Read today: Americans might be honoring the dead from U.S. wars, but in no case did any of those dead whom we memorialize today die for "our freedom." They died, instead, because our political classes pointedly understand that promoting war is good for them.
3,464 not counting mercenaries, wounded and killed or wounded Iraqi civilians.
30 May, 2007
29 May, 2007
Republicans continue to lie
In defending the Iraq war, leading Republican presidential contenders are increasingly echoing words and phrases used by President Bush in the run-up to the war that reinforce the misleading impression that Iraq was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Iraq =3,455 killed and counting
28 May, 2007
we trusted these Republicans
Future historians will shake their heads over how easily America was misled into war. The warning signs, the indications that we had a rogue administration determined to use 9/11 as an excuse for war, were there, for those willing to see them, right from the beginning — even before Mr. Bush began explicitly pushing for war with Iraq. We trusted these Republicans.
In fact, the very first time Mr. Bush declared a war on terror that “will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated,” people should have realized that he was going to use the terrorist attack to justify anything and everything. But, we trusted these Republicans.
When he used his first post-attack State of the Union to denounce an “axis of evil” consisting of three countries that had nothing to do either with 9/11 or with each other, alarm bells should have gone off. But, we still trusted these Republicans.
The question was whether the public would ever catch on. Well, to the immense relief of those who spent years trying to get the truth out, they did. Last November Americans voted overwhelmingly to bring an end to Mr. Bush’s war. Yet the war goes on.
In fact, the very first time Mr. Bush declared a war on terror that “will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated,” people should have realized that he was going to use the terrorist attack to justify anything and everything. But, we trusted these Republicans.
When he used his first post-attack State of the Union to denounce an “axis of evil” consisting of three countries that had nothing to do either with 9/11 or with each other, alarm bells should have gone off. But, we still trusted these Republicans.
The question was whether the public would ever catch on. Well, to the immense relief of those who spent years trying to get the truth out, they did. Last November Americans voted overwhelmingly to bring an end to Mr. Bush’s war. Yet the war goes on.
mercenaries in Iraq
Employees of Blackwater USA, a private security firm under contract to the State Department, opened fire on the streets of Baghdad twice in two days last week, and one of the incidents provoked a standoff between the security contractors (mercenaries)and Iraqi forces, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. Blackwater's security consulting division holds at least $109 million worth of State Department contracts in Iraq,
Matthew Degn, a senior American civilian adviser to the Interior Ministry's intelligence directorate, described the ministry as "a powder keg" after the Iraqi driver was shot Thursday, with anger at Blackwater spilling over to other Americans working in the building. We have about 30,000 mercenaries operating in Iraq.
Matthew Degn, a senior American civilian adviser to the Interior Ministry's intelligence directorate, described the ministry as "a powder keg" after the Iraqi driver was shot Thursday, with anger at Blackwater spilling over to other Americans working in the building. We have about 30,000 mercenaries operating in Iraq.
26 May, 2007
republicans did it anyway
Months before the invasion of Iraq, U.S. intelligence agencies predicted that it would be likely to spark violent sectarian divides and provide al-Qaeda with new opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a report released yesterday by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Analysts warned that war in Iraq also could provoke Iran to assert its regional influence and "probably would result in a surge of political Islam and increased funding for terrorist groups" in the Muslim world.
The intelligence assessments, made in January 2003 and widely circulated within the Bush administration before the war. But the neocon republicans did it anyway.
The intelligence assessments, made in January 2003 and widely circulated within the Bush administration before the war. But the neocon republicans did it anyway.
25 May, 2007
our mercenaries in Iraq
In the case of Blackwater Security Consulting, their contact releases the company from "any liability whatsoever" even if it is "the result of negligence, gross negligence, omissionsor failure to guard or warn against dangerous conditions."
The risks are considerable: the latest government figures say 916 civilian contractors (mercenaries)have been killed from the beginning of the war in Iraq in March, 2003 to April 30, 2007.
The risks are considerable: the latest government figures say 916 civilian contractors (mercenaries)have been killed from the beginning of the war in Iraq in March, 2003 to April 30, 2007.
Iraq 3434
3,434 and the Pentagon is considering maintaining a core group of forces in Iraq, possibly for decades.
24 May, 2007
US wages declining
Today, American workers' take-home pay represents a smaller share of the nation's total income than at any time in the last forty years. At the same time, corporate profits as a share of national income are at an all-time high.
3422
Number of U.S. Military Personnel sacrificed (officially acknowledged) in America's War on Iraq continues at 3,422.
a Republican quagmire and oil
Most U.S. soldiers interviewed by NEWSWEEK have long since stopped insisting that their greatest mission is to bring peace and democracy to Iraq. More and more, they talk about their desire to simply protect their buddies, and to get everyone home alive.
We are not winning new friends in Iraq. "We hate Al Qaeda," said Salman Awda, a 55-year-old tractor driver.
"But we hate the American troops more." This is what the
republicans got us into and insist on with no end in sight.
Since they can't win in Iraq, they are now trying to enlarge it to Iran since non who are making decisions are over there fighting. I wonder if their being heavily invested in oil has anything to do with it?
We are not winning new friends in Iraq. "We hate Al Qaeda," said Salman Awda, a 55-year-old tractor driver.
"But we hate the American troops more." This is what the
republicans got us into and insist on with no end in sight.
Since they can't win in Iraq, they are now trying to enlarge it to Iran since non who are making decisions are over there fighting. I wonder if their being heavily invested in oil has anything to do with it?
22 May, 2007
more republican scandals
Partial list of republican scandals:
Paul Wolfowitz in the World Bank With Nepotism.
Federal Employees in the Department of Education With
Corporate Ties.
Bushies in the Election Assistance Commission With Fraud.
Partisan Hacks in the Press With Bought Agendas.
Bernard Kerik in the Department of Homeland Security With the
Nanny and the Publisher and the Mob.
Karl Rove in the White House With the Delete Key.
Lester Crawford in the Food and Drug Administration With Tainted
Stocks.
Bushies in NASA With the Weird Science.
The GOP Leadership in Congress With Dirty Money.
Abu Ghraib
Eavesdroppers at the National Security Agency With the Wiretaps.
Bureaucrats at Walter Reed With Cockroachesack Abramoff on K
Street With the Wallet.
Steven Griles in the Department of the Interior
With the "Special Relationship".
Scooter Libby in the White House With the Faulty Memory.Alberto Gonzales in the Justice Department With the Pink Slips
John Doolittle in Congress With the Campaign Donations
Mark Foley in Congress With the Instant Messages.
Halliburton in Iraq With the Defense Contracts.
Tom DeLay in Congress With the Corporate Funds.
Randall Tobias in the Massage Parlor With Scented Oils.
Rick Renzi in Congress With the Land Deal.
Duke Cunningham in Congress With the Candlestick.
Dusty Foggo in the CIA With the Bribes
Paul Wolfowitz in the World Bank With Nepotism.
Federal Employees in the Department of Education With
Corporate Ties.
Bushies in the Election Assistance Commission With Fraud.
Partisan Hacks in the Press With Bought Agendas.
Bernard Kerik in the Department of Homeland Security With the
Nanny and the Publisher and the Mob.
Karl Rove in the White House With the Delete Key.
Lester Crawford in the Food and Drug Administration With Tainted
Stocks.
Bushies in NASA With the Weird Science.
The GOP Leadership in Congress With Dirty Money.
Abu Ghraib
Eavesdroppers at the National Security Agency With the Wiretaps.
Bureaucrats at Walter Reed With Cockroachesack Abramoff on K
Street With the Wallet.
Steven Griles in the Department of the Interior
With the "Special Relationship".
Scooter Libby in the White House With the Faulty Memory.Alberto Gonzales in the Justice Department With the Pink Slips
John Doolittle in Congress With the Campaign Donations
Mark Foley in Congress With the Instant Messages.
Halliburton in Iraq With the Defense Contracts.
Tom DeLay in Congress With the Corporate Funds.
Randall Tobias in the Massage Parlor With Scented Oils.
Rick Renzi in Congress With the Land Deal.
Duke Cunningham in Congress With the Candlestick.
Dusty Foggo in the CIA With the Bribes
21 May, 2007
puppets want US to leave
The governments of Afghanistan and Iraq have indicated quite clearly that they want the United States to leave their countries. In Afghanistan, NATO cannot defeat the Taliban, and only makes matters worse by the indiscriminate bombing and killing of civilians.
Republicans invaded Iraq anyway
Two intelligence assessments from January 2003 predicted that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and subsequent U.S. occupation of Iraq could lead to internal violence and provide a boost to Islamic extremists and terrorists in the region, according to congressional sources and former intelligence officials familiar with the prewar studies.
British to leave Iraq
The number of U.S. Military Personnel sacrificed (officially acknowledged) in America's War On Iraq is 3,422 and counting, not countintg wounded, contractors/mercenaries and civilians.
GORDON Brown will remove all British forces from Iraq before the next election under a plan to rebuild support among disillusioned Labour voters. The Prime Minister elect is working on a withdrawal plan that could see troop numbers slashed from 7,000 to as few as 2,000 within 12 months.
GORDON Brown will remove all British forces from Iraq before the next election under a plan to rebuild support among disillusioned Labour voters. The Prime Minister elect is working on a withdrawal plan that could see troop numbers slashed from 7,000 to as few as 2,000 within 12 months.
Bush at the ranch
Since becoming president, Bush has made 64 visits here, spending all or part of 413 days of his presidency at his ranch, according to the White House. He was enjoying a month-long stretch at his ranch in August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina struck, devastating the Gulf Coast.
An encampment is there with a cluster of double-wide mobile homes, adjacent to the president's 1,600-acre ranch,where a handful of traveling White House staffers, Secret Service agents and communications staff both work and sleep during Bush's stays here.
There are also bunkers and other facilities that were built for Bush.
Bush also regularly hosts foreign dignitaries at his ranch, which he sees as a valuable diplomatic tool and it's all tax deductible which means that we pay for it.
An encampment is there with a cluster of double-wide mobile homes, adjacent to the president's 1,600-acre ranch,where a handful of traveling White House staffers, Secret Service agents and communications staff both work and sleep during Bush's stays here.
There are also bunkers and other facilities that were built for Bush.
Bush also regularly hosts foreign dignitaries at his ranch, which he sees as a valuable diplomatic tool and it's all tax deductible which means that we pay for it.
20 May, 2007
Republicans fail food safety
Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical. Frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics. Scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria. Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides.
Juices and fruits rejected as "filthy. Prunes tinted with chemical dyes not approved for human consumption. Frozen breaded shrimp preserved with nitrofuran, an antibacterial that can cause cancer. Swordfish rejected as "poisonous."
These were among the 107 food imports from China that the Food and Drug Administration detained at U.S. ports just last month, agency documents reveal, along with more than 1,000 shipments of tainted Chinese dietary supplements, toxic Chinese cosmetics and counterfeit Chinese medicines.
For years, U.S. inspection records show, China has flooded the United States with foods unfit for human consumption. And for years, FDA inspectors have simply returned to Chinese importers
the small portion of those products they caught -- many of which turned up at U.S. borders again, making a second or third attempt at entry.
Corporations and the federal government seem willing to put the interests of business "above the public welfare." Under the Bush administration in particular, DeWaal said,if a proposed regulation does get past agency or department heads, it hits the wall at the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Juices and fruits rejected as "filthy. Prunes tinted with chemical dyes not approved for human consumption. Frozen breaded shrimp preserved with nitrofuran, an antibacterial that can cause cancer. Swordfish rejected as "poisonous."
These were among the 107 food imports from China that the Food and Drug Administration detained at U.S. ports just last month, agency documents reveal, along with more than 1,000 shipments of tainted Chinese dietary supplements, toxic Chinese cosmetics and counterfeit Chinese medicines.
For years, U.S. inspection records show, China has flooded the United States with foods unfit for human consumption. And for years, FDA inspectors have simply returned to Chinese importers
the small portion of those products they caught -- many of which turned up at U.S. borders again, making a second or third attempt at entry.
Corporations and the federal government seem willing to put the interests of business "above the public welfare." Under the Bush administration in particular, DeWaal said,if a proposed regulation does get past agency or department heads, it hits the wall at the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Gonzales, a Bushie
An aide to Ashcroft tipped Comey off that White House legal counsel Gonzales and chief of staff Andrew Card were headed to Ashcroft's hospital to get him to sign it. Comey rushed to the darkened room, where he briefed the barely conscious Ashcroft. Gonzales and Card entered minutes later, demanding that Ashcroft comply.
He refused, pointing to Comey, saying he was the attorney general. "I was angry. I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man," Comey testified.
Gonzales and Card then summoned Comey to the White House, where they attempted to intimidate him by telling him that Vice President Dick Cheney and his counsel, David Addington, were in favor of the reauthorization. Comey still refused. And the program went forward without the legal justice department approval.
Comey and other high justice department officials prepared their resignation letters. The next day, having heard about the planned mass resignations, President Bush met alone with Comey, who briefed him on what needed to be done to bring the program under the law.
Several weeks later Comey signed the authorization for a legal program. But during that period it was conducted outside the law.
Then, after Bush's reelection, Ashcroft was not reappointed. In his place Bush sent a new name to the Senate for confirmation - Alberto Gonzales. Every position he had held was the result of his undying loyalty to Bush.
The confrontation in Ashcroft's hospital room had been a turning point in his rise. Comey, who Bush privately derided as "Cuomo", quit.
In his confirmation hearing before the senate judiciary committee, Gonzales was asked about domestic surveillance, and he blithely misled the senators, acting as if he would always uphold the existing law, even though he had pressured Ashcroft and Comey to approve the illegal program
He refused, pointing to Comey, saying he was the attorney general. "I was angry. I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man," Comey testified.
Gonzales and Card then summoned Comey to the White House, where they attempted to intimidate him by telling him that Vice President Dick Cheney and his counsel, David Addington, were in favor of the reauthorization. Comey still refused. And the program went forward without the legal justice department approval.
Comey and other high justice department officials prepared their resignation letters. The next day, having heard about the planned mass resignations, President Bush met alone with Comey, who briefed him on what needed to be done to bring the program under the law.
Several weeks later Comey signed the authorization for a legal program. But during that period it was conducted outside the law.
Then, after Bush's reelection, Ashcroft was not reappointed. In his place Bush sent a new name to the Senate for confirmation - Alberto Gonzales. Every position he had held was the result of his undying loyalty to Bush.
The confrontation in Ashcroft's hospital room had been a turning point in his rise. Comey, who Bush privately derided as "Cuomo", quit.
In his confirmation hearing before the senate judiciary committee, Gonzales was asked about domestic surveillance, and he blithely misled the senators, acting as if he would always uphold the existing law, even though he had pressured Ashcroft and Comey to approve the illegal program
19 May, 2007
Iraqi secrets
It is estimated that total number of contractors (mercenaries) killed in Iraq is at least 917, along with more than 12,000 wounded
in battle or injured on the job, according to government figures and dozens of interviews.
The new contractor statistics suggest that for every four American soldiers or marines who die in Iraq,a contractor is killed. The contractor casualties were a symptom of a larger failure to send enough troops earlier to provide security throughout Iraq.
The military releases names and biographical information about its wartime casualties, but businesses are not required to provide such information, and the Labor Department refuses to do so,
They don't want us to know.
in battle or injured on the job, according to government figures and dozens of interviews.
The new contractor statistics suggest that for every four American soldiers or marines who die in Iraq,a contractor is killed. The contractor casualties were a symptom of a larger failure to send enough troops earlier to provide security throughout Iraq.
The military releases names and biographical information about its wartime casualties, but businesses are not required to provide such information, and the Labor Department refuses to do so,
They don't want us to know.
18 May, 2007
worth repeating on Iran and Iraq
Why would anyone hate us? The problem is that the military wing of the US government is very different from your neighborhood. After the Soviet Union crashed, US elites declared themselves masters of the universe,the only "indispensable nation" and the like.
All countries must ask the US for permission to have a nuclear program. If we don't like your government, we can overthrow it.
Meanwhile, we sought a global empire unlike any in history: not just a sphere of interest but the entire world. Laurence Vance has the details but here is the bottom line: one-third of a million deployed troops in 134 countries in 1000 locations in foreign countries.
All during the 1990s, the US attempted to starve the population of Iraq, with the result of hundreds of thousands of deaths. Madelyn Albright said on national television that the deaths of 500,000 children (the UN's number) was "worth it" in order to achieve our aims,which were ostensibly the elimination of non-existent, non-US built weapons of mass destruction.
Yes, that annoyed a few people. There were constant bombings in Iraq all these years. And let us not forget how all this nonsense began: the first war in 1991 was waged in retaliation for a US-approved Iraqi invasion of its former province, Kuwait. Saddam had good reasonto think that the US ambassador was telling the truth about non-interference with Kuwait relations. Saddam was our ally all through the Iran-Iraq war and before.
The enemy we are now fighting, the Islamic extremists, are the very group that we supported and subsidized all through the 1980s in the name of fighting Communism. That's the reason the US knows so much about their bunkers and hiding spots in Afghanistan. US taxdollars created them.
All countries must ask the US for permission to have a nuclear program. If we don't like your government, we can overthrow it.
Meanwhile, we sought a global empire unlike any in history: not just a sphere of interest but the entire world. Laurence Vance has the details but here is the bottom line: one-third of a million deployed troops in 134 countries in 1000 locations in foreign countries.
All during the 1990s, the US attempted to starve the population of Iraq, with the result of hundreds of thousands of deaths. Madelyn Albright said on national television that the deaths of 500,000 children (the UN's number) was "worth it" in order to achieve our aims,which were ostensibly the elimination of non-existent, non-US built weapons of mass destruction.
Yes, that annoyed a few people. There were constant bombings in Iraq all these years. And let us not forget how all this nonsense began: the first war in 1991 was waged in retaliation for a US-approved Iraqi invasion of its former province, Kuwait. Saddam had good reasonto think that the US ambassador was telling the truth about non-interference with Kuwait relations. Saddam was our ally all through the Iran-Iraq war and before.
The enemy we are now fighting, the Islamic extremists, are the very group that we supported and subsidized all through the 1980s in the name of fighting Communism. That's the reason the US knows so much about their bunkers and hiding spots in Afghanistan. US taxdollars created them.
republican mess in Iraq
The point that libertarians have been trying to hammer home for many yearsis that the US government under these republicans has become the enemy of the American people and their values. It is not peaceful, it is not friendly, it is not motivated by the Christian faith, but rather power and imperial lust.
We invaded their country, Iraq, based on lies. The number of U.S. Military Personnel sacrificed (officially acknowledged) in America's War On Iraq continues at 3,403, not counting our wounded, our mercenaries or the hundreds of thousands of civilians killed and wounded in their country.
We invaded their country, Iraq, based on lies. The number of U.S. Military Personnel sacrificed (officially acknowledged) in America's War On Iraq continues at 3,403, not counting our wounded, our mercenaries or the hundreds of thousands of civilians killed and wounded in their country.
17 May, 2007
last word on Falwell
Jerry Falwell’s professional life and his record speaks for itself.
March 1980: Falwell tells an Anchorage rally about a conversation with President Carter at the White House. Commenting on a January breakfast meeting, Falwell claimed to have asked Carter why he had “practicing homosexuals” on the senior staff at the White House. According to Falwell, Carter replied, “Well, I am president of all the American people, and I believe I should represent everyone.” When others who attended the White House event insisted that the exchange never happened,Falwell responded that his account “was not intended to be a verbatim report,” but rather an “honest portrayal” of Carter’s position.
August 1980: After Southern Baptist Convention President Bailey Smith tells a Dallas Religious Right gathering that “God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew,” Falwell gives a similar view. “I do not believe,” he told reporters, “that God answers
the prayer of any unredeemed Gentile or Jew.” After a meeting with an American Jewish Committee rabbi, he changed course, telling an interviewer on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “God hears the prayers of all persons…. God hears everything.”
July 1984: Falwell is forced to pay gay activist Jerry Sloan $5,000 after losing a court battle.During a TV debate in Sacramento, Falwell denied calling the gay-oriented Metropolitan
Community Churches “brute beasts” and “a vile and Satanic system” that will “one day be utterly annihilated and there will be a celebration in heaven.” When Sloan insisted he had a tape, Falwell promised $5,000 if he could produce it. Sloan did so,
Falwell refused to pay and Sloan successfully sued. Falwell appealed, with his attorney charging that the Jewish judge in the case was prejudiced. He lost again and was forced to pay an additional $2,875 in sanctions and court fees.
October 1987: The Federal Election Commission fines Falwell for transferring $6.7 million in funds intended for his ministry to political committees.
February 1988: The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a $200,000 jury award to Falwell for “emotional distress” he suffered because of a Hustler magazine parody. Chief Justice William H.Rehnquist,usually a Falwell favorite, wrote the unanimous opinion in Hustler v.
Falwell, ruling that the First Amendment protects free speech.
February 1993: The Internal Revenue Service determines that funds from Falwell’s Old Time Gospel Hour program were illegally funneled to a political campaign. The IRS forced Falwell to pay $50,000 and retroactively revoked the Old Time Gospel Hour’s
tax-exempt status for 1986-87.
March 1993: Despite his promise to Jewish groups to stop referring to America as a “Christian nation,” Falwell gives a sermon saying, “We must never allow our children to forget that this is a Christian nation. We must take back what is rightfully ours.”
1994-1995: Falwell is criticized for using his “Old Time Gospel Hour” to hawk a scurrilous video called “The Clinton Chronicles” that makes a number of unsubstantiated charges against President Bill Clinton — among them that he is a drug addict and that he arranged the murders of political enemies in Arkansas. Despite claims he had no ties to the project, evidence surfaced that Falwell helped bankroll the venture with $200,000 paid to a group
called Citizens for Honest Government (CHG). CHG’s Pat Matrisciana later admitted that Falwell and he staged an infomercial interview promoting the video in which a silhouetted reporter said his life was in danger for investigating Clinton. (Matrisciana himself posed as the reporter.) “That was Jerry’s idea to do that,” Matrisciana recalled. “He thought that would be dramatic.”
November 1997: Falwell accepts $3.5 million from a front group representing controversial Korean evangelist Sun Myung Moon to ease Liberty University’s financial woes.
April 1998: Confronted on national television with a controversial quote from America Can Be Saved!, a published collection of his sermons, Falwell denies having written the book or had anything to do with it. In the 1979 work, Falwell wrote, “I hope to live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won’t have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!” Despite Falwell’s denial, Sword of the Lord Publishing, which produced the book, confirms that Falwell wrote it.
January 1999: Falwell tells a pastors’ conference in Kingsport, Tenn., that the Antichrist prophesied in the Bible is alive today and “of course he’ll be Jewish.”
February 1999: Falwell becomes the object of nationwide ridicule after his National Liberty Journal newspaper issues a “parents alert” warning that Tinky Winky, a character on the popular PBS children’s show “Teletubbies,” might be gay.
September 2001: Falwell blames Americans for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. I really believe that the Pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say,‘You helped this happen.’”
November 2005: Falwell spearheads campaign to resist “war on Christmas.”
February 2007: Falwell describes global warming as a conspiracy orchestrated by Satan,liberals, and The Weather Channel.
Spirituality is about morality and ethics. Religion has become about power and institutions. Forgive me if I don’t cry.
March 1980: Falwell tells an Anchorage rally about a conversation with President Carter at the White House. Commenting on a January breakfast meeting, Falwell claimed to have asked Carter why he had “practicing homosexuals” on the senior staff at the White House. According to Falwell, Carter replied, “Well, I am president of all the American people, and I believe I should represent everyone.” When others who attended the White House event insisted that the exchange never happened,Falwell responded that his account “was not intended to be a verbatim report,” but rather an “honest portrayal” of Carter’s position.
August 1980: After Southern Baptist Convention President Bailey Smith tells a Dallas Religious Right gathering that “God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew,” Falwell gives a similar view. “I do not believe,” he told reporters, “that God answers
the prayer of any unredeemed Gentile or Jew.” After a meeting with an American Jewish Committee rabbi, he changed course, telling an interviewer on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “God hears the prayers of all persons…. God hears everything.”
July 1984: Falwell is forced to pay gay activist Jerry Sloan $5,000 after losing a court battle.During a TV debate in Sacramento, Falwell denied calling the gay-oriented Metropolitan
Community Churches “brute beasts” and “a vile and Satanic system” that will “one day be utterly annihilated and there will be a celebration in heaven.” When Sloan insisted he had a tape, Falwell promised $5,000 if he could produce it. Sloan did so,
Falwell refused to pay and Sloan successfully sued. Falwell appealed, with his attorney charging that the Jewish judge in the case was prejudiced. He lost again and was forced to pay an additional $2,875 in sanctions and court fees.
October 1987: The Federal Election Commission fines Falwell for transferring $6.7 million in funds intended for his ministry to political committees.
February 1988: The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a $200,000 jury award to Falwell for “emotional distress” he suffered because of a Hustler magazine parody. Chief Justice William H.Rehnquist,usually a Falwell favorite, wrote the unanimous opinion in Hustler v.
Falwell, ruling that the First Amendment protects free speech.
February 1993: The Internal Revenue Service determines that funds from Falwell’s Old Time Gospel Hour program were illegally funneled to a political campaign. The IRS forced Falwell to pay $50,000 and retroactively revoked the Old Time Gospel Hour’s
tax-exempt status for 1986-87.
March 1993: Despite his promise to Jewish groups to stop referring to America as a “Christian nation,” Falwell gives a sermon saying, “We must never allow our children to forget that this is a Christian nation. We must take back what is rightfully ours.”
1994-1995: Falwell is criticized for using his “Old Time Gospel Hour” to hawk a scurrilous video called “The Clinton Chronicles” that makes a number of unsubstantiated charges against President Bill Clinton — among them that he is a drug addict and that he arranged the murders of political enemies in Arkansas. Despite claims he had no ties to the project, evidence surfaced that Falwell helped bankroll the venture with $200,000 paid to a group
called Citizens for Honest Government (CHG). CHG’s Pat Matrisciana later admitted that Falwell and he staged an infomercial interview promoting the video in which a silhouetted reporter said his life was in danger for investigating Clinton. (Matrisciana himself posed as the reporter.) “That was Jerry’s idea to do that,” Matrisciana recalled. “He thought that would be dramatic.”
November 1997: Falwell accepts $3.5 million from a front group representing controversial Korean evangelist Sun Myung Moon to ease Liberty University’s financial woes.
April 1998: Confronted on national television with a controversial quote from America Can Be Saved!, a published collection of his sermons, Falwell denies having written the book or had anything to do with it. In the 1979 work, Falwell wrote, “I hope to live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won’t have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!” Despite Falwell’s denial, Sword of the Lord Publishing, which produced the book, confirms that Falwell wrote it.
January 1999: Falwell tells a pastors’ conference in Kingsport, Tenn., that the Antichrist prophesied in the Bible is alive today and “of course he’ll be Jewish.”
February 1999: Falwell becomes the object of nationwide ridicule after his National Liberty Journal newspaper issues a “parents alert” warning that Tinky Winky, a character on the popular PBS children’s show “Teletubbies,” might be gay.
September 2001: Falwell blames Americans for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. I really believe that the Pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say,‘You helped this happen.’”
November 2005: Falwell spearheads campaign to resist “war on Christmas.”
February 2007: Falwell describes global warming as a conspiracy orchestrated by Satan,liberals, and The Weather Channel.
Spirituality is about morality and ethics. Religion has become about power and institutions. Forgive me if I don’t cry.
16 May, 2007
the real Falwell
He said at an evangelical conference that the antichrist was a male Jew alive in the world today. He later apologized for his remarks but not for holding the belief.
He warned parents that Tinky Winky, a character on the children's TV show "Teletubbies," was a gay role model .On "60 Minutes" he labeled Muhammad a terrorist. He expressed racist views.
Perhaps his most provocative came Sept. 13, 2001, when he appeared on "The 700 Club," the Rev. Pat Robertson's TV show, and blamed pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays, the ACLU and others for Sept. 11, 2001."I point the finger in their face and say,'You helped this happen,' " he said.
To Falwell, religion was about political influence and power.
He warned parents that Tinky Winky, a character on the children's TV show "Teletubbies," was a gay role model .On "60 Minutes" he labeled Muhammad a terrorist. He expressed racist views.
Perhaps his most provocative came Sept. 13, 2001, when he appeared on "The 700 Club," the Rev. Pat Robertson's TV show, and blamed pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays, the ACLU and others for Sept. 11, 2001."I point the finger in their face and say,'You helped this happen,' " he said.
To Falwell, religion was about political influence and power.
15 May, 2007
republican war update
The number of U.S. Military Personnel sacrificed (officially acknowledged) In America's War On Iraq now totals 3,401 not counting US mercenaries, civilians,the wounded or the war on terror.
12 May, 2007
war mongers vs. Iraq
The republican war mongers belittle those who speak out against the war, saying that we are emboldening the enemy. Reading between the lines, freedom of speech is treasonous if you question the motives and actions of those who got us involved in the Iraq war. We can only wish that there had been more “good Germans” speaking out about the policies of Adolf Hitler before the Holocaust became reality.
The number of U.S. Military Personnel sacrificed (officially acknowledged) in America's War On Iraq is 3,386 and continuing in the fifth year with no end in sight, not counting mercenaries (contractors), our wounded, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians.
The number of U.S. Military Personnel sacrificed (officially acknowledged) in America's War On Iraq is 3,386 and continuing in the fifth year with no end in sight, not counting mercenaries (contractors), our wounded, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians.
11 May, 2007
another Republican failure
Republican failures just keep coming:
The Bush administration's top education official admitted on Thursday that the U.S. college financial aid system is broken.
With scandal sweeping through the $85-billion student loan business, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings told a congressional panel there is a desperate need for change.
Committee chairman George Miller grilled Spellings at a hearing about what he said was chronic inaction by her agency.
"The U.S. Department of Education has been conspicuously missing in action," said the California Democrat.
The Bush administration's top education official admitted on Thursday that the U.S. college financial aid system is broken.
With scandal sweeping through the $85-billion student loan business, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings told a congressional panel there is a desperate need for change.
Committee chairman George Miller grilled Spellings at a hearing about what he said was chronic inaction by her agency.
"The U.S. Department of Education has been conspicuously missing in action," said the California Democrat.
10 May, 2007
Republican war
Number of U.S. Military Personnel sacrificed (officially acknowledged) in America's War On Iraq is now 3,381, not including military wounded, private contractors (mercenaries) and all the Iraqi civilians that have been killed.
09 May, 2007
republicans failed again
The tainted Chinese ingredient that was incorporated into U.S. pet food and later made its way into chicken and pig feed was neither wheat gluten nor rice protein as advertised, but was seriously contaminated wheat flour,government investigators said yesterday.
Moreover, officials said, some of that contaminated flour, mislabeled as gluten,was mixed into fish food in Canada and exported to the United States,where it was fed to fish raised for human consumption. Republicans have failed toprotect our food supply.
Moreover, officials said, some of that contaminated flour, mislabeled as gluten,was mixed into fish food in Canada and exported to the United States,where it was fed to fish raised for human consumption. Republicans have failed toprotect our food supply.
08 May, 2007
republicans credit card war
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, Congress has approved more
than $609 billion for the wars, a figure likely to stand as lawmakers rework their latest spending bill in response to a Bush veto. Requests for $145 billion more await congressional action and would raise the cost in inflation-adjusted dollars beyond the cost of the wars in Korea and Vietnam.
This time, the war bill is going directly on the nation's credit card. They even cut taxes on the wealthy, which adds even more to the ballooning national debt.
Like all debts, however, the bill for this republican war on Iraq will eventually come due. Economists foresee substantial increases in government spending to rebuild the nation's exhausted armed forces, care for its disabled veterans and cover rising interest payments.
than $609 billion for the wars, a figure likely to stand as lawmakers rework their latest spending bill in response to a Bush veto. Requests for $145 billion more await congressional action and would raise the cost in inflation-adjusted dollars beyond the cost of the wars in Korea and Vietnam.
This time, the war bill is going directly on the nation's credit card. They even cut taxes on the wealthy, which adds even more to the ballooning national debt.
Like all debts, however, the bill for this republican war on Iraq will eventually come due. Economists foresee substantial increases in government spending to rebuild the nation's exhausted armed forces, care for its disabled veterans and cover rising interest payments.
07 May, 2007
boycot Chinese products
Over the years, the poison has been loaded into all varieties of medicine made in China — cough syrup, fever medication, injectable drugs — a result of counterfeiters who profit by substituting the sweet-tasting solvent for a safe, more expensive syrup, usually glycerin, commonly used in drugs, food, toothpaste and other products., some of which are making their way into the US.
The Chinese government is not prosecuting those responsible. Don't buy anything from China until their government ensures that their products are safe, and they prosecute their violators.
The Chinese government is not prosecuting those responsible. Don't buy anything from China until their government ensures that their products are safe, and they prosecute their violators.
05 May, 2007
update Iraq
Number of U.S. Military Personnel sacrificed (officially acknowledged) in Republican America'sWar On Iraq is 3,333, not counting mercenaries, the wounded and civilians.
Christian Taliban
Can you imagine a contingent of religious zealots, with their contempt for secular values (and such manifestations of secular order as the U.S. Constitution) - and with their zest for holy war - in control of our Defense Department which is the most potent fighting force with its weaponry in human history?
who controls government
Big money and big business, corporations and commerce, are again the undisputed overlords of politics and government. The White House, the Congress and, increasingly, the judiciary, reflect their interests. We appear to have a government run by remote control from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute.
02 May, 2007
why no Iraq exit plan?
For all the talk about timetables and benchmarks, one might think that the United States will end the military occupation of Iraq within the lifetimes of the readers of this opinion editorial. Think again.
There is to be no withdrawal from Iraq, just as there has been no withdrawal from hundreds of places around the world that are outposts of the American empire.
As UC San Diego professor emeritus Chalmers Johnson put it, "One of the reasons we had no exit plan from Iraq is that we didn't intend to leave." The United States maintains 737 military bases in 130 countries across the globe. They exist for the purpose of defending the economic interests of the United States, what is euphemistically called "national security."
In order to secure favorable access to Iraq's vast reserves of light crude, the United States is spending billions on the construction of at least five large permanent military bases throughout that country.
There is to be no withdrawal from Iraq, just as there has been no withdrawal from hundreds of places around the world that are outposts of the American empire.
As UC San Diego professor emeritus Chalmers Johnson put it, "One of the reasons we had no exit plan from Iraq is that we didn't intend to leave." The United States maintains 737 military bases in 130 countries across the globe. They exist for the purpose of defending the economic interests of the United States, what is euphemistically called "national security."
In order to secure favorable access to Iraq's vast reserves of light crude, the United States is spending billions on the construction of at least five large permanent military bases throughout that country.
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