Elaine

Why has Iraq been so absent as an issue from the US presidential election? It seems scarcely believable that the one dominant, inescapable political issue in US politics over the past five years is now barely commented on by the main candidates.  Why is everyone focused on the $700 billion bailout which we should have known would be handed over gift wrapped to Bush and Paulsen on the backs of the middle class just as was done by Bush and Rumsfeld with the so called “War on Terror.” 

The former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, the former CIA director George Tenet, President Bush’s chief strategist Karl Rove and many others all “lost” their jobs because of Iraq. With such a cast of high-profile casualties, as well as consistent poll results showing that the majority of Americans feel that the war has been handled badly and want their country to withdraw militarily from Iraq, you would expect it to be a huge and divisive issue in such a closely fought contest.  

Members of the House Banking Committee should also be held accountable for what has been categorized as the worse financial collapse and bailout in this country.  The candidates should be fighting front and center addressing the fact that this war has put us in $1 trillion worth of debt, with no end in sight.  Yet, they are haggling over “transparency” issues when it comes to giving billions to banks.  Right now the war is costing the average family $4,681 per household and $1,721 per person, with a total daily cost to the taxpayer of $341.4 million. (Calculating what it cost me personally with my family income totals $44,252 since 2003.)

 

Paulson’s bailout plan would require Congress to raise the U.S. debt limit to $11.3 trillion. Don’t forget it was just in July when the debt limit was raised by $800 billion to $10.6 billion as a result of the Housing Bill. On that basis, the cost of the bailouts thus far is $1.5 trillion - and counting, which boils down to approximately $6,000 per average household. 

So if the average middle class household is paying an extra $6,000 plus $4,681 yearly, that is an extra $10,681 per household per year, on top of struggling to survive on lower wages, higher food and gas prices.  No wonder people are losing their homes!

Back to the war, however, which has been mentioned by the candidates and the media, but only in passing. They put this down to the success of the so-called “surge”, a euphemism for the US troop increase parroted by everyone. The roughly 30,000 extra troops demanded by General David Petraeus, the overall US forces commander in Iraq, recently replaced after a promotion to leader of CENTCOM (Central Command in Control of the Middle East), by General Odierno, have been deployed in much greater numbers in the areas around Baghdad, which have witnessed the most violence between Iraqi groups as well as attacks on US troops.

There is no doubt that clashes, particularly across the sectarian divide of Sunni and Shia, have dropped, and this has tentatively encouraged Iraqis in some districts in the heart of the city to venture out into their neighborhoods in ways that they haven’t done for a long time.  British and American politicians have been quick to portray the situation in Iraq as an across-the-board reduction in violence, and link this directly to the surge. This argument has been widely accepted. Yet troop levels in Iraq have been much higher in the past than they are now, with no effect whatsoever on the numbers of attacks, bombings and deaths. So why has it worked this time? The reality is that the surge is not what has led to the lower levels of violence, and attacks on US troops are still causing considerable casualties. What has had a far greater impact has been the decision by the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to call a ceasefire between his Mahdi army, a force of up to 100,000, and US troops and Iraqi government security units. Although US commanders on the ground ascribe almost every attack on Iraqis and their troops to al-Qaeda-linked groups, this is mainly for political reasons - to support President Bush’s notion that Iraq is the central battleground in the fight against the terrorists. The other factor in the ceasefire decision has been the payment of upwards of $300 a week by the US government to various local militia so that the unrest and unhappiness of the Iraqis is somewhat quelled. Let’s look at the statistics.  Just last week the Department of Defense (DoD) confirmed 13 military deaths.  What you don’t hear or see in the media is that for that week, every day there was a roadside bomb that exploded, mostly killing Iraqi civilians, and Iraqi police, all who are either with US forces or are backing their presence.  Also as reported by the DoD, the American death toll as it stands today is 4,174 military members wounded in action which does not include the statistics of those who died of combat related injuries after taken out of the war zone, with over 40,000 wounded in action.  What is undeniable is that the Mahdi army is far more powerful militarily than groups linked to al-Qaeda, and it has been behind far more attacks. Unlike the dozens of Sunni-based insurgency groups, a number of which work with and are allied to al-Qaeda-linked groups, the Mahdi army is a proper standing military force and, as US commanders will tell you off the record, its soldiers in effect control at least half of Baghdad. What’s more, the Mahdi army is openly visible around the city. When you visit predominantly Shia districts of Baghdad, such as al-Khadimiya, the Mahdi army’s offices, flags, posters and patrols are everywhere to be seen. Moqtada al-Sadr called the ceasefire because the Mahdi army badly needed to reflect the political force his movement had in the Iraqi parliament (it holds a large number of seats.    On the streets of Baghdad, the army had been seen not as a political movement, but as a group of criminal gangs posing as a sectarian militia defending their community against attacks by Sunnis.  But many of Sadr’s commanders, a number of whom have been arrested as a result of their decision to call a ceasefire, are urging him not to renew it for another six-month term. The pressure on him to take up arms again is intense. Shia residents of mixed neighborhoods in Baghdad are now more easily targeted by Sunni groups eager to drive them out. They want local Mahdi army fighters to come to their aid and carry out revenge attacks again. If Sadr succumbs to this pressure from his grass-roots supporters - the huge numbers of working-class and impoverished Shia communities not just in Baghdad, but throughout Iraq - the lull in the violence will end almost overnight. No boosting of troop levels or boosting of the surge will have any effect. 

Last year, the Government Accountability Office also said that “there might be fewer attacks because you have ethnically cleansed neighborhoods, particularly in the Baghdad area.” Similarly, in April, CNN reported that if “anyone is telling you that the cleansing of Baghdad has not contributed to the fall in violence, then they either simply do not understand Baghdad or they are lying to you.”  Perhaps the greatest success of the surge has been in the way it was sold politically, and thus has become almost unquestioningly accepted as a panacea for the violence in Iraq. Petraeus’ performance in front of the congressional armed services committee last September gave the impression that the surge was a new beginning for US policy in Iraq. The luck was that it coincided with the Mahdi army ceasefire. Without that, however, the “success” will evaporate, and Iraq will come back on to the US presidential election agenda with a vengeance. Looking at these facts one would think that the press or public would call the candidates out on the real facts on why they keep saying the “surge is working.”  What was particularly disturbing in the 90 minutes of the Presidential debate last Friday night was that as McCain kept referring to Bush’s amazing “strategical” move to increase troops which worked so well in the overall winning of the “war in Iraq”, Obama did not call him on it.  He did not say what was said here, that we were paying them off to stay quiet, and that although the death toll was not as high as in previous years since the surge began, a total of 1,234 members of the US military were killed and an untold number were wounded.  How is that winning?  And what about the thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians who have and still are being blown apart by our occupation there?  The number of Iraqis killed in the conflict far surpasses the toll on US troops. Over 8,000 Iraqi security personnel have died in the conflict, according to figures compiled by the Brookings Institute. Civilian deaths have been far higher, though counts vary. Some put the conservative estimate of Iraqi fatalities at 500,000, or more.  Since the surge it is reported that 21,137 Iraqis, including members of the Iraqi police force, have been killed. (These statistics are generated by the DoD.) 

People in this country better wake up to the fact that there is still a major war going on, and plans to escalate it into other areas in the region by both Presidential candidates are in plain sight.  That $700 billion is added chump change compared to the mounting spending and debt the continuation of wars will bring to the backs of the people.  Once those in the working class who are being taxed to support out of control greed and spending put forth by the government, and are overburdened and broken, then you will see a real depression, none like that of a simple market crash. 

The events of police repression over the last 2 weeks, from the Denver Democratic National Convention to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Republican National Convention should not come as a surprise to anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock for the past 8 years. 

When you arm and equip local and out-of-state police departments with $50 million worth of high-tech equipment, ranging from concussion grenades, tear gas, microwave machine guns, gas bombs and wooden bats, what do you expect?  When you call in hundreds of National Guard members to work alongside the police, what do you expect?  These are YOUR tax dollars at work, a continuation of “Shock and Awe” in the homeland. 

 

The American people know what is happening in this Country, and are allowing it.  It is total crap when the media cries that the police are being “brutal.”  The police live for this stuff.  They call it “awesome,” as Amy Goodman announced the other morning after she was detained. 

 

While I was protesting in Denver, the fear and intimidation tactics were more than evident.  Cops were walking around in gangs, armed to the teeth, chomping at the bit for action.  In fact, they all had disposable cameras asking young people, who didn’t know any better, to pose for a picture, with me screaming at them to stop it.  They took dozens of photos of the tables setup in the parks, where permits had been arranged a year before.  Permitted marches and rallies were all videotaped ad nausea.

 

Troop transports covered all the streets in the City of Denver, where fully armed and battle ready police road around looking for any type of “disturbance.”  I saw families who live there totally appalled at the site, but said nothing.  Peaceful protesters were gassed and sprayed, and rounded up like they were taking part in mass murder of the local population.  The ones who are there to “protect and serve” caused the “us against them” mentality from the get go.

 

The same in Minneapolis, although the tactics we have been seeing the past 5 days leave even me speechless.  We are living in a fascist state, get used to it.  It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.  We have allowed ourselves to be spied on, lied to, and terrorized by our own government all in the name of “national security.”  We have been told that torture is acceptable and no one has done anything about it.  Our newly elected democratic-led Congress has gone along with funding the war, rubber stamping the FISA bill, passed the “Protect America Act”, “Military Commissions Act,” and the “Patriot Act” amongst other horrendous acts of treason against the people who live here.  Are they not complicit?

 

Why is everyone in the “peace movement” acting so dumbfounded now that the gloves are off and the cops are showing their true colors?  I think it is about time we saw what it is like to live under this Regime. What it’s like to be a “Good German.”  Why is the press whining that they shouldn’t be arrested?  This kind of stuff goes on everyday in the ghettos around our Country, now you can relate to it.

 George Carlin, my favorite comedian and life coach, once said:  “The people who live in this country don’t have rights.  We don’t have a Bill of Rights, we have privileges.  And when the ruling class decides your privileges need to be revoked, don’t cry about it.  Just ask the Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor about their rights!”  The whole fascist trajectory of this Country is almost complete.  Do you think that Barack Obama is going to stop this?  And you couldn’t possibly think that John McCain will.  The people must follow them, they have both made that abundantly clear in their messages, but no one is listening.  And people ARE following them, like sheep to the slaughter. 

The anarchists have it right, fight the power, and don’t stop there.  Malcolm X had it right, not Dr. King.  We must rise up and take on that power, or we will have nothing.  The time is getting late, folks.  It started right here in my own backyard in 2004 with the New York City RNC. 

 

They got rough, tackled people with nets, but didn’t have the high-tech gear they have now.  New York City lost millions over law suits, which haven’t ended yet.  But that’s not their problem, it’s my problem.  I PAY TAXES so financial settlements don’t have an impact on Mayor Bloomberg or Commissioner Ray Kelly, and they won’t have an impact on Minneapolis or Denver governmental officials.  The citizens suffer.  Why are you allowing it? 

 

This government is out of control, the Bush Program is symptomatic of the underlying root problem.  Don’t think America can be fixed by one election.  You are fooling yourselves once again.  The governmental structure is beyond repair, must be torn down, and rebuilt, but only “we the people” can do that once again.  Refresh that tree of liberty, don’t allow that money to go to suppress our freedom of speech, or our rights to be on the streets.

 

We cannot sit back and shake our heads in amazement at what we are seeing at the RNC.  We should all be OUTRAGED, finally.  Expect repression, and much more of it.  In Hitler’s Germany it got worse and worse, and they will come for all of us.  There are detention centers all over this Country, and there is a Presidential Directive #51 that basically states at any time the President deems necessary, martial law can be invoked, especially when a “state of national emergency” is declared. 

 

Ask Barack Obama or John McCain if they plan on revoking that privilege?

After spending over 6 hours last Friday in front of my computer at work riveted to the stage set by the House Judiciary Committee players holding a meeting entitled  Executive Power and Its Constitutional Limitations,  impeachment-lite as Republican Congressman Lundgren called it, or whatever else it is referred to, I had such a headache, and was extremely depressed.  

 I watched, possibly jeopardizing my job, intently hoping and waiting for Chair John Conyers to gain a backbone at age 79.  I saw many of my activist friends sitting in rows behind the star witnesses like Rep. Dennis Kucinich, former Representative Elizabeth Holtzman, who served on the Judiciary Committee overseeing the Nixon impeachment, and who I had the privilege to work for when she was NYC Comptroller, and Bruce Fein, both of whom wouldn’t back down from the issue of impeachment.  In fact, Holtzman said she was there to spell out the primary reasons for impeachment. And that the responsibility to deal with impeachment is sad, but it cannot be shrugged off.  There were disruptions, and Conyers pandered to the war-mongering republicans by throwing out people who applauded the witnesses.  However, to his credit, he let the scene play out.   I kept yelling at my computer, people around me thinking I had really lost my mind, but I wanted those congress members to LISTEN to what Liz was saying.  There is no remedy other than impeachment!  They kept asking for other suggestions, only to be told, and with great frustration by Liz and Bruce Fein, the only way out of this mess IS impeachment.    Conyers looked like he needed a shot of adrenaline, and Nadler looked very pensive, as if there was some silver bullet he was missing.  So in my estimation this committee wasted the taxpayer’s money upwards of $300,000 just for them sitting there for 6 hours and doing nothing.  Figure the cost of what they are getting paid, maybe 10 in the room at a time, and you do the math. So over ¼ million dollars was just spent to “think” about impeachment.  Not to mention that during those 6 hours, hundreds of more Iraqi’s were killed, as well as who knows how many Afghani citizens, as well as troops.  But these esteemed members need a reason.   Want one?  Here it is.  My son, Sgt. James Brower, USMC Reserves, NYPD police officer, which is his regular job, has received redeployment orders.  This will be his THIRD tour of duty.  I quote from the original orders I now have in my possession since he will be leaving shortly for Baghdad:    TO:  Sergeant James W. BrowerSUBJ:  ORDERED TO ACTIVATION-PARTIAL MOBILIZATION

You have been involuntarily ordered to active duty from your residence in support of the national emergency declared under Presidential Proclamation 7463 of 14 September 2001 and as prescribed in Executive Order 13223.  Under the provisions of Title 38, US Code, Section 4312(c)(4)(A) and (B) this period of active duty is exempt from the five-year cumulative service limitation on reemployment rights under Title 38, US Code, Chapter 43.  Your period of active duty is pursuant to US Code Title 10, Section 12302.  You are assigned to activation, in support of PFO – Operation Iraqi Freedom, on such a date that will enable you to report to the commanding officer.  Period of Duty:  17 May 2008 to 20 June 2009 for 400 days.   So upon doing some research I found that Proclamation 7463 – Declaration of National Emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks, was signed by the President 3 days after the attacks of 9/11.  In part it reads:      “A national emergency exists by reason of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, New York, New York and the Pentagon, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.       NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the Unites States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, I hereby declare that the national emergency has existed since September 11, 2001, and, pursuant to the National Emergencies Act, I intend to utilize the following statutes…”    The National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601-1651) is a United States federal law passed in 1976 to stop open-ended states of national emergency and formalize Congressional checks and balances on Presidential emergency powers. The act sets a limit of two years on states of national emergency. It also imposes certain “procedural formalities” on the President when invoking such powers, and provides a means for Congress to countermand a Presidential declaration of emergency and associated use of emergency powers.

I am no scholar, and thanks to the internet, anyone can conduct a little research and read the information that is right in front of them. Maybe Nancy should give it a try.

I.   Simply put, Iraq had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks, and that has been established.  Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz himself admitted in 2002 to a right-wing talk show host that “I’m not sure even now that I would say Iraq had something to with it.”  Iraq also had no Weapons of Mass Destruction, which even after a year after the invasion and 1,000 soldiers dead, none were found. Under the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) granted by Congress, an act of aggression against a sovereign nation was NEVER AUTHORIZED.  Operation Iraqi Freedom is over.

 Conclusion:  Sending my son back to Iraq for another tour of duty is illegal, and therefore is a crime.    II.  The commanding orders redeploying this marine also provide him with assurances as to job security.  This is referred to in US Code Title 38, Sec. 4301 which states:      (1) to encourage noncareer service in the uniformed services by eliminating or minimizing the disadvantages to civilian careers and employment which can result from such service;      (2)  to minimize the disruption to the lives of persons performing service in the uniformed services as well as to their employers….by providing for the prompt reemployment of such persons upon their completion of such service; and      (3) to prohibit discrimination against persons because of their service in the uniformed services.

According to statistics, and a study conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs (see also http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23056355/) in 2007, 18 percent of the veterans who sought jobs within one to three years of discharge were unemployed, while one out of four who did find jobs earned less than $21,840 a year.  It said that employers often had misplaced stereotypes about veterans’ fitness for employment, such as concerns they did not possess adequate technological skills, or were too rigid, lacked education or were as risk for post-traumatic stress disorder.           “The issue of mental health has turned into a double-edged sword for returning veterans.  More publicity has generated more public awareness and federal funding for those who return home different when they left.  However, more publicity, especially stories that perpetuate the “Wacko Vet’ myth, has also made some employers more cautious to hire a veteran.” 

Also shown was that formal job complaints by reservists remained high, citing concerns about denied jobs or benefits after they tried to return to their old jobs after extended tours in Iraq.  Reservists filed 1,357 complaints with the department of Labor in 2006, the latest figures available. 

    Conclusion:  My son, upon returning from Iraq, was given a desk job because they “assumed” he had PTSD.  He was never evaluated, and they are still threatening to fire him, even upon his 3^rd deployment!  Therefore, this is in direct violation of said Presidential Proclamation 7463, as included in the orders from the US Marine Corps., and is a crime.

    So if the “impeachment-lite” team did not convince Speaker Pelosi that George Bush and Dick Cheney have committed any crimes, or there are no impeachable offenses that she can think of, even if Congressman Dennis Kucinich submitted 35 which includes misleading the American people, which in includes, I might remind you, members of the Armed Services,  and members of Congress to believe Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, and that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States; then let her speak to military family members who are suffering great losses; who watch their loved ones lives destroyed;  and who are sacrificing everything for this lie that has been perpetrated. 

     I ask you, Speaker Pelosi, or Nancy Patricia D’Alesandro, daughter of a popular local politician from the Little Italy section of Baltimore, Maryland, a devout Roman Catholic, mother of 5 children, and grandmother of 5, will your family be in Iraq fighting this war you keep funding?  Are you responsible for the continuous bloodshed when you know it must stop because you refuse to impeach the criminals who lied and continue lying to us.  Aren’t you convinced yet?

    Military family members now hold YOU personally responsible for the death and wounding of our loved ones.  I am repulsed by your face and the rest of the democrats who are complicit with sending my son back for another tour of duty.  I WILL hold you responsible if he does not return, because you needed a “reason” to impeach the people who sent him there in the first place!

Please watch the short documentary that my good friends at Rowan University produced for their film class.  They did such an excellent job, everytime I watch it, I cry! 

Here is a link to a web version of the documentary.

http://www.vimeo.com/1052869

My dad loved to tell us everyday “what a beautiful day, watch some bastard louse it up!” and I have lived by that motto all of my life.  Usually when I am feeling good, day is bright and sunny, and not too many of lifes problems are laying heavily on my shoulders, something punches me in the gut. 

I work in downtown Manhattan, and this morning on my way to the building, happy that tomorrow is a day off, and not feeling too tired, or stressed out with traffic and people, low and behold I spot attack dogs and NYPD “Hercules” squad members.  Right at the foot of the beautiful brooklyn bridge, where tourists are passing looking up and taking smiling photographs so they can go home to wherever and say they visited the great city of New York, there they were fully armored, helmets, flak jackets, with MACHINE GUNS, ready to go.  There were 3 that I spotted, and a German Shepard attack bomb sniffing dog right by their side.  Then I looked around to see armored vehicles, NYPD cars, and lots of brass bullshitting to each other, as they like to do. 

Big bragadosios holding onto their gun belts and walkie-talkies, and of course those cookie cutter sunglasses that I swear they all buy together, or are government issue to make them look scary.  I think the machine guns do the trick, but what do I know, because commuters and tourists alike didn’t even flinch at the site of this horror on our sidewalks.

Did I feel like I was in Nazi Germany, hell yeah.  What the fuck are they thinking in this City.  Do I feel safer knowing that there are 3 trigger happy cops with AUTOMATIC MACHINE GUNS IN THEIR HANDS READY TO GO?  I think not. 

Why is no one complaining.  How could we allow this to happen.  I stood there, gawking at them in disbelief, and of course, they thought I was oggling their manliness!  I took out my cell phone and took pictures, and they saw me doing so.  They honestly thought I was happy to see them, they were standing very still posing for me.  Yikes, what idiots.  What kind of machismo is this, and too much testosterone for me. 

How do they think they can stop terrorism by standing at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, where, by the way, our illustrious mayor just announced and installed “water falls” at the base so people could watch water spout out of the dirty, broken down bridge, into a polluted river that I would guess had bodies buried at the bottom.

But back to the cops.  This City, as well as others, have taken it upon themselves to go ahead and declare that we need to be safe, so all your freedoms have to go away now.  Who said?  I didn’t give them permission, did you?  Why the hell would I want machine guns and attack dogs aimed in my direction at 9 in the morning when I haven’t had my first cup of coffee.  Do they actually think they can “spot” a terrorist?  Oh, homegrown terrorists, that’s what they call them now. 

If my home is growing terrorists, I really don’t want those cops involved anyway!  They are so full of shit when they talk about not racial profiling anyone in this Country.  They are specifically standing out there looking all important and like they just took over the city, waiting for someone who “looks” like an Arab, Muslim, or an African-American kid they can harass.  They like to do that, they are tough  guys. 

The bottom line here is how do we end this reign of terror on our streets.  How did we give up our freedoms for the illusion of security.  We didn’t vote on it, unless I was sleeping at the time. 

The terrorists that hit the WTC on 9/11 won!  Our economy is in the tank, and falling into the sea, people are losing their homes, jobs, sanity, our streets are not ours anymore, nor are our buildings, subways, buses, cell phones, emails, etc., etc.  This is not the America I had in mind.  I thought we were the home of the free, boy did they have me fooled.

Next time I see those guys, I am going to approach them.  I am going to get my video camera and interview them, tell them I’m a fan of homeland security for the Fatherland, and after I pump up their egos more than they have now, if that is at all possible, I will tell them what assholes they are, and they should drop dead from food poisoning!

So as the saying goes “what a beautiful day, watch some bastard louse it up!” and my taxpayer dollars did.

From my friend Cheryl:

This is a list I’ve been keeping - but I’m getting tired of adding to it -except when I hear of a new book then I’ll put it in - there’s no rhyme or reason to this list other than they’re all available on Amazon.com. I thought of alphabetizing it, but fuck that. It is definitely not a complete list of all the books out there speaking out against the Bush regime, but it is really amazing - this virtual library of of information all leading to the same conclusion that this regime needs to be driven out and that our republic is broken and tattered. Add this list to Kucinich’s 35 articles of impeachment and it boggles the mind how the majority of Americans keep sleeping and the media keeps reporting on drunken actresses and dead reporters.

Impeach the President: The Case Against Bush and Cheney by Dennis Loo, Peter Phillips, and Howard Zinn

In Justice: Inside the Scandal That Rocked the Bush Administration by David Iglesias

What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception by Scott McClellan

The Bush Tragedy by Jacob Weisberg

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder by Vincent Bugliosi

Bush’s Law: The Remaking of American Justice by Eric Lichtblau

How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime by Sidney Blumenthal

American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury by Kevin Phillips

The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Administration by Jack L. Goldsmith

The War on Civil Liberties: How Bush and Ashcroft Have Dismantled the Bill of Rights by Elaine Cassel

Dear President Bush (City Lights Open Media) by Cindy Sheehan, Hart Viges, and Howard Zinn

Bullshit Artist: The 9/11 Leadership Myth by Ron Schalow

Bush, the Detainees, and the Constitution: The Battle over Presidential Power in the War on Terror by Howard Ball

The Bush-Cheney Administration’s Assault on Open Government by Bruce P. Montgomery

The Bush - Haters Handbook: A Guide to the Most Appalling Presidency of the Past 100 Years by Jack Huberman

Is Our Children Learning? : The Case Against George W. Bush by Paul Begala

The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time by Antonia Juhasz

Bush at War by Bob Woodward

Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber

The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind

Mission Not Accomplished: How George Bush Lost the War on Terrorism by William W. Turner

Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace by Gore Vidal

The New Mandarins of American Power: The Bush Administration’s Plans for the World by Alex Callinicos

The Immaculate Deception: Bush Crime Family Exposed by Russell S. Bowen

The Italian Letter: How the Bush Administration Used a Fake Letter to Build the Case for War in Iraq by Peter Eisner and Knut Royce

How Much Are You Making on the War Daddy? A Quick and Dirty Guide to War Profiteering in the Bush Administration by William D. Hartung

The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf

Casualty of War: The Bush Administration’s Assault on a Free Press by David Dadge

Fear, Anger and Failure: A Chronicle of the Bush Administration’s War Against Terror from the Attacks in September 2001 to Defeat in Baghdad by William Pfaff

The Twilight of Democracy: The Bush Plan for America by Jennifer Van Bergen

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein

Crude Politics : How Bush’s Oil Cronies Hijacked the War on Terrorism by Paul Sperry

Sinking the Ship of State: The Presidency of George W. Bush by Walter Brasch

Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives Are Putting the World at Risk by Craig R. Eisendrath and Melvin A. Goodman

It’s Still the Economy, Stupid : George W. Bush, The GOP’s CEO by Paul Begala

Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

A Nation of Sheep by Andrew P. Napolitano

Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen?: Exit Polls, Election Fraud, and the Official Count by Steve Freeman and Joel Bleifuss

It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush by Joe Conason

Dreaming War: Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta by Gore Vidal

Grandmothers Against the War: How We Got Off Our Fannies and Stood Up for Peace by Joan Wile

Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights by Thom Hartmann

Anatomy of Deceit: How the Bush Administration Used the Media to Sell the Iraq War and Out a Spy by Marcy Wheeler

Against War with Iraq: An Anti-War Primer by Michael Ratner , Jennie Green, and Barbara Olshansky

How to Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism by Alice Walker, Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin, and Arundhati Roy

Dissent: Voices of Conscience by Ann Wright

An Army of None: Strategies to Counter Military Recruitment, End War, and Build a Better World by David Solnit and Aimee Allison

Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill

American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America by Chris Hedges

Nemesis by Chalmers Johnson

The Secret History of the American Empire:… by John Perkins

Freedom Under Fire: U.S. Civil Liberties in Times of War by Michael Linfield

The War on Civil Liberties: How Bush and Ashcroft Have Dismantled the Bill of Rights by Elaine Cassel

The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib by Karen J. Greenberg

Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib, and the War on Terror by Mark Danner

Truth, Torture, and the American Way: The History and Consequences of U.S. Involvement in Torture by Jennifer K. Harbury

Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Tor… by Stephen Grey

Torture and Democracy by Darius Rejali

Torture and the Twilight of Empire: From Algiers to Baghdad (Human Rights and Crimes against Humanity) by Marnia Lazreg

Administration of Torture: A Documentary Record from Washington to Abu Graib… by Jameel Jaffer

Bush’s Law: The Remaking of American Justice by Eric Lichtblau

Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy by Noam Chomsky

A Bush & Botox World: Travels Through Bush’s America (Counterpunch) by Saul Landau and Gore Vidal

Flagging Patriotism: Crises of Narcissism and Anti-Americanism by Ella Shohat and Robert Stam

Homeland by Dale Maharidge

The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception by David Corn

House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World’s Two Most Powerful Dynasties by Craig Unger

Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward

Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush by John W. Dean

Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them): A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken

Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House by Valerie Plame

Truth and Consequences: Special Comments on the Bush Administration’s War on American Values by Keith Olbermann

State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III by Bob Woodward

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2003 to 2005 by Thomas E. Ricks

Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal,… by Michael Isikoff

The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence… by Peter W. Galbraith

Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives,… by T. Christian Miller

Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic… by Andrew Cockburn

How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime… by Sidney Blumenthal

A Tragic Legacy: How a good vs. Evil Mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency by Glenn Greenwald

The Assault on Reason by Al Gore

Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches by John W. Dean

Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency  by Charlie Savage

It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush by Joe Conason

The Last Days of Democracy: How Big Media and Power-hungry Government Are Turning America into a Dictatorship by Elliot D. Cohen, Bruce W. Fraser

You Have No Rights: Stories of America in an Age of Repression by Matthew Rothschild

No End in Sight: Iraq’s Descent into Chaos by Charles Ferguson

The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Linda J. Bilmes

So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits–and the President–Failed on Iraq by Greg Mitchell

Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics by Glenn Greenwald

What Orwell Didn’t Know: Propaganda and the New Face of American Politics… by Andras Szanto

Cracking the Code: How to Win Hearts, Change Minds, and Restore America’s Original Vision by Thom Hartmann

Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class - And What We Can Do about It by Thom Hartmann

On the Brink: An Insider’s Account of How the White House Compromised American Intelligence by Tyler Drumheller

The Elephant in the Room by Ryan Sager

The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Frank Rich

How Bush Rules by Sidney Blumenthal

Torture Team: Rumsfeld’s Memo and the Betrayal of American Values by Philippe Sands

For God And Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire by James Yee and Aimee Molloy

 

This was written jointly with Cheryl Abraham of World Can’t Wait, a great person and writer!  It was published at Opednews.com and at the World Can’t Wait website on June 10th.  History in the making!

 Monday, June 9, 2008 was an astoundingly historic night for the United States of America. In the evening a mild mannered Congressman named Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) took to the floor of the House of Representatives and began to read a startling document, a document laying out 35 articles of impeachment against George W. Bush.

For five hours Congressman Kucinich read clearly and concisely each of the 35 counts against President Bush. Occasionally taking sips from a cup, Kucinich didn’t falter, didn’t take a break, and didn’t seem to tire with the long reading, in fact right up to the last article Kucinich, with unwavering passion, said for the 35th time that evening: 

“In all of these actions and decisions, President George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and Commander in Chief, and subversive of constitutional government, to the prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore, President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.” 

These 35 astounding, criminal, impeachable, and in many cases monstrous offenses were spoken out loud for all to hear and watch on CSPAN.  So where was the rest of the media, the supposed fourth estate? Where’s the in-depth public reporting on this occasion? Where’s Nancy Pelosi who has said all along that impeachment was “off the table” because she had seen no evidence for any criminal wrongdoing by the president and if anyone had such evidence could they “please let her know”. The evidence was read for the world to hear last night, it is now a matter of public record, and it couldn’t be more obvious that George W. Bush has committed an incredible amount of high crimes and misdemeanors.Two Articles That Could be the Undoing of a President 

Let’s focus on 2 key articles presented yesterday.
Article XIV states:  “Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency.”
Article XVIII states:  “Torture:  Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy.” 

Above all the other crimes committed by George Bush, these Articles could hold the key to waking up the members of the House Judiciary Committee who have been staunchly following the line of the House Speaker by not pursuing impeachment investigations. 

 

Interestingly enough, yesterday just a short time prior to Kucinich making his historic presentation, the House Judiciary Committee, specifically John Conyers (D-Illinois), and Jerrold Nadler (D-New York), officially “invited” Scott McClellan to testify under oath, and be subject to perjury charges should he lie, to be asked about the following matters:

 (1)    What role did Bush, Cheney and key administration officials take in the effort to reveal the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson – thus destroying her network and putting lives in jeopardy?

(2)    What role did Bush, Cheney and key administration officials take regarding the firing of U.S. Attorneys for political reasons?(3)    What role did Bush, Cheney and key administration officials take in conspiring to blatantly break U.S. and International laws prohibiting the use of torture?  Congressman Robert Wexler (D-Florida), a co-sponsor of these articles of impeachment, has been demanding that the Judiciary Committee subpoena McClellan, as well as Rove, Rice and Powell. 

McClellan’s testimony in conjunction with what this resolution is presenting in Articles XIV and XVII (see background information at http://www.wexlerforcongress.com/news.asp?ItemID=255), could rip open a gaping hole in this administration’s armor that will ultimately result in its destruction.Will the media be silent then?  Why aren’t these articles of impeachment making their way right now into the public arena to assure that investigations into these articles begin immediately? Former president Bill Clinton was investigated and impeached in the House for perjury and obstruction of justice over lying about an illicit sexual affair, and then later was cleared in the Senate of the charges in only 21 days. There wasn’t a paper, tabloid, or TV station in this country that didn’t cover every sordid detail of the investigation that led up to those “high crimes and misdemeanors” –  what is the explanation for the echoing silence in the face of the astounding and mountainous amount of evidence of the bloody crimes of George W. Bush?

Why does Bush get a free ride in the media – a media that has so obviously silenced this story, for such heinous crimes as torture, falsely leading a nation to war, rendition, imprisoning children as young as ten years old, spying on American citizens without a warrant, obliterating the Posse Comitatus act, etc. What has changed in the media from non-stop coverage of the impeachment proceedings of a president in 1999, to the resounding silence we hear in 2008? Will our ‘leaders’ in D.C. take the reading of these charges seriously and begin impeachment hearings now?

John Conyers and others have said that impeachment hearings could or would jeopardize Obama’s chances to win in the November election and therefore an election win is of far more importance than protecting the rule of law and bringing those who’ve committed unprecedented and historical harm to our nation and the world to justice.

 

It is now up to the people of conscience to not let the historical significance of June 9, 2008 go unheard and unacknowledged! We must openly and publicly thank Kucinich, and Wexler, for their courage and for bravely and succinctly putting forth all the crimes of George W. Bush.  We must take it upon ourselves to hound and haunt Conyers and Nadler to listen to us.

The people must do their utmost to spread this information as quickly as possible to everyone they know.  Contact the media and hold them accountable for their silence and complicity in the face of the enormous evidence of the high crimes and misdemeanors committed on such a massive scale by the Bush regime.  We must, in our millions, demand that the time for impeachment is long overdue. 

We must make a firm commitment to Drive Out the Bush Regime, because we and the world really can’t wait. (for more information see www.worldcantwait.org) 

On Sunday, May 11^th millions of mothers around this Country, and the world, were wished a very “Happy Mother’s Day.” They received phone calls from family members not close enough to visit, cards, flowers and breakfast in bed.  Dinner out and lots of merry happy talk about nothing but how lucky they were to have their family, and beautiful children.   

What they don’t know is this “happy day of celebration” was started in 1870 with a “Mother’s Day Proclamation” by Julia Ward Howe, recanting the tragedies of war, as she, in part, wrote: 

“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.” ….

“Disarm!! Disarm!!”

  And went on to beg for interests of peace.    Thanks to good old consumerism and the likes of Hallmark making profits, it turned into a day of happy talk.  Except for those of us who are caught in the quagmire of this war.  You know the one I am talking about.  The never ending war, with death and destruction that only military families and their loved ones who are fighting and dying for know about.   

Thousands of mothers last Sunday were not making happy talk.  I know I wasn’t.  Last week alone 9 more U.S. soldiers were killed, a total of 12 in just 11 days of May, making the total dead now 4,077, and over 40,000 wounded.  Iraqi casualties for 11 days of May were 218 (see http://icasualties.org/oif/), and countless soldiers and Iraqis wounded.   Oh, by the way, “Happy Mother’s Day.”

However, what about all those mothers who are also wives of soldiers, who received the happy news of redeployment?  Does the general public, or Hallmark and our Government, care about those families on Mother’s Day?  Countless mothers were told that Uncle Sam was sending someone very close to them back to war, maybe the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, or 12^th time.  Who cares?  America made happy talk.   

I am one such woman.  My son told me that he was leaving for Iraq, that he got redeployment papers from the good old USMC.  Yippie! “Happy Mother’s Day”for me.  Should I call my representative, Congressman Vito Fossella, and complain to him?  Oh, I forgot he should be in jail, but isn’t, and has a love child, but is still my Congressman.  Should I tell my 85 year old mother who suffered 2 deployments of her grandson already, and was so looking forward to going out to dinner that beautiful Sunday afternoon?  Guess not. 

 “Suck it up,” I told myself once again.  A human being cannot survive in a perpetual state of being angry, it isn’t healthy, so it is said.  Therefore, I sat in silence, steaming, crying, yelling inwardly, and very much paralyzed that not only did my son, who is a reservist, have to go back to a war zone for the 3^rd time, but I could do absolutely positively nothing about it.  I begged him to run away, but he said he can’t allow his “buddies” to go without him.  They were a team, and he couldn’t stand knowing they were fighting and possibly dying while he would be considered a coward.  “No!” I said, the courageous thing is to say you won’t go fight in this illegal, immoral war. I told him “If all of you just say “No” then there will be no one left to fight.”   He told me he understood that and how bad it was in Iraq, but he had to be with the USMC.  All the military moms out there understand this paradox. 

So much for tantrums.  So how many women do you think really enjoyed that day?  Only those who live in “la-la land,” as we call it, and it must be a great place.  The women who live there are so totally unaffected by the deaths of other sons and husbands, that they don’t give a damn.

I came to work Monday morning, tired and numb.  Every woman who “celebrated” asked me the usual office question “How was your Mother’s Day?,” with that lilt of a smile in their voice.  Hah! I had no answer, just a grunt and a nod.  Of course, they just think I am a rude and miserable person.  So?  In the meantime, the voice in my head is yelling many profanities in their direction, but my lips remained sealed. 

Enough!  Stop bothering me and my son, AND my family.  If you want a war, have a draft!  All of you have inflicted enough pain on the small, less than 1% of the population, of the military families who have taken on the entire burden of your damn war.

Let all these other happy-go-lucky moms feel as crappy as I do.  Don’t they deserve to share in the wealth of war and all it has to bring to the table?  I think they should because I hate them.  All the women I know go shopping, eat, talk endlessly about how wonderful their kids are and other such nonsense.  What do you say in return?  You stink!  Suffer, you stupid cow!  Let there be a draft and see if you go shopping, or feel like going out to dinner. 

Oh, by the way “Happy Mother’s Day!” 

This is the home of the uncensored Elaine - Welcome!