Tuesday, August 12, 2008.  Chaos and violence continue, the refugee crisis continues (though we're supposed to forget), the US military announces another death, and more.   Starting with war resistance.  Rich Droste is a US war resister in Canada.  Law is Cool interviewed Droste for their podcast Friday.   Rich Droste: My name is Richard Drew Droste, the second.  I'm age 22.  I've lived in Canada since March 7th   Law is Cool: What brings you to Canada?   Rich Droste: It's a long, long. long journey and a long and winding and road that led me to Canada.  I joined the army at the age of 17 for many reasons -- mostly to escape the lifestyle I was living, the promise of education, the pursuit of something more grand than what I was living.  I was homeless at the time, living in my car for the previous two years, still trying to get my own education and just maintain a working lifestyle.  They provided me with so many benefits of what I now know is half-truths obviously but didn't at the time.  And at the age of 17, I was able to make that one decision to give my life for the country that I barely knew anything about but you're not old to make any other adult decision in the US at that age, right?  So I joined as a combat engineer time at this time, believing that there was this huge terrorist threat on our nation, believing that America could not wrong type mentality, you know, I followed CNN and Fox 'News' pretty much for my whole life and, you know, if you don't look for an outside source you're not going to find it.  And if you're happy in your bubble why burst it, right? So the further I get into the military I become more educated with what's really going on all across the world and not just in Iraq or just Afghanistan but also the human trafficking and prostitution rings around military institutions across the world. The fact that we're standing up for human rights and freedom to me and seeing these things happen in Korea while I was stationed there was my first big question against the military and I basically got told to shut and try not to fix anything that your pay grade can't handle, you know.  They say they don't support it if you ask them and they'll be quoted saying they don't support it but during the day there's regulations and only US soldiers and citizens can go inside these clubs and these bars that contain all this human trafficking and prostitution.  All of their money for those rings are coming from soldiers' pockets. It shows that there may not be verbal support but there's definitely financial support, right?  And that was my first big problem.  Around my second year in the military I became a Conscientious Objector the war in Iraq because of the illegalities, the unhumane activities that are happening there.  The just unusual behavior -- the way we treat men, the way we treat women.   Law is Cool: What does it mean to be a Conscientious Objector for those of us who don't know?   Rich Droste: Within the military, there's a system so if you want to be a non-combatant, this is supposed to be a legal thing.  You can file this Conscientious Objector packet which states that you are against the dualities of the war that the efforts working for and then you can work as a noncombatant inside the US military such as a cook, a medic, an X-ray technician, whatever it may be, there's numerous jobs and there supposed to supply you with that.  Well around a year after I filled out that paperwork, it was mysteriously lost.  And I was told this with a wink from the person I was asking.  So it just goes to show they weren't trying to put that much effort into helping me with this Conscientious Objector packet.  Around my third year, six month, which meant I only had about six months left on my original contract, I found out I was getting stop-lossed and sent to Iraq.  By this time I had already stated I was an objector and I would have no part in this war, if anything I would like to end this war -- you know what I mean  -- I'm not going to fight in it.  And they said you go to this war, you go jail, your only other option is to re-enlist , signing on a new contract, and get a non-combatant job, right?   So those are my options.  I decide through friends and people that were looking out for me honestly that had no role over what happens to me they advised me to re-enlist for a different job and I did. I thought it was a smart thing to do.  So I re-enlist to be a computer networker, well a systems operator analyst, it's all computer networking, IP configuration, connecting servers, routers and such.   Law is Cool: What was your reason for choosing that kind of a job?   Rich Droste: It was -- it was mostly just maintaining networks for the generals and superiors that are going over there anyway.  Which I didn't know when I signed up for the job.  The reason I signed up for the job was because I thought it was a communication job.  So I could communicate.   Law is Cool: But you probably wouldn't be in the front lines with something like that?   Rich Droste: Absolutely.  And by my understanding, I wouldn't be participating in any combatant side of the military.  Well my last week of training, I'm about to graduate this new course, and I find out that I'm going to 4th RTB which stands for Ranger Training Battalion.  So not only am I training combatants, I'm training elite combatants to go fight in this war and I told them I wouldn't have any part of it.  So there I got to try to fill out another Conscientious Objector packet.  It's denied because I don't meet the quote-unquote "criteria."  I ask them what the criteria is, they can't give me an answer.   Then I go to mental health and explain my reasoning behind all this.  They try to put me on sleeping aids and anti-depressants saying I'll get over it, I just need rest, and to lighten up.  And I was told to "suck it up and drive on."  And that was their cure-all answer for that.  And then I went to a chaplain which is a preacher, a priest, and he finds your religious denomination.  At this time, I was still very much agnostic which is I believe in a higher power but I think there's too much out there for the human mind to comprehend really. And I'm talking to him and he tried to explain to me that God justified this war and wouldn't harm us or call us sinners for our wrong doings to the Iraqi people -- civilian and terrorist alike because humans are humans, regardless of their decisions, right?  And uh, so that's what he tried to convince me.  I talked to him numerous occasions and I couldn't get anything out of him or any help. After I went up and down the chain of command and tried to get this non-combatant job and after so much so much dedication I actually went AWOL  four days after my original ETS date -- so I fulfilled my original contract and I came to Canada.   Law is Cool: Now why Canada?  Why not Mexico?   Rich Droste: There we go, yeah.  That's a great question and that's something I wish more potential resisters would know is  when I was going through this I was looking for other instances where soldiers experienced similar grounds, same thing that happened to me, because I knew  it was happening all across the military .  So I looked up online.  What better source, right? So I find there's all these soldiers and there's so many thousands living in the States  and there was anywhere from 200 to 500 living in Canada.  I found that there was about 50 that applied for refugee status in Canada. And the things that they were doing, the political aspects, the education . . . I didn't come here to hide.  I came here very well knowing that I could be deported and sentenced in the United States for my 'wrong doing' and that's -- I'm fine with that.  I accept that. I came here to educate the people.  I came here to open people's views and even if they don't understand it, even if they disagree, at least they're not ignorant to the matter.     War resisters in Canada need support and to pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."   There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).   King Abudllah II of Jordan made an unnannounced visit to Baghdad yesterday.  Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) observes, "The visit is the latest in a eries of moves by Arab states that Iraqi and U.S. officials say could improve security and counter the influence of Shiite-led Iran, a player here in economic, diplomatic and security matters."  Lelia Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "Iraq had planned to give the monarch a state welcome but instead the king arrived and left with no fanfare.  The announcement of his visit came as he boarded a plane to leave Iraq." AP notes that "U.S. officials had been urging King Abdullah to visit Iraq to bolster ties between the two countries as part of Washington's campaign to shore up support for the Iraqi government as a counterweight to Iranian influence." Deutsche Welle points out, "Jordan hosts about 500,000 Iraqi refugees who have fled violence in their war-torn country, and Amman has estimated the costs of sheltering them so far at more than 1.3 billion euros ($2 billion)."   Dominique Soquel (WeNews) reports on the Iraqi refugees in Syria where "women [are] barely eking out a living from low-income jobs, international aid and sex work.  Women such as Mohamed Ali, whose husbands are dead, missing or disabled, were hit hardest."  Soquel provides the stories of a number of women such as "Sajida Baha Al Deen, . . . from Mansour, Baghdad, and has been in Damascus for 16 months.  She turned to sex work to provide for herself and her two children. 'What matters is that I am still standing on my feet,' she said after a short storm of tears came and went.  'Something in your sould gets numb.' One year after her husband's death, Shiite militias sprayed her hairdressing salon with bullets and looted the remains. In September 2006, at 2 a.m., 12 masked men barged through her bedroom door threatening to end her life and that of her two Sunni-named Boys, Bakar, now age 9, and Omar, age 10, because her husband was an American collaborating traitor."  The twelve men gang raped her, forced to sign over her home and car to one of them and finally departed her home.   The Iraq War has resulted in an estimated 4 million refugees (internally and externally displaced).  Yesterday it was time for a big press to-do over 250 Iraqi refugees 'returning' from Egypt.  Reality was provided today by IRIN: "At the airport, some of the returnees said they were returning because their savings had run out; others said they had been ill-treated and had no rights in the host countries."  Last Friday, Refugees International issued a statement which included:    Refugees and IDPs know from their contact with friends and family that it is not safe to go home. Violence is still widespread, and basic services such as access to healthcare, clean water or adequate shelter are unavailable in many parts of the country. As the situation in Iraq evolves, it is essential the US Government, the Government of Iraq and other countries in the region do not encourage returns to Iraq until conditions are met for a voluntary, safe and sustainable return process. A rushed premature return process would have disastrous consequences both for the displaced and for the stability of Iraq.   And what is anyone returning to?  Earlier this week, Lara Logan (CBS Evening News) reported on the realities for autistic children in Iraq: No medical care providers.  Logan notes, "Incredibly, the only doctor who did treat it, who founded a medical center in the name of his own autistic son, has fled the country.  He left behind some social workers who try their best to help, but even they haven't been paid in four months."  Rahna Abdul is the only parent for her son Alli and she has no doctors she can turn to and what happens to him if something happens to her?   Rahna Abdul: Who will take care of him if I die for example?  Maybe I go in the street and there is a bomb in my way, and I'll die.    Lara Logan: Especially now?   Rahna Abdul: Especially in these situations, so who would take care of him?  In his situation who would take care of him?"   Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .   Bombings?    Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded three, a Diyala Province assassination attempt on the Governor via a bomber who took his/her own life apparently as well the lives of 3 civilians (seven people were left wounded).  The Governor was unscathed and, Reuters notes, a curfew is in place until tomorrow morning.   Shootings?   Reuters notes 6 family members were shot dead outside of Ramadi.   Corpses?   Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 1 corpse discovered in Baghdad.   Today, the US military announced: "A Multi-National Force - West Marine was killed when his unit was attacked by an enemy force in Anbar Province Aug. 10."  The death was in Tirkrit and two more marines were wounded.  That means 12 US service members have died in Iraq so far this month.  (ICCC says eleven but hasn't noted this death yet.)  Reuters notes 4,139 US service members have died in Iraq since the start of the illegal war (one more than ICCC's current count).   Turning to the US presidential race.  To The Contrary's Bonnie Erbe (writing at US News & World Reports) notes that of the Democratic Party's proposed platform that people are saying "the Clinton camp is quite happy with the platform's including of language to the effect that Clinton placed 18 million 'cracks' in the glass ceiling (an allusion to her winning 18 million votes during the primaries)" and notes JustSayNoDeal's Diane Mantouvalos believes Barack still can't close the deal "because a large chunk of Clinton's 18 million supporters are upset that the Obama campaign has not been more gracious toward Senator Clinton and has done little to reach out to her former supporters."  And possibly it also has something to do with what Erbe notes today, "More evidence of a candidate faux pas. 'O-Force One' as CBS' Allison O'Keefe describes Obama's campaign plane, contains a luxurious section for the candidate more reminiscent of an airborne corporate executive suite than a presidential candidate who has to appeal to working class American voters."  It probably doesn't help that Barack's on yet another vacation -- his third since March -- and that has the Limp Noodle Women Haters ready to scream for Cokie Roberts' head.  On ABC's This Week Sunday, Roberts noted (here for video) that Barack's still "tied in the polls" and yet he's on a "vacation in Hawaii" which "does not make any sense whatsoever."  Limp Noodles think they're offering 'analysis' with non-pith such as "She knows Hawaii's a state!"  They really are pathetic.  Roberts is noting that candidates don't campaign in Hawaii.  (And Barack's not campaigning there.)  No presidential nominee of one of the two primaries has since Richard Nixon (in the run he lost to JFK).  [Ralph Nader campaigned there last month.]  That's not new and it's not news but the Limp Noodles work real hard to act like Cokie's said something crazy.   Hawaii is seen as a Democratic state.  It's not a place where the party thinks their presidential nominee needs to campaign (and Barack is not campaigning there).  Residents in Hawaii feel differently (as they should).  But Cokie's pointing out that, "He should be in Myrtle Beach and, you know, if he's going to take a vacation at this time.  And I just think this is not the time to do that."  Where is Myrtle Beach?  South Carolina.  Now why might Cokie make that statement?  Hmmm.  American Research Group's polling found Barack to have a 5% lead in South Carolina (plus/minus 4%) in June which is not a lead.  In July?  They found McCain to be at 47% to Barack's 45%.  McCain had increased by 3% in their polling while Barack had dropped by 4% and undecided had increased by 1%.  That's one of the better polls for Barack (of reputable pollsters, don't include the hack Zogby).  Rasmussen Reports' June poll found McCain at 48% and Barack at 39% in South Carolina. Public Policy Polls survey last month found McCain at 45% and Barack at 39%. Now why might Cokie Roberts have said Barack -- if he was going to vacation -- would be better off in Myrtle Beach?  You can dispute her conclusions, you just can't pretend you have no idea why she 'went there' unless you're really eager to show how uninformed you are.  It really is amazing when you grasp how damn few women are even invited into the conversation in print or on TV but how, week after damn week, the little Limp Noodles manage to savage women.  They do it over and over.  King Limp Noodle probably exhausted himself today since he rips into Cokie, Maureen Dowd (as always) and Emily Bazelon.  For those needing audio, Roberts also discussed the race on NPR.  We've called out Cokie before here and will do so again.  That's not the issue.  The issue is the Limp Noodles who have to rip apart a woman in order to get it up.  Buy Viagra, you dirty, old men.  No man ever faces the same type of wrath from the Limp Noodles as does every woman.  We've noted that before and they are again eager to play Bash the Bitch again.  It's getting real damn old.   Nothing wrong with holding a woman accountable -- and 'tone' doesn't matter as long as it's applied in the same way (zeal) towards both men and women.  Watch as we go after a woman right now.  Her name is Holley Simmons and she graduated college in 2007 and is now, for all intents and purposes, NPR's acting ombudsperson.  Shocking as that alone is, let's add that she has no journalism degree that, until being hired as an intern by NPR, had no journalism experience.  Yet now she 'handles' listeners complaints in e-mails and at blog posts at the ombudsperson's website.  Consider it fraud.  Completely unqualified to get a job as a reporter, she now 'explains' NPR's journalistic decisions (as she sees them) to listeners.  An English lit major with a sociology minor and no journalsim training.  She 'explained' (justified) NPR's sorry record of covering candidates this year. NPR is failing and having some untrained idiot excuse their failures doesn't make it look any better.  In her laughable blog post, she writes about being told that as the candidates make news, they will be covered.  Barack's on vacation.  His campaign got two stories on Morning Edition today (one on how he'd like to win Virginia -- I'm sure any presidential candidate would like to win Virginia -- I'm not sure how that ever qualifies as news?).   Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader are being shut out of the coverage on what is supposed to be National Public Radio.  (We'll get to Pacifica, hold on.)   At Minnesota's MPR, Tom Scheck manages to post on a Ron Paul event and on Ralph Nader's September 4th super rally in Minneapolis.  Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is planning super rallies. Foon Rhee (Boston Globe) notes the August 27th one in Denver and Nader's call for the opening of the debates.  Sam Youngman (The Hill) also saw the super rallies as news.  As did Jesse A. Hamilton (Hartford Courant).  Ralph is scheduled to be a guest on NPR's Talk of the Nation tomorrow (which will broadcast live from the Newseum in DC).  But Nader was in Canada last night and that's not news to NPR and the super rallies aren't news and . . . Go down the list.  NPR decides what it wants to emphasize and calls it news.  Barr, McKinney and Nader are being shut out.  At a pretty much Democratic geared website, Jeralyn (TalkLeft) noted Ralph's trip to Canada and the comments included some surprisingly supportive remarks.   You should also check out Elaine later tonight.  If she decides to respond to the ridiculous e-mail from a 'journalist,' it should make for interesting reading.  But Queen Norman Approximately.  Yeah, he was lying again.  Yeah, it was embarrassing.  For now, Ava and I will note, Norm was spraying the drapes today and he's never been housebroken, somebody get him to the vet already.  We'll tackle that garbage Sunday.  If you suffered through Queen Norman today and need some reality, check out Katiebird's post (The Confluence).   Ralph Nader: The only time when tens of millions of Americans tune in for a couple of hours and pay attention to politics is during the prime time presidential debates.  For our democracy to survive, prevail and thrive,  we must have an open debate about the challenges we face and the solutions that we must apply.  We really don't need two-candidate debates that sound like canned interviews.  We don't need debates prepped to look like a couple of game show contestants.  We don't need show business, we need serious debate.     What's he talking about?  Opening the debates.  And you can hear him here. Team Nader notes:   We are launching a new feature on votenader.org. It's a daily audio message from Ralph Nader. Anyone who has traveled with Ralph marvels at his encyclopedic knowledge of the workings, failings, and potential of our democracy, from the marketplace to the workplace to liaisons between corporations and government to the courageous stands politicians used to take once in a while. From now until Election Day, five days a week, we will feature new, short audio recordings from Ralph. It starts with a message on opening the debates. You can download the podcast, or listen at your computer. Unlike the corporate candidates who stick to a narrow message until their handlers allow them to take a half-step, Ralph expresses himself freely on issues that affect you each day. So, listen in. It'll be like traveling the road with Ralph. Tell your friends about it. And look for future recordings from Matt Gonzalez as well. Thanks for checking in. Onward to November.   iraq the los angeles times tina susman leila fadel mcclatchy newspapers  lara logan the cbs evening news bonnie erbe

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is planning super rallies. Foon Rhee (Boston Globe) notes the August 27th one in Denver and adds:

Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate who is running as an independent for president, announced today that he will hold a rally during the Democratic National Convention to open the fall debates to other candidates.
"We need serious debate," Nader says in a web video. "It's time to open the debates to third-party candidates".

Yesterday Ralph held a press conference addressing corporate crime and the so-called 'war' on drugs:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8–At a news conference today Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader outlined his plan to empty prisons of non-violent drug offenders and fill them up with corporate criminals.

"Non-violent drug offenses are being over prosecuted and corporate crime is being under prosecuted," Nader said. "The Justice Department must begin to reverse course, crank up the crackdown on corporate crime, and end the cruel and inhumane war on non-violent drug possession."

"The criminal justice system is broken–so badly that one hardly knows where to begin describing the breakdown," Nader said. "Let's start with the war on drugs, since commentators across the political spectrum recognize its lunacy. We pour almost endless resources–roughly $50 billion every year–into catching, trying, and incarcerating people who primarily harm themselves. This insane war on drugs damages communities and drains crucial resources from the police, courts, and prisons. These resources could be better used to combat serious street and corporate crime that directly violates the public's liberty, health, safety, trust, and financial well-being. As with alcoholics and nicotine addicts, the approach to drug addicts should be rehabilitation, not incarceration."

"The current drug policy has consumed tens of billions of dollars and wrecked countless lives," Nader said. "The costs of this policy include the increasing breakdown of families and neighborhoods, endangerment of children, widespread violation of civil liberties, escalating rates of incarceration, political corruption, and the imposition of United States policy abroad. In practice, the drug war disproportionately targets people of color and people who are poverty-stricken. Coercive measures have not reduced drug use, but they have clogged our criminal justice system with non-violent offenders. It is time to explore alternative approaches and to end this costly war."

In 2004, Ralph Nader wrote President Bush urging that he grant clemency to 30,000 non-violent drug offenders. Nader's letter highlighted the three-decade-long failed, and unjust, drug war. His call for clemency highlighted a similar request made by 400 clergy members to President Bill Clinton in 2000.

Nader's letter recalled President Bush's substance abuse problems and noted that if Bush had been incarcerated for cocaine use he "probably would not have gone on to have the career you have had."

The letter also highlighted the rapid expansion of the prison system in the United States which now houses more than 2.1 million people–one-quarter of the world's prison population.

Clemency for non-violent drug offenders would save billions of dollars annually.

"It is urgent that the U.S. reverse the incarceration binge. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that if incarceration rates remain unchanged an estimated one of every 20 Americans and greater than one in four African Americans can be expected to serve time in prison during their lifetime," Nader said. "It is time to make the failed war on drugs a central issue in the American political dialogue. For too long we have let this injustice continue to grow unhindered. Taking action on clemency at the federal level will set an example for the states and begin the process of reversing this failed policy."

The Nader/Gonzalez campaign also calls for an immediate end to the criminal prosecution of patients for medical marijuana.

"The current cruel, unjust policy perpetuated and enforced by the Bush Administration prevents Americans who suffer from debilitating illnesses from experiencing the relief of medicinal cannabis," Nader said. "While substantial scientific and anecdotal evidence exists to validate marijuana's usefulness in treating disease, a deluge of rhetoric from Washington claims that marijuana has no medicinal value."

At the same time, the Nader/Gonzalez campaign supports industrial hemp as a renewable resource with many important fuel, fiber, food, paper, energy and other uses.

Industrial hemp is a commercial crop grown for its seed and fiber and the products made from them. Industrial hemp is one of the longest and strongest fibers in the plant kingdom, and it has had thousands of uses over the centuries.

"In need of alternative crops and aware of the growing market for industrial hemp–particularly for bio-composite products such as automobile parts, farmers in the United States are forced to watch from the sidelines while Canadian, French and Chinese farmers grow the crop and American manufacturers import it from them," Nader said.

Federal legislators–except for Congressman Ron Paul and a few others–continue to ignore the issue of removing it from the DEA list. It is time to allow hemp agriculture, production and manufacturing in the United States.

Nader would shift the billions saved from the war on drugs to a war on corporate crime.

Corporate crime costs Americans hundreds of billions of dollars a year. Tens of thousands of Americans are killed each year and hundreds of thousands of Americans injured and sickened each year by preventable corporate-bred violence.

From pollution, medical negligence, procurement fraud, product defects, and financial fraud, to antitrust, public corruption, foreign bribery and occupational homicide, corporate crime enforcement is widely ignored by politicians–yet acutely felt by all Americans.

The FBI estimates, for example, that burglary and robbery–street crimes–costs the nation $3.8 billion a year.

The losses from a handful of major corporate frauds–Tyco, Adelphia, Worldcom, Enron–swamp the losses from all street robberies and burglaries combined.

Health care fraud alone costs Americans $100 billion to $400 billion a year.

The FBI estimates that, 16,000 Americans are murdered every year.

Compare this to the 56,000 Americans who die every year on the job or from occupational diseases such as black lung and asbestosis and the tens of thousands of other Americans who fall victim to the silent violence of pollution, contaminated foods, hazardous consumer products, and hospital malpractice.
These deaths are often the result of criminal recklessness. Yet, they are rarely prosecuted as homicides or as criminal violations of federal laws.
Prosecutors, defense attorneys and other criminal justice experts concur that corporate crime is under prosecuted.
The decline of criminal prosecution of cartel enforcement is exemplary of the demise of corporate crime enforcement as a whole.
A recent report from the American Antitrust Institute found that the number of criminal cartel cases brought by the Division has dropped 49 percent from 1995-99 to 2004-06.
And the number of corporations charged annually dropped continuously from 1995 to 2007.
"There now is a significant and growing backlog of criminal investigations and unresolved matters," the report found.
Part of the problem lies with the fact that the Antitrust Division is underfunded and understaffed.
The report calls for a doubling of the Antitrust Division’s budget.

Nader/Gonzalez would crack down on corporate crime and violence with a 12-point program:

1. Increase Corporate Crime Prosecution Budgets: The Department of Justice’s corporate crime division and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been chronically and pitifully underfunded and therefore do not have sufficient resources to combat the massive often reported corporate crime wave in the United States. This results in inadequate investigation, settlement of cases for weak fines and ignoring many corporate crime violators completely. There needs to be a strong corporate law-and-order will in the White House.

2. Ban Corporate Criminals from Government Contracts: The US should enact a tough, serious debarment statute that would deny federal business to serious and/or repeat corporate lawbreakers. The federal government spends $265 billion annually on goods and services. These contracts should not support corporate criminals. These standards should also apply to procurement contracts in Iraq.

3. Crack Down on Corporate Tax Avoidance: The US should punish corporate tax escapees by closing the offshore reincorporation loophole and banning government contracts and subsidies for companies that relocate their headquarters to an offshore tax haven. The IRS should be given more power and more budgetary resources to go after corporate tax avoiders. Publicly-traded corporations should be required to make their tax returns public.

4. Democratize Corporate Governance: Shareholders should be granted the right to democratically nominate and elect the corporate board of directors by opening up proxy access to minority shareholders and introducing cumulative voting and competitive elections. Shareholders should be given the power to approve all major business decisions, including top executive compensation. Shareholders should be treated as the owners of the corporation–since, in fact, that is what they are.

5. Expand Corporate Disclosure: Corporate sunshine laws should be enacted that require corporations to provide better information about their records on the environment, human rights, worker safety, and taxes, as well as their criminal and civil litigation records.

6. Rein in Excessive Executive Pay: Shareholder authorization should be required for top executive compensation packages at each annual shareholder meeting. Stock options, which now account for about half of the executive compensation, should be counted on financial statements as an expense (which they are). Tax deductions for compensation 25 times above the compensation received by the lowest paid worker in a corporation should be eliminated, as recommended by the famous business guru Peter Drucker. Insiders like Warren Buffett say excessive corporate executive pay is associated with inflated profits and other accounting deceptions.

7. Fix the Pension System: Corporations must be held more responsible for the retirement security of their employees. At a minimum we need to give workers a voice on the pension board; not require workers to stuff their 401(k) plans with company stock; and give workers the right to control their 401(k) plans. In addition, an Office of Participant Advocacy should be created in the Department of Labor to monitor pension plans.

8. Restore the Rights of Defrauded Investors: Repeal the self-styled securities reform laws that block defrauded investors from seeking private restitution, such as the private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which allowed the aiders and abettors of massive corporate crime (e.g., accountants, lawyers, and bankers) to escape civil liability.

9. Regulate Derivatives Trading: All over-the-counter financial instruments, including derivatives, should be subjected to the same or equivalent audit and reporting requirements as other financial instruments traded on stock exchanges. Rules should be enacted regarding collateral-margin, reporting and dealer licensing in order to maintain regulatory parity and ensure that markets are transparent and problems can be detected before they become a crisis.

10. End Conflicts of Interest on Wall Street: Enact structural reforms that separate commercial and investment banking services and prevent other costly, documented conflicts of interest among financial entities, such as those that have dominated big banks and security firms in recent years.

11. Track the Extent and Cost of Corporate Crime: The Department of Justice should establish an online corporate crime database. Also, just as the FBI issues an annual street crime report, "Crime in the United States," it should also publish an annual report on corporate and white collar crime with recommendations.

12. Foster a National Discussion on Corporate Power: Establish a Congressional Commission on Corporate Power to explore various legal and economic proposals that would rein in unaccountable giant corporations. The Commission should seek ways to improve upon the current state corporate chartering system in a world of global corporations and propose ways to correct the inequitable legal status of corporations as "persons." The Commission would be led by congressionally-appointed experts on corporate and constitutional law, and should hold citizen hearings in at least ten cities followed by a public report and recommendations.

In 1938, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in a message to Congress calling for a similar inquiry–The Temporary National Economic Commission–said that a government controlled by private economic power "is fascism."


The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

iraq

the washington post
dana hedgpeth
sarah cohen
lara logan
the cbs evening news
james risen
the new york times
foon rhee

Iraq's drive to forge ties with Sunni-led Arab neighbors, who it says have shunned its Shiite Muslim leadership, got a boost Monday when Jordan's King Abdullah II became the first leader of an Arab nation to visit since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The visit is the latest in a series of moves by Arab states that Iraqi and U.S. officials say could improve security and counter the influence of Shiite-led Iran, a player here in economic, diplomatic and security matters.
The circumstances of the visit were in stark contrast to those surrounding a trip here in March by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Abdullah's visit was not announced in advance, there were no public appearances, and he stayed just a few hours. Ahmadinejad's arrival was trumpeted well in advance. He received a red-carpet welcome, made several public appearances and was in Iraq for two days.

The above is the opening of Tina Susman's "Jordan's King Abdullah II visits Iraq" (Los Angeles Times). The visit was news but lots of luck finding coverage of it. The New York Times files nothing from Iraq and turns the front page over to the text equivalent of The Dating Game. First up, Evan Bayh! If Bayh's not selected to be the Democratic vice presidential nominee, everyone should remember that -- in their rush to predict the news -- the New York Times elected to ignore actual news of an ongoing illegal war because it was more important that they tease out a rumor and get the Barack campaign on the front page. Leila Fadel covers the visit in "Jordan's King Abdullah makes first visit to post-Saddam Iraq" (McClatchy Newspapers) and below is the last section of her report:

Jordan now joins other Arab nations who've named ambassadors to Iraq. But no Arab nation has reopened an embassy in the county. Egypt was the final Arab nation to close its diplomatic mission in 2005, when the Egyptian envoy was kidnapped and killed.
Abdullah's visit was announced weeks ago and a date was set, but the king's visit was postponed because of security concerns. Iraq had planned to give the monarch a state welcome but instead the king arrived and left with no fanfare. The announcement of his visit came as he boarded a plane to leave Iraq. Abdullah's security detail requested the secretive nature of the visit, Zebari said.
The Sunni monarch's visit was in stark contrast to the visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier this year.
Ahmadinejad announced his visit and was welcomed on a red carpet, did a series of news conferences and drove through Baghdad to visit a revered Shiite shrine. He then boasted about the visit by poking fun at President Bush, who arrives in Iraq unannounced and informs the world of his trip upon his departure.

AP notes that "U.S. officials had been urging King Abdullah to visit Iraq to bolster ties between the two countries as part of Washington's campaign to shore up support for the Iraqi government as a counterweight to Iranian influence." Deutsche Welle points out, "Jordan hosts about 500,000 Iraqi refugees who have fled violence in their war-torn country, and Amman has estimated the costs of sheltering them so far at more than 1.3 billion euros ($2 billion)."

In political news, Iraq War vetergan (and IVAW member) Jason Wallace continues his race for the US Congress. From Jo Ann Hustis' "Green's Wallace limiting spending, sticking to issues" (Morris Daily Herald):

Green Party congressional candidate Jason Wallace is running a unique campaign this fall that caps his expenditures at $10,000.
"Nobody is getting paid," he said of what he defines as a true grassroots drive in the 11th Congressional District. "We're all volunteers, including all the staff and myself as the candidate."
In lieu of conducting fund-raising activities in his 10K08 campaign, Wallace is going to people throughout the district for in-kind contributions.
"That way, they don't have to worry about spending a lot of money," he said. "Also with the economy, we're concerned average citizens aren't going to want to pay to a political campaign.
"They don't necessarily have the budgets to donate to politicians. We're aware of that. We're more focused on people just giving us their time rather than money."

Turning to the US presidential race, Ned highlights this from Team Nader:

Nader Super Rallies Set for Denver, Minneapolis

Well, you did it.

Two weeks ago, we asked you for $100,000 to get us on the ballots in 30 states.

You came through with flying colors - over $120,000 - with half of that - $60,000 - coming in the last four days.

Thank you to everyone who helped make that happen.

In return, we did it.

Nader/Gonzalez is now done with our ballot access effort in 30 states, on our way to 45 states by September 15.

This is all good news.

And now add this:

I just got in the office - took the red eye from Denver - where I spent the weekend laying the groundwork for a Nader/Gonzalez Super Rally.

On Wednesday, August 27, right during the heart of the Democratic National Convention, we will be holding a Super Rally for 5,000-7,000 people at the University of Denver Magness Arena. (Check out our new Nader/Gonzalez video promoting our rallies here.)

And we'll be hosting a second super rally in Minneapolis on September 4th at the Orchestra Hall during the week of the Republican National Convention.

Why?

To protest the corporate control over our political system and to call for opening the presidential debates.

During his 2000 campaign, Ralph Nader drew sellout crowds to super rallies in arenas from Portland's Memorial Coliseum to Madison Square Garden.

After the election, the NewsHour's Mark Shields called the Nader Super Rallies "the most exciting political development of the campaign year."

"My apology to Ralph Nader for not demanding that he be included in the debates," Shields said.

In 2004, the Democratic Party - along with its Republican allies - smothered the Nader campaign with phony lawsuits in a coordinated campaign of petition sabotage.

We had a tough time keeping our heads above water.

Just last month, legislative leaders responsible for illegal use of tax money to keep us off of the ballot in Pennsylvania in 2004 were indicted by a grand jury in Harrisburg.

Now, in 2008, Nader is back, and - thanks to you - on track to be on the ballot in 45 states - we were on only 34 in 2004 - and the Nader/Gonzalez ticket is at six percent in the latest CNN poll.

Now, we need your help for another breakthrough.

We are launching a campaign to Open the Debates.

In its first phase, the super rallies will rise again in Denver and Minneapolis during the Democratic and Republican conventions.

We call all of our supporters to action from every corner of the United States: come to our first rally in Denver on Wednesday, August 27, 2008.

Plan to make the trip to Denver - or Minneapolis - or both.

These rallies will be part of an massive outpouring of protest in Denver and Minneapolis against the two corporate controlled parties and their policies of perpetual militarism and war.

We'll be filling in the details on the two rallies in the days to come.

But for now, we need you to spread the word.

Nader/Gonzalez is aiming to bust open the presidential debates.

As Ralph says, if tens of millions of Americans can hear the Nader/Gonzalez message through the

Presidential debates, it will be a three way race.

Send this e-mail message to your address book.

Tell friends and family.

The super rallies are back.

Time to get on board.

Onward to November

Jason Kafoury
National Campaign Coordinator

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The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

iraq
the los angeles times
tina susman
leila fadel
mcclatchy newspapers
jason wallace
jo ann hustis

Monday, August 11, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the US death toll in Iraq continues to mount, Petraeus needs to lay off the strong stuff, King Abdullah II visits Iraq, and more.     Starting with war resistance.  The August 1st snapshot critiqued the dumb ass Rondi Adamson (the same morning's "Rondi Adamson Lies" did so in greater detail).  Yesterday the National Lawyers Guild's James Branum takes on Rondi (and today Ithica Journal re-prints Rondi's crap). Branum, who is defending Robin Long and has defended many others resisters (and co-chairs, with Kathleen Gilberd, NLG's Military Law Task Force), makes many strong points but leaves out the most important one: During Vietnam, Canada welcome "deserters."  It wasn't just "draft dodgers," Canada also welcomes "deserters."  Canada did not have a draft, Canada's position was not based on a draft.  Deserters were not asked, "Did you enlist or were you drafted?"  It wasn't an issue.  The issue was the illegal war.  When Rondi shows her ignorance, it's important to call her out on that basic fact.  War resisters in Canada today have been undermined repeatedly by 'voices' that refuse to acknowledge the vast number of deserters that Canada accepted during Vietnam.  But not noting that very real reality, today's war resisters (and their supporters) have to make the case: "Well, during Vietnam, you welcomed draft dodgers, so you should expand that today to welcome us."  The real argument is: "During Vietnam, Canada welcomed deserters and they should today since this is another illegal war the Canadian government has refused to officially sanction."  With the first argument, war resisters are placed in a position of weakness where they beg for something more.  In the second argument, war resisters are not asking for 'special treatment' or anything different; they're merely asking Canada to do what it did before.  That is reality.  Rondi is a foreigner to reality.  But that's a point everyone else needs to make.  That Rondi either didn't know reality or thought she could lie about it goes to the failure to stick to the facts: Canada accepted draft dodgers and deserters during Vietnam.   Branum notes The Christian Science Monitor (which ran the oh-so-bad column August 1st) has refused to publish any of the many letters of complaint they've received. We'll emphasize the section on Robin Long (extradited from Canada) since Branum is his attorney:   First, Robin was promised by his recruiter that he would never see combat in Iraq. Robin was a fool for believing his recruiter, but I would say that it is understandable that he would believe his recruiter and understand that his recruiter is an agent of the US military and is tellilng the truth. And in basic contract law (outside of the military context), such statements could very well be interpreted as part of the contract itself, even if those statements aren't in writing. Second, a basic tenant of contract law is that a contract isn't binding if it forces a party to engage in an immoral, unethical or illegal action. I would argue (as would Robin and millions of other people) that the Iraq war is all three of those things, and as such an enlistment contract should be invalid if it purports to force a party to participate in such a war. (of course, the enlistment "contract" isn't really a "contract," but that's another discussion. It would be fairer to say that it is an agreement to voluntarily become a slave of the state.) Third, Robin Long left his unit and went to Canada in large part due to his conscience. Throughout history, we as a people (and I'm speaking of all North Americans and really all people of the world), have respected the idea that sometimes one must break the law if it conflicts with conscience. Dr. King, Gandhi, Thoreau, Jesus Christ, they all lived out this ideal. Contemporaries of the civilly disobedient often attack the character of those who refuse to submit to unjust laws, but the history books paint a different story. And let's also remember that the US and other nations have long argued in favor of the Nuremberg principles, namely that obedience to the law of the state is no excuse for actions that defy international law. Surely you would agree that a deserter from the Nazi Army during WWII would be taking a righteous act? How is it different for Robin Long?   Branum's response also notes Darrell Anderson, Joshua Key and others. There are multiple sentences in it that could qualify for a "Truest" at Third this Sundy. It's a strong piece.   Courage to Resist offers the followings to support Robin:         1. Donate to Robin's legal defense         Online: http://couragetoresist.org/robinlong         By mail: Make checks out to "Courage to Resist / IHC" and note "Robin Long" in the memo field. Mail to:    Courage to Resist       484 Lake Park Ave #41     Oakland CA 94610  Courage to Resist is committed to covering Robin's legal and related defense expenses. Thank you for helping make that possible.      Also: You are also welcome to contribute directly to Robin's legal expenses via his civilian lawyer James Branum. Visit girightslawyer.com, select "Pay Online via PayPal" (lower left), and in the comments field note "Robin Long". Note that this type of donation is not tax-deductible.     2. Send letters of support to Robin      Robin Long, CJC        2739 East Las Vegas            Colorado Springs, CO 80906        Robin's pre-trial confinement has been outsourced by Fort Carson  military authorities to the local county jail.         Robin is allowed to receive hand-written or typed letters only. Do NOT include postage stamps, drawings, stickers, copied photos or print articles. Robin cannot receive packages of any type (with the book exception as described below).        3. Send Robin a money order for commissary items          Anything Robin gets (postage stamps, toothbrush, shirts, paper, snacks, supplements, etc.) must be ordered through the commissary. Each inmate has an account to which friends may make deposits. To do so, a money order in U.S. funds must be sent to the address above made out to "Robin Long, EPSO". The sender's name must be written on the money order.       4. Send Robin a book           Robin is allowed to receive books which are ordered online and sent directly to him at the county jail from Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. These two companies know the procedure to follow for delivering books for inmates.     War resisters in Canada also need support and to pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. Long expulsion does not change the need for action and the War Resisters Support Campaign explains: "The War Resisters Support Campaign is calling on supporters across Canada to urgently continue to put pressure on the minority conservative government to immediately cease deportation proceedings against other US war resisters and to respect the will of Canadians and their elected representatives by implementing the motion adopted by Parliament on June 3rd. Please see the take action page for what you can do."   There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Yovany Rivero, William Shearer, Michael Thurman, Andrei Hurancyk, Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).   Georgian troops are leaving Iraq due to violence in their own country.  Yesterday Deborah Haynes (Times of London) reported on US Gen David Petraeus' declaration that the US is providing transportation for the Georgian soldiers -- an estimated 2,000 were stationed in Iraq.  People in the US need to pay attention.  If you're not getting it, Yochi J. Dreazen (Wall St. Journal) reports, "The U.S. began flying Georgian troops out of Iraq on American military aircraft Sunday, and U.S. officials expect to have all of the Georgians home by midweek 'so that they can support requirements there during the current security situation,' according to Col. Steve Boylan, a military spokesman.  Dreazen goes on to note that this "was the third-largest foreign force in Iraq" and that the departure, quoting Boylan, was "unexpected."  Wednesday is mid-week.  The reporters both say the US began transporting troops out of Iraq on Sunday.  And today, Pentagon spokesperson Bryan Whitman announced that the transportation of those 2,000 troops will be completed today.  That's basically 2,000 troops out of Iraq at the drop of a hat (in one day!) with no pre-planning and War Hawks in the US want you to believe that (a) a withdrawal cannot really be planned (changes on the ground!) and that it would take 16 months just to remove US "combat troops."  Lies.  Bill Richardson (while he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination) called those lies out.  At the drop of a hat, unplanned, the US can -- while still fighting in Iraq -- transport 2,000 soldiers to the former Soviet Union but we're supposed to believe that a planned withdrawal could happen no sooner than 16 months (and then only the so-called "combat troops").  I believe life on the ground just told on them.  At the very least, it called Barack, et al, "Liar."  (And don't bring up 'equipment.'  Most equipment isn't worth bringing back and any equipment brought back should be signed off on by a high ranking general swearing that the US military will not need to replace it for at least 5 years -- otherwise there's no point in it being brought.)   In an interview with Haynes that the Times of London published today, Petraeus declares of Iraq, "In the economic arena, all of a sudden you are seeing private investment . . . you see the electricity grid is literally all up for the first time in about three years . . . and oild production is up by some 400,000 barrels I think in the last six months as well in part because of electricit, which then means there is more fuel for the electricity."  He is stoned, right?  Good to know the military brass can still get the best weed; however, when he comes down from his high, someone might want to correct him on the electricity and, on the private investment, they can just wave today's front page of the New York Times at him while he satisifies his munchies.  There he'll find Campbell Robertson's report on the faltering private sector in Iraq detailing Iraq's increased their government payrolls from 1.2 million in 2005 to 2.3 million today and how MPs explain they vote raises to garner . . . votes while some worry that should these people go off the payroll (there's even a 2 year payoff if you leave the government for the private sector -- 2 years of paydays from the government), they might quickly become part of the resistance.  (Of course, al-Maliki's payroll is heavy with thugs and he has a problem with the US training Sunni thugs -- the "Awakening" Councils --- who might fight his own Shi'ite thugs.)  Stoner Petraeus gets off some real howlers in the interview with Haynes.  We may come back to it later in the week and explain where even he knows he's lying.    For now we'll move on to Saturday when Leila Fadel (McClatchy Newspapers) reported on the new practice of rounding Iraqi women and imprisoning them becuase the might be "future bombers?  Maybe.  Maybe not."  Three women (out of 22) were released last Thursday.  Of course the Iraqi police really can't round up "suicide bombers" because (unless they fail) their monicker indicates that they are no longer around.  What's going on?  The implementation of the policy Alissa J. Rubin (New York Times) reported on July 5th that Iraqi MP Sajar Qaduri tried to sell as 'freedom' and 'liberating.'  The policy is actually profiling.  Round up all the women who lost sons, husbands, fathers, cousins, boyfriends -- bascially your average Iraqi woman -- and imprison them but call the prisons "shelters" to pretty is all up.  The sickness isn't the small number of female self-bombers (some of whom may not be bombing by choice), the sickness is the illegal war and continued occupation.  Resistance is a normal response and, in a zone of violence, responding with violence is not surprising and not uncommon to the human condition.  As noted July 5th: "A condition that's developed from the sickness of the Iraq War will be 'treated,' if Qaduir gets her way, by divorcing it from the very cause and treating the women's response as abnormal when what happened to their husbands was the abnormal thing. Instead, Qaduir's accepting as 'normal' the illegal war, the occupation that goes along with it and all the violence involved. The only 'abnormal' thing to her is that some women might respond in violence. Imagine what she would have recommended for American woman participating in the Revolutionary War."    The non-successful escalation ('surge') has ended and with nothing to show.  Violence didn't vanish.  And none of the benchmarks were reached, now were they?  That was what Bully Boy claimed the 'surge' was supposed to accomplish.  Analysts say there will be no provincial elections (a benchmark! designated by the White House) in October as long promised and that it might not be possible for them to be held this year.  The Iraqi Parliament ended their regular session and then ended their special session.  They are now on vacation (as is the US Congress).  Leila Fadel (Baghdad Observer) reports that the "last controversial session before their summer break was attended by just over half of the legislatures.  And those that stuck it out didn't pass the provincial elections law after a bitter dispute over the oil rich city of Kirkuk." But Fadel reveals the new Parliament building was still unveiled to a few spectators -- a tiny group "so small at the televised ceremony that the camera zoomed in on one section of the seating to give the illusion of a full crowd" -- and puppet of the occupation, Nouri al-Maliki, showed up to give a speeh but stopped before he completed it because, as he noted, "I can't talk for a very long time because it's very hot.  I hope they put in the air conditioning soon."  The building, constructed immediately outside the Green Zone, is nothing but a shell.  Shell?  The shell game that Iraqi forces are taking over or will take over.  Anna Badkhen (Salon) reports, "The United States has spent four years and more than $20 billion on training and building Iraqi security forces; American instructors say the Iraqis are now mostly able to fight insurgents and sectarian militias on their own."  But Iraqi forces feel different such as SWAT team member in training Haidar whose response is, "No!  We are not going to be ready to do it without the Americans!"    Sunday the New York Times took the day off from Iraq.  Today Campbell Robertson and Suadad Al-Salhy showed up to inform that one US service member died yesterday.   Anyone getting their news only from the print edition of the New York Times would have no idea that 11 US service members have already been announced dead this month.  Late Friday an announcement was made by M-NF: "Two Multi-National Force – West Marines died as the result of a non-combat related incident near Karmah Aug 7. The Marines names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense." Saturday  yesterday they announced: "One U.S. Soldier was killed and two others wounded after an improvised explosive device struck their patrol in Baghdad at approximately 9:30 p.m. Aug. 8."  Sunday the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier and four Iraqi citizens were killed, and others wounded during a complex attack in the Tarmiyah district, north of Baghdad at approximately 2 p.m. Aug. 10. After an initial improvised explosive device detonated, an MND-B team was sent to investigate. Shortly after the team's arrival, a suicide vest attack occurred and was followed by small-arms fire. The attacks also wounded two U.S. Soldiers, 15 local nationals, three Iraqi Policemen and three Sons of Iraq members."  When 13 US service members died for the entire month of July it was news for days -- as the press launched another wave of Operation Happy Talk.  It's August 11th, the death toll for the month thus far is 11.  At what point is the press going to convey that or are we all still supposed to pretend the 'surge' worked?   Tina Susman (Los Angeles Times) observes of yesterday, "Sunday's attacks showed the challenges still facing American forces in Iraq, who number about 140,000, and the Iraqi security forces who ultimately will have the task of protecting the country."  Yes, violence is on the rise (and it never stopped) in Iraq with at least 35 reported deaths over the weekend by last night.  Sunday alone, Baghdad saw one bombing after another.  Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reported a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded two Iraqi civilians and two Iraqi soldiers, another Baghdad roadside bombing that claimed 2 lives and left ten wounded, a third Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded three Iraqi military members, another Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded two security contractors, a Baghdad car bombing that claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier (five more wounded), another Baghdad roadside bombing that claimed 3 lives and left ten wounded and a Baghdad bomber who killed themselves and claimed the lives of 10 people with twenty more wounded -- all on Sunday.   Hammoudi also reported on a Sunday Diyala Province car bombing that claimed the life of the driver as well as 3 civilians (twenty more wounded).  Diyala Province -- home of the for-show 'offensive' that's supposed to convince Americans that a corner has been turned.  That the Iraqi military is on the rise and kicking butts and taking names . . . of no one.  Hard to find any 'insurgents' when you announce your impending action weeks in advance.  So it's really no surprise that AP's Bushra Juhi reports today that Nouri is saying the for-show operation in Diyala Province is taking a one-week vacation "to give insurgents time to surrender".  Nicholas Spangler (McClatchy Newspapers) adds that the "limited amnesty" is being hailed by Abudl Kareem Khalaf, Interior Ministry flack, as "a very clear message to the insurgents that there will be no other chance."  Presuming 'insurgents' were ever in Diyala in large numbers to begin with, this is, what, their third such warning?  First came the warning telling them when the action would start, then came the warning when they were on the ground in Diyala and telling people to turn themselves in and, now, it's "Turn yourself in.  We'll stop everything for one week, turn yourself in."  If you were an insurgent, you'd probably have figured out the whole thing is playing like a close-out sale and that a better offer is probably 'just around the corner' (as the White House might put it).   The treaties remain the source of endless speculation  (Strategic Framework Agreement: SFA; Status of Forces Agreement: SOFA).  The White House promised they would be nailed down by July 31st.  Didn't happen.  The UN mandate (covering only the occupation and not retroactively giving permission for the illegal war) can be extended. It expires at the end of the year.  Let's wait for some real news about any treaty.  Here's actual news, Jordan's King Abdullah II was in Iraq.  Waleed Ibrahim and Peter Graff (Reuters) report Abdullah is "the first leader to visit Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003".  Deborah Haynes (Times of London) notes the "trip was shrouded in secrecy because of security concerns and revealed only when he had headed home."  Qassim Abdul-Zahra (AP) explains, "Ties between the two neighboring countries had been strained since the fall of Saddam because of Jordanian fears that Iraq's Shiite-led government was too friendly with Shiite-dominated Iran. Jordanian officials have been concerned about Iranian influence in Iraq and the loss of discounted oil, which Saddam once provided."   Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .   Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that left two people wounded, a Baghdad car bombing that claimed the life of the driver (the bomb was stuck to the car with adhesive), another Baghdad roadside bombing with no known casualties, a Baghdad rocket attack that wounded three people, another Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded eight people, a Diyala Province roadside bombing that claimed the lives of 5 women with three males wounded, a Basra roadside bombing that wounded two police officers and a Baquba bombing where the bomber blew herself up and claimed the life of 1 police officer with seventeen people injured.  Reuters notes a Mosul car bombing that left two people wounded.   Shootings? Reuters notes 1 police officer shot dead in Mosul.   Corpses?   Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 corpses discovered in Baghdad.    Turning to the US presidential race, Harper's John R. MacArthur (at The Providence Journal) explains, "Obama spends so much time courting the rich that I'm not surprised that James Webb has removed himself from consideration for vice president. Webb is the most articulate Senate critic of America's class divide. 'The most important -- and unfortunately the least debated -- issue in politics today is our drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th Century," he wrote two years ago. Webb understands that class stratification is aggravated not only by tax and trade policy but also by public schools that serve increasingly as holding pens for students who can't afford better private or parochial education. Attendance at an elite private school or university, as Obama well knows (and his Ph.D. mother appreciated), is one of the greatest aids to upward mobility in America today, as well as the best guarantee, along with a low inheritance tax, that people of means will maintain their children in the economic status they've become accustomed to."  And are you surprised?  Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is in Canada.  Ralph will be speaking at seven p.m at the Design Exchange on 234 Bay Street in Toronto -- admission is free but donations are welcome and An Unreasonable Man will be shown.   Meanwhile, Jason Kafoury of Team Nader notes:   Well, you did it. Two weeks ago, we asked you for $100,000 to get us on the ballots in 30 states. You came through with flying colors - over $120,000 - with half of that - $60,000 - coming in the last four days. Thank you to everyone who helped make that happen. In return, we did it. Nader/Gonzalez is now done with our ballot access effort in 30 states, on our way to 45 states by September 15. This is all good news. And now add this: I just got in the office - took the red eye from Denver - where I spent the weekend laying the groundwork for a Nader/Gonzalez Super Rally. On Wednesday, August 27, right during the heart of the Democratic National Convention, we will be holding a Super Rally for 5,000-7,000 people at the University of Denver Magness Arena. (Check out our new Nader/Gonzalez video promoting our rallies here.) And we'll be hosting a second super rally in Minneapolis on September 4th at the Orchestra Hall during the week of the Republican National Convention. Why? To protest the corporate control over our political system and to call for opening the presidential debates. During his 2000 campaign, Ralph Nader drew sellout crowds to super rallies in arenas from Portland's Memorial Coliseum to Madison Square Garden. After the election, the NewsHour's Mark Shields called the Nader Super Rallies "the most exciting political development of the campaign year." "My apology to Ralph Nader for not demanding that he be included in the debates," Shields said. In 2004, the Democratic Party - along with its Republican allies - smothered the Nader campaign with phony lawsuits in a coordinated campaign of petition sabotage. We had a tough time keeping our heads above water. Just last month, legislative leaders responsible for illegal use of tax money to keep us off of the ballot in Pennsylvania in 2004 were indicted by a grand jury in Harrisburg. Now, in 2008, Nader is back, and - thanks to you - on track to be on the ballot in 45 states - we were on only 34 in 2004 - and the Nader/Gonzalez ticket is at six percent in the latest CNN poll. Now, we need your help for another breakthrough. We are launching a campaign to Open the Debates. In its first phase, the super rallies will rise again in Denver and Minneapolis during the Democratic and Republican conventions. We call all of our supporters to action from every corner of the United States: come to our first rally in Denver on Wednesday, August 27, 2008. Plan to make the trip to Denver - or Minneapolis - or both. These rallies will be part of an massive outpouring of protest in Denver and Minneapolis against the two corporate controlled parties and their policies of perpetual militarism and war. We'll be filling in the details on the two rallies in the days to come. But for now, we need you to spread the word. Nader/Gonzalez is aiming to bust open the presidential debates. As Ralph says, if tens of millions of Americans can hear the Nader/Gonzalez message through the Presidential debates, it will be a three way race. Send this e-mail message to your address book. Tell friends and family. The super rallies are back. Time to get on board. Onward to November   iraq robin long  leila fadel mcclatchy newspapers the new york times alissa j. rubin campbell robertson suadad al-salhy the los angeles times tina susman anna badkhen yochi j. dreazen laith hammoudi john r. macarthur deborah haynes

But the Iraqis say the idea of securing Iraq without American assistance remains terrifying to them.
"No!" exclaimed Haidar, a 29-year-old SWAT trainee who has been a police officer since 2004, with an expression of shock on his face. "We are not going to be ready to do it without the Americans!"
The United States has spent four years and more than $20 billion on training and building Iraqi security forces; American instructors say the Iraqis are now mostly able to fight insurgents and sectarian militias on their own. Iraq says it has more than half a million people in its security forces (although the special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction for the U.S. Defense Department has questioned the numbers, saying that many of those have been wounded, been killed or gone AWOL). They wear uniforms and body armor, move in organized formations, almost always carry their weapons correctly and, for the most part, act professionally during missions.
But despite such a vote of confidence from the Americans, and despite Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's repeated assurances that Iraq is ready to provide its own security, members of Iraqi security forces say they are still years away from being able to defend their country and its citizens without direct American support.

The above is from Anna Badkhen's "Meet Iraq's new SWAT team" (Salon) and we'll team it with more reality, this from Leila Fadel's "Small Victories" (Baghdad Observer, McClatchy Newspapers):

Parliament adjourned this month and by Sunday most Iraqi parliament members had flitted off to London or Paris or the province they represent.
A lot of them didn't even wait until parliament ended. Their last controversial session before their summer break was attended by just over half of the legislators. And those that stuck it out didn't pass the provincial elections law after a bitter dispute over the oil rich city of Kirkuk.
So while most parliament members were unavailable the government chose to open the new parliament building housed outside the heavily fortified Green Zone. The audience was so small at the televised ceremony that the camera zoomed in on one section of the seating to give the illusion of a full crowd.

If you're able, continue reading because there's a guest-star about to show up. As you read it, wonder why Fadel's able to regularly produce these stories but other outlets aren't?

Yochi J. Dreazen's "Georgian Troops Begin Exiting Iraq
To Fight Russians, Leaving Gap" (Wall St. Journal) reports:

The U.S. began flying Georgian troops out of Iraq on American military aircraft Sunday, and U.S. officials expect to have all of the Georgians home by midweek "so that they can support requirements there during the current security situation," according to Col. Steve Boylan, a military spokesman.
Col. Boylan acknowledged that the Georgians' departures were "unexpected" but said U.S. officials "are accommodating the changes."
Still, replacing the Georgians will be difficult. The 2,000-strong Georgian contingent was the third-largest foreign force in Iraq, and Georgia, unlike most of the other coalition countries, allowed its forces to carry out dangerous missions near the Iraqi-Iranian border.

Amazingly, when some countries have internal issues, they can leave Iraq. The US? (You know the answer.)


Remember that independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is in Canada today:

Ralph Nader to speak on Monday August 11, on the trading floor of old Toronto Stock Exchange building.

Please circulate and post widely.

Event also features partial screening of the biographical documentary, An Unreasonable Man.

Now at over 5 percent in national polls, Nader is on his third run for President of the United States.

Find out why he runs and what's at stake for Canada this election.

Ralph Nader is the only major candidate for President of the United States standing up to implement Canadian-style universal healthcare, a Dion-style Carbon Tax, and ending the war in Iraq with a full 6-month withdrawal. Over ten million Americans say they will vote for him, and another 20 million say they would if they thought he had a chance of winning. He's on track to be on the ballot in 45 states, and has a shot at getting in the Google Presidential Debates to be held in New Orleans this September. Come see him this Monday August 11 at the Design Exchange in Downtown Toronto.

Event Program:

• Screening of a portion of An Unreasonable Man, the acclaimed documentary on Ralph Nader
• Ralph Nader Remarks on the US Presidential Election: What's at stake for Canada?
• Q and A with Ralph Nader

Where: Design Exchange, 234 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario M5K 1B2.

Time: 7:00 to 9:30 pm

Ticket Price: Free, donations appreciated, RSVP to ensure seating.

To RSVP, email toronto@votenader.org or call Rashi Khilnani at 647 286 0396 for more details.

Please circulate and post widely.



And Melissa notes this Nader campaign video calling for the debates to be open (as they should be, and how sad that candidates to have for that in a democracy).




Eddie e-mails to note that Nader and running mate Matt Gonzalez have other events coming up:

Nader/Gonzalez event schedule

August 26th, 1:30pm

Nader for President 2008 Rally

Albuquerque, NM

University of New Mexico, Ballroom C (student union)

Contribution: $10/$5 student

More info: (505)982-3928 or events@votenader.org

Map it

August 26th, 5:30pm

Nader for President 2008 Rally

Santa Fe, NM

University of Santa Fe

Contribution: $10/$5 student

More Info: (505)473-6537 or events@votenader.org

Map it

August 27th, 7pm

"Open the Debates" Rally at the DNC

Denver, CO

Magness Arena, University of Colorado- Denver

(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org

Map it

Sept. 4th, 4:30pm

Private Conversation w/ Ralph Nader

Minneapolis, MN

RSVP: (202) 471-5833

events@votenader.org

Map it

Sept. 4th, 7:30pm

"Open the Debates" Rally at the RNC

Minneapolis, MN

(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org

Map it

Sept. 5th, 1pm

Nader for President 2008 Rally

Eau Claire, WI

University of Wisconsin, Council Fire Room- University Center

105 Garfield Ave

Contribution: $10/$5 student

(715) 703-0353 or events@votenader.org

Map it

Sept. 5th, 7pm

Nader for President 2008 Rally

Madison, WI

Orpheum Theatre

216 State St. Madison, WI 53703

Contribution: $10/$5 student

(608) 215-1342 or events@votenader.org

Map it

Sept. 6th, 12pm

Nader for President 2008 Rally

Milwaukee, WI

Cardinal Stritch University, Nancy Kendall Theater

6801 N. Yates Road, Milwaukee, WI 53217

Contribution:$10/$5 student

(608) 345-5452 or events@votenader.org

Map it

Sept. 6th, 7:30pm

Nader for President 2008 Rally

Chicago, IL

Location:TBA

Contribution:$10/$5 student

(202)471-5833 or events@votenader.org

Map it

Sept. 7th, 1:30pm

Nader for President 2008 Rally

Lansing, MI

Michigan State, Kellogg Center (Big Ten room A)

55 South Harrison Rd. East lansing, MI 48824

Contribution: $10/$5 student

(202) 471-5833 or events@votenader.org

Map it

Sept. 7th, 7:30pm

Nader for President 2008 Rally

Detroit, MI

Location:TBA

Contribution: $10/$5 student

Map it

Sept. 8th, 12pm

Nader for President 2008 Rally

Cincinnati, OH

Location:TBA

Map it

Sept. 8th, 7:30pm

Nader for President 2008 Rally

Columbus, OH

Location:TBA

Map it

Peter Jackson (AP) notes BonusGate, the Pennsylvania scandal involving many things including Democrats conspiring to keep people off the ballot in 2004:

In announcing the first arrests from an ongoing corruption probe, state Attorney General Tom Corbett described a conspiracy in which leaders of the House Democratic caucus allegedly enlisted large numbers of publicly paid subordinates to participate in petition inspections that blocked independent and third-party candidates considered threats to major Democratic candidates in 2004 and 2006.
That allegation--one of many that led to last month's arrests of 12 people connected to the caucus--angered supporters of consumer advocate Ralph Nader, an independent presidential candidate who was forced off the 2004 ballot, and Carl Romanelli, a Green Party candidate who was denied a spot on the U.S. Senate ballot two years later.
Citing the alleged misconduct, lawyers for Nader and Romanelli have filed motions in state courts seeking the withdrawal of orders requiring each of the campaigns to pay more than $80,000 in legal expenses from the 2004 and 2006 ballot challenges.

The Detroit Free Press offers a historical look at independent and third-party runs for president.

And Karen notes this from Gilles d'Aymery's "The Gray Lady's Muzzle" (Swans Commentary):

On July 29, 2008, The New York Times published on its Web site a column, "The Power of the Protest Vote," written by Andrew Kohut, the president of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, in which he contended that "third or fourth party presidential candidates [could] garner enough votes in November to make a difference in some of the hotly contested swing states." Kohut went on to analyze the defection of Hillary Clinton's supporters and the "liberals" who think that Obama has moved too much to the center, and the conservatives who are unhappy with McCain and take a serious look at Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate. He did not miss the opportunity to associate Ralph Nader with the spoiler syndrome; and he ended asserting the "protest" vote could be a decisive factor on the November electoral results. Comments surged. The New York Times staff kept the commenting flow as they saw fit. My comment did not make the cut.
Ironically, following the usual dicing of Nader-the-Spoiler, which meme is so prevalent in the antechambers of the corporate media and the more obscure progressive outfits, Kohut inserted a small graphic of a series of Pew polls indicating the level of enthusiasm for the respective candidates in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008, to prove that Senator McCain had a serious enthusiasm gap in comparison to Senator Obama. But that small graphic, which I cannot reproduce without risking the lightning thunders of the paper's counsels, had the merit to show that in 2000, 46% of Democrats expressed enthusiasm for Al Gore, and only 40% had strong enthusiasm for him. I am surprised that no one has yet accused Nader of being responsible for the absence of Democratic support for Gore (over 200,000 registered Florida Democrats voted for Mr. Bush in 2000), or for causing about 100 million potential voters to go fishing on election day. As Gelett Burgess once quipped, "To appreciate nonsense requires a serious interest in life."
Kohut's column generated a lively debate -- over 180 comments -- ranging from Clinton's supporters refusing to vote for Obama to people adamantly defending their right to vote for a third-party or independent candidate (like the two I cited at the top), and of course, the partisans of the trite line, "not voting for Obama is voting for McCain, imbeciles."


Carolyn of MakeThemAccountable probes The Mansion That Rezko Bought in "More Than Just A Boneheaded Mistake:"

Simply put, the allocation of purchase price between the Obamas' lot and the lot next door, which were both owned by the same couple and had long been sold together, makes no sense unless the amount paid for the lot adjoining the Obamas', by the wife of now convicted political fixer Tony Rezko, was specifically meant as a favor to the Obamas, so that they could afford their mansion. If so, the difference between what Ms. Rezko paid for the side lot and what it was actually worth would be construed by the IRS as income to the Obamas. After looking at the Obamas' tax return for 2005, my source was able to say that in his opinion they did not declare any such income, and therefore did not pay taxes on it.


And reminder, Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Vacationing Barack" went up Sunday night. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

On the front page of the New York Times, Campbell Robertson's "Iraq Government Rolls Soar As the Private Sector Falters." Iraq's increased their government payrolls from 1.2 million in 2005 to 2.3 million today and . . . And? Isn't the whole talking point of the puppet's office that they do not have a strong enough bureaucracy? (And trained.) Is it a story? Probably. Is it front page news? Not as written. But considering that Sunday was yet another day the New York Times couldn't even find Iraq, maybe we shouldn't complain?

Inside the paper, A8, Robertson teams with Suadad Al-Salhy for "Attacks Across Iraq Ill 13, Including a U.S. Soldier." Seems much more appropriate as front page news, doesn't it? But 13? Look at the numbers from last night -- just McClatchy and Reuters and mainly McClatchy -- and you've got over 25 deaths (that includes 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad). On the plus side, at least the paper is finally reporting deaths of US service members. Anyone getting their news only from the print edition of the New York Times would have no idea that 11 US service members have already been announced dead this month.

In the Los Angeles Times, Tina Susman's "U.S. soldier, 17 Iraqis killed in suicide blast" offers "Sunday's attacks showed the challenges still facing American forces in Iraq, who number about 140,000, and the Iraqi security forces who ultimately will have the task of protecting the country." and notes this:

Iraqi police said the dead included three Iraqi soldiers, eight civilians, and six Awakening members, along with two U.S. soldiers, but the U.S. military said in a statement that one American was killed and two were wounded. There was no explanation for the discrepancy.


ITV (like the second Times article) talks about what might be in a treaty between the White House and the puppet of the occupation in "Iraq seeks US withdrawal timeline:"

Iraq has said the US must provide a "very clear timeline" to withdraw its troops from the country.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said it is required as part of an agreement to allow US troops to stay beyond this year.
US President George W Bush has long resisted setting a firm schedule for pulling troops out of Iraq.
Last month, however, the White House began speaking of a general "time horizon" and "aspirational goals" to withdraw.

If the treaties (Strategic Framework Agreement: SFA; Status of Forces Agreement: SOFA) don't come be (July 31st was the self-imposed deadline of the White House), the UN mandate (covering only the occupation and not retroactively giving permission for the illegal war) can be extended. It expires at the end of the year.

AP's Bushra Juhi reports that Nouri is saying the for-show operation in Diyala Province is taking a one-week vacation "to give insurgents time to surrender".

Kyle notes this from Team Nader:

Ralph's Weekend Audio Message

Click here for Ralph's Saturday audio message.

This is Ralph Nader.

I'm very proud of the millions of Americans who are standing with me and my running mate Matt Gonzalez in this momentous election year.

To the scores of signature gatherers around the country who have beared bad weather -- thank you.

To those of you who have written letters to your local newspapers and defended our candidacy to friends and neighbors -- thank you too.

To the thousands of you who have fueled the Nader/Gonzalez campaign with your generous donations -- our gratitude.

We have polled over five percent in a number of national polls -- most recently six percent in the CNN poll last week.

Nader/Gonzalez is projected to be on the ballot in 45 states come election day.

I was at a breakfast meeting with reporters this week in Washington, D.C.

And a reporter asked me if I thought Nader/Gonzalez had a chance to win.

Well, I said, if we get into the debates, before tens of millions of voters, it would be a three way race.

But before we get into the debates, we have to get on the ballots.

And as you know, we're in the stretch run of our ballot drive.

We're very close to hitting our target of $100,000 by tomorrow night.

We're closing in.

So, help push us over the top.

After this weekend, we move from the primary to the general election period.

That means that this is the last weekend where your online contributions will be matched by the federal government.

More specifically, every dollar you give online this weekend, up to $250, will be matched or doubled by the government.

After this weekend, no match for online contributions.

Help push us over the top on our current ballot access fundraising drive.

Go to votenader.org and hit the contribute button.

You can give to your heart's content---up to $4,600 that is---that's the legal limit.

You will be fueling a campaign that will shift the power in specific ways from the giant corporations back into the hands of the American people---whether as voters, consumers or taxpayers.

Thank you again for your support and your considered dedication.

Onward to November.

ShareThisShareThis

And below is the audio of the message.

And on the race for president, Alain Jean-Robert (AFP) reports:

A leading conservative voice and champion of individual liberties, Barr, a former Republican, broke with the Bush administration after the Patriot Act was introduced in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
Barr will appear on the ballots in at least 34 states, some of which, such as northern Ohio and western Nevada, are seen as key swing states this year.
In Georgia, where polls give McCain only a seven-point advantage over Obama, Barr's presence could significantly muddy the vote.
Barr himself faces competition from another former Republican, Chuck Baldwin, who is running as a candidate for the Constitution Party, which has an election manifesto very similar to the Libertarian's. Baldwin is standing in at least 24 states.
Nader, 74, is making his fifth tilt at the White House, this time as an independent and will be running in at least 29 states, including key battleground Michigan.
Nader, who is of Lebanese origin, could win significant support among the large Arab-American community in the northern state, and according to some polls, could even take some 25 per cent of their vote.
"You have in Ralph Nader's candidacy a genuine Arab-American who has a lot of notoriety and publicity. It would be detrimental to Obama's candidacy," said Morley Winograd, former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party.
The Green Party has chosen as its candidate African-American former Democratic congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who will be on the ballot in 24 states.
Her presence could handicap Obama by slicing into his support among women and pacifists against the Iraq war.
"Obama cannot take the peace vote for granted. There are peace candidates running from across the political spectrum," said Kevin Zeese, executive director of Voters for Peace.

There are others mentioned, we focused on on Bob Barr, Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader
-- and Nader is the one the community is supporting. The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

iraq
the new york times
campbell robertson
suadad al-salhy
the los angeles times
tina susman

Isaiah's latest The World Today Just Nuts "Vacationing Barack." On the beach, Barack explains, "This is my third vacation this year. It takes a lot of work to be this pretty. Does this thong make my ass look fat?"


the world today just nuts
barack obama
vacationing barack
comic
the common ills

Iraq Veterans Against the War are in the midst of a summer base tour and upcoming dates include:

Fort Stewart
Mon, August 11, 2008
7 pm
Stafford Pavillion
607 Oglethorp Hwy
Hinesville, GA
Fundraiser
Tues, August 12, 2008
7pm
202 E 32nd St
Savannah, GA 31401
Fort Hood
Fundraiser
Thur, August 14, 2008
7pm
Genuine Joe’s
2001 W Anderson Ln
Austin, TX 78757
BBQ
Fri, August 15, 2008
7 pm
TBD
Concert - Ryan Harvey
Sat, August 16, 2008
7pm-2am
Ruta Maya
3601 S Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78704
Fort Sill
Concert - 8-bit Cynics, MC Jabee
Sun, August 17, 2008
7pm
Cross Rhodes Tavern
2548 N.W. Ft Sill Blvd
Lawton, OK 73507
Fundraiser
Mon, August 18, 2008
7:30 pm
1st Unitarian Church
600 NW 13th St
Oklahoma City, OK 73103
BBQ - VA Benefits / GI Rights information
Tue, August 19, 2008
7pm
Location TBD
Fort Carson / Denver (Democratic National Convention)
Concert
Sun, August 24, 2008
Denver Park Bandstand
23rd Ave
Denver, CO
Minneapolis (IVAW Convention and Republican National Convention)
Event details to come.
Camp Pendleton
Fundraiser - Potluck BBQ
Thur, September 4, 2008
6:30PM
1462 Burroughs St
Oceanside, CA 92054
BBQ
Fri, September 5, 2008
7pm
Capistrano Park
770 Capistrano Dr
Oceanside, CA
Concert
Sat, September 6, 2008
Location: TBD

For more information, you can use these IVAW links:

Latest Base Tour Updates
Latest Base Tour News Coverage
Upcoming Base Tour Stops
More information on the Base Tour
Meet the Base Tour crew

The start of August brought the non-stop 'news' of 'success' in Iraq and 'turned corner' and all the other hogwash that's a component of Operation Happy Talk. Multiple bombings took place in Baghdad over the weekend -- yeah, Baghdad 'the protected' area. Reported violence claimed at least 35 lives over the weekend. The number of US service members killed in Iraq continued to rise but all the press can talk about is whispers that just maybe a treaty between the White House and the puppet of the occupation (Nouri al-Maliki) is about to be 'finalized' (such a treaty has to go to the Iraqi Parliament for approval and should go to the US Senate though Bully Boy thinks he can sidestep them). Nearly five and half years later and no end to the illegal war.


They're just there to try and make the people free,
But the way that they're doing it, it don't seem like that to me.
Just more blood-letting and misery and tears
That this poor country's known for the last twenty years,
And the war drags on.
-- words and lyrics by Mick Softly (available on Donovan's Fairytale)


Last Sunday, ICCC's number of US troops killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war hit the 4,128 mark. And tonight? 4138. Today the US military announced: "A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier and four Iraqi citizens were killed, and others wounded during a complex attack in the Tarmiyah district, north of Baghdad at approximately 2 p.m. Aug. 10. After an initial improvised explosive device detonated, an MND-B team was sent to investigate. Shortly after the team’s arrival, a suicide vest attack occurred and was followed by small-arms fire. The attacks also wounded two U.S. Soldiers, 15 local nationals, three Iraqi Policemen and three Sons of Iraq members." And yesterday they announced: "One U.S. Soldier was killed and two others wounded after an improvised explosive device struck their patrol in Baghdad at approximately 9:30 p.m. Aug. 8. " The death toll for the month is 11. Remember when July's total of 13 was "news" and you couldn't avoid it? Somehow 11 dead already this month barely gets a mention. But then it doesn't fit in with the myth of the 'turned corner' and the 'working' 'surge,' does it? 11 so far this month, ten more since last Sunday. But if everyone pretends not to notice, maybe we can all believe the 'surge' worked, right?


Just Foreign Policy's counter estimates the number of Iraqis killed since the start of the illegal war to be 1,252,595 up from 1,251,944 last Sunday. Turning to some of the weekend's reported violence starting with Sunday.

Bombings?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded two Iraqi civilians and two Iraqi soldiers, another Baghdad roadside bombing that claimed 2 lives and left ten wounded, a third Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded three Iraqi military members, another Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded two security contractors, a Baghdad car bombing that claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier (five more wounded), another Baghdad roadside bombing that claimed 3 lives and left ten wounded, a Baghdad bomber who killed themselves and claimed the lives of 10 people with twenty more wounded and a Diyala Province car bombing that claimed the life of the driver as well as 3 civilians (twenty more wounded). Reuters notes a Khanaqin bus bombing that claimed 3 lives and left at least twenty people injured. Dropping back to Saturday, Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy) reported a Baghdad roadside bombing that left four police officers wounded, a Baghdad apartment bombing that left two people wounded, a Diyala Province home bombing that claimed the life of 1 police officer and a Diyala Province roadside bombing that wounded two police officers.

Shootings?

Saturday Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy) reported an attack on "the director of Al Qadisiya pool in Baghdad" (Satar Amir) that claimed the life of 1 of his sons and left the director and another son wounded and 1 man shot dead in Erbil.


Corpses?

Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad. Saturday Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy) reported 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad and 1 in Diyala Province.

Again, thirty-five reported dead above. And notice how many attacks took place in Baghdad. That would be the one area that the US is supposed to 'control.'

New content at Third:

Truest statement of the week
A note to our readers
Editorial: NPR aka Home of the Unqualified
TV: The stench of 'public affairs' programming
Stop-Loss
'Friends' and Bigots
You can learn a lot from a movie
Nader and Gonzalez speak to the people
War resistance then
The sorry John Edwards spectacle
Highlights

Isaiah's latest goes up after this. UK members are noting they have a demonstration against the illegal war planned next month and where's the US? As Gareth writes, "Guess the 'left' in the States can't oppose the illegal and immoral war and also support the war hawk Barack Obama so ending the war takes a back seat?" That does appear to be the case, Gareth. Pru notes "Demonstrate against the war at Labour Party conference" (Great Britain's Socialist Worker):

Protesting against the war at Labour’s conference in Manchester in 2006 (Pic: » Guy Smallman)

The Stop the War Coalition has called a national demonstration at the Labour Party conference in Manchester on 20 September to protest against the continuing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
The demonstration will also highlight the cost of the war.
Chris Nineham from the Stop the War Coalition told Socialist Worker, “Gordon Brown is supporting George Bush’s wars as enthusiastically as Tony Blair did. There are still thousands of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The war budget is now £32.6 billion and set to rise to £36.9 billion in 2010. That money could be spent on pensions, food subsidies and services. The ‘Troops Out’ demonstration to Labour’s conference is a rare chance to make the government aware of real public opinion.”
For more information go to » www.stopwar.org.uk
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The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

iraq
and the war drags on
donovan
iraq veterans against the war
mcclatchy newspapers
laith hammoudi
the socialist worker
the world today just nuts
the third estate sunday review

9 US service members have died in Iraq so far this month.

Late Friday an announcement was made by M-NF: "Two Multi-National Force – West Marines died as the result of a non-combat related incident near Karmah Aug 7. The Marines names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense."

Considering all the headlines and gas bagging the 13 deaths for July received, all the hog wash about a turned corner, you'd think the press would bother to note that in less than two weeks, over half as many US service members have died as died in the month of July. But that doesn't help continue to sell the illegal war, now does it? A splash of cold water in the face doesn't help out Operation Happy Talk. So watch all play dumb.


Ralph Nader to speak on Monday August 11, on the trading floor of old Toronto Stock Exchange building.
Please circulate and post widely.
Event also features partial screening of the biographical documentary, An Unreasonable Man.
Now at over 5 percent in national polls, Nader is on his third run for President of the United States.
Find out why he runs and what's at stake for Canada this election.
Ralph Nader is the only major candidate for President of the United States standing up to implement Canadian-style universal healthcare, a Dion-style Carbon Tax, and ending the war in Iraq with a full 6-month withdrawal. Over ten million Americans say they will vote for him, and another 20 million say they would if they thought he had a chance of winning. He's on track to be on the ballot in 45 states, and has a shot at getting in the Google Presidential Debates to be held in New Orleans this September. Come see him this Monday August 11 at the Design Exchange in Downtown Toronto.
Event Program:
Screening of a portion of An Unreasonable Man, the acclaimed documentary on Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader Remarks on the US Presidential Election: What's at stake for Canada?
Q and A with Ralph Nader
Where: Design Exchange, 234 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario M5K 1B2.
Time: 7:00 to 9:30 pm
Ticket Price: Free, donations appreciated, RSVP to ensure seating.
To RSVP, email toronto@votenader.org or call Rashi Khilnani at 647 286 0396 for more details.

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader will be in Canada on Monday. Turning to Iraq, this is the opening of Leila Fadel's "Looking for suicide bombers in Iraq is no easy task" (McClatchy Newspapers):

The Iraqi National Police came in the middle of the night and roused the three women from their sleep.
For 14 days, they were held, suspected of preparing to carry out deadly suicide attacks and recruit other women to do the same. On Thursday, they were sent home.
Were they future bombers? Maybe. Maybe not.
The three were among 22 women who were detained during an ongoing security operation in Diyala province for alleged links to the al Qaida in Iraq group, which dominated this mostly Sunni Muslim area for years.
In Diyala, women are feared now. In the last eight months, 12 have blown themselves up in suicide attacks. Police are working to ferret out such bombers.

Three innocent women detained/imprisoned, wow, who could have seen that happen? Drop back to July 5th, "New abuses for Iraqi women" when the 'strategy' was first discussed publicly.

As the article continues, she pushes the notion of profiling women and laments that they can't be "detained" (imprisoned) only from a profile. But if she can't imprison them, she can create "homes" and "shelters" to "put them in". Consider them pretty prisons. And by not calling them prisons, Qaduir may be able to circumvent the remnants of a legal system in Iraq. "It's for your own good," they could tell these 'sick' women -- when the only sickness is the occupation itself.Qaduir is a quack who wants to use her psuedo 'understanding' to crack down on women. If there's anything worse than your husband being imprisoned in the illegal maze or being killed, it has to be dealing with that while you're farmed out to a detention center posing as 'care'.
The reality is that the response of Iraqis to resist the occupation is a normal response and all the more so when someone they have loved is killed. Want to end 'sucide bombings'? End the illegal war. A condition that's developed from the sickness of the Iraq War will be 'treated,' if Qaduir gets her way, by divorcing it from the very cause and treating the women's response as abnormal when what happened to their husbands was the abnormal thing. Instead, Qaduir's accepting as 'normal' the illegal war, the occupation that goes along with it and all the violence involved. The only 'abnormal' thing to her is that some women might respond in violence. Imagine what she would have recommended for American woman participating in the Revolutionary War.
Qaduir is not the 'fixer,' she is part of the problem. (And apparently the Jane Harman of the Iraqi Parliament.) With all the women and children in Iraq who are homeless, the fact that she wants to create detention centers (posing as 'shelters') to imprison women who fit her profile while ignoring those very much in need of an actual shelter says a great deal.
And she can try to cut off debate with all her claims of 'different' societies until she's blue in the face but she's targeting a group for imprisonment out of her own fear. That's not all that 'different' than the round ups Bully Boy launched of Arab-Americans after 9-11.
The problem is not women whose lives are destroyed resisting the ongoing occupation, the problem is the Iraq War. If "Dr." Qaduri wants to 'treat' something, she might try addressing that instead of attempting to round up widows due to Qaduri's own fear and derangement. Her profile not only reflects the 'US military analysis,' it appears to have been handed her to her by the US military.

It's really amazing how little criticism the 'strategy' Alissa J. Rubin documented in "Despair Drives Suicide Attacks by Iraqi Women" (New York Times) received until you grasp how little attention is ever paid to Iraqi women (well why should the women in Iraq be any different from the women in the rest of the world!). You can see it in the refusal to call out the US government for paying female "Awakening" Council members 20% less than their male cohorts. We don't approve of the "Awakening" Councils in this community but if you're going to pay people for a job, you pay them equal. Equal pay for equal work. In fact, with the focus now being on female bombers, you could, in fact, argue that female "Awakening" Council members need to be paid more because they are currently more needed.

Iraqi women suffer every day. There's no concern. There's no outcry. And when someone does raise the issue, they get no credit for it. Take Hillary Clinton who has raised the issue repeatedly as far back as 2003. But you saw LIARS like Betsy Reed and Laura Flanders (both of the worthless Nation magazine) LIE that Hillary hadn't done anything on women's issues since giving a speech in the 90s. Both of those liars, those useless pathetic girls, should be ashamed of themselves because they didn't just LIE, they lied knowing they could get away with it because the larger society pays so damn little attention to women.


Zach notes this from Team Nader:

Ralph's Weekend Audio Message
Posted by Ralph Nader on Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 11:16:00 AM
ShareThis
Click here for Ralph's Saturday audio message.
This is Ralph Nader.
I'm very proud of the millions of Americans who are standing with me and my running mate Matt Gonzalez in this momentous election year.
To the scores of signature gatherers around the country who have beared bad weather -- thank you.
To those of you who have written letters to your local newspapers and defended our candidacy to friends and neighbors -- thank you too.
To the thousands of you who have fueled the Nader/Gonzalez campaign with your generous donations -- our gratitude.
We have polled over five percent in a number of national polls -- most recently six percent in the CNN poll last week.
Nader/Gonzalez is projected to be on the ballot in 45 states come election day.
I was at a breakfast meeting with reporters this week in Washington, D.C.
And a reporter asked me if I thought Nader/Gonzalez had a chance to win.
Well, I said, if we get into the debates, before tens of millions of voters, it would be a three way race.
But before we get into the debates, we have to get on the ballots.
And as you know, we're in the stretch run of our ballot drive.
We're very close to hitting our target of $100,000 by tomorrow night.
We're closing in.
So, help push us over the top.
After this weekend, we move from the primary to the general election period.
That means that this is the last weekend where your online contributions will be matched by the federal government.
More specifically, every dollar you give online this weekend, up to $250, will be matched or doubled by the government.
After this weekend, no match for online contributions.
Help push us over the top on our current ballot access fundraising drive.
Go to votenader.org and hit the contribute button.
You can give to your heart's content---up to $4,600 that is---that's the legal limit.
You will be fueling a campaign that will shift the power in specific ways from the giant corporations back into the hands of the American people---whether as voters, consumers or taxpayers.
Thank you again for your support and your considered dedication.
Onward to November.
ShareThis

The following community sites have updated since Friday morning:

Rebecca's Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude;
Betty's Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man;
Cedric's Cedric's Big Mix;
Kat's Kat's Korner;
Mike's Mikey Likes It!;
Elaine's Like Maria Said Paz;
Wally's The Daily Jot;
Trina's Trina's Kitchen;
Ruth's Ruth's Report;
and Marcia's SICKOFITRADLZ

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

iraq
leila fadel
mcclatchy newspapers
the new york times
alissa j. rubin
like maria said paz
kats korner
sex and politics and screeds and attitude
trinas kitchen
the daily jot
cedrics big mix
mikey likes it
ruths report
sickofitradlz

Muqtada al Sadr, the Shiite Muslim cleric who made his reputation by opposing the American presence in Iraq, will disband the armed wing of his militia if a new Iraq-U.S. security agreement includes a date for an American withdrawal, a key Sadr aide said Friday.
Salah al Obaidi, a spokesman for the cleric, said Sadr's Mahdi Army would review the security agreement closely to see how precisely it spelled out when the U.S. troop presence would end.
"It depends on what this agreement brings us," he said. "When there is no more occupation, there will be no need for these cells."
The pronouncement could give Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki a potent incentive to press the United States for a specific withdrawal date.
Iraqi officials told McClatchy earlier this week that the negotiations on a security agreement are nearing a close and that the current draft of the agreement includes a date of June 30, 2009, for American troops to withdraw from Iraq's cities. U.S. combat forces would be gone "by 2011," said a senior Iraqi official who's been participating in the talks.

The above is from Leila Fadel's "Sadr promises to disband militia if U.S. sets Iraq withdrawal date" (McClatchy Newspapers) and the question to ask is: "Is Moqtada al-Sadr as big a dupe as so many Americans?" If he is, Fadel's summary may excite and delight him. But he represents a movement that wants NO US forces on Iraqi soil. So either he or the movement may grasp that what's being discussed is not withdrawal at all.

Nor is what's being included in the Democratic Party plank. Calvin Woodward (AP) notes, "On Iraq, the draft states that Democrats "expect to complete redeployment within 16 months," reflecting Obama's time frame but not the tone of certainty he brought to it when he was running in the primaries." I see, that clock upon the wall . . . Well it don't bother me at all . . . It's an ever changing time, as Aretha sings. Siedah Garrett recorded it first, for the film Baby Boom, "Ever Changing Times" written by Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Bill Conti. Another movie theme probably best described the mood in The Cult of Obama as they continue to justify one cave after another: "How Do You Keep The Music Playing?" (written by Alan and Marilyn Berman and Michel Legrand -- Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds' Best Friends).

There is no withdrawal planned by the Democratic 'leadership.' A lot of the Cultists who are semi-known try to lie that Barack, if elected, will be pressured to do more. They couldn't even pressure him to keep his word on FISA. Keep dreaming.

In fact, let's just finish out this movie music thread. Barack's groupies old enough to know better make like a girl group -- day after day. Larry Klein and Gerry Goffin's "Born To Love That Boy" (from Allison Anderson's amazing Grace Of My Heart) probably sums them up best:

He doesn't love me
But I love him so
Always thinking of that boy
But he never thinks of me.

My heart's a toy
And, like a little boy,
He breaks it when he's through.
He fools around
And puts me down.
But there's nothing I can do.

I just live for the moments with him.
(Be careful)
His touch is soft
And the lights are dim.
(Watch out)
Oh what a trance he puts me in.
I guess that I was born to love that boy.

It's a real shame Tom Hayden, Laura Flanders, et al had to inflict their late-life adolescence on the nation.

Lewis notes Glen Ford's "Obama Won't Address Specific Black Concerns" (Black Agenda Report):

"What about the Black community, Obama?" read the banner held aloft by three young African American men at what was supposed to be the usual campaign pep-rally (nominally a town hall meeting), in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Not far away, in Orlando, National Urban League President Marc Morial, preparing for the organization's annual convention last weekend, vowed that the candidate would be quizzed on "what steps should we take as a nation to alleviate the effects of racial exclusion and racial discrimination?"
Barack Obama has hard-wired himself to avoid answering such questions. His responses, when offered, range from skillful shadings of the truth to outright lies about his own statements on how he would confront the living legacy of American slavery and apartheid - if at all. And, although there is little reason to believe that masses of Blacks are reconsidering their overwhelming support for Obama, there is evidence of growing anxiety at the Illinois senator's determined "race neutrality."
Spouting the same line that endeared him to "centrist" whites and corporate contributors in 2004, Barack Obama steadfastly refuses to put forward any program to address specific historical and contemporary grievances of African Americans. The catechism is always some variation of his "There is no Black America, there is no white America..." speech at the Democratic National Convention, in Boston. He seldom acknowledges, and then only grudgingly, that African Americans continue to be subjected to institutionalized harms that are qualitatively different than those endured by whites of any social strata. He is willing to curb certain racist behaviors, such as racial profiling, but will do nothing to systematically reverse the accumulated assaults that are particular to the African American experience and condition.
In other words, Blacks have no special gripe, as far as Barack Obama is concerned - which is the source of his attraction to unprecedented numbers of white voters seeking, if not absolution for past crimes, at least a muting of Black complaints. That's the kind of "change" they're anticipating, race-wise.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

iraq
leila fadel
mcclatchy newspapers
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