Revolution

Good Luck with those
- stay cool

Peace
E

Re: What are we running here on earth? A human poverty farm for the inhuman rich and powerful?



As long as it's not another nail in my coffin :wink:

'Hate will no longer rule'

Matt Weaver and agencies
Tuesday May 8, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness marked their inauguration today as first and deputy first ministers of Northern Ireland by putting aside past rivalries to praise each other's role in ushering in a new peaceful era in the province.

They joined the prime minister, Tony Blair, and the Irish taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, in making post-ceremony speeches hailing the start of power-sharing as an historic moment.

Mr Paisley said: "I believe Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace, a time when hate will no longer rule. How good it will be to be part of a wonderful healing in this province."

Mr McGuinness said: "To Ian Paisley, I want to wish you the best as we step forward into the greatest and most exciting challenge of our lives."

Mr Blair and Mr Ahern thanked each other and all of those involved in the lengthy peace process.

Mr Paisley, the Democratic Unionist party leader, said: "In politics, as in life, it is a truism that no one can ever have 100% of what they desire. They must make a verdict when they believe they have achieved enough to move things forward."

He said Sinn Féin's acceptance of the rule of law met that test.

"Support for all the institutions of policing has been a critical test that today has been met and pledged, word and deed. Recognising the significance of that change from a community that for decades demonstrated hostility for policing has been critical in turning the corner."

Mr McGuinness said: "We know the road we are embarking on will have many twists and turns. It is, however, a road which we have chosen and which is supported by the vast majority of our supporters. In the recent elections, they have voted for a new political era based on peace and reconciliation." Mr Blair said Northern Ireland had been disfigured by hatred and deep suspicions: "Look back and we see centuries marked by conflict, hardship, even hatred among the people of these islands.

"Look forward and we see the chance to shake off those heavy chains of history."

He said Northern Ireland was "synonymous with conflict".

"It was felt to be intractable; the Troubles not so much a dispute but a fact of life. This holds a lesson for conflict everywhere."

He paid tribute to his Conservative predecessor Sir John Major, the DUP and Sinn Féin, and previous political leaders in the province and in Ireland.

But most of all, he said, he thanked the people of Ulster.

"Normal life and normal politics can seem a small ambition to anyone who has not lived through the abnormality of a society living on the edge - and for many years Northern Ireland was such a society."

Mr Ahern said: "We cannot undo our sad and turbulent past. And none of us can forget the many victims of the Troubles.

"But we can, and are, shaping our future in a new and better way. And in doing so, we can put the divisions of the past behind us forever. Northern Ireland is now a place of peace and promise."

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/story/0,,2074941,00.html

Amen to that

EU/US Merger: New Global Order By Stealth

Few notice huge shift towards globalization as frothing masses distracted by climate change debate

By Steve Watson

05/06/07 "Infowars" -- - In a sweeping move that has garnered surprisingly little attention this week the United States and the European Union have signed up to a new transatlantic economic partnership that will see regulatory standards "harmonized" and will lay the basis for a merging of the US and EU into one single market, a huge step on the path to a new globalized world order.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17657.htm


sneaky bastards

April 28, 2007
The courage in resisting war"I looked down at a woman clutching onto three children. I could see that the children were dead, but her eyes were open, and I had this notion that she might be alive. When I bent down to look more closely, I realized that napalm had burned her skin and melted off her eyelids. For an instant, it seems I caught the reflection of myself in her eyes . . . and the world turned upside down. Here I was in her village--10,000 miles away from my farming community. She wasn't in my village. The moment I looked into the eyes of that woman, my entire perception of the world changed...I knew in a deep deep way that she was my sister"¦I had a glimpse of knowing we're all connected."

DT: Are you concerned about making you and your son's military stance public?

Shoshana: Yes. But how can I let that stop me from doing what I can? Would it serve my son better to hide out, to speak only when and where it is safe? I would not put him in harm's way, but neither do I want to be complicit with putting in harm's way hundreds of thousands of people who make up his world.

John F. Kennedy said, "War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today." Hopefully this book will enable young people--and their parents, teachers, school counselors, and communities--to see that there are choices, and inspire the courage to take them.

http://www.dailytidings.com/2007/0428/stories/0427_bp_shoshana.php

Thursday 10 May Downing Street
10 to 11.30 am: Symbolic protest on the day Tony Blair resigns

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/index.htm

Remember this guy? Wish he was still around, myself




Annan plea on Africa poverty


Patrick Wintour
Wednesday May 9, 2007
The Guardian

In a rare address to MPs and peers the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan yesterday marked the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain by arguing that an attack on contemporary poverty in Africa was the best way to heal the wounds of slavery.

Mr Annan rejected calls for reparations, saying: "Many Africans believe history has not yet repaired past wounds at all. The movement for reparations is fuelled by the desire for recognition. This is a battle better fought in the development domain."

Article continues
Speaking in the Lords Gallery, Mr Annan was introduced by John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, who has overseen much of the British commemoration. Mr Prescott expressed the government's "deep regret and sorrow" over the trade.

Mr Annan said: "A bold investment in addressing poverty in Africa, as promised by the G8 in Gleneagles, would be the best way to heal the wounds of the past and turn the page."

He added the fact that so many involved in the slave trade were educated people "reminds us how easy it is to blind ourselves to the suffering of fellow creatures so long as our own comfort and security are not threatened. We should all look carefully at our own lives and ask what abominations we may even now be tolerating, or joining in or benefiting from."

But he argued that abolition was a cause for optimism because "many thousands of people examined their own consciences, and took personal responsibility for what was happening around them".

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/development/story/0,,2075409,00.html

What You See


It's not real
What you see
On your f*cking tv
Man, this is war!
And war and war…….

No Hollywood swell
Gona save the f*ckin' world
'Cos none of that is real
Know the score?

They can fill up your head
With pictures of the dead
Selected and fed
Through your pores

Get you playing their game
Get you laying the blame
Get you ready to fight
For their cause

But it's not real
What you see
On your f*cking tv
Man, this is war!
And war and war…….

And a boy going down
In a street
In a town
Unprotected by the law

Knows only too well
That the toll
Of the bell
Ends whatever came before

As the tanks roll in
So the hate begins
With the crash
Of a boot to the door

'Cos it's not real
What you see
On your f*cking tv
As they take your liberty
Forevermore

So many tears have been shed
For so many dead
On the lies your tv fed
Man, this is war!






Endymion 2007

'Land of Make Believe' ...by Dan DeWalt

George W. Bush has signed himself into the position of Supreme Crusader. He refuses to be bound by legislative action, and this Congress has not yet managed to muster any legislation of substance to challenge him.

Vermont Congressman Peter Welch refers to legislation with troop withdrawal timetables that passed in the U.S. House as his greatest achievement thus far in ending this war. The timetables didn't even make it out of committee with the Democratic Senate, and so were spared the President's veto. The Congressman thinks that this is real progress, but is unable to articulate why. He is also certain that impeachment proceedings would prolong the war, but offers only his judgment as evidence.

Only after impeachment investigations against him had begun did Richard Nixon start the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. George Bush is still operating from an undeserved but nonetheless standing power base. Congress can't pass a law that he feels compelled to obey, but they can impeach him and remove him from office and he can't do a thing about it.

Bush thinks we're winning a war. Democrats in Congress think that they're ending it. While Nancy Pelosi keeps impeachment off the table, it's showing up everywhere else.

Impeachment is the only remedy when the executive usurps legislative authority. But this Congress doesn't want to tackle that. No, these legislators are happy as clams, taking bold stabs at wrongdoing around the outer edges of the administration, uncovering political meddling in the Department of Justice, Republican politicking being done on the people's dime, failures at Walter Reed. In the meantime, they do not have a single investigation of Bush or Cheney about the war, or torture, or signing statements, or violating FISA and the fourth amendment, or anything at all that would lead to their removal from office.

The Democrats just want to see Bush and the Republicans twist in the wind until the '08 elections. The Constitution, American soldiers and the Iraqi nation can be damned in the meantime.

Our house is burning down. We're asking our representatives to pass us a water bucket, but they're only excited about their project to dig the fire pond deeper. Just wait until it's all designed and built they say, and then we'll really be good at putting out those fires. Only when they discover their own pants burning will they pull their heads out of their plans and go for water.

We're looking for a measure of competence and honor from our leaders. If they don't have it in them, we will instill it. If Peter Welch wants us to believe that he's ending the war, he should tell us how he's doing it. If he can't give a reasoned answer why we shouldn't impeach he should support our efforts. If he wants to end this war, he should stop protecting Bush and Cheney from being held accountable and help us end this administration's rein of destruction.

Dan DeWalt is a woodworker and selectboard member in the town of Newfane, Vermont, and the author of a successful town resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush.

sucks the war

yeah really sucks

Calm down, everyone

The TV coverage of Tony Blair's resignation announcement is wildly over the top. Why? Because he's not actually going yet.
Jonathan Freedland

"Look, he's not dead!" David Miliband said just now on BBC News 24, after he'd been asked to give one more assessment of the passing of Tony Blair. The tenor of the coverage had obviously got to him. As I write now, the BBC is showing a live aerial shot, from a helicopter, following Blair's car journey to Sedgefield. It's the same treatment the BBC gave to the funeral cortege for Princess Diana.

Miliband's exasperation was right: this is wildly over the top. Of course, the resignation of a prime minister is a big deal. It's natural that the newspapers would want to take stock of the Blair era, with retrospective supplements and the like. (The Guardian's 48-page special appears tomorrow, and I've contributed to it.) But the sheer stage management and hoopla of this day is looking loopy.

Why? Because he's not actually going yet. There's going to be a strange sense of anti-climax when people tune into Prime Minister's Questions next week, and see he's still there. And the week after that and the week after that. Who will represent Britain at the G8 summit next month in Germany? Why, Tony Blair. At the EU summit later in June? Yup, Blair again.

What a bizarre state of limbo these next two months will be. The last two and a half years, since Blair announced in late 2004 that he would not fight a fourth election, have been weird enough. But now we have a prime minister who has stepped down but will still be in the job. It makes you long for the 1970s, when Harold Wilson could stun everyone with an out-of-the-blue resignation and be gone within days. When Richard Nixon quit in 1974 he told Americans his resignation would be "effective at noon tomorrow." That's the way to do it.

Instead, Blair's going to drag this goodbye out till late summer, like an old crooner milking the crowd for another dozen encores. And when he eventually does go, will we have to go through this whole performance all over again? Will the BBC helicopter be in the sky over Sedgefield once more?

There is a substantive point here. What exactly can Blair achieve in these final weeks? He's going to represent Britain at those two important summits, but he cannot possibly speak with any real authority. The likes of Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and George Bush might appreciate the chance to say goodbye - but what confidence can they have that what Blair says will be binding on his successor? He surely cannot make agreements for Gordon Brown to implement.

Still, I don't suppose any of this will bother the Blair team much. They are going out on the high note they wanted, with the pictures of cheering crowds (at least in Sedgefield) they sought. He's a showman and every showman loves a big finish.

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jonathan_freedland/2007/05/calm_down_everyone.html


As soon as he steps down
To be led off to jail
We'll throw a party

His punishment?

a) First he should be made to face the families of the British troops who have died in Iraq
(something he has consistantly refused to do)

B) answering charges of "crimes of agression" and "misrepresentation"
Most importantly - crimes against humanity
(There are some who say, ".....'ang 'im" - but I wouldn't go that far.
I don't believe in hanging people by the neck until they're dead.)

Blair's legacy is Iraq: Nothing else even comes close

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=11378

Anyone out there connected with Bath Uni?

I heard that Nazi BNP leader Nick Griffin has been invited to speak there -
WTF???


http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/05/370236.html

Protest

"He's been banned from every university in the country, except Bath University. Lets make sure they aren't eager to have him back! See you up there!" (anti-facist)
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/05/370235.html

STOP THE WAR COALITION


War criminals go free - whistle-blowers jailed

On the day that Tony Blair resigned with much fanfare, prison sentences were passed on civil servant David Keogh and researcher Leo O'Connor. They leaked government documents which exposed Blair's subservience to George Bush and his war policies, the result of which has been the deaths of hundreds of thousands in an illegal war. Keogh and O'Connor are imprisoned, while Blair, who should be held to account for war crimes, is showered with praise.


http://www.stopwar.org.uk/index.htm

Britain allows the lowest recruitment and deployment age in Europe, critics say

"They shouldn't be over there on the front line at that age. It's bad enough for hardened soldiers, but Aaron was just a bairn. He never had enough training in the first place - not to kill people."

Mrs Karen Lincoln, mother of killed teenage soldier

http://www.mfaw.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=257&Itemid=32

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Letter to Blair - From the grandfather of Daniel Lee Coffey


Dear Tony
How good is your imagination? How well do you sleep at night? If like I, and my family, and countless others who have lost a family member in this so called war in Iraq you don't sleep, and your imagination plays havoc with your mind, then you have my sympathy. Because I myself don't sleep at all well, and in my nightmares I hear the gunshot, and feel the searing pain of a bullet entering my brain, the bullet that killed my grandson.

Then I wake up Tony, screaming and sweating, but at least I wake up, but my Daniel, Tony, he won't wake up, he wont ever see the dawn break though the curtains of his bedroom again, or the bright sunshine filtering through the white net curtains.

Where my Daniel rests now Tony is deep, dark and desolate, buried in the ground on a hillside, in the cemetery of Cullompton, Devon, do you know where I mean? In England's green, and pleasant land. Lain to rest by some of his fellow comrades of 2 Rifles on the day of his funeral.



Daniel Lee Coffey

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

General Rose: "US & UK must admit defeat & leave Iraq"

Iraqi resistance fighters have a right to oppose the occupation and to force foreign troops out of their country, a former British army commander said.

General Sir Michael Rose, who commanded UN forces in Bosnia, urged the U.S. and its allies to "admit defeat" and stop fighting "a hopeless war" in Iraq, according to the BBC's Newsnight program.

More than 140 British troops and about 3,300 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

When asked whether he believes Iraqi fighters have a "right" to drive U.S. occupation forces out of Iraq, Sir Michael said: "Yes, I do."

"As Lord Chatham said, when he was speaking on the British presence in North America, he said 'if I was an American, as I am an Englishman, as long as one Englishman remained on American native soil, I would never, never, never lay down my arms," he told Newsnight.

Iraqi fighters feel the same way, he added.

Sir Michael also said it was time for foreign troops to leave Iraq and go back home.

"It is the soldiers who have been telling me from the frontline that the war they have been fighting is a hopeless war, that they cannot possibly win it and the sooner we start talking politics and not military solutions, the sooner they will come home and their lives will be preserved."

Asked if that meant admitting defeat, the general replied: "Of course we have to admit defeat. The British admitted defeat in North America and the catastrophes that were predicted at the time never happened."

"The catastrophes that were predicted after Vietnam never happened. The same thing will occur after we leave Iraq," he added.

Sir Michael has written a book comparing the resistance fighters' tactics with those of George Washington's irregular forces in the American War of Independence.

Last year, he called for British Prime Minister Tony Blair to be impeached for going to war on "false pretences".



(Rose - highly respected in the British Army)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


http://www.mfaw.org.uk/index.php

Yesterday Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, was barred from speaking at Bath University amid fears the event would bring chaos to the campus.

(Not to mention how earlier in the week the UCU had warned that allowing the meeting to go ahead would cause "substantial damage" to the university's international reputation.).
However, nothing is forgotten.


Bath cancels BNP lecture after student outcry
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,2076957,00.html

Inquiry into claim that police joined BNP event
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,2078115,00.html



Greater Manchester police investigates claim it has BNP members in ranks
Vikram Dodd
Tuesday May 8, 2007
The Guardian

One of Britain's biggest police forces is investigating allegations that it has British National party members among its frontline officers, the Guardian has learned.

Greater Manchester police launched the investigation after complaints from its own officers, who say they saw colleagues at a BNP event to mark St George's Day.

The supporters of the extreme rightwing party had gathered outside a pub in Manchester city centre and police were called after complaints that they had turned rowdy.

The allegations are especially embarrassing for Greater Manchester police, (GMP) which was one of the forces whose trainee officers were caught making racist remarks by an undercover television programme. After the revelations in the BBC Secret Policeman documentary the force vowed to stamp out racism in the ranks.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,2074511,00.html

Friday, May 11th, 2007
Open Letter from Michael Moore (film maker) to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson

Secretary Henry Paulson
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20220

May 11, 2007

Secretary Paulson,

I am contacting you in light of the document sent to me dated May 2, 2007, which was received May 7, 2007 indicating that an investigation has been opened up with regards to a trip I took to Cuba with a group of Americans that included some 9/11 heroes in March 2007 related to the filming of my next documentary, on the American Healthcare system. SiCKO, which will be seen in theaters this summer, will expose the health care industry's greed and control over America's political processes.

I believe that the decision to conduct this investigation represents the latest example of the Bush Administration abusing the federal government for raw, crass, political purposes. Over the last seven years of the Bush Presidency, we have seen the abuse of government to promote a political agenda designed to benefit the conservative base of the Republican Party, special interests and major financial contributors. From holding secret meetings for the energy industry to re-writing science findings to cooking the books on intelligence to the firing of U.S. Attorneys, this Administration has shown time and time again that it will abuse its power and authority.

There are a number of specific facts that have led me to conclude that politics could very well be driving this Bush Administration investigation of me and my film.

First, the Bush Administration has been aware of this matter for months (since October 2006) and never took any action until less than two weeks before SiCKO is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and a little more than a month before it is scheduled to open in the United States.

Second, the health care and insurance industry, which is exposed in the movie and has expressed concerns about the impact of the movie on their industries, is a major corporate underwriter of President George W. Bush and the Republican Party, having contributed over $13 million to the Bush presidential campaign in 2004 and more than $180 million to Republican candidates over the last two campaign cycles. It is well documented that the industry is very concerned about the impact of SiCKO. They have threatened their employees if they talk to me. They have set up special internal crises lines should I show up at their headquarters. Employees have been warned about the consequences of participating in SiCKO. Despite this, some employees, at great risk to themselves, have gone on camera to tell the American people the truth about the health care industry. I can understand why that industry's main recipient of its contributions -- President Bush -- would want to harass, intimidate and potentially prevent this film from having its widest possible audience.

And, third, this investigation is being opened in the wake of misleading attacks on the purpose of the Cuba trip from a possible leading Republican candidate for president, Fred Thompson, a major conservative newspaper, The New York Post, and various right wing blogs.

For five and a half years, the Bush administration has ignored and neglected the heroes of the 9/11 community. These heroic first responders have been left to fend for themselves, without coverage and without care. I understand why the Bush administration is coming after me -- I have tried to help the very people they refuse to help, but until George W. Bush outlaws helping your fellow man, I have broken no laws and I have nothing to hide.


I demand that the Bush Administration immediately end this investigation and spend its time and resources trying to support some of the real heroes of 9/11.

Sincerely,
Michael Moore

so yessssssssssssssss!!!
about time...

(Hi There, Endy)

hi Naima
How's preperation for the exams going - or have you started them already?

Hope you're not anywhere near Karachi

you take care now

Peace (one day)
E