Relief is On the Way

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Whoever wins the race for the presidency, the whole world will thank its gods that the worst president in U.S., or world, history, has just stepped down. This man, George W. Bush, tried actually to turn the U.S. into a fascist country. For, by definition, a country whose politics and programs are run by rich corporations is a fascist country. And Bush also worked hard to destroy the middle class-- the backbone of our democracy.

The guy knew nothing of humility; at every opportunity, he strutted, smirked, and pea-cocked before the cameras with a look of complete ignorance ("I haven't a clue") combined with a contradictory look of arrogance. Due to his shenanigans, our foreign policy was also the very worst imaginable, causing billions to hate the U.S.A., and creating many more opportunities for our enemies, including Al-Qaeda.

He failed absolutely to ever capture bin Laden; the Bush family and the bin Laden family had financial and economic ties on many levels; did Bush ever really want to catch the murderous thug?

His staff was not much better than George himself, containing such stellar but criminal stars as Dick Chaney, Condy Rice, and others equally shady. For the sake of corporate welfare, they all cooperated to try to reverse the laws that protect our ecology and, for years, denied the very existence of global warming. Bush and Co. did everything wrong; when they had an opportunity to do good, they always vetoed it or otherwise ruined it. They did more damage, during the last eight years, than all the terrorists combined. They continuously blocked sound ideas in
Congress that would have helped the middle class, and gave great tax-breaks to the very rich, and to corporations. Every time that he had the opportunity, bush stood up for and defended the corporations, corporate welfare, and corporate profit; yet never did he defend the common "blue collar" worker or common householder.

Bush's "ideal government" was one in which not only fascist economic principles dominated, but in which the government could spy on even its own innocent citizens; it did away with several legal rights, and defended the horrors of torture. This government evolved into an alien thing that was not only "unAmerican," but "antiAmerican."

It was, in short, a nightmarish disaster. Neither Americans nor the rest of the world can afford four more years of this horror.
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Condi Must Go

You and I suspected it. Now, ABC News confirms it.¹ Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice chaired repeated White House meetings approving specific torture techniques before they were used -- then lied about it to Congress.

Now Brave New Films put it all together in a "smoking gun" video. That's why, Democracy for America is partnering with True Majority and Brave New Films to launch an aggressive national campaign with a simple message:

Condi Must Go.

Watch the video and sign the petition now.
www.CondiMustGo.com

This is the first time concrete evidence shows that senior White House officials, "not only discussed specific plans and specific interrogation methods, but approved them."

The torture meetings were gruesome in detail, often choreographed "down to the number of times a CIA agent could use a specific tactic" or combination of tactics.
The ABC news report makes it crystal clear that torture committed in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay were not isolated incidents by a few "bad apples". In fact, these incidents were standard operating procedure dictated at the highest level of government and led by the current Secretary of State. Her directives to the CIA were unambiguous, "This is your baby, go do it."

Join me in signing the "Condi Must Go" petition right now.
www.CondiMustGo.com

Don't sit this petition out because you think Secretary Rice is untouchable. When we joined with Brave New Films to push for the impeachment of Alberto Gonzales last year, no one thought he would ever be forced out of office. Our critics were wrong then, and they are wrong now.

That's why we're working with True Majority and Brave New Films to expose the truth about Condoleezza Rice. Today, we launch the petition. Tonight, we start a media campaign with a 30-second ad airing on ABC immediately after tonight's Presidential debate.

We will not stop until Condoleezza Rice is held accountable. Sign the petition now.
www.CondiMustGo.com
Working together, we move America forward. Thank you for everything you do.
-Jim
Jim Dean
Chair

¹ abcnews(dot)go(dot)com/print?id=4583256

A Note Re Obama

Thanks to Sandra Grubb
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From my brother, its a link to The Nation's webpage and it states that Obama has signed the pledge to support the basic principles of the Constitution, such as not to torture, illegally tap into people's conversations, or imprison without due process.


http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?pid=239574

i think this should make the rounds.

America Tortures its POWs

Thanks to Nate Merritt.

AMERICA TORTURES ITS POWS former president Carter reveals


America Tortures Prisoners, Carter Says
CNN
Posted: 2007-10-10 20:01:44
Filed Under: Politics News, World News
WASHINGTON (Oct. 10) -- The United States tortures prisoners in violation of international law, former President Carter said Wednesday.


Photo Gallery: Former President on the Offensive
Alfred de Montesquiou, AP
Former President Jimmy Carter, seen here in the Darfur region of Sudan last week, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that the U.S. tortures prisoners captured in the war on terror. "I don't think it. I know it," Carter said.


"Our country for the first time in my life time has abandoned the basic principle of human rights," Carter said. "We've said that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to those people in Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo, and we've said we can torture prisoners and deprive them of an accusation of a crime to which they are accused."

Carter also said President Bush creates his own definition of human rights.

Carter's comments come on the heels of an October 4 article in The New York Times disclosing the existence of secret Justice Department memorandums supporting the use of "harsh interrogation techniques." These include "head-slapping, simulated drowning, and frigid temperatures," according to the Times.

The White House last week confirmed the existence of the documents but would not make them public.

Responding to the newspaper report Friday, bush defended the techniques used, saying, "This government does not torture people."

Asked about bush's comments, Carter said, "That's not an accurate statement if you use the international norms of torture as has always been honored -- certainly in the last 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated.

"But you can make your own definition of human rights and say we don't violate them, and you can make your own definition of torture and say we don't violate them."

...Carter also criticized some of the 2008 Republican presidential candidates, calling former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani "foolish" for his contention the United States should be open to use force on Iran.

"I hope that he doesn't become president and try to impose his conviction that we need to go to war with Iran," Carter said.

CNN was attempting to get a response from the Giuliani campaign.

The former president didn't spare the rest of the GOP field either.

"They all seem to be outdoing each other in who wants to go to war first with Iran, who wants to keep Guantanamo open longer and expand its capacity -- things of that kind," Carter said.

"They're competing with each other to appeal to the ultra-right-wing, war-mongering element in our country, which I think is the minority of our total population."

Carter declined to say which Republican candidate he feared the most. (I would too. -NJM)

"If I condemn one of them, it might escalate him to the top position in the Republican ranks," he said. (Sounds exactly like the way the hawks think! -NJM)

Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois also drew Carter's criticism for refusing recently to pledge to withdraw all troops from Iraq by the end of their first terms if they win the presidency in 2008.

"I disagree with their basic premise that we'll still be there; I think the American people want out," Carter said. "If there is an unforeseen development where Iraqi people request American presence over a period of time, I think that would possibly be acceptable, but that's not my personal preference."

CNN's Alexander Mooney contributed to this report.

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The article below details the little known truth regarding the Fascist Nazi interests of George W Bush's Grandfather, Prescott Bush, as he and others attempted to overthrow the US government in the 1930s in order to install a fascist dictatorship. This is important in order to understand the true motivations behind The Bush Family and why they need to be stopped.
http://republican.meetup.com/boards/view/viewthread?thread=3317707

Richard Gage presentation: "How the Towers Fell".
This is one of the most well presented, clear cut, honest and compelling presentations regarding evidence as to the Controlled Demolition of the World Trade Center. Please watch if you have any doubts that the Towers were taken down by explosives.
http://911blogger.com/node/10025
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Misled Teachings of the Church

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There are a number of ideas that have come down to us in history as "Christian," which do not mirror or reflect the teachings of Jesus.

Among these are moral behaviors. The greed of the Church has, for centuries, been shameless. It has abused the poor, contrary to Jesus' Love for them, and has filled its own coffers with unimaginable wealth.

The official Church has also supported nightmarish murder in wars, notably the Crusades, in which tens or hundreds of thousands of Muslim sisters and brothers were massacred and slaughtered.

The official Church also supported torture and murder during the time of the notorious Inquisition. Women, especially, were murdered in ghastly ways. Thousands died, and much of their land went to the Church.

During the Middle Ages, popes, priests, and others in the Church supported political intrigues, assassinations, and wars for power.

Besides all this, the Church has returned to the worship of the ancient Hebrew god, when Jesus tried to replace this illusion with the adoration of a Lord of purest Love. Because of this error, almost every official teaching of the Church has been affected.
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Why Virginia Tech shootings happened

A Statement from the International Action Center
Why Virginia Tech shootings happened

Yet another rampage has occurred at a school, this time leaving 33 people dead at Virginia Tech — the worst such incident ever at a U.S. college campus.

The news media seem stunned and surprised, yet their coverage sounds so similar to the stories about Columbine eight years ago. They dwell on the personality of the young man the police say did the shooting, before killing himself. They talk about him being a "loner," depressed, perhaps angry at women.

But aren’t there lonely and depressed people all over the world? Many countries have high suicide rates. Why is it that here some become mass murderers?

The U.S. is the world leader in seemingly random acts of violence by individuals. Why?

President George W. Bush rushed to Virginia to speak at a large convocation the day after the killings and tried to set the tone for what could be said about them. "It’s impossible to make sense of such violence and suffering," he said.

Don’t ask why, don’t try to understand. It makes no sense. "Have faith" instead, was Bush’s message.

But there ARE reasons these things happen here, and they are pretty clear to the rest of the world. It’s just in the United States that no one is supposed to talk about the reasons.

What distinguishes this country from the rest of the world? It is neither the most affluent nor the poorest. It is neither the most secular nor the most religious. It is not the most culturally homogeneous nor is it the most diverse.

But in one area, it stands virtually alone. It has the biggest arsenal of high-tech weaponry in the world, way surpassing every other country. It has military bases spread all over; most countries have no troops outside their borders.

It is conducting two hot wars at the moment, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has sent hundreds of thousands of troops abroad over the last few years. Every day, the public here is supposed to identify with soldiers who burst into homes in Baghdad, round up the people and take them away for "interrogation"—which everyone knows now can mean torture and indefinite detainment.

It also sends heavily armed "special ops" on secret missions to countless other countries, like the ones who just facilitated the invasion and bombing of Somalia, or the ones who have been trying to stir up opposition in Iran. This is documented in the news media.

The immense brutality of these colonial wars, as well as earlier ones, is praised from the White House on down as the best, the ONLY way to achieve what the political leaders and their influential, rich backers decide is necessary to protect their world empire. Do lots of people get killed? "Stuff happens," said former war secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "Collateral damage," says the Pentagon.

At home, the U.S. has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Over 2 million people are locked up in the prison system each year, most of them people of color. When commercial armed security guards are also taken into consideration, the U.S. has millions of employees who use guns and other coercive paraphernalia in their jobs.

In the final analysis, the military and the police exist to perpetuate and protect this present unjust system of capitalist inequality, where a few can claim personal ownership over a vast economy built by the sweat and blood of hundreds of millions of workers.

And the more divided, the more polarized the society becomes, the higher the level of coercion and violence. Assault weapons are now everywhere in this society, as are Tasers, handcuffs, clubs and tear gas. They most often start out in the hands of the police, the military and other agents of the state, and can then turn up anywhere.

Violence is a big money maker in the mass culture. Television, films, pulp novels, Internet sites, video games—all dwell on "sociopaths" while glorifying the state’s use of violence, often supplemented by a lone vigilante. By the time children reach their teens, they have already seen thousands of murders and killings on television. And these days even more suspense is added in countless programs that involve stalking and terror against women—and increasingly children.

As the Duke rape case and so many "escort service" ads show, women of color are particularly subject to exploitation and have little recourse to any justice. And as the murders along the border show, immigrants of color are fair game for racist killers.

The social soil of capitalism can alienate and enrage an unstable and miserable person who should be getting help but can’t find it. If, as reports are saying, the young man accused of these killings was on anti-depressant medication, it is all the more evidence that, at a time when hospitals are closing and health care is unavailable for tens of millions, treating mental health problems requires more from society than just prescribing dubious chemicals.

Many liberal commentators are taking this occasion to renew the demand for tougher gun laws. Yes, assault weapons are horrible, but so are bunker buster bombs, helicopters that fire thousands of rounds a minute, and the ultimate—nuclear weapons. Disarming the people is not the answer, especially when the government is armed to the teeth and uses brutality and coercion daily.

The best antidote to these tragedies is to build a movement for profound social change, a movement directed at solving the great problems depressing so much of humanity today, whether they be wars or global climate change or the loneliness of the dog-eat-dog society.

International Action Center- 55 West 17th St, 5C, New York, NY 10011

Contact us
Donate to help with organizing
Become an IAC intern

We Need Your More than Ever

Reverse America's disastrous course on human rights in 2007!

These days, I continually find myself thinking: This is not the America I grew up in.

It's astonishing how dramatically and quickly things have changed. Our America - once a beacon to the world and the standard bearer for human rights - is now a major perpetrator of human rights abuses.

Take a moment to read that sentence again - and let it sink in.

Ten years ago, if you had told me what was down the road, I would have shrugged in disbelief. But today, Amnesty needs committed human rights defenders like you more than ever.

As our 2007 membership drive kicks off, I'm asking you to commit to reversing America's disastrous course on human rights. Your membership is needed now - more than ever.

I firmly believe it's our duty to stand up and speak out for the America WE believe in - the America that LEADS the world on human rights. We must restore our vision of America - a nation that doesn't torture people, doesn't hold people in indefinite detention without charge, and doesn't export detainees to countries known to commit torture.

I'll be honest. Reversing the Bush administration's disastrous human rights practices is a daunting challenge - and one that will take hard work and determination. But we accept that challenge on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of Amnesty members across our country as well as untold others who are deeply concerned - who would accept nothing less.

That's why we've set an ambitious goal of recruiting 75 members a day in April to support our work to restore America's basic respect for human rights and the rule of law. Your membership gift of $35, $50, $100, or $1,000 will provide the critical resources needed to revive the America we fondly remember - the America we believe in.

In the upcoming weeks, you'll hear from a variety of activists who bring diverse backgrounds and experience to our work, and who share a passion and commitment to defending human rights around the world.

I hope you'll join with me and stand up for the America YOU believe in by taking this one action today. From all of us here at Amnesty, we thank you for being our partner at this critical time.

Sincerely,

Larry Cox
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA

© Copyright 2007 Amnesty International USA

A Man (Most Deservedly) Alone

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Several politicians and newscasters have recently described george bush as a "man alone." While at one time, his corporate-supportive and ecologically destructive policies were supported by several Republicans and conservatives among leaders, today, he has alienated even the people (including "Christians") of his own party. Even the most vociferous supporters have abandoned his sinking ship. In the elections of twenty-oh-six, politicians fled from being photographed with him, and backtracked from any apparent agreement with this little dictator.

Some see him as an inept incompetent, others as a simple moron. (His i.q. is only 90.) Still others present him as deliberately evil, despite his incompetence. In his deliberate policies, he has clearly sided against the people, and firmly placed himself squarely on the side of evil.

It is difficult to dispute the portrayal of the man as a sociopath. Strong evidence indicates that he has no conscience. That he cares not at all for human life was clearly demonstrated by his reaction to the Katrina catastrophe; and he has continued to disregard the value of human lives in Iraq. (Some estimate that he has been responsible for the murder, through war, of 600,000 Iraqis, including many women, and many children. (To be a formal, official "soldier" in Iraq, a child of twelve can qualify.)

Besides mass-murder, and hideous neglect, bush has consistently acted in favor of large corporations, and against the best interests of the average working man and woman. He has resisted several programs designed to aid the poor and the challenged, while spending many billions on bombs and other instruments of death and torture for his war.

He has severely, extremely, and consistently resisted and opposed laws that restrict pollution; indeed, for the sake of the rich, he has even attempted to reverse these, moving some industries backwards towards the tragic situation of the 1970's. He has proved in several ways to be a "backwards thinker." His priorities are topsy-turvy, upside-down, and backwards. For him, it is clear that money is much more important than human life. Indeed, if enough money is involved, human life is quickly sacrificed to the demon of gold.

This is his real and only "god." In blowing his own trumpet-- loudly and repeatedly-- on what a good "Christian" he is, bush has brought only shame to this fine and beautiful faith. In his crooked politics, his past history, his hatred for Mother Earth, his zeal for a nightmarish war, his negligence of the value of human and other life, and other ways, he has shamed Jesus Christ. We recall that Jesus was a radical, and terrified the conservatives of his day with the simple message of Love. (He would likely be kicked out of many modern "Christian" fundy churches.)

So, the evidence is very strong that bush has been an utter and abominable failure-- as a man, as a businessman, as a politician, and certainly, as a Christian. His implicit approval of torture and dishonesty prove that he is a puppet of corruption. His evil life has already set the wheels of karma rolling for the next few hundred centuries.
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Cheney Impeachment

Cheney Being Targeted for Impeachment

"Around the world, as a second carrier group moves toward the Persian Gulf, and White House threats against Iran are repeated on a daily basis, it is recognized that the only certain path to stopping the planned attack on Iran is the impeachment of Dick Cheney, who today, just as in the case of the Iraq War, is running the "team" and the policy for "regime change" in Iran."

"Together with the vice-president, Mr. Libby launched the push to invade Iraq .... And, together with Cheney, Libby has "worked hard to block signs of engagement with Iran, resist direct talks with North Korea, and undermine U.S. legislation prohibiting torture and degrading treatment of detainees."

(Thanks to Mick Gallagher)