even if we all see the truth

will ALL of us demand justice? demand people who have committed crimes against humanity (king george and his court) be punished?

will we bring our men and women home?

Brian DePalma Airs "Redacted" Iraq Images in New Film

NEW YORK Critics of the war in Iraq have long charged that the press has usually whitewashed the death and violence of the conflict by refusing to publish or air some of the most graphic images. Now a famous filmmaker -- using some of the photos that newspapers have failed to print -- is trying to do something about that.The latest film by Brian DePalma, director of numerous well-known movies such as "Scarface," "The Untouchables" and "Carrie/" is aptly called "Redacted" and has just been shown for the first time as part of the Venice Film Festival. DePalma spoke to reporters there, saying, among other things, "Pictures are what will stop the war."The film centers on perhaps the most horrendous known atrocity involving U.S. troops, the gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl and four members of her family in March 2006. DePalma had directed in 1989 a movie about a rape by U.S. soldiers of a Vietnamese girl called "Casualties of War," starring Sean Penn and the young Michael J. Fox."All the images we...have of our war are completely constructed -- whitewashed, redacted," said De Palma in Venice, according to press reports. "One only hopes that these images will get the public incensed enough to get their congressmen to vote against the war." DePalma makes use of images he has grabbed from the Web, including soldiers' home videos and photos that have never appeared in print. There's also more standard documentary film footage and the use of fictionalized techniques and characters to avoid certain legal issues, making it into an unusual kind of "docu-drama." ..........

so just what are they afraid of?

the truth?

U.S. Military Censors ThinkProgress

ThinkProgress is now banned from the U.S. military network in Baghdad.
Recently, an avid ThinkProgress reader — a U.S. soldier serving his second tour in Iraq — wrote to us and said that he can no longer access ThinkProgress.org. The error message he received:

this man IS living in a fantasy world

really he is. he's, at this point, delusional

Sen. Lieberman talks about progress in Iraq

By Chief Political Correspondent Mark Davis
......................"To me there's some significant progress happening in Iraq militarily. Al-Qaeda is on the run, Sunni tribal leaders have become our allies, death caused by sectarian assassination in Baghdad has gone down more than 50 percent," Sen. Lieberman said.Lieberman says he's frustrated by the limited progress made by the Maliki government but does not favor pushing him out."It is a choice that we have now in Iraq between this elected government struggling to make its way forward on the one hand and Al-Qaeda and Iran on the other hand.Lieberman is suggesting the U.S. should push for new provincial elections instead of trying to oust the current Iraqi government."The Sunni's, who boycotted the last election, are ready to come out again. Let let democracy work," Sen. Lieberman said........

does he think THIS is progress: Plane Carrying 4 U.S. Lawmakers Is Fired On in Iraq

am i missing something here?

if king george REALLY cared about the troops welfare (and i don't for a second believe he does) and how they are dealing with extended tours, why the f**k would he meet with the big dick, bobby gates and the joint chiefs of staff? why the f**k wouldn't he GO TO IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN AND MEET WITH THE TROOPS THEMSELVES? why wouldn't he meet with the husbands and wives and children here, of the troops that are deployed. why not meet with the mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers of the deployed troops? i just don't get it. what is the big dick going to tell king george? stay the course?

Military Briefs Bush On Troops' Welfare
Effects of Lengthy Deployments Discussed


By Michael Abramowitz Washington Post Staff Writer
President Bush went to the Pentagon yesterday to hear firsthand the views of top military advisers concerned about the impact of extensive Iraq deployments on the overall health of the U.S. armed forces.
Administration officials declined to offer details of Bush's private meeting with Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Bush did not appear publicly after the meeting but issued a written statement indicating that the discussions included plans to expand the size of the military and improve coordination between military and civilian officials in places such as Iraq.........

inadvertently my big fat ass

mistakes DO happen. i'd believe this was an oversight IF it was ANY administration EXCEPT king george's.

of course they ONLY attempted to make things right when they found out roberta stewart wasn't going to roll over and keep quiet.

ms stewart, i'm sorry for the loss of your husband (and i'm sorry for all of the OTHER losses of our troops)

an' it harm none, do as you will

Bush Apologizes to Wiccan Soldier's Widow for Meeting Slip-Up

By Jacqueline L. Salmon Washington Post Staff Writer

President Bush has apologized to the widow of a Wiccan soldier after she was excluded from a Nevada meeting this week that the president held with the families of soldiers killed in combat.
Roberta Stewart, whose husband, Sgt. Patrick Stewart, was killed in Afghanistan in 2005, was left off the invitation list for the private meeting Tuesday even though other members of her husband's family were invited. When she heard about the exclusion from her mother-in-law, Stewart said, she concluded that it was done because of her public fight to force the federal government to engrave the symbol for the Wiccan faith on her husband's marker on a memorial.
"I was devastated," Stewart said. "I was crying and upset. I couldn't believe that my country would continue this discrimination."..........

picture: page: www.uucheyenne.org/mandalas/

this is a solution

if you don't like the bad news, JUST CHANGE IT TO SOME BETTER NEWS. who cares if it's the truth or not? certainly NOT the american people. they've kept their collective mouths shut for this entire administration's tragic, evil, immoral and illegal reign (of blood)

ah, perhaps millions of iraqis care though. those whose family members have been tortured and killed. those who are now refugees in foreign lands. those who are still in iraq but have no water or food or electricty. let's ask THEM how those benchmarks are coming along

Pentagon Challenges GAO's Report on Iraq

By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer
The Pentagon has disputed parts of a progress report on Iraq drafted by the Government Accountability Office, and asked that some of the assessment's failing grades on key political and security benchmarks be changed before the final report is made public next week, a Defense spokesman said yesterday.
"We have provided the GAO with information which we believe will lead them to conclude that a few of the benchmark grades should be upgraded from 'not met' to 'met,' " spokesman Geoff Morrell said. He declined to specify which grades he was citing.......

the nuge ain't so forgiving

when the gun is up HIS arse
wah wah wah what a crybaby he is

Nugent defends right to threaten Democrats during his concerts Rocker not so forgiving when 'threats' were directed other way

David Edwards and Nick Juliano
Rocker Ted Nugent said trying to explain his fantasies of executing prominent Democrats that he aired in the middle of a recent show would be "like trying to explain an orgasm to a eunuch."
In an interview on the O'Reilly Factor Wednesday night, Nugent was criticized over video from a recent concert during which he encouraged Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to "suck on my machine gun" and referred to Senator Hillary Clinton as a "worthless bitch."........

................However, the conservative rocker was not so forgiving when "threats" were directed his way. In an appearance on Fox News's Hannity and Colmes earlier this summer, Nugent criticized a liberal blogger who joked of plans to "shoot" him and Rush Limbaugh.
"This guy is obviously a nutcase, but he's actually making a statement to assassinate fellow Americans," Nugent said at the time.
The avid hunter and gun advocate said he felt like his life was threatened, and "my family is taking it very seriously." The offending quote from the blog said, "I've got dibs on Rush, as soon as it's legal and lawful to shoot him. Whoever wants Ted Nugent is welcome to him."
"They've threatened to kill me," Nugent said, referring to what he said were previous attempts on his life. "We got the files with law enforcement. This guy is obviously a nut case. But he is actually making a statement to assassinate fellow Americans...........

you silly silly silly

gooses. BREASTESESESESEESSSESESEESES are for SELLING CARS AND BEER! they are NOT for whipping out to feed our children. shoot, i thought EVERYONE knew that
(i'm going to stop now because this could get VERY ugly. not unlike watching a woman breastfeed a child in public AS SOME PEOPLE THINK)
HHS Toned Down Breast-Feeding Ads
Formula Industry Urged Softer Campaign


By Marc Kaufman and Christopher Lee Washington Post Staff Writers
In an attempt to raise the nation's historically low rate of breast-feeding, federal health officials commissioned an attention-grabbing advertising campaign a few years ago to convince mothers that their babies faced real health risks if they did not breast-feed. It featured striking photos of insulin syringes and asthma inhalers topped with rubber nipples.
Plans to run these blunt ads infuriated the politically powerful infant formula industry, which hired a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a former top regulatory official to lobby the Health and Human Services Department. Not long afterward, department political appointees toned down the campaign.
The ads ran instead with more friendly images of dandelions and cherry-topped ice cream scoops, to dramatize how breast-feeding could help avert respiratory problems and obesity. In a February 2004 letter, the lobbyists told then-HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson they were "grateful" for his staff's intervention to stop health officials from "scaring expectant mothers into breast-feeding," and asked for help in scaling back more of the ads.................

i'm not there

(when you're lost in the rain in juarez and it's easter time too.........

that lyric ALWAYS stays with me. don't know why it just does)
i love bob dylan. always have always will. i am so excited about this movie i could just burst!

Is Six Actors Enough to Show the Many Sides of Bob Dylan?
By Paul Harris, The Observer UK.
In a Hollywood with a reputation for liking things safe and bankable, a bizarrely cast film about the life of one of the most controversial singers of all time, opening in just four cinemas in all of America, would seem unlikely to be at the center of the biggest Oscar buzz of the year.
Yet I'm Not There -- a biopic about Bob Dylan being released in November -- is doing exactly that. There is nothing normal about the movie, which delves into the fascinating life of the singer-songwriter and promises to be one of the strangest films of the decade.
It boasts six actors playing Dylan, including a woman and a black boy, so its opening marketing campaign was hardly likely to be conventional. But by any standards, opening in only four cinemas is remarkable. Usually that means that a studio thinks its movie might be a disaster, yet I'm Not There has generated nothing but good news.
Industry figures have been surprised by the move. 'It depends on the film. Sometimes you just start small and build on word of mouth,' said Karen Cooper, director of Manhattan's acclaimed arts cinema Film Forum, which is one of two New York cinemas that will screen the film. The other two are in Los Angeles.
The film is backed by the Weinstein Company, whose founder, Harvey Weinstein, has not been shy of touting the work, despite planning its slow release. He has admitted wanting to generate a slow burn of reaction before taking the film national.
"I'm going to play every major city in the United States with this movie," he said last week. "I'll play 100 cities at least."............

just like tom thumb's blues (bob dylan)
When you're lost in the rain in Juarez And it's Eastertime too And your gravity fails And negativity don't pull you through Don't put on any airs When you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue They got some hungry women there And they really make a mess outa you Now if you see Saint Annie Please tell her thanks a lot I cannot move My fingers are all in a knot I don't have the strength To get up and take another shot And my best friend, my doctor Won't even say what it is I've got Sweet Melinda The peasants call her the goddess of gloom She speaks good English And she invites you up into her room And you're so kind And careful not to go to her too soon And she takes your voice And leaves you howling at the moon Up on Housing Project Hill It's either fortune or fame You must pick up one or the other Though neither of them are to be what they claim If you're lookin' to get silly You better go back to from where you came Because the cops don't need you And man they expect the same Now all the authorities They just stand around and boast How they blackmailed the sergeant-at-arms Into leaving his post And picking up Angel who Just arrived here from the coast Who looked so fine at first But left looking just like a ghost I started out on burgundy But soon hit the harder stuff Everybody said they'd stand behind me When the game got rough But the joke was on me There was nobody even there to call my bluff I'm going back to New York City I do believe I've had enough

let's keep

bo diddley in our thoughts and prayers
(i don't wish ANYONE ill will - i really don't - but i'm SICK and effing tired of hearing about all of those cocaine and alcohol addled rich white grrrls with so much money and no parental guidance and NO EFFING TALENT. do young people even KNOW who bo diddley is? i wonder.......)
Guitarist Bo Diddley in Florida hospital in serious condition


Rock and roll guitarist and songwriter Bo Diddley, 78, was in a Florida hospital suffering heart problems, his press agent and hospital sources said Wednesday.
Known as "The Originator" of rock and roll, Diddley was taken to north Florida's regional medical center after suffering dizzy spells during a regular medical checkup on Friday, said agent Susan Clary.
A hospital spokeswoman told AFP she was not at liberty to give information on private patients at the hospital, adding that no information was available on the hospital's computer records.
Clary said Diddley had a stent implanted to aid blood flow to the heart and was in stable condition after spending the weekend in an intensive care ward.
In May, Diddley was also hospitalized following a heart attack that left him with slurry speech and unable to fully identify people around him, sources close to him said at the time.........

on our planes, please don't speak

in languages we can't understand. please don't dress differently than we do (although the article doesn't say they were dressed differently). please don't believe in a god with a name that's not 'god' or 'jesus'. please don't be different than us, period!

can't say what happened as i wasn't there, but i'll bet my big fat ass, NOTHING happened. people were just being id-jits about having arabic men aboard an airplane

Plane bound for Chicago held after dispute involving Arabic-speaking men

The Associated Press
9:41 PM CDT, August 29, 2007
SAN DIEGO

All passengers on an American Airlines redeye flight to Chicago were ordered off a plane after complaints about a group of Arabic-speaking men.Local law enforcement questioned the six men and released them quickly, American spokesman Tim Wagner said Wednesday. The Transportation Security Administration did not get involved, said agency spokesman Nico Melendez."They did nothing wrong," said Dave Stephens, chief executive officer for Defense Training Systems, which had hired the men to train Marines at Camp Pendleton.The incident was "an unfortunate situation for all flight passengers," according to a statement from the company, a unit of International Logistics Services Corp. of Anchorage, Alaska.American Flight 590 had been scheduled to leave late Tuesday........

just when you thought

it really couldn't get WORSE (it did)

U.N. reports cholera outbreak in northern Iraq

CNN) -- More than 2,000 Iraqis in the northern part of the country have contracted cholera, U.N. officials said Wednesday, citing local authorities. The outbreak is thought to be the result of poor water quality, the U.N. officials said.
"Local authorities report that over 2,000 people have been affected so far by the outbreak, with five deaths reported and 500 patients admitted to hospital with severe diarrhea within the last two days alone," said the U.N. Children's Fund, or UNICEF.
Forty-seven cases have been confirmed as epidemic cholera, but the number is expected to grow, said UNICEF, which has rushed emergency aid to the affected area.
The outbreak has hit the Sulaimaniya province and the nearby Kirkuk region in northern Iraq.
"Although the outbreak is largely affecting adults, children are at extremely high risk," UNICEF said.
Cholera is a bacterial ailment that affects the intestinal tract. The disease is contracted by consuming contaminated water. ......

and only just yesterday

several papers printed all the PROGRESS we've made in iraq. bullshite. YOU and I KNOW it. how people and there ARE some (like bill kristol par example) can sit there or stand there and claim we are making good progress (don't forget the dude, senator i believe, who said the baghdad market is JUST like being in idaho or iowa or ohio or wherever. that was one of my favorites) is beyond freedom and dignity. let's collectively WAKE UP and DEMAND JUSTICE. prosecute and hold accountable those who have committed crimes against humanity (AND the american people)

Report Finds Little Progress On Iraq Goals
GAO Draft at Odds With White House


By Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks Washington Post Staff Writers

Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report. The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration.
The strikingly negative GAO draft, which will be delivered to Congress in final form on Tuesday, comes as the White House prepares to deliver its own new benchmark report in the second week of September, along with congressional testimony from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. They are expected to describe significant security improvements and offer at least some promise for political reconciliation in Iraq.......
"

i hope EVERYONE

gets EXACTLY what they deserve!

how long was it before our troops got armor for their vehicles? how long was it before they got halfway decent body armor (and i hear it's NOT as decent as another brand, but they're NOT allowed to use the other brand - the army doesn't have a contract with them. can't even use it if they bought it on their OWN.)

fraud and waste and worse happens in EVERY administration. i'm not naiive enough to think it doesn't. HOWEVER, this administration is just wrong. everything about it is just wrong. period

what will come of this? most likely the same thing that's come of scooter libby, the victims of gulf storms, our uninsured children. NO F***ING THING - NADA - NOTHING
Army to Probe $3 Billion of Contracts in Iraq

By Richard LardnerAssociated Press The Army will examine as many as 18,000 contracts awarded over the past four years to support U.S. forces in Iraq to determine how many are tainted by waste, fraud and abuse, service officials said yesterday.
Overall, the contracts are worth close to $3 billion and represent every transaction from 2003 to 2007 by a contracting office in Kuwait, which the Army has identified as a significant trouble spot.Among the contracts to be reviewed are awards to former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, which has received billions of dollars since 2001 to be a major provider of food and shelter services to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.....

the nutmeg grater: this is rather surprising#links#links

the nutmeg grater: this is rather surprising#links#links

Who is the US Fighting in Iraq?

i was wondering this myself.....

How Did News Outlets Miss Senator's Arrest for Nearly Three Months?

normally i'm a live and let live kind o' babe. that is when the others involved let everyone live equally............... senator 'i am NOT a cruiser' craig sure as shite wasn't letting everyone live equally. otherwise, i wouldn't be butting in his bid-nez (about his sexuality that is).

it's 80 pages long

and i've not read it (yet) but i did want to post the link


Considering a war with Iran:
A discussion paper on WMD in the Middle East

U.S. Plans to Attack Iran Revealed

Posted by David Swanson\
This post, written by David Swanson, originally appeared on After Downing Street
Detailed Pentagon plans for a military attack on Iran are far more extensive than has been reported in the U.S., according to top British military analysts. There have been occasional news reports on various strategic bombing options - both conventional and nuclear - but this is the first comprehensive look at the full range of Pentagon plans.
A new report obtained by RawStory.com concludes that the United States has made major preparations to attack Iran, and that such an attack will likely target much more than just weapons or nuclear facilities......

the nutmeg grater: is this a possibility?#links#links

the nutmeg grater: is this a possibility?#links#links

our own kids don't have insurance

the lives of people on the gulf coast STILL have not gone back to 'normal' (and most likely never will). our schools need help. our elderly need help. our veterans need help. our troops need better equipment. there are far too many homeless in this country (and on and on and on) yet king george wants FIFTY BILLION MORE TO FUCK UP IRAQ, IRAN, AFGHANISTAN and goddess only knows where else?

do NOT roll over and give it to him. you spineless congressional pieces of steamin' shite. DON'T DO IT. bring our troops home NOW. start proceedings. bring that man and his court to justice for crimes against humanity.

Bush Wants $50 Billion More for Iraq War
Planned Request Signals Confidence That Congress Won't Prevail on Pullout


By Thomas E. Ricks Washington Post Staff Writer
President Bush plans to ask Congress next month for up to $50 billion in additional funding for the war in Iraq, a White House official said yesterday, a move that appears to reflect increasing administration confidence that it can fend off congressional calls for a rapid drawdown of U.S. forces.
The request -- which would come on top of about $460 billion in the fiscal 2008 defense budget and $147 billion in a pending supplemental bill to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- is expected to be announced after congressional hearings scheduled for mid-September featuring the two top U.S. officials in Iraq. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker will assess the state of the war and the effect of the new strategy the U.S. military has pursued this year. The request is being prepared now in the belief that Congress will be unlikely to balk so soon after hearing the two officials argue that there are promising developments in Iraq but that they need more time to solidify the progress they have made, a congressional aide said............