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28 April 2003

 

Thought for the day
Democracy is only a dream: it should be put in the same category as Arcadia, Santa Claus, and Heaven.
--H. L. Mencken

posted by Lorenzo 5:16 PM

25 April 2003

 

Thought for the day
There is a Law that man should love his neighbor as himself. In a few years it should be as natural to mankind as breathing or the upright gait; but if he does not learn it he must perish.
--Alfred Adler

posted by Lorenzo 9:15 AM

22 April 2003

 

What's New — Posted April 15 - 21, 2003
World Events . . . Conspiracy report rocks U.K. . . . Guerrilla News Network: S-11 Redux . . . World Wide Tripping Day Set for December 21, 2012
U.S. News . . . Will bin Laden Win The War? . . . Congress Exceeds Its Credit Limit . . . Handy Facts "Our Boys and Girls" Should Know As They Defend Democracy . . . 50 HIP HOP ANTI-WAR SONGS . . . Franklin Graham conducts services at Pentagon - Apr. 18, 2003 . . . The Real War--On American Democracy . . . Bush: It's Not Just His Doctrine That's Wrong
War on Drugs . . . Psychedelics and Politics . . . Medical Marajuana Story, "Jeffrey's Journal"
War on Iraq . . . What's behind the U.S. war on Iraq . . . Too true to be funny . . . Uri Avnery: This is Only the Beginning . . . There is really on one source of reliable information on this war - and it's coming from Russian spies . . . Robert Fisk: For the people on the streets, this is not liberation but a new colonial oppression . . . What have we really won in Iraq? . . . A History Erased . . . THE LONDON EVENING STANDARD IS DOCTORING ITS FRONT PAGE PHOTOS!! . . . Guerrilla News Network: S-11 Redux . . . Robert Fisk: For the people on the streets, this is not liberation but a new colonial oppression . . . The saving of one little boy must not be a cover for the crime of this war
Free Speech . . . A funny example of the hate mail we receive

posted by Lorenzo 11:08 PM

21 April 2003

 

Thought for the day
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

posted by Lorenzo 8:35 PM

19 April 2003

 

Guerrilla News Network: S-11 Redux
So, in the face of our media's shameless propaganda campaign, we have taken it upon ourselves to intuit what the intentions and goals of this war truly are. In what is surely a departure from our traditional NewsVideo format, Guerrilla News Network presents S-11 Redux: (Channel) Surfing the Apocalypse. Culled from over 20 hours of television footage recorded over a one month period and across 13 networks, S-11 Redux is a sound-bite blitzkrieg that challenges the messages we have been fed from our mainstream media and the government it serves. Be warned - this video moves quickly and will require at least two viewings to digest its full impact. You may never be able to look at S-11 and its post-impact coverage the same way, ever again.

[Comment: The link above will take you to both broadband and lowband versions of this powerful collection of news clips ... and, yes, there are both PC and Mac versions available as well. This is really worth watching. Highly Recommended.]

posted by Lorenzo 3:29 PM

17 April 2003

 

Thought for the day
During the 13th century, Hulegu (grandson of Genghis Khan) sacked Baghdad, destroying a significant amount of the city's cultural treasures. In 2003, Mr. Bush outdid even the Mongols. With complete disregard for history, learning, culture, or any other human value, Mr. Bush sent his army to Baghdad with what now appears to be a single mission: "Protect the records at the Ministry of Oil." They succeeded. All of Iraq's records of oil exploration and production have been saved ... no looters even got close to those precious artifacts.

Tragically, Mr. Bush's army had no orders (nor apparent inclination) to protect the 170,000 priceless treasures that were destroyed or looted from Iraq's national museums. Nor did Mr. Bush's army protect the Iraqi National Library. Rather, they watched as its contents were intentionally burned.

As much as I would like to avoid any personal responsibility for the Bush family's obvious emulation of the Mongols, I cannot escape the fact that as a U.S. citizen I must share the blame for the savage behavior Mr. Bush and his junta are exhibiting. Just because we (the majority of people who voted!) did not vote for him, it doesn't mean we can simply walk away from the crimes he is committing in our names.

Humanity has now lost irreplaceable treasures and knowledge through the actions and inactions of the Army, Navy, and Air Force of the United States. The question I now must ask of myself and of my fellow citizens is, What are we going to do about this terrible state of affairs? Are we going to continue being a part of this blatant and savage destruction of lives and property, or are we going to stand up and be counted in the struggle to remove the Bush family and their cronies from power? The destiny of this nation lies in the balance . . . if we do not soon change the direction of this country, history will no doubt see us as a 21st century, high-tech version of the Mongols . . . or worse.

posted by Lorenzo 5:44 PM

 

Thought for the day
What an immense mass of evil must result...from allowing men to assume the right of anticipating what may happen.
--Tolstoy

posted by Lorenzo 4:12 PM

15 April 2003

 

When one gives serious thought to the enormity of what we did to hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings (in just two days!) when we dropped atomic bombs on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is easy to see two things: 1) The U.S. is capable of unimaginable brutality when it feels threatened; and 2) We have some unimaginably grotesque karma to balance one day.

posted by Lorenzo 9:35 PM

 

Great New Blog ... Josh Wickerham in China
Josh Wickerham is a former editor of the U. of Michigan's daily paper. After graduating last year, he began a travel/work odyssey that now finds him teaching English in China. At this important time in our history, staying in touch with daily life in other lands has become more important than ever. Josh's Web site is an example of the type of information that can help us stay in touch with the little daily dramas that affect humans all over the planet. Don't miss this blog!

posted by Lorenzo 8:26 PM

 

Thought for the day
We are going to be in such a fix when this war is over, or before this war is over. Our grandchildren's grandchildren are going to be paying for this war. I look at our future as, I'm sorry, being very, very dark.
Walter Cronkite, 19 March 2003

posted by Lorenzo 11:30 AM

 

What's New — Posted April 8 - 14, 2003
World Events . . . The Real Objectives of the U.S. in Iraq
U.S. News . . . U.S. Foreign Policy Shaped by Energy Supply . . . New U.S. Ad Campaign Takes on Corporate Tax Scheme . . . Bush went AWOL
Peace is Possible . . . Rep. Dennis Kucinich To Introduce Bill for Department of Peace . . . In Defense of Cacophony . . . Congressman calls for creation of US "Peace Department" . . . What's Next for the Peace Movement?
Earth News . . . British Voluntary CO2 Emissions Cuts Produce Results . . . EPA To Allow Emergency Dumping in Gulf of Mexico . . . Scientists create healthy clone of endangered species . . . The Bush Administration's Air Pollution Plan Would Shred Current Clean Air Act Protections, Says Clean Air Trust
War on Iraq . . . U.S. Troops Murder Al Jazeera Reporter . . . Bush Regime Guilty of War Crimes . . . Police Attack Calif. Anti-War Protesters . . . Have Iraqi leaders made their way to Syria? . . . Iraq is a trial run - Chomsky interviewed by Frontline . . . Killing a child: 'I did what I had to do' . . . Republicans Want Terror Law Made Permanent . . . On to Damascus? (World War IV) . . . Gulf War Syndrome II - U.S. Troops Already Getting Sick, Bush Cuts Benefits Anyway . . . Dead Al Jazeera correspondent deliberately targeted . . . Anarchy amid the euphoria . . . Are Christian evangelists eyeing Iraq? . . . Killing the few to liberate the many is a line most Iraqis reject . . . War Profiteers . . . Let America Be America the Liberator Again! . . . The Bloodlust of Christopher Hitchens . . . The crudely colonial nature of this enterprise can no longer be disguised . . . Liberation by murder: Baghdad falls to American invasion . . . Robert Fisk: A civilisation torn to pieces . . . Anti-US protest in Baghdad . . . Large traces of Iraqi, world history wiped out . . . Saddam statue destruction was a carefully staged Pentagon media event . . . When Civilized Nations Conduct Uncivilized Behavior . . . Sometimes even a blind squirrel finds a nut
Bill of Rights Under Attack . . . GOP wants to keep anti-terror powers / Broad spying tools would become permanent

posted by Lorenzo 11:28 AM

14 April 2003

 

Thoughts for the day
Thanks to the most crudely partisan decision in the history of the Supreme Court, the nation has been given a President of painfully limited wisdom and compassion and lacking any sense of the nation's true greatness. Appearing to enjoy his role as Commander in Chief of the armed forces above all other functions of his office, and unchecked by a seemingly timid Congress, a compliant Supreme Court, a largely subservient press and a corrupt corporate plutocracy, George W. Bush has set the nation on a course for one-man rule.

During his presidential campaign Bush cried, "I'm a uniter, not a divider." As one critic put it, "He's got that right. He's united the entire world against him."

--George McGovern

posted by Lorenzo 12:58 PM

13 April 2003

 

Thought for the day
Junta member Rumsfeld appeared highly agitated at a War Department press conference when speaking about the media's coverage of looting in Iraq. Basically, he said he couldn't see what the big deal was about all the looting. By his own account, looting was to be expected. Of course, it is no surprise to me that Rummy has an affinity for looters, just look at the crowd he hangs around with.

And why is it that Israel has today lowered it's terrorist threat level below what it is set at in the U.S.? If Israel feels secure enough to lower their readiness, yet the U.S. doesn't, indicates to me that in the U.S. the threat level has more to do with the politics of fear than with any real threat.

posted by Lorenzo 11:13 AM

10 April 2003

 

Thought for the day
I must tell you, Mr. President, you are the greatest threat to American troops. Only you can put our young people in harm's way in a needless war. Only you can weaken America's good name and influence in world affairs.
--George McGovern

posted by Lorenzo 6:57 AM

09 April 2003

 

Thought for the day
When you look back on this turning point in human history years from now, will you be proud of the action you took to change the course laid out before us? What strand did you weave into the emerging story?
--Ilyse Hogue

posted by Lorenzo 11:43 AM

08 April 2003

 

What's New — Posted April 3 - 7, 2003
World Events . . . Bush's real goal in Iraq
U.S. News . . . KGB General Yevgeni Primakov hired by the US Department of Homeland Security . . . Old News but Still Relevant (Little Bush's extremely low IQ) . . . Librarians Use Shredder to Show Opposition to New F.B.I. Powers
Earth News . . . Great apes' African stronghold under grave threat
War on Iraq . . . Inside my CIA diaries: Spooky Tales of Spooks . . . Gorbachev Says U.S. Attack Big Mistake, Unjustified . . . King's Legacy: Americans Must Choose Between War and Social Progress . . . Bill in Oregon Seeks to Jail War Protesters as Terrorists . . . Civilian Casualties 'Horrifying'; Truck Delivered Dismembered Women, Children . . . Puzzling Questions Arise from Bush's Campaign of Fear by Ralph Nader . . . Red Cross horrified by number of dead civilians . . . Shock and Awe thru the camera lens . . . Does the West understand how this hated war is altering the Arab world? . . . Red Cross: Iraq Wounded Too High to Count

posted by Lorenzo 2:43 PM

06 April 2003

 

Thought for the day
Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.
--Albert Einstein

posted by Lorenzo 10:10 AM

05 April 2003

 

Thought for the day
You need something to frighten people with, to prevent them from paying attention to what's really happening to them.
--Noam Chomsky

posted by Lorenzo 4:11 PM

04 April 2003

 

Thought for the day
"The Pentagon�s claims that civilian casualties are unavoidable is patently false. Civilian casualties are unavoidable only if the war is unavoidable. This war was NOT unavoidable.
--Peter Zunes

posted by Lorenzo 10:15 AM

03 April 2003

 

What's New — Posted March 30 - April 2, 2003
World Events . . . US Army's Desert Filling Stations Add Fuel to Fire: US Army Names Iraq Camps After US Oil Companies . . . Noam Chomsky: Terror War ... Deep Concerns . . . The new 'Great Game' being played out over oil . . . The damage we are doing to our relations with the Middle East could last a generation . . . Edward Said: Global Crisis . . . Anti-US sentiment in Arab world soars to new heights
U.S. News . . . Iraq War Prompts Third Resignation by US Diplomat . . . Patriot Act 11 - the sequel: Citizens can stop government power grab . . . US wages divide is wider than ever . . . The government begins sifting databases to find clues to terrorism in the making . . . How To Take Back America ... by Thom Hartmann . . . An excerpt from Margaret Atwood's "A Letter To America"
Peace is Possible . . . LOBBY WASHINGTON ON APRIL 8, 2003 TO CREATE A U.S. DEPARTMENT OF PEACE! . . . Muslims, Christians side by side as Iraq peace protests sweep globe . . . Tens of Thousands Around World Rally for Peace . . . Students, rights activists march for peace on U.S.-Mexican border city . . . Massive rallies denounce war . . . Weekend anti-war protests continue across Middle East, Asia, Europe as thousands demonstrate . . . US Peace movement wraps itself in the Stars and Stripes
Earth News . . . Insects thrive on GM 'pest-killing' crops . . . Blue Planet: Paradise lost -- again
War on Drugs . . . The "Johnny Appleseed of LSD" ... Documents on Al Hubbard
Palestine & Israel . . . Israelis fear Blair's influence over Bush . . . Starhawk on the Israli Murder of Rachel Corrie
War on Iraq . . . Robert Fisk: In Baghdad, blood and bandages for the innocent . . . "Critical Supplies...Are Unaccounted For" . . . 'Bush has already lost the war' . . . Syria's Assad: 'We will not wait' to be next U.S. target . . . Reporter Arnett: U.S. War Plan Has Failed . . . NBC Severs Ties With Journalist Arnett . . . US Forces' Use of Depleted Uranium Weapons is 'Illegal' . . . US Army's Desert Filling Stations Add Fuel to Fire: US Army Names Iraq Camps After US Oil Companies . . . Nuns' trial starts today: Peace activists face 30 year sentences . . . Mubarak Says Iraq War Will Produce "100 bin Ladens" . . . War is the climax of U.S.-Israeli partnership . . . Goals Dangers & Resistance To Bush's Imperial Aggression . . . U.S. Appoints Friend of Israel to Rule Iraq . . . Rule-the-World Productions Proudly Presents . . . Critics Blast US Military's Decision to Sell Water to Penniless Iraqis . . . You didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!' . . . Children killed in US assault . . . Emperor George: What has become of American values and idealism? All swept away in this thoroughly un-American war . . . 'This remains George Bush's war' . . . World opinion rallies against an attack . . . Robert Fisk: This is the reality of war. We bomb. They suffer . . . Iraqi POW humiliated . . . Robert Fisk: 'It was an outrage, an obscenity' . . . Robert Fisk: The monster of Baghdad is now the hero of Arabia . . . MP Galloway Urges British Troops to Disobey Orders . . . US Marines turn fire on civilians at the bridge of death . . . War leaders may face war crimes charges . . . Arundhati Roy: A Strange Kind of Freedom
News from Africa . . . Left behind to starve
Free Speech . . . Bloggers spearhead offscreen opposition . . . Why al-Jazeera was right to show those terrible pictures . . . Giving it to you straight ... the Internet war . . . PATRIOT Act Secrecy Challenged; DoD Appeals EPIC FOIA Victory
Bill of Rights Under Attack . . . The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

posted by Lorenzo 3:56 PM

 

Thought for the day
One reason for the trouble is that the US army has become a hostage of its own propaganda. In trying to convince the world, itself, and its troops that the Iraqi people are dreaming of the coalition attacking Iraq, the US has demoralised its own troops.
--Colonel General Leonid Ivashov

posted by Lorenzo 2:13 PM

02 April 2003

 

Thought for the day
This "war" is a media show. The bravest soldiers refuse to fight in unjust wars. I refuse to watch. I admit: I think less of the gullible people who sit entranced in front of the television or the computer screen obsessed with this "war," whether pro or con. Don't they see? The "war" is being held for them, for their attention, to bring them into power's trance, to keep them from more life affirming activities. This war brings a bombardment of their consciousness, too, to keep them stuck in place. What if they held a war and nobody watched? Politicians would wage fewer wars.
--Alberto M. Giordano

posted by Lorenzo 8:50 AM

01 April 2003

 

Thoughts for the day
There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus and you've got to make it stop.
--Mario Savio, Berkeley Free Speech Movement, 1964

In the traditions of British colonialism and Genghis Khan, the Bush Administration is seeking to impose "The arrangement for the twenty-first century" to ensure that "the United States will continue to be the dominant political, economic and military power in the world."
--Joseph Gerson

We must make clear to the Germans that the wrong for which their fallen leaders are on trial is not that they lost the war, but that they started it. And we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into a trial of the causes of the war, for our position is that no grievances or policies will justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and condemned as an instrument of policy.
--Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Jackson, U.S. Representative to the International Conference on Military Trials, August 12, 1945

posted by Lorenzo 12:32 PM