee, told the Forward, a weekly New York City-based newspaper aimed at a Jewish audience...

..the Kerry campaign "kept trying to rationally convince, to put a presidency together, line by line, plan by plan...." She said people "don't vote for plans, they vote for presidents."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


At Salon.com, Paul Harris wonders how Hillary's somewhat schizophrenic political persona will be played out in the mainstream media:

"That was evident enough a week ago. March 6 saw two key appointments in New York that exposed Clinton's dilemma. First was a speech to a Jewish community group on the Upper East Side. She spoke emotionally of meeting U.S. soldiers, "heroes," in the Middle East. A few hours later, after a short cab ride downtown, Clinton addressed a very different audience at a women's rights conference at New York University. There, to a hall of United Nations workers, students and feminists, Clinton struck a much more familiar tone. She briskly attacked Bush's policy on abortion and said women's reproductive health "lies at the very heart of women's empowerment." It was an old-fashioned, pro-choice kind of speech. Her audience loved it.

Clinton's problem will be which version of herself becomes the accepted one in the mainstream. If it is the spiky progressive, liberal on social issues, she will lose a presidential campaign, her strategists believe. But if it is the new Hillary, a muscular moderate who is tough abroad and churchgoing on Sundays, she just might end up in the White House, they believe, returning home after eight years away."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The San Francisco Chronicle reports on John Edwards' appearance in their fair city yesterday. Edwards said the issue on which Democrats may have missed the boat in the last election was moral values, and that they must be central to the Democratic Party's core message. He also explained that his current campaign is less political and more about a focus on fighting poverty.

"My campaign now is to fight poverty and is a continuation of work over the last several years. That's what I'm committed to. I'll make decisions about politics down the road -- and that's particularly true given what's happening with Elizabeth.".....

"....We believe in standing up for people who don't have a voice," Edwards told about 400 people at the bar association's event. "And we also believe we have a moral responsibility to help those around us who are struggling."

"My family and my faith did not teach me to turn my back on people in their time of need," he said. "We're going to let the Republicans stand with their friends on Wall Street, with the big oil companies. We will stand with the nurses, with the teachers, with the working people."

Democratic consultant Chris Lehane reminds us about the elephant in the "wide-open" roomful of Democrats for 2008:

"....all of them may have to contend with Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, "who is literally hovering over the field in terms of the institutional advantages she starts out with," Lehane said."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Alameda Times-Star - Inside Bay Area

John Edwards spoke to the Bar Association of San Francisco at the Pan Pacific Hotel and had praise for Howard Dean while saying other unnamed Democrats have lacked the courage of their conviction.

EXCERPT:

Democrats stand for equal protection under the law, for standing up for the voiceless and powerless, for offering opportunity and rewarding hard work, for choosing hope over despair and for offering a helping hand to those who struggle

....his time on the campaign trail taught him that Americans want leaders with conviction, a strong set of values and the strength and passion to stand up for those values. Democrats have those core values..."We ought to have the courage to stand up for them," he said.

After his speech, Edwards declined to name any specific instances in which the party or its candidates lacked the courage of their convictions.

But he did praise former Vermont governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee's new chairman, for being a straight shooter as well as an accomplished organizer and fund-raiser.

"I think that Howard will do a very good job."

"I am running the most powerful campaign I know how to stop poverty in this nation. ... That's the cause I'm focused on."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Concord (NH) Monitor editorial staff is accusing certain Democrats of wanting to upset the status quo and take New Hampshire out of the top slot for the Presidential primary. The way they see it, certain Dems are blaming New Hampshire for past Democratic failures. As one could expect, the Concord Monitor folks don't appreciate this line of thinking and they want these Dems to stop tinkering with tradition. The way they see 2008 shaping up is:

Democrats will be looking hard for someone fresh.

On the Republican side, the first issue is who President Bush will want as a successor.

I would think he'd want Jeb as his successor. Don't you?

If it's not Jeb, I'll wager it'll be Bill Frist.

I think, in the end, New Hampshire will keep their favored spot in the primary, but 2008 will be all about southern strategy, southern strategy, and hmmm, let's see.....southern strategy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I saw from the beach, when the morning was shining,
A bark o'er the waters move gloriously on;
I came when the sun o'er that beach was declining,
The bark was still there, but the waters were gone.

And such is the fate of our life's early promise,
So passing the spring-tide of joy we have known;
Each wave that we danced on at morning ebbs from us,
And leaves us, at eve, on the bleak shore alone.

Ne'er tell me of glories, serenely adorning
The close of our day, the calm eve of our night;
Give me back, give me back the wild freshness of Morning,
Her clouds and her tears are worth Evening's best light.



Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
Irish poet, satirist, composer, and musician

Happy St. Patrick's Day

- Jude


Photo: travellerspoint.com

Lex and John Harness the Power of Democratic Journalism

Lex and John Harness the Power
of Democratic Journalism

Saw this at Ed Cone. At Editor and Publisher, Jesse Oxfeld tells Part 2 of the story of The Little Publisher Who Could.
And will.

Part one's here.

Arrivederci Roma

"Arrivederci
Roma"

NYT: Nagourney on John Edwards

NYT: Nagourney on John Edwards

I'm not the only Nagurney talking about John Edwards.
Adam is the Nagourney with the bigger megaphone.
He's expounding on the topic I mentioned a couple days ago, which is the buzz about John Edwards. In an article titled From Rivals to Running Mates to Rivals, John Edwards says that he will decide whether or not he is going to run again, based on how Elizabeth - and how his family - are doing, and where the country is at that time.
I'm glad to hear he's keeping his options open.

Frankly, I like John Kerry very much and I have the utmost respect for him. Yet, I sometimes wonder why he could not carry the last election at a time when G.W. Bush had done such an incredibly bad job in the White House and had alienated so many citizens. I had said, all along, that it was John Kerry's election to win or lose.

Well, he lost. To me, he is still a powerful political figure, as I had said just after he'd lost the election. I thought his campaign was dismal, though, and I don't think John Edwards should be held back or made to suffer for that dismal campaign.

This is an interesting topic, and Adam is stirring up a lot of buzz and tension with his NYT article, I'm sure.
The partisan GOP-hugging rag Newsmax is trying to frame this as a "catfight" in their reference to Nagourney's article. Newsmax, generally more reliable to wipe your tail-end clean than trust to be fair, focuses wrongly on the past instead of the future. It reminds me of what I like about John Edwards - that he'd like to see less partisanship and more "one America for all".

T.J. Reynolds of the Pennsylvania Democrats has said that the most common question he got during the course of the presidential campaign was, 'Where was John Edwards'?

I still like to keep track of where - and who - John Edwards is. The Kerry campaign seemed to have kept him fairly well hidden once he got onboard as VP candidate. The dynamics of the entire campaign seemed to be engineered to keep John Edwards in a limited role and the media certainly didn't give him ample coverage.

The question should be: 'Do we still want to know who John Edwards is?'

I think about how fellow candidate Dennis Kucinich relinquished his delegates in the Iowa caucus to the man he respected and liked - John Edwards.

I have a feeling that John Edwards has a great light yet to shine, and in talking with most moderate Democrats last fall, I heard this:
'I would rather have had John Edwards as the Presidential candidate. I really like him.'

I've heard it too many times to think it is not true. Edwards is quite popular where I live.

And I'm in New York state - home to Senator Clinton.

Cambridge Independent Podcast

Cambridge Independent Podcast

I am really enjoying the music offered on the Cambridge Independent Podcast. They are only in their second month and I wish Mike, Katie Taylor and the entire gang at CIP great success.

Episode #8 has a lovely cover of Oasis' Wonderwall by Mette Sutton. (*second song in). I think the featured group, Badwell Ash (student band- CRC), also has an impressive sound.

Cambridge Independent Podcast is featured this month at MacWorld magazine.

Cambride Uni Indie Soc

More Cambridge music at CUR 1350 - Listen Live

Bushisms at Press Conference

Bushisms at Press Conference

At his press conference today, President Bush said that he "likes the idea of people running for office."
A profound statement? No comment.

He says that most people don't want to vote for the guy who says he wants to "blow up America". They'd rather vote for the guy who'll fix your potholes and put bread on your table.
I would concur with him there...

...which is why I didn't vote for Bush last November.
He seems to be more fond of starting wars and blowing other places up than helping out the common man in his own country.

He said that "people need to understand that we're a compassionate nation".
The way I see it, most folks don't appreciate lip service. People live what they learn by experience, and many people around the world have learned something different, by effect of our policies, than what the info-jangle of the President's lip service would provide.

Wolfensohn to Wolfowitz - The Journey Down

Wolfensohn to Wolfowitz - The Journey Down

I've gotten a couple of e-mails asking me to comment on what I think about the appointment of Paul Wolfowitz to the World Bank.

My first reaction - Dear god, not him?! The chief architect of the highly unpopular elective American war in Iraq?

My second reaction - It figures. Why did I even remotely expect someone truly worthy of the task would be chosen by Bush?

My third reaction - I'll refer you to James D. Wolfensohn's words regarding the World Bank's place in the harmonization of agencies for poverty reduction at a path-breaking meeting which took place in Rome, Italy in 2003. Senior officials of over 20 multilateral and bilateral development organizations and about 50 countries spent two days discussing how they can improve the effectiveness of their work -how they can better fight poverty- by working more closely together.

James D. Wolfensohn:

"..we're getting stuck in these old historic perceptions about each other which are difficult to get through.

And so the first thing is to really say, Listen, guys, there's no way we can do it alone. Let's come together. And that means a big culture change for many of us, and central to that is harmonizing our efforts.

At my first meeting of the UNDP, the U.N. agency, I remember the then leader saying that he thought, after I'd been at the Bank and was saying this for a few months, that this was a very constructive thing, and they looked forward to coordinating the activities of the World Bank.

(said with laughter) I didn't say you could coordinate us. I said we'd cooperate.

And I guess all of us feel the same way, that none of us want to be coordinated. We all want to have our own independent views, but we must come together in a way that shows some consistency, shows some harmony and some sense of each other.

And so the first people to have to change is us, and that I guess is the purpose of this meeting; to try and see how we can change in order to make more effective the work of people like President Mkapa and his colleagues on the ground....

We look forward to contributing, we look forward to learning, and we look forward to coming out of this meeting with a final statement which will be a statement for action, and for cooperation and partnership."

With Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank, those "old historic perceptions" are going to be "perceived" once again. And rightly, to my way of thinking. The man has proven himself to be an ideologue of maximum neoconservative proportions.

Goodbye, perception of "harmony".
Goodbye, perception of "having a sense of one another".
In Wolfowitz's admitted ideological (Likudnik) view of the world, "harmonizing", "cooperation", and "partnership" will be given an entirely new meaning.

Knowing the value that the current adminstration places on wealth over all other values (proven by nearly every policy they promote), I am not encouraged by this appointment at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elsewhere:

Waveflux says: "This administration has gone completely through the looking glass."

Parker Web Developers at the forefront of small-business blogging.

Parker Web Developers

Darryl Parker, the entrepreneur and visionary who had the good sense to hire anonyMoses, and is a friend of Nonny and Iddy, (along with his lovely wife and child) has now decided to launch a foray into the new and exciting world of small-business blogging. Please stop by Parker Web Developers and say hello! And should you need help on your websites, they can probably help ya there too!
Also visit Dave and Darryl's business blog at Trade Street Journal.

News-Record: Future is now for open source journalism

Open Source Journalism:
The Future is Now at
the News-Record

Ed Cone reports that Lex and other online "power-users" are being trained at the News-Record in Greensboro. It's a matter of days - and they're going to learn a whole new publishing system. Well..Lex says "days" could range "from 2 to infinity"...but they're surely getting there. I'm excited for them and wish them the best of luck. You go, Greensboro!

S.U. Celebrates Daniel Patrick Moyniihan Institute

S.U. Celebrates Daniel Patrick Moyniihan Institute

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat, served 24 years in the U.S. Senate before retiring early 2001. He taught at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, both before and after serving in the Senate.
(source: Syracuse Post Standard)


source: News 10 photo/story

Yesterday, Moynihan was remembered as a great thinker and a man of vision as Syracuse University held a daylong series of events to formally dedicate its Daniel Patrick Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs after him.
U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton reminisced about Moynihan and praised his legacy. Speakers included Social Security Trustee John Palmer and Washington Post columnist George Will. The day was to end with a tribute dinner hosted by Tim Russert, moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press."
(source: Newsday)

Gene R. Nichol Named William and Mary President

Gene R. Nichol Named William and Mary President



"I am delighted to be asked to serve as president of William and Mary, which I consider a national treasure. I have always believed that it is vital in a democracy that public universities—not just private universities—compete at the highest levels of the American academy, and that this engaged, ennobling, focused experience of a liberal arts education not be reserved for just the private sphere."

- Gene R. Nichol

By unanimous vote, the William and Mary Board of Visitors has named Gene R. Nichol the 26th president of the college. Currently the Dean and Burton Craige Professor of the Law School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Nichol will succeed Timothy J. Sullivan, who has served as president of William and Mary since 1992. The new president will take office on July 1, 2005.

Nichol's views on public higher education can be seen at The Nation (subsc req):

"State legislators must recall that even given budget difficulties we face, an economically polarized democracy can't afford to abandon public higher education. And the academy itself has to remember that professional education is a public good, not merely a private one. After all, educating for privilege is powerfully at odds with who we say we are."

Sept 25, 2003

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.