troop deaths

by electrocution. some form of torture by the enemy? well if you consider king george and his court AND their buds the war contractors our enemies. (and i do)

i've written about this before and it's been published even in the msm before. yet once again, here we are just effing talking about it AND NOT DOING A DAMN THING ABOUT IT

Americans being electrocuted in Iraq 'on an almost daily basis'
Stephen C. Webster
Among the seemingly innumerable scandal-worthy stories which have so marked the war in Iraq is one growing tragedy which has been largely ignored: shoddy electrical work by U.S. contractors at military bases leading to numerous electrical fires, troops receiving painful shocks, and even death by electrocution.

In January 2008, Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a 24-year-old weapons expert, was electrocuted while showering in Baghdad's green zone. According to a criminal investigation by the Army, an electrical water pump on the building's roof shorted out from not being properly grounded when installed. On March 19 his parents sued the contractor, KBR Inc., for Sgt. Maseth's death.

According to the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette:

"The Defense Contract Management Agency, we believe, authorized [the contractor] to the tune of millions of dollars to make the repairs. And they never made the repairs," Mr. Cavanaugh said. "And we don't know why. A simple repair -- just ground the building -- and Ryan would be alive today."........

this would be funny

except for the fact that it's not. of course we know this goes on all the time, everywhere, not just maryland. we know that's it's gone on for decades. it's nothing new.

one would think they would learn by now. usually peace groups and death penalty opponents DO NOT COMMIT VIOLENT CRIMES.

is it me or shouldn't the police (or fbi or cia or whomever) be spending their money and resources on REAL crime and REAL criminals?

Police Spied on Activists In Md.

Officers Infiltrated Groups During Ehrlich Years

By Lisa Rein

Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 18, 2008; Page A01

Undercover Maryland State Police officers conducted surveillance on war protesters and death penalty opponents, including some in Takoma Park, for more than a year while Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was governor, documents released yesterday show.

Detailed intelligence reports logged by at least two agents in the police department's Homeland Security and Intelligence Division reveal close monitoring of the movements as the Iraq war and capital punishment were heatedly debated in 2005 and 2006.

Organizational meetings, public forums, prison vigils, rallies outside the State House in Annapolis and e-mail group lists were infiltrated by police posing as peace activists and death penalty opponents, the records show. The surveillance continued even though the logs contained no reports of illegal activity and consistently indicated that the activists were not planning violent protests........

let them eat cake!

(or is that shite???)

who is the THEM? well it's the military grunts AND it's us. the civilians. instead of worrying about carpet color, how about worrying about your country as a whole, including it's CITIZENS. ALL citizens

Terrorism Funds May Let Brass Fly in Style

Luxury Pods for Air Force Debated

By R. Jeffrey Smith

Washington Post Staff Writer

The Air Force's top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on "comfort capsules" to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world, with at least four top generals involved in design details such as the color of the capsules' carpet and leather chairs, according to internal e-mails and budget documents.

Production of the first capsule -- consisting of two sealed rooms that can fit into the fuselage of a large military aircraft -- has already begun.

Air Force officials say the government needs the new capsules to ensure that leaders can talk, work and rest comfortably in the air. But the top brass's preoccupation with creating new luxury in wartime has alienated lower-ranking Air Force officers familiar with the effort, as well as congressional staff members and a nonprofit group that calls the program a waste of money.......

from feministing

a composite of a bunch of stories about (yes, you guessed it), rape and violence against women. i get tired. very tired. tired (and angry) of talking and lecturing and yelling and screaming. but i'll never stop until violence against my sisters HERE and EVERYWHERE stops.

Sexism, racism and violence against women: When there are too many stories to keep up with

Trigger Warning

As I was going through my Google Reader today, I kept getting hit with story after story violence against women, of discrimination, racism and rape. We post on these stories often, so it's not as if I was surprised. But seeing them all together kind of overpowered me, so I figured instead of writing separate posts for each of these horrible stories - I'd put them together in one, so you could see what I'm seeing: the connection between racism and violence against women, the fear of women's sexuality, the straight-up awfulness of misogyny. (Not a light post, I warn you.)

Yet another woman in the military was killed, this time by her partner. Army 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc, a nurse from Dubuque, Iowa, was murdered by her husband, Marine Cpl. John Wimunc, to whom she was in the middle of a divorce with and had a restraining order against. Wimunc is one of many military woman killed in recent months; Army Specialist Megan Touma was seven months pregnant when she was murdered and Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach was eight months pregnant and killed by a man she was seeing, also in the military. And of course, there's Pfc. LaVena Johnson - whose death has gotten the least amount of media coverage. From Salon:...............

picture: take back the night

from the depths of

the bizarre and disgusting and the hold your head high while i spit in your face school of thought (what the hell WAS elizabeth dole thinking. ah, she WASN'T thinking)

Dole proposal to name AIDS-related bill for Helms sparks outrage
Muriel Kane
Gay activists are suffering from shock and disbelief at the prospect that a long time foe might be lionized as a hero if a Republican senator gets her wish to attach Senator Jesse Helms' name to a major bill which provides funding to fight HIV/AIDS.

On March 7, the "Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008" was introduced in the United States Senate.

The bill is named for two recently deceased former Senators, Republican Henry Hyde, who died in November 2007, and Democrat Tom Lantos, who died in February 2008. On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) submitted an amendment to add the name of Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC), who died this July 4........

wow, look at these!

from dark roasted blend

european architecture (either by or influenced by antoni gaudi)

do you REALLY want this dude as YOUR president?

(shout out to americablog)

i got the book yesterday

and i know cv rick is either reading it or going to read it right quick.

i understand it's a hot topic. i understand people are afraid. i'm not. afraid that is. mr bugliosi is dead on. king george is a criminal. he is directly responsible for the senseless deaths of thousands. hundreds of thousands if you include people other than americans (and you should). that's murder to me.

iraq didn't attack america. iraq had NOTHING to do with 9/11. iraq did NOT have weapons of mass destruction. iraq, under saddam had NOTHING to do with al qaeda. iraq, under saddam had NOTHING to do with iran
(note: i am NOT touting the greatness of saddam here. he was an evil murderer as well)

we invaded a foreign country because of oil. plain and simple. there are evil dictators of countries MORE of a threat to us out there and king george hasn't illegally, immorally and unjustly attacked THEM. why?
Bush murder trial book, blacked out by mainstream media, thrives on Internet
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Former Los Angeles district attorney Vincent Bugliosi became widely known as the prosecutor of Charles Manson and later wrote bestselling books about that case, the O.J. Simpson trial, and other topics. However, Bugliosi's latest effort, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, has faced what CNN calls "a virtual media blackout."

Bugliosi says that no one in the mainstream media would review his book, which argues that Bush should be charged with murder for the deaths of over 4000 American soldiers in Iraq if he lied to get the nation into war. "My book was completely rejected across the board by network and cable," Bugliosi told CNN.

Larry King passed up the chance to interview Bugliosi, and neither MSNBC nor Comedy Central's The Daily Show expressed any interest when the book came out in May. (Bugliosi did finally appear on MSNBC's Morning Joe last Friday.) ABC Radio even refused an ad for The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.

"So how did the book become a bestseller?" asks CNN.............

this isn't just tasteless

it's disrespectful and disgusting. oh and one more thing - it DID NOT happen on a democratic watch. how does that steamin' piece mike meehan 'splain that?

Billboard displays burning World Trade Center with slogan, 'Please Don't Vote for a Democrat'
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
A political billboard in St. Cloud, Florida reads "Please Don't Vote for a Democrat" over an image of the burning World Trade Center.

Businessman Mike Meehan, who paid for the ad, says he's "only trying to help Republicans." The billboard also carries a link for Meehan's website, TheRepublicanSong.com, at which he says, "I claim to be a man of God" and promotes his political song and video.

Meehan's song, which appears to have racist overtones, begins, "The Democrat secular progressive move, political correctness is killing us too. They want to take the money from the hard working man, and give it to the lazy folks that don't give a damn."

Even Republicans have found the billboard "inappropriate," and many residents want it to come down. "I'm thinking about the Twin Towers, all the families that were killed there," one woman told local TV affliate WFTV.........

if you don't think

animal abuse and domestic abuse are related - you are SADLY mistaken

watch this

more humor that's real

Prosecutor turned up on US terror watch list

By LARA JAKES JORDAN – 13 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The name of the Justice Department's former top criminal prosecutor turned up on the government's terror watch list.........

tuesday humor

(unfortunately it's real though)

McCain Again Refers To Czechoslovakia, A Non-Existent Country

By Greg Sargent

At his press avail today, John McCain referenced current relations between Russia and, um, a non-existent country.

From a transcript...

"I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia. ....

i do NOT wish to take one thing away

from pat tillman's friends and family and the honor of mr tillman himself. he was wronged, his family was wronged. lies and more lies.

mr tillman's parents had the funds and the where with all AND mr tillman himself had the fame for his story to continue. at least a START at the truth.

there are others we will NEVER hear the stories of. the truth about. their families will never know

they fought and they died for their country. THE LEAST THEIR COUNTRY CAN DO IS BE TRUTHFUL

Unanswered Questions in Tillman Report

Officials' Role in Disclosing Details of Death Remains Unclear

By Josh White

Washington Post Staff Writer
Congressional investigators could not determine when senior Pentagon and White House officials learned the details of the "friendly fire" death of Pat Tillman, the Army Ranger and former NFL player, and what role they may have played in the misleading release of information about the 2004 Afghanistan firefight that killed him, according to a preliminary report released yesterday.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been examining the aftermath of Tillman's death to determine why the military and the White House did not inform his family and the public about the nature of it. Investigators found that senior officials could not remember how they learned the truth or what they did in response to learning it.

"The Committee's investigation adds many new details to the Tillman story," according to the draft report, which is sc heduled to be approved by the full panel on Thursday. "But on the key issue of what senior officials knew, the investigation was frustrated by a near universal lack of recall.".....

now here is someone you may NEVER have heard of before (i have posted on ms johnson more than once)

why haven't you heard of her? is it because of her gender? is it because of the color of her skin? i'm guessing some of both

LaVena Johnson; Murdered By Her Colleagues Ignored By The Army

This is Private First Class LaVena Johnson of Missouri. An honors student who nonetheless didn't quite know what she wanted to do with her life, she enlisted in the Army right out of high school in 2003 and was sent to Iraq, where she died. When the Army returned her mutilated body to her grieving parents as a suicide, her dad, Dr. John Johnson, said to himself and the Army coroner, "Somebody murdered my daughter and you picked the wrong person to fuck with." Fucking right.

When LaVena's father finally brought himself to look at his daughter's corpse in 2005, sent home from Iraq with a report that she'd committed suicide by shooting herself in the left side of her head with an M-16 — which, by the way, is not a handgun but a relatively long rifle, he thought there was something wrong.......

The tragic story of LaVena Johnson

Salon has published quite a bit about how American women in the military sometimes face more danger from their fellow soldiers than from their enemies, but the stories never seem to stop. And all too often, they go largely ignored by the media, as with the case of Pfc. LaVena Johnson.

In July 2005, 19-year-old Johnson became the first female soldier from Missouri to die in Iraq. She was found with a broken nose, black eye and loose teeth, acid burns on her genitals, presumably to eliminate DNA evidence of rape, a trail of blood leading away from her tent and a bullet hole in her head. Unbelievably, that's not the most horrifying part of the story. Here's what is: Army investigators ruled her death a suicide.

Beyond the obvious evidence of abuse, there was no sign of depression or suicidal ideation in Johnson's psychological profile. The bullet wound was in the wrong place for her to have shot herself with her dominant hand, and the exit wound was the wrong size to have come from her own M-16, as the Army suggested it did. .....

sign the petition at: JUSTICE FOR LAVENA JOHNSON

i've always LOVED

playing with cornstarch and water. IT'S COOL
(shout out to boing boing)

what?

you thought he was going to nominate bill moyers?

ha ha

Bush Nominates Neocon War Apologist to U.S. Propaganda Board
Posted by KingOneEye, Daily Kos

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is the federal agency responsible for all U.S. government and government sponsored, non-military, international broadcasting. Its affiliates include the Voice of America, Alhurra, Radio Free Europe, and Radio and TV Martí. If its mission was not originally intended to be a purveyor of propaganda, the Bush administration has seen to it that that is what it has become.

Now President Bush has made his latest attempt to further mire the agency in disgrace by nominating Clifford May to the Board. May is a former Republican National Committee communications director and the President of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, whose list of directors and advisors reads like a who's who of neocon warmongers. He is an advocate of torture abroad, the suspension of civil liberties at home, and always the supremacy of America by virtue of its military might. As a writer for the National Review and a frequent guest on television news programs, he has a record of deliberately inflammatory and partisan rhetoric...

one of THE sickest things

things i have ever read about. i guess their god carries and uzi and loves to blow people away (what else does one use an assault rifle for?)

love thy neighbor? NOT in this church. the sick f**ks

Church lures teenagers with assault rifle giveaway
An Oklahoma church canceled plans for a gun giveaway Friday at its annual youth conference, a local news station reported.

The church's youth pastor, Bob Ross, said the AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle was a means of luring young people as far away as Canada, according to Oklahoma City's KOCO Channel 5 News.

“I don’t want people thinking ‘My goodness, we’re putting a weapon in the hand of somebody that doesn’t respect it who are then going to go out and kill,'” said Ross. “That’s not at all what we’re trying to do.”

The gun giveaway is a part of the event's shooting competition. A gun was given away at last year's conference and this year, Windsor Hills Baptist used the giveaway in the marketing of the event on its Web site (see above picture)...........

we know it

we know the entire administration is full of war criminals (and just plain criminals). they care only about themselves. they do NOT care for you or i OR their planet.

i want someone to not just accuse them of crimes BUT TO ACTUALLY HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE

Red Cross finds Bush administration guilty of war crimes
Andrew McLemore
In a secret report last year, the Red Cross found evidence of the CIA using torture on prisoners that would make the Bush administration guilty of war crimes, The New York Times reported Friday.

The Red Cross determined the culpability of the Bush administration after interviewing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, according to the article.

Prisoner Abu Zubaydahwho said he had been waterboarded, "slammed against the walls" and confined in boxes "so small he said he had to double up his limbs in the fetal position."

The information comes from a new book written by Jane Meyer, who has frequently published articles concerning counter-terrorism in The New Yorker.............

i get satire

i really do have a sense of humor. however, after seeing this cover i can hear 'them' all in the background now. 'see i told you so. they ARE (fill in your OWN words here) ......................

it's NOT funny

'New Yorker' cover angers Obama campaign
On the cover of the upcoming New Yorker: Satirical portrayal of Obama through the eyes of his opposition, or McCain recruitment poster?

Senator Obama shrugged and said he had "no response" when asked about the cover on Sunday by CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic. The Obama campaign, on introspection, was more decisive on the issue; it might have appreciated the humor, if not for the delivery.

The cover art, depicting Senator Obama in a turban, while wife Michelle, packing an assault rifle, shares a "fist bump" with him, is described by the New Yorker as artist's Barry Blitt's lampooning of "scare tactics and misinformation in the Presidential election to derail Barack Obama's campaign.".......