Despite the President's protestations to the contrary, Amnesty International's condemnation of the American military's torture of 'detainees' both here and abroad, is damning and factually based! Note this from their report:
Hundreds of detainees continued to be held without charge or trial at the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Thousands of people were detained during US military and security operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and routinely denied access to their families and lawyers. Military investigations were initiated or conducted into allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by US personnel in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and into reports of deaths in custody and ill-treatment by US forces elsewhere in Iraq, and in Afghanistan and Guantánamo. Evidence came to light that the US administration had sanctioned interrogation techniques that violated the UN Convention against Torture. Pre-trial military commission hearings opened in Guantánamo but were suspended pending a US court ruling. . .
More on this and a complete rundown of abuses of civil rights in the U.S. can be found at the Amnesty Internation website. Just click on the link.
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Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Check Out New PLANET REVOLUTION Forums>>>
-Just Click on the banner link at the top of the sidebar and make your own posts on topics important to you!
-Interact with others of similar interests!
-Debate, Critique, Inform (or get informed)!
*Help make it another success in the GOOD FIGHT*
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-Interact with others of similar interests!
-Debate, Critique, Inform (or get informed)!
*Help make it another success in the GOOD FIGHT*
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Friday, May 27, 2005
What We're Up Against. . .
--Just a reminder of what we're really up against. How hard can it be? (Then again, ignorance is a tough thing to overcome.)
Keep up the good fight!
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Thursday, May 26, 2005
Truth to Power
Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire
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Heartless HUNTER!
In their trademark hypocritical style, House Republicans are blocking affordable health care for National Guard members and reservists during a war which has caused the Army to fall short on its recruiting goals!
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., has employed a rarely used authority to strike a provision in the committee-passed $441.6 billion defense authorization bill that would have opened the military's Tricare health care system to all National Guard members and reservists. The bill is scheduled for floor consideration Wednesday.
It's fine to debate just how much the military should incentivise enlistment, but affordable National Guard and reservist medical coverage falls far outside the bounds of a simple enlistment incentive. Medical coverage for reservists should be expected, and it's amazing to see anyone - especially the chair of the House Armed Services Committee - oppose it. At a time when the Army feels it's necessary to offer an unheard of 15-month enlistment option, anything that could be considered an incentive - even if it should be a permanent, obvious benefit - should be seriously considered if only for the fact that it may ease some recruitment problems.
-inspired by a post at the Democratic Party Blog
*A reasonable person would agree with one of the two questions here:
1) You either believe in offering reasonable incentives to increase recruitment during this crisis;
2) You believe in offering affordable health care coverage to National Guard members and reservists.
--You can agree with merely one or with both, but agreeing with neither is rather amazing, and I don't think opposing one is enough to warrant opposition to the plan on whole given the obvious good that comes from the other. Hunter says his opposition stems from the concern that employers of reservists would drop them from their employer-paid healthcare systems in order to shift the burden to the government. If that was Hunter's true concern, one would think that he'd see little opposition if he was to add a provision that prohibited employers from doing just that.
So why doesn't he? Heartless ideological hubris!
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House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., has employed a rarely used authority to strike a provision in the committee-passed $441.6 billion defense authorization bill that would have opened the military's Tricare health care system to all National Guard members and reservists. The bill is scheduled for floor consideration Wednesday.
It's fine to debate just how much the military should incentivise enlistment, but affordable National Guard and reservist medical coverage falls far outside the bounds of a simple enlistment incentive. Medical coverage for reservists should be expected, and it's amazing to see anyone - especially the chair of the House Armed Services Committee - oppose it. At a time when the Army feels it's necessary to offer an unheard of 15-month enlistment option, anything that could be considered an incentive - even if it should be a permanent, obvious benefit - should be seriously considered if only for the fact that it may ease some recruitment problems.
-inspired by a post at the Democratic Party Blog
*A reasonable person would agree with one of the two questions here:
1) You either believe in offering reasonable incentives to increase recruitment during this crisis;
2) You believe in offering affordable health care coverage to National Guard members and reservists.
--You can agree with merely one or with both, but agreeing with neither is rather amazing, and I don't think opposing one is enough to warrant opposition to the plan on whole given the obvious good that comes from the other. Hunter says his opposition stems from the concern that employers of reservists would drop them from their employer-paid healthcare systems in order to shift the burden to the government. If that was Hunter's true concern, one would think that he'd see little opposition if he was to add a provision that prohibited employers from doing just that.
So why doesn't he? Heartless ideological hubris!
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Sunday, May 22, 2005
Sage Advice
"Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most that has made it possible for evil to triumph."
--Haile Selassie I
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--Haile Selassie I
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Thursday, May 19, 2005
American Generals Dejected about Iraq
This week, five high-ranking officers, speaking separately at the Pentagon and in Baghdad, and through an e-mail exchange from Baghdad with a reporter in Washington, were unusually candid about problems confronting the war effort. The generals' remarks, emphasized the insurgency's success and resilience (quite an admission). They said the buildup of Iraqi forces has been more disappointing than previously acknowledged (contributing to the absence of any Iraqi forces when a 1,000-member Marine battle group mounted an offensive last week). It confirmed that the 160,000 Iraqis now trained and equipped in the $5.7 billion American effort to build up security forces are still (after 2 years) "behind" in their ability to shoulder a major part of the war effort (way behind, it seems). They grumbled about the fact that Iraqi generals and police officials will not even go before the press out of fear for their lives, thus leaving it to American generals and others to do so- keeping an all American face on the war effort.
-edited from a New York Times article
The so-called Iraqi govt hasn't even been able to formally organize yet- and exerts no real authority. The strains between Suni, Shiite and Kurd factions grow by the day. Civil War seems just around the corner!
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-edited from a New York Times article
The so-called Iraqi govt hasn't even been able to formally organize yet- and exerts no real authority. The strains between Suni, Shiite and Kurd factions grow by the day. Civil War seems just around the corner!
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Monday, May 16, 2005
Reid Needs to Take Initiative in Senate
Following the present Senate rules, Reid could do the following himself and totally rout the radical repubs:
-Motion on the Senate floor to change Senate rules to disallow filibusters on judicial nominees
-Move towards a vote on said motion, which would require a 2/3 majority of senators.
-Defeat the proposed rule change by preemption on the Senate floor, under present rules.
I emphasize: This scenario is perfectly within the present Senate rules! Write Senator Reid of Nevada and encourage him to go forward with this maneuver as soon as it is clear that the repubs are going forward with their 'nuclear option'.
Click HERE or go to the Contact Congress link under CRITICAL RESOURCES to find out how to contact him directly.
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-Motion on the Senate floor to change Senate rules to disallow filibusters on judicial nominees
-Move towards a vote on said motion, which would require a 2/3 majority of senators.
-Defeat the proposed rule change by preemption on the Senate floor, under present rules.
I emphasize: This scenario is perfectly within the present Senate rules! Write Senator Reid of Nevada and encourage him to go forward with this maneuver as soon as it is clear that the repubs are going forward with their 'nuclear option'.
Click HERE or go to the Contact Congress link under CRITICAL RESOURCES to find out how to contact him directly.
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Saturday, May 14, 2005
Progressive Perspective
"Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives."
--- John Stuart Mill
(i realize this is a repeat of a quote made on this blog at an earlier date, but due to some recent encounters with 'conservatives' I felt it deserved repeating.)
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PLANET PATRIOT
--- John Stuart Mill
(i realize this is a repeat of a quote made on this blog at an earlier date, but due to some recent encounters with 'conservatives' I felt it deserved repeating.)
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PLANET PATRIOT
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Check out NEW Iraq War Cost Ticker- Sidebar!
Found this great resource that ticks off the outrageous costs of the Iraq War.
Click on the link to get detailed info and direct costs to you and your community!
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PLANET PATRIOT
Click on the link to get detailed info and direct costs to you and your community!
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PLANET PATRIOT
Latest Poll Result:
WHAT LIBERALS THINK
The results of the latest poll:
Will Social Security Be Successfully Privatized this Year?
yes, totally- 5 (11%)
yes, partially- 10 (22%)
not at all- 27 (61%)
don't know- 2 (4%)
It looks like our readers have followed public opinion generally. Thankfully, doesn't look like the repubs are going to mess much with SS this year (and likely not next year with elections and all)-- the public is wise to them on this, it seems.
**Check out the new poll on the sidebar. Thanks for your participation!
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PLANET PATRIOT
The results of the latest poll:
Will Social Security Be Successfully Privatized this Year?
yes, totally- 5 (11%)
yes, partially- 10 (22%)
not at all- 27 (61%)
don't know- 2 (4%)
It looks like our readers have followed public opinion generally. Thankfully, doesn't look like the repubs are going to mess much with SS this year (and likely not next year with elections and all)-- the public is wise to them on this, it seems.
**Check out the new poll on the sidebar. Thanks for your participation!
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PLANET PATRIOT
Friday, May 06, 2005
Minority Rights or Tyranny!!
"No political truth is certainly of greater intrinsic value, or is stamped with the authority of more enlightened patrons of liberty, than that on which the objection is founded. The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."
- James Madison, Federalist #47
This succint explanation of the importance of the minority right to object in whatever form (such as the filibuster) to the will of the governmental majority by the 'father of the constitution', has conveniently been ignored by repub right. In their fanatical rush to rewrite the rules of government and of history in the image of their warped christianity, they have trampled on their longstanding commitment to constitutional 'strict construction' and 'original intent' of the founders . Admittedly, these 'conservative' credos have oft been distorted and misapplied by them. Still, they unabashedly toss these notions aside as it no longer suits their frightening powerlust to subscribe to them .
)Click on the link to my post at Huffington Post)
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Planet Patriot
- James Madison, Federalist #47
This succint explanation of the importance of the minority right to object in whatever form (such as the filibuster) to the will of the governmental majority by the 'father of the constitution', has conveniently been ignored by repub right. In their fanatical rush to rewrite the rules of government and of history in the image of their warped christianity, they have trampled on their longstanding commitment to constitutional 'strict construction' and 'original intent' of the founders . Admittedly, these 'conservative' credos have oft been distorted and misapplied by them. Still, they unabashedly toss these notions aside as it no longer suits their frightening powerlust to subscribe to them .
)Click on the link to my post at Huffington Post)
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Planet Patriot
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Call Congress for Doctor Appointment!
Nearly 50 million Americans are still living without health insurance!
According to the Center for American Progress, that number means that for every working physician in the country, there are nearly 150 people without medical coverage. Facing such a dire medical crisis, Americans need to know who is fighting for them in Washington.
In the past, Democrats and progressive politicians led the fight for a more equitable healthcare system. In the mid 1940s, President Truman asked Congress to develop a universal health insurance program. After nearly 20 years of debate on the issue, President Johnson authorized two less comprehensive government-sponsored healthcare programs, Medicare and Medicaid. Hillary Clinton tried to promote something close to Truman's vision of universal medical coverage in 1993, but was thwarted. In 2004, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry proposed a plan to greatly expand government health programs, but lost to an incumbent under whom the number of uninsured Americans has soared.
Last month, however, everything changed. With Terri Schiavo's life was on the line, the GOP suddenly became the party of government-sponsored health care. In fact, a few Republicans went even farther than Democrats had dared to go: from the comfort of their Capitol Hill offices, two physicians in Congress saw fit to offer free and comprehensive medical advice to a sick American!
With nothing but a short videotape to aid them, Senator Bill Frist (R-TN), a heart and lung surgeon, and Representative Dave Weldon (R-FL), an internist, were able to rebut the diagnoses of neurological specialists who claimed Mrs. Schiavo was in 'a persistent vegetative state.' The Congressmen contended from their film viewing that she 'seemed to respond to visual stimuli.'
--from The Nation
With a short letter or email describing your symptoms, we expect that the pair would be glad to diagnose your ailment as well. --'Click' on the Contact Congress link under CRITICAL RESOURCES to get their addresses!
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According to the Center for American Progress, that number means that for every working physician in the country, there are nearly 150 people without medical coverage. Facing such a dire medical crisis, Americans need to know who is fighting for them in Washington.
In the past, Democrats and progressive politicians led the fight for a more equitable healthcare system. In the mid 1940s, President Truman asked Congress to develop a universal health insurance program. After nearly 20 years of debate on the issue, President Johnson authorized two less comprehensive government-sponsored healthcare programs, Medicare and Medicaid. Hillary Clinton tried to promote something close to Truman's vision of universal medical coverage in 1993, but was thwarted. In 2004, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry proposed a plan to greatly expand government health programs, but lost to an incumbent under whom the number of uninsured Americans has soared.
Last month, however, everything changed. With Terri Schiavo's life was on the line, the GOP suddenly became the party of government-sponsored health care. In fact, a few Republicans went even farther than Democrats had dared to go: from the comfort of their Capitol Hill offices, two physicians in Congress saw fit to offer free and comprehensive medical advice to a sick American!
With nothing but a short videotape to aid them, Senator Bill Frist (R-TN), a heart and lung surgeon, and Representative Dave Weldon (R-FL), an internist, were able to rebut the diagnoses of neurological specialists who claimed Mrs. Schiavo was in 'a persistent vegetative state.' The Congressmen contended from their film viewing that she 'seemed to respond to visual stimuli.'
--from The Nation
With a short letter or email describing your symptoms, we expect that the pair would be glad to diagnose your ailment as well. --'Click' on the Contact Congress link under CRITICAL RESOURCES to get their addresses!
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