Ground Zero Still Claiming Victims
By Sondra Hickman
Today a paramedic was laid to rest; she did her job with courage and honor
On September 11, 2001 planes crashing into World Trade Center. Within minutes one tower came crashing to the ground and soon after the second tower fell. The smoke was seen for miles. I stood at a large picture window in the six-floor office building of Con-Edison, just a mile away as the crow flies, and watched the events unfold in stunned disbelief. Who would have ever thought of such a thing? The dust cloud traveled with the wind it contained more than just smoke; the cloud also contained pulverized bits of asbestos.
Since I had just become a New York State Emergency Medical Technician, I rushed to the site to help with the wounded. I was part of a volunteer force of hundreds that night. There were no survivors to administer care to; they had been removed within the first couple of hours directly after the disaster. It took me all of five hours to make my way from Brooklyn back to lower Manhattan where I lived and then on down to the WTC site.
If the news had been announced to stay away, that a deadly carcinogen had been released would I have still gone down there? Not without proper gear! And the workers I saw had no proper gear issued to them. Some had on respirators, but most didn't. I was given a pair of safety goggles and a thin paper mask. That's all.
All of lower Manhattan had a fine layer of gray dust covering everything. From the sidewalks to the window ledges twenty stories up, a complete blanket of this nasty powder covered our world, from 14th street and down. Working at the site I saw this gray powder mixed with the water the Fire Department was spraying on the smoldering pile of rubble, and it became a gooey slippery mud.
I worked in the temporary morgue trying to identify bodies that were found. We searched the pockets for identification and we cataloged the obvious. Each body brought to us was covered by this muddy gray "clay". It made it almost impossible to see a face, and even more impossible to describe the clothing in which the body was clad. We did our best and made as good a record as we could before shipping these bodies to cold storage for more identification. In some cases we found a wallet with a name, sometimes only a torso came in, sometimes it was only a lower body...one such lower half came in with his wallet still neatly stuffed in the side pocket.
I volunteered for two days then went back to my job at Con-Edison. The EMS employees of the City of New York, FDNY EMS, worked there for many days, weeks, and even months later. One such worker was Deborah Reeve. I did not know her personally, but I'm sure we saw each other down there.
Deborah worked out of Station 20 for the EMS services as a paramedic. A 17-year veteran she worked in the morgue area also, moving corpses around, cataloging, doing whatever she was assigned to do. Today Deborah Reeve is being laid to rest at San Andres Presbyterian Church in Bronx, NY. She was 42 years old. She died after a long battle with mesothelioma; she was diagnosed in 2004, after having symptoms in 2003. Mesothelioma is a lung cancer that is directly related to exposure of asbestos. Deborah like many others, myself included, were exposed to a material that has been recognized as a carcinogen since 1960 and was subsequently banned in 30 countries around the world.
Deborah is survived by her husband, and two children ages 12 and 6. She died at Calvary Hospital in Bronx, NY a hospice care facility. The battle was long, hard, and expensive. Deborah was the first EMS worker to receive disability compensation of about $30,000 per year as a direct result of her efforts at the 9/11 disasters. She was however denied Workers Compensation by the City of New York. FDNY did not allow fellow EMS workers who wished to donate their unused sick time to her family to help pay her medical bills. The department gave $25,000 toward her burial expenses.
Deborah is not the first nor will she be the last to die as a result of this environmental catastrophe. Lawsuits are now finding their way into our courts against the EPA, and other Federal agencies for deeming it "safe" to return to downtown, when in fact a great public health risk was evident. Many clean up workers were brought in to clean with a paper mask and a rag, illegal aliens in search of a day job were hired by cleaning companies to get rid of the mess.
Asbestos is a mineral that is mined straight out of the ground. The USA has stopped mining asbestos but continues to import it as a raw material and in goods and products that contain it. Asbestos is a strong fibrous material that has strength and flexibility and is used in many products to make them stronger and heat resistant. Many types of insulation contain asbestos, and since it has been deemed a health risk, it has been removed from many buildings. Contracted companies who know how to protect themselves and the public from exposure usually do asbestos removal, an untrained immigrant with a rag and cloth mask doesn't cut it. Even Union Workers who were issued Respirator Masks are now worried, a product recall says they may not have been protected.
How many people will the attack of 9/11 take in the end? How many families will be affected? The medical world is only touching the tip of the iceberg now, with at least $90 million dollars earmarked for tracking the health of the workers at Ground Zero. This funding is only extended to 2009. It can take up to 20 after exposure, depending on the density of exposure, for someone who was exposed to become ill as a result of that exposure.
My condolences go out to Deborah and her family, and all the families who will have to deal with this in the future.
Copyright © 2006, NewsBlaze, Daily News
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Apox-o-lips
Summary: In response to gay rights organization Soulforce's Equality Ride -- a bus tour aimed at confronting religious schools and military academies that ban the enrollment of GBLT students -- the American Family Association's Don Wildmon proposed his own hypothetical trip to "the homosexual bathhouses," saying, "[W]e're going to confront these people ... for what they're doing."See what the General has to say about all this
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Just a friendly reminder
If you have a fishing license for Washington State, you are required to return your 2005 Catch Record Card by April 30, 2006.
The Catch Record Card is used to record any and all catches of Salmon, Sturgeon, Steelhead, Halibut, and/or Dungeness Crab.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Take a break from the hustle and bull of the political cess pool, and join a fellow MAINSTREAM LIBERAL in celebration of the green. It doesn't have to be a long break, mind you, because I don't want you to disengage from the battle at all. Simply take a moment to recognize all that is beautiful around you, and thank either an Irishman or a mainstream liberal.
By the way, did I mention that I am a Mainstream Liberal?
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Get a clue Congress!
Depleted Uranium - US Lung Cancer Rates Soar
From Karl W B Schwarzkwbschwarz2@snet.net
3-9-6
(Excerpt)
On average there are 175,000 new cases of lung cancer each year in the United States. For just the months of January and February 2006 there are 172,000 confirmed, newly diagnosed cases of lung cancer. This is not just a little spike on the charts and much worse news is coming. That is already averaging this year about 6 times the normal incidence of new lung cancer cases in a year.
They tried to attribute it to second hand smoke, but second hand smoke and cigarettes are nothing compared to being exposed to Depleted Uranium ("DU") and particulates created by DU explosions. You can smoke for 30 years and not do the damage that DU can do to you in 30 days.
How long does it take to get lung cancer after being exposed to DU and nano-particulates? On average 2-5 years is the correct answer. We started bombing Afghanistan in October 2001 or four and a half years ago. We started bombing Iraq again in March 2003, or just shy of three years ago.
The effects of those bombing attacks were registered as far away as the UK according to the Aldermaston Report we and others released February 19, 2006. We do not know yet what was registered in the U.S. because the U.S. government is not saying and they definitely do not want you to know.
The link between DU exposure and lung cancer has been known for many years. The correlation between DU and lung cancer versus cigarettes and lung cancer is even stronger for DU.
They are making plans right now to bomb Iran, even knowing full well that they will be spreading more nuclear pollution.
From Karl W B Schwarzkwbschwarz2@snet.net
3-9-6
(Excerpt)
On average there are 175,000 new cases of lung cancer each year in the United States. For just the months of January and February 2006 there are 172,000 confirmed, newly diagnosed cases of lung cancer. This is not just a little spike on the charts and much worse news is coming. That is already averaging this year about 6 times the normal incidence of new lung cancer cases in a year.
They tried to attribute it to second hand smoke, but second hand smoke and cigarettes are nothing compared to being exposed to Depleted Uranium ("DU") and particulates created by DU explosions. You can smoke for 30 years and not do the damage that DU can do to you in 30 days.
How long does it take to get lung cancer after being exposed to DU and nano-particulates? On average 2-5 years is the correct answer. We started bombing Afghanistan in October 2001 or four and a half years ago. We started bombing Iraq again in March 2003, or just shy of three years ago.
The effects of those bombing attacks were registered as far away as the UK according to the Aldermaston Report we and others released February 19, 2006. We do not know yet what was registered in the U.S. because the U.S. government is not saying and they definitely do not want you to know.
The link between DU exposure and lung cancer has been known for many years. The correlation between DU and lung cancer versus cigarettes and lung cancer is even stronger for DU.
They are making plans right now to bomb Iran, even knowing full well that they will be spreading more nuclear pollution.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Political slime trails
(Excerpt)
Abramoff discusses his relationship with:
President Bush, who claims not to remember having his picture taken with Abramoff. According to Abramoff, at one time, the president joked with Abramoff about his weight-lifting past: "What are you benching, buff guy?"
Tom DeLay, who once referred to Abramoff as one of his closest friends. Abramoff explains his working relationship with DeLay, saying, "I didn't spend a lot of time lobbying Tom for things, because the things I worked on were usually consistent with the conservative philosophy." Abramoff has "admired Tom DeLay and his family from the first meeting with him," he tells Margolick. "We would sit and talk about the Bible. We would sit and talk about opera. We would sit and talk about golf," Abramoff recalls. "I mean, we talked about philosophy and politics."
Ken Mehlman, who recently claimed he didn't really know Abramoff. According to documents obtained by Vanity Fair, Mehlman exchanged e-mail with Abramoff, and did him political favors (such as preventing Clinton administration alumnus Allen Stayman from keeping a State Department job), had Sabbath dinner at Abramoff's house, and offered to pick up Abramoff's tab at Signatures, Abramoff's own restaurant.
Newt Gingrich, whose spokesman Rick Tyler tells Margolick that "Before [Abramoff's] picture appeared on TV and in the newspapers, Newt wouldn't have known him if he fell across him. He hadn't seen him in 10 years." A rankled Abramoff says "I have more pictures of [Newt] than I have of my wife." Abramoff shows Margolick numerous photographs: "Here's Newt. Newt. Newt. Newt. More Newt. Newt with Grover [Norquist, the Washington conservative Republican Über-strategist and longtime Abramoff friend] this time. But Newt never met me. Ollie North. Newt. Can't be Newt … he never met me. Oh, Newt! What's he doing there? Must be a Newt look-alike.… Newt again! It's sick! I thought he never met me!"
The April issue of Vanity Fair is on sale now in New York and Los Angeles, and March 14 nationally.
Abramoff discusses his relationship with:
President Bush, who claims not to remember having his picture taken with Abramoff. According to Abramoff, at one time, the president joked with Abramoff about his weight-lifting past: "What are you benching, buff guy?"
Tom DeLay, who once referred to Abramoff as one of his closest friends. Abramoff explains his working relationship with DeLay, saying, "I didn't spend a lot of time lobbying Tom for things, because the things I worked on were usually consistent with the conservative philosophy." Abramoff has "admired Tom DeLay and his family from the first meeting with him," he tells Margolick. "We would sit and talk about the Bible. We would sit and talk about opera. We would sit and talk about golf," Abramoff recalls. "I mean, we talked about philosophy and politics."
Ken Mehlman, who recently claimed he didn't really know Abramoff. According to documents obtained by Vanity Fair, Mehlman exchanged e-mail with Abramoff, and did him political favors (such as preventing Clinton administration alumnus Allen Stayman from keeping a State Department job), had Sabbath dinner at Abramoff's house, and offered to pick up Abramoff's tab at Signatures, Abramoff's own restaurant.
Newt Gingrich, whose spokesman Rick Tyler tells Margolick that "Before [Abramoff's] picture appeared on TV and in the newspapers, Newt wouldn't have known him if he fell across him. He hadn't seen him in 10 years." A rankled Abramoff says "I have more pictures of [Newt] than I have of my wife." Abramoff shows Margolick numerous photographs: "Here's Newt. Newt. Newt. Newt. More Newt. Newt with Grover [Norquist, the Washington conservative Republican Über-strategist and longtime Abramoff friend] this time. But Newt never met me. Ollie North. Newt. Can't be Newt … he never met me. Oh, Newt! What's he doing there? Must be a Newt look-alike.… Newt again! It's sick! I thought he never met me!"
The April issue of Vanity Fair is on sale now in New York and Los Angeles, and March 14 nationally.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Never...mind
I had a piece posted about termites from New Orleans being spread across the nation in mulch this spring, but it turned out to be a false rumor acording to snopes.com, so I deleted it.
I also bought a set of encyclopedias when I was newly married, so you know I can be had once in a while.
I also bought a set of encyclopedias when I was newly married, so you know I can be had once in a while.
Friday, March 03, 2006
This is a hanging offense.
U.S. signs $38 million deal for depleted uranium tank shells
John ByrnePublished: March 2, 2006
John ByrnePublished: March 2, 2006
The new $38 million order was placed with Alliant Techsystems for 120-mm ammunition. Once the new pact is completed the firm will have produced 35,000 rounds for the U.S. military.
The Pentagon uses depleted uranium in its rounds because they say it is extremely effective in penetrating heavy armor.
Depleted uranium remains radioactive for 4.5 billion years. The byproduct of manufacturing nuclear weapons or reactors, the rounds contaminate water and soil. Along some highways in Iraq where the weapon was used during in the first Gulf War, radiation levels register 1,000 times normal background radiation levels. Cancer levels in Iraq are attributed to the shells.
A destroyed Iraqi tank in Basra destroyed by the U.S. weapon registered 2,500 times normal background radiation.
Read more on depleted uranium in the Guardian here, and from the Post Intelligencer here.
In a release, the firm making the weapon said, "Its state-of-the-art composite sabot, propellant, and penetrator technologies give it outstanding accuracy and lethality." UPI first reported on the deal Feb. 20.
(My Comments)
Until every member of Congress is required to outfit themselves and each of their immediate family members with a medallion made from depleted uranium, we will have to endure the ignorant statements and comments about the lack of proof that this material is hazardous to the health of our fighting men and women.
Broke Back Ballad
How many times did this guy gain access to the Whitehouse under the guise of being a reporter?
How many times did he gain access when there was no scheduled press briefing, and why in the world would someone want to see him outside his alleged job description?
Just who the heck is the top guy around here anyway?
http://www.secretcowboys.com/
Sunday, February 26, 2006
To the House Minority Leader
This was part of a previous post that gave way too quickly to other issues, so I am re-posting it in the hope that it will receive a wider audience.
Dear Representative Pelosi,
In response to your request for contributions to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, I would like to make a point that has seemed to elude most of our Representatives in both the House and the Senate.
As long as there is corporate influence in the voting process, there is no amount of money, no degree of mobilization, no magic candidate or candidates, and no effective rhetoric that will change the political climate in our Nation’s Capitol.
We have been witness to the theft of two Presidential Elections and at least one major mid-term election that left behind enough evidence of election fraud to put a train load of elected officials and a fair number of voting machine company employees in the hoosegow for a lengthy stay, yet Representative John Conyers seems to be one of the few actually attempting to bring this issue to light. No other Congressional Democrats are speaking out in concert with The Honorable Mr. Conyers (at least not enough to be adequately noted).
Until such time that an aggressive, unified, and sustained attack by Congressional Democrats regarding the issue of election fraud through the use of voting machines controlled by Republican Corporate Cronies becomes the daily norm, I will respectfully decline to send my extremely valuable funds in the direction of Washington, D.C.
If a candidate surfaces who is willing to speak out against corporate influence in the election process, and is decisively against the war in Iraq, I will exercise my desire to contribute to that candidate’s campaign in the hope that a Democrat expressing my Liberal and Progressive views in no uncertain terms will someday hold a House or Senate seat.
Respectfully,
Dear Representative Pelosi,
In response to your request for contributions to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, I would like to make a point that has seemed to elude most of our Representatives in both the House and the Senate.
As long as there is corporate influence in the voting process, there is no amount of money, no degree of mobilization, no magic candidate or candidates, and no effective rhetoric that will change the political climate in our Nation’s Capitol.
We have been witness to the theft of two Presidential Elections and at least one major mid-term election that left behind enough evidence of election fraud to put a train load of elected officials and a fair number of voting machine company employees in the hoosegow for a lengthy stay, yet Representative John Conyers seems to be one of the few actually attempting to bring this issue to light. No other Congressional Democrats are speaking out in concert with The Honorable Mr. Conyers (at least not enough to be adequately noted).
Until such time that an aggressive, unified, and sustained attack by Congressional Democrats regarding the issue of election fraud through the use of voting machines controlled by Republican Corporate Cronies becomes the daily norm, I will respectfully decline to send my extremely valuable funds in the direction of Washington, D.C.
If a candidate surfaces who is willing to speak out against corporate influence in the election process, and is decisively against the war in Iraq, I will exercise my desire to contribute to that candidate’s campaign in the hope that a Democrat expressing my Liberal and Progressive views in no uncertain terms will someday hold a House or Senate seat.
Respectfully,
The stink intensifies
2-23-06: Someone accessed 40 Palm Beach County voting machines Nov 2004 The internal logs of at least 40 Sequoia touch-screen voting machines reveal that votes were time and date-stamped as cast two weeks before the election, sometimes in the middle of the night.
Black Box Voting successfully sued former Palm Beach County (FL) Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore to get the audit records for the 2004 presidential election.
After investing over $7,000 and waiting nine months for the records, Black Box Voting discovered that the voting machine logs contained approximately 100,000 errors. According to voting machine assignment logs, Palm Beach County used 4,313 machines in the Nov. 2004 election. During election day, 1,475 voting system calibrations were performed while the polls were open, providing documentation to substantiate reports from citizens ind... More
Friday, February 24, 2006
The True Spoils of WAR
I lifted this post from Mr. Natural at Left Edge North:
Last week, Specialist Doug Barber, a 35-year-old National Guardsman from Alabama, changed the message on his voice mail. "If you're looking for Doug, I'm checking out of this world,” he said. “I'll see you on the other side." He then called the police to his house, went out on to his porch with a shotgun, and with the police trying to persuade him to put down the gun, blew his brains out. Barber had given vent to his feelings a few days earlier in this article.
thanks to Mick Smith Weblog
I am posting Specialist Doug Barber's article below because it deserves to be here in it's entirety as a reminder that the Sean Hannitys, Bill O' Reillys, and Rush Limbaughs of this world are not as worthy as dog shit smashed with a stick.
PTSD: Every Soldier’s Personal WAR!
Author: Spc. Doug Barber, Coalition For Free Thought In Media
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 01/21/06 15:59
In the last month I have been working with Jay Shaft, the editor of Coalition For Free Thought in media, regarding my experiences in Iraq and since coming home from the war. We have only touched on some of the struggles of being a soldier, however we have not dug deeply into the personal war that Operation Iraqi Freedom has caused for returning soldiers. Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush do not want to reveal to the American people that this war is a personal war. They want to run the war like a business, and thus they refuse to show the personal sacrifices the soldiers and their families have made for this country.
My thought today is to help you the reader understand what happens to a soldier when they come home and the sacrifice we continue to make. This may be lengthy, it may be short; but no matter how long it is, just close your eyes and imagine a flag draped coffin.
Inside that coffin is the body of a man or woman who will never get to live their life to the fullest, yet they bore the total cost so that we could live free. Their soul is somewhere else and all we have is their memory which over time will be forgotten by other events of greater importance. The families of these soldiers have a hole in their hearts that will never be replaced, even though they have pictures and happy memories.
Some families will refuse to believe they are gone, but still their sons and daughters are the hero’s of a country that sent them to war. This war on terror has become a personal war for so many, yet the Bush Administration does not want journalists or families to photograph the only thing that is left of our soldiers who have died. They do not want the people to remember that image of a flag draped coffin as the last memory this country will ever have of our fallen men and women.
They say that America will raise their voices and demand a stop to the war, but my question is why should we not show the results of war? For us as a country, we send these soldiers to war and we see their faces while they are alive. I say let their memories live on in every photo, even when they do come home in a flag draped coffin. Let their sacrifice be forever etched in the memory of America. We owe their families this at the very least.
All is not okay or right for those of us who return home alive and supposedly well. What looks like normalcy and readjustment is only an illusion to be revealed by time and torment. Some soldiers come home missing limbs and other parts of their bodies. Still others will live with permanent scars from horrific events that no one other than those who served will ever understand.
We come home from war trying to put our lives back together but some cannot stand the memories and decide that death is better. They kill themselves because they are so haunted by seeing children killed and whole families wiped out.
They ask themselves how you put a price tag on someone else’s life? The question goes unanswered as they become another casualty of the war. Hero’s become another statistic to America and they are another little article relegated to the back of a newspaper.
Still others come home to nothing, families have abandoned them: husbands and wives have left these soldiers, and so have parents as well. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has become the norm amongst these soldiers because they don’t know how to cope with returning to a society that will never understand what they have had to endure to liberate another country.
PTSD comes in many forms not understood by many: but yet if a soldier has it, America thinks the soldiers are crazy. PTSD comes in the form of depression, anger, regret, being confrontational, anxiety, chronic pain, compulsion, delusions, grief, guilt, dependence, loneliness, sleep disorders, suspiciousness/paranoia, low self-esteem and so many other things.
We are easily startled with a loud bang or noise and can be found ducking for cover when we get panicked. This is a result of artillery rounds going off in a combat zone, or an IED blowing up.
I myself have trouble coping with an everyday routine that deals with other people that often causes me to have a short fuse. A lot of soldiers lose multiple jobs just because they are trained to be killers and they have lived in an environment that is conducive to that. We are always on guard for our safety and that of our comrades. When you go to bed at night you wonder will you be sent home in a flag draped coffin because a mortar round went off on your sleeping area.
Soldiers live in deplorable conditions where burning your own feces is the order of the day. Where going days on end with no shower and the uniform you wear gets so crusty it sometimes sticks to your body becomes a common occurrence. We also deal with rationing water or even food for that matter. So when a soldier comes home to what they left they are unsure of what to do being in a civilized world again.
This is what PTSD comes in the shape of—soldiers cannot often handle coming back to the same world they left behind. It is something that drives soldiers over the edge and causes them to withdraw from society. As Americans we turn our nose down at them wondering why they act the way they do. Who cares about them, why should we help them?
Talk show hosts like Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and so many others act like they know all about war; then they refuse to give any credence to soldiers like me who have been to war and seen the brutality of war. These guys are nothing but WEAK SPINELESS COWARDS hiding behind microphones while soldiers come home and are losing everything they have.
There needs to be a National awareness for every Veteran who has ever served in any war. Send e-mails to the Big Mouths on TV and ask them to have soldiers like me on their programs. I am asking you as Americans to BOYCOTT every TV show or host/journalist that refuses to tell the real truth.
THIS IS A PERSONAL CHALLENGE TO BILL, SEAN AND RUSH TO HAVE ME ON YOUR PROGRAM TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT. Otherwise you are nothing but dirt under every soldier’s boots!
Last week, Specialist Doug Barber, a 35-year-old National Guardsman from Alabama, changed the message on his voice mail. "If you're looking for Doug, I'm checking out of this world,” he said. “I'll see you on the other side." He then called the police to his house, went out on to his porch with a shotgun, and with the police trying to persuade him to put down the gun, blew his brains out. Barber had given vent to his feelings a few days earlier in this article.
thanks to Mick Smith Weblog
I am posting Specialist Doug Barber's article below because it deserves to be here in it's entirety as a reminder that the Sean Hannitys, Bill O' Reillys, and Rush Limbaughs of this world are not as worthy as dog shit smashed with a stick.
PTSD: Every Soldier’s Personal WAR!
Author: Spc. Doug Barber, Coalition For Free Thought In Media
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 01/21/06 15:59
In the last month I have been working with Jay Shaft, the editor of Coalition For Free Thought in media, regarding my experiences in Iraq and since coming home from the war. We have only touched on some of the struggles of being a soldier, however we have not dug deeply into the personal war that Operation Iraqi Freedom has caused for returning soldiers. Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush do not want to reveal to the American people that this war is a personal war. They want to run the war like a business, and thus they refuse to show the personal sacrifices the soldiers and their families have made for this country.
My thought today is to help you the reader understand what happens to a soldier when they come home and the sacrifice we continue to make. This may be lengthy, it may be short; but no matter how long it is, just close your eyes and imagine a flag draped coffin.
Inside that coffin is the body of a man or woman who will never get to live their life to the fullest, yet they bore the total cost so that we could live free. Their soul is somewhere else and all we have is their memory which over time will be forgotten by other events of greater importance. The families of these soldiers have a hole in their hearts that will never be replaced, even though they have pictures and happy memories.
Some families will refuse to believe they are gone, but still their sons and daughters are the hero’s of a country that sent them to war. This war on terror has become a personal war for so many, yet the Bush Administration does not want journalists or families to photograph the only thing that is left of our soldiers who have died. They do not want the people to remember that image of a flag draped coffin as the last memory this country will ever have of our fallen men and women.
They say that America will raise their voices and demand a stop to the war, but my question is why should we not show the results of war? For us as a country, we send these soldiers to war and we see their faces while they are alive. I say let their memories live on in every photo, even when they do come home in a flag draped coffin. Let their sacrifice be forever etched in the memory of America. We owe their families this at the very least.
All is not okay or right for those of us who return home alive and supposedly well. What looks like normalcy and readjustment is only an illusion to be revealed by time and torment. Some soldiers come home missing limbs and other parts of their bodies. Still others will live with permanent scars from horrific events that no one other than those who served will ever understand.
We come home from war trying to put our lives back together but some cannot stand the memories and decide that death is better. They kill themselves because they are so haunted by seeing children killed and whole families wiped out.
They ask themselves how you put a price tag on someone else’s life? The question goes unanswered as they become another casualty of the war. Hero’s become another statistic to America and they are another little article relegated to the back of a newspaper.
Still others come home to nothing, families have abandoned them: husbands and wives have left these soldiers, and so have parents as well. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has become the norm amongst these soldiers because they don’t know how to cope with returning to a society that will never understand what they have had to endure to liberate another country.
PTSD comes in many forms not understood by many: but yet if a soldier has it, America thinks the soldiers are crazy. PTSD comes in the form of depression, anger, regret, being confrontational, anxiety, chronic pain, compulsion, delusions, grief, guilt, dependence, loneliness, sleep disorders, suspiciousness/paranoia, low self-esteem and so many other things.
We are easily startled with a loud bang or noise and can be found ducking for cover when we get panicked. This is a result of artillery rounds going off in a combat zone, or an IED blowing up.
I myself have trouble coping with an everyday routine that deals with other people that often causes me to have a short fuse. A lot of soldiers lose multiple jobs just because they are trained to be killers and they have lived in an environment that is conducive to that. We are always on guard for our safety and that of our comrades. When you go to bed at night you wonder will you be sent home in a flag draped coffin because a mortar round went off on your sleeping area.
Soldiers live in deplorable conditions where burning your own feces is the order of the day. Where going days on end with no shower and the uniform you wear gets so crusty it sometimes sticks to your body becomes a common occurrence. We also deal with rationing water or even food for that matter. So when a soldier comes home to what they left they are unsure of what to do being in a civilized world again.
This is what PTSD comes in the shape of—soldiers cannot often handle coming back to the same world they left behind. It is something that drives soldiers over the edge and causes them to withdraw from society. As Americans we turn our nose down at them wondering why they act the way they do. Who cares about them, why should we help them?
Talk show hosts like Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and so many others act like they know all about war; then they refuse to give any credence to soldiers like me who have been to war and seen the brutality of war. These guys are nothing but WEAK SPINELESS COWARDS hiding behind microphones while soldiers come home and are losing everything they have.
There needs to be a National awareness for every Veteran who has ever served in any war. Send e-mails to the Big Mouths on TV and ask them to have soldiers like me on their programs. I am asking you as Americans to BOYCOTT every TV show or host/journalist that refuses to tell the real truth.
THIS IS A PERSONAL CHALLENGE TO BILL, SEAN AND RUSH TO HAVE ME ON YOUR PROGRAM TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT. Otherwise you are nothing but dirt under every soldier’s boots!
Dear Friend
I received a wonderful message from Nancy Pelosi on behalf of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and an excerpt follows:
Our aggressive, 2006 Grassroots Campaign Plan is built upon three powerful strategies.
1. Keep Republicans On The Defensive.
It would take too many pages to list all the examples of the corrupt, incompetent and, in some instances, criminal behavior of Republican powerbrokers. Their pay-to-play philosophy of government has led to disastrous results for America's middle class, our armed forces, our health care system, and the environment.
Democrats will continue to pound away at the Republican culture of corruption that has gripped Washington, D.C. and ensure that voters know how the Republican Party has betrayed their sacred trust with the American people and looted our treasury, burying America under a mountain of debt.
2. Recruiting top tier challengers and protecting incumbents.
We have had unprecedented success in recruiting top tier challengers to take on Republican incumbents and seize Republican open seats. Most of our challengers are new to national campaigns and are depending on our financial, technical and organizational support to win. We are also standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our incumbents who are about to face an all out assault by Karl Rove and company. Our Frontline program is designed to give our incumbents the "early money" they need to organize field staffs, identify voters and get out their message.
3. Mobilizing Voters.
Victory this November will depend on how well we inform voters about what Democratic candidates stand for and how effective we are at getting our voters to the polls. This means developing on the ground, field operations in districts throughout the country and employing every tool we have at our disposal to ensure voters know about the courageous men and women running as Democrats this November.
The success of this plan will depend upon your willingness to get involved and support this unprecedented effort. For example, your gift of ...
$25 will pay for 1 tank of gas to help get voters to the polls on Election Day
$50 will cover the cost of 50 door-to-door contacts with voters
$100 will pay for over 1,000 Get-Out-the-Vote calls
$250 will help us register at least 250 new voters
$350 will pay for the distribution of 2,500 door hangers, educating voters in targeted congressional districts
$500 will cover of the cost to put one television ad up in a rural district in America.
The political climate is right for a big win this November. We have recruited some of the most talented and committed candidates to run for Congress in a generation. We have a winning message and policy agenda that Americans in every Congressional district are hungry for.
But I need you to stand with me and join in this fight for America's future.
Please let me hear from you today.
Sincerely,
Nancy Pelosi
House Democratic Leader
PS: Our 2006 Grassroots Campaign Plan is the roadmap for victory this November. All we need is you. Please make a generous contribution today. Click here to read and contribute to the 2006 Grassroots Campaign Plan
This is my response:
Dear Representative Pelosi,
In response to your request for contributions to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, I would like to make a point that has seemed to elude most of our Representatives in both the House and the Senate.
As long as there is corporate influence in the voting process, there is no amount of money, no degree of mobilization, no magic candidate or candidates, and no effective rhetoric that will change the political climate in our Nation’s Capitol.
We have been witness to the theft of two Presidential Elections and at least one major mid-term election that left behind enough evidence of election fraud to put a train load of elected officials and a fair number of voting machine company employees in the hoosegow for a lengthy stay, yet Representative John Conyers seems to be one of the few actually attempting to bring this issue to light. No other Congressional Democrats are speaking out in concert with The Honorable Mr. Conyers (at least not enough to be adequately noted).
Until such time that an aggressive, unified, and sustained attack by Congressional Democrats regarding the issue of election fraud through the use of voting machines controlled by Republican Corporate Cronies becomes the daily norm, I will respectfully decline to send my extremely valuable funds in the direction of Washington, D.C.
If a candidate surfaces who is willing to speak out against corporate influence in the election process, and is decisively against the war in Iraq, I will exercise my desire to contribute to that candidate’s campaign in the hope that a Democrat expressing my Liberal and Progressive views in no uncertain terms will someday hold a House or Senate seat.
Respectfully,
Our aggressive, 2006 Grassroots Campaign Plan is built upon three powerful strategies.
1. Keep Republicans On The Defensive.
It would take too many pages to list all the examples of the corrupt, incompetent and, in some instances, criminal behavior of Republican powerbrokers. Their pay-to-play philosophy of government has led to disastrous results for America's middle class, our armed forces, our health care system, and the environment.
Democrats will continue to pound away at the Republican culture of corruption that has gripped Washington, D.C. and ensure that voters know how the Republican Party has betrayed their sacred trust with the American people and looted our treasury, burying America under a mountain of debt.
2. Recruiting top tier challengers and protecting incumbents.
We have had unprecedented success in recruiting top tier challengers to take on Republican incumbents and seize Republican open seats. Most of our challengers are new to national campaigns and are depending on our financial, technical and organizational support to win. We are also standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our incumbents who are about to face an all out assault by Karl Rove and company. Our Frontline program is designed to give our incumbents the "early money" they need to organize field staffs, identify voters and get out their message.
3. Mobilizing Voters.
Victory this November will depend on how well we inform voters about what Democratic candidates stand for and how effective we are at getting our voters to the polls. This means developing on the ground, field operations in districts throughout the country and employing every tool we have at our disposal to ensure voters know about the courageous men and women running as Democrats this November.
The success of this plan will depend upon your willingness to get involved and support this unprecedented effort. For example, your gift of ...
$25 will pay for 1 tank of gas to help get voters to the polls on Election Day
$50 will cover the cost of 50 door-to-door contacts with voters
$100 will pay for over 1,000 Get-Out-the-Vote calls
$250 will help us register at least 250 new voters
$350 will pay for the distribution of 2,500 door hangers, educating voters in targeted congressional districts
$500 will cover of the cost to put one television ad up in a rural district in America.
The political climate is right for a big win this November. We have recruited some of the most talented and committed candidates to run for Congress in a generation. We have a winning message and policy agenda that Americans in every Congressional district are hungry for.
But I need you to stand with me and join in this fight for America's future.
Please let me hear from you today.
Sincerely,
Nancy Pelosi
House Democratic Leader
PS: Our 2006 Grassroots Campaign Plan is the roadmap for victory this November. All we need is you. Please make a generous contribution today. Click here to read and contribute to the 2006 Grassroots Campaign Plan
This is my response:
Dear Representative Pelosi,
In response to your request for contributions to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, I would like to make a point that has seemed to elude most of our Representatives in both the House and the Senate.
As long as there is corporate influence in the voting process, there is no amount of money, no degree of mobilization, no magic candidate or candidates, and no effective rhetoric that will change the political climate in our Nation’s Capitol.
We have been witness to the theft of two Presidential Elections and at least one major mid-term election that left behind enough evidence of election fraud to put a train load of elected officials and a fair number of voting machine company employees in the hoosegow for a lengthy stay, yet Representative John Conyers seems to be one of the few actually attempting to bring this issue to light. No other Congressional Democrats are speaking out in concert with The Honorable Mr. Conyers (at least not enough to be adequately noted).
Until such time that an aggressive, unified, and sustained attack by Congressional Democrats regarding the issue of election fraud through the use of voting machines controlled by Republican Corporate Cronies becomes the daily norm, I will respectfully decline to send my extremely valuable funds in the direction of Washington, D.C.
If a candidate surfaces who is willing to speak out against corporate influence in the election process, and is decisively against the war in Iraq, I will exercise my desire to contribute to that candidate’s campaign in the hope that a Democrat expressing my Liberal and Progressive views in no uncertain terms will someday hold a House or Senate seat.
Respectfully,
Sunday, February 19, 2006
If you're angry and you know it, clap your hands..
2-17-06: BREAKING: Calif. Sec. State certifies entire Diebold product line
This is a very important news post, with national implications because -- with YOUR help -- today's miscarriage of democracy will give you the first good shot at subpoena-induced sworn testimony from voting machine makers and testing labs. Vendors and voting machine examiners: Enjoy the reprieve that McPherson just handed you, because the American citizenry -- with the help of some California senators -- is about to make sure it stops right now.
Citizens: Instructions are provided in this article.
Red flag: Meet bull
THE RED FLAG: Today California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson certified Diebold's entire product line, including the TSx touchscreen machine with its "toilet paper roll" paper trail -- you know, the design that removes the privacy of your vote. He also approved th... More
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Intelligence on loan from a rendering house
An excerpt from this post by One Pissed Off Veteran:
It just never quits. I heard on the Stephanie Miller show this morning that Rush Oxy-from-Miami Limbaugh whined on his nationally-syndicated-with-a-steadily-shrinking-audience radio show the other day that the New York Times (that grey bastion of the "Liberal Media") in its coverage the whole Paul Hackett debacle ignored the fact that Sherrod Brown was Black.
You just have to go read this guy.
The truth sometimes stinks
Above is a depiction of the Bush administration working very hard to avoid any discussion about The Downing Street Memos, new pictures that have come to light from the torture scandal, where the money was actually spent in Iraq, what VP Cheney specifically authorized Scooter to divulge to the press, whether or not wiretapping was employed against political opponents, and a multitude of other potentially embarassing topics.
Notice, however, that they are about to bump into another Grand Jury Report.
If that explanation doesn't work for you, just think of it as Cheney headed for the underground bunker again.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Frist turns back on autistic children, champions big-pharma
February Monday 13th 2006 (16h21) :
The top two Republicans in Congress caught in an outright lie
A Republican staffer has named Frist and Hastert as the two lawmakers that added the vaccine makers liability protection to the defense bill- after the committee had met several times that day, and Dems even asked Alaska Senator Ted Stevens if the language was in the bill, and he told them no.
After the conference committee broke up, a meeting was called in Hastert’s office, [Rep staffer Keith] Kennedy said. Also at the meeting, according to a congressional staffer, were Frist, Stevens and House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
About 10 or 10:30 p.m., Democratic staff members were handed the language and told it was now in the bill, Obey said.
He took to the House floor in a rage. He called Frist and Hastert “a couple of musclemen in Congress who think they have a right to tell everybody else that they have to do their bidding.”
Frist and Stevens deny this charge saying the language was in the bill when the conferees voted on it- but if that’s so, why did Stevens tell Obey no? It appears there are several witnesses to the Leaders meeting... this is the top two Republicans in Congress caught in an outright lie, blatantly adding in crap that wouldn’t pass on it’s own.
Frist has received $271,523 in campaign donations from the pharmaceutical and health products industry since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group.
Remember how Frist slipped this exact same lawsuit protection into the Patriot Act. At that time it was a big scandal, he didn’t even change the font- but literally copied and pasted this tiny item at the end of 450 pages of legal mumbo-jumbo. Now they have the gall to do it again... because they know the Democrats won’t do anything about it. A few will make noise, but that’s about it...
Why are the pharmaceuticals so concerned about this lawsuit protection anyway?
When the hell will people wake up to this dog and pony show of Reps and Dems screwing us all over?
http://benfrank.net/blog/
By : benfrankblogFebruary Monday 13th 2006
The top two Republicans in Congress caught in an outright lie
A Republican staffer has named Frist and Hastert as the two lawmakers that added the vaccine makers liability protection to the defense bill- after the committee had met several times that day, and Dems even asked Alaska Senator Ted Stevens if the language was in the bill, and he told them no.
After the conference committee broke up, a meeting was called in Hastert’s office, [Rep staffer Keith] Kennedy said. Also at the meeting, according to a congressional staffer, were Frist, Stevens and House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
About 10 or 10:30 p.m., Democratic staff members were handed the language and told it was now in the bill, Obey said.
He took to the House floor in a rage. He called Frist and Hastert “a couple of musclemen in Congress who think they have a right to tell everybody else that they have to do their bidding.”
Frist and Stevens deny this charge saying the language was in the bill when the conferees voted on it- but if that’s so, why did Stevens tell Obey no? It appears there are several witnesses to the Leaders meeting... this is the top two Republicans in Congress caught in an outright lie, blatantly adding in crap that wouldn’t pass on it’s own.
Frist has received $271,523 in campaign donations from the pharmaceutical and health products industry since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group.
Remember how Frist slipped this exact same lawsuit protection into the Patriot Act. At that time it was a big scandal, he didn’t even change the font- but literally copied and pasted this tiny item at the end of 450 pages of legal mumbo-jumbo. Now they have the gall to do it again... because they know the Democrats won’t do anything about it. A few will make noise, but that’s about it...
Why are the pharmaceuticals so concerned about this lawsuit protection anyway?
When the hell will people wake up to this dog and pony show of Reps and Dems screwing us all over?
http://benfrank.net/blog/
By : benfrankblogFebruary Monday 13th 2006
HEY, W…your pants are on fire!
Abramoff Said to Claim Close Ties to Rove
By JOHN SOLOMON and PETE YOST, Associated Press Writers Tue Feb 14, 2:45 AM ET
WASHINGTON - Three former associates of Jack Abramoff say the now-convicted lobbyist frequently told them he had strong ties to the White House through presidential confidant Karl Rove.
The White House said Monday night that Rove remembers meeting Abramoff at a 1990s political meeting and considered the lobbyist a "casual acquaintance" since President Bush took office in 2001.
New questions have arisen about Abramoff's ties to the White House since a photo emerged over the weekend showing Abramoff with Bush. The White House would not release the photo or any others that Bush had taken with Abramoff. Also surfacing were the contents of an e-mail from Abramoff to Washingtonian magazine claiming he had met briefly with the president nearly a dozen times and that Bush knew him well enough to make joking references to Abramoff's family.
Three former business associates of Abramoff, who worked with the lobbyist in various roles between 2001 and 2004, told The Associated Press that Abramoff routinely mentioned Rove when talking about his influence inside the White House.
One said he was present when Abramoff took a call from Rove's office to confirm a White House meeting had been approved between Malaysia's prime minister and Bush in May 2002. Abramoff was being paid by Malaysia for helping it in Washington, according to evidence the Senate has made public.
All three associates would describe the Abramoff comments only on condition of anonymity, citing the ongoing investigation of Abramoff's work and fears that speaking out could affect their current businesses. At least one said he had been interviewed by the FBI.
Abramoff was a $100,000 fundraiser for Bush and lobbying records obtained by the AP show his lobbying team logged nearly 200 meetings with the administration during its first 10 months in office on behalf of one of his clients, the Northern Mariana Islands.
The contacts between Abramoff's team and the administration included meetings with Attorney General John Ashcroft and policy advisers to Vice President Dick Cheney, the AP reported last year.
Abramoff's former assistant, Susan Ralston, went to work for Rove in 2001. Abramoff's legal team declined comment Monday night.
According to one of the three former associates, frequently Abramoff's cell phone would ring and the lobbyist would tell the associate that the White House was calling. To prove that he wasn't making up what he was telling the associate, Abramoff occasionally would hold up the phone so that the associate could see the incoming call was indeed a White House phone number.
Abramoff has pleaded guilty in a fraud and bribery conspiracy case and is cooperating with the investigation into those in Congress and the administration he used to lobby.
Asked about the three former Abramoff associates' account, the White House said Rove shared a common past with Abramoff as leaders of a young Republicans group decades ago.
"Mr. Rove remembers they had met at a political event in the 1990s," White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said. "Since then, he would describe him as a casual acquaintance."
Healy said Rove has "no recollection" of talking to Abramoff about the Malaysian prime minister's meeting in May 2002. She said Bush first met the prime minister at a foreign summit in October 2001 and that the 2002 meeting in the Oval Office was "another opportunity to get together to discuss the war on terror."
By JOHN SOLOMON and PETE YOST, Associated Press Writers Tue Feb 14, 2:45 AM ET
WASHINGTON - Three former associates of Jack Abramoff say the now-convicted lobbyist frequently told them he had strong ties to the White House through presidential confidant Karl Rove.
The White House said Monday night that Rove remembers meeting Abramoff at a 1990s political meeting and considered the lobbyist a "casual acquaintance" since President Bush took office in 2001.
New questions have arisen about Abramoff's ties to the White House since a photo emerged over the weekend showing Abramoff with Bush. The White House would not release the photo or any others that Bush had taken with Abramoff. Also surfacing were the contents of an e-mail from Abramoff to Washingtonian magazine claiming he had met briefly with the president nearly a dozen times and that Bush knew him well enough to make joking references to Abramoff's family.
Three former business associates of Abramoff, who worked with the lobbyist in various roles between 2001 and 2004, told The Associated Press that Abramoff routinely mentioned Rove when talking about his influence inside the White House.
One said he was present when Abramoff took a call from Rove's office to confirm a White House meeting had been approved between Malaysia's prime minister and Bush in May 2002. Abramoff was being paid by Malaysia for helping it in Washington, according to evidence the Senate has made public.
All three associates would describe the Abramoff comments only on condition of anonymity, citing the ongoing investigation of Abramoff's work and fears that speaking out could affect their current businesses. At least one said he had been interviewed by the FBI.
Abramoff was a $100,000 fundraiser for Bush and lobbying records obtained by the AP show his lobbying team logged nearly 200 meetings with the administration during its first 10 months in office on behalf of one of his clients, the Northern Mariana Islands.
The contacts between Abramoff's team and the administration included meetings with Attorney General John Ashcroft and policy advisers to Vice President Dick Cheney, the AP reported last year.
Abramoff's former assistant, Susan Ralston, went to work for Rove in 2001. Abramoff's legal team declined comment Monday night.
According to one of the three former associates, frequently Abramoff's cell phone would ring and the lobbyist would tell the associate that the White House was calling. To prove that he wasn't making up what he was telling the associate, Abramoff occasionally would hold up the phone so that the associate could see the incoming call was indeed a White House phone number.
Abramoff has pleaded guilty in a fraud and bribery conspiracy case and is cooperating with the investigation into those in Congress and the administration he used to lobby.
Asked about the three former Abramoff associates' account, the White House said Rove shared a common past with Abramoff as leaders of a young Republicans group decades ago.
"Mr. Rove remembers they had met at a political event in the 1990s," White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said. "Since then, he would describe him as a casual acquaintance."
Healy said Rove has "no recollection" of talking to Abramoff about the Malaysian prime minister's meeting in May 2002. She said Bush first met the prime minister at a foreign summit in October 2001 and that the 2002 meeting in the Oval Office was "another opportunity to get together to discuss the war on terror."
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Be concerned...get active
Key States Miss Reform Deadline
Two years after the 2000 presidential election was determined by a mere 537 votes (and the Supreme Court), Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to solve many of the problems that arose that year. HAVA aimed to make state electoral practices more consistent by developing statewide voter databases and addressing each component of the voting process: registration, identification, ballots and machines. The deadline for these changes was supposed to be January 1, 2006, so as to allow enough time for these upgrades to be fully integrated by the midterms this year.
But according to a new report from electionline.org, approximately half of the states, including California, Florida, New York and Ohio have failed to meet that deadline. Doug Chapin, the president of electionline.org, acknowledges the concerted efforts made by many states, but is concerned about widespread distrust towards the system if these faulty electoral systems are not rectified. "The possibility for error, and the willingness of people to challenge those errors, are both growing every day. And that could have tremendous impact on elections in 2006 and beyond,” he said.
Among the report's findings:
· In Ohio, the state legislature is still fighting over voter identification requirements
· In California, concerns about voting machines have left some counties with warehouses full of new e-voting machines deemed unsuitable for elections.
· In New York, continued inaction has left localities scrambling to replace lever machines on a short timetable. And the required statewide database has yet to be implemented – with no contract to a vendor even awarded yet.
· Colorado cancelled its $10 million dollar contact in December 2005, leaving the state unable to meet the federal deadline.
If the November 2006 Congressional elections come down to the wire, we could be putting our faith in what Chapin refers to as "19th century election machines." And that could very well be how majorities in the House and Senate are won.
Posted by Juliana Bunim on 02/09/06 at 06:27 PM
Two years after the 2000 presidential election was determined by a mere 537 votes (and the Supreme Court), Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to solve many of the problems that arose that year. HAVA aimed to make state electoral practices more consistent by developing statewide voter databases and addressing each component of the voting process: registration, identification, ballots and machines. The deadline for these changes was supposed to be January 1, 2006, so as to allow enough time for these upgrades to be fully integrated by the midterms this year.
But according to a new report from electionline.org, approximately half of the states, including California, Florida, New York and Ohio have failed to meet that deadline. Doug Chapin, the president of electionline.org, acknowledges the concerted efforts made by many states, but is concerned about widespread distrust towards the system if these faulty electoral systems are not rectified. "The possibility for error, and the willingness of people to challenge those errors, are both growing every day. And that could have tremendous impact on elections in 2006 and beyond,” he said.
Among the report's findings:
· In Ohio, the state legislature is still fighting over voter identification requirements
· In California, concerns about voting machines have left some counties with warehouses full of new e-voting machines deemed unsuitable for elections.
· In New York, continued inaction has left localities scrambling to replace lever machines on a short timetable. And the required statewide database has yet to be implemented – with no contract to a vendor even awarded yet.
· Colorado cancelled its $10 million dollar contact in December 2005, leaving the state unable to meet the federal deadline.
If the November 2006 Congressional elections come down to the wire, we could be putting our faith in what Chapin refers to as "19th century election machines." And that could very well be how majorities in the House and Senate are won.
Posted by Juliana Bunim on 02/09/06 at 06:27 PM
Saturday, February 11, 2006
The people deserve some damn answers...
2-11-06: Voting machine examiners chickening out on Senate investigation
Key witnesses have notified the California Senate Elections Committee that they will refuse to show up at the hearing on how certification is being done. They don't want to be questioned.
Shawn Southworth (Ciber) has notified the investigating committee that he will decline to appear. Jim Dearman (Wyle Labs) has notified the committee that he will decline to appear.
No word yet from California voting machine examiner Steve Freeman or California technical advisor David Jefferson, who have accepted at least $150,000 and $50,000, respectively, in Calif. taxpayer money for their roles in testing and certification and recommendation.
The hearing, scheduled for Feb. 16, was called by Calif. Senate Elections Committee chairperson Debra Bowen. Thus far, no subpoenas have been issued. The ... More
Key witnesses have notified the California Senate Elections Committee that they will refuse to show up at the hearing on how certification is being done. They don't want to be questioned.
Shawn Southworth (Ciber) has notified the investigating committee that he will decline to appear. Jim Dearman (Wyle Labs) has notified the committee that he will decline to appear.
No word yet from California voting machine examiner Steve Freeman or California technical advisor David Jefferson, who have accepted at least $150,000 and $50,000, respectively, in Calif. taxpayer money for their roles in testing and certification and recommendation.
The hearing, scheduled for Feb. 16, was called by Calif. Senate Elections Committee chairperson Debra Bowen. Thus far, no subpoenas have been issued. The ... More
Add this to Depleted Uranium
VET'S ILLS MOUNTING FAST
Published on Tuesday, February 7, 2006 by the New York Daily News
By Juan Gonzalez
NEARLY 120,000 veterans - more than one of every four who served in Iraq and Afghanistan - have already sought treatment at Veterans Health Administration hospitals for a wide range of illnesses, according to an internal study the VHA completed late last year.
More than 30% of those sick veterans are afflicted with some type of mental disorder, mostly posttraumatic stress and depression.
An additional 35,000 - more than 29% of the total - were diagnosed with "ill-defined conditions," according to the study, which was prepared in October by VHA epidemiologist Dr. Han Kang but has yet to be publicly released.
"Those numbers are way higher than during the Persian Gulf War for 'ill-defined' symptoms," said one Department of Veterans Affairs official who asked not to be identified.
Nearly two years ago, I reported about a group of nine New York National Guardsmen from the 442nd Military Police Co. who returned from Iraq with medical problems the Army listed as "ill-defined." Nearly half of those soldiers - four out of nine - later showed signs, in independent tests arranged by the Daily News, of exposure to depleted uranium dust from exploded U.S. shells.
Mental disorders, however, rank as the biggest problem among ailing veterans.
Two previous military studies of combat troops in Iraq found that 17% to 25% of U.S. soldiers suffer from major depression or combat stress.
All the studies show a far higher rate of mental problems among our troops than during the Persian Gulf War, and levels comparable to what was found among U.S. troops during the Vietnam War.
Kang's report, because it includes only soldiers who voluntarily checked themselves in for treatment, could be understating the level of mental disorders, say veterans advocates who have seen summaries of his findings.
"With numbers this high, the problem is going to grow fast," said Paul Rieckhoff, a former lieutenant with the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq and founder and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
"We're seeing systemwide there are major problems," Rieckhoff said. "Most local VAs just aren't prepared for the influx of sick veterans."
Rieckhoff's view is buttressed by a U.S. General Accounting Office study released last February.
The Department of Veterans Affairs "does not have sufficient capacity to meet the needs of new combat veterans while still providing for veterans of past wars," the GAO concluded.
Department of Veterans Affairs spokesman Jim Benson cautioned yesterday that it is difficult to compare the number of veterans from the current conflicts seeking help with those from previous wars.
Before 1998, Benson said, VA hospitals provided free health care only to veterans who had first been certified as suffering from some form of service-connected illness.
But in 1998, Congress mandated that all veterans be eligible for free health care for the first two years after being demobilized. After that, the free care can continue only if the veteran can prove a service-connected illness.
Well, at least President Bush has finally begun to recognize that the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan can't be forgotten once they return home.
Top veterans officials announced yesterday that Bush is seeking $80.6 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs for next year's budget - a record increase of more than 12% above the current budget.
His request includes an additional $3.5 billion for veterans' health care.
But in a chilling sign of the terrible toll our nation has yet to pay for this dreadful war in Iraq, Bush earmarked an additional $78 million to build six new national cemeteries and expand three existing ones.
Published on Tuesday, February 7, 2006 by the New York Daily News
By Juan Gonzalez
NEARLY 120,000 veterans - more than one of every four who served in Iraq and Afghanistan - have already sought treatment at Veterans Health Administration hospitals for a wide range of illnesses, according to an internal study the VHA completed late last year.
More than 30% of those sick veterans are afflicted with some type of mental disorder, mostly posttraumatic stress and depression.
An additional 35,000 - more than 29% of the total - were diagnosed with "ill-defined conditions," according to the study, which was prepared in October by VHA epidemiologist Dr. Han Kang but has yet to be publicly released.
"Those numbers are way higher than during the Persian Gulf War for 'ill-defined' symptoms," said one Department of Veterans Affairs official who asked not to be identified.
Nearly two years ago, I reported about a group of nine New York National Guardsmen from the 442nd Military Police Co. who returned from Iraq with medical problems the Army listed as "ill-defined." Nearly half of those soldiers - four out of nine - later showed signs, in independent tests arranged by the Daily News, of exposure to depleted uranium dust from exploded U.S. shells.
Mental disorders, however, rank as the biggest problem among ailing veterans.
Two previous military studies of combat troops in Iraq found that 17% to 25% of U.S. soldiers suffer from major depression or combat stress.
All the studies show a far higher rate of mental problems among our troops than during the Persian Gulf War, and levels comparable to what was found among U.S. troops during the Vietnam War.
Kang's report, because it includes only soldiers who voluntarily checked themselves in for treatment, could be understating the level of mental disorders, say veterans advocates who have seen summaries of his findings.
"With numbers this high, the problem is going to grow fast," said Paul Rieckhoff, a former lieutenant with the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq and founder and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
"We're seeing systemwide there are major problems," Rieckhoff said. "Most local VAs just aren't prepared for the influx of sick veterans."
Rieckhoff's view is buttressed by a U.S. General Accounting Office study released last February.
The Department of Veterans Affairs "does not have sufficient capacity to meet the needs of new combat veterans while still providing for veterans of past wars," the GAO concluded.
Department of Veterans Affairs spokesman Jim Benson cautioned yesterday that it is difficult to compare the number of veterans from the current conflicts seeking help with those from previous wars.
Before 1998, Benson said, VA hospitals provided free health care only to veterans who had first been certified as suffering from some form of service-connected illness.
But in 1998, Congress mandated that all veterans be eligible for free health care for the first two years after being demobilized. After that, the free care can continue only if the veteran can prove a service-connected illness.
Well, at least President Bush has finally begun to recognize that the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan can't be forgotten once they return home.
Top veterans officials announced yesterday that Bush is seeking $80.6 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs for next year's budget - a record increase of more than 12% above the current budget.
His request includes an additional $3.5 billion for veterans' health care.
But in a chilling sign of the terrible toll our nation has yet to pay for this dreadful war in Iraq, Bush earmarked an additional $78 million to build six new national cemeteries and expand three existing ones.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Depleted Uranium…
Soldiers Face Debilitating Diseases
POSTED: 10:40 am EST February 8, 2006
UPDATED: 11:21 am EST February 8, 2006
They served their time in the military in places like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and more recently, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Most returned in good health.
But an NBC 30 investigation has found that for some soldiers, their service has meant a long and debilitating death sentence with mysterious diseases.
"I have good days, I have bad days," said M. Sterry, of New Haven. "There were eight of us that served together. Six of my friends are dead."
She looks healthy, but Sterry is a very sick woman who has no idea how much longer she will live.
"I've had three heart attacks, two heart surgeries. I have chronic headaches, chronic upper respiratory infections. I get pneumonia two or three times a year," she said. "I have chronic fatigue, joint aches, muscle aches. I have a rash that migrates all over my body."
Sterry figures the initial symptoms began in Saudi Arabia in September of 1991 while she was serving with the National Guard. Three years later, after completing her tour of duty and coming back home, the symptoms were still there, but much more severe.
State Sen. Gayle Slossberg said one of the sources of the diseases may be depleted uranium. She was one of those who helped pass legislation last year setting up a health registry in Connecticut, strictly to keep records on our military personnel.
"We'll know where they've served, what they've done, what the scope of the job was," she said. "We'll be able to identify to some extent what they've been exposed to and what their symptoms are."
But it will come too late for David Leighton, of Naugatuck, a Marine who served in Saudi Arabia in Desert Storm. When he came home, the symptoms he had had for quite some time would not go away.
His mother, Gail Leighton, said that for the next 15 years, she saw her once vital and vibrant son slowly dying before her eyes.
"You would have had to have been there during the journey and see him in bed and sweating and in agony," she said.
She said her son was a patriot, that his dad had been a Marine. She said the federal government did not believe that those coming back became sick because of the conditions in which they served.
"That was the hardest part, I think, more than anything, to have the DOD, the Department of Defense, and the VA spending so much time and energy trying to deny and discount and discredit some of the people who were doing research."
State Veterans Commissioner Linda Schwartz told NBC 30 that making the connection between battlefield exposures and diseases has been a long, ongoing process.
She said the use of depleted uranium has to be studied because, as she put it, we're sending our best people into battle and their well-being must be the top priority.
POSTED: 10:40 am EST February 8, 2006
UPDATED: 11:21 am EST February 8, 2006
They served their time in the military in places like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and more recently, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Most returned in good health.
But an NBC 30 investigation has found that for some soldiers, their service has meant a long and debilitating death sentence with mysterious diseases.
"I have good days, I have bad days," said M. Sterry, of New Haven. "There were eight of us that served together. Six of my friends are dead."
She looks healthy, but Sterry is a very sick woman who has no idea how much longer she will live.
"I've had three heart attacks, two heart surgeries. I have chronic headaches, chronic upper respiratory infections. I get pneumonia two or three times a year," she said. "I have chronic fatigue, joint aches, muscle aches. I have a rash that migrates all over my body."
Sterry figures the initial symptoms began in Saudi Arabia in September of 1991 while she was serving with the National Guard. Three years later, after completing her tour of duty and coming back home, the symptoms were still there, but much more severe.
State Sen. Gayle Slossberg said one of the sources of the diseases may be depleted uranium. She was one of those who helped pass legislation last year setting up a health registry in Connecticut, strictly to keep records on our military personnel.
"We'll know where they've served, what they've done, what the scope of the job was," she said. "We'll be able to identify to some extent what they've been exposed to and what their symptoms are."
But it will come too late for David Leighton, of Naugatuck, a Marine who served in Saudi Arabia in Desert Storm. When he came home, the symptoms he had had for quite some time would not go away.
His mother, Gail Leighton, said that for the next 15 years, she saw her once vital and vibrant son slowly dying before her eyes.
"You would have had to have been there during the journey and see him in bed and sweating and in agony," she said.
She said her son was a patriot, that his dad had been a Marine. She said the federal government did not believe that those coming back became sick because of the conditions in which they served.
"That was the hardest part, I think, more than anything, to have the DOD, the Department of Defense, and the VA spending so much time and energy trying to deny and discount and discredit some of the people who were doing research."
State Veterans Commissioner Linda Schwartz told NBC 30 that making the connection between battlefield exposures and diseases has been a long, ongoing process.
She said the use of depleted uranium has to be studied because, as she put it, we're sending our best people into battle and their well-being must be the top priority.
Please God...make it soon!
When Two Worlds Collide
Commentary: Why Karl Rove will eventually fall before Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald
By Elizabeth de la Vega
February 3, 2006
(Excerpt)
Although it is astounding that Rove would blatantly describe such a despicable ethos (if you can call it that), it should not have been unexpected. In the world of campaign politics that Rove has so long inhabited, smears and personal attacks are designed to seem as if they were spontaneously generated. They can then wander around, undirected, until they finally curl up in America's living rooms like so many mysterious, uninvited guests. These intruders may be rude and destructive, but no one is supposed to be able to get rid of them, in part because no one is supposed to be able to sort out or pinpoint how they got there in the first place. Thus, although Karl Rove has lurked in the background of an unprecedented number of whisper and smear campaigns -- that, for instance, John McCain had an illegitimate child (a rumor spread during the Republican primaries that preceded the 2000 election), or that former Texas Governor Ann Richards was a lesbian (a persistent rumor that was spread during Bush's Texas gubernatorial campaign) -- he has never been held accountable. And that is a state of affairs to which Rove became accustomed.
Rove has escaped responsibility for his sneaky campaign tricks because the candidates for whom he has worked -- most prominently, George Bush -- have had a stunning ability to accept, unquestioningly, the miraculous appearance of information that takes down their opponents. They had no problem about endorsing brazen dishonesty or the least interest in ferreting out bad actors in their camps. At the same time, opposing candidates have had neither the resources, nor the time to fully investigate the attacks before plummeting in the polls. Afterwards, of course, it was already far too late.
Unlike Rove's former adversaries in the political world, however, Fitzgerald has both the time and investigative resources. When Fitzgerald was appointed special prosecutor, all the known facts on the outing of Valerie Wilson indicated that government officials had broken the rules, if not the law. It's no surprise then that Fitzgerald has pursued the matter vigorously; nor should it be a surprise that Rove's statement to the FBI on October 8 would have raised some obvious red flags and caused Fitzgerald to become skeptical. Rove deliberately omitted key information about conversations with reporters that he could not possibly have forgotten; he claimed to have heard classified government information only from a reporter -- despite the fact that he himself was one of the highest government officials in the nation; and then he admitted that he had no qualms about enlisting surrogates to betray government employees in order to achieve political gain.
Rove's statement raised more questions than answers. It also opened a window into the world of a President's key adviser who never left campaign mode and who had never before been tripped up, no matter what he did. Such a man would be quite unprepared for an investigator like Fitzgerald who operates under a very different timetable and in a world ordered by radically different rules.
Now that Rove's statement has been shown to be so obviously false, it would be most surprising if when his world and Fitzgerald's collide, the result isn't a political earthquake. The moment an earthquake arrives remains impossible to predict, but it would be surprising if, in the CIA leak case, the impact of a Rove indictment did not cause massive aftershocks.
READ MORE
Commentary: Why Karl Rove will eventually fall before Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald
By Elizabeth de la Vega
February 3, 2006
(Excerpt)
Although it is astounding that Rove would blatantly describe such a despicable ethos (if you can call it that), it should not have been unexpected. In the world of campaign politics that Rove has so long inhabited, smears and personal attacks are designed to seem as if they were spontaneously generated. They can then wander around, undirected, until they finally curl up in America's living rooms like so many mysterious, uninvited guests. These intruders may be rude and destructive, but no one is supposed to be able to get rid of them, in part because no one is supposed to be able to sort out or pinpoint how they got there in the first place. Thus, although Karl Rove has lurked in the background of an unprecedented number of whisper and smear campaigns -- that, for instance, John McCain had an illegitimate child (a rumor spread during the Republican primaries that preceded the 2000 election), or that former Texas Governor Ann Richards was a lesbian (a persistent rumor that was spread during Bush's Texas gubernatorial campaign) -- he has never been held accountable. And that is a state of affairs to which Rove became accustomed.
Rove has escaped responsibility for his sneaky campaign tricks because the candidates for whom he has worked -- most prominently, George Bush -- have had a stunning ability to accept, unquestioningly, the miraculous appearance of information that takes down their opponents. They had no problem about endorsing brazen dishonesty or the least interest in ferreting out bad actors in their camps. At the same time, opposing candidates have had neither the resources, nor the time to fully investigate the attacks before plummeting in the polls. Afterwards, of course, it was already far too late.
Unlike Rove's former adversaries in the political world, however, Fitzgerald has both the time and investigative resources. When Fitzgerald was appointed special prosecutor, all the known facts on the outing of Valerie Wilson indicated that government officials had broken the rules, if not the law. It's no surprise then that Fitzgerald has pursued the matter vigorously; nor should it be a surprise that Rove's statement to the FBI on October 8 would have raised some obvious red flags and caused Fitzgerald to become skeptical. Rove deliberately omitted key information about conversations with reporters that he could not possibly have forgotten; he claimed to have heard classified government information only from a reporter -- despite the fact that he himself was one of the highest government officials in the nation; and then he admitted that he had no qualms about enlisting surrogates to betray government employees in order to achieve political gain.
Rove's statement raised more questions than answers. It also opened a window into the world of a President's key adviser who never left campaign mode and who had never before been tripped up, no matter what he did. Such a man would be quite unprepared for an investigator like Fitzgerald who operates under a very different timetable and in a world ordered by radically different rules.
Now that Rove's statement has been shown to be so obviously false, it would be most surprising if when his world and Fitzgerald's collide, the result isn't a political earthquake. The moment an earthquake arrives remains impossible to predict, but it would be surprising if, in the CIA leak case, the impact of a Rove indictment did not cause massive aftershocks.
READ MORE
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
You go girl
2-6-06: Landes takes e-voting to Supreme Court
Lynn Landes is a gutsy American woman following the example of the sufragettes, who fought battles for basic voting civil rights that seemed unwinnable. That is, until they won.
Landes is fighting the suit in the United States Supreme Court as a citizen, by herself, with no lawyer (called a Pro Se case). In her courage, she is resuscitating the spirit of historic independent actions by the citizenry.
"Pro se litigants enrich the law by raising controversial issues which lawyers would be reluctant to do.
"For example, William Penn (founder and proprietor of Pennsylvania) — who never obtained an academic degree — was a Pro Se litigant in Bushel's Case (1670) which established the independence of the jury beyond question in English [and American] jurisprudence." (See this history of ... More
Public property possibly released to public
2-6-06: Diebold agrees to waive proprietary claims to GEMS database files
"Hello. We just received a letter in today's mail from the Division of Elections stating that Diebold has agreed to waive its proprietary rights to the GEMS database files," wrote Kay Brown, Alaska Communications Director for the DNC.
You can see the letter that she's referring to here:
http://bbvdocs.org/diebold/alaska-surrenders.pdf
There is one minor point of contention left concerning the public accessibility of the usernames of the election staff who use GEMS. We feel that's public record.
This marks the first time Diebold itself has agreed to treat the main database files for all their election products as public records. Rapid access to these files on election night is the next frontier, as it will allow rapid oversight of both vote results and election configuration by ... More
"Hello. We just received a letter in today's mail from the Division of Elections stating that Diebold has agreed to waive its proprietary rights to the GEMS database files," wrote Kay Brown, Alaska Communications Director for the DNC.
You can see the letter that she's referring to here:
http://bbvdocs.org/diebold/alaska-surrenders.pdf
There is one minor point of contention left concerning the public accessibility of the usernames of the election staff who use GEMS. We feel that's public record.
This marks the first time Diebold itself has agreed to treat the main database files for all their election products as public records. Rapid access to these files on election night is the next frontier, as it will allow rapid oversight of both vote results and election configuration by ... More
More on Debby Tewa
A Solar Future For an Ancient Civilization
by Winona LaDuke
Hopi elders frowned on the idea of bringing electric lines into ancient villages. They objected to electric company rights-of-way degrading spectacular mesa views and compromising sovereignty. And they were leery of the dependency that goes with unending monthly electric bills. But solar panels are something else. Once they are paid for, the power is free.
Read the entire article
by Winona LaDuke
Hopi elders frowned on the idea of bringing electric lines into ancient villages. They objected to electric company rights-of-way degrading spectacular mesa views and compromising sovereignty. And they were leery of the dependency that goes with unending monthly electric bills. But solar panels are something else. Once they are paid for, the power is free.
Read the entire article
Hopi Power
One of their own gives the gift of electricity to her Native American tribe.
(My Comments)
After saturating my mind with the downside of the Bush Administration, this two page story makes me feel a little better about people in general. Click the link above and read it.
(My Comments)
After saturating my mind with the downside of the Bush Administration, this two page story makes me feel a little better about people in general. Click the link above and read it.
Monday, February 06, 2006
An activist judge
Lawyers should never ask a Southern grandma a question if they aren't prepared for the answer. In a trial, a Southern small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand.
He approached her and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know me?"
She responded, "Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams I've known you since you were a young boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you never will amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you."
The lawyer was stunned! Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?"
She again replied, "Why, yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him."
The defense attorney almost died.
The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench, and in a very quiet voice, said, "If either of you bastards asks her if she knows me, I'll throw your sorry asses in jail for contempt.”
He approached her and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know me?"
She responded, "Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams I've known you since you were a young boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you never will amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you."
The lawyer was stunned! Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?"
She again replied, "Why, yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him."
The defense attorney almost died.
The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench, and in a very quiet voice, said, "If either of you bastards asks her if she knows me, I'll throw your sorry asses in jail for contempt.”
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Full body condoms needed at White House
Substantial amount of AIDS funding goes to religious groups
There was a time in America when the above headline would not have aroused suspicion;; we would have expected a certain number of religious organizations to apply for and receive grants to help fight a serious syndrome that causes devastating disease and death. Religious organizations have taken an active role in promoting a number of social programs, from the Vietnamese resettlement effort to providing food for the nation's poor.
What makes the headline different this time around is the conflict between what is needed to overcome the AIDS virus, and what is taught by many of the religious organizations receiving grants. Take, for example, Catholic Relief Services, which was awarded $6.2 million to teach "abstinence and fidelity" in three countries. The group claims it offers "complete and accurate" information about condoms, but does not promote, purchase, or distribute them.
Or World Relief, a group established by the Natonal Association of Evangelicals. World Relief receieved $9.7 million to do abstincence work in four countries. Samaritan's Purse provides community education about AIDS, though not without education about Christianity, and World Vision, also operates an educational prevention program which "may include" information on condom use.
In other words, 23% of the White House's $15 billion AIDS package has gone to groups who either do not even mention the word "condom," or who mention it only as a last resort.
Read more
There was a time in America when the above headline would not have aroused suspicion;; we would have expected a certain number of religious organizations to apply for and receive grants to help fight a serious syndrome that causes devastating disease and death. Religious organizations have taken an active role in promoting a number of social programs, from the Vietnamese resettlement effort to providing food for the nation's poor.
What makes the headline different this time around is the conflict between what is needed to overcome the AIDS virus, and what is taught by many of the religious organizations receiving grants. Take, for example, Catholic Relief Services, which was awarded $6.2 million to teach "abstinence and fidelity" in three countries. The group claims it offers "complete and accurate" information about condoms, but does not promote, purchase, or distribute them.
Or World Relief, a group established by the Natonal Association of Evangelicals. World Relief receieved $9.7 million to do abstincence work in four countries. Samaritan's Purse provides community education about AIDS, though not without education about Christianity, and World Vision, also operates an educational prevention program which "may include" information on condom use.
In other words, 23% of the White House's $15 billion AIDS package has gone to groups who either do not even mention the word "condom," or who mention it only as a last resort.
Read more
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Monday, January 30, 2006
Energy Security Now
Generating new family-wage jobs and strengthening our economy
The Washington Energy Security initiative will create family-wage jobs and provide crucial additional income to rural landowners. Farmers hosting wind projects earn up to $5,000 a year per wind turbine, helping to keep family farms alive. Local energy efficiency and renewable energy projects will create thousands of new jobs in engineering, construction and building design.
Voters will have a chance to provide clean and affordable energy for Washington consumers by voting on this important issue on November 7, 2006. To qualify the Energy Security Initiative for the November ballot, 300,000 signatures from registered Washington voters need to be collected by June 30, 2006.
Washingtonians for Energy Security needs volunteers from across the state to gather signatures from friends, at events and at their businesses. Please call (206) 283-3335 today to order petitions or make a donation.
For more information contact:
Washingtonians for Energy Security
150 Nickerson St., Suite 109Seattle, WA 98109
Phone: (206) 283-3335Fax: (206) 283-3336
E-mail info@energysecuritynow.org
We must gather OVER 300,000 signatures to place this initiative on the November 2006 ballot. We need YOU to help gather signatures! Please join us.
U.S. Congressman Jay Inslee
Earth Day Founder Denis Hayes
Climate Solutions
NW Energy Coalition
NW Energy Efficiency Council
NW Sustainable Energy for Economic Development
Renewable Northwest Project
Sierra Club, Cascade Chapter
United Steelworkers Wash
PIRG
The Washington Energy Security initiative will create family-wage jobs and provide crucial additional income to rural landowners. Farmers hosting wind projects earn up to $5,000 a year per wind turbine, helping to keep family farms alive. Local energy efficiency and renewable energy projects will create thousands of new jobs in engineering, construction and building design.
Voters will have a chance to provide clean and affordable energy for Washington consumers by voting on this important issue on November 7, 2006. To qualify the Energy Security Initiative for the November ballot, 300,000 signatures from registered Washington voters need to be collected by June 30, 2006.
Washingtonians for Energy Security needs volunteers from across the state to gather signatures from friends, at events and at their businesses. Please call (206) 283-3335 today to order petitions or make a donation.
For more information contact:
Washingtonians for Energy Security
150 Nickerson St., Suite 109Seattle, WA 98109
Phone: (206) 283-3335Fax: (206) 283-3336
E-mail info@energysecuritynow.org
We must gather OVER 300,000 signatures to place this initiative on the November 2006 ballot. We need YOU to help gather signatures! Please join us.
U.S. Congressman Jay Inslee
Earth Day Founder Denis Hayes
Climate Solutions
NW Energy Coalition
NW Energy Efficiency Council
NW Sustainable Energy for Economic Development
Renewable Northwest Project
Sierra Club, Cascade Chapter
United Steelworkers Wash
PIRG
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
More from comments
Hi,
Thanks so much for linking to our “Friends with Low Wages” video on Trailing Edge Blog. We appreciate your help getting the word out about Wal-Mart’s ruthless anti-union campaign.
The video has now been watched more than 125,000 times, and is getting a lot of attention. We even heard from Wal-Mart, whose spokeswoman told an Arkansas newspaper that “it's a shame that this group would use this type of publicity stunt to take away from what we do to help working families save money every day.”
(http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2006/01/19/business/01brookswvideo.txt)
Of course, what’s really a shame is how far Wal-Mart will go to keep workers from standing up for themselves. Just last week, a federal appeals court decided to allow a lawsuit against Wal-Mart for threatening to withhold health care and retirement benefits from employees who form unions (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/3598578.html).
Thanks again for your coverage on this issue.
- Liz
Liz Cattaneo
American Rights at Work
http://us.f611.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=liz@americanrightsatwork.org
Thanks so much for linking to our “Friends with Low Wages” video on Trailing Edge Blog. We appreciate your help getting the word out about Wal-Mart’s ruthless anti-union campaign.
The video has now been watched more than 125,000 times, and is getting a lot of attention. We even heard from Wal-Mart, whose spokeswoman told an Arkansas newspaper that “it's a shame that this group would use this type of publicity stunt to take away from what we do to help working families save money every day.”
(http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2006/01/19/business/01brookswvideo.txt)
Of course, what’s really a shame is how far Wal-Mart will go to keep workers from standing up for themselves. Just last week, a federal appeals court decided to allow a lawsuit against Wal-Mart for threatening to withhold health care and retirement benefits from employees who form unions (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/3598578.html).
Thanks again for your coverage on this issue.
- Liz
Liz Cattaneo
American Rights at Work
http://us.f611.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=liz@americanrightsatwork.org
Monday, January 23, 2006
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Honest, it really is Bin Laden on this tape
When Seeing and Hearing Isn't Believing
By William M. Arkin
Special to washingtonpost.com Monday, Feb. 1, 1999
"Gentlemen! We have called you together to inform you that we are going to overthrow the United States government." So begins a statement being delivered by Gen. Carl W. Steiner, former Commander-in-chief, U.S. Special Operations Command.
At least the voice sounds amazingly like him.
But it is not Steiner. It is the result of voice "morphing" technology developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
By taking just a 10-minute digital recording of Steiner's voice, scientist George Papcun is able, in near real time, to clone speech patterns and develop an accurate facsimile. Steiner was so impressed, he asked for a copy of the tape.
Steiner was hardly the first or last victim to be spoofed by Papcun's team members. To refine their method, they took various high quality recordings of generals and experimented with creating fake statements. One of the most memorable is Colin Powell stating "I am being treated well by my captors."
"They chose to have him say something he would never otherwise have said," chuckled one of Papcun's colleagues.
Read the rest here
Found at What Really Happened
By William M. Arkin
Special to washingtonpost.com Monday, Feb. 1, 1999
"Gentlemen! We have called you together to inform you that we are going to overthrow the United States government." So begins a statement being delivered by Gen. Carl W. Steiner, former Commander-in-chief, U.S. Special Operations Command.
At least the voice sounds amazingly like him.
But it is not Steiner. It is the result of voice "morphing" technology developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
By taking just a 10-minute digital recording of Steiner's voice, scientist George Papcun is able, in near real time, to clone speech patterns and develop an accurate facsimile. Steiner was so impressed, he asked for a copy of the tape.
Steiner was hardly the first or last victim to be spoofed by Papcun's team members. To refine their method, they took various high quality recordings of generals and experimented with creating fake statements. One of the most memorable is Colin Powell stating "I am being treated well by my captors."
"They chose to have him say something he would never otherwise have said," chuckled one of Papcun's colleagues.
Read the rest here
Found at What Really Happened
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Non-political Parties
Do you have feelings of inadequacy?Do you suffer from shyness?
Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Tequila.
Tequila is the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions.
Tequila can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you're ready and willing to do just about anything.
You will notice the benefits of Tequila almost immediately, and with a regimen
of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live.
Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past, and you will discover many talents you never knew you had.
Stop hiding and start living, with Tequila.
Tequila may not be right for everyone.
Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Tequila.
However, women who wouldn't mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it. Side effects may include dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incarceration, erotic lustfulness, loss of motor control, loss of clothing, loss of money, loss of virginity, delusions of grandeur,table dancing, headache, dehydration, dry mouth, a desire to sing Karaoke and play all-night rounds of Strip Poker, Truth Or Dare, and Naked Twister.
Tequila… Leave Shyness Behind.
May those who love us, love us.
And to those that don't love us, may God turn their hearts.
And if he doesn't turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we will know them by their limping.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Putting it all in perspective
President George W. Bush was scheduled to visit the Methodist Church outside Washington as part of his campaign. Karl Rove made a preliminary visit to the Bishop and said to him, "We've been getting a lot of bad publicity among Methodists because of Bush's position on stem cell research and the like. We'd gladly make a contribution to the church of $100,000 if during your sermon you'd say the President is a saint."
The Bishop thinks it over for a few moments and says, "The Church is in desperate need of funds and I will agree to do it."
Bush pompously shows up looking especially smug and as the sermon progresses the Bishop begins his homily:
"George Bush is a petty, self-absorbed hypocrite and a nitwit. He is a liar, a cheat, and a low-intelligence weasel. He has lied about his military record and had the gall to put himself in a jet plane landing on a carrier and posing before a banner stating 'Mission Accomplished.' He invaded a country for oil and money, and is using it to lie to the American people. He is the worst example of a Methodist I've ever personally known, but compared to Dick Cheney and the rest of his cabinet, George Bush is a saint."
The Bishop thinks it over for a few moments and says, "The Church is in desperate need of funds and I will agree to do it."
Bush pompously shows up looking especially smug and as the sermon progresses the Bishop begins his homily:
"George Bush is a petty, self-absorbed hypocrite and a nitwit. He is a liar, a cheat, and a low-intelligence weasel. He has lied about his military record and had the gall to put himself in a jet plane landing on a carrier and posing before a banner stating 'Mission Accomplished.' He invaded a country for oil and money, and is using it to lie to the American people. He is the worst example of a Methodist I've ever personally known, but compared to Dick Cheney and the rest of his cabinet, George Bush is a saint."
Monday, January 16, 2006
W...T...F...
If you are having a difficult time putting the missile attack on a neighborhood in Pakistan in mental perspective, click here to see what Kate has to say about it.
I think about all this in terms of religiosity, and I come up with flippant little thoughts like “Do unto others…”, “An eye for an eye”, and “What goes around”.
When are we going to see some maturity in our Nation’s leadership?
I think about all this in terms of religiosity, and I come up with flippant little thoughts like “Do unto others…”, “An eye for an eye”, and “What goes around”.
When are we going to see some maturity in our Nation’s leadership?
Sunday, January 15, 2006
A culture created (by Republicans)
Another great shot of whiskey
(Excerpt from Billmon’s Whiskey Bar) click here for complete post
On a warm evening in June 2003, a star-studded crowd of political and corporate conservative celebrities flocked to the Homer Building on 13th Street NW to toast the opening of the Washington outpost of [Ralph Reed’s] public-affairs firm Century Strategies . . . Mingling in the lobby and enjoying drinks and hors d'oeuvres were the likes of Ken Mehlman, now the campaign manager for Bush-Cheney '04; former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, chairman of the Bush campaign and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee; Grover Norquist, the conservative anti-tax activist; Jack Abramoff, then an uber-lobbyist for Indian casinos; and lobbyists from some of Reed's blue-chip corporate clients.”
National Journal
Go-To Guy
July 17, 2004
(Excerpt from Billmon’s Whiskey Bar) click here for complete post
On a warm evening in June 2003, a star-studded crowd of political and corporate conservative celebrities flocked to the Homer Building on 13th Street NW to toast the opening of the Washington outpost of [Ralph Reed’s] public-affairs firm Century Strategies . . . Mingling in the lobby and enjoying drinks and hors d'oeuvres were the likes of Ken Mehlman, now the campaign manager for Bush-Cheney '04; former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, chairman of the Bush campaign and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee; Grover Norquist, the conservative anti-tax activist; Jack Abramoff, then an uber-lobbyist for Indian casinos; and lobbyists from some of Reed's blue-chip corporate clients.”
National Journal
Go-To Guy
July 17, 2004
Friday, January 13, 2006
From John Conyers
The following is an excerpt from a John Conyers letter to interested and concerned Americans, hopefully willing to take a stand against the culture of corruption allowed and, indeed, encouraged by George W. Bush. Please click over to the complete letter, and do what you can to stand up and be counted. There should be millions of voices raised in support of this effort. Nothing less will make the difference required to finally put our prison system and corrupt politicians in the proper proximity.
(Excerpt)
I also want to let you know about a program I have started called the Citizen Cosponsorship campaign which encourages people to sign onto my legislation calling for the investigation of possible impeachable offenses. We have amassed 30,000 signatures in a week and are seeking to reach 100,000 cosponsors by the time Congress reconvenes at the end of January.
This campaign follows a thorough review of Bush Administration misconduct I undertook which culminated in the publication of a 250-page report. [A copy of the report may be found at Raw Story.com and also at CensureBush.org.]
The latest incidence of the Bush Administration's abuse of power underscores why we must unite to take strong action now. Late last night we learned that NBC is investigating reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) conducted wiretaps of CNN reporter, Christiane Amanpour. While it is very troubling that the NSA would be targeting journalists to uncover terrorist plots, what is especially disconcerting is that Ms. Amanpour's husband served as a senior advisor to the John Kerry presidential campaign and would have been using the same phone that the Agency is alleged to have been wiretapping. The overreach of the NSA in conducting warrantless wiretaps is astounding in its audacity and I have demanded the White House disclose to Congress whether, and to what extent, journalists have been under surveillance and report on additional elements of this program. 21 other Members of Congress joined me in this request, a copy of which may be found on RawStory.com.
These continued constitutional abuses means your voice needs to be heard. Please take the time to get involved. Help send the message to the President, the media, and the American people that we want an end to the war and we are not going to stand for an imperial presidency any longer.
Sincerely,
John Conyers
(Excerpt)
I also want to let you know about a program I have started called the Citizen Cosponsorship campaign which encourages people to sign onto my legislation calling for the investigation of possible impeachable offenses. We have amassed 30,000 signatures in a week and are seeking to reach 100,000 cosponsors by the time Congress reconvenes at the end of January.
This campaign follows a thorough review of Bush Administration misconduct I undertook which culminated in the publication of a 250-page report. [A copy of the report may be found at Raw Story.com and also at CensureBush.org.]
The latest incidence of the Bush Administration's abuse of power underscores why we must unite to take strong action now. Late last night we learned that NBC is investigating reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) conducted wiretaps of CNN reporter, Christiane Amanpour. While it is very troubling that the NSA would be targeting journalists to uncover terrorist plots, what is especially disconcerting is that Ms. Amanpour's husband served as a senior advisor to the John Kerry presidential campaign and would have been using the same phone that the Agency is alleged to have been wiretapping. The overreach of the NSA in conducting warrantless wiretaps is astounding in its audacity and I have demanded the White House disclose to Congress whether, and to what extent, journalists have been under surveillance and report on additional elements of this program. 21 other Members of Congress joined me in this request, a copy of which may be found on RawStory.com.
These continued constitutional abuses means your voice needs to be heard. Please take the time to get involved. Help send the message to the President, the media, and the American people that we want an end to the war and we are not going to stand for an imperial presidency any longer.
Sincerely,
John Conyers
Thursday, January 12, 2006
From the comments
Hey,
It’s Liz from American Rights at Work.
I’m writing because we’re launching a new cartoon to expose Wal-Mart’s anti-union campaign. “Friends with Low Wages” features Garth Brooks and a new take on one of his classic hits. Garth recently signed an exclusive distribution deal with Wal-Mart and you may have caught him in one of the TV ads he did for Wal-Mart over the holidays. Because you’ve covered our issues on Trailing Edge Blog in the past, we thought you and your readers might be interested in poking fun at the retail giant.
You can view it here: http://www.WalMartWorkersRights.org
Please take a look and let us know what you think of the video. Thanks for your help!
Take care,
Liz
Liz CattaneoAmerican Rights at Workliz@walmartworkersrights.org
P.S. If you want to learn more about American Rights at Work and our efforts to support workers' rights to a free choice and a fair chance to join a union, check out our website at www.americanrightsatwork.org.
It’s Liz from American Rights at Work.
I’m writing because we’re launching a new cartoon to expose Wal-Mart’s anti-union campaign. “Friends with Low Wages” features Garth Brooks and a new take on one of his classic hits. Garth recently signed an exclusive distribution deal with Wal-Mart and you may have caught him in one of the TV ads he did for Wal-Mart over the holidays. Because you’ve covered our issues on Trailing Edge Blog in the past, we thought you and your readers might be interested in poking fun at the retail giant.
You can view it here: http://www.WalMartWorkersRights.org
Please take a look and let us know what you think of the video. Thanks for your help!
Take care,
Liz
Liz CattaneoAmerican Rights at Workliz@walmartworkersrights.org
P.S. If you want to learn more about American Rights at Work and our efforts to support workers' rights to a free choice and a fair chance to join a union, check out our website at www.americanrightsatwork.org.
Prison britches for Bobby
The Soon-to-be-Indicted Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio's Connection To Electoral Fraud
There's been a great deal of speculation over the last several days, particularly in the light of Jack Abramoff's recent guilty pleas, concerning the connection of Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH) to Election Fraud in Ohio, vis a vis his stewardship and authoring of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) back in 2001 and 2002. The heavy-handed tactics he has taken since, in order to keep the flawed act from being changed in any way over the years, along with going to great lengths to keep the nation's eyes off of massive electile dysfunction in Ohio and elsewhere since 2004, may finally get the attention it all properly deserves.
Both Abramoff and his partner Michael Scanlon have directly informed prosecutors of Ney's alleged wrong-doing in regard to money and gifts given to Ney, in apparent exchange for support on various legislation and even personal business deals. Ney, who chairs the important U.S. House Administration Committee, has been fingered, and now subpoenaed, for accepting illegal trips, gratuities and other apparent quid pro quo deals with Abramoff's former firms, partners, friends and groups who had paid both him and Scanlon as lobbyists.
His direct connection to the HAVA Election Reform bill passed in the wake of the 2000 Florida Election Debacle, and his various extraordinary efforts to specifically block amendments to the bill and to smokescreen attempted investigations into his home state's conduct during the 2004 Election Debacle, has been less widely reported. Until now.
Click the link...there is much more to see here
There's been a great deal of speculation over the last several days, particularly in the light of Jack Abramoff's recent guilty pleas, concerning the connection of Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH) to Election Fraud in Ohio, vis a vis his stewardship and authoring of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) back in 2001 and 2002. The heavy-handed tactics he has taken since, in order to keep the flawed act from being changed in any way over the years, along with going to great lengths to keep the nation's eyes off of massive electile dysfunction in Ohio and elsewhere since 2004, may finally get the attention it all properly deserves.
Both Abramoff and his partner Michael Scanlon have directly informed prosecutors of Ney's alleged wrong-doing in regard to money and gifts given to Ney, in apparent exchange for support on various legislation and even personal business deals. Ney, who chairs the important U.S. House Administration Committee, has been fingered, and now subpoenaed, for accepting illegal trips, gratuities and other apparent quid pro quo deals with Abramoff's former firms, partners, friends and groups who had paid both him and Scanlon as lobbyists.
His direct connection to the HAVA Election Reform bill passed in the wake of the 2000 Florida Election Debacle, and his various extraordinary efforts to specifically block amendments to the bill and to smokescreen attempted investigations into his home state's conduct during the 2004 Election Debacle, has been less widely reported. Until now.
Click the link...there is much more to see here
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
The buck stops (in a Republican pocket)
1-9-2006: DuPage County Elections paid $30,000 to Republican political consultant
Frank Salvato, a Republican media consultant, acknowledged in a brief interview with Black Box Voting today that he received nearly $30,000 from the DuPage County (IL) Elections division in 2004. Initially, when asked what DuPage County was paying for, Salvato said "media consulting."
Salvato's bio from his Web site, TheRant.us, describes him as a political media strategist. "He supports and is affiliated with the Republican Presidential Task Force, the RNC's Presidential Victory Team, RightMarch.com, Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and is a GOP T... More
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Random Thoughts
Every morning as I browse through my favorite blogs and the buzzflash headlines, I stumble across dozens of items that are worthy of posting about, but I have been reluctant to push the post about Depleted Uranium any further away from the top because it is so damned important. There are people in the Pentagon and elsewhere that need to be held up in a public forum and allowed to explain their decision to unleash this toxic material on an innocent world. I know it is going to happen eventually, but it shouldn’t take an eighty or ninety percent Veteran death rate to force the people who can to do the right thing regarding this issue.
I turned sixty in 2005, and decided that my right of passage would be marked by acquiring my first tattoo. I opted for a Gecko, which represents the energy of bringing dreams to reality. It has been an appropriate and significant image for me.
In 2006, many of our Congressional Politicians and their Lobbyist friends will be going through a rite of passage of their own, and I would like to suggest an appropriate and significant tattoo for each of them…”This Side Up” in tribal script right above their ass crack. This would also represent the energy of bringing dreams to reality for many of them.
The voting machine issue (Diebold and ES&S) will be an add-on to the scandal that is currently unfolding before our eyes. I hope the entire truth is revealed, and it shows that the Bush vote was inflated by thirty percent, because it would be painful to think that more than twenty percent of Americans could be stupid beyond recovery. I suspect that GW has never legitimately been elected to any office.
I just heard that the twelve miners in West Virginia have been found alive. Blessed Be! (Next morning update: I found out that all but one have died, and the single survivor is not expected to make it. My heart goes out to the families.)
Could it be true that GW Bush thinks a court order is something he shouts from the throne?
I turned sixty in 2005, and decided that my right of passage would be marked by acquiring my first tattoo. I opted for a Gecko, which represents the energy of bringing dreams to reality. It has been an appropriate and significant image for me.
In 2006, many of our Congressional Politicians and their Lobbyist friends will be going through a rite of passage of their own, and I would like to suggest an appropriate and significant tattoo for each of them…”This Side Up” in tribal script right above their ass crack. This would also represent the energy of bringing dreams to reality for many of them.
The voting machine issue (Diebold and ES&S) will be an add-on to the scandal that is currently unfolding before our eyes. I hope the entire truth is revealed, and it shows that the Bush vote was inflated by thirty percent, because it would be painful to think that more than twenty percent of Americans could be stupid beyond recovery. I suspect that GW has never legitimately been elected to any office.
I just heard that the twelve miners in West Virginia have been found alive. Blessed Be! (Next morning update: I found out that all but one have died, and the single survivor is not expected to make it. My heart goes out to the families.)
Could it be true that GW Bush thinks a court order is something he shouts from the throne?
Thursday, December 29, 2005
The greatest threat to our war fighters demands public discussion
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Depleted Uranium by Kit Smith
(Excerpt) Click here to read the complete article
Depleted Uranium (DU) is a waste product of the processes by which enriched uranium is separated from natural uranium, as used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons and to produce fuel for nuclear reactors. It is provided free of charge to defense contractors by nuclear power plants, eager to eschew the high costs of storing it in nuclear waste sites, a win-win situation for both industries. DU is a pyrophoric metal, meaning it combusts spontaneously when exposed to air, and it has a density nearly 1.7 times that of lead. This combination of density and flammability grants this material enormous value as armor-piercing ammunition. Heavy, flaming bullets and kinetic energy penetrators (rods of solid metal shot from guns)burn through the tanks somewhat like a blowtorch causing injury, damage and secondary fires. DU makes for great weapons. The often-overlooked downside of using such a metal is that it’s RADIOACTIVE.
It might seem obvious to the average citizen that radioactive =bad . That leaving behind fields full of these shells and shrapnel or the resultant dust might effectively destroy an ecosystem for generations to come. That, as stated by former U. S. nuclear weapons laboratory employee and international DU expert Leuren Moret, “Living in a radioactive environment with chronic exposure to low levels of in contaminated areas will slowly be destroyed. Genetic defects will be passed to future generations who will also be exposed to new sources of radiation from contaminated air, water and food. The depleted uranium dust will cycle through the environment and travel throughout larger regions, carried on the atmospheric dusts which travel around the earth.”
The Gulf War (1991) saw the first widespread use of DU munitions and armor. Since then, the United States has used such armaments in conflicts in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia (1999), Afghanistan (2001), and currently in Iraq. More than 300 tons of DU were deposited in Iraq during the Gulf War. An estimated 25-30 tons remain in Kosovo. And our veterans seem to have brought quite a bit of it home with them. The souvenir gift that keeps on giving!
Official Pentagon numbers show a total of 697, 000 U. S. citizens as taking part in Gulf War I, a number which increases to over one million when non-military members are included. Slightly less than one percent of this million reported ailments which could not be diagnosed. Typified by headache and memory loss, chronic joint and muscle pain, fatigue, sleep disorders, and intestinal and respiratory ailments, these have come to be known as the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome.
There are more sinister conditions: Veterans from the US, UK, and Australia report blood in their urine, constant rashes, lesions, gynecological infections, sudden urges to vote Democrat, and in some cases the expression of uranium through semen . Sexual partners of these most unlucky vets often complained of a burning sensation during inter course, followed by their own debilitating illnesses. Though most US citizens who have awareness of DU expo sure symptoms garnered it through the plight of Gulf war veterans, it is the residents of the conflicted areas who are the biggest losers. The Christian Science Monitor reported. radiation at the sites of burned-out tanks and other locations wherein US troops used DU shells in Iraq as registering 1, 000 times the background levels.
All this radiation hasn’t even gone to produce anything useful or fun like glowing fish or six-legged chickens or giant frogs. Just horrific things like babies being born without eyes, or with enlarged heads. Also, a massive rise in incidences of childhood cancer, leukemia and birth deformities has been observed in southern Iraq since 1991.
DU is considered by the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veteran’s Illnesses to pose little threat to the body so long as it remains outside the organism, as its radiation cannot penetrate the skin. Though admitting to shared symptoms among soldiers stationed in the Persian Gulf in 1991 and veterans from the former Yugoslavia (the Brits call their mystery illness “Balkan flu”), the claim is that other causes are to blame. The singular listed shared exposure is, um. . .”stress.” That’s seriously the best they could come up with. Even if one believes that stress can cause lesions and eyeless babies, reports from as far back as 1943 show clearly that DU-contaminated dust is a lethal weapon and can travel miles.
Upon impact, a DU penetrator becomes partly aerosolized. Over half of the aerosolized particles are smaller than 5 microns and can be inhaled deep enough into the lungs that the body cannot easily remove them. Here, they emit a steady dose of alpha radiation. “Depleted” is something of a misnomer: Though DU radioactivity is often cited as being only 57%that of natural uranium, this value reflects only the alpha radiation. When beta and gamma radiation are taken into account, the number increases to 75%.
Besides the dust, specific radiation hazards exist from body embedded DU shrapnel, and military surgery manuals now include specific removal guidelines (though Air Force Major and former director of the Pentagon’s Depleted Uranium Program Dr. Doug Rokke said on a radio program that “In 1993. . . the US Army medical department sent an order out. . . they deliberately said to leave the uranium shrapnel embedded in the arms and the bodies of the US friendly-fire casual ties to determine what the health effects would be.”). Finally, when these shells explode, they permanently contaminate their target with low-level ration.
DU has a dual mechanism, as it is both radioactive and toxic. Toxins are biological in their destructive nature. They react with specific molecules in the body, altering their function. Radiation is physical in its destructive nature. Studies have shown a synergist effect between the chemical and radiological properties, leading to a combined toxicity as much as eight times greater than would be predicted by dose. Several European studies have linked DU to chromosome damage and birth defects in mice. Many scientists say we still don’t know enough about the long-range effects of low-level radiation on the body to say any amount is safe.
Yet another point of interest: The use of DU weapons is illegal. By using such weaponry, the Pentagon deliberately defies a 1996 United Nations resolution that classifies depleted uranium ammunition as an illegal weapon of mass destruction (seriously). Nor are we the only country partaking in such hypocrisy. Other countries known to have DU munitions or armor include the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Israel, Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia, and Greece (Israel denies use of DU, contradicting Palestinian claims).
It might not impossible that other conditions in the Persian Gulf, especially circumstances related to the burning oil fields, could produce a similar combination of symptoms in so many soldiers. But we have enough medical data to know whether their symptoms are or are not the result of radiation expo sure. DU isotopes have reportedly been detected in US, British and Canadian Gulf War veterans’ lung, liver, kidney and bone samples. Urinalysis of samples from veterans and residents consistently detect uranium.
Additionally, as former US army adviser and current professor of medicine at the Uranium Medical Research Center in Canada, Dr. Asaf Durakovic, expressed to BBC News Online: “In Afghanistan there were no oil fires, no pesticides, nobody had been vaccinated—all explanations suggested for the Gulf veterans’ condition. But people had exactly the same symptoms. I’m certainly not saying Afghanistan was a vast experiment with new uranium weapons. But use your common sense.”
With the government denying the dangers of depleted uranium and the public awareness at nearly zero (oddly, given reports in such prestigious media outlets as the Christian Science Monitor, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone), perhaps the best Gulf War veterans and other victims can hope for is that somebody will make a cool, creepy movie about them some day, a la Jacob’s Ladder. Instead of being bayoneted in the beginning, our hero could be sprayed with DU dust, come home to hallucinations of eyeless, two fingered babies and eventually find his way to heaven with the help of his oncologist. Tim Robbins will be too old by then, but Jake Gyllenhaal will be just the right age, and what better way to round out his career?
(Excerpt) Click here to read the complete article
Depleted Uranium (DU) is a waste product of the processes by which enriched uranium is separated from natural uranium, as used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons and to produce fuel for nuclear reactors. It is provided free of charge to defense contractors by nuclear power plants, eager to eschew the high costs of storing it in nuclear waste sites, a win-win situation for both industries. DU is a pyrophoric metal, meaning it combusts spontaneously when exposed to air, and it has a density nearly 1.7 times that of lead. This combination of density and flammability grants this material enormous value as armor-piercing ammunition. Heavy, flaming bullets and kinetic energy penetrators (rods of solid metal shot from guns)burn through the tanks somewhat like a blowtorch causing injury, damage and secondary fires. DU makes for great weapons. The often-overlooked downside of using such a metal is that it’s RADIOACTIVE.
It might seem obvious to the average citizen that radioactive =bad . That leaving behind fields full of these shells and shrapnel or the resultant dust might effectively destroy an ecosystem for generations to come. That, as stated by former U. S. nuclear weapons laboratory employee and international DU expert Leuren Moret, “Living in a radioactive environment with chronic exposure to low levels of in contaminated areas will slowly be destroyed. Genetic defects will be passed to future generations who will also be exposed to new sources of radiation from contaminated air, water and food. The depleted uranium dust will cycle through the environment and travel throughout larger regions, carried on the atmospheric dusts which travel around the earth.”
The Gulf War (1991) saw the first widespread use of DU munitions and armor. Since then, the United States has used such armaments in conflicts in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia (1999), Afghanistan (2001), and currently in Iraq. More than 300 tons of DU were deposited in Iraq during the Gulf War. An estimated 25-30 tons remain in Kosovo. And our veterans seem to have brought quite a bit of it home with them. The souvenir gift that keeps on giving!
Official Pentagon numbers show a total of 697, 000 U. S. citizens as taking part in Gulf War I, a number which increases to over one million when non-military members are included. Slightly less than one percent of this million reported ailments which could not be diagnosed. Typified by headache and memory loss, chronic joint and muscle pain, fatigue, sleep disorders, and intestinal and respiratory ailments, these have come to be known as the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome.
There are more sinister conditions: Veterans from the US, UK, and Australia report blood in their urine, constant rashes, lesions, gynecological infections, sudden urges to vote Democrat, and in some cases the expression of uranium through semen . Sexual partners of these most unlucky vets often complained of a burning sensation during inter course, followed by their own debilitating illnesses. Though most US citizens who have awareness of DU expo sure symptoms garnered it through the plight of Gulf war veterans, it is the residents of the conflicted areas who are the biggest losers. The Christian Science Monitor reported. radiation at the sites of burned-out tanks and other locations wherein US troops used DU shells in Iraq as registering 1, 000 times the background levels.
All this radiation hasn’t even gone to produce anything useful or fun like glowing fish or six-legged chickens or giant frogs. Just horrific things like babies being born without eyes, or with enlarged heads. Also, a massive rise in incidences of childhood cancer, leukemia and birth deformities has been observed in southern Iraq since 1991.
DU is considered by the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veteran’s Illnesses to pose little threat to the body so long as it remains outside the organism, as its radiation cannot penetrate the skin. Though admitting to shared symptoms among soldiers stationed in the Persian Gulf in 1991 and veterans from the former Yugoslavia (the Brits call their mystery illness “Balkan flu”), the claim is that other causes are to blame. The singular listed shared exposure is, um. . .”stress.” That’s seriously the best they could come up with. Even if one believes that stress can cause lesions and eyeless babies, reports from as far back as 1943 show clearly that DU-contaminated dust is a lethal weapon and can travel miles.
Upon impact, a DU penetrator becomes partly aerosolized. Over half of the aerosolized particles are smaller than 5 microns and can be inhaled deep enough into the lungs that the body cannot easily remove them. Here, they emit a steady dose of alpha radiation. “Depleted” is something of a misnomer: Though DU radioactivity is often cited as being only 57%that of natural uranium, this value reflects only the alpha radiation. When beta and gamma radiation are taken into account, the number increases to 75%.
Besides the dust, specific radiation hazards exist from body embedded DU shrapnel, and military surgery manuals now include specific removal guidelines (though Air Force Major and former director of the Pentagon’s Depleted Uranium Program Dr. Doug Rokke said on a radio program that “In 1993. . . the US Army medical department sent an order out. . . they deliberately said to leave the uranium shrapnel embedded in the arms and the bodies of the US friendly-fire casual ties to determine what the health effects would be.”). Finally, when these shells explode, they permanently contaminate their target with low-level ration.
DU has a dual mechanism, as it is both radioactive and toxic. Toxins are biological in their destructive nature. They react with specific molecules in the body, altering their function. Radiation is physical in its destructive nature. Studies have shown a synergist effect between the chemical and radiological properties, leading to a combined toxicity as much as eight times greater than would be predicted by dose. Several European studies have linked DU to chromosome damage and birth defects in mice. Many scientists say we still don’t know enough about the long-range effects of low-level radiation on the body to say any amount is safe.
Yet another point of interest: The use of DU weapons is illegal. By using such weaponry, the Pentagon deliberately defies a 1996 United Nations resolution that classifies depleted uranium ammunition as an illegal weapon of mass destruction (seriously). Nor are we the only country partaking in such hypocrisy. Other countries known to have DU munitions or armor include the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Israel, Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia, and Greece (Israel denies use of DU, contradicting Palestinian claims).
It might not impossible that other conditions in the Persian Gulf, especially circumstances related to the burning oil fields, could produce a similar combination of symptoms in so many soldiers. But we have enough medical data to know whether their symptoms are or are not the result of radiation expo sure. DU isotopes have reportedly been detected in US, British and Canadian Gulf War veterans’ lung, liver, kidney and bone samples. Urinalysis of samples from veterans and residents consistently detect uranium.
Additionally, as former US army adviser and current professor of medicine at the Uranium Medical Research Center in Canada, Dr. Asaf Durakovic, expressed to BBC News Online: “In Afghanistan there were no oil fires, no pesticides, nobody had been vaccinated—all explanations suggested for the Gulf veterans’ condition. But people had exactly the same symptoms. I’m certainly not saying Afghanistan was a vast experiment with new uranium weapons. But use your common sense.”
With the government denying the dangers of depleted uranium and the public awareness at nearly zero (oddly, given reports in such prestigious media outlets as the Christian Science Monitor, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone), perhaps the best Gulf War veterans and other victims can hope for is that somebody will make a cool, creepy movie about them some day, a la Jacob’s Ladder. Instead of being bayoneted in the beginning, our hero could be sprayed with DU dust, come home to hallucinations of eyeless, two fingered babies and eventually find his way to heaven with the help of his oncologist. Tim Robbins will be too old by then, but Jake Gyllenhaal will be just the right age, and what better way to round out his career?
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Response to Hannity
(Excerpt) click here to read the entire article
Bush and his faithful ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, have been playing the same scratched CD track: "We're better off now without Saddam." That is not true. The fall of Saddam led to the rise of al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers; and even Allawi admitted that human rights in Iraq now are no better than under Saddam. Not to mention that there is no reconstruction, unemployment is at 70%, and a country which in the late 1980s had one of the highest standards of living in the Arab world has been razed to a sub-Saharan level.
Whatever the Americans do - with "Iraqification" doomed to failure, as much as "Vietnamization" - the war in Iraq now is a rampaging beast that threatens to spill all over the Middle East.
"Bring 'em on," said Bush, and they did; the result is a new, deadly generation of global jihadis. Sunni-Shi'ite antagonism will spill over to oil-rich Sunni Gulf states (including Saudi Arabia) with huge but heavily marginalized Shi'ite populations. Kurdish separatist dreams have tremendous implications for Turkey, Syria and Iran, especially if Iraq, through civil war, finally disintegrates.
So the most probable scenario for 2006 and beyond is a fragile central government in Baghdad bombarded by an intractable guerrilla movement - a chaotic and sectarian hornets' nest breeding one, 10, 100 mini (or maxi) al-Qaeda leaders able to convulse the Middle East. Maybe this is what the neo-cons meant by "creative destruction".
Al-Qaeda has a masterplan for the Middle East, and the next stages - apart from the Gulf emirates - are to be played in vulnerable Jordan, Turkey, Egypt and even Israel. As for the air war against the Sunni Arab resistance, it may buy a few votes at home but will do absolutely nothing to improve America's dreadful image in the Middle East - especially because civilian "collateral damage" will be enormous.
That bearded, vociferous guy Saddam's trial - the outcome of which is already determined - will proceed as a purely sectarian propaganda coup. If this were a real trial, Saddam would be in The Hague in front of an international panel of respected judges, experts in human rights law.
Or the United Nations would have been commissioned to organize a special tribunal in a neutral country like Switzerland. Saddam's secrets, though, are so vast - and so extremely embarrassing for the US - that he cannot possibly leave the Green Zone, where he will certainly be executed. Saddam's trial will become the sorry mirror image of the sectarian politics let loose in Iraq at large.
Bush has opened a Pandora's box with his shock and awe tactics. The ultimate quagmire will keep mutating and unleashing its deadly new powers for years on end. And there is nothing anyone - not even the "indispensable nation" - can do about it. We have all been, and will remain, shocked and awed.
Found at Left Edge North
Bush and his faithful ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, have been playing the same scratched CD track: "We're better off now without Saddam." That is not true. The fall of Saddam led to the rise of al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers; and even Allawi admitted that human rights in Iraq now are no better than under Saddam. Not to mention that there is no reconstruction, unemployment is at 70%, and a country which in the late 1980s had one of the highest standards of living in the Arab world has been razed to a sub-Saharan level.
Whatever the Americans do - with "Iraqification" doomed to failure, as much as "Vietnamization" - the war in Iraq now is a rampaging beast that threatens to spill all over the Middle East.
"Bring 'em on," said Bush, and they did; the result is a new, deadly generation of global jihadis. Sunni-Shi'ite antagonism will spill over to oil-rich Sunni Gulf states (including Saudi Arabia) with huge but heavily marginalized Shi'ite populations. Kurdish separatist dreams have tremendous implications for Turkey, Syria and Iran, especially if Iraq, through civil war, finally disintegrates.
So the most probable scenario for 2006 and beyond is a fragile central government in Baghdad bombarded by an intractable guerrilla movement - a chaotic and sectarian hornets' nest breeding one, 10, 100 mini (or maxi) al-Qaeda leaders able to convulse the Middle East. Maybe this is what the neo-cons meant by "creative destruction".
Al-Qaeda has a masterplan for the Middle East, and the next stages - apart from the Gulf emirates - are to be played in vulnerable Jordan, Turkey, Egypt and even Israel. As for the air war against the Sunni Arab resistance, it may buy a few votes at home but will do absolutely nothing to improve America's dreadful image in the Middle East - especially because civilian "collateral damage" will be enormous.
That bearded, vociferous guy Saddam's trial - the outcome of which is already determined - will proceed as a purely sectarian propaganda coup. If this were a real trial, Saddam would be in The Hague in front of an international panel of respected judges, experts in human rights law.
Or the United Nations would have been commissioned to organize a special tribunal in a neutral country like Switzerland. Saddam's secrets, though, are so vast - and so extremely embarrassing for the US - that he cannot possibly leave the Green Zone, where he will certainly be executed. Saddam's trial will become the sorry mirror image of the sectarian politics let loose in Iraq at large.
Bush has opened a Pandora's box with his shock and awe tactics. The ultimate quagmire will keep mutating and unleashing its deadly new powers for years on end. And there is nothing anyone - not even the "indispensable nation" - can do about it. We have all been, and will remain, shocked and awed.
Found at Left Edge North
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Is there a God?
From my Christmas morning buzzflash headlines
Yes, a God who manifests the divine in the good deeds and good will exchanged between people on a daily basis. In Judaism, there is an expression that it is the duty of a believer to engage in "tikkun olam," the healing of the world.
But our qualification is that those who defile the works of the divine by engaging in lying, killing, ill will, spiteful words, hate, bigotry, profiteering in death, corruption, arrogance, and the diminishment of the common good -- our qualification is that these people do the bidding of another master, a master who is at war with the revelation of the divine in the world; these people betray God.
That is because the revelation of the divine comes from those who would leave the world a better place than when they were born into it.
Christmas is the holiday of the majority of Americans, it is true. And, as so, at it's best, it has become a symbol for the glory of the divine spark of life -- of the celebration of the warmth of friends and family.
As a nation, we are sectarian, although we are each entitled to our own faith, our own explanation of this great mystery called life.
Let us remember that there is no one religion -- and Christianity is a minority religion in the world.
Faith should make us better people, not more evil and hateful. It is a positive, affirming force for most Christians -- as the idea of God is for most people of other faiths. We just got the runt of the Christian litter running our country right now. They are the spokespeople for those who would battle the obligations of the divine in the name of God -- when they are doing the work of the devil.
So, to all our readers, we want to convey this. If our lives are manifestation of a divine force, than we bear responsibility for our lives and the good that we do, not God. It's our responsibility, not his or hers. And if we bear responsibility for our lives, then we are accountable for our behavior. And if we are accountable for our behavior, then we must live a life of good deeds, benevolence, love and peace.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa -- and to all the other faiths of the world and your holiest days, we say remember this: the divine lives in those who walk amongst us.
Treat your neighbor, your friends, your families, and the strangers you meet as you would treat God, for God is in all who inhabit this planet. We -- the earth we live on and all of its creatures -- are the divine.
Remember this and you will truly celebrate this holiday season as it should be celebrated -- a celebration of a life and love that does not live in the shadow of fear and darkness.
Yes, a God who manifests the divine in the good deeds and good will exchanged between people on a daily basis. In Judaism, there is an expression that it is the duty of a believer to engage in "tikkun olam," the healing of the world.
But our qualification is that those who defile the works of the divine by engaging in lying, killing, ill will, spiteful words, hate, bigotry, profiteering in death, corruption, arrogance, and the diminishment of the common good -- our qualification is that these people do the bidding of another master, a master who is at war with the revelation of the divine in the world; these people betray God.
That is because the revelation of the divine comes from those who would leave the world a better place than when they were born into it.
Christmas is the holiday of the majority of Americans, it is true. And, as so, at it's best, it has become a symbol for the glory of the divine spark of life -- of the celebration of the warmth of friends and family.
As a nation, we are sectarian, although we are each entitled to our own faith, our own explanation of this great mystery called life.
Let us remember that there is no one religion -- and Christianity is a minority religion in the world.
Faith should make us better people, not more evil and hateful. It is a positive, affirming force for most Christians -- as the idea of God is for most people of other faiths. We just got the runt of the Christian litter running our country right now. They are the spokespeople for those who would battle the obligations of the divine in the name of God -- when they are doing the work of the devil.
So, to all our readers, we want to convey this. If our lives are manifestation of a divine force, than we bear responsibility for our lives and the good that we do, not God. It's our responsibility, not his or hers. And if we bear responsibility for our lives, then we are accountable for our behavior. And if we are accountable for our behavior, then we must live a life of good deeds, benevolence, love and peace.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa -- and to all the other faiths of the world and your holiest days, we say remember this: the divine lives in those who walk amongst us.
Treat your neighbor, your friends, your families, and the strangers you meet as you would treat God, for God is in all who inhabit this planet. We -- the earth we live on and all of its creatures -- are the divine.
Remember this and you will truly celebrate this holiday season as it should be celebrated -- a celebration of a life and love that does not live in the shadow of fear and darkness.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Friday, December 23, 2005
Accountability is a noble concept
12-23-05: ES&S under fire in California
BREAKING: The Associated Press -- Errors lead California officials to warn voting-machine
California election officials have told one of the country's largest manufacturers of voting machines to repair its software after problems with vote counts and verification surfaced during California's November special election.
In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, Assistant Secretary of State for Elections Bradley J. Clark threatened to start the process of decertifying Election Systems and Software machines for use in California if senior officials didn't address the concerns immediately... More
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
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