Friday, February 29, 2008

Lambert the dirty bird

Friday and usually I'd put a ":D" but not tonight.

Marcia wrote "Community note and Hillary" last night and I didn't see it. I usually read the evening and night posts the next day before blogging. At work, Tony's dad (my boss) asks me, "Who the hell ripped off C.I.?" I didn't know what he was talking about. I texted Marcia and she was explaining what was what and I was really pissed. Then I got a text from Liang and then I called Martha and by the time I got done at work and headed for campus Martha was calling me and telling me about an e-mail Eddie got and to call him.

So here's what happened, and Marcia outlines it in "Community note and Hillary." Tuesday was the Democratic debate. Ava, Kat and C.I. were speaking about Iraq during the debate. Rebecca hears something that puzzles her so she leaves a voice mail for C.I. When Ava, Kat and C.I. are done speaking, C.I. calls Rebecca and Rebecca reads the statement Bambi made in the debate. C.I. explains how it is a HUGE lie. C.I. writes about it in "Barack Obama lied in the debate" and Rebecca in "obama caught lying again." C.I. hadn't heard it so, while on the phone with Rebecca, looks for a transcript online and finds three: MSNBC, Washington Post and New York Times. C.I. goes with the Times because some members have problems with Washington Post (shock message or something in their browser) and because after NBC did the trash Katie Couric before she left NBC, MSNBC only gets a link or a mention if a friend at NBC asks C.I. for it. (Like when C.I. gives a heads up to what's going to happen on the Today show.) C.I. was on the laptop and didn't have time to page down, page down and knows that members hate that so when there's a link to a transcript at NYT, it's always the "single page" option.

So that was Tuesday and C.I. outlined how Bambi lied and Rebecca wrote for everyone to go check out C.I.'s piece on it.

So Wednesday night/Thursday morning, Lambert at Corrente suddenly discovers the lie. He's Columbus showing up in America and thinking he's found something.

Now the back story there, Kat, Betty, Elaine, Rebecca, Cedric, Wally and I do "Highlights" each week. Most of the time I'm typing. I'm the worst and slowest typist. But everyone's tired. But that's why you see ":D" for instance. I've typed that for sure. And a lot of times stuff has more than I type because I'm going "Hold on, hold on" because I'm so darn slow at typing. It's the last thing written every week. The gang (Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.) are editing and polishing stuff already written. But the rest of us go off and write "Highlights" and then the edition is done. Read Sunday's "Highlights" and you'll find this:

"Lambert and the Cult" -- Elaine addresses the Cult of Obama (and notes right now, as she did in the post, that it's based on comments she and C.I. have been making to each other). She also reminds us of a truest so we need to write this quickly to get that in before everyone forgets and the edition's put to bed.

We had finished all but highlights. "Truest statement of the week" was done and it was Julie Christie. I go tell them we're done (everyone else working on Highlights is off sleeping or whatever) and tell them about Lambert's quote. Jim goes, "Mike, do you know how tired we are?" Dona goes, "Maybe we can mention it next week." But next week (now this weekend) there's always new stuff and it would have to fight with every other idea. Everyone is exhausted and of course the gang's going to the Oscars. Jim (as he points out in his "A Note to Our Readers") got an extra Ava and C.I. feauture out of them (they did "TV: The strong and the weak" and "Radio: Panhandle Media") by promising it would mean that the edition was done sooner and they could actually get some real sleep before having to go to the Oscars. (That's also why Elaine and I subbed for C.I. Sunday night -- and again, I did the typing and I'm the worst at that.) So C.I., who still has to do a morning entry for The Common Ills and post Isaiah's latest comic is tired and will have to continue when everyone else can grab some breakfast, unwind and get ready to grab some sleep. But C.I. goes, "No, Corrente does good work. If Lambert's got a statement that qualifies for a 'truest,' we need to make the time to note it."

And that's how and why Lambert got "Truest statement of the week II." The easiest thing in the world would have been to blow it off and it almost got blown off. There was a big debate about whether to link to just Corrente (Lambert was commenting at someone else's post) or link to the post? They hated the post. (So apparently did Lambert.) But they finally figured link to the comment. This was AT LEAST A 15 MINUTE DELAY on a day they had no time. On a day where C.I. still had to do an entry for The Common Ills and post Isaiah's comic (and Flickr is a pain in the ass -- I don't think C.I. made that announcement, by the way, but Flickr said "full" and that may mean come Sunday that C.I. has to create a new account which will delay the posting even more). Jim, Dona, Jess, Ty and Kat are just going for fun. Ava and C.I. know people there and they want to look good. But even with that, C.I. made time to give credit to someone who earned it.

But Lambert gave C.I. no credit. And when members saw it they got pissed. That's how Marcia found out Thursday. I didn't know a thing until this morning at work. Martha and Liang had both either called or e-mailed her (or maybe both). They saw it on Thursday and they complained about Lambert's post not crediting C.I. using Corrente's contact form. They never heard a damn word. Martha even registered with Corrente to leave a comment and she never got "approved" by Lambert.

Eddie found out about it today and was pissed. Rightly so, and you know I mean that because why did this blog start? Because I got tired of the rip off artists and the assholes treating C.I. like this. So Eddie e-mails and he gets these replies from Lambert.

Liang and Martha (and Liang especially) wants it noted that Lambert never wrote them back. So not only is he comfortable ripping off a woman, he's comfortable ignoring other women.

Now I need to be really clear here because when this has happened before, C.I. has issued orders, "Do not ask for links to The Common Ills." We all follow that. We no longer ask. Any member asking is going to tick C.I. off if it gets back. Eddie didn't ask for a link.

Eddie just told Lambert it wasn't right to rip off anyone.

Now there was another blogger who was involved from a distance. Eddie also wrote him. That guy wrote back that he hadn't seen it and had he seen it he would have credited C.I. and asked what he needed to do? Eddie wrote him back that all was cool. And it was. And it is. The guy didn't know and had credited Lambert as having discovered something.

But Lambert wasn't cool in his e-mails.

He's writing crap like "reset" the conversation. "Reset"? Does he think he's the US military? Is he Bobby Gates and George Casey? Maybe he's Davey BetrayUs?

He's using stuff like "slippery little scut." Eddie asked me what that was and I have no idea. Maybe he meant "slut"? Maybe that's the way Lambert talks? He calls people "sluts." Maybe "slippery little slut" was supposed to be C.I.? I don't know, I don't care. His e-mails are insulting.

He writes about "a big blogosphere" and then it's like he's accusing Eddie of being C.I.

Sorry to break it to you Lambert, but C.I. doesn't ask for links, doesn't beg for links and doesn't contact blogs. C.I.'s got a real life. And wants to get back to it hence the announcement that The Common Ills will probably go dark in November. C.I. made that announcement in the summer of 2005 and C.I. really does have a life to get back to -- as Elaine's pointed out many times, when the illegal war was starting and C.I. was already speaking out against it, C.I. ended a promising relationship because it wasn't fair to that guy to have a relationship and be traveling at least twice a month for two weeks to speak out against the Iraq War. C.I. hasn't worked since then either. Everything's been put on hold to try to end this illegal war. (And Ma would kill me if I didn't again say thank to C.I. for paying my college tuition.) That's why Elaine posted last summer that she told C.I. no more giving to every charity in the world. Elaine remembers Vietnam and how C.I. was a soft touch for every sob story and at the end of that war, C.I. was broke-busted. It took a lot of work to make money starting from scratch but luck, talent and hard work allowed it to happen. C.I. could be at home sitting by the pool every damn day instead of going on the road Monday through Friday to speak to high school students and college students and women's groups and labor groups about the illegal war. But Elaine was really concerned because money was going out and none was coming in. And C.I. will give to anyone, any one with a dream that just needs X to pull it off, anyone at all. So Elaine pointed out, "We're not that young anymore and it's not going to be as easy to start all over." So now C.I. gives to nothing but feminist causes. Anyone else asks, C.I. says "Let me think about it" and then calls Elaine who says it's a good idea or a bad idea. C.I.'s very wealthy (so is Elaine) and that's not the issue, the issue is C.I. would give it all away without blinking like during Vietnam and where would that lead? Elaine does not give to indymedia (they both give to peace groups and to individuals who are resisting) and the reason is she saw those beggars bleed C.I. dry. And when the money was gone, they had no use for C.I. That's why she doesn't give to 'independent' media. She'll pledge a few dollars for NPR and sometimes Pacifica but she's not giving up her money to the ungrateful beggars and that was before we all saw what liars they could be as they launched their attacks on Hillary while lying about Bambi. (And Elaine saw it coming. She said that's happening and could tell you how it happened before.) So my point here is that C.I. has a real life. C.I. has an offline life. And C.I. doesn't give a damn about if someone does a write up or not. C.I.'s always avoided the press offline and only cared about the photos. That's the most C.I. will ever check out.

Though Betty wrote about a book once and I won't do the link because I think it embarrassed C.I. It was raining, C.I. was in Atlanta visiting Betty while speaking to some groups there, this is 2006 and Betty was filling in for Rebecca who was on her honeymoon. And C.I. was just so tired and Betty and her kids went off to look at other books in the store and C.I. pulls this book off the shelf by someone -- someone who wasn't close -- and Betty comes back -- she jokes it's like Soap Dish -- and C.I. was just so touched because this guy had written nice stuff and they had never gotten along. Jess has talked about the magazine cover July 4, 2005 when he was helping C.I. clean out some stuff in the big walk-in closet in C.I.'s bedroom and he goes, "You kept this because you're on the cover!" And C.I. looks at the magazine and says, "Flip to the letter section, the fourth letter . . ." and it was about a Republican C.I. hates and that's why it was kept. As Jess has talked about in roundtables, C.I. ripped off the cover because heaven forbid a magazine be kept that might make people think, "I only kept this because I'm on the cover.)

Rebecca will tell you that when C.I. gives a rare interview, the person's checked out in depth ahead of time. C.I.'s never going to read it, will look at the photos (due to having photo approval) and that's that. Now that's offline.

Do you know how many times C.I.'s been mentioned as "C.I."? A lot. When NPR mentioned something C.I. had written (it was a friend who swears "I didn't know it was you" but C.I. still thinks a friend was just trying to work in a plug to be a good friend), C.I. never covered that topic again (it was about the Supreme Court nominee) and never wrote like that again. There was no, "Oh, let me get mentioned on NPR again!" Instead it was more like, "If NPR's mentioning me, I'm not writing left enough." Or how about the books that have mentioned The Common Ills? C.I. doesn't, for instance, offer up slug line (I don't know what that is but C.I. always uses that and it sounds right here) at The Common Ills saying, "As Daniel Okrent, the first NYT ombudsman said . . ." Not on Okrent, not on anyone. In fact, since Okrent's book came out, he's never mentioned again. And short of dying, he won't be.

C.I.'s not looking for attention, C.I. turns any praise back to the community giving them full credit for whatever makes it online. When friends offer links, C.I. begs them not to link. And I've written before about how when Ava and C.I.'s TV commentaries get too much attention, they immediately scale back to chase away the non-regulars. C.I. grew up in a newspaper family and doesn't have any illusions about the press, doesn't want any more press than is necessary for an issue or for a project (political or work related). There's a young actor who is really a great person and he will tell you (he's told me when I've met him out in California) that he learned to draw a wall between the press and himself because of C.I. (Yes, that's the one that everyone saw in ____ last summer who was talking like C.I. when asked personal questions.) C.I.'s children have never been used for publicity, there's a strict wall between what is off-limits and what isn't.

So it's really insulting that when Lambert's caught ripping off, he wants to accuse Eddie of being C.I. C.I. doesn't give a damn about being ripped out (we all know the mantra: "It's about the work, not the person."). C.I. doesn't give a damn about links. C.I. only de-linked from Lotta Links in July when members said they'd tried to get The Nation study highlighted. In that instance, we'd all worked on that article. And to turn it down (and on July 4th which is a slow day since most people are off) was to turn me, Jim, Dona, Ava, Jess, Ty, Betty, Rebecca, Elaine, Wally, Cedric, Ruth, etc. down. That pissed off C.I. Lotta Links wasn't linking to C.I. and C.I. couldn't care less. (And was still providing Lotta Links links everytime their crappy editor would e-mail and ask for them.) But that the rest of us weren't linked pissed C.I. off. (Elaine will tell you that C.I. doesn't care. C.I.'s attitude comes from being raised with money and it being instilled that the role was to help others not be a glory hog. Elaine can tell you stories -- their families knew each other but they didn't become friends until college, although Elaine's brother and C.I. were friends before that -- about how it was so important not to be a glory hog or vain that C.I. never got a compliment on beauty from anyone growing up. And C.I. was and is beautiful. Attention that others seek makes C.I. uncomfortable and it goes to being raised with money and to having it instilled that if you got a compliment for anything it was something you did and you had better have worked your ass off before a compliment came in.) (C.I. is, however, the freest with compliments of anyone I know. They are sincere. And if you ever feel down on yourself, C.I. is the first person you want to call.)

So I am really pissed that Lambert wanted to deflect from his mistake/error/theft by accusing Eddie of being C.I. (Eddie's pissed for the same reason. Martha, who's had that happen to her before, can laugh about it. But it pisses Eddie off and it really pisses me off.)

Sorry Lambert, but while you spent the day scratching your ass and figuring out what you could "discover" today, C.I. woke up from about four hours sleep, went for a morning run, showered, did the entries at The Common Ills (one of which was dictacted) and was speaking on campuses with Kat and Ava. Lunch was probably a glass of water while dictating the snapshot. There was no time to e-mail you and I know C.I. wouldn't because C.I.'s line whenever a rip off takes place is, "I didn't e-mail [blogger/organization/website/newspaper], they e-mailed me." Which means: I don't care.

And would you if you had a ton of money, a huge house, a life to get back to? No, you wouldn't.

But Lambert doesn't have those things, I guess. I don't have a ton of money or a huge house but I'm not jealous of people who do.

So Lamb Chops writes, "I don't recall reading your post, having just checked it, although I read a lot of them, and a lot of them look alike." Yeah, what you wrote Wednesday night/Thursday morning LOOKED A LOT LIKE what C.I. wrote Tuesday night.

"I don't read you regularly." C.I. will be so crushed.

C.I. who has repeatedly turned down solo interviews for "C.I." and who, with Ava, has regularly turned down interview requests from entertainment sites and magazines will be so crushed that you don't read The Common Ills "regularly."

(Although the line is actually, "I don't have time to visit websites." That's what C.I. would say, if asked. And has said many times.)

Lamb Chops isn't done with his e-mailing, his last message is "I added a link, which is no admission that I "ripped you off."Is "kiss my ass" Texian enough for you? Good. Thought so."

Eddie's from Texas and "texaseddie" is in the first part of his e-mail address. Eddie had asked him what "scut" was and said it didn't sound "Texan." So that's Lamb Chops' little insult at Texas. That should help Hillary going into the primary and caucus there on Tuesday, right? And Lamb Chops is all about Hillary, supposedly.

Lamb Chops, kiss my Irish-American ass. In my eyes, you are not just someone who ripped off C.I., you're someone who didn't have the decency to correct your own action. And when called on it (by a man, he ignored Liang and Martha), you immediately attack C.I. I guess that's how he was taught to be a man. Guess he didn't have a father like mine because I wouldn't get away with that crap as a kid or today. I'd hear about it from my father. (And I know better than to act that way.)

So that's the story of Lamb Chops who wrote a post on Wednesday night/Thursday morning 'strangely' like (try exactly including where he linked for the transcript) C.I.'s entry on Tuesday night and, when Lamb Chops was repeatedly called out, he finally responds to a man by putting down the site who beat him to it, the site that had it in real time, the site that had his entire post and then some on Tuesday night which would be long before Lambert wrote it.

I knew a kid in school, 8th grade, who got caught cheating. He screamed and yelled too. I didn't respect him because if you're caught, you're caught. You just admit it and own up to it. If you can't do that, you're just a whiney little brat.

Again, another blogger responded to Eddie's e-mail. And from what Heather had said, she tried to tip the blogger off that Dave Lindorff had said we should vote for Bambi "because he risked jail to do drugs as a Black man," he thought the first e-mail wasn't read, that you got an auto reply and had to register. So he just scribbled it and would have written nicer (as he did at Corrente) if he'd known it was going to be read. But that guy had the decency to say, "I didn't know about it" and how can I make it right and stuff like that. So there's no problem with that guy and C.I. doesn't want anyone asking for links. (I will trade links, most of us will, C.I. doesn't. If you're appropriate for the community, C.I. links to you. And you're told you don't have to link back. And many don't. Go through blogs and websites that offer links at The Common Ills and see how many bother to link back.) So the matter was taken care of in one e-mail and Eddie replied not to worry about it.

Lambert could have shown some maturity and it wouldn't have been an issue. But he'd already ignored Martha and Liang who wrote the day before. And then he wants to be insulting and snide? It's like that kid in 8th grade who got busted and wanted to have a fit instead of being mature and accepting what was coming.

The thing that really ticks off Eddie and everybody else is the fact that Lambert (a) can't respond to women and (b) thinks it's okay not to credit a woman for her work. That sucks. And Eddie commented at another blog -- on Tuesday night -- about C.I.'s thing on Bambi lying. Because it was important. Bambi's lying about his 'record' on the illegal war. And excuse me, but Elaine and C.I. have called that out since long before Bambi announced. They met him when he was running for the Senate. Elaine got an invite and called C.I. to say, "Come with." They were, as they've written at their sites over and over, thrilled and prepared to max out with their donations. They get there. Bambi gives a questionable speech and afterward, they ask him about the illegal war. He's not for troops out. He's for "us" to stay there because "we" are there now. Elaine's written about that over and over and she tells each time that she was shocked and speechless. C.I. wasn't and Elaine writes about how C.I. pinned Bambi down on what he was saying and what he was saying was that he wasn't for withdrawing troops. Elaine and C.I. left immediately. It's why they weren't taken by the 'beauty' of his War Hawk speech at the DNC convention. (Rebecca says they openly boo-ed. C.I. doesn't comment but Elaine always says Rebecca's being "colorful" and that she doubts she and C.I. were booing in the convention hall while Bambi was making his speech.)

C.I.'s "I Hate The War" last night dealt with Bambi and I loved this part:

Now Hillary Clinton's judged by her advisors. That's not the case for Bambi. One of his advisors is Zbigniew Brezezinski. ZB's claim to fame is turning Afghanistan into a slaughter field (to draw the USSR in!) and creating the climate for the current Afghanistan War all before 1981. Somehow, that's not a major concern. And though Bambi's been a Senate schill and lackey for the nuclear industry, we're told by liars like Sammy Power that Bambi's a no-nuker. Does a no-nuker have Brezezinski as an advisor?
Am I the only one who ever visited the Carter White House? I remember it very clearly, the little "toys" (replicas) of nuclear weapons decorating Brezezinski's office. Has he ever publicly rejected those "toys" he took so much pride in, the ones he maintained were the only things keeping the United States "free"? No, he never has. And that's still his attitude but for some strange reason, Bambi's advisors don't lead to probing of Bambi.

Hey Lamb Chops, why don't you describe some White House offices? Why don't you offer us some of your experiences?

I have only a few. (I didn't even meet Mary Matalin -- sp? -- C.I. introduced Wally and Cedric to her when she came up to say hello to C.I. They swear, Wally and Cedric swear, she was a very sweet woman. They were all prepared to hate her and making little jokes when she waved and started walking over. But they swear she was one of the nicest people. They disagree with everything she believes in, but like they've pointed out somewhere at their sites, she has manners. Lamb Chops doesn't appear to have any manners.) Most of the people I meet through C.I. are when we're all at C.I.'s in the summer and that's people like actors and musicians (some cool ones, no question). And of course Ty works for ___ and he's a really cool guy. I did get to meet some people (including one "newsmaker") at Ava's father's news outlet. I like actors and stuff, I'm not insulting them. But I only met maybe three people in Congress but Wally and Cedric spend more time in DC with C.I. When we go up there for a rally or whatever, I'm usally arriving the day of and Wally will go up there as soon as C.I.'s going to be there. He knows a ton now. And it's not like I'm Ty's grandmother. Her favorite person in the world is Tina Turner so when Tina was doing the last concert and C.I. got her tickets and got her backstage to meet Tina, that was it for her. For me, that would probably be a politician or a writer, having a "that's it!" kind of experience.

On the topic of famous people, I think it's funny that actors, actresses, producers, writers, etc. never get too steamed about what C.I. and Ava write in their TV commentaries but when they cover news programs, they hear about it. People are pissed. People want to insist "that's private" or "that's gotcha!" or "you never should have written about that." They wrote about a woman in network programming once who is just basically a traitor to her own gender. That woman didn't care and even laughs about that piece. But the news people are so damn touchy. Talk about behind the scenes when the cameras stop rolling and it's, "How could you!"

So back to my point, Lamb Chops is no one in C.I.'s life. I mentioned that when I picked C.I., Ava and Kat up at the airport and C.I. had no idea (and said, "Michael, what the hell are you talking about?" :D). After it was over, C.I. had a comment and I go, "I'm writing about this tonight and I'm putting it in." C.I. rolled the eyes and said, "Well put in that you didn't have a pen and paper and whatever you're quoting me on is from memory." (Like Rebecca always has to say "That's how I remember it." :D) So here's C.I.'s quote, "We've highlighted Lambert, Leah and Farmer before and I'm sure we will again. Bambi lied and the important thing is that he got called out for it."

I'm not so high minded. I'm not as low-minded as Lamb Chops, but I'm not at the "Who cares?" level C.I. is.

I should also add, C.I. suddently had about a dozen topics "you might be interested in." :D They were interesting topics but I didn't take the bait and am writing about Lamb Chops tonight. (I may grab some of the other topics next week.) Lambert "is a dirty bird." I don't know what that means but my grandfather said it tonight when he showed up for the Iraq study group and I was telling him what happened. I'm thinking it's like the middle finger, you know, how it's the bird. Flip the bird. But I liked it and the meeting started before I could ask him what it meant and he's old so he left to go back to his home and get some sleep before I could ask him what it means. But Lambert is a dirty bird. :D

I've mentioned the following:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
and Marcia SICKOFITRDLZ.

And I'm sure I mentioned my mother (Trina's Kitchen) :D. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Friday, February 29, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, a priest is kidnapped in Mosul, the Turkish invasion of nothern Iraq apparently ends, and more.

Starting with war resistance.
Courage to Resist interviews war resister Robin Long who is seeking safe harbor status in Canada. Long was stationed at Fort Knox and hearing stories from returning service members that didn't have a thing to do with democracy. "In the army you just want to fit in," Long explained noting how the US military uses collective punishment to discipline their own -- which is to create a shunning among the enlisted. Those returning from Iraq, "a lot of them were bragging about I guess you could say what was going on there," Long explained, and he was hearing and seeing things that weren't being covered in the media such as pictures of the first kill ("holding a head up" for the photo "and smiling with a peace sign," photos of an Iraqi run over by a jeep, etc.). After self-checking out of the military, he stayed in a friend's basement for two months and then went to Canada with two friends. At the border, Long was asked if he was AWOL ("which I found out later that they weren't allowed to do") and replied that he was on leave. About his decision, Long says he has no second thoughts. If he is deported would he be stopped at the US border and taken to jail? Long shared that war resister Brad McCall had a friend take his car back to the United States and when the car crossed the border into the US "they were holding him at gun point, the guy that was bringing his car back, thinking that he was the war resister. So that's a pretty good idea of what's going to happen to me if I try to cross the border. If I'm deported they're going to be waiting there."

War resisters who have moved to Canada were dealt a serious set-back when the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of
Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, you can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored.


There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb,
Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at
The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

Meanwhile
IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC action:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan


March 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'." As part of their fundraising efforts for the event, they are holding houseparties and a recent one in Boston featured both IVAW's Liam Madden and the incomprable Howard Zinn as speakers. IVAW's co-chair Adam Kokesh will, of course, be participating and he explains why at his site, "But out of a strong sense of duty, some of us are trying to put our experiences to use for a good cause. Some of us couldn't live with ourselves if weren't doing everything we could to bring our brothers and sisters home as soon as possible. The environment may be unking, but that is why I will be testifying to shooting at civilians as a result of changing Rules of Engagement, abuse of detainees, and desecration of Iraqi bodies. It won't be easy but it must be done. Some of the stories are things that are difficult to admit that I was a part of, but if one more veteran realizes that they are not alone because of my testimony it will be worth it."

Aaron Glantz (at IPS) writes about the March action:

Iraq Veterans Against the War is calling the gathering "Winter Soldier," after a quote from the U.S. revolutionary Thomas Paine, who wrote in 1776: "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." Organisers say video and photographic evidence will also be presented, and the testimony and panels will be broadcast live on Satellite TV and streaming video on ivaw.org. Winter Soldier is modeled on a similar event held by Vietnam Veterans 37 years ago. In 1971, over 100 members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with fellow citizens. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. "Initially even the My Lai massacre was denied," notes Gerald Nicosia, whose book "Home to War" provides the most exhaustive history of the Vietnam veterans' movement. "The U.S. military has traditionally denied these accusations based on the fact that 'this is a crazy soldier' or 'this is a malcontent' -- that you can't trust this person. And that is the reason that Vietnam Veterans Against the War did this unified presentation in Detriot in 1971." "They brought together their bona fides and wore their medals and showed it was more than one or two or three malcontents. It was medal-winning, honored soldiers -- veterans in a group verifying what each other said to try to convince people that these charges cannot be denied. That people are doing these things as a matter of policy." Early this morning,
Gareth Jones and Paul de Bendern (Reuters) were reporting that Turkey's invasion has "wound down" at least in terms of "ground offensive". Tim Butcher (Telegraph of London) states, "Turkey has pulled out of northern Iraq after a week-long offensive against Kurdish rebels. The Turkish army claimed to have killed 240 Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) members with the loss of 27 of its own troops." Mark Bentley and Camilla Hall (Bloomberg News) note that this was Turkey's "biggest military incursion into the country in 11 years." Suna Erdem (Times of London) observes, "The announcement came a day after President Bush urged Turkey, its Nato ally, to end the incursion, but the military statement said the start and end dates had been set by general staff without any outside influence."

On the
Turkish Embassy (in the US) website, bulletin points include, "This operation" -- the invasion of nothern Iraq -- "will be limited in size, scope and duration. Turkey has been among the staunchest advocates of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and national unity of Iraq. Turkish civilian and military authorities have been in contact with the relevant Iraqi and US authorities at highest levels prior to the operations." AFP reports that the Turkish military began returning to Turkey this morning while AGI states, "All the soldiers that had taken part in the attack on the Iraqi part of Kurdistan are back in Turkey." AFP also notes that the PKK states they killed 100 Turkish soldiers during the invasion, "downed a Turkish attack helicopter" and their death toll was 5. So was the "limited . . . duration" always supposed to translate as the invasion ending today? One caught by surprise is the Turkish Daily News which, in a Friday article, notes, "NATO allies Turkey and the United States failed to reach a consensus yesterday over a timetable for the withdrawal of Turkish troops" and quotes Yasar Buyukanit, Turkey's Chief of General Staff General, stating, "Short term is a relative notion. Sometimes it is a day, sometimes it is a year." Al Jazeera quotes their corespondent Mike Hanna, "The Turkish military insists that the decision was taken by the military alone but reports we're receiving from across the border in Turkey is that questions are being raised about the Turkish withdrawal coming so soon after what appeared to be mounting US pressure on the troops to pull out" and notes that a PKK spokesperson (Ahmed Davis) confirms that the Turkish military has withdrawn. [Sidebar, Naomi Klein's husband, journalist Avi Lewis, is hosting a weekly program on Al Jazeera entitled Frontline USA. Click here for a YouTube clip and here for another YouTube clip.] However, Mark Tran (Guardian of London) quotes unnamed US officials in Baghdad who caution that all Turkish troops may not be out of Iraq. Tran notes US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and others note the comments of the Bully Boy of the United States but is anyone noting yesterday's approximately $6.2 billion four-year loan to Turkey from the World Bank?

Azad Aslan writes the Kurdish Globe's editorial which opens with, "Similar to previous incursions, the recent Turkish invasion into south Kurdistan has only one major goal: to diminish and belittle the sovereignty of Kurdistan Region." Hiba Dawood (whom many know from Free Speech Radio News but Dawood is also a UPI correspondent) notes another editorial from a Kurdish paper (Al Ahali) that was written "by Faisal Abdul Hassan, an Iraqi exile in Morocco, said the Iraqi central government had no efficient response to the assault except sending a 'bashful' demand to the Turkish government to withdraw from Kurdistan." At the White House today, Gordon Johndroe worded carefully regarding the end of the invasion when he told reporters, "We've seen those reports that are just coming out. I think there's one thing that remains clear, and that is the United States, Turkey and Iraq all will continue to view the PKK as a terrorist organization that needs to be dealt with. So we will continue to have cooperation with them on dealing with that organization." NPR offers an audio report via Ivan Watson on today's Morning Edition.


Yesterday's snapshot noted Turksih entertainer Bulent Ersoy who spoke out against the invasion and she was then the subject of criticism.
Pelin Turgut (Time magazine) explains, "So pervasive is the nationalist climate that Ersoy has been vilified for declaring -- on a national TV equivalent of American Ido, where she is a judge -- that if she had a son, she would not have sent him to fight this war. She is now under investigation for being 'anti-military.' Ersoy is widely popular but the response to her declaration has been bellicose." Nicholas Birch (The Scotsman) offers the quote and news. The quote differs from Reuters' version yesterday only slightly, "I am not a mother, nor ever will be, but I would not bury my child for somebody else's war." At which point, Turkey's version of Dennis Miller (Erbu Gundes) exploded, "May God give me a son so that I can send him off to our glorious army" followed by a phrase trotted out for military funerals leading Ersoy to add, "Always the same cliched phrases. Children go, bitter tears, funerals . . . And afterwards, these cliched phrases." Birch reports, "An Istanbul prosecutor promptly opened an investigation into her for alienating the people from military service, a crime punishable by up to three years in jail." The Turkish Daily News explains the criminal sentence (if found guilty) is two years but it "could be increased by one-third because the crime was committed via public medium." They also add this to her quote, "These wars are not like ones in the past. It is all decided by people sitting at tables and deciding that some boys should die. I am not a mother so I cannot relate to a mother's pain when she hears her son has died. But I am a human being." Today's Zaman reports that she has the support of European Parliament member Cem Ozdemir who states, "Bulent Ersoy is voicing the pain felt by mothers, and she is also questioning the ongoing Iraqi occupation. . . . We hope that a period of suppression is not started in Turkey that will deal a heavy blow to freedom of thought."

Meanwhile,
Amit R. Paley and Joshua Partlow (Washington Post) report that puppet of the occupation Nouri al-Maliki was talking big in Baghdad and they observe: Maliki's confidence seems untethered to political reality. Predicting when his government will fall has become a parlor game in certain circles in Baghdad. And some of his pronouncements -- like one on Thursday that "sectarianism has been eliminated" -- have struck Iraqi and American officials as bordering on the delusional. Sectarian killings are still common and political reconciliation remains elusive, a fact underscored by the veto this week of a law calling for nationwide elections, one of the few major pieces of legislation approved by parliament." They go on to quote "a senior U.S. official in Baghdad" who states basically, to replace the puppet at this time would mean even more "stagnation." The puppet as metaphor for the illegal war.

Noting al-Maliki's "unity" speech,
Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) observes that violence continues in Iraq and that, "One of our Shiite Iraqi staffers asked if Maliki would go to Adil, a restive Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad where Sunni insurgents still operate and Shiites know they are not welcome. Maybe he can check out Hurriyah where Sunni residents have not returned. They were run out of the neighborhood in 2006 and some men were burned alive. Maybe he can ask the more than 88,000 mostly Sunni contractors that work with the U.S. to fight Al Qaida how they feel about the reconciliation effort. Many of them are former insurgents, very few have been absorbed into the government. People complain now that many act as warlords, in each neighborhood the law is in their hands."

Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing that left two people wounded, a Diyala Province home bombing that went off during the midst of an Iraq military raid claiming the life of 1 corpse and a Mosul roadside bombing claimed 2 lives.

Shootings?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports Judge Abid Jassim and attorney Ahmed Al-Luizi were shot dead in Mosul.

Kidnappings?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports that the archbishop of the Cahtholic Church in Mosul was kidnapped and 3 "of his companisons" were killed. The BBC explains, "Archbisop Paulos Faraj Rahho was seized as he left a church in the eastern al-Nour district, it added. . . . Most of Iraq's estimated 700,000 Christians are Chaldeans -- Catholics who are autonomous from Rome but recognise the Pope's authority." Catholic World News states, "Bishop Paulos Faraj Raho was seized by terrorists who attacked his car as he left the Holy Spirit cathedral in Mosul after leading the Stations of the Cross on Friday, February 29. Three companions who had been in the car with him were killed." AP reports that Pope Benedict XVI has issued an appeal for "reason and humanity".

Corpses?

Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 corpses discovered in Baghdad, Sameea Sofi's corpse was discovered outside of Kirkuk, General Mudhir Hadi Salih and General Amir Muhammad Al-Jibouri's corpses were discovered in Diyala province (blindfolded, shot to death) and the corpse of Ahmed Khalaf was discovered in Kirkuk (he was a local council member in Hawija).

Turning to US politics. "What I learned being in and out as you correctly point out is that there are a lot of people who have a lot of questions about the government and they don't exactly know where to turn to for answers because the corporate media don't tell the people the truth," so explains
Cynthia McKinney to Kimberly Wilder (On The Wilder Side) in a video produced by Terry Morrone (a typo yesterday, it is "Terry Morrone"). Cynthia McKinney is running for the Green Party presidential nomination. In a wide ranging interview, former US Congress women McKinney explains why she became a member of the Green Party:

The Democrats are the ones who failed to repeal the Patriot Act, the Democrats are the ones who continue to fund the war. The Democrats are the ones who say that the Bush tax cuts are alright even though they railed against them when they were in the minority. Now that they are in the majority and they could do something about it they fail to do it. And so I decided on my birthday that I would declare my independence from the Democratic Party. And I would declare my independence from any national leadership that was complicit in war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and all of the rest of it. I reject and I'm happy to have joined with other people in the Green Party who reject that as well.

And in terms of rejection, some Greens are less than pleased with Ralph Nader who announced his campaign for president on NBC's Meet The Press Sunday.
The Green Party notes: "Green Party leaders expressed their disappointment in Ralph Nader's decision, announced on Thursday, not to seek the 2008 Green presidential nomination." They quote the party's co-chair Phil Huckelberry declaring, "A lot of Greens have supported Mr. Nader and wanted him to win the party's nomination. There has been an active effort by many Green leaders to 'draft' Mr. Nader as a Green candidate, and his success in recent Green primaries demonstrates that he remains a very popular figure within the Green Party. There is widespread disappointment among Greens that he chose to go a different route." Here's a tip, one that Jess (rightly) pointed out two Sundays ago -- no party holds primaries with a place-holders. That is ridiculous. If you can't declare you are running by a party's primary, you get no votes. You get no one holding your place. As Jess noted two Sundays ago, that needs to change immediately so that it never happens again. There's a chance of a roundtable at Third this Sunday to address this topic.

Ralph Nader's presidential website is up and running (and allowing comments). Among the topics written of thus far are impeachment and Palestinians. He has selected a running mate, Matt Gonzalez. Gonzalez is already doing what vice presidential candidates are supposed to do: hitting hard. Writing at CounterPunch, he takes on the myth of "anti-war" Barack Obama noting that, "I'm afraid to say I'm not just uninspired: I'm downright fearful. . . . First, he opposed the war in Iraq while in the Illinois state legislature. Once he was running for US Senate though, when public opinion and support for the war was at its highest, he was quoted in the July 27, 2004 Chicago Tribune as saying, 'There's not that much difference between my position and George Bush's position at this stage. The difference, in my mind, is who's in a position to execute.' The Tribune went on to say that Obama "now believes US forces must remain to stabilize the war-ravaged nation a policy not dissimilar to the current approach of the Bush administration.' Obama's campaign says he was referring to the ongoing occupation and how best to stabilize the region. But why wouldn't he have taken the opportunity to urge withdrawal if he truly opposed the war? Was he trying to signal to conservative voters that he would subjugate his anti-war position if elected to the US Senate and perhaps support a lengthy occupation? Well, as it turns out, he's done just that." The myth of "anti-war" Barack Obama was addressed here last night so we'll instead focus on Hillary Clinton.

Hillary is running for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The following statement is from Senator Clinton's office, not her campaign:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton announced today that she has cosponsored legislation to ban the use of Blackwater and other private mercenary firms in Iraq.
"From this war's very beginning, this administration has permitted thousands of heavily-armed military contractors to march through Iraq without any law or court to rein them in or hold them accountable. These private security contractors have been reckless and have compromised our mission in Iraq. The time to show these contractors the door is long past due. We need to stop filling the coffers of contractors in Iraq, and make sure that armed personnel in Iraq are fully accountable to the U.S. government and follow the chain of command," said Senator Clinton.The legislation requires that all personnel at any U.S. diplomatic or consular mission in Iraq be provided security services only by Federal Government Personnel. It also includes a whistleblower clause to protect contract personnel who uncover contract violations, criminal actions, or human rights abuses.

As KeShawn pointed out in an e-mail today, Hillary Clinton's endorsements do not get noted on Democracy Now! -- though Goodman can repeat in headlines (two days in a row this week) the same endorsement of Barack -- among her recent endorsers is Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba. He joins a
lengthy list of retired military and defense officials who have endorsed her (active military cannot make endorsements) and you can read about that at her campaign site. Hillary was in Waco, Texas today and among the issues she addressed was reducing the strain on US service members so that they will be deployed for 12 months and not the 15 month tours that have become the norm. Bully Boy could stop that now. He could have stopped it before it began. As noted yesterday, US House Rep Patrick Murphy asked General George Casey if Congress needed to pass legislation to get the tour of duty down to 12 months and keep it there but Casey felt it would 'tie up' the military's hands. Today in Waco, Hillary pledged that any US service member serving a 12 month tour of overseas "will have at least 12 months at home." She also addressed the issue of veterans' care and the need for a new GI Bill of Rights. Meanwhile, her opponet Barack Obama's homophobia is the subject of Susan UnPC's recent post (No Quarter) which notes Bambi's heebie-jeebies when he came to the Bay Area. Don't worry, Laura Flanders grants him absolution or at least provides silence from her perch as "out lesbian" for Bambi. Meanwhile Taylor Marsh (TaylorMarsh.com) notes that the Canadian government was warned by Bambi's campaign prior to Tuesday's debate not to pay attention to Bambi's NAFTA remarks, they were just words. She covers it here as well and offers a video.

From video to radio.
WBAI's pledge drive is ending and Sunday The Nex Hour offers "Post-Warholian radio artists Andrew Andrew host." That's at 11:00 am to noon EST Sunday on NYC airwaves and streaming on WBAI while Monday they offer Cat Radio Cafe from 2:00 to 3:00 pm EST: "Poet Marie Howe reads from her new collection, "The Kingdom of Ordinary Time"; actor/playwright Brian Dykstra on his new one-man show on religion, "The Jesus Factor"; and actor Paul Hecht and musician Lisa Terry on "Parthenia, a Consort of Viols, Presents Hot Off the Press Concert of New Music and Poetry." Hosted by Janet Coleman and David Dozer."






aaron glantz


Thursday, February 28, 2008

Hillary, homeland security, etc.

Thursday! One day until the weekend! :D Okay, going to talk mainly about "homeland security" and Hillary tonight. First up, C.I. told me to check out the transcript from the Bully Boy's press conference today for this:

Q Mr. President, you've stressed over and over in recent days particularly the importance of FISA reform to help keep America safe, and yet you have not yet filled a key national security post. Fran Townsend announced her resignation months ago, in November. What is the delay there, and what are Americans to make of that delay? Is America less safe because of it?
THE PRESIDENT: We got a fine man named Joel Bagnal working that office right now. He's a professional. I trust his judgment. He's a real good guy. And no, they shouldn't worry about Joel. He knows what he's doing.
John.
Q But, sir, the American --
THE PRESIDENT: John.
Q The Homeland Security Advisor is a key post. What's taking so long?
THE PRESIDENT: Joel Bagnal has occupied the position, Elaine. He's doing the job, and I've got confidence in him. And so should the American people have confidence in him. He's a fine professional. He knows what he's doing. And I'm very comfortable in saying, on your cameras, that our staff in the White House, led by Joel Bagnal, knows what they're doing when it comes to advising the President on matters of homeland security.
John.


Do you get that? While Bully Boy's screaming Dems are endangering "homeland security," the nation still doesn't have a Homeland Security Advisor. I read it and just shook my head. Then I started thinking when did Townsend announce she was leaving? So I googled. Here's C.I.'s from November 20th of last year:

Meanwhile -- we're not linking to any of the nonsense -- US Homeland Security chief Frances Fragos Townsend is issuing warnings of upcoming, possible attacks while announcing she's leaving her post at the first of next year. While there's some credit earned for the honesty of not hiding behind 'family' -- FFT is very clear that there's money to be made in the private sector and she she intends to clean up with what her on the job training on tax payer money has provided her with -- if FFT truly believes the statements she's issuing (we've heard them all before -- election time is 'dangerous'), exactly why the hell is she stepping down? There was a time in the United States where officials were expected to do their jobs. She's saying there's a job to be done but there's money to be made in the private sector and greed win out. Though they've issued enough warnings (this administration) to be dubbed Chicken Little even by many supporters, should an attack take place, remember FFT chose greed over national security. If that seems harsh, she wasn't on an advisory board nor did she express, when appointed, a desire to brush up her resume and then rush out the door.

Do you get that? She not only announced she was leaving, she did so while announcing "threats" the country was under. And Bully Boy's doing nothing. He's not named a nominee. It will be March this weekend. Townsend announced she was leaving in November. So anything goes wrong in this country, remember Townsend announced her departure back in November and Bully Boy's done nothing to fill her post.

What did her post entail? This is from Townsend's White House bio:

Ms. Frances Fragos Townsend was appointed Homeland Security Advisor by the President on May 28th, 2004. Ms. Townsend chairs the Homeland Security Council and reports to the President on United States Homeland Security policy and Combating Terrorism matters.

Sounds kind of important, doesn't it? Turkey continues to invade Iraq and this is from Great Britain's Socialist Worker, "Turkish invasion of Iraq is extension of 'war on terror':"

Thousands of Turkish troops have launched an attack into northern Iraq in a dangerous escalation of their war against Kurdish separatists.
The Turkish military have destroyed bridges, fired salvos of artillery into the villages in the border region and threatened to attack any home that gives refuge to fleeing PKK fighters.
Warplanes have been launching daily attacks on northern Iraq since Turkey began a military campaign against PKK militants in December.
Now the troops are reported to have pushed 15 miles into northern Iraq and to have seized PKK forward bases, confirming fears that they plan to establish a "buffer zone" along the border.
This has raised fears that future incursions will extend deeper into Iraqi Kurdish areas.
The PKK emerged out of a struggle against the repression of Turkey's 20 million Kurds. The organisation has made repeated calls for a ceasefire, but these have been rejected by Turkey. Now the military want to crush the militants.
The spread of the war to the north is a mark of the growing instability created by the US invasion of Iraq. The Kurdish regions had been the most stable, with northern Iraq becoming economically dependent on Turkey.
The US promised Turkey that it would crush the PKK, but it feared this would alienate Kurdish parties who are key allies of the occupation forces.
And Iraq's Turkoman minority, who are ethnic Turks, have been the target of sectarian cleansing by the US-backed Kurdish parties as they attempt to seize control over the oil rich city of Kirkuk.
Turkey's Kurdish population has reacted to the invasion with mass demonstrations. One witness told Socialist Worker, "There is now a heavy police presence in many Kurdish areas in Istanbul and other big cities and the possibility of further clashes is high."
"Police used clubs and tear gas this Monday to disperse mass demonstrations in the city of Diyarbakir in the east of the country. One protester died after being hit by an armoured car."
Stop Turkey's invasion, protest 12 noon, Sunday 2 March, Dalston Junction, Hackney, London E8. Called by Turkish and Kurdish organisations. Backed by Stop the War Coalition
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Amy The Media Whore Goodman can never note any endorsements Hillary Clinton gets so let me do what's too hard for the Media Whore. This is "Ohio for Hillary Announces Statewide Endorsements:"

Support Grows Among Buckeye State Leaders as Primary
COLUMBUS, OH - Ohio for Hillary today announced the endorsements of Mayors and community leaders from across Ohio. Today’s endorsers join the growing ranks of Hillary’s supporters in the Buckeye State, adding to her momentum as the March 4 primary approaches.
"I am so thankful for the support of these dedicated public servants," said Senator Clinton. "Their leadership is bringing about needed change in communities across Ohio, and I look forward to working with them to strengthen our economy and rebuild the middle class."
Elected officials joining the growing list of distinguished Ohio leaders who have endorsed Hillary for President include:
Tiffin Mayor Bernard Hohman
Montgomery County Auditor Karl Keith
Mt. Gilead Mayor Mike Porter
Wilmington Mayor David L. Raizk
Marion Mayor Scott Schertzer
Clark County Commissioner Roger Tackett
Hillsboro Mayor Richard Zink


I'm not done yet. This is "More than 100 Rhode Island Women Join Lt. Gov. Roberts to Support Hillary Clinton for President:"

Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend discusses Clinton’s advocacy for women across the globe
Providence, RI - Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Rhode Island Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts today joined women from around Rhode Island in launching "Rhode Island Women for Hillary" a grassroots organization to encourage women to support Hillary Clinton’s campaign to become America’s first women president. The group gathered at 3 Steeple Street, a woman-owned business in Providence, to highlight Hillary Clinton’s commitment to issues affecting women in the U.S. and across the globe.
Rhode Island Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed, former Senate Republican Minority Leader Lila Sapinsley and Bristol resident Suzanne Magaziner have joined Roberts as chairwomen of the group that will organize women for Senator Hillary Clinton's historic candidacy for president.
"From advocating for equal pay, to protecting a woman’s right to choose, to fighting for equal rights for women across the globe, Hillary Clinton is a true champion for women’s rights and a tireless advocate for policies that positively affect the lives of women and families," said former Lt. Gov. Townsend. "As the first woman lieutenant governor in the state of Maryland, I know a little something about breaking political glass ceilings. I am particularly excited about the prospect of electing a woman president as it will inspire women and girls across our nation."
"Hillary Clinton’s commitment to health care for every American is a mission I care about deeply. Our commitment is shared by millions of Americans who understand that health care is vital to creating jobs and creating security for our families. Thousands of Rhode Island women will support Hillary Clinton because we know that she shares our priorities," said Lt. Gov. Roberts. "Over the coming days, we will work together to make history and put Hillary Clinton on the path to becoming our first woman president."
To date, more than 100 women have signed on as members of the group that will organize their friends and family on behalf of Senator Clinton and list continues to grow each day. Organizers also announced a "10 to 1 Challenge" whereby members of the group will each gather names of ten women they know to support Hillary Clinton for president.
The goal is to reach more than 1,000 in the next 72 hours, the kick-off to GOTV efforts in Rhode Island. Rhode Island Women for Hillary will participate in phone banking, canvassing and other field operations in the days leading up to the primary.
Lt. Gov. Roberts and former Lt. Gov. Kennedy Townsend, U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy’s eldest child, encouraged Rhode Island women to show their strength by contributing to the get out the vote efforts on the final weekend of the campaign, delivering a victory for Hillary Clinton on March 4th.
Roberts, Rhode Island's highest-ever statewide female officeholder, and other women in attendance spoke about Clinton's plan to end wage discrimination in the workplace, increase capital for women-owned businesses and continue to expand access to family planning, while protecting privacy of women and their reproductive rights.


Still not done. I'm going to quote from Ava and C.I.'s "Panhandle Media" about how 'independent' media stacks the deck against Hillary.


After the introductory segment from the KPFT reporter was quickly dismissed with, you couldn't find Texas -- despite the blathering. Lusane said young Latinos in Texas were for Bambi -- he can see that from DC apparently. Lou Dubose was brought on for a few minutes to offer musings from Austin. Austin is the latte area of Texas, Austin is not reflective of the state (Molly Ivins, Dubose's one-time writing partner, used to note that very often in her own writing and commentaries). What Dubose claimed to see in Austin was typical of what one always sees in Austin during election years. It was pure garbage that pimped Bambi but then Dubose is supporting Bambi.
Which is why he insulted "Mexican-Americans". He was dusting off his old comments from when he lived in the state. A thing happened while he was out of the state, he doesn't appear to know about it (not surprising, his focus is White Anglo men). That would be the 2006 march in Dallas for immigration rights which is the largest march that has ever taken place in Texas. Dubose seems unaware of it. But it doesn't matter, apparently, because Dubose asserted, "Mexican-Americans voters don't turn out as much."
We're unaware why, if the Latino vote's being discussed (we'd say mishandled), by the African-American Lusane, the White Flanders, Dubose and Bensky, that there wasn't an actual Latino or Latina brought on to discuss the issue. Over and over, listeners were given the unsupported claim that young Latinos were supporting Barack Obama. Really?
We were speaking in Texas last week and what we saw was far different. Take, for example, Dallas. The image is the cover of the Thursday Quick (local freebie that's put out by The Dallas Morning News) which we grabbed late Thursday as we arrived in Dallas. On Friday young Latinos showed up at Hillary events. We were on campuses all day and the Latino students were bringing up that event, they were speaking of how it was the first time they'd gone to see any candidate, they were showing the fliers they'd taken (pledging to turnout for Hillary). Or take San Antonio early in the week where we saw nothing but Hillary supporters. We're not Hillary campaigners. Our talks are about the illegal war. El Paso? We saw the same thing. We saw huge support for Hillary among young Latinos on campus after campus.

So who was right? The gas bags of 'independent' media (who support Barack Obama) and could see what was happening on the ground in Texas from DC and NYC and California? Or Ava and C.I. who were in Texas speaking to college and high school students? Click here and you'll find that "a new poll released today shows Senator Hillary Clinton with a commanding 41 point lead over Senator Barack Obama." Ooops for KPFA! Ava and C.I. were right. They knew that, they knew what they were seeing. But Panhandle Media lies, LIES and LIES SOME MORE to try to push Bambi into the White House.

Getting to the snapshot. As I said yesterday, I thought C.I. was holding off to give us all a chance to weigh in and give us links. If you read it, you'll see that is what happened. Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Thursday, Feburary 28, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the Turkish invasion of northern Iraq continues, the House Armed Services committee holds a hearing, and more.

Starting with war resisters.
Stephen Lendman (Global Research) reviews a new book by Francis A. Boyle ("distinguished University of Illinois law professor, activist, and internationally recognized expert on international law and human rights") entitled Protesting Power -- War, Resistance and Law (available in hardcover for $75.00 and in softcover for $24.95). Lendman notes Boyle was not allowed to testify at Camilo Mejia's court-martial but did get to give testimony during the sentencing and was allowed to testify at Ehren Watada's Article 32 hearing (August 2006) but not at the court-martial. Lendman summarizes Watada's February 2007 court-martial: "It began in February under very constricted rules -- denying a First Amendment defense and disallowing one questioning the legality of the war. However, legality issues were impossible to exclude, they directly related to charges brought, and the prosecution introduced them at trial. In addition, Watada firmly stated before testifying that he refused to deploy because of the war's illegality. Unable to pressure him not to so testify, the presiding judge" -- that would be Judge Toilet (aka John Head) -- declared a mistrial. He'd lost control of the proceeding, knew Watada was on solid ground, and had to prevent his evidence from being introduced to avoid the embarrassing possibility of an acquittal on one or all charges. If it happened, the war's illegality would have been exposed and its continuation jeopardized. Under the Fifth Amendment 'double jeopardy' clause, Watada cannot be retried on the same charges." In June 2006, Ehren Watada became the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to the Iraq War.

Meanwhile war resisters who have moved to Canada were dealt a serious set-back when the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of
Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, you can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored.


There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb,
Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.
Information on war resistance within the military can be found at
The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).

Meanwhile
IVAW is organizing a March 2008 DC action:
In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.
Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth.
Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan.
Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers.
In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.
Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan


March 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation.
Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'." As part of their fundraising efforts for the event, they are holding houseparties and a recent one in Boston featured both IVAW's Liam Madden and the incomprable Howard Zinn as speakers. IVAW's co-chair Adam Kokesh will, of course, be participating and he explains why at his site, "But out of a strong sense of duty, some of us are trying to put our experiences to use for a good cause. Some of us couldn't live with ourselves if weren't doing everything we could to bring our brothers and sisters home as soon as possible. The environment may be unking, but that is why I will be testifying to shooting at civilians as a result of changing Rules of Engagement, abuse of detainees, and desecration of Iraqi bodies. It won't be easy but it must be done. Some of the stories are things that are difficult to admit that I was a part of, but if one more veteran realizes that they are not alone because of my testimony it will be worth it."

That action takes place next month. Today
Kevin G. Hall (McClatchy Newspapers) reports on Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz whose new book with Linda Bilmes (The Three Trillion Dollar War) explains how the costs of the Iraq War and Afghanistan War are now over three trillion dollars. Hall reports, "In an interview, Stiglitz said that too much of the public debate has been over the wars' operational costs while the real budget strains would show up only years from now. 'The peak expenditures are way out,' he said, noting that the peak expenditures for World War II vets came in 1993." On the issue of costs of the illegal war, US House Rep Walter Jones declared today, "Uncle China is lending Uncle Sam money to fund the wars!"

Jones made his remark in this morning's House Armed Services Committee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2009 National Defense Authorization Budget Request from the Deptartment of the Army. Committee chair Ike Skelton noted in his
opening statement, "Today's hearing is arguably the most important we will hold this year. We are a nation at war. The Army is faced with an avalanche of demands for ground forces, demands from multiple armed conflicts, from security commitments made to defend our allies and overseas interests, from a requirment to deter potential enemies around the world, and from a mandate to defend the homeland. . . . Today, the Army, along with the rest of the Department of Defense, is at risk of not being able to answer the demands of that strategy without suffering losses that this nation has previously deemed unacceptable." Those offering testimony to the committee were General George Casey -- former top commander in Iraq and now Chief of Staff US army -- and Pete Geren, the Secretary of the Army. The topic was the proposed financing requests for 2009.

Casey maintained that the US military was "not broken, it's not hollow, I lived through hollow in the early seventies." Casey was spinning and his pat answer when he doesn't have a response is to fall back on "General Pace will be here in April" or "That's more of a question for General Petraeus." While US House Rep Gene Taylor was concerned with IED jammers and the lack of training the military has with those (before deploying to Iraq), Rep Silvestre Reyes was concerned with his own political career. Reyes' questions revolved around the November elections and how he could get "beat up" if the Democrats are seen as "the party of earmarks." Therefore Reyes wanted Casey to respond whether or not Casey would back Congress if Congress gave the Army what he was asking for. Casey rambled but got no where leading Skelton to assert, "Excuse me, general, you're not answering the question." Skeleton urged Reyes to "restate" the question. Reyes explained he was asking if Casey would defend the Congress for asking for these items when the attacks of "Congress of earmarks" come in. In fairness to Casey, what Reyes meant by "defend" was never clear. Casey's requesting the items in an opening hearing. It's doubtful (and illegal) for Casey to appear in an attack ad on Congress in the upcoming elections. So was Reyes asking for a press release? For a press conference? It was never clear. However, it was very clear Reyes' first concern is how he will fair in the November elections.

US House Rep Solomon Ortiz was concerned with the "long range budget" and whether it fixes problems or not? Ortiz chairs the committee's subcommittee on Readiness and is co-sponsor, with Neil Abercrombie, of
HR 834 which proposes: "That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that because serious readiness shortfalls exist within the Army, Marine Corps, National Guard, and Reserves, severely limiting the ability of the ground forces to respond effectively to any contingency or threat, at home or abroad and thus creating a potentially dangerous level of risk to the national security of the United States, Congress should restore and maintain the ground forces at the highest levels of readiness in the interest of national security and to ensure the integrity of the entire military force."

US House Rep Patrick Murphy was also concerned about readiness. He wanted to know specifically that, regardless of any upcoming announcements, would the length of tours be reduced.
On Tuesday of this week, Casey and Geren appeared before the Senate's Armed Service Committee also offering testimony on the 2009 Fiscal Year. From that hearing, the only thing that the media picked up on was that tours in Iraq and Afghanistan would (maybe) drop from fifteen months to twelve months. (Some outlets picked up on the stop-loss issue, stop-loss will continue but they 'hope' to drop the numbers from 8,000 to 7,000 -- ignored was Senator Jim Webb's questioning of Casey which produced Casey's claim that the UCMJ had been applied to Defense Department contractors serving in Iraq.) Murphy wanted to know specifically with the Afghanistan War still going on, an incomplete serach for Osama bin laden, with "the majority of our military in Iraq," what happens "if we're still bogged down refereeing a civil war in Iraq?" And when Petraeus appears before Congress, Murphy wanted to know, "What happens" in terms of the reduction of tours of duty "if he comes back to us and says we need a 'pause' not a 'drawdown.' Casey maintained that regardless of a "a brief pause, as you say, that will not impact our ability to come off of 15 months . . . the most important thing for us to do is to come off 15 months."

Murphy noted that "we're begging for about 7,000 troops for Afghanistan from our allies" and wondered if Congress needed to "mandate that if you deploy for 15 months, you're home for 15 months, if you deploy for 12 months, you're home for 12 months"? Casey wasn't keen on that idea and claimed it would interfere with the military's ability to do their job. Which makes the 'promise' Casey and Geren made earlier this week seem even more hollow (even more hollow than Casey claimed, in today's hearings, his experiences in the seventies were).

Casey wasn't making promises. He was seriously confused and repeatedly referred to Representatives as "Senator" and was repeatedly corrected. He made a fool of himself injecting a joke into the proceedings "about the heart surgeon and the motor mechanic" with the heart surgeon explaining, "I do my work with the motor running." No one was laughing. (He was attempting to put foward the claim that it was difficult to train Iraqis in the midst of an illegal war.) But the comment that should be noted, because it may come back to haunt him, was when Rep Gene Taylor wanted to know about how prepared the military command was for what could happen in Iraq (porous borders) and weapons could come from in from anywhere -- any kind of weapons. Taylor dropped back to the Afghanstian War of the 80s and noted that the Russians were aware of Stingers but hadn't expected them to show up in that war. Casey responded, "Congressman, I am confident that we are doing everything to anticipate what the enemy might do and how he might do it."

Rep Walter Jones stated, "I think we've already had victory in Iraq." Though a fan of the escalation, Jones was referring to the immediate invasion. He wanted Casey to define "victory" in the Iraq War so that everyone would know "when this happens, the game is over, we have won." Casey fell back on his favorite cop-out, "That's more of a question for General Petraeus." Pressed further, Casey declared, "I believe we are working toward and need to get our presence down to a level that is acceptable to us and the Iraqis." He stated that as soon as the Iraqi security forces are where they need to be to maintain 'order,' that's 'success': "That's what I believe it looks like." Jones wasn't cheerleading that (and he cheerleads a lot). He insisted, "It's the same thing year afte ryear, year after year and the country [United States] cannot continue to wait 10 years, 100 years, for Iraqis" to take control of their country. Skelton also wasn't quick to accept this wave of Operation Happy Talk -- that it's just a matter of training and it's being done and things are going fine. He asked Casey, "Is it not true that the American army began seriously training the Iraqi forces in late 2004?" Casey answered it was true and it began in April or May. What followed was Skelton attempting to ask questions and Casey cutting in repeatedly. Consider the following paraphrasing. Skelton pointed out, "2005, 2006, 2007 and now we're well into 2008. Could you give us a target date as to when the Iraqi forces can be fully trained to take on their own security -- take it over and the United States Army can come home?" Casey replied, "They're going to need our help for some period of time." Skelton pointed out of his constitutents, "Folks at home say, 'How long have we been there? How much longer do we have to be there to train up these folks?" and stated that "somewhere along the line we ought to say, 'It's your baby'." [This is where Casey inserted his bad joke about the heart surgeon and the motor mechanic.]

One of the training 'successes' is the "Awakening" Councils or "Sons of Iraq." Now you've got a group that walked out this month and another that's on strike. On top of that,
Sudarsan Raghavan and Amit R. Paley (Washington Post) report that the turncoats on a dime "are increasingly frustrated with the American military and the Iraqi government over what they see as a lack of recognition of their growing political clout and insufficient U.S. support." The reporters note that those who walked out in Diyala Province wanting the police chief fired said yesterday "they would disband completely if their demands were not met." This on the heels of the news that the highly touted legislative 'success' wasn't all of that. As noted yesterday, on February 25th White House flack Dana Perino was stating, "The President has been working towards reconciliation between the Sunnis and the Shia, and it's actually working on a political level in some ways. Especially we saw that last month, when they passed three laws in one day, which was quite a significant achievement for the Iraqis." However, provincial elections were one of the three and that legislation hit a roadblock. Steve Lannen (McClatchy Newspapers) explains the importance of what just got trashed, "The rejected bill, which sets out the political structure for Iraq's provincial governments and establishes a basis for elections in October, was only the second of 18 U.S.-set political benchmarks that the war-tore nation needs to reach." The now trashed law, Richard A. Oppel Jr. (New York Times) notes, "called for provincial elections by October, and it was hoped that it would eliminate severe electoral distortions that have left Kurds and Shiites with vastly disproportionate power over Sunni Arabs in some areas, a factor in fueling the Sunni insurgency. It would also have given Iraqis who have long complained of corrupt and feckless local leaders a chance to clean house and elect officials they believe are more accountable." Borzou Daragahi (Los Angeles Times) explains who threw out the roadblock, "The presidential council consists of President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Shiite Muslim Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi and Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq Hashimi. They gave lawmakers vague reasons for rejecting the law, which includes dozens of articles, assuring them that they would provide notes later."

Meanwhile Turkey's invasion into northern Iraq continues. At the White House today, Bully Boy was asked about the invasion and he responded, "One, the Turks, the Americans, and the Iraqis, including the Iraqi Kurds, share a common enemy in the PKK. And secondly, it's in nobody's interests that there be a safe haven for people who are -- have the willingness to kill innocent people." Bully Boy went on to echo US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' earlier remarks, "I strongly agree with the sentiments of Secretary Gates, who said that the incursion must be limited, and must be temporary in nature. In other words, it shouldn't be long-lasting. But the Turks need to move quickly, achieve their objective, and get out."
Reuters reports that Turkish singer Bulent Ersoy appeared on Turkish TV Thursday declaring that, "A war is waged with conspiracies designed in office rooms. Some people write it and everyone is forced to play along. If I were fertile and had a child, I could not accept burying him for others' plans." (Ersoy was a popular singer long before her sex change operation in 1981. Following that, she left the country due to some regulations. In 1988 she returned to Turkey and remains a very popular entertainer.) Great Britain's Socialist Worker concludes, "The spread of the war to the north is a mark of the growing instability created by the US invasion of Iraq. The Kurdish regions had been the most stable, with northern Iraq becoming economically dependent on Turkey. The US promised Turkey that it would crush the PKK, but it feared this would alienate Kurdish parties who are key allies of the occupation forces."

Kim Gamel (AP) reports that yesterday US forces killed a man in Muqdadiyah for wearing a "bulky jacket" and having "his hands in his pockets" and that "Iraqi police in Diyala province, where Muqdadiyah is located, said the slain man was elderly and suffered from mental disabilities and hearing problems. The police, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information, said the killing occurred in a market."

Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing wounded two people, a Habbaniyah bombing claimed 1 life and left two more people wounded and (last night on this one), Mudhaffar Turki ("chariman of the observation and complaints department in the integrity committee") was targeted with an unsuccessful assassination attempt in Baghdad that left him and another person wounded. KUNA reports six people were wounded in a Mosul bombing.

Shootings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an "Awakening" council member was shot dead in Diyala Province. KUNA reports 2 police officers were shot dead in Mosul today.

Kidnappings and torchings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports "the director of the southern branch of the electricy company" was kidnapped in Basra today while five homes were set fire and burned down in Diyala Province.

Corpses?
Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 corpses discovered in Baghdad and 3 in Al Anbar Province.


Turning to the media landscape.
Carol Jenkins (Womens Media Center) notes last weekend's Saturday Night Live sketches [here for Ava and my piece on that], "The show recognized what many observers had come to feel: the media has conducted itself poorly and are worthy of parody. And watching Tim Russert, parodying himself last night, scowling eyebrows, raised voice, blustery manner and slightly weird questions -- encapsulated what's wrong with the media. Time seemed to have the mistaken believe that he was the third debater, an impression only heightened after the debate when Chris Matthews repeatedly lauded Russert on 'reeling in' Hillary Clinton with a question on her war vote." The Iraq War. Jenkins goes on to list Howard Kurtz and Howard Fineman as among those recognizine a media bias -- a pro-Obama media bias. But it's not just Real Media, it's also Panhandle Media. Take the trash that passes for 'journalism' on Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! these days. To her credit, Goodman didn't lead the headlines today with Chris Dodd's endorsement of Bambi; however, as Marcia pointed out yesterday, Goodman led it with it on Wednesday after having already included it as a "news" "headline" on Tuesday. Jeremy Scahill was a guest on the program today to discuss his talk with a foreign policy advisor on the Obama campaign (everyone assumes it's Samantha Power and the statements/justifications do read as if they're from her -- here for his article at Common Dreams on this topic). Goody played a clip from the debate. She didn't play the exchange everyone's working hard to ignore. We noted the exchange Tuesday night and Rebecca noted it Tuesday night. From the New York Times transcript of the debate:SEN. CLINTON: Well, I have put forth my extensive experience in foreign policy, you know, helping to support the peace process in Northern Ireland, negotiating to open borders so that refugees fleeing ethnic cleansing would be safe, going to Beijing and standing up for women's rights as human rights and so much else. And every time the question about qualifications and credentials for commander in chief are raised, Senator Obama rightly points to the speech he gave in 2002. He's to be commended for having given the speech. Many people gave speeches against the war then, and the fair comparison is he didn't have responsibility, he didn't have to vote; by 2004 he was saying that he basically agreed with the way George Bush was conducting the war. And when he came to the Senate, he and I have voted exactly the same. We have voted for the money to fund the war until relatively recently. So the fair comparison was when we both had responsibility, when it wasn't just a speech but it was actually action, where is the difference? Where is the comparison that would in some way give a real credibility to the speech that he gave against the war? [. . .]SEN. OBAMA: Let me just follow up. My objections to the war in Iraq were simply -- not simply a speech. I was in the midst of a U.S. Senate campaign. It was a high-stakes campaign. I was one of the most vocal opponents of the war, and I was very specific as to why. And so when I bring this up, it is not simply to say "I told you so," but it is to give you an insight in terms of how I would make decisions.

Did you catch the lie? Common Dreams can't stop pushing Bambi off on their readers including today.
Click here for the bad 2002 speech (it calls out the illegal war, yes, it is a bad speech and one that takes for granted that Iraq had WMD which they didn't). What's the date on that speech? October 2, 2002. Obama was not "in the midst of a U.S. Senate campaign." He did not run for the US Senate in 2002. He was running for the Illinois state senate. It was not "a high-stakes campaign." He was running for re-election. He won the seat in 1996. He ran for re-election in 1998 and won. He ran for re-election in 2000 and won. He won for re-election in 2002 and won. It was not a statewide campaign. His race was one of 59 state senate races taking place in Illinois in 2002. [For Bambi as a state legislator, MyDD recommends Todd Spivak's article in the latest edition of the Houston Press.]

Since we noted Bambi's lies, Rebecca and I have had all sorts of whiners complaining that Bambi was referring to something else. As with Bully Boy, there's a lot of "Obama really means" going on (Jeremy Scahill takes part in peering into Obama's soul on Democracy Now! today). So let's go slow for the really stupid who think a politician's statements can be 'fixed.'

When was Bambi in a high-stakes race? The Democratic 2004 primary race? No. His only real opponent, Blair Hull, was done in by a whisper campaign launched by Barack Obama's campaign. They used their usual press contacts (including the same writer at The Chicago Tribune who's always been Bambi's bag man) to push rumors about Hull's former marriage repeatedly. But let's pretend that Bambi, commenting on 2002, actually was referring to that 2004 primary race. Did it take a lot to be against the illegal war? No. Blair Hull, a veteran, was also against the Iraq War. Dick Durbin's opposition to the illegal war wasn't held against him by the voters of Illinois. So it wasn't the primary. What about the campaign for the general election, was that "high-stakes" for Bambi to stake out a position against the illegal war? [He was not against the illegal war during this time, but let's all buy the lie.]

March 16, 2004 was the primary election. Obama won the Democratic primary, Jack Ryan won the Republican primary. The Obama campaign launched a whisper campaign against Jack Ryan almost immediately. And, not surprisingly, Obama's usual crowd of supporters today were penning columns on his Senate run. The whisper campaign gets real traction beginning in late April (whisper campaign against Jack Ryan and his ex-wife Jeri Ryan). You have The Chicago Tribune (and a local station) suing to unseal the records. Jack Ryan is out of the race June 25th. Three months after Obama became the Democratic nominee in the Senate race. "High-stakes"? No. July? No oppenent at all. A few consider it but none decide on running. August 8, 2004 is when Alan Keyes agrees to become the GOP nominee. Keyes did not (and never had) lived in Illinois. In 1988, he ran for the US Senate from Maryland and only got 38% of the vote, in 1992 he ran again and only got 29% of the vote. He was a joke and there was no "high-stakes" involved in his campaign. 27% would be the percentage of the vote Keyes received. That needs to be noted. Barack Obama has never won a tough state-wide race. In the state legislature, he was representing one of 59 districts. In 2004, whisper campaigns killed off his only real competition and he was left to run against professional joke Alan Keyes.

Barack Obama lied. There was never a "high-stakes" campaign he was in where it hurt him to be against the war. But while doing his US Senate race, he was against US troops leaving Iraq. That is reality and it will be addressed more tonight. Liars like Amy Goodman would prefer you not know that reality. But Obama was not calling for "TROOPS HOME NOW!" when he ran for the US Senate. That's a lie or, if you prefer, a fairy tale.

The debate was an embarrassment for Obama. As
Ruth points out, he repeatedly cribbed from Hillary Clinton's answers as if he didn't have time to do his own homework. As Mike points out, Obama's 'excuse' for not holding meetings of the Senate subcommittee he chairs (one whose terrain includes NATO and Afghanistan) is laughable, "I became chairman of this committee at the beginning of this campaign." Then you decline the offer to be chair you do not let 14 months go by without holding a hearing. The Afghanistan War is not our scope, but it hasn't ended. Obama demonstrates no leadership but does suggest that he puts his own ego ahead of elected duties. As Kat and Rebecca pointed out last night, Bambi belittles Hillary's very real experience. Of course, when you don't have something, you campaign has to belittle it. We saw that take place in 2004 when the GOP belittled John Kerry's record of serving in Vietnam. As Elaine pointed out, his manner of destroying candidates in the past focused on whispers about their marriages. His campaign attempted to do that with the Clintons last year. When that failed (as always, the New York Times took the bait), it was time to find a new strategy: any criticism of Bambi is "racism." His campaign has played that strategy for months -- long before South Carolina but they really took it to a new level following New Hampshire. How long is that going to work? How long can every criticism be dismissed as "racism" before he turns off voters of all races?

In terms of Iraq,
Dennis Ross argues in The New Republic that it's time for Hillary and Barack "to compromise on withdrawal from Iraq." He wants to argue (wrongly) that the escalation has worked (at least somewhat -- it's not worked at all). Ross futher wants to maintain that "if withdrawal is truly to be used as a lever to help broker such understandings" political understandings, "the approach to withdrawal needs to be more flexible and not driven by a rigid timetable." Yes, we've heard that "logic" every year of the illegal war (we've even heard it from Bambi himself). what makes this news is that Ross is an Obama advisor. It's not included in the column or in the slugline at the end. Ron Kampeas and Ami Eden (JTA) reported last August, "Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) told a group of Jewish communal lay leaders that he is receiving advice on Middle East issues from Dennis Ross. . . . The association with Ross could help Obama solve a key dilemma: how to win the confidence of hawkish pro-Israel donors without alienating his anti-war base. . . Eric Lynn, Obama's liaison to the Jewish community, told JTA that his boss and Ross have had a realtionship for several years." The reporters then quote Lynn quoting Obama, "He says, 'Tony Lake and Susan Rice are my top foreign advisers,' but when it comes to the Middle East, Dennis Ross informally advises the senator."

There's no time but
Cynthia McKinney is running for the Green Party's nomination for president. Terrny Morrone produced this video interview with McKinney which we will note in greater depth in tomorrow's snapshot. Correction to Tuesday's snapshot, Ralph Nader's 74th birthday was Wednesday not Tuesday. My apologies.