Thank You to a Veteran on July 4th

Sometimes there are alignments in heaven and earth and good things happen. In this case several spectacular things happened, and a war veteran deserves much of the credit for one specific event on our Nation's holiday remembering our Declaration of Independence.

The Supreme Court ruling "made a striking tableau on the final day of the first term of the Roberts court: the young chief justice, observing [Roberts'] work of just a year earlier taken apart point by point by the tenacious 86-year-old Justice Stevens, winner of a Bronze Star for his service as a Navy officer in World War II," The Times concluded.

The Full posting can be read HERE

Much Needed, This Weekend, Reading by Far Too Many!!!!!!

Links to the Actual Documents Follows this Fine Understanding of Direction we have Fallen and Are The 'Much Needed Reading'!!!


The Declaration of Independence: how far we have fallen
by clammyc
Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 05:05:40 PM EST


No need to postup the complete text of the Observation, above, nor the Complete Documents, follow the links to each and Educate Further with the links found there, that way You May Understand Better

Text of the Declaration of Independence

The Constitution of the United States

And Visit This Site For 'Explaination Links' To Both

The last link is to the House Education site of both of the above. Why the House link?
First: these 'Peoples Representatives' Desperately need to Re-Educate Themselves as to their Job Description!

Second: the Senate is Bad Enough, but the 'Peoples House' has Consistantly been leading in the Stripping of their Constitutional Duties of Representing ALL in their Districts and turning over Their Responsibilities To the Executive Branch of The Peoples Government as Structured in above Documents.

I will add, that what I want to hear, from those running for Any Elected Office, Especially the Many Veteran's, and Especially for Federal Positions, on this years Stumps is that They Understand The Position Applying For and the Two Documents that Constitute This Peoples Democracy.
Negative Attacks Not Wanted, Truth In What Opponant Has Stood For And Done, If Already Holding Position, Is!!

Israeli-Palestinian Ex-Combatants For Peace (Revisited)

I posted this up awhile back after Ellen Barfield, of Veterans For Peace, returned from her invited visit to Israel/Palestine.

In light of what has started, once again, in that region, I've added it as a comment to a post that was up at Daily KOS, Diary gone now so decided more should see this if you hadn't.

While this isn't the only group, on either side of this Far Too Long running Debacle of Destructive Behavior, trying to find a Peaceful Solution, these are the ones who are creating the Devestation against each other and innocents!

I'm not posting up the full report, from Ellen, you can read that at the title link.

~~~~~~~~
From VFP board member Ellen Barfield
~~~~~~~~

From: Ellen Barfield
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 09:51:40 (PDT)
Subject: Report on Trip to Palestine and Israel

Israeli-Palestinian Ex-Combatants For Peace

ENEMIES WORKING TOGETHER



And visit the Combatants for Peace website
"Combatants for Peace" Israeli-Palestinian Liberation, for the media their event
generated, some personal stories, and other info.
~~~~~~~
Here is a Video of the First gathering in Beit Jala, 16.06.2005

If object for video doesn't come up Here's Link

The Only Way To Hopefully Come To A Peaceful End Are For Groups, As Above, To Change The Situations and To Hopefully Quell The Hatreds Already Grown In The Young, Who Will Keep This Destructive Behavior If They Can't Be Reasoned With, On Both Sides!!!

And that goes for any and all Conflicts that are going on Now!!!
~~~~~~~~~~

Home demolitions in Rafah.
Bulldozers erase densely populated areas,
to make room for the new "iron wall".
The families lose everything.

Gaza

In Gaza you would find only
one Israeli-soldier-prisoner
among a one million Palestinian occupied population
Surrounding Gaza you would find
658 Tanks, 25.144 soldiers
203 heavy artillery
and 259 armoured vehicles
(not to mention the Air-Power)
The people surrounding Gaza
have more than 10.000 Palestinian prisoners
and three and half million Palestinians as hostages
and 8 Ministers and 16 members of Parliament
in their custody, without charges...
The people inside Gaza were once
outside Gaza, living in Peace
until one day ugly people came from Europe,
took their homes and sent them into Gaza
as refugees inside their own country.
Some Gaza-natives have never seen
Jerusalem nor Ramallah
nor even their birth-place....
Entering Gaza , by force, reminds me
of the Nazis entering the Warsaw Ghetto.
Or when the Roman-legions
finished up with Spartacus.....
How “brave” can a criminal-army be??
They starved Gaza, cut-off its electricity
and water and food and medicines
They have an Army and Gaza does not...
what else do they want ?
Is genocide their only way to Peace ??
Raja Chemayel
29.06.06 anti-allawi-group
{To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation by foreign terrorists, go to: Rafah Today The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call themselves “Israeli.”}

The Children Weep

Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For The Children - Innocence Lost,
And Future We May Have Given Them!



WAR!

By Flang B. Gemring a.k.a. Dylan Emrys Hand-Boniakowski

War!
You withhold freedom
While concealing
The disturbing
Truth and reasoning

Strife!
You hold back our rights
Eliminate who we were
Give the vulgar aristocrats
Profit at the cost of lives

Battle!
You're only a tool
To manipulate others
To mess peoples' minds
Destroy peoples' families

Antagonism!
You cannot defend us
Against Terrorism
For you are a terrorist
Destroying the world

Destruction!
You cannot understand Peace
For she thinks differently
Respecting peoples' lives
Having a better goal

Wage Peace!

"He that always gives way to others will end in having no principles of his
own." -- Aesop

The Children Weep

By Karen Carlisle

Photos of children assault my dreams.
A child's leg swirls up from darkness,
a flailing hand streams past.
It is a small brown hand
that led a milk goat home.

They float through the air--heads without faces, hands that plead and reach
for me like vines whose tendrils snake
around my neck, choking me into wakefulness.
They float before my eyes still, the flat blank eyes
of children in the streets of Bagdad, Kandahar, Jenin.
Palestinian children huddled together waiting.

After the smoke of bombs, mines, firles, grenades
disappears into the innocent day,
they are left, legions of half-things
inheriting waterless homelands
where love might never root.

The children weep night and day.

"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." -- Tacitus, Roman
senator and historian (A.D. c.56-c.115)

The Lie

By Carrie Campbell
Where is the honor our country once knew
Reason lost in the quest for battle
Morality merely cast aside
Men's egos served up with pride
The war machine march's on
The world watching with distrust
Men women and children no more than targets
Too be bathed in a sea of fire
Authors of the war safely far away
Blanketing their families from the horror
Small children eyes filled with terror
So many wounded and dying
The smell of burning flesh all around
What is this hell we have found
Oil flowing with the blood of so many
Bathing our democracy in shame
This war preempted in a fathers name
History shall not be kind
Nor will history hide the lie
There was never a reason for so many to die

"You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is
wrong, no matter who does it or says it." --Malcolm X (1925-1965)

War Wounds

By Jim Bush

Quietly, he sits in his wheel chair
Missing one eye, one arm, and one leg
"Could have been worse", he thinks
"At least I can walk on one leg, use one arm, and see with one eye"

"Imagine losing two eyes, two arms, or two legs"
"Or two eyes, one arm, and one leg"
"Or one eye, two arms, and one leg"
"Or one eye, one arm, and two legs"

"And then there's the worst case"
"Losing two eyes, two arms, and two legs"
"Or would the worst case be losing your face as well?"
"Or would it be losing your Dick?"

"How about losing only your face or your Dick?"
"How would that be?"
"And who decides these things?"
"Who sets it up?"

"I mean, who decides where the shrapnel hits?"
"Who decides what, or whom, it will take?"
"An eye, an arm, a leg, a face, or a Dick?"
"One dead, two wounded, three OK"

He sits there, with one eye, one arm, and one leg
"At least they're balanced", he says out loud
"Right arm, left leg, not so bad"
"Wish I could get back to my unit"

His mother weeps
"At least he's alive", she thinks
His father, arm around her, says, "I'm proud that he did his job"
His girlfriend, sitting nearby, wonders what it will be like

He returns to sitting quietly
The TV is on
The News reports that another Humvee has been hit by an IED
He listens for unit designations and the names of friends

He fidgets in his wheel chair
"My head hurts", he says
He grabs the TV remote
And turns to the Cartoon Channel

He starts to laugh uncontrollably
Courage the Dog is being blown to bits on the TV
He leans forward, laughing
While his family sits back and watches, quietly

GI SPECIAL 4F26: 'Terry Lisk'

R.I.P. Kevin W. Kelly - VVAW

From: Jan Berry

Kevin Kelly (1944-2006) did a lot of things to take pride in—New York City basketball
star, Columbia University grad, Army officer awarded two Silver Stars for
heroism in combat lionized by the New York Daily News, MBA from Dartmouth,
business entrepreneur in his adopted city of Memphis, a 34-year
partnership with his wife, Susan. One of the things he was most proud of,
as stated in his obituary, was being a founder of Vietnam Veterans Against
the War.

One of Kevin’s disappointments—besides dying at age 62, on June 15—was not
being included in a Wall Street Journal profile of VVAW during John
Kerry’s campaign for president two years ago. In an email to the Journal’s
reporter, Kevin noted that as a VVAW national coordinator in 1969-70 he
recruited Kerry to join the vets’ group. Kevin then crafted a business
career, he added, that included serving as president of two companies
affiliated with the founder of Holiday Inn and as president of The Pentad
Group, “my own group of companies primarily involved in low and moderate
income multi-family housing and hospitality.”

Kevin noted that he was still active in civic affairs as a national board
member and treasurer of United Cerebral Palsy. Characteristically, he did
not mention he was sitting in a wheelchair as he typed that email, slowly
dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease, which he felt was caused by Agent Orange
chemicals used in areas of Vietnam he fought in.

Kevin’s point about the mainstream roots of VVAW was lost on the Wall
Street Journal, which skewered the profile to paint John Kerry as flirting
with a fringe group of militant radicals. Kevin wanted recognition for the
moderate, college-educated former military officers, sergeants and
enlisted men he proudly organized before the antiwar group splintered into
a dizzying array of factions. He noted that he was not unique, that many
VVAW activists forged successful business and civic careers.

A profile that did justice to Kevin’s life and views appeared in The
Commercial Appeal in Memphis two summers ago. “In all of his pursuits,
whether in business, charitable work or politics, his passion for
credibility and leadership is at the forefront, those who know him say,”
the article stated. The title of that profile: “Through Struggles and
Victories, Kevin Kelly’s Passions Keep Him on Life’s Front Lines.”

On his transformation from model soldier to war protest organizer, Kevin
said: “That war was a revolution and we were supporting a dictator.
Fifty-five thousand people died for political purposes,” he said of GI
losses by 1969. “They were political fodder, and that didn’t seem right to
me.”

Returning from Vietnam as a highly decorated first lieutenant, Kevin
jumped into working for peace full bore, applying his skills to
reorganizing and expanding VVAW, which had fizzled in disgust with
American politics after Chicago police during the 1968 Democratic
Convention assaulted peace demonstrators, including Vietnam vets in suits
and ties who tried to speak to delegates selecting a candidate for
president. His energy and dedication revived me from a burnt out state of
withdrawal from civic life.

When the revived VVAW turned to issues besides pressing to bring our
troops home ASAP, Kevin took his energies elsewhere. That included
supporting, as a Republican, John Kerry’s Democratic forays into
congressional campaigns. As he forged a business career, Kevin also worked
on behalf of a wide array of civic causes.

When the war in Iraq heated up, Kevin sent an op-ed essay to The
Commercial Appeal, published May 30, 2004, in the form of a Vietnam vet’s
advice to his son, Christopher, about military service in such
circumstances.

“I would tell my son that U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war and the Iraq
war both began with untruths - about attacks on U.S. destroyers in the
Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 and weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in 2003 -
and that neither conflict was justified, regardless of how much we
disapprove of Saddam Hussein. I would tell him that we cannot impose our
policies and what amounts to pseudo-democracy on another nation without
losing our credibility as the world's leader, no matter how much financial
gain from oil or other resources is involved.”

And then he switched from a veteran fuming about war to a downtown
businessman talking the language of Main Street:

“I would tell my son how sorry I am that his children and grandchildren
will be burdened by the debts of this war. One of the first things I
learned in an economics class is that you can't have it both ways - guns
and butter don't work. I wonder how much support this war would have if it
were ‘pay as you go.’ "

Kevin Kelly fought for real peace and a better world right up to the end.

Jan Berry - Newsletter

~~~~~~~~~~

"As soon as people drop the reins on government, government will leash the
people." -- James Bovard
~~~~~~~~~~

A Sad Message From BushFlash.com{Updated}

Eric tops his site with this Sad Note, It Will Be Missed, but I'm Sure he will continue Giving His All with his Informative Flash Video's!

JUNE 29 , 2006

GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK...

Bushflash.com will be shut down, within 30 days.

I'd like to think it can continue, but really- I can no longer spend the time required to keep this site live, with only my two hands, and one keyboard.

Bushflash is a quaint fossil- and after three years of hammering out everything I have to present to the american and worldwide public, I'm flat broke, and owe the IRS about 6 thousand bucks.

Such is life- excelsior, and dammit, we had a good run, while the times were darkest. When I started this site, there were but a handful of sites that dared to take this administration to task. Now, there are thousands, and I love every last one of them...

I'm an unemployed guy in New Jersey, and I reached an audience of millions...

I want each and every one of you to do the same....

Stop over and pay a visit, to enjoy what he has produced!!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Eric has updated his message about his finances, now Here's An Honest Person One Can Respect:

BUSHFLASH SHUTS DOWN IN 26 DAYS- ADDRESSING THE MONEY ISSUE...

In the wake my announcement that Bushflash is shutting down, a lot of folks have come forward, offering contributions, or suggesting advertising schemes...

I guess I asked for this, in a way, but I feel I've been misunderstood..

When I said I was "broke" and "In debt", in no way do I blame this on Bushflash.com, or my activities concerning the maintenance of this site.

The truth is, through Blogads and Google ads, Bushflash makes enough money every month to pay for hosting. In fact, according to my last tax return, it pulls in an extra fifty bucks a month- enough to buy a week's groceries.

I used to have a paypal link up on my site, so folks could donate money. Back when I was producing new animations, I felt justified in doing so. When my productivity slowed down, I felt guilty as hell having a "donate" link up- why should anyone donate to a site that contains one dude's incoherent ramblings, and other people's videos? When my burnout hit in earnest, and I finally realized that I'll most likely not produce anything new in the future, animation-wise, I put up Google ads, and removed the paypal donation link.

Now that the site is basically just my own rambling, and the latest cull from YouTube, I have a hard time asking anyone to pay one damned cent to view the site. Some folks say "Just put the paypal link up- if people give you money, what's wrong with that?"

What's wrong, is that people would be giving me money, for something that they can get from a million other sites, for free. Regardless of the good wishes of the potential contributor- I. JUST. CAN'T. TAKE. IT. in good conscience.

The financial hole I find myself in, is my own fault. It had nothing to do with ya'll, and you shouldn't have to take one cent out of your coinpurses, to bail me out. If you feel the need to give money, give it to a local charity- due to budget cutbacks by the Bush Bowl, there are causes who need your help, far more than I ever could.

Their 'God'[?] Wants To Know 'ALL ABOUT YOU'

While I would normally ignore a report such as this, mainly because I have No Interest in purchasing this type of software, or maybe pass it along to warn others about the problem.

Reading this, this morning around 4:30, with my first cup of jo, and getting ready to get ready for work, I Started Laughing till tears streamed, this is Halarious!!

Its about this Game Software:



Peaked your curiousity yet?

Here's the banner from the site:



and the description:

Game description

Wage a war of apocalyptic proportions in LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces - a real-time strategy game based upon the best-selling LEFT BEHIND book series created by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Join the ultimate fight of Good against Evil, commanding Tribulation Forces or the Global Community Peacekeepers, and uncover the truth about the worldwide disappearances!

Now here's what had me in stitches so freakin early in the morning:

Spyware Left Behind in Religious Video Game
by Chris Sabga | updated 20060628 @ 00:46AM EST
Infopackets-Spyware Left Behind in Religious Video Game
The Anti-Christ's dark influence may have already poisoned "Left Behind: Eternal Forces," a new real-time strategy game based on the best-selling Christian book series. The game allows you to "conduct physical and spiritual warfare: using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops." (Source: LeftBehindGames.com)
But the power of prayer won't protect you if you install Left Behind: it comes bundled with a special bonus feature: hidden Spyware that cannot be blocked or uninstalled.

It tracks your every move:

**How often you play

**The duration of each game session

**What time of the day you play

**Where you go in the game (Times Square, Soho, Chinatown, and the United Nations Building are some of the locations available)

**It also knows where your computer is located and taps into your personal information. (Source: Arstechnica.com)

**And most importantly: it has control over the product placements and video ads viewed during gameplay. (Source: Talk2Action.org)
The company behind the intrusive software, "Double Fusion," describes itself as "the leading independent provider of in-game advertising and marketing solutions worldwide." (Source: DoubleFusion.com)

Ironically, Double Fusion is based in Israel: a country described as the "Holy Land" in the "Left Behind" books. (Source: Talk2Action.org)
However, there is nothing holy about the company's agenda. From Double Fusion's Web site:
"Double Fusion gives game publishers the next generation in-game advertising the technology, knowledge and sales solutions that help unlock the full revenue potential of their games and take advantage of the new gaming marketplace." (Source: DoubleFusion.com)
In other words, Double Fusion litters its games with obtrusive advertisements and unwanted Spyware.
What happens if you play as a member of the Anti-Christ's army in the game? Will Double Fusion try to add you to a database of "non-believers"? A facetious question, obviously, but companies can do anything with the data they accumulate from Spyware.
In the "Left Behind" books, "non-believers" eventually receive the "Mark of the Beast": an irremovable symbol that damns them as hell bound heathens with no hope of eternal salvation.
Perhaps Spyware companies deserve to suffer the same fate?

Now you can either laugh along, really worry what Robertson, Falwell, and the Chosen - bush will do with yet another invasion of privacy, or just pass this along to warn others about yet another Software Problem of Spyware!!

Me, I'm Still Laughing!!

Each Of Us Are A Single Individual Seeking Same Goal!!

“I refuse to be silent any longer. I refuse to be party to an illegal and
immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression. My oath of office is to protect and defend America’s laws and its people. By refusing unlawful orders for an illegal war, I fulfill that oath today.”
U.S. Army First Lt. Ehren Watada


Lt. Ehren Watada refused to ship out with his unit.



Published on Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Opponents of Iraq War Rally around Lt. Watada
by Alex Fryer

Lt. Ehren Watada couldn't be called a media figure, but the Hawaii-born officer who refused to deploy with his Fort Lewis unit on Thursday has done his bit to court the press.
Part of the public exposure is designed to protect Watada from potentially harsh military justice. But Watada also has become the latest public face for a peace movement that has produced few leaders able to marshal public opinion, even though polls show the majority of Americans believe the Iraq war was a costly mistake.

Just as Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son was killed in 2004, captured public attention last year with her vigil outside President Bush's Texas ranch, calls and e-mails have spiked in recent weeks to groups such as Veterans for Peace in St. Louis.
"When you have a person like Lt. Watada or Cindy Sheehan, I think that's more real," said executive director Michael McPhearson, whose son serves in Iraq. "And Americans react to sincere people expressing themselves."SNIP-Rest Can Be Found At Title Link

~~~~~~
Another Example Of The Shameful Apathy Towards Those Who Serve, By This Country!!!
~~~~~~

"Foolish men imagine that because judgment for an evil thing is delayed, there
is no justice...Judgment for an evil thing is many times delayed...but it is
sure as life, it is sure as death.": Thomas Caryle

Published on Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Military Fails Some Widows Over Benefits
by Lizette Alvarez

As Holly Wren coped with her 6-month-old son and the sorrow of losing her husband in Iraq last November, she assumed that the military's sense of structure and order would apply in death as it had in life.
Instead she encountered numerous hurdles in trying to collect survivor benefits. She received only half the amount owed her for housing because her husband, one of the highest ranking soldiers to die in Iraq, was listed as single, childless and living in Florida — wrong on every count. Lt. Col. Thomas Wren was married, with five children, and living in Northern Virginia.

She waited months for her husband's retirement money and more than two weeks for his death benefit, meant to arrive within days. And then Mrs. Wren went to court to become her son's legal guardian because no one had told her husband that a minor cannot be a beneficiary. "You are a number, and your husband is a number" said Mrs. Wren, who ultimately asked her congressman for help. "They need to understand that we are more than that."
For military widows, many of them young, stay-at-home mothers, the shock of losing a husband is often followed by the confounding task of untangling a collection of benefits from assorted bureaucracies.SNIP-Rest Can Be Found At Title Link

"I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure suffering and
humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never
the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." : Elie
Weisel

~~~~~~
And Another Example Of Shame
~~~~~~

Study shows military care gap

The military is referring barely m ore than 20 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq and afghnaistan who have shown signs of post-traumatic stress disorder for further evaluation, according to a report from congressional investigators. The report, from the Government Accountability Office, concluded that unless the Pentagon makes changes, it cannot “reasonably assure” returning service members are receiving the care they need.

~~~~~
And How RIGHT He Is
~~~~~

Murtha Says US Poses Top Threat to World Peace
American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, Congressman John Murtha, D-Pa., said to an audience of more than 200 in North Miami Saturday afternoon.


William Fisher | Crocodile Tears
"If you're into black humor, you might find it amusing that two of the countries with some of the world's worst human rights records are making international propaganda hay out of America's performance in prisoner abuse and civil liberties," writes William Fisher.


GI SPECIAL 4F23: Military Families Have Had Enough.pdf

In The Fake 'OutRage'......

Why isn't anyone coming back with 'Plame/Wilson'?

This was just on the PBS 'News Hour'. Transcript isn't up yet but one needs to listen to Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa..

What Planet do these clowns inhabit? It certainly isn't the same one I'm on.

Or are they doing mushrooms, brownies, or rush's painkillers!!

This clown Actually talks like he is an Elected {Hired} Representative, and even says so, of the People of his district. If that's the case 'Why Aren't Any Of Them Representing Us, One, and Why Wasn't There Ever An 'Investigation' Into The Treasonist Act Of 'Outing An Active CIA Agent', two, and Ohhhh Soooo Much More!!!

June 26, 2006
President Bush Condemns Reporting of Terrorism Investigation Programs

RealAudio: President Bush on Monday called the disclosure of a program to secretly monitor the financial transactions of suspected terrorists "disgraceful," saying it "does great harm to the United States of America." Eric Lichtblau, one of the two New York Times reporters who broke the story, and Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., a senior member of the Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, debate whether reporters crossed the line to committing treason.

And as for the little wanna-be, Dictator, we already know he's outta touch with reality!!!

By the way, the first thought I had, when hearing and reading about this, was that there are now a Huge Number of Really Pissed Off Rich Folk, Worldwide, knowing these Corrupt Clowns have been tracking their financial dealings on a day to day basis, and one thing the Wealthy Don't cotton to, other wealth screwing them over!!

The second was, speaking of rush above, now they know about rushy buying his Drugs online and overseas, I'll bet that's all his show is about, this real{?} treason sans The White House Outing!!

CUT and RUN? You're Damn Right!

(Sorry no URL on this yet, it was sent to me, but the Colonel has written similar in the past and no doubt this came from his fingers. And if memory serves he's a Repub., or at least was back in 2000.)

CUT and RUN? You're Damn Right! We Have Had Enough!

The Republicans have accused the Democrats of a plan of "Cut and Run".

We need to "Cut and Run" from failed Cheney/Bush/Rumsfeld and the
Republican Congress of attacking and murdering innocents in Iraq.

We need to "Cut and Run" from the trillions of dollars in Republican increased
National Debt.

We need to "Cut and Run" from the Bush mega deficits.

We need to "Cut and Run" from the ruinous Bush privatization plan of
critical government programs

We need to "Cut and Run" from the Bush Medicare disaster.

We need to "Cut and Run" from the Republican Plan to destroy Social
Security. (We could fix SS by making the rich pay their share.)

We need to "Cut and Run" from the Pat Robertson/Jerry Fallwell ideal
of American life.

We need to "Cut and Run" from the ruinous Republican elitist tax cuts.

We need to "Cut and Run from supremist corporate sponsored laws to protect
gigantean corporations from lawsuit for raping the American people and the
American economy.

We need to "Cut and Run" from foreign control of American manufacturing,
foreign owned big business and foreign owned business that is critical to
national defense.

We need to "Cut and Run" from foreign interest taking tax free profits from
the American Economy.

And we need to "Cut and Run" from killing our sons and daughters for no-bid
contracts for Cheney and Halliburton, Bush and Oil, and for ghoulish defense
industry maggots making huge unaccounted for mega profits on the needless
death of our brave soldiers.

We need to "Cut and Run" from Republicans outing CIA operatives.

We need to "Cut and Run" from below poverty level $5.15 minimum wages.

We Need to Shove "Cut and Run" Up every Greedy, Selfish Republicans Butt.

Do not blame the Democrats for Cutting and Running. Blame the Republicans;
for destroying the American Dream, for destroying American Jobs, for destroying
the American Economy and for destroying our benevolent American way of life.

Finally, Most of all, We need to "Cut and Run" from KILLING OUR YOUTH in Iraq
on a God Damn George W. Bush Lie !!!

Cut and Run? You're Damn Right... We Have Had Enough!

F. Merle Campbell Jr.
Colonel,AUS,Retired

On This Day - And Vision Not Fiction No More!

“All the war-propaganda,
all the screaming and lies and hatred,
comes invariably from people
who are not fighting.”





George Orwell - Born On June 25th

STAY THE COURSE? {Flash Video's}

STAY THE COURSE?

Sometimes, it's a pretty stupid thing to do.

~~~~~~

THE REPUBLICAN PLAN FOR IRAQ

Passing the buck...

War's Iraq Citizens Death Toll

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ

War's Iraqi Death Toll Tops 50,000

Higher than the U.S. estimate but thought to be undercounted, the tally is equivalent to 570,000 Americans killed in three years.

By Louise Roug and Doug Smith
Times Staff Writers

June 25, 2006

BAGHDAD — At least 50,000 Iraqis have died violently since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, according to statistics from the Baghdad morgue, the Iraqi Health Ministry and other agencies — a toll 20,000 higher than previously acknowledged by the Bush administration.

Many more Iraqis are believed to have been killed but not counted because of serious lapses in recording deaths in the chaotic first year after the invasion, when there was no functioning Iraqi government, and continued spotty reporting nationwide since.

The toll, which is mostly of civilians but probably also includes some security forces and insurgents, is daunting: Proportionately, it is equivalent to 570,000 Americans being killed nationwide in the last three years.

In the same period, at least 2,520 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq.

Iraqi officials involved in compiling the statistics say violent deaths in some regions have been grossly undercounted, notably in the troubled province of Al Anbar in the west. Health workers there are unable to compile the data because of violence, security crackdowns, electrical shortages and failing telephone networks.

The Health Ministry acknowledged the undercount. In addition, the ministry said its figures exclude the three northern provinces of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan because Kurdish officials do not provide death toll figures to the government in Baghdad.

In the three years since Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled, the Bush administration has rarely offered civilian death tolls. Last year, President Bush said he believed that "30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis."

Nongovernmental organizations have made estimates by tallying media accounts; The Times attempted to reach a comprehensive figure by obtaining statistics from the Baghdad morgue and the Health Ministry and checking those numbers against a sampling of local health departments for possible undercounts.

The Health Ministry gathers numbers from hospitals in the capital and the outlying provinces. If a victim of violence dies at a hospital or arrives dead, medical officials issue a death certificate. Relatives claim the body directly from the hospital and arrange for a speedy burial in keeping with Muslim beliefs.

If the morgue receives a body — usually those deemed suspicious deaths — officials there issue the death certificate.

Health Ministry officials said that because death certificates are issued and counted separately, the two data sets are not overlapping.

The Baghdad morgue received 30,204 bodies from 2003 through mid-2006, while the Health Ministry said it had documented 18,933 deaths from "military clashes" and "terrorist attacks" from April 5, 2004, to June 1, 2006. Together, the toll reaches 49,137.

However, samples obtained from local health departments in other provinces show an undercount that brings the total well beyond 50,000. The figure also does not include deaths outside Baghdad in the first year of the invasion.

The documented cases show a country descending further into violence.

At the Baghdad morgue, the vast majority of bodies processed had been shot execution-style. Many showed signs of torture — drill holes, burns, missing eyes and limbs, officials said. Others had been strangled, beheaded, stabbed or beaten to death.

The morgue records show a predominantly civilian toll; the hospital records gathered by the Health Ministry do not distinguish between civilians, combatants and security forces.

But Health Ministry records do differentiate causes of death. Almost 75% of those who died violently were killed in "terrorist acts," typically bombings, the records show. The other 25% were killed in what were classified as military clashes. A health official described the victims as "innocent bystanders," many shot by Iraqi or American troops, in crossfire or accidentally at checkpoints.

With the entire country a battleground, it is likely that some of the dead may have been insurgents or members of militias.

"The way to think about the violence is that it's not just the insurgent attacks that matter," said David Lake, a member of the Center for Study of Civil War, an international group of scholars who study the causes and effects of internal strife. "What we should be concerned about is the sense of security at the individual level…. If the fear has gotten out of control."

Societies fall apart when people stop believing the government can keep them safe them and instead turn to militias for protection, said Lake, who is a professor of political science at UC San Diego.

"The question is, have we crossed that threshold? My sense is, we probably have, and that's why I'm worried about the long-term outcome."

Three years of fighting have taken their toll on the country. Gauging how many people died in the first year after the invasion, which included the initial invasion and aerial bombardment of Baghdad, and weeks of near-anarchy afterward, has proved difficult.

According to a 2003 Times survey of Baghdad hospitals, at least 1,700 civilians died in the capital just in the five weeks after the war began. An analysis by Iraqi Body Count, a nongovernmental group that tracks civilian deaths by tallying media reports, estimated that 5,630 to 10,000 Iraqi civilians were killed nationwide from March 19 through April 2003.

Health Ministry figures for May in each of the last three years show war-related deaths more than tripling nationwide, from 334 in May 2004 to 1,154 last month. And as the violence has continued to escalate, it also has become increasingly centralized. At least 2,532 people were killed nationwide last month. Of those, 2,155 — 85% — died in Baghdad.

"Everything has increased," said one official in the Health Ministry who didn't want to be identified for security reasons. "Bombings have increased, shootings have increased."

Iraqi Body Count estimates that 38,475 to 42,889 Iraqis have been killed since the invasion. The estimate does not include deaths among the Iraqi security forces.

The toll in Iraq has been a sensitive issue for the Bush administration, which has maintained that it doesn't track civilian deaths. However, military officials in Baghdad acknowledged that they track the number of civilians accidentally killed by U.S. troops.

Eric Stover, Director of UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center and an expert on medical and social consequences of war, said that the high death toll makes rebuilding society increasingly difficult.

"The way to look at the effects of deaths on that scale is also in the context of how people are living," said Stover, who has also done human rights work in Iraq and identified mass graves in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"It's not just the immediate deaths that people are dealing with, but fractured lives. They are living in this constant state of fear. It's a very gloomy picture."


-------------
Roug reported from Baghdad and Smith from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Raheem Salman in Baghdad contributed to this report.