COLO. SPRINGS–
Weekly noon vigil- keepers Peter and Warren braved the cold Monday at the corner of Nevada and Dale, to unveil a new banner: CHANGE MUST MEAN PEACE.
Change must mean peace
Reply
Monthly Archives: January 2009
Film of heroic American woman blocking Israeli rifles aimed at Palestinians
The spirit of Rachel Corrie lives on! Heroic Women blocks Israeli Rifles Aimed at Gaza demonstrators Actually, this event occured a year before this newest troop invasion of Israel’s held Gaza ghetto for Palestinians, but this woman shown here did try to enter into Gaza just recently to try to repeat her efforts once again. The Israelis rammed and tried to sink the boat she was on.
More of the same efforts by other brave women can be seen at Women block the destruction of Olive trees
STOP ISRAEL Sunday, January 18, 1PM
WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO JOLT THE CONSCIENCE OF ISRAEL?!
IDF killings continue. Soldiers are being given “free-fire-zone” license!
Meet this weekend, SUN, Jan 18 at 1PM, Acacia Park, at the torii gate, a traditional site for antiwar protest.
The Shinto arch at Nevada Ave and Bijou Street commemorates our sister city of Fuji-yoshida, Japan. The plaque reads: “the purpose of the sister city relationship is to promote understanding between the people of our two countries and cities”
God Bless our local flag waving yahoos
Israel declined December cease-fire offer because it meant opening the Gaza border
A US media blackout is keeping the Gaza solidarity demonstrations out of the news, while repeating the mantra of Israel’s right to defend itself. Behind the media lies, the diplomatic records speak another story: Israel Rejected Hamas Cease-Fire Offer in December. Colorado Springs’ own Rabbi Donald Levy has been decrying in the local press how Israel is criticized “so deeply and so repeatedly…simply for defending its borders.” Speaking for the Jewish Community, Levy explained to KRDO how all Jews feel some connection to Israel, and that the community hopes recent events will lead to the destruction of Hamas.
The “destruction of Hamas?” Hamas members are the democratically elected representatives of Palestine! It’s one thing to call for “wiping Israel [an apartheid theocracy imposed upon Arabs] from the map.” Even Hamas is not cheerleading for a liquidation of all Israeli Likud Party members!
A short film about Beethoven
Standard US Government torturing procedure
Barack Obama hasn’t renounced the US government use of torture and has no plans to bring any of the US architects of more open use of torture to justice. Standard Operating Procedure is to continue, but just behind better closed doors.
Nonviolent vigils will be death of Gazans
GAZA PROTESTS PROLIFERATE! Demonstrators are occupying Israeli consulates, storming embassies, harassing pro-Israeli rallies, and spilling blood on Zionist memorials. Not that anything is working so far. Meanwhile, in non-stories for the press, the usual non-confrontational passivists are lighting candles in memory of the slain. Are they anticipating, in their non-violent wisdom, the eminent extinction of the Palestinians of Gaza? Pacifists seem more comfortable to commemorate the ideological sacrifice of martyrs sooner than advocate for the survival of the endangered.
Others are not content to mourn Zionism’s ultimate triumph. Here’s the best analysis yet I’ve encountered for antiwar strategists.
In Caracas, the protests have the support of the state. Venezuelan president Chavez expelled the Israeli Ambassador and called his nation’s Jews to repudiate Israel’s inhumanity in Gaza:
“Now I hope that the Venezuelan Jewish community speaks out against this barbarism. Do it. Don’t you strongly reject all acts of persecution?”
Here is the Free Palestine Alliance statement released January 9, 2008:
The Massacre Intensifies:
As we prepare this thirteenth FPA statement, the Zionist army was continuing what it does best the wholesale slaughter of children and unarmed civilians. As would be expected of the current state of affairs of the US-controlled international scene, the massacre of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is continuing despite yesterday’s feeble UN Security Council resolution that calls for Israel to immediately stop its attack. Actually, the US-Zionist leadership went the other way — more and more attacks. The Israeli Zionist army was given additional orders to escalate the conquest as it enters into a third phase of obliteration. Simultaneously as the Israeli cabinet was giving orders for a higher kill and destruction ratio, the US Senate was not going to be outdone by Zionists. It had to add to its long and shameful record. So it secretly issued a fast-tracked resolution fully supporting the ongoing massacre and giving Israel the needed cover. We ask, is this Senate resolution in the best interest of the people of the US?
But is it not the legacy and norm of the US-Israeli alliance to discard the will of the people of the US and the world. Is it not their norm to discard any and all UN resolutions that may remotely disagree with their strategic plans? The examples are far too many to list, including both UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions dating as far back as 1947.
Yesterday’s UN resolution was approved by 14 of the 15 nations that currently sit on the Security Council, with the US abstaining. As would be expected, the resolution did not address the deadly siege that has been imposed on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, nor did it condemn outright the fascistic actions of the Zionist polity.
Sadly, Palestinian victims have now reached at least 800 murdered and more than 3,300 injured. And these numbers are certain to climb substantially. Yesterday alone, fifty Palestinians were found murdered under their destroyed homes, some with their bodies already beginning to decompose. The Red Cross reported finding 4 near-death children slumped near and over their decomposing dead mothers. These children, like many others, were reported by the Red Cross to have been left without rescue in starvation and thirst for four full days around their killed mothers due to attacks on rescue workers.
On the very same day the UN Security Council resolution was issued, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that serves approximately 800,000 Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip decided that it was forced to fully halt its services. This decision came following the killing of one of UNRWA’s truck drivers, and due to the extreme conditions imposed by the Zionist army on relief workers. The UNRWA also strongly condemned the Israeli cover-up used to justify the bombardment of the Al-Fakhoura school that murdered and injured over 100 children and their parents.
Come Out in Force Tomorrow:
The people of the US have a moral obligation to turn out in massive numbers tomorrow, Saturday, from Washington, DC to San Francisco, Los Angeles and in between, to send a clear message that this campaign of murder must stop at once. In DC, we will be right there to send a message to the Bush administration, the incoming Barak administration, and to the entire US Congress. In San Francisco, where the United Nations took its first founding steps, we can highlight the charade of UN resolutions and international diplomacy, pointing to the double standards and outright racist behavior of the US and its allies. In Los Angeles and all other cities and towns, we can and must mobilize to join in protest in the largest possible numbers. This is the time to stand for what is moral and just. We cannot continue funding Israel while the people of the US are in dire need for funds right here to rescue homes and towns from collapse.
Rather than pay for the destruction of the Gaza Strip, let us pay for the construction of roadways, parks, and schools.
Rather than destroy thousands of Palestinian homes, let us fix the collapsing housing market and keep people in their own homes.
Rather than send more people homeless, let us protect folks from evictions and foreclosures.
Rather than kill doctors, nurses, and relief workers, let us build hospitals and provide health care to the millions without it.
This is our time to let Obama know that he could very easily stimulate both the economy and the morality of the US by stopping all funds used to kill babies and their mothers. Instead, we can invest these same funds in the education and upbringing of millions of impoverished children, right here in the US.
This is indeed our time, folks, and we must come out to lead the US Congress and administrations to the moral high ground. The interest of the US and its people is best served by supporting the construction of US infrastructure, housing, schools, hospitals, and by creating jobs at a living wage. Rather than kill Arab unionists, let us support strengthening unions and their demand for a respectable life and wages.
This is our time to show that Palestine is but a symbol for ALL just struggles. Struggles we all wage every day in various forms. The massacre against the Palestinian people should focus a very bright spotlight on what is wrong with US policies: US tax dollars are being sent to the Israeli army under US diplomatic cover, and are being used to boost corporations that manufacture military hardware, to conquer and destroy countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, rather than rescuing a failing nation from its impending economic depression.
Signs of Defeat:
We regard the UN Security Council Resolution as a fig leaf void of legitimacy. For one thing, it came 13 days following the massacre, and after more than 4,100 Palestinian casualties between killed and injured. It appears that key power-brokers at the UN had hoped that by waiting long enough (13 days) without action, the Zionists could in fact secure a political and military victory.
While the resolution attempts to provide a diplomatic cover for the Israelis and the US as a way out of their unattainable goals, it is nonetheless a clear indication that the ongoing conquest is unable to achieve any Zionist political gain. In fact, politically speaking, the US-Zionist-Arab regime tripartite axis is only achieving the very opposite of what they had intended through this massacre: (1) the Palestinians have achieved massive international, Arab, and Palestinian support; (2) the possibility for appointing a client regime in the Gaza Strip is non-existent; (3) the sustenance of the Abbas PA in its current formation has become very uncertain; and (4) the little legitimacy some Arab regimes have is that much more diminished.
To the extreme dismay of the US and Zionist leaders, the UN resolution demands an immediate stop to the attacks and the opening of all crossings; and it opens the gates for humanitarian aid. Hence, rejected by the Zionist leadership at once. Due to the weight of the pressure on US Arab allies, who could not under any circumstance return home empty-handed, the US had no choice but to abstain rather than give its usual veto — a way to give the US-supported despots a piece of paper to wave in the face of a sea of millions and millions in protest everywhere. Ironically, the gravity of the massacre made a full circle, compromising the stability of the alliance that is responsible for its implementation. The more violent the attack, the more stubborn the resistance, the more widespread the support, and the weaker the grip of despotic regimes.
Let us join the millions who have taken to the streets thus far, including today, in thousands of towns and cities in the world. There are those who are volunteering as doctors, nurses, and rescue workers, with many already killed and injured; there are those who are giving blood to hospitals and to the Red Cross and Red Crescent; those who are protesting; many are writing, painting, dancing and singing for freedom and liberation; and there are those who are holding sit-ins, and those who are giving flowers of appreciation to the Venezuelan government for their principled stance. All are out, and all are outraged.
Come and join!
Take your stand and come out tomorrow. Make it known that this massacre cannot continue!
All Out in Solidarity with the Palestinian People!
The Free Palestine Alliance
January 9, 2009
And this report from A.N.S.W.E.R. about Sunday’s march on DC:
From Washington, DC to San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Worldwide–Hundreds of Thousands March to Let Gaza Live!
On Sat., Jan. 10, hundreds of cities, and hundreds of thousands of people, responded to the call for an International Day of Emergency Action to support the people of Gaza. Outside the United States, marches took place in London, Edinburgh, Cairo, Athens, Kuala Lumpur, Beirut, Seoul, Mexico City, Jakarta, Montreal, Paris, Barcelona, Marseilles, Lyon, Oslo, Berlin, Bern, Karachi, Nablus, New Delhi, Amman, Sarajevo, Ramallah, Stockholm, and Tokyo. The protests continue to grow — today, another 250,000 took to the streets in Spain and more than 100,000 in Algeria.
In the U.S., the Day of Action was initiated on just one week’s notice by a call from the ANSWER Coalition, Muslim American Society Freedom, Free Palestine Alliance, National Council of Arab Americans, and Al-Awda – International Palestine Right to Return Coalition. In Washington DC, over 20,000 took to the streets in the freezing rain to demand, “Let Gaza Live!” The streets were so backed up that thousands of people in buses and cars were still arriving after the march had left Lafayette Park.
The demonstration began with a rally at the White House. Featured speakers included former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who was just on a humanitarian relief mission attempting to bring supplies to Gaza when the boat she was on was intentionally struck by an Israeli military vessel; Mahdi Bray, Executive Director, Muslim American Society Freedom; Rev. Graylan Hagler, National President of Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic Justice; Mounzer Sleiman, Vice Chairman, National Council of Arab Americans; Ralph Nader; Paul Zulkowitz, Jews Against the Occupation; Brian Becker, National Coordinator, ANSWER Coalition; Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney and co-founder, Partnership for Civil Justice; and others.
The spirited march then led to the Washington Post, where demonstrators denounced the paper for its biased pro-Israeli coverage of the massacre and its complete blackout of protest activities in the United States.
In San Francisco, 10,000 took part in the march and rally. The rally included a huge outpouring from the local Arab community, and energetic participation from Bay Area youth.
A crowd of 2000 demonstrators confronted a heavy police presence in downtown Orlando for the “Let Gaza Live: Florida Statewide March for Palestine” called by Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition/Florida—just six days prior. The demonstration is the largest anti-war demonstration in Florida in more than a decade and certainly the largest ever protest in Florida calling for a free Palestine. Police tried to intimidate marchers by initially searching all bags, forcing protesters to remove sticks from signs, and denying the use of amplified sound. Organizers and protesters challenged and pushed back their unwarranted scare tactics, and the protest turned out to be a powerful success.
In Los Angeles, 10,000 people participated in a regional mass march and rally to “Let Gaza Live” at the Westwood Federal Building. Hundreds of Palestinian flags and signs reading “Stop bombing Gaza!” and “The real terrorists: U.S./Israel war machine!” lined all sides of the street and the lawn in front of the federal government headquarters. It was the largest protest and the first major march in Southern California since the Israeli bombing campaign and invasion began.
A funeral procession led the march with makeshift coffins draped with Palestinian flags, representing the hundreds of people killed by Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza. Hundreds of children followed, along with a huge, hand-made Palestinian flag, in a contingent organized by the Palestinian American Women’s Association.
The worldwide movement is continuing to grow with more protests today, Jan. 11. There will be countless other actions in the days to come. Today in New York City, the police carried out a violent assault against those marching in mid-town Manhattan in support of the people of Palestine. A number of people were injured and arrested.
With the support of the United States, the Israeli military machine has expanded its invasion into urban areas of Gaza. The death toll among Palestinians is now nearly 900, with many thousands wounded. The injured and hungry of Gaza have no relief. We must do everything in our power to deepen and broaden this movement in the coming days.
Israel’s use of White Phosphorus in Gaza
An Italian director has a film about military use of White Phosphorus called The Hidden Massacre on youtube well worth watching to get an idea of what Israel’s use in Gaza of this chemical weapon is likely producing now. The US used this weapon against Fallujah in Iraq and Israel has used it already previously in Lebanon. Israel Using White Phosphorus In Gaza Nothing much in our country has changed since US use of napalm against the Vietnamese.
Meeting Senator-to-be Michael Bennet
COLORADO SPRINGS- Governor Bill Ritter introduced his appointment to the US Senate, political novice Michael Bennet, to an audience of Springs Democrats today. Judging just by Bennet’s own words, this development is about as disappointing as it gets. Full report after this note:
Both men spoke predominantly about education, considering Michael Bennet current position as Superintendent of Denver Public Schools.
Before we contemplate Michael Bennet’s qualifications for the US Senate, let’s broaden the scope. Even though he lacks the experience of an elected office, his resumé reflects someone well connected in Washington DC and Denver. What appears to be a comforting pedigree could also cause skeptics to fear he’s a Beltway insider. Bennet’s previous work experience was as a lawyer, a mayor’s chief of staff, and a counsel to corporate investment raiders. It might be informative for us to wonder what qualifications did Bennet have in the first place, to be appointed to lead Denver Public Schools?
If that assignment smacked of a political payoff, for Bennet serving as aid to Denver Mayor Hinckenlooper during his ascendency, can we wonder if a similar incongruous motive was behind his startling promotion to the US Senate?
Okay, okay, so get this: Bennet described his legacy with the Anschutz Corp. thus: they were turn-around specialists! He explained that Anschutz took businesses which had been gutted or neglected by unscrupulous owners, and rehabbed them to provide jobs for thousands. Is that rather at odds with what asset strippers actually do? But this wasn’t a business savvy Republican crowd. This was an assembly of earnest Democrats who wanted to believe in honest politicians.
Despite having to cross the protesters outside, and having to face our placards at the meeting, neither speaker addressed the crisis in Gaza. The nearest either came was Bennet’s answer to a question about national security, in which he explained the need to draw troops down in Iraq and refocus our energies in Afghanistan.
Though we had hands raised hoping to be called upon, we otherwise kept silent and held our posters in full confidence that many among the assembled were in full agreement with our cause.
After their public addresses, Ritter and Bennet gave media interviews behind doors guarded by a short grey haired gentleman who kept his eyes on me. But this is an understatement. Throughout the public meeting, and afterward, this man maintained a steely confrontational gaze directly into my eyes, from across the room, or right beneath my nose. It’s a technique I recognized from Secret Service agents, except they don’t usually betray an angry scowl. This person was trying very hard to project an intimidating presence.
A few minutes after this photograph was taken, when the governor and his charge were about to emerge, this fellow walked straight up to me and began directing me to move out of the way. I assured him I was blocking no one’s path, but he simply repeated himself with amplified belligerence. I chided him about this being a PUBLIC library, and that I had no responsibility to him, and would certainly not be ordered around. Instead of negotiating, he reasserted his bossy authority. Ultimately, laughing him off turned out to be effective. Just as suddenly, he stepped back and let me be.
Jonathan was able to take these pictures of both Ritter and Bennet as they passed our signs: issues which they refused to address.
Here, Governor Ritter was accosted by Phyllis. I have no idea how he was eventually able to pull away.
Meanwhile, Tony had grown a spontaneous gathering outside, where we waived banners and posters to the appreciative honks of passing cars, and thank-yous from the Democrats leaving the meeting.
Our new friends, many of whom were homeless and victims of recurring incarceration, were thrilled to participate with us and beckon support from the passersby. A number of our allies were quite conversant on the issues and offered fantastic retorts to the occasional detractors. Not infrequently, to my continued surprise, we were accosted with pedestrians, inside the library and out, who would point to our signs and declare that every last vermin/scum/Palestinian needed to be eradicated before there would be peace in the Middle East.
Plans for a better turnout for this action suffered from the usual obstacle of being unable to reach the bulk of Colorado Springs’ peace activists. Many are still being kept deliberately out of the loop by the religious PPJPC passivists who’ve infected the local peace community.
Not surprisingly, the current PPJPC chairman did appear for the meeting, but not for the protest. He was attending as a Democratic Party member, and left when he couldn’t find a seat. Though publicly vocal about Palestinian issues, his support did not extend to putting the message before the US Senator about to represent us in DC.
Customizing a WordPress installation
Want to make some adjustments to your WordPress blog? I always have trouble unearthing the variable names to plug into the code. To the WordPress developers’ credit, WP variables are usually self-explanatory, but that still requires an explanation. Here are some tweaks we’ve added to our Tallgrass theme:
Comment Author IP
You might want to display a commenter’s IP directly in the comments, if you need to discourage rampant aliases. The variable for the IP recorded for each comment is comment_author_IP. In admin mode on your site, simply go to EDIT THEME and pull up the [comments.php] page. Insert the code below in the comment loop, where you want the IP shown. We put it after the comment author.
<?php comment_author_IP(); ?>
Listing the post author for each individual post
Appending a Google News friendly numeric serial to the post slug
More customizations to follow.
Dems: Stop backing Israeli death squads
REMINDER: Colorado Springs PENROSE LIBRARY, 11am Saturday JAN 10
Come speak to Governor Ritter and newly appointed Senator Bennet.
Bring whatever message you want. Maybe you’d like to ask the Governor why he appointed a PRO LIFE school administrator to the state’s highest legislative office?
Or keep the pressure on about Israel’s ongoing atrocity in Gaza. In addition to GENOCIDE IS NOT SELF-DEFENSE, and ISRAEL OUT OF PALESTINE, we have:
and:
US government slide rule of accounting
The US government and its talking head corporate media clowns are real good at not ever admitting anything about anything. Smile, Smile, Smile! However, this is what the French press group Reuters has to say about the American economy and they do not use or put much faith in the standard US government slide rule to measure unemployment. Great Depression jobs parallel may not be far flung Notice how the statistics and data are now altered by the government. The US government has slid the data right on down from what its previous more honest accounting measured, to give all of us a falser sense of security.
How much unemployment will be seen in the next years ahead? The government and both capitalist parties want everybody to believe that throwing money at the rich who own the big enterprises will ‘stimulate’ the economy. Things don’t work that way though, since to revive the economy the ordinary people themselves are needed and not just the top governing and owning hacks of our society. It is not about ‘investment’ but work and the workers who do it. Work is what makes society move, not investment.
Capitalist society does not value work or workers though, and the elites consider those who work morons. Unfortunately many workers imitate the elites and consider themselves and those around them to be morons, too, for not being part of the owning class elite. Many workers actually begin to believe that they are worthless elements of society, and not the backbone of it!
There is certainly all kinds of work that needs to be done, but capitalist society does not pay for most necessary work but instead keeps it from happening. The only work that gets done mainly is work that can make profit for the owning elite, and not the work that should be done. Workers simply get turned away when they want to work, need to work, and could work if allowed to do so. Owners usually do not allow that unless forced to do so by the workers themselves to allow it to happen. That is always a nasty battle since this is a society run by capitalist owners, and not one that counters them.
Sadly most workers today do not think they have any power or could ever have such power, and their first reaction to increased unemployment is most likely be despair, depression, and increased self disrespect. Many families will begin to disintegrate and abuse will arise all around. Add to that the lies of the elites about what is really happening, and many will turn to violence and against all the wrong targets. The Left has a tough road ahead to try to counter the trend to come.
The US Union Movement is in total disarray and retreat and must be rebuilt from ground up. Everywhere the battle will be to get the Democratic Party lovers out of their positions where they brake rebellion, and then channel it into useless and unresponsive channels. We are in a period where it will not be the Republican Right that are the major enemies of organization, but instead the Democratic Party liberal centrists who are everywhere in positions funded from the top. There is a lot of work ahead, and it will be done only through dedicated and tough volunteers often working against paid staffers of supposedly do-good organizations that in fact do no good at all. This is true nowhere more than in the established but now utterly dysfunctional unions that exist.
Unemployment will go up, and capitalism does not automatically right itself like a sturdy boat in a strong sea might. Capitalism is more like a rotten vessel that will sink all onboard without a struggle to keep it from happening. These are just a few thoughts to measure against the corporate efforts to put a happy face on the current realities, when really there is little to be happy about.
ISRAEL IS A TERRORIST STATE !
The indelible shame of the Jewish State.
How Israel is terrorizing the Palestinian people: They are dropping leaflets everywhere in Gaza City warning people to leave immediately, and dropping leaflets outside Gaza City warning everyone to go to Gaza City immediately. (video)
There is no excuse for genocide. UN says Israel admits it LIED about why it attacked those schools and MURDERED those children.
UN to investigate Israeli war crimes in Gaza. The world should spend the next 50 years hunting down the Zionists and their defenders, and try them in the Hague just as they did the Nazis at Nuremburg.
The coming war with Iran. AIPAC co-founder to become Secretary of State’s top advisor on Iran. He’s been pushing for a US attack on Iran for years, there can be no doubt about Obama’s intentions anymore.
Politics is just organized corporate crime. Obama lied about not letting lobbyists on his team, he’s hired a defense contractor lobbyist to be deputy chief at the Pentagon!
IL governor Blagojevich impeached. See how easy it is? We could have gotten rid of Bush years ago, if the Democrats weren’t such PUSSIES. Seems they will only vote to impeach another Democrat!
Excerpts from Thomas McCullock’s Jan 9 notes, thomasmc.com.
Did Bush cause the financial crisis?
Did Bush cause the financial crisis? is the question that the BBC’s North America Business Correspondent in New York, Greg Wood briefly explores and his conclusion is not surprising.
Here is a summation of his argument.
‘Deregulation started long before President Bush came to power, and it was enthusiastically pursued by both Democratic and Republican administrations. ‘
‘So the image of Mr Bush as the arch deregulator and the Democratic Party as the champion of stricter rules for business does not quite tally with the evidence.’
Why is it that so many liberals are deluded into thinking that one man caused the problems our country is now facing and that one man is going to fix them? It is hard to not think of the Democratic Party voting liberals as being as much the real problem as its solution. After all, they consistently vote for a now majority group of the problem makers, the Democratic Party politicians, and these liberals have not an ounce of desire to do anything more than this it seems.
Most of the ‘voters’ simply do nothing more than ‘vote’ for their one person solution, once every four years. Or perhaps to be fair, they ‘vote’ for subordinates too to their supposed Saviours, usually a time or two in the mean time between presidential elections. They are quite simply as deluded and lazy lot when you look at them rationally, rather than through their own rose-tinged sun glasses of CHANGE that ain’t.
So when you liberals begin to lose your jobs, houses, and your families begin to fall apart from the ensuing chaos, look in the mirror, will you? You voted for the problem instead of trying to change things for the better. Your acceptance of this single See-Saw American Political Corporatized System of ‘voting’ is what caused the financial crisis. Don’t just blame Bush alone, you are the problem.
Israeli Defense Force does Gaza
Letting women pass
Shooting fish in a barrel
Chasing stone-throwers
Mourning loss of fellow soldier to accidental friendly fire
Dennis Kucinich: Wake Up America!
“Wake up America. We have trillions for a war machine and the banks while our government stands by and sniffs at the slaughter of innocents in Gaza, where Israel is blocking aid for wounded Palestinians. Here’s today’s Washington Post. It says,
‘The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it found at least 15 bodies and several children emaciated but alive in a row of shattered houses in the Gaza Strip and accused the Israeli military of preventing ambulances from reaching the site for 4 days. 12 corpses lying on mattresses in one home, along with 4 young children lying next to their dead mothers.’
That’s a quote. Today, US tax dollars, US jets, and US helicopters provided to Israel are enabling the slaughter in Gaza. The administration enables Israel to press forward with the attack against defenseless civilians, blocks efforts at promoting a cease-fire at the UN, and refuses to make Israel compliant with conditions that arms shipments will not be used for aggression. Israel is going to receive $30 billion in a ten year period for military assistance, without having to abide by any humanitarian principles, international laws, or standards of basic human decency. Wake up America.”
—Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
Opportunity to address new Colorado US Senator Michael Bennet on Saturday
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and his pick to replace Senator Ken Salazar, Denver School Superintendent Michael Bennet, will be visiting Colorado Springs on Saturday, Jan 10. You’re invited to meet the two at the Penrose Public Library at 12noon. COME AT 11AM, make them heed their constituents and stop the US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and GAZA.
Let’s show them that Colorado isn’t just about soldiers and weapons contractors earning their livelihood from the expenditure of ordnance.
From A.N.S.W.E.R.:
The Red Cross has condemned Israel for violating international law by blocking ambulance and rescue efforts for wounded civilians. There are thousands of wounded people. The Red Cross rescue team had reported of one of many instances: [we] “found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. They were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up,” the statement said. “In all, there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses” in one of the houses, it added.
The Red Cross declared that Israel had violated international law in its failure to allow for care and treatment of wounded people. The Red Cross had asked Israeli forces to allow them to access these children for four days and the IOF, which remained within 80 meters from the houses, refused to allow the Red Cross through while also refusing to help the dying families.
The Washington Post reports: “The United Nations on Thursday said it was indefinitely suspending all humanitarian aid deliveries in the Gaza Strip, citing a series of Israeli attacks on U.N. facilities and personnel during the 13-day Israeli offensive.
“The suspension appeared likely to deepen a sense of crisis in Gaza, where more than half the territory’s 1.5 million people live on food aid from the United Nations and where water, power and cooking gas are all in short supply.”
The people of Gaza are enduring immense hardship. The must know that they are not alone. The world stands with them. The only thing that will end this criminal invasion and war is the massive outpouring of the people in Washington, D.C., and in countries around the world. It is the people who are making the difference. That is what January 10th is all about.
From Students for Justice in Palestine:
SJP condemns this Israeli escalation of violence against Gazans in the harshest of manners and highlights that it was forewarned by Israel’s deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai as a “greater Shoah” the Hebrew word for the Nazi holocaust.
Under International law and standing UN conventions, destroying a people in part or in full is considered ethnic cleansing.
The full siege of Gaza is leading to deaths due to lack of access to medical essentials, sickness, lack of sanitation and lack of access to basic resources that are there and protected as basic human rights. The Palestinians dying in Gaza were pushed out by Israel, forcefully and illegally in an effort to ethnically cleanse Palestine. Now Israel is killing them inside the refugee camps.
Peace can only be achieved when Israeli apartheid is ended and Palestinians are granted their national, political and civil rights, as well as the right to return as guaranteed under international law.
UNDO THE COUP begins at home
COLORADO SPRINGS- Rita wants to remind local Democrats about which way to push Barack Obama, come January 20 after the inauguration, and before then, at the local Democratic Party precinct meetings. Whether we have expectations of Obama or not, if he doesn’t know what we want, how’s he supposed to deliver?
Here’s the full text of her latest communique:
CHANGE AND MORE CHANGE
by Rita Walpole AgueWith the Obama inauguration about to happen, may we all come to rest and live in peace and justice and true democracy. Recent comments made by Obama coordinator Bob Nemanich re. the anti-democratic stance certain of his old friends, do not surprise me in the least. Failures of our democracy to function as a democracy are not new, and have been around for awhile – some say since 1947. I recall when the FBI was doing warrantless wiretapping of the Kennedys and MLK, plus countless of their supporters and followers. Such blatant anti-democracy tactics have now reached new levels of power lust and greed under the oh so fascist, manipulative Neocons.
Consider Neocon “spook” surveillance and infiltration into so many organizations and efforts, certainly including numerous peace, and justice, and political and governmental organizations and operations The first such governmental operation that comes to my mind is the democratic and fundamental act of voting and having that vote count. No big secret – vote fraud’s gone broad based and high tech.
Here’s reality, as painful as it may be to face – we’ve lost democracy. And the “change” our almost president Obama has promised to render must first and foremost address this loss of democracy, and all the constitutional violations that go and have gone unchallenged and all too often hide and have been hidden under the guise of “security against terrorism.” In the words of the head of Grandmothers for Peace International, we must become our own media, a job Bob Nemanich did so well following the Democratic assembly when he, acting in his co-ordinator position with the Obama campaign, sent out an email far and wide with a request for info. on the intimidation and disenfranchisement that occurred at the Democratic county assembly in February, 2007.
Bob wanted identified who it was who had stood at the door and turned away countless elected delegates and alternates, many of whom had dangerously been kept standing outside in the bitter cold for hours. How tragic it is that question even had to be asked by Bob and the party vice chair Jay Ferguson, since the Democratic party chair, John Morris, was most certainly aware who this person at the door was – former NSA operative and then current chair of the local A.C.L.U., and now chair of the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission, William Durland. Certainly Morris knew who Durland was and what he’d been assigned to do, just as Morris knew and knows who Durland is and what he does when Morris recently authorized that complaints re. voting “irregularities” be sent to Durland.
And how tragic it was and is that Morris, supposedly a staunch Democrat and chair of the local party, praises people such as El Paso County Clerk and Recorder Bob Balink, the same official who ousted me from his office in Oct. of 2006 as I attempted to cast an early vote and refused to take off my small “Grandmothers for Peace” button. Very recently and far more outrageously, Balink attempted to disenfranchise Colorado College students and keep them from voting, attempting to intimidate their parents with a threat of IRS involvement. Disenfranchisement and intimidation. Isn’t there a pattern?
And what role has and does Colorado Springs being a major “fusion center” play in these and all the other totally undemocratic and unconscionable incidents we’ve experienced here in Colorado Springs – for example, the tear gassing of peaceful demonstrators as they gathered prior to our entry into the Iraq war? Similar tear gassing occurred at that time only in one other city on earth – Athens, Greece. Then there was the brutalizing of the peace demonstrators during the 2007 St. Patrick’s Day Parade – their offense was wearing a uniform of sorts, green shirts with peace signs. They peacefully marched and rode under permit in the parade, and suddenly were brutalized beyond belief. Guess what? No national press coverage, even though one of the top stories of the year happened that day – the dragging in the street by a cop of Elizabeth Fineron, a physically disabled former nun, until she was raw and bleeding on her thigh and stomach, an act of torture still available for view on the internet and in photos which appeared in the Independent. Talk about terror!
Cursed until the day of her death with post traumatic stress disorder following her being so brutalized, Elizabeth died a year and a month later, the victim of a fully “infused” Colorado Springs Police Department. Next came the arrest, handcuffing and removal of two peace demonstrators at the 2008 Democratic State Convention, along with the destruction by police of the support poles for the banner. Their true offense was standing outside police lines, holding up a banner that asked: “Dems, please stop funding the war in Iraq.” Waiting to enter the arena to take part in the convention, elected delegates and alternates cheered the demonstrators, as simultaneously, unidentified persons, standing on a nearby hotel roof with a hyperbolic dish, surveilled and recorded the entire arrest incident. The official offense the police initially charged the peace demonstrators with was “obstruction,” but that charge was almost immediately abandoned and replaced with the charge of “trespass.” Guess who would be the party to bring and pursue such a complaint of trespass? You guessed it – the leaseholder of the convention site, the Colorado state Democratic party!
And then came the request by the head of the Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission, at that time but no longer located behind the Independent in a building which the Indy owns, for police to appear and question and possible place under arrest four individuals, myself included, who sat in folding chairs in a streetside parkway outside the J&P office for an hour one spring evening and discussed the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver. We considered what “infusion” style police tactics might be (and unfortunately were) used on peace demonstrators. Once again, it’s difficult to miss the pattern of disenfranchisement and intimidation.
Rather than standing watch on the constitution and democracy and asking the hard but vital questions that are the basis of all good critical thinking, the U.S. has allowed itself to be spun by the greed and power mongers and their corporate controlled mass media into a state of “La La Land.” Not only was Elizabeth Fineron a victim of a fully “infused” Colorado Springs Police Department, but the peaceful older disabled woman, an Obama supporter, a teacher who dedicated herself to peace and justice for all, was a victim also of a naive, consumption preoccupied, unquestioning and not sufficiently concerned U.S. populace.
It’s increasingly apparent that what all this spells: COUP! Certainly we all, under the leadership of our man Obama, need to address the Neocon-insurged “IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID” peril we find ourselves in. But until we place as our number one priority the return of true vs. token democracy, and do what it takes to “UNDO THE COUP,” we’ll continue to be at the mercy of the military/industrial/corporate power and greed mongers who, like Bob’s old school friends, think we Americans are stupid, should not be able to vote, and believe democracy is a quaint, antiquated, naive institution. Our democracy, which has been tortured, waterboarded, and all but done away with over the years, will be beyond resuscitation if we don’t clearly concentrate on the root of the problems underlying the economic and total undemocratic mess we’re in today.
Let’s keep the faith, and Obama-style hope. Let’s honor of all our U.S. brothers and sisters who, along with Elizabeth Fineron, have donned a uniform and fought and died for their country – for democracy and the constitution, for lasting peace and fundamental justice. Let’s rejoice in the not so minor miracle that’s happened – the election of Barak Obama. Let’s celebrate his inauguration. Let’s push hard and fight peacefully but firmly for the change we so desperately need. And let’s never stop reminding our soon to be President Obama that we’re counting on him to bring about the change he’s promised – the change we so need and long for.
President Obama, congratulations, and never forget – we want to help you and your appointees to UNDO THE COUP!
Rita Ague
Thousands of Israelis protest against the war in Gaza
Thousands of Israelis protest against the war in Gaza seen here on youtube. Great video of this demonstration! Great demonstration by heroic people in Tel Aviv! Contrast these decent people with the Democratic Party here at home, who are acting in the Senate and House to rubber stamp Israel’s death and destruction against the mainly civilian Palestinians living in Gaza.
This Saturday Democratic Governor of Colorado will be appearing at the Colorado Springs downtown library with the new Colorado State Democratic Party Senator he just appointed. Be there to tell them about how you feel about their party promoting violence and terror against innocent people in the Occupied Territories, and that you want the Democratic Party to stop all these horrible wars they are responsible for along with their Republican buddies.
Get there about 11 AM with signs, and raise your voices to let them hear that Americans are sick of their bloody wars! If Israeli Jews can speak out against the thug supporters of their own government, then so can you do the same in the US!
New Years Day Oakland cop murder captured on tape
The Oakland transit police murder a man in cold blood in front of multiple witnesses and then try to confiscate all the videos of their crime, but they miss one. That one got away on the subway with the film. BART shooting captured on video As you can see by this newspaper article, the police are trying to figure how best to get away with their murder with an excuse, and the press is always willing to cooperate with these cover ups of cop crimes. Oakland Police Cop Watch has the video here…
New Footage of Oakland Man Murdered By BART Cop
RIP- Maria Dimitriadi
Maria Dimintriadi, an antifascist Greek singer whose music is famous world wide, has just recently died of lung cancer. Her songs have also been an inspiration for the youth uprising against the current Greek regime.
Here are four selections of Maria Dimitriadi’s music on youtube “diokse ti lypi palikari”, MARIA DIMITRIADI, “thalassa platia”, “Mia fora ki ena kero”
Alexandros Grigoropoulos was killed by the Greek police in Athens in December 6th 2008. He was only 15 years old and his death sparked extreme violent riots all over Greece. Here is Maria Dimitriadi’s singing once again used as a tribute to this child murdered by the Greek police. R.I.P. Alexandros Grigoropoulos
Also see The Red-Hearted Voice of Greece; Mourning Maria Dimitriadi By CHRIS PAPALEONARDOS for a link to more music by this great Greek singer.
Israel is just Nazi Germany in slow motion
Israeli massacres 800 Palestinians. World looks the other way, just as they did when Hitler was massacring the Jews. I thought we promised, “Never Again”.
Today’s Moron of the Day award goes to Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), who on Tuesday’s Rachel Maddow Show tried to justify Israel’s murder of children in a school they bombed, saying “the conflict has been going on for centuries.” Apparently he is unaware that Israel didn’t even exist before 1948, when they stole the land from … the Palestinians.
“Our strength lies in our intensive attacks and our barbarity. After all, who today remembers the genocide of the Armenians?”
–Adolf Hitler
Democrats to blame for Zionist genocide in Gaza.
Conspiracy to commit crimes against humanity. US Senate passes resolution supporting Germany’s Israel’s right to kill off the Jews Palestinians.
You have been enslaved by the Zionist agenda. Did you know it is ILLEGAL to boycott Israel under US law? You WILL bow to the Master Race!
Jewish women arrested for protesting Zionist genocide in Gaza. Thou shalt not expose the truth about the Nazi State!
Video: CNN confirms it was Israel — not the Palestinians — who broke the cease-fire.
NAZI troops fired on a UN relief convoy in Gaza. The UN had coordinated with the IDF to make sure the convoy would be safe, and Israel promised they had a three hour window to deliver medical supplies, but as soon as the convoy was on its way the IDF attacked it anyway, killing relief workers. Anyone who doubts that Israel has become Nazi Germany, can just forget about it, that ship sailed a long time ago. This after Israel has repeatedly hit shelters the UN had set up to protect civilians, more NAZI war crimes.
Senate Democratic Majority Harry Reid says, “I don’t work for Obama.” Of course, not. He works for Dick Cheney. Always has, always will.
Excerpts from Thomas McCullock’s Jan 8 notes, thomasmc.com.
Santa bought little; Barack to throw paper dollars into air
The Christmas shopping season was the worst in four decades with sales slumping everywhere. Wal-Mart and other retailers warn after weak December So our new fearless leader, Barack, plans to continue Bush’s program of throwing deficit dollars into the wind towards the rich. Everybody’s on board the road to bankrupting the US government!
What happens if the printing out of new dollars to give to bankrupt companies ‘fails’? What happens if they still go under? Who will have been placed into holding the debt? Why that would be you and your kids, and you might well not even have your over mortgaged house as a roof over your head, nor have a job to hold onto? Due to the loss of value to the national currency, you could find prices going UP, Up, UP! You will find yourself living in a country sunk into holding trillions of dollars of debt it now owes.
However, since your country’s government will still be holding the balance of the world’s nuclear weaponry, there is a silver radioactive cloud to the future here. What country is going to be collecting on what your government owes them? Sound like a scene from the movie, The Godfather? What’s a little collateral damage here or there since you are a Proud American? What’s a little debt among ‘friends’?
A week or so ago I came across a homeless person living in his car, but he had bumper stickers placed all over it with ‘United We Stand’ as the message. That can be your inspiring message in this rather bleak scenario. At least you will be an American and America does best at passing off misery onto others… others like YOU.
LAs Homeless blog asks, Do we set up car parks for Homeless Living? A good question…
One big pimp for the Pentagon
“Our government was one big pimp for the U.S. military,” one of the women, Kim Ae-ran, 58, said in a recent interview reports the NYT. Ex-Prostitutes Say South Korea and U.S. Enabled Sex Trade Near Bases.
This woman is talking about South Korea but just as well could have been talking about the South Vietnamese government, the Thai government, or the Philippine government. When one strips away all the rhetoric about fighting communism, fighting terrorism, and fighting to bring democracy to whoever? …what remains is the naked reality of ‘our boys’ screwing over other peoples on behalf of the US corporate elites’ profit making and power.
All those lies about why the US supposedly went and occupied South Korea to spread democracy we have heard through all these long years, are now crumbling away into the real facts becoming more known about mass atrocities, mass prostitution of Korean women, and the simple mass brainwashing of the American people back then that is coming out. Korea was no good war, but was rather merely the Japanese occupation of that country being turned into the US occupation of a portion of that Peninsula.
Many in the US military High Command wanted to drop nuclear weapons on China at that time as they used Korea as a base for their US government Asian aggression! That’s the moral caliber of the US Political and Military establishment and the forced sex trade was the same thing just passed downward as spoils to the grunts. Part of the ‘character building’ the US military is noted for. Join the Army and get a license to kill. Get a license to fuck an under aged prostitute with little to no risk from the law.