Revolution

On One-Year Anniversary of the Bombing of the Samarra Mosque, Bombs Ravage Baghdad Market, Killing 88 - 165 people were wounded

US Student Strike Against the War Feb. 15

http://www.worldcantwait.org/

********************************



Fascism Anyone?

read
http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/britt_23_2.htm

watch
http://www.ericblumrich.com/14.html

I think you can tell a lot about a country/society/species - by how well they protect and raise their young. Maybe the UK (bottom of the list in the industrial world according to Unicef) and the US (next to bottom) should review their priorities.

Britain's children: unhappy, neglected and poorly educated

Damning verdict on the ordeal of growing up in Britain today
By Jonathan Brown
Published: 14 February 2007

British children are languishing at the bottom of an international league table examining the physical and emotional well-being of youngsters in the world's wealthiest nations.

Despite living in the fifth richest country, the next generation of UK citizens experience some of the worst levels of poverty. The research found they regard themselves as less happy, and that they drank more alcohol, took more drugs, and had more underage sex than children overseas.

They were also more prone to failure at school, to experience violence and bullying while suffering a greater number of unhappy relationships with both their families and peers.

The Unicef report, which prompted outrage from children's charities and embarrassment for the Government which has lavished billions on child health and education, placed the UK last in the survey of 21 nations, which included Europe as well as the United States, Canada and Japan.

British children came last in three of the six categories analysed, finding themselves in the bottom third for two others. In the second most successful category, education, the UK was ranked 17th, way behind the former eastern bloc countries Poland and the Czech Republic

The Netherlands topped the league, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Spain. The overall quality of life for children in the United States was judged only narrowly better than in the UK, finishing 20th in the table.

The report's author, Professor Jonathan Bradshaw of York University, said he was surprised by the findings. "This is the result of previous decades of neglect and shows how far we have to catch up," he said. "We knew the UK was high in child poverty and in the number of children living in workless households but we were surprised that it came consistently low across so many of the categories."

Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the Children's Society, said: " Unicef's report is a wake-up call to the fact that, despite being a rich country, the UK is failing children and young people in a number of crucial ways."

Colette Marshall, UK director of Save the Children, called for an extra £4.5bn to meet the Government's target of halving child poverty by 2010. "It is shameful to see the UK languishing at the bottom of this table. This report shows clearly that despite the UK's wealth, we are failing to give children the best possible start in life," she said.

The shadow Chancellor George Osborne hit out at the Government. "This report tells the truth about Brown's Britain," he said. "The Chancellor has failed this generation of children and will fail the next if he's given a chance. We need a new approach."

The assessment, entitled Report Card 7, Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Well-being in Rich Countries, is the first study of childhood well-being across industrialised countries. It analysed 40 separate indicators based on existing data.

Among the most depressing findings were that more than a fifth of UK youngsters rated their physical and mental health as poor - the worst among the rich countries surveyed. Girls reported lower levels of well-being than boys across all the nations surveyed with more than 27 per cent of 15-year-old females expressing dissatisfaction with their health compared to 16 per cent of boys of the same age.

Overall, youngsters in the UK were more likely to feel left out, awkward and lonely, than nearly all their peers in other developed countries, the report said.

Italy and Portugal topped the table with the UK, the US and Czech Republic propping up the bottom of the league when the quality of children's relationships was examined.

Among OECD counties, the UK had the second highest number of children living in single-parent families or with step-parents. Italy, Greece and Poland, traditional Catholic countries, enjoyed the most stable families. The authors said there was a well-established link between family breakdown, educational failure, poor health and reduced life chances.

Less than half of Britain's 11-15-year-olds said they found their peers " kind and helpful."

In terms of economic well-being, Britain was 18th in the table, with only the United States having more children living in a household where the income was less than 50 per cent of the national median.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2268082.ece

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6359363.stm




CHILD WELL-BEING TABLE

1. Netherlands
2. Sweden
3. Denmark
4. Finland
5. Spain
6. Switzerland
7. Norway
8. Italy
9. Republic of Ireland
10. Belgium
11. Germany
12. Canada
13. Greece
14. Poland
15. Czech Republic
16. France
17. Portugal
18. Austria
19. Hungary
20. United States
21. United Kingdom

Source: Unicef

US Alternet

The Government Wants to Tap Your Internet Calls

By Jayne Lyn Stahl, HuffingtonPost.com. Posted February 14, 2007.

First it was land lines, then it was cell phones. Now it's Internet calls. When will the assault on our privacy and First Amendment rights end?

http://www.alternet.org/rights/47459/

February 13th, 2007 10:23 pm
Moscow wants clarification on Gates' remarks

Defense secretary called Russia a potential threat along with Iran, N. Korea

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9190


_____________________________________

Is it me, or has Bush&Co become a menace to society?

He's a kid painting a picture
But he's not too good at it, see
And when it dawns on him
That his picture is uninteresting
He tries to make it into something stunning
Something that will make people notice him
And when this fails
And the painting turns into mire
He gets REALLY F*CKING ANGRY
And he decides
To destroy the entire thing
Slapping globs of black paint onto the paper
In a childish fit of rage
And the worse it gets
The more he rubs it in
Until the paper wears away
And everything disintegrates around him

Time for your nap, George

Howard faces election year battle
By Nick Bryant
BBC News, Sydney





John Howard is the type of politician who would happily cross the street to pick a fight.

But his decision to launch inter-continental salvoes half way across the world aimed at the American presidential hopeful Barack Obama, may well have backfired.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6361361.stm


Mr Howard's comments about Barak Obama were heavily criticised

Endy quoted-



Sorry- the billions were lavished on teachers, bureaucrats, office fittings, sick leave etc etc. Had they been lavished on child health and education we would be top of the league.

yeah, maybe it's the adults in this world who really need educating.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007
'The Final First Step' ...Statement by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)

Debate on Iraq War Resolution to Stop the Escalation

U.S. House of Representatives

Rep. Maurice Hinchey: Madam Speaker, as a veteran of the United States Navy, I am very, very honored to be a Member of this House of Representatives. And today I am very proud and pleased to stand here in support of this very important resolution, which needs to be adopted as the final first step of this Congress in dealing with this unjust, illegal, unnecessary invasion of Iraq and the subsequent disastrous occupation.

In October of 2002, when the resolution authorizing this invasion came to the floor, 133 Members voted against it. 127 Democrats and six Republicans voted against it. Most of us voted against it because we knew that the so-called logic or rationale that had been presented by the administration was untrue, that there was no connection between Iraq and the attack of September 11, that there was no evidence that there were chemical or biological weapons left in Iraq, even though we know that previous administrations of this country had supplied those weapons.

We knew that the rationale presented for the development of a nuclear weapon in Iraq was completely falsified. The documents were forged.

On the 19th of March, this administration carried out an illegal, unnecessary, unjustified invasion of Iraq. We will soon mark the fourth year of that action. In all of that time, this Congress has done nothing significant or substantial to stand in the way of the illegal, unjustified actions of this administration, in spite of the fact that they have caused the death of now more than 3,000 American servicemen and women, more than 23,000 physically injured, unknown numbers psychologically injured, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians killed.

In spite of all of that, and in spite of the fact that, increasingly, every Member of this Congress has begun to understand with greater and greater clarity, how the information was falsified, how what the Intelligence Committees told the White House, the Department, the State Department, and others in this administration, had been twisted and distorted and turned around purposely and specifically to carry out this disastrous invasion and subsequent occupation, nothing has been done.

The previous leadership of this Congress failed to step forward and take any kind of action against this administration. And we hear people on this side of the aisle, tonight, speaking against this resolution saying it doesn't do anything significant. It doesn't do enough.

Well, let me tell you something. This is the first step of a new majority in this Congress taking the right kind of action on the basis of our obligations and responsibilities under the Constitution to stand up to the actions of this administration and to put this country back on the right track. Not just in the case of what is going on in Iraq, even though that is so terribly disastrous, but the consequences here in our own country, the intimidation of people, the internal spying, the elimination of habeas corpus, all of the impingements on the American Constitution, based upon the culture of fear cultivated purposely by this administration for their own personal and political objectives. No one in the previous leadership, no one in the previous majority, stood up to this administration in any kind of a constructive way.

So, if you want to correct the failures that have existed in this Congress since that resolution came to the floor and since the 19th of March in 2003, when this administration carried out that illegal, unnecessary and unjustified invasion, then you will support this resolution, recognizing that it is the first important step taken by a new majority here in this Congress to deal with the consequences of all of that falsehood.

If you fail to do so, you will continue to leave the door open for further violations of law and constitutional principles by this administration, perhaps next in Iran, because that may be the next illegal step of this administration.

If you want to make up for what you failed to do, if you want to do the right thing for this country, for our people, and for our military personnel, please, support this resolution.

But imagine, spendius, if the billions spent on the "war effort" in Iraq were directed instead toward the real needs of the world's children. Now that would make a difference!

Hey, why don't we put her in charge!? :wink:

sorry Olga - it's a line from 'Aliens' - seriously though - you are right.

Iraq invasion plan 'delusional'

The US invasion plan for Iraq envisaged that only 5,000 US troops would remain in Iraq by December 2006, declassified Central Command documents show.

The material also shows that the US military projected a stable, pro-US and democratic Iraq by that time.

The August 2002 material was obtained by the National Security Archive (NSA). Its officials said the plans were based on delusional assumptions.

The US currently has some 132,000 troops in the violence-torn state.

'Completely unrealistic'

The documents - in the former of PowerPoint slides - were prepared by the now-retired Gen Tommy Franks and other top commanders at the time.

The documents were presented at a briefing in August 2002 - less than a year before the US invasion of Iraq in April 2003.

The commanders predicted that after the fighting was over there would be a two- to three-month "stabilisation" phase, followed by an 18- to 24-month "recovery" stage.

They projected that the US forces would be almost completely "re-deployed" out of Iraq at the end of the "transition" phase - within 45 months of invasion.

"Completely unrealistic assumptions about a post-Saddam Iraq permeate these war plans," NSA executive director Thomas Blanton said in a statement posted on the organisation's website.

"First, they assumed that a provisional government would be in place by 'D-Day', then that the Iraqis would stay in their garrisons and be reliable partners, and finally that the post-hostilities phase would be a matter of mere months'," Mr Blanton said.

"All of these were delusions," he added.

The NSA said it received the documents last month, after making a request in 2004.
The NSA is an independent research institute at George Washington University.
It obtained the papers under the Freedom of Information Act.

Oh, no need for an apology, Endy. I would be happy to take charge! I doubt I could make a worse mess of things than our "leaders" have done! :wink:

But seriously, though. All you have to do is to see who benefits from the massive expenditure on the Iraqi "war effort". And it is massive. It's certainly not the Iraqi people. It's the same folk who financially benefit from every war or conflict - those who supply the weapons. It's a huge business. Imagine if that amount of money was spent on alleviating poverty, sickness & lack of education in those countries who'd most benefit. A revolution!

http://darisa.wordpress.com/files/2006/09/george-w-bush-blinking.gif
(Image location)


'Liar's Blink'

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Ex-aide says Rice misled U.S. Congress on Iran

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice misled the U.S. Congress when she said last week that she had not seen a 2003 Iranian proposal for talks with the United States, a former senior government official said on Wednesday.

Flynt Leverett, who worked on the National Security Council when it was headed by Rice, likened the proposal to the 1972 U.S. opening to China. He said he was confident it was seen by Rice and then-Secretary of State Colin Powell but "the administration rejected the overture."

Speaking at a conference on Capitol Hill, Leverett said "this was a serious proposal, a serious effort" by Iran to lay out a comprehensive agenda for U.S.-Iranian rapprochement.

"The Bush administration up to and including Secretary Rice is misleading Congress and the American public about the Iran proposal," he said.

Testifying before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee last week, Rice told lawmakers who asked about Leverett's previous public comments and writings on the Iranian proposal: "I don't know what Flynt Leverett's talking about."

She faulted him for not telling her, "We have a proposal from Iran and we really ought to take it."

At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said: "What she said is she has no recollection of having seen it. She has said that repeatedly." he said the accusation that she had misled Congress was "just absolutely 100 percent false."

Leverett and others have represented the proposal as a missed opportunity that could have defused tensions with Iran which have grown to the point that the U.S. administration has been forced to deny it plans military action against Tehran.

Leverett said he deserved an apology from Rice for calling his competence into question.

He said he had left the National Security Council, which advises the president on security issues, in March 2003 before the Iranian proposal was received. He returned to the CIA where he previously worked and soon after that left government.

Hence, he wasn't in a position to made this case directly to Rice, nor was it his responsibility, he said.

But among other things, Leverett said that then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a discussion about the Iranian proposal, told him he "couldn't sell it at the White House." This was evidence it had been discussed there, he said.

The proposal was transmitted to the White House in May 2003 by the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, who represented U.S. interests there. Washington has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

According to a copy of the proposal posted on the Washington Post Web site and cited by Leverett, it contains considerable detail about approaching issues of central interest to the United States and Iran.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9206


Republican calls for hanging of those who oppose president...
Posted by Evan Derkacz on February 15, 2007 at 2:33 PM.

As the House debates whether to nominally oppose the escalation of the war on Iraq and to support the troops -- a "nonbinding" resolution -- Alaska's sole congressman Don Young rose to oppose it, quoting (video right):

congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saab tours and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged.

The Republican believed (giving him the benefit of the doubt) that he was quoting Abraham Lincoln.

He was not. He was actually quoting a mistake from Insight magazine -- a publication full of half-baked claims and rumors -- funded by Rev. Moon.

That mistake, from December of 2003, has, over the course of the years, made its way into emails and the speech of a failed Republican candidacy.

Currently, it's the header to a neocon web-commentary on the other Moonie venture, the Washington Times, where, as Glenn Greenwald has noted, they refuse to take it down -- offering only to include a correction note at the bottom of his next commentary.

Miraculously, just two days later, this fraudulent, dangerous, anti-American quote finds its way into the mouth of a Republican congressman.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/#48101

Over 20 Campuses Strike or Protest Against the War Feb. 15th:

As the students at UC - Santa Barbara who initiated the strike said in their statement:

We, the students and staff of UC Santa Barbara, want to challenge our generation to put an end to the U.S. conquest of Iraq. Right now most opposition to the war is only symbolic. Congress is being sheepish and choosing not to end the war because we, the people, are not forcing them to act.

Thus, if we really want to affect policies we need to withdraw our compliance and stop business as usual. Shutting down the university is the most immediate and powerful thing students can do on this front. Striking sends the message to our university's administration and the world that we will not tolerate our institution's grossly disproportionate ties to corporations and federal agencies that do nothing other than profit off war and prepare nuclear weapons. It also sends a message to the government that we will not be complicit in any illegal or immoral war.

********

At UC - Santa Barbara, 1,000 students showed up to the rally at 1pm. Many professors encouraged students to strike, and the entire women's studies department was closed for the day. After a rally, the 1,000 students marched through campus, and then marched right onto a nearby freeway, bringing traffic to a standstill. 2 protesters were arrested, and the strike was featured on the 6 o'clock news. After the arrests, students marched to the university chancellor's office. The protest was the biggest at UCSB since the 1970's. Next week, students are organizing "Peace Out University", a week of anti-war teach-ins and events.

What Better Time Than Now: Rage Reunites




2/9/07: One of the best bands ever, Rage Against the Machine is getting back together for a performance at this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, on April 29. Rage's music, which was a combination of different styles all infused with rebellion against injustice, served as an inspiration to millions of youth in the 1990's. Their music has been sorely missed at a time when it is all the more needed.

Rage guitarist Tom Morello told MTV News why they are doing this reunion performance:

According to Morello, Rage's re-formation seeks to "deliver a knockout blow to the Bush administration. And hopefully, one night in the desert is all it will take. They're teetering, so ..."

"Is it coincidence that in the seven years that Rage Against the Machine has been away that the country has slid into right-wing purgatory? I think not," he said. "It occurred to all of us that the times were right to see if we can knock the Bush administration out in one fell swoop, and we hope to do that job well. This administration has done enough damage that it may take generations to undo. This is an administration that believes it's beyond the laws of the land, which is fine for emperors, but not so great for presidents. One thing this president isn't above is the laws of physics, and there is no action without reaction. And we're part of that reaction."

http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3871&Itemid=220

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1551733/20070206/morello_tom.jhtml



Bullet In The Head Lyrics
By RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE


This time the bullet cold rocked ya
A yellow ribbon instead of a swastika
Nothin' proper about ya propaganda
Fools follow rules when the set commands ya
They said it was blue
When ya blood was red
That's how ya got a bullet blasted through ya head

Blasted through ya head
Blasted through ya head

I give a shout out to the living dead
Who stood and watched as the feds cold centralised
So serene on the screen
You was mesmerised
Cellular phones soundin' a death tone
Corporations cold
Turn ya to stone before ya realise

They load the clip in omnicolour
Said they pack the 9, they fire it at prime time
The sleeping gas, every home was like Alcatraz
And mutha fuckas lost their minds

Just victims of the in-house drive-by
They say jump, you say how high
Yeah
Just victims of the in-house drive-by
They say jump, you say how high
Run it!

(Guitar solo)

Just victims of the in-house drive-by
They say jump, you say how high
Just victims of the in-house drive-by
They say jump, you say how high

Check-a, check-a, check it out
They load the clip in omnicolour
They pack the 9, they fire it at prime time
The sleeping gas, every home was like Alcatraz
And mutha f*ckas lost their minds

No escape from the mass mind rape
Play it again jack and then rewind the tape
And then play it again and again and again
Until ya mind is locked in
Believin' all the lies that they're tellin' ya
Buyin' all the products that they're sellin' ya
They say jump and ya say how high
Ya brain-dead
Ya gotta f*ckin' bullet in ya head

Just victims of the in-house drive-by
They say jump, you say how high
Yeah
Just victims of the in-house drive-by
They say jump, you say how high

Uggh! Yeah! ****! What?

Ya standin' in line
Believin' the lies
Ya bowin' down to the flag
Ya gotta bullet in ya head

Ya standin' in line
Believin' the lies
Ya bowin' down to the flag
Ya gotta bullet in ya head

A bullet in ya head (8 times, building to a shout)
A bullet in ya head (7 times, shouted/screamed)
Ya gotta bullet in ya f*ckin' head!
Yeah!
Yeah! (Sustained to end of drum roll)

Journalist Josh Wolf's Courageous Stand

Imprisoned reporter Josh Wolf and his attorney explain why his jailing for refusal to release video footage is an attack on journalism itself.

Josh Wolf, 24, has spent almost six months in jail, more time than any journalist in U.S. history, for protecting his sources. He was jailed on Aug. 1 of last year when he refused to turn over video that he had shot of an anti-G8 demonstration in San Francisco to a federal grand jury.

(full interview)
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/47999/

Josh's site
http://joshwolf.net/

Endy

In Melbourne (Oz) the police published the photographs of our demonstrators in the newspapers. So they could be identified & prosecuted.
Charming.