The Ballad of Chemical Ali

The US is cheering on the upcoming execution of Chemical Ali, for gassing the Norther Iraqi Kurds, with the gas the Pentagon had supplied him with. (this was the second excuse given for invading Iraq, when no WMDs were found) For months now, the Turks have been killing Northern Iraqi Kurds on a daily basis, with US supplied weaponry and our blessing. (these are the people we came to liberate) This week, knowing that the Chemical Ali's execution story was about to break and could be credited as a 'Merican victory, Secretary of Defense Gates has publicly denounced the Turkish bombing of Kurds in Iraq and ordered them to cease bombing. How can we take credit as liberators, if our allies are killing the peoples we came to liberate? The Northern Kurdish PKK, which were good when Saddam was gassing them are now labeled as terrorist by US, because they are enemies of the Turks and we move our armament through Turkey into Iraq. The Southern Iraqi Kurdish PKK are our friends and not terrorist, because they are enemies of the Iranians, like Saddam was when we supplied him with the gas that he used on the Northern Kurds. Are you still with me?
The Bush administration is so crooked, they have to screw their socks on every morning.
The moral to the story: If the US offers you arms, to help combat one of their enemies, don't take 'em. One day you are chemical ally and the next you're "Chemical Ali." Dead!
NED


BBC News
'Chemical Ali' execution approved in IraqTelegraph.co.UK - 8 hours agoIn the late 1980s, he was commander of Iraqi forces in northern Iraq. At the end of the Iraq-Iraq war in 1988, he ordered the use of chemical weapons against the Kurdish village of Halabja, killing 5000 residents.Iraq's leaders approve execution of Chemical Ali Times OnlineGreen light for Chemical Ali's hanging Melbourne Herald SunThe Associated Press - CBC News - BBC News - Aljazeera.netAll 545 news articles »

Flip Flops - Buy One Get One Free

This morning I was listening to a representative of evangelicals on PBS. He was saying that the religious wrong has some reservations and differences with John McCain. The commentator ask what it would take to reconcile those differences and the fellow replied that it depended on what McCain says between now and the election.
I can tell you what John McCain is going to do, what he always does, talk out of both sides of his mouth. McCain condemned the radical divisiveness of Jerry Falwell and then only weeks later, after making his bid for the presidency, appeared with Falwell and spoke at Liberty University's Commencement.
Now Johnny has completely reversed himself on waterboarding and torture. The press loves to refer to McCain as a maverick, because of his rhetorical differences with the republicans, but he has never once voted those differences. How maverick is that? He also is referred to as a man of honor because of his military service, but if a war hero stands up for right, regardless of pressure & politic and then votes for wrong, is he that heroic? I urge you to take a look a these links below and judge if this fellow is the kind of US presidential candidate we should even consider. I realize that the integrity bar for the presidency is at a historical low and anybody would be an improvement.
NED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioy90nF2anI

McCain is wrong about waterboarding Contra Costa Times, CA - Feb 26, 2008John McCain, a former prisoner of war and earlier steadfast opponent of torture, to turn away from his own principles in support of waterboarding and ...
Is John McCain a liar?Aljazeera.com, UK - 5 hours ago Is McCain a phony who’s long been protected by his gilded reputation or does he suffer from severe memory loss? By Robert Parry In journalism, ...
Radar Online
McCain: Waterboarding's New KahunaRadar Online, NY - Feb 14, 2008Dudes, waterboarding fever: catch it. Former POW and current GOP frontrunner John McCain certainly has. The senator, who once rather poetically referred to ...

One Nation Under Who?

The grim reality for those that would have US a faith based nation is that One Nation Under God or In God We Trust, can mean anything that any two peckerwoods gathered in The Great Whatever's name, say it does. WWJD? Who the hell knows, with new denomination of non affiliates springing up every day. Just write yourself a dogma or theology that coincides with your political bent and demand the loyalty of your flock of sheople. In fact, require that they pledge their allegiance, money and votes, under Gaud. Theres a new Jesus being born every minute; not enough hours in the day to crucify and resurrect them all.
Let's opt out of this religious madness and embrace the constitutional separation of church and state that our founding fathers authored.
NED

Americans Change Faiths at Rising Rate, Report Finds
New York Times - 10 hours agoBy NEELA BANERJEE WASHINGTON - More than a quarter of adult Americans have left the faith of their childhood to join another religion or no religion, according to a new survey of religious affiliation by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.Protestants Verging on Becoming Minorities U.S. News & World ReportStudy reveals changing landscape of religion Salt Lake TribuneLos Angeles Times - Reuters - Boston Globe - Washington TimesAll 242 news articles »

Let's Re-think

Whose phone can Bush wiretap without a warrant?
Every reporter and citizen traveling abroad and reporting on our illegitimate war and US affairs around the world. (News of lack of yellow cake or WMDs and such or pictures of Abu Ghraib)
Ever congressman or senator traveling abroad for any reason, which would include all of them at some time. Every member of the armed services, serving abroad and calling home. Every foreign phone call of every Corporation doing any business abroad. (That's all of them) The CEO of Halliburton that lives in Dubai. Ha! All communication between the US Holy Roman Church and their home office. Eastern Orthodoxers too. Every e-mail that is forwarded in or out of the US by anyone.
And if that isn't enough, Bush, Cheney and Mitch McConnel want to make every phone company exempt from civil suits for any damage that may result from the leaking of information gathered through warrantless wiretaps.
Anyone who can honestly say that they believe this is necessary or wise to protect US against terror, would have loved Germany in '31. Do you really want to give this unrestricted kind of power to our executive branch?
NED

Brave New World

For several weeks now, I have been ranting and raving about the Bush Administrations pervasive use and protection of unlimited, warrantless domestic wiretapping. My republican friends have all been pretending that they can't see any problem with this policy and that adherence to the FISA act would place our country in grave danger, severely impeding our moral crusade against terror. It is inconcevable to me that the party of smaller less intrusive government is willing to turn a blind eye to this to this affront to liberty, for power and politic. The conservative court has refused a hearing on domestic spying and the Attorney General is looking the other way.
Suddenly it occurred to me that the shoe is about to be on the left foot. I fully anticipate, that quite a few republicans are going to be fired in November; Senators, Congressmen, President, Attorney General, who knows? Imagine the un-restricted wiretapping of republicans by democrats, with a democratic Attorney General and an old conservative stacked Supreme Court, that has already ruled, "No Problemo." The US emerges from a Nineteen Eighty Four scenario to Huxley's Brave New World.
Kinda gives you reason for pause, don't it, neocon?
Blessings,
NED

John The Piper's Son

John McCain has pledged that if elected, he will veto any piece of pork barrel legislation that comes across his desk.

John John the
Piper's' son.
Stole a pig and now
He's gonna run.

~NED~

Grab a beer and watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeJb90ZmyRQ

The Titanic Stays the Course

This idea of an economic stimulus package to bail out our ailing economy has all of the merit of "Mission Accomplished." Its only purpose is one brief flash of light in the final, darkest last days of the Bush administration. The sound economy which Georgie loves to brag about is only an illusion, as the entire Bush economy has been one big stimulus package. Under the Bush administration the US has borrowed 500,Bill,ill,ion dollars to fund the Iraq war. Most of this money is spent in the US with contractors and has the effect of heating up our economy and causing inflation. Then we ship their entire product over to Iraq and blow it up, creating a never ending demand for more defense spending. In adition to this, Bush has given US tax cuts and rebates with money we have borrowed from the Chinese. These bucks trickle down to the middle class citizen, he rushes over to Walmart and buys more goods from the Chinese, so they can loan US more money. Bush's numbers look pretty good, except for the fact that our national debt has grown to 9.3, Trill,ill,ill,ion dollars, wages have declned, cost of living is up, as well as unemployment, inspite of all this stimulus. Now Little George has proposed a stimulus to cure his stimulus and the congress has signed another 151, bill,ill,ion dollar Chinese note. Why? Because, George wants to go out on a high note and no congressman will vote against giving money to the people in an election year, even if it is borrowed from China. Brilliant! Well guess what, your little stimulus pittance is going to cost your children 400,bill,ill,ion dollars before it is repaid. You will be spending your children's inheritance. If you are planning on voting for another republican conservative in the next election to bail US out, you had better look at the facts.
The chart above, based on historical figures from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, shows the total deficit or surplus for each fiscal year from 1990 through 2006. Keep in mind that fiscal years begin Oct. 1, so the first year that can be counted as a Clinton year is fiscal 1994. The appropriations bills for fiscal years 1990 through 1993 were signed by Bill Clinton's predecessor, George H.W. Bush. Fiscal 2002 is the first for which President George W. Bush signed the appropriations bills, and the first to show the effect of his tax cuts.
But Ned, you ask,"What about Reganomics?" Lookie lookie.









Remember the old republican saw, that defecit spending isn't a problem as long as its percentage of GDP is not too high? Do they intend to return to post World War II levels?
~NED~