Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.
~ John F. Kennedy
UnitedforPeace.org is a nonpartisan anti-war and social change resource
"At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
..
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
~ Isaiah 2:4
October 9th, 2006 would have been John Lennon's 66th birthday
War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious.
~ General Smedley Butler
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you
Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
John 14:27
"Follow peace with all men" Hebrews 12:14
Before the war is ended, the war party assumes the divine right to denounce and silence all opposition to war as unpatriotic and cowardly.
~Senator Robert M. La Follette
Norman Rockwell's Do Unto Others
On the 40th anniversary of the United Nations in 1985, a mosaic based on this painting
was presented by First Lady, Mrs. Nancy Reagan to the U.N.
Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions.
~Ulysses S. Grant
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Dear ONE Member:
Fwd: to Friends of Jim Boales,
I received the following messages as a ONE member and urge you to read and act as your heart dictates, we need more members who care about their fellow humans, who care about poverty, basic education and health. Check out ONE.ORG and maybe sign the letter urging Congress to keep their promise to help Africa and the poorest nations fight global AIDS and extreme poverty. - Jim
Tue Aug 01, 2006
Live from St. Petersburg
At the close of the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, world leaders recommitted themselves to the promises they made at the 2005 Summit in Scotland, but still haven't met their commitment to “make trade work for Africa.†I want to thank the tens of thousands of you who asked them to continue on the path they began a year ago. We have our work cut out for us.
Shayne Moore, a ONE Member from Chicago who attended the G8 Summit recorded a podcast about her experience in St. Petersburg. There is no better person to hear about this truly amazing week from than a ONE Member who was on the ground witnessing all of the action.
You can listen to Shayne's thoughts by visiting: http://www.one.org/podcast
As you know, the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty does not begin or end at the G8. Over the next four months, Congress will make vital decisions about funding the promises that President Bush has made. During the first 6 months of 2006, ONE members have taken over half a million actions through petitions, letters, and by participating in watch parties.
The next few months are a critical moment in the fight against global poverty and AIDS. For example, President Bush requested a $3 billion increase in effective international assistance in his 2007 budget. However, Congress is only going a third of the way to help the world's poorest nations. Both the House of Representatives and Senate cut around $2 billion from the President's request, putting America's promises in jeopardy.
As November approaches, all members of the House of Representatives and a number of Senators will be campaigning for their reelection. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity to show our leaders that the American people care about global poverty.
I look forward to working with you to make poverty history.
Thank you,
Josh Peck, ONE.org
Mon Jul 17, 2006
Reflections on the G8
My name is Shayne Moore. I am a stay-at-home mom and a ONE member from Wheaton, Illinois, and I've been taking in all the sights and sounds of St. Petersburg, Russia at the G8 Summit.
On Saturday, I attended a press conference with President Bush and Russian President Putin. They discussed important global concerns, including questions on security, energy policy, and nuclear arms. Having never been in the same room with a U.S. President, I was quite taken with it all. But with so much talk of war and conflict, I keep having this nagging thought in the back of my head: Extreme poverty kills thousands of people every single day and will continue to take innocent lives... will the G8 leaders keep the promises made last year or will they break their word?
Last year, President Bush pledged on behalf of America that we assist the world's poorest nations. Congress must now honor our pledge by writing the check to fund life-saving programs.
Join me in urging Congress to keep America's promises to the world's poorest nations just one year ago.
I was lucky enough to attend the G8 Summit last year as a ONE delegate when G8 leaders promised $50 billion more in effective development assistance per year by 2010. This critical funding means real help for real people, to care for AIDS orphans, give basic education to all children by 2015, and much more. We've made some important progress on canceling debts for 19 countries, but there are many more on the list. In the last year, we accomplished a great deal, but we’ve only scratched the surface.
President Bush requested a $3 billion increase in effective international assistance so that America can keep our promises on track. Currently, Congress is going only about a third of the way to help Africa and the world's poorest nations. Both the House of Representatives and Senate cut around $2 billion from the President's request, putting America's G8 pledges in jeopardy.
I'm just one, ordinary person who in this moment is having an extraordinary experience. That is the power of ONE. As one person I'm just sitting in a room full of people with my own questions. Together, we're loud and those same questions become points on the agendas of world leaders.
Join me in urging Congress to keep America's promises to the world's poorest nations just one year ago.
Thank you,
Shayne Moore, ONE Member
TAKE ACTION! HOW YOU CAN HELP
Sign the Declaration
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Wear the Wristband
Attend or Host an Event
Please click on this banner to get the latest news and information on how to help.
WE BELIEVE that in the best American tradition of helping others help themselves, now is the time to join with other countries in a historic pact for compassion and justice to help the poorest people of the world overcome AIDS and extreme poverty. WE RECOGNIZE that a pact including such measures as fair trade, debt relief, fighting corruption and directing additional resources for basic needs – education, health, clean water, food, and care for orphans – would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the poorest countries, at a cost equal to just one percent more of the US budget. WE COMMIT ourselves - one person, one voice, one vote at a time - to make a better, safer world for all.â€
signed by
- Bono, Brad Pitt, Cheating Kay, John Cusack, Perry Farrell, Bob Geldof, Danny Glover, Isaac Hayes, Jars Of Clay, Jimmy Eat World, Ryan Key, Dave Matthews, Walter McCarty, Mary McClymont, Dikembe Mutumbo, The Newsboys, No Doubt, The North, Agnes Nyamayarwo, Relient K, Walter Salas-Humara, Claudia Schiffer, Michael Stipe, Switchfoot, Third Day, tobyMac, Eddie Vedder, Kirk Whalum, Andy Zipf & many others including me, Jim Boales.
Please help me help. Get involved as ONE!
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ONE.ORG |CONTACT US | FAQ
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Darfur: Stop the Genocide
Nick and George Clooney footage from refugee camps in Sudan and Chad - April 2006
Add to My Profile
Learn about the Genocide Wear a Wristband Join your local Save Darfur Group Donate to the Save Darfur Coalition
"If we turn our heads and look away and hope that it will all disappear then they will - all of them, an entire generation of people. And we will have only history left to judge us."George Clooney - April 30, 2006, Washington
"We cannot stand idly by as the Sudanese government continues its systematic destruction of the people of Darfur. We are compelled by the conscience of the world to put an end to this humanitarian disaster and restore dignity and hope to the Darfuri." ~ Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi - Friday, 12/8/06
The overwhelmed African Union monitoring mission must be bolstered by a strong UN peacekeeping force for Darfur authorized by UN Security Council resolution 1706. Especially at this time of year, especially consideriing the depth of the suffering,
Peace on Earth is more important, more urgent, than just a greeting card phrase.
Write President Bush (1st way to write)
During your first year in the White House, you wrote in the margins of a report on the Rwandan genocide, "Not on my watch."I urge you to live up to those words by using the power of your office to support a stronger multi-national force to protect the civilians of Darfur.
http://savedarfur.org
Sudan: Interfaith Vigil for Darfur in Crawford, TX Calls President Bush to Action
Africa Action (Washington, DC) PRESS RELEASE August 11, 2006
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As President Bill Clinton once said,
"When you can make a difference, you should." We can and must make a difference in the Darfur region in Sudan, where ethnic cleansing and genocide are underway.
Too often, Americans have looked in horror at the aftermath of a genocide and asked why the world didn’t act more quickly to stop the killing.
We asked this question after the slaughter in Rwanda, in which 800,000 innocent lives were taken. We asked it in Bosnia, in which military intervention by NATO to stop the killing only occurred after 200,000 people had died.
Now a new genocide is unfolding before our eyes in Darfur, and once again the global response is too little, too late.
It's time to pull together a real policy for Darfur -- and the United States must take the lead.
Our President should stand firm, declare that the U.S. is going to be at the heart of a NATO force, that it's going to work with the United Nations and pull together an international coalition, built around NATO, that will help maintain stability and protect human life in the western region of Sudan. The Sudanese government won't like it, but we can deal with the Sudanese government. Some other governments won't support it, but we can deal with these governments if the President of the United States shows the leadership that he is charged to demonstrate in his office.
- by Wesley Clark's WesPAC-Securing America's Futurehttp://www.securingamerica.com/grassroots
Take action now,
(2nd way to write-different organisation & website)
Write to your Members of Congress and President Bush . Tell them that you want effective action in Darfur.
http://ga4.org/campaign/darfur/
The Darfur conflict is an ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan, mainly between the Janjaweed, a militia group recruited from local Baggara tribes, and the non-Baggara peoples (mostly tribes of small farmers) of the region. The Sudanese government, while publicly denying that it supported the Janjaweed, provided arms and assistance and has participated in joint attacks with the group. The conflict began in February 2003.
"
The death total of the Darfur genocide has been 400,000-450,000 people
a Coalition for International Justice figure cited by the United Nations and Dr. Eric Reeves (28 April 2006)
As many as 2.5 million have been displaced
more than 3.5 million men, women, and children are completely reliant on international aid for survival
Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter
Darfur conflict historical background: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Destroyed villages as of August 2004
(Source: DigitalGlobe, Inc. and Department of State via USAID)
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Congress Must Do The Right Thing for the Future of Our Fish
This summer (2006), Congress will reauthorize the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the major law governing U.S. fisheries. Likely next week, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on a flawed bill offered by Congressmen Pombo and Frank (H.R. 5018) which would weaken current overfishing laws and threaten the long-term viability of ocean fish populations.
H.R. 5018 fails to implement critical recommendations of the Pew Oceans Commission and U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. The Pombo-Frank bill not only fails to end overfishing, but weakens current law by opening new loopholes on the requirements to rebuild depleted fish populations, waiving the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The House should reject the Pombo-Frank bill unless it incorporates, at a minimum, the conservation provisions contained in an MSA bill (S. 2012) passed by the Senate earlier this summer. Your representatives in Washington must choose to protect our fisheries and fishing communities- and they must act NOW.
The future of our nation's fisheries is at stake — we need your help
You have a voice — Act Now!Ask Lawmakers to do the right thing for our oceans, ocean fish, and the communities that depend on them.
Tell me more
For more information, please see the Conserve Our Ocean Legacy website .
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An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
A Global Warning
Nothing is scarier than the truth.
By far the most terrifying film you will ever see.
We're all on thin ice.
Get Knowledge! Get Involved! Get Saved! It's OUR Global Village and the Village Idiots are hurting it!
CLICK HERE to see Trailer for An Inconvenient Truth
http://creative.myspace.com/groups/_crs/ait/aitviral.mov
An Inconvenient Truth is not a story of despair but rather a rallying cry to protect the one earth we all share.
"It is now clear that we face a deepening global climate crisis that requires us to act boldly, quickly, and wisely," said Gore.
~ Plantation Productions
Native Amecan Spirit Guide TestMy spirit guide is the Eagle, a creature of nobility and honor. Native Americans often used its feathers in cemeronies that had to do with the Great Spirit and sending messages to their ancestors. Even though the eagle is always in the air, gliding across the winds, it also has a connection with the earth. Its voice was the one thing that always brought the feeling of adrenaline to warriors and fighters of old.
The eagle only selects those who are honest and noble in action and thought. Often of times, people around you can not lie to you because eagle is whispering in your ear,
Obviously native spirituality and shamanism is more complex but try this fun quiz, Click Here !- Jimmy
The White Man goes into his church and talks about Jesus. The Indian goes into his Tipi and talks with Jesus. - Quannah Parker, founder Native American Church
The Ten Indian Commandments
Treat the Earth and all that dwell thereon with respect
Remain close to the Great Spirit
Show great respect for your fellow beings
Work together for the benefit of all mankind
Give assistance and kindness wherever needed
Do what you know to be right
Look after the well-being of mind and body
Dedicated a share of your efforts to the greater good
Be truthful and honest all the time
Take full responsibility for your actions
Chief Joseph, of the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) band of Nez Perce
Born In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat
alternately Hinmaton-Yalaktit or Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt,
"Thunder Rolling Over the Mountains"
in the Wallowa Valley of northeastern Oregon territory.
The Choctaws, or Chatas, are a people originally from the southeast United States (Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana) of the Muskoghean linguistic group. In the 19th century, they were known as one of the "Five Civilized Tribes," because they integrated a number of cultural and technological "practices" of Europeans. The Choctaws are famous for their extreme generosity in providing relief during the Irish Potato Famine.
Flag of the Oglala Lakota , of Pine Ridge reservation, a division known as the Western or Teton Sioux, has a tribal membership of about 18,000. One third report Lakota as their first language. Chief Red Cloud and Chief Crazy Horse were Oglalas.
Pine Ridge was part of the Great Sioux Reservation created by treaty in 1868 which originally included all of South Dakota west of the Missouri River. Tribal lands were reduced by treaty, from 1824 up to a March 2, 1889 Act of the U.S. Congress, to five separate reservations, including Pine Ridge.
The flag bears a circle of eight teepees representing the eight districts of the reservation. They stand for the Porcupine, the Wakpamni, the Medicine Root, Pass Creek, Eagle Nest, White Clay, LaCreek and Wounded Knee districts
An upside down flag - International Maritime Signal of Distress
Royal Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Hawaii
including chiefdoms of O'ahu, Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i and Kaua'i
On July 5, 2001, the Hawaiian Kingdom Government, an activist group for a reinstated Hawaiian Kingdom, filed a Complaint Against the United States with the Security Council of the United Nations regarding the United States' occupation of the Hawaiian Islands.
Curious about the FREE HAWAI`I Movement?
www.myspace.com/Hawaiianation
http://freehawaii.blogspot.com
www.hawaiiankingdom.info
www.alohaquest.com
www.reinstated.org
www.hawaiiankingdom.org
www.hawaii-nation.org
www.stopakaka.com
www.namaka.com
Hawaiian sovereignty movement - from Wikipedia
Hawaii Parents Teachers Students logo ~ 'ohana means extended family
Happy Gaia/Earth Day - Peace and love
Warrior of Light... by Moti
Every Warrior of the Light has felt afraid of going into battle.
Every Warrior of the Light has, at some time in the past, lied or betrayed someone.
Every Warrior of the Light has trodden a path that was not his.
Every Warrior of the Light has suffered for the most trivial of reasons.
Every Warrior of the Light has, at least once, believed he was not a Warrior of the Light.
Every Warrior of the Light has failed in his spiritual duties.
Every Warrior of the Light has said 'yes' when he wanted to say 'no.'
Every Warrior of the Light has hurt someone he loved. That is why he is a Warrior of the Light, Because he has been through all this and yet has never lost hope of being better than he is."
~ Paulo Coelho, Brazilian Author From his book: 'Warrior Of The Light'
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Keep the Faith and leave 'em Laughing
~ ~ ~
Hank Williams
when that open ro-oad starts to callin me
Theres somethin oer the hill that I gotta see
Sometimes its har-rd but you gotta understand
When the lord made me, he made a ra-amblin man.
I love to see the tow-owns a-passin by
And to ride these rails neath gods blue sky
Let me travel this la-and from the mountains to the sea
cause thats the life I believe he meant for me
And when Im go-one and at my grave you stand
Just say God called home your ra-amblin man.
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/h/hank+williams/ramblin+man_20064
171.html
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I'd like to meet:
My Great-grandchildren, then someday as a once again eternal spirit, the Grandparents & ancestors I honor yet never knew, and we'll have one heck of a family reunion along with Gaia, our mother terra, and our Creator, the Trinity, our Father, my main man Jesus and the ever-friendly Holy Ghost, while sharing about and watching over those still on their earthly missions
~ ~ ~You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
~ Jeremiah 29:13
Susan, (birth name unknown), my Great great Grandmother, was a native born in 1859 near Lytton & Cache Creek, near the town of Yale, in the Fraser River Canyon, of British Columbia, Canada, and married Allen Boales, a Scottish-American from the town of Green, in Harrison County, Ohio, who came to the northwest.
She was most likely of the Nlaka'Pamux Nation Tribal Council, of the British Columbia First Nations Siska, Kanaka Bar, or Nicomen band. Her original name and extended family relationships, the core of indigenous kinship, are lost but to our creator.
Thank you, Dad
and to all the other citizen-soldiers
who answered our nation's call
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace" - Romans 15:13
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Geronimo (originally Goyathlay, "one who yawns,") and Chiricahua Apache warriors, Yahnoza, Chappo and Fun.
Courtesy of Matthew Tafoya www.nativesovereigntees.com . (inactive link?)
One of my favorite T-Shirts
"we had seen a particular T-shirt at a Los Lobos concert, bracketing a silk-screened reproduction of a nineteenth-century photograph of Geronimo, armed, alongside three Apache warriors, the writing on the shirt read "Homeland Security . . . Fighting Terrorism Since 1492." Wildly popular in Indian Country ever since U.S. troops first invaded Iraq, the shirt was only beginning to make the rounds in December 2001. Even then, we got the joke. Seen from Indian Country, the folks at the Department of Homeland Security [and doing such a great job! right?] are the hypocritical descendants of terrorists, themselves [and current malefactors of peace and healing] ." - [jim's comments bracketed]
"Indians do not join the U.S. Military, Tafoya said, because they are flag-waving patriots. With unemployment on Indian reservations hovering between 60 and 70 percent, "the military is the only sure way to get a paycheck." Tafoya came up with the design and slogan for his homeland security T-shirt a few weeks after terrorists flew jets into the Twin Towers."
"The shirt has been extremely popular with Indian veterans of the wars in Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf, who–ironically–show up at his booth at flea markets wearing worn-out, government-issue combat fatigues. He suspects that when Indian vets see his shirt, they are thinking, "We’re completely screwed over by the government, and we’re also lucky to be alive."
reference:
http://www.historynewsnetwork.com/roundup/comments/7768.html
Descendants of Apache Warriors Revisit Chiricahua memoriesInde (Apache) Literature - Their name for themselves is N'de, Inde or Tinde ("the people")
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Some men see things as they are and say 'Why?'
I dream things that never were and say, 'Why not?'
Bobby Kennedycame to my neighborhood church, Our Lady of Guadalupe
in San Jose, CA on 4 June 1968,
That night, in the early morning hours, he was assassinated after delivering a speech celebrating his victory in the California primary
at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles
With his family tradition of righting historical wrongs
This man who was taken from us
may have changed the world
If he beat Nixon in 1968?
Imagine the difference
Imagine Civil Rights, Social Change, Health Care, with Bobby
Imagine
Vietnam
without Nixon,
Watergate
as just a hotel, without Nixon's crimes, scandal & resignation in the face of imminent impeachment
Imagine a VP for Bobby and not Nixon's
Spiro Agnew
who resigned in disgrace, who pleaded no contest to tax evasion and money laundering as part of a scheme of taking thousands in bribes
Imagine not having an unelected VP and an unelected President Ford, who urged people to wear "WIN" buttons - to Whip Inflation Now - Imagine Action like JFK instead of PR slogans
Would we have had the imposition of wage and price controls in 1971, an economic malaise and years of staglation until the mid 80's (shrinking economy with oil spikes & inflation) and misery index of high interest rates and high unemployment
Imagine Bobby
and think, Why not?
Dream things that never were and say, 'Why not?'
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An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Get up, stand up! In the morning! Git it up!
Stand up for your rights! Stand up for our rights! ~ Bob Marley
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~ ~ ~
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" - John 8:32
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Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they? ~ George Carlin
The first guest host of NBC's Saturday Night Live ~ October 11, 1975)
~ ~ ~
César Chávez, March 31, 1927 - April 2, 1993
born in a tiny town near Yuma, Arizona, into one of the least powerful segments of American society, He led the farm-labor movement to unprecedented heights, urged the farm laborers of America to proclaim, “Sà se puede—Yes, we can!â€
In 1973 - UFW celebrated its first convention in Fresno. Later that year, the United States Supreme Court declared use of the short-handed hoe unlawful. During his lifetime, Chavez never earned more than $5,000 a year. The late Senator Robert Kennedy called him "one of the heroic figures of our time."
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Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God."
Matthew 5:9
~ ~ ~
Consider this:
A plutocracy is a form of government where all the state's decisions
are centralized in an affluent wealthy class of citizenry
Historicaly, plutocracy is the political control of the state by an oligarchy of the wealthy,
Including city-states in Ancient Greece & the Italian merchant republics of Venice, Florence, and Genoa.
Kevin Phillips, political stategist to President Richard Nixon, argued that
the United States is a plutocracy in which there has been "the fusion of money and government"
Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that it is our right and duty to throw off despotism.
We now suffer the despotism of plutocracy. Individual freedoms, fairness in labor standards and trade, the ability to achieve true democracy, the right to pursue truly free enterprise (i.e. enterprise that not under the aegis of government-favored corporate giants)—all of these things are under assault from the plutocratic elite.
It is our right and duty to win true democracy, honest representation, and just governance for our nation and the generations to come.
www.grinningplanet.com
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"There are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by the gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpation."
~ James Madison
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"The more corrupt the State the more numerous the laws."
~ Cornelius Tacitus
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"We must remember that a right lost to one is lost to all."
~ William Reece Smith, Jr.
~ ~ ~
"The right to be let alone is the underlying principle of the Constitution's Bill of Rights."
~ Erwin Griswold - (Dean, Harvard Law School - 1960)
~ ~ ~
"Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist."
~ Edmund Burke - (British statesman - 1756)
~ ~ ~
"You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey
if properly administered,
but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause
if improperly administered."
~ Lyndon Johnson
~ ~ ~
"We, the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts
not to overthrow the Constitution,
but to overthrow men who pervert the Constitution."
~ Abraham Lincoln
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"All truth passes through three stages:
First it is ridiculed,
Second it is violently opposed,
Third it is accepted as being self-evident."
~ Schopenhauer
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They Don't make them like they used to ...
A nostalgic ideal "the Bill of Rights the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution
explicitly limit the Federal government's powers, protecting the rights of the people"
Ratified December 15, 1791, drafted by James Madison
R.I.P. - October 26, 2001, civil liberties usurped by George W. Bush
on signing the Patriot Act, establishing secret domestic spying, redefining the military "torture" and Geneva Convention codes, establishing overseas secret prisons and military tribunals without evidence or due process
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security"
~ Benjamin Franklin
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee helps people convert their concerns into meaningful action to restore protections guaranteed under the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution.
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Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities
- Voltaire
Torturing detainees abroad "may be justified," "necessity and self-defense could provide justifications that would eliminate any criminal liability" and international laws against torture "may be unconstitutional if applied to interrogations," - U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales in a 2002 Justice Department memo , used by the CIA and the Department of Defense, narrowing definitions of torture.
"It is sometimes a difficult decision to make, as to what is the appropriate line, what is allowed under the law, under the constitution," Gonzales said, after a Baghdad meeting with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih.
Pain does not necessarily constitute torture, the memo says, It "must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death."
"For purely mental pain or suffering to amount to torture," the memo said, "it must result in significant psychological harm of significant duration, lasting for months or even years."
However, an interrogator could show he acted in good faith by "taking such steps as surveying professional literature, consulting with experts or reviewing evidence gained in past experience" to show he or she did not intend to cause severe mental pain and that the conduct, therefore, "would not amount to the acts prohibited by the statute."
"Every flag JAG lodged complaints," said one senior Pentagon official referring to the judge advocate generals the senior military lawyers of each service.
"It's really unprecedented. For almost 30 years we've taught the Geneva Convention" said a senior military attorney. "Once you start telling people it's okay to break the law, there's no telling where they might stop."
The Bush administration despite public statements against torture, has not retracted it's field directives and has pushed for legalising broader interrogation powers.
If you think this is old news, The Supreme Court (on June 29, 2006) gave the White House another in a series of defeats , sending it back to the drawing board in dealing with hundreds of suspected members of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, ruling against military tribunals & keeping evidence secret, even in death penalty cases, as outlined by Bush in a Nov. 13, 2001 military order as "neither authorized by federal law nor required by military necessity, and run afoul of the Geneva Conventions."
'Trust us, you don't need to see the evidence, you're guilty, now die.'
Isn't that the kangaroo court brutality that we accused others of during the cold war?
Washington Post - September 14, 2006
Congress's Republican leadership, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, are pushing two of President Bush's most controversial national security programs, for warrantless wiretapping and extrajudicial military tribunals allowing Bush to withhold classified evidence from defendants, admit coerced testimony and protect U.S. intelligence agents from legal action over their interrogation methods
This comes with a huge hat tip to a good Friend of Attytood from
The big news story that night? President Lyndon B. Johnson's State of the Union address .
The topic that dominated all others: Vietnam.
Some excerpts of that address -- exactly 40 years ago. See how it compares to some of the excerpts from President Bush's speech that were just released minutes ago:
LBJ, Jan. 10, 1967: We have chosen to fight a limited war in Vietnam in an attempt to prevent a larger war--a war almost certain to follow, I believe, if the Communists succeed in overrunning and taking over South Vietnam by aggression and by force. I believe, and I am supported by some authority, that if they are not checked now the world can expect to pay a greater price to check them later.
GWB, Jan. 10, 2007: Tonight in Iraq, the Armed Forces of the United States are engaged in a struggle that will determine the direction of the global war on terror – and our safety here at home. The new strategy I outline tonight will change America's course in Iraq, and help us succeed in the fight against terror.
LBJ, Jan. 10, 1967: I wish I could report to you that the conflict is almost over. This I cannot do. We face more cost, more loss, and more agony. For the end is not yet. I cannot promise you that it will come this year--or come next year. Our adversary still believes, I think, tonight, that he can go on fighting longer than we can, and longer than we and our allies will be prepared to stand up and resist.
GWB, Jan. 10, 2007: Our past efforts to secure Baghdad failed for two principal reasons: There were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents. And there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have.
LBJ, Jan. 10, 1967: Our South Vietnamese allies are also being tested tonight. Because they must provide real security to the people living in the countryside. And this means reducing the terrorism and the armed attacks which kidnaped and killed 26,900 civilians in the last 32 months, to levels where they can be successfully controlled by the regular South Vietnamese security forces. It means bringing to the villagers an effective civilian government that they can respect, and that they can rely upon and that they can participate in, and that they can have a personal stake in. We hope that government is now beginning to emerge.
GWB, Jan. 10, 2007: Only the Iraqis can end the sectarian violence and secure their people. And their government has put forward an aggressive plan to do it.
LBJ, Jan. 10, 1967: This forward movement is rooted in the ambitions and the interests of Asian nations themselves. It was precisely this movement that we hoped to accelerate when I spoke at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore in April 1965, and I pledged "a much more massive effort to improve the life of man" in that part of the world, in the hope that we could take some of the funds that we were spending on bullets and bombs and spend it on schools and production.
GWB, Jan. 10, 2007: A successful strategy for Iraq goes beyond military operations. Ordinary Iraqi citizens must see that military operations are accompanied by visible improvements in their neighborhoods and communities. So America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks it has announced.
LBJ, Jan. 10, 1967: We have chosen to fight a limited war in Vietnam in an attempt to prevent a larger war--a war almost certain to follow, I believe, if the Communists succeed in overrunning and taking over South Vietnam by aggression and by force. I believe, and I am supported by some authority, that if they are not checked now the world can expect to pay a greater price to check them later.
GWB, Jan. 10, 2007: The challenge playing out across the broader Middle East is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of our time…In the long run, the most realistic way to protect the American people is to provide a hopeful alternative to the hateful ideology of the enemy – by advancing liberty across a troubled region.
LBJ, Jan. 10, 1967: A time of testing--yes. And a time of transition. The transition is sometimes slow; sometimes unpopular; almost always very painful; and often quite dangerous. But we have lived with danger for a long time before, and we shall live with it for a long time yet to come. We know that "man is born unto trouble." We also know that this Nation was not forged and did not survive and grow and prosper without a great deal of sacrifice from a great many men.
GWB, Jan. 10, 2007: Victory will not look like the ones our fathers and grandfathers achieved. There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship…A democratic Iraq will not be perfect. But it will be a country that fights terrorists instead of harboring them – and it will help bring a future of peace and security for our children and grandchildren.
Read Dubya's "Insightful" Qoutes
I'm the master of low expectations.
~ Bush aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003
Iraq Dubya Quotes!
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Music:
a Gunsmoke TV program excerpt is overlayed in the background of
Is There Anybody Out There? by Roger Waters
on the Album, The Wall - Live, 1980-81
[Marshall Dillon, Man#1] "Well, only about an hour of daylight left. Better get started."
[Miss Margaret Tyson] "Is it unsafe to travel at night?"
[Marshall Dillon, Man#1] "It'll be a lot less safe to stay here. Your father's gonna pick up our trail before long."
[Miss Margaret Tyson] "Can Lorka ride?"
[Lorka, Man#2] "Yeah, I can ride...."
[Marshall Dillon, Man#1] "Margaret, time to go! Ingred??, thank you for everthing. Let's go."
[Miss Margaret Tyson] "Goodbye, Chenga"
[Chenga, Man#3] "Goodbye, missy..."
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Rock The Hall for Lynyrd Skynyrd Class of 2006
In 1965 Ronnie Van Zant assembled the Noble Five, which included guitarists Gary Rossington and Allen Collins, drummer Bob Burns and bassist Larry Junstrom (later of .38 Special). Having grown their hair long, they were given school suspensions and endless grief by a high-school gym teacher named Leonard Skinner. They solved the problem by dropping out and moving to a cabin in Green Cove Springs, south of Jacksonville. There they wrote songs, learned how to play together, and changed their name to Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation held its induction ceremony March 13 2006
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Black Sabbath - Blondie - Miles Davis - Sex Pistols.
www.rockthehall.com/lynyrdskynyrd/index.php
Inductees:
Ronnie Van Zant (vocals; born January 15, 1949, died October 20, 1977),
Allen Collins (guitar; born July 19, 1952, died January 23, 1990),
Steve Gaines (guitar; born September 14, 1949, died October 20, 1977),
Ed King (guitar; born September 14, 1949),
Gary Rossington (guitar; born December 4, 1951),
Billy Powell (keyboards; born June 3, 1952),
Leon Wilkeson (bass; born April 2, 1952, died July 27, 2001),
Bob Burns (drums; born November 24, 1950),
Artimus Pyle (drums; born July 15, 1948)
Gary Rossington, Billy Powell, Artimus Pyle, Ed King And Bob Burns inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Three days after the release of Street Survivors, on October 20, 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s tour plane - a 1947 Convair 240 turbo-prop plane that they’d nicknamed Free Bird - ran out of gas due to an engine malfunction and crashed in rural Mississippi.
Ronnie Van Zant, such a dear, soft spoken, gentle man, who I met over breakfast in Philly in 1976, Steve Gaines, a talented and nice man, and backup vocalist Cassie Gaines, who brought her brother to a band jam when another guitar was needed, were killed, as was their road manager, Dean Kilpatrick, my friend for 2 days during that same trip, and the 2 pilots.
Twenty others on the plane survived with injuries of varying severity.
May God Bless their families and their gift of soulful music forever.
Leon Wilkeson & Dean Arthur Kilpatrick
Lynyrd Skynyrd lyrics
Movies:
Go ahead! Make my Day!!
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...This is your last chance........After this there's no turning back.
You take the blue pill.
The story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill. You stay in wonderland
and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes...
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Television:
Studies show that women use an average of 20,000 words a day
yet men only use about 7,000 words a day
but that works out because men only hear about 1/2 of what women say ~ Jay Leno
SPANISH CONQUISTADORS CRASH THE IMMIGRATION RALLY:
..
SHIRTSWITHBALLS.COM
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Books:
Northumberlandia, the proposed world's largest human form sculpted into the landscape.
Another Landform, by Jencks, for the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, is a serpentine, stepped mound, with three crescent shaped pools covering three acres.
Heroes:
Three-wheeled Railroad Velocipede, track inspector railroad maintenance-of-way equipment,propelled down the tracks by pulling and then pushing the dual wooden handles.
Going down that long lonesome highway
Route 66 near Amboy, California
One of the favorite rides of my life
Route 66 as it passes through the Black Mountains near Oatman, Arizona
photos by photographer Ron Niebrugge
Cathedral Rock reflection on Oak Creek at twilight. Sedona, Arizona
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