CIVILIANISM PODCAST

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.)

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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)

Today’s episode covers U.S. news, news about Karl Rove, news about diplomatic efforts, climate change, and the $ 819 billion dollar stimulus package that Obama wants passed. No Republicans voted to pass it in the House on Wednesday night and it passed anyway. That’s because President Obama has a mandate and intelligence on his side. Yes, dear Republicans, the Democrats won. Anyway, I defend the spending bill and one reason is the money for transportation and energy and the new electric grid, all of which we need badly.

See this train? Other countries have super-fast commuter trains and we don’t — yet. Why is that? Could it be due to Exxon or BP? We need super-fast, super-efficient transit in the U.S. and it’s ridiculous that we don’t have any. Something or someone must be obstructing their development. There are even solar-powered bullet trains in development, but I bet the U.S. will be one of the last countries to get one, thanks to the obstructionist Republicans.

I play a short clip of Al Gore’s very long testimony in front of Congress on Wednesday. I will have the entire recording (3 hours) shortly, and it will be available on Podcast Liberally only.

You can download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

Music clip: Runaway Train by Eliza Gilkyson

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)

Details of the auto bailout are coming to light. GM might even dump the Cadillac! Cars really do need to evolve, for the good of the economy, the climate, the end of resource wars, and jobs. The auto industry is tied to all of these things, so solving its problems, not just putting a little bandage on it, would help everything.

Why does the U.S. need so much energy? Part of it is our temperature-moderated and leaky buildings, but even more of it is our cars. So along comes the $15 billion auto bailout, promises from the remaining auto makers to modernize, and 3 million jobs are saved. Or are they? It remains to be seen. What we do know is that this is NOT the fault of unions. The auto makers’ failures are the results of their own short-sightedness and lack of vision. We should have 75 mpg cars by now and millions of electric cars on the roads! That last part is exactly the vision of Shai Agassi, the founder and CEO of Better Place.

Better Place is an electric car and electric car powering station plan that is already in development. Cars are being designed, power stations are being put in place, and countries and states are being signed up to get on board. Already signed up are Israel, Japan, Denmark, parts of California, and the state of Hawaii. That means they are going totally green and emissions free with their transportation in these areas. You can read about this great plan here. My podcast includes a good audio recording of Shai Agassi describing his vision of our car future.

The Better Place car

This episode also includes the peak oil/economic collapse story of Dmitri Orlov. He witnessed the transformation of the former Soviet Union to current day Russia through economic collapse, and he describes what he thinks will happen here in the U.S.A. the reasons why. His blog Club Orlov, contains links to his famous “Five Steps to Collapse” presentation.
The Five Steps of collapse, explained in detail. And Introducing the Light-hearted Moment!

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Here are the links to things I read and mentioned in this episode: The Short History of the Electric Car

Thomas Friedman: While Detroit Slept

Saving US Autos the American Way by Brent Budowsky

The Encyclopedia of Country Living
How to live if the bottom falls out! Practical, not violent, survival guide.

Music: Japanese Car by Gideon Freudmann and Unsustainable by Eliza Gilkyson
(and she’s actually from TX)

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.

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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.

Congrats to our new President-elect Obama! It will be interesting to see how his presidency shapes up in the coming weeks. But remember, he isn’t the president yet, so technically he can’t be blamed for anything yet either.

Recorded on Veterans Day. Although I am against American militarism, and even though I feel there are far better and more honorable ways to serve your country than by harming other people and destroying their country, I wish all veterans well, especially the anti-war veterans who have realized the truth.

Lawrence Velvel on our new president-elect and his policy on Afghanistan: Read here.

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From The Real News Network: More U.S. missile strikes kill civilians in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are moving backwards instead of forwards. The U.S. can no longer help militarily because we are creating new terrorists by our actions. Read here

The interview from Alternative Radio is Andrew Bacevich, who wrote “The New American Militarism” in 2005. The interview is from 2006 and he gives a historical perspective on the history of how Americans relate to their military and the MIC.

Wall Street Journal: Intelligence policy to stay largely intact under Obama? Read here.

G20 Finance Ministers Call for Growth and Stability. Read here.
Guido Mantega warns that emerging economies are tired of appearing at meetings with industrialized countries only to be allowed to “drink coffee.”

OMB Watch article on what bush is doing with new rules and regulations.
Midnight at the White House: Bush Using Rules to Cement Legacy

Obama and Iran comments from Informed Comment . Why is he still talking tough on Iran?

IPS News US/IRAQ We have to share this pain
by Dahr Jamail

Winter Soldier: Eyewitness Accounts of War

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.

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Voter and nonvoter ignorance is so prevalent and accepted, from our politicians, to our media, to people we know. Yes, it’s everywhere. Help me fight it. John McCain is a Neocon and thanks to a listener, I have proof: he signed a PNAC document regarding Russia that is on their site.

You can download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

I discuss a maddening email from a John McCain supporter who also denies science and climate change, and my response to it. Climate change is real, and I have started a new information center on my website, under the “climate” tab at civilianism.com/gate. Please visit it and add comments and links to new sites if you are aware of any. Help me fight the ignorance of those who have a “religious” belief system that doesn’t accept scientific evidence.

If I hear one more person tell me that global warming is a myth I will turn into a solar flare myself. Shine some light in the darkness! And no, I do not want my country to go down in flames. Stop–don’t vote for John McCain!

ACORN: John McCain once loved them. Might have just been a sordid affair, like so many of his others. But Republicans everywhere are lying to Americans and telling them this is voter fraud, when any irregularities are actually just registration fraud. No one has voted yet using these registrations. I find out this morning my state’s ACORN is also being sued. Squirrels everywhere are very upset. And, more ignorance to fight: McCain Volunteers Taught to Accuse Obama of Terrorism from Feldman’s Frameshop.

The Rolling Stone article about John McCain: Make Believe Maverick. Related articles on the same page, all worth reading.

I also play a mysterious voicemail and I need help in deciphering its meaning.

The new 501 Lobby group against a nuclear Iran — for what purpose? — is here: United Against Iran

Juan Cole spoke on September 29th at St. John’s University in MN, on the subject of Iraq, and I play part of his talk in the 2nd half. (It’s a little bit hard to hear, sorry about that). Here is his website, Informed Comment.

First song: MidLife Crisis, by Faith No More

Middle Song: The Man, The Myth, The McCain by Roy Zimmerman

Final song: This World is Too Crowded by The Rotters

Our capitalist system is falling apart. Bush and portions of Congress want to nationalize our banking system.

McCain and Obama star in the McCain-Obama debates. They were not presidential debates because the other presidential candidates were not invited. All “major” party candidates should have been on that stage, including the candidates from the Green Party, the Nader party, the Socialist party, the Libertarian party, the Independence party, etc. Would that really crowd the stage so much? No, the American people are at a disadvantage when the corporate media presents us with only two people and says “pick one.”

As for the “bailout” — I support free money for everyone. Let’s just print a few trainloads of $1,000 dollar bills and hand them out to everyone. Why not? We hand out money in Iraq and Afghanistan like pizza coupons; might as well hand money out here in the U.S. And yes, go ahead and bail out the homeowners, but those greedy investment banks that prey on people and make money from nothing and add nothing to the world? Someone tell me how they deserve a bailout. What we really need is single-payer, universal health care. Bail us into THAT.

Is Bush turning into a dictator? I present a somewhat circuitous route to my theory that Bush is going to give John McCain the presidency via a manufactured economic meltdown, provoked riots, and some seriously unethical methods involving martial law, the suspension of the posse comitatus act, and the Army.

This is all related to the March on the RNC and the police state that we saw in St. Paul in the first week in September. I interview the coordinator of that protest march and Katrina P. explains to me what REALLY happened during that mini police state in St. Paul.

Support the RNC 8.

Want to write letters to support a candidate? Here is how the McCain campaign tells people to do it.

Foreclosure: They Were Preyed Upon, a very sad story. One family of 28,000 Minnesota families who are losing their homes through foreclosure this year.

And I forgot to mention this, but thanks to Donna who told me that Thom Hartmann is available for free on Green 960

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My experience in attending the March on the RNC and the next day taught me that there is no doubt the U.S. is headed towards militarization of the police and “security situations”. We are turning into a police state faster than anyone can imagine if the police presence at the RNC is to be the norm for future events.

There was a completely overdone show of force during the whole week of the RNC, and one example was at Mears Park during the Poor Peoples protest activities there. The entire week, police were decked out in riot gear with numerous weapons, yet still afraid of a few skinny “anarchists”.

Supposedly, the militarization of the police in the U.S. is the “trend” of the future, and few people care, or even notice. After all, we’re in a “War on Terror”, and when the powers that be conflate terrorists and protesters, that’s just an easy little slip down that slippery slope into a full-on militarized society.
.
The police only arrested 4 at Mears Park in St. Paul on September 2nd, but they arrested hundreds more on September 1st, and on September 4th when people were herded onto a bridge and made to sit down while they waited to be arrested. See this account of the Marion Avenue Bridges arrests.
‘My first arrest followed attempts to obey police’ – Sun-Sailor editor recounts RNC experience”

In total, nearly 820 people were arrested in four days in St. Paul. They even arrested 30 journalists, and probably more if you count independent citizen media. The Republican convention continued uninterrupted, blissfully oblivious of their security’s completely overblown reaction to what was described as about 100 anarchists. The police and the FBI, et al., also confiscated possessions in their raids before the RNC even started, (See the iWitness video account of that here–
“2008 Republican National Convention Round-Up
Violence and cruel treatment directed at protesters by police; Journalists targeted for arrest, harassment, intimidation and surveillance
. . . . so maybe they thought the protesters have some type of mind control weapons. Most of us were there to protest peacefully. For the small minority that were not, nothing can explain the massive show of police force that responded, or the violent tactics they used.

This was not fighting terrorism — this was fighting U.S. citizens. See evidence in these two videos linked here: a young man on his bike, falls off, gets arrested and then allegedly abused while in jail.
The “accident” (click for video)

The press conference of torture while in jail

It’s a mirror situation to Iraq and the “War on Terror” in a way — piss people off a lot by fighting their “idealogy” with weapons, and expect them to become passive and like you because they find you so charming. I was anything but charmed by the police actions last week. I’m shocked this happened not only in my state, but in the United States.

The police state scenes I have seen on the streets of St. Paul were like those I have seen of violence in countries that we criticize for their civil rights abuses. People need to speak out against this, or it will only increase, right here in the U.S. and probably in other countries too. That’s the “trend”.

If you were there and arrested and had things confiscated by police, you should contact ColdSnapLegal.org. They are handling legal questions, providing legal help for people, and helping get peoples’ possessions back. I hope to have more stories about the violation of civil rights that occurred last week in the future, and also many interesting stories about McCain’s new sidekick, Sarah Palin.

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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.

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

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Green Party website and Cynthia McKinney’s acceptance speech.

Do you consider yourself patriotic? Yes or no, you will want to listen to this. Protesting is one of the most patriotic things you can do, especially considering the way Congress is giving away our rights on a weekly basis, all to buy a little so-called safety. That’s the excuse for the wars we are in too, but it’s a false sense of safety. These military exercises just drag on and on. It’s time to end these optional for-profit wars, and bring the soldiers home.

Check out U.S. House Res. 362 — Sanctions on Iran. This is being fast-tracked and these are severe sanctions, including a possible blockade. A blockade is especially serious since it is considered an Act of War. This won’t win us any help at the negotiating table when we finally sit down with Iran after Bush is done damaging the process as much as possible.

House Resolution 362 is really a scary thing to consider. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing on “Meeting the Iranian Challenge” on Tuesday, July 8, 2008. The Honorable William J. Burns is the only witness announced so far. It has been endorsed by 146 cosponsors and has momentum with reportedly 43 cosponsors jumping on the last two days. Gareth Porter says that US House Res. 362 suggests the use of force with new bill. See his video explaining this at the link above.
The following groups will be involved in the March on the RNC in September:
United for Peace and Justice
ANSWER

Troops out Now Coalition

September 2nd: Poor People’s economic Human Rights campaign

Big Concert on the 2nd being planned, so far for the state capitol: Anti-Flag and Michael Franti

The National Assembly to End the War and Occupation of Iraq

Anti-war Committee.org

Protest RNC 2008.org — A clearinghouse for every protest group going to the March on the RNC, the site is good for info. on what will be happening all four days.

If you want to get the real inside info on the March for the RNC, listen to my Interview about the big anti-war march scheduled in St. Paul September 1st, 2008, at the Republican National Convention with Katrina P. from MarchonRNC.org

Download this episode directly here or subscribe on the right.

Music: Peace in America by Dan Coyle, I am a Patriot by Little Steven

In this episode, Blackwater is back in the news, winning a lawsuit to set up a war zone near San Diego. The Courage Center sponsored a conference call with author Jeremy Scahill and I got to ask him a question about Blackwater.

Habeas Corpus has been restored to the country and John McCain called it with the worst decision the Supreme court has made in his aged memory, which apparently isn’t too good, because the worst decision the Supreme Court ever made by far was when they installed King George as our president.

Here’s a funny Gordon Brown and Bush story

The recent Supreme Court decision on Habeas Corpus restored prisoners rights and even though John McCain was once a prisoner (we think) he doesn’t want them to have their day in court or even know what the charges against them are. What a hypocrite! Worse, the way we have treated prisoners at GITMO has created more terrorists out of regular people that happened to end up in our “enemy combatant” system.

For more reading, here is the McClatchy story: Guantanamo prisoners

More on how torture came “from the top” here.

Oh yes, there are hearings going on about this. Bush won’t be able to squirm his way out of responsibility for prisoner abuse forever. But the big question is: Why is the right-wing mindset so violent and arrogant? The newest breed of Republican is unapologetic, like ultra-violent children on steroids, throwing tantrums that kill. To them, the means always justifies the end, even when the end is elusive, repulsive, deadly, or even impossible, like victory in iraq. This arrogance and callousness is pervasive in the new right-wingers, from their talk show hosts (like Michael Reagan) all the way on up to their top politicians, as they plot more wars that will kill even more people. They also trash the environment and it’s justified by calling it energy independence. Their unapologetic mind-set even extends to the state department, which can’t even celebrate the recent peace agreement in Gaza. Yes, the Bush administration is already trying to ruin the Egypt Hamas-Israel ceasefire.

To add to the fun, Bush’s last lame duck trip to Europe culminated in an astonishing interview with Sky News. I play a good portion of it in this episode, but you must see it to fully appreciate its arrogant and dream-like quality. From Sky News, link to video is here.

Afghanistan is not doing too well at the moment and president Karzai is ready for war with Pakistan. Bush remains oblivious and unconcerned. Blackwater interview done by the Courage Campaign. For more on Blackwater read Jeremy Scahill’s latest article, Blackwater’s Bright Future.

Washington Ordered destruction of Guantanomo interrogation records, story here.

Why drill offshore? We aren’t even drilling on land we have set aside for that purpose, so Democrats are pointing this out.

Hillary Clinton has called for an investigation regarding KBR and possibly $1 billion in inappropriate charges to the Army. Read her letter to Carl Levin here.

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[tags]Civilianism, podcast, progressive, Blackwater, Michael Reagan, Mark Dice, Right-wing radio host, habeas corpus, supreme court, Iraq, President Bush, european Tour, Jeremy Scahill, Sky News[/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]