Why Iran isn't a global threat

Ray Takeyh (csmonitor.com) reports:

"...the notion that Iran's foreign policy is entering a new radical state is yet another misreading of the Islamic Republic and its many paradoxes."

Don't Go Away Mad -- Just Go Away

Eugene Robinson reports:

"...Tom DeLay doesnt have to go to jail -- he can just go back to killing bugs in Houston. Just as long as he goes...."

Blood on Their Hands

Bob Herbert (The New York Times) writes:

"...Make no mistake: government officials have blood on their hands. Men, women and children - some of them handicapped, some of them elderly or already desperately ill - were condemned to horrible suffering and, in many cases, agonizing deaths. Human beings were left to drown in their flooded homes, in hospitals, in nursing homes and in the street. The American people deserve to know why...."

Our Imploding President

"Katrina will be Bush's Monica."

Tom Engelhardt (TomDispatch.com) Interviews Cindy Sheehan:

"As Sheehan approaches, she's mobbed. She hugs some of her greeters, poses for photos with others, listens briefly while people tell her they came all the way from California or Colorado just to see her, and accepts the literal T-shirt off the back of a man, possibly a vet, with a bandana around his forehead, who wants to give her "the shirt off my back." She is brief and utterly patient. She offers a word to everyone and anyone...."

Why I Was Smiling

Cindy Sheehan writes:

"I had a huge grin on my face when I was getting arrested. I have received a lot of flak for smiling. Apparently I am not supposed to smile, but I had some really good reasons for doing so...."

Manipulating the Public Mind

Charles Sullivan reports:

"No one is more effectively enslaved by the power brokers in government than those who wear the chains of servitude but think they are free. Unfortunately, the average American has no conception of how effectively their perceptions are shaped and manipulated by the media propaganda they unwittingly feed into their unsuspecting minds...."

Trial By Bush

"Constitution-Shredding in the Jose Padilla Case"

By Doug Ireland

"WHY IS THE PADILLA CASE SO IMPORTANT? Because the right to freedom from arbitrary detention and to a jury trial is one of the fundamental rights for which the American Revolution was fought — it is enshrined in our Bill of Rights...."

"Suppose...": Arguments for an Impeachment Resolution

Bernard Weiner (The Crisis Papers) writes:

"...Introducing a resolution calling for impeachment hearings is the first serious step along that road back to political sanity and moral accountability for our country. Let's demand that our Representatives in Congress do it, and if they won't, we will elect those who will."

The Anti-War Speech Everyone Is Talking About

Here is the transcript.

Read and pass it along – it has the power to topple tyrants.

After the Love Is Gone

Nora Ephron (New York Times) writes of her on and off love affair with Bill Clinton. Enjoy.

Troubled Year Gets Worse for the GOP

Dan Balz (Washington Post) reports:

"Bad news often comes in bunches, but for a Republican Party that not long ago looked ahead to an unfettered period of growth and expansion, yesterday's indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) represented one of the most significant blows the party has suffered in a year replete with problems...."

The Undersecretary's Dangerous Trip

Sidney Blumenthal (Salon.com) writes:

"Karen Hughes takes her "Innocents Abroad" tour to the Middle East -- and plays into the hands of Osama bin Laden...."

Compassion Litmus Test

For any president, senator or member of Congress who proclaimed moral outrage at the poverty exposed by Katrina, here's a chance to show you really care.

Iraq War Veterans' Presence in DC Unreported

Eric Herter (Common Dreams) reports:

"The New York Times (Sept. 25, 2005) and much of the other news coverage of Saturday's anti-war demonstration in Washington, D.C. failed to note the presence of a particularly knowledgeable group of protestors - recently-returned veterans of the war in Iraq...."

Peace and Justice Campaigns and Educational Programs

This is a "Must Listen."

Audio: George Galloway and Friends in Washington, D.C.:

"We have to raise our demands. We don't want Bush out of the Whitehouse, we want Bush in prison with Blair and all the other war criminals who have brought us to this pass."

Confessions Of A Hit Man

Charley Reese reports:

"John Perkins' book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" explains American foreign policy better than any of the academic tomes you might read on the subject...."

The News Media and the Anti-War Movement

Norman Solomon reports:

"Over the weekend, many TV news watchers saw little or nothing about the anti-war protests. What's crucial is that the movement not allow its momentum to be interrupted by media treatment...."

Good News From Crawford

TomPaine.com:

"Women's health advocates are cheering the quiet resignation late Friday afternoon of a Bush official...."

Why can't we be more like Finland?

The Seattle Times:

"Democrats are asking big questions about how America can be a more just society. Finland has already figured it out...."

Tool Kit for Stopping a War

AfterDowningStreet.org has provided everything you need to do your part in ending the Iraq war. Check it out and take action HERE.

Antiwar Rallies in Washington and Other Cities

The New York Times:

"Vast numbers of protesters from around the country poured onto the lawns behind the White House on Saturday to demonstrate their opposition to the war in Iraq, pointedly directing their anger at President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney...."

Antiwar Fervor Fills the Streets

The Washington Post reports on the largest demonstration in the Capitol since the U.S. invaded Iraq.

WATCH: "We Mean Business"

To watch Cindy Sheehan in action, CLICK HERE.

We Don't Exist

Cindy Sheehan writes:

"Last weekend, Karl Rove said that I was a clown and the anti-war movement was "non-existent." I wonder if the hundreds of thousands of people who showed up today to protest this war and George's failed policies know that they don't exist. It is also so incredible to me that Karl thinks that he can wish us away by saying we aren't real. Well, Karl and Co., we are real, we do exist and we are not going away until this illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq is over and you are sent back to the depths of whatever slimy, dark, and loathsome place you came from. I may be a clown, Karl, but you are about to be indicted. You also preside over one of the biggest three-ring, malevolent circuses of all time: the Bush administration...."

School for Scandal

MUST READ: Stirling Newberry | School for Scandal

The Big Uneasy

Paul Krugman (The New York Times) reports:

"The war in Iraq is rapidly becoming impossible to spin positively: the purple fingers have come and gone, and there are no more corners to turn. As a result, views that people like Howard Dean were once derided for are becoming the majority opinion....."

Most Disappointing Vote for John Roberts

The Nation reports:

"Of all the votes by Democratic senators in favor of the nomination of John Roberts to serve as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, none is likely to be more disappointing to progressives than that of Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold...."

Commandos in the Streets?

This is a MUST READ:

The Washington Post reports:

"Today, somewhere in the DC metropolitan area, the military is conducting a highly classified Granite Shadow 'demonstration.'

[...]

Operation Granite Shadow posits domestic military operations, including intelligence collection and surveillance, unique rules of engagement regarding the use of lethal force, the use of experimental non-lethal weapons, and federal and military control of incident locations that are highly controversial and might border on the illegal...."

American Mother Has Iraqi Audience

The L.A. Times reports:

"Sheehan, the antiwar mom who is due to lead thousands of demonstrators converging on Washington on Saturday to protest the U.S.-led war, has become a minor celebrity in Iraq as well...."

Report attacks 'myth' of foreign fighters

The Guardian reports:

"The US and the Iraqi government have overstated the number of foreign fighters in Iraq, "feeding the myth" that they are the backbone of the insurgency, an American thinktank says in a new report...."

Will Bush's Tax Cuts Will Cause Some to Pay More?

The New York Times reports:

"Over the next 10 years, Americans will not receive nearly $750 billion in tax cuts sponsored by President Bush because the cuts will be offset by the alternative minimum tax, a new report by Congressional tax specialists shows...."

Running on the Right to Vote

William Rivers Pitt cautions:"

There are two kinds of people in American politics today: those who know our basic right to vote and have every vote counted is imperiled, and those who have no idea such a basic right is at risk...."

Pay attention to this one, folks.

From Gulf to Shining Gulf

Sidney Blumenthal notes:

"Bush's responses to the crisis in Iraq and the aftermath of Katrina are jarringly repetitive. Are his speechwriters using a computer's copy-and-paste function? ..."

Cindy Sheehan Goes to Washington

Sarah Ferguson of The Village Voice reports on Cindy Sheehan as she bravely takes her message to "the President, Congress, and a lot of television crews."

Why Immediate Withdrawal Makes Sense

Michael Schwartz (TomDispatch) writes

"...American withdrawal would undoubtedly leave a riven, impoverished Iraq, awash in a sea of weaponry, with problems galore, and numerous possibilities for future violence. The either/or of this situation may not be pretty, but on a grim landscape, a single reality stands out clearly: Not only is the American presence the main source of civilian casualties, it is also the primary contributor to the threat of civil war in Iraq. The longer we wait to withdraw, the worse the situation is likely to get -- for the U.S. and for the Iraqis."

Read the whole article.

Senator Ted Kennedy: "Roberts Is the Wrong Choice"

Read Kennedy's floor statement on his decision to vote against the nomination of Judge John Roberts HERE.

Plamegate: The John Bolton Connection

MUST READ: Arianna Huffington: Plamegate: The John Bolton Connection | The Huffington Post

Message: I Can't

Maureen Dowd (The New York Times) writes:"

Mr. Bush's "Who's Your Daddy?" bravura - blowing off the world on global warming and the allies on the Iraq invasion - has been slapped back by Mother Nature, which refuses to be fooled by spin...."

President Bush "Fool me once?"

Have a good laugh at your President's expense. Watch the video.

Markets, Climate And Katrina

Joseph Stiglitz (TomPaine.com) reports:

"Last January, after the tsunami, in response to widespread calls for an early warning system, I observed that the world had been given an early warning on global warming. The rest of the world has begun to take heed, but Bush, having ignored warnings about Al Qaeda’s plans prior to 9/11, and having not only ignored the warnings about New Orleans levees, but actually gutted funding to shore them, has not led America to do likewise...."

Bill Clinton Launches Withering Attack on Bush

Agence France Presse:

"Former US President Bill Clinton sharply criticized George W. Bush for the Iraq War and the handling of Hurricane Katrina, and voiced alarm at the swelling US budget deficit.

Breaking with tradition under which US presidents mute criticisms of their successors, Clinton said the Bush administration had decided to invade Iraq "virtually alone and before UN inspections were completed, with no real urgency, no evidence that there were weapons of mass destruction...."

Read more.

Wake Up!

Cindy Sheehan calls for all citizens to come to the aid of their country:

"It is time for all of us to stand up and be counted: to show the media, Congress, and this inept, corrupt, and criminal administration that we mean business. It is time to get off of our collective behinds to show the people who are running our country into oblivion that we will stand for it no longer...."

Is anyone listening out there in blogsville? Are you?

The Presidency Shines (for Twenty-Six Minutes)

Tom Engelhardt (Tomdispatch) writes:

"Don't say they can't. They can - and they did. Despite every calumny, it turns out that the Bush administration can put together an effective, well-coordinated rescue team and get crucial supplies to militarily occupied, devastated New Orleans on demand, in time, and just where they are most needed. Last Thursday, in a spectacular rescue operation, the administration team delivered just such supplies without a hitch to one of the city's neediest visitors, who had been trapped in hell-hole surroundings for almost three weeks by Hurricane Katrina. I'm speaking, of course, of George W. Bush...."

What Noble Cause?

Cindy Sheehan demands an answer:

"It has been one month, one week, and 4 days since I sat in a ditch in Crawford, Texas. My request was very simple: I wanted to speak to the man who has sent over a million of our young people over to fight, kill, and die in a country that was absolutely no threat to the United States of America. I wanted to ask him: "What is the Noble Cause that you keep talking about? ..."

Continue Reading.

Corruption Hobbles the Rebuilding of Iraq

Craig S. Smith (The New York Times) reports:

"In April, Najaf's main maternity hospital received rare good news: an $8 million refurbishment program financed by the United States would begin immediately. But five months and millions of dollars later, the hospital administrators say they have little but frustration to show for it...."

Continue Reading.

Not the New Deal

Paul Krugman (The New York Times) writes:

"Now it begins: America's biggest relief and recovery program since the New Deal. And the omens aren't good...."

Read more.

Help Hurricane Victims find Housing

A Broader Role for Armed Forces?

William M. Arkin reports for washingtonpost.com:

"The President has hit upon a seemingly no-brainer solution: Rely more on the one institution in our society that is most respected and competent. The President's plan is both wrong-headed and dangerous...."

Read more.

Asshole :: Film Strip International

CLICK HERE TO WATCH.

Contains language that some may find objectionable. But then again, Bush and Company is even more objectionable.

Molly Ivins: Follow the Money for the Real Story

Molly Ivins writes:

"Some of you may have heard me observe a time or two that the trouble with George W. is that while he is good at politics, he stinks at governance. It bores him, he thinks government is bad to begin with and everything would be done better if it were contracted out to corporations. We can now safely assert that W. has stacked much of the federal government with people like himself. And what you get when you put people like that in charge of government is ... what happened after Hurricane Katrina...."