Wednesday, June 11th 2008

6:28 PM

Bush A War Criminal

From Val....

2004/Fallujah/... residents of the 300,000-population city were warned of the coming all-out attack (by Marines). Women and children and old people were allowed to flee the city and pass through the cordon of troops. But Filkins reported that males determined to be “of combat age,” which in this case was established as 12 and up, were barred from leaving, and sent back into the city to await their fate. Young boys were ripped from their screaming mothers and sent trudging back to the city to face death.

...In the ensuing slaughter, as the US dumped bombs, napalm, phosphorus, anti-personnel fragmentation weapons and an unimaginable quantity of machine gun and small arms fire on the city, it is clear that many of those young boys died.

...This was a triple war crime. First of all, it was a case of collective punishment — a practice popular with the Nazis in World War II, and barred by the Geneva Conventions. The international laws of war also guarantees the right of surrender, so those men and boys who tried to leave, even if suspected of being enemy fighters, should have been allowed to surrender and be held as captives until their loyalties could be established. The boys, meanwhile, were “protected persons” who were by law to be treated as victims of war, and protected from harm.

Read full article below:

For His Treatment of Children in the ‘War on Terror,’

Bush Is a War Criminal

By Dave Lindorff

22/05/08 "Commondreams" -- - Surely nothing that President Bush has done in his two wretched terms of office — not the invasion and destruction of Iraq, not the overturning of the five-centuries-old tradition of habeas corpus, not his authorization and encouragement of torture, not his campaign of domestic spying — nothing, can compare in its ugliness as his approval, as commander in chief, of the imprisoning of over 2500 children.

According to the US government’s own figures, that is how many kids 17 years and younger have been held since 2001 as “enemy combatants” — often for over a year, and sometimes for over five years. At least eight of those children, some reportedly as young as 10, were held at Guantanamo. They even had a special camp for them there: Camp Iguana. One of those kids committed suicide at the age of 21, after spending five years in confinement at Guantanamo. (Ironically and tragically, that particular victim of the president’s criminal policy, had been determined by the Pentagon to have been innocent only two weeks before he took his own life, but nobody bothered to tell him he was slated for release and a return home to Afghanistan.)

I say Bush’s behavior is criminal because since 1949, under the Geneva Conventions signed and adopted by the US, and incorporated into US law under the Constitution’s supremacy clause, children under the age of 15 are classed as “protected persons,” and even if captured while fighting against US forces are to be considered victims, not POWs. In 2002, the Bush administration signed an updated version of that treaty, raising the “protected person” age to all those “under 18.”

Treaties don’t mean much to this president, to the vice president, or to the rest of the administration, but they should mean something to the rest of us.

But capturing and imprisoning children isn’t even the worst of this president’s war crimes when it comes to the abuse of the young. Under Bush’s leadership as commander in chief, the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan has been considering any male child in Iraq of age 14 or older to be a potential combatant. They have been treated accordingly — shot by US troops, imprisoned as “enemy combatants,” and subjected to torture.

In the 2004 assault by US Marines on the city of Fallujah, things were even worse. Dexter Filkins, a reporter for the New York Times, reported that before that invasion, some 20,000 Marines encircled the doomed city, which the White House had decided to level because it harbored a bunch of insurgents and had angered the American public by capturing, killing and mutilating the bodies of four mercenaries working for US forces. The residents of the 300,000-population city were warned of the coming all-out attack. Women and children and old people were allowed to flee the city and pass through the cordon of troops. But Filkins reported that males determined to be “of combat age,” which in this case was established as 12 and up, were barred from leaving, and sent back into the city to await their fate. Young boys were ripped from their screaming mothers and sent trudging back to the city to face death.

In the ensuing slaughter, as the US dumped bombs, napalm, phosphorus, anti-personnel fragmentation weapons and an unimaginable quantity of machine gun and small arms fire on the city, it is clear that many of those young boys died.

This was a triple war crime. First of all, it was a case of collective punishment — a practice popular with the Nazis in World War II, and barred by the Geneva Conventions. The international laws of war also guarantees the right of surrender, so those men and boys who tried to leave, even if suspected of being enemy fighters, should have been allowed to surrender and be held as captives until their loyalties could be established. The boys, meanwhile, were “protected persons” who were by law to be treated as victims of war, and protected from harm.

Instead they were treated as the enemy, to be destroyed.

For these crimes, the president should today be impeached by the Congress and then tried as a war criminal.

After watching this Congress cower from its responsibility to defend the Constitution, I have little hope of that happening. But I do harbor the hope that once Bush has left office, some prosecutor in another country — perhaps Spain, or Canada or Germany — will use the doctrine of universal jurisdiction to indict him for war crimes, and, should he leave the country for some lucrative speaking engagement, arrest him, the way former dictator Augusto Pinochet was arrested by a Spanish prosecutor on a visit to the UK.

For his abuse, imprisonment and killing of children, this president should stand trial for war crimes.

Dave Lindorff’s most recent book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net.

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Tuesday, June 10th 2008

4:19 PM

Impeach Bush

Help Support Impeachment of G.W. Bush

June 10, 2008 activism

Dear Roger,

Last night, on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush. Many of the articles — which are listed at the bottom of this E-mail — echoed calls and allegations we have been making since the launch of the American Freedom Campaign last July.

The next step is for the House to refer the articles to the House Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee will then determine — by majority vote — whether the grounds for impeachment exist. An objective review of the articles would undoubtedly demonstrate that many, if not most, of the articles prepared by Rep. Kucinich are backed up by sufficient grounds to proceed with the impeachment process.

Now is the time to let your U.S. representative know that you strongly support impeachment hearings before the House Judiciary Committee and further proceedings on the House floor. Please take a moment to let your U.S. representative know that you support the impeachment of George W. Bush by clicking on the following link:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=24900

From torture to rendition to spying on Americans to abusing signing statements, Rep. Kucinich detailed all of the reasons why George W. Bush should be impeached. He included as Article XXVII one of the American Freedom Campaign’s top issues: ”Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply.”

The founders of our country feared more than anything else the prospect of an executive who put his own power and desires above the Constitution. Congress was given the power of impeachment so that it could remove any president who committed the high crime of violating the Constitution during his (or her) term in office.

A strong case can be made that no president in the history of this country is more deserving of impeachment than George W. Bush. If he is not impeached, the bar for impeachment will have been raised so high that it might as well no longer exist. Future presidents will know that they can violate the Constitution at will, confident in the fact that Congress does not have the courage as an institution to do anything about it.

We cannot allow this to happen. Please send an E-mail to your representative today urging immediate action on the impeachment of George W. Bush.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=24900

Once you have taken action yourself, please take a moment to forward this E-mail to as many people as you can.

Thank you for standing up for your country and the Constitution.

Steve

Steve Fox
Campaign Director
American Freedom Campaign Action Fund

====================

Here are the 35 articles of impeachment introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) on June 9, 2008:

Article I

Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.

Article II

Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.

Article III

Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.

Article IV

Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.

Article V

Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.

Article VI

Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114.

Article VII

Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.

Article VIII

Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.

Article IX

Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor

Article X

Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes

Article XI

Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq

Article XII

Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation’s Natural Resources

Article XIIII

Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries

Article XIV

Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency

Article XV

Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq

Article XVI

Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors

Article XVII

Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives

Article XVIII

Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy

Article XIX

Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to “Black Sites” Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture

Article XX

Imprisoning Children

Article XXI

Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government

Article XXII

Creating Secret Laws

Article XXIII

Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act

Article XXIV

Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment

Article XXV

Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens

Article XXVI

Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements

Article XXVII

Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply

Article XXVIII

Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice

Article XXIX

Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Article XXX

Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare

Article XXXI

Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency

Article XXXII

Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change

Article XXXIII

Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.

Article XXXIV

Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001

Article XXXV

Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders

Bush, Cheney and Rice Are Being Detained By Army Rangers

June 10, 2008 activism, dreams, news

Imagine, you wake up in the morning and turn on the radio and here: “Army Rangers have Bush, Cheney and Rice detained awaiting trial for treason, high crimes and mister meaners, by order of the Justice Department.” It just could happen you know. Mr. Kucinich today made a resolution of impeachment for G. W. Bush with 35-counts of high crimes and mister meaners and the crime against Valery Plame is treason, McClellan will testify to G. W. Bush’s involvement in that on the 20th of June. So we might not go to war with Iran in August and there might be elections in November and we might actually be America, broken with a lot to fix, but still America.

From Rawstory

Kucinich presents Bush impeachment articles
David Edwards and Mike Sheehan
Published: Monday June 9, 2008

An Ohio Democratic lawmaker and former presidential candidate has presented articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush to Congress.

Thirty-five articles were presented by Rep. Dennis Kucinich to the House of Representatives late Monday evening, airing live on C-SPAN.

“The House is not in order,” said Kucinich to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), upon which Pelosi pounded her gavel.

“Resolved,” Kucinich then began, “that President George W. Bush be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate. …

“In his conduct while President of the United States, George W. Bush, in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and to the best of his ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has committed the following abuses of power…”

The first article Kucinich presented, and many that followed, regarded the war in Iraq: “Article 1 - Creating a secret propaganda campaign to manufacture a false case for war against Iraq.”

On several occasions, Kucinich referenced RAW STORY and its noted investigative news chief, Larisa Alexandrovna, as source material for the articles. Two of the RAW STORY pieces Kucinich mentioned are viewable here and here.

Kucinich, a 2004 and 2008 Democratic candidate for the White House, abandoned a prior attempt to begin impeachment proceedings against Bush in January of this year.

In April of 2007, Kucinich presented impeachment articles against Vice President Dick Cheney, but the effort went nowhere. Kucinich exclaimed that “impeachment may well be the only remedy which remains to stop a war of aggression against Iran.”

Before leaving office in January 2007, then-Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney–currently a Green Party presidential candidate–introduced articles of impeachment against President Bush as her last act in Congress, but that effort also was fruitless.

There is video from C-SPAN, broadcast June 9, 2008 on Rawstory.

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Sunday, June 8th 2008

6:17 PM

Supporting Our Troops In Oklahoma City

Report on Saturday's OKC Peace Rally (with "Eagles" counter-demo)

At 10:50 am, when Nathaniel Batchelder and Tom Gallagher arrived, there was one "Eagle" in place with a couple flags and a sign saying, "We support the troops." Batch introduced himself, but she - a no-nonsense and physically powerful woman - wasn't interested in much conversation. Batch said to her, "We support the troops too," and she replied, "But we support the mission." Batch let it go at that.

John Walters arrived with all our signs and flags and "the regulars" began setting up our stuff. By 11:15, there were about a dozen of us and no other Eagles had arrived. Her "Eagles" flags and sign began to look more and more like just part of our rally, which was fine, but I'm sure I wasn't the only one feeling some sympathy for her (and some relief).

Several came specially to offer a nonviolent presence had there been a difficult confrontation with "Eagles: - Tom Gallagher, Margaret Cox, Ellen Watson and Gail Sloop are all skilled in non-confrontational peace-making, and it was clear that "the peace forces" were ready, had there been "a situation."

When Warren Henthorn (Gold Star Dad whose flag proclams, "Let them not be forgotten," she thought she had an "Eagle" ally. "No," clarified Warren, I definitely want peace and the troops home." When Michael Trapp arrived with his large America flag, she thought he must be an "Eagle" too. "No," said Michael, "I'm with the peace movement."

By the time our large signs were stretched from Meridian Ave east for some 75 yards, her "Eagles" flags and sign really looked like "part of us." There was lots of supportive honking, and - I believe - only one or two apparent negative reactions to the call for peace. The tide has turned on the war.

Be sure to watch the 5-minute video by BraVe New Films, documenting US Senator Jim Inhofe's votes AGAINST things the Troops need: body armor, vehicle armor, medical services and psychological services and post-service care. It is shocking that Oklahoma's US Senator (up for election) poses as pro-troops and pro-war policy, but has a terrible rating by veterans' groups who know that Jim Inhofe has voted AGAINST services they needed. http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/41105-oklahoma-vets-and-jim-inhofe We shall persistently do what we can for peace, human rights, economic justice, environmental sustainability.

Nathaniel Batchelder, the Peace House Oklahoma City www.peacehouseok.org

***************************************

From: Engineer from 9/11 Truth has this to add

It was really pretty funny. There was only one hater there, who at first we thought was a man but turns out it was a chick. She planted 4 big flags, which were 2 US flags and 2 Gathering of Pigeons flags. Actually the flags say Gathering of Eagles. She stood by the side of the road, amid her flags, holding a sign that said simply, "Support our Troops". It really looked like she was with us, and we didn't tell her. She got flipped of and screamed at by her own kind, it was awesome. One guy on a motorcycle almost jumped off of it to come at me. He flipped me off and looked right at me and said, "Fuck You!" So I nodded and smiled at him. That made him madder. He started screaming, "I'll bomb Iran!" and the pigeon lady tried to hold her sign up so that he would recognize her as a fellow war lover. He should have known she was on his side because of course she was, her sign said "support our troops."

The pigeon lady kept turning around and taking our pictures. It was creepy. I'm sure I'm totally dogged out on some webpage somewhere right now.

**************************************

I was invited as I am every Saturday. But I work nights and Saturday mornings belong to my wife, however had I known the war hawks would have been there I would have been for sure. When I awoke in the afternoon and read Batches email, I'm like oh man, I missed it.

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Saturday, June 7th 2008

1:52 AM

A Look At Mr. Obama

From Minister Rev Christopher Handy:

I love this........these pictures turn a presidential candidate into a humble human being!
Enjoy....
Make sure you look at all the pictures...I love the last one!

Who is this man Barack and where did he come from? A picture is worth a thousand words!

Obama Photo Gallery

WHERE DID HE COME FROM?

FATHER and MOTHER

MOTHER and SON

FATHER and SON
Barack Obama Sr. poses with his son in the Honolulu airport
during Obama Sr.'s only visit to see his son while he was
growing up in Hawaii . Young Barack was in the 5th grade
when the photo was taken

Barack Obama Sr., a native of Kenya , met his future wife while they were students at the University of Hawaii . In 1963, he essentially abandoned his family to continue his studies at Harvard.

Grandparents and Mom

THE DUNHAMS: precocious, self-assured
Stanley Ann (left); her impetuous father,
who named his only child after himself;
her mother, Madelyn, the quiet, firm
influence in the home.

At their home in Jakarta , Ann Dunham poses in this undated photo with her second husband, Lolo Soetoro, their daughter, Maya, and Barack Obama.

Mom, Sister and Barack

WHAT ARE GRANDPARENTS?

Barack Obama with his maternal grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham during a 1982 visit to New York , where Obama was attending Columbia . (Courtesy of The Obama Family

Barack Obama walks with his grandmother Sarah Hussein Obama at his father's house in Nyongoma Kogelo village, western Kenya , in Aug. 2006. (AP file)

Barack Obama with his grandmother, Sarah Hussein Obama, in Africa (Courtesy)

In this Obama Family photo ares

bottom row, from left) half-sister Auma, her mother Kezia Obama, Obama's step-grandmother Sarah Hussein Onyango Obama and unknown; (top row, from left) unknown, Barack Obama, half-brother Abongo (Roy) Obama, and three unknowns. (Courtesy of the Obama Family)

FATHER

Barack Obama as a toddler.

(Courtesy of Barack Obama)
(

Barack Obama as a child. (Courtesy of Barack Obama)

Barack walks along Waikiki Beach shortly before he and his mother moved from Hawaii to Indonesia to live with her second husband, Lolo Soetoro, in 1967.

Barack poses with his mother, Ann, half
sister, Maya, and maternal grandfather
Stanley Dunham in Hawaii in the early
1970s after the family returned from I
ndonesia. Neighbors remember the
close relationship between young
Barack and his grandfather.

A page from Barack Obama's senior yearbook features his personalized message to family, friends and teammates. (Photo from The Oahuan yearbook / March 23, 2007)

Barack Obama hugs his younger half sister Maya at his high school graduation

Barack Obama shakes hands during his graduation ceremony from Punahou School in 1979. While in his early teens, Obama chose to stay at the school and live with his grandparents after his mother decided to move back to Jakarta , Ind onesia.

At his high school graduation, Barack Obama gets a hug from his grandmother Madelyn as his grandfather Stanley beams. His maternal grandparents raised Obama in Hawaii while his mother was living in Indonesia .

Maya Soetoro-Ng, Barack Obama's half sister, teaches her Education in American Society class at the University of Hawaii .

The wedding day of Barack Obama Jr. and Michelle LaVaughn Robinson...... (Courtesy of the Obama Family)

Barack and first born

THE FAMILY

Quotations
'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so
that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.'

Barack and Michelle

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Wednesday, June 4th 2008

2:49 AM

Love or Ownership

June 3, 2008 just me No Comments

Love or Ownership
Category: Life

Found in a newsletter called “Inner Whispers”

JEALOUSY
“A process which occurs when one is actually dissatisfied with his or her own creations…”

I’m guessing this means that we push those who love us away and become angry with them when they turn to some one else to share emotions with. When we should be angry with ourselves, our ego steps in, to protect us and some how turns it around so that we can blame them and not ourself for our own hurt.

What has always bothered me was that jealousy is accepted as a normal emotion. It is even taught that if one does not become jealous then they aren’t in love.

True story: Back when I was in elementary school (during the 4th and fifth grade) I had a girl friend named Cheryl. I told her that she could have other boyfriends if she wanted to, it was ok with me, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with it, we should all be able to love each other. So she decided that I didn’t really love her, I was just saying that, because I wouldn’t be jealous if she had other boyfriends, so to get back at me she played a trick on me. She covered my eyes with her hands, said she had something to show me, walked me over to a sticker bush, told me to open my eyes and then pushed me into the sticker bush. My mother had to pull out the stickers with a pair of tweezers, both her and my older sister told me to brake up with her. But I didn’t, she apologized to me and I accepted it. She finally broke up with me and Debbie her friend brought me back the ring and said, “did you know she was seeing other boys.”

I won’t tell you that I am above any such emotion, it happens, I realize it and deal with it, just like anger or hatred. But jealousy is a little different you see, when you become jealous, nobody will tell you that you are wrong and they will always agree that the other person is either a jerk or a bitch.

Like I told a Lieutenant I worked for in the Navy, for some reason we mistaken mental sickness as love when we believe that a person has a right to be jealous because they love someone. If you love someone you will want them to be happy, even if that happiness comes from someone else. Love is not selfish. Somehow we have ownership and love mixed up with each other. You see a beautiful bird and you say I love that bird, so you capture it and put it in a cage. Do you really love it or do you just want to have it, there is a difference and the two are not the same. We will see a beautiful guy or gal and say we want them and we go about capturing them and the real prize is marriage, that’s when they are really ours, until the divorce that is.

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Monday, June 2nd 2008

2:31 PM

I Need A Counselor

Some people think that I'm not normal because I have (not normal ideas), at least what they think is normal.

You're probably thinking, I'm into cutting and bondage, foot fetish, etc. NO, none of that. I believe that everyone should be able to love everybody and that nobody should belong to anybody, that isn't crazy is it? Of course I know that can't happen, because some people can't love and others won't love and some are so insecure in themselves that they just have to belong to somebody, believing that person will take care of them, now that person needs counseling, because you can't get your happiness from someone else, you have to find it in yourself first and then you can freely share it with others.

But I have been suicidal and I was scheduled to see a counselor today but canceled, feeling a little sick, caught some bug and I'm waiting on the air conditioning man.

But I have to honestly ask myself, where did my happiness go. Well I was fine until we went to war with Iraq and my happiness went right out the window. I'm not exactly sure why this war bothers me so much, and others just don't seem to care and I feel like I'm all alone, nobody cares but me. Having other obligations I cannot find the time to attend protests and keep my blogs updated and infiltrate the forums in hopes to educate people of the horrors of war and a need for peace and that's making things even more frustrating for me.

So I need a counselor, what the hell is a counselor going to do, she can't stop the war. Why this bothers me so much is a real mystery to me. It's not like I read all the articles and video clips sent to me. I'll read a sentence or two and then delete it because I don't want to hear anymore about it. I know we fucked up and we keep fucking up and we just don't seem to get it right and this ain't fucking brain surgery, it's just plain old simple common sense. DO UNTO YOUR NEIGHBORS AS WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU. It's about being fair, about being courteous, showing respect. Bombs just aren't very respectful these days, you wouldn't want to have one in your living room would you?

Anyways, in my current state of madness in need of counseling, I do appreciate all those who are patient with me. You keep smiling and I'll try to also. I have to learn to pray for those who suffer while I live here happily in the here and now and maybe a counselor can help me do that. I just might call and reschedule. It might seem selfish, but the truth is, IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY YOU WILL MAKE OTHERS UNHAPPY.

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Saturday, May 31st 2008

3:10 PM

My Opinion on Marriage, Multiple Wives and Religion

Category: Religion and Philosophy

Trust Me, I'm From The Government and I'm Here To Help You

May 31, 2008 history, just me, news, opinion, politics, religion

I found a pretty good article defending the innocent children who are being used in a government experiment to crush all marriages not approved by the government. Strange this is occurring in America, the land of the free. This article can be found by clicking on the link below.

The FLDS Children Seized in Texas are in Their Own Private Gitmo

By Richard Wexler, The Nation. Posted May 31, 2008.

When can a person decide to get married, well, maybe when they are old enough to have children they should be old enough to marry, but that's just my opinion. However in the early years that this country was formed, marriages often occurred at 14 years of age, well, people didn't live that long back then. I think every child in the world would be angered being told that they are not qualified to make decisions for themselves concerning their future. Honestly, only those who can see the future are thus qualified, well that disqualifies me, and I've made plenty of mistakes and I'm sure I'll make another one sometime in the future, but I hope my government doesn't self righteously believe it can protect me from this.

Having gotten that out of the way, lets now discuss multiple wives. Marriage has always been a religious thing used by the government to determine rights of private property, taxes and benefits. When our government determines what is lawful or unlawful marriage, it has crossed the line separating church and state.

I don't think its wrong for a 14 year old to get married. I don't think its wrong for a man to have multiple wives. And if a 30 year old man marries a 14 year old girl, well, that just simply isn't any of our business and it should not be the business of our government.

However, to defent the state of Texes, let me add, the ACLU won't touch this because I do believe in this case the rights of children are at stake. I honestly believe that in THIS CASE 14 year old girls do not decide to get married or have children, this dicision is being decided for them. To protect the rigts of children I believe the state of Texes should step in, but why now? This has been going on for awhile, why did they decide to be all righteous now? I don't know, but if you have some theory about that, I'd appreciate you sharing. I'm sure, at some later date we will discover why and once again it will be proven that government can't be trusted, our fore fathers knew this and that's why they set up this government by the people for the people to be kept in check and balence.

I do have a theory though. Our government has been unjustly stolen by the multinational corporations that, if you do your homework, you will discover these multinational corporations are also doing the same to the world and often using governments and militarys to accomplish this. In a free society as this, if you take the media and set up a common religion, you can rule the people. First you use the media to promote your form of righteousness and religion and then for political purposes, elected officials will encourage their respected office to enforce it, and thus, we have what we have here.

As allways, when good decisions are made for corrupt reasons the outcome turns out bad, like Vietnam. Those of you who have grown up during this time know what I'm talking about.

Concerning religion and multiple wives, this is my two cents. If a church allows for multiple wives it should also allow for multiple husbands. Now we're talking my religion that unfortunatly doesn't exist on this earth.

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Tuesday, May 27th 2008

4:49 PM

The Warrior Remembers On Memorial Day

From Claudia

...no one knows war better than we (soldiers) who did the killing, and the dying, and the remembering, and the grieving. For we are neither war's initiators nor its beneficiaries, we are its victims.

...In war, we are conditioned to put aside the lessons of our youth, of our parents, teachers, and clergymen who stressed the importance of compassion, understanding and loving our fellow man. We are transformed into warriors capable of unleashing untold horrors and devastation. The legacy of war, therefore, is not of honor or glory, for such virtues can never be derived from causing the death and suffering of so many of God's children. War is in fact hell as is living with the memories and nightmares.

... those of us who truly know war, will never allow others to forget them either, nor profane their memory by using their sacrifices to encourage other young men and women to march blindly off to battle for a cause that is misguided or nonexistent.

..War has taught us that patriotism has its place as long as it is tempered with reason.

... war has taught us that if those of us who know the insanity of war find solace in embracing the fantasy of glory and heroism and allow those blinded by greed, hatred, misunderstanding, and misguided patriotism, to again place our children on the battlefield unnecessarily, the very survival of our nation, perhaps, even of our species, may well be placed in jeopardy. War has taught us this.

Amen!

Read full article at:
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
FOCUS Camillo "Mac" Bica: On This Memorial Day
http://www.truthout.org/article/on-this-memorial-day
Camillo "Mac" Bica, writing for Truthout, says: "For many of us who have known war, it has been years since we faced the insanity of man's inhumanity to man. Yet, it haunts us still. Not a day goes by, I think, that we do not recall the devastating screams of a comrade who died in our arms while taking and then giving back a useless and desolate hill top in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, or wake up screaming as we relive the horror of the bloodstained streets of Fallujah."

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Thursday, May 22nd 2008

5:38 PM

Tired

Sleeping on the job, I'm tired. Lucky me, when I'm tired, I can rest.

But what of the rest, hungry, tired, working just to eat enough just to not be hungry. Mother feed me, and she has nothing left for herself. Will the rich forgive me, I was born this way and on the first day I cried.

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Monday, May 19th 2008

9:01 PM

Stop the War Funding

May 20, 2008

Dear Roger,

Bush will try to justify his war spending, but urge your Senators to do what's right on the war in Iraq. Tell them to vote no for additional war funding!

Last week the anti-Iraq war movement scored a major victory in the House of Representatives. An important factor in this victory is that thousands of you wrote your representative and urged them to cut funding for the war and set a time table for withdrawal. This week, we're hoping for a similar victory in the Senate and again we need your help to make an impact.

The Senate is set to vote as early as tomorrow (Tuesday, May 20) on whether or not to give President Bush over $169 billion MORE for the unpopular, misguided military adventure in Iraq.

We promise to keep the heat on Congress, even if the odds of cutting funding for the war aren't as good in the Senate as they were in the House.

It is crucial that your Senators hear that you oppose Bush's failed Iraq policies that are costing us billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi lives.

Tell your Senator that enough is enough.

Click here to write to your Senators today!

The Senate will hold three votes related to the Iraq war as early as tomorrow. Please write your Senators and urge them to stop funding Bush's war, set a timetable to bring our troops home, and give our veterans the assistance they deserve. Bush has fewer than 245 days left in office, but that's still 245 days to dig us into a deeper mess in Iraq that will be left on the lap of the next president. Please let your Senator know how strongly you oppose this White House's disastrous military occupation of Iraq.

Click here to write to them today.

Sincerely,

John Isaacs and Guy Stevens

Also a couple of good videos I have come across:

Our military privatized http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfu44knmLOE

From the Iraqis fighting for their country http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2173206

In this video the artist mentions the bilderberg group - the group that may be the ones most responsible for pulling the strings http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBCKMTo210k

Ron Paul names names and explains http://www.liveleak.com/e/911_1210767551

Iraqi Vets Against the War testify before Congress http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1526

By the way, Osama is dead and 9/11 is an inside job.

I still get email messages from people concerned that I support Obama when Ron Paul is the best candidate, so is Kucinich, but neither one of them will be on the ballet, however, does anybody know if we could write our choice in and if so, to sent a message, all of you who are for Kucinich should write him in, I and others will write in Ron Paul.

Everybody I talk to agrees that these are the two best candidates and when they did online polls they were always the winner. I'm not convinced that all has been on the level. While I am "The Peaceful Vet for Obama" on myspace, I wonder if it really matters, whoever "they" decide will be president, it will be so. I'm still uncertain about who "they" are, but I'm researching it.

Thanks for listening

Roger

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Wednesday, May 14th 2008

5:34 PM

Don't Bomb Iran

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Tuesday, May 13th 2008

6:24 PM

Because We Are The Media

From Darlene (A Homeless Vet With A Laptop)
Green Darlene

What are the international papers and news saying.?

ENGLISH PLEASE!!!!!

WHILE FRENCH LOOKS AND SOUNDS SO PRETTY I LIKE MOST AMeRICANS -HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE.

IM JUST A DUMB LADY WITH HOMELESSNESS AND MULTI -DISABILITY.

In America THE ELITE LEARN FRENCH . and thats who we don't want in the white house.

This is some more bad, bad stuff (Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause).

A few of the ugly Americans, fueled by comments like Hillary made, not worried kentuck is blue collar ,white; all she had to do was just say blue collar; and she knows this.

Both the Clintons have made racist statements using careful innuendo and then tried to deny and claim the victim is the aggressor. Typical bully ploy; its just another example of the the kind of dirty pool we need to get rid. of.

And more proof Clintons will do and say anything f vioalte every thing they "believe in " for the win /for power.

they are for that elite group ONLY they belong to including the DLC AND THE BUSHES.

Darlene

http://www.washingtonpost.com

Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause

The Farmers for Obama headquarters in Vincennes, Ind., was vandalized on the eve of that state's May 6 primary. (By Ray Mccormick)

By Kevin Merida

Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 13, 2008; Page A01

Danielle Ross was alone in an empty room at the Obama campaign headquarters in Kokomo, Ind., a cellphone in one hand, a voter call list in the other. She was stretched out on the carpeted floor wearing laceless sky-blue Converses, stories from the trail on her mind. It was the day before Indiana's primary, and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb.

But that was not the worst thing to occur since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University, in part to hopscotch America stumping for Barack Obama.

Here's the worst: In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into "a horrible response," as Ross put it, a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated.

"The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person,' " recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20. "People just weren't receptive."

For all the hope and excitement Obama's candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed -- and unreported -- this election season. Doors have been slammed in their faces. They've been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they've endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president.

The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street-level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight.

Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree!"

Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, said she, too, came across "a lot of racism" when campaigning for Obama in Pennsylvania. One Pittsburgh union organizer told her he would not vote for Obama because he is black, and a white voter, she said, offered this frank reason for not backing Obama: "White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people."

Obama campaign officials say such incidents are isolated, that the experience of most volunteers and staffers has been overwhelmingly positive.

The campaign released this statement in response to questions about encounters with racism: "After campaigning for 15 months in nearly all 50 states, Barack Obama and our entire campaign have been nothing but impressed and encouraged by the core decency, kindness, and generosity of Americans from all walks of life. The last year has only reinforced Senator Obama's view that this country is not as divided as our politics suggest."

Campaign field work can be an exercise in confronting the fears, anxieties and prejudices of voters. Veterans of the civil rights movement know what this feels like, as do those who have been involved in battles over busing, immigration or abortion. But through the Obama campaign, some young people are having their first experience joining a cause and meeting cruel reaction.

On Election Day in Kokomo, a group of black high school students were holding up Obama signs along U.S. 31, a major thoroughfare. As drivers cruised by, a number of them rolled down their windows and yelled out a common racial slur for African Americans, according to Obama campaign staffers.

Frederick Murrell, a black Kokomo High School senior, was not there but heard what happened. He was more disappointed than surprised. During his own canvassing for Obama, Murrell said, he had "a lot of doors slammed" in his face. But taunting teenagers on a busy commercial strip in broad daylight? "I was very shocked at first," Murrell said. "Then again, I wasn't, because we have a lot of racism here."

For the full story go here.

I have been in contact with Darlene for some time, she contacted me from a post I made in a forum. We remained friends even when I supported Ron Paul who she explained doesn't have a chance, though I was hopeful, she was correct.

In my day, a female disabled vet would make the front page news paper all over the country, everybody would want to know what she has to say, but now, because most disabled vets don't have a lot of good things to say in support of Bush and his wars, they are silenced by a media owned not by the people, but an elite group who stands to profit greatly off of our current conflicts. So I decided she should be heard and I would share this and ask you to do the same, pass it on, because we are the media.

Roger The Okcitykid
A Peaceful Vet

t

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Tuesday, May 13th 2008

7:36 AM

Charities For Profit

From Darlene

http://www.charitynavigator.org/

10 Charities Overpaying their For-Profit Fundraisers

These 10 charities are not living up to their missions. Each spends more than 50% of its budget paying for-profit fundraising professionals to solicit your hard-earned money. They are ranked by the percentage of their total functional expenses spent on professional fundraising fees. As a result, very little of the charity's spending is directed towards its programs and services.

Rank	Charity	Program Expenses	Professional Fundraising Fees
1	The Committee for Missing Children	11.2%	86.1%

Bravenet Blog

That Crazy Kid, The Okcitykid said what!

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Wednesday, June 11th 2008

6:28 PM

Bush A War Criminal

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Tuesday, June 10th 2008

4:19 PM

Impeach Bush

Help Support Impeachment of G.W. Bush

Bush, Cheney and Rice Are Being Detained By Army Rangers

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Sunday, June 8th 2008

6:17 PM

Supporting Our Troops In Oklahoma City

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Saturday, June 7th 2008

1:52 AM

A Look At Mr. Obama

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Wednesday, June 4th 2008

2:49 AM

Love or Ownership

Love or Ownership

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Monday, June 2nd 2008

2:31 PM

I Need A Counselor

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Saturday, May 31st 2008

3:10 PM

My Opinion on Marriage, Multiple Wives and Religion

Trust Me, I'm From The Government and I'm Here To Help You

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Tuesday, May 27th 2008

4:49 PM

The Warrior Remembers On Memorial Day

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Thursday, May 22nd 2008

5:38 PM

Tired

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Monday, May 19th 2008

9:01 PM

Stop the War Funding

0 Comment(s) / Post Comment

Wednesday, May 14th 2008

5:34 PM

Don't Bomb Iran

0 Comment(s) / Post Comment

Tuesday, May 13th 2008

6:24 PM

Because We Are The Media

Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause

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Tuesday, May 13th 2008

7:36 AM

Charities For Profit