jim's op/ed

I fear the neocons!
Don't you?

Scott Ritter is exactly right. If left to their own devices they will employ nuclear devises and open the door to an apocalyptic nuclear response. The nuclear genie WILL NOT go back in the bottle and the contamination will be shared by the entire world. As Mr. Ritter states go ahead, "pick your city" because there will be a reprisal as the necons "march down this path of insanity".
The neocons CANNOT be trusted.

BushCo has already crossed this line with use of "bunker busters" in Iraq contaminated with depleted uranium and just to make things interesting they also sell them to Israel. These weapons are as illegal as the US occupation of Iraq or Israel's occupation of Palestine and these actions are considered crimes against humanity by the UN.

You have to wonder what are they thinking and who do they serve?
I realize the primary motive is to feed their Lord and Master (the Military Industrial Complex) but do they have to kill so many people and pollute the planet all for corporate profit?
Part of the problem is when you appoint people to power that have dual citizenship. They clearly have another agenda that doesn't have anything to do with protecting the USA and the safety of the citizens.

Dual Citizenship- Should we be worried?
You damn right we should!
Check out the link above.. This list is a long one and most hold positions in US government with devout loyalties to Israel.
All the PNAC boys have more loyalty to the Israel lobby than the US and you know what a great job they have done manipulating media and events towards the occupation of Iraq. With boneheads like Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle giving advise and writing policy , the icing on the proverbial cake that celebrates 'Dumb Ass' is indeed a dumb ass extraordinaire, Douglas Feith.
On the other hand even more disturbing is Chertoff who has no business heading up Homeland Security and Mukasey has no business being the Attorney General. The threat of dual citizenship and the security of this nation reflected in that here are two dangerous people that hold dangerous positions of power.
Admittedly I am confused, does this reflect how perverted the republican agenda is or the neocons?

Our system of government is so fucked up, the people in power are dangerous and the Congress won't do anything about it..
and again... The neocons CANNOT be trusted.

This morning I stumbled upon a most grand event, a War Crimes Conference being held today and tomorrow in Andover Mass. The event will feature a "who's who"of political and legal minds.

"The conference will explore the legal grounds for, and plan for, obtaining prosecutions of President Bush and top officials of his Administration for war crimes."

Perhaps the most encouraging words I've read in years.

Here is a live feed link @ Ustream.TV..
Click the link and then about half way down the page on the left are 14 clips.
They are arranged newest from Sunday to oldest at the beginning on Saturday. It's a little confusing as they are not tagged with descriptions and a couple have little or no content and one has no sound. If you do not like the format with streaming comments on the right you can click the link "warcrimes Video Clips"in the Show info box and that will take you to a page with the clips (and you can change the arrangement) and a simpler screen page.

*UPDATE*
Here is better link.. The Real News Network.. and they even have sound..

Live TV by UstreamThere are a number of speakers, some are writers and journalists, some are lawyers and some are academics. The clips are about half an hour to an hour or more but well worth your time. There is also Q&A with the audience. Some was not pertinent to the point of the conference but it was encouraging to see how many different organizations shared interest in one way or another.

things I didn't know..
Peter Weiss (Center for Constitutional Rights) stated that in 1995 at the International Court (Hague) declared nuclear weapons illegal. He said they determined "the threat and use of nuclear weapons to be a shock to the conscience".
Mark Anderson (American Free Press) stated the 4000 plus reported deaths of soldiers in Iraq represents those "killed in action" and not those that died after the fact which would bring the number up to 160, 000 plus.

It's hard to get an accurate report on the number of civilians that have died but the number appears to be somewhere between 655,000 and 1.2 million. This makes me sick.

I certainly hope this cause sprouts wings and SOON!
It is hard to comprehend why Bush hasn't been stopped and why the Congress continues to fund this illegal occupation. As long as the military industrial complex continues to rule corporate America through Congress and their lobbyist cohorts, we can only expect more of the same.

Mr. McCain has chosen Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin as his VP running mate and the media is loving it.
If you thought George W. Bush gave the talk shows comedic fodder through a never ending onslaught of stupid decisions and pointless appointments then hold on for John McCain.
These guys never cease to amaze me.

from TPM..Getting Real on Palin..
"So let's put this all together.

We rely on elected officials not to use the power of their office to pursue personal agendas or vendettas. It's called an abuse of power. There is ample evidence that Palin used her power as governor to get her ex-brother-in-law fired. When his boss refused to fire him, she fired his boss. She first denied Monegan's claims of pressure to fire Wooten and then had to amend her story when evidence proved otherwise. The available evidence now suggests that she 1) tried to have an ex-relative fired from his job for personal reasons, something that was clearly inappropriate, and perhaps illegal, though possibly understandable in human terms, 2) fired a state official for not himself acting inappropriately by firing the relative, 3) lied to the public about what happened and 4) continues to lie about what happened.

These are, to put it mildly, not the traits or temperament you want in someone who could hold the executive power of the federal government"

Somebody didn't do their homework..

Did they even begin the vetting process?

Governor Palin is apparently an outdoorsman as well..

This from The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund...

Shocking Choice by John McCain

WASHINGTON-- Senator John McCain just announced his choice for running mate: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. To follow is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund.

“Senator McCain’s choice for a running mate is beyond belief. By choosing Sarah Palin, McCain has clearly made a decision to continue the Bush legacy of destructive environmental policies.

“Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska’s coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration.

“This is Senator McCain’s first significant choice in building his executive team and it’s a bad one. It has to raise serious doubts in the minds of voters about John McCain’s commitment to conservation, to addressing the impacts of global warming and to ensuring our country ends its dependency on oil.”

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The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund (www.defendersactionfund.org) provides a powerful voice in Washington to Americans who value our conservation heritage. Through grassroots lobbying, issue advocacy and political campaigns, the Action Fund champions those laws and lawmakers that protect wildlife and wild places while working against those that do them harm.

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A little more about Ms. Palin...