“Remember when Presidents were smart and Bombs were dumb ?“
“When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist”.
– Archbishop Halder Pessoa Camara
This is blog posts only because I have removed the archives of the podcasts. My server account does not allow archives of old shows. Related shows might be found on Climate Files Radio.
Civilianism #1 / Civility
04/28/07
My plea to extremist Republicans and conservatives: stop insulting the rest of us. Extremism doesn’t flatter anyone. This speaks for itself, which is the point of it.
How things have changed . . . now (May 2008) there doesn’t seem to be any reconciling between Democrats and Republicans. In fact, Republicans seem nearly finished as a political party.
Civilianism episode #1. Download episode #1 here.
Bonus download: MLK — “Why I Oppose the War”
It contains clips from Thom Hartmann and John Gibson and me.
I called my podcast “not really a podcast” for awhile because … to make a long story short, I wanted to dump a few crazed stalkers and harassers I had at the time, rid myself of some very negative people, and it sort of worked, for awhile.
——————————————————————————————————————————————– Civilianism #2 / Iraq, Democratic Debate, Pt. 1 — April 2007
MSNBC now has video up of segments of last night’s Democratic Debate. They are guarding the spread of this vital information very closely, so beware, and their video doesn’t work all that well. They can get away with it by calling it “beta”. I would like to designate most of the Democratic debaters “beta” versions because they just didn’t seem ready for prime time yet. (Except Clinton, who seemed ready to move into the Oval Office.) What disconcerted me the most was Hillary’s odd voice and the fact that Biden didn’t yammer out of control and he looked oddly handsome. Did he have hair implants? Did someone punch Hillary in the throat?Edwards got to brush off his $400 haircut charged to the campaign as “a mistake” and then snuck in another story about his daddy. This tale of woe was about the time the Edwards family had to leave a restaurant in shame (on the lord’s day, of course) because they just couldn’t pay those menu prices on a millworker’s salary. Shameless crap. Edwards has now been eliminated from the “person I may vote for” list, but not because of that. He is giving me the creeps this year, and I found out he voted for the horrendous Patriot Act. He’s got that thousand-yard stare most of the time, and that’s totally understandable, what with his wife being deathly ill. That’s it, buddy, you have terrible judgment.
(No download for this one, as you can find the original online somewhere)
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Oddly named, this segment started off with Brian Williams stating it was really titled “The Elephant in the Room”. NBC is off its rocker. (Plus it doesn’t help that Williams is moonlighting as the Big Giant Head on the Daily Show. I can barely look at him and not laugh). So here is part II and it’s all about their supposedly embarrassing pre-conceived attributes. Little things that may keep them from being president, like how Joe Biden talks too much. Like how Obama is too inexperienced, or some such nonsense. If I hear one more time how Obama isn’t experienced enough to be president, I’m going to donate to his campaign, and I really don’t want to do that. The reason that perception bothers me is that George W Bush wasn’t experienced in anything, not even travel, not even eating fancy food, before he was appointed president, and that was OK with a ton of people. Even his governor’s job was mostly a figurehead type of position. But Obama has more political experience than George, and somehow that’s not enough. The criticism is really because Obama looks “young”.   I’ll tell you what Obama’s “youthful” appearance can be blamed on and it’s simple: he’s skinny. He needs to work out and put on some muscle and learn how to glower at people. Practice how to look at them like he has two coals burning under those brows, tormented, determined, and then people won’t say he’s “inexperienced” anymore. He just looks too optimistic. Remember Carol Moseley Braun? She smiled all the time and no one wanted to vote for her. No one that happy should be president, if you’re a Democrat. It’s suspicious. But if you’re a Republican you can have permanent brain damage from years of drinking and all kinds of diseases from dating goats, and an IQ equal to the temperature outside on a cool day, and no one cares. As long as you can grin, you’re in. Dick Cheney runs everything anyway.
At the end of this segment is when Mike Gravel lets his hair down and tells the kids a thing or two. Notice Kucinich looking approving. (Also no longer a podcast, you can find the original broadcast somewhere online.
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Civilianism #4 / Stealing the Middle Class — April
Jim Hightower is a consumer advocate, populist, and author from Texas. Below is a download for a podcast on how employers don’t value their employees, using Circuit City as an obvious recent example. You know, as consumers we have a lot of power we don’t really realize, if only we’d use it. We can influence bad business practices by buying elsewhere, for one thing. Here’s a for-instance that could have turned out worse than it did: I have only one cable TV/cable internet company left in my city to choose from. Last year Charter bought out Astound, making them a local monopoly, and they reassured everyone at the time that our monthly bills probably wouldn’t go up. In fact, they even told us they might go down! (That’s part of the “voodoo economic” policy that brought us the (fictitious) revenue-generating tax cuts!) So this month I got my Charter bill and it had suddenly shot up about $11 per month from last month. I checked a bill from last June and it was a total of $18 cheaper per month — only 11 months ago, and I’m not getting anything extra for it at all. What am I paying for, their CEO’s salary or the cost of their acquisition? Forget it!
So I called them yesterday, ready to do battle. I began by asking what I could drop as far as a channel package. I told the customer service rep (who I could barely understand as she was obviously in a non-English speaking country) that I didn’t need all the channels on TV that I get. I mean, I get about 300 channels and I probably watch 4 or 5 of them, if that. So I was ready to drop most of them. She immediately said she could give me a special promotion for one year that would cost me $22 less per month. Hello? That came out of the blue — I hadn’t even asked for anything. I don’t even know what she was discounting, but I took it. She probably knew that I had called a wireless company in town before I called Charter asking how long it would take them to hook me up and get me online if I cancelled Charter. (10 minutes, but I would have had to buy a router for the PC and rent another modem for the Mac every month, which would end up being more expensive on the internet side of things.)
But regardless of that, I was ready to switch because I was pissed off. I had done nothing but be a good customer of Charter for years, and in the last three years they have raised my bill nearly $35 per month. I thought I had no power over this monopoly at all until I called today with probably what sounded like a “I’m going to drop you if you don’t give me a reason not to” tone in my voice. I was ready to go without TV. I get most of my watching done online anyway — all I really need is an internet connection. I dropped my land line phone a year ago also because I don’t need it. Charter is fast going obsolete, and they probably know it. If it weren’t for another tv-addicted family member I would have dumped the TV completely. (The two entertainment shows I really really like I can download from iTunes.) OK, I would miss Keith Olbermann, but even he I can live without.
So there you have it, unintended consumer power. You have it too. If a corporation is taking advantage of you and charging you too much, call them up and tell them. Maybe they will give you a break, maybe not, but it’s worth trying.
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Civilianism #5 / George Tenet’s Book
I should write a book about how I failed the American people and caused a war to start and then make a few million from that book. Except of course, I can’t do that. George Tenet is doing it though. I am glad he finally wrote a book but he should then tell everything he can in it, not stick to old loyalties and hold back. If you’d like his 60 Minutes interview in podcast form along with the confessions of a CIA Chief named Tyler Drumheller and my usual yakking, here it is.
From The Gavel:
“Oversight Committee Invites Former CIA Director to Testify
April 27th, 2007 by Jesse LeeA letter (pdf):
April 27, 2007
The Honorable George Tenet
c/o Robert B. Barnett, Esq.
Williams & Connolly LLP
725 Twelfth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005Dear Mr. Tenet:
I am writing to invite you to testify at a hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on May 10, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2157, Rayburn House Office Building. The purpose of the hearing is to learn your views about one of the claims used to justify the war in Iraq — the assertion that Iraq sought to import uranium from Niger — and related issues.
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight committee in the House of Representatives and has broad oversight jurisdiction as set forth in House Rule X. Information for witnesses appearing before the Committee is contained in the enclosed Witness Information Sheet.
If you have any questions, you may contact me or David Rapallo or Theodore Chuang of the Committee staff at (202) 225-5420.
I look forward to your testimony.
Sincerely,
Henry A. Waxman
Chairman
On Wednesday the Oversight Committee approved a subpoena for testimony from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice regarding the assertion that Iraq sought to import uranium from Niger. A New York Times article today discusses how Mr. Tenet addresses the issue in his book.
Read more at The Gavel. I think this could definitely cause President Bush to be forced to resign. It speaks directly to the issue of why Bush and his associates kept the Niger/Uranimum claim in the State of the Union, to scare the bejeebers out of all of us, when he knew it was all a fabricated, non-supported lie.
Tenet also talks about Valerie Plame Wilson and how he felt about being betrayed by his former colleagues who decided he was the one who would take the fall. I’m not sure he didn’t deserve to take a large part of the blame for the disaster in Iraq, but at least he’s speaking out now, to some extent, if only he’d tell the whole truth!
(request this episode if you want it, I have temporarily misplaced it and it isn’t on the server anymore . . . .)
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Civilianism #6 / Me, George and Keith Ellison
Congressman Keith Ellison has been in the news and in demand quite a bit since he was elected here in Minnesota last November. First because he is a Muslim who wanted to use the Quran for his swearing-in photos, now because he’s outspoken against the Iraq war and wants to get us out. I waste the first 20 minutes of this on myself (go ahead and skip ahead, I won’t feel bad) and then I talk briefly about Bush’s veto of the war funding, his misleading statements, and then cost of the war in Iraq. Finally I play a few clips of Ellison’s viewpoints as heard recently from the Congressman himself. Thanks to Minnesota Matters, Air America Radio, and NPR for the use of their segments in this podcast.
You can download this episode here.
Civilianism #7 / Impeach for Peace
It is obvious from his recent veto of a perfectly fair and sensible war funding bill that Bush has no intention of a logical conclusion anytime soon to our involvement in the war in Iraq. Our occupation now stretches out through eternity, and the longer we stay, the stronger our chances are of being there literally forever.Also included in that fun scenario is the probability that Bush will extend our “involvement” in the area, probably in Iran. The embassy we are building in Iraq is a small billion-dollar American city. The “Green Zone” is a small Americanized city, now with ugly walls around it and the people trapped inside, or outside.I was also listening to a portion of last night’s Republican debate. Those candidates were not talking peace, they were talking about military training and how to “deal with” Iran. We ain’t goin’ nowhere, folks. No solution, no withdrawal, no peace; that is Bush’s intent. The solution? Impeachment.These sites will give you all you need to know about the why, the when, and the how.These sites will give you all you need to know about the why, the when, and the how.Impeach for Peace
World Can’t Wait
Dennis Kucinich
ImpeachBush
John Conyers
Mike Gravel
After Downing Street Impeachment Center
You can download episode 07 here.
Civilianism #8 / Horse Race! Pt. 1
The 2008 horse race is on, but don’t expect the corporate media to cover anything of substance. To them, it’s an entertainment event, like the Olympics. You’ll have to tune in to podcasts and what little liberal media exists in radio and magazines to get the real story behind the candidates.Elections start earlier and earlier and this year there has already been a Democratic Debate and a Republican debate. No wonder they’re going to spend a total of an estimated ONE BILLION DOLLARS on their campaigns this election cycle. It’s insanity! Let’s look at some of the candidates. Some of them should be the average person. Why not elect a regular man or woman off the street? It’s hard to see how we could do worse than George W. Bush no matter what method we use of picking someone. There’s no way to top that disaster. I think we just pluck Joe or Jane Average off the sidewalk and see how they are after a year on the job. If they don’t get us into a stupid and illegal war they are already a huge improvement over their predecessor. Since Bush’s poll numbers are now around 28%, we should be able to get a lot of good quality volunteer candidates.
You can download episode 09 here.
Civilianism #9 / Horse Race! Pt. 2
The horse race for president is on, part 2. This discussion is mainly about two lesser-known candidates for president in 2008, Mike Gravel and Ron Paul. I can understand the appeal of Mike Gravel, but why are people so interested in Ron Paul? He does not seem that special or wonderful to me. In fact, the very things that set him truly apart are the things we should be wary of — he’s for a tiny government, lower taxes and against strict measures to fight global climate change. He would not restrict drilling for oil seemingly anywhere in the world, including in ANWR. He thinks we need to fight the “volcano problem”. His oddest argument for not being more aggressive on global climate change is sadly a common one that Republicans use a lot: China isn’t doing anything, so therefore we shouldn’t either. What kind of an attitude is that!Join me in this look at two unusual candidates for president, the national democratic initiative, the opinions of a small nut-eating mammal, and another citizen candidate for president, as well as a discussion of a couple of recent topics such as Halliburton and Congress.Guests: Charlie the Conservative Chipmunk (thanks to the Florida Soapbox podcast) and audio by Tom Chartier, “Hat”.
You can download episode 10 here.
Civilianism #10 / A Music Tribute Podcast
This podcast is a tribute to the fallen US soldiers and the fallen Iraqi civilians who have died in George Bush’s tragic war. It includes some great anti-war music I have recently come across. We begin, however, with some confusion over how someone can support those Democrats who are responsible for voting for the Military Authorization for war with Iraq and the Patriot Act, yet fault Bush for then taking advantage of the nearly unlimited power they gave him! If someone handed me unlimited power, I might use it too. But I sure wouldn’t then vote for those who gave me that obscene amount of power in the next election.National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, anyone? Thanks in part to Bill Clinton, the author of the version from 1998 that we still can’t even read.Songs played:Circle of Confusion by JacarandaForgiveness II by Michael SkyGoodbye by Ian KettererI’ve Got Issues by Matt ConnellyDungeons of War by CitadelRevolution by Gavan ThomsonClinton Got a BJ by Eric SchwartzThis ends with a rant against know-it-all-ness (in the form of Christopher Hitchens) and for keeping hope alive, which is important, especially now.
You can download this episode here.
The US Attorney story could be the scandal that finally leads to impeachment. This podcast discusses another attorney that was on The List who shouldn’t have been — Thomas Heffelfinger from Minnesota. He happened to resign before he could be forced out, but he was replaced, allegedly, by a Republican operative, which further illustrates the scale of this scandal. And, the fallout from this scandal continues:On Monday, a Senior Rove aide left White House.
White House political director and top Karl Rove aide Sara Taylor, “who has been with George W. Bush from the outset of his first presidential campaign”, is the latest staff member to leave the president’s employ.
Taylor cleared out her office early last week. Taylor is reportedly intimately involved in the U.S. Attorney scandal. According to Kyle Sampson, Taylor was directly promoting efforts to appoint attorneys without Senate confirmation. The House and Senate Judiciary Committees have approved subpoenas for her testimony. (From May 28, 2007)
A massive Iraq Embassy is being built in Baghdad and that contrasts with the lives of the Iraqis whose country we have now ruined and who now live in such poverty. The people living in the new “International Zone” will be living in relative luxury, while Iraqis continue to try to survive with a shortage of gas, food and electricity. When will it end?
Civilianism #11 / US Attorneys, Iraq, Ghosts
The serious debt the U.S. economy suffers from is outed by USA Today, surprisingly. After telling you those numbers, which are very dire if all acceptable corporate accounting practices are used, I tell you a little bit about my vacation and my encounter with the unknown.
Here is the link to the 2006 Corpwatch.org article that discusses the bad business practices of the Kuwaiti construction firm that is building the US embassy in Iraq. The link to the Think Progress site with several photos and links and more on the Embassy itself is here.
The ghostly photos I referred to are below. The first picture was taken in a wet cave and a flash was used. The second picture is of a dry tomb, and a flash was definitely not used. The third picture is of one of the skeletons in the cave, known as the Crystal Maiden. Click on all the pictures for larger versions. I make no certain claims as to what is in these pictures, but they are mostly untouched (color was enhanced) and only lightened up a bit to make it easier to see them.
Music at end: “Little Ghost” by the White Stripes.
Civilianism #12 / Health Care, NetCentric Warfare
There is a significant difference between the Democrats and Republicans after all. It’s called health care. The Democrats have several viable health care plans, as we heard in the last debates. The only Republican who responded intelligently on health care during their debate was Tommy Thompson. The rest responded that health care needs to stay privatized, use health savings accounts, and don’t even mention socialized medicine because they (wrongly) think it doesn’t work. In fact, it has been working here for years and it’s called Medicare.Dennis Kucinich’s HR 676 single-payer plan is discussed here on his site.If Northrop Grumman is “Defining the Future” we are all in trouble. Watch an actual NG “hit”; click on the photo at the top. Check out their website here. They are the epitome of the military industrial complex, employing 122,000 people, and worth $30 billion in contracts. They were just awarded a $191 contract by the U.S. Navy for “. . . . procurement of material and production readiness for activities leading to the construction of the first Zumwalt-class destroyer, DDG 1000″. Net-Centric Warfare is what they are advertising to the public, and the question is, “why?” We can’t buy their products, but we can “buy” their propaganda. Their ideas are the same as those of Halliburton and other war profiteers: you pay for war, we make money.New Darfur website sponsored by Amnesty International: Eyes on DarfurThese photos are from my local mall. This is just one painting but it is an excellent example of how 9/11 and patriotism has become part of our trashy culture. This could have been painted by one of Saddam’s official portrait painters.
You can download episode #12 here.
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Civilianism #13 / Not In Our Name Variety Show
Joe Lieberman threatens Iran. The escalation (surge) is a set-up — there won’t really be a meaningful report by General Petraeus in September. It’s all a tactic to make the Republican candidate look good next year by drawing down the troops right before the 2008 election. Meanwhile, Bush’s new change in direction is to arm our enemies, the Sunni insurgents, who up until last week were our #1 enemy in Iraq. (Not according to Joe Lieberman, who makes the outrageous claim that 95% of the attacks on US soldiers are al Qaeda who are being trained in Iran! That wins the Asinine Comment of the Week award.) And, we are using so much oil just fighting our wars for oil, we’ll probably always need wars for oil. Read the article “The Pentagon v. Peak Oil“, at TomDispatch, and thanks to LeftCoaster for that.Reid and Pelosi write Bush a letter on the 13th of June. They are the leaders of the House and the Senate, they have the power of funding or defunding the war, and yet they chose to fund it. Tell me again why we were happy about a Democratic majority? While they are funding the troops, more people die every day in Iraq. Thanks for nothing! Here’s their letter.
June 13, 2007
The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500Dear Mr. President:
Last November, the American people overwhelmingly made clear their desire to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end. Yet, we did nothing. You escalated the war. Now we’re in a mess that gets worse every day. We ask the American people to remember this and our inexcusable inaction in the next election. We understand that while we refuse to act decisively, Americans die needlessly every day in Iraq.
Sincerely,
Nancy and Harry
Call them and tell them how lame they really are– 205-221-3121.
Thanks for audio segments from Camilo Mejia, the hero soldier from Not In Our Name, Ahrandahti Roy for “Seize the Time”, AJ for his audio essay “Where’d my America go?” and Gary for his voicemail. Thanks to Hillary Clinton’s website for Smashmouth’s “I’m a Believer”. The painting at the top is called “The Field of the Slain” painted in 1916 by Evelyn de Morgan.
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Civilianism #14 / Peoples History 2, Protest Injustice
I’m having a hard time lately supporting much of anything our government does. We don’t seem to learn from history, even well-written history, such as The People’s History of the US written by Howard Zinn. We’ve been dragged through similar quagmires before: There are now two governments in Palestine, one Democratically elected, and one supported by the U.S. There is yet another major offensive going on in Iraq and we have thrown more soldiers at the problem, when diplomacy and negotiations are what is needed. We have the U.S. military in Afghanistan conducting air strikes on schools, killing children, bombing living compounds, all under the excuse of “something suspicious”. There are over 2 million displaced refugees outside of Iraq and 2 million refugees inside of Iraq, without homes. (Today is World Refugee Day!) There is a record number of children in Iraq without parents. There are people living in tent camps and utter poverty because of the militaristic policies of this Republican administration and the votes for war authorization by such Democratic candidates for president such as Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. We are in this mess because of both Democrats and Republicans in collusion, both advocating war as our foreign policy.Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech against war in 1967 and it mirrors our own situation now, 40 years later, so much it’s eerie. Let’s learn from the soon-to-be history that we are now going through, instead of repeating it! Here is a portion of it:
Poverty, urban problems and social progress generally are ignored when the guns of war become a national obsession. When it is not our security that is at stake, but questionable and vague commitments to reactionary regimes, values disintegrate into foolish and adolescent slogans.
America is a great nation,… [b]ut honesty impels me to admit that our power has often made us arrogant. We feel that our money can do anything. We arrogantly feel that we have some divine, messianic mission to police the whole world. We are arrogant in not allowing young nations to go through the same growing pains, turbulence and revolution that characterizes our history…
All of this reveals that our nation has not yet used its vast resources of power to end the long night of poverty, racism and man’s inhumanity to man. Enlarged power means enlarged peril if there is not concomitant growth of the soul. Genuine power is the right use of strength. If our nation’s strength is not used responsibly and with restraint, it will be, following Acton’s dictum, power that tends to corrupt and absolute power that corrupts absolutely.”
There is more of the speech after the break.
” Our arrogance can be our doom. It can bring the curtains down on our national drama. Ultimately, a great nation is a compassionate nation. We are challenged in these turbulent days to use our power to speed up the day when “every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.”
Let me say finally that I oppose the war in Viet Nam because I love America. I speak out against it not in anger but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart, and above all with a passionate desire to see our beloved country stand as the moral example of the world. I speak out against this war because I am disappointed with America. There can be no great disappointment where there is no great love. I am disappointed with our failure to deal positively and forthrightly with the triple evils of racism, extreme materialism and militarism. We are presently moving down a dead-end road which can lead to national disaster…
Those of us who love peace must organize as effectively as the war hawks. As they spread the propaganda of war, we must spread the propaganda of peace. We must combine the fervor of the civil rights movement with the peace movement. We must demonstrate, teach and preach, until the very foundations of our nation are shaken. We must work unceasingly to lift this nation that we love to a higher destiny, to a new plateau of compassion, to a more noble expression of humaneness.”
That speech could be given today with only a few words changed, yet no one is giving it. Maybe Dennis Kucinich comes close, but the media isn’t covering him, and why is that? Because he’s not in the pockets of big corporations and he’s not even much of a fan of his own party. That’ll get you ignored, just ask Howard Dean. We can do better than this as a country. I’d hate to think that in 40 years we have made nearly no progress in advancing our country forward and in fact it doesn’t appear that we have, except in areas that have nothing to do with politics.
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Civilianism #15 / Honey, I Shrunk the Media
We’re people who spend a lot of time in our cars … and our cars have radios that are often broadcasting extremist right-wing conservative idealogy. It’s hard to avoid it because it’s the majority of talk radio. And it’s the majority of cable TV news. There are only five major media companies left giving us media in the USA, and it’s all conservative. We are being brainwashed!
Conservative propaganda is like no other. It’s generally untrue and certainly illogical. Yet, conservative radio has a huge influence on this country’s politics. Guess why Republicans keep getting elected? It’s not the rational people who are listening to this crap, it’s the extremists. And worse, regular people are turning into extremists because of conservative talk radio. We have to fight back and change radio (and other media) before it’s too late.
Center for American Progress’s new report on radio media is here. (PDF)
FAIR
Stop Big Media
Freepress.net
Civilianism #16 / Why Nothing Makes SenseThe big patriotic summer holiday is finally over. Americans understandably love their country, but why are we so blindly patriotic to a country that is more known for its wars than its humanitarian efforts? There’s a disconnect between what we are told, our own common sense, and what is really going on. Combine the media lying to us with intense government propaganda, and you have a situation of false information colliding with the truth. The solution? Listen to Civilianism and other non-mainstream, non-corporate media for news and information.A few things that are covered in #16: Update in the cost of the war in lives and money, Afghanistan civilian deaths via NATO, China bashing, Howard Zinn, and the Republicans filibuster Jim Webb’s amendment. Why won’t Republicans support the troops? Why is Chertoff’s “gut reaction” news on NBC?Bush goes marketing in Ohio and falsely ties 9/11 to Iraq again; Al Qaeda wants war with Iran, Gaza headlines are deceptive even in the “liberal media” and I play a segment of the wonderful speaker for peace and justice, Dr. Dahlia Wasfi who talks about life in Iraq under occupation. Her website is Liberate This.Meanwhile, Bush tells us everything is fine and we have to give the surge a “chance to work”. No, actually, we don’t, if only Congress would grow a backbone. Why don’t they? Another thing that doesn’t make sense. What a coincidence: Just released but not included in the podcast, a new Intelligence report: Al-Qaida has regained strengthPodcast promos played: Callbox 7 and The Florida Soapbox. . . . . . . . . . The truth is out there, and never forget, dissent is patriotic.
Civilianism #17 / The Genius of Impeachment
It’s time for impeachment! Listen to this and let your (mild) guilt at wanting impeachment just float away on the breeze, because impeachment is completely justified. This podcast explains why. You can sleep well knowing you are supporting the right thing. In the meantime, contact your Congressmen and women and let them know you are behind their support of impeachment. The tide is turning, and most Americans now support impeaching at least Dick Cheney if not both of them. From Bill Moyers’ website:
“July 13, 2007/A public opinion poll from the American Research Group recently reported that more than four in ten Americans — 45% — favor impeachment hearings for President Bush and more than half — 54% — favored impeachment for Vice President Cheney.
Unhappiness about the war in Iraq isn’t the only cause of the unsettled feelings of the electorate. . . . . Bill Moyers gets perspective on the role of impeachment in American political life from Constitutional scholar Bruce Fein, who wrote the first article of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, and THE NATION’s John Nichols, author of THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT.”
Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced HR 333, to impeach Dick Cheney, to the 110th Congress, and he would love to have more cosponsors than the 13 he already has. Here is information on HR 333.
The excerpt in this podcast is taken from Bill Moyer’s PBS Saturday show on impeachment titled “Tough Talk on Impeachment”. It inspired me so much I just had to share part of it with everyone. There is hope for this country, but we need to give the Emperor and the Vice Emperor a kick out the door first!
You can download episode #17 here
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Civilianism #18 / Fear the Reaper
Scared yet? You should be. For over two months the Resident has been telling you that Al Qaeda in Iraq is the same crowd that attacked us on 9/11 (and they want to strike the Homeland if the soldiers come home. Yeah, yeah, right. And Iran wants to bomb it’s own allies in Iraq too. The surge is a miserable failure! But, the weapons of war include fear, and it’s effective. They also include armed drones, 500 lb. bombs, and new even more deadly weapons every month. Billions and billions of dollars go to the defense industry and meanwhile, higher education, people stuck in poverty, and health care suffer. The National Intelligence Estimate report is covered in this podcast also.
Creepy: Why is the government increasing its use of the word “Homeland”? Why is the Resident making more and more claims of executive privilege and signing new executive orders? Listen to Paul Craig Roberts discuss this with Thom Hartmann. (The whole interview is also very interesting so listen to it if you can!) Paul Craig Roberts is a conservative who is calling for the impeachment of Bush before it’s too late. Read his article in Counterpunch about it, titled “Impeach Now.” We seem to be headed for dictatorship, police state, more “terror” attacks, or at the very least, a constitutional crisis. (Got your wireless radio license?) And with the way it is being carefully set up, day by day, all the blame can be laid squarely on the elusive ghost of bin Laden. The media participates, as always.
Our government also has a new propaganda minister in the form of a military pawn, Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner. Listen to see how Joe Lieberman is using his outrageous claims of Iranian terror in Iraq to pass resolutions. The claims of the Bush administration about terrorism and wars and who is involved defies all logic. We need to make sense of it and act before it’s too late. We need to get our soldiers out of Iraq before any more of them die.
Reaper information
Armaments and Investments article
Alternet article: Why is the White House Pretending That Saudi Insurgents in Iraq Are Iranian?
Impeach Now article
You can download episode #18 here
Civilianism #19 / Code Name-WTH (What the Hell?)
Get in line and think of Al Qaeda, Americans! Dream of bin Laden while you’re at it. Sure, Saudi Arabia is attacking our soldiers in Iraq because they’re scared of Iran, but so what? Turns out the surge isn’t working, either, despite desperate reports. There is no shortage of death and destruction in Iraq, it just moves around. But in case all that makes you want to pull our troops out of the country, think again! The group called Al Qaeda in Iraq is indeed, those bad fellas that attacked us there on September the 11th, or so says the Resident. What else fuels Republican Zealotry besides a fierce over-protectiveness for Israel? Their Armageddon plans for Iran. Better Rapture them first, before they Rapture us. The CUI (Christians United for Israel) are determined to celebrate the upcoming nuclear weapons party they are planning for Iran. Who’s a part of this horrible plot? Yes, Joe Lieberman and former Congressman Rick Santorum. You can hear some of the audio here but the video has been pulled from the Huffington Post. Watch it here instead:
Christians United for Israel Video
Slave labor is being used to construct the U.S. Embassy In Baghdad. During testimony before the House Oversight Committee today, Rory Mayberry, a former subcontract employee of the firm responsible for the construction of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, said he believes that at least 52 Filipino nationals had been kidnapped to work on the embassy project. (That’s just the tip of the iceberg, folks). His testimony can be heard in this podcast. More Iraq news will astound and frustrate you. What the hell, indeed.The good news: action is being taken. I was sent this notification for a big protest event in Washington and NYC called the Truth-Peace-Impeachment protest and the website for this is ActIndependent.orgIf you have a radio show, podcast or blog, please download the ads HERE and use them!
Visit this site: Truth-Peace-Impeachment
Protests will take place in New York and Washington D.C.
You can download episode 19 here
——————————————————————————————————————————————–Civilianism #20 / Bridges and Freedom
If a bridge falls in Minneapolis, does it make a sound Republicans can hear? Bridges collapsing, infrastructure crumbling, yet Republican politicians won’t raise taxes and fix things because they’re selfish and greedy. More signs of greed include telling 22,000 Iraq veterans they have personality disorders, separating them from the military and denying them their medical benefits. What is wrong with Republicans? They also start wars just to spread killing and chaos, not freedom or democracy, so that in the ensuing chaos they can grab control of natural resources.Bush’s bizarre behavior during his first press conference with Prime Minister Gordon Brown should be grounds enough for a finding of a pre-existing personality disorder. Can we separate him from the U.S. government?Jeff of the podcast GOP Exposed called in a long voicemail about slavery and his theory as to why we invade other countries.Then I discuss the occupation of Iraq. We have to end our involvement in Iraq as soon as possible and remain dedicated to that.
This podcast also plays a portion of the Jon Elliot radio show featuring the story of Mark and Deborah Kuhn, who had an unfortunate run-in with the law concerning their American flag. Their story includes a strange encounter with an Iraq war veteran.
The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office arrested activists Mark and Deborah Kuhn in West Asheville Wednesday morning after a complaint that the couple was desecrating an American flag. They say a deputy invaded their home and used excessive force.
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Civilianism #21 / The Soldier and The Candidate
Want proof that Bush has lied about the war? Here it is. A female soldier on her 2nd tour of duty in Iraq tells The Lionel Show what she knows and how things really are in Iraq. The average soldier in Iraq knows what a bunch of nonsense this occupation is. They are as confused as we are why we are there. Want proof tht Dennis Kucinich is our best candidate for president? Listen to his speech from the Take Back America Conference from June 18 of this year.Also: The Iraqis do not want their oil given away to foreign oil companies, environmental politics, Republicans in California try to change the electoral vote, Democrats sell us out with wiretapping, a message from Mike Papantonio from GoLeftTV, and more.
Civilianism #22 / The Fall of the Rovan Empire
Karl Rove finally announces he’ll be leaving his job as Policy Lord and Political Hack on August 31st. Did Rove get fired? Will Bush miss his brain? New info. on what Bush will do to Iran, some Iraq news, secret gun deal from Bosnia, and a scary story about the Family Security Matters website. Then some honest words from a soldier from GoLeftTV.com and a prediction and outlook for the surge. Questions on wearing Orange to protest, see this: Orange Fridays! Articles and links I mentioned in this podcast:New horrifying number of Iraq war dead from Just Foreign Policy.U.S. in Secret Gun Deal story here.Center for Security PolicyFamily Security Matters organizationContributing Editor/Crazy guy Philip Atkinson wrote an article there promoting the idea that President Bush should be President for Life. The surge isn’t working because it can’t . . . and more. But mostly, we’re just glad to see that Karl Rove is finally leaving his partisan-encrusted office. Celebrate!
Civilianism #23 / Bad Moon Rising
Something is wrong with our government.They seem intent on war with Iran, on defying Congress, on secrecy, RFID chips, spying, ignoring subpoenas, and more. What are they planning? The DoD’s TALON program may be gone, but it’s not really gone, it’s been given to the FBI, who is running the Guardian program, and DHS, who is running the Hostile Intent program. This all goes back to and is tied into Jose Padilla. Padilla is an American citizen, branded a man without a country, a prisoner without a legal system, a person without a crime, held forever in a prison system that is outside the law, tortured, and a canary in a coal mine to us all: This could happen to you. There are over 800 prison camps in the United States, all fully operational and ready to receive prisoners. Along with the U.S. clergy, Blackwater will aid in the apprehension of all who do not comply with martial law. There is, truly, a bad moon on the rise.Glen Greenwald article on Jose PadillaKSLA report on clergy and martial lawOregon Truth Alliance on military exercises“FEMA CONCENTRATION CAMPS: Locations and Executive OrdersChertoff and his order to comply with REAL ID or else.Bad Moon Rising
“I see the bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightnin’.
I see bad times today.”
You can download episode 23 here.
Civilianism #24 / Bolder Soldiers
Bolder Soldiers are those who speak out against the war, end their participation in it, leave military service, and/or become conscientious objectors. It would be even better if recruiters didn’t sign soldiers up in the first place. Recruiters are sales people and they’re selling war. My hope is that people stop buying it. War is not a career. This episode highlights soldiers from the Soldiers Speak Out counter-recruitment DVD produced by David Kasper and Barbara Trent. You can check out their other DVDs and their anti-war project at empowermentproject.org. Become part of the solution, buy the DVD and spread the word. Young people have other options and safer and better ways to serve their country than to participate in an illegal and immoral war. Featured “bolder soldiers” today are Iraq war veterans Aiden Delgado, courtesy of Nova M Radio, Kelly Dougherty and Charlie Anderson. All discuss how their paths took them from soldier to war protester.Socrates said, “It is never right to do wrong or to requite wrong with wrong, or when we suffer evil to defend ourselves by doing evil in return.”The final segment is part of the documentary called WAR MADE EASY
“War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations.”
Civilianism #25 / General Betrayus Pt 1
Hearings took place in the Congress and the Senate on September 10 and 11, for political reasons, to supposedly determine the success of the infamous “surge”, via a massive display of Republican political theater. Not surprisingly, political tool and 4-star general David Petraeus, Surge Czar, presented misleading information, questionable statistics via charts and graphs with erroneous explanations. He then gave a world exclusive interview repeating most of his talking points to Faux News, and continues to lead the U.S. into a state of perpetual war with the blessings of his Commander, Presidente Jorge Bushista. Ya Bastard!The Congress is upset and they protest, but will probably end up funding a continuation of the occupation of Iraq anyway. If I were in a position of power, I’d vote NO on more Iraq war funding! Clips played including Senators Biden, Hagel, Boxer and Obama. Promos played for Blast the Rightand GOP Exposed.Part II of Betrayus will be coming up shortly and will include Civilianism’s first Eco Moment, analysis of Bush’s September 13th speech to the world, and 9/11 information rebuttal.The photo is of an Iraqi woman commenting on the US mission in iraq, taken in September 2007, courtesy of Alive in Baghdad.You can download episode 25 here.
Civilianism #26 / David and George Go Lieth
More on the surge, the lies and the after-plans involving Iran.The official Pentagon Report
on the “surge” was finally released on a Monday at 5:00 pm to protect its contents from our prying eyes. It’s the final of at least 4 similar reports, all saying basically the same thing: The surge is a failure, so what is our real mission in Iraq and why do we remain there? This is a debate American needs to have. Instead we are told to not question Der Bush’s resolve. The September 15th protest in Washington is discussed as at least a partial success in that it led to some resistance and civil disobedience. Included is the inspiring speech of Adam Kokesh, an Iraq war veteran, calling us all into a resistance movement (interpret that as you please).
See Sept15.org for more information. Obama comes out as a person who wants the troops home now, and you can hear a bit of his speech from last week. Hillary announces her health care plan . . . what is so complicated about this? Condi Rice is X-posed, the ACLU fights for free speech in restrooms, the Iranian president is banned from Ground Zero, and finally, the bad news about Blackwater USA. Listen to hear the conflicting accounts and find out what may happen to privatized mercenaries in Iraq.Announcing a new regular feature: Eco Moment with AJ of the 2Cents Worth podcast.
George Bush and the UN conflict with different climate change summits at the end of September.
Read more about that here at IPS news.
You can download this episode here.
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Civilianism #27 / Fight the Neocons
From the Pro-Life party, we get constant war and death. How can they describe themselves as pro-life? It’s all a big marketing ploy, with very little honesty behind the Pro-Life label. From Blackwater to offical “body counts“, the pro-life Republicans seem intent on fighting to keep the killing factory going as long as possible. It’s time we fought back. We need to fight the Neocons, because they are dangerous and damaging to the world as well as America. If anyone has a “dark ideology” like Bush is always talking about, it’s the crazy old Neocons who are the most dangerous to this country. Consider this actual quote:
“Well, if we were to bomb the Iranians as I hope and pray we will, we’ll unleash a wave of anti-Americanism all over the world that will make the anti-Americanism we’ve experienced so far look like a lovefest.”
Is that so? In that case, why not avoid that war at all costs? Yet this particular old crazy neocon, Normal Podhoretz, said to President Bush,”Please, Mr. President, as a Jew, I beg you bomb Iran.” Podhoretz is now working on Rudy Giuliani’s campaign and I play part of his interview from C-SPAN’s After Words interview . The crazy plan by this crazy man has got to be stopped, and the Lieberman-Kyl amendment has to be repealed! Call your Congressmen at the U.S. Congress Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or 1-800-459-1887 (the toll free number changes occasionally) and ask for your Senators’ or Representative’s office. We need to let them know what we want them to do.The Democrats can be partially forgiven for voting for expanding Bush’s wiretapping abilities, but only partially. We know now they were fooled into voting for it by a false alarm terror warning which informed them that the Congress itself was the target of a coming terror attack. They placed their own personal safety over our Constitutional rights.
Here’s the article, ‘Shifting Targets‘by Seymour Hersh, about our looming disaster known soon to be known as the Iran war. It’s a gathering storm, but it’s being gathered by the U.S.
Civilianism #28 / Banana Republic Split?
Split Iraq into 3 parts? This is the magic bullet for the likes of our Congress. Can a corrupt government even lead a partitioned nation? Joe Biden thinks so. Iraqis think Joe Biden is out of his mind for thinking that Iraq should be split up. Biden not only thinks it, but passed a non-binding resolution in the Senate saying so! Mr. Biden, you don’t run Iraq, and not only that, but a native Iraq gives his opinions on all of this, including the war in general, (courtesty of Democracynow.org). Iraqi-born poet and novelist Sinan Antoon discusses the U.S. occupation of Iraq, his latest novel, poetry, and much more. Antoon says, “Even if there is withdrawal, it’s going to be withdrawal Israeli-style: from urban centers to the military bases…that have been built there with millions and millions of dollars. This is the old colonial style: when it’s too costly you let the natives kill each other, let the natives police each other.” Download the entire interview from DN here.To Read: “Congress wants to further mess Iraq up by splitting it into three areas. Iraq Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki calls the plan a “disaster.”The economic numbers from last month have been “revised” and the jobs that Bush bragged about last week aren’t that much to brag about.Eight provisons from the Democrats that were barely caught in time last Thursday regarding wiretapping. The Progressive Caucus Democrats stopped them but barely in time.
A few wayward Democrats want to expand surveillance rules.Iraqi constitution information.Mentioned briefly: Airmen for Christ. They are a dangerous group that is unconstitutionally coercing our Airforce personnel to become fundamentalist Christians.Kucinich didn’t vote for SCHIP and I explain why, thanks to info from the Civilianism forum too. You really should check it out. Great Eco Moment full of tips from AJ of the Baldguyshow.com.
Civilianism #29 / Savage Capitalism
Savage Capitalism is another term for the “shock doctrine” or disaster capitalism. A simplistic way to describe it is opportunistic profit from disasters and shock. The Israeli lobby, the Republican Neocon think tanks, the Bush administration, our foreign policy, our lack of dedication to fighting climate change, our use of disaster zones as free trade laboratories at the expense of human lives, all are part of savage capitalism and the shock doctrine as written about by Canadia author Naomi Klein.Get this movie! Occupation 101. It reveals the true history and current situation in the ongoing Palestinian/Israel conflict.Bush’s press conference of October 16 2007 – a terrifying disaster and comedy show, all in oneJim Cory… writes the amazing “American, Land of Fear?”
Quote: “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government – lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”
– Patrick Henry
I also discuss the problems with Congress and their constant caving in on issues like FISA and funding the war. No link, just unfortunate daily reality.
Another good and disturbing read: Frank Rich, “The “Good Germans” Among Us ”
Also included: Eco Moment #3 from AJ, (baldguyshow.com) a voicemail from Larry, and speculation such as: Do Republicans like climate change because it perpetuates their agenda of slate cleaning?
Naomi Klein’s book: The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Here is the original 1996 book from which modern Neocon world remaking evil began to flow:
The Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance
PNAC, the beneficiary of that 1996 book. Here is AIPAC, just one of many powerful Jewish Lobby groups that help shape U.S. foreign policy.
Bonus download: Shock Doctrine mini movie
Civilianism #30 / Smoke and Fire
There’s a smokescreen coming out of Washington D.C. Why is it so hard to find accurate information about the amount of violence in Iraq? Partially it’s because so many reporters are gone and and we have to rely on Pentagon reports. This leads to conflicting stories, but I try from a variety of sources to find out the truth. I recommend…. Juancole.com… for accurate info. Also Dahr Jamail Iraq dispatches.And what is the war really costing? Waste and fraud seem so rampant, so much so that troops are running out of bullets. How did that happen? There is a new GAO report that says the Pentagon can’t account for about $19.2 billion dollars.If they ever find that money, I think it should go directly into plane fuel to bring the soldiers home. We no longer have any sort of mission in Iraq that makes the slightest bit of sense.According to the right-wing nutjob David Horowitz, it’s Islamo-fascism week, but I think it should just be U.S. Fascism Awareness week, considering what we have for a president and what this government has turned into. Horowitz just wants to stir up Muslim hatred because he’s racist and wants to go start yet another war against Islam — this time in Iran.If fascism is taking over the U.S., the Democrats don’t seem to be doing much to stop it. In fact, they apologize for telling the truth even as Bush violates the fourth amendment over and over again, among others. Thanks to Tommy of California for his insightful comments. Best wishes to everyone California affected by these fires. The other type of fire is the climate kind: We are a hot world and getting hotter. Here are the articles I referred to and more links for you to follow up on your own. We need to educate everyone on what is happening with our climate because there isn’t much time to make the changes that need to be made!
Thanks to AJ of the Baldguy show for another great Eco Moment. Buy organic!October 27 — Fall Out Against the War, the national mobilization to end the occupation of IraqCall your Congressmen and women!
Climate articles:
Rolling Stone article: The Prophet
Common Dreams article on UN climate study: Is Earth is reaching the point of no return?
More Climate websites: (or google “climate change news” for your own)
Heat is On: List of sites related to climate change
Forecast Earth from the Weather Channel
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Scientific American: Climate change articles
Sorry no, the links for the podcast do not work because most of the old podcasts have been removed.
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