CIVILIANISM PODCAST

Sami Rasouli

Sami Rasouli, a well known Iraqi-American peace activist, traveled to central Minnesota last week and gave us an update on Iraq.   Iraqis need our help, and a lot of things need a lot of work in Iraq. They also need peace building and better relations with American citizens. He drops a couple of mostly unknown bits of info too, like that most of the scientists in Iraq were deliberately killed by Israeli intelligence (Mossad) during the war.

Shockingly, he said that Iraqis learned from John Wayne movies, not George Bush Sr., that America is a culture of force and violence. We have to reverse this perception. Learn more in this episode of Civilianism, which you can download here or subscribe to on the right.

There are two articles related to the topics in this podcast. One is “Oil Billions and Weapons of Mass Deception in Iraq” which you can read here, and the other is “Huge Rise in Birth Defects in Falluja” which you can read here.

The organizations that Sami Rasouli hopes you will check out and become involved in are found here:

The Iraq and American Reconciliation Project (IARP)  and the Muslim Peacemaker Team.

You can get involved as easily as helping to buy water sanitation equipment in Iraq, which is very much needed.

These may be the dying gasps of capitalism — or not. The governments of the world, as shown at the G20, seem determined to preserve a very reckless brand of capitalism all the while infusing trillions of dollars of “stimulus” into banks and institutions, instead of people. When are the people going to get some stimulus?

Well, it might come in the way of green jobs — or not. We need climate change action, and we get super capitalism. We get a lot of promises and nice catchphrases and sound bytes from the “world leaders”, but whether any of this will pan out is anyone’s guess.

This episode talks about the G20, the climate conferences in Bonn, Energy, and news from the Republican Road to Ruin. Also, why T. Boone Pickens and the Republicans are lying to us.

Interested in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009? Henry Waxman says it will create thousands of green jobs.

Info. on the Bonn climate conference from Greenpeace and from the UNFCCC website about the Bonn conference here.

The Republicans are really distorting reality what Cap and Trade will cost the average family (if such a thing exists anymore)

Final mix cut of Solutions from the podcast Radio Ecoshock. You will enjoy the good news, for a change.

Read the Republican Road to Ruin if you want a good laugh — or cry.

Music clips from the movie Revolutionary Road, (a very sad movie, like the state of the economy and climate right now.)

Download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

Bushfires in Australia

Societal transformation might be on the visible horizon. This episode contains highlights from last week’s Climate Congress in Copenhagen, and some speculation about geoengineering — will it be necessary and what will it include? The main finding from the Climate meeting was that governments have to act on climate change or drastic steps in the future will have to be taken, and they won’t be cheap.

“We have 100 months.” That is what Prince Charles said last week. We have less than 10 years to find a real sustainable solution to climate change. How bad is the climate crisis? The Amazon forest is about to burn up. The oceans are getting terribly acidic and we are on track to warm 4C or even more. That would be a nightmare scenario for life on earth. Even the lowest plants and creatures on the food chain are suffering from climate change, making everything on up affected also.

Cap and trade won’t be adequate to deal with emissions quickly enough, so James Hansen, climate scientist, proposes a cap and dividend system:

“The entire carbon tax should be returned to the public, with a monthly deposit to their
bank accounts, an equal share to each person (if no bank account provided, an annual
check – social security number must be provided). No bureaucracy is needed to figure
this out. If the initial carbon tax averages $1200 per person per year, $100 is deposited in
each account each month (Detail: perhaps limit to four shares per family, with child
shares being half-size, i.e., no marriage penalty but do not encourage population growth).”

Read the rest here (pdf).

This plan would work great if our government just had the political will to propose it and implement it. The infrastructure is already set up to handle this.

Geoengineering info: The Prospect Of Manipulating the Planet

ScienceInsider: DARPA is interested in geoengineering

Chemtrails? Did somebody mention chemtrails?

Send me your comments on these and other climate-related topics.

If you care about the planet, please help me promote this podcast, and spread the word about climate change and the dangers of sticking with fossil fuels for energy. Download this episode here.

Highlights from Powershift09 sending a message to end the use of coal — and as speaker Robert Kennedy put it, coal is a criminal enterprise. What they are doing to mountains and our air is nothing short of criminal. It’s time to take action to stop coal. It’s time for a citizens arrest of coal. Speakers from Powershift09 include RFK Jr., Van Jones and Lisa Jackson; also Bill McKibben and Jimmy Carter in the second half.

The Age of Stupid movie trailer can be seen here.

Interested in the Clean Energy Corp — story link about green jobs from the Environment News Service:
“Clean Energy Corps Proposed to Create Jobs, Fight Global Warming”

In the 2nd half, you’ll hear about why natural gas isn’t such a great fuel, why it’s not “clean” like Pelosi is claiming, and whatever happened to Jimmy Carter’s solar panels, and his dream of clean energy. It’s not a happy story, but 30 years later, we have another realistic chance at it. And at the end, bits of a speech from 32 years ago, much of which President Obama could be saying today.

Nancy Pelosi’s conflict of interest is her financial interest in T. Boone Picken’s natural gas venture.
From the Wall Street Journal.

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband invested between $50,000 and $100,000 in T. Boone Pickens’s Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which could benefit from legislation the California Democrat favors to boost U.S. use of natural gas.

Nancy Pelosi’s letter about switching the CPP to natural gas: Read the whole thing here.

Pelosi has a conflict of interest with natural gas, being an investor in T. Boone Pickens natural gas company. She’s an investor in natural gas, so she is pushing the use of natural gas on the nation’s capitol, insinuating that it’s “clean” and renewable, which it most certainly is not. She should be installing solar panels instead. — like our president did 30 years ago. The drilling process for natural gas contains the use of toxic chemicals, including Benzene which causes cancer. And get this — the company who perfected this deadly technique was Halliburton. Here more about this in part 2 of this episode.

From Scientific America.

“Sublette County is the home of one of the nation’s largest natural gas fields, and many of its 6,000 wells have undergone a process pioneered by Halliburton called hydraulic fracturing, which shoots vast amounts of water, sand and chemicals several miles underground to break apart rock and release the gas. The process has been considered safe since a 2004 study by the Environmental Protection Agency found that it posed no risk to drinking water. After that study, Congress even exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act. Today fracturing is used in 9 out of 10 natural gas wells in the United States.”

As for Jimmy Carter’s solar panels–they were removed by the Reaganites, and now you can hear why.
I read much of the story, but you can read the rest of it here.

You can download this episode here.

Related articles:

• Sen. Reid has plan to reform energy infrastructure (news.cnet.com)
• As Oil and Gas Prices Plunge, a Frenzy of Drilling Ends (nytimes.com)

This is a presentation of the latest science on climate change, as presented before the U.S. Senate Environmental and Public Works committee, one of our new “Burn Units”. The planet is burning up and our government is ready to get to work.

This is part one, and part two will only be on Futurism Now Radio.com.
This episode starts with a message about PowerShift09 from scientist James Hansen.

Here are the facts: this is the only planet any of us have, so let’s all work together to solve this climate problem. It truly is a crisis–more so than the banking crisis, but the government keeps bailing out banks while keeping action on global warming a lower priority. If there is any fire to put out, it’s climate change.

On February 4, 2009 Energy Secretary Stephen Chu told the Los Angeles Times:
“I don’t think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen,” he said. “We’re looking at a scenario where there’s no more agriculture in California,” He sees education as a means to combat this threat.

Much of the Senate hearing is played in this episode, but it was very long so I’m splitting it in two. The Full Committee was titled, “Update on the Latest Global Warming Science.” I didn’t see any major American media cover this, and it should have been big news. After all, this is the latest science on climate change, straight from the scientists. More of the scientists will appear in part II — Part I contains the Senate panel’s member comments and the statements of two of the scientists, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel Prize-winning IPCC, PhD, and Christopher Field PhD, Director, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford University, Co-chair of Working Group II (continued in part II)

Climate change is the biggest threat to life on this planet, and we can’t stand by and watch it happen while our mainstream media treats it like no big deal–certainly less of a big deal than banks collapsing, so I’m asking people to spread the word. Our media is once again letting us down and even worse, treating this like a debatable political issue, which it absolutely is not.

The testimony Hansen gave to the House Ways & Means Committee is available at
this site (pdf)

Download this episode here.

What’s coming in the future and will capitalism play a part? Soon people will be concerned with bigger problems than economic models, such as environmental migration and shortages, but money will play a part. The survival of civilization depends on our imagination, creativity, on our sense of identity and community and how willing we are to share and live together. Some great thinkers and futurists gather in this audio to think of how we can survive for the sake of all humanity.

This was originally titled A Possibility of Hope, from the makers of the movie, Children of Men.

Humans have an instinct not just for survival, but of realizing all humans should benefit from the attempts at our survival in the future.

These are ideas on the future from philosophers, historians, cultural critics, futurists, a sociologist, a human geographer, and an economy expert.

The broad topics covered in this episode are Reality, Fear, Walls, Fever, (global warming) and Hope. . . .
You can download this episode here.

Speakers: Naomi Klein, James Lovelock, John Gray, Saskia Sassen, Tzvetan Todorov, Slavoj Zizek, Fabrizio Eva

Baby it’s cold outside! But that doesn’t mean it’s not warming up out there. Heat shock is hitting the public consciousness. Can we do what’s necessary for climate change, and is there time? This episode explores that very serious question. Our hope is that Obama will take action in time to prevent runaway climate change. His new national security team, including Hillary, might help out with that.

Terrorism and wars continue to rage overseas. Bush continues to try to push through last-minute anti-environmental laws that our next president won’t be able to change. Examples are discussed in this episode.

But In America, with new leadership, we hope there is a brighter day coming.
Civilianism will be talking about these changes and asks for your help in letting our politicians know they have to act, and that we are behind them. There have been conferences going on in several locations lately, in preparation for Copenhagen in December 2009, a long 12 months away. The main conference going on at the moment is called the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-14).
You can read about it here and here at Climatechange.org.

You can also read about the Interfaith Climate Summit in Sweden. You can follow the Poznan Twitter feed for constant updates here — #Poznan UN Climate Summit tweets

It’s time for action, not talk, but the politicians have to get their cooperation hats on. This is the beginning of a new era of cooperation for the world.

This episode contains an interesting story connected to climate change as an introduction to the 2007 documentary “Life At the End of Empire” which you can find on a site full of information, including where to buy the movie at Whatawaytogomovie.com

The latest science suggests that preventing runaway climate change means complete decarbonization. I read most of George Monbiot’s recent article, One Shot Left

Edited testimony of James Hansen, and Tom Helweg-Larson of the Public Interest Research Centre in front of parliament on November 26 is in here too. You can download the whole 68 minute testimony from the Climate Page at ecoshock.org

Song at end: Here’s Your Future by The Thermals

I’m not sure, but I think it’s a song about global warming.

Download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

Which direction will the U.S. take in the next four years? Will we do the right thing and leave these wars behind and do what’s good for America, or continue to sink money and blood into foolish military campaigns?
This podcast discusses Iraq, Afghanistan, militarism, climate, congressman Waxman’s new job, and more. Audio clips of Cindy Sheehan, mystic Caroline Myss, Michael T. Klare and even Jerry Springer are played.

The U.S. obsession with tasers is spreading to England, which is a terrible idea!
Antiwar.com has Iraq war news.
Read about H.Res. 1531 here, introduced by Congressman Nadler:

Introduced on 11/20/08 — This is the first resolution urging President Bush not to pardon senior administration officials for crimes the President authorized. It urges Congress to investigate those crimes and any pardons relating to those crimes, and urges the Attorney General (current or future) to appoint an Independent Counsel to prosecute those crimes.

The Interview with American author and mystic, Caroline Myss, from New Dimensions, which has podcasts here.
Cindy Sheehan’s interview is from the Jeff Farias show.
Safe Climate or Endless War? It’s a choice we will have to make soon, because we can’t fight climate change smartly and terrorism militarily at the same time.

The Radio Ecoshock show with the Michael T. Klare (author of new book “Rising Powers, Shrinking World”) can be found here.
For a very irritating pro-war attitude, see James Cartwright: Perpetual war speech last week at the MOAA

The AccoLade, a Saudi “girl band” website is a on Myspace here.

Download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

Music played: In this Moment: Beautiful Tragedy (from the Podsafe Music Network) and Hero’s Song by Brendan James from the music of Body of War.

It would be great if the US spread peace around the globe instead of ever-increasing bombings across borders where we have no business being. Instead we are finding new countries to invade. What will Bush do before he leaves office? Whatever it is, it looks like it is haunting him.

Lets get UNserious today for a change. I play the Al Smith Dinner comedy show, starring John McCain and Barack Obama, almost in its entirety. Join me for political hilarity.

Also, an announcement of the 3rd party debates on C-SPAN on Sunday night! See ThirdPartyTicket for more information.

I don’t say much about the debates because what’s to say? You’ve heard most of the analysis already. But Jon Stewart helps with a few comments on Joe the Plumber. Here is the full story on the Joe the Plumber myth.
It’s a hit or myth podcast!

UPDATE: Regarding the remarks I made about Canada’s election, here is some clarification that was sent by a listener in Canada.

Download this one directly here or subscribe on the right.

Hear Cynthia McKinneys acceptance speech excerpt in this episode. Civilianism is supporting Cynthia McKinney’s run for president because she is a real progressive. Civilianism also supports the Green Party.

Republicans lie to us about security and want to make us live trapped in a constant fear and eternal war. Action item: United for Peace and Justice, NO WAR ON IRAN (click here)

Ominous signs: the Terrorist Watch List is at one million names. Bush wants to hold “enemy combatants”, even if they are Americans, for ever, and ever.

No one gets the real energy crisis. McCain wants to drill in the Gulf of Mexico, and in ANWR, as does my crazy Congresswoman, Michele Bachmann

McCain falsely claimed Katrina and Rita did not cause significant oil spills

Elwyn Tinklenberg for Congress

Cynthia McKinney for President
Chris Hedges article for the Los Angeles Times — how FISA will cost him sources and impede his journalism
Read Stop the New FISA

Alas, it’s too late! The FISA Grand Capitulation passed the House and the Senate, and Democrats voted for it in alarmingly large numbers. This is the domestic surveilliance that even ex-Attorney General John Ashcroft, while in the hospital, would not sign off on! Read the account of James Comey’s heroic efforts for the Justice Department here. The current bunch of Democrats just threw it all away and voted for something even John Ashcroft could not endorse in 2004.

Gates and Bush seem to be moving away from war with Iran, but the Pentagon seems to be moving forward. Which will prevail? The Democrats aren’t doing much about anything, so don’t ask them. Meanwhile, Obama outlines policy of endless war.

Tzipi Livni, Israel foreign minister, said it really would not be that big of a deal if Iran had a nuclear weapon. You heard that right, no existential threat there.

Spying programs: Total Information Awareness, The MATRIX, the National Applications Office, TIPS, and Infragard. We live in a surveillance society that is in a state of high paranoia, even as we grow ever more distant from 9/11. What’s going on? Why are we so paranoid and full of fear? Oh yeah, there’s an election coming up, and someone’s going to lose power.

Infragard article by Matt Rothschild from Common Dreams/The Progressive magazine

Download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

Green Party website and Cynthia McKinney’s acceptance speech.

The Army wants your kids and they are portraying war as a video game. Militarism describes the insertion of the military, extreme patriotism, and constant war into American life. It permeates our culture and shapes our view of the rest of the world, and we probably barely notice it. It shapes our domestic policies too, from our feelings on the death penalty to gun control. The huge amounts of money involved in waging war and emphasizing militarism causes regular people to suffer every day. The first step in fixing this is to recognize it, and for some people, it’s to stop militarism in its tracks at the source: recruiting people to fight in these wars. Young people are being manipulated by marketing teams and propaganda experts to join wars they would never want to be a part of if they were more informed. Helping to fight this: a growing group of people connected online and in their communities. One community is trying to stop the militarism of summer festivals such as air shows in Duluth Minnesota. This episode features an interview with Michele Naar-Obed of Loaves and Fishes Catholic Workers and the Christian Peace Teams and discusses militarism. She has also been to Iraq several times and talks about the situation there also.

This episode can be directly downloaded (click here) or you can subscribe on the right.

The groups in Duluth need your help in counteracting the military recruitment at their air show. The air show occurs on July 19th through July 20th and will involved an exhibit titled THE VIRTUAL ARMY EXPERIENCE. (You can see a little demo on the site). This exhibit teaches young people to think of killing people as part of a video game. This exhibit is traveling around the United States and attempting to make an appearance at family events where children are allowed, in order to get them interested in military as young as possible. The military is using this recruitment tool to actively appeal to BOY SCOUTS AND GIRL SCOUTS. It has been up and down the east coast this summer demonstrating war to kids in the Scouts. (Click here to read)

Naar-Obed wrote:

“The Duluth air show started out as a celebration of aviation. Over the
years it has become more and more militarized and has been used as a
military recruitment event. We are not denouncing aviation. We are
denouncing the militarization of it.

Militarization has become ubiquitous in our culture. It’s influence is
everywhere. The military purposefully targets our youth. They have
done studies on the best age group to target for recruitment and have
found that it’s best to start with 12 year olds. The “virtual army
experience” exhibit is open to 13 year olds and above. A child as
young as 13 will be invited to sit on a humvee and shoot at life sized
human images on a computer screen with machine guns. They are
preparing our youth to kill. This is insane.”

World and U.S. military spending is out of control, read about it here.

All Links and contact information are after the break, so click on “continue reading”. Please contact people on these lists to try to stop this Virtual Army Experience and the recruiting booth from appearing at this air show, and other air shows around the country. The VAE exhibit is pictured to the left. People sit in the Hummer and shoot at simulated “enemies” just like in a video game. After the shooting game, they are taken to a room and “debriefed” by a decorated real soldier, who also talks to them about military careers. Read all about it here.

Gutting the 4th Amendment? The Congress is seemingly paid off to sell our 4th Amendment rights. Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer lead the charge with the most money received to them directly from the telecoms and they are the most enthusiastic in fighting for them. The Senate then voted for cloture and the FISA vote may now be delayed to July. The true heroes of this saga: Chris Dodd and Russ Feingold. Where is Obama on our 4th amendment rights? Nowhere to be seen. Instead, he released a statement that said he supports the compromise.

Supreme Court Exxon decision here.

The Physician’s for Human Rights report called Broken Laws, Broken Lives can be found here.

Major General Antonio Taguba, USA, Preface to Broken Laws, Broken Lives

JUSTICE is on the table — via Lawrence Velvel: Law School to Plan Bush War Crimes Prosecution

“A conference to plan the prosecution of President Bush and other high administration officials for war crimes will be held September 13-14 at the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover .

“This is not intended to be a mere discussion of violations of law that have occurred,” said convener Lawrence Velvel, dean and cofounder of the school. “It is, rather, intended to be a planning conference at which plans will be laid and necessary organizational structures set up, to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the Earth.”

“We must try to hold Bush administration leaders accountable in courts of justice,” Velvel said. “And we must insist on appropriate punishments, including, if guilt is found, the hangings visited upon top German and Japanese war-criminals in the 1940s.”

John McCain gave an energy speech that contradicts his own habits! The cars he drives are not energy efficient at all. How about 13 mpg?

June 21 Air Force Air Power Summary – the fuel we are using for war is insane.

As for the FISA compromise: Nancy Pelosi is not upholding the constitution and should be impeached.

FISA compromise bill is here. (Download pdf)

The Politico (linked above) has provided the full text of the compromise bill (114 page PDF file) and points to section 201, listed as, “Procedures for implementing statutory defenses under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.” That is where it explains the portion that has caused the most conflict, which is immunity for the telecommunications industry.

Cloture vote against furthering debate on FISA compromise: List of votes in the Senate

Obama’s support for the FISA “compromise”

AntiWar Radio (Entire Glen Greenwald interview)

How are telecoms are attempting to buy amnesty from Congress? Read about it here.

George Carlin has died, and he was much more than just a comedian. He was a liberal warrior. At the end of this episode I play a clip of Glenn Greenwald on FISA, and a bit of George Carlin. Make sure with the upcoming FISA vote: Call your Senators!

Download this episode here or subscribe on the right. Music at end: Iris DeMent, Our Town. Subscribe to the new podcast feed here. The old one will disappear soon!

[tags]FISA, telecom immunity, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, 4th amendment, constitution, constitutional rights, George Carlin, Maplight, Glenn Greenwald[/tags]

The main portion of this episode is a radio interview with Australian climate specialist Philip Sutton on climate change and the future. Sutton is the co-author of Climate Code Red and he tells us what we should expect in the next few years and beyond, and why it’s a cause for action, not despair.

The Senate did it again. Who voted for more war? Hillary Clinton voted NO on the $165 billion for more war and occupation. McCain didn’t even show up. Obama was there but didn’t vote. Nice showing for the two “presumptives”. I hope that’s not an indication of how hard they would “work” as president. See a list of the other senators who voted to continue the war here: Who voted to continue the war.

If you are interested in the Synthesis/Regeneration magazine I mentioned, I found the website for it here.

Oil Change International: Who does Big Oil donate to the most? Find out here.

The Obama direct mail piece about Kentucky Coal that campaigned in the state of Kentucky for him can be found here on Grist.org.

” . . . . Meanwhile, Obama may believe in clean Kentucky coal, (that doesn’t exist) but many residents of the state are more familiar with the dirty kind. According to activists on the ground, strip-mining “is turning Eastern Kentucky into a despicable latrine.” Hundreds of mountains have been leveled, leaving poverty and unemployment in their wake. The number of jobs created in Kentucky by coal has dropped by 60 percent in the last 15 years.”

Not good.

Download “The Future Part 2” here or subscribe on the right.

Thanks again to everyone who has donated and is sending me to the Media Reform Conference!

Climate Code Red: The Campaign for a sustainability emergency

“Climate policy is characterised by the habituation of low expectations and a culture of failure. There is an urgent need to understand global warming and the tipping points for dangerous impacts that we have already crossed as a sustainability emergency, that takes us beyond the politics of failure-inducing compromise. We are now in a race between climate tipping points and political tipping points.”

Download the report CLIMATE CODE RED here.

Music: Bombs by Faithless

[tags]Philip Sutton, Climate Code Red, Clean coal, Emergency, Obama, Hillary, Election 2008, environment, climate change, global warming, Kentucky, coal[/tags]

We know a few things about our future. A new president in 2009, ending the Iraq war, and restoring our rights. And the biggest challenge of all, a new way of dealing with energy so that we can stop climate change in its tracks. Sacrifices and concessions to nature are in our future so that we won’t succumb to climate change and so that we save numerous animals from extinction. The goal is survival of everyone, not just the rich, as the Cheney-Bush administration have set as their goal.

Scott Ritter and the Jerusalem Post think that Bush will drop bombs on Iran before he leaves office. That would unleash a disaster as we have never seen before, so we need to try to stop this from happening. Then while this podcast was uploading, the Senate passed more war funding; this time $165 billion. Don’t they have any willpower at all?

Also discussed: Big Oil testifies before Congress and offer excuses for their ginormous profits. The Democrats try again on the farm bill and funding the war, should the candidates run together on one ticket, and then Hillary and I, separately, discuss sexism in this campaign.

NPR talks to James Hansen and he lays out how we need to get up to speed on this climate change problem as soon as possible.

Do you know how much fuel war is using and how much pollution these wars are causing? The information is right here in A Climate of War

http://priceofoil.org/climateofwar/

James Hansen’s document on C02 goals, click here. (PDF)

For the extensive report on climate change, Climate Code Red is here.
From the site:

“We are facing rapid warming impacts: the danger is immediate, not just in the future

*Serious climate-change impacts are already happening, both more rapidly and at lower global temperature increases than projected (22-23). As the USA’s most eminent climate scientist, James Hansen, told 15,000 of his colleagues at a conference in December 2007, significant “climate tipping” points have already been passed (8) (note 1 below). These include large ice sheet disintegration, significant sea level rises of up to 5 metres this century (9-10) and devastating species loss (17). The Arctic will soon be free of summer sea-ice (2-4) and the Greenland ice sheet is in imminent danger”

You can download this episode here or subscribe on the right. Make sure to check out part 2 for the interview with Philip Sutton, specialist in sustainable living.

[tags]future, oil, coal, energy, clean, sexism, Congress, Democrats, Obama, Hillary, McCain, Election 2008, Climate Code Red, Philip Sutton[/tags]

Think it is possible to keep your anti-war idealism and back a non-anti-war candidate? Maybe, maybe not (see below). Making concessions for politics is what most people end up doing but it doesn’t necessarily mean you lose your principles. We need to be goal-oriented and defeat McCain, and in this podcast I make a case for it. I think even Republicans might agree, McCain isn’t really what they want either. The most important thing is to keep Republicans far away from the White House and if that happens, real change will happen.
After admitting he approved torture, Bush has made us less safe. The torture may continue, the uncharged prisoners in Guantanamo Bay may continue to be held, but in the meantime, the ACLU has obtained important documents through the FOIA. This is from the ACLU:

“NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union has obtained previously withheld documents from the Defense Department, including internal investigations into the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody overseas. Uncensored documents released as a result of the ACLU’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit shed light on the deaths of detainees in Iraq and internal disagreement within the military over harsh interrogation practices used at Guantanamo Bay.”

False Pretenses: Following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Doug Feith, Architect of the Iraq War, and head of the Office of Special Plans, appeared on the Daily Show, and hear some of his cut interview.

Environmental news: The Guardian reports that we have reached levels of 367 ppm C02 in the atmosphere. This is not good news. The levels are rising to dangerous levels while our “leadership” doesn’t do nearly enough.

*MEDIA REFORM CONFERENCE info here*.

Phillipe Sands — the Green Light

TORTURE: Prisoner 063 and the Keith Olbermann Special Comment of May 13.

This podcast also contains a large part of the last Keith Olbermann Special Comment on Bush. It’s a scorcher!

You can Download Podcast #53 here.

U.S. is continuing to bomb homes Sadr City: Hospital was accidently bombed as neighborhood house was bombed, no ‘terrorists’ inside.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s crimes confessed to under waterboarding, now he’s one of five that will probably be given the death penalty, even though their “evidence” of crimes was obtained under torture. He confessed to over 30 (some outrageous) terrorists attacks, and if he was tortured (he was) none of it is admissible in court.

DON’T TAKE this to mean I won’t change my mind about the “Democrats”. I always reserve the right to change my mind about politics, politicians and election topics.

[tags]political, progressive, podcast, Civilianism, Civilianism, Countdown, Olbermann, special comment, Daily Show, Feith, interview, anti-war, anti-torture, torture, campaign 2009, election[/tags]

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!

October 27 — Fall Out Against the War, the national mobilization to end the occupation of Iraq

Call your Congressmen!

DOWNLOAD THIS PODCAST here or subscribe on the right.

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

Climate Crisis coalition

Earthplace

Climate Crisis

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

NASA earth sciences

Scientific American: Climate change articles

[tags]iraq news, climate change, liberal,podcast,dahr jamail, climate crisis, Rolling Stone, right-wing racists, Horowitz, James Lovelock, AJ, October 27, Baldguy show, Eco Moment[/tags]