Shoes Thrown at Bush in Iraq Sunday, December 14, 2008

The man says: "This is the farewell kiss, you dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq":

The BBC reports on the incident, saying:

In the middle of the news conference with Mr Maliki, a reporter stood up and shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," before hurtling his shoes at Mr Bush, narrowly missing him.

"All I can report is a size 10," Mr Bush said according to the Associated Press news agency.

The shoe thrower was taken away by security guards and the news conference continued.

Correspondents called it a symbolic incident. Iraqis threw shoes and used them to beat Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad after his overthrow.

Isn't that ironic for us, the "liberators", to be treated the same way as the "oppressor". You'll be missed, George, by someone I'm sure. Just by no one I know.

An Angry Girl on the Internet Tuesday, July 15, 2008

In honor of the original "angry girl" – Miz Salem-Shadow – and her vicarious return to the blogosphere (does that even make sense?), I present twenty amazing facts about voting in the US brought by an Angry Girl:

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S. (source1, source2)
2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry. (source1, source2)
3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers. (source1, source2)
4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." (source1, source2)
5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines. (source1, source2)
6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee. (source1, source2)
7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates. (source1, source2)
8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes. (source1, source2)
9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters. (source1, source2)
10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail. (source1, source2)
11. Diebold is based in Ohio. (source1, source2)
12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states. (source1, source2)
13. Jeff Dean was Senior Vice-President of Global Election Systems when it was bought by Diebold. Even though he had been convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree, Jeff Dean was retained as a consultant by Diebold and was largely responsible for programming the optical scanning software now used in most of the United States. (source1, source2)
14. Diebold consultant Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years. (source1, source2)
15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio. (source1, source2)
16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie here) (source1, source2)
17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail. (source)
18. All -- not some -- but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates. (source1, source2, source3, source4, source5)
19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother. (source1, source2)
20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation. (source1, source2, source3, source4, source5, source6)

Something to ponder as another election looms. But since the 2000 and 2004 went so smoothly, I can't foresee any problems.

Case Closed Monday, July 14, 2008

A wonderful political cartoon that explains the real reason the country is going to hell:

Image taken from the blog Political Irony, recommended by Glenn Greenwald.

Let's get this straight: the entire government is run by cowards who have enabled this lawbreaking torture regime. The very notion of an "opposition party" in today's America is a joke. There is a name for this, my friends... corruption, corruption, corruption.

Trauma Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The BBC reports that "Medical examinations of former terror suspects held by US troops showed proof of physical and psychological torture".

commondreams.org Friday, May 30, 2008

I seriously fucking hope not.

Torturing the Twentieth Hijacker Friday, May 16, 2008

Mohammad al-Qahtani, the so-called "twentieth hijacker" is one of six key suspects that have been held and tortured at Guantanamo Bay since 9/11.

The reason for this, says the Bush Administration, is that we need to use every means at our disposal in order to gain information to safeguard our country from another attack like 9/11. After all, nothing says we're serious about the War on Abstractions like abandoning a thousand years of legal precedent and dunking terrorists like they're Salem witches.

Earlier this week, as reported by the Associated Press, the charges against al-Qahtani have been dropped. And while the government has not offered up a reason for this, it is widely suspected that they cannot move forward with their show trials because their evidence has been tainted by the use of torture.

But that's not the whole story, is it? There are still five other suspects being held and the government has already admitted to torturing them. So why drop the charges against this prisoner? The disqualification of Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann from participating in the case due to a lack of objectivity has now thrown the whole military tribunal system into doubt and lends force to its critics. Blogger emptywheel relates a communique with the Center for Constitutional Rights, who represent al-Qahtani:

The government is finally admitting what we have been saying all along, that the government's claims against our client were based on unreliable evidence obtained through torture at Guantanamo. Using torture to string together a web of so-called evidence is illegal, immoral and cannot be the basis for a fair trial.

Mr. al Qahtani never made a single statement that was not extracted through torture or the threat of torture. The unconscionable techniques used on him are well-documented and were authorized directly by the White House. His torture log is a shameful window onto the depravity of this administration and the depths to which they have been willing to sink.

Mr. al Qahtani should be returned to the custody of the Saudi government, where they have a system in place to maintain custody of any former Guantanamo detainee who presents a danger, as well as a strong rehabilitation program supervising those that are released.

The Military Commissions are sham political show trials designed to do nothing but obtain convictions for the government. Col. Moe Davis testified to that effect in the Hamdan proceedings, and the presiding judge removed the legal advisor to the Commissions, Col. Hartmann, just this week for undue political influence. The Military Commissions allow secret evidence, hearsay evidence, and evidence obtained through torture, which violates every international and domestic legal principle of due process and fair trials. They are designed to hide the criminal conduct of U.S. personnel and to obtain nothing but convictions. [emphasis original]

This is the latest in a series of challenges to the authority of the administration that has been holding its breath and stamping its feet all year. We may not be able to evict these criminals, but it looks like we can at least limit the amount of additional damage they can do. Torture is no way to "win hearts and minds".

Hiding Behind John Yoo Monday, April 14, 2008

It's official: according to The Miami Herald, Bush has admitted to approving torture:

Bush [said] in an interview with ABC News that he approved of the meetings, which were held as the CIA began to prepare for a secret interrogation program that included waterboarding, or simulated drowning, and other coercive techniques.

"Well, we started to connect the dots, in order to protect the American people" by learning what various detainees knew, Bush said in the interview at his Texas ranch. "And yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."

The remarks underscore the extent to which the top officials were directly involved in setting the controversial interrogation policies. Bush suggested in the interview that no one should be surprised that his senior advisors, including Vice President Dick Cheney, would discuss details of the interrogation program. "I told the country we did that," Bush said. "And I also told them it was legal. We had legal opinions that enabled us to do it."

Of course, those legal opinions were furnished by then-Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo. The so-called "torture memo", ascribes basically unlimited power to the president when he is "protecting the country". In a nutshell, it says that the president has the power to override any treaty at any time, as he sees fit, and this is what grants him the ability to authorize torture: "Any presidential decision to order interrogations methods that are inconsistent with CAT [the Convention Against Torture] would amount to a suspension or termination of those treaty provisions." (source)

But it's important to remember that even though John Yoo wrote the memo, it's America itself that now will bear the stigma of this unconscionable shift in political stance. Glenn Greenwald writes at Salon.com:

As a country, we have repeatedly endorsed what John Yoo enabled. In addition to abolishing habeas corpus, the 2006 Military Commissions Act (.pdf) "insulated government officials from liability for many of the violations of the War Crimes Act they might have committed during the period prior to 2006," as Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin put it. It also vested vast discretion with the President to determine what constitutes "torture." Nonetheless, it was passed by an overwhelming Congressional majority, with substantial bipartisan support, without even a filibuster being attempted, and with the blessing of alleged "torture opponent" John McCain. It still has not been even partially repealed.

That's right. Thanks to the Oil Cabal, all American citizens are now implicated in the torture regime. But of course almost no one will know about the Yoo memos and what they imply. And of the few who know, most won't care. And of the few who care, most won't say a thing. And of those who say anything, most will point the finger at Yoo himself, painting him as an extremist.

Yoo was merely providing legal camouflage for the criminals running our government. It's sad that we will probably never be able to bring them to justice. We'll fire Donald Rumsfeld and Mike Brown, we'll point the finger at Lynndie England and "Scooter" Libby, but Rove gets his spot on Fox and Halliburton walks away with billions of dollars stolen from the the taxpayers.

The Story of Stuff Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Ms. Angel has sent me a pretty brilliant link: "The Story of Stuff" with Annie Leonard. I am impressed that anyone has been able to so succinctly and persuasively summed up the problem of consumer society once and for all. Everyone should have to watch it. It's 20 minutes long but everyone who's ever been to a mall needs to see this movie. America's story isn't written yet. We can save ourselves from the Corporate Cabal.

Operation: Change for the Better Thursday, January 10, 2008

Thanks, Lee, for sending this piece of inspirational infomercial dissent: New Bush Coins. It's a darkly humorous advertisement for Franklin Mint-style coins commemorating the Bush-Cheney cabal. Each one commemorates something special: the President reading My Pet Goat on 9/11, the "comatosed" media, Barbara Bush saying Katrina's victims are better off after the storm. This man has hit it right on the head.

Operation: Change for the Better wants you to have Bush Dubloons, so turn in all of your coins at a Halliburton drop-off center today.

McGovern Urges Impeachment Monday, January 07, 2008

I watched as much of the Republican presidential debate this weekend as I could stomach. It was incredible to see how the other candidates treated Ron Paul. He was the only one telling the truth up there, and I thought he was the only candidate that had a realistic and nuanced view of the issues. He wasn't hammering home talking points. He wasn't offering empty slogans. He wasn't fear-mongering. He wasn't commending George W. Bush for "keeping us safe" (that's when I turned the damned TV off). He was talking about how there has been a disturbing shift in American politics by accepting the idea of a preemptive war. He said that the Muslims did not hate us because we are free but because we have been invading their countries, aiding their enemies, and meddling in their politics for decades. Giuliani and Thomposon jumped at him, grinning at their opportunity to show how tough they are and mocking Ron Paul for not clearly understanding the situation.

The fact that we are even having an election irks me. It's a distraction from the problem that has smacked me in the face: a realization that I cannot trust my government. A government that condones torture has lost my consent. Everyone seems so eager to just let the Wolfowitz/Rumsfeld/Rove crew slink away into the darkness. People want to "move on", to elect a new figurehead, and forget all about Bush-Cheney like it was some sort of disturbing dream. Fools! All of you, fools! Ron Paul said it: the idea of a preemptive war represents an historic shift in American politics. You don't "forget" an historical shift in the political trajectory of a nation. If we let Bush and Cheney escape justice, then we have effectively told the politicians that you can abuse our trust and We, The People, will do nothing.

Now George McGovern, the man who lost the presidential election in 1972 to Richard Nixon, is urging that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney be impeached for their lies to the American people, their "nonsensical" war in Iraq, and their unconstitutional wiretapping program. He understands what everyone seems to be forgetting: that we cannot let crimes of this magnitude go unpunished. Impeaching this rogue administration is the first step towards reclaiming our dignity as a nation.

292 Scandals Friday, December 21, 2007

For those of you who have lost track, someone is keeping a list of all of Bush's scandals and currently lists 292 separate items, including the greatest hits as well as some less-well-known blunders. Sure we can all complain about Iraq, but about some of the other ones we have lost track of:

• Walter Reed
• The Firing of the US Attorneys
• Plamegate
• The Abandonment of Afghanistan
• The Failure to Capture Osama Bin Laden
• Outlaw Contractors in Iraq
• The Military Commissions Act and the abandonment of habeas corpus
• The Hurricane Katrina/FEMA Disaster
• The Warrantless Wiretapping
• Black sites and the authorization of torture
• The Homeland Security Department
• The Abramoff Scandal
• Collusion with Big Oil on writing the new Energy Policy
• Tax Cuts for the Wealthy
• Denial of Global Warming and refusal to participate in the Kyoto Accords
• Increasing the deficit by 35% ($3 trillion) in just six years
• The 2000 election scandals
• Undermining the 9/11 Commission
• Failure to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission
• Destruction of America's Reputation Abroad
• The shift towards "self-policing" for the FDA
• The Harriet Miers nomination
• The Dubai Ports deal
• The War on Science
• Lying about the decision to fire Rumsfeld
• Focus on absitenence-only sex education
• The use of Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch as political tools
• Abu Ghraib
• No action on Darfur
• Sweetheart deals for Haliburton, etc.
• The defamation of John Kerry
• No Child Left Behind
• The Medal of Freedom for the Chief Engineer of the Iraq Debacle, Paul Bremer
• The silently-passed Real ID Act of 2005
• The Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives

The list goes on and on. I'm glad someone is keeping score.

America Changes Direction on Iran Friday, December 07, 2007

Ever since the report came out that declared that Iran had ended its nuclear weapons program, I had that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was clearly wrong here, but I could not figure out the angle. Why had everything changed, suddenly? What advantage did our government derive from this about-face in policy?

Well, thanks to this brilliant Op-Ed piece in the Times, it all makes sick sense. It's more smoke and mirrors for the benefit of manipulating the image of this administration and their people:

We should be suspicious of any document that suddenly gives the Bush administration a pass on a big national security problem it won’t solve during its remaining year in office. Is the administration just washing its hands of the intractable Iranian nuclear issue by saying, "If we can’t fix it, it ain’t broke"?

Looked at in this way, suddenly the report makes more sense. But — call me a cynic — I don't think this rationalization goes far enough. There's more to this move than allowing the Bush-Cheney Cabal to cover their asses. Suddenly all of the current policies on Iran seem wrongheaded, and of course the administration knew this would happen. So the only explanation is that there have been some negotiations going on between our two countries and that a deal was struck. But the deal would be unpopular here in the States, and so this report was issued to justify policy changes.

The American people are lied to.

The Iranian people are lied to.

The US gets what it wants.

Iran gets what it wants.

So it goes.

Ten Steps to Tyranny Monday, December 03, 2007

The Huffington Post's Naomi Wolf wrote an article earlier this year that outlines ten steps required to turn a democracy into a dictatorship:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy, like "the global conspiracy of global Jewry" or "the Islamo-Fascist global caliphate".
2. Create a gulag, like CIA "black sites".
3. Develop a thug caste, like Mussolini's "blackshirts". We haven't seen this in America yet, but how far behind are the Jesus Camp drones?
4. Set up an internal surveillance system, like the Nazi informant network or perhaps an illegal NSA wiretapping program.
5. Harass citizens' groups and dissenters, sort of like what happened to those US attorneys last year.
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release, as the Bush administration when it held Muslim-Americans for weeks without charges following the September 11th attacks.
7. Target key individuals, like Valerie Plame.
8. Control the press. FOX News anyone?
9. (Declare that) dissent equals treason, like the witch hunts called against academics who speak out against unjust the government's unjust policies.
10. Suspend the rule of law, by ignoring congress, subverting the legal system, and suspending the writ of habeas corpus.

It's happening here, people. Don't think this doesn't affect you because you're not a Muslim, not an activist, not a liberal, whatever. This is about human rights and what was once a free society. This affects us all.

The September 15 Protest Friday, September 21, 2007

This past weekend I was in Washington, D. C. participating in the protest led by Iraq Veterans Against the War. Ms. Angel and I went with our friends Agnes and Jim, who picked us up Friday night and arranged for us to stay with a friend of theirs, Sara. I can't thank Agnes, Jim and Sara enough for being so generous with their time and making it possible for us to be there. We left Friday after work and even though the trip took a bit longer than we expected (close to seven hours), we had a great time just hanging out and talking. We arrived late at night, had a bunch of beers with Sara and her friends and then headed to bed.

We left to meet up with the protesters outside the White House after breakfast the following morning, and we were there to hear some of the speeches given before the march. First up was an eight-year-old who delivered a vaguely apocalyptic spoken word poem that she concluded by shouting "Black Power!" Then Colonel Ann Wright spoke; she resigned from the military in protest of the war in 2003 and complained that nothing has changed since. Cindy Sheehan, who had officially retired in May, said she could not stay away from a protest as important as this one. She was followed by Malik Rahim, a former Black Panther who gained fame as a community organizer in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Ralph Nader, who I have a great deal of respect for, encouraged everyone to "give their representatives a spine" by continuing to speak out against the war.

After going on a bit too long, everyone was ready to march, and the people flooded the streets; by at least one account, the mass of protesters stretched for ten blocks down the eight-lane road to the capitol. I believe it, too: there were a huge number of people there. We marched, shouting our slogans, including "This is what democracy looks like!" and "What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!" There were even a few rounds of "Impeach Cheney first!"

We arrived at the lawn of the capitol and the "die-in" began; people laid down in the streets and around the capitol to protest the deaths in Iraq. A whole bunch of people were arrested (from "dozens" to "hundreds", depending on what you read), but overall the energy of the protest seemed to fizzle out. Sure there was a guy shouting "9/11 was an inside job!" over and over again. Sure there were people chanting "Arrest George Bush!" But the impetus for the masses was gone. We went out for some dinner and went home, talking about how such a huge protest could feel so unfocused.

I believe in the cause. I am angry because the government doesn't seem to be listening to the people. The problem is that while there was definitely a theme of frustration tying everyone together, the specifics of the problem are manifold, and everyone seemed to have a somewhat different gripe. There were the Veterans Against the War who feel that the occupation of Iraq is costly and unjust. There's the impeachment crowd that think that Bush-Cheney should be removed on the grounds of incompetence. There were the peacemongers, who I think would be against any war whatsoever. There were anti-imperialists who think that America should mind its own business. There were the Che-worshiping socialists claiming that the ultimate problem was capitalism itself.

And then there was me. I think that Mr. Bush and company have wiped their asses with my Constitution about five times too many.

Now, I have the utmost respect for the speakers, my fellow protesters, and for those who are helping organize the resistance to this war, but my experience at the protest was a bit frustrating and it left me with a greater understanding of why it is so difficult to generate public outcry against the war. I don't think we all agree on exactly what we're pissed off about. And, was so plainly evident by the decidedly lackluster speeches delivered at the rally, there's no single, passionate voice leading the charge to Capitol Hill. The movement has no leader; its message is fragmented.

But it is undoubtedly a movement. Tens of thousands of people don't flood the streets for nothing.

Which brings me to my final point. We watched Fox news coverage of the protest that evening, and according to the broadcast, there were 5,000 anti-war protesters and 1,000 pro-war protesters present, and there is no way in hell that could be true. Anti-war protesters probably outnumbered the guys singing "give soap a chance" by at least fifty-to-one; maybe a hundred-to-one. And there was no way there were just 5,000 people marching. I only have my visual estimate to go by, but I've seen 20,000 people in one place before (e.g., at the Garden) and there were that many people at the protest at the least.

So don't believe the hype and don't get discouraged. The anti-war movement is real and it's gaining speed. With any luck, change won't be far behind.

March to Impeach: September 15 Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Finally!

After years of silence, finally someone is organizing a real protest to end the war and stop the madness that has consumed this country.

On September 15th, there will be a march on Washington. Speak out against this criminal war! March with us!

Keith Olbermann Speaks Truth to Power Friday, July 06, 2007

Thank you, Patsy for linking to this "brilliant, inspired, and terrifying commentary" from Keith Olberman:

...those who did not believe he should have been elected — indeed, those who did not believe he had been elected — willingly lowered their voices and assented to the sacred oath of non-partisanship.

And George W. Bush took our assent, and re-configured it, and honed it, and sharpened it to a razor-sharp point, and stabbed this nation in the back with it.

George W. Bush took our assent, and re-configured it, and honed it, and sharpened it to a razor-sharp point, and stabbed this nation in the back with it.

Were there any remaining lingering doubt otherwise, or any remaining lingering hope, it ended yesterday when Mr. Bush commuted the prison sentence of one of his own staffers.

Did so even before the appeals process was complete...

Did so without as much as a courtesy consultation with the Department of Justice...

Did so despite what James Madison –at the Constitutional Convention — said about impeaching any president who pardoned or sheltered those who had committed crimes "advised by" that president...

Did so without the slightest concern that even the most detached of citizens must look at the chain of events and wonder:

To what degree was Mr. Libby told: break the law however you wish — the President will keep you out of prison?

In that moment, Mr. Bush, you broke that fundamental compact between yourself and the majority of this nation’s citizens — the ones who did not cast votes for you.

In that moment, Mr. Bush, you ceased to be the President of the United States.

In that moment, Mr. Bush, you became merely the President… of a rabid and irresponsible corner of the Republican Party.

Mr. Olbermann has the balls to say what I've been feeling ever since the Bush-Cheney cabal dragged us into a shameful war.

Resign, Mr. Bush.

Resign and allow us to restore our country's dignity.