What Does it Cost to Change the World? from WikiLeaks on Vimeo.

Via Postal Mail - You can post a donation via good old fashion postal mail to: WikiLeaks (or any suitable name likely to avoid interception in your country), BOX 4080, Australia Post Office - University of Melbourne Branch, Victoria 3052, Australia

What Does it Cost to Change the World? from WikiLeaks on Vimeo.

Via Postal Mail - You can post a donation via good old fashion postal mail to: WikiLeaks (or any suitable name likely to avoid interception in your country), BOX 4080, Australia Post Office - University of Melbourne Branch, Victoria 3052, Australia

Friday, December 29, 2006

 

Mr. Irving Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr.

In the run up to the War on Iraq, President G. W. Bush and his administration claimed that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons of mass destruction. As evidence at that time the President told the public that Uranium yellowcake from Niger was transported to Iraq for refinement to use in weapons. There were even a series of forged Nigerian documents that were "leaked" to the press. But when Ambassador Joe Wilson spoke up saying that there was no evidence "yellowcake pipeline" or of any such weapons of mass destruction, his wife was attacked by the Bush administration. New York columnist Robert Novak, while writing on the choice of Wilson for the Niger mission, disclosed that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, worked for the CIA. This disclosure of classified information was a clear breach of our national security

Outing Plame as an operative was disastrous to U.S. National Security, driving the network of African informants underground, and drying up sources of information around the globe. Agents now realize that they can not trust the administration to keep their identities secret, and they try to factor in the new political forces at play, potentially undermining our ability to gather critical information about any real security threats.

This treasonous act was eventually investigated and traced back to Karl Rove, President G. W. Bush's political advisor, and the only way to keep Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney from testifying under oath for the Grand Jury was to offer up a scapegoat, enter Mr. Irving Lewis Libby.

"Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information"
Libby "testified to a federal grand jury that he had been 'authorized' by Cheney and other White House 'superiors' in the summer of 2003 to disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case to go to war with Iraq, according to attorneys familiar with the matter, and to court records," - Murray Waas reported February 9, 2006, in the National Journal.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

 

American Values

President Jimmy Carter's Book
on American Values



Listen to John and Elizabeth Edwards Podcast #022


 

The Insurrection Act

On September 30, 2006, the Congress modified the Insurrection Act as part of the 2007 Defense Authorization Bill. Section 1076 of the new law changes Sec. 333 of the "Insurrection Act," and widens the President's ability to deploy troops within the United States to enforce the laws. Under this act, the President may also deploy troops as a police force during a natural disaster, epidemic, serious public health emergency, terrorist attack, or other condition, when the President determines that the authorities of the state are incapable of maintaining public order. The bill also modified Sec. 334 of the Insurrection Act, giving the President authority to order the dispersal of either insurgents or "those obstructing the enforcement of the laws."
The new law changed the name of the chapter from "Insurrection" to "Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order."

There will come a day, when the next major "terrorist event" happens, that the US Government will advance it's military upon the citizens of some American state or city. At that time women and children will die, and that kind of "Collateral Damage", which the US regularly inflicts on people of other nations, will be denounced and feared, but it will be too late. Our rights under law are gone.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

 

Watch NOW -


This weekend this award winning PBS program examines the pre-war build up of skewed information about Iraq.


Watch the video (22:06), and read the complete documentation as the links supply.

Artificial Intelligence?
Producer: Bryan Myers
Editor: Judith Wolff

On the third anniversary of former Secretary of State Colin Powell's landmark speech to the United Nations laying out the Bush Administration’s case for the Iraq war, a high-level insider who helped write the address makes a startling claim. Powell’s then Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson says that what he later found out shocked him: that much of Powell’s speech was false. "I participated in a hoax on the American people, the international community, and the United Nations Security Council," he says. NOW reports on the serious doubts that existed about the key evidence being used by the American government at the very time Powell's speech was being planned and delivered.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

 

The Magnificent Seven - Understand the life of a mercenary.


Wednesday, December 20, 2006

 

Find out who YOUR Representatives are and Contact THEM

You hired them, now tell them what you want them to do!
All you have to do is type in your ZIP code. Save their phone number so you can reach them quickly.

ZIP Code 92109 splits legislative districts (represented by *). Please enter your full 9-digit ZIP code (ZIP+4) below.

President & Congress:
President
  • George Bush (R)

Senators
  • Dianne Feinstein (D)
  • Barbara Boxer (D)

Representatives*
  • Brian Bilbray (R-50)
  • Susan Davis (D-53)

Get their e-mail address, there telephone numbers, and their mailing address. Then contact them directly each week.

Demand the repeal of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, because it violates the Bill of Rights.

The Democrats have a majority in both houses of congress (for now). Demand they investigate the current administration, the war on Iraq, and No-Bid Contracting. Stop out-sourcing US national security.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

 

Election 2008

We have one chance to survive the George W. Bush Administration, we must elect competent leaders in 2008. The mess they'll need to clean up, the massive debt they'll have to deal with, the world they will inherit will be ugly.

Having said that view these images:




In my opinion these are the two most capable people to do the job of leading this USA.
One of them should be the next President of the U.S., the other should be Vice President.
Click on their pictures and explore their web sites. Then register to vote.

 

Blackwater In Iraq

I have seen so many movies about the brave men who fight and die to protect our freedoms. These guys resemble none of them.


American hero$ - these guys are very brave (until the turkys start shooting back). US Blackwater Contractors on duty in Najaf, Iraq, 2004.

How to murder civilian fishermen for $200,000 per year. - Now will somebody tell me why doesn't them guys on the ground shoot the glass helecopter?

Who left the prison door open. - Mom would be soooo proud.

We raise them, we train them, we send them over there, and hope they don't come back.


Saturday, December 16, 2006

 

Robert Greenwald is a HERO

Robert Greenwald is a hero, he uses his talent for good, but that is my opinion. Figure it out for yourself.

Robert Greenwald speaks truth to power

Greenwald on MSNBC

How the IRAQ FOR SALE documentary was financed.

Robert Greenwald on ABC News

Why make a documentary on Walmart? 1,2,3.

Interview with Ricks, author of FISACO


 

Energy is finite, Creativity is not

Many people argue that the War on Iraq is a product of the American need for cheap energy. They think that the real reason we choose to make war is to secure Iraq's oil, and potentially that of its neighbors.

There is no debate that middle eastern oil is a very influential political force. Witness the Saudi Royal influence on the Bush family by the fact that the Bin laden Family were the only people allowed to fly private planes in the U.S. for the three days after 9/11/01.

However, if oil wealth is influencing our foreign policy, it is only due to a lack of imagination on the part of the energy producers. A new book from the Rocky Mountain Institute, a an independent, entrepreneurial, nonprofit organization, claims that energy dependence is a choice, not a matter of fate.

"The only rule, is there are no rules." - Avory Lovens - CEO Rocky Mountain Institute, http://www.rmi.org/
New Book: "The Oil End Game"
http://www.oilendgame.com/


Written by Amory B. Lovins, E. Kyle Datta, Odd-Even Bustnes, Jonathan G. Koomey and Nathan J. Glasgow; edited by Beatrice T. Aranow; designed by Ben Emerson.

Downloadable files:
Executive Summary (PDF-150k)
Table of Contents (PDF-188k)
Additional Resources

Winning the Oil Endgame: Innovation for Profits, Jobs, and Security (www.oilendgame.org) offers a coherent strategy for ending oil dependence, starting with the United States but applicable worldwide. There are many analyses of the oil problem. This synthesis is the first roadmap of the oil solution—one led by business for profit, not dictated by government for reasons of ideology. This roadmap is independent, peer-reviewed, written for business and military leaders, and co-funded by the Pentagon. It combines innovative technologies and new business models with uncommon public policies: market-oriented without taxes, innovation-driven without mandates, not dependent on major (if any) national legislation, and designed to support, not distort, business logic.

Two centuries ago, the first industrial revolution made people a hundred times more productive, harnessed fossil energy for transport and production, and nurtured the young U.S. economy. Then, over the past 145 years, the Age of Oil brought unprecedented mobility, globe-spanning military power, and amazing synthetic products.

But at what cost? Oil, which created the sinews of our strength, is now becoming an even greater source of weakness: its volatile price erodes prosperity; its vulnerabilities undermine security; its emissions destabilize climate. Moreover the quest to attain oil creates dangerous new rivalries and tarnishes America’s moral standing. All these costs are rising. And their root causes—most of all, inefficient light trucks and cars—also threaten the competitiveness of U.S. auto-making and other key industrial sectors.

The cornerstone of the next industrial revolution is therefore winning the Oil Endgame. And surprisingly, it will cost less to displace all of the oil that the United States now uses than it will cost to buy that oil. Oil’s current market price leaves out its true costs to the economy, national security, and the environment. But even without including these now “externalized” costs, it would still be profitable to displace oil completely over the next few decades. In fact, by 2025, the annual economic benefit of that displacement would be $133 billion gross (or $70 billion net of the displacement’s costs). To achieve this does not require a revolution, but merely consolidating and accelerating trends already in place: the amount of oil the economy uses for each dollar of GDP produced, and the fuel efficiency of light vehicles would need only to improve about three-fifths as quickly as they did in response to previous oil shocks.

Published by Rocky Mountain Institute (2004). Softcover, 309 pages.
ISBN#: 1-881071-10-3

Winning the Oil Endgame is available through bookstores in the United Kingdom, British Commonwealth (except Canada), and European Union exclusively through Earthscan.

 

SAVIOR - a Mercenary's Story



See the life for yourself.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

 

Free Screening of IRAQ FOR SALE in San Diego

FREE FILM SCREENING, Wednesday, December 20, 2006

IRAQ FOR SALE
San Diego Screening Set For
Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2006
San Diego — Robert Greenwald’s much anticipated film Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers will have a San Diego screening Wednesday night, December 20, 2006.

The documentary, Greenwald’s follow-up to his critically-acclaimed Uncovered: The War on Iraq, is a searing indictment of the war profiteering perpetrated by four companies – Blackwater, CACI, KBR/Halliburton, and Titan – operating in Iraq.

The screening, on Wednesday, December 20, 2006, at 7:00 pm, will take place at Santa Clara Rec. Center, 1008 Santa Clara Pl., San Diego, CA, 92109. It joins thousands of other Iraq for Sale grassroots screenings across the country.

Please RSVP to attend. You can quickly RSVP online, Click Here.

IRAQ FOR SALE takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children who have been changed forever as a result of profiteering in the reconstruction of Iraq. IRAQ FOR SALE is a movie about corporate traitors stealing American money and spending American lives – exploiting the Iraq War to make a killing for themselves.

More information is available at http://www.iraqforsale.org
What: San Diego screening Uncovered and Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers
Where: Santa Clara Rec. Center, 1008 Santa Clara Pl., San Diego, CA, 92109
When: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 – 7:00 - 10:00 PM
IraqForSale.ORG/screenings.php

Monday, December 11, 2006

 

Corporate Warriors

A security analyst at the Brookings Institution, Singer raises disturbing new issues in this comprehensive analysis of a post-Cold War phenomenon: private companies offering specialized military services for hire.


 

RIP HABEUS CORPUS 1215-2006

Military Commissions Act of 2006 is ANTI-constitutional, and it destroys America, by creating a legal precedent which allows the U.S. government to imprison and torture U.S. Citizens without cause, warrant, or access to the courts.

Watch these videos:

  • Keith Obermann's original commentary

  • The Day King George Was Crowned...

  • the death of habeas corpus

  • Keith Olbermann's Special Comment - Have You No Decency, Sir

    RIP HABEUS CORPUS 1215-2006

KEITH OBERMANN'S EXCELLENT TRANSCRIPT (worth reprinting here VIDEO AT LINK):


  •  

    Civics Lessons

    For those that hadn't heard about this, Dryfuss appeared on Bill Maher's show this past Friday and he discussed a meeting that is to be held with the Martha's Vineyard school system concerning the need to bring the teaching of Civics back into the classroom. To that end, I wrote to the Martha's Vineyard newspaper to see if I could get anymore information about this meeting. Here is the response I received from them this morning.
    -------
    Folks

    In case you are getting questions about the Richard Dryfuss Civics
    conference, it is being held at the Katherine Cornell Theater in Tisbury
    on December 6th from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. We are still working out all the
    details; however, it appears that Richard discussed the conference on
    national TV and we are getting calls. The idea is for Richard and a group
    of knowledgeable civics education folks to discuss the importance of
    teaching civics and come up with a list of follow-up ideas to get the
    topic back into the curriculum in a bigger way.

    We hope to have the conference available on MVTV and on the web, but
    details are still being worked out at this time. I will have a list of the
    "important people" who will be in attendance, but I have been told that
    Richard asked people like George Will and Bob Bennett to attend.

    I'll keep you posted.

    Jim

    James H. Weiss, EdD
    Superintendent of Schools
    Martha's Vineyard Public Schools

    ----------------------

    The Martha's Vineyard Civics Conference

    What is Civics?
    Is it necessary?
    If it is necessary can we revive it?
    If we revive it then how do we do it and when?

    The Martha's Vineyard Public Schools and Richard Dreyfuss invite you to
    join a Conversation about Civics.

    In America, the public schools were founded to educate young people and
    produce capable citizens for the country. Today, testing is driving the
    curriculum making it inevitable that schools have reduced or dropped
    civics instruction. This reduction in focus has all but eliminated the
    tools necessary to run a democracy: dissent, debate, logic, reason,
    civility and critical thinking. While many national leaders and educators
    have discussed the importance of teaching such tools, few are able to do
    anything to fix what is potentially a crisis of epic proportion. Richard
    Dreyfuss and the Martha's Vineyard Public Schools would like to bring this
    conversation into focus and discuss the necessity of teaching such tools.

    To start this important process, we are inviting a select group of
    educators, administrators, students, scholars and members of the community
    to participate in the discussion with hopes to develop and pilot a project
    on Martha's Vineyard using technology and storytelling to engage, inform
    and inspire a new generation of Americans in what it takes to be a citizen
    of a true democracy.

    Please join us on Wednesday, December 6, 2006 from 7 - 9 PM at the
    Katharine Cornell Theater, (Tisbury Town Hall) 51 Spring Street, Vineyard
    Haven, MA.

    We will be filming the event: A signed release will be required.
    Refreshments will be served.

    Please call the Office of the Superintendent of Schools at 508.693.2007 to
    confirm your attendance.HH

     

    The SEIGE

    Movie: The SIEGE - 1998
    Screen Play by
    Director Edward Zwick
    Writer Lawrence Wright
    Menno Meyjes



    Watch These Scenes:

    #16 A Plan of Attack

    Posse Comitatus - It is illegal to use US military troops against our own people (the law doesn't cover about Private Corporate Armies or "Security Consultants").


    Habeas Corpus - A writ of habeas corpus is a court order addressed to a prison official (or other custodian) ordering that a prisoner be brought before the court for determination of whether that person is serving a lawful sentence and/or whether he or she should be released from custody. President Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus under marshal law in 1862, and arrested 13,000 peace activists.

    War Powers Act - The War Powers Act of 1973 (Public Law 93-148) limits the power of the President of the United States to wage war without the approval of Congress. The War Powers Act of 1973 is also referred to as the War Powers Resolution (Sec. 1). The Resolution is sometimes erroneously referred to as simply the War Powers Act, but that is an older law intended to define limits on trade with enemies during wartime.

    "The military is a broad sword ... Do not consider them as an option." - General Devereau

    "Each cell works independently of the others." - CIA Agent, Sharon Bricher

    (The western ideal of individual independence causes great fear in those societies that require obedience to survive. Here we see that mirror reflection of our western value turned against us, and paradoxically our institutions of power are threatened by individuals and small groups of people who care deeply about changing the world, just as we once did. The question becomes, if you have a just society, why would anyone wish to do violence to your people? - mer)

    #23 Time to Suffer
    "Palestinian Authority is producing good intel with water; of course there is cutting. It's extremely messy." - Army Lieutenant proposing torture

    "Are you people insane? What are you talking about?" - FBI Agent, Anthony Hubbard.
    "The time has come for one man to suffer in order to save hundreds of lives." - General Devereau
    "One man, what about two? How about six? How about public executions?" - Hub

    "What if what they really want is for us to herd children into stadiums like we are doing, and put soldiers on the street, and have Americans looking over their shoulders; bend the law, shred the constitution just a little bit?
    "Because if we tourture him, General, we do that. And every thing that we have bleed and fought and died for is over.
    "And they've won. They've already won!" - Agent Hubbard

    Screaming
    "He knew nothing." - CIA Agent, Sharon Bricher, about the accused terrorist, Tariq Huseni, an American Citizen
    Bang.

    The Military Commissions Act - signed into law in October 2006 by President George W. Bush, retroactively makes torture legal. It also ends the great writ of Habeas Corpus, even for U.S. Citizens.

    #27 The Terrorist Within
    "It is because of the money. You believe that money is power. Belief is power." - Samier, the terrorist cell
    "Don't tell me we financed your operation." - CIA Agent, Sharon Bricher
    "The world is a wheel." - Samier

    #29 It is all over
    "Order your men to lower their wepons, Hubbard." - General Devereau
    "Can't do that, General." - FBI Agent, Anthony Hubbard
    "Do it now." - General Devereau
    "The Law States..." - Agent Hubbard
    "I am the law. Right here, right now, I am the law!" - General Devereau
    "You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to a fair trial. You have the right not to be tortured, not to be murdered, rights that you took away from Tariq Husseni. You have those rights because of the men who came before you who wore that uniform. Because of the men and women that are here right now, waiting for you to give them the order to fire.
    "Give them the order to fire, General." - Agent Hubbard
    "Do you think that I would hesitate to kill you or every other Federal Agent that's in this room, if I thought it was in the best interest of my country?" - General Devereau
    "No, no, no you wouldn't hesitate, I know that. But they might." - Agent Hubbard
    "Give the order. Make murderers out of these young kids. Give the order." - - Agent Hubbard, whispering
    "Give them the order, General!" - Agent Hubbard

    The Logan Act - is a United States federal law that forbids private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. It was passed in 1799 and last amended in 1994.

    The most interesting thing about this movie is its present predictions, it was written and produced in the late 1990's, several years before the attacks 9/11 and the subsequent wars. It is also interesting to note that their are many references to IRAQ, and all the terrorists in the movie seem to be Sunnis and come from Iraq (the movie's writers obviously considering the first Iraq war 1991, and the 1993 attack on the NY WTC). This may have something to do with the broadly held mistaken belief that Iraq had something to do with 9/11. It is also interesting to note that the movie immediately goes to the conclusion that the U.S. Army would attack U.S. Civilians and suspend Habeas Corpus, when in actuality, the Army attacked Afghanistan and Iraq, and only later suspended Habeas Corpus took U.S. Citizens to be held and tortured in offshore places like Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

     

    Watch Frontline

    Frontline did a great job of exposing the level of this problem.
    Here you can watch the special report.

     

    War Profiteers

    Please go to the link below and watch the video.
    Iraq For Sale
    Thank you.

    If you would like to see the entire film in San Diego
    Free Movie Screening

    Sunday, December 10, 2006

     

    Lībertās = Freedom plus Responsibility

    The word Liberal comes from the Latin "Lībertās" meaning Freedom. Yet, the ancient meaning was used to name the offspring of free men, their children were called "Libri". Therefore the implication that in creating children you are somehow creating more freedom, creating free men, not slaves.

    The thing about our children is that it is hard to deny their humanity, their person-hood, their fundamental identity with us. It would be difficult to demonize a child and alienate it from its parents. That is the meaning of children is it not? Continuation of the self. To accept that your child has the same existential life-force as yourself is an instinctual and necessary condition for the continuation of the species. But to grasp that sameness intellectually is only the beginning. What happens if your child is wedded your enemy and has your grand children, then by extension your grandchild is your equal, and it can be inferred that your enemy is too. As are your parents, siblings, and their mates and offspring. The ultimate outcome of this line of thought is self evident.

    It is my belief that this is the meaning Thomas Jefferson was using when he wrote in the American Declaration of Independence that "All men are created equal ... with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Thus, I think of liberty not as just some petty freedom to do what I choose, or freedom from repression by others, but as a combination of individual rights and responsibilities within society. Each of us is sovergin.

    Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. Liberalism has its roots in the Western Age of Enlightenment. Broadly speaking, liberalism emphasizes individual rights. It seeks a society characterized by freedom of thought for individuals, limitations on power (especially of government and religion), the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, a market economy that supports free private enterprise, and a transparent system of government in which the rights of all citizens are protected. In modern society, liberals favor a liberal democracy with open and fair elections, where all citizens have equal rights by law and an equal opportunity to succeed. Liberalism rejected many foundational assumptions which dominated most earlier theories of government, such as the Divine Right of Kings, hereditary status, and established religion. Fundamental human rights that all liberals support include the right to life, liberty, and property. A broader use of the term liberalism is in the context of liberal democracy (see also constitutionalism). In this sense of the word, it refers to a democracy in which the powers of government are limited and the rights of citizens are legally defined; this applies to nearly all Western democracies. Liberalism also emphasizes equality of opportunity, and not equality of outcome, citing the desire for a meritocracy.

    Political liberalism is the belief that individuals are the basis of law and society, and that society and its institutions exist to further the ends of individuals, without showing favor to those of higher social rank. Magna Carta is an example of a political document that asserted the rights of individuals even above the prerogatives of monarchs. Political liberalism stresses the social contract, under which citizens make the laws and agree to abide by those laws. It is based on the belief that individuals know best what is best for them. Political liberalism enfranchises all adult citizens regardless of sex, race, or economic status. Political liberalism emphasizes the rule of law and supports liberal democracy.

    The impact of liberalism on the modern world is profound. The ideas of individual liberties, personal dignity, free expression, religious tolerance, private property, universal human rights, transparency of government, limitations on government power, popular sovereignty, national self-determination, privacy, "enlightened" and "rational" policy, the rule of law, fundamental equality, a free market economy, and free trade were all radical notions some 250 years ago.

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