Baseball fans would approve of impeachment!!!

It doesn’t matter what your issue of importance is; to humanity or the environment it is not going anywhere under the neoconservative regime.

Impeachment is a necessary exercise for our democratic republic at this time. Whether the Republicans in the Senate want to support our nation or not should bare no consequence on the House doing the right thing. It is imperative for our representatives in the People’s House to support the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. To do nothing would be, by Congressional silence, an affirmation of the presidents’ position on all the wrong doing he and his administration have conspired against the laws and values of our nation. The president and the Republican congresses he possessed will go down in history as the worst ever. The Democrats will follow suit if by their inaction they go down as affirming, for future presidents, administrative branch excesses.

There is a long list of administration crimes against the people of the United States. If this president and his vice president have not committed crimes of high enough level to warrant impeachment is it possible for impeachment to ever be used except for an occasion of sexual misconduct?

Bush led America into believing that we were under an imminent threat of attack from Iraq. That mushroom clouds would appear on our shores if we did not move quick enough. Of course this was all lies. Because of these lies they rushed the troops into battle without the proper equipment or personnel. The ball got rolling, on the horror which is modern Iraq, the moment the first bombs of ‘shock and awe’ were dropped. It was a failure from the beginning. This was a huge military blunder that needlessly cause our troops to spill their blood on Mesopotamian sand. Their PNAC (http://newamericancentury.org/index.html) desire for empire produced thousands dead, thousands more injured, billions stolen, a broken and destabilized Iraq and created themselves into the best recruiting tool the fundamentalists Islamic extremists have ever had.

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All Souls' Day - Teresa Healy

http://www.teresahealy.ca/allsoulsday/fallujah_128.htm

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Office of Special Plans Report

All the millions who were against this war knew these events would happen and they were ignored and called un-American traitors. They continue to be right while the administration and their neoconservative cohorts continue to be disastrously wrong.

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Iraq is a drain on our resources, both military and financial. That is what Al Qaeda finds joy in. The Bushies played directly into their hands when the war on terror was stolen for Neocon goals in Iraq. As a consequence Al Qaeda has grown in strength, membership, and territory. This is what has left our national interests vulnerable both at home and abroad.

The whole administration is guilty of treasonous type activity and likely war crimes for invading a country on false pretenses, intentionally using illegal and inappropriate weapons around civilian populations and misrepresenting our reasons for being there to the American public and the world.

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Lives in the Balance From Jackson Browne


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The Bushies are now doing the same thing with Iran. This administration has lost all credibility on foreign policy especially when they are gearing up for war. They manufactured evidence to mislead Congress and the American people into a war with Iraq. They appear, macho tough talk included, to be doing the exact same thing with Iran.

The ‘declare success then cut and run’ tactic employed by the Bush administration in Afghanistan so we could engage in their dirty little occupation in Iraq has left this area of the globe much more unstable. And we're left coddling another human rights violating dictator for short term gain hoping he will do for us what we should have done ourselves. Every time we cuddle up to a dictator it comes back to bite us in the rear.

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Pervez Musharraf is just the latest example of ‘our dictator in the pocket’, at least until it all falls apart. Human Rights in Pakistan are horrendous, they have weapons of ‘mass destruction’, those who would attack us are educated, harbored and trained within their borders, and bin Laden is protected there.So we are stuck with a dictator with the Bomb, pointed at India, facing a Taliban-like insurgency that will have the Bomb, pointed at whomever, if they launch a successful coup.

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Other events have highlighted the necessity for impeachment of both Bush and Cheney.

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The unconstitutional stance on Habeas Corpus; from the mouth of an infamous former Attorney General, "…the Constitution doesn't say that every individual in the United States or every citizen has or is assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn't say that. It simply says that the right of habeas corpus shall not be suspended."

Alberto Gonzales

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Posse comitatus has been damaged considerably by the 109th Congress by sneaking in a provision for the president to be able to use the military as a police force. Military troops may now be used as a domestic police force for terrorist attacks, natural disasters, epidemics or 'any other condition'.

Bush's Posse Roundup
By James Bovard, December 10, 2004
http://www.alternet.org/rights/20712/?page=entire

Bush eyes bigger military role in disasters
White House says debate raises 'a lot of issues to address'
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/26/bush.military/

HUGE! Bush Guts Posse Comitatus, Grabs National Guard!
by Major Danby Wed Oct 18, 2006
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/18/211033/23

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Besides the hurt to the nation and the Wilson’s, people paid with their lives from having an undercover CIA operation exposed. This was surely treason committed in an effort to stifle Bush administration critics. It’s about the lies that led to a bogus war in Iraq leading to thousands of deaths and injuries both theirs and ours.

Valerie Plame Wilson--Patriot

Former Intelligence Officials Testify About Damage Caused by Outing of Covert CIA Agent

http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=898

The whole story of the purging of US attorneys much of which still has to come to light.

Attorney Scandal Timeline
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/usa-timeline.php

Fired U.S. Attorneys

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2007/03/06/GR2007030600062.html
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war profiteering

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A NATION AT WAR: RECONSTRUCTION;
Details Given On Contract Halliburton Was Awarded
By ELIZABETH BECKER
Published: April 11, 2003
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B04EED9173BF932A25757C0A9659C8B63

Rep. Henry A. Waxman Ranking Minority Member Committee on Government Reform U.S. House of Representatives

December 9, 2004
Fact Sheet Halliburton's Iraq Contracts Now Worth over $10 Billion
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121004A.shtml

The 10 Most Brazen War Profiteers
By Charlie Cray Sept 5, 2006
Halliburton has become synonymous with war profiteering, but there are lots of other greedy fingers in the pie. We name names on 10 of the worst.
more at...
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/41083/

Pentagon Inspector General Refuses To Probe KBR Rape Case»

Water Makes US Troops in Iraq Sick

The Associated Press Sunday 09 March 2008
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031008C.shtml

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illegal spying on Americans

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NSA Spying on Americans Is Illegal
http://www.aclu.org/privacy/spying/23279res20051229.html

from Crooks and Liars...
Archive for the 'NSA Wiretapping' Category
http://www.crooksandliars.com/category/scandals/nsa-wiretapping/

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Torture is Unacceptable!!!

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Torture and the nation's soul

http://www.paxchristiusa.org/news_events_more.asp?id=1085

Abu Ghraib Torture (very upsetting)

When we became a nation that tortures we became less. It's a dark sinister turn that must be halted and made right. Great shame has been brought on our nation because of this hideous practice. Bush likes to make bellicose speeches about evil all over the world. Well torture is evil here and everywhere it's practiced and it must never be used for information or punishment or intimidation or for any of the other screwy reasons governments or 'freedom fighters' deploy it. Torture is a cowardly act of weakness. We need to draw away from this behavior; we need to educate ourselves to the damage caused by mistreatment of prisoners. Far more good can be gained for America by listening to those who value civility and human rights than by ignoring them. I fear we do so at our own peril.

Rendition: Tales of torture

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4502986.stm

The whole thing is extremely un-American. Confessions as the result of torture and ill-treatment make them completely invalid. We are also expected to take the word of only military accusers. No lawyers, press or human rights personnel are present. This is highly unconstitutional immoral and again it must be stressed a completely un-American exercise in shame with much more in likeness to the old Soviet Union, China, or any other authoritarian government.

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Close Guantanamo and give those there the kind of justice of which our nation was once famous. This is a war crime and all those involved should be prosecuted all the way up to the head torturer in chief, George W. Bush, a traitor to ‘mom apple pie and the American way’.

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Torture, Ill-Treatment, and US Foreign Policy

http://www.amnestyusa.org/askamnesty/live/display.php?topic=38

Torture is and always has been evil. Information gained is unreliable and dangerous to the well-being of our troops. We hanged people in Nuremberg for the practices we carry out today. Once we believe that torture is okay, that we're still pure and clean and good for having accepted it, we open ourselves up to many evil embraced horrors of our own making. We already believe in pre-emptive war and collateral damage without a conscience thought, for even a moment of the results of our actions. You people who have welcomed this filthy practice of torture have disgraced our flag, our ancestors' sacrifices and the dust of their bones.

Amnesty International USA: Outlawed trailer

The evil of torture touches the whole nation.

Hiding those pesky little war crimes

Our president is very good at invoking God in connection with his wars and policies. Many on the religious right truly believe he has the ear of God and that God speaks to him and guides him. If this is true then God is a bumbling liar.

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I don’t believe that He is.

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22 "When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Deuteronomy 18:22

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President Bush is a uninformed figurehead doing the bidding of others while spreading the lies they struggle to teach him to enunciate. He's a terribly horrible president and if Bush is a prophet; he's a false one.

You sir are a bald face liar

Congressman Wexler is a Patriot. He stood on the floor of the House and spoke in support of Rep. Kucinich,s H. RES. 333 for the Impeachment of Vice President Cheney.

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For video of the speech and other resources along with the opportunity to participate go to…

http://www.wexlerwantshearings.com/

Text of letters to House members and Chairman Colleagues

Congressman Wexler urges support for Cheney Impeachment Hearings

http://www.wexlerforcongress.com/news.asp?ItemID=230

police state

path to dictatorship

Sadly so many good people who still tear up over 'God Bless America' have filled their lives with so many voluntary and involuntary distractions that they've allowed themselves to become easy prey for right-wing propagandists. That's why so many of us keep begging and screaming...

Wake Up!!!

All these unconstitutional acts which amount to an attack on our cherished system of government are being done in the name of the Republican Party especially among the conservative wing. Republicans need to develop the courage to see the truth because these monsters are dragging the whole nation into disgrace.

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Neil Young: Let's Impeach The President

Obama - Good for America!!!

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

For me the most important problems, disasters would probably be a better word, facing our nation is;
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The occupation of Iraq along with all the serious infrastructure, health and refugee (both external and internal) problems inflicting the people of the country we shocked and awed;
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A return to Constitutional order in the USA;
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And our status in the world which affects us both diplomatically and economically.
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I see Obama as dealing with all of the above much better than Hillary while being better to equal to the tasks involving domestic issues like shared economic prosperity for all of America.
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Obama will be able to motivate, for the good of all people, the halls and aisles of Congress far better.
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The Cost of War

a series of great detailed speeches...



http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

from Raw Story with text and video...
Obama: US less safe because of Iraq war
RAW STORY
Published: Wednesday March 19, 2008
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_US_less_safe_because_of_0319.html

Dem candidate addresses race, history of slavery in speech

text and video...
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_Wright_comments_were_profoundly_distorted_0318.html
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I always figured I would be a Hillary person. I always felt she was much more likely to actually be a liberal in comparison to her husband and separate herself from his policies. (NAFTA, most favored trade status for China, Iraq sanctions which were murderous to the children, etc...)

I had always hoped she would approach her misguided vote in Iraq in some manner similar to Senator Edwards. I was greatly disappointed when she embraced the terrorism vote on Iran while once again failing to realize it would be used in the march to war by the Bushies and their Neocons.

She boldly hid behind group ignorance on the WMD issue in Iraq without many in opposition that I’ve heard of, raising the point that that was no valid excuse for invasion. It was well known from the times of desert storm of the multiple problems that would emerge from an invasion of Iraq, as it was also well known that Al Qeada was not involved in Iraq. It was also evident that we would be turning our backs on, running away from, the people of Afghanistan, our very public promises to them, our duty to justice for the people who died on that dreadful day, the conservatives so love to repeat, to bring to justice those who really did attack us.

Obama's 2002 Speech Against the War, Delivered by Supporters


2002 Barack Obama Interview: Against Iraq


from the foresight of John McCain...

"And I believe that the success will be fairly easy."
9/24/02

"I believe that we can win an overwhelming victory in a very short period of time."
9/29/02

"We're not going get into house-to-house fighting in Baghdad."
9/29/02

"Proponents of containment claim that Iraq is in a "box." But it is a box with no lid, no bottom, and whose sides are falling out. Within this box are definitive footprints of germ, chemical and nuclear programs."
2/13/03

"There's no doubt in my mind that we will prevail and there's no doubt in my mind, once these people are gone, that we will be welcomed as liberators."
3/24/03

"It's clear that the end is very much in sight...It won't be long. It, it'll be a fairly short period of time."
4/9/03

John McCain vs. John McCain

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http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

GOP - Wrong on Poverty & Economy

1 Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and who write oppressive decrees,
2 Depriving the needy of judgment and robbing my people's poor of their rights, Making widows their plunder, and orphans their prey!
3 What will you do on the day of punishment, when ruin comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth
Isaiah Chapter 10




My wife and I are both disabled with MS so were on a fixed income; we have three boys at home and sometimes the money just doesn’t stretch very far. The increases in food and fuel prices are taking a big toll on those with fixed incomes. We’re hanging in there struggling to hold our heads above water. We’ve both learned to keep on treading (always tired).

Spokane has a pretty good food bank system thanks to the generosity of the local population and it is helping to keep people alive. There are children and immigrants and poor of every stripe along with large numbers of elderly and many disabled people. There were four people with wheelchairs and several with walkers on one visit there. I see little excuse in our society for any of those groups to be here. None of these people would be able to make it without the food bank.

But it’s not like this everywhere. Just across the state line in Idaho the food bank system is failing as I suspect it does in areas where the overall poverty rate is very high. The more people who must seek emergency help from the program the more stressed it becomes and the less likely it will be able to meet the minimum needs of the populace. We've been hearing that the Spokane food banks are under a great deal of stress. We'll find out in the morning since we are in a position of needing the help again.

The safety net is full of holes and requires better stewardship from our nation’s leaders. I suppose the best net menders have always been Democrats. The country needs quite a few more in the Senate and executive branch (Barack Obama) to begin that mending job. Places like this little food bank of ours is a nice emergency net below the moth eaten safety net. But they in no way are able to meet the many needs of those on the bottom.

To be honest I wouldn’t mind if places that were run this well received some federal funding. Conservatives believe that families and churches should be the sole suppliers of aid to those in need and never the government. They just want to pretend to help people on the cheap and funnel tax dollars to their religious base.

Family ducked out long ago. We have a relatively well off parish but it would be an undo hardship on it just to take care of our disabled family. Our infusions for MS alone are about $4000 a month. It would be quite a bit once you begin to take into account the rest of our medical care along with food and housing for our family. We’re just one family brought low by illness. We had disability insurance with an HMO from a Florida based company, but they made a determination that MS was not debilitating and it gets better. I wonder which party made it easier for HMO’s to screw their policy holders. (Republican) The GOP response seems to indicate that if charity cannot fill the bill then these people should just go ahead and starve and decrease the surplus population.




Progressives from the time of Teddy Roosevelt have always known we work best when we pitch in as a nation to solve these problems together. That way the places in our nation of large areas of poverty are able to be helped. The radical conservative scheme would only mean a lot sicker under nourished people many of whom will end up on the street.

I suppose the conservatives would just end up passing laws to outlaw the poor homeless then put them in a jail-type setting so they are no longer visible. If they are not visible they will be able to claim success. Remember the truth doesn’t matter to this current bunch of conservatives. All that matters is creating a perception of success to placate their supporters and those under their thumb.

What FDR Did



People do have, however they vision it, a responsibility for themselves, family, community, country and God, as they see God, but for a variety of reasons both legitimate and illegitimate within ones control and outside of it, these responsibilities may become compromised. The conservative Republican mantra of ‘individual responsibility’ is designed to absolve oneself of any responsibility except for those so conveniently cherry-picked while effortlessly lowering the dignity and humanity of those in need.

Republican individual responsibility means everyone else’s responsibility but mine. It’s an ideological principal embraced by modern conservatives that is designed to protect the conscience of the individual or group from social or religious liability. It’s used to absolve one from long held Judeo-Christian principles such as ‘by the grace of God go I’ and ‘to those who have been given much, much is expected’. It implies that the gifts from God which we all possess in one form or another have been distributed in equal measure with similar qualities. It’s been used as an excuse from responsibility for everything from the homeless addict to the poor and those with mental and physical illnesses, to such extremes as victims of natural disaster.

It is your responsibility



We can do much better as a society in taking care of the most vulnerable among us. It’s a sinful crime the way the conservative Republican right would have the poor, sick and disabled of this nation treated. They are in dire straights and its getting worse. Katrina highlighted their hypocrisy for the entire world to see. It’s shameful.

Hurricane Katrina



The religious right seems to be blind to many parts of the Gospel such as this one...

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne,
32 and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me,
36 naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'
37 Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
39 When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?'
40 And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41 Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
43 a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'
44 Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?'
45 He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.'
46 And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Matthew: Chapter 25

Barack Obama speaks: New Orleans, Katrina, poverty

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short-sighted US foreign policy

SOA-American Foreign Policy

We commit, allow and turn our backs away from many atrocities because we want to better our position in the third world. Our government puts the best spin on these episodes whenever they see the light of day and claim it’s all in an effort to fight radical Islam. But are we truly any better when we endorse the same human rights abuses as our foes? Does it matter what side of the fence the bullet came from when you lie dying?

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Friendly Dictators

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/dictators.html

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Personally, I suspect the fight against Muslim fundamentalism is more often a fight for economic influence disguised as a fight for freedom. When we support a country whose government mutilates human rights we hand an ideological victory and propaganda tools for insurrectionists to use against us. Where they suppress speech we should encourage it. Where they use violence we should react with kindness, food and medical care.

We should never provide military assistance or have friendly diplomatic ties with any country that violates the civil liberties of its citizens.

For example, we have close economic ties with China whose benefits evidently carry more weight than the blood spilled by democracy loving students or the freedom and human rights we say we cherish so deeply. Policies such as this soil the Stars and Stripes far more than any match.

June 4, 1989, Tienanmen Square Massacre

It is immoral to keep a people held hostage under a dictator or totalitarian system by providing the weapons and money needed to stay in power, then turn around and wage war against these same people because the same tyrannical government becomes unacceptable. This situation in Panama left hundreds if not thousands of civilians dead. We face the same situation in Iraq. This makes the war and its subsequent occupation immoral and any targeting, careless or otherwise, of noncombatants is sinful.

This wasn’t a just war. Our past involvement in the region has us holding much of the blame for the conditions which led to this fiasco. The people of Iraq, who were held hostage by US supported Saddam Hussein for many years, were victimized by him……and now they have been victimized by the United States. Possessing the ability to carry out a decisive military invasion and regime change does not justify our actions; rather the results vividly illustrate the moral bankruptcy of war.

Lies of the US on Iraq

Our lack of Neocon encouraged national patience spread devastation across the region. The people of Iraq have suffered extensive physical damage and loss of life into the tens of thousands if not a million.

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contradicting administration propaganda on Iraq

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Our men and women have been spilling their blood in the sand because we have no energy policy. The Reagan administration abandoned all of President Carter’s energy programs and our dependence on foreign oil has increased ever since. The oil companies have fought every incentive for decreasing our dependence on foreign oil with the exception of endangering priceless wilderness areas in the US and now our troops are protecting their interests and our gluttonous appetite for black gold. This war is about money, greed, power of the elite and foreign oil consumption.

Too often it seems many hawks in this country view world relations as a football game, us against them, with absolutely no consideration of how we arrived in our present situation and to whether our conduct was and is ethical or in the best interests of all parties involved. If you raise any questions or concerns about how your team plays the game, you are branded as unloyal or traitorous. The other team is dehumanized to ease our feelings as we ‘tromp’ them.

International policy is not a game. We must truthfully analyze our government and corporation involvement throughout the world, past, present and future. We were once taught that when we travel into another country we are all ambassadors for America and that should include the business community.

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Vulture Funds; why they hate us.

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War Is Not A Game

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Barack Obama's Foreign Policy

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/foreignpolicy/

GOP is intentionally ignorant on climate change

The disbelief of conservative Christians on Evolution cause them to have disrespect for many scientific principles from medicine to astonomy yeilding to a backward war on science. Geologist can’t be right because of what they say about the age of the Earth. Archeologist and anthropologist can’t be trusted because they use carbon dating which geologists also use to date the Earth. Astronomers and astronomical physicists can’t be trusted because of what they say about the distance of the stars and how long it takes their light to reach us. How can doctors really know what they’re doing when they believe in evolution? Literalist interpretation of the Bible means science is not to be trusted.

This is also disrespectful to God because it puts him in the role of magician rather than the Master Weaver He is. The Bible is not a book of science but is an inspired work that illustrates how we are to relate to God and each other. When we attempt to make it something it is not we tend to forget the loving God and each other part all too easily.

Science is a discipline which yields a fascinating glimpse into the wonderful mind of God as it slowly unravels the beauty and sheer genius of creation. God is more marvelous than we can imagine and if conservatives are successful in intruding into science it would keep us from realizing and appreciating it. Literalist interpretation of the Bible does a disservice to God because their faith is on sandy soil locked up into a childish over simplistic view of the workings of God in our Earthly history and lives.

I can't help but feel if we allow science to be science, as it should be, one day when all things are said and done they will be looking into the face of God. Science must be allowed to be science or it will cease to be science at all.

Many conservative fundamentalists also tend to view the Constitution and the Koran through these same clouded eyes creating many problems for our country and the Islamic world. Fundamentalists Moslems, Hindus, and others who view their religious writings with a strict literalist interpretation are creating their own sets of problems in their parts of the world. When they clash it just creates problems everywhere.



Literalistic interpretation of selected parts of the bible may explain some of what is going on with the heretical religious right in regards to their not excepting global warming. While the neoconservatives are happy once again to use conservative fundamentalist misconceptions in their favor it does not explain their own hostility toward global warming.

Greed does.

Science gets in the way of unscrupulous corporations ability to pollute with impunity. All they have to do is create enough doubt and suspicion about scientific results to the Republican faithful to allow them to continue raping and pillaging the planet. Once again the ignorance of their followers works to their advantage.

How much respect can they have for the people who dutifully follow every lie and spin they feed them? Neoconservatives must see them as a bunch of malleable fools. Liberals can educate and protest and explain what this administration is up to but these people must develop the courage to open their eyes to the way they are being used. I have hope that one day the good Republicans will wake up to the knowledge of the way Fox news and conservative pundits in the media have been manipulating their emotions to suit their own selfish needs.

Cracking up: the ice shelf as big as Northern Ireland
By Steve Connor, Science Editor Wednesday, 26 March 2008
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/cracking-up-the-ice-shelf-as-big-as-northern-ireland-800585.html

Greenpeace USA
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy

Union of Concerned Scientist
http://ucsusa.org/global_environment/global_warming/page.cfm?pageID=497

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GOP - Bad for the Military

A man owns this wonderful tool that does all sorts of things and is much cherished. A neighbor asks to borrow it promising the proper care. The man catches this neighbor seriously abusing this favorite tool of his. He’s understandably furious at this person. However, he doesn’t suddenly hate his tool because he’s upset at the way it’s being used.

Likewise, the military is a very precious tool of our government owned by us. The Bush administration is the bad neighbor that is doing the misusing and abusing. We still love the troops but we all have a right and responsibility to let our displeasure known when they are being treated badly by this or any administration that only has temporary custody of them.


Paul Rieckhoff on Military Readiness




Supporting the misguided Bush Administration has nothing to do with supporting the troops. The Republican party has made it very plain to every person that has served in the military, is currently serving in the military or ever will serve in the military that no act of heroism for your country or act of heroism for your home or act of heroism for your brothers and sisters in arms is worth ‘a hill of beans’ unless you submit to a particular agenda masquerading as conservative Republican.

Even the soldier who falls on the grenade is un-American if he’s found out to be a suspected liberal. After all if he’s Democrat it must have been some cowardly liberal plot that led that person to commit self assisted suicide.

The sad thing is they’ve made very clear to any soldiers, airman, seaman, or marines that may have been tempted to tell the American people the truth, whether it’s about the war, lack of proper military equipment, or their own mistreatment through sub-par states-side medical treatment, to keep they’re mouths shut except when regurgitating the Neoconservative talking points because they’re testimony is worthless and threatening to the Bush administrations public image.


Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran


Sooner or later you get fed up enough with the Stooges that it’s time to fire them. You don’t decide to keep them because they’re the ones that began the job so they should be the ones best able to complete it. After enough pies thrown, eyes gouged and things broken when they respond to your misgivings with, "Well what would you do?" sounds a bit lame. The most logical answer would be to say, "We’ll figure it out without your incompetent help" and "Don’t let the door hit you in the rear on the way out".

Some guys, like our president and his administration and the Bush-hugging McCain, just beg to be fired. To do otherwise would be ignorance surrendering to stupidity in the name of gullibility.

Forewarned Is Forearmed: Bush On Iran



I’m greatly concerned that given the Bush administration's abysmal track record on world diplomacy any war like action in Iran will blow up in their faces bringing great harm not only to the innocent men, women, and children in Iran but also to our nation.

I worry about Russia’s closeness to Iran; they are joined by the Caspian Sea and they have sent defensive missiles to Iran. Will they be drawn into this war?

Saudi citizens are sending money in the millions to the Sunnis of Iraq. Will they be drawn into the war?

Will they be igniting the spark, similar to the flash that lit WW One, which causes nations to divvy up sides for another world war?

Will the world view us as the aggressors and retaliate economically if not militarily against our interests?

Are we just using questionable evidence of Iranian involvement, at whatever level, as an excuse for war with Iran?

Are we seeking support from both Saudi Arabia and radical elements among the Sunnis, loyal to Al Qaeda, for an attack against Iran?

Are we doing the bidding of Saudi Arabia?

Are we going to attempt to replay the old Iran-Iraq war?

It sure seems we may be heading in that general direction.


Seymour Hersh On Iran



Where is the national debate?

Where is the congressional authorization?

Where is the Bush administration credibility on intelligence leading to military adventurism?

NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!!!

ElBaradei: Military Strike On Iran ‘Would Lead Absolutely To Disaster’
Posted by Satyam October 28, 2007
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/28/baradei-iran-disaster/

Some common questions about Iran's nuclear program
By Warren P. Strobel McClatchy NewspapersPosted on Sunday, November 4, 2007
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/21071.html

US 'Iran attack plans' revealed
Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 February 2007, 10:28 GMT

US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6376639.stm


FOX ATTACKS: Iran


I worry about this powerful and arrogant man being in such a weak position politically. All the issues were arguing about, the corruption investigations, bringing the troops home from Iraq and even his very low approval rating will all be on the back burner once he decides to attack Iran. Once war is begun it may be seen as tying the hands of the next president also they may also view this as a huge plus for McCain.

John McCain and his 100 Years War



The more over burdened our military becomes the more attractive nuclear weapons look to the war merchants of the GOP.


from The Union of Concerned Scientists...
Nuclear Bunker Buster for War in Iran and Fallout



"Mini Nukes" - Bush's new dangerous weapon



Physicians for Social Responsibility
Medical Consequences of a Nuclear Attack on Iran
http://www.psr.org/site/PageServer?pagename=security_main_iranfactsheet

David Robinson, Executive Director of Pax Christi USA

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Hillary Clinton 'misspeaks' about Bosnia

Hillary's Flight of Fancy
By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer Tue Mar 2
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_campaignplus/20080325/ap_ca/on_deadline_bosnia;_ylt=AgVby27byL04VvOUoFEFekSs0NUE?

Countdown: Hillary Clinton Misstatement About Sniper Fire



Misspeaking and bending the truth appears to be an alarming pattern within the Clinton campaign.

Countdown: Hillary LIED, Framed Obama On Nafta Gate



Countdown: Hillary Clinton Caught Lying Again 3-13-08

Rev. Jeremiah Wright '9-11' & 'GD America' sermons in context

Although the GD America part makes me cringe a great deal these are actually pretty good sermons that deserve more than the shallow attention they've been getting.

listen...





The real threat is the existence of conditions which allow terrorism to grow within third world countries, such as poverty, ignorance, lack of adequate health care and human rights.

Those are the conditions which exist under the rule of self-serving dictators. The seeds of terrorism are sown in this environment and gradually grow to maturity. The mistake we make is that once terrorism rears its ugly head in a country, we support the dictatorship even more, thereby losing the trust and respect of the average citizens in that country. Someone in the United States might say, "How can anyone choose an extremist form of Islam over democracy?" But if America supports your leader and you’re living on a dirt floor while your baby is dying and your brother is rotting in prison because he spoke his mind, you might think, "How could radical Islam be any worse than the way I have it now?".

If we wish to stop the rising tide of terrorism we must stop supporting or tolerating dictators and let the people of the country know this. At the same time we must encourage and help growth in the economy, education and human rights of these countries and not the military weaponry of tyrants.

War is a poor answer to a human problem; a diplomatic problem. Don’t let the militaristic neoconservatives lead you to believe the only road to peace is by the gun. They are wrong.

The threat and fear of radical fundamentalist Islam is morphing into a paranoid dread of all Islam.

Martin Luther King, "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam"




Everything Christ talks about here is exactly what the conservatives attempt to denigrate liberals with, what they seem to believe is the derogatory expression of ‘bleeding heart’.


Jesus said to his disciples:

“To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.

Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount.

But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.

Give, and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

Luke 6-27-38

Jesus explains well what it means to be a good follower of His; a good explanation of one type of Cross He has asked us to bare. Also, for those of us who dare to call ourselves Christian it’s a good example of how to be a ‘bleeding heart liberal’.


*
I don’t believe that the big men, the politicians and the capitalists alone are guilty of the war. Oh, no, the little man is just as keen, otherwise the people of the world would have risen in revolt long ago! There is an urge and rage in people to destroy, to kill, to murder, and until all mankind, without exception, undergoes a great change, wars will be waged, everything that has been built up, cultivated and grown, will be destroyed and disfigured, after which mankind will have to begin all over again.
Anne Frank
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“We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and for justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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"In struggling for human dignity the oppressed people of the world must not allow themselves to become bitter or indulge in hate campaigns. To retaliate with hate and bitterness would do nothing but intensify the hate in the world. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can be done only by projecting the ethics of love to the center of our lives."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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"As an essential part of its fight against all forms of terrorism, the international community is called to undertake new and creative political, diplomatic and economic initiatives aimed at relieving the scandalous situations of gross injustice, oppression and marginalization which continue to oppress countless members of the human family. History in fact shows that the recruitment of terrorists is more easily achieved in areas where human rights are trampled upon and where injustice is a part of daily life.”
Pope John Paul II
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4,000 DEAD in Iraq Quagmire

US military Iraq toll hits 4,000
BBC 24 March 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7310924.stm

I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.
Vice President Dick Cheney, On March 16 2003

comma




Republican chicken hawks are asking a small group of others to bare the burden of making them feel safe and secure. Their only contribution is to feign support by flying the flag in front of their homes or placing the yellow ribbon on their cars. When I see it there I wonder what's truly in their heads and whether they are only flying it because they've been possessed by extreme right wing nonsense willingly voiding their brains of any idea of what the flag really stands for. Our fathers and grandfathers fought under this flag in WWII defeating fascism in Europe. They were truly supported by sacrifices from everyone at home; industry included.

"VFP" Veterans For Peace



"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
G.W. Bush

Bin Laden is still free and we’re bogged down in a country that didn’t attack us and was no threat to our national security. Our military does not deserve to be run into a pit because this administration refuses to admit they were wrong. This occupation is making us weaker. I believe they know it, too. It seems that they would prefer to do our military great harm and our nation as a result in order to protect their sad mistaken choices.

The Bush administration is saturated with lies that are harming all Americans and the Middle East. They have been the best friends of those who attacked us by making the United States weaker and reviled in the world while boosting Al Qaeda recruiting and prestige. They hijacked the criminal pursuit of Al Qaeda in favor of their own misguided desires and against the interests of the American people and those of the Middle East and they continue to do so. Their lying tongues like the 9-11 terrorists are drenched in the blood of the innocent. They truly belong on trial for the crimes they’ve committed against the citizens of the United States and Iraq and whatever else is uncovered.

All sides want us out; they believe its okay to kill our men and women and they are all going after us with great relish. Our troops are stuck in the middle of a multi-faceted civil war where all sides are shooting at them and the enemy can not be easily discerned, if at all. They do not belong in the middle of this and it’s an illicit misuse of the military to expect them to.

There's no success in Iraq without a political solution and reconciliation between all groups including rights for women that keeps them from extremists fundamentalist oppression.

Majority of Iraqi Lawmakers Now Reject Occupation
By Raed Jarrar and Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted May 9, 2007

More than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected for the first time on Tuesday the continuing occupation of their country. The U.S. media ignored the story.On Tuesday, without note in the U.S. media, more than half of the members of Iraq's parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country. 144 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal, according to Nassar Al-Rubaie, a spokesman for the Al Sadr movement, the nationalist Shia group that sponsored the petition.
more at...
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/51624/

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.... The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
Martin Luther King jr.

When we made these same arguements before the current occupation of Iraq we were called un-American and traitors. We were right then and we are still right now about the warnings we are raising about an ill-advised attack on Iran.


Cheney '94: Invading Baghdad Would Create Quagmire



Schwarzkopf & Gates on why we DIDN'T invade Baghdad in 91



Everything these guys said was wrong at best but most commonly were lies mixed with distortions. The people against this war were right in their characterization of what the outcome would be. They were ignored and called traitors and cowards when they should have been listened to. Listen to them now when they speak against current and future military misadventures (Iran) because their voices carry more truth than the voices of the egocentric chicken hawks in the Bush administration.

Is It For Freedom?



End this illegal occupation
Restore constitutional order
No Iran war
Impeach the president/vice-president
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Iraqi Troops, Militias Clash in Basra

RYAN LENZ March 25, 2008

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/25/iraqi-troops-militias-cl_n_93332.html#

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Iraqi PM Gives Basra Gunmen Ultimatum

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Obama Statement on 4,000 American Deaths in Iraq
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGBnMY

Obama Plan for Ending the War in Iraq
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/

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The Gop and religious extremists

Holy Dirt---Steve Schalchlin



America may boast of its virtues to the world, but look, democracy is now reaching the end of its rope. People thought democracy is the final anchor of the free world, but it is reaching its end. So what is left? America has been telling the weaker nations that they have to accept democracy, forcing them to receive so-called democracy. But look at America. It is rotten, top to bottom. There is nothing to be proud of, not their way of walking or talking or thinking.

Rev. Moon

more from firedoglake...

The Republican Right’s Moonie Problem
By: David Neiwert: Friday March 21, 2008

McCain must put up with far right religious zealots.

"You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist. I can love the people who hold false opinions but I don't have to be nice to them."
Pat Robertson

"And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way — all of them who have tried to secularize America — I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."
Jerry Falwell

"This 'turn the other cheek' business is all well and good but it's not what Jesus fought and died for. What we need to do is take the battle to the Muslim heathens and do unto them before they do unto us."
Jerry Falwell

"It was the disobedience and rebellion of the Jews, God's chosen people, to their covenantal responsibility to serve only the one true God, Jehovah, that gave rise to the opposition and persecution that they experienced beginning in Canaan and continuing to this very day... Their own rebellion had birthed the seed of anti-Semitism that would arise and bring destruction to them for centuries to come.... it rises from the judgment of God upon his rebellious chosen people."
John Hagee

"The god of Islam is not the same God of the Christian or the Judeo-Christian faith. It is a different god, and I believe Islam is a very evil and a very wicked religion."
Franklin Graham

"Poverty comes from Hell. Prosperity comes from Heaven. Christians do not have Christ in their hearts. Sow a big seed, when you confess it, you are activating the supernatural forces of God."
Benny Hinn

"We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."
Ann Coulter

"The ethic of conservation is the explicit abnegation of man's dominion over the Earth. The lower species are here for our use. God said so: Go forth, be fruitful, multiply, and rape the planet--it's yours. That's our job: drilling, mining and stripping. Sweaters are the anti-Biblical view. Big gas-guzzling cars with phones and CD players and wet bars -- that's the Biblical view."
Ann Coulter

What are fascinating about these and the others who spill this swill are the accolades they receive from those who call themselves good Christians among the religious conservative community. They represent an incredible distortion of the Gospel.

I never wanted to believe; in fact I was very resistant to the fact that many Christians embraced or were at least sympathetic to tolerant of fascism during 1930’s Europe. I’m seeing it happen now before my eyes and shamefully before all the eyes of the world.

I really believe their extreme autocratic nature is hazardous to all of us. Why is such hate filled ignorant simplicity so tempting to so many different people of different cultures in so many different lands throughout our shared histories?

The only good “****“ is a dead “****“.
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Christ used the Samaritans three time as an example to all of us.
They removed themselves from Judea in the past, politically then religiously, by building their own temple for worship seperate from Jerusalem. They were very much thought of in much the same way as African Americans were thought of in this country. They were considered subpar creatures.
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1) The good Samaritan.
2) The one leper, out of ten, who returned to thank Jesus for being healed was a Samaritan.
3) The lady at the well and her town where Jesus found thirst and hunger for faith.
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He was very clear on the fallicy of deeming any person as less than human and treating them hatefully.
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Recently I have come to believe that there should be an Eighth Deadly Sin…….

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'Presumption'--The belief that we’re so close to God that He is on our side, that all our ways our His ways, that we deserve all earthly and spiritual blessings while others warrant punishment, that we deserve His mercy while others earn retribution, and that we deserve Heaven while others merit Hell.

Americans United
http://www.au.org/site/PageServer .

Beware 'Christian nationalism'
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-159181734.html

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The misbehavior of the religious right in this country and the shameful acts of religious extremeists in other parts of the world, now and throughout history, have caused many in the strictly secular community to view all religions the same way. Many of us who struggle to have the spiritual a part of who we are share many of the same concerns. Judgements about who we are should't be limited to those, who because of human frailty to the more sinister, have fallen away from the dictates of their faith community.

We don't all belong in one box and it's not progressive to put people there.

The best cure for ignorance and prejudice is a little bit of knowledge. Many of todays far right conservatives love wallowing in their ignorance and wrap themselves up in prejudice as if it were a warm fuzzy blanket. Progressives strive to do better when confronted with their own misconceptions. Although many people of all stripes love that warm fuzzy blanket making it hard to come out from under it and greet the world afresh.

After the Fall: Why America Needs a Spiritual Left
Rabbi Michael Lerner
http://www.tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/society_politics
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Joan Chittister Column
http://ncrcafe.org/blog/5

Pax Christi
http://www.paxchristiusa.org/

Fellowship of Reconciliation
http://www.forusa.org/

Sojourners
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm

Tikkun
http://www.tikkun.org/

Good Friday is today.

For Christians of most every stripe among the western churches today is Good Friday.

The Passion for so many centuries has been used incorrectly to justify anti-Semitism. The Jews didn’t kill Christ. Power, feeling threatened killed Jesus. The Religious authority threatened by His popularity and expressed ideas feared He would bring unfavorably dangerous attention to them and their community from occupation powers. But most of all they feared and loathed the challenge to their authority. The politically unpopular occupation appointed governor feared any threat to his power or negative attention from occupation rulers. The occupation administrator of the land feared for local instability and any career-ending negative attention upon himself. When the people were granted the traditional holiday choice of freeing a prisoner they choose the violent insurrectionist, their freedom fighter, over the man of love and peace.

Those were the choices that resulted in the death penalty for Jesus. We’re wrestling with these same choices to this very day in our land and around the globe.

The corrupt self-centeredness of power is not surprising but why do people so often willingly chose violent ways over that of peace. The people who yelled for the insurrectionist undoubtedly felt they were in fact loyal followers of their faith who, living under an unjust occupation and feeling threatened, were making the proper patriotic choice of God and country.

Who would you scream for?
http://musingsfromtheoutskirtsofcognition.blogspot.com/2007/01/who-would-you-scream-for.html

Outside of legitimate self defense it seems to me there’s always a leader functioning as the catalysts who stirs up the people by boisterously exclaiming the dangers poised by some nation or group, the justification for vengeance or the economic and political advantage of conquest, suppression and ill-treatment. Next, there’s the citizens tied to those in charge who cast their lot in with them regardless of what they are proclaiming because they find benefit from doing so. Then there’s the blind sheep; who have a history of following those in charge and continue to do so unquestioningly, while some are swept up by the passion of conflict and follow along aimlessly, others are inclined to be duped into following along because of their own voluntary ignorance or apathy, and some are in fear of going against what seems popular with their peers causing them to halt any questions they may have floating around in their conscience.

Woe to those whose spirit compels them to speak against the flood of popular vengeance. The desire to strike back against a foe is so strong anyone trying to quell the rising tsunami of violence is flooded with anger, revulsion and distrust. The courage it takes to express legitimate descent is ignored as is their deep felt loyalty and patriotism. Throughout history their lot has been plagued with torture, exile and death.

Nailed to a hunk of wood in the hot sun bleeding to death He forgave those who put Him there. A spear pierced His heart to insure He was dead. It’s the deep love contained in that same Precious Bleeding Heart we remember today.