Anti-War

RECENTLY I posted on YouTube's yanking of a vlogger's account due to the torture practices he was exposing that are perpetrated by Egyptian police. I was definitely disappointed in YouTube, although I sort of expect any large corporate entity to ultimately suppress free speech, because inevitably, free speech involves telling the truth, and at the end of that road can be found many ideas that might not support the agenda and behavior of corporate entities. As the RAND Corporation, "a California based think-tank with close ties to the military-industrial-intelligence complex" sees it:

RAND maintains "homegrown terrorism" will not be the result of jihadist sleeper cells. Rather, it will result from anti-globalists and radical environmentalists who 'challenge the intrinsic qualities of capitalism, charging that in the insatiable quest for growth and profit, the philosophy is serving to destroy the world's ecology, indigenous cultures, and individual welfare.' ...

Further, RAND claims anti-globalists and radical environmentalists 'exist in much the same operational environment as al Qaida' and pose 'a clear threat to private-sector corporate interests, especially large multinational business.'

—Truthout.org, The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act: A Tutorial in Orwellian Newspeak

So through these types of statements, we begin to see it all come together. The War of the future, already taking place now. Those who refuse to consider any ill effects upon the world and the animals and the poor and simply the common gente, a breed who refuses to let go of a philosophy of greed, despite the mounting consequences of such a failed paradigm vs. those of us concerned first and foremost with the weakest of us, the meekest of us, the poorest of us, and Mother Earth herself.

HQ of the indefatigable David Swanson, "After Downing Street is a nonpartisan coalition working to expose the lies that launched the war (and the one that keeps it going) and to hold accountable its architects through impeachment."

Thank you, GV.

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have breasts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.

It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,

Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Even when the words in question have had 40 years' worth of sacred, timeless truth seeping into each and every one of them.

Americans United For Change brings together independent voices for new policy priorities and real leadership - to focus our elected officials on the issues that really matter to the lives of everyday Americans and get America moving in the right direction again. One of their main projects is the Iraq Accountability Project which seeks to inform voters about politicians who vote to support Bush's Iraq quagmire and the McCain/Bush/Lieberman escalation. Here is their second ad, targeting Senator Susan Collins of Maine. Let's first review Collins' record on Veterans issues before we see the ad: (from Project Vote Smart)

2006 In 2006 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave Senator Collins a grade of C-.

2006 Senator Collins supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 60 percent in 2006.

2005 Senator Collins supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 50 percent in 2005.

2004 Senator Collins supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 0 percent in 2004.

2004 On the votes that the The Retired Enlisted Association considered to be the most important in 2004, Senator Collins voted their preferred position 0 percent of the time.

Americans United For Change brings together independent voices for new policy priorities and real leadership - to focus our elected officials on the issues that really matter to the lives of everyday Americans and get America moving in the right direction again. One of their main projects is the Iraq Accountability Project which seeks to inform voters about politicians who vote to support Bush's Iraq quagmire and the McCain/Bush/Lieberman escalation. Here is their first ad, targeting Senator John Sunnunu of New Hampshire. Let's first review Sunnunu's record on Veterans issues before we see the ad: (from Project Vote Smart)

2006 In 2006 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave Senator Sununu a grade of D.

2006 Senator Sununu supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 40 percent in 2006.

2005 Senator Sununu supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 42 percent in 2005.

2004 Senator Sununu supported the interests of the Disabled American Veterans 0 percent in 2004.

2004 On the votes that the The Retired Enlisted Association considered to be the most important in 2004, Senator Sununu voted their preferred position 0 percent of the time.

Four years in and counting.

Over the last few days, anti-war actions are taking place all over America (and all over the world) in acknowledgment of the fourth anniversary of the Bush administration's launching an illegal, immoral war of conquest in Iraq.

We-the-People seem to be rising up everywhere and demanding that our badly misused troops be brought home safely and that the neokonzertruppen's disastrous military adventure for profit in the Middle East be stopped NOW.

Sure, there were large and widely-publicized protest gatherings on the Mall in Washington on Saturday. Aren't there always? That's certainly the primary place for activists to see and be seen, donchaknow. But on Saturday and Sunday, and still today, there are also plenty of equally impassioned anti-war rallies being held in lots of other places outside the Beltway.

And not just in big fancy places like New York City and San Francisco and Seattle, either. But also -- and, arguably, much more significantly -- out in the hinterlands, in flyover country where people don't generally make that much noise about this sort of thing unless some sort of major sea change is taking place.

Well, considering the grim nature of the subject matter "terrific" is kind of a relative term in this context. But as with globalvillage's other pieces that she pushes out through the YouTubes, this video photomontage is very well done and extremely effective in getting its point across. The choice of music and selection of sequential images in this one is particularly striking:

So, I am wondering if the media that made a big deal out of certain Edwards staff members saying things some Catholics might not like are going to pick up on the Idaho Sen. Larry Craig’s chief of staff tirade against Iraq War Vets.

From the Idaho Press Tribune:

Anti-war vets say Craig’s staff rude
Wednesday, February 7, 2007 6:01 AM EST

By Mike Butts - Idaho Press-Tribune

BOISE — Two veterans who belong to an anti-Iraq-war group claim Idaho Sen. Larry Craig’s chief of staff treated them inappropriately Tuesday in a meeting to discuss President Bush’s move to expand the number of troops in Iraq...

Army Reserve Capt. Jon Soltz, 29, and former 101st Airborne Division Sgt. Joe Kramer, 31, say Chief of Staff Mike Ware raised his voice or yelled at them and pointed at them during a scheduled meeting in Craig’s office.

The two soldiers and two other Iraq war veterans with the anti-war group VoteVets met with Ware and Craig’s legislative assistant for military affairs. Craig spokesman Dan Whiting said the men agreed to disagree before the soldiers left after about a 30-minute meeting.

But Soltz and Kramer said Ware went too far.

“It’s probably the most unprofessional thing I’ve ever heard from a chief of staff of a U.S. senator,” Soltz said. “I told him it was rather unprofessional to yell at a soldier who fought for our country.”