CIVILIANISM PODCAST

Stop Loss is a song by Army Specialist and Iraq war veteran Marc Hall. He’s in some major trouble for this song. He’s been in jail since December 11th for singing and recording this song.  Original music should be protected by the First Amendment but isn’t for people in the Army.

“[Stop Loss is] a song that expresses his anger over the Army’s stop-loss policy.

Stop-loss is a policy that allows the Army to keep soldiers active beyond the end of their signed contracts. According to the Pentagon, more than 120,000 soldiers have been affected by stop-loss since 2001, and currently 13,000 soldiers are serving under stop-loss orders.

Hall, (aka hip hop artist Marc Watercus), who is in the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, was placed in Liberty County Jail for the song in which he angrily denounces the continuing policy that has barred him from exiting the military. [It's about the draft, (hidden in plain site) in other words.]

Military service members do not completely give up their rights to free speech, particularly not when they are doing so artistically while off duty, as was the case with Hall. He is charged under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which covers “all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline” and “all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.” The military is claiming that he “communicated a threat” with his song. Hall mailed a copy of the song to the Pentagon after the Army unilaterally extended his contract for a second Iraq deployment.

Read more here at Truthout. Don’t be fooled for a second thinking that we don’t have a draft in the U.S. — but it’s only for those in the Army, caught in the net of the active military currently serving.  The song is also seemingly a threat, or is it just a statement of fact?

Download or listen to the song here.  (It’s explicit.)

Obama is being influenced by his bad angels, listening to the wrong people, and doing the wrong things in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. Giving him the Nobel Peace Prize for this was a mistake.

The drone attacks he orders are horrifying and illegal, killing innocent people even as they execute a few “real” targets.   The escalation of his war will not bring peace. Unfortunately, this war will drag on and on and on without the American people protesting it. There might not be a draft, but there are 56,000 contractors headed for Afghanistan too. . . . privatizing our military force in the Middle East even further, even as our peace/war president plans a “surge”.

Not only are another 30,000 troops being deployed to Afghanistan, “but also 56,000 military contractors will join them.”

Militarism grows and grows, even as we let other things go, like real health care reform, serious climate change work and the smart grid, etc.

An analysis of Obama’s Nobel speech and the “Just War”  and “Just Peace” theories is here.  I don’t buy it. I think no war that kills civilians, and keeps on killing civilians, can be anything but just another war.  Unless this war is solving some serious problem or threat, (and it’s not) we need to leave.

A good angel would know this.

This episode contains part of a protest rally including speakers Dennis Kucinich, Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney, and it also contains bits of President Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

Get involved, contact your President and your Congressmen and tell them to stop this stupid war.  It might be the end of us if we don’t. War is still a racket.

Download this episode here, or subscribe on the right.
Artwork by Jay Long.

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.

Besides devastating climate change, my 3 everyday concerns are: Health care reform, which we badly need, the Palestine-Israel conflict and when will it be over, and when will the wars the U.S. is in finally end? We need these things resolved. Obama has been President 9 months now, it’s time he fixed some of these monumental problems. That’s what he was elected to do! This podcast contains recordings about these 3 issues.

Hear Greg Palast, and Judge Goldstone on his Report about war crimes, and a very special “guest”.

For more information about all of the topics covered in this episode, see Civilianism News.

Of course, my biggest concern is still climate change. See Futurism Now Radio and Futurism Now for more information on that.

On September 8th I attended a presentation about occupied Palestine, given by a Christian Peacemakers team. These teams go in and accomplish some job or task while they live with the Palestinians. This team’s job was to escort Palestinian children to school so they would not get beaten up by Israeli settlers, whose settlement homes separated the Palestinian children’s homes from their school.

On Sept 9th, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem published its findings on the number of Palestinians and Israelis killed in Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip.

According to B’Tselem’s research, Israeli security forces killed 1,387 Palestinians during the course of the three-week operation. Of these, 773 did not take part in the hostilities, including 320 minors and 109 women over the age of 18. Of those killed, 330 took part in the hostilities, and 248 were Palestinian police officers, most of whom were killed in aerial bombings of police stations on the first day of the operation. . . . .

B’Tselem’s figures, the result of months of meticulous investigation and cross-checks with numerous sources, sharply contradict those published by the Israeli military. However, B’Tselem visited homes and gathered death certificates, photos, and testimonies relating to all 252 children under 16, and has the details of 111 women over 16 killed.

The purpose of the presentation was to educate the public, but unfortunately the public does not attend these events; the people who already know what is going on do. Here are some recent facts they presented:

• The U.S. donates $23,000+ to every Israeli citizen in Israel, every year.
• In 2006, the Jewish settlement in Palestine total was 40 million, and the U.S. paid for it.
• In 2006 the total U.S. allocation to Israel from the U.S. was $4.36 billion, which we paid for.
• Israel took 95,989 acres of Palestinian land in 2006. We pay for this. We also pay for the wall, which snakes around strategically to cut off families and towns.
• The Berlin wall was only 96 miles long. The Israeli wall is planned to be 403 miles long, and it has nothing to do with preventing terrorists from entering Israel.
• Palestinians cannot even use Israeli roads, and their license plates mark them as Palestinians, which is a racist mark. These facts are just a few of many this CP team presented. At the end of the recording is an interesting Q & A also.

You can listen to this presentation of their experiences in Palestine last year by clicking here (opens a podcast file in a new window).

This episode is mostly about the inauguration and what the new Secretary of State may work on in the next few weeks. Israel’s war with Palestine is finally over. Also, hear Obama take the oath of office a SECOND time.
If you have news to share, send it to me! Email me at news@civilianism.com.
Or use the form at the top of the page at Podcast Liberally, the official website.

This is the first episode of my shorter news broadcasts, called Podcast Liberally News and Commentary, or PLNC for short. I will be including them in my Civilianism RSS feed for a while, and then you will have to get them by subscribing or visiting the website for them, at Podcast Liberally. That used to be a review podcast that I did last year, but my own enthusiasm for it evaporated, so for now I’m back to news and opinion in a form short enough that I can do them more often. Shorter PLNC episodes will be far less draining on my time. And shorter to listen to!

You can subscribe to them at Podcast Liberally.com. I’m keeping this website for Civilianism news and podcasts.

You can download this episode here or subscribe at the PL website.

Song at end: My Country ‘Tis of Thee Pt. 1 by Learning Music from Yes We Puede!
(more free downloads there for everyone)

It’s a New Year with all of the Old Problems, and then some.

The slaughter of innocent people in the Gaza strip continues with the blessing of the United States, while Dick Cheney and George Bush go on their media Fairy Tale Hour speaking tours. Both have admitted torture and are trying to avoid being prosecuted for war crimes by kissing up to the Obama administration and the media.

We get 30 seconds of news given to the war in Gaza, which we are helping to fund and supply with weapons, in our mainstream media’s nightly news. No wonder Americans are in favor of whatever it is that Israel is doing.

There were no Hamas rockets during the ceasefire of mid-June through November 4th, when Israel broke the ceasefire by attacking and kiling 6 Palestinians. Now, the propaganda wars are waging as fiercely as the bombing and shooting war in Gaza. As the death toll has gone over 1,000 with most of the dead being civilians, it’s hard to imagine why our Congress has endorsed this brutality, unless you reach the conclusion that the U.S. government is somewhat, ah, . . . . . . corrupt.

Pardon me, did I say that out loud?

Join me in my search for Happiness. I think I have found it.

Here is Froomkin’s little summary of the Bush legacy, ‘The Bush Verdict is In”. World Freedom ‘Retreats for Third Year‘

Livestation TV – watch foreign media in good quality. This episode contains news from Wednesday night from Al Jazeera. Max Blumenthal’s video about the pro-Israel rally he did for Alternet.org is here.

I wish everyone a happy and peaceful 2009.

Podcast artwork by Rami Abbas, for Palestine.

DOWNLOAD THIS EPISODE HERE or subscribe on the right.

End Song: Michael Heart, We will not go down (Song for Gaza)
Middle song: Tom Chartier, Death Don’t Have No Mercy

What can we expect from foreign policy in the Obama administration in 2009 – will U.S. imperialism take precedence, or will peace? We can’t have both. The U.S. continues to impose its will by force around the world, and there is no sign of this stopping any time soon, because our new president says he will increase troops to fight the so-called “War on Terror”.

Gore Vidal, Andrew Bacevich, and Arundhati Roy strongly disagree with U.S. imperialist policy, and so do I. I play portions of all three, and a portion of an interview from KBOO radio.

Download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

The Taliban Control 72% of Afghanistan, Surround Kabul, and NATO is in Denial

“Armed clashes in Afghanistan have reached the highest level since the Taliban was ousted by American-led forces in 2001, according to the United Nations. Taliban leader Mullah Omar today warned violence will rise and urged foreign forces to withdraw, Agence France-Presse reported, in his first public statement in a year. Pakistan militants torched 50 NATO trucks carrying supplies for troops in Afghanistan, the second such attack in as many days, AFP reported today, citing a police official.”

BBC article: Drivers halt Afghan supply route — Lorry Drivers in north-west Pakistan say they will no longer deliver supplies to NATO. If this means the war will have to end, that’s OK.
BBC: Countering the Taleban’s 20-year war
The Taleban is planning for a 20-year war in Afghanistan, so we must too, the article argues. I hope they are completely wrong.

Gore Vidal’s interview was about his book Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace
(here is another interview with him, for more information, not the one I played)
Arundhati Roy’s anti-war talk Come September can be downloaded from iTunes
You can read the transcript here.

Times Online: US accuses Britain over military failings in Afghanistan.

(The In These Times magazine article, “Obama’s Burden” that I read from, is not online.)

Also see: More U.S. troops to Afghanistan? by Russ Feingold

Also see: Official Calls for Sensitivity to Afghan Demands

Also see: Brzezinski: Surge In Afghanistan Risky, Some McCain Backers Want World War IV
Obviously, let’s not let them have it.

It’s time for American imperialism to end and peace to prevail.

This is the last episode of Civilianism for 2008, Happy New Year!

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.

Finally a third party debate, but only two people show up. In fairness, Cynthia McKinney showed up last week, alone, and for this debate in Washington, Ralph Nader and Chuck Baldwin show up. You can download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

On September 1st and 2nd I attended anti-war protests and rallies in St. Paul Minnesota, and this video contains some of the photos and videos I took while there. I’ve also included some video clips I found online of some of the violence I didn’t witness myself, and the protests on the other days I wasn’t there.

Yes, there were police in riot gear everywhere. It was also very difficult to move around due to the fences and barricades. The Xcel Center where the RNC was taking place was cordoned off like the Green Zone in Baghdad and probably as heavily protected.

This 30-minute video includes Iraq Veterans Against the War at the protest rally on September 1st, CodePink, and Rosa Clemente, footage of the protest march itself, several photos of the rally and march, and some video others produced. That video includes footage of some of the violence that occurred on the 2nd and 3rd days of the RNC, the inspiration for all of the protest activity in St. Paul. There was an enormous police and security presence for this “security” event and you can see that in the video. A portion of the Poor People’s march is shown (thanks to TheUptake.org video).

(Click here to play/download the video, or it will be in the RSS feed)

There was a lot going on in St. Paul these 4 days and I missed quite a bit of it due to other things I was doing. Ralph Nader and Ron Paul were also in town holding their own conventions. The main event for me, the March on the RNC to Stop the War on the 1st was great (and mostly peaceful) and I wish everyone had been there. We hoped for 50,000 people and about 15,000 showed up. It was enough to scare the police, apparently. In contrast, there was a police presence of 3,700, in addition to secret service, private security, the FBI, Blackwater, and the National Guard. All for a few protesters exercising their rights of Freedom of speech.

You can also see me in the video, but I was wearing my usual protest disguise of a hat, sunglasses, etc, which is also my usual travel disguise. It didn’t work…. I was apparently tracked by some type of RNC security for 2 days.

The music is from Greenpeace video, Michael Franti from the Ripple Effect concert on September 2nd, and Rage Against the Machine, who gave a concert at the Target Center on the last day of the RNC. I included about 4 photos of the RNC itself, which I got from MTV.com photos. Footage at the end of Amy Goodman is courtesy of SFGate.

The state of American corporate media is in bad shape. The state of independent media is good and getting better! I attended the National Conference on Media Reform last weekend and tell you about it in this podcast. It was fantastic, and I’m so grateful I got to go. THANKS AGAIN to everyone who contributed to help me attend! You can read more about it here, and you can find my photos here and a link to more in a blog entry below this, and find more audio and video at Freepress.net/tune-in

I play two of the speeches and panel talks I heard in this podcast, and will be playing more in the next one. Media reform is essential to our democracy as more and more of our media is being bought out by corporations that are interested in only one thing: profits.
Fortunately, we can all be a part of the media. Podcasting, blogging, making videos, writing stories, communicating information in all ways that is shared IS media. Be your own media, share what you know and get active in the media reform movement.
People from all around the country, regular people and media professionals, shared their stories and methods for creating media and supporting independent media at this conference. Independent media is the future because corporate media has lost its integrity.
I also cover some news: Iraq, Afghanistan, the treaty Bush is trying to force on the Iraqis that they don’t want that would take away their autonomy, and what is happening to an LA news magazine. Also, a man handing out RNC protest information in the form of a piece of paper was arrested on June 5th outside the very convention hall where Republicans will meet to plot in September!

But this is important: Dennis Kucinich has introduced articles of impeachment. It’s now been sent to the Judiciary Commmittee. His main co-sponsor is Robert Wexler. Call his office, call the Judiciary Committee, call Nancy Pelosi and tell them to impeach George W. Bush! 202 225-3121
It’s important that everyone call Nancy Pelosi’s office and also John Conyer’s office — I just did. It’s easy. Ask for Speaker Pelosi’s comment line. You can then demand she put impeachment back on the table.

Watch the video of O’Reilly calling us crazy and fascists!

Download this podcast here or subscribe on the right.

Music played: Andy Pratt, Masters of War

[tags]podcast, liberals, media, reform NCMR2008, National Media Reform Conference, CODEPINK, Keith Ellison, Minneapolis, podcasting, progressives, impeachment, Kucinich[/tags]

Politics, waste and fraud are related topics in the U.S. but one of them isn’t getting enough media attention. Meanwhile, our media has a problem fairly covering Hillary Clinton, and I play opinions from AAR of how someone else believes that also. What are Hillary’s plans, and will it all be over after this weekend, and will all the votes be counted? (It looks like they will not be, which was announced after this was recorded.)

Here is information on the movie In the Valley of Elah (trailor) and Democracy Now’s Winter Soldier episode.

What does the future Bush administration have in store for us this summer? It could be an attack on Iraq, or it could be random incarceration of anyone it chooses under Directive 51.
NSPD-51 and the Potential for a Coup d’état during a National Emergency.
Also discussed: Top Iraq Contractor Skirts US Taxes Offshore
Iraq Spending has ignored the rules, according to the Pentagon itself.
Byron Dorgan and the Senate appropriations committee on waste, fraud and abuse has found that billions of American taxpayer dollars have supposedly gone to fund war and reconstruction, but are now missing. There is little accountability in Iraq and contractors are war profiteers of the most irresponsible kind.

Pictured above is President Bush at the Air Force Academy, his last speech as commander and chief to Air Force graduates, May 28, 2008. His speech declared that they could fight terrorism by sitting in a cubicle in the U.S. and pushing a button so that a drone thousands of miles away could bomb a “terrorist hideout”. I’m sure that’s exactly what the Air Force graduates were hoping did not happen to their careers. You can find the original photo and others here. The video is interesting too.

This episode also discusses what happens if Karl Rove ignores his latest subpoena, and how Congressman Wexler is still pursuing the impeachment of George Bush.

Byron Dorgan, U.S. Senator from North Dakota, from the U.S. Senate talking about waste fraud and abuse by the U.S. contractors in Iraq is played. If you want more of an in-depth interview with him, see this one by Anti-war Radio in which he discusses corruption within the al-Maliki government, the State Department corruption in Iraq, Halliburton Iraq contracts, the situation of Iraqi judge al-Radi and more.
You can download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

[tags]Memorial Day, Byron Dorgan, Waste Fraud and Abuse, government corruption, Iraq, war, spending, taxpayer fraud, Scott McClellan, Hillary, Obama, Democrats[/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]

Today, a discussion of some reasons republicans have to go. They cannot take over the White House in 2009, or we might as well succumb to the next asteroid. It’s over for life as we know it if Republicans continue to run the country. Hillary and Obama: this is what’s left. For me, this leaves no choice, but at the same time, a bigger choice:Â Â Can I even support a Democrat who’s not really a liberal? The answer might surprise you.
Social and economic justice issues are but one reason that Republicans have to go! Royal Dutch Shell made 26.7 Billion dollars in 2007, while the poor people of Haiti are literally eating dirt.

In order to start battling climate change, we have to get out of Iraq. NOW.
And cap and trade is probably past its prime as an idea

Juancole.com — The surge is not working. Are you kidding me?
Polls: Most Israelies want Olmert to resign

Bush misleads on Troop withdrawals

The candidates refused to fight in the debate on Thursday night, so I fight for them! Hillary voted to authorize the war, sure, but she’s not alone. Barack Obama wasn’t ALL THAT against the war, either — more that he thought it was a bad strategy. And eventually, Obama got on board with AIPAC: see How Obama learned to love Israel and AIPAC.

One million Iraqis dead in war:

“MORE than one million Iraqis have died because of the war in Iraq since the US-led invasion of the country in 2003, according to a study.

The study based its findings on survey work involving the face-to-face questioning of 2414 Iraqi adults aged 18 or above, and the last complete census in Iraq in 1997, which indicated a total of 4.05 million households. “We now estimate that the death toll between March 2003 and August 2007 is likely to have been in the order of 1,033,000,” ORB said in a statement. The margin of error for the survey was 1.7 per cent, making the estimated range between 946,000 and 1.12 million fatalities.”

Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) went to Norway to study a Department of Peace because he’s smart, so I guess that makes him Islamointelligentsia.

The surge is hampering Iraq reconciliation. Bush bragged that this is great. It’s not. All these stories and more in Civilianism episode #45, which you can directly download right here.

Thanks to AJ of the 2Cents Worth podcast for his weekly Eco Moment. Next one: Your voicemails and comments.

[tags]obama, debate, hillary, media, Ellison, Norway, Department of Peace, end the war, anti-war, progressive, liberal, podcast[/tag]

How are we all going to stay calm and sane through this last year of the Bush administration’s reign? I’m stressed out by the presidential campaign already, and what seems like eternal war. I’ll be spending this year hoping for no new wars and that Bush won’t totally wig out and devolve further. Where has my country gone? I’ve been looking for it since 2002. We have problems with Palestine, Al Qaeda, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan; the list goes on and on. An Iraqi woman knows the ‘joke’ about all dead men in Iraq being labeled “Al Qaeda”. (They’re on to you George.) Yet NATO wants permission to start a preemptive nuclear war? It’s going to be a very bumpy year.
The movie mentioned: Taxi to the Dark Side trailor is here

Escape from Gaza — Voluntary transfer?
The Information clearing House article is here. You can find the usual news everywhere, but for news on Gaza and Israel, ICH is great.

TMPMukraker article on the FISA fiasco.

What, only 935 lies to get us into war with Iraq? That number seems low to me. You can see the project to compile all of the Bush Administration’s many many lies here at the Center for Public Integrity. It’s astounding, but true. Surely, this proves impeachability.

Dennis Kucinich drops out of the presidential race, endorses no one, and is facing an uphill battle for reelection to Congress. He needs moral and financial support for his race for Congress, and moral support for his introduction on January 28th, the date of the State of the Union address, articles of impeachment against George W. Bush. Visit http://www.kucinich.us
Then he had to retract his comments, but we all heard them and I sure agreed with them. He was my candidate so now, my list is sadly blank.

The State of the Climate is bad. See the article here.

Green party can be found here.

Cynthia McKinney is running for president, had you heard? She has some thoughts on Palestine: be an honest broker. Are you listening, Obama and Hillary?

Thanks to 156 from Canada and Coleman (?) for their voicemails and as always, thanks to AJ for Eco Moment #13. Visit his podcast, the 2CentsWorth podcast.

Download this podcast here or Subscribe on the right.

[tags]Bush, Kucinich, Israel, Cynthia, McKinney, progressive, liberal, podcast, Green party, Greens, Cheney, impeachment, FISA, Congress, Senate[/tags]

It is an outrage that Dennis Kucinich was excluded from the NBC debate in Las Vegas, especially after they invited him and then changed the criteria after they decided he wasn’t wanted. I hope everyone either boycotts MSNBC or writes them an email and tell them why you are angry with their censorship. The exclusion of Kucinich was probably based on his being anti-war, and GE, which owns NBC, is a major war profiteer. In 2005 their war profits totalled 2.2 billion dollars. At the end of this podcast I play a heavily edited version of the DemocracyNow.org modified debate viva Las Vegas the includes Dennis Kucinich. Visit DemocracyNow.org for the whole thing.

Last Sunday, Iraq factions met to agree on a unity pact, which would not allow their country to be split up and would not allow their oil to given to other governments or corporations.
On Monday night, Condi panicked and on Tuesday she was in Baghdad on a “surprise visit” to talk to Maliki. The end result… they are closer to reaching a “hydrocarbon resource agreement”. Uh-huh. Every time Iraq tries to kick us out and show some backbone, Condi or Bush arrives to twist their arms or “explain” to them — probably with threats and bribes — how they have to meet OUR benchmarks. Not theirs.

Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell wants to read all your email and look at all your searches online. Don’t trust Google! We spend billions on spying and what good does it do?

What good did Bush’s trip to the Middle East last week accomplish? Nothing other than trying to drum up support for war with Iran, promising Israel we’d be behind them if they decided to strike Iran with a nnuclear bomb, giving them the OK to go into Gaza and attack people (which they did.) Bravo Bush. Yours was the most devasting winter holiday in history so far. But advancing the peace process–? Don’t make me laugh.

Watching what you say and do more than you used to? Ah, the insidious creeping of compliance and conformity. Our FBI wants to cooperate with IDENT1, a UK database to search for criminals. They want to gather biometric evidence on everyone on the planet and then share it with everyone in the world. Welcome to “1984″ or even worse, East Berlin and the Stasi. Feeling watched and spied on? Read ‘The Picture of Conformity‘

We’ll nuke Iran – Bush promises Israel

The Iraqis Don’t want us there

Thanks to AJ for the Eco Moment.
He is the host of the 2centsworth podcast.
Download this podcast episode here or subscribe on the right!

[tags]iraq, iran, hillary clinton, barack obama, debate, las vegas, dennis kucinich, excluded, bush’s tour, middle east, israel, gaza, palestine[/tags]

Because some have wondered, no there was no podcast this week and I’m not sure when the next one will be out, but I hope to have time to do one soon. At the moment I’m doing things I need to do that are completely unrelated to podcasting like painting and catching up on some things.
One of my paintings is on the cover of a book of poetry that was just released this week.

The book is called “Definite Space” and it’s written by the mother of a soldier who recently returned from Iraq.

[tags]book cover art, Definite space, painting, podcasting[/tags]