British Inquiry Into Iraq War

This is what this Country, the United States, should be doing now or had already done during the previous administration, investigating towards Impeachment and possible Indictments, depending on what evidence of crimes and lies surfaced. Especially if we really are what we like to think and demand others to believe we are and if our Constitution still exist as the leading Representative Democracy on this planet. But leave it up to 'Old Europe', hopefully, to seek answers that should be in the light of day and a part of the physical history added to the already known.

But it's never to late for us to try and minimize the blowback from our extremely destructive policies, or is it!

Rose Gentle seeks truth from Iraq inquiry

The Glasgow mother, whose son Gordon was killed in the Iraq War, has been speaking ahead of the opening of Sir John Chilcot’s inquiry.


{this isn't the video from this report, the news video at link}

The mother of a Glasgow soldier who was killed in Iraq has spoken ahead of the inquiry into why the war began.

Rose Gentle, whose 19-year-old son Gordon died in Basra in 2004, spoke to STV News before travelling down to London for the beginning of the inquiry on Tuesday.

Rose has been an outspoken critic of the Iraq conflict and helped set up the group Military Families against the War...>>>>>

Tuesday 24 November 2009 - Opening of Inquiry

Iraq Inquiry Opens Amid Whitewash Claims

The chairman of an official inquiry into the Iraq war has used his opening remarks to rebuff claims it will be a whitewash and insisted it will be a "fair and frank" investigation.



Sir John Chilcot said he will not will not shy away from being critical in his wide-ranging, televised probe into how the UK came to invade the country in 2003...>>>>>

Chilcot inquiry told UK did not consider Iraq regime change before 9/11

Whitehall refused to engage in talks about toppling Saddam but shared US concerns that containment policy was failing



British officials decided not to get involved in talk about regime change in Iraq in 2001 even though some parts of the new Bush administration began to discuss the possibility two years before the invasion, the opening hearing of the UK inquiry into the war heard today.

But Whitehall was, like Washington, concerned that the policy of containing Saddam Hussein was failing before the September 11 attacks on the US, senior civil servants said....>>>>>

Saddam options 'discussed a year before Iraq war'

British officials privately discussed the prospect of "regime change" in Iraq in late 2001 - more than a year before the invasion - the Iraq War inquiry was told today.

Giving evidence on the first day of public hearings, Sir William Patey, a senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office official, said the idea of ousting Saddam Hussein had been discussed in an internal FCO paper...>>>>>

Iraq Inquiry Digest Everything about the Chilcot Inquiry in one place

Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war Follow the action as inquiry into one of the most contentious decisions of modern times begins hearing evidence

Iraq Inquiry: Day 1

Well, after just six hours of evidence at an Inquiry that will last over a year and, already, some interesting disclosures.

The top lines are these:

1. There were "drum-beats" of war with Iraq coming from elements of the Bush Administration in early 2001

2. The UK discussed regime change in an internal Foreign Office "options paper" in 2001 but quickly dismissed it as illegal.

The focus of today was context: an effort to establish what the UK's position on Iraq was in 2001 - prior to the 9/11 attacks...>>>>>

"We were conscious that there were other voices in Washington, some of whom were talking about regime change," Ricketts said, citing an article written by National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice warning that nothing would change in Iraq until Saddam was gone."...>>>>>

William Rivers Pitt | The Mess Left Behind

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Text at Truthout Perspective

William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of two books: "War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know" and "The Greatest Sedition Is Silence." His newest book, "House of Ill Repute: Reflections on War, Lies, and America's Ravaged Reputation," is now available from PoliPointPress.

Vietnam and U.S. Meet...

US, Vietnam open annual Agent Orange meetings

Vietnam urged the U.S. to do speed funding for Agent Orange victims today at start of the fourth annual meeting on joint efforts to clean up areas that American forces contaminated with the toxic herbicide during the Vietnam War.

U.S. troops sprayed Agent Orange on jungles to deprive Vietnamese troops of ground cover. Vietnam says from 1 to 4 million of its citizens may have suffered serious health consequences because of the poisonous spraying.

So far, clean-up efforts have focused on the airport at Danang, a former U.S. air base in central Vietnam where American troops stored, mixed and loaded Agent Orange onto planes during the Vietnam War.

Snip

Studies by a Canadian environmental consultant have identified seven Agent Orange hot spots, but Vietnam says there are as many as two dozen that need to be cleaned up.

As this week's meetings opened, the Vietnamese side urged the U.S. to speed up disbursement of money to help the disabled, saying they weren't getting help quickly enough.

"We all know that exposure to dioxin is the cause of serious suffering to the victims," said Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Vietnam's vice minister of natural resources and the environment............Read Rest Here

World Focus: Agent Orange

Agent Orange devastates generations of Vietnamese

During the Vietnam War, the U.S. dropped millions of gallons of Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant, on Vietnam in an attempt to remove the jungle used for cover by communist forces.

Decades later, civilians still suffer the consequences. Dioxin still lurks in Vietnam’s soil, causing deformities which are passed on from generation to generation.

Worldfocus correspondent Mark Litke and producer Ara Ayer travel to Vietnam and witness the devastating effects the toxin has left behind.

For more information on efforts to aid the victims of Agent Orange, visit the Vietnam Friendship Village

For "Flag Day"!!

Put this together a few years ago, and Still with No Accountability and a Collapsed Economy, done so by Greed, Extreme Corruption and Continued Incompetence, The Song and Thoughts Still Stand!!!!!



We have a failed Federal Government! No oversite, checks and balances, investigations, opposition, now for over Six Long and Ugly Partisan Years! Will the change in power, coming to the Peoples Congress change things, We'll Be Watching! But there Must Be 'Investigations', in Many Area's, but Especially as to this so called 'War on Terrorism', Iraq, War Profiteering......! Much Proof already in Public Domain, if investigations lead to 'Impeachment' so be it, than Indictments of ALL Involved!!

We Can No Longer Condemn!!!!!

Torture In Iran

April 5, 2009


Watch CBS Videos Online

Ahmad Batebi tells CNN's Anderson Cooper, in his 1st U.S. television interview how he was tortured for 9 years in an Iranian prison and how he managed to escape.

I thought this was very interesting coming out at this time, and with the mention within on how our actions have tied the Human Rights Advocates hands because of our Now Policies!!

Agent Orange devastates generations of Vietnamese

During the Vietnam War, the U.S. dropped millions of gallons of Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant, on Vietnam in an attempt to remove the jungle used for cover by communist forces.

Decades later, civilians still suffer the consequences. Dioxin still lurks in Vietnam’s soil, causing deformities which are passed on from generation to generation.

Worldfocus correspondent Mark Litke and producer Ara Ayer travel to Vietnam and witness the devastating effects the toxin has left behind.

For more information on efforts to aid the victims of Agent Orange, visit the Vietnam Friendship Village.

World Focus

The Entry of the Sunni Mujahideen

Michael Scheuer has an interesting series of articles at the Asian Times from the The Jamestown Foundation. A window in the coming Blowback, that has already reared it's ugly head in many places and is stoked by throwing intense flames onto the already started fire?

The latest report is called MUJAHIDEEN BLEED-THROUGH, Part 4 with a subtitle "Palestine and Israel: The ring of terror tightens"

Seems al Qaeda is not only growing but thriving and expanding rapidly with more fringe groups, which is what al Qaeda is, forming under that umbrella of Criminal Terrorism and according to Scheuer targeting Israel and U.S. Interests

As discussed earlier in this series of articles, the entry of Sunni mujahideen from Iraq into Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon has been a fairly visible process and tracking it - at least in outline form - is an achievable task.

This group falls under the name "Salafi" or "Salafism" which is the correct descriptive name of the often used term "Wahhabi", at least according to this site:

What is a Salafi and What is Salafism?

The reader will notice that the word "Wahhabi" is always indented with quotation marks here at TheWahhabiMyth.com. Those who are labeled with this word do not themselves use this term, as it is used as a means of belittlement. The reasons for the rejection of this term are clearly outlined throughout this book. The correct way of referring to them is by terming them Salafis, as they are those who adhere to the way of the Salaf - the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) and his companions.

Following the way of the Salaf is the way which has been legislated in the Quran and Sunnah, the very sources of Islam. The Prophet (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) said to his daughter Fatimah: "Indeed, I am for you a blessed Salaf."

When asked about which was the correct and acceptable way of understanding Islam, the Prophet (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) replied by saying: "That which I and my companions are upon."

Scheuer describes the movements of the Salafi and it's goals.

the goal of the mujahideen from Iraq has been clear: (a) to spread Salafi beliefs in the Levant countries and (b) to place fighters as close to Israel as possible. These Salafi Islamists are, in essence, trying to create a space where they can begin to operate inside Israel. Whether they succeed in that goal is an open question, but their intent is clear.

There have been a few, very few, reports about so called in-fighting in Gaza long before the recent Carnage going on today. Here it seems it's reported as fighting between factions within Hamas, apparently that may not be the case.

Al-Qaeda and its Salafi allies have long viewed Palestine as "an Islamic endowment", a place to which "every Muslim has the right to set out for jihad in its land". Osama bin Laden, moreover, has long railed against the governments of Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon for preventing non-Palestinian mujahideen from basing themselves in their countries. Bin Laden's gripe has now been satisfied to an extent, not by his own hand, but by courtesy of the regional destabilization caused by the United States-led war in Iraq. Salafi fighters of various nationalities are now flowing into the Levant from Iraq.

In Palestine, there seems to be a minor Salafi presence in the West Bank but a steadily growing military and proselytizing presence in Gaza. The above noted "Army of Islam" and several other Salafi organizations have created training facilities in Gaza and have displayed them to the international media, defiantly proclaiming, "We are coming Jews!" They have, to date, conducted some attacks on the Israeli army when its units were engaged in raids in Gaza, and have attacked Christian and American targets in Gaza.

The bleed-through from Iraq also is having some impact in the Palestinian territories - especially Gaza - and in Israel.

The Salafi have apparently taken some actions against the Israeli's but on a minor scale so far.

and the Salafis appear to spend just as much time fighting with their erstwhile Islamist colleagues in Hamas.

As the Salafists in Gaza began to preach and attract followers there appears to have been an implicit understanding reached between the Salafist leaders and Hamas. The deal allowed the Salafists to train fighters, attack Israeli targets, and preach in Gaza as long as they did not engage in Gaza's internal political system and did not try to impose their ideology by force on Palestinians.

This has been an unstable deal at best; even as the Salafists acquiesced to Hamas' terms, they declared their belief that "Hamas does not implement the rule of God on earth, and does not enforce any ruling of the Islamic Sharia". There have been fire-fights between Salafists and Hamas security forces during the latter's raids of Salafi mosques and other sites. On one occasion this fall, Hamas policeman killed nine members of the Army of Islam, earning a promise of revenge from the group's leaders.

While the recent actions of the Israeli's, as many are now saying, have enhanced the Palestinian Elected Hamas, which had been losing stature, it may actually be emboldening, and making it easier, for the Salafi Mujahideen to recruit not only Hamas fighters but other Palestinians and not only in Gaza but on the West Bank as well.

As the cut above says "but by courtesy of the regional destabilization caused by the United States-led war in Iraq. Salafi fighters of various nationalities are now flowing into the Levant from Iraq", the legacy being left, and forcast by many, has been rapidly taking place. Not only as to the instability of the region because of Iraq but this administration's ignoring the Israeli and Palestinian issue for eight years, with their partners the Likud government in Israel, and our present Secretary of State Condi Rice total lack of concern and action as to the recent past leading to the Israeli Destruction now taking place in Gaza, while earlier her and bush pledging more involvement and a Peace Deal before they Slither Away!!

Once again the link to this recent write: MUJAHIDEEN BLEED-THROUGH, Part 4

And the previous three:

PART 1: Syria: Terror's made-to-order milieu

PART 2: Lebanon: Last stop on a jihad highway

PART 3: Jordan: Al-Qaeda clouds a precarious future

Something you may also want to view:

The Power of Nightmares

A 3-Part BBC Video Series
This 3-part BBC video series documents the history of Islamic fundamentalism and neo-conservatism. Although it runs several hours long, it is well worth the time to view it.

The Power of Nightmares Part 1: “Baby it's Cold Outside“

The Power of Nightmares Part 2: The Phantom Victory - by Adam Curtis

The Power of Nightmares Part 3: The Shadows in the Cave

And what will happen within Iraq especially adding the actions taking place in Gaza?

‘Sons of Iraq’ role causes some worry

By Thursday, when the security agreement between Iraq and the United States takes effect, about 75 percent of the "Sons of Iraq" groups in the country will be under Iraqi responsibility, U.S. officials said this week.

The transition of the armed groups from U.S. control began last year and has been one of the key worries in cementing the security gains seen in the country in recent months. More than 100,000 "Sons of Iraq" members had been recruited in Iraq over the past two years — some of them former insurgents, most of them young men without jobs.

Michael Scheuer served in the CIA for 22 years before resigning in 2004. He served as the chief of the Bin Laden Unit at the Counterterrorist Center from 1996 to 1999. He is the once anonymous author of Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror; his most recent book is Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq. Dr Scheuer is a Senior Fellow with The Jamestown Foundation.

America pays the piper, big time pt.1

Robert Parry: After 28 years of drunken optimism and blind nationalism the US wakes up to a grim future



Parry's article at Consortiumnews.com

Bio

Robert Parry is an American investigative journalist. He was awarded the George Polk Award for National Reporting in 1984 for his work with the Associated Press. In 1995, he established Consortium News as an online ezine dedicated to investigative journalism. From 2000 to 2004, he worked for the financial wire service Bloomberg. Major subjects of Parry's articles and reports on Consortium News include the presidency of George W. Bush, the career of Army general and Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell (with Norman Solomon), the October Surprise controversy of the 1980 election, the Nicaraguan contra-cocaine investigation, the efforts to impeach President Clinton, right-wing terrorism in Latin America, the political influence of Sun Myung Moon, mainstream American media imbalance, United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates, as well as international stories . Parry has written several books, including Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & "Project Truth." (1999) and Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq (2004).

"Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations"

The House Judiciary Committee today, Friday, July 25th, will put Impeachment squarely back "on the table" and restored to its prominent place in our Constitution.


Wednesday 07/25/2008 - 10:00 AM
2141 Rayburn House Office Building
Full Committee
By Direction of the Chairman


The first panel Friday morning will include Congressman Dennis Kucinich making a case for impeachment based on the articles of impeachment he has drafted against Cheney and Bush.


The Cheney/Bush links takes you to the pages over at After Downing Street.org where Diavid Swanson has the pertinant links to much more information.


The rest of that first panel will include: Hon. Maurice Hinchey U.S. House of Representatives 22nd District, NY, Hon. Walter Jones U.S. House of Representatives 3rd District, NC, And Hon. Brad Miller U.S. House of Representatives 13th District, NC.


Then the second panel convenes and will include: Hon. Elizabeth Holtzman Former U.S. House of Representatives 16th District, NY Department of Justice, Hon. Bob Barr Former U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 7th District, GA, Hon. Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson Founder and President High Roads for Human Rights, Stephen Presser Raoul Berer Professor of Legal History Northwestern University School of Law, Bruce Fein Associate Deputy Attorney General, 1981-82 Chairman, American Freedom Agenda, Vincent Bugliosi Author and Former Los Angeles County Prosecutor, Jeremy A. Rabkin Professor of Law George Mason University School of Law, Elliott Adams President of the Board Veterans for Peace, Frederick A. O. Schwarz, Jr. Senior Counsel Brennan Center for Jutice at NYU School of Law.


The links above will give you each persons testimony, in PDF, after the hearings are over and they are posted to the House Judiciary Committee site.


Elliott Adams, President of Veterans for Peace, and a descendant of American revolutionary Sam Adams, will deliver this prepared testimony, in it he will tell America:

Upon leaving the Constitutional Convention of 1787 –
Ben Franklin was asked: “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
Dr. Franklin replied: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

He will tell them who Veterans For Peace are:

Veterans For Peace has members from every war our country has fought back to and including World War II. VFP is 23 years old, has over 120 chapters spread around the country, has an NGO seat in the UN, and a small share in the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. Our members help 85,000 Iraqis get safe drinking water, gave 54,000 free phone cards to patients in 148 VA hospitals, help Agent Orange victims both US soldiers and Vietnamese civilians, aided Hurricane Katrina victims, supports schools and orphanages in Afghanistan & Vietnam, have worked extensively in Central American for freedom and fair elections, and bought appropriate body armor for soldiers in Iraq when the government could not supply it.

But many of our members have set aside all these other important works to defend our democracy by calling for impeachment.

He will also let America know:

"For us veterans, when our time came, we volunteered our very lives for this republic; for the principle of freedom for all, for equal opportunity for all, to defend the Constitution and the principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence, and to guarantee the opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now, Congressmen, it is your time, and I hear there is not enough time! Now is your time, and I hear it will not be good for one party or the other party! Now is your time, and I hear there is not enough political will around you! When our founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence they were not worried about political will, or how much time there was, or about any parties' political future, they were just worried they were going to be hanged by the neck. But they did what was right. Now it is your time to standup. Einstein said – 'The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.'"

Upon joining the United States Military Branches we take an Oath, and in that oath we say these words: "to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.", as veterans we still take oath very seriously!


Unless you came here as an immigrant from another country, the greater majority of the citizens of this country aren't required to take an oath, most will say the Pledge of Alligence to the flag, but even that is not a required oath. Your oath is the written Bill of Rights and the Constitution and in those it lays out the what this country was founded on and what it must do when these are violated.


We are supposed to be a Land of Law and when our Laws are Violated and Broken we must take the nessary actions to uphold the Constitution and the Qualities this Nation strives for and lead by the example we set for ourselves!


Bruce Fein, Associate Deputy Attorney General, 1981-82, in his testimony will than tell the American people:

"If President George W. Bush had knocked to enter the constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787, presiding convention president George Washington would have denied him admission. Thereby hangs an alarming tale. The executive branch has vandalized the Constitution every bit as much [sic] the barbarians vandalized Rome in 410 AD. The executive branch has destroyed the Constitution's time-honored checks and balances and raced the nation perilously close to executive despotism. The executive branch rejects the basic philosophical tenets of the United States. It does not accept that America was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that sovereignty in a republican form of government lies with the people; that there are no vassals or serfs in the Constitution's landscape; that every man or woman is a king or queen but no one wears a crown; and, that the rule of law is the nation's civic religion. The Founding Fathers fashioned impeachment as a remedy for attacks against the constitutional order."

Many of you have been right along side those who threw Impeachment, that should have occurred long ago, off "the table", and the only reason is your fear that the political party letter you follow will not gain the control of power, for your hired representatives, you crave.


We Veterans have served this Country in times of relative Peace but especially in those times of War and Occupation, right or wrong, that you have sent us into.


Reason; We Took An Oath to Defend and Protect the Constitution of this Country and to serve Honorably, and we have, and once that Oath was taken it was never forgotten, like our experiances in service to.



It's long past time for the Citizens to stand up and Defend their Constitution and Country, it's time You Did Your Service and hold those destroying the Constitution and Country, from within, Accountable for the Laws Covered, and Broken, by that Extremely Important Document, the document we live by and leads us above others as to the example we should be setting for all to see!

The day before the hearing, some of those impeachment advocates gathered at the National Press Club, David Swanson, Ray McGovern, Bruce Fein, Cindy Sheehan, Cynthia Papermaster, and Crystal Kim. Videos of what they had to say, and their questions and answers with the media, are posted at YouTube

Over at After Downing Street

David has a post up now for Live Blogging from the Hearing on Impeachment!

You can go over and leave any comments, and he'll probably be giving updates from the hearing chamber when it begins!

July 21 in History

Brought to you as This week in History by Peace Buttons.



July 21, 1954

Major world powers, meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, reached agreement on the terms of a ceasefire for Indochina, ending nearly eight years of war. The war began in 1946 between nationalist forces of the Communist Viet Minh, under leader Ho Chi Minh, and France, the occupying colonial power following Japanese control during World War II.
The Geneva conference included France, the United Kingdom, the U.S., the U.S.S.R., People’s Republic of China, Cambodia, Laos, and both Vietnamese governments.

It ended with a peace treaty that called for independence for Vietnam and a 1956 election to unify the country. However, only France and Ho Chi Minh's DRV (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) signed the document.
The United States did not approve of the agreement. Instead, they backed Emperor Boa Dai and Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem’s government in South Vietnam and refused to allow the elections, knowing, in Pres. Eisenhower’s words, that “Ho Chi Minh will win.” The result was the Second Indochina War, more commonly known as the Vietnam War.

Though we were reported as helping transport French troops to Vietnam our real history, in Indo-China, starts shortly after the above.

Read about the signing of the treaty with the French

The fall of Dien Bien Phu signalled defeat for France in Indo-China

President Dwight D Eisenhower said in a statement from Washington the agreement contained elements which he did not like - such as the division of Vietnam between north and south - and a great deal depended on how they worked in practice.

Senate leaders from both parties went one step further and expressed their alarm at what is widely regarded as a victory for Communism.

What followed the treaty and our start of destructive Indo-China History


July 21, 1878

The eight-hour was an established concept before the song. Shown is an 1856 banner from Melbourne, Australia.

Publication of "Eight Hours," written by Rev. Jesse H. Jones (music) and I.G. Blanchard (lyrics), the most popular labor song until "Solidarity Forever" was published by the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) in 1915.

Eight-Hours
Rev. Jesse H. Jones (music)
I.G. Blanchard (lyrics)

We mean to make things over,
We are tired of toil for naught
With but bare enough to live upon
And ne'er an hour for thought.
We want to feel the sunshine
And we want to smell the flow'rs
We are sure that God has willed it
And we mean to have eight hours;
We're summoning our forces
From the shipyard, shop and mill

Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest
Eight hours for what we will;
Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest
Eight hours for what we will.

The beasts that graze the hillside,
And the birds that wander free,
In the life that God has meted,
Have a better life than we.
Oh, hands and hearts are weary,
And homes are heavy with dole;
If our life's to be filled with drudg'ry,
What need of a human soul.
Shout, shout the lusty rally,
From shipyard, shop, and mill.

Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest
Eight hours for what we will;
Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest
Eight hours for what we will.

The voice of God within us
Is calling us to stand
Erect as is becoming
To the work of His right hand.
Should he, to whom the Maker
His glorious image gave,
The meanest of His creatures crouch,
A bread-and-butter slave?
Let the shout ring down the valleys
And echo from every hill.

Ye deem they're feeble voices
That are raised in labor's cause,
But bethink ye of the torrent,
And the wild tornado's laws.
We say not toil's uprising
In terror's shape will come,
Yet the world were wise to listen
To the monetary hum.
Soon, soon the deep toned rally
Shall all the nations thrill.

Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest
Eight hours for what we will;
Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest
Eight hours for what we will.

From factories and workshops
In long and weary lines,
From all the sweltering forges,
And from out the sunless mines,
Wherever toil is wasting
The force of life to live
There the bent and battered armies
Come to claim what God doth give
And the blazon on the banner
Doth with hope the nation fill:

Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest
Eight hours for what we will;
Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest
Eight hours for what we will.

Hurrah, hurrah for labor,
For it shall arise in might
It has filled the world with plenty,
It shall fill the world with light
Hurrah, hurrah for labor,
It is mustering all its powers
And shall march along to victory
With the banner of Eight Hours.
Shout, shout the echoing rally
Till all the welkin thrill.

Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest
Eight hours for what we will;
Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest
Eight hours for what we will.

Visit their site and sign up for their newsletter, and celebrate the 50th year of the Peace Symbol.

The Dilemma of Black Patriotism

route66 has a diary up about today, Flag Day here in these United States.

I was going to post up something I found recently that attempts to explain some recent occurances on the meaning of 'Patriotism', and a tie in with 'route66' diary is appropriate on this day.

After all I'm one of the millions, in this country, who have been called 'UnPatriotic' for having not walked in lockstep with the criminal cabal, and their followers, who have led this country into it's extreme failed policies of an Occupation built on Lies and Fixed Intelligence and done in All Our Names!

I'm not a Black American, I'm one of us many Lilly White Folks.

I happend upon this article Defining patriotism the other day, with a Video at the top.

The article leads off with this:

Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s patriotism came under suspicion when he decided not to wear the flag lapel pin.

Than a comment about what his wife said as well as the once Rev. of the church he attends had said, which we all know to well.

In the video we hear from Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Roger Wilkins, who says:

blacks have just as long a history of patriotism as other Americans, but “our patriotism is rooted in a country that abused us, our ancestors, in a terrible way.”
Wilkins wrote a book, Jefferson's Pillow: The Founding Fathers and the Dilemma of Black Patriotism, to answer the question of black patriotism: “How can you be patriotic when the historic moment that we revere the most, The Revolution, was run by a bunch of guys, many of whom owned slaves.”

Watch the video:

http://www.livevideo.com

Do I understand what Barack says about the lapel flag pin,Yes!

Do I understand his wifes statement, Yes!

Do I understand where Rev. Wright is coming from, Yes!

Do I understand Roger Wilkins, Yes!

I grew up when Segregation was still very rampent in this Country, also learning the history of same through the books and movies on how we tried to totally eleminate the Natives of this Land and almost succeeded as some of our Lily White ancesters placed those that survived under our control!

When I finished the Navy Bootcamp, '67 to '71 was my tour of duty to country, my first duty station was the Meridian Naval Air Station, Meridian Miss., which is now also called McCain Field.

When I arrived there the trial of the killings of the young civil rights workers was just gearing up, made more infamous in the movie 'Mississippi Burning' and was to take place in Meridian some 15 miles from the base.

I was still there when Martin Luther King was Assasinated.

Back than Meridian was still a Heavily Segregated town, as was still most of the south. Black Americans who were serving this country stationed there were denied the freedoms and human rights they were serving under the constitution and flag for. When going into town they had seperate, and labeled, drinking fountains, movie theaters, eating establishments............................................................., everything!

After leaving there, a years tour, I went to Panama for the next year and a half. Panama is a country of many Black Latin Americans, yet right from the get go the Racist Attitude from the States hit.

On arriving and checking in, though being a seaman gunnersmate, I was to work at the Waterfront for the first couple of months, taking over the Base Armory later as the Gunnersmate running it was preparing to leave. One of the first questions asked, by the Navy LT, I was to work under, when checking in with him was "If I minded working under Black Navy Chiefs?", you had to see the way he looked to get the point, I sat there and just looked at him for a few than simply asked "Why?", his response was that there were two Black Chiefs in charge of the Waterfront. My response back was a simple "Nope" and again "Why?", no answer came.

Leaving there, and heading into my last year, I was sent to CounterInsurgency training in Coronado Calif, than In-Country Vietnam. Let me just say here, there are a huge number of Black and Brown and other skin color Americans, who served in Vietnam, whose names now are Honored on "The Wall", and if you pay any attention an awful lot who are dying and being maimed in todays Occupations!

Who are those accusing others, especially today, of not being Patriotic, why the Lily White Crowd!

Who are the ones condemning others for not wearing a tiny lapel flag pin, why the Lily White Crowd!

Who are the ones condemning Mrs. Obama and not understanding her statement of the History we now are living, why the Lily White Crowd!

Who are mostly the ones slapping cheap magnetic ribbons, now disappearing, on their vehicles to show their patriotism? and support?, why the Lily White Crowd!

Who are the ones Condemning Others for not walking in lockstep to their definition of patriotism, why the Lily White Crowd!

I could go on but I Hope you get the Picture I'm trying to paint here, We're Still A Racists Nation, and not only as to color of ones skin, Racism covers Hate of Others under any Reason, being Intolerant towards those who Share not only this Country but this Planet!

Happy Flag Day Everyone!!

And for you Fathers, Happy Fathers Day tomorrow!

Sean Penn, USA

Penn Says It ALL

All Their Worried About Is Individual Legacies??

We have Tens of Thousands Dead and Maimed!

A small country, loaded with historic value of the origins on Man, Destroyed and in Destructive Turmoil, threatening the whole region, while we threaten others in the region ourselves!

We have awakened long surpressed hostilities, started long ago by others, who tried to control the peoples of the region, dictating to them how they should exist, forcing through destructive violence the ideologies of those others who tried to control!

And all those who were at the helm of this destruction, preaching fear and lies, can think of is Their Legacy?????

This Washington Post article tells us all most of us already know An Exit Toward Soul-Searching
As Bush Staffers Leave, Questions About Legacy Abound

and need to know about this incompetent administration, filled with lyers and frankly thieves!

It starts out with this:

It had been four days since Meghan O'Sullivan left her job at the White House. Just four days since she gave up her Secret Service pass, her classified hard drive and her entree to the president. Four days since she gave up any day-to-day responsibility for Iraq.

Too soon, evidently, for the dreams to end. "In fact, I was dreaming about Iraq last night," she said. "And I woke up and thought, 'When do you think this will stop?' "

Hey Meghan, "It Should Never Have Started!"!

And than a short distance down gives us this quote by one of the most destructive, criminal, political hacks, to inhabit the Peoples House, bringing shame and the downward spiral of this countries political process and stature in the world:

Karl Rove feels guilty for leaving in a time of war, yet he wants to reinvent himself as more than simply "the Bush guy."

So that's what the karl thinks about, reinvention!

While he's not the only one who has disgraced this Nation, and it's citizens, this administration and congresses are loaded with the Guilty, the karl's legacy will have two writes, one of fact the other of propaganda and double speak, as will all the others!

We have an opposition political party, and a large section of it's base, who don't see the real damage done to this countries ideology and fragility, the experiment of this type of Democracy is wavering towards destruction, if no one is held accountable for all that has taken place!

If there ever were a Real Reason for not only a real Impeachment, not only of a President but the removal of a whole administration, a coup if you will by the citizens, than Indictments and Trials, this is the time!

Yet all many think about, and are really worried about, is that if going after the Guilty, proof is already out there on a number of charges, they will severly damage their own chances of Control in Washington, their own legacies!

We, as responsible adults, have now left, for the coming generations, not a better world, but one of further destruction and turmoil. They will be cleaning up the mess we have left for decades, that is if they recognize that which we have done, and are not doing. Or they will take the same destructive ideologies as their own leaving those that follow them into an abyss of never ending hostilities of man and destruction of this planet, not by some spiritual being but by us so called intelligent beings!

Legacies-Arrogance,Apathy,Corruption,Incompetence,Self Centered,Inhumanity....................................!!!!!!!

Thanks For The Memories....

A Quick History Of Saddam....

As Eric, of bushflash, made awhile back, he's even brought it up on his home page top post:

Thanks For The Memories