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Zebra 3 Report by Joe Anybody
Thursday, 14 June 2007
Rudy Giuliani, scared the pants off New Yorkers... yep! About 200 searches per day
Mood:
 irritated
Now Playing: And this guy could become the President?
Topic: CIVIL RIGHTS
This post, written by Jeffrey Feldman, originally appeared on Frameshop I found it here on Alternet.org: http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/53938/ For those lucky enough to have never lived under the Stasi-style rule of Mayor Rudy Giuliani, it may come as a shock to learn that "Rudy's" formula for the good life in America is: 200 strip-searches per day (give or take few). This is no theory, mind you. It is a formula derived from Giuliani's record as mayor. Specifically, the data about Giuliani's use of strip-searches as police policy came to light when a large class action law suit was filed against the city in 1997, resulting in the largest civil rights settlement against New York City ever, and one of the largest against any municipality anywhere. At the directive of Mayor Giuliani's office, over a ten month period from 1996 to 1997, the New York City police conducted over 70,000 strip-searches of ordinary citizens for minor offenses including: trying to board the subway without paying a fare and jaywalking. If 70,000 strip-searches were conducted by Giuliani's policy squads over 10 months, that meant roughly 233 per day, about 10 per hour or one every 6 minutes. Ah, yes, America. That cool breeze you feel on your naked legs as you stand spread eagle in a police precinct--that's the refreshing sensation of Giuliani-style freedom. Invigorating, eh? Seem excessive? Worried that a hypothetical "President Giuliani" would turn the whole country into a 21st-Century version of East Berlin? Well, that just means you are one of those "liberals" who does not yet understand Rudy Giuliani's core operating principle--that "freedom" can only come about if we are willing to willfully "cede" all our rights to the absolute authority of the police. For some New Yorkers, ceding freedom to thug-style police brutality authorized by Mayor Giuliani was a great way to get rid of muggers and subway station panhandlers, but for most it just increased the likelihood of being strip-searched or--even worse--gunned down by Rudy's trigger-happy cops. Scaring Our Pants Off While he likes to brag about stopping crime in New York, what really happened under Rudy's reign was the rise of Stasi-style police brutality. The theory was that crime is not just stopped by enforcing the law, but by preemptive attacks on any citizen suspected of breaking the law. The broader logic in Giuliani's 200-strip-searches-per-day approach was that crime happens when citizens are not afraid of the state. Fighting crime, therefore, is not just about arresting people for criminal acts, but about spreading fear of the police. Once the fear spreads, crime is supposed to stop. In practice, however, it did not work that way. What resulted from the 200-strip-searches-per-day policy of Mayor Giuliani was a massive spike in human rights violations that offset the crime rate decreases. One can only imagine what Giuliani-ism would bring on a national scale. Rather than turn back the bestial human rights violations of the Bush administration, a Giuliani administration would probably increase it. A Strip-Search Approach to Immigration Policy? In all likelihood, Giuliani as president would result in the application of his strip-search-approach to America's current immigration question. In theory, Giuliani has called for "tamper proof" ID cards to be distributed to every immigrant in America. But in practice, it is far more likely that America would see the 200-strip-searches-per-day formula applied to immigration. If this were to come about, suddenly America would become a country were people were suspected immigrants were routinely stopped and searched--first on the suspicion that they did not have ID cards, but subsequently on suspicion of just about anything. Why? Because in Giuliani's worldview, social order is not the product of people following the rules--of just having the right ID card--but of fearing the policy. And so Giuliani would likely see an escalation in fear of policy by immigrants as the only path to solving the current immigration issue. A Strip-Search Approach to Foreign Policy? That fear-brings-order approach on the domestic front would also, likely, bring about a fear-brings-order approach in a Giuliani administration's foreign policy. To date, Giuliani has already been arguing that America is not yet winning the war on terror because we are not afraid enough of Islamic Jihadism. His logic? Freedom from terrorism can only come about through even more ceding of rights by American citizens to the state. You thought Bush was bad on this front? Giuliani would likely be even worse. A Strip-Search Approach to Education? In terms of education policy, Giuliani likes to talk about vouchers and individual choice, but if he became president, it seems likely that he would bring his strip-search approach to our children's schools, too. Education, he would likely tell America, cannot happen effectively unless our children are taught to cede their freedom to authority. That would mean more metal detectors, more police in schools, more locker searchers and--you guessed it--more strip searches in school. And all this would most likely be put forth under the guise of improving education and stopping violence. The United States of Strip-Searches Nobody can know for sure what the future will bring. But if the past is any indicator (and it always is), a Giuliani presidency would likely make strip-search-style policies a regular part of our American culture. That is to say: more regular than they have become in the Bush presidency. Of course, the idea that freedom from social ills comes by ceding one's rights to authority--that is not the basis of democracy, but rhetorical marker of tyrannical monarchy and dictatorship. In our constitutional democracy all citizens enter into a mutual compact together, thereby imbuing our government with a degree of authority. And that authority at no time has the power to demand that citizens cede their rights. In fact, if the government that we empower every tries to defraud us of our rights,then we as citizens have an obligation to depose that government. In its own limited way, that is exactly what the citizens of New York City did with their class action suit against Giuliani's government in 1997. Hopefully, knowing about Giuliani's strip-searching past will stop him before he has a chance to bring strip-searches to America's future.
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 2:34 PM PDT
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
More Investigations in to this Crooked Bush Empire
Mood:
 celebratory
Now Playing: No end to the weekly Investigations into Bush and Company
Topic: FAILURE by the GOVERNMENT
Every week we see more and more Investigations into this criminal regime Every week its more "We don't remember" "We refuse to answer" or "We refuse to co-operate" or "It is a NSA secret" I am so sick of this empire of greed and corruption They have taken us citizens for a ride, they burned us, stole, killed and lied. We were set up and abused. Today I read more ..... tomorrow will be more...... and when my fellow Z3 Reader will the madness stop? Check this story from the front page I only copied a few paragraphs: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1336072620070613?&src=061307_1555_DOUBLEFEATURE_shiite_shrine_hit WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers set up a possible court showdown with President George W. Bush on Wednesday by summoning two of his former aides to testify about the controversial firing of federal prosecutors last year. Bush could challenge the subpoenas issued to former White House counsel Harriet Miers and political director Sara Taylor although the White House said no decision had been made. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont said in a letter to Taylor that she had until June 28 to turn over documents related to the inquiry and must appear before his committee on July 11. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, meanwhile, issued subpoenas for documents and testimony from Miers, who was ordered to testify on July 12. Bush and U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales say the firing of nine of the 93 U.S. attorneys last year was justified though mishandled. Democrats and some of Bush's fellow Republicans have questioned whether partisan politics improperly played a role in the dismissal plan, which originated at the White House. One of the fired prosecutors was replaced by a former aide to White House political adviser Karl Rove. The subpoenas set up a possible court fight between Congress and Bush, who had earlier vowed to oppose any attempt to force aides to provide sworn testimony. White House spokesman Tony Snow said it was far too early to say if the matter would end up in court. Check back daily ...... the list is growing, the atrocities are mounting, and America slips further into the toilet. God Help Us ...... we are doomed .... set up ....... and all that is left is the smell of a bush and destruction ..... We have been screwed by the president and his evil empire of looney greedy Neocon fools. Have a nice day!
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 4:36 PM PDT
Updated: Wednesday, 13 June 2007 4:38 PM PDT
Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Recent Report on Modern Day Slavery
Mood:
irritated
Now Playing: Human Rights
Topic: HUMANITY
I noticed the comment about Vipula Kadri, the founder and National Director of Save the Children India, near the end of this article. I copied this "Times of India" article from their website. What an endeavor. I applaud him and will be reading up on his mission of humanity and love 
Act or get tagged for slavery, warns US THE TIMES OF INDIA
13 Jun, 2007 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Act_or_get_tagged_for_slavery_warns_US/articleshow/2118390.cms
WASHINGTON: India has been warned to act swiftly on its human trafficking record involving forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation or risk being censured for what Washington calls "modern-day slavery."
For the fourth consecutive year, India has been placed on a Tier 2 watchlist in an annual State Department
report on human trafficking, a citing that implies unrelenting human exploitation. The rebuke follows a fierce debate within the administration to downgrade India to the lowest Tier 3 category, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reportedly argued against it, citing improving ties in other spheres.
Administration officials were however unsparing in indicting India for human trafficking in course of a briefing that followed release of the report.
"Tier 2 Watch list should be a warning. Unfortunately, too many major countries on Tier 2 Watch List have ignored this warning, year after year," Mark P. Lagon, Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons said on Tuesday, naming India, China, Russia, Mexico, and South Africa among other countries in this category.
"Tier 2 Watch list is not supposed to become a parking lot for governments lacking the will or interest to stop exploitation and enslavement on their soil. We stand ready to cooperate with these nations and support any efforts they make to end this travesty within their borders," he added.
While charging that the Government of India "does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking however," the report acknowledged that "it is making significant efforts to do so."
However, it cited large scale systemic sloth and indifference thereafter, saying, "Overall, the lack of any significant federal government action to address bonded labor, the reported complicity of law enforcement officials in trafficking and related criminal activity, and the critical need for an effective national-level law enforcement authority impede India's ability to effectively combat its trafficking in persons problem."
While annual US government reports on human trafficking, human rights etc rankle critics across the world who point to Washington's own dodgy record in these matters, others argue that such report serve to hold the mirror on societies that continue to live in denial or can't summon the energy to address the issue.
Some of the ranking certainly provided ammunition for the critics who say it is politically motivated: for instance, the report puts Cuba, Venezuela and Iran in the lowest Tier 3, while vassal states like Pakistan and Thailand are in Tier 2.
India and Sri Lanka's rating of "Tier 2 watchlist" is even lower - below Afghanistan and Bangladesh in the region, although there is little to suggest that human exploitation is any less in these countries.
The latest report noted however that New Delhi passed a law in October 2006 banning the employment of children in domestic work and the hospitality industry. It also pointed out that in a July 2006 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Maharashtra government could proceed with its plan to seal brothels under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA).
The report also named Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi as one of the "Heroes" in the movement against human exploitation. Satyarthi, it said, has freed more than 75,000 children by working relentlessly to, to rehabilitate them with vocational training and education and tilted the force of public opinion against child labor.
The report also recalled the services of Vipula Kadri, the founder and National Director of Save the Children India, an organization charged with preventing the abuse and exploitation of children which brought together representatives from government, law enforcement, civil society, Bollywood celebrities, media, and private industry to raise awareness about trafficking of women and girls into commercial sexual exploitation in India.
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 3:01 PM PDT
Updated: Tuesday, 12 June 2007 4:03 PM PDT
Tuesday, 5 June 2007
G8 - Protesters are ACTIVE in Germany right now!
Mood:
 energetic
Now Playing: News Ticker Tape Update for the G8 Confrence in Germany
Topic: PROTEST!
So while you enjoy these summer days here in the "land of the free"..... Over in Germany “right now” the shit is hitting the fan!
The corporate countries (the Big top 8 Countries in the world) who all make up to be ....."The G8" ….well they have been gathering in Germany this year (Japan in 08) to have their agenda discussed and their scams contrived, as thousands of protesters have followed them and now are all around them in the streets …in fact these protesters are in the thousands and have came from all over the world to Greet the G8 monsters
These thousands of brave activists are being hassled like you would expect. Everything from false charges, to carrying a lemon, or wearing a scarf. Major protests are going on and major "tricks/abuses by the police" are being used as well.
After my text is a line item ticker news tape readout from the activists view …..from the streets. This kind of news will not be found at the major media outlets. In fact you will be amazed if you even read a few lines ….at what is going on right now ..... With hardly any reporting by the Corporate /news (Trash) My fellow Z3 Readers .... Be aware! And Be Active! Be Informed! G8 TICKER TAPE NEWS CLICK HERE http://de.indymedia.org/ticker/en/ There is more on Portland Independent Media on the G8 here http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/06/360408.shtml
MORE PICTIURES AND LINKS ON MY WEBSITE'S HOME PAGE www.joe-anybody.com
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 1:19 PM PDT
Updated: Wednesday, 6 June 2007 5:09 PM PDT
Wednesday, 30 May 2007
Wars and Gullibility - A History Lesson
Mood:
 d'oh
Now Playing: Follow the leaer to the killing field ... its easier to die than think
Topic: WAR
From an E-mail I recieved this morning from the "Daily Reconing" Alas, The Demise of the Dollar http://www.dailyreckoning.com/Issues/2007/DR052907.html We have our thinking caps on today...after a three-day holiday in which we were given plenty of time for it. You see, over this long Memorial Day weekend we had to ignore the financial news - since there wasn't too much of it - and we actually gave ourselves over to cogitation. Now we find we can't stop ourselves. The thing has become addictive. Actually, thinking is usually the hardest thing for any man to do. Most men will do practically anything to avoid it - even die. And that is true in matters not just in finance. We, however, will make do with the little news we can find, even if we have to fish it out of the past. Yesterday, for instance, we talked about a nation's idea of itself...its history...its dominant 'narrative.' People need simple answers to questions such as, 'who are we?' and, 'what are we doing here?' They need answers that give themselves a sense of purpose...or at least an explanation that is so plausible that it saves them the trouble of thinking. For one thing, people don't like to die in pointless, absurd battles. They much prefer to die for a reason - so they look for one anywhere they can. In France, they died to realize the dream of a united, centralized republican France; American martyrs fell, on the other hand, to preserve their freedom and independence...or try to extend these blessings to other parts of the planet. Of course, there are a lot of people who think France would be a better place if it weren't quite so French. And there are plenty of others who would prefer that U.S. troops mind their business at home. An individual soldier who bothered to think about his own situation might decide that, say Napoleon's campaign against Tsar Alexander I of Russia, or Wilson's campaign against Porfirio Diaz of Mexico, was not really worth dying for. But a soldier who thinks is not merely extremely rare - he is a danger to the whole system! Fortunately, very few are capable of it. And the rest of us loathe it so vigorously, we will accept any narrative at all in its stead...provided it flatters our self-importance enough. Napoleon drove the Grande Armee into Russia by telling the soldiers that the Russians posed a grave risk to France's Eastern Flank. French aristocrats - driven out and disposed during the revolution - had the ear of the Romanovs and the Hapsburgs; they were always stirring up plots against La Patrie. "If we don't fight them in Moscow," Bonaparte might have said, "we will soon face them in Strasbourg. It's up to us to save our civilization." This kind of flattering threat is a perennial favorite. And so the caissons roll...the drums beat...and the martyrs fall. 'Mort pour la France,' say the French monuments. They died 'serving their country,' say the American stones. We spent much of Memorial Day sitting on a train in the middle of nowhere. The train had broken down on the tracks, in the middle of a huge field of wheat, between Montmorillon and Poitiers. Waiting for a bus to come to our rescue, we picked up a copy of a book about French soldiers who fought for Germany in WWII. Why would a Frenchman fight for the Nazis? They seem to have chosen the wrong narrative. Many Europeans, in the 1930s, saw Bolshevism as public enemy number one. The Bolsheviks were godless, lawless barbarians, they thought. They had already taken over Russia...and nearly grabbed Spain too. If they weren't stopped, all of Europe would fall under the hammer...or be cut down by the sickle. In this reading of things, Germany was not a threat to France or Britain. Instead, it was a bulwark against the commies...and the only nation with the vigor and strength to stand up to them. Many Frenchmen saw the defeat of their forces by the Wehrmacht as a happy historical necessity; now they were allied with the Germans in the fight that really mattered, the battle against Bolshevism. The Nazis put up recruiting posters in French: "Europe United Against Bolshevism." Sensing an opportunity, thousands of Frenchmen signed up for the Legion of French Volunteers, LVF, and were sent to the Eastern Front. A later poster shows a picture of a French soldier dressed in a snow-camouflage white uniform, carrying a machine gun. "During Three Winters: The LVF covered itself with glory...for France and for Europe." After three winters, hunkered down in snow-swept 'hedge-hog' formations, you'd think the French would have time to think...time to question the narrative that had gotten them into such a tight spot: "What are we doing here," they might have asked themselves. But it was easier to die than to think. Besides, at that point, dying was the odds-on favorite. What good was thinking? The war was going badly. The Germans were falling back across the Oder...with the Russkies in hot pursuit. And if they made it back to France, their countrymen would call them traitors. No, it was easier, and maybe better, to die. That fourth winter was the hardest one, the one when most of them stopped moving. The LVF was incorporated into the Waffen SS and covered the Germans' retreat, often, without suitable weapons or food. Their job was to hold back the Russian tanks so that the Wehrmacht and the civilians of Pomerania could make their way to the West. They fought...and then they retreated too, with the long columns of Prussian women, children and old men...beaten soldiers...deserters...lost...wounded. The civilians, too, might have wondered about their own narrative. They had been told that the German army could stop the Russian advance at the border. They had been told that the Russian tanks were still hundreds of miles away...and in retreat! And then, suddenly, there were thousands of T-34 tanks and Red Army soldiers - who showed no mercy to anyone - on the hallowed soil of Prussia. It was unthinkable...but it was real. And now Germany needed real heroes...real soldiers...real men to push back the Slav hordes. For centuries Prussia had nurtured a stern military tradition of the threat from the East. And now, here it was - thousands of Russia's bloodthirsty Siberian troops...burning their houses and raping their women. And where was the German army when they needed it? It had been battered and broken on a fool's errand in Russia. Now, the Russians were having their revenge...and there were no troops to stop them. Still, the Legion of French Volunteers fought on as best it could - retreating, fighting, retreating, fighting - right to the gates of Berlin, where they were among its last defenders. Of those who survived the war, many went into Russian POW camps. Few came out alive. And those that made it back to France found that they had been officially dishonored and ostracized. They found no respect...and no jobs; what could they do but become financial journalists?
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 1:14 PM PDT
Peacemakers, Living in a World of Anger & Hate
Mood:
 incredulous
Now Playing: My Wish For Peace - And a Scream for Peace from Joe Anybody
Topic: POLITICS
Something I wrote about Screams From the "Killing Fields" and Screams for Peace 
In this world of anger, that is surrounded by death. In a world of fear, racism, terrorism, and military control. In a world of an this illegal raging war. In a world of HATE ….and massive selfish greed. I am alive and screaming for PEACE, ….and love, and tolerance! I stand beside you when you ring the bell. I am the witness, the one who will help you tell. In a world of confusion… lost ….. looking for truth, No spin – Yes spin - All spin – And Big-Media Lies Corporate Lies…. and Government Lies …911 lies…. WMD, WMD…. Wmd…. wmd …wmd…? There are no WMD’s? In a world of despair, I step forward to shoulder some pain. I shine my light …. In world of apathy, for I hear the screams, You scream, I scream …ya …… we-all scream ….. For-sure as I write this ….I am still yelling into the night and then into the day ….. Can you hear my dire scream for peace? Join me as we raise our voice's for all those across the land to hear. Let me hear your scream for peace! For I hear those screams of death, lingering in my ears by the thousands.., I have no peace inside! The screams of those who lives, no longer walk with me and you, and they resonate loud to my listening ear. Those screams tell me to speak up and speak out-loud, to demand that we all “help stop this sickness, of killing one another”. Those screams tell me to…..”Make them stop ……make them so-called-leaders of men, stop this immoral war”. Those scream will not go in vain….. those screams of pain and death……for I hear them in my soul all the time. Those are real screams by real people…..they were paid for in blood and in love and with their breaths of hope, they paid with their lives. The LOVE has been taken from those lives. And insultingly….. love and life and liberty was taken from all those that have died by war.... for…..nothing more than sinister greedy lies! And now, it is I, who is screaming…. I am screaming for those that are “dead” And with me in my scream for Peace……is room for you, in fact I need you to help me, to raise my voice! In this world of divided unison, I try to hold a hand out To whom that want to reach out and grasp it. Be he my friend or even my enemy, and no matter what happens to be his plight. My hand is out…. Peace wants you too…. When I feel your grip, my heart will hold on to your struggle as well. For I ……have the desire to fight for truth and justice in solidarity. And your truth is my justice ….my truth will be for your justice. - Around the table - the words are passed, some speak of peace…. Some speak of war or the terrorism spin. Some speak of walls and prisons and jails and control. Yes there is some who speak for the devil…. But proudly there are some that bravely, speak for peace, and they are “peacemakers” First thing in the morning, I get up and say today is the day we “end this war, as well as racism ...in our land. ”A gently push, from a passion for unity, a push for co-existing, a push for compassion, love, and understanding. And as the day goes by into the night and it turns into another day in an endless war in another year of the tidings for greed The energy put forth by me and us all as a community, needs to be a continuing one of peace, understanding and encouragement. Of a desire to see love being used rather than violence, and for all of us to be an example and an inspiration, by our examples. We need to stop ….... look ….. and listen…… and.... Then Be True ….. Peacemakers! I feel that it will be together as a community that we all can help make the screaming end. By us all joining in force and in unity, by joining hands and our spirits, by making the world one of harmony rather than one of fear, violence and hate. To rise… up and above, and to shine down, the light of Peace, with a helping hand and a willingness to care and share. Hear the screams? They are out there …. Can you hear my scream for peace, will you join me?
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 12:45 AM PDT
Updated: Thursday, 31 May 2007 12:18 PM PDT
Wednesday, 23 May 2007
TROOPS HOME BY CHRISTMAS? Here is how to do it.
Mood:
 bright
Now Playing: Listen to Mike Gravel, the 76-year-old former senator from Alaskas ideas
Topic: WAR
Hey This Is Great Stuff - I just found it on Mother Jones Website Latest Issue Wow! I am impressed and I stand behind this kind of thinking. Are we US citizens serious about ending this occupation in Iraq? If we are how about some real LEADERSHIP..... I am sorry but these clowns we elected to end this war are lost on this issue. No backbone, no fire n brimstone, no guts, no balls, no nothing ....they are head in the sand .......soft of THE FUCKING WAR ISSUE Listen to this guy Mike, tell all about how to do it. He is a 76 years old and smarter than 85% of of Congressmen, even if they all pooled their intelligence. My God ...... Troop home by Christmas? Hell lets get this fucking ball rolling. Read this article below, my fellow Z3 Readers, please excuse my vulgar use of the F* word ....but I am pissed about all this killing being accepted and justified. Lets End This Fucking WAR NOW! This article can be found On Mother Jones Website here --> http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2007/05/gravel.html?src=email&hed_20070523_ts2_naderredux ******************************************************************** 
Nader Redux: Should Dems Fear Mike Gravel? Thirty years ago, he put the Pentagon Papers into the Senate record. Now he's back with a presidential campaign—and a bid to end the war before the election. By James Ridgeway May 20, 2007 The political establishment has been doing its best to brush aside Mike Gravel, the 76-year-old former senator from Alaska—and fairly successfully so, until Gravel's appearance at last month's sleepy Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina. After challenging fellow Dems to end the war by legislative fiat—and make it a "felony" for the president to keep troops in Iraq—Gravel saw visits to his website zoom up, and YouTube clips of his debate remarks and even his campaign videos have been drawing tens of thousands of views. If this keeps up, could Gravel's name begin to resonate with the ring of that ultimate Democratic dirty word—Ralph Nader? Of course Gravel, unlike Nader, has chosen to run in the Democratic primary, with no chance of tilting the general election—for now, at least. Banish the thought, but what if Fred Thompson or Chuck Hagel were to head the Republican ticket against Hillary, with her high negatives, or Obama, whose equivocation could begin to wear away his charm? What would happen if old man Gravel bolted to run as an independent (with Nader's backing, even) and started pulling one or two or three points? Keep in mind that nobody paid any heed to Nader in 2000 until he started running the dread campaign rallies in city after city, culminating in a screaming frenzy at Madison Square Garden. In a single night, Gravel managed to build a buzz among the mad-as-hell crowd. It's not clear how far this could take him—but mainstream Dems are undoubtedly at least a tad concerned. Gravel shook up the otherwise safe, polite, and predictable by confronting mealy-mouthed fellow Dems with a dreck-cutting matter-of-factness. Commenting that his fellow candidates "frightened" him because they refused to take the nuclear option off the table with regard to Iran, he then confronted Obama with the question, "Tell me, Barack, who do you want to nuke?" Addressing Joe Biden on his plans for Iraq's future, he spoke of the "arrogance" of wanting to direct the government of another country—to which Biden replied that Gravel was living in "happy land." He might have been the first candidate to officially announce—way back in April 2006—but until the debate, Gravel's low-budget campaign had been nearly invisible. Yet to progressives of a certain vintage, myself included, Gravel is hardly an unknown. During the 1960s, he was somewhat notorious for making public the Pentagon Papers, fighting nuclear testing and nuclear power as well as the Vietnam War, and cutting legislative deals that helped stop the draft. Born into a working-class French Canadian family in central Massachusetts and educated in Catholic schools, Gravel moved to Alaska after serving a stint in the Army Counter Intelligence Corps in the 1950s. He worked as a brakeman on the Alaska Railroad and made some money as a property developer on the Kenai Peninsula before winning a seat in the state legislature and then the U.S. Senate. He lost that seat in 1980—the election that would send Republican Frank Murkowski to Washington— and has been largely absent from the political stage for a quarter century. When I met with him last week, he wasted no time before getting down to a few admittedly radical bits of business, chief among them his proposal to eliminate the income tax and the IRS and replacing them with a national sales tax. Though appealing to libertarians—who have made Gravel an unlikely favorite on user-generated news sites like Digg—the proposal is bound to alienate people who might otherwise sympathize with the ex-senator: Sales taxes are considered "regressive," meaning they take proportionately more from those with lower incomes than from the better-off. But Gravel maintains that since the present tax system has become corrupted by "wealthy people gaming the system," his fix would provide a solution; to help the poor, he'd provide a guaranteed minimum income, distributed through Social Security. Along with getting rid of the income tax, Gravel wants to "bring control of government into hands of the people," by which he means setting up a national initiative system allowing citizens to bring proposals to a popular vote. He insists, somewhat optimistically, that the American people would back gay marriage, if given the chance in a national initiative vote. Ditto on the war on drugs: "I think the American people realize the war on drugs is a total failure—waste of time, waste of money. What's wrong with marijuana? You can go out a buy a fifth of gin and do more damage to yourself." (Here is where it get good Z3 Readers) ...........keep reading...... Such proposals might be familiar fringe-candidate fare, but it is on the issue of the Iraq war that Gravel could prove embarrassing to the Democratic mainstream by relentlessly pointing out that Democrats could stop the war—if they choose to exercise their legislative power. "What we need to do is to create a constitutional confrontation between the Congress and the president," he says. "Most people have forgotten the Congress is more powerful than the president." Never mind impeachment, Gravel says: "That's a red herring right now. It would take over a year to screw around with it." Instead, he proposes a law commanding the president to bring the troops home. In 60 days. "The Democrats have the votes in the House to pass it. In the Senate, they will filibuster it. Fine. The Majority Leader starts a cloture vote the first day. Fails to get cloture. Fine. The next day—another vote on cloture. And the next day, and the next day, Saturdays and Sundays, no vacation—vote every single day. The dynamic is that now you give people enough time to weigh in and put pressure on those voting against cloture." (Here, Gravel knows whereof he speaks: As a senator, he filibustered legislation to extend the draft; eventually, a deal was cut to end it in two years.) So, he goes on, "I would guess in 15 to 20 days you would have cloture and the bill would pass and go to the president. He would veto it. Wonderful. It comes back to the House and Senate. Normal thing is to try to override and fail. No guts. No leadership. So in the House and Senate every day at noon, you have a vote to override the veto. The Democrats are the leaders—they control the calendar. It only takes half an hour to have these votes. The media will jump on it, you know, `This guy changed his vote,' etc. But then peace groups can go out into the hustings and get these guys where they live, at home, and I would say that in 30 to 45 days they will override the veto. But it's got to be on a clean, simple issue, none of this "go out and manage the war, deal with the funds" stuff. We never cut off the funds in Vietnam. I was there. I tried it. I failed. What you have to do is go to their immediate survival. By Labor Day this could be all solved, and the troops be home by Christmas." "There's one thing about politicians," Gravel concludes. "They are like every other human being. They are interested in their own personal survival. And that's what's at stake—a dynamic that will ruin their political careers if they don't shape up."
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 1:54 PM PDT
Updated: Wednesday, 23 May 2007 1:58 PM PDT
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Blackwater = Christian Theo-Cons With Guns
Mood:
 loud
Now Playing: USA Government Using Christian Thugs In Mllitary
Topic: FAILURE by the GOVERNMENT
Here is the super cool website that I found this "Blackwater " topic on: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3184/ These Guns for HireBlackwater unites conservative Catholics, evangelicals and neoconservatives to fight a theoconservative holy warBy Chris Barsanti As reported in Jeremy Scahill’s Blackwater (Nation Books), one of the largest providers of private security assets to the U.S. military is more than a business: It’s a well-armed and well-funded cog in the military-industrial complex led by a self-styled Christian warrior with deep ties to the right’s theo-con fringe. In short, the sort of thing to keep any right-minded, small-d democrat awake at night. Although the book itself is essentially a magazine feature bloated up to book length without the additional research needed to justify the heft, the facts at its core are the eye-widening stuff of lurid conspiracy novels.The Christian warrior described above is Erik Prince, son of auto parts multi-millionaire Edgar Prince, who, until his death in 1995, ran bucolic Holland, Mich., as a company town and provided seed money for, among other causes, James Dobson’s Focus on the Family. Although Erik, a stridently orthodox Catholic convert and former SEAL, wouldn’t take over the family business, he followed in Edgar’s footsteps in other ways. In 1997, Erik founded Blackwater USA, a private security firm based on several thousand acres of North Carolina swamp. A number of Blackwater executives are deeply conservative Christians, including corruption-smeared former Pentagon Inspector General Joseph Schmitz, who is also a member of the Sovereign Order of Malta, which Scahill describes as “a Christian militia formed in the eleventh century [to defend] ‘territories that the Crusaders had conquered from the Moslems.’” Blackwater makes hundreds of millions of dollars in no-bid contracts from the Pentagon and fields what might be the world’s largest private military force, with 2,300 armed men working around the globe, and a database with 21,000 more. As many critics have ominously noted, the company already has enough man- and firepower to take over a small Third World country.Given all that, it’s not hard to buy Scahill’s charge that Prince, “who has been in the thick of this right-wing effort to unite conservative Catholics, evangelicals, and neoconservatives in a common theoconservative holy war,” has essentially created a modern-day Praetorian Guard that Prince envisions as the tip of the Christian right’s spear. This also seems to be exactly how the administration wants it.The unholy admixture of extreme capitalism and right-wing political ideology has rarely been more perfectly realized than in the convenient marriage of the Bush era’s global war doctrine and the rise of freelance gunsels like Blackwater. Since the ’90s, Rumsfeld and Cheney had both been pushing the outsourcing agenda with evangelical fervor. (Rumsfeld once called for the military to behave more like “venture capitalists.”) As they saw it, the war on terror/Iraq/whoever would be better fought by flexible units of contractors. After the Pentagon spent some $300 billion on contractors between 1994 and 2002, it was hardy surprising that the Defense Department’s 2006 Quadrennial Review redefined “Total Force” to include contractors, essentially deputizing mercenaries into the U.S. military. One out of 60 U.S. military personnel serving in the Gulf War theater of operations were contractors; in the Iraq War by late 2006 that ratio was by some counts almost one to one. Firms like Blackwater are so central to the administration’s war efforts that Paul Bremer’s last act before leaving Baghdad was issuing Order 17, “immunizing all contractors in Iraq from prosecution.” So if any of the thousands of contractors currently employed in Iraq or Afghanistan were to commit a Haditha-like rampage (Blackwater employs many ex-Chilean commandos from the Pinochet era), it wouldn’t be clear what, if any, justice they could possibly face. To make matters more muddled, it’s not even clear who all these contractors are even working for, even though almost 650 contractors had been killed in Iraq by September 2006. After the infamous incident on March 31, 2004—when four Blackwater employees were ambushed in Fallujah, their bodies mutilated and set on fire—nobody could ever conclusively say what the men were even doing there, who they were working for and under whose command. The truth was buried in a mire of bureaucratic and subcontracting smokescreens. Representing Blackwater against a lawsuit from the dead men’s families (one of whom memorably referred to the company as a “whore of war”) was none other than Kenneth Starr. Indeed, Scahill has a fantastic subject here in Blackwater. But having such a wealth of easy targets to lob stones at seems to keep him from digging deeper or casting a wider net in the manner of a Steve Coll or Jon Lee Anderson. The thinness of Scahill’s approach is most apparent in his habit of excessively repeating key facts, sometimes replicating entire sentences verbatim. That said, Blackwater raises a host of deeply disturbing questions about where America’s military is being led by this new breed of free-market mercenaries—merchants of death who see war as nothing more than a growth market. 
THE BOOK Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
By Jeremy Scahill
Nation Books · $26.95
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 2:05 PM PDT
Updated: Wednesday, 23 May 2007 12:47 AM PDT
Monday, 21 May 2007
Luring to a Peace Talk... USA plans on an attack to kill Al-Sadr
Mood:
 don't ask
Now Playing: Secret Plot To Kill - US killing machine in the spotlight again!
Topic: WAR
Zebra 3 Readers .... I just got back from camping this weekend and read this terrible article. How many of you appreciate this type of "help" that we are over there in Iraq doing? This is not "help" this is atrocities, this is absurd, and this is ethically wrong. It is rather disgusting. I am ashamed to know that "my country" behaves like this and is behind secret plots of killing people in the Middle East. Sorry to have to relay this to you all. It is an article I found on the "Christian Monitor" website. The link is below. ~peace joe anybody Exclusive: Secret US plot to kill Al-SadrBy Patrick Cockburn In Baghdad Published: 21 May 2007 http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2565123.ece The US Army tried to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr, the widely revered Shia cleric, after luring him to peace negotiations at a house in the holy city of Najaf, which it then attacked, according to a senior Iraqi government official. The revelation of this extraordinary plot, which would probably have provoked an uprising by outraged Shia if it had succeeded, has left a legacy of bitter distrust in the mind of Mr Sadr for which the US and its allies in Iraq may still be paying. "I believe that particular incident made Muqtada lose any confidence or trust in the [US-led] coalition and made him really wild," the Iraqi National Security Adviser Dr Mowaffaq Rubai'e told The Independent in an interview. It is not known who gave the orders for the attempt on Mr Sadr but it is one of a series of ill-considered and politically explosive US actions in Iraq since the invasion. In January this year a US helicopter assault team tried to kidnap two senior Iranian security officials on an official visit to the Iraqi President. Earlier examples of highly provocative actions carried out by the US withlittle thought for the consequences include the dissolution of the Iraqi army and the Baath party. The attempted assassination or abduction took place two-and-a-half years ago in August 2004 when Mr Sadr and his Mehdi Army militiamen were besieged by US Marines in Najaf, south of Baghdad. Dr Rubai'e believes that his mediation efforts - about which he had given the US embassy, the American military command and the Iraqi government in Baghdad full details - were used as an elaborate set-up to entice the Shia leader to a place where he could be trapped. Mr Sadr emerged as the leader of the Sadrist movement in Baghdad at the time of the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. It had been founded by his father, also a cleric, who had confronted Saddam's regime in the 1990s and had been murdered by his agents in 1999. Its blend of nationalism, religion and populism proved highly attractive to Iraqi Shia, particularly to the very poor. Although Mr Sadr escaped with his life at the last moment, the incident helps explain why he disappeared from view in Iraq when President George Bush stepped up confrontation with him and his Mehdi Army militia in January. Dr Rubai'e said: "I know him very well and I think his suspicion and distrust of the coalition and any foreigner is really deep-rooted," and dates from what happened in Najaf. He notes that after it had happened Mr Sadr occupied the shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf as a place of refuge. Dr Rubai'e had gone to Najaf in August 2004 to try to mediate an end to the fighting. He met Mr Sadr who agreed to a set of conditions to end the crisis. "He actually signed the agreement with his own handwriting," said Dr Rubai'e. "He wanted the inner Najaf, the old city, around the shrine to be treated like the Vatican." Having returned to Baghdad to show the draft document to Iyad Allawi, who was prime minister at the time, Dr Rubai'e went back to Najaf to make a final agreement with Mr Sadr. It was agreed that the last meeting would take place in the house in Najaf of Muqtada's father Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr who had been murdered by Saddam's gunmen with two of his sons five years before. Dr Rubai'e and other mediators started for the house. As they did so they saw the US Marines open up an intense bombardment of the house and US Special Forces also heading for it. But the attack was a few minutes premature. Mr Sadr was not yet in the house and managed to escape. Although Dr Rubai'e, as Iraqi National Security Adviser since 2004 and earlier a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, is closely associated with the American authorities in Baghdad, he has no doubt about what happened. He sees the negotiations as part of a charade to lure Mr Sadr, who is normally very careful about his own security, to a house where he could be eliminated. "When I came back to Baghdad I was really, really infuriated, I can tell you," Dr Rubai'e said. "I went berserk with both [the US commander General George] Casey and the ambassador [John Negroponte]." They denied that knew of a trap and said they would look into what happened but he never received any explanation from them. The US always felt deeply threatened by Mr Sadr because, unlike the other Shia parties, he opposed the occupation and demanded that it end. There were two attempts to crush his movement in 2004, neither of which was successful. The first, at the end of March, began with the closure of his newspaper and the arrest of one of his close advisers. A warrant for Mr Sadr's own arrest was issued. A US general said his only alternatives were to be killed or captured. The US authorities appeared to have little understanding of the reverence with which the Sadr family was regarded by many Iraqi Shia. The crackdown provoked a reaction for which the US was ill-prepared. The Mehdi Army, though poorly armed and untrained, took over part of Baghdad and many Shia cities and towns in southern Iraq. The US had to rush troops to embattled outposts. A second crisis began in Najaf in August and this time the US and the recently appointed government of Iyad Allawi appear to have decided to smash Mr Sadr and his movement for ever. But they dared not assault the shrine of Imam Ali, one of the holiest Shia shrines. Other Shia parties suspected that once Mr Sadr was dealt with they would be marginalised. The crisis was finally defused when Grand Ayatollah Ali al- Sistani, after undergoing medical treatment in London, returned to Najaf and negotiated an agreement with Mr Sadr under which he withdrew but did not disarm his forces. The attempt to kill or imprison Mr Sadr was first revealed by Dr Rubai'e to Ali Allawi, the former Iraqi finance minister, who gives an account of what happened in his recent book The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the war, Losing the peace. Dr Rubai'e said this weekend in Baghdad that he stands by his account given there. He does not think the Americans were planning to kill him along with Mr Sadr because he had a senior American officer with him almost all the time. Muqtada al-Sadr is one of the most extraordinary figures to emerge during the war in Iraq,a pivotal figure leading a broad-based political movement with a powerful military wing. The appeal of the 33-year-old Shia cleric is both religious and nationalist. He is regarded with devotion by millions. He is also a survivor and an astute politician who has often out-manoeuvred his opponents. The US and Britain have repeatedly underestimated the strength of his support. The al-Sadrs are one of the great Shia religious families. His relative, Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, was the founder of a politically active Shia movement and was executed by Saddam Hussein in 1980. Muqtada's father Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr in effect founded the Sadrist movement in the 1990s. Finding he could not control him, Saddam Hussein had him murdered with two of his sons in Najaf in 1999, provoking widespread rioting. To the surprise of all, the Sadrist movement re-emerged with Muqtada at its head during the fall of the old regime. In April 2003 it took over large parts of Shia Iraq. Its base was the vast Shia slum, renamed Sadr City, that contains a third of the population of Baghdad. The US and its Iraqi allies regarded Muqtada as a highly threatening figure. Paul Bremer, the ill-fated US viceroy in Iraq after the invasion, detested and unwisely under-rated the Sadrists. When he moved against them in April 2004 he was astonished to see them take over much of southern Shia Iraq in a few days. Muqtada took refuge in Najaf. There was a heavy fighting in August 2004 when the US made an all-out effort to eliminate Muqtada and his movement. Once again he survived, thanks to a compromise arranged by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. His movement became less confrontational. It took part in the elections in 2005, winning 32 seats out of 275. The Mehdi Army was viewed by the Sunni as an organisation of sectarian death squads. The US began increasingly to confront the Sadrists. But they were an essential support of the Iraqi government, making it difficult for the US to move against them. When the reinforced US forces in Baghdad did threaten the Mehdi Army, Muqtada simply sent his militiamen home, and disappeared from view.
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 3:45 PM PDT
Updated: Monday, 21 May 2007 3:53 PM PDT
Thursday, 17 May 2007
The Power of a Hug
Mood:
celebratory
Now Playing: Positive Power - Peace Love n Hug
Topic: SMILE SMILE SMILE
Here we go Z3 Readers, ............. its a good story, for a change so enjoy! 
The Power of a Hug An Indian Woman Draws Hundreds of Thousands of Devotees -- All for Her Hugs By VIVIAN HERNANDEZ ORTIZ and SARAH HODD http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3153307&page=1 May 9, 2007 — In the south of India lives a woman who has dedicated her life to helping others through the simplest of gestures -- an embrace. She is said to have blessed and consoled more than 26 million people throughout the world. In Malayalam, Amma's native language, the name Amma means "mother" -- an apt name for the woman revered as a holy being. Amma, known to many as the hugging saint, traveled to Chennai, the fifth most populous city in India earlier this year. Chennai is blanketed with her image; her face is on street buses and there are larger-than-life posters of her around the city. Amma's Winter Tour of Southern India Having many devoted followers, Amma often addresses massive crowds -- as many as 200,000 packed into an outdoor space as big as a football field during her stop in Chennai. She has gained near superstar status among her followers around the world, all through her simple act of hugging. After speaking to the overflowing crowd, followers rushed to the stage and patiently waited hours for their turn at darshan -- the Sanskrit term which means "vision" and is used to describe the meeting with a holy person. Through 16 straight hours, Amma hugged each and every person while offering advice and guidance to many troubled hearts. She is not selling salvation or offering physical healing or a chance at prosperity. Instead, Amma seems to have tapped into a deep and essential human need -- the need for affection and the human touch. Betsy Barnett, an American from New York, has been a devotee for the past 10 years. She described Amma as someone with infinite compassion and motherly love, who makes a relentless effort to uplift and to relieve suffering. "Slowly, slowly I'm learning how to love," Barnett said. "To me that means to love without expectations, without attachment, but being able to really&feel purely loving toward others. And it's hard." From Humble Beginnings to Devoted Followers Amma is the daughter of a poor fisherman and a member of one of the lowest castes in India. She attended school until the fourth grade, but had to quit to help out her family. As a young girl Amma spent hours in meditation, singing chants to her God. She began with small acts of charity at the age of 7 years old, inspired by the desire to ease people's suffering. She washed the clothes of her elderly neighbors, bathed them and even brought them food and clothing from her own home. "I used to visit villages when I was young," Amma said. "In some of the homes there would be a lot of food available and everyone was happy. In yet another house, the mother and children would be huddled together and crying. When I saw that, I brought things from my house and gave it to them." Amma has inspired and started many humanitarian services, from charities and orphanages, and founded an 800-bed hospital, schools of higher education and soup kitchens at home and abroad. Her devotion to her cause is reflected in her followers. She travels with hundreds of unpaid volunteers who have gladly uprooted their lives to serve her. Are Hugs the Answer to the World's Problems? Amma's popularity, while impressive, is not a new phenomenon. There have been a number of Indian spiritual leaders who have become popular in the West. The Maharishi were made popular by the Beatles in the 1960s, Sai Baba has more than 30 million followers worldwide and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was well-known for his popularity in the United States before his death. For Amma, her life as a spiritual leader has also brought material benefits. Her headquarters in Kerala are indeed grand -- but according to her organization, the money comes from the sale of souvenirs, her personal effects and contributions. While it is hard to know exactly how much money Amma has, she certainly spends a lot on her charities. She has been honored at the United Nations for her humanitarian service, and her charitable contributions have made international news. In February, she handed over the keys to 1,100 new homes in Nagapattanam for survivors of the 2005 tsunami. Still her simple message is to love and serve one another, and most of her time is still spent hugging those in need. "Love is not ordinary," Amma said. "Love is what sustains life. Whatever we do it is only to get love. There are two types of poverty in this world. The first one is, you know, financial. The second is poverty due to lack of love, the second one is more important. If we have compassion, we will automatically help."
Posted by Joe Anybody
at 9:11 PM PDT
Updated: Thursday, 17 May 2007 9:17 PM PDT
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