Revolution

We Gave Them Our Hearts, They Gave Him A Blank Check

by David Sirota

It is a dark day in our nation's history. That sounds melodramatic - but it is true. Today America watched a Democratic Party kick them square in the teeth - all in order to continue the most unpopular war in a generation at the request of the most unpopular president in a generation at a time polls show a larger percentage of the public thinks America is going in the wrong direction than ever recorded in polling history.

The numbers are not pretty. First, 216 House Democrats cast the key vote to send a blank check Iraq War funding bill over to the Senate. As I reported at the beginning of the day and as the Associated Press now confirms, the vote on the rule was the vote that made it happen. As the AP said: "In a highly unusual maneuver, House Democratic leaders crafted a procedure that allowed their rank and file to oppose money for the war, then step aside so Republicans could advance it." Nauseating.

In the Senate, we saw lots of promises and tough talk from senators telling us they were going to do everything they could to stop the blank check. Some of them bragged that they were going to vote against the bill - as if that was the ultimate sign of heroics. Then, not a single senator found the backbone to stand up to filibuster the bill a la Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. To quote the Big Lebowski, "These men are cowards," because apparently, Senate club etiquette comes even before the lives of our troops.

The blank check sailed through the upper chamber on a vote of 80-14 with 38 Democrats (the majority of the party) voting yes. In all, at a time when 82 percent of Americans tell pollsters they want Congress to either approve funds for the war with strict conditions or cut off all funding immediately, 90 percent of House and Senate Democrats combined voted to give George W. Bush a blank check.

The worst part of it all was the overt efforts to deceive the public - as if we're all just a bunch of morons. House Democrats have the nerve to continue to insist the blank check they helped ram through the House was all the Republicans doing, and that a sham vote on a GOP amendment today - which most Democrats opposed for show - was the real vote for the war. But, again, as the AP reported, it was their parliamentary motion - passed so quickly and under the devious pretenses of mundane procedural necessity - that showed their calculated complicity. Now, tonight, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is actually sending out fundraising emails claiming "the House just passed legislation that will go to the White House that includes critical issues Democrats have been fighting for including canceling the President's blank check in Iraq." Beyond nauseating.

I'm not a purist nor am I a "pox on both their houses" kind of guy. I have worked to elect Democratic politicians and I supported Democratic leaders when they pushed an Iraq funding bill that included binding language to end the war. But what happened today was perhaps the most stunning travesty I've seen in a decade working in Democratic politics. A Democratic Party that six months ago was elected on a promise to end the war first tried to hide their complicity in continuing the war in the House, and then gave a few token speeches as the blank check sailed through the Senate club. And it all happened, as the New York Times reported today, because these Democrats believed criticism from President Bush - the man who polls show is the most unpopular president in three decades - "seemed more politically threatening to them than the anger Democrats knew they would draw from the left."

Democratic politicians, Capitol Hill staff, political consultants and all their lobbyist friends sitting comfortably tonight in their Northwest Washington homes believe the public thinks Democrats are "weak" because they don't more strongly support leaving American troops to be killed or maimed in the middle of a bloody civil war in a country half way around the globe that had no WMD and had nothing to do with 9/11. What they seem unable - or unwilling - to realize is that the public has believed Democrats are weak not because some in the party have opposed the war, but because many in the party refuse to wield the power the public entrusts them with on all sorts of issues. At least on Iraq - the biggest issue of the day - the public's perception has proven right. As I wrote to one congressional lawmaker in an e-mail correspondence we had today: "The spoils go to those who use the power they are entrusted with, while infamy goes to those who squander it."

In the movie "Say Anything," John Cusack famously laments after being dumped that "I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen." The American people gave Democrats their heart in November 2006. In return, Democrats gave George Bush a blank check in May 2007. We gave them our heart, they gave him a blank check. That will make May 24, 2007 a dark day generations to come will look back on - a day when Democrats in Washington not only continued a war they promised to end, but happily went on record declaring that they believe in their hearts that government's role is to ignore the will of the American people.

David Sirota is the author of the book Hostile Takeover. To subscribe to Sirota's regular newsletter, go to www.davidsirota.com and sign up on the left hand side.

© 2007 David Sirota

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/25/1447/

Refugees From Fallujah, Iraq - 2004



We all fear
For the ones we love, don't we?
I admire your courage
Can't be easy to witness them
Exhausted and afraid
Too easy to feel ashamed
Running
As if you are to blame
It doesn't matter
Where in the world a man is born
The terror in his heart starts
Knowing for them he must decide
And that at any second
Some stranger full of pride
Could break his heart



Endymion 2007

Tony's Open Letter to the People of Iraq


I stand before you today, humbled by the truth.
By invading your country and assisting in the US drive for oil,
I made the biggest blunder in the history of British politics since 1914, when we invaded Basra pre-emptively to protect our interests regarding that oil-pipeline (Anglo-Persian).
Of course it's always been about oil.
You could say WWI was Shell Petroleum's baby.

But what was I thinking? I was an utter fool.
To put it plainly, my ego was seduced by George Bush and I, in my weakness as a man, fell into his plans with all the willingness and vision of a whore, seeing myself set up for life, seeing myself remembered for allying with the US in the War On Terror.

I am disgusted in myself.
Looking back, I can only presume that power makes men moronic, for not only did I deceive my country by twisting the truth of Saddam's threat - I down-loaded some student's out-of-date essay on the dangers of Iraqi- and then read that out to people and told them it was a security document (they really fell for it, too).

And just in case they didn't - I told them you had nuclear capability and worse, chemical weapons that could actually hit Britain in 45 minutes… from now. (You should have seen their faces). Terrified? You bet.
I could have suggested invading China and the f*cking idiots would have gone along with it.

George and I had the UK/US public eating out of our hands - no…make that 'licking our fingers' because they were like frightened dogs cowering around us.
I know it's hard for you to understand - living under the threat of violence every minute of your lives, when so many of your beautiful buildings have been destroyed, when almost 3 million of your people are dead or displaced or missing, but the destruction of the twin towers really shook people up - you know?

Of course, if they'd sat back and thought about it for two seconds they'd have realised that because of past American foreign policy there are no doubt hundreds, if not thousands of people from many different countries around the world who'd like to blow both the US (and no doubt) the UK to Timbuktu- given the chance…

…given the chance.

That's it isn't it? That's the crux of all this hell, isn't it?

So anyway, as soon as the twin towers were down (and hell, we got some dramatic film footage there, didn't we? Best reality tv money can buy, eh? - Got the stations to milk it for every drop they could) - as soon as it was over and the dust had cleared (at least for George) the people fell behind us like traumatised children (and I know that you've seen plenty of them).

It was just like the Nazis said it would be.
We sat back and watched the cry for war escalate - it was quite exciting really.

Anyway, everyone was happy for us to go into Afghanistan - but we needed to take Iraq, because of the oil and easier access to Iran and it's oil - so instead of telling the people that Al-Qaeda was an enemy of Saddam (which they were, as you know) - we told them Iraq IS Al-Qaeda - the complete opposite… and everyone was so afraid for their own thick skin they were like, "Yeah, yeah, do what you have to do… just don't let ME get the f*ck blown up."
(Basically, what we predicted their chicken-**** reaction would be).
Except for the One Million Brits (and the thousands around the world) who marched against going to war. Those bastards could see through us - but we just down-played their little gathering and called them a bunch of hippies that would get us all killed - and the media trashed them (basically because they liked the idea of going to war - it would sell more news).

To add weight to our plans, George and I even put it about that 'God' was on our side…. that we'd been 'advised' by him to wage war on Muslims….Now if that isn't straight out of the history books, I don't know what is.

Finally, we told the troops they were all that stood between hell and their loved-ones and they lapped it up good and proper (every jock loves a hero, right?)

And that's how we came to invade you.

Of course there were moments of near disaster - such as when the torture pictures leaked out from Abu Ghraib… God, I had something to say to George about security after that, I can tell you.

Or when the British SAS soldier refused his orders in Iraq… by Christ, we had to shut him up.

Or when no Weapons of Mass Destruction were found, of course.
That was the real pisser to have to deal with, believe me.

As for the MISSION ACCOMPLISHED fiasco - what in the hell was George doing? Although I couldn't help thinking at the time… how cute he looked in that pilot's jumpsuit….

The hanging of Saddam was a bit of a fiasco too - with that damn film footage leaking out. Still, he was silenced…

Anyway, if the truth be told, we've been stirring Iraq up with a big stick ever since. (Blackwater Mercenaries)
'black water ' - get it?
Blackwater is ALL about Oil
It's taking the people a while to catch on - thick that they are.

Anyway over the last five years I haven't wanted to look at the war in Iraq too closely.
I've managed to put off meeting with any of the British troop's families for example. I've never had to attend a funeral, or explain my actions to anyone, or even visit a military hospital. Not bad in five years, eh?

I leave all that to George and Dick Cheney, (who secretly thinks he's the reincarnated personification of Hermann Göring by the way, and who would dream of arguing with him)?

So, here I am, about to step down and all of a sudden, it's hit me. I was wrong, I was out of order, I deceived the British and Americans and I am accountable for the deaths of many. Your people and my own. I lied and I knew I was lying.

I am a war criminal with blood on my hands. I have driven my country into a hell they did not deserve and I have created hell on earth for your people.
Everything I pledged to do for my country I dismantled.
In short - I am a traitor.

Please, I beg you to see how you have been consumed (in exactly the same way the US public were) by the destruction of your temples…
Please don't make the mistakes they have ….by attacking the wrong people in response.
Remember there are links - The Reichstag fire, the Twin Towers, The Golden Temple - it's all the same neo nazi oil-games.

I once said, I will answer to my God.
In reply, the British SAS soldier, Ben Griffin sent me a message.
"It's not your God you'll have to answer to… it is us."
I think he was right.
Therefor I am from this moment, having myself placed under arrest. I will formally face charges of conspiracy to murder, treason, crimes against humanity, misrepresentation, etc etc…

My cabinet will stand beside me in the dock as they've stood beside me right the way through. We are all criminals.

I'm so sorry I've helped destroy your world.

Sincerely,

Tony

Yes.

Hi Olga - nice to hear from you

Bad news for the peace- movement in the US

US anti-war mother ends protest

Cindy Sheehan, the bereaved mother who became a figurehead for the US anti-war movement, is abandoning her fight after growing disenchanted with the campaign.

She has camped outside President Bush's ranch since 2005, demanding a meeting over the death of her son in Iraq.

But announcing the end of her campaign, she also hit out at Democrats and anti-war campaigners who put "personal egos above peace and human life".

She said she had sacrificed her health, her marriage and her finances.

In a letter on the Daily Kos website titled Good Riddance Attention Whore - a reference to the abuse she says she has suffered, Ms Sheehan said: "I am going to take whatever I have left and go home.

"I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost."

'War machine'

Cindy Sheehan became a "postergirl" for the US anti-war movement after she set up her protest camp outside the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas in August 2005.

She said she has spent all the money from the survivor's benefits paid for her son's death and everything she earned from speaking and book fees and that she owed large hospital bills.

"I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times."

She said her son Casey, who died in Baghdad in April 2004, was "killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think.

"Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives.

"It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most."

Ms Sheehan criticised the US anti-war movement for often putting "personal egos" first.

"It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions."

She said that one-time allies among the Democratic Party had turned on her when she no longer limited her protests over the Iraq war to the Republican Party.

The US will rapidly descend into "a fascist corporate wasteland," she said, if "alternatives to this corrupt 'two' party system" are not found.

Ms Sheehan said she was resigning as the "face" of the US anti-war movement.

She said she would "never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6699781.stm



"Good Riddance, Attention Whore" ...by Cindy Sheehan

I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called "Face" of the American anti-war movement. Especially since I renounced any tie I have remaining with the Democratic Party, I have been further trashed on such "liberal blogs" as the Democratic Underground. Being called an "attention whore" and being told "good riddance" are some of the more milder rebukes.

I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.

The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a "tool" of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our "two-party" system?

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the "left" started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of "right or left", but "right and wrong."

I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don't find alternatives to this corrupt "two" party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don't see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person's heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat?

I have also reached the conclusion that if I am doing what I am doing because I am an "attention whore" then I really need to be committed. I have invested everything I have into trying to bring peace with justice to a country that wants neither. If an individual wants both, then normally he/she is not willing to do more than walk in a protest march or sit behind his/her computer criticizing others. I have spent every available cent I got from the money a "grateful" country gave me when they killed my son and every penny that I have received in speaking or book fees since then. I have sacrificed a 29 year marriage and have traveled for extended periods of time away from Casey's brother and sisters and my health has suffered and my hospital bills from last summer (when I almost died) are in collection because I have used all my energy trying to stop this country from slaughtering innocent human beings. I have been called every despicable name that small minds can think of and have had my life threatened many times.

The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning, however, was that Casey did indeed die for nothing. His precious lifeblood drained out in a country far away from his family who loves him, killed by his own country which is beholden to and run by a war machine that even controls what we think. I have tried ever since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful. Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives. It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.

I have also tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life. This group won't work with that group; he won't attend an event if she is going to be there; and why does Cindy Sheehan get all the attention anyway? It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions.

Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people. However, in five, ten, or fifteen years, our troops will come limping home in another abject defeat and ten or twenty years from then, our children's children will be seeing their loved ones die for no reason, because their grandparents also bought into this corrupt system. George Bush will never be impeached because if the Democrats dig too deeply, they may unearth a few skeletons in their own graves and the system will perpetuate itself in perpetuity.

I am going to take whatever I have left and go home. I am going to go home and be a mother to my surviving children and try to regain some of what I have lost. I will try to maintain and nurture some very positive relationships that I have found in the journey that I was forced into when Casey died and try to repair some of the ones that have fallen apart since I began this single-minded crusade to try and change a paradigm that is now, I am afraid, carved in immovable, unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble.

Camp Casey has served its purpose. It's for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford, Texas? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too…which makes the property even more valuable.

This is my resignation letter as the "face" of the American anti-war movement. This is not my "Checkers" moment, because I will never give up trying to help people in the world who are harmed by the empire of the good old US of A, but I am finished working in, or outside of this system. This system forcefully resists being helped and eats up the people who try to help it. I am getting out before it totally consumes me or anymore people that I love and the rest of my resources.

Good-bye America…you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it.

It's up to you now.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=878

Germany shuts off G8 summit venue

German police have locked down the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm, the venue for next week's Group of Eight summit, as authorities continue an extensive security crackdown in advance of the meeting.
Police cut off access to the resort on Wednesday at about 7am local time (0500GMT), Manfred Luetjann, a spokesman for the security forces, said.
German authorities have built a 12km-long, 2.5 metre-tall metal-and-concrete fence around Heiligendamm at a cost of about $17m.

The closure also affects a local railway line and a road through the resort, while boats are banned from the area immediately offshore.
Only residents, police officers and those with business involving the G8 summit, held between June 6 and June 8, will be allowed through the two checkpoints in the fence.

Police have ordered a ban on demonstrations within 200 metres outside the fence from Wednesday through to the end of the summit.
A planned extension of that zone to a depth of several kilometres was struck down last week by a ruling in a regional court.

About 100,000 demonstrators are expected to gather in the area near the summit venue.
Rights activists from a number of "global justice" movements have complained that the security measures imposed are excessive.

Protesters targeted

Earlier in May, German authorities conducted raid on about 40 properties and targeted a number of groups and individuals said to be oraganising protests for the coming summit.
Police also targeted the so36.net, a German internet server that hosts a number of websites run by the groups targeted in the raids.

The UK media network, Indymedia UK, quoted Hanne Jobst of the Berlin Bethanien office as saying, "So far, the police only tried to split the resistance in the public media through hallucinating about an army of 'anarchists'. Now they will try to sabotage the organisational structures."
He said: "All attempts to criminalise this movement will not prevent us from exposing worldwide inequalities during the G8 summit."

The German government says the security measures are intended to avoid violent protest.
Previous G-8 summits have seen violent protest, notably in Genoa, Italy, in 2001 where one protester was killed.



http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CB791C60-6DF2-4FBF-8CAD-077E6B98A01F.htm


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

German police raid G8 opponents

Police in northern Germany have raided 40 sites linked to opponents of the G8 club of rich nations ahead of the group's summit next month, the federal prosecutor's office said.
Government officials said on Wednesday they were searching for 18 activists believed to belong to a far-left group that was planning violent protests against the summit.

"The suspects linked to the militant, left-wing extremist scene are accused of founding or belonging to a terrorist organisation whose aim is to disrupt or prevent the upcoming G8 world economic summit taking place in early summer 2007," a statement from the prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe said.
Police also targeted three suspects believed to belong to a radical group known as 'mg' behind 25 attacks since 2001.

Visa restrictions

About 100,000 demonstrators are expected to gather in the area near the summit venue, a hotel in Heiligendamm on Germany's Baltic Coast, from June 6-8.
Authorities are building a 12km-long security fence to separate the demonstrators from the leaders attending the summit.
Attac, an anti-globalisation group, said the raids were "an attempt to criminalise the entire spectrum of G8 opponents."

More - http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EFC22DAF-E4DF-4E86-A850-0D3E2F67E81C.htm

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

Clashes erupt ahead of G8


Anarchist protests have broken out in Scotland's capital, sparking scuffles between riot police and demonstrators two days before leaders of the world's richest nations hold a summit.



Several people were detained on Monday, 21 were injured in clashes and several people fainted in the crush. Police said there had been 90 arrests related to the protests in Edinburgh.

The demonstrations began peacefully as protesters, banging drums and shaking bells, marched and danced into waiting police containment cordons.
The demonstrations were part of an array of protests that began on Saturday with a 200,000-strong march through the city calling for an end to poverty in the developing world, especially Africa.

Leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised nations meet amid tight security from Wednesday to Friday at Scotland's Gleneagles Hotel, tasked with tackling African poverty and devising a strategy against global warming.

Scuffles

On Monday, black-clad and masked members of the Black Bloc, an anarchist group based in Germany and Scandinavia that has been prominent in protests at past G8 summits, mingled with other demonstrators dressed as fairies and clowns.

Protests have been under way
since Saturday in Edinburgh

Trouble began when about 30 anarchists, among about 200 protesters trapped between lines of police, pushed and scuffled with police officers.

Mindful of the violence that erupted at previous G8 summits in Genoa, Italy, in 2001 and Evian, France, in 2003, Scottish police have been taking no chances.

Around the city, mounted riot police and convoys of police vans with sirens wailing and lights flashing sought to curtail anarchist street demonstrations.

In one incident, 14 mounted riot police and 15 vanloads of others arrived to protect the Standard Life insurance company building to find just three demonstrators there.

Tourists appeared to be enjoying the spectacle. "This is entertaining and at least it is cheaper than paying to go and visit the castle," said Ricky from Hong Kong.

A police spokesman said late on Monday that 21 people, including four police officers, were injured but none seriously. Most of the charges relating to the 90 arrests were for causing a disturbance.
The spokesman said Edinburgh was quiet late on Monday night but added: "It could be lively on Wednesday."



Protests have been under way since Saturday in Edinburgh

http://english.aljazeera.net/English/archive/archive?ArchiveId=13233

Activists hijack phone boxes across London to raise their voice against poverty
Peter Hulme | 29.05.2007 18:05 | G8 Germany 2007 | Education | Globalisation | Health

Oxfam, Cafod, Save the Children and over 90 other UK NGOs commandeered phoneboxes on the South Bank and Camden this weekend to give people the chance to let off steam. Members of the public went into the specially fitted out phone boxes to shout against poverty and let the G8 leaders know that they must act now on debt cancellation, aid, healthcare, sanitation, education and climate change.

The stunt is part of The World Can't Wait - Your Voice Against Poverty Campaign, which will be followed by a huge rally in Westminster on Saturday 2nd June, prior to the G8 Summit which starts in Germany on 6th June.

Phone message to Tony Blair

Hackney based activist Hayley Baker, said

"I wanted to leave a message to world leaders to say sort out your act around HIV and AIDS. There are more than five million people who are living with HIV/AIDS in the world, who do not have access to the vital medicines to keep them alive. This is shameful. As the clock ticks, peoples' lives are lost. The World Can't Wait - World leaders must act now. "

100,000 people in the UK have already taken action in support of the campaign.
see pic here - http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/05/371892.html

http://www.yourvoiceagainstpoverty.org.uk/

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/05/371576.html

Does 'The Decider'
Decide on War?


by Patrick J. Buchanan

http://www.antiwar.com/pat/?articleid=11043



http://antiwar.com/

"First, examine our attitude towards peace, itself. Too many of us think that it is impossible. Too many think it is unreal. But that is a dangerous, defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are man made. Therefore they can be solved by man, and man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable and we believe they can do it again"

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
American University
June 12, 1963

The above quote is from the heartfelt "Happy Birthday Jack" by Tom Degan
http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/

Local MPs demand G8 action now
By Andy Tate

Seven Sussex MPs have demanded urgent action to end global poverty and tackle climate change.

The MPs have signed a Parliamentary motion, ahead of next month's G8 summit in Germany, pressing the leaders of the world's richest countries to deliver on their promises on aid, debt cancellation and fair trade.

In 2005, at a previous summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, world leaders made a series of pledges which, if fulfilled, would help millions escape extreme poverty.
Two years on, 1.2 billion people still struggle to survive on less than $1 a day. Anti-poverty campaigners are warning that without urgent action most of the promises are at risk of being broken.

They say it is vital that leaders attending the Germany G8 summit, which starts on June 6, not only reaffirm existing targets but make further, far-reaching commitments.

The Commons early day motion, signed by a total of 231 MPs, reads: "At the halfway point of the Millennium Development Goals the world is off-track to meet the key targets on eradicating poverty by 2015."

It notes the "continued public mandate for urgent political action to end poverty and climate chaos".

And it calls on the British Government "to use its influence in Europe and within the G8 to ensure debt cancellation and more and better aid, trade justice, healthcare, education, water and sanitation for all, and firm plans to prevent catastrophic climate change".

It adds: "The world can't wait to make poverty history."

The Sussex MPs who have signed the motion are David Lepper (Brighton Pavilion), Peter Bottomley (West Worthing), Laura Moffatt (Crawley), Des Turner (Brighton Kemptown), Norman Baker (Lewes), Nigel Waterson (Eastbourne) and Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex).

More than 90 campaigning organisations in the UK have joined forces to organise a mass anti-poverty rally in central London on Saturday (June 2) to remind G8 leaders they are being watched.

Mr Lepper said: "It is imperative that the G8 member states live up to their commitments to eradicate poverty and tackle climate change, so I will be urging the UK government to take stronger action and use its influence in Europe and the G8.

"I will also be encouraging my constituents and their friends and families to sign up to the campaign and to travel to London on June 2 to ensure that their voices are heard in the fight against poverty."

Matt Phillips, head of campaigns at Save the Children, said: "It's critical MPs back this campaign - words mean nothing without action. 2005 saw a huge public mandate for dramatic action to make poverty history. But we need more urgency because children are missing out on healthcare and education. Rich countries must act, the world can't wait."

8:45am Wednesday 30th May 2007

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.1433291.0.local_mps_demand_g8_action_now.php

UK lecturers refuse to spy on students


Submitted by Vidura Panditaratne on Tue, 2007-05-29 17:12.Europe | United Kingdom | News

UK university lectures today vehemently rejected a government plan to require academic staff to spy on Muslim student, describing it as a "witch-hunt".

University and College Union, the main trade body trade union and professional association for higher educators, resolved to "To resist attempts by government to engage colleges and universities in activities which amount to increased surveillance of Muslim or other minority students and to the use of members of staff for such witch-hunts," at their annual congress held in Bournemouth.

The motion comes in response to British government's new guidelines that make it compulsory for universities to keep a watchful eye on Muslim students, and immediately report any suspicious behaviour to the authorities.

The congress deplored what they saw as "the recent rise in racism and xenophobia and its apparent promotion by government policies." and vowed "to mount active campaigns against all attacks on civil liberties and to argue for the benefits of a plural society."

"Increasingly restrictive measures, and the xenophobic language surrounding them, employed in discussion of immigration and the so-called 'war on terror', combined with islamophobia and the attempts at increased surveillance of muslim communities, are not only encouraging racist and xenophobic tendencies in Britain but are also leading to measures that threaten civil liberties as a whole," the motion stated.

http://pressesc.com/01180458697_uk_lecturers_no_to_witch_hunt

Russia says US starting 'arms race'

Russia's recent missile tests were a direct response to US plans to build a missile defence system and new military bases in Europe, the Russian president said.

Vladimir Putin on Thursday criticised "diktat and imperialism" in global affairs and warned that Russia would strengthen its military potential to maintain a global strategic balance.

"It wasn't us who initiated a new round of arms race," Putin said when asked about the missile tests at a news conference after talks with his Greek counterpart.

Russia tested a new ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads and a new cruise missile on Tuesday.

"There is no reason to fear these actions by Russia, they aren't aggressive. It's merely a response to tough and unfounded unilateral actions by our partners," Putin said.

"These actions are aimed at preserving a global balance."

He also attacked the US and other Nato members for failing to ratify an amended version of the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, which limits the deployment of heavy non-nuclear weapons around the continent.

Signed and ratified

Putin said: "We have signed and ratified the CFE and are fully implementing it. We have pulled out all our heavy weapons from the European part of Russia to [locations] behind the Ural Mountains and cut our military by 300,000 men.

"And what about our partners? They are filling Eastern Europe with new weapons. A new base in Bulgaria, another one in Romania, a [missile defence] site in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic.

"What are we supposed to do? We can't just sit back and look at that."

Putin's comments came a week before he meets George Bush, the US president, and other leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations at a summit in Germany.

The White House dismissed Putin's thinly veiled attacked on US policies.

Gordon Johndroe, US national security council spokesman, said: "While we have some differences, they are nothing other than issues that can be worked out through the continued dialogue we have face to face.

"The United States and Russia co-operate on a range of issues from counter-terrorism to global energy solutions."

Moscow has repeatedly rejected US assurances that the planned missile defence installations in Poland and the Czech Republic are meant to counter a potential threat from nations such as Iran and pose no danger to Russia.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B553494A-A8B9-429B-8248-4C2C1521DF95.htm

Ever feel like no
one's listening?

http://www.campusprogress.org/page/content/iraqcamp/

ON IT!!!



Pleasure! :wink:

Hey, Naima

What would I do without you? :wink:

Nuclear Watchdog's Attack Warning

Military Families Against The War
Wave Tony Blair goodbye as he leaves office!
Wednesday 27th June London Outside No. 10



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