STOP THIS STEP TO WAR

re: H.CON. RES. 362:
thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z

"Subject: Stop Congress from fomenting another war

We rarely send you action items on Saturday. We're doing so today because the House appears likely to vote on a bad resolution early next week. If you oppose starting a war with Iran then we must act now to oppose House Concurrent Resolution 362.

This resolution has 169 co-sponsors, including 77 Democrats and 92 Republicans. The resolution calls on President Bush to . . .

* Create an international blockade of Iran to prevent it from importing the refined gasoline it needs to run its economy
* Subject all cargo entering or leaving Iran to stringent inspections
* Tighten economic sanctions against Iran
* Violate international treaties by prohibiting Iranian officials not involved in negotiating the suspension of Iran's nuclear program from travelling abroad.

If another country took such actions against us, we would consider it an act of war. In addition, passage of this resolution would end negotiations with Iran in Baghdad that the administration has recently signaled it was prepared to resume.

House Concurrent Resolution 362 is a major step toward war." - www.downsizedc.org/blog/node/992

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implicit contradiction

The disclaimer:
"Whereas nothing in this resolution shall be construed as an authorization of the use of force against Iran:"

The contradiction:
"(3) demands [DEMANDS] that the President initiate an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities by, inter alia, prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products; imposing stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran; and prohibiting the international movement of all Iranian officials not involved in negotiating the suspension of Iran's nuclear program;"

Reasonably presuming that Iranian officials and traders will not timidly submit to such searches and obstructions, these demands implicitly constitute an "authorization of the use of force," if not a virtual declaration of war. How else can these demands be executed?

PLEASE URGE YOUR U.S.REP TO OPPOSE H CON RES 362
www.house.gov/house/Membe..._State.shtml

stevo

tortured interrogation

Abu Ghraib? Doesn't Ring a Bell.
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, June 18, 2008; [WaPo] Page A03

" If ever there was a case that cried out for enhanced interrogation techniques, it was yesterday's Senate appearance by the Pentagon's former top lawyer.

William "Jim" Haynes II, the man who blessed the use of dogs, hoods and nudity to pry information out of recalcitrant detainees, proved to be a model of evasion himself as he resisted all attempts at inquiry by the Armed Services Committee.

In two hours of testimony, Haynes managed to get off no fewer than 23 don't recalls, 22 don't remembers, 16 don't knows, and various other protestations of memory loss.

It was an impressive performance, to be sure. But let's see him try to do that with a hood over his head, standing on a crate with wires attached to his arms. "

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...73.html

Bush is correct(!) on this one

Farm bill a major win for old politics
"It’s a shame Obama has been mostly silent about this monstrosity of old politics."
news.bostonherald.com/news/op.../view.bg

During boom in crop prices, lawmakers harvest subsidies
"With food prices soaring, it takes some gall to force Americans to pay billions of dollars to millionaire agribusinesses. Yet that's what the latest farm bill would do."
www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_9301146

US soldier refuses to serve in 'illegal Iraq war'

www.breitbart.com/article.php

>> Matthis Chiroux is the kind of young American US military recruiters love.

"I was from a poor, white family from the south, and I did badly in school," the now 24-year-old told AFP.

"I was 'filet mignon' for recruiters. They started phoning me when I was in 10th grade," or around 16 years old, he added.

Chiroux joined the US army straight out of high school nearly six years ago, and worked his way up from private to sergeant.

. . . "My decision is based on my desire to no longer continue violating my core values to support an illegal and unconstitutional occupation... I refuse to participate in the Iraq occupation,"

. . . Chiroux is one of thousands of US soldiers who have deserted since the Iraq war began in 2003, according to figures issued last year by the US army.

But while many seek refuge in Canada, the young soldier vowed to stay in the United States to fight "whatever charges the army levels at me."

The US army defines a deserter as someone who has been absent without leave for 30 days.

Chiroux stood fast in his resolve to not report for duty on June 15.

"I cannot deploy to Iraq, carry a weapon and not be part of the problem," he told AFP. <<

Biden: Bush's comments were 'bullshit'

>>May 15, 2008
Categories: Campaigns

Biden: Bush's comments were 'bullshit'

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), piling on to Democratic complaints about President Bush’s speech in Israel today:

“This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset ... and make this kind of ridiculous statement.”<<

story: www.politico.com/blogs/the...lshit.html

2 years ago, i saw Joe Biden as the Democrat's best hope in 2008; indeed . . . the only Dem qualified (by his intelligence, experience, wisdom, articulation and moral compass) to mitigate some elements of the foriegn policy disaster that is the most apparent and galling legacy of the Bush/Cheney regime. Like Howard Dean 4 years earlier, the candor that I admired in him was probably his political undoing. Whatever the reasons, voting Democrats failed to notice or appreciate how much more he brought to the podium (WAY more) than any of his opponents for the nomination.
The article (linked above) prompts me to consider that he is surely the best choice Obama has for a running mate . . . someone who can shore up Obama's candidacy with articulate refutations of McCain's belligerent rhetorical posturing on foreign policy. Indeed, he's the only running mate that might possibly convince me to hold my nose and touch the flickering screen for Obama.

peace . . . at the End of Days.

>>Even some of the Israelis from the hawkish side of the spectrum noted with some wonderment the extent to which Bush has extended a message of warmth . . .
"He didn't remind us even once of the words 'the Annapolis Process,' and I don't think it was coincidental," said Gideon Saar, a Knesset member from the right-wing Likud party. "He spoke about peace in Israel almost like it was something that will come at the End of Days." <<

www.csmonitor.com/2008/0516...-wome.html

What's next for the Ron Paul revolution?

The effort to renew the Founding Fathers' vision is good for America.
By John Dillin
Christian Science Monitor
from the May 16, 2008 edition

www.csmonitor.com/2008/0516...-coop.html

the pacification of sadr city

commentary: primebuzz.kcstar.com/

Red Flags on the New Hampshire Primary

1-12-08: Red Flags over New Hampshire

New Hampshire's 2008 primary election may prove to be the most fascinating presidential preference race in history.

- Both Democrat and Republican candidates have requested recounts

- More than half of New Hampshire's elections administrators hand count paper ballots in public at the polling place, with a public chain of custody. The rest of New Hampshire's towns and cities use Diebold voting machines to count votes in secret, with a secret chain of custody.

- Hand count and machine count locations, when calculated statewide, show an eerie statistic:

Clinton Optical scan 91,717 52.95%
Obama Optical scan 81,495 47.05%

Clinton Hand-counted 20,889 47.05%
Obama Hand-counted 23,509 52.95%

- Two hand count towns reported "zero" votes for candidate Ron Paul to the media, even though they did have votes for him. The town of Sutton reported zero, but had 31 votes; the town of Greenville reported zero, but had 25 votes. The two towns had misreported results affecting exactly the same candidate in exactly the same way.

- Results in many locations arrived up to four hours late on Election Night, surprisingly, from machine-counted locations -- not hand count locations;

- A single private entity had control over coding for every memory card in New Hampshire. According to the contract for LHS Associates, this firm requires a right of access to any voting machine at any time, services the machines, maintains the machines and handles repairs, replacements and troubleshooting on Election Day.

- Ken Hajjar, a key employee of this sole source private entity, LHS Associates, has a criminal record for narcotics trafficking. The state of New Hampshire knew of this conviction but approved the contractor anyway. According to a complaint filed with the New Hampshire Attorney General, Hajjar had called the Dan Pierce radio show in 1999 and threatened to rig an election.

- A high number of "other" votes appeared in Manchester, where over 570 people apparently decided to go to the polls and choose none of the first tier OR second tier candidates.

- The voting system in New Hampshire was updated, but to a version that had been proven to be vulnerable in studies in Florida and California. Instead of upgrading to newer versions which at least claim to address known security vulnerabilities, New Hampshire chose to implement none of the beefed up procedures or upgraded versions that other states are using.

Citizens from many different states are now ex... More: blackboxvoting.org/